and buttoning our jackets (like barbarians) on the left. Would you
suppose that he should show the same sort of attachment as exists
between a poor yokel and his one wife--that he would asphyxiate
himself in some sewer, leaving no one the wiser?"

Kung-shuh Wan's steward, who became the high officer Sien, went up
accompanied by Wan to the prince's hall of audience.

When Confucius heard of this he remarked, "He may well be esteemed a
'Wan.'"

The Master having made some reference to the lawless ways of Duke Ling
of Wei, Ki K[']ang said to him, "If he be like that, how is it he does
not ruin his position?"

Confucius answered, "The Chung-shuh, Yu, is charged with the
entertainment of visitors and strangers; the priest T[']o has charge
of the ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Kia has the control of the army
and its divisions:--with men such as those, how should he come to ruin?"

He once remarked, "He who is unblushing in his words will with
difficulty substantiate them."

Ch[']in Shing had slain Duke Kien. Hearing of this, Confucius, after
performing his ablutions, went to Court and announced the news to Duke
Ngai, saying, "Ch[']in Shing has slain his prince. May I request that
you proceed against him?"

"Inform the Chiefs of the Three Families," said the duke.

Soliloquizing upon this, Confucius said, "Since he uses me to back his
ministers,[30] I did not dare not to announce the matter to him; and
now he says, 'Inform the Three Chiefs.'"

He went to the Three Chiefs and informed them, but nothing could be
done. Whereupon again he said, "Since he uses me to back his
ministers, I did not dare not to announce the matter."

Tsz-lu was questioning him as to how he should serve his prince.
"Deceive him not, but reprove him," he answered.

"The minds of superior men," he observed, "trend upwards; those of
inferior men trend downwards."

Again, "Students of old fixed their eyes upon themselves: now they
learn with their eyes upon others."

Kue Pih-yuh despatched a man with a message to Confucius. Confucius
gave him a seat, and among other inquiries he asked, "How is your
master managing?" "My master," he replied, "has a great wish to be
seldom at fault, and as yet he cannot manage it."

"What a messenger!" exclaimed he, admiringly, when the man went out.
"What a messenger!"

"When not occupying the office," was a remark of his, "devise not the
policy."

The Learned Tsang used to say, "The thoughts of the 's