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your own family, so that those in the families of others shall be similarly treated; treat with the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, so that those in the families of others shall be similarly treated :-do this and the kingdom may be made to go round in your palm. It is said in the Book of Poetry,

'His example acted on his wife,
Extended to his brethren,

And was felt by all the clans and States;

telling us how [King Wăn] simply took this [kindly] heart, and exercised it towards those parties. Therefore the carrying out the [feeling of] kindness [by a ruler] will suffice for the love and protection of all within the four seas; and if he do not carry it out, he will not be able to protect his wife and children. The way in which the ancients came greatly to surpass other men was no other than this, that they carried out well what they did, so as to affect others. Now your kindness is sufficient to reach to animals, and yet no benefits are extended from it to the people. How is this? Is an exception to be made here?

13. "By weighing we know what things are light, and what heavy. By measuring we know what things are long, and what short. All things are so dealt with, and the mind requires specially to be so. I beg your Majesty to measure it.

14. "Your Majesty collects your equipments of war, endangers your soldiers and officers, and excites the resentment of the various princes:-do these things cause you pleasure in your mind?"

15. The king said, "No. How should I derive pleasure from these things? My object in them is to seek for what I greatly desire."

16. [Mencius] said, "May I hear from you what it is that your Majesty greatly desires?" The king laughed, and did not speak. [Mencius] resumed, "[Are you led to desire it, because you have not enough of rich and sweet [food] for your mouth? or because you have not enough of

In Parr. 14-18, Mencius measures or weighs the king's mind for him, and shows the object he is bent on, with the absurdity of seeking for it by the course which he pursued, and also how rapid would be the response to a different course. All the people in the kingdom, high and low, would wish to be his subjects.

light and warm [clothing] for your body? or because you have not enow of beautifully coloured objects to satisfy your eyes? or because there are not voices and sounds enow to fill your ears? or because you have not enow of attendants and favourites to stand before you and receive your orders? Your Majesty's various officers are sufficient to supply you with all these things. How can your Majesty have such a desire on account of them?" "No," said the king, “my desire is not on account of them." [Mencius] observed, Then, what your Majesty greatly desires can be known. You desire to enlarge your territories, to have Ts'in and Ts'oo coming to your court, to rule the Middle States, and to attract to you the barbarous tribes that surround them. But to do what you do in order to seek for what you desire is like climbing a tree to seek for fish."

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17. "Is it so bad as that?" said [the king]. hend it is worse," was the reply. "If you climb a tree to seek for fish, although you do not get the fish, you have no subsequent calamity. But if you do what you do in order to seek for what you desire, doing it even with all your heart, you will assuredly afterwards meet with calamities." The king said, "May I hear [what they will be]?" [Mencius] replied, "If the people of Tsow were fighting with the people of Ts'oo, which of them does your Majesty think would conquer?" "The people of Ts'oo would conquer," was the answer, and [Mencius] pursued, "So then, a small State cannot contend with a great, few cannot contend with many, nor can the weak contend with the strong. The territory within the seas would embrace nine divisions, each of a thousand le square. All Ts'e together is one of them. If with one part you try to subdue the other eight, what is the difference between that and Tsow's contending with Ts'oo? [With the desire which you have], you must turn back to the proper course [for its attainment].

18. "Now if your Majesty will institute a government whose action shall all be benevolent, this will cause all the officers in the kingdom to wish to stand in your Majesty's court, the farmers all to wish to plough in your Majesty's fields, the merchants, both travelling and stationary, all to wish to store their goods in your Majesty's market-places, travellers and visitors all to wish to travel on your Majesty's roads, and all under heaven who feel aggrieved by their

rulers to wish to come and complain to your Majesty. When they are so bent, who will be able to keep them back?"

19. The king said, "I am stupid, and cannot advance to this. [But] I wish you, my Master, to assist my intentions. Teach me clearly, and although I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I should like to try at least [to institute such a government]."

20. [Mencius] replied, “They are only men of education, who, without a certain livelihood, are able to maintain a fixed heart. As to the people, if they have not a certain. livelihood, they will be found not to have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there is nothing which they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, of moral deflection, of depravity, and of wild license. When they have thus been involved in crime, to follow them up and punish them, is to entrap the people. How can such a thing as entrapping the people be done under the rule of a benevolent man?

21. "Therefore an intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the people, so as to make sure that, above, they shall have sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below, sufficient wherewith to support their wives and children; that in good years they shall always be abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall not be in danger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they will proceed to what is good, for in this case the people will follow after that with readiness.

