[4] The hidden meaning of this saying is made clear by the context to be found in Ssŭ-ma Ch‘ien's biography of Confucius. The Prince of Wei at this time was the young man mentioned on p. 128 as holding the throne against his own father. By so doing he had in some sort inverted the relationship which should have subsisted between them, and each was in a false position, the father being deprived of his proper parental dignity, and the son no longer "doing his duty as a son" (see p. 41). Confucius then is administering a veiled rebuke to the young ruler, for in saying that the first reform necessary is the correct definition of names, he implies in effect that the terms "father" and "son," among others, should be made to resume their proper significance. An alternative rendering of _chêng ming_ as "rectification of the written character," though backed by the great authority of M. Chavannes, can only be described as feeble and far-fetched, and has been ably confuted by Herr Franke in the _T'oung Pao_ for July, 1906. [5] Confucius is of course merely insisting on the principle of division of labour, and not by any means depreciating the value of husbandry or other useful arts. It is not the ruler's business to make himself proficient in these, because the task of governing and setting an example to the governed will claim all his attention. Compare Plato's disapproval of πολυπραγμοσύνη, and Confucius' remarks on his own skill in various arts (p. 88). [6] The weak ruler of the Lu State (510-494 B.C.), who lost the services of Confucius by his infatuation in accepting the insidious gift of eighty beautiful singing-girls from the Ch‘i State. See Introduction, p. 16. [7] Shê was a district of the Ch‘u State, which Confucius visited in 488 B.C. The following anecdote, told by T‘an Kung, is a striking illustration of the above saying. Travelling with his disciples, the Master came across a woman weeping and wailing beside a grave, and inquired the cause of her grief. "Alas!" she replied. "My father-in-law was killed here by a tiger; after that, my husband; and now my son has perished by the same death."--"But why, then, do you not go elsewhere?"--"The government here is not harsh," answered the woman.--"There!" cried the Master, turning to his disciples, "remember that. Bad government is worse than a tiger." [8] A small city in Lu. [9] Legge translates: "When rulers love to observe the rules of propriety (!), the people respond readily to the calls on them for service." All the other translators seem likewise to have missed the point, which is elsewhere insisted on by Confucius--that no man is fit to govern others who cannot govern himself. On the meaning of _li_, see Introduction, pp. 30 _seqq._, and note on p. 60. [10] A legendary Emperor. [11] This saying might have come straight from the mouth of a Taoist philosopher. Nor is it the only place where Confucius seems to advocate quietism. Cf. p. 108.