INDIVIDUAL VIRTUE
The Master said: Is he not a princely man[1]—he who is never vexed that others know him not?
True virtue[2] rarely goes with artful speech and insinuating looks.
- ↑ This is the much-discussed chün tzǔ, an expression of which the stereotyped English equivalent is "the superior man." But in this there is, unhappily, a tinge of blended native superciliousness and irony absolutely foreign to the phrase, which in my opinion makes it unsuitable. "Princely man" is as nearly as possible the literal translation, and sometimes, as we shall see, it actually means "prince." But in the majority of cases the connotation of rank or authority is certainly not explicit, and as a general rendering I have preferred "the higher type of man," "the nobler sort of man," or sometimes more simply, "the good man." Perhaps the nearest approximation in any European language is to be found in the Greek ὁ καλὸς κἀγαθός, because that implies high mental and moral qualities combined with all the outward bearing of a gentleman. Compare also Aristotle's ὁ σπουδαῖος, who is however rather more abstract and ideal.
- ↑ Jên, the term here translated "virtue," is perhaps the most important single word in the Analects, and the real corner-stone of Confucian ethics. Its primary meaning, in accordance with the etymology, is "humanity" in the larger sense, i.e. natural goodness of heart as shown in intercourse with one's fellow-men. Hence it is sometimes best translated "loving-kindness" or "charity" in the biblical sense, though in many cases a more convenient, if vaguer, rendering is "virtue," "moral virtue," or even, as in Legge, "perfect virtue."
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