6 See Chiang Yung's memoir, in loc.


while Chi K'ang was the mover and director of the proceeding, it
was with the authority and approval of the duke. It is represented
in the chronicle of Tso Ch'iu-ming as having occurred at a very
opportune time. The philosopher had been consulted a little before
by K'ung Wan [1], an officer of Wei, about how he should conduct a
feud with another officer, and disgusted at being referred to on
such a subject, had ordered his carriage and prepared to leave the
State, exclaiming, 'The bird chooses its tree. The tree does not
choose the bird.' K'ung Wan endeavoured to excuse himself, and to
prevail on Confucius to remain in Wei, and just at this juncture
the messengers from Lu arrived [2].
Confucius was now in his sixty-ninth year. The world had
not dealt kindly with him. In every State which he had visited he
had met with disappointment and sorrow. Only five more years
remained to him, nor were they of a brighter character than the
past. He had, indeed, attained to that state, he tells us, in which
'he could follow what his heart desired without transgressing
what was right [3],' but other people were not more inclined than
they had been to abide by his counsels. The duke Ai and Chi K'ang
often conversed with him, but he no longer had weight in the
guidance of state affairs, and wisely addressed himself to the
completion of his literary labors. He wrote a preface, according
to Sze-ma Ch'ien, to the Shu-ching; carefully digested the rites
and ceremonies determined by the wisdom of the more ancient
sages and kings; collected and arranged the ancient poetry; and
undertook the reform of music [4]. He has told us himself. 'I
returned from Wei to Lu, and then the music was reformed, and