Mencius 4B.4
Mencius (孟子), Book 4, Part II: Li Lou II 離婁下
孟子曰：「無罪而殺士，則大夫可以去；無罪而戮民，則士可以徙。」
Mencius said, 'When scholars are put to death without any crime, the great officers may leave the country. When the people are slaughtered without any crime, the scholars may remove.'
James Legge (1861), The Works of Mencius, The Chinese Classics vol. 2 (1861; 2nd ed. 1895); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain.
Character glossary
- 孟mèngfirst in a series; great, eminent
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 無wúno, not; lacking, -less
- 罪zuìsin, vice; fault, guilt; crime
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 殺shāto kill, to murder, to slaughter; to hur
- 士shìscholar, gentleman; soldier
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 大dàbig, great, vast, high, deep
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 以yǐaccording to; so as to; because of; then
- 去qùto go away, to leave, to depart
- 戮lùto kill, to massacre; to oppress
- 民míncitizens, subjects; a nation's people
- 徙xǐto move, to shift; to migrate
Passages with shared wording
- Mencius 1A.7
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 21
- Mencius 5A.3
- Analects 18.2
- Art of War 3.5
- Art of War 9.7
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.