{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33815/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33815","id":"gutenberg_33815","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33815","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Ethics -- China","Philosophy, Chinese"],"text":"Produced by Larry B. Harrison and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n THE WISDOM\n OF CONFUCIUS\n\n\n\n\n The Wisdom\n of Confucius\n\n with critical and biographical sketches by\n EPIPHANIUS WILSON, A.M.\n\n _Art Type Edition_\n\n _THE WORLD'S POPULAR CLASSICS_\n\n Books, Inc.\n NEW YORK\n\n\n\n\n COPYRIGHT, 1900\n BY THE COLONIAL PRESS\n\n PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nTHE WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS\n\n PAGE\n\n Introduction 3\n\n BOOK\n I. On Learning--Miscellaneous Sayings 8\n II. Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man 12\n III. Abuse of Proprieties in Ceremonial and Music 16\n IV. Social Virtue--Superior and Inferior Man 22\n V. A Disciple and the Golden Rule--Miscellaneous 25\n VI. More Characteristics--Wisdom--Philanthropy 31\n VII. Characteristics of Confucius--An Incident 36\n VIII. Sayings of Tsang--Sentences of the Master 42\n IX. His Favorite Disciple's Opinion of Him 46\n X. Confucius in Private and Official Life 51\n XI. Comparative Worth of His Disciples 56\n XII. The Master's Answers--Philanthropy--Friendships 62\n XIII. Answers on the Art of Governing--Consistency 68\n XIV. Good and Bad Government--Miscellaneous Sayings 75\n XV. Practical Wisdom--Reciprocity the Rule of Life 83\n XVI. Against Intestine Strife--Good and Bad Friendships 88\n XVII. The Master Induced to Take Office--Nature and Habit 93\n XVIII. Good Men in Seclusion--Duke of Chow to His Son 99\n XIX. Teachings of Various Chief Disciples 103\n XX. Extracts from the Book of History 108\n\n\n THE SAYINGS OF MENCIUS\n\n Introduction 113\n\n BOOK I. King Hwuy of Leang.\n Part I 115\n [_Books II, III, and IV are omitted_]\n\n BOOK V. Wan Chang.\n Part I 128\n\n\n THE SHI-KING\n\n Introduction 143\n\n _Part I. Lessons from the States._\n\n BOOK I. THE ODES OF CHOW AND THE SOUTH.\n Celebrating the Virtue of King Wan's Bride 145\n Celebrating the Industry of King Wan's Queen 146\n In Praise of a Bride 146\n Celebrating T[']ae-Sze's Freedom from Jealousy 147\n The Fruitfulness of the Locust 147\n Lamenting the Absence of a Cherished Friend 148\n Celebrating the Goodness of the Descendants of King Wan 149\n The Virtuous Manners of the Young Women 149\n Praise of a Rabbit-Catcher 150\n The Song of the Plantain-Gatherers 151\n The Affection of the Wives on the Joo 151\n\n BOOK II. THE ODES OF SHAOU AND THE SOUTH.\n The Marriage of a Princess 152\n The Industry and Reverence of a Prince's Wife 152\n The Wife of Some Great Officer Bewails his Absence 153\n The Diligence of the Young Wife of an Officer 154\n The Love of the People for the Duke of Shaou 154\n The Easy Dignity of the Officers at Some Court 155\n Anxiety of a Young Lady to Get Married 155\n\n BOOK III. THE ODES OF P[']EI.\n An Officer Bewails the Neglect with which He is Treated 157\n A Wife Deplores the Absence of Her Husband 158\n The Plaint of a Rejected Wife 159\n Soldiers of Wei Bewail Separation from their Families 161\n An Officer Tells of His Mean Employment 161\n An Officer Sets Forth His Hard Lot 162\n The Complaint of a Neglected Wife 163\n In Praise of a Maiden 164\n Discontent 164\n Chwang Keang Bemoans Her Husband's Cruelty 165\n\n [_Books IV, V, and VI are omitted_]\n\n BOOK VII. THE ODES OF CH[']ING.\n The People's Admiration for Duke Woo 167\n A Wife Consoled by Her Husband's Arrival 168\n In Praise of Some Lady 168\n A Man's Praise of His Wife 169\n An Entreaty 169\n A Woman Scorning Her Lover 169\n A Lady Mourns the Absence of Her Student Lover 170\n\n BOOK VIII. THE ODES OF TS[']E.\n A Wife Urging Her Husband to Action 171\n The Folly of Useless Effort 172\n The Prince of Loo 172\n\n BOOK IX. THE ODES OF WEI.\n On the Misgovernment of the State 174\n The Mean Husband 175\n A Young Soldier on Service 175\n\n BOOK X. THE ODES OF T[']ANG.\n The King Goes to War 177\n Lament of a Bereaved Person 178\n The Drawbacks of Poverty 179\n A Wife Mourns for Her Husband 179\n\n BOOK XI. THE ODES OF TS[']IN.\n Celebrating the Opulence of the Lords of Ts[']in 181\n A Complaint 182\n A Wife's Grief Because of Her Husband's Absence 182\n Lament for Three Brothers 183\n In Praise of a Ruler of Ts[']in 184\n The Generous Nephew 185\n\n BOOK XII. THE ODES OF CH[']IN.\n The Contentment of a Poor Recluse 186\n The Disappointed Lover 186\n A Love-Song 187\n The Lament of a Lover 187\n\n BOOK XIII. THE ODES OF KWEI.\n The Wish of an Unhappy Man 189\n\n BOOK XIV. THE ODES OF TS[']AOU.\n Against Frivolous Pursuits 190\n\n BOOK XV. THE ODES OF PIN.\n The Duke of Chow Tells of His Soldiers 191\n There is a Proper Way for Doing Everything 192\n\n _Part II. Minor Odes of the Kingdom._\n\n BOOK I. DECADE OF LUH MING.\n A Festal Ode 194\n A Festal Ode Complimenting an Officer 195\n The Value of Friendship 196\n The Response to a Festal Ode 198\n An Ode of Congratulation 199\n An Ode on the Return of the Troops 200\n\n BOOK II. THE DECADE OF PIH HWA.\n An Ode Appropriate to a Festivity 203\n\n BOOK III. THE DECADE OF T[']UNG KUNG.\n Celebrating a Hunting Expedition 204\n The King's Anxiety for His Morning Levee 205\n Moral Lessons from Natural Facts 206\n\n BOOK IV. THE DECADE OF K[']E-FOO.\n On the Completion of a Royal Palace 207\n The Condition of King Seuen's Flocks 208\n\n BOOK V. THE DECADE OF SEAOU MIN.\n A Eunuch Complains of His Fate 210\n An Officer Deplores the Misery of the Time 212\n On the Alienation of a Friend 213\n\n BOOK VI. THE DECADE OF PIH SHAN.\n A Picture of Husbandry 215\n The Complaint of an Officer 216\n\n BOOK VII. DECADE OF SANG HOO.\n The Rejoicings of a Bridegroom 219\n Against Listening to Slanderers 220\n BOOK VIII. THE DECADE OF TOO JIN SZE.\n In Praise of By-gone Simplicity 221\n A Wife Bemoans Her Husband's Absence 222\n The Earl of Shaou's Work 223\n The Plaint of King Yew's Forsaken Wife 224\n Hospitality 226\n On the Misery of Soldiers 226\n\n _Part III. Greater Odes of the Kingdom._\n\n BOOK I. DECADE OF KING WAN.\n Celebrating King Wan 228\n\n [_Book II is omitted_]\n\n BOOK III. DECADE OF TANG.\n King Seuen on the Occasion of a Great Drought 231\n\n _Part IV. Odes of the Temple and Altar._\n\n BOOK I. SACRIFICIAL ODES OF CHOW.\n Appropriate to a Sacrifice to King Wan 235\n On Sacrificing to the Kings Woo, Ching, and K[']ang 236\n\n\n\n\n THE WISDOM\n OF CONFUCIUS\n\n [_Translated into English by William Jennings_]\n\n\n\n\nPRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES\n\n\n _j_, as in French.\n\n _ng_, commencing a word, like the same letters terminating one.\n\n _ai_ or _ei_, as in _aisle_ or _eider_.\n\n _au_, as in German, or like _ow_ in _cow_.\n\n _e_, as in _fete_.\n\n _i_ (not followed by a consonant), as _ee_ in _see_.\n\n _u_ (followed by a consonant), as in _bull_.\n\n _iu_, as _ew_ in _new_.\n\n _ui_, as _ooi_ in _cooing_.\n\n _h_ at the end of a name makes the preceding vowel short.\n\n ['] in the middle of a word denotes an aspirate (h), as _K[']ung_\n = _Khung_.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe strangest figure that meets us in the annals of Oriental thought is\nthat of Confucius. To the popular mind he is the founder of a religion,\nand yet he has nothing in common with the great religious teachers of\nthe East. We think of Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism, as the very\nimpersonation of romantic asceticism, enthusiastic self-sacrifice, and\nfaith in the things that are invisible. Zoroaster is the friend of God,\ntalking face to face with the Almighty, and drinking wisdom and\nknowledge from the lips of Omniscience. Mohammed is represented as\nsnatched up into heaven, where he receives the Divine communication\nwhich he is bidden to propagate with fire and sword throughout the\nworld. These great teachers lived in an atmosphere of the supernatural.\nThey spoke with the authority of inspired prophets. They brought the\nunseen world close to the minds of their disciples. They spoke\npositively of immortality, of reward or punishment beyond the grave. The\npresent life they despised, the future was to them everything in its\npromised satisfaction. The teachings of Confucius were of a very\ndifferent sort. Throughout his whole writings he has not even mentioned\nthe name of God. He declined to discuss the question of immortality.\nWhen he was asked about spiritual beings, he remarked, \"If we cannot\neven know men, how can we know spirits?\"\n\nYet this was the man the impress of whose teaching has formed the\nnational character of five hundred millions of people. A temple to\nConfucius stands to this day in every town and village of China. His\nprecepts are committed to memory by every child from the tenderest\nage, and each year at the royal university at Pekin the Emperor holds\na festival in honor of the illustrious teacher.\n\nThe influence of Confucius springs, first of all, from the narrowness\nand definiteness of his doctrine. He was no transcendentalist, and\nnever meddled with supramundane things. His teaching was of the earth,\nearthy; it dealt entirely with the common relations of life, and the\nGolden Rule he must necessarily have stumbled upon, as the most\nobvious canon of his system. He strikes us as being the great Stoic of\nthe East, for he believed that virtue was based on knowledge,\nknowledge of a man's own heart, and knowledge of human-kind. There is\na pathetic resemblance between the accounts given of the death of\nConfucius and the death of Zeno. Both died almost without warning in\ndreary hopelessness, without the ministrations of either love or\nreligion. This may be a mere coincidence, but the lives and teachings\nof both men must have led them to look with indifference upon such an\nend. For Confucius in his teaching treated only of man's life on\nearth, and seems to have had no ideas with regard to the human lot\nafter death; if he had any ideas he preserved an inscrutable silence\nabout them. As a moralist he prescribed the duties of the king and of\nthe father, and advocated the cultivation by the individual man of\nthat rest or apathy of mind which resembles so much the disposition\naimed at by the Greek and Roman Stoic. Even as a moralist, he seems to\nhave sacrificed the ideal to the practical, and his loose notions\nabout marriage, his tolerance of concubinage, the slight emphasis\nwhich he lays on the virtue of veracity--of which indeed he does not\nseem himself to have been particularly studious in his historic\nwritings--place him low down in the rank of moralists. Yet he taught\nwhat he felt the people could receive, and the flat mediocrity of his\ncharacter and his teachings has been stamped forever upon a people\nwho, while they are kindly, gentle, forbearing, and full of family\npiety, are palpably lacking not only in the exaltation of Mysticism,\nbut in any religious feeling, generally so-called.\n\nThe second reason that made the teaching of Confucius so influential\nis based on the circumstances of the time. When this thoughtful,\nearnest youth awoke to the consciousness of life about him, he saw\nthat the abuses under which the people groaned sprang from the feudal\nsystem, which cut up the country into separate territories, over which\nthe power of the king had no control. China was in the position of\nFrance in the years preceding Philippe-Auguste, excepting that there\nwere no places of sanctuary and no Truce of God. The great doctrine of\nConfucius was the unlimited despotism of the Emperor, and his moral\nprecepts were intended to teach the Emperor how to use his power\naright. But the Emperor was only typical of all those in\nauthority--the feudal duke, the judge on the bench, and the father of\nthe family. Each could discharge his duties aright only by submitting\nto the moral discipline which Confucius prescribed. A vital element in\nthis system is its conservatism, its adherence to the imperial idea.\nAs James I said, \"No bishop, no king,\" so the imperialists of China\nhave found in Confucianism the strongest basis for the throne, and\nhave supported its dissemination accordingly.\n\nThe Analects of Confucius contain the gist of his teachings, and is\nworthy of study. We find in this work most of the precepts which his\ndisciples have preserved and recorded. They form a code remarkable for\nsimplicity, even crudity, and we are compelled to admire the force of\ncharacter, the practical sagacity, the insight into the needs of the\nhour, which enabled Confucius, without claiming any Divine sanction,\nto impose this system upon his countrymen.\n\nThe name Confucius is only the Latinized form of two words which mean\n\"Master K[']ung.\" He was born 551 B.C., his father being governor of\nShantung. He was married at nineteen, and seems to have occupied some\nminor position under the government. In his twenty-fourth year he\nentered upon the three years' mourning for the death of his mother.\nHis seclusion gave him time for deep thought and the study of history,\nand he resolved upon the regeneration of his unhappy country. By the\ntime he was thirty he became known as a great teacher, and disciples\nflocked to him. But he was yet occupied in public duties, and rose\nthrough successive stages to the office of Chief Judge in his own\ncountry of Lu. His tenure of office is said to have put an end to\ncrime, and he became the \"idol of the people\" in his district. The\njealousy of the feudal lords was roused by his fame as a moral teacher\nand a blameless judge. Confucius was driven from his home, and\nwandered about, with a few disciples, until his sixty-ninth year, when\nhe returned to Lu, after accomplishing a work which has borne fruit,\nsuch as it is, to the present day. He spent the remaining five years\nof his life in editing the odes and historic monuments in which the\nglories of the ancient Chinese dynasty are set forth. He died in his\nseventy-third year, 478 B.C. There can be no doubt that the success of\nConfucius has been singularly great, owing especially to the narrow\nscope of his scheme, which has become crystallized in the habits,\nusages, and customs of the people. Especially has it been instrumental\nin consolidating the empire, and in strengthening the power of the\nmonarch, who, as he every year burns incense in the red-walled temple\nat Pekin, utters sincerely the invocation: \"Great art thou, O perfect\nSage! Thy virtue is full, thy doctrine complete. Among mortal men\nthere has not been thine equal. All kings honor thee. Thy statutes and\nlaws have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern in this imperial\nschool. Reverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full of\nawe, we sound our drums and bells.\"\n\n E. W.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_On Learning--Miscellaneous Sayings_\n\n\n\"To learn,\" said the Master, \"and then to practise opportunely what\none has learnt--does not this bring with it a sense of satisfaction?\n\n\"To have associates in study coming to one from distant parts--does\nnot this also mean pleasure in store?\n\n\"And are not those who, while not comprehending all that is said,\nstill remain not unpleased to hear, men of the superior order?\"\n\nA saying of the Scholar Yu:--\n\n\"It is rarely the case that those who act the part of true men in\nregard to their duty to parents and elder brothers are at the same\ntime willing to turn currishly upon their superiors: it has never yet\nbeen the case that such as desire not to commit that offence have been\nmen willing to promote anarchy or disorder.\n\n\"Men of superior mind busy themselves first in getting at the root of\nthings; and when they have succeeded in this the right course is open\nto them. Well, are not filial piety and friendly subordination among\nbrothers a root of that right feeling which is owing generally from\nman to man?\"\n\nThe Master observed, \"Rarely do we meet with the right feeling due\nfrom one man to another where there is fine speech and studied mien.\"\n\nThe Scholar Tsang once said of himself: \"On three points I examine\nmyself daily, viz., whether, in looking after other people's\ninterests, I have not been acting whole-heartedly; whether, in my\nintercourse with friends, I have not been true; and whether, after\nteaching, I have not myself been practising what I have taught.\"\n\nThe Master once observed that to rule well one of the larger States\nmeant strict attention to its affairs and conscientiousness on the\npart of the ruler; careful husbanding of its resources, with at the\nsame time a tender care for the interests of all classes; and the\nemploying of the masses in the public service at suitable seasons.\n\n\"Let young people,\" said he, \"show filial piety at home,\nrespectfulness towards their elders when away from home; let them be\ncircumspect, be truthful; their love going out freely towards all,\ncultivating good-will to men. And if, in such a walk, there be time or\nenergy left for other things, let them employ it in the acquisition of\nliterary or artistic accomplishments.\"\n\nThe disciple Tsz-hia said, \"The appreciation of worth in men of worth,\nthus diverting the mind from lascivious desires--ministering to\nparents while one is the most capable of so doing--serving one's ruler\nwhen one is able to devote himself entirely to that object--being\nsincere in one's language in intercourse with friends: this I\ncertainly must call evidence of learning, though others may say there\nhas been 'no learning.'\"\n\nSayings of the Master:--\n\n\"If the great man be not grave, he will not be revered, neither can\nhis learning be solid.\n\n\"Give prominent place to loyalty and sincerity.\n\n\"Have no associates in study who are not advanced somewhat like\nyourself.\n\n\"When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself.\"\n\nA saying of the Scholar Tsang:--\n\n\"The virtue of the people is renewed and enriched when attention is\nseen to be paid to the departed, and the remembrance of distant\nancestors kept and cherished.\"\n\nTsz-k[']in put this query to his fellow disciple Tsz-kung: said he,\n\"When our Master comes to this or that State, he learns without fail\nhow it is being governed. Does he investigate matters? or are the\nfacts given him?\"\n\nTsz-kung answered, \"Our Master is a man of pleasant manners, and of\nprobity, courteous, moderate, and unassuming: it is by his being such\nthat he arrives at the facts. Is not his way of arriving at things\ndifferent from that of others?\"\n\nA saying of the Master:--\n\n\"He who, after three years' observation of the will of his father when\nalive, or of his past conduct if dead, does not deviate from that\nfather's ways, is entitled to be called 'a dutiful son.'\"\n\nSayings of the Scholar Yu:--\n\n\"For the practice of the Rules of Propriety,[1] one excellent way is\nto be natural. This naturalness became a great grace in the practice\nof kings of former times; let everyone, small or great, follow their\nexample.\n\n\"It is not, however, always practicable; and it is not so in the case\nof a person who does things naturally, knowing that he should act so,\nand yet who neglects to regulate his acts according to the Rules.\n\n\"When truth and right are hand in hand, a statement will bear\nrepetition. When respectfulness and propriety go hand in hand,\ndisgrace and shame are kept afar-off. Remove all occasion for\nalienating those to whom you are bound by close ties, and you have\nthem still to resort to.\"\n\nA saying of the Master:--\n\n\"The man of greater mind who, when he is eating, craves not to eat to\nthe full; who has a home, but craves not for comforts in it; who is\nactive and earnest in his work and careful in his words; who makes\ntowards men of high principle, and so maintains his own\nrectitude--that man may be styled a devoted student.\"\n\nTsz-kung asked, \"What say you, sir, of the poor who do not cringe and\nfawn; and what of the rich who are without pride and haughtiness?\" \"They\nare passable,\" the Master replied; \"yet they are scarcely in the same\ncategory as the poor who are happy, and the rich who love propriety.\"\n\n\"In the 'Book of the Odes,'\" Tsz-kung went on to say, \"we read of one\n\n Polished, as by the knife and file,\n The graving-tool, the smoothing-stone.\n\nDoes that coincide with your remark?\"\n\n\"Ah! such as you,\" replied the Master, \"may well commence a discussion\non the Odes. If one tell you how a thing goes, you know what ought to\ncome.\"\n\n\"It does not greatly concern me,\" said the Master, \"that men do not\nknow me; my great concern is, my not knowing them.\"\n\n[Footnote 1: An important part of a Chinaman's education still. The\ntext-book, \"The Li Ki,\" contains rules for behavior and propriety for\nthe whole life, from the cradle to the grave.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II\n\n_Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man_\n\n\nSayings of the Master:--\n\n\"Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will\nbe like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all\nthe host of stars turn towards it.\n\n\"The 'Book of Odes' contains three hundred pieces, but one expression\nin it may be taken as covering the purport of all, viz., Unswerving\nmindfulness.\n\n\"To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of\npains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of\nany sense of shame.\n\n\"To govern upon principles of virtue, and to reduce them to order by\nthe Rules of Propriety, would not only create in them the sense of\nshame, but would moreover reach them in all their errors.\n\n\"When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent upon study. At\nthirty, I was a confirmed student. At forty, nought could move me from\nmy course. At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of Heaven. At\nsixty, my ears were attuned to them. At seventy, I could follow my\nheart's desires, without overstepping the lines of rectitude.\"\n\nTo a question of Mang-i, as to what filial piety consisted in, the\nMaster replied, \"In not being perverse.\" Afterwards, when Fan Ch[']i\nwas driving him, the Master informed him of this question and answer,\nand Fan Ch[']i asked, \"What was your meaning?\" The Master replied, \"I\nmeant that the Rules of Propriety should always be adhered to in\nregard to those who brought us into the world: in ministering to them\nwhile living, in burying them when dead, and afterwards in the\noffering to them of sacrificial gifts.\"\n\nTo a query of Mang Wu respecting filial piety, the Master replied,\n\"Parents ought to bear but one trouble--that of their own sickness.\"\n\nTo a like question put by Tsz-yu, his reply was this: \"The filial\npiety of the present day simply means the being able to support one's\nparents--which extends even to the case of dogs and horses, all of\nwhich may have something to give in the way of support. If there be no\nreverential feeling in the matter, what is there to distinguish\nbetween the cases?\"\n\nTo a like question of Tsz-hia, he replied: \"The manner is the\ndifficulty. If, in the case of work to be done, the younger folks\nsimply take upon themselves the toil of it; or if, in the matter of\nmeat and drink, they simply set these before their elders--is this to\nbe taken as filial piety?\"\n\nOnce the Master remarked, \"I have conversed with Hwui the whole day\nlong, and he has controverted nothing that I have said, as if he were\nwithout wits. But when his back was turned, and I looked attentively\nat his conduct apart from me, I found it satisfactory in all its\nissues. No, indeed! Hwui is not without his wits.\"\n\nOther observations of the Master:--\n\n\"If you observe what things people (usually) take in hand, watch their\nmotives, and note particularly what it is that gives them\nsatisfaction, shall they be able to conceal from you what they are?\nConceal themselves, indeed!\n\n\"Be versed in ancient lore, and familiarize yourself with the modern;\nthen may you become teachers.\n\n\"The great man is not a mere receptacle.\"\n\nIn reply to Tsz-kung respecting the great man:---\n\n\"What he first says, as a result of his experience, he afterwards\nfollows up.\n\n\"The great man is catholic-minded, and not one-sided. The common man\nis the reverse.\n\n\"Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is\na danger.\n\n\"Where the mind is set much upon heterodox principles--there truly and\nindeed is harm.\"\n\nTo the disciple of Tsz-lu the Master said, \"Shall I give you a lesson\nabout knowledge? When you know a thing, maintain that you know it; and\nwhen you do not, acknowledge your ignorance. This is characteristic of\nknowledge.\"\n\nTsz-chang was studying with an eye to official income. The Master\naddressed him thus: \"Of the many things you hear hold aloof from those\nthat are doubtful, and speak guardedly with reference to the rest;\nyour mistakes will then be few. Also, of the many courses you see\nadopted, hold aloof from those that are risky, and carefully follow\nthe others; you will then seldom have occasion for regret. Thus, being\nseldom mistaken in your utterances, and having few occasions for\nregret in the line you take, you are on the high road to your\npreferment.\"\n\nTo a question put to him by Duke Ngai[2] as to what should be done in\norder to render the people submissive to authority, Confucius replied,\n\"Promote the straightforward, and reject those whose courses are\ncrooked, and the thing will be effected. Promote the crooked and\nreject the straightforward, and the effect will be the reverse.\"\n\nWhen Ki K[']ang[3] asked of him how the people could be induced to\nshow respect, loyalty, and willingness to be led, the Master answered,\n\"Let there be grave dignity in him who has the oversight of them, and\nthey will show him respect; let him be seen to be good to his own\nparents, and kindly in disposition, and they will be loyal to him;\nlet him promote those who have ability, and see to the instruction of\nthose who have it not, and they will be willing to be led.\"\n\nSome one, speaking to Confucius, inquired, \"Why, sir, are you not an\nadministrator of government?\" The Master rejoined, \"What says the\n'Book of the Annals,' with reference to filial duty?--'Make it a point\nto be dutiful to your parents and amicable with your brethren; the\nsame duties extend to an administrator.' If these, then, also make an\nadministrator, how am I to take your words about being an administrator?\"\n\nOn one occasion the Master remarked, \"I know not what men are good\nfor, on whose word no reliance can be placed. How should your\ncarriages, large or little, get along without your whipple-trees or\nswing-trees?\"\n\nTsz-chang asked if it were possible to forecast the state of the\ncountry ten generations hence. The Master replied in this manner: \"The\nYin dynasty adopted the rules and manners of the Hia line of kings,\nand it is possible to tell whether it retrograded or advanced. The\nChow line has followed the Yin, adopting its ways, and whether there\nhas been deterioration or improvement may also be determined. Some\nother line may take up in turn those of Chow; and supposing even this\nprocess to go on for a hundred generations, the result may be known.\"\n\nOther sayings of the Master:--\n\n\"It is but flattery to make sacrificial offerings to departed spirits\nnot belonging to one's own family.\n\n\"It is moral cowardice to leave undone what one perceives to be right\nto do.\"\n\n[Footnote 2: Of Lu (Confucius's native State).]\n\n[Footnote 3: Head of one of the \"Three Families\" of Lu.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\n_Abuse of Proprieties in Ceremonial and Music_\n\n\nAlluding to the head of the Ki family,[4] and the eight lines of\nposturers[5] before their ancestral hall, Confucius remarked, \"If the\nKi can allow himself to go to this extent, to what extent will he not\nallow himself to go?\"\n\nThe Three Families[6] were in the habit, during the Removal of the\nsacred vessels after sacrifice, of using the hymn commencing\n\n \"Harmoniously the Princes\n Draw near with reverent tread,\n Assisting in his worship\n Heaven's Son, the great and dread.\"\n\n\"How,\" exclaimed the Master, \"can such words be appropriated in the\nancestral hall of the Three Families?\"\n\n\"Where a man,\" said he again, \"has not the proper feelings due from one\nman to another, how will he stand as regards the Rules of Propriety? And\nin such a case, what shall we say of his sense of harmony?\"\n\nOn a question being put to him by Lin Fang, a disciple, as to what was\nthe radical idea upon which the Rules of Propriety were based, the\nMaster exclaimed, \"Ah! that is a large question. As to some rules,\nwhere there is likelihood of extravagance, they would rather demand\neconomy; in those which relate to mourning, and where there is\nlikelihood of being easily satisfied, what is wanted is real sorrow.\"\n\nSpeaking of the disorder of the times he remarked that while the\nbarbarians on the North and East had their Chieftains, we here in this\ngreat country had nothing to compare with them in that respect:--we\nhad lost these distinctions!\n\nAlluding to the matter of the Chief of the Ki family worshipping on\nT[']ai-shan,[7] the Master said to Yen Yu, \"Cannot you save him from\nthis?\" He replied, \"It is beyond my power.\" \"Alas, alas!\" exclaimed\nthe Master, \"are we to say that the spirits of T[']ai-shan have not as\nmuch discernment as Lin Fang?\"\n\nOf \"the superior man,\" the Master observed, \"In him there is no\ncontentiousness. Say even that he does certainly contend with others,\nas in archery competitions; yet mark, in that case, how courteously he\nwill bow and go up for the forfeit-cup, and come down again and give\nit to his competitor. In his very contest he is still the superior man.\"\n\nTsz-hia once inquired what inference might be drawn from the lines--\n\n \"Dimples playing in witching smile,\n Beautiful eyes, so dark, so bright!\n Oh, and her face may be thought the while\n Colored by art, red rose on white!\"\n\n\"Coloring,\" replied the Master, \"requires a pure and clear\nbackground.\" \"Then,\" said the other, \"rules of ceremony require to\nhave a background!\" \"Ah!\" exclaimed the Master, \"you are the man to\ncatch the drift of my thought. Such as you may well introduce a\ndiscussion on the Odes.\"\n\nSaid the Master, \"As regards the ceremonial adopted and enforced by\nthe Hia dynasty, I am able to describe it, although their own\ndescendants in the State of Ki can adduce no adequate testimony in\nfavor of its use there. So, too, I am able to describe the ceremonial\nof the Yin dynasty, although no more can the Sung people show\nsufficient reason for its continuance amongst themselves. And why\ncannot they do so? Because they have not documents enough, nor men\nlearned enough. If only they had such, I could refer them to them in\nsupport of their usages.\n\n\"When I am present at the great quinquennial sacrifice to the _manes_\nof the royal ancestors,\" the Master said, \"from the pouring-out of the\noblation onwards, I have no heart to look on.\"\n\nSome one asked what was the purport of this great sacrifice, and the\nMaster replied, \"I cannot tell. The position in the empire of him who\ncould tell you is as evident as when you look at this\"--pointing to\nthe palm of his hand.\n\nWhen he offered sacrifices to his ancestors, he used to act as if they\nwere present before him. In offering to other spirits it was the same.\n\nHe would say, \"If I do not myself take part in my offerings, it is all\nthe same as if I did not offer them.\"\n\nWang-sun Kia asked him once, \"What says the proverb, 'Better to court\nfavor in the kitchen than in the drawing-room'?\" The Master replied,\n\"Nay, better say, He who has sinned against Heaven has none other to\nwhom prayer may be addressed.\"\n\nOf the Chow dynasty the Master remarked, \"It looks back upon two other\ndynasties; and what a rich possession it has in its records of those\ntimes! I follow Chow!\"\n\nOn his first entry into the grand temple, he inquired about every\nmatter connected with its usages. Some one thereupon remarked, \"Who\nsays that the son of the man of Tsou[8] understands about ceremonial?\nOn entering the grand temple he inquired about everything.\" This\nremark coming to the Master's ears, he said, \"What I did is part of\nthe ceremonial!\"\n\n\"In archery,\" he said, \"the great point to be observed is not simply\nthe perforation of the leather; for men have not all the same\nstrength. That was the fashion in the olden days.\"\n\nOnce, seeing that his disciple Tsz-kung was desirous that the\nceremonial observance of offering a sheep at the new moon might be\ndispensed with, the Master said, \"Ah! you grudge the loss of the\nsheep; I grudge the loss of the ceremony.\"\n\n\"To serve one's ruler nowadays,\" he remarked, \"fully complying with\nthe Rules of Propriety, is regarded by others as toadyism!\"\n\nWhen Duke Ting questioned him as to how a prince should deal with his\nministers, and how they in turn should serve their prince, Confucius\nsaid in reply, \"In dealing with his ministers a prince should observe\nthe proprieties; in serving his prince a minister should observe the\nduty of loyalty.\"\n\nReferring to the First of the Odes, he remarked that it was mirthful\nwithout being lewd, and sad also without being painful.\n\nDuke Ngai asked the disciple Tsai Wo respecting the places for\nsacrificing to the Earth. The latter replied, \"The Family of the Great\nYu, of the Hia dynasty, chose a place of pine trees; the Yin founders\nchose cypresses; and the Chow founders chestnut trees, solemn and\nmajestic, to inspire, 'tis said, the people with feelings of awe.\"\n\nThe Master on hearing of this exclaimed, \"Never an allusion to things\nthat have been enacted in the past! Never a remonstrance against what\nis now going on! He has gone away without a word of censure.\"\n\nThe Master once said of Kwan Chung,[9] \"A small-minded man indeed!\"\n\n\"Was he miserly?\" some one asked.\n\n\"Miserly, indeed!\" said he; \"not that: he married three times, and he\nwas not a man who restricted his official business to too few\nhands--how could he be miserly?\"\n\n\"He knew the Rules of Propriety, I suppose?\"\n\n\"Judge:--Seeing that the feudal lords planted a screen at their gates,\nhe too would have one at his! Seeing that when any two of the feudal\nlords met in friendly conclave they had an earthenware stand on which\nto place their inverted cups after drinking, he must have the same! If\nhe knew the Rules of Propriety, who is there that does not know them?\"\n\nIn a discourse to the Chief Preceptor of Music at the court of Lu, the\nMaster said, \"Music is an intelligible thing. When you begin a\nperformance, let all the various instruments produce as it were one\nsound (inharmonious); then, as you go on, bring out the harmony fully,\ndistinctly, and with uninterrupted flow, unto the end.\"\n\nThe warden of the border-town of I requested an interview with\nConfucius, and said, \"When great men have come here, I have never yet\nfailed to obtain a sight of them.\" The followers introduced him; and,\non leaving, he said to them, \"Sirs, why grieve at his loss of office?\nThe empire has for long been without good government; and Heaven is\nabout to use your master as its edict-announcer.\"\n\nComparing the music of the emperor Shun with the music of King Wu,\nthe Master said, \"That of Shun is beautiful throughout, and also good\nthroughout. That of Wu is all of it beautiful, but scarcely all of it\ngood.\"\n\n\"High station,\" said the Master, \"occupied by men who have no large\nand generous heart; ceremonial performed with no reverence; duties of\nmourning engaging the attention, where there is absence of\nsorrow;--how should I look on, where this is the state of things?\"\n\n[Footnote 4: The Chief of the Ki clan was virtually the Duke of Lu,\nunder whom Confucius for a time held office.]\n\n[Footnote 5: These posturers were mutes who took part in the ritual of\nthe ancestral temple, waving plumes, flags, etc. Each line or rank of\nthese contained eight men. Only in the sovereign's household should\nthere have been eight lines of them; a ducal family like the Ki should\nhave had but six lines; a great official had four, and one of lower\ngrade two. These were the gradations marking the status of families,\nand Confucius's sense of propriety was offended at the Ki's usurping\nin this way the appearance of royalty.]\n\n[Footnote 6: Three great families related to each other, in whose\nhands the government of the State of Lu then was, and of which the Ki\nwas the chief.]\n\n[Footnote 7: One of the five sacred mountains, worshipped upon only by\nthe sovereign.]\n\n[Footnote 8: Tsou was Confucius's birthplace; his father was governor\nof the town.]\n\n[Footnote 9: A renowned statesman who flourished about two hundred\nyears before Confucius's time. A philosophical work on law and\ngovernment, said to have been written by him, is still extant. He was\nregarded as a sage by the people, but he lacked, in Confucius's eyes,\nthe one thing needful--propriety.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK IV\n\n_Social Virtue--Superior and Inferior Man_\n\n\nSayings of the Master:--\n\n\"It is social good feeling that gives charm to a neighborhood. And where\nis the wisdom of those who choose an abode where it does not abide?\n\n\"Those who are without it cannot abide long, either in straitened or\nin happy circumstances. Those who possess it find contentment in it.\nThose who are wise go after it as men go after gain.\n\n\"Only they in whom it exists can have right likings and dislikings for\nothers.\n\n\"Where the will is set upon it, there will be no room for\nmalpractices.\n\n\"Riches and honor are what men desire; but if they arrive at them by\nimproper ways, they should not continue to hold them. Poverty and low\nestate are what men dislike; but if they arrive at such a condition by\nimproper ways, they should not refuse it.\n\n\"If the 'superior man' make nought of social good feeling, how shall\nhe fully bear that name?\n\n\"Not even whilst he eats his meal will the 'superior man' forget what\nhe owes to his fellow-men. Even in hurried leave-takings, even in\nmoments of frantic confusion, he keeps true to this virtue.\n\n\"I have not yet seen a lover of philanthropy, nor a hater of\nmisanthropy--such, that the former did not take occasion to magnify\nthat virtue in himself, and that the latter, in his positive practice\nof philanthropy, did not, at times, allow in his presence something\nsavoring of misanthropy.\n\n\"Say you, is there any one who is able for one whole day to apply the\nenergy of his mind to this virtue? Well, I have not seen any one whose\nenergy was not equal to it. It may be there are such, but I have never\nmet with them.\n\n\"The faults of individuals are peculiar to their particular class and\nsurroundings; and it is by observing their faults that one comes to\nunderstand the condition of their good feelings towards their fellows.\n\n\"One may hear the right way in the morning, and at evening die.\n\n\"The scholar who is intent upon learning the right way, and who is yet\nashamed of poor attire and poor food, is not worthy of being\ndiscoursed with.\n\n\"The masterly man's attitude to the world is not exclusively this or\nthat: whatsoever is right, to that he will be a party.\n\n\"The masterly man has an eye to virtue, the common man, to earthly\nthings; the former has an eye to penalties for error--the latter, to\nfavor.\n\n\"Where there is habitual going after gain, there is much ill-will.\n\n\"When there is ability in a ruler to govern a country by adhering to\nthe Rules of Propriety, and by kindly condescension, what is wanted\nmore? Where the ability to govern thus is wanting, what has such a\nruler to do with the Rules of Propriety?\n\n\"One should not be greatly concerned at not being in office; but\nrather about the requirements in one's self for such a standing.\nNeither should one be so much concerned at being unknown; but rather\nwith seeking to become worthy of being known.\"\n\nAddressing his disciple Tsang Sin, the Master said, \"Tsang Sin, the\nprinciples which I inculcate have one main idea upon which they all\nhang.\" \"Aye, surely,\" he replied.\n\nWhen the Master was gone out the other disciples asked what was the\npurport of this remark. Tsang's answer was, \"The principles of our\nMaster's teaching are these---whole-heartedness and kindly\nforbearance; these and nothing more.\"\n\nOther observations of the Master:--\n\n\"Men of loftier mind manifest themselves in their equitable dealings;\nsmall-minded men in their going after gain.\n\n\"When you meet with men of worth, think how you may attain to their\nlevel; when you see others of an opposite character, look within, and\nexamine yourself.