CHAPTER IX
1. The disciple Kung-tû said to Mencius, ＇Master, the people beyond our school all speak of you as being fond of disputing.
CHAPTER 8. WHAT IS WRONG SHOULE BE PUT AN END TO AT ONCE, WITHOUT RESERVE AND WITHOUT DELAY.
1. Tâi Ying-chih was a great officer of Sung, supposed by some to be the same with Tâi Pû-shăng, chap. vi. Mencius had, no doubt, been talking with him on the points indicated; see Bk. I. Pt. II. v. 3; Bk. II. Pt. I. v. 3; Bk. III. Pt. I. iii. 请, here and below, is simply the speaker＇s polite way of indicating his resolution.
2. 攘,= here as in Analects, XIII. xviii. 君子,—here,=＇a good man＇. 损之, ＇diminish it＇, i.e. The amount of his captures.
3. 斯 is used adverbially,= ＇at once＇. 已 in all the paragraphs is the verb= ＇have done with it＇, ＇put an end to it＇.
CHAPTER 9. MENCIUS DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST THE CHARGE OF BEING FOND OF DISPUTING. WHAT LED TO HIS APPEARING TO BE SO WAS THE NECESSITY OF THE TIME.
Compare Bk. II. Pt. I. Ii. 17. Mencius would appear from this chapter to have believed that the mantle of Confucius had fallen upon him, and that his position was that of a sage, on whom it devolved to live and labour for the world.
1. 外人,—＇outside men＇, i.e. people in general, all beyond his school, as the representative of orthodoxy in the kingdom. 敢问何, according to the gloss in the备旨,
I venture to ask whether it be so.＇ Mencius replied,＇Indeed, I am not fond of disputing, but I am compelled to do it.
2. ＇A long time has elapsed since this world of men received its being, and there has been along its history now a period of good order, and now a period of confusion.
3. ＇In the time of Yâo, the waters, flowing out of their channels, inundated the Middle Kingdom. Snakes and dragons occupied it, and the people had no place where they could settle themselves. In the low grounds they made nests for themselves on the trees or raisedplatforms, and in the high grounds they made caves.It is said in the Book of History, "The waters in their wild course warned me." Those "waters in their wild course" were the waters of the great inundation.
4. ＇Shun employed Yü to reduce the waters to order.Yü dug open their obstructed channels, and conducted them to the sea. He drove away the snakes and dragons, and forced them into the grassy marshes.
= ＇I venture to ask why you are so fond of disputing＇,as if Kung-tû admitted the charge of the outside people. But it is better to interpret as in the translation.The spirit of 子岂好辩哉 seems to be better given in English by dropping the interrogation.
2. Commentators are unanimous in understanding天下之生 not of the material world, and taking 生as=生民. It is remarkable, then, that Mencius, in his review of the history of mankind, does not go beyond the time of Yâo (compare Pt. I. iv), and that at its commencement he places a period not of good order(治, 4th tone), but of confusion.
3. Mark the variations of phraseology here from Pt.I. iv. 7. 书曰,—see the Shû-ching, II. ii. 14, where for警 we have 儆. The ＇nests＇ were huts on high-raised platforms. In the Lî Chî, VII. Sect. I. par. 8, these are said to have been the summer habitations of the earliest men, and 营窟, the winter. 营窟= ＇artificial caves＇, i.e. caves hollowed out from heaps of earth raised upon the ground. 洚水 is the same as the 水逆行above. Chû Hsî explains it by ＇deep and shoreless＇.
4. 掘地,—＇dug the earth＇, but with the meaning in the translation. 菹 is read by Chû Hsîtsü, but wrongly.
On this, the waters pursued their course through the country, even the waters of the Chiang, the Hwâi, the Ho, and the Han, and the dangers and obstructions which they had occasioned were removed. The birds and beasts which had injured the people also disappeared, and after this men found the plains available for them, and occupied them.
5. ＇After the death of Yâo and Shun, the principles that mark sages fell into decay. Oppressive sovereigns arose one after another, who pulled down houses to make ponds and lakes, so that the people knew not where they could rest in quiet; they threw fields out of cultivation to form gardens and parks, so that the people could not get clothes and food. Afterwards,corrupt speakings and oppressive deeds became more rife; gardens and parks, ponds and lakes, thickets and marshes became more numerous, and birds and beasts swarmed. By the time of the tyrant Châu, the kingdom was again in a state of great confusion.
6. ＇Châu-kung assisted king Wû, and destroyed Châu.
With the meaning in the text, it is read tsieh. 水由地中行,—＇the water travelled in the middle or bosom of the earth＇, i.e. were no longer spread abroad over its surface. Chû Hsî makes 地中=两涯之间, ＇between their banks＇, but that is not so much the idea, as that the waters pursued a course to the sea, through the land,instead of being spread over its surface.
5. In describing this period of confusion, Mencius seems to ignore the sageship of T＇ang, and of the kings Wăn and Wû;—especially that of T＇ang. 行,—in 4th tone. 浦, as associated with 泽, means thick marshy jungles, where beasts could find shelter. The 水 in its composition requires that we recognise the marshiness of the thickets or cover. But this account of the country down to the rise of the Châu dynasty implies that it was thinly peopled. 6. The kingdom of Yen is referred to a portion of the present district of Ch＇ü-fâu (曲阜) in Yen-châu, Shan-tung.
He smote Yen, and after three years put its sovereign to death. He drove Fei-lien to a corner by the sea,and slew him. The States which he extinguished amounted to fifty. He drove far away also the tigers,leopards, rhinoceroses, and elephants;— and all the people was greatly delighted. It is said in the Book of History, "Great and splendid were the plans of king Wăn! Greatly were they carried out by the energy of king Wû! They are for the assistance and instruction of us who are of an after day. They are all in principle correct, and deficient in nothing."
