Huiguo — The Glory of the State恢國篇
顏淵喟然嘆曰：「仰之彌高，鑽之彌堅。」
Yan Yuan sighed deeply and said, "The more I look up to it, the higher it is. The more I bore into it, the harder it is."
此言顏淵學於孔子，積累歲月，見道彌深也。《宣漢》之篇，高漢於周，擬漢過周，論者未極也。恢而極之，彌見漢奇。夫經熟講者，要妙乃見；國極論者，恢奇彌出。恢論漢國在百代之上，審矣。何以驗之？黃帝有涿鹿之戰，堯有丹水之師，舜時有苗不服，夏啟有扈叛逆，高宗伐鬼方三年克之。周成王，管、蔡悖亂，周公東征。前代皆然，漢不聞此。高祖之時，陳反，彭越叛，治始安也。孝景之時，吳、楚興兵，怨晃錯也。匈奴時擾，正朔不及，無荒之地，王功不加兵，今皆內附，貢獻牛馬。此則漢之威盛莫敢犯也。
This says that Yan Yuan studied under Confucius, and as the years and months piled up his sight of the Way grew deeper. The chapter Xuan Han set Han above Zhou and reckoned Han as passing beyond Zhou, but the argument was not carried to its end. Enlarge it and carry it to the end, and the wonder of Han is seen still more. When a classic is discussed until it is familiar, its heart and its subtlety are then seen. When a state is argued to the end, its breadth and its wonder come out still more. Argued broadly, that the state of Han stands above a hundred generations is plain. How is this proved? The Yellow Emperor had the battle of Zhuolu. Yao had the army at the Dan River. In Shun's time the Miao did not submit. Under Qi (啟) of Xia the Hu rebelled and turned against him. Gaozong attacked Guifang and took three years to defeat it. Under King Cheng of Zhou, Guan and Cai turned unruly and rebelled, and the Duke of Zhou campaigned to the east. Every former age was so, but of this nothing is heard in Han. In Gaozu's time Chen Xi revolted and Peng Yue rebelled, because the rule was only beginning to settle. In Xiaojing's time Wu and Chu raised troops, because they resented Chao Cuo. The Xiongnu troubled the borders at times, but theirs was a wild land the calendar did not reach, and the royal work added no troops there. Now they have all come in and attached themselves, and they offer oxen and horses in tribute. This then is the majesty of Han being so full that none dares offend it.
紂為至惡，天下叛之。武王舉兵，皆願就戰，八百諸侯，不期俱至。項羽惡微，號而用兵，與高祖俱起，威力輕重，未有所定，則項羽力勁。折鐵難於摧木，高祖誅項羽，折鐵；武王伐紂，摧木：然則漢力勝周多矣。凡克敵一則易，二則難。湯、武伐桀、紂，一敵也；高祖誅秦殺項，兼勝二家，力倍湯、武。武王為殷西伯，臣事於紂，以臣伐（周）〔君〕，夷、齊恥之，扣馬而諫，武王不聽，不食周粟，餓死首陽。高祖不為秦臣，光武不仕王莽，誅惡伐無道，無伯夷之譏，可謂順於周矣。
King Zhou (紂) was evil in the utmost, and all under heaven rebelled against him. When King Wu raised troops, all wished to go into the battle, and eight hundred lords came together without appointment. Xiang Yu's evil was slight. He called out and used troops and rose together with Gaozu, and the weight of their might had nothing yet settled about it, so Xiang Yu's strength was the harder. Breaking iron is harder than snapping wood. Gaozu's killing of Xiang Yu was breaking iron, and King Wu's attack on King Zhou was snapping wood. Then the strength of Han surpasses Zhou by much. To overcome one enemy is easy, to overcome two is hard. Tang and Wu attacked Jie and King Zhou, one enemy each. Gaozu destroyed Qin and killed Xiang, overcoming two houses together, so his strength was double that of Tang and Wu. King Wu was the Earl of the West under Yin and served King Zhou as a subject, and as a subject he attacked his lord. Yi and Qi were ashamed of it. They held his horse and remonstrated, and when King Wu would not listen they would not eat the grain of Zhou and starved to death on Mount Shouyang. Gaozu was not a subject of Qin, and Guangwu held no office under Wang Mang. They struck down evil and attacked what had no way, and they drew no reproach from Bo Yi. They may be called more in keeping than Zhou.
