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CONFUCIUS [K'ung tsze] (550 or 551-47...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 912 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONFUCIUS [K'ung tsze] (550 or 551-478 B.C.)  , the famous See also:sage of See also:China . In See also:order to understand the events of his See also:life and the See also:influence of his opinions, we must endeavour to See also:condition get some impression of the China that existed in his of China See also:time, in the 5th and 6th centuries E.C . The See also:dynasty Cotime os. of Chow, the third which within historic time had ruled the See also:country, lasting from 1122 to 256 B.C., had passed its See also:zenith, and its See also:kings no longer held the See also:sceptre with a See also:firm grasp . The territory under their sway was not a See also:sixth See also:part of the See also:present See also:empire . For thirteen years of his life See also:Confucius wandered about from See also:state to state, seeking See also:rest and patrons; but his journeyings were confined within the See also:modern provinces of Ho-nan and Shantung, and the See also:borders of Chih-li and Hu-peh . Within the China of the Chow dynasty there might be a See also:population, in Confucius's time, of from Io,000,000 to 15,000,000 . We read frequently, in the classical books, of the " ten thousand states " in which the See also:people were distributed, but that is merely a See also:grand exaggeration . In what has been called, though erroneously, as we shall see, Confucius's See also:History of his own Times, we find only 13 states of See also:note, and the number of all the states, large and small, which can be brought together from it, and the much more extensive supplement to it by Tso K'iu-ming, not much posterior to the sage, is under 150 . Chow was a feudal See also:kingdom . The lords of the different territories belonged to five orders of See also:nobility, corresponding closely to the See also:dukes, marquises, earls, See also:counts and barons of feudal See also:Europe . The theory of the constitution required that the princes, on every fresh See also:succession, should receive See also:investiture from the See also:king, and thereafter appear at his See also:court at stated times . They paid to him annually certain specified tributes, and might be called out with their military levies at any time in his service .

A feudal kingdom was sure to be a See also:

prey to disorder unless there were See also:energy and ability in the See also:character and See also:administration of the See also:sovereign; and Confucius has sketched, in the See also:work referred to above, the See also:Annals of Lu, his native state, for 242 years, from 722 to 481 B.C., which might almost be summed up in the words: " In those days there was no king in China, and every See also:prince did what was right in his own eyes." In 1770 B.C. a See also:northern See also:horde had plundered the See also:capital, which was then in the present See also:department of Si-gan, Shen-si, and killed the king, whose son withdrew across the Ho and established himself in a new centre, near the present See also:city of Lo-yang in Ho-nan; but from that time the See also:prestige of Chow was gone . Its representatives continued for four centuries and a See also:half with the See also:title of king, but they were less powerful than several of their feudatories . The Annals of Lu, enlarged by Tso K'iu-ming so as to embrace the history of the kingdom generally, are as full of life and See also:interest as the pages of See also:Froissart . Feats of arms, See also:great battles, heroic virtues, devoted friendships and atrocious crimes make the See also:chronicles of China in the 5th, 6th and 7th centuries before the See also:birth of See also:Christ as at-tractive as those of See also:France and See also:England in the 14th and some other centuries after it . There was in China in the former See also:period more of See also:literary culture and of many arts of See also:civilization than there was in Europe in the latter . Not only the royal court, but every feudal court had its historiographers and musicians . Institutions of an educational character abounded . There were See also:ancient histories and poems, and codes of See also:laws, and books of ceremonies . Yet the period was one of .widespread suffering and degeneracy . While the See also:general See also:government was feeble, disorganization was at work in each particular state . Three things must be kept in mind when we compare feudal China with feudal Europe . First, we must take into See also:account the See also:long duration of the time through which the central authority was devoid of vigour .

