Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 68.djvu/39

 Rh and abounding in sententious dialogues and monologues. It is to Confucius what Boswell's work is to Johnson. From it comes all we really know about the great moralist, contemporary with Ezra, whose mission was to teach duty towards one's fellowmen. The Analects are the pattern of Chinese wisdom literature.

The last of the 'Four Books' bearing the name of Mencius (371-288 B.C.), is as large as the other three combined, and constitutes, according to some critics, the most vital reality in all Chinese literature. Its seven sections record the sayings and doings of a man to whose genius and devotion is due the triumph of Confucianism. Coming to maturity upward of a century after the death of Confucius, he studied under the latter's grandson, K'ung Chi, and though of course profiting greatly by the example and stimulus of the earlier sage, in most respects he displayed an originality, resoluteness and breadth superior to Confucius, and must be ranked as one of the greatest men Asia has produced. He served various native princes as minister in their several states and spent the last twenty years of his life in teaching and in completing the work which has been such a power in the land. Living at a time when feudal princes were squabbling over rival systems of federation and imperialism, he strove to inculcate the gentle virtues of the golden age. While his criterion was that of Confucius, his teachings were more practical and dealt rather with man's well-being from the view-point of political economy. His assertion of the respective duties and prerogatives of subject and ruler is said to be prior to that of any western writer, and in the Middle Kingdom has always been an incentive and guide in defending the rights of the people against the injustice of rulers, and an encourager to those who have governed justly. His dialogues with the great personages of his time abound with irony and ridicule against vice and oppression. Witness the following example, cited by Williams:

The king of Wei, one of the turbulent princes of the time, complained to Mencius how ill he succeeded in making his people happy and his kingdom nourishing. "Prince," said the philosopher, "you love war; permit me to draw a comparison from thence; two armies face each other; the charge is sounded, the battle begins, one of the parties is conquered; half of its soldiers have fled a hundred paces, the other half has stopped at fifty. Will the latter have any right to mock at those who have fled further than themselves?"

"No," said the king; "they have equally taken flight, and the same disgrace belongs to both."

"Prince," says Mencius quickly, "cease then to boast of your efforts as greater than your neighbors'. You have all deserved the same reproach, and not one has a right to take credit more than another." Pursuing then his bitter interrogations, he asked, "Is there a difference, O king! between killing a man with a club or with a sword?" "No," said the prince. "Between him who kills with the sword, or destroys by an inhuman tyranny?" "No," again replied the prince.

"Well," said Mencius, "your kitchens are burdened with food, your sheds are full of horses, while your subjects, with emaciated faces, are worn with misery, or die of hunger in the middle of the fields or in the deserts. What}}