could not give up his life when Duke Hwan caused his brother to be put
to death. Besides, he became the duke's counsellor."

"And in acting as his counsellor put him at the head of all the feudal
lords," said the Master, "and unified and reformed the whole empire; and
the people, even to this day, reap benefit from what he did. Had it not
been for him we should have been going about with locks unkempt and
buttoning our jackets (like barbarians) on the left. Would you suppose
that he should show the same sort of attachment as exists between a poor
yokel and his one wife--that he would asphyxiate himself in some sewer,
leaving no one the wiser?"

Kung-shuh Wan's steward, who became the high officer Sien, went up
accompanied by Wan to the prince's hall of audience.

When Confucius heard of this he remarked, "He may well be esteemed a
'Wan,'"

The Master having made some reference to the lawless ways of Duke Ling
of Wei, Ki K'ang said to him, "If he be like that, how is it he does not
ruin his position?"

Confucius answered, "The Chung-shuh, Yu, is charged with the
entertainment of visitors and strangers; the priest T'o has charge of
the ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Kiá has the control of the army and
its divisions:--with men such as those, how should he come to ruin?"

He once remarked, "He who is unblushing in his words will with
difficulty substantiate them."