第35章

4. The king spoke thus:—"Ye princes of the various States, chiefs of the How, Teen, Nan, and Wei domains, I, Ch＇aou, the one man, make an announcement in return for your advice.

5. The former sovereigns, Wăn and Woo, were greatly just, and enriched the people. They did not occupy themselves with people＇s crimes. Pushing to the utmost and maintaining an entire impartiality and sincerity, they became gloriously illustrious throughout the empire. Then they had officers brave as bears and grisly bears, and ministers of no double heart, who helped them to maintain and regulate the royal House.

Ch. II. Pp. 4—6. REPLY OF THE KING TO THE PRECEDING ADDRESS; CALLED HIS ANNOUNCEMENT. 4. The princes do not appear as parties in the preceding address, nor are the ministers(羣臣) mentioned here. But we must suppose that the address emanated from the princes as well as the ministers, and that the reply was made to them equally. No mention is made of the domain which was between the Nan and the Wei; no doubt the chiefs from it were present, and they may have been present also from beyond the Wei, though the text says nothing about them. 予一人釗,—the emperor called himself—＇I, the one man＇, and did not add his name. It was the rule, however, for the successor to the throne to do so, while the period of mourning for the deceased sovereign lasted.—See the case of the young emperor猛, mentioned in the 녨傳, 昭, 二十二年. 報誥,—Lin Che-k＇e expands this:—諸侯戒놖, 故놖以誥報之. 5.The merits of Wǎn and Woo; and how they were supported by their ministers and officers. 昔君,—as in the last Bk., p. 5. 丕平富,—＇were greatly just and rich＇. The critics are probably correct in interpreting the language of the govt. of Wǎn and Woo,—that it was just, carefully guarding the rights of the people, and that it was liberal, making taxation light, so that the people had plenty for all their wants. The paraphrase of the ＇Daily Explanation＇ is:—文武之為君也, 놋溥博均平之德, 輕徭役, 薄賦斂, 使天下家給人足, 莫不富厚놋餘, 以豐民之財. Wang Shuh＇s comment is brief and satisfactory:—文武道大, 天下以平, 萬民以富, 是也. 不務咎,——＇they did not bend their minds onaddress their efforts to—the faults of the people＇. The meaningseems to be that they were not on the watch to find out crime and punish it. To quote again from the Daily Explanation:—人或놋罪, 不得已而用刑, 則輕省而不務深刻, 謹慎而不致錯誤, 寧失出, 毋失극, 不專意求人之罪惡而務置至於法. I can by no means accept Këang Shing＇s definitions of 務=趣, and 咎=災. He says:—文武大平, 富天下之民, 使不趣於咎災, 言為民除害. 厎至齊信,—厎至=推行而厎其至, ＇they pushed the practice and carried it to the utmost＇. The question arises ofwhat it was that they carried to the utmost? Was it the virtues indicated in the two previous parr., so that 齊and 信 are merely adjectives? Or are we to take those two characters as nouns, denoting other virtues, having a substantial meaning of their own? Lin Che-k＇e, Ts＇ae, and the Sung critics generally take the former view. Ts＇ae says:—齊信者, 兼盡而極其誠也, 文武務德, 不務罰之心, 推行而厎其至, 兼盡而極其誠, 內外充實.

Thus did they receive the true favouring decree from God; and thus did great Heaven approve of their ways,and give them the four quarters of the empire.

6. Then they appointed and set up principalities,and established bulwarks to the throne, with a view to their successors. Now do ye, my uncles, I pray you,consider with one another, and carry out the service which the dukes, your predecessors, rendered to my predecessors. Though your persons be distant, let your hearts be in the royal house.

