The Master was speaking about the unprincipled course of the duke Ling of Wei, when Ch’î K’ang said, “Since he is of such a character, how is it he does not lose his State?”
Confucius said, “The Chung-shû Yü has the superintendence of his guests and of strangers; the litanist, T’o, has the management of his ancestral temple; and Wang-sun Chiâ has the direction of the army and forces:—with such officers as these, how should he lose his State?”