第22章

BOOK XI. THE TIMBER OF THE TSZE TREE.

BOOK XI. THE TIMBER OF THE TSZE TREE.

1. "The king says, ＇O Fung, to have a good understanding with the multitudes of his people, and his ministers on the one hand, and with the great families on the other; and again to have the same with all the subjects under his charge and with the sovereign:—is the part of the prince of a State.

THE NAME OF THE BOOK.—梓材, ＇The Timber of the Tsze tree.＇ Though it does not affect our understanding of the Book, I am sorry that I cannot give the proper botanical name of the Tsze.It is described as allied to the Ts＇ew (楸), which has＇the leaves of a cypress and the trunk of a fir＇. (柏葉, 松身). It was esteemed as the most valuable for making articles of furniture, and for the carver＇s art. The phrase,—＇the timber, or materials, of the Tsze,＇ occurs in par. 4, and was thence assumed to designate the Book, intimating apparently that the administrator of government ought to give himself to his duties skilfully and thoroughly, as the cabinetmaker deals with his materials. The cultivation of afield and the building of a house are spoken of in the same paragraph; and either of these thing might have been used as the name instead of the phrase which it pleased the fancy of the compiler to adopt. The Book is found in both the texts.

CONTENTS. The Book is sadly wanting in unity.The lst par. is directly addressed to Fung, and we may suppose that the three which follow were so also. He is admonished of his duty to promote a good understanding between the various classes in his State, and between them all and the sovereign;and that, in order to this, his rule must be gentle,eschewing the use of punishments. The interpretation,however, is anything but certain. The remaining paragraphs are of a difft. character. They are not the charges of the emperor, insisting with a prince upon his duties, but the admonitions of a minister loyally and affectionately cautioning his sovereign, and praying for the prosperity of his reign. They would be appropriate as addressed to king Ching by the duke of Chow, or the duke of Shaou. We might also suppose them the response of Fung; but the text gives no intimation of a new being introduced. The whole Book is very unsatisfactory, and it is a translator＇s greatest comfort that it is short.

Ch. I. Pp. 1—4. How the prince of a State is a connecting link between all the classes of his people,and between his people and the emperor.

達=通, ＇to reach to＇, to effect an intercommunication＇.By 大家, we are to understand what Mencius, IV., Bk.I., vi., calls 꾫室, ＇the great Houses＇, anything that ＇the administration of govt. is not difficult, but lies in not offending the great Families, for whom they affect will be affected by all the State.＇

2. ＇If you regularly in giving out your orders say,"My instructors whom I am to follow, my minister of Instruction, my minister of War, and my minister of Works; my Heads of departments, and all ye, my officers, I will on no account with oppressions put men to death;"——. Let the prince also set the example of respecting and encouraging the people, and these will proceed to respect and encourage them. Let him go on in dealing with those who have been traitors and villains, murderers and harbourers of criminals,to exercise pardon, and these, when they observe the prince＇s conduct, will likewise pardon those who have assaulted others and injured their property.

It is observed in the ＇Complete Digest＇, that the force of the 達 is to show how the conduct of the ruler draws forth the approval of all parties, so that there is an uninterrupted flow of their good feeling towards him, and we are not to take it as intimating that the ruler brings the higher and lower classes into intimacy and good feeling with one another (達者吾之行事與其情兩相通徹, 而無暌阻, 非使上떘相通之謂). The first 厥臣is descriptive of the ministers and officers of the State,and those not filling the highest offices, which would for the most part be occupied by the Heads or scions of the great families. The second 厥臣 is descriptive of all the people of the State, the official classes and the unofficial, as being equally the subjects of the sovereign (王) or emperor.

Such is the view of the par. that appears to be given by Ts＇ae. Lin Che-k＇e took the same, only understanding the 達 of bringing the various classes mentioned into good and harmonious relation with one another. Gan-kwŏ＇s view was different. He paraphrases:—言當用其眾人之賢者, 與其小臣之良者,以通達卿大夫及都家之政於國, 信用其臣以通王教於民, 言通民事於國, 通王教於民, 惟乃國君之道. Of this I can make little or nothing. Ch＇ing K＇ang-shing had stillanother view which deserves to be noticed only for its singularity. He seems to have read the last clause—以厥臣達王暨邦君; and then by 王 he understood 二王之後, ＇the descendants of the emperors of the two previous dynasties;＇ and by 邦君, the princes of the various States within Fung＇s jurisdiction, as 孟侯. Adopting this strange view, Këang Shing says—以臣民達大家, 則聨上떘之情, 以臣達王與邦君, 則聨邦交之誼.

