Book 9: 《子罕》 Zi Han (Seldom Spoke)
《子罕》 Passage 9.27
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "Dressed himself in a tattered robe quilted with hemp, yet standing by the side of men dressed in furs, and not ashamed; — ah! it is You who is equal to this!'He dislikes none, he covets nothing; — what can he do but what is good!'"
Zilu kept continually repeating these words of the ode, when the Master said: "Those things are by no means sufficient to constitute (perfect) excellence."
Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 衣 yì
to wear, be dressed in
- 敝 bì
worn out, tattered, shabby
- 縕 yùn
padded with coarse silk floss or hemp wadding
- 袍 páo
robe, gown
- 與 yǔ
with, alongside
- 衣 yì
wearing, dressed in
- 狐貉 hú hé
fox and badger (fur)
- 狐 fox (fur)
- 貉 badger, raccoon dog (fur)
- 者 zhě
nominalizing particle: one who, those who
- 立 lì
to stand
- 而 ér
contrastive conjunction: yet, but
- 不 bù
not
- 恥 chǐ
ashamed, feeling shame
- 者…其…也與 zhě … qí … yě yú
rhetorical frame: surely it is..., is it not the case that...?
- 者 nominalizing particle: the one who (does the foregoing)
- 其 modal/rhetorical particle: surely, it must be that
- 也 final particle marking assertion
- 與 interrogative final particle: is it not so?
其...也與 nominalizes the preceding description and turns it into a rhetorical question expecting agreement; translators render it with a tag question or a modal of near-certainty rather than a discrete word.
- 由 yóu
You (Zhong You), Zilu's given name
- 不忮 bù zhì
not envious, not harboring ill will
- 不 not
- 忮 envious, harboring ill will toward others
- 不求 bù qiú
not covetous, not seeking gain for oneself
- 不 not
- 求 covetous, seeking gain for oneself
- 何用 hé yòng
rhetorical: how could..., why would...
- 何 rhetorical: how, by what means
- 用 adverbial rhetorical marker: how, in what way
何 and 用 jointly form a rhetorical adverb, not two separate senses.
- 不臧 bù zāng
not good
- 不 not
- 臧 good, virtuous
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 element in the disciple's name, Zilu
- 終身 zhōng shēn
to the end of one's life, constantly
- 終 end, to the utmost of
- 身 body; one's whole life, lifetime
- 誦 sòng
to recite, chant aloud
- 之 zhī
it, these (the recited lines)
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 是 shì
this, such
- 道 dào
here: this way, this course of conduct (不忮不求); elsewhere the Way, moral principle
Translators split between reading 道 as the formal 'Way' and as a looser 'remark, approach' referring to Zilu's recited maxim.
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion, marking a pause after the topic
- 何 hé
rhetorical: how, what
- 足以 zú yǐ
sufficient to, enough to
- 足 sufficient, enough
- 以 coverb marking result: so as to, thereby
- 臧 zāng
good, praiseworthy
Slingerland flags a pun: the graph read 'good' in the Odes quotation is echoed here with the added sense 'to treasure, prize' (paronomasia with 藏).
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