说苑 some 翻译 advice for beginner, please

[holger]

I think i racked my brain over this long enough now.

Following some sentences from the 说苑 by 劉向

a) 命其家臣有敢从者死。

[ context: 晋逐栾盈之族，命其家臣有敢从者死，其臣曰：“辛俞从之。”吏得而将杀之，君曰：

“命汝无得从，敢从何也]

As I suppose, this sentence lacks a subject. the subject could be 晋君.

my Translation:

Order is given that in the case his civil servants should dare to follow, they are to die.

I'm not sure what exactly 家臣 are and whom they might dare to follow.

B) 有以知君之狂也以其言之当也。

The one who knows about the Reigns madness, his speech is appropriate.

big question mark.

c) 吾未有以言之也。

I have not yet said that.

d) 王未有以應。

The King has not yet answered.

not sure how this 有以 construction must be translated.

different story:

e) 於是鴟得腐鼠，鵷鶵過之，仰而視之曰：嚇！今子欲以子之梁國而嚇我耶

An Owl wich has just found a rotten rat, while the YuanChu is flying above her, she lifts her head, looks up and shouts angrily: " He! Today one wanted to make use of the masters land and intimidated me thereby."

thanks for any suggestions. please note that english is not my native tongue.

[doumeizhen]

Hallo Holger,

This is how we translated the Zhuangzi passage:

於是鴟得腐鼠，鵷鶵過之，仰而視之曰：嚇！今子欲以子之梁國而嚇我耶

Thereupon (於是) the owl obtains a rotten rat, the yuanchu passes it (the rat), (the rat) lifts its head and looks at it (yuanchu) saying: HE! Today you want to take (以) your (子之) Liang State and He! me?!

Remember that in this story Huizi is ruling the State of Liang (梁國) and is afraid that Zhuangzi will replace him. So the last sentence is a comparison, wherein Zhuangzi makes clear that he does not want the State of Liang, because it is like a rotten rat. We translated both 子 as you. 嚇 can maybe be translated as scoff, or in German, vieleicht "spotten".

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My thoughts on the other passages, although I am not sure if they are correct. Perhaps they will be useful, however.

命其家臣有敢从者死。

He ordered (that) his family and ministers, if they have those who dare to follow, they should die. 其 then is the posessive pronoun for 晋逐. I think you are right.

家臣: Two thoughts: Retainers (like Zhuhou), people that the kind supports financially and that live in his palace. OR (and I think this because compound words are so rare in classical: Family and ministers: anyone close to him.

有以知君之狂也以其言之当也。Hmmm. There are those who use "knowing the gentleman's craziness", perhaps "知君之狂" is a power they can use in order to use (以) the dang of his words...

王未有以應。

我不知也。 Sorry. I have no idea how 有以 is translated.