Page:Columbia University Lectures on Literature (1911).djvu/93

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CHINESE LITERATURE
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his sovereign and government, and deep respect for the social order of his time and nation. But he clearly went too far in matters of detail. Imagine the subject of a small European State carrying his loyalty so far as to don his dress-coat, white necktie, and all his decorations even on his sick-bed because his grand-duke had announced an intended visit to the pa- tient. This is what Confucius is supposed to have done. For we read: "When he was sick, and the prince came to visit him, he had his face to the east (the correct position for a per- son in bed), caused his court robes to be spread over him, and drew his girdle across them." Quite a number of similar inci- dents, illustrating his pedantic adherence to little acts of cere- mony, and representing him as a man full of caprice, have been placed on record in the tenth book of the Lun-iju, with an amount of devotion not surpassed even by Boswell's regard for the great Dr. Johnson's little weaknesses.

(2) "The Great Learning" (Ta-hio), a short treatise on self-culture, based on knowledge as a means of reforming society.

(3) "The Doctrine of the Mean" (Chung-yung) , also translated by "The Golden Medium." It recommends the middle course in all walks of life.

(4) "The Philosopher Mong " (Mbng-tzi), i.e. Mencius, the name invented, like that of Confucius, by European translators writing in Latin. Mencius flourished about two centuries after Confucius; but he did more in working out the Confucian system, and especially in applying it to practical state and social life, than all the contemporaneous disciples and even the master himself. This may have been due to the fact that, to prove the correctness of his views against so many rival philosophers who had been successful since Confucius' lifetime, he had to double his efforts to make himself understood by the masses. Mencius has thus become a real educator of his people. Compared with Confucius he is moderate in requiring the observance of outer formalities;