When Wei Yang had defeated Wei, on his return to Ch'in, he was awarded fifteen cities in Shang, as fief, and was called the Lord of Shang. When Lord Shang had been Chancellor of Ch'in for ten years, the majority of the members of the princely family and of the nobility bore him a grudge. Chao Liang 2 went to see Lord Shang, who said: "I have had the privilege of having been introduced to you by Meng Lankao. May I now ask to have your intercourse?" 4

Chao Liang replied: "I dare not hope for this. K'ung Ch'iu has said: "Where able men are promoted, a virtuous ruler comes to the front, but where men of no merit are assembled, a king of the whole empire will pass into the background.' I am a man of no merit and, therefore, I dare not receive your commands. I have heard it said that to occupy a position for which one is not qualified, is called being covetous of position', and to have a reputation, to

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1 The modern Shang-chou in Shensi. The Ch'in Annals add that Yang was appointed lieh-hou feudal lord. The Ch'u Annals (Chavannes, op. cit., iv, p. 384) say that Yang received Yü (or Wu) and Shangin fief. Yü was east of modern Nei-hsiang-hsien. in Nan-yang-fu, Honan, adjoining the territory of Shang. See also below where Yü is mentioned by Chao Liang. The Bamboo Annals, for the same year, say that Ch'in conferred on Wei Yang a fief in Wu Ê, of which the name was altered to Shang f. Wu is the territory now comprised by Yen-shih-hsien and Yung-ning-hsien, which is a little to the north-east of the region mentioned above. This slight divergence in detail gives this testimony great independent value.

', not known elsewhere. This interview is a famous piece of literature, often reproduced in anthologies.

3 An unknown individual.

4 i.e." give you a position ".

5 This dictum of Confucius is not otherwise known.

which one is not entitled, is called 'being covetous of fame '. If I were to listen to your idea, then I fear I should be one, who covets both position and fame. Therefore, I dare not listen to your instructions."

Lord Shang said: "Do you not approve of the way in which I govern Ch'in ?"

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Chao Liang replied: "He, who hearkens with the inner ear, is a man of quick hearing, he who turns his eyes inwards, is a man of clear vision, and he who conquers himself is said to be strong. Shun of Yü1 had a saying: He who humbles himself is superior.' The best thing for Your Lordship would be to follow the Way of Shun of Yü. There is no need to ask me."

On a

Lord Shang said: "Formerly, the Jung and Ti barbarians of Ch'in, in their teaching, knew no difference between father and son, and they lived together in the same room. Now I have altered and regulated their moral teaching and . have made distinctions between men and women. grand scale I have constructed pillars for the publication of mandates, and have arranged things in the same way as they are in Lu and Wei. Seeing how I govern Ch'in and comparing me with Wu-ku-ta-fu,2 which of us do you think the abler ?"

1

i.e. the great legendary emperor Shun.

2i.e. the well-known Po-li Hsi, the councillor of Duke Mu of Ch'in. Cf. Mencius, v, a, 9, and Chavannes, op. cit., ii, pp. 26, 27. Duke Mu had in 655 offered a ransom of five ram's skins for him, hence his nickname, ku being a black sheep. The mention of Po-li Hsi's nickname by Shang Yang naturally suggested the comparison in Chao Liang's reply.

Chao Liang replied: "The skins of a thousand sheep are not worth the armpit of one fox; the silent approval of a thousand men is not worth the frank word of one scholar. Wu-wang became great because of the frank counsels of his ministers; Chou of the Yin dynasty perished because of the silence of his flatterers. If Your Lordship does not really disapprove of Wu-wang, then I should like to ask permission to speak sincere words, during a whole day, without suffering punishment therefor."

Lord Shang said: "There is a saying: 'Pleasing words are adorned, direct words are real; bitter words are medicine, sweet words cause disease.' If you are really willing to set forth, for a whole day, your sincere views, it will be medicine I want to serve you as my master, how can you then still further excuse yourself?

to me.

