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438
THE LÎ xi.
BK. XLII.
on the north-west; the host (represents) the treatment of others according to benevolence and a genial kindness, and therefore his seat is on the southeast, and his attendant is seated on the north-east, that he may there (most conveniently) assist him?
6. That intercourse according to benevolence and righteousness being established, so as to show the respective duties of host and guest, and the number of stands and dishes being properly fixed ;-all this must be the result of sage intelligence. That intelligence established the arrangements, and each one being carried through with respect, it became a ceremonial usage. That usage proceeding to mark and embody the distinction between old and young, it became a virtue. Virtue is that which is the characteristic of the person. Therefore we have the saying, 'In the learning of antiquity, the methods by which they pursued the course adopted were intended to put men in possession of their proper virtue. On this account the sages employed their powers (on its lessons) 2.
1 P. Callery observes on this paragraph :—The meteorological observations on which these statements rest must have been made very long ago in the interior of the country, there where the winds come under the influence of the icy plains of Tartary and the high mountains which separate China from Thibet; for on the seacoasts of China, exactly the contrary has place. During the winter the north-east monsoon prevails, varying sometimes to the north and sometimes to the east, rarely to the north-west; while during the heats of summer the wind blows from the south-west, bending a little towards the south or towards the east, according as the monsoon is in the period of its increase or decline. It is generally in the course of this monsoon that there takes place the terrible storms known by the name of typhoons.'
* The Khien-lung editors do their best to elucidate this
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