Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

SPEAKING
heir ;
BOOK VIII
Sayings of Tsang—Sentences of the Master
of T'ai-pih the Master said that he might be
pronounced a man of the highest moral excellence ;
he allowed the empire to pass by him onwards to a third
while the people, in their ignorance of his motives, were
unable to admire him for so doing.
" Without the Proprieties," said the Master, " we have these
results : for deferential demeanor, a worried one ; for calm at-
tentiveness, awkward bashfulness ; for manly conduct, disor-
derliness ;
—
for straightforwardness, perversity.
" When men of rank show genuine care for those nearest to
them in blood, the people rise to the duty of neighborliness and
sociability. And when old friendships among them are not
allowed to fall off, there will be a cessation of underhand prac-
tices among the people."
The Scholar Tsang was once unwell, and calling his pupils
to him he said to them, " Disclose to view my feet and my
hands. What says the Ode?
' Act as from a sense of danger,
With precaution and with care,
As a yawning gulf o'erlooking.
As on ice that scarce will bear.'
At all times, my children, I know how to keep myself free from
bodily harm."
Again, during an illness of his, Mang King, an official, went
to ask after him. The Scholar had some conversation with
him, in the course of which he said
—
" ' Doleful the cries of a dying bird,
Good the last words of a dying man.'
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