39
The things which from of
old have got the One (the Tao) are--
Heaven which by it is bright and pure;
Earth rendered thereby
firm and sure;
Spirits with powers by it supplied;
Valleys kept full throughout
their void
All creatures which through it do live
Princes and kings who from it get
The model which to all they give.
All
these are the results of the One (Tao).
If heaven were not thus pure, it soon would rend;
If earth
were not thus sure, 'twould break and bend;
Without these powers, the spirits soon would fail;
If not so filled, the
drought would parch each vale;
Without that life, creatures
would pass away;
Princes and kings, without that moral sway,
However grand and high, would all decay.
Thus
it is that dignity finds its (firm) root in its (previous)
meanness, and what is lofty finds its stability in the lowness
(from
which it rises). Hence princes and kings call themselves 'Orphans,'
'Men of small virtue,' and as 'Carriages without
a nave.'
Is not this
an acknowledgment
that in their considering themselves mean they see
the foundation of their dignity? So it is that in the enumeration of
the
different parts of a carriage we do not come on what makes it
answer the ends of a carriage. They do not wish to show themselves
elegant-looking
as jade, but (prefer) to be coarse-looking as an
(ordinary) stone.
