iance. When, therefore, you receive an Imperial
Command, fail not to carry it out scrupulously. If there be want or
care in this respect, a catastrophe naturally ensues.

IV. Ministers and functionaries should make decorous behavior their
guiding principle, for decorous behavior is the main factor in
governing the people. If superiors do not behave with decorum,
inferiors are disorderly; if inferiors are wanting in proper
behaviour, offences are inevitable. Thus it is that when lord and
vassal behave with propriety, the distinctions of rank are not
confused; and when the people behave with propriety, the government
of the State proceeds of itself.

V. Refraining from gluttony and abandoning covetous desires, deal
impartially with the suits brought before you. Of complaints
preferred by the people there are a thousand in one day: how many,
then, will there be in a series of years? Should he that decides
suits at law make gain his ordinary motive and hear causes with a
view to receiving bribes, then will the suits of the rich man be like
a stone flung into water,* while the plaints of the poor will
resemble water cast on a stone. In such circumstances, the poor man
will not know whither to betake himself, and the duty of a minister
will not be discharged.

*That is to say, they will encounter no opposition.

VI. Chastise that which is evil and encourage that which is good.
This was the excellent rule of antiquity. Conceal not, therefore, the
good qualities of others, and fail not to correct that which is wrong
when you see it. Flatterers and deceivers are a sharp weapon for the
overthrow of the State, and a pointed sword for the destruction of
the people. Sycophants are also fond, when they meet, of dilating to
their superiors on the errors of their inferiors; to their inferiors,
they censure the faults of their superiors. Men of this kind are all
wanting in fidelity to their lord, and in benevolence towards the
people. From such an origin great civil disturbances arise.

VII. Let every man have his own charge, and let not the spheres of
duty be confused. When wise men are entrusted with office, the sound
of praise arises. If unprincipled men hold office, disasters and
tumults are multiplied. In this world, few are born with knowledge:
wisdom is the product of earnest meditation. In all things, whether
great or small, find the right man, and they will surely be well
managed: on all occasions, be they urgent or the r