丘由易以起高，淵易以為深。起於微賤，無所因階者難；襲爵乘位，尊祖統業者易。堯以唐侯入嗣帝位，舜以司徒因堯授禪，禹以司空緣功代舜，湯由七十里，文王百里〔為西伯〕，武王（為西伯）襲文王位（三郊）。五代之起，皆有因緣，力易為也。高祖從亭長提三尺劍取天下，光武由白水奮威武，〔帝〕海內，無尺土所因，一位所乘，直奉天命推自然。此則起高於淵，為深於丘山也。比方五代，孰者為優？
A hill, by what is easy to raise high, rises high. A pool, by what is easy to make deep, becomes deep. To rise from the low and the mean, with no stair to climb by, is hard. To inherit a rank and mount a seat, honoring one's forebears and carrying on their work, is easy. Yao, as Marquis of Tang (唐), came in and succeeded to the imperial seat. Shun, as minister of instruction, received Yao's handing over of the throne. Yu, as minister of works, followed up his merit and took Shun's place. Tang of Yin (湯) started from seventy li. King Wen, with a hundred li, became the Earl of the West. King Wu inherited King Wen's seat. The rise of these five ages all had something to build on, and their strength had an easy task. Gaozu, from head of a post station, took up a sword three feet long and took all under heaven. Guangwu, from Baishui, roused his majesty and his might and became emperor within the seas. They had not a foot of land to build on and not one seat to mount. They simply upheld Heaven's command and pushed on with what is so of itself. This then is to raise a height out of a pool and to make a depth on a hill or a mountain. Set beside the five ages, which is the better?
傳書或稱武王伐紂，太公陰謀食小兒以丹，令身純赤，長大教言殷亡。
Books handed down sometimes say that when King Wu attacked King Zhou, Taigong laid a secret plan and fed a small child cinnabar so that its body was wholly red, and when it had grown he taught it to say that Yin would fall.
殷民見兒身赤，以為天神，及言殷亡，皆謂商滅。兵至牧野，晨舉脂燭，奸謀惑民，權掩不備，周之所諱也，世謂之虛。漢取天下，無此虛言。《武成》之篇言，周伐紂，血流浮杵。以《武成》言之，食兒以丹，晨舉脂燭，殆且然矣。漢伐亡新，光武將五千人，王莽遣二公將（三）〔百〕萬人戰於昆陽，雷雨晦冥，前後不相見。漢兵出昆陽城擊二公軍，一而當十，二公兵散。天下以雷雨助漢威敵，孰與舉脂燭以人事譎取殷哉！
The people of Yin saw that the child's body was red and took it for a god of Heaven, and when it said that Yin would fall they all said that Shang was undone. When the troops reached Muye, at dawn they raised torches of fat. A crafty plan to delude the people, an expedient that took them unprepared: this is what Zhou keeps silent about, and the age calls it a false tale. When Han took all under heaven there were no such false words. The chapter Wu cheng says that when Zhou (周) attacked King Zhou the blood flowed until pestles floated. Speaking by the Wu cheng, the feeding of cinnabar to a child and the raising of torches of fat at dawn were very likely so as well. When Han attacked the fallen Xin, Guangwu led five thousand men, and Wang Mang sent two dukes leading a million men to fight at Kunyang. Thunder and rain made it dark, and front and rear could not see each other. The Han troops came out of the city of Kunyang and struck the army of the two dukes. One man matched ten, and the troops of the two dukes scattered. Heaven used thunder and rain to help Han and overawe the enemy. Which is better, this or raising torches of fat and taking Yin by the trickery of human contrivance!
或云武王伐紂，紂赴火死，武王就斬以鉞，懸其首於大白之旌。
Some say that when King Wu attacked King Zhou, King Zhou threw himself into the fire and died, and King Wu went up and cut him with a battle axe and hung his head from the great white banner.
