Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.6
Legge Translation (1861)
The chief of the Ji family was about to sacrifice to the Mount Tai. The Master said to Ran You: "Can you not save him from this?" He answered: "I cannot."Confucius said: "Alas! Will you say that the Mount Tai is not so discerning as Lin Fang?"
Word by word
- 季氏 jì shì
the Ji family, head of the Ji clan
- 季 Ji, surname of a powerful ministerial clan in Lu
- 氏 clan, lineage suffix attached to a surname
The Ji were the most powerful of Lu's Three Families; their private sacrifice at Mount Tai usurped a rite reserved for the ruler.
- 旅 lǚ
sacrifice to a mountain: a ritual offering to mountains and rivers, properly performed only by the Son of Heaven or the ruler of the state in whose territory they lie
As ministers of Lu, the Ji had no right to this rite at Mount Tai; performing it was the impropriety at issue.
- 於 yú
preposition: to, at, on
- 泰山 tài shān
Mount Tai, a sacred peak in the state of Lu
- 泰 great, grand
- 山 mountain
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 謂…曰 wèi … yuē
said to, addressed (someone), saying
- 謂 said to, addressed (someone)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 冉有 rǎn yǒu
Ran You (Ran Qiu), a disciple of Confucius
- 冉 Ran, surname of the disciple Ran You
- 有 You, courtesy-name element in 冉有; Ran Qiu's (冉求) courtesy name is 子有, his given name 求
- 女 rǔ
you, second-person pronoun
Read rǔ: 女 here stands for 汝, you (經典釋文 音汝).
- 弗…與 fú … yú
not...?, negative rhetorical question frame
與 (loangraph for 歟) marks the wrapped question as rhetorical.
- 弗 fú
not
- 能 néng
to be able to, can
- 救 jiù
to save, prevent, stop
- 對曰 duì yuē
replied, answered
- 對 to reply, respond (to a superior)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 不能 bù néng
cannot, unable to
- 不 not
- 能 to be able to, can
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 嗚呼 wū hū
alas!, oh! (exclamation of grief or dismay)
- 嗚 exclamatory sound: oh, alas
- 呼 exclamatory sound: oh, alas
- 曾謂 céng wèi
would you really say/think that..., rhetorical expression of incredulity
- 曾 how could it be that..., expressing incredulity
- 謂 to say, claim, maintain
- 泰山 tài shān
Mount Tai, here treated as its resident spirit
- 泰 great, grand
- 山 mountain
Several translators supply 'the spirit of Mount Tai' to make explicit that the mountain is being addressed as a sentient recipient of ritual.
- 不如…乎 bù rú … hū
is not equal to, is inferior to (rhetorical question)
- 不 not
- 如 to be equal to, comparable to
- 乎 interrogative final particle
- 林放 lín fàng
Lin Fang, a man of Lu who asked Confucius about the roots of ritual propriety (3.4)
- 林 Lin, surname of Lin Fang
- 放 Fang, given name of Lin Fang
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