2

Chao Liang replied: "Wu-ku-ta-fu was a rustic from Ching.1 When he heard of the ability of Duke Mu of Ch'in, he desired to see him, but as he had no travelling money, he sold himself to a stranger from Ch'in, wore a coarse shirt and fed oxen. After the lapse of a year, Duke Mu heard about it and raised him from beneath the mouths of oxen and placed him above the people. No one in the state of Ch'in dared feel offended at this. When he had been minister of Ch'in for six or seven years, in the east he had conquered Cheng, three times he had established a prince in Chin, and once he had saved the Ching state

1 i.e. Ch'u.

? This is evidently the tradition, contradicted by Mencius, that he sold himself for five ram's skins.

from disaster.1 He issued his instructions within the borders of his fief, with the result that even the people of Pa 2 brought tribute; he showed his favours to the feudal lords and even the eight tribes of the Jung barbarians came to submit.3 Yu-yü, hearing about it, knocked at the barrier and wished to see him.

The way in which Wu-ku-ta-fu was councillor of Ch'in was, that, when he was tired, he did not sit in a carriage, in summer he did not spread out a sunshade, when he travelled in the country he did not have carts or mounts following him, nor men carrying shields and lances. His merits were preserved in the stores and granaries, 5 and his virtuous conduct was displayed to later generations. When Wu-ku-ta-fu died, the men and women of Ch'in shed tears, the children stopped singing, the threshers ceased to chant, while wielding their flails. Such was the virtue of Wu-ku-ta-fu."

Now, as for you, you have been received by the Prince, because you had the favourite, Ching Chien, as your patron; therein lies nothing to give you a claim to fame. As councillor of Ch'in, you do not concern yourself over the people, but

1 See for the exploits of Po-li Hsi and Duke Mu, the Ch'in Annals (Chavannes, op. cit., ii, pp. 25 et seq.). Duke Mu's achievements were the ideal before the eyes of Duke Hsiao and Shang Yang.

A region in the south-west, which had its centre in the present Chungoh'ing, in Szech'uan.

* For Duke Mu's conquests over the Jung, cf. Chavannes, op. cit., ii, pp. 44, 45.

4 Yu-yüwas an envoy of the king of the Jung, whom Duke Mu induced to enter his own service, and assisted by whose advice, he beat the Jung in 623. For details, see Chavannes, op. cit., ii, pp. 41-44. 5 i.e. he left well-filled granaries.

• Wieger, op. cit., p. 201, wrongly makes this passage refer to Wei Yang.

you grandly build pillars for the publication of mandates, therein lies nothing that gives you a claim to merit. You punished and branded the tutor and teacher of the Crown Prince, you afflict and wound the people with severe punishments-this piles up hatred and breeds disaster. Reforming the people, by instructing them, goes deeper than the mere issuing of commands; making the people imitate the good example of the ruler is more expeditious than issuing mandates. Your Lordship takes improper measures and makes external alterations, but there is nothing that can lay claim to the name of instruction. Moreover, your Lordship sits with your face to the south1 and calls yourself 'I, who am alone '2 and daily you restrain the nobles of Ch'in more. The Shihching says 3: Look at a rat, it has its limbs-but a man shall be without ceremonial behaviour! A man who has no ceremonial behaviour, how is it that he does not die at once.' Looking at it from the point of view of this ode, there is nothing which gives you a claim to long life. Already for eight years has Prince Ch'ien bolted his door and has not gone out. Your Lordship has also killed Chu Kuan 5 and branded Kung-sun Chia. The ode says: He who obtains men's favour, flourishes, he who loses men's favour, collapses.'

1 Like a prince, thus usurping the power of the ruler.

2 A title used by ruling princes, as it is characteristic of a ruling prince that he has no father.

3 Shih-ching, ed. Legge, p. 85.

4 The tutor whose nose had been sliced off in 346. From the "eight years", we may conclude that this speech was supposed to have been made in 339. Cf. also below: "Five months afterwards, Duke Hsiao died "; that was in 338.

Supposed to have been a colleague of Kung-sun Chia.

A lost ode.