Gan-kwǒ took the latter view, making 齊=中. He gives—致行至中信之道; and I have translated accordingly. Ma Yung likewise took 齊=中; but he put a stop there, and joined 信 as an adverb with the clause that follows, in which construction Këang Shing has followed him. 熊羆之士,—see Bk. II., p. 9. 用端命於上帝,—用= ＇thus＇, ＇thereby＇. 端=正直,＇correct＇. We seem to be obliged to understand a 受after 用:—＇they thus received the right favouringdecree from God＇. Këang Shing is the only one who construes differently, saying—用能端直其命於上帝, 言正命以待天也. What follows, 皇天, 云云, is an expansion of this clause, a more accurate descriptionof the ＇favouring decree＇. 訓=順, ＇to accord with＇,= ＇to approve＇. 6. He appeals to the great princes to assist him as their fathers had assisted Wǎn and Woo, and in accordance with the intention of their appointments.命建侯樹屏,—the subject of 命 is Wǎn and Woo, as founders of the dynasty, so that the force of the term merges in that of 建 and 樹. This is much better than, with Këang Shing, to suppose the par. to begin at 皇天 above, and make 天 the nominative to命.—乃命之建侯, 云云. The ＇planting of defences or screens＇(樹屏) is nothing different from the ＇setting up of princes＇ (建侯). 在놖後之人,—在 must be taken as=＇with reference to＇, ＇for the sake of＇. 一二伯父一,—二,as in par. 1. Ying-tǎ observes that when the emperor was addressing princes of large States who bore the same surname with himself, he called them 伯父; and if their principalities were small, he called them 叔父. The princes of a different surname were addressed by him as 伯舅 and 叔舅. Here Cha＇ou speaks more particularly to the great princes of his own surname.尚胥至先王胥,—=相; 暨=與; 胥暨= ＇with one another＇.顧=顧念而不忘, ＇to think of and not forget＇. 綏=安.According as we take this to mean ＇to soothe＇, ＇to tranquillize＇, or ＇to pursue quietly and steadily＇, we get two views of the passage. Lin Che-k＇e, after Soo Shih, adopts the latter view, and compares the sentiment with that in the ＇Pwan-kǎng,＇ Pt. i., p. 14, and Pt. ii., p. 14.—使諸侯能盡忠於王室, 如其先公之於先王, 則爾先公, 在天之靈於是安矣.

Thus enter into my anxieties and act in accordance with them, so that I, the little child, may not be put to shame."

7. All the dukes, having heard this charge, bowed to one another and hastily withdrew. The king put off his cap, and assumed again his mourning dress.

If you, princes, can discharge all loyal service to the royal House, as your predecessors did to mine, then their souls will have repose in heaven. I was at first inclined to this view, but a closer inspection of the text makes me prefer the former, which is that given by Ts＇ae after Gan-kwǒ. 用奉恤厥若 may be taken as in the translation, after Ts＇ae and Gan-kwǒ. The ＇Daily Explanation＇ has:—用以此心, 仰奉在上之憂勤, 而順承毋違. Or we may translate—＇Be thus reverently anxious to act in accordance with the requirements ofyour duty,＇ which is the view taken by Lin Che-k＇e.—汝諸侯其職所當順者, 當奉恤之, 而不敢忽忘. 鞠子=稚子, ＇a child＇, one who had not yet left his mother＇s arms.

Ch. III. P. 7. THE AUDIENCE CLOSES, AND THE KING RESUMES HIS MOURNING. The use of 相揖 here confirms the interpretation of the phrase which I hate adopted in P.2. The concluding statement, showing that the king and all the officers only assumed their mourning dress at the conclusion of this Announcement, has, since the time of Soo Shih, given rise to a controversy, which will probably be among Chinese critics interminable. According to Shih, everything about the publication of the Testamentary Charge and the subsequent proceedings ought to have been transacted in mourning garb; and the neglect of this was a melancholy violation of propriety. If the duke of Chow had been alive, Shih thinks that he would not have allowed it, and he wonders why Confucius selected the documents recording it to form a portion of the Shoo. In point of fact, it cannot be proved positively that any violation of the proprieties established by the duke of Chow was committed, for the ceremonies to be observed on various occasions in the imperial court have not been transmitted. But to a student from the west the controversy appears trivial. We are glad to have the ceremonies actually observed at so distant a date brought before our eyes so graphically as is done in ＇The Testamentary Charge,＇and ＇The Announcement of king K＇ang＇.