In all these matters there is nothing that gives you a claim to to having obtained the favour of men! Whenever your Lordship goes out, tens of carriages follow behind, the escorting carriages bear arms, and men of great strength and with ribs joined together' act as the third on the warchariots,2 men, who carry spears and bear halberds and lances, run alongside the carriages. Whenever one of these precautions should fail, your Lordship would certainly not go out. The Shu-ching says: He who relies on virtue, prospers, but he who relies on force, perishes.' Your Lordship's peril is like that of the morning dew.. Do you still expect that your years will be prolonged and that your age will be increased! Why then do you not return your fifteen cities, and water your garden in a rustic spot, encourage the King of Ch'in to bring to the front the scholars from their mountain peaks and grottoes, to nourish the old, to maintain the orphans, to respect fathers and elder brothers, to give rank to those who have merit and to honour those who have virtue, in order to have peace, to a slight extent. Your Lordship will still covet the riches of Shang and Yü, enjoy the privilege of instructing the state of Ch'in and accumulate the hatred of the people. But if the King of Ch'in should, of a morning, leave his guests and no longer stand in the Court, how

5

1 Supposed to be a sign of great strength.

" Of the three men on each war-chariot, the one standing most to the right-hand, armed with a lance.

3 Cf. Han Fei-tzů, ch. 5, par. 18, p. 16, where mention is made of the precautions against attempts on his life, taken by Shang Yang.

• Not now to be found in the Shu-ching.

5 An anachronism.

• A euphemism for the death of a prince.

slight would be the chance that the state of Ch'in would maintain your Lordship! You would perish in no more time than is needed to lift up a foot!"

The Lord of Shang did not follow this counsel, and, five months later, Duke Hsiao of Ch'in died, and the Crown Prince was set up as his successor.1 The partisans of Prince Ch'ien accused the Lord of Shang of planning a rebellion: Lictors were sent to arrest him, but he had fled to a place in the passes.2 When he desired to lodge at an inn, the innkeeper, not knowing that he was Lord Shang, said: "According to the law of the Lord of Shang, whoever shall receive at his inn guests, who cannot be identified, will be punished.' The Lord of Shang heaved a sigh, saying: "Alas, that the worthlessness of the law should reach such a point!" He left and went to Wei, but the people of Wei, who hated him for having tricked Prince Ang and for having defeated the hosts of We refused to receive him. When the Lord of Shang

1 338 B.C. The new ruler was Hui-wen,

2

4

† (337–311).

T: Kuan-hsia, perhaps the name of a place.

3 Cf. the provision against hostelries in par. 2, p. 178.

"

"3

He

▲ Cf. Lü-shih-ch'un-ch'iu, ch. 22, p. 5 (following upon the story of Shang Yang's betrayal of Prince Ang): When Duke Hsiao of Ch'in had died and King Hui had come to the throne, because of this affair, he distrusted Kung-sun Yang's actions and desired to punish him. Kung-sun Yang, thereupon, with his private retainers and with his mother, returned to Wei. Hsiang Pi (Comm. states that Hsiang Pi man as Jang Pi, mentioned in the Bamboo Annals as general in the 28th year of King Hui-ch'eng of Liang, 343) would not receive him, saying: 'After the way in which you, Sir, have turned against Prince Ang, I can no longer, by any manner of means, know you.'

is the same

In the Wei Annals (Chavannes, op. cit., v, p. 157) the flight to Wei is confirmed.

66

wished to go to another country, the people of Wei said: The Lord of Shang is a rebel of Ch'in ; as Ch'in is a powerful country, when its rebels come to Wei, we have no choice Vbut to send them back." Thereupon, Lord Shang was forced

to re-enter Ch'in.

