im, is not this moreover to
show majesty without fierceness?"

"What, then, do you call the four evils?" said Tsz-chang.

The answer here was, "Omitting to instruct the people and then
inflicting capital punishment on them--which means cruel tyranny.
Omitting to give them warning and yet looking for perfection in
them--which means oppression. Being slow and late in issuing
requisitions, and exacting strict punctuality in the returns--which
means robbery. And likewise, in intercourse with men, to expend and to
receive in a stingy manner--which is to act the part of a mere
commissioner."

"None can be a superior man," said the Master, "who does not recognize
the decrees of Heaven.

"None can have stability in him without a knowledge of the proprieties.

"None can know a man without knowing his utterances."

THE SAYINGS OF MENCIUS

[_Translated into English by James Legge_]

INTRODUCTION

A hundred years after the time of Confucius the Chinese nation seemed
to have fallen back into their original condition of lawlessness and
oppression. The King's power and authority was laughed to scorn, the
people were pillaged by the feudal nobility, and famine reigned in
many districts. The foundations of truth and social order seemed to be
overthrown. There were teachers of immorality abroad, who published
the old Epicurean doctrine, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
die." This teaching was accompanied by a spirit of cold-blooded
egotism which extinguished every spark of Confucian altruism. Even the
pretended disciples of Confucius confused the precepts of the Master,
and by stripping them of their narrow significance rendered them
nugatory. It was at this point that Mang-tsze, "Mang the philosopher,"
arose. He was sturdy in bodily frame, vigorous in mind, profound in
political sagacity and utterly fearless in denouncing the errors of
his countrymen. He had been brought up among the disciples of
Confucius, in whose province he was born B.C. 372, but he was much
more active and aggressive, less a Mystic than a fanatic, in
comparison with his Master. He resolved on active measures in stemming
the tendency of his day. He did indeed surround himself with a school
of disciples, but instead of making a series of desultory travels,
teaching in remote places and along the high-road, he went to the
heart of the evil. He presented himself like a second John the Baptist
at the courts of kings and princes, and ther