ere he had
learned his so victorious generalship; and he answered, "from
Confucius."--If a mere disciple could do so much, they thought,
surely the Master himself could do much more: as, perhaps, lead
the Lu armies to universal victory. So they sent him a cordial
invitation, with no words as to the warlike views that prompted
it. High in hope, Confucius set out; these fourteen years his
native country had been pulling at his heart-strings, and
latterly, more insistently than ever. But on his arrival he
saw how the land lay. Chi consulted him about putting down
brigandage: Chi being, as you might say, the arch-brigand of
Lu.--"If you, Sir, were not avaricious," said Confucius, "though
you offered men rewards for stealing, they would cleave to their
honesty." There was nothing to be done with such men as these;
he went into retirement, having much literary work to finish.
That was in 483.

In 482 his son Li died; and a year later Yen Huy, dearest of his
disciples. We have seen how he gave way to grief. There is that
strange mystery of the dual nature; even in Such a One. There
is the human Personality that the Great Soul must work through.
He had performed his function; he had fulfilled his duty; all
that he owed to the coming ages he had paid in full. But the
evidence goes to show that he was still looking forward for a
chance to begin, and that every disappointmtnt hurt the outward
man of him: that it was telling on him: that it was a sad, a
disappointed, even a heart-broken old man that wept over Yen
Huy.--In 481, we read, a servant of the Chief of Clan Chi caught
a strange one-horned aninial, with a white ribbon tied to its
horn. None had seen the like of it; and Confucius, being the
most learned of men, was called in to make pronouncement. He
recognised it at once from his mother's description: it was the
_k'e-lin,_ the unicorn; that was the ribbon Chingtsai had decked
it with in the cave on Mount Ne the night of his birth. He burst
into tears. "For whom have you come?" he cried; "for whom have
you come?" And then: "The course of my doctrine is run, and
wisdom is still neglected, and success is still worshiped. My
principles make no progress: how will it be in the after ages?"
--Ah, could he have know!--I mean, that old weary mind and body;
the Soul which was Confucius knew.

Yen Huy, Tse Lu, and Tse Kung: those were the three whom he had
loved and trusted most. Yen Huy was dead; Tse Lu, w