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much less may any of the princes do so? If because of his talents and virtue, then I have not heard of any one wishing to see a person with those qualities, and calling him to his presence.

4. "During the frequent interviews of the duke Muh with Tsze-sze, he one day said to him, "Anciently, princes of a thousand chariots have yet been on terms of friendship with scholars ;-what do you think of such an intercourse?' Tsze-sze was displeased, and said, "The ancients have said, The scholar should be served: how should they have merely said that he should be made a friend of?' When Tsze-sze was thus displeased, did he not say within himself,—'With regard to our stations, you are sovereign, and I am subject. How can I presume to be on terms of friendship with my sovereign? With regard to our virtue, you ought to make me your master. How may you be on terms of friendship with me?' Thus, when a prince of a thousand chariots sought to be on terms of friendship with a scholar, he could not obtain his wish :-How much less could he call him to his presence!

5 "The duke King of Ts'e, once, when he was hunting, called his forester to him by a flag. The forester would not come, and the duke was going to kill him. With reference to this incident, Confucius said, 'The determined officer never forgets that his end may be in a ditch or a stream; the brave officer never forgets that he may lose his head.' What was it in the forester that Confucius thus approved? He approved his not going to the duke, when summoned by the article which was not appropriate to him."

6. Chang said, "May I ask with what a forester should be summoned?" Mencius replied, "With a skin cap. A common man should be summoned with a plain banner; a scholar who has taken office, with one having dragons embroidered on it; and a great officer,

with one having feathers suspended from the top of the staff.

7. "When the forester was summoned with the article appropriate to the summoning of a great officer, he would have died rather than presume to go. If a common man were summoned with the article appropriate to the summoning of a scholar, how could he presume to go? How much more may we expect this refusal to go, when a man of talents and virtue is summoned in a way which is inappropriate to his character!

8. "When a prince wishes to see a man of talents and virtue, and does not take the proper course to get his wish, it is as if he wished him to enter his palace, and shut the door against him. Now, righteousness is the way, and propriety is the door, but it is only the superior man who can follow this way, and go out and in by this door. It is said in the Book of Poetry,

'The way to Chow is level like a whetstone,
And straight as an arrow.

The officers tread it,

And the lower people see it.'

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9. Wan Chang said, "When Confucius received the prince's message calling him, he went without waiting for his carriage. And so did Confucius do wrong?" Mencius replied, "Confucius was in office, and had its appropriate duties. And moreover, he was summoned on the business of his office."

VIII. 1. Mencius said to Wan Chang, "The scholar whose virtue is most distinguished in a village shall make friends of all the virtuous scholars in the village. The scholar whose virtue is most distinguished throughout a State shall make friends of all the virtuous scholars of that State. The scholar whose viriue is most distinguished throughout the empire shall make friends of all the virtuous scholars of the empire.

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2. “When a scholar feels that his friendship with all

the virtuous scholars of the empire is not sufficient to satisfy him, he proceeds to ascend to consider the men of antiquity. He repeats their poems, and reads their books, and as he does not know what they were as men, to ascertain this, he considers their history. This is to ascend and make friends of the men of antiquity. IX. 1. The king Suen of Ts'e asked about the office of chief ministers. Mencius said, "Which chief ministers is your majesty asking about?" "Are there any differences among them?" inquired the king. "There are," was the reply. "There are the chief ministers who are noble and relatives of the prince, and there are those who are of a different surname." The king said, "I beg to ask about the chief ministers who are noble and relatives of the prince." Mencius answered, “If the prince have great faults, they ought to remonstrate with him, and if he do not listen to them after they have done so again and again, they ought to dethrone him."

2. The king on this looked moved, and changed

countenance.

3. Mencius said, "Let not your Majesty be offended. You asked me, and I dare not answer but according to truth."

4. The king's countenance became composed, and he then begged to ask about chief ministers who were of a different surname from the prince. Mencius said, "When the prince has faults, they ought to remonstrate with him, and if he do not listen to them after they have done this again and again, they ought to leave the State."

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BOOK VI.

KAOU TSZE. PART I

CHAPTER I. 1. The philosopher Kaou said, "Man's nature is like the ke willow, and righteousness is like a cup or a bowl. The fashioning benevolence and righteousness out of man's nature is like the making cups and bowls from the ke willow."

2. Mencius replied, "Can you, leaving untouched the nature of the willow, make with it cups and bowls? You must do violence and injury to the willow, before you can make cups and bowls with it. If you must do violence and injury to the willow in order to make cups and bowls with it, on your principles you must in the same way do violence and injury to humanity in order to fashion from it benevolence and righteousness! Your words, alas! would certainly lead all men on to reckon benevolence and righteousness to be calamities."

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II. 1. The philosopher Kaou said, " Man's nature is like water whirling round in a corner. Open a passage for it to the east, and it will flow to the east; open a passage for it to the west, and it will flow to the west. Man's nature is indifferent to good and evil, just as the water is indifferent to the east and west."

2. Mencius replied, "Water indeed will flow indifferently to the east or west, but will it flow indifferently up or down? The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. There are none but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows downwards.

3. "Now by striking water and causing it to leap up,

you may make it go over your forehead, and, by damming and leading it, you may force it up a hill;—but are such movements according to the nature of water? It is the force applied which causes them. When men are made to do what is not good, their nature is dealt with in this way."

III. 1. The philosopher Kaou said, "Life is what is to be understood by nature."

2. Mencius asked him, "Do you say that by nature you mean life, just as you say that white is white?" "Yes, I do," was the reply. Mencius added, "Is the whiteness of a white feather like that of white snow, and the whiteness of white snow like that of a white gem?" Kaou again said "Yes."

3. "Very well," pursued Mencius. "Is the nature of a dog like the nature of an ox, and the nature of an ox like the nature of a man?"

IV. 1. The philosopher Kaou said, " To enjoy food and delight in colours is nature. Benevolence is internal and not external; righteousness is external and not internal."

2. Mencius asked him, "What is the ground of your saying that benevolence is internal and righteousness external?" He replied, "There is a man older than I, and I give honour to his age. It is not that there is first in me a principle of such reverence to age. just as when there is a white man, and I consider him white;-according as he is so externally to me. On this account, I pronounce of righteousness that it is ex

ternal."

It is

3. Mencius said, "There is no difference between our pronouncing of a white horse to be white and our pronouncing a white man to be white. But is there no difference between the regard with which we acknowledge the age of an old horse and that with which we acknowledge the age of an old man? And what is it

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