he would not have been able to marry. That male and female should dwell together, is the greatest of human relations. If Shun had informed his parents, he must have made void this greatest of human relations, thereby incurring their resentment. On this account, he did not inform them."

2. Wan Chang said, "As to Shun's marrying without informing his parents, I have heard your instructions; but how was it that the emperor gave him his daughters as wives without informing Shun's parents?" Mencius said, "The emperor also knew that if he informed them, he could not marry his daughters to him."

3. Wan Chang said, "His parents set Shun to repair a granary, to which, the ladder having been removed, Koo-sow set fire. They also made him dig a well. He got out, but they, not knowing that, proceeded to cover him up. Seang said, 'Of the scheme to cover up the city-forming prince the merit is all mine. Let my parents have his oxen and sheep. Let them have his storehouses and granaries. His shield and spear shall be mine. His lute shall be mine. His bow shall be mine. His two wives I shall make attend for me to my bed.' Seang then went away into Shun's palace, and there was Shun on his couch playing on his lute. Seang said, 'I am come simply because I was thinking anxiously about you. At the same time, he blushed deeply. Shun said to him, 'There are all my officers:-do you undertake the government of them for me.' I do not know whether Shun was ignorant of Seang's wishing to kill him." Mencius answered, "How could he be ignorant of that? But when Seang was sorrowful, he was also sorrowful; when Seang was joyful, he was also joyful."

4. Chang said, "In that case, then, did not Shun rejoice hypocritically?" Mencius replied, "No. Formerly, some one sent a present of a live fish to Tsze

ch'an of Ching. Tsze-ch'an ordered his pond-keeper to keep it in the pond, but that officer cooked it, and reported the execution of his commission, saying, 'When I first let it go, it appeared embarrassed. In a little, it seemed to be somewhat at ease, and then it swam away joyfully.' Tsze-ch'an observed, 'It had got into its element!' The pond-keeper then went out and said, Who calls Tsze-chan a wise man? After I had cooked and eaten the fish, he says,-It had got into its element! it had got into its element!' Thus a superior man may be imposed on by what seems to be as it ought to be, but he cannot be entrapped by what is contrary to right principle. Seang came in the way in which the love of his elder brother would have made him come; therefore Shun sincerely believed him, and rejoiced. What hypocrisy was there?"

III. Wan Chang said, "Seang made it his daily business to slay Shun. When Shun was made emperor, how was it that he only banished him?" Mencius said, "He raised him to be a prince. Some supposed that it was banishing him."

2. Wan Chang said, "Shun banished the superintendent of works to Yew-chow; he sent away Hwantaou to the mountain Ts'ung; he slew the prince of San Meaou in San-wei; and he imprisoned K'wan on the mountain Yu. When the crimes of those four were thus punished, the whole empire acquiesced:-it was a cutting off of men who were destitute of benevolence. But Seang was of all men the most destitute of benevlence, and Shun raised him to be the prince of Yew-pe; -of what crimes had the people of Yew-pe been guilty? Does a benevolent man really act thus? In the case of other men, he cut them off; in the case of his brother, he raised him to be a prince." Mencius replied, "A benevolent man does not lay up anger, nor cherish resentment against his brother, but only regards him

66

with affection and love. Regarding him with affection, he wishes him to be honourable regarding him with love, he wishes him to be rich. The appointment of Seang to be the prince of Yew-pe was to enrich and ennoble him. If while Shun himself was emperor, his brother had been a common man, could he have been said to regard him with affection and love?"

3. Wan Chang said, "I venture to ask what you mean by saying that some supposed that it was a banishing of Seang?" Mencius replied, "Seang could do nothing in his State. The emperor appointed an officer to administer its government, and to pay over its revenues to him. This treatment of him led to its being said that he was banished. How indeed could he be allowed the means of oppressing the people? Nevertheless, Shun wished to be continually seeing him, and, by this arrangement, he came incessantly to court, as is signified in that expression-'He did not wait for the rendering of tribute, or affairs of government, to receive the prince of Yew-pe.'"

IV. 1. Ĥeen-k'ew Mung asked Mencius, saying, "There is the saying,-A scholar of complete virtue may not be employed as a minister by his sovereign, nor treated as a son by his father. Shun stood with his face to the south, and Yaou, at the head of all the princes, appeared before him at court with his face to the north. Koo-sow also did the same. When Shun saw Koo-sow, his countenance became discomposed. Confucius said, At this time, in what a perilous condition was the empire! Its state was indeed unsettled.— I do not know whether what is here said really took place." Mencius replied, "No. These are not the words of a superior man. They are the sayings of an uncultivated person of the east of Tse. When Yaou was old, Shun was associated with him in the government. It is said in the Canon of Yaou, 'After twenty

and eight years, the Highly Meritorious one deceased. The people acted as if they were mourning for a father or mother for three years, and up to the borders of the four seas every sound of music was hushed.' Confucius said, 'There are not two suns in the sky, nor two sovereigns over the people.' Shun having been emperor, and, moreover, leading on all the princes to observe the three years' mourning for Yaou, there would have been in this case two emperors.

2. Heen-k'ew Mung said, "On the point of Shun's not treating Yaou as a minister, I have received your instructions. But it is said in the Book of Poetry, 'Under the whole heaven,

Every spot is the sovereign's ground;
To the borders of the land,

Every individual is the sovereign's minister;' -and Shun had become emperor. I venture to ask how it was that Koo-sow was not one of his ministers." Mencius answered, "That ode is not to be understood in that way—it speaks of being laboriously engaged in the sovereign's business, so as not to be able to nourish one's parents, as if the author said, 'This is all the sovereign's business, and how is it that I alone am supposed to have ability, and am made to toil in it?' Therefore, those who explain the odes, may not insist on one term so as to do violence to a sentence, nor on a sentence so as to do violence to the general scope. They must try with their thoughts to meet that scope, and then we shall apprehend it. If we simply take single sentences, there is that in the ode called 'The Milky Way,'

"Of the black haired people of the remnant of Chow, There is not half a one left.'

If it had been really as thus expressed, then not an individual of the people of Chow was left.

3. "Of all which a filial son can attain to, there is

nothing greater than his honouring his parents. And of what can be attained to in the honouring one's parents, there is nothing greater than the nourishing them with the whole empire. Koo-sow was the father of the emperor;-this was the height of honour. Shun nourished him with the whole empire;-this was the height of nourishing. In this was verified the sentiment in the Book of Poetry,

'Ever cherishing filial thoughts,

Those filial thoughts became an example to after ages.'

4. "It is said in the Book of History, 'Reverently performing his duties, he waited on Koo-sow, and was full of veneration and awe. Koo-sow also believed him and conformed to virtue.'-This is the true case of the scholar of complete virtue not being treated as a son by his father."

V. 1. Wan Chang said, "Was it the case that Yaou gave the empire to Shun?" Mencius said, "No. The emperor cannot give the empire to another."

2. "Yes;-but Shun had the empire. Who gave it to him?" "Heaven gave it to him," was the answer. 3. "Heaven gave it to him':-did Heaven confer its appointment on him with specific injunctions?"

4. Mencius replied, "No. Heaven does not speak. It simply showed its will by his personal conduct, and his conduct of affairs."

5. "It showed its will by his personal conduct and his conduct of affairs':-how was this?" Mencius' answer was, "The empire can present a man to Heaven, but he cannot make Heaven give that man the empire. A prince can present a man to the emperor, but he cannot cause the emperor to make that man a prince. A great officer can present a man to his prince, but he cannot cause the prince to make that man a great officer. Yaou presented Shun to Heaven, and the people ac