Book 5: 《公冶長》 Gong Ye Chang
《公冶長》 Passage 5.10
Legge Translation (1861)
Zai Yu being asleep during the daytime, the Master said: "Rotten wood cannot be carved; a wall of dirty earth will not receive the trowel. This Yu! — what is the use of my reproving him?"The Master said: "At first, my way with men was to hear their words, and give them credit for their conduct. Now my way is to hear their words, and look at their conduct. It is from Yu that I have learned to make this change."
Word by word
- 宰予 zǎi yú
Zai Yu, personal name of a disciple of Confucius
- 宰 surname Zai, first element of the personal name Zai Yu
- 予 given name Yu, second element of the personal name Zai Yu
- 晝寢 zhòu qǐn
to nap during the day, sleep in daylight hours
- 晝 daytime, during the day
- 寢 to sleep, nap, doze
Daytime napping was seen as slothful for a disciple; this sets up the rebuke that follows.
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke (introduces a quotation)
- 朽木 xiǔ mù
rotten wood, decayed timber
- 朽 rotten, decayed
- 木 wood, timber
- 不可 bù kě
cannot, unable to
- 不 not, negates the following verb
- 可 can, may, be able to
- 雕 diāo
to carve, engrave
- 也 yě
final particle of strong assertion
English closes the clause with a period rather than a word; the particle's force is carried by punctuation and tone alone.
- 糞土 fèn tǔ
dung and filthy soil, manure
- 糞 dung, manure, filth
- 土 earth, soil, here paired with 糞 for filthy soil
- 之 zhī
attributive particle marking a modifier: -'s, of
- 牆 qiáng
wall
- 不可 bù kě
cannot, unable to
- 不 not, negates the following verb
- 可 can, may, be able to
- 杇 wū
to trowel, plaster over, smooth with a trowel
- 也 yě
final particle of strong assertion
English closes the clause with a period rather than a word; the particle's force is carried by punctuation and tone alone.
- 於…與 yú … yú
topic-marking frame: as for..., as far as...is concerned
- 於 preposition introducing a topic: as for, regarding, with respect to
- 與 sentence-medial exclamatory particle marking the topic just introduced
與 here functions like 歟/欤, a sentence-medial exclamatory particle marking the topic just raised, not the conjunction 'and.'
- 予 yú
Yu (Zai Yu), personal name
- 何 hé
what, why — introduces a rhetorical question
- 誅 zhū
to reprove, reproach, blame
誅 literally means 'to execute, punish'; here it is used hyperbolically for verbal reproof.
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke (introduces a quotation)
- 始 shǐ
at first, formerly, originally
- 吾 wú
I, me
- 於 yú
preposition: in dealing with, with regard to, toward
- 人 rén
people, others
- 也 yě
topic-marking pause particle
Closes the topicalized clause.
- 聽 tīng
to listen to, hear
- 其 qí
their, his — third-person possessive pronoun
- 言 yán
words, what someone says
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then
- 信 xìn
to trust, believe, take on faith
- 其 qí
their, his — third-person possessive pronoun
- 行 xíng
conduct, actions, behavior
- 今 jīn
now, nowadays
- 吾 wú
I, me
- 於 yú
preposition: in dealing with, with regard to, toward
- 人 rén
people, others
- 也 yě
topic-marking pause particle
Closes the topicalized clause.
- 聽 tīng
to listen to, hear
- 其 qí
their, his — third-person possessive pronoun
- 言 yán
words, what someone says
- 而 ér
conjunctive particle: and, and then, and so
Marks Confucius's shift from taking words on trust to verifying through observation, the passage's central point.
- 觀 guān
to observe closely, scrutinize, examine
Contrasts with 信 (to trust on faith) earlier; the change is from believing words to verifying conduct.
- 其 qí
their, his — third-person possessive pronoun
- 行 xíng
conduct, actions, behavior
- 於…與 yú … yú
cleft/topicalizing frame: it was because of..., it was...that
- 於 preposition introducing a topic: as for, regarding, on account of
- 與 sentence-medial exclamatory particle marking the topic just introduced
Seven of the eight translators render this with an English cleft (it was X that...), showing the frame's emphatic force; Roberts alone makes it a plain statement, this revision I owe to Yu.
- 予 yú
Yu (Zai Yu), personal name
- 改 gǎi
to change, alter, revise a practice
- 是 shì
this, this practice — demonstrative pronoun referring back to what was just described
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