As soon as the Lord of Shang had re-entered Ch'in, he hastened to the cities of Shang, and, combining with his followers, raised an army in these cities and marched to attack Cheng. Ch'in sent an army, which attacked the Lord of Shang and slew him at Min-ch'ih 1 in Cheng. King 2 Hui of Ch'in had him torn to pieces by chariots 3 as an expiatory punishment, saying: "Let no one rebel like Shang Yang ! Thereupon, he exterminated the family of the Lord of Shang.4

The Great Astrologer 5 says: "The Lord of Shang was naturally, in character, a hard and cruel man. When we find in his story that he tried to impress Duke Hsiao by the methods of the Emperors and Kings (we may be sure that) what he held forth was frivolous talk and did not represent his real nature. Further, after having succeeded in obtaining employment through the introduction of a favourite, he punished Prince Ch'ien, betrayed the Wei general, Ang, and

1 Min-ch'ih, properly written, is the present Yung-ning-hsien, in Honan, not far, therefore, from Shang Yang's own fief. Nothing further is known of this battle.

2 Hui took the title of King in 325.

3 The head, arms, and legs were torn off by chariots, which were driven in opposite directions.

In the Ch'in Annals, all this is recorded under the same year as the death of Duke Hsiao, i.e. in 338.

5 i.e. Ssu-ma Ch'ien.

did not follow the advice of Chao Liang, all of which facts show clearly that the Lord of Shang was a man of little favour. I have read the books on " Opening and Debarring " 1 and on "Agriculture and War", which are in keeping with the deeds he did. There is reason enough why he should have finally left a bad reputation in Ch'in.

B

The Record of Shang Yang in the Ch'in-ts'ê 3 Wei Yang left Wei and went to Ch'in. Duke Hsiao made him Councillor and gave him as fief Yü and Shang. He was called the Lord of Shang. When Lord Shang governed Ch'in the laws were greatly practised; they were in the public interest and equitable, without favouritism, the punishments not sparing the strong and great, nor the rewards being exclusively bestowed on relatives and friends. The law even

1 The title of the 7th par. of the present Book.

#; this does not exist, but the 2nd par. is called, which has the same meaning.

3 Chan-kuo-ts'ê, chap. 7. The story of Shang Yang is, according to the plan of the Chan-kuo-ts'ê, divided up into the part relating to Wei and that relating to Ch'in. The first part is, with minor textual variations, the same as the extract from the Lü-shih-ch'un-ch'iu, given in the note on p. 10 of the Biography. I therefore omit it here. The part of the story here narrated is a continuation of the earlier half. In the Ku-wen-shih-i x * *, an Anthology of ancient literature (1743), the conversation between Chao Liang and Shang Yang is given, in a somewhat shorter form, as an extract from the Chan-kuo-ts'ê. In a comm. to the version of the Lü-shih-ch'un-ch'iu, relating Shang Yang's flight to Wei, a more or less similar account is quoted from the Chan-kuo-ts'ê. Neither of these two references, however, are to be found in my edition of the Chan-kuo-ts'ê.

extended to the Crown Prince, whose tutors were branded and punished by the slicing off of the nose, and the feudal lords were fearful. After a year, things dropped on the road were not picked up, and the people did not take things improperly. His military equipment, both for defence and attack, was Very strong. However, he was very hard, cruel and rarely bestowed favours. Especially did he make them submit by force. Duke Hsiao used him for eight years,1 and when he fell ill and did not get up, he wished to transmit the government to the Lord Shang, but the latter declined and did not accept it. After the death of Duke Hsiao, King 2 Hui became his successor and attended to the government. A short time afterwards, Lord Shang took leave and returned.3

Somebody addressed King Hui, in the following terms: "If a minister is too powerful, the state is in danger; if (a prince's) entourage is too familiar, his person is in danger. Now women and infants in Ch'in all speak of the law of Lord Shang and do not speak of the law of the Great King. Thus the positions are reversed and Lord Shang is made the ruler and the Great King is made the minister. Moreover Lord Shang is an old enemy of the Great King. Will it please Your Majesty to consider this!"

When Lord Shang returned from his journey home, King Hui had him torn to pieces by chariots, nor did the people of Ch'in pity him.

1 This should perhaps be eighteen years, which would about cover the period from 356-338. Cf. the Biography in the Shih-chi, p. 12 et seq. 2 He took the title of king in 325.

i.e. to his fief.