CHAPTER III
1. Châu Hsiâo asked Mencius, saying, ＇Did superior men of old time take office?＇ Mencius replied, ＇They did. The Record says, "If Confucius was three months without being employed by some ruler, he looked anxious and unhappy. When he passed from the boundary of a State, he was sure to carry with him his proper gift of introduction." Kung-ming Î said,"Among the ancients, if an officer was three months unemployed by a ruler, he was condoled with."＇
2. Hsiâo said, ＇Did not this condoling, on being three months unemployed by a ruler, show a too great urgency?＇
3. Mencius answered, ＇The loss of his place to an officer is like the loss of his State to a prince. It is said in the Book of Rites, "A prince ploughs himself,and is assisted by the people, to supply the millet forsacrifice.
CHAPTER 3. OFFICE IS TO BE EAGERLY DESIRED, AND YET IT MAY NOT BE SOUGHT BY ITS PROPER PATH.
It will be seen that the questioner or Mencius in this chapter—a man of Wei, and one of the wandering scholars of the time—wished to condemn the philosopher for the dignity of reserve which he maintained in his intercourse with the various princes. Mencius does not evade any of his questions, an very satisfactorily vindicates himself.
1. 传,—the 4th tone, the ＇Record＇; whatever it was, it is now lost. 无君,—＇without a ruler＇, i.e. without office. 皇皇如 is ＇the appearance of one who is seeking for something and cannot find it＇. It is appropriate to a mourner in the first stages of grief after bereavement.质,—read chî, in 3rd tone, synonymous with 贽.Every person waiting on another,—a superior, —was supposed to pave his way by some introductory gift, and each official rank had its proper article to be used for that purpose by all belonging to it. See the Lî Chî, Bk. I. Pt. II. iii. 19. Confucius carried this with him, that he might not lose any opportunity of getting to be in office again. Kung-ming Ȋ, we are told by Châo Ch＇î, was ＇a worthy＇, but of what time and what state, we do not know. An individual of the same surname is mentioned, Analects, XIV. xiv. Julien translates 则吊incorrectly by—＇tune in luciu erdrit＇. The paraphrase of the 日讲 says:—＇Then people all came to condole with and to comfort them＇.
2. 以 is to be taken as synonymous with 已; 时不已急乎.
3. 国家,—the State, embracing the families of the nobles. In his quotations from the Lî Chî, Mencius combines and adapts to his purpose, with more, however, than his usual freedom, different passages.See Bk. XXI. Sect. ii. pars. 5-7, and Bk. IV. Sect. I. iii.12, Sect. II. i. 19. Chû Hsî, to illustrate the text,
His wife keeps silkworms, and unwinds their cocoons,to make the garments for sacrifice." If the victims be not perfect, the millet not pure, and the dress not complete, he does not presume to sacrifice. "And the scholar who, out of office, has no holy field, in the same way, does not sacrifice. The victims for slaughter, the vessels, and the garments, not being all complete, he does not presume to sacrifice, and then neither may he dare to feel happy." Is there not here sufficient ground also for condolence?＇
4. Hsiâo again asked,＇What was the meaning of Confucius＇s always carrying his proper gift of introduction with him, when he passed over the boundaries of the State where he had been?＇
5. ＇An officer＇s being in office,＇ was the reply, ＇is like the ploughing of a husbandman. Does a husbandman part with his plough, because he goes from one State to another?＇
gives another summary of the passages in the Lî Chî,thus:—＇It is said in the Book of Rites, The princes had their special field of 100 mâu, in which, wearing their crown, with its blue flaps turned up, they held the plough to commence the ploughing, which was afterwards completed with the help of the common people. The produce of this field was reaped and stored in the ducal granary, to supply the vessels of millet in the ancestral temple. They also caused the family women (世妇) of their harem to attend to the silkworms, in the silkworm house attached to the State mulberry trees, and to bring the cocoons to them. These were then presented to their wives,who received them in their sacrificial headdress and robe, soaked them, and thrice drew out a thread.They then distributed the cocoons among the ladies of the three palaces, to prepare the threads for the ornaments on the robes to be worn in sacrificing to the former kings and dukes.＇盛, the 2nd tone, ＇the millet placed in the sacrificial vessel＇. 牺牲,—牲, the victim, whatever it might be; 牺, the victim, as pure and perfect. The officer＇s field is the 圭 field, Pt. I. iii.16. 器皿 together=vessels. Chû Hsî says the 皿 were the covers of the 器. 以宴,—＇to feast＇,=to feel happy.The argument is that it was not the mere loss of office which was a proper subject for grief and condolence,but the consequences of it, especially in not being able to continue his proper sacrifices, as here set forth.
5. 舍,—the 3rd tone. 耒耜,—see Pt. I. iv. par. 2.
6. Hsiâo pursued, ＇The kingdom of Tsin is one, as well as others, of official employments, but I have not heard of anyone being thus earnest about being in office. If there should be this urge why does a superior man make any difficulty about taking it?＇Mencius answered, ＇When a son is born, what is desired for him is that he may have a wife; when a daughter is born, what is desired for her is that she may have a husband. This feeling of the parents is possessed by all men. If the young people, without waiting for the orders of their parents, and the arrangements of the go-betweens, shall bore holes to steal a sight of each other, or get over the wall to be with each other, then their parents and all other people will despise them. The ancients did indeed always desire to be in office,but they also hated being so by any improper way.To seek office by an improper way is of a class with young people＇s boring holes.＇
6. ＇The kingdom of Tsin＇,—see Bk. I. Pt. I. v. i. 君子之难仕,—by the 君子, Hsiâo evidently intends Mencius himself, who, however, does not notice the insinuation. 丈夫 and 女子,—here simply ＇a son＇, ＇a daughter＇. A man marrying is said 有室, ＇to have an apartment＇, and a woman marrying, 有家, ＇to have a family＇, or ＇home＇. On the go-between, see the Châu Lî, Pt. II. Bk. vi. pars. 54-60; the Shih-ching, I. viii. Ode VI. st. 4. The law of marriage here referred to by Mencius still obtains, and seems to have been the rule of the Chinese race from time immemorial. 相从,—从=就, 而往,—往=往见诸侯.
