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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wisdom of Confucius, by Epiphanius Wilson
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wisdom of Confucius
+       with Critical and Biographical Sketches
+
+Author: Epiphanius Wilson
+
+Release Date: September 27, 2010 [EBook #33815]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Larry B. Harrison and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  THE WISDOM
+  OF CONFUCIUS
+
+
+
+
+  The Wisdom
+  of Confucius
+
+  with critical and biographical sketches by
+  EPIPHANIUS WILSON, A.M.
+
+  _Art Type Edition_
+
+  _THE WORLD'S POPULAR CLASSICS_
+
+  Books, Inc.
+  NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+  COPYRIGHT, 1900
+  BY THE COLONIAL PRESS
+
+  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+THE WISDOM OF CONFUCIUS
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+
+  Introduction                                                       3
+
+  BOOK
+      I. On Learning--Miscellaneous Sayings                          8
+     II. Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man            12
+    III. Abuse of Proprieties in Ceremonial and Music               16
+     IV. Social Virtue--Superior and Inferior Man                   22
+      V. A Disciple and the Golden Rule--Miscellaneous              25
+     VI. More Characteristics--Wisdom--Philanthropy                 31
+    VII. Characteristics of Confucius--An Incident                  36
+   VIII. Sayings of Tsang--Sentences of the Master                  42
+     IX. His Favorite Disciple's Opinion of Him                     46
+      X. Confucius in Private and Official Life                     51
+     XI. Comparative Worth of His Disciples                         56
+    XII. The Master's Answers--Philanthropy--Friendships            62
+   XIII. Answers on the Art of Governing--Consistency               68
+    XIV. Good and Bad Government--Miscellaneous Sayings             75
+     XV. Practical Wisdom--Reciprocity the Rule of Life             83
+    XVI. Against Intestine Strife--Good and Bad Friendships         88
+   XVII. The Master Induced to Take Office--Nature and Habit        93
+  XVIII. Good Men in Seclusion--Duke of Chow to His Son             99
+    XIX. Teachings of Various Chief Disciples                      103
+     XX. Extracts from the Book of History                         108
+
+
+  THE SAYINGS OF MENCIUS
+
+  Introduction                                                     113
+
+  BOOK I. King Hwuy of Lëang.
+      Part I                                                       115
+  [_Books II, III, and IV are omitted_]
+
+  BOOK V. Wan Chang.
+      Part I                                                       128
+
+
+  THE SHI-KING
+
+  Introduction                                                     143
+
+  _Part I. Lessons from the States._
+
+  BOOK I. THE ODES OF CHOW AND THE SOUTH.
+      Celebrating the Virtue of King Wan's Bride                   145
+      Celebrating the Industry of King Wan's Queen                 146
+      In Praise of a Bride                                         146
+      Celebrating T[']ae-Sze's Freedom from Jealousy               147
+      The Fruitfulness of the Locust                               147
+      Lamenting the Absence of a Cherished Friend                  148
+      Celebrating the Goodness of the Descendants of King Wan      149
+      The Virtuous Manners of the Young Women                      149
+      Praise of a Rabbit-Catcher                                   150
+      The Song of the Plantain-Gatherers                           151
+      The Affection of the Wives on the Joo                        151
+
+  BOOK II. THE ODES OF SHAOU AND THE SOUTH.
+      The Marriage of a Princess                                   152
+      The Industry and Reverence of a Prince's Wife                152
+      The Wife of Some Great Officer Bewails his Absence           153
+      The Diligence of the Young Wife of an Officer                154
+      The Love of the People for the Duke of Shaou                 154
+      The Easy Dignity of the Officers at Some Court               155
+      Anxiety of a Young Lady to Get Married                       155
+
+  BOOK III. THE ODES OF P[']EI.
+      An Officer Bewails the Neglect with which He is Treated      157
+      A Wife Deplores the Absence of Her Husband                   158
+      The Plaint of a Rejected Wife                                159
+      Soldiers of Wei Bewail Separation from their Families        161
+      An Officer Tells of His Mean Employment                      161
+      An Officer Sets Forth His Hard Lot                           162
+      The Complaint of a Neglected Wife                            163
+      In Praise of a Maiden                                        164
+      Discontent                                                   164
+      Chwang Keang Bemoans Her Husband's Cruelty                   165
+
+  [_Books IV, V, and VI are omitted_]
+
+  BOOK VII. THE ODES OF CH[']ING.
+      The People's Admiration for Duke Woo                         167
+      A Wife Consoled by Her Husband's Arrival                     168
+      In Praise of Some Lady                                       168
+      A Man's Praise of His Wife                                   169
+      An Entreaty                                                  169
+      A Woman Scorning Her Lover                                   169
+      A Lady Mourns the Absence of Her Student Lover               170
+
+  BOOK VIII. THE ODES OF TS[']E.
+      A Wife Urging Her Husband to Action                          171
+      The Folly of Useless Effort                                  172
+      The Prince of Loo                                            172
+
+  BOOK IX. THE ODES OF WEI.
+      On the Misgovernment of the State                            174
+      The Mean Husband                                             175
+      A Young Soldier on Service                                   175
+
+  BOOK X. THE ODES OF T[']ANG.
+      The King Goes to War                                         177
+      Lament of a Bereaved Person                                  178
+      The Drawbacks of Poverty                                     179
+      A Wife Mourns for Her Husband                                179
+
+  BOOK XI. THE ODES OF TS[']IN.
+      Celebrating the Opulence of the Lords of Ts[']in             181
+      A Complaint                                                  182
+      A Wife's Grief Because of Her Husband's Absence              182
+      Lament for Three Brothers                                    183
+      In Praise of a Ruler of Ts[']in                              184
+      The Generous Nephew                                          185
+
+  BOOK XII. THE ODES OF CH[']IN.
+      The Contentment of a Poor Recluse                            186
+      The Disappointed Lover                                       186
+      A Love-Song                                                  187
+      The Lament of a Lover                                        187
+
+  BOOK XIII. THE ODES OF KWEI.
+      The Wish of an Unhappy Man                                   189
+
+  BOOK XIV. THE ODES OF TS[']AOU.
+      Against Frivolous Pursuits                                   190
+
+  BOOK XV. THE ODES OF PIN.
+      The Duke of Chow Tells of His Soldiers                       191
+      There is a Proper Way for Doing Everything                   192
+
+  _Part II. Minor Odes of the Kingdom._
+
+  BOOK I. DECADE OF LUH MING.
+      A Festal Ode                                                 194
+      A Festal Ode Complimenting an Officer                        195
+      The Value of Friendship                                      196
+      The Response to a Festal Ode                                 198
+      An Ode of Congratulation                                     199
+      An Ode on the Return of the Troops                           200
+
+  BOOK II. THE DECADE OF PIH HWA.
+      An Ode Appropriate to a Festivity                            203
+
+  BOOK III. THE DECADE OF T[']UNG KUNG.
+      Celebrating a Hunting Expedition                             204
+      The King's Anxiety for His Morning Levee                     205
+      Moral Lessons from Natural Facts                             206
+
+  BOOK IV. THE DECADE OF K[']E-FOO.
+      On the Completion of a Royal Palace                          207
+      The Condition of King Seuen's Flocks                         208
+
+  BOOK V. THE DECADE OF SEAOU MIN.
+      A Eunuch Complains of His Fate                               210
+      An Officer Deplores the Misery of the Time                   212
+      On the Alienation of a Friend                                213
+
+  BOOK VI. THE DECADE OF PIH SHAN.
+      A Picture of Husbandry                                       215
+      The Complaint of an Officer                                  216
+
+  BOOK VII. DECADE OF SANG HOO.
+      The Rejoicings of a Bridegroom                               219
+      Against Listening to Slanderers                              220
+  BOOK VIII. THE DECADE OF TOO JIN SZE.
+      In Praise of By-gone Simplicity                              221
+      A Wife Bemoans Her Husband's Absence                         222
+      The Earl of Shaou's Work                                     223
+      The Plaint of King Yew's Forsaken Wife                       224
+      Hospitality                                                  226
+      On the Misery of Soldiers                                    226
+
+  _Part III. Greater Odes of the Kingdom._
+
+  BOOK I. DECADE OF KING WAN.
+      Celebrating King Wan                                         228
+
+  [_Book II is omitted_]
+
+  BOOK III. DECADE OF TANG.
+      King Seuen on the Occasion of a Great Drought                231
+
+  _Part IV. Odes of the Temple and Altar._
+
+  BOOK I. SACRIFICIAL ODES OF CHOW.
+  Appropriate to a Sacrifice to King Wan                           235
+  On Sacrificing to the Kings Woo, Ching, and K[']ang              236
+
+
+
+
+  THE WISDOM
+  OF CONFUCIUS
+
+  [_Translated into English by William Jennings_]
+
+
+
+
+PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES
+
+
+     _j_, as in French.
+
+     _ng_, commencing a word, like the same letters terminating one.
+
+     _ai_ or _ei_, as in _aisle_ or _eider_.
+
+     _au_, as in German, or like _ow_ in _cow_.
+
+     _é_, as in _fête_.
+
+     _i_ (not followed by a consonant), as _ee_ in _see_.
+
+     _u_ (followed by a consonant), as in _bull_.
+
+     _iu_, as _ew_ in _new_.
+
+     _úi_, as _ooi_ in _cooing_.
+
+     _h_ at the end of a name makes the preceding vowel short.
+
+     ['] in the middle of a word denotes an aspirate (h), as _K[']ung_
+     = _Khung_.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The strangest figure that meets us in the annals of Oriental thought is
+that of Confucius. To the popular mind he is the founder of a religion,
+and yet he has nothing in common with the great religious teachers of
+the East. We think of Siddartha, the founder of Buddhism, as the very
+impersonation of romantic asceticism, enthusiastic self-sacrifice, and
+faith in the things that are invisible. Zoroaster is the friend of God,
+talking face to face with the Almighty, and drinking wisdom and
+knowledge from the lips of Omniscience. Mohammed is represented as
+snatched up into heaven, where he receives the Divine communication
+which he is bidden to propagate with fire and sword throughout the
+world. These great teachers lived in an atmosphere of the supernatural.
+They spoke with the authority of inspired prophets. They brought the
+unseen world close to the minds of their disciples. They spoke
+positively of immortality, of reward or punishment beyond the grave. The
+present life they despised, the future was to them everything in its
+promised satisfaction. The teachings of Confucius were of a very
+different sort. Throughout his whole writings he has not even mentioned
+the name of God. He declined to discuss the question of immortality.
+When he was asked about spiritual beings, he remarked, "If we cannot
+even know men, how can we know spirits?"
+
+Yet this was the man the impress of whose teaching has formed the
+national character of five hundred millions of people. A temple to
+Confucius stands to this day in every town and village of China. His
+precepts are committed to memory by every child from the tenderest
+age, and each year at the royal university at Pekin the Emperor holds
+a festival in honor of the illustrious teacher.
+
+The influence of Confucius springs, first of all, from the narrowness
+and definiteness of his doctrine. He was no transcendentalist, and
+never meddled with supramundane things. His teaching was of the earth,
+earthy; it dealt entirely with the common relations of life, and the
+Golden Rule he must necessarily have stumbled upon, as the most
+obvious canon of his system. He strikes us as being the great Stoic of
+the East, for he believed that virtue was based on knowledge,
+knowledge of a man's own heart, and knowledge of human-kind. There is
+a pathetic resemblance between the accounts given of the death of
+Confucius and the death of Zeno. Both died almost without warning in
+dreary hopelessness, without the ministrations of either love or
+religion. This may be a mere coincidence, but the lives and teachings
+of both men must have led them to look with indifference upon such an
+end. For Confucius in his teaching treated only of man's life on
+earth, and seems to have had no ideas with regard to the human lot
+after death; if he had any ideas he preserved an inscrutable silence
+about them. As a moralist he prescribed the duties of the king and of
+the father, and advocated the cultivation by the individual man of
+that rest or apathy of mind which resembles so much the disposition
+aimed at by the Greek and Roman Stoic. Even as a moralist, he seems to
+have sacrificed the ideal to the practical, and his loose notions
+about marriage, his tolerance of concubinage, the slight emphasis
+which he lays on the virtue of veracity--of which indeed he does not
+seem himself to have been particularly studious in his historic
+writings--place him low down in the rank of moralists. Yet he taught
+what he felt the people could receive, and the flat mediocrity of his
+character and his teachings has been stamped forever upon a people
+who, while they are kindly, gentle, forbearing, and full of family
+piety, are palpably lacking not only in the exaltation of Mysticism,
+but in any religious feeling, generally so-called.
+
+The second reason that made the teaching of Confucius so influential
+is based on the circumstances of the time. When this thoughtful,
+earnest youth awoke to the consciousness of life about him, he saw
+that the abuses under which the people groaned sprang from the feudal
+system, which cut up the country into separate territories, over which
+the power of the king had no control. China was in the position of
+France in the years preceding Philippe-Auguste, excepting that there
+were no places of sanctuary and no Truce of God. The great doctrine of
+Confucius was the unlimited despotism of the Emperor, and his moral
+precepts were intended to teach the Emperor how to use his power
+aright. But the Emperor was only typical of all those in
+authority--the feudal duke, the judge on the bench, and the father of
+the family. Each could discharge his duties aright only by submitting
+to the moral discipline which Confucius prescribed. A vital element in
+this system is its conservatism, its adherence to the imperial idea.
+As James I said, "No bishop, no king," so the imperialists of China
+have found in Confucianism the strongest basis for the throne, and
+have supported its dissemination accordingly.
+
+The Analects of Confucius contain the gist of his teachings, and is
+worthy of study. We find in this work most of the precepts which his
+disciples have preserved and recorded. They form a code remarkable for
+simplicity, even crudity, and we are compelled to admire the force of
+character, the practical sagacity, the insight into the needs of the
+hour, which enabled Confucius, without claiming any Divine sanction,
+to impose this system upon his countrymen.
+
+The name Confucius is only the Latinized form of two words which mean
+"Master K[']ung." He was born 551 B.C., his father being governor of
+Shantung. He was married at nineteen, and seems to have occupied some
+minor position under the government. In his twenty-fourth year he
+entered upon the three years' mourning for the death of his mother.
+His seclusion gave him time for deep thought and the study of history,
+and he resolved upon the regeneration of his unhappy country. By the
+time he was thirty he became known as a great teacher, and disciples
+flocked to him. But he was yet occupied in public duties, and rose
+through successive stages to the office of Chief Judge in his own
+country of Lu. His tenure of office is said to have put an end to
+crime, and he became the "idol of the people" in his district. The
+jealousy of the feudal lords was roused by his fame as a moral teacher
+and a blameless judge. Confucius was driven from his home, and
+wandered about, with a few disciples, until his sixty-ninth year, when
+he returned to Lu, after accomplishing a work which has borne fruit,
+such as it is, to the present day. He spent the remaining five years
+of his life in editing the odes and historic monuments in which the
+glories of the ancient Chinese dynasty are set forth. He died in his
+seventy-third year, 478 B.C. There can be no doubt that the success of
+Confucius has been singularly great, owing especially to the narrow
+scope of his scheme, which has become crystallized in the habits,
+usages, and customs of the people. Especially has it been instrumental
+in consolidating the empire, and in strengthening the power of the
+monarch, who, as he every year burns incense in the red-walled temple
+at Pekin, utters sincerely the invocation: "Great art thou, O perfect
+Sage! Thy virtue is full, thy doctrine complete. Among mortal men
+there has not been thine equal. All kings honor thee. Thy statutes and
+laws have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern in this imperial
+school. Reverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full of
+awe, we sound our drums and bells."
+
+                                                               E. W.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_On Learning--Miscellaneous Sayings_
+
+
+"To learn," said the Master, "and then to practise opportunely what
+one has learnt--does not this bring with it a sense of satisfaction?
+
+"To have associates in study coming to one from distant parts--does
+not this also mean pleasure in store?
+
+"And are not those who, while not comprehending all that is said,
+still remain not unpleased to hear, men of the superior order?"
+
+A saying of the Scholar Yu:--
+
+"It is rarely the case that those who act the part of true men in
+regard to their duty to parents and elder brothers are at the same
+time willing to turn currishly upon their superiors: it has never yet
+been the case that such as desire not to commit that offence have been
+men willing to promote anarchy or disorder.
+
+"Men of superior mind busy themselves first in getting at the root of
+things; and when they have succeeded in this the right course is open
+to them. Well, are not filial piety and friendly subordination among
+brothers a root of that right feeling which is owing generally from
+man to man?"
+
+The Master observed, "Rarely do we meet with the right feeling due
+from one man to another where there is fine speech and studied mien."
+
+The Scholar Tsang once said of himself: "On three points I examine
+myself daily, viz., whether, in looking after other people's
+interests, I have not been acting whole-heartedly; whether, in my
+intercourse with friends, I have not been true; and whether, after
+teaching, I have not myself been practising what I have taught."
+
+The Master once observed that to rule well one of the larger States
+meant strict attention to its affairs and conscientiousness on the
+part of the ruler; careful husbanding of its resources, with at the
+same time a tender care for the interests of all classes; and the
+employing of the masses in the public service at suitable seasons.
+
+"Let young people," said he, "show filial piety at home,
+respectfulness towards their elders when away from home; let them be
+circumspect, be truthful; their love going out freely towards all,
+cultivating good-will to men. And if, in such a walk, there be time or
+energy left for other things, let them employ it in the acquisition of
+literary or artistic accomplishments."
+
+The disciple Tsz-hiá said, "The appreciation of worth in men of worth,
+thus diverting the mind from lascivious desires--ministering to
+parents while one is the most capable of so doing--serving one's ruler
+when one is able to devote himself entirely to that object--being
+sincere in one's language in intercourse with friends: this I
+certainly must call evidence of learning, though others may say there
+has been 'no learning.'"
+
+Sayings of the Master:--
+
+"If the great man be not grave, he will not be revered, neither can
+his learning be solid.
+
+"Give prominent place to loyalty and sincerity.
+
+"Have no associates in study who are not advanced somewhat like
+yourself.
+
+"When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself."
+
+A saying of the Scholar Tsang:--
+
+"The virtue of the people is renewed and enriched when attention is
+seen to be paid to the departed, and the remembrance of distant
+ancestors kept and cherished."
+
+Tsz-k[']in put this query to his fellow disciple Tsz-kung: said he,
+"When our Master comes to this or that State, he learns without fail
+how it is being governed. Does he investigate matters? or are the
+facts given him?"
+
+Tsz-kung answered, "Our Master is a man of pleasant manners, and of
+probity, courteous, moderate, and unassuming: it is by his being such
+that he arrives at the facts. Is not his way of arriving at things
+different from that of others?"
+
+A saying of the Master:--
+
+"He who, after three years' observation of the will of his father when
+alive, or of his past conduct if dead, does not deviate from that
+father's ways, is entitled to be called 'a dutiful son.'"
+
+Sayings of the Scholar Yu:--
+
+"For the practice of the Rules of Propriety,[1] one excellent way is
+to be natural. This naturalness became a great grace in the practice
+of kings of former times; let everyone, small or great, follow their
+example.
+
+"It is not, however, always practicable; and it is not so in the case
+of a person who does things naturally, knowing that he should act so,
+and yet who neglects to regulate his acts according to the Rules.
+
+"When truth and right are hand in hand, a statement will bear
+repetition. When respectfulness and propriety go hand in hand,
+disgrace and shame are kept afar-off. Remove all occasion for
+alienating those to whom you are bound by close ties, and you have
+them still to resort to."
+
+A saying of the Master:--
+
+"The man of greater mind who, when he is eating, craves not to eat to
+the full; who has a home, but craves not for comforts in it; who is
+active and earnest in his work and careful in his words; who makes
+towards men of high principle, and so maintains his own
+rectitude--that man may be styled a devoted student."
+
+Tsz-kung asked, "What say you, sir, of the poor who do not cringe and
+fawn; and what of the rich who are without pride and haughtiness?" "They
+are passable," the Master replied; "yet they are scarcely in the same
+category as the poor who are happy, and the rich who love propriety."
+
+"In the 'Book of the Odes,'" Tsz-kung went on to say, "we read of one
+
+    Polished, as by the knife and file,
+    The graving-tool, the smoothing-stone.
+
+Does that coincide with your remark?"
+
+"Ah! such as you," replied the Master, "may well commence a discussion
+on the Odes. If one tell you how a thing goes, you know what ought to
+come."
+
+"It does not greatly concern me," said the Master, "that men do not
+know me; my great concern is, my not knowing them."
+
+[Footnote 1: An important part of a Chinaman's education still. The
+text-book, "The Li Ki," contains rules for behavior and propriety for
+the whole life, from the cradle to the grave.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+_Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man_
+
+
+Sayings of the Master:--
+
+"Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will
+be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all
+the host of stars turn towards it.
+
+"The 'Book of Odes' contains three hundred pieces, but one expression
+in it may be taken as covering the purport of all, viz., Unswerving
+mindfulness.
+
+"To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of
+pains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of
+any sense of shame.
+
+"To govern upon principles of virtue, and to reduce them to order by
+the Rules of Propriety, would not only create in them the sense of
+shame, but would moreover reach them in all their errors.
+
+"When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent upon study. At
+thirty, I was a confirmed student. At forty, nought could move me from
+my course. At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of Heaven. At
+sixty, my ears were attuned to them. At seventy, I could follow my
+heart's desires, without overstepping the lines of rectitude."
+
+To a question of Mang-i, as to what filial piety consisted in, the
+Master replied, "In not being perverse." Afterwards, when Fan Ch[']i
+was driving him, the Master informed him of this question and answer,
+and Fan Ch[']i asked, "What was your meaning?" The Master replied, "I
+meant that the Rules of Propriety should always be adhered to in
+regard to those who brought us into the world: in ministering to them
+while living, in burying them when dead, and afterwards in the
+offering to them of sacrificial gifts."
+
+To a query of Mang Wu respecting filial piety, the Master replied,
+"Parents ought to bear but one trouble--that of their own sickness."
+
+To a like question put by Tsz-yu, his reply was this: "The filial
+piety of the present day simply means the being able to support one's
+parents--which extends even to the case of dogs and horses, all of
+which may have something to give in the way of support. If there be no
+reverential feeling in the matter, what is there to distinguish
+between the cases?"
+
+To a like question of Tsz-hiá, he replied: "The manner is the
+difficulty. If, in the case of work to be done, the younger folks
+simply take upon themselves the toil of it; or if, in the matter of
+meat and drink, they simply set these before their elders--is this to
+be taken as filial piety?"
+
+Once the Master remarked, "I have conversed with Hwúi the whole day
+long, and he has controverted nothing that I have said, as if he were
+without wits. But when his back was turned, and I looked attentively
+at his conduct apart from me, I found it satisfactory in all its
+issues. No, indeed! Hwúi is not without his wits."
+
+Other observations of the Master:--
+
+"If you observe what things people (usually) take in hand, watch their
+motives, and note particularly what it is that gives them
+satisfaction, shall they be able to conceal from you what they are?
+Conceal themselves, indeed!
+
+"Be versed in ancient lore, and familiarize yourself with the modern;
+then may you become teachers.
+
+"The great man is not a mere receptacle."
+
+In reply to Tsz-kung respecting the great man:---
+
+"What he first says, as a result of his experience, he afterwards
+follows up.
+
+"The great man is catholic-minded, and not one-sided. The common man
+is the reverse.
+
+"Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is
+a danger.
+
+"Where the mind is set much upon heterodox principles--there truly and
+indeed is harm."
+
+To the disciple of Tsz-lu the Master said, "Shall I give you a lesson
+about knowledge? When you know a thing, maintain that you know it; and
+when you do not, acknowledge your ignorance. This is characteristic of
+knowledge."
+
+Tsz-chang was studying with an eye to official income. The Master
+addressed him thus: "Of the many things you hear hold aloof from those
+that are doubtful, and speak guardedly with reference to the rest;
+your mistakes will then be few. Also, of the many courses you see
+adopted, hold aloof from those that are risky, and carefully follow
+the others; you will then seldom have occasion for regret. Thus, being
+seldom mistaken in your utterances, and having few occasions for
+regret in the line you take, you are on the high road to your
+preferment."
+
+To a question put to him by Duke Ngai[2] as to what should be done in
+order to render the people submissive to authority, Confucius replied,
+"Promote the straightforward, and reject those whose courses are
+crooked, and the thing will be effected. Promote the crooked and
+reject the straightforward, and the effect will be the reverse."
+
+When Ki K[']ang[3] asked of him how the people could be induced to
+show respect, loyalty, and willingness to be led, the Master answered,
+"Let there be grave dignity in him who has the oversight of them, and
+they will show him respect; let him be seen to be good to his own
+parents, and kindly in disposition, and they will be loyal to him;
+let him promote those who have ability, and see to the instruction of
+those who have it not, and they will be willing to be led."
+
+Some one, speaking to Confucius, inquired, "Why, sir, are you not an
+administrator of government?" The Master rejoined, "What says the
+'Book of the Annals,' with reference to filial duty?--'Make it a point
+to be dutiful to your parents and amicable with your brethren; the
+same duties extend to an administrator.' If these, then, also make an
+administrator, how am I to take your words about being an administrator?"
+
+On one occasion the Master remarked, "I know not what men are good
+for, on whose word no reliance can be placed. How should your
+carriages, large or little, get along without your whipple-trees or
+swing-trees?"
+
+Tsz-chang asked if it were possible to forecast the state of the
+country ten generations hence. The Master replied in this manner: "The
+Yin dynasty adopted the rules and manners of the Hiá line of kings,
+and it is possible to tell whether it retrograded or advanced. The
+Chow line has followed the Yin, adopting its ways, and whether there
+has been deterioration or improvement may also be determined. Some
+other line may take up in turn those of Chow; and supposing even this
+process to go on for a hundred generations, the result may be known."
+
+Other sayings of the Master:--
+
+"It is but flattery to make sacrificial offerings to departed spirits
+not belonging to one's own family.
+
+"It is moral cowardice to leave undone what one perceives to be right
+to do."
+
+[Footnote 2: Of Lu (Confucius's native State).]
+
+[Footnote 3: Head of one of the "Three Families" of Lu.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+_Abuse of Proprieties in Ceremonial and Music_
+
+
+Alluding to the head of the Ki family,[4] and the eight lines of
+posturers[5] before their ancestral hall, Confucius remarked, "If the
+Ki can allow himself to go to this extent, to what extent will he not
+allow himself to go?"
+
+The Three Families[6] were in the habit, during the Removal of the
+sacred vessels after sacrifice, of using the hymn commencing
+
+    "Harmoniously the Princes
+      Draw near with reverent tread,
+    Assisting in his worship
+      Heaven's Son, the great and dread."
+
+"How," exclaimed the Master, "can such words be appropriated in the
+ancestral hall of the Three Families?"
+
+"Where a man," said he again, "has not the proper feelings due from one
+man to another, how will he stand as regards the Rules of Propriety? And
+in such a case, what shall we say of his sense of harmony?"
+
+On a question being put to him by Lin Fang, a disciple, as to what was
+the radical idea upon which the Rules of Propriety were based, the
+Master exclaimed, "Ah! that is a large question. As to some rules,
+where there is likelihood of extravagance, they would rather demand
+economy; in those which relate to mourning, and where there is
+likelihood of being easily satisfied, what is wanted is real sorrow."
+
+Speaking of the disorder of the times he remarked that while the
+barbarians on the North and East had their Chieftains, we here in this
+great country had nothing to compare with them in that respect:--we
+had lost these distinctions!
+
+Alluding to the matter of the Chief of the Ki family worshipping on
+T[']ai-shan,[7] the Master said to Yen Yu, "Cannot you save him from
+this?" He replied, "It is beyond my power." "Alas, alas!" exclaimed
+the Master, "are we to say that the spirits of T[']ai-shan have not as
+much discernment as Lin Fang?"
+
+Of "the superior man," the Master observed, "In him there is no
+contentiousness. Say even that he does certainly contend with others,
+as in archery competitions; yet mark, in that case, how courteously he
+will bow and go up for the forfeit-cup, and come down again and give
+it to his competitor. In his very contest he is still the superior man."
+
+Tsz-hiá once inquired what inference might be drawn from the lines--
+
+    "Dimples playing in witching smile,
+      Beautiful eyes, so dark, so bright!
+    Oh, and her face may be thought the while
+      Colored by art, red rose on white!"
+
+"Coloring," replied the Master, "requires a pure and clear
+background." "Then," said the other, "rules of ceremony require to
+have a background!" "Ah!" exclaimed the Master, "you are the man to
+catch the drift of my thought. Such as you may well introduce a
+discussion on the Odes."
+
+Said the Master, "As regards the ceremonial adopted and enforced by
+the Hiá dynasty, I am able to describe it, although their own
+descendants in the State of Ki can adduce no adequate testimony in
+favor of its use there. So, too, I am able to describe the ceremonial
+of the Yin dynasty, although no more can the Sung people show
+sufficient reason for its continuance amongst themselves. And why
+cannot they do so? Because they have not documents enough, nor men
+learned enough. If only they had such, I could refer them to them in
+support of their usages.
+
+"When I am present at the great quinquennial sacrifice to the _manes_
+of the royal ancestors," the Master said, "from the pouring-out of the
+oblation onwards, I have no heart to look on."
+
+Some one asked what was the purport of this great sacrifice, and the
+Master replied, "I cannot tell. The position in the empire of him who
+could tell you is as evident as when you look at this"--pointing to
+the palm of his hand.
+
+When he offered sacrifices to his ancestors, he used to act as if they
+were present before him. In offering to other spirits it was the same.
+
+He would say, "If I do not myself take part in my offerings, it is all
+the same as if I did not offer them."
+
+Wang-sun Kiá asked him once, "What says the proverb, 'Better to court
+favor in the kitchen than in the drawing-room'?" The Master replied,
+"Nay, better say, He who has sinned against Heaven has none other to
+whom prayer may be addressed."
+
+Of the Chow dynasty the Master remarked, "It looks back upon two other
+dynasties; and what a rich possession it has in its records of those
+times! I follow Chow!"
+
+On his first entry into the grand temple, he inquired about every
+matter connected with its usages. Some one thereupon remarked, "Who
+says that the son of the man of Tsou[8] understands about ceremonial?
+On entering the grand temple he inquired about everything." This
+remark coming to the Master's ears, he said, "What I did is part of
+the ceremonial!"
+
+"In archery," he said, "the great point to be observed is not simply
+the perforation of the leather; for men have not all the same
+strength. That was the fashion in the olden days."
+
+Once, seeing that his disciple Tsz-kung was desirous that the
+ceremonial observance of offering a sheep at the new moon might be
+dispensed with, the Master said, "Ah! you grudge the loss of the
+sheep; I grudge the loss of the ceremony."
+
+"To serve one's ruler nowadays," he remarked, "fully complying with
+the Rules of Propriety, is regarded by others as toadyism!"
+
+When Duke Ting questioned him as to how a prince should deal with his
+ministers, and how they in turn should serve their prince, Confucius
+said in reply, "In dealing with his ministers a prince should observe
+the proprieties; in serving his prince a minister should observe the
+duty of loyalty."
+
+Referring to the First of the Odes, he remarked that it was mirthful
+without being lewd, and sad also without being painful.
+
+Duke Ngai asked the disciple Tsai Wo respecting the places for
+sacrificing to the Earth. The latter replied, "The Family of the Great
+Yu, of the Hiá dynasty, chose a place of pine trees; the Yin founders
+chose cypresses; and the Chow founders chestnut trees, solemn and
+majestic, to inspire, 'tis said, the people with feelings of awe."
+
+The Master on hearing of this exclaimed, "Never an allusion to things
+that have been enacted in the past! Never a remonstrance against what
+is now going on! He has gone away without a word of censure."
+
+The Master once said of Kwan Chung,[9] "A small-minded man indeed!"
+
+"Was he miserly?" some one asked.
+
+"Miserly, indeed!" said he; "not that: he married three times, and he
+was not a man who restricted his official business to too few
+hands--how could he be miserly?"
+
+"He knew the Rules of Propriety, I suppose?"
+
+"Judge:--Seeing that the feudal lords planted a screen at their gates,
+he too would have one at his! Seeing that when any two of the feudal
+lords met in friendly conclave they had an earthenware stand on which
+to place their inverted cups after drinking, he must have the same! If
+he knew the Rules of Propriety, who is there that does not know them?"
+
+In a discourse to the Chief Preceptor of Music at the court of Lu, the
+Master said, "Music is an intelligible thing. When you begin a
+performance, let all the various instruments produce as it were one
+sound (inharmonious); then, as you go on, bring out the harmony fully,
+distinctly, and with uninterrupted flow, unto the end."
+
+The warden of the border-town of I requested an interview with
+Confucius, and said, "When great men have come here, I have never yet
+failed to obtain a sight of them." The followers introduced him; and,
+on leaving, he said to them, "Sirs, why grieve at his loss of office?
+The empire has for long been without good government; and Heaven is
+about to use your master as its edict-announcer."
+
+Comparing the music of the emperor Shun with the music of King Wu,
+the Master said, "That of Shun is beautiful throughout, and also good
+throughout. That of Wu is all of it beautiful, but scarcely all of it
+good."
+
+"High station," said the Master, "occupied by men who have no large
+and generous heart; ceremonial performed with no reverence; duties of
+mourning engaging the attention, where there is absence of
+sorrow;--how should I look on, where this is the state of things?"
+
+[Footnote 4: The Chief of the Ki clan was virtually the Duke of Lu,
+under whom Confucius for a time held office.]
+
+[Footnote 5: These posturers were mutes who took part in the ritual of
+the ancestral temple, waving plumes, flags, etc. Each line or rank of
+these contained eight men. Only in the sovereign's household should
+there have been eight lines of them; a ducal family like the Ki should
+have had but six lines; a great official had four, and one of lower
+grade two. These were the gradations marking the status of families,
+and Confucius's sense of propriety was offended at the Ki's usurping
+in this way the appearance of royalty.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Three great families related to each other, in whose
+hands the government of the State of Lu then was, and of which the Ki
+was the chief.]
+
+[Footnote 7: One of the five sacred mountains, worshipped upon only by
+the sovereign.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Tsou was Confucius's birthplace; his father was governor
+of the town.]
+
+[Footnote 9: A renowned statesman who flourished about two hundred
+years before Confucius's time. A philosophical work on law and
+government, said to have been written by him, is still extant. He was
+regarded as a sage by the people, but he lacked, in Confucius's eyes,
+the one thing needful--propriety.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+_Social Virtue--Superior and Inferior Man_
+
+
+Sayings of the Master:--
+
+"It is social good feeling that gives charm to a neighborhood. And where
+is the wisdom of those who choose an abode where it does not abide?
+
+"Those who are without it cannot abide long, either in straitened or
+in happy circumstances. Those who possess it find contentment in it.
+Those who are wise go after it as men go after gain.
+
+"Only they in whom it exists can have right likings and dislikings for
+others.
+
+"Where the will is set upon it, there will be no room for
+malpractices.
+
+"Riches and honor are what men desire; but if they arrive at them by
+improper ways, they should not continue to hold them. Poverty and low
+estate are what men dislike; but if they arrive at such a condition by
+improper ways, they should not refuse it.
+
+"If the 'superior man' make nought of social good feeling, how shall
+he fully bear that name?
+
+"Not even whilst he eats his meal will the 'superior man' forget what
+he owes to his fellow-men. Even in hurried leave-takings, even in
+moments of frantic confusion, he keeps true to this virtue.
+
+"I have not yet seen a lover of philanthropy, nor a hater of
+misanthropy--such, that the former did not take occasion to magnify
+that virtue in himself, and that the latter, in his positive practice
+of philanthropy, did not, at times, allow in his presence something
+savoring of misanthropy.
+
+"Say you, is there any one who is able for one whole day to apply the
+energy of his mind to this virtue? Well, I have not seen any one whose
+energy was not equal to it. It may be there are such, but I have never
+met with them.
+
+"The faults of individuals are peculiar to their particular class and
+surroundings; and it is by observing their faults that one comes to
+understand the condition of their good feelings towards their fellows.
+
+"One may hear the right way in the morning, and at evening die.
+
+"The scholar who is intent upon learning the right way, and who is yet
+ashamed of poor attire and poor food, is not worthy of being
+discoursed with.
+
+"The masterly man's attitude to the world is not exclusively this or
+that: whatsoever is right, to that he will be a party.
+
+"The masterly man has an eye to virtue, the common man, to earthly
+things; the former has an eye to penalties for error--the latter, to
+favor.
+
+"Where there is habitual going after gain, there is much ill-will.
+
+"When there is ability in a ruler to govern a country by adhering to
+the Rules of Propriety, and by kindly condescension, what is wanted
+more? Where the ability to govern thus is wanting, what has such a
+ruler to do with the Rules of Propriety?
+
+"One should not be greatly concerned at not being in office; but
+rather about the requirements in one's self for such a standing.
+Neither should one be so much concerned at being unknown; but rather
+with seeking to become worthy of being known."
+
+Addressing his disciple Tsang Sin, the Master said, "Tsang Sin, the
+principles which I inculcate have one main idea upon which they all
+hang." "Aye, surely," he replied.
+
+When the Master was gone out the other disciples asked what was the
+purport of this remark. Tsang's answer was, "The principles of our
+Master's teaching are these---whole-heartedness and kindly
+forbearance; these and nothing more."
