第16章

BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER.

BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER.

1. Two years after the conquest of the Shang dynasty, the king fell ill, and was quite disconsolate.

2. The two dukes said, "Let us reverently consult the tortoise concerning the king";

3. but the duke of Chow said, "You may not so distress our former kings."

TE NAME OF THE BOOK.—金縢, ＇The Metal bound＇. 縢 is defined by 緘, ＇to tie or shut up＇, ＇to seal or fasten＇. A certain chest or coffer, which was fastened with bands of metal, plays an important part among the incidents of the Book. It is called, p. 11, 金縢之匱;and from this the name is taken. The Book is found in both the texts.

CONTENTS. King Woo is very ill, and his death seems imminent. His brother, the duke of Chow,apprehensive of the disasters which such an event would occasion to their infant dynasty, conceives the idea of dying in his stead, and prays to ＇the three kings＇, their immediate progenitors, that he might be taken and king Woo left. Having done so, and divine that he was heard, he deposits the prayer in the metalbound coffer, where important archives were kept. The king gets well, and the duke is also spared; but five years after, Woo really dies, and is succeeded by his son, a boy only thirteen years old. Rumours are spread abroad that the duke has designs upon the throne, and he withdraws for a time from the court. At length in the third year of the young king, Heaven interposes.He has occasion to open the metal-bound coffer, and the prayer of the duke is found. His devotion to his brother and the interests of his family is brought to light. The boy monarch weeps because of the unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the approval of Heaven.

The whole narrative is a very pleasing episode in the history of the times, and is more interesting to the foreign reader than most other portions of the Shoo.It divides itself naturally into two chapters:—the first,parr. l—11, ending with the depositing the prayer in the coffer; and the second, detailing how it was brought to light, and the duke cleared by means of it from the suspicions which had been cherished of him.

Ch. I. Pp. 1-11. THE PRAYER OF THE DUKE OF CHOW; ITS OCCASION; HIS SUBSEQUENT DIVINATION, AND DEPOSITING THE PIAYER IN THE COFFER. 1. The illness of king Woo. 既克商二年,—the current chronology refers this to the 14th year of king Woo, the year after the death of Show,B.C. 1120. K＇ang-shing thought that the year of the conquest of Shang should not be included in the two years, and the critics of the present dynasty generally concur with him. Ming-shing says that if the historian had meant to say that the year was that succeeding the change of dynasties, as Gan-kwŏ, Sze-ma Ts＇een, and Wang Suh think, he would have used 惟 and not 既,and we should have read 惟克商二年.

4. He then took the business on himself, and made three altars of earth, on the same cleared space; and having made another altar on the south, facing the north, he there took his own position. The convex symbols were put on their altars and he himself held his mace, while he addressed the kings T＇ae, Ke, and Wăn.

I cannot undertake to settle this trivial point. 弗豫 (so in Sze-ma Ts＇een. Këang Shing, after the 說文, gives不愈)=不悅豫, ＇was not happy＇. We may suppose that he was distressed, thinking of the troubles that might arise on his death.

The other reading—不愈, ＇did not get well＇, would give a simpler meaning.

2. Proposal of the two dukes to divine respecting the issue of the king＇s illness. The 二公, ＇two dukes＇, are understood to be 太公 and 召公. The latter is the duke of Shaou spoken of on p. 1 of the last Book. T＇aekung,—see on Mencius, IV., Pt. I., xiii. He played a very important part in the establishment of the Chow dynasty, as counsellor to Wǎn and Woo, an was invested by Woo with the principality of Ts＇e, which his descendants held for nearly 640 years. He is the 尚父 in the apocryphal edition of the ＇Great Speech＇.

