Analects 16.13: 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 16.13
陳亢問於伯魚曰、子亦有異聞乎。對曰、未也、嘗獨立、鯉趨而過庭、曰、學詩乎。對曰、未也。不學詩、無以言。鯉退而學詩。他日、又獨立、鯉趨而過庭、曰、學禮乎。對曰、未也。不學禮、無以立。鯉退而學禮。聞斯二者。陳亢退而喜曰、問一得三、聞詩、聞禮、又聞君子遠其子也。
Chen Kang asked Boyu, “Have you heard anything different?” Boyu replied, “No. Once my father was standing alone, and I hurried across the courtyard. He asked, ‘Have you studied the Poems?’ I answered, ‘Not yet.’ ‘If you do not study the Poems, you will have no means of speaking.’ I withdrew and studied the Poems. Another day he was again standing alone, and I hurried across the courtyard. He asked, ‘Have you studied ritual?’ I answered, ‘Not yet.’ ‘If you do not study ritual, you will have no means of taking your stand.’ I withdrew and studied ritual. Those are the two things I have heard.” Chen Kang left delighted and said, “I asked one question and got three things. I heard about the Poems; I heard about ritual; and I heard that an exemplary person keeps his son at a distance.”
Commentary
philology Boyu’s first-person account The person answering as Boyu calls himself Li, 鯉, in his account. English renders this self-reference as “I.” The conclusion about “his son” supplies the father–son relation in the two remembered exchanges; “my father” makes their implicit subject clear. Chen Kang’s question asks whether Boyu has heard something different, and his delight concerns what the ordinary lessons reveal.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ritual Speaking and taking one’s stand The Poems give a means of speaking; ritual gives a means of standing. The paired 無以 makes each an enabling condition. Both exchanges end with Boyu going away to study, so the lesson is shown taking effect. “Taking your stand” retains the physical image of 立 while allowing it to bear on a person’s place and conduct among others.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
ethics The third lesson Chen Kang counts three gains from one question: the two subjects taught, and the father’s distance from his son. 遠 keeps that distance explicit. In the context of a question about special teaching, it suggests that family closeness does not earn a separate set of lessons. The remark does not describe the whole emotional relation between father and son.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium