4 告秉焉周方壇同為以公 太珪植公比于墠三為乃 王乃璧立面南為壇功自 He then took the business on himself, and made three altars of earth, on the same cleared space; and having made another altar on the south, facing the north, he there took his own position. The convex symbols were put on their altars and he himself held his mace, while he addressed the kings T'ae, Ke, and Wăn. think, he would have used and not not have taken root. 旣 and we should have rend惟克商: 4. I cannot undertake to settle this trivial Keang Shing, after the was not happy.' We may suppose that he was distressed, thinking of the troubles that might arise on his death. The other reading-X, did not get well,' would give a simpler meaning. 2. Proposal of the two dukes to divine respecting ‘two dukes,' are understood to be spoken of on p. 1 of the last Book. T'ae-kung, -see on Mencius, IV., Pt. I., xiii. He played a very important part in the establishment of the Chow dynasty, as counsellor to Wăn and Woo, and was invested by Woo with the principality of Ts'e, which his descendants held for nearly 640 years. He is the in the apocryphal edition of the 'Great Speech.' He was equally mighty in words and in deeds,-a man of counsel and of action. Confucius regarded his memory with reverence, and spoke of it as an evidence of his own failing powers and disappointed hopes, that the duke of Chow no longer appeared to him in his dreams. He was the 4th son of king Wăn, by his queen Tae-sze. The eldest was Pih-yih-k‘aou (1Ĥ); the second was king Woo; and the third was Seen (f), the Kwan Shuh(), mentioned in p. 12. There were six other younger brothers, but of all Wan's sons, only king Woo and the duke of Chow were representatives of their father's virtue and wisdom. Chow was the name of the city where king Tae fixed the central seat of his House; see page 281, on the name of this part of the Shoo. It became the appanage of Wan's 4th son, Tan (H), and hence, he is known as the 'duke of Chow.' 戚=憂 'to trouble,' 'to distress.' It would appear that the two dukes proposed to have a solemn service of divination in the ancestral temple of the imperial House, and the duke of Chow negatives their proposal on the ground that there was no necessity for troubling the spirits of the departed kings by so much ado merely to divine (Ts'een has is defined by the issue of the king's illness. He had himself determined what he would do. Kang-shing Gan-kwo, after the, by 'revesays that he negatived their proposal, because rently.' Ts'ae gives its meaning-he knew that the king would not die at this time. This view is grounded in a passage in the Bk., Pt. i., p. 2., of the Le Ke, where king Wan is made to interpret a dream of his son so as to assure him of a certain number of years. But there is much in that Book which we cannot receive. If the duke knew that his brother would recover, the prayer which follows, and his offer to die in his room, lose all their meaning and value. with entire sincerity and in common,' saying that on great emergencies all the officers, great and small, united in the ceremony of divination, so that is equivalent to , according to the view of an older interpreter whom he cites. This interpretation would give more emphasis to the in the next par., but I do not see that we can insist on extending the meaning of the term beyond the of Gan-kwo. 3. The duke of Chow declines the proposal. this is the first time that we meet in the Shoo with this famous name, though we shall find him hereafter playing a most important part. But for him, indeed, the dynasty of Chow would probably P. 4. The duke's preparations for his prayer. 公乃自以爲功功事 'business or duty.' Gan-kwo paraphrases :-- 周公乃自以請命為已事 三壇同墠-土日壇除 ,the rearing up of earth is called the clearing away of the ground is called 5 有三疾遘元旦乃王王 責丕王若厲孫惟册O季 于子是爾虐某爾就史文 The grand historian by his order wrote on tablets his prayer to the following effect:-"A. B., your chief descendant, is suffering from a severe and dangerous sickness;-if you three kings have in heaven the charge of watching over him, Heaven's great son, let me 蟬: The duke cleared and levelled a space of ground, and there he built three altars facing the south, one for each of the kings to whom he intended to pray,-his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather, by whose wisdom and virtues the fortunes of their House had culminated in the possession of the empire. On the same area he raised another altar facing the north, where he himself took his place. Kang-shing says that the altars were at Fung (Bk. III., p. 2.), and that the area remained to his day. 