+
+Other observations of the Master:--
+
+"Men of loftier mind manifest themselves in their equitable dealings;
+small-minded men in their going after gain.
+
+"When you meet with men of worth, think how you may attain to their
+level; when you see others of an opposite character, look within, and
+examine yourself.
+
+"A son, in ministering to his parents, may (on occasion) offer gentle
+remonstrances; when he sees that their will is not to heed such, he
+should nevertheless still continue to show them reverent respect, never
+obstinacy; and if he have to suffer, let him do so without murmuring.
+
+"Whilst the parents are still living, he should not wander far; or, if
+a wanderer, he should at least have some fixed address.
+
+"If for three years he do not veer from the principles of his father,
+he may be called a dutiful son.
+
+"A son should not ignore the years of his parents. On the one hand,
+they may be a matter for rejoicing (that they have been so many), and
+on the other, for apprehension (that so few remain).
+
+"People in olden times were loth to speak out, fearing the disgrace of
+not being themselves as good as their words.
+
+"Those who keep within restraints are seldom losers.
+
+"To be slow to speak, but prompt to act, is the desire of the
+'superior man.'
+
+"Virtue dwells not alone: she must have neighbors."
+
+An observation of Tsz-yu:--
+
+"Officiousness, in the service of princes, leads to disgrace; among
+friends, to estrangement."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+_A Disciple and the Golden Rule--Miscellaneous_
+
+
+The Master pronounced Kung-ye Ch[']ang, a disciple, to be a
+marriageable person; for although lying bound in criminal fetters he
+had committed no crime. And he gave him his own daughter to wife.
+
+Of Nan Yung, a disciple, he observed, that in a State where the
+government was well conducted he would not be passed over in its
+appointments, and in one where the government was ill conducted he
+would evade punishment and disgrace. And he caused his elder brother's
+daughter to be given in marriage to him.
+
+Of Tsz-tsien, a disciple, he remarked, "A superior man indeed is the
+like of him! But had there been none of superior quality in Lu, how
+should this man have attained to this excellence?"
+
+Tsz-kung asked, "What of me, then?" "You," replied the Master--"You
+are a receptacle." "Of what sort?" said he. "One for high and sacred
+use," was the answer.
+
+Some one having observed of Yen Yung that he was good-natured towards
+others, but that he lacked the gift of ready speech, the Master said,
+"What need of that gift? To stand up before men and pour forth a stream
+of glib words is generally to make yourself obnoxious to them. I know
+not about his good-naturedness; but at any rate what need of that gift?"
+
+When the Master proposed that Tsi-tiau K[']ai should enter the
+government service, the latter replied, "I can scarcely credit it."
+The Master was gratified.
+
+"Good principles are making no progress," once exclaimed the Master.
+"If I were to take a raft, and drift about on the sea, would Tsz-lu, I
+wonder, be my follower there?" That disciple was delighted at hearing
+the suggestion; whereupon the Master continued, "He surpasses me in
+his love of deeds of daring. But he does not in the least grasp the
+pith of my remark."
+
+In reply to a question put to him by Mang Wu respecting Tsz-lu--as to
+whether he might be called good-natured towards others, the Master
+said, "I cannot tell"; but, on the question being put again, he
+answered, "Well, in an important State[10] he might be intrusted with
+the management of the military levies; but I cannot answer for his
+good nature."
+
+"What say you then of Yen Yu?"
+
+"As for Yen," he replied, "in a city of a thousand families, or in a
+secondary fief,[11] he might be charged with the governorship; but I
+cannot answer for his good-naturedness."
+
+"Take Tsz-hwa, then; what of him?"
+
+"Tsz-hwa," said he, "with a cincture girt upon him, standing as
+attendant at Court, might be charged with the addressing of visitors
+and guests; but as to his good-naturedness I cannot answer."
+
+Addressing Tsz-kung, the Master said, "Which of the two is ahead of
+the other--yourself or Hwúi?" "How shall I dare," he replied, "even to
+look at Hwúi? Only let him hear one particular, and from that he knows
+ten; whereas I, if I hear one, may from it know two."
+
+"You are not a match for him, I grant you," said the Master. "You are
+not his match."
+
+Tsai Yu, a disciple, used to sleep in the daytime. Said the Master,
+"One may hardly carve rotten wood, or use a trowel to the wall of a
+manure-yard! In his case, what is the use of reprimand?
+
+"My attitude towards a man in my first dealings with him," he added,
+"was to listen to his professions and to trust to his conduct. My
+attitude now is to listen to his professions, and to watch his
+conduct. My experience with Tsai Yu has led to this change.
+
+"I have never seen," said the Master, "a man of inflexible firmness."
+Some one thereupon mentioned Shin Ch[']ang, a disciple. "Ch[']ang,"
+said he, "is wanton; where do you get at his inflexibleness?"
+
+Tsz-kung made the remark: "That which I do not wish others to put upon
+me, I also wish not to put upon others." "Nay," said the Master, "you
+have not got so far as that."
+
+The same disciple once remarked, "There may be access so as to hear
+the Master's literary discourses, but when he is treating of human
+nature and the way of Heaven, there may not be such success."
+
+Tsz-lu, after once hearing him upon some subject, and feeling himself
+as yet incompetent to carry into practice what he had heard, used to
+be apprehensive only lest he should hear the subject revived.
+
+Tsz-kung asked how it was that Kung Wan had come to be so styled Wan
+(the talented). The Master's answer was, "Because, though a man of an
+active nature, he was yet fond of study, and he was not ashamed to
+stoop to put questions to his inferiors."
+
+Respecting Tsz-ch[']an,[12] the Master said that he had four of the
+essential qualities of the 'superior man':--in his own private walk he
+was humble-minded; in serving his superiors he was deferential; in his
+looking after the material welfare of the people he was generously
+kind; and in his exaction of public service from the latter he was just.
+
+Speaking of Yen Ping, he said, "He was one who was happy in his mode
+of attaching men to him. However long the intercourse, he was always
+deferential to them."
+
+Referring to Tsang Wan, he asked, "What is to be said of this man's
+discernment?--this man with his tortoise-house, with the pillar-heads
+and posts bedizened with scenes of hill and mere!"
+
+Tsz-chang put a question relative to the chief Minister of Tsu,
+Tsz-wan. He said, "Three times he became chief Minister, and on none
+of these occasions did he betray any sign of exultation. Three times
+his ministry came to an end, and he showed no sign of chagrin. He used
+without fail to inform the new Minister as to the old mode of
+administration. What say you of him?"
+
+"That he was a loyal man," said the Master.
+
+"But was he a man of fellow-feeling?" said the disciple.
+
+"Of that I am not sure," he answered; "how am I to get at that?"
+
+The disciple went on to say:--"After the assassination of the prince
+of Ts[']i by the officer Ts[']ui, the latter's fellow-official Ch[']in
+Wan, who had half a score teams of horses, gave up all, and turned his
+back upon him. On coming to another State, he observed, 'There are
+here characters somewhat like that of our minister Ts[']ui,' and he
+turned his back upon them. Proceeding to a certain other State, he had
+occasion to make the same remark, and left. What say you of him?"
+
+"That he was a pure-minded man," answered the Master.
+
+"But was he a man of fellow-feeling?" urged the disciple.
+
+"Of that I am not sure," he replied; "how am I to get at that?"
+
+Ki Wan was one who thought three times over a thing before he acted.
+The Master hearing this of him, observed, "Twice would have been
+enough."
+
+Of Ning Wu, the Master said that when matters went well in the State
+he used to have his wits about him: but when they went wrong, he lost
+them. His intelligence might be equalled, but not his witlessness!
+
+Once, when the Master lived in the State of Ch[']in, he exclaimed,
+"Let me get home again! Let me get home! My school-children[13] are
+wild and impetuous! Though they are somewhat accomplished, and perfect
+in one sense in their attainments, yet they know not how to make nice
+discriminations."
+
+Of Peh-I and Shuh Ts[']i he said, "By the fact of their not
+remembering old grievances, they gradually did away with resentment."
+
+Of Wei-shang Kau he said, "Who calls him straightforward? A person
+once begged some vinegar of him, and he begged it from a neighbor, and
+then presented him with it!"
+
+"Fine speech," said he, "and studied mien, and superfluous show of
+deference--of such things Tso-k[']iu Ming was ashamed. I too am
+ashamed of such things. Also of hiding resentment felt towards an
+opponent and treating him as a friend--of this kind of thing he was
+ashamed, and so too am I."
+
+Attended once by the two disciples Yen Yuen and Tsz-lu, he said, "Come
+now, why not tell me, each of you, what in your hearts you are really
+after?"
+
+"I should like," said Tsz-lu, "for myself and my friends and
+associates, carriages and horses, and to be clad in light furs! nor
+would I mind much if they should become the worse for wear."
+
+"And I should like," said Yen Yuen, "to live without boasting of my
+abilities, and without display of meritorious deeds."
+
+Tsz-lu then said, "I should like, sir, to hear what your heart is set
+upon."
+
+The Master replied, "It is this:--in regard to old people, to give
+them quiet and comfort; in regard to friends and associates, to be
+faithful to them; in regard to the young, to treat them with fostering
+affection and kindness."
+
+On one occasion the Master exclaimed, "Ah, 'tis hopeless! I have not
+yet seen the man who can see his errors, so as inwardly to accuse
+himself."
+
+"In a small cluster of houses there may well be," said he, "some whose
+integrity and sincerity may compare with mine; but I yield to none in
+point of love of learning."
+
+[Footnote 10: Lit., a State of 1,000 war chariots.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lit., a House of 100 war chariots.]
+
+[Footnote 12: A great statesman of Confucius's time.]
+
+[Footnote 13: A familiar way of speaking of his disciples in their
+hearing.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+_More Characteristics--Wisdom--Philanthropy_
+
+
+Of Yen Yung, a disciple, the Master said, "Yung might indeed do for a
+prince!"
+
+On being asked by this Yen Yung his opinion of a certain individual,
+the Master replied, "He is passable. Impetuous, though."
+
+"But," argued the disciple, "if a man habituate himself to a reverent
+regard for duty--even while in his way of doing things he is
+impetuous--in the oversight of the people committed to his charge, is
+he not passable? If, on the other hand, he habituate himself to
+impetuosity of mind, and show it also in his way of doing things, is
+he not then over-impetuous?"
+
+"You are right," said the Master.
+
+When the Duke Ngai inquired which of the disciples were devoted to
+learning, Confucius answered him, "There was one Yen Hwúi who loved
+it--a man whose angry feelings towards any particular person he did
+not suffer to visit upon another; a man who would never fall into the
+same error twice. Unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he
+died, and now his like is not to be found; I have never heard of one
+so devoted to learning."
+
+While Tsz-hwa, a disciple, was away on a mission to Ts[']i, the
+disciple Yen Yu, on behalf of his mother, applied for some grain.
+"Give her three pecks," said the Master. He applied for more. "Give
+her eight, then." Yen gave her fifty times that amount. The Master
+said, "When Tsz-hwa went on that journey to Ts[']i, he had well-fed
+steeds yoked to his carriage, and was arrayed in light furs. I have
+learnt that the 'superior man' should help those whose needs are
+urgent, not help the rich to be more rich."
+
+When Yuen Sz became prefect under him, he gave him nine hundred
+measures of grain, but the prefect declined to accept them.[14] "You
+must not," said the Master. "May they not be of use to the villages
+and hamlets around you?"
+
+Speaking of Yen Yung again, the Master said, "If the offspring of a
+speckled ox be red in color, and horned, even though men may not wish
+to take it for sacrifice, would the spirits of the hills and streams
+reject it?"
+
+Adverting to Hwúi again, he said, "For three months there would not be
+in his breast one thought recalcitrant against his feeling of
+good-will towards his fellow-men. The others may attain to this for a
+day or for a month, but there they end."
+
+When asked by Ki K[']ang whether Tsz-lu was fit to serve the
+government, the Master replied, "Tsz-lu is a man of decision: what
+should prevent him from serving the government?"
+
+Asked the same question respecting Tsz-kung and Yen Yu he answered
+similarly, pronouncing Tsz-kung to be a man of perspicacity, and Yen
+Yu to be one versed in the polite arts.
+
+When the head of the Ki family sent for Min Tsz-k[']ien to make him
+governor of the town of Pi, that disciple said, "Politely decline for
+me. If the offer is renewed, then indeed I shall feel myself obliged
+to go and live on the further bank of the Wan."
+
+Peh-niu had fallen ill, and the Master was inquiring after him. Taking
+hold of his hand held out from the window, he said, "It is taking him
+off! Alas, his appointed time has come! Such a man, and to have such
+an illness!"
+
+Of Hwúi, again: "A right worthy man indeed was he! With his simple
+wooden dish of rice, and his one gourd-basin of drink, away in his
+poor back lane, in a condition too grievous for others to have
+endured, he never allowed his cheery spirits to droop. Aye, a right
+worthy soul was he!"
+
+"It is not," Yen Yu once apologized, "that I do not take pleasure in
+your doctrines; it is that I am not strong enough." The Master
+rejoined, "It is when those who are not strong enough have made some
+moderate amount of progress that they fail and give up; but you are
+now drawing your own line for yourself."
+
+Addressing Tsz-hiá, the Master said, "Let your scholarship be that of
+gentlemen, and not like that of common men."
+
+When Tsz-yu became governor of Wu-shing, the Master said to him, "Do
+you find good men about you?" The reply was, "There is Tan-t[']ai
+Mieh-ming, who when walking eschews by-paths, and who, unless there be
+some public function, never approaches my private residence."
+
+"Mang Chi-fan," said the Master, "is no sounder of his own praises.
+During a stampede he was in the rear, and as they were about to enter
+the city gate he whipped up his horses, and said, ''Twas not my daring
+made me lag behind. My horses would not go.'"
+
+_Obiter dicta_ of the Master:--
+
+"Whoever has not the glib utterance of the priest T[']o, as well as
+the handsomeness of Prince Cháu of Sung, will find it hard to keep out
+of harm's way in the present age.
+
+"Who can go out but by that door? Why walks no one by these guiding
+principles?
+
+"Where plain naturalness is more in evidence than polish, we
+have--the man from the country. Where polish is more in evidence than
+naturalness, we have--the town scribe. It is when naturalness and
+polish are equally evident that we have the ideal man.
+
+"The life of a man is--his rectitude. Life without it--such may you
+have the good fortune to avoid!
+
+"They who know it are not as those who love it, nor they who love it
+as those who rejoice in it--that is, have the fruition of their love
+for it.
+
+"To the average man, and those above the average, it is possible to
+discourse on higher subjects; to those from the average downwards, it
+is not possible."
+
+Fan Ch[']i put a query about wisdom. The Master replied, "To labor for
+the promoting of righteous conduct among the people of the land; to be
+serious in regard to spiritual beings, and to hold aloof from
+them;--this may be called wisdom."
+
+To a further query, about philanthropy, he replied, "Those who possess
+that virtue find difficulty with it at first, success later.
+
+"Men of practical knowledge," he said, "find their gratification among
+the rivers of the lowland, men of sympathetic social feeling find
+theirs among the hills. The former are active and bustling, the latter
+calm and quiet. The former take their day of pleasure, the latter look
+to length of days."
+
+Alluding to the States of Ts[']i and Lu, he observed, that Ts[']i, by
+one change, might attain to the condition of Lu; and that Lu, by one
+change, might attain to good government.
+
+An exclamation of the Master (satirizing the times, when old terms
+relating to government were still used while bereft of their old
+meaning):--"A quart, and not a quart! _quart_, indeed! _quart_, indeed!"
+
+Tsai Wo, a disciple, put a query. Said he, "Suppose a philanthropic
+person were told, 'There's a fellow-creature down in the well!' Would
+he go down after him?"
+
+"Why should he really do so?" answered the Master. "The good man, or a
+superior man might be induced to go, but not to go down. He may be
+misled, but not befooled."
+
+"The superior man," said he, "with his wide study of books, and
+hedging himself round by the Rules of Propriety, is not surely, after
+all that, capable of overstepping his bounds."
+
+Once when the Master had had an interview with Nan-tsz, which had
+scandalized his disciple Tsz-lu, he uttered the solemn adjuration, "If
+I have done aught amiss, may Heaven reject me! may Heaven reject me!"
+
+"How far-reaching," said he, "is the moral excellence that flows from
+the Constant Mean![15] It has for a long time been rare among the
+people."
+
+Tsz-kung said, "Suppose the case of one who confers benefits far and
+wide upon the people, and who can, in so doing, make his bounty
+universally felt--how would you speak of him? Might he be called
+philanthropic?"
+
+The Master exclaimed, "What a work for philanthropy! He would require
+indeed to be a sage! He would put into shade even Yau and Shun!--Well,
+a philanthropic person, desiring for himself a firm footing, is led on
+to give one to others; desiring for himself an enlightened perception
+of things, he is led on to help others to be similarly enlightened. If
+one could take an illustration coming closer home to us than yours,
+that might be made the starting-point for speaking about
+philanthropy."
+
+[Footnote 14: At this time Confucius was Criminal Judge in his native
+State of Lu. Yuen Sz had been a disciple. The commentators add that this
+was the officer's proper salary, and that he did wrong to refuse it.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The doctrine afterwards known by that name, and which
+gave its title to a Confucian treatise.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+_Characteristics of Confucius--An Incident_
+
+
+Said the Master:--
+
+"I, as a transmitter[16] and not an originator, and as one who
+believes in and loves the ancients, venture to compare myself with our
+old P[']ang.
+
+"What find you indeed in me?--a quiet brooder and memorizer; a student
+never satiated with learning; an unwearied monitor of others!
+
+"The things which weigh heavily upon my mind are these--failure to
+improve in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learnt,
+inability to walk according to knowledge received as to what is right
+and just, inability also to reform what has been amiss."
+
+In his hours of recreation and refreshment the Master's manner was
+easy and unconstrained, affable and winning.
+
+Once he exclaimed, "Alas! I must be getting very feeble; 'tis long
+since I have had a repetition of the dreams in which I used to see the
+Duke of Chow.[17]
+
+"Concentrate the mind," said he, "upon the Good Way.
+
+"Maintain firm hold upon Virtue.
+
+"Rely upon Philanthropy.
+
+"Find recreation in the Arts.[18]
+
+"I have never withheld instruction from any, even from those who have
+come for it with the smallest offering.
+
+"No subject do I broach, however, to those who have no eager desire to
+learn; no encouraging hint do I give to those who show no anxiety to
+speak out their ideas; nor have I anything more to say to those who,
+after I have made clear one corner of the subject, cannot from that
+give me the other three."
+
+If the Master was taking a meal, and there were any in mourning beside
+him, he would not eat to the full.
+
+On one day on which he had wept, on that day he would not sing.
+
+Addressing his favorite disciple, he said, "To you only and myself it
+has been given to do this--to go when called to serve, and to go back
+into quiet retirement when released from office."
+
+Tsz-lu, hearing the remark said, "But if, sir, you had the handling of
+the army of one of the greater States,[19] whom would you have
+associated with you in that case?"
+
+The Master answered:--
+
+    "Not the one 'who'll rouse the tiger,'
+      Not the one 'who'll wade the Ho;'
+
+not the man who can die with no regret. He must be one who should
+watch over affairs with apprehensive caution, a man fond of strategy,
+and of perfect skill and effectiveness in it."
+
+As to wealth, he remarked, "If wealth were an object that I could go
+in quest of, I should do so even if I had to take a whip and do
+grooms' work. But seeing that it is not, I go after those objects for
+which I have a liking."
+
+Among matters over which he exercised great caution were times of
+fasting, war, and sickness.
+
+When he was in the State of Ts[']i, and had heard the ancient Shau
+music, he lost all perception of the taste of his meat. "I had no
+idea," said he, "that music could have been brought to this pitch."
+
+In the course of conversation Yen Yu said, "Does the Master take the
+part of the Prince of Wei?" "Ah yes!" said Tsz-kung, "I will go and
+ask him that."
+
+On going in to him, that disciple began, "What sort of men were Peh-I
+and Shuh Ts[']i?" "Worthies of the olden time," the Master replied.
+"Had they any feelings of resentment?" was the next question. "Their
+aim and object," he answered, "was that of doing the duty which every
+man owes to his fellows, and they succeeded in doing it;--what room
+further for feelings of resentment?" The questioner on coming out
+said, "The Master does not take his part."
+
+"With a meal of coarse rice," said the Master, "and with water to
+drink, and my bent arm for my pillow--even thus I can find happiness.
+Riches and honors without righteousness are to me as fleeting clouds."
+
+"Give me several years more to live," said he, "and after fifty years'
+study of the 'Book of Changes' I might come to be free from serious
+error."
+
+The Master's regular subjects of discourse were the "Books of the
+Odes" and "History," and the up-keeping of the Rules of Propriety. On
+all of these he regularly discoursed.
+
+The Duke of Shih questioned Tsz-lu about Confucius, and the latter did
+not answer.
+
+Hearing of this, the Master said, "Why did you not say, He is a man
+with a mind so intent on his pursuits that he forgets his food, and
+finds such pleasure in them that he forgets his troubles, and does not
+know that old age is coming upon him?"
+
+"As I came not into life with any knowledge of it," he said, "and as
+my likings are for what is old, I busy myself in seeking knowledge
+there."
+
+Strange occurrences, exploits of strength, deeds of lawlessness,
+references to spiritual beings--such-like matters the Master avoided
+in conversation.
+
+"Let there," he said, "be three men walking together: from that number
+I should be sure to find my instructors; for what is good in them I
+should choose out and follow, and what is not good I should modify."
+
+On one occasion he exclaimed, "Heaven begat Virtue in me; what can man
+do unto me?"
+
+To his disciples he once said, "Do you look upon me, my sons, as
+keeping anything secret from you? I hide nothing from you. I do
+nothing that is not manifest to your eyes, my disciples. That is so
+with me."
+
+Four things there were which he kept in view in his
+teaching--scholarliness, conduct of life, honesty, faithfulness.
+
+"It is not given to me," he said, "to meet with a sage; let me but
+behold a man of superior mind, and that will suffice. Neither is it
+given to me to meet with a good man; let me but see a man of
+constancy, and it will suffice. It is difficult for persons to have
+constancy, when they pretend to have that which they are destitute of,
+to be full when they are empty, to do things on a grand scale when
+their means are contracted!"
+
+When the Master fished with hook and line, he did not also use a net.
+When out with his bow, he would never shoot at game in cover.
+
+"Some there may be," said he, "who do things in ignorance of what they
+do. I am not of these. There is an alternative way of knowing things,
+viz.--to sift out the good from the many things one hears, and follow
+it; and to keep in memory the many things one sees."
+
+Pupils from Hu-hiang were difficult to speak with. One youth came to
+interview the Master, and the disciples were in doubt whether he ought
+to have been seen. "Why so much ado," said the Master, "at my merely
+permitting his approach, and not rather at my allowing him to draw
+back? If a man have cleansed himself in order to come and see me, I
+receive him as such; but I do not undertake for what he will do when
+he goes away."
+
+"Is the philanthropic spirit far to seek, indeed?" the Master
+exclaimed; "I wish for it, and it is with me!"
+
+The Minister of Crime in the State of Ch[']in asked Confucius whether
+Duke Ch[']au, of Lu was acquainted with the Proprieties; and he
+answered, "Yes, he knows them."
+
+When Confucius had withdrawn, the minister bowed to Wu-ma K[']i, a
+disciple, and motioned to him to come forward. He said, "I have heard
+that superior men show no partiality; are they, too, then, partial?
+That prince took for his wife a lady of the Wu family, having the same
+surname as himself, and had her named 'Lady Tsz of Wu, the elder.' If
+he knows the Proprieties, then who does not?"
+
+The disciple reported this to the Master, who thereupon remarked,
+"Well for me! If I err in any way, others are sure to know of it."
+
+When the Master was in company with any one who sang, and who sang
+well, he must needs have the song over again, and after that would
+join in it.
+
+"Although in letters," he said, "I may have none to compare with me,
+yet in my personification of the 'superior man' I have not as yet been
+successful."
+
+"'A Sage and a Philanthropist?' How should I have the ambition?" said
+he. "All that I can well be called is this--An insatiable student, an
+unwearied teacher;--this, and no more."--"Exactly what we, your
+disciples, cannot by any learning manage to be," said Kung-si Hwa.
+
+Once when the Master was seriously ill, Tsz-lu requested to be allowed
+to say prayers for him. "Are such available?" asked the Master. "Yes,"
+said he; "and the Manual of Prayers says, 'Pray to the spirits above
+and to those here below.'"
+
+"My praying has been going on a long while," said the Master.
+
+"Lavish living," he said, "renders men disorderly; miserliness makes
+them hard. Better, however, the hard than the disorderly."
+
+Again, "The man of superior mind is placidly composed; the
+small-minded man is in a constant state of perturbation."
+
+The Master was gentle, yet could be severe; had an overawing presence,
+yet was not violent; was deferential, yet easy.
+
+[Footnote 16: In reference to his editing the six Classics of his time.]
+
+[Footnote 17: This was one of his "beloved ancients," famous for what
+he did in helping to found the dynasty of Chow, a man of great
+political wisdom, a scholar also, and poet. It was the "dream" of
+Confucius's life to restore the country to the condition in which the
+Duke of Chow left it.]
+
+[Footnote 18: These were six in number, viz.: Ceremonial, Music,
+Archery, Horsemanship, Language, and Calculation.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Lit., three forces. Each force consisted of 12,500 men,
+and three of such forces were the equipment of a greater State.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+_Sayings of Tsang--Sentences of the Master_
+
+
+Speaking of T[']ai-pih the Master said that he might be pronounced a
+man of the highest moral excellence; for he allowed the empire to pass
+by him onwards to a third heir; while the people, in their ignorance
+of his motives, were unable to admire him for so doing.
+
+"Without the Proprieties," said the Master, "we have these results:
+for deferential demeanor, a worried one; for calm attentiveness,
+awkward bashfulness; for manly conduct, disorderliness; for
+straightforwardness, perversity.
+
+"When men of rank show genuine care for those nearest to them in
+blood, the people rise to the duty of neighborliness and sociability.
+And when old friendships among them are not allowed to fall off, there
+will be a cessation of underhand practices among the people."
+
+The Scholar Tsang was once unwell, and calling his pupils to him he said
+to them, "Disclose to view my feet and my hands. What says the Ode?--
+
+    'Act as from a sense of danger,
+      With precaution and with care,
+    As a yawning gulf o'erlooking,
+      As on ice that scarce will bear.'
+
+At all times, my children, I know how to keep myself free from bodily
+harm."
+
+Again, during an illness of his, Mang King, an official, went to ask
+after him. The Scholar had some conversation with him, in the course
+of which he said--
+
+    "'Doleful the cries of a dying bird,
+      Good the last words of a dying man.'
+
+There are three points which a man of rank in the management of his
+duties should set store upon:--A lively manner and deportment,
+banishing both severity and laxity; a frank and open expression of
+countenance, allied closely with sincerity; and a tone in his
+utterances utterly free from any approach to vulgarity and
+impropriety. As to matters of bowls and dishes, leave such things to
+those who are charged with the care of them."
+
+Another saying of the Scholar Tsang: "I once had a friend who, though
+he possessed ability, would go questioning men of none, and though
+surrounded by numbers, would go with his questions to isolated
+individuals; who also, whatever he might have, appeared as if he were
+without it, and, with all his substantial acquirements, made as though
+his mind were a mere blank; and when insulted would not
+retaliate;--this was ever his way."
+
+Again he said: "The man that is capable of being intrusted with the
+charge of a minor on the throne, and given authority over a large
+territory, and who, during the important term of his superintendence
+cannot be forced out of his position, is not such a 'superior man'?
+That he is, indeed."
+
+Again:--"The learned official must not be without breadth and power of
+endurance: the burden is heavy, and the way is long.
+
+"Suppose that he take his duty to his fellow-men as his peculiar
+burden, is that not indeed a heavy one? And since only with death it
+is done with, is not the way long?"
+
+Sentences of the Master:--
+
+"From the 'Book of Odes' we receive impulses; from the 'Book of the
+Rules,' stability; from the 'Book on Music,' refinement.[20]
+
+"The people may be put into the way they should go, though they may
+not be put into the way of understanding it.
+
+"The man who likes bravery, and yet groans under poverty, has mischief
+in him. So, too, has the misanthrope, groaning at any severity shown
+towards him.
+
+"Even if a person were adorned with the gifts of the Duke of Chow, yet
+if he were proud and avaricious, all the rest of his qualities would
+not indeed be worth looking at.
+
+"Not easily found is the man who, after three years' study, has failed
+to come upon some fruit of his toil.
+
+"The really faithful lover of learning holds fast to the Good Way till
+death.
+
+"He will not go into a State in which a downfall is imminent, nor take
+up his abode in one where disorder reigns. When the empire is well
+ordered he will show himself; when not, he will hide himself away.
+Under a good government it will be a disgrace to him if he remain in
+poverty and low estate; under a bad one, it would be equally
+disgraceful to him to hold riches and honors.
+
+"If not occupying the office, devise not the policy.
+
+"When the professor Chi began his duties, how grand the finale of the
+First of the Odes used to be! How it rang in one's ears!
+
+"I cannot understand persons who are enthusiastic and yet not
+straightforward; nor those who are ignorant and yet not attentive; nor
+again those folks who are simple-minded and yet untrue.
+
+"Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive
+of losing it.
+
+"How sublime was the handling of the empire by Shun and Yu!--it was as
+nothing to them!
+
+"How great was Yau as a prince! Was he not sublime! Say that Heaven
+only is great, then was Yau alone after its pattern! How profound was
+he! The people could not find a name for him. How sublime in his
+achievements! How brilliant in his scholarly productions!"
+
+Shun had for his ministers five men, by whom he ordered the empire.
+
+King Wu (in his day) stated that he had ten men as assistants for the
+promotion of order.
+
+With reference to these facts Confucius observed, "Ability is hard to
+find. Is it not so indeed? During the three years' interregnum between
+Yau and Shun there was more of it than in the interval before this
+present dynasty appeared. There were, at this latter period, one
+woman, and nine men only.
+
+"When two-thirds of the empire were held by King Wan, he served with
+that portion the House of Yin. We speak of the virtue of the House of
+Chow; we may say, indeed, that it reached the pinnacle of excellence."
+
+"As to Yu," added the Master, "I can find no flaw in him. Living on
+meagre food and drink; yet providing to the utmost in his filial
+offerings to the spirits of the dead! Dressing in coarse garments; yet
+most elegant when vested in his sacrificial apron and coronet!
+Dwelling in a poor palace; yet exhausting his energies over those
+boundary-ditches and watercourses! I can find no flaw in Yu."
+
+[Footnote 20: Comparison of three of the Classics: the "Shi-King," the
+"Li Ki," and the "Yoh." The last is lost.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IX
+
+_His Favorite Disciple's Opinion of Him_
+
+
+Topics on which the Master rarely spoke were--Advantage, and Destiny,
+and Duty of man to man.
+
+A man of the village of Tah-hiang exclaimed of him, "A great man is
+Confucius!--a man of extensive learning, and yet in nothing has he
+quite made himself a name!"
+
+The Master heard of this, and mentioning it to his disciples he said,
+"What then shall I take in hand? Shall I become a carriage driver, or
+an archer? Let me be a driver!"
+
+"The sacrificial cap," he once said, "should, according to the Rules,
+be of linen; but in these days it is of pure silk. However, as it is
+economical, I do as all do.
+
+"The Rule says, 'Make your bow when at the lower end of the hall'; but
+nowadays the bowing is done at the upper part. This is great freedom;
+and I, though I go in opposition to the crowd, bow when at the lower
+end."
+
+The Master barred four words:--he would have no "shall's", no
+"must's", no "certainly's", no "I's."
+
+Once, in the town of K[']wang fearing that his life was going to be
+taken, the Master exclaimed, "King Wan is dead and gone; but is not
+'_wan_'[21] with you here? If Heaven be about to allow this '_wan_' to
+perish, then they who survive its decease will get no benefit from
+it. But so long as Heaven does not allow it to perish, what can the
+men of K[']wang do to me?"
+
+A high State official, after questioning Tsz-kung, said, "Your Master
+is a sage, then? How many and what varied abilities must be his!"
+
+The disciple replied, "Certainly Heaven is allowing him full
+opportunities of becoming a sage, in addition to the fact that his
+abilities are many and varied."
+
+When the Master heard of this he remarked, "Does that high official
+know me? In my early years my position in life was low, and hence my
+ability in many ways, though exercised in trifling matters. In the
+gentleman is there indeed such variety of ability? No."
+
+From this, the disciple Lau used to say, "'Twas a saying of the
+Master: 'At a time when I was not called upon to use them, I acquired
+my proficiency in the polite arts.'"
+
+"Am I, indeed," said the Master, "possessed of knowledge? I know
+nothing. Let a vulgar fellow come to me with a question--a man with an
+emptyish head--I may thrash out with him the matter from end to end,
+and exhaust myself in doing it!"
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed he once, "the ph[oe]nix does not come! and no symbols
+issue from the river! May I not as well give up?"
+
+Whenever the Master met with a person in mourning, or with one in
+full-dress cap and kirtle, or with a blind person, although they might
+be young persons, he would make a point of rising on their appearance,
+or, if crossing their path, would do so with quickened step!
+
+Once Yen Yuen exclaimed with a sigh (with reference to the Master's
+doctrines), "If I look up to them, they are ever the higher; if I try
+to penetrate them, they are ever the harder; if I gaze at them as if
+before my eyes, lo, they are behind me!--Gradually and gently the
+Master with skill lures men on. By literary lore he gave me breadth;
+by the Rules of Propriety he narrowed me down. When I desire a
+respite, I find it impossible; and after I have exhausted my powers,
+there seems to be something standing straight up in front of me, and
+though I have the mind to make towards it I make no advance at all."
+
+Once when the Master was seriously ill, Tsz-lu induced the other
+disciples to feign they were high officials acting in his service.
+During a respite from his malady the Master exclaimed, "Ah! how long
+has Tsz-lu's conduct been false? Whom should I delude, if I were to
+pretend to have officials under me, having none? Should I deceive
+Heaven? Besides, were I to die, I would rather die in the hands of
+yourselves, my disciples, than in the hands of officials. And though I
+should fail to have a grand funeral over me, I should hardly be left
+on my death on the public highway, should I?"
+
+Tsz-kung once said to him, "Here is a fine gem. Would you guard it
+carefully in a casket and store it away, or seek a good price for it
+and sell it?" "Sell it, indeed," said the Master--"that would I; but I
+should wait for the bidder."
+
+The Master protested he would "go and live among the nine wild tribes."
+
+"A rude life," said some one;--"how could you put up with it?"
+
+"What rudeness would there be," he replied, "if a 'superior man' was
+living in their midst?"
+
+Once he remarked, "After I came back from Wei to Lu the music was put
+right, and each of the Festal Odes and Hymns was given its appropriate
+place and use."
+
+"Ah! which one of these following," he asked on one occasion, "are to
+be found exemplified in me--proper service rendered to superiors when
+abroad; duty to father and elder brother when at home; duty that
+shrinks from no exertion when dear ones die; and keeping free from
+the confusing effects of wine?"
+
+Standing once on the bank of a mountain stream, he said (musingly),
+"Like this are those that pass away--no cessation, day or night!"
+
+Other sayings:--
+
+"Take an illustration from the making of a hill. A simple basketful is
+wanting to complete it, and the work stops. So I stop short.
+
+"Take an illustration from the levelling of the ground. Suppose again
+just one basketful is left, when the work has so progressed. There I
+desist!
+
+"Ah! it was Hwúi, was it not? who, when I had given him his lesson,
+was the unflagging one!
+
+"Alas for Hwúi! I saw him ever making progress. I never saw him
+stopping short.
+
+"Blade, but no bloom--or else bloom, but no produce; aye, that is the
+way with some!
+
+"Reverent regard is due to youth. How know we what difference there
+may be in them in the future from what they are now? Yet when they
+have reached the age of forty or fifty, and are still unknown in the
+world, then indeed they are no more worthy of such regard.
+
+"Can any do otherwise than assent to words said to them by way of
+correction? Only let them reform by such advice, and it will then be
+reckoned valuable. Can any be other than pleased with words of gentle
+suasion? Only let them comply with them fully, and such also will be
+accounted valuable. With those who are pleased without so complying,
+and those who assent but do not reform, I can do nothing at all.
+
+"Give prominent place to loyalty and sincerity.
+
+"Have no associates in study who are not advanced somewhat like
+yourself.
+
+"When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself.
+
+"It may be possible to seize and carry off the chief commander of a
+large army, but not possible so to rob one poor fellow of his will.
+
+"One who stands--clad in hempen robe, the worse for wear--among others
+clad in furs of fox and badger, and yet unabashed--'tis Tsz-lu, that,
+is it not?"
+
+Tsz-lu used always to be humming over the lines--
+
+    "From envy and enmity free,
+    What deed doth he other than good?"
+
+"How should such a rule of life," asked the Master, "be sufficient to
+make any one good?"
+
+"When the year grows chilly, we know the pine and cypress are the last
+to fade.
+
+"The wise escape doubt; the good-hearted, trouble; the bold,
+apprehension.
+
+"Some may study side by side, and yet be asunder when they come to the
+logic of things. Some may go on together in this latter course, but be
+wide apart in the standards they reach in it. Some, again, may together
+reach the same standard, and yet be diverse in weight of character."
