“To the average man, and those above the average, it is possible to discourse on higher subjects; to those from the average downwards, it is not possible.”

Fan Ch’i put a query about wisdom.  The Master replied, “To labor for the promoting of righteous conduct among the people of the land; to be serious in regard to spiritual beings, and to hold aloof from them;—­this may be called wisdom.”

To a further query, about philanthropy, he replied, “Those who possess that virtue find difficulty with it at first, success later.

“Men of practical knowledge,” he said, “find their gratification among the rivers of the lowland, men of sympathetic social feeling find theirs among the hills.  The former are active and bustling, the latter calm and quiet.  The former take their day of pleasure, the latter look to length of days.”

Alluding to the States of Ts’i and Lu, he observed, that Ts’i, by one change, might attain to the condition of Lu; and that Lu, by one change, might attain to good government.

An exclamation of the Master (satirizing the times, when old terms relating to government were still used while bereft of their old meaning):—­“A quart, and not a quart! quart, indeed! quart, indeed!”

Tsai Wo, a disciple, put a query.  Said he, “Suppose a philanthropic person were told, ‘There’s a fellow-creature down in the well!’ Would he go down after him?”

“Why should he really do so?” answered the Master.  “The good man or, a superior man might be induced to go, but not to go down.  He may be misled, but not befooled.”

“The superior man,” said he, “with his wide study of books, and hedging himself round by the Rules of Propriety, is not surely, after all that, capable of overstepping his bounds.”

Once when the Master had had an interview with Nan-tsz, which had scandalized his disciple Tsz-lu, he uttered the solemn adjuration, “If I have done aught amiss, may Heaven reject me! may Heaven reject me!”

“How far-reaching,” said he, “is the moral excellence that flows from the Constant Mean! [15] It has for a long time been rare among the people.”

Tsz-kung said, “Suppose the case of one who confers benefits far and wide upon the people, and who can, in so doing, make his bounty universally felt—­how would you speak of him?  Might he be called philanthropic?”

The Master exclaimed, “What a work for philanthropy!  He would require indeed to be a sage!  He would put into shade even Yau and Shun!—­Well, a philanthropic person, desiring for himself a firm footing, is led on to give one to others; desiring for himself an enlightened perception of things, he is led on to help others to be similarly enlightened.  If one could take an illustration coming closer home to us than yours, that might be made the starting-point for speaking about philanthropy.”

[Footnote 14:  At this time Confucius was Criminal Judge in his native State of Lu.  Yuen Sz had been a disciple.  The commentators add that this was the officer’s proper salary, and that he did wrong to refuse it.]