Outer Collection of Sayings, Left, Part One外儲說左上

One. The way of an enlightened ruler is like You Ruo's answer to Fu Zi. When a ruler listens to words, he finds their eloquence fine; when he looks at conduct, he calls its remoteness worthy. So among his ministers and the gentlemen and the common people, those who speak go roundabout and grand, and in ordering their own persons they leave the world behind. The explanation lies in Tian Jiu's answer to the king of Chu. So Mozi made a kite of wood and Ou Gui built the Wu palace. Medicine wine and loyal words are what the enlightened ruler and the sage ruler alone understand.

Two. When a ruler listens to words and does not make merit and use his target, then those who speak have many doctrines like "the thorn tip" and "the white horse"; and when he does not make the standard and the target his gate, then all who shoot are like Yi. Rulers, faced with such doctrines, are all like the king of Yan learning the way, and those who speak at length are all like the men of Zheng quarreling over their years. So there are words that are fine and minute and hard and yet not worth working at, and Ji Liang, Hui Shi, Song Jian and Mo Di all drew up such schemes. There are discourses roundabout and deep and wide and great and yet of no use, and Wei Mou, Zhangluzi, Zhan He, Chen Bing and Zhuang Zhou all painted ghosts and goblins. There is conduct that goes against the grain and is hard and firm and yet is no achievement, and Wu Guang, Bian Sui, Bao Jiao, Jie Zitui and Tian Zhong are all hard gourds. Moreover Yu Qing bent the carpenter and the house fell in, and Fan Ju cornered the bowmaker and the bow snapped. Therefore he who seeks what is true in them cannot do without going home to eat.

Three. Hold the thought that each acts for the other, and there is blame and expectation; let each act for himself, and the work gets done. So even father and son will resent and scold each other, while the man who hires laborers sets out good soup for them. The explanation lies in Duke Wen spreading word beforehand and in Goujian praising Ruhuang. So Duke Huan hid his anger at Cai and attacked Chu, and Wu Qi sucked out the pus and healed the wound. Moreover the poems and hymns of the former kings and the inscriptions on their bells and cauldrons are all the traces of Bowu and the game board of Mount Hua. Yet what the former kings looked to was profit, and what they used was force. The proverb of the men raising the altar mound was spoken by themselves. If we allow the learned to carry out the far-off sayings of the former kings, may it not be unfit for today? And if it is so, it cannot be changed. Such were the man of Zheng county who got a yoke, the man of Wei who helped at the shooting, Bu Zi's wife who copied a worn pair of trousers, and the young man who waited on his elders at the drinking. Among the words of the former kings there are some meant small that the world takes as great, and some meant great that the world takes as small, and they cannot be known for certain. The explanation lies in the man of Song who expounded a book and the man of Liang who read a record. So the former kings had the letter from Ying, and later ages have many readings in the manner of Yan. Those who do not fit the affairs of the state and yet plan by the former kings are all men who go home to fetch the measure.

Four. Where profit lies, the people go; where a name shines out, gentlemen die for it. So if merit falls outside the law and reward is added to it, the ruler above cannot get his profit from those below; and if a name falls outside the law and praise is added to it, gentlemen will work for the name and will not be stored up for their lord. So when Zhongzhang and Xuji took office, half the town of Zhongmou threw down their fields and gardens and followed after the study of letters; and when Duke Ping bore an aching calf and a numb foot and did not dare break his posture, half the state of Jin declined office and leaned on others. If the words of these three gentlemen followed the law, they were the registers of the offices; and if their conduct fitted the business of the state, they were people who did as they were ordered. The courtesy of the two rulers was far too much. And if their words departed from the law and their conduct was far from merit, they were people outside the marking line, and what were the two rulers doing to honor them? To honor them is to be ruined. Moreover gentlemen who stay in their studies use no strength when the state has no business and put on no armor when it has trouble. Honor them, and men grow idle in the work of plowing and fighting; do not honor them, and they injure the law of the ruler above. When the state is at peace they are exalted and conspicuous, and when it is in danger they show the fright of Duke Qu. What does a ruler get from gentlemen who stay in their studies? So the enlightened ruler weighs what Li Ci saw in Zhongshan.

Five. The Odes says, "If he does not do it himself and go to it in person, the common people will not trust him." His tutor argued it with "wear no purple," drew on Duke Jian of Zheng and Duke Xiang of Song, and pressed him to exalt and enrich plowing and fighting. Now if a ruler does not make the shares clear and does not press for what is true, but goes down in person to the place of those below, he will come to "running down," to "dozing and lying," and to "covering up" and "going in plain clothes." Kong Qiu did not understand, and so he likened the ruler to a bowl; the ruler of Zou did not understand, and so he shamed himself first. The way of the enlightened ruler is in Shu Xiang's dividing of the hunt and in what Marquis Zhao listened to.

