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毀 學 第 十 八

大 夫 曰 : 「 夫 懷 枉 而 言 正 , 自 託 於 無 欲 而 實 不 從 ,此 非 士 之 情 也 ? 昔 李 斯 與 包 丘 子 俱 事 荀 卿 , 既 而 李 斯 入 秦 , 遂 取 三 公 , 據 萬 乘 之 權 以 制 海 內 , 功 侔 伊 、 望 , 名巨 太 山 ; 而 包 丘 子 不 免 於 甕 牖 高 廬 , 如 潦 歲 之 蛙 , 口 非 不 眾 也 , 然 卒 死 於 溝 壑 而 已 。 今 內 無 以 養 , 外 無 以 稱 , 貧 賤 而 好 義 , 雖 言 仁 義 , 亦 不 足 貴 者 也 ! 」

文 學 曰 : 「 方 李 斯 之 相 秦 也 , 始 皇 任 之 , 人 臣 無 二 , 然 而 荀 卿 為 之 不 食 , 睹 其 罹 不 測 之 禍 也 。 包 丘 子 飯 麻 蓬 藜 , 修 道 白 屋 之 下 , 樂 其 志 , 安 之 於 廣 廈 芻 豢 , 無 赫 赫 之 勢 , 亦 無 戚 戚 之 憂 。

夫 晉 獻 垂 棘 , 非 不 美 也 , 宮 之 奇 見 之 而 嘆 , 知 荀 息 之 圖 之 也 。 智 伯 富 有 三 晉 , 非 不 盛 也 , 然 不 知 襄 子 之 謀 之 也 。 季 孫 之 狐 貉 , 非 不 麗 也 ,而 不 知 魯 君 之 患 之 也 。 故 晉 獻 以 寶 馬 釣 虞 、 虢 , 襄 子 以 城 壞 誘 智 伯 。 故 智 伯 身 禽 於 趙 , 而 虞 、 虢 卒 并 於 晉 , 以 其 務 得 不 顧 其 後 , 貪 土 地 而 利 寶 馬 也 。 孔 子 曰 : 『 人 無 遠 慮 , 必 有 近 憂 。 』

今 之 在 位 者 , 見 利 不 虞 害 , 貪 得 不 顧 恥 , 以 利 易 身 , 以 財 易 死 。 無 仁 義 之 德 , 而 有 富 貴 之 祿 , 若 蹈 坎 阱 , 食 於 懸 門 之 下 , 此 李 斯 之 所 以 伏 五 刑 也。 南 方 有 鳥 名 鵷 鶵 , 非 竹 實 不 食 , 非 醴 泉 不 飲 , 飛 過 太 山 , 太 山 之 鴟 , 俛 啄 腐 鼠 , 仰 見 鵷 雛 而 嚇 。 今 公 卿 以 其 富 貴 笑 儒 者 為 之 常 行 , 得 無 若 太 山 鴟 嚇 鵷 鶵 乎 ? 」

大 夫 曰 : 「 學 者 所 防 固 辭 , 禮 者 所 以 文 鄙 行 也 。故 學 以 輔 德 , 禮 以 文 質 。 言 思 可 道 , 行 思 可 樂 。 惡 言 不 出 於 口 , 邪 行 不 及 於 己 。 動 作 應 禮 , 從 容 中 道 。 故 禮 以 行 之 , 孫 以 出 之 。 是 以 終 日 言 , 無 口 過 ; 終 身 行 , 無 冤 尤 。 今 人 主 張 官 立 朝 以 治 民 , 疏 爵 分 祿 以 褒 賢 , 而 曰 『懸 門 腐 鼠 』 , 何 辭 之 鄙 背 而 悖 於 所 聞 也 ? 」

文 學 曰 : 「 聖 主 設 官 以 授 任 , 能 者 處 之 ; 分 祿 以 任 賢 , 能 者 受 之 。 義 貴 無 高 , 義 取 無 多 。 故 舜 受 堯 之 天下 , 太 公 不 避 周 之 三 公 ; 苟 非 其 人 , 簞 食 豆 羹 猶 為 賴 民 也 。 故 德 薄 而 位 高 , 力 少 而 任 重 , 鮮 不 及 矣 。 夫 泰 山 鴟 啄 腐 鼠 於 窮 澤 幽 谷 之 中 , 非 有 害 於 人 也 。 今 之 有 司 , 盜 主 財 而 食 之 於 刑 法 之 旁 , 不 知 機 之 是 發 , 又 以 嚇 人 , 其 患 惡 得 若 泰 山 之 鴟 乎 ? 」

