Hwuy-the tears of Confucius himself would flow over and above the measure of propriety.8

He holds office. B.C. 500-496.

7 We come to the short period of Confucius' official life. In the year B.C.501, things had come to a head between the chiefs of the three Families and their ministers, and had resulted in the defeat of the latter. In B.C. 500, the resources of Yang Hoo were exhausted, and he fled into Ts'e, so that the State was delivered from its greatest troubler, and the way was made more clear for Confucius to go into office, should an opportunity occur. It soon presented itself. Towards the end of that year he was made chief magistrate of the town of Chung-too.1

Just before he received this appointment, a circumstance occured of which we do not well know what to make. When Yang-hoo fled into Ts'e, Kung-shan Fuh-jaou, who had been confederate with him, continued to maintain an attitude of rebellion, and held the city of Pe against the Ke family. Thence he sent a message to Confucius inviting him to join him, and the sage seemed so inclined to go that his disciple Tsze-loo remonstrated with him, saying, "Indeed you cannot go! why must you think of going to see Kung-shan?" Confucius replied, "Can it be without some reason that he has invited me? If any one employ me, may I not make an eastern Chow? "2 The upshot, however, was that he did not go, and I cannot suppose that he had ever any serious intention of doing so. Amid the general gravity of his intercourse with his followers, there gleam out a few instances of quiet pleasantry, when he amused himself by playing with their notions about him. This was probably one of them.

As magistrate of Chung-too he produced a marvellous reformation of the manners of the people in a short time. According to the 'Family Sayings," he enacted rules for the nourishing of the living and all observances to the dead. Different food was assigned to the old and the young, and different burdens to the strong and the weak. Males and females kept apart from each other in the streets. A

8 Ana. XI. ix.

Amiot says this was 'la ville meme ou le Souverain tenoit sa Cour' (Vie de Confucius, p. 147). He is followed of course by Thornton and Pauthier. My reading has not shown me that such was the case. In the notes to K'ang-he's edition of the 'Five King,' Le Ke, II. Pt. I. iii. 4, it is simply said-Chung-too,—the name of a town of Loo. It afterwards belonged to Ts'e when it was called Ping-luh (). 2 Ana, XVII. v.

thing dropt on the road was not picked up. There was no fraudulent carving of vessels. Inner coffins were made four inches thick, and the outer ones five. Graves were made on the high grounds, no mounds being raised over them, and no trees planted about them. Within twelve months, the princes of the States all about wished to imitate his style of administration.3

The duke Ting, surprised at what he saw, asked whether his rules could be employed to govern a whole State, and Confucius told him that they might be applied to the whole empire. On this the duke appointed him assistant-superintendent of Works, in which capacity he surveyed the lands of the State, and made many improvements in agriculture. From this he was quickly made minister of Crime,5 and the appointment was enough to put an end to crime. There was no necessity to put the penal laws in execution. No offenders showed themselves.6

These indiscriminating eulogies are of little value. One incident, related in the annotations of Tso-k'ew on the Ts'un Ts'ew,7 commends itself at once to our belief, as in harmony with Confucius' character. The chief of the Ke, pursuing with his enmity the duke Ch'aou, even after his death, had placed his grave apart from the graves of his predecessors; and Confucius surrounded the ducal cemetery with a ditch so as to include the solitary resting-place, boldly telling the chief that he did it to hide his disloyalty. But he signalized himself most of all, in B.C. 499, by his behaviour at an interview between the dukes of Loo and Ts'e, at a place called Shih-k'e," and Këǎ-kuh,10 in the present district of Lae-woo, in the department of T'ae-gan.11 Confucius was present as master of ceremonies on the part of Loo, and the meeting was professedly pacific. The two princes were to form a covenant of alliance. The principal officer on the part of Ts'e, however, despising Confucius as "a man of ceremonies, without courage," had advised his sovereign to make the duke of Loo a prisoner, and for this purpose a band of the halfsavage original inhabitants of the place advanced with weapons to the stage where the two dukes were met. Confucius understood

家語 Bk L 4. This office, however, was held by the chief of the Măng

family. We must understand that Confucius was only an assistant to him, or perhaps acted for

