Book 13: 《子路》 Zi Lu
《子路》 Passage 13.18
Legge Translation (1861)
The Duke of She informed Confucius, saying, "Among us here there are those who may be styled upright in their conduct. If their father have stolen a sheep, they will bear witness to the fact."Confucius said: "Among us, in our part of the country, those who are upright are different from this. The father conceals the misconduct of the son, and the son conceals the misconduct of the father. Uprightness is to be found in this."
Word by word
- 葉公 shè gōng
governor, duke, or lord of She, title of a Chu state official
- 葉 She, a place name (a territory of the state of Chu)
- 公 duke, lord; honorific title for a ruler or high official
葉 (She) was a border territory of the state of Chu; 葉公 (Shen Zhuliang) was a Chu statesman and contemporary of Confucius.
- 語 yù
to speak to, address, tell (someone)
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius, honorific name of Kong Qiu
- 孔 Kong, the surname of Confucius
- 子 master, honorific title for a revered teacher
- 曰 yuē
to say, said - introduces a direct quotation
- 吾黨 wú dǎng
my community, village, or district - the local group I belong to
- 吾 I, we; my, our
- 黨 local community, village group (an ancient administrative unit)
- 有 yǒu
there is, there exists
- 直躬 zhí gōng
upright in one's own conduct, personally straightforward
- 直 upright, honest, straightforward in conduct
- 躬 one's own body, person; personally, in person
孔安國 and 朱熹 read 直躬 descriptively, one who acts uprightly in his own person, as Legge and Roberts do; Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Lau, Watson and Chin all take it as a nickname ('Upright Gong', 'Straight Body', 'True Person').
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, someone who, a person who
- 其 qí
his, possessive pronoun referring to the upright son's father
- 父 fù
father
- 攘 rǎng
to steal, take opportunistically (as with a stray animal)
攘 implies furtive or opportunistic taking rather than forcible robbery; Ames & Rosemont's 'took ... on the sly' captures this nuance.
- 羊 yáng
sheep, goat
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then
English renders the clause link through temporal subordination ('when his father stole...') rather than an explicit conjunction; only Roberts supplies an explicit 'and'.
- 子 zǐ
son
- 證 zhèng
to testify against, give evidence against, bear witness against
Translators split between a legal register ('testify/give evidence against') and an administrative one ('report to the authorities').
- 之 zhī
him, referring to the father
Most translators take the pronoun as referring to the father himself; Legge and Roberts instead take it as referring to the deed.
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius, honorific name of Kong Qiu
- 孔 Kong, the surname of Confucius
- 子 master, honorific title for a revered teacher
- 曰 yuē
to say, said - introduces a direct quotation
- 吾黨 wú dǎng
my community, village, or district - the local group I belong to
- 吾 I, we; my, our
- 黨 local community, village group (an ancient administrative unit)
- 之 zhī
attributive particle marking modification: 's, of
- 直 zhí
upright, honest, straightforward (in conduct)
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: those who, the ones who
- 異 yì
to differ, be different
- 於 yú
coverb marking comparison: from, than
- 是 shì
this, referring to the case just described
- 父 fù
father
- 為 wèi
coverb marking beneficiary: for, on behalf of
- 子 zǐ
son
- 隱 yǐn
to conceal, cover up (a family member's wrongdoing)
- 子 zǐ
son
- 為 wèi
coverb marking beneficiary: for, on behalf of
- 父 fù
father
- 隱 yǐn
to conceal, cover up (a family member's wrongdoing)
- 直 zhí
uprightness, straightness, moral integrity (used as a noun)
- 在…中 zài … zhōng
to lie within, be found in, consist in
- 在 to lie in, consist in, be found in
- 中 middle, within; in the midst of
- 其 qí
demonstrative/possessive particle: its, referring to the situation just described
English fuses this into the demonstrative 'this/that/therein' rather than a separate possessive word.
- 矣 yǐ
final particle of assertion, marking a completed or asserted state
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