18 the viscount of wei withdrew from the court. the viscount of chi became aslave to chau. pi-kan remonstrated with him and died. confucius said, "the yin dynasty possessed these three men of virtue." hui of liu-hsia, being chief criminal judge, was thrice dismissed from hisoffice. some one said to him, "is it not yet time for you, sir, to leave this?"he replied, "serving men in an upright way, where shall i go to, and notexperience such a thrice-repeated dismissal? if i choose to serve men in acrooked way, what necessity is there for me to leave the country of my parents?" the duke ching of ch'i, with reference to the manner in which he shouldtreat confucius, said, "i cannot treat him as i would the chief of the chifamily. i will treat him in a manner between that accorded to the chief of thechil and that given to the chief of the mang family." he also said, "i am old; icannot use his doctrines." confucius took his departure. the people of ch'i sent to lu a present of female musicians, which chi hwanreceived, and for three days no court was held. confucius took his departure. the madman of ch'u, chieh-yu, passed by confucius, singing and saying, "ofang! o fang! how is your virtue degenerated! as to the past, reproof is useless;but the future may still be provided against. give up your vain pursuit. give upyour vain pursuit. peril awaits those who now engage in affairs of government." confucius alighted and wished to converse with him, but chieh-yu hastenedaway, so that he could not talk with him. ch'ang-tsu and chieh-ni were at work in the field together, when confuciuspassed by them, and sent tsze-lu to inquire for the ford. ch'ang-tsu said, "who is he that holds the reins in the carriage there?"tsze-lu told him, "it is k'ung ch'iu.', "is it not k'ung of lu?" asked he."yes," was the reply, to which the other rejoined, "he knows the ford." tsze-lu then inquired of chieh-ni, who said to him, "who are you, sir?" heanswered, "i am chung yu." "are you not the disciple of k'ung ch'iu of lu?"asked the other. "i am," replied he, and then chieh-ni said to him, "disorder,like a swelling flood, spreads over the whole empire, and who is he that willchange its state for you? rather than follow one who merely withdraws from thisone and that one, had you not better follow those who have withdrawn from theworld altogether?" with this he fell to covering up the seed, and proceeded withhis work, without stopping. tsze-lu went and reported their remarks, when the master observed with asigh, "it is impossible to associate with birds and beasts, as if they were thesame with us. if i associate not with these people,-with mankind,-with whomshall i associate? if right principles prevailed through the empire, there wouldbe no use for me to change its state." tsze-lu, following the master, happened to fall behind, when he met an oldman, carrying across his shoulder on a staff a basket for weeds. tsze-lu said tohim, "have you seen my master, sir?" the old man replied, "your four limbs areunaccustomed to toil; you cannot distinguish the five kinds of grain:-who isyour master?" with this, he planted his staff in the ground, and proceeded toweed. tsze-lu joined his hands across his breast, and stood before him. the old man kept tsze-lu to pass the night in his house, killed a fowl,prepared millet, and feasted him. he also introduced to him his two sons. next day, tsze-lu went on his way, and reported his adventure. the mastersaid, "he is a recluse," and sent tsze-lu back to see him again, but when he gotto the place, the old man was gone. tsze-lu then said to the family, "not to take office is not righteous. ifthe relations between old and young may not be neglected, how is it that he setsaside the duties that should be observed between sovereign and minister? wishingto maintain his personal purity, he allows that great relation to come toconfusion. a superior man takes office, and performs the righteous dutiesbelonging to it. as to the failure of right principles to make progress, he isaware of that." the men who have retired to privacy from the world have been po-i, shu-ch'i,yuchung, i-yi, chu-chang, hui of liu-hsia, and shao-lien. the master said, "refusing to surrender their wills, or to submit to anytaint in their persons; such, i think, were po-i and shu-ch'i. "it may be said of hui of liu-hsia! and of shaolien, that they surrenderedtheir wills, and submitted to taint in their persons, but their wordscorresponded with reason, and their actions were such as men are anxious to see.this is all that is to be remarked in them. "it may be said of yu-chung and i-yi, that, while they hid themselves intheir seclusion, they gave a license to their words; but in their persons, theysucceeded in preserving their purity, and, in their retirement, they actedaccording to the exigency of the times. "i am different from all these. i have no course for which i ampredetermined, and no course against which i am predetermined." the grand music master, chih, went to ch'i. kan, the master of the band at the second meal, went to ch'u. liao, the bandmaster at the third meal, went to ts'ai. chueh, the band master at the fourthmeal, went to ch'in. fang-shu, the drum master, withdrew to the north of the river. wu, the master of the hand drum, withdrew to the han. yang, the assistant music master, and hsiang, master of the musical stone,withdrew to an island in the sea. the duke of chau addressed his son, the duke of lu, saying, "the virtuousprince does not neglect his relations. he does not cause the great ministers torepine at his not employing them. without some great cause, he does not dismissfrom their offices the members of old families. he does not seek in one mantalents for every employment." to chau belonged the eight officers, po-ta, po-kwo, chung-tu, chung-hwu,shu-ya, shuhsia, chi-sui, and chi-kwa. |
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