[5] The age in which Confucius lived was so given over to the forces of disorder, militarism and intrigue, and the chances of a moral reformer were regarded as so hopeless, that it was a common thing for men of principle to retire from public affairs altogether, and either lead the sequestered life of a hermit or take to some mean employment for a living. The gate-keeper here is said to have been one of this class. Confucius, however, was made of sterner stuff, and it may be claimed that he did ultimately, through sheer force of character, succeed in achieving the "impossible."
[6] The "style" or familiar name of K‘ung Li, the only son of Confucius.
[7] _Li_ here is obviously the name of a book, and not "the rules of propriety" or even "the arts," as Legge and Mr. Ku Hung-ming respectively take it. At the same time, we must be careful not to identify it with the now existing _Li Chi_ or Book of Rites, which did not take shape until a much later period.
[8] Because etiquette would require an acknowledgment of the gift at the donor's house.
[9] This episode is probably to be referred to the year 502 B.C., when Yang Huo, the nominal subordinate of Chi Huan Tzu (himself of usurping tendencies, see Introduction, p. 15), was in open rebellion and seemed likely to become master of the whole state of Lu. He was anxious to enlist the prestige of a man like Confucius on his side, but the latter steadily refused to countenance his schemes. In the following year, Yang Huo was ejected from the state, and gratitude impelled the Duke to offer a governorship to Confucius.
[10] Apparently a Taoist, who pinned his faith to Lao Tzŭ's newly enunciated doctrine of inaction.
[12] This is said to be a sneer at the restlessness which kept Confucius wandering all over the country, so that no place could be unfamiliar to him.
[13] The idea is, "Every man to his own trade. Why should I not then busy myself with government--the subject to which I have devoted my life?" I do not agree with Legge that the compiler of this chapter could not have been a disciple of the sage. Confucius successfully refutes the _laisser-faire_ argument of the hermit, who would dissuade him from reform on the strange and unsatisfactory ground that the world's affairs were in a thoroughly bad state. To any one but a Taoist it would be evident that this was the very time for reform.