Anciently, some world-wide empires

Made men look joyful, but

When they had that joy in their nature,

There was a want of placidity, of course.

Some other governments, on the contrary,

Made their people look distressed,

But when their nature, as it happened,

Showed some symptoms of distress,

There was a want of contentment.

The want of placidity and contentment

Are contrary to the characters of nature;

And where this obtains, it is impossible

That any nation or state should anywhere

Abide long. Are men exceedingly joyful?

If it is so, this means one simple thing:

The positive element of expansion in them

Is too prevalent, and that's the point.

Are men exceedingly irritated? If so,

It means that the negative element in them

Is too much developed. When such elements

Thus predominate in men, it is as though

All the four seasons were not to come

In their due times, and the harmony of cold

And heat were not to be duly maintained--

Would there not result injury to people's life?

The men's rejoicing and dissatisfaction

Are made to arise where they ought

Not to do so. As a result, their activities

Are all uncertain: they lose the mastery

Of thoughts, they stop short midway

And do not finish what they have begun.

In such state of things the entire world begins

To have lofty aims and jealous dislikes,

Ambitious courses and fierce animosities;

Then men have actions like those of thieves

And robbers. . . Well, the things like these

Can only give a pain in the rear end.