chapter 1
.)]
23. Tzu-kung asked about friends.
The Master said, Talk faithfully to them, and guide them well. If this is no good, stop. Do not bring shame upon thee.
24. Tseng-tzu said, A gentleman gathers friends by culture, and stays love with friendship.
## BOOK XIII
1. Tzu-lu asked how to rule.
The Master said, Go before; work hard.
When asked to say more, he said, Never flag.
2. When he was steward of the Chi, Chung-kung asked how to rule.
The Master said, Let officers act first; overlook small faults, lift up brains and worth.
Chung-kung said, How shall I get to know brains and worth to lift them up?
Lift up those thou dost know, said the Master; and those thou dost not know, will other men pass by?
3. Tzu-lu said, The lord of Wei[125] waits for you, Sir, to govern. How shall ye begin?
Surely, said the Master, by putting names right.
Indeed, said Tzu-lu, that is far-fetched, Sir. Why put them right?
What a savage Yu[126] is! said the Master. A gentleman is tongue-tied when he does not understand. If names are not right, words do not fit. If words do not fit, affairs go wrong. If affairs go wrong, neither courtesy nor music thrive. If courtesy and music do not thrive, law and justice fail. And if law and justice fail them, the people can move neither hand nor foot. So a gentleman must be ready to put names into speech and words into deed. A gentleman is nowise careless of his words.
[Footnote 125: See note to Book VII, § 14. Tzu-lu was his officer.]
[Footnote 126: Tzu-lu.]
4. Fan Ch'ih asked to be taught husbandry.
The Master said. An old husbandman knows more than I do.
He asked to be taught gardening.
The Master said. An old gardener knows more than I do.
After Fan Ch'ih had gone, the Master said, How small a man! If those above love courtesy, no one will dare to slight them; if they love right, no one will dare to disobey; if they love truth, no one will dare to hide the heart. Then, from the four corners of the earth, folk will gather with their children on their backs; and what need will there be for husbandry?
5. The Master said, Though a man have conned three hundred poems, if he stands helpless when put to govern, if he cannot answer for himself when he is sent to the four corners of the earth, many as they are, what have they done for him?
6. The Master said, The man of upright life is obeyed before he speaks; commands even go unheeded when the life is crooked.
7. The Master said, The governments of Lu and Wei are brothers.
8. Speaking of Ching, of the ducal house of Wei, the Master said, He was wise in his private life. When he had begun to save, he said, This seems enough. When he grew better off, he said, This seems plenty. When he had grown rich, he said. This seems splendour.
9. When Jan Yu was driving him to Wei, the Master said. What numbers!
Jan Yu said, Since numbers are here, what next is needed?
Wealth, said the Master.
And what comes next after wealth?
Teaching, said the Master.
10. The Master said, If I were employed for a twelve-month, much could be done. In three years all would be ended.
11. The Master said, If good men were to govern a land for an hundred years, cruelty would be conquered and putting to death done away with. How true are these words!
12. The Master said, Even if a king were to govern, a lifetime would pass before love dawned!
13. The Master said, What is governing to a man that can rule himself? If he cannot rule himself, how shall he rule others?
14. As the disciple Jan[127] came back from court, the Master said to him. Why so late?
I had business of state, he answered.
Household business, said the Master. If it had been business of state, though I am out of office, I should have heard of it.
15. Duke Ting asked, Is there any one saying that can bless a kingdom?
[Footnote 127: Jan Yu. He was in the service of the Chi, not of the Duke of Lu.]
Confucius answered, That is more than words can do. But men have a saying, To be lord is hard and to be minister is not easy. And if one knew how hard it is to be lord, might not this one saying almost bless a kingdom?
And is there any one saying that can wreck a kingdom?
That is more than words can do, Confucius answered. But men have a saying, My only delight in being lord is that no one withstands what I say. Now if what he says is good, and no one withstands him, is not that good too? But if it is not good, and no one withstands him, might not this one saying almost wreck a kingdom?
16. The Duke of She asked, What is kingcraft?
The Master answered, For those near us to be happy and those far off to come.
