99. Perfect Goodness

It is said that all good things are natural to those 
who know their duty and walk the path of perfect goodness. 

Perfect men hold as good their own good character.
They count no other goodness so genuinely good.

Love, modesty, propriety, a kindly eye and truthfulness--
these are the five pillars on which perfect goodness rests. 

Penance is the goodness that refrains utterly from killing.
Perfection is the goodness that refuses to utter others' faults.

Humility is the strength of the strong
and the instrument the wise use to reform their foes. 

The touchstone of perfect character is 
accepting with dignity defeat from one's inferiors. 

Of what gain is perfect goodness if it does not do good to all, 
even to those who have done painful things to others?

Deprived of all else, one remains undisgraced
if still endowed with strength of character.

Destiny's last days may surge with oceanic change,
yet perfectly good men remain, like the shore, unchanged. 

Should the perfect virtue of perfect men ever diminish,
this mighty Earth would bear our burdensome weight no more.