All poems

战国战国 · 文 Prose

寡人之于国也·版本

On My Care of the State (Variant Version)

孟轲

Meng Ke

论辩argumentation 民本people-centered governance 对话体dialogue form

梁惠王曰：寡人之于国也，尽心焉耳矣。
河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内；
河东凶亦然。

King Hui of Liang said: As for me in the care of my state, I have indeed exerted my heart to the utmost. When Henei suffered famine, I moved its people to Hedong and conveyed Hedong's grain into Henei; when Hedong suffered famine, I did the same.

Listen

Meaning

This excerpt opens Mencius's famous dialogue with King Hui of Liang. The king boasts that no ruler cares for his state more devotedly than he: whenever a region starves, he moves the population and ships in grain. His self-congratulation is itself the point — it sets up the target that Mencius will later demolish with the parable of the soldier who fled fifty steps laughing at one who fled a hundred. The passage shows that the king's 'devotion' is mere stopgap famine relief, not the kingly way of making the people's lives secure.

梁惠王说：我对于国家，真是费尽心力了啊。河内地方发生饥荒，我就把那里的百姓迁移到河东，把河东的粮食运到河内；河东发生饥荒，我也照此办理。

Appreciation

The passage is dialogue-record prose at its sharpest. It opens with the king's general claim — 'I have indeed exerted my heart to the utmost' — then backs it with the orderly recital of moving people and grain, a total-then-part structure of self-advertisement. The crowning touch is the pile-up of three final particles, 'yan er yi,' which mimics to perfection a monarch's complacent 'see how devoted I am' tone; the paired, near-parallel sentences on Henei and Hedong display the rescue measures in tidy rhythm, the tidier the more self-satisfied. The parallel prose and the four-character close 'did likewise' tighten then release the rhythm, mirroring the king's own cadence of boast and pause. This 'let the target perform fully, then dismantle it' method is Mencius's tactic of raising before lowering: only because the king parades his devotion can the later rebuttal strike home.

【白话串讲】孟子写《寡人之于国也》：梁惠王说自己对国家尽心，“邻国之民不加少，寡人之民不加多，何也”。孟子说：“王好战，请以战喻”——“填然鼓之，兵刃既接，弃甲曳兵而走”——“或百步而后止，或五十步而后止”——“以五十步笑百步，则何如”——他说梁惠王“养生丧死无憾”才是王道之始。【意象与手法】本文是《孟子》对话体散文的节选，以梁惠王的自述开篇，语气词「焉耳矣」三字连用，活画出君主自我表功的口吻；「河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内；河东凶亦然」以紧凑的排比对句铺叙政绩，为后文孟子「以五十步笑百步」的批评预设了靶子。【情感与主旨】梁惠王之「尽心」实为小恩小惠式的权宜之计，孟子将以此为引子，引导梁惠王认识「王道」的根本——使民养生丧死无憾。节选部分已见孟子论辩「先立靶、后批判」的章法雏形。【名句点睛】「寡人之于国也，尽心焉耳矣」是全文的引子之句，也是梁惠王「自我感觉良好」的绝妙写照，为孟子层层的批判埋下伏笔。

Background

This excerpt comes from 'I, the Sovereign, in the Care of My State' in Mencius, Book of King Hui of Liang, Part One, recording the famous exchange between Mencius and King Hui of Liang (King Hui of Wei). In the mid Warring States period, Wei had been badly defeated by Qi at Guiling and Maling and was declining; the king eagerly sought worthies 'with humble courtesy and rich gifts' to restore his hegemony, and it was then that Mencius arrived in Wei. The king greeted him with the bluntly utilitarian 'Old man, come you not a thousand li without something to profit my state?' The excerpt gives the opening of the conversation in which the king vaunts his 'utmost devotion.' His measures — moving people to Hedong and grain to Henei when famine strikes — were the standard expedient of the age, relief recorded for the Zhou dynasty in the Rites of Zhou ('move the people toward grain in the great blight'); they answer an emergency but not the root. Mencius seizes exactly this: he will first unsettle the king's self-assessment with the 'fifty paces laughing at a hundred' parable, then set out the true beginning of the kingly way — that the people should live out their lives and bury their dead without regret. Short as it is, the excerpt is the overture of the whole debate, establishing its pattern of 'first demolish, then establish.'

