Book 7: 《述而》 Shu Er (Transmission)
《述而》 Passage 7.19
Legge Translation (1861)
The Duke of She asked Zilu about Confucius, and Zilu did not answer him.The Master said: "Why did you not say to him, 'He is simply a man, who in his eager pursuit of knowledge forgets his food, who in the joy of its attainment forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on?'"
Word by word
- 葉公 shè gōng
ruler of the town of She, a regional noble
- 葉 She, a place name in the state of Chu — As the common word ('leaf') this character is read yè; as a place name or surname it is read Shè.
- 公 duke, lord (title of nobility)
Shen Zhuliang (沈諸梁), styled Zigao, governor of She in Chu; a grandee who styled himself 公, which is why translators waver between Duke, Lord and Governor.
- 問 wèn
to ask, inquire about
- 孔子 kǒng zǐ
Confucius, Master Kong
- 孔 Kong, the surname of Confucius
- 子 honorific: Master (an esteemed teacher)
- 於 yú
coverb marking the person consulted: of, to
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 path, road; here a name element
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 path, road; here a name element
- 不 bù
not
- 對 duì
to answer, reply, respond
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 to say, said
- 女 rǔ
you (archaic second-person pronoun)
loangraph for 汝, read rǔ.
- 奚 xī
why, for what reason
- 不 bù
not
- 曰 yuē
to say
- 其 qí
he, his (referring to Confucius)
Ames & Rosemont uses the proper name 'Confucius' in place of a pronoun here.
- 為人 wéi rén
the kind of person one is, one's character
- 為 to be, to act as
- 人 person, human being
- 也 yě
topic-marking particle closing a fronted clause
- 發憤 fā fèn
to become absorbed with zeal, eager application
- 發 to arouse, give vent to, stir up
- 憤 zeal, indignation, passionate agitation
Roberts reads 憤 as literal indignation/anger; the other translators read the phrase as zealous absorption or enthusiasm.
- 忘 wàng
to forget
- 食 shí
food, to eat
- 樂 lè
joy, delight, to be joyful
- 以 yǐ
resultative connective: thereby, so as to
Links joy to its consequence (forgetting worry).
- 忘 wàng
to forget
- 憂 yōu
worry, sorrow, care
- 不 bù
not
- 知 zhī
to know, perceive, realize, notice
- 老 lǎo
old age, growing old
- 之 zhī
subordinating particle nominalizing the preceding clause: that...
Turns 老將至 ('old age is about to arrive') into the embedded object of 知; several translators realize this with the complementizer 'that'.
- 將至 jiāng zhì
to be about to arrive, imminent
- 將 about to, on the verge of (imminent future)
- 至 to arrive, come, reach
- 云爾 yún ěr
fixed closing formula for reported speech: and that is all, so to speak
- 云 to say, speak (in a fixed closing formula)
- 爾 thus, so (final particle in a closing formula)
English closes the quotation with punctuation alone; no word stands in for this classical closing tag.
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