CHAPTER XIV
1. Mencius said, "The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the lightest.
2. "Therefore to gain the peasantry is the way to become sovereign;
perhaps rather "confided in". "Will become empty and void,"—Chaou K＇e supplements thus, "If the prince do not consort with and confide in the virtuous and able,then they will go away, and a country without such persons is said to be empty and void."