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CHAP. XIV. The Master said, ' He who is not in any particular office, has nothing to do with plans for the administration of its duties.' CHAP. XV, The Master said, 'When the music-master Chih first entered on his office, the finish of the Kwan Tsu was magnificent ;how it filled the ears!’

CHAP.XVI. The Master said, " Ardent and yet not upright; stupid and yet not attentive; simple and yet not sincere :—such persons I do not understand,'

6

CHAP. XVII. The Master said, Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing also lest you should lose it.' CHAP. XVIII. The Master said, 'How majestic was the manner in which Shun and Yü held possession of the empire, as if it were nothing to them!’

14. EVERY MAN SHOULD MIND HIS OWN BUSI

NESS. So the sentiment of this chapter is gener-
alized by the paraphrasts, and perhaps cor-
rectly. Its letter, however, has doubtless
ated to prevent the spread of right notions
about political liberty in China.

oper.

15. THE PRAISE OF THE MUSIC-MASTER CHIH. Neither Morrison nor Medhurst gives what appears to be the meaning of in this chapter.

The K'ang-hsi dictionary has it-樂之卒 章日亂,(The last part in the musical

services is called lwan. The programme on those occasions consisted of four parts, in the last of which a number of pieces from the Făng or songs of the States was sung, commencing with the Kwan Tsü. The name lwan was also given to a sort of refrain, at the end of each song. The old interpreters explain differently,

16. A LAMENTATION OVER MORAL ERROR ADDED

TO NATURAL DEFECT. 吾不知之,‘I do not

know them;' that is, say commentators, natural defects of endowment are generally associated with certain redeeming qualities, as hastiness ties Confucius had in view, those redeeming with straightforwardness, &c., but in the par.qualities were absent. He did not understand them, and could do nothing for them.

17. WITH WHAT EARNESTNESS AND CONTINUOUSNESS LEARNING SHOULD BE PURSUED.

18. THE LOFTY CHARACTER OF SHUN AND YÜ.

Shun received the empire from Yao, B.c. 2255,

and Yü received it from Shun, B. c. 2205. The throne came to them not by inheritance. They Were called to it through their talents and virtue. And yet the possession of it did not affect them at all. -‘it did not concern them,' was as if nothing to them. Ho Yen takes

− when the music-master Chih first corrected 與求, they had the empire without seek.

the confusion of the Kwan Tsü,' &c.

ing for it.' This is not according to usage.

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之曰 其巍蕩乎大

才予五乎蕩唯哉

於難有人文其乎天堯不

斯不亂而章有民為之與 成無大

焉。

CHAP. XIX. 1. The Master said, "Great indeed was Yâo as a

I.

Sovereign! How majestic was he!

and only Yão corresponded to it.

people could find no name for it.

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It is only Heaven that is grand,

How vast was his virtue! The

2. How majestic was he in the works which he accomplished! How glorious in the elegant regulations which he instituted!' CHAP.XX. 1. Shun had five ministers, and the empire was well-governed.

2. King Wu said, 'I have ten able ministers.'

3. Confucius said, ' Is not the saying that talents are difficult to find, true? Only when the dynasties of T'ang and Yü met, were they more abundant than in this of Châu, yet there was a woman among them. The able ministers were no more than nine men.

19. THE PRAISE OF YÂo. I. No doubt, Yao, as of Instruction; 臯陶, Minister of Justice; admiration, but if Confucius had had a right and 1, Warden of Woods and Marshes.

he appears in Chinese annals, is a fit object of

knowledge of, and reverence for, Heaven, he Those five, as being eminent above all their comcould not have spoken as he does here. Grant peers, are mentioned. 2. See the Shû-ching, that it is only the visible heaven overspreading V. i. sect. ii. 6. LE, 'governing, i. e. able

all, to which he compares Yao, even that is suf

ministers.' In the dictionary, the first meaning

given of is to regulate,' and the second is

ficiently absurd. 則之,not simply=法 之‘imitated it,'but 能與之準, could equalize with it' 2. 其有成功-其所 course was the duke of Châu. One of them, it is

just the opposite, to confound, 'confusion.