+
+    "The blossom is out on the cherry tree,
+      With a flutter on every spray.
+    Dost think that my thoughts go not out to thee?
+      Ah, why art thou far away!"
+
+Commenting on these lines the Master said, "There can hardly have been
+much thought going out. What does distance signify?"
+
+[Footnote 21: "Wan" was the honorary appellation of the great sage and
+ruler, whose praise is in the "Shi-King" as one of the founders of the
+Chow dynasty, and the term represented civic talent and virtues, as
+distinct from Wu, the martial talent--the latter being the honorary
+title of his son and successor. "Wan" also often stands for
+literature, and polite accomplishments. Here Confucius simply means,
+"If you kill me, you kill a sage."]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK X
+
+_Confucius in Private and Official Life_
+
+
+In his own village, Confucius presented a somewhat plain and simple
+appearance, and looked unlike a man who possessed ability of speech.
+
+But in the ancestral temple, and at Court, he spoke with the fluency
+and accuracy of a debater, but ever guardedly.
+
+At Court, conversing with the lower order of great officials, he spoke
+somewhat firmly and directly; with those of the higher order his tone
+was somewhat more affable.
+
+When the prince was present he was constrainedly reverent in his
+movements, and showed a proper degree of grave dignity in demeanor.
+
+Whenever the prince summoned him to act as usher to the Court, his
+look would change somewhat, and he would make as though he were
+turning round to do obeisance.
+
+He would salute those among whom he took up his position, using the
+right hand or the left, and holding the skirts of his robe in proper
+position before and behind. He would make his approaches with quick
+step, and with elbows evenly bent outwards.
+
+When the visitor withdrew, he would not fail to report the execution
+of his commands, with the words, "The visitor no longer looks back."
+
+When he entered the palace gate, it was with the body somewhat bent
+forward, almost as though he could not be admitted. When he stood
+still, this would never happen in the middle of the gateway; nor when
+moving about would he ever tread on the threshold. When passing the
+throne, his look would change somewhat, he would turn aside and make a
+sort of obeisance, and the words he spoke seemed as though he were
+deficient in utterance.
+
+On going up the steps to the audience chamber, he would gather up with
+both hands the ends of his robe, and walk with his body bent somewhat
+forward, holding back his breath like one in whom respiration has
+ceased. On coming out, after descending one step his countenance would
+relax and assume an appearance of satisfaction. Arrived at the bottom,
+he would go forward with quick step, his elbows evenly bent outwards,
+back to his position, constrainedly reverent in every movement.
+
+When holding the sceptre in his hand, his body would be somewhat bent
+forward, as if he were not equal to carrying it; wielding it now higher,
+as in a salutation, now lower, as in the presentation of a gift; his
+look would also be changed and appear awestruck; and his gait would seem
+retarded, as if he were obeying some restraining hand behind.
+
+When he presented the gifts of ceremony, he would assume a placid
+expression of countenance. At the private interview he would be
+cordial and affable.
+
+The good man would use no purple or violet colors for the facings of
+his dress.[22] Nor would he have red or orange color for his
+undress.[23] For the hot season he wore a singlet, of either coarse or
+fine texture, but would also feel bound to have an outer garment
+covering it. For his black robe he had lamb's wool; for his white one,
+fawn's fur; and for his yellow one, fox fur. His furred undress robe
+was longer, but the right sleeve was shortened. He would needs have
+his sleeping-dress one and a half times his own length. For ordinary
+home wear he used thick substantial fox or badger furs. When he left
+off mourning, he would wear all his girdle trinkets. His kirtle in
+front, when it was not needed for full cover, he must needs have cut
+down. He would never wear his (black) lamb's-wool, or a dark-colored
+cap, when he went on visits of condolence to mourners.[24] On the
+first day of the new moon, he must have on his Court dress and to
+Court. When observing his fasts, he made a point of having bright,
+shiny garments, made of linen. He must also at such times vary his
+food, and move his seat to another part of his dwelling-room.
+
+As to his food, he never tired of rice so long as it was clean and
+pure, nor of hashed meats when finely minced. Rice spoiled by damp,
+and sour, he would not touch, nor tainted fish, nor bad meat, nor
+aught of a bad color or smell, nor aught overdone in cooking, nor
+aught out of season. Neither would he eat anything that was not
+properly cut, or that lacked its proper seasonings. Although there
+might be an abundance of meat before him, he would not allow a
+preponderance of it to rob the rice of its beneficial effect in
+nutrition. Only in the matter of wine did he set himself no limit, yet
+he never drank so much as to confuse himself. Tradesmen's wines, and
+dried meats from the market, he would not touch. Ginger he would never
+have removed from the table during a meal. He was not a great eater.
+Meat from the sacrifices at the prince's temple he would never put
+aside till the following day. The meat of his own offerings he would
+never give out after three days' keeping, for after that time none
+were to eat it.
+
+At his meals he would not enter into discussions; and when reposing
+(afterwards) he would not utter a word.
+
+Even should his meal consist only of coarse rice and vegetable broth
+or melons, he would make an offering, and never fail to do so
+religiously.
+
+He would never sit on a mat that was not straight.
+
+After a feast among his villagers, he would wait before going away
+until the old men had left.
+
+When the village people were exorcising the pests, he would put on his
+Court robes and stand on the steps of his hall to receive them.
+
+When he was sending a message of inquiry to a person in another State,
+he would bow twice on seeing the messenger off.
+
+Ki K[']ang once sent him a present of some medicine. He bowed, and
+received it; but remarked, "Until I am quite sure of its properties I
+must not venture to taste it."
+
+Once when the stabling was destroyed by fire, he withdrew from the
+Court, and asked, "Is any person injured?"--without inquiring as to
+the horses.
+
+Whenever the prince sent him a present of food, he was particular to
+set his mat in proper order, and would be the first one to taste it.
+If the prince's present was one of raw meat, he must needs have it
+cooked, and make an oblation of it. If the gift were a live animal, he
+would be sure to keep it and care for it.
+
+When he was in waiting, and at a meal with the prince, the prince
+would make the offering,[25] and he (the Master) was the pregustator.
+
+When unwell, and the prince came to see him, he would arrange his
+position so that his head inclined towards the east, would put over
+him his Court robes, and draw his girdle across them.
+
+When summoned by order of the prince, he would start off without
+waiting for his horses to be put to.
+
+On his entry into the Grand Temple, he inquired about everything
+connected with its usages.
+
+If a friend died, and there were no near relatives to take him to, he
+would say, "Let him be buried from my house."
+
+For a friend's gift--unless it consisted of meat that had been offered
+in sacrifice--he would not bow, even if it were a carriage and horses.
+
+In repose he did not lie like one dead. In his home life he was not
+formal in his manner.
+
+Whenever he met with a person in mourning, even though it were a
+familiar acquaintance, he would be certain to change his manner; and
+when he met with any one in full-dress cap, or with any blind person,
+he would also unfailingly put on a different look, even though he were
+himself in undress at the time.
+
+In saluting any person wearing mourning he would bow forwards towards
+the front bar of his carriage; in the same manner he would also salute
+the bearer of a census-register.
+
+When a sumptuous banquet was spread before him, a different expression
+would be sure to appear in his features, and he would rise up from his
+seat.
+
+At a sudden thunder-clap, or when the wind grew furious, his look
+would also invariably be changed.
+
+On getting into his car, he would never fail (first) to stand up
+erect, holding on by the strap. When in the car, he would never look
+about, nor speak hastily, nor bring one hand to the other.
+
+    "Let one but make a movement in his face,
+    And the bird will rise and seek some safer place."
+
+Apropos of this, he said, "Here is a hen-pheasant from Shan Liang--and
+in season! and in season!" After Tsz-lu had got it prepared, he smelt
+it thrice, and then rose up from his seat.
+
+[Footnote 22: Because, it is said, such colors were adopted in fasting
+and mourning.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Because they did not belong to the five correct colors
+(viz. green, yellow, carnation, white, and black), and were affected
+more by females.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Since white was, as it is still, the mourning color.]
+
+[Footnote 25: The act of "grace," before eating.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XI
+
+_Comparative Worth of His Disciples_
+
+
+"The first to make progress in the Proprieties and in Music," said the
+Master, "are plain countrymen; after them, the men of higher standing.
+If I had to employ any of them, I should stand by the former."
+
+"Of those," said he, "who were about me when I was in the Ch[']in and
+Ts[']ai States, not one now is left to approach my door."
+
+"As for Hwúi,"[26] said the Master, "he is not one to help me on:
+there is nothing I say but he is not well satisfied with."
+
+"What a dutiful son was Min Tsz-k[']ien!" he exclaimed. "No one finds
+occasion to differ from what his parents and brothers have said of
+him."
+
+Nan Yung used to repeat three times over the lines in the Odes about
+the white sceptre. Confucius caused his own elder brother's daughter
+to be given in marriage to him.
+
+When Ki K[']ang inquired which of the disciples were fond of learning,
+Confucius answered him, "There was one Yen Hwúi who was fond of it;
+but unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he died; and now
+his like is not to be found."
+
+When Yen Yuen died, his father, Yen Lu, begged for the Master's
+carriage in order to get a shell for his coffin. "Ability or no
+ability," said the Master, "every father still speaks of 'my son.'
+When my own son Li died, and the coffin for him had no shell to it, I
+know I did not go on foot to get him one; but that was because I was,
+though retired, in the wake of the ministers, and could not therefore
+well do so."
+
+On the death of Yen Yuen the Master exclaimed, "Ah me! Heaven is
+ruining me, Heaven is ruining me!"
+
+On the same occasion, his wailing for that disciple becoming excessive,
+those who were about him said, "Sir, this is too much!"--"Too much?"
+said he; "if I am not to do so for him, then--for whom else?"
+
+The disciples then wished for the deceased a grand funeral. The Master
+could not on his part consent to this. They nevertheless gave him one.
+Upon this he remarked, "He used to look upon me as if I were his
+father. I could never, however, look on him as a son. 'Twas not my
+mistake, but yours, my children."
+
+Tsz-lu propounded a question about ministering to the spirits of the
+departed. The Master replied, "Where there is scarcely the ability to
+minister to living men, how shall there be ability to minister to the
+spirits?" On his venturing to put a question concerning death, he
+answered, "Where there is scarcely any knowledge about life, how shall
+there be any about death?"
+
+The disciple Min was by his side, looking affable and bland; Tsz-lu
+also, looking careless and intrepid; and Yen Yu and Tsz-kung, firm and
+precise. The Master was cheery. "One like Tsz-lu there," said he,
+"does not come to a natural end."
+
+Some persons in Lu were taking measures in regard to the Long Treasury
+House. Min Tsz-k[']ien observed, "How if it were repaired on the old
+lines?" The Master upon this remarked, "This fellow is not a talker,
+but when he does speak he is bound to hit the mark!"
+
+"There is Yu's harpsichord," exclaimed the Master--"what is it doing
+at my door?" On seeing, however, some disrespect shown to him by the
+other disciples, he added, "Yu has got as far as the top of the hall;
+only he has not yet entered the house."
+
+Tsz-kung asked which was the worthier of the two--Tsz-chang or
+Tsz-hiá. "The former," answered the Master, "goes beyond the mark; the
+latter falls short of it."
+
+"So then Tsz-chang is the better of the two, is he?" said he.
+
+"To go too far," he replied, "is about the same as to fall short."
+
+The Chief of the Ki family was a wealthier man than the Duke of Chow
+had been, and yet Yen Yu gathered and hoarded for him, increasing his
+wealth more and more.
+
+"He is no follower of mine," said the Master. "It would serve him
+right, my children, to sound the drum, and set upon him."
+
+Characteristics of four disciples:--Tsz-káu was simple-minded; Tsang
+Si, a dullard; Tsz-chang, full of airs; Tsz-lu, rough.
+
+"As to Hwúi," said the Master, "he comes near to perfection, while
+frequently in great want. Tsz-kung does not submit to the appointments
+of Heaven; and yet his goods are increased;--he is often successful in
+his calculations."
+
+Tsz-chang wanted to know some marks of the naturally Good Man.
+
+"He does not walk in others' footprints," said the Master; "yet he
+does not get beyond the hall into the house."
+
+Once the Master said, "Because we allow that a man's words have
+something genuine in them, are they necessarily those of a superior
+man? or words carrying only an outward semblance and show of gravity?"
+
+Tsz-lu put a question about the practice of precepts one has heard.
+The Master's reply was, "In a case where there is a father or elder
+brother still left with you, how should you practise all you hear?"
+
+When, however, the same question was put to him by Yen Yu, his reply
+was, "Yes; do so."
+
+Kung-si Hwa animadverted upon this to the Master. "Tsz-lu asked you,
+sir," said he, "about the practice of what one has learnt, and you
+said, 'There may be a father or elder brother still alive'; but when
+Yen Yu asked the same question, you answered, 'Yes, do so.' I am at a
+loss to understand you, and venture to ask what you meant."
+
+The Master replied, "Yen Yu backs out of his duties; therefore I push
+him on. Tsz-lu has forwardness enough for them both; therefore I hold
+him back."
+
+On the occasion of that time of fear in K[']wang, Yen Yuen having
+fallen behind, the Master said to him (afterwards), "I took it for
+granted you were a dead man." "How should I dare to die," said he,
+"while you, sir, still lived?"
+
+On Ki Tsz-jen putting to him a question anent Tsz-lu and Yen Yu, as to
+whether they might be called "great ministers," the Master answered,
+"I had expected your question, sir, to be about something
+extraordinary, and lo! it is only about these two. Those whom we call
+'great ministers' are such as serve their prince conscientiously, and
+who, when they cannot do so, retire. At present, as regards the two
+you ask about, they may be called 'qualified ministers.'"
+
+"Well, are they then," he asked, "such as will follow their leader?"
+
+"They would not follow him who should slay his father and his prince!"
+was the reply.
+
+Through the intervention of Tsz-lu, Tsz-káu was being appointed
+governor of Pi.
+
+"You are spoiling a good man's son," said the Master.
+
+Tsz-lu rejoined, "But he will have the people and their superiors to
+gain experience from, and there will be the altars; what need to read
+books? He can become a student afterwards."
+
+"Here is the reason for my hatred of glib-tongued people," said the
+Master.
+
+On one occasion Tsz-lu, Tsang Sin, Yen Yu, and Kung-si Hwa were
+sitting near him. He said to them, "Though I may be a day older than
+you, do not (for the moment) regard me as such. While you are living
+this unoccupied life you are saying, 'We do not become known.' Now
+suppose some one got to know you, what then?"
+
+Tsz-lu--first to speak--at once answered, "Give me a State of large size
+and armament, hemmed in and hampered by other larger States, the
+population augmented by armies and regiments, causing a dearth in it of
+food of all kinds; give me charge of that State, and in three years'
+time I should make a brave country of it, and let it know its place."
+
+The Master smiled at him. "Yen," said he, "how would it be with you?"
+
+"Give me," said Yen, "a territory of sixty or seventy li square, or of
+fifty or sixty square; put me in charge of that, and in three years I
+should make the people sufficiently prosperous. As regards their
+knowledge of ceremonial or music, I should wait for superior men to
+teach them that."
+
+"And with you, Kung-si, how would it be?"
+
+This disciple's reply was, "I have nothing to say about my
+capabilities for such matters; my wish is to learn. I should like to
+be a junior assistant, in dark rob and cap, at the services of the
+ancestral temple, and at the Grand Receptions of the Princes by the
+Sovereign."
+
+"And with you, Tsang Sin?"
+
+This disciple was strumming on his harpsichord, but now the twanging
+ceased, he turned from the instrument, rose to his feet, and answered
+thus: "Something different from the choice of these three." "What
+harm?" said the Master; "I want each one of you to tell me what his
+heart is set upon." "Well, then," said he, "give me--in the latter
+part of spring--dressed in full spring-tide attire--in company with
+five or six young fellows of twenty,[27] or six or seven lads under
+that age, to do the ablutions in the I stream, enjoy a breeze in the
+rain-dance,[28] and finish up with songs on the road home."
+
+The Master drew in his breath, sighed, and exclaimed, "Ah, I take with
+you!"
+
+The three other disciples having gone out, leaving Tsang Sin behind,
+the latter said, "What think you of the answers of those
+three?"--"Well, each told me what was uppermost in his mind," said the
+Master;--"simply that."
+
+"Why did you smile at Tsz-lu, sir?"
+
+"I smiled at him because to have the charge of a State requires due
+regard to the Rules of Propriety, and his words betrayed a lack of
+modesty."
+
+"But Yen, then--he had a State in view, had he not?"
+
+"I should like to be shown a territory such as he described which does
+not amount to a State."
+
+"But had not Kung-si also a State in view?"
+
+"What are ancestral temples and Grand Receptions, but for the feudal
+lords to take part in? If Kung-si were to become an unimportant
+assistant at these functions, who could become an important one?"
+
+[Footnote 26: The men of virtuous life were Yen Yuen (Hwúi), Min
+Tsz-k[']ien, Yen Pih-niu, and Chung-kung (Yen Yung); the speakers and
+debaters were Tsai Wo and Tsz-kung; the (capable) government servants
+were Yen Yu and Tsz-lu; the literary students, Tsz-yu and Tsz-hiá.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Lit., capped ones. At twenty they underwent the ceremony
+of capping, and were considered men.]
+
+[Footnote 28: I.e., before the altars, where offerings were placed
+with prayer for rain. A religious dance.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XII
+
+_The Master's Answers--Philanthropy--Friendships_
+
+
+Yen yuen was asking about man's proper regard for his fellow-man. The
+Master said to him, "Self-control, and a habit of falling back upon
+propriety, virtually effect it. Let these conditions be fulfilled for
+one day, and every one round will betake himself to the duty. Is it to
+begin in one's self, or think you, indeed! it is to begin in others?"
+
+"I wanted you to be good enough," said Yen Yuen, "to give me a brief
+synopsis of it."
+
+Then said the Master, "Without Propriety use not your eyes; without it
+use not your ears, nor your tongue, nor a limb of your body."
+
+"I may be lacking in diligence," said Yen Yuen, "but with your favor I
+will endeavor to carry out this advice."
+
+Chung-kung asked about man's proper regard for his fellows.
+
+To him the Master replied thus: "When you go forth from your door, be
+as if you were meeting some guest of importance. When you are making
+use of the common people (for State purposes), be as if you were
+taking part in a great religious function. Do not set before others
+what you do not desire yourself. Let there be no resentful feelings
+against you when you are away in the country, and none when at home."
+
+"I may lack diligence," said Chung-kung, "but with your favor I will
+endeavor to carry out this advice."
+
+Sz-ma Niu asked the like question. The answer he received was this:
+"The words of the man who has a proper regard for his fellows are
+uttered with difficulty."
+
+"'His words--uttered with difficulty?'" he echoed, in surprise. "Is
+that what is meant by proper regard for one's fellow-creatures?"
+
+"Where there is difficulty in doing," the Master replied, "will there
+not be some difficulty in utterance?"
+
+The same disciple put a question about the "superior man." "Superior
+men," he replied, "are free from trouble and apprehension."
+
+"'Free from trouble and apprehension!'" said he. "Does that make them
+'superior men'?"
+
+The Master added, "Where there is found, upon introspection, to be no
+chronic disease, how shall there be any trouble? how shall there be
+any apprehension?"
+
+The same disciple, being in trouble, remarked, "I am alone in having
+no brother, while all else have theirs--younger or elder."
+
+Tsz-hiá said to him, "I have heard this: 'Death and life have destined
+times; wealth and honors rest with Heaven. Let the superior man keep
+watch over himself without ceasing, showing deference to others, with
+propriety of manners--and all within the four seas will be his
+brethren. How should he be distressed for lack of brothers!'"[29]
+
+Tsz-chang asked what sort of man might be termed "enlightened."
+
+The Master replied, "That man with whom drenching slander and cutting
+calumny gain no currency may well be called enlightened. Ay, he with
+whom such things make no way may well be called enlightened in the
+extreme."
+
+Tsz-kung put a question relative to government. In reply the Master
+mentioned three essentials:--sufficient food, sufficient armament, and
+the people's confidence.
+
+"But," said the disciple, "if you cannot really have all three, and
+one has to be given up, which would you give up first?"
+
+"The armament," he replied.
+
+"And if you are obliged to give up one of the remaining two, which
+would it be?"
+
+"The food," said he. "Death has been the portion of all men from of
+old. Without the people's trust nothing can stand."
+
+Kih Tsz-shing once said, "Give me the inborn qualities of a gentleman,
+and I want no more. How are such to come from book-learning?"
+
+Tsz-kung exclaimed, "Ah! sir, I regret to hear such words from you. A
+gentleman!--But 'a team of four can ne'er o'ertake the tongue!'
+Literary accomplishments are much the same as inborn qualities, and
+inborn qualities as literary accomplishments. A tiger's or leopard's
+skin without the hair might be a dog's or sheep's when so made bare."
+
+Duke Ngai was consulting Yu Joh. Said he, "It is a year of dearth, and
+there is an insufficiency for Ways and Means--what am I to do?"
+
+"Why not apply the Tithing Statute?" said the minister.
+
+"But two tithings would not be enough for my purposes," said the duke;
+"what would be the good of applying the Statute?"
+
+The minister replied, "So long as the people have enough left for
+themselves, who of them will allow their prince to be without enough?
+But--when the people have not enough, who will allow their prince all
+that he wants?"
+
+Tsz-chang was asking how the standard of virtue was to be raised, and
+how to discern what was illusory or misleading. The Master's answer
+was, "Give a foremost place to honesty and faithfulness, and tread the
+path of righteousness, and you will raise the standard of virtue. As
+to discerning what is illusory, here is an example of an
+illusion:--Whom you love you wish to live; whom you hate you wish to
+die. To have wished the same person to live and also to be dead--there
+is an illusion for you."
+
+Duke King of Ts[']i consulted Confucius about government. His answer
+was, "Let a prince be a prince, and ministers be ministers; let
+fathers be fathers, and sons be sons."
+
+"Good!" exclaimed the duke; "truly if a prince fail to be a prince,
+and ministers to be ministers, and if fathers be not fathers, and sons
+not sons, then, even though I may have my allowance of grain, should I
+ever be able to relish it?"
+
+"The man to decide a cause with half a word," exclaimed the Master,
+"is Tsz-lu!"
+
+Tsz-lu never let a night pass between promise and performance.
+
+"In hearing causes, I am like other men," said the Master. "The great
+point is--to prevent litigation."
+
+Tsz-chang having raised some question about government, the Master
+said to him, "In the settlement of its principles be unwearied; in its
+administration--see to that loyally."
+
+"The man of wide research," said he, "who also restrains himself by
+the Rules of Propriety, is not likely to transgress."
+
+Again, "The noble-minded man makes the most of others' good qualities,
+not the worst of their bad ones. Men of small mind do the reverse of
+this."
+
+Ki K[']ang was consulting him about the direction of public affairs.
+Confucius answered him, "A director should be himself correct. If you,
+sir, as a leader show correctness, who will dare not to be correct?"
+
+Ki K[']ang, being much troubled on account of robbers abroad,
+consulted Confucius on the matter. He received this reply: "If you,
+sir, were not covetous, neither would they steal, even were you to
+bribe them to do so."
+
+Ki K[']ang, when consulting Confucius about the government, said,
+"Suppose I were to put to death the disorderly for the better
+encouragement of the orderly--what say you to that?"
+
+"Sir," replied Confucius, "in the administration of government why
+resort to capital punishment? Covet what is good, and the people will
+be good. The virtue of the noble-minded man is as the wind, and that
+of inferior men as grass; the grass must bend, when the wind blows
+upon it."
+
+Tsz-chang asked how otherwise he would describe the learned official
+who might be termed influential.
+
+"What, I wonder, do you mean by one who is influential?" said the
+Master.
+
+"I mean," replied the disciple, "one who is sure to have a reputation
+throughout the country, as well as at home."
+
+"That," said the Master, "is reputation, not influence. The influential
+man, then, if he be one who is genuinely straightforward and loves what
+is just and right, a discriminator of men's words, and an observer of
+their looks, and in honor careful to prefer others to himself--will
+certainly have influence, both throughout the country and at home. The
+man of mere reputation, on the other hand, who speciously affects
+philanthropy, though in his way of procedure he acts contrary to it,
+while yet quite evidently engrossed with that virtue--will certainly
+have reputation, both in the country and at home."
+
+Fan Ch[']i, strolling with him over the ground below the place of the
+rain-dance, said to him, "I venture to ask how to raise the standard
+of virtue, how to reform dissolute habits, and how to discern what is
+illusory?"
+
+"Ah! a good question indeed!" he exclaimed. "Well, is not putting duty
+first, and success second, a way of raising the standard of virtue?
+And is not attacking the evil in one's self, and not the evil which is
+in others, a way of reforming dissolute habits? And as to illusions,
+is not one morning's fit of anger, causing a man to forget himself,
+and even involving in the consequences those who are near and dear to
+him--is not that an illusion?"
+
+The same disciple asked him what was meant by "a right regard for
+one's fellow-creatures." He replied, "It is love to man."
+
+Asked by him again what was meant by wisdom, he replied, "It is
+knowledge of man."
+
+Fan Ch[']i did not quite grasp his meaning.
+
+The Master went on to say, "Lift up the straight, set aside the
+crooked, so can you make the crooked straight."
+
+Fan Ch[']i left him, and meeting with Tsz-hiá he said, "I had an
+interview just now with the Master, and I asked him what wisdom was.
+In his answer he said, 'Lift up the straight, set aside the crooked,
+and so can you make the crooked straight.' What was his meaning?"
+
+"Ah! words rich in meaning, those," said the other. "When Shun was
+emperor, and was selecting his men from among the multitude, he
+'lifted up' Káu-yáu; and men devoid of right feelings towards their
+kind went far away. And when T[']ang was emperor, and chose out his
+men from the crowd, he 'lifted up' I-yin--with the same result."
+
+Tsz-kung was consulting him about a friend. "Speak to him frankly, and
+respectfully," said the Master, "and gently lead him on. If you do not
+succeed, then stop; do not submit yourself to indignity."
+
+The learned Tsang observed, "In the society of books the 'superior
+man' collects his friends; in the society of his friends he is
+furthering good-will among men."
+
+[Footnote 29: From Confucius, it is generally thought.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIII
+
+_Answers on the Art of Governing--Consistency_
+
+
+Tsz-lu was asking about government. "Lead the way in it," said the
+Master, "and work hard at it."
+
+Requested to say more, he added, "And do not tire of it."
+
+Chung-kung, on being made first minister to the Chief of the Ki
+family, consulted the Master about government, and to him he said,
+"Let the heads of offices be heads. Excuse small faults. Promote men
+of sagacity and talent."
+
+"But," he asked, "how am I to know the sagacious and talented, before
+promoting them?"
+
+"Promote those whom you do know," said the Master.
+
+"As to those of whom you are uncertain, will others omit to notice
+them?"
+
+Tsz-lu said to the Master, "As the prince of Wei, sir, has been
+waiting for you to act for him in his government, what is it your
+intention to take in hand first?"
+
+"One thing of necessity," he answered--"the rectification of terms."
+
+"That!" exclaimed Tsz-lu. "How far away you are, sir! Why such
+rectification?"
+
+"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!" rejoined the Master. "A gentleman
+would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not
+understand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and
+if language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when
+deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when
+this is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if
+these last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or
+foot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is
+fitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon
+it. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly
+irregular--and that is the sum of the matter."
+
+Fan Ch[']i requested that he might learn something of husbandry. "For
+that," said the Master, "I am not equal to an old husbandman." Might
+he then learn something of gardening? he asked. "I am not equal to an
+old gardener," was the reply.
+
+"A man of little mind, that!" said the Master, when Fan Ch[']i had
+gone out. "Let a man who is set over the people love propriety, and
+they will not presume to be disrespectful. Let him be a lover of
+righteousness, and they will not presume to be aught but submissive.
+Let him love faithfulness and truth, and they will not presume not to
+lend him their hearty assistance. Ah, if all this only were so, the
+people from all sides would come to such a one, carrying their
+children on their backs. What need to turn his hand to husbandry?
+
+"Though a man," said he, "could hum through the Odes--the three
+hundred--yet should show himself unskilled when given some
+administrative work to do for his country; though he might know much
+of that other lore, yet if, when sent on a mission to any quarter, he
+could answer no question personally and unaided, what after all is he
+good for?
+
+"Let a leader," said he, "show rectitude in his own personal character,
+and even without directions from him things will go well. If he be not
+personally upright, his directions will not be complied with."
+
+Once he made the remark, "The governments of Lu and of Wei are in
+brotherhood."
+
+Of King, a son of the Duke of Wei, he observed that "he managed his
+household matters well. On his coming into possession, he thought,
+'What a strange conglomeration!'--Coming to possess a little more, it
+was, 'Strange, such a result!' And when he became wealthy, 'Strange,
+such elegance!'"
+
+The Master was on a journey to Wei, and Yen Yu was driving him. "What
+multitudes of people!" he exclaimed. Yen Yu asked him, "Seeing they
+are so numerous, what more would you do for them?"
+
+"Enrich them," replied the Master.
+
+"And after enriching them, what more would you do for them?"
+
+"Instruct them."
+
+"Were any one of our princes to employ me," he said, "after a
+twelvemonth I might have made some tolerable progress; but give me
+three years, and my work should be done."
+
+Again, "How true is that saying, 'Let good men have the management of
+a country for a century, and they would be adequate to cope with
+evil-doers, and thus do away with capital punishments.'"
+
+Again, "Suppose the ruler to possess true kingly qualities, then
+surely after one generation there would be good-will among men."
+
+Again, "Let a ruler but see to his own rectitude, and what trouble
+will he then have in the work before him? If he be unable to rectify
+himself, how is he to rectify others?"
+
+Once when Yen Yu was leaving the Court, the Master accosted him. "Why
+so late?" he asked. "Busy with legislation," Yen replied. "The details
+of it," suggested the Master; "had it been legislation, I should have
+been there to hear it, even though I am not in office."
+
+Duke Ting asked if there were one sentence which, if acted upon, might
+have the effect of making a country prosperous.
+
+Confucius answered, "A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so much
+as that. But there is a proverb people use which says, 'To play the
+prince is hard, to play the minister not easy.' Assuming that it is
+understood that 'to play the prince is hard,' would it not be probable
+that with that one sentence the country should be made to prosper?"
+
+"Is there, then," he asked, "one sentence which, if acted upon, would
+have the effect of ruining a country?"
+
+Confucius again replied, "A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so
+much as that. But there is a proverb men have which says, 'Not gladly
+would I play the prince, unless my words were ne'er withstood.'
+Assuming that the words were good, and that none withstood them, would
+not that also be good? But assuming that they were not good, and yet
+none withstood them, would it not be probable that with that one
+saying he would work his country's ruin?"
+
+When the Duke of Sheh consulted him about government, he replied,
+"Where the near are gratified, the war will follow."
+
+When Tsz-hiá became governor of Kü-fu, and consulted him about
+government, he answered, "Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look
+at trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not
+be far-reaching; and if you regard trivial advantages you will not
+successfully deal with important affairs."
+
+The Duke of Sheh in a conversation with Confucius said, "There are
+some straightforward persons in my neighborhood. If a father has
+stolen a sheep, the son will give evidence against him."
+
+"Straightforward people in my neighborhood are different from those,"
+said Confucius. "The father will hold a thing secret on his son's
+behalf, and the son does the same for his father. They are on their
+way to becoming straightforward."
+
+Fan Ch[']i was asking him about duty to one's fellow-men. "Be
+courteous," he replied, "in your private sphere; be serious in any
+duty you take in hand to do; be leal-hearted in your intercourse with
+others. Even though you were to go amongst the wild tribes, it would
+not be right for you to neglect these duties."
+
+In answer to Tsz-kung, who asked, "how he would characterize one who
+could fitly be called 'learned official,'" the Master said, "He may be
+so-called who in his private life is affected with a sense of his own
+unworthiness, and who, when sent on a mission to any quarter of the
+empire, would not disgrace his prince's commands."
+
+"May I presume," said his questioner, "to ask what sort you would put
+next to such?"
+
+"Him who is spoken of by his kinsmen as a dutiful son, and whom the
+folks of his neighborhood call 'good brother.'"
+
+"May I still venture to ask whom you would place next in order?"
+
+"Such as are sure to be true to their word, and effective in their
+work--who are given to hammering, as it were, upon one note--of
+inferior calibre indeed, but fit enough, I think, to be ranked next."
+
+"How would you describe those who are at present in the government
+service?"
+
+"Ugh! mere peck and panier men!--not worth taking into the reckoning."
+
+Once he remarked, "If I cannot get _via media_ men to impart
+instruction to, then I must of course take the impetuous and
+undisciplined! The impetuous ones will at least go forward and lay
+hold on things; and the undisciplined have at least something in them
+which needs to be brought out."
+
+"The Southerners," said he, "have the proverb, 'The man who sticks not
+to rule will never make a charm-worker or a medical man.'
+Good!--'Whoever is intermittent in his practise of virtue will live to
+be ashamed of it.' Without prognostication," he added, "that will
+indeed be so."
+
+"The nobler-minded man," he remarked, "will be agreeable even when he
+disagrees; the small-minded man will agree and be disagreeable."
+
+Tsz-kung was consulting him, and asked, "What say you of a person who
+was liked by all in his village?"
+
+"That will scarcely do," he answered.
+
+"What, then, if they all disliked him?"
+
+"That, too," said he, "is scarcely enough. Better if he were liked by
+the good folk in the village, and disliked by the bad."
+
+"The superior man," he once observed, "is easy to serve, but difficult
+to please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and
+you will fail. Also, when such a one employs others, he uses them
+according to their capacity. The inferior man is, on the other hand,
+difficult to serve, but easy to please. Try to please him by the
+adoption of wrong principles, and you will succeed. And when he
+employs others he requires them to be fully prepared for everything."
+
+Again, "The superior man can be high without being haughty. The
+inferior man can be haughty if not high."
+
+"The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to speak,"
+said he once, "are approximating towards their duty to their
+fellow-men."
+
+Tsz-lu asked how he would characterize one who might fitly be called
+an educated gentleman. The master replied, "He who can properly be
+so-called will have in him a seriousness of purpose, a habit of
+controlling himself, and an agreeableness of manner: among his friends
+and associates the seriousness and the self-control, and among his
+brethren the agreeableness of manner."
+
+"Let good and able men discipline the people for seven years," said
+the Master, "and after that they may do to go to war."
+
+But, said he, "To lead an undisciplined people to war--that I call
+throwing them away."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIV
+
+_Good and Bad Government--Miscellaneous Sayings_
+
+
+Yuen Sz asked what might be considered to bring shame on one.
+
+"Pay," said the Master; "pay--ever looking to that, whether the
+country be well or badly governed."
+
+"When imperiousness, boastfulness, resentments, and covetousness cease
+to prevail among the people, may it be considered that mutual
+good-will has been effected?" To this question the Master replied, "A
+hard thing overcome, it may be considered. But as to the mutual
+good-will--I cannot tell."
+
+"Learned officials," said he, "who hanker after a home life, are not
+worthy of being esteemed as such."
+
+Again, "In a country under good government, speak boldly, act boldly.
+When the land is ill-governed, though you act boldly, let your words
+be moderate."
+
+Again, "Men of virtue will needs be men of words--will speak out--but
+men of words are not necessarily men of virtue. They who care for
+their fellow-men will needs be bold, but the bold may not necessarily
+be such as care for their fellow-men."
+
+Nan-kung Kwoh, who was consulting Confucius, observed respecting I,
+the skilful archer, and Ngau, who could propel a boat on dry land,
+that neither of them died a natural death; while Yu and Tsih, who with
+their own hands had labored at husbandry, came to wield imperial sway.
+
+The Master gave him no reply. But when the speaker had gone out he
+exclaimed, "A superior man, that! A man who values virtue, that!"
+
+"There have been noble-minded men," said he, "who yet were wanting in
+philanthropy; but never has there been a small-minded man who had
+philanthropy in him."
+
+He asked, "Can any one refuse to toil for those he loves? Can any one
+refuse to exhort, who is true-hearted?"
+
+Speaking of the preparation of Government Notifications in his day he
+said, "P[']i would draw up a rough sketch of what was to be said; the
+Shishuh then looked it carefully through and put it into proper shape;
+Tsz-yu next, who was master of the ceremonial of State intercourse,
+improved and adorned its phrases; and Tsz-ch[']an of Tung-li added his
+scholarly embellishments thereto."
+
+To some one who asked his opinion of the last-named, he said, "He was
+a kind-hearted man." Asked what he thought of Tsz-si, he exclaimed,
+"Alas for him! alas for him!"--Asked again about Kwan Chung, his
+answer was, "As to him, he once seized the town of P[']in with its
+three hundred families from the Chief of the Pih clan, who, afterwards
+reduced to living upon coarse rice, with all his teeth gone, never
+uttered a word of complaint."
+
+"It is no light thing," said he, "to endure poverty uncomplainingly;
+and a difficult thing to bear wealth without becoming arrogant."
+
+Respecting Mang Kung-ch[']oh, he said that, while he was fitted for
+something better than the post of chief officer in the Cháu or Wei
+families, he was not competent to act as minister in small States like
+those of T[']ang or Sieh.
