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.