Also translated as “the Safe Middle Course,” and “the Infallible Medium,”
describes the golden mean, the due medium by which a man should regulate his
conduct. He is not to be lifted up by prosperity, nor cast down by adversity.
Through thirty-three sections, in language sometimes clear and strenuous,
sometimes obscure, the subject is pursued, and the whole duty of man
inculcated. Here is a passage describing a kingly man which may be compared
with one in Seneca:—
“It is only the man supremely holy, who, by the faculty of knowing thoroughly,
and comprehending perfectly the primitive laws of living beings, is worthy of
possessing supreme authority, and governing men; who by possessing a soul,
grand, firm, constant, and imperturbable, is capable of making justice and equity
reign; who by his faculty of being always honest, simple, upright, grave, and
just, is able to attract respect and veneration; who by his faculty of being clothed
with the ornaments of the mind, and the talents procured by assiduous study, and
by the enlightenment that springs from an exact investigation of the most hidden
things, and the most subtle principles, can with accuracy discern the true from
the false, and the good from the evil.”
The Lun-Yu, or “Philosophical Conversation.”This is the Chinese Phædo, and contains a record of the conversations held
between Confucius and his disciples, but the author lacked the eloquence and
imagination of Plato. It is interesting however from its anecdotes of the Great
Teacher. In introducing his guests, it seems that he kept his arms extended, like
the wings of a bird; that he never ate meat which had not been cut in a straight
line; that he never used his fingers to point to anything; and that he would not
occupy the mat spread for him as a seat unless it was regularly placed.
The Meng-tze, or “Mencius,”Is a Commentary upon Confucius, written about a century after his death by his
disciple Meng-tze. The subjects treated in it are of various nature. In one part the
virtues of individual life and of domestic relations are discussed; in another, the
order of affairs. Here are investigated the duties of superiors, from the sovereign
to the lowest magistrate, for the attainment of good government. There are
expounded the labours of students, peasants, traders, artisans, while, in the