Rules and Humane Government

English translation

Mencius said, “The eyesight of Li Lou and the skill of Gongshu were not enough to draw squares and circles without compass and square. The keen hearing of Shi Kuang could not establish the five tones without the six pitch standards. The Way of Yao and Shun could not bring peace to the realm without humane government. Today someone may have a humane heart and a reputation for benevolence, yet the people receive no benefit and later generations cannot take his rule as a model: this is because he does not follow the Way of the former kings. Good intentions alone are insufficient for governing; laws alone cannot put themselves into effect. The Book of Songs says, ‘Commit no fault, forget nothing, follow the old regulations.’ No one has ever erred by following the former kings’ standards. After the sages had exhausted their eyesight, they supplemented it with compass, square, inkline, and level, making endless use of round, square, straight, and level forms. After exhausting their hearing, they used the six pitch standards to set the five tones, with endless use. After exhausting their thought, they carried out government that could not bear to see people suffer, and benevolence covered the realm. To build high, one relies on hills; to build low, one relies on rivers and marshes. Can one call a government wise if it does not rely on the Way of the former kings? Thus only the benevolent are fit for high office. For the unbenevolent to hold high office is to spread their evil among the people. Above there is no moral standard for judging policy; below there is no law to uphold. The court has no faith in the Way, and the artisans do not trust the standards of measurement. Exemplary people violate righteousness, lesser people violate the penal law; the state survives only by luck. An incomplete wall and insufficient arms are not a state’s calamity; uncultivated fields and unaccumulated wealth are not its harm. When those above lack ritual and those below lack learning, people who prey on the people rise, and the state’s fall is near. The Book of Songs says, ‘Heaven is now in upheaval; do not be lax and clamorous.’ ‘Lax and clamorous’ means negligent and noisy. To serve a ruler without righteousness, to advance and withdraw without ritual, and to speak against the Way of the former kings are all such negligence. To demand difficult, proper things of a ruler is called reverence; to present good counsel and shut out wrong is called respect; to say ‘My ruler cannot do it’ is to harm him.”