University of Virginia Library

19

In an age of Great Peace the people, in supplying forced labor,
do not go beyond the time [fixed]; men and women do not neglect
the time [proper for] mating; filial sons do not neglect the time
for nourishing [their parents].[1] Abroad there are no unmarried
men, and in the seclusion of the house there are no dissatisfied
women.[2] On the one hand there are no heartless fathers, and on
the other no unfilial sons. Father and son complete one another;
husband and wife protect one another. The empire is at peace,
the state is tranquil. Human affairs are complete here below;
the Heavenly Way responds there above. Truly,

Heaven emanates and Earth produces.[3] Yin and yang come together
in equilibrium. Their motion produces thunder and lightning,
their damp [emanation] is wind and rain, their periodicity
shows in hills and streams, their balance produces [alterations of]
heat and cold. All people maintain life; each on getting his place
is employed by the ruler of the state. Hence there is someone
to keep the state at peace, and there is someone to own the land.

The sages split trees to make boats and shaped wood to make
paddles;[4] they used these to put products from all over into circulation,
thus providing the people by the sea with plenty of wood
and the people of the mountains with plenty of fish.[5] Excess
materials were assigned to definite places. Therefore those with
fertile fields did not enjoy them alone, and those with stony fields
were not left to suffer alone. Even if there were a bad year and
a time of famine, or a flood like Yü's or a drought like T`ang's,
still the people showed no signs of being cold or hungry. Thus
the living were not made to work to the point of fatigue, and the
dead did not lie in the ditches.[6] Now this is to be called happiness.
The Ode says,[7]