Book 5: 《公冶長》 Gong Ye Chang
《公冶長》 Passage 5.27
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "It is all over! I have not yet seen one who could perceive his faults, and inwardly accuse himself."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius (respectful title)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 已 yǐ
it is hopeless, all is over
A fixed exclamatory phrase of despair or resignation; translators split between a flat declaration of hopelessness and a first-person resolution to give up.
- 矣乎 yǐ hū
emphatic completion particle + exclamatory final particle
- 矣 final particle marking a completed or realized state
- 乎 exclamatory final particle
- 吾 wú
I, me
- 未見 wèi jiàn
have not yet seen, have never met
- 未 not yet
- 見 to see, meet, encounter (someone)
- 能 néng
to be able to, can
- 見 jiàn
to see, perceive, notice
- 其 qí
his, his own
- 過 guò
fault, transgression, error
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then
- 內 nèi
inwardly, internally, within oneself
- 自訟 zì sòng
to accuse oneself, reproach oneself, self-blame
- 自 oneself, himself (reflexive)
- 訟 to accuse, blame, reproach
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
English closes the sentence with a period rather than a word, so the particle's assertive force is carried by punctuation rather than by an explicit word.
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