Book 8: 《泰伯》 Tai Bo
《泰伯》 Passage 8.6
Legge Translation (1861)
The philosopher Zeng said: "Suppose that there is an individual who can be entrusted with the charge of a young orphan prince, and can be commissioned with authority over a State of a hundred li, and whom no emergency, however great, can drive from his principles: — is such a man a superior man? He is a superior man indeed."Word by word
- 曾子 zēng zǐ
Master Zeng, a disciple of Confucius
- 曾 surname: Zeng
- 子 honorific suffix: Master
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 可以 kě yǐ
can, may (modal of ability or permission)
- 可 can, may (marking ability or permission)
- 以 auxiliary particle expressing ability or permission
- 託 tuō
entrust, commit to another's care
- 六尺 liù chǐ
six chi (roughly four feet), the height of a not-yet-grown heir
- 六 six
- 尺 chi, a unit of length (about 23 cm in the Zhou, roughly nine inches)
The measurement signals a young, not-yet-adult heir; Legge, Slingerland, Roberts and Ames & Rosemont convey this with 'young'/'youth' instead of the literal figure.
- 之 zhī
attributive particle linking a modifier to its noun
- 孤 gū
orphan
- 可以 kě yǐ
can, may (modal of ability or permission)
- 可 can, may (marking ability or permission)
- 以 auxiliary particle expressing ability or permission
Most translators reuse a single 'can' to govern both this clause and the previous one, so the second occurrence draws its own word from only a few.
- 寄 jì
entrust, commission, charge with
- 百里 bǎi lǐ
a hundred li (a state's territorial extent)
- 百 hundred
- 里 li, a unit of distance (roughly half a kilometer)
- 之 zhī
attributive/genitive particle: of
- 命 mìng
mandate, ruling authority over a state
Lau reads 命 as literal 'fate'; the others read it as the governing mandate delegated to the regent.
- 臨 lín
face, confront, come up against
- 大節 dà jié
a great crisis, critical juncture
- 大 great, of great magnitude
- 節 critical juncture, crisis
- 而不可奪 ér bù kě duó
and yet cannot be dislodged, unshakeable in resolve
- 而 conjunctive particle: and, and yet
- 不 not
- 可 can, be able to
- 奪 take by force, deprive of, dislodge from
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
English closes this descriptive clause with punctuation (a dash or comma leading into the question) rather than a word for 也.
- 君子 jūn zǐ
exemplary person, gentleman
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
Roberts renders 君子人 as 'true prince', fitting the passage's context of entrusting a young prince and a state.
- 人 rén
generic noun: person, man
- 與 yú
interrogative final particle
- 君子 jūn zǐ
exemplary person, gentleman
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
- 人 rén
generic noun: person, man
- 也 yě
final particle of emphatic assertion: indeed
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