Monday, October 8, 2012

Mencius - Book 5, Part 2, Chapter 2E

'In a small State, where the territory was fifty lî square, the ruler had ten times as much revenue as his Chief minister; a Chief minister had twice as much as a Great officer; a Great officer twice as much as a scholar of the highest class; a scholar of the highest class twice as much as one of the middle; a scholar of the middle class twice as much as one of the lowest; scholars of the lowest class, and such of the common people as were employed about the government offices, had the same emolument; as much, namely, as was equal to what they would have made by tilling the fields.
~ James Legge translation via nothingistic.org ~
Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Works of Mencius.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.