大 夫 曰 : 「 司 馬 子 言 : 『 天 下 穰 穰 , 皆 為 利 往 。』 趙 女 不 擇 醜 好 , 鄭 嫗 不 擇 遠 近 , 商 人 不 媿 恥 辱 , 戎 士 不 愛 死 力 , 士 不 在 親 , 事 君 不 避 其 難 , 皆 為 利 祿 也 。 儒、 墨 內 貪 外 矜 , 往 來 游 說 ,栖 栖 然 亦 未 為 得 也 。 故 尊 榮 者 士 之 願 也 , 富 貴 者 士 之 期 也 。

方 李 斯 在 荀 卿 之 門 , 闒 茸 與 之 齊 軫 , 及 其 奮 翼 高 舉 , 龍 昇 驥 騖 , 過 九 軼 二 , 翱 翔 萬 仞 , 鴻 鵠 華 騮 且 同 侶 , 況 跛 牂 燕 雀 之 屬 乎 ! 席 天 下 之 權 , 御 宇 內 之 眾 , 後 車 百 乘 , 食 祿 萬 鍾 。 而 拘 儒 布 褐 不 完 , 糟 糠 不 飽 , 非 甘 菽 藿 而 卑 廣 廈 , 亦 不 能 得 已 。 雖 欲 嚇 人 , 其 何 已 乎 ! 」

文 學 曰 : 「 君 子 懷 德 , 小 人 懷 土 。 賢 士 徇 名 , 貪 夫 死 利 。 李 斯 貪 其 所 欲 , 致 其 所 惡 。 孫 叔 敖 早 見 於 未 萌, 三 去 相 而 不 悔 , 非 樂 卑 賤 而 惡 重 祿 也 , 慮 患 遠 而 避 害 謹 也 。 夫 郊 祭 之 牛 , 養 食 年 , 衣 之 文 繡 , 以 入 廟 堂 ,太 宰 執 其 鸞 刀 , 以 啟 其 毛 ; 方 此 之 時 , 願 任 重 而 上 峻 阪, 不 可 得 也 。

商 鞅 困 於 彭 池 , 吳 起 之 伏 王 尸 , 願 被 布 褐 而 處 窮 鄙 之 蒿 廬 , 不 可 得 也 。 李 斯 相 秦 , 席 天 下 之 勢 ,志 小 萬 乘 ; 及 其 囚 於 囹 圄 , 車 裂 於 雲 陽 之 市 , 亦 願 負 薪 入 東 門 , 行 上 蔡 曲 街 徑 , 不 可 得 也 。 蘇 秦 、 吳 起 以 權 勢 自 殺 , 商 鞅 、 李 斯 以 尊 重 自 滅 , 皆 貪 祿 慕 榮 以 沒 其 身 ,從 車 百 乘 , 曾 不 足 以 載 其 禍 也 ! 」

Chapter XVIII. Vilifying the Learned

a. The Lord Grand Secretary: It is not the nature of a scholar to nurse crookedness while speaking straight and true, to rely upon himself as if desiring nothing while actually not following in conduct. 1 Li Ssŭ 2 and Pao Ch'iu Tzŭ, 3 according to tradition, both sat at the feet of Hsün Ch'ing. 4 Their training completed, Li Ssŭ entered the service of Ch'in where he subsequently rose to the rank of one of the Three Highest Ministers, 5 and possessed of the power 6 of a lord of ten thousand chariots he held sway over the realm within the Seas, in achievement equal to I Yin and Lü Wang, 7 in fame loftier than Mount T'ai. 8 But Pao Ch'iu never got beyond the oeil-de-boeuf9 of a thatched hovel, his fate comparable to that of frogs which, though multisonous indeed during a flood year, are but destined to perish sooner or later in some drain or ditch. Now, lovers of disputation, 10 without proper means to support yourselves at home and with no great reputation abroad, poor and inconspicuous that you are, even though you can talk on proper conduct, neither is your weight very great.

