injuring their virtue. They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their virtue complete."

IX. Tsze-kung asked about the practice of virtue. The Master said, "The mechanic, who wishes to do his work well, must first sharpen his tools. When you are living in any state, take service with the most worthy among its great officers, and make friends of the most virtuous among its scholars."

X. 1. Yen Yuen asked how the government of a country should be administered.

2. The Master said, "Follow the seasons of Hea. 3. "Ride in the state carriage of Yin.

4. "Wear the ceremonial cap of Chow.

5. "Let the music be the Shaou with its pantomimes. 6. "Banish the songs of Ch'ing, and keep far from specious talkers. The songs of Ch'ing are licentious specious talkers are dangerous."

doubt suicide is included in the expression (see the amplification of Ho An's commentary), and Confucius here justifies that act, as in certain cases expressive of high virtue.

9. HOW INTERCOURSE WITH THE GOOD AIDS THE PRACTICE OF VIRTUE. Compare Proverbs xxvii. 17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

10. CERTAIN RULES, EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ANCIENT DYNASTIES, TO BE FOLLOWED IN GOVERNING:-A REPLY TO YEN YUEN. 1. The disciple modestly put his question with reference to the government of a State, but the Master answers it according to the disciple's ability, as if it had been about the ruling of the empire. 2. The three great ancient dynasties began the year at different times. According to an ancient tradition, “Heaven was opened at the time tsze; Earth: appeared at the time ch'ow; and Man was born at the time yin. Tsze commences in our December, at the winter solstice; ch'ow a month later; and yin a month after ch'ow. The Chow dynasty began its year with tsze; the Shang with ch'ow; and the Hea with yin. As human life then commenced, the year in reference to human labours, naturally proceeds from the spring, and Confucius approved the rule of the Hea dynasty. His decision has been the law of all dynasties since the Ts'in. See the "Discours Préliminaire, Chapter I.," in Gaubil's Shoo King. 3. The state carriage of the Yin dynasty was plain and substantial, which Confucius preferred to the more ornamented ones of Chow. 4. Yet he does not object to the more elegant cap of that dynasty, "the cap," says Choo He, "being a small thing, and placed over all the body." 5. The shaou was the music of Shun; see III. xxv.; the "dancers," or "pantomimes," kept time to the music. See the Shoo-king II. Bk II. 21. 6. "The sounds of Ch'ing," meaning both the songs of Ch'ing and the appropriate music to which they were sung. Those songs form the seventh book of the first division of the She-king, and are here characterized justly.

XI. The Master said, "If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.'

XII. The Master said, "It is all over! I have not seen one who loves virtue as he loves beauty."

XIII. The Master said, "Was not Tsang Wăn like one who had stolen his situation? He knew the virtue and the talents of Hwuy of Lew-hea, and yet did not procure that he should stand with him in court.”

XIV. The Master said, "He who requires much from himself and little from others, will keep himself from being the object of resentment."

XV. The Master said, "When a man is not in the habit of saying 'What shall I think of this? What shall I think of this?' I can indeed do nothing with him!"

XVI. The Master said, "When a number of people are together, for a whole day, without their conversation turning on righteousness, and when they are fond of carrying out the suggestions of a small shrewdness;—theirs is indeed a hard case."

XVII. The Master said, "The superior man in everything considers righteousness to be essential. He performs it according to the rules of propriety. He brings it forth in humility. He completes it with sincerity. This is indeed a superior man."

"It is all over,

-see

11. THE NECESSITY OF FORETHOUGHT AND PRECAUTION. 12. THE RARITY OF A TRUE LOVE OF VIRTUE. V. xxvi.; the rest is a repetition of IX. xvii., said to have been spoken by Confucius when he was in Wei, and saw the duke riding out openly in the same carriage with Nan-tsze.

