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2.

優賢

賢無方文王視民如

而好善言湯執中立

孟子日禹惡

行非行仁義也

思之夜以繼日幸而

有不合者仰而

公思兼三王以施四

王不泄邇不忘

CHAP.XX.

loved good words.

忘之視

武如立酒

1. Mencius said, 'Yu hated the pleasant wine, and

2. T'ăng held fast the Mean, and employed men of talents and

virtue without regard to where they came from.

3. 'King Wăn looked on the people as he would on a man who was wounded, and he looked towards the right path as if he could not see it.

4. King Wû did not slight the near, and did not forget the distant.

5. The duke of Châu desired to unite in himself the virtues of those kings, those founders of the three dynasties, that he might display in his practice the four things which they did. If he saw anything in them not suited to his time, he looked up and thought about it, from daytime into the night, and when he was fortunate enough to master the difficulty, he sat waiting for the morning.'

governmental achievements of Shun related compassionate tenderness. is to be read in the Shû-ching.

20. THE SAME SUBJECT;—ILLUSTRATED IN YÜ, TING, WIN, WÛ, AND CHÂU-KUNG. z. In the

Chan Kwo Ta'e (戰國策), which fills up

as, with which, according to Chû Hai, it was anciently interchanged. See the Shuching, V. xvi. 11, 12, for illustrations of Wän's

care of the people, and the Shd-ching, IIL i in a measure the space between the period of Ode VI,.for illustration of the other characterthe Ch'un Ch'iû and the Han dynasty, Part VI, istic. 4, read hsich (as), and defined the Ti (probably Yao or Shun)causedÎ-tito make by Chao Ch'i as meaning 狎, to slight' wine ( spirits), and presented it to Yü, who The adjectives are to be understood both of drank some of it, and pronounced it to be pleas

Article 11, we read that anciently a daughter of

ant. Then, however, he frowned on Î-ti, and persons and things.

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forbade the use of the pleasant liquor, saying, Tang, and the kings Wăn and Wû, who are

'In future ages, rulers will through this liquor often classed together as the one founder of

ruin their States' Yü's love of good words is the Chau dynasty. 'The four things' are what commemorated in the Shu-ching, II. ii. 21. have been stated in the preceding paragraphs.

無力 may be understood with reference 其 has 事 for its antecedent. 得之一

to class or place; compare the Sha-ching, IV. : apprehended it,' understood the matter in ite ii. 5, 8. 3. ‘As he would on one who was principles, so as to be able to bring into his wounded,' i.e. he regarded the people with own practice the spirit of those ancient sages.

而詩亡詩亡然後春秋

李孟子曰王者之迹熄

得之坐以待旦

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世而斬小人之澤五世

学子 日 君子之澤五

其義則丘竊取之矣

桓晋文其文則史孔子

之春秋一也其事則齊

作晋之乘楚之檮杌魯

澤之 世五

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則杌 杌春迹

齊魯秋
秋熄

CHAP. XXI. I. Mencius said, 'The traces of sovereign rule were extinguished, and the royal odes ceased to be made. When those odes ceased to be made, then the Ch'un Ch'it was produced.

2. The Shăng of Tsin, the Tao-wd of Ch'a, and the Ch'un Ch'id of Lû were books of the same character.

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3. The subject of the Ch'un Ch'it was the affairs of Hwan of Ch'i and Wăn of Tsin, and its style was the historical. Confucius said, "Its righteous decisions I ventured to make."'

CHAP. XXII. I. Mencius said, 'The influence of a sovereign sage terminates in the fifth generation. The influence of a mere sage does the same.

