Book 18: 《微子》 Wei Zi
《微子》 Passage 18.1
Legge Translation (1861)
The Viscount of Wei withdrew from the court. The Viscount of Ji became a slave to Zhòu. Bi Gan remonstrated with him and died.Confucius said: "The Yin dynasty possessed these three men of virtue."
Word by word
- 微子 wēi zǐ
Viscount of Wei, Weizi (proper name)
- 微 Wei, the fief/state name in this prince's title
- 子 honorific title: viscount, prince (rank of nobility)
Elder half-brother of King Zhòu, the tyrant of Shang.
- 去 qù
to leave, depart, withdraw
- 之 zhī
third-person object pronoun: him, it
Refers to King Zhòu, the tyrant Weizi left; Legge and Watson instead supply an explicit place (court/state).
- 箕子 jī zǐ
Viscount of Ji, Jizi (proper name)
- 箕 Ji, the fief/state name in this prince's title
- 子 honorific title: viscount, prince (rank of nobility)
Uncle of King Zhòu, the tyrant of Shang.
- 為 wéi
to become, serve as
- 之 zhī
third-person possessive pronoun: his
- 奴 nú
slave, servant
- 比干 bǐ gān
Bi Gan (proper name)
- 比 Bi, first syllable of this minister's personal name
- 干 Gan, second syllable of this minister's personal name
Uncle of King Zhòu, the tyrant of Shang.
- 諫 jiàn
to remonstrate, admonish a superior
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, and then
- 死 sǐ
to die
Several translators render this as passive ('was killed', 'put to death') since tradition holds Bi Gan was executed for remonstrating, though 死 itself just means die.
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius (proper name)
- 孔 Kong, surname of Confucius
- 子 honorific title: master, teacher
- 曰 yuē
to say, said
- 殷 yīn
Yin, the Shang dynasty (proper name)
Yin and Shang are alternate names for the same dynasty; translators split between the two.
- 有 yǒu
to have, possess
- 三 sān
three
- 仁 rén
humane, benevolent (person)
A famous crux: translators split between benevolence/humaneness (majority), virtue (Legge, Roberts), and technical terms of art ('Good' in Slingerland, 'authoritative persons' in Ames & Rosemont).
- 焉 yān
final particle: in it, there (retrospective locative)
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