齊宣王怜畔鐘之牛，睹其色之觳觫也。楚庄王赦鄭伯之罪，見其肉袒而形暴也。君子惡〔惡〕，不惡其身。紂尸赴於火中，所見淒愴，非徒色之觳觫，袒之暴形也。就斬以鉞，懸乎其首，何其忍哉！高祖入咸陽，閻樂誅二世，項羽殺子嬰，高祖雍容入秦，不戮二尸。光武入長安，劉聖公已誅王莽，乘兵即害，不刃王莽之死。夫斬赴火之首，與貰被刃者之身，德虐孰大也？豈以里之恨哉！以人君拘人臣，其逆孰與秦奪周國，莽鴆平帝也？鄒伯奇論桀、紂之惡不若亡秦，亡秦不若王莽。然則紂惡微而周誅之痛，秦、莽罪重而漢伐之輕，寬狹誰也？
King Xuan of Qi pitied the ox for the blood anointing of the bell, because he saw the trembling of its look. King Zhuang of Chu pardoned the offense of the Earl of Zheng, because he saw him bare his flesh and lay his body open. The gentleman hates the evil. He does not hate the man's own body. King Zhou's corpse had thrown itself into the fire, and what was seen there was bitter and grievous, not merely a trembling look or a bared and open body. To go up and cut him with a battle axe and hang up his head, how cruel that was! When Gaozu entered Xianyang, Yan Le had put the Second Emperor to death and Xiang Yu had killed Ziying. Gaozu entered Qin at his ease and did no violence to the two corpses. When Guangwu entered Chang'an, Liu Shenggong had already put Wang Mang to death. He could have ridden his troops in and done harm, but he set no blade to Wang Mang's dead body. Now, to cut off the head of one who has thrown himself into the fire, and to spare the body of one who has already met the blade: which is the greater, the virtue or the cruelty? Was it for the grudge of Youli! For a ruler to hold a subject in prison, how does that unruliness compare with Qin's seizing of the state of Zhou, or with Mang's poisoning of Emperor Ping? Zou Boqi argued that the evil of Jie and King Zhou did not come up to that of the fallen Qin, and that the fallen Qin did not come up to Wang Mang. Then King Zhou's evil was slight, yet Zhou's killing of him was painful, and the guilt of Qin and Mang was heavy, yet Han's attack on them was light. Which side is broad and which is narrow?
高祖，母妊之時，蛟龍在上，夢與神遇；好酒（貫）〔貰〕飲，酒舍負仇，及醉留臥，其上常有神怪；夜行斬蛇，蛇嫗悲哭；與呂后俱之田廬，時自隱匿，光氣暢見，呂后輒知；始皇望見東南有天子氣，及起，五星聚於東井；楚望漢軍，雲氣五色。光武且生，鳳皇集於城，嘉禾滋於屋，皇妣之身，夜半無燭，空中光明。初者，蘇伯阿望舂陵氣郁郁蔥蔥；光武起過舊廬，見氣憧憧上屬於天。五帝、三王，初生始起，不聞此怪。堯母感於赤龍，及起不聞奇佑；禹母吞薏苡，將生得玄圭；契母咽燕子；湯起白狼銜鉤；后稷母履大人之跡；文王起得赤雀；武王得魚、烏：皆不及漢太平之瑞。黃帝、堯、舜鳳皇一至，凡諸眾瑞重至者希。漢文帝黃龍、玉棒。武帝黃龍、麒麟、連木。宣帝鳳皇五至，麒麟、神雀、甘露、醴泉、黃龍、神光。平帝白雉、黑雉。孝明麒麟、神雀、甘露、醴泉、白雉、黑雉、芝草、連木、嘉禾，與宣帝同奇，有神鼎黃金之怪。一代之瑞，累仍不絕。此則漢德丰茂，故瑞佑多也。孝明天崩，今上嗣位，元二之間，嘉德布流。三年，零陵生芝草五本。
As for Gaozu: when his mother was carrying him a flood dragon was above her, and in a dream she met with a spirit. He loved wine and drank on credit, so the wine shop was left aggrieved, but when he lay down drunk there was always a spirit strangeness above him. Walking by night he cut down a snake, and the snake's old woman wept in grief. When he went with Empress Lü to the hut in the fields he would at times hide himself, yet a glow of vapor showed plainly and Empress Lü would know at once. The First Emperor looked out and saw that there was a vapor of a Son of Heaven in the southeast, and when Gaozu rose the five planets gathered in Dongjing. Chu looked over at the Han army, and the cloud vapor was of five colors. When Guangwu was about to be born, phoenixes gathered on the city wall and fine grain grew thick on the roof, and upon the person of his august mother, at midnight, with no candle, the empty air was bright. Earlier, Su Bo'a had looked out at the vapor of Chongling, thick and lush and green. When Guangwu rose and passed his old dwelling, he saw the vapor billowing up and joining the sky. Of the Five Emperors and the Three Kings, at their first birth