21. THE SAME SUBJECT ;-ILLUSTRATED IN CON- the name of 'Spring and Autumn,' two seasons FUCIUS. 1. The extinction of the true royal for the whole. 3. refers only to the annals rule of Châu dates from the transference of of Lû. They did not contain only the affairs the capital from Fång and Hão to Lo by the of Hwan and Wän, but these occupied an early sovereign Pring, B.o. 769. From that time, the sovereigns of Châu had the name without the and prominent place in them. -see Bk. rule. By the is intended, not the Book II. Pt. L. ii. 20. makes the expression of Poems, but the Ya () portion of them, the judgments from the historians, and not |still more humble, as if Confucius had ‘taken'

descriptive of the royal rule of Châu, and to made them himself.

1. Here 君子~聖賢有

be used on great occasions. does not mean 22. THE SAME SUBJECT;-ILLUSTRATED IN MEXthat the Ya were lost, but that no additions CIUS HIMSELF. were made to them, and they degenerated into mere records of the past, and were no longer descriptions of the present. Confucius edited tion,' i. e. who occupies the throne, and the annals of Lû to supply the place of the Ya.

the sage and worthy, who has posi

See Bk. III. Pt. II. ix. 8. a. Each State had, the sage and worthy, its annals. Those of Tain were compiled under who has no position. We might suppose that the name of Shăng (4th tone), 'The Carriage;" the influence of the former would be more those of Ch'û under that of Táo-wo, which is permanent, but Mencius is pleased to say their explained as the name of a ferocious animal,

and more anciently as the denomination of a influence lasts the same time. is to be vile and lawless man. The annals of Lû had taken as 'influence,' it being understood to

己之

罪殺

取:

死與傷

而斬子未得爲孔子徒

焉羿下射死傷廉可諸 公孟惟於優惠可以人 明子彈羿勇可以取也孔

儀日為盡 以與可 曰,是愈

死可以

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2. ‘Although I could not be a disciple of Confucius himself, I have endeavoured to cultivate my virtue by means of others who were'

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CHAP.XXIII. Mencius said, When it appears proper.to take a thing, and afterwards not proper, to take it is contrary to moderation. When it appears proper to give a thing and afterwards not proper, to give it is contrary to kindness. When it appears proper to sacrifice one's life, and afterwards not proper, to sacrifice it is contrary to bravery.'

CHAP. XXIV. 1. Pang Măng learned archery of 1. When he had acquired completely all the science of 1, he thought that in all the kingdom only I was superior to himself, and so he slew him. Mencius said, 'In this case I also was to blame. Kung-ming Î indeed said, "It would appear as if he were not to be blamed," but

be of a beneficial character. a. From the death we must supplement them by introducing of Confucius to the birth of Mencius there would 'afterwards.'

be nearly a hundred years, so that, though 24. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CAREFUL OF Mencius could not learn his doctrines from the WHOM WE MAKE FRIENDS. The sentiment is sage himself, he did so from his grandson Taze- good, but Mencius could surely have found

sze, or some of his disciples. - in last better illustrations of it than the second one which he selected. 1. OfÎ, see Analects, XIV.

chapter. 淑-善 taken actively. 諸人

於人, the 人 referring to Teze-sze and his

school. This and the three preceding chapters

xtv. 逄(Pang, as formed with 条 not 夆)

is said both by Chao Ch'i and Chû Hei to

should be considered as one, whose purpose is refer to I's servants(), but one man is

much the same as Bk. III. Pt. II. ix, showing us

that Mencius considered himself the successor evidently denoted by the name. I's servants did indeed make themselves parties to his murder, but P'ang Mang is the same, I suppose,

of Confucius in the line of sages.

