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保恭永 不刑降惟

不惟民惟○于主邑。叨民 不以惟成乃○憤亦 之克爾天湯大天日惟 有 于方畀顯時劓夏 之純有休求割之 義乃夏命民夏民

民大

respect, and who might display a generous kindness to the people, but he daily honoured the covetous and cruel, who were guilty of 6 cruel tortures in the cities of Hea. Heaven on this sought a true lord for the people, and made its distinguishing and favouring decree light on T'ang the Successful, who punished and destroyed the 7 sovereign of Hea. Heaven's refusal of its favour to Hea was decided, and it was because the righteous men among your many regions were not permitted to continue long in their posts of enjoyment, and the many officers whom Hea respected were quite unable to maintain. an intelligent preservation of the people in the enjoyment of their

false were employed by him, and put into explains why Heaven thus withdrew its favour. offices, to the calamity and bitter suffering of We have in Bk. XVI., p. 9, an opposite declara

the people'(誣罔大者惟進之 tion of Heaven's favour to Shang,一天惟 任使供職大為患苦于民)純佑命. It is well to take 純 in the

惟有夏至末叨= :to

be gluttonous or greedy,' 'to covet;', i.q.

same way in both passages, as meaning ‘deter

minate,' 'decided,' 爾多方之義 民—義民 ‘righteous people,' =賢者,

men of virtue and ability.' They are called

憶 一忿 to be angry,’‘resentful.’ 劓 割夏邑,comp. in ‘The Speech of Tang,’‘of your many regions,' ie, the many regions

P. 3. 率割夏邑:劓 to cut off the

of the empire. We can lay no stress on the

nose,' is better translated here generally. Këang| 爾‘your

永於多享‘long in

Shing reads 氏 after 夏 on the authority of much enjoyment,'='long in the enjoyment of their offices., Këang Shing says: 不能

the說文; but the meaning which he gives

to the whole is very far-fetched. The people 久長多享祿位言桀不任 賢

also under the rule of Hea, suffering the oppres

sion of greed and cruelty, longed more every day

to see the kingdom of Hea cut off. Only one

searching for strange meanings could attempt

to draw this from the text.

不克明保享于民

'could not understand to preserve and secure

enjoyment for the people.' The use of, and

the 于 before 民, render the language obscure,

P. 6. 時=是天惟時求民 but the meaning seems to be what I have given. 主=天惟是之故求可為民 The Daily Explanation' gives for it一不能 主者 7.惟天不畀純=天明達治體以保安享有國 之不畀於桀(=夏者大矣家之民, they could not understand the

'Heaven's refusal of its favour to Kee, (or Hea) was great and decided.' The rest of the par.

VOL. III.

6

art of govt. so as to secure their tranquil enjoyment(=possession) of the people of the empire..

63

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8

克不以橛O湯克至乃 至民慎代克開于胥

勸德于刑厥夏以○百惟 用麗作爾乃為虐

勸乃民多惟大于

囚亦罔○勸主方成不民

lives, but on the contrary aided one another in oppression, so that of the hundred ways of promoting prosperity they could not advance

one.

'In the case indeed of T'ang the Successful, it was because he was the choice of your many regions that he superseded Hea and 9 became the lord of the people. He paid careful attention to the essential virtues of a sovereign, in order to stimulate the people, and 10 they on their part imitated him, and were stimulated. From him down to the emperor Yih, the sovereigns all made their virtue. illustrious, and were cautious in the use of punishments;-thus also 11 exercising a stimulating influence over the people. When they, having Ying-tă quotes the view of Too Yu (杜預)|牧), is that (Heaven, in seeking a lord for the to the same effect, making 享受,‘tore people, simply followed the choice of the many ceive;'-see the 註疏 Këang Shing defines regions'(天求民主蓋從多方 之所簡耳). Gan-kwǒ and Këang Shing

胥by皆all It is equivalent to ‘all,, but

with the further meaning of 'mutual' co-operation.

至于百為大不能開

,

-Gan-kwo connected the former of these clauses with the one preceding. They aided one another in oppression, even in a hundred different ways.' The last four characters are then simply an addition to the indictment.-' And they were

greatly unable to initiate any plan of good, (大不能開民以善). It is better

to connect the clauses together as I have done.

The 不克開 leads us back to 不克開 于民之麗 in p. 5, and the meaning comes

out as in the translation.

Pp. 8-12. The empire gained by the virtue of Tang, and maintained by that of his successors,

was finally lost by the wickedness and misgovern

ment of Show. 8. It is only in the interpreta

translate, however, was able among your many regions to choose the worthy.' But this is construction, from the characters themselves, nor is the sentiment so suitable to the tenor of

forcing a meaning, much more than the other

the Book. 9. We ought surely to take 麗 here as in p. 5. Ts'ae, however, makes, 厥麗 to be what he depended on,' ie, the essential

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virtue of a sovereign, or benevolence.

