[8] This was a young man who, if legend may be trusted, died more heroically than he lived. He agreed to meet a girl under a bridge, but, woman-like, she failed to keep her appointment. Though the water was rising rapidly, her lover waited on, unwilling to quit his post, and finally clung to a pillar until he was drowned.
[9] This is the man whom Confucius, according to Wade (see p. 73), ranked below Tzŭ Kung!
[10] Po Niu is said to have been suffering from leprosy, and therefore he would not allow visitors to enter his room.
[11] Few will see anything harmful in this anecdote as told by Confucius. Yet it is actually made to figure in the general charge of insincerity and untruthfulness brought against him by Legge. "The action was gallant," he says, "but the apology for it was weak and unnecessary. And yet Confucius saw nothing in the whole but matter for praise." In the first place, Legge entirely ignores the possibility that Mêng Chih-fan was really speaking the truth. But even if it were otherwise, Confucius' only comment is that he was "no braggart." Surely it is an overstrained morality that could be offended by this.
[12] Compare Moltke's motto: "Erst wägen, dann wagen." Tzŭ Lu was noted for his reckless bravery. Evidently jealous of the praise bestowed on Yen Yüan, he makes a delightfully artless attempt to secure some recognition for himself, but only draws down a reproof. The Master's relations with this vain, impulsive, good-hearted disciple often remind one of those subsisting between Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith.
[13] T‘ai Po was the direct heir to his father's throne, but knowing that the latter wished to be succeeded by his youngest son (the father of the future Wên Wang, the virtual founder of the Chou dynasty), he went into voluntary exile among the barbarous tribes of the south, but kept the motives of his conduct to himself, and thus obtained no credit for his self-sacrifice.
[14] The "Great Yü," who in the reign of the Emperor Yao laboured incessantly for eight years to control the disastrous inundations of the Yellow River, himself became Emperor after the death of Yao's successor Shun, and founded the Hsia dynasty (2205-1766 B.C.).
[15] A quotation from the Book of Poetry, a collection of some 300 ancient ballads said to have been selected and arranged by Confucius himself, and hence raised to the dignity of a "classic."
[16] This must have been said by Confucius after his return from exile, when many of his followers were dead or in other parts of the Empire. Ch'en and Ts'ai are particularly mentioned because it was on the road between these two small states that he met with the most perilous adventure of his life, being surrounded by hostile troops and cut off from all supplies for the space of seven days (see [p. 115]). It is not quite clear whether the next sentence should not be taken as a note added by the compiler, giving the names of those who were with the Master on this journey.