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[Yen Yuan, in admiration of the Master's doctrine, sighed and said, "The more I looked up to it, the higher it appeared to me, and the deeper I penetrated into it, the harder it became."] 1 This means that Yen Yuan having studied with Confucius month after month and year after year, found the doctrine becoming deeper and deeper. In the chapter entitled "Praise of the Han Dynasty" 2 we have given the Han precedence over the Chou and endeavoured to show that the Han outrivalled the Chou, but our investigations were not yet exhaustive. If we expand them to the utmost limit, we shall acquire a still clearer conception of the greatness of the Han dynasty.
When a Classic is most thoroughly explained, all its remarkable beauties become visible. So an exhaustive treatise on a State brings out all its admirable features. From these additional remarks on the Han era it will become plain that it ranks above all other ages. My reasons are the following:
Huang Ti had to fight at Cho-lu,3 and Yao led his troops to Tan-shui. In Shun's time the Yu Miao4 did not submit; at the commencement of the Hsia dynasty the Hu rebelled. Kao Tsung invested the "Devil country" 5 and destroyed its people after three years. Under the regime of King Ch`êng of Chou there was an insurrection in Kuan and T`sai,6 and Chou Kung had to undertake an expedition to the east. All this happened under the former dynasties.
We do not hear of similar occurences during the Han time. During the reign of Kao Tsu, Ch`ên Hsi7 revolted and P`êng Yüeh8 rebelled, but then peace was secured. When in the time of Hsiao Ching Ti, Wu and Ch`u levied troops against him, the emperor vented his resentment against Ch`ao T`so.9 The Hsiung-nu were constantly making trouble and the calendar did not reach them, 10 but the emperor did not infest their naturally barren country with his soldiers. At present they all tender their allegiance and offer oxen and horses as tribute, because the power of the Han is so imposing, that they do not venture any opposition.
When Chou committed the greatest atrocities, the whole empire took up arms against him. King Wu enlisted troops all anxious to fight forthwith, and eight hundred feudatory princes appeared uninvited. 11
Hsiang Yü displeased with the inferiority of his title, collected troops and rose simultaneously with Kao Tsu. Their power had not yet been balanced. As to the strength of Hsiang Yü, the breaking iron is much more difficult than breaking wood. Kao Tsu destroyed Hsiang Yü and broke his iron. Wu Wang in defeating Chou merely broke wood. Consequently, the strength of the Han surpassed that of the Chou by far.
The annihilation of one foe is comparatively easy, that of two, an arduous task, however. T`ang and Wu defeated Chieh and Chou, one enemy each. Kao Tsu, on the other hand, destroyed Ch`in and killed Hsiang Yü, vanquishing the two houses at the same time. His strength therefore must have been double that of T`ang and Wu.12
Wu Wang was chief of the west to Yin. He served Chou13 as a subject, and as a subject attacked his sovereign. Such was the disgust of Po Yi and Shu Ch`i at this conduct, that, leading their horses behind them, they made remonstrances. But Wu Wang declined to hear them. Lest they should eat the millet of Chou, they died of starvation at Shou-yang.14Kao Tsu was not a minister of Ch`in, nor was Kuang Wu Ti an officer of Wang Mang. The punishment of a depraved sovereign and the annihilation of a vicious ruler do not call for the criticisms of Po Yi, and, in this respect, the moral standard of the two emperors may be declared higher than that of their Chou predecessors. 15
It is easy to rise high from hills and mountains and easy to dive deep in abysses and gullies, but it is an arduous task to rise from low and humble spheres without any stepping-stone. Contrariwise, it is very convenient to inherit a title and succeed to an estate, noble ancestors having laid the foundation of one's fortune.
Yao came to the throne as aIllegal HTML character: decimal 156