刑法,‘to imitate,' ‘to find a pattern.,

Gan-kwo takes it in the sense of 'punishment.'
- His people, though he might punish them,
were stimulated to virtue!' The student will

mark the force of the and the in the two
clauses. And yet, such is the peculiar character
of the Chinese language, that the critics inter-
pret 用in the next par. quite differently.
10. 明德慎罰一

,-see Bk. IX., p. 3. The

tion of the intermediate clause of this par.,一克 以爾多方簡, that there is a difference | assertion Inade here about the sovereigns of the

of opinion. We may translate it on the ground Shang dynasty down to Yih, must be taken with of being chosen by your many regions;' and the

large allowance. 11. 要囚 see on Bk.

uneauing, as stated by Yaou Shun-muh (姚舜X1, p. 11. It is strange to find this specified

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辭大乃夏爾○以

開殄

◎深惟非多嗚爾今釋戮
烏爾蓋

乃圖爾天呼多至無
惟天辟庸非主于

有之以釋天若享爾亦亦
夏命爾有庸日天辟克克
圖膺多殷釋誥之弗用用
有方 ○有 有告 命克勸勸

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examined the evidence in criminal cases, put to death those chargeable with many crimes, they exercised the same influence; they did so 12 also, when they liberated those who were not purposely guilty. But when the throne came to your late sovereign, he could not with the good will of your many regions continue in the enjoyment of the favouring decree of Heaven.' 13 II. "Oh! the king speaks to the following effect, "I announce and declare to you of the many regions, Heaven had no set purpose to do away with the sovereign of Hea, or with the sovereign of Yin. 14 But it was the case that your ruler, being in possession of your many regions, abandoned himself to great excess, and reckoned on the favouring decree of Heaven, making trifling excuses for his 15 conduet. And so in the case of the sovereign of Hea ;–his schemes with reference to the emperors; but so it is in the an exclamation concluding the previous

text. 開釋無辜 -comp, in 'The

paragraph. 庸 釋-庸=用,有 Counsels of Yu, p. 12, 與其殺不辜,心之謂也 (Tsae), our on purpose," 寧失不經 12. By爾辟‘your with premeditation; 釋法之‘to put

Sovereign,' we are to understand Show.

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以爾多方 should be interpreted with away,' (to remove. By 有夏and有殷 reference to the 以爾多方簡ofp.8. moval of them, however, was equivalent to the

The critics have all overlooked this.

Ch. II. Pp. 13–16. How THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE EMPIRE, HAVING PASSED FROM HEA TO YIN, BY THE WILL OF HEAVEN, PASSED AGAIN FROM THE TYRANT SHOW TO THE PRINCES OF CHOW. 13. The critics have much to say on the manner in which this par. begins,

–the repetition of 王若曰, and the 鴨 呼, which precedes But what can be said to the purpose, more than that the duke of Chow chose thus to speak? Very strange is the method of Këang Shing, who makes the 嗚

we are to understand Këě and Show. The re

overthrow of their respective dynasties.

14.

爾辟爾君,your sovereign,' referring to Këě. 以爾多邦by–on the

ground of your many regions. Keang Shing gives:-'relying on the multitudes of your

many regions.’ 屑有辭, as in

p. 22,=, 'lightly,' ' triflingly. Compare in

Bk. XIV., p. 5, 大淫泆有辭

15.

Here the speaker turns again to Kee, the

representative of the Hea line (). Leu Tsoo-heen says that the 集 here is that of 積

子惟狂聖惟厥後之降政

孫五克罔降政王○時不 乃喪集

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誕年念念時

作須作作喪蠲
民暇聖狂○烝

主之天惟惟天圖

惟有于

爾邦享

商間天

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of government were not of a tendency to secure his enjoyment of the empire, so that Heaven sent down ruin on him, and the chief of 16 your State entered into the line of his succession. Indeed, it was the case that the last sovereign of your Shang was luxurious to the extreme of luxury, while his schemes of government showed neither purity nor progress, so that Heaven sent down such ruin on him. 17 The wise, not thinking, become foolish, and the foolish, by thinking, become wise. Heaven for five years waited kindly, and forbore with the descendant of Tang, to see if he would indeed prove himself the true ruler of the people, but there was nothing 集, meaning ‘to-collect," and the 享 is that | dolence to excess. This is better than to take of享國, meaning ‘to enjoy the empire’He one of the characters in the sense of, 'to adds that 'good governmental measures bring go beyond.' 蠲烝=潔,‘pure;’ together all means of prosperity'(治世之|烝=進‘to advance, 'progress.' The mean政聚其所以興). This is the easiest ing of the clause 不蠲烝 then comes out

way of explaining the characters. Keang Shing, as in the translation. Keang Shing, after Ma

not so well, takes 集=就 Woo Ching is here, as frequently, peculiar. He makes 不 集于享 to meant the princes were alien

ated, and he could not bring them together and make them come to court with their offerings

