remained in Lu, but in what special capacity we do not know.
Probably he continued to encourage the resort of

[Sidebar] He learns music; visits the court of Chau; and returns to
Lu.
B.C. 527-517.

inquirers to whom he communicated instruction, and pursued his
own researches into the history, literature, and institutions of
the empire. In the year B.C. 525, the chief of the small State of
T'an [3], made his appearance at the court of Lu, and discoursed in
a wonderful manner, at a feast given to him by the duke, about the
names which the most ancient sovereigns, from Hwang-ti
downwards, gave to their

1 Li Chi, II. Sect I. i. 10; Sect. II. iii. 30; Pt. I. i. 6. See also the
discussion of those passages in Chiang Yung's 'Life of Confucius.'
2 Li Chi, II. Sect. I. i. 23.
3 See the Ch'un Ch'iu, under the seventh year of duke Chao,-- ¬î, ×è
¤l¨Ó´Â.


ministers. The sacrifices to the emperor Shao-hao, the next in
descent from Hwang-ti, were maintained in T'an, so that the chief
fancied that he knew all about the abstruse subject on which he
discoursed. Confucius, hearing about the matter, waited on the
visitor, and learned from him all that he had to communicate [1].
To the year B.C. 525, when Confucius was twenty-nine years
old, is referred his studying music under a famous master of the
name of Hsiang [2]. He was approaching his thirtieth year when, as