Shun offered to resign the empire to his friend Pei Jen Wu Tsê. "What a strange manner of man you are!" cried the latter. "Living in the furrowed fields, you exchanged such a life for the throne of Yao. And as if that was not enough, you now try to heap indignity upon me. I am ashamed of you." Thereupon he drowned himself in the waters of Ch'ing-ling. "But how about preservation of life?" asks Lin Hsi Chung with a sneer. 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 ancients. Why, Sir, should not you occupy the throne?" But Wu Kuang declined, saying, "To depose a ruler is not to do one's duty to one's neighbour. To slay the people is not charity. For others to suffer these wrongs, while I enjoy the profits, is not honest. I have heard say that one should not accept a wage unless earned in accordance with right; and that if the world is without TAO, one should not put foot upon its soil, still less rule over it! I can bear this no longer." Thereupon he took a stone on his back and jumped into the river Lu. * * * * * At the rise of the Chou dynasty there were two scholars, named Po I and Shu Ch'i, who lived in Ku-tu. One of these said to the other, "I have heard that in the west there are men who are apparently in possession of TAO. Let us go and see them." Meaning the men of Chou. When they arrived at Ch'i-yang, Wu Wang The writer meant Wên Wang, father of Wu Wang. heard of their arrival and sent Shu Tan Chou Kung. to enter into a treaty with them. They were to receive emoluments of the second degree and rank of the first degree. The treaty was to be sealed with blood and buried. At this the two looked at each other and smiled. "Ah!" said one of them, "this is strange indeed. It is not what we call TAO.