Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.2
Legge Translation (1861)
The three families used the Yong ode, while the vessels were being removed, at the conclusion of the sacrifice. The Master said: "'Assisting are the princes; — the son of heaven looks profound and grave': — what application can these words have in the hall of the three families?"Word by word
- 三家 sān jiā
the Three Families, hereditary ministerial clans of Lu
- 三 three, numeral specifying the ruling houses named here
- 家 family, noble house: a hereditary ministerial clan of Lu
The Meng-sun, Shu-sun, and Ji-sun clans, who held real power in Lu and here usurp a rite reserved for the Zhou king.
- 者 zhě
topic particle marking the preceding noun as subject
Marks 三家 as the topic of the sentence. English simply places the noun phrase in subject position, which needs no word.
- 以 yǐ
used, by means of
- 雍 yōng
Yong, a royal sacrificial ode from the Book of Odes
Ode 282 of the Shijing, prescribed for the Zhou king's own ancestral sacrifices; the three families had no right to it.
- 徹 chè
to clear away the sacrificial vessels
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said
- 相 xiàng
assisting, attending (at the sacrifice)
Read xiàng, fourth tone: to assist at the rite, not xiāng 'mutual' (經典釋文 息亮反).
- 維 wéi
copula particle: is, are
An empty poetic linking particle in the Odes, carrying no independent meaning.
- 辟公 bì gōng
the feudal lords, the various dukes
- 辟 lord, ruler
- 公 duke, feudal lord
- 天子 tiān zǐ
the Son of Heaven, the reigning Zhou king
- 天 heaven
- 子 son, here denoting the reigning king as heaven's offspring
- 穆穆 mù mù
solemn and majestic, deeply reverent in bearing
- 穆 solemn, majestic, reverent in bearing
- 穆 solemn, majestic, reverent in bearing
- 奚 xī
what, how, interrogative introducing a rhetorical question
- 取 qǔ
to be applicable, to have relevance or bearing
Rhetorical: the ode's words about the Zhou king cannot properly apply to a mere ministerial family's hall.
- 於 yú
preposition: in, at, to
- 三家 sān jiā
the Three Families, hereditary ministerial clans of Lu
- 三 three, numeral specifying the ruling houses named here
- 家 family, noble house: a hereditary ministerial clan of Lu
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 堂 táng
hall, the ancestral hall used for sacrificial rites
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