"If the people are difficult to govern, it is because they are oppressed by work too hard for them. . . . "This is the cause of their insubordination. "If the people are indifferent to the approach of death, it is because they find it too difficult to obtain sufficient nourishment. "That is why they die with so little regret." CHAPTER IV Lao-Tsze and Confucius compared--The appearance of Kilin, the fabulous dragon, to the father of Confucius--Early life of the Philosopher--The death and funeral of his mother--His views on funeral ceremonies--His visit to the King of Lu and discourse on the nature of man--Confucius advocates gymnasium exercises--His love of music--His summary of the whole duty of woman--He describes the life of a widow--He gives a list of the classes of men to be avoided in marriage--The seven legitimate reasons for the divorce of a wife--The three exceptions rendering divorce illegal--The missionary Gutzlaff's opinion of Confucius' view of woman's position--The Philosopher meets a man about to commit suicide--He rescues him from despair--He loses thirteen of his own followers. Under the continued influence of Lao-Tsze, China would probably have become in course of time crowded with monasteries, in which numerous bonzes would have devoted their lives to sterile contemplation, which would have profited their country not at all. Fortunately, however, the old philosopher was succeeded by the more practical Confucius, who made China what he meant it to be during his life-time, enforcing respect for tradition with the strict observance of the worship of ancestors. Devoted to agriculture, he did much to promote its scientific practice; an inexorable lover of justice, he had no mercy on the abuses and peculations of the mandarins. He knew how to turn to account every incident which could redound to his fame, and about his name gathered many romantic legends such as serve to fix on their hero the love and admiration of the populace. In this he differed, as did all the other great leaders of thought in the East, from Lao-Tsze, who owed his celebrity to the culte of pure reason alone, a doctrine too abstract for the apprehension of the general public, who ever delight in the marvellous. The earlier philosopher appeared and disappeared with absolutely no _éclat_, and his most ardent admirers never associated his birth or death with anything supernatural. It was far otherwise with Buddha, Confucius, Mahomet, and our Saviour, who one and all were credited with the power of working miracles, though those of Christ alone have been authenticated.