As the width of the sea might be reckoned.

And just as with birds and fishes,

Is the case, to be sure, with man.

Here soars a resplendent eagle,

There swims one huge leviathan:

Behold the philosopher sapient,

Whose fame will never grow dim;

Alone in the might of his wisdom—

Can the rabble understand him?

Yuan Mei, however, possessed a satiric humor so keen as to place him among the true wits.