Of the ten ministers, the most distinguished of

有之成功, the great achievements of his said next paragraph, was a woman, but whether government. 文章 (see V.xii)=the music, much disputed. The ten men were :—the duke

she was the mother of king Wăn, or his wife, is

ceremonies, &c., of which he was the author. of Chau, the duke of Shao, Grandfather Hope, the duke of Pi, the duke of Yung, Tai-tien,

20. THE SCARCITY OF MEN OF TALENT, AND PRAISE

OF THE HOUSE OF CHÂU. I. Shun's five ministers 1, Superintendent of Works; 稷, Super

were

Hung-yão, San-i Shăng, Nan-kung Kwo, and the wife or mother of king Wăn. 3. Instead

of the usual.The Master said, we have here

intendent of Agriculture;契(hsieh), Minister 孔子曰, (The philosopher K'ung said.'

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然力乎鬼謂服

三有

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矣乎黻菲子至事分婦 溝冕惡飲日 德 殷天

洫 卑衣食禹 周T

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而 致無矣。德

致孝 孝間

問盡 盡美乎然

有婦人焉九人而已

4. ‘King Wăn possessed two of the three parts of the empire, and with those he served the dynasty of Yin. The virtue of the house of Châu may be said to have reached the highest point indeed.'

CHAP. XXI. The Master said, 'I can find no flaw in the character of Yü. He used himself coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost filial piety towards the spirits. His ordinary garments were poor, but he displayed the utmost elegance in his sacrificial cap and apron. He lived in a low mean house, but expended all his strength on the ditches and water-channels. I can find nothing like a flaw in Yü.'

This is accounted for on the ground that the 矣,‘In Yü, I find no crevice so,'i.e. I find words of king Wû having been quoted immedi- nothing in him to which I can point as a flaw. ately before, it would not have been right to crown the sage with his usual title of the is interpreted of the spirits of heaven Master.' The style of the whole chapter, however, is different from that of any previous

one, and we may suspect that it is corrupt. 才難 is a sort of proverb, or common saying,

which Confucius quotes and illustrates.

and earth, as well as those sacrificed to in the ancestral temple, but the saying that the rich

offerings were filial (孝) would seem to restrict the phrase to the latter. The 龙

was

an apron made of leather, and coming down

虞之際 (Yao is called T'ang, having over the knees, and the 冕 was a sort of cap

ascended the throne from the marquisate of or crown, flat on the top, and projecting before that name, and Yü became a sort of accepted and behind, with a long fringe on which gems pearls were strung, exactly like the Christ

surname or style of Shun)於斯爲盛Church cap of Oxford. They were both used is understood by Chû Hsî as in the translation, while the old writers take exactly the opposite view. The whole is obscure. 4. This paragraph must be spoken of king Wăn.

21. THE PRAISE OF YÜ. 閒, read chien, 4th tone, ‘a crevice,’‘a crack.' The form 間 in the text is not so correct. 禹吾無閒然

in sacrificing., generally the waterchannels by which the boundaries of the fields were determined, and provision made for their irrigation, and to carry off the water of floods. were four cubits wide and deep, and arranged so as to flow into the, which were double the size.

The 溝

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CHAPTER I. The subjects of which the Master seldom spoke were-profitableness, and also the appointments of Heaven, and perfect virtue.

CHAP. II. 1. A man of the village of Tâ-hsiang said, 'Great indeed is the philosopher K'ung! His learning is extensive, and yet he does not render his name famous by any particular thing.'

2. The Master heard the observation, and said to his disciples, 'What shall I practise? Shall I practise charioteering, or shall I practise archery? I will practise charioteering.'

Heading of this Book.-purpose and determination, but the decree emThe Master seldom, No. 9.' The thirty chap-bodied and realised in its object.

ters of this Book are much akin to those of the seventh. They are mostly occupied with the doctrine, character, and ways of Confucius

himself.

