CHAPTER 3

Tsze-kung asked, "What do you say of me, Tsze?" The Master said, "You are an utensil." "What utensil?" "A gemmed sacrificial utensil."

1. CONFUCIUS IN MARRIAGE-MAKING WAS GUIDED BY CHARACTER, AND NOT BY FORTUNE. 1. Of Kung-yay Ch'ang, tho' the son-inlaw of Conf., nothing certain is known, and his tablet is only 3d on the west. Silly legends are told of his being put in prison from his bringing suspicion on himself by his knowl. of the language of birds. Choo He approves the interpr. of 缧 as mean. 'a black rope', with which criminals were anciently bound(绁) in prison. 妻, and in par.2, up.3d tone, 'to wive', 'to give to wife'. 子, in both par.,= 'a daughter'. 2. Nan Yung, another of the disciples, is now 4th, east, in the outer hall. The discussions about who he was, and whether he is to be identified with 南宫适, and several other aliases, are very perplexing. See 四书改错, I.10,11, and 四书摭余说, I.24. 废, 'to lay, or to be laid aside', here, i.e., from office. 戮, 'to put to death', has also the lighter meaning of 'disgrace'. We cannot tell whether Conf. is giving his impress. of Yung's char., or referring to events that had taken place.

2. THE KEUN-TSZE FORMED BY INTERCOURSE WITH OTHER KEUN-TSZE. Tsze-tseen, by surname 宓(=处, and said to be i.q.伏), and named 不齐, appears to have been of some note among the disci. Of Conf., both as an administrator and writer, tho' his tablet is now only 2d west, in the outer hall. What chiefly disting. Him, as appears here, was his cultivation of the friendship of men of ability and virtue, 若人is more than 'this man'. It is 若此人, 'a man such as this'. See the 注疏 in lec. The first 斯 is 'this man'; the second, 'this virtue'. The paraphrasts complete the last clause thus:—斯将何所取以成斯德乎, 'what friends could this man have chosen to complete this virtue?' 3. WHERETO TSZE-KUNG HAD ATTAINED. See I.10, II.12. The 瑚琏 were vessels richly adorned, used to contain grain-offerings in the Imper. ancestral temples. Under the Hea dny., they were called 瑚, and 琏, under the Yin. See the Le Ke, XIV.27. While the sage did not grant to Tsze that he was a Keun-tsze (II.12), he made him 'a vessel of honour', valuable and fit for use on high occasions.