Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.18
子曰：「事君盡禮，人以為諂也。」
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The full observance of the rules of propriety in serving one's prince is accounted by people to be flattery."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (referring to Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 事君 shì jūn
to serve one's ruler, lord
- 事 to serve, attend upon (a superior)
- 君 ruler, lord, one's sovereign
- 盡 jìn
to carry out fully, be scrupulous in observing
- 禮 lǐ
ritual propriety, the rites
- 人 rén
people, others
- 以為…也 yǐ wéi … yě
to regard as, consider to be
- 以 to consider, take (something) as
- 為 to be, to be deemed or regarded as
- 也 declarative final particle: marks an assertion or judgment
也 marks this as a flat assertion of judgment; nearly every translator drops it, folding its force into the main verb.
- 諂 chǎn
flattery, sycophancy, toadying
Pejorative: contemporaries mistake Confucius's scrupulous ritual correctness for servile fawning.
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