University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER II.

Periods of Government (Chih-ch`i).

The world is convinced that, when in ancient times the monarch
was wise, truth and virtue were practised, and that when they were
practised success was achieved and the government well ordered.
When the ruler of men was degenerate, truth and virtue declined,
and, in consequence of this decline, all success was lost and government
thrown into confusion. All thinkers of ancient and modern
times hold this view, for they notice that the wisdom of Yao and
Shun brought about universal peace, whereas the lawlessness of
Chieh and Chou resulted in rebellion and in their destruction. But
if we thoroughly go into the question we find that fate has its
proper time, which comes spontaneously, and that virtue has no
influence upon it.[48]

All officials, those with an income of more than a hundred
piculs as well as those living on less than a pint,[49] while in office,
govern the people. They exercise their authority, instruct, and
admonish, but whether these instructions have any effect, and whether
the people are well governed or in revolution, depends on fate.

Some persons may have great talents and lead a pure life,
but when called to office, they soon are cashiered, whereas others
with very little knowledge and a scandalous conduct govern the
people and remain in office. In remote antiquity promotion and
degradation of able and incompetent men was merely based on
success. Rewards were bestowed on the successful, and penalties
inflicted on the unsuccessful. Much consideration was shown for
fate, and a great partiality to fortune, but neither were talents investigated
nor capacities much appreciated.

Dialecticians use this method of inquiring into the achievements,
and determine people's virtue by their success. Thus they hold
that the tranquillity of the people, and the peace of the State are

due to a wise ruler, and that rebellions and other dangers of a
country are the upshot of his depravity. Therefore, when revolutions
and other calamities unexpectedly break out, these critics bring them
home to the sovereign, charging him with misrule. The prince
acquiesces and takes the guilt upon himself. Sorrow and pain shake
his body, but the difficulties are not removed thereby. Without
reason they harass the mind of the ruler, and overwhelm an enlightened
monarch with undeserved reproaches. These ideas are
being transmitted and universally accepted.[50]

A wise ruler may govern a people who are to live in peace,
but he cannot reform an age destined to revolt. A physician clever
in using his needles[51] and medicines, is successful with his methods,
if he happens to find a patient whose end has not yet arrived, and
comes across a disease which is not mortal. If the man's life is
ended and his sickness fatal, he can do nothing even though he
be a second Pien Ch`io.[52] A worn-out life and a fatal disease are
incurable as a people in rebellion cannot be pacified. The action
of the drugs cures a disease as admonitions serve to pacify the
people. Both cases are subject to destiny and time, and cannot
be forced at all cost.

[The Kung-po Liao, having slandered Tse Lu to Chi Sun, Tse
Fu Ching Po informed Confucius of it..... Confucius said, "If my
principles are to advance, it is so ordered. If they are to fall to
the ground, it is so ordered."][53] Consequently, the advance of the
doctrine no less than the peace of the people depend on fate and
time, and not on human force. Revolutions, the opposition of the
citizens, and the danger of the State are commonly caused by
calamities which come down from Heaven above. The virtue of
a wise ruler is unfit to cope with, and disperse them.

It is mentioned in the Shiking[54] that King Hsüan met with a
great drought. The words are, `[Of the remnant of Chou, among
the black-haired people, there will not be half a man left.]' That
means that not a single person was left, but was affected by this

disaster. King Hsüan[55] was a wise man who regretted the insufficiency
of his virtue.

There has never been anybody more benevolent and kindhearted
than Yao and T`ang. But Yao met with the Great Flood,
and T`ang fell in with a great drought.[56] Inundations and droughts
are the worst calamities. Since the two Sages were visited with
them, were they brought about by their administration? No, the
fixed periods of Heaven and Earth made it so.

From the inundation and the drought of Yao und T`ang we
draw the conclusion that the calamities of other kings are not caused
by their virtue. That being the case, their happiness and felicity
cannot be the result of their virtue either.

