Page 327 - 《孟子》（三）中·英对照版
P. 327
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Gui replied, “No. The vessels would not be
enough to use.”
Mencius went on, “In Mo all the five kinds of
grain are not grown; it only produces the millet. There
are no fortified cities, no edifices, no ancestral temples,
no ceremonies of sacrifice; there are no princes
requiring presents and entertainments; there is no
system of officers with their various subordinates. On
these accounts a tax of one-twentieth of the produce
is sufficient there. But now it is the Middle Kingdom
that we live in. To banish the relationships of men,
and have no superior men; —how can such a state of
things be thought of? With but few potters a kingdom
cannot subsist; —how much less can it subsist without
men of a higher rank than others? If we wish to make
the taxation lighter than the system of Yao and Shun,
we shall just have a great Mo and a small Mo. If we
wish to make it heavier, we shall just have the great
Jie and the small Jie.”
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