+
+Tsz-lu asked how he would describe a perfect man. He replied, "Let a
+man have the sagacity of Tsang Wu-chung, the freedom from covetousness
+of Kung-ch[']oh, the boldness of Chwang of P[']in, and the attainments
+in polite arts of Yen Yu; and gift him further with the graces taught
+by the 'Books of Rites' and 'Music'--then he may be considered a
+perfect man. But," said he, "what need of such in these days? The man
+that may be regarded as perfect now is the one who, seeing some
+advantage to himself, is mindful of righteousness; who, seeing danger,
+risks his life; and who, if bound by some covenant of long standing,
+never forgets its conditions as life goes on."
+
+Respecting Kung-shuh Wan, the Master inquired of Kung-ming Kiá,
+saying, "Is it true that your master never speaks, never laughs, never
+takes aught from others?"
+
+"Those who told you that of him," said he, "have gone too far. My
+master speaks when there is occasion to do so, and men are not
+surfeited with his speaking. When there is occasion to be merry too,
+he will laugh, but men have never over much of his laughing. And
+whenever it is just and right to take things from others, he will take
+them, but never so as to allow men to think him burdensome." "Is that
+the case with him?" said the Master. "Can it be so?"
+
+Respecting Tsang Wu-chung the Master said, "When he sought from Lu the
+appointment of a successor to him, and for this object held on to his
+possession of the fortified city of Fang--if you say he was not then
+using constraint towards his prince, I must refuse to believe it."
+
+Duke Wan of Tsin he characterized as "artful but not upright"; and
+Duke Hwan of Ts'i as "upright but not artful."
+
+Tsz-lu remarked, "When Duke Hwan caused his brother Kiu to be put to
+death, Shau Hwuh committed suicide, but Kwan Chung did not. I should
+say he was not a man who had much good-will in him--eh?"
+
+The Master replied, "When Duke Hwan held a great gathering of the
+feudal lords, dispensing with military equipage, it was owing to Kwan
+Chung's energy that such an event was brought about. Match such
+good-will as that--match it if you can."
+
+Tsz-kung then spoke up. "But was not Kwan Chung wanting in good-will?
+He could not give up his life when Duke Hwan caused his brother to be
+put to death. Besides, he became the duke's counsellor."
+
+"And in acting as his counsellor put him at the head of all the feudal
+lords," said the Master, "and unified and reformed the whole empire;
+and the people, even to this day, reap benefit from what he did. Had
+it not been for him we should have been going about with locks unkempt
+and buttoning our jackets (like barbarians) on the left. Would you
+suppose that he should show the same sort of attachment as exists
+between a poor yokel and his one wife--that he would asphyxiate
+himself in some sewer, leaving no one the wiser?"
+
+Kung-shuh Wan's steward, who became the high officer Sien, went up
+accompanied by Wan to the prince's hall of audience.
+
+When Confucius heard of this he remarked, "He may well be esteemed a
+'Wan.'"
+
+The Master having made some reference to the lawless ways of Duke Ling
+of Wei, Ki K[']ang said to him, "If he be like that, how is it he does
+not ruin his position?"
+
+Confucius answered, "The Chung-shuh, Yu, is charged with the
+entertainment of visitors and strangers; the priest T[']o has charge
+of the ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Kiá has the control of the army
+and its divisions:--with men such as those, how should he come to ruin?"
+
+He once remarked, "He who is unblushing in his words will with
+difficulty substantiate them."
+
+Ch[']in Shing had slain Duke Kien. Hearing of this, Confucius, after
+performing his ablutions, went to Court and announced the news to Duke
+Ngai, saying, "Ch[']in Shing has slain his prince. May I request that
+you proceed against him?"
+
+"Inform the Chiefs of the Three Families," said the duke.
+
+Soliloquizing upon this, Confucius said, "Since he uses me to back his
+ministers,[30] I did not dare not to announce the matter to him; and
+now he says, 'Inform the Three Chiefs.'"
+
+He went to the Three Chiefs and informed them, but nothing could be
+done. Whereupon again he said, "Since he uses me to back his
+ministers, I did not dare not to announce the matter."
+
+Tsz-lu was questioning him as to how he should serve his prince.
+"Deceive him not, but reprove him," he answered.
+
+"The minds of superior men," he observed, "trend upwards; those of
+inferior men trend downwards."
+
+Again, "Students of old fixed their eyes upon themselves: now they
+learn with their eyes upon others."
+
+Kü Pih-yuh despatched a man with a message to Confucius. Confucius
+gave him a seat, and among other inquiries he asked, "How is your
+master managing?" "My master," he replied, "has a great wish to be
+seldom at fault, and as yet he cannot manage it."
+
+"What a messenger!" exclaimed he, admiringly, when the man went out.
+"What a messenger!"
+
+"When not occupying the office," was a remark of his, "devise not the
+policy."
+
+The Learned Tsang used to say, "The thoughts of the 'superior man' do
+not wander from his own office."
+
+"Superior men," said the Master, "are modest in their words, profuse
+in their deeds."
+
+Again, "There are three attainments of the superior man which are
+beyond me--the being sympathetic without anxiety, wise without
+scepticism, brave without fear."
+
+"Sir," said Tsz-kung, "that is what you say of yourself."
+
+Whenever Tsz-kung drew comparisons from others, the Master would say,
+"Ah, how wise and great you must have become! Now I have no time to do
+that."
+
+Again, "My great concern is, not that men do not know me, but that
+they cannot."
+
+Again, "If a man refrain from making preparations against his being
+imposed upon, and from counting upon others' want of good faith
+towards him, while he is foremost to perceive what is passing--surely
+that is a wise and good man."
+
+Wi-shang Mau accosted Confucius, saying, "Kiu, how comes it that you
+manage to go perching and roosting in this way? Is it not because you
+show yourself so smart a speaker, now?"
+
+"I should not dare do that," said Confucius. "'Tis that I am sick of
+men's immovableness and deafness to reason."
+
+"In a well-bred horse," said he, "what one admires is not its speed,
+but its good points."
+
+Some one asked, "What say you of the remark, 'Requite enmity with
+kindness'?"
+
+"How then," he answered, "would you requite kindness? Requite enmity
+with straightforwardness, and kindness with kindness."
+
+"Ah! no one knows me!" he once exclaimed.
+
+"Sir," said Tsz-kung, "how comes it to pass that no one knows you?"
+
+"While I murmur not against Heaven," continued the Master, "nor cavil
+at men; while I stoop to learn and aspire to penetrate into things
+that are high; yet 'tis Heaven alone knows what I am."
+
+Liáu, a kinsman of the duke, having laid a complaint against Tsz-lu
+before Ki K[']ang, an officer came to Confucius to inform him of the
+fact, and he added, "My lord is certainly having his mind poisoned by
+his kinsman Liáu, but through my influence perhaps we may yet manage
+to see him exposed in the market-place or the Court."
+
+"If right principles are to have their course, it is so destined,"
+said the Master; "if they are not to have their course, it is so
+destined. What can Liáu do against Destiny?"
+
+"There are worthy men," said the Master, "fleeing from the world; some
+from their district; some from the sight of men's looks; some from the
+language they hear."
+
+"The men who have risen from their posts and withdrawn in this manner
+are seven in number."
+
+Tsz-lu, having lodged overnight in Shih-mun, was accosted by the
+gate-keeper in the morning. "Where from?" he asked. "From Confucius,"
+Tsz-lu responded. "That is the man," said he, "who knows things are
+not up to the mark, and is making some ado about them, is it not?"
+
+When the Master was in Wei, he was once pounding on the musical stone,
+when a man with a basket of straw crossed his threshold, and
+exclaimed, "Ah, there is a heart that feels! Aye, drub the stone!"
+After which he added, "How vulgar! how he hammers away on one
+note!--and no one knows him, and he gives up, and all is over!
+
+    'Be it deep, our skirts we'll raise to the waist,
+    --Or shallow, then up to the knee.'"
+
+"What determination!" said the Master. "Yet it was not hard to do."
+
+Tsz-chang once said to him, "In the 'Book of the Annals' it is stated
+that while Káu-tsung was in the Mourning Shed he spent the three years
+without speaking. What is meant by that?"
+
+"Why must you name Káu-tsung?" said the Master. "It was so with all
+other ancient sovereigns: when one of them died, the heads of every
+department agreed between themselves that they should give ear for
+three years to the Prime Minister."
+
+"When their betters love the Rules, then the folk are easy tools," was
+a saying of the Master.
+
+Tsz-lu having asked what made a "superior man," he answered,
+"Self-culture, with a view to becoming seriously-minded."
+
+"Nothing more than that?" said he.
+
+"Self-culture with a view to the greater satisfaction of others,"
+added the Master.
+
+"That, and yet no more?"
+
+"Self-culture with a view to the greater satisfaction of all the clans
+and classes," he again added. "Self-culture for the sake of all--a
+result that, that would almost put Yau and Shun into the shade!"
+
+To Yuen Jang,[31] who was sitting waiting for him in a squatting
+(disrespectful) posture, the Master delivered himself as follows: "The
+man who in his youth could show no humility or subordination, who in
+his prime misses his opportunity, and who when old age comes upon him
+will not die--that man is a miscreant." And he tapped him on the shin
+with his staff.
+
+Some one asked about his attendant--a youth from the village of
+Kiueh--whether he was one who improved. He replied, "I note that he
+seats himself in the places reserved for his betters, and that when he
+is walking he keeps abreast with his seniors. He is not one of those
+who care for improvement: he wants to be a man all at once."
+
+[Footnote 30: Confucius had now retired from office, and this incident
+occurred only two years before his death.]
+
+[Footnote 31: It is a habit with the Chinese, when a number are out
+walking together, for the eldest to go first, the others pairing off
+according to their age. It is a custom much older than the time of
+Confucius.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XV
+
+_Practical Wisdom--Reciprocity the Rule of Life_
+
+
+Duke Ling of Wei was consulting Confucius about army arrangements. His
+answer was, "Had you asked me about such things as temple requisites,
+I have learnt that business, but I have not yet studied military
+matters." And he followed up this reply by leaving on the following day.
+
+After this, during his residence in the State of Ch[']in, his
+followers, owing to a stoppage of food supply, became so weak and ill
+that not one of them could stand. Tsz-lu, with indignation pictured on
+his countenance, exclaimed, "And is a gentleman to suffer starvation?"
+
+"A gentleman," replied the Master, "will endure it unmoved, but a
+common person breaks out into excesses under it."
+
+Addressing Tsz-kung, the Master said, "You regard me as one who
+studies and stores up in his mind a multiplicity of things--do you
+not?"--"I do," he replied; "is it not so?"--"Not at all. I have one
+idea--one cord on which to string all."
+
+To Tsz-lu he remarked, "They who know Virtue are rare."
+
+"If you would know one who without effort ruled well, was not Shun
+such a one? What did he indeed do? He bore himself with reverent
+dignity and undeviatingly 'faced the south,' and that was all."
+
+Tsz-chang was consulting him about making way in life. He answered,
+"Be true and honest in all you say, and seriously earnest in all you
+do, and then, even if your country be one inhabited by barbarians,
+South or North, you will make your way. If you do not show yourself
+thus in word and deed how should you succeed, even in your own
+district or neighborhood?--When you are afoot, let these two counsels
+be two companions preceding you, yourself viewing them from behind;
+when you drive, have them in view as on the yoke of your carriage.
+Then may you make your way."
+
+Tsz-chang wrote them on the two ends of his cincture.
+
+"Straight was the course of the Annalist Yu," said the Master--"aye,
+straight as an arrow flies; were the country well governed or ill
+governed, his was an arrow-like course.
+
+"A man of masterly mind, too, is Kü Pih-yuh! When the land is being
+rightly governed he will serve; when it is under bad government he is
+apt to recoil, and brood."
+
+"Not to speak to a man," said he, "to whom you ought to speak, is to
+lose your man; to speak to one to whom you ought not to speak is to
+lose your words. Those who are wise will not lose their man, nor yet
+their words."
+
+Again, "The scholar whose heart is in his work, and who is
+philanthropic, seeks not to gain a livelihood by any means that will
+do harm to his philanthropy. There have been men who have destroyed
+their own lives in the endeavor to bring that virtue in them to
+perfection."
+
+Tsz-kung asked how to become philanthropic. The Master answered him
+thus: "A workman who wants to do his work well must first sharpen his
+tools. In whatever land you live, serve under some wise and good man
+among those in high office, and make friends with the more humane of
+its men of education."
+
+Yen Yuen consulted him on the management of a country. He answered:--
+
+"Go by the Hiá Calendar. Have the State carriages like those of the
+Yin princes. Wear the Chow cap. For your music let that of Shun be
+used for the posturers. Put away the songs of Ch[']ing, and remove far
+from you men of artful speech: the Ch[']ing songs are immodest, and
+artful talkers are dangerous."
+
+Other sayings of the Master:--
+
+"They who care not for the morrow will the sooner have their sorrow.
+
+"Ah, 'tis hopeless! I have not yet met with the man who loves Virtue
+as he loves Beauty.
+
+"Was not Tsang Wan like one who surreptitiously came by the post he
+held? He knew the worth of Hwúi of Liu-hiá, and could not stand in his
+presence.
+
+"Be generous yourself, and exact little from others; then you banish
+complaints.
+
+"With one who does not come to me inquiring 'What of this?' and 'What
+of that?' I never can ask 'What of this?' and give him up.
+
+"If a number of students are all day together, and in their
+conversation never approach the subject of righteousness, but are fond
+merely of giving currency to smart little sayings, they are difficult
+indeed to manage.
+
+"When the 'superior man' regards righteousness as the thing material,
+gives operation to it according to the Rules of Propriety, lets it
+issue in humility, and become complete in sincerity--there indeed is
+your superior man!
+
+"The trouble of the superior man will be his own want of ability: it
+will be no trouble to him that others do not know him.
+
+"Such a man thinks it hard to end his days and leave a name to be no
+longer named.
+
+"The superior man is exacting of himself; the common man is exacting
+of others.
+
+"A superior man has self-respect, and does not strive; is sociable,
+yet no party man.
+
+"He does not promote a man because of his words, or pass over the
+words because of the man."
+
+Tsz-kung put to him the question, "Is there one word upon which the
+whole life may proceed?"
+
+The Master replied, "Is not Reciprocity such a word?--what you do not
+yourself desire, do not put before others."
+
+"So far as I have to do with others, whom do I over-censure? whom do I
+over-praise? If there be something in them that looks very
+praiseworthy, that something I put to the test. I would have the men
+of the present day to walk in the straight path whereby those of the
+Three Dynasties have walked.
+
+"I have arrived as it were at the annalist's blank page.--Once he who
+had a horse would lend it to another to mount; now, alas! it is not so.
+
+"Artful speech is the confusion of Virtue. Impatience over little
+things introduces confusion into great schemes.
+
+"What is disliked by the masses needs inquiring into; so also does
+that which they have a preference for.
+
+"A man may give breadth to his principles: it is not principles (in
+themselves) that give breadth to the man.
+
+"Not to retract after committing an error may itself be called error.
+
+"If I have passed the whole day without food and the whole night
+without sleep, occupied with my thoughts, it profits me nothing: I
+were better engaged in learning.
+
+"The superior man deliberates upon how he may walk in truth, not upon
+what he may eat. The farmer may plough, and be on the way to want: the
+student learns, and is on his way to emolument. To live a right life
+is the concern of men of nobler minds: poverty gives them none.
+
+"Whatsoever the intellect may attain to, unless the humanity within is
+powerful enough to keep guard over it, is assuredly lost, even though
+it be gained.
+
+"If there be intellectual attainments, and the humanity within is
+powerful enough to keep guard over them, yet, unless (in a ruler)
+there be dignity in his rule, the people will fail to show him respect.
+
+"Again, given the intellectual attainments, and humanity sufficient to
+keep watch over them, and also dignity in ruling, yet if his movements
+be not in accordance with the Rules of Propriety, he is not yet fully
+qualified.
+
+"The superior man may not be conversant with petty details, and yet
+may have important matters put into his hands. The inferior man may
+not be charged with important matters, yet may be conversant with the
+petty details.
+
+"Good-fellowship is more to men than fire and water. I have seen men
+stepping into fire and into water, and meeting with death thereby; I
+have not yet seen a man die from planting his steps in the path of
+good-fellowship.
+
+"Rely upon good nature. 'Twill not allow precedence even to a teacher.
+
+"The superior man is inflexibly upright, and takes not things upon
+trust.
+
+"In serving your prince, make your service the serious concern, and
+let salary be a secondary matter.
+
+"Where instruction is to be given, there must be no distinction of
+persons.
+
+"Where men's methods are not identical, there can be no planning by
+one on behalf of another.
+
+"In speaking, perspicuity is all that is needed."
+
+When the blind music-master Mien paid him a visit, on his approaching
+the steps the Master called out "Steps," and on his coming to the mat,
+said "Mat." When all in the room were seated, the Master told him
+"So-and-so is here, so-and-so is here."
+
+When the music-master had left, Tsz-chang said to him, "Is that the
+way to speak to the music-master?" "Well," he replied, "it is
+certainly the way to assist him."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XVI
+
+_Against Intestine Strife--Good and Bad Friendships_
+
+
+The Chief of the Ki family was about to make an onslaught upon the
+Chuen-yu domain.
+
+Yen Yu and Tsz-lu in an interview with Confucius told him, "The Ki is
+about to have an affair with Chuen-yu."
+
+"Yen," said Confucius, "does not the fault lie with you? The Chief of
+Chuen-yu in times past was appointed lord of the East Mung (mountain);
+besides, he dwells within the confines of your own State, and is an
+official of the State-worship; how can you think of making an
+onslaught upon him?"
+
+"It is the wish of our Chief," said Yen Yu, "not the wish of either of
+us ministers."
+
+Confucius said, "Yen, there is a sentence of Cháu Jin which runs thus:
+'Having made manifest their powers and taken their place in the
+official list, when they find themselves incompetent they resign; if
+they cannot be firm when danger threatens the government, nor lend
+support when it is reeling, of what use then shall they be as
+Assistants?'--Besides, you are wrong in what you said. When a
+rhinoceros or tiger breaks out of its cage--when a jewel or
+tortoise-shell ornament is damaged in its casket--whose fault is it?"
+
+"But," said Yen Yu, "so far as Chuen-yu is concerned, it is now
+fortified, and it is close to Pi; and if he does not now take it, in
+another generation it will certainly be a trouble to his descendants."
+
+"Yen!" exclaimed Confucius, "it is a painful thing to a superior man
+to have to desist from saying, 'My wish is so-and-so,' and to be
+obliged to make apologies. For my part, I have learnt this--that
+rulers of States and heads of Houses are not greatly concerned about
+their small following, but about the want of equilibrium in it--that
+they do not concern themselves about their becoming poor, but about
+the best means of living quietly and contentedly; for where
+equilibrium is preserved there will be no poverty, where there is
+harmony their following will not be small, and where there is quiet
+contentment there will be no decline nor fall. Now if that be the
+case, it follows that if men in outlying districts are not submissive,
+then a reform in education and morals will bring them to; and when
+they have been so won, then will you render them quiet and contented.
+At the present time you two are Assistants of your Chief; the people
+in the outlying districts are not submissive, and cannot be brought
+round. Your dominion is divided, prostrate, dispersed, cleft in
+pieces, and you as its guardians are powerless. And plans are being
+made for taking up arms against those who dwell within your own State.
+I am apprehensive that the sorrow of the Ki family is not to lie in
+Chuen-yu, but in those within their own screen."
+
+"When the empire is well-ordered," said Confucius, "it is from the
+emperor that edicts regarding ceremonial, music, and expeditions to
+quell rebellion go forth. When it is being ill governed, such edicts
+emanate from the feudal lords; and when the latter is the case, it
+will be strange if in ten generations there is not a collapse. If they
+emanate merely from the high officials, it will be strange if the
+collapse do not come in five generations. When the State-edicts are in
+the hands of the subsidiary ministers, it will be strange if in three
+generations there is no collapse.
+
+"When the empire is well-ordered, government is not left in the hands
+of high officials.
+
+"When the empire is well-ordered, the common people will cease to
+discuss public matters."
+
+"For five generations," he said, "the revenue has departed from the
+ducal household. Four generations ago the government fell into the
+hands of the high officials. Hence, alas! the straitened means of the
+descendants of the three Hwan families."
+
+"There are," said he, "three kinds of friendships which are
+profitable, and three which are detrimental. To make friends with the
+upright, with the trustworthy, with the experienced, is to gain
+benefit; to make friends with the subtly perverse, with the artfully
+pliant, with the subtle in speech, is detrimental."
+
+Again, "There are three kinds of pleasure which are profitable, and
+three which are detrimental. To take pleasure in going regularly
+through the various branches of Ceremonial and Music, in speaking of
+others' goodness, in having many worthy wise friends, is profitable.
+To take pleasure in wild bold pleasures, in idling carelessly about,
+in the too jovial accompaniments of feasting, is detrimental."
+
+Again, "Three errors there be, into which they who wait upon their
+superior may fall:--(1) to speak before the opportunity comes to them
+to speak, which I call heedless haste; (2) refraining from speaking
+when the opportunity has come, which I call concealment; and (3)
+speaking, regardless of the mood he is in, which I call blindness."
+
+Again, "Three things a superior should guard against:--(1) against the
+lusts of the flesh in his earlier years while the vital powers are not
+fully developed and fixed; (2) against the spirit of combativeness
+when he has come to the age of robust manhood and when the vital
+powers are matured and strong, and (3) against ambitiousness when old
+age has come on and the vital powers have become weak and decayed."
+
+"Three things also such a man greatly reveres:--(1) the ordinances of
+Heaven, (2) great men, (3) words of sages. The inferior man knows not
+the ordinances of Heaven and therefore reveres them not, is unduly
+familiar in the presence of great men, and scoffs at the words of
+sages."
+
+"They whose knowledge comes by birth are of all men the first in
+understanding; they to whom it comes by study are next; men of poor
+intelectual capacity, who yet study, may be added as a yet inferior
+class; and lowest of all are they who are poor in intellect and never
+learn."
+
+"Nine things there are of which the superior man should be
+mindful:--to be clear in vision, quick in hearing, genial in
+expression, respectful in demeanor, true in word, serious in duty,
+inquiring in doubt, firmly self-controlled in anger, just and fair
+when the way to success opens out before him."
+
+"Some have spoken of 'looking upon goodness as upon something beyond
+their reach,' and of 'looking upon evil as like plunging one's hands
+into scalding liquid';--I have seen the men, I have heard the sayings.
+
+"Some, again, have talked of 'living in seclusion to work out their
+designs,' and of 'exercising themselves in righteous living in order
+to render their principles the more effective';--I have heard the
+sayings, I have not seen the men."
+
+"Duke King of Ts[']i had his thousand teams of four, yet on the day of
+his death the people had nothing to say of his goodness. Peh-I and
+Shuh-Ts[']i starved at the foot of Shau-yang, and the people make
+mention of them to this day.
+
+    'E'en if not wealth thine object be,
+    'Tis all the same, thou'rt changed to me.'
+
+"Is not this apropos in such cases?"
+
+Tsz-k[']in asked of Pih-yu, "Have you heard anything else peculiar
+from your father?"
+
+"Not yet," said he. "Once, though, he was standing alone when I was
+hurrying past him over the vestibule, and he said, 'Are you studying the
+Odes?' 'Not yet,' I replied. 'If you do not learn the Odes,' said he,
+'you will not have the wherewithal for conversing.' I turned away and
+studied the Odes. Another day, when he was again standing alone and I
+was hurrying past across the vestibule, he said to me, 'Are you learning
+the Rules of Propriety?' 'Not yet,' I replied. 'If you have not studied
+the Rules, you have nothing to stand upon,' said he. I turned away and
+studied the Rules.--These two things I have heard from him."
+
+Tsz-k[']in turned away, and in great glee exclaimed, "I asked one
+thing, and have got three. I have learnt something about the Odes, and
+about the Rules, and moreover I have learnt how the superior man will
+turn away his own son."
+
+The wife of the ruler of a State is called by her husband "My
+helpmeet." She speaks of herself as "Your little handmaiden." The
+people of that State call her "The prince's helpmeet," but addressing
+persons of another State they speak of her as "Our little princess."
+When persons of another State name her they say also "Your prince's
+helpmeet."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XVII
+
+_The Master Induced to Take Office--Nature and Habit_
+
+
+Yang Ho was desirous of having an interview with Confucius, but on the
+latter's failing to go and see him, he sent a present of a pig to his
+house. Confucius went to return his acknowledgments for it at a time
+when he was not at home. They met, however, on the way.
+
+He said to Confucius, "Come, I want a word with you. Can that man be
+said to have good-will towards his fellow-men who hugs and hides his
+own precious gifts and allows his country to go on in blind error?"
+
+"He cannot," was the reply.
+
+"And can he be said to be wise who, with a liking for taking part in
+the public service, is constantly letting slip his opportunities?"
+
+"He cannot," was the reply again.
+
+"And the days and months are passing; and the years do not wait for
+us."
+
+"True," said Confucius; "I will take office."
+
+It was a remark of the Master that while "by nature we approximate
+towards each other, by experience we go far asunder."
+
+Again, "Only the supremely wise and the most deeply ignorant do not
+alter."
+
+The Master once, on his arrival at Wu-shing, heard the sound of
+stringed instruments and singing. His face beamed with pleasure, and
+he said laughingly, "To kill a cock--why use an ox-knife?"
+
+Tsz-yu, the governor, replied, "In former days, sir, I heard you say,
+'Let the superior man learn right principles, and he will be loving to
+other men; let the ordinary person learn right principles, and he will
+be easily managed.'"
+
+The Master (turning to his disciples) said, "Sirs, what he says is
+right: what I said just now was only in play."
+
+Having received an invitation from Kung-shan Fuh-jau, who was in
+revolt against the government and was holding to his district of Pi,
+the Master showed an inclination to go.
+
+Tsz-lu was averse to this, and said, "You can never go, that is
+certain; how should you feel you must go to that person?"
+
+"Well," said the Master, "he who has invited me must surely not have
+done so without a sufficient reason! And if it should happen that my
+services were enlisted, I might create for him another East
+Chow--don't you think so?"
+
+Tsz-chang asked Confucius about the virtue of philanthropy. His answer
+was, "It is the being able to put in practice five qualities, in any
+place under the sun."
+
+"May I ask, please, what these are?" said the disciple.
+
+"They are," he said, "dignity, indulgence, faithfulness, earnestness,
+kindness. If you show dignity you will not be mocked; if you are
+indulgent you will win the multitude; if faithful, men will place
+their trust in you; if earnest, you will do something meritorious; and
+if kind, you will be enabled to avail yourself amply of men's
+services."
+
+Pih Hih sent the Master an invitation, and he showed an inclination to
+go.
+
+Tsz-lu (seeing this) said to him, "In former days, sir, I have heard
+you say, 'A superior man will not enter the society of one who does
+not that which is good in matters concerning himself; and this man is
+in revolt, with Chung-mau in his possession; if you go to him, how
+will the case stand?"
+
+"Yes," said the Master, "those are indeed my words; but is it not
+said, 'What is hard may be rubbed without being made thin,' and
+'White may be stained without being made black'?--I am surely not a
+gourd! How am I to be strung up like that kind of thing--and live
+without means?"
+
+"Tsz-lu," said the Master, "you have heard of the six words with their
+six obfuscations?"
+
+"No," said he, "not so far."
+
+"Sit down, and I will tell you them. They are these six virtues, cared
+for without care for any study about them:--philanthropy, wisdom,
+faithfulness, straightforwardness, courage, firmness. And the six
+obfuscations resulting from not liking to learn about them are,
+respectively, these:--fatuity, mental dissipation, mischievousness,
+perversity, insubordination, impetuosity."
+
+"My children," said he once, "why does no one of you study the
+Odes?--They are adapted to rouse the mind, to assist observation, to
+make people sociable, to arouse virtuous indignation. They speak of
+duties near and far--the duty of ministering to a parent, the duty of
+serving one's prince; and it is from them that one becomes conversant
+with the names of many birds, and beasts, and plants, and trees."
+
+To his son Pih-yu he said, "Study you the Odes of Chow and the South,
+and those of Sháu and the South. The man who studies not these is, I
+should say, somewhat in the position of one who stands facing a wall!"
+
+"'Etiquette demands it.' 'Etiquette demands it,' so people plead,"
+said he; "but do not these hankerings after jewels and silks indeed
+demand it? Or it is, 'The study of Music requires it'--'Music requires
+it'; but do not these predilections for bells and drums require it?"
+
+Again, "They who assume an outward appearance of severity, being
+inwardly weak, may be likened to low common men; nay, are they not
+somewhat like thieves that break through walls and steal?"
+
+Again, "The plebeian kind of respect for piety is the very pest of
+virtue."
+
+Again, "Listening on the road, and repeating in the lane--this is
+abandonment of virtue."
+
+"Ah, the low-minded creatures!" he exclaimed. "How is it possible
+indeed to serve one's prince in their company? Before they have got
+what they wanted they are all anxiety to get it, and after they have
+got it they are all anxiety lest they should lose it; and while they
+are thus full of concern lest they should lose it, there is no length
+to which they will not go."
+
+Again, "In olden times people had three moral infirmities; which, it
+may be, are now unknown. Ambitiousness in those olden days showed
+itself in momentary outburst; the ambitiousness of to-day runs riot.
+Austerity in those days had its sharp angles; in these it is irritable
+and perverse. Feebleness of intellect then was at least
+straightforward; in our day it is never aught but deceitful."
+
+Again, "Rarely do we find mutual good feeling where there is fine
+speech and studied mien."
+
+Again, "To me it is abhorrent that purple color should be made to
+detract from that of vermilion. Also that the Odes of Ch[']ing should
+be allowed to introduce discord in connection with the music of the
+Festal Songs and Hymns. Also that sharp-whetted tongues should be
+permitted to subvert governments."
+
+Once said he, "Would that I could dispense with speech!"
+
+"Sir," said Tsz-kung, "if you were never to speak, what should your
+pupils have to hand down from you?"
+
+"Does Heaven ever speak?" said the Master. "The four seasons come and
+go, and all creatures live and grow. Does Heaven indeed speak?"
+
+Once Ju Pi desired an interview with Confucius, from which the latter
+excused himself on the score of ill-health; but while the attendant
+was passing out through the doorway with the message he took his lute
+and sang, in such a way as to let him hear him.
+
+Tsai Wo questioned him respecting the three years' mourning, saying
+that one full twelve-month was a long time--that, if gentlemen were
+for three years to cease from observing rules of propriety, propriety
+must certainly suffer, and that if for three years they neglected
+music, music must certainly die out--and that seeing nature has taught
+us that when the old year's grain is finished the new has sprung up
+for us--seeing also that all the changes[32] in procuring fire by
+friction have been gone through in the four seasons--surely a
+twelve-month might suffice.
+
+The Master asked him, "Would it be a satisfaction to you--that
+returning to better food, that putting on of fine clothes?"
+
+"It would," said he.
+
+"Then if you can be satisfied in so doing, do so. But to a gentleman,
+who is in mourning for a parent, the choicest food will not be
+palatable, nor will the listening to music be pleasant, nor will
+comforts of home make him happy in mind. Hence he does not do as you
+suggest. But if you are now happy in your mind, then do so."
+
+Tsai Wo went out. And the Master went on to say, "It is want of human
+feeling in this man. After a child has lived three years it then breaks
+away from the tender nursing of its parents. And this three years'
+mourning is the customary mourning prevalent all over the empire. Can
+this man have enjoyed the three years of loving care from his parents?"
+
+"Ah, it is difficult," said he, "to know what to make of those who are
+all day long cramming themselves with food and are without anything
+to apply their minds to! Are there no dice and chess players? Better,
+perhaps, join in that pursuit than do nothing at all!"
+
+"Does a gentleman," asked Tsz-lu, "make much account of bravery?"
+
+"Righteousness he counts higher," said the Master. "A gentleman who is
+brave without being just may become turbulent; while a common person
+who is brave and not just may end in becoming a highwayman."
+
+Tsz-kung asked, "I suppose a gentleman will have his aversions as well
+as his likings?"
+
+"Yes," replied the Master, "he will dislike those who talk much about
+other people's ill-deeds. He will dislike those who, when occupying
+inferior places, utter defamatory words against their superiors. He
+will dislike those who, though they may be brave, have no regard for
+propriety. And he will dislike those hastily decisive and venturesome
+spirits who are nevertheless so hampered by limited intellect."
+
+"And you, too, Tsz-kung," he continued, "have your aversions, have you
+not?"
+
+"I dislike," said he, "those plagiarists who wish to pass for wise
+persons. I dislike those people who wish their lack of humility to be
+taken for bravery. I dislike also those divulgers of secrets who think
+to be accounted straightforward."
+
+"Of all others," said the Master, "women-servants and men-servants are
+the most difficult people to have the care of. Approach them in a
+familiar manner, and they take liberties; keep them at a distance, and
+they grumble."
+
+Again, "When a man meets with odium at forty, he will do so to the end."
+
+[Footnote 32: Different woods were adopted for this purpose at the
+various seasons.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XVIII
+
+_Good Men in Seclusion--Duke of Chow to His Son_
+
+
+"In the reign of the last king of the Yin dynasty," Confucius said,
+"there were three men of philanthropic spirit:--the viscount of Wei,
+who withdrew from him; the viscount of Ki, who became his bondsman;
+and Pi-kan, who reproved him and suffered death."
+
+Hwúi of Liu-hiá, who filled the office of Chief Criminal Judge, was
+thrice dismissed. A person remarked to him, "Can you not yet bear to
+withdraw?" He replied, "If I act in a straightforward way in serving
+men, whither in these days should I go, where I should not be thrice
+dismissed? Were I to adopt crooked ways in their service, why need I
+leave the land where my parents dwell?"
+
+Duke King of Ts[']i remarked respecting his attitude towards Confucius,
+"If he is to be treated like the Chief of the Ki family, I cannot do it.
+I should treat him as somewhere between the Ki and Mang Chiefs.--I am
+old," he added, "and not competent to avail myself of him."
+
+Confucius, hearing of this, went away.
+
+The Ts[']i officials presented to the Court of Lu a number of female
+musicians. Ki Hwan accepted them, and for three days no Court was held.
+
+Confucius went away.
+
+Tsieh-yu, the madman[33] of Ts[']u, was once passing Confucius,
+singing as he went along. He sang--
+
+    "Ha, the ph[oe]nix! Ha, the ph[oe]nix!
+    How is Virtue lying prone!
+    Vain to chide for what is o'er,
+    Plan to meet what's yet in store.
+    Let alone! Let alone!
+    Risky now to serve a throne."
+
+Confucius alighted, wishing to enter into conversation with him; but
+the man hurried along and left him, and he was therefore unable to get
+a word with him.
+
+Ch[']ang-tsü and Kieh-nih[34] were working together on some ploughed
+land. Confucius was passing by them, and sent Tsz-lu to ask where the
+ford was.
+
+Ch[']ang-tsü said, "Who is the person driving the carriage?"
+
+"Confucius," answered Tsz-lu.
+
+"He of Lu?" he asked.
+
+"The same," said Tsz-lu.
+
+"He knows then where the ford is," said he.
+
+Tsz-lu then put his question to Kieh-nih; and the latter asked, "Who
+are you?"
+
+Tsz-lu gave his name.
+
+"You are a follower of Confucius of Lu, are you not?"
+
+"You are right," he answered.
+
+"Ah, as these waters rise and overflow their bounds," said he, "'tis
+so with all throughout the empire; and who is he that can alter the
+state of things? And you are a follower of a learned man who withdraws
+from his chief; had you not better be a follower of such as have
+forsaken the world?" And he went on with his harrowing, without
+stopping.
+
+Tsz-lu went and informed his Master of all this. He was deeply
+touched, and said, "One cannot herd on equal terms with beasts and
+birds: if I am not to live among these human folk, then with whom else
+should I live? Only when the empire is well ordered shall I cease to
+take part in the work of reformation."
+
+Tsz-lu was following the Master, but had dropped behind on the way,
+when he encountered an old man with a weed-basket slung on a staff
+over his shoulder. Tsz-lu inquired of him, "Have you seen my Master,
+sir?" Said the old man, "Who is your master?--you who never employ
+your four limbs in laborious work; you who do not know one from
+another of the five sorts of grain!" And he stuck his staff in the
+ground, and began his weeding.
+
+Tsz-lu brought his hands together on his breast and stood still.
+
+The old man kept Tsz-lu and lodged him for the night, killed a fowl
+and prepared some millet, entertained him, and brought his two sons
+out to see him.
+
+On the morrow Tsz-lu went on his way, and told all this to the Master,
+who said, "He is a recluse," and sent Tsz-lu back to see him again.
+But by the time he got there he was gone.
+
+Tsz-lu remarked upon this, "It is not right he should evade official
+duties. If he cannot allow any neglect of the terms on which elders
+and juniors should live together, how is it that he neglects to
+conform to what is proper as between prince and public servant? He
+wishes for himself personally a pure life, yet creates disorder in
+that more important relationship. When a gentleman undertakes public
+work, he will carry out the duties proper to it; and he knows
+beforehand that right principles may not win their way."
+
+Among those who have retired from public life have been Peh-I and
+Shuh-Ts[']i, Yu-chung, I-yih, Chu-chang, Hwúi of Liu-hiá, and
+Sháu-lien.
