Analects 5.23: 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 5.23
子曰、孰謂微生高直、或乞醃焉、乞諸鄰而與之。
The Master said, “Who calls Weisheng Gao upright? Someone asked him for vinegar; he asked a neighbor for some and gave it to the person.”
Commentary
source variant Vinegar and the printed character The Chinese prints 醃, a character associated with pickling. Legge’s “vinegar” matches 醯, a different character meaning vinegar. The English follows that reading; the Chinese here still shows 醃.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium
ethics An indirect answer to a request The example tests 直, straightforwardness, through the way Weisheng Gao responds to a request. He supplies something obtained from a neighbor. The rebuke suggests that this detour compromises frank dealing; the text does not say whether he concealed the neighbor’s help or claimed credit for it.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium