Altogether Confucius remained three years in Ts’ae,—­three years of strife and war, during which his counsels were completely neglected.  Toward their close, the state of Woo made an attack on Ch’in, which found support from the powerful state of Ts’oo on the south.  While thus helping his ally, the Duke of Ts’oo heard that Confucius was in Ts’ae, and determined to invite him to his court.  With this object he sent messengers bearing presents to the Sage, and charged them with a message begging him to come to Ts’oo.  Confucius readily accepted the invitation, and prepared to start.  But the news of the transaction alarmed the ministers of Ts’ae and Ch’in.  “Ts’oo,” said they, “is already a powerful state, and Confucius is a man of wisdom.  Experience has proved that those who have despised him have invariably suffered for it, and, should he succeed in guiding the affairs of Ts’oo, we should certainly be ruined.  At all hazards we must stop his going.”  When, therefore, Confucius had started on his journey, these men despatched a force which hemmed him in a wild bit of desert country.  Here, we are told, they kept him a prisoner for seven days, during which time he suffered severe privations, and, as was always the case in moments of difficulty, the disciples loudly bewailed their lot and that of their master.

“Has the superior man,” said Tsze-loo, “indeed, to endure in this way?” “The superior man may indeed have to suffer want,” replied Confucius, “but it is only the mean man who, when he is in straits, gives way to unbridled license.”  In this emergency he had recourse to a solace which had soothed him on many occasions when fortune frowned:  he played, on his lute and sang.

At length he succeeded in sending word to the duke of Ts’oo of the position he was in.  At once the duke sent ambassadors to liberate him, and he himself went out of his capital to meet him.  But though he welcomed him cordially, and seems to have availed himself of his advice on occasions, he did not appoint him to any office, and the intention he at one time entertained of granting him a slice of territory was thwarted by his ministers, from motives of expediency.  “Has your majesty,” said this officer, “any servant who could discharge the duties of ambassador like Tsze-kung? or any so well qualified for a premier as Yen Hwuy? or any one to compare as a general with Tsze-loo?  Did not kings Wan and Woo, from their small states of Fung and Kaou, rise to the sovereignty of the empire?  And if Kung Kew once acquired territory, with such disciples to be his ministers, it will not be to the prosperity of Ts’oo.”

This remonstrance not only had the immediate effect which was intended, but appears to have influenced the manner of the duke toward the Sage, for in the interval between this and the duke’s death, in the autumn of the same year, we hear of no counsel being either asked or given.  In the successor to the throne Confucius evidently despaired of finding a patron, and he once again returned to Wei.