17. When he was governor of Chü-fu, Tzu-hsia asked how to rule.
The Master said, Be not eager for haste; look not for small gains. Nothing done in haste is thorough, and looking for small gains big things are left undone.
18. The Duke of She told Confucius, Among the upright men of my clan if the father steals a sheep his son bears witness.
Confucius answered, Our clan's uprightness is unlike that. The father screens his son and the son screens his father. There is uprightness in this.
19. Fan Ch'ih asked, What is love?
The Master said, To be humble at home, earnest at work, and faithful to all. Even among wild tribes none of this must be dropped.
20. Tzu-kung asked, What is it that we call knighthood?
The Master said, To be called a knight, a man must be shamefast in all that he does, if he is sent to the four corners of the earth he must not disgrace his lord's commands.
May I ask who would come next?
He that his clansmen call a good son and his neighbours call modest.
And who would come next?
A man that clings to his word and sticks to his course, a flinty little fellow, would perhaps come next.
And how are the crown servants of to-day?
What! The weights and measures men! said the Master. Are they worth reckoning?
21. The Master said, As I cannot get men of the middle way I have to fall back on zealous and austere men. Zealous men push ahead and take things up, and there are things that austere men will not do.
22. The Master said, The men of the south have a saying, 'Unless he is stable a man will make neither a wizard nor a leech.' This is true. 'His instability of mind may disgrace him.'
The Master said, Neglect of the omens, that is all.
23. The Master said, Gentlemen unite, but are not the same. Small men are all the same, but each for himself.
24. Tzu-kung said, If the whole countryside loved a man, how would that be?
It would not do, said the Master.
And how would it be, if the whole countryside hated him?
It would not do, said the Master. It would be better if all the good men of the countryside loved him and all the bad men hated him.
25. The Master said, A gentleman is easy to serve and hard to please. If we go from the Way to please him, he is not pleased; but his commands are measured to the man. A small man is hard to serve and easy to please. Though we go from the Way to please him, he is pleased; but he expects everything of his men.
26. The Master said, A gentleman is high-minded, not proud; the small man is proud, but not high-minded.
27. The Master said, Strength and courage, simplicity and modesty are akin to love.
28. Tzu-lu asked, When can a man be called a knight?
The Master said, To be earnest, encouraging and kind may be called knighthood: earnest and encouraging with his friends, and kind to his brothers.
29. The Master said, If a good man taught the people for seven years, they would be fit to bear arms too.
30. The Master said, To take untaught men to war is called throwing them away.
## BOOK XIV
1. Hsien[128] asked, What is shame?
The Master said, To draw pay when the land keeps the Way and to draw pay when it has lost the Way, is shame.
2. To eschew strife and bragging, spite and greed, would that be love?
The Master said, That may be hard to do; but I do not know that it is love.
3. The Master said, A knight that is fond of ease does not amount to a knight.
4. The Master said, Whilst the land keeps the Way, be fearless of speech and fearless in deed; when the land has lost the Way, be fearless in deed but soft of speech.
5. The Master said, A man of mind can always talk, but talkers are not always men of mind. Love is always bold, though boldness is found without love.
6. Nan-kung Kuo said to Confucius, Yi[129] shot well, Ao pushed a boat over land: each died before his time. Yü and Chi toiled at their crops, and had all below heaven.
The Master did not answer. But when Nan-kung Kuo had gone, he said, What a gentleman he is! How he honours mind!
[Footnote 128: The disciple Yüan Ssu.]
[Footnote 129: Yi was killed by his best pupil, who said to himself, In all the world no one but Yi shoots better than I do. So he killed him.]
7. The Master said, Alas! there have been gentlemen without love! But there has never been a small man that was not wanting in love.
8. The Master said, Can he love thee that never tasks thee? Can he be faithful that never chides?
9. The Master said, The decrees were drafted by P'i Shen, criticised by Shih-shu, polished by the Foreign Minister Tzu-yü, and given the final touches by Tzu-ch'an of Tung-li.
10. When he was asked what he thought of Tzu-ch'an, the Master said, A kind-hearted man.
Asked what he thought of Tzu-hsi, the Master said, Of him! What I think of him!