For about five centuries state was See also:

left to contend with state, and See also:clan with clan in the several states . The result was chronic See also:misrule, and misery to the masses of the people, with frequent famines . Secondly, we must take into account the institution of See also:polygamy, with the See also:low status assigned to woman and the many restraints put upon her . In the ancient discourses and oppressive deeds were waxen rife . Ministers murdered their rulers and sons their fathers . Confucius was frightened by what he saw,—and he undertook the work of See also:reformation." The sage was See also:born, according to the historian Sze-ma Ch'ien, in the See also:year 55o B.C.; according to Kung-yang and Kuh-liang, two earlier commentators on his Annals of Lu, in 551; but all three agree in the See also:month and See also:day assigned to his birth, which took See also:place in See also:winter . His clan name was K'ung, and Confucius is merely the latinized See also:form of K'ung Fu-tze, meaning " the philosopher or See also:master K'ung." He was a native of the state of Lu, a part of the modern Shan-tung, embracing the present department of Yen-chow and other portions of the See also:province . Lu had a great name among the other states of Chow, its marquises being descended from the See also:duke of Chow, the legislator and consolidator of the dynasty which had been founded by his See also:father and See also:brother, the famous kings Wan and Wu . Confucius's own ancestry is traced up, through the sovereigns of the previous dynasty of Shang, to Hwang-ti, whose figure looms out through the mists of See also:fable in prehistoric times . A See also:scion of the See also:house of Shang, the surname of which was Tze, was invested by King Wu-Wang with the dukedom of Sung in the present province of Ho-nan . There, in the Tze See also:line, towards the end of the 8th See also:century B.C., we find a See also:rung Kia, whose posterity, according to the rules for the dropping of surnames, became the rung clan . He was a high officer of See also:loyalty and probity, and unfortunately for himself had a wife of extraordinary beauty .

Hwa Tuh, another high officer of the duchy, that he might get this See also:

lady into his See also:possession, brought about the See also:death of K'ung Kia, and was carrying his See also:prize in a See also:carriage to his own See also:palace, when she strangled herself on the way . The rung See also:family, however, became reduced, and by-and-by its See also:chief representative moved from Sung to Lu, where in the See also:early part of the 6th century we meet with Shuh-liang Heih, the father of Confucius, as commandant of the See also:district of Tsow, and an officer renowned for his feats of strength and daring . There was thus no grander lineage in China than that of Confucius; and on all his progenitors, since the See also:throne of Shang passed from their line, with perhaps one exception, he could look back with complacency . He was the son of Heih's old See also:age . That officer, when over seventy years, and having already nine daughters and one son, because that son was a cripple, sought an See also:alliance with a See also:gentleman of the Yen clan, who had three daughters . The father submitted to them Heih's application, saying that, though he was old and austere, he was of most illustrious descent, and they need have no misgivings about him . Ching-tsai, the youngest of the three, observed that it was for their father to decide in the See also:case . " You shall marry him then," said the father, and accordingly she became the See also:bride of the old See also:man, and in the next year the See also:mother of the sage . It is one of the undesigned coincidences- which confirm the credibility of Confucius's history, that his favourite See also:disciple was a scion of the Yen clan . Heih died in the See also:child's third year, leaving his family instraitened circumstances . Long afterwards, when Confucius was complimented on his acquaintance with many arts, he accounted for it on the ground of the poverty of his youth, which obliged him to acquire a knowledge of matters belonging to a mean condition . When he was five or six, people took See also:notice of his fondness for playing with his companions at.setting out sacrifices, and at postures of ceremony .

He tells us himself that at fifteen his mind was set on learning; and at nineteen, according to the ancient and modern practice in China in regard to early unions, he was married, his wife being from his ancestral state of Sung . A son, the only one, so far as we know, that he ever had, was born in the following year; but he had subsequently two daughters . Immediately after his See also:

