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Chinese Text Project
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Scope: Prince and Minister Request type: Paragraph
Condition 1: References "雖有堯舜之明" Matched:1.
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君臣 - Prince and Minister

English translation: J. J. L. Duyvendak [?]
Books referencing 《君臣》 Library Resources
1 君臣:
古者未有君臣上下之時,民亂而不治。是以聖人別貴賤,制爵位,立名號,以別君臣上下之義。地廣,民眾,萬物多,故分五官而守之。民眾而姦邪生,故立法制為度量以禁之。是故有君臣之義,五官之分,法制之禁,不可不慎也。處君位而令不行,則危;五官分而無常,則亂;法制設而私善行,則民不畏刑。君尊則令行,官修則有常事,法制明則民畏刑。法制不明,而求民之從令也,不可得也。民不從令,而求君之尊也,雖堯舜之知,不能以治。明王之治天下也,緣法而治,按功而賞。凡民之所疾戰不避死者,以求爵祿也。明君之治國也,士有斬首捕虜之功,必其爵足榮也,祿足食也。農不離廛者,足以養二親,給軍事。故軍士死節,而農民不偷也。
Prince and Minister:
In the days of antiquity, before the time when there were princes and ministers, superiors and inferiors, the people were disorderly and were not well administered, and so the sages made a division between the noble and the humble; they regulated rank and position, and established names and appellations, in order to distinguish the ideas of prince and minister, of superior and inferior. As the territory was extensive, the people numerous and all things many, they made a division of five kinds of officials, and maintained it; as the people were numerous, wickedness and depravity originated, so they established laws and regulations and created weights and measures, in order to prohibit them, and in consequence there were the idea of prince and minister, the distinctions between the five kinds of officials, and the interdicts of the laws and regulations, to which it was necessary to pay heed. If, when occupying the position of prince, one's mandates are not carried out, one is in peril; when there is no constancy in the distinctions between the five kinds of officials, there is disorder; when laws and regulations have been set up and yet private notions of virtue are practised, then people do not stand in fear of punishment. When the prince is respected, his mandates are carried out; when officials have been well-trained, there is constancy; and when laws and regulations are clear, people stand in fear of punishment. If laws and regulations are not clear, then it is impossible to obtain from the people the observance of mandates. If the people do not observe the mandates, but you want the prince to be respected, even a man with the wisdom of Yao and Shun would not be able to govern well. The way in which an intelligent prince administers the empire is to do so according to the law, and to reward according to merit. It is the hankering for rank and emoluments that prompts people to fight energetically and not to shun death. The way in which an intelligent prince administers a state is to award soldiers, who have had the merit of making decapitations or of capturing prisoners, with such rank as will really give honour, and to grant them such emoluments as will be sufficient for them to live on and to farmers, who do not leave their ground, sufficient to nourish both their parents and to keep their family affairs in order. Thus soldiers in the army will fulfil their duty even to death, and farmers will not be negligent.

Total 1 paragraphs. Page 1 of 1.