Six. When small trust is made good, great trust stands; so the enlightened ruler piles up trust. When reward and punishment are not trusted, prohibitions and orders do not go through, and the explanation lies in Duke Wen's attack on Yuan and in Ji Zheng's relief of the hungry. Thus Wu Qi waited for an old friend before he ate, and Marquis Wen met the forester and went hunting. So the enlightened ruler shows his trustworthiness as Zengzi did when he killed the pig. The harm is in King Li beating the alarm drum and in Li Kui deceiving the two wings of his camp.

One. Fu Zijian governed Shanfu. You Ruo saw him and said, "How is it that you have grown so thin?" Fu Zi said, "My lord did not know how poor a man I am and set me to govern Shanfu. The business of the office is pressing and my heart is anxious over it, and so I have grown thin." You Ruo said, "In old days Shun played the five-stringed zither and sang the ode Nanfeng, and all under heaven was in order. Now you govern a thing as small as Shanfu and are anxious over it. What would you do if you governed all under heaven? So if a man has technique and drives by it, he may sit in the hall of the ancestral temple with the color of a young girl in his face, and it does no harm to good order. If he has no technique and drives without it, then though his body wastes and grows thin, there is still no gain."

The king of Chu said to Tian Jiu, "Mozi is a famous scholar. What he does with his own body is well enough, but his words are many and unpolished. Why is this?" He answered, "In old days the lord of Qin married his daughter to a noble son of Jin. He had Jin dress and array her, and sent along with her seventy waiting women in figured clothes. When she came to Jin, the men of Jin loved the waiting women and thought little of the lord's daughter. This may be called marrying off waiting women well, but it cannot be called marrying off a daughter well. There was a man of Chu who sold a pearl in Zheng. He made a case of magnolia wood, perfumed it with cassia and pepper, hung it with pearls and jade, adorned it with rose stone and bound it about with kingfisher feathers. The man of Zheng bought the case and gave back the pearl. This may be called selling a case well, but it cannot be called selling a pearl well. The talk of our age is all of eloquence and of words with figured phrases, and rulers look at the figuring and forget what is of use. Mozi's doctrine hands down the way of the former kings and discusses the words of the sages in order to proclaim them to men. If he polished his phrases, he would fear that men would cherish the figuring and forget what is straight in it, and that the figuring would injure the use. This is of a kind with the man of Chu selling his pearl and the lord of Qin marrying off his daughter, and so his words are mostly unpolished."

Mozi made a kite of wood. He finished it in three years, and it flew for one day and broke. His disciples said, "The master's skill has gone so far as to make a wooden kite fly." Mozi said, "It is not so skillful as making the crossbar of a cart. With a piece of wood of a foot or so, and without spending the work of a single morning, a man draws a load of thirty piculs, reaches far, has strength to spare, and it lasts for years. Now I made a kite and finished it in three years, and it flew for one day and broke." Huizi heard of it and said, "Mozi is greatly skillful. He is skillful at making a crossbar and clumsy at making a kite."

The king of Song was at feud with Qi and was building the Wu palace. Ou Gui led the singing, and passers-by stopped to watch and the builders did not slacken. The king heard of it, called him in and gave him a gift. He answered, "The singing of Sheji, my teacher, is better still than mine." The king called Sheji and had him sing, and passers-by did not stop and the builders slackened. The king said, "Passers-by do not stop and the builders slacken. How is it that his singing is not so fine as Gui's?" He answered, "Let the king try measuring the work." When Gui sang, four courses were raised; when Sheji sang, eight. When the hardness was tested with a prod, Gui's went in five inches and Sheji's two.

Good medicine is bitter in the mouth, and the wise man makes himself drink it because he knows that it will go into him and cure his illness. Loyal words grate on the ear, and the enlightened ruler listens to them because he knows that with them merit can be brought about.

Two. There was a man of Song who asked leave to carve a mother monkey on the point of a bramble thorn for the king of Yan, saying that the king must fast three months before he could look at it. The king of Yan thereupon kept him on the income of three carriages. The smith who was right-hand driver said to the king, "I have heard that a ruler has no fasting that goes ten days without a feast. This man knows that the king cannot fast long enough to look at a useless thing, and so he has set three months as the term. Now everyone who carves and whittles must have a cutting tool smaller than the thing he cuts. I am a smith, and I have no knife with which to make such a carving. This is a thing that cannot be. The king should look into it." The king thereupon shut the man up and questioned him, and he was indeed a fraud, and so he was put to death. The smith said to the king, "When reckoning has no measure, the gentlemen who talk have many doctrines like 'the thorn tip.'"

