[220] 5. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard:
"Bhikkhus, these two bright qualities (sukkā dhammā) protect the world. What two? Moral shame (hiri) and moral dread (ottappa). Bhikkhus, if these two bright qualities did not protect the world, there would not be discerned here 'mother,' or 'mother's sister,' or 'maternal uncle's wife,' or 'teacher's wife (ācariyabhariyā),' or 'wives of those worthy of respect (garūnaṃ dārā)'; the world would have fallen into promiscuity, as with goats and sheep, chickens and pigs, dogs and jackals. But since, bhikkhus, these two bright qualities do protect the world, therefore there are discerned 'mother,' or 'mother's sister,' or 'maternal uncle's wife,' or 'teacher's wife,' or 'wives of those worthy of respect.'"
This meaning was spoken by the Blessed One. It is in this connection that it is said:
"Those in whom moral shame and moral dread
are not found at all times —
fallen away from the bright root,
they go to birth and death.
But those in whom moral shame and moral dread
are at all times rightly established,
who have matured in the holy life (brahmacariya) —
they are at peace, their renewed existence (punabbhava) exhausted."
This meaning too was spoken by the Blessed One; so I have heard. The Fifth.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.