Moderation in Spending, Part Two節用中
子墨子言曰：古者明王聖人所以王天下、正諸侯者，彼其愛民謹忠，利民謹厚，忠信相連，又示之以利，是以終身不饜，歿世而不卷。古者明王聖人其所以王天下、正諸侯者，此也。
Mozi said, "The reason the enlightened kings and the sages of ancient times ruled as kings over the world and set the feudal lords straight was this. They were careful and true in loving the people and careful and generous in benefiting the people, their truth and their good faith held together, and they showed the people benefit as well. So to the end of their lives they were never sated of it, and to the end of the age they were never idle in it. This is the reason the enlightened kings and the sages of ancient times ruled as kings over the world and set the feudal lords straight."
是故古者聖王制爲節用之法曰：「凡天下羣百工，輪、車、鞼、匏、陶、冶、梓、匠，使各從事其所能。」曰：「凡足以奉給民用諸，加費不加民利則止。」
So the sagely kings of ancient times made a law for measured spending, saying, "Of all the many craftsmen of the world, the wheelwright, the chariot maker, the leather worker, the gourd maker, the potter, the smith, the joiner, and the housewright, let each follow the work he is able at." And they said, "Of all the things that are enough to supply what the people use, if a thing adds to the cost and does not add to the people's benefit, it stops."
古者聖王制爲飲食之法曰：「足以充虛繼氣，强股肱，使耳目聰明，則止。」不極五味之調、芬香之和，不致遠國珍怪異物。何以知其然？古者堯治天下，南撫交阯，北降幽都，東西至日所出入，莫不賓服，逮至其厚愛，黍稷不二，羹胾不重，飯於土塯，啜於土形，斗以酌。俛仰周旋威儀之禮，聖王弗爲。
The sagely kings of ancient times made a law for eating and drinking, saying, "If it is enough to fill what is empty and keep the breath going, to strengthen the thighs and the arms, and to make the ears and the eyes keen, it stops." They did not press the blending of the five flavors and the harmony of fragrance to its limit, and they did not have the rare and strange things of far states brought to them.
How do we know this is so? In ancient times, when Yao governed the world, he soothed Jiaozhi in the south, brought Youdu down in the north, and reached east and west as far as where the sun comes out and goes in, and there was none that did not come as a guest and submit. Yet even at his most generous love, he had no second kind of millet and grain and no second course of soup and meat, and he ate from an earthen bowl and drank from an earthen cup and ladled with a dipper. The rites of bearing, of bowing down and looking up and turning about, the sagely kings did not practice.
古者聖王制爲衣服之法曰：「冬服紺緅之衣輕且暖，夏服絺綌之衣輕且凊，則止諸。」加費不加於民利者，聖王弗爲。
The sagely kings of ancient times made a law for making clothes, saying, "If in winter one wears clothes of dark blue and dark red that are light and warm, and in summer clothes of fine hemp and coarse hemp that are light and cool, it stops." What added to the cost and did not add to the people's benefit the sagely kings did not do.
古者聖人爲猛禽狡獸暴人害民，於是教民以兵行。日帶劒，爲刺則入，擊則斷，旁擊而不折，此劒之利也。甲爲衣則輕且利，動則兵且從，此甲之利也。車爲服重致遠，乘之則安，引之則利，安以不傷人，利以速至，此車之利也。古者聖王爲大川廣谷之不可濟，於是利爲舟楫，足以將之則上。雖上者三公諸侯至，舟楫不易，津人不飾，此舟之利也。
In ancient times, because fierce birds and cunning beasts and violent men harmed the people, the sages then taught the people to go about with weapons.
They wore a sword each day. Thrust, it goes in. Struck down, it cuts through. Struck sideways, it does not break. This is the benefit of the sword. Armor worn as a garment is light and easy, and when one moves, one's weapons follow as well. This is the benefit of armor. A chariot carries heavy loads and reaches far places, and riding it one is safe and drawing it is easy, and being safe it does not hurt people and being easy it arrives quickly. This is the benefit of the chariot.
Because the sagely kings of ancient times could not cross the great rivers and the wide valleys, they then made boats and oars to good purpose, and when there was enough to carry them across, they left off. Even when the three dukes and the feudal lords above came to them, the boats and oars were not changed and the ferryman did not dress them up. This is the benefit of the boat.
古者聖王制爲節葬之法曰：「衣三領，足以朽肉；棺三寸，足以朽骸。堀穴深不通於泉，流不發洩，則止。死者既葬，生者毋久喪用哀。」
The sagely kings of ancient times made a law for measured burial, saying, "Three robes are enough to let the flesh rot, and a coffin of three inches is enough to let the bones rot. Dig the pit so that its depth does not reach the springs and nothing seeps out, and it stops. When the dead have been buried, let the living not wear mourning long and spend themselves in grief."
古者人之始生未有宮室之時，因陵丘堀穴而處焉。聖王慮之，以爲堀穴曰，冬可以辟風寒。逮夏，下潤濕，上熏烝，恐傷民之氣，於是作爲宮室而利。然則爲宮室之法將柰何哉？子墨子言曰：其旁可以圉風寒，上可以圉雪霜雨露，其中蠲潔，可以祭祀，宮墻足以爲男女之別，則止諸。加費不加民利者，聖王弗爲。
In ancient times, when people were first born and there were as yet no houses, they leaned against hills and dug caves and dwelt there. The sagely kings thought about this. They held that a cave could keep off wind and cold in winter, but that when summer came the lower part was damp and wet and the upper part was steaming, and they feared it would harm the breath of the people, and so they made houses to good purpose.
Then what is the law for making houses?
Mozi said, "If its sides can hold off wind and cold, and the top can hold off snow and frost and rain and dew, and the inside of it is clean so that sacrifices can be made, and the wall is enough to set men and women apart, it stops." What added to the cost and did not add to the people's benefit the sagely kings did not do.