\n\n\"A son, in ministering to his parents, may (on occasion) offer gentle\nremonstrances; when he sees that their will is not to heed such, he\nshould nevertheless still continue to show them reverent respect, never\nobstinacy; and if he have to suffer, let him do so without murmuring.\n\n\"Whilst the parents are still living, he should not wander far; or, if\na wanderer, he should at least have some fixed address.\n\n\"If for three years he do not veer from the principles of his father,\nhe may be called a dutiful son.\n\n\"A son should not ignore the years of his parents. On the one hand,\nthey may be a matter for rejoicing (that they have been so many), and\non the other, for apprehension (that so few remain).\n\n\"People in olden times were loth to speak out, fearing the disgrace of\nnot being themselves as good as their words.\n\n\"Those who keep within restraints are seldom losers.\n\n\"To be slow to speak, but prompt to act, is the desire of the\n'superior man.'\n\n\"Virtue dwells not alone: she must have neighbors.\"\n\nAn observation of Tsz-yu:--\n\n\"Officiousness, in the service of princes, leads to disgrace; among\nfriends, to estrangement.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK V\n\n_A Disciple and the Golden Rule--Miscellaneous_\n\n\nThe Master pronounced Kung-ye Ch[']ang, a disciple, to be a\nmarriageable person; for although lying bound in criminal fetters he\nhad committed no crime. And he gave him his own daughter to wife.\n\nOf Nan Yung, a disciple, he observed, that in a State where the\ngovernment was well conducted he would not be passed over in its\nappointments, and in one where the government was ill conducted he\nwould evade punishment and disgrace. And he caused his elder brother's\ndaughter to be given in marriage to him.\n\nOf Tsz-tsien, a disciple, he remarked, \"A superior man indeed is the\nlike of him! But had there been none of superior quality in Lu, how\nshould this man have attained to this excellence?\"\n\nTsz-kung asked, \"What of me, then?\" \"You,\" replied the Master--\"You\nare a receptacle.\" \"Of what sort?\" said he. \"One for high and sacred\nuse,\" was the answer.\n\nSome one having observed of Yen Yung that he was good-natured towards\nothers, but that he lacked the gift of ready speech, the Master said,\n\"What need of that gift? To stand up before men and pour forth a stream\nof glib words is generally to make yourself obnoxious to them. I know\nnot about his good-naturedness; but at any rate what need of that gift?\"\n\nWhen the Master proposed that Tsi-tiau K[']ai should enter the\ngovernment service, the latter replied, \"I can scarcely credit it.\"\nThe Master was gratified.\n\n\"Good principles are making no progress,\" once exclaimed the Master.\n\"If I were to take a raft, and drift about on the sea, would Tsz-lu, I\nwonder, be my follower there?\" That disciple was delighted at hearing\nthe suggestion; whereupon the Master continued, \"He surpasses me in\nhis love of deeds of daring. But he does not in the least grasp the\npith of my remark.\"\n\nIn reply to a question put to him by Mang Wu respecting Tsz-lu--as to\nwhether he might be called good-natured towards others, the Master\nsaid, \"I cannot tell\"; but, on the question being put again, he\nanswered, \"Well, in an important State[10] he might be intrusted with\nthe management of the military levies; but I cannot answer for his\ngood nature.\"\n\n\"What say you then of Yen Yu?\"\n\n\"As for Yen,\" he replied, \"in a city of a thousand families, or in a\nsecondary fief,[11] he might be charged with the governorship; but I\ncannot answer for his good-naturedness.\"\n\n\"Take Tsz-hwa, then; what of him?\"\n\n\"Tsz-hwa,\" said he, \"with a cincture girt upon him, standing as\nattendant at Court, might be charged with the addressing of visitors\nand guests; but as to his good-naturedness I cannot answer.\"\n\nAddressing Tsz-kung, the Master said, \"Which of the two is ahead of\nthe other--yourself or Hwui?\" \"How shall I dare,\" he replied, \"even to\nlook at Hwui? Only let him hear one particular, and from that he knows\nten; whereas I, if I hear one, may from it know two.\"\n\n\"You are not a match for him, I grant you,\" said the Master. \"You are\nnot his match.\"\n\nTsai Yu, a disciple, used to sleep in the daytime. Said the Master,\n\"One may hardly carve rotten wood, or use a trowel to the wall of a\nmanure-yard! In his case, what is the use of reprimand?\n\n\"My attitude towards a man in my first dealings with him,\" he added,\n\"was to listen to his professions and to trust to his conduct. My\nattitude now is to listen to his professions, and to watch his\nconduct. My experience with Tsai Yu has led to this change.\n\n\"I have never seen,\" said the Master, \"a man of inflexible firmness.\"\nSome one thereupon mentioned Shin Ch[']ang, a disciple. \"Ch[']ang,\"\nsaid he, \"is wanton; where do you get at his inflexibleness?\"\n\nTsz-kung made the remark: \"That which I do not wish others to put upon\nme, I also wish not to put upon others.\" \"Nay,\" said the Master, \"you\nhave not got so far as that.\"\n\nThe same disciple once remarked, \"There may be access so as to hear\nthe Master's literary discourses, but when he is treating of human\nnature and the way of Heaven, there may not be such success.\"\n\nTsz-lu, after once hearing him upon some subject, and feeling himself\nas yet incompetent to carry into practice what he had heard, used to\nbe apprehensive only lest he should hear the subject revived.\n\nTsz-kung asked how it was that Kung Wan had come to be so styled Wan\n(the talented). The Master's answer was, \"Because, though a man of an\nactive nature, he was yet fond of study, and he was not ashamed to\nstoop to put questions to his inferiors.\"\n\nRespecting Tsz-ch[']an,[12] the Master said that he had four of the\nessential qualities of the 'superior man':--in his own private walk he\nwas humble-minded; in serving his superiors he was deferential; in his\nlooking after the material welfare of the people he was generously\nkind; and in his exaction of public service from the latter he was just.\n\nSpeaking of Yen Ping, he said, \"He was one who was happy in his mode\nof attaching men to him. However long the intercourse, he was always\ndeferential to them.\"\n\nReferring to Tsang Wan, he asked, \"What is to be said of this man's\ndiscernment?--this man with his tortoise-house, with the pillar-heads\nand posts bedizened with scenes of hill and mere!\"\n\nTsz-chang put a question relative to the chief Minister of Tsu,\nTsz-wan. He said, \"Three times he became chief Minister, and on none\nof these occasions did he betray any sign of exultation. Three times\nhis ministry came to an end, and he showed no sign of chagrin. He used\nwithout fail to inform the new Minister as to the old mode of\nadministration. What say you of him?\"\n\n\"That he was a loyal man,\" said the Master.\n\n\"But was he a man of fellow-feeling?\" said the disciple.\n\n\"Of that I am not sure,\" he answered; \"how am I to get at that?\"\n\nThe disciple went on to say:--\"After the assassination of the prince\nof Ts[']i by the officer Ts[']ui, the latter's fellow-official Ch[']in\nWan, who had half a score teams of horses, gave up all, and turned his\nback upon him. On coming to another State, he observed, 'There are\nhere characters somewhat like that of our minister Ts[']ui,' and he\nturned his back upon them. Proceeding to a certain other State, he had\noccasion to make the same remark, and left. What say you of him?\"\n\n\"That he was a pure-minded man,\" answered the Master.\n\n\"But was he a man of fellow-feeling?\" urged the disciple.\n\n\"Of that I am not sure,\" he replied; \"how am I to get at that?\"\n\nKi Wan was one who thought three times over a thing before he acted.\nThe Master hearing this of him, observed, \"Twice would have been\nenough.\"\n\nOf Ning Wu, the Master said that when matters went well in the State\nhe used to have his wits about him: but when they went wrong, he lost\nthem. His intelligence might be equalled, but not his witlessness!\n\nOnce, when the Master lived in the State of Ch[']in, he exclaimed,\n\"Let me get home again! Let me get home! My school-children[13] are\nwild and impetuous! Though they are somewhat accomplished, and perfect\nin one sense in their attainments, yet they know not how to make nice\ndiscriminations.\"\n\nOf Peh-I and Shuh Ts[']i he said, \"By the fact of their not\nremembering old grievances, they gradually did away with resentment.\"\n\nOf Wei-shang Kau he said, \"Who calls him straightforward? A person\nonce begged some vinegar of him, and he begged it from a neighbor, and\nthen presented him with it!\"\n\n\"Fine speech,\" said he, \"and studied mien, and superfluous show of\ndeference--of such things Tso-k[']iu Ming was ashamed. I too am\nashamed of such things. Also of hiding resentment felt towards an\nopponent and treating him as a friend--of this kind of thing he was\nashamed, and so too am I.\"\n\nAttended once by the two disciples Yen Yuen and Tsz-lu, he said, \"Come\nnow, why not tell me, each of you, what in your hearts you are really\nafter?\"\n\n\"I should like,\" said Tsz-lu, \"for myself and my friends and\nassociates, carriages and horses, and to be clad in light furs! nor\nwould I mind much if they should become the worse for wear.\"\n\n\"And I should like,\" said Yen Yuen, \"to live without boasting of my\nabilities, and without display of meritorious deeds.\"\n\nTsz-lu then said, \"I should like, sir, to hear what your heart is set\nupon.\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"It is this:--in regard to old people, to give\nthem quiet and comfort; in regard to friends and associates, to be\nfaithful to them; in regard to the young, to treat them with fostering\naffection and kindness.\"\n\nOn one occasion the Master exclaimed, \"Ah, 'tis hopeless! I have not\nyet seen the man who can see his errors, so as inwardly to accuse\nhimself.\"\n\n\"In a small cluster of houses there may well be,\" said he, \"some whose\nintegrity and sincerity may compare with mine; but I yield to none in\npoint of love of learning.\"\n\n[Footnote 10: Lit., a State of 1,000 war chariots.]\n\n[Footnote 11: Lit., a House of 100 war chariots.]\n\n[Footnote 12: A great statesman of Confucius's time.]\n\n[Footnote 13: A familiar way of speaking of his disciples in their\nhearing.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VI\n\n_More Characteristics--Wisdom--Philanthropy_\n\n\nOf Yen Yung, a disciple, the Master said, \"Yung might indeed do for a\nprince!\"\n\nOn being asked by this Yen Yung his opinion of a certain individual,\nthe Master replied, \"He is passable. Impetuous, though.\"\n\n\"But,\" argued the disciple, \"if a man habituate himself to a reverent\nregard for duty--even while in his way of doing things he is\nimpetuous--in the oversight of the people committed to his charge, is\nhe not passable? If, on the other hand, he habituate himself to\nimpetuosity of mind, and show it also in his way of doing things, is\nhe not then over-impetuous?\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said the Master.\n\nWhen the Duke Ngai inquired which of the disciples were devoted to\nlearning, Confucius answered him, \"There was one Yen Hwui who loved\nit--a man whose angry feelings towards any particular person he did\nnot suffer to visit upon another; a man who would never fall into the\nsame error twice. Unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he\ndied, and now his like is not to be found; I have never heard of one\nso devoted to learning.\"\n\nWhile Tsz-hwa, a disciple, was away on a mission to Ts[']i, the\ndisciple Yen Yu, on behalf of his mother, applied for some grain.\n\"Give her three pecks,\" said the Master. He applied for more. \"Give\nher eight, then.\" Yen gave her fifty times that amount. The Master\nsaid, \"When Tsz-hwa went on that journey to Ts[']i, he had well-fed\nsteeds yoked to his carriage, and was arrayed in light furs. I have\nlearnt that the 'superior man' should help those whose needs are\nurgent, not help the rich to be more rich.\"\n\nWhen Yuen Sz became prefect under him, he gave him nine hundred\nmeasures of grain, but the prefect declined to accept them.[14] \"You\nmust not,\" said the Master. \"May they not be of use to the villages\nand hamlets around you?\"\n\nSpeaking of Yen Yung again, the Master said, \"If the offspring of a\nspeckled ox be red in color, and horned, even though men may not wish\nto take it for sacrifice, would the spirits of the hills and streams\nreject it?\"\n\nAdverting to Hwui again, he said, \"For three months there would not be\nin his breast one thought recalcitrant against his feeling of\ngood-will towards his fellow-men. The others may attain to this for a\nday or for a month, but there they end.\"\n\nWhen asked by Ki K[']ang whether Tsz-lu was fit to serve the\ngovernment, the Master replied, \"Tsz-lu is a man of decision: what\nshould prevent him from serving the government?\"\n\nAsked the same question respecting Tsz-kung and Yen Yu he answered\nsimilarly, pronouncing Tsz-kung to be a man of perspicacity, and Yen\nYu to be one versed in the polite arts.\n\nWhen the head of the Ki family sent for Min Tsz-k[']ien to make him\ngovernor of the town of Pi, that disciple said, \"Politely decline for\nme. If the offer is renewed, then indeed I shall feel myself obliged\nto go and live on the further bank of the Wan.\"\n\nPeh-niu had fallen ill, and the Master was inquiring after him. Taking\nhold of his hand held out from the window, he said, \"It is taking him\noff! Alas, his appointed time has come! Such a man, and to have such\nan illness!\"\n\nOf Hwui, again: \"A right worthy man indeed was he! With his simple\nwooden dish of rice, and his one gourd-basin of drink, away in his\npoor back lane, in a condition too grievous for others to have\nendured, he never allowed his cheery spirits to droop. Aye, a right\nworthy soul was he!\"\n\n\"It is not,\" Yen Yu once apologized, \"that I do not take pleasure in\nyour doctrines; it is that I am not strong enough.\" The Master\nrejoined, \"It is when those who are not strong enough have made some\nmoderate amount of progress that they fail and give up; but you are\nnow drawing your own line for yourself.\"\n\nAddressing Tsz-hia, the Master said, \"Let your scholarship be that of\ngentlemen, and not like that of common men.\"\n\nWhen Tsz-yu became governor of Wu-shing, the Master said to him, \"Do\nyou find good men about you?\" The reply was, \"There is Tan-t[']ai\nMieh-ming, who when walking eschews by-paths, and who, unless there be\nsome public function, never approaches my private residence.\"\n\n\"Mang Chi-fan,\" said the Master, \"is no sounder of his own praises.\nDuring a stampede he was in the rear, and as they were about to enter\nthe city gate he whipped up his horses, and said, ''Twas not my daring\nmade me lag behind. My horses would not go.'\"\n\n_Obiter dicta_ of the Master:--\n\n\"Whoever has not the glib utterance of the priest T[']o, as well as\nthe handsomeness of Prince Chau of Sung, will find it hard to keep out\nof harm's way in the present age.\n\n\"Who can go out but by that door? Why walks no one by these guiding\nprinciples?\n\n\"Where plain naturalness is more in evidence than polish, we\nhave--the man from the country. Where polish is more in evidence than\nnaturalness, we have--the town scribe. It is when naturalness and\npolish are equally evident that we have the ideal man.\n\n\"The life of a man is--his rectitude. Life without it--such may you\nhave the good fortune to avoid!\n\n\"They who know it are not as those who love it, nor they who love it\nas those who rejoice in it--that is, have the fruition of their love\nfor it.\n\n\"To the average man, and those above the average, it is possible to\ndiscourse on higher subjects; to those from the average downwards, it\nis not possible.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i put a query about wisdom. The Master replied, \"To labor for\nthe promoting of righteous conduct among the people of the land; to be\nserious in regard to spiritual beings, and to hold aloof from\nthem;--this may be called wisdom.\"\n\nTo a further query, about philanthropy, he replied, \"Those who possess\nthat virtue find difficulty with it at first, success later.\n\n\"Men of practical knowledge,\" he said, \"find their gratification among\nthe rivers of the lowland, men of sympathetic social feeling find\ntheirs among the hills. The former are active and bustling, the latter\ncalm and quiet. The former take their day of pleasure, the latter look\nto length of days.\"\n\nAlluding to the States of Ts[']i and Lu, he observed, that Ts[']i, by\none change, might attain to the condition of Lu; and that Lu, by one\nchange, might attain to good government.\n\nAn exclamation of the Master (satirizing the times, when old terms\nrelating to government were still used while bereft of their old\nmeaning):--\"A quart, and not a quart! _quart_, indeed! _quart_, indeed!\"\n\nTsai Wo, a disciple, put a query. Said he, \"Suppose a philanthropic\nperson were told, 'There's a fellow-creature down in the well!' Would\nhe go down after him?\"\n\n\"Why should he really do so?\" answered the Master. \"The good man, or a\nsuperior man might be induced to go, but not to go down. He may be\nmisled, but not befooled.\"\n\n\"The superior man,\" said he, \"with his wide study of books, and\nhedging himself round by the Rules of Propriety, is not surely, after\nall that, capable of overstepping his bounds.\"\n\nOnce when the Master had had an interview with Nan-tsz, which had\nscandalized his disciple Tsz-lu, he uttered the solemn adjuration, \"If\nI have done aught amiss, may Heaven reject me! may Heaven reject me!\"\n\n\"How far-reaching,\" said he, \"is the moral excellence that flows from\nthe Constant Mean![15] It has for a long time been rare among the\npeople.\"\n\nTsz-kung said, \"Suppose the case of one who confers benefits far and\nwide upon the people, and who can, in so doing, make his bounty\nuniversally felt--how would you speak of him? Might he be called\nphilanthropic?\"\n\nThe Master exclaimed, \"What a work for philanthropy! He would require\nindeed to be a sage! He would put into shade even Yau and Shun!--Well,\na philanthropic person, desiring for himself a firm footing, is led on\nto give one to others; desiring for himself an enlightened perception\nof things, he is led on to help others to be similarly enlightened. If\none could take an illustration coming closer home to us than yours,\nthat might be made the starting-point for speaking about\nphilanthropy.\"\n\n[Footnote 14: At this time Confucius was Criminal Judge in his native\nState of Lu. Yuen Sz had been a disciple. The commentators add that this\nwas the officer's proper salary, and that he did wrong to refuse it.]\n\n[Footnote 15: The doctrine afterwards known by that name, and which\ngave its title to a Confucian treatise.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VII\n\n_Characteristics of Confucius--An Incident_\n\n\nSaid the Master:--\n\n\"I, as a transmitter[16] and not an originator, and as one who\nbelieves in and loves the ancients, venture to compare myself with our\nold P[']ang.\n\n\"What find you indeed in me?--a quiet brooder and memorizer; a student\nnever satiated with learning; an unwearied monitor of others!\n\n\"The things which weigh heavily upon my mind are these--failure to\nimprove in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learnt,\ninability to walk according to knowledge received as to what is right\nand just, inability also to reform what has been amiss.\"\n\nIn his hours of recreation and refreshment the Master's manner was\neasy and unconstrained, affable and winning.\n\nOnce he exclaimed, \"Alas! I must be getting very feeble; 'tis long\nsince I have had a repetition of the dreams in which I used to see the\nDuke of Chow.[17]\n\n\"Concentrate the mind,\" said he, \"upon the Good Way.\n\n\"Maintain firm hold upon Virtue.\n\n\"Rely upon Philanthropy.\n\n\"Find recreation in the Arts.[18]\n\n\"I have never withheld instruction from any, even from those who have\ncome for it with the smallest offering.\n\n\"No subject do I broach, however, to those who have no eager desire to\nlearn; no encouraging hint do I give to those who show no anxiety to\nspeak out their ideas; nor have I anything more to say to those who,\nafter I have made clear one corner of the subject, cannot from that\ngive me the other three.\"\n\nIf the Master was taking a meal, and there were any in mourning beside\nhim, he would not eat to the full.\n\nOn one day on which he had wept, on that day he would not sing.\n\nAddressing his favorite disciple, he said, \"To you only and myself it\nhas been given to do this--to go when called to serve, and to go back\ninto quiet retirement when released from office.\"\n\nTsz-lu, hearing the remark said, \"But if, sir, you had the handling of\nthe army of one of the greater States,[19] whom would you have\nassociated with you in that case?\"\n\nThe Master answered:--\n\n \"Not the one 'who'll rouse the tiger,'\n Not the one 'who'll wade the Ho;'\n\nnot the man who can die with no regret. He must be one who should\nwatch over affairs with apprehensive caution, a man fond of strategy,\nand of perfect skill and effectiveness in it.\"\n\nAs to wealth, he remarked, \"If wealth were an object that I could go\nin quest of, I should do so even if I had to take a whip and do\ngrooms' work. But seeing that it is not, I go after those objects for\nwhich I have a liking.\"\n\nAmong matters over which he exercised great caution were times of\nfasting, war, and sickness.\n\nWhen he was in the State of Ts[']i, and had heard the ancient Shau\nmusic, he lost all perception of the taste of his meat. \"I had no\nidea,\" said he, \"that music could have been brought to this pitch.\"\n\nIn the course of conversation Yen Yu said, \"Does the Master take the\npart of the Prince of Wei?\" \"Ah yes!\" said Tsz-kung, \"I will go and\nask him that.\"\n\nOn going in to him, that disciple began, \"What sort of men were Peh-I\nand Shuh Ts[']i?\" \"Worthies of the olden time,\" the Master replied.\n\"Had they any feelings of resentment?\" was the next question. \"Their\naim and object,\" he answered, \"was that of doing the duty which every\nman owes to his fellows, and they succeeded in doing it;--what room\nfurther for feelings of resentment?\" The questioner on coming out\nsaid, \"The Master does not take his part.\"\n\n\"With a meal of coarse rice,\" said the Master, \"and with water to\ndrink, and my bent arm for my pillow--even thus I can find happiness.\nRiches and honors without righteousness are to me as fleeting clouds.\"\n\n\"Give me several years more to live,\" said he, \"and after fifty years'\nstudy of the 'Book of Changes' I might come to be free from serious\nerror.\"\n\nThe Master's regular subjects of discourse were the \"Books of the\nOdes\" and \"History,\" and the up-keeping of the Rules of Propriety. On\nall of these he regularly discoursed.\n\nThe Duke of Shih questioned Tsz-lu about Confucius, and the latter did\nnot answer.\n\nHearing of this, the Master said, \"Why did you not say, He is a man\nwith a mind so intent on his pursuits that he forgets his food, and\nfinds such pleasure in them that he forgets his troubles, and does not\nknow that old age is coming upon him?\"\n\n\"As I came not into life with any knowledge of it,\" he said, \"and as\nmy likings are for what is old, I busy myself in seeking knowledge\nthere.\"\n\nStrange occurrences, exploits of strength, deeds of lawlessness,\nreferences to spiritual beings--such-like matters the Master avoided\nin conversation.\n\n\"Let there,\" he said, \"be three men walking together: from that number\nI should be sure to find my instructors; for what is good in them I\nshould choose out and follow, and what is not good I should modify.\"\n\nOn one occasion he exclaimed, \"Heaven begat Virtue in me; what can man\ndo unto me?\"\n\nTo his disciples he once said, \"Do you look upon me, my sons, as\nkeeping anything secret from you? I hide nothing from you. I do\nnothing that is not manifest to your eyes, my disciples. That is so\nwith me.\"\n\nFour things there were which he kept in view in his\nteaching--scholarliness, conduct of life, honesty, faithfulness.\n\n\"It is not given to me,\" he said, \"to meet with a sage; let me but\nbehold a man of superior mind, and that will suffice. Neither is it\ngiven to me to meet with a good man; let me but see a man of\nconstancy, and it will suffice. It is difficult for persons to have\nconstancy, when they pretend to have that which they are destitute of,\nto be full when they are empty, to do things on a grand scale when\ntheir means are contracted!\"\n\nWhen the Master fished with hook and line, he did not also use a net.\nWhen out with his bow, he would never shoot at game in cover.\n\n\"Some there may be,\" said he, \"who do things in ignorance of what they\ndo. I am not of these. There is an alternative way of knowing things,\nviz.--to sift out the good from the many things one hears, and follow\nit; and to keep in memory the many things one sees.\"\n\nPupils from Hu-hiang were difficult to speak with. One youth came to\ninterview the Master, and the disciples were in doubt whether he ought\nto have been seen. \"Why so much ado,\" said the Master, \"at my merely\npermitting his approach, and not rather at my allowing him to draw\nback? If a man have cleansed himself in order to come and see me, I\nreceive him as such; but I do not undertake for what he will do when\nhe goes away.\"\n\n\"Is the philanthropic spirit far to seek, indeed?\" the Master\nexclaimed; \"I wish for it, and it is with me!\"\n\nThe Minister of Crime in the State of Ch[']in asked Confucius whether\nDuke Ch[']au, of Lu was acquainted with the Proprieties; and he\nanswered, \"Yes, he knows them.\"\n\nWhen Confucius had withdrawn, the minister bowed to Wu-ma K[']i, a\ndisciple, and motioned to him to come forward. He said, \"I have heard\nthat superior men show no partiality; are they, too, then, partial?\nThat prince took for his wife a lady of the Wu family, having the same\nsurname as himself, and had her named 'Lady Tsz of Wu, the elder.' If\nhe knows the Proprieties, then who does not?\"\n\nThe disciple reported this to the Master, who thereupon remarked,\n\"Well for me! If I err in any way, others are sure to know of it.\"\n\nWhen the Master was in company with any one who sang, and who sang\nwell, he must needs have the song over again, and after that would\njoin in it.\n\n\"Although in letters,\" he said, \"I may have none to compare with me,\nyet in my personification of the 'superior man' I have not as yet been\nsuccessful.\"\n\n\"'A Sage and a Philanthropist?' How should I have the ambition?\" said\nhe. \"All that I can well be called is this--An insatiable student, an\nunwearied teacher;--this, and no more.\"--\"Exactly what we, your\ndisciples, cannot by any learning manage to be,\" said Kung-si Hwa.\n\nOnce when the Master was seriously ill, Tsz-lu requested to be allowed\nto say prayers for him. \"Are such available?\" asked the Master. \"Yes,\"\nsaid he; \"and the Manual of Prayers says, 'Pray to the spirits above\nand to those here below.'\"\n\n\"My praying has been going on a long while,\" said the Master.\n\n\"Lavish living,\" he said, \"renders men disorderly; miserliness makes\nthem hard. Better, however, the hard than the disorderly.\"\n\nAgain, \"The man of superior mind is placidly composed; the\nsmall-minded man is in a constant state of perturbation.\"\n\nThe Master was gentle, yet could be severe; had an overawing presence,\nyet was not violent; was deferential, yet easy.\n\n[Footnote 16: In reference to his editing the six Classics of his time.]\n\n[Footnote 17: This was one of his \"beloved ancients,\" famous for what\nhe did in helping to found the dynasty of Chow, a man of great\npolitical wisdom, a scholar also, and poet. It was the \"dream\" of\nConfucius's life to restore the country to the condition in which the\nDuke of Chow left it.]\n\n[Footnote 18: These were six in number, viz.: Ceremonial, Music,\nArchery, Horsemanship, Language, and Calculation.]\n\n[Footnote 19: Lit., three forces. Each force consisted of 12,500 men,\nand three of such forces were the equipment of a greater State.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VIII\n\n_Sayings of Tsang--Sentences of the Master_\n\n\nSpeaking of T[']ai-pih the Master said that he might be pronounced a\nman of the highest moral excellence; for he allowed the empire to pass\nby him onwards to a third heir; while the people, in their ignorance\nof his motives, were unable to admire him for so doing.\n\n\"Without the Proprieties,\" said the Master, \"we have these results:\nfor deferential demeanor, a worried one; for calm attentiveness,\nawkward bashfulness; for manly conduct, disorderliness; for\nstraightforwardness, perversity.\n\n\"When men of rank show genuine care for those nearest to them in\nblood, the people rise to the duty of neighborliness and sociability.\nAnd when old friendships among them are not allowed to fall off, there\nwill be a cessation of underhand practices among the people.\"\n\nThe Scholar Tsang was once unwell, and calling his pupils to him he said\nto them, \"Disclose to view my feet and my hands. What says the Ode?--\n\n 'Act as from a sense of danger,\n With precaution and with care,\n As a yawning gulf o'erlooking,\n As on ice that scarce will bear.'\n\nAt all times, my children, I know how to keep myself free from bodily\nharm.\"\n\nAgain, during an illness of his, Mang King, an official, went to ask\nafter him. The Scholar had some conversation with him, in the course\nof which he said--\n\n \"'Doleful the cries of a dying bird,\n Good the last words of a dying man.'\n\nThere are three points which a man of rank in the management of his\nduties should set store upon:--A lively manner and deportment,\nbanishing both severity and laxity; a frank and open expression of\ncountenance, allied closely with sincerity; and a tone in his\nutterances utterly free from any approach to vulgarity and\nimpropriety. As to matters of bowls and dishes, leave such things to\nthose who are charged with the care of them.\"\n\nAnother saying of the Scholar Tsang: \"I once had a friend who, though\nhe possessed ability, would go questioning men of none, and though\nsurrounded by numbers, would go with his questions to isolated\nindividuals; who also, whatever he might have, appeared as if he were\nwithout it, and, with all his substantial acquirements, made as though\nhis mind were a mere blank; and when insulted would not\nretaliate;--this was ever his way.\"\n\nAgain he said: \"The man that is capable of being intrusted with the\ncharge of a minor on the throne, and given authority over a large\nterritory, and who, during the important term of his superintendence\ncannot be forced out of his position, is not such a 'superior man'?\nThat he is, indeed.\"\n\nAgain:--\"The learned official must not be without breadth and power of\nendurance: the burden is heavy, and the way is long.\n\n\"Suppose that he take his duty to his fellow-men as his peculiar\nburden, is that not indeed a heavy one? And since only with death it\nis done with, is not the way long?\"\n\nSentences of the Master:--\n\n\"From the 'Book of Odes' we receive impulses; from the 'Book of the\nRules,' stability; from the 'Book on Music,' refinement.[20]\n\n\"The people may be put into the way they should go, though they may\nnot be put into the way of understanding it.\n\n\"The man who likes bravery, and yet groans under poverty, has mischief\nin him. So, too, has the misanthrope, groaning at any severity shown\ntowards him.\n\n\"Even if a person were adorned with the gifts of the Duke of Chow, yet\nif he were proud and avaricious, all the rest of his qualities would\nnot indeed be worth looking at.\n\n\"Not easily found is the man who, after three years' study, has failed\nto come upon some fruit of his toil.\n\n\"The really faithful lover of learning holds fast to the Good Way till\ndeath.\n\n\"He will not go into a State in which a downfall is imminent, nor take\nup his abode in one where disorder reigns. When the empire is well\nordered he will show himself; when not, he will hide himself away.\nUnder a good government it will be a disgrace to him if he remain in\npoverty and low estate; under a bad one, it would be equally\ndisgraceful to him to hold riches and honors.\n\n\"If not occupying the office, devise not the policy.\n\n\"When the professor Chi began his duties, how grand the finale of the\nFirst of the Odes used to be! How it rang in one's ears!\n\n\"I cannot understand persons who are enthusiastic and yet not\nstraightforward; nor those who are ignorant and yet not attentive; nor\nagain those folks who are simple-minded and yet untrue.\n\n\"Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive\nof losing it.\n\n\"How sublime was the handling of the empire by Shun and Yu!--it was as\nnothing to them!\n\n\"How great was Yau as a prince! Was he not sublime! Say that Heaven\nonly is great, then was Yau alone after its pattern! How profound was\nhe! The people could not find a name for him. How sublime in his\nachievements! How brilliant in his scholarly productions!\"\n\nShun had for his ministers five men, by whom he ordered the empire.\n\nKing Wu (in his day) stated that he had ten men as assistants for the\npromotion of order.\n\nWith reference to these facts Confucius observed, \"Ability is hard to\nfind. Is it not so indeed? During the three years' interregnum between\nYau and Shun there was more of it than in the interval before this\npresent dynasty appeared. There were, at this latter period, one\nwoman, and nine men only.\n\n\"When two-thirds of the empire were held by King Wan, he served with\nthat portion the House of Yin. We speak of the virtue of the House of\nChow; we may say, indeed, that it reached the pinnacle of excellence.\"\n\n\"As to Yu,\" added the Master, \"I can find no flaw in him. Living on\nmeagre food and drink; yet providing to the utmost in his filial\nofferings to the spirits of the dead! Dressing in coarse garments; yet\nmost elegant when vested in his sacrificial apron and coronet!\nDwelling in a poor palace; yet exhausting his energies over those\nboundary-ditches and watercourses! I can find no flaw in Yu.\"\n\n[Footnote 20: Comparison of three of the Classics: the \"Shi-King,\" the\n\"Li Ki,\" and the \"Yoh.\" The last is lost.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK IX\n\n_His Favorite Disciple's Opinion of Him_\n\n\nTopics on which the Master rarely spoke were--Advantage, and Destiny,\nand Duty of man to man.\n\nA man of the village of Tah-hiang exclaimed of him, \"A great man is\nConfucius!--a man of extensive learning, and yet in nothing has he\nquite made himself a name!\"\n\nThe Master heard of this, and mentioning it to his disciples he said,\n\"What then shall I take in hand? Shall I become a carriage driver, or\nan archer? Let me be a driver!\"\n\n\"The sacrificial cap,\" he once said, \"should, according to the Rules,\nbe of linen; but in these days it is of pure silk. However, as it is\neconomical, I do as all do.\n\n\"The Rule says, 'Make your bow when at the lower end of the hall'; but\nnowadays the bowing is done at the upper part. This is great freedom;\nand I, though I go in opposition to the crowd, bow when at the lower\nend.\"\n\nThe Master barred four words:--he would have no \"shall's\", no\n\"must's\", no \"certainly's\", no \"I's.\"\n\nOnce, in the town of K[']wang fearing that his life was going to be\ntaken, the Master exclaimed, \"King Wan is dead and gone; but is not\n'_wan_'[21] with you here? If Heaven be about to allow this '_wan_' to\nperish, then they who survive its decease will get no benefit from\nit. But so long as Heaven does not allow it to perish, what can the\nmen of K[']wang do to me?\"\n\nA high State official, after questioning Tsz-kung, said, \"Your Master\nis a sage, then? How many and what varied abilities must be his!\"\n\nThe disciple replied, \"Certainly Heaven is allowing him full\nopportunities of becoming a sage, in addition to the fact that his\nabilities are many and varied.\"\n\nWhen the Master heard of this he remarked, \"Does that high official\nknow me? In my early years my position in life was low, and hence my\nability in many ways, though exercised in trifling matters. In the\ngentleman is there indeed such variety of ability? No.\"\n\nFrom this, the disciple Lau used to say, \"'Twas a saying of the\nMaster: 'At a time when I was not called upon to use them, I acquired\nmy proficiency in the polite arts.'\"\n\n\"Am I, indeed,\" said the Master, \"possessed of knowledge? I know\nnothing. Let a vulgar fellow come to me with a question--a man with an\nemptyish head--I may thrash out with him the matter from end to end,\nand exhaust myself in doing it!\"\n\n\"Ah!\" exclaimed he once, \"the ph[oe]nix does not come! and no symbols\nissue from the river! May I not as well give up?\"\n\nWhenever the Master met with a person in mourning, or with one in\nfull-dress cap and kirtle, or with a blind person, although they might\nbe young persons, he would make a point of rising on their appearance,\nor, if crossing their path, would do so with quickened step!\n\nOnce Yen Yuen exclaimed with a sigh (with reference to the Master's\ndoctrines), \"If I look up to them, they are ever the higher; if I try\nto penetrate them, they are ever the harder; if I gaze at them as if\nbefore my eyes, lo, they are behind me!--Gradually and gently the\nMaster with skill lures men on. By literary lore he gave me breadth;\nby the Rules of Propriety he narrowed me down. When I desire a\nrespite, I find it impossible; and after I have exhausted my powers,\nthere seems to be something standing straight up in front of me, and\nthough I have the mind to make towards it I make no advance at all.\"\n\nOnce when the Master was seriously ill, Tsz-lu induced the other\ndisciples to feign they were high officials acting in his service.\nDuring a respite from his malady the Master exclaimed, \"Ah! how long\nhas Tsz-lu's conduct been false? Whom should I delude, if I were to\npretend to have officials under me, having none? Should I deceive\nHeaven? Besides, were I to die, I would rather die in the hands of\nyourselves, my disciples, than in the hands of officials. And though I\nshould fail to have a grand funeral over me, I should hardly be left\non my death on the public highway, should I?\"\n\nTsz-kung once said to him, \"Here is a fine gem. Would you guard it\ncarefully in a casket and store it away, or seek a good price for it\nand sell it?\" \"Sell it, indeed,\" said the Master--\"that would I; but I\nshould wait for the bidder.\"\n\nThe Master protested he would \"go and live among the nine wild tribes.\"\n\n\"A rude life,\" said some one;--\"how could you put up with it?\"\n\n\"What rudeness would there be,\" he replied, \"if a 'superior man' was\nliving in their midst?\"\n\nOnce he remarked, \"After I came back from Wei to Lu the music was put\nright, and each of the Festal Odes and Hymns was given its appropriate\nplace and use.\"\n\n\"Ah! which one of these following,\" he asked on one occasion, \"are to\nbe found exemplified in me--proper service rendered to superiors when\nabroad; duty to father and elder brother when at home; duty that\nshrinks from no exertion when dear ones die; and keeping free from\nthe confusing effects of wine?\"\n\nStanding once on the bank of a mountain stream, he said (musingly),\n\"Like this are those that pass away--no cessation, day or night!\"\n\nOther sayings:--\n\n\"Take an illustration from the making of a hill. A simple basketful is\nwanting to complete it, and the work stops. So I stop short.\n\n\"Take an illustration from the levelling of the ground. Suppose again\njust one basketful is left, when the work has so progressed. There I\ndesist!\n\n\"Ah! it was Hwui, was it not? who, when I had given him his lesson,\nwas the unflagging one!\n\n\"Alas for Hwui! I saw him ever making progress. I never saw him\nstopping short.\n\n\"Blade, but no bloom--or else bloom, but no produce; aye, that is the\nway with some!\n\n\"Reverent regard is due to youth. How know we what difference there\nmay be in them in the future from what they are now? Yet when they\nhave reached the age of forty or fifty, and are still unknown in the\nworld, then indeed they are no more worthy of such regard.\n\n\"Can any do otherwise than assent to words said to them by way of\ncorrection? Only let them reform by such advice, and it will then be\nreckoned valuable. Can any be other than pleased with words of gentle\nsuasion? Only let them comply with them fully, and such also will be\naccounted valuable. With those who are pleased without so complying,\nand those who assent but do not reform, I can do nothing at all.