Now when Yang Tzü Chü first went to the inn, the visitors there had come out to receive him. Mine host had arranged his mat, while the landlady held towel and comb. The visitors had given him up the best seats, and those who were cooking had left the stove free for him. But when he went back, After his interview with Lao Tzŭ. the other visitors struggled to get the best seats for themselves. So changed was he in spirit. Lin Hsi Chung considers that this chapter should immediately precede what is now ch. xxxii, from which it has been separated by the interpolation of the four following chapters, all admittedly spurious. CHAPTER XXVIII. ON DECLINING POWER. [Spurious.] Yao offered to resign the empire to Hsü Yu, but the latter declined. He then offered it to Tzŭ Chou Chih Fu, who said, "There is no objection to making me emperor. But just now I am suffering from a troublesome disease, and am engaged in trying to cure it. I have no leisure to look after the empire." Now the empire is of paramount importance. Yet here was a man who would not allow it to injure his chance of life. How much less then would he let other things do so? Yet it is only he who would do nothing in the way of government who is fit to be trusted with the empire. Those personages who have not been previously mentioned may be taken to be allegorical. * * * * * Shun offered to resign the empire to Tzŭ Chou Chih Poh. The latter said, "Just now I am suffering from a troublesome disease, and am engaged in trying to cure it. I have no leisure to look after the empire." Now the empire is a great trust; but not to sacrifice one's life for it is precisely where the man of TAO differs from the man of the world. * * * * * Shun offered to resign the empire to Shan Chüan. Shan Chüan said, "I am a unit in the sum of the universe. In winter I wear fur clothes. In summer I wear grass-cloth. In spring I plough and sow, toiling with my body. In autumn I gather in the harvest, and devote myself to rest and enjoyment. At dawn I go to work; at sunset I leave off. Contented with my lot I pass through life with a light heart. Why then should I trouble myself with the empire? Ah, Sir, you do not know me." So he declined, and subsequently hid himself among the mountains, nobody knew where. * * * * * Shun offered the empire to a friend, a labourer of Shih Hu. "Sire," said the latter, "you exert yourself too much. The chief thing is to husband one's strength;"--meaning that in point of real virtue Shun had not attained. Then, husband and wife, bearing away their household gods and taking their children with them, went off to the sea and never came back. * * * * *