第16章

10. He said, "According to the form of theprognostic, the king will take no injury. I, who am but a child, have got his appointment renewed by the three kings, by whom a long futurity has been consulted for.I have to wait the issue. They can provide for our one man."

11. Having said this, he returned, and placed the tablets in the metal-bound coffer; and next day the king got better.

Il est prepose aux trois methodes pour l＇observation des fissures sur l＇ecaille le la tortue. La premiere est appellee fissure de jade; la seconde, fissure de poterie; la troisieme, fissure de plaine.＇

一習吉,—習=重, or 襲; see the ＇Great Speech＇, Pt. ii., 5. 啟籥見書,—by 書 we are to understand 占書,＇written oracles＇. The par. of the Chow Le, following that quoted above, is—其經兆之體, 皆땡有괗굛, 其頌皆껜有괗땡, ＇The forms of the regular prognostications were in all 120, the explanations of which amounted to 1200.＇ Those explanations, no doubt, consisting of a few oracular lines; were the 書 of the text. They were kept by themselves, and consulted on occasion, according to certain rules which have not come down. The duke of Chow at this time had recourse to them. The meaning of 籥 in this place is very uncertain. Properly speaking, it denotes a kind of flute. Here it seems to denote a soft of key with which the apartment or chest, or whatever it might be, in which those oracles were kept, was opened. K＇ang-shing, Ma Yung, and Wang Suh define it nearly in the same way, as 開藏之管; 藏卜兆書管; and 開藏占兆書管. 10. =體兆之體, ＇the form of the prognostic＇, appearing on the shell of the tortoise. 惟永終是圖,—Woo Ch＇ing understandsthis to be spoken by the duke of himself, so that he not only understood from the divination that the king would not die, but also that he would get better without himself being taken as a substitute. The words do not convey that impression to my mind. In the＇Daily Explanation＇ they are referred to the three kings as in the translation.—我小子新受命於三王, 惟以久後子孫為計, 而許我以保佑元子孫矣. 茲攸俟, 땣念予一人,—茲攸俟=the 歸俟爾命 of par. 8, the only difference being that the words here are those of soliloquy, andnot addressed to the kings. the 一人 is king Woo.The duke would seem to be resigning himself to the thought of his own death. He must be taken, but he can confidently leave the king and the dynasty in the care of the three kings.

11. 金縢之匱, ＇the metal-bound coffer＇. Ts＇ae says that it was this coffer which contained the oracles of divination, the same which is alluded to in p. 9. It may have been so; but I should rather suppose it to have been different,—a special chest in which important archives of the dynasty, to be referred to on great emergencies, were kept. The duke gave orders to all whose services he had employed in the ceremony to say nothing about it (see p. 17), but it was right that the record of the prayer should be preserved in this repository. He therefore placed it there, not thinking that it would be—hopping that it would not be—brought to light in his time.

[The prayer of the duke of Chow is addressed to the three kings, and I have said above, that it is addressed to them in the character of mediators or intercessors with Heaven or God.

12. Afterwards, upon the death of king Woo, theduke＇s elder brother, he of Kwan, and his younger brothers, spread a baseless rumour through the kingdom, saying, "The duke will do no good to the king＇s young son."

The analogy of the circle of religious notions among the Chinese obliges us to adopt this conclusion, and, in par. 7, we have an express reference to the supreme disposing of God in human affairs. Still it must be allowed that the doctrine of the former kings being only intercessors is not indicted in the text so clearly as it might have been. In illustration of this I shall quote the words of Ts＇aou Heŏ-tseuen (曹學佺; Ming dyn). He says:—＇The earlier scholars were led, by the words—"I have received a new appointment for him from the three kings," to doubt whether the duke＇s language (in p. 6)—"I have many abilities and arts which fit me to serve spiritual beings," really referred to Heaven. They rather thought it did not, but we must not thus pertinaciously insist upon particular expressions. Anciently, when sovereigns sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, they associated their ancestors as assessors and sharers at the ceremony; when they prayed for anything to Heaven and Earth, they depended on the efficacious spirituality of their ancestors to present and second their request. Heaven was the most honourable, and they did not dare to approach it abruptly; their ancestors were the nearest to them, and they could, through the kindness between them, make their thoughts known to them. There is no reason why we should not say that the words, "I have received a new appointment from the three kings," are equivalent to "I have received a new appointment for him from Heaven" (先儒因新命於三王, 即疑上文땣多材多藝以服事鬼神, 非指꽭言, 亦不必如此拘泥, 古者人君祀꽭地, 必以祖考配享, 其有所禱於꽭地, 亦必藉祖宗之靈, 以為之請, 蓋꽭至尊, 不敢唐突, 而祖宗至親, 殆可以情告껩, 謂新命於三王, 即新受命於꽭, 可껩).