marriage we find him employed under the chief of the Ki clan to whose See also:jurisdiction the district of Tsow belonged, first as keeper of stores, and then as See also:superintendent of parks and herds . See also:Mencius says that he undertook such mean offices because of his poverty, and distinguished himself by the efficiency with which he discharged them, without any See also:attempt to become See also:rich . In his twenty-second year Confucius commer;ced,his labours as a teacher . He did so at first, probably, in a humble way; but a school, not of boys to be taught the elements of learning. but of See also:young and inquiring See also:spirits who wished to be instructed in the principles of right conduct and government, gradually gathered See also:round him . He accepted the substantial aid of his disciples; but he rejected none who could give him even the smallest See also:fee, and he would retain none who did not show earnestness and capacity . " When I have presented," he said, " one corner of a subject, and the See also:pupil cannot of himself make out the other three, I do not repeat my See also:lesson." Two years after, his mother died, and he buried her in the same See also:grave with his father . Some See also:idea of what his future life was likely to be was already present to his mind . It was not the See also:custom of antiquity to raise any See also:tumulus over See also:graves, but Confucius resolved to innovate in the See also:matter . He would be travelling, he said, to all quarters of the kingdom, and must therefore have a See also:mound by which to recognize his parents' resting-place . He returned See also:home from the interment alone, having left his disciples to See also:complete this work .

They were long in rejoining him, and had then to tell him that they had been detained by a heavy fall of See also:

rain, which threw down the first product of their labour . He burst into tears, and exclaimed, " See also:Ali! they did not raise mounds over their graves in antiquity." His See also:affection for the memory of his mother and dissatisfaction with his own innovation on ancient customs thus blended together; and we can sympathize with his tears . For the See also:regular period of 27 months, commonly spoken of as three years, he observed all the rules of See also:mourning . When they were over he allowed five more days to elapse before he would take his See also:lute, of which he had been devotedly fond, in his hands . He played, but when he tried to sing to the See also:accompaniment of the See also:instrument, his feelings overcame him . For some years after this our See also:information about Confucius is scanty . Hints, indeed, occur of his devotion to the study of See also:music and of ancient history; and we can perceive that his character was more and more appreciated by the See also:principal men of Lu . He had passed his thirtieth year when, as he tells us, " he stood firm " in his convictions on all the subjects to the learning of which he had See also:bent his mind fifteen years before . In 517 B.C. two scions of one of the principal houses in Lu joined the See also:company of his disciples in consequence of the dying command of its chief; and being furnished with the means by the See also:marquis of the state, he made a visit with them to the capital of the kingdom . There he examined the treasures of the royal library, and studied the music which was found in its highest See also:style at the court . There, too, according to Sze-ma Ch'ien, he had several interviews with Lao-tsze, the father of See also:Taoism . It is characteristic of the two men that the latter, a transcendental dreamer, appears to have thought little of his visitor, while Confucius, an inquiring thinker, was profoundly impressed with him .

On his return to Lu, in the same year, that state See also:

fell into great poems, indeed, there are a few pieces which are true love songs, and See also:express a high appreciation of the virtue of their subjects; but there are many more which tell a different See also:tale . The intrigues, quarrels, murders and grossnesses that See also:grew out of this social condition it is difficult to conceive, and would be impossible to detail . Thirdly, we must take into account the See also:absence of strong and definite religious beliefs, properly so called, which has always been a characteristic of the See also:Chinese people . We are little troubled, of course, with heresies, and are not shocked by the outbreaks of theological zeal; but where thought as well as See also:action does not reach beyond the limits of See also:earth and time, we do not find man in his best See also:estate . We See also:miss the See also:graces and consolations of faith; we have human efforts and ambitions, but they are unimpregnated with divine impulses and heavenly aspirings . Confucius appeared, according to Mencius, one of his most distinguished followers (371–288 B.C.), at a crisis in the nation's history . " The See also:world," he says, " had fallen into otmht See also:ute. decay, and right principles had disappeared . Perverse disorder . The marquis was worsted in a struggle with his ministers, and fled to the neighbouring state of Ts'i . Thither also went Confucius, for he would not countenance by his presence the men who had driven their ruler away . He was accompanied by many of his disciples; and as they passed by the Tai See also:Mountain, an incident occurred which may be narrated as a specimen of the way in which he communicated to them his lessons . The See also:attention of the travellers was arrested by a woman weeping and wailing at a grave .

