Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 338

321

Biographical Notice of Mencius.

JUNE,

there a difference, oh king' between kuling a man with a club, or

with a sword?

"No, said the prince.

'Between him who kills with the sword, or destroys by an inhuman tyranny?

'No,' again replies the prince.

'Well!' said Mencius, your kitchens are incumbered with food; your studs are full of horses: while your subjects, with emaciated countenances, are worn down with misery, or found dead of hunger in the middle of the fields or the deserts. What is this, but to breed ani- mals to prey on men? and what is the difference between de- stroying them by the sword, or by unfeeling conduct? If we detest those savage animals which mutually tear and devour each other, how much more should we abhor a prince, who, instead of being a father to his people, does not hesitate to bring up animals to destroy them. What kind of father to his people is he who treats his chil- dren so unfeelingly, and has less care of them than of the wild beasts he provides for!'

'I have heard,' said the king of Tse, one day, Wăn wang had a park of seven leagues in extent:

'Nothing is more true,' said Mencius.

that the old king can it be true?'

'It was,' replied the prince, an unwarranted extent.'

'And yet,' said Mencius, 'the subjects of Wan wang thought this park too small.'

My park,' said the prince, 'is only four leagues, and my people complain of it as too large. Why this difference ?'

'Prince,' replied Mencius, 'the park of Wan wang was of seven leagues; but it was there that all who wanted grass or wood went to seek it, as well as game. The park was common to the people and the prince. Had they not reason therefore to find it small? When I entered your dominions, I inquired what was particularly forbidden there, and was told of an inclosure beyond the frontiers, of four leagues in extent, wherein whoever should kill a stag, should be pu- nished as if he had slain a man. This park of four leagues, therefore, is like a vast pit in the centre of your estates. Are the people wrong to find it too large?'

We need not hesitate to borrow from the conversations of Mencius other passages fitted to give us a just idea of his work, since they afford us, at the same time, details of his life, and a type of his cha- racter; and it would be impossible to describe him better than he has done himself in his book. The man who has lost his wife: the

f