Page 68 - 《孟子》（一）中·英对照版

?孟
子

for a small, how should they know the true reason?
If you felt pained by its being led without guilt to the
place of death, what was there to choose between an
ox and a sheep?”

The king laughed and said, “What really was
my mind in the matter? I did not grudge the expense
of it, and changed it for a sheep! There was reason
in the people’s saying that I grudged it.”

“There is no harm in their saying so,”
said Mencius. “Your conduct was an artifice of
benevolence. You saw the ox, and had not seen
the sheep. So is the superior man affected towards
animals, that, having seen them alive, he cannot bear
to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he
cannot bear to eat their flesh. Therefore he keeps
away from his slaughterhouse and cook-room.”

The king was pleased, and said, “It is said in
the Book of Poetry, ‘The minds of others, I am able
by reflection to measure;’ — this is verified, my

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