Fanlun — Broad Discourses氾論訓
古者有鍪而綣領以王天下者矣，其德生而不辱，予而不奪，天下不非其服，同懷其德。當此之時，陰陽和平，風雨時節，萬物蕃息，烏鵲之巢可俯而探也，禽獸可羈而從也，豈必褒衣博帶，句襟委章甫哉！古者民澤處復穴，冬日則不勝霜雪霧露，夏日則不勝暑蟄蚊虻。聖人乃作為之築土構木，以為宮室，上棟下宇，以蔽風雨，以避寒暑，而百姓安之。伯余之初作衣也，緂麻索縷，手經指挂，其成猶網羅。後世為之機杼勝複以便其用，而民得以揜形御寒。古者剡耜而耕，摩蜃而耨，木鉤而樵，抱甀而汲，民勞而利薄。後世為之耒耜耰鉏，斧柯而樵，桔皋而汲，民逸而利多焉。古者大川名谷，衝絕道路，不通往來也，乃為窬木方版，以為舟航，故地勢有無，得相委輸。乃為靻蹻而超千里，肩荷負儋之勤也，而作為之楺輪建輿，駕馬服牛，民以致遠而不勞。為鷙禽猛獸之害傷人而無以禁御也，而作為之鑄金鍛鐵，以為兵刃，猛獸不能為害。
In antiquity there was one who wore a helmet and a rolled collar and ruled as king over all under heaven. His virtue gave life and did not shame, gave and did not take away, so all under heaven did not call his dress wrong and alike cherished his virtue. At that time yin and yang were harmonious and even, wind and rain came in season, and the ten thousand things flourished and multiplied. The nests of the crows and the magpies could be reached by bending down, and the birds and the beasts could be haltered and led. Why must there be flowing robes and broad sashes, curved collars and the zhangfu cap! In antiquity the people dwelt by marshes and lived in caves. In winter they could not withstand the frost and the snow, the fog and the dew; in summer they could not withstand the heat, the stinging insects, the mosquitoes and the gadflies. The sages then for their sake heaped up earth and joined timber to make palaces and houses, with the ridgepole above and the eaves below, to screen off wind and rain and to keep away cold and heat, and the people were at ease. When Boyu first made clothing, he dressed the hemp and drew out the thread, made the warp with his hands and hung it on his fingers, and what he made was still like a net. Later ages made for them the loom and the shuttle and the heddle to make their use easy, and the people were able to cover their bodies and keep off the cold. In antiquity they whittled a plowshare to plow and ground a clam shell to weed, gathered firewood with a wooden hook and drew water clasping a jar, so the people toiled and the profit was thin. Later ages made for them the plow and the plowshare, the mallet and the hoe, cut firewood with an axe handle and drew water with a well sweep, so the people were at ease and the profit was much. In antiquity the great rivers and the famous valleys cut across the roads, so that going and coming did not pass through. Then they hollowed out wood and joined planks to make boats, and so what the lay of the land had and lacked could be carried from one place to another. Then they made leather sandals and crossed a thousand li, but there was the toil of bearing and carrying on the shoulder, so they bent wheels and set up carriages for them, yoked horses and put oxen to work, and the people reached far places without toil. Because birds of prey and fierce beasts harmed and wounded people and there was nothing to forbid them or ward them off, they cast metal and forged iron to make the blades of weapons, and fierce beasts could no longer do harm.
故民迫其難則求其便，困其患則造其備，人各以其所知，去其所害，就其所利。常故不可循，器械不可因也，則先王之法度有移易者矣。古之制，婚禮不稱主人，舜不告而娶，非禮也。立子以長，文王舍伯邑考而用武王，非制也。禮三十而娶，文王十五而生武王，非法也。夏后氏殯於阼階之上，殷人殯於兩楹之間，周人殯於西階之上，此禮之不同者也。有虞氏用瓦棺，夏后氏堲周，殷人用槨，周人牆置翣，此葬之不同者也。夏后氏祭於闇，殷人祭於陽，周人祭於日出以朝，此祭之不同者也。堯大章，舜九韶，禹大夏，湯大濩，周武象，此樂之不同者也。故五帝異道而德覆天下，三王殊事而名施後世，此皆因時變而制禮樂者。譬猶師曠之施瑟柱也，所推移上下者無寸尺之度，而靡不中音。
So when the people are pressed by hardship they seek what is convenient, and when they are distressed by trouble they make what they need. Each man by what he knows casts off what harms him and goes toward what profits him. What has always been so cannot be followed, and tools and machines cannot be left as they were, so even in the laws and measures of the former kings there are things that have shifted and changed. By the old institution a wedding does not name the master of the house, yet Shun married without telling, and that was not ritual. In setting up a son the eldest is used, yet King Wen set aside Boyikao and used King Wu, and that was not the institution. By ritual a man marries at thirty, yet King Wen at fifteen begot King Wu, and that was not the law. The Xiahou clan laid the coffin above the eastern steps, the people of Yin laid it between the two pillars, the people of Zhou laid it above the western steps. This is ritual not being the same. The Youyu clan used an earthenware coffin, the Xiahou clan ringed it with brick, the people of Yin used an outer coffin, the people of Zhou set up a wall and raised feather fans. This is burial not being the same. The Xiahou clan sacrificed in the dark, the people of Yin sacrificed in the daylight, the people of Zhou sacrificed at sunrise in the morning. This is sacrifice not being the same. Yao had the Dazhang, Shun the Jiushao, Yu the Daxia, Tang the Dahuo, and Zhou the Wuxiang. This is music not being the same. So the Five Emperors differed in the Way and their virtue covered all under heaven, and the Three Kings differed in their affairs and their names were spread to later ages. All of these made ritual and music by following the changes of their time. It is like Shi Kuang setting the bridges of a se. In what he pushes and moves up and down there is no measure of inch or foot, yet nothing fails to hit the note.
故通於禮樂之情者能作音，有本主於中，而以知榘彠之所周者也。魯昭公有慈母而愛之，死為之練冠，故有慈母之服。陽侯殺蓼侯而竊其夫人，故大饗廢夫人之禮。先王之制，不宜則廢之；末世之事，善則著之；是故禮樂未始有常也。故聖人制禮樂，而不制於禮樂。治國有常，而利民為本。政教有經，而令行為上。苟利於民，不必法古。苟周於事，不必循舊。夫夏、商之衰也，不變法而亡。三代之起也，不相襲而王。故聖人法與時變，禮與俗化，衣服器械各便其用，法度制令各因其宜。故變古未可非，而循俗未足多也。百川異源而皆歸於海，百家殊業而皆務於治。王道缺而詩作，周室廢、禮義壞而春秋作。詩、春秋，學之美者也，皆衰世之造也，儒者循之以教導於世，豈若三代之盛哉！以詩、春秋為古之道而貴之，又有未作詩、春秋之時。
So only one who has penetrated the feeling of ritual and music can make notes. He has a root that is master within, and by it he knows what the square and the compass go around. Duke Zhao of Lu had a foster mother and loved her, and when she died he wore the mourning cap for her, and so there came to be mourning for a foster mother. The marquis of Yang killed the marquis of Liao and stole away his wife, and so at the great feast the rite for the wife was abolished. Even an institution of the former kings, if it is not fitting, is abolished; even a matter of a late age, if it is good, is set forth. For this reason ritual and music have never had anything constant. So the sage makes ritual and music and is not made by ritual and music. In governing a state there is what is constant, but benefiting the people is the root. In government and teaching there is a warp, but that orders be carried out is the highest. If it truly benefits the people, one need not take antiquity for law. If it truly answers to affairs, one need not follow the old. Now Xia and Shang declined because they did not change the law, and they perished. The Three Dynasties arose because they did not take over from one another, and they reigned as kings. So with the sage the law changes together with the time and ritual is transformed together with custom. Clothing and tools each make their own use easy, and laws and measures and institutions and orders each follow what is fitting. So changing what is old cannot be called wrong, and following custom is not enough to be praised. The hundred rivers have different sources and all return to the sea. The hundred schools have different callings and all work at governing. When the kingly Way was broken the Odes were made. When the house of Zhou fell and ritual and right collapsed the Chunqiu was made. The Odes and the Chunqiu are the beautiful things of learning, yet both are the making of a declining age. The Confucians follow them to teach and lead the age. How can that be like the flourishing of the Three Dynasties! They take the Odes and the Chunqiu for the ancient Way and honor them, yet there was also a time when the Odes and the Chunqiu had not been made.
夫道其缺也，不若道其全也。誦先王之詩、書，不若聞得其言；聞得其言，不若得其所以言。得其所以言者，言弗能言也。故道可道者，非常道也。周公事文王也，行無專制，事無由己；身若不勝衣，言若不出口，有奉持於文王，洞洞屬屬，而將不能，恐失之，可謂能子矣。武王崩，成王幼少，周公繼文王之業，履天子之籍，聽天下之政，平夷狄之亂，誅管、蔡之罪，負扆而朝諸侯，誅賞制斷，無所顧問，威動天地，聲懾四海，可謂能武矣。成王既壯，周公屬籍致政，北面委質而臣事之，請而後為，復而後行，無擅姿之志，無伐矜之色，可謂能臣矣。故一人之身而三變者，所以應時矣。何況乎君數易世，國數易君，人以其位達其好憎，以其威勢供嗜欲，而欲以一行之禮，一定之法，應時偶變，其不能中權，亦明矣。
Now to speak of what is broken is not so good as to speak of what is whole. Reciting the Odes and the Documents of the former kings is not so good as getting to hear their words, and getting to hear their words is not so good as getting why they spoke them. He who has got why they spoke them cannot say it in words. So a Way that can be spoken is not the constant Way. When the Duke of Zhou served King Wen, in his acts he decided nothing on his own and in his affairs nothing proceeded from himself. His body seemed not to bear the weight of his clothes and his words seemed not to come out of his mouth. He held himself in service to King Wen, careful and reverent, as though he would not be able to do it and feared to lose it. He may be called one who could be a son. When King Wu died and King Cheng was young, the Duke of Zhou carried on the work of King Wen. He trod the seat of the Son of Heaven and heard the government of all under heaven, put down the disorder of the Yi and the Di, punished the crime of Guanshu and Caishu, stood with his back to the screen and received the feudal lords at court, and in punishing and rewarding, in cutting and deciding, he had no one to turn to and ask. His awe moved heaven and earth and his voice struck fear into the four seas. He may be called one who could be a warrior. When King Cheng had grown up, the Duke of Zhou handed over the registers and returned the government. He faced north and offered his token and served him as a subject. He asked and then did, he reported and then carried out, with no will to be willful and no look of boasting. He may be called one who could be a subject. So that one man in his own person changed three times was how he answered the times. How much more when a ruler often changes his generation and a state often changes its ruler, when men use their position to push through what they like and hate and use their awe and power to feed their appetites! To wish with one ritual of conduct and one fixed law to answer the times and match their changes: that this cannot hit the balance is plain enough.
