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司典于恤教斯之乃 周 民聽殺弗辭明姑

O蠲惟享

王乃我乃教酒諸殺。 酒勿日事一不之勿臣 辯封時人用◎庸惟又 乃汝同弗我有 工惟

15 'As to the ministers and officers of Yin, who have been led to it, and been addicted to drink, it is not necessary to put them to death; 16 –let them be taught for a time. If they keep these lessons, I will give them bright distinction. If you disregard my lessons, then I, the one man, will show you no pity. As you cannot cleanse your way, you shall be classed with those who are to be put to death." “The king says, O Fung, give constant heed to my admonitions. If you do not manage right your officers, the people will

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continue lost in drink.'

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force of the language. First, the coming to-
gether in companies to drink is supposed to carry
with it the design of their assembling, as
being not merely to drink, but, under the cloak
of that, to plot against the govt. Second, the
其 in予其殺 is taken to indicate uncer-
is
tainty. The king would examine for himself

into their guilt, and according as he found they
had treasonable designs would put them to
death. If they really only met to drink, he

would inflict on them some lighter penalty. I have allowed the second remark by using the

‘may' in the translation. The former remark may also be correct. If it be not so, we cannot account for the difference of spirit between this

and the two next paragraphs. 15. 又惟 殷之迪諸臣惟工一今殷之 諸百工其素為商紂導引 為惡者 Kêang Shing says that 惟 in 惟工 is superfluous. We hardly know what to do with it. 16. 有斯明享=商 之諸臣果能遵我教訓之 辭存之于 而不忘我則 顯揚之而享之以爵位

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THE BOOKS OF CHOW.

BOOK XI. THE TIMBER OF THE TSZE TREE.

惟臣家臣民

邦達以達聲厥日
君。王厥大

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1 I. "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.-, '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

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 cypress and the trunk of a fir' (Ching by the duke of Chow, or the duke of

art.

which has the leaves of a

). It was esteemed as the most valuable for making articles of furniture, and for the carver's 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 cabinet-maker deals with his materials. The cultivation of a field and the building of a house are spoken of in the same paragraph; and either of these things 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 1st 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

Shaou. We might also suppose them the response of Fung; but the text gives no intimation of a new speaker 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.

-, 'to reach to,' 'to effect an intercommunication.' By ★ we are to understand what Mencius, ÍV., Bk. I., vi., calls

'the great Houses,' saying 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.' It is observed in the Complete Digest,' that the force of the 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

往厥敬亦罔尹司師越O 姦敬勞厥厲旅馬師日

宄勞肆君殺曰司司我若 殺肆祖先人予空徒有恆

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,

take it as intimating that the ruler brings the Adopting this strange view, Këang

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 無暌阻非使上下相通之 謂). The first 厥臣 is descriptive of the

second 厥臣s

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
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

Shing says 以臣民達大家則 聯上下之情以臣達王與 君則聯邦交之誼

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

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be given by Tsae. Lin Che-kte took the same,殺人,一越 is taken in the sense of 發

or

only understanding the of bringing the, 'to give forth orders.' This meaning

various classes mentioned into good and har of the term is given in the Dict. (=揚), and

monious relation with one another. Gan-kwǔ's

view was different. He paraphrases :—

supported by examples from the

ors whom I am to make my model:'-comp.

用其衆人之賢者與其小師師相師為善之意‘instruct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. Ching K'ang-shing had still another view which deserves to be noticed only for its singularity. He seems to have read the last

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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 旅衆,that is, 衆士,

Cthe whole body of officers' The 日 which follows is superfluous, and the sentence is left in

complete. The 'Daily Explanation' supplements

Clause-厥臣達王暨邦君; and it by and you all ought to cherish the same

then by 王 he understool 二王之後,‘the regard for the lives of the people' (汝咸當

descendants of the emperors of the two previous

dynasties;' and by, the princes of the

various States within Fung's jurisdiction, as

仰體吾好生之心). The older in

terpreters, followed by Keang Shing and many

others, connect 汝若恆越日我有

婦寡虐胥為啟人君肆人 合至至戕民。事亦歴 由于于無日○戕見人 以屬敬胥無亂王敗厥宥

to exercise pardon, and these, when they observe the prince's conduct, will likewise pardon those who have assaulted others 3 and injured their property. 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 師師 with the prec. par., giving it substan2 | clauses一肆往云云, is descriptive of tially this meaning,‘Do you accord (若= the ruler; and the second-肆亦見云 順) with this regular rule for your duty, and 云 of his ministers. The former of the two (越于是) then say to yourself, “I have