A wise ruler's government of his State is like a kind father's
administration of his family. The latter gives his instructions to
all equally and issues his commands, thus making his sons and
grandsons dutiful and virtuous. His descendants being dutiful and
virtuous, the family flourishes. When all the citizens live in peace,
the State prospers. But prosperity is always succeeded by a decay,
and progress, attended by a decline. As prosperity and progress
are not brought about by virtue, decline and decay cannot be due
to virtue either. Prosperity and progress, decay and decline are
all dependent on Heaven and time.

This is the real nature of goodness and badness, but we have
not yet spoken of the manifestations of joy and sorrow. A family
is not at peace, nor are its members cheerful unless there be sufficient
wealth, and ample means to supply its wants. Affluence is the
outcome of a generous fate and not to be obtained through wisdom
and benevolence. Everybody knows that affluence, peace, and contentment
are consequences of a happy destiny, but ignores that the
tranquillity of a State, and the success of its institutions are but
lucky circumstances.

Consequently good government is not the work of worthies
and sages; and decay and disorder, not the result of viciousness.
When a State is doomed to fall to pieces, worthies and sages cannot
make it thrive, and when an age is to be well governed, no wicked
people can throw it into disorder. Order and disorder depend on
time, and not on government; the tranquillity and the troubles of
a State are determined by its destiny, and not by its culture. Neither
a wise nor an unwise ruler, neither an enlightened nor an unenlightened
government can be beneficial or deleterious.

The world praises the era of the Five Rulers, when the whole
empire was enjoying peace, people had provisions for ten years,
and every one behaved like a man of honour. It may be that this
was not the case and merely an exaggeration of the time, or it
was really the effect of the then government, but how can we know?

What are the causes of disorder? Are they not the predominance
of robbery, fighting, and bloodshed, the disregard of the
moral obligations by the people, and their rebellion against their
ruler? All these difficulties arise from a want of grain and food,
in so far as people are unable to bear hunger and cold. When
hunger and cold combine, there are few but violate the laws, and
when they enjoy both warmth and food, there are few but behave
properly.[57]

It has been said that, when the granaries and store-houses
are full, people know the rules of propriety, and when clothes and
food suffice, people are sensible of honour and disgrace. Altruism
grows from opulence, and strife springs from indigence. There being
abundance of grain and plenty of food, moral feelings emanate,
and by paying due consideration to propriety and justice, the
foundations of peace and happiness are laid. Thus, in the spring
of a year of dearth, not even relatives are fed, whereas in the
autumn of a year of plenty, even neighbours are invited to take
their share. Not to feed one's own relations is wicked, and to
invite even one's neighbours, a great kindness. Good and bad
actions are not the upshot of human character, but of the state
of the year, its dearth and affluence.

From this point of view, moral conduct is conditioned by the
grain supply, and the grain produce depends on the year. When
a year is conspicuous by floods or droughts, the Five Grains do
not grow. Not the government is responsible for this, but time
and circumstances. If inundations and dryness be held to be the
result of government, there were never worse rulers than Chieh and
Chou. In their time there ought to have been constant floods
and droughts, but their reigns were not visited with famines or
dearth. Calamities such as these have their periods which sometimes,
contrariwise, just fall in the reigns of wise sovereigns.

On mature consideration it will be admitted that the Great
Flood of Yao and the Great Drought of T`ang were both accidents

and not occasioned by bad government. If, however, the disasters
of all the other kings be taken for echoes of their wickedness, it
would be an exaltation of the excellence of Yao and T`ang and a
depreciation of the other princes. One case gives us a key to a
hundred, and the knowledge of wickedness enlightens us upon virtue.
Yao and T`ang may serve us as guides vis-à-vis of other rulers. The
extraordinary calamities of the latter cannot be caused by their
administration. Looking upon them as natural calamities, we get
a clearer conception of happiness and misfortune, and it becomes
evident that, if the Five Rulers bring about universal peace, they
do not do it through their administration.

