3. "He who is [thus] neither benevolent nor wise will be without propriety and righteousness, and must be the servant of [other] men. To be the servant of men and yet ashamed of such servitude is like a bow-maker's being ashamed to make bows, or an arrow-maker's being ashamed to make arrows.

4. "If [a man] be ashamed of being in such a case, his best course is to practise benevolence.

5. "He who [would be] benevolent is like the archer. The archer adjusts himself, and then shoots. If he shoot and do not hit, he does not murmur against those who surpass himself: he simply turns round, and seeks the [cause of failure] in himself."

VIII. 1. Mencius said, "When any one told Tsze-loo that he had a fault, he was glad.

2. "When Yu heard good words, he bowed [to the speaker].

3. "The great Shun had a [still] greater [quality] :-he regarded goodness as the common property of himself and others, giving up his own way to follow others, and delighting to copy [the example of] others,-in order to practise what was good.

4. 66 From the time that he ploughed and sowed, exercised the potter's art and was a fisherman, to that when he was emperor, he was always learning from others.

Par. 3. The first clause here flows from the previous par., and the next seems to show what will be the consequence of being devoid of benevolence and wisdom; and the whole will result in servitude to others. That result is natural, and he who grieves under it has only himself to blame. Par. 5. Compare Ana. III. vii, and xvi.

CH. VIII. How SAGES AND WORTHIES DELIGHTED IN WHAT WAS GOOD. TO HELP OTHERS TO PRACTISE GOODNESS IS A GREAT INSTANCE OF VIRTUE. Par. 1. Tsze-loo's ardour in pursuing his self-improvement appears in Ana. V. xiii., and other places; but the particular point mentioned here is not mentioned anywhere else.

Par. 2. See the Shoo, II. iii. 1.

Par. 3. Shun's distinction was that he did not think of himself as Tszeloo did, nor of others as Yu did, but only of what was good, and was unconsciously carried to it wherever he saw it.

Par. 4. It is related of Shun that in his early days he ploughed at the foot of the Leih mountain, did potter's work on the banks of the Ho, fished in the Luy lake, made various implements on the Show mountain, and often

5. "To take example from others to practise what is good is to help men in the same practice. Therefore there is no attribute of the superior man greater than his helping men to practise what is good."

IX. 1. Mencius said, "Pih-e would not serve a ruler whom he did not approve, nor be friendly with any one whom he did not esteem. He would not stand in the court of a bad man, nor speak with a bad man. To stand in a bad man's court, or to speak with a bad man, would have been in his estimation the same as to stand with his court robes and court cap amid mire and charcoal. Pursuing our examination of his dislike to what was evil, [we find] that he thought it necessary, if he were standing with a villager whose cap was not rightly adjusted, to leave him with a high air as if he were going to be defiled. Hence it was, that, though some of the princes made application to him with very proper messages, he would not accept [their invitations]. That refusal to accept [their invitations] was because he counted it inconsistent with his purity to go to them.

2. "Hwuy of Lëw-hëa was not ashamed [to serve] an impure ruler, nor did he think it low to be in a small office. When called to employment, he did not keep his talents and virtue concealed, but made it a point to carry out his principles. When neglected and left out of office, he did not murmur; and when straitened by poverty, he did not grieve. Accordingly, he would say, 'You are you, and I am I. Although you stand by my side with bare arms and breast, how can you defile me?' In this way, self-possessed, he associated with men indifferently, and did not feel that he lost himself. If pressed to remain in office, he would remain. He would remain in office when so pressed, because he did not feel that his purity required him to go away."

3. Mencius said, " Pih-e was narrow-minded, and Hwuy of

resided at Foo-hëa. There will be occasion to consider where these places were in connexion with some of Mencius' future references to him. On his elevation to be emperor see the first Book of the Shoo.

CH. IX. PICTURES OF PIH-E AND HWUY OF LEW-HEA; AND MENCIUS' JUDGMENT CONCERNING THEM.

Par. 1. Pih-e, - see on ch. ii. 22.

Par. 2. Hwuy of Lew-hëa,-see on Ana. XV. xiii.; XVIII. ii.; viii.
Par. 3. By "the superior man," Mencius, perhaps, tacitly refers to himself

Löw-hea was wanting in self-respect. The superior man will not follow either narrow-mindedness or the want of self-respect."

BOOK II.

KUNG-SUN CH'OW. PART II.

CHAPTER I. 1. Mencius said, "Opportunities of time [vouchsafed by] Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation [afforded by] the earth, and advantages of situation [afforded by] the earth are not equal to the strength [arising from the] accord of men.

2. "

[There is a city], with an inner wall of three le in circumference and an outer wall of seven. [The enemy] surround and attack it, but are not able to take it. Now, to surround and attack it, there must have been vouchsafed to them by Heaven the opportunity of time, and in such case their not taking it is because opportunities of time [vouchsafed by] Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation [afforded by] the earth.

3. " [There is a city] whose walls are as high and moats

as having taken Confucius for his model. One commentator says on this paragraph;—“Elsewhere Mencius advises men to imitate E and Hwuy, but he is there speaking to the weak; when here he advises not to follow them, he is speaking for those who wish to do the right thing at the right time."

