CONFUCIAN ANALECTS 論語

CHAPTER XVI. The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men’s not knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know men.”

16. Personal attainment should be our chief aim. Comp. chap. i, 3. After the negative 不, as in chap. ii, 1, observe the transposition in 己知, which is more elegant than 知己 would be. 己, “self,” the person depending on the context. We cannot translate “do not be afflicted,” because 不 is not used imperatively, like 勿. A nominative to 患 to be afflicted/worry has to be assumed,—我, “I,” or Chün-tsze the superior man.

BOOK II. WEI CHĂNG

CHAPTER I. The Master said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.”

Heading of This Book.—爲政第二. This second Book contains twenty-four chapters, and is named 爲政, “The practice of government.” That is the object to which learning, treated of in the last Book, should lead, and here we have the qualities which constitute, and the character of the men who administer, good government.

1. The influence of virtue in a ruler. 德 virtue is explained by 得 acquisition, and the old commentators say 物得以生謂之德, “what creatures get at their birth is called their virtue”; but this is a mere play on the common sound of different words. Chû Hsî makes it = 行道而有得於心, “the practice of truth and acquisition thereof in the heart.” His view of the comparison is that it sets forth the illimitable influence which virtue in a ruler exercises without his using any effort. This is extravagant. His opponents say that virtue is the polar star, and the various departments of government the other stars. This is far-fetched. We must be content to accept the vague utterance without minutely determining its meaning. 北辰 North Polar Star is, no doubt, “the north polar star,” anciently believed to coincide exactly with the place of the real pole. 共 in the third tone, used for 拱 to fold hands in saluting, “to fold the hands in saluting,” here = “to turn respectfully towards.”