Mencius. Book 1, Part 2, Chapter 12.
1. There had been a brush between Tsow and Loo, when the duke Muih asked Mencius, saying, "Of my officers there were killed thirty-three men, and none of the people would die in their defense. If I put them to death for their conduct, it is impossible to put such a multitude to death. If I do not put them to death, then there is the crime unpunished of their looking angrily on at the death of their officers, and not saving them. How is the exigency of the case to be met?"
2. Mencius replied, "In calamitous years and years of famine, the old and weak of your people, who have been found lying in the ditches and water channels, and the able-bodied who have been scattered about to the four quarters, have amounted to several thousands. All the while, your granaries, O prince, have been stored with grain, and your treasuries and arsenals have been full, and not one of your officers has told you of the distress. Thus negligent have the superiors in your state been, and cruel to their inferiors. The philosopher Tsang said, 'Beware, beware. What proceeds from you will return to you again.' Now at length the people have returned their conduct to the officers. Do not you, O prince, blame them.
3. "If you will put in practice a benevolent government, this people will love you and all above them, and will die for their officers."
1. There had been a brush between Tsow and Loo, when the duke Muih asked Mencius, saying, "Of my officers there were killed thirty-three men, and none of the people would die in their defense. If I put them to death for their conduct, it is impossible to put such a multitude to death. If I do not put them to death, then there is the crime unpunished of their looking angrily on at the death of their officers, and not saving them. How is the exigency of the case to be met?"
2. Mencius replied, "In calamitous years and years of famine, the old and weak of your people, who have been found lying in the ditches and water channels, and the able-bodied who have been scattered about to the four quarters, have amounted to several thousands. All the while, your granaries, O prince, have been stored with grain, and your treasuries and arsenals have been full, and not one of your officers has told you of the distress. Thus negligent have the superiors in your state been, and cruel to their inferiors. The philosopher Tsang said, 'Beware, beware. What proceeds from you will return to you again.' Now at length the people have returned their conduct to the officers. Do not you, O prince, blame them.
3. "If you will put in practice a benevolent government, this people will love you and all above them, and will die for their officers."
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Text source: The Works of Mencius. Translated by James Legge.
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