him. 5大司寇 。家語Bk I. 7左傳定公元年 8家語 Bk I 9實其 10夾谷 11泰安府萊蕪縣

the scheme, and said to the opposite party, "Our two princes are met for a pacific object. For you to bring a band of savage vassals to disturb the meeting with their weapons, is not the way in which Ts'e can expect to give law to the princes of the empire. These barbarians have nothing to do with our Great Flowery land. Such vassals may not interfere with our covenant. Weapons are out of place at such a meeting. As before the spirits, such conduct is unpropitious. In point of virtue, it is contrary to right. As between man and man, it is not polite." The duke of Ts'e ordered the disturbers off, but Confucius withdrew, carrying the duke of Loo with him. The business proceeded, notwithstanding, and when the words of the alliance were being read on the part of Ts'e,-"So be it to Loo, if it contribute not 300 chariots of war to the help of Ts‘e, when its army goes across its borders," a messenger from Confucius added,—“ And so be it to us, if we obey your orders, unless you return to us the fields on the south of the Wan." At the conclusion of the ceremonies, the prince of Ts'e wanted to give a grand entertainment, but Confucius demonstrated that such a thing would be contrary to the established rules of propriety, his real object being to keep his sovereign out of danger. In this way the two parties separated, they of Ts'e filled with shame at being foiled and disgraced by "the man of ceremonies," and the result was that the lands of Loo which had been appropriated by Ts'e were restored.12

For two years more Confucius held the office of minister of Crime. Some have supposed that he was further raised to the dignity of chief minister of the State, 13 but that was not the case. One instance of the manner in which he executed his functions is worth recording. When any matter came before him, he took the opinion of different individuals upon it, and in giving judgment would say, "I decide according to the view of so and so." There was an approach to our jury system in the plan, Confucius' object being to enlist general sympathy, and carry the public judgment with him in his administration of justice. A father having brought some charge against his son, Confucius kept them both in prison for three months, without

12 This meeting at Kea-kuh is related in Sze-ma Ts'een, the Family Sayings, and Kuh-leang,

with many exaggerations. I have followed 左氏傳定公十年 Bays, Bk II., 孔子為魯司寇攝相事. But he was a

an assistant of ceremonies, as at the meeting in Këǎ-kuh, described above.

13 The 家語

only in the sense of

making any difference in favour of the father, and then wished to dismiss them both. The head of the Ke was dissatisfied, and said, "You are playing with me, Sir minister of Crime. Formerly you told me that in a State or a family filial duty was the first thing to be insisted on. What hinders you now from putting to death this unfilial son as an example to all the people?" Confucius with a sigh replied, "When superiors fail in their duty, and yet go to put their inferiors to death, it is not right. This father has not taught his son to be filial;-to listen to his charge would be to slay the guiltless. The manners of the age have been long in a sad condition; we cannot expect the people not to be transgressing the laws."14

At this time two of his disciples, Tsze-loo and Tsze-yew, entered the employment of the Ke family, and lent their influence, the former especially, to forward the plans of their master. One great cause of disorder in the State was the fortified cities held by the three chiefs, in which they could defy the supreme authority, and were in turn defied themselves by their officers. Those cities were like the castles of the barons of England in the time of the Norman kings. Confucius had their destruction very much at heart, and partly by the influence of persuasion, and partly by the assisting counsels of Tsze-loo, he accomplished his object in regard to Pe,15 the chief city of the Ke, and How, 16 the chief city of the Shuh.

It does not appear that he succeeded in the same way in dismantling Shing,17 the chief city of the Mang;18 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."19 Confucius became the idol of the people, and flew in songs through their mouths. 20

14 See the 家語, Bk II. 15 費

16 B.

17 成 18 In connection

with these events, the Family Sayings and Sze-ma Ts'een mention the summary punishment inflicted by Confucius on an able but unscrupulous and insidious officer, the Shaou-ching, Maou . His judgment and death occupy a conspicuous place in the legendary accounts.

But the Analects, Tsze-sze, Mencius, and Tso-k'ew Ming are all silent about it, and Keang

Yung rightly rejects it, as one of the many narratives invented to exalt the sage. 19 See the

家語, Bk II.

̇20 See 孔叢子, quoted by Keang Yung.

But this sky of bright promise was soon overcast. As the fame of the reformations in Loo went abroad, the neighbouring princes began to be afraid. The duke of Ts'e said, "With Confucius at the head of its government, Loo will become supreme among the States, and Ts'e 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 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, were selected, and a hundred and twenty of the finest horses that could be found, and sent as a present to duke Ting. They were put up at first outside the city, and Ke 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-loo to Confucius, "it is time for you to be going." But Confucius was very unwilling to leave. The spring was coming on, when the great sacrifice to Heaven would be offered, and he determined to wait and see whether the solemnity 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.21 He would have welcomed a messenger of recall. The duke continued in his abandoument, and the sage went forth to thirteen weary years of homeless wandering.

8. On leaving Loo, Confucius first bent his steps westward to the State of Wei, situate about where the present provinces of Chih-le and Ho-nan adjoin. He was now in his 56th year, and felt depressed and melancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his feel

He wanders from State to State.

B.C. 496-483.

ings in verse:

"Fain would I still look towards Loo,

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;"

21 p. 5. See also Mencius, V. Pt. II. i. 4 ; et al.