Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/287

Rh  with a firm grasp. It must not be supposed that the territory under their sway extended over all the which now constitute what is called “.” It was not a sixth part of the. On the south it hardly reached half-way from the Ho, or undefined, to the Kiang, or undefined. undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, and the great of undefined, undefined, and undefined on the west, were thinly peopled by  s which acknowledged no subjection to “undefined.” undefined and undefined, with portions of undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined, and undefined, were all which formed the s of undefined. For thirteen s of his life Confucius wandered about from to, seeking rest and s; but his journeyings were confined within the modern provinces of undefined and undefined, and the borders of undefined and undefined. Many now living have travelled over much more of  than he did. The fact helps us to realize the relation of Confucius to his age, and it shows us that he gained his high position through his own unaided powers and the influences of. It has never been hinted, as in the case of his contemporary,, that he learned anything from abroad. Within this of the undefined there might be a population, in Confucius's time, of from 10,000,000 to 15,000,000. We read frequently, in the classical s, of the &ldquo;ten thousand,&rdquo; in which the people were distributed; but that is merely a grand exaggeration. In what has been called, though erroneously, as we shall see, Confucius's History of his own Times, we find only 13 of note, and the number of all the, large and small, which can be brought together from it, and the much more extensive supplement to it by undefined, not much posterior to the sage, is under 150. undefined was a. The s of the different territories belonged to five orders of, corresponding closely to the s, es, s, s, and s of. The theory of the required that the s, on every fresh succession, should receive  from the, and thereafter appear at his  at stated times. They paid to him certain specified s, and might be called out with their   at any time in his service. A  was sure to be a prey to disorder unless there were energy and ability in the character and  of the ; and Confucius has sketched, in the work referred to above, the Annals of Lu, his native, for 242 years, from 722 to 481undefined, which might almost be summed up in the words: &ldquo;In those s there was no  in , and every  did what was right in his own eyes.&rdquo; In 770undefined a northern  had ed the capital, which was then in the present  of undefined, undefined, and killed the , whose son withdrew across the Ho and established himself in a new centre, near the present  of undefined in undefined; but from that time the prestige of undefined was gone. Its representatives continued for four centuries and a half with the title of, but they were less powerful than several of their feudatories. The Annals of Lu, enlarged by undefined so as to embrace the of the  generally, are as full of life and interest as the pages of Froissart. Feats of, great s, ic s, devoted s, and atrocious s make the s of in the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries before the  of  as attractive as those of  and  in the 14th and some other centuries after it. There was in in the former period more of  and of many  of  than there was in  in the latter. Not only the, but every  , had its  and ians. s of an al character abounded. There were ancient and s, and, and s of. Yet the period was one of wide-spread and ever-increasing suffering and degeneracy. While the general was feeble, disorganization was at work in each particular. But three things must be kept in mind when we compare with  ,—three elements which wrought to give to the former peculiarities of character for which our better acquaintance with the latter will not have prepared us. First, we must take into account the long duration of the time through which the central authority was devoid of vigour. For about five centuries was left to contend with, and  with  in the several s. The result was chronic misrule, and misery to the masses of the people, with frequent s. Secondly, we must take into account the institution of, with the low status assigned to , and the many restraints put upon her. In the ancient s, indeed, there are a few pieces which are true s, and express a high appreciation of the  of their subjects; but there are many more which tell a different tale. The intrigues, quarrels, s, and grossnesses that grew out of this social condition it is difficult to conceive, and would be impossible to detail. Thirdly, we must take into account the absence of strong and definite, properly so called, which has always been a characteristic of the. We are little troubled, of course, with, and are not shocked by the outbreaks of zeal; but where  as well as action does not reach beyond the limits of  and , we do not find  in his best estate. We miss the graces and consolations of ; we have efforts and ambitions, but they are unimpregnated with  impulses and ly aspirings. Confucius appeared, according to undefined, one of his most distinguished followers (371–288undefined), at a crisis in the. &ldquo;The world,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;had fallen into decay, and right principles had disappeared. Perverse discourses and oppressive deeds were waxen rife. s ed their, and sons their fathers. Confucius was frightened by what he saw,—and he undertook the work of reformation.&rdquo;

The was, according to the  undefined, in the year 550undefined; according to undefined and undefined, two earlier  on his Annals of Lu, in 551; but all three agree in the  and  assigned to his , which took place in. His name was K&lsquo;ung, and it need hardly be stated that Confucius is merely the ized form of K&lsquo;ung Fu-tze, meaning “the or master K&lsquo;ung.” He was a native of the  of undefined, a part of the modern undefined, embracing the present  of undefined and other portions of the. undefined had a great name among the other s of undefined, its es being descended from the undefined, the and consolidator of the  which had been founded by his father and brother, the famous s undefined and undefined. Confucius's own ancestry is traced up, through the sovereigns of the previous of undefined, to undefined, whose figure looms out through the mists of  in prehistoric times. A scion of the of undefined, the surname of which was Tze, was invested by undefined with the undefined of undefined in the present  of undefined. There, in the Tze line, towards the end of the 8th centuryundefined, we find a K&lsquo;ung Kia, whose posterity, according to the rules for the dropping of surnames, became the K&lsquo;ung. He was a high of loyalty and probity, and unfortunately for himself had a  of extraordinary beauty. Hwa Tuh, another high of the undefined, 