Page 269 - 《孟子》（三）中·英对照版

告
子
下

and the next day he went to Zou, and told them to
Mencius.

Mencius said, “What difficulty is there in
answering these inquiries? If you do not adjust them
at their lower extremities, but only put their tops on
a level, a piece of wood an inch square may be made
to be higher than the pointed peak of a high building.
Gold is heavier than feathers; — but does that saying
have reference, on the one hand, to a single clasp of
gold, and, on the other, to a waggon-load of feathers?
If you take a case where the eating is of the utmost
importance and the observing the rules of propriety is
of little importance, and compare the things together,
why stop with saying merely that the eating is more
important? So, taking the case where the gratifying
the appetite of sex is of the utmost importance and the
observing the rules of propriety is of little importance,
why stop with merely saying that the gratifying the
appetite is the more important? Go and answer him

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