Ch. II. Pp. 12—19. AFTER THE DEATH OF KING WOO THE DUKE OF CHOW FALLS UNDER SUSPICION OF NOT BEING LOYAL TO THE THROXE. TWO YEARS PASS BY, AND THEN HEAVEN INTERPOSES TO BEING HIS INNOCENCE TO LIGHT; THE PRAYER IN THE COFFER IS DISCOVERED, AND THE YOUNG KING ACKNOWLEDGES WITH HIS TEARS THE INJUSTICE OF HIS THOUGHTS, AND RECEIVES THE DUKE BACK, WHILE HEAVEN ACCORDS EVIDENT TOKENS OF ITS APPROVAL.

12. The manner in which the duke of Chow was brought into suspicion. The last par. closes with the statement that the king suddenly recovered the day after the duke＇s prayer. This opens with a reference to his death. Five years have elapsed. Woo died B.C., 1115, and was succeeded by his son Sung(誦), whose reign dates from B. C. 1114, and who is known in history by the title of Ching (成), ＇the Completer＇. Ching was only 13 years old, and the duke of Chow acted as regent of the empire. It was natural he should do so, for he was the ablest of all the sons of Wǎn, and had been devotedly attached to his brother Woo, whose chief adviser he had been,and was without the shadow of disloyal feeling. The accession of dignity and influence which he now received, however, moved his elder brother Sëen, and some of his other brothers to envy, and they had come to be engaged in a treasonable conspiracy against the throne. We have seen how Woo, after the death of the tyrant Show, pardoned his son, generally known by the name of Woo-kǎng (武庚), and continued him in Yin to maintain the sacrifices to the kings of his line. To guard against the very probable contingency of his rebellion, however, he placed three of his own brothers in the State along with him, with the title of＇Inspectors＇ or ＇Overseas＇ (三監), who should overawe both him and the old ministers of Show. Those overseers were Sëen, known as Kwan Shuh, older than the duke of Chow; Too (度), known as Ts＇ae Shuh (蔡叔), immediately younger than the duke; and Ch＇oo(處), known as Hoh Shuh (霍叔), the eighth of Wǎn＇s sons. Perhaps Sëen thought that on the death of Woo the regency, if not the throne, should have devolved upon himself. Mencius ascribes the appointment of him as overseer of Yin to the duke of Chow (see Men.,II, Pt. II., ix.), as, no doubt, it was made by Woo on his advice. This may have exasperated him the more against Tan who had thus shelved him, he would think,away from the court.

13. Upon this the duke of Chow represented to the two dukes, saying, "If I do not take the law to thesemen, I shall not be able to make my report to our former kings."

14. He resided accordingly in the east for two years,when the criminals were got and brought to justice.

However it was induced soon after the death of Woo, those three brothers entered into a conspiracy with Woo-kǎng to throw off the yoke of the new dynasty, and as a preliminary step, they endeavoured, in the manner indicated in the text, to stir up division between the regent and his nephew.

