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Sketch of the Lafe af Confucius
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to one of the hills where sacrifices had been usually offered for many years. Ile here erected a table or altar upon which he placed the books; and then, turning his face to the north, adored heaven, and returned thanks upon his knees in a humble manner for having had life and strength granted him to enable him to accomplish this labo- rious undertaking; he implored heaven to grant that the benefit to his countrymen from so arduous a labor might not be small. He had prepared himself for this ceremony by privacy, fasting and prayer. Chinese pictures represent the sage in the attitude of supplication, and a pencil of light, or a rainbow, descending from the sky upon the books, while his scholars stand around in admiring wonder.
In his seventy-third year, a few days before his death, leaning upon his staff, Confucius tottered about the house, sighing out,
泰 山 其頹
平
梁木其壞 平 人其萎 平
哲
The great mountain is broken!
The strong beam is thrown down!
The wise man is decayed!
He then related a dream he had had the night before to his pupil Tsz'kung, which he regarded as a presage of his own death, and after keeping his bed seven days, he died on the 18th day of the 2d month, and was buried in the same grave with his wife. Tsz'kung mourned for him six years in a shed erected by his grave, and then returned home. His death occurred 479 B. c., the year of the battle of Platea in Greece, and about seven years before the birth of So- crates. Many events of great importance happened during his life in western countries, of which the return of the Jews and building of the second temple, Xerxes' invasion of Greece, the expulsion of the kings from Rome, the conquest of Egypt, and establishment of the Persian monarchy in its fullest extent, were the most important.
Posthumous honors in great variety have been conferred upon Confucius. Soon after his death, the prince of Lú entitled him Ni fú or father Ni; which under the reign of Linti of the Hán dynasty, 197 B. C., was changed to Ni kung, or duke Ni, and his portrait ordered to be hung up in the public school. By the emperors of the Tang dynasty it was made sien shing, the ancient sage, he was next styled 'the royal preacher,' and his effigy clad in king's robes, and a crown put on its head. The Ming dynasty cailed him the most holy incient teacher Kung tsz. which title is now continued to him. His