第40章

BOOK XXVIII. THE CHARGE TO PRINCE WAN.

BOOK XXVIII. THE CHARGE TO PRINCE WAN.

1. The king spoke to the following effect:—"Uncle E-ho, how illustrious were Wǎn and Woo! Carefully did they illustrate their virtue, till it rose brightly on high, and the fame of it was widely diffused here below. Therefore did God cause his favouring decree to light upon king Wǎn. Thereafter there were ministers who aided and illustriously served their sovereigns, following and carrying out their plans and counsels great and small, so that my fathers sat tranquilly upon the throne.

INTRODUCTORY HISTORICAL NOTE. The Book of the Shoo at which we have now arrived is separated from the last by an interval of two hundred years. Between, king P＇ing who gave the Charge to the prince Wǎn and king Muh there had reigned seven sovereigns of the House of Chow; and it is remarkable that not a single document of the reign of any of them was incorporated by Confucius with this volume.Of such monuments there must have been many. No Books have here been lost. Those two hundred years in the dynasty to which he himself belonged were left by the sage a blank. This fact is sufficient to prove that Confucius did not compile the Shoo as a history of his country, or even intend that it should afford materials for such a history. His design, we may rather judge, was to bring together such pieces as might show the wonderful virtue and intelligence of ancient sovereigns and statesmen, who should be models to those of future ages. But in all the space of time of which I am writing, there was neither sovereign nor statesman to whom it could give him pleasure to refer.Indeed, king Woo, the first of the sovereigns of Chow,had no successor equal to himself. But for his brother,the duke of Chow, the dynasty would have come to an early end. There was a constant degeneracy after king K＇ang. Its progress was now and then temporarily,but feebly, arrested. Power and influence passed with a steady progress from the imperial court to one feudatory and another, till in the time of Confucius himself the successors of Woo were hardly more than＇shadows of an empty name.＇ According to my plan I introduce here the names of the sovereigns between Muh and P＇ing, and a few particulars of their reigns.

[i.] E-hoo (繄扈), the son of Muh, and known as king Kung (共王), or ＇The Reverent＇ (諡法, 既過能改曰共), succeeded to the throne B.C. 945, and reigned for 12 years, acc. to the common chronology. The only incident of his reign of which we find mention is given by Sze-ma Ts＇een from the 國語, 周語上, and is to the effect that the king was on one occasion rambling near the river King, in the pres. dep. of P＇ing-leang (平涼), Kan-suh, attended by the duke K＇ang of Meih (密康公), a small principality in that part of the country,when three young ladies introduced themselves into their company. Duke K＇ang＇s mother advised him to leave them to the emperor, but he appropriated them to himself. Within a year the king made an end of him and his principality, indignant, we are to suppose, at the duke＇s conduct in the matter of the three ladies.I do not know that this story, as I have given it, is entitled to much faith. None is due to the romantic account of it, which is found in the history of P. de Mailla.

[ii.] King Kung was succeeded, B.C. 933, by his son Këen (囏), known as king E (懿王), or ＇The Mild＇(諡法, 溫柔賢善꿂懿), who reigned 25 years. All that Ts＇een says of him is that in his time ＇the royal House went on to decay, and poets made him an object of their satire＇. He removed the capital to Hwae-le (槐里), a place in the pres. dis. of Hing-p＇ing (興平), dep.of Se-gan. This seems, however, to have been merely a temporary measure. The ＇Bamboo Books＇ speak of several irruptions of barbarous tribes in this reign.

[iii]A brother of king E, by name Peih-fang (辟方), succeeded him, and is known as king Heaou (孝王), or ＇The Filial＇ (諡法, 慈惠愛親曰孝). Ts＇een says nothing more of him than that he came to the throne and died. His reign, however, lasted from B.C. 908 to 894. During this period, the chiefs of the House destined to supersede that of Chow begin to make their appearance on the stage of affair. They traced their lineage up to the baron Yih (益; often called 翳), the Forester of Shun. One of them, named Fei-tsze (非子), had made himself famous at this time by his skill in roaring horses, and was taken into the king＇s service to superintend his studs in the plains near the rivers K＇ëen and Wei (汧渭之間) and was finally invested with a small territory of which the chief city was Ts＇in,still the name of an inferior department of Kan-suh.The king appointed him there to continue the sacrifices to Yih, as the head of the Ying clan or family (號꿂秦贏), which thenceforth begins to make a great figure in the empire.

