He is endowed with intelligence, with the power of
attaining perfection, with liberty, and with social
qualities ; he is able to discriminate, to compare, to
work for a definite aim, and to take the necessary
measures for the attainment of that aim. He may
become perfect or depraved according to the good
or evil use he makes of his liberty ; he is
acquainted alike with virtue and vice, and feels that
he has duties to perform towards Heaven, himself,
and his fellow-men. If he acquit himself of these
various duties, he is virtuous and worthy of
•recompense ; he is culpable and merits punishment
if he neglects them. This is a very short resume
of all I can tell you of the nature of man."

The King of Lu, it is said, was delighted with
this reply, as how could he fail to be .' Some years
later the monarch made his sage adviser prime



84 CHINA AND THE CHINESE

minister of his realm, and the philosopher remained
in power for three years, administering justice so
rigorously that, says one of his biographers, " if
gold or jewels were dropped on the highway they
would remain untouched until the rightful owner
appeared to claim them." The story goes that
under Confucius, Lu became so prosperous as to
arouse the jealousy of the neighbouring King of
Tse, who, with a wonderful insight into human
nature, sent not an army, but a troop of beautiful
dancing-girls to the court of the rival monarch.
The manoeuvre was successful ; the King of Lu
neglected the affairs of state to watch the postur-
ing of the sirens, and Confucius fell into disgrace.
