Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.25
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said of the Shao that it was perfectly beautiful and also perfectly good. He said of the Wu that it was perfectly beautiful but not perfectly good.Word by word
- 子 zǐ
Confucius, the Master (honorific title)
- 謂 wèi
said of, remarked concerning
- 韶 sháo
the Shao, ceremonial music attributed to the sage-king Shun
Legendarily composed for Shun, who received the throne by peaceful succession rather than conquest, bearing on why Confucius judges this music morally as well as aesthetically perfect.
- 盡美 jìn měi
utterly beautiful, perfect in aesthetic form
- 盡 utterly, completely (intensifying the quality that follows)
- 美 beautiful, aesthetically excellent
- 矣…又…也 yǐ … yòu … yě
already...and also...: additive parallel-affirmation frame
- 矣 perfective final particle marking a completed, achieved state
- 又 also, moreover, in addition
- 也 final particle of affirmation or assertion
矣 and 也 mark each clause's assertion as complete and affirmed; only 又 ('also') draws an explicit rendering, from Legge, Slingerland, and Peimin Ni.
- 盡善 jìn shàn
utterly good, morally perfect
- 盡 utterly, completely (intensifying the quality that follows)
- 善 good, morally excellent
shàn denotes moral/social perfection rather than mere pleasingness; Ames & Rosemont's 'felicitous' foregrounds this fittingness sense.
- 謂 wèi
said of, remarked concerning
- 武 wǔ
the Wu, martial music attributed to King Wu of Zhou
Composed for King Wu, who won the throne by conquest; the passage contrasts this with the Shao's peaceful succession to explain why the Wu falls short of moral perfection.
- 盡美 jìn měi
utterly beautiful, perfect in aesthetic form
- 盡 utterly, completely (intensifying the quality that follows)
- 美 beautiful, aesthetically excellent
- 矣…未…也 yǐ … wèi … yě
already...but not yet...: contrastive frame marking a fallen-short judgment
- 矣 perfective final particle marking a completed, achieved state
- 未 not yet, not fully (falling short of a standard)
- 也 final particle of affirmation or assertion
矣 and 也 again mark each clause as a completed assertion; the negation falls entirely on 未 ('not yet'), rendered by all eight translators (Peimin Ni's 'short of' keeps the literal 'not yet' sense).
- 盡善 jìn shàn
utterly good, morally perfect
- 盡 utterly, completely (intensifying the quality that follows)
- 善 good, morally excellent
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