תמונות בעמוד
PDF
ePub

HONGKONG:

PRINTED AT THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY'S

PRINTING OFFICE.

[blocks in formation]

1

BOOK I. THE GREAT DECLARATION. PART i.

庶越友王訏年。 士我邦日孟春十 明御冢嗟津大有 聽事君我○會

ייה

In the spring of the thirteenth year, there was a great assembly

2 at Măng-tsin. The king said, "Ah! ye hereditary rulers of my

friendly States, and all ye my officers, managers of my affairs, listen clearly to my declaration.

[blocks in formation]

pres. small department of There his de-
scendants remained till B.c. 1326, when Tan-foo,
afterwards styled king T'ae in the sacrificial
ritual of the dynasty, removed to the foot of
mount K'e in the pres, dis. of K‘e-san
dep. of Fung-ts'ëang;-see Men., I., Pt., 11., xiv.,

(岐山),

and xv. The State which he established there was called Chow. King T'ae was succeeded by his son Ke-leih, or king Ke, and he again by his son Ch'ang, or king Wăn, who transmitted his hereditary dominions, greatly increased, and his authority to his son Fă or king Woo. Woo then adopted Chow as the designation of the dynasty which he founded.

The Books of Chow were more numerous, as we might expect, than those of the previous dynasties, even though they belong only to little more than the first half of its history. Nor did they suffer so much in consequence of the fires of Ts'in as those of the Shang dynasty. Out of 38 documents there remain 20 whose genuineness

36

is uncontested; and only 8 have been entirely, the princes had long been followers of the Chiefs lost. I have said that we might have expected that the Books of Chow would be more numerous than those of Shang; but we could not have expected that so much larger a proportion of them should escape the various dangers to which all were equally exposed.

THE NAME OF THE BOOK.-, 'The Great Declaration.'

'great.' King Woo, having at last taken the field against Chow, makes three speeches to his officers and men, expounding the grounds of his enterprise, urging them to play the man with him in the cause of humanity and Heaven. Those are brought together, and constitute one grand whole,-"The great Declaration.'

THE DIFFERENT TEXTS OF THE BOOK. This subject has been treated of in the prolegomena; and I will content myself here with giving the summary of the discussions that have been raised upon it, which is quoted in the

綱目 from Kin Le-tsëang's 通鑑前編

merely interjecting a remark or two, where his statements can be fairly called in question. The text preferred by Keang Shing and other modern scholars will also be found, with a translation of it, in an appendix to the Book. Le-ts eang says:-The Shoo of Fuh-shang did not contain the "Great Declaration." [But see the first Book of Maou K'e- ling's 'Wrongs of the old Text of the Shoo.' The Great Declaration' was in the Books of Fuh-shang.] 'It was in the "Old Text," found in the wall of Confucius' house; but as the commentary of Kung Gan-kwo was not entered in the imperial college during the Han dynasty, his edition of it did not then become current. Chang Pa

then fraudulently made a “Great Declaration," in three Parts, which became current, and contained the passage about "a white fish entering king Woo's ship," &c., which is found

of Chow. The battle of Ming-t'eaou was fought by the people of Po, while at Măng-tsin there was a grand assemblage of the princes with their hosts. With such differences of circumstances, we should expect differences of style and manner. As to what is said of Chow's being worse than Këĕ, and the language being more ornate, these things are accounted for by the difference of time. Even allowing that the style was somewhat modified and improved, when the document made its reappearance, we may well believe that it gives us the views of king Woo.'

CONTENTS. These may be stated in the language with which Le-ts'ëang concludes his observations. In the first Part, king Woo addresses himself to the princes and others of inferior rank; in the second, to the hosts of the princes; and in the third, to his officers. The ruling idea in the first is the duty of the sovereign, what he ought to be and do; with this it begins and ends. There is not the same continuity of thought in the second, but the will and purpose of Heaven is the principal The last Part shows the thing insisted on. difference between the good sovereign and the bad, and touches on the consent that there is between Heaven and men. The Book is bril

liantly composed, and far transcends the powers of any man of a later age to have made it.'

