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ll.--Th¢ Life and Times of Confucius. *
As shewn in our last chapter when Chin_'s great
Philosopher was berry, the third historic dynasty, that of
Chou, was wearing to its close, the blood which had
coursed so vigorously in the veins of the martial Wu
was running thin in the arteries of his degenerate descendants,
•_nd the feudal system, founded to strengthen the
Empire, had reduced it to a congeries of warring States,
awaiting the advent of Ch'in Shih Huang, who was to
break the power of the barons, and unite their mutually
antagonistic territories into one great empire, an empire
which, under different dynasties has continued and increased
to our own age.
Confucius, then, was born into a troubled period. Tlle
barons more powerful than their nominal sovereign,
encroached and made war upon eath other, at the instigation
of ministers more crafty and ambitious even than
themselves. The suffering people were ground under
the iron heel of the impost gatherer, dragged from their
fields and set to forced labour at and for the pleasure of
their rulers, and driven to battles and raids in which
they had no interest and from which they derived no
benefit. That this statement is not exaggerated is borne
witness to by incidents in the life of the Sage. Once,
• Confucius is the l_atinised form of K'ttag Fu-tza _[, _ .7_,_
uMencius is of _ .2_: Mieius of _ _,, etc.