One version says: The king of Yan loved fine and cunning things. A man of Wei said, "I can carve a mother monkey on the point of a bramble thorn." The king of Yan was delighted and kept him on the income of five carriages. The king said, "I should like to try looking at the mother monkey on the bramble thorn that my guest has made." The guest said, "If the ruler wishes to look at it, he must stay out of the palace for half a year and drink no wine and eat no meat. When the rain clears and the sun comes out, he must look at it in the moment between shadow and light, and then the mother monkey on the bramble thorn can be seen." So the king of Yan kept the man of Wei but could not look at his mother monkey. A smith who lived below the terrace in Zheng said to the king of Yan, "I am a cutter. Every small thing must be cut with a cutting knife, and what is cut must be bigger than the knife. Now the point of a bramble thorn will not take the edge of a knife, and it is hard to work the point of a bramble thorn. Let the king try looking at the guest's knife, and it can be known whether he is able or not." The king said, "Good." He said to the man of Wei, "My guest makes a mother monkey on a bramble thorn. With what does he work it?" He said, "With a cutting knife." The king said, "I should like to see it." The guest said, "I ask leave to go to my lodging and fetch it." And with that he ran away.

Er Yue was a man of Song and a good arguer. Holding that "a white horse is not a horse," he made the arguers of Jixia in Qi submit. Yet when he rode a white horse through a barrier gate, he was charged the toll on a white horse. So a man who leans on empty words can beat a whole state, but one who examines the facts and takes hold of the shapes of things cannot cheat even one man.

If a man sets a newly whetted arrow to a crossbow and shoots, then even with his eyes shut and shooting at random, the point never fails to hit an autumn hair. Yet he cannot hit the same place again, and he cannot be called a good archer, for there is no constant standard and target. Set up a target five inches across and draw at ten paces, and none but Yi or Pang Meng can be sure of it every time, for there is a constant standard and target. With a measure it is hard, and without a measure it is easy. Where there is a constant standard and target, even Yi and Pang Meng count hitting five inches skillful; where there is none, hitting an autumn hair by a random shot is counted clumsy. So when a ruler meets words without a measure, arguing gentlemen multiply their talk; and when he sets up a measure and holds to it, then even a wise man fears to go wrong and does not dare to speak at random. Now rulers listen to doctrines and do not meet them with a measure but delight in their eloquence; they do not measure by merit but praise the conduct and do not put it through the gate. This is why rulers are long deceived and why those who talk are long kept in comfort.

There was a guest who offered to teach the king of Yan the way of not dying. The king sent a man to learn it, and before the man he sent had learned it the guest died. The king was greatly angry and had the man executed. The king did not understand that the guest had cheated him, and executed the learner for being slow. To believe in a thing that cannot be and execute a minister who has done no wrong is the harm that comes of not looking into matters. And nothing is more urgent to a man than his own person. If the guest could not keep himself from dying, how could he have made the king live long?

There were men of Zheng who quarreled with each other over their years. One said, "I am of the same age as Yao." The other said, "I am of the same age as the elder brother of the Yellow Emperor." They took it to law and it was not settled, and the one who left off last was simply counted the winner.

There was a guest who painted a riding crop for the lord of Zhou, and he finished it in three years. The lord looked at it, and it had the same look as a lacquered crop. The lord of Zhou was greatly angry. The man who had painted the crop said, "Build a wall ten courses high and cut a window eight feet across, and lay the crop above it and look at it when the sun first rises." The lord of Zhou did so, and looking at it he saw that its markings had all become dragons and snakes, birds and beasts, carts and horses, and the shapes of the ten thousand things were complete in it. The lord of Zhou was greatly pleased. It is not that the work on this crop was not fine and hard; yet its use was the same as a plain lacquered crop.

There was a guest who painted for the king of Qi. The king of Qi asked, "What is hardest to paint?" He said, "Dogs and horses are hard." "What is easy?" He answered, "Ghosts and goblins are easiest." Dogs and horses are things men know, and they are wholly before us morning and evening, so they cannot be made to match, and they are hard. Ghosts and goblins have no shape and are not before us, and so they are easy.

In Qi there was a retired gentleman named Tian Zhong. Qu Gu, a man of Song, saw him and said, "I have heard that the right way of the former kings is not to eat by leaning on others. Now I have a great gourd, hard as stone, thick and without a hole, and I offer it to you." Tian Zhong said, "What is prized in a gourd is that it can hold things. Now if it is thick and has no hole, it cannot be split to hold anything; and if it is as heavy as hard stone, it cannot be split and used to ladle with. I have no use for this gourd." He said, "Just so. I shall throw it away." Now Tian Zhong does not eat by leaning on others, but neither is he of any profit to another man's state, and he too is of the kind of the hard gourd.

