not adorned with virtue, and who is not competent to regulate well his family.
On the right is delivered the eighth section, and it illustrates “adorning the person with virtue and regulating the family.”
In order to that which is called governing a nation, there must first be the regulation of families. Not to be capable of teaching a family, and yet to be able to teach a nation of men!—there is no such thing. Wherefore the eminently good man, without going out of his house, or beyond the doctrines that apply to the regulation of a family, will be able to perfect the instruction of a nation of people. Duty to parents is that by which we should we should serve a prince; fraternal duty is that by which we should serve superiors; and the regard due to children is that which should be extended to all the people.
The Old Kang-kao says, “[A prince ought to protect and nourish the people] as the mother protects and nourishes an infant. When the artless heart of the infant craves something, though its mother may not discover the very thing that is