故聖人所由曰道，所為曰事。道猶金石，一調不更；事猶琴瑟，每絃改調。故法制禮義者，治人之具也，而非所以為治也。故仁以為經，義以為紀，此萬世不更者也。若乃人考其才，而時省其用，雖日變可也。天下豈有常法哉！當於世事，得於人理，順於天地，祥於鬼神，則可以正治矣。古者人醇工龐，商樸女重，是以政教易化，風俗易移也。今世德益衰，民俗益薄，欲以樸重之法，治既弊之民，是猶無鏑銜□策錣而御馯馬也。昔者，神農無制令而民從，唐、虞有制令而無刑罰，夏后氏不負言，殷人誓，周人盟。逮至當今之世，忍詢而輕辱，貪得而寡羞，欲以神農之道治之，則其亂必矣。伯成子高辭為諸侯而耕，天下高之。今時之人，辭官而隱處，為鄉邑之下，豈可同哉！古之兵，弓劍而已矣，槽矛無擊，脩戟無刺。晚世之兵，隆衝以攻，渠幨以守，連弩以射，銷車以鬥。古之伐國，不殺黃口，不獲二毛。於古為義，於今為笑。古之所以為榮者，今之所以為辱也。古之所以為治者，今之所以為亂也。
So what the sage proceeds by is called the Way, and what he does is called affairs. The Way is like metal and stone: once tuned it is not altered. Affairs are like the qin and the se: every string has its tuning changed. So laws and institutions and ritual and right are the tools for governing men, but they are not that by which governing is done. So to make humaneness the warp and rightness the guiding cord: this is what is not altered in ten thousand generations. As for weighing a man's talent and from time to time looking at his use, even changing it daily is allowable. How could there be a constant law under heaven! If it fits the affairs of the age and meets the pattern of men, if it follows heaven and earth and is auspicious to the ghosts and the spirits, then one can govern rightly with it. In antiquity men were pure and craftsmen were solid, merchants were plain and women were grave, and for this reason government and teaching were easy to transform with and customs were easy to shift. Now the virtue of the age grows ever weaker and the customs of the people ever thinner, yet men wish to govern a people already worn out with the plain and grave law. This is like driving a wild horse with no bit and no snaffle, no whip and no goad. Of old Shennong had no institutions or orders and the people followed. Tang and Yu had institutions and orders but no punishments. The Xiahou clan did not go back on their word, the people of Yin swore oaths, and the people of Zhou made covenants. Coming down to the present age, men endure being reviled and make light of disgrace, they are greedy to get and have little shame; to wish to govern them by the Way of Shennong is surely disorder. Bocheng Zigao declined to be a feudal lord and plowed, and all under heaven held him high. Men of this time decline office and live hidden and become the lowest in their villages and towns. How can they be the same! The weapons of antiquity were the bow and the sword and no more, for the caomao spear did not strike and the long halberd did not stab. The weapons of a later age are the towering ram to attack with, the shielded wagon to defend with, the linked crossbow to shoot with, and the iron chariot to fight with. When they attacked a state in antiquity they did not kill the yellow-mouthed young and did not take the grizzle-haired captive. What was right in antiquity is a laughing matter now. What was glory in antiquity is disgrace now, and what was good order in antiquity is disorder now.
夫神農、伏羲不施賞罰而民不為非，然而立政者不能廢法而治民。舜執干戚而服有苗，然而征伐者不能釋甲兵而制彊暴。由此觀之，法度者，所以論民俗而節緩急也；器械者，因時變而制宜適也。夫聖人作法而萬物制焉，賢者立禮而不肖者拘焉。制法之民，不可與遠舉；拘禮之人，不可使應變。耳不知清濁之分者，不可令調音；心不知治亂之源者，不可令制法。必有獨聞之耳，獨見之明，然後能擅道而行矣。夫殷變夏，周變殷，春秋變周，三代之禮不同，何古之從！大人作而弟子循。知法治所由生，則應時而變；不知法治之源，雖循古，終亂。今世之法籍與時變，禮義與俗易，為學者循先襲業，據籍守舊教，以為非此不治，是猶持方枘而周員鑿也，欲得宜適致固焉，則難矣。
Now Shennong and Fuxi did not hand out rewards and punishments, yet the people did no wrong; still, one who sets up a government cannot abolish the law and govern the people. Shun held the shield and the axe and the Youmiao submitted; still, one who goes out on campaign cannot lay down armor and weapons and control the strong and the violent. Seen from this, laws and measures are how one weighs the customs of the people and regulates what is slow and what is urgent, and tools and machines follow the changes of the time and are made fitting and apt. Now when the sage makes a law the ten thousand things are regulated by it, and when the worthy sets up ritual the unworthy are bound by it. A people regulated by law cannot be joined with in a far-reaching undertaking, and a man bound by ritual cannot be made to answer change. One whose ear does not know the division of clear and muddy cannot be told to tune notes, and one whose heart does not know the source of order and disorder cannot be told to make laws. There must be an ear that hears alone and a brightness that sees alone, and only then can one take the Way for his own and walk it. Now Yin changed Xia, Zhou changed Yin, and the Chunqiu changed Zhou, and the rituals of the Three Dynasties are not the same. Which antiquity is one to follow! The great man makes and the disciples follow. If one knows where law and government are born from, he changes in answer to the time. If he does not know the source of law and government, then though he follows antiquity he ends in disorder. Now the laws and the books of the age change with the time and ritual and right shift with custom, yet those who study follow what went before and take over the old calling, lean on the books and keep the old teaching and hold that without this there is no governing. This is like holding a square tenon and going around a round mortise: to wish for a fit and to make it firm will be hard.
今儒墨者稱三代、文武而弗行，是言其所不行也；非今時之世而弗改，是行其所非也。稱其所是，行其所非，是以盡日極慮而無益於治，勞形竭智而無補於主也。今夫圖工好畫鬼魅，而憎圖狗馬者，何也？鬼魅不世出，而狗馬可日見也。夫存危治亂，非智不能；道而先稱古，雖愚有餘。故不用之法，聖王弗行；不驗之言，聖王弗聽。天地之氣，莫大於和。和者，陰陽調，日夜分，而生物。春分而生，秋分而成，生之與成，必得和之精。故聖人之道，寬而栗，嚴而溫，柔而直，猛而仁。太剛則折，太柔則卷，聖人正在剛柔之間，乃得道之本。積陰則沉，積陽則飛，陰陽相接，乃能成和。夫繩之為度也，可卷而伸也，引而伸之，可直而睎，故聖人以身體之。
Now the Confucians and the Mohists praise the Three Dynasties and King Wen and King Wu but do not act on them, and this is to speak of what they do not do. They call the present age wrong but do not change it, and this is to do what they call wrong. They praise what they hold right and do what they hold wrong, and for this reason they use up their days and stretch their thought to its limit with no gain to government, and toil their bodies and exhaust their wits with no help to their ruler. Now why is it that a painter likes to paint ghosts and goblins and hates to paint dogs and horses? Ghosts and goblins do not come out into the world, and dogs and horses can be seen every day. To keep alive what is in danger and order what is in disorder cannot be done without wisdom, but to speak of the Way and begin by praising antiquity: even a fool has that and to spare. So a law of no use the sage king does not carry out, and words not borne out the sage king does not listen to. Of the breaths of heaven and earth none is greater than harmony. Harmony is when yin and yang are in tune and day and night are divided and things are born. They are born at the spring equinox and completed at the autumn equinox, and their birth and their completion come of getting the fineness of harmony. So the Way of the sage is generous yet stern, severe yet warm, soft yet straight, fierce yet humane. Too hard and it breaks, too soft and it curls, and the sage stands just between the hard and the soft, and so he gets the root of the Way. Pile up yin and it sinks, pile up yang and it flies; yin and yang must meet each other, and only then can harmony be made. Now the inked cord as a measure can be rolled up and can be stretched out, and when it is drawn and stretched it can be made straight and sighted along, and so the sage makes it the body of his own body.
