The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena), James Legge [popular books of all time TXT] 📗

cities were like the castles of the barons of England in the time of the Norman

 

1 This meeting at Chia-ku is related in Sze-ma Ch’ien, the ‘Narratives of the school,’ and Ku-liang, with many exaggerations. I have followed ������, �w���Q�~.

2 The �a�y says Bk. II, ���l���|�q�F, ������. But he was a �� only in the sense of an assistant of ceremonies, as at the meeting in Chia-ku, described above.

3 See the �a�y, Bk. II.

 

kings. Confucius had their destruction very much at heart, and partly by the influence of persuasion, and partly by the assisting counsels of Tsze-lu, he accomplished his object in regard to Pi [1], the chief city of the Chi, and Hau [2], the chief city of the Shu.

It does not appear that he succeeded in the same way in dismantling Ch’ang [3], the chief city of the Mang [4]; but his authority in the State greatly increased. ‘He strengthened the ducal House and weakened the private Families. He exalted the sovereign, and depressed the ministers. A transforming government went abroad. Dishonesty and dissoluteness were ashamed and hid their heads. Loyalty and good faith became the characteristics of the men, and chastity and docility those of the women. Strangers came in crowds from other States [5].’ Confucius became the idol of the people, and flew in songs through their mouths [6].

But this sky of bright promise was soon overcast. As the fame of the reformations in Lu went abroad, the neighboring princes began to be afraid. The duke of Ch’i said, ‘With Confucius at the head of its government, Lu will become supreme among the States, and Ch’i which is nearest to it will be the first swallowed up. Let us propitiate it by a surrender of territory.’ One of his ministers proposed that they should first try to separate between the sage and his sovereign, and to effect this, they hit upon the following scheme. Eighty beautiful girls, with musical and dancing accomplishments, and a hundred and twenty of the finest horses that could be found, were selected, and sent as a present to duke Ting. They were put up at first outside the city, and Chi Hwan having gone in disguise to see them, forgot the lessons of Confucius, and took the duke to look at the bait. They were both captivated. The women were received, and the sage was neglected. For three days the duke gave no audience to his ministers. ‘Master,’ said Tsze-lu to Confucius, ‘it is time for you to be going.’ But Confucius was very unwilling to leave. The spring was coming on, when the sacrifice to Heaven would be offered, and he determined to wait and see whether the

 

1 �O.

2 ��.

3 ��.

4 In connexion with these events, the ‘Narratives of the School’ and Sze-ma Ch’ien mention the summary punishment inflicted by Confucius on an able but unscrupulous and insidious officer the Shaou chang, Maou (�����f). His judgment and death occupy a conspicuous place in the legendary accounts. But the Analects, Tsze-sze, Mencius, and Tso Ch’iu-ming are all silent about it, and Chiang Yung rightly rejects it as one of the many narratives invented to exalt the sage.

5 See the �a�y, Bk. II.

6 See ���O�l, quoted by Chiang Yung.

 

solemnization of that would bring the duke back to his right mind. No such result followed. The ceremony was hurried through, and portions of the offerings were not sent round to the various ministers, according to the established custom. Confucius regretfully took his departure, going away slowly and by easy stages [1]. He would have welcomed a message of recall. But the duke continued in his abandonment, and the sage went forth to thirteen weary years of homeless wandering.

8. On leaving Lu, Confucius first bent his steps westward to the State of Wei, situate about where the present provinces of Chih-li and Ho-nan adjoin.

[Sidebar] He wanders from State to State. B.C. 497-484.

He was now in his fifty-sixth year, and felt depressed and melancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his feelings in verse:—

‘Fain would I still look towards Lu, But this Kwei hill cuts off my view. With an axe, I’d hew the thickets through:— Vain thought! ‘gainst the hill I nought can do;’

and again,—

‘Through the valley howls the blast, Drizzling rain falls thick and fast. Homeward goes the youthful bride, O’er the wild, crowds by her side. How is it, O azure Heaven, From my home I thus am driven, Through the land my way to trace, With no certain dwelling-place? Dark, dark; the minds of men! Worth in vain comes to their ken. Hastens on my term of years; Old age, desolate, appears [2],’

 

A number of his disciples accompanied him, and his sadness infected them. When they arrived at the borders of Wei at a place called I, the warden sought an interview, and on coming out from the sage, he tried to comfort the disciples, saying, ‘My friends, why are you distressed at your master’s loss of office? The world has been long without the principles of truth and right; Heaven is going to use your master as a bell with its wooden tongue [3].’ Such was the thought of this friendly stranger. The bell did indeed sound, but few had ears to hear.

 

1 �v�O, ���l�@�a, p. 5. See also Mencius, V. Pt. II. i. 4.; et al.

