Book 5: 《公冶長》 Gong Ye Chang
《公冶長》 Passage 5.7
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "My doctrines make no way. I will get upon a raft, and float about on the sea. He that will accompany me will be You, I dare say."Zilu hearing this was glad, upon which the Master said: "You is fonder of daring than I am. He does not exercise his judgment upon matters."
Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 道 dào
the Way, moral teachings
- 不行 bù xíng
not be practiced, fail to prevail
- 不 not
- 行 to be practiced, to prevail, to make progress
- 乘桴 chéng fú
to ride/take a raft
- 乘 to ride, mount, take (a vehicle or raft)
- 桴 raft
- 浮于海 fú yú hǎi
to float/drift upon the sea
- 浮 to float, drift
- 于 locative preposition: in, on, at
- 海 the sea, ocean
- 從 cóng
to follow, accompany
- 我 wǒ
me (object pronoun)
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: the one who, he who
- 其…與 qí … yú
tentative/rhetorical question frame: probably..., wouldn't it be...?
- 其 modal particle of supposition: probably, I expect
- 與 rhetorical/interrogative final particle: isn't it?
Chin resolves this into a plain declarative statement rather than a question, dropping the rhetorical force.
- 由 yóu
You, Zilu's given name
- 子路 zǐ lù
proper name: Zilu, disciple of Confucius
- 子 a disciple's name-syllable here; lit. child, son
- 路 a disciple's name-syllable here; lit. road, path
- 聞 wén
to hear
- 之 zhī
it, this (referring to what Confucius had just said)
- 喜 xǐ
pleased, delighted, glad
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 由 yóu
You, Zilu's given name
- 也 yě
topic-marking particle, setting off the preceding subject
- 好勇 hào yǒng
love of courage, fondness for bravery
- 好 to love, be fond of
- 勇 courage, bravery, valor
- 過 guò
to exceed, surpass
- 我 wǒ
me, I (object/standard of comparison)
- 無所取材 wú suǒ qǔ cái
has no means of exercising sound judgment, lacks discretion
- 無 there is not, to lack
- 所 nominalizing particle: that which, the means by which
- 取 to take, obtain, select
- 材 judgment, discretion (possibly loangraph for 裁 here)
材 is read either literally as timber for the raft, with 鄭玄 in 何晏 (Slingerland, Ames & Rosemont, Chin), or with 朱熹 as a loangraph for 裁, judgment in applying courage (Legge, Peimin Ni, Lau, Watson); Roberts instead takes it as 才, a quality to be acquired.
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