夫脩而不橫，短而不窮，直而不剛，久而不忘者，其唯繩乎！故恩推則懦，懦則不威；嚴推則猛，猛則不和；愛推則縱，縱則不令；刑推則虐，虐則無親。昔者，齊簡公釋其國家之柄，而專任大臣將相，攝威擅勢，私門成黨，而公道不行，故使陳成田常、鴟夷子皮得成其難。使呂氏絕祀而陳氏有國者，此柔懦所生也。鄭子陽剛毅而好罰，其於罰也，執而無赦。舍人有折弓者，畏罪而恐誅，則因猘狗之驚以殺子陽，此剛猛之所致也。今不知道者，見柔懦者侵，則矜為剛毅；見剛毅者亡，則矜為柔懦。此本無主於中，而見聞舛馳於外者也，故終身而無所定趨。譬猶不知音者之歌也，濁之則鬱而無轉，清之則燋而不謳。及至韓娥、秦青、薛談之謳，侯同、曼聲之歌，憤於志，積於內，盈而發音，則莫不比於律而和於人心。何則？中有本主以定清濁，不受於外而自為儀表也。
Now what is long yet does not run crosswise, short yet never at an end, straight yet not stiff, lasting yet never forgotten: is it not the inked cord alone! So push kindness and it becomes weakness, and weakness has no awe. Push severity and it becomes cruelty, and cruelty does not harmonize. Push love and it becomes license, and license cannot command. Push punishment and it becomes tyranny, and tyranny has no one close to it. Of old Duke Jian of Qi let go the handle of his state and his house and gave it wholly to his great ministers and his generals and chancellors. They seized his awe and took his power for their own, private houses formed factions and the public Way was not carried out, and so Chen Cheng Tian Chang and Chiyi Zipi were able to bring their revolt about. That the Lü clan had its sacrifices cut off and the Chen clan came to hold the state is what softness and weakness gave birth to. Ziyang of Zheng was hard and unbending and loved to punish, and in his punishing, once he had seized a man there was no pardon. One of his stewards broke a bow, and fearing the charge and dreading execution he took the alarm of a mad dog for his chance and killed Ziyang. This is what hardness and fierceness brought about. Now those who do not know the Way, when they see the soft and weak encroached upon, make a show of being hard and unbending, and when they see the hard and unbending perish, make a show of being soft and weak. At root they have no master within, and what they see and hear pulls them this way and that from without, and so to the end of their lives they have no settled course. It is like the singing of one who does not know music: muddy it and it is choked and will not turn, clear it and it is scorched and will not sing. But when it comes to the singing of Han E and Qin Qing and Xue Tan, and the songs of Hou Tong and Man Sheng, they are stirred in their will and it gathers within, and it fills them and they send out the sound, and then nothing fails to match the pitch pipes and to harmonize with the hearts of men. Why is this? Within them there is a root and a master to fix the clear and the muddy, and they take nothing from outside but are their own standard and model.
今夫盲者行於道，人謂之左則左，謂之右則右，遇君子則易道，遇小人則陷溝壑。何則？目無以接物也。故魏兩用樓翟、吳起而亡西河，湣王專用淖齒而死于東廟，無術以御之也。文王兩用呂望、召公奭而王，楚莊王專任孫叔敖而霸，有術以御之也。夫弦歌鼓舞以為樂，盤旋揖讓以修禮，厚葬久喪以送死，孔子之所立也，而墨子非之。兼愛尚賢，右鬼非命，墨子之所立也，而楊子非之。全性保真，不以物累形，楊子之所立也，而孟子非之。趨捨人異，各有曉心。故是非有處，得其處則無非，失其處則無是。丹穴、太蒙、反踵、空同、大夏、北戶、奇肱、脩股之民，是非各異，習俗相反，君臣上下，夫婦父子，有以相使也。此之是，非彼之是也；此之非，非彼之非也；譬若斤斧椎鑿之各有所施也。禹之時，以五音聽治，懸鐘鼓磬鐸，置鞀，以待四方之士，為號曰：「教寡人以道者擊鼓，諭寡人以義者擊鐘，告寡人以事者振鐸，語寡人以憂者擊磬，有獄訟者搖鞀。」當此之時，一饋而十起，一沐而三捉髮，以勞天下之民，此而不能達善效忠者，則才不足也。秦之時，高為臺榭，大為苑囿，遠為馳道，鑄金人，發適戍，入芻稿，頭會箕賦，輸於少府。
Now when a blind man walks along the road, if people say left he goes left and if they say right he goes right. If he meets a gentleman he is turned onto the road, and if he meets a petty man he falls into a ditch or a gully. Why is this? His eyes have nothing with which to meet things. So Wei used both Lou Di and Wu Qi and lost Xihe, and King Min used Nao Chi alone and died in the Eastern Temple, because they had no art with which to drive them. King Wen used both Lü Wang and Shi, the Duke of Shao, and reigned as king, and King Zhuang of Chu gave all to Sun Shu'ao and became hegemon, because they had the art with which to drive them. Now to make music with strings and singing and drums and dancing, to cultivate ritual by circling and bowing and yielding, to send off the dead with thick burial and long mourning: this is what Confucius set up, and Mozi called it wrong. To love all alike and honor the worthy, to put the spirits on the right and deny fate: this is what Mozi set up, and Yangzi called it wrong. To keep one's nature whole and guard what is true and not bind the body with things: this is what Yangzi set up, and Mencius called it wrong. What men take up and what they lay aside differ, and each has a heart of his own understanding. So right and wrong have their place: get their place and there is nothing wrong, lose their place and there is nothing right. Among the peoples of Danxue and Taimeng, Fanzhong and Kongtong, Daxia and Beihu, Qigong and Xiugu, right and wrong each differ and the customs they practice are opposite to one another, yet ruler and subject, high and low, husband and wife, father and son have their ways of using one another. What is right here is not what is right there, and what is wrong here is not what is wrong there. It is like the adze and the axe, the mallet and the chisel, each having something it is used for. In the time of Yu he heard government by the five notes. He hung up a bell and a drum and a chime and a clapper and set out a hand drum to wait for the gentlemen of the four quarters, and he proclaimed, "Let him who teaches me the Way strike the drum. Let him who instructs me in rightness strike the bell. Let him who tells me of affairs shake the clapper. Let him who speaks to me of a trouble strike the chime. Let him who has a lawsuit shake the hand drum." At that time he rose ten times from one meal and took hold of his hair three times in one washing, toiling for the people of all under heaven, and if even so a man could not bring goodness forward and offer his loyalty, then his talent was not enough. In the time of Qin they raised terraces and pavilions high and made parks and preserves great, ran galloping roads far off, cast men of metal, sent out the banished to the garrisons, brought in fodder and straw, counted by heads and levied by the basket, and carried it to the Shaofu treasury.
丁壯丈夫，西至臨洮、狄道，東至會稽、浮石，南至豫章、桂林，北至飛狐、陽原，道路死人以溝量。當此之時，忠諫者謂之不祥，而道仁義者謂之狂。逮至高皇帝，存亡繼絕，舉天下之大義，身自奮袂執銳，以為百姓請命于皇天。當此之時，天下雄俊豪英暴露于野澤，前蒙矢石，而後墮谿壑，出百死而紿一生，以爭天下之權，奮武厲誠，以決一旦之命。當此之時，豐衣博帶而道儒墨者，以為不肖。逮至暴亂已勝，海內大定，繼文之業，立武之功，履天子之圖籍，造劉氏之貌冠，總鄒、魯之儒墨，通先聖之遺教，戴天子之旗，乘大路，建九斿，撞大鐘，擊鳴鼓，奏咸池，揚干戚。當此之時，有立武者見疑。一世之間，而文武代為雌雄，有時而用也。
Grown men in their strength went west as far as Lintao and Didao, east as far as Kuaiji and Fushi, south as far as Yuzhang and Guilin, north as far as Feihu and Yangyuan, and the dead on the roads could be measured by the ditchful. At that time one who remonstrated in loyalty was called unlucky, and one who spoke of humaneness and rightness was called mad. When it came to the High Emperor, he kept alive what was perishing and joined again what had been cut off, raised up the great rightness of all under heaven, and himself shook out his sleeves and took up a sharp weapon and asked heaven above for the lives of the people. At that time the bold and outstanding men of all under heaven lay out in the open fields and marshes, facing arrows and stones before them and falling into streams and gullies behind them, coming out of a hundred deaths to win one life, contending for the power of all under heaven, rousing their arms and whetting their sincerity to settle the fate of a single morning. At that time one who wore ample robes and a broad sash and spoke of the Confucians and the Mohists was held to be worthless. When violence and disorder had been overcome and all within the seas was greatly settled, the work of the civil was carried on and the merit of the martial was set up. He trod the maps and registers of the Son of Heaven and made the cap in the fashion of the Liu clan, gathered the Confucians and Mohists of Zou and Lu and made current the teaching left by the former sages, raised the banner of the Son of Heaven and rode the great carriage, set up the nine streamers, struck the great bell and beat the sounding drum, played the Xianchi and brandished the shield and the axe. At that time one who set up martial deeds was looked on with suspicion. Within a single generation the civil and the martial take turns as female and male, and each has its time of being used.
今世之為武者則非文也，為文者則非武也，文武更相非，而不知時世之用也。此見隅曲之一指，而不知八極之廣大也。故東面而望，不見西牆；南面而視，不睹北方；唯無所嚮者，則無所不通。國之所以存者，道德也；家之所以亡者，理塞也。堯無百戶之郭，舜無置錐之地，以有天下。禹無十人之眾，湯無七里之分，以王諸侯。文王處岐周之間也，地方不過百里，而立為天子者，有王道也。夏桀、殷紂之盛也，人跡所至，舟車所通，莫不為郡縣，然而身死人手，而為天下笑者，有亡形也。故聖人見化以觀其徵。德有盛衰，風先萌焉。故得王道者，雖小必大；有亡形者，雖成必敗。夫夏之將亡，太史令終古先奔於商，三年而桀乃亡。殷之將敗也，太史令向藝先歸文王，□年而紂乃亡。
Now in this age those who follow the martial call the civil wrong, and those who follow the civil call the martial wrong, and the civil and the martial in turn call each other wrong and do not know the use of the time and the age. This is to see one finger in a corner and not know the breadth and greatness of the eight limits. So face east and look and you do not see the western wall; face south and look and you do not see the north. Only one who faces nowhere is one to whom nothing is closed. What keeps a state in being is the Way and its virtue; what makes a house perish is that its pattern is blocked. Yao had no wall for a hundred households and Shun had no ground to set an awl in, yet they held all under heaven. Yu had no following of ten men and Tang had no holding of seven li, yet they reigned as kings over the feudal lords. When King Wen dwelt between Qi and Zhou his land was no more than a hundred li square, yet he rose and became the Son of Heaven, because he had the kingly Way. At the height of Jie of Xia and Zhou of Yin, wherever the tracks of men reached and wherever boat and cart passed through was made into commanderies and districts, yet they died by the hands of others and became the laughingstock of all under heaven, because they had the shape of ruin. So the sage watches the changes and sees their signs. Virtue has its flourishing and its decline, and the wind sprouts first. So he who has got the kingly Way, though small, will surely become great, and he who has the shape of ruin, though he succeeds, will surely be defeated. When Xia was about to perish, the grand scribe Zhonggu fled first to Shang, and in three years Jie perished. When Yin was about to fall, the grand scribe Xiang Yi went over first to King Wen, and in □ years Zhou of Yin perished.
