]
[Footnote 23: Because they did not belong to the five correct colors
(viz. green, yellow, carnation, white, and black), and were affected
more by females.]
[Footnote 24: Since white was, as it is still, the mourning color.]
[Footnote 25: The act of "grace," before eating.]
BOOK XI
Comparative Worth of His Disciples
"The first to make progress in the Proprieties and in Music," said the
Master, "are plain countrymen; after them, the men of higher standing.
If I had to employ any of them, I should stand by the former."
"Of those," said he, "who were about me when I was in the Ch'in and
Ts'ai States, not one now is left to approach my door."
"As for Hwui," [26] said the Master, "he is not one to help me on: there
is nothing I say but he is not well satisfied with."
"What a dutiful son was Min Tsz-k'ien!" he exclaimed. "No one finds
occasion to differ from what his parents and brothers have said of him."
Nan Yung used to repeat three times over the lines in the Odes about the
white sceptre. Confucius caused his own elder brother's daughter to be
given in marriage to him.
When Ki K'ang inquired which of the disciples were fond of learning,
Confucius answered him, "There was one Yen Hwui who was fond of it; but
unfortunately his allotted time was short, and he died; and now his like
is not to be found.
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