b. The Literati: When Li Ssŭ became Chancellor of Ch'in, Shih-huang appointed him to an office which was higher than that of any other person or minister. Yet Hsün Ch'ing did not take office under him, prescient that he would fall into unfathomable disasters. 11 Pao Ch'iu Tzŭ, who lived on wild kraut growing among the hemp, and cultivated the Way of virtue beneath a plain whitewashed roof, was happy in his aspirations, more contented than were he living in a spacious mansion with meat as his fare. Though never enjoying resplendent station, he was yet free from all petty anxiety.

c. Now Duke Hsien of Ch'in's 12Ch'ui Chi gem 13 was beautiful beyond dispute; but Kung Chih-ch'i, 14 seeing it, groaned, knowing well that it was part of Hsün Hsi's 15 plot against his country. Chih Po 16 possessing all the wealth of the Three Chin States 17 was certainly at the height of his power; yet hardly did he suspect that Hsiang Tzŭ 18 planned to entrap him. The fox and raccoon furs of Chi Sun 19 were undoubtedly magnificent; yet never did he suspect that the prince of Lu 20 considered him as a menace to his state. Thus did Hsien of Chin 21 hook Yü and Kuo 22 by means of the precious horses, and through the city did Hsiang Tzŭ enveigle Chih Po with the result that the latter fell into the hands of Chao, and Yü and Kuo were both annexed by Chin. Thinking only of what they were about to obtain, regardless of consequence, Chih Po and the two states only coveted territory or valued prized mounts. As Confucius said: Who heeds not the future will find sorrow at hand.23

d. But our present-day authorities see only gain, never providing against possible loss; and only covet prizes, never considering possible disgrace, always willing to exchange their lives for profit and to die for money. They enjoy the privileges of wealth and rank without ever possessing the virtues of altruism and right conduct; indeed they are as one who steps upon a trap ready to be sprung, or one who is dining under a portcullis! Thus it was that Li Ssŭ suffered the five penalties: 24There was a bird in a southern clime called Wan-chu. He would eat nothing but the bamboo core, drink nothing but the water of the clearest spring. As he flew over Mount T'ai, the Kite of T'ai Shan, who was just picking up a decayed rat, looked up and saw Wan-chu. "Shoo!" cried the Kite.25 Now, with all your wealth and rank, Lord High Minister, it pleases you to scoff at us Confucian scholars, as you do so frequently. Is not your conduct similar to that of the Kite of T'ai Shan "shooing" at the Wan-chu!

e. The Lord Grand Secretary: 'Tis Learning's part to curb crude speech, and Courtesy's function to veneer rustic manners. Thus Learning should prop Virtue, Courtesy should civilize Crudeness. Our minds should weigh words before speaking; action after thought gives pleasure. Lips should not open to let forth bad language, and one should keep away from evil doings. In every move and action one should comply with good manners, endeavoring to walk with dignity along the path of decorum. Behave therefore in accordance with propriety, and let your utterance be in accordance with the rules of courtesy. It is only thus that you may speak all day without being malapert, and act all your days without setting a bad example. 26 Now, the Ruler of Men, in order to govern the people, has provided offices and established courts, and has distributed ranks and assigned salaries to honor the worthies — and you speak here of portcullis and decayed rats! Fie! To be so coarse in speech and so pervert to schooling!

f. The Literati: The Sage Ruler provides offices for carrying out necessary functions; it is for the able to occupy them. He distributes salaries for the sustenance of worthies; it is for the capable to receive them. For the just and honorable, no honor should be too high and no emolument too great. Thus Shun received the Empire from Yao, and T'ai Kung could not but occupy the post of one of the Three Highest Ministers with the Chou. If one be unfit for any position, even the giving of but a basket of rice and a plate of soup, 27 would be like giving alms. Therefore, those whose station was high and yet their virtue thin, whose responsibility was heavy but strength small, were few, for they were not equal to it. 28 The Kite of T'ai Shan picked up but a decayed rat in some remote marsh or obscure valley; he never intended to do harm to anyone. But you, our present officiators, you rob the Ruler's treasury and feed upon it in the very face of the punitive laws, unaware that their mechanism may be set into motion! And with all that, you "shoo" at people! In villainy indeed you can hardly be compared to the Kite of T'ai Shan!

