BOOK XXIII. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF KING K＇ANG.
BOOK XXIII. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF KING K＇ANG.
1. The king came forth and stood in the space within the fourth gate of the palace, when the Grand guardian led in all the prince of the western regions by the left half of the gate, and the duke of Peih those of the eastern regions by the right half. They then caused their teams of light bay horses, with red manes and tails, to be exhibited; and the princes, raising aloft their secptres and other presents, said, "We, your servants, defenders of the throne, venture to bring here the productions of our territories and set them forth." With these words, they did obeisance twice,bowing their heads to the earth. The king, righteously continuing the virtue of his predecessors, returned their obeisance.
THE NAME OF THE BOOK.—康王之誥, ＇The Announcement of king K＇ang＇. We have seen, on par. 7 of the last Book, that K＇ang was the honorary posthumous title conferred on Ch＇aou, the successor of Ching, and third sovereign of the dynasty of Chow.In the dict. we find three explanations of the character,used with such an application. It may denote that the individual so denominated was ＇an abyas, a fountain,sending forth its waters＇ (淵源流通曰康); or that ＇he was gentle and mild, fond of happiness＇ (溫柔好樂曰康); or that ＇he caused the people to be tranquil and happy＇ (令民安樂曰康). Immediately on K＇ang＇s accession, he made the Announcement which is here recorded. The Book is found in both the texts; but something more must be said on this point.
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THIS BOOK AND THE LAST. The Book is found in both the text.In Fuk-shang＇s Shoo, however, this Book and the last formed only one Book. Yet the ＇little preface＇ shows us that there were in Confucius＇ Shoo two Books,one called ＇The Testamentary Charge,＇ and one, ＇The Announcement of king K＇ang.＇ We cannot but believe also that Fuh-shang＇s one Book contained the whole of them both. The only question is a to where the division of them should take place. Choo He says, ＇Take away the prefatory notices, and we should not think of making any division. The one part runs naturally,by the connection of the style, into the other, (除卻序뀗讀著, 則뀗勢自相接連). All the old interpreters,excepting Gan-kwŏ,—K＇ang-shing, Ma Yung, and Wang Suh,—extended the Testamentary Charge to par. 3 of the Announcement, and made the latter very brief indeed. Much more natural is the division as it stands in the textus receptus, and which I here assume was made by Gan-kwŏ, whether he acted merely on his own sense of fitness, or had special authority for the arrangement in the recovered tablets which were submitted to him. As the Books now stand, the first is complete, and the second. The portion which precedes the Announcement is a proper introduction to it, while it is out of place as an appendix to the Testamentary charge.
Tae Tung-yuen, of the present dynasty, pronounces both divisions wrong, but his own view, if he can be said to have one on the point in hand, is very unsatisfactory. Accepting Fuh-shang＇s arrangement of the whole in one Book, he would divide it into three parts:—the first, parr. 1—13, relating to the Testamentary Charge; the second, parr. 14—29, describing the accession of king K＇ang, the yearafter his father＇s death; and the third, being all comprehended in the Announcement, relating all that took place at the first public audience or levee by the new monarch, immediately after the accession. Granting all this, he still divides the two Books at the same point As Gan-kwŏ. Of his view, that from p. 14 of the Charge the things described all belonged to the year after Ching＇s death, I shall speak on par. 1. See 戴東原集卷一.
CONTENTS. The action of the Book follows immediately that of the last. A great assembly of princes do homage after their fashion to the new king, and caution aid advise him on the discharge of the great duties to which he is called. He responds with the declaration which has given name to the Book, referring to his predecessors, and asking the assistance of all his hearers that his reign might be a not unworthy sequel of theirs. with this the proceedings terminate, and the king resumes his mourning dress which he had put off for the occasion. It will be seen that I have arranged the paragraphs in three chapters. Ch. I. Pp. 1—3. FIRST AUDIENCE OF THE PRINCES AND MINISTERS HELD BY KING K＇ANG. THEIR OFFERINGS; AND ADVICE. 1. 王눕在應門之內=王乃눕路 (=廟) 門, 立於應門之內, ＇The king went out from the Loo gate, and stood in thespace between it and the Ying gate.＇ The 應 gate, we have seen, was the 4th of the palace gates. It took its name, according to Ch＇in Sze-k＇ae, from a drum near it which was called the 應鼓. Between it and the 5th gate was held the 治朝 or ＇audience of govt,＇ at which king K＇ang on this occasion received the homage of all the princes, showing himself to them for the first time, as＇the son of Heaven＇.
