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Chapter 59
第五十九章
For regulating the human (in our constitution) and rendering the (proper) service to the heavenly, there is nothing like moderation.
治人事天，莫若嗇。
It is only by this moderation that there is effected an early return (to man's normal state).
夫唯嗇，是謂早服；
That early return is what I call the repeated accumulation of the attributes (of the Tao).
早服謂之重積德；
With that repeated accumulation of those attributes, there comes the subjugation (of every obstacle to such return).
重積德則無不克；無不克則莫知其極，
Of this subjugation we know not what shall be the limit; and when one knows not what the limit shall be, he may be the ruler of a state.
莫知其極，可以有國；
He who possesses the mother of the state may continue long.
有國之母，可以長久。
His case is like that (of the plant) of which we say that its roots are deep and its flower stalks firm:
是謂根深固柢，
this is the way to secure that its enduring life shall long be seen.
長生久視之道。
