ightest, nay, imaginary insult, the quick-tempered braggart took
offense, resorted to the use of the sword, and many an unnecessary
strife was raised and many an innocent life lost. The story of a
well-meaning citizen who called the attention of a bushi to a flea
jumping on his back, and who was forthwith cut in two, for the simple
and questionable reason that inasmuch as fleas are parasites which feed
on animals, it was an unpardonable insult to identify a noble warrior
with a beast--I say, stories like these are too frivolous to believe.
Yet, the circulation of such stories implies three things; (1) that they
were invented to overawe common people; (2) that abuses were really made
of the samurai's profession of honor; and (3) that a very strong sense
of shame was developed among them. It is plainly unfair to take an
abnormal case to cast blame upon the Precepts, any more than to judge of
the true teaching of Christ from the fruits of religious fanaticism and
extravagance--inquisitions and hypocrisy. But, as in religious monomania
there is something touchingly noble, as compared with the delirium
tremens of a drunkard, so in that extreme sensitiveness of the samurai
about their honor do we not recognize the substratum of a genuine
virtue?

The morbid excess into which the delicate code of honor was inclined to
run was strongly counterbalanced by preaching magnanimity and patience.
To take offense at slight provocation was ridiculed as "short-tempered."
The popular adage said: "To bear what you think you cannot bear is
really to bear." The great Iyeyasu left to posterity a few maxims,
among which are the following:--"The life of man is like going a long
distance with a heavy load upon the shoulders. Haste not. * * * *
Reproach none, but be forever watchful of thine own short-comings. * * *
Forbearance is the basis of length of days." He proved in his life what
he preached. A literary wit put a characteristic epigram into the mouths
of three well-known personages in our history: to Nobunaga he
attributed, "I will kill her, if the nightingale sings not in time;" to
Hideyoshi, "I will force her to sing for me;" and to Iyeyasu, "I will
wait till she opens her lips."

Patience and long suffering were also highly commended by Mencius. In
one place he writes to this effect: "Though you denude yourself and
insult me, what is that to me? You cannot defile my soul by your
outrage." Elsewhere he teaches that anger at a petty offe