people. If Shun had already been in the position
of the son of Heaven, and had moreover led on all the feudal princes
of the empire to observe the three years' mourning for Yaou, there
must in that case have been two sons of Heaven.'"

Heen-k[']ew Mung said, "On the point of Shun's not employing Yaou as a
minister, I have received your instructions. But it is said in the
'Book of Poetry,'

'Under the wide heaven,
All is the king's land;
Within the sea-boundaries of the land,
All are the king's servants.'

When Shun became emperor, I venture to ask how it was that Koo-sow was
not one of his servants." Mencius replied, "That Ode is not to be
understood in that way; it speaks of being laboriously engaged in the
king's business, and not being able to nourish one's parents, as if
the subject of it said, 'This is all the king's business, but I alone
am supposed to have ability, and made to toil in it.' Therefore those
who explain the Odes must not insist on one term so as to do violence
to a sentence, nor on a sentence so as to do violence to the general
scope. They must try with their thoughts to meet that scope, and then
they will apprehend it. If we simply take single sentences, there is
that in the Ode called the 'Yun Han,'

'Of the remnant of Chow, among the black-haired people,
There will not be half a man left.'

If it had really been as thus expressed, then not an individual of the
people of Chow would have been left.

"Of all that a filial son can attain to, there is nothing greater
than his honoring his parents. Of what can be attained to in honoring
one's parents, there is nothing greater than the nourishing them with
the empire. To be the father of the son of Heaven is the height of
honor. To be nourished with the empire is the height of nourishment.
In this was verified the sentiment in the 'Book of Poetry,'

'Ever thinking how to be filial,
His filial mind was the model which he supplied.'

"In the 'Book of History' it is said, 'With respectful service he
appeared before Koo-sow, looking grave and awestruck, till Koo-sow
also was transformed by his example.' This is the true case of the
scholar of complete virtue not being treated as a son by his father."

Wan Chang said, "It is said that Yaou gave the empire to Shun; was it
so?" Mencius replied, "No; the emperor cannot give the empire to
another." "Yes; but Shun possessed the empire. Who gave it to him?"
"Heaven gave