親遠言關節行美為雲 之知小貴有 宗 子也 復子亦 大先子 不 由王曰 言可復也♯ 遠恥辱也因不失 也因忝信 和 1之之禮 其禮義 CHAP. XII. 1. The philosopher Yû said, 'In practising the rules of propriety, a natural ease is to be prized. In the ways pre scribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent quality, and in things small and great we follow them. 2.‘Yet it is not to be observed in all cases. If one, knowing how such ease should be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done. 6 CHAP. XIII. The philosopher Yû said, When agreements are made according to what is right, what is spoken can be made good. When respect is shown according to what is proper, one keeps far from shame and disgrace. When the parties upon whom a man leans are proper persons to be intimate with, he can make them his guides and masters.' CHAP. XIV. The Master said, 'He who aims to be a man of complete virtue in his food does not seek to gratify his appetite, nor old interpretation, that the three years are to the last clause, and how it affirms the general principle enunciated in the first paragraph. 13. To SAVE FROM FUTURE REPENTANCE, WE MUST BE CAREFUL IN OUR FIRST STEPS. A different view of the scope of this chapter is taken by Ho Yen. It illustrates, according to him, the difference between being sincere and righteousness, between being respectful and propriety, and how a man's conduct may be venerated. The later view commends itself, the only difficulty being of what is proper. It is事之宜, the fitness with 近於 'near to,' which we must accept of things,' what reason calls for in the per formance of duties towards superior beings, and as a meiosis for 合乎,‘agreeing with.’信 between man and man. Our term ceremonies' =信約,‘a covenant,' ‘agreement' 遠 comes near its meaning here. 道 is here a 4th tone, 'to keep away from.' The force of , name for as indicating the courses or ways the亦 =‘he can go on to make them his 小大由之 masters,' = being taken as an active verb. to be trodden by men. In the antecedent to 之 is not 和, but 禮 CHÜN-TSZE PURSUES HIS LEARNING. He may be 道. 2. Observe the force of the 亦, (also,’in well, even luxuriously, fed and lodged, but, 日如詩而可富 日賜也始可與言詩 磨 云 好也 切者 之女 也。 與磋 正而 飽 富而無驕何如子日 子貢曰貧而無認 正焉可謂好學也已 言求 好就安 學有敏 也道於 in his dwelling-place does he seek the appliances of ease; he is earnest in what he is doing, and careful in his speech; he frequents the company of men of principle that he may be rectified :-such a person may be said indeed to love to learn.' CHAP.XV. I. Tsze-kung said, What do you pronounce concerning the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud?' The Master replied, 'They will do; but they are not equal to him, who, though poor, is yet cheerful, and to him, who, though rich, loves the rules of propriety.' 2. Tsze-kung replied, 'It is said in the Book of Poetry," As you cut and then file, as you carve and then polish."-The meaning is the same, I apprehend, as that which you have just expressed.' 3. The Master said, 'With one like Tsze, I can begin to talk with his higher aim, these things are not his | smoothing and polishing. See the Shih-ching, seeking,一無求. A nominative to 可謂I. v. Ode I. st. 2. must be supposed, all this, or such a person. antecedent to The closing particles, give emphasis and that to to the preceding sentence, = yes, indeed. 15. AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STEPS IN SELF-CULTIVATION. I. Tsze-kung had been poor, and then did not eringe. He became rich and was not proud. He asked Confucius about the style of character to which he had attained. Confucius allowed its worth, but sent him to higher attainments. 而 here, =‘and yet.’ 何如,‘what as?' =‘what do you say-what 之謂 In 其斯之謂, the is the passage of the ode, is the reply of Confucius. see Prémare,p.156. The clause might be translated'Is not that passage the saying of this ?' Or, Does not that mean this ?’ 3. Intorcetta and his co-adjutors translate here as if were in the 2nd pers. But the Chinese comm. put it in the 3rd, and correctly. Prémare, on the character 也, says,' Fere semper adjungitur nominibus propriis. Sic in libro Lun Yu, is to be thought-of this?' Observe the force Confucius loquens de suis discipulis, Yeou, Keou, Hoei, of the 未,(not yet. 2. The ode quoted is the first of the songs of Wei (), praising the relipsos alloquens, dicit 由也求也回也 It is not to be denied that the name before prince Wû, who had dealt with himself as an is sometimes in the 2nd pers., but generally it ivory-worker who first cuts the bone, and then is in the 3rd, and the files it smooth, or a lapidary whose hammer and chisel are followed by all the appliances for 賜也, quoad Tsze. force of the 也 = quoad. 已矣, nearly = 已矣,nearly=也 知知 人 知患不 之不已 也。不 不知諸已 患子來往矣 人 曰者。而告 about the odes. I told him one point, and he knew its proper sequence.' CHAP. XVI. The Master said, 'I will not be afflicted at men's not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.' 包,(or已 without marking the tone),in|不, as in chapter ii. r, observe the transchap. xiv. The last clause may be given-"Tell position in, which is more elegant him the past, and he knows the future;" but the connexion determines the meaning as in than知己 would be. 已, 'self, the per the translation. 諸, as in chap. x, is a ‘a son depending on the context. We cannot translate 'do not be afflicted,' because is particle, a mere 語助, as it is called, a not used imperatively, like y. A nomina helping or supporting word.' 16. PERSONAL ATTAINMENT SHOULD BE OUR like. tive to has to be assumed,-, 'I,' o CHIEF AM,Comp. chap. i. 3. After the negative| 君子, “the superior man.’ or BOOK II. WEI CHĂNG. 之眾其比德 譬政 共而居如以日 第為 CHAPTER I. The Master said, 'He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.' HEADING OF THIS BOOK.