CHAPTER 1

1. The duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about tactics. Confucius replied, "I have heard all about sacrificial vessels, but I have not learned military matters." On this, he took his departure the next day.

2. When he was in Ch'in, their provisions were exhausted, and his followers became so ill that they were unable to rise.

3. Tsze-loo, with evident dissatisfaction, said, "Has the superior man likewise to endure in this way?" The Master said, "The superior man may indeed have to endure want, but the mean man, when he is in want, gives way to unbridled license."

HEADING OF THIS BOOK.—卫灵公第十五, 'The duke, Ling, of Wei—Book XV.' The contents of the Book, contained in forty chapters, are as miscellaneous as those of the former. Rather they are more so, some chapters bearing on the public administration of government, several being occupied with the superior man, and others containing lessons of practical wisdom. 'All the subjects,' says Ting Ping, 'illustrate the feeling of the sense of shame and consequent pursuit of the correct course, and therefore the Book immediately follows the preceding one.'

1. CONFUCIUS REFUSES TO TALK ON MILITARY AFFAIRS. IN THE MIDST OF DISTRESS, HE SHOWS THE DISCIPLES HOW THE SUPERIOR MAN IS ABOVE DISTRESS. 1. 陈, read chin, low. 3d tone, 'the arrangement of the ranks of an army, here=tactics, generally. 俎豆之事,—Comp. 笾豆之事, VIII. 4, 8. The 俎 was a dish, 18 inches long and 8 in. broad, on a stand, 81/2 in. high, upon which the flesh of victims was laid, but the meaning is sacrificial vessels generally,=the business of ceremonies. It is said of Conf., in the 'Historical Records', that when a boy, he was fond of playing at 俎 and 豆. He wished by his reply and departure, to teach the duke that the rules of propriety, and not war, were essential to the government of a state. 2. From Wei, Conf. proceeded to Ch'in, and there met with the distress here mentioned. It is probably the same which is referred to in XI. 2, 1, though there is some chronological difficulty about the subject. (See the note by Choo He in his preface to the Analects.) 3. 固= 'yes, indeed', with reference to Tsze-loo's question. Some take it in its sense of 'firm'.—The superior man firmly endures want.