Analects 16.1: 季氏 (Ji Shi)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 16 opens with a threatened attack and a sustained argument about responsibility: ministers cannot excuse their part in a policy simply by saying their lord wants it. Two sayings then trace political authority as it passes into lower hands. Lists of friends, pleasures, errors, dangers, and concerns bring questions of judgment into ordinary conduct. Learning remains possible under difficulty, while words must be tested against lives actually seen. Wealth and lasting praise diverge in the contrast between a duke and two hungry men. A son’s account of learning the Poems and ritual makes the absence of special treatment itself a lesson. The book closes with the different titles used for a ruler’s wife, giving speech a precise place within social relations.
Analects 16.1
李氏將伐顓臾。冉有李路見於孔子曰、李氏將有事於顓臾。孔子曰、求、無乃爾是過與。夫顓臾、昔者、先王以為東蒙主、且在邦域之中矣、是社稷之臣也、何以伐為。冉有曰、夫子欲之、吾二臣者、皆不欲也。孔子曰、求、周任有言曰、陳力就列、不能者止、危而不持、顛而不扶、則將焉用彼相矣。且爾言過矣、虎兕出於柙、龜玉毀於櫝中、是誰之過與。冉有曰、今夫顓臾、固而近於費、今不取、後世必為子孫憂。孔子曰、求、君子疾夫舍曰欲之、而必為之辭。丘也、聞有國有家者、不患寡、而患不均、不患貧、而患不安、蓋均無貧、和無寡、安無傾。夫如是、故遠人不服、則修文德以來之、既來之、則安之。今由與求也、相夫子、遠人不服、而不能來也、邦分崩離析、而不能守也。而謀動干戈於邦內、吾恐李孫之憂、不在顓臾、而在蕭牆之內也。
The Ji family was about to attack Zhuanyu. Ran You and Jilu came to see Confucius and said, “The Ji family is going to take action against Zhuanyu.” Confucius said, “Qiu, is this not your fault? Long ago, a former king charged the ruler of Zhuanyu with the rites of East Meng. Zhuanyu also lies within our state’s borders and serves its altars of soil and grain. What reason is there to attack it?” Ran You said, “Our lord wants it. Neither of us, his two ministers, wants it.” Confucius said, “Qiu, Zhou Ren had a saying: ‘Take your place in office and put your strength to use; if you cannot, step down.’ If someone totters and gets no support, falls and gets no help, what use is such an assistant? Besides, what you say is wrong. A tiger or a rhinoceros escapes its cage; a tortoise shell or a piece of jade breaks inside its case—whose fault is that?” Ran You said, “Zhuanyu is fortified and close to Bi. If we do not take it now, it will surely trouble our lord’s descendants in generations to come.” Confucius said, “Qiu, an exemplary person detests someone who avoids saying ‘I want it’ and insists on making excuses. I have heard that those who rule states or great households worry not about too few people but about uneven shares, not about poverty but about insecurity. With fair shares there is no poverty; with harmony, no shortage of people; with security, no overthrow. Thus, if people far away will not submit, cultivate refinement and moral character to draw them here. Once they come, give them security. Now you two—You and Qiu—are assisting your lord. People far away will not submit, and you cannot draw them here; the state is splitting and falling apart, and you cannot preserve it. Yet you plan to set shields and spears in motion within the state. I fear that the Jisun family’s trouble lies not in Zhuanyu but within the screen wall of their own court.”
Commentary
philology Two men called Qiu, two different forms of You Confucius addresses Ran You as Qiu, written 求. In 丘也聞, “I have heard,” Confucius uses his own name, also written Qiu in English but 丘 in Chinese. The closing address pairs You 由, the other minister introduced as Jilu, with Qiu 求, Ran You. You 由 and the 有 in Ran You 冉有 are different characters and refer here to different men. In the ministers’ replies, “our lord” means the head of the Ji family whom they serve; it does not mean Confucius.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
source variant The Ji names The displayed Chinese uses 李 in 李氏, 李路, and 李孫. The comparison text uses 季 in all these names; Legge’s English also reads them as Ji names. The translation follows that reading as Ji, Jilu, and Jisun, while retaining the printed Chinese.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
politics An assistant is answerable Ran You first separates his own wishes from his lord’s, then supplies a strategic reason for the attack. Confucius makes both positions answerable to the duties of service. The failing support, escaped animals, and broken valuables all ask who was entrusted with preventing the harm. The pairing of 龜 with jade inside a case supports taking it as a valued tortoise shell. The instruction to step down gives inability a consequence. The final rebuke names both ministers, although Ran You has done the answering.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ritual Zhuanyu’s place within the state 東蒙主 gives Zhuanyu a charge connected with East Meng; Legge understands that charge as presiding over sacrifices. The English follows this ritual reading. 社稷, the altars of soil and grain, names the political community through its sacred institutions. The speech combines this service with Zhuanyu’s position inside the state’s borders to challenge the proposed attack.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
translation Uneven shares and insecurity 有國有家 pairs rulers of states with heads of great households. 均 is evenness or equitable distribution. “Shares” reads it as the allocation of what people need; Legge instead emphasizes people keeping their assigned places. The Chinese names no particular resource here. The translation keeps the two pairs in their printed order: few people against uneven shares, poverty against insecurity. The following three claims join fair allocation, harmony, and security; they supply the basis for drawing people in through 文德, refinement and moral character.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
politics Where the danger lies Ran You fears what Zhuanyu may do to his lord’s descendants. Confucius redirects that fear inside the lord’s own court. The screen wall makes the contrast spatial: the danger is close to the household that proposes the attack. The repeated language of trouble and security turns a warning about an external enemy into an examination of the rulers and their assistants.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high