He caused ruined States to flourish again, reinstated intercepted heirs,
and promoted to office men who had gone into retirement; and the hearts
of the people throughout the empire drew towards him.
Among matters of prime consideration with him were these--food for the
people, the duty of mourning, and sacrificial offerings to the departed.
He was liberal and large-hearted, and so won all hearts; true, and so
was trusted by the people; energetic, and thus became a man of great
achievements; just in his rule, and all were well content.
Tsz-chang in a conversation with Confucius asked, "What say you is
essential for the proper conduct of government?"
The Master replied, "Let the ruler hold in high estimation the five
excellences, and eschew the four evils; then may he conduct his
government properly."
"And what call you the five excellences?" he was asked.
"They are," he said, "Bounty without extravagance; burdening without
exciting discontent; desire without covetousness; dignity without
haughtiness; show of majesty without fierceness."
"What mean you," asked Tsz-chang, "by bounty without extravagance?"
"Is it not this," he replied--"to make that which is of benefit to the
people still more beneficial? When he selects for them such labors as it
is possible for them to do, and exacts them, who will then complain? So
when his desire is the virtue of humaneness, and he attains it, how
shall he then be covetous? And if--whether he have to do with few or
with many, with small or with great--he do not venture ever to be
careless, is not this also to have dignity without haughtiness? And
if--when properly vested in robe and cap, and showing dignity in his
every look--his appearance be so imposing that the people look up to and
stand in awe of him, is not this moreover to show majesty without
fierceness?"
"What, then, do you call the four evils?" said Tsz-chang.
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