一孔录The video for this chapter is still in production. For now this page gives the original text, the facsimile page, a working translation and the commentary; the full reading follows when the video is out.
冉子退朝。子曰：何晏也？對曰：有政。子曰：其事也。如有政，雖不吾以，吾其與聞之。Ran Zi returned from court. The Master said: Why so late? He replied: There was state business. The Master said: It must have been family business. If there had been state business, though I am not in office, I would have heard of it.
What this chapter says
一孔按：冉有退朝晚，说有政事。孔子说那是季氏的家事；若真是国政，我虽不被用，也会参与听闻。一字之改，点破季氏在私朝议国政。常有人问：冉有说朝中“有政”，孔子为什么改说是“其事也”？上面是一孔录的回答。
Yikonglu's reading of this chapter is in Chinese for now; the English version comes with the video.
白Plain Chinese
冉有从季氏私朝回来，孔子问为什么这样晚，冉有说，有政务；孔子说，那是家事，若有国家政务，即使不任用我，我也应当知道。
Draft plain-Chinese rendering following Zhu Xi; it will be checked when the chapter is covered.
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Close reading and checking
For readers who want to go deeper or check our work: key words in the commentary, what other commentators say, textual variants, the commentaries in their own words with facsimile pages, pronunciation and corrections. Tap a heading to open it.
常The common reading
冉有说朝中“有政”，孔子为什么改说是“其事也”？
注Key words in the commentary
冉有时为季氏宰。朝，季氏之私朝也。晏，晚也。政，国政。事，家事。以，用也。礼，大夫虽不治事，犹得与闻国政。
核Zhu Xi's commentary, line by line
Zhu Xi's own words on each line of this chapter, each checked against the base-edition page. Other commentators are added when the chapter is covered. About this edition
| Line | Quoted text | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 如有政，虽不吾以 | “冉有时为季氏宰。朝，季氏之私朝也。晏，晚也。政，国政。事，家事。以，用也。礼，大夫虽不治事，犹得与闻国政。” | page 179 |
| 如有政，虽不吾以 | “是时季氏专鲁，其于国政，盖有不与同列议于公朝，而独与家臣谋于私室者。故夫子为不知者而言，此必季氏之家事耳。若是国政，我尝为大夫，虽不见用，犹当与闻。今既不闻，则是非国政也。语意与魏徵献陵之对略相似。其所以正名分、抑季氏，而教冉有之意深矣。” | page 179 |
家Other commentaries
Our base text is Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries (above). Here are other commentaries side by side: for old commentaries, the first line of the sub-commentary with a link to the woodblock scan; for modern editions, one short quoted translation for comparison. The “compared with Zhu Xi” notes are written by Yikonglu, not quoted.
皇侃《论语义疏》Liang dynasty · 1750 Japanese woodblock edition · juan 七
“云冉子退朝者，退朝謂旦朝竟而還家，朝廷云退也。”……
Compared with Zhu Xi
| Commentary | Point | Relation | Confidence | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 杨伯峻《论语译注》 | 政事之别 | word sense | settled | 杨以冉有用词不当即可，拒故求深义；朱认为借家事国政讥季氏私议专权，语用解释不同。 |
| 钱穆《论语新解》 | same | fairly sure | 同以冉有退季氏私朝、家事不当冒称国政为讽，孔子大夫虽退仍当与闻国政；钱据贬斥意不定冉门所记。 |
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