of the student than the amount of his present. Even at the present day teachers’ fees are invariably called ” dried meat,” or ” fuel and water,” and schoolboys always make periodical presents of food to their masters.
His mother died when he was in his 24th year. Confucius seems to have buried her temporarily whilst he made inquiry touching the exact spot where his father’s body lay : he then opened his father’s grave, and transferred to it the coffin of his mother. Both native and foreign commentators have somewhat confused the facts connected with this event. None of the Europeans who have visited Confucius’ tomb seem to have taken the trouble to pass on to the parents’ grave : even the Emperor of China, who went carefully over all the chief show-places in 1684, contented himself with sending an officer to sacrifice for him at the paternal shrine : but the position is quite certain ; it is at Mount Fang, marked on the map with a black circle. Confucius had to retire from office for 27 months in order to mourn, as the modern Chinese still do, for his mother. He did this so effectively that it took him five days to recover his natural voice after the 27 months had expired. During the next seven years he continued his teachings, besides himself studying music, official formalities, and archaeology. His position was much strengthened when one of the leading men in the state commanded, on his death-bed, that his own son and another relative should join the rising philosopher’s school. The duke liberally placed a carriage and pair at the disposal of Confucius, who proceeded in it to the imperial capital in order to make further learned research. The springless, covered, two-wheeled carts (not unlike a Liverpool market-cart on a small scale), which still ply for hire in the streets of Peking, are exactly the style of vehicle in which Confucius rode 2,400 years ago. At the imperial capital Confucius had interviews with the keeper of the imperial archives, a semi-mythical philosopher named Lao-tso, who founded a rival doctrine or system of mystics called Taoism ; but as Confucius himself said that he was unable to comprehend those misty teachings, and the very existence of the Taoist philosopher is largely a matter of conjecture, we need not dwell further upon this incident.”[1] Eighteen years ago I met the individual usually known as the Pope of the Taoist creed, who also enjoys a certain amount of imperial favour. Of course this visit to the capital enhanced the fame of Confucius, who, on his return the same year, was regarded in much the same light as the Mussulmans regard a pilgrim to Mecca, that is, as a haji. He had also taken the opportunity to improve his knowledge of music.
When Confucius was in his 36th year, a civil war broke out in the ducal dominions of Lu, owing to factional disputes with the three leading families ; the ruler was obliged to fly for refuge to the dominions of a neighbour to his north, and Confucius soon followed. According to China’s greatest historian, the origin of the civil war was a disagreement connected with cock-fighting, and it is incidentally mentioned that metal spurs were used by one of the factions. This political quarrelling about cock-fighting has its counterpart in Europe, for it will be remembered that in Justinian’s time the Byzantine court at Constantinople was shaken to its foundations by the faction fights between the red and white, the blue and green parties of the race-course and circus.
Confucius became so enamoured of the music he heard in the country of his temporary adoption that for three months he lost all zest for savoury meats. After he had been six years in the land of Ts’i, the duke of that country expressed a wish to confer a feudal estate upon him ; but one of the local statesmen and one, too, who has left behind him a high reputation for economy and sagacity objected, on the ground that ” these learned fellows are too glib and intractable, too proud and insubmissive, too fond of showy funerals and exaggerated lamentations, too persuasive and fond of borrowing to govern a kingdom.” In truth, the duke seems to have gradually become rather tired of Confucius, who accordingly betook himself once more to his native land. His disciples were now more numerous than ever. It is interesting to notice that the term which I have here translated “learned fellows” is that which is now applied to Confucianists as distinguished from Taoists and Buddhists : the term is thus older than Confucius, and seems to mean ” men of parts.”
It was not until his 47th year that Confucius again obtained office ; this was under a new duke, the legitimate ruler, his brother, having four years previously died in the country to which he had fled for asylum. It must be here stated that the dukes of Lu were the direct descendants of Confucius’ great model, Duke Chow. A brother or a nephew had occasionally succeeded in the absence of a son ; but, with the exception of an unexplained hiatus between B.C. 920 and 855, the twenty-five dukes had regularly succeeded ever since B.C. 1122, and the reigns of the last eleven of them formed part of Confucius’ own original work on history. This fact explains Confucius’ great loyalty to his master, who was, in fact, a member of the imperial house, and whose ancestors were tutelary spirits on a subordinate scale. Confucius so reformed the manners of the people in | the district entrusted to him that in two years he was promoted to the ministry of public works, and two years later again to that of justice. In this latter capacity he succeeded in crushing several of the haughty mesne-lords, and dismantling their castles. He even went so far as to arrest and order the execution of a rich and dangerous intriguer. At the age of 52 he accompanied his master in the capacity of prime minister to a spot near the borders of the two states, and took part in an interview between his own ruler and the one who had given him hospitality for so many years. On this occasion he succeeded in defeating the insidious diplomacy of the rival state, and in forcing the surrender of disputed territory. But, though Confucius considered that a display of force should accompany diplomatic action, he took the general view that good example was more efficacious * than might. Honesty, morality, and funeral etiquette advanced with such strides under the premiership of Confucius that neighbouring states began to grow uneasy. It was first thought advisable to conciliate the rising power by a cession of territory ; but wilier counsels prevailed, and a successful effort was made to corrupt the new duke’s heart with presents of beautiful singing girls and fine horses. This moral collapse so distressed the philosopher that he left the country.
Now commences the period of Confucius’ travels through the various feudal states, which covered a period of thirteen years. He and his disciples met with various adventures. On several occasions they were menaced by suspicious or hostile bands. On one occasion Confucius incurred the censure of a disciple by accepting (although he tried to escape
io The Life, Labours and Doctrines of Confucius.
it) an invitation to pay his respects to a divorced or adulterous duchess. On another he was annoyed at a local duke’s relegating him to the second carriage whilst the duchess seated herself along with her husband in the first. One instance is recorded in which he distinctly broke his pledged word ; but he defended himself on the ground that promises extorted by force are not binding. This saying was advanced by Chinese statesmen 17 years ago as an excuse and a precedent for repudiating the treaty made by a Chinese envoy with Russia.
Time, however, will not permit of our dwelling further upon this period of wanderings : suffice it to say that the philosopher had as many rebuffs as he had successes, and that most of the rulers, whilst willing to listen to his counsels, seemed to consider that they possessed more of an academic than a practical value. At the age of 66 Confucius heard of the death of his wife, and that his son continued weeping for her notwithstanding the lapse of the regulation period of one year. He took the view that, so long as the father was alive, crying more than twelve months for a mother was excessive. This fact, coupled with the circumstance that Confucius’ grandson divorced his wife, and would not permit her son to mourn, has given rise to suspicions, owing to certain references to an ancestor made by the grandson, that Confucius must have divorced his wife. The learning upon this point is very intricate, but the best opinion appears to be that the ancestor referred to was not Confucius but Confucius’ father, who had divorced, not the young girl, but the lady who gave him nine daughters ; and that the philosopher was thus, not only the offspring of a strictly legal union, but true to his wife until her death.
When Confucius was 68 years of age, his own duke, son of the man who had sacrificed his reputation to horses and singing girls, sent a messenger with presents to invite the philosopher back. He went ; but he neither asked for nor was offered any official post. He spent
