of the hill, and two spirit-ladies appeared in the air, pouring out
fragrant odors, as if to bathe Chang-tsai; and as soon as the birth
took place, a spring of clear warm water bubbled up from the
floor of the cave, which dried up again when the child had been
washed in it. The child was of an extraordinary appearance; with
a mouth like the sea, ox lips, a dragon's back, &c. &c. On the top of
his head was a remarkable formation, in consequence of which he
was named Ch'iu, &c. See the ¦C°ê§Ó, Bk. lxxviii.--Sze-ma Ch'ien
seems to make Confucius to have been illegitimate, saying that
Heh and Miss Yen cohabited in the wilderness (³¥¦X). Chiang Yung
says that the phrase has reference simply to the disparity of
their ages.
2 Sze-ma Ch'ien says that Confucius was born in the twenty-
second year of duke Hsiang, B.C. 550. He is followed by Chu Hsi in
the short sketch of Confucius's life prefixed to the Lun Yu, and by
'The Annals of the Empire' (¾ú¥N²Î¬öªí), published with imperial
sanction in the reign of Chia-ch'ing. (To this latter work I have
generally referred for my dates.) The year assigned in the text
above rests on the authority of Ku-liang and Kung-yang, the two
commentators on the Ch'un-Ch'iu. With regard to the month,
however, the tenth is that assigned by Ku-liang, while Kung-yang
names the eleventh.
3 Tsau is written ×ê, ÁÝ, ³µ, and ¹Q.


sacrificial vessels, and at postures of ceremony. Of his schooling
we have no reliable account. There is a legend, indeed, that at
seven he went to school to Yen P'ing-chung [1], but it must be
rejected as P'ing-chung belonged to the State of Ch'i. He tells us
himself that at fifteen he bent his mind to learning [2]; but the