23. FIRST JUDGMENTS ARE NOT ALWAYS CORRECT. IMPULSES MUST BE WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE OF REASON, AND WHAT REASON DICTATES MUST BE FOL

LOWED.

with Han Tsû, the principal in it. 云爾

Such is the meaning of this chapter, see Bk. II. Pt. II. ii. 4, and Analects, VII. xviii. in translating the separate clauses of which, 日薄乎云爾, saying, (meaning to say,

庾夫射夫者可斯鄭宜 誰以追入若

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射於尹公之他尹公之他學射於

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公曰、死

日端

夫人尹

也公也。斯

夫,日

日衞 問今衞

執必

弓。端於斯

宜若無罪焉日薄乎云爾惡得無罪

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也。僕

使惡

日日
旦疾

集集全

日矣。我學也生我不

he thereby only meant that his blame was slight. How can he be

held without any blame ? ’

6

2. The people of Chang sent Tsze-cho Yü to make a stealthy attack on Wei, which sent Yü-kung Sze to pursue him. Teze-cho Yu said, " To-day I feel unwell, so that I cannot hold my bow. I am a dead man!" At the same time he asked his driver, "Who is it that is pursuing me?" The driver said, "It is Yü-kung Sze," on which he exclaimed, "I shall live." The driver said, "Yu-kung Sze is the best archer of Wei, what do you mean by saying 'I shall live?'” Yü replied, "Yu-kung Sze learned archery from Yin-kung T'o, who again learned it from me. Now, Yin-kung T'o is an upright man, and the friends of his selection must be upright also." When Yü-kung Sze came up, he said, " Master, why are you not holding your bow?” It was slighter than. simply.’a. 侵,(to names— -庾公之斯and尹公之佗, ittack stealthily. An incursion made with are mere vocal particles. A-read to. The music, and the pomp of war, is called 伐 and name is elsewhere found 尹公佗. In the one without these,侵: The 之 in the 左傳 under the fourteenth year of dukc

...

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人人

齋皆孟發

金我子不尹

金發乘矢而後反

我不敢廢抽矢扣輪去其

尹日

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則過

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之射於

今日我疾作不可以執弓。

蒙 事道於尹 不 輪君反夫公以 有潔 法事害子之執 其也夫我他弓。

上惡則

Yü answered him, "To-day I am feeling unwell, and cannot hold my bow." On this Sze said, " I learned archery from Yin-kung To, who again learned it from you. I cannot bear to injure you with your own science. The business of to-day, however, is the prince's business, which I dare not neglect." He then took his arrows, knocked off their steel points against the carriage-wheel, discharged four of them, and returned.'

CHAP.XXV. 1. Mencius said, 'If the lady Hst had been covered with a filthy head-dress, all people would have stopped their noses in passing her.

2.

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Though a man may be wicked, yet if he adjust his thoughts,

fast, and bathe, he may sacrifice to God.’

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we have a narrative bearing some like- on the western bank of a certain stream. If

ness to this account of Mencius, and in which we may receive the works of 管子, however, 尹公佗 and庾公差 figure as famous as having really proceeded from that scholar archers of Wei. It is hardly possible, however, beauty named Hsi-taze, two hundred years and statesman, there had been a celebrated to suppose that the two accounts are of the before the one of Yüeh. In translating

same thing. 乘, 4th tone, 'a team of four

horses,' here used for a set of four arrows.
25. IT IS ONLY MORAL BEAUTY THAT IS TRULY
EXCELLENT AND ACCEPTABLE. 1. Hai-teze, or
•Western lady,' was a poor girl of Yüeh, named

不深, I have followed Chao Chi

both by Chao Ch'! and Cha Hst, is taken in the sense of 'ugly,' in opposition to the beauty intended it in the sense of 'wicked,' and that of the lady Hat. I cannot but think Mencius

Shih (施夷), of surpassing beauty, pre- his object was to encourage men to repentanos sented by the king of Yüeh to his enemy the and well-doing. -read chdi. See Analects, king of Wû, who becan.e devotedly attached VII. xii, et al. By the laws of China, it was to her, and neglected all the duties of his competent for the sovereign only to sacrifice government. She was contemporary with to God. The language of Mencius, in conConfucius. The con.mon account is that she nexion with this fact, very strikingly shows the was called 'The wes ern lady,' because she lived virtue he attached to penitent purification.

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