Analects 18.9: 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 18.9
大師摯適齊。亞飯干適楚。三飯繚適蔡。四飯缺適秦。鼓方叔、入於河。播(tao2,上兆下鼓)武、入於漢。少師陽、擊磬襄、入於海。
Zhi, the chief music master, went to Qi. Gan, in charge of music at the second meal, went to Chu; Liao, at the third, went to Cai; Que, at the fourth, went to Qin. Fangshu the drummer withdrew to the Yellow River; Wu the hand-drum player withdrew to the Han River. Yang, the assistant music master, and Xiang, who played the stone chimes, withdrew to the sea.
Commentary
translation A dispersal of musical skills The list identifies eight musicians through their names, offices, meals, and instruments, then gives their destinations. Legge places Fangshu north of the river and the last pair on an island; the Chinese gives the river and the sea without those particulars. The English keeps the destinations broad. The list continues the book’s departures without stating why these musicians left.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
source variant The hand drum The parenthesis in the displayed Chinese describes a character with 兆 above 鼓. This is 鼗, which appears in the Chinese comparison text; Legge likewise understands a hand drum. The phrase identifies Wu by the instrument he plays.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: high