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST PART. At a great assemblage of the princes, king Woo sets before them the reasons of his proceeding against Chow-sin. Starting from the position that the sovereign is ordained by God for the good of the people, he shows how the king of Shang acted only to the injury of the people. King Wan would have punished him if he had lived, but now the duty was devolved upon himself, and with their help he would proceed to obey the requirement of Heaven. They need have no fears as to the issue. Favoured by God and men, the expedition could not but be crowned with success. There are eleven paragraphs

in Chung-shoo (7) and Sze-ma Ts'een.' which are so connected as to form only one

[This passage is found in those writers, and also in Fuh-shang's Introduction to the Shoo. There is no necessity to say that the Great Declaration,' current during the Han dynasty, was forged by Chang Pa.]But in the time of the Eastern Han, Ma Yung and other scholars became aware that this was not the genuine document; and it fell into general discredit, when the "Old Text" made its appearance at the commencement of the Eastern Tsin dynasty. Recently, however, this same Old Text has come to be suspected by the scholar Woo (). "Its language," he says, "is vehement and arrogant, not to be compared with that of the Declaration of Tang. As the document appeared so late, we may suppose that the whole of it is not the original text."

In my opinion, the conduct and language of Tang and Woo were equally responsive to Heaven and accordant with men. They differed because the circumstances of the men differed. Tang was the founder of the fortunes of his House; Woo entered into an inheritance which was already flourishing. Tang's enterprise commenced when men were beginning to look to Shang; Woo's was undertaken when many of

chapter.

Par. 1. The time, place, and occasion of the Declaration. The time was the spring of the 13th year; but it is hardly possible to place beyond dispute the prior date from which we are to calculate this 13th year. In the first place, the Preface assigns the time to the 11th year (note 32); and there is no way that can be admitted of reconciling the two accounts. The general view is that the 11 in the preface is a mistake for 13, but Lin Che-k'e takes the opposite view, and contends that the 13 in the text should be 11. In the second place, admitting the text to be correct, we find that the standard or common chronology reckons from the 1st year of king Woo's accession to the principality of Chow, which it places in B.c. 1133. This view is ably argued by Ts'ae Chin in loc. On the other hand, Gan-kwo said that the 13th year was to be reckoned from king Wan's receiving (as indicated by circumstances) the appointment of Heaven to the sovereignty of the empire. He is supposed to have then changed the style of his reign,-to have begun it afresh with a new first year.' Nine years then elapsed, and his work was not completed;-the tyrant was still upon the throne, and Wan

3

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

"Heaven and Earth is the parent of all creatures; and of all creatures man is the most highly endowed. The sincere, intelligent,

and perspicacious among men becomes the great sovereign; and

[blocks in formation]

duta on which it is endeavoured to decide the

-Woo is here styled 'king,' or emperor, by anticipation. Had he been defeated, he would have been a rebel;' but as his enterprise was crowned with success, from the moment he began to operate against Chow-sin, he was the sovereign of China, and the other was only a

solitary fellow' ★; Pt. III., 4).

我 友邦冡君-Ying-ti says一同志為

question are by no means certain;-see a note, they were 友

in the 歴代統表 on the date of

king Woo's birth, under B.c. 1168. I must for

the present suspend the expression of any opinion of my own on the point.

as having the same mind

and aim with him.' 冡君 is literally

'highest rulers,' or 'great rulers.' The Daily Explanation' explains the phrase by

A controversy, nearly as perplexing, is waged, which I have followed in the

about the time intended by the spring,' where

we should hardly think there was room for any translation. difference of view. It has been already observ

6

越我御事庶士一

managers of affairs. The Daily Explanation' would include the soldiers among the as well as the officers,一衆士卒;

but it is better not to extend the meaning of the term so far in this passage. Medhurst strangely

P

ed (on The Instructions of E' Pt. i., p. 1), and; or, to prethat while the Hea dyn. began the year with side over,' 'to manage.' the 1st month of spring (the month), the Shang began it with the last month of winter (the month). The Chow dynasty removed the commencement of the year farther back still, and made it begin with the second month of winter (the month). Ts'ae and a host of followers say that by 'the spring' is intended the and quite erroneously translates months of the Hea year; and this appears rea-by-'it has fallen to me to manage these sonable, for however different dynasties might begin their year in different months, they could not change the order of the seasons. The 'spring' of Chow was the same as that of Hea; and if we suppose, as is most natural, that the historian is speaking in the text with reference to the Chow year, then the month intended by 'the spring' must be the first month of that season. Gan-kwo, however, understands the month intended to be the first of the Chow year, and Maou K'e-ling supports his view. This question will come up again in the course of

this and the two next Books.

The place where the declaration was made was Măng-tsin, or at the 'Ford of Măng:'-see the Tribute of Yu, Pt. ii., p. 7. There was there a great assembly of all the princes who already acknowledged the supremacy of Chow, and were confederate with Woo to make an end of the tyrant. Gan-kwo says they were the princes of the two thirds of the empire, who had followed the banner of king Wăn (Ana., VIII., xx., 4), and the chiefs of many of the wild tribes ;along with their various hosts.