管叔,—Kwan was the name of a city and territory,—the pres. sub. Dep. of Ch＇ing (鄭州), in the dep. of K＇ae-fung, Ho-nan. It formed the appanage of Sëen, the third of Wǎn＇s sons. I suppose that 叔 was originally merely indicative of Sëen＇s place in the line of his brothers (see on Con. Ana., XVIII., xi.); but it has come to be joined with 管, so that Kwǎn-shuh is now in effect simply a historical name. 羣弟,—＇the younger brothers＇ were Too and Ch＇oo, as has been detailed above. 流言,—＇set words flowing＇=spread a baseless rumour. —＇不利於孺子,will not be advantageous to the child＇. By 孺子, of course, the young emperor is meant. 13. The resolution ofthe duke. 我之弗辟,—ever since the Han dynasty the meaning of 辟 here has been debated. Gan-kwŏ, reading the term peih, according to its proper enunciation, defined it by 法, and explained the text by 我不以法法三叔, 則我無以成周道, 告我先王,—asin the translation. K＇ang-shing, on the other hand read辟 and 避, and with the meaning of that term, so that the text= ＇If I do not get out of the way,—leave my dignities, and retire from court,—I shall not be able,＇&c., &c. The editors of Yung-ching＇s Shoo do not give a decided opinion on either side. Ts＇ae has followed K＇ang-shing, but his master Choo He wavered between the two views, approving now the one, and now the other. Maou K＇e-ling has a long note on the subject, in his 尚書廣聽錄, Bk. III., recanting his early opinion in favour of K＇ang-shing＇s view, and giving eight reasons for adopting in preference that of Gan-kwŏ. Some of them are sufficiently forcible. I have no hesitation in differing on this point from the generally approved interpretation sanctioned by Ts＇ae.

The duke of Chow, on being aware of the insinuations circulated against him, resolved meet than with promptitude. Ho owed a duty to the former kings and to the dynasty, and whatever the young king might think, he would act at once against the rebellious and the disloyal.

14. Justice done on the criminals. The different views that are taken of the last paragraph necessarily affect the interpretation of this. Acc. to Gan-kwŏ, the duke spent two years in the east, operating against Woo-kǎng and the false brothers, and at the end of that time he had got them into his hands, and dealt with them according to his views of their several guilt. Ying-tǎ says:—＇居東 (this has already been explained by 東征之) 괗年, 則罪人於此皆得, 謂獲三叔꼐諸叛逆者. K＇ang-shing on the other hand says:—居東者, 出處東國, 待罪以須君之察已, ＇"He resided in the east" means that he left the court and dwelt in aneastern State, allowing the charge of guilt till the king should have examined into it.＇ The language so far will certainly admit of this interpretation, but what he says on the next clause is too ridiculous. It is:—罪人周公之屬黨與知居攝者, 周公出皆奔, 今괗年盡為成王所得, 謂之罪人, 史書成王意껩, ＇The criminals are the partizans of the duke of Chow and his acquaintancewhile he held the regency. When he withdrew from the court, they fled; but now in the two years they were all apprehended by king Ching. The historian calls them criminals, writing from the king＇s point of view.＇ Even Keang Shing does not venture to adopt this interpretation, but supposes the meaning to be that the duke, while in the east, came to know who the criminals were that had slandered him.

I have said that the phrase 居東 will itself admit of the interpretation put on it by K＇ang-shing; but Maou K＇e-ling has shown, that if we do not understand it as Gan-kwŏ does, of the duke＇s operating in the east against his rebellious brothers, there is no other place in that direction from the court, to which his sojourning for so long a time can be assigned with any degree of probability.

15. Afterwards he made a poem to present to the king, and called it "The Owl." The king on his part did not dare to blame the duke.

16. In the autumn, when the grain was abundant and ripe, but before it was reaped, Heaven sent a great storm of thunder and lightning, along with wind,by which the grain terrified; and the king and great officers, all in their caps of state, proceeded to open the metal-bound coffer, and examine the writings,when they found the words of the duke of Chow when he took on himself the business of taking the place of king Woo.

15. The duke sends a poem to the king to clear himself,but is only partially successful. The poem here referred to is in the She King, Part I., Bk. XV., Ode ii. It begins:—

＇O owl, O owl,

You have taken my young ones:

Do not also destroy my nest.