\n\n\"Give prominent place to loyalty and sincerity.\n\n\"Have no associates in study who are not advanced somewhat like\nyourself.\n\n\"When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself.\n\n\"It may be possible to seize and carry off the chief commander of a\nlarge army, but not possible so to rob one poor fellow of his will.\n\n\"One who stands--clad in hempen robe, the worse for wear--among others\nclad in furs of fox and badger, and yet unabashed--'tis Tsz-lu, that,\nis it not?\"\n\nTsz-lu used always to be humming over the lines--\n\n \"From envy and enmity free,\n What deed doth he other than good?\"\n\n\"How should such a rule of life,\" asked the Master, \"be sufficient to\nmake any one good?\"\n\n\"When the year grows chilly, we know the pine and cypress are the last\nto fade.\n\n\"The wise escape doubt; the good-hearted, trouble; the bold,\napprehension.\n\n\"Some may study side by side, and yet be asunder when they come to the\nlogic of things. Some may go on together in this latter course, but be\nwide apart in the standards they reach in it. Some, again, may together\nreach the same standard, and yet be diverse in weight of character.\"\n\n \"The blossom is out on the cherry tree,\n With a flutter on every spray.\n Dost think that my thoughts go not out to thee?\n Ah, why art thou far away!\"\n\nCommenting on these lines the Master said, \"There can hardly have been\nmuch thought going out. What does distance signify?\"\n\n[Footnote 21: \"Wan\" was the honorary appellation of the great sage and\nruler, whose praise is in the \"Shi-King\" as one of the founders of the\nChow dynasty, and the term represented civic talent and virtues, as\ndistinct from Wu, the martial talent--the latter being the honorary\ntitle of his son and successor. \"Wan\" also often stands for\nliterature, and polite accomplishments. Here Confucius simply means,\n\"If you kill me, you kill a sage.\"]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK X\n\n_Confucius in Private and Official Life_\n\n\nIn his own village, Confucius presented a somewhat plain and simple\nappearance, and looked unlike a man who possessed ability of speech.\n\nBut in the ancestral temple, and at Court, he spoke with the fluency\nand accuracy of a debater, but ever guardedly.\n\nAt Court, conversing with the lower order of great officials, he spoke\nsomewhat firmly and directly; with those of the higher order his tone\nwas somewhat more affable.\n\nWhen the prince was present he was constrainedly reverent in his\nmovements, and showed a proper degree of grave dignity in demeanor.\n\nWhenever the prince summoned him to act as usher to the Court, his\nlook would change somewhat, and he would make as though he were\nturning round to do obeisance.\n\nHe would salute those among whom he took up his position, using the\nright hand or the left, and holding the skirts of his robe in proper\nposition before and behind. He would make his approaches with quick\nstep, and with elbows evenly bent outwards.\n\nWhen the visitor withdrew, he would not fail to report the execution\nof his commands, with the words, \"The visitor no longer looks back.\"\n\nWhen he entered the palace gate, it was with the body somewhat bent\nforward, almost as though he could not be admitted. When he stood\nstill, this would never happen in the middle of the gateway; nor when\nmoving about would he ever tread on the threshold. When passing the\nthrone, his look would change somewhat, he would turn aside and make a\nsort of obeisance, and the words he spoke seemed as though he were\ndeficient in utterance.\n\nOn going up the steps to the audience chamber, he would gather up with\nboth hands the ends of his robe, and walk with his body bent somewhat\nforward, holding back his breath like one in whom respiration has\nceased. On coming out, after descending one step his countenance would\nrelax and assume an appearance of satisfaction. Arrived at the bottom,\nhe would go forward with quick step, his elbows evenly bent outwards,\nback to his position, constrainedly reverent in every movement.\n\nWhen holding the sceptre in his hand, his body would be somewhat bent\nforward, as if he were not equal to carrying it; wielding it now higher,\nas in a salutation, now lower, as in the presentation of a gift; his\nlook would also be changed and appear awestruck; and his gait would seem\nretarded, as if he were obeying some restraining hand behind.\n\nWhen he presented the gifts of ceremony, he would assume a placid\nexpression of countenance. At the private interview he would be\ncordial and affable.\n\nThe good man would use no purple or violet colors for the facings of\nhis dress.[22] Nor would he have red or orange color for his\nundress.[23] For the hot season he wore a singlet, of either coarse or\nfine texture, but would also feel bound to have an outer garment\ncovering it. For his black robe he had lamb's wool; for his white one,\nfawn's fur; and for his yellow one, fox fur. His furred undress robe\nwas longer, but the right sleeve was shortened. He would needs have\nhis sleeping-dress one and a half times his own length. For ordinary\nhome wear he used thick substantial fox or badger furs. When he left\noff mourning, he would wear all his girdle trinkets. His kirtle in\nfront, when it was not needed for full cover, he must needs have cut\ndown. He would never wear his (black) lamb's-wool, or a dark-colored\ncap, when he went on visits of condolence to mourners.[24] On the\nfirst day of the new moon, he must have on his Court dress and to\nCourt. When observing his fasts, he made a point of having bright,\nshiny garments, made of linen. He must also at such times vary his\nfood, and move his seat to another part of his dwelling-room.\n\nAs to his food, he never tired of rice so long as it was clean and\npure, nor of hashed meats when finely minced. Rice spoiled by damp,\nand sour, he would not touch, nor tainted fish, nor bad meat, nor\naught of a bad color or smell, nor aught overdone in cooking, nor\naught out of season. Neither would he eat anything that was not\nproperly cut, or that lacked its proper seasonings. Although there\nmight be an abundance of meat before him, he would not allow a\npreponderance of it to rob the rice of its beneficial effect in\nnutrition. Only in the matter of wine did he set himself no limit, yet\nhe never drank so much as to confuse himself. Tradesmen's wines, and\ndried meats from the market, he would not touch. Ginger he would never\nhave removed from the table during a meal. He was not a great eater.\nMeat from the sacrifices at the prince's temple he would never put\naside till the following day. The meat of his own offerings he would\nnever give out after three days' keeping, for after that time none\nwere to eat it.\n\nAt his meals he would not enter into discussions; and when reposing\n(afterwards) he would not utter a word.\n\nEven should his meal consist only of coarse rice and vegetable broth\nor melons, he would make an offering, and never fail to do so\nreligiously.\n\nHe would never sit on a mat that was not straight.\n\nAfter a feast among his villagers, he would wait before going away\nuntil the old men had left.\n\nWhen the village people were exorcising the pests, he would put on his\nCourt robes and stand on the steps of his hall to receive them.\n\nWhen he was sending a message of inquiry to a person in another State,\nhe would bow twice on seeing the messenger off.\n\nKi K[']ang once sent him a present of some medicine. He bowed, and\nreceived it; but remarked, \"Until I am quite sure of its properties I\nmust not venture to taste it.\"\n\nOnce when the stabling was destroyed by fire, he withdrew from the\nCourt, and asked, \"Is any person injured?\"--without inquiring as to\nthe horses.\n\nWhenever the prince sent him a present of food, he was particular to\nset his mat in proper order, and would be the first one to taste it.\nIf the prince's present was one of raw meat, he must needs have it\ncooked, and make an oblation of it. If the gift were a live animal, he\nwould be sure to keep it and care for it.\n\nWhen he was in waiting, and at a meal with the prince, the prince\nwould make the offering,[25] and he (the Master) was the pregustator.\n\nWhen unwell, and the prince came to see him, he would arrange his\nposition so that his head inclined towards the east, would put over\nhim his Court robes, and draw his girdle across them.\n\nWhen summoned by order of the prince, he would start off without\nwaiting for his horses to be put to.\n\nOn his entry into the Grand Temple, he inquired about everything\nconnected with its usages.\n\nIf a friend died, and there were no near relatives to take him to, he\nwould say, \"Let him be buried from my house.\"\n\nFor a friend's gift--unless it consisted of meat that had been offered\nin sacrifice--he would not bow, even if it were a carriage and horses.\n\nIn repose he did not lie like one dead. In his home life he was not\nformal in his manner.\n\nWhenever he met with a person in mourning, even though it were a\nfamiliar acquaintance, he would be certain to change his manner; and\nwhen he met with any one in full-dress cap, or with any blind person,\nhe would also unfailingly put on a different look, even though he were\nhimself in undress at the time.\n\nIn saluting any person wearing mourning he would bow forwards towards\nthe front bar of his carriage; in the same manner he would also salute\nthe bearer of a census-register.\n\nWhen a sumptuous banquet was spread before him, a different expression\nwould be sure to appear in his features, and he would rise up from his\nseat.\n\nAt a sudden thunder-clap, or when the wind grew furious, his look\nwould also invariably be changed.\n\nOn getting into his car, he would never fail (first) to stand up\nerect, holding on by the strap. When in the car, he would never look\nabout, nor speak hastily, nor bring one hand to the other.\n\n \"Let one but make a movement in his face,\n And the bird will rise and seek some safer place.\"\n\nApropos of this, he said, \"Here is a hen-pheasant from Shan Liang--and\nin season! and in season!\" After Tsz-lu had got it prepared, he smelt\nit thrice, and then rose up from his seat.\n\n[Footnote 22: Because, it is said, such colors were adopted in fasting\nand mourning.]\n\n[Footnote 23: Because they did not belong to the five correct colors\n(viz. green, yellow, carnation, white, and black), and were affected\nmore by females.]\n\n[Footnote 24: Since white was, as it is still, the mourning color.]\n\n[Footnote 25: The act of \"grace,\" before eating.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XI\n\n_Comparative Worth of His Disciples_\n\n\n\"The first to make progress in the Proprieties and in Music,\" said the\nMaster, \"are plain countrymen; after them, the men of higher standing.\nIf I had to employ any of them, I should stand by the former.\"\n\n\"Of those,\" said he, \"who were about me when I was in the Ch[']in and\nTs[']ai States, not one now is left to approach my door.\"\n\n\"As for Hwui,\"[26] said the Master, \"he is not one to help me on:\nthere is nothing I say but he is not well satisfied with.\"\n\n\"What a dutiful son was Min Tsz-k[']ien!\" he exclaimed. \"No one finds\noccasion to differ from what his parents and brothers have said of\nhim.\"\n\nNan Yung used to repeat three times over the lines in the Odes about\nthe white sceptre. Confucius caused his own elder brother's daughter\nto be given in marriage to him.\n\nWhen Ki K[']ang inquired which of the disciples were fond of learning,\nConfucius answered him, \"There was one Yen Hwui who was fond of it;\nbut unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he died; and now\nhis like is not to be found.\"\n\nWhen Yen Yuen died, his father, Yen Lu, begged for the Master's\ncarriage in order to get a shell for his coffin. \"Ability or no\nability,\" said the Master, \"every father still speaks of 'my son.'\nWhen my own son Li died, and the coffin for him had no shell to it, I\nknow I did not go on foot to get him one; but that was because I was,\nthough retired, in the wake of the ministers, and could not therefore\nwell do so.\"\n\nOn the death of Yen Yuen the Master exclaimed, \"Ah me! Heaven is\nruining me, Heaven is ruining me!\"\n\nOn the same occasion, his wailing for that disciple becoming excessive,\nthose who were about him said, \"Sir, this is too much!\"--\"Too much?\"\nsaid he; \"if I am not to do so for him, then--for whom else?\"\n\nThe disciples then wished for the deceased a grand funeral. The Master\ncould not on his part consent to this. They nevertheless gave him one.\nUpon this he remarked, \"He used to look upon me as if I were his\nfather. I could never, however, look on him as a son. 'Twas not my\nmistake, but yours, my children.\"\n\nTsz-lu propounded a question about ministering to the spirits of the\ndeparted. The Master replied, \"Where there is scarcely the ability to\nminister to living men, how shall there be ability to minister to the\nspirits?\" On his venturing to put a question concerning death, he\nanswered, \"Where there is scarcely any knowledge about life, how shall\nthere be any about death?\"\n\nThe disciple Min was by his side, looking affable and bland; Tsz-lu\nalso, looking careless and intrepid; and Yen Yu and Tsz-kung, firm and\nprecise. The Master was cheery. \"One like Tsz-lu there,\" said he,\n\"does not come to a natural end.\"\n\nSome persons in Lu were taking measures in regard to the Long Treasury\nHouse. Min Tsz-k[']ien observed, \"How if it were repaired on the old\nlines?\" The Master upon this remarked, \"This fellow is not a talker,\nbut when he does speak he is bound to hit the mark!\"\n\n\"There is Yu's harpsichord,\" exclaimed the Master--\"what is it doing\nat my door?\" On seeing, however, some disrespect shown to him by the\nother disciples, he added, \"Yu has got as far as the top of the hall;\nonly he has not yet entered the house.\"\n\nTsz-kung asked which was the worthier of the two--Tsz-chang or\nTsz-hia. \"The former,\" answered the Master, \"goes beyond the mark; the\nlatter falls short of it.\"\n\n\"So then Tsz-chang is the better of the two, is he?\" said he.\n\n\"To go too far,\" he replied, \"is about the same as to fall short.\"\n\nThe Chief of the Ki family was a wealthier man than the Duke of Chow\nhad been, and yet Yen Yu gathered and hoarded for him, increasing his\nwealth more and more.\n\n\"He is no follower of mine,\" said the Master. \"It would serve him\nright, my children, to sound the drum, and set upon him.\"\n\nCharacteristics of four disciples:--Tsz-kau was simple-minded; Tsang\nSi, a dullard; Tsz-chang, full of airs; Tsz-lu, rough.\n\n\"As to Hwui,\" said the Master, \"he comes near to perfection, while\nfrequently in great want. Tsz-kung does not submit to the appointments\nof Heaven; and yet his goods are increased;--he is often successful in\nhis calculations.\"\n\nTsz-chang wanted to know some marks of the naturally Good Man.\n\n\"He does not walk in others' footprints,\" said the Master; \"yet he\ndoes not get beyond the hall into the house.\"\n\nOnce the Master said, \"Because we allow that a man's words have\nsomething genuine in them, are they necessarily those of a superior\nman? or words carrying only an outward semblance and show of gravity?\"\n\nTsz-lu put a question about the practice of precepts one has heard.\nThe Master's reply was, \"In a case where there is a father or elder\nbrother still left with you, how should you practise all you hear?\"\n\nWhen, however, the same question was put to him by Yen Yu, his reply\nwas, \"Yes; do so.\"\n\nKung-si Hwa animadverted upon this to the Master. \"Tsz-lu asked you,\nsir,\" said he, \"about the practice of what one has learnt, and you\nsaid, 'There may be a father or elder brother still alive'; but when\nYen Yu asked the same question, you answered, 'Yes, do so.' I am at a\nloss to understand you, and venture to ask what you meant.\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"Yen Yu backs out of his duties; therefore I push\nhim on. Tsz-lu has forwardness enough for them both; therefore I hold\nhim back.\"\n\nOn the occasion of that time of fear in K[']wang, Yen Yuen having\nfallen behind, the Master said to him (afterwards), \"I took it for\ngranted you were a dead man.\" \"How should I dare to die,\" said he,\n\"while you, sir, still lived?\"\n\nOn Ki Tsz-jen putting to him a question anent Tsz-lu and Yen Yu, as to\nwhether they might be called \"great ministers,\" the Master answered,\n\"I had expected your question, sir, to be about something\nextraordinary, and lo! it is only about these two. Those whom we call\n'great ministers' are such as serve their prince conscientiously, and\nwho, when they cannot do so, retire. At present, as regards the two\nyou ask about, they may be called 'qualified ministers.'\"\n\n\"Well, are they then,\" he asked, \"such as will follow their leader?\"\n\n\"They would not follow him who should slay his father and his prince!\"\nwas the reply.\n\nThrough the intervention of Tsz-lu, Tsz-kau was being appointed\ngovernor of Pi.\n\n\"You are spoiling a good man's son,\" said the Master.\n\nTsz-lu rejoined, \"But he will have the people and their superiors to\ngain experience from, and there will be the altars; what need to read\nbooks? He can become a student afterwards.\"\n\n\"Here is the reason for my hatred of glib-tongued people,\" said the\nMaster.\n\nOn one occasion Tsz-lu, Tsang Sin, Yen Yu, and Kung-si Hwa were\nsitting near him. He said to them, \"Though I may be a day older than\nyou, do not (for the moment) regard me as such. While you are living\nthis unoccupied life you are saying, 'We do not become known.' Now\nsuppose some one got to know you, what then?\"\n\nTsz-lu--first to speak--at once answered, \"Give me a State of large size\nand armament, hemmed in and hampered by other larger States, the\npopulation augmented by armies and regiments, causing a dearth in it of\nfood of all kinds; give me charge of that State, and in three years'\ntime I should make a brave country of it, and let it know its place.\"\n\nThe Master smiled at him. \"Yen,\" said he, \"how would it be with you?\"\n\n\"Give me,\" said Yen, \"a territory of sixty or seventy li square, or of\nfifty or sixty square; put me in charge of that, and in three years I\nshould make the people sufficiently prosperous. As regards their\nknowledge of ceremonial or music, I should wait for superior men to\nteach them that.\"\n\n\"And with you, Kung-si, how would it be?\"\n\nThis disciple's reply was, \"I have nothing to say about my\ncapabilities for such matters; my wish is to learn. I should like to\nbe a junior assistant, in dark rob and cap, at the services of the\nancestral temple, and at the Grand Receptions of the Princes by the\nSovereign.\"\n\n\"And with you, Tsang Sin?\"\n\nThis disciple was strumming on his harpsichord, but now the twanging\nceased, he turned from the instrument, rose to his feet, and answered\nthus: \"Something different from the choice of these three.\" \"What\nharm?\" said the Master; \"I want each one of you to tell me what his\nheart is set upon.\" \"Well, then,\" said he, \"give me--in the latter\npart of spring--dressed in full spring-tide attire--in company with\nfive or six young fellows of twenty,[27] or six or seven lads under\nthat age, to do the ablutions in the I stream, enjoy a breeze in the\nrain-dance,[28] and finish up with songs on the road home.\"\n\nThe Master drew in his breath, sighed, and exclaimed, \"Ah, I take with\nyou!\"\n\nThe three other disciples having gone out, leaving Tsang Sin behind,\nthe latter said, \"What think you of the answers of those\nthree?\"--\"Well, each told me what was uppermost in his mind,\" said the\nMaster;--\"simply that.\"\n\n\"Why did you smile at Tsz-lu, sir?\"\n\n\"I smiled at him because to have the charge of a State requires due\nregard to the Rules of Propriety, and his words betrayed a lack of\nmodesty.\"\n\n\"But Yen, then--he had a State in view, had he not?\"\n\n\"I should like to be shown a territory such as he described which does\nnot amount to a State.\"\n\n\"But had not Kung-si also a State in view?\"\n\n\"What are ancestral temples and Grand Receptions, but for the feudal\nlords to take part in? If Kung-si were to become an unimportant\nassistant at these functions, who could become an important one?\"\n\n[Footnote 26: The men of virtuous life were Yen Yuen (Hwui), Min\nTsz-k[']ien, Yen Pih-niu, and Chung-kung (Yen Yung); the speakers and\ndebaters were Tsai Wo and Tsz-kung; the (capable) government servants\nwere Yen Yu and Tsz-lu; the literary students, Tsz-yu and Tsz-hia.]\n\n[Footnote 27: Lit., capped ones. At twenty they underwent the ceremony\nof capping, and were considered men.]\n\n[Footnote 28: I.e., before the altars, where offerings were placed\nwith prayer for rain. A religious dance.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XII\n\n_The Master's Answers--Philanthropy--Friendships_\n\n\nYen yuen was asking about man's proper regard for his fellow-man. The\nMaster said to him, \"Self-control, and a habit of falling back upon\npropriety, virtually effect it. Let these conditions be fulfilled for\none day, and every one round will betake himself to the duty. Is it to\nbegin in one's self, or think you, indeed! it is to begin in others?\"\n\n\"I wanted you to be good enough,\" said Yen Yuen, \"to give me a brief\nsynopsis of it.\"\n\nThen said the Master, \"Without Propriety use not your eyes; without it\nuse not your ears, nor your tongue, nor a limb of your body.\"\n\n\"I may be lacking in diligence,\" said Yen Yuen, \"but with your favor I\nwill endeavor to carry out this advice.\"\n\nChung-kung asked about man's proper regard for his fellows.\n\nTo him the Master replied thus: \"When you go forth from your door, be\nas if you were meeting some guest of importance. When you are making\nuse of the common people (for State purposes), be as if you were\ntaking part in a great religious function. Do not set before others\nwhat you do not desire yourself. Let there be no resentful feelings\nagainst you when you are away in the country, and none when at home.\"\n\n\"I may lack diligence,\" said Chung-kung, \"but with your favor I will\nendeavor to carry out this advice.\"\n\nSz-ma Niu asked the like question. The answer he received was this:\n\"The words of the man who has a proper regard for his fellows are\nuttered with difficulty.\"\n\n\"'His words--uttered with difficulty?'\" he echoed, in surprise. \"Is\nthat what is meant by proper regard for one's fellow-creatures?\"\n\n\"Where there is difficulty in doing,\" the Master replied, \"will there\nnot be some difficulty in utterance?\"\n\nThe same disciple put a question about the \"superior man.\" \"Superior\nmen,\" he replied, \"are free from trouble and apprehension.\"\n\n\"'Free from trouble and apprehension!'\" said he. \"Does that make them\n'superior men'?\"\n\nThe Master added, \"Where there is found, upon introspection, to be no\nchronic disease, how shall there be any trouble? how shall there be\nany apprehension?\"\n\nThe same disciple, being in trouble, remarked, \"I am alone in having\nno brother, while all else have theirs--younger or elder.\"\n\nTsz-hia said to him, \"I have heard this: 'Death and life have destined\ntimes; wealth and honors rest with Heaven. Let the superior man keep\nwatch over himself without ceasing, showing deference to others, with\npropriety of manners--and all within the four seas will be his\nbrethren. How should he be distressed for lack of brothers!'\"[29]\n\nTsz-chang asked what sort of man might be termed \"enlightened.\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"That man with whom drenching slander and cutting\ncalumny gain no currency may well be called enlightened. Ay, he with\nwhom such things make no way may well be called enlightened in the\nextreme.\"\n\nTsz-kung put a question relative to government. In reply the Master\nmentioned three essentials:--sufficient food, sufficient armament, and\nthe people's confidence.\n\n\"But,\" said the disciple, \"if you cannot really have all three, and\none has to be given up, which would you give up first?\"\n\n\"The armament,\" he replied.\n\n\"And if you are obliged to give up one of the remaining two, which\nwould it be?\"\n\n\"The food,\" said he. \"Death has been the portion of all men from of\nold. Without the people's trust nothing can stand.\"\n\nKih Tsz-shing once said, \"Give me the inborn qualities of a gentleman,\nand I want no more. How are such to come from book-learning?\"\n\nTsz-kung exclaimed, \"Ah! sir, I regret to hear such words from you. A\ngentleman!--But 'a team of four can ne'er o'ertake the tongue!'\nLiterary accomplishments are much the same as inborn qualities, and\ninborn qualities as literary accomplishments. A tiger's or leopard's\nskin without the hair might be a dog's or sheep's when so made bare.\"\n\nDuke Ngai was consulting Yu Joh. Said he, \"It is a year of dearth, and\nthere is an insufficiency for Ways and Means--what am I to do?\"\n\n\"Why not apply the Tithing Statute?\" said the minister.\n\n\"But two tithings would not be enough for my purposes,\" said the duke;\n\"what would be the good of applying the Statute?\"\n\nThe minister replied, \"So long as the people have enough left for\nthemselves, who of them will allow their prince to be without enough?\nBut--when the people have not enough, who will allow their prince all\nthat he wants?\"\n\nTsz-chang was asking how the standard of virtue was to be raised, and\nhow to discern what was illusory or misleading. The Master's answer\nwas, \"Give a foremost place to honesty and faithfulness, and tread the\npath of righteousness, and you will raise the standard of virtue. As\nto discerning what is illusory, here is an example of an\nillusion:--Whom you love you wish to live; whom you hate you wish to\ndie. To have wished the same person to live and also to be dead--there\nis an illusion for you.\"\n\nDuke King of Ts[']i consulted Confucius about government. His answer\nwas, \"Let a prince be a prince, and ministers be ministers; let\nfathers be fathers, and sons be sons.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed the duke; \"truly if a prince fail to be a prince,\nand ministers to be ministers, and if fathers be not fathers, and sons\nnot sons, then, even though I may have my allowance of grain, should I\never be able to relish it?\"\n\n\"The man to decide a cause with half a word,\" exclaimed the Master,\n\"is Tsz-lu!\"\n\nTsz-lu never let a night pass between promise and performance.\n\n\"In hearing causes, I am like other men,\" said the Master. \"The great\npoint is--to prevent litigation.\"\n\nTsz-chang having raised some question about government, the Master\nsaid to him, \"In the settlement of its principles be unwearied; in its\nadministration--see to that loyally.\"\n\n\"The man of wide research,\" said he, \"who also restrains himself by\nthe Rules of Propriety, is not likely to transgress.\"\n\nAgain, \"The noble-minded man makes the most of others' good qualities,\nnot the worst of their bad ones. Men of small mind do the reverse of\nthis.\"\n\nKi K[']ang was consulting him about the direction of public affairs.\nConfucius answered him, \"A director should be himself correct. If you,\nsir, as a leader show correctness, who will dare not to be correct?\"\n\nKi K[']ang, being much troubled on account of robbers abroad,\nconsulted Confucius on the matter. He received this reply: \"If you,\nsir, were not covetous, neither would they steal, even were you to\nbribe them to do so.\"\n\nKi K[']ang, when consulting Confucius about the government, said,\n\"Suppose I were to put to death the disorderly for the better\nencouragement of the orderly--what say you to that?\"\n\n\"Sir,\" replied Confucius, \"in the administration of government why\nresort to capital punishment? Covet what is good, and the people will\nbe good. The virtue of the noble-minded man is as the wind, and that\nof inferior men as grass; the grass must bend, when the wind blows\nupon it.\"\n\nTsz-chang asked how otherwise he would describe the learned official\nwho might be termed influential.\n\n\"What, I wonder, do you mean by one who is influential?\" said the\nMaster.\n\n\"I mean,\" replied the disciple, \"one who is sure to have a reputation\nthroughout the country, as well as at home.\"\n\n\"That,\" said the Master, \"is reputation, not influence. The influential\nman, then, if he be one who is genuinely straightforward and loves what\nis just and right, a discriminator of men's words, and an observer of\ntheir looks, and in honor careful to prefer others to himself--will\ncertainly have influence, both throughout the country and at home. The\nman of mere reputation, on the other hand, who speciously affects\nphilanthropy, though in his way of procedure he acts contrary to it,\nwhile yet quite evidently engrossed with that virtue--will certainly\nhave reputation, both in the country and at home.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i, strolling with him over the ground below the place of the\nrain-dance, said to him, \"I venture to ask how to raise the standard\nof virtue, how to reform dissolute habits, and how to discern what is\nillusory?\"\n\n\"Ah! a good question indeed!\" he exclaimed. \"Well, is not putting duty\nfirst, and success second, a way of raising the standard of virtue?\nAnd is not attacking the evil in one's self, and not the evil which is\nin others, a way of reforming dissolute habits? And as to illusions,\nis not one morning's fit of anger, causing a man to forget himself,\nand even involving in the consequences those who are near and dear to\nhim--is not that an illusion?\"\n\nThe same disciple asked him what was meant by \"a right regard for\none's fellow-creatures.\" He replied, \"It is love to man.\"\n\nAsked by him again what was meant by wisdom, he replied, \"It is\nknowledge of man.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i did not quite grasp his meaning.\n\nThe Master went on to say, \"Lift up the straight, set aside the\ncrooked, so can you make the crooked straight.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i left him, and meeting with Tsz-hia he said, \"I had an\ninterview just now with the Master, and I asked him what wisdom was.\nIn his answer he said, 'Lift up the straight, set aside the crooked,\nand so can you make the crooked straight.' What was his meaning?\"\n\n\"Ah! words rich in meaning, those,\" said the other. \"When Shun was\nemperor, and was selecting his men from among the multitude, he\n'lifted up' Kau-yau; and men devoid of right feelings towards their\nkind went far away. And when T[']ang was emperor, and chose out his\nmen from the crowd, he 'lifted up' I-yin--with the same result.\"\n\nTsz-kung was consulting him about a friend. \"Speak to him frankly, and\nrespectfully,\" said the Master, \"and gently lead him on. If you do not\nsucceed, then stop; do not submit yourself to indignity.\"\n\nThe learned Tsang observed, \"In the society of books the 'superior\nman' collects his friends; in the society of his friends he is\nfurthering good-will among men.\"\n\n[Footnote 29: From Confucius, it is generally thought.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XIII\n\n_Answers on the Art of Governing--Consistency_\n\n\nTsz-lu was asking about government. \"Lead the way in it,\" said the\nMaster, \"and work hard at it.\"\n\nRequested to say more, he added, \"And do not tire of it.\"\n\nChung-kung, on being made first minister to the Chief of the Ki\nfamily, consulted the Master about government, and to him he said,\n\"Let the heads of offices be heads. Excuse small faults. Promote men\nof sagacity and talent.\"\n\n\"But,\" he asked, \"how am I to know the sagacious and talented, before\npromoting them?\"\n\n\"Promote those whom you do know,\" said the Master.\n\n\"As to those of whom you are uncertain, will others omit to notice\nthem?\"\n\nTsz-lu said to the Master, \"As the prince of Wei, sir, has been\nwaiting for you to act for him in his government, what is it your\nintention to take in hand first?\"\n\n\"One thing of necessity,\" he answered--\"the rectification of terms.\"\n\n\"That!\" exclaimed Tsz-lu. \"How far away you are, sir! Why such\nrectification?\"\n\n\"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!\" rejoined the Master. \"A gentleman\nwould be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not\nunderstand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and\nif language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when\ndeeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when\nthis is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if\nthese last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or\nfoot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is\nfitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon\nit. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly\nirregular--and that is the sum of the matter.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i requested that he might learn something of husbandry. \"For\nthat,\" said the Master, \"I am not equal to an old husbandman.\" Might\nhe then learn something of gardening? he asked. \"I am not equal to an\nold gardener,\" was the reply.\n\n\"A man of little mind, that!\" said the Master, when Fan Ch[']i had\ngone out. \"Let a man who is set over the people love propriety, and\nthey will not presume to be disrespectful. Let him be a lover of\nrighteousness, and they will not presume to be aught but submissive.\nLet him love faithfulness and truth, and they will not presume not to\nlend him their hearty assistance. Ah, if all this only were so, the\npeople from all sides would come to such a one, carrying their\nchildren on their backs. What need to turn his hand to husbandry?\n\n\"Though a man,\" said he, \"could hum through the Odes--the three\nhundred--yet should show himself unskilled when given some\nadministrative work to do for his country; though he might know much\nof that other lore, yet if, when sent on a mission to any quarter, he\ncould answer no question personally and unaided, what after all is he\ngood for?\n\n\"Let a leader,\" said he, \"show rectitude in his own personal character,\nand even without directions from him things will go well. If he be not\npersonally upright, his directions will not be complied with.\"\n\nOnce he made the remark, \"The governments of Lu and of Wei are in\nbrotherhood.\"\n\nOf King, a son of the Duke of Wei, he observed that \"he managed his\nhousehold matters well. On his coming into possession, he thought,\n'What a strange conglomeration!'--Coming to possess a little more, it\nwas, 'Strange, such a result!' And when he became wealthy, 'Strange,\nsuch elegance!'\"\n\nThe Master was on a journey to Wei, and Yen Yu was driving him. \"What\nmultitudes of people!\" he exclaimed. Yen Yu asked him, \"Seeing they\nare so numerous, what more would you do for them?\"\n\n\"Enrich them,\" replied the Master.\n\n\"And after enriching them, what more would you do for them?\"\n\n\"Instruct them.\"\n\n\"Were any one of our princes to employ me,\" he said, \"after a\ntwelvemonth I might have made some tolerable progress; but give me\nthree years, and my work should be done.\"\n\nAgain, \"How true is that saying, 'Let good men have the management of\na country for a century, and they would be adequate to cope with\nevil-doers, and thus do away with capital punishments.'\"\n\nAgain, \"Suppose the ruler to possess true kingly qualities, then\nsurely after one generation there would be good-will among men.\"\n\nAgain, \"Let a ruler but see to his own rectitude, and what trouble\nwill he then have in the work before him? If he be unable to rectify\nhimself, how is he to rectify others?\"\n\nOnce when Yen Yu was leaving the Court, the Master accosted him. \"Why\nso late?\" he asked. \"Busy with legislation,\" Yen replied. \"The details\nof it,\" suggested the Master; \"had it been legislation, I should have\nbeen there to hear it, even though I am not in office.\"\n\nDuke Ting asked if there were one sentence which, if acted upon, might\nhave the effect of making a country prosperous.\n\nConfucius answered, \"A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so much\nas that. But there is a proverb people use which says, 'To play the\nprince is hard, to play the minister not easy.' Assuming that it is\nunderstood that 'to play the prince is hard,' would it not be probable\nthat with that one sentence the country should be made to prosper?\"\n\n\"Is there, then,\" he asked, \"one sentence which, if acted upon, would\nhave the effect of ruining a country?\"\n\nConfucius again replied, \"A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so\nmuch as that. But there is a proverb men have which says, 'Not gladly\nwould I play the prince, unless my words were ne'er withstood.'\nAssuming that the words were good, and that none withstood them, would\nnot that also be good? But assuming that they were not good, and yet\nnone withstood them, would it not be probable that with that one\nsaying he would work his country's ruin?\"\n\nWhen the Duke of Sheh consulted him about government, he replied,\n\"Where the near are gratified, the war will follow.\"\n\nWhen Tsz-hia became governor of Kue-fu, and consulted him about\ngovernment, he answered, \"Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look\nat trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not\nbe far-reaching; and if you regard trivial advantages you will not\nsuccessfully deal with important affairs.\"\n\nThe Duke of Sheh in a conversation with Confucius said, \"There are\nsome straightforward persons in my neighborhood. If a father has\nstolen a sheep, the son will give evidence against him.\"\n\n\"Straightforward people in my neighborhood are different from those,\"\nsaid Confucius. \"The father will hold a thing secret on his son's\nbehalf, and the son does the same for his father. They are on their\nway to becoming straightforward.\"\n\nFan Ch[']i was asking him about duty to one's fellow-men. \"Be\ncourteous,\" he replied, \"in your private sphere; be serious in any\nduty you take in hand to do; be leal-hearted in your intercourse with\nothers. Even though you were to go amongst the wild tribes, it would\nnot be right for you to neglect these duties.\"\n\nIn answer to Tsz-kung, who asked, \"how he would characterize one who\ncould fitly be called 'learned official,'\" the Master said, \"He may be\nso-called who in his private life is affected with a sense of his own\nunworthiness, and who, when sent on a mission to any quarter of the\nempire, would not disgrace his prince's commands.\"\n\n\"May I presume,\" said his questioner, \"to ask what sort you would put\nnext to such?\"\n\n\"Him who is spoken of by his kinsmen as a dutiful son, and whom the\nfolks of his neighborhood call 'good brother.'\"\n\n\"May I still venture to ask whom you would place next in order?\"\n\n\"Such as are sure to be true to their word, and effective in their\nwork--who are given to hammering, as it were, upon one note--of\ninferior calibre indeed, but fit enough, I think, to be ranked next.\"\n\n\"How would you describe those who are at present in the government\nservice?\"\n\n\"Ugh! mere peck and panier men!--not worth taking into the reckoning.\"\n\nOnce he remarked, \"If I cannot get _via media_ men to impart\ninstruction to, then I must of course take the impetuous and\nundisciplined! The impetuous ones will at least go forward and lay\nhold on things; and the undisciplined have at least something in them\nwhich needs to be brought out.\"\n\n\"The Southerners,\" said he, \"have the proverb, 'The man who sticks not\nto rule will never make a charm-worker or a medical man.'\nGood!--'Whoever is intermittent in his practise of virtue will live to\nbe ashamed of it.' Without prognostication,\" he added, \"that will\nindeed be so.\"\n\n\"The nobler-minded man,\" he remarked, \"will be agreeable even when he\ndisagrees; the small-minded man will agree and be disagreeable.\"\n\nTsz-kung was consulting him, and asked, \"What say you of a person who\nwas liked by all in his village?\"\n\n\"That will scarcely do,\" he answered.\n\n\"What, then, if they all disliked him?\"\n\n\"That, too,\" said he, \"is scarcely enough. Better if he were liked by\nthe good folk in the village, and disliked by the bad.\"\n\n\"The superior man,\" he once observed, \"is easy to serve, but difficult\nto please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and\nyou will fail. Also, when such a one employs others, he uses them\naccording to their capacity. The inferior man is, on the other hand,\ndifficult to serve, but easy to please. Try to please him by the\nadoption of wrong principles, and you will succeed. And when he\nemploys others he requires them to be fully prepared for everything.