Annotations to Canon VI:—
Fan Wên-tzŭ was fond of speaking without reserve. His
father, Wu-tzŭ, whipped him with a stick and said[45]
: "Who
makes discussions without reserve is not tolerated by people.
If tolerated by nobody, he is in danger. He endangers not
only himself but also his father."
Tzŭ-ch`an was son of Tzŭ-kuo. Tzŭ-ch`an was loyal to the
Ruler of Chêng. Thereat Tzŭ-kuo was angry and reprimanded
him, saying: "To be sure, when you act sharply different
from the rest of the ministers and remain loyal to the sovereign
by yourself, if the sovereign is worthy and enlightened,
he will listen to you; if he is not enlightened, he will not
listen to you. You cannot always foretell whether or not he
is going to listen to you. Yet you have estranged yourself
from the rest of ministers. If estranged from them, you certainly
endanger yourself—not only yourself, but your
father too."
Liang Ch`ê was Magistrate of Yeh. One day his elder
sister went to see him. At dusk she arrived too late for the
office hour. The gate was shut.[46]
So she went over the wall
and entered the city. Ch`ê cut off her feet, accordingly.
Regarding this as not compassionate, Marquis Ch`êng of
Chao took the official seal away from him and dismissed
him from the magistracy.
Kuan Chung was arrested and brought from Lu to Ch`i.
On the way he was hungry and thirsty. When passing through
I-wu, he begged the frontier guard for food. The guard
knelt down and presented the food to him with great reverence.
Then in private the guard said to Chung: "If by any lucky
chance you are not killed after you reach Ch`i but are taken
into service instead, with what are you going to requite me?"
In reply Kuan Chung said: "If my fate turns out as you
have just said, I will take the worthy into service, give the
able employment, and commend the serviceable. With what
shall I requite you?" Accordingly the guard resented such
an ungrateful saying.