g. The Lord Grand Secretary: Said Magister Ssŭ-ma: 29Hustling and bustling, after gain the world is rushing: Maids of Chao not particular as to beauty or homeliness; matrons of Chêng undiscriminating between foreigner and countryman; merchants willing to face dishonor and disgrace, soldiers not willing to serve to the death; officers, indifferent to relatives, in serving their Prince willing to face any risk at his expense; everyone and all working but for profit and salary. The Confucianists and the Mihists, 30 with greedy hearts but dignified mien, roam back and forth with their sophists' arguments. Their perching here and perching there31 can also be explained by their appetite not being satisfied. For the scholar's want is also honor and fame; wealth and rank, the object of his expectations.

h. When Li Ssŭ was studying at the door of Hsün Ch'ing, he rode side by side with ne'er-do-wells. Then, when he raised his wings in high flight surging forth like a dragon, breaking into gallop like a charger, "passing by nine and overtaking two," soaring to a height of ten thousand cubits, the wild swan and the fleet courser 32 could hardly keep pace with him, to say nothing of lame ewes and finches and sparrows! Seated in the seat of power over all the Empire, driving the masses of the world before him, he enjoyed a retinue of a hundred chariots and an income of ten thousand measures, while your doctrinaire Confucianists can not have even a full suit of cotton clothes nor enough husks to fill their stomachs. Not that they find bean and legume tasty and hold spacious mansions in low esteem, but they can never obtain the latter for themselves. Even though they would like to "shoo" at others, how can they do so?

i. The Literati: The gentleman esteems virtue, the mean man dotes on land; the worthy scholar suffers martyrdom for his good name, the miser dies for gain. Li Ssŭ, coveting desirable objects, came to a hateful end, while Sun-shu Ao, 33 foreseeing early possible troubles, three times resigned from his Chancellorship and had no occasion for regret. Not that he found pleasure in stations low and mean, and disliked generous salaries, but he considered the distant future and took care to avoid all harm. The ox, reserved for the suburban sacrifice, is fed and taken care of throughout a whole year, before being bedecked in rich embroidery and led into the temple hall. Then does the Great Sacrificer seize his belled sword, about to part open its hair. At that moment, even if it wanted to be panting up a steep hillside under a heavy load, it cannot get its wish.

j. When Shang Yang was hard pressed at P'êng Ch'ih 34 and Wu Ch'i 35 cowered behind his prince's body, they undoubtedly wished they were in coarse clothes living in some wretched straw hut. When Li Ssŭ was Ch'in's Chancellor, seated in the seat of power over the whole Empire, a realm of ten thousand chariots would seem small to his ambition; but when locked in prison and finally when being torn apart by chariots in the market place of Yün-yang, 36 he also undoubtedly wished he were carrying wood to Hung-mên 37 or walking through the crooked short-cuts of Shang-ts'ai, 38 but he could never get his wish. Su Ch'in and Wu Ch'i killed themselves by their power and position; Shang Yang and Li Ssŭ brought themselves to destruction by their prestige and honor; all of them came to their end through their greed and vanity. All the hundred chariots of their escort could not have carried away their load of grief!

Notes

1. The Shih-chi, ch. LXXXVII (Biography of Li Ssŭ) has the phrase 自 託 於 無 為 非 士 之 情 也 "relying on one's self in a condition of non-activity, that is not the nature of a scholar", [Duyvendak's translation, T'oung Pao, XXVI (1928), The Chronology of Hsün-tzŭ, p. 92], while the YTL. reads 自 託 於 無 欲 而 實 不 從 此 非 士 之 情 也.

