King Hui of Liang I · Passage 03 / 07 · 孟子 1A.3

Mencius 1A.3: why fifty paces cannot laugh at a hundred

With the image of soldiers fleeing fifty or a hundred paces, Mencius exposes relative moral comparison in government.

梁惠王曰：「寡人之於國也，盡心焉耳矣。河內凶，則移其民於河東，移其粟於河內；河東凶亦然。察鄰國之政，無如寡人之用心者。鄰國之民不加少，寡人之民不加多，何也？」孟子對曰：「王好戰，請以戰喻。填然鼓之，兵刃既接，棄甲曳兵而走。或百步而後止，或五十步而後止；以五十步笑百步，則何如？」曰：「不可，直不百步耳，是亦走也。」曰：「王如知此，則無望民之多於鄰國也。不違農時，穀不可勝食也；數罟不入洿池，魚鼈不可勝食也；斧斤以時入山林，材木不可勝用也。穀與魚鼈不可勝食，材木不可勝用；是使民養生喪死無憾也。養生喪死無憾，王道之始也。五畝之宅，樹之以桑，五十者可以衣帛矣；雞豚狗彘之畜，無失其時，七十者可以食肉矣；百畝之田，勿奪其時，數口之家可以無饑矣。謹庠序之教，申之以孝悌之義，頒白者不負戴於道路矣。七十者衣帛食肉，黎民不饑不寒，然而不王者，未之有也。狗彘食人食而不知檢，塗有餓莩而不知發。人死，則曰：『非我也，歲也。』是何異於刺人而殺之，曰：『非我也，兵也。』王無罪歲，斯天下之民至焉。」

liáng huì wáng yuē：「guǎ rén zhī wū guó yě， jìn xīn yān ěr yǐ。 hé nèi xiōng， zé yí qí mín wū hé dōng， yí qí sù wū hé nèi； hé dōng xiōng yì rán。 chá lín guó zhī zhèng， wú rú guǎ rén zhī yòng xīn zhě。 lín guó zhī mín bù jiā shǎo， guǎ rén zhī mín bù jiā duō， hé yě？」 mèng zǐ duì yuē：「wáng hǎo zhàn， qǐng yǐ zhàn yù。 tián rán gǔ zhī， bīng rèn jì jiē， qì jiǎ yè bīng ér zǒu。 huò bǎi bù ér hòu zhǐ， huò wǔ shí bù ér hòu zhǐ； yǐ wǔ shí bù xiào bǎi bù， zé hé rú？」 yuē：「bù kě， zhí bù bǎi bù ěr， shì yì zǒu yě。」 yuē：「wáng rú zhī cǐ， zé wú wàng mín zhī duō wū lín guó yě。 bù wéi nóng shí， gǔ bù kě shèng shí yě； shù gǔ bú rù wū chí， yú biē bù kě shèng shí yě； fǔ jīn yǐ shí rù shān lín， cái mù bù kě shèng yòng yě。 gǔ yǔ yú biē bù kě shèng shí， cái mù bù kě shèng yòng； shì shǐ mín yǎng shēng sāng sǐ wú hàn yě。 yǎng shēng sāng sǐ wú hàn， wáng dào zhī shǐ yě。 wǔ mǔ zhī zhái， shù zhī yǐ sāng， wǔ shí zhě kě yǐ yī bó yǐ； jī tún gǒu zhì zhī chù， wú shī qí shí， qī shí zhě kě yǐ shí ròu yǐ； bǎi mǔ zhī tián， wù duó qí shí， shù kǒu zhī jiā kě yǐ wú jī yǐ。 jǐn xiáng xù zhī jiào， shēn zhī yǐ xiào tì zhī yì， bān bái zhě bú fù dài wū dào lù yǐ。 qī shí zhě yī bó shí ròu， lí mín bù jī bù hán， rán ér bù wáng zhě， wèi zhī yǒu yě。 gǒu zhì shí rén shí ér bù zhī jiǎn， tú yǒu è piǎo ér bù zhī fā。 rén sǐ， zé yuē：『fēi wǒ yě， suì yě。』 shì hé yì wū cì rén ér shā zhī， yuē：『fēi wǒ yě， bīng yě。』 wáng wú zuì suì， sī tiān xià zhī mín zhì yān。」

King Hui of Liang said, 'Small as my virtue is, in the government of my kingdom, I do indeed exert my mind to the utmost. If the year be bad on the inside of the river, I remove as many of the people as I can to the east of the river, and convey grain to the country in the inside. When the year is bad on the east of the river, I act on the same plan. On examining the government of the neighboring kingdoms, I do not find that there is any prince who exerts his mind as I do. And yet the people of the neighboring kingdoms do not decrease, nor do my people increase. How is this?' Mencius replied, 'Your majesty is fond of war - let me take an illustration from war. The soldiers move forward to the sound of the drums; and after their weapons have been crossed, on one side they throw away their coats of mail, trail their arms behind them, and run. Some run a hundred paces and stop; some run fifty paces and stop. What would you think if those who run fifty paces were to laugh at those who run a hundred paces?' The king said, 'They should not do so. Though they did not run a hundred paces, yet they also ran away.' 'Since your Majesty knows this,' replied Mencius, 'you need not hope that your people will become more numerous than those of the neighboring kingdoms. If the seasons of husbandry be not interfered with, the grain will be more than can be eaten. If close nets are not allowed to enter the pools and ponds, the fishes and turtles will be more than can be consumed. If the axes and bills enter the hills and forests only at the proper time, the wood will be more than can be used. When the grain and fish and turtles are more than can be eaten, and there is more wood than can be used, this enables the people to nourish their living and mourn for their dead, without any feeling against any. This condition, in which the people nourish their living and bury their dead without any feeling against any, is the first step of royal government. Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with their five mu, and persons of fifty years may be clothed with silk. In keeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their times of breeding be neglected, and persons of seventy years may eat flesh. Let there not be taken away the time that is proper for the cultivation of the farm with its hundred mu, and the family of several mouths that is supported by it shall not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention be paid to education in schools, inculcating in it especially the filial and fraternal duties, and grey-haired men will not be seen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on their heads. It never has been that the ruler of a State, where such results were seen - persons of seventy wearing silk and eating flesh, and the black-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold - did not attain to the royal dignity.' 'Your dogs and swine eat the food of men, and you do not make any restrictive arrangements. There are people dying from famine on the roads, and you do not issue the stores of your granaries for them. When people die, you say, "It is not owing to me; it is owing to the year." In what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying - "It was not I; it was the weapon?" Let your Majesty cease to lay the blame on the year, and instantly from all the nation the people will come to you.'