| Xiang Yin Jiu Yi: |
At the ceremony of drinking in the country districts, those who were sixty years old sat, and those who were (only fifty) stood, and were in waiting to receive any orders and perform any services - thus illustrating the honour which should be paid to elders. Before those who were sixty, three dishes were placed; before those of seventy, four; before those of eighty, five; before those of ninety, six - thus illustrating how the aged should be cherished and nourished. When the people knew to honour their elders and nourish their aged, then at home they could practise filial piety and fraternal duty. Filial and fraternal at home and abroad, honouring elders and nourishing the aged, then their education was complete, and this led to the peace and tranquillity of the state. What the superior man calls filial piety, does not require that (every) family should be visited and as members daily taught; if (the people) be assembled at the archery meetings in the districts, and taught the usages at the district-drinkings, their conduct is brought to be filial and fraternal. |
