戒

Duke Huan planned an eastern tour and asked Guan Zhong about it. Guan Zhong replied: 'The former kings' tours had purpose: spring tours examined agricultural failures — this was called touring. Autumn tours supplemented the people's shortages — this was called evening visits. But armies marching while consuming the people's food — that is called ruin. Pursuing pleasure and not returning — that is called desolation.' Duke Huan bowed twice and called these words a 'treasure of statecraft.' Guan Zhong further counseled: 'What flies without wings is reputation. What is rooted without roots is genuine feeling. What enriches without direction is life itself. My lord should solidify genuine feeling, guard reputation, and solemnly nurture life — this is called the glory of the Way.'

When Guan Zhong lay gravely ill, Duke Huan visited and asked who should succeed him. Guan Zhong said: 'Bao Shuya is a gentleman — a man of a thousand chariots offered contrary to the Way, he would refuse. But he cannot govern, because he hates wickedness too severely; once he sees a fault, he never forgets it for life.' He recommended Xi Peng instead. Then came his dying warnings about the 'dogs of the eastern, northern, and western gates' — Yi Ya the cook who had steamed his own son to please the Duke, Shu Diao the eunuch who had castrated himself to serve the inner palace, and Prince Kai Fang of Wei who had abandoned his own parents for fifteen years to serve the Duke. 'A man who does not love his own son — what will he do for you? A man who does not love his own body — what will he do for you? A man who does not love his own parents — what will he do for you?' The Duke agreed to dismiss all three but after Guan Zhong's death, recalled them within months. They murdered him, and his corpse lay unburied for sixty-seven days while maggots crawled from the chamber.