172 ESSAYS SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL. 



Kara 0iVtv r?v, the realizing the law of one's being. 

 This is TAG, the path, and it is by education that 

 life must be regulated and restrained to the Path. 



5. "When there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, 

 sorrow, or joy, we call it the state of Equilibrium. When 

 those feelings have been stirred, and all in their due 

 measure and degree, we call it the state of Harmony. This 

 Equilibrium is the source of all action, and this Harmony 

 the universal Path. 



6. " Let the states of Equilibrium and Harmony exist in 

 perfection, and heaven and earth would be in their due 

 order, and all things would flourish. 



7. " The perfect man exhibits this state of equilibrium 

 and harmony, inferior men the opposite of this. The perfect 

 man does so because he is perfect, the inferior men fail to 

 do so because they are inferior. 



8. " The master said, ' Perfect is the state of equilibrium 

 and harmony ! Few have they ever been who could attain 

 to it.' 



9. " The master said, ' I know how it is that the Path is 

 not walked in. The cunning go beyond it, and the stupid 

 fall short of it. The worthy (? the great) go beyond it, the 

 unworthy do not come up to it. There is nobody but eats 

 and drinks, but they are few who can distinguish flavours.' " 

 (Cf. 



These first sections are, as it were, the text of the 

 treatise, and the commentary upon them is often 

 very obscure. Still some points suggest a curious 

 parallel to the Greek view of the virtuous or 

 rational life being, in contrast with vicious lives, a 

 mean, while in itself it realizes the idea of human 

 nature. 



The title of Tze-tzse's treatise really consists of 



