Book 4: 《里仁》 Li Ren (Dwelling in Ren)
《里仁》 Passage 4.17
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master; honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke — introduces reported speech
- 見 jiàn
see, perceive, catch sight of
- 賢 xián
worthy, virtuous (of character)
Roberts and Ames & Rosemont abstract 賢 as a quality of character rather than naming a person who has it.
- 思 sī
think of, consider, resolve to
- 齊 qí
become equal to, match
- 焉 yān
resumptive pronoun: him, them, referring back to the worthy person
焉 fuses the preposition 於 with a third-person pronoun, standing in for the worthy person just mentioned.
- 見 jiàn
see, perceive, catch sight of
- 不賢 bù xián
unworthy, lacking virtue
- 不 not; negates the following word
- 賢 virtuous, worthy; negated here: not worthy, lacking virtue
Roberts and Lau frame this relationally ('the opposite', 'not as good as you are') rather than as an absolute quality.
- 而…也 ér … yě
and then, marking the response clause as a settled observation
- 而 conjunctive particle: and, and then, thereupon
- 也 final particle marking assertion or closure of a statement
而 links the act of seeing to the inward response; 也 closes the sentence with assertive force. Neither is rendered as a distinct word; the shared 'and' joining the two-part response (turn inward / examine) in five translators is the closest surviving trace of 而's connective role.
- 內 nèi
inward, within
- 自省 zì xǐng
to examine oneself, engage in self-reflection or introspection
- 自 oneself; reflexive prefix: self-
- 省 to examine, inspect, reflect on (oneself)
省 is read xǐng, to examine, not shěng
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