hastened to him, and repeated to his great amusement the
description which the man had given. 'The bodily appearance,' said
Confucius, 'is but a small matter, but to say I was like a stray
dog,-- capital! capital!' The stay they made at Chang was short,
and by the end of B.C. 495, Confucius was in Ch'an.
All the next year he remained there, lodging with the
warder of the city wall, an officer of worth, of the name of Chang
[2], and we have no accounts of him which deserve to be related
here [3].
In B.C. 494, Ch'an was much disturbed by attacks from Wu
[4], a large State, the capital of which was in the present
department of Su-chau, and Confucius determined to retrace his
steps to Wei. On the way he was laid hold of at a place called P'u
[5], which was held by a rebellious officer against Wei, and before
he could get away, he was obliged to engage that he would not
proceed thither. Thither, notwithstanding, he continued his route,
and when Tsze-kung asked him whether it was right to violate the
oath he had taken, he replied, 'It was a forced oath. The spirits do
not hear such [6].' 'The duke Ling received him with distinction,
but paid no more attention to his lessons than before, and
Confucius is said then to have uttered his complaint, 'If there
were any of the princes who would employ me, in the course of
twelve months I should have done something considerable. In
three years the government would be perfected [7].'
A circumstance occurred to direct his attention to the State
of Tsin [8], which occupied the southern part of the present Shan-
hsi, and extended over the Yellow river into Ho-nan. An invitation
came to Confucius, like that which he had formerly received from
Kung-shan Fu-zao. Pi Hsi, an officer of Tsin, who was holding the
town of Chung-mau against his chief, invited him to visit him,