Book 20: 《堯曰》 Yao Yue (Yao Spoke)
《堯曰》 Passage 20.1
Legge Translation (1861)
Yao said: "Oh! you, Shun, the Heaven-determined order of succession now rests in your person. Sincerely hold fast the due Mean. If there shall be distress and want within the four seas, the Heavenly revenue will come to a perpetual end."Shun also used the same language in giving charge to Yu.
Tang said: "I, the child Li, presume to use a dark-colored victim, and presume to announce to Thee, O most great and sovereign God, that the sinner I dare not pardon, and thy ministers, O God, I do not keep in obscurity. The examination of them is by thy mind, O God. If, in my person, I commit offenses, they are not to be attributed to you, the people of the myriad regions. If you in the myriad regions commit offenses, these offenses must rest on my person."
Zhou conferred great gifts, and the good were enriched.
"Although he has his near relatives, they are not equal to my virtuous men. The people are throwing blame upon me, the One man."
He carefully attended to the weights and measures, examined the body of the laws, restored the discarded officers, and the good government of the kingdom took its course.
He revived States that had been extinguished, restored families whose line of succession had been broken, and called to office those who had retired into obscurity, so that throughout the kingdom the hearts of the people turned towards him.
What he attached chief importance to, were the food of the people, the duties of mourning, and sacrifices.
By his generosity, he won all. By his sincerity, he made the people repose trust in him. By his earnest activity, his achievements were great. By his justice, all were delighted.
Word by word
- 堯 yáo
Yao, legendary sage-emperor
- 曰 yuē
said (introduces quoted speech)
- 咨 zī
oh!, ah! (interjection of address)
Roberts alone reads it as an imperative, 'Hear ye', rather than an interjection.
- 爾 ěr
you (second-person pronoun)
- 舜 shùn
Shun, legendary sage-emperor
- 天 tiān
Heaven, as cosmic and moral authority
- 之 zhī
possessive/modifying particle: 's, of
- 曆數 lì shù
the calendrical order, the appointed succession
- 曆 calendrical, pertaining to the reckoning of time
- 數 numbered order, reckoning
- 在 zài
rests in, lies with
- 爾 ěr
your
- 躬 gōng
person, one's own body
Slingerland and Chin render it idiomatically as 'shoulders' rather than 'person'.
- 允 yǔn
sincerely, truly
- 執 zhí
hold fast to, grasp
- 其 qí
its (referring back to the succession just charged)
- 中 zhōng
the mean, the center, the middle way
- 四海 sì hǎi
the four seas, i.e. the whole world
- 四 four
- 海 seas
- 困窮 kùn qióng
hardship, dire straits
- 困 hardship, distress
- 窮 poverty, deprivation
- 天祿 tiān lù
Heaven's bounty, the blessings Heaven bestows
- 天 Heaven
- 祿 bounty, emoluments bestowed by Heaven
- 永終 yǒng zhōng
come to a perpetual end, cease forever
- 永 forever, perpetually
- 終 come to an end, terminate
- 舜 shùn
Shun
- 亦 yì
also, likewise
- 以 yǐ
with, using
- 命 mìng
charge, command, instruct
Ames & Rosemont reads this as Shun actually abdicating the throne to Yu, not merely charging him.
- 禹 yǔ
Yu, legendary founder of the Xia dynasty
- 曰 yuē
said (introduces Tang's prayer)
- 予 yú
I, me
- 小子 xiǎo zǐ
little one, the (self-deprecating) child
- 小 little, small
- 子 child (self-deprecating term in 小子)
- 履 lǚ
Lü, personal name of Tang, founder of the Shang dynasty
- 敢 gǎn
venture to, presume to
- 用 yòng
use, offer up (as a sacrificial victim)
most translators render this idiomatically as 'offer, sacrifice' rather than literal 'use'.