CH. I. NO ADVANTAGES WHICH A RULER CAN OBTAIN FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFENCE, OR TO EXALT HIM OVER OTHERS, ARE EQUAL TO HIS POSSESSING THE HEARTS OF MEN. Because of this chapter Mencius has got a place in China among the writers on the art of war, which surely he would not have wished to claim for himself, his design being to supersede the recourse to arms altogether.

Par. 1. Chinese commentators have much to say about ascertaining the "time of Heaven" by divination and astrology; but all this is to be set aside as foreign to the mind of Mencius in the text, though many examples of the resort to those arts can be adduced from ancient records. "The accord of " is the loyal union of the people with their ruler.

men

Par. 2. The city here supposed, with its double circle of fortification, is a small one, the better to illustrate the superiority of advantage of situation, just as that in the next par. is a large one, to bring out the still greater superiority of the union of men. A city of the dimensions specified here was the capital of a baronial State.

as deep as could be desired, and where the arms and mail [of its defenders] are distinguished for their sharpness and strength, and the [stores of] rice and grain are abundant; yet it has to be given up and abandoned. This is because advantages of situation [afforded by] the earth are not equal to the [strength arising from the] accord of men.

4. "In accordance with these principles it is said, 'A people is bounded in not by the limits of dykes and borders; a State is secured not by the strengths of mountains and streams; the kingdom is overawed not by the sharpness of arms [and strength] of mail.' He who finds the proper course has many to assist him, and he who loses it has few. When this the being assisted by few-reaches the extreme point, [a ruler's] own relatives and connexions revolt from him. When the being assisted by many reaches its extreme point, all under heaven become obedient [to the ruler].

5. "When one to whom all under heaven are prepared to become obedient attacks one from whom his own relatives and connexions are ready to revolt, [what must the result be?] Therefore the true ruler will [prefer] not [to] fight, but if he do fight, he is sure to overcome.”

66

II. 1. As Mencius was about to go to court to the king, the king sent a person to him with this message :— İ was wishing to come and see you. But I have got a cold, and may not expose myself to the wind. In the morning I will hold my court. I do not know whether you will give 'me the opportunity of seeing you?". [Mencius] replied,

Par. 4. "The proper course" intended is that style of government on the principles of benevolence and righteousness which is sure to unite the hearts of the people to their ruler. "Relatives" are relatives by blood; ions," merely relatives by affinity.

66

connex

CH. II. HOW MENCIUS CONSIDERED THAT IT WAS SLIGHTING HIM FOR THE KING OF TS'E TO CALL HIM BY MESSENGERS TO GO TO COURT TO SEE HIM; AND THE SHIFTS HE WAS PUT TO TO GET THIS UNDERSTOOD. It must be understood that Mencius was in Ts'e simply as an honoured guest, in his capacity of teacher or philosopher, and had not accepted any official position with the salary attached to it. It was for him to pay his respects at court, if he wished to do so; but if the king wished to show him respect and to ask his counsel, it was for him to go to him, and beg his instructions. Par. 1. The morning, as soon as it was light, was the regular time for the king and feudal princes to give audience to their ministers and officers, and arrange about the administration of affairs; and this is also the modern practice in China. The king's saying that he had a cold was merely a pre

"Unfortunately I am unwell, and not able to go to court." 2. Next day he went out to pay a visit of condolence to the Tung-kwoh family, when Kung-sun Ch'ow said to him, "Yesterday you declined [going to the court] on the ground of being unwell, and to-day you are paying a visit of condolence may not this be regarded as improper?" "Yesterday," said [Mencius], "I was unwell; to-day I am better-why should I not pay this visit?

3. [In the mean time] the king sent a messenger to inquire about his illness, and a physician [also] came [from the court]. Măng Chung replied to them, "Yesterday, when the king's order came, he was feeling a little unwell, and could not go to the court. To-day he was a little better and hastened to go to court. I do not know whether he can have reached it [by this time] or not." [Having said this,] he sent several men to intercept [Mencius] on the way, and say to him that he begged him, before he returned, to be sure and go to the court.

4. [On this, Mencius] felt himself compelled to go to King Ch'ow's, and there stop the night. The officer King said to him, "In the family there is [the relation of] father and son; beyond it there is [that of] ruler and minister. These are the greatest relations among men. Between father and

tence ;-he wanted to get Mencius to come to him. Mencius' saying that he was unwell was equally a pretence. Compare Confucius' conduct in Ana. XVII. XX.

Par. 2. Tung-kwoh was a clan name in Ts'e, taking its rise from the quarter where the founder of it had lived. Some member of the family had died, and Mencius now went to it to pay a visit of condolence, that the king might hear of his doing so, and understand the lesson he had meant to give him the day before by saying that he was unwell. The disciple did not understand the reason of his proceeding, and our philosopher, we think, had better have told it to him plainly than go on to further prevarication.

Par. 3. Măng Chung must have been a near relative of Mencius :-some say that he was a son; others, a nephew. "He was a little unwell" is in Chinese "he had anxiety about gathering firewood." To do this was the business of the children of the common people, from. which sickness alone could give them a dispensation. Used of Mencius it was an expression of humility. Neither did Măng Chung understand the conduct of his father or uncle; and having committed himself to a falsehood about it, he took the step which is related to get Mencius to go to court to make his own words good.

Par. 4. Mencius was resolved that the king should know the reason of his not going to court; and as the words of Măng Chung interfered with his first plan for that purpose, he now went to another officer of Ts'e whose ac