Book 8: 《泰伯》 Tai Bo
《泰伯》 Passage 8.9
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "The people may be made to follow a path of action, but they may not be made to understand it."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master (Confucius)
- 曰 said, spoke
- 民 mín
the common people
- 可 kě
can be, may be — marking what the subject admits of
8.9's punctuation is disputed: traditionally 民可使由之 reads 'the people can be made to follow it,' but an alternative punctuates 民可，使由之 — 'if the people are able/willing, make them follow it' — as reflected in Roberts's rendering.
- 使 shǐ
causative verb: to cause, make (someone do something)
- 由 yóu
to follow, comply with, go along (a path or course)
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it, referring to the path/course just mentioned
Roberts construes the antecedent as 'us' (the rulers) rather than 'the way/course', consistent with his differing reading of the whole passage (see note at 可, index 5).
- 不可 bù kě
cannot, may not (be permitted/able to)
- 不 not (negates the following modal)
- 可 can, may (modal expressing ability or permission)
Same disputed punctuation as at 可 (index 5): traditionally 不可使知之 reads 'they cannot be made to understand it,' but the alternative punctuates 不可，使知之 — 'if not [able], make them understand' — as in Roberts's rendering.
- 使 shǐ
causative verb: to cause, make (someone do something)
- 知 zhī
to know, understand, comprehend
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: it, referring to what was previously mentioned
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