Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/82

 (other) learners, in serving their masters, have an attachment for them; 18. nor can majesty and dignity be shown in assigning the different places at court, in the government of the armies, and in discharging the duties of office so as to secure the operation of the laws; 19. nor can there be the (proper) sincerity and gravity in presenting the offerings to spiritual Beings on occasions of supplication, thanksgiving, and the various sacrifices. 20. Therefore the superior man is respectful and reverent, assiduous in his duties and not going beyond them, retiring and yielding;—thus illustrating (the principle of) propriety. 21. The parrot can speak, and yet is nothing more than a bird; the ape can speak, and yet is nothing more than a beasts Here now is a man who observes no rules of propriety; is not his heart that of a beast. But if (men were as) beasts, and without (the principle of) propriety, father and son might have the same mate. 22. Therefore, when the sages arose, they framed the rules of propriety in order to teach men, and cause them, by