listen to] people's discourses throughout it, [you will find that] if they are not the adherents of Yang, they are those of Mih. Yang's principle is-Each one for himself;' which leaves no [place for duty to] the ruler. Mih's principle is To love all equally;' which leaves no place for [the peculiar affection due to] a father. But to acknowledge neither ruler nor father is to be in the state of a beast. Kung-ming E said, 'In their stalls there are fat beasts, and in their stables there are fat horses, but their people have the look of hunger, and in the fields there are those who have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men.' If the principles of Yang and Mih are not stopped, and the principles of Confucius are not set forth, then those perverse speakings will delude the people, and stop up [the path of] benevolence and righteousness. When benevolence and righteousness are stopped up, beasts will be led on to devour men, and men will devour one another. 10. "I am alarmed by these things, and address myself to the defence of the principles of the former sages. I oppose Yang and Mih, and drive away their licentious expressions, so that such perverse speakers may not be able to show themselves. When [their errors] spring up in men's minds, they are hurtful to the conduct of affairs. When they are thus seen in their affairs, they are hurtful, to their government. When a sage shall again arise, he will certainly not change [these] my words. 11. "Formerly, Yu repressed the vast waters [of the inundation], and all under the sky was reduced to order. The duke of Chow's achievements extended to the wild tribes of the east and north, and he drove away all ferocious animals, so that the people enjoyed repose. Confucius completed the Spring and Autumn, and rebellious ministers and villainous sons were struck with terror. 12. "It is said in the Book of Poetry, 'He smote the tribes of the west and the north; He punished King and Shoo; And no one dared to resist us.' of Mih Teih, and of the principles of them both, I have spoken in the Prolegomena. See the words here attributed to Kung-ming E in I. i. IV. 4. Par. 10. Compare II. i. II. 17. Par. 11. The way in which the duke of Chow's driving away "all ferocious animals" is here mentioned seems inconsistent with the view of the expression of which I have spoken under par. 6. Par. 12. See on Pt i. IV. 16. These father-deniers and king-deniers would have been smitten by the duke of Chow. 13. "I also wish to rectify men's hearts, and to put an end to [those] perverse speakings, to oppose their one-sided actions, and banish away their licentious expressions ;—and thus carry on the [work of the] three sages. Do I do so because I am fond of disputing? I am constrained to do it. 14. "Whoever can by argument oppose Yang and Mih is a disciple of the sages.' X. 1. K'wang Chang said [to Mencius], "Is not Mr Ch'in Chung a man of true self-denying purity? He was living in Woo-ling, and for three days was without food, till he could neither hear nor see. Over a well there grew a plum tree, a fruit of which had been, more than half of it, eaten by worms. He crawled to it, and tried to eat [some of this fruit], when, after swallowing three mouthfuls, he recovered his sight and hearing." 2. Mencius replied, "Among the scholars of Ts'e I must regard Chung as the thumb [among the fingers]. But still, how can he be regarded as having that self-denying purity? To carry out the principles which he holds, one must become an earth-worm, for so only can it be done. Par. 13. Compare II. i. II. 17. Par. 14. Mencius seems here to call on all disciples of Confucius to cooperate with him in upholding the doctrines of the sage, and yet the sentence was perhaps intended to take away from the forcible assertion to which he had given utterance, and by which he claimed for himself a place in the line of sages. CH. X. THE MAN WHO WILL AVOID ALL ASSOCIATION WITH, AND OBLIGATION TO, THOSE OF WHOM HE DOES NOT APPROVE MUST NEEDS GO OUT OF THE WORLD.-ILLUSTRATED BY THE CASE OF CH'IN CHUNG OF TS'E. Par. 1. K'wang Chang and Ch'in Chung (called also Ch'in Tsze-chung) were both natives of Ts'e. The former was high in the confidence and employment of the kings Wei and Seuen, and did good service to the State on more than one occasion ;-see on IV. ii. xxx, The latter, as we learn from this chapter, belonged to an old and noble family of the State. His principles appear to have been those of Heu Hing, mentioned in Pt i. IV., or even more severe. We may compare him with the recluses of Confucius' time. Woo-ling was a poor, wild place, where Chung and his wife, likeminded with himself, lived in retirement. It was somewhere in the present department of Tse-nan. Chaou K'e thinks that it is said the plum was half-eaten, to show how Mr Chung had really all but lost his eye-sight. Par. 2. Mencius' idea is that Ch'in Chung's principles were altogether impracticable. 3. "Now an earth-worm eats the dry mould above, and drinks the yellow spring below. Was the house in which Mr Chung lives built by a Pih-e? or was it built by a robber like Chih? Was the grain which he eats planted by a Pih-e? or was it planted by a robber like Chih? These are things which cannot be known." He 4. "But," said [Chang], "what does that matter ? himself weaves sandals of hemp, and his wife twists hempen threads, which they exchange [for other things]." 5. [Mencius] rejoined, " Mr Chung belongs to an ancient and noble family of Ts'e. His elder brother Tae received from Kah a revenue of 10,000 chung, but he considered his brother's emolument to be unrighteous, and would not dwell in the place. Avoiding his brother, and leaving his mother, he went and dwelt in Woo-ling. One day afterwards, he returned [to their house], when it happened that some one sent his brother a present of a live goose. He, knitting his brows, said, 'What are you going to use that cackling thing for?' By-and-by, his mother killed the goose, and gave him some of it to eat. [Just then] his brother came into the house and said, 'It's the flesh of that cackling thing,' on which he went out, and vomited it. 66 6. Thus what his mother gave him he would not eat, but what his wife gives him he eats. He will not dwell in his brother's house, but he dwells in Woo-ling. How can he in such circumstances complete the style of life which he professes? With such principles as Mr Chung holds, [a man must be] an earth-worm, and then he can carry them out." Par. 3. Pih-e, -see II. i. II. 22, et al. Chih was a famous robber chief of Confucius' time, a younger brother of Hwuy of Lew-hea, celebrated by Mencius in II. i. IX. 2, et al. There was, however, it is said, in high antiquity in the time of Hwang-te, a noted robber so called, whose name was given to Hwuy's brother because of the similarity of their course. "The robber Chih" had come to be used like a proper name.