was arrested because there was not that contact and competition
with other peoples which demands brain-work of an active kind as the
alternative of subjugation, inferiority, or extinction, and because,
as we have already seen, the knowledge required of them was mainly
the parrot-like repetition of the old instead of the thinking-out of
the new [1]--a state of things rendered possible by the isolation
just referred to. Confucius discountenanced discussion about the
supernatural, and just as it is probable that the exhortations of Wên
Wang, the virtual founder of the Chou dynasty (1121-255 B.C.), against
drunkenness, in a time before tea was known to them, helped to make
the Chinese the sober people that they are, so it is probable--more
than probable--that this attitude of Confucius may have nipped in
the bud much that might have developed a vigorous mythology, though
for a reason to be stated later it may be doubted if he thereby
deprived the world of any beautiful and marvellous results of the
highest flights of poetical creativeness. There are times, such as
those of any great political upheaval, when human nature will assert
itself and break through its shackles in spite of all artificial
or conventional restraints. Considering the enormous influence of
Confucianism throughout the latter half of Chinese history--_i.e._
the last two thousand years--it is surprising that the Chinese dared
to think about supernatural matters at all, except in the matter of
propitiating their dead ancestors. That they did so is evidence not
only of human nature's inherent tendency to tell stories, but also
of the irrepressible strength of feeling which breaks all laws and
commandments under great stimulus. On the opposing unæsthetic side
this may be compared to the feeling which prompts the unpremeditated
assassination of a man who is guilty of great injustice, even though
it be certain that in due course he would have met his deserts at
the hands of the public executioner.