《孝经》英译（卿大夫章）

卿大夫章第四

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非先王之法服不敢服，非先王之法言不敢道，非先王之德行不敢行。是故非法不言，非道不行；口无择言，身无择行；言满天下无口过，行满天下无怨恶：三者备矣，然后能守其宗庙。盖卿大夫之孝也。《诗》云：“夙夜匪懈，以事一人。”

Chapter Four

The Ministers and High Officials

If an article of dress is not sanctioned (fa) by the customs of the former kings, the ministers and high officials would not presume to wear it; if ways of speaking are not sanctioned by the customs of the former kings, they would not presume to use them; if ways of behaving are not consistent with the exemplary conduct (dexing) of the former kings, they would not presume to act in such a way. Hence if it is not sanctioned they do not say it; if it is not the proper way (dao) they do not do it.

There is nothing arbitrary in what the ministers and high officials say and nothing arbitrary in what they do. Though their words fill the empire, there is no indiscretion in what is said; though their actions are evident everywhere in the empire, they provoke neither resentment nor animosity. With dress, speech, and conduct being as they should be, they are able to safeguard their ancestral temples. Such, then, is the family reverence of the ministers and high officials.

The Book of Songs says, “Whether night or day they are never remiss in their service to their one sovereign.”(1)

(1)Songs 260. Cf. Legge (1960), p. 543, and Karlgren (1950B), p. 229.