The Master said: "This lord summons me, and would that be all? Could I not make an Eastern Chou of him that employed me?"

[6] Tzu-chang asked Confucius, What is love?

66

Love," said Confucius, "is to mete out five things to all below heaven."

"May I ask what they are?"

66

Modesty and bounty," said Confucius, "truth, earnestness, and kindness. Modesty escapes insult; bounty wins the many; truth gains men's trust; earnestness brings success; kindness is the key to men's work."

[7] Pi Hsi summoned the Master, who fain would have gone.

Tzu-lu said: "Master, I have heard you say of yore: 'When the man in touch with the soul does evil, a gentleman stands aloof.' Pi Hsi holds Chung-mou in rebellion: how, Sir, could ye join him?"

"Yes, I said so," answered the Master. "But is not a thing called hard that cannot be ground thin; white, if steeping will not turn it black? and am I a gourd? can I hang without eating?"

[8] The Master said: "Hast thou heard the six words, Yu, or the six they sink into?"

He answered: "No."

"Sit down that I may tell thee. The thirst for love, without love of learning, sinks into fondness. Love of knowledge, without love of learning, sinks into presumption. Love of truth, without love of learning, sinks into cruelty. Love of uprightness, without love of learning, sinks into harshness. Love of courage, without love of learning, sinks into turbulence. Love of strength, without love of learning, sinks into oddity."

[9] The Master said: "My boys, why do ye not study poetry? Poetry would ripen you; teach you insight, fellowfeeling, and forbearance; show you first your duty to your father, then your duty to the king; and would teach you the names of many birds and beasts, plants and trees."

[10] The Master said to Po-yü': "Hast thou conned the

A kingdom in the east to match Chou in the west, the home of Kings Wen and Wu. • Tzu-lu. His son.

Chou-nan and Shao-nan? Who has not conned the Chounan and Shao-nan is as a man standing with his face to the wall."

[11] The Master said: "Courtesy, courtesy,' is the cry: but are jade and silk the whole of courtesy? Harmony, harmony,' is the cry: but are bells and drums the whole of harmony?"

[12] The Master said: "A fierce outside and a weak core, is it not like a paltry fellow, like a thief who crawls through a hole in the wall?"

[13] The Master said: "The bane of all things noble is the pattern citizen."

[14] The Master said: "To proclaim each truth, as soon as learned to the highwayside, is to lay waste the soul."

[15] The Master said: "How can one serve the king with a sordid colleague, itching to get what he wants, trembling to lose what he has? This trembling to lose what he has may lead him anywhere."

[16] The Master said: "Men of old had three failings, which have, perhaps, died out to-day. Ambitious men of old were not nice: ambitious men to-day are unprincipled. Masterful men of old were rough: masterful men to-day are quarrelsome. Simple men of old were straight: simple men to-day are false. That is all."

[17] The Master said: "Honeyed words and flattering looks seldom speak of love."

[18] The Master said: "I hate the ousting of scarlet by purple. I hate the strains of Cheng, confounders of sweet music. I hate a sharp tongue, the ruin of kingdom and home."

[19] The Master said: "I long for silence."

Tzu-kung said: "If ye, Sir, were silent, what would your disciples have to tell?"

The Master said: "Does Heaven speak? The seasons four revolve, and all things multiply. Does Heaven speak?" [20] Ju Pei wished to see Confucius. Confucius excused himself on the plea of sickness. As the messenger went out, Confucius took a lute and sang to it, so that he should hear.

The first two books of the "Book of Poetry."

[21] Tsai Wo° asked about the three years' mourning. He thought one enough.

"If for three years pomp is scouted by the gentry, will not courtesy suffer? If music stop for three years, will not music decay? The old grain vanishes, the new springs up; the round of woods for the fire-drill is ended in one year." The Master said: "Feeding on rice, clad in brocade, couldst thou feel happy?"

"I could feel happy," he answered.

"Then do what makes thee happy. A gentleman, when in mourning, has no taste for sweets, no ear for music; he is unhappy in his home. And so he forsakes these things. But since thou art happy in them, keep them."

When Tsai Wo had left, the Master said: “A man without love! At the age of three a child first leaves his parents' arms, and three years is the time for mourning everywhere below heaven. But did Yü" enjoy for three years a father's and a mother's love?"