+
+"Of these," said the Master, "Peh-I and Shuh-Ts[']i may be
+characterized, I should say, as men who never declined from their
+high resolve nor soiled themselves by aught of disgrace.
+
+"Of Hwúi of Liu-hiá and Sháu-lien, if one may say that they did
+decline from high resolve, and that they did bring disgrace upon
+themselves, yet their words were consonant with established
+principles, and their action consonant with men's thoughts and wishes;
+and this is all that may be said of them.
+
+"Of Yu-chung and I-yih, if it be said that when they retired into
+privacy they let loose their tongues, yet in their aim at personal
+purity of life they succeeded, and their defection was also successful
+in its influence.
+
+"My own rule is different from any adopted by these: I will take no
+liberties, I will have no curtailing of my liberty."
+
+The chief music-master went off to Ts[']i. Kan, the conductor of the
+music at the second repast, went over to Ts[']u. Liáu, conductor at
+the third repast, went over to Ts[']ai. And Kiueh, who conducted at
+the fourth, went to Ts[']in.
+
+Fang-shuh, the drummer, withdrew into the neighborhood of the Ho. Wu
+the tambourer went to the Han. And Yang the junior music-master, and
+Siang who played on the musical stone, went to the sea-coast.
+
+Anciently the Duke of Chow, addressing his son the Duke of Lu, said,
+"A good man in high place is not indifferent about the members of his
+own family, and does not give occasion to the chief ministers to
+complain that they are not employed; nor without great cause will he
+set aside old friendships; nor does he seek for full equipment for
+every kind of service in any single man."
+
+There were once eight officials during this Chow dynasty, who were
+four pairs of twins, all brothers--the eldest pair Tah and Kwoh, the
+next Tuh and Hwuh, the third Yé and Hiá, the youngest Sui and Kwa.
+
+[Footnote 33: He only pretended to be mad, in order to escape being
+employed in the public service.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Two worthies who had abandoned public life, owing to the
+state of the times.]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIX
+
+_Teachings of Various Chief Disciples_
+
+
+"The learned official," said Tsz-chang, "who when he sees danger ahead
+will risk his very life, who when he sees a chance of success is
+mindful of what is just and proper, who in his religious acts is
+mindful of the duty of reverence, and when in mourning thinks of his
+loss, is indeed a fit and proper person for his place."
+
+Again he said, "If a person hold to virtue but never advance in it,
+and if he have faith in right principles and do not build himself up
+in them, how can he be regarded either as having such, or as being
+without them?"
+
+Tsz-hiá's disciples asked Tsz-chang his views about intercourse with
+others. "What says your Master?" he rejoined. "He says," they replied,
+"'Associate with those who are qualified, and repel from you such as
+are not.'" Tsz-chang then said, "That is different from what I have
+learnt. A superior man esteems the worthy and wise, and bears with
+all. He makes much of the good and capable, and pities the incapable.
+Am I eminently worthy and wise?--who is there then among men whom I
+will not bear with? Am I not worthy and wise?--others will be minded
+to repel me: I have nothing to do with repelling them."
+
+Sayings of Tsz-hiá:--
+
+"Even in inferior pursuits there must be something worthy of
+contemplation, but if carried to an extreme there is danger of
+fanaticism; hence the superior man does not engage in them.
+
+"The student who daily recognizes how much he yet lacks, and as the
+months pass forgets not what he has succeeded in learning, may
+undoubtedly be called a lover of learning.
+
+"Wide research and steadfast purpose, eager questioning and close
+reflection--all this tends to humanize a man.
+
+"As workmen spend their time in their workshops for the perfecting of
+their work, so superior men apply their minds to study in order to
+make themselves thoroughly conversant with their subjects.
+
+"When an inferior man does a wrong thing, he is sure to gloss it over.
+
+"The superior man is seen in three different aspects:--look at him
+from a distance, he is imposing in appearance; approach him, he is
+gentle and warm-hearted; hear him speak, he is acute and strict.
+
+"Let such a man have the people's confidence, and he will get much
+work out of them; so long, however, as he does not possess their
+confidence they will regard him as grinding them down.
+
+"When confidence is reposed in him, he may then with impunity
+administer reproof; so long as it is not, he will be regarded as a
+detractor.
+
+"Where there is no over-stepping of barriers in the practice of the
+higher virtues, there may be freedom to pass in and out in the
+practice of the lower ones."
+
+Tsz-yu had said, "The pupils in the school of Tsz-hiá are good enough
+at such things as sprinkling and scrubbing floors, answering calls and
+replying to questions from superiors, and advancing and retiring to
+and from such; but these things are only offshoots--as to the root of
+things they are nowhere. What is the use of all that?"
+
+When this came to the ears of Tsz-hiá, he said, "Ah! there he is
+mistaken. What does a master, in his methods of teaching, consider
+first in his precepts? And what does he account next, as that about
+which he may be indifferent? It is like as in the study of
+plants--classification by _differentiæ_. How may a master play fast
+and loose in his methods of instruction? Would they not indeed be
+sages, who could take in at once the first principles and the final
+developments of things?"
+
+Further observations of Tsz-hiá:--
+
+"In the public service devote what energy and time remain to study.
+After study devote what energy and time remain to the public service.
+
+"As to the duties of mourning, let them cease when the grief is past.
+
+"My friend Tsz-chang, although he has the ability to tackle hard
+things, has not yet the virtue of philanthropy."
+
+The learned Tsang observed, "How loftily Tsz-chang bears himself!
+Difficult indeed along with him to practise philanthropy!"
+
+Again he said, "I have heard this said by the Master, that 'though men
+may not exert themselves to the utmost in other duties, yet surely in
+the duty of mourning for their parents they will do so!'"
+
+Again, "This also I have heard said by the Master: 'The filial piety
+of Mang Chwang in other respects might be equalled, but as manifested
+in his making no changes among his father's ministers, nor in his
+father's mode of government--that aspect of it could not easily be
+equalled.'"
+
+Yang Fu, having been made senior Criminal Judge by the Chief of the
+Mang clan, consulted with the learned Tsang. The latter advised him as
+follows: "For a long time the Chiefs have failed in their government,
+and the people have become unsettled. When you arrive at the facts of
+their cases, do not rejoice at your success in that, but rather be
+sorry for them, and have pity upon them."
+
+Tsz-kung once observed, "We speak of 'the iniquity of Cháu'--but 'twas
+not so great as this." And so it is that the superior man is averse
+from settling in this sink, into which everything runs that is foul in
+the empire.
+
+Again he said, "Faults in a superior man are like eclipses of the sun
+or moon: when he is guilty of a trespass men all see it; and when he
+is himself again, all look up to him."
+
+Kung-sun Ch[']au of Wei inquired of Tsz-kung how Confucius acquired
+his learning.
+
+Tsz-kung replied, "The teachings of Wan and Wu have not yet fallen to
+the ground. They exist in men. Worthy and wise men have the more
+important of these stored up in their minds; and others, who are not
+such, store up the less important of them; and as no one is thus
+without the teachings of Wan and Wu, how should our Master not have
+learned? And moreover what permanent preceptor could he have?"
+
+Shuh-sun Wu-shuh, addressing the high officials at the Court, remarked
+that Tsz-kung was a greater worthy than Confucius.
+
+Tsz-fuh King-pih went and informed Tsz-kung of this remark.
+
+Tsz-kung said, "Take by way of comparison the walls outside our
+houses. My wall is shoulder-high, and you may look over it and see
+what the house and its contents are worth. My Master's wall is tens of
+feet high, and unless you should effect an entrance by the door, you
+would fail to behold the beauty of the ancestral hall and the rich
+array of all its officers. And they who effect an entrance by the
+door, methinks, are few! Was it not, however, just like him--that
+remark of the Chief?"
+
+Shuh-sun Wu-shuh had been casting a slur on the character of Confucius.
+
+"No use doing that," said Tsz-kung; "he is irreproachable. The wisdom
+and worth of other men are little hills and mounds of earth:
+traversible. He is the sun, or the moon, impossible to reach and pass.
+And what harm, I ask, can a man do to the sun or the moon, by wishing
+to intercept himself from either? It all shows that he knows not how
+to gauge capacity."
+
+Tsz-k[']in, addressing Tsz-kung, said, "You depreciate yourself.
+Confucius is surely not a greater worthy than yourself."
+
+Tsz-kung replied, "In the use of words one ought never to be
+incautious; because a gentleman for one single utterance of his is apt
+to be considered a wise man, and for a single utterance may be
+accounted unwise. No more might one think of attaining to the Master's
+perfections than think of going upstairs to Heaven! Were it ever his
+fortune to be at the head of the government of a country, then that
+which is spoken of as 'establishing the country' would be
+establishment indeed; he would be its guide and it would follow him,
+he would tranquillize it and it would render its willing homage: he
+would give forward impulses to it to which it would harmoniously
+respond. In his life he would be its glory, at his death there would
+be great lamentation. How indeed could such as he be equalled?"
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XX
+
+_Extracts from the Book of History_
+
+
+The Emperor Yau said to Shun, "Ah, upon you, upon your person, lies
+the Heaven-appointed order of succession! Faithfully hold to it,
+without any deflection; for if within the four seas necessity and want
+befall the people, your own revenue will forever come to an end."
+
+Shun also used the same language in handing down the appointment to Yu.
+
+The Emperor T[']ang in his prayer, said, "I, the child Li, presume to
+avail me of an ox of dusky hue, and presume to manifestly announce to
+Thee, O God, the most high and Sovereign Potentate, that to the
+transgressor I dare not grant forgiveness, nor yet keep in abeyance
+Thy ministers. Judgment rests in Thine heart, O God. Should we ourself
+transgress, may the guilt not be visited everywhere upon all. Should
+the people all transgress, be the guilt upon ourself!"
+
+Chow possessed great gifts, by which the able and good were richly
+endowed.
+
+"Although," said King Wu, "he is surrounded by his near relatives,
+they are not to be compared with men of humane spirit. The people are
+suffering wrongs, and the remedy rests with me--the one man."
+
+After Wu had given diligent attention to the various weights and
+measures, examined the laws and regulations, and restored the degraded
+officials, good government everywhere ensued.
+
+He caused ruined States to flourish again, reinstated intercepted
+heirs, and promoted to office men who had gone into retirement; and
+the hearts of the people throughout the empire drew towards him.
+
+Among matters of prime consideration with him were these--food for the
+people, the duty of mourning, and sacrificial offerings to the departed.
+
+He was liberal and large-hearted, and so won all hearts; true, and so
+was trusted by the people; energetic, and thus became a man of great
+achievements; just in his rule, and all were well content.
+
+Tsz-chang in a conversation with Confucius asked, "What say you is
+essential for the proper conduct of government?"
+
+The Master replied, "Let the ruler hold in high estimation the five
+excellences, and eschew the four evils; then may he conduct his
+government properly."
+
+"And what call you the five excellences?" he was asked.
+
+"They are," he said, "bounty without extravagance; burdening without
+exciting discontent; desire without covetousness; dignity without
+haughtiness; show of majesty without fierceness."
+
+"What mean you," asked Tsz-chang, "by bounty without extravagance?"
+
+"Is it not this," he replied--"to make that which is of benefit to the
+people still more beneficial? When he selects for them such labors as
+it is possible for them to do, and exacts them, who will then
+complain? So when his desire is the virtue of humaneness, and he
+attains it, how shall he then be covetous? And if--whether he have to
+do with few or with many, with small or with great--he do not venture
+ever to be careless, is not this also to have dignity without
+haughtiness? And if--when properly vested in robe and cap, and showing
+dignity in his every look--his appearance be so imposing that the
+people look up to and stand in awe of him, is not this moreover to
+show majesty without fierceness?"
+
+"What, then, do you call the four evils?" said Tsz-chang.
+
+The answer here was, "Omitting to instruct the people and then
+inflicting capital punishment on them--which means cruel tyranny.
+Omitting to give them warning and yet looking for perfection in
+them--which means oppression. Being slow and late in issuing
+requisitions, and exacting strict punctuality in the returns--which
+means robbery. And likewise, in intercourse with men, to expend and to
+receive in a stingy manner--which is to act the part of a mere
+commissioner."
+
+"None can be a superior man," said the Master, "who does not recognize
+the decrees of Heaven.
+
+"None can have stability in him without a knowledge of the proprieties.
+
+"None can know a man without knowing his utterances."
+
+
+
+
+THE SAYINGS OF MENCIUS
+
+[_Translated into English by James Legge_]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+A hundred years after the time of Confucius the Chinese nation seemed
+to have fallen back into their original condition of lawlessness and
+oppression. The King's power and authority was laughed to scorn, the
+people were pillaged by the feudal nobility, and famine reigned in
+many districts. The foundations of truth and social order seemed to be
+overthrown. There were teachers of immorality abroad, who published
+the old Epicurean doctrine, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
+die." This teaching was accompanied by a spirit of cold-blooded
+egotism which extinguished every spark of Confucian altruism. Even the
+pretended disciples of Confucius confused the precepts of the Master,
+and by stripping them of their narrow significance rendered them
+nugatory. It was at this point that Mang-tsze, "Mang the philosopher,"
+arose. He was sturdy in bodily frame, vigorous in mind, profound in
+political sagacity and utterly fearless in denouncing the errors of
+his countrymen. He had been brought up among the disciples of
+Confucius, in whose province he was born B.C. 372, but he was much
+more active and aggressive, less a Mystic than a fanatic, in
+comparison with his Master. He resolved on active measures in stemming
+the tendency of his day. He did indeed surround himself with a school
+of disciples, but instead of making a series of desultory travels,
+teaching in remote places and along the high-road, he went to the
+heart of the evil. He presented himself like a second John the Baptist
+at the courts of kings and princes, and there boldly denounced vice
+and misrule. It was not difficult for a Chinese scholar and teacher to
+find access to the highest of the land. The Chinese believed in the
+divine right of learning, just as they believed in the divine right of
+kings. Mang employed every weapon of persuasion in trying to combat
+heresy and oppression; alternately ridiculing and reproving: now
+appealing in a burst of moral enthusiasm, and now denouncing in terms
+of cutting sarcasm the abuses which after all he failed to check. The
+last prince whom he successfully confronted was the Marquis of Lu, who
+turned him carelessly away. He accepted this as the Divine sentence of
+his failure, "That I have not found in this marquis, a ruler who would
+hearken to me is an intimation of heaven." Henceforth he lived in
+retirement until his ninety-seventh year; but from his apparent
+failure sprang a practical success. His written teachings are amongst
+the most lively and epigrammatic works of Chinese literature, have
+done much to keep alive amongst his countrymen the spirit of
+Confucianism, and even Western readers may drink wisdom from this
+spring of Oriental lore. The following selections from his sayings
+well exhibit the spirit of his system of philosophy and morality:
+
+                                                               E. W.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_King Hwuy of Lëang_
+
+
+PART I
+
+Mencius went to see King Hwuy of Lëang.[35] The king said, "Venerable
+Sir, since you have not counted it far to come here a distance of a
+thousand li, may I presume that you are likewise provided with
+counsels to profit my kingdom?" Mencius replied, "Why must your
+Majesty use that word 'profit'? What I am likewise provided with are
+counsels to benevolence and righteousness; and these are my only
+topics.
+
+"If your Majesty say, 'What is to be done to profit my kingdom?' the
+great officers will say, 'What is to be done to profit our families?'
+and the inferior officers and the common people will say, 'What is to
+be done to profit our persons?' Superiors and inferiors will try to
+take the profit the one from the other, and the kingdom will be
+endangered. In the kingdom of ten thousand chariots, the murderer of
+his ruler will be the chief of a family of a thousand chariots. In the
+State of a thousand chariots, the murderer of his ruler will be the
+chief of a family of a hundred chariots. To have a thousand in ten
+thousand, and a hundred in a thousand, cannot be regarded as not a
+large allowance; but if righteousness be put last and profit first,
+they will not be satisfied without snatching all.
+
+"There never was a man trained to benevolence who neglected his parents.
+There never was a man trained to righteousness who made his ruler an
+after consideration. Let your Majesty likewise make benevolence and
+righteousness your only themes--Why must you speak of profit?"
+
+When Mencius, another day, was seeing King Hwuy of Lëang, the King
+went and stood with him by a pond, and, looking round on the wild
+geese and deer, large and small, said, "Do wise and good princes also
+take pleasure in these things?" Mencius replied, "Being wise and good,
+they then have pleasure in these things. If they are not wise and
+good, though they have these things, they do not find pleasure." It is
+said in the 'Book of Poetry':--
+
+    'When he planned the commencement of the Marvellous tower,
+    He planned it, and defined it,
+    And the people in crowds undertook the work,
+    And in no time completed it.
+    When he planned the commencement, he said, "Be not in a hurry."
+    But the people came as if they were his children.
+    The king was in the Marvellous park,
+    Where the does were lying down--
+    The does so sleek and fat;
+    With the white birds glistening.
+    The king was by the Marvellous pond;--
+    How full was it of fishes leaping about!'
+
+King Wan used the strength of the people to make his tower and pond,
+and the people rejoiced to do the work, calling the tower 'the
+Marvellous Tower,' and the pond 'the Marvellous Pond,' and being glad
+that he had his deer, his fishes and turtles. The ancients caused
+their people to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore
+they could enjoy it.
+
+"In the Declaration of T[']ang it is said, 'O Sun, when wilt thou
+expire? We will die together with thee.' The people wished for Këeh's
+death, though they should die with him. Although he had his tower, his
+pond, birds and animals, how could he have pleasure alone?"
+
+King Hwuy of Lëang said, "Small as my virtue is, in the government of my
+kingdom, I do indeed exert my mind to the utmost. If the year be bad
+inside the Ho, I remove as many of the people as I can to the east of
+it, and convey grain to the country inside. If the year be bad on the
+east of the river, I act on the same plan. On examining the governmental
+methods of the neighboring kingdoms, I do not find there is any ruler
+who exerts his mind as I do. And yet the people of the neighboring kings
+do not decrease, nor do my people increase--how is this?"
+
+Mencius replied, "Your Majesty loves war; allow me to take an
+illustration from war. The soldiers move forward at the sound of the
+drum; and when the edges of their weapons have been crossed, on one
+side, they throw away their buff coats, trail their weapons behind
+them, and run. Some run a hundred paces and then stop; some run fifty
+paces and stop. What would you think if these, because they had run
+but fifty paces, should laugh at those who ran a hundred paces?" The
+king said, "They cannot do so. They only did not run a hundred paces;
+but they also ran." Mencius said, "Since your Majesty knows this you
+have no ground to expect that your people will become more numerous
+than those of the neighboring kingdoms.
+
+"If the seasons of husbandry be not interfered with, the grain will be
+more than can be eaten. If close nets are not allowed to enter the
+pools and ponds, the fish and turtles will be more than can be
+consumed. If the axes and bills enter the hill-forests only at the
+proper times, the wood will be more than can be used. When the grain
+and fish and turtles are more than can be eaten, and there is more
+wood than can be used, this enables the people to nourish their living
+and do all offices for their dead, without any feeling against any.
+But this condition, in which the people nourish their living, and do
+all offices to their dead without having any feeling against any, is
+the first step in the Royal way.
+
+"Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with their five
+acres, and persons of fifty years will be able to wear silk. In
+keeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their time of breeding
+be neglected, and persons of seventy years will be able to eat flesh.
+Let there not be taken away the time that is proper for the
+cultivation of the field allotment of a hundred acres, and the family
+of several mouths will not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention
+be paid to the teaching in the various schools, with repeated
+inculcation of the filial and fraternal duties, and gray-haired men
+will not be seen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on
+their heads. It has never been that the ruler of a State where these
+results were seen, persons of seventy wearing silk and eating flesh,
+and the black-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold,
+did not attain to the Royal dignity.
+
+"Your dogs and swine eat the food of men, and you do not know to store
+up of the abundance. There are people dying from famine on the roads,
+and you do not know to issue your stores for their relief. When men
+die, you say, 'It is not owing to me; it is owing to the year.' In
+what does this differ from stabbing a man and killing him, and then
+saying, 'It was not I; it was the weapon'? Let your Majesty cease to
+lay the blame on the year and instantly the people, all under the sky,
+will come to you."
+
+King Hwuy of Lëang said, "I wish quietly to receive your
+instructions." Mencius replied, "Is there any difference between
+killing a man with a stick and with a sword?" "There is no
+difference," was the answer.
+
+Mencius continued, "Is there any difference between doing it with a
+sword and with governmental measures?" "There is not," was the answer
+again.
+
+Mencius then said, "In your stalls there are fat beasts; in your
+stables there are fat horses. But your people have the look of hunger,
+and in the fields there are those who have died of famine. This is
+leading on beasts to devour men. Beasts devour one another, and men
+hate them for doing so. When he who is called the parent of the people
+conducts his government so as to be chargeable with leading on beasts
+to devour men, where is that parental relation to the people? Chung-ne
+said, 'Was he not without posterity who first made wooden images to
+bury with the dead?' So he said, because that man made the semblances
+of men and used them for that purpose; what shall be thought of him
+who causes his people to die of hunger?"
+
+King Hwuy of Lëang said, "There was not in the kingdom a stronger
+State than Ts[']in, as you, venerable Sir, know. But since it
+descended to me, on the east we were defeated by Ts[']e, and then my
+eldest son perished; on the west we lost seven hundred li of territory
+to Ts[']in; and on the south we have sustained disgrace at the hands
+of Ts[']oo. I have brought shame on my departed predecessors, and wish
+on their account to wipe it away once for all. What course is to be
+pursued to accomplish this?"
+
+Mencius replied, "With a territory only a hundred li square it has
+been possible to obtain the Royal dignity. If your Majesty will indeed
+dispense a benevolent government to the people, being sparing in the
+use of punishments and fines, and making the taxes and levies of
+produce light, so causing that the fields shall be ploughed deep, and
+the weeding well attended to, and that the able-bodied, during their
+days of leisure, shall cultivate their filial piety, fraternal duty,
+faithfulness, and truth, serving thereby, at home, their fathers and
+elder brothers, and, abroad, their elders and superiors, you will
+then have a people who can be employed with sticks which they have
+prepared to oppose the strong buff-coats and sharp weapons of the
+troops of Ts[']in and Ts[']oo.
+
+"The rulers of those States rob their people of their time, so that
+they cannot plough and weed their fields in order to support their
+parents. Parents suffer from cold and hunger; elder and younger
+brothers, wives and children, are separated and scattered abroad.
+Those rulers drive their people into pitfalls or into the water; and
+your Majesty will go to punish them. In such a case, who will oppose
+your Majesty? In accordance with this is the saying, 'The benevolent
+has no enemy!' I beg your Majesty not to doubt what I said."
+
+Mencius had an interview with King Sëang[36] of Lëang. When he came
+out he said to some persons, "When I looked at him from a distance, he
+did not appear like a ruler; when I drew near to him, I saw nothing
+venerable about him. Abruptly he asked me, 'How can the kingdom, all
+under the sky, be settled?' I replied, 'It will be settled by being
+united under one sway.'
+
+"'Who can so unite it?' he asked.
+
+"I replied, 'He who has no pleasure in killing men can so unite it.'
+
+"'Who can give it to him?' he asked.
+
+"I replied, 'All under heaven will give it to him. Does your Majesty
+know the way of the growing grain? During the seventh and eighth
+months, when drought prevails, the plants become dry. Then the clouds
+collect densely in the heavens, and send down torrents of rain, so
+that the grain erects itself as if by a shoot. When it does so, who
+can keep it back? Now among those who are shepherds of men throughout
+the kingdom, there is not one who does not find pleasure in killing
+men. If there were one who did not find pleasure in killing men, all
+the people under the sky would be looking towards him with
+outstretched necks. Such being indeed the case, the people would go to
+him as water flows downwards with a rush, which no one can repress."
+
+King Seuen of Ts[']e asked, saying, "May I be informed by you of the
+transactions of Hwan of Ts[']e and Wan of Ts[']in?"
+
+Mencius replied, "There were none of the disciples of Chung-ne who
+spoke about the affairs of Hwan and Wan, and therefore they have not
+been transmitted to these after-ages; your servant has not heard of
+them. If you will have me speak, let it be about the principles of
+attaining to the Royal sway."
+
+The king said, "Of what kind must his virtue be who can attain to the
+Royal sway?" Mencius said, "If he loves and protects the people, it is
+impossible to prevent him from attaining it."
+
+The king said, "Is such an one as poor I competent to love and protect
+the people?" "Yes," was the reply. "From what do you know that I am
+competent to that?" "I have heard," said Mencius, "from Hoo Heih the
+following incident:--'The king,' said he, 'was sitting aloft in the
+hall, when some people appeared leading a bull past below it. The king
+saw it, and asked where the bull was going, and being answered that
+they were going to consecrate a bell with its blood, he said, "Let it
+go, I cannot bear its frightened appearance--as if it were an innocent
+person going to the place of death." They asked in reply whether, if
+they did so, they should omit the consecration of the bell, but the
+king said, "How can that be omitted? Change it for a sheep." "I do not
+know whether this incident occurred."
+
+"It did," said the king, and Mencius replied, "The heart seen in this
+is sufficient to carry you to the Royal sway. The people all supposed
+that your Majesty grudged the animal, but your servant knows surely
+that it was your Majesty's not being able to bear the sight of the
+creature's distress which made you do as you did."
+
+The king said, "You are right; and yet there really was an appearance
+of what the people imagined. But though Ts[']e be narrow and small,
+how should I grudge a bull? Indeed it was because I could not bear its
+frightened appearance, as if it were an innocent person going to the
+place of death, that therefore I changed it for a sheep."
+
+Mencius said, "Let not your Majesty deem it strange that the people
+should think you grudged the animal. When you changed a large one for
+a small, how should they know the true reason? If you felt pained by
+its being led without any guilt to the place of death, what was there
+to choose between a bull and a sheep?" The king laughed and said,
+"What really was my mind in the matter? I did not grudge the value of
+the bull, and yet I changed it for a sheep! There was reason in the
+people's saying that I grudged the creature."
+
+Mencius said, "There is no harm in their saying so. It was an artifice
+of benevolence. You saw the bull, and had not seen the sheep. So is
+the superior man affected towards animals, that, having seen them
+alive, he cannot bear to see them die, and, having heard their dying
+cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh. On this account he keeps
+away from his stalls and kitchen."
+
+The king was pleased and said, "The Ode says,
+
+    'What other men have in their minds,
+    I can measure by reflection.'
+
+This might be spoken of you, my Master. I indeed did the thing, but when
+I turned my thoughts inward and sought for it, I could not discover my
+own mind. When you, Master, spoke those words, the movements of
+compassion began to work in my mind. But how is it that this heart has
+in it what is equal to the attainment of the Royal sway?"
+
+Mencius said, "Suppose a man were to make this statement to your
+Majesty, 'My strength is sufficient to lift three thousand catties,
+but is not sufficient to lift one feather; my eyesight is sharp enough
+to examine the point of an autumn hair, but I do not see a wagon-load
+of fagots,' would your Majesty allow what he said?" "No," was the
+king's remark, and Mencius proceeded, "Now here is kindness sufficient
+to reach to animals, and yet no benefits are extended from it to the
+people--how is this? is an exception to be made here? The truth is,
+the feather's not being lifted is because the strength was not used;
+the wagon-load of firewood's not being seen is because the eyesight
+was not used; and the people's not being loved and protected is
+because the kindness is not used. Therefore your Majesty's not
+attaining to the Royal sway is because you do not do it, and not
+because you are not able to do it."
+
+The king asked, "How may the difference between him who does not do a
+thing and him who is not able to do it be graphically set forth?"
+Mencius replied, "In such a thing as taking the T[']ae mountain under
+your arm, and leaping with it over the North Sea, if you say to
+people, 'I am not able to do it,' that is a real case of not being
+able. In such a matter as breaking off a branch from a tree at the
+order of a superior, if you say to people, 'I am not able to do it,'
+it is not a case of not being able to do it. And so your Majesty's not
+attaining to the Royal sway is not such a case as that of taking the
+T[']ae mountain under your arm and leaping over the North Sea with it;
+but it is a case like that of breaking off a branch from a tree.
+
+"Treat with reverence due to age the elders in your own family, so
+that those in the families of others shall be similarly treated; treat
+with the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, so that
+those in the families of others shall be similarly treated--do this
+and the kingdom may be made to go round in your palm. It is said in
+the 'Book of Poetry,'
+
+    'His example acted on his wife,
+    Extended to his brethren,
+    And was felt by all the clans and States;'
+
+telling us how King Wan simply took this kindly heart, and exercised it
+towards those parties. Therefore the carrying out of the feeling of
+kindness by a ruler will suffice for the love and protection of all
+within the four seas; and if he do not carry it out, he will not be able
+to protect his wife and children. The way in which the ancients came
+greatly to surpass other men was no other than this, that they carried
+out well what they did, so as to affect others. Now your kindness is
+sufficient to reach to animals, and yet no benefits are extended from it
+to the people. How is this? Is an exception to be made here?
+
+"By weighing we know what things are light, and what heavy. By
+measuring we know what things are long, and what short. All things are
+so dealt with, and the mind requires specially to be so. I beg your
+Majesty to measure it.
+
+"Your Majesty collects your equipments of war, endangers your soldiers
+and officers and excites the resentment of the various princes--do
+these things cause you pleasure in your mind?"
+
+The king said, "No. How should I derive pleasure from these things? My
+object in them is to seek for what I greatly desire."
+
+Mencius said, "May I hear from you what it is that your Majesty
+greatly desires?"
+
+The king laughed, and did not speak. Mencius resumed, "Are you led to
+desire it because you have not enough of rice and sweet food for your
+mouth? or because you have not enough of light and warm clothing for
+your body? or because you have not enough of beautifully colored
+objects to satisfy your eyes? or because there are not voices and
+sounds enough to fill your ears? or because you have not enough of
+attendants and favorites to stand before you and receive your orders?
+Your Majesty's various officers are sufficient to supply you with all
+these things. How can your Majesty have such a desire on account of
+them?" "No," said the king, "my desire is not on account of them."
+Mencius observed, "Then what your Majesty greatly desires can be
+known. You desire to enlarge your territories, to have Ts[']in and
+Ts[']oo coming to your court, to rule the Middle States, and to
+attract to you the barbarous tribes that surround them. But to do what
+you do in order to seek for what you desire is like climbing a tree to
+seek for fish."
+
+"Is it so bad as that?" said the king. "I apprehend it is worse," was
+the reply. "If you climb a tree to seek for fish, although you do not
+get the fish, you have no subsequent calamity. But if you do what you
+do in order to seek for what you desire, doing it even with all your
+heart, you will assuredly afterwards meet with calamities." The king
+said, "May I hear what they will be?" Mencius replied, "If the people
+of Tsow were fighting with the people of Ts[']oo, which of them does
+your Majesty think would conquer?" "The people of Ts[']oo would
+conquer," was the answer, and Mencius pursued, "So then, a small State
+cannot contend with a great, few cannot contend with many, nor can the
+weak contend with the strong. The territory within the seas would
+embrace nine divisions, each of a thousand li square. All Ts[']e
+together is one of them. If with one part you try to subdue the other
+eight, what is the difference between that and Tsow's contending with
+Ts[']oo? With the desire which you have, you must turn back to the
+proper course for its attainment.
+
+"Now, if your Majesty will institute a government whose action shall
+all be benevolent, this will cause all the officers in the kingdom to
+wish to stand in your Majesty's court, the farmers all to wish to
+plough in your Majesty's fields, the merchants, both travelling and
+stationary, all to wish to store their goods in your Majesty's
+market-places, travellers and visitors all to wish to travel on your
+Majesty's roads, and all under heaven who feel aggrieved by their
+rulers to wish to come and complain to your Majesty. When they are so
+bent, who will be able to keep them back?"
+
+The king said, "I am stupid and cannot advance to this. But I wish
+you, my Master, to assist my intentions. Teach me clearly, and
+although I am deficient in intelligence and vigor, I should like to
+try at least to institute such a government."
+
+Mencius replied, "They are only men of education, who, without a
+certain livelihood, are able to maintain a fixed heart. As to the
+people, if they have not a certain livelihood, they will be found not
+to have a fixed heart. And if they have not a fixed heart, there is
+nothing which they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, of
+moral deflection, of depravity, and of wild license. When they have
+thus been involved in crime, to follow them up and punish them, is to
+entrap the people. How can such a thing as entrapping the people be
+done under the rule of a benevolent man?"
+
+"Therefore, an intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the
+people, so as to make sure that, above, they shall have sufficient
+wherewith to serve their parents, and below, sufficient wherewith to
+support their wives and children; that in good years they shall always
+be abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall not be in
+danger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they will
+proceed to what is good, for in this case the people will follow after
+that with readiness.
+
+"But now the livelihood of the people is so regulated, that, above,
+they have not sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below,
+they have not sufficient wherewith to support their wives and
+children; even in good years their lives are always embittered, and in
+bad years they are in danger of perishing. In such circumstances their
+only object is to escape from death, and they are afraid they will not
+succeed in doing so--what leisure have they to cultivate propriety and
+righteousness?
+
+"If your Majesty wishes to carry out a benevolent government, why not
+turn back to what is the essential step to its attainment?
+
+"Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads with their five
+acres, and persons of fifty years will be able to wear silk. In
+keeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and swine, let not their times of breeding
+be neglected, and persons of seventy years will be able to eat flesh.
+Let there not be taken away the time that is proper for the
+cultivation of the field-allotment of a hundred acres, and the family
+of eight mouths will not suffer from hunger. Let careful attention be
+paid to the teaching in the various schools, with repeated inculcation
+of the filial and fraternal duties, and gray-haired men will not be
+seen upon the roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on their
+heads. It has never been that the ruler of a State, where these
+results were seen, the old wearing silk and eating flesh, and the
+black-haired people suffering neither from hunger nor cold, did not
+attain to the Royal dignity."
+
+[Footnote 35: The title of this book in Chinese is--"King Hwuy of
+Lëang; in chapters and sentences." Like the Books of the Confucian
+Analects, those of this work are headed by two or three words at or
+near the commencement of them. Each Book is divided into two parts.
+This arrangement was made by Chaou K[']e, and to him are due also the
+divisions into chapters, and sentences, or paragraphs, containing, it
+may be, many sentences.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Sëang was the son of King Hwuy. The first year of his
+reign is supposed to be B.C. 317. Sëang's name was Hih. As a
+posthumous epithet, Sëang has various meanings: "Land-enlarger and
+Virtuous"; "Successful in Arms." The interview here recorded seems to
+have taken place immediately after Hih's accession, and Mencius, it is
+said, was so disappointed by it that he soon after left the country.]
+
+
+
+
+[_Books II, III, and IV are omitted_]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+_Wan Chang_[37]
+
+
+PART I
+
+Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, "When Shun went into the fields, he
+cried out and wept towards the pitying heavens. Why did he cry out and
+weep?" Mencius replied, "He was dissatisfied and full of earnest
+desire."
+
+Wan Chang said, "When his parents love him, a son rejoices and forgets
+them not; and when they hate him, though they punish him, he does not
+allow himself to be dissatisfied. Was Shun then dissatisfied with his
+parents?" Mencius said, "Ch[']ang Seih asked Kung-ming Kaou, saying,
+'As to Shun's going into the fields, I have received your
+instructions; but I do not understand about his weeping and crying out
+to the pitying heavens, and to his parents.' Kung-ming Kaou answered
+him, 'You do not understand that matter.' Now Kung-ming Kaou thought
+that the heart of a filial son like Shun could not be so free from
+sorrow as Seih seemed to imagine he might have been. Shun would be
+saying, 'I exert my strength to cultivate the fields, but I am thereby
+only discharging my duty as a son. What is there wrong in me that my
+parents do not love me?'
+
+"The emperor caused his own children--nine sons and two daughters--the
+various officers, oxen and sheep, store-houses and granaries, all to
+be prepared for the service of Shun amid the channeled fields. Most of
+the officers in the empire repaired to him. The emperor designed that
+he should superintend the empire along with himself, and then to
+transfer it to him. But because his parents were not in accord with
+him, he felt like a poor man who has nowhere to turn to.
+
+"To be an object of complacency to the officers of the empire is what
+men desire; but it was not sufficient to remove the sorrow of Shun.
+The possession of beauty is what men desire: but though Shun had for
+his wives the two daughters of the emperor, it was not sufficient to
+remove his sorrow. Riches are what men desire, but though the empire
+was the rich property of Shun, it was not enough to remove his sorrow.
+Honors are what men desire, but though Shun had the dignity of being
+the son of Heaven, it was not sufficient to remove his sorrow. The
+reason why his being the object of men's complacency, the possession
+of beauty, riches, and honors, could not remove his sorrow was because
+it could be removed only by his being in entire accord with his parents.
+
+"The desire of a child is towards his father and mother. When he
+becomes conscious of the attractions of beauty, his desire is towards
+young and beautiful women. When he comes to have a wife and children,
+his desire is towards them. When he obtains office, his desire is
+towards his ruler; and if he cannot get the regard of his ruler, he
+burns within. But the man of great filial piety, all his life, has his
+desire towards his parents. In the great Shun I see the case of one
+whose desire was towards them when he was fifty years old."
+
+Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, "It is said in the 'Book of Poetry,'
+
+    'How do we proceed in taking a wife?
+    Announcement must first be made to our parents.'