故聖人之見存亡之跡，成敗之際也，非待鳴條之野，甲子之日也。今謂彊者勝則度地計眾，富者利則量粟稱金，若此，則千乘之君無不霸王者，而萬乘之國無不破亡者矣。存亡之跡，若此其易知也，愚夫惷婦皆能論之。趙襄子以晉陽之城霸，智伯以三晉之地擒；湣王以大齊亡，田單以即墨有功。故國之亡也，雖大不足恃；道之行也，雖小不可輕。由此觀之，存在得道而不在於大也，亡在失道而不在於小也。詩云：「乃眷西顧，此惟與宅。」言去殷而遷于周也。故亂國之君，務廣其地而不務仁義，務高其位而不務道德，是釋其所以存，而造其所以亡也。故桀囚於焦門，而不能自非其所行，而悔不殺湯於夏臺；紂居於宣室，而不反其過，而悔不誅文王於羑里。二君處彊大勢位，修仁義之道，湯、武救罪之不給，何謀之敢當！若上亂三光之明，下失萬民之心，雖微湯、武，孰弗能奪也？
So when the sage sees the traces of survival and ruin and the moment of success and failure, he does not wait for the field of Mingtiao or the day of jiazi. Now if it is said that the strong win, then one measures the land and counts the multitude; if it is said that the rich profit, then one measures the grain and weighs the metal. If it were so, there would be no lord of a thousand chariots who did not become hegemon or king, and no state of ten thousand chariots that was not broken and ruined. If the traces of survival and ruin were as easy to know as this, a foolish husband and a dull wife could both discuss them. Xiangzi of Zhao became hegemon with the city of Jinyang, and Zhi Bo was taken captive with the land of the three Jin. King Min was ruined with all of great Qi, and Tian Dan won merit with Jimo. So when a state is ruined, being great is not enough to trust in; when the Way is carried out, being small is not to be made light of. Seen from this, survival lies in getting the Way and not in being great, and ruin lies in losing the Way and not in being small. The Odes say, "Then he turned and looked to the west, and here he gave them a dwelling." This speaks of leaving Yin and moving to Zhou. So the ruler of a disordered state works to widen his land and does not work at humaneness and rightness, works to raise his position and does not work at the Way and virtue, and this is to let go what keeps him in being and to make what ruins him. So Jie, shut up at the gate of Jiao, could not call what he had done wrong but regretted that he had not killed Tang in the Xia tower, and Zhou, dwelling in the Xuan chamber, did not turn back from his fault but regretted that he had not put King Wen to death at Youli. If these two lords, set in strength and greatness of power and position, had cultivated the Way of humaneness and rightness, Tang and Wu would have been hard put even to save themselves from blame. What scheme would they have dared to face! But if above a man troubles the brightness of the three lights and below loses the hearts of the ten thousand people, then even without a Tang or a Wu, who could not take it from him?
今不審其在己者，而反備之于人，天下非一湯、武也，殺一人，則必有繼之者也。且湯、武之所以處小弱而能以王者，以其有道也；桀、紂之所以處彊大而見奪者，以其無道也。今不行人之所以王者，而反益己之所以奪，是趨亡之道也。武王克殷，欲築宮於五行之山。周公曰：「不可！夫五行之山，固塞險阻之地也。使我德能覆之，則天下納其貢職者迴也。使我有暴亂之行，則天下之伐我難矣。」此所以三十六世而不奪也。周公可謂能持滿矣。昔者，周書有言曰：「上言者，下用也；下言者，上用也。上言者，常也；下言者，權也。」此存亡之術也。唯聖人為能知權。言而必信，期而必當，天下之高行也。直躬其父攘羊而子證之，尾生與婦人期而死之。直而證父，信而溺死，雖有直信，孰能貴之！
Now they do not look closely at what lies in themselves but instead guard against other men. Yet there is not one Tang or Wu alone under heaven, and if one man is killed there will surely be another to follow him. Moreover, the reason Tang and Wu could reign as kings while set in smallness and weakness is that they had the Way, and the reason Jie and Zhou were robbed while set in strength and greatness is that they had no Way. Now not to do what made another man a king, and instead to add to what made oneself robbed: this is the road that runs to ruin. When King Wu had overcome Yin he wished to build a palace on the mountain of Wuxing. The Duke of Zhou said, "It may not be done. The mountain of Wuxing is a place of firm passes and steep barriers. If my virtue can cover them, then those under heaven who bring in their tribute and service will come around to it. If I have acts of violence and disorder, then it will be hard for all under heaven to attack me." This is why for thirty six generations it was not taken from them. The Duke of Zhou may be said to have been able to hold what was full. Of old the Zhou Documents had a saying: "What is spoken above is used below, and what is spoken below is used above. What is spoken above is the constant, and what is spoken below is the weighing." This is the art of survival and ruin, and only the sage can know the weighing. To speak and be sure to be trusted, to set a time and be sure to meet it, is high conduct under heaven. Upright Gong bore witness against his father when he stole a sheep, and Weisheng kept his appointment with a woman and died for it. To bear witness against a father out of uprightness, to drown out of good faith: though there is uprightness and good faith in it, who could hold it precious!
夫三軍矯命，過之大者也。秦穆公興兵襲鄭，過周而東。鄭賈人弦高將西販牛，道遇秦師於周、鄭之間，乃矯鄭伯之命，犒以十二牛，賓秦師而卻之，以存鄭國。故事有所至，信反為過，誕反為功。何謂失禮而有大功？昔楚恭王戰於陰陵，潘尪、養由基、黃衰微、公孫丙相與篡之。恭王懼而失體，黃衰微舉足蹶其體，恭王乃覺。怒其失禮，奪體而起，四大夫載而行。昔蒼吾繞娶妻而美，以讓兄，此所謂忠愛而不可行者也。是故聖人論事之局曲直，與之屈伸偃仰，無常儀表，時屈時伸。卑弱柔如蒲韋，非攝奪也；剛強猛毅，志厲青雲，非本矜也；以乘時應變也。夫君臣之接，屈膝卑拜，以相尊禮也；至其迫於患也，則舉足蹶其體，天下莫能非也。
Now to falsify a command in the three armies is a great fault. Duke Mu of Qin raised troops to fall upon Zheng, passing Zhou and going east. Xian Gao, a merchant of Zheng, was going west to sell oxen, and on the road, between Zhou and Zheng, he met the army of Qin. He then falsified the command of the earl of Zheng and rewarded them with twelve oxen, treated the army of Qin as guests and turned them back, and so kept Zheng in being. So affairs may come to a point where good faith turns into a fault and deceit turns into merit. What is meant by losing ritual and having great merit? Of old King Gong of Chu was fighting at Yinling, and Pan Wang, Yang Youji, Huang Shuaiwei and Gongsun Bing together snatched him away. The king was afraid and lost command of his body, and Huang Shuaiwei raised his foot and kicked his body, and the king came to himself. Angry at the loss of ritual, he took back his body and rose, and the four grandees loaded him up and went. Of old Cangwu Rao took a wife, and because she was beautiful he yielded her to his elder brother. This is what is called loyal and loving and yet not to be done. For this reason the sage weighs whether a matter is bent or straight, and bends and stretches, lies down and looks up along with it. He has no constant bearing and model, but now bends and now stretches. To be low and weak and as soft as rush and reed is not to be seized and robbed, and to be hard and strong and fierce and firm with a will that grinds the blue clouds is not boasting at the root. It is riding the time and answering change. Now in the meeting of ruler and subject the bending of the knee and the lowly bow are the ritual by which they honor each other, but when it comes to being pressed by danger, one may raise his foot and kick his body, and no one under heaven can call it wrong.
是故忠之所在，禮不足以難之也。孝子之事親，和顏卑體，奉帶運履；至其溺也，則捽其髮而拯，非敢驕侮，以救其死也。故溺則捽父，祝則名君，勢不得不然也。此權之所設也。故孔子曰：「可以共學矣，而未可以適道也。可與適道，未可以立也。可以立，未可與權。」權者，聖人之所獨見也。故忤而後合者，謂之知權；合而後舛者，謂之不知權。不知權者，善反醜矣。故禮者，實之華而偽之文也，方於卒迫窮遽之中也，則無所用矣。是故聖人以文交於世，而以實從事於宜，不結於一跡之塗，凝滯而不化，是故敗事少而成事多，號令行于天下而莫之能非矣。猩猩知往而不知來，乾鵠知來而不知往，此脩短之分也。昔者萇弘，周室之執數者也，天地之氣，日月之行，風雨之變，律曆之數，無所不通，然而不能自知，車裂而死。蘇秦，匹夫徒步之人也，靻蹻贏蓋，經營萬乘之主，服諾諸侯，然不自免於車裂之患。徐偃王被服慈惠，身行仁義，陸地之朝者三十二國，然而身死國亡，子孫無類。大夫種輔翼越王句踐，而為之報怨雪恥，擒夫差之身，開地數千里，然而身伏屬鏤而死。此皆達於治亂之機，而未知全性之具者。
For this reason, where loyalty lies ritual is not enough to stand in its way. A filial son serves his parent with a harmonious face and a lowly body, holding up the sash and moving the shoes; but when the parent is drowning he seizes him by the hair and pulls him out. He does not dare to be haughty and insolent: he is saving him from death. So when a man is drowning one grabs one's father by the hair, and when one prays one calls the ruler by name, because the circumstance cannot be otherwise. This is where the weighing is set out. So Confucius said, "One may study together with a man and yet not go to the Way with him. One may go to the Way with him and yet not take a stand with him. One may take a stand with him and yet not weigh with him." The weighing is what the sage alone sees. So to go against and afterward to fit is called knowing the weighing, and to fit and afterward to go astray is called not knowing the weighing. In one who does not know the weighing, goodness turns into ugliness. So ritual is the flower of what is real and the ornament of what is false, and when it meets a moment of sudden pressure and straitened haste it has nowhere to be used. For this reason the sage meets the world with ornament but does his work in what is real and fitting. He is not tied to the track of one road, congealed and stuck and unable to change, and for this reason his failures are few and his successes many, and his commands are carried out under heaven and no one can call them wrong. The ape knows what is past and does not know what is to come; the dried swan knows what is to come and does not know what is past. This is the division of long and short. Of old Chang Hong held the numbers for the house of Zhou. In the breaths of heaven and earth, the courses of the sun and the moon, the changes of wind and rain, the numbers of the pitch pipes and the calendar, there was nothing he did not penetrate; yet he could not know himself, and he was torn apart by chariots and died. Su Qin was a common man who went on foot, in leather sandals and a thin cover, yet he managed lords of ten thousand chariots and made the feudal lords submit and consent; yet he did not escape the trouble of being torn apart by chariots. Xu Yanwang was clothed in kindness and generosity and in his own person practiced humaneness and rightness, and thirty two states came to his court by land; yet he himself died and his state perished and his descendants had no line left. The grandee Zhong supported and aided King Goujian of Yue and for him avenged his enemy and washed away his shame, took Fuchai captive and opened up land of several thousand li; yet he fell on the sword Shulou and died. All of these penetrated the workings of order and disorder but did not know the tools for keeping one's nature whole.