1. SUBJECTS SELDOM SPOKEN OF BY CONFUCIUS. is mostly taken here in a good sense, not as selfish gain, but as it is defined under the first

2. AMUSEMENT OF CONFUCIUS AT THE REMARK OF Commentators, AN IGNORANT MAN ABOUT HIM. old and new, say that the chapter shows the exceeding humility of the sage, educed by his being praised, but his observation on the man's remark was evidently ironical. 1. For want of another word, I render

by 'village.' Ac

families a tang.' Who the villager was is not recorded, though some would have him to be the same with, the boy of whom it is said in the

of the diagrams in the Yi-ching,-,cording to the statutes of Châu, 'five families 'the harmoniousness of all that is righteous;' made a , four pi a, and five lü or 500 that is, how what is right is really what is truly profitable. Compare Mencius, I. i. 1. Yet even in this sense Confucius seldom spoke of it, as he would not have the consideration of the profitable introduced into conduct at all. With his not speaking of there is a diffi- of old Confucius was a scholar of Hsiang T'o.' culty which I know not how to solve. The The man was able to see that Confucius was fourth Book is nearly all occupied with it, and no very extensively learned, but his idea of fame, doubt it was a prominent topic in Confucius's common to the age, was that it must be acquired teachings. is not = our fate, unless in the by excellence in some one particular art. In

primary meaning of that term,-'Fatum est his lips, quod dii fantur.' Nor is it decree, or antecedent K'ung.'

was not more than our 'Mr.

之旣獸毋

不將沒子固 子

也純子

雖違衆吾從下
禮也今拜乎上泰

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得喪文畏毋眾今日 儉 與斯不於我。四吾拜吾麻 於文在匡。毋從乎從冕 意下。上眾。禮

斯也

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文後平文 毋 拜也 也死天王 也下今

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CHAP. III. 1. The Master said, 'The linen cap is that prescribed

by the rules of ceremony, but now a silk one is worn. It is economical,

and I follow the common practice.

2. 'The rules of ceremony prescribe the bowing below the hall, but now the practice is to bow only after ascending it. That is arrogant. I continue to bow below the hall, though I oppose the common practice.’

CHAP. IV. There were four things from which the Master was entirely free. He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egoism..

CHAP. V. I. The Master was put in fear in K'wang.

2. He said, " After the death of king Wăn, was not the cause of truth lodged here in me?

more

5. CONFUCIUS ASSURED IN A TIME OF DANGER

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3. SOME COMMON PRACTICES INDIFFERENT AND it was not by any effort, as 絶 and 冊 OTHERS NOT. 1. The cap here spoken of was naturally suggest, that Confucius attained to that prescribed to be worn in the ancestral these things. temple, and made of very fine linen dyed of a deep dark colour. It had fallen into disuse, and was superseded by a simpler one of silk. Rather than be singular, Confucius gave in to a practice, which involved no principle of right, and was economical. 2. Chû Hsi explains the 拜下,拜乎上, thus : ‘In the ceremonial intercourse between ministers and their

prince, it was proper for them to bow below the

BY HIS CONVICTION OF A DIVINE MISSION.
pare VII. xxii, but the adventure to which this
chapter refers is placed in the sage's history
before the other, not long after he had resigned
office, and left Lû. 1. There are different
opinions as to what State K'wang belonged to.

The most likely is that it was a border town

of Chăng, and its site is now to be found in

raised hall. This the prince declined, on which the department of K'ai-făng in Ho-nan.

It is

they ascended and completed the homage. See said that K'wang had suffered from this illustrated in the經註集證 in toc. an officer of Li, to whom Confucius bore a

The prevailing disregard of the first part of resemblance. As he passed by the place, more

the ceremony Confucius considered inconsis- over, a disciple, 顔刻, who had been asso

tent with the proper distance to be observed between prince and minister, and therefore

he would be singular in adhering to the rule. 4. FRAILTIES FROM WHICH CONFUCIUS WAS

FREE.

年, it is said, is not prohibitive here,

but simply negative;-to make it appear that

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