and their first rising, no such strangeness is heard. Yao's mother was moved by a red dragon, but when he rose no wonderful help is heard of. Yu's mother swallowed Job's tears, and when he was about to be born she got a dark jade tablet. Xie's mother swallowed a swallow's egg. When Tang rose, a white wolf held a hook in its mouth. Houji's mother trod in the footprint of a great man. When King Wen rose he got a red sparrow. King Wu got a fish and a crow. None of these comes up to the omens of Han's great peace. For the Yellow Emperor, Yao and Shun a phoenix came once, and it is rare for many omens to come again and again. Under Emperor Wen of Han there were a yellow dragon and a jade staff. Under Emperor Wu, a yellow dragon, a qilin and joined trees. Under Emperor Xuan a phoenix came five times, and there were a qilin, a divine sparrow, sweet dew, a sweet spring, a yellow dragon and a divine light. Under Emperor Ping, white pheasants and black pheasants. Under Xiaoming, a qilin, a divine sparrow, sweet dew, a sweet spring, white pheasants, black pheasants, auspicious mushrooms, joined trees and fine grain, the same wonders as under Emperor Xuan, and there were the strange things of the divine cauldron and the yellow gold. The omens of one age followed on and did not break off. This then is that the virtue of Han was full and thick, and so its auspicious help was much. Xiaoming died, and the present ruler succeeded to the seat, and between the first year and the second his fine virtue spread and flowed. In the third year five roots of auspicious mushroom grew at Lingling.
四年，甘露降五縣。五年，芝復生六（年）〔本〕，黃龍見，大小凡八。前世龍見不雙，芝生無二，甘露一降。而今八龍并出，十一芝累生，甘露流五縣。德惠盛熾，故瑞繁夥也。自古帝王，孰能致斯？
In the fourth year sweet dew fell in five counties. In the fifth year auspicious mushrooms grew again, six roots, and yellow dragons appeared, great and small, eight in all. In former ages dragons did not appear in pairs, mushrooms did not grow in twos, and sweet dew fell but once. Now eight dragons have come out together, eleven mushrooms have grown one after another, and sweet dew has flowed in five counties. Virtue and kindness are full and blazing, and so the omens are many and thick. Of the emperors and kings from of old, who could bring this about?
儒者論曰「王者推行道德，受命於天。」
The scholars argue and say, "A king pushes forward the way and its virtue, and he receives his command from Heaven."
《論衡》《初（秉）〔稟〕》以為王者生稟天命，性命難審，且兩論之。酒食之賜，一則為薄，再則為厚。如儒者之言，五代皆一受命，唯漢獨再，此則天命於漢厚也。如審《論衡》之言，生稟自然，此亦漢家所稟厚也。絕而復屬，死而復生。世有死而復生之人，人必謂之神。漢統絕而復屬，江武存亡，可謂優矣。
The Lunheng, in the chapter Chu bing, holds that a king is endowed with Heaven's command at his birth. Nature and destiny are hard to make out, so let both be argued. In a gift of wine and food, once is thin and twice is thick. By the scholars' words the five ages each received the command once, and only Han received it twice. This then is Heaven's command to Han being thick. If the words of the Lunheng hold, that one is endowed at birth by what is so of itself, this too is the house of Han having been endowed thickly. Broken off and then joined again, dead and then alive again. If there is in the world a man who died and came alive again, men are sure to call him a spirit. The line of Han was broken off and then joined again, and in Guangwu its being and its ceasing to be may be called the better.
武王伐紂，庸、蜀之夷佐戰牧野。
When King Wu attacked King Zhou, the barbarians of Yong and Shu helped in the battle at Muye.
