CONFUCIUS' ESTIMATE OF OTHERS
77
employment when it was offered to us, to retire into obscurity when we were dismissed.—Tzǔ Lu then said: If you, Sir, had the conduct of three legions, whom would you associate with yourself in the command?—I would not, replied the Master, choose a man who would attack a tiger unarmed, cross a river without a boat, or sacrifice his life without a moment's regret. Rather should it be one who would not embark on an enterprise without anxiety, and who was accustomed to lay his plans well before putting them into execution.[1]
The Master said: T'ai Po may be said to have reached the summit of virtue. Having resolutely renounced the Imperial throne, he put it out of the people's power to glorify his act of renunciation![2]
- ↑ Compare Moltke's motto: "Erst wägen, dann wagen." Tzǔ Lu was noted for his reckless bravery. Evidently jealous of the praise bestowed on Yen Yüan, he makes a delightfully artless attempt to secure some recognition for himself, but only draws down a reproof. The Master's relations with this vain, impulsive, good-hearted disciple often remind one of those subsisting between Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith.
- ↑ T'ai Po was the direct heir to his father's throne, but knowing that the latter wished to be succeeded by his youngest son (the father of the future Wên Wang, the virtual founder of the Chou dynasty), he went into voluntary exile among the barbarous tribes of the south, but kept the motives of his conduct to himself, and thus obtained no credit for his self-sacrifice.