Asked what he thought of Kuan Chung,[130] the Master said, He was the man that drove the Po from the town of Pien with its three hundred households to end his days on coarse rice, without his muttering a word.
[Footnote 130: See note to Book III, § 22.]
11. The Master said, Not to grumble at being poor is hard, not to be proud of wealth is easy.
12. The Master said, Meng Kung-ch'o is more than fit to be steward of Chao or Wei, but he could not be minister of T'eng or Hsieh.
13. Tzu-lu asked what would make a full-grown man.
The Master said, The wisdom of Tsang Wu-chung, Kung-ch'o's lack of greed, Chuang of Pien's boldness and the skill of Jan Ch'iu, graced by courtesy and music, might make a full-grown man.
But now, he said, who asks the like of a full-grown man? He that in sight of gain thinks of right, who when danger looms stakes his life, who, though the bond be old, does not forget what he has been saying all his life, might make a full-grown man.
14. Speaking of Kung-shu Wen, the Master said to Kung-ming Chia, Is it true that thy master does not speak, nor laugh, nor take a gift?
Kung-ming Chia answered, That is saying too much. My master only speaks when the time comes, so no one tires of his speaking; he only laughs when he is merry, so no one tires of his laughter; he only takes when it is right to take, so no one tires of his taking.
It may be so, said the Master; but is it?
15. The Master said, When he held Fang and asked Lu to appoint an heir, though Tsang Wu-chung said he was not forcing his lord, I do not believe it.
16. The Master said, Duke Wen of Chin was deep, but dishonest; Duke Huan of Ch'i was honest, but shallow.
17. Tzu-lu said, When Duke Huan slew the young duke Chiu, and Shao Hu died with him, but Kuan Chung did not, was not this want of love?[131]
[Footnote 131: Chiu and Huan were brothers, sons of the Duke of Ch'i. When their father died, their uncle seized the throne. To preserve the rightful heir, Shao Hu and Kuan Chung fled with Chiu to Lu, whilst Huan escaped to another state. Later on the usurper was murdered, and Huan returned to Ch'i and secured the throne. He then required the Duke of Lu to kill his brother and deliver up to him Shao Hu and Kuan Chung. This was done. But on the way to Ch'i Shao Hu killed himself. Kuan Chung, on the other hand, took service under Duke Huan, became his chief minister, and raised the state to greatness. (See note to
## Book III, § 22.)]
The Master said, Duke Huan gathered the great vassals round him, not by chariots of war, but through the might of Kuan Chung. What can love do more? What can love do more?
18. Tzu-kung said, When Duke Huan slew the young duke Chiu, and Kuan Chung could not face death and even became his minister, surely he showed want of love?
The Master said, By Kuan Chung helping Duke Huan to put down the great vassals and make all below heaven one, men have fared the better from that day to this. But for Kuan Chung our hair would hang down our backs and our coats would button to the left; or should he, like the bumpkin and his lass, their troth to keep, have drowned in a ditch, unknown to anyone?
19. The minister Hsien, who had been steward to Kung-shu Wen, went to audience of the Duke together with Wen.
When the Master heard of it, he said, He is rightly called Wen (well-bred).
20. The Master spake of Ling Duke of Wei's contempt for the Way.
K'ang[132] said, If this be so, how does he escape ruin?
Confucius answered, With Chung-shu Yü in charge of the guests, the reader T'o in charge of the Ancestral Temple, and Wang-sun Chia in charge of the troops, how should he come to ruin?
21. The Master said, When words are unblushing, they are hard to make good.
[Footnote 132: Chi K'ang.]
22. Ch'en Ch'eng murdered Duke Chien.[133]
Confucius bathed, and went to court and told Duke Ai, saying, Ch'en Heng has murdered his lord: pray, punish him.
The Duke said, Tell the three chiefs.
Confucius said, As I follow in the wake of the ministers, I dared not leave this untold; but the lord says, Tell the three chiefs.
He told the three chiefs. It did no good.
Confucius said, As I follow in the wake of the ministers, I dared not leave this untold.
