| Xu Wu-gui: |
Guan Zhong being ill, duke Huan went to ask for him, and said, 'Your illness, father Zhong, is very severe; should you not speak out your mind to me? Should this prove the great illness, to whom will it be best for me to entrust my State?' Guan Zhong said, 'To whom does your grace wish to entrust it?' 'To Bao Shu-ya,' was the reply. 'He will not do. He is an admirable officer, pure and incorruptible, but with others who are not like himself he will not associate. And when he once hears of another man's faults, he never forgets them. If you employ him to administer the state, above, he will take the leading of your Grace, and, below, he will come into collision with the people - in no long time you will be holding him as an offender.' The duke said, 'Who, then, is the man?' The reply was, 'If I must speak, there is Xi Peng - he will do. He is a man who forgets his own high position, and against whom those below him will not revolt. He is ashamed that he is not equal to Huang-Di, and pities those who are not equal to himself. Him who imparts of his virtue to others we call a sage; him who imparts of his wealth to others we call a man of worth. He who by his worth would preside over others, never succeeds in winning them; he who with his worth condescends to others, never but succeeds in winning them. Xi Peng has not been (much) heard of in the state; he has not been (much) distinguished in his own clan. But as I must speak, he is the man for you.' |