成王之時，越常獻雉，倭人貢暢。幽、歷衰微，戎狄攻周，平王東走，以避其難。至漢，四夷朝貢。孝平元始元年，越常重譯獻白雉一、黑雉二。夫以成王之賢，輔以周公，越常獻一，平帝得三。後至四年，金城塞外羌（良橋橋種）〔豪〕良願等〔種〕獻其魚鹽之地，願內屬漢，遂得西王母石室，因為西海郡。周時戎狄攻王，至漢內屬，獻其寶地。西王母國在絕極之外，而漢屬之。德孰大？壤孰廣？
In King Cheng's time Yuechang presented pheasants and the Wa people offered fragrant grass in tribute. King You and King Li grew weak and slight, the Rong and the Di attacked Zhou, and King Ping fled east to escape the trouble. Coming to Han, the four barbarian peoples come to court with tribute. In the first year of Yuanshi under Xiaoping, Yuechang, through a chain of interpreters, presented one white pheasant and two black pheasants. Now with King Cheng's worth, and the Duke of Zhou to help him, Yuechang presented one, while Emperor Ping got three. Later, in the fourth year, the Qiang chief Liangyuan and his kind, beyond the barrier of Jincheng, presented their land of fish and salt and asked to come in and belong to Han. So the stone chamber of the Queen Mother of the West was got, and from it the commandery of Xihai was made. In Zhou's time the Rong and the Di attacked the king. Coming to Han they came in and belonged to it and presented their precious land. The country of the Queen Mother of the West lies beyond the farthest end, and Han made it belong. Which virtue is the greater? Which soil is the broader?
方今哀牢、鄯善、（諾）〔羌〕降附歸德，匈奴時擾，遣將攘討，獲虜生口千萬數。夏禹裸入吳國，太伯采葯，斷髪文身。
Now Ailao, Shanshan and the Qiang have surrendered and come in and turned to virtue, and when the Xiongnu trouble the borders at times, generals are sent to drive them off and punish them, and the captives taken alive are counted by the thousand and the ten thousand. Yu of Xia went naked into the land of Wu, and Taibo gathered herbs, cut his hair and marked his body.
唐、虞國界，吳為荒服，越在九夷，衣關頭，今皆夏服、褒衣、履舄。巴、蜀、越、郁林、日南、遼東、樂浪，周時被髪椎髻，今戴皮弁；周時重譯，今吟《詩》、《書》。
Within the bounds of Tang and Yu, Wu was the wild zone and Yue lay among the Nine Yi, and their clothing was pulled on over the head. Now they all wear Chinese dress, wide robes and shoes. Ba, Shu, Yue, Yulin, Rinan, Liaodong and Lelang wore their hair loose and in a mallet knot in Zhou's time. Now they wear leather caps. In Zhou's time they needed a chain of interpreters. Now they chant the Odes and the Documents.
《春秋》之義，君親無將，將而必誅。廣陵王荊迷於巫，楚王英惑於（狹）〔俠〕客，事情列見。孝明三宥，二王吞葯，周誅管、蔡，違斯遠矣。楚外家許氏與楚王謀議，孝明曰：「許（民）〔氏〕有屬於王，欲王尊貴，人情也。聖心原之，不繩於法。隱強侯傳懸書市里，誹謗聖政。今上海（思）〔恩〕，（犯）〔弗〕奪爵土。
By the meaning of the Chunqiu, against a ruler or a parent there must be no intent to act, and if there is such intent, punishment is sure. Jing, king of Guangling, was led astray by a shaman, and Ying, king of Chu, was deluded by men of the sword, and the facts of the matter were laid open to view. Xiaoming pardoned them three times, and the two kings swallowed poison. Zhou's killing of Guan and Cai is far removed from this. The Xu family, kin on the mother's side in Chu, took counsel with the king of Chu, and Xiaoming said, "The Xu have a tie to the king, and to wish the king honored and noble is human feeling." His sagely heart forgave them and did not bind them by the law. Chuan, marquis of Yinqiang, hung up writings in the markets and the lanes slandering the sagely government, and the present ruler, with kindness like the sea, did not take away his rank and his land.
惡其人者憎其胥余。立二王之子，安楚、廣陵，〔隱〕強弟員嗣祀陰氏。二王，帝族也，位為王侯，與管、蔡同。管、蔡滅嗣，二王立後，恩已褒矣。隱強，異姓也，尊重父祖，復存其祀。立武庚之義，繼祿父之恩，方斯羸矣。何則？并為帝王，舉兵相征，貪天下之大，絕成湯之統，非聖君之義，失承天之意也。隱強，臣子也。漢統自在，絕滅陰氏，無損於義，而猶存之，惠滂沛也。故夫雨露之施，內則注於骨肉，外則布於他施。唐之晏晏，舜之，豈能逾此！
He who hates the man hates even the corner of his wall. The sons of the two kings were set up, and Chu and Guangling were set at rest, and Yuan, younger brother of the marquis of Yinqiang, carried on the sacrifices of the Yin family. The two kings were of the imperial clan, and their place was that of king and marquis, the same as Guan and Cai. Guan and Cai had their heirs wiped out, and the two kings had successors set up. The kindness was already large. Yinqiang was of another surname, yet his father and his grandfather were honored and held weighty, and his sacrifices were kept on again. The righteousness of setting up Wugeng and the kindness of carrying on Lufu are lean beside this. Why? Both of them were emperors and kings, and they raised troops and campaigned against each other, coveting the greatness of all under heaven and cutting off the line of Cheng Tang. That is not the righteousness of a sage ruler, and it loses the intent of upholding Heaven. Yinqiang was a subject. The line of Han stands of itself, and to cut off and wipe out the Yin family would have done no harm to righteousness, yet it was kept on. The kindness was a flood. So the giving of rain and dew pours within upon flesh and bone, and spreads without in gifts to others. The mildness of Tang and the gladness of Shun, how could they go beyond this!
