Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/139



Now, all this caused daily and nightly distress to their good brother, the Prime Minister; and at last he went privately to a friend of his, one Têng Hsi, to consult him about the matter. "I have heard it said," remarked the Minister, in conversation with his friend, "that if a man can govern himself he can govern his family; and that if he can govern his family he may also govern a state. This saying reasons from the near to the far. But look at my case. I have governed the state successfully, but my family is in utter disorder; so the theory is contrary to fact. What method can I possibly adopt for rescuing these two lads? I pray you, point one out to me."

"For a longtime," replied Têng Hsi, "I have wondered greatly at all this; but I did not venture to mention the matter to you first. How is it, then, that you have taken no measures to set them straight? Your best way is to explain to them the dignity and value of life, and allure them, by gentle means, to a knowledge of the nobleness of decorum and rectitude."

So Tzŭ Ch'an acted upon his friend's advice, and took an early opportunity to seek an interview with his two brothers. "The superiority of man over the birds and beasts," he said to them, "consists in intelligence and the power of thought. Now, what intelligence and thought are calculated to promote is uprightness and decorum; and when these are perfected the man's good name is established. But if every desire and passion is gratified, and licentiousness indulged in without restraint, one's very life is put in jeopardy. Be advised by me; if you will only repent by dawn, you may enjoy emoluments from the State ere night."

"We have known all that for a long time," replied Chao and Mu, "and we made our choice ages ago. Do you really suppose we have had to wait for you to tell us? Life is not to be had for the asking, while death comes only too easily; and which, pray, is the more earnestly desired? What? To struggle after rectitude and decorum in order to make a show before others; to feign virtues we don't possess in order to acquire fame,—why, we would very much sooner die at once. No; what we want is to exhaust all the pleasure we can in the course of our lives, and to get all possible delights