"
King Hwuy of Leang said, "I wish quietly to receive your instructions."
Mencius replied, "Is there any difference between killing a man with a
stick and with a sword?" "There is no difference," was the answer.
Mencius continued, "Is there any difference between doing it with a
sword and with governmental measures?" "There is not," was the answer
again.
Mencius then said, "In your stalls there are fat beasts; in your stables
there are fat horses. But your people have the look of hunger, and in
the fields there are those who have died of famine. This is leading on
beasts to devour men. Beasts devour one another, and men hate them for
doing so. When he who is called the parent of the people conducts his
government so as to be chargeable with leading on beasts to devour men,
where is that parental relation to the people? Chung-ne said, 'Was he
not without posterity who first made wooden images to bury with the
dead?' So he said, because that man made the semblances of men and used
them for that purpose; what shall be thought of him who causes his
people to die of hunger?"
King Hwuy of Leang said, "There was not in the kingdom a stronger State
than Ts'in, as you, venerable Sir, know. But since it descended to me,
on the east we were defeated by Ts'e, and then my eldest son perished;
on the west we lost seven hundred li of territory to Ts'in; and on the
south we have sustained disgrace at the hands of Ts'oo.
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