Book 11: 《先進》 Xian Jin (Former Eras)
《先進》 Passage 11.25
Legge Translation (1861)
Zilu got Zigao appointed governor of Bi. The Master said: "You are injuring a man's son."Zilu said: "There are (there) common people and officers; there are the altars of the spirits of the land and grain. Why must one read books before he can be considered to have learned?"
The Master said: "It is on this account that I hate your glib-tongued people."
Word by word
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 component of the proper name Zilu
- 使 shǐ
to send, cause (someone to serve in a role)
- 子羔 zǐ gāo
Zigao, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 羔 component of the proper name Zigao
- 為 wéi
to serve as, act in the role of
- 費宰 bì zǎi
steward, governor of the town of Bi
- 費 Bi, name of a fief town
- 宰 steward, prefect, chief administrator of a locality
Bi (費) was a fief town controlled by the Ji family; translators render 宰 variously as governor, steward, prefect, or magistrate.
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said
- 賊 zéi
to harm, injure, ruin
- 夫 fú
demonstrative: that, referring to an unspecified other person
- 人 rén
man, person
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 子 zǐ
son
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 component of the proper name Zilu
- 曰 yuē
said
- 有 yǒu
there is/are, to have (existential)
- 民人 mín rén
the common people, the populace
- 民 common people, subjects
- 人 people, persons
- 焉 yān
locative particle: there, in it
- 有 yǒu
there is/are, to have (existential)
- 社稷 shè jì
the altars of the soil and grain (the state cult, symbol of a polity)
- 社 altar and god of the soil
- 稷 altar and god of grain
社稷 metonymically refers to the polity itself; Roberts' 'ancestors' is a divergent reading of the term.
- 焉 yān
locative particle: there, in it
Only Ames & Rosemont supplies an explicit locative for this second occurrence.
- 何必 hé bì
why must, why is it necessary to
- 何 why, for what reason
- 必 necessarily, must
- 讀 dú
to read, study (texts)
- 書 shū
books, writings, texts
- 然後 rán hòu
only then, only after that
- 然 so, thus, in that case
- 後 after, afterward
Several translators reorder the clause as 'before... learned' rather than 'read, then learned', but preserve the same sequential relation.
- 為學 wéi xué
to be considered learned, to have mastered learning
- 為 to be, to be considered or regarded as
- 學 learned; to have mastered learning
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said
- 是故 shì gù
therefore, for this reason, this is why
- 是 this (demonstrative, pointing back to the preceding situation)
- 故 reason, cause
- 惡 wù
to hate, dislike, detest
惡 is read wù, departing tone, 'to hate, dislike'; not è 'bad, evil'.
- 夫 fú
demonstrative: those, that (class of people)
Legge and Peimin Ni recast the demonstrative as the possessive 'your', directing the remark pointedly at Zilu.
- 佞 nìng
glib, smooth-tongued, flattering
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who
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