Mencius 2B.9

The people of Yan having rebelled, the king of Qi said, 'I feel very much ashamed when I think of Mencius.'

Chen Jia said to him, 'Let not your Majesty be grieved. Whether does your Majesty consider yourself or Zhou Gong the more benevolent and wise?'

The king replied, 'Oh! what words are those?'

'The duke of Zhou,' said Jia, 'appointed Guan Shu to oversee the heir of Yin, but Guan Shu with the power of the Yin State rebelled. If knowing that this would happen he appointed Guan Shu, he was deficient in benevolence. If he appointed him, not knowing that it would happen, he was deficient in knowledge. If the duke of Zhou was not completely benevolent and wise, how much less can your Majesty be expected to be so! I beg to go and see Mencius, and relieve your Majesty from that feeling.'

Chen Jia accordingly saw Mencius, and asked him, saying, 'What kind of man was the duke of Zhou?'

'An ancient sage,' was the reply.

'Is it the fact, that he appointed Guan Shu to oversee the heir of Yin, and that Guan Shu with the State of Yin rebelled?'

曰：「然。」

'It is.'

'Did the duke of Zhou know that he would rebel, and purposely appoint him to that office?'

曰：「不知也。」

Mencius said, 'He did not know.'

'Then, though a sage, he still fell into error?'

'The duke of Zhou,' answered Mencius, 'was the younger brother. Guan Shu was his elder brother. Was not the error of Zhou Gong in accordance with what is right? Moreover, when the superior men of old had errors, they reformed them. The superior men of the present time, when they have errors, persist in them. The errors of the superior men of old were like eclipses of the sun and moon. All the people witnessed them, and when they had reformed them, all the people looked up to them with their former admiration. But do the superior men of the present day only persist in their errors? They go on to apologize for them likewise.'