Book 18: 《微子》 Wei Zi
《微子》 Passage 18.10
Legge Translation (1861)
The Duke of Zhou addressed his son, the Duke of Lu, saying, "The virtuous prince does not neglect his relations. He does not cause the great ministers to repine at his not employing them. Without some great cause, he does not dismiss from their offices the members of old families. He does not seek in one man talents for every employment."Word by word
- 周公 zhōu gōng
Duke of Zhou, proper name
- 周 Zhou, proper name (component of 周公, Duke of Zhou)
- 公 duke, title of nobility
- 謂 wèi
to say to, address (someone)
- 魯公 lǔ gōng
Duke of Lu, proper name
- 魯 Lu, name of the state (component of 魯公, Duke of Lu)
- 公 duke, title of nobility
Bo Qin, the Duke of Zhou's son, enfeoffed as the first ruler of Lu (朱熹: 魯公，周公子伯禽也).
- 曰 yuē
to say (introduces direct quotation)
Most translators mark the quotation with quotation marks alone, so 曰 goes unworded.
- 君子 jūn zǐ
gentleman, exemplary person
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
- 不 bù
not
- 施 chí
to neglect, be remiss toward
朱熹 notes that 陸德明's text reads 弛, to slacken, and glosses 施 as 遺棄, neglect, the reading followed here and by 楊伯峻 and most translators; 孔安國 in 何晏 instead glosses 施 as 易, exchange: the ruler does not put others' kin in place of his own.
- 其 qí
his, their (possessive pronoun)
- 親 qīn
relatives, kin
- 不 bù
not
- 使 shǐ
to cause, make (someone do something)
- 大臣 dà chén
great ministers, high officials
- 大 great, high-ranking
- 臣 minister, official
- 怨 yuàn
to resent, be resentful
- 乎 hū
coverb marking cause or complement: about, because of
Here 乎 functions like the coverb 於, introducing the cause of the ministers' resentment, not as a sentence-final interrogative particle.
- 不以 bù yǐ
not employed, not consulted
- 不 not
- 以 to employ, make use of a person's service or advice
以 here means 'to employ, make use of' a person's service or advice, not the usual coverb 'by means of, with'.
- 故舊 gù jiù
old acquaintances, long-serving associates
- 故 old, former (component of 故舊, old acquaintances)
- 舊 old, long-standing (component of 故舊, old acquaintances)
- 無 wú
without, unless there is
- 大故 dà gù
grave cause, serious fault
- 大 great, serious
- 故 cause, reason; fault, offense
- 則 zé
then, in that case (consequence marker)
- 不 bù
not
- 棄 qì
to abandon, dismiss, discard
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
- 無 wú
not, do not (negates the following verb)
- 求 qiú
to seek, demand
- 備 bèi
completeness, all-round perfection or ability
- 於 yú
from, in (coverb marking source or scope)
- 一人 yī rén
one person, a single individual
- 一 one
- 人 person
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