《寡人之于国也》选自《孟子·梁惠王上》，是孟子游说魏国国君梁惠王（即魏惠王）的著名对话。战国中期，魏国经桂陵、马陵两役大败于齐，国力衰落，梁惠王急于恢复霸业，四处延揽贤才，「卑礼厚币以招贤者」，孟子此时来到魏国。梁惠王一见孟子便问「叟！不远千里而来，亦将有以利吾国乎」，功利之心毕露；本篇所节选的正是梁惠王自夸「尽心」的一段对话的开头。梁惠王所谓「河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内；河东凶亦然」，是当时诸侯应对灾荒的常见权宜之策：迁移人口、调运粮食，只能救一时之急，不能解根本之困。孟子抓住这一点，先不急于批驳，而是以「五十步笑百步」的比喻瓦解其「尽心」的自我评价，再正面提出「王道之始」的仁政纲领（使民养生丧死无憾）。节选部分虽短，却是整场对话的起兴之笔，奠定了「先破后立」的论辩格局，也记录了孟子与梁惠王这场著名的思想交锋的序幕。

Art

As a specimen of Mencius's dialogue prose, the excerpt is a model of economical narration edged with sharp judgment. Structurally it runs 'general claim — supporting recital': the king first assumes the overall verdict 'I have exerted my heart to the utmost,' then substantiates it with the concrete record of moving people and grain, self-advertisement overflowing the words. The supreme stroke of language is the particle cluster: 'yan er yi,' three final particles in one breath, render the sovereign's smug 'see how devoted I am' intonation to the life — the first marvel of the whole text. The two balanced sentences set 'Henei' against 'Hedong,' 'move its people' against 'move its grain,' neatly parallel and tightly paced, laying out the relief measures with perfect order, the very tidiness heightening the air of devotion. The four-character close 'did likewise' then breaks the pattern, cutting off crisply after the full parallel run — the rhythm of recital followed by summary matching the king's own manner of boasting then pausing. This tactic of letting the opponent perform his case to the full before calmly taking it apart is Mencius's 'praise before censure' at work: the more thoroughly the king parades his capital, the harder the later blow will fall. Narrative vividness, tonal portraiture, and dramatic build-up — all three in a few lines.

从文体看，本文节选自《孟子》语录体散文，以对话问答展开，记事简净而议论锋锐。结构上，节选部分呈「自述—铺陈」两段：梁惠王以「尽心焉耳矣」的总评自居，再以「移民移粟」的具体政绩坐实其说，先总后分，自我表功之意溢于言表。语言上，最见功力处是语气词的连用：「焉耳矣」三字一气叠用，把君主「你看我多尽心」的得意口吻摹写得惟妙惟肖，此三字为全文第一妙笔；「河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内；河东凶亦然」两句以「河内」「河东」对举、「移其民」「移其粟」互文，句式整饬而节奏紧凑，把救灾举措铺陈得井井有条，愈显其「尽心」之状。这种「让对象充分表演、再从容拆解」的写法，正是孟子论辩「欲抑先扬」的章法：先让梁惠王把「尽心」的资本炫耀个够，后文「以五十步笑百步」的批判才更有力。节选虽短，其语言艺术与论辩布局已可窥一斑。短短数句，已具《孟子》对话体散文之神，叙事、传神、蓄势三美兼备。

Allusions

The excerpt contains no overt allusion, but its cultural substance is rooted in the pre-Qin debate of 'kingly way versus hegemony' and the doctrine of the people as the root. The king's relief measures belong to the standard 'famine governance' of the age: the Rites of Zhou records the Zhou institution of 'moving the people toward grain' in years of great blight, and what the king does is its routine practice. Mencius's whole point, however, is that such ad hoc relief treats symptoms, not roots: the kingly way lies in enabling the people to live and die 'without regret' — secure property, secure hearts, no interference with the farming seasons, restraint in fishing and timber, so that the people may settle and thrive. Beneath the surface runs the classic contrast: the king defines devotion as after-disaster remedy, while Mencius defines true kingship as everyday governance that leaves the people no regret — the one passive response, the other active construction. This contrast between famine policy and benevolent policy is the concrete unfolding of Mencius's people-first thought ('the people are the most precious; the ruler comes after'), and the canonical text for the pre-Qin distinction between treating symptoms and treating roots — a distinction that still holds a mirror up to governance today.