2. 李 斯, perhaps the most execrated person of all time in the minds of Chinese scholars, for his instigation of the first "bibliothecal holocaust", the destruction of all existing literature, save works on agriculture, medicine and divination (213 B.C.). Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien devotes his LXXXVIIth chapter to a lengthy biography of the First Ch'in Emperor's Prime Minister; while in the VIth chapter appears the account of the famous debate before the throne, when the decision against the scholars was taken. The Shih-chi's biography (translated in part by Duyvendak, loc. cit.) confirms the statements regarding Li Ssŭ as a pupil of Hsün Ch'ing and his subsequent career

3. 包 邱 子. Cf. glossary.

4. 荀 卿, the philosopher Hsün-tzŭ or Sun-tzŭ, cf. p. 68, note 14.

5. Cf. p. 62, note 4, supra.

6. 之 權, omitted in Chang's edition.

7. 伊 尹 、 呂 望 [太 公 望 or 呂 尚]. See glossary.

8. 太 山 (otherwise 泰 山), in Shantung, the chief of the Five Sacred Mountains 五 嶽 of China. For its place Chinese religion, cf. Chavannes Le T'ai Chan.

9. 甕 牖 an expression meaning either a broken jar used for a window, or a small window, round as the mouth of a jar, often in houses of the poor. Cf. the Tz'ŭ yüan.

10. The text has 好 義; the last character, according to Chang, should be 議.

11. Cf. Duyvendak, T'oung Pao, loc. cit., where this passage from the YTL. is quoted in connection with the establishment of the dates of the philosopher, the conclusion being that Hsün-tzŭ never took office under his pupil, during the many years of Li Ssŭ's service with Ch'in.

12. See next page note 2.

13. 垂 棘, referred to on p. 111, supra.

14. 宮 之 奇. Cf. Giles, Biog. Dict., No. 1021.

15. 荀 息. Cf. Giles, op. cit., No. 805.

16. 知 伯.

17. 三 晉.

18. 襄 子.

19. 季 孫.

20. 魯 君.

21. 晉 獻 [公].

22. 虞、虢 . For these and the preceding names, see glossary.

23. Soothill, Analects, XV, xi.

24. 五 刑, as related in the Shih-chi, LXXXVII. This was the extremity of the law, and represented branding on the forehead 墨, cutting off the nose 劓, maiming (cutting off the ear, the hands, or the feet) 刖, castration 宮, and death 大 辟. These "five punishments" prevailed under the Chou and Han dynasties.

25. This allegory is found substantially in the Chuang-tzŭ 莊 子, in which Chuang-tzŭ ridicules the sophist Hui-tzŭ 惠 子, who at the time was minister of the state of Liang 梁. (Cf. 莊 子 , 外 篇 , 卷 六 , 秋 水, [Legge, Sacred Books, vol. XXXIX, pt. i, p. 391, and Wilhelm, Dschuang Dsi, p. 134]). The Literati turn this tale against Sang Hung-yang, eliciting from the Minister a lecture on the propriety of refined manners.

26. 無 冤 尤. Lu reads 怨 for 冤, "without incurring malevolence".

27. The passage expresses the sentiment found in Mencius, VI, i, x, 6, "Here are a small basket of rice and a platter of soup, and the case is one in which the getting them will preserve life, and the want of them will be death; — if they are offered with an insulting voice, even a tramper will not receive them . . . . even a beggar will not stoop to take them" [Legge's translation]. The same figure, "the matter of a dish of rice or a platter of soup", in a similar association, appears in Mencius, VII, ii, xi.

28. 鮮 不 及. I place the comma after 鮮.

29. 天 下 壤 壤 皆 為 利 往. This is the only direct citation from Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien's Shih-chi. It is from the introduction to ch. CXXIX, and appears much like a common saying. For 壤, Huan K'uan has 穰, which Chang suggests may have been in the original text of the Shih-chi. The latter part of the quotation is a paraphrase from the same chapter where "maids of Chao" 趙 女, and "matrons of Chêng" 鄭 嫗 also appear, the Shih-chi having 嫗, probably "singing girl", for the last character. Cf. Introduction for a discussion of this quotation.

