the discussion of courtesy, showing the people all the normal virtues. Any rulers who did not follow this course were driven away by those who possessed power and position, and all regarded them as pests. This is the period of what we call Small Tranquillity[1]."
4. Yen Yen again asked, "Are the rules of Propriety indeed of such urgent importance?" Confucius said, "It was by those rules that the ancient kings sought to represent the ways of Heaven, and to regulate the feelings of men. Therefore he who neglects or violates them may be (spoken of) as dead, and he who observes them, as alive. It is said in the Book of Poetry,
'Look at a rat—how small its limbs and fine!
Then mark the course that scorns the proper line.
Propriety's neglect may well provoke
A wish the man would quickly court death's stroke[2].'
Therefore those rules are rooted in heaven, have their correspondencies in earth, and are applicable to spiritual beings. They extend to funeral rites, sacrifices, archery, chariot-driving, capping, marriage, audiences, and friendly missions. Thus the sages made known these rules, and it became possible for the kingdom, with its states and clans, to reach its correct condition."
5. Yen Yen again asked, "May I be allowed to hear, Master, the full account that you would give of
- ↑ The Tâoism in this and the preceding paragraph is evident, and we need not be surprised that Wang of Shih-liang should say that they ought not to be ascribed to Confucius. The Khien-lung editors try to weaken the force of his judgment by a theory of misplaced tablets and spurious additions to the text.
- ↑ The Shih, I, iv, 8; metrical version, page 99.
