Book 2: 《為政》 Wei Zheng (Governance)
《為政》 Passage 2.3
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "If the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought to be given them by punishments, they will try to avoid the punishment, but have no sense of shame.If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and moreover will become good."
Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master (Confucius), honorific title
- 曰 said, spoke
- 道 dǎo
to guide, to lead
not the nominal sense 'the Way' found elsewhere in the Analects
- 之 zhī
third-person object pronoun: them
- 以 yǐ
instrumental preposition: by means of, with
- 政 zhèng
administrative regulations, decrees, injunctions
- 齊 qí
to regulate, bring into order, make uniform
- 之 zhī
third-person object pronoun: them
- 以 yǐ
instrumental preposition: by means of, with
- 刑 xíng
punishment, penal law
- 民 mín
the common people, the populace
- 免 miǎn
to avoid, evade, escape (punishment)
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: but, yet
- 無 wú
to lack, be without, have no
- 恥 chǐ
a sense of shame
Roberts alone reads 恥 as 'conscience' rather than 'shame', treating it as an inner moral faculty
- 道 dǎo
to guide, to lead
not the nominal sense 'the Way' found elsewhere in the Analects
- 之 zhī
third-person object pronoun: them
- 以 yǐ
instrumental preposition: by means of, with
- 德 dé
virtue, moral power
Ames & Rosemont render 德 as 'excellence' rather than 'virtue', their signature departure from the standard translation of this term
- 齊 qí
to regulate, bring into order, make uniform
- 之 zhī
third-person object pronoun: them
- 以 yǐ
instrumental preposition: by means of, with
- 禮 lǐ
ritual propriety, the rites
- 有 yǒu
to have, possess
Ames & Rosemont's 'develop' and Roberts's 'keep' recast 有 as a dynamic process rather than simple possession
- 恥 chǐ
a sense of shame
Roberts again renders 恥 as 'conscience' rather than 'shame', consistent with his first-clause reading
- 且 qiě
moreover, and also, in addition
- 格 gé
to reform oneself, correct one's conduct
格 is read variously as 'to correct' (related to 正), 'to arrive at' a standard, or 'to restrain/order' oneself; translators split across all three
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