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342
THE LÎ xi.
BK. v.
28. 3ze-hsiâ asked, 'Is then not declining military service (during mourning) to be condemned ?'
Confucius said, 'I heard from Lão Tan that duke Po-khin engaged once in such service, when there was occasion for it; but I do not know if I should allow it in those who seek (by it) their own advantage during the period of the three years' mourning?'
i Po-khin was the son of the duke of Kâu, and the first marquis of LŲ. The time of his entering on the rule of that state was a very critical one in the kingdom; and though it was then, it would appear, the period of his mourning for his mother's death, he discharged his public duty in the time of his own grief.
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