\"\n\nAgain, \"The superior man can be high without being haughty. The\ninferior man can be haughty if not high.\"\n\n\"The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to speak,\"\nsaid he once, \"are approximating towards their duty to their\nfellow-men.\"\n\nTsz-lu asked how he would characterize one who might fitly be called\nan educated gentleman. The master replied, \"He who can properly be\nso-called will have in him a seriousness of purpose, a habit of\ncontrolling himself, and an agreeableness of manner: among his friends\nand associates the seriousness and the self-control, and among his\nbrethren the agreeableness of manner.\"\n\n\"Let good and able men discipline the people for seven years,\" said\nthe Master, \"and after that they may do to go to war.\"\n\nBut, said he, \"To lead an undisciplined people to war--that I call\nthrowing them away.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XIV\n\n_Good and Bad Government--Miscellaneous Sayings_\n\n\nYuen Sz asked what might be considered to bring shame on one.\n\n\"Pay,\" said the Master; \"pay--ever looking to that, whether the\ncountry be well or badly governed.\"\n\n\"When imperiousness, boastfulness, resentments, and covetousness cease\nto prevail among the people, may it be considered that mutual\ngood-will has been effected?\" To this question the Master replied, \"A\nhard thing overcome, it may be considered. But as to the mutual\ngood-will--I cannot tell.\"\n\n\"Learned officials,\" said he, \"who hanker after a home life, are not\nworthy of being esteemed as such.\"\n\nAgain, \"In a country under good government, speak boldly, act boldly.\nWhen the land is ill-governed, though you act boldly, let your words\nbe moderate.\"\n\nAgain, \"Men of virtue will needs be men of words--will speak out--but\nmen of words are not necessarily men of virtue. They who care for\ntheir fellow-men will needs be bold, but the bold may not necessarily\nbe such as care for their fellow-men.\"\n\nNan-kung Kwoh, who was consulting Confucius, observed respecting I,\nthe skilful archer, and Ngau, who could propel a boat on dry land,\nthat neither of them died a natural death; while Yu and Tsih, who with\ntheir own hands had labored at husbandry, came to wield imperial sway.\n\nThe Master gave him no reply. But when the speaker had gone out he\nexclaimed, \"A superior man, that! A man who values virtue, that!\"\n\n\"There have been noble-minded men,\" said he, \"who yet were wanting in\nphilanthropy; but never has there been a small-minded man who had\nphilanthropy in him.\"\n\nHe asked, \"Can any one refuse to toil for those he loves? Can any one\nrefuse to exhort, who is true-hearted?\"\n\nSpeaking of the preparation of Government Notifications in his day he\nsaid, \"P[']i would draw up a rough sketch of what was to be said; the\nShishuh then looked it carefully through and put it into proper shape;\nTsz-yu next, who was master of the ceremonial of State intercourse,\nimproved and adorned its phrases; and Tsz-ch[']an of Tung-li added his\nscholarly embellishments thereto.\"\n\nTo some one who asked his opinion of the last-named, he said, \"He was\na kind-hearted man.\" Asked what he thought of Tsz-si, he exclaimed,\n\"Alas for him! alas for him!\"--Asked again about Kwan Chung, his\nanswer was, \"As to him, he once seized the town of P[']in with its\nthree hundred families from the Chief of the Pih clan, who, afterwards\nreduced to living upon coarse rice, with all his teeth gone, never\nuttered a word of complaint.\"\n\n\"It is no light thing,\" said he, \"to endure poverty uncomplainingly;\nand a difficult thing to bear wealth without becoming arrogant.\"\n\nRespecting Mang Kung-ch[']oh, he said that, while he was fitted for\nsomething better than the post of chief officer in the Chau or Wei\nfamilies, he was not competent to act as minister in small States like\nthose of T[']ang or Sieh.\n\nTsz-lu asked how he would describe a perfect man. He replied, \"Let a\nman have the sagacity of Tsang Wu-chung, the freedom from covetousness\nof Kung-ch[']oh, the boldness of Chwang of P[']in, and the attainments\nin polite arts of Yen Yu; and gift him further with the graces taught\nby the 'Books of Rites' and 'Music'--then he may be considered a\nperfect man. But,\" said he, \"what need of such in these days? The man\nthat may be regarded as perfect now is the one who, seeing some\nadvantage to himself, is mindful of righteousness; who, seeing danger,\nrisks his life; and who, if bound by some covenant of long standing,\nnever forgets its conditions as life goes on.\"\n\nRespecting Kung-shuh Wan, the Master inquired of Kung-ming Kia,\nsaying, \"Is it true that your master never speaks, never laughs, never\ntakes aught from others?\"\n\n\"Those who told you that of him,\" said he, \"have gone too far. My\nmaster speaks when there is occasion to do so, and men are not\nsurfeited with his speaking. When there is occasion to be merry too,\nhe will laugh, but men have never over much of his laughing. And\nwhenever it is just and right to take things from others, he will take\nthem, but never so as to allow men to think him burdensome.\" \"Is that\nthe case with him?\" said the Master. \"Can it be so?\"\n\nRespecting Tsang Wu-chung the Master said, \"When he sought from Lu the\nappointment of a successor to him, and for this object held on to his\npossession of the fortified city of Fang--if you say he was not then\nusing constraint towards his prince, I must refuse to believe it.\"\n\nDuke Wan of Tsin he characterized as \"artful but not upright\"; and\nDuke Hwan of Ts'i as \"upright but not artful.\"\n\nTsz-lu remarked, \"When Duke Hwan caused his brother Kiu to be put to\ndeath, Shau Hwuh committed suicide, but Kwan Chung did not. I should\nsay he was not a man who had much good-will in him--eh?\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"When Duke Hwan held a great gathering of the\nfeudal lords, dispensing with military equipage, it was owing to Kwan\nChung's energy that such an event was brought about. Match such\ngood-will as that--match it if you can.\"\n\nTsz-kung then spoke up. \"But was not Kwan Chung wanting in good-will?\nHe could not give up his life when Duke Hwan caused his brother to be\nput to death. Besides, he became the duke's counsellor.\"\n\n\"And in acting as his counsellor put him at the head of all the feudal\nlords,\" said the Master, \"and unified and reformed the whole empire;\nand the people, even to this day, reap benefit from what he did. Had\nit not been for him we should have been going about with locks unkempt\nand buttoning our jackets (like barbarians) on the left. Would you\nsuppose that he should show the same sort of attachment as exists\nbetween a poor yokel and his one wife--that he would asphyxiate\nhimself in some sewer, leaving no one the wiser?\"\n\nKung-shuh Wan's steward, who became the high officer Sien, went up\naccompanied by Wan to the prince's hall of audience.\n\nWhen Confucius heard of this he remarked, \"He may well be esteemed a\n'Wan.'\"\n\nThe Master having made some reference to the lawless ways of Duke Ling\nof Wei, Ki K[']ang said to him, \"If he be like that, how is it he does\nnot ruin his position?\"\n\nConfucius answered, \"The Chung-shuh, Yu, is charged with the\nentertainment of visitors and strangers; the priest T[']o has charge\nof the ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Kia has the control of the army\nand its divisions:--with men such as those, how should he come to ruin?\"\n\nHe once remarked, \"He who is unblushing in his words will with\ndifficulty substantiate them.\"\n\nCh[']in Shing had slain Duke Kien. Hearing of this, Confucius, after\nperforming his ablutions, went to Court and announced the news to Duke\nNgai, saying, \"Ch[']in Shing has slain his prince. May I request that\nyou proceed against him?\"\n\n\"Inform the Chiefs of the Three Families,\" said the duke.\n\nSoliloquizing upon this, Confucius said, \"Since he uses me to back his\nministers,[30] I did not dare not to announce the matter to him; and\nnow he says, 'Inform the Three Chiefs.'\"\n\nHe went to the Three Chiefs and informed them, but nothing could be\ndone. Whereupon again he said, \"Since he uses me to back his\nministers, I did not dare not to announce the matter.\"\n\nTsz-lu was questioning him as to how he should serve his prince.\n\"Deceive him not, but reprove him,\" he answered.\n\n\"The minds of superior men,\" he observed, \"trend upwards; those of\ninferior men trend downwards.\"\n\nAgain, \"Students of old fixed their eyes upon themselves: now they\nlearn with their eyes upon others.\"\n\nKue Pih-yuh despatched a man with a message to Confucius. Confucius\ngave him a seat, and among other inquiries he asked, \"How is your\nmaster managing?\" \"My master,\" he replied, \"has a great wish to be\nseldom at fault, and as yet he cannot manage it.\"\n\n\"What a messenger!\" exclaimed he, admiringly, when the man went out.\n\"What a messenger!\"\n\n\"When not occupying the office,\" was a remark of his, \"devise not the\npolicy.\"\n\nThe Learned Tsang used to say, \"The thoughts of the 'superior man' do\nnot wander from his own office.\"\n\n\"Superior men,\" said the Master, \"are modest in their words, profuse\nin their deeds.\"\n\nAgain, \"There are three attainments of the superior man which are\nbeyond me--the being sympathetic without anxiety, wise without\nscepticism, brave without fear.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" said Tsz-kung, \"that is what you say of yourself.\"\n\nWhenever Tsz-kung drew comparisons from others, the Master would say,\n\"Ah, how wise and great you must have become! Now I have no time to do\nthat.\"\n\nAgain, \"My great concern is, not that men do not know me, but that\nthey cannot.\"\n\nAgain, \"If a man refrain from making preparations against his being\nimposed upon, and from counting upon others' want of good faith\ntowards him, while he is foremost to perceive what is passing--surely\nthat is a wise and good man.\"\n\nWi-shang Mau accosted Confucius, saying, \"Kiu, how comes it that you\nmanage to go perching and roosting in this way? Is it not because you\nshow yourself so smart a speaker, now?\"\n\n\"I should not dare do that,\" said Confucius. \"'Tis that I am sick of\nmen's immovableness and deafness to reason.\"\n\n\"In a well-bred horse,\" said he, \"what one admires is not its speed,\nbut its good points.\"\n\nSome one asked, \"What say you of the remark, 'Requite enmity with\nkindness'?\"\n\n\"How then,\" he answered, \"would you requite kindness? Requite enmity\nwith straightforwardness, and kindness with kindness.\"\n\n\"Ah! no one knows me!\" he once exclaimed.\n\n\"Sir,\" said Tsz-kung, \"how comes it to pass that no one knows you?\"\n\n\"While I murmur not against Heaven,\" continued the Master, \"nor cavil\nat men; while I stoop to learn and aspire to penetrate into things\nthat are high; yet 'tis Heaven alone knows what I am.\"\n\nLiau, a kinsman of the duke, having laid a complaint against Tsz-lu\nbefore Ki K[']ang, an officer came to Confucius to inform him of the\nfact, and he added, \"My lord is certainly having his mind poisoned by\nhis kinsman Liau, but through my influence perhaps we may yet manage\nto see him exposed in the market-place or the Court.\"\n\n\"If right principles are to have their course, it is so destined,\"\nsaid the Master; \"if they are not to have their course, it is so\ndestined. What can Liau do against Destiny?\"\n\n\"There are worthy men,\" said the Master, \"fleeing from the world; some\nfrom their district; some from the sight of men's looks; some from the\nlanguage they hear.\"\n\n\"The men who have risen from their posts and withdrawn in this manner\nare seven in number.\"\n\nTsz-lu, having lodged overnight in Shih-mun, was accosted by the\ngate-keeper in the morning. \"Where from?\" he asked. \"From Confucius,\"\nTsz-lu responded. \"That is the man,\" said he, \"who knows things are\nnot up to the mark, and is making some ado about them, is it not?\"\n\nWhen the Master was in Wei, he was once pounding on the musical stone,\nwhen a man with a basket of straw crossed his threshold, and\nexclaimed, \"Ah, there is a heart that feels! Aye, drub the stone!\"\nAfter which he added, \"How vulgar! how he hammers away on one\nnote!--and no one knows him, and he gives up, and all is over!\n\n 'Be it deep, our skirts we'll raise to the waist,\n --Or shallow, then up to the knee.'\"\n\n\"What determination!\" said the Master. \"Yet it was not hard to do.\"\n\nTsz-chang once said to him, \"In the 'Book of the Annals' it is stated\nthat while Kau-tsung was in the Mourning Shed he spent the three years\nwithout speaking. What is meant by that?\"\n\n\"Why must you name Kau-tsung?\" said the Master. \"It was so with all\nother ancient sovereigns: when one of them died, the heads of every\ndepartment agreed between themselves that they should give ear for\nthree years to the Prime Minister.\"\n\n\"When their betters love the Rules, then the folk are easy tools,\" was\na saying of the Master.\n\nTsz-lu having asked what made a \"superior man,\" he answered,\n\"Self-culture, with a view to becoming seriously-minded.\"\n\n\"Nothing more than that?\" said he.\n\n\"Self-culture with a view to the greater satisfaction of others,\"\nadded the Master.\n\n\"That, and yet no more?\"\n\n\"Self-culture with a view to the greater satisfaction of all the clans\nand classes,\" he again added. \"Self-culture for the sake of all--a\nresult that, that would almost put Yau and Shun into the shade!\"\n\nTo Yuen Jang,[31] who was sitting waiting for him in a squatting\n(disrespectful) posture, the Master delivered himself as follows: \"The\nman who in his youth could show no humility or subordination, who in\nhis prime misses his opportunity, and who when old age comes upon him\nwill not die--that man is a miscreant.\" And he tapped him on the shin\nwith his staff.\n\nSome one asked about his attendant--a youth from the village of\nKiueh--whether he was one who improved. He replied, \"I note that he\nseats himself in the places reserved for his betters, and that when he\nis walking he keeps abreast with his seniors. He is not one of those\nwho care for improvement: he wants to be a man all at once.\"\n\n[Footnote 30: Confucius had now retired from office, and this incident\noccurred only two years before his death.]\n\n[Footnote 31: It is a habit with the Chinese, when a number are out\nwalking together, for the eldest to go first, the others pairing off\naccording to their age. It is a custom much older than the time of\nConfucius.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XV\n\n_Practical Wisdom--Reciprocity the Rule of Life_\n\n\nDuke Ling of Wei was consulting Confucius about army arrangements. His\nanswer was, \"Had you asked me about such things as temple requisites,\nI have learnt that business, but I have not yet studied military\nmatters.\" And he followed up this reply by leaving on the following day.\n\nAfter this, during his residence in the State of Ch[']in, his\nfollowers, owing to a stoppage of food supply, became so weak and ill\nthat not one of them could stand. Tsz-lu, with indignation pictured on\nhis countenance, exclaimed, \"And is a gentleman to suffer starvation?\"\n\n\"A gentleman,\" replied the Master, \"will endure it unmoved, but a\ncommon person breaks out into excesses under it.\"\n\nAddressing Tsz-kung, the Master said, \"You regard me as one who\nstudies and stores up in his mind a multiplicity of things--do you\nnot?\"--\"I do,\" he replied; \"is it not so?\"--\"Not at all. I have one\nidea--one cord on which to string all.\"\n\nTo Tsz-lu he remarked, \"They who know Virtue are rare.\"\n\n\"If you would know one who without effort ruled well, was not Shun\nsuch a one? What did he indeed do? He bore himself with reverent\ndignity and undeviatingly 'faced the south,' and that was all.\"\n\nTsz-chang was consulting him about making way in life. He answered,\n\"Be true and honest in all you say, and seriously earnest in all you\ndo, and then, even if your country be one inhabited by barbarians,\nSouth or North, you will make your way. If you do not show yourself\nthus in word and deed how should you succeed, even in your own\ndistrict or neighborhood?--When you are afoot, let these two counsels\nbe two companions preceding you, yourself viewing them from behind;\nwhen you drive, have them in view as on the yoke of your carriage.\nThen may you make your way.\"\n\nTsz-chang wrote them on the two ends of his cincture.\n\n\"Straight was the course of the Annalist Yu,\" said the Master--\"aye,\nstraight as an arrow flies; were the country well governed or ill\ngoverned, his was an arrow-like course.\n\n\"A man of masterly mind, too, is Kue Pih-yuh! When the land is being\nrightly governed he will serve; when it is under bad government he is\napt to recoil, and brood.\"\n\n\"Not to speak to a man,\" said he, \"to whom you ought to speak, is to\nlose your man; to speak to one to whom you ought not to speak is to\nlose your words. Those who are wise will not lose their man, nor yet\ntheir words.\"\n\nAgain, \"The scholar whose heart is in his work, and who is\nphilanthropic, seeks not to gain a livelihood by any means that will\ndo harm to his philanthropy. There have been men who have destroyed\ntheir own lives in the endeavor to bring that virtue in them to\nperfection.\"\n\nTsz-kung asked how to become philanthropic. The Master answered him\nthus: \"A workman who wants to do his work well must first sharpen his\ntools. In whatever land you live, serve under some wise and good man\namong those in high office, and make friends with the more humane of\nits men of education.\"\n\nYen Yuen consulted him on the management of a country. He answered:--\n\n\"Go by the Hia Calendar. Have the State carriages like those of the\nYin princes. Wear the Chow cap. For your music let that of Shun be\nused for the posturers. Put away the songs of Ch[']ing, and remove far\nfrom you men of artful speech: the Ch[']ing songs are immodest, and\nartful talkers are dangerous.\"\n\nOther sayings of the Master:--\n\n\"They who care not for the morrow will the sooner have their sorrow.\n\n\"Ah, 'tis hopeless! I have not yet met with the man who loves Virtue\nas he loves Beauty.\n\n\"Was not Tsang Wan like one who surreptitiously came by the post he\nheld? He knew the worth of Hwui of Liu-hia, and could not stand in his\npresence.\n\n\"Be generous yourself, and exact little from others; then you banish\ncomplaints.\n\n\"With one who does not come to me inquiring 'What of this?' and 'What\nof that?' I never can ask 'What of this?' and give him up.\n\n\"If a number of students are all day together, and in their\nconversation never approach the subject of righteousness, but are fond\nmerely of giving currency to smart little sayings, they are difficult\nindeed to manage.\n\n\"When the 'superior man' regards righteousness as the thing material,\ngives operation to it according to the Rules of Propriety, lets it\nissue in humility, and become complete in sincerity--there indeed is\nyour superior man!\n\n\"The trouble of the superior man will be his own want of ability: it\nwill be no trouble to him that others do not know him.\n\n\"Such a man thinks it hard to end his days and leave a name to be no\nlonger named.\n\n\"The superior man is exacting of himself; the common man is exacting\nof others.\n\n\"A superior man has self-respect, and does not strive; is sociable,\nyet no party man.\n\n\"He does not promote a man because of his words, or pass over the\nwords because of the man.\"\n\nTsz-kung put to him the question, \"Is there one word upon which the\nwhole life may proceed?\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"Is not Reciprocity such a word?--what you do not\nyourself desire, do not put before others.\"\n\n\"So far as I have to do with others, whom do I over-censure? whom do I\nover-praise? If there be something in them that looks very\npraiseworthy, that something I put to the test. I would have the men\nof the present day to walk in the straight path whereby those of the\nThree Dynasties have walked.\n\n\"I have arrived as it were at the annalist's blank page.--Once he who\nhad a horse would lend it to another to mount; now, alas! it is not so.\n\n\"Artful speech is the confusion of Virtue. Impatience over little\nthings introduces confusion into great schemes.\n\n\"What is disliked by the masses needs inquiring into; so also does\nthat which they have a preference for.\n\n\"A man may give breadth to his principles: it is not principles (in\nthemselves) that give breadth to the man.\n\n\"Not to retract after committing an error may itself be called error.\n\n\"If I have passed the whole day without food and the whole night\nwithout sleep, occupied with my thoughts, it profits me nothing: I\nwere better engaged in learning.\n\n\"The superior man deliberates upon how he may walk in truth, not upon\nwhat he may eat. The farmer may plough, and be on the way to want: the\nstudent learns, and is on his way to emolument. To live a right life\nis the concern of men of nobler minds: poverty gives them none.\n\n\"Whatsoever the intellect may attain to, unless the humanity within is\npowerful enough to keep guard over it, is assuredly lost, even though\nit be gained.\n\n\"If there be intellectual attainments, and the humanity within is\npowerful enough to keep guard over them, yet, unless (in a ruler)\nthere be dignity in his rule, the people will fail to show him respect.\n\n\"Again, given the intellectual attainments, and humanity sufficient to\nkeep watch over them, and also dignity in ruling, yet if his movements\nbe not in accordance with the Rules of Propriety, he is not yet fully\nqualified.\n\n\"The superior man may not be conversant with petty details, and yet\nmay have important matters put into his hands. The inferior man may\nnot be charged with important matters, yet may be conversant with the\npetty details.\n\n\"Good-fellowship is more to men than fire and water. I have seen men\nstepping into fire and into water, and meeting with death thereby; I\nhave not yet seen a man die from planting his steps in the path of\ngood-fellowship.\n\n\"Rely upon good nature. 'Twill not allow precedence even to a teacher.\n\n\"The superior man is inflexibly upright, and takes not things upon\ntrust.\n\n\"In serving your prince, make your service the serious concern, and\nlet salary be a secondary matter.\n\n\"Where instruction is to be given, there must be no distinction of\npersons.\n\n\"Where men's methods are not identical, there can be no planning by\none on behalf of another.\n\n\"In speaking, perspicuity is all that is needed.\"\n\nWhen the blind music-master Mien paid him a visit, on his approaching\nthe steps the Master called out \"Steps,\" and on his coming to the mat,\nsaid \"Mat.\" When all in the room were seated, the Master told him\n\"So-and-so is here, so-and-so is here.\"\n\nWhen the music-master had left, Tsz-chang said to him, \"Is that the\nway to speak to the music-master?\" \"Well,\" he replied, \"it is\ncertainly the way to assist him.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XVI\n\n_Against Intestine Strife--Good and Bad Friendships_\n\n\nThe Chief of the Ki family was about to make an onslaught upon the\nChuen-yu domain.\n\nYen Yu and Tsz-lu in an interview with Confucius told him, \"The Ki is\nabout to have an affair with Chuen-yu.\"\n\n\"Yen,\" said Confucius, \"does not the fault lie with you? The Chief of\nChuen-yu in times past was appointed lord of the East Mung (mountain);\nbesides, he dwells within the confines of your own State, and is an\nofficial of the State-worship; how can you think of making an\nonslaught upon him?\"\n\n\"It is the wish of our Chief,\" said Yen Yu, \"not the wish of either of\nus ministers.\"\n\nConfucius said, \"Yen, there is a sentence of Chau Jin which runs thus:\n'Having made manifest their powers and taken their place in the\nofficial list, when they find themselves incompetent they resign; if\nthey cannot be firm when danger threatens the government, nor lend\nsupport when it is reeling, of what use then shall they be as\nAssistants?'--Besides, you are wrong in what you said. When a\nrhinoceros or tiger breaks out of its cage--when a jewel or\ntortoise-shell ornament is damaged in its casket--whose fault is it?\"\n\n\"But,\" said Yen Yu, \"so far as Chuen-yu is concerned, it is now\nfortified, and it is close to Pi; and if he does not now take it, in\nanother generation it will certainly be a trouble to his descendants.\"\n\n\"Yen!\" exclaimed Confucius, \"it is a painful thing to a superior man\nto have to desist from saying, 'My wish is so-and-so,' and to be\nobliged to make apologies. For my part, I have learnt this--that\nrulers of States and heads of Houses are not greatly concerned about\ntheir small following, but about the want of equilibrium in it--that\nthey do not concern themselves about their becoming poor, but about\nthe best means of living quietly and contentedly; for where\nequilibrium is preserved there will be no poverty, where there is\nharmony their following will not be small, and where there is quiet\ncontentment there will be no decline nor fall. Now if that be the\ncase, it follows that if men in outlying districts are not submissive,\nthen a reform in education and morals will bring them to; and when\nthey have been so won, then will you render them quiet and contented.\nAt the present time you two are Assistants of your Chief; the people\nin the outlying districts are not submissive, and cannot be brought\nround. Your dominion is divided, prostrate, dispersed, cleft in\npieces, and you as its guardians are powerless. And plans are being\nmade for taking up arms against those who dwell within your own State.\nI am apprehensive that the sorrow of the Ki family is not to lie in\nChuen-yu, but in those within their own screen.\"\n\n\"When the empire is well-ordered,\" said Confucius, \"it is from the\nemperor that edicts regarding ceremonial, music, and expeditions to\nquell rebellion go forth. When it is being ill governed, such edicts\nemanate from the feudal lords; and when the latter is the case, it\nwill be strange if in ten generations there is not a collapse. If they\nemanate merely from the high officials, it will be strange if the\ncollapse do not come in five generations. When the State-edicts are in\nthe hands of the subsidiary ministers, it will be strange if in three\ngenerations there is no collapse.\n\n\"When the empire is well-ordered, government is not left in the hands\nof high officials.\n\n\"When the empire is well-ordered, the common people will cease to\ndiscuss public matters.\"\n\n\"For five generations,\" he said, \"the revenue has departed from the\nducal household. Four generations ago the government fell into the\nhands of the high officials. Hence, alas! the straitened means of the\ndescendants of the three Hwan families.\"\n\n\"There are,\" said he, \"three kinds of friendships which are\nprofitable, and three which are detrimental. To make friends with the\nupright, with the trustworthy, with the experienced, is to gain\nbenefit; to make friends with the subtly perverse, with the artfully\npliant, with the subtle in speech, is detrimental.\"\n\nAgain, \"There are three kinds of pleasure which are profitable, and\nthree which are detrimental. To take pleasure in going regularly\nthrough the various branches of Ceremonial and Music, in speaking of\nothers' goodness, in having many worthy wise friends, is profitable.\nTo take pleasure in wild bold pleasures, in idling carelessly about,\nin the too jovial accompaniments of feasting, is detrimental.\"\n\nAgain, \"Three errors there be, into which they who wait upon their\nsuperior may fall:--(1) to speak before the opportunity comes to them\nto speak, which I call heedless haste; (2) refraining from speaking\nwhen the opportunity has come, which I call concealment; and (3)\nspeaking, regardless of the mood he is in, which I call blindness.\"\n\nAgain, \"Three things a superior should guard against:--(1) against the\nlusts of the flesh in his earlier years while the vital powers are not\nfully developed and fixed; (2) against the spirit of combativeness\nwhen he has come to the age of robust manhood and when the vital\npowers are matured and strong, and (3) against ambitiousness when old\nage has come on and the vital powers have become weak and decayed.\"\n\n\"Three things also such a man greatly reveres:--(1) the ordinances of\nHeaven, (2) great men, (3) words of sages. The inferior man knows not\nthe ordinances of Heaven and therefore reveres them not, is unduly\nfamiliar in the presence of great men, and scoffs at the words of\nsages.\"\n\n\"They whose knowledge comes by birth are of all men the first in\nunderstanding; they to whom it comes by study are next; men of poor\nintelectual capacity, who yet study, may be added as a yet inferior\nclass; and lowest of all are they who are poor in intellect and never\nlearn.\"\n\n\"Nine things there are of which the superior man should be\nmindful:--to be clear in vision, quick in hearing, genial in\nexpression, respectful in demeanor, true in word, serious in duty,\ninquiring in doubt, firmly self-controlled in anger, just and fair\nwhen the way to success opens out before him.\"\n\n\"Some have spoken of 'looking upon goodness as upon something beyond\ntheir reach,' and of 'looking upon evil as like plunging one's hands\ninto scalding liquid';--I have seen the men, I have heard the sayings.\n\n\"Some, again, have talked of 'living in seclusion to work out their\ndesigns,' and of 'exercising themselves in righteous living in order\nto render their principles the more effective';--I have heard the\nsayings, I have not seen the men.\"\n\n\"Duke King of Ts[']i had his thousand teams of four, yet on the day of\nhis death the people had nothing to say of his goodness. Peh-I and\nShuh-Ts[']i starved at the foot of Shau-yang, and the people make\nmention of them to this day.\n\n 'E'en if not wealth thine object be,\n 'Tis all the same, thou'rt changed to me.'\n\n\"Is not this apropos in such cases?\"\n\nTsz-k[']in asked of Pih-yu, \"Have you heard anything else peculiar\nfrom your father?\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" said he. \"Once, though, he was standing alone when I was\nhurrying past him over the vestibule, and he said, 'Are you studying the\nOdes?' 'Not yet,' I replied. 'If you do not learn the Odes,' said he,\n'you will not have the wherewithal for conversing.' I turned away and\nstudied the Odes. Another day, when he was again standing alone and I\nwas hurrying past across the vestibule, he said to me, 'Are you learning\nthe Rules of Propriety?' 'Not yet,' I replied. 'If you have not studied\nthe Rules, you have nothing to stand upon,' said he. I turned away and\nstudied the Rules.--These two things I have heard from him.\"\n\nTsz-k[']in turned away, and in great glee exclaimed, \"I asked one\nthing, and have got three. I have learnt something about the Odes, and\nabout the Rules, and moreover I have learnt how the superior man will\nturn away his own son.\"\n\nThe wife of the ruler of a State is called by her husband \"My\nhelpmeet.\" She speaks of herself as \"Your little handmaiden.\" The\npeople of that State call her \"The prince's helpmeet,\" but addressing\npersons of another State they speak of her as \"Our little princess.\"\nWhen persons of another State name her they say also \"Your prince's\nhelpmeet.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XVII\n\n_The Master Induced to Take Office--Nature and Habit_\n\n\nYang Ho was desirous of having an interview with Confucius, but on the\nlatter's failing to go and see him, he sent a present of a pig to his\nhouse. Confucius went to return his acknowledgments for it at a time\nwhen he was not at home. They met, however, on the way.\n\nHe said to Confucius, \"Come, I want a word with you. Can that man be\nsaid to have good-will towards his fellow-men who hugs and hides his\nown precious gifts and allows his country to go on in blind error?\"\n\n\"He cannot,\" was the reply.\n\n\"And can he be said to be wise who, with a liking for taking part in\nthe public service, is constantly letting slip his opportunities?\"\n\n\"He cannot,\" was the reply again.\n\n\"And the days and months are passing; and the years do not wait for\nus.\"\n\n\"True,\" said Confucius; \"I will take office.\"\n\nIt was a remark of the Master that while \"by nature we approximate\ntowards each other, by experience we go far asunder.\"\n\nAgain, \"Only the supremely wise and the most deeply ignorant do not\nalter.\"\n\nThe Master once, on his arrival at Wu-shing, heard the sound of\nstringed instruments and singing. His face beamed with pleasure, and\nhe said laughingly, \"To kill a cock--why use an ox-knife?\"\n\nTsz-yu, the governor, replied, \"In former days, sir, I heard you say,\n'Let the superior man learn right principles, and he will be loving to\nother men; let the ordinary person learn right principles, and he will\nbe easily managed.'\"\n\nThe Master (turning to his disciples) said, \"Sirs, what he says is\nright: what I said just now was only in play.\"\n\nHaving received an invitation from Kung-shan Fuh-jau, who was in\nrevolt against the government and was holding to his district of Pi,\nthe Master showed an inclination to go.\n\nTsz-lu was averse to this, and said, \"You can never go, that is\ncertain; how should you feel you must go to that person?\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Master, \"he who has invited me must surely not have\ndone so without a sufficient reason! And if it should happen that my\nservices were enlisted, I might create for him another East\nChow--don't you think so?\"\n\nTsz-chang asked Confucius about the virtue of philanthropy. His answer\nwas, \"It is the being able to put in practice five qualities, in any\nplace under the sun.\"\n\n\"May I ask, please, what these are?\" said the disciple.\n\n\"They are,\" he said, \"dignity, indulgence, faithfulness, earnestness,\nkindness. If you show dignity you will not be mocked; if you are\nindulgent you will win the multitude; if faithful, men will place\ntheir trust in you; if earnest, you will do something meritorious; and\nif kind, you will be enabled to avail yourself amply of men's\nservices.\"\n\nPih Hih sent the Master an invitation, and he showed an inclination to\ngo.\n\nTsz-lu (seeing this) said to him, \"In former days, sir, I have heard\nyou say, 'A superior man will not enter the society of one who does\nnot that which is good in matters concerning himself; and this man is\nin revolt, with Chung-mau in his possession; if you go to him, how\nwill the case stand?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Master, \"those are indeed my words; but is it not\nsaid, 'What is hard may be rubbed without being made thin,' and\n'White may be stained without being made black'?--I am surely not a\ngourd! How am I to be strung up like that kind of thing--and live\nwithout means?\"\n\n\"Tsz-lu,\" said the Master, \"you have heard of the six words with their\nsix obfuscations?\"\n\n\"No,\" said he, \"not so far.\"\n\n\"Sit down, and I will tell you them. They are these six virtues, cared\nfor without care for any study about them:--philanthropy, wisdom,\nfaithfulness, straightforwardness, courage, firmness. And the six\nobfuscations resulting from not liking to learn about them are,\nrespectively, these:--fatuity, mental dissipation, mischievousness,\nperversity, insubordination, impetuosity.\"\n\n\"My children,\" said he once, \"why does no one of you study the\nOdes?--They are adapted to rouse the mind, to assist observation, to\nmake people sociable, to arouse virtuous indignation. They speak of\nduties near and far--the duty of ministering to a parent, the duty of\nserving one's prince; and it is from them that one becomes conversant\nwith the names of many birds, and beasts, and plants, and trees.\"\n\nTo his son Pih-yu he said, \"Study you the Odes of Chow and the South,\nand those of Shau and the South. The man who studies not these is, I\nshould say, somewhat in the position of one who stands facing a wall!\"\n\n\"'Etiquette demands it.' 'Etiquette demands it,' so people plead,\"\nsaid he; \"but do not these hankerings after jewels and silks indeed\ndemand it? Or it is, 'The study of Music requires it'--'Music requires\nit'; but do not these predilections for bells and drums require it?\"\n\nAgain, \"They who assume an outward appearance of severity, being\ninwardly weak, may be likened to low common men; nay, are they not\nsomewhat like thieves that break through walls and steal?\"\n\nAgain, \"The plebeian kind of respect for piety is the very pest of\nvirtue.\"\n\nAgain, \"Listening on the road, and repeating in the lane--this is\nabandonment of virtue.\"\n\n\"Ah, the low-minded creatures!\" he exclaimed. \"How is it possible\nindeed to serve one's prince in their company? Before they have got\nwhat they wanted they are all anxiety to get it, and after they have\ngot it they are all anxiety lest they should lose it; and while they\nare thus full of concern lest they should lose it, there is no length\nto which they will not go.\"\n\nAgain, \"In olden times people had three moral infirmities; which, it\nmay be, are now unknown. Ambitiousness in those olden days showed\nitself in momentary outburst; the ambitiousness of to-day runs riot.\nAusterity in those days had its sharp angles; in these it is irritable\nand perverse. Feebleness of intellect then was at least\nstraightforward; in our day it is never aught but deceitful.\"\n\nAgain, \"Rarely do we find mutual good feeling where there is fine\nspeech and studied mien.\"\n\nAgain, \"To me it is abhorrent that purple color should be made to\ndetract from that of vermilion. Also that the Odes of Ch[']ing should\nbe allowed to introduce discord in connection with the music of the\nFestal Songs and Hymns. Also that sharp-whetted tongues should be\npermitted to subvert governments.\"\n\nOnce said he, \"Would that I could dispense with speech!\"\n\n\"Sir,\" said Tsz-kung, \"if you were never to speak, what should your\npupils have to hand down from you?\"\n\n\"Does Heaven ever speak?\" said the Master. \"The four seasons come and\ngo, and all creatures live and grow. Does Heaven indeed speak?\"\n\nOnce Ju Pi desired an interview with Confucius, from which the latter\nexcused himself on the score of ill-health; but while the attendant\nwas passing out through the doorway with the message he took his lute\nand sang, in such a way as to let him hear him.\n\nTsai Wo questioned him respecting the three years' mourning, saying\nthat one full twelve-month was a long time--that, if gentlemen were\nfor three years to cease from observing rules of propriety, propriety\nmust certainly suffer, and that if for three years they neglected\nmusic, music must certainly die out--and that seeing nature has taught\nus that when the old year's grain is finished the new has sprung up\nfor us--seeing also that all the changes[32] in procuring fire by\nfriction have been gone through in the four seasons--surely a\ntwelve-month might suffice.\n\nThe Master asked him, \"Would it be a satisfaction to you--that\nreturning to better food, that putting on of fine clothes?\"\n\n\"It would,\" said he.\n\n\"Then if you can be satisfied in so doing, do so. But to a gentleman,\nwho is in mourning for a parent, the choicest food will not be\npalatable, nor will the listening to music be pleasant, nor will\ncomforts of home make him happy in mind. Hence he does not do as you\nsuggest. But if you are now happy in your mind, then do so.\"\n\nTsai Wo went out. And the Master went on to say, \"It is want of human\nfeeling in this man. After a child has lived three years it then breaks\naway from the tender nursing of its parents. And this three years'\nmourning is the customary mourning prevalent all over the empire. Can\nthis man have enjoyed the three years of loving care from his parents?\"\n\n\"Ah, it is difficult,\" said he, \"to know what to make of those who are\nall day long cramming themselves with food and are without anything\nto apply their minds to! Are there no dice and chess players? Better,\nperhaps, join in that pursuit than do nothing at all!\"\n\n\"Does a gentleman,\" asked Tsz-lu, \"make much account of bravery?\"\n\n\"Righteousness he counts higher,\" said the Master. \"A gentleman who is\nbrave without being just may become turbulent; while a common person\nwho is brave and not just may end in becoming a highwayman.\"\n\nTsz-kung asked, \"I suppose a gentleman will have his aversions as well\nas his likings?