and Confucius was inclined to go. Tsze-lu was always the mentor
on such occasions. He said to him, 'Master, I have heard you say,

1 See the ¥v°O, ¤Õ¤l¥@®a, p. 6.
2 ¥q«°­s¤l. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 3.
3 Chiang Yung digests in this place two foolish stories,-- about a
large bone found in the State of Yueh, and a bird which appeared in
Ch'ia and died, shot through with a remarkable arrow. Confucius
knew all about them.
4 §d.
5 »Z.
6 This ia related by Sze-ma ch'ien ¤Õ¤l¥@®a, p. 7, and also in the
'Narratives of the School.' I would fain believe it is not true. The
wonder is, that no Chinese critic should have set about disproving
it.
7 Ana. XII. x.
8 ®Ê.

that when a man in his own person is guilty of doing evil, a
superior man will not associate with him. Pi Hsi is in rebellion; if
you go to him, what shall be said?' Confucius replied, 'Yes, I did
use those words. But is it not said that if a thing be really hard,
it may be ground without being made thin; and if it be really
white, it may be steeped in a dark fluid without being made
black? Am I a bitter gourd? Am I to be hung up out of the way of
being eaten [1]?'
These sentiments sound strangely from his lips. After all,
he did not go to Pi Hsi; and having travelled as far as the Yellow
river that he might see one of the principal ministers of Tsin, he
heard of the violent death of two men of worth, and returned to