University of Virginia Library

Chapter XXIV.

ASSERTIONS AND ASPERSIONS.

(a) The Cancellarius: As once said by Yen Tzŭ,[48]
the Ritualists[49] are flowery in speech but short in fulfillment;
meticulous as to music, but lax as to the people's
needs. Prolonging mourning even at the cost of the
living, lavish in funerals so as to injure livelihood[50] ;
their rites are so perplexing as to be difficult
of execution and their ways so devious as to be difficult
to follow. Singing the praises of days past and gone,
they speak maladvisedly of the present. Disparaging
everything they see, they only treasure what they have
heard; holding all men as being fundamentally crooked,
they deem themselves straight as a rule.[51] Thus it was
that Yen I came to be executed and degraded and Ti Shan
found death at the hands of the Hsiung-nu. Occupying
such positions as they had and yet finding fault with the
court, living in their age and yet backbiting their
superiors, (it is only too natural that) they ended by
being disgraced and ruining their lives. Well now, is
there any one among you who would have taken up their
burden and shared their tragedy?

(b) The Literati: That which keeps moral laxity in
check is Good Form (li),[52] and Music is the wherewithal

by which morals are improved; it is when Etiquette (li)
is flourishing and Music is orthodox, that penalties and
punishments are undeviating. Hence, just as people
never suffer from floods when the dams and dikes are
kept whole, so there are never revolutionary disturbances
among the people whenever decorum and justice take
root. We have thus never heard of a case when good
government would be attained with Decorum (li) and
Justice (i) laid low and dikes and dams broken through.
Speaking of Good Form (li) Confucius said[53] : In
ceremonies in general, it is better to be simple than
lavish; and in the rites of mourning, heartfelt distress is
better than observance of detail. It is clear that it was
far from being the intention of those who created the
rites to injure human lives and impair business; dignified
carriage and self-possessed gentility were surely not
intended to bring confusion into ethics and deprave
morals. A well-governed state is careful as to its
ceremonial; a tottering one is diligent in the application
of its laws. Remember ancient Ch'in which swallowed up
all the Empire by force of arms, how its disasters were
aggravated by the monstrous vagaries[54] of Li Ssŭ and
Chao Kao. Then it was that we saw the ancient arts
abolished and the time-honored ceremonies fall, all
reliance put into penal laws and the Confucian and Mihist
doctrines passing completely into obscurity.[55] Blocked
was the path of the scholar and gagged the mouths of
men. Daily the flatterers forged ahead and those on high
never heard their mistakes criticized. This was how
Ch'in lost the Empire and brought to ruin its own
sanctuaries!

It fell out therefore for the sages who strove to
restore order first to mete out punishment for those men
who by their cunning and artful words so propped up
wrong that it entailed the collapse of the nation. Now,
you, sir, whence come you with your store of aphorisms
that spell the crack of doom for the state? You, the high
ministers, occupying such a post, you give no thought to
rectifying your ways, but have all your mind on aye-ayeing

your superiors, cringing before their slightest frown
or promptly trimming your sails before their wind. 'Tis
hateful to us to see such low-fawning and about-facing
worthy of the meanest man which leads only to fortify
those whom you serve in their faults. Therefore, though
we know well these words may cost us our lives, we cannot
suffer to be led into your train, O tribe of compromisers,
yea, spare us not your fetters and chains! Ah, woe!

(c) The Cancellarius: One is sure to find a village
where there are spreading trees; an everglade, where
there are rushes: this expresses well the affinity of
homogeneous things. Virtue never dwells alone, said
Confucius, it always has neighbors.[56] Thus, rises a T'ang,
lo! there enters I Yin, and exeunt the wicked. There has
yet to be a case when evil ministers kept their places
below when an enlightened monarch sits on high. Now,
the late Sovereign[57] himself started on the way of charity
and wisdom when he undertook the task of ruling all
within the seas: he summoned and selected scholars of
supreme ability and excellent worth so as to insure that
none but the good would find employment; in pursuing
and chastising evil ministers he did not spare even those
closest to him. He made every effort to seek out the
worthy and expel the incapable, just as Yao did promote
such as Shun and Yü, and executed K'un and exiled Huan-tou.
With all that you refer to us as being a "tribe of
compromisers"! If this be true then should it not be
indeed a case of ministers aye-aye-ing an erring ruler?

