Book 13: 《子路》 Zi Lu
《子路》 Passage 13.2
Legge Translation (1861)
Zhonggong, being chief minister to the Head of the Ji family, asked about government. The Master said: "Employ first the services of your various officers, pardon small faults, and raise to office men of virtue and talents."Zhonggong said: "How shall I know the men of virtue and talent, so that I may raise them to office?"
He was answered: "Raise to office those whom you know. As to those whom you do not know, will others neglect them?"
Word by word
- 仲弓 zhòng gōng
Zhonggong, courtesy name of the disciple Ran Yong
- 仲 second-born; name element in Zhonggong (Ran Yong's courtesy name)
- 弓 bow; name element in Zhonggong (Ran Yong's courtesy name)
- 為 wéi
to serve as, act as (in an official capacity)
- 季氏 jì shì
the Ji clan, a powerful ministerial family of Lu
- 季 Ji, name of a powerful ministerial clan in Lu
- 氏 clan, lineage (suffix marking a family name)
- 宰 zǎi
steward, chief administrator (of a noble household)
Legge, Peimin Ni and Roberts render this more grandly as 'chief minister'; all describe the same role, the steward who administered a noble household.
- 問 wèn
to ask about, inquire about
- 政 zhèng
government, governance, the art of governing
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master, referring to Confucius
- 曰 said
- 先 xiān
first, give priority to
Two readings split the translators: 先 as putting the officials' work first, or as an imperative to lead by personal example.
- 有司 yǒu sī
officials, functionaries in charge of specific duties
- 有 to have charge of, be in office
- 司 to administer, take charge of; an official
- 赦 shè
to forgive, pardon, overlook (an offense)
- 小過 xiǎo guò
minor fault, small transgression
- 小 small, minor
- 過 fault, transgression
Lau renders this as the people who commit minor offenses rather than the offenses themselves.
- 舉 jǔ
to promote, raise to office, recommend for a position
- 賢才 xián cái
worthy and talented (people)
- 賢 worthy, virtuous
- 才 talented, able; a person of talent
- 曰 yuē
said (speech-attribution verb, speaker implied)
The speaker is unnamed here; by traditional reading this turn belongs to Zhonggong asking for clarification, which several translators make explicit.
- 焉 yān
interrogative adverb: how
- 知 zhī
to know, recognize, discern (as worthy)
- 賢才 xián cái
worthy and talented (people)
- 賢 worthy, virtuous
- 才 talented, able; a person of talent
- 而 ér
purposive connective: so that, in order to
- 舉 jǔ
to promote, raise to office
- 之 zhī
them (referring to the worthy and talented)
- 曰 yuē
said (speech-attribution verb, speaker implied)
The speaker is unnamed here; by traditional reading this turn belongs to the Master answering, which most translators make explicit.
- 舉 jǔ
to promote, raise to office
- 爾 ěr
you (second person pronoun)
- 所知 suǒ zhī
nominalizing frame: those whom (one) knows, the ones recognized (as worthy)
- 所 nominalizing particle: that which, those whom
- 知 to know, recognize
- 爾 ěr
you (second person pronoun)
- 所不知 suǒ bù zhī
nominalizing frame: that which is not known, those not recognized (as worthy)
- 所 nominalizing particle: that which, those whom
- 不 not
- 知 to know, recognize
- 人 rén
other people, others
- 其 qí
modal adverb marking a rhetorical question: surely, would
- 舍 shě
to discard, neglect, pass over, abandon (an opportunity)
- 諸 zhū
fusion of the pronoun 之 (them) and the interrogative particle 乎: them
諸 here contracts the object pronoun with the question particle.
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