Page 121 - 《孟子》（三）中·英对照版

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state. The duke Hui of Bi said, ‘I treat Zisi as my
teacher, and Yan Ban as my friend. As to Wang
Shun and Chang Xi, they serve me.’ Not only has
the sovereign of a small state acted thus. The same
thing has been exemplified by the sovereign of a
large state. There was the duke Ping of Jin with Hai
Tang: —when Tang told him to come into his house,
he came; when he told him to be seated, he sat;
when he told him to eat, he ate. There might only be
coarse rice and soup of vegetables, but he always ate
his fill, not daring to do otherwise. Here, however,
he stopped, and went no farther. He did not call him
to share any of Heaven’s places, or to govern any of
Heaven’s offices, or to partake of any of Heaven’s
emoluments. His conduct was but a scholar’s
honouring virtue and talents, not the honouring
them proper to a king or a duke. Shun went up to
court and saw the sovereign, who lodged him as his
son-in-law in the second palace. The sovereign also

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