Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

THE ANALECTS 51
their prince conscientiously, and who, when they cannot do so,
retire. At present, as regards the two you ask about, they
may be called ' qualified ministers.' "
" Well, are they then," he asked, " such as will follow their
leader?"
" They would not follow him who should slay his father and
his prince ! " was the reply.
Through the intervention of Tsz-lu, Tsz-kau was being ap-
pointed governor of Pi.
" You are spoiling a good man's son," said the Master.
Tsz-lu rejoined, " But he will have the people and their su-
periors to gain experience from, and there will be the altars
what need to read books? He can become a student after-
wards."
" Here is the reason for my hatred of glib-tongued people,"
said the Master.
On one occasion Tsz-lu, Tsang Sin, Yen Yu, and Kung-si
Hwa were sitting near him. He said to them, " Though I may
be a day older than you, do not (for the moment) regard me as
such. While you are living this unoccupied life you are say-
ing, ' We
do not become known.' Now suppose some one got
to know you, what then ? "
Tsz-lu—first to speak—at once answered, " Give me a State
of large size and armament, hemmed in and hampered by other
larger States, the population augmented by armies and regiments,
causing a dearth in it of food of all kinds ; give me
charge of that State, and in three years' time I should make a
brave country of it, and let it know its place."
The Master smiled at him. " Yen," said he, " how would it
be with you ? "
" Give me," said Yen, " a territory of sixty or seventy li
square, or of fifty or sixty square ;
put me in charge of that, and
in three years I should make the people sufficiently prosperous.
As regards their knowledge of ceremonial or music, I should
wait for superior men to teach them that."
" And with you, Kung-si, how would it be ? "
This disciple's reply was, " I have nothing to say about my
wish is to learn. I should
capabilities for such matters ; my
like to be a junior assistant, in dark robe and cap, at the services
of the ancestral temple, and at the Grand Receptions of the
Princes by the Sovereign."
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