After a little, he entered the house and sat down opposite
the door. Tsze-kung had heard his words, and said to himself, 'If
the great mountain crumble, to what shall I look up? If the strong
beam break, and the wise man wither away, on whom shall I lean?
The master, I fear, is going to be ill.' With this he hastened into
the house. Confucius said to him, 'Ts'ze, what makes you so late?
According to the statutes of Hsia, the corpse was dressed and
coffined at the top of the eastern steps, treating the dead as if he
were still the host. Under the Yin, the ceremony was performed
between the two pillars, as if the dead were both host and guest.
The rule of Chau is to perform it at the top of the western steps,
treating the dead as if he were a guest. I am a man of Yin, and last
night I dreamt that I was sitting with offerings before me
between the two pillars. No intelligent monarch arises; there is
not one in the kingdom that will make me his master. My time has
come to die.' So it was. He went to his couch, and after seven days
expired [2].
Such is the account which we have of the last hours of the
great philosopher of China. His end was not unimpressive, but it
was melancholy. He sank behind a cloud. Disappointed hopes made
his soul bitter. The great ones of the kingdom had not received his
teachings. No wife nor child was by to do the kindly offices of
affection for him. Nor were the expectations of another life
present with him as he passed through the dark valley. He uttered
no prayer, and he betrayed no apprehensions. Deep-treasured in
his own heart may have been the thought that he had endeavoured
to serve his generation by the will of God, but he gave no sign.
'The mountain falling came to nought, and the rock was removed

1 See the ¥ª¶Ç, «s¤½¤Q¤»¦~, and Chiang Yung's Life of Confucius, in