Yu Qing was having a house built and said to the carpenter, "The roof is too high." The carpenter answered, "This is a new house. The plaster is wet and the rafters are green." Yu Qing said, "Not so. Wet plaster is heavy and green rafters bend, and when bending rafters carry heavy plaster the roof will surely sink lower. As the days go on, the plaster dries and the rafters dry. Dry plaster is light and dry rafters are straight, and when straight rafters carry light plaster the roof rises higher still." The carpenter gave way and built it so, and the house fell in.

One version says: Yu Qing was about to build a house, and the carpenter said, "The timber is green and the plaster is wet. Green timber bends and wet plaster is heavy, and when what bends carries what is heavy, then even if it is finished now, in time it will surely fall in." Yu Qing said, "When timber dries it is straight, and when plaster dries it is light. If it truly dries, then day by day it grows lighter and straighter, and however long it stands it will surely not fall in." The carpenter gave way and built it and finished it, and after a while the house did indeed fall in.

Fan Ju said, "A bow breaks at the end of the work, never at the beginning. When a bowmaker strings a bow, he lays it in the frame for thirty days, then treads the string on and tries it against the catch in a single day. That is to go gently at the beginning and roughly at the end, so how can it not break? Stringing a bow should not be done so. Lay it in the frame for one day and tread the string on, and try it against the catch after thirty days. That is to be rough at the beginning and gentle at the end." The bowmaker was cornered and did as he said, and the bow broke.

The words of Fan Ju and Yu Qing both win by figured eloquence and go against the facts of the business. Rulers are pleased by such words and do not forbid them, and this is why they come to grief. To take no thought for the work of good order and strength, and to be charmed by the sound of clever talk and fine phrases, is to push aside the gentlemen who have technique and hand matters over to the men who "bring down a house" and "break a bow." So in the business of the state rulers do not understand even as much as a craftsman understands about building a house and stringing a bow. Yet gentlemen are cornered by men like Fan Ju and Yu Qing, because empty words win though they are of no use, while real business cannot be altered and so a man is cornered by it. Rulers have much useless eloquence about them and few words that cannot be altered, and this is why there is disorder. Now the world's Fan Jus and Yu Qings do not cease, and rulers do not stop being pleased by them. This is to prize the sort of men who bring things to grief and break them, and to make craftsmen of the men who understand government. When craftsmen cannot use their skill, the house falls in and the bow breaks; when the men who understand government cannot carry out their methods, the state falls into disorder and the ruler is in danger.

When little children play together they make rice of dust, soup of mud and meat of wood, and yet when evening comes they always go home to eat, because dust rice and mud soup can be played with but cannot be eaten. To recite the hymns handed down from high antiquity, to be eloquent but not honest, to speak of the benevolence and right of the former kings and yet be unable to set the state straight, is likewise something that can be played with but cannot be made into government. Those who longed after benevolence and right and grew weak and disordered were the three states of Jin; the one that did not long after them and became well ordered and strong is Qin. Yet it is not emperor yet, because its ordering is not finished.

Three. When a man is an infant and his parents rear him carelessly, the child grows up and resents it; and when the child is grown to full manhood and his support of them is thin, the parents are angry and scold him. Child and father are the closest of kin, and yet the one scolds and the other resents, because both hold the thought that each acts for the other and are not thorough in acting for themselves. When a man hires laborers and sows his fields, the master spends his household's goods to feed them well, and picks out good cloth and gives them ready money. It is not that he loves his hired men, but he says, if I do this, the plowman will plow deep and the weeder will weed thoroughly. When a hired man puts out all his strength and weeds and plows quickly, and uses all his skill to set the ridges and the paths straight, it is not that he loves the master, but he says, if I do this, the soup will be good and the money and the cloth will come easily. In this feeding of strength there is the kindness of father and son, and yet the evenness of their hearts in the work comes of both holding a mind that acts for itself. So when a man does his business and gives to others with the mind of profiting them, then even a man of Yue is easily brought into accord with him; and with the mind of harming them, then even father and son fall apart and resent each other.

Duke Wen attacked Song, and first spread word about, saying, "I have heard that the ruler of Song is without the way, that he slights and insults his elders, that he shares out goods unevenly and that his teaching and orders cannot be trusted. I have come to punish him for the people."

