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The perils of semantic drift over multiple millennia:"古者，贵以德而贱用兵。"The intended reading of this ~2100yo statement concerning how to deal with foreigners: "In ancient times, virtue was valued and use of force was despised."What I first read, influenced by the everyday modern usage of the words:"In ancient times, virtue was expensive and use of force was cheap." Literally dead opposite implication! (sentence is from first few paragraphs of Salt and Iron) #classicalchinese #translation

读史者考实录通古今若亲目口而诵心而惟朝于斯夕于斯Read all of history, go through every shelfAncient to modern, and see for yourself;Profess with your mouth, possess in your heartFrom dawn until dusk, to learn every part. - a verse of Three Character Classic, an educational poem for ancient Chinese children, rhyming translation by me #classicalchinese #poetry #history #translation

@0xabad1dea They do it with fish too