For if they do not learn in youth, what will they do when old?
As gems unwrought serve no useful end,
So men untaught will never know what right conduct is.”
The importance of filial and fraternal duties are then inculcated by precept and example, to which succeeds a synopsis of the various branches of learning in an ascending series, under several heads of numbers; the three great powers, the four seasons and four cardinal points, the five elements and five constant virtues, the six kinds of grain and six domestic animals, the seven passions, the eight materials for music, nine degrees of kindred, and ten social duties. A few extracts will exhibit the mode in which these subjects are treated.
“There are three powers,—heaven, earth, and man.
There are three lights,—the sun, moon, and stars.
There are three bonds,—between prince and minister, justice;
Between father and son, affection; between man and wife, concord.
Humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom, and truth,—
These five cardinal virtues are not to be confused.