| Rewards and Punishments:...: |
This is what I mean by the three teachings. A sage cannot have a universal knowledge of the needs of ten thousand beings, therefore in his administration of a state, he selects what is important for dealing with the ten thousand beings. So there is little instruction, but much successful effort. The way in which a sage governs a state is easy to know, but difficult to practice. Therefore, that sages need not be increased, common-place rulers need not be abolished, that the killing of men is no violence and the rewarding of men no benevolence, follow from the fact that the law is clear. The sage confers office and grants rank according to merit, therefore men of talent are not anxious. The sage is not indulgent with transgressions and does not pardon crimes, and so villainy does not spring up. The sage, in administering a state, investigates the possibilities of uniformity, and that alone. |