13. AGAINST JEALOUSY OF OTHERS' TALENTS; THE CASE OF TSANG WĂN, AND HWUY OF LEW-HEA. Tsang Wăn-chung,-see V. xvii. Tsang Wån would not recommend Hwuy, because he was an abler and better man than himself. Hwuy is a famous name in China. He was an officer of Loo, styled Hwuy after death, and derived his revenue from a town called Lew-hea, though some say that it was a lew or willow tree, overhanging his house, which made him to be known as Lew-hea Hwuy-" Hwuy that lived under the willow tree." See Mencius II. Bk. I. ix.

14. THE WAY TO WARD OFF RESENTMENTS.

15. NOTHING CAN BE MADE OF PEOPLE WHO TAKE THINGS EASILY,

NOT GIVING THEMSELVES THE TROUBLE TO THINK. Compare VII. viii.

16. AGAINST FRIVOLOUS TALKERS AND SUPERFICIAL SPECULATORS. "A hard case," i. e., they will make nothing out, and nothing can be made of them.

17. THE CONDUCT OF THE SUPERIOR MAN IS RIGHTEOUS, COURTEOUS, HUMBLE, AND SINCERE.

XVIII. The Master said, "The superior man is distressed by his want of ability. He is not distressed by men's not knowing him."

XIX. The Master said, "The superior man dislikes the thought of his name not being mentioned after his death." XX. The Master said, "What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What the mean man seeks, is in others."

XXI. The Master said, "The superior man is dignified, but does not wrangle. He is sociable, but not a parti

zan.'

XXII. The Master said, "The superior man does not promote a man simply on account of his words, nor does he put aside good words because of the man.'

XXIII. Tsze-kung asked, saying, "Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life?" The Master said, "Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others."

XXIV. 1. The Master said, "In my writing or speaking of men, whose evil do I blame, whose goodness do I praise, beyond what is proper? If I do sometimes exceed in praise, there must be ground for it in my examination of the individual.

18. OUR OWN INCOMPETENCY, AND NOT OUR REPUTATION, THE PROPER BUSINESS OF CONCERN TO US. See XIV. xxxii., et al. 19. THE SUPERIOR MAN WISHES TO BE HAD IN REMEMBRANCE. Not, say the commentators, that the superior man cares about fame, but fame is the invariable concomitant of merit. He can't have been the superior man, if he be not remembered.

20. HIS OWN APPROBATION IS THE SUPERIOR MAN'S RULE. THE APPROBATION OF OTHERS IS THE MEAN MAN'S. Compare XIV. xxv.

21. THE SUPERIOR MAN IS DIGNIFIED AND AFFABLE, WITHOUT THE FAULTS TO WHICH THOSE QUALITIES OFTEN LEAD. Compare II. xiv., and VII. xxx.

22, THE SUPERIOR MAN IS DISCRIMINATING IN HIS EMPLOYMENT OF MEN AND JUDGING OF STATEMENTS.

23. THE GREAT PRINCIPLE OF RECIPROCITY IS THE RULE OF LIFE. Compare V. xi. It is singular that Tsze-kung professes there to act on the principle here recommended to him,

24. CONFUCIUS SHOWED HIS RESPECT FOR MEN BY STRICT TRUTHFULNESS IN AWARDING PRAISE OR CENSURE. The meaning of this chapter seems to be this:-First, Confucius was very careful in according praise or blame. If he ever seemed to go beyond the truth, it was on the side of praise; and even then he saw something in the individual which made him believe that his praise of him would in the future be justified. Second, In this matter, Confucius acted as the founders of the three great dynasties

2. "This people supplied the ground why the founders of the three dynasties pursued the path of straightforward

ness."

XXV. The Master said, "Even in my early days, a historiographer would leave a blank in his text, and he who had a horse would lend him to another to ride. Now, alas! there are no such things."

XXVI. The Master said, "Specious words confound virtue. Want of forbearance in small matters confounds great plans."

XXVII. The Master said, "When the multitude hate a man, it is necessary to examine into the case. When the multitude like a man, it is necessary to examine into the case."

XXVIII. The Master said, "A man can enlarge the principles which he follows; those principles do not enlarge the man."

had done. Third, Those founders and himself were equally influenced by a regard to the truth-approving nature of man. This was the rule for the

former in their institutions, and for him in his judgments.

