are the three 1 kings, who are praised by ten thousand generations and are regarded as sage-kings. Yet their methods cannot be applied in later times. Should You now make exemptions from taxation for three generations, You would be able completely to subject the three Chin states. This is not, like the virtuous kings, merely establishing the present times,2... but effecting that later generations shall be at the service of the king! This, however, does not mean that I do not welcome a sage, but it is difficult to await a sage.

4

REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS

The way in which a sage administers a state is by unifying rewards, unifying punishments, and unifying education. The effect of unifying rewards is that the army will have no equal; the effect of unifying punishments is that orders will be carried out; the effect of unifying education is that inferiors will obey superiors. Now if one understands rewards,

1 Should be four.

2 With Wang I reverse the two characters. With Yen I suspect an omission in the text.

3 I take as exclamatory. The idea is that the kings of antiquity

only made the country strong during their own reigns, but by this suggested

far-sighted policy, the results would chiefly appear later.

別說; with Wang I take 別 as 不 and 說 as 悅.

there should be no expense; if one understands punishments, there should be no death penalty; if one understands education, there should be no changes,1 and so people would know 4" the business of the people and there would be no divergent customs. The climax in the understanding of rewards is to bring about a condition of having no rewards; the climax in the understanding of punishments is to bring about a condition of having no punishments; the climax in the understanding of education is to bring about a condition of having no education.2

3

What I mean by the unifying of rewards is that profits and emoluments, office and rank should be determined exclusively by military merit, and that there should not be different reasons for distributing them. For thus the intelligent and the stupid, the noble and the humble, the brave and the timorous, the virtuous and the worthless will all apply to the full whatever knowledge they may have in their breasts, exert to the uttermost whatever strength they may have in their limbs, and will be at the service of their ruler even to death, and the outstanding heroes, the virtuous and the good, of the whole empire will follow him, like flowing water, with the result that the army will have no equal, and commands will be carried out throughout the whole empire. A country of ten thousand chariots will not dare to assemble 5 its soldiers in the plains of the Middle Kingdom; nor will a

1 See below for an explanation of these sententious phrases.

C

5a

country of a thousand chariots dare to defend a walled city. Should a country of ten thousand chariots assemble its soldiers in the plains of the Middle Kingdom, one would in battle, rout its army; and should a country of a thousand chariots defend a walled city, one would in the assault, capture that town. If, in battles, one always routs the other's army and, in assaults, one always captures the other's towns, with the result that finally one has all the cities, and all their riches accrue,1 then what expense or loss can one suffer, even though there are rich congratulatory rewards?

3

6

In days of old, T'ang was invested with Tsan-mao, Wenwang was invested with Ch'i-chou, a district of a hundred square li, T'ang fought a battle with Chieh in the fields of Ming-t'iao, Wu-wang fought a battle with Chou in the fields of Mu,5 and utterly defeated the "nine armies "," and finally split up the land and gave fiefs to the feudal lords. The officers and soldiers, who retired from the ranks, all received land, with the peasants belonging to it, in hamlets

1 賓 should probably be貨 or 實

2 Tsan-mao, # #, is said to have been to the south of the present prefecture of Shang-ch'iu, in Honan province.

3 The town of Chou, at the foot of the Ch'i mountains (the prefecture Fêng-hsiang, in Shansi province) was the home of the later Chou

dynasty.

Ming-t'iao,, was the name of a steep hill in the sub-prefecture of An-i,, in Shensi province. Cf. Chavannes, Mem. Hist., i, p. 170. 5 Mu,, south of the sub-prefecture of Chi, pref. of Wei-hui,, in Honan prov. Cf. ibid., pp. 207 and 228–35.

The expression "nine armies" is used of the Imperial Army.

66

of 25 families 1; the chariots were given a rest, and were no longer mounted; the horses were set at liberty on the southern slopes of Mount Hua; the oxen were set at liberty in the meadows, and they were allowed to grow old, without being reassembled (for war). This was the way of T'ang and Wu of giving rewards. Therefore is it said : If all the people in the empire had had to be rewarded with the produce of Tsan-mao and Ch'i-chou, no one would have received a pint, and if all the people of the empire had had to be rewarded with its money, no one would have received a cash." Therefore is it said: "If a prince of a territory of a hundred li invests his ministers with fiefs, he greatly increases his original territory." How is it that the rewards received, beginning with those to officers and soldiers, retired from the ranks, which consisted of land, with the peasants belonging to it,

1

1o † † †; cf. Chavannes, Mém. Hist., v, pp. 371, 372, note 3, and Henri Maspero, La Chine Antique, pp. 134, 135. King Chao of Ch'u wanted to present Confucius with 700 hamlets with their "god of the soil", and the peasants attached to it, and of Kuan-tzŭ it is said that he had received 300 "registered gods of the soil" () which made him the richest man in Ch'i. This, however, did not constitute a fief, but the land with its tenants was given rather in usufruct. A is the primitive organization of twenty-five families, each li had its own "god of the soil". Cf. the Introduction, p. 57.

2 should be read three times as. Cf. for the whole phrase, Li-chi, ch. xvii, 3 (19), Couvreur, ii, p. 99: 2 B

弗復乘,牛散之桃林之野,而弗復服

"Les chevaux (qui avaient trainé les chars de guerre) furent mis en liberté au midi du mont Hua, pour n'être plus jamais attelés (à ces chars). Les boeufs (qui avaient trainé les voitures de bagage) furent mis en liberté

dans la plaine auprès de la Forêt des pêchers pour n'être plus jamais attelés (à ces voitures)."

Cf. also Chavannes, Mém. Hist., i, p. 243, where the same phrase occurs.

1

in hamlets of 25 families, were even more liberal than those to horses and oxen? Because they (those kings) knew well how to reward the people of the empire according to the possessions of the empire. Therefore do I say: "If one understands rewards there is no expense." Since T'ang and Wu destroyed Chieh 1 and Chou,2 no harm was done within the four seas, and the empire enjoyed great stability; the five storehouses were constructed, the five weapons were stored away, military affairs were set aside, culture and education were practised, shields and spears were carried reversed, writing tablets were stuck in the girdle,3 and music was performed in order to manifest one's virtue—such a condition of affairs prevailed in those times. Rewards and emoluments were not bestowed and yet the people were orderly. Therefore I say: "The climax in the understanding of rewards is to bring about a condition where there are no longer rewards."

What I mean by the unification of punishments 4 is that punishments should know no degree or grade, but that from ministers of state and generals down to great officers and ordinary folk, whosoever does not obey the king's commands, violates the interdicts of the state, or rebels against the statutes fixed by the ruler, should be guilty of death and

1 The last emperor of the Hsia dynasty.

2 The last emperor of the Yin dynasty.

3

; cf. Li-chi, ch. x, 1 (2), Couvreur, i, p. 621, where this tablet is mentioned amongst the appurtenances, carried about his person, by an accomplished young gentleman.

Cf. for utterances regarding punishments, e.g. par. 4, p. 203; par. 5, p. 209; par. 7, p. 231; par. 13, p. 259; par. 18, p. 288.