CHAPTER XXXIII. The Master said, “The sage and the man of perfect virtue;-how dare I rank myself with them? It may simply be said of me, that I strive to become such without satiety, and teach others without weariness." Kung-se Hwa said, "This is just what we, the disciples, cannot imitate you in." CHAPTER XXXIV. The Master being very sick, Tsze-loo asked leave to pray for him. He said, “May such a thing be done?" Tsze-loo replied, "It may. In the Prayers it is said, 'Prayer has been made to the spirits of the upper and lower worlds."" The Master said, "My praying has been for a long time. 33. WHAT CONFUCIUS DECLINED TO BE CON- rather to be an expletive than the pronoun. BIDERED, AND WHAT HE CLAIMED. 若 and 抑上下=heaven and earth, 神 being the are said to be correlatives, in which case they our 'although' and 'yet.' More naturally, we may join 若 directly with 聖與人, and take 柳 ascour (but: 云爾 see ch. 18, 2. 已矣,added to 云爾, increases its em phasis, 'just this and nothing more.' = 34. CONFUCIUS DECLINES TO BE PRAYED FOR. 疾病 together mean (very sick' 有諧, is interrogative, as we find it frequently in Mencius. To write a eulogy, and confer the posthumous honorary title;' also, 'to eulogize in prayer,' i. e., to recite one's excellencies as the ground of supplication. Tsze-loo must have been referring to some well known collecseems tion of such prayere. In 禱爾: 爾 approp. desig. of the spirits of the former, and of the latter.-Choo He says, 'Prayer is the expression of repentance and promise of | amendment, to supplicate the help of the spirits, If there may not be those things, then there is no need for praying. In the case of the sage, he had committed no errors, and admitted of no amendment. In all his conduct he had been in harmony with the spiritual intelligences, and therefore he said,-my praying has been for a long time. We may demur to some of these expressions, but the declining to be prayed for, and concluding remark, do indicate the satisfaction of Confucius with himself. Here, as in other places, we wish that our information about him were not so stinted and fragmentary. 長 安。而子戚 子固 固。 不温戚。蕩日 猛 恭厲 CHAPTER XXXV. 人 與其不孫也 不孫儉則 墨子日則 孫 則 也固,則 The Master said, " insubordination, and parsimony to meanness. It is better to be mean than to be insubordinate.” CHAPTER XXXVI. The Master said, "The superior man is satisfied and composed; the mean man is always full of distress." CHAPTER XXXVII. The Master was mild, and yet dignified; · majestic, and yet not fierce; respectful, and yet easy. TION. 35. MEANNESS NOT SO BAD AS INSUBORDINA- | level plain' used adverbially with 然,=lightread shun, like 遜, and with the same meaning. 36. CONTRAST IN THEIR FEELINGS BETWEEN THE KEUN-TSZE AND THE MEAN MAN. 坦。 somely.' This is its force here. 長=常時, ‘constantly.’ 37. How VARIOUS ELEMENTS MODIFIED OND ANOTHER IN THE CHARACTER OF CONFUCIUS. BOOK VIII. T'AE-PIH. 而民天德可泰關 稱無下三也謂伯子第泰 至其曰八伯 焉得讓以 CHAPTER I. The Master said, "Tac-pih may be said to have reached the highest point of virtuous action. Thrice he declined the empire, and the people in ignorance of his motives could not ex press their approbation of his conduct." THE HEADING OF THIS BOOK. 一泰伯第 八, Tae-pih, Book eighth. As in other cases, the first words of the book give name to it. The subjects of the chapter are miscellaneous, but it begins and ends with the character and deeds of ancient sages and worthies, and on this account it follows the seventh chapter, where we have Confucius himself described. 1. THE EXCEEDING VIRTUE OF T'AE-PIH. T'ae the grandfather of Wan, the founder of the pih was the eldest son of king Tae (大), Chow dynasty. T'ae had formed the intention of upsetting the Yin dyn., of which T'ae-pih disapproved. T'ae moreover, because of the sage virtues of his grandson Ch'ang (昌), who afterwards became king Wăn, wished to haud 仁於禮禮禮禮 【親則 測 則 則子 子子偷舊則殺亂 不民君道 疾 遺興子而而而 予召 66 CHAPTER II. 1. The Master said, " Respectfulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes rudeness. 2. “When those who are in high stations perform well all their duties to their relations, the people are aroused to virtue. When old friends are not neglected by them, the people are preserved from meanness. 