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the Master, \"he will dislike those who talk much about\nother people's ill-deeds. He will dislike those who, when occupying\ninferior places, utter defamatory words against their superiors. He\nwill dislike those who, though they may be brave, have no regard for\npropriety. And he will dislike those hastily decisive and venturesome\nspirits who are nevertheless so hampered by limited intellect.\"\n\n\"And you, too, Tsz-kung,\" he continued, \"have your aversions, have you\nnot?\"\n\n\"I dislike,\" said he, \"those plagiarists who wish to pass for wise\npersons. I dislike those people who wish their lack of humility to be\ntaken for bravery. I dislike also those divulgers of secrets who think\nto be accounted straightforward.\"\n\n\"Of all others,\" said the Master, \"women-servants and men-servants are\nthe most difficult people to have the care of. Approach them in a\nfamiliar manner, and they take liberties; keep them at a distance, and\nthey grumble.\"\n\nAgain, \"When a man meets with odium at forty, he will do so to the end.\"\n\n[Footnote 32: Different woods were adopted for this purpose at the\nvarious seasons.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XVIII\n\n_Good Men in Seclusion--Duke of Chow to His Son_\n\n\n\"In the reign of the last king of the Yin dynasty,\" Confucius said,\n\"there were three men of philanthropic spirit:--the viscount of Wei,\nwho withdrew from him; the viscount of Ki, who became his bondsman;\nand Pi-kan, who reproved him and suffered death.\"\n\nHwui of Liu-hia, who filled the office of Chief Criminal Judge, was\nthrice dismissed. A person remarked to him, \"Can you not yet bear to\nwithdraw?\" He replied, \"If I act in a straightforward way in serving\nmen, whither in these days should I go, where I should not be thrice\ndismissed? Were I to adopt crooked ways in their service, why need I\nleave the land where my parents dwell?\"\n\nDuke King of Ts[']i remarked respecting his attitude towards Confucius,\n\"If he is to be treated like the Chief of the Ki family, I cannot do it.\nI should treat him as somewhere between the Ki and Mang Chiefs.--I am\nold,\" he added, \"and not competent to avail myself of him.\"\n\nConfucius, hearing of this, went away.\n\nThe Ts[']i officials presented to the Court of Lu a number of female\nmusicians. Ki Hwan accepted them, and for three days no Court was held.\n\nConfucius went away.\n\nTsieh-yu, the madman[33] of Ts[']u, was once passing Confucius,\nsinging as he went along. He sang--\n\n \"Ha, the ph[oe]nix! Ha, the ph[oe]nix!\n How is Virtue lying prone!\n Vain to chide for what is o'er,\n Plan to meet what's yet in store.\n Let alone! Let alone!\n Risky now to serve a throne.\"\n\nConfucius alighted, wishing to enter into conversation with him; but\nthe man hurried along and left him, and he was therefore unable to get\na word with him.\n\nCh[']ang-tsue and Kieh-nih[34] were working together on some ploughed\nland. Confucius was passing by them, and sent Tsz-lu to ask where the\nford was.\n\nCh[']ang-tsue said, \"Who is the person driving the carriage?\"\n\n\"Confucius,\" answered Tsz-lu.\n\n\"He of Lu?\" he asked.\n\n\"The same,\" said Tsz-lu.\n\n\"He knows then where the ford is,\" said he.\n\nTsz-lu then put his question to Kieh-nih; and the latter asked, \"Who\nare you?\"\n\nTsz-lu gave his name.\n\n\"You are a follower of Confucius of Lu, are you not?\"\n\n\"You are right,\" he answered.\n\n\"Ah, as these waters rise and overflow their bounds,\" said he, \"'tis\nso with all throughout the empire; and who is he that can alter the\nstate of things? And you are a follower of a learned man who withdraws\nfrom his chief; had you not better be a follower of such as have\nforsaken the world?\" And he went on with his harrowing, without\nstopping.\n\nTsz-lu went and informed his Master of all this. He was deeply\ntouched, and said, \"One cannot herd on equal terms with beasts and\nbirds: if I am not to live among these human folk, then with whom else\nshould I live? Only when the empire is well ordered shall I cease to\ntake part in the work of reformation.\"\n\nTsz-lu was following the Master, but had dropped behind on the way,\nwhen he encountered an old man with a weed-basket slung on a staff\nover his shoulder. Tsz-lu inquired of him, \"Have you seen my Master,\nsir?\" Said the old man, \"Who is your master?--you who never employ\nyour four limbs in laborious work; you who do not know one from\nanother of the five sorts of grain!\" And he stuck his staff in the\nground, and began his weeding.\n\nTsz-lu brought his hands together on his breast and stood still.\n\nThe old man kept Tsz-lu and lodged him for the night, killed a fowl\nand prepared some millet, entertained him, and brought his two sons\nout to see him.\n\nOn the morrow Tsz-lu went on his way, and told all this to the Master,\nwho said, \"He is a recluse,\" and sent Tsz-lu back to see him again.\nBut by the time he got there he was gone.\n\nTsz-lu remarked upon this, \"It is not right he should evade official\nduties. If he cannot allow any neglect of the terms on which elders\nand juniors should live together, how is it that he neglects to\nconform to what is proper as between prince and public servant? He\nwishes for himself personally a pure life, yet creates disorder in\nthat more important relationship. When a gentleman undertakes public\nwork, he will carry out the duties proper to it; and he knows\nbeforehand that right principles may not win their way.\"\n\nAmong those who have retired from public life have been Peh-I and\nShuh-Ts[']i, Yu-chung, I-yih, Chu-chang, Hwui of Liu-hia, and\nShau-lien.\n\n\"Of these,\" said the Master, \"Peh-I and Shuh-Ts[']i may be\ncharacterized, I should say, as men who never declined from their\nhigh resolve nor soiled themselves by aught of disgrace.\n\n\"Of Hwui of Liu-hia and Shau-lien, if one may say that they did\ndecline from high resolve, and that they did bring disgrace upon\nthemselves, yet their words were consonant with established\nprinciples, and their action consonant with men's thoughts and wishes;\nand this is all that may be said of them.\n\n\"Of Yu-chung and I-yih, if it be said that when they retired into\nprivacy they let loose their tongues, yet in their aim at personal\npurity of life they succeeded, and their defection was also successful\nin its influence.\n\n\"My own rule is different from any adopted by these: I will take no\nliberties, I will have no curtailing of my liberty.\"\n\nThe chief music-master went off to Ts[']i. Kan, the conductor of the\nmusic at the second repast, went over to Ts[']u. Liau, conductor at\nthe third repast, went over to Ts[']ai. And Kiueh, who conducted at\nthe fourth, went to Ts[']in.\n\nFang-shuh, the drummer, withdrew into the neighborhood of the Ho. Wu\nthe tambourer went to the Han. And Yang the junior music-master, and\nSiang who played on the musical stone, went to the sea-coast.\n\nAnciently the Duke of Chow, addressing his son the Duke of Lu, said,\n\"A good man in high place is not indifferent about the members of his\nown family, and does not give occasion to the chief ministers to\ncomplain that they are not employed; nor without great cause will he\nset aside old friendships; nor does he seek for full equipment for\nevery kind of service in any single man.\"\n\nThere were once eight officials during this Chow dynasty, who were\nfour pairs of twins, all brothers--the eldest pair Tah and Kwoh, the\nnext Tuh and Hwuh, the third Ye and Hia, the youngest Sui and Kwa.\n\n[Footnote 33: He only pretended to be mad, in order to escape being\nemployed in the public service.]\n\n[Footnote 34: Two worthies who had abandoned public life, owing to the\nstate of the times.]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XIX\n\n_Teachings of Various Chief Disciples_\n\n\n\"The learned official,\" said Tsz-chang, \"who when he sees danger ahead\nwill risk his very life, who when he sees a chance of success is\nmindful of what is just and proper, who in his religious acts is\nmindful of the duty of reverence, and when in mourning thinks of his\nloss, is indeed a fit and proper person for his place.\"\n\nAgain he said, \"If a person hold to virtue but never advance in it,\nand if he have faith in right principles and do not build himself up\nin them, how can he be regarded either as having such, or as being\nwithout them?\"\n\nTsz-hia's disciples asked Tsz-chang his views about intercourse with\nothers. \"What says your Master?\" he rejoined. \"He says,\" they replied,\n\"'Associate with those who are qualified, and repel from you such as\nare not.'\" Tsz-chang then said, \"That is different from what I have\nlearnt. A superior man esteems the worthy and wise, and bears with\nall. He makes much of the good and capable, and pities the incapable.\nAm I eminently worthy and wise?--who is there then among men whom I\nwill not bear with? Am I not worthy and wise?--others will be minded\nto repel me: I have nothing to do with repelling them.\"\n\nSayings of Tsz-hia:--\n\n\"Even in inferior pursuits there must be something worthy of\ncontemplation, but if carried to an extreme there is danger of\nfanaticism; hence the superior man does not engage in them.\n\n\"The student who daily recognizes how much he yet lacks, and as the\nmonths pass forgets not what he has succeeded in learning, may\nundoubtedly be called a lover of learning.\n\n\"Wide research and steadfast purpose, eager questioning and close\nreflection--all this tends to humanize a man.\n\n\"As workmen spend their time in their workshops for the perfecting of\ntheir work, so superior men apply their minds to study in order to\nmake themselves thoroughly conversant with their subjects.\n\n\"When an inferior man does a wrong thing, he is sure to gloss it over.\n\n\"The superior man is seen in three different aspects:--look at him\nfrom a distance, he is imposing in appearance; approach him, he is\ngentle and warm-hearted; hear him speak, he is acute and strict.\n\n\"Let such a man have the people's confidence, and he will get much\nwork out of them; so long, however, as he does not possess their\nconfidence they will regard him as grinding them down.\n\n\"When confidence is reposed in him, he may then with impunity\nadminister reproof; so long as it is not, he will be regarded as a\ndetractor.\n\n\"Where there is no over-stepping of barriers in the practice of the\nhigher virtues, there may be freedom to pass in and out in the\npractice of the lower ones.\"\n\nTsz-yu had said, \"The pupils in the school of Tsz-hia are good enough\nat such things as sprinkling and scrubbing floors, answering calls and\nreplying to questions from superiors, and advancing and retiring to\nand from such; but these things are only offshoots--as to the root of\nthings they are nowhere. What is the use of all that?\"\n\nWhen this came to the ears of Tsz-hia, he said, \"Ah! there he is\nmistaken. What does a master, in his methods of teaching, consider\nfirst in his precepts? And what does he account next, as that about\nwhich he may be indifferent? It is like as in the study of\nplants--classification by _differentiae_. How may a master play fast\nand loose in his methods of instruction? Would they not indeed be\nsages, who could take in at once the first principles and the final\ndevelopments of things?\"\n\nFurther observations of Tsz-hia:--\n\n\"In the public service devote what energy and time remain to study.\nAfter study devote what energy and time remain to the public service.\n\n\"As to the duties of mourning, let them cease when the grief is past.\n\n\"My friend Tsz-chang, although he has the ability to tackle hard\nthings, has not yet the virtue of philanthropy.\"\n\nThe learned Tsang observed, \"How loftily Tsz-chang bears himself!\nDifficult indeed along with him to practise philanthropy!\"\n\nAgain he said, \"I have heard this said by the Master, that 'though men\nmay not exert themselves to the utmost in other duties, yet surely in\nthe duty of mourning for their parents they will do so!'\"\n\nAgain, \"This also I have heard said by the Master: 'The filial piety\nof Mang Chwang in other respects might be equalled, but as manifested\nin his making no changes among his father's ministers, nor in his\nfather's mode of government--that aspect of it could not easily be\nequalled.'\"\n\nYang Fu, having been made senior Criminal Judge by the Chief of the\nMang clan, consulted with the learned Tsang. The latter advised him as\nfollows: \"For a long time the Chiefs have failed in their government,\nand the people have become unsettled. When you arrive at the facts of\ntheir cases, do not rejoice at your success in that, but rather be\nsorry for them, and have pity upon them.\"\n\nTsz-kung once observed, \"We speak of 'the iniquity of Chau'--but 'twas\nnot so great as this.\" And so it is that the superior man is averse\nfrom settling in this sink, into which everything runs that is foul in\nthe empire.\n\nAgain he said, \"Faults in a superior man are like eclipses of the sun\nor moon: when he is guilty of a trespass men all see it; and when he\nis himself again, all look up to him.\"\n\nKung-sun Ch[']au of Wei inquired of Tsz-kung how Confucius acquired\nhis learning.\n\nTsz-kung replied, \"The teachings of Wan and Wu have not yet fallen to\nthe ground. They exist in men. Worthy and wise men have the more\nimportant of these stored up in their minds; and others, who are not\nsuch, store up the less important of them; and as no one is thus\nwithout the teachings of Wan and Wu, how should our Master not have\nlearned? And moreover what permanent preceptor could he have?\"\n\nShuh-sun Wu-shuh, addressing the high officials at the Court, remarked\nthat Tsz-kung was a greater worthy than Confucius.\n\nTsz-fuh King-pih went and informed Tsz-kung of this remark.\n\nTsz-kung said, \"Take by way of comparison the walls outside our\nhouses. My wall is shoulder-high, and you may look over it and see\nwhat the house and its contents are worth. My Master's wall is tens of\nfeet high, and unless you should effect an entrance by the door, you\nwould fail to behold the beauty of the ancestral hall and the rich\narray of all its officers. And they who effect an entrance by the\ndoor, methinks, are few! Was it not, however, just like him--that\nremark of the Chief?\"\n\nShuh-sun Wu-shuh had been casting a slur on the character of Confucius.\n\n\"No use doing that,\" said Tsz-kung; \"he is irreproachable. The wisdom\nand worth of other men are little hills and mounds of earth:\ntraversible. He is the sun, or the moon, impossible to reach and pass.\nAnd what harm, I ask, can a man do to the sun or the moon, by wishing\nto intercept himself from either? It all shows that he knows not how\nto gauge capacity.\"\n\nTsz-k[']in, addressing Tsz-kung, said, \"You depreciate yourself.\nConfucius is surely not a greater worthy than yourself.\"\n\nTsz-kung replied, \"In the use of words one ought never to be\nincautious; because a gentleman for one single utterance of his is apt\nto be considered a wise man, and for a single utterance may be\naccounted unwise. No more might one think of attaining to the Master's\nperfections than think of going upstairs to Heaven! Were it ever his\nfortune to be at the head of the government of a country, then that\nwhich is spoken of as 'establishing the country' would be\nestablishment indeed; he would be its guide and it would follow him,\nhe would tranquillize it and it would render its willing homage: he\nwould give forward impulses to it to which it would harmoniously\nrespond. In his life he would be its glory, at his death there would\nbe great lamentation. How indeed could such as he be equalled?\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XX\n\n_Extracts from the Book of History_\n\n\nThe Emperor Yau said to Shun, \"Ah, upon you, upon your person, lies\nthe Heaven-appointed order of succession! Faithfully hold to it,\nwithout any deflection; for if within the four seas necessity and want\nbefall the people, your own revenue will forever come to an end.\"\n\nShun also used the same language in handing down the appointment to Yu.\n\nThe Emperor T[']ang in his prayer, said, \"I, the child Li, presume to\navail me of an ox of dusky hue, and presume to manifestly announce to\nThee, O God, the most high and Sovereign Potentate, that to the\ntransgressor I dare not grant forgiveness, nor yet keep in abeyance\nThy ministers. Judgment rests in Thine heart, O God. Should we ourself\ntransgress, may the guilt not be visited everywhere upon all. Should\nthe people all transgress, be the guilt upon ourself!\"\n\nChow possessed great gifts, by which the able and good were richly\nendowed.\n\n\"Although,\" said King Wu, \"he is surrounded by his near relatives,\nthey are not to be compared with men of humane spirit. The people are\nsuffering wrongs, and the remedy rests with me--the one man.\"\n\nAfter Wu had given diligent attention to the various weights and\nmeasures, examined the laws and regulations, and restored the degraded\nofficials, good government everywhere ensued.\n\nHe caused ruined States to flourish again, reinstated intercepted\nheirs, and promoted to office men who had gone into retirement; and\nthe hearts of the people throughout the empire drew towards him.\n\nAmong matters of prime consideration with him were these--food for the\npeople, the duty of mourning, and sacrificial offerings to the departed.\n\nHe was liberal and large-hearted, and so won all hearts; true, and so\nwas trusted by the people; energetic, and thus became a man of great\nachievements; just in his rule, and all were well content.\n\nTsz-chang in a conversation with Confucius asked, \"What say you is\nessential for the proper conduct of government?\"\n\nThe Master replied, \"Let the ruler hold in high estimation the five\nexcellences, and eschew the four evils; then may he conduct his\ngovernment properly.\"\n\n\"And what call you the five excellences?\" he was asked.\n\n\"They are,\" he said, \"bounty without extravagance; burdening without\nexciting discontent; desire without covetousness; dignity without\nhaughtiness; show of majesty without fierceness.\"\n\n\"What mean you,\" asked Tsz-chang, \"by bounty without extravagance?\"\n\n\"Is it not this,\" he replied--\"to make that which is of benefit to the\npeople still more beneficial? When he selects for them such labors as\nit is possible for them to do, and exacts them, who will then\ncomplain? So when his desire is the virtue of humaneness, and he\nattains it, how shall he then be covetous? And if--whether he have to\ndo with few or with many, with small or with great--he do not venture\never to be careless, is not this also to have dignity without\nhaughtiness? And if--when properly vested in robe and cap, and showing\ndignity in his every look--his appearance be so imposing that the\npeople look up to and stand in awe of him, is not this moreover to\nshow majesty without fierceness?\"\n\n\"What, then, do you call the four evils?\" said Tsz-chang.\n\nThe answer here was, \"Omitting to instruct the people and then\ninflicting capital punishment on them--which means cruel tyranny.\nOmitting to give them warning and yet looking for perfection in\nthem--which means oppression. Being slow and late in issuing\nrequisitions, and exacting strict punctuality in the returns--which\nmeans robbery. And likewise, in intercourse with men, to expend and to\nreceive in a stingy manner--which is to act the part of a mere\ncommissioner.\"\n\n\"None can be a superior man,\" said the Master, \"who does not recognize\nthe decrees of Heaven.\n\n\"None can have stability in him without a knowledge of the proprieties.\n\n\"None can know a man without knowing his utterances.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE SAYINGS OF MENCIUS\n\n[_Translated into English by James Legge_]\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nA hundred years after the time of Confucius the Chinese nation seemed\nto have fallen back into their original condition of lawlessness and\noppression. The King's power and authority was laughed to scorn, the\npeople were pillaged by the feudal nobility, and famine reigned in\nmany districts. The foundations of truth and social order seemed to be\noverthrown. There were teachers of immorality abroad, who published\nthe old Epicurean doctrine, \"Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we\ndie.\" This teaching was accompanied by a spirit of cold-blooded\negotism which extinguished every spark of Confucian altruism. Even the\npretended disciples of Confucius confused the precepts of the Master,\nand by stripping them of their narrow significance rendered them\nnugatory. It was at this point that Mang-tsze, \"Mang the philosopher,\"\narose. He was sturdy in bodily frame, vigorous in mind, profound in\npolitical sagacity and utterly fearless in denouncing the errors of\nhis countrymen. He had been brought up among the disciples of\nConfucius, in whose province he was born B.C. 372, but he was much\nmore active and aggressive, less a Mystic than a fanatic, in\ncomparison with his Master. He resolved on active measures in stemming\nthe tendency of his day. He did indeed surround himself with a school\nof disciples, but instead of making a series of desultory travels,\nteaching in remote places and along the high-road, he went to the\nheart of the evil. He presented himself like a second John the Baptist\nat the courts of kings and princes, and there boldly denounced vice\nand misrule. It was not difficult for a Chinese scholar and teacher to\nfind access to the highest of the land. The Chinese believed in the\ndivine right of learning, just as they believed in the divine right of\nkings. Mang employed every weapon of persuasion in trying to combat\nheresy and oppression; alternately ridiculing and reproving: now\nappealing in a burst of moral enthusiasm, and now denouncing in terms\nof cutting sarcasm the abuses which after all he failed to check. The\nlast prince whom he successfully confronted was the Marquis of Lu, who\nturned him carelessly away. He accepted this as the Divine sentence of\nhis failure, \"That I have not found in this marquis, a ruler who would\nhearken to me is an intimation of heaven.\" Henceforth he lived in\nretirement until his ninety-seventh year; but from his apparent\nfailure sprang a practical success. His written teachings are amongst\nthe most lively and epigrammatic works of Chinese literature, have\ndone much to keep alive amongst his countrymen the spirit of\nConfucianism, and even Western readers may drink wisdom from this\nspring of Oriental lore. The following selections from his sayings\nwell exhibit the spirit of his system of philosophy and morality:\n\n E. W.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_King Hwuy of Leang_\n\n\nPART I\n\nMencius went to see King Hwuy of Leang.[35] The king said, \"Venerable\nSir, since you have not counted it far to come here a distance of a\nthousand li, may I presume that you are likewise provided with\ncounsels to profit my kingdom?\" Mencius replied, \"Why must your\nMajesty use that word 'profit'? What I am likewise provided with are\ncounsels to benevolence and righteousness; and these are my only\ntopics.\n\n\"If your Majesty say, 'What is to be done to profit my kingdom?' the\ngreat officers will say, 'What is to be done to profit our families?'\nand the inferior officers and the common people will say, 'What is to\nbe done to profit our persons?' Superiors and inferiors will try to\ntake the profit the one from the other, and the kingdom will be\nendangered. In the kingdom of ten thousand chariots, the murderer of\nhis ruler will be the chief of a family of a thousand chariots. In the\nState of a thousand chariots, the murderer of his ruler will be the\nchief of a family of a hundred chariots. To have a thousand in ten\nthousand, and a hundred in a thousand, cannot be regarded as not a\nlarge allowance; but if righteousness be put last and profit first,\nthey will not be satisfied without snatching all.\n\n\"There never was a man trained to benevolence who neglected his parents.\nThere never was a man trained to righteousness who made his ruler an\nafter consideration. Let your Majesty likewise make benevolence and\nrighteousness your only themes--Why must you speak of profit?\"\n\nWhen Mencius, another day, was seeing King Hwuy of Leang, the King\nwent and stood with him by a pond, and, looking round on the wild\ngeese and deer, large and small, said, \"Do wise and good princes also\ntake pleasure in these things?\" Mencius replied, \"Being wise and good,\nthey then have pleasure in these things. If they are not wise and\ngood, though they have these things, they do not find pleasure.\" It is\nsaid in the 'Book of Poetry':--\n\n 'When he planned the commencement of the Marvellous tower,\n He planned it, and defined it,\n And the people in crowds undertook the work,\n And in no time completed it.\n When he planned the commencement, he said, \"Be not in a hurry.\"\n But the people came as if they were his children.\n The king was in the Marvellous park,\n Where the does were lying down--\n The does so sleek and fat;\n With the white birds glistening.\n The king was by the Marvellous pond;--\n How full was it of fishes leaping about!'\n\nKing Wan used the strength of the people to make his tower and pond,\nand the people rejoiced to do the work, calling the tower 'the\nMarvellous Tower,' and the pond 'the Marvellous Pond,' and being glad\nthat he had his deer, his fishes and turtles. The ancients caused\ntheir people to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore\nthey could enjoy it.\n\n\"In the Declaration of T[']ang it is said, 'O Sun, when wilt thou\nexpire? We will die together with thee.' The people wished for Keeh's\ndeath, though they should die with him. Although he had his tower, his\npond, birds and animals, how could he have pleasure alone?\"\n\nKing Hwuy of Leang said, \"Small as my virtue is, in the government of my\nkingdom, I do indeed exert my mind to the utmost. If the year be bad\ninside the Ho, I remove as many of the people as I can to the east of\nit, and convey grain to the country inside. If the year be bad on the\neast of the river, I act on the same plan. On examining the governmental\nmethods of the neighboring kingdoms, I do not find there is any ruler\nwho exerts his mind as I do. And yet the people of the neighboring kings\ndo not decrease, nor do my people increase--how is this?\"\n\nMencius replied, \"Your Majesty loves war; allow me to take an\nillustration from war. The soldiers move forward at the sound of the\ndrum; and when the edges of their weapons have been crossed, on one\nside, they throw away their buff coats, trail their weapons behind\nthem, and run. Some run a hundred paces and then stop; some run fifty\npaces and stop. What would you think if these, because they had run\nbut fifty paces, should laugh at those who ran a hundred paces?\" The\nking said, \"They cannot do so. They only did not run a hundred paces;\nbut they also ran.\" Mencius said, \"Since your Majesty knows this you\nhave no ground to expect that your people will become more numerous\nthan those of the neighboring kingdoms.\n\n\"If the seasons of husbandry be not interfered with, the grain will be\nmore than can be eaten. If close nets are not allowed to enter the\npools and ponds, the fish and turtles will be more than can be\nconsumed. If the axes and bills enter the hill-forests only at the\nproper times, the wood will be more than can be used. When the grain\nand fish and turtles are more than can be eaten, and there is more\nwood than can be used, this enables the people to nourish their living\nand do all offices for their dead, without any feeling against any.\nBut this condition, in which the people nourish their living, and do\nall offices to their dead without having any feeling against any, is\nthe first step in the Royal way.\n\n\"Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with their five\nacres, and persons of fifty years will be able to wear silk. In\nkeeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their time of breeding\nbe neglected, and persons of seventy years will be able to eat flesh.\nLet there not be taken away the time that is proper for the\ncultivation of the field allotment of a hundred acres, and the family\nof several mouths will not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention\nbe paid to the teaching in the various schools, with repeated\ninculcation of the filial and fraternal duties, and gray-haired men\nwill not be seen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on\ntheir heads. It has never been that the ruler of a State where these\nresults were seen, persons of seventy wearing silk and eating flesh,\nand the black-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold,\ndid not attain to the Royal dignity.\n\n\"Your dogs and swine eat the food of men, and you do not know to store\nup of the abundance. There are people dying from famine on the roads,\nand you do not know to issue your stores for their relief. When men\ndie, you say, 'It is not owing to me; it is owing to the year.' In\nwhat does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then\nsaying, 'It was not I; it was the weapon'? Let your Majesty cease to\nlay the blame on the year and instantly the people, all under the sky,\nwill come to you.\"\n\nKing Hwuy of Leang said, \"I wish quietly to receive your\ninstructions.\" Mencius replied, \"Is there any difference between\nkilling a man with a stick and with a sword?\" \"There is no\ndifference,\" was the answer.\n\nMencius continued, \"Is there any difference between doing it with a\nsword and with governmental measures?\" \"There is not,\" was the answer\nagain.\n\nMencius then said, \"In your stalls there are fat beasts; in your\nstables there are fat horses. But your people have the look of hunger,\nand in the fields there are those who have died of famine. This is\nleading on beasts to devour men. Beasts devour one another, and men\nhate them for doing so. When he who is called the parent of the people\nconducts his government so as to be chargeable with leading on beasts\nto devour men, where is that parental relation to the people? Chung-ne\nsaid, 'Was he not without posterity who first made wooden images to\nbury with the dead?' So he said, because that man made the semblances\nof men and used them for that purpose; what shall be thought of him\nwho causes his people to die of hunger?\"\n\nKing Hwuy of Leang said, \"There was not in the kingdom a stronger\nState than Ts[']in, as you, venerable Sir, know. But since it\ndescended to me, on the east we were defeated by Ts[']e, and then my\neldest son perished; on the west we lost seven hundred li of territory\nto Ts[']in; and on the south we have sustained disgrace at the hands\nof Ts[']oo. I have brought shame on my departed predecessors, and wish\non their account to wipe it away once for all. What course is to be\npursued to accomplish this?\"\n\nMencius replied, \"With a territory only a hundred li square it has\nbeen possible to obtain the Royal dignity. If your Majesty will indeed\ndispense a benevolent government to the people, being sparing in the\nuse of punishments and fines, and making the taxes and levies of\nproduce light, so causing that the fields shall be ploughed deep, and\nthe weeding well attended to, and that the able-bodied, during their\ndays of leisure, shall cultivate their filial piety, fraternal duty,\nfaithfulness, and truth, serving thereby, at home, their fathers and\nelder brothers, and, abroad, their elders and superiors, you will\nthen have a people who can be employed with sticks which they have\nprepared to oppose the strong buff-coats and sharp weapons of the\ntroops of Ts[']in and Ts[']oo.\n\n\"The rulers of those States rob their people of their time, so that\nthey cannot plough and weed their fields in order to support their\nparents. Parents suffer from cold and hunger; elder and younger\nbrothers, wives and children, are separated and scattered abroad.\nThose rulers drive their people into pitfalls or into the water; and\nyour Majesty will go to punish them. In such a case, who will oppose\nyour Majesty? In accordance with this is the saying, 'The benevolent\nhas no enemy!' I beg your Majesty not to doubt what I said.\"\n\nMencius had an interview with King Seang[36] of Leang. When he came\nout he said to some persons, \"When I looked at him from a distance, he\ndid not appear like a ruler; when I drew near to him, I saw nothing\nvenerable about him. Abruptly he asked me, 'How can the kingdom, all\nunder the sky, be settled?' I replied, 'It will be settled by being\nunited under one sway.'\n\n\"'Who can so unite it?' he asked.\n\n\"I replied, 'He who has no pleasure in killing men can so unite it.'\n\n\"'Who can give it to him?' he asked.\n\n\"I replied, 'All under heaven will give it to him. Does your Majesty\nknow the way of the growing grain? During the seventh and eighth\nmonths, when drought prevails, the plants become dry. Then the clouds\ncollect densely in the heavens, and send down torrents of rain, so\nthat the grain erects itself as if by a shoot. When it does so, who\ncan keep it back? Now among those who are shepherds of men throughout\nthe kingdom, there is not one who does not find pleasure in killing\nmen. If there were one who did not find pleasure in killing men, all\nthe people under the sky would be looking towards him with\noutstretched necks. Such being indeed the case, the people would go to\nhim as water flows downwards with a rush, which no one can repress.\"\n\nKing Seuen of Ts[']e asked, saying, \"May I be informed by you of the\ntransactions of Hwan of Ts[']e and Wan of Ts[']in?\"\n\nMencius replied, \"There were none of the disciples of Chung-ne who\nspoke about the affairs of Hwan and Wan, and therefore they have not\nbeen transmitted to these after-ages; your servant has not heard of\nthem. If you will have me speak, let it be about the principles of\nattaining to the Royal sway.\"\n\nThe king said, \"Of what kind must his virtue be who can attain to the\nRoyal sway?\" Mencius said, \"If he loves and protects the people, it is\nimpossible to prevent him from attaining it.\"\n\nThe king said, \"Is such an one as poor I competent to love and protect\nthe people?\" \"Yes,\" was the reply. \"From what do you know that I am\ncompetent to that?\" \"I have heard,\" said Mencius, \"from Hoo Heih the\nfollowing incident:--'The king,' said he, 'was sitting aloft in the\nhall, when some people appeared leading a bull past below it. The king\nsaw it, and asked where the bull was going, and being answered that\nthey were going to consecrate a bell with its blood, he said, \"Let it\ngo, I cannot bear its frightened appearance--as if it were an innocent\nperson going to the place of death.\" They asked in reply whether, if\nthey did so, they should omit the consecration of the bell, but the\nking said, \"How can that be omitted? Change it for a sheep.\" \"I do not\nknow whether this incident occurred.\"\n\n\"It did,\" said the king, and Mencius replied, \"The heart seen in this\nis sufficient to carry you to the Royal sway. The people all supposed\nthat your Majesty grudged the animal, but your servant knows surely\nthat it was your Majesty's not being able to bear the sight of the\ncreature's distress which made you do as you did.\"\n\nThe king said, \"You are right; and yet there really was an appearance\nof what the people imagined. But though Ts[']e be narrow and small,\nhow should I grudge a bull? Indeed it was because I could not bear its\nfrightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the\nplace of death, that therefore I changed it for a sheep.\"\n\nMencius said, \"Let not your Majesty deem it strange that the people\nshould think you grudged the animal. When you changed a large one for\na small, how should they know the true reason? If you felt pained by\nits being led without any guilt to the place of death, what was there\nto choose between a bull and a sheep?\" The king laughed and said,\n\"What really was my mind in the matter? I did not grudge the value of\nthe bull, and yet I changed it for a sheep! There was reason in the\npeople's saying that I grudged the creature.\"\n\nMencius said, \"There is no harm in their saying so. It was an artifice\nof benevolence. You saw the bull, and had not seen the sheep. So is\nthe superior man affected towards animals, that, having seen them\nalive, he cannot bear to see them die, and, having heard their dying\ncries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh. On this account he keeps\naway from his stalls and kitchen.\"\n\nThe king was pleased and said, \"The Ode says,\n\n 'What other men have in their minds,\n I can measure by reflection.'\n\nThis might be spoken of you, my Master. I indeed did the thing, but when\nI turned my thoughts inward and sought for it, I could not discover my\nown mind. When you, Master, spoke those words, the movements of\ncompassion began to work in my mind. But how is it that this heart has\nin it what is equal to the attainment of the Royal sway?\"\n\nMencius said, \"Suppose a man were to make this statement to your\nMajesty, 'My strength is sufficient to lift three thousand catties,\nbut is not sufficient to lift one feather; my eyesight is sharp enough\nto examine the point of an autumn hair, but I do not see a wagon-load\nof fagots,' would your Majesty allow what he said?\" \"No,\" was the\nking's remark, and Mencius proceeded, \"Now here is kindness sufficient\nto reach to animals, and yet no benefits are extended from it to the\npeople--how is this? is an exception to be made here? The truth is,\nthe feather's not being lifted is because the strength was not used;\nthe wagon-load of firewood's not being seen is because the eyesight\nwas not used; and the people's not being loved and protected is\nbecause the kindness is not used. Therefore your Majesty's not\nattaining to the Royal sway is because you do not do it, and not\nbecause you are not able to do it.\"\n\nThe king asked, \"How may the difference between him who does not do a\nthing and him who is not able to do it be graphically set forth?\"\nMencius replied, \"In such a thing as taking the T[']ae mountain under\nyour arm, and leaping with it over the North Sea, if you say to\npeople, 'I am not able to do it,' that is a real case of not being\nable. In such a matter as breaking off a branch from a tree at the\norder of a superior, if you say to people, 'I am not able to do it,'\nit is not a case of not being able to do it. And so your Majesty's not\nattaining to the Royal sway is not such a case as that of taking the\nT[']ae mountain under your arm and leaping over the North Sea with it;\nbut it is a case like that of breaking off a branch from a tree.\n\n\"Treat with reverence due to age the elders in your own family, so\nthat those in the families of others shall be similarly treated; treat\nwith the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, so that\nthose in the families of others shall be similarly treated--do this\nand the kingdom may be made to go round in your palm. It is said in\nthe 'Book of Poetry,'\n\n 'His example acted on his wife,\n Extended to his brethren,\n And was felt by all the clans and States;'\n\ntelling us how King Wan simply took this kindly heart, and exercised it\ntowards those parties. Therefore the carrying out of the feeling of\nkindness by a ruler will suffice for the love and protection of all\nwithin the four seas; and if he do not carry it out, he will not be able\nto protect his wife and children. The way in which the ancients came\ngreatly to surpass other men was no other than this, that they carried\nout well what they did, so as to affect others. Now your kindness is\nsufficient to reach to animals, and yet no benefits are extended from it\nto the people. How is this? Is an exception to be made here?\n\n\"By weighing we know what things are light, and what heavy. By\nmeasuring we know what things are long, and what short. All things are\nso dealt with, and the mind requires specially to be so. I beg your\nMajesty to measure it.\n\n\"Your Majesty collects your equipments of war, endangers your soldiers\nand officers and excites the resentment of the various princes--do\nthese things cause you pleasure in your mind?\"\n\nThe king said, \"No. How should I derive pleasure from these things? My\nobject in them is to seek for what I greatly desire.\"\n\nMencius said, \"May I hear from you what it is that your Majesty\ngreatly desires?\"\n\nThe king laughed, and did not speak. Mencius resumed, \"Are you led to\ndesire it because you have not enough of rice and sweet food for your\nmouth? or because you have not enough of light and warm clothing for\nyour body? or because you have not enough of beautifully colored\nobjects to satisfy your eyes? or because there are not voices and\nsounds enough to fill your ears? or because you have not enough of\nattendants and favorites to stand before you and receive your orders?