P. 2. The prince of a State must inculcate on his ministers, and exemplify himself, leniency in dealing with criminals. Ts＇ae honestly acknowledges that the most of this par. is unintelligible to him, and he does not attempt any paraphrase of it. In the translation, I have followed the ＇Daily Explanation＇. The meaning given is more likely than any other which it has been attempted to put upon the text;—this is the most that can be said for it. 汝若至殺人,—越 is taken in the sense of 發 or 發令, ＇to give forth orders＇. This meaning of the term is given in the Dict. (=揚), and supported by examples from the 國語.

師師=相師為善之意, ＇instructors whom I am to make my model;＇—comp. the same phrase in Pt. IV.,Bk. XI., p. 2; et al. The three ministers immediately mentioned are the instructors intended. 尹=正官之長,＇the Heads of the various official departments;＇ and 旅=眾,—that is, 眾士, ＇the whole body of officers＇. The曰 which follows is superfluous, and the sentence is left incomplete. The ＇Daily Explanation＇ supplements it by—＇and you will ought to cherish the same regard for the lives of the people＇ (汝咸當仰體吾好生之心).

3. When sovereigns appointed inspectors, they did so in order to the government of the people, and said to them, "Do not give way to violence or oppression;and go on to show reverence for the weak, and find connexions for destitute women. Your protection of the people must proceed in this way to cherish them."

The older interpreters, followed by Këang Shing and many others, connect 汝若恆越曰我有師師 with the prec. par., giving it substantially this meaning,—＇Do you accord (若=順) with this regular rule for your duty, and (越=於是) then say to yourself, "I have this law which I am to observe."＇ Then commences with them a new par., and 司徒, &c., form the subject of the second曰. On this construction the two 曰 are accounted for;but to pu 子罔厲殺人 in the mouths of all the officers is inadmissible. 亦厥君先敬勞, 肆徂厥敬勞,—勞, inthe 3d tone, is taken in the sense of 慰, ＇to comfort＇,＇to encourage＇. The ＇respecting＇ the people (we must understand 民 or 其民 under the govt. of 敬勞) is to be taken with reference to the ruler＇s eschewing the use of punishments rather than run the risk of putting any to death unjustly, ＇with oppressions＇.

肆=逐, ＇then＇, ＇thereupon＇. 徂=往, ＇to go＇. The subject of this verb is the ministers and officers above. Gan-kwŏ suppose the 君 to be the subject of 徂, as well as of the previous verbs:—＇It is also the way of a ruler to take the initiative in respecting and encouraging the people; do you therefore, in going to rule this people, be careful to respect and encourage them.＇ Këang Shing takes 亦 as=掖=助, ＇to assist＇, and connects the clause with the preceding, thus:—＇The ministers will say, "We will be cautious with you of putting men to death unjustly." Then they will help their prince to reverence and encourage the people as the thing of greatest importance.＇

肆往姦, 至末,—the first of these clauses—肆往, 云云,—is descriptive of the ruler; and the second—肆亦見, 云云,—of his ministers. The former of the two肆 is in the way, indeed, of this construction. The character introducing, immediately above, the subject of the ministers are distinguished from the ruler, and doing the same here in the second instance, we might have expected 亦往 instead of 肆往. This is a serious difficulty; but the view upon the whole harmonizes with the general scope of the paragraph, and enables us to explain the 亦見君事, to which both Gan-kwŏand Këang Shing do great violence. 肆往姦宄殺人曆人宥=遂與往日為姦宄殺人者, 罪人所經歷者, 꿷皆寬宥, 與之為新. Ts＇ae explains 歷人 by 罪人所過,＇those through whom offenders have passed＇, meaning individuals who have connived at crime, and more orless aided and abetted it. 戕敗人 are individuals guilty of lighter offences than those mentioned above, whose cases should be summarily dealt with by his ministers and officers, without their being appealed to the ruler himself. We cannot suppose that this charge to Fung to pardon offenders—even murderers, was to be taken without qualification. He could only be required to note and act upon all mitigating circumstances in his punishment of crime.

P.3. The object of the emperors in delegating authority to princes and officers is the kindly and benevolent rule of the people. 王啟監,—Ts＇ae says that監 has reference, to the ＇three Inspectors＇, appointed by king Woo to oversee Woo-kăng in his govt., and that the same title is given to Fung, as being appointed to a portion of the same territory.

And when the sovereigns gave their injunctions to the princes of States, and their managers of affairs,what was the charge? It was that they should lead thepeople to the enjoyment of plenty and peace. Such was the way of the kings from of old. An inspector is to eschew the use of punishments.＇