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 Hwui,"[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 Hwui 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-hia. "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-kau was simple-minded; Tsang Si, a dullard; Tsz-chang, full of airs; Tsz-lu, rough.
"As to Hwui," 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-kau 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 (Hwui), 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-hia.]
[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 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-hia 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-hia 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' Kau-yau; 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-hia became governor of Kue-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 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?"