Analects 14.22: 憲問 (Xian Wen)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 14 tests ethical judgment in public life. Salary, courage, accomplished speech, and a reputation for virtue each prove incomplete measures of a person. The arguments about Guan Zhong ask how benefits to many people should weigh against a demand for personal fidelity. Accounts of officeholders, messengers, and failed appeals make responsibility concrete: competent service can sustain a flawed ruler, and a duty to speak can survive refusal. Short sayings turn from judging others toward learning, ability, and the relation between words and deeds. The later encounters press the choice between persistence and withdrawal when others offer no recognition. The dialogue with Zilu gives self-cultivation an expanding aim, ending in peace for all the people; the closing scenes test conduct through bodily bearing and the desire to seem grown before the work is done.
Analects 14.22
陳成子弒簡公。孔子沐浴而朝、告於哀公曰、陳恆弒其君、請討之。公曰、告夫三子。孔子曰、以吾從大夫之後、不敢不告也、君曰、告夫三子者。之三子告、不可、孔子曰、以吾從大夫之後、不敢不告也。
Chen Chengzi killed Duke Jian, his ruler. Confucius bathed and went to court. He told Duke Ai, “Chen Heng has killed his ruler. I ask that he be punished.” The duke said, “Tell the three lords.” Confucius said, “Since I count among the officers, I dared not fail to report it. Yet the ruler says, ‘Tell the three lords.’” He went and told the three lords, but they refused. Confucius said, “Since I count among the officers, I dared not fail to report it.”
Commentary
politics Reporting remains a duty after refusal The bathing and court appearance give the report formal weight. When the duke refers the matter to three other men, Confucius follows that direction; their refusal still does not cancel his reason for reporting. His twice-repeated explanation locates responsibility in his standing among the officers, even when the requested action fails.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
philology Two names within one report The opening names Chen Chengzi as the killer; Confucius’s report names Chen Heng. Their place in the same narrative identifies the two names with the same person. 三子, “the three lords,” receives no further identification in the Chinese passage. Their power to refuse action becomes visible through the duke’s referral and the outcome.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high