Analects 5.1: 公冶長 (Gongye Chang)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 5 tests judgments of people against their conduct. The Master praises particular abilities and virtues while repeatedly withholding the larger judgment of humaneness. Marriage choices, public service, friendship, speech, and learning supply different kinds of evidence. Several exchanges expose a distance between what someone says or wants and what they can do; Zai Yu’s conduct even changes the Master’s way of judging. Near the end, the teacher and his companions state their own aspirations. The closing sayings turn assessment inward, toward recognizing faults and continuing to love learning.
Analects 5.1
子謂公冶長、可妻也、雖在縲絏之中、非其罪也。以其子妻之。子謂南容、邦有道不廢、邦無道免於刑戮。以其兄之子妻之。
The Master said of Gongye Chang, “He would make a suitable husband. Though he was in fetters, it was not for any crime of his.” He gave him his daughter in marriage. Of Nan Rong the Master said, “When the state has the Way, he will not be cast aside; when it lacks the Way, he will escape punishment and execution.” He gave him his elder brother’s daughter in marriage.
Commentary
ethics Two judgments enacted in marriage The Master distinguishes Gongye Chang’s imprisonment from guilt, then acts on that judgment by giving him his daughter in marriage. The second marriage concerns his elder brother’s daughter. The two choices make his assessment of character consequential for his own family.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
politics Having or lacking the Way The contrast between a state that has the Way and one that lacks it concerns the quality of public rule. Nan Rong is credited with being useful under good government and escaping its dangers under bad government. 不廢, “not cast aside,” suggests continued employment. 刑戮 pairs legal punishment with execution: Nan Rong survives the gravest dangers of bad rule.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium