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blessings have descended on the people, if for some cause he leaves the country, the prince sends an escort to conduct him beyond the boundaries. He also anticipates with recommendatory intimations his arrival in the country to which he is proceeding. When he has been gone three years and does not return, only then at length does he take back his fields and residence. This treatment is what is called a thrice-repeated display of consideration.' When a prince acts thus, mourning will be worn on leaving his service.

4. "Now-a-days, the remonstrances of a minister are not followed, and his advice is not listened to, so that no blessings descend on the people. When for any cause he leaves the country, the prince tries to seize him and hold him a prisoner. He also pushes him to extremity in the country to which he has gone, and on the very day of his departure, he takes back his fields and residence. This treatment shows him to be what we call a robber and an enemy.' What mourning can be worn for a robber and an enemy?"

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IV. Mencius said, "When scholars are put to death without any crime, the great officers may leave the country. When the people are slaughtered without any crime, the scholars may remove."

V. Mencius said, "If the sovereign be benevolent, all will be benevolent. If the sovereign be righteous, all will be righteous."

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VI. Mencius said, "Acts of propriety which are not really proper, and acts of righteousness, which are not really righteous, the great man does not do."

VII. Mencius said, "Those who keep the Mean, train up those who do not, and those who have abilities, train up those who have not, and hence men rejoice in having fathers and elder brothers who are possessed of virtue and talent. If they who keep the Mean spurn those who do not, and they who have abili

ties spurn those who have not, then the space between them those so gifted and the ungifted-will not admit an inch."

VIII. Mencius said, " Men must be decided on what they will NOT do, and then they are able to act with vigour in what they ought to do."

IX. Mencius said, "What future misery have they and ought they to endure, who talk of what is not good in others!"

X. Mencius said, "Chung-ne did not do extraordinary things."

XI. Mencius said, "The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute;-he simply speaks and does what is right."

XII. Mencius said, "The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.

XIII. Mencius said, "The nourishment of parents when living is not sufficient to be accounted the great thing. It is only in the performing their obsequies when dead, that we have what can be considered the great thing."

XIV. Mencius said, "The superior man makes his advances in what he is learning with deep earnestness and by the proper course, wishing to get hold of it as in himself. Having got hold of it in himself, he abides in it calmly and firmly. Abiding in it calmly and firmly, he reposes a deep reliance on it. Reposing a deep reliance on it, he seizes it on the left and right, meeting everywhere with it as a fountain from which things flow. It is on this account that the superior man wishes to get hold of what he is learning as in himself."

XV. Mencius said, "In learning extensively and discussing minutely what is learned, the object of the superior man is that he may be able to go back and set forth in brief what is essential."

XVI. Mencius said, "Never has he who would by his excellence subdue men been able to subdue them. Let a prince seek by his excellence to nourish men, and he will be able to subdue the whole empire. It is impossible that any one should become ruler of the empire to whom it has not yielded the subjection of the heart."

XVII. Mencius said, "Words which are not true are inauspicious, and the words which are most truly obnoxious to the name of inauspicious, are those which throw into the shade men of talents and virtue.

XVIII. 1. The disciple Seu said, "Chung-ne often praised water, saying, 'O water! O water!' What did he find in water to praise?"

2. Mencius replied, "There is a spring of water; how it gushes out! It rests not day nor night. It fills up every hole, and then advances, flowing on to the four seas. Such is water having a spring! It was this which he found in it to praise.

3. But suppose that the water has no spring.-In the seventh and eighth months when the rain falls abundantly, the channels in the fields are all filled, but their being dried up again may be expected in a short time. So a superior man is ashamed of a reputation beyond his merits."

XIX. 1. Mencius said, "That whereby man differs from the lower animals is but small. The mass of people cast it away, while superior men preserve it.

2. "Shun clearly understood the multitude of things, and closely observed the relations of humanity. He walked along the path of benevolence and righteousness; he did not need to pursue benevolence and righteousness."

XX. 1. Mencius said, "Yu hated the pleasant wine, and loved good words.

2. "Tang held fast the Mean, and employed men of

talents and virtue without regard to where they came from.

3. "King Wan looked on the people as he would on a man who was wounded, and he looked towards the right path as if he could not see it.

4. "King Woo did not slight the near, and did not forget the distant.

5. "The duke of Chow desired to unite in himself the virtues of those kings, those founders of the three dynasties, that he might display in his practice the four things which they did. If he saw any thing in them not suited to his time, he looked up and thought about it, from day-time into the night, and when he was fortunate enough to master the difficulty, he sat waiting for the morning."

XXI. 1. Mencius said, “The traces of imperial rule were extinguished, and the imperial odes ceased to be made. When those odes ceased to be made, then the Ch'un-Ts-ew was produced.

2. "The Shing of Tsin, the Taou-wuh of Ts'oo, and the Ch'un-Ts'ew of Loo, were books of the same character.

3. "The subject of the Ch'un-wuh was the affairs of Hwan of Ts'e and Wan of Tsin, and its style was the historical. Confucius said, 'Its righteous decisions I ventured to make."

XXII. 1. Mencius said, "The influence of a sovereign sage terminates in the fifth generation. The influence of a mere sage does the same.

2. "Although I could not be a disciple of Confucius himself, I have endeavored to cultivate my virtue by means of others who were."

XXIII. Mencius said, "When it appears proper to take a thing, and afterwards not proper, to take it is contrary to moderation. When it appears proper to give a thing and afterwards not proper, to give it is

contrary to kindness. When it appears proper to sacrifice one's life, and afterwards not proper, to sacrifice it is contrary to bravery."

XXIV. 1. Pang Mung learned archery of E When he had acquired completely all the science of E, he thought that in all the empire only E was superior to himself, and so he slew him. Mencius said, "In this case E also was to blame. Kung-ming E indeed, said 'It would appear as if he were not to be blamed,' but he thereby only meant that his blame was slight. How can he be held without any blame?"

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2. "The people of Ch'ing sent Tsze-cho Yu to make a stealthy attack on Wei, which sent Yu-kung Sze to pursue him. Tsze-cho Yu said, 'To-day I feel unwell, so that I cannot hold my bow. I am a dead man!' At the same time he asked his driver, 'Who is it that is pursuing me?' The driver said, 'It is Yu-kung Sze,' on which he exclaimed, 'I shall live.' The driver said, 'Yu-kung Sze is the best archer of Wei, what do you mean by saying—I shall live?' Yu replied, Yu-kung Sze learned archery from Yin-kung To, who again learned it from me. Now, Yin-kung T'o is an upright man, and the friends of his selection must be upright also.' When Yu-kung Sze came up, he said, 'Master, why are you not holding your bow?' Yu answered him, 'To-day I am feeling unwell, and cannot hold my bow.' On this Sze said, 'I learned archery from Yin-* kung To, who again learned it from you. I cannot bear to injure you with your own science. The business of to-day, however, is the prince's business, which I dare not neglect. He then took his arrows, knocked off their steel-points against the carriage-wheel, discharged four of them, and returned."

XXV. 1. Mencius said, "If the lady Se had been covered with a filthy head-dress, all people would have stopped their noses in passing her.

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