节选文字虽无显性用典，其文化内涵却深植于先秦的「王霸之辨」与「民本」思想。梁惠王「移民移粟」之举，属于当时通行的「荒政」——先秦典籍中周代已有「移民就谷」「散粟于民」的救灾制度，《周礼·地官》记大荒之年「令邦国移民就谷」，梁惠王所为正是这种制度的实践。然而孟子恰恰要指出：这种「就事论事」的救灾只是权宜之计，不是治本之策，真正的「王道」在于使民「养生丧死无憾」——有恒产、有恒心，不违农时、数罟不入洿池，使民能安居乐业。这里隐含着一层深刻的对照：梁惠王把「尽心」定义为「发生灾害后的补救」，孟子把「为王」定义为「日常治理中让民无憾」，前者是消极应对，后者是积极建设。这种「荒政」与「仁政」的对照，正是孟子民本思想（民为贵、君为轻）在具体治国语境中的展开，也是理解先秦政治哲学「治标与治本」之辨的经典文本。这一治标与治本之辨，于今日之社会治理，仍不失其镜鉴意义。

Commentary

Short as it is, this excerpt is the overture of the whole 'I, the Sovereign, in the Care of My State' and the starting point for understanding Mencius's art of debate. In the history of thought, the king's self-satisfied 'utmost devotion' against Mencius's later censure forms the classic pairing of 'the self-pleased ruler versus the Confucian rational gaze,' and the analysis — that moving people and grain is not equal to leaving the people without regret — has echoed through the ages: later political writers constantly divided 'treating symptoms' from 'treating roots,' and the debate between 'shipping grain in famine' and 'encouraging the farms' recurs in dynastic statecraft essays. In literary history this text and 'The Affairs of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin' stand as the twin gems of Mencius's dialogue prose, its three-stage method — set up the target, then attack, then establish — becoming a template for later argumentative writing, while 'yan er yi' became the classic formula for mimicking a speaker's tone. In the history of schooling it has long been in the middle-school curriculum, and phrases like 'fifty paces laughing at a hundred' have entered common idiom, its influence long since beyond scholarship into everyday speech. Though brief, the excerpt weighs no less than the whole, the first step toward Mencius's art of debate and his people-centered thought.

这段节选虽短，却是《寡人之于国也》全篇的引子，也是理解孟子论辩艺术的起点。从思想史看，梁惠王「尽心焉耳矣」的自我表功与孟子后文的批判，构成了一组经典的「君主自我感觉良好 vs 儒家理性审视」的对照，其「移民移粟不如使民无憾」的辨析，影响深远——后世论治国者常以「治标」与「治本」判分高下，「移粟救灾」与「劝课农桑」之辨屡见于历代政论。从文学史看，本文与《齐桓晋文之事》并列为《孟子》对话体的双璧，其「先立靶、后批判、再立论」的三段式论辩，成为后世论说文的范本；「尽心焉耳矣」的语气词连用，更成为古典文学中摹写人物口吻的经典笔法。在传播史上，本文长期入选中学语文教材，「五十步笑百步」「养生丧死无憾」等语成为常用典语，其影响早已超出学术范围，渗入日常语言与大众观念之中。由此可知，节选虽短，其分量却不在全篇之下，实为理解孟子论辩艺术与民本思想的第一级台阶。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin recorded-sayings prose (dialogue excerpt)先秦语录体散文（对话体节选）

Rhyme The text does not rhyme; its sonic beauty lies in the distribution of final particles and the symmetry of clause patterns.本文不押韵，声韵之美在语气词的调度与句式的对称。「焉」「耳」「矣」「也」「然」等语气词密集分布，控制句读与声调：「尽心焉耳矣」三语气词叠用，声调一波三折，如自鸣得意之叹；「河东凶亦然」以「然」字顿住，干脆收束，与上句的铺排形成松紧对比。