The sage stopped, and sent one of his followers to ask the See also:

reason of her grief . " My See also:husband's father," said she, " was killed here by a See also:tiger, and my husband also, and now my son has met the same See also:fate." Being asked why she did not leave so fatal a spot, she replied that there was there no oppressive government . " Remember this," said Confucius to his disciples, " remember this, my See also:children, oppressive government is fiercer and more feared than a tiger." He did not find in Ts'i a home to his liking . The marquis of the state was puzzled how to treat him . The teacher was not a man of See also:rank, and yet the prince See also:felt that he ought to give him more See also:honour than rank could claim . Some counsellors of the court spoke of him as " impracticable and conceited, with a thousand peculiarities." It was proposed to assign to him a considerable See also:revenue, but he would not accept it while his counsels were not followed . Dissatisfactions ensued, and he went back to Lu . There for fifteen more years he continued in private life, prosecuting his studies, and receiving many accessions to his disciples . He had a difficult part to See also:play with the different parties in the state, but he adroitly kept himself aloof from them all; and at last, in his fifty-second year, he was made chief See also:magistrate of the city of Chung-tu . A marvellous reformation, we are told, forthwith ensued in the See also:manners of the people; and the marquis, a younger brother of the one that fled to Ts'i and died there, called him to higher See also:office . He was finally appointed See also:minister of See also:crime,—and there was an end of crime . Two of his disciples at the same time obtained influential positions in the two most powerful clans of the state, and co-operated with him .

He signalized his vigour by the See also:

punishment of a great officer and in negotiations with the state of Ts'i . He laboured to restore to the marquis his proper authority, and as an important step to that end, to dismantle the fortified cities where the great chiefs of clans maintained themselves like the barons of feudal Europe . For a couple of years he seemed to be master of the situation . " He strengthened the ruler," it is said, " and re-pressed the barons . A transforming government went abroad . Dishonesty and dissoluteness hid their heads . Loyalty and See also:good faith became the characteristics of the men, and chastity and docility those of the See also:women . He was the idol of the people, and flew in songs through their mouths." The See also:sky of See also:bright promise was soon overcast . The marquis of Ts'i and his advisers saw that if Confucius were allowed to prosecute his course, the influence of Lu would become supreme throughout the kingdom, and Ts'i would be the first to suffer . A large company of beautiful women, trained in music and dancing, and a See also:troop of See also:fine horses, were sent to Lu . The bait took; the women were welcomed, and the sage was neglected . The marquis forgot the lessons of the master, and yielded supinely to the fascinations of the See also:harem .

Confucius felt that he must leave the state . The neglect of the marquis to send round, according to See also:

rule, among the ministers portions of the flesh after a great See also:sacrifice, furnished a plausible reason for leaving the court . He withdrew, though very unwillingly and slowly, hoping that a See also:change would come over the marquis and his counsellors, and a See also:message of recall be sent to him . But no such message came; and he went forth in his fifty-sixth year to a weary period of wandering among various states . A disciple once asked Confucius what he would consider the first thing to be done, if intrusted with the government of a state . His reply was, " The rectification of names." When told that such a thing was wide of the See also:mark, he held to it, and indeed his whole social and See also:political See also:system was wrapped up in the saying . He had told the marquis of Ts'i that good govern-909 ment obtained when the ruler was ruler, and the minister minister; when the father was father, and the son son . Society, he considered, was an See also:ordinance of See also:heaven, and was made up of five relationships—ruler and subject, Nils ideas husband and wife, father and son, See also:elder See also:brothers and inent.rn- ment younger, and See also:friends . There was rule on the one See also:side of the first four, and submission on the other . The rule should be in righteousness and benevolence; the submission in righteousness and sincerity . Between friends the mutual promotion of virtue should be the guiding principle . It was true that the duties of the several relations were being continually violated by the passions of men, and the social state had become an anarchy .