- 玄牡 xuán mǔ
black bull, dark-colored sacrificial victim
- 玄 black, dark-colored
- 牡 male animal, bull
- 敢 gǎn
venture to, presume to
- 昭告 zhāo gào
declare plainly, proclaim clearly
- 昭 clearly, plainly
- 告 declare, announce
- 于 yú
to (preposition introducing the recipient)
- 皇皇后帝 huáng huáng hòu dì
Most August Sovereign Lord (epithet for the High God)
- 皇 august, sovereign
- 皇 august, sovereign (reduplicated for emphasis)
- 后 sovereign, ruler
- 帝 the Lord, the High God
- 有罪 yǒu zuì
commit an offense, be guilty of a crime
- 有 there is, have (existential)
- 罪 crime, offense, guilt
- 不敢 bù gǎn
not dare to, do not presume to
- 不 not
- 敢 dare, venture to
- 赦 shè
pardon, forgive
- 帝臣 dì chén
the Lord's subjects, God's ministers
- 帝 the Lord, the High God
- 臣 subjects, ministers
- 不蔽 bù bì
do not conceal, do not hide
- 不 not
- 蔽 conceal, hide
- 簡 jiǎn
examine, scrutinize, select
- 在 zài
rests with, lies with
- 帝心 dì xīn
the Lord's mind, God's judgment
- 帝 the Lord, the High God
- 心 mind, heart, judgment
- 朕 zhèn
I, my (royal first-person pronoun)
- 躬 gōng
person, one's own self
- 有罪 yǒu zuì
commit an offense, be guilty
- 有 have, commit (there is)
- 罪 crime, offense, guilt
- 無以 wú yǐ
let it not be so that it extends to, do not implicate
- 無 let there not be, do not
- 以 involve, implicate, extend to
- 萬方 wàn fāng
the myriad regions, all the states
- 萬 ten thousand, myriad
- 方 regions, quarters
- 萬方 wàn fāng
the myriad regions, all the states
- 萬 ten thousand, myriad
- 方 regions, quarters
- 有罪 yǒu zuì
commit an offense, be guilty
- 有 have, commit
- 罪 crime, offense, guilt
- 罪 zuì
the crime, the guilt
- 在 zài
rests with, lies with
- 朕 zhèn
I, my (royal first-person pronoun)
- 躬 gōng
person, one's own self
- 周 zhōu
Zhou, the dynasty
- 有 yǒu
had, received
孔安國 and 朱熹 read 周家受天大賚, Zhou received great gifts from Heaven (Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Lau, Watson, Chin); 楊伯峻 reads Zhou as the giver, enfeoffing the lords generously, with Legge, Roberts and Ames & Rosemont.
- 大賚 dà lài
great gifts, generous bounty
- 大 great, generous
- 賚 gifts, bounty conferred
- 善人 shàn rén
good people, virtuous men
- 善 good, virtuous
- 人 people, men
- 是 shì
picks up the object moved to the front: good men — THEM he enriched (善人是富 = 富善人)
Ames & Rosemont's "therefrom" reflects the older resumptive-connector reading.
- 富 fù
enriched, made prosperous
孔安國 (何晏集解) and 朱熹 read 富於善人, Zhou was rich in good men, followed by Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Lau and Chin; 楊伯峻 takes the causative, good men were enriched, with Legge, Roberts, Watson and Ames & Rosemont.
- 雖 suī
although, even if
- 有 yǒu
have
- 周親 zhōu qīn
close kin, near relatives
- 周 close, intimate (some read it as the dynasty name here)
- 親 close relatives, kin
Roberts and Watson read 周 as the proper noun 'Zhou' (the Zhou house's kinsmen) rather than as the adjective 'close, intimate' that the other translators use.
- 不如 bù rú
not as good as, inferior to
- 不 not
- 如 equal to, as good as
- 仁人 rén rén
humane persons, men of benevolence
- 仁 humane, benevolent
- 人 people, men
仁 is famously rendered variously as benevolence, Goodness, humaneness, or authoritative conduct; that split is visible here.
