Classical Chinese, Help Needed

[danqi]

I am stuck with the translation of the following phrase of classical chinese. Any help is greatly appreciated (sp?).

為人上者，患在不明；為人下者，患在不忠。

[skylee]

為人上者 - as a superior

患在不明 - not being clear-sighted/discerning/wise is a trouble

為人下者 - as a subordinate

患在不忠 - being disloyal is a trouble

[danqi]

Thank you very much. The 為人上者 (and its counterpart) part suddely seems obvious.

But I still don't really understand the 患在不明 part. I guess this is because this usage of 在 is new to me. My grammar is not very advanced yet. Is, in this context, 不明 a noun acting as a local object? As in: Trouble lies in not being wise.

[HashiriKata]

From the knowledge that most words in Chinese can act as nouns (and especially so in Classical Chinese), I guess you're right.

[nnt]

患在不明 : Trouble lies in not being wise.

You've got it right. Skylee's translation is another way of expressing the same idea.

There are other famous examples :

出 move 其 at their 不意 moment of unawareness

功 attack 其 at their 无备 undefended point

[danqi]

Thanks alot, you guys really helped me out.

[thepokergod]

Which text are you studying? I am battling through Mencius at the moment. Very hard but really interesting!

[danqi]

Actually, this was just a homework excerciese. I've only had classical Chinese (btw, is that what you call it in English?) for a few weeks. We are not yet at the point of translating whole texts.