The duke Ching was pleased with the conferences which he had
with him [4], and proposed to assign to him the town of Lin-ch'iu,
from the revenues of which he might derive a sufficient support;
but Confucius refused the gift, and said to his disciples, 'A
superior man will only receive reward for services which he has
done. I have given advice to the duke Ching, but he has not yet
obeyed it, and now he would endow me with this place! Very far is
he from understanding me [5]!'
On one occasion the duke asked about government, and
received the characteristic reply, 'There is government when the
ruler is ruler, and the minister is minister; when the father is
father, and the son is son [6].' I say that the reply is
characteristic. Once, when Tsze-lu asked him what he would
consider the first thing to be done if entrusted with the
government of a State, Confucius answered, 'What is necessary is
to rectify names [7].' The disciple thought the reply wide of the
mark, but it was substantially the same with what he said to the
marquis Ching. There is a sufficient foundation in nature for
government in the several relations of society, and if those be
maintained and developed according to their relative significancy,
it is sure to obtain. This was a first principle in the political
ethics of Confucius.
Another day the duke got to a similar inquiry the reply that
the art of government lay in an economical use of the revenues;
and being pleased, he resumed his purpose of retaining the
philosopher in his State, and proposed to assign to him the fields
of Ni-ch'i. His

1 See the ®a»y, ¨÷¥|, art. ¥¿½×¸Ñ. I have translated, however, from
the Li Chi, II. Sect. II. iii. 10, where the same incident is given,