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8.4 Radical ellipsis

The close of this passage, from hùo yue 或曰 (“some say”) on, is very difficult to figure
out on first encounter. The reason why this is so becomes apparent as soon as the first two
phrases are analyzed.

Both
世守也
and
非身之所能為也

have the form of equational sentences, but their subject or subjects are nowhere to be
found. In fact, this part of the passage represents a sudden and new direction taken at its
close, and the author has supplied very little explicit information as to the subject under
discussion. The best clues come in the third and last phrases. In the final phrase, we learn
that Mencius has supplied the duke whom he is lecturing with two alternatives. Clearly
the tale of Tài Wáng represents one, and what “some say” represents the other. As for
what “some” are saying, in the third phrase:

效死勿去

if we recognize 勿 as a fusion of wú 毋 + zhi 之, we need to ask what this object (the
imbedded 之) of the verb qù 去 represents. Since we have prior instances of the verb 去
in the text, we can experiment with importing here the same object that we encountered
there. This tack should produce enough context to straighten out the remaining clauses.

▬▬

Written Exercises

I. Translate into English

1. 初吾以為鬼神可畏者也後得學莊子書乃知其為人之友矣

2. 欲知吉凶則必求先聖之說矣古人明天地之變萬物之化故其言吉凶極
為易矣

3. 老子嘆曰人不悟乎道矣日急行而為無利終於竭神氣而卒

4. 有鄉童之好以石擊鹿者一日有鹿自林中出童將擊之鹿與之言曰鹿者
仁獸也若弗知乎雖擊之以石其猶無怨情