Tsz-kung then spoke up.  “But was not Kwan Chung wanting in good-will?  He could not give up his life when Duke Hwan caused his brother to be put to death.  Besides, he became the duke’s counsellor.”

“And in acting as his counsellor put him at the head of all the feudal lords,” said the Master, “and unified and reformed the whole empire; and the people, even to this day, reap benefit from what he did.  Had it not been for him we should have been going about with locks unkempt 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 Hang 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.”