Not Fearing the Assembly
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kallātavariṟ kaṭaiyeṉpa kaṟṟaṟintu / nallā ravaiyañcu vār.
Those who have learned and understood yet fear the assembly of good people are classically judged below the unlearned, because their learning is not used there.
▸Other translations · Pope (1886) & Aiyar (1916)
“Who, though they've learned, before the council of the good men quake, / Than men unlearn'd a lower place must take.”
“Behold the men that possess learning but fear to face an assembly of learned men: they will be esteemed lower than even the ignorant.”
Parimelazhagar’s commentary
13th century · public domainParimelazhagar’s own words come first, unaltered. The plain reading follows below.
கற்று அறிந்தும் நல்லார் அவை அஞ்சுவார்= நூல்களைக் கற்று வைத்தும், அவற்றாற் பயன் அறிந்து வைத்தும் நல்லார் இருந்த அவையினை அஞ்சி ஆண்டுச் சொல்லாதாரை; கல்லாதவரின் கடை என்ப= உலகத்தார் கல்லாதவரினும் கடையர் என்று சொல்லுவர்.
Source: Tamil Wikisource
Parimelazhagar explains that people who have learned texts and understood their use, yet fear to speak in an assembly of good people, are said by the world to rank below the unlearned. This is a severe classical judgment about unused learning, not a measure of human worth.