| Li Qi: |
The ancient sages (thus) gave honour to what was internal, and sought pleasure in what was external; found a mark of distinction in paucity, and one of what was admirable in multitude; and therefore in the ceremonial usages instituted by the ancient kings we should look neither for multitude nor for paucity, but for the due relative proportion. Therefore, when a man of rank uses a large victim in sacrifice, we say he acts according to propriety, but when an ordinary officer does so, we say be commits an act of usurpation. Guan Zhong had his sacrificial dishes of grain carved, and red bands to his cap; fashioned hills on the capitals of his pillars, and pondweed on the small pillars above the beams - the superior man considered it wild extravagance. Yan Ping-zhong, in sacrificing to his father, used a sucking-pig which did not fill the dish, and went to court in an (old) washed robe and cap - the superior man considered it was niggardliness. Therefore the superior man thinks it necessary to use the utmost care in his practice of ceremonies. They are the bond that holds the multitudes together; and if the bond be removed, those multitude's fall into confusion. Confucius said, 'If I fight, I overcome; when I sacrifice, I receive blessing.' He said so, because he had the right way (of doing everything). |