99 CHAPTER III. The philosopher Tsăng being sick, he called to him the disciples of his school, and said, "Uncover my feet, uncover my hands. It is said in the Book of Poetry,‘We should be apprehensive and cautious, as if on the brink of a deep gulf, as if treading on thin ice,' and so have I been. Now and hereafter, I know my escape from all injury to my person, O ye, my little children." down his principality to his 3d son, Ch'ang's father. Tae-pih observing this; and to escape opposing his father's purpose, retired with his second brother among the barbarous tribes of the south, and left their youngest brother in possession of the state. The motives of his conduct T.ae-pih kept to himself, so that the people 不得而稱之, could not find how to praise him. There is a difficulty in making out the refusal of the empire three times, there being different accounts of the times and ways | in which he did so. Choo He cuts the knot, by Imaking ‘thrice'='firmly,' in which solution we may acquiesce. There is as great difficulty to find out a declining of the empire in T'ae-pih's withdrawing from the petty state of Chow. It may be added that king Woo, the first emperor of the Chow dyn., subsequently conferred on T'aepih the posthumous title of Chief of Woo usage, having reference more to the (吳), the country to which he had withdrawn, their 德or virtue. 故舊=舊臣舊交 and whose rude inhabitants gathered round him. His second brother succeeded him in the government of them, and hence the ruling house of Woo had the same surname as the imperial house of Chow, that namely of Tsze (子). See VII. 30. 也已矣 give emphasis to the | preceding declaration. Comp. I. 14. 6 old ministers and old intimacies', often a verb, 'to steal; ' here an adj., (mean.’ 3. THE PHILOSOPHER TSANG'S FILIAL PIETY SEEN IN HIS CARE OF HIS PERSON. We get our bodies perfect from our parents, and should so preserve them to the last. This is a great branch of filial piety with the Ch.. and this ch is said to illustrate how Tsang-tsze had made 「氣慢貴 人子 存。速 矣 和倍色 貴乎道者 氣斯遠鄙倍矣籩豆之事 吾臨足, 言會踟深啟 將 日子 子免 死鳥 之 信貌善其 之矣斯君 鳴 則辭暴所 會 夫 臨深淵如履薄冰而今而後 足啟予手詩云戰戰兢兢如 子。薄 後如 CHAPTER IV. 1. The philosopher Tsăng being sick, Mang King went to ask how he was. 2. Tsăng said to him, "When a bird is about to die, its notes are mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good. 3. "There are three principles of conduct which the man of high rank should consider specially important:-that in his deportment and manner he keep from violence and heedlessness; that in regulating his countenance he keep near to sincerity; and that in his words and tones he keep far from lowness and impropriety. As to such matters as attending to the sacrificial vessels, there are the proper officers for them." this his life-long study. He made the disci. uncover his hands and feet to show them in we what preservation those members were. 詩云 —see the She-king, II. v.1.st. 6. In 4, must take 而=自:The whole clause indi cates, comm. say, not so much Tsang's satisfaction in the preservation of his person, as the anxiety which he had had, and would continue to have, if life were prolonged, in preserving it. 4. THE PHILOSOPHER TSANG'S DYING COUNSELS TO A MAN OF HIGH RANK. 1.敬 was the hon. epi. of 仲孫捷, a great officer of Loo, and Bon of Mang-woo, II. 6. From the conclusion of this chapter, we may suppose that he de scended to small matters below his rank. : 毅 從虛 君節孤關從 任會子而 重子人不以子 多會 問子 日也可寄日期 斯不 於日 奪百 可 矣。校寡 寡以 昔有能 遠不 也里以 仁可 君之託者若問 吾無於 人 友實不 與大之 嘗若能 已弘 CHAPTER V. The philosopher Tsăng said, "Gifted with ability, and yet putting questions to those who were not so; possessed of much, and yet putting questions to those possessed of little; having, as though he had not; full, and yet counting himself as empty; offended against, and yet entering into no altercation:-formerly I had a friend who pursued this style of conduct." CHAPTER VI. The philosopher Tsăng said, "Suppose that there is an individual who can be entrusted with the charge of a young orphan prince, and can be commissioned with authority over a state of a hundred le, and whom no emergency however great can drive from his principles:—is such a man a superior man? He is a superior man indeed." CHAPTER VII. 1. The philsopher Tsăng said, "The scholar may not be without breadth of mind and vigorous endurance. His burden is heavy and his course is long. |