故萇弘知天道而不知人事，蘇秦知權謀而不知禍福，徐偃王知仁義而不知時，大夫種知忠而不知謀。聖人則不然，論世而為之事，權事而為之謀，是以舒之天下而不窕，內之尋常而不塞。使天下荒亂，禮義絕，綱紀廢，彊弱相乘，力征相攘，臣主無差，貴賤無序，甲冑生蟣蝨，燕雀處帷幄，而兵不休息，而乃始服屬臾之貌，恭儉之禮，則必滅抑而不能興矣。天下安寧，政教和平，百姓肅睦，上下相親，而乃始立氣矜，奪勇力，則必不免於有司之法矣。是故聖人者，能陰能陽，能弱能彊，隨時而動靜，因資而立功，物動而知其反，事萌而察其變，化則為之象，運則為之應，是以終身行而無所困。故事有可行而不可言者，有可言而不可行者，有易為而難成者，有難成而易敗者。
So Chang Hong knew the Way of heaven and did not know the affairs of men. Su Qin knew weighing and scheming and did not know disaster and fortune. Xu Yanwang knew humaneness and rightness and did not know the time. The grandee Zhong knew loyalty and did not know scheming. The sage is not so. He weighs the age and then does the work, and weighs the work and then makes the scheme, and for this reason when he spreads it over all under heaven it is not too loose, and when he takes it into a span of a few feet it is not blocked. If all under heaven is wild and disordered, ritual and right are cut off and the guiding cords abandoned, the strong and the weak ride upon one another and men attack by force and rob one another, subject and ruler have no difference and noble and base no order, armor and helmets breed nits and lice and swallows and sparrows nest in the war tents while the soldiers get no rest, and a man only then puts on the look of clinging deference and the ritual of respect and thrift, he will surely be crushed and unable to rise. If all under heaven is at peace, government and teaching are harmonious and even, the people are grave and in accord and high and low are close to one another, and a man only then sets up his temper and his pride and contends in daring and strength, he will surely not escape the law of the officers. For this reason the sage can be yin and can be yang, can be weak and can be strong. He moves and rests according to the time and sets up merit according to what is given him. When a thing moves he knows its turning back, and when a matter sprouts he looks into its change. When it transforms he makes an image of it, and when it revolves he answers it, and for this reason he acts all his life and is nowhere in straits. So among affairs there are those that can be done but cannot be spoken of, and those that can be spoken of but cannot be done; there are those easy to do and hard to complete, and those hard to complete and easy to ruin.
所謂可行而不可言者，趨舍也；可言而不可行者，偽詐也；易為而難成者，事也；難成而易敗者，名也。此四策者，聖人之所獨見而留意也。誳寸而伸尺，聖人為之；小枉而大直，君子行之。周公有殺弟之累，齊桓有爭國之名，然而周公以義補缺，桓公以功滅醜，而皆為賢。今以人之小過揜其大美，則天下無聖王賢相矣。故目中有疵，不害於視，不可灼也；喉中有病，無害於息，不可鑿也。河上之丘冢，不可勝數，猶之為易也。水激興波，高下相臨，差以尋常，猶之為平。昔者曹子為魯將兵，三戰不勝，亡地千里。使曹子計不顧後，足不旋踵，刎頸於陳中，則終身為破軍擒將矣。然而曹子不羞其敗，恥死而無功。柯之盟，揄三尺之刃，造桓公之胸，三戰所亡，一朝而反之，勇聞于天下，功立於魯國。管仲輔公子糾而不能遂，不可謂智；遁逃奔走，不死其難，不可謂勇；束縛桎梏，不諱其恥，不可謂貞。當此三行者，布衣弗友，人君弗臣。然而管仲免於累紲之中，立齊國之政，九合諸侯，一匡天下。使管仲出死捐軀，不顧後圖，豈有此霸功哉！
What is called doable but not speakable is taking up and laying aside. What is speakable but not doable is falsehood and deceit. What is easy to do and hard to complete is work. What is hard to complete and easy to ruin is a name. These four counsels are what the sage alone sees and sets his mind on. To bend an inch and stretch a foot the sage will do; to be a little crooked and greatly straight the gentleman will practice. The Duke of Zhou bore the blame of killing a younger brother, and Duke Huan of Qi bore the name of fighting over his state; yet the Duke of Zhou filled up the breach with rightness and Duke Huan wiped out the ugliness with merit, and both were held to be worthy. Now if the small faults of a man are used to cover his great beauty, there are no sage kings and worthy chancellors under heaven. So when there is a speck in the eye that does not harm the sight it may not be burned away, and when there is an ailment in the throat that does not harm the breath it may not be cut open. The mounds and graves along the He cannot be counted, yet it is still called flat. Water strikes and waves rise and high and low look down on one another by a span of a few feet, yet it is still called level. Of old Cao Zi led troops for Lu, and in three battles he did not win and lost a thousand li of land. If Cao Zi had reckoned without looking behind him and had not turned on his heel but had cut his throat in the ranks, he would have been to the end of his days a man whose army was broken and whose general was taken. But Cao Zi was not ashamed of his defeat; he was ashamed to die without merit. At the covenant of Ke he drew a blade three feet long and set it at the breast of Duke Huan, and what three battles had lost was given back in a single morning. His daring was heard of under heaven and his merit was set up in the state of Lu. Guan Zhong aided the young lord Jiu and could not bring it through, so he cannot be called wise. He fled and ran away and did not die in that trouble, so he cannot be called daring. He was bound and put in fetters and did not shrink from that shame, so he cannot be called steadfast. A man with these three kinds of conduct the commoner will not befriend and the ruler will not take for a subject. Yet Guan Zhong got free from the midst of his bonds and set up the government of Qi, nine times assembled the feudal lords and set all under heaven right at a stroke. If Guan Zhong had gone out to die and thrown away his body without looking to any later plan, how could there have been this merit of a hegemon!
今人君論其臣也，不計其大功，總其略行，而求其小善，則失賢之數也。故人有厚德，無問其小節；而有大譽，無疵其小故。夫牛蹄之涔不能生鱣鮪，而蜂房不容鵠卵，小形不足以包大體也。夫人之情，莫不有所短。誠其大略是也，雖有小過，不足以為累。若其大略非也，雖有閭里之行，未足大舉。夫顏喙聚，梁父之大盜也，而為齊忠臣。段干木，晉國之大駔也，而為文侯師。孟卯妻其嫂，有五子焉，然而相魏，寧其危，解其患。景陽淫酒，被髮而御於婦人，威服諸侯。此四人者，皆有所短，然而功名不滅者，其略得也。季襄、陳仲子立節抗行，不入洿君之朝，不食亂世之食，遂餓而死。不能存亡接絕者何？小節伸而大略屈。故小謹者無成功，訾行者不容於眾，體大者節疏，蹠距者舉遠。自古及今，五帝三王，未有能全其行者也。
Now when a ruler weighs his subject, if he does not reckon his great merit and does not sum up the broad lines of his conduct but looks for small goodnesses, this is the way to lose the worthy. So when a man has thick virtue, do not ask after his small scruples, and when he has great praise, do not pick at his small doings. Now the puddle in an ox's hoofprint cannot give birth to a sturgeon, and a bee's cell cannot hold a swan's egg, for a small shape is not enough to wrap a great body. Now in the feelings of men there is none without some short side. If the broad lines of him are truly right, then though he has small faults they are not enough to be a burden. If the broad lines of him are wrong, then though he has the conduct of the village lanes it is not enough to raise him high. Now Yan Huicong was a great robber of Liangfu, yet he became a loyal subject of Qi. Duangan Mu was a great broker of the state of Jin, yet he became the teacher of Marquis Wen. Meng Mao took his elder brother's wife and had five children by her, yet he was chancellor of Wei and made its danger safe and undid its troubles. Jing Yang drowned himself in wine and let down his hair and kept women about him, yet his awe made the feudal lords submit. These four men all had a short side, yet their merit and their names were not wiped out, because the broad lines of them were right. Ji Xiang and Chen Zhongzi set up their scruples and strove in their conduct. They would not enter the court of a filthy ruler and would not eat the food of a disordered age, and in the end they starved to death. Why could they not keep alive what was perishing or join again what was cut off? Their small scruples were stretched and their broad lines were bent. So one who is careful in small things has no completed merit, and one who picks at conduct is not borne with by the crowd. What has a great body has wide joints, and what has a long stride reaches far. From antiquity down to now, among the Five Emperors and the Three Kings there has never been one who could keep his conduct whole.