Yue attacked Wu, and first spread word about, saying, "I have heard that the king of Wu is raising the terrace of Ruhuang and digging a deep pool, that he wears out and afflicts the hundred surnames and melts away goods and wealth, so that the strength of the people is spent. I have come to punish him for the people."

A woman of Cai became the wife of Duke Huan. When Duke Huan rode in a boat with her, the lady rocked the boat. Duke Huan was greatly frightened and told her to stop, and she did not stop, and so in anger he sent her home. Then he meant to call her back, but Cai had already married her to another. Duke Huan was greatly angry and was about to attack Cai. Zhongfu remonstrated, saying, "A game on the sleeping mat is not enough to attack another man's state with, and no great work can be hoped for from it. I ask you not to make this your pretext." Duke Huan did not listen. Zhongfu said, "If it must be so, then note that Chu has not sent its offering of reed grass to the Son of Heaven for three years. It would be better for my lord to raise troops and attack Chu for the Son of Heaven. When Chu is laid low, turn back and fall upon Cai, saying, 'I attacked Chu for the Son of Heaven, and Cai would not follow with its troops,' and so wipe it out. This is right in name and profitable in fact. You will surely have the name of punishing for the Son of Heaven and the fact of avenging your wrong."

Wu Qi was a general of Wei and attacked Zhongshan. One of the soldiers had a boil, and Wu Qi knelt down and sucked out the pus himself. The mother of the wounded man stood and wept. Someone asked her, "The general does this for your son. What are you weeping for?" She answered, "Wu Qi sucked his father's sore, and his father died. Now this son too will die, and that is why I weep."

Zhufu of Zhao had his workmen set up a hooked ladder and climb Bowu, and there cut the print of a man's foot in the rock, coarse in the cutting, three feet across and five feet long, and had it inscribed, "Zhufu once roamed here."

King Zhao of Qin had his workmen set up a hooked ladder and climb Mount Hua, and make a game board out of the heartwood of pine and cypress, with arrows eight feet long and playing pieces eight inches across, and had it inscribed, "King Zhao once played at the board here with the spirits of heaven."

Duke Wen was going back to his state, and when he came to the Yellow River he gave orders to throw away the bamboo and wooden dishes, to throw away the mats and bedding, and to put behind him those whose hands and feet were callused and whose faces were burned black. Jiu Fan heard of it and wept in the night. The duke said, "I fled and was away for twenty years, and only now do I get back to my state. Jiu Fan hears of it and is not glad but weeps. Does he mean that he does not wish me to get back to my state?" Fan answered, "The bamboo and wooden dishes are what we eat from, and the mats and bedding are what we lie on, and my lord throws them away. Those whose hands and feet are callused and whose faces are burned black are the men who toiled and have merit, and my lord puts them behind him. Now I too am among those put behind, and within me I cannot bear my grief, and so I wept. And I have done much deceit and falseness for my lord's sake in bringing him back to his state. Even I hate myself for it, and how much more must my lord hate it." He bowed twice and was taking his leave when Duke Wen stopped him and said, "The proverb says, 'The man who raises an altar mound tucks up his clothes and tamps the earth, and when it is done he sacrifices to it in proper robes and cap.' Now you would take the state with me and not govern it with me, set it up with me and not sacrifice at it with me. How can that be right?" He unhitched his left trace horse and swore a covenant by the Yellow River.

Bu Zi, a man of Zheng county, had his wife make him a pair of trousers. His wife asked, "How shall I make the trousers?" Her husband said, "Make them like my old trousers." So his wife spoiled the new ones to make them like the old trousers.

There was a man of Zheng county who got a cart yoke and did not know its name, and he asked someone, "What kind of thing is this?" He answered, "This is a cart yoke." A little later he got another, and he asked someone, "What kind of thing is this?" He answered, "This is a cart yoke." The man who had asked was greatly angry and said, "A while ago you said cart yoke, and now again you say cart yoke. How can there be so many? You are cheating me!" And with that he fell to fighting with him.

There was a man of Wei who helped at the shooting. When a bird came, he waved his headcloth at it first, and the bird took fright and could not be shot.

The wife of Bu Zi, the man of Zheng county, went to the market and bought a tortoise and came home. Crossing the Ying River, she thought it must be thirsty, and so she let it go to drink, and so she lost her tortoise.

When a young man waits on his elders at the drinking, and the elders drink, he drinks too.

One version says: There was a man of Lu pleased with himself who saw an older man spit when he drank wine and could not empty the cup, and copied him and spat too.

One version says: There was a young man of Song who also wished to copy what was good. He saw that when his elders drank they left nothing, and though he could not take his wine he tried to empty his cup.