23. Tzu-lu asked how to serve a lord.
The Master said, Never cheat him; stand up to him.
24. The Master said, A gentleman's life leads upwards; the small man's life leads down.
25. The Master said, The men of old learned for their own sake; to-day men learn for show.
26. Ch'ü Po-yü sent a man to Confucius.
As they sat together, Confucius asked him, What does your master do?
He answered, My master wishes to make his faults fewer, but cannot.
When the messenger had left, the Master said, A messenger, a messenger indeed!
27. The Master said, When not in office discuss not policy.
[Footnote 133: 481 B.C., two years before the death of Confucius, who was not at the time in office. Chien was Duke of Ch'i, a state bordering on Lu. The three chiefs were the heads of the three great clans that were all-powerful in Lu.]
28. Tseng-tzu said, Even in his thoughts, a gentleman does not outstep his place.
29. The Master said, A gentleman is shamefast of speech: his deeds go further.
30. The Master said, In the way of the gentleman there are three things that I cannot achieve. Love is never troubled; wisdom has no doubts; courage is without fear.
That is what ye say, Sir, said Tzu-kung.
31. Tzu-kung would liken this man to that.
The Master said, What talents Tz'u has! Now I have no time for this.
32. The Master said, Sorrow not at being unknown; sorrow for thine own shortcomings.
33. The Master said, Not to expect to be cheated, nor to look for falsehood, and yet to see them coming, shows worth in a man.
34. Wei-sheng Mou said to Confucius, How dost thou still find roosts to roost on, Ch'iu, unless by wagging a glib tongue?
Confucius answered, I dare not wag a glib tongue; but I hate stubbornness.
35. The Master said, A steed is not praised for his strength, but praised for his mettle.
36. One said, To mete out good for evil, how were that?
And how would ye meet good? said the Master. Meet evil with justice; meet good with good.
37. The Master said, Alas! no man knows me! Tzu-kung said, Why do ye say, Sir, that no man knows you?
The Master said, Never murmuring against Heaven, nor finding fault with men; learning from the lowest, cleaving the heights. I am known but to one, but to Heaven.
38. Liao, the duke's uncle, spake ill of Tzu-lu to Chi-sun.[134]
Tzu-fu Ching-po told this to Confucius, saying, My master's mind is surely being led astray by the duke's uncle, but I have still the strength to expose his body in the market-place.
The Master said, If the Way is to be kept, that is the Bidding, and if the Way is to be lost, this is the Bidding. What can the duke's uncle do against the Bidding?
39. The Master said, Men of worth flee the world; the next best flee the land. Then come those that go at a look, then those that go at words.
40. The Master said, Seven men did so.
41. Tzu-lu spent a night at Shih-men.
The gate-keeper asked him, Whence comest thou?
From Confucius, answered Tzu-lu.
The man that knows it is no good and yet must still be doing? said the gate-keeper.
42. When the Master was chiming his sounding stones in Wei, a basket-bearer said, as he passed the door, The heart is full that chimes those stones! But then he said, For shame! What a tinkling sound! If no one knows thee, have done!
Wade the deep places, Lift thy robe through the shallows!
[Footnote 134: The head of the Chi clan, in whose service Tzu-lu was.]
The Master said, Where there's a will, that is nowise hard.
43. Tzu-chang said, What does the Book mean by saying that Kao-tsung[135] in his mourning shed did not speak for three years?
Why pick out Kao-tsung? said the Master. The men of old were all thus. For three years after their lord had died, the hundred officers did each his duty and hearkened to the chief minister.
44. The Master said, When those above love courtesy, the people are easy to lead.
45. Tzu-lu asked, What makes a gentleman?
The Master said, To be bent on becoming better.
Is that all? said Tzu-lu.
By becoming better to bring peace to men.
And is that all?
By becoming better to bring peace to all men, said the Master. Even Yao and Shun were still struggling to become better, and so bring peace to all men.
46. Yüan Jang awaited the Master squatting.
Unruly when young, unmentioned as man, undying when old, spells good-for-nothing! said the Master, and he hit him on the leg with his staff.
