people.” To love that which the people love; and hate what the people hate:— this is called being the people’s father and mother.
The Ode says, “Behold that lofty southern mountain, with rocks piled in huge masses, horribly pending. So Yin, the sovereign, of threatening, frowning, aspect, is looked up to by the people.”
He who has the government of a nation ought not to be negligent. If he oppose the reasonable wishes of his people, the destruction of the empire will be the consequence.
The Ode says, “Yin, before he lost the empire, possessed great virtue; he was able to stand before the most high. We may see in them [i. e. the wicked successors of Yin, who were deprived of the empire,] an example, that the great decree is not easy to act up to.” This declares, obtain people’s hearts, and you obtain the empire: lose the people’s hearts, and you lose the empire.
A prince must, therefore, first attend diligently to virtue. If he possess virtue, he will have people: if he possess people, he will have territory: if he possess terri-