璧秉珪-璧 and珪(=圭) were two of the five tokens of gem,' mentioned in the Can. of Shun, p. 7, conferred by the emperor upon the various princes in connection with their investitures. There were two peih, belong ing to the tsze and the nan respectively, and three kwei, that appropriate to the duke of Chow being the. But we can hardly understand the terms here of the badges of nobility, or tokens of imperial appointment. Gan-kwo says the peih were brought and laid upon the altars of the three kings in reverence to them, and the kwei was the duke's proper hwan kwei, which he held in his hands as the evidence of his person and rank in appearing before them. But from p. 8, we should rather conclude that all the articles were proper to 此簡書以告三王(The tablet, i.e., the writing, was made by the duke of Chow; the priest read this writing to inform the three kings.' In this way theis altogether unaccounted for. Woo Ching would put a comma at, and explains The historiographer wrote the tablet, and the priest ( read it.' But who does not get the impression that the duke of Chow was himself the only priest on the occasion? 爾元孫某 Your great-grandson, such an one.' canie The duke, no doubt, used the name of king Woo. But in the Chow dynasty, the practice of 'concealing the name,' as it is called), into vogue. Kang-shing supposes that it was king Ching, who first dropt the name, and substituted for it, when he found the prayer, as related in p. 16. 遘 =遇 to meet with,' Wang Kang-tang says:A sage has see a note in the 集傳 the worship of the three kings. The 壁is 三王至某之身,this passage has described as resting on a square base, while outwards it was round like the arch of heaven. Pp. 5-8. The prayer. 5. wonderfully vexed the critics, and the editors of Yung-ching's Shoo say that no one interpretation of it which has been given should be pertinaciously held to. The view in the trans-, 'the grand historiogra-lation is substantially that of Ts'ae, who says: plier His services were called in to record -武王為天元子三王當任 the prayer. I take 祝 as=祝詞 the 其保護之責于天不可合 language of the prayer.' Gan-kwoexplains 我死如欲其死,則請以旦 the clause:-史為册書祝辭 The historian wrote for him on a tablet (or tablets) tit, King Woo is the great the words of the prayer.' This is the view now son of Heaven; you three kings ought to have given in the 'Daily Explanation':- the charge of protecting him in heaven, and 告三王之神命太史書就 should not let rim die. If you wish that he should die, pray let me Tan be a substitute for 詞于册若曰云云·This, it his person Feeling that the于天lay loosely seems to me, must be the meaning of the text. Kang-shing, however, says:-, on this view in the sentence, he supposed that some characters following have been lost. AMER The interpretations of Kang-shing and Ying-tố ○能材不神藝能予某天 乃事多若乃能多仁之以 命神藝旦元事若身旦 于鬼不多孫鬼多者○代 6 Tan be a substitute for his person. I have been lovingly obedient to my father; I am possessed of many abilities and arts which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your chief descendant on the other hand has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so 7 capable of serving spiritual beings. And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid to the four quarters of the empire, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower world. would cast 仁若 out of the text; but though the 'Historical Records' show us the interpretation which their compiler put upon the Shoo, their authority cannot always be pleaded in favour of this or that reading. We should be glad if we could ascertain from this paragraph what ideas the duke of Chow had about the other world, but his language is too vague to afford us satisfaction. He says he was better able than his brother to serve spirits; -did he then expect that some such service 惟爾元孫某遘疾若此儻 三王以為此我元孫實| would have to be performed by him after death ? 天之大子也其責甚重 可死則旦請代耳 Ts'ae's construction of the sentence is not more objec tionable than either of these two. Thus much is plain-first, that the duke of Chow offered himself to die in the room of his brother king Woo; and second, that he thought his offer might somehow be accepted through the intervention of the great kings, their progenitors, to whom he addressed himself. P. 6. Reason why the duke should be taken and who was the spirit, or who were the spirits, to whom the service was to have been rendered? These questions are suggested by his words; and yet it may be, that all which he meant to say was that he was more religious,-more acquainted with ceremonies, and fonder of sacribetter fitted for admission to the spirit circle. ficial services,-and therefore was somehow I suppose he did not know his own meaning very clearly. Chinese critics are concerned to free the duke of Chow from the charge of boasting which may be fixed on him from the paragraph. Tsëang instead of the king. 