Mencius is unimpressed by the king’s pity for the ox, telling him that he seems as much concerned with his own tender feelings as the animal’s fate: You saw the ox, and had not seen the sheep. So is the superior man affected towards animals, that, having seen them alive, he cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bearto eat their flesh. Therefore he keeps away from his slaughter-houseand cook-room.
