If being a good son makes a good subject, being a good father will also make a good ruler. Love for people outside one’s family is looked upon as an extension of the love for members of one’s own family. One consequence of this view is that the love, and so the obligation to love, decreases by degrees as it extends outwards. Geographically, one loves members of one’s own family more than one’s neighbours, one’s neighbours more than one’s fellow villagers, and so on.