子仁若考一考 Te-sháng (蔣悌生; Ming dyn.) says:一 Gan-kwo gives the mean ing as 我仁能順, I could affec tionately obey my father.' Ts'ae takes the Medhurst translates the clause by- my bene- "The duke of Chow did not boast of his services, but was the humblest of men ;-how is it that here he boasts of himself in such a way to the spirits of the three kings? On this occasion, his love for his brother prevailed over every so important to his family and the kingdom, other consideration. He had not leisure to consider whether he was boasting or modest. The case is one of those instances in which the virtue of sagely men moves Heaven. Let it not be lightly thought of or spoken about ;'-see the gives for it一我之仁德如. Still the 集說 other view is to be preferred. The duke would probably have declined to say that he was more virtuous than king Woo, though he was con scious of possessing certain qualities which might render him the better addition of the two to the spirit-world. Sze-ma Ts'een has only 日 15, and on his authority Keang Shing P. 7. Reason why king Woo should be spared. 乃命于帝庭—the 帝 here is or God. Ma Yung says: 受命于天帝之庭king Woo received appointment in the hall of the God of heaven. Medhurst has translated:- Ile has 9 習 以元依寶畏地用 三乃俟我 于有 珪。不璧龜歸命嗚四能 The people of the four quarters stand in reverent awe of him. Oh! do not let that precious Heaven-conferred appointment fall to the ground, and all our former kings will also have a perpetual 8 reliance and resort. I will now seek for your orders from the great tortoise. If you grant what I request, I will take these symbols and this mace, and return and wait for the issue. If you do not grant it, I will put them by." The duke then divined with the three tortoises, and all were favourable. He took a key, opened and looked at the oracular received the decree in the imperial hall,' which is a great weakening of the duke's argument, than those employed by the princes. and without the sanction of any critic. 歸 俟爾命‘will return and wait for your 四方至祇畏,the critics generally orders' which would be seen in the recovery of connect this with the preceding clause, and king Woo, and the duke's death. Ma says: extend the force of the 用能 to it. It 待爾命武王當愈我當死 seems rather to be a description of the success 屏璧與珪屏(2d tone)一法。 of Woo's govt.,-exaggerated, indeed, but justifiable in the circumstances. or 天之降 藏 The meaning is, that he would put those -as in instruments of worship aside; the dynasty would fall, and the House of Chow would have 寶命=天所降之寶命 the translation. 我先王云云— no more imperial sacrifices to offer. 'our former kings' are all the princes of the Pp. 9, 10. The divination is favourable, and the duke deposits his prayer in the coffer. 9. House of Chow, from Shun's minister of Agr卜三龜 He divined with the three tortoises ' I suppose that the divination took place before the altars, and that a different shell was used to ascertain the mind of each king. P.8. The duke proposes to divine for the an- Chuo He says:一或三王前各一 swer of the kings, and tells them what will be the consequence of their refusing his request. 龜卜之 Lin Che-ke, however, says:一 今 龜卜 我命=今我就受三王之 以龜之三兆卜之,He divined Yu,' Pt. i., 52. The shells of the tortoise em- 掌三兆之法一日玉兆二 ployed for imperial divinations were larger|日瓦兆三日原兆:which Biot 翼金公 日縢歸 不俟能念予一 終命罔 C 是吉○公曰 是于害公 乃乃 圖三子 瘳匱衲 兹王小體我 “ 10 responses which also were favourable. He said, " According to the form of the prognostic, 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 11 the issue. They can provide for our one man." Having said this, he returned, and placed the tablets in the metal-bound coffer; and next day the king got better. translates : Grand Augure. Il est prèposé aux trois methodes pour l'observation des fissures sur l'ecaille de la tortue. La première est appelée fissure de jade; la seconde, fissure de poterie; la troisième, fissure de plaine.' words do not convey that impression to my mind. In the Daily Explanation,' they are referred to the three kings as in the translation. 習吉習一重or; see the 一我小子新受命于三王惟 Great Speech,' Pt. ii, 5. 啟籥見書-以後子孫為計而許 by 書 we are to understand 占書(written 以保佑元子孫 攸 oracles, The par. of the Chow Le, following 俟能念子一人一兹攸俟一 that quoted above, is一其經兆之體 me俟爾命 of pur. 8, the only differ皆百有二十其頌皆千有 ence being that the words here are those of 百,The forms of the regular prognostica- soliloquy, and not addressed to the kings, The tions were in all 120, the explanations of which Suh define it nearly in the same way, as 開藏 the form of the prognostic,' appearing on the shell of the tortoise. 惟永終是圖 ---Woo Ching understands this to be spoken by the duke of hiunself, so that he not only understood from the divination that the king would 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. 金滕之虞,‘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 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. le therefore placed it there, not thinking that it would be-hoping 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. |