Those who are governed by others support them; those who govern others are supported by them." This is a principle universally recognised.
7. 'In the time of Yao, when the world had not yet been perfectly reduced to order, the vast waters,flowing out of their channels, made a universal inundation. Vegetation was luxuriant, and birds and beasts swarmed. The various kinds of grain could not be grown. The birds and beasts pressed upon men.The paths marked by the feet of beasts and prints of birds crossed one another throughout the Middle Kingdom. To Yao alone this caused anxious sorrow.He raised Shun to office, and measures to regulate the disorder were set forth. Shun committed to Y? the direction of the fire to be employed, and Y? set fire to, and consumed, the forests and vegetation on the mountains and in the marshes, so that the birds and beasts fied away to hide themselves. Yü separated the nine streams, cleared the courses of the Ts? and T'a,and led them all to the sea.