Book 15: 《衛靈公》 Wei Ling Gong (Duke Ling of Wey)
《衛靈公》 Passage 15.5
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "May not Shun be instanced as having governed efficiently without exertion? What did he do? He did nothing but gravely and reverently occupy his royal seat."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master (respectful title for Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 無為而治 wú wéi ér zhì
to govern through non-action, effortless rule (wu-wei)
- 無 without, not having
- 為 to act, do
- 而 conjunctive particle: and, and thereby
- 治 to govern, bring order to
A fixed philosophical term for rule that succeeds without coercive intervention; all eight translators render the compound, though with quite different English framings.
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, that which
- 其…也與 qí … yě yú
was it not..., perhaps...?, rhetorical surmise-question frame
- 其 modal particle expressing surmise: perhaps, presumably
- 也 final particle marking identity or assertion
- 與 interrogative final particle (equivalent to 歟)
其 marks surmise ('perhaps') and 也與 forms a rhetorical identity-question ('is it not X?'); Ames & Rosemont, Lau, and Watson render the sense declaratively ('surely', 'perhaps') rather than as a literal question, and Chin supplies no distinct word for either.
- 舜 shùn
Shun, legendary sage-king
- 夫…哉 fú … zāi
topic-opening and exclamatory/interrogative closing particles: now, ...!?
- 夫 sentence-initial particle introducing a new topic or question
- 哉 exclamatory/interrogative final particle
夫 opens a new topic and 哉 marks the rhetorical question; English mostly does this work with the question mark itself rather than a dedicated word, so all but Peimin Ni and Chin supply nothing for either particle.
- 何為 hé wéi
what did (he) do?
- 何 what
- 為 to do, act
- 恭己 gōng jǐ
to comport oneself reverently, be personally deferential
- 恭 reverent, respectful in bearing
- 己 oneself, himself (reflexive pronoun)
- 正南面 zhèng nán miàn
to face due south (the ceremonial position of a ruler)
- 正 precisely, correctly; here: due (of direction)
- 南 south
- 面 to face (a direction)
南面 ('face south') is the fixed idiom for occupying the ruler's ceremonial seat; Legge substitutes the metonym 'royal seat' rather than naming the direction.
- 而已矣 ér yǐ yǐ
that is all, nothing more
- 而 conjunctive particle: and, and then
- 已 restrictive final particle: only, that is all (in 而已)
- 矣 final particle marking a completed or emphatic state
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