4. The Master said, "It is on this account that I hate your glib-tongued people."

XXV. 1. Tsze-loo, Tsăng Sih, Yen Yew, and Kung-se Hwa, were sitting by the Master.

2. He said to them, though I am a day or so older than you, don't think of that.

3. "From day to day you are saying, 'We are not known.' If some prince were to know you, what would you do?"

4. Tsze-loo hastily and lightly replied, "Suppose the case of a state of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between other large states; let it be suffering from invading armies; and to this let there be added a famine in corn and in all vegetables;-if I were intrusted with the government of it, in three years' time I could make the people to be bold, and to recognize the rules of righteous conduct." The Master smiled at him.

5. Turning to Yen Yew, he said, "K'ew, what are your wishes?" Kew replied, "Suppose a state of sixty or seventy le square, or one of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it;-in three years' time I could make plenty to abound among the people. As to teaching them the principles of propriety and music, I must wait for the rise of a superior man to do that."

6. “What are your wishes, Ch'ih, said the Master next to Kung-se Hwa. Ch'ih replied, I do not say that my ability extends to these things, but I should wish to learn them. At the services of the ancestral temple, and at the audiences of the princes with the emperor, I should like, dressed in the dark square-made robe and the black linen cap, to act as a small assistant."

7. Last of all, the Master asked T'săng Sih, “Teen, what are your wishes?" Teen, pausing as he was playing on his harpsichord, while it was yet twanging, laid the inman is in treating other men right, and rendering what is due to spiritual beings, and it may be learned practically without the study you require." "On this account,"—with reference to Tsze-loo's reply.

25. THE AIMS OF TSZE-LOO, TSANG SIH, YEN YEW, AND KUNG-SE HWA; AND CONFUCIUS' REMARKS ABOUT THEM. Compare V. vii. and XXV. 1. The disciples mentioned here are all familiar to us excepting Tsång Sih. He was the father of the more celebrated Tsång Sin, and himself by name Teen. The four are mentioned in the order of their age, and Teen would have answered immediately after Tsze-loo, but that Con

strument aside, and rose. "My wishes," he said, "are different from the cherished purposes of these three gentlemen." "What harm is there in that ?" said the Master; "do you also, as well as they, speak out your wishes." Teen then said, "In this, the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete, along with five or six young men who have assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in the E, enjoy the breeze among the rain-altars, and return home singing." The Master heaved a sigh and said, "I give my approval to Teen."

8. The three others having gone out, Tsăng Sih remained behind, and said, "What do you think of the words of these three friends?" The Master replied, They simply told each one his wishes."

9. Teen pursued, "Master, why did you smile at Yew?" 10. He was answered, 66 The management of a state demands the rules of propriety. His words were not humble; therefore I smiled at him.

11. Teen again said, "But was it not a state which K'ew proposed for himself?" The reply was, "Yes; did you ever see a territory of sixty or seventy le, or one of fifty or sixty, which was not a state?"

12. Once more Teen inquired, "And was it not a state which Ch'ih proposed for himself?" The Master again replied, "Yes; who but princes have to do with ancestral temples, and audiences with the emperor? If Ch'ih were to be a small assistant in these services, who could be a great one?"

BOOK XII.

CHAPTER I. 1. Yen Yuen asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "To subdue one's self and return to

fucius passed him by, as he was occupied with his harpsichord. It does not appear whether Teen, even at the last, understood why Confucius had laughed at Tsze-loo, and not at the others. "It was not," say the commentators," because Tsze-loo was extravagant in his aims. They were all thinking of great things, yet not greater than they were able for. Tsze-loo's fault was in the levity with which he had proclaimed his wishes. That was his offence against propriety:

HEADING AND SUBJECTS OF THIS BOOK. "Yen Yuen." It contains twenty-four chapters, conveying lessons on perfect virtue, government,

propriety, is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him. Is the practice of perfect virtue from a man himself, or is it from others?

2. Yen Yuen said, "I beg to ask the steps of that process." The Master replied, "Look not at what is contrary to propriety; listen not to what is contrary to propriety; speak not what is contrary to propriety; make no movement which is contrary to propriety." Yen Yuen then said, "Though I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I will make it my business to practise this lesson."

II. Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, "It is, when you go abroad, to behave to every one and other questions of morality and policy, addressed in conversation by Confucius chiefly to his disciples. The different answers, given about the same subject to different questioners, show well how the sage suited his instructions to the characters and capacities of the parties with whom he had to do.

