Page "Disciples of Confucius" Paragraph 13

Yan Yan, styled Zi-you ( 言偃, 子游 ), now the fourth in the western range of ' The Wise Ones.

' He was a native of Wu ( 吳 ), forty-five years younger than Confucius, and distinguished for his literary acquirements.

Being made commandant of Wuchang, he transformed the character of the people by ' proprieties ' and music, and was praised by the master.

After the death of Confucius, Ji Kang asked Yan how that event had made no sensation like that which was made by the death of Zi-chan, when the men laid aside their bowstring rings and girdle ornaments, and the women laid aside their pearls and ear-rings, and the voice of weeping was heard in the lanes for three months.

Yan replied, ' The influences of Zi-chan and my master might be compared to those of overflowing water and the fattening rain.

Wherever the water in its overflow reaches, men take knowledge of it, while the fattening rain falls unobserved.