One year in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a serious famine in I-Jenan.

东汉时的某一年，河南一带，饥荒严重。

One night, a thief sneaked¹ into Chen Shi’s house and hid himself on the beam. When Chen Shi was aware of this, he got out of bed without haste, called his children and grandchildren to his room and said in a stern voice:

一天夜里，一个小偷潜人陈宴家，躲藏在屋子的横梁上。陈宴觉察到后，不慌不忙地起了床，把儿女子孙们都叫到屋里，严厉地说:

One must always restrain and encourage oneself no matter under what circumstances. Bad men were not born bad. It is only become they don’t restrain themselves that they develop bad habits and turn bad gradually. That gentleman on the beam is just a case in point.

“一个人无论在什么情况下，都要克制自己，勉励自己。坏人，不是天生就坏，而是因为平时不克制自己而养成了坏的习惯，才慢慢地变坏的。那位梁上君子就是这样。”

Much ashamed upon hearing this, the thief hiding on the beam promptly² jumped down to the ground, kowtowed and begged for forgiveness.

躲在梁上的小偷听了，很惭愧，连忙翻身落地，磕头求饶。

Chen Shi enlightened him by saying:

陈宴开导他说:

Judging from your appearance, you don’t look like a bad man. Perhaps you are driven by poverty to steal. But you should carefully examine yourself and turn over a new leaf.

“看你的样子并不像坏人，你这样做，恐怕也是被贫困逼出来的。不过你应当好好反省，改邪归正。”

Then he immediately asked someone to bring two bolts of white silk to give the thief as a present. The thief kowtowed and thanked him repeatedly.

接着，他马上叫人拿来两匹白绢赠送给小偷。小偷不停地磕头致谢。

Since then, very few thefts occurred in this locality.

从此以后，这个地方很少发生偷盗的事情。