30. 儒 墨. For ju 儒 see p. 38, note 9. The Mihists 墨 家, with whom the ju are here grouped, were the transmitters of the doctrines of Mo-tzŭ 墨 子 or Mo Ti 墨 翟, a native of Lu, who lived in the Vth century B.C. He continued the teachings of Confucius with certain variations, notably with less predilection for the lessons of antiquity. He was opposed to music (holding it to be the origin of all the corruption and immorality of his time), as well as to prolonged mourning. The extant work associated with his name consists of 53 sections in 15 chapters, of which 10 sections (8—37) are held to emanate from the hand of the philosopher himself, and to present his actual teaching. Mo-tzŭ, unlike Confucius, did not justify his doctrines upon the authority of the ancient Sages, but upon logic. His fundamental principle was "universal love" 兼 愛, to which the ills of the world would respond. The success of Mo-tzŭ was largely due to his logical method of exposition, as exemplified in his writings. From this grew the various schools of sophists, who flourished in the IVth and IIIrd centuries particularly. Mencius was strongly opposed to the teachings of Mo-tzŭ, referring to him especially in the passage (loc. cit. III, ii, ix, 9—10): "If the principles of Yang and Mih are not stopped, and the principles of Confucius not set forth, then those perverse speakings will delude the people, and stop up the path of benevolence and righteousness" [Legge]. Elsewhere the Book of Mencius combats the principles maintained by Mo-tzŭ. While the school of Mo-tzŭ failed to survive the persecutions of the Ch'in empire, the dialectical methods developed by its adherents became the common property of Chinese thought, and thus continued to persist. Mo Ti and his school are treated at length by Forke in his Geschichte der alten chinesischen Philosophie, 368—417, and by Maspero, La Chine Antique, 468—479, 529—541. Translations of the extant Mo-tzŭ have been made by Forke, Mê Ti des Sozialethikers und seiner Schüler philosophische Werke, and in part by Y. L. Mei, The Works of Mo-tze. Hu Shih devotes Part III of The Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China to "The Logic of Mo Tih and His School". It is of interest to note the mention of representatives of this school as existing in Huan K'uan's time, in view of the belief (cf. Maspero, loc. cit.) that it did not survive the Ch'in era. Its gradual extinction in the Han era has been assigned especially to the opposition of the Mihist school to the rites or ceremonial. The Han epoch of reconstruction above all demanded formal rules for society. Thus the Mihists disappeared while the Legalists and Confucianists continued to contribute to Chinese societal development. Cf. Duyvendak, "Études de Philosophie chinoise", in Revue Philosophique, Nov.—Dec., 1930, pp. 372—417.

31. Cf. Lun-yü XIV, xxxiv [Soothill]. "Wei-shêng Mou addressing Confucius said: Ch'iu, what are you doing with this perching here and perching there?"

32. Hung-ku 鴻 鵠, mentioned in Mencius VI, i, ix, 3; Hua-liu 驊 騮, the name of one of the four fleet steeds of King Mu of Chou 周 穆 王, driven by Tsao-fu (cf. p. 67) 造 父. Cf. Shih-chi, ch. V (Mém. hist. II, 5). The two allusions might be rendered in terms of European mythology as "Cygnus and Bucephalus". The Mu-t'ien-tzŭ-chuan 穆 天 子 傳, an account of the travels of King Mu, held to be a composition of a late period (IIIrd cent. A.D.), names eight horses.

33. 孫 叔 敖, spoken of by Mencius, VI, ii, xv. "Thrice minister without elation; thrice he retired without regret" 三 得 相 而 不 喜 …. 三 去 相 而 不 悔(Shih-chi, ch. CXIX).

34. 彭 池 [written 黾 池 in the Shih-chi, LXVIII], where the army of Ch'in defeated Lord Shang and slew him. Cf. ch. VII, supra.

35. 吳 起 之 伏 王 尸, as related in the Shih-chi, LXV. For Wu Ch'i cf. Giles, Biog. Dict., no. 2320.

36. 雲 陽, the modern Shun-hua-hsien 咸 陽 in Shensi. The Shih-chi,Biography of Li Ssŭ, places the scene of his execution at the Ch'in capital, Hsien-yang 淳 化 縣. For "torn apart by chariots" 車 制, Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien has "cut in two at the waist" 腰 斬

37. 鴻 門. The Shih-chi, Li Ssŭ's biography, reads 東 門.

38. 上 蔡, Shang Yang's native city in Ch'u.

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