Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 339

1841.

Biographical Notice of Mencius

325

woman bereaved of her husband; the old man who has no children ; the orphan who has seen his parents die: these,' said Mencius one day to the same prince, in all your kingdom are the most unhappy. They have none to whom they can tell their sorrows, or who will listen to their grief; and therefore, Wan wang, extending to all the blessings of a good government, yet acknowledged the higher clairns of these four classes of unhappy persons: as we find it expressed in the Book of Odes: The rich can escape from the common suffering, but how great should be our compassion for the isolated, who have no resource !''

"The saying is a noble one!' exclaimed the king.

'Prince,' replied Mencius instantly, if you find it so noble, why not conform your conduct to it? One of your subjects, O king! being about to leave for the kingdom of Tsew, intrusted his wife and chil- dren to a friend; but on his return he found that they had been left to suffer the pains of hunger and cold: what ought he, then, to do?' Reject, entirely, so false a friend!' answered the king of Tse. 'If the higher functionaries were unequal to their duty; what would you do?'

'Deprive them of their rank.'

'And if your own kingdom is not well governed, what then?'

The king turned from left to right, and spake of other things. Sometime after this, Mencius speaking to the same prince, said, 'it is not the the ancient forests of a country which do it honor; but its families devoted for many generations to the duties of the magistracy. O king! in all your service there are none such; those whom you yesterday raised to honor, what are they to-day?'

'In what way,' replied the king, 'can I know beforehand that they are without virtue, and remove them?'

'In raising a sage to the highest dignities of the state,' replied the philosopher, 'a king acts only as he is of necessity bound to do. But to put a man of obscure condition above the nobles of his kingdom, or one of his remote kindred over princes more nearly connected with him, demands most careful deliberation. Do his courtiers unite in speaking of a man as wise: let him distrust them. If all the magistrates of his kingdom concur in the same assurance, let him not rest satisfied with their testimony. But if his subjects confirm the story, then let him convince himself; and if he finds the individual is indeed a sage, let him raise him to office and honor. So also, if all the courtiers would oppose his placing confidence in a minister, let him not give heed to them; and if all the magistrates are of this