The Master said: He was loyal and conscientious.[1]—Had he not the highest degree of moral virtue?—That I do not know; how can one judge of his moral virtue?—Tzǔ Chang continued: When Ts'ui Tzǔ[2] slew the Prince of Ch'i, Ch'ên Wen Tzǔ, though the possessor of ten teams of war-horses, forsook his wealth and turned his back on the country. Having come to another state, he said "Here they are as bad as our own minister Ts'ui Tzǔ," and departed. And he repeated this proceeding each time that he came to a new state.[3] What is your opinion of him?—The Master said: He was pure and incorruptible.—Had he not the highest degree of virtue?—I cannot say; how is one to judge?
The Master said: When the solid outweighs the ornamental, we have boorishness; when the ornamental outweighs the solid, we have superficial smartness. Only from a proper blending of the two will the higher type of man emerge.
- ↑ The root idea of this word chung is loyalty to oneself, devotion to principle, or, as Mr. Ku Hung-ming well translates it, conscientiousness. Loyalty or fidelity to the sovereign is only an extended sense. Here the two ideas appear to be blended, but in a famous passage to be noted further on (p. 118) much trouble has resulted from ignoring the first and fundamental meaning.
- ↑ A high officer in Ch'i, the state adjoining Lu.
- ↑ The fact that Ch'ên Wen Tzǔ could not reconcile it with his conscience to settle in any of the states which he visited throws a lurid light on the disorder prevailing in the Empire at this period (547 B.C.). Murder and usurpation were evidently the rule rather than the exception.
