ic and yet not
straightforward; nor those who are ignorant and yet not attentive; nor
again those folks who are simple-minded and yet untrue.

"Learn, as if never overtaking your object, and yet as if apprehensive
of losing it.

"How sublime was the handling of the empire by Shun and Yu!--it was as
nothing to them!

"How great was Yau as a prince! Was he not sublime! Say that Heaven
only is great, then was Yau alone after its pattern! How profound was
he! The people could not find a name for him. How sublime in his
achievements! How brilliant in his scholarly productions!"

Shun had for his ministers five men, by whom he ordered the empire.

King Wu (in his day) stated that he had ten men as assistants for the
promotion of order.

With reference to these facts Confucius observed, "Ability is hard to
find. Is it not so indeed? During the three years' interregnum between
Yau and Shun there was more of it than in the interval before this
present dynasty appeared. There were, at this latter period, one
woman, and nine men only.

"When two-thirds of the empire were held by King Wan, he served with
that portion the House of Yin. We speak of the virtue of the House of
Chow; we may say, indeed, that it reached the pinnacle of excellence."

"As to Yu," added the Master, "I can find no flaw in him. Living on
meagre food and drink; yet providing to the utmost in his filial
offerings to the spirits of the dead! Dressing in coarse garments; yet
most elegant when vested in his sacrificial apron and coronet!
Dwelling in a poor palace; yet exhausting his energies over those
boundary-ditches and watercourses! I can find no flaw in Yu."

[Footnote 20: Comparison of three of the Classics: the "Shi-King," the
"Li Ki," and the "Yoh." The last is lost.]

BOOK IX

_His Favorite Disciple's Opinion of Him_

Topics on which the Master rarely spoke were--Advantage, and Destiny,
and Duty of man to man.

A man of the village of Tah-hiang exclaimed of him, "A great man is
Confucius!--a man of extensive learning, and yet in nothing has he
quite made himself a name!"

The Master heard of this, and mentioning it to his disciples he said,
"What then shall I take in hand? Shall I become a carriage driver, or
an archer? Let me be a driver!"

"The sacrificial cap," he once said, "should, according to the Rules,
be of linen; but in these days it is of pure silk. However, as it is
economical, I do as all do.

"The Rule says, 'Ma