Tone pattern The sentences mix tight parallel and loose prose: the balanced clauses on Henei and Hedong run in quick, bead-rolling rhythm, then 'did likewise' closes as a short loose phrase — dense first, then sparse, matching the king's own rhythm of boasting then summing up, sound and sense in one.句式整散结合：「河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内」为整饬的排比对句，节奏紧凑，如连珠滚玉；「河东凶亦然」转为散句短章，一收即止。先整后散、先密后疏的句式安排，与梁惠王「先炫耀、后总结」的说话节奏相吻合，声情与辞情浑然一体。

Reading note Though unrhymed prose, the passage builds a marked acoustic effect through clause symmetry and particle handling. It opens with the caesura of 'ye' and closes the sentence on the triple particle 'yan er yi,' the tone turning from level to tripping, one breath in three falls, vividly rendering the king's self-satisfied air; the two matching clauses on Henei and Hedong, equal in length and structure, read in an even, unbroken run, mimicking the fluent complacence of a ruler reciting his achievements; 'did likewise' then closes in four characters, cut off clean, like the pause when the boast is done. This arrangement — parallel run then loose close — first leads the hearer to credit the 'devotion' as the story flows, then plants doubt at the pause, storing force for Mencius's rebuttal. Pre-Qin recorded dialogue excels at just this: molding a speaker's psychology through linguistic rhythm. When reading aloud, the trailing tone of 'yan er yi' should be drawn out slowly to catch the man's spirit.本文虽为散文不押韵，却以「句式的对称」与「语气词的调度」构建出鲜明的声韵效果。开篇「寡人之于国也，尽心焉耳矣」以「也」字顿挫起势，以「焉耳矣」三语气词连用作结，声调由平入折、一波三叹，活现梁惠王邀功自得的神情；「河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内」两句字数相同、结构相称，读来节奏齐整、一气呵成，模拟出君主叙述政绩时流畅自得的口吻；「河东凶亦然」以四字收束，戛然而止，恰似炫耀告一段落的停顿。这种「整句铺陈、散句收束」的节奏安排，使听者先随其叙述而信其「尽心」，再于停顿处生疑，为孟子的批驳蓄势。先秦语录体散文以对话记录见长，本文正是以语言节奏摹写人物心理的典范，诵读时宜放缓「焉耳矣」的拖腔，方得其神。

Line by line

梁惠王曰：寡人之于国也，尽心焉耳矣。

King Hui of Liang said: As for me in the care of my state, I have indeed exerted my heart to the utmost.

梁惠王说：我对于国家，真是费尽心力了啊。

King Hui of Liang said: As for my rule of the state, I have truly given my all.

开篇一句便活画出梁惠王的自满形象。「寡人之于国也」以「寡人」自称，摆出谦抑姿态，实则「尽心焉耳矣」五字以三个语气词「焉」「耳」「矣」连用收束，把「我真是尽心尽力了啊」的得意口吻摹写得淋漓尽致——「焉」表陈述、「耳」表限定（不过如此而已、确确实实）、「矣」表感叹，三字叠用，既有自我肯定的笃定，又有邀功请赏的意味。这句自述为全文立起一个「靶子」：梁惠王自以为尽心的标准，正是孟子所要颠覆的标准。语气词之妙，于斯可见——它不写梁惠王的心理活动，而让其得意之情自口中流出。

The opening line draws King Hui's self-satisfied portrait at once. 'As for my handling of the state' the humble self-name 'your servant I,' the modest pose; yet 'I have indeed exhausted my heart' five characters closing on three modal particles 'indeed,' 'only,' 'ah,' rendering to the life the complacent tone of 'I have truly given my all' - 'indeed' the statement, 'only' the limitation (no more than this, truly), 'ah' the exclamation; the three piled, holding both the certainty of self-approval and the savor of claiming merit. The self-description sets up the passage's 'target': the standard by which the King thinks he has given his all is precisely the standard Mencius will overturn. The particles' genius is here: they do not describe the King's inner thought, but let his complacency flow from his own mouth.

河内凶，则移其民于河东，移其粟于河内；河东凶亦然。

When Henei suffered famine, I moved its people to Hedong and conveyed Hedong's grain into Henei; when Hedong suffered famine, I did the same.

