CHAPTER III. THE EGYPTIAN OEDIPUS

Gate mén
Chinese character 'mén' (門), labeled with the letter A.

Heart sin
Chinese character 'xīn' (心), labeled with the letter B.

Afflicted muén
Chinese character 'mèn' (悶), labeled with the letter C, showing the 'heart' character (B) inside the 'gate' character (A).

Man gîn
Chinese character 'rén' (人), labeled with the letter D.

King uam
Chinese character 'wáng' (王), labeled with the letter E.

Perfect teiuên
Chinese character 'quán' (全), labeled with the letter F, showing the 'human' character (D) above the 'king' character (E).

The author is explaining the "ideographic" nature of Chinese writing, where symbols for physical objects are combined to represent abstract emotions or social ranks. saying, that the gate of the heart is closed; for a man, while he is placed in a state of affliction, feels all his spirits concentrated within the gate of the heart, whence come fear, dread, and distress. Again, when they wish to indicate a perfect man, they form character F, which is composed of characters D and E, of which the latter signifies a King and the former a man; by which they wish to indicate that among men, only the King is perfect. Furthermore, character G indicates a man captured by the love of someone, and it is composed of three characters, of which one a indicates a woman, the second b a thread, and the third c a word; and by this very thing it is indicated that just as we draw things materially with a thread or cord, and as man draws man morally with a word, so a woman draws a man. In this same way, character H signifies the same thing as clarity; and it is composed of characters I and K, of which the former indicates the Moon and the latter the Sun; as if all the clarity of the World flows forth from these luminaries. The Chinese have countless other characters of this kind, composed from the joining together of diverse characters, with which they allude—not without ingenuity—to the secret meanings of things; these we deliberately omit.

Sun gĕ
Chinese character 'rì' (日), labeled with the letter K.

Moon yu'ĕ
Chinese character 'yuè' (月), labeled with the letter I.

Clarity mîn
Chinese character 'míng' (明), labeled with the letter H, showing the 'sun' (K) and 'moon' (I) combined.

Captured by the love of someone. liuén
Woman, thread, word.
Complex Chinese character (a variation of 䜌 or 娈), labeled with the letter G, with components marked a (woman), b (silk/thread), and c (speech/word).

And so, these things having been set forth, lest we seem to have omitted anything worth knowing regarding this argument, it seemed fit in this place to discourse a little more at length on the nature of the Chinese language, especially since it is not so much by my own will, as by the [will] of others...