Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.23
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master instructing the grand music-master of Lu said: "How to play music may be known. At the commencement of the piece, all the parts should sound together. As it proceeds, they should be in harmony while severally distinct and flowing without break, and thus on to the conclusion."Word by word
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 語 yù
to talk with, discuss a subject with someone
Read yù, fourth tone: to tell or address someone (經典釋文 魚據反).
- 魯大師 lǔ tài shī
Grand Music Master of Lu, the state's chief court musician
- 魯 the state of Lu, Confucius's home state
- 大 grand, eminent (marking a high court title) — read tài here, not the common reading dà
- 師 master; here, a court music official
Chin's quote drops an interior bracketed gloss [Zhi], a name interpolation
- 樂 yuè
music
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
introduces the reported speech that follows
- 樂 yuè
music
Roberts renders this occurrence as 'performance' rather than 'music'
- 其…也 qí … yě
cataphoric frame introducing a summary statement: (it is) this, in this way
- 其 modal/resumptive pronoun reinforcing an assertion: it, indeed
- 也 sentence-final particle of assertion
其 here reinforces the assertion of 也 rather than acting as a distinct possessive pronoun
- 可知 kě zhī
can be known, is knowable
- 可 can, may, to be able to
- 知 to know, understand, comprehend
- 始作 shǐ zuò
to begin, start (the performance)
- 始 to begin, at the start
- 作 to start up, arise, be performed
- 翕如 xī rú
sounding together in unison, blended as one
- 翕 blending together, rising up in unison
- 如 suffix forming a descriptive adjective: -like, as if
何晏 glosses 翕如 as 盛, full and vigorous, which Chin follows; 朱熹 as 合, sounding together, which the other translators follow.
- 也…也…也…也 yě … yě … yě … yě
recurring sentence-final particle of assertion, one after each descriptor
- 也 sentence-final particle of assertion
- 也 sentence-final particle of assertion
- 也 sentence-final particle of assertion
- 也 sentence-final particle of assertion
the same '...如也' assertion pattern repeats four times; renderings are drawn from wherever a translator supplies an explicit copula
- 從 zòng
to let it go, give it free rein, as the piece opens out
Read zòng, as 縱: 朱熹 glosses 從 as 放, letting the music loose after the opening; Legge and Peimin Ni's 'proceeds' keep the cóng reading.
- 之 zhī
it, resuming the performance already begun
- 純如 chún rú
harmonious, blended in pure accord
- 純 pure, harmonious, blended smoothly
- 如 suffix forming a descriptive adjective: -like, as if
- 皦如 jiǎo rú
clear and distinct, each note standing out
- 皦 bright, clear, distinct
- 如 suffix forming a descriptive adjective: -like, as if
- 繹如 yì rú
continuous and unbroken, flowing on without interruption
- 繹 continuous, unbroken, unreeling onward
- 如 suffix forming a descriptive adjective: -like, as if
- 以 yǐ
thus, thereby, by this means
- 成 chéng
to be completed, brought to conclusion
A text file for Anki 2.1.55 or later: File → Import. The cards go to the deck “Analects”, tagged by passage, and importing again updates them instead of adding copies.
Discussion
No one has started on this passage yet.
Start the discussion in r/analects