[4] Prime Minister of the Wei State, who suspected Confucius of coming to seek office, and took this means of hinting that the real power lay with himself and not with the Duke. [5] After some hesitation, I have adopted this clever rendering of Mr. Ku Hung-ming, as being the only one that fits well with the next sentence. [6] A few other renderings of this sentence will illustrate at once the elasticity of the Chinese language, and the difficulty of making it flow into European moulds.--LEGGE: "The cautious seldom err." WADE: "It seldom happens that a man errs through excess of moderation." JENNINGS: "Those who keep within restraints are seldom losers." KU HUNG-MING: "He who wants little seldom goes wrong." [7] I.e. virtue begets virtue. [8] A member of the great Chi family, who held office in Lu. [9] The proper allowance for an officer in his station. [10] As being, in the end, the moat natural and least troublesome route to take. [11] It is impossible to find an exact equivalent for this negative expression "non-yieldingness," "non-humility." But the dominant idea is one of _selfishness_, and therefore such renderings as "insubordination" (Legge), "frowardnes" (Wade), "excess" (Ku Hung-ming), are rather wide off the mark. [12] For note on _li_, see p. 60. Here again it is the inner sense of moral proportion and harmony, which prevents any quality from being carried to excess. Not a translator but has come to grief over this word, though Mr. Ku is not so far off with "judgment." That, however, makes of it an intellectual principle rather than what it realty is--a moral sense. [13] Literally, "learning." See notes on pp. 53 and 91. [14] The commentators seem right in their explanation, that a man's defects are usually redeemed by certain corresponding qualities; when even these are absent, the case is hopeless. [15] This is the best I can make of a vexed passage. Legge's translation is poor, but he is right with regard to the lesson intended--"that repeated acquisitions individually small will ultimately amount to much, and that the learner is never to give over." [16] Men are known in time of adversity. [17] Because the family was very poor and could ill afford to bear the expense. It is not the least of this great man's titles to fame that he resolutely opposed the tide of popular sentiment in this matter, and could see the iniquity of sacrificing the living to the dead, even when the funeral of his dearly beloved disciple was in question. The moral courage of such an attitude in a country like China, where religion is largely connected with the propitiation of spirits, can hardly be overestimated. [18] Literally, "reach righteousness." [19] Before subscribing to the popular judgment. Cf. saying on p. 103. [20] I.e. mere passivity, as advocated by the Taoists, will not do.