Book 15: 《衛靈公》 Wei Ling Gong (Duke Ling of Wey)
《衛靈公》 Passage 15.38
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "A minister, in serving his prince, reverently discharges his duties, and makes his emolument a secondary consideration."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 master, teacher — honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 to say, said
- 事君 shì jūn
to serve one's ruler/lord
- 事 to serve, to attend upon (a ruler)
- 君 ruler, lord, sovereign
- 敬 jìng
to treat with reverence, attend to conscientiously
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: his, one's own
- 事 shì
duty, task, the business at hand
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, and then
- 後 hòu
to place after, treat as secondary, subordinate
後 functions as a verb here: to rank one thing after another in priority, not merely 'after' in time.
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: his, one's own
- 食 shí
pay, salary, emolument
食 literally 'food'; here it stands for the material reward of office, i.e. one's stipend.
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