there will be no unlawful confederacies, and among men in office there will be no bad and selfish combinations; let the sovereign establish in himself the highest degree and pattern of excellence. "Among all the multitudes of the people there will be those who have ability to plan and to act, and who keep themselves from evil: do you keep such in mind; and there will be those who, not coming up to the highest point of excellence, yet do not involve themselves in evil: let the sovereign receive such. And when a placid satisfaction appears in their countenances, and they say, 'Our love is fixed on virtue,' do you then confer favors on them; those men will in this way advance to the perfection of the sovereign. Do not let him oppress the friendless and childless, nor let him fear the high and distinguished. When men in office have ability and administrative power, let them be made still more to cultivate their conduct; and the prosperity of the country will be promoted. All such right men, having a competency, will go on in goodness. If you can not cause them to have what they love in their families, they will forthwith proceed to be guilty of crime. As to those who have not the love of virtue, although you confer favors and emoluments on them, they will only involve you in the guilt of employing the evil. "Without deflection, without unevenness, Without selfish likings, Pursue the royal way. Without selfish dislikings, Pursue the royal path. Avoid deflection, avoid partiality; Broad and long is the royal way. He went on to say, "This amplification of the royal perfection contains the unchanging rule, and is the great lesson; yea, it is the lesson of God. All the multitudes of the people, instructed in this amplification of the perfect excellence, and carrying it into practise, will thereby approximate to the glory of the Son of Heaven, and say, 'The Son of Heaven is the parent of the people, and so becomes the sovereign of all under the sky."" vi. "Sixthly, of the three virtues."- The first is correctness and straightforwardness; the second, strong rule; and the third, mild rule. In peace and tranquillity, correctness and straightforwardness must sway; in violence and disorder, strong rule; in harmony and order, mild rule. For the reserved and retiring there should be the stimulus of the strong rule; for the high-minded and distinguished, the restraint of the mild rule. "It belongs only to the sovereign to confer dignities and rewards, to display the terrors of majesty, and to receive the revenues of the kingdom. There should be no such thing as a minister's conferring dignities or rewards, displaying the terrors of majesty, or receiving the revenues. Such a thing is injurious to the clans, and fatal to the States of the kingdom; smaller affairs are thereby managed in a one-sided and perverse manner, and the people fall into assumptions and vii. "Seventhly, of the means for the examination of doubts. 10- Officers having been chosen and appointed for divining by the tortoise-shell and the stalks of the Achillea, "The three virtues" are not personal attributes of the sovereign, but characteristics of his rule, the varied manifestations of the perfection described in the preceding division. 10 The practise of divination for the satisfaction of doubts was thus used in China from the earliest times. In the Counsels of Yu, that sage proposes to Shun to submit the question of who should be his successor on the throne to divination, and Shun replies that he had already done so. Gaubil says that according to the Great Plan divination was only used in doubtful cases; but if such was the practise of the sages, diviners and soothsayers must have formed, as they do now, a considerable and influential class in society. The old methods of divination were by means of the tortoise-shell, and the stalks of the Chi plant. they are to be charged on occasion to execute their duties. In doing this, they will find the appearances of rain, of clearing up, of cloudiness, of want of connection, and of crossing; and the inner and outer diagrams. In all the indications are seven five given by the shell, and two by the stalks; and by means of these any errors in the mind may be traced out. These officers having been appointed, when the divination is proceeded with, three men are to interpret the indications, and the consenting words of two of them are to be followed. "When you have doubts about any great matter, consult with your own mind; consult with your high ministers and officers; consult with the common people; consult the tortoiseshell and divining stalks. If you, the shell, the stalks, the ministers and officers, and the common people, all agree about a course, this is what is called a great concord, and the result will be the welfare of your person and good fortune to your descendants. If you, the shell, and the stalks agree, while the ministers, and officers, and the common people oppose, the result will be fortunate. If the ministers and officers, with the shell and stalks, agree, while you and the common people oppose, the result will be fortunate. If the common people, the shell, and the stalks agree, while you, with the ministers and officers, oppose, the result will be fortunate. If you and the shell agree, while the stalks, with the ministers and officers, and the common people, oppose, internal operations will be fortunate, and external undertakings unlucky. When the shell and stalks are both opposed to the views of men, there will be good fortune in being still, and active operations will be unlucky." viii. "Eighthly, of the various verifications.11 They 11 Gaubil renders by "les apparences" the characters which I have translated "the various verifications," observing that he could not find any word which would cover the whole extent of the meaning. He says, "In the present case, the character signifies meteors, phenomena, appearances, but in such sort that these have relation to some other things with which they are connected; the meteor or phenomenon indicates some good or some evil. It is a kind of correspondence which is supposed, it appears, to exist between the ordinary events of the life of men and the constitution of the air, according to the different sea |