inherent in human nature, and therefore the father in the family, and
the government in the state, are responsible for the crimes committed
against filial piety and the public laws. If a king is careless about
publishing laws, and then peremptorily punishes in accordance with the
strict letter of them, he acts the part of a swindler; if he collect the
taxes arbitrarily without giving warning, he is guilty of oppression;
and if he puts the people to death without having instructed them, he
commits a cruelty."

On all these points Confucius frequently insisted, and strove both by
precept and example to impart the spirit they reflected on all around
him. In the presence of his prince we are told that his manner, though
self-possessed, displayed respectful uneasiness. When he entered the
palace, or when he passed the vacant throne, his countenance changed,
his legs bent under him, and he spoke as though he had scarcely breath
to utter a word. When it fell to his lot to carry the royal sceptre, he
stooped his body as though he were not able to bear its weight. If the
prince came to visit him when he was ill, he had himself placed with his
head to the east, and lay dressed in his court clothes with his girdle
across them. When the prince sent him a present of cooked meat, he
carefully adjusted his mat and just tasted the dishes; if the meat were
uncooked, he offered it to the spirits of his ancestors, and any animal
which was thus sent him he kept alive.

At the village festivals he never preceded, but always followed after
the elders. To all about him he assumed an appearance of simplicity and
sincerity. To the court officials of the lower grade he spoke freely,
and to superior officers his manner was bland but precise. Even at the
wild gatherings which accompanied the annual ceremony of driving away
pestilential influences, he paid honor to the original meaning of the
rite, by standing in court robes on the eastern steps of his house, and
received the riotous exorcists as though they were favored guests. When
sent for by the prince to assist in receiving a royal visitor, his
countenance appeared to change. He inclined himself to the officers
among whom he stood, and when sent to meet the visitor at the gate, "he
hastened forward with his arms spread out like the wings of a bird."
Recognizing in the wind and the storm the voice of Heaven, he changed
countenance at the sound of a sudden clap of thunder or a violent gust
of