Imperial dignity. A prince lays the foundation of the inheritance, and hands down the beginning which he has made, doing what may be continued by his succes sors. As to the accomplishment of the great resultthat is with Heaven. What is that Tse to you, O, prince? Be strong to do good. That is all your busi

ness.

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XV. 1. The duke Wan of Tang asked Mencius, saying, "Tang is a small kingdom. Though I do my utmost to serve those large kingdoms on either side of it, we cannot escape suffering from them. What course shall I take that we may do so?" Mencius replied, Formerly, when king Tae dwelt in Pin, the barbarians of the north were constantly making incursions upon it. He served them with skins and silks, and still he suffered from them. He served them with dogs and horses, and still he suffered from them. He served them with pearls and gems, and still he suffered from them. Seeing this, he assembled the old men, and announced to them, saying, 'What the barbarians want is my territory. I have heard this,-that a ruler does not injure his people with that wherewith he nourishes them. My children, why should you be troubled about having no prince. I will leave this.' Accordingly, he left Pin, crossed the mountain Leang, built a town at the foot of mount K'e, and dwelt there. The people of Pin said, 'He is a benevolent man. We must not lose him.' Those who followed him looked like crowds hastening to market.

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2. On the other hand, some say, The kingdom is a thing to be kept from generation to generation. One individual cannot undertake to dispose of it in his own person. Let him be prepared to die for it. Let him not quit it.'

3. "I ask you, prince, to make your election between these two courses."

XVI. 1. The duke P'ing of Loo was about to leave his palace, when his favourite, one Tsang Tsang, made a request to him, saying, "On other days, when you have gone out, you have given instructions to the offi cers as to where you were going. But now, the horses have been put to the carriage, and the officers do not yet know where you are going. I venture to ask." The duke said, "I am going to see the scholar Mang." "How is this!" said the other. "That you demean yourself, prince, in paying the honour of the first visit to a common man, is, I apprehend, because you think that he is a man of talents and virtue. By such men the rules of ceremonial proprieties and right are observed. But on the occasion of this Mang's second mourning, his observances exceeded those of the former. Do not go see him, my prince." The duke said, "I will not.'

It is on

"How

2. The officer Yo-ching entered the court, and had an audience. He said, "Prince, why have you not gone to see Mang Ko?" The duke said, "One told me that on the occasion of the scholar Mang's second mourning, his observances exceeded those of the former. that account that I have not gone to see him." is this!" answered Yo-ching. "By what you call 'exceeding,' you mean, I suppose, that, on the first occasion, he used the rites appropriate to a scholar, and, on the second, those appropriate to a great officer; that he first used three tripods, and afterwards five tripods." The duke said, "No; I refer to the greater excellence of the coffin, the shell, the grave-clothes, and the shroud." Yoching said, “That cannot be called 'exceeding.' That was the difference between being poor and being rich."

3. After this, Yo-ching saw Mencius, and said to him, "I told the prince about you, and he was consequently coming to see you, when one of his favourites, named Tsang Tsang, stopped him, and therefore he did not come according to his purpose." Mencius said, "A

man's advancement is effected, it may be, by others, and the stopping him is, it may be, from the efforts of others. But to advance a man or to stop his advance is really beyond the power of other men. My not finding in the prince of Loo a ruler who would confide in me, and put my counsels into practice, is from Heaven. How could that scion of the Tsang family cause me not to find the ruler that would suit me?"

BOOK II.

KUNG-SUN CHOW. PART I.

CHAPTER I. 1. Kung-sun Chow asked Mencius, saying, "Master, if you were to obtain the ordering of the government in Ts'e, could you promise yourself to accomplish anew such results as those realized by Kwan Chung and Gan?"

2. Mencius said, "You are indeed a true man of Tse. You know about Kwan Chung and Gan, and nothing

more.

3. "Some one asked Tsang Se, saying, 'Sir, to which do you give the superiority,-to yourself or to Tszeloo?' Tsang Se looked uneasy, and said, 'He was an object of veneration to my grandfather.' Then,' pursued the other, 'Do you give the superiority to yourself or to Kwan Chung?' Tsang Se, flushed with anger and displeased, said, 'How dare you compare me with Kwan Chung? Considering how entirely Kwan Chung possessed the confidence of his prince, how long he en

joyed the direction of the government of the kingdom, and how low, after all, was what he accomplished,-how is it that you liken me to him?'

4. "Thus," concluded Mencius, "Tsang Se would not play Kwan Chung, and is it what you desire for me, that I should do so?"

5. Kung-sun Ch'ow said, "Kwan Chung raised his prince to be the leader of all the other princes, and Gan made his prince illustrious, and do you still think it would not be enough for you to do what they did?"

6. Mencius answered, "To raise Ts'e to the Imperial dignity would be as easy as it is to turn round the hand." 7. "So!" returned the other. "The perplexity of your disciple is hereby very much increased. There was king Wan, with all the virtue which belonged to him; and who did not die till he had reached a hundred years: -and still his influence had not penetrated throughout the empire. It required king Woo and the duke of Chow to continue his course, before that influence greatly prevailed. Now you say that the Imperial dignity might be so easily obtained:-is king Wan then not a sufficient object for imitation?"

8. Mencius said, "How can king Wan be matched? From Tang to Woo-ting there had appeared six or seven worthy and sage sovereigns. The empire had been attached to Yin for a long time, and this length of time made a change difficult. Woo-ting had all the princes coming to his court, and possessed the empire as if it had been a thing which he moved round in his palm. Then, Chow was removed from Woo-ting by no great interval of time. There were still remaining some of the ancient families and of the old manners, of the influence also which had emanated from the earlier sovereigns, and of their good government. Moreover, there were the viscount of Wei and his second son, their Royal Highnesses, Pe-kan and the viscount of Ke, and Kaou

kih, all, men of ability and virtue, who gave their joint assistance to Chow in his government. In consequence of these things, it took a long time for him to lose the empire. There was not a foot of ground which he did not possess. There was not one of all the people who was not his subject. So it was on his side, and king Wan made his beginning from a territory of only one hundred square le. On all these accounts, it was difficult for him immediately to attain the Imperial dignity.

9. "The people of Ts'e have a saying-A man may have wisdom and discernment, but that is not like embracing the favourable opportunity. A man may have instruments of husbandry, but that is not like waiting for the farming seasons.' The present time is one in which the Imperial dignity may be easily attained.

10. "In the flourishing periods of the Hea, Yin, and Chow dynasties, the imperial domain did not exceed a thousand le, and Tse embraces so much territory. Cocks crow and dogs bark to each other, all the way to the four borders of the state:-so Ts'e possesses the people. No change is needed for the enlarging of its territory: no change is needed for the collecting of a population. If its ruler will put in practice a benevolent government, no power will be able to prevent his becoming Emperor.

11. "Moreover, never was there a time farther removed than the present from the appearance of a true sovereign: never was there a time when the sufferings of the people from tyrannical government were more intense than the present. The hungry are easily supplied with food, and the thirsty are easily supplied with drink.

12. "Confucius said, 'The flowing progress of virtue is more rapid than the transmission of imperial orders by stages and couriers.'

13. "At the present time, in a country of ten thou