Analects 5.16: 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 5.16
子曰、晏平仲善與人交、久而敬之。
The Master said, “Yan Pingzhong was good at dealing with people: even after long acquaintance, he remained respectful toward them.”
Commentary
philology Respect that lasts The English takes Yan Pingzhong as the subject throughout and 之 as the people he knows: familiarity does not exhaust his respect for them. The compressed final clause can also be read as the respect he receives after long acquaintance. The chosen reading locates the skill in how he continues to treat others.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium