Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/373

 Confucius said, "Formerly, along with Lâo Tan, I was assisting at a burial in the village of Hsiang, and when we had got to the path, the sun was eclipsed. Lâo Tan said to me, 'Khiû, let the bier be stopped on the left of the road ; and then let us wail and wait till the eclipse pass away. When it is light again, we will proceed.' He said that this was the rule. When we had returned and completed the burial, I said to him, 'In the progress of a bier there should be no returning. When there is an eclipse of the sun, we do not know whether it will pass away quickly or not, would it not have been better to go on?' Lâo Tan said, 'When the prince of a state is going to the court of the son of Heaven, he travels while he can see the sun. At sun-down he halts, and presents his offerings (to the spirit of the way). When a Great officer is on a mission, he travels while he can see the sun, and at sun-down he halts. Now a bier does not set forth in the early morning, nor does it rest anywhere at night; but those who travel by star-light are only criminals and those who are hastening to the funeral rites of a parent. When there is an eclipse of the sun, how do we know that we shall not see the stars? And moreover, a superior man, in his performance of rites, will not expose his relatives to the risk of distress or evil.' This is what I heard from Lâo Tan."

23. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "In the case of one dying where he is stopping, when discharging a mission for