[iv.] On the death of king Heaon, the princes raised a son of his brother and predecessor, of the name of Sëě(燮), to the throne, which he occupied for 16 years,till B.C. 878. He is known as king E (夷王), or ＇The Peaceable＇ (諡法, 安心好靜曰夷). He proved a weak sovereign, and was in bondage to the princes to whom he owed the empire. It is objected to him that, when he gave audience to them, he descended from the dais to meet them, as if he were their equal merely. The chief of the State of Tsoo extended the possessions of his House during this reign, and assumed the right of investing his sons with his conquests without reference to the court. He arrogated to himself, moreover, the title of king. The imperial authority was evidently but little cared for.

[v.] King E was succeeded by his son Hoo (胡),known as king Le (厲王), or ＇The Cruel＇ (諡法, 殺戮無辜曰厲). A long reign of 51 years is assigned to him,but during the last thirteen years he was a fugitive, and the govt. was administered by two of the nobles. In B. C. 841, the people rose in rebellion, their patience exhausted by the various oppressions, engendered by the avarice, suspicions, and cruelty of the sovereign.The king made his escape, and fied to Che, in the pres. sub. dep. of Hoh (霍州), dep. of P＇ing-yang,Shan-se, where he found a refuge. Disappointed by the escape of the tyrant, the people sought to wreak their fury on his oldest son, by name Tsing (靖), quite a youth, who had hidden himself in the house of the duke of Shaou, a descendant of Shih so famous in the early reigns of the dynasty. The loyalty of the ancestor had descended to the present Head of the family. As a minister, he had remonstrated, though in vain, with king Le, on his evil courses; he now sacrificed his own son to save the heir to the crown. The people surrounded the house, and insisted on Tsing being delivered to then that they might satiate their fury by tearing him in pieces. The duke gave his own son, of the same age as the prince, into their hands, and on him they worked their pleasure. Subsequently, the dukes of Shaou and Chow carried on the govt. for the prince until Le＇s death, which took place in Che in B.C. 827.

[vi.] Prince Tsing commenced a long reign of 46 years in B.C. 826. He is known as king Seuen (宣王),or ＇The Distinguished＇ (諡法, 聖善周聞曰宣). He had learned wisdom in the school of adversity, and from the statesmen who had protected his youth. Most of the princes returned in a measure to their allegiance,but the empire was distracted by irruptions of the barbarous tribes on every side. In B. C. 821, there was a great drought, and the misery of the people was extreme. The virtue of the king seems to have experienced a decay. In B, C. 815, he neglected,notwithstanding the remonstrances of his ministers,the custom of putting his own hand to the plough,and turning up a furrow in a field enclosed for the purpose, as an acknowledgment of the dependance of the empire on agriculture, and an example to all its husbandmen. He was proceeding to resign himself to idle habits, when the queen divested herself of her ornaments, and accused herself of seducing the king to self-indulgence, and to lie long in bed. This roused him to resume his early ways. In his 39th year, B.C.788, he took the field against one of the western tribes, known by the name of the Keang (羌), as if they were sprung from the same stock as the princes of Ts＇e and sustained a great defeat at a place called Ts＇een-mow(千畝), or ＇The Thousand Acres＇. From the chagrin of this he never recovered. A few years after, he was proceeding ＇to number the people,＇ like king David of Israel, with a view to collect an immense force, and wipe out the disgrace he had incurred. His ministers succeeded in averting his purpose, but he became melancholy and capricious, put to death some of his most faithful advisers, and died in a fit of moody insanity, as we may judge, in B.C. 779.

