11. "Confucius said, 'Great indeed was Yaou as a sovereign. It is only heaven that is great, and only Yaou corresponded to it. How vast was his virtue The people could find no name for it. Princely indeed was Shun! How majestic was he, having possession of the empire, and yet seeming as if it were nothing to him!' In their governing the empire, were there no subjects on which Yaou and Shun employed their minds? There were subjects, only they did not employ their minds on the cultivation of the ground.

12. "I have heard of men using the doctrines of our great land to change barbarians, but I have never yet heard of any being changed by barbarians. Ch'in Leang was a native of Ts'oo. Pleased with the doctrines of Chow-kung and Chung-ne, he came northwards to the Middle kingdon and studied them. Among the scholars of the northern regions, there were perhaps none who excelled him. He was what you call a scholar of high and distinguished qualities. You and your brother followed him some tens of years, and when your master died, you have forthwith turned away from him.

13. "Formerly, when Confucius died, after three years had elapsed, his disciples collected their baggage, and prepared to return to their several homes. But on entering to take their leave of Tsze-kung, as thev looked towards one another, they wailed, till they all lost their voices. After this they returned to their homes, but Tsze-kung went back, and built a house for himself on the altar-ground, where he lived alone other three years, before he returned home. On another occasion, Tsze-hea, Tsze-chang, and Tsze-yew, thinking that Yew Jo resembled the sage, wished to render to him the same observances which they had rendered to Confucius. They tried to force the disciple Tsang to join with them, but he said, 'This may not be done

What has been washed in the waters of the Keang and Han, and bleached in the autumn sun:-how glistening is it! Nothing can be added to it.'

14. "Now here is this shrike-tongued barbarian of the south, whose doctrines are not those of the ancient kings. You turn away from your master and become his disciple. Your conduct is different indeed from

that of the philosopher Tsang.

15. "I have heard of birds leaving dark valleys to remove to lofty trees, but I have not heard of their descending from lofty trees to enter into dark valleys. 16. "In the Praise-songs of Loo it is said,

'He smote the barbarians of the west and north, He punished King and Seu.'

Thus Chow-kung would be sure to smite them, and you become their disciple again; it appears that your change is not good."

17. Chin Seang said, "If Heu's doctrines were followed, then there would not be two prices in the market, nor any deceit in the kingdom. If a boy of five cubits were sent to the market, no one would impose on him; linen and silk of the same length would be of the same price. So it would be with bundles of hemp and silk, being of the same weight; with the different hanks of grain, being the same in quantity; and with shoes which were of the same size."

18. Mencius replied, "It is the nature of things to be of unequal quality. Some are twice, some five times, some ten times, some a hundred times, some a thousand times, some ten thousand times as valuable as others. If you reduce them all to the same standard, that must throw the empire into confusion. If large shoes and small shoes were of the same price, who would make them? For people to follow the doctrines of Heu, would be for them to lead one another on to practise deceit. How can they avail for the govern ment of a State ?"

ར.

1. The Mihist, E Che, sought, through Seu Peih, to see Mencius. Mencius said, "I indeed wish to see him, but at present I am still unwell. When I am bet ter, I will myself go and see him. E need not come here again."

2. Next day, E Che again sought to see Mencius. Mencius said, "To day I am able to see him. But if I lo not correct his errors, the true principles will not be fully evident. Let me first correct him. I have heard that E is a Mihist. Now Mih considers that in the regulation of funeral matters a spare simplicity should be the rule. E thinks with Mih's doctrines to change the customs of the empire;-how does he regard them as if they were wrong, and not honour them? Notwithstanding his views, E buried his parents in a sumptuous manner, and so he served them in the way which his doctrines discountenance."

3. The disciple Seu informed E of these remarks. E said, "Even according to the principles of the learned, we find that the ancients acted towards the people,' as if they were watching over an infant.' What does this expression mean? To me it sounds that we are to love all without difference of degree; but the manifestation of love must begin with our parents." Seu reported this reply to Mencius, who said, "Now, does E really think that a man's affection for the child of his brother is merely like his affection for the infant of a neighbour? What is to be laid hold of in that expression is simply this:-that if an infant crawling about is about to fall into a well, it is no crime in the infant. Moreover, Heaven gives birth to creatures in such a way that they have one root, and E makes them to have two roots. This is the cause of his error.

4"And, in the most ancient times, there were some who did not inter their parents. When their parents died, they took them up and threw them into some

water-channel. Afterwards, when passing by them, they saw foxes and wild-cats devouring them, and flies and gnats biting at them. The perspiration started out upon their foreheads, and they looked away, unable to bear the sight. It was not on account of other people that this perspiration flowed. The emotions of their hearts affected their faces and eyes, and instantly they went home, and came back with baskets and spades and covered the bodies. If the covering them thus was indeed right, you may see that the filial son and virtuous man, in interring in a handsome manner their parents, act according to a proper rule."

5. The disciple Seu informed E of what Mencius had said. E was thoughtful for a short time, and then said, "He has instructed me."

BOOK III.

TANG WAN KUNG. PART 1

CHAPTER I. 1. Ch'in Tae said to Mencius, “In not going to wait upon any of the princes, you seem to me to be standing on a small point. If now you were once to wait upon them, the result might be so great that you would make one of them emperor, or, if smaller, that you would make one of them chief of all the other princes. Moreover, the History says, 'By bending only one cubit, you make eight cubits straight.' It appears to me like a thing which might be done."

2. Mencius said, "Formerly the duke King of Ts'e,

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 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. If one go to see the princes without waiting to be invited, what can be thought of him?

3. Moreover, that sentence, 'By bending only one cubit, you make eight cubits straight, is spoken with reference to the gain that may be got. If gain be the object, then, if it can be got by bending eight cubits to make one cubit straight, may we likewise do that?

4. "Formerly, the officer Chaou Keen made Wang Leang act as charioteer for his favourite He, when, in the course of a whole day, they did not get a single bird. The favourite He reported this result, saying, 'He is the poorest charioteer in the world.' Some one told this to Wang Leang, who said, 'I beg leave to try again. By dint of pressing, this was accorded to him, when in one morning they got ten birds. The favourite, reporting this result, said, 'He is the best charioteer in the world.' Keen said, 'I will make him always drive your carriage for you.' When he told Wang Leang so, however, Leang refused, saying, 'I drove for him, strictly observing the proper rules for driving, and 'n the whole day he did not get one bird. I drove for him so as deceitfully to intercept the birds, and in one morning he got ten. It is said in the Book of Poetry, There is no failure in the management of their horses;

The arrows are discharged surely, like the blows of an axe.