University of Virginia Library

Chapter XVI

THREE PRECAUTIONS[1]

The lord of men has three precautions to take. If the
three precautions are complete, the state will be safe and he
will be prosperous; if the three precautions are not complete,
the state will fall into danger and his life will become
precarious.

What are meant by the "three precautions"?

Whenever ministers memorialize the Throne the faults
of the authorities in power, the mistakes of the personnel
in charge of state affairs, and the actual conditions of the
officials,[2] if the lord of men, instead of keeping the secret,
divulges it to courtiers and favourite vassals and thereby
makes ministers, who want to speak to the Throne, please
the courtiers and favourite vassals before they submit any
instance to the lord of men, then frank and straightforward
speakers will not be able to have an audience of the ruler
and loyal and honest men will be kept farther and farther
aloof.[3]

If the ruler does not by himself benefit the men he loves

but would benefit them only after the courtiers have praised
them, and if he does not by himself hurt the men he hates
but would hurt them only after the courtiers have blamed
them, then the lord of men will lose his prestige, and his
ruling authority will fall into the hands of his attendants.[4]

If the ruler dislikes the toil of governing the state by
himself and lets the ministers group together and administer
state affairs, and if in so doing he passes his handles and
shifts his position[5] to chief vassals and places the power
over life and property in their hands, then his prerogative
will be infringed.[6]

These are called "the three precautions unaccomplished".
If the three precautions remain incomplete, the situation
portends molestation and regicide.

In general, there are three kinds of molestation: Molestation
through the formation of juntas,[7] molestation through
the dictation of state policies,[8] and molestation through the
application of penal laws.[9]

If ministers who hold the honour of chief vassals have
the key to the state government in their grip for patronizing
the officials and make the administration of foreign and
home affairs necessarily go through their approval; and,
though there are worthy and upright personages, if people
disobeying them always have bad luck and those obeying
them always have good luck; then no official would dare
to be loyal to the sovereign and worry about state welfare

and thereby dispute the advantages and disadvantages of the
Altar of the Spirits of Land and Grain. If the lord of men,
however worthy, cannot devise plans by himself, and if
there are ministers who dare not be loyal to the sovereign,
then the state must be doomed to ruin. It is then called
"a state without ministers". However, a state without
ministers does not imply the scarcity of royal guards and
the lack of ministers in the court. It really means a state
whose ministers hold to their bounties, nourish their friends,
practise their private ways of life, and never exert their
spirit of loyalty to the public. Such is called "molestation
through the formation of juntas".

Again, suppose chief vassals distribute private favours,
have all powers to themselves, overawe the country by
pretending to have influence abroad, follow the like and
hate of the sovereign with his forced interpretation of the
signs of fortune and misfortune, advantages and disadvantages.
And suppose the lord of men listens to them
and upholds their policies even by humiliating himself and
neglecting state welfare. Then, when the policies fail, the
sovereign has to share the consequent disasters with them;
when the policies succeed, they take all credit to themselves.
Finally, if all the government employees unite their
minds and identify their words to speak of their virtues,
then though others speak of their vices to the Throne, the
sovereign never will believe. Such is called "molestation
through the dictation of state policies".

Finally, in matters of court and jail administration as well
as prohibition and punishment, if ministers have powers to
themselves, their act as such is called "molestation through
the application of penal laws".

In short, if the three precautions are not complete, the
three molestations will arise; if the three precautions are
complete, the three molestations will stop. If the sovereign
succeeds in stopping and debarring these three molestations,
he will attain supremacy.