1. Mih K＇e said, "Greatly am I from anything to depend upon from the mouths of men."

2. Mencius observed, "There is no harm in that. Scholars are more exposed than others to suffer from the mouths of men.

3. "It is said, in the ＇Book of Poetry＇,

＇My heart is disquieted and grieved,

I am hated by the crowd of mean creatures.＇

This might have been said by Confucius. And again,

＇Though he did not remove their wrath,

He did not let fall his own fame.＇

This might be said of King W?n."

CHAPTER 18. THE REASON OF CONFUCIUS＇S BEING IN STRAITS BETWEEN CH＇IN AND TS＇AE.

See Con. Ana., XI, ii. The speaking of Confucius simply by the term 君子 is to be noted; comp. Ana., X,vi, 1, et al. Chaou K＇e observes that Confucius, in his exceeding modesty, said that he was not equal to the threefold way of the superior man (Ana., XIV, xxx),and therefore he might be spoken of as a superior man.It is difficult to see the point of this observation, nor does it meet the difficulty which arises from the use of the designation in the text. 上=君, "the sovereigns",and 下=臣, "their ministers". The princes did not honour him and seek his services. Their ministers did not honor him, and recommend him to employment.This is the meaning of 无上下之交. The commentators,in their quest for profound meanings, make out the lesson to be that though a sage may be reduced to straits, the way of truth cannot be so reduced.

CHAPTER 19. MENCIUS COMFORTS MIH K＇E UNDER CALUMNY BY THE REFLECTION THAT IT WAS THE ORDINARY LOT OF DISTINGUISHED MEN.

1. Of Mih K＇e, nothing is known beyond what is here intimated. 理 is used in the sense of 赖, "to depend on". This is given to it in the dict., with a reference to this passage. The meaning is that not only did he not have a good word from men, but was spoken ill of by them.

2. 憎, it is concluded, from the comment of Chaou K＇e, is a mistake for 增, "to increase", and 兹 has substantially the same meaning. Retaining 憎,however, and taking 兹 in its sense of this or these, we get a tolerable meaning:—"The scholar hates those many mouths."

3. For the first quotation, see the She-king, I, iii, Ode I, st, 4, a description of her condition by the ill-used wife of one of the dukes of Wei (according to Choo He), and which Mencius somewhat strangely would apply to Confucius. For the second, see III, i, Ode III,st. 8, descriptive of the king T＇ae,