In all of which occupations a man would necessarily stoop.
When orders came down for a conscription, the hunchback stood unconcerned among the crowd. And similarly, in matters of public works, his deformity shielded him from being employed.
On the other hand, when it came to donations of grain, the hunchback received as much as three chung,
An ancient measure of uncertain capacity.
and of firewood, ten faggots. And if physical deformity was thus enough to preserve his body until its allotted end, how much more would not moral and mental deformity avail!
A moral and mental deviation would be still more likely to condemn a man to that neglect from his fellows which is so conducive to our real welfare.
When Confucius was in the Ch'u State, the eccentric Chieh Yü passed his door, saying, "O phœnix, O phœnix, how has thy virtue fallen!—
By thus issuing forth out of due season.
unable to wait for the coming years or to go back into the past.