Mencius Flashcards
(35 cards)
莊暴見孟子，曰：「暴見於王，王語暴以好樂，暴未有以對也。」曰：「好樂何如？」
Zhuang Bao, seeing Mencius, said to him, ‘I had an interview with the king. His Majesty told me that he loved music, and I was not prepared with anything to reply to him. What do you pronounce about that love of music?’
孟子曰：「王之好樂甚，則齊國其庶幾乎！」
Mencius replied, ‘If the king’s love of music were very great, the kingdom of Qi would be near to a state of good government!’
幾 is used here as a rhetorical way of expressing a high degree of something
他日，見於王曰：「王嘗語莊子以好樂，有諸？」
Another day, Mencius, having an interview with the king, said, ‘Your Majesty, I have heard, told the officer Zhuang, that you love music - was it so?’
嘗 is a pre verb character that denotes past tense
王變乎色，曰：「寡人非能好先王之樂也，直好世俗之樂耳。」
The king changed colour, and said, ‘I am unable to love the music of the ancient sovereigns; I only love the music that suits the manners of the present age.’
直 = just/only
俗 = commonplace/ordinary
孟子曰：「王之好樂甚，則齊其庶幾乎！今之樂猶古之樂也。」王曰：「可得聞與？」
Mencius said, ‘If your Majesty’s love of music were very great, Qi would be near to a state of good government! The music of the present day is just like the music of antiquity, as regards effecting that.’ The king said, ‘May I hear from you the proof of that?’
孟子曰：「獨樂樂，與人樂樂，孰樂？」王曰：「不若與人。」
Mencius asked, ‘Which is the more pleasant - to enjoy music by yourself alone, or to enjoy it with others?’ ‘To enjoy it with others,’ was the reply.
孰 indicates a ‘which one, question
若 be like/compare with
曰：「與少樂樂，與眾樂樂，孰樂？」曰：「不若與眾。」
‘And which is the more pleasant - to enjoy music with a few, or to enjoy it with many?’ ‘To enjoy it with many.’
齊宣王問曰：「文王之囿方七十里，有諸？」
The king Xuan of Qi asked, ‘Was it so, that the park of king Wen contained seventy square li?’
- 孟子對曰：「於傳有之。」
- 曰：「若是其大乎？」
- 曰：「民猶以為小也。」
- Mencius replied, ‘It is so in the records.’
- ‘Was it so large as that?’ exclaimed the king.
- ‘The people,’ said Mencius, ‘still looked on it as small.’
王曰：「寡人之囿方四十里，民猶以為大，何也？」
The king added, ‘My park contains only forty square li, and the people still look on it as large. How is this?’
孟子謂齊宣王曰：「王之臣有託其妻子於其友，而之楚遊者。比其反也，則凍餒其妻子，則如之何？」
Mencius said to the king Xuan of Qi, ‘Suppose that one of your Majesty’s ministers were to entrust his wife and children to the care of his friend, while he himself went into Chu to travel, and that, on his return, he should find that the friend had let his wife and children suffer from cold and hunger - how ought he to deal with him?’
- 王曰：「棄之。」
- 曰：「士師不能治士，則如之何？
- 王曰：「已之。」
- The king said, ‘He should cast him off.’
- Mencius proceeded, ‘Suppose that the chief criminal judge could not regulate the officers under him, how would you deal with him?’
- The king said, ‘Dismiss him.’
- 曰：「四境之內不治，則如之何？」
- 王顧左右而言他。
- Mencius again said, ‘If within the four borders of your kingdom there is not good government, what is to be done?’
- The king looked to the right and left, and spoke of other matters.
- 齊宣王問曰：「湯放桀，武王伐紂，有諸？」
- 孟子對曰：「於傳有之。」
- The king Xuan of Qi asked, saying, ‘Was it so, that Tang banished Jie, and that king Wu smote Zhou?’
- Mencius replied, ‘It is so in the records.’
王曰：「臣弒其君可乎？」
孟子曰：「賊仁者謂之賊，賊義者謂之殘，殘賊之人謂之一夫。聞誅一夫紂矣，未聞弒君也。」
- The king said, ‘May a minister then put his sovereign to death?’