this law which I am to observe." Then commences with them a new par., and, &c., form the subject of the second. On this construction the two are accounted for; but

to pu: 予罔厲殺人 in the mouths of

all the officers is inadmissible. 亦厥君 先敬勞肆徂厥敬勞勞, in

is in the way, indeed, of this construction. The character introducing, immediately above, the subject of the ministers as distinguished from the ruler, and doing the same here in the second instance, we might have expected

instead of. This is a serious dif

ficulty ; 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-kwǒ and Këang Shing do great

the 3d tone, is taken in the sense of尉 to violence. 肆往姦宄殺人歴

comfort,' 'to encourage.' The 'respecting the人=遂與往日為姦宄殺 人者罪人所經歴者今皆

people (we must nnderstand民or其民

under the govt. of 敬 ) is to be taken with 寬宥與之爲新. Ts'ae explains 歴

reference to the ruler's eschewing the use of

punishments rather than run the risk of putting

any to death unjustly, 'with oppressions.'

肆一遂, then,' 'thereupon.

徂=往 to go.' The subject of this verb is the ministers and officers above. Gan-kwo supposes the to be the subject of, 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

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

人by罪人所過, those through whom

offenders have passed,' meaning individuals who have connived at crime, and more or less aided and abetted it. 戕 人 are individuals guilty of lighter offences than those mentioned with by his ministers and officers, without their above, whose cases should be summarily dealt 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 say sthat has reference, to the three Inspectors' appointed by king Woo to oversee Wookǎng in his govt., and that the same title is given to Fung, as being appointed to a portion of the

攸慈古引以厥越效容 王恬引命御邦主

自養曷事君其

them." 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 the people 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.'

same territory. It is very strange that he did | passage, defines 屬by恤,‘to pity;’–after

not perceive that this view was inconsistent with

his other view, that the speaker in this and the Gan-kwo, who gives for the clausetwo preceding Books was king Woo and not

the duke of Chow. Woo could hot have spoken 妾婦 I do not think, however, that Gan

thus of what he had done himself. It is better,

however, to take as a general title, appli

cable to all princes—the 公侯伯子 and
男-Such a use of it is found in the Chow
Le, Bk. II, p. 94 (天官太宰)-乃施
典于邦國而建其牧立其
ㄠㄠˇ 厥亂為民亂=
治:The whole 其治本為民而
已 日無胥至以容一
–we must
understand all this as the imperial charge to
the princes invested with inspection and rule.

The 胥=相, indeed, occasions some dif

kwo understood to mean 'to pity.' The sense in which he took this term appears in

妾婦, (concubines,' women attached to the proper wife, and inferior to her. He supplied the存恤, as necessary to make sense of the 婅婦婅 meaning 妊: ‘pregnant: The clause. The 說文 quotes it as-至于 critics who adopt this reading suppose that the preceding 敬 ought to be 矜, to which they give the meaning of 鰍 (widowers;’——but this is mere conjecture. 合由以容=Tsue takes 合 as =保合 and 容 as容

ficulty, which is best got over by understanding understanding the whole as in the translation

it of those princes and their ministers and peo- (又推而保合一國之民率

ple. This is the solution adopted by Lin Che

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ke from Wang Gan-shih (胥者謂君臣 由此道以相為容蓄使各 上下並為虐之政也) Gam- 得其所焉). It would be hard to say kwo took the subject of to be the 'inspec- that this is really the meaning; but it is pretors.’——Appointed for such a purpose, they ought ferable to Gan-kwo's exposition,一和合其 教用大道容之無 見 寃枉 王其效至末-效= 責效, ‘to give charge to and require service 厥

to teach their people saying, Do not among

yourselves,' &c. This is plainly inadmissible.

敬寡‘respect the few,' ie, those

who have few to help them.

(chuh)

婦婦之窮獨者當使之有 所歸而聯屬之, 'in the case of wo

men reduced to straits and solitary, you ought

from. This is akin to the meaning of the char

acter which the dict. defines by 勉.
命曷以=其命何以哉:

引 to bring it about that they shall have those to養引恬,this is the answer to the queswhom they may turn, and find connexions for tion. Ts'ae expands it by 亦惟欲其

them. This is foreing a meaning out of the 引掖斯民於生養安全之 屬: but I do not see what better can be done

while the text stands as it does. We must in- 地而已 監罔攸辟監其

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terpret one clause by the analogy of another,無所用乎刑辟, an inspector should and 敬 being a verb in 敬寡屬 must be have nothing to do with the using of punish

oue here. The dict., with reference to this ments.’

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