Of courage, truth, honesty, and several other virtues Lao-tzŭ does not make much mention. He seems also to think lightly of conventional humanity and equity, but Han Wên Kung says this was because he had a low conception of these two virtues. According to the figure used by Han, Lao-tzŭ was as a man sitting at the bottom of a well and pronouncing the sky to be of small dimensions.[45] He teaches, however, the mutual dependence of man upon man, and the consequent necessity of the interchange of good offices. The good man gives and asks not—does good and looks not for recompense. He who is virtuous is master of him who is not virtuous, but respect and affection must exist between them. The ruler and the ruled also are mutually dependent, and they too must reciprocate kindness and forbearance. Lao-tzŭ repeatedly condemns the vices of much and fine talking. The wise man, he says, does not talk, and to do without audible words is to follow Nature.[46] Man ought to be silent in his actions as is the all-working Nature. Faithful words, are not fine, and fine words are not faithful; the virtuous man is not argumentative and _vice versa_. To learning and wisdom our author does not, I think, assign a sufficiently high place, but seems rather to condemn them.[47] Learning adds to the evils of existence, and if we could put it away we would be exempt from anxiety. The ancient rulers kept the people ignorant and they had good government—so the people ought still to be kept in ignorance. But perhaps Lao-tzŭ refers to the faults of those persons who drink only slightly of the Pierian spring and then boast of what they acquire, thereby doing injury to themselves and to society. It would, however, have been better if he had distinguished between the pretenders to knowledge, and those who have drunk deeply at the fountain of wisdom by assigning to intellectual worth its proper importance.[48]