When T'ang was about to attack Chieh, he went to consult with Pien Sui.
"It is not a matter in which I can help you," said the latter.
"Who can?" asked T'ang.
"I do not know," replied Pien Sui.
T'ang then went to consult with Wu Kuang.
"It is not a matter in which I can help you," said the latter.
"Who can?" asked T'ang,
"I do not know," replied Wu Kuang.
"What do you think of I Yin?" asked T'ang.
"He forces himself," said Wu Kuang, "to put up with obloquy. Beyond this I know nothing of him."
So T'ang took I Yin into his counsels. They attacked Chieh, and vanquished him.
Then T'ang offered to resign the empire in favour of Pien Sui. But Pien Sui declined, saying, "When your Majesty consulted with me about attacking Chieh, you evidently looked on me as a robber.
- Who would steal territory. But men of Tao wage no wars.
Now that you have vanquished him, and you offer to resign in my favour, you evidently regard me as covetous. I was born indeed in a disordered age. But for a man without Tao to thus insult me twice, is more than I can endure."
So he drowned himself in the river Chou.
Then T'ang offered to resign in favour of Wu Kuang, saying, "The wise plan, the brave execute, the good rest therein,—such was the Tao of the
