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CHAPTER XXV.
Tsê Yang.
Argument:—Influence of virtue concealed—The true Sage a negative quantity—The great, the small, the infinite—Crime and Capital—Rulers and their vices—What is Society? Predestination or Chance?—Illustrations.
WHEN Tsê Yang visited the Ch'u State, I Chieh
- An official of Ch'u.
spoke of him to the prince; but the latter refused an audience.
Upon I Chieh's return, Tsê Yang went to see Wang Kuo,
- A local Sage.
and asked him to obtain an interview with the prince.
"I am not so fitted for that," replied Wang Kuo, "as Kung Yüeh Hsiu."
- A hermit.
"What sort of a man is he?" enquired. Tsê Yang.
"In winter," said Wang Kuo, "he catches turtles on the river. In summer, he reposes in some mountain copse. If any passers-by ask of him, he