CHAPTER 4

1. The Master said, "At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning.

2. "At thirty, I stood firm.

3. "At forty, I had no doubts.

2. THE PURE DESIGN OF THE BOOK OF POETRY. The number of compositions in the Sheking is rather more than the round number here given. 一言=一句, 'one sentence'. 蔽=盖, 'to cover', 'to embrace'. 思无邪, see She-king, IV.ii.1.st.4. The sentence there is indicative, and in praise of the duke He, who had no depraved thoughts. The sage would seem to have been intending his own design in compiling the She. Individual pieces are calculated to have a diff. effect.

3. HOW RULERS SHOULD PREFER MORAL APPLIANCES. 1. 道, as in I.5.之, 'them', ref. to 民, below. 政, as oppos. to 德,= laws and prohibitions. 齐, 'corn earing evenly'; hence, what is level, equal, adjusted, and here with the corresponding verbal force.民免, 'The people will avoid', that is, avoid breaking the laws thro. fear of the punishment. 2. 格 has the signif. of 'to come to', and 'to correct' from either of which the text may be explained, —'will come to good', or 'will correct themselves'. Obe. the diff. of 且and 而 in p.1. 而= 'but'; 且= 'moreover'.

4. CONFUCIUS' OWN ACCOUNT OF HIS GRADUAL PROGRESS AND ATTAINMENTS. Chin. comm. are perplexed with this ch. Holding of Confucius that 生而知之, 安而行之, 'he was born with knowledge, and did what was right with entire ease', they say that he here conceals his sagehood, and puts himself on t he level of common men, to set before them a stimulating example. We may believe that the compilers of the Analects, the sage's immediate disciples, did not think of him so extravagantly as later men have done. It is to be wished, however, that he had been more definite and diffuse in his account of himself. 1. 有, in low. 3d tone,= 'and'. The 'learning', to which, at 15, Conf. gave himself, is to be understood of the subjects of the 'Superior Learning'. See Choo He's preliminary essay to the Ta Hëŏ. 2. The 'standing firm' probably indicates that he no more needed to bend his will. 3. The 'no doubts' may have been concerning what was proper in all circumstances and events. 4. 'The decrees of Heaven',=the things decreed by Heaven, the constitution of things making what was proper to be so. 5. 'The ear obedient' is the mind receiving as by intuition the truth from the ear. 6. 矩, 'an instrument for determining the square'. 不逾矩, 'without transgressing the square'.

4. "At fifty, I knew the decrees of heaven.

5. "At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the reception of truth.

6. "At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right."