g, argue at all. He makes his approach to the king along a path of least resistance, and the objection he offers to the gladiators' swordplay concentrates not on what we would call the immorality of the exercise, but on what may be called its affectedness and artificiality. In his obsession with displays of swordsmanship, the king is not rambling without a destination, but engaging in a highly contrived exercise.
To begin with, a summary of the discourse on swords is in order. K'uei, Crown Prince of Chao, was troubled by the fascination which his father, King Wen, displayed toward his swordsmen, three thousand in number. "Day and night they duelled in his presence, and the dead or wounded in a single year were
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