wife, and without rank, remains at home, may the latter offer the sacrifice?"
Confucius said, "Yes, certainly." "And how will he sacrifice?" "He will rear an altar in front of the (family-)grave, and there he will sacrifice at the different seasons. If the oldest son die, he will announce the event at the grave, and afterwards sacrifice in the house, calling himself, however, only by his name, and abstaining from the epithet 'filial.' This abstinence will cease after his death." The disciples of 𝖅ze-yû, in the case of sons by inferior wives sacrificing, held that this practice was in accordance with what was right. Those of them who sacrifice now-a-days do not ground their practice on this principle of right;—they have no truthful ground for their sacrifices[1].
20. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "Is it necessary that there should be a representative of the dead in sacrifice? or may he be dispensed with as when the satisfying offerings are made to the dead?"
Confucius said, "In sacrificing to a full-grown man for whom there have been the funeral rites, there must be such a representative, who should be a grandson; and if the grandson be too young, some one must be employed to carry him in his arms. If there be no grandson, some one of the same surname should be selected for the occasion. In sacrificing to one who has died prematurely, there
are (only) the satisfying offerings, for he was not
- ↑ These last two sentences evidently should not be ascribed to Confucius. It was only after his death that 3ze-yii would have a school of his own. They must have been written moreover after the death of 𝖅ze-yû.