\nYour Majesty's various officers are sufficient to supply you with all\nthese things. How can your Majesty have such a desire on account of\nthem?\" \"No,\" said the king, \"my desire is not on account of them.\"\nMencius observed, \"Then what your Majesty greatly desires can be\nknown. You desire to enlarge your territories, to have Ts[']in and\nTs[']oo coming to your court, to rule the Middle States, and to\nattract to you the barbarous tribes that surround them. But to do what\nyou do in order to seek for what you desire is like climbing a tree to\nseek for fish.\"\n\n\"Is it so bad as that?\" said the king. \"I apprehend it is worse,\" was\nthe reply. \"If you climb a tree to seek for fish, although you do not\nget the fish, you have no subsequent calamity. But if you do what you\ndo in order to seek for what you desire, doing it even with all your\nheart, you will assuredly afterwards meet with calamities.\" The king\nsaid, \"May I hear what they will be?\" Mencius replied, \"If the people\nof Tsow were fighting with the people of Ts[']oo, which of them does\nyour Majesty think would conquer?\" \"The people of Ts[']oo would\nconquer,\" was the answer, and Mencius pursued, \"So then, a small State\ncannot contend with a great, few cannot contend with many, nor can the\nweak contend with the strong. The territory within the seas would\nembrace nine divisions, each of a thousand li square. All Ts[']e\ntogether is one of them. If with one part you try to subdue the other\neight, what is the difference between that and Tsow's contending with\nTs[']oo? With the desire which you have, you must turn back to the\nproper course for its attainment.\n\n\"Now, if your Majesty will institute a government whose action shall\nall be benevolent, this will cause all the officers in the kingdom to\nwish to stand in your Majesty's court, the farmers all to wish to\nplough in your Majesty's fields, the merchants, both travelling and\nstationary, all to wish to store their goods in your Majesty's\nmarket-places, travellers and visitors all to wish to travel on your\nMajesty's roads, and all under heaven who feel aggrieved by their\nrulers to wish to come and complain to your Majesty. When they are so\nbent, who will be able to keep them back?\"\n\nThe king said, \"I am stupid and cannot advance to this. But I wish\nyou, my Master, to assist my intentions. Teach me clearly, and\nalthough I am deficient in intelligence and vigor, I should like to\ntry at least to institute such a government.\"\n\nMencius replied, \"They are only men of education, who, without a\ncertain livelihood, are able to maintain a fixed heart. As to the\npeople, if they have not a certain livelihood, they will be found not\nto have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there is\nnothing which they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, of\nmoral deflection, of depravity, and of wild license. When they have\nthus been involved in crime, to follow them up and punish them, is to\nentrap the people. How can such a thing as entrapping the people be\ndone under the rule of a benevolent man?\"\n\n\"Therefore, an intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the\npeople, so as to make sure that, above, they shall have sufficient\nwherewith to serve their parents, and below, sufficient wherewith to\nsupport their wives and children; that in good years they shall always\nbe abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall not be in\ndanger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they will\nproceed to what is good, for in this case the people will follow after\nthat with readiness.\n\n\"But now the livelihood of the people is so regulated, that, above,\nthey have not sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below,\nthey have not sufficient wherewith to support their wives and\nchildren; even in good years their lives are always embittered, and in\nbad years they are in danger of perishing. In such circumstances their\nonly object is to escape from death, and they are afraid they will not\nsucceed in doing so--what leisure have they to cultivate propriety and\nrighteousness?\n\n\"If your Majesty wishes to carry out a benevolent government, why not\nturn back to what is the essential step to its attainment?\n\n\"Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with their five\nacres, and persons of fifty years will be able to wear silk. In\nkeeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their times of breeding\nbe neglected, and persons of seventy years will be able to eat flesh.\nLet there not be taken away the time that is proper for the\ncultivation of the field-allotment of a hundred acres, and the family\nof eight mouths will not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention be\npaid to the teaching in the various schools, with repeated inculcation\nof the filial and fraternal duties, and gray-haired men will not be\nseen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on their\nheads. It has never been that the ruler of a State, where these\nresults were seen, the old wearing silk and eating flesh, and the\nblack-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold, did not\nattain to the Royal dignity.\"\n\n[Footnote 35: The title of this book in Chinese is--\"King Hwuy of\nLeang; in chapters and sentences.\" Like the Books of the Confucian\nAnalects, those of this work are headed by two or three words at or\nnear the commencement of them. Each Book is divided into two parts.\nThis arrangement was made by Chaou K[']e, and to him are due also the\ndivisions into chapters, and sentences, or paragraphs, containing, it\nmay be, many sentences.]\n\n[Footnote 36: Seang was the son of King Hwuy. The first year of his\nreign is supposed to be B.C. 317. Seang's name was Hih. As a\nposthumous epithet, Seang has various meanings: \"Land-enlarger and\nVirtuous\"; \"Successful in Arms.\" The interview here recorded seems to\nhave taken place immediately after Hih's accession, and Mencius, it is\nsaid, was so disappointed by it that he soon after left the country.]\n\n\n\n\n[_Books II, III, and IV are omitted_]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK V\n\n_Wan Chang_[37]\n\n\nPART I\n\nWan Chang asked Mencius, saying, \"When Shun went into the fields, he\ncried out and wept towards the pitying heavens. Why did he cry out and\nweep?\" Mencius replied, \"He was dissatisfied and full of earnest\ndesire.\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"When his parents love him, a son rejoices and forgets\nthem not; and when they hate him, though they punish him, he does not\nallow himself to be dissatisfied. Was Shun then dissatisfied with his\nparents?\" Mencius said, \"Ch[']ang Seih asked Kung-ming Kaou, saying,\n'As to Shun's going into the fields, I have received your\ninstructions; but I do not understand about his weeping and crying out\nto the pitying heavens, and to his parents.' Kung-ming Kaou answered\nhim, 'You do not understand that matter.' Now Kung-ming Kaou thought\nthat the heart of a filial son like Shun could not be so free from\nsorrow as Seih seemed to imagine he might have been. Shun would be\nsaying, 'I exert my strength to cultivate the fields, but I am thereby\nonly discharging my duty as a son. What is there wrong in me that my\nparents do not love me?'\n\n\"The emperor caused his own children--nine sons and two daughters--the\nvarious officers, oxen and sheep, store-houses and granaries, all to\nbe prepared for the service of Shun amid the channeled fields. Most of\nthe officers in the empire repaired to him. The emperor designed that\nhe should superintend the empire along with himself, and then to\ntransfer it to him. But because his parents were not in accord with\nhim, he felt like a poor man who has nowhere to turn to.\n\n\"To be an object of complacency to the officers of the empire is what\nmen desire; but it was not sufficient to remove the sorrow of Shun.\nThe possession of beauty is what men desire: but though Shun had for\nhis wives the two daughters of the emperor, it was not sufficient to\nremove his sorrow. Riches are what men desire, but though the empire\nwas the rich property of Shun, it was not enough to remove his sorrow.\nHonors are what men desire, but though Shun had the dignity of being\nthe son of Heaven, it was not sufficient to remove his sorrow. The\nreason why his being the object of men's complacency, the possession\nof beauty, riches, and honors, could not remove his sorrow was because\nit could be removed only by his being in entire accord with his parents.\n\n\"The desire of a child is towards his father and mother. When he\nbecomes conscious of the attractions of beauty, his desire is towards\nyoung and beautiful women. When he comes to have a wife and children,\nhis desire is towards them. When he obtains office, his desire is\ntowards his ruler; and if he cannot get the regard of his ruler, he\nburns within. But the man of great filial piety, all his life, has his\ndesire towards his parents. In the great Shun I see the case of one\nwhose desire was towards them when he was fifty years old.\"\n\nWan Chang asked Mencius, saying, \"It is said in the 'Book of Poetry,'\n\n 'How do we proceed in taking a wife?\n Announcement must first be made to our parents.'\n\nIf the rule be indeed as thus expressed, no one ought to have\nillustrated it so well as Shun--how was it that Shun's marriage took\nplace without his informing his parents?\" Mencius replied, \"If he had\ninformed them, he would not have been able to marry. That male and\nfemale dwell together is the greatest of human relations. If Shun had\ninformed his parents, he must have made void this greatest of human\nrelations, and incurred thereby their resentment. It was on this\naccount that he did not inform them.\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"As to Shun's marrying without making announcement to\nhis parents, I have heard your instructions. But how was it that the\nemperor gave him his daughters as wives without informing his\nparents?\" Mencius said, \"The emperor also knew that, if he informed\nhis parents, he could not have given him his daughters as wives.\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"His parents set Shun to repair a granary, and then\nremoved the ladder by which he had ascended; after which Koo-sow set\nfire to it. They sent him to dig a well, from which he managed to get\nout; but they, not knowing this, proceeded to cover it up. His\nbrother, Seang, said, 'Of this scheme to cover up the city-farming\ngentleman the merit is all mine. Let my parents have his oxen and\nsheep; let them have his granaries and store-houses. His shield and\nspear shall be mine; his lute shall be mine; his carved bow shall be\nmine; and I will make his two wives attend for me to my bed.' Seang\nthen went away and entered Shun's house, and there was Shun upon a\ncouch with his lute. Seang said, 'I am come simply because I was\nthinking anxiously about you,' and at the same time he looked ashamed.\nShun said to him, 'There are all my officers; do you take the\nmanagement of them for me.' I do not know whether Shun was ignorant of\nSeang's wishing to kill him.\" Mencius replied, \"How could he be\nignorant of it? But when Seang was sorrowful, he was also sorrowful,\nand when Seang was joyful, he was also joyful.\"\n\nWan Chang continued, \"Then was Shun one who rejoiced hypocritically?\"\n\"No,\" was the reply. \"Formerly some one sent a present of a live fish\nto Tsze-ch[']an of Ch[']ing. Tsze-ch[']an ordered his pond-keeper to\nfeed it in the pond; but the man cooked it and reported the execution\nof his commission, saying, 'When I first let it go, it looked\nembarrassed. In a little while it seemed to be somewhat at ease, and\nthen it swam away as if delighted.' 'It had got into its element!'\nsaid Tsze-ch[']an. The pond-keeper went out and said, 'Who calls\nTsze-ch[']an wise? When I had cooked and eaten the fish, he said, \"It\nhas got into its element! It has got into its element!\"' \"Thus a\nsuperior man may be imposed on by what seems to be as it ought to be,\nbut it is difficult to entrap him by what is contrary to right\nprinciple. Seang came in the way in which the love of his elder\nbrother would have made him come, and therefore Shun truly believed\nhim, and rejoiced at it. What hypocrisy was there?\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"Seang made it his daily business to kill Shun; why\nwas it that, when the latter was raised to be the son of Heaven, he\nonly banished him?\" Mencius replied, \"He invested him with a State,\nand some have said that it was banishing him.\" When Chang said, \"Shun\nbanished the Superintendent of Works to Yew-chow, sent away Hwan-tow\nto Mount Ts[']ung, slew the Prince of San Meaou in San-wei, and\nimprisoned K[']wan on Mount Yu. When those four criminals were thus\ndealt with, all under heaven submitted to him; it was a cutting off of\nmen who were destitute of benevolence. But Seang was of all men the\nmost destitute of benevolence, and Shun invested him with the State of\nPe; of what crime had the people of Pe been guilty? Does a benevolent\nman really act thus? In the case of other men, he cut them off; in the\ncase of his brother, he invested him with a State.\" Mencius replied,\n\"A benevolent man does not lay up anger, nor cherish resentment\nagainst his brother, but only regards him with affection and love.\nRegarding him with affection, he wishes him to enjoy honor; loving\nhim, he wishes him to be rich. The investing him with Pe was to enrich\nand ennoble him. If while Shun himself was emperor, his brother had\nbeen a common man, could he have been said to regard him with\naffection and love?\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"I venture to ask what is meant by some saying that it\nwas a banishing of Seang.\" Mencius replied, \"Seang could do nothing of\nhimself in his State. The emperor appointed an officer to manage its\ngovernment, and to pay over its revenues to him; and therefore it was\nsaid that it was a banishing of him? How indeed could he be allowed\nthe means of oppressing the people there? Nevertheless, Shun wished to\nbe continually seeing him, and therefore he came unceasingly to court,\nas is signified in that expression, 'He did not wait for the rendering\nof tribute, or affairs of government, to receive the prince of Pe.'\"\n\nHeen-k[']ew Mung asked Mencius, saying, \"There is the old saying, 'An\nofficer of complete virtue cannot be employed as a minister by his\nruler, nor treated as a son by his father.' Shun stood with his face\nto the south, and Yaou, at the head of all the feudal princes,\nappeared in his court with his face to the north. Koo-sow also\nappeared at Shun's court with his face to the north; and when Shun saw\nhim, his countenance assumed a look of distress. Confucius said, 'At\nthis time the empire was in a perilous condition indeed! How unsettled\nwas its state!' I do not know whether what is thus said really took\nplace.\" Mencius said, \"No. These are not the words of a superior man,\nbut the sayings of an uncultivated person of the east of Ts[']e. When\nYaou was old, Shun took the management of affairs for him. It is said\nin the Canon of Yaou, 'After twenty-eight years, Fang-heun demised,\nand the people mourned for him as for a parent three years. All within\nthe four seas, the eight instruments of music were stopped and\nhushed.\" Confucius said, \"'There are not two suns in the sky, nor two\nsovereigns over the people. If Shun had already been in the position\nof the son of Heaven, and had moreover led on all the feudal princes\nof the empire to observe the three years' mourning for Yaou, there\nmust in that case have been two sons of Heaven.'\"\n\nHeen-k[']ew Mung said, \"On the point of Shun's not employing Yaou as a\nminister, I have received your instructions. But it is said in the\n'Book of Poetry,'\n\n 'Under the wide heaven,\n All is the king's land;\n Within the sea-boundaries of the land,\n All are the king's servants.'\n\nWhen Shun became emperor, I venture to ask how it was that Koo-sow was\nnot one of his servants.\" Mencius replied, \"That Ode is not to be\nunderstood in that way; it speaks of being laboriously engaged in the\nking's business, and not being able to nourish one's parents, as if\nthe subject of it said, 'This is all the king's business, but I alone\nam supposed to have ability, and made to toil in it.' Therefore those\nwho explain the Odes must not insist on one term so as to do violence\nto a sentence, nor on a sentence so as to do violence to the general\nscope. They must try with their thoughts to meet that scope, and then\nthey will apprehend it. If we simply take single sentences, there is\nthat in the Ode called the 'Yun Han,'\n\n 'Of the remnant of Chow, among the black-haired people,\n There will not be half a man left.'\n\nIf it had really been as thus expressed, then not an individual of the\npeople of Chow would have been left.\n\n\"Of all that a filial son can attain to, there is nothing greater\nthan his honoring his parents. Of what can be attained to in honoring\none's parents, there is nothing greater than the nourishing them with\nthe empire. To be the father of the son of Heaven is the height of\nhonor. To be nourished with the empire is the height of nourishment.\nIn this was verified the sentiment in the 'Book of Poetry,'\n\n 'Ever thinking how to be filial,\n His filial mind was the model which he supplied.'\n\n\"In the 'Book of History' it is said, 'With respectful service he\nappeared before Koo-sow, looking grave and awestruck, till Koo-sow\nalso was transformed by his example.' This is the true case of the\nscholar of complete virtue not being treated as a son by his father.\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"It is said that Yaou gave the empire to Shun; was it\nso?\" Mencius replied, \"No; the emperor cannot give the empire to\nanother.\" \"Yes; but Shun possessed the empire. Who gave it to him?\"\n\"Heaven gave it to him,\" was the reply.\n\n\"Heaven gave it to him? Did Heaven confer the appointment on him with\nspecific injunctions?\" Mencius said, \"No. Heaven does not speak. It\nsimply showed its will by his personal conduct, and by his conduct of\naffairs.\"\n\n\"'It showed its will by his personal conduct, and by his conduct of\naffairs,'\" returned the other; \"how was this?\" Mencius said, \"The\nemperor can present a man to Heaven, but he cannot make Heaven give\nthat man the empire. A feudal prince can present a man to the emperor\nto take his place, but he cannot make the emperor give the princedom\nto that man. A great officer can present a man to his prince, but he\ncannot cause the prince to make that man a great officer in his own\nroom. Anciently Yaou presented Shun to Heaven, and Heaven accepted\nhim; he displayed him to the people, and the people accepted him.\nTherefore I say, 'Heaven does not speak. It simply indicated its will\nby his personal conduct, and by his conduct of affairs.'\"\n\nChang said, \"I presume to ask how it was that Yaou presented Shun to\nHeaven, and Heaven accepted him, and displayed him to the people, and\nthe people accepted him.\" The reply was, \"He caused him to preside\nover the sacrifices, and all the Spirits were well pleased with them;\nthus it was that Heaven accepted him. He caused him to preside over\nthe conduct of affairs, and affairs were well administered, so that\nall the people reposed under him; thus it was that the people accepted\nhim. Heaven gave the empire to him, and the people gave it to him.\nTherefore I said, 'The emperor cannot give the empire to another.'\n\n\"Shun assisted Yaou in the government for twenty and eight years; this\nwas more than man could have done, and was from Heaven. When the three\nyears' mourning consequent on the death of Yaou were accomplished,\nShun withdrew from the son of Yaou to the south of the southern Ho.\nThe princes of the empire, however, repairing to court, went not to\nthe son of Yaou, but to Shun. Litigants went not to the son of Yaou,\nbut to Shun. Singers sang not the son of Yaou, but Shun. Therefore I\nsaid that it was Heaven that gave him the empire. It was after this\nthat he went to the Middle State, and occupied the seat of the son of\nHeaven. If he had before these things taken up his residence in the\npalace of Yaou, and applied pressure to his son, it would have been an\nact of usurpation, and not the gift of Heaven.\n\n\"This view of Shun's obtaining the empire is in accordance with what\nis said in The Great Declaration--'Heaven sees as my people see,\nHeaven hears as my people hear.'\"\n\nWan Chang said, \"People say, 'When the disposal of the empire came to\nYu, his virtue was inferior to that of Yaou and Shun, and he did not\ntransmit it to the worthiest, but to his son.' Was it so?\" Mencius\nreplied, \"No; it was not so. When Heaven gave the empire to the\nworthiest, it was given to the worthiest; when Heaven gave it to the\nson of the preceding emperor, it was given to that son. Formerly Shun\npresented Yu to Heaven for a period of seventeen years; and when the\nthree years' mourning, consequent on the death of Shun, were\naccomplished, Yu withdrew from the son of Yu to Yang-shing. The people\nof the empire followed him as, after the death of Yaou, they had not\nfollowed his son, but followed Shun. Yu presented Yih to Heaven for a\nperiod of seven years; and when the three years' mourning consequent\non the death of Yu were accomplished, Yih withdrew from the son of Yu\nto the north of Mount Ke. The princes repairing to court, and\nlitigants, went not to Yih, but to K[']e, saying, 'He is the son of\nour ruler.' Singers did not sing Yih, but they sang K[']e, saying, 'He\nis the son of our ruler.'\n\n\"That Tan-choo was not equal to his father, and Shun's son also not\nequal to his; that Shun assisted Yaou, and Yu assisted Shun, for a\nperiod of many years, conferring benefits on the people for a long\ntime; that K[']e was virtuous and able, and could reverently enter\ninto and continue the ways of Yu; that Yih assisted Yu for a period of\na few years, conferring benefits on the people not for a long time;\nthat the length of time that Shun, Yu, and Yih, assisted in the\ngovernment was so different; and that the sons of the emperors were\none a man of talents and virtue, and the other two inferior to their\nfathers:--all these things were from Heaven, and what could not be\nproduced by man. That which is done without any one's seeming to do it\nis from Heaven. That which comes to pass without any one's seeming to\nbring it about is from Heaven.\n\n\"In the case of a private man's obtaining the empire, there must be in\nhim virtue equal to that of Shun and Yu, and moreover there must be\nthe presenting him to Heaven by the preceding emperor. It was on this\nlatter account that Chung-ne did not obtain the kingdom.\n\n\"When the throne descends by natural succession, he who is displaced\nby Heaven must be like Keeh or Chow. It was on this account that Yih,\nE Yin, and the duke of Chow did not obtain the kingdom.\n\n\"E Yin assisted T[']ang so that he became sovereign of the kingdom.\nAfter the demise of T[']ang, T[']ae-ting having died without being\nappointed in his place, Wae-ping reigned two years, and Chung-jin\nfour. T[']ae-Keah then was turning upside down the canons and examples\nof T[']ang, and E Yin placed him in T[']ung for three years. There he\nrepented of his errors, was contrite, and reformed himself. In T[']ung\nhe came to dwell in benevolence and moved towards righteousness,\nduring those three years listening to the lessons given to him by E\nYin, after which that minister again returned with him to Poh.\n\n\"The duke of Chow's not getting the kingdom was like that of Yih's not\ngetting the throne of Hea, or E Yin's that of Yin.\n\n\"Confucius said, 'T[']ang and Yu resigned the throne to the worthiest;\nthe founders of the Hea, Yin, and Chow dynasties transmitted it to\ntheir sons. The principle of righteousness was the same in all the\ncases.'\"\n\nWan Chang asked Mencius, saying, \"People say that E Yin sought an\nintroduction to T[']ang by his knowledge of cookery; was it so?\" Mencius\nreplied, \"No, it was not so. E Yin was farming in the lands of the State\nof Sin, delighting in the principles of Yaou and Shun. In any matter\ncontrary to the righteousness which they prescribed, or to the course\nwhich they enjoined, though he had been salaried with the empire, he\nwould not have regarded it; though there had been yoked for him a\nthousand teams, he would not have looked at them. In any matter contrary\nto the righteousness which they prescribed, or to the course which they\nenjoined, he would not have given nor taken even a single straw.\n\n\"T[']ang sent persons with presents of silk to ask him to enter his\nservice. With an air of indifference and self-satisfaction, he said,\n'What can I do with these silks with which T[']ang invites me? Is it\nnot best for me to abide in these channeled fields, and therein\ndelight myself with the principles of Yaou and Shun?'\n\n\"T[']ang thrice sent persons thus to invite him. After this, with the\nchange of purpose displayed in his countenance, he spoke in a\ndifferent style, saying, 'Instead of abiding in the channeled fields,\nand therein delighting myself with the principles of Yaou and Shun,\nhad I not better make this ruler one after the style of Yaou and Shun?\nhad I not better make this people like the people of Yaou and Shun?\nhad I not better in my own person see these things for myself?\nHeaven's plan in the production of this people is this:--That they who\nare first informed, should instruct those who are later in being\ninformed, and those who first apprehend principles should instruct\nthose who are slower to do so. I am the one of Heaven's people who\nhave first apprehended; I will take these principles and instruct this\npeople in them. If I do not instruct them, who will do so?'\n\n\"He thought that among all the people of the kingdom, even the private\nmen and women, if there were any that did not enjoy such benefits as\nYaou and Shun conferred, it was as if he himself pushed them into a\nditch. He took upon himself the heavy charge of all under Heaven in\nthis way, and therefore he went to T[']ang, and pressed upon him the\nduty of attacking Hea, and saving the people.\n\n\"I have not heard of one who bent himself and at the same time made\nothers straight; how much less could one disgrace himself, and thereby\nrectify the whole kingdom? The actions of the sages have been\ndifferent. Some have kept far away from office, and others have drawn\nnear to it; some have left their offices, and others have not done so;\nthat in which these different courses all meet, is simply the keeping\nof their persons pure.\n\n\"I have heard that E Yin sought an introduction to T[']ang by the\nprinciples of Yaou and Shun; I have not heard he did so by his\nknowledge of cookery.\n\n\"In the 'Instructions of E,' it is said, 'Heaven, destroying Keeh,\ncommenced attacking him in the palace of Muh; we commenced in Poh.'\"\n\nWan Chang asked Mencius, saying, \"Some say that Confucius in Wei lived\nwith an ulcer-doctor, and in Ts[']e with Tseih Hwan, the chief of the\neunuchs; was it so?\" Mencius said, \"No, it was not so. Those are the\ninventions of men fond of strange things.\n\n\"In Wei he lived in the house of Yen Ch[']ow-yew. The wife of the\nofficer Mei and the wife of Tsze-lu were sisters. Mei-tsze spoke to\nTsze-lu, saying, 'If Confucius will lodge with me, he may get to be a\nhigh noble of Wei.' Tsze-lu reported this to Confucius, who said,\n'That is as ordered by Heaven.' Confucius advanced according to\npropriety, and retired according to righteousness. In regard to his\nobtaining office and honor or not obtaining them, he said, 'That is as\nordered.' But if he had lodged with an ulcer-doctor and with Tseih\nHwan, the chief of the eunuchs, that would neither have been according\nto righteousness nor any ordering of Heaven.\n\n\"When Confucius, being dissatisfied in Lu and Wei, had left those\nStates, he met with the attempt of Hwan, the master of the Horse, in\nSung, to intercept and kill him, so that he had to pass through Sung\nin the dress of a private man. At that time, though he was in\ncircumstances of distress, he lodged in the house of Ching-tsze, the\nminister of works, who was then a minister of Chow, the marquis of\nCh[']in.\n\n\"I have heard that ministers in the service of a court may be known\nfrom those to whom they are hosts, and that ministers coming from a\ndistance may be known from those with whom they lodge. If Confucius\nhad lodged with an ulcer-doctor and with Tseih Hwan, the chief of the\neunuchs, how could he have been Confucius?\"\n\nWan Chang asked Mencius, saying, \"Some say that Pih-le He sold himself\nto a cattle-keeper of Ts[']in for five sheepskins, and fed his cattle\nfor him, to seek an introduction to Duke Muh of Ts[']in; is this\ntrue?\" Mencius said, \"No, it was not so. This is the invention of some\none fond of strange things.\n\n\"Pih-le He was a man of Yu. The people of Ts[']in by the inducement of\na _peih_ of Ch[']uy-Keih and a team of Keuh-ch[']an horses were asking\nliberty to march through Yu to attack Kwoh. Kung Che-k[']e\nremonstrated with the duke of Yu, asking him not to grant their\nrequest, but Pih-le He did not remonstrate.\n\n\"When he knew that the duke of Yu was not to be remonstrated with, and\nwent in consequence from that State to Ts[']in, he had reached the age\nof seventy. If by that time he did not know that it would be a\ndisgraceful thing to seek for an introduction to Duke Muh of Ts[']in\nby feeding cattle, could he be called wise? But not remonstrating\nwhere it was of no use to remonstrate, could he be said not to be\nwise? Knowing that the duke of Yu would be ruined, and leaving his\nState before that event, he could not be said to be not wise. As soon\nas he was advanced in Ts[']in, he knew that Duke Muh was one with whom\nhe could have a field for action, and became chief minister to him;\ncould he be said to be not wise? Acting as chief minister in Ts[']in,\nhe made his ruler distinguished throughout the kingdom, and worthy to\nbe handed down to future ages; if he had not been a man of talents and\nvirtue, could he have done this? As to selling himself in order to\nbring about the destruction of his ruler, even a villager who had a\nregard for himself, would not do such a thing; and shall we say that a\nman of talents and virtue did it?\"\n\n[Footnote 37: The Book is named from Wan Chang, who is almost the only\ninterlocutor with Mencius in it. The tradition is that it was in\ncompany with Wan's disciples that Mencius, baffled in all his hopes of\ndoing public service, and having retired into privacy, composed the\nSeven Books which constitute his works. The part which follows is all\noccupied with discussions in vindication of Shun and other ancient\nworthies.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SHI-KING\n\n[_Metrical translation by James Legge_]\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe wisdom of Confucius as a social reformer, as a teacher and guide\nof the Chinese people, is shown in many ways. He not only gave them a\ncode of personal deportment, providing them with rules for the\netiquette and ceremony of life, but he instilled into them that\nprofound spirit of domestic piety which is one of the strongest\nfeatures in the Chinese character. He took measures to secure also the\nintellectual cultivation of his followers, and his Five Canons contain\nall the most ancient works of Chinese literature, in the departments\nof poetry, history, philosophy, and legislation. The Shi-King is a\ncollection of Chinese poetry made by Confucius himself. This great\nanthology consists of more than three hundred pieces, covering the\nwhole range of Chinese lyric poetry, the oldest of which dates some\neighteen centuries before Christ, while the latest of the selections\nmust have been written at the beginning of the sixth century before\nChrist. These poems are of the highest interest, and even nowadays may\nbe read with delight by Europeans. The ballad and the hymn are among\nthe earliest forms of national poetry, and the contents of the\nShi-King naturally show specimens of lyric poetry of this sort. We\nfind there not only hymns, but also ballads of a really fine and\nspirited character. Sometimes the poems celebrate the common pursuits,\noccupations, and incidents of life. They rise to the exaltation of the\nepithalamium, or of the vintage song; at other times they deal with\nsentiment and human conduct, being in the highest degree sententious\nand epigrammatic. We must give the credit to Confucius of having\nsaved for us the literature of China, and of having set his people an\nexample in preserving the monuments of a remote antiquity. While the\nliteratures of ancient Greece and Rome have largely perished in the\nconvulsions that followed the breaking up of the Roman empire in\nEurope, when the kingdom of China fell into disorder and decrepitude\nthis one great teacher stepped forward to save the precious record of\nhistoric fact, philosophical thought, and of legislation as well as\npoetry, from being swept away by the deluge of revolution. Confucius\nshowed his wisdom by the high value he set upon the poetry of his\nnative land, and his name must be set side by side with that of the\nastute tyrant of Athens who collected the poems of Homer and preserved\nthem as a precious heritage to the Greek world. Confucius has given us\nhis opinion with regard to the poems of the Shi-King. No man, he says,\nis worth speaking to who has not mastered the poems of an anthology,\nthe perusal of which elevates the mind and purifies it from all\ncorrupt thoughts. Thanks to the work of modern scholarship, English\nreaders can now verify this dictum for themselves.\n\n E. W.\n\n\n\n\n_PART I.--LESSONS FROM THE STATES_\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_The Odes of Chow and the South_\n\n\nCELEBRATING THE VIRTUE OF KING WAN'S BRIDE\n\n Hark! from the islet in the stream the voice\n Of the fish-hawks that o'er their nests rejoice!\n From them our thoughts to that young lady go,\n Modest and virtuous, loth herself to show.\n Where could be found to share our prince's state,\n So fair, so virtuous, and so fit a mate?\n\n See how the duckweed's stalks, or short or long,\n Sway left and right, as moves the current strong!\n So hard it was for him the maid to find!\n By day, by night, our prince with constant mind\n Sought for her long, but all his search was vain.\n Awake, asleep, he ever felt the pain\n Of longing thought, as when on restless bed,\n Tossing about, one turns his fevered head.\n\n Here long, there short, afloat the duckweed lies;\n But caught at last, we seize the longed-for prize.\n The maiden modest, virtuous, coy, is found;\n Strike every lute, and joyous welcome sound.\n Ours now, the duckweed from the stream we bear,\n And cook to use with other viands rare.\n He has the maiden, modest, virtuous, bright;\n Let bells and drums proclaim our great delight.\n\n\nCELEBRATING THE INDUSTRY OF KING WAN'S QUEEN\n\n Sweet was the scene. The spreading dolichos\n Extended far, down to the valley's depths,\n With leaves luxuriant. The orioles\n Fluttered around, and on the bushy trees\n In throngs collected--whence their pleasant notes\n Resounded far in richest melody.\n\n The spreading dolichos extended far,\n Covering the valley's sides, down to its depths,\n With leaves luxuriant and dense. I cut\n It down, then boiled, and from the fibres spun\n Of cloth, both fine and coarse, large store,\n To wear, unwearied of such simple dress.\n\n Now back to my old home, my parents dear\n To see, I go. The matron I have told,\n Who will announcement make. Meanwhile my clothes,\n My private clothes I wash, and rinse my robes.\n Which of them need be rinsed? and which need not?\n My parents dear to visit, back I go.\n\n\nIN PRAISE OF A BRIDE\n\n Graceful and young the peach-tree stands;\n How rich its flowers, all gleaming bright!\n This bride to her new home repairs;\n Chamber and house she'll order right.\n\n Graceful and young the peach-tree stands;\n Large crops of fruit it soon will show.\n This bride to her new home repairs;\n Chamber and house her sway shall know.\n\n Graceful and young the peach-tree stands,\n Its foliage clustering green and full.\n This bride to her new home repairs;\n Her household will attest her rule.\n\n\nCELEBRATING T[']AE-SZE's FREEDOM FROM JEALOUSY\n\n In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,\n And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent\n All the dolichos' creepers fast cling.\n See our princely lady, from whom we have got\n Rejoicing that's endless! May her happy lot\n And her honors repose ever bring!\n\n In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,\n And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent\n All the dolichos' creepers are spread.\n See our princely lady, from whom we have got\n Rejoicing that's endless! Of her happy lot\n And her honors the greatness ne'er fade!\n\n In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,\n And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent\n All the dolichos' creepers entwine.\n See our princely lady, from whom we have got\n Rejoicing that's endless! May her happy lot\n And her honors complete ever shine!\n\n\nTHE FRUITFULNESS OF THE LOCUST\n\n Ye locusts, winged tribes,\n Gather in concord fine;\n Well your descendants may\n In numerous bright hosts shine!\n\n Ye locusts, winged tribes,\n Your wings in flight resound;\n Well your descendants may\n In endless lines be found!\n\n Ye locusts, winged tribes,\n Together cluster strong;\n Well your descendants may\n In swarms forever throng!\n\n\nLAMENTING THE ABSENCE OF A CHERISHED FRIEND\n\n Though small my basket, all my toil\n Filled it with mouse-ears but in part.\n I set it on the path, and sighed\n For the dear master of my heart.\n\n My steeds, o'er-tasked, their progress stayed,\n When midway up that rocky height.\n Give me a cup from that gilt vase--\n When shall this longing end in sight?\n\n To mount that lofty ridge I drove,\n Until my steeds all changed their hue.\n A cup from that rhinoceros's horn\n May help my longing to subdue.\n\n Striving to reach that flat-topped hill,\n My steeds, worn out, relaxed their strain;\n My driver also sank oppressed:--\n I'll never see my lord again!\n\n\nCELEBRATING THE GOODNESS OF THE DESCENDANTS OF KING WAN\n\n As the feet of the _lin_, which avoid each living thing,\n So our prince's noble sons no harm to men will bring.\n They are the _lin_!\n\n As the front of the _lin_, never forward thrust in wrath,\n So our prince's noble grandsons of love tread the path.\n They are the _lin_!\n\n As the horn of the _lin_, flesh-tipped, no wound to give,\n So our prince's noble kindred kindly with all live.\n They are the _lin_!\n\n [NOTE.--The \"lin\" is the female of \"K[']e\"--a fabulous animal--the\n symbol of all goodness and benevolence; having the body of a deer,\n the tail of an ox, the hoofs of a horse, one horn, the scales of a\n fish, etc. Its feet do not tread on any living thing--not even on\n live grass; it does not butt with its forehead; and the end of its\n horn is covered with flesh--to show that, while able for war, it\n wills to have peace. The \"lin\" was supposed to appear inaugurating\n a golden age, but the poet finds a better auspice of that in the\n character of Wan's family and kindred.]\n\n\nTHE VIRTUOUS MANNERS OF THE YOUNG WOMEN\n\n High and compressed, the Southern trees\n No shelter from the sun afford.\n The girls free ramble by the Han,\n But will not hear enticing word.\n Like the broad Han are they,\n Through which one cannot dive;\n And like the Keang's long stream,\n Wherewith no raft can strive.\n\n Many the fagots bound and piled;\n The thorns I'd hew still more to make.\n As brides, those girls their new homes seek;\n Their colts to feed I'd undertake.\n Like the broad Han are they,\n Through which one cannot dive;\n And like the Keang's long stream,\n Wherewith no raft can strive.\n\n Many the fagots bound and piled;\n The Southern-wood I'd cut for more.\n As brides, those girls their new homes seek;\n Food for their colts I'd bring large store.\n Like the broad Han are they,\n Through which one cannot dive;\n And like the Keang's long stream,\n Wherewith no raft can strive.\n\n\nPRAISE OF A RABBIT-CATCHER\n\n Careful he sets his rabbit-nets all round;\n _Chang-chang_ his blows upon the pegs resound.\n Stalwart the man and bold! his bearing all\n Shows he might be his prince's shield and wall.\n\n Careful he is his rabbit-nets to place\n Where many paths of rabbits' feet bear trace.\n Stalwart the man and bold! 'tis plain to see\n He to his prince companion good would be.\n\n Careful he is his rabbit-nets to spread,\n Where in the forest's depth the trees give shade.