Among his itinerant advisors there was one who persuaded
Prince Ch`un-shên saying, "T`ang with seventy li and King Wên
with a hundred li both brought the empire together and unified
[all] within the seas. Now Hsün-tzŭ[2]
is the world's sage. I venture
to suggest that in giving him control of a hundred li Your Highness
will be inconveniencing yourself. What are you going to do
about it?"
Prince Ch`un-shên approved of his argument and sent to dismiss
Hsün-tzŭ, who[3]
left and went to Chao. Chao made him prime
minister. An itinerant advisor again persuaded Prince Ch`unshên
saying,
"Of old I-yin left Hsia and went to Yin. Yin gained the
imperial sway and Hsia perished. Kuan Chung left Lu and
entered Ch`i. Lu declined and Ch`i waxed strong. Judged in the
light of this, wherever there is a sage, invariably the ruler is well
off, and invariably the country is at peace. Now Hsün tzŭ is the
world's sage. What was the idea of sending him away?"
Prince Ch`un-shên in turn approved of this argument and sent
to invite Hsün-tzŭ [to come back]. Hsün-tzŭ thereupon wrote a
letter declining the offer:[4]
"The proverb says, `The leper pities the king.' This is a disrespectful
statement, but it is necessary to look into it. This is in
reference to rulers who are robbed or assassinated or who suffer
death and ruin.[5]
Now with a ruler who, being young and on his
own, has no method for recognizing treachery, powerful ministers
will make decisions independently of him and plan for their own
interests to prevent punishment from reaching themselves. Hence
they will depose a worthy, adult ruler to set up a youth and
weakling; they will degrade the rightful heir to set up an illegitimate
one.[6]
"Thus the record of a Ch`un-ch`iu tells[7]
how the Prince Wei
of Ch`u paid a visit of state in Chêng. Before he had crossed the
border [on his way home] he heard that the king was ill, and
returning [on the pretext of] asking about his illness, assassinated
the king by strangling him with his cap tassel, and in the course
of events put himself on the throne.
"The wife of Ts`ui Chu of Ch`i was beautiful, and Duke Chuang
had an affair with her.[8]
[Ts`ui Chu led his partisans to attack Duke
Chuang. The duke begged to divide the state with him,][9]
but
Ts`ui Chu would not consent. He wished to commit suicide in
his ancestral temple, [but Ts`ui Chu again would not consent.][10]
Then when Duke Chuang fled, climbing up over the outside wall,
they shot him in the thigh. Having killed him, they put his
younger brother, [known as] Duke Ching, on the throne.
"Recent times have seen Li Tui, when he administered Chao,
starving the Father of the Ruler[11]
in [the palace] Sha-ch`iu, where
he died after a hundred days,[12]
and Nao Ch`ih, who, when he
administered Ch`i, hung King Min up [from the rafters of] the
ancestral temple[13]
after pulling out his tendons, so that he died[14]
over night.[15]
"Now although a leper [suffers from] ulcers, swelling, and
scabs, it is not so bad on the one hand as being strangled or shot
in the thigh, as in far-off times, nor on the other hand as having
the tendons drawn or being starved to death, as in recent times.
Now a ruler who is robbed or assassinated, or who suffers death
and ruin, is grieved and oppressed in mind and pained in body—
certainly his lot is worse than the leper's. Viewed in this light, it
is appropriate that even a leper should pity a king." Whereupon
[Hsün-tzŭ] wrote a fu that reads:
Red jade[16]
and green, jasper and pearl, he does not know enough to
use them for girdle pendants.
Coarse cloth[17]
or brocade—he does not know the difference.
A Lü-chü or a Tzŭ-tu[18]
can find no one to arrange their
marriage;
A Mo-mu[19]
or a Li-fu[20]
are his joy.
The blind he thinks are perspicacious,
The deaf he takes for acute,
And true for false,[21]
luck for misfortune—
Alas! Oh Heaven,
Where find his equal?
The Ode says,
[22]
Our ruler is very changeable;[23]
Do not get yourself into trouble with him.
