regular practice[1]. When (sovereign and ministers show) a common reverence and united respect for these, lo! the moral nature (of the people) is made harmonious. Heaven graciously distinguishes the virtuous;—are there not the five habiliments, five decorations of them[2]? Heaven punishes the guilty;—are there not the five punishments, to be severally used for that purpose? The business of government!—ought we not to be earnest in it? ought we not to be earnest in it?*
'Heaven hears and sees as our people hear and see; Heaven brightly approves and displays its terrors as our people brightly approve and would awe; such connexion is there between the upper and lower (worlds). How reverent ought the masters of territories to be!'*
4. Kâo-yâo said, 'My words are in accordance with reason, and may be put in practice.' Yü said, 'Yes, your words may be put in practice, and crowned with success.' Kâo-yâo added, '(As to that) I do not know, but I wish daily to be helpful. May (the government) be perfected!'
Book IV. The Yî and Kî.
Yî and Kî, the names of Shun's Forester and Minister of Agriculture, both of whom receive their appointments in Book i, occur near the commencement of this Book, and occasion is thence taken to give its title to the whole. But without good reason; for these worthies do not appear at all as interlocutors
- ↑ The five ceremonies are here those belonging to the distinctions of rank in connexion with the five constituent relations of society.
- ↑ See in next Book, ch. 1.