\n Stalwart the man and bold! fit his the part\n Guide to his prince to be, and faithful heart.\n\n\nTHE SONG OF THE PLANTAIN-GATHERERS\n\n We gather and gather the plantains;\n Come gather them anyhow.\n Yes, gather and gather the plantains,\n And here we have got them now.\n\n We gather and gather the plantains;\n Now off the ears we must tear.\n Yes, gather and gather the plantains,\n And now the seeds are laid bare.\n\n We gather and gather the plantains,\n The seeds in our skirts are placed.\n Yes, gather and gather the plantains.\n Ho! safe in the girdled waist!\n\n\nTHE AFFECTION OF THE WIVES ON THE JOO\n\n Along the raised banks of the Joo,\n To hew slim stem and branch I wrought,\n My lord away, my husband true,\n Like hunger-pang my troubled thought!\n\n Along the raised banks of the Joo,\n Branch and fresh shoot confessed my art.\n I've seen my lord, my husband true,\n And still he folds me in his heart.\n\n As the toiled bream makes red its tail,\n Toil you, Sir, for the Royal House;\n Amidst its blazing fires, nor quail:--\n Your parents see you pay your vows.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II\n\n_The Odes of Shaou and the South_\n\n\nTHE MARRIAGE OF A PRINCESS\n\n In the magpie's nest\n Dwells the dove at rest.\n This young bride goes to her future home;\n To meet her a hundred chariots come.\n\n Of the magpie's nest\n Is the dove possessed.\n This bride goes to her new home to live;\n And escort a hundred chariots give.\n\n The nest magpie wove\n Now filled by the dove.\n This bride now takes to her home her way;\n And these numerous cars her state display.\n\n\nTHE INDUSTRY AND REVERENCE OF A PRINCE'S WIFE\n\n Around the pools, the islets o'er,\n Fast she plucks white Southern-wood,\n To help the sacrificial store;\n And for our prince does service good.\n\n Where streams among the valleys shine,\n Of Southern-woods she plucks the white;\n And brings it to the sacred shrine,\n To aid our prince in solemn rite.\n\n In head-dress high, most reverent, she\n The temple seeks at early dawn.\n The service o'er, the head-dress see\n To her own chamber slow withdrawn.\n\n\nTHE WIFE OF SOME GREAT OFFICER BEWAILS HIS ABSENCE\n\n Shrill chirp the insects in the grass;\n All about the hoppers spring.\n While I my husband do not see,\n Sorrow must my bosom wring.\n O to meet him!\n O to greet him!\n Then my heart would rest and sing.\n\n Ascending high that Southern hill,\n Turtle ferns I strove to get.\n While I my husband do not see,\n Sorrow must my heart beset.\n O to meet him!\n O to greet him!\n Then my heart would cease to fret.\n\n Ascending high that Southern hill,\n Spinous ferns I sought to find.\n While I my husband do not see,\n Rankles sorrow in my mind.\n O to meet him!\n O to greet him!\n In my heart would peace be shrined.\n\n\nTHE DILIGENCE OF THE YOUNG WIFE OF AN OFFICER\n\n She gathers fast the large duckweed,\n From valley stream that southward flows;\n And for the pondweed to the pools\n Left on the plains by floods she goes.\n\n The plants, when closed her toil, she puts\n In baskets round and baskets square.\n Then home she hies to cook her spoil,\n In pans and tripods ready there.\n\n In sacred chamber this she sets,\n Where the light falls down through the wall.\n 'Tis she, our lord's young reverent wife,\n Who manages this service all.\n\n\nTHE LOVE OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE DUKE OF SHAOU\n\n O fell not that sweet pear-tree!\n See how its branches spread.\n Spoil not its shade,\n For Shaou's chief laid\n Beneath it his weary head.\n\n O clip not that sweet pear-tree!\n Each twig and leaflet spare.\n 'Tis sacred now,\n Since the lord of Shaou,\n When weary, rested him there.\n\n O touch not that sweet pear-tree!\n Bend not a twig of it now.\n There long ago,\n As the stories show,\n Oft halted the chief of Shaou.\n\n\nTHE EASY DIGNITY OF THE OFFICERS AT SOME COURT\n\n Arrayed in skins of lamb or sheep,\n With five silk braidings all of white,\n From court they go, to take their meal,\n All self-possessed, with spirits light.\n\n How on their skins of lamb or sheep\n The five seams wrought with white silk show!\n With easy steps, and self-possessed,\n From court to take their meal, they go.\n\n Upon their skins of lamb or sheep\n Shines the white silk the seams to link.\n With easy steps and self-possessed,\n They go from court to eat and drink.\n\n\nANXIETY OF A YOUNG LADY TO GET MARRIED\n\n Ripe, the plums fall from the bough;\n Only seven-tenths left there now!\n Ye whose hearts on me are set,\n Now the time is fortunate!\n\n Ripe, the plums fall from the bough;\n Only three-tenths left there now!\n Ye who wish my love to gain,\n Will not now apply in vain!\n\n No more plums upon the bough!\n All are in my basket now!\n Ye who me with ardor seek,\n Need the word but freely speak!\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\n_The Odes of P[']ei_\n\n\nAN OFFICER BEWAILS THE NEGLECT WITH WHICH HE IS TREATED\n\n It floats about, that boat of cypress wood,\n Now here, now there, as by the current borne.\n Nor rest nor sleep comes in my troubled mood;\n I suffer as when painful wound has torn\n The shrinking body. Thus I dwell forlorn,\n And aimless muse, my thoughts of sorrow full.\n I might with wine refresh my spirit worn;\n I might go forth, and, sauntering try to cool\n The fever of my heart; but grief holds sullen rule.\n\n My mind resembles not a mirror plate,\n Reflecting all the impressions it receives.\n The good I love, the bad regard with hate;\n I only cherish whom my heart believes.\n Colleagues I have, but yet my spirit grieves,\n That on their honor I cannot depend.\n I speak, but my complaint no influence leaves\n Upon their hearts; with mine no feelings blend;\n With me in anger they, and fierce disdain contend.\n\n My mind is fixed, and cannot, like a stone,\n Be turned at will indifferently about;\n And what I think, to that, and that alone,\n I utterance give, alike within, without;\n Nor can like mat be rolled and carried out.\n With dignity in presence of them all,\n My conduct marked, my goodness who shall scout?\n My foes I boldly challenge, great and small,\n If there be aught in me they can in question call.\n\n How full of trouble is my anxious heart!\n With hate the blatant herd of creatures mean\n Ceaseless pursue. Of their attacks the smart\n Keeps my mind in distress. Their venomed spleen\n Aye vents itself; and with insulting mien\n They vex my soul; and no one on my side\n A word will speak. Silent, alone, unseen,\n I think of my sad case; then opening wide\n My eyes, as if from sleep, I beat my breast, sore-tried.\n\n Thy disc, O sun, should ever be complete,\n While thine, O changing moon, doth wax and wane.\n But now our sun hath waned, weak and effete,\n And moons are ever full. My heart with pain\n Is firmly bound, and held in sorrow's chain,\n As to the body cleaves an unwashed dress.\n Silent I think of my sad case; in vain\n I try to find relief from my distress.\n Would I had wings to fly where ills no longer press!\n\n\nA WIFE DEPLORES THE ABSENCE OF HER HUSBAND\n\n Away the startled pheasant flies,\n With lazy movement of his wings.\n Borne was my heart's lord from my eyes;--\n What pain the separation brings!\n\n The pheasant, though no more in view,\n His cry, below, above, forth sends.\n Alas! my princely lord, 'tis you--\n Your absence, that my bosom rends.\n\n At sun and moon I sit and gaze,\n In converse with my troubled heart.\n Far, far from me my husband stays!\n When will he come to heal its smart?\n\n Ye princely men who with him mate,\n Say, mark ye not his virtuous way.\n His rule is--covet nought, none hate;--\n How can his steps from goodness stray?\n\n\nTHE PLAINT OF A REJECTED WIFE\n\n The east wind gently blows,\n With cloudy skies and rain.\n 'Twixt man and wife should ne'er be strife,\n But harmony obtain.\n Radish and mustard plants\n Are used, though some be poor;\n While my good name is free from blame,\n Don't thrust me from your door.\n\n I go along the road,\n Slow, with reluctant heart.\n Your escort lame to door but came,\n There glad from me to part.\n Sow-thistle, bitter called,\n As shepherd's purse is sweet;\n With your new mate you feast elate,\n As joyous brothers meet.\n\n Part clear, the stream of King\n Is foul beside the Wei.\n You feast elate with your new mate,\n And take no heed of me.\n Loose mate, avoid my dam,\n Nor dare my basket move!\n Person slighted, life all blighted,\n What can the future prove?\n\n The water deep, in boat,\n Or raft-sustained, I'd go;\n And where the stream did narrow seem,\n I dived or breasted through.\n I labored to increase\n Our means, or great or small;\n When 'mong friends near death did appear,\n On knees to help I'd crawl.\n\n No cherishing you give,\n I'm hostile in your eyes.\n As pedler's wares for which none cares,\n My virtues you despise.\n When poverty was nigh,\n I strove our means to spare;\n You, now rich grown, me scorn to own;\n To poison me compare.\n\n The stores for winter piled\n Are all unprized in spring.\n So now, elate with your new mate,\n Myself away you fling.\n Your cool disdain for me\n A bitter anguish hath.\n The early time, our love's sweet prime,\n In you wakes only wrath.\n\n\nSOLDIERS OF WEI BEWAIL SEPARATION FROM THEIR FAMILIES\n\n List to the thunder and roll of the drum!\n See how we spring and brandish the dart!\n Some raise Ts[']aou's walls; some do field work at home;\n But we to the southward lonely depart.\n\n Our chief, Sun Tsze-chung, agreement has made,\n Our forces to join with Ch[']in and with Sung.\n When shall we back from this service be led?\n Our hearts are all sad, our courage unstrung.\n\n Here we are halting, and there we delay;\n Anon we soon lose our high-mettled steeds.\n The forest's gloom makes our steps go astray;\n Each thicket of trees our searching misleads.\n\n For death as for life, at home or abroad,\n We pledged to our wives our faithfulest word.\n Their hands clasped in ours, together we vowed,\n We'd live to old age in sweetest accord.\n\n This march to the South can end but in ill;\n Oh! never shall we our wives again meet.\n The word that we pledged we cannot fulfil;\n Us home returning they never will greet.\n\n\nAN OFFICER TELLS OF HIS MEAN EMPLOYMENT\n\n With mind indifferent, things I easy take;\n In every dance I prompt appearance make:--\n Then, when the sun is at his topmost height,\n There, in the place that courts the public sight.\n\n With figure large I in the courtyard dance,\n And the duke smiles, when he beholds me prance.\n A tiger's strength I have; the steeds swift bound;\n The reins as ribbons in my hands are found.\n\n See how I hold the flute in my left hand;\n In right the pheasant's plume, waved like a wand;\n With visage red, where rouge you think to trace,\n While the duke pleased, sends down the cup of grace!\n\n Hazel on hills; the _ling_ in meadow damp;--\n Each has its place, while I'm a slighted scamp.\n My thoughts go back to th' early days of Chow,\n And muse upon its chiefs, not equalled now.\n O noble chiefs, who then the West adorned,\n Would ye have thus neglected me and scorned?\n\n\nAN OFFICER SETS FORTH HIS HARD LOT\n\n My way leads forth by the gate on the north;\n My heart is full of woe.\n I hav'n't a cent, begged, stolen, or lent,\n And friends forget me so.\n So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.\n What can I say--a poor fellow like me?\n\n The King has his throne, sans sorrow or moan;\n On me fall all his cares,\n And when I come home, resolved not to roam,\n Each one indignant stares.\n So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.\n What can I say--a poor fellow like me?\n\n Each thing of the King, and the fate of the State,\n On me come more and more.\n And when, sad and worn, I come back forlorn,\n They thrust me from the door.\n So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.\n What can I say--a poor fellow like me?\n\n\nTHE COMPLAINT OF A NEGLECTED WIFE\n\n When the upper robe is green,\n With a yellow lining seen,\n There we have a certain token,\n Right is wronged and order broken.\n How can sorrow from my heart\n In a case like this depart?\n\n Color green the robe displays;\n Lower garment yellow's blaze.\n Thus it is that favorite mean\n In the place of wife is seen.\n Vain the conflict with my grief;\n Memory denies relief.\n\n Yes, 'twas you the green who dyed,\n You who fed the favorite's pride.\n Anger rises in my heart,\n Pierces it as with a dart.\n But on ancient rules lean I,\n Lest to wrong my thoughts should fly.\n\n Fine or coarse, if thin the dress,\n Cold winds always cause distress.\n Hard my lot, my sorrow deep,\n But my thoughts in check I keep.\n Ancient story brings to mind\n Sufferers who were resigned.\n\n [NOTE.--Yellow is one of the five \"correct\" colors of the Chinese,\n while green is one of the \"intermediate\" colors that are less\n esteemed. Here we have the yellow used merely as a lining to the\n green, or employed in the lower, or less honorable, part of the\n dress;--an inversion of propriety, and intimating how a favorite\n had usurped the place of the rightful wife and thrust her down.]\n\n\nIN PRAISE OF A MAIDEN\n\n O sweet maiden, so fair and retiring,\n At the corner I'm waiting for you;\n And I'm scratching my head, and inquiring\n What on earth it were best I should do.\n\n Oh! the maiden, so handsome and coy,\n For a pledge gave a slim rosy reed.\n Than the reed is she brighter, my joy;\n On her loveliness how my thoughts feed!\n\n In the pastures a _t'e_ blade she sought,\n And she gave it, so elegant, rare.\n Oh! the grass does not dwell in my thought,\n But the donor, more elegant, fair.\n\n\nDISCONTENT\n\n As when the north winds keenly blow,\n And all around fast falls the snow,\n The source of pain and suffering great,\n So now it is in Wei's poor state.\n Let us join hands and haste away,\n My friends and lovers all.\n 'Tis not a time will brook delay;\n Things for prompt action call.\n\n As when the north winds whistle shrill,\n And drifting snows each hollow fill,\n The source of pain and suffering great,\n So now it is in Wei's poor state.\n Let us join hands, and leave for aye,\n My friends and lovers all,\n 'Tis not a time will brook delay;\n Things for prompt action call.\n\n We look for red, and foxes meet;\n For black, and crows our vision greet.\n The creatures, both of omen bad,\n Well suit the state of Wei so sad.\n Let us join hands and mount our cars,\n My friends and lovers all.\n No time remains for wordy jars;\n Things for prompt action call.\n\n\nCHWANG KEANG BEMOANS HER HUSBAND'S CRUELTY\n\n Fierce is the wind and cold;\n And such is he.\n Smiling he looks, and bold\n Speaks mockingly.\n Scornful and lewd his words,\n Haughty his smile.\n Bound is my heart with cords\n In sorrow's coil.\n\n As cloud of dust wind-blown,\n Just such is he.\n Ready he seems to own,\n And come to me.\n But he comes not nor goes,\n Stands in his pride.\n Long, long, with painful throes,\n Grieved I abide.\n\n Strong blew the wind; the cloud\n Hastened away.\n Soon dark again, the shroud\n Covers the day.\n I wake, and sleep no more\n Visits my eyes.\n His course I sad deplore,\n With heavy sighs.\n\n Cloudy the sky, and dark;\n The thunders roll.\n Such outward signs well mark\n My troubled soul.\n I wake, and sleep no more\n Comes to give rest.\n His course I sad deplore,\n In anguished breast.\n\n\n\n\n[_Selections from Books IV, V, and VI have been omitted._]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VII\n\n_The Odes of Ch[']ing_\n\n\nTHE PEOPLE'S ADMIRATION FOR DUKE WOO\n\n The black robes well your form befit;\n When they are worn we'll make you new.\n Now for your court! oh! there we'll sit,\n And watch how you your duties do.\n And when we to our homes repair,\n We'll send to you our richest fare,\n Such is the love to you we bear!\n\n Those robes well with your virtue match;\n When they are worn we'll make you new.\n Now for your court! There will we watch,\n Well pleased, how you your duties do.\n And when we to our homes repair,\n We'll send to you our richest fare,\n Such is the love to you we bear!\n\n Those robes your character beseem;\n When they are worn we'll make you new.\n Now for your court! oh! there we deem\n It pleasure great your form to view.\n And when we to our homes repair,\n We'll send to you our richest fare,\n Such is the love to you we bear!\n\n\nA WIFE CONSOLED BY HER HUSBAND'S ARRIVAL\n\n Cold is the wind, fast falls the rain,\n The cock aye shrilly crows.\n But I have seen my lord again;--\n Now must my heart repose.\n\n Whistles the wind, patters the rain,\n The cock's crow far resounds.\n But I have seen my lord again,\n And healed are my heart's wounds.\n\n All's dark amid the wind and rain,\n Ceaseless the cock's clear voice!\n But I have seen my lord again;--\n Should not my heart rejoice?\n\n\nIN PRAISE OF SOME LADY\n\n There by his side in chariot rideth she,\n As lovely flower of the hibiscus tree,\n So fair her face; and when about they wheel,\n Her girdle gems of _Ken_ themselves reveal.\n For beauty all the House of Keang have fame;\n Its eldest daughter--she beseems her name.\n\n There on the path, close by him, walketh she,\n Bright as the blossom of hibiscus tree,\n And fair her face; and when around they flit,\n Her girdle gems a tinkling sound emit.\n Among the Keang she has distinguished place,\n For virtuous fame renowned, and peerless grace.\n\n\nA MAN'S PRAISE OF HIS WIFE\n\n My path forth from the east gate lay,\n Where cloud-like moved the girls at play.\n Numerous are they, as clouds so bright,\n But not on them my heart's thoughts light.\n Dressed in a thin white silk, with coiffure gray,\n Is she, my wife, my joy in life's low way.\n\n Forth by the covering wall's high tower,\n I went, and saw, like rush in flower,\n Each flaunting girl. Brilliant are they,\n But not with them my heart's thoughts stay.\n In thin white silk, with head-dress madder-dyed,\n Is she, my sole delight, 'foretime my bride.\n\n\nAN ENTREATY\n\n Along the great highway,\n I hold you by the cuff.\n O spurn me not, I pray,\n Nor break old friendship off.\n\n Along the highway worn,\n I hold your hand in mine.\n Do not as vile me scorn;\n Your love I can't resign.\n\n\nA WOMAN SCORNING HER LOVER\n\n O dear! that artful boy\n Refuses me a word!\n But, Sir, I shall enjoy\n My food, though you're absurd!\n\n O dear! that artful boy\n My table will not share!\n But, Sir, I shall enjoy\n My rest, though you're not there!\n\n\nA LADY MOURNS THE ABSENCE OF HER STUDENT LOVER\n\n You student, with the collar blue,\n Long pines my heart with anxious pain.\n Although I do not go to you,\n Why from all word do you refrain?\n\n O you, with girdle strings of blue,\n My thoughts to you forever roam!\n Although I do not go to you,\n Yet why to me should you not come?\n\n How reckless you, how light and wild,\n There by the tower upon the wall!\n One day, from sight of you exiled,\n As long as three long months I call.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VIII\n\n_The Odes of Ts[']e_\n\n\nA WIFE URGING HER HUSBAND TO ACTION\n\n His lady to the marquis says,\n \"The cock has crowed; 'tis late.\n Get up, my lord, and haste to court.\n 'Tis full; for you they wait.\"\n She did not hear the cock's shrill sound,\n Only the blueflies buzzing round.\n\n Again she wakes him with the words,\n \"The east, my lord, is bright.\n A crowded court your presence seeks;\n Get up and hail the light.\"\n 'Twas not the dawning light which shone,\n But that which by the moon was thrown.\n\n He sleeping still, once more she says,\n \"The flies are buzzing loud.\n To lie and dream here by your side\n Were pleasant, but the crowd\n Of officers will soon retire;\n Draw not on you and me their ire!\"\n\n\nTHE FOLLY OF USELESS EFFORT\n\n The weeds will but the ranker grow,\n If fields too large you seek to till.\n To try to gain men far away\n With grief your toiling heart will fill.\n\n If fields too large you seek to till,\n The weeds will only rise more strong.\n To try to gain men far away\n Will but your heart's distress prolong.\n\n Things grow the best when to themselves\n Left, and to nature's vigor rare.\n How young and tender is the child,\n With his twin tufts of falling hair!\n But when you him ere long behold,\n That child shall cap of manhood wear!\n\n\nTHE PRINCE OF LOO\n\n A grand man is the prince of Loo,\n With person large and high.\n Lofty his front and suited to\n The fine glance of his eye!\n Swift are his feet. In archery\n What man with him can vie?\n With all these goodly qualities,\n We see him and we sigh!\n\n Renowned through all the land is he,\n The nephew of our lord.\n With clear and lovely eyes, his grace\n May not be told by word.\n All day at target practice,\n He'll never miss the bird.\n Such is the prince of Loo, and yet\n With grief for him we're stirred!\n\n All grace and beauty he displays,\n High forehead and eyes bright.\n And dancing choice! His arrows all\n The target hit aright.\n Straight through they go, and every one\n Lights on the self-same spot.\n Rebellion he could well withstand,\n And yet we mourn his lot!\n\n\n\n\nBOOK IX\n\n_The Odes of Wei_\n\n\nON THE MISGOVERNMENT OF THE STATE\n\n A fruit, small as the garden peach,\n May still be used for food.\n A State, though poor as ours, might thrive,\n If but its rule were good.\n Our rule is bad, our State is sad,\n With mournful heart I grieve.\n All can from instrument and voice\n My mood of mind perceive.\n Who know me not, with scornful thought,\n Deem me a scholar proud.\n \"Those men are right,\" they fiercely say,\n \"What mean your words so loud?\"\n Deep in my heart my sorrows lie,\n And none the cause may know.\n How should they know who never try\n To learn whence comes our woe?\n\n The garden jujube, although small,\n May still be used for food.\n A State, though poor as ours, might thrive,\n If but its rule were good.\n Our rule is bad, our State is sad,\n With mournful heart I grieve.\n Methinks I'll wander through the land,\n My misery to relieve.\n Who know me not, with scornful thought,\n Deem that wild views I hold.\n \"Those men are right,\" they fiercely say,\n \"What mean your words so bold?\"\n Deep in my heart my sorrows lie,\n And none the cause may know.\n How can they know, who never try\n To learn whence comes our woe?\n\n\nTHE MEAN HUSBAND\n\n Thin cloth of dolichos supplies the shoes,\n In which some have to brave the frost and cold.\n A bride, when poor, her tender hands must use,\n Her dress to make, and the sharp needle hold.\n This man is wealthy, yet he makes his bride\n Collars and waistbands for his robes provide.\n\n Conscious of wealth, he moves with easy mien;\n Politely on the left he takes his place;\n The ivory pin is at his girdle seen:--\n His dress and gait show gentlemanly grace.\n Why do we brand him in our satire here?\n 'Tis this--his niggard soul provokes the sneer.\n\n\nA YOUNG SOLDIER ON SERVICE\n\n To the top of that tree-clad hill I go,\n And towards my father I gaze,\n Till with my mind's eye his form I espy,\n And my mind's ear hears how he says:--\n \"Alas for my son on service abroad!\n He rests not from morning till eve.\n May he careful be and come back to me!\n While he is away, how I grieve!\"\n\n To the top of that barren hill I climb,\n And towards my mother I gaze,\n Till with my mind's eye her form I espy,\n And my mind's ear hears how she says:--\n \"Alas for my child on service abroad!\n He never in sleep shuts an eye.\n May he careful be, and come back to me!\n In the wild may his body not lie!\"\n\n Up the lofty ridge I, toiling, ascend,\n And towards my brother I gaze,\n Till with my mind's eye his form I espy,\n And my mind's ear hears how he says:--\n \"Alas! my young brother, serving abroad,\n All day with his comrades must roam.\n May he careful be, and come back to me,\n And die not away from his home.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK X\n\n_The Odes of T[']ang_\n\n\nTHE KING GOES TO WAR\n\n The wild geese fly the bushy oaks around,\n With clamor loud. _Suh-suh_ their wings resound,\n As for their feet poor resting-place is found.\n The King's affairs admit of no delay.\n Our millet still unsown, we haste away.\n No food is left our parents to supply;\n When we are gone, on whom can they rely?\n O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,\n When shall our homes receive us from the war?\n\n The wild geese on the bushy jujube-trees\n Attempt to settle and are ill at ease;--\n _Suh-suh_ their wings go flapping in the breeze.\n The King's affairs admit of no delay;\n Our millet still unsown, we haste away.\n How shall our parents their requirements get?\n How in our absence shall their wants be met?\n O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,\n When shall our homes receive us from the war?\n\n The bushy mulberry-trees the geese in rows\n Seek eager and to rest around them close--\n With rustling loud, as disappointment grows.\n The King's affairs admit of no delay;\n To plant our rice and maize we cannot stay.\n How shall our parents find their wonted food?\n When we are gone, who will to them be good?\n O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,\n When shall our homes receive us from the war?\n\n\nLAMENT OF A BEREAVED PERSON\n\n A russet pear-tree rises all alone,\n But rich the growth of leaves upon it shown!\n I walk alone, without one brother left,\n And thus of natural aid am I bereft.\n Plenty of people there are all around,\n But none like my own father's sons are found.\n Ye travellers, who forever hurry by,\n Why on me turn the unsympathizing eye?\n No brother lives with whom my cause to plead;--\n Why not perform for me the helping deed?\n\n A russet pear-tree rises all alone,\n But rich with verdant foliage o'ergrown.\n I walk alone, without one brother's care,\n To whom I might, amid my straits repair.\n Plenty of people there are all around,\n But none like those of my own name are found.\n Ye travellers, who forever hurry by,\n Why on me turn the unsympathizing eye?\n No brother lives with whom my cause to plead;--\n Why not perform for me the helping deed?\n\n\nTHE DRAWBACKS OF POVERTY\n\n On the left of the way, a russet pear-tree\n Stands there all alone--a fit image of me.\n There is that princely man! O that he would come,\n And in my poor dwelling with me be at home!\n In the core of my heart do I love him, but say,\n Whence shall I procure him the wants of the day?\n\n At the bend in the way a russet pear-tree\n Stands there all alone--a fit image of me.\n There is that princely man! O that he would come,\n And rambling with me be himself here at home!\n In the core of my heart I love him, but say,\n Whence shall I procure him the wants of the day?\n\n\nA WIFE MOURNS FOR HER HUSBAND\n\n The dolichos grows and covers the thorn,\n O'er the waste is the dragon-plant creeping.\n The man of my heart is away and I mourn--\n What home have I, lonely and weeping?\n\n Covering the jujubes the dolichos grows,\n The graves many dragon-plants cover;\n But where is the man on whose breast I'd repose?\n No home have I, having no lover!\n\n Fair to see was the pillow of horn,\n And fair the bed-chamber's adorning;\n But the man of my heart is not here, and I mourn\n All alone, and wait for the morning.\n\n While the long days of summer pass over my head,\n And long winter nights leave their traces,\n I'm alone! Till a hundred of years shall have fled,\n And then I shall meet his embraces.\n\n Through the long winter nights I am burdened with fears,\n Through the long summer days I am lonely;\n But when time shall have counted its hundreds of years\n I then shall be his--and his only!\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XI\n\n_The Odes of Ts[']in_\n\n\nCELEBRATING THE OPULENCE OF THE LORDS OF TS[']IN\n\n Our ruler to the hunt proceeds;\n And black as iron are his steeds\n That heed the charioteer's command,\n Who holds the six reins in his hand.\n His favorites follow to the chase,\n Rejoicing in his special grace.\n\n The season's males, alarmed, arise--\n The season's males, of wondrous size.\n Driven by the beaters, forth they spring,\n Soon caught within the hunters' ring.\n \"Drive on their left,\" the ruler cries;\n And to its mark his arrow flies.\n\n The hunting done, northward he goes;\n And in the park the driver shows\n The horses' points, and his own skill\n That rules and guides them at his will.\n Light cars whose teams small bells display,\n The long- and short-mouthed dogs convey.\n\n\nA COMPLAINT\n\n He lodged us in a spacious house,\n And plenteous was our fare.\n But now at every frugal meal\n There's not a scrap to spare.\n Alas! alas that this good man\n Could not go on as he began!\n\n\nA WIFE'S GRIEF BECAUSE OF HER HUSBAND'S ABSENCE\n\n The falcon swiftly seeks the north,\n And forest gloom that sent it forth.\n Since I no more my husband see,\n My heart from grief is never free.\n O how is it, I long to know,\n That he, my lord, forgets me so?\n\n Bushy oaks on the mountain grow,\n And six elms where the ground is low.\n But I, my husband seen no more,\n My sad and joyless fate deplore.\n O how is it, I long to know,\n That he, my lord, forgets me so?\n\n The hills the bushy wild plums show,\n And pear-trees grace the ground below.\n But, with my husband from me gone,\n As drunk with grief, I dwell alone.\n Oh how is it, I long to know,\n That he, my lord, forgets me so?\n\n\nLAMENT FOR THREE BROTHERS\n\n They flit about, the yellow birds,\n And rest upon the jujubes find.\n Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,\n Alive to awful death consigned?\n\n 'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,\n 'Twas sad the first, Yen-seih to see.\n He stood alone; a hundred men\n Could show no other such as he.\n When to the yawning grave he came,\n Terror unnerved and shook his frame.\n\n Why thus destroy our noblest men,\n To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!\n To save Yen-seih from death, we would\n A hundred lives have freely given.\n\n They flit about, the yellow birds,\n And on the mulberry-trees rest find.\n Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,\n Alive to awful death consigned?\n\n 'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,\n 'Twas sad the next, Chung-hang to see.\n When on him pressed a hundred men,\n A match for all of them was he.\n When to the yawning grave he came,\n Terror unnerved and shook his frame.\n\n Why thus destroy our noblest men,\n To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!\n To save Chung-hang from death, we would\n A hundred lives have freely given.\n\n They flit about, the yellow birds,\n And rest upon the thorn-trees find.\n Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,\n Alive to awful death consigned?\n\n 'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,\n 'Twas sad the third, K[']een-foo, to see.\n A hundred men in desperate fight\n Successfully withstand could he.\n When to the yawning grave he came,\n Terror unnerved and shook his frame.\n\n Why thus destroy our noblest men,\n To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!\n To save K[']een-foo from death, we would\n A hundred lives have freely given.\n\n [NOTE.--The incident related in this poem occurred in the year\n B.C. 620, when the duke of Muh died after playing an important\n part in the affairs of Northwest China. Muh required the three\n officers here celebrated, to be buried with him, and according to\n the \"Historical Records\" this barbarous practice began with duke\n Ching, Muh's predecessor. In all, 170 individuals were buried\n with Muh. The death of the last distinguished man of the Ts[']in\n dynasty, the Emperor I, was subsequently celebrated by the\n entombment with him of all the inmates of his harem.]\n\n\nIN PRAISE OF A RULER OF TS[']IN\n\n What trees grow on the Chung-nan hill?\n The white fir and the plum.\n In fur of fox, 'neath 'broidered robe,\n Thither our prince is come.\n His face glows with vermilion hue.\n O may he prove a ruler true!\n\n What find we on the Chung-nan hill?\n Deep nook and open glade.\n Our prince shows there the double _Ke_\n On lower robe displayed.\n His pendant holds each tinkling gem,\n Long life be his, and deathless fame!\n\n\nTHE GENEROUS NEPHEW\n\n I escorted my uncle to Tsin,\n Till the Wei we crossed on the way.\n Then I gave as I left\n For his carriage a gift\n Four steeds, and each steed was a bay.\n\n I escorted my uncle to Tsin,\n And I thought of him much in my heart.\n Pendant stones, and with them\n Of fine jasper a gem,\n I gave, and then saw him depart.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XII\n\n_The Odes of Ch[']in_\n\n\nTHE CONTENTMENT OF A POOR RECLUSE\n\n My only door some pieces of crossed wood,\n Within it I can rest enjoy.\n I drink the water wimpling from the spring;\n Nor hunger can my peace destroy.\n\n Purged from ambition's aims I say, \"For fish,\n We need not bream caught in the Ho;\n Nor, to possess the sweets of love, require\n To Ts[']e, to find a Keang, to go.\n\n \"The man contented with his lot, a meal\n Of fish without Ho carp can make;\n Nor needs, to rest in his domestic joy,\n A Tsze of Sung as wife to take.\"\n\n\nTHE DISAPPOINTED LOVER\n\n Where grow the willows near the eastern gate,\n And 'neath their leafy shade we could recline,\n She said at evening she would me await,\n And brightly now I see the day-star shine!\n\n Here where the willows near the eastern gate\n Grow, and their dense leaves make a shady gloom,\n She said at evening she would me await.\n See now the morning star the sky illume!\n\n\nA LOVE-SONG\n\n The moon comes forth, bright in the sky;\n A lovelier sight to draw my eye\n Is she, that lady fair.\n She round my heart has fixed love's chain,\n But all my longings are in vain.\n 'Tis hard the grief to bear.\n\n The moon comes forth, a splendid sight;\n More winning far that lady bright,\n Object of my desire!\n Deep-seated is my anxious grief;\n In vain I seek to find relief,\n While glows the secret fire.\n\n The rising moon shines mild and fair;\n More bright is she, whose beauty rare\n My heart with longing fills.\n With eager wish I pine in vain;\n O for relief from constant pain,\n Which through my bosom thrills!\n\n\nTHE LAMENT OF A LOVER\n\n There where its shores the marsh surround,\n Rushes and lotus plants abound.\n Their loveliness brings to my mind\n The lovelier one that I would find.\n In vain I try to ease the smart\n Of wounded love that wrings my heart.\n In waking thought and nightly dreams,\n From every pore the water streams.\n\n All round the marsh's shores are seen\n Valerian flowers and rushes green.\n But lovelier is that Beauty rare,\n Handsome and large, and tall and fair.\n I wish and long to call her mine,\n Doomed with the longing still to pine.\n Nor day nor night e'er brings relief;\n My inmost heart is full of grief.\n\n Around the marsh, in rich display,\n Grow rush and lotus flowers, all gay.\n But not with her do they compare,\n So tall and large, majestic, fair.\n Both day and night, I nothing speed;\n Still clings to me the aching need.\n On side, on back, on face, I lie,\n But vain each change of posture try.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XIII\n\n_The Odes of Kwei_\n\n\nTHE WISH OF AN UNHAPPY MAN\n\n Where the grounds are wet and low,\n There the trees of goat-peach grow,\n With their branches small and smooth,\n Glossy in their tender youth.\n Joy it were to me, O tree,\n Consciousness to want like thee.\n\n Where the grounds are wet and low,\n There the trees of goat-peach grow.\n Soft and fragrant are their flowers,\n Glossy from the vernal showers.\n Joy it were to me, O tree,\n Ties of home to want like thee.\n\n Where the grounds are wet and low,\n There the trees of goat-peach grow,\n What delicious fruits they bear,\n Glossy, soft, of beauty rare!\n Joy it were to me, O tree,\n Household cares to want like thee.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XIV\n\n_The Odes of Ts[']aou_\n\n\nAGAINST FRIVOLOUS PURSUITS\n\n Like splendid robes appear the wings\n Of the ephemeral fly;\n And such the pomp of those great men,\n Which soon in death shall lie!\n I grieve! Would they but come to me!\n To teach them I should try.\n\n The wings of the ephemeral fly\n Are robes of colors gay;\n And such the glory of those men,\n Soon crumbling to decay!\n I grieve! Would they but rest with me,\n They'd learn a better way!\n\n The ephemeral fly bursts from its hole,\n With gauzy wings like snow;\n So quick the rise, so quick the fall,\n Of those great men we know!\n I grieve! Would they but lodge with me,\n Forth they would wiser go.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK XV\n\n_The Odes of Pin_\n\n\nTHE DUKE OF CHOW TELLS OF HIS SOLDIERS\n\n To the hills of the East we went,\n And long had we there to remain.\n When the word of recall was sent,\n Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.\n When told our return we should take,\n Our hearts in the West were and sore;\n But there did they clothes for us make:--\n They knew our hard service was o'er.\n On the mulberry grounds in our sight\n The large caterpillars were creeping;\n Lonely and still we passed the night,\n All under our carriages sleeping.\n\n To the hills of the East we went,\n And long had we there to remain.\n When the word of recall was sent,\n Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.\n The heavenly gourds rise to the eye,\n With their fruit hanging under the eave.\n In our chambers the sow-bug we spy;\n Their webs on our doors spiders weave.\n Our paddocks seem crowded with deer,\n With the glow-worm's light all about.\n Such thoughts, while they filled us with fear,\n We tried, but in vain, to keep out.\n\n To the hills of the East we went,\n And long had we there to remain.\n When the word of recall was sent,\n Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.\n On ant-hills screamed cranes with delight;\n In their rooms were our wives sighing sore.\n Our homes they had swept and made tight:--\n All at once we arrived at the door.\n The bitter gourds hanging are seen,\n From branches of chestnut-trees high.\n Three years of toil away we had been,\n Since such a sight greeted the eye.\n\n To the hills of the East we went,\n And long had we there to remain.\n When the word of recall was sent,\n Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.\n With its wings now here, and now there,\n Is the oriole sporting in flight.\n Those brides to their husbands repair,\n Their steeds red and bay, flecked with white.\n Each mother has fitted each sash;\n Their equipments are full and complete;\n But fresh unions, whatever their dash,\n Can ne'er with reunions compete.\n\n\nTHERE IS A PROPER WAY FOR DOING EVERYTHING\n\n In hewing an axe-shaft, how must you act?\n Another axe take, or you'll never succeed.\n In taking a wife, be sure 'tis a fact,\n That with no go-between you never can speed.\n\n In hewing an axe-shaft, hewing a shaft,\n For a copy you have the axe in your hand.\n In choosing a wife, you follow the craft,\n And forthwith on the mats the feast-vessels stand.\n\n\n\n\n_PART II.--MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM_\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_Decade of Luh Ming_\n\n\nA FESTAL ODE\n\n With sounds of happiness the deer\n Browse on the celery of the meads.\n A nobler feast is furnished here,\n With guests renowned for noble deeds.\n The lutes are struck; the organ blows,\n Till all its tongues in movement heave.\n Each basket loaded stands, and shows\n The precious gifts the guests receive.\n They love me and my mind will teach,\n How duty's highest aim to reach.\n\n With sounds of happiness the deer\n The southern-wood crop in the meads,\n What noble guests surround me here,\n Distinguished for their worthy deeds!\n From them my people learn to fly\n Whate'er is mean; to chiefs they give\n A model and a pattern high;--\n They show the life they ought to live.\n Then fill their cups with spirits rare,\n Till each the banquet's joy shall share.\n\n With sounds of happiness the deer\n The salsola crop in the fields.\n What noble guests surround me here!\n Each lute for them its music yields.\n Sound, sound the lutes, or great or small,\n The joy harmonious to prolong;--\n And with my spirits rich crown all\n The cups to cheer the festive throng.\n Let each retire with gladdened heart,\n In his own sphere to play his part.\n\n\nA FESTAL ODE COMPLIMENTING AN OFFICER\n\n On dashed my four steeds, without halt, without stay,\n Though toilsome and winding from Chow was the way.\n I wished to return--but the monarch's command\n Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;\n And my heart was with sadness oppressed.\n\n On dashed my four steeds; I ne'er slackened the reins.\n They snorted and panted--all white, with black manes.\n I wished to return, but our sovereign's command\n Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--\n And I dared not to pause or to rest.