Explore "On a Saying of Mencius" by Thomas Burke on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
That was well said of Mencius: / The misfortunes of one are the entertainment of many.
When Prosperity attended the occasions of this person, / And his heart smiled within him, / He was regarded and received on all sides by his fellows / With attitudes of dignity and expressions of mandarin-like solemnity, / And his laughing heart could fetch no smile / To the faces of those about him.
But when, on a recent manifestation of evil spirits, / He was hailed before those in authority / And commanded to pay very many taels, / For the fault of possessing some morsels of chandu, the Great Tobacco, / And his heart was heavy and dark as a raincloud within him, / He was received on all sides / With attitudes of mirth and expressions of no-gravity.