3 Ana. VII. viii.


answer three times, when he burst into tears, and said, 'Ah! they
did not make their graves so in antiquity [1].' 'Confucius mourned
for his mother the regular period of three years,-- three years
nominally, but in fact only twenty-seven months. Five days after
the mourning was expired, he played on his lute, but could not
sing. It required other five days before he could accompany an
instrument with his voice [2].
Some writers have represented Confucius as teaching his
disciples important lessons from the manner in which he buried
his mother, and having a design to correct irregularities in the
ordinary funeral ceremonies of the time. These things are
altogether 'without book.' We simply have a dutiful son paying the
last tribute of affection to a good parent. In one point he departs
from the ancient practice, raising a mound over the grave, and
when the fresh earth gives way from a sudden rain, he is moved to
tears, and seems to regret his innovation. This sets Confucius
vividly before us,-- a man of the past as much as of the present,
whose own natural feelings were liable to be hampered in their
development by the traditions of antiquity which he considered
sacred. It is important, however, to observe the reason which he
gave for rearing the mound. He had in it a presentiment of much of
his future course. He was 'a man of the north, the south, the east,
and the west.' He might not confine himself to any one State. He
would travel, and his way might be directed to some 'wise ruler,'
whom his counsels would conduct to a benevolent sway that
would break forth on every side till it transformed the empire.
4. When the mourning for his mother was over, Confucius