1.23

Sanskrit

योत्स्यमानानवेक्षेऽहं य एतेऽत्र समागताः । धार्तराष्ट्रस्य दुर्बुद्धेर्युद्धे प्रियचिकीर्षवः ॥

yotsyamānān avekṣe'haṃ ya ete'tra samāgatāḥ dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher yuddhe priyacikīrṣavaḥ

Translation

And gaze on those here gathered together ready to fight, desirous of pleasing in battle the evil-minded son of Dhritarâshtra.

Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain

Explanation

Arjuna is still speaking with clear moral confidence here, openly calling Duryodhana “evil-minded” and framing the opposing warriors as merely currying favor with him. This is worth noting precisely because it’s the last moment of that confidence — once he actually looks (verse 26), the people he’s describing stop being an abstract “them” and become specific, named relatives.