1. Mencius said to Sung Kow-ts＇een, "Are you fond,Sir, of travelling to the different courts? I will tell you about such travelling.
CHAPTER 8. HOW THE ANCIENT SCHOLARS MAINTAINED THE DIGNITY OF THEIR CHARACTER AND PRINCIPLES.
善 is not virtue in the abstract, but the good which they saw in others, in the scholars namely. 势 is their own "power". As applied to the scholars, however,these things have to be reversed. They loved their own virtue (其道), and forgot the power of men, i.e., of the princes.
CHAPTER 9. HOW A PROFESSIONAL ADVISER OF THE PRINCES MIGHT BE ALWAYS PREFECTLY SATISFIED. THE EXAMPLE OF ANTIQUITY.
1. Some make the party spoken to in this ch. to be Kow (句钩)-ts＇een of Sung. Nothing is known of him,
2."If a prince acknowledge you and follow your counsels, be perfectly satisfied. If no one do so, be the same."
3. Kow-ts＇een said, "What is to be done to secure this perfect satisfaction?＇"Mencius replied, "Honour virtue and delight in righteousness, and so you may always be perfectly satisfied.
4. ＇Therefore, a scholar, though poor, does not let go his righteousness; though prosperous, he does not leave his own path.
5. "Poor and not letting righteousness go;—it is thus that the scholar holds possession of himself.Prosperous and not leaving the proper path;—it is thus that the expectations of the people from him are not disappointed.
6. "When the men of antiquity realized their wishes,benefits were conferred by them on the people. If they did not realize their wishes, they cultivated their personal character, and became illustrious in the world. If poor, they attended to their own virtue in solitude; if advanced to dignity, they made the whole kingdom virtuous as well."
but that he was one of the adventurers, who traveled about tendering their advice to the different princes.
2. To translate 知之 as I have done here, can hardly be called a paraphrase. Choo He, after Chaou K＇e,explains 嚣嚣 as "the appearance of self-possessing and freedom from desire". "Perfectly satisfied" conveys the idea of the phrase.
3. It is to be understood that the "virtue" is that which the scholar has in himself, and the "righteousness" is the course which he pursues.
4. 穷=人不知之; 达 is the reverse.
5. "Holds possession of himself",—i.e., has what he chiefly loves and seeks.
6. 古之人,—人=士,—Choo He observes: "This chapter shows how the scholar, attaching weight to what is internal, and holding what is external light will approve himself good in all places and circumstances."