11 This doubtless refers to the revolt and subsequent death of
the crown prince Chü, son of the Empress Wei. The former was
charged by Chiang Ch'ung with having cast a spell on the Emperor.
Chiang Ch'ung was first killed by the prince who himself was slain.
Other members of the Imperial family were implicated. Cf.
Discourses, Glossary, p. 132 sub Chiang Ch'ung.

(d) The Literati: Said Kao Yao in reply to Shun:
It all depends on knowing the people, which is considered
hard even by the Emperor.[58] During the time of the
Great Flood, Yao stood alone aggrieved and worried not
knowing how to regulate it; but once he obtained the
services of Shun and Yü, the nine provinces enjoyed

peace. Therefore, even if there is an enlightened
Monarch like Yao, his pure virtue will not prevail unless
there are assisting hands like Shun's and Yü's. The
Spring and Autumn criticized the fact that there were
rulers, but no ministers. During the time of the late
Emperor, there was no sufficient number of good
ministers and hence the evil ones got their chance. When
Yao got Shun and Yü, K'un was killed and Huan-tou was
executed; when Chao Chien-tzŭ got Shu Hsiang, Shêng
Ch'ing-chien was dismissed.[59] The case is well stated in
the proverb: Until one sees the virtuous, one does not
recognize a traitorous minister, or in the words of the
Odes: When I do not see the virtuous, my heart is full
of worry. When I have seen the virtuous, my heart
settles down.[60]

(e) The Cancellarius: Yao employed K'un and
Huan Tou, but exiled one and executed the other when he
got Shun and Yü. He exiled or executed them because
of their guilt, and hence in the Empire all yielded to him
for he had punished its evil ones. The ruler of men looks
for service among the common people. Yen I was a
police constable at Chi Nan. The late Emperor promoted
him and bestowed on him a high position, until he reached
the rank of Superior Minister. Ti Shan rose from the
plain-clothed to the post of Councillor to the house of
Han. They both occupied the position of Shun and Yü
and held the central power of the Empire. They were
unable, moreover, to achieve anything conductive to good
government but on the contrary were found guilty of
criticizing the Emperor. Hence the punishment inflicted
on Huan Tou was imposed on them and even more, they
suffered the extreme penalty of the law. The worthy
receive their reward while the inferior suffer their
punishment. This is certainly just. Why wonder then,
O Literati?

(f) The Literati: Parties to a discussion should
support each other with reason and admonish each other
following logic; in striving after the good not seek
victory, and in yielding to reason, not feel shame at
being worsted. If we try to confound each other with

falsehood, and confuse each other by rhetoric, each side
priding itself on having the last word, each striving after
victory at any cost, this would be destroying all the value
of the debate. Now, Su Ch'in and Chang I completely
dazzled and befuddled the feudal lords, but upset The
Myriad Chariots[61] and caused rulers of men to lose their
grasp: they were certainly eloquent, but theirs was the
path to anarchy. The Superior Man decried the impossibility
to serve one's prince along with servile fellows,
for he feared that should they obtain a hearing there
would be no length to which they would not go.[62] Now,
sir, you do not want to heed the dictates of Right and
Reason so that you may fittingly assist the minister and
the Chancellor, but only follow and meekly obey your
masters. You love to make extemporary speeches and
never weigh their consequences. If we be judges of your
qualifications as a subordinate officer, it would seem meet
to confer upon you the highest penalty. Keep your
peace, sir, for the time being.

(g) The Cancellarius[63] : Scholars living in this
world, so have I heard, should have enough clothes to
cover their bodies and enough food to be able to supply
their parents. At home, they should possess sufficient
means to take care of one another; abroad, they should
depend on no one. One is in a position to undertake the
responsibilities of a family only after one has proved to
be able to care for himself; is in a position to take up
office only when his family is well managed. Hence he
who feeds on coarse grain is not fit to talk of filial piety,
and he whose wife and children are hungering and cold
is unfit to talk of compassion, while he who has
established no permanent business is not fit to discuss real
problems. These three handicaps, which you, living in
this world and maintaining this bodily existence, seem
to share, appear to me amply sufficient to make you hold
your peace.