Classical political theory

Confucius says the upright man must seal
the example of right action for the rest;
Plato, for his part, says that the test
is who sees what is shadow and what's real.
Mencius he tells us that all humans feel
compassion for the weak, not just the best;
Aristotle, with what seems to be much zest,
shows how to stop the turning of the wheel.
Cicero takes Plato's words, Aristotle's scheme,
to show that law reflects the higher things;
he wants to show us all that there's some hope.
Han Fei, for his part, has a different theme:
the law must clip ambitious creatures' wings,
and for the evil the best cure is rope.