[Ts＇ae, by mistake, calls this the 內朝. it would not be correct, however, to call it, with Sze-k＇ae, the 外朝] On the Guardian and the duke of Peih＇s leading the princes of the west and the east respectively, see on the last Bk, p. 3. The princes of the west entered by the left or eastern side of the gate, and those of the east by the right or western side, and took their places accordingly. This appears to have been all according to rule. The Le Ke, Bk. 曲醴, 上, Pt. ii., p. 29, says,＇The host enters on the right of the gate, and proceeds to the eastern steps; the guest enters on the left, and proceeds to the western steps.＇ From west to east and from east to west, therefore, was the rule. See Lin Che-k＇e, in loc. 皆놀 (=陳) 乘黃朱,—a team of four horses (馬四匹) was called 乘. Those horses were 黃朱,＇yellow and red＇. The former character expresses the general colour of the animals. But ＇yellow＇ in Chinese is applied to many shades; that intended here being, I apprehend, a ＇light bay＇. 朱 is understood to denote that their tails and manes were dyed this colour. This is inferred from a passage in the 左傳, 定十年, which describes such an operation:—宋公떚地, 有白馬四, 公嬖向魋, 取땤朱其尾以與之. Ts＇ae mentions that some interpret the 黃朱 of ＇baskets of yellow and red silks,＇such as are mentioned in ＇The Tribute of Yu;＇ but such an interpretation is very unlikely in this passage. 寳稱奉圭兼幣=諸侯乃舉所奉之守圭꼐幣帛, ＇The princes raised aloft the several maces which they kept, andtheir other present.＇ 賓=諸侯;—see the Chow Le. Bk. XXXVIII., p. 1.—大行그掌大賓之禮, where by 大賓 is meant all the princes from the Yaou domain inwards.
2. The Grand-guardian and the chief of Juy, with all the rest, then advanced and bowed to each other, after which they did obeisance twice, bowing their heads to the ground, and said, ＇O Son of Heaven, we venture respectfully to declare our sentiments. Great Heaven altered its decree in favour of the great empire of Yin, and Wăn and Woo of our Chow greatly received the same, and carried it out, manifesting their kindly government in the western regions.
奉圭—these are the maces of gem-tokens conferred on them by the emp., and which they brought with them when they appeared at court. Ying-tǎ thought that by 幣 we were to understand the horses already exhibited—or a portion of them at least—in the courtyard; but I cannot believe so. A passage in the Book of the Chow Le just quoted, on the duties of the小行그, beginning 合六幣, may be consulted. Other offerings, referred to in the address below, are no doubt intended. The princes, indeed, could not be raising them aloft themselves; but they had attendants with them who did so. 一二臣,—＇we, one or two ministers＇. Comp. the use of 二三 in the Ana., III., xxiv., et al. 執壤奠=執壤地所눕之贄奠之. We are to suppose that one of the princes spoke in the name of all the others. 王義嗣德答拜,—the words 義嗣德 seem introduced by the recorder of the Book to explain how it was that the young king returned the obeisance of the princes. Lin Che-k＇e observes that, as a rule, the sovereign does not return the 拜 of his ministers, yet K＇ang was on this occasion the host and the princes all were his guests, and such an interchange of courtesies was according to etiquette. Ts＇ae, Woo Ch＇ing, and Këang Shing, all find a deeper meaning in the language. K＇ang, they say, was now the declared successor to the throne, but until the year of his father＇s death was elapsed, his reign could not chronologically commence. His returning the obeisance, therefore, was a recognition by himself and all the princes that he and no other was to be their sovereign;—it was done ＇in righteousness,＇though not perhaps in rule. Ts＇ae says:—答拜既正其為後, 且知其以喪見. Shing＇s comment is:—誼 (so he reads)德者, 明王當喪, 未嗣位, 特以繼先王之體, 誼當嗣先王之德, 以諸侯之朝, 故答拜, 此之謂禮以誼起. Ifthis criticism of Ts＇ae &c. be correct, as I believe it is, it disposes of the view of Tae Tung-yuen, that all the ceremonies from par. 14 of the last Book took place in the year after Ching＇s death. There remains, indeed, the difficulty on which he insists.—How was it that the princes of the various domains happened to be at court with their offerings, &c., as if in readiness for the old king＇s death, and the accession of the new? The difficulty must be acknowledged; but perhaps it would disappear if we had fuller information about the time. To my mind it is not so great as that of supposing that the action is suddenly carried over many months, between parr. 13 and 14 of the last Book, without the slightest note of time in the text;—to say nothing of the conclusion of Ts＇ae and others from these words—王義嗣德.
