ple he set by the exact
performance of his daily duties.

The only accomplishment which Confucius possessed was a love of music,
and this he studied less as an accomplishment than as a necessary part
of education. "It is by the odes that the mind is aroused," said he. "It
is by the rules of propriety that the character is established. And it
is music which completes the edifice."

But having tasted the sweets of official life, Confucius was not
inclined to resign all hope of future employment, and the duke of Wei
still remaining deaf to his advice, he determined to visit the state of
Tsin, in the hope of finding in Chaou Keen-tsze, one of the three
chieftains who virtually governed that state, a more hopeful pupil. With
this intention he started westward, but had got no farther than the
Yellow River when the news reached him of the execution of Tuh Ming and
Tuh Shun-hwa, two men of note in Tsin. The disorder which this indicated
put a stop to his journey; for had not he himself said "that a superior
man will not enter a tottering state." His disappointment and grief were
great, and looking at the yellow waters as they flowed at his feet, he
sighed and muttered to himself: "Oh how beautiful were they; this river
is not more majestic than they were! and I was not there to avert their
fate!"

So saying he returned to Wei, only to find the duke as little inclined
to listen to his lectures, as he was deeply engaged in warlike
preparations. When Confucius presented himself at court, the duke
refused to talk on any other subject but military tactics, and
forgetting, possibly on purpose, that Confucius was essentially a man of
peace, pressed him for information on the art of manoeuvreing an army.
"If you should wish to know how to arrange sacrificial vessels," said
the Sage, "I will answer you, but about warfare I know nothing."

Confucius was now sixty years old, and the condition of the states
composing the empire was even more unfavorable for the reception of his
doctrines than ever. But though depressed by fortune, he never lost that
steady confidence in himself and his mission, which was a leading
characteristic of his career, and when he found the duke of Wei deaf to
his advice, he removed to Ch'in, in the hope of there finding a ruler
who would appreciate his wisdom.

In the following year he left Ch'in with his disciples for Ts'ae, a
small dependency of the state of Ts'oo. In those days the empire was
subjected to