Analects 18.5: 微子 (Wei Zi)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 18 places different responses to failed public life beside one another. Withdrawal, continued service, and fatal protest can all receive praise, while Confucius himself leaves when employment fails or court duties are neglected. The long encounters with a singer, two plowmen, and an old farmer turn departure into an argument: can personal integrity be preserved by leaving the human world behind? Confucius insists on human company, and Zilu defends duty even without the prospect of success. The later judgments distinguish kinds of withdrawal; a dispersal of musicians and advice about employing people return the question to the relationships that sustain public life.
Analects 18.5
楚狂接輿歌而過孔子、曰、鳳兮鳳兮、何德之衰、往者不可諫、來者猶可追。已而已而、今之從政者殆而。孔子下、欲與之言。趨而辟之、不得與之言。
Jieyu, the madman of Chu, passed Confucius singing: “Phoenix, phoenix, how your virtue has declined! The past is beyond correction; the future is still within reach. Give it up! Give it up! Those in office today are in danger.” Confucius stepped down from his carriage, wanting to speak with him. Jieyu hurried away to avoid him, so Confucius could not speak with him.
Commentary
philology A song that refuses a reply Jieyu addresses the phoenix as he passes Confucius; the image thus acts as an indirect address to Confucius. The doubled cry and doubled command give the song its urgency. Its account of declining virtue and danger in office is the singer’s challenge. Confucius tries to answer, but Jieyu’s departure prevents an exchange.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium
translation What remains within reach 往 and 來 set what has gone before against what is still to come. 諫 brings the language of remonstrance to the irretrievable past, while 追 makes the future something still to pursue. Legge emphasizes preparing against the future; “still within reach” keeps the possibility of a changed course open.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium