333. 犬守夜

Ch'uan3 shou3 yeh4 

Dog guard night 

Ch'uan see line 78. 

The dog keeps guard by night; 

Shou is composed of 宀 mien shelter as radical, with 寸 ts'un an inch, below it. The latter is said to have meant rule, regulation; but it is not clear how this helps to the common sense. 

Yeh is composed of 夕 hsi evening as radical, with 亦 i also (line 332) as phonetic. It originally meant to relax, and the time when all the world relaxes is night, the νυχτδζ  αμολγω of Homer. 

334. 鷄司晨

Chi1 ssu1 chen2 

Cock rule dawn 

the cock proclaims the dawn. 

Chi see line 78. 

Ssu is said to be 后 hou a ruler, a prince, turned to face the other way, and is explained as conduct of affairs beyond the precincts of the Court. Hence it has come to mean administration, official, etc. 

Ch'en is composed of 日 jih sun as radical, with 辰 ch'en heavenly bodies, etc., as phonetic. It is also read shen2 . ' 

335. 苟不學

Kou3  pu4 hsueh2 

If not learn 

If foolishly you do not study, 

Kou see line 5. 

Pu see line 5. 

Hsueh see line 11. [The mistake alluded to in line 5 is repeated here by all translators. Eitel has "But you, if you will not study, " and Pere Zottoli has "Tu si non addiscis," thus omitting altogether the peculiar force of kou. Once more the commentary clenches the point with 若是苟且度日而 etc. jo shih kou ch'eh tu jih erh, etc., if you foolishly pass your time and etc.] 

336. 曷為人

Ho2 wei3 jen2

How  become man

how can you become men? 

Ho is composed of 曰 yueh to speak and an obsolete phonetic meaning vapour.

 

Wei see line 24. 

Jen see line 1. [Pere Zottoli has for this line "qui diceris homo," as though he had mistaken 為 for 謂.] 

337. 蠶吐絲

Ts'an2 t'u3 ssu1

 

Silkworm vomit silk 

The silkworm produces silk, 

Ts'an is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect, doubled, with a common phonetic. 

T'u is composed of 口 k'ou mouth, with 土 t'u earth as phonetic. 

Ssu see line 87. 

338. 蜂釀蜜

Feng1 niang4 mi4

Bee ferment honey

the bee makes honey. 

Feng is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect as radical, with a common phonetic (line 325). It is a generic term for wasps, bees, hornet etc. [The colloquial term for a bee is 蜜蜂 mi feng; 蜂蜜 feng mi is honey.] 

Niang is composed of 酉 yu which originally meant to make spirit or wine in the 8th moon when the millet is ripe, and is oftenused as radical in characters connected with wine, with a commonphonetic (line 38). 

Mi is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect as radical, with a common phonetic (line 309). 

339. 人不學

Jen2 pu1 hsueh2 

Man not learn 

If a man does not learn, 

Jen see line 1. 

Pu see line 5. 

Hsueh see line 11. 

340. 不如物 

Pu1 ju2 wu4

Not like thing 

he is not equal to the brutes. 

Pu see line 5. 

Ju see line 133. 

Wu is composed of 牛 niu an ox (line 77) as radical, and 勿 wu not (line 126), as phonetic. It means anything alive or dead other than man. [The Shuo Wen says that ox appears in the composition of thing because the ox is a very big thing; but the association is obviously that of ox with chattel in English. It is worth noting that ox also appears in 件 chien the numerative of things. This is explained by the Shuo Wen as to divide, because an ox is a big thing which can be divided (precisely the same analysis being given of 半 pan half), by the aid of which we can faintly discern the sense of distribution, distributive, etc.]