+
+If the rule be indeed as thus expressed, no one ought to have
+illustrated it so well as Shun--how was it that Shun's marriage took
+place without his informing his parents?" Mencius replied, "If he had
+informed them, he would not have been able to marry. That male and
+female dwell together is the greatest of human relations. If Shun had
+informed his parents, he must have made void this greatest of human
+relations, and incurred thereby their resentment. It was on this
+account that he did not inform them."
+
+Wan Chang said, "As to Shun's marrying without making announcement to
+his parents, I have heard your instructions. But how was it that the
+emperor gave him his daughters as wives without informing his
+parents?" Mencius said, "The emperor also knew that, if he informed
+his parents, he could not have given him his daughters as wives."
+
+Wan Chang said, "His parents set Shun to repair a granary, and then
+removed the ladder by which he had ascended; after which Koo-sow set
+fire to it. They sent him to dig a well, from which he managed to get
+out; but they, not knowing this, proceeded to cover it up. His
+brother, Sëang, said, 'Of this scheme to cover up the city-farming
+gentleman the merit is all mine. Let my parents have his oxen and
+sheep; let them have his granaries and store-houses. His shield and
+spear shall be mine; his lute shall be mine; his carved bow shall be
+mine; and I will make his two wives attend for me to my bed.' Sëang
+then went away and entered Shun's house, and there was Shun upon a
+couch with his lute. Sëang said, 'I am come simply because I was
+thinking anxiously about you,' and at the same time he looked ashamed.
+Shun said to him, 'There are all my officers; do you take the
+management of them for me.' I do not know whether Shun was ignorant of
+Sëang's wishing to kill him." Mencius replied, "How could he be
+ignorant of it? But when Sëang was sorrowful, he was also sorrowful,
+and when Sëang was joyful, he was also joyful."
+
+Wan Chang continued, "Then was Shun one who rejoiced hypocritically?"
+"No," was the reply. "Formerly some one sent a present of a live fish
+to Tsze-ch[']an of Ch[']ing. Tsze-ch[']an ordered his pond-keeper to
+feed it in the pond; but the man cooked it and reported the execution
+of his commission, saying, 'When I first let it go, it looked
+embarrassed. In a little while it seemed to be somewhat at ease, and
+then it swam away as if delighted.' 'It had got into its element!'
+said Tsze-ch[']an. The pond-keeper went out and said, 'Who calls
+Tsze-ch[']an wise? When I had cooked and eaten the fish, he said, "It
+has got into its element! It has got into its element!"' "Thus a
+superior man may be imposed on by what seems to be as it ought to be,
+but it is difficult to entrap him by what is contrary to right
+principle. Sëang came in the way in which the love of his elder
+brother would have made him come, and therefore Shun truly believed
+him, and rejoiced at it. What hypocrisy was there?"
+
+Wan Chang said, "Sëang made it his daily business to kill Shun; why
+was it that, when the latter was raised to be the son of Heaven, he
+only banished him?" Mencius replied, "He invested him with a State,
+and some have said that it was banishing him." When Chang said, "Shun
+banished the Superintendent of Works to Yëw-chow, sent away Hwan-tow
+to Mount Ts[']ung, slew the Prince of San Mëaou in San-wei, and
+imprisoned K[']wan on Mount Yu. When those four criminals were thus
+dealt with, all under heaven submitted to him; it was a cutting off of
+men who were destitute of benevolence. But Sëang was of all men the
+most destitute of benevolence, and Shun invested him with the State of
+Pe; of what crime had the people of Pe been guilty? Does a benevolent
+man really act thus? In the case of other men, he cut them off; in the
+case of his brother, he invested him with a State." Mencius replied,
+"A benevolent man does not lay up anger, nor cherish resentment
+against his brother, but only regards him with affection and love.
+Regarding him with affection, he wishes him to enjoy honor; loving
+him, he wishes him to be rich. The investing him with Pe was to enrich
+and ennoble him. If while Shun himself was emperor, his brother had
+been a common man, could he have been said to regard him with
+affection and love?"
+
+Wan Chang said, "I venture to ask what is meant by some saying that it
+was a banishing of Sëang." Mencius replied, "Sëang could do nothing of
+himself in his State. The emperor appointed an officer to manage its
+government, and to pay over its revenues to him; and therefore it was
+said that it was a banishing of him? How indeed could he be allowed
+the means of oppressing the people there? Nevertheless, Shun wished to
+be continually seeing him, and therefore he came unceasingly to court,
+as is signified in that expression, 'He did not wait for the rendering
+of tribute, or affairs of government, to receive the prince of Pe.'"
+
+Hëen-k[']ëw Mung asked Mencius, saying, "There is the old saying, 'An
+officer of complete virtue cannot be employed as a minister by his
+ruler, nor treated as a son by his father.' Shun stood with his face
+to the south, and Yaou, at the head of all the feudal princes,
+appeared in his court with his face to the north. Koo-sow also
+appeared at Shun's court with his face to the north; and when Shun saw
+him, his countenance assumed a look of distress. Confucius said, 'At
+this time the empire was in a perilous condition indeed! How unsettled
+was its state!' I do not know whether what is thus said really took
+place." Mencius said, "No. These are not the words of a superior man,
+but the sayings of an uncultivated person of the east of Ts[']e. When
+Yaou was old, Shun took the management of affairs for him. It is said
+in the Canon of Yaou, 'After twenty-eight years, Fang-heun demised,
+and the people mourned for him as for a parent three years. All within
+the four seas, the eight instruments of music were stopped and
+hushed." Confucius said, "'There are not two suns in the sky, nor two
+sovereigns over the people. If Shun had already been in the position
+of the son of Heaven, and had moreover led on all the feudal princes
+of the empire to observe the three years' mourning for Yaou, there
+must in that case have been two sons of Heaven.'"
+
+Hëen-k[']ëw Mung said, "On the point of Shun's not employing Yaou as a
+minister, I have received your instructions. But it is said in the
+'Book of Poetry,'
+
+    'Under the wide heaven,
+    All is the king's land;
+    Within the sea-boundaries of the land,
+    All are the king's servants.'
+
+When Shun became emperor, I venture to ask how it was that Koo-sow was
+not one of his servants." Mencius replied, "That Ode is not to be
+understood in that way; it speaks of being laboriously engaged in the
+king's business, and not being able to nourish one's parents, as if
+the subject of it said, 'This is all the king's business, but I alone
+am supposed to have ability, and made to toil in it.' Therefore those
+who explain the Odes must not insist on one term so as to do violence
+to a sentence, nor on a sentence so as to do violence to the general
+scope. They must try with their thoughts to meet that scope, and then
+they will apprehend it. If we simply take single sentences, there is
+that in the Ode called the 'Yun Han,'
+
+    'Of the remnant of Chow, among the black-haired people,
+    There will not be half a man left.'
+
+If it had really been as thus expressed, then not an individual of the
+people of Chow would have been left.
+
+"Of all that a filial son can attain to, there is nothing greater
+than his honoring his parents. Of what can be attained to in honoring
+one's parents, there is nothing greater than the nourishing them with
+the empire. To be the father of the son of Heaven is the height of
+honor. To be nourished with the empire is the height of nourishment.
+In this was verified the sentiment in the 'Book of Poetry,'
+
+    'Ever thinking how to be filial,
+    His filial mind was the model which he supplied.'
+
+"In the 'Book of History' it is said, 'With respectful service he
+appeared before Koo-sow, looking grave and awestruck, till Koo-sow
+also was transformed by his example.' This is the true case of the
+scholar of complete virtue not being treated as a son by his father."
+
+Wan Chang said, "It is said that Yaou gave the empire to Shun; was it
+so?" Mencius replied, "No; the emperor cannot give the empire to
+another." "Yes; but Shun possessed the empire. Who gave it to him?"
+"Heaven gave it to him," was the reply.
+
+"Heaven gave it to him? Did Heaven confer the appointment on him with
+specific injunctions?" Mencius said, "No. Heaven does not speak. It
+simply showed its will by his personal conduct, and by his conduct of
+affairs."
+
+"'It showed its will by his personal conduct, and by his conduct of
+affairs,'" returned the other; "how was this?" Mencius said, "The
+emperor can present a man to Heaven, but he cannot make Heaven give
+that man the empire. A feudal prince can present a man to the emperor
+to take his place, but he cannot make the emperor give the princedom
+to that man. A great officer can present a man to his prince, but he
+cannot cause the prince to make that man a great officer in his own
+room. Anciently Yaou presented Shun to Heaven, and Heaven accepted
+him; he displayed him to the people, and the people accepted him.
+Therefore I say, 'Heaven does not speak. It simply indicated its will
+by his personal conduct, and by his conduct of affairs.'"
+
+Chang said, "I presume to ask how it was that Yaou presented Shun to
+Heaven, and Heaven accepted him, and displayed him to the people, and
+the people accepted him." The reply was, "He caused him to preside
+over the sacrifices, and all the Spirits were well pleased with them;
+thus it was that Heaven accepted him. He caused him to preside over
+the conduct of affairs, and affairs were well administered, so that
+all the people reposed under him; thus it was that the people accepted
+him. Heaven gave the empire to him, and the people gave it to him.
+Therefore I said, 'The emperor cannot give the empire to another.'
+
+"Shun assisted Yaou in the government for twenty and eight years; this
+was more than man could have done, and was from Heaven. When the three
+years' mourning consequent on the death of Yaou were accomplished,
+Shun withdrew from the son of Yaou to the south of the southern Ho.
+The princes of the empire, however, repairing to court, went not to
+the son of Yaou, but to Shun. Litigants went not to the son of Yaou,
+but to Shun. Singers sang not the son of Yaou, but Shun. Therefore I
+said that it was Heaven that gave him the empire. It was after this
+that he went to the Middle State, and occupied the seat of the son of
+Heaven. If he had before these things taken up his residence in the
+palace of Yaou, and applied pressure to his son, it would have been an
+act of usurpation, and not the gift of Heaven.
+
+"This view of Shun's obtaining the empire is in accordance with what
+is said in The Great Declaration--'Heaven sees as my people see,
+Heaven hears as my people hear.'"
+
+Wan Chang said, "People say, 'When the disposal of the empire came to
+Yu, his virtue was inferior to that of Yaou and Shun, and he did not
+transmit it to the worthiest, but to his son.' Was it so?" Mencius
+replied, "No; it was not so. When Heaven gave the empire to the
+worthiest, it was given to the worthiest; when Heaven gave it to the
+son of the preceding emperor, it was given to that son. Formerly Shun
+presented Yu to Heaven for a period of seventeen years; and when the
+three years' mourning, consequent on the death of Shun, were
+accomplished, Yu withdrew from the son of Yu to Yang-shing. The people
+of the empire followed him as, after the death of Yaou, they had not
+followed his son, but followed Shun. Yu presented Yih to Heaven for a
+period of seven years; and when the three years' mourning consequent
+on the death of Yu were accomplished, Yih withdrew from the son of Yu
+to the north of Mount Ke. The princes repairing to court, and
+litigants, went not to Yih, but to K[']e, saying, 'He is the son of
+our ruler.' Singers did not sing Yih, but they sang K[']e, saying, 'He
+is the son of our ruler.'
+
+"That Tan-choo was not equal to his father, and Shun's son also not
+equal to his; that Shun assisted Yaou, and Yu assisted Shun, for a
+period of many years, conferring benefits on the people for a long
+time; that K[']e was virtuous and able, and could reverently enter
+into and continue the ways of Yu; that Yih assisted Yu for a period of
+a few years, conferring benefits on the people not for a long time;
+that the length of time that Shun, Yu, and Yih, assisted in the
+government was so different; and that the sons of the emperors were
+one a man of talents and virtue, and the other two inferior to their
+fathers:--all these things were from Heaven, and what could not be
+produced by man. That which is done without any one's seeming to do it
+is from Heaven. That which comes to pass without any one's seeming to
+bring it about is from Heaven.
+
+"In the case of a private man's obtaining the empire, there must be in
+him virtue equal to that of Shun and Yu, and moreover there must be
+the presenting him to Heaven by the preceding emperor. It was on this
+latter account that Chung-ne did not obtain the kingdom.
+
+"When the throne descends by natural succession, he who is displaced
+by Heaven must be like Këeh or Chow. It was on this account that Yih,
+E Yin, and the duke of Chow did not obtain the kingdom.
+
+"E Yin assisted T[']ang so that he became sovereign of the kingdom.
+After the demise of T[']ang, T[']ae-ting having died without being
+appointed in his place, Wae-ping reigned two years, and Chung-jin
+four. T[']ae-Këah then was turning upside down the canons and examples
+of T[']ang, and E Yin placed him in T[']ung for three years. There he
+repented of his errors, was contrite, and reformed himself. In T[']ung
+he came to dwell in benevolence and moved towards righteousness,
+during those three years listening to the lessons given to him by E
+Yin, after which that minister again returned with him to Poh.
+
+"The duke of Chow's not getting the kingdom was like that of Yih's not
+getting the throne of Hëa, or E Yin's that of Yin.
+
+"Confucius said, 'T[']ang and Yu resigned the throne to the worthiest;
+the founders of the Hëa, Yin, and Chow dynasties transmitted it to
+their sons. The principle of righteousness was the same in all the
+cases.'"
+
+Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, "People say that E Yin sought an
+introduction to T[']ang by his knowledge of cookery; was it so?" Mencius
+replied, "No, it was not so. E Yin was farming in the lands of the State
+of Sin, delighting in the principles of Yaou and Shun. In any matter
+contrary to the righteousness which they prescribed, or to the course
+which they enjoined, though he had been salaried with the empire, he
+would not have regarded it; though there had been yoked for him a
+thousand teams, he would not have looked at them. In any matter contrary
+to the righteousness which they prescribed, or to the course which they
+enjoined, he would not have given nor taken even a single straw.
+
+"T[']ang sent persons with presents of silk to ask him to enter his
+service. With an air of indifference and self-satisfaction, he said,
+'What can I do with these silks with which T[']ang invites me? Is it
+not best for me to abide in these channeled fields, and therein
+delight myself with the principles of Yaou and Shun?'
+
+"T[']ang thrice sent persons thus to invite him. After this, with the
+change of purpose displayed in his countenance, he spoke in a
+different style, saying, 'Instead of abiding in the channeled fields,
+and therein delighting myself with the principles of Yaou and Shun,
+had I not better make this ruler one after the style of Yaou and Shun?
+had I not better make this people like the people of Yaou and Shun?
+had I not better in my own person see these things for myself?
+Heaven's plan in the production of this people is this:--That they who
+are first informed, should instruct those who are later in being
+informed, and those who first apprehend principles should instruct
+those who are slower to do so. I am the one of Heaven's people who
+have first apprehended; I will take these principles and instruct this
+people in them. If I do not instruct them, who will do so?'
+
+"He thought that among all the people of the kingdom, even the private
+men and women, if there were any that did not enjoy such benefits as
+Yaou and Shun conferred, it was as if he himself pushed them into a
+ditch. He took upon himself the heavy charge of all under Heaven in
+this way, and therefore he went to T[']ang, and pressed upon him the
+duty of attacking Hëa, and saving the people.
+
+"I have not heard of one who bent himself and at the same time made
+others straight; how much less could one disgrace himself, and thereby
+rectify the whole kingdom? The actions of the sages have been
+different. Some have kept far away from office, and others have drawn
+near to it; some have left their offices, and others have not done so;
+that in which these different courses all meet, is simply the keeping
+of their persons pure.
+
+"I have heard that E Yin sought an introduction to T[']ang by the
+principles of Yaou and Shun; I have not heard he did so by his
+knowledge of cookery.
+
+"In the 'Instructions of E,' it is said, 'Heaven, destroying Këeh,
+commenced attacking him in the palace of Muh; we commenced in Poh.'"
+
+Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, "Some say that Confucius in Wei lived
+with an ulcer-doctor, and in Ts[']e with Tseih Hwan, the chief of the
+eunuchs; was it so?" Mencius said, "No, it was not so. Those are the
+inventions of men fond of strange things.
+
+"In Wei he lived in the house of Yen Ch[']ow-yëw. The wife of the
+officer Mei and the wife of Tsze-lu were sisters. Mei-tsze spoke to
+Tsze-lu, saying, 'If Confucius will lodge with me, he may get to be a
+high noble of Wei.' Tsze-lu reported this to Confucius, who said,
+'That is as ordered by Heaven.' Confucius advanced according to
+propriety, and retired according to righteousness. In regard to his
+obtaining office and honor or not obtaining them, he said, 'That is as
+ordered.' But if he had lodged with an ulcer-doctor and with Tseih
+Hwan, the chief of the eunuchs, that would neither have been according
+to righteousness nor any ordering of Heaven.
+
+"When Confucius, being dissatisfied in Lu and Wei, had left those
+States, he met with the attempt of Hwan, the master of the Horse, in
+Sung, to intercept and kill him, so that he had to pass through Sung
+in the dress of a private man. At that time, though he was in
+circumstances of distress, he lodged in the house of Ching-tsze, the
+minister of works, who was then a minister of Chow, the marquis of
+Ch[']in.
+
+"I have heard that ministers in the service of a court may be known
+from those to whom they are hosts, and that ministers coming from a
+distance may be known from those with whom they lodge. If Confucius
+had lodged with an ulcer-doctor and with Tseih Hwan, the chief of the
+eunuchs, how could he have been Confucius?"
+
+Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, "Some say that Pih-le He sold himself
+to a cattle-keeper of Ts[']in for five sheepskins, and fed his cattle
+for him, to seek an introduction to Duke Muh of Ts[']in; is this
+true?" Mencius said, "No, it was not so. This is the invention of some
+one fond of strange things.
+
+"Pih-le He was a man of Yu. The people of Ts[']in by the inducement of
+a _peih_ of Ch[']uy-Keih and a team of Këuh-ch[']an horses were asking
+liberty to march through Yu to attack Kwoh. Kung Che-k[']e
+remonstrated with the duke of Yu, asking him not to grant their
+request, but Pih-le He did not remonstrate.
+
+"When he knew that the duke of Yu was not to be remonstrated with, and
+went in consequence from that State to Ts[']in, he had reached the age
+of seventy. If by that time he did not know that it would be a
+disgraceful thing to seek for an introduction to Duke Muh of Ts[']in
+by feeding cattle, could he be called wise? But not remonstrating
+where it was of no use to remonstrate, could he be said not to be
+wise? Knowing that the duke of Yu would be ruined, and leaving his
+State before that event, he could not be said to be not wise. As soon
+as he was advanced in Ts[']in, he knew that Duke Muh was one with whom
+he could have a field for action, and became chief minister to him;
+could he be said to be not wise? Acting as chief minister in Ts[']in,
+he made his ruler distinguished throughout the kingdom, and worthy to
+be handed down to future ages; if he had not been a man of talents and
+virtue, could he have done this? As to selling himself in order to
+bring about the destruction of his ruler, even a villager who had a
+regard for himself, would not do such a thing; and shall we say that a
+man of talents and virtue did it?"
+
+[Footnote 37: The Book is named from Wan Chang, who is almost the only
+interlocutor with Mencius in it. The tradition is that it was in
+company with Wan's disciples that Mencius, baffled in all his hopes of
+doing public service, and having retired into privacy, composed the
+Seven Books which constitute his works. The part which follows is all
+occupied with discussions in vindication of Shun and other ancient
+worthies.]
+
+
+
+
+THE SHI-KING
+
+[_Metrical translation by James Legge_]
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The wisdom of Confucius as a social reformer, as a teacher and guide
+of the Chinese people, is shown in many ways. He not only gave them a
+code of personal deportment, providing them with rules for the
+etiquette and ceremony of life, but he instilled into them that
+profound spirit of domestic piety which is one of the strongest
+features in the Chinese character. He took measures to secure also the
+intellectual cultivation of his followers, and his Five Canons contain
+all the most ancient works of Chinese literature, in the departments
+of poetry, history, philosophy, and legislation. The Shi-King is a
+collection of Chinese poetry made by Confucius himself. This great
+anthology consists of more than three hundred pieces, covering the
+whole range of Chinese lyric poetry, the oldest of which dates some
+eighteen centuries before Christ, while the latest of the selections
+must have been written at the beginning of the sixth century before
+Christ. These poems are of the highest interest, and even nowadays may
+be read with delight by Europeans. The ballad and the hymn are among
+the earliest forms of national poetry, and the contents of the
+Shi-King naturally show specimens of lyric poetry of this sort. We
+find there not only hymns, but also ballads of a really fine and
+spirited character. Sometimes the poems celebrate the common pursuits,
+occupations, and incidents of life. They rise to the exaltation of the
+epithalamium, or of the vintage song; at other times they deal with
+sentiment and human conduct, being in the highest degree sententious
+and epigrammatic. We must give the credit to Confucius of having
+saved for us the literature of China, and of having set his people an
+example in preserving the monuments of a remote antiquity. While the
+literatures of ancient Greece and Rome have largely perished in the
+convulsions that followed the breaking up of the Roman empire in
+Europe, when the kingdom of China fell into disorder and decrepitude
+this one great teacher stepped forward to save the precious record of
+historic fact, philosophical thought, and of legislation as well as
+poetry, from being swept away by the deluge of revolution. Confucius
+showed his wisdom by the high value he set upon the poetry of his
+native land, and his name must be set side by side with that of the
+astute tyrant of Athens who collected the poems of Homer and preserved
+them as a precious heritage to the Greek world. Confucius has given us
+his opinion with regard to the poems of the Shi-King. No man, he says,
+is worth speaking to who has not mastered the poems of an anthology,
+the perusal of which elevates the mind and purifies it from all
+corrupt thoughts. Thanks to the work of modern scholarship, English
+readers can now verify this dictum for themselves.
+
+                                                               E. W.
+
+
+
+
+_PART I.--LESSONS FROM THE STATES_
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_The Odes of Chow and the South_
+
+
+CELEBRATING THE VIRTUE OF KING WAN'S BRIDE
+
+    Hark! from the islet in the stream the voice
+    Of the fish-hawks that o'er their nests rejoice!
+    From them our thoughts to that young lady go,
+    Modest and virtuous, loth herself to show.
+    Where could be found to share our prince's state,
+    So fair, so virtuous, and so fit a mate?
+
+    See how the duckweed's stalks, or short or long,
+    Sway left and right, as moves the current strong!
+    So hard it was for him the maid to find!
+    By day, by night, our prince with constant mind
+    Sought for her long, but all his search was vain.
+    Awake, asleep, he ever felt the pain
+    Of longing thought, as when on restless bed,
+    Tossing about, one turns his fevered head.
+
+    Here long, there short, afloat the duckweed lies;
+    But caught at last, we seize the longed-for prize.
+    The maiden modest, virtuous, coy, is found;
+    Strike every lute, and joyous welcome sound.
+    Ours now, the duckweed from the stream we bear,
+    And cook to use with other viands rare.
+    He has the maiden, modest, virtuous, bright;
+    Let bells and drums proclaim our great delight.
+
+
+CELEBRATING THE INDUSTRY OF KING WAN'S QUEEN
+
+    Sweet was the scene. The spreading dolichos
+    Extended far, down to the valley's depths,
+    With leaves luxuriant. The orioles
+    Fluttered around, and on the bushy trees
+    In throngs collected--whence their pleasant notes
+    Resounded far in richest melody.
+
+    The spreading dolichos extended far,
+    Covering the valley's sides, down to its depths,
+    With leaves luxuriant and dense. I cut
+    It down, then boiled, and from the fibres spun
+    Of cloth, both fine and coarse, large store,
+    To wear, unwearied of such simple dress.
+
+    Now back to my old home, my parents dear
+    To see, I go. The matron I have told,
+    Who will announcement make. Meanwhile my clothes,
+    My private clothes I wash, and rinse my robes.
+    Which of them need be rinsed? and which need not?
+    My parents dear to visit, back I go.
+
+
+IN PRAISE OF A BRIDE
+
+    Graceful and young the peach-tree stands;
+      How rich its flowers, all gleaming bright!
+    This bride to her new home repairs;
+      Chamber and house she'll order right.
+
+    Graceful and young the peach-tree stands;
+      Large crops of fruit it soon will show.
+    This bride to her new home repairs;
+      Chamber and house her sway shall know.
+
+    Graceful and young the peach-tree stands,
+      Its foliage clustering green and full.
+    This bride to her new home repairs;
+      Her household will attest her rule.
+
+
+CELEBRATING T[']AE-SZE's FREEDOM FROM JEALOUSY
+
+    In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,
+    And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent
+      All the dolichos' creepers fast cling.
+    See our princely lady, from whom we have got
+    Rejoicing that's endless! May her happy lot
+      And her honors repose ever bring!
+
+    In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,
+    And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent
+      All the dolichos' creepers are spread.
+    See our princely lady, from whom we have got
+    Rejoicing that's endless! Of her happy lot
+      And her honors the greatness ne'er fade!
+
+    In the South are the trees whose branches are bent,
+    And droop in such fashion that o'er their extent
+      All the dolichos' creepers entwine.
+    See our princely lady, from whom we have got
+    Rejoicing that's endless! May her happy lot
+      And her honors complete ever shine!
+
+
+THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE LOCUST
+
+    Ye locusts, wingèd tribes,
+      Gather in concord fine;
+    Well your descendants may
+      In numerous bright hosts shine!
+
+    Ye locusts, wingèd tribes,
+      Your wings in flight resound;
+    Well your descendants may
+      In endless lines be found!
+
+    Ye locusts, wingèd tribes,
+      Together cluster strong;
+    Well your descendants may
+      In swarms forever throng!
+
+
+LAMENTING THE ABSENCE OF A CHERISHED FRIEND
+
+    Though small my basket, all my toil
+      Filled it with mouse-ears but in part.
+    I set it on the path, and sighed
+      For the dear master of my heart.
+
+    My steeds, o'er-tasked, their progress stayed,
+      When midway up that rocky height.
+    Give me a cup from that gilt vase--
+      When shall this longing end in sight?
+
+    To mount that lofty ridge I drove,
+      Until my steeds all changed their hue.
+    A cup from that rhinoceros's horn
+      May help my longing to subdue.
+
+    Striving to reach that flat-topped hill,
+      My steeds, worn out, relaxed their strain;
+    My driver also sank oppressed:--
+      I'll never see my lord again!
+
+
+CELEBRATING THE GOODNESS OF THE DESCENDANTS OF KING WAN
+
+    As the feet of the _lin_, which avoid each living thing,
+    So our prince's noble sons no harm to men will bring.
+                      They are the _lin_!
+
+    As the front of the _lin_, never forward thrust in wrath,
+    So our prince's noble grandsons of love tread the path.
+                      They are the _lin_!
+
+    As the horn of the _lin_, flesh-tipped, no wound to give,
+    So our prince's noble kindred kindly with all live.
+                      They are the _lin_!
+
+     [NOTE.--The "lin" is the female of "K[']e"--a fabulous animal--the
+     symbol of all goodness and benevolence; having the body of a deer,
+     the tail of an ox, the hoofs of a horse, one horn, the scales of a
+     fish, etc. Its feet do not tread on any living thing--not even on
+     live grass; it does not butt with its forehead; and the end of its
+     horn is covered with flesh--to show that, while able for war, it
+     wills to have peace. The "lin" was supposed to appear inaugurating
+     a golden age, but the poet finds a better auspice of that in the
+     character of Wan's family and kindred.]
+
+
+THE VIRTUOUS MANNERS OF THE YOUNG WOMEN
+
+    High and compressed, the Southern trees
+      No shelter from the sun afford.
+    The girls free ramble by the Han,
+      But will not hear enticing word.
+    Like the broad Han are they,
+      Through which one cannot dive;
+    And like the Keang's long stream,
+      Wherewith no raft can strive.
+
+    Many the fagots bound and piled;
+      The thorns I'd hew still more to make.
+    As brides, those girls their new homes seek;
+      Their colts to feed I'd undertake.
+    Like the broad Han are they,
+      Through which one cannot dive;
+    And like the Keang's long stream,
+      Wherewith no raft can strive.
+
+    Many the fagots bound and piled;
+      The Southern-wood I'd cut for more.
+    As brides, those girls their new homes seek;
+      Food for their colts I'd bring large store.
+    Like the broad Han are they,
+      Through which one cannot dive;
+    And like the Keang's long stream,
+      Wherewith no raft can strive.
+
+
+PRAISE OF A RABBIT-CATCHER
+
+    Careful he sets his rabbit-nets all round;
+    _Chang-chang_ his blows upon the pegs resound.
+    Stalwart the man and bold! his bearing all
+    Shows he might be his prince's shield and wall.
+
+    Careful he is his rabbit-nets to place
+    Where many paths of rabbits' feet bear trace.
+    Stalwart the man and bold! 'tis plain to see
+    He to his prince companion good would be.
+
+    Careful he is his rabbit-nets to spread,
+    Where in the forest's depth the trees give shade.
+    Stalwart the man and bold! fit his the part
+    Guide to his prince to be, and faithful heart.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE PLANTAIN-GATHERERS
+
+    We gather and gather the plantains;
+      Come gather them anyhow.
+    Yes, gather and gather the plantains,
+      And here we have got them now.
+
+    We gather and gather the plantains;
+      Now off the ears we must tear.
+    Yes, gather and gather the plantains,
+      And now the seeds are laid bare.
+
+    We gather and gather the plantains,
+      The seeds in our skirts are placed.
+    Yes, gather and gather the plantains.
+      Ho! safe in the girdled waist!
+
+
+THE AFFECTION OF THE WIVES ON THE JOO
+
+    Along the raised banks of the Joo,
+      To hew slim stem and branch I wrought,
+    My lord away, my husband true,
+      Like hunger-pang my troubled thought!
+
+    Along the raised banks of the Joo,
+      Branch and fresh shoot confessed my art.
+    I've seen my lord, my husband true,
+      And still he folds me in his heart.
+
+    As the toiled bream makes red its tail,
+      Toil you, Sir, for the Royal House;
+    Amidst its blazing fires, nor quail:--
+      Your parents see you pay your vows.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+_The Odes of Shaou and the South_
+
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF A PRINCESS
+
+            In the magpie's nest
+            Dwells the dove at rest.
+    This young bride goes to her future home;
+    To meet her a hundred chariots come.
+
+            Of the magpie's nest
+            Is the dove possessed.
+    This bride goes to her new home to live;
+    And escort a hundred chariots give.
+
+            The nest magpie wove
+            Now filled by the dove.
+    This bride now takes to her home her way;
+    And these numerous cars her state display.
+
+
+THE INDUSTRY AND REVERENCE OF A PRINCE'S WIFE
+
+    Around the pools, the islets o'er,
+      Fast she plucks white Southern-wood,
+    To help the sacrificial store;
+      And for our prince does service good.
+
+    Where streams among the valleys shine,
+      Of Southern-woods she plucks the white;
+    And brings it to the sacred shrine,
+      To aid our prince in solemn rite.
+
+    In head-dress high, most reverent, she
+      The temple seeks at early dawn.
+    The service o'er, the head-dress see
+      To her own chamber slow withdrawn.
+
+
+THE WIFE OF SOME GREAT OFFICER BEWAILS HIS ABSENCE
+
+    Shrill chirp the insects in the grass;
+      All about the hoppers spring.
+    While I my husband do not see,
+      Sorrow must my bosom wring.
+              O to meet him!
+              O to greet him!
+      Then my heart would rest and sing.
+
+    Ascending high that Southern hill,
+      Turtle ferns I strove to get.
+    While I my husband do not see,
+      Sorrow must my heart beset.
+              O to meet him!
+              O to greet him!
+      Then my heart would cease to fret.
+
+    Ascending high that Southern hill,
+      Spinous ferns I sought to find.
+    While I my husband do not see,
+      Rankles sorrow in my mind.
+              O to meet him!
+              O to greet him!
+      In my heart would peace be shrined.
+
+
+THE DILIGENCE OF THE YOUNG WIFE OF AN OFFICER
+
+    She gathers fast the large duckweed,
+      From valley stream that southward flows;
+    And for the pondweed to the pools
+      Left on the plains by floods she goes.
+
+    The plants, when closed her toil, she puts
+      In baskets round and baskets square.
+    Then home she hies to cook her spoil,
+      In pans and tripods ready there.
+
+    In sacred chamber this she sets,
+      Where the light falls down through the wall.
+    'Tis she, our lord's young reverent wife,
+      Who manages this service all.
+
+
+THE LOVE OF THE PEOPLE FOR THE DUKE OF SHAOU
+
+    O fell not that sweet pear-tree!
+      See how its branches spread.
+          Spoil not its shade,
+          For Shaou's chief laid
+      Beneath it his weary head.
+
+    O clip not that sweet pear-tree!
+      Each twig and leaflet spare.
+          'Tis sacred now,
+          Since the lord of Shaou,
+      When weary, rested him there.
+
+    O touch not that sweet pear-tree!
+      Bend not a twig of it now.
+          There long ago,
+          As the stories show,
+      Oft halted the chief of Shaou.
+
+
+THE EASY DIGNITY OF THE OFFICERS AT SOME COURT
+
+    Arrayed in skins of lamb or sheep,
+      With five silk braidings all of white,
+    From court they go, to take their meal,
+      All self-possessed, with spirits light.
+
+    How on their skins of lamb or sheep
+      The five seams wrought with white silk show!
+    With easy steps, and self-possessed,
+      From court to take their meal, they go.
+
+    Upon their skins of lamb or sheep
+      Shines the white silk the seams to link.
+    With easy steps and self-possessed,
+      They go from court to eat and drink.
+
+
+ANXIETY OF A YOUNG LADY TO GET MARRIED
+
+    Ripe, the plums fall from the bough;
+    Only seven-tenths left there now!
+    Ye whose hearts on me are set,
+    Now the time is fortunate!
+
+    Ripe, the plums fall from the bough;
+    Only three-tenths left there now!
+    Ye who wish my love to gain,
+    Will not now apply in vain!
+
+    No more plums upon the bough!
+    All are in my basket now!
+    Ye who me with ardor seek,
+    Need the word but freely speak!
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+_The Odes of P[']ei_
+
+
+AN OFFICER BEWAILS THE NEGLECT WITH WHICH HE IS TREATED
+
+    It floats about, that boat of cypress wood,
+      Now here, now there, as by the current borne.
+    Nor rest nor sleep comes in my troubled mood;
+      I suffer as when painful wound has torn
+      The shrinking body. Thus I dwell forlorn,
+    And aimless muse, my thoughts of sorrow full.
+      I might with wine refresh my spirit worn;
+    I might go forth, and, sauntering try to cool
+    The fever of my heart; but grief holds sullen rule.
+
+    My mind resembles not a mirror plate,
+      Reflecting all the impressions it receives.
+    The good I love, the bad regard with hate;
+      I only cherish whom my heart believes.
+      Colleagues I have, but yet my spirit grieves,
+    That on their honor I cannot depend.
+      I speak, but my complaint no influence leaves
+    Upon their hearts; with mine no feelings blend;
+    With me in anger they, and fierce disdain contend.
+
+    My mind is fixed, and cannot, like a stone,
+      Be turned at will indifferently about;
+    And what I think, to that, and that alone,
+      I utterance give, alike within, without;
+      Nor can like mat be rolled and carried out.
+    With dignity in presence of them all,
+      My conduct marked, my goodness who shall scout?
+    My foes I boldly challenge, great and small,
+    If there be aught in me they can in question call.
+
+    How full of trouble is my anxious heart!
+      With hate the blatant herd of creatures mean
+    Ceaseless pursue. Of their attacks the smart
+      Keeps my mind in distress. Their venomed spleen
+      Aye vents itself; and with insulting mien
+    They vex my soul; and no one on my side
+      A word will speak. Silent, alone, unseen,
+    I think of my sad case; then opening wide
+    My eyes, as if from sleep, I beat my breast, sore-tried.
+
+    Thy disc, O sun, should ever be complete,
+      While thine, O changing moon, doth wax and wane.
+    But now our sun hath waned, weak and effete,
+      And moons are ever full. My heart with pain
+      Is firmly bound, and held in sorrow's chain,
+    As to the body cleaves an unwashed dress.
+      Silent I think of my sad case; in vain
+    I try to find relief from my distress.
+    Would I had wings to fly where ills no longer press!
+
+
+A WIFE DEPLORES THE ABSENCE OF HER HUSBAND
+
+    Away the startled pheasant flies,
+      With lazy movement of his wings.
+    Borne was my heart's lord from my eyes;--
+      What pain the separation brings!
+
+    The pheasant, though no more in view,
+      His cry, below, above, forth sends.
+    Alas! my princely lord, 'tis you--
+      Your absence, that my bosom rends.
+
+    At sun and moon I sit and gaze,
+      In converse with my troubled heart.
+    Far, far from me my husband stays!
+      When will he come to heal its smart?
+
+    Ye princely men who with him mate,
+      Say, mark ye not his virtuous way.
+    His rule is--covet nought, none hate;--
+      How can his steps from goodness stray?
+
+
+THE PLAINT OF A REJECTED WIFE
+
+    The east wind gently blows,
+      With cloudy skies and rain.
+    'Twixt man and wife should ne'er be strife,
+      But harmony obtain.
+    Radish and mustard plants
+      Are used, though some be poor;
+    While my good name is free from blame,
+      Don't thrust me from your door.
+
+    I go along the road,
+      Slow, with reluctant heart.
+    Your escort lame to door but came,
+      There glad from me to part.
