One year in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a serious famine in Henan.

One night, a thief sneaked 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: "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."

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

Chen Shi enlightened him by saying: "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."

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.

Since then, very few thefts occurred in this locality.

東漢時的某一年，河南一帶，饑荒嚴重。

一天夜里，一個小偷潛人陳宴家，躲藏在屋子的橫梁上。陳宴覺察到后，不慌不忙地起了床，把兒女子孫們都叫到屋里，嚴厲地說：“一個人無論在什么情況下，都要克制自己，勉勵自己。壞人，不是天生就壞，而是因為平時不克制自己而養成了壞的習慣，才慢慢地變壞的。那位梁上君子就是這樣。”

躲在梁上的小偷聽了，很慚愧，連忙翻身落地，磕頭求饒。

陳宴開導他說：“看你的樣子并不像壞人，你這樣做，恐怕也是被貧困逼出來的。不過你應當好好反省，改邪歸正。”

接著，他馬上叫人拿來兩匹白絹贈送給小偷。小偷不停地磕頭致謝。

從此以后，這個地方很少發生偷盜的事情。

One year in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a serious famine in Henan.

One night, a thief sneaked 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: "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."

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

Chen Shi enlightened him by saying: "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."

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.

Since then, very few thefts occurred in this locality.

東漢時的某一年，河南一帶，饑荒嚴重。

一天夜里，一個小偷潛人陳宴家，躲藏在屋子的橫梁上。陳宴覺察到后，不慌不忙地起了床，把兒女子孫們都叫到屋里，嚴厲地說：“一個人無論在什么情況下，都要克制自己，勉勵自己。壞人，不是天生就壞，而是因為平時不克制自己而養成了壞的習慣，才慢慢地變壞的。那位梁上君子就是這樣。”

躲在梁上的小偷聽了，很慚愧，連忙翻身落地，磕頭求饒。

陳宴開導他說：“看你的樣子并不像壞人，你這樣做，恐怕也是被貧困逼出來的。不過你應當好好反省，改邪歸正。”

接著，他馬上叫人拿來兩匹白絹贈送給小偷。小偷不停地磕頭致謝。

從此以后，這個地方很少發生偷盜的事情。