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PT. II. SECT. III.
THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-SZE.
but at the same time the regulations of its sages and wise men, which thereby served to guard the person of him, thief and robber as he was ?
2. Let me try to set forth this subject (still further). Have not there been among those vulgarly styled the wisest, such as have collected their wealth) for the great chief? and among those styled the most sage such as have guarded it for him ? How do I know that it has been so ? Formerly, Lung-făng 1 was beheaded; Pi-kan? had his heart torn out; Khang Hung: was ripped open; and Zzehsü 4 was reduced to pulp (in the Kiang). Worthy as those four men were, they did not escape such dreadful deaths. The followers of the robber Kih asked him, saying, 'Has the robber also any method or principle (in his proceedings) ?' He replied, 'What profession is there which has not its principles ? That the robber in his recklessness comes to the conclusion that there are valuable deposits in an apartment shows his sageness; that he is the first to enter it shows his bravery; that he is the last to quit it shows his righteousness; that he knows whether (the robbery) may be attempted or not shows his wisdom; and that he makes an equal
See on Book IV, par. 1. 2 See on Book IV, par. 1.
8 A historiographer of Kâu, with whom Confucius is said to have studied music. He was weakly and unjustly put to death, as here described by king Kăng, in B. C. 492.
4 Wû Zze-hsü, the hero of revenge, who fled from Khů to Wû, which he long served. He was driven at last to commit suicide, and his body was then put into a leathern wine-sack, and thrown into the Kiang near the present Sd-kâu ;-about B. C. 475.
o See on Book VIII, par. 4.
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