Book XVII 9

1 The Master said, ‘My children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry?

2 ‘The Odes serve to stimulate the mind.

3 ‘They may be used for purposes of self-contemplation.

4 ‘They teach the art of sociability.

5 ‘They show how to regulate feelings of resentment.

6 ‘From them you learn the more immediate duty of serving one’s father, and the remoter one of serving one’s prince.

7 ‘From them we become largely acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.’