- 百姓 bǎi xìng
the hundred clans, the common people
- 百 hundred
- 姓 clans, families (the common people, in 百姓)
- 有過 yǒu guò
commit faults, transgress
- 有 have, commit
- 過 faults, transgressions
Legge's clause reads as the people actively blaming the ruler, a divergent construction from the conditional 'if the people err' that the others use.
- 在 zài
rests with, lies with
- 予 yú
I, me
- 一人 yī rén
one man, myself alone
- 一 one, alone
- 人 man, person
- 謹 jǐn
be careful about, attend carefully to
- 權量 quán liàng
weights and measures
- 權 weights
- 量 measures
- 審 shěn
examine carefully, scrutinize
- 法度 fǎ dù
laws and regulations, statutes and standards
- 法 laws, statutes
- 度 regulations, standards
Lau's translation drops this clause, mentioning only weights, measures, and offices.
- 修 xiū
restore, put back in order
- 廢官 fèi guān
abandoned offices, discontinued posts
- 廢 abandoned, discontinued
- 官 offices, posts
- 四方 sì fāng
the four quarters, everywhere
- 四 four
- 方 quarters, directions
Chin's translation drops this clause about the administration reaching everywhere.
- 之 zhī
possessive/modifying particle: 's, of
- 政 zhèng
government, administration
- 行 xíng
proceed, be carried out
- 焉 yān
resumptive final particle fusing 於是: therein, thereupon
Slingerland and Peimin Peimin Ni alone keep an explicit 'thereby'.
- 興 xīng
revive, restore
- 滅國 miè guó
extinguished states, ruined states
- 滅 extinguished, destroyed
- 國 states, countries
Lau reads 滅 as 'annexed' and Chin as 'about to perish', diverging from the more common 'already destroyed'.
- 繼 jì
continue, restore
- 絕世 jué shì
severed lines of succession, extinct lines
- 絕 cut off, broken
- 世 lines of succession, generations
- 舉 jǔ
raise up, promote
- 逸民 yì mín
hidden or withdrawn people, recluses
- 逸 withdrawn, living in hiding
- 民 people
Slingerland and Ames & Rosemont read 逸 as 'lost' rather than 'withdrawn, in hiding'.
- 天下 tiān xià
all under heaven, the world
- 天 heaven (in 天下, all under heaven)
- 下 under (in 天下, all under heaven)
- 之 zhī
possessive/modifying particle: 's, of
- 民 mín
people
- 歸心 guī xīn
turn their hearts to, give allegiance to
- 歸 turn towards, give allegiance to
- 心 hearts, minds, loyalty
- 焉 yān
resumptive final particle fusing 於之: to him, in him
- 所 suǒ
nominalizing particle: that which, what
- 重 zhòng
give weight to, consider important
- 民 mín
the people
Legge and Chin restructure the list, reading 民食 as 'food of/for the people' rather than as two separate items.
- 食 shí
food
- 喪 sāng
mourning
- 祭 jì
sacrifice, sacrificial rites
- 寬 kuān
tolerant, generous
- 則 zé
conditional/resultative connector: then, in that case
only Watson keeps an explicit connector.
- 得 dé
win over, gain
- 眾 zhòng
the multitude, the masses
- 信 xìn
trustworthy, sincere in word
- 則 zé
conditional/resultative connector: then, in that case
- 民 mín
the people
- 任 rèn
put their trust in, rely on
- 焉 yān
resumptive final particle fusing 於之: to him, in him
- 敏 mǐn
diligent, quick to act
- 則 zé
conditional/resultative connector: then, in that case
- 有功 yǒu gōng
achieve results, be successful
- 有 have, achieve
- 功 results, achievements
- 公 gōng
impartial, fair
- 則 zé
conditional/resultative connector: then, in that case
- 說 yuè
pleased, delighted
loangraph for 悅.
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