穆卜,—穆 (Ts＇een has 繆) is defined by Gan-kwŏ,after the 爾雅, by 敬, ＇reverently＇. Ts＇ae gives its meaning—誠一而和, ＇with entire sincerity and in common＇, saying that on great emergencies all the officers, great and small, united in the ceremony of divination, so that 穆—卜 is equivalent to 共卜,according to the view of an older interpreter whom he cites. This interpretation would give more emphasis to the 戚 in the next par., but I do not see that we can insist on extending the meaning of the term beyond the 敬 of Gan-kwŏ. 3. The duke of Chow declines the proposal. 周公,—this is the first time that we meet in the Shoo with this famous name, though we shall find him hereafter playing a most important part. But for him, indeed, the dynasty of Chow would probably not have taken root. He was equally mighty in words and in deeds,—a man of counsel and of action. Confucius regarded his memory with reverence, and spoke of it as an evidence of his own failing powers and disappointed hopes, that the duke of Chow no longer appeared to him in his dreams. He was the 4th son of king Wǎn, by his queen T＇ae-sze. The eldest was Pih-yih-k＇aou (伯邑考); the second was king Woo; and the third was Sëen (鮮), the Kwan Shuh (管叔), mentioned in p. 12. There were six other younger brothers, but of all Wǎn＇s sons, only king Woo and the duke of Chow were representatives of their father＇s virtue and wisdom. Chow was the name of the city where king T＇ae fixed the central seat of his House;—see page 281, on the name of this part of the Shoo. It became the appanage of Wan＇s 4th son, Tan (旦), and hence, he is known as the ＇duke of Chow＇. 戚=憂, ＇to trouble＇, ＇to distress＇. It would appear that the two dukes proposed to have a solemn service of divination in the ancestral temple of the imperial House, and the duke of Chow negatives their proposal on the ground that there was no necessity for troubling the spirits of the departed kings by so much ado merely to divine the issue of the king＇s illness. He had himself determined what he would do. K＇ang-shing says that he negatived their proposal, because he knew that the king would not die at this time. This view is grounded in a passage in the Bk. 文王, 世떚, Pt. i., p. 2., of the Le Ke, where king Wǎn is made to interpret a dream of his son so as to assure him of a certain number of years. But there is much in that Book which we cannot receive. If the duke knew that his brother would recover, the prayer which follows, and his offer to die in his room, lose all their meaning and value.

P. 4. The duke＇s preparations for his prayer. 公乃自以為功,—功=事, ＇business or duty＇. Gan-kwŏparaphrases:—周公乃自以請命為껥事. 三壇同墠,—築土曰壇, 除눓曰墠, ＇the rearing up of earth is called壇;the clearing away of the ground is called 墠:

5. The grand historian by his order wrote on the tablets his prayer to the following effect:— "A. B.,your chief descendant, is suffering from a severe and dangerous sickness;—if you three kings have in heaven the charge of watching over him, Heaven＇s great son, let me Tan be a substitute for his person.

The duke cleared and levelled a space of ground, and there he built three altars facing the south, one for each of the kings to whom he intended to pray, —his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, by whose wisdom and virtues the fortunes of their House had culminated in the possession of the empire. On the same area he raised another altar facing the north, where he himself took his place. K＇ang-shing says that the altars were at Fung (Bk. III., p. 2.), and that the area remained to his day. 植璧秉珪,—璧 and 珪 (=圭) were two of the ＇five tokens of gem＇, mentioned in the Can. of Shun, p. 7, conferred by the emperor upon the various princes in connection with their investitures. There were two peih, belonging to the tsze and the nan respectively, and three kwei, that appropriate to the duke of Chow being the 桓圭. But we can hardly understand the terms here of the badges of nobility, or tokens of imperial appointment. Gan-kwŏ says the peih were brought and laid upon the altars of the three kings in reverence to them, and the kwei was the duke＇s proper kwan kwei, which he held in his hands as the evidence of his person and rank in appearing before them. But from p. 8, we should rather conclude that all the articles were proper to the worship of the three kings. The璧is described as resting on a square base, while outwards it was round like the arch of heaven.

