as you," replied the Master, "may well commence a discussion
on the Odes. If one tell you how a thing goes, you know what ought to
come."

"It does not greatly concern me," said the Master, "that men do not know
me; my great concern is, my not knowing them."

[Footnote 1: An important part of a Chinaman's education still. The
text-book, "The Li Ki," contains rules for behavior and propriety for
the whole life, from the cradle to the grave.]

BOOK II

Good Government--Filial Piety--The Superior Man

Sayings of the Master:--

"Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will
be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all
the host of stars turn towards it.

"The 'Book of Odes' contains three hundred pieces, but one expression in
it may be taken as covering the purport of all, viz., Unswerving
mindfulness.

"To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of
pains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of any
sense of shame.

"To govern upon principles of virtue, and to reduce them to order by the
Rules of Propriety, would not only create in them the sense of shame,
but would moreover reach them in all their errors.

"When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent upon study. At
thirty, I was a confirmed student. At forty, nought could move me from
my course. At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of Heaven. At
sixty, my ears were attuned to them. At seventy, I could follow my
heart's desires, without overstepping the lines of rectitude."

To a question of Mang-i, as to what filial piety consisted in, the
master replied, "In not being perverse." Afterwards, when Fan Ch'i was
driving him, the Master informed him of this question and answer, and
Fan Ch'i asked, "What was your meaning?" The Master replied, "I meant
that the Rules of Propriety should always be adhered to in regard to
those who brought us into the world: in ministering to them while
living, in burying them when dead, and afterwards in the offering to
them of sacrificial gifts."

To a query of Mang Wu respecting filial piety, the Master replied,
"Parents ought to bear but one trouble--that of their own sickness."

To a like question put by Tsz-yu, his reply was this: "The filial piety
of the present day simply means the being able to support one's
parents--which extends even to the case of dogs and horses, all of which
may have something to give i