"RISE OF CONFUCIUS" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglas R K)

weep as if you had experienced sorrow upon sorrow," said Tsze-loo. "I have," said the
woman, "my father-in-law was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also; and now my
son has met the same fate." "Why, then, do you not remove from the place?" asked
Confucius. "Because here there is no oppressive government," replied the woman. On
hearing this answer, Confucius remarked to his disciples, "My children remember this,
oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger."

Possibly Confucius was attracted to T'se by a knowledge that the music of the
emperor Shun was still preserved at the court. At all events, we are told that having
heard a strain of the much-desired music on his way to the capital, he hurried on, and
was so ravished with the airs he heard that for three months he never tasted flesh. "I did
not think," said he, "that music could reach such a pitch of excellence."

Hearing of the arrival of the Sage, the duke of T'se - King, by name - sent for him,
and after some conversation, being minded to act the part of a patron to so distinguished
a visitor, offered to make him a present of the city of Lin-k'ew with its revenues. But this
Confucius declined, remarking to his disciples, "A superior man will not receive rewards
except for services done. I have given advice to the duke King, but he has not followed
it as yet, and now he would endow me with this place. Very far is he from understanding
me." He still, however, discussed politics with the duke, and taught him that "'There is
good government when the prince is prince, and the minister is minister; when the father
is father, and the son is son." "Good," said the duke; "if, indeed, the prince be not prince,
the minister not minister, and the son not son, although I have my revenue, can I enjoy
it?"

Though Duke King was by no means a satisfactory pupil, many of his instincts
were good, and he once again expressed a desire to pension Confucius, that he might
keep him at hand; but Gan Ying, the Prime Minister, dissuaded him from his purpose.
"These scholars," said the minister, "are impracticable, and cannot be imitated. They
are haughty and conceited of their own views, so that they will not rest satisfied in
inferior positions. They set a high value on all funeral ceremonies, give way to their grief,
and will waste their property on great funerals, so that they would only be injurious to the
common manners. This Kung Footsze has a thousand peculiarities. It would take ages
to exhaust all he knows about the ceremonies of going up and going down. This is not
the time to examine into his rules of propriety. If you wish to employ him to change the
customs of T'se, you will not be making the people your primary consideration." This
reasoning had full weight with the duke, who the next time he was urged to follow the
advice of Confucius, cut short the discussion by the remark, "I am too old to adopt his
doctrines."

Under these circumstances Confucius once more returned to Loo, only however
to find that the condition of the state was still unchanged; disorder was rife; and the reins
of government were in the hands of the head of the strongest party for the time being.
This was no time for Confucius to take office, and he devoted the leisure thus forced
upon him to the compilation of the "Book of Odes" and the "Book of History."

But in process of time order was once more restored, and he then felt himself
free to accept the post of magistrate of the town of Chung-too, which was offered him by
the duke Ting.