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Confucius had received a visitor.[1]
After the guest's departure
Yen Yüan said, "Was your visitor [a man possessed of] jên?"
Confucius said, "His heart was unyielding (?), his mouth . . .
(?);[2]
as for his being [possessed of] jên—that I do not know.[3]
It
was his words that gave you that impression." (?)[4]
Yen Yüan with a start of surprise changed color and said,
"Though a foot length[5]
of good jade be covered with ten fathoms
of earth, its brilliance cannot be concealed, and though a fine
pearl an inch long be under a hundred fathoms of water, its lustre[6]
cannot be hidden. Alas! the inadequacy of the body to conceal
the mind![7]
If there is benignity and goodness in a person, his
[very] eyebrows and lashes will show it.[8]
If there is a blemish in
him, his eyebrows and lashes will be unable to conceal it." The
Ode says,[9]
The drums and bells are beaten in the palace,
And their sound is heard without.[10]