故易曰：「小過亨，利貞。」言人莫不有過，而不欲其大也。夫堯、舜、湯、武，世主之隆也；齊桓、晉文，五霸之豪英也。然堯有不慈之名，舜有卑父之謗，湯、武有放弒之事，五伯有暴亂之謀。是故君子不責備於一人，方正而不以割，廉直而不以切，博通而不以訾，文武而不以責。求於一人則任以人力，自修則以道德。責人以人力，易償也；自修以道德，難為也。難為則行高矣，易償則求澹矣。夫夏后氏之璜不能無考，明月之珠不能無纇，然而天下寶之者，何也？其小惡不足妨大美也。今志人之所短，而忘人之所修，而求得其賢乎天下，則難矣。夫百里奚之飯牛，伊尹之負鼎，太公之鼓刀，甯戚之商歌，其美有存焉者矣。眾人見其位之卑賤，事之洿辱，而不知其大略，以為不肖。及其為天子三公，而立為諸侯賢相，乃始信於異眾也。
So the Changes say, "Xiaoguo prevails, and it is profitable to be firm." This says that no man is without fault, but that one does not want it to be great. Now Yao and Shun and Tang and Wu are the height of the rulers of the age, and Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin are the boldest of the five hegemons. Yet Yao had the name of not being kind, Shun had the slander of putting his father low, Tang and Wu had the matter of banishing and killing, and the five hegemons had schemes of violence and disorder. For this reason the gentleman does not ask completeness of one man. He is square and upright but does not cut with it, he is clean and straight but is not harsh with it, he is broad and penetrating but does not carp with it, he has both the civil and the martial but does not press others with it. What he asks of another man he entrusts to the strength of a man, and what he cultivates in himself he does by the Way and virtue. To press another man by the strength of a man is easy to pay; to cultivate oneself by the Way and virtue is hard to do. What is hard to do makes conduct high, and what is easy to pay makes the demand easy to meet. Now the huang jade of the Xiahou clan could not be without a flaw, and the pearl of the bright moon could not be without a speck, yet all under heaven treasure them. Why? Their small badness is not enough to hinder their great beauty. Now if a man remembers what is short in others and forgets what they have cultivated, and then seeks to find the worthy of all under heaven, it will be hard. Now in Baili Xi feeding oxen, in Yi Yin carrying the cauldron, in the Grand Duke beating the knife, in Ning Qi singing the merchant's song, their beauty was already there. The crowd saw the lowness and baseness of their places and the filth and disgrace of their work, and did not know the broad lines of them and held them worthless. When they became the three dukes of the Son of Heaven and stood as worthy chancellors of the feudal lords, only then did the crowd believe that they were other than the crowd.
夫發于鼎俎之間，出于屠酤之肆，解于累紲之中，興于牛頜之下，洗之以湯沐，祓之以爟火，立之于本朝之上，倚之于三公之位，內不慚於國家，外不愧於諸侯，符勢有以內合。故未有功而知其賢者，堯之知舜；功成事立而知其賢者，市人之知舜也。為是釋度數而求之於朝肆草莽之中，其失人也必多矣。何則？能效其求，而不知其所以取人也。夫物之相類者，世主之所亂惑也；嫌疑肖象者，眾人之所眩耀。故狠者類知而非知，愚者類仁而非仁，戇者類勇而非勇。使人之相去也，若玉之與石，美之與惡，則論人易矣。夫亂人者，芎藭之與藳本也，蛇床之與麋蕪也，此皆相似者。故劍工惑劍之似莫邪者，唯歐冶能名其種；玉工眩玉之似碧盧者，唯猗頓不失其情；闇主亂于姦臣小人之疑君子者，唯聖人能見微以知明。
Now a man may come forth from between the cauldron and the chopping block, come out of the stalls of the butcher and the wine seller, be loosed from the midst of his bonds, or rise up from under the jaw of an ox. He is washed with hot water and cleansed with the torch fire, set up above the home court and leaned on the seat of the three dukes, and within he does not shame the state and the house and without he does not shame the feudal lords, because the tally of his power has something within to match it. So to know a man's worth before he has any merit is how Yao knew Shun, and to know his worth after his merit was complete and his work stood is how the men of the marketplace knew Shun. To let go the measures and the numbers because of this and look for men in the court, the market and the grass and the weeds is surely to lose men often. Why? One may copy the seeking and still not know how men are to be taken. Now things that are like one another are what the rulers of the age are confused and beguiled by, and what is doubtful and of like appearance is what dazzles the crowd. So the fierce man is like the wise and is not wise, the foolish man is like the humane and is not humane, the dull man is like the daring and is not daring. If men were as far apart from one another as jade from stone or beauty from ugliness, then weighing men would be easy. Now what confuses men is chuanxiong and gaoben, shechuang and miwu: these all resemble one another. So the swordsmith is beguiled by a sword that is like the Moye, and only Ou Ye can name its kind. The jade worker is dazzled by a jade that is like the bilu, and only Yi Dun does not miss its true nature. A benighted ruler is confused by crafty subjects and petty men who cast doubt on the gentleman, and only the sage can see what is fine and know what is plain.
故蛇舉首尺，而修短可知也；象見其牙，而大小可論也。薛燭庸子，見若狐甲於劍而利鈍識矣；臾兒、易牙，淄、澠之水合者，嘗一哈水而甘苦知矣。故聖人之論賢也，見其一行而賢不肖分矣。孔子辭廩丘，終不盜刀鉤；許由讓天子，終不利封侯。故未嘗灼而不敢握火者，見其有所燒也；未嘗傷而不敢握刃者，見其有所害也。由此觀之，見者可以論未發也，而觀小節可以知大體矣。故論人之道，貴則觀其所舉，富則觀其所施，窮則觀其所不受，賤則觀其所不為，貧則觀其所不取。視其更難，以知其勇；動以喜樂，以觀其守；委以財貨，以論其仁；振以恐懼，以知其節；則人情備矣。古之善賞者，費少而勸眾；善罰者，刑省而姦禁；善予者，用約而為德；善取者，入多而無怨。趙襄子圍於晉陽，罷圍而賞有功者五人，高赫為賞首。左右曰：「晉陽之難，赫無大功，今為賞首，何也？」襄子曰：「晉陽之圍，寡人社稷危，國家殆，群臣無不有驕侮之心，唯赫不失君臣之禮。」
So when a snake raises its head a foot, its length can be known, and when the elephant shows its tusk, its size can be discussed. Xue Zhu and Yong Zi saw on a sword something the size of a fox's claw and knew whether it was sharp or dull. Yu'er and Yi Ya tasted one mouthful where the waters of the Zi and the Sheng were mixed and knew the sweet from the bitter. So when the sage weighs a worthy man, he sees one act of his and the worthy and the worthless are divided. Confucius declined Linqiu and to the end would not steal so much as a hook, and Xu You yielded up the place of the Son of Heaven and to the end saw no profit in being enfeoffed as a lord. So one who has never been burned and yet does not dare to grasp fire has seen that it burns something, and one who has never been wounded and yet does not dare to grasp a blade has seen that it harms something. Seen from this, by what is shown one can discuss what has not yet come out, and by looking at small scruples one can know the great body. So the way to weigh a man is this. If he is noble, look at whom he raises up. If he is rich, look at what he gives. If he is hard pressed, look at what he will not receive. If he is base, look at what he will not do. If he is poor, look at what he will not take. Watch him go through hardship and you know his daring. Move him with joy and pleasure and you see what he keeps. Entrust him with goods and money and you can weigh his humaneness. Shake him with fear and you know his scruples. Then the feelings of a man are complete. Those of old who were good at rewarding spent little and yet urged on the multitude. Those good at punishing used few punishments and yet crookedness was stopped. Those good at giving used sparingly and yet it became virtue. Those good at taking took in much and yet there was no resentment. Xiangzi of Zhao was besieged at Jinyang, and when the siege was lifted he rewarded five men who had merit, and Gao He was first among the rewarded. Those about him said, "In the trouble at Jinyang He had no great merit. Now he is first among the rewarded. Why?" Xiangzi said, "In the siege of Jinyang my altars of soil and grain were in danger and the state and the house were near their end, and among all my subjects there was none without a heart of arrogance and insult. He alone did not lose the ritual between ruler and subject."
