]
Confucius himself had descended in the direct line from the ducal
family of Sung; but Sung, like the other states, was cursed with
the "great family" nuisance, and one of his ancestors, having
incurred a grandee's hostility, had met with his death in a palace
intrigue, in consequence of which the Confucian family, despairing
of justice, had migrated to Lu. When we read of Confucius'
extensive wanderings (which are treated of more at length in a
subsequent chapter), the matter takes a very different complexion
from what is usually supposed, especially if it be recollected
what a limited area was really covered. He never got even so far
as Tsin, though part of Tsin touched the Lu frontier, and it is
doubtful if he was ever 300 miles, as the crow flies, from his own
house in Lu; true, he visited the fringe of Ts'u, but it must be
remembered that the place he visited was only in modern Ho Nan
province, and was one of the recent conquests of Ts'u, belonging
to the Hwai River system. As we explained in the last chapter,
Ts'u's policy then was to work up eastwards to the river Sz; that
is, to the Grand Canal of to-day.
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