But Confucius had confidence in the preponderating goodness of human nature, and in the See also:

power of example in superiors . " Not more surely," he said, " does the grass See also:bend before the See also:wind than the masses yield to the will of those above them." Given the See also:model ruler, and the model people would forthwith appear . And he himself could make the model ruler . He could tell the princes of the states what they ought to be; and he could point them to examples of perfect virtue in former times, to the sage founders of their own dynasty; to the sage Tang, who had Minded the previous dynasty of Shang; to the sage Yu, who first established a hereditary kingdom in China; and to the greater sages still who lived in a more distant See also:golden age . With his own lessons and those patterns, any ruler of his day, who would listen to him, might reform and renovate his own state, and his influence would break forth beyond its limits till the See also:face of the whole kingdom should be filled with a multitudinous relation-keeping, well-fed, happy people . " If any ruler," he once said, " would submit to me as his director for twelve months, I should accomplish something considerable; and in three years I should attain the realization of my hopes." Such were the ideas, the dreams of Confucius . But he had not been able to get the ruler of his native state to listen to him . His sage counsels had melted away before the glance of beauty and the pomps of life . His professed disciples amounted to 3000, and among them were between 70 and 8o whom he described as " scholars of extraordinary ability." The most attached of them His were seldom long away from him . They stood or sat disciples. reverently by his side, watched the minutest particulars of his conduct, studied under his direction the ancient history, See also:poetry and See also:rites of their country, and treasured up every syllable which dropped from his lips . They have told us how he never shot at a See also:bird perching nor fished with a See also:net, the creatures not having in such a case a See also:fair See also:chance for their lives; how he conducted himself in court and among villagers; how he See also:ate his See also:food, and See also:lay in his See also:bed, and sat in his carriage; how he See also:rose up before the old man and the mourner; how he changed countenance when it thundered, and when he saw a grand display of viands at a feast . He was See also:free and unreserved in his inter-course with them, and was hurt once when they seemed to think that he kept back some of his doctrines from them .

Several of them were men of mark among the statesmen of the time, and it is the highest testimony to the character of Confucius that he inspired them with feelings of admiration and reverence . It was they who set the example of speaking of him as the greatest of mortal men; it was they who struck the first notes of that paean which has gone on resounding to the present day . Confucius was in his fifty-sixth year when he left Lu; and thirteen years elapsed ere he returned to it . In this period were comprised his travels among the different states, when he hoped, and ever hoped in vain, to meet with some prince who would accept him as his counsellor, and initiate a government that should become the centre of a universal reformation . Several of the princes were willing to entertain and support him; but for all that he could say, they would not change their ways . His first See also:

refuge was in Wei, a part of the present Ho-nan, the marquis of which received him kindly; but he was a weak man, ruled by his wife, a woman notorious for her accomplishments and wickedness . In attempting to pass from Wei to another state, Confucius was set upon by a See also:mob, which mistook him for an officer who had made himself hated by his oppressive deeds . He himself was perfectly See also:calm amid the danger, though his followers were filled with alarm . They were obliged, however, to retrace their way to Wei, and he had there to appear before the marchioness, who wished to see how a sage looked . There was a See also:screen between them at the interview, such as the present See also:regent-empresses of China use in giving See also:audience to their ministers; but Tze-lu, one of his principal disciples, was indignant that the master should have demeaned himself to be near such a woman, and to pacify him Confucius swore an See also:oath appealing to Heaven to reject him if he had acted improperly . Soon afterwards he left the state . Twice again, during his protracted wanderings, he was placed in imminent peril, but he manifested the same fearlessness, and expressed his confidence in the See also:protection of Heaven till his course should be run .

