2. Mencius replied, "Is there any difference between killing a man with a stick and with a sword?" The king said, "There is no difference."

3. "Is there any difference between doing it with a sword and with the style of government?" "There is no difference," was the reply.

4. Mencius then said, "In your kitchen there is fat meat; in your stables there are fat horses. But your people have the look of hunger, and on the wilds there are those who have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men.

5. "Beasts devour one another, and men hate them for doing so. When a prince, being the parent of his people, administers his government so as to be chargeable with leading on beasts to devour men, where is that parental relation to the people?"

6. Chung-ne said, "Was he not without posterity who first made wooden images to bury with the dead? So he said, because that man made the semblances of men, and used them for that purpose:--what shall be thought of him who causes his people to die of hunger?"

V. 1. King IIwuy of Leang said, "There was not in the empire a stronger State than Tsin, as you, venerable Sir, know. But since it descended to me, on the east we have been defeated by Tse, and then my eldest son perished; on the west we have lost seven hundred le of territory to Tsin; and on the south we have sustained disgrace at the hands of Too. I have brought shame on my departed predecessors, and wish on their account to wipe it away, once for all. What course is

to be pursued to accomplish this?"

2. Mencius replied, "With a territory which is only a hundred le square, it is possible to attain the Imperial dignity.

3. "If your Majesty will indeed dispense a benevolent government to the people, being sparing in the use

of panishments and fines, and making the taxes and levies light, so causing that the fields shall be ploughed deep, and the weeding of them be carefully attended to, and that the strong-bodied, during their days of leisure, shall cultivate their filial piety, fraternal respectfulness, sincerity, and truthfulness, serving thereby, at home, their fathers and elder brothers, and, abroad, their elders and superiors ;--you will then have a people who can be employed, with sticks which they have prepared, to oppose the strong mail and sharp weapons of the troops of Ts'in and Ts'oo.

4. "The rulers of those States, rob their people of their time, so that they cannot plough and weed their fields, in order to support their parents. Their parents suffer from cold and hunger. Brothers, wives, and children, are separated and scattered abroad.

5. "Those rulers, as it were, drive their people into pit-falls, or drown them. Your Majesty will go to punish them. In such a case, who will oppose your Majesty?

6. "In accordance with this. is the saying,--The benevolent has no enemy.' I beg your Majesty not to doubt what I say."

VI. 1. Mencius went to see the king Seang of Leang.

2. On coming out from the interview, he said to some persons, "When I looked at him from a distance, he did not appear like a sovereign; when I drew near to him, I saw nothing venerable about him. Abruptly he asked me, 'How can the empire be settled?' I replied, 'It will be settled by being united under one sway?'

3. "Who can so unite it?""

4. I replied,' He who has no pleasure in killing men san so unite it.'

5. "Who can give it to him?'”

6. "I replied, ‘All the people of the empire will unan

mously give it to him. Does your Majesty understand the way of the growing grain? During the seventh and eighth months, when drought prevails, the plants become dry. Then the clouds collect densely in the heavens, they send down torrents of rain, and the grain erects itself, as if by a shoot. When it does When it does so, who can keep it back? Now among the shepherds of men throughout the empire, there is not one who does not find pleasure in killing men. If there were one who did not find pleasure in killing men, all the people in the empire would look towards him with out-stretched necks. Such being indeed the case, the people would flock to him, as water flows downward with a rush, which no one can repress.""

VII. 1. The king Seuen of Ts'e asked, saying, "May I be informed by you of the transactions of Hwan of Ts'e, and Wan of Tsin?”

2. Mencius replied, "There were none of the disciples of Chung-ne who spoke about the affairs of Hwan and Wan, and therefore they have not been transmitted to these after ages;--your servant has not heard them. If you will have me speak, let it be about Imperial gov

3. The king said, "What virtue must there be in order to the attainment of Imperial sway?" Mencius answered, "The love and protection of the people; with this there is no power which can prevent a ruler from attaining it.”

4. The king asked again, "Is such an one as I competent to love and protect the people?" Mencius said, "Yes." "From what do you know that I am competent to that?” “I heard the following incident from Hoo Heih; "The king,' said he, was sitting aloft in the hall, when a man appeared, leading an ox past the lower part of it. The king saw him, and asked, Where is the ox going? The man replied, We are going to consecrate

a bell with its blood. The king said, Let it go. I cannot bear its frightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the place of death. The man answered, Shall we then omit the consecration of the bell? The king said, How can that be omitted? Change it for a sheep.' I do not know whether this incident

really occurred."

5. The king replied, "It did,,' and then Mencius said, "The heart seen in this is sufficient to carry you to the Imperial sway. The people all supposed that your Majesty grudged the animal, but your servant knows surely, that it was your Majesty's not being able to bear the sight, which made you do as you did."

6. The king said, "You are right. And yet there really was an appearance of what the people condemned. But though Ts'e be a small and narrow state, how should I grudge one ox. Indeed it was because I could not bear its frightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the place of death, that therefore I changed it for a sheep."

7. Mencius pursued, Let not your Majesty deem it strange that the people should think you were grudging the animal. When you changed the large one for a small, how should they know the true reason. If you felt pained by its being led without guilt to the place of death, what was there to choose between an ox and a sheep?" The King laughed and said, "What really was my mind in the matter? I did not grudge the expense of it, and changed it for a sheep!-There was reason in the people's saying that I grudged it."

8. "There is no harm in their saying so," said Mencius. "Your conduct was an artifice of benevolence. You saw the ox, and had not seen the sheep. So is the superior man affected towards animals, that, having seen them alive, he cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh Therefore he keeps away from his cook-room."

9. The king was pleased, and said, "It is said in the Book of Poetry, 'The minds of others, I am able by reflection to measure;'-this is verified, my Master, in your discovery of my motive. I indeed did the thing, but when I turned my thoughts inward, and examined into it, I could not discover my own mind. When you, my Master, spoke those words, the movements of compassion began to work in my mind. How is it that this heart has in it what is equal to the Imperial sway?"

10. Mencius replied, "Suppose a man were to make this statement to your Majesty :-'My strength is sufficient to lift three thousand catties, but it is not sufficient to lift one feather;-my eye-sight is sharp enough to examine the point of an autumn hair, but I do not sce a waggon-load of faggots;'-would your Majesty allow what he said?" "No" was the answer, on which Mencius proceeded, "Now here is kindness sufficient to reach. to animals, and no benefits are extended from it to the people. How is this? Is an exception to be made here? The truth is, the feather's not being lifted, is because the strength is not used; the waggon-load of firewood's not being seen, is because the vision is not used; and the people's not being loved and protected, is because the kindness is not employed. Therefore your Majesty's not exercising the Imperial sway, is because you do not do it, not because you are not able to do it."

11. The king asked, "How may the difference between the not doing a thing, and the not being able to do it, be represented?" Mencius replied, "In such a thing as taking the T'ae mountain under your arm, and leaping over the north sea with it, if you say to people -I am not able to do it,' that is a real case of not being able. In such a matter as breaking off a branch from a tree at the order of a superior, if you say to people —'I am not able to do it,' that is a case of not doing it, it is not a case of not being able to do it. Therefore