'Ts'ze does not acquiesce in the appointments of Heaven,
and his goods are increased by him. Yet his judgments are often
correct.'
CHAP. XIX. Tsze-chang asked what were the characteristics of
the GOOD man. The Master said, 'He does not tread in the footsteps
of others, but moreover, he does not enter the chamber of the sage.'
CHAP. XX. The Master said, 'If, because a man's discourse
appears solid and sincere, we allow him to be a good man, is he
really a superior man? or is his gravity only in appearance?'
CHAP. XXI. Tsze-lu asked whether he should immediately
carry into practice what he heard. The Master said, 'There are your
father and elder brothers to be consulted; - why should you act on
that principle of immediately carrying into practice what you hear?'
Zan Yu asked the same, whether he should immediately carry into
practice what he heard, and the Master answered, 'Immediately
carry into practice what you hear.' Kung-hsi Hwa said, 'Yu asked
whether he should carry immediately into practice what he heard,
and you said, "There are your father and elder brothers to be
consulted." Ch'iu asked whether he should immediately carry into
practice what he heard, and you said, "Carry it immediately into
practice." I, Ch'ih, am perplexed, and venture to ask you for an
explanation.' The Master said, 'Ch'iu is retiring and slow; therefore,
I urged him forward. Yu has more than his own share of energy;
therefore I kept him back.'
CHAP. XXII. The Master was put in fear in K'wang and Yen
Yuan fell behind. The Master, on his rejoining him, said, 'I thought
you had died.' Hui replied, 'While you were alive, how should I
presume to die?'
CHAP. XXIII. 1. Chi Tsze-zan asked whether Chung Yu and Zan
Ch'iu could be called great ministers.
2. The Master said, 'I thought you would ask about some
extraordinary individuals, and you only ask about Yu and Ch'iu!
3. 'What is called a great minister, is one who serves his
prince according to what is right, and when he finds he cannot do
so, retires.
4. 'Now, as to Yu and Ch'iu, they may be called ordinary
ministers.'
5. Tsze-zan said, 'Then they will always follow their chief; -
will they?'
6. The Master said, 'In an act of parricide or regicide, they
would not follow him.'
CHAP. XXIV. 1. Tsze-lu got Tsze-kao appointed governor of Pi.
2. The Master said, 'You are injuring a man's son.'
3. Tsze-lu said, 'There are (there) common people and officers;
there are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain. Why must
one read books before he can be considered to have learned?'
4. The Master said, 'It is on this account that I hate your
glib-tongued people.'
CHAP. XXV. 1. Tsze-lu, Tsang Hsi, Zan Yu, and Kung-hsi Hwa
were sitting by the Master.
2. He said to them, 'Though I am a day or so older than you,
do not think of that.
3. 'From day to day you are saying, "We are not known." If
some ruler were to know you, what would you like to do?'
4. Tsze-lu hastily and lightly replied, 'Suppose the case of a
State of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between other
large States; let it be suffering from invading armies; and to this let
there be added a famine in corn and in all vegetables: - if I were
intrusted with the government of it, in three years' time I could
make the people to be bold, and to recognise the rules of righteous
conduct.' The Master smiled at him.
5. Turning to Yen Yu, he said, 'Ch'iu, what are your wishes?'
Ch'iu replied, 'Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li square, or one
of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it; - in three
years' time, I could make plenty to abound among the people. As to
teaching them the principles of propriety, and music, I must wait
for the rise of a superior man to do that.'
6. 'What are your wishes, Ch'ih,' said the Master next to Kung-
hsi Hwa. Ch'ih replied, 'I do not say that my ability extends to these
things, but I should wish to learn them. At the services of the
ancestral temple, and at the audiences of the princes with the
sovereign, I should like, dressed in the dark square-made robe and
the black linen cap, to act as a small assistant.'
7. Last of all, the Master asked Tsang Hsi, 'Tien, what are your
wishes?' Tien, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it was
yet twanging, laid the instrument aside, and rose. 'My wishes,' he
said, 'are different from the cherished purposes of these three
gentlemen.' 'What harm is there in that?' said the Master; 'do you
also, as well as they, speak out your wishes.' Tien then said, 'In this,
the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete,
along with five or six young men who have assumed the cap, and
six or seven boys, I would wash in the I, enjoy the breeze among
the rain altars, and return home singing.' The Master heaved a sigh
and said, 'I give my approval to Tien.'
8. The three others having gone out, Tsang Hsi remained
behind, and said, 'What do you think of the words of these three
friends?' The Master replied, 'They simply told each one his wishes.'
9. Hsi pursued, 'Master, why did you smile at Yu?'
10. He was answered, 'The management of a State demands
the rules of propriety. His words were not humble; therefore I
smiled at him.'
11.
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