On one of the occasions he and his company were in danger of perishing from want, and the courage of even Tze-lu gave way . " Has the See also:

superior man, indeed, to endure in this way?" he asked . " The superior man may have to endure want," was the reply, " but he is still the superior man . The small man in the same circumstances loses his'self-command." While travelling about, Confucius repeatedly came across recluses,—a class of men who had retired from the world in disgust . That there was such a class gives us a striking glimpse into the character of the age . Scholarly, and of good principles, they had given up the conflict with the vices and disorder that prevailed . But they did not understand the sage, and felt a contempt for him struggling on against the See also:tide, and always hoping against See also:hope . We get a fine idea of him from his en-counters with them . Once he was looking about for a See also:ford, and sent Tze-lu to ask a man who was at work in a neighbouring See also:field where it was . The man was a recluse, and having found that his questioner was a disciple of Confucius, he said to him: " Disorder in a swelling See also:flood spreads over the kingdom, and no one is able to repress it . Than.follow a master who withdraws from one ruler and another that will not take his See also:advice, had you not better follow those who withdraw from the world altogether?" With these words he resumed his See also:hoe, and would give no information about the ford . Tze-lu went back, and reported what the man had said to the master, who observed: " It is impossible to withdraw from the world, and See also:associate with birds and beasts that have no See also:affinity with us .

Phoenix-squares

With whom should I associate but with suffering men ? The disorder that prevails is what requires my efforts . If right principles ruled through the kingdom, there would be no See also:

necessity for me to change its state." We must recognize in those words a brave See also:heart and a See also:noble sympathy . Confucius would not abandon the cause of the people . He would hold on his way to the end . Defeated he might be, but he would be true to his humane and righteous See also:mission . It was in his sixty-ninth year, 483 B.c., that Confucius returned to Lu . One of his disciples, who had remained in the state, had been successful in the command of a military expedition, and told the See also:prime minister that he had learned his skill in See also:war from the master,—urging his recall, and that thereafter mean persons should not be allowed to come between the ruler and him . The state was now in the hands of the son of the marquis whose neglect had driven the sage away; but Confucius would not again take office . Only a few years remained to him, and he devoted them to the completion of his literary tasks, and the delivery of his lessons to his disciples . The next year was marked by the death of his son, which he See also:bore with equanimity . His wife had died many years before, and it jars upon us to read how he then commanded the young man to hush his See also:lamentations of sorrow .

We like him better when he mourned, as has been related, for his own mother . It is not true, however, as has often been said, that he had divorced his wife before her death . The death of his favourite disciple, Yen Hwui, in 481 B.C., was more trying to him . Then he wept and mourned beyond what seemed to his other followers the See also:

bounds of propriety, exclaiming that Heaven was destroyinghim . His own last year, 478 B.C., dawned on him with the tragic end of his next beloved disciple, Tze-lu . Early one See also:morning, we are told, in the See also:fourth month, he got up, and with His death. his hands behind his back, dragging his See also:staff, he moved about his See also:door, crooning over " The great mountain must crumble, The strong See also:beam must break, The See also:wise man must See also:wither away like a plant." .Tze-kung heard the words, and hastened to him . The master told him a See also:dream of the previous See also:night, which, he thought, presaged his death . " No intelligent ruler," he said, " arises to take me as his master . My time has come to See also:die." He took to his bed, and after seven days expired . Such is the account we have of the last days of the sage of China . His end was not unimpressive, but it was See also:melancholy . Disappointed hopes made his soul See also:bitter .

No wife nor child was by to do the offices of affection, nor was the expectation of another life with him, when he passed away from among men . He uttered no See also:

