Book 9: 《子罕》 Zi Han (Seldom Spoke)
《子罕》 Passage 9.16
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "Abroad, to serve the high ministers and nobles; at home, to serve one's father and elder brothers; in all duties to the dead, not to dare not to exert one's self; and not to be overcome of wine: — which one of these things do I attain to?"Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 出 chū
to go out, be in public, be abroad
- 則 zé
correlative particle: then, in that case
- 事 shì
to serve
- 公卿 gōng qīng
duke and his ministers, high officials
- 公 duke, ruler
- 卿 high minister, noble official
- 入 rù
to enter, come home, be at home
- 則 zé
correlative particle: then, in that case
- 事 shì
to serve
- 父兄 fù xiōng
father and elder brothers
- 父 father
- 兄 elder brother
- 喪事 sāng shì
funeral affairs, mourning duties
- 喪 mourning, funeral
- 事 affair, matter (here: funeral rites)
- 不敢不 bù gǎn bù
double negative: not dare fail to, cannot bring oneself not to
- 不 not
- 敢 to dare, presume to
- 不 not
- 勉 miǎn
to exert effort, strive, do one's utmost
- 不 bù
not
- 為…困 wèi … kùn
passive construction: to be overcome, overwhelmed by
- 為 passive marker: to be (acted upon) by — here marks the passive voice, not the common sense 'to do, act'
- 困 to be overcome, overwhelmed, confounded
- 酒 jiǔ
wine, alcoholic drink
- 何有 hé yǒu
what is there (in these) for me?, rhetorical: no difficulty, or which of these do I attain
- 何 what (interrogative)
- 有 to have, exist; here: is there (rhetorical)
何有於我哉 closes 7.2 as well, and is read two ways: 'what trouble do these give me?' (Slingerland, Ames & Rosemont, Lau, Watson, Chin) or, with 朱熹 (何者能有於我), the self-deprecating 'which of these do I attain to?', which Legge follows.
- 於我 yú wǒ
to me, for me
- 於 to, for (preposition marking the affected party)
- 我 I, me
- 哉 zāi
final exclamatory/rhetorical particle
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