Alluding to the head of the Ki family, [4] and the eight lines of
posturers [5] before their ancestral hall, Confucius remarked, "If the
Ki can allow himself to go to this extent, to what extent will he not
allow himself to go?"

The Three Families [6] were in the habit, during the Removal of the
sacred vessels after sacrifice, of using the hymn commencing,

"Harmoniously the Princes
Draw near with reverent tread,
Assisting in his worship
Heaven's Son, the great and dread."

"How," exclaimed the Master, "can such words be appropriated in the
ancestral hall of the Three Families?"

"Where a man," said he again, "has not the proper feelings due from one
man to another, how will he stand as regards the Rules of Propriety? And
in such a case, what shall we say of his sense of harmony?"

On a question being put to him by Lin Fang, a disciple, as to what was
the radical idea upon which the Rules of Propriety were based, the
Master exclaimed, "Ah! that is a large question. As to some rules, where
there is likelihood of extravagance, they would rather demand economy;
in those which relate to mourning, and where there is likelihood of
being easily satisfied, what is wanted is real sorrow."

Speaking of the disorder of the times he remarked that while the
barbarians on the North and East had their Chieftains, we here in this
great country had nothing to compare with them in that respect:--we had
lost these distinctions!

Alluding to the matter of the Chief of the Ki family worshipping on
Tai-shan, [7] the Master said to Yen Yu, "Cannot you save him from this?"
He replied, "It is beyond my power." "Alas, alas!" exclaimed the Master,
"are we to say that the spirits of T'ai-shan have not as much
discernment as Lin Fang?"

Of "the superior man," the Master observed, "In him there is no
contentiousness. Say even that he does certainly contend with others, as
in archery competitions; yet mark, in that case, how courteously he will
bow and go up for the forfeit-cup, and come down again and give it to
his competitor. In his very contest he is still the superior man."

Tsz-hia once inquired what inference might be drawn from the lines--

"Dimples playing in witching smile,
Beautiful eyes, so dark, so bright!
Oh, and her face may be thought the while
Colored by art, red rose on white!"

"Coloring," replied the Master, "requires a pure and clear background."
"Then," said the other, "rules of ceremony require to have a
background!" "Ah!" exclaimed the Master, "you are the man to catch the
drift of my thought. Such as you may well introduce a discussion on the
Odes."

Said the Master, "As regards the ceremonial adopted and enforced by the
Hia dynasty, I am able to describe it, although their own descendants in
the State of Ki can adduce no adequate testimony in favor of its use
there. So, too, I am able to describe the ceremonial of the Yin dynasty,
although no more can the Sung people show sufficient reason for its
continuance amongst themselves. And why cannot they do so? Because they
have not documents enough, nor men learned enough. If only they had
such, I could refer them to them in support of their usages.

"When I am present at the great quinquennial sacrifice to the _manes_ of
the royal ancestors," the Master said, "from the pouring-out of the
oblation onwards, I have no heart to look on."

Some one asked what was the purport of this great sacrifice, and the
Master replied, "I cannot tell. The position in the empire of him who
could tell you is as evident as when you look at this"--pointing to the
palm of his hand.

When he offered sacrifices to his ancestors, he used to act as if they
were present before him. In offering to other spirits it was the same.

He would say, "If I do not myself take part in my offerings, it is all
the same as if I did not offer them."

Wang-sun Kia asked him once, "What says the proverb, 'Better to court
favor in the kitchen than in the drawing-room'?" The Master replied,
"Nay, better say, He who has sinned against Heaven has none other to
whom prayer may be addressed."

Of the Chow dynasty the Master remarked, "It looks back upon two other
dynasties; and what a rich possession it has in its records of those
times! I follow Chow!"

On his first entry into the grand temple, he inquired about every matter
connected with its usages. Some one thereupon remarked, "Who says that
the son of the man of Tsou [8] understands about ceremonial? On entering
the grand temple he inquired about everything." This remark coming to
the Master's ears, he said, "What I did is part of the ceremonial!"

