the intuition of the reader; the lines are less heavily
drawn. They rely on a kind of intelligence in the readers, akin
to the writers', to see those points at a glance, which we must
search for carefully. Where each word has to be drawn, a
little picture taking time and care, you are in no danger of
overlavishness; you do not spill and squander your words,
"intoxicated," as they say, "with the exuberance of your
verbosity." Style was forced on the Chinese; ideograms
are a grand preventive against pombundle.--I shall follow
Liehtse's method, and go from story to story at random; perhaps
interpreting a little by the way.

We saw how Confucius insisted on balance: egging on Jan Yu, who
was bashful, and holding back Tse Lu, who had the pluck of two;--
declaring that Shih was not a better man than Shang, because too
far is not better than not far enough. The whole Chinese idea is
that this balance of the faculties is the first and grand
essential. Your lobsided man can make no progress really;--he
must learn balance first. An outstanding virtue, talent, or
aptitude, is a deterrent, unless the rest of the nature is
evolved up to it;--that is why the Greatest Men are rarely the
most striking men; why a Napoleon catches the eye much more
quickly than a Confucius; something stands out in the one,--and
compels attention; but all is even in the other. You had much
better not have genius, if you are morally weak; or a very
strong will, if you are a born fool. For the morally weak genius
will end in moral wreck; and the strong-willed fool--a plague
upon him! This is the truth, knowledge of which has made China
so stable; and ignorance of which has kept the West so brilliant
and fickle,--of duality such poles apart,--so lobsided and, I
think, in a true sense, so little progressive. For see how many
centuries we have had to wait while ignorance, bigotry, wrong
ideas, and persecution, have prevented the establishment on any
large scale of a Theosophical Movement--and be not too ready
to accept a whirl of political changes, experiment after
experiment,--and latterly a spurt of mechanical inventions,--for
True Progress: which I take to mean, rightly considered, the
growth of human egos, and freedom and an atmosphere in which they
may grow. But these they had in China abundantly while China was
in manvantara; do not think I am urging as our example the
fallen China of these pralayic times. Balance was the truth
Confucius