P. 2. Opening of the address,

王日

affairs.' The address begins with E, the exclamation which ordinarily precedes these military speeches.

3.

Earth, because of his virtues, for the good of the The sovereign is ordained by Heaven and people. Compare the Announcement of Tang,' p. 2. What is to be remarked here is the style of speaking which is new, and places 'Heaven and Earth' in the place of Heaven' simply, or 'God.' Woo does not always employ this style. In this same Part he employs both

the terms which I have mentioned. There can be no doubt that the deification of Heaven and Earth,' which appears in the text, took its rise from the Yih King, of which king Wăn may properly be regarded as the author. No one who reads what Wăn says on the first and second diagrams, and the further explanations of his son Tan (the duke of Chow), can be surprised to find king Woo speaking as he does in the text. 惟人萬物之靈 it is

man who is the most intelligent of all creatures.' By in the first clause we understand

以以暴冒民天受

侈臺世族虐色○降弗今 服榭惟官罪敢沈災敬商 以陂宮人人行湎下上王

4 the great sovereign is the parent of the people. But now, Show, the king of Shang, does not reverence Heaven above, and 5 inflicts calamities on the people below. He has been abandoned to drunkenness, and reckless in lust. He has dared to exercise cruel oppression. Along with criminals he has punished all their relatives. He has put men into office on the hereditary principle. He has made it his pursuit to have palaces, towers, pavilions, embankments, ponds, and all other extravagances, to the most painful injury of you,

‘all things,' inanimate as well as animate; in | the second clause we must confine the meaning to animate creatures. The various tribes of

Show, which Ts'ae says was the name of Chow." Chow is his epithet in history, conferred upon him for his cruelty and wickedness;-see the

animals have their several measures of intelli- Dict. on the character (殘忍損義日

gence, but all are very inferior to men.

Then, as men are superior to other creatures,

there appear among them those who are superior to their fellows; the sages, who are raised up by Heaven, and become the rulers, teachers, parents, in fact-of the mass. Ch'in King says on this :-( Man is one among all creatures. Other creatures, however, get but a portion of the energizing element of nature, while he receives it complete:-it is this which makes the nature of man more intelligent and capable

than that of other creatures. But though men

are endowed with this capacity and intelligence,

Lin Che-k'e says that 衬).

was interchanged with from the similarity of the two characters in sound, but he must be wrong, because Show is here used by king Woo before the tyrant's death.

上天下民一工

think these phrases may best be taken as in the

translation.

5. 沈湎-comp·沈酗

于酒, in (The Viscount of Wei,’p. 1. 冒

there are those who are not able to preserve - is to go forward with the eyes

and maintain it, and there must be the quick

apprehending and understanding ruler to be a

covered, = 'to pursue blindly and recklessly.’

the people are

色女色

parent to them. In this way the people are

罪人以族he

able all to complete their intelligence. The crimed men according to their relationships.'

sage possesses before me that of which I have

the seeds in common with himself; and among

The meaning is as in the translation.

The

intelligent beings he is the most intelligent, ‘Daily Explanation' has:一加罪于人,

(人者萬物之一也物得氣不但誅其一身,并其族屬 之偏人得氣之全此人性 而刑戮之 Mencius points it out as one 所以獨靈於物然人雖有 of the glories of king Wán's administration of 靈有不能保此靈者必 聰明之君

民始得以各全其靈聖人 得我心之所同然而為 靈之靈者耳

Pp. 4,5. How Chow had for feited all his title to the empire, and king Wăn had been charged to

punish him. 4. 商王受I have

K'e, that 'the wives and children of criminals

were not involved in their guilt (罪人不 孥;Bk.I., Pt. II., v. 3,) It was one of the principles of Shun that punishments should not

be extended to the offender's children (Counsels of the Great Yu, p. 11.) We have seen Yu's son, (The Speech at Kan, p. 5) and even T'ang, (The Speech of T'ang, p. 4) menacing their troops with the death of their children, if they did not do their duty. That may have been a measure

of war; and Chow carried it into all the penal hitherto called the tyrant of Shang by the administration of his govt. To what extent the punishment of relations was carried by name of Chow (村), after Sze-ma Ts'een and Chow, we do not learn from the text. GanMencius. Here and elsewhere he appears as kwo supposes that the parents, brothers,

« הקודםהמשך »