in dealing with them these lessons of antiquity, wherein will you instruct them?'
4. The king said, 'Oh! Grand-Master, the security or the danger of the kingdom depends on those officers of Yin. If you are not (too) stern with them nor (too) mild, their virtue will be truly cultivated. The duke of Kâu exercised the necessary caution at the beginning (of the undertaking); Kün-khăn displayed the harmony proper to the middle of it; and you, O duke, can bring it at last to a successful issue. You three princes will have been one in aim, and will have equally pursued the proper way. The penetrating power of your principles, and the good character of your measures of government, will exert an enriching influence on the character of the people, so that the wild tribes, with their coats buttoning on the left[1], will all find their proper support in them, and I, the little child, will long enjoy much happiness. Thus, O duke, there in Khăng-kâu will you establish for ever the power (of Kâu), and you will have an inexhaustible fame. Your descendants will follow your perfect pattern, governing accordingly.
'Oh! do not say, "I am unequal to this;" but exert your mind to the utmost. Do not say, "The people are few;" but attend carefully to your business. Reverently follow the accomplished achievements of the former kings, and complete the excellence of the government of your predecessors.'
- ↑ Confucius once praised Kwan Kung, a great minister of Khî, in the seventh century B.C., for his services against the wild tribes of his time, saying, that but for him they in China would be wearing their hair dishevelled, and buttoning the lappets of their coats on the left side. See Analects, XIV, xviii. The long robes and jackets of the Chinese generally stretch over on the right side of the chest, and are there buttoned.
