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

He now had an opportunity of putting his principles of government to the test, and
the result partly justified his expectations. He framed rules for the support of the living,
and for the observation of rites for the dead; he arranged appropriate food for the old
and the young; and he provided for the proper separation of men and women. And the
results were, we are told, that, as in the time of King Alfred, a thing dropped on the road
was not picked up; there was no fraudulent carving of vessels; coffins were made of the
ordained thickness; graves were unmarked by mounds raised over them; and no two
prices were charged in the markets. The duke, surprised at what he saw, asked the
sage whether his rule of government could be applied to the whole state. "Certainly,"
replied Confucius, "and not only to the state of Loo, but to the whole empire." Forthwith,
therefore, the duke made him Assistant-Superintendent of Works, and shortly afterwards
appointed him Minister of Crime. Here, again, his success was complete. From the day
of his appointment crime is said to have disappeared, and the penal laws remained a
dead letter.

Courage was recognized by Confucius as being one of the great virtues, and
about this period we have related two instances in which he showed that he possessed
both moral and physical courage to a high degree. The chief of the Ke family, being
virtual possessor of the state, when the body of the exiled Duke Chaou was brought
from T'se for interment, directed that it should be buried apart from the graves of his
ancestors. On Confucius becoming aware of his decision, he ordered a trench to be dug
round the burying-ground which should enclose the new tomb. "Thus to censure a
prince and signalize his faults is not according to etiquette," said he to Ke. "I have
caused the grave to be included in the cemetery, and I have done so to hide your
disloyalty." And his action was allowed to pass unchallenged.

The other instance referred to was on the occasion, a few years later, of an
interview between the dukes of Loo and T'se, at which Confucius was present as master
of ceremonies. At his instigation an altar was raised at the place of meeting, which was
mounted by three steps, and on this the dukes ascended, and having pledged one
another proceeded to discuss a treaty of alliance. But treachery was intended on the
part of the duke of T'se, and at a given signal a band of savages advanced with beat of
drum to carry off the duke of Loo. Some such stratagem had been considered probable
by Confucius, and the instant the danger became imminent he rushed to the altar and
led away the duke. After much disorder, in which Confucius took a firm and prominent
part, a treaty was concluded, and even some land on the south of the river Wan, which
had been taken by T'se, was by the exertions of the Sage restored to Loo. On this
recovered territory the people of Loo, in memory of the circumstance, built a city and
called it, "The City of Confession."

But to return to Confucius as the Minister of Crime. Though eminently
successful, the results obtained under his system were not quite such as his followers
have represented them to have been. No doubt crime diminished under his rule, but it
was by no means abolished. In fact, his biographers mention a case which must have
been peculiarly shocking to him. A father brought an accusation against his son, in the
expectation, probably, of gaining his suit with ease before a judge who laid such stress
on the virtues of filial piety. But to his surprise, and that of the on-lookers, Confucius cast
both father and son into prison, and to the remonstrances of the head of the Ke clan
answered, "Am I to punish for a breach of filial piety one who has never been taught to
be filially minded? Is not he who neglects to teach his son his duties, equally guilty with