Page 156 - 《孟子》（三）中·英对照版

?孟
子

can you be on terms of friendship with me? Thus,
when a ruler of a thousand chariots sought to be
on terms of friendship with a scholar, he could not
obtain his wish—how much less could he call him to
his presence! The duke Jing of Qi, once, when he
was hunting, called his forester to him by a flag. The
forester would not come, and the duke was going to
kill him. With reference to this incident, Confucius
said, The determined officer never forgets that his
end may be in a ditch or a stream; the brave officer
never forgets that he may lose his head.’ What was
it in the forester that Confucius thus approved? He
approved his not going to the duke, when summoned
by the article which was not appropriate to him.”

Wan Zhang said, “May I ask with what a
forester should be summoned?”

Mencius replied, “With a skin cap. A common
man should be summoned with a plain banner;
a scholar who has taken office, with one having

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