411

The disciples did bury him in great style.

412

The Master said, "Hui behaved towards me as his father. I have not been able to treat him as my son. The fault is not mine; it belongs to you, O disciples."

413

Chi Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" Chi Lu added, "I venture to ask about death?" He was answered, "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?"

414

The disciple Min was standing by his side, looking bland and precise; Tsze-lu, looking bold and soldierly; Zan Yu and Tsze-kung, with a free and straightforward manner. The Master was pleased.

415

He said, "Yu, there!-he will not die a natural death."

416

Some parties in Lu were going to take down and rebuild the Long Treasury.

417

Min Tsze-ch'ien said, "Suppose it were to be repaired after its old style;-why must it be altered and made anew?"

418

The Master said, "This man seldom speaks; when he does, he is sure to hit the point."

419

The Master said, "What has the lute of Yu to do in my door?"

420

The other disciples began not to respect Tszelu. The Master said, "Yu has ascended to the hall, though he has not yet passed into the inner apartments."

421

Tsze-kung asked which of the two, Shih or Shang, was the superior. The Master said, "Shih goes beyond the due mean, and Shang does not come up to it."

422

"Then," said Tsze-kung, "the superiority is with Shih, I suppose."

423

The Master said, "To go beyond is as wrong as to fall short."

424

The head of the Chi family was richer than the duke of Chau had been, and yet Ch'iu collected his imposts for him, and increased his wealth.

425

The Master said, "He is no disciple of mine. My little children, beat the drum and assail him."

426

Ch'ai is simple. Shan is dull. Shih is specious. Yu is coarse.

427

The Master said, "There is Hui! He has nearly attained to perfect virtue. He is often in want.

428

"Ts'ze does not acquiesce in the appointments of Heaven, and his goods are increased by him. Yet his judgments are often correct."

429

Tsze-chang asked what were the characteristics of the good man. The Master said, "He does not tread in the footsteps of others, but moreover, he does not enter the chamber of the sage."

430

The Master said, "If, because a man's discourse appears solid and sincere, we allow him to be a good man, is he really a superior man? or is his gravity only in appearance?"

431

Tsze-lu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard. The Master said, "There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted;-why should you act on that principle of immediately carrying into practice what you hear?" Zan Yu asked the same, whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and the Master answered, "Immediately carry into practice what you hear." Kung-hsi Hwa said, "Yu asked whether he should carry immediately into practice what he heard, and you said, 'There are your father and elder brothers to be consulted.' Ch'iu asked whether he should immediately carry into practice what he heard, and you said, 'Carry it immediately into practice.' I, Ch'ih, am perplexed, and venture to ask you for an explanation." The Master said, "Ch'iu is retiring and slow; therefore I urged him forward. Yu has more than his own share of energy; therefore I kept him back."

432

The Master was put in fear in K'wang and Yen Yuan fell behind. The Master, on his rejoining him, said, "I thought you had died." Hui replied, "While you were alive, how should I presume to die?"

433

Chi Tsze-zan asked whether Chung Yu and Zan Ch'iu could be called great ministers.

434

The Master said, "I thought you would ask about some extraordinary individuals, and you only ask about Yu and Ch'iu!

435

"What is called a great minister, is one who serves his prince according to what is right, and when he finds he cannot do so, retires.

436

"Now, as to Yu and Ch'iu, they may be called ordinary ministers."

437

Tsze-zan said, "Then they will always follow their chief;-win they?"

438

The Master said, "In an act of parricide or regicide, they would not follow him."

439

Tsze-lu got Tsze-kao appointed governor of Pi.

440

The Master said, "You are injuring a man's son."

441

Tsze-lu said, "There are, there, common people and officers; there are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain. Why must one read books before he can be considered to have learned?"

442

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

443

Tsze-lu, Tsang Hsi, Zan Yu, and Kunghsi Hwa were sitting by the Master.

444

He said to them, "Though I am a day or so older than you, do not think of that.

445

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

446

Tsze-lu hastily and lightly replied, "Suppose the case of a state of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between other large cities; 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.

447

Turning to Yen Yu, he said, "Ch'iu, what are your wishes?" Ch'iu replied, "Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li 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."

448

"What are your wishes, Ch'ih," said the Master next to Kung-hsi 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 sovereign, I should like, dressed in the dark square-made robe and the black linen cap, to act as a small assistant."

449

Last of all, the Master asked Tsang Hsi, "Tien, what are your wishes?" Tien, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it was yet twanging, laid the instrument aside, and "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." Tien 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 I, enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and return home singing." The Master heaved a sigh and said, "I give my approval to Tien."

450

The three others having gone out, Tsang Hsi 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."

451

Hsi pursued, "Master, why did you smile at Yu?"