Mencius. Book VII: Tsin Sin. Part I. Chapter XXXV.
Legge's summary: What Shun and his minister of crime would have done, if Shun's father had committed a murder.
1. T'âo Ying asked, saying, 'Shun being sovereign, and Kâo-yâo chief minister of justice, if Kû-sâu had murdered a man, what would have been done in the case?'
2. Mencius said, 'Kâo-yâo would simply have apprehended him.'
3. 'But would not Shun have forbidden such a thing?'
4. 'Indeed, how could Shun have forbidden it? Kâo-yâo had received the law from a proper source.'
5. 'In that case what would Shun have done?'
6. 'Shun would have regarded abandoning the kingdom as throwing away a worn-out sandal. He would privately have taken his father on his back, and retired into concealment, living some where along the sea-coast. There he would have been all his life, cheerful and happy, forgetting the kingdom.'
Previous chapter main Mencius node Next chapter
Translated by
James Legge, published in 1861 and revised for publication in 1895. Prepared as etext by Stephen R. McIntyre. Noded by
schist. Please msg schist if you have suggestions for useful hard-links.