Pp. 2, 3. The advice given by all the princes to the young king. 太保暨芮伯—the princes advanced in the last par. to present their offerings under the leading of the Guardian and the duke of Peih, as the Chiefs of the east and west respectively. Now the duke of Peih gives place to the baron of Juy, the minister of instruction, and ranking among the six K＇ing next to the prime minister. —咸進相揖,it seems the simplest construction to take 咸=the 皆, which immediately follows, meaning all the rest of the princes and ministers, who then 相揖, ＇moved their left or right arms to one other,＇ as they took their several places in the order required by the court etiquette. See the account of Confucius＇ movements in the court of Loo, Ana., X., iii., 2. Ying-tǎ would confine 咸進 to the Guardian and the baron of Juy.—＇These two made all the others advance, motioning to them with their arms to take their proper places, to which motion the princes responded.＇
3. His recently ascended Majesty, rewarding and punishing exactly in accordance with what was right,fully established their achievements, and transmitted this happy state to his successors. Do you, O king,now be reverent in your position. Maintain your armies in great order, and do not allow the rarely equalled appointment of our high ancestors to come to harm."
Woo Ch＇ing has still a difft. view, taking 相 as 相=擯相之그; but this only complicates the construction.曰,—the Guardian was no doubt spokesman for all the others. 惟周至羑若,—the difficulty here is with 羑若, which Ts＇ae acknowledges that he does not understand. He mentions the view of Soo Shih, that somehow there is an allusion to the confinement of king Wǎn by the tyrant Show in 羑里; but I do not see how this is to be brought out of the text. He mentions also the conjecture of some that 羑若 is the same as 厥若 in p. 6,羑 being an error of the text for 厥. Gan-kwǒ took 羑as meaning 道. Ma Yung and Wang Suh did the same. Ying-tǎ observes that 羑 and 猷 are allied in sound, and that therefore we may explain 羑 by 道. I have translated accordingly (뀗武大受天道땤順之), though I rather suspect that the text is corrupted. Këang Shing makes 羑=進, and says:—天改殷之命, 惟뀗武大受, 땤進順之. There is no authority for such an interpretation of the char. 克恤西土,—the patrimony of the chiefsof Chow was in the west. It was in that part of t he empire that their virtue was first recognized, and the foundations of their influence laid. —＇惟新陟王,the newly ascended king＇. Ching was not yet buried, and had not received his honorary title. He could only be thus spoken of .畢協之그休—by the ＇rewards and punishments,＇ which king Ching is said to have＇finished harmonizing,＇ i.e., administering according to what was right, we are to understand probably the investitures of many princes, and the suppression of rebellions, with the punishment of the rebels, in which the duke of Chow played so conspicuous a part. These are all, allowably, attributed to the king himself; and by these he completed the work begun by Wǎn and Woo, and the dynasty might be considered established in the possession of the empire. 戡=克, ＇he succeeded in＇.
敷遺後그休—休may be considered as in the objective gov. by 遺. 後그 is under the govt. of the preposition 於 understood. Woo Ch＇ing gives the meaning of the whole very clearly:—賞當功, 罰當罪,盡合其宜, 克勝其任, 安定뀗武之功, 用땣延꼐於今後그, 有此休美. 張皇六師,—＇Keep your six armies like a bent low, and magnify them.＇ The duke of Shaouwould seem to have in mind the counsel given to himself by the duke of Chow, Bk. XVI., p. 21, and also what was said by that duke to king Ching, Bk. XIX., p. 22. 無 (=毋) 壞我高祖寡命,—寡命 is defined byTs＇ae—艱難寡得之基命, ＇the appointment difficult to be got, and such as is seldom to be got＇. Këang Shing gives Wang Suh＇s account of 寡:—美뀗王少有꼐之, 故曰寡命. The speaker, in 我高祖, ＇our high ancestor (or ancestors),＇ identifies himself with the imperial House. This gives some support to what is said, on p. 420, of the duke of Shaou＇s having been the son of king Wǎn by a concubine.
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