"In archery," he said, "the great point to be observed is not simply the
perforation of the leather; for men have not all the same strength. That
was the fashion in the olden days."

Once, seeing that his disciple Tsz-kung was desirous that the ceremonial
observance of offering a sheep at the new moon might be dispensed with,
the Master said, "Ah! you grudge the loss of the sheep; I grudge the
loss of the ceremony."

"To serve one's ruler nowadays," he remarked, "fully complying with the
Rules of Propriety, is regarded by others as toadyism!"

When Duke Ting questioned him as to how a prince should deal with his
ministers, and how they in turn should serve their prince, Confucius
said in reply, "In dealing with his ministers a prince should observe
the proprieties; in serving his prince a minister should observe the
duty of loyalty."

Referring to the First of the Odes, he remarked that it was mirthful
without being lewd, and sad also without being painful.

Duke Ngai asked the disciple Tsai Wo respecting the places for
sacrificing to the Earth. The latter replied, "The Family of the Great
Yu, of the Hia dynasty, chose a place of pine trees; the Yin founders
chose cypresses; and the Chow founders chestnut trees, solemn and
majestic, to inspire, 'tis said, the people with feelings of awe."

The Master on hearing of this exclaimed, "Never an allusion to things
that have been enacted in the past! Never a remonstrance against what is
now going on! He has gone away without a word of censure."

The Master once said of Kwan Chung, [9] "A small-minded man indeed!"

"Was he miserly?" some one asked.

"Miserly, indeed!" said he; "not that: he married three rimes, and he
was not a man who restricted his official business to too few hands--how
could he be miserly?"

"He knew the Rules of Propriety, I suppose?"

"Judge:--Seeing that the feudal lords planted a screen at their gates,
he too would have one at his! Seeing that when any two of the feudal
lords met in friendly conclave they had an earthenware stand on which to
place their inverted cups after drinking, he must have the same! If he
knew the Rules of Propriety, who is there that does not know them?"

In a discourse to the Chief Preceptor of Music at the court of Lu, the
Master said, "Music is an intelligible thing. When you begin a
performance, let all the various instruments produce as it were one
sound (inharmonious); then, as you go on, bring out the harmony fully,
distinctly, and with uninterrupted flow, unto the end."

The warden of the border-town of I requested an interview with
Confucius, and said, "When great men have come here, I have never yet
failed to obtain a sight of them." The followers introduced him; and, on
leaving, he said to them, "Sirs, why grieve at his loss of office? The
empire has for long been without good government; and Heaven is about to
use your master as its edict-announcer."

Comparing the music of the emperor Shun with the music of King Wu, the
Master said, "That of Shun is beautiful throughout, and also good
throughout. That of Wu is all of it beautiful, but scarcely all of it
good."

"High station," said the Master, "occupied by men who have no large and
generous heart; ceremonial performed with no reverence; duties of
mourning engaging the attention, where there is absence of sorrow;--how
should I look on, where this is the state of things?"

[Footnote 4: The Chief of the Ki clan was virtually the Duke of Lu,
under whom Confucius for a time held office.]

[Footnote 5: These posturers were mutes who took part in the ritual of
the ancestral temple, waving plumes, flags, etc. Each line or rank of
these contained eight men. Only in the sovereign's household should
there have been eight lines of them; a ducal family like the Ki should
have had but six lines; a great official had four, and one of lower
grade two. These were the gradations marking the status of families, and
Confucius's sense of propriety was offended at the Ki's usurping in this
way the appearance of royalty.]

[Footnote 6: Three great families related to each other, in whose hands
the government of the State of Lu then was, and of which the Ki was the
chief.]

[Footnote 7: One of the five sacred mountains, worshipped upon only by
the sovereign.]

[Footnote 8: Tsou was Confucius's birthplace; his father was governor of
the town.]

[Footnote 9: A renowned statesman who flourished about two hundred years
before Confucius's time. A philosophical work on law and government,
said to have been written by him, is still extant. He was regarded as a
sage by the people, but he lacked, in Confucius's eyes, the one thing
needful--propriety.]