The phenix Author:Confucius Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: MORALS OF CONFUCIUS. BOOK II. This second book of Confucius was published by his grandson Cu-su. It treats of divers things, but especially of that excelle... more »nt mediocrity, which must be constantly observed in all things, between the too much and too little. Thus this book is entitled Chum-yum, that is toss.y,the Perpetual Mean, a mean constantly observed. Confucius teaches at first, that all men ought to love this mediocrity, which they ought to search after with an extreme care. ' He says, that the perfect man always keeps a just mean, whatever he undertakes; but that the wicked always swerves therefrom—that he does too much, or not enough. "When the right reason sent from heaven," adds he, "has once shown a wise man the mean he ought to keep, he afterwards conforms all his actions thereunto, at all times, as well in adversity as prosperity ; he continually watches over himself, overhis thoughts, over the most secret motions of his heart, always to square himself according to this just mean, which he will never lose sight of; but the wicked being not restrained, neither by fear, modesty, nor the love of virtue, their extravagant passions always carry them into extremes." This philosopher cannot sufficiently admire this happy mediocrity. He looks on it as the sublimest thing in the world ; as a thing most worthy of the love and employment of the highest minds; as the sole path of virtue. He complains that there always have been so few persons that have kept it; he diligently inquires after the cause thereof. He says, that as for the wise men of the age, they slight and contemn it, because they imagine it below their great designs, below their ambitious projects ; and that as for dull persons, they very hardly attain it, either by reason they understand it not, or because...« less