Book 16: 《季氏》 Ji Shi (The Ji Clan)
《季氏》 Passage 16.6
Legge Translation (1861)
Confucius said: "There are three errors to which they who stand in the presence of a man of virtue and station are liable. They may speak when it does not come to them to speak; — this is called rashness. They may not speak when it comes to them to speak; — this is called concealment. They may speak without looking at the countenance of their superior; — this is called blindness."Word by word
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius, Master Kong
- 孔 surname Kong
- 子 honorific suffix: master
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 侍於 shì yú
to attend upon, wait upon, serve
- 侍 to attend upon, wait upon, serve a superior
- 於 preposition marking the object of attendance: upon, on
- 君子 jūn zǐ
gentleman, exemplary person
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
Ames & Rosemont read 君子 here as the superior one waits upon and render 'one's lord'; Roberts's 'true prince' is his standing rendering of 君子 throughout the book, not a contextual choice.
- 有 yǒu
there is, there are
- 三 sān
three
- 愆 qiān
fault, error, transgression, lapse
- 言未及之 yán wèi jí zhī
not yet one's turn to speak, before it is time to speak
- 言 one's turn or occasion to speak
- 未 not yet
- 及 to reach, arrive at, come up to
- 之 object pronoun: it, referring to one's turn to speak
Ames & Rosemont and Lau read 之 as referring to the gentleman who has not yet spoken, rather than an abstract 'turn' — a genuine interpretive divergence.
- 而 ér
concessive conjunction: and yet, but
English restructures the clause with 'when'/'before'/'without' rather than supplying a separate word for 而.
- 言 yán
to speak
- 謂之 wèi zhī
is called, is termed
- 謂 to call, to term, to name
- 之 demonstrative pronoun: this, referring to the behavior just described
- 躁 zào
rash, hasty, impetuous
- 言及之 yán jí zhī
it is one's turn to speak, the time has come to speak
- 言 one's turn or occasion to speak
- 及 to reach, arrive at, come up to
- 之 object pronoun: it, referring to one's turn to speak
- 而 ér
concessive conjunction: and yet, but
English restructures the clause with 'when' rather than supplying a separate word for 而.
- 不 bù
not
- 言 yán
to speak
- 謂之 wèi zhī
is called, is termed
- 謂 to call, to term, to name
- 之 demonstrative pronoun: this, referring to the behavior just described
- 隱 yǐn
secretive, withholding, evasive
- 未…而 wèi … ér
without, not yet ...and yet
- 未 not yet
- 而 conjunctive particle: and, and yet, but
未 and 而 jointly wrap 見顏色 to yield English 'without observing...'.
- 見 jiàn
to observe, look at, take note of
- 顏色 yán sè
facial expression, countenance
- 顏 face
- 色 expression, countenance, complexion
- 言 yán
to speak
- 謂之 wèi zhī
is called, is termed
- 謂 to call, to term, to name
- 之 demonstrative pronoun: this, referring to the behavior just described
- 瞽 gǔ
blind
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