or Duke That, and a model state of Lu or Wei—­these were but carvings in rotten wood, foredoomed to quick failure.  All the material of the world was rotten wood:  he might have learned that lesson;—­only there are lessons that Such a One never learns.  Well; we in turn may learn a lesson from him:  applicable now.  The rotten wood crumbled under his hands time and again:  under his bodily hands;—­but it made no difference to him.  He went on and on, still hoping to begin his life’s work, and never recognising failure; and by reason and virtue of that, the hands of his spirit were carving, not in rotten wood, but in precious jade and adamant spiritual, to endure forever.  On those inner planes he was building up his Raja-Yoga; which time saw to it should materialize and redeem his race presently.  Confucius in the brief moment of his victory illuminated the world indeed; but Confucius in the long years of his defeat has bowed the hearts of twenty-five centuries of the Black-haired People.  We can see this now; I wonder did he see it then?  I mean, had that certain knowledge and clear vision in his conscious mind, that was possessed in the divinity of his Soul—­as it is in every Soul.  I imagine not; for in his last days he—­the personality—­ could give way and weep over the utter failure of his efforts.  One loves him the more for it:  one thinks his grandeur only the more grand.  It is a very human and at last a very pathetic figure—­this Man that did save his people.

Due west from Lu, and on the road thence to Honanfu the Chow capital, lay the Duchy of Wei; whither now he turned his steps.  He had no narrow patriotism:  if his own Lu rejected him, he might still save this foreign state, and through it, perhaps, All the Chinas.  He was at this time one of the most famous men alive; and his first experience in Wei might have been thought to augur well.  On the frontier he was met by messengers from a local Wei official, begging for their master an interview:—­ “Every illustrious stranger has granted me one; let me not ask it of you, Sir, in vain.”  Confucius complied; was conducted to the yamen, and went in, leaving his disciples outside.  To these the magistrate came out, while the Master was still resting within.—­“Sirs,” said he, “never grieve for your Teacher’s fall from office.  His work is but now to begin.  These many years the empire has been in perilous case; but now Heaven has raised up Confucius, its tocsin to call the people to awakenment.”—­A wise man, that Wei official!

At the capital, Duke Ling received him with all honor, and at once assigned him a pension equal to the salary he had been paid as Minister of Crime in Lu.  He even consulted him now and again; but reserved to himself liberty to neglect the advice asked for.  However, the courtiers intrigued; and before the year was out, Confucius had taken to his wanderings again:  he would try the state of Ch’in now, in the far south-east.  “If any prince would employ me,” said he, “within a twelvemonth I should have done something considerable; in three years the government would be perfect.”