7. ＇Again the world fell into decay, and principles faded away. Perverse speakings and oppressive deeds waxed rife again. There were instances of ministers who murdered their sovereigns, and of sons who murdered their fathers.
8. ＇Confucius was afraid, and made the "Spring and Autumn." What the "Spring and Autumn" contains are matters proper to the sovereign. On this account Confucius said, "Yes! It is the Spring and Autumn which will make men know me,
Châo Ch＇î connects 三年讨其君 with 诛纣, but it seems to belong more naturally to 伐奄. Fei-lien was a favourite minister of Châu, who aided him in his enormities. In the ＇Historical Records＇, Bk. IV, 秦本纪, at the beginning, he appears as 蜚廉, but without mention of his banishment and death. The place called＇a corner by the sea＇ cannot be determined. And it would be vain to try to enumerate the ＇fifty kingdoms＇,which Châu-kung extinguished. The 夷狄, in par. 11,must be supposed to have been among them. The＇tigers, leopards, &c.,＇ are the animals kept by Châu,not these infesting the country,as in the more ancient periods. 书曰,—see the Shû-ching, V. Xxv.
6. 7. 行, 4th tone. 有作,—有 read as, and=又.
8. ＇Spring and Autumn＇,—annals of Lû for 242 years (B.C. 721-479), with Confucius＇s annotations,or rather, as is absurdly contended, adapted by him to express a correct judgment on every event and actor. They are composed as a sovereign would have composed them.
and it is the Spring and Autumn which will make men condemn me."
9. ＇Once more, sage sovereigns cease to arise,and the princes of the States give the reins to their lusts. Unemployed scholars indulge in unreasonable discussions. The words of Yang Chû and Mo Tî fill the country. If you listen to people＇s discourses throughout it, you will find that they have adopted the views either of Yang or of Mo. Now, Yang＇s principle is—"each one for himself," which does not acknowledge theclaims of the sovereign. Mo＇s principle is—"to love all equally," which does not acknowledge the peculiaraffection due to a father. But to acknowledge neither king nor father is to be in the state of a beast. Kungming Î said, "In their kitchens, there is fat meat. In their stables, there are fat horses. But their people have the look of hunger, and on the wilds there are those who have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men."
As Confucius was a sage without the throne, if one of the sovereign sages had written annals, he would have done so, as Confucius has done. Chû Hsî quotes from the commentator Hû (胡安国):—＇Chung-nî made the Spring and Autumn, to lodge in it the true royal laws.There are the firm exhibition of the constant duties;the proper use of ceremonial distinctions; the assertion of Heaven＇s decree of favor to the virtuous; and the punishment of the guilty:—all these things, of which it may be said in brief that they are the business of the sovereign.＇ (Compare on Hû＇s language, the Shû-ching,II. iii. 7.) It was by the study of this book, therefore,that Confucius wished himself to be known, though he knew that he exposed himself to presumption on account of the sovereign＇s point of view from which he looked at everything in it. This is the meaning of 罪我者其惟春秋乎, and not—＇Those who condemn me(i.e. bad ministers and prince) will do so on account of my condemnations of them in it＇, which is the view of Châo Ch＇î. I have dropped the interrogations in the translation.
9. 处,—the 3rd tone, applied to a virgin dwelling in the seclusion of her apartments, and here to a scholar without public employment.
If the principles of Yang and Mo be not stopped, and the principles of Confucius not set forth, then those perverse speakings will delude the people, and stop up the path of benevolence and righteousness. When benevolence and righteousness are stopped up, beasts will be led on to devour men, and men will devour one another.
10. ＇I am alarmed by these things, and address myself to the defence of the doctrines of the former sages, and to oppose Yang and Mo. I drive away their licentious expressions, so that such perverse speakers may not be able to show themselves. Their delusions spring up in men＇s minds, and do injury to their practice of affairs. Shown in their practice of affairs,they are pernicious to their government. When sages shall rise up again, they will not change my words.
11. ＇In former times, Yü repressed the vast waters of the inundation, and the country was reduced to order. Châu-kung＇s achievements extended even to the barbarous tribes of the east and north, and he drove away all ferocious animals, and the people enjoyed repose. Confucius completed the "Spring and Autumn," and rebellious ministers and villainous sons were struck with terror.
Yang Chû, called also Yang Shû (戍) and Yang Tszechü (子居), was a heresiarch of the times of Confucius and Lâo-tsze, of which last he is said to have been a disciple. In the days of Mencius, his principles appear to have been very rife. We may call his school the selfish school of China (为我,—为, the 4th tone), as Mo＇s was the transcendental. 庖有肥肉云云,—see Bk. I. Pt. I. iv. 4.
10. 为,—4th tone. 作於其心云云,—see Bk. II. Pt. I. ii. 17.
11. 兼,—＇embraced＇, ＇comprehended＇, i.e. Among the fifty States referred to above. 贼子,—the parricides,mentioned in par. 7.
12. ＇It is said in the Book of Poetry,
"He smote the barbarians of the west and the north;
He punished Ching and Shû
And no one dared to resist us."
These father-deniers and king-deniers would have been smitten by Châu-kung.
13. ＇I also wish to rectify men＇s hearts, and to put an end to those perverse doctrines, to oppose their one-sided actions and banish away their licentious expressions;— and thus to carry on the work of the three sages. Do I do so because I am fond of disputing? I am compelled to do it.
14. ＇Whoever is able to oppose Yang and Mo is a disciple of the sages.＇