(諸侯離心不能合聚之使 來朝享 時(一)喪,this 有那間之一

ruin," = such a ruin.

by

is meant Tang, so called as being

then merely one of the princes, the holder

of a State.' 間之 separated –inter

rupted-it.' Koo Seih-ch'ow says:- From Yu to Kee there had been a continuous succession of 400 years; but from this it was interrupted and broken off'(自禹至桀四百年 之統自此間而斷也)

16.

Lin Che-k'e observes on that it means he carried his his luxurious in

1

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Yung, takes 烝=升, to ascend,' so the whole =‘his measures of govt. did not go up purely

to Heaven.' This is far-fetched, but not so much so as Woo Ch'ing's interpretation. He takes ( in its sense of‘the winter sacrifice,' and hence for ‘sacrifices' in general, so that 不鐲烝the did not offer his sacrifices

with purity !’

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P. 17. 惟聖至作聖−these two sayings have wonderfully exercised the ingenuity of the critics. Confucius has said (Ana. XVII., iii.) that the wise of the highest class and the stupid of the lowest class cannot be changed.' Surely he who can be called belongs to 'the of the great sage and the sentiment of the duke wise of the highest class ;'-how can the dictum of Chow in this passage be reconciled? The

foreign student is not concerned to reconcile them. What the duke says we know to be He had not come to the accordant with facts.

folly and arrogance of the sage and his school exalting the sagely man' above the attributes

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惟惟旅周顧爾開方天網 式典克王之多厥大惟可 教神靈 顧動求

我天用承惟天以爾聽 用天德于我堪惟威多

18 in him deserving to be regarded. Heaven then sought among your many regions, making a great impression by its terrors to stir up one who might look reverently to it; but in all your regions, there was 19 not one deserving of its regard. There were, however, our kings of Chow, who treated well the multitudes of the people, and were able to sustain the burden of virtuous government, and to preside over all services to spirits and to Heaven. Heaven thereupon instructed

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dulgently a longer time. The 之 in 之子

occasions a difficulty. Woo Ch'ing makes

it=是,‘this,' as in the expression 之子 于歸: quoted in the Great Learning,' Comm.

and暇Show of course is intended,the

descendant' of Tang. The clause

to influence and bring forth 顧之命者,

one who might receive its decree of favour

and regard,' for 開厥顧天. Then for
岡堪顧之 there is given 皆不足
ncient to sustain the favouring decree, Woo
以堪眷顧之命‘all were insuf-
Ching explains in the same way.
But 厥

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ix., 6. It is better to take it as merely giving emphasis to the active meaning of the verbs must mean their looking to Heaven, not‘Heaven's looking to them.’顧 simply mouly with the idea of kindness or favour 一囘視 ‘to turn round and look at,' comattached. I suppose that the subject of the former 顧 is the princes,' and the object, Heaven, while of the latter the subject is Heaven, and the object, the princes. 19. 我

ought, I think, to be connected with the preceding, as appears in the translation. Gankwǔ, however, and in recent times Këang Shing, understand it as 'But he greatly played the people's lord, and there was nothing in him,'

&c. When it is said that Heaven forbore with

Show for five years, giving him the opportunity of repentance, there must have been something remarkable in the closing period of his history,

which was known to the duke of Chow and hi

hearers, and to which allusion is made. We,

however, do not know the events of the time

周王-these kings' were Wän and Woo.
靈承于旅—
,-see p. 5. 惟典
神天典=主,‘to preside over' The
whole=主神天之礼‘who could

with sufficient minuteness to be able to say preside over the sacrifices to spirits and to

what it was. See on the十三年in the

'Great Speech,' Pt. i., p. 1.

Heaven. The phrase 神天 has occasioned

some difficulty.
18. 大動

威,一greatly moving by its terrors' Moving

whom? Gan-kwŏ says 'Show.' But this is evidently wrong. The individuals intended to be moved were the princes of the various regions; the terrors employed to move them were the overthrow of Show, and the troubles generally of the time. There is a difficulty in inter

preting the expressions 顧天 and顧之 Ts'ae gives 以開發其能受眷

When Dr. Medhurst made his translation of the Shoo, he supposed that was an adj. qualifying, and rendered the passage by-Only they could superintend the worship of the Divine Heaven.' Subsequently he saw the error of this, and has corrected it in his Theology of the Chinese,' pp. 56, 57, where he refers to the paraphrase of the Daily

Explanation,'一誠可典司神天為 上帝百神之主矣 Gaubil trans

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