2 See Chiang Yung’s Life of Confucius, �h�|�P�C��.

3 Ana. III. xxiv.

 

Confucius’s fame, however, had gone before him, and he was in little danger of having to suffer from want. On arriving at the capital of Wei, he lodged at first with a worthy officer, named Yen Ch’au-yu [1]. The reigning duke, known to us by the epithet of Ling [2], was a worthless, dissipated man, but he could not neglect a visitor of such eminence, and soon assigned to Confucius a revenue of 60,000 measures of grain [3]. Here he remained for ten months, and then for some reason left it to go to Ch’an [4]. On the way he had to pass by K’wang [5], a place probably in the present department of K’ai-fung in Ho-nan, which had formerly suffered from Yang-hu. It so happened that Confucius resembled Hu, and the attention of the people being called to him by the movements of his carriage-driver, they thought it was their old enemy, and made an attack upon him. His followers were alarmed, but he was calm, and tried to assure them by declaring his belief that he had a divine mission. He said to them, ‘After the death of king Wan, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me? If Heaven had wished to let this cause of truth perish, then I, a future mortal, should not have got such a relation to that cause. While Heaven does not let the cause of truth perish, what can the people of K’wang do to me [6]?’ Having escaped from the hands of his assailants, he does not seem to have carried out his purpose of going to Ch’an, but returned to Wei.

On the way, he passed a house where he had formerly lodged, and finding that the master was dead, and the funeral ceremonies going on, he went in to condole and weep. When he came out, he told Tsze-kung to take the outside horses from his carriage, and give them as a contribution to the expenses of the occasion. ‘You never did such a thing,’ Tsze-kung remonstrated, ‘at the funeral of any of your disciples; is it not too great a gift on this occasion of the death of an old host?’ ‘When I went in,’ replied Confucius, ‘my presence brought a burst of grief from the chief mourner, and I joined him with my tears. I dislike the thought of my tears not being followed by anything. Do it, my child [7].’ On reaching Wei, he lodged with Chu Po-yu, an officer of whom

 

1 �C�A��. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 2.

2. �F��.

3 see the �v�O, ���l�@�a, p. 5.

4 ����.

5. �J.

6 Ana. IX. v. In Ana. XI. xxii, there is another reference to this time, in which Yen Hui is made to appear.

7 See the Li Chi, II. Sect. I. ii. 16.

 

honourable mention is made in the Analects [1]. But this time he did not remain long in the State. The duke was

[Sidebar] B.C. 495.

married to a lady of the house of Sung, known by the name of Nan-tsze, notorious for her intrigues and wickedness. She sought an interview with the sage, which he was obliged unwillingly to accord [2]. No doubt he was innocent of thought or act of evil, but it gave great dissatisfaction to Tsze-lu that his master should have been in company with such a woman, and Confucius, to assure him, swore an oath, saying, ‘Wherein I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me! May Heaven reject me [3]!’ He could not well abide, however, about such a court. One day the duke rode out through the streets of his capital in the same carriage with Nan-tsze, and made Confucius follow them in another. Perhaps he intended to honour the philosopher, but the people saw the incongruity, and cried out, ‘Lust in the front; virtue behind!’ Confucius was ashamed, and made the observation, ‘I have not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty [4].’ Wei was no place for him. He left it, and took his way towards Ch’an.

Ch’an, which formed part of the present province of Ho-nan, lay south from Wei. After passing the small State of Ts’ao [5], he approached the borders of Sung, occupying the present prefecture of Kwei-teh, and had some intentions of entering it, when an incident occurred, which it is not easy to understand from the meagre style in which it is related, but which gave occasion to a remarkable saying. Confucius was practising ceremonies with his disciples, we are told, under the shade of a large tree. Hwan T’ui, an ill-minded officer of Sung, heard of it, and sent a band of men to pull down the tree, and kill the philosopher, if they could get hold of him. The disciples were much alarmed, but Confucius observed, ‘Heaven has produced the virtue that is in me; what can Hwan T’ui do to me [6]?’ They all made their escape, but seem to have been driven westwards to the State of Chang [7], on arriving at the gate conducting into which from the east, Confucius found himself separated from his followers. Tsze-kung had arrived before him, and was told by a native of Chang that there was a man standing by the east gate, with a forehead like Yao, a neck like Kao-yao, his shoulders on a level with those of Tsze-ch’an, but wanting, below the waist, three

 

1 Ana. XIV. xxvi; XV. vi.

2 See the account in the �v�O, ���l�@�a, p. 6.

3 Ana. VI. xxvi.

4 Ana. IX. xvii.

5 ��.

6 ana. IX. xxii.

7 �G.

 

inches of the height of Yu, and altogether having the disconsolate appearance of a stray dog.’ Tsze-kung knew it was the master, hastened to him, and repeated to his great amusement the description which the man had given. ‘The bodily appearance,’ said Confucius, ‘is but a small matter, but to say I was like a stray dog,— capital! capital!’ The stay they made at Chang was short, and by the end of B.C. 495, Confucius was in Ch’an.

All the next year he remained there, lodging with the warder of the city wall, an officer of worth, of the name of Chang [2], and we have no accounts of him which deserve to be related here [3].

In B.C. 494, Ch’an was much disturbed by attacks from Wu