[22] The Master said: "Bad it is when a man eats his fill all day, and has nought to task the mind! Could he not play at chequers? Even that were better."

[23] Tzu-lu said: "Does a gentleman honour courage?" The Master said: "Right comes first for a gentleman. Courage, without sense of right, makes rebels of the great, and robbers of the poor."

[24] Tzu-kung said: "Does a gentleman also hate?" "He does," said the Master. 'He hates the sounding of evil deeds; he hates men of low estate who slander their betters; he hates courage without courtesy; he hates daring matched with blindness."

"And Tz'u," he added, "dost thou hate too?"

"I hate those who mistake spying for wisdom. I hate those who take want of deference for courage. I hate evil speaking, cloaked as honesty."

[25] The Master said: "Only girls and servants are hard to train. Draw near to them, they grow unruly; hold them off, they pay you with spite."

[26] The Master said: "When a man of forty is hated, it will be so to the end."

XVIII

[1] THE lord of Wei' went into exile, the lord of Chi' became a slave, Pi-kan' died for his reproofs.

Confucius said: "In three of the Yin there was love." [2] When Liu-hsia Hui' was judge he was thrice dismissed.

Men said: "Why not leave, Sir?"

He answered: "Whither could I go and not be thrice dismissed for upright service? To do crooked service what need to leave the land of my forefathers?"

[3] Ching, Duke of Ch'i, speaking of how to treat Confucius, said: "I could not treat him as I do the Chi. I should set him between Chi and Meng."

Again he said: "I am old: I have no use for him."
Confucius went his way.

[4] Chi Huan accepted a gift of singing girls from the men of Ch'i. For three days no court was held.

Confucius went his way.

[5] Chieh-yü, the mad-head of Ch'u, as he passed Confucius sang:

"Phoenix, bright phoenix,

Thy glory is ended!

Think of the future:

The past can't be mended.

Up and away!

The court is to-day

With danger attended."

Confucius alighted and fain would have spoken with him. But hurriedly he made off: no speech was to be had of him. [6] Ch'ang-chü and Chieh-ni were working together in the fields. Confucius, as he passed by, sent Tzu-lu to ask after a ford.

Ch'ang-chü said: "Who is that holding the reins?" "K'ung Ch'iu," answered Tzu-lu.

"What, K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?"

"The same," said Tzu-lu.

Kinsman of Chou, the last tyrannical emperor of the house of Yin. *See note to xv. 13.

B.C. 497. The turning point in Confucius' career. Sorrowfully the Master left office and his native land and went forth to twelve years of wandering in exile. • Confucius.

"He knows the ford," said Ch'ang-chü. Tzu-lu asked Chieh-ni.

"Who are ye, sir?" he answered.

"I am Chung Yu."

"The disciple of K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?"

"Yes," said Tzu-lu.

"The world is one seething torrent," answered Chieh-ni, "what man can guide it? Were it not better to choose a master who flees the world, than a master who flees this man and that man?"

And he went on hoeing without stop.

Tzu-lu went back and told the Master, whose face fell. "Can I herd with birds and beasts?" he said. "Whom but these men can I choose as fellows? And if all were right with the world, I should have no call to set it straight." [7] Tzu-lu having fallen behind met an old man bearing a basket on his staff.

Tzu-lu asked him: "Have ye seen the Master, Sir?"

The old man answered: "Thou dost not toil with thy limbs, nor canst thou tell one grain from another; who is thy Master?”

And planting his staff in the ground, he began weeding. Tzu-lu bowed and stood before him.

He kept Tzu-lu for the night, killed a fowl, prepared millet, feasted him, and presented his two sons.

On the morrow Tzu-lu went to the Master, and told what had happened.

The Master said: "He is in hiding."

He sent Tzu-lu back to see him; but when he reached the house the man had left.

Tzu-lu said: "Not to take office is wrong. If the ties of old and young are binding, why should the claim of king on minister be set aside? Wishing to keep his person clean, he flouts a foremost duty. A gentleman takes office at the call of right, aware though he be, that the cause is lost."

[8] Po-yi, Shu-ch'i, Yü-chung, Yi-yi, Chu-chang, Liu-hsia Hui and Shao-lien were men who fled the world.

The Master said: "Po-yi and Shu-ch'i would not bend the will, or shame the body.

See note to v. 22.