A book says, "Gird it and bind it." There was a man of Song studying government who thereupon doubled his sash and bound himself with it. Someone said, "What is this?" He answered, "The book says so, and so it must be."

A book says, "When it has been carved and when it has been polished, it goes back again to the plain wood." There was a man of Liang studying government who learned how to move and how to speak and took up affairs with an eye to figured form, saying, "It is hard," and so lost the substance of things. Someone said, "What is this?" He answered, "The book says so, and so it must be."

There was a man of Ying who sent a letter to the prime minister of Yan. He was writing at night and the light was not bright, and so he said to the man holding the candle, "Raise the candle." As he said it he wrote "raise the candle" into the letter by mistake. Raise the candle was not the meaning of the letter. The prime minister of Yan received the letter and was pleased with it, and said, "Raise the candle means to honor brightness, and to honor brightness means to raise up worthy men and give them office." The prime minister of Yan reported it to the king, and the king was greatly pleased, and the state was well governed by it. Well governed it was, but that was not the meaning of the letter. The learned men who are raised up in the world today are often of this kind.

There was a man of Zheng who was going to buy shoes. He first measured his own foot and left the measure on his seat, and when he got to the market he had forgotten to bring it. He had already picked out the shoes when he said, "I have forgotten to bring the measure," and he went home to fetch it. By the time he got back the market had broken up, and so he got no shoes. Someone said, "Why did you not try them on with your foot?" He said, "I would rather trust the measure than trust myself."

Four. Wang Deng became magistrate of Zhongmou and said to Lord Xiang, "In Zhongmou there are gentlemen named Zhongzhang and Xuji. Their persons are very well ordered and their learning is very wide. Why does my lord not raise them up?" The lord said, "You have seen them, and I will make them grandees of the middle rank." The prime minister remonstrated, saying, "Grandee of the middle rank is a weighty place in Jin. To receive it now without merit is not what a minister of Jin would wish. My lord has heard of them with his ears and has not seen them with his eyes." Lord Xiang said, "When I took Wang Deng, I had already heard him with my ears and seen him with my eyes. If I must hear with my ears and see with my eyes the men whom Wang Deng takes, then this hearing and seeing of men will never come to an end." In one day Wang Deng had two grandees of the middle rank received in audience, and lands and houses were given them. Half the town of Zhongmou threw down the weeding of their fields and sold their houses and gardens and followed after the study of letters.

Shu Xiang sat in attendance while Duke Ping asked him about affairs, and the duke had an aching calf and a numb foot and a cramp in it, and did not dare break his posture. The state of Jin heard of it and all said, "Shu Xiang is a worthy man. Duke Ping honors him so that he does not dare break his posture even with a cramp." Half the state of Jin declined office and leaned on others out of longing for Shu Xiang.

There was a man of Zheng county named Duke Qu who heard that the enemy was coming and died of fright, and when the fright was over he came back to life.

Zhufu of Zhao sent Li Ci to see whether Zhongshan could be attacked or not. He came back and reported, "Zhongshan can be attacked. If my lord does not attack quickly, he will come after Qi and Yan." Zhufu said, "For what reason can it be attacked?" Li Ci answered, "Its ruler loves to bring forward the gentlemen who live in caves in the rocks. The times he has tilted the cover of his carriage to meet gentlemen of out-of-the-way villages and narrow lanes are counted by tens, and the times he has lowered his manners to meet gentlemen in hempen clothes are counted by hundreds." The lord said, "By your account this is a worthy ruler. How can he be attacked?" Ci said, "Not so. When a ruler loves to bring forward the gentlemen of the caves and has them at court, then fighting men grow idle about standing in the ranks; and when those above honor the learned and put low gentlemen at court, then farmers grow idle in the fields. When fighting men are idle in the ranks, the army is weak; when farmers are idle in the fields, the state is poor. That a state should be weaker in arms than its enemy and poor within, and yet not perish, has never happened. Is it not right, then, to attack it?" Zhufu said, "Good." He raised troops and attacked Zhongshan, and in the end wiped it out.

Five. Duke Huan of Qi loved to wear purple, and the whole state wore purple. At that time five lengths of plain silk would not buy one of purple. Duke Huan was troubled by it and said to Guan Zhong, "I love to wear purple, and purple has become very dear, and the hundred surnames of the whole state do not stop loving to wear purple. What am I to do?" Guan Zhong said, "If my lord wishes to stop it, why not try wearing no purple? Say to those about you, 'I greatly dislike the smell of purple.' And when someone about you comes forward wearing purple, my lord must say, 'Stand back a little. I dislike the smell of purple.'" The duke said, "Very well." That day no gentleman of the guard wore purple; the next day no one in the capital wore purple; and within three days no one within the borders wore purple.