+    Sow-thistle, bitter called,
+      As shepherd's purse is sweet;
+    With your new mate you feast elate,
+      As joyous brothers meet.
+
+    Part clear, the stream of King
+      Is foul beside the Wei.
+    You feast elate with your new mate,
+      And take no heed of me.
+    Loose mate, avoid my dam,
+      Nor dare my basket move!
+    Person slighted, life all blighted,
+      What can the future prove?
+
+    The water deep, in boat,
+      Or raft-sustained, I'd go;
+    And where the stream did narrow seem,
+      I dived or breasted through.
+    I labored to increase
+      Our means, or great or small;
+    When 'mong friends near death did appear,
+      On knees to help I'd crawl.
+
+    No cherishing you give,
+      I'm hostile in your eyes.
+    As pedler's wares for which none cares,
+      My virtues you despise.
+    When poverty was nigh,
+      I strove our means to spare;
+    You, now rich grown, me scorn to own;
+      To poison me compare.
+
+    The stores for winter piled
+      Are all unprized in spring.
+    So now, elate with your new mate,
+      Myself away you fling.
+    Your cool disdain for me
+      A bitter anguish hath.
+    The early time, our love's sweet prime,
+      In you wakes only wrath.
+
+
+SOLDIERS OF WEI BEWAIL SEPARATION FROM THEIR FAMILIES
+
+    List to the thunder and roll of the drum!
+      See how we spring and brandish the dart!
+    Some raise Ts[']aou's walls; some do field work at home;
+      But we to the southward lonely depart.
+
+    Our chief, Sun Tsze-chung, agreement has made,
+      Our forces to join with Ch[']in and with Sung.
+    When shall we back from this service be led?
+      Our hearts are all sad, our courage unstrung.
+
+    Here we are halting, and there we delay;
+      Anon we soon lose our high-mettled steeds.
+    The forest's gloom makes our steps go astray;
+      Each thicket of trees our searching misleads.
+
+    For death as for life, at home or abroad,
+      We pledged to our wives our faithfulest word.
+    Their hands clasped in ours, together we vowed,
+      We'd live to old age in sweetest accord.
+
+    This march to the South can end but in ill;
+      Oh! never shall we our wives again meet.
+    The word that we pledged we cannot fulfil;
+      Us home returning they never will greet.
+
+
+AN OFFICER TELLS OF HIS MEAN EMPLOYMENT
+
+    With mind indifferent, things I easy take;
+    In every dance I prompt appearance make:--
+    Then, when the sun is at his topmost height,
+    There, in the place that courts the public sight.
+
+    With figure large I in the courtyard dance,
+    And the duke smiles, when he beholds me prance.
+    A tiger's strength I have; the steeds swift bound;
+    The reins as ribbons in my hands are found.
+
+    See how I hold the flute in my left hand;
+    In right the pheasant's plume, waved like a wand;
+    With visage red, where rouge you think to trace,
+    While the duke pleased, sends down the cup of grace!
+
+    Hazel on hills; the _ling_ in meadow damp;--
+    Each has its place, while I'm a slighted scamp.
+    My thoughts go back to th' early days of Chow,
+    And muse upon its chiefs, not equalled now.
+      O noble chiefs, who then the West adorned,
+      Would ye have thus neglected me and scorned?
+
+
+AN OFFICER SETS FORTH HIS HARD LOT
+
+    My way leads forth by the gate on the north;
+      My heart is full of woe.
+    I hav'n't a cent, begged, stolen, or lent,
+      And friends forget me so.
+        So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.
+        What can I say--a poor fellow like me?
+
+    The King has his throne, sans sorrow or moan;
+      On me fall all his cares,
+    And when I come home, resolved not to roam,
+      Each one indignant stares.
+        So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.
+        What can I say--a poor fellow like me?
+
+    Each thing of the King, and the fate of the State,
+      On me come more and more.
+    And when, sad and worn, I come back forlorn,
+      They thrust me from the door.
+        So let it be! 'tis Heaven's decree.
+        What can I say--a poor fellow like me?
+
+
+THE COMPLAINT OF A NEGLECTED WIFE
+
+    When the upper robe is green,
+    With a yellow lining seen,
+    There we have a certain token,
+    Right is wronged and order broken.
+    How can sorrow from my heart
+    In a case like this depart?
+
+    Color green the robe displays;
+    Lower garment yellow's blaze.
+    Thus it is that favorite mean
+    In the place of wife is seen.
+    Vain the conflict with my grief;
+    Memory denies relief.
+
+    Yes, 'twas you the green who dyed,
+    You who fed the favorite's pride.
+    Anger rises in my heart,
+    Pierces it as with a dart.
+    But on ancient rules lean I,
+    Lest to wrong my thoughts should fly.
+
+    Fine or coarse, if thin the dress,
+    Cold winds always cause distress.
+    Hard my lot, my sorrow deep,
+    But my thoughts in check I keep.
+    Ancient story brings to mind
+    Sufferers who were resigned.
+
+     [NOTE.--Yellow is one of the five "correct" colors of the Chinese,
+     while green is one of the "intermediate" colors that are less
+     esteemed. Here we have the yellow used merely as a lining to the
+     green, or employed in the lower, or less honorable, part of the
+     dress;--an inversion of propriety, and intimating how a favorite
+     had usurped the place of the rightful wife and thrust her down.]
+
+
+IN PRAISE OF A MAIDEN
+
+    O sweet maiden, so fair and retiring,
+      At the corner I'm waiting for you;
+    And I'm scratching my head, and inquiring
+      What on earth it were best I should do.
+
+    Oh! the maiden, so handsome and coy,
+      For a pledge gave a slim rosy reed.
+    Than the reed is she brighter, my joy;
+      On her loveliness how my thoughts feed!
+
+    In the pastures a _t'e_ blade she sought,
+      And she gave it, so elegant, rare.
+    Oh! the grass does not dwell in my thought,
+      But the donor, more elegant, fair.
+
+
+DISCONTENT
+
+    As when the north winds keenly blow,
+    And all around fast falls the snow,
+    The source of pain and suffering great,
+    So now it is in Wei's poor state.
+    Let us join hands and haste away,
+      My friends and lovers all.
+    'Tis not a time will brook delay;
+      Things for prompt action call.
+
+    As when the north winds whistle shrill,
+    And drifting snows each hollow fill,
+    The source of pain and suffering great,
+    So now it is in Wei's poor state.
+    Let us join hands, and leave for aye,
+      My friends and lovers all,
+    'Tis not a time will brook delay;
+      Things for prompt action call.
+
+    We look for red, and foxes meet;
+    For black, and crows our vision greet.
+    The creatures, both of omen bad,
+    Well suit the state of Wei so sad.
+    Let us join hands and mount our cars,
+      My friends and lovers all.
+    No time remains for wordy jars;
+      Things for prompt action call.
+
+
+CHWANG KEANG BEMOANS HER HUSBAND'S CRUELTY
+
+    Fierce is the wind and cold;
+      And such is he.
+    Smiling he looks, and bold
+      Speaks mockingly.
+    Scornful and lewd his words,
+      Haughty his smile.
+    Bound is my heart with cords
+      In sorrow's coil.
+
+    As cloud of dust wind-blown,
+      Just such is he.
+    Ready he seems to own,
+      And come to me.
+    But he comes not nor goes,
+      Stands in his pride.
+    Long, long, with painful throes,
+      Grieved I abide.
+
+    Strong blew the wind; the cloud
+      Hastened away.
+    Soon dark again, the shroud
+      Covers the day.
+    I wake, and sleep no more
+      Visits my eyes.
+    His course I sad deplore,
+      With heavy sighs.
+
+    Cloudy the sky, and dark;
+      The thunders roll.
+    Such outward signs well mark
+      My troubled soul.
+    I wake, and sleep no more
+      Comes to give rest.
+    His course I sad deplore,
+      In anguished breast.
+
+
+
+
+[_Selections from Books IV, V, and VI have been omitted._]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+_The Odes of Ch[']ing_
+
+
+THE PEOPLE'S ADMIRATION FOR DUKE WOO
+
+    The black robes well your form befit;
+      When they are worn we'll make you new.
+    Now for your court! oh! there we'll sit,
+      And watch how you your duties do.
+        And when we to our homes repair,
+        We'll send to you our richest fare,
+        Such is the love to you we bear!
+
+    Those robes well with your virtue match;
+      When they are worn we'll make you new.
+    Now for your court! There will we watch,
+      Well pleased, how you your duties do.
+        And when we to our homes repair,
+        We'll send to you our richest fare,
+        Such is the love to you we bear!
+
+    Those robes your character beseem;
+      When they are worn we'll make you new.
+    Now for your court! oh! there we deem
+      It pleasure great your form to view.
+        And when we to our homes repair,
+        We'll send to you our richest fare,
+        Such is the love to you we bear!
+
+
+A WIFE CONSOLED BY HER HUSBAND'S ARRIVAL
+
+    Cold is the wind, fast falls the rain,
+      The cock aye shrilly crows.
+    But I have seen my lord again;--
+      Now must my heart repose.
+
+    Whistles the wind, patters the rain,
+      The cock's crow far resounds.
+    But I have seen my lord again,
+      And healed are my heart's wounds.
+
+    All's dark amid the wind and rain,
+      Ceaseless the cock's clear voice!
+    But I have seen my lord again;--
+      Should not my heart rejoice?
+
+
+IN PRAISE OF SOME LADY
+
+    There by his side in chariot rideth she,
+    As lovely flower of the hibiscus tree,
+    So fair her face; and when about they wheel,
+    Her girdle gems of _Ken_ themselves reveal.
+    For beauty all the House of Këang have fame;
+    Its eldest daughter--she beseems her name.
+
+    There on the path, close by him, walketh she,
+    Bright as the blossom of hibiscus tree,
+    And fair her face; and when around they flit,
+    Her girdle gems a tinkling sound emit.
+    Among the Këang she has distinguished place,
+    For virtuous fame renowned, and peerless grace.
+
+
+A MAN'S PRAISE OF HIS WIFE
+
+    My path forth from the east gate lay,
+    Where cloud-like moved the girls at play.
+    Numerous are they, as clouds so bright,
+    But not on them my heart's thoughts light.
+    Dressed in a thin white silk, with coiffure gray,
+    Is she, my wife, my joy in life's low way.
+
+    Forth by the covering wall's high tower,
+    I went, and saw, like rush in flower,
+    Each flaunting girl. Brilliant are they,
+    But not with them my heart's thoughts stay.
+    In thin white silk, with head-dress madder-dyed,
+    Is she, my sole delight, 'foretime my bride.
+
+
+AN ENTREATY
+
+    Along the great highway,
+      I hold you by the cuff.
+    O spurn me not, I pray,
+      Nor break old friendship off.
+
+    Along the highway worn,
+      I hold your hand in mine.
+    Do not as vile me scorn;
+      Your love I can't resign.
+
+
+A WOMAN SCORNING HER LOVER
+
+    O dear! that artful boy
+      Refuses me a word!
+    But, Sir, I shall enjoy
+      My food, though you're absurd!
+
+    O dear! that artful boy
+      My table will not share!
+    But, Sir, I shall enjoy
+      My rest, though you're not there!
+
+
+A LADY MOURNS THE ABSENCE OF HER STUDENT LOVER
+
+    You student, with the collar blue,
+      Long pines my heart with anxious pain.
+    Although I do not go to you,
+      Why from all word do you refrain?
+
+    O you, with girdle strings of blue,
+      My thoughts to you forever roam!
+    Although I do not go to you,
+      Yet why to me should you not come?
+
+    How reckless you, how light and wild,
+      There by the tower upon the wall!
+    One day, from sight of you exiled,
+      As long as three long months I call.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+_The Odes of Ts[']e_
+
+
+A WIFE URGING HER HUSBAND TO ACTION
+
+    His lady to the marquis says,
+      "The cock has crowed; 'tis late.
+    Get up, my lord, and haste to court.
+      'Tis full; for you they wait."
+    She did not hear the cock's shrill sound,
+    Only the blueflies buzzing round.
+
+    Again she wakes him with the words,
+      "The east, my lord, is bright.
+    A crowded court your presence seeks;
+      Get up and hail the light."
+    'Twas not the dawning light which shone,
+    But that which by the moon was thrown.
+
+    He sleeping still, once more she says,
+      "The flies are buzzing loud.
+    To lie and dream here by your side
+      Were pleasant, but the crowd
+    Of officers will soon retire;
+    Draw not on you and me their ire!"
+
+
+THE FOLLY OF USELESS EFFORT
+
+    The weeds will but the ranker grow,
+      If fields too large you seek to till.
+    To try to gain men far away
+      With grief your toiling heart will fill.
+
+    If fields too large you seek to till,
+      The weeds will only rise more strong.
+    To try to gain men far away
+      Will but your heart's distress prolong.
+
+    Things grow the best when to themselves
+      Left, and to nature's vigor rare.
+    How young and tender is the child,
+      With his twin tufts of falling hair!
+    But when you him ere long behold,
+      That child shall cap of manhood wear!
+
+
+THE PRINCE OF LOO
+
+    A grand man is the prince of Loo,
+      With person large and high.
+    Lofty his front and suited to
+      The fine glance of his eye!
+    Swift are his feet. In archery
+      What man with him can vie?
+    With all these goodly qualities,
+      We see him and we sigh!
+
+    Renowned through all the land is he,
+      The nephew of our lord.
+    With clear and lovely eyes, his grace
+      May not be told by word.
+    All day at target practice,
+      He'll never miss the bird.
+    Such is the prince of Loo, and yet
+      With grief for him we're stirred!
+
+    All grace and beauty he displays,
+      High forehead and eyes bright.
+    And dancing choice! His arrows all
+      The target hit aright.
+    Straight through they go, and every one
+      Lights on the self-same spot.
+    Rebellion he could well withstand,
+      And yet we mourn his lot!
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IX
+
+_The Odes of Wei_
+
+
+ON THE MISGOVERNMENT OF THE STATE
+
+    A fruit, small as the garden peach,
+      May still be used for food.
+    A State, though poor as ours, might thrive,
+      If but its rule were good.
+    Our rule is bad, our State is sad,
+      With mournful heart I grieve.
+    All can from instrument and voice
+      My mood of mind perceive.
+    Who know me not, with scornful thought,
+      Deem me a scholar proud.
+    "Those men are right," they fiercely say,
+      "What mean your words so loud?"
+    Deep in my heart my sorrows lie,
+      And none the cause may know.
+    How should they know who never try
+      To learn whence comes our woe?
+
+    The garden jujube, although small,
+      May still be used for food.
+    A State, though poor as ours, might thrive,
+      If but its rule were good.
+    Our rule is bad, our State is sad,
+      With mournful heart I grieve.
+    Methinks I'll wander through the land,
+      My misery to relieve.
+    Who know me not, with scornful thought,
+      Deem that wild views I hold.
+    "Those men are right," they fiercely say,
+      "What mean your words so bold?"
+    Deep in my heart my sorrows lie,
+      And none the cause may know.
+    How can they know, who never try
+      To learn whence comes our woe?
+
+
+THE MEAN HUSBAND
+
+    Thin cloth of dolichos supplies the shoes,
+      In which some have to brave the frost and cold.
+    A bride, when poor, her tender hands must use,
+      Her dress to make, and the sharp needle hold.
+    This man is wealthy, yet he makes his bride
+      Collars and waistbands for his robes provide.
+
+    Conscious of wealth, he moves with easy mien;
+      Politely on the left he takes his place;
+    The ivory pin is at his girdle seen:--
+      His dress and gait show gentlemanly grace.
+    Why do we brand him in our satire here?
+      'Tis this--his niggard soul provokes the sneer.
+
+
+A YOUNG SOLDIER ON SERVICE
+
+    To the top of that tree-clad hill I go,
+      And towards my father I gaze,
+    Till with my mind's eye his form I espy,
+      And my mind's ear hears how he says:--
+    "Alas for my son on service abroad!
+      He rests not from morning till eve.
+    May he careful be and come back to me!
+      While he is away, how I grieve!"
+
+    To the top of that barren hill I climb,
+      And towards my mother I gaze,
+    Till with my mind's eye her form I espy,
+      And my mind's ear hears how she says:--
+    "Alas for my child on service abroad!
+      He never in sleep shuts an eye.
+    May he careful be, and come back to me!
+      In the wild may his body not lie!"
+
+    Up the lofty ridge I, toiling, ascend,
+      And towards my brother I gaze,
+    Till with my mind's eye his form I espy,
+      And my mind's ear hears how he says:--
+    "Alas! my young brother, serving abroad,
+      All day with his comrades must roam.
+    May he careful be, and come back to me,
+      And die not away from his home."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK X
+
+_The Odes of T[']ang_
+
+
+THE KING GOES TO WAR
+
+    The wild geese fly the bushy oaks around,
+    With clamor loud. _Suh-suh_ their wings resound,
+    As for their feet poor resting-place is found.
+    The King's affairs admit of no delay.
+    Our millet still unsown, we haste away.
+    No food is left our parents to supply;
+    When we are gone, on whom can they rely?
+    O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,
+    When shall our homes receive us from the war?
+
+    The wild geese on the bushy jujube-trees
+    Attempt to settle and are ill at ease;--
+    _Suh-suh_ their wings go flapping in the breeze.
+    The King's affairs admit of no delay;
+    Our millet still unsown, we haste away.
+    How shall our parents their requirements get?
+    How in our absence shall their wants be met?
+    O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,
+    When shall our homes receive us from the war?
+
+    The bushy mulberry-trees the geese in rows
+    Seek eager and to rest around them close--
+    With rustling loud, as disappointment grows.
+    The King's affairs admit of no delay;
+    To plant our rice and maize we cannot stay.
+    How shall our parents find their wonted food?
+    When we are gone, who will to them be good?
+    O azure Heaven, that shinest there afar,
+    When shall our homes receive us from the war?
+
+
+LAMENT OF A BEREAVED PERSON
+
+    A russet pear-tree rises all alone,
+    But rich the growth of leaves upon it shown!
+    I walk alone, without one brother left,
+    And thus of natural aid am I bereft.
+    Plenty of people there are all around,
+    But none like my own father's sons are found.
+    Ye travellers, who forever hurry by,
+    Why on me turn the unsympathizing eye?
+    No brother lives with whom my cause to plead;--
+    Why not perform for me the helping deed?
+
+    A russet pear-tree rises all alone,
+    But rich with verdant foliage o'ergrown.
+    I walk alone, without one brother's care,
+    To whom I might, amid my straits repair.
+    Plenty of people there are all around,
+    But none like those of my own name are found.
+    Ye travellers, who forever hurry by,
+    Why on me turn the unsympathizing eye?
+    No brother lives with whom my cause to plead;--
+    Why not perform for me the helping deed?
+
+
+THE DRAWBACKS OF POVERTY
+
+    On the left of the way, a russet pear-tree
+    Stands there all alone--a fit image of me.
+    There is that princely man! O that he would come,
+    And in my poor dwelling with me be at home!
+    In the core of my heart do I love him, but say,
+    Whence shall I procure him the wants of the day?
+
+    At the bend in the way a russet pear-tree
+    Stands there all alone--a fit image of me.
+    There is that princely man! O that he would come,
+    And rambling with me be himself here at home!
+    In the core of my heart I love him, but say,
+    Whence shall I procure him the wants of the day?
+
+
+A WIFE MOURNS FOR HER HUSBAND
+
+    The dolichos grows and covers the thorn,
+      O'er the waste is the dragon-plant creeping.
+    The man of my heart is away and I mourn--
+      What home have I, lonely and weeping?
+
+    Covering the jujubes the dolichos grows,
+      The graves many dragon-plants cover;
+    But where is the man on whose breast I'd repose?
+      No home have I, having no lover!
+
+    Fair to see was the pillow of horn,
+      And fair the bed-chamber's adorning;
+    But the man of my heart is not here, and I mourn
+      All alone, and wait for the morning.
+
+    While the long days of summer pass over my head,
+      And long winter nights leave their traces,
+    I'm alone! Till a hundred of years shall have fled,
+      And then I shall meet his embraces.
+
+    Through the long winter nights I am burdened with fears,
+      Through the long summer days I am lonely;
+    But when time shall have counted its hundreds of years
+      I then shall be his--and his only!
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XI
+
+_The Odes of Ts[']in_
+
+
+CELEBRATING THE OPULENCE OF THE LORDS OF TS[']IN
+
+    Our ruler to the hunt proceeds;
+    And black as iron are his steeds
+    That heed the charioteer's command,
+    Who holds the six reins in his hand.
+    His favorites follow to the chase,
+    Rejoicing in his special grace.
+
+    The season's males, alarmed, arise--
+    The season's males, of wondrous size.
+    Driven by the beaters, forth they spring,
+    Soon caught within the hunters' ring.
+    "Drive on their left," the ruler cries;
+    And to its mark his arrow flies.
+
+    The hunting done, northward he goes;
+    And in the park the driver shows
+    The horses' points, and his own skill
+    That rules and guides them at his will.
+    Light cars whose teams small bells display,
+    The long- and short-mouthed dogs convey.
+
+
+A COMPLAINT
+
+    He lodged us in a spacious house,
+      And plenteous was our fare.
+    But now at every frugal meal
+      There's not a scrap to spare.
+    Alas! alas that this good man
+    Could not go on as he began!
+
+
+A WIFE'S GRIEF BECAUSE OF HER HUSBAND'S ABSENCE
+
+    The falcon swiftly seeks the north,
+    And forest gloom that sent it forth.
+    Since I no more my husband see,
+    My heart from grief is never free.
+    O how is it, I long to know,
+    That he, my lord, forgets me so?
+
+    Bushy oaks on the mountain grow,
+    And six elms where the ground is low.
+    But I, my husband seen no more,
+    My sad and joyless fate deplore.
+    O how is it, I long to know,
+    That he, my lord, forgets me so?
+
+    The hills the bushy wild plums show,
+    And pear-trees grace the ground below.
+    But, with my husband from me gone,
+    As drunk with grief, I dwell alone.
+    Oh how is it, I long to know,
+    That he, my lord, forgets me so?
+
+
+LAMENT FOR THREE BROTHERS
+
+    They flit about, the yellow birds,
+      And rest upon the jujubes find.
+    Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,
+      Alive to awful death consigned?
+
+    'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,
+      'Twas sad the first, Yen-seih to see.
+    He stood alone; a hundred men
+      Could show no other such as he.
+    When to the yawning grave he came,
+    Terror unnerved and shook his frame.
+
+    Why thus destroy our noblest men,
+      To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!
+    To save Yen-seih from death, we would
+      A hundred lives have freely given.
+
+    They flit about, the yellow birds,
+      And on the mulberry-trees rest find.
+    Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,
+      Alive to awful death consigned?
+
+    'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,
+      'Twas sad the next, Chung-hang to see.
+    When on him pressed a hundred men,
+      A match for all of them was he.
+    When to the yawning grave he came,
+    Terror unnerved and shook his frame.
+
+    Why thus destroy our noblest men,
+      To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!
+    To save Chung-hang from death, we would
+      A hundred lives have freely given.
+
+    They flit about, the yellow birds,
+      And rest upon the thorn-trees find.
+    Who buried were in duke Muh's grave,
+      Alive to awful death consigned?
+
+    'Mong brothers three, who met that fate,
+      'Twas sad the third, K[']ëen-foo, to see.
+    A hundred men in desperate fight
+      Successfully withstand could he.
+    When to the yawning grave he came,
+    Terror unnerved and shook his frame.
+
+    Why thus destroy our noblest men,
+      To thee we cry, O azure Heaven!
+    To save K[']ëen-foo from death, we would
+      A hundred lives have freely given.
+
+     [NOTE.--The incident related in this poem occurred in the year
+     B.C. 620, when the duke of Muh died after playing an important
+     part in the affairs of Northwest China. Muh required the three
+     officers here celebrated, to be buried with him, and according to
+     the "Historical Records" this barbarous practice began with duke
+     Ching, Muh's predecessor. In all, 170 individuals were buried
+     with Muh. The death of the last distinguished man of the Ts[']in
+     dynasty, the Emperor I, was subsequently celebrated by the
+     entombment with him of all the inmates of his harem.]
+
+
+IN PRAISE OF A RULER OF TS[']IN
+
+    What trees grow on the Chung-nan hill?
+      The white fir and the plum.
+    In fur of fox, 'neath 'broidered robe,
+      Thither our prince is come.
+    His face glows with vermilion hue.
+    O may he prove a ruler true!
+
+    What find we on the Chung-nan hill?
+      Deep nook and open glade.
+    Our prince shows there the double _Ke_
+      On lower robe displayed.
+    His pendant holds each tinkling gem,
+    Long life be his, and deathless fame!
+
+
+THE GENEROUS NEPHEW
+
+    I escorted my uncle to Tsin,
+      Till the Wei we crossed on the way.
+        Then I gave as I left
+        For his carriage a gift
+      Four steeds, and each steed was a bay.
+
+    I escorted my uncle to Tsin,
+      And I thought of him much in my heart.
+        Pendant stones, and with them
+        Of fine jasper a gem,
+      I gave, and then saw him depart.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XII
+
+_The Odes of Ch[']in_
+
+
+THE CONTENTMENT OF A POOR RECLUSE
+
+    My only door some pieces of crossed wood,
+      Within it I can rest enjoy.
+    I drink the water wimpling from the spring;
+      Nor hunger can my peace destroy.
+
+    Purged from ambition's aims I say, "For fish,
+      We need not bream caught in the Ho;
+    Nor, to possess the sweets of love, require
+      To Ts[']e, to find a Keang, to go.
+
+    "The man contented with his lot, a meal
+      Of fish without Ho carp can make;
+    Nor needs, to rest in his domestic joy,
+      A Tsze of Sung as wife to take."
+
+
+THE DISAPPOINTED LOVER
+
+    Where grow the willows near the eastern gate,
+      And 'neath their leafy shade we could recline,
+    She said at evening she would me await,
+      And brightly now I see the day-star shine!
+
+    Here where the willows near the eastern gate
+      Grow, and their dense leaves make a shady gloom,
+    She said at evening she would me await.
+      See now the morning star the sky illume!
+
+
+A LOVE-SONG
+
+    The moon comes forth, bright in the sky;
+    A lovelier sight to draw my eye
+      Is she, that lady fair.
+    She round my heart has fixed love's chain,
+    But all my longings are in vain.
+      'Tis hard the grief to bear.
+
+    The moon comes forth, a splendid sight;
+    More winning far that lady bright,
+      Object of my desire!
+    Deep-seated is my anxious grief;
+    In vain I seek to find relief,
+      While glows the secret fire.
+
+    The rising moon shines mild and fair;
+    More bright is she, whose beauty rare
+      My heart with longing fills.
+    With eager wish I pine in vain;
+    O for relief from constant pain,
+      Which through my bosom thrills!
+
+
+THE LAMENT OF A LOVER
+
+    There where its shores the marsh surround,
+    Rushes and lotus plants abound.
+    Their loveliness brings to my mind
+    The lovelier one that I would find.
+    In vain I try to ease the smart
+    Of wounded love that wrings my heart.
+    In waking thought and nightly dreams,
+    From every pore the water streams.
+
+    All round the marsh's shores are seen
+    Valerian flowers and rushes green.
+    But lovelier is that Beauty rare,
+    Handsome and large, and tall and fair.
+    I wish and long to call her mine,
+    Doomed with the longing still to pine.
+    Nor day nor night e'er brings relief;
+    My inmost heart is full of grief.
+
+    Around the marsh, in rich display,
+    Grow rush and lotus flowers, all gay.
+    But not with her do they compare,
+    So tall and large, majestic, fair.
+    Both day and night, I nothing speed;
+    Still clings to me the aching need.
+    On side, on back, on face, I lie,
+    But vain each change of posture try.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIII
+
+_The Odes of Kwei_
+
+
+THE WISH OF AN UNHAPPY MAN
+
+    Where the grounds are wet and low,
+    There the trees of goat-peach grow,
+    With their branches small and smooth,
+    Glossy in their tender youth.
+    Joy it were to me, O tree,
+    Consciousness to want like thee.
+
+    Where the grounds are wet and low,
+    There the trees of goat-peach grow.
+    Soft and fragrant are their flowers,
+    Glossy from the vernal showers.
+    Joy it were to me, O tree,
+    Ties of home to want like thee.
+
+    Where the grounds are wet and low,
+    There the trees of goat-peach grow,
+    What delicious fruits they bear,
+    Glossy, soft, of beauty rare!
+    Joy it were to me, O tree,
+    Household cares to want like thee.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XIV
+
+_The Odes of Ts[']aou_
+
+
+AGAINST FRIVOLOUS PURSUITS
+
+    Like splendid robes appear the wings
+      Of the ephemeral fly;
+    And such the pomp of those great men,
+      Which soon in death shall lie!
+    I grieve! Would they but come to me!
+      To teach them I should try.
+
+    The wings of the ephemeral fly
+      Are robes of colors gay;
+    And such the glory of those men,
+      Soon crumbling to decay!
+    I grieve! Would they but rest with me,
+      They'd learn a better way!
+
+    The ephemeral fly bursts from its hole,
+      With gauzy wings like snow;
+    So quick the rise, so quick the fall,
+      Of those great men we know!
+    I grieve! Would they but lodge with me,
+      Forth they would wiser go.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK XV
+
+_The Odes of Pin_
+
+
+THE DUKE OF CHOW TELLS OF HIS SOLDIERS
+
+    To the hills of the East we went,
+      And long had we there to remain.
+    When the word of recall was sent,
+      Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.
+    When told our return we should take,
+      Our hearts in the West were and sore;
+    But there did they clothes for us make:--
+      They knew our hard service was o'er.
+    On the mulberry grounds in our sight
+      The large caterpillars were creeping;
+    Lonely and still we passed the night,
+      All under our carriages sleeping.
+
+    To the hills of the East we went,
+      And long had we there to remain.
+    When the word of recall was sent,
+      Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.
+    The heavenly gourds rise to the eye,
+      With their fruit hanging under the eave.
+    In our chambers the sow-bug we spy;
+      Their webs on our doors spiders weave.
+    Our paddocks seem crowded with deer,
+      With the glow-worm's light all about.
+    Such thoughts, while they filled us with fear,
+      We tried, but in vain, to keep out.
+
+    To the hills of the East we went,
+      And long had we there to remain.
+    When the word of recall was sent,
+      Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.
+    On ant-hills screamed cranes with delight;
+      In their rooms were our wives sighing sore.
+    Our homes they had swept and made tight:--
+      All at once we arrived at the door.
+    The bitter gourds hanging are seen,
+      From branches of chestnut-trees high.
+    Three years of toil away we had been,
+      Since such a sight greeted the eye.
+
+    To the hills of the East we went,
+      And long had we there to remain.
+    When the word of recall was sent,
+      Thick and fast came the drizzling rain.
+    With its wings now here, and now there,
+      Is the oriole sporting in flight.
+    Those brides to their husbands repair,
+      Their steeds red and bay, flecked with white.
+    Each mother has fitted each sash;
+      Their equipments are full and complete;
+    But fresh unions, whatever their dash,
+      Can ne'er with reunions compete.
+
+
+THERE IS A PROPER WAY FOR DOING EVERYTHING
+
+    In hewing an axe-shaft, how must you act?
+      Another axe take, or you'll never succeed.
+    In taking a wife, be sure 'tis a fact,
+      That with no go-between you never can speed.
+
+    In hewing an axe-shaft, hewing a shaft,
+      For a copy you have the axe in your hand.
+    In choosing a wife, you follow the craft,
+      And forthwith on the mats the feast-vessels stand.
+
+
+
+
+_PART II.--MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM_
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_Decade of Luh Ming_
+
+
+A FESTAL ODE
+
+    With sounds of happiness the deer
+      Browse on the celery of the meads.
+    A nobler feast is furnished here,
+      With guests renowned for noble deeds.
+    The lutes are struck; the organ blows,
+      Till all its tongues in movement heave.
+    Each basket loaded stands, and shows
+      The precious gifts the guests receive.
+    They love me and my mind will teach,
+    How duty's highest aim to reach.
+
+    With sounds of happiness the deer
+      The southern-wood crop in the meads,
+    What noble guests surround me here,
+      Distinguished for their worthy deeds!
+    From them my people learn to fly
+      Whate'er is mean; to chiefs they give
+    A model and a pattern high;--
+      They show the life they ought to live.
+    Then fill their cups with spirits rare,
+    Till each the banquet's joy shall share.
+
+    With sounds of happiness the deer
+      The salsola crop in the fields.
+    What noble guests surround me here!
+      Each lute for them its music yields.
+    Sound, sound the lutes, or great or small,
+      The joy harmonious to prolong;--
+    And with my spirits rich crown all
+      The cups to cheer the festive throng.
+    Let each retire with gladdened heart,
+    In his own sphere to play his part.
+
+
+A FESTAL ODE COMPLIMENTING AN OFFICER
+
+    On dashed my four steeds, without halt, without stay,
+    Though toilsome and winding from Chow was the way.
+    I wished to return--but the monarch's command
+    Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;
+        And my heart was with sadness oppressed.
+
+    On dashed my four steeds; I ne'er slackened the reins.
+    They snorted and panted--all white, with black manes.
+    I wished to return, but our sovereign's command
+    Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--
+        And I dared not to pause or to rest.
+
+    Unresting the Filial doves speed in their flight,
+    Ascending, then sweeping swift down from the height,
+    Now grouped on the oaks. The king's high command
+    Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--
+        And my father I left, sore distressed.
+
+    Unresting the Filial doves speed in their flight,
+    Now fanning the air and anon they alight
+    On the medlars thick grouped. But our monarch's command
+    Forbade that his business be done with slack hand;--
+        Of my mother I thought with sad breast.
+
+    My four steeds I harnessed, all white and black-maned,
+    Which straight on their way, fleet and emulous strained.
+    I wished to return; and now venture in song
+    The wish to express, and announce how I long
+        For my mother my care to attest.
+
+     [NOTE.--Both Maou and Choo agree that this ode was composed in
+     honor of the officer who narrates the story in it, although they
+     say it was not written by the officer himself, but was put into
+     his mouth, as it were, to express the sympathy of his entertainer
+     with him, and the appreciation of his devotion to duty.]
+
+
+THE VALUE OF FRIENDSHIP
+
+    The woodmen's blows responsive ring,
+      As on the trees they fall;
+    And when the birds their sweet notes sing,
+      They to each other call.
+    From the dark valley comes a bird,
+      And seeks the lofty tree.
+    _Ying_ goes its voice, and thus it cries,
+      "Companion, come to me."
+    The bird, although a creature small,
+      Upon its mate depends;
+    And shall we men, who rank o'er all,
+      Not seek to have our friends?
+    All spirits love the friendly man,
+      And hearken to his prayer.
+    What harmony and peace they can
+      Bestow, his lot shall share.
+
+    _Hoo-hoo_ the woodmen all unite
+      To shout, as trees they fell.
+    They do their work with all their might;--
+      What I have done I'll tell.
+    I've strained and made my spirits clear,
+      The fatted lambs I've killed.
+    With friends who my own surname bear,
+      My hall I've largely filled.
+    Some may be absent, casually,
+      And leave a broken line;
+    But better this than absence by
+      An oversight of mine.
+    My court I've sprinkled and swept clean,
+      Viands in order set,
+    Eight dishes loaded stand with grain;
+      There's store of fatted meat.
+    My mother's kith and kin I'm sure
+      I've widely called by name.
+    That some be hindered better is
+      Than I give cause for blame.
+
+    On the hill-side the trees they fell,
+      All working with good-will.
+    I labor too, with equal zeal,
+      And the host's part fulfil.
+    Spirits I've set in order meet,
+      The dishes stand in rows.
+    The guests are here; no vacant seat
+      A brother absent shows.
+    The loss of kindly feeling oft
+      From slightest things shall grow,
+    Where all the fare is dry and spare,
+      Resentments fierce may glow.
+    My store of spirits is well strained,
+      If short prove the supply,
+    My messengers I straightway send,
+      And what is needed buy.
+    I beat the drums, and in the dance
+      Lead joyously the train.
+    Oh! good it is, when falls the chance
+      The sparkling cup to drain.
+
+
+THE RESPONSE TO A FESTAL ODE
+
+    Heaven shields and sets thee fast.
+    It round thee fair has cast
+      Thy virtue pure.
+    Thus richest joy is thine;--
+    Increase of corn and wine,
+    And every gift divine,
+      Abundant, sure.
+
+    Heaven shields and sets thee fast.
+    From it thou goodness hast;
+      Right are thy ways.
+    Its choicest gifts 'twill pour,
+    That last for evermore,
+    Nor time exhaust the store
+      Through endless days.
+
+    Heaven shields and sets thee fast,
+    Makes thine endeavor last
+      And prosper well.
+    Like hills and mountains high,
+    Whose masses touch the sky;
+    Like streams aye surging by;
+      Thine increase swell!
+
+    With rite and auspice fair,
+    Thine offerings thou dost bear,
+      And son-like give,
+    The season's round from spring,
+    To olden duke and king,
+    Whose words to thee we bring:--
+      "Forever live."
+
+    The spirits of thy dead
+    Pour blessings on thy head,
+      Unnumbered sweet.
+    Thy subjects, simple, good,
+    Enjoy their drink and food.
+    Our tribes of every blood
+      Follow thy feet.
+
+    Like moons that wax in light;
+    Or suns that scale the height;
+      Or ageless hill;
+    Nor change, nor autumn know;
+    As pine and cypress grow;
+    The sons that from thee flow
+      Be lasting still!
