"If he heard any one speak of any special new method of cultivation,
he only tried it for a short while, and then abandoned it, to try
another way.
"He tried to cultivate rice; then, before the time for harvesting it, he
became enthusiastic for the cultivation of chrysanthemums, which he
abandoned very soon in order to plant trees, whose slow development
incited him to change his nursery into a field of wheat.
"He died in misery, a victim of his having scorned the power of
consistency and common sense."
Now Yoritomo, after having put us on our guard against impulses, shows us
the way to conquer these causes of disorder.
"To control unguarded movements, which place us on a level with inferior
beings. That is," said he "in making us dependent on one instinct alone.
This is," said he, "to take the first step toward the will to think,
which is one of the forms of common sense.
"In order to reach this point, the first resolution to make is to escape
from the tyranny of the body, which tends to replace the intellectual
element in impulsive people.
"When I was still under the instruction of my preceptor, Lang-Ho, I saw
him cure a man who was affected with what he called 'The Malady of the
First Impulse.'
"Whether it concerned good actions or reprehensible ones, this man always
acted without the least reflection.
"To launch a new enterprise, which the most elementary common sense
condemned, he gave the greater part of his fortune in a moment of
enthusiasm.
"He allowed himself to commit acts of violence which taught him
severe lessons.
"Finally, vexed beyond measure, dissatisfied with himself and others, he
so brutally maltreated a high dignitary in a moment of violent anger that
the latter sent for him that he might punish him. Learning of this, the
man, crazy with rage, rushed out of his house in order to kill the prince
with his own hand.
"It was in this paroxysm of passion that my master met him. Like all
impulsive people, he was full of his subject, and, joining the perception
of the insult to the judgment of it, which his instinct had immediately
dictated to him, he did not conceal his murderous intentions.
"My master, by means of a strategy, succeeded in dissuading him from
accomplishing his revenge that day. He persuaded him that the prince was
absent and would only return to town upon the following day.
"The man believed him, and allowed himself to be taken to the house
of Lang-Ho.
"But it was in vain that Lang-Ho unfolded all his most subtle arguments.
Neither the fear of punishment, nor the hope of pardon, could conquer the
obstinacy which can always be observed in impulsive people when their
resolution has not accomplished its purpose.
"It was then that my master employed a ruse, whose fantastic character
brings a smile, but which, however, demonstrates a profound knowledge of
the human heart when acting under the influence of common sense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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