4. "He is a man who loves what is good."
5. "Is the love of what is good sufficient?"

6. "The love of what is good is more than a sufficient qualification for the government of the empire; -how much more is it so for the State of Loo!

7. "If a minister love what is good, all within the four seas will count 1,000 le but a small distance, and will come and lay their good thoughts before him.

8. If he do not love what is good, men will say, 'How self-conceited he looks? He is saying to himself, I know it.' The language and looks of that self-conceit will keep men off at a distance of 1,000 le. When good men stop 1,000 le off, calumniators, flatterers, and sycophants, will make their appearance. When a minister lives among calumniators, flatterers, and sycophants, though he may wish the State to be well governed, is it possible for it to be so?"

XIV. 1. The disciple Ch'in said, "What were the principles on which the superior men of old took of fice?" Mencius replied, "There were three cases in which they accepted office, and three in which they left it.

2. "If received with the utmost respect and all polite observances, and they could say to themselves that the prince would carry their words into practice, then they took office with him. Afterwards, although there might be no remission in the polite demeanour of the prince, if their words were not carried into practice, they would leave him.

3. "The second case was that in which, though the prince could not be expected at once to carry their words into practice, yet being received by him with the ut most respect, they took office with him. But afterwards, if there was a remission in his polite demeanour, they would leave him.

4. "The last case was that of the superior man who

had nothing to eat, either morning or evening, and was so famished that he could not move out of his door If the prince, on hearing of his state, said, 'I must fail in the great point,-that of carrying his doctrines into practice, neither am I able to follow his words, but I am ashamed to allow him to die of want in my country;' -the assistance offered in such a case might be received, but not beyond what was sufficient to avert death."

XV. 1. Mencius said, "Shun rose from among the channeled fields. Foo Yue was called to office from the midst of his building frames; Kaou-kih from his fish and salt; Kwan E-woo from the hands of his gaoler; Sun-shuh Gaou from his hiding by the sea-shore; and Pih-le He from the market-place.

2. "Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suf fering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompetencies.

3. "Men for the most part err, and are afterwards able to reform. They are distressed in mind and perplexed in their thoughts, and then they arise to vigorous reformation. When things have been evidenced in men's looks, and set forth in their words, then they understand them.

4. "If a prince have not about his court families attached to the laws and worthy counsellors, and if abroad there are not hostile States or other external calamities, his kingdom will generally come to ruin.

5. "From these things we see how life springs from sorrow and calamity, and death from ease and pleasure." XVI. Mencius said, "There are many arts in teaching. I refuse, as inconsistent with my character, to teach a man, but I am only thereby still teaching him."

BOOK VII.

TSIN SIN. PART I.

CHAPTER I. 1. Mencius said, "He who has exhausted all his mental constitution knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven.

2. "To preserve one's mental constitution, and nour ish one's nature, is the way to serve Heaven.

3. "When neither a premature death nor long life causes a man any double-mindedness, but he waits in the cultivation of his personal character for whatever issue; this is the way in which he establishes his Heaven-ordained being."

II. 1. Mencius said, "There is an appointment for every thing. A man should receive submissively what may be correctly ascribed thereto.

2. "Therefore, he who has the true idea of what is Heaven's appointment will not stand beneath a precip itous wall.

3. "Death sustained in the discharge of one's duties may correctly be ascribed to the appointment of Heaven.

4. "Death under handcuffs and fetters cannot correctly be so ascribed."

III. 1. Mencius said, "When we get by our seeking and lose by our neglecting;-in that case seeking is of use to getting, and the things sought for are those which are in ourselves.

2. "When the seeking is according to the proper course, and the getting is only as appointed;-in that

case the seeking is of no use to getting, and the things sought are without ourselves."

IV. 1. Mencius said, "All things are already complete in us.

2. "There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination.

3. "If one acts with a vigorous effort at the law of reciprocity, when he seeks for the realization of perfect virtue, nothing can be closer than his approximation to it."

V. 1. Mencius said, "To act without understanding, and to do so habitually without examination, pursuing the proper path all the life without knowing its nature; -this is the way of multitudes."

VI. Mencius said, "A man may not be without shame. When one is ashamed of having been without shame, he will afterwards not have occasion for shame." VII. 1. Mencius said, "The sense of shame is to a man of great importance.

2. "Those who form contrivances and versatile schemes distinguished for their artfulness, do not allow their sense of shame to come into action.

3. "When one differs from other men in not having this sense of shame, what will he have in common with them?"

VIII. 1. Mencius said, "The able and virtuous monarchs of antiquity loved virtue and forgot power. And shall an exception be made of the able and virtuous scholars of antiquity, that they did not do the same? They delighted in their own principles, and were oblivious of the power of princes. Therefore, if kings and dukes did not show the utmost respect, and observe ail forms of ceremony, they were not permitted to come frequently and visit them. If they thus found it not in their power to pay them frequent visits, how much less could they get to employ them as ministers?"

IX. 1. Mencius said to Sung Kow-ts'een, "Are you fond, Sir, of travelling to the diffierent courts? I will tell you about such travelling.

2. "If a prince acknowledge you and follow your counsels, be perfectly satisfied. If no one does so, be

the same."

3. Kow-ts'een said, "What is to be done to secure this perfect satisfaction?" Mencius replied, "Honour virtue and delight in righteousness, and so you may always be perfectly satisfied.

4. "Therefore, a scholar, though poor, does not let go his righteousness; though prosperous, he does not leave his own path.

5. "Poor and not letting righteousness go;-it is thus that the scholar holds possession of himself. Prosperous and not leaving the proper path;-it is thus that the expectations of the people are not disappointed.

6. "When the men of antiquity realized their wishes, benefits were conferred by them on the people. If they did not realize their wishes, they cultivated their personal character, and became illustrious in the world. If poor, they attended to their own virtue in solitude; if advanced to dignity, they made the whole empire virtuous as well."

X. Mencius said, "The mass of men wait for a king Wan, and then they will receive a rousing impulse. Scholars distinguished from the mass, without a king Wan, rouse themselves."

XI. Mencius said, "Add to a man the families of Han and Wei. If he then look upon himself without being elated, he is far beyond the mass of men."

XII. Mencius said, "Let the people be employed in the way which is intended to secure their ease, and though they be toiled, they will not murmur. Let them be put to death in the way which is intended to preserve their lives, and though they die, they will not murmur at him who puts them to death."