河内地方发生饥荒，就把那里的百姓迁移到河东，把河东的粮食运到河内；河东发生饥荒，也照这样办理。

When Ho-nei is stricken by famine, I move its people to Ho-tung, and ferry Ho-tung grain into Ho-nei; when Ho-tung is stricken, I do the same.

此句铺陈梁惠王的具体政绩，为其「尽心」之说坐实证据。「移其民」「移其粟」两个动宾结构对举，「河内」「河东」两地互文，句式整饬、节奏紧凑，把救灾措施叙述得井井有条，愈显其自以为的周到；「河东凶亦然」以「亦然」二字收束，概括同类情形，简洁有力。然而细味之，这套「移民移粟」的举措只是灾后的补救之策，百姓迁来徙去，生计并无保障，恰是「治标不治本」的典型。此句铺得越充分，后文孟子「五十步笑百步」的批判便越有力，正是「欲抑先扬」的章法所在。

This line lays out the King's concrete achievements, buttressing his 'utmost' claim. 'Move its people' and 'bring its grain' the two verb-objects paired, 'Ho-nei' and 'Ho-tung' the two places interwoven, the order neat, the rhythm tight, the relief measures told methodically, the more the King's imagined thoroughness; 'when Ho-tung suffers famine, I do the same,' the words 'do the same' closing, the like case summed, concise and forceful. Yet savor it: this 'moving people and grain' is only the after-disaster patchwork, the people shifted to and fro, their livelihood unsecured - the typical 'treating the symptoms, not the root.' The more fully the line is spread, the more forceful Mencius' later critique of 'fifty paces laughing at a hundred' - the very art of 'lifting before pressing down.'

Study

Word focus

尽心焉耳矣 'Exerted my heart to the utmost, indeed' — the pile-up of the three final particles yan, er, yi renders the king's complacent self-congratulation and plants the target for Mencius's rebuttal. 「尽心焉耳矣」是全文的点睛短语，也是先秦汉语语气词连用的典范。五个字中「焉」「耳」「矣」三个语气词一气叠用，各司其职：「焉」表陈述语气，兼有提示义（于国尽心焉）；「耳」表限止语气，意近「而已」，暗中强调「只不过是这样」的自我确认；「矣」表已然感叹，收束全句。三字连用，把梁惠王自我表功时的笃定、得意与邀赏口吻摹写殆尽，活画出一个「自我感觉良好」的君主形象。这一短语既完成了人物语言的传神，也为后文孟子的批判埋下伏笔——君主眼中的「尽心」，恰是仁政眼中的「不足」。语气词的叠用之力，在先秦散文中以此为最著者之一。

亦然 'Did likewise' — two characters folding a repeated operation into a crisp close, whose very routine air betrays the stopgap nature of the policy. 「河东凶亦然」中的「亦然」意为「也这样办理」，是全句的收缩之笔。「亦然」以二字概括重复的救灾操作，避免了与上句的冗赘，句式由展开转入收束，节奏由密转疏，干净利落；同时「亦然」二字暗示这是一套可以机械复制的「标准动作」，恰恰暴露了其「权宜之计」的本质——饥荒来了就搬人运粮，饥荒去了便不再经营，正是孟子所要批判的「就事论事」的治国思路。「亦然」的简省，反衬出「移民移粟」的浅薄，语短而意深，可见孟子记言炼字之精。

移 'Moved' — the repeated verb, once for people and once for grain, lays bare the logic of mere spatial shuffling at the heart of the king's 'devotion.' 「移其民于河东，移其粟于河内」中的「移」字，是全段动词的核心，写尽梁惠王救灾的「搬运」逻辑。「移」本义为迁移、挪动，此处两个「移」字对举，一移民、一移粟，把救灾简化为「搬人、搬粮」的机械操作——人从哪里来、粮往哪里去，皆以「移」字一笔带过，仿佛治国就是货物调拨。这个动词的重复使用，恰好暴露出梁惠王「尽心」的实质：他的救灾只是空间的调配（移民移粟），而非根本的生养（使民有恒产）。一个「移」字，见出权宜之计与仁政的根本分野，是孟子记言中寓褒贬于动词的妙笔。