22. "But now, the livelihood of the people is so regulated, that, above, they have not sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below, they have not sufficient wherewith to support their wives and children; [even] in good years their lives are always embittered, and in bad years they are in danger of perishing. In such circumstances their only object is to escape from death, and they are afraid they will not succeed in doing so ;-what leisure have they to cultivate propriety and righteousness?

Par. 20, brings in the subjects of " a fixed heart," or a mind always firm to do what is good, and of "a certain livelihood," or a sure provision of the necessaries of life, and of the necessity of the latter to the former. We shall meet with these topics in Mencius again and again.

23. "If your Majesty wishes to carry out [a benevolent government], why not turn back to what is the essential step [to its attainment] ?

24. "Let mulberry-trees be planted about the homesteads with their five acres, and persons of fifty years will be able to wear silk. In keeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their times of breeding be neglected, and persons of seventy years will be able to eat flesh. Let there not be taken away the time that is proper for the cultivation of the field-allotment of a hundred acres, and the family of eight mouths will not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention be paid to the teaching in the various schools, with repeated inculcation of the filial and fraternal duties, and gray-haired men will not be seen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on their heads. It has never been that [the ruler of a State] where these results were seen, the old wearing silk and eating flesh, and the black-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold, did not attain to the Royal dignity."

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CHAPTER I. 1. CHWANG PAOU, [having gone to] see Mencius, said to him, " I had an audience of the king. His Majesty told me about his loving music, and I was not prePar. 23. "The essential step to a benevolent government" is the sure provision of the necessaries of life, and the elements of moral instruction. Par. 24. Compare par. 4 of ch. iii. The two are nearly identical.

CH. I. HOW THE LOVE OF MUSIC MAY BE MADE SUBSERVIENT TO GOOD GOVERNMENT, AND WHEN SHARED WITH THE PEOPLE LEAD ON TO THE ROYAL SWAY. The chapter is a good specimen of Mencius' manner. The moral of it is the same as that of chapter ii. Part I. Mencius slips cleverly from the point in hand to introduce his own notions, and tries to win king Seaen over to benevolent government by his vice itself. It is on this account that Chinese thinkers say that Mencius was wanting in the consistency of a moral teacher, and refuse to rank him with Confucius.

He was

Par. 1. The king here was, it is understood, king Seuen of last chapter. Chwang Paou must have been a minister or officer about his court. evidently on good terms with Mencius, but his name does not occur in the

pared with anything to reply to him. What do you pronounce concerning [that] love of music?" Mencius said, "If the king's love of music were very great, the kingdom of Ts'e would be near to [being well governed]."

2. Another day, Mencius had an audience of the king, and said, "Your Majesty, [I have heard,] told the officer Chwang about your love of music;-was it so?" The king changed colour, and said, "I am unable to love the music of the ancient kings; I only love the music that suits the manners of the [present] age."

3. [Mencius] said, "If your Majesty's love of music were very great, Ts'e, I apprehend, would be near to [being well governed]. The music of the present day is just like the music of antiquity [for effecting that]."

4. [The king] said, "May I hear [the proof of what you say]?" "Which is the more pleasant," was the reply, -"to enjoy music by yourself alone, or to enjoy it along with others?" "" "To enjoy it along with others," said [the king]. "And which is the more pleasant," pursued [Mencius]," to enjoy music along with a few, or to enjoy it along with many?" "To enjoy it along with many," replied [the king].

5. [Mencius went on], "Will you allow your servant to speak to your Majesty about music?

6. "Your Majesty is having music here.—The people hear the sound of your bells and drums, and the notes of your reeds and flutes, and they all, with aching heads, knit their brows, and say to one another, 'That's how our king loves music! But why does he reduce us to this extremity [of distress]? Fathers and sons do not see one another; elder brothers and younger brothers, wives and children, are separated and scattered abroad.' Again, your Majesty is hunting here. The people hear the noise of your carriages and horses, and see the beauty of your plumes and pennons, and they all, with aching heads, knit their brows, and say to one another, 'That's how our king loves hunting! But

list of his disciples. The king must have been notorious for his love of music, and Mencius' remark that, if his love for it were very great, Ts'e would be in a happy state, only commends itself when we find what the philosopher included in his idea of greatly loving music.

Par. 2. The king changed colour, being conscious of the charges to which he was open in connexion with his love of music.

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