It is also a characteristic of the truly virtuous man that he is always, and especially in privacy, grave and serious, and not unmindful of his weak points. He who knows his strength and protects his weakness at the same time will have all the world resorting to him for instruction and example; eternal virtue will not leave him, and he will return to the natural goodness of infancy.[37] Many things fail when the goal is nearly attained, but the godlike man is careful about the end no less than about the beginning.[38] So also were the sages of antiquity whose cautious, hesitating character is portrayed in outline as a model for others.[39] Mercy is another virtue to which Lao-tzŭ attaches considerable importance. Nor is the quality of mercy, as he represents it, strained within any narrow compass. On the contrary, it flows not only over all mankind, but even to the entire world. As has been seen, Lao-tzŭ would have all capital punishment reserved for a supernatural agent to execute, and he would have the correction of wickedness effected by the quiet influence of a good example. He goes farther than this, however; for he will have us to abstain from even judging others—from dividing men into the righteous and the sinners.[40] It is Heaven alone which is to determine the moral worth of human creatures, and give to each his meed. And we must not even assign worldly misfortunes to the displeasure of Heaven—must not say that the eighteen on whom the tower of Siloam fell were greater sinners than the other residents in Jerusalem. The good man must not only not think too harshly of the man who is not good,[41] but he must even love him, and must reward ill will by virtue—the _ne plus ultra_ of generosity, as one of the commentators observes.[42] So also the feeling of compassion will cause the good man to keep his good qualities in the back ground, and not excite the evil passions of the bad man by displaying them obtrusively before him. After a great dispute has been adjusted some grudge is sure to remain, so to live peaceably is to be regarded as virtuous.[43] The good man keeps his proof of an agreement, but he does not claim from the other party to it the fulfillment of the agreement, that is, he will not sue him at a court of law. This spirit of mercy and compassion ought not only to prevail in private and social life, but it ought to extend also to the seat of power and even to temper the fierce passions of warfare. Then from the circle of humanity Lao-tsŭ looks abroad over the ample spaces of nature, and extends to them also a kindly sympathy. The good man never injures anything in the world; on the contrary he saves the inferior creatures and assists them in their ever-renewed operations of coming into existence, growing, and returning to their original source.[44] Did the whole creation in his eyes, too, groan and travail in pain?