Book 7: 《述而》 Shu Er (Transmission)
《述而》 Passage 7.23
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "Heaven produced the virtue that is in me. Huan Tui — what can he do to me?"Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said
- 天 tiān
Heaven, the power that governs human destiny
Ames & Rosemont leaves the term untranslated as 'Tian' rather than glossing it as 'Heaven'.
- 生 shēng
to engender, give rise to
- 德 dé
virtue, moral power
- 於 yú
oblique-marking preposition: in, at
- 予 yú
I, me
- 桓魋 huán tuí
Huan Tui, a Song military official hostile to Confucius
- 桓 first syllable of the proper name Huan Tui
- 魋 second syllable of the proper name Huan Tui
- 其 qí
modal particle in the rhetorical 其如…何 frame: what could he possibly do
桓魋 is already the subject; 其 is the modal particle of the rhetorical 其如…何 frame (王引之: 其，猶豈也), so no translator has a word for it, and Legge's and Watson's 'he' merely restate the subject.
- 如…何 rú … hé
rhetorical construction: what can be done to..., what can...do to...?
- 如 expresses manner or capability: how, in what way
- 何 interrogative pronoun: what
如…何 wraps its object and asks rhetorically whether real harm is possible; Slingerland recasts it as 'what have I to fear from'.
- 予 yú
I, me
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