1. How To ATTAIN TO PERFECT VIRTUE-A CONVERSATION WITH YEN YUEN. 1. In Ho An, "to subdue one's self" is explained by "to restrain the body." Choo He defines the "subdue " by "to overcome,” and the "self" by "the selfish desires of the body." In one commentary it is said "self here is not exactly selfishness, but selfishness is what abides by being attached to the body, and hence it is said that selfishness is self." And again, "To subdue one's self is not subduing and putting away the self, but subduing and putting away the selfish desires in the self." This "selfishness in the self selfishness in the self" is of a three-fold character:-first, what is said by Morrison to be " a person's natural constitution and disposition of mind;" it is, I think, very much the vɣizòç äv@pwños, or "animal man ; second, "the desires of the ears, the eyes, the mouth, the nose, i.e., the dominating influences of the senses; and third, "Thou and I," i.e., the lust of superiority. More concisely, the self is said to be "the mind of man" in opposition to the " in opposition to the "mind of reason. See the Shoo-king II. Bk II. xv. This refractory "mind of man," it is said, is "innate," or perhaps "connate." In all these statements, there is an acknowledgment of the fact-the morally abnormal condition of human nature—which underlies the Christian doctrine of original sin. With reference to the above three-fold classification of selfish desires, the second paragraph shows that it was the second order of them--the influence of the senses, which Confucius specially intended. We turn to propriety, see note on VIII. ii. The thing is not here ceremonies. Choo He defines it "the specific divisions and graces of heavenly principle or reason. This is continually being departed from, on the impulse of selfishness, but there is an ideal of it as proper to man, which is to be sought―" returned to "--by overcoming that.

وو

2. WHEREIN PERFECT VIRTUE IS REALIZED:—A CONVERSATION WITH CHUNG-KUNG. From this chapter, it appears that reverence and reciprocity, on the largest scale, are perfect virtue. "Ordering the people" is

as if you were receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in the country, and none in the family." Chung-kung said, "Though I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I will make it my business to practise this lesson."

III. 1. Sze-ma New asked about perfect virtue.

2. The Master said, "The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech."

3. "Cautious and slow in his speech!" said New ;—"is this what is meant by perfect virtue ?" The Master said, "When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?"

IV. 1. Sze-ma New asked about the superior man. The Master said, "The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear."

2. "Being without anxiety or fear!" said New ;-" does this constitute what we call the superior man?'

3. The Master said, "When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, what is there to fear?

V. 1. Sze-ma New, full of anxiety, said, "Other men all have their brothers, I only have not."

apt to be done with haughtiness. This part of the answer may be compared with the apostle's precept-" Honour all men," only the "all men is much more comprehensive there.-The answer, the same as that of Hwuy in last chapter, seems to betray the hand of the compiler.

3. CAUTION IN SPEAKING A CHARACTERISTIC OF PERFECT VIRTUE : A CONVERSATION WITH TSZE-NEW. Tsze-new was the designation of Szema Kang, whose tablet is now the seventh, east, in the outer range of the temples. He belonged to Sung, and was a brother of Hwan T'uy, VII. xxii. Their ordinary surname was Heang, but that of Hwan could also be used by them, as they were descended from the duke so called. The office of "Master of the horse" had long been in the family, and that title appears here as if it were New's surname.

4. How THE KEUN-TSZE HAS NEITHER ANXIETY NOR FEAR, CONSCIOUS RECTITUDE FREEING FROM THESE,

5. CONSOLATION OFFERED BY TSZE-HEA TO TSZE-NEW ANXIOUS ABOUT THE PERIL OF HIS BROTHER. 1. Tsze-new's anxiety was occasioned by the conduct of his eldest brother, Hwan T'uy, who, he knew, was contemplating rebellion, which would probably lead to his death. "All have their brothers,"--i.e., all can rest quietly without anxiety in their relation. 2. It is naturally supposed that the author of the observation was Confucius. 4. One writer says that the expression :-" all within the

2. Tsze-hea said to him, "There is the following saying which I have heard :—

3. "Death and life have their determined appointment; riches and honours depend upon Heaven.'

4. "Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and observant of propriety :-then all within the four seas will be his brothers. What has the superior man to do with being distressed because he has no brothers ?”

وو

VI. Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The Master said, "He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are successful, may be called intelligent indeed. Yea, he with whom neither soaking slander, nor startling statements, are successful, may be called far-seeing."

VII. 1. Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, "The requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler."

2. Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped, and one of

four seas are brothers," "does not mean that all under heaven have the same genealogical register." Choo He's interpretation is that, when a man so acts, other men will love and respect him as a brother. This, no doubt, is the extent of the saying. I have found no satisfactory gloss on the phrase" the four seas." It is found in the Shoo-king, the She-king, and the Le-ke. In the Urh Ya, a sort of Lexicon, very ancient, which was once reckoned among the king, it is explained as a territorial designation, the name of the dwelling-place of all the barbarous tribes. But the great Yu is represented as having made the four seas as four ditches, to which he drained the waters inundating "the middle kingdom." Plainly, the ancient conception was of their own country as the great habitable tract, north, south, east, and west of which were four seas or oceans, between whose shores and their own borders the intervening space was not very great, and occupied by wild hordes of inferior races. Commentators consider Tsze-hea's attempt at consolation altogether wide of the mark.

6. WHAT CONSTITUTES INTELLIGENCE:-ADDRESSED TO TSZE-CHANG. Tsze-chang, it is said, was always seeking to be wise about things lofty and distant, and therefore Confucius brings him back to things near at hand, which it was more necessary for him to attend to.

7. REQUISITES IN GOVERNMENT:-A CONVERSATION WITH TSZE-CHANG. 3. The difficulty here is with the concluding clause which is literally, "No faith, not stand." Transferring the meaning of faith or confidence from paragraph 1, we naturally render as in the translation," the state will not stand." This is the view, moreover, of the old interpreters.