[vii.] Seuen was succeeded by his son Nëě (湟),known as king Yew (幽), or ＇The Dark＇ (諡法動靜亂常曰幽), who was slain by a tribe of barbarian invaders called ＇The Dog Jung＇ (犬戎) after an inglorious reign of 11 years. In the sixth year of his reign, on the 29th of August (new style), B.C. 775, occurred an eclipse of the sun. It is commemorated in the She King, Pt. II.,Bk. IV., Ode. iii., as ＇an announcement of evils by the sun and moon＇. Other symptomatic aberrations, as they appeared to be, in the order of nature are mentioned by the poet along with it;—

＇The thunder roars, the lightning fiashes;—

There is a want of repose, a want of good.

All the streams are overflowing;

The tops and crags of the mountains fall.

High hills become valleys;

Deep valleys become hills.

Alas! that this man

will not correct himself.＇

This eclipse gives us a point of chronological certainty for the history of this reign. It is the first of the long list of eclipses, by the mention of which Chinese history from the 8th century before Christ acquires more certainty than belongs to that of the earlier ages. The ruin and death of king Yew were brought about by the ascendancy which a female favourite, called Paou-sze (褒姒), gained over him.He had married and established as queen a daughter of the prince of Shin (申). This principality was in the pres. sub. dep. of Tang [鄧州], dep. of Nan-yang,Ho-nan); and his son by her, called E-k＇ew (宜臼),was recognised as heir-apparent of the throne. The rise of Paou-sze was followed by the degradation of the prince and his mother. E-k＇ew was sent, as a preliminary measure, to the court of Shin, ＇to learn good manners＇. His mother was then reduced to a second place, and Paou-sze was declared queen in her room, and an infant son by her took the place and dignity of heir-apparent. Scenes were enacted like those of Këě and Me-he, or of Show and Tǎ-ke. To please Paou-sze the king made game of all the nobles.The prince of Shin called in the assistance of the Dog Jung, and attacked the capital. He did not intend the death of the kink, but only that of the intruding favourite and her son, and the restoration of his daughter and grandson to their rights. His barbarian auxiliaries, however, could not be controlled; the kingfiying from Haou was pursued by the and put to death,while Paou-sze became the captive of their chief.

Thus ended the sway of what is called ＇the Western Chow＇. The victorious nobles having expelled the Jung from the capital with some difficulty, brought back E-k＇ew from Shin, andi hailed him as king. He is known as king Ping (平王) or ＇The Tranquillizer＇ (諡法, 執事有制曰平). His first measure was to transfer the capital eastwards to Lǒ-yang, fulfilling at length,but under disastrous circumstances, the wishes of the duke of Chow; and from this time, B.C. 769, dates the history of ＇the Eastern Chow＇.

NAME OF THE BOOK,—뀗侯之命. ＇The Charge to prince Wǎn＇. I have related in the above note how the Jung who had been called in by the prince of Shin to punish king Yew went far beyond his wishes, killing the king, and wishing to keep possession of the capital. To get rid of them he obtained the assistance of the princes of Tsin (晉), Ts＇in (秦), Wei (衛), and Ch＇ing(鄭), who in the first place drove out the barbarians,and then sent for Yew＇s son from Shin to take possession of the vacant throne. Among his earliest measures was the rewarding of the princes who had come in this way to the relief of the royal House; and this Book is said to contain the appointment of the prince of Tsin to be president or chief of several of the other princes (以뀗侯為方伯).

The princes of Tsin were descended from king Woo＇s son, called Yu, and generally styled, from the name of his appanage, the prince of T＇ang (唐叔虞). His son removed from T＇ang to Tsin; and in course of time the principality came, though not without a struggle with a usurping uncle, to Ch＇ow (仇), in B.C. 780, and was held by him for 35 years. He received after death the title of Wǎn, or ＇The Accomplished;＇—it was he to whom the Charge in this Book was given. See in the dictionary no fewer than six different descriptions of character, any one of which might be considered to be expressed by the title Wǎn.

2. "Oh! An object of pity am I, who am but a little child. Just as I have succeeded to the throne, Heaven has severely chastised me, and cut off our resources of bounty to the inferior people; and the invading barbarous tribes of the west have greatly injured our empire.