A circumstance occurred to direct his attention to the State of Tsin [8], which occupied the southern part of the present Shan-hsi, and extended over the Yellow river into Ho-nan. An invitation came to Confucius, like that which he had formerly received from Kung-shan Fu-zao. Pi Hsi, an officer of Tsin, who was holding the town of Chung-mau against his chief, invited him to visit him, and Confucius was inclined to go. Tsze-lu was always the mentor on such occasions. He said to him, 'Master, I have heard you say,
1 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 6.
2 司城貞子. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 3.
3 Chiang Yung digests in this place two foolish stories,-- about a large bone found in the State of Yueh, and a bird which appeared in Ch'ia and died, shot through with a remarkable arrow. Confucius knew all about them.
4 吳.
5 蒲.
6 This ia related by Sze-ma ch'ien 孔子世家, p. 7, and also in the 'Narratives of the School.' I would fain believe it is not true. The wonder is, that no Chinese critic should have set about disproving it.
7 Ana. XII. x.
8 晉.
that when a man in his own person is guilty of doing evil, a superior man will not associate with him. Pi Hsi is in rebellion; if you go to him, what shall be said?' Confucius replied, 'Yes, I did use those words. But is it not said that if a thing be really hard, it may be ground without being made thin; and if it be really white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without being made black? Am I a bitter gourd? Am I to be hung up out of the way of being eaten [1]?'
These sentiments sound strangely from his lips. After all, he did not go to Pi Hsi; and having travelled as far as the Yellow river that he might see one of the principal ministers of Tsin, he heard of the violent death of two men of worth, and returned to Wei, lamenting the fate which prevented him from crossing the stream, and trying to solace himself with poetry as he had done on leaving Lu. Again did he communicate with the duke, but as ineffectually, and disgusted at being questioned by him about military tactics, he left and went back to Ch'an.
He resided in Ch'an all the next year, B.C. 491, without anything occurring there which is worthy of note [2]. Events had transpired in Lu, however, which were to issue in his return to his native State. The duke Ting had deceased B.C. 494, and Chi Hwan, the chief of the Chi family, died in this year. On his death-bed, he felt remorse for his conduct to Confucius, and charged his successor, known to us in the Analects as Chi K'ang, to recall the sage; but the charge was not immediately fulfilled. Chi K'ang, by the advice of one of his officers, sent to Ch'an for the disciple Yen Ch'iu instead. Confucius willingly sent him off, and would gladly have accompanied him. 'Let me return!' he said, 'Let me return [3]!' But that was not to be for several years yet.
In B.C. 490, accompanied, as usual, by several of his disciples, he went from Ch'an to Ts'ai, a small dependency of the great fief of Ch'u, which occupied a large part of the present provinces of Hu-nan and Hu-pei. On the way, between Ch'an and Ts'ai, their provisions became exhausted, and they were cut off somehow from obtaining a fresh supply. The disciples were quite overcome with want, and Tsze-lu said to the master, 'Has the superior man indeed to endure in this way?' Confucius answered him, 'The superior man may indeed have to endure want; but the mean man
l Ana. XVII. vii.
2 Tso Ch'iu-ming, indeed, relates a story of Confucius, on the report of a fire in Lu, telling whose ancestral temple had been destroyed by it.
3 Ana. V. xxi.
when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license [1].' According to the 'Narratives of the School,' the distress continued seven days, during which time Confucius retained his equanimity, and was even cheerful, playing on his lute and singing [2]. He retained, however, a strong impression of the perils of the season, and we find him afterwards recurring to it, and lamenting that of the friends that were with him in Ch'an and Ts'ai, there were none remaining to enter his door [3].
Escaped from this strait, he remained in Ts'ai over B.C. 489, and in the following year we find him in Sheh, another district of Ch'u, the chief of which had taken the title of duke, according to the usurping policy of that State. Puzzled about his visitor, he asked Tsze-lu what he should think of him, but the disciple did not venture a reply. When Confucius heard of it, he said to Tsze-lu. 'Why did you not say to him:-- He is simply a man who in his eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on [4]?' Subsequently, the duke, in conversation with Confucius, asked him about government, and got the reply, dictated by some circumstances of which we are ignorant, 'Good government obtains, when those who are near are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted [5]'
After a short stay in Sheh, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, he returned to Ts'ai, and having to dross a river, he sent Tsze-lu to inquire for the ford of two men who were at work in a neighboring field. They were recluses, men who had withdrawn from public life in disgust at the waywardness of the times. One of them was called Ch'ang-tsu, and instead of giving Tsze-lu the information he wanted, he asked him, 'Who is it that holds the reins in the carriage there?' 'It is K'ung Ch'iu.' 'K'ung Ch'iu of Lu?' 'Yes,' was the reply, and then the man rejoined, 'He knows the ford.'