Gems of Chinese Literature/Han Fei-Circumstances Alter Cases

Gems of Chinese Literature
translated by Herbert Allen Giles

Circumstances Alter Cases by Han Fei

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HAN FEI

[Died 233 b.c. A student of criminal law and procedure, who rose to distinction but incurred the enmity of a rival and was thrown into prison where he committed suicide. Fifty-five of his essays, in a more or less corrupt state, are still extant, and are especially valuable as containing many of the sayings attributed to Lao Tzŭ, woven later on, sometimes with portions of his own commentary, into the spurious work known as the Tao Tê Ching.]

1523640Gems of Chinese Literature — Circumstances Alter CasesHerbert Allen GilesHan Fei

OF old Mi Tzŭ-hsia was much attached to the Prince of the Wei State, where there was a law that any one who should furtively ride in one of the royal chariots would be punished by having his feet cut off. Now when Mi’s mother was ill and her illness was reported to him, he went boldly off in one of the Prince’s chariots to see her. On hearing of this, the Prince entirely approved, saying, “Filial piety! For the sake of his mother he risked the loss of his feet.”

On another occasion, Mi was strolling with the Prince in a fruit-garden; and finding that a peach, of which he had partly eaten, was unusually sweet, he offered the remaining piece to the Prince. The Prince said, “Love for me! He forgets himself.” Mi’s face fell, and his attachment abated. The Prince added, “He furtively rode off in one of my chariots, and now he wants to feed me with the balance of his peach.” Mi’s second act was inconsistent with his first. By the first he showed himself to be a good man, and by the second he incurred punishment, thus illustrating the extreme difference between love and hate. Thus, when there is love for a ruler, wisdom steps in and familiarity is increased; but when there is hatred of a ruler, there comes cause for punishment and the result is alienation. So that when admonishing a ruler, it becomes necessary to consider the question of love or hatred before offering advice. A dragon is a deadly reptile which, however, can be trained to be fit for riding; but if a fishbone a foot long should stick in its throat and a man should try to remove it, there would be an end of the man. Now rulers, too, have fishbones sticking in their throats, and what is the fate of those who try but fail to remove them?