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460
The li xt.
BX, XLV.
gifts (of silk and other things) presented at the same time. He had been entertained and feasted. All these observances served to illustrate the idea underlying the relations between ruler and minister in receiving visitors and guests 1.
7. Therefore it was a statute made by the son of Heaven for the feudal lords, that every year they should interchange a small mission, and every three years a great one :thus stimulating one another to the exercise of courtesy. If the messenger committed any error in the exchange of his mission, the ruler, his host, did not personally entertain and feast him :-thereby making him ashamed, and stimulating him.
When the princes thus stimulated one another to the observance of the ceremonial usages, they did not make any attacks on one another, and in their states there was no oppression or encroachment. In this way the son of Heaven cherished and nourished them; there was no occasion for any appeal to arms, and they were furnished with an instrument to maintain themselves in rectitude.
8. (The commissioners) carried with them their jade-symbols, the sceptre and half-sceptre :-showing the importance of the ceremony. On the completion of their mission, these were returned to them :showing the small importance to be attached to their value, and the great importance of the ceremony. When the princes thus stimulated one another, to set light by the value of the articles, and recognise the importance of the ceremony, the people learned to be yielding and courteous.
The entertainment took place in the open court; the banquet in the banqueting chamber.
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