故賞一人，而天下為忠之臣者莫不終忠於其君。此賞少而勸善者眾也。齊威王設大鼎於庭中，而數無鹽令曰：「子之譽，日聞吾耳。察子之事，田野蕪，倉廩虛，囹圄實。子以姦事我者也。」乃烹之。齊以此三十二歲道路不拾遺。此刑省姦禁者也。秦穆公出遊而車敗，右服失馬，野人得之。穆公追而及之岐山之陽，野人方屠而食之。穆公曰：「夫食駿馬之肉，而不還飲酒者，傷人。吾恐其傷汝等。」遍飲而去之。處一年，與晉惠公為韓之戰，晉師圍穆公之車，梁由靡扣穆公之驂，獲之。食馬肉者三百餘人，皆出死為穆公戰於車下，遂克晉，虜惠公以歸。此用約而為德者也。齊桓公將欲征伐，甲兵不足，令有重罪者出犀甲一戟，有輕罪者贖以金分，訟而不勝者出一束箭。百姓皆說，乃矯箭為矢，鑄金而為刃，以伐不義而征無道，遂霸天下。此入多而無怨者也。
So one man was rewarded, and among the subjects of all under heaven who would be loyal there was none who was not loyal to his ruler to the end. This is the reward being small and those urged to goodness being many. King Wei of Qi set a great cauldron in his courtyard and rebuked the magistrate of Wuyan, saying, "Praise of you comes to my ears every day. But I have looked into your work. The fields and the moors are overgrown, the granaries are empty, and the prisons are full. You are one who has served me with crookedness." Then he boiled him. By this, for thirty two years in Qi no one picked up what was dropped on the road. This is punishments being few and crookedness being stopped. Duke Mu of Qin went out on a journey and his carriage broke and he lost the right outside horse, and some country people got it. Duke Mu pursued and came up with them on the south side of Mount Qi, where the country people were butchering it and eating it. Duke Mu said, "One who eats the flesh of a fine horse and does not drink wine afterward is harmed by it. I fear that it will harm you." He gave them all wine to drink and left them. A year later, in the battle of Han against Duke Hui of Jin, the army of Jin surrounded the carriage of Duke Mu and Liang Youmi seized the outside horse of Duke Mu and would have taken him. The three hundred and more men who had eaten the horse flesh all came out braving death and fought for Duke Mu beneath his carriage, and in the end they overcame Jin and took Duke Hui captive and came back. This is using sparingly and it becoming virtue. Duke Huan of Qi was about to go on campaign, and his armor and weapons were not enough. He ordered that one who had a heavy crime should hand over one rhinoceros hide armor and one halberd, that one who had a light crime should redeem it with a few measures of metal, and that one who lost a lawsuit should hand over a bundle of arrow shafts. The people were all pleased, and they straightened the shafts and made arrows and cast the metal into blades, and with them he attacked the unrighteous and campaigned against those without the Way, and in the end he became hegemon over all under heaven. This is taking in much and yet there being no resentment.
故聖人因民之所喜而勸善，因民之所惡而禁姦，故賞一人而天下譽之，罰一人而天下畏之。故至賞不費，至刑不濫。孔子誅少正卯而魯國之邪塞，子產誅鄧析而鄭國之姦禁，以近諭遠，以小知大也。故聖人守約而治廣者，此之謂也。天下莫易於為善，而莫難於為不善也。所謂為善者，靜而無為也；所謂為不善者，躁而多欲也。適情辭餘，無所誘惑，循性保真，無變於己，故曰為善易。越城郭，踰險塞，姦符節，盜管金，篡弒矯誣，非人之性也，故曰為不善難。今人所以犯囹圄之罪，而陷於刑戮之患者，由嗜慾無厭，不循度量之故也。何以知其然？天下縣官法曰：「發墓者誅，竊盜者刑。」此執政之所司也。夫法令者罔其姦邪，勒率隨其蹤跡，無愚夫憃婦，皆知為姦之無脫也，犯禁之不得免也。然而不材子不勝其欲，蒙死亡之罪，而被刑戮之羞。然而立秋之後，司寇之徒繼踵於門，而死市之人血流於路。何則？惑於財利之得，而蔽於死亡之患也。
So the sage follows what the people delight in and urges them to goodness, and follows what the people hate and forbids crookedness, and so he rewards one man and all under heaven praise it, and punishes one man and all under heaven fear it. So the highest reward does not spend, and the highest punishment does not overflow. Confucius put Shaozheng Mao to death and the wickedness of the state of Lu was blocked, and Zichan put Deng Xi to death and the crookedness of the state of Zheng was stopped. This is instructing the far by the near and knowing the great by the small. So when it is said that the sage keeps to what is sparing and governs widely, this is what is meant. Under heaven nothing is easier than doing good and nothing is harder than doing what is not good. What is called doing good is being still and doing nothing. What is called doing what is not good is being restless and having many desires. To suit one's feelings and decline what is left over, to have nothing that lures and beguiles, to follow one's nature and guard what is true and have no change in oneself: therefore it is said that doing good is easy. To climb over walls and ramparts and cross steep passes, to falsify tallies and seals and steal keys and locks, to usurp and murder and cheat and lie, is not the nature of man: therefore it is said that doing what is not good is hard. The reason men now break the laws that bring them to prison and fall into the trouble of punishment and execution is that their appetites and desires are never satisfied and they do not follow measure. How do we know that it is so? The law of the offices of the districts under heaven says, "He who opens a grave shall be put to death, and he who steals shall be punished." This is what those who hold the government have charge of. Now laws and orders net a man's crookedness and bind and lead him and follow his tracks, and there is no foolish husband and no dull wife who does not know that one who does crooked things has no escape and one who breaks a prohibition cannot get free. Yet the son who is no good timber cannot master his desire, and he braves the crime that brings death and ruin and takes on the shame of punishment and execution. So after the beginning of autumn the officers of the minister of justice follow one another heel to heel at the door, and the blood of men killed in the marketplace flows on the road. Why? They are beguiled by the getting of goods and profit and blinded to the trouble of death and ruin.
夫今陳卒設兵，兩軍相當，將施令曰：「斬首拜爵，而屈撓者要斬。」然而隊階之卒皆不能前遂斬首之功，而後被要斬之罪，是去恐死而就必死也。故利害之反，禍福之接，不可不審也。事或欲之，適足以失之；或避之，適足以就之。楚人有乘船而遇大風者，波至而自投於水。非不貪生而畏死也，惑於恐死而反忘生也。故人之嗜慾，亦猶此也。齊人有盜金者，當市繁之時，至掇而走。勒問其故曰：「而盜金於市中，何也？」對曰：「吾不見人，徒見金耳！」志所欲，則忘其為矣。是故聖人審動靜之變，而適受與之度，理好憎之情，和喜怒之節。夫動靜得，則患弗過也；受與適，則罪弗累也；好憎理，則憂弗近也；喜怒節，則怨弗犯也。
Now when the ranks are drawn up and the weapons set out and two armies stand against each other, the general gives out his order, saying, "He who cuts off a head is given rank, and he who bends and gives way is cut in two at the waist." Yet the soldiers in the ranks all fail to go forward and win the merit of cutting off a head, and afterward take on the crime of being cut in two at the waist. This is leaving the fear of death and going toward certain death. So the turning about of profit and harm and the joining of disaster and fortune must be looked into. There are things a man wants, and wanting them is just enough to lose them; there are things he avoids, and avoiding them is just enough to bring him to them. A man of Chu was riding in a boat and met a great wind, and when the waves came he threw himself into the water. It was not that he did not cling to life and dread death: he was so beguiled by the dread of death that he forgot life instead. So it is with the appetites and desires of men. A man of Qi stole metal. At the time when the market was most crowded he came up and snatched it and ran. They bound him and asked him the reason, "Why did you steal metal in the middle of the market?" He answered, "I did not see the people. I saw only the metal!" When the will has what it wants, it forgets what it is doing. For this reason the sage looks into the changes of movement and stillness and fits them to the measure of receiving and giving, orders the feelings of liking and hating and harmonizes the joints of joy and anger. When movement and stillness are fitting, trouble does not pass his way. When receiving and giving suit, crime does not bind him. When liking and hating are ordered, sorrow does not come near him. When joy and anger are kept in measure, resentment does not offend him.
故達道之人，不苟得，不讓福；其有弗棄，非其有弗索；常滿而不溢，恆虛而易足。今夫霤水足以溢壺榼，而江，河不能實漏卮，故人心猶是也。自當以道術度量，食充虛，衣禦寒，則足以養七尺之形矣。若無道術度量而以自儉約，則萬乘之勢不足以為尊，天下之富不足以為樂矣。孫叔敖三去令尹而無憂色，爵祿不能累也；荊佽非兩蛟夾繞其船而志不動，怪物不能驚也。聖人心平志易，精神內守，物莫足以惑之。夫醉者，俛入城門，以為七尺之閨也；超江、淮，以為尋常之溝也；酒濁其神也。怯者，夜見立表，以為鬼也；見寢石，以為虎也；懼揜其氣也。又況無天地之怪物乎！夫雌雄相接，陰陽相薄，羽者為雛□，毛者為駒犢，柔者為皮肉，堅者為齒角，人弗怪也；水生蠬蜄，山生金玉，人弗怪也；老槐生火，久血為燐，人弗怪也。山出梟陽，水生罔象，木生畢方，井生墳羊，人怪之，聞見鮮而識物淺也。天下之怪物，聖人之所獨見；利害之反覆，知者之所獨明達也。同異嫌疑者，世俗之所眩惑也。
So a man who has penetrated the Way does not get things in a mean way and does not decline good fortune. He does not throw away what he has and does not search for what he does not have. He is always full and does not overflow; he is always empty and is easily filled. Now the water from the eaves is enough to make a jug and a flask overflow, yet the Jiang and the He cannot fill a leaking cup, and the heart of man is like this. If a man takes the arts of the Way and measure for his own standard, so that food fills his emptiness and clothing keeps off the cold, this is enough to nourish a body of seven feet. If he is sparing with himself and has no arts of the Way and no measure, then the power of ten thousand chariots is not enough to make him honored and the wealth of all under heaven is not enough to make him glad. Sun Shu'ao left the office of chief minister three times and had no look of sorrow, for rank and salary could not bind him. Ci Fei of Chu, when two dragons flanked his boat and wound about it, did not move in his will, for a strange creature could not startle him. The sage is level in heart and easy in will, and his spirit is guarded within, and things are not enough to beguile him. Now a drunken man bends to go in at a city gate and takes it for a doorway seven feet high, and crosses the Jiang and the Huai and takes them for a ditch a few feet across, because the wine has muddied his spirit. A coward sees a post set up at night and takes it for a ghost, and sees a lying stone and takes it for a tiger, because fear has covered over his breath. How much more with the strange creatures of heaven and earth! Now male and female meet each other and yin and yang draw close, and the feathered kind make young and the furred kind make foals and calves, and what is soft becomes skin and flesh and what is hard becomes teeth and horns, and men do not find it strange. Water gives birth to clams and the mountain gives birth to metal and jade, and men do not find it strange. An old pagoda tree gives birth to fire and long standing blood becomes corpse fire, and men do not find it strange. But when the mountain puts forth the xiaoyang and the water gives birth to the wangxiang, when the tree gives birth to the bifang and the well gives birth to the fenyang, then men find it strange, because what they have heard and seen is little and their knowledge of things is shallow. The strange creatures of all under heaven are what the sage alone sees, and the turning about of profit and harm is what the knowing man alone understands clearly. What is the same and what is different and what is doubtful are what common custom is dazzled and beguiled by.