47. When a lad from the village of Ch'üeh was made messenger, someone asked, saying, Is it because he is doing well?
The Master said, I have seen him sitting in a man's seat, and seen him walking abreast of his elders. He does not try to do well: he wishes to be quickly grown up.
[Footnote 135: An emperor of the Yin dynasty.]
## BOOK XV
1. Ling, Duke of Wei, asked Confucius about the line of battle.
Confucius answered. Of the ritual of dish and platter[136] I have heard somewhat: I have not learnt warfare.
He left the next day.
In Ch'en grain ran out. His followers were too ill to rise. Tzu-lu showed that he was put out.
Has a gentleman to face want too? he said.
Gentlemen have indeed to face want, said the Master. The small man, when he is in want, runs to excess.
2. The Master said, Tz'u,[137] dost thou not take me for a man that has learnt much and thought it over?
Yes, he answered: is it not so?
No, said the Master. I string all into one.
3. The Master said, Yu,[138] how few men know great-heartedness!
[Footnote 136: For sacrifice.]
[Footnote 137: Tzu-kung.]
[Footnote 138: Tzu-lu: probably said to him on the occasion mentioned in § I.]
4. The Master said, To rule doing nothing, was what Shun did. For what is there to do? Self-respect and to set the face to rule, is all.
5. Tzu-chang asked how to get on.
The Master said, Be faithful and true of word, plain and lowly in thy walk; thou wilt get on even in tribal lands. If thy words be not faithful and true, thy walk not plain and lowly, wilt thou get on even in thine own town? Standing, see these words ranged before thee; driving, see them written upon the yoke. Then thou wilt get on.
Tzu-chang wrote them on his girdle.
6. The Master said, Straight indeed was the historian Yü! Like an arrow whilst the land kept the Way; and like an arrow when it lost the Way! What a gentleman was Ch'ü Po-yü! Whilst the land kept the Way he took office, and when the land had lost the Way he rolled himself up in thought.
7. The Master said, Not to speak to him that has ears to hear is to spill the man. To speak to a man without ears to hear is to spill thy words. Wisdom spills neither man nor words.
8. The Master said, A high will, or a loving heart, will not seek life at cost of love. To fulfil love they will kill the body.
9. Tzu-kung asked how to attain to love.
The Master said, A workman bent on good work must first sharpen his tools. In the land that is thy home, serve those that are worthy among the great and make friends with loving knights.
10. Yen Yüan asked how to rule a kingdom.
The Master said, Follow the Hsia seasons, drive in the chariot of Yin, wear the head-dress of Chou, take for music the Shao and its dance. Banish the strains of Cheng and flee men that are glib; for the strains of Cheng are wanton and glib speakers are dangerous.
11. The Master said. Without thought for far off things, there shall be trouble near at hand.
12. The Master said, All is ended! I have seen no one that loves mind as he loves looks!
13. The Master said, Did not Tsang Wen filch his post? He knew the worth of Liu-hsia Hui,[139] and did not stand by him.
14. The Master said, By asking much of self and little of other men ill feeling is banished.
15. The Master said, Unless a man say, Would this do? Would that do? I can do nothing for him.
16. The Master said, When all day long there is no talk of right, and little wiles find favour, the company is in hard case.
17. The Master said, Right is the stuff of which a gentleman is made. Done with courtesy, spoken with humility, rounded with truth, right makes a gentleman.
18. The Master said, His shortcomings trouble a gentleman; to be unknown does not trouble him.
19. The Master said, A gentleman fears that his name shall be no more heard when life is done.
[Footnote 139: Another of these _seigneurs du temps jadis_ that is more to us than a dim shadow, for he still lives in the pages of Mencius, who tells us that, He was not ashamed of a foul lord, and did not refuse a small post. On coming in he did not hide his worth, but held his own way. Neglected and idle, he did not grumble; straitened and poor, he did not mope. When brought together with country folk he was quite at his ease and could not bear to leave them. Thou art thou, he said, and I am I: standing beside me with thy coat off, or thy body naked, how canst thou defile me? (Book X, chapter 1 ). He stopped if a hand was raised to stop him, for he did not care whether he went or no (Book III,