Pp. 5—8. The prayer. 5. 史乃冊祝,—史=太史, ＇the grand historiographer＇. His services were called in to record the prayer. I take 祝 as=祝詞, ＇the language of the prayer＇. Gan-kwŏ explains the clause:—史為冊書祝辭, ＇The historian wrote for him on a tablet (or tablets) the words of the prayer.＇ This is the view now given in the ＇Daily Explanation＇:—周公告三王之神, 命太史書祝詞於冊, 若曰, 云云. This, it seems to me, must be the meaning of the text.

K＇ang-shing, however, says:—策, 周公所作, 謂簡書껩, 祝者讀此簡書以告三王, ＇The tablet, i. e,.the writing, was made by the duke of Chow; thepriest read this writing to inform the three kings.＇ In this way the 史 is altogether unaccounted for. Woo Ch＇ing would put a comma at 冊, and explains—＇The historiographer wrote the tablet, and the priest (祝) read it.＇ But who does not get the impression that the duke of Chow was himself the only priest on the occasion? 某꽮孫其,—＇Your great-grandson, such an one.＇ The duke, no doubt, used the name of king Woo. But in the Chow dynasty, the practice of ＇concealing the name＇, as it be called (諱名), came into vogue. K＇ang-shing supposes that it was king Ching, whofirst dropt the name, and substituted 某 for it, when he found the prayer, as related in p. 16. 遘=遇, ＇to meet with,＇ Wang K＇ǎng-t＇ang says:—＇A sage has nothing about him which could bring on sickness, but he may happen to meet with evil malaria in the air:—hence the use of 遘;＇—see a note in the 集傳. We need not lay so much stress on the character. 若爾三王至某之身,—this passage has wonderfully vexed the critics,and the editors of Yung-ching＇s Shoo say that no one interpretation of it which has been given should be pertinaciously held to. The view in the translation is substantially that of Ts＇ae, who says:—武王為天꽮떚, 三王當任其保護之責於天, 不可令其死, 如欲其死, 則請以旦代武王之身, ＇King Woo is the great son of Heaven; you three kings ought to have the chargeof protecting him in heaven, and should not let him die. If you wish that he should die, pray let me Tan be a substitute for his person.＇ Feeling that the 於天lay loosely on this view in the sentence, he supposed that some characters following天have been lost. The interpretations of K＇ang-shing and Ying-tǎ may be seen in the 後案 and the 註疏.

6. I have been lovingly obedient to my father; I am possessed of many abilities and arts which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your chief descendant on the other hand has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so capable of serving spiritual beings.

7. And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid to the four quarters of the empire, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower world.

Choo He preferred the view of a Chaou E-taou (晁以道) that ,責= ＇to require the service of,＇ and the meaning is—＇If God require the services of your eldest son in heaven, let me be a substitute for him＇. Maou K＇e-ling prefers the view of a Sen Chung-san (徐中山):—惟爾꽮孫某, 遘疾若此, 儻三王以為此雖我꽮孫,寶天之大떚껩, 其責甚重, 不可死, 則旦請代耳. Ts＇ae＇s construction of the sentence is not more objectionablethan either of these two. Thus much is plain:—first, that the duke of Chow offered himself to die in the room of his brother king Woo; and second, that he thought his offer might somehow be accepted through the intervention of the great kings, their progenitors, to whom he addressed himself.

P. 6. Reason why the duke should be taken instead of the king. 뀬仁若考,—==-考父; 若順. Gankwŏ gives the meaning as 我仁能順父, ＇I could affectionately obey my father.＇ Ts＇ae takes the same view, only extending the meaning of 考 to 祖父, ＇forefathers＇ generally.

Medhurst translates the clause by—＇my benevolence is equal to that of my forefathers,＇ which the language will admit of. Woo Ch＇ing, indeed, gives for it—我之仁德如父. Still the other view is to be preferred.The duke would probably have declined to say that he was more virtuous than king Woo, though he was conscious of possessing certain qualities which might render him the better addition of the two to the spirit-world. Sze-ma Ts＇een has only 旦녉能, and on his authority Keang Shing would cast 仁若 out of the text; but though the ＇Historical Records＇ show us the interpretation which their compiler put upon the Shoo, their authority cannot always be pleaded in favour of this or that reading.