夫見不可布於海內，聞不可明於百姓，是故因鬼神禨祥而為之立禁，總形推類而為之變象。何以知其然也？世俗言曰：「饗大高者而彘為上牲，葬死人者裘不可以藏，相戲以刃者太祖軵其肘，枕戶橉而臥者鬼神蹠其首。」此皆不著於法令，而聖人之所不口傳也。夫饗大高而彘為上牲者，非彘能賢於野獸麋鹿也，而神明獨饗之，何也？以為彘者，家人所常畜而易得之物也，故因其便以尊之。裘不可以藏者，非能具綈綿曼帛溫煖於身也，世以為裘者，難得貴賈之物也，而不可傳於後世，無益於死者，而足以養生，故因其資以讋之。相戲以刃太祖軵其肘者，夫以刃相戲，必為過失，過失相傷，其患必大，無涉血之仇爭忿鬥，而以小事自內於刑戮，愚者所不知忌也，故因太祖以累其心。枕戶橉而臥，鬼神履其首者，使鬼神能玄化，則不待戶牖之行，若循虛而出入，則亦無能履也，夫戶牖者，風氣之所從往來，而風氣者，陰陽相捔者也，離者必病，故託鬼神以伸誡之也。
Now what is seen cannot be spread over all within the seas, and what is heard cannot be made plain to the people, and for this reason men follow ghosts and spirits and omens and set up prohibitions for the people, and sum up shapes and extend them by kind and change the images for them. How do we know that it is so? Common custom says, "In the offering to Dagao the pig is the highest victim. In burying the dead a fur robe may not be laid in the grave. If men play with blades at one another, the Great Ancestor pushes their elbows. If a man lies with his head on the doorsill, ghosts and spirits tread on his head." None of this appears in the laws and orders, and none of it is what the sage passes on by mouth. Now in the offering to Dagao the pig is the highest victim, and it is not that the pig is worthier than the wild beasts and the deer so that the bright spirits taste it alone. Why then? They held the pig to be a creature the household always raises and easily gets, and so they honored it for its convenience. A fur robe may not be laid in the grave, and it is not that thick silk and floss and fine silk cannot be had to warm the body. The world holds a fur robe to be a thing hard to get and of high price, and it cannot be handed on to later ages and is of no profit to the dead, while it is enough to nourish the living, and so they used its worth to make men shrink from it. As for the Great Ancestor pushing the elbows of those who play with blades at one another: when men play with blades there is sure to be a slip, and if they wound each other by a slip the trouble is sure to be great; and to bring oneself into punishment and execution over a small matter, with no blood feud and no angry quarrel, is what the foolish do not know to shun, and so they used the Great Ancestor to bind their hearts. As for ghosts and spirits treading on the head of one who lies with his head on the doorsill: if ghosts and spirits could change themselves in the dark, they would not wait on doors and windows to go about, and if they went in and out through the void they would not be able to tread on anything either. Now doors and windows are where wind and air come and go, and wind and air are yin and yang striking against each other, and one who meets them is sure to fall ill, and so they put it upon ghosts and spirits to set out the warning.
凡此之屬，皆不可勝著於書策竹帛而藏於官府者也，故以禨祥明之。為愚者之不知其害，乃借鬼神之威以聲其教，所由來者遠矣。而愚者以為禨祥，而狠者以為非，唯有道者能通其志。今世之祭井灶、門戶、箕□、臼杵者，非以其神為能饗之也，恃賴其德，煩苦之無已也。是故以時見其德，所以不忘其功也。觸石而出，膚寸而合，不崇朝而雨天下者，唯太山；赤地三年而不絕流，澤及百里而潤草木者，唯江、河也；是以天子秩而祭之。故馬免人於難者，其死也葬之；牛，其死也，葬以大車為薦。牛馬有功，猶不可忘，又況人乎！此聖人所以重仁襲恩。故炎帝於火，死而為灶；禹勞天下，死而為社；后稷作稼穡，死而為稷；羿除天下之害，死而為宗布。此鬼神之所以立。北楚有任俠者，其子孫數諫而止之，不聽也。縣有賊，大搜其廬，事果發覺，夜驚而走，追，道及之，其所施德者皆為之戰，得免而遂反，語其子曰：「汝數止吾為俠。
All things of this sort cannot be set down in full in writings and books, on bamboo and on silk, and stored in the offices, and so they are made plain by omens. Because the foolish do not know their harm, men borrow the awe of ghosts and spirits to give voice to the teaching, and it has come down from far back. Yet the foolish take it for an omen and the fierce take it for nonsense, and only one who has the Way can penetrate its meaning. Now when the age sacrifices to the well and the stove, to the gate and the door, to the winnowing basket and the mortar and the pestle, it is not that they think the spirits of these can taste the offering. They lean on their virtue, whose toil and trouble never end. For this reason they show their virtue from time to time, and by this they do not forget their merit. What strikes the rock and comes out, gathers at a finger's breadth and rains on all under heaven before the morning is over, is Mount Tai alone. What does not cut off its stream even in three years of scorched earth, whose bounty reaches a hundred li and moistens the grass and the trees, is the Jiang and the He alone. For this reason the Son of Heaven ranks them and sacrifices to them. So when a horse has saved a man from danger, it is buried when it dies, and an ox, when it dies, is buried with a great cart for its mat. Even an ox and a horse, if they have merit, cannot be forgotten. How much more a man! This is how the sage makes humaneness weighty and carries kindness on. So Yandi had merit in fire, and when he died he became the god of the stove. Yu toiled for all under heaven, and when he died he became the god of the soil. Houji made sowing and reaping, and when he died he became the god of grain. Yi rid all under heaven of harm, and when he died he became the god Zongbu. This is how the ghosts and spirits were set up. In northern Chu there was a knight errant, and his sons and grandsons often remonstrated to make him stop, but he would not listen. There were robbers in the district and they made a great search of his house, and the matter did indeed come to light, and at night he took fright and fled. They pursued him and came up with him on the road, but all those to whom he had shown kindness fought for him, and he got free and came back at last, and he said to his sons, "You have often tried to stop me from acting as a knight errant.
今有難，果賴而免身。而諫我，不可用也。」知所以免於難，而不知所以無難，論事如此，豈不惑哉！宋人有嫁子者，告其子曰：「嫁未必成也。有如出，不可不私藏。私藏而富，其於以復嫁易。」其子聽父之計，竊而藏之。若公知其盜也，逐而去之。其父不自非也，而反得其計。知為出藏財，而不知藏財所以出也，為論如此，豈不勃哉！今夫僦載者，救一車之任，極一牛之力，為軸之折也，有如轅軸其上以為造，不知軸轅之趣軸折也。楚王之佩玦而逐菟，為走而破其玦也，因珮兩玦以為之豫，兩玦相觸，破乃逾疾。亂國之治，有似於此。夫鴟目大而視不若鼠，蚈足眾而走不若蛇，物固有大不若小，眾不若少者。及至夫彊之弱，弱之彊，危之安，存之亡也，非聖人，孰能觀之！大小尊卑，未足以論也，唯道之在者為貴。何以明之？天子處於郊亭，則九卿趨，大夫走，坐者伏，倚者齊。當此之時，明堂太廟，懸冠解劍，緩帶而寢。非郊亭大而廟堂狹小也，至尊居之也。天道之貴也，非特天子之為尊也，所在而眾仰之。
Now trouble came, and I did indeed rely on it and escape with my life. Your remonstrance with me cannot be used." He knew how he had escaped the trouble but did not know how there might have been no trouble. To weigh affairs like this: is it not being beguiled! A man of Song was marrying off his daughter, and he told her, "A marriage is not sure to last. If you should be sent away, you must put something aside for yourself. To put something aside and be rich makes it easy to marry again." His daughter listened to her father's reckoning and stole and hid things away. Her husband's father learned of her thieving and drove her out. Her own father did not call himself wrong but thought instead that his reckoning had proved right. He knew to hide away goods against being sent out, but did not know that hiding away goods was why she was sent out. To argue like this: is it not perverse! Now a man who carries loads for hire relieves the burden of one cart and drives one ox to the end of its strength, and the axle breaks; and if he then puts a shaft and an axle on top of it and builds it up, he does not know that the axle and the shaft are what drive the axle to break. The king of Chu wore a jade pendant and chased a hare, and because he ran he broke his pendant, and so he wore two pendants to be ready beforehand; but the two pendants struck each other and broke all the faster. The government of a disordered state has something like this in it. Now the owl has big eyes yet does not see as well as a rat, and the millipede has many legs yet does not run as well as a snake, so among things there are indeed cases where the large is not equal to the small and the many are not equal to the few. But when it comes to the weakness of the strong and the strength of the weak, the safety of what is in danger and the ruin of what survives, who but a sage can see it! Great and small, high and low are not enough to weigh by: only he in whom the Way is present is precious. How is this made plain? When the Son of Heaven stays in a pavilion in the suburbs, the nine ministers hurry with quick steps and the grandees run, those seated bow down and those leaning stand straight. At that very time, in the Bright Hall and the Great Temple caps are hung up and swords unbuckled, sashes are loosened and men sleep. It is not that the suburban pavilion is great and the temple hall narrow and small: it is that the most honored one is there. That the Way of heaven is precious is not that the Son of Heaven alone is honored: wherever it is, the multitude look up to it.
夫蟄蟲鵲巢，皆嚮天一者，至和在焉爾。帝者誠能包稟道，合至和，則禽獸草木莫不被其澤矣，而況兆民乎！
That the hibernating insects and the nests of the magpies all face Tianyi is because the utmost harmony is there. If a ruler can truly wrap up and take in the Way and join with the utmost harmony, then the birds and the beasts and the grass and the trees will all be covered by his bounty. How much more the teeming people!