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XVII. The Master said, "Yew, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it;-this is knowledge."

XVIII. 1. Tsze-chang was learning with a view to official emolument.

2. The Master said,"Hear much and put aside the points of which you stand in doubt, while you speak cautiously at the same time of the others :-t :-then you will afford few occasions for blame. See much and put aside the things which seem perilous, while you are cautious at the same time in carrying the others into practice :-then you will have few occasions for repentance. When one gives few occasions for blame in his words, and few occasions for repentance in his conduct, he is in the way to get emolument."

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XIX. The Duke Gae asked, saying, "What should be done in order to secure the submission of the people Confucius replied, "Advance the upright and set aside the crooked, then the people will submit. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, then the people will not submit."

Buddhism was not in China, and we can hardly suppose him to intend Taouism. Indeed, we are ignorant to what doctrines he referred, but his maxim is of general application.

17. THERE SHOULD BE NO PRETENCE IN THE PROFESSION OR KNOWLEDGE, OR THE DENIAL OF IGNORANCE. Yew, by surname Chung, and generally known by his designation of Tsze-loo, was one of the most famous disciples of Confucius, and now occupies in the temples the fourth place east in the sage's own hall, among the "wise ones." He was noted for his courage and forwardness, a man of impulse rather than reflection. Confucius had foretold that he would come to an untimely end, and so it happened. He was killed through his own rashness in a revolution in the state of Wei. The tassel of his cap being cut off when he received his death-wound, he quoted a saying-" The superior man must not die without his cap," tied on the tassel, adjusted the cap, and expired.

18. THE END IN LEARNING SHOULD BE ONE'S OWN IMPROVEMENT, AND NOT EMOLUMENT. Tzse-chang, named Sze, with the double surname Chuen-sun, a native of Ch'in, was not undistinguished in the Confucian school. Tsze-kung praised him as a man of merit without boasting, humble in a high position, and not arrogant to the helpless. From this chapter, however, it would appear that inferior motives did sometimes rule him.

19. How A PRINCE BY THE RIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF HIS OFFICERS MAY SECURE THE REAL SUBMISSION OF HIS SUBJECTS. Gae was the honorary epithet of Tsëang, Duke of Loo (B.C. 494-367). Confucius died in his sixteenth year. According to the laws for posthumous titles, Gae denotes

XX. Ke K'ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to urge themselves to virtue. The Master said, "Let him preside over them with gravity;-then they will reverence him. Let him be filial and kind to all;-then they will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the incompetent; then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous."

XXI. 1. Some one addressed Confucius, saying, "Sir, why are you not engaged in the government?"

2. The Master said, "What does the Shoo-king say of filial piety?—You are filial, you discharge your brotherly duties. These qualities are displayed in government.' This then also constitutes the exercise of government. Why must there be THAT to make one be in the government?"

XXII. The Master said, "I do not know how a man without truthfulness is to get on. How can a large carriage be made to go without the cross bar for yoking the oxen to, or a small carriage without the arrangement for yoking the horses?"

XXIII. 1. Tsze-chang asked whether the affairs of ten ages after could be known.

"the respectful and benevolent, early cut off," and Duke Gae, "The tobe-lamented duke."

20. EXAMPLE IN SUPERIORS IS MORE POWERFUL THAN FORCE. K'ang, “easy and pleasant, people-soother," was the honorary epithet of Ke-sun Fei, the head of one of the three great families of Loo; see ch. 5. His idea is seen in "to cause," the power of force; that of Confucius appears in "then," the power of influence.

1.

21. CONFUCIUS' EXPLANATION OF HIS NOT BEING IN ANY OFFICE. "Confucius " is here "K'ung, the philosopher," the surname indicating that the questioner was not a disciple. He had his reason for not being in office at the time, but it was not expedient to tell. He replied, therefore, as in par. 2. See the Shoo-king, v. xxi. 1. But the text is neither correctly applied nor exactly quoted. A western may think that the philosopher might have made a happier evasion.

22. THE NECESSITY TO A MAN OF BEING TRUTHFUL AND SINCERE.

23. THE GREAT PRINCIPLES GOVERNING SOCIETY ARE UNCHANGEABLE. 1. Confucius made no pretension to supernatural powers, and all commentators are agreed that the things here asked about were not what we would call contingent or indifferent events. He merely says that the great principles of morality and relations of society had continued the same, and would ever do so. 2. The Hea, Yin, and Chow, are now spoken of as the "Three dynasties," literally, "The three Changes." The first emperor of the Hea was "The great Yu," B.C. 2204; of the Yin, T'ang, B.C. 1765; and of Chow, Woo, B.C. 1121.

2. Confucius said, "The Yin dynasty followed the regulations of the Hea: wherein it took from or added to them may be known. The Chow dynasty has followed the regulations of the Yin: wherein it took from or added to them may be known. Some other may follow the Chow, but though it should be at the distance of a hundred ages, its affairs may be known."

XXIV. 1. The Master said, "For a man to sacrifice to a spirit which does not belong to him is flattery." 2. "To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage."

BOOK III.

CHAPTER I. Confucius said of the head of the Ke family, who had eight rows of pantomimes in his area, "If he can bear to do this, what may he not bear to do?"

II. The three families used the YUNG ode, while the vessels were being removed, at the conclusion of the sac

24. NEITHER IN SACRIFICE NOR IN OTHER PRACTICE MAY A MAN DO ANYTHING BUT WHAT IS RIGHT. The spirits of which a man may say that they are his, are those only of his ancestors, and to them only he may sacrifice. The ritual of China provides for sacrifices to three classes of objects" Spirits of heaven, of the earth, of men." This chapter is not to be extended to all the three. It has reference only to the manes of departed men.