\n\n Unresting the Filial doves speed in their flight,\n Ascending, then sweeping swift down from the height,\n Now grouped on the oaks. The king's high command\n Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--\n And my father I left, sore distressed.\n\n Unresting the Filial doves speed in their flight,\n Now fanning the air and anon they alight\n On the medlars thick grouped. But our monarch's command\n Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--\n Of my mother I thought with sad breast.\n\n My four steeds I harnessed, all white and black-maned,\n Which straight on their way, fleet and emulous strained.\n I wished to return; and now venture in song\n The wish to express, and announce how I long\n For my mother my care to attest.\n\n [NOTE.--Both Maou and Choo agree that this ode was composed in\n honor of the officer who narrates the story in it, although they\n say it was not written by the officer himself, but was put into\n his mouth, as it were, to express the sympathy of his entertainer\n with him, and the appreciation of his devotion to duty.]\n\n\nTHE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP\n\n The woodmen's blows responsive ring,\n As on the trees they fall;\n And when the birds their sweet notes sing,\n They to each other call.\n From the dark valley comes a bird,\n And seeks the lofty tree.\n _Ying_ goes its voice, and thus it cries,\n \"Companion, come to me.\"\n The bird, although a creature small,\n Upon its mate depends;\n And shall we men, who rank o'er all,\n Not seek to have our friends?\n All spirits love the friendly man,\n And hearken to his prayer.\n What harmony and peace they can\n Bestow, his lot shall share.\n\n _Hoo-hoo_ the woodmen all unite\n To shout, as trees they fell.\n They do their work with all their might;--\n What I have done I'll tell.\n I've strained and made my spirits clear,\n The fatted lambs I've killed.\n With friends who my own surname bear,\n My hall I've largely filled.\n Some may be absent, casually,\n And leave a broken line;\n But better this than absence by\n An oversight of mine.\n My court I've sprinkled and swept clean,\n Viands in order set,\n Eight dishes loaded stand with grain;\n There's store of fatted meat.\n My mother's kith and kin I'm sure\n I've widely called by name.\n That some be hindered better is\n Than I give cause for blame.\n\n On the hill-side the trees they fell,\n All working with good-will.\n I labor too, with equal zeal,\n And the host's part fulfil.\n Spirits I've set in order meet,\n The dishes stand in rows.\n The guests are here; no vacant seat\n A brother absent shows.\n The loss of kindly feeling oft\n From slightest things shall grow,\n Where all the fare is dry and spare,\n Resentments fierce may glow.\n My store of spirits is well strained,\n If short prove the supply,\n My messengers I straightway send,\n And what is needed buy.\n I beat the drums, and in the dance\n Lead joyously the train.\n Oh! good it is, when falls the chance\n The sparkling cup to drain.\n\n\nTHE RESPONSE TO A FESTAL ODE\n\n Heaven shields and sets thee fast.\n It round thee fair has cast\n Thy virtue pure.\n Thus richest joy is thine;--\n Increase of corn and wine,\n And every gift divine,\n Abundant, sure.\n\n Heaven shields and sets thee fast.\n From it thou goodness hast;\n Right are thy ways.\n Its choicest gifts 'twill pour,\n That last for evermore,\n Nor time exhaust the store\n Through endless days.\n\n Heaven shields and sets thee fast,\n Makes thine endeavor last\n And prosper well.\n Like hills and mountains high,\n Whose masses touch the sky;\n Like streams aye surging by;\n Thine increase swell!\n\n With rite and auspice fair,\n Thine offerings thou dost bear,\n And son-like give,\n The season's round from spring,\n To olden duke and king,\n Whose words to thee we bring:--\n \"Forever live.\"\n\n The spirits of thy dead\n Pour blessings on thy head,\n Unnumbered sweet.\n Thy subjects, simple, good,\n Enjoy their drink and food.\n Our tribes of every blood\n Follow thy feet.\n\n Like moons that wax in light;\n Or suns that scale the height;\n Or ageless hill;\n Nor change, nor autumn know;\n As pine and cypress grow;\n The sons that from thee flow\n Be lasting still!\n\n\nAN ODE OF CONGRATULATION\n\n The russet pear-tree stands there all alone;\n How bright the growth of fruit upon it shown!\n The King's affairs no stinting hands require,\n And days prolonged still mock our fond desire.\n But time has brought the tenth month of the year;\n My woman's heart is torn with wound severe.\n Surely my warrior lord might now appear!\n\n The russet pear-tree stands there all alone;\n How dense the leafy shade all o'er it thrown!\n The King's affairs require no slackening hand,\n And our sad hearts their feelings can't command.\n The plants and trees in beauty shine; 'tis spring.\n From off my heart its gloom I fain would fling.\n This season well my warrior home may bring!\n\n I climbed that northern hill, and medlars sought;\n The spring nigh o'er, to ripeness they were brought.\n \"The King's affairs cannot be slackly done\";--\n 'Tis thus our parents mourn their absent son.\n But now his sandal car must broken be;\n I seem his powerful steeds worn out to see.\n Relief has gone! He can't be far from me!\n\n Alas! they can't have marched; they don't arrive!\n More hard it grows with my distress to strive.\n The time is passed, and still he is not here!\n My sorrows multiply; great is my fear.\n But lo! by reeds and shell I have divined,\n That he is near, they both assure my mind;--\n Soon at my side my warrior I shall find!\n\n\nAN ODE ON THE RETURN OF THE TROOPS\n\n Forth from the city in our cars we drove,\n Until we halted at the pasture ground.\n The general came, and there with ardor strove\n A note of zeal throughout the host to sound.\n \"Direct from court I come, by orders bound\n The march to hasten\";--it was thus he spake.\n Then with the carriage-officers around,\n He strictly charged them quick despatch to make:--\n \"Urgent the King's affairs, forthwith the field we take.\"\n\n While there we stopped, the second corps appeared,\n And 'twixt us and the city took its place.\n The guiding standard was on high upreared,\n Where twining snakes the tortoises embrace,\n While oxtails, crest-like, did the staff's top grace.\n We watched the sheet unfolding grandly wave;\n Each flag around showed falcons on its face.\n With anxious care looked on our leader brave;\n Watchful the carriage-officers appeared and grave.\n\n Nan Chung, our chief, had heard the royal call\n To go where inroad by Heen-yuns was made,\n And 'cross the frontier build a barrier wall.\n Numerous his chariots, splendidly arrayed!\n The standards--this where dragons were displayed,\n And that where snakes round tortoises were coiled--\n Terrific flew. \"Northward our host,\" he said,\n \"Heaven's son sends forth to tame the Heen-yun wild.\"\n Soon by this awful chief would all their tribes be foiled.\n\n When first we took the field, and northward went,\n The millet was in flower;--a prospect sweet.\n Now when our weary steps are homeward bent,\n The snow falls fast, the mire impedes our feet.\n Many the hardships we were called to meet,\n Ere the King's orders we had all fulfilled.\n No rest we had; often our friends to greet\n The longing came; but vain regrets we stilled;\n By tablets stern our hearts with fresh resolve were thrilled.\n\n \"Incessant chirp the insects in the grass;\n All round about the nimble hoppers spring.\n From them our thoughts quick to our husbands pass,\n Although those thoughts our hearts with anguish wring.\n Oh! could we see them, what relief 'twould bring!\n Our hearts, rejoiced, at once would feel at rest.\"\n Thus did our wives, their case deploring, sing;\n The while our leader farther on had pressed,\n And smitten with his power the wild Jung of the west.\n\n The spring days now are lengthening out their light;\n The plants and trees are dressed in living green;\n The orioles resting sing, or wing their flight;\n Our wives amid the southern-wood are seen,\n Which white they bring, to feed their silkworms keen.\n Our host, returned, sweeps onwards to the hall,\n Where chiefs are questioned, shown the captives mean\n Nan Chung, majestic, draws the gaze of all,\n Proud o'er the barbarous foe his victories to recall.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II\n\n_The Decade of Pih H'wa_\n\n\nAN ODE APPROPRIATE TO A FESTIVITY\n\n The dew lies heavy all around,\n Nor, till the sun shines, leaves the ground.\n Far into night we feasting sit;\n We drink, and none his place may quit.\n\n The dew lies heavy, and its gems\n Stud the luxuriant, grassy stems.\n The happy night with wassail rings;\n So feasted here the former kings.\n\n The jujube and the willow-tree\n All fretted with the dew we see.\n Each guest's a prince of noble line,\n In whom the virtues all combine.\n\n The _t[']ung_ and _e_ their fruits display,\n Pendant from every graceful spray.\n My guests are joyous and serene,\n No haggard eye, no ruffled mien.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\n_The Decade of T[']ung Kung_\n\n\nCELEBRATING A HUNTING EXPEDITION\n\n Our chariots were well-built and firm,\n Well-matched our steeds, and fleet and strong.\n Four, sleek and large, each chariot drew,\n And eastward thus we drove along.\n\n Our hunting cars were light and good,\n Each with its team of noble steeds.\n Still further east we took the way\n To Foo-mere's grassy plains that leads.\n\n Loud-voiced, the masters of the chase\n Arranged the huntsmen, high and low.\n While banners streamed, and ox-tails flew,\n We sought the prey on distant Gaou.\n\n Each with full team, the princes came,\n A lengthened train in bright array.\n In gold-wrought slippers, knee-caps red,\n They looked as on an audience day.\n\n Each right thumb wore the metal guard;\n On the left arm its shield was bound.\n In unison the arrows flew;\n The game lay piled upon the ground.\n\n The leaders of the tawny teams\n Sped on their course, direct and true.\n The drivers perfect skill displayed;\n Like blow well aimed each arrow flew.\n\n Neighing and pleased, the steeds returned;\n The bannered lines back slowly came.\n No jostling rude disgraced the crowd;\n The king declined large share of game.\n\n So did this famous hunt proceed!\n So free it was from clamorous sound!\n Well does our King become his place,\n And high the deeds his reign have crowned!\n\n\nTHE KING'S ANXIETY FOR HIS MORNING LEVEE\n\n How goes the night? For heavy morning sleep\n Ill suits the king who men would loyal keep.\n The courtyard, ruddy with the torch's light,\n Proclaims unspent the deepest hour of night.\n Already near the gate my lords appear;\n Their tinkling bells salute my wakeful ear.\n\n How goes the night? I may not slumber on.\n Although not yet the night is wholly gone,\n The paling torch-light in the court below\n Gives token that the hours swift-footed go.\n Already at the gate my lords appear;\n Their tinkling bells with measured sound draw near.\n\n How goes the night? I may not slumber now.\n The darkness smiles with morning on its brow.\n The courtyard torch no more gives forth its ray,\n But heralds with its smoke the coming day.\n My princes pass the gate, and gather there;\n I see their banners floating in the air.\n\n\nMORAL LESSONS FROM NATURAL FACTS\n\n All true words fly, as from yon reedy marsh\n The crane rings o'er the wild its screaming harsh.\n Vainly you try reason in chains to keep;--\n Freely it moves as fish sweeps through the deep.\n Hate follows love, as 'neath those sandal-trees\n The withered leaves the eager searcher sees.\n The hurtful ne'er without some good was born;--\n The stones that mar the hill will grind the corn.\n\n All true words spread, as from the marsh's eye\n The crane's sonorous note ascends the sky.\n Goodness throughout the widest sphere abides,\n As fish round isle and through the ocean glides.\n And lesser good near greater you shall see,\n As grows the paper shrub 'neath sandal-tree.\n And good emerges from what man condemns;--\n Those stones that mar the hill will polish gems.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK IV\n\n_The Decade of K[']e-foo_\n\n\nON THE COMPLETION OF A ROYAL PALACE\n\n On yonder banks a palace, lo! upshoots,\n The tender blue of southern hill behind;\n Firm-founded, like the bamboo's clamping roots;\n Its roof made pine-like, to a point defined.\n Fraternal love here bears its precious fruits,\n And unfraternal schemes be ne'er designed!\n\n Ancestral sway is his. The walls they rear,\n Five thousand cubits long; and south and west\n The doors are placed. Here will the king appear,\n Here laugh, here talk, here sit him down and rest.\n\n To mould the walls, the frames they firmly tie;\n The toiling builders beat the earth and lime.\n The walls shall vermin, storm, and bird defy;--\n Fit dwelling is it for his lordly prime.\n\n Grand is the hall the noble lord ascends;--\n In height, like human form most reverent, grand;\n And straight, as flies the shaft when bow unbends;\n Its tints, like hues when pheasant's wings expand.\n\n High pillars rise the level court around;\n The pleasant light the open chamber steeps;\n And deep recesses, wide alcoves, are found,\n Where our good king in perfect quiet sleeps.\n\n Laid is the bamboo mat on rush mat square;--\n Here shall he sleep, and, waking, say, \"Divine\n What dreams are good? For bear and grizzly bear,\n And snakes and cobras, haunt this couch of mine.\"\n\n Then shall the chief diviner glad reply,\n \"The bears foreshow that Heaven will send you sons.\n The snakes and cobras daughters prophesy.\n These auguries are all auspicious ones.\n\n \"Sons shall be his--on couches lulled to rest.\n The little ones, enrobed, with sceptres play;\n Their infant cries are loud as stern behest;\n Their knees the vermeil covers shall display.\n As king hereafter one shall be addressed;\n The rest, our princes, all the States shall sway.\n\n \"And daughters also to him shall be born.\n They shall be placed upon the ground to sleep;\n Their playthings tiles, their dress the simplest worn;\n Their part alike from good and ill to keep,\n And ne'er their parents' hearts to cause to mourn;\n To cook the food, and spirit-malt to steep.\"\n\n\nTHE CONDITION OF KING SEUEN'S FLOCKS\n\n Who dares to say your sheep are few?\n The flocks are all three hundred strong.\n Who dares despise your cattle too?\n There ninety, black-lipped, press along.\n Though horned the sheep, yet peaceful each appears;\n The cattle come with moist and flapping ears.\n\n These climb the heights, those drink the pool;\n Some lie at rest, while others roam.\n With rain-coats, and thin splint hats cool,\n And bearing food, your herdsmen come.\n In thirties, ranged by hues, the creatures stand;\n Fit victims they will yield at your command.\n\n Your herdsmen twigs and fagots bring,\n With prey of birds and beasts for food.\n Your sheep, untouched by evil thing,\n Approach, their health and vigor good.\n The herdsman's waving hand they all behold,\n And docile come, and pass into the fold.\n\n Your herdsmen dream;--fish take the place\n Of men; on banners falcons fly,\n Displacing snakes and tortoises.\n The augur tells his prophecy:--\n \"The first betoken plenteous years; the change\n Of banners shows of homes a widening range.\"\n\n\n\n\nBOOK V\n\n_The Decade of Seaou Min_\n\n\nA EUNUCH COMPLAINS OF HIS FATE\n\n A few fine lines, at random drawn,\n Like the shell-pattern wrought in lawn\n To hasty glance will seem.\n My trivial faults base slander's slime\n Distorted into foulest crime,\n And men me worthless deem.\n\n A few small points, pricked down on wood,\n May be made out a picture good\n Of the bright Southern Sieve.\n Who planned, and helped those slanderers vile,\n My name with base lies to defile?\n Unpitied, here I grieve.\n\n With babbling tongues you go about,\n And only scheme how to make out\n The lies you scatter round.\n Here me--Be careful what you say;\n People ere long your words will weigh,\n And liars you'll be found.\n\n Clever you are with changeful schemes!\n How else could all your evil dreams\n And slanders work their way?\n Men now believe you; by and by,\n The truth found out, each vicious lie\n Will ill for ill repay.\n\n The proud rejoice; the sufferer weeps.\n O azure Heaven, from out thy deeps\n Why look in silence down?\n Behold those proud men and rebuke;\n With pity on the sufferers look,\n And on the evil frown.\n\n Those slanderers I would gladly take,\n With all who help their schemes to make,\n And to the tigers throw.\n If wolves and tigers such should spare,\n I'd hurl them 'midst the freezing air,\n Where the keen north winds blow.\n And should the North compassion feel\n I'd fling them to great Heaven, to deal\n On them its direst woe.\n\n As on the sacred heights you dwell,\n My place is in the willow dell,\n One is the other near.\n Before you, officers, I spread\n These lines by me, poor eunuch, made.\n Think not Mang-tsze severe.\n\n\nAN OFFICER DEPLORES THE MISERY OF THE TIME\n\n In the fourth month summer shines;\n In the sixth the heat declines.\n Nature thus grants men relief;\n Tyranny gives only grief.\n Were not my forefathers men?\n Can my suffering 'scape their ken?\n\n In the cold of autumn days\n Each plant shrivels and decays.\n Nature then is hard and stern;\n Living things sad lessons learn.\n Friends dispersed, all order gone,\n Place of refuge have I none.\n\n Winter days are wild and fierce;\n Rapid gusts each crevice pierce.\n Such is my unhappy lot,\n Unbefriended and forgot!\n Others all can happy be;\n I from misery ne'er am free.\n\n On the mountains are fine trees;\n Chestnuts, plum-trees, there one sees.\n All the year their forms they show;\n Stately more and more they grow.\n Noble turned to ravening thief!\n What the cause? This stirs my grief.\n\n Waters from that spring appear\n Sometimes foul, and sometimes clear,\n Changing oft as falls the rain,\n Or the sky grows bright again.\n New misfortunes every day\n Still befall me, misery's prey.\n\n Aid from mighty streams obtained,\n Southern States are shaped and drained.\n Thus the Keang and Han are thanked,\n And as benefactors ranked.\n Weary toil my vigor drains;\n All unnoticed it remains!\n\n Hawks and eagles mount the sky;\n Sturgeons in deep waters lie.\n Out of reach, they safely get,\n Arrow fear not, nor the net.\n Hiding-place for me there's none;\n Here I stay, and make my moan.\n\n Ferns upon the hills abound;\n _Ke_ and _e_ in marshy ground.\n Each can boast its proper place,\n Where it grows for use or grace.\n I can only sing the woe,\n Which, ill-starred, I undergo.\n\n\nON THE ALIENATION OF A FRIEND\n\n Gently and soft the east wind blows,\n And then there falls the pelting rain.\n When anxious fears pressed round you close,\n Then linked together were we twain.\n Now happy, and your mind at rest,\n You turn and cast me from your breast.\n\n Gently and soft the east wind blows,\n And then there comes the whirlwind wild.\n When anxious fears pressed round you close,\n Your bosom held me as a child.\n Now happy, and in peaceful state,\n You throw me off and quite forget.\n\n Gently and soft the east wind blows,\n Then round the rocky height it storms.\n Each plant its leaves all dying shows;\n The trees display their withered forms.\n My virtues great forgotten all,\n You keep in mind my faults, though small.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VI\n\n_The Decade of Pih Shan_\n\n\nA PICTURE OF HUSBANDRY\n\n Various the toils which fields so large demand!\n We choose the seed; we take our tools in hand.\n In winter for our work we thus prepare;\n Then in the spring, bearing the sharpened 'share,\n We to the acres go that south incline,\n And to the earth the different seeds consign.\n Soon, straight and large, upward each plant aspires;--\n All happens as our noble lord desires.\n\n The plants will ear; within their sheath confined,\n The grains will harden, and be good in kind.\n Nor darnel these, nor wolf's-tail grass infests;\n From core and leaf we pick the insect pests,\n And pick we those that eat the joints and roots:--\n So do we guard from harm the growing fruits.\n May the great Spirit, whom each farmer names,\n Those insects take, and cast them to the flames!\n\n The clouds o'erspread the sky in masses dense,\n And gentle rain down to the earth dispense.\n First may the public fields the blessing get,\n And then with it our private fields we wet!\n Patches of unripe grain the reaper leaves;\n And here and there ungathered are the sheaves.\n Handfuls besides we drop upon the ground,\n And ears untouched in numbers lie around;--\n These by the poor and widows shall be found.\n\n When wives and children to the toilers come,\n Bringing provisions from each separate home,\n Our lord of long descent shall oft appear;\n The Inspector also, glad the men to cheer.\n They too shall thank the Spirits of the air,\n With sacrifices pure for all their care;\n Now red, now black, the victims that they slay,\n As North or South the sacrifice they pay;\n While millet bright the altars always show;--\n And we shall thus still greater blessings know.\n\n\nTHE COMPLAINT OF AN OFFICER\n\n O Heaven above, before whose light\n Revealed is every deed and thought,\n To thee I cry.\n Hither on toilsome service brought,\n In this wild K[']ew I watch time's flight,\n And sadly sigh.\n The second month had just begun,\n When from the east we took our way.\n Through summer hot\n We passed, and many a wintry day.\n Summer again its course has run.\n O bitter lot!\n There are my compeers, gay at court,\n While here the tears my face begrime.\n I'd fain return--\n But there is that dread net for crime!\n The fear of it the wish cuts short.\n In vain I burn!\n\n Ere we the royal city left,\n The sun and moon renewed the year.\n We marched in hope.\n Now to its close this year is near.\n Return deferred, of hope bereft,\n All mourn and mope.\n My lonesome state haunts aye my breast,\n While duties grow, and cares increase,\n Too hard to bear.\n Toils that oppress me never cease;\n Not for a moment dare I rest,\n Nigh to despair.\n I think with fond regard of those,\n Who in their posts at court remain,\n My friends of old.\n Fain would I be with them again,\n But fierce reproof return would cause.\n This post I hold.\n\n When for the West I left my home,\n The sun and moon both mildly shone,\n Our hearts to cheer.\n We'd soon be back, our service done!\n Alas! affairs more urgent come,\n And fix us here.\n The year is hastening to expire.\n We gather now the southern-wood,\n The beans we reap;--\n That for its fragrance, these for food.\n Such things that constant care require\n Me anxious keep.\n Thinking of friends still at their posts,\n I rise and pass the night outside,\n So vexed my mind.\n But soon what changes may betide?\n I here will stay, whate'er it costs,\n And be resigned.\n\n My honored friends, O do not deem\n Your rest which seems secure from ill\n Will ever last!\n Your duties quietly fulfil,\n And hold the upright in esteem,\n With friendship fast.\n So shall the Spirits hear your cry,\n You virtuous make, and good supply,\n In measure vast.\n\n My honored friends, O do not deem\n Repose that seems secure from ill\n Will lasting prove.\n Your duties quietly fulfil,\n And hold the upright in esteem,\n With earnest love.\n So shall the Spirits hear your prayer,\n And on you happiness confer,\n Your hopes above.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VII\n\n_Decade of Sang Hoo_\n\n\nTHE REJOICINGS OF A BRIDEGROOM\n\n With axle creaking, all on fire I went,\n To fetch my young and lovely bride.\n No thirst or hunger pangs my bosom rent--\n I only longed to have her by my side.\n I feast with her, whose virtue fame had told,\n Nor need we friends our rapture to behold.\n\n The long-tailed pheasants surest covert find,\n Amid the forest on the plain.\n Here from my virtuous bride, of noble mind,\n And person tall, I wisdom gain.\n I praise her while we feast, and to her say,\n \"The love I bear you ne'er will know decay.\n\n \"Poor we may be; spirits and viands fine\n My humble means will not afford.\n But what we have, we'll taste and not repine;\n From us will come no grumbling word.\n And though to you no virtue I can add,\n Yet we will sing and dance, in spirit glad.\n\n \"I oft ascend that lofty ridge with toil,\n And hew large branches from the oaks;\n Then of their leafy glory them I spoil,\n And fagots form with vigorous strokes.\n Returning tired, your matchless grace I see,\n And my whole soul dissolves in ecstasy.\n\n \"To the high hills I looked, and urged each steed;\n The great road next was smooth and plain.\n Up hill, o'er dale, I never slackened speed;\n Like lute-string sounded every rein.\n I knew, my journey ended, I should come\n To you, sweet bride, the comfort of my home.\"\n\n\nAGAINST LISTENING TO SLANDERERS\n\n Like the blueflies buzzing round,\n And on the fences lighting,\n Are the sons of slander found,\n Who never cease their biting.\n O thou happy, courteous king,\n To the winds their slanders fling.\n\n Buzzing round the blueflies hear,\n About the jujubes flocking!\n So the slanderers appear,\n Whose calumnies are shocking.\n By no law or order bound,\n All the kingdom they confound.\n\n How they buzz, those odious flies,\n Upon the hazels clust'ring!\n And as odious are the lies\n Of those slanderers blust'ring.\n Hatred stirred between us two\n Shows the evil they can do.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK VIII\n\n_The Decade of Too Jin Sze_\n\n\nIN PRAISE OF BY-GONE SIMPLICITY\n\n In the old capital they stood,\n With yellow fox-furs plain,\n Their manners all correct and good,\n Speech free from vulgar stain.\n Could we go back to Chow's old days,\n All would look up to them with praise.\n\n In the old capital they wore\n _T[']ae_ hats and black caps small;\n And ladies, who famed surnames bore,\n Their own thick hair let fall.\n Such simple ways are seen no more,\n And the changed manners I deplore.\n\n Ear-rings, made of plainest gold,\n In the old days were worn.\n Each lady of a noble line\n A Yin or Keih seemed born.\n Such officers and ladies now\n I see not and my sorrows grow.\n\n With graceful sweep their girdles fell,\n Then in the days of old.\n The ladies' side-hair, with a swell,\n Like scorpion's tail, rose bold.\n Such, if I saw them in these days,\n I'd follow with admiring gaze.\n\n So hung their girdles, not for show;--\n To their own length 'twas due.\n 'Twas not by art their hair curled so;--\n By nature so it grew.\n I seek such manners now in vain,\n And pine for them with longing pain.\n\n [NOTE.--Yin and Keih were clan names of great families, the\n ladies of which would be leaders of fashion in the capital.]\n\n\nA WIFE BEMOANS HER HUSBAND'S ABSENCE\n\n So full am I of anxious thought,\n Though all the morn king-grass I've sought,\n To fill my arms I fail.\n Like wisp all-tangled is my hair!\n To wash it let me home repair.\n My lord soon may I hail!\n\n Though 'mong the indigo I've wrought\n The morning long; through anxious thought,\n My skirt's filled but in part.\n Within five days he was to appear;\n The sixth has come and he's not here.\n Oh! how this racks my heart!\n\n When here we dwelt in union sweet,\n If the hunt called his eager feet,\n His bow I cased for him.\n Or if to fish he went away,\n And would be absent all the day,\n His line I put in trim.\n\n What in his angling did he catch?\n Well worth the time it was to watch\n How bream and tench he took.\n Men thronged upon the banks and gazed;\n At bream and tench they looked amazed,\n The triumphs of his hook.\n\n\nTHE EARL OF SHAOU'S WORK\n\n As the young millet, by the genial rain\n Enriched, shoots up luxuriant and tall,\n So, when we southward marched with toil and pain,\n The Earl of Shaou cheered and inspired us all.\n\n We pushed our barrows, and our burdens bore;\n We drove our wagons, and our oxen led.\n \"The work once done, our labor there is o'er,\n And home we travel,\" to ourselves we said.\n\n Close kept our footmen round the chariot track;\n Our eager host in close battalions sped.\n \"When once our work is done, then we go back,\n Our labor over,\" to themselves they said.\n\n Hard was the work we had at Seay to do,\n But Shaou's great earl the city soon upreared.\n The host its service gave with ardor true;--\n Such power in all the earl's commands appeared!\n\n We did on plains and low lands what was meet;\n We cleared the springs and streams, the land to drain.\n The Earl of Shaou announced his work complete,\n And the King's heart reposed, at rest again.\n\n\nTHE PLAINT OF KING YEW'S FORSAKEN WIFE\n\n The fibres of the white-flowered rush\n Are with the white grass bound.\n So do the two together go,\n In closest union found.\n And thus should man and wife abide,\n The twain combined in one;\n But this bad man sends me away,\n And bids me dwell alone.\n\n Both rush and grass from the bright clouds\n The genial dew partake.\n Kind and impartial, nature's laws\n No odious difference make.\n But providence appears unkind;\n Events are often hard.\n This man, to principle untrue,\n Denies me his regard.\n\n Northward the pools their waters send,\n To flood each paddy field;\n So get the fields the sap they need,\n Their store of rice to yield.\n But that great man no deed of grace\n Deigns to bestow on me.\n My songs are sighs. At thought of him\n My heart aches wearily.\n\n The mulberry branches they collect,\n And use their food to cook;\n But I must use a furnace small,\n That pot nor pan will brook.\n So me that great man badly treats,\n Nor uses as his wife,\n Degrades me from my proper place,\n And fills with grief my life.\n\n The bells and drums inside the court\n Men stand without and hear;\n So should the feelings in my breast,\n To him distinct appear.\n All-sorrowful, I think of him,\n Longing to move his love;\n But he vouchsafes no kind response;\n His thoughts far from me rove.\n\n The marabow stands on the dam,\n And to repletion feeds;\n The crane deep in the forest cries,\n Nor finds the food it needs.\n So in my room the concubine\n By the great man is placed;\n While I with cruel banishment\n Am cast out and disgraced.\n\n The yellow ducks sit on the dam.\n With left wing gathered low;\n So on each other do they lean,\n And their attachment show.\n And love should thus the man and wife\n In closest concord bind;\n But that man turns away from me,\n And shows a fickle mind.\n\n When one stands on a slab of stone,\n No higher than the ground,\n Nothing is added to his height;--\n Low with the stone he's found.\n So does the favorite's mean estate\n Render that great man mean,\n While I by him, to distance sent,\n Am pierced with sorrow keen.\n\n\nHOSPITALITY\n\n A few gourd leaves that waved about\n Cut down and boiled;--the feast how spare!\n But the good host his spirits takes,\n Pours out a cup, and proves them rare.\n\n A single rabbit on the mat,\n Or baked, or roast:--how small the feast!\n But the good host his spirits takes,\n And fills the cup of every guest.\n\n A single rabbit on the mat,\n Roasted or broiled:--how poor the meal!\n But the guests from the spirit vase\n Fill their host's cup, and drink his weal.\n\n A single rabbit on the mat,\n Roasted or baked:--no feast we think!\n But from the spirit vase they take,\n Both host and guests, and joyous drink.\n\n\nON THE MISERY OF SOLDIERS\n\n Yellow now is all the grass;\n All the days in marching pass.\n On the move is every man;\n Hard work, far and near, they plan.\n\n Black is every plant become;\n Every man is torn from home.\n Kept on foot, our state is sad;--\n As if we no feelings had!\n\n Not rhinoceroses we!\n Tigers do we care to be?\n Fields like these so desolate\n Are to us a hateful fate.\n\n Long-tailed foxes pleased may hide\n 'Mong the grass, where they abide.\n We, in box carts slowly borne,\n On the great roads plod and mourn.\n\n\n\n\n_PART III.--GREATER ODES OF THE KINGDOM_\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_Decade of King Wan_\n\n\nCELEBRATING KING WAN\n\n The royal Wan now rests on high,\n Enshrined in brightness of the sky.\n Chow as a state had long been known,\n And Heaven's decree at last was shown.\n Its lords had borne a glorious name;\n God kinged them when the season came.\n King Wan ruled well when earth he trod;\n Now moves his spirit near to God.\n\n A strong-willed, earnest king was Wan,\n And still his fame rolls widening on.\n The gifts that God bestowed on Chow\n Belong to Wan's descendants now.\n Heaven blesses still with gifts divine\n The hundred scions of his line;\n And all the officers of Chow\n From age to age more lustrous grow.\n\n More lustrous still from age to age,\n All reverent plans their zeal engage;\n And brilliant statesmen owe their birth\n To this much-favored spot of earth.\n They spring like products of the land--\n The men by whom the realm doth stand.\n Such aid their numerous bands supply,\n That Wan rests tranquilly on high.\n\n Deep were Wan's thoughts, sustained his ways;\n His reverence lit its trembling rays.\n Resistless came great Heaven's decree;\n The sons of Shang must bend the knee;--\n The sons of Shang, each one a king,\n In numbers beyond numbering.\n Yet as God spoke, so must it be:--\n The sons of Shang all bent the knee.\n\n Now each to Chow his homage pays--\n So dark and changing are Heaven's ways.\n When we pour our libations here,\n The officers of Shang appear,\n Quick and alert to give their aid:--\n Such is the service by them paid,\n While still they do not cast aside\n The cap and broidered axe--their pride.\n Ye servants of our line of kings,\n Remember him from whom it springs.\n\n Remember him from whom it springs;--\n Let this give to your virtue wings.\n Seek harmony with Heaven's great mind;--\n So shall you surest blessing find.\n Ere Shang had lost the nation's heart,\n Its monarchs all with God had part\n In sacrifice. From them you see\n 'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree.\n\n 'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree!\n O sin not, or you cease to be.\n To add true lustre to your name,\n See Shang expire in Heaven's dread flame.\n For Heaven's high dealings are profound,\n And far transcend all sense and sound.\n From Wan your pattern you must draw,\n And all the States will own your law.\n\n\n\n\n[_Selections from Book II are omitted._]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III\n\n_Decade of Tang_\n\n\nKING SEUEN ON THE OCCASION OF A GREAT DROUGHT\n\n Grand shone the Milky Way on high,\n With brilliant span athwart the sky,\n Nor promise gave of rain.\n King Seuen long gazed; then from him broke,\n In anguished tones the words he spoke.\n Well might he thus complain!\n \"O Heaven, what crimes have we to own,\n That death and ruin still come down?\n Relentless famine fills our graves.\n Pity the king who humbly craves!\n Our miseries never cease.\n To every Spirit I have vowed;\n The choicest victim's blood has flowed.\n As offerings I have freely paid\n My store of gems and purest jade.\n Hear me, and give release!\n\n \"The drought consumes us. As on wing\n Its fervors fly, and torment bring.\n With purest mind and ceaseless care\n My sacrifices I prepare.\n At thine own border altars, Heaven,\n And in my father's fane, I've given\n What might relief have found.\n What Powers above, below, have sway,\n To all my precious gifts I pay,\n Then bury in the ground.\n Yes, every Spirit has received\n Due honor, and, still unrelieved,\n Our sufferings greater grow.\n How-tseih can't give the needed aid,\n And help from God is still delayed!\n The country lies a ruined waste.\n O would that I alone might taste\n This bitter cup of woe!\n\n \"The drought consumes us. Nor do I\n To fix the blame on others try.\n I quake with dread; the risk I feel,\n As when I hear the thunders peal,\n Or fear its sudden crash.\n Our black-haired race, a remnant now,\n Will every one be swept from Chow,\n As by the lightning's flash.\n Nor I myself will live alone.\n God from his great and heavenly throne\n Will not spare even me.\n O friends and officers, come, blend\n Your prayers with mine; come, lowly bend.\n Chow's dynasty will pass away;\n Its altars at no distant day\n In ruins all shall be!\n\n \"The drought consumes us. It keeps on\n Its fatal course. All hope is gone.\n The air more fierce and fiery glows.\n Where can I fly? Where seek repose?\n Death marks me for its prey.\n Above, no saving hand! Around,\n No hope, no comfort, can be found.\n The dukes and ministers of old\n Give us no help. Can ye withhold\n Your sympathy, who lately reigned?\n And parents, how are you restrained,\n In this so dreadful day?\n\n \"The drought consumes us. There on high\n The hills are parched. The streams are dry.\n Drought's demon stalks abroad in ire,\n And scatters wide his flames and fire.\n Alas, my woful heart!\n The fires within its strength consume;\n The heat without creates a gloom\n That from it will not part.\n The dukes and ministers by-gone\n Respond not to my prayer and moan.\n God in great Heaven, permission give\n That I may in retirement live,\n And try to heal my smart!\n\n \"The drought consumes us. Still I strive,\n And will not leave while I survive.\n Duty to shun I fear.\n Why upon me has come this drought?\n Vainly I try to search it out,\n Vainly, with quest severe.\n For a good harvest soon I prayed,\n Nor late the rites I duly paid,\n To Spirits of the air and land.\n There wanted nought they could demand,\n Their favor to secure.\n God in great Heaven, be just, be kind!\n Thou dost not bear me in Thy mind.\n My cry, ye wisest Spirits, hear!\n Ye whom I constantly revere,\n Why do I this endure?\n\n \"The drought consumes us. People fly,\n And leave their homes. Each social tie\n And bond of rule is snapt.\n The Heads of Boards are all perplexed;\n My premier's mind is sorely vexed;\n In trouble all are wrapt.\n The Masters of my Horse and Guards;\n My cook, and men of different wards:--\n Not one has from the struggle shrunk.\n Though feeling weak, they have not sunk,\n But done their best to aid.\n To the great sky I look with pain;--\n Why do these grievous sorrows rain\n On my devoted head?\n\n \"Yes, at the mighty sky I gaze,\n And lo! the stars pursue their maze,\n And sparkle clear and bright.\n Ah! Heaven nor helps, nor seems to ken.\n Great officers and noble men,\n With all your powers ye well have striven,\n And reverently have sought from Heaven\n Its aid in our great fight.\n My death is near; but oh! keep on,\n And do as thus far you have done.\n Regard you only me?\n No, for yourselves and all your friends,\n On whom for rule the land depends,\n You seek security.\n I turn my gaze to the great sky;--\n When shall this drought be done, and I\n Quiet and restful be?\"\n\n\n\n\n_PART IV.--ODES OF THE TEMPLE AND ALTAR_\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I\n\n_Sacrificial Odes of Chow_\n\n\nAPPROPRIATE TO A SACRIFICE TO KING WAN\n\n My offerings here are given,\n A ram, a bull.\n Accept them, mighty Heaven,\n All-bountiful.\n\n Thy statutes, O great king,\n I keep, I love;\n So on the realm to bring\n Peace from above.\n\n From Wan comes blessing rich;\n Now on the right\n He owns those gifts to which\n Him I invite.\n\n Do I not night and day,\n Revere great Heaven,\n That thus its favor may\n To Chow be given?\n\n\nON SACRIFICING TO THE KINGS WOO, CHING, AND K[']ANG\n\n The arm of Woo was full of might;\n None could his fire withstand;\n And Ching and K[']ang stood forth to sight,\n As kinged by God's own hand.\n\n We err not when we call them sage.\n How grandly they maintained\n Their hold of all the heritage\n That Wan and Woo had gained!\n\n As here we worship, they descend,\n While bells and drums resound,\n And stones and lutes their music blend.\n With blessings we are crowned.\n\n The rites correctly we discharge;\n The feast we freely share.\n Those Sires Chow's glory will enlarge,\n And ever for it care.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\n\n* The footnotes have been moved to the end of the respective chapters.\n\n* Hyphenation of words left as printed.\n\n* Punctuation errors have been corrected.\n\n* ['] denotes an aspirate (h) (Ki K[']ang or Ki Khung)\n\n* Pg x Corrected spelling of word \"Cnodition\" to \"Condition\" located in\n\"The Cnodition of King ...\"\n\n* Pg 16 Corrected spelling of words \"i nthe\" to \"in the\" located in\n\"... appropriated i nthe ancestral ...\"\n\n* Pg 16 Corrected spelling of word \"Thre\" to \"Three\" located in\n\"... Hall of the Thre Families?\"\n\n* Pg 48 Corrected spelling of word \"one\" to \"once\" located in \"Tsz-kung\none said to ...\"\n\n* Pg 194 Corrected spelling of word \"FESTEL\" to \"FESTAL\" located in \"A\nFESTAL ODE\"","title":"The Wisdom of Confucius: with Critical and Biographical Sketches","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":56182}