Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.37
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "1. Some men of worth retire from the world. Some retire from particular states. Some retire because of disrespectful looks. Some retire because of contradictory language." The Master said: "Those who have done this are seven men."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 master, teacher (honorific title for Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 賢者 xián zhě
worthy person, one of excellent character
- 賢 worthy, virtuous, of excellent character
- 者 nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 辟 bì
to withdraw from, avoid
read as 避, to avoid, withdraw from (朱熹: 辟，去聲), not 'law, statute'.
- 世 shì
the world, the age
- 其次 qí cì
next in rank, the next stage
- 其 demonstrative pronoun: that, those
- 次 next, second in a sequence
- 辟 bì
to withdraw from, avoid
- 地 dì
land, place, territory
- 其次 qí cì
next in rank, the next stage
- 其 demonstrative pronoun: that, those
- 次 next, second in a sequence
- 辟 bì
to withdraw from, avoid
- 色 sè
facial expression, countenance, look
The bare character is neutral ('countenance'); several translators supply an evaluative word ('hostile', 'discourteous') to make explicit that it is an unfavorable look from a ruler.
- 其次 qí cì
next in rank, the next stage
- 其 demonstrative pronoun: that, those
- 次 next, second in a sequence
- 辟 bì
to withdraw from, avoid
- 言 yán
words, speech
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 master, teacher (honorific title for Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 作者 zuò zhě
those who did so, those who took this course of action
- 作 to arise, act, take initiative
- 者 nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 七人 qī rén
seven men
- 七 seven
- 人 people, men
- 矣 yǐ
final particle of completed assertion
A text file for Anki 2.1.55 or later: File → Import. The cards go to the deck “Analects”, tagged by passage, and importing again updates them instead of adding copies.
Discussion
No one has started on this passage yet.
Start the discussion in r/analects