-As Chung withdrew from human society lest he should be defiled by it, Mencius shows that unless he were a worm, he could not be independent of other men. Even the house he lived in, and the grain he ate, might be the result of the labour of a villain like Chih, or of a worthy like Pih-e, for anything he could tell. Parr. 4, 5. K'wang Chang says that the lodging and food of Mr Ch'in were innocently and righteously come by; and it was not necessary to push one's inquiries further back. Mencius does not reply to him directly, but throws ridicule on the self-denying recluse by the ridiculous story which he tells; and concludes by reiterating what he had affirmed as to the impracticability of the man and of his principles. BOOK IV. LE LOW. PART I. CHAPTER I. 1. Mencius said, "The power of vision of Le Low, and the skill of hand of Kung-shoo, without the compass and square, could not form squares and circles. The acute ear of the [music]-master Kwang, without the pitch-tubes, could not determine correctly the five notes. The principles of Yaou and Shun, without a benevolent · government, could not secure the tranquil order of the kingdom. With this Book commences what is commonly called the second or lower Part of the Works of Mencius; but that division is not recognized in the critical editions. It is called Le Low from its commencing with those two characters, and contains twenty-eight chapters which are most of them shorter than those of the preceding Books. CH. I. THERE IS AN ART OF GOVERNMENT, AS WELL AS A WISH TO GOVERN WELL, TO BE LEARNED FROM THE EXAMPLE AND PRINCIPLES OF THE ANCIENT KINGS, AND WHICH MUST BE STUDIED AND PRACTISED BY RULERS AND THEIR MINISTERS. Par. 1. Le Low, called also Le Choo, carries us back to the highest Chinese antiquity. He was, it is said, of the time of Hwang-te, and so acute of vision that at the distance of a hundred paces he would see the point of the smallest hair. Kung-shoo, named Pan, was a celebrated mechanist of Loo, contemporary with Confucius, if, as some think, he was a son of duke Ch'aou. He is fabled to have made birds of bamboo which could continue flying for three days, and other marvellous contrivances. He is now the tutelary spirit of carpenters, under the name of Loo Pan or Pan of Loo; but many critics contend that the Kung-shoo of Mencius and Loo Pan ought not to be identified. See the Le Ke, II. ii. II. 21. Kwang, styled Tsze-yay, was a famous music-master of Tsin, a little before the time of Confucius. There is an interesting conversation between him and the marquis of Tsin in the Tso Chuen, under the 14th year of duke Sëang. The pitch-tubes, here called "six," by synecdoche for "twelve," were invented in the earliest times, to determine by their various lengths the notes of the musical scale, and for other purposes. See some account of them under par. 8 in the Shoo, II. i. The five notes" are the five full notes of the octave, omitting the semitones. The word "principles " in the phrase, "the principles of Yaou and Shun," must be taken vaguely, and as meaning simply the wish to govern rightly, subsequently embodied in "benevolent government," such as Mencius delighted to dwell on in many chapters of the previous Books. The use of "principles," however, in this vague and uncertain way, introduces an 66 2. "There are now [princes] who have benevolent hearts and a reputation for benevolence, while yet the people do not receive any benefits from them, nor will they leave any example to future ages;-all because they do not put into practice the ways of the ancient kings. 3. "Hence we have the saying, 'Goodness alone is not sufficient for the exercise of government; laws alone cannot carry themselves into practice.' 4. "It is said in the Book of Poetry, Erring in nothing, forgetful of nothing, Observing and following the old statutes.' Never has any one fallen into error who followed the laws of the ancient kings. eyes, 5. "When the sages had used all the power of their they called in to their aid the compass, the square, the level, and the line; and the ability to make things square, round, level, and straight was inexhaustible. When they had used all the power of their ears, they called in the aid of the pitch-tubes; and the ability to determine correctly the five notes was inexhaustible. When they had used all the thoughts of their hearts, they called in to their aid a government that could not bear [to witness the suffering of] men; and their benevolence overspread all under heaven. 6. "Hence we have the saying, To raise a thing high we must begin from [the top of] a mound or a hill; to dig inconsistency and ambiguity into the chapter. Mencius exhorts to follow the ways or "principles " of the ancient kings, and yet they are here said to be insufficient for good government. Par. 2. One of the early commentators of the Sung dynasty refers to king Seuen of Ts'e of I. i. VII. et al., as an instance of the rulers who have a benevolent heart, and to the first emperor of the Lëang dynasty, (A.D. 502— 549), whose Buddhistic scrupulosity about taking life made him have a reputation for benevolence. Yet the heart of the one and the reputation of the other proved of little benefit to their people. Par. 3. "Goodness alone" is the benevolent heart without the method. "Laws alone" is the benevolent government without the heart. Par. 4. See the She, III. ii. V. 2. Par. 5. According to the views of Chinese writers, the lever was the first of the mechanical powers which was invented. "The lever revolving produced the circle. The circle produced the square. The square produced the line; and the line produced the level." On government as "not bearing to witness the sufferings of men," see II. i. VI. |