One version says: The king of Qi loved to wear purple, and the people of Qi all loved it. In Qi five lengths of plain silk would not buy one of purple, and the king of Qi was troubled that purple was so dear. His tutor said to the king, "The Odes says, 'If he does not do it himself and go to it in person, the common people will not trust him.' Now if the king wishes his people to wear no purple, let the king take off his own purple robe and hold court. And when any of the ministers comes forward in a purple robe, say, 'Further off! I dislike the smell.'" That day no gentleman of the guard wore purple; that month no one in the capital wore purple; that year no one within the borders wore purple.

Duke Jian of Zheng said to Zichan, "The state is small and pressed between Chu and Jin. Now the walls are not whole and weapons and armor are not ready, and we cannot wait for what is unforeseen." Zichan said, "I have closed off the outside far enough already, and I have made the guard within firm enough already. Though the state is small, it is still not in danger. Let my lord not be anxious." So to the end of Duke Jian's life there was no trouble.

One version says: When Zichan was prime minister of Zheng, Duke Jian said to him, "I drink wine and take no pleasure in it. The sacrificial stands and dishes are not large, the bells and drums and pipes and lutes do not sound, my own affairs are not of one piece, the state is not settled, the hundred surnames are not governed, and plowing and fighting are not in harmony. This too is your fault. You have your duty and I have mine, and let each of us keep to his own duty." Zichan withdrew and governed for five years, and there were no robbers in the state, no one picked up what was dropped in the road, no one plucked the peaches and jujubes that hung shading the streets, and an awl or a knife dropped in the road came back within three days. For three years he did not change his way, and there was no hunger among the people.

Duke Xiang of Song fought the men of Chu above Zhuo Valley. The men of Song had already formed their ranks, and the men of Chu had not yet crossed. Gou Qiang, the marshal of the right, hurried forward and remonstrated, saying, "The men of Chu are many and the men of Song are few. I ask leave to strike the men of Chu when they are half across and have not yet formed their ranks. We shall surely break them." Duke Xiang said, "I have heard the gentleman say, 'Do not wound a man twice, do not take captive a man whose hair is turning gray, do not push a man into a rough place, do not press a man in a narrow place, do not beat the drum against those who have not formed their ranks.' Now to strike Chu before it has crossed would injure what is right. I ask that we beat the drum and send the soldiers forward only after the men of Chu have all crossed and formed their line." The marshal of the right said, "My lord does not care for the people of Song and leaves the belly and the heart of his state unguarded, and only does what is right." The duke said, "Go back to the ranks, or the law will be carried out on you." The marshal of the right went back to the ranks, and when the men of Chu had formed their ranks and drawn up their line, the duke beat the drum. The men of Song were greatly defeated, and the duke was wounded in the thigh and died three days after. This is the disaster that comes of longing to do benevolence and right in one's own person. If the people will listen and follow only after the ruler has done a thing himself, then the ruler must plow for his food and put on armor and march in file like wild geese before the people will be willing to plow and fight. Is the ruler not then in far too much danger, and are the ministers not far too much at ease?

Duke Jing of Qi was roaming at Shaohai when a post rider came from the capital and reported, "Ying is gravely ill and is about to die, and it is feared that my lord will come too late." Duke Jing sprang up, and another post rider arrived. Duke Jing said, "Quick, harness the team of Fanju and have the groom Han Shu drive it." When they had gone a few hundred paces, he thought the groom was not fast enough and took the reins from him and drove in his place; and after perhaps a few hundred paces more he thought the horses were not going forward, and left the carriage altogether and ran. With horses as good as Fanju and the skill of the groom Han Shu, he still thought them worse than running down on his own feet.

King Zhao of Wei wished to take part in the business of the offices and said to the Lord of Mengchang, "I wish to take part in the business of the offices." The lord said, "If the king wishes to take part in the business of the offices, why not try studying and reading the laws?" King Zhao read some ten and more slips of the law and fell into a doze. The king said, "I cannot read these laws." Now here was a man who did not take hold of his own power and handles in person, and yet wished to do what is properly a minister's work. Was it not fitting that he dozed?

Confucius said, "He who is ruler of men is like a bowl, and the people are like water. If the bowl is square the water is square, and if the bowl is round the water is round."

The ruler of Zou loved to wear long hat strings, and all those about him wore long hat strings, and hat strings became very dear. The ruler of Zou was troubled by it and asked those about him, and they said, "My lord loves to wear them, and so the hundred surnames also wear many of them, and that is why they are dear." The ruler thereupon cut off his own hat string first and went out, and no one in the state wore long hat strings. The ruler could not give an order setting a standard of dress for the hundred surnames and forbidding it, but cut off his hat string and went out to show himself to the people first, and this is to shame oneself first and so come before the people.

