Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.29
Legge Translation (1861)
Zigong was in the habit of comparing men together. The Master said: "Ci must have reached a high pitch of excellence! Now, I have not leisure for this."Word by word
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 second syllable of the disciple's name, Zigong
- 方人 fāng rén
to compare, criticize, rank, or judge other people
- 方 to compare, rank, or criticize
- 人 people, others
方 is 比, to compare and rank, for 孔安國 and 朱熹 (Legge, Lau, Ames & Rosemont, Chin); 鄭玄's text reads 謗, to criticise, which Slingerland and Peimin Ni follow.
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius; honorific title
- 曰 said, spoke (introduces direct speech)
- 賜 cì
Ci, Zigong's given name
Confucius addresses him by the given name Ci rather than the courtesy name Zigong, a mark of direct, personal address.
- 也 yě
topic-marking particle following the subject
- 賢 xián
worthy, superior, excellent, wise
- 乎哉 hū zāi
rhetorical particle pair intensifying a skeptical, ironic exclamation/question
- 乎 interrogative final particle
- 哉 exclamatory final particle, intensifying a rhetorical question
The Master's tone is sarcastic, ironically praising Zigong's 'worthiness' when Zigong should be examining himself rather than ranking others.
- 夫 fú
topic-fronting particle: now, as for, well then
- 我 wǒ
I, me
- 則 zé
conjunction marking a topic-comment sequence: then, in that case
- 不 bù
not
- 暇 xiá
leisure, spare time
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