We should be glad if we could ascertain from this paragraph what ideas the duke of Chow had about the other world, but his language is too vague to afford us satisfaction. He says he was better able than his brother to serve spirits;—did he then expect that some such service would have to be performed by him after death? and who was the spirit, or who were the spirits to whom the service was to have been rendered?These questions are suggested by his words; and yet it may be, that all which he meant to say was that he was more religious,—more acquainted with ceremonies,and fonder of sacrificial services,—and therefore was somehow better fitted for admission to the spirit circle.I suppose he did not know his own meaning very clearly.

Chinese critics are concerned to free the duke of Chow from the charge of boasting which may be fixed on him from the paragraph. Tsëang Te-shǎng (蔣悌生, Ming dyn.) says:—＇The duke of Chow did not boast of his services, but was the humblest of men;—how is it that here he boasts of himself in such a way to the spirits of the three kings? On this occasion, so important to his family and the kingdom, his love for his brother prevailed over ever other consideration. He had not leisure to consider whether he was boating or modest. The case is one of those instances in which the virtue of sagely men moves Heaven. Let it not be lightly thought of or spoken about;＇—see the 集說.

P. 7. Reason why king Woo should be spared. 乃命於帝庭,—the帝here is 上帝 or God. Ma Yung says:—武王受命於天帝之庭,—＇king Woo received appointment in the hall of the God of heaven＇.

The people of the four quarters stand in reverent awe of him. Oh! Do not let that precious Heaven-conferred appointment fall to the ground, and all our former kings will also have a perpetual reliance and resort.

8. I will now seek for your orders from the great tortoise. If you grant what I request, I will take these symbols and this mace, and return and wait for the issue. If you do not grant it, I will put them by."

9. The duke then divined with the three tortoise, and all were favourable. He took a key, opened and looked at the oracular responses which also were favourable.

Medhurst has translated:—＇He has received the decree in the imperial hall,＇ which is a great weakening of the duke＇s argument, and without the sanction of any critic.

四뀘至袛畏,—the critics generally connect this with the preceding clause, and extend the force of the 用能to it. It seems rather to be a description of the success of Woo＇s govt.,—exaggerated, indeed, but justifiable in the circumstances. 天之降寶命=天所降之寶命,—as in the translation. 我先王, 云云,—＇our former kings＇are all the princes of the House of Chow, from Shun＇s minister of Agriculture downward. The saying that they would have ＇a perpetual reliance and resort＇ is to the effect that the sacrifices to them would ever be continued.

P. 8. The duke proposes to divine for the answer of the kings, and tells them what will be the consequence of their refusing his request. 今我既命=今我늀受三王之命, ＇I will now go at once and receive the command—the decision—of you three kings.＇ 꽮龜,—see on 大龜, in the ＇Tribute of Yu,＇ Pt. i., 52. The shells of the tortoise employed for imperial divinations were larger than those employed by the princes. 歸俟爾命,—＇will return and wait for your orders,＇ which would be seen in the recovery of king Woo, and the duke＇s death. Ma says:—待爾命, 武王當愈, 我當死.

屏璧與珪,—屏 (2d tone)=去 or 藏. The meaning is, that he would put those instruments of worship aside;—the dynasty would fall, and the House of Chow would have no more imperial sacrifices to offer.

Pp. 9, 10. The divination is favourable, and the duke deposits his prayer in the coffer. 9. 卜三龜,—＇He divined with the three tortoises.＇ I suppose that the divination took place before the altars, and that a different shell was used to ascertain the mind of each king. Choo He says:—或曰三王前, 各一龜卜之.Lin Che-k＇e, however, says:—以龜之三兆卜之, ＇He divined according to the three prognostics given by the tortoise.＇ This is in accordance with the language of the Chow Le, Bk. XXIV., p. 1, 太卜掌三兆之法一, 曰玉兆, 二曰瓦兆, 三曰原兆, which Biot translates:—＇Grand Augure.