+
+
+AN ODE OF CONGRATULATION
+
+    The russet pear-tree stands there all alone;
+    How bright the growth of fruit upon it shown!
+    The King's affairs no stinting hands require,
+    And days prolonged still mock our fond desire.
+    But time has brought the tenth month of the year;
+    My woman's heart is torn with wound severe.
+    Surely my warrior lord might now appear!
+
+    The russet pear-tree stands there all alone;
+    How dense the leafy shade all o'er it thrown!
+    The King's affairs require no slackening hand,
+    And our sad hearts their feelings can't command.
+    The plants and trees in beauty shine; 'tis spring.
+    From off my heart its gloom I fain would fling.
+    This season well my warrior home may bring!
+
+    I climbed that northern hill, and medlars sought;
+    The spring nigh o'er, to ripeness they were brought.
+    "The King's affairs cannot be slackly done";--
+    'Tis thus our parents mourn their absent son.
+    But now his sandal car must broken be;
+    I seem his powerful steeds worn out to see.
+    Relief has gone! He can't be far from me!
+
+    Alas! they can't have marched; they don't arrive!
+    More hard it grows with my distress to strive.
+    The time is passed, and still he is not here!
+    My sorrows multiply; great is my fear.
+    But lo! by reeds and shell I have divined,
+    That he is near, they both assure my mind;--
+    Soon at my side my warrior I shall find!
+
+
+AN ODE ON THE RETURN OF THE TROOPS
+
+    Forth from the city in our cars we drove,
+      Until we halted at the pasture ground.
+    The general came, and there with ardor strove
+      A note of zeal throughout the host to sound.
+      "Direct from court I come, by orders bound
+    The march to hasten";--it was thus he spake.
+      Then with the carriage-officers around,
+    He strictly charged them quick despatch to make:--
+    "Urgent the King's affairs, forthwith the field we take."
+
+    While there we stopped, the second corps appeared,
+      And 'twixt us and the city took its place.
+    The guiding standard was on high upreared,
+      Where twining snakes the tortoises embrace,
+      While oxtails, crest-like, did the staff's top grace.
+    We watched the sheet unfolding grandly wave;
+      Each flag around showed falcons on its face.
+    With anxious care looked on our leader brave;
+    Watchful the carriage-officers appeared and grave.
+
+    Nan Chung, our chief, had heard the royal call
+      To go where inroad by Heen-yuns was made,
+    And 'cross the frontier build a barrier wall.
+      Numerous his chariots, splendidly arrayed!
+      The standards--this where dragons were displayed,
+    And that where snakes round tortoises were coiled--
+      Terrific flew. "Northward our host," he said,
+    "Heaven's son sends forth to tame the Heen-yun wild."
+    Soon by this awful chief would all their tribes be foiled.
+
+    When first we took the field, and northward went,
+      The millet was in flower;--a prospect sweet.
+    Now when our weary steps are homeward bent,
+      The snow falls fast, the mire impedes our feet.
+      Many the hardships we were called to meet,
+    Ere the King's orders we had all fulfilled.
+      No rest we had; often our friends to greet
+    The longing came; but vain regrets we stilled;
+    By tablets stern our hearts with fresh resolve were thrilled.
+
+    "Incessant chirp the insects in the grass;
+      All round about the nimble hoppers spring.
+    From them our thoughts quick to our husbands pass,
+      Although those thoughts our hearts with anguish wring.
+      Oh! could we see them, what relief 'twould bring!
+    Our hearts, rejoiced, at once would feel at rest."
+      Thus did our wives, their case deploring, sing;
+    The while our leader farther on had pressed,
+    And smitten with his power the wild Jung of the west.
+
+    The spring days now are lengthening out their light;
+      The plants and trees are dressed in living green;
+    The orioles resting sing, or wing their flight;
+      Our wives amid the southern-wood are seen,
+      Which white they bring, to feed their silkworms keen.
+    Our host, returned, sweeps onwards to the hall,
+      Where chiefs are questioned, shown the captives mean
+    Nan Chung, majestic, draws the gaze of all,
+    Proud o'er the barbarous foe his victories to recall.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+_The Decade of Pih H'wa_
+
+
+AN ODE APPROPRIATE TO A FESTIVITY
+
+    The dew lies heavy all around,
+    Nor, till the sun shines, leaves the ground.
+    Far into night we feasting sit;
+    We drink, and none his place may quit.
+
+    The dew lies heavy, and its gems
+    Stud the luxuriant, grassy stems.
+    The happy night with wassail rings;
+    So feasted here the former kings.
+
+    The jujube and the willow-tree
+    All fretted with the dew we see.
+    Each guest's a prince of noble line,
+    In whom the virtues all combine.
+
+    The _t[']ung_ and _e_ their fruits display,
+    Pendant from every graceful spray.
+    My guests are joyous and serene,
+    No haggard eye, no ruffled mien.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+_The Decade of T[']ung Kung_
+
+
+CELEBRATING A HUNTING EXPEDITION
+
+    Our chariots were well-built and firm,
+      Well-matched our steeds, and fleet and strong.
+    Four, sleek and large, each chariot drew,
+      And eastward thus we drove along.
+
+    Our hunting cars were light and good,
+      Each with its team of noble steeds.
+    Still further east we took the way
+      To Foo-mere's grassy plains that leads.
+
+    Loud-voiced, the masters of the chase
+      Arranged the huntsmen, high and low.
+    While banners streamed, and ox-tails flew,
+      We sought the prey on distant Gaou.
+
+    Each with full team, the princes came,
+      A lengthened train in bright array.
+    In gold-wrought slippers, knee-caps red,
+      They looked as on an audience day.
+
+    Each right thumb wore the metal guard;
+      On the left arm its shield was bound.
+    In unison the arrows flew;
+      The game lay piled upon the ground.
+
+    The leaders of the tawny teams
+      Sped on their course, direct and true.
+    The drivers perfect skill displayed;
+      Like blow well aimed each arrow flew.
+
+    Neighing and pleased, the steeds returned;
+      The bannered lines back slowly came.
+    No jostling rude disgraced the crowd;
+      The king declined large share of game.
+
+    So did this famous hunt proceed!
+      So free it was from clamorous sound!
+    Well does our King become his place,
+      And high the deeds his reign have crowned!
+
+
+THE KING'S ANXIETY FOR HIS MORNING LEVÉE
+
+    How goes the night? For heavy morning sleep
+    Ill suits the king who men would loyal keep.
+    The courtyard, ruddy with the torch's light,
+    Proclaims unspent the deepest hour of night.
+    Already near the gate my lords appear;
+    Their tinkling bells salute my wakeful ear.
+
+    How goes the night? I may not slumber on.
+    Although not yet the night is wholly gone,
+    The paling torch-light in the court below
+    Gives token that the hours swift-footed go.
+    Already at the gate my lords appear;
+    Their tinkling bells with measured sound draw near.
+
+    How goes the night? I may not slumber now.
+    The darkness smiles with morning on its brow.
+    The courtyard torch no more gives forth its ray,
+    But heralds with its smoke the coming day.
+    My princes pass the gate, and gather there;
+    I see their banners floating in the air.
+
+
+MORAL LESSONS FROM NATURAL FACTS
+
+    All true words fly, as from yon reedy marsh
+    The crane rings o'er the wild its screaming harsh.
+    Vainly you try reason in chains to keep;--
+    Freely it moves as fish sweeps through the deep.
+    Hate follows love, as 'neath those sandal-trees
+    The withered leaves the eager searcher sees.
+    The hurtful ne'er without some good was born;--
+    The stones that mar the hill will grind the corn.
+
+    All true words spread, as from the marsh's eye
+    The crane's sonorous note ascends the sky.
+    Goodness throughout the widest sphere abides,
+    As fish round isle and through the ocean glides.
+    And lesser good near greater you shall see,
+    As grows the paper shrub 'neath sandal-tree.
+    And good emerges from what man condemns;--
+    Those stones that mar the hill will polish gems.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK IV
+
+_The Decade of K[']e-foo_
+
+
+ON THE COMPLETION OF A ROYAL PALACE
+
+    On yonder banks a palace, lo! upshoots,
+      The tender blue of southern hill behind;
+    Firm-founded, like the bamboo's clamping roots;
+      Its roof made pine-like, to a point defined.
+    Fraternal love here bears its precious fruits,
+      And unfraternal schemes be ne'er designed!
+
+    Ancestral sway is his. The walls they rear,
+      Five thousand cubits long; and south and west
+    The doors are placed. Here will the king appear,
+      Here laugh, here talk, here sit him down and rest.
+
+    To mould the walls, the frames they firmly tie;
+      The toiling builders beat the earth and lime.
+    The walls shall vermin, storm, and bird defy;--
+      Fit dwelling is it for his lordly prime.
+
+    Grand is the hall the noble lord ascends;--
+      In height, like human form most reverent, grand;
+    And straight, as flies the shaft when bow unbends;
+      Its tints, like hues when pheasant's wings expand.
+
+    High pillars rise the level court around;
+      The pleasant light the open chamber steeps;
+    And deep recesses, wide alcoves, are found,
+      Where our good king in perfect quiet sleeps.
+
+    Laid is the bamboo mat on rush mat square;--
+      Here shall he sleep, and, waking, say, "Divine
+    What dreams are good? For bear and grizzly bear,
+      And snakes and cobras, haunt this couch of mine."
+
+    Then shall the chief diviner glad reply,
+      "The bears foreshow that Heaven will send you sons.
+    The snakes and cobras daughters prophesy.
+      These auguries are all auspicious ones.
+
+    "Sons shall be his--on couches lulled to rest.
+      The little ones, enrobed, with sceptres play;
+    Their infant cries are loud as stern behest;
+      Their knees the vermeil covers shall display.
+    As king hereafter one shall be addressed;
+      The rest, our princes, all the States shall sway.
+
+    "And daughters also to him shall be born.
+      They shall be placed upon the ground to sleep;
+    Their playthings tiles, their dress the simplest worn;
+      Their part alike from good and ill to keep,
+    And ne'er their parents' hearts to cause to mourn;
+      To cook the food, and spirit-malt to steep."
+
+
+THE CONDITION OF KING SEUEN'S FLOCKS
+
+    Who dares to say your sheep are few?
+      The flocks are all three hundred strong.
+    Who dares despise your cattle too?
+      There ninety, black-lipped, press along.
+    Though horned the sheep, yet peaceful each appears;
+    The cattle come with moist and flapping ears.
+
+    These climb the heights, those drink the pool;
+      Some lie at rest, while others roam.
+    With rain-coats, and thin splint hats cool,
+      And bearing food, your herdsmen come.
+    In thirties, ranged by hues, the creatures stand;
+    Fit victims they will yield at your command.
+
+    Your herdsmen twigs and fagots bring,
+      With prey of birds and beasts for food.
+    Your sheep, untouched by evil thing,
+      Approach, their health and vigor good.
+    The herdsman's waving hand they all behold,
+    And docile come, and pass into the fold.
+
+    Your herdsmen dream;--fish take the place
+      Of men; on banners falcons fly,
+    Displacing snakes and tortoises.
+      The augur tells his prophecy:--
+    "The first betoken plenteous years; the change
+    Of banners shows of homes a widening range."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK V
+
+_The Decade of Seaou Min_
+
+
+A EUNUCH COMPLAINS OF HIS FATE
+
+    A few fine lines, at random drawn,
+    Like the shell-pattern wrought in lawn
+      To hasty glance will seem.
+    My trivial faults base slander's slime
+    Distorted into foulest crime,
+      And men me worthless deem.
+
+    A few small points, pricked down on wood,
+    May be made out a picture good
+      Of the bright Southern Sieve.
+    Who planned, and helped those slanderers vile,
+    My name with base lies to defile?
+      Unpitied, here I grieve.
+
+    With babbling tongues you go about,
+    And only scheme how to make out
+      The lies you scatter round.
+    Here me--Be careful what you say;
+    People ere long your words will weigh,
+      And liars you'll be found.
+
+    Clever you are with changeful schemes!
+    How else could all your evil dreams
+      And slanders work their way?
+    Men now believe you; by and by,
+    The truth found out, each vicious lie
+      Will ill for ill repay.
+
+    The proud rejoice; the sufferer weeps.
+    O azure Heaven, from out thy deeps
+      Why look in silence down?
+    Behold those proud men and rebuke;
+    With pity on the sufferers look,
+      And on the evil frown.
+
+    Those slanderers I would gladly take,
+    With all who help their schemes to make,
+      And to the tigers throw.
+    If wolves and tigers such should spare,
+    I'd hurl them 'midst the freezing air,
+      Where the keen north winds blow.
+    And should the North compassion feel
+    I'd fling them to great Heaven, to deal
+      On them its direst woe.
+
+    As on the sacred heights you dwell,
+    My place is in the willow dell,
+      One is the other near.
+    Before you, officers, I spread
+    These lines by me, poor eunuch, made.
+      Think not Mang-tsze severe.
+
+
+AN OFFICER DEPLORES THE MISERY OF THE TIME
+
+    In the fourth month summer shines;
+    In the sixth the heat declines.
+    Nature thus grants men relief;
+    Tyranny gives only grief.
+    Were not my forefathers men?
+    Can my suffering 'scape their ken?
+
+    In the cold of autumn days
+    Each plant shrivels and decays.
+    Nature then is hard and stern;
+    Living things sad lessons learn.
+    Friends dispersed, all order gone,
+    Place of refuge have I none.
+
+    Winter days are wild and fierce;
+    Rapid gusts each crevice pierce.
+    Such is my unhappy lot,
+    Unbefriended and forgot!
+    Others all can happy be;
+    I from misery ne'er am free.
+
+    On the mountains are fine trees;
+    Chestnuts, plum-trees, there one sees.
+    All the year their forms they show;
+    Stately more and more they grow.
+    Noble turned to ravening thief!
+    What the cause? This stirs my grief.
+
+    Waters from that spring appear
+    Sometimes foul, and sometimes clear,
+    Changing oft as falls the rain,
+    Or the sky grows bright again.
+    New misfortunes every day
+    Still befall me, misery's prey.
+
+    Aid from mighty streams obtained,
+    Southern States are shaped and drained.
+    Thus the Keang and Han are thanked,
+    And as benefactors ranked.
+    Weary toil my vigor drains;
+    All unnoticed it remains!
+
+    Hawks and eagles mount the sky;
+    Sturgeons in deep waters lie.
+    Out of reach, they safely get,
+    Arrow fear not, nor the net.
+    Hiding-place for me there's none;
+    Here I stay, and make my moan.
+
+    Ferns upon the hills abound;
+    _Ke_ and _e_ in marshy ground.
+    Each can boast its proper place,
+    Where it grows for use or grace.
+    I can only sing the woe,
+    Which, ill-starred, I undergo.
+
+
+ON THE ALIENATION OF A FRIEND
+
+    Gently and soft the east wind blows,
+      And then there falls the pelting rain.
+    When anxious fears pressed round you close,
+      Then linked together were we twain.
+    Now happy, and your mind at rest,
+    You turn and cast me from your breast.
+
+    Gently and soft the east wind blows,
+      And then there comes the whirlwind wild.
+    When anxious fears pressed round you close,
+      Your bosom held me as a child.
+    Now happy, and in peaceful state,
+    You throw me off and quite forget.
+
+    Gently and soft the east wind blows,
+      Then round the rocky height it storms.
+    Each plant its leaves all dying shows;
+      The trees display their withered forms.
+    My virtues great forgotten all,
+    You keep in mind my faults, though small.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VI
+
+_The Decade of Pih Shan_
+
+
+A PICTURE OF HUSBANDRY
+
+    Various the toils which fields so large demand!
+    We choose the seed; we take our tools in hand.
+    In winter for our work we thus prepare;
+    Then in the spring, bearing the sharpened 'share,
+    We to the acres go that south incline,
+    And to the earth the different seeds consign.
+    Soon, straight and large, upward each plant aspires;--
+    All happens as our noble lord desires.
+
+    The plants will ear; within their sheath confined,
+    The grains will harden, and be good in kind.
+    Nor darnel these, nor wolf's-tail grass infests;
+    From core and leaf we pick the insect pests,
+    And pick we those that eat the joints and roots:--
+    So do we guard from harm the growing fruits.
+    May the great Spirit, whom each farmer names,
+    Those insects take, and cast them to the flames!
+
+    The clouds o'erspread the sky in masses dense,
+    And gentle rain down to the earth dispense.
+    First may the public fields the blessing get,
+    And then with it our private fields we wet!
+    Patches of unripe grain the reaper leaves;
+    And here and there ungathered are the sheaves.
+    Handfuls besides we drop upon the ground,
+    And ears untouched in numbers lie around;--
+    These by the poor and widows shall be found.
+
+    When wives and children to the toilers come,
+    Bringing provisions from each separate home,
+    Our lord of long descent shall oft appear;
+    The Inspector also, glad the men to cheer.
+    They too shall thank the Spirits of the air,
+    With sacrifices pure for all their care;
+    Now red, now black, the victims that they slay,
+    As North or South the sacrifice they pay;
+    While millet bright the altars always show;--
+    And we shall thus still greater blessings know.
+
+
+THE COMPLAINT OF AN OFFICER
+
+    O Heaven above, before whose light
+    Revealed is every deed and thought,
+            To thee I cry.
+    Hither on toilsome service brought,
+    In this wild K[']ew I watch time's flight,
+            And sadly sigh.
+    The second month had just begun,
+    When from the east we took our way.
+            Through summer hot
+    We passed, and many a wintry day.
+    Summer again its course has run.
+            O bitter lot!
+    There are my compeers, gay at court,
+    While here the tears my face begrime.
+            I'd fain return--
+    But there is that dread net for crime!
+    The fear of it the wish cuts short.
+            In vain I burn!
+
+    Ere we the royal city left,
+    The sun and moon renewed the year.
+            We marched in hope.
+    Now to its close this year is near.
+    Return deferred, of hope bereft,
+            All mourn and mope.
+    My lonesome state haunts aye my breast,
+    While duties grow, and cares increase,
+            Too hard to bear.
+    Toils that oppress me never cease;
+    Not for a moment dare I rest,
+            Nigh to despair.
+    I think with fond regard of those,
+    Who in their posts at court remain,
+            My friends of old.
+    Fain would I be with them again,
+    But fierce reproof return would cause.
+            This post I hold.
+
+    When for the West I left my home,
+    The sun and moon both mildly shone,
+            Our hearts to cheer.
+    We'd soon be back, our service done!
+    Alas! affairs more urgent come,
+            And fix us here.
+    The year is hastening to expire.
+    We gather now the southern-wood,
+            The beans we reap;--
+    That for its fragrance, these for food.
+    Such things that constant care require
+            Me anxious keep.
+    Thinking of friends still at their posts,
+    I rise and pass the night outside,
+            So vexed my mind.
+    But soon what changes may betide?
+    I here will stay, whate'er it costs,
+            And be resigned.
+
+    My honored friends, O do not deem
+    Your rest which seems secure from ill
+            Will ever last!
+    Your duties quietly fulfil,
+    And hold the upright in esteem,
+            With friendship fast.
+    So shall the Spirits hear your cry,
+    You virtuous make, and good supply,
+            In measure vast.
+
+    My honored friends, O do not deem
+    Repose that seems secure from ill
+            Will lasting prove.
+    Your duties quietly fulfil,
+    And hold the upright in esteem,
+            With earnest love.
+    So shall the Spirits hear your prayer,
+    And on you happiness confer,
+            Your hopes above.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VII
+
+_Decade of Sang Hoo_
+
+
+THE REJOICINGS OF A BRIDEGROOM
+
+    With axle creaking, all on fire I went,
+      To fetch my young and lovely bride.
+    No thirst or hunger pangs my bosom rent--
+      I only longed to have her by my side.
+    I feast with her, whose virtue fame had told,
+    Nor need we friends our rapture to behold.
+
+    The long-tailed pheasants surest covert find,
+      Amid the forest on the plain.
+    Here from my virtuous bride, of noble mind,
+      And person tall, I wisdom gain.
+    I praise her while we feast, and to her say,
+    "The love I bear you ne'er will know decay.
+
+    "Poor we may be; spirits and viands fine
+      My humble means will not afford.
+    But what we have, we'll taste and not repine;
+      From us will come no grumbling word.
+    And though to you no virtue I can add,
+    Yet we will sing and dance, in spirit glad.
+
+    "I oft ascend that lofty ridge with toil,
+      And hew large branches from the oaks;
+    Then of their leafy glory them I spoil,
+      And fagots form with vigorous strokes.
+    Returning tired, your matchless grace I see,
+    And my whole soul dissolves in ecstasy.
+
+    "To the high hills I looked, and urged each steed;
+      The great road next was smooth and plain.
+    Up hill, o'er dale, I never slackened speed;
+      Like lute-string sounded every rein.
+    I knew, my journey ended, I should come
+    To you, sweet bride, the comfort of my home."
+
+
+AGAINST LISTENING TO SLANDERERS
+
+    Like the blueflies buzzing round,
+      And on the fences lighting,
+    Are the sons of slander found,
+      Who never cease their biting.
+    O thou happy, courteous king,
+    To the winds their slanders fling.
+
+    Buzzing round the blueflies hear,
+      About the jujubes flocking!
+    So the slanderers appear,
+      Whose calumnies are shocking.
+    By no law or order bound,
+    All the kingdom they confound.
+
+    How they buzz, those odious flies,
+      Upon the hazels clust'ring!
+    And as odious are the lies
+      Of those slanderers blust'ring.
+    Hatred stirred between us two
+    Shows the evil they can do.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK VIII
+
+_The Decade of Too Jin Sze_
+
+
+IN PRAISE OF BY-GONE SIMPLICITY
+
+    In the old capital they stood,
+      With yellow fox-furs plain,
+    Their manners all correct and good,
+      Speech free from vulgar stain.
+    Could we go back to Chow's old days,
+    All would look up to them with praise.
+
+    In the old capital they wore
+      _T[']ae_ hats and black caps small;
+    And ladies, who famed surnames bore,
+      Their own thick hair let fall.
+    Such simple ways are seen no more,
+    And the changed manners I deplore.
+
+    Ear-rings, made of plainest gold,
+      In the old days were worn.
+    Each lady of a noble line
+      A Yin or Keih seemed born.
+    Such officers and ladies now
+    I see not and my sorrows grow.
+
+    With graceful sweep their girdles fell,
+      Then in the days of old.
+    The ladies' side-hair, with a swell,
+      Like scorpion's tail, rose bold.
+    Such, if I saw them in these days,
+    I'd follow with admiring gaze.
+
+    So hung their girdles, not for show;--
+      To their own length 'twas due.
+    'Twas not by art their hair curled so;--
+      By nature so it grew.
+    I seek such manners now in vain,
+    And pine for them with longing pain.
+
+     [NOTE.--Yin and Keih were clan names of great families, the
+     ladies of which would be leaders of fashion in the capital.]
+
+
+A WIFE BEMOANS HER HUSBAND'S ABSENCE
+
+    So full am I of anxious thought,
+    Though all the morn king-grass I've sought,
+        To fill my arms I fail.
+    Like wisp all-tangled is my hair!
+    To wash it let me home repair.
+        My lord soon may I hail!
+
+    Though 'mong the indigo I've wrought
+    The morning long; through anxious thought,
+        My skirt's filled but in part.
+    Within five days he was to appear;
+    The sixth has come and he's not here.
+        Oh! how this racks my heart!
+
+    When here we dwelt in union sweet,
+    If the hunt called his eager feet,
+        His bow I cased for him.
+    Or if to fish he went away,
+    And would be absent all the day,
+        His line I put in trim.
+
+    What in his angling did he catch?
+    Well worth the time it was to watch
+        How bream and tench he took.
+    Men thronged upon the banks and gazed;
+    At bream and tench they looked amazed,
+        The triumphs of his hook.
+
+
+THE EARL OF SHAOU'S WORK
+
+    As the young millet, by the genial rain
+      Enriched, shoots up luxuriant and tall,
+    So, when we southward marched with toil and pain,
+      The Earl of Shaou cheered and inspired us all.
+
+    We pushed our barrows, and our burdens bore;
+      We drove our wagons, and our oxen led.
+    "The work once done, our labor there is o'er,
+      And home we travel," to ourselves we said.
+
+    Close kept our footmen round the chariot track;
+      Our eager host in close battalions sped.
+    "When once our work is done, then we go back,
+      Our labor over," to themselves they said.
+
+    Hard was the work we had at Seay to do,
+      But Shaou's great earl the city soon upreared.
+    The host its service gave with ardor true;--
+      Such power in all the earl's commands appeared!
+
+    We did on plains and low lands what was meet;
+      We cleared the springs and streams, the land to drain.
+    The Earl of Shaou announced his work complete,
+      And the King's heart reposed, at rest again.
+
+
+THE PLAINT OF KING YEW'S FORSAKEN WIFE
+
+    The fibres of the white-flowered rush
+      Are with the white grass bound.
+    So do the two together go,
+      In closest union found.
+    And thus should man and wife abide,
+      The twain combined in one;
+    But this bad man sends me away,
+      And bids me dwell alone.
+
+    Both rush and grass from the bright clouds
+      The genial dew partake.
+    Kind and impartial, nature's laws
+      No odious difference make.
+    But providence appears unkind;
+      Events are often hard.
+    This man, to principle untrue,
+      Denies me his regard.
+
+    Northward the pools their waters send,
+      To flood each paddy field;
+    So get the fields the sap they need,
+      Their store of rice to yield.
+    But that great man no deed of grace
+      Deigns to bestow on me.
+    My songs are sighs. At thought of him
+      My heart aches wearily.
+
+    The mulberry branches they collect,
+      And use their food to cook;
+    But I must use a furnace small,
+      That pot nor pan will brook.
+    So me that great man badly treats,
+      Nor uses as his wife,
+    Degrades me from my proper place,
+      And fills with grief my life.
+
+    The bells and drums inside the court
+      Men stand without and hear;
+    So should the feelings in my breast,
+      To him distinct appear.
+    All-sorrowful, I think of him,
+      Longing to move his love;
+    But he vouchsafes no kind response;
+      His thoughts far from me rove.
+
+    The marabow stands on the dam,
+      And to repletion feeds;
+    The crane deep in the forest cries,
+      Nor finds the food it needs.
+    So in my room the concubine
+      By the great man is placed;
+    While I with cruel banishment
+      Am cast out and disgraced.
+
+    The yellow ducks sit on the dam.
+      With left wing gathered low;
+    So on each other do they lean,
+      And their attachment show.
+    And love should thus the man and wife
+      In closest concord bind;
+    But that man turns away from me,
+      And shows a fickle mind.
+
+    When one stands on a slab of stone,
+      No higher than the ground,
+    Nothing is added to his height;--
+      Low with the stone he's found.
+    So does the favorite's mean estate
+      Render that great man mean,
+    While I by him, to distance sent,
+      Am pierced with sorrow keen.
+
+
+HOSPITALITY
+
+    A few gourd leaves that waved about
+      Cut down and boiled;--the feast how spare!
+    But the good host his spirits takes,
+      Pours out a cup, and proves them rare.
+
+    A single rabbit on the mat,
+      Or baked, or roast:--how small the feast!
+    But the good host his spirits takes,
+      And fills the cup of every guest.
+
+    A single rabbit on the mat,
+      Roasted or broiled:--how poor the meal!
+    But the guests from the spirit vase
+      Fill their host's cup, and drink his weal.
+
+    A single rabbit on the mat,
+      Roasted or baked:--no feast we think!
+    But from the spirit vase they take,
+      Both host and guests, and joyous drink.
+
+
+ON THE MISERY OF SOLDIERS
+
+    Yellow now is all the grass;
+    All the days in marching pass.
+    On the move is every man;
+    Hard work, far and near, they plan.
+
+    Black is every plant become;
+    Every man is torn from home.
+    Kept on foot, our state is sad;--
+    As if we no feelings had!
+
+    Not rhinoceroses we!
+    Tigers do we care to be?
+    Fields like these so desolate
+    Are to us a hateful fate.
+
+    Long-tailed foxes pleased may hide
+    'Mong the grass, where they abide.
+    We, in box carts slowly borne,
+    On the great roads plod and mourn.
+
+
+
+
+_PART III.--GREATER ODES OF THE KINGDOM_
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_Decade of King Wan_
+
+
+CELEBRATING KING WAN
+
+    The royal Wan now rests on high,
+    Enshrined in brightness of the sky.
+    Chow as a state had long been known,
+    And Heaven's decree at last was shown.
+    Its lords had borne a glorious name;
+    God kinged them when the season came.
+    King Wan ruled well when earth he trod;
+    Now moves his spirit near to God.
+
+    A strong-willed, earnest king was Wan,
+    And still his fame rolls widening on.
+    The gifts that God bestowed on Chow
+    Belong to Wan's descendants now.
+    Heaven blesses still with gifts divine
+    The hundred scions of his line;
+    And all the officers of Chow
+    From age to age more lustrous grow.
+
+    More lustrous still from age to age,
+    All reverent plans their zeal engage;
+    And brilliant statesmen owe their birth
+    To this much-favored spot of earth.
+    They spring like products of the land--
+    The men by whom the realm doth stand.
+    Such aid their numerous bands supply,
+    That Wan rests tranquilly on high.
+
+    Deep were Wan's thoughts, sustained his ways;
+    His reverence lit its trembling rays.
+    Resistless came great Heaven's decree;
+    The sons of Shang must bend the knee;--
+    The sons of Shang, each one a king,
+    In numbers beyond numbering.
+    Yet as God spoke, so must it be:--
+    The sons of Shang all bent the knee.
+
+    Now each to Chow his homage pays--
+    So dark and changing are Heaven's ways.
+    When we pour our libations here,
+    The officers of Shang appear,
+    Quick and alert to give their aid:--
+    Such is the service by them paid,
+    While still they do not cast aside
+    The cap and broidered axe--their pride.
+    Ye servants of our line of kings,
+    Remember him from whom it springs.
+
+    Remember him from whom it springs;--
+    Let this give to your virtue wings.
+    Seek harmony with Heaven's great mind;--
+    So shall you surest blessing find.
+    Ere Shang had lost the nation's heart,
+    Its monarchs all with God had part
+    In sacrifice. From them you see
+    'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree.
+
+    'Tis hard to keep high Heaven's decree!
+    O sin not, or you cease to be.
+    To add true lustre to your name,
+    See Shang expire in Heaven's dread flame.
+    For Heaven's high dealings are profound,
+    And far transcend all sense and sound.
+    From Wan your pattern you must draw,
+    And all the States will own your law.
+
+
+
+
+[_Selections from Book II are omitted._]
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+_Decade of Tang_
+
+
+KING SEUEN ON THE OCCASION OF A GREAT DROUGHT
+
+    Grand shone the Milky Way on high,
+    With brilliant span athwart the sky,
+      Nor promise gave of rain.
+    King Seuen long gazed; then from him broke,
+    In anguished tones the words he spoke.
+      Well might he thus complain!
+    "O Heaven, what crimes have we to own,
+    That death and ruin still come down?
+    Relentless famine fills our graves.
+    Pity the king who humbly craves!
+      Our miseries never cease.
+    To every Spirit I have vowed;
+    The choicest victim's blood has flowed.
+    As offerings I have freely paid
+    My store of gems and purest jade.
+      Hear me, and give release!
+
+    "The drought consumes us. As on wing
+    Its fervors fly, and torment bring.
+    With purest mind and ceaseless care
+    My sacrifices I prepare.
+    At thine own border altars, Heaven,
+    And in my father's fane, I've given
+      What might relief have found.
+    What Powers above, below, have sway,
+    To all my precious gifts I pay,
+      Then bury in the ground.
+    Yes, every Spirit has received
+    Due honor, and, still unrelieved,
+      Our sufferings greater grow.
+    How-tseih can't give the needed aid,
+    And help from God is still delayed!
+    The country lies a ruined waste.
+    O would that I alone might taste
+      This bitter cup of woe!
+
+    "The drought consumes us. Nor do I
+    To fix the blame on others try.
+    I quake with dread; the risk I feel,
+    As when I hear the thunders peal,
+      Or fear its sudden crash.
+    Our black-haired race, a remnant now,
+    Will every one be swept from Chow,
+      As by the lightning's flash.
+    Nor I myself will live alone.
+    God from his great and heavenly throne
+      Will not spare even me.
+    O friends and officers, come, blend
+    Your prayers with mine; come, lowly bend.
+    Chow's dynasty will pass away;
+    Its altars at no distant day
+      In ruins all shall be!
+
+    "The drought consumes us. It keeps on
+    Its fatal course. All hope is gone.
+    The air more fierce and fiery glows.
+    Where can I fly? Where seek repose?
+      Death marks me for its prey.
+    Above, no saving hand! Around,
+    No hope, no comfort, can be found.
+    The dukes and ministers of old
+    Give us no help. Can ye withhold
+    Your sympathy, who lately reigned?
+    And parents, how are you restrained,
+      In this so dreadful day?
+
+    "The drought consumes us. There on high
+    The hills are parched. The streams are dry.
+    Drought's demon stalks abroad in ire,
+    And scatters wide his flames and fire.
+      Alas, my woful heart!
+    The fires within its strength consume;
+    The heat without creates a gloom
+      That from it will not part.
+    The dukes and ministers by-gone
+    Respond not to my prayer and moan.
+    God in great Heaven, permission give
+    That I may in retirement live,
+      And try to heal my smart!
+
+    "The drought consumes us. Still I strive,
+    And will not leave while I survive.
+      Duty to shun I fear.
+    Why upon me has come this drought?
+    Vainly I try to search it out,
+      Vainly, with quest severe.
+    For a good harvest soon I prayed,
+    Nor late the rites I duly paid,
+    To Spirits of the air and land.
+    There wanted nought they could demand,
+      Their favor to secure.
+    God in great Heaven, be just, be kind!
+    Thou dost not bear me in Thy mind.
+    My cry, ye wisest Spirits, hear!
+    Ye whom I constantly revere,
+      Why do I this endure?
+
+    "The drought consumes us. People fly,
+    And leave their homes. Each social tie
+      And bond of rule is snapt.
+    The Heads of Boards are all perplexed;
+    My premier's mind is sorely vexed;
+      In trouble all are wrapt.
+    The Masters of my Horse and Guards;
+    My cook, and men of different wards:--
+    Not one has from the struggle shrunk.
+    Though feeling weak, they have not sunk,
+      But done their best to aid.
+    To the great sky I look with pain;--
+    Why do these grievous sorrows rain
+      On my devoted head?
+
+    "Yes, at the mighty sky I gaze,
+    And lo! the stars pursue their maze,
+      And sparkle clear and bright.
+    Ah! Heaven nor helps, nor seems to ken.
+    Great officers and noble men,
+    With all your powers ye well have striven,
+    And reverently have sought from Heaven
+      Its aid in our great fight.
+    My death is near; but oh! keep on,
+    And do as thus far you have done.
+      Regard you only me?
+    No, for yourselves and all your friends,
+    On whom for rule the land depends,
+      You seek security.
+    I turn my gaze to the great sky;--
+    When shall this drought be done, and I
+      Quiet and restful be?"
+
+
+
+
+_PART IV.--ODES OF THE TEMPLE AND ALTAR_
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+_Sacrificial Odes of Chow_
+
+
+APPROPRIATE TO A SACRIFICE TO KING WAN
+
+    My offerings here are given,
+      A ram, a bull.
+    Accept them, mighty Heaven,
+      All-bountiful.
+
+    Thy statutes, O great king,
+      I keep, I love;
+    So on the realm to bring
+      Peace from above.
+
+    From Wan comes blessing rich;
+      Now on the right
+    He owns those gifts to which
+      Him I invite.
+
+    Do I not night and day,
+      Revere great Heaven,
+    That thus its favor may
+      To Chow be given?
+
+
+ON SACRIFICING TO THE KINGS WOO, CHING, AND K[']ANG
+
+    The arm of Woo was full of might;
+      None could his fire withstand;
+    And Ching and K[']ang stood forth to sight,
+      As kinged by God's own hand.
+
+    We err not when we call them sage.
+      How grandly they maintained
+    Their hold of all the heritage
+      That Wan and Woo had gained!
+
+    As here we worship, they descend,
+      While bells and drums resound,
+    And stones and lutes their music blend.
+      With blessings we are crowned.
+
+    The rites correctly we discharge;
+      The feast we freely share.
+    Those Sires Chow's glory will enlarge,
+      And ever for it care.
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+
+* The footnotes have been moved to the end of the respective chapters.
+
+* Hyphenation of words left as printed.
+
+* Punctuation errors have been corrected.
+
+* ['] denotes an aspirate (h) (Ki K[']ang or Ki Khung)
+
+* Pg x Corrected spelling of word "Cnodition" to "Condition" located in
+"The Cnodition of King ..."
+
+* Pg 16 Corrected spelling of words "i nthe" to "in the" located in
+"... appropriated i nthe ancestral ..."
+
+* Pg 16 Corrected spelling of word "Thre" to "Three" located in
+"... Hall of the Thre Families?"
+
+* Pg 48 Corrected spelling of word "one" to "once" located in "Tsz-kung
+one said to ..."
+
+* Pg 194 Corrected spelling of word "FESTEL" to "FESTAL" located in "A
+FESTAL ODE"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Wisdom of Confucius, by Epiphanius Wilson
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