25. There are three deaths on which no condolence
should be offered:—from cowardice; from being
crushed (through heedlessness); and from drowning[1].
26. When Зze-lû might have ended his mourning for his eldest sister, he still did not do so. Confucius said to him, "Why do you not leave off your mourning?" He replied, "I have but few brothers, and I cannot bear to do so." Confucius said, "When the ancient kings framed their rules, (they might have said that) they could not bear (to cease mourning) even for (ordinary) men on the roads." When Зze-lû heard this, he forthwith left off his mourning.
27. Thâi-kung was invested with his state, (and had his capital) in Ying-khiû; but for five generations (his descendants, the marquises of Khî) were all taken back and buried in Kâu. A superior man has said, "For music, we use that of him from whom we sprang; in ceremonies, we do not forget him to whom we trace our root." The ancients had a saying, that a fox, when dying, adjusts its head in the direction of the mound (where it was whelped); manifesting thereby (how it shares in the feeling of) humanity.
28. When the mother of Po-yü died, he kept on wailing for her after the year. Confucius heard him, and said, "Who is it that is thus wailing?" The disciples said, "It is Lî." The Master said, "Ah! (such a demonstration) is excessive."
When Po-yü heard it, he forthwith gave up wailing[2].
- ↑ The third death here must be supplemented, as I have done the second.
- ↑ Compare paragraph 4, and the note on it. Lî, designated Po-yü, was the son of Confucius, and it has been supposed that his mother had been divorced, so that his protracted wailing for her gave occasion to the rebuke of his father. But while his father was alive, a son did not wail for his mother beyond the year. The passage does not prove that Confucius had divorced his wife, but the contrary; though he might have shown more sympathy with his son's sorrow.
K 2
