Chapter 7
Whoever is born into the world is, in part, possessor of the world by fact of his birth. All come into the world naked and helpless, and they deserve our assistance because of helplessness. To help the helpless is the highest virtue.
Two wise men are greater than one; a nation of wise men, what could be greater than this? Yet all men come into the world knowing nothing; to give them great wisdom is to make the nations wise and great. To open the avenues on every side to great learning, this is the foundation for a great kingdom.
To have the soil tilled, is this not greater than hunting and fishing? To throw the lands open in the east and west, and north and south, to the tiller of the soil, this is the foundation of plenty. When the poor and ignorant are supplied with necessities, to eat and to wear, with a place to live, there is little crime, but great virtue; and such people are a great strength in that kingdom.
To hold more land than one can till is to sin against those who have none, who do not have the means to live or to earn a living. Yes, such a one is an enemy to the nation.
There are two kinds of governments, one is government for the government, and the other is government for the people. The latter government the people will endorse, and by their wills make it mighty. The former government seeks to make itself mighty at the expense of the people. Such a government is in the throes of death.
To make government and people one, as to prosperity and peace; this is the highest government. For the government to render to the people bountifully, as to land and water, and as to great learning, and to music, this is the wisest, best government.
What man is there who does not love liberty, the chief of all desires? Can a government abridge this without crippling itself or forfeiting the love and cooperation of its people? To bestow liberty, and to maintain liberty to all people, this is the greatest good thing a government can do.
But who shall say what liberty is, and its limit? A man who makes offense against his neighbor, or deprives him of virtuous livelihood, shall not have liberty. No man should run naked; nor should a man have liberty to go into another’s field and take his harvest. How, then, shall a government take a man’s possessions against his will? But he who has received great learning will not offend by nakedness, nor by taking that which is another’s.
What, then, is greater than for a government to bestow great learning on the people? It is not enough to say to the poor: Here is land; feed yourselves. But men of great learning shall be sent among them, showing them how to till the soil, and how to build, and to keep themselves pure in soul and body. For great learning is not in the books only; no, there are men of great knowledge as to books, who are themselves gluttons and debauchees, and bigots, and tyrants, and base authority. Such men do not have great learning, in fact, but great vanity.
Two kingdoms, lying side by side; in the one are great philosophers and colleges, but the multitude are in need; in the other kingdom there are no philosophers, as such, nor colleges; but the multitude have plenty: The latter is a kingdom of greater learning than the former. For what does great learning consist of, if not in knowing how to live wisely? A few philosophers are not a nation. To bestow such knowledge on the people as will enable them to live wisely and be happy to a good old age, this is the labor of the best, great government.
It is a common saying that such and such a king is a great king, because, behold, he has founded colleges. And this is no small matter. But how much greater is the king who has founded a thousand poor families, and taught them how to live wisely? (And so, in this way, is casting out poverty from his kingdom, enriching it, strengthening it.)
To make a law to prevent liberty; to bind slaves more rigidly, is to weaken the nation; to weaken the kingdom. For example, a man had ten servants, and they were free; then he bound nine of them with chains, and complained because they did not serve him well. He was a fool.
To labor for one’s self at the expense of the state, is to rob the state; to hoard up possessions is to rob the poor. What treasure has any man that he can take out of the world? It is better to give it while one may, for tomorrow we die, leaving it to them who did not earn it.
The highest peace is the peace of the soul, which comes of consciousness of having done the wisest and the best in all things according to one’s own light. For after all, is not the earth-life only the beginning, in which we are as in a womb, molding our souls into the condition which will come upon us after death? In which case we should with alacrity seize upon the passing time and appropriate it to doing righteous works to one another.