prayer, and he betrayed no See also:apprehension . Years before, when he was very See also:ill, and Tze-lu asked leave to pray for him, he expressed a doubt whether such a thing might be done, and added, " I have prayed for a long time." Deep-treasured now in his heart may have been the thought that he had served his See also:generation by the will of See also:God; but he gave no sign . When their master thus died, his disciples buried him with great pomp . A multitude of them built huts near his grave, and remained there, mourning as for a father, for nearly three years; and when all the rest were gone, Tze-kung, the last of his favourite three, continued alone by the grave for another period of the same duration . The See also:news of his death went through the states as with an electric thrill . The man who had been neglected when alive seemed to become all at once an See also:object of unbounded admiration . The tide began to flow which has hardly ever ebbed during three-and-twenty centuries . The grave of Confucius is in a large rectangle separated from the rest of the K'ung See also:cemetery, outside the city of K'iuh-fow . A magnificent See also:gate gives See also:admission to a fine See also:avenue, lined with See also:cypress trees and conducting to the See also:tomb, a large and lofty mound, with a See also:marble statue in front, bearing the inscription of the title .given to Confucius under the Sung dynasty :—" The most sagely ancient Teacher; the all-accomplished, all-informed King." A little in front of the tomb, on the left and right, are smaller mounds over the graves of his son and See also:grandson, from the latter of whom we have the remarkable See also:treatise called The See also:Doctrine of tke Mean . All over the place are imperial tablets of different dynasties, with glowing tributes to the one man whom China delights to honour; and on the right of the grandson's mound is a small house said to mark the place of the hut where Tze-kung passed his nearly five years of loving See also:vigil . On the mound grow cypresses, acacias, what is called " the crystal See also:tree," said not to be elsewhere found, and the Achillea, the plant whose stalks were employed in ancient times for purposes of See also:divination .

The adjoining city is still the home of the K'ung family; and there are said to be in it some 40,000 or 50,000 of the descendants of the sage . The chief of the family has large estates by imperial See also:

gift, with the title of " Duke by imperial See also:appointment and hereditary right, continuator of the sage." The dynasty of Chow finally perished two centuries and a See also:quarter after the death of the sage at the hands of the first historic See also:emperor of the nation,—the first of the dynasty of Ts'in, who swept away the See also:foundations of on c China hina o . the feudal system . State after state went down before his blows, but the name and followers of Confucius were the chief obstacles in his way . He made an effort to destroy the memory of the sage from off the earth, consigning to the flames all the ancient books from which he See also:drew his rules and examples (See also:save one), and burying alive hundreds of scholars who were ready to swear by his name . But Confucius could not be so extinguished . The tyranny of Ts'in was of See also:short duration, and the next dynasty, that of Han, while entering into the new China, found its surest strength in doing honour to his name, and trying to gather up the See also:wreck of the ancient books . It is His, wanderings . difficult to determine what there was about Confucius to secure for him the influence which he has wielded . Reference has been made to his literary tasks; but the study of them only renders the undertaking more difficult . He left no writings in which he detailed the principles of his moral and social system . The Doctrine of the Mean, by his grandson Tze-sze, and The Great Learning, by Tsang See also:Sin, the most profound, perhaps, of his disciples, give us the fullest information on that subject, and contain many of his sayings .

The Lun-See also:

Yii, or Analects, " Discourses and Dialogues," is a compilation in which many of his disciples must have taken part, and has great value as a See also:record of his ways and utterances; but its chapters are mostly disjecta membra, affording faint traces of any guiding method or mind . Mencius, Hsiin King and writers of the Han dynasty, whose See also:works, however, are more or less apocryphal, tell us much about him and his opinions, but all in a loose and unconnected way . No Chinese writer has ever seriously undertaken to compare him with the philosophers and sages of other nations . The sage, probably, did not think it necessary to put down many of his own thoughts in See also:writing, for he said of himself that Connexion he was " a transmitter, and not a maker." Nor did with the he lay claim to have any divine revelations . He was literature not born, he declared, with knowledge, but was fond of china. of antiquity, and See also:earnest in seeking knowledge there . The rule of life for men in all their relations, he held, was to be found within themselves . The right development of that rule, in the ordering not of the individual only, but of society, was to be found in the words and institutions of the ancient sages . China had a literature before Confucius . All the monuments of it, however, were in danger of perishing through the disorder into which the kingdom had fallen . The feudal system that had subsisted for more than r500 years had become old . Confucius did not see this, and it was impossible that he should . China was in his eyes drifting from its ancient moorings, drifting on a See also:sea of storms " to hideous ruin and See also: