[7] "The ways of China, it appears, were much the same anciently as now. A guest turns round and bows repeatedly in leaving, and the host cannot return to his place till these salutations are ended."—LEGGE.
[8] The Chinese of that date dispensed with chairs, as the Japanese have done up to the present time.
[9] The point is, that in his solicitude for others Confucius never thought of his own loss, not that he was indifferent to the suffering of animals.
[10] Some of the minute details given above cannot but strike us as rather ridiculous. Two points, however, must be borne in mind: (1) that the customs and ceremonial belonging to any one age or country will always at first sight appear strange and laughable to the men of any other age and country; (2) that Confucius himself cannot be held responsible for the excessive zeal which prompted admiring disciples to portray his personal habits with such embarrassing fidelity. How many philosophers would come equally well through such an ordeal?
[11] Literally, "dish and platter business," i.e. things pertaining to sacrificial worship.
[12] By order of the Duke.
[13] Blind men and musicians were almost convertible terms in ancient China: that is to say, all musicians were blind, and the majority of blind men took to music for a profession.
[14] The famous episode hero briefly related was the turning-point of the sage's career. Through the weakness of his prince and the jealousy of the rival minister Chi Huan Tzŭ, he was suddenly dislodged from the pinnacle of his fame and condemned to thirteen years of homeless wandering.