Book 18: 《微子》 Wei Zi
《微子》 Passage 18.2
Legge Translation (1861)
Hui of Liuxia being chief criminal judge, was thrice dismissed from his office. Some one said to him: "Is it not yet time for you, sir, to leave this?"He replied: "Serving men in an upright way, where shall I go to, and not experience such a thrice-repeated dismissal? If I choose to serve men in a crooked way, what necessity is there for me to leave the country of my parents?"
Word by word
- 柳下惠 liǔ xià huì
Liuxia Hui, proper name (an official of Lu known for integrity)
- 柳 willow tree; proper-name syllable
- 下 under, below; proper-name syllable
- 惠 kindness, favor; proper-name syllable
- 為 wéi
to act as, serve as
- 士師 shì shī
chief judge, minister of crime, an official title
- 士 officer, official (in the official title 士師)
- 師 master, chief officer (in the official title 士師, minister of crime)
A Zhou-era judicial post (朱熹: 獄官); translators vary from judge and magistrate to Slingerland's Captain of the Guard.
- 三黜 sān chù
dismissed three times, repeatedly removed from office
- 三 three (times)
- 黜 to dismiss, remove from office
first of two occurrences in this passage; Roberts and Ames & Rosemont render 三 as 'repeatedly' rather than a literal count.
- 人 rén
someone, a person (unspecified)
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 子 zǐ
you, sir, second-person honorific address
- 未可以…乎 wèi kě yǐ … hū
is it not yet acceptable to...?, rhetorical question urging departure
- 未 not yet
- 可 acceptable, permissible; can, may
- 以 particle marking possibility with 可: can, may
- 乎 interrogative final particle
未可 ('not yet acceptable') combines with 以 and the final particle 乎 into the rhetorical question.
- 去 qù
to leave, depart
- 曰 yuē
said, replied
- 直道 zhí dào
the straight way, principled and upright conduct
- 直 straight, upright (of conduct, principle)
- 道 way, course, principle of conduct
Lau expresses this through negation ('not prepared to bend the Way') rather than a separate adjective.
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, thereby, linking manner to action
English absorbs the manner-to-action link into constructions like 'serve X by/in Y'.
- 事 shì
to serve (in office)
- 人 rén
other people, others (object of service)
- 焉 yān
where, to what place, interrogative
- 往 wǎng
to go
- 而不 ér bù
and not, yet not, joining the negated result clause
- 而 coordinating conjunction: and, yet
- 不 not
- 三黜 sān chù
dismissed three times, repeatedly removed from office
- 三 three (times)
- 黜 to dismiss, remove from office
second of two occurrences; here Roberts drops the repetition entirely ('and not get dismissed'), unlike at the passage's first occurrence.
- 枉道 wǎng dào
the crooked way, dishonest or compromised conduct
- 枉 crooked, bent (of conduct); dishonest
- 道 way, course, principle of conduct
Lau expresses this through assertion ('prepared to bend the Way'), the mirror image of the direct-Way clause.
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, thereby, linking manner to action
- 事 shì
to serve (in office)
- 人 rén
other people, others (object of service)
- 何必 hé bì
why must, what need is there to
- 何 what, why (interrogative)
- 必 necessarily, of necessity
- 去 qù
to leave, depart
- 父母 fù mǔ
father and mother, parents
- 父 father
- 母 mother
- 之 zhī
possessive/attributive particle: of, 's
- 邦 bāng
state, country
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