Chapter XI: The Five Punishments

CHAPTER XI

THE FIVE PUNISHMENTS

The criminal law consists principally of five punishments, which are directed against three thousand offences. Of them, disobedience to one's parents is considered the most heinous crime.

To threaten the sovereign with force is an act which shows that the wrongdoer does not know the duty of an inferior to a superior; to say anything against the government founded by the wise men of many generations gone by is an act which shows that the speaker does not know what law is; and to say that a son need not be filial to his parents is also an act which shows that the speaker does not know what is the natural relation and duty between a son and parents. Such acts will no doubt lead the man to a wrong course of life.