25. INSTANCES OF THE DEGENERACY OF CONFUCIUS TIMES. The appointment of the historiographer is referred to Hwang-te or "The Yellow emperor," the inventor of the cycle. The statutes of Chow mention no fewer than five classes of such officers. They were attached also to the feudal courts, and what Confucius says, is, that, in his early days, a historiographer, on any point about which he was not sure, would leave a blank; so careful were they to record only the truth. This second sentence is explained in Ho An.-"If any one had a horse which he could not tame, he would lend it to another to ride and exercise it!"---The commentator Hoo says well that the meaning of the chapter must be left in uncertainty.

26. THE DANGER OF SPECIOUS WORDS AND OF IMPATIENCE. The subject of the second sentence is not "a little impatience," but impatience in little things; "the hastiness," it is said, "of women and small people." 27. IN JUDGING OF A MAN WE MUST NOT BE GUIDED BY HIS BEING GENERALLY LIKED OR DISLIKED. Compare XIII. xxiv.

28. PRINCIPLES OF DUTY AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HAND OF MAN. This sentence is quite mystical in its sententiousness. One writer says"The subject here is the path of duty, which all men, in their various relations, have to pursue, and man has the three virtues of knowledge, benevolence, and fortitude, wherewith to pursue that path, and so he enlarges it. That virtue, remote, occupying an empty place, cannot enlarge man, needs not to be said.” That writer's account of the subject here is probably correct, and "duty unapprehended," "in an empty place," can have no effect on any man; but this is a mere truism. Duty apprehended is constantly enlarging, elevating, and energizing multitudes who had pre

XXIX. The Master said, "To have faults and not to reform them,-this, indeed, should be pronounced having faults."

XXX. The Master said, "I have been the whole day without eating, and the whole night without sleeping :occupied with thinking. It was of no use. The better plan is to learn."

XXXI. The Master said, "The object of the superior man is truth. Food is not his object. There is ploughing; even in that there is sometimes want. So with learning; emolument may be found in it. The superior man is anxious lest he should not get truth; he is not anxious lest poverty should come upon him."

XXXII. 1. The Master said, "When a man's knowledge is sufficient to attain, and his virtue is not sufficient to enable him to hold, whatever he may have gained, he will lose again.

2. "When his knowledge is sufficient to attain, and he has virtue enough to hold fast, if he cannot govern with dignity, the people will not respect him.

viously been uncognizant of it. The first clause of the chapter may be. granted; but the second is not in accordance with truth.

Compare

29. THE CULPABILITY OF NOT REFORMING KNOWN FAULTS. I. viii. Choo He's commentary appears to make the meaning somewhat different. He says:"If one having faults can change them, he comes back to the condition of having no faults. But if he do not change them, then they go on to their completion, and will never come to be changed."

30. THE FRUITLESSNESS OF THINKING WITHOUT READING. Compare II. xv., where the dependence of acquisition and reflection on each other is set forth.—Many commentators say that Confucius merely transfers the things which he here mentions to himself for the sake of others, not that it ever was really thus with himself.

31. THE SUPERIOR MAN SHOULD NOT BE MERCENARY, BUT HAVE TRUTH FOR HIS OBJECT. "Want may be in the midst of ploughing,"i.e., husbandry is the way to plenty, and yet despite the labours of the husbandman, a famine or scarcity sometimes occurs. The application of this to the case of learning, however, is not very apt. Is the emolument that sometimes comes with learning a calamity like famine?—Ch'ing K'ang-shing's view is :-" Although a man may plough, yet, not learning, he will come to hunger. If he learn, he will get emolument, and though he do not plough, he will not be in want. This is advising men to learn!

32. How KNOWLEDGE WITHOUT VIRTUE IS NOT LASTING, AND TO KNOWLEDGE AND VIRTUE A RULER SHOULD ADD DIGNITY AND THE RULES OF PROPRIETY.