3. On Disguise and Falsification
Matters of falsification and disguise make the lord of men
miss what he ought to censure and make the ministers
accomplish their private interests. Thus, the gate-men
poured water but I-shê was censured; the Lord of Chi-yang
forged the King's order but his two enemies paid for the
crime; Ssŭ-ma Hsi killed Yuan Ch'ien but Chi Hsin was
censured; Chêng Hsiu said the new court ladies disliked the
bad smell of His Majesty's breath and the newcomers had
their noses cut off; Fei Wu-chi[9]
told Ch`i Yüan to parade
weapons but the magistrate censured the latter; Ch`ên Hsü
killed Chang Shou but Hsi-shou[10]
had to run into exile; and,
similarly, when the silo was burned, the King of Central Hills
held the innocent prince guilty, and when the old literatus
was killed, the Lord of Chi-yang rewarded the assassin.
