But the sage exalts friendship.  Everybody, from the Emperor downward, must have friends; and the best friends are those allied by ties of blood.  “Friends,” said he, “are wealth to the poor, strength to the weak, and medicine to the sick.”  One of the strongest bonds to friendship is literature and literary exertion.  Men are enjoined by Confucius to make friends among the most virtuous of scholars, even as they are enjoined to take service under the most worthy of great officers.  In the intercourse of friends, the most unbounded sincerity and frankness is imperatively enjoined.  “He who is not trusted by his friends will not gain the confidence of the sovereign, and he who is not obedient to parents will not be trusted by friends.”

Everything is subordinated to the State; but, on the other hand, the family, friends, culture, virtue,—­the good of the people,—­is the main object of good government.  “No virtue,” said Emperor Kuh, 2435 B.C., “is higher than love to all men, and there is no loftier aim in government than to profit all men.”  When he was asked what should be done for the people, he replied, “Enrich them;” and when asked what more should be done, he replied, “Teach them.”  On these two principles the whole philosophy of the sage rested,—­the temporal welfare of the people, and their education.  He laid great stress on knowledge, as leading to virtue; and on virtue, as leading to prosperity.  He made the profession of a teacher the most honorable calling to which a citizen could aspire.  He himself was a teacher.  All sages are teachers, though all teachers are not sages.

Confucius enlarged upon the necessity of having good men in office.  The officials of his day excited his contempt, and reciprocally scorned his teachings.  It was in contrast to these officials that he painted the ideal times of Kings Wan and Woo.  The two motive-powers of government, according to Confucius, are righteousness and the observance of ceremonies.  Righteousness is the law of the world, as ceremonies form a rule to the heart.  What he meant by ceremonies was rules of propriety, intended to keep all unruly passions in check, and produce a reverential manner among all classes.  Doubtless he over-estimated the force of example, since there are men in every country and community who will be lawless and reckless, in spite of the best models of character and conduct.

The ruling desire of Confucius was to make the whole empire peaceful and happy.  The welfare of the people, the right government of the State, and the prosperity of the empire were the main objects of his solicitude.  As conducive to these, he touched on many other things incidentally,—­such as the encouragement of music, of which he was very fond.  He himself summed up the outcome of his rules for conduct in this prohibitive form:  “Do not unto others that which you would not have them do to you.”  Here we have the negative side of the positive “golden rule.”  Reciprocity, and that alone, was his law of life.  He does not inculcate forgiveness of injuries, but exacts a tooth for a tooth, and an eye for an eye.