Sung Yen had been minister of Ch`i and, on his dismissal,
returned home and summoned the Mên-wei Ch`ên Jao[2]
and others
to the number of twenty-six men. He said, "Are there any of you
Great Officers who would be able to make the rounds of the feudal
lords with me?" Ch`ên Jao and the others all prostrated themselves
without answering. Sung Yen said, "Alas, how easy it is
to get gentlemen and Great Officers, and how difficult to get any
use from them!"
Jao said, "[It is not that they are easy to get and hard to get
any use from;] it is because you are unable to make use of them.
To be dissatisfied [because you are unable to make use of them][3]
is missing it in yourself and putting the blame on others."
Sung Yen said, "Missing it in myself and putting the blame
on others—how it that?"
Ch`ên Jao said, "The three tou[4]
of millet [which you give
them for salary] is not enough for a gentleman, but your geese
and ducks have grain to spare. This is Your Excellency's first
fault. The women of the inner palace pick up the pears and
chestnuts of your orchards and throw them at one another, while
your officers never get a taste. This is Your Excellency's second
fault. Thin silk and white silk, open-work silk and gauze silk are
abundant in a hall where wind and rain
[5]
come and spoil them,
while your officers never receive a [single] piece as a gift. This
is Your Excellency's third fault. So property is something Your
Excellency holds lightly, while death is something your officers
consider important. Being unable to give what you hold lightly
and [still] expecting your officers to yield what they consider
important is comparable to
[6]
treating them like leaden swords and
trying to use them as Kan-chiang blades
[7]
—is it not indeed a
difficult thing?"
Sung Yen's face was suffused with shame and he retired in
confusion from the mat saying, "It was my fault."
The Ode says,[8]
If we present them with spirits,
They do not look on them as liquor.