People about to die from plague[58] show a lugubrious expression,
boding ill, in their features beforehand. Their disease arises from
contagion by miasms, and unless it be cured they die, their span
thus coming to an end. The convulsions, and the final catastrophe
of a State show similar symptoms. Extraordinary changes appear
in Heaven and on Earth just as in the case of persons dying from
plague the mark of death is visible on their faces. Floods, droughts,
and other disasters are like the miasms engendering sickness, and
unless these calamities be removed, they conduce to the ruin of
the State as the disease not cured leads to the death of the individual.

Would those who maintain that phenomenal changes are a
test of government, admit that, if worthies catch the plague and
have that lugubrious look, it is all caused by their dealings?
If floods and droughts be looked upon as sequences of lawlessness,
can worthies, attacked by a disease, be said to have contracted it
through their disorderly conduct? Death is regarded as the greatest
evil, but when worthies die of sickness, must this be considered the
heaviest possible punishment inflicted upon them?

Worthies are taken ill and die early, and wicked people may
be strong and robust and become very old. Human diseases and
death are not a retribution for evil doing, and so the disorder and
the ruin of a State have nothing to do with the goodness or the
badness of its government. Bad characters are strong and become
old, and iniquitous governments enjoy peace and remain unharmed.
Consequently, it is plain that misfortunes and disasters are not
sufficient indications of depravity, and happiness and lucky auguries
are inadequate proofs of virtue.

Amongst the celestial phenomena there are partial eclipses of
the sun and the moon. Every forty-two months there is an eclipse
of the sun, and every fifty-six months, one of the moon.[59] These
eclipses occur at fixed intervals and have no connexion with the
government. The hundred phenomena and the thousand disasters
manifest themselves in a similar way, and are not brought about
by the ruler of men or any administrative measures.

When Jupiter injured the tail of the "Bird," Chou and Ch`u
suffered misfortune, and a disaster was sent down on Sung, Wei,
Ch`ên and Chêng, when a featherlike air put in an appearance.[60] It
does not follow that, at this juncture, the policy of these six States
was mistaken. The city of Li-yang sank during one night, and was
turned into a lake.[61] At that time, the high officers of Li-yang
must not have been deceitful and perverse.

Success and discomfiture emanate from Heaven, and good and
bad luck are governed by time. Ere man sets to work the heavenly
fluid is already apparent; if this is not time, what else is it?

The Five Grains grow on earth, sometimes in abundance, and
sometimes in insufficient quantities. The grain is sold in the market,
sometimes dear and sometimes cheap. Rich harvests are not of
necessity attended by low prices, nor does a scarcity of production
lead to a rising of the prices. Abundance and scarcity have their
years, dearness and cheapness, their time. When there is to be
dearness and abundance simultaneously, the grain price rises, and
when there is to be cheapness and scarcity, it falls. The price
of grain does not depend on the state of the harvest, no more
than the conditions of a State turn on moral qualities.[62]

If a wise ruler happens to rise in an era pre-ordained for order,
virtue of itself shines above, and the people behave well below.
The age is tranquil, the people at ease, and bliss and felicity never
cease. The world then imagines all this to be the work of the
wise ruler. If an unprincipled sovereign happens to be born during
a period fraught with disturbances, the age is stirred up, the citizens
revolt, and there is no end of calamities. In consequence whereof
the State is ruined, the sovereign destroyed, and his descendants

extinguished. The world invariably sees in this the effect of wickedness.
They understand the outward appearances of goodness and badness,
but are ignorant of the intrinsic nature of happiness and misfortune.

Happiness and misfortune do not hinge on goodness or badness,
and goodness or badness cannot be called to witness in case of
happiness and misfortune. Sometimes high functionaries, having taken
over a new office, have not yet been active, or the administration,
following old precedents, has not been changed. Yet robbery is
either rampant or not, and calamities may happen, or may not
happen. What is the reason of this?

Great officers, destined to high honours, use a time of general
peace as a stepping stone for their advancement, whereas those
doomed to baseness and loss of office, begin their career in times
of troubles, and thus are degraded and cashiered. From our actual
high officers we may draw an inference on the ancient monarchs,
and thus discourse on safety and danger, prosperity and decay.