9. His return to Lu was brought about by the disciple Yen Yu, who, we have seen, went into the service of Chi K'ang, in B.C. 491.
[Sidebar] From his return to Lu to his death. B.C. 484-478.
In the year B.C. 483, Yu had the conduct of some military operations against Ch'i, and being successful, Chi K'ang asked him how he had obtained his military skill;-- was it from nature, or by learning? He replied that he had learned it from Confucius, and entered into a glowing eulogy of the philosopher. The chief declared that he would bring Confucius home again to Lu. 'If you do so,' said the disciple, 'see that you do not let mean men come between you and him.' On this K'ang sent three officers with appropriate presents to Wei, to invite the wanderer home, and he returned with them accordingly [4].
This event took place in the eleventh year of the duke Ai [5], who succeeded to Ting, and according to K'ung Fu, Confucius's descendant, the invitation proceeded from him [6]. We may suppose that
1 Ana. XIII. iii. In the notes on this passage, I have given Chu Hsi's opinion as to the time when Tsze-lu made this remark. It seems more correct, however, to refer it to Confucius's return to Wei from Ch'u, as is done by Chiang Yung.
2 Ana. VII. xiv.
3 Ana. XI. viii. In the notes on Ana. XI. vii, I have adverted to the chronological difficulty connected with the dates assigned respectively to the deaths of Yen Hui and Confucius's own son, Li. Chiang Yung assigns Hui's death to B.C. 481.
4 See the 史記, 孔子世家.
5 哀公.
6 See Chiang Yung's memoir, in loc.
while Chi K'ang was the mover and director of the proceeding, it was with the authority and approval of the duke. It is represented in the chronicle of Tso Ch'iu-ming as having occurred at a very opportune time. The philosopher had been consulted a little before by K'ung Wan [1], an officer of Wei, about how he should conduct a feud with another officer, and disgusted at being referred to on such a subject, had ordered his carriage and prepared to leave the State, exclaiming, 'The bird chooses its tree. The tree does not choose the bird.' K'ung Wan endeavoured to excuse himself, and to prevail on Confucius to remain in Wei, and just at this juncture the messengers from Lu arrived [2].
Confucius was now in his sixty-ninth year. The world had not dealt kindly with him. In every State which he had visited he had met with disappointment and sorrow. Only five more years remained to him, nor were they of a brighter character than the past. He had, indeed, attained to that state, he tells us, in which 'he could follow what his heart desired without transgressing what was right [3],' but other people were not more inclined than they had been to abide by his counsels. The duke Ai and Chi K'ang often conversed with him, but he no longer had weight in the guidance of state affairs, and wisely addressed himself to the completion of his literary labors. He wrote a preface, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, to the Shu-ching; carefully digested the rites and ceremonies determined by the wisdom of the more ancient sages and kings; collected and arranged the ancient poetry; and undertook the reform of music [4]. He has told us himself. 'I returned from Wei to Lu, and then the music was reformed, and the pieces in the Songs of the Kingdom and Praise Songs found all their proper place [5].' To the Yi-ching he devoted much study, and Sze-ma Ch'ien says that the leather thongs by which the tablets of his copy were bound together were thrice worn out. 'If some years were added to my life,' he said, 'I would give fifty to the study of the Yi, and then I might come to be without great faults [6].' During this time also, we may suppose that he supplied Tsang Shan with the materials of the classic of Filial Piety. The same year that he returned, Chi Kang sent Yen Yu to ask his opinion about an
1 孔文子, the same who is mentioned in the Analects, V. xiv.
2 See the 左傳, 哀公十一年.
3 Ana. II. iv. 6.
4 See the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 12.
5 Ana. IX. xiv.
6 Ana. VII. xvi.
additional impost which he wished to lay upon the people, but Confucius refused to give any reply, telling the disciple privately his disapproval of the proposed measure. It was carried out, however, in the following year, by the agency of Yen, on which occasion, I suppose, it was that Confucius said to the other disciples, 'He is no disciple of mine; my little children, beat the drum and assail him [1].' The year B.C. 483 was marked by the death of his son Li, which he seems to have borne with more equanimity than he did that of his disciple Yen Hui, which some writers assign to the following year, though I have already mentioned it under the year B.C. 489.
In the spring of B.C. 481, a servant of Chi K'ang caught a Ch'i-lin on a hunting excursion of the duke in the present district of Chia-hsiang [2]. No person could tell what strange animal it was, and Confucius was called to look at it. He at once knew it to be a lin, and the legend-writers say that it bore on one of its horns the piece of ribbon, which his mother had attached to the one that appeared to her before his birth. According to the chronicle of Kung-yang, he was profoundly affected. He cried out, 'For whom have you come? For whom have you come?' His tears flowed freely, and he added, 'The course of my doctrines is run [3].'