- Mencius said, ‘He who outrages the benevolence proper to his nature, is called a robber; he who outrages righteousness, is called a ruffian. The robber and ruffian we call a mere fellow. I have heard of the cutting off of the fellow Zhou, but I have not heard of the putting a sovereign to death, in his case.’
滕文公問曰：「滕，小國也，間於齊楚。事齊乎？事楚乎？」
The duke Wen of Teng asked Mencius, saying, ‘Teng is a small kingdom, and lies between Qi and Chu. Shall I serve Qi? Or shall I serve Chu?’
孟子對曰：「是謀非吾所能及也。無已，則有一焉：鑿斯池也，築斯城也，與民守之，效死而民弗去，則是可為也。」
Mencius replied, ‘This plan which you propose is beyond me. If you will have me counsel you, there is one thing I can suggest. Dig deeper your moats; build higher your walls; guard them as well as your people. In case of attack, be prepared to die in your defence, and have the people so that they will not leave you - this is a proper course.’
孟子將朝王，王使人來曰：「寡人如就見者也，有寒疾，不可以風。朝將視朝，不識可使寡人得見乎？」對曰：「不幸而有疾，不能造朝。」
As Mencius was about to go to court to see the king, the king sent a person to him with this message: ‘I was wishing to come and see you. But I have got a cold, and may not expose myself to the wind. In the morning I will hold my court. I do not know whether you will give me the opportunity of seeing you then.’ Mencius replied, ‘Unfortunately, I am unwell, and not able to go to the court.’
明日，出吊於東郭氏，公孫丑曰：「昔者辭以病，今日吊，或者不可乎！」曰：「昔者疾，今日愈，如之何不吊？」
Next day, he went out to pay a visit of condolence to some one of the Dong Guo family, when Gong Sun Chou said to him, ‘Yesterday, you declined going to the court on the ground of being unwell, and to-day you are going to pay a visit of condolence. May this not be regarded as improper?’ ‘Yesterday,’ said Mencius, ‘I was unwell; to-day, I am better - why should I not pay this visit?’
王使人問疾，醫來。孟仲子對曰：「昔者有王命，有采薪之憂，不能造朝。今病小愈，趨造於朝，我不識能至否乎？」使數人要於路，曰：「請必無歸，而造於朝！」
In the mean time, the king sent a messenger to inquire about his sickness, and also a physician. Meng Zhong replied to them, ‘Yesterday, when the king’s order came, he was feeling a little unwell, and could not go to the court. To-day he was a little better, and hastened to go to court. I do not know whether he can have reached it by this time or not.’ Having said this, he sent several men to look for Mencius on the way, and say to him, ‘I beg that, before you return home, you will go to the court.’
孟子之平陸。謂其大夫曰：「子之持戟之士，一日而三失伍，則去之否乎？」
曰：「不待三。」
- Mencius having gone to Ping Lu, addressed the governor of it, saying, ‘If one of your spearmen should lose his place in the ranks three times in one day, would you, Sir, put him to death or not?’
- ‘I would not wait for three times to do so,’ was the reply.
孟子曰：「然則子之失伍也亦多矣。凶年饑歲，子之民，老羸轉於溝壑，壯者散而之四方者，幾千人矣。」
Mencius said, ‘Well then, you, Sir, have likewise lost your place in the ranks many times. In bad calamitous years, and years of famine, the old and feeble 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 thousand.’
大夫曰：「此非距心之所得為也。」
The governor replied, ‘That is a state of things in which it does not belong to me Ju Xin to act.’
- 孟子曰：「今有受人之牛羊而為之牧之者，則必為之求牧與芻矣。求牧與芻而不得，則反諸其人乎？抑亦立而視其死與？」
- 曰：「此則距心之罪也。」
- ‘Here,’ said Mencius, ‘is a man who receives charge of the cattle and sheep of another, and undertakes to feed them for him - of course he must search for pasture-ground and grass for them. If, after searching for those, he cannot find them, will he return his charge to the owner? or will he stand by and see them die?’
- ‘Herein,’ said the officer, ‘I am guilty.’
