But who would have believed that there is on earth a people who,
though
we are in our view so very advanced in every branch of behavior,
still surpass us in comprehending the precepts of civil
life? Yet now
we find this to be so among the Chinese, as we learn to know them
better. And so if we are their equals
in the industrial arts, and ahead
of them in contemplative sciences, certainly they surpass us (though it
is almost
shameful to confess this) in practical philosophy, that is,
in the precepts of ethics and politics adapted to the present
life and
use of mortals. Indeed, it is difficult to describe how beautifully all
the laws of the Chinese, in contrast
to those of other peoples, are
directed to the achievement of public tranquility and the establishment
of social
order, so that men shall be disrupted in their relations as
little as possible. Certainly by their own doing men suffer
the
greatest evils and in turn inflict them upon each other. It is truly
said that "man is a wolf to man."
Our folly is indeed great, but quite
universal. We exposed as we are to natural injuries, heap woes on
ourselves,
as though they were lacking from elsewhere.
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