第12章

BOOK II. THE SPEECH AT MUH.

BOOK II. THE SPEECH AT MUH.

1. The time was the grey dawn of the day kёă-tsze.On that morning the king came to the open country of Muh in the borders of Shang, and addressed his army.In his left hand he carried a battle-axe, yellow with gold, and in his right he held a white ensign, which he brandished, saying, "Far are ye come, ye men of the western regions!"

THE NAME OF THE BOOK.—牧誓, ＇The speech at Muh.＇ Muh [Keang Shing edits 坶 instead of Muh]was in the south of the pres. district of Ke (淇縣), dep.of Wei-hwuy, Ho-nan. It was a tract of open country,stretching into the pres. dis. of Keil (汲), and at no great distance from the capital of Show. King Woo had, no doubt, made choice of it as a favourable field for the decisive battle between him and the tyrant. I return here to the rendering of 誓 by ＇Speech,＇ as in the＇Counsels of the great Yu,＇ p. 20, and other places. It would have been well if the term ＇Declaration＇ had not been used instead of it in the last Book. The Speech at Muh is found in both texts. There is more of the martial spirit in it than in any other of the speeches of the Shoo.

CONTENTS. It is the morning of the day of battle,for which the king had prepared his host in the three speeches of the last Book. Once more he addresses the confederate princes, his officers, and his men.He sets forth, much as before, but more briefly, the intolerable wickedness of Show, and then instructs and warns the troops on how they should behave themselves in the fight. The speech proper begins with the 5th paragraph. The four parr. that precede may be considered as forming a preliminary chapter.

C h. 1. P p. 1-4. T H E T I M E A N D CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE SPEECH. 1. The time;and the appearance of the king. 時甲떚昧爽,—the day甲떚 was six days later than mow-woo (＇The Great Speech＇ Pt. ii., p. 1), which was, we saw, the 28th of the 1st month. The speech at Muh, therefore, is held to have been spoken on the 4th day of the second month.昧=冥, ＇dark＇; 爽=明, ＇light＇; 昧爽, ＇the dark and the light＇,= the grey dawn.

杖=持, ＇to hold in the hand.＇ Its tone in this sense was difft. at one time from that which it had in its more common signification of ＇a staff＇. It now seems to be used only with the 3d tone. 秉, (from a hand grasping stalks of grain) is of similar signification to 杖.

The ＇axe＇ is supposed to be called ＇yellow＇, from its having been ornamented with gold.

2. He added, "Ah! Ye hereditary rulers of my friendly States; ye managers of affairs, the ministers of instruction, of war, and of public works: the many officers subordinate to them: the master of my bodyguards: the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds;

3. and ye, O men of Yung, Shuh, Kёang, Maou, Wei,Loo, P＇ang, and Pǒ;

4. —life up your lances, join your shields, raise your spears:—I have a speech to make."

The 旄 ensign consisted (according to the figures of it, which agree with the component parts of the character) of several ox-tails, suspended as streamers from a staff. By means of this Woo could intimate his wishes as to the order of their position, &c., to the troops, and therefore he carried it in his right hand. Gan-kwŏ says the axe was in the left hand and the fiag in the right, to show that Woo considered his work was not so much to kill as to teach. This is being absurd ingenious. We may be sure that Woo had his axe in his right hand in the battle. 逖=遠, ＇far＇, ＇distant＇. The ＇Daily Explanation＇ paraphrases the clause thus:—爾等皆西土之그, 我뀪伐暴救民之故, 率爾至此. 其行亦껥遠矣. Ts＇ae observes that he spoke thus to comfort the men under their longtravel.

Pp. 2, 8. The different parties addressed.

2 .我友邦冡君, 御事,—see on the last Book, Pt. i., p. 2. The managers of affairs＇ were the officers immediately after specified, belonging to Woo＇s own govt.,—to the State of Chow. The 司徒, 司馬, and司空, were three of the ＇six ministers＇ (六卿) under the imperial govt. of Chow, when the dynasty was fully established, and whose duties are described in Bk XX., parr. 7-13. A great State, such as Chow was before the extinction of the Shang dyn., had only three principal ministers, whose names are here given. But we may inquire what the ministers of instruction and works had to do in the camp. Ying-tǎ says that the former superintended all orders given to the troops, and the latter all the business of intrenchments. Ts＇ae seems to have thought that they were there as the generals of the three armies of the State. This is not likely;—see Ch＇in Sze-k＇ae, in loc. We can only form a vague idea on this, as on many other points in the Shoo. 亞旅,—亞=次, ＇secondary＇, ＇of inferior rank＇; 旅=眾, ＇multitude＇, ＇many＇. I do not find it possible to say whether we are to understand by these characters the ＇multitude of inferior officers＇ generally, or two distinct classes of such. Gan-kwŏ had the former view.He says:—眾大夫, 其位次卿, ＇The phrase denotes all the great officers, whose posts were inferior to those of the ministers.＇ Ts＇ae on the other hand supposes that the 亞 were the 大夫 or ＇great officers,＇ below, but next in rank to the ministers, and five of whom filled up the space between each minister and his 士, or ＇officers＇ of whom there were 27, denoted in the text by the term 旅.

師氏,— ＇the Instructor＇. The functions of an officer thus designated are given at length in the 13th Book of the Chow Le (地官司徒第二之六). He was a ta-foo or great officer of the second grade, and the Tutor of the heir-apparent, at the same time executing various duties about the sovereign, and specially having charge of the guard of foreign-barbarian-mercenaries who kept watch outside the royal gate. In time of war, or when the sovereign went abroad for any other cause, he followed in attendance with the whole or a portion of that guard.

5. The king said, "The ancients have said, ＇The hen does not announce the morning. The crowing of a hen in the morning indicates the subversion of the family.＇