HEADING AND SUBJECTS OF THIS BOOK. The last book treated of the practice of government, and therein no things, according to Chinese ideas, are more important than ceremonial rites and music. With those topics, therefore, the twenty-six chapters of this book are occupied, and eight rows," the principal words in the first chapter, are adopted as its heading.

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1.

RITES.

CONFUCIUS' INDIGNATION AT THE USURPATION OF IMPERIAL These dancers, or pantomimes rather, kept time in the temple services, in the front space before the raised portion in the principal hall, moving or brandishing feathers, flags, or other articles. In his ancestral temple, the Emperor had eight rows, each row consisting of eight men; a duke or prince had six, and a great officer only four. For the Ke, therefore, to use eight rows was a usurpation, for though it may be argued, that to the ducal family of Loo imperial rites were conceded, and that the offshoots of it might use the same, still great officers were confined to the ordinances proper to their rank. Confucius' remark may also be translated, "If this be endured, what may not be endured?"

2. AGAIN AGAINST USURPED RITES. The three families assembled together as being the descendants of Duke Hwan in one temple. To

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rifice. The Master said, "Assisting are the princes;the Emperor looks profound and grave:'-what application can these words have in the hall of the three families?"

III. The Master said, "If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with the rites of propriety? If a man be without the virtues proper to humanity, what has he to do with music?"

IV. 1. Lin Fang asked what was the first thing to be attended to in ceremonies.

2. The Master said, "A great question indeed!"

3. "In festive ceremonies it is better to be sparing than extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances."

V. The Master said, "The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land which are without them."

VI. The chief of the Ke family was about to sacrifice to the T'ae mountain. The Master said to Yen Yew, "Can you not save him from this?" He answered, “I cannot.'" Confucius said, "Alas! will you say that the T'ae mountain is not so discerning as Lin Fang?"

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this temple belonged the area in the last chapter, which is called the area of the Ke, because circumstances had concurred to make the Ke the chief of the three families. For the Yung ode, see the She-king, V. Bk II. vii. 1. It was properly sung in the imperial temples of the Chow dynasty, at the "clearing away " of the sacrificial apparatus, and contains the lines quoted by Confucius, which of course were quite inappropriate to the circumstances of the three families.

3. CEREMONIES AND MUSIC VAIN WITHOUT VIRTUE.

4. THE OBJECT OF CEREMONIES SHOULD REGULATE THEM. AGAINST FORMALISM. Lin Fang was a man of Loo, supposed to have been a disciple of Confucius, and whose tablet is now placed in the outer court of the temples. He is known only by the question in this chapter.

5. THE ANARCHY OF CONFUCIUS' TIME.

6. ON THE FOLLY OF USURPED SACRIFICES. The T'ae mountain is the first of the "five mountains" which are celebrated in Chinese literature, and have always received religious honours. It was in Loo, or rather on the borders between Loo and Ts'e, about two miles north of the present district city of T'ae-gan, in the department of Tse-nan, in Shan-tung. According to the ritual of China, sacrifice could only be offered to these mountains by the emperor, and princes in whose States any of them happened to be. For the chief of the Ke family, therefore, to sacrifice to the T'ae mountain was a great usurpation. Yen Yew

VII. The Master said, "The student of virtue has no contentions. If it be said he cannot avoid them, shall this be in archery? But he bows complaisantly to his competitors; thus he ascends the platform, descends, and exacts the forfeit of drinking. In his contention, he is still the Keun-tsze."

VIII. 1. Tsze-hea asked, saying, "What is the meaning of the passage The loveliness of her artful smile The well-defined black and white of her fine eyes! The plain ground for the colours'?"

2. The Master said, "The business of laying on the colours follows the preparation of the plain ground."

3. "Ceremonies then are a subsequent thing!" The Master said, "It is Shang who can bring out my meaning! Now I can begin to talk about the odes with him.'

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IX. The Master said, "I am able to describe the ceremonies of the Hea dynasty, but Ke cannot sufficiently attest my words. I am able to describe the ceremonies of the Yin dynasty, but Sung cannot sufficiently attest my words. They cannot do so because of the insufficiency of their records and wise men. If those were sufficient, I could adduce them in support of my words."

was one of the disciples of Confucius, and is now third among the "wise ones on the west. He was a man of ability and resources, and on one occasion proved himself a brave soldier.

7. THE SUPERIOR MAN AVOIDS ALL CONTENTIOUS STRIVING. In Confucius' time there were three principal exercises of archery:—the great archery, under the eye of the emperor; the guests' archery, at the visits of the princes among themselves or at the imperial court; and the festive archery. The regulations for the archers were substantially the same in them all. Every stage of the trial was preceded by "bowings and yieldings," making the whole an exhibition of courtesies and not of contention.

8. CEREMONIES ARE SECONDARY AND ORNAMENTAL. The sentences quoted by Tsze-hea are from an old ode, one of those which Confucius did not admit into the She-king. The two first lines, however, are found in it, I. v. 3. The disciple's inquiry turns on the meaning of the last line, which he took to be: "The plain ground is to be regarded as the colouring; but Confucius, in his reply, corrects his error.

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9. THE DECAY OF THE MONUMENTS OF ANTIQUITY. Of Hea and Yin, see II. 23. In the small state of Ke (what is now the district of the same name in K'ae-fung department in Ho-nan), the sacrifices to the emperors of the Hea dynasty were maintained by their descendants. So with the Yin dynasty and Sung, also a part of the present Ho-nan. But the "literary monuments of those countries, and their "wise men" had become few. Had Confucius therefore delivered all his knowledge about the two dy

VOL. I.

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