probably one of them.
As magistrate of Chung-tu he produced a marvellous
reformation of the manners of the people in a short time.
According to the 'Narratives of the School,' he enacted rules for
the nourishing of the living and all observances to the dead.
Different food was assigned to the old and the young, and
different burdens to the strong and the weak. Males and females
kept apart from each other in the streets. A thing dropped on the
road was not picked up. There was no fraudulent carving of
vessels. Inner coffins were made four inches thick, and the outer
ones five. Graves were made on the high grounds, no mounds being
raised over them, and no trees planted about them. Within twelve
months, the princes of the other States all wished to imitate his
style of administration [2].
The duke Ting, surprised at what he saw, asked whether his
rules could be employed to govern a whole State, and Confucius
told him that they might be applied to the whole kingdom. On this
the duke appointed him assistant-superintendent of Works [3], in
which capacity he surveyed the lands of the State, and made many
improvements in agriculture. From this he was quickly made
minister of Crime [4], and the appointment was enough to put an
end to crime. There was no necessity to put the penal laws in
execution. No offenders showed themselves [5].

1 Ana. XVII. v.
2 ®a»y, Bk. I.
3 ¥qªÅ. This office, however, was held by the chief of the Mang
Family. We must understand that Confucius was only an assistant
to him, or perhaps acted for him.
4 ¤j¥q±F.