−為政第二行道而有得於心, the practice of His view of the comparison is that it sets forth This second Book contains twenty-four chap- truth and acquisition thereof in the heart.' ters, and is named, 'The practice of government.' That is the object to which learning, treated of in the last Book, should lead, and here we have the qualities which constitute, and the character of the men who ad. minister, good government. the illimitable influence which virtue in a ruler exercises without his using any effort. This is extravagant. His opponents say that virtue is the polar star, and the various departments of government the other stars. This is far-fetched. We must be content to accept the vague utterance without minutely determining its mean 1. THE INFLUENCE OF VIRTUE IN A RULER. 德 is explained by 得, and the old commenta. ing. 北辰 is, no doubt, the north polar 之 齊 以恥。 千于白 禮道以日 而學吾有之刑道 第三千恥以民之 惑十有且德免以 五而五格。齊而政 CHAP. II. The Master said, 'In the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in one sentence" Having no depraved thoughts.' CHAP. III. 1. The Master said, 'If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame. 2. If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good.' CHAP. IV. 1. The Master said, 'At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. 2.‘At thirty, I stood firm. 3. ' At forty, I had no doubts. 4. ‘At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. 2. THE PURE DESIGN OF THE BOOK OF POETRY. | be explained, -'will come to good,' or 'will cor The number of compositions in the Shih-ching rect themselves.' Observe the different appli is rather more than the round number here cation of and in pars. I and 2. i. m given. 一言=一句,one sentence.' 蔽 = 蓋‘to cover,' (to embrace.' 思無邪, see Shih-ching, IV. ii. 1. st. 4. The sentence there is indicative, and in praise of the duke Hsî, who had no depraved thoughts. The sage would seem to have been intending the design in compiling the Shih. A few individual pieces are calculated to have a different effect. 3. HOW RULERS SHOULD PREFER MORAL AP道 as in I. v. 之‘them,’refers PLIANCES. I. ○民,below. 政 as opposed to 德 "The people will avoid,' that is, avoid breaking , 2. has the signification of 'to come to,' and 'to correct,' from either of which the text may =‘but;’且=‘moreover.. 4. CONFUCIUS'S OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GRADUAL PROGRESS AND ATTAINMENTS. Commentators are perplexed with this chapter. Holding of Confucius that 生而知之安而行之, he was born with knowledge, and did what was right with entire ease,' they say that he here conceals his sagehood, and puts himself on the level of common men, to set before them a stimulating example. We may believe that the compilers of the Analects, the sage's immediate disciples, did not think of him so extravagantly as later men have done. It is to be wished, however, that he had been more definite and diffuse in his account of himself. I., in 4th tone, 'and.' The 'learning,' to which, at 15, the subjects of the 'Superior Learning.' See Confucius gave himself, is to be understood of Chû Hsî's preliminary essay to the Tâ Hsio. = 以禮謂對日無 禮死也日孟違 耳 不順 葬子無孫樊懿 踰 之曰 以生樊孝御問 事遲於子孝 之曰我告子 以何我之曰 十 zung 而 十而知天命六十而 耳順七十而從心所 所而 5. ‘At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth. 6.‘At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right.' CHAP. V. 1. MăngÎasked what filial piety was. The Master said, 'It is not being disobedient.' 2. Soon after, as Fan Ch'ih was driving him, the Master told him, saying, 'Măng-sun asked me what filial piety was, and I answered him,“ not being disobedient.”” 3. Fan Ch'ih said, 'What did you mean?' The Master replied, That parents, when alive, should be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety.' 2. The ‘standing firm’probably indicates that | prenomens of伸,叔, and 季. To these was he no more needed to bend his will. 3. The 'no doubts' may have been concerning what subsequently added the character, 'grandwas proper in all circumstances and events. son,' to indicate their princely descent, and 4. 'The decrees of Heaven,' = the things decreed by Heaven, the constitution of things making 仲孫叔孫, and 季孫 became the re what was proper to be so. 5. The ear obedient spective surnames of the families. is the mind receiving as by intuition the truth from the ear. 6.矩, ‘an instrument for de. termining the square.', without transgressing the square.' The expressions describing the progress of Confucius at the different periods of his age are often employed as numerical designations of age. 5. FILIAL PIETY MUST BE SHOWN ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF PROPRIETY. I. MăngÎwas a great oficer of the State of Lû, by name Ho-chi (何 忌), and the chief of one of the three great families by which in the time of Confucius the authority of that State was grasped. Those families were descended from three brothers, the sons by a concubine of the duke Hwan (B.c. 711-694), who were distinguished at first by the was changed into 孟孫 by the father of Măng Î, on a principle of humility, as he thereby only claimed to be the eldest of the inferior sons or their representatives, and avoided the presumption of seeming to be a younger full brother of the reigning duke., 'mild and virtuous,' was the posthumous honorary title given to Ho-chi. On子, see I. i. I. 2. Fan, by name 須, and designated 子遲,” was a minor disciple of the sage. Confucius repeated his re mark to Fan, that he might report the explanation of it to his friend Măng Î, or Mäng-sun'Î, and thus prevent him from supposing that all the sage intended was disobedience to parents. Comp. the whole of Confucius's explanation with I. ix. |