CHAPTER XIII. AMPLIFICATION OF 'THE PERFECT VIRTUE' IN CHAPTER I.

The Master said, 'The teaching of filial piety by the superior man ² does not require that he should go to, family after family, and daily see the members of each. His teaching of filial piety is a tribute of reverence to all the fathers under heaven; his teaching of fraternal submission is a tribute of reverence to all the elder brothers under heaven; his teaching of the duty of a subject is a tribute of reverence to all the rulers under heaven.

p. 483

'It is said in the Book of Poetry ¹,

"The happy and courteous sovereign
Is the parent of the people."

'If it were not a perfect virtue, how could it be recognised as in accordance with their nature by the people so extensively as this?'

Footnotes

482:2 The Kün-ȝze, or 'superior man,' here must be taken of the sovereign. P. Cibot translates it by 'un prince.'

483:1 See the Shih, III, ii, ode 7, stanza x. The two lines of the Shih here are, possibly, not an interpolation.