歡兜之行，靖言庸回，共工私之，稱荐於堯。
Huandou in his conduct was quiet in speech but crooked in use, and Gonggong favored him privately and praised and recommended him to Yao.
三苗巧佞之人，或言有罪之國。鯀不能治水，知力極盡，罪皆在身，不加於上，唐、虞放流，死於不毛，怨惡謀上，懷挾叛逆。考事失實，誤國殺將，罪惡重於四子。孝明加恩，則論徙邊。今上寬惠，還歸州里。開辟以來，因莫斯大。晏子曰：「鉤星在房、心之間，地其動乎！」
The Three Miao were crafty and fawning men, and some say a guilty state. Gun could not master the waters. His knowledge and his strength were spent to the end, and the guilt lay wholly in himself and was not laid upon his superior, yet Tang and Yu cast him out to drift and he died in a barren land. To resent and to hate and to plot against one's superior, to harbor rebellion and revolt, to lose the truth in looking into affairs, to ruin the state and get its generals killed: such guilt is heavier than that of the four men. Xiaoming added kindness, and the sentence was banishment to the border. The present ruler is broad and kind, and sent them back to their districts and their villages. Since the world was opened up there has been no kindness greater than this. Yanzi said, "The Gou star (鉤星) stands between Fang and Xin. The earth is likely to move!"
夫地動天時，非政所致。皇帝振畏，猶歸於治，廣征賢良，訪求過闕。高宗之側身，周成之開匱，（勵）〔〕能逮此。
Now the moving of the earth is Heaven's season. It is not brought on by government. Yet the emperor was shaken and afraid and still turned it back upon his rule, calling up the worthy and the good far and wide and seeking out his faults and his lapses. Gaozong's turning of his body and King Cheng of Zhou's opening of the chest, how could they come up to this?
谷登歲平，庸主因緣以建德政，顛沛危殆，聖哲優者，乃立功化。是故微病恆醫皆巧，篤劇扁鵲乃良。建初孟年，無妄氣至，歲之疾疫也。比旱不雨，牛死民流，可謂劇矣。皇帝敦德，俊在官，第五司空股肱國維，轉谷振贍，民不乏餓，天下慕德，雖危不不亂。民飢於谷，飽於道德，身流在道，心回鄉內。以故道路無盜賊之跡，深幽迥絕無劫奪之奸，以危為宁，以困為通，五帝、三王，孰能堪斯哉！
When the grain ripens and the year is at peace, even a common ruler has something to build on and sets up a virtuous government. When things are overturned and in danger, only one who is full in sage wisdom sets up merit and transformation. So in a slight illness every ordinary doctor is skillful, and in a heavy and extreme illness only a Bian Que is good. In the first year of Jianchu the breath of Wuwang (無妄) came, and it was a year of sickness and plague. Drought followed on and no rain fell, oxen died and the people drifted. It may be called extreme. The emperor made his virtue thick, and men of talent held office, and Diwu, the minister of works, was arm and thigh and cord of the state. He moved the grain about and gave relief in plenty, so that the people did not want and starve. All under heaven longed after his virtue, and though things were in danger there was no disorder. The people hungered for grain but were filled with the way and its virtue. Their bodies drifted on the roads, but their hearts turned back within their villages. For this reason there was no trace of robbers on the roads, and in the deep and the hidden and the far cut off places there was no villainy of seizing and taking. Danger was made into rest and hardship into a way through. Of the Five Emperors and the Three Kings, who could bear up under this!