[] Heavenly Virtue? (32, tr. Muller) Two passages use the compound dade ( "big/great de). What a good son was Shun (the sage emperor)! His [] virtue was that of a sage, he was venerated as an emperor. His wealth included everything within the Four Seas. He is sacrificed to in the ancestral temple, and his sons and grandsons have preserved his name. Therefore we can say that the [] greatly virtuous always attain their appropriate position, always receive their proper reward, always get their recognition and are always long-lived. (17, tr. Muller) Confucius transmitted the legacy of (sage-emperors) Yao and Shun and modeled his character on that of (sage-kings) Wen and Wu. He was ruled by the Heavenly seasons from above, and combined the Earth and Waters below. He was like Heaven and Earth, which have nothing they do not support, and nothing they do not cover. His function was like the revolution of the four seasons, the alternation of sun and moon. He nourishes the myriad things and they grow up together without harming each other, and they follow their courses simultaneously without interfering with each other. His [] smaller power is like the rivers and streams. His [] great power is seen in deep transformations. This is why Heaven and Earth are called "great." (30, tr. Muller) The Doctrine of the Mean also mentions the concept of zhide "perfect de". How great is the Way of the sage! Superabundant, it develops all things, extending up to Heaven. How excellent it is! It embraces the three hundred rules of ceremony, and the three thousand rules of conduct; it waits for the right person and then functions. Hence it is said: "If you do not [] perfect your virtue, the [] perfect Way cannot be actualized." Therefore the Superior Man esteems his [] virtuous nature and follows the path of inquiry, extending himself in breadth and greatness, penetrating all subtleties, penetrating its height and brilliance, following the course of the actualization of the Mean. He reviews the old and learns the new, thickening his character through the valorization of propriety. (27, tr. Muller) The MenciusDe "virtue; character" occurs 41 times in the Mengzi or Mencius. Many occurrences are in quotations, for instance 6A6 and 6A17 quote Shijing odes 260 and 247. Mencius frequently quotes Confucius about de; 3A4 quotes the Lunyu 12:19 wind and grass metaphor, and 7B37 quotes