When Shu Xiang divided the game of the hunt, those with much merit received much and those with little merit received little.

Marquis Zhao of Han said to Shenzi, "Laws and measures are very hard to carry out." Shenzi said, "Law is seeing merit and giving reward, and giving office according to ability. Now my lord sets up laws and measures and yet listens to the requests of those about him, and this is why they are hard to carry out." Marquis Zhao said, "From now on I know how to carry out the law. What should I listen to?" One day Shenzi asked for an office for his elder cousin. Marquis Zhao said, "This is not what I learned from you. Shall I listen to your request and so break down your own way, or shall I throw your request away?" Shenzi left his house and asked to be punished.

Six. Duke Wen of Jin attacked Yuan. He packed ten days' rations and set a term of ten days with his grandees. He had been at Yuan ten days and Yuan had not fallen, and so he struck the gong to withdraw and was breaking off the siege to leave. A soldier who had come out of Yuan said, "Yuan will fall in three days." The ministers and those about him remonstrated, saying, "The food of Yuan is gone and its strength is spent. Let my lord wait a while." The duke said, "I set a term of ten days with the soldiers. If I do not leave, I lose my trustworthiness. To gain Yuan and lose trust is what I will not do." And so he broke off the siege and left. The men of Yuan heard of it and said, "With a ruler as trustworthy as that, can we not go over to him?" And so they surrendered to the duke. The men of Wei heard of it and said, "With a ruler as trustworthy as that, can we not follow him?" And so they surrendered to the duke. Confucius heard of it and set it down, saying, "He attacked Yuan and gained Wei, and it was trust."

Duke Wen asked Ji Zheng, "How is hunger to be relieved?" He answered, "By trust." The duke said, "Where is trust to be placed?" He said, "Be trustworthy in names, trustworthy in business and trustworthy in what is right. Be trustworthy in names, and the ministers keep to their duties, good and bad do not overstep, and none of the hundred tasks is neglected. Be trustworthy in business, and the seasons of heaven are not missed and the hundred surnames do not overstep. Be trustworthy in what is right, and near kin look on and work hard, and those far off come over to you."

Wu Qi went out and met an old friend and kept him to eat. The old friend said, "Very well. I will go back now and then come." Wu Qi said, "I shall wait for you before I eat." The old friend did not come, though evening fell, and Wu Qi did not eat but waited for him. Early the next day he sent a man to look for his old friend. When the old friend came, only then did he eat with him.

Marquis Wen of Wei fixed a day for hunting with the forester. The next day a fierce wind happened to blow, and those about him tried to stop Marquis Wen. He would not listen and said, "I cannot lose my trustworthiness because the wind is fierce. I will not do it." And so he drove out himself, braved the wind, and told the forester that the hunt was off.

Zengzi's wife was going to the market, and her son followed her crying. His mother said, "Go back. When I come home I will kill the pig for you." When she came back from the market, Zengzi was about to catch the pig and kill it. His wife stopped him and said, "I was only playing with the child." Zengzi said, "A child is not someone to play with. A child knows nothing and leans on its father and mother to learn, and listens to the teaching of its father and mother. Now if you cheat him, this is teaching your son to cheat. When a mother cheats her son, the son does not trust his mother, and that is no way to bring up a child." And so he cooked the pig.

King Li of Chu arranged that when there was an alarm a drum should be made ready and he would keep watch together with the hundred surnames. He drank wine and got drunk and beat the drum by mistake, and the people were greatly startled. He sent a man to stop them, saying, "I was drunk and playing with those about me and beat it by mistake." The people all went home. Some months later there was an alarm, and the drum was beaten and the people did not come. So he changed his orders and made the signals clear, and then the people trusted them.

Li Kui warned the two wings of his camp, saying, "Watch carefully for the enemy. They will come at any hour and strike you." He did this two or three times and the enemy did not come. The two wings grew slack and did not trust Li Kui. Some months later the men of Qin came to fall upon them, and his army was almost taken. This is the harm that comes of not being trusted.

One version says: When Li Kui fought the men of Qin, he said to the left wing, "Go up quickly! The right wing has already gone up." Then he galloped over to the right wing and said, "The left wing has already gone up." The left and the right wings said, "They have gone up," and with that they all vied with one another in going up. The next year he fought the men of Qin, and the men of Qin fell upon him, and his chariots were almost taken. This is the harm that comes of not being trusted.