Classical Chinese/Lesson 2

Text

性惡 1: 人之性惡，其善者偽也。
今人之性，生而有好利焉，順是，故爭奪生而辭讓亡焉；
生而有疾惡焉，順是，故殘賊生而忠信亡焉；
生而有耳目之欲，有好聲色焉，順是，故淫亂生而禮義文理亡焉。
然則從人之性，順人之情，必出於爭奪，合於犯分亂理，而歸於暴。
故必將有師法之化，禮義之道，然後出於辭讓，合於文理，而歸於治。
用此觀之，人之性惡明矣，其善者偽也。

— 荀子 (Xunzi).

Vocab & Translation

• 人之性惡，其善者偽也。- Human nature is evil, all that is good about human nature is man-made (i.e. not really human nature).
  • 人 (ren2) - person, people
  • 之 (zhī) - possessive particle similar to modern Chinese 的 (it roughtly corresponds to English ending ´s), go to, it
  • 性 (xìng) - nature
  • 惡 (è) - evil
  • 其 (qí) - his/her/theirs
  • 善 (shàn) - good
  • 者 (zhě) - that which/those who/he who
  • 偽 (wěi) - man-made
  • 也 (yě) - see grammar
• 今人之性，生而有好利焉，順是，故爭奪生而辭讓亡焉； - [The common person's nature,] following life and compassion, follows old disputes and ceases life, yet ignores the following of death.
  • 今 - now
  • 有 - to have
  • 好 - goodwill
  • 利 - profit
  • 焉 - thereupon
  • 順 - to go along
  • 是 - indeed
  • 故 - ancient
  • 爭 - dispute
  • 奪 - to covet by force
  • 生 - life
  • 而 - yet
  • 辭 - dismiss
  • 讓 - the permittance of
  • 亡 - death
  • 焉 - thereupon
• 生而有疾惡焉，順是，故殘賊生而忠信亡焉；
  • 疾 - sickness
  • 惡 - wickedness
  • 殘 - spoiled
  • 賊 - thieved of
  • 忠 - devotion
  • 信 - belief

Grammar Notes

English sentence of the type: A is B (A was B, etc.), where A and B are nouns, is rendered in Classical Chinese this way: AB也

Note that 也 (yě) is a particle, not a verb like and English is. (Were it verb, it would have been placed between A and B).

Construction «AB也» is used if A is always B in any case. So, for example, you can say «I am a man» — «吾人也», but not «I'm a minister», cause it´s something that can be taken from you.

In this case the verb 為 (wéi) is used, and it is a verb, not a particle (therefore it´s put between two nouns, line in English): A為B

For example, «吾為臣» — «I´m a minister».

Note that 為 (wéi) doesn´t change its forms like English verb does (am, is, are, be).