| Xian Jin: |
Zi Lu, Zeng Xi, Ran You, and Gong Xi Hua were sitting by the Master. He said to them, "Though I am a day or so older than you, do not think of that. From day to day you are saying, 'We are not known.' If some ruler were to know you, what would you like to do?" Zi Lu hastily and lightly replied, "Suppose the case of a state of ten thousand chariots; let it be straitened between other large states; let it be suffering from invading armies; and to this let there be added a famine in corn and in all vegetables - if I were intrusted with the government of it, in three years' time I could make the people to be bold, and to recognize the rules of righteous conduct." The Master smiled at him. Turning to Ran You, he said, "Qiu, what are your wishes?" Qiu replied, "Suppose a state of sixty or seventy li square, or one of fifty or sixty, and let me have the government of it - in three years' time, I could make plenty to abound among the people. As to teaching them the principles of propriety, and music, I must wait for the rise of a superior man to do that." "What are your wishes, Chi," said the Master next to Gong Xi Hua. Chi replied, "I do not say that my ability extends to these things, but I should wish to learn them. At the services of the ancestral temple, and at the audiences of the princes with the sovereign, I should like, dressed in the dark square-made robe and the black linen cap, to act as a small assistant." Last of all, the Master asked Zeng Xi, "Dian, what are your wishes?" Dian, pausing as he was playing on his lute, while it was yet twanging, laid the instrument aside, and said, "My wishes are different from the cherished purposes of these three gentlemen." Said the Master, "What harm is there in that? Do you also, as well as they, speak out your wishes." Dian then said, "In this, the last month of spring, with the dress of the season all complete, along with five or six young men who have assumed the cap, and six or seven boys, I would wash in the Yi, enjoy the breeze among the rain altars, and return home singing." The Master heaved a sigh and said, "I give my approval to Dian." The three others having gone out, Zeng Xi remained behind, and said, "What do you think of the words of these three friends?" The Master replied, "They simply told each one his wishes." Xi pursued, "Master, why did you smile at You?" He was answered, "The management of a state demands the rules of propriety. His words were not humble; therefore I smiled at him." Xi again said, "But was it not a state which Qiu proposed for himself?" The reply was, "Yes; did you ever see a territory of sixty or seventy li or one of fifty or sixty, which was not a state?" Once more, Xi inquired, "And was it not a state which Chi proposed for himself?" The Master again replied, "Yes; who but princes have to do with ancestral temples, and with audiences but the sovereign? If Chi were to be a small assistant in these services, who could be a great one?" |