I loved them; I laboured for them;

I nourished them.—How am I to be pitied.＇

The received interpretation of it is that it was composed by the duke after he had crushed the insurrectionary movements in Yin, and put to death Woo-kǎng and Kwan-shuh. By the ＇owl＇ is intended Woo-kǎng; and by the ＇nest＇, the dynasty of Chow.The writer meant that king Ching should understand by it the devotion which he felt to the imperial House,and the sorrow which the stern justice he had been obliged to execute upon his brother occasioned him.K＇ang-shing took a difft. view of it, in accordance with his interpretation of 罪人斯得 in the last par., and supposed that the duke intended by it to expostulate with the king on the persecution of his friends which he had instituted. But we cannot believe that he would have thus addressed the king as an ＇Owl＇. There is nothing in the poem or ode, which readily suggests the interpretation to be put upon it; but there is perhaps something in what Choo He says, that readers at the time, all-excited by the circumstances to which it

had reference, would not find the difficulty in understanding it which we do. 王亦未敢誚公,—誚 is now superseded by 譙; it means to ＇reprove＇, ＇to blame＇.The clause is understood to intimate that though the king now partially understood the motives of the duke＇s conduct, and could not blame him for the way in which he had dealt with his other uncles, he still looked on him with some degree of suspicion.

Pp. 16—18. Heaven interposes to bring the duke＇s innocence to light by means of the prayer in the metalbound coffer. 16. 秋,—we may suppose this was the autumn of the third year of Ching, B.C. 1112. 雷電以風,—Lin Che-k＇e brings out the 以風 by expanding:—꽭忽雷電꺶作, 又繼之以風, as in the translation. The paraphrase of the ＇Daily Explanation＇ is similar.

王與至之書,—the 弁 was a ＇skin cap＇, worn in court at audiences. It is generally said that the king was going to divine that he might discover the reason of the unusual storm, and therefore opened the coffer which contained the oracles of divination. But we saw,on p. 11, that it is not certain those oracles were kept in that coffer. Possibly it was a repository of important archives, which were consulted on great emergencies of the State.

17. The king and the two dukes asked the grand historian and all the other officers about the thing. They replied, "Ah! It was really thus, but the duke charged us that we should not presume to speak about it."

18. The king held the writing, and wept, saying, "We need not now go on reverently to divine. Formerly the duke was ＇thus earnest for the royal House, but I, being a child, did not know it. Now Heaven has moved its terrors to display the virtue of the duke of Chow. That I meet him a new man, is what the rules of propriety of our empire require."

19. The king then went out to the borders, when Heaven sent down rain; and by virtue of a contrary wind, the grain all rose up. The two dukes gave orders to the people to take up all the large trees which had fallen, and replace them. The year then turned out very fruitful.

17. 史與땡執事,—these were all the officers who had assisted the duke when he made his prayer, &c. 信噫云云,—Ying-tǎ says:—噫, 心不平之聲, ＇噫 is a sound expressive of dissatisfaction of mind.＇ Gan-kwŏ callsit 恨辭. They were vexed at being thus obliged to tell what the duke had charged them to keep secret. Keang Shing read 意, which he explains in a similar way.

18 .其勿穆卜=今觀公書, 可知꽭變之所由, 我君臣不必更穆卜矣;—see the ＇日講. 子沖人,—see on The Pwan-kǎng＇, Pt. iii., p. 7. Here king Ching was reallya youth. 惟朕小子其新逆,—逆=迎, ＇to meet＇. Ma Yung read 親 instead of 新, so that the meaning is—＇That I go out and meet him in person,＇ &c. This certainly gives a good meaning; and Ts＇ae and Këang Shing both adopt it. Gan-kwŏ and K＇ang-shing, however, both understand 新 as in the translation. The language of the latter is:—新迎, 改先時之心, 更自新以迎周公.This is rather harsh but it is more difficult to get a tolerable meaning out of many other passages of the Shoo.

P. 19. The duke is received back, and Heaven signifies its approbation. 王出郊,—it is most natural to understand this going forth to the suburbs with reference to the king＇s purpose indicated in the 朕小子其新逆 of the last par. Gan-kwŏ, however, takes 郊 of the place, outside the city, where the great sacrifice to Heaven was offered, and thought that the going forth was to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Heaven for his deliverance from the unjust suspicions which he had harboured.

Ts＇ae says that after reading this paragraph it is impossible to doubt the doctrine of ＇verification＇, laid down in the ＇Plan＇!