Zhou as a Mere Man
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
齐宣王问曰:‘汤放桀,武王伐纣,有诸?’孟子对曰:‘于传有之。’
English translation
King Xuan of Qi asked, ‘Did Tang banish Jie, and King Wu attack Zhou? Is that so?’ Mencius replied, ‘The transmitted accounts record it.’
Original Chinese text
曰:‘臣弑其君可乎?’曰:‘贼仁者谓之贼,贼义者谓之残。残贼之人谓之一夫。’
English translation
‘May a minister kill his ruler?’ the king asked. Mencius replied, ‘One who destroys benevolence is called a thief; one who destroys what is right is called cruel. A person who ruins both is merely a man, no longer a ruler in the moral sense.’
Original Chinese text
‘闻诛一夫纣矣,未闻弑君也。’
English translation
‘I have heard that the mere man Zhou was executed. I have not heard that a ruler was murdered.’