fication?"

"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!" rejoined the Master. "A gentleman
would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not
understand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and
if language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when
deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when
this is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if
these last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or
foot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is
fitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon
it. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly
irregular--and that is the sum of the matter."

Fan Ch[']i requested that he might learn something of husbandry. "For
that," said the Master, "I am not equal to an old husbandman." Might
he then learn something of gardening? he asked. "I am not equal to an
old gardener," was the reply.

"A man of little mind, that!" said the Master, when Fan Ch[']i had
gone out. "Let a man who is set over the people love propriety, and
they will not presume to be disrespectful. Let him be a lover of
righteousness, and they will not presume to be aught but submissive.
Let him love faithfulness and truth, and they will not presume not to
lend him their hearty assistance. Ah, if all this only were so, the
people from all sides would come to such a one, carrying their
children on their backs. What need to turn his hand to husbandry?

"Though a man," said he, "could hum through the Odes--the three
hundred--yet should show himself unskilled when given some
administrative work to do for his country; though he might know much
of that other lore, yet if, when sent on a mission to any quarter, he
could answer no question personally and unaided, what after all is he
good for?

"Let a leader," said he, "show rectitude in his own personal character,
and even without directions from him things will go well. If he be not
personally upright, his directions will not be complied with."

Once he made the remark, "The governments of Lu and of Wei are in
brotherhood."

Of King, a son of the Duke of Wei, he observed that "he managed his
household matters well. On his coming into possession, he thought,
'What a strange conglomeration!'--Coming to possess a little more, it
was, 'Strange, such a result!' And when he became wealthy, 'Strange,
such elegance!'"

The Master w