home, she has now no home to return to; second, if she have
passed with her husband through the three years' mourning for his
parents; third, if the husband have become rich from being poor.
All these regulations were adopted by the sages in harmony with
the natures of man and woman, and to give importance to the
ordinance of marriage [1].'
With these ideas of the relations of society, Confucius
dwelt much on the necessity of personal correctness of character
on the part of those in authority, in order to secure the right
fulfillment of the duties implied in them. This is one grand
peculiarity of his teaching. I have adverted to it in the review of
'The Great Learning,' but it deserves some further exhibition, and
there are three conversations with the chief Chi K'ang in which it
is very expressly set forth. 'Chi K'ang asked about government,
and Confucius replied, "To govern means to rectify. If you lead on
the people with correctness, who will dare not to be correct?"'
'Chi K'ang, distressed about the number of thieves in the State,
inquired of Confucius about how to do away with them. Confucius
said, "If you, sir, were not covetous, though you should reward
them to do it, they would not steal."' 'Chi K'ang asked about
government,

1 ®a»y¨÷¤T, ¥»©R¸Ñ


saying, "What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the good
of the principled?" Confucius replied, "Sir, in carrying on your
government, why should you use killing at all? Let your evinced
desires be for what is good, and the people will be good. The
relation between superiors and inferiors is like that between the