Confucius's fame, however, had gone before him, and he was
in little danger of having to suffer from want. On arriving at the
capital of Wei, he lodged at first with a worthy officer, named
Yen Ch'au-yu [1]. The reigning duke, known to us by the epithet of
Ling [2], was a worthless, dissipated man, but he could not
neglect a visitor of such eminence, and soon assigned to
Confucius a revenue of 60,000 measures of grain [3]. Here he
remained for ten months, and then for some reason left it to go to
Ch'an [4]. On the way he had to pass by K'wang [5], a place probably
in the present department of K'ai-fung in Ho-nan, which had
formerly suffered from Yang-hu. It so happened that Confucius
resembled Hu, and the attention of the people being called to him
by the movements of his carriage-driver, they thought it was
their old enemy, and made an attack upon him. His followers were
alarmed, but he was calm, and tried to assure them by declaring
his belief that he had a divine mission. He said to them, 'After the
death of king Wan, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me?
If Heaven had wished to let this cause of truth perish, then I, a
future mortal, should not have got such a relation to that cause.
While Heaven does not let the cause of truth perish, what can the
people of K'wang do to me [6]?' Having escaped from the hands of
his assailants, he does not seem to have carried out his purpose
of going to Ch'an, but returned to Wei.
On the way, he passed a house where he had formerly lodged,
and finding that the master was dead, and the funeral ceremonies
going on, he went in to condole and weep. When he came out, he
told Tsze-kung to take the outside horses from his carriage, and
give them as a contribution to the expenses of the occasion. 'You
never did such a thing,' Tsze-kung remonstrated, 'at the funeral of
any of your disciples; is it not too great a gift on this occasion of
the death of an old host?' 'When I went in,' replied Confucius, 'my
presence brought a burst of grief from the chief mourner, and I
joined him with my tears. I dislike the thought of my tears not
being followed by anything. Do it, my child [7].' On reaching Wei,
he lodged with Chu Po-yu, an officer of whom
1 顏讎由. See Mencius, V. Pt. I. viii. 2.
2. 靈公.
3 see the 史記, 孔子世家, p. 5.
4 陳國.
5. 匡.
6 Ana. IX. v. In Ana. XI. xxii, there is another reference to this
time, in which Yen Hui is made to appear.
7 See the Li Chi, II. Sect. I. ii. 16.
honourable mention is made in the Analects [1]. But this time he
did not remain long in the State. The duke was
[Sidebar] B.C. 495.
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