10

IV. “The king says, You, who are the old ministers, are fully able to examine the long-distant affairs;-you know how great was the toil of the Tranquillizing king. Now where Heaven shuts up and distresses us is the place where I must accomplish my work;-I dare not but do my utmost to complete the plans of the Tranquillizing king. It is on this account that I use such efforts to remove the doubts and carry forward the inclinations of the princes of my friendly States. Heaven also assists me with sincere expressions of attachment, which I have ascertained among the people;-how dare I but aim at the completion of the work formerly begun by the more should they be forward to obey it, when | 意

it was to establish the dynasty! Këang Shing

|意毖

means difficult and not easy.' These are the definitions given by Ts'ae, who adds

takes 畏=威, and the whole The brilliant | 天之所以否閉艱難國家

majesty of Heaven is aiding me to enlarge this great inheritance.'

Ch. IV. Pp. 10-12. THE KING ADDRESSES HIMSELF MORE PARTICULARLY TO THE OLD MINISTERS OF HIS HOUSE; SETS FORTH HIS OWN WISH TO DO HIS DUTY AS A SON AND A SOVEREIGN, AND COMPLAINS OF THEIR WANT OF SYMPATHY WITH HIM.

10. 王日-see on 王若

E, p. 1. It is one of the peculiarities of the

Announcements in the Books of Chow, that they are broken up into many parts by the recurrence of these phrases.

by舊人

爾惟至勤哉

we are to understand the old minis

ters of king Woo,(武王之舊臣)一 翼 of p. 7, who are there quoted as

the

多難者乃我成功之所在

The above definition of is not given in the

dictionary, tho' it may be very reasonably derived from the explanation of the term in the

說文as=閉門. The dict. makes it 俱 after Gan-kwo, and with reference to this passage. Këang Shing defines it by, which

but the fiff does not indicate the locality simply, 肆 予至君一化者化其固滯

but all the circumstances of the case.

opposed to the expedition. 遠省‘to examine the remote,' i.e., the affairs of past days. by is meant dissolving their obstinate 天閟至圖事,this is an instance | obstructions;'誘者誘其順從 by

of what Choo He calls the 'long sentences of is meant inducing them to follow him with

the ‘Great Announcement 閟者否塞 accordance. These again are the definitions of 不通之意閟 means shut up, without Ts'ae, very good. 天棐至攸終 thoroughfare'毖者艱難不易之-棐 is taken by Gan-kwǒ and most other

11

父肯厎思其

寕予毖終

堂法若逝王瑞人 逝王人曷我天 厥矧厥考朕 攸敢民亦 子肯子作言 言若 受不若惟 乃乃室艱昔休于有用 弗厥弗旣日朕前疾勤

Tranquillizer? Heaven moreover is thus toiling and distressing my people, so that it is as if they were suffering from disease;-how dare I allow the appointment which the Tranquillizer, my predecessor, received, to be without its happy fulfilment?"

“The king says, Formerly, at the initiation of this expedition, I spoke of its difficulties, and revolved them daily. But when a deceased father,wishing to build a house, had laid out the plan, if his son be unwilling to raise up the hall, how much less will he be willing to complete the roof! Or if the father had broken up the ground, and his son is unwilling to sow the seed, how much less

critics as =

輔 to aid

'sincere.' Heaven does not speak ;-where were the ‘expressions' of its regard? The ten men

of worth, who had come forward to encourage the king, might be considered as giving utterance to the ‘voice of the people' = the voice of God.' Choo He was dissatisfied with this interpretation of. He said that though all the elder scholars concurred in it, it made the passage unintelligible.' He himself, on the authority chiefly of Yen Sze-koo, made the character synonymous with 匪, ‘not,' so that the meaning is-Heaven really does not utter words, but its mind may be ascertained from the mind of the people.' This brings out substantially the same meaning as the other view

棐 By寕人 I understand king Woo.

11. How

his sense of filial duty impelled the king to the expose by putting the revolt down.

pedition. 若昔日朕其初

欲東征之時, when I first wished to
undertake this expedition to the east. So,
Ts'ae and Woo Ching. Then the and
of the next clause are to be taken in the past
tense. Woo, indeed, is half disposed to take

simply as an expletive or exclamation, but there is no necessity for having recourse to such a construction. Thinking of the difficulties which the expedition was pressed with, the king might have wished to abandon it; but to prevent his doing so, there came in the considerations of his duty to his father which are set forth in the rest of the paragraph. In this way we get a

It is only a variation of the phrase consistent meaning from the whole.

Gan

Tsae takes it as 寜臣, the tranquillizing|kwǒ and Këang Shing, instead of taking若

ministers,' meaning those who had co-operated昔 as=昔日or昔者 give若 a full

with king Woo in his great work, and adds that this description of them would cover with shame those of them who were dissuading king Ching from the expedition. See a note from Chin Leih

on this point in the 附錄 天亦云 云 here is another consideration, which de

verbal force, = |, ⋅ to accord with.' The former then interprets-'In accordance with ancient principles, I must proceed with this

expedition to the east (順古道我其 往東征). Ihave spoken quite enough

about the difficulties and hardships of the empire, and I daily think of them.' The latter says:-- In accordance with the example of the

termined the king's resolution. His father's object was to give repose and happiness to all the people. This revolt was distressing them, –a fever, a serious disease in the State. He must secure the realization of his father's pur-king my predecessor, I ought to go and punish

12

友若敢棄曰厥肯 其 伐兄王不基予考播 勸厥天越肆有翼知 弗子乃命耶予後其肯 救民有○敉曷弗肯 穫

will he be willing to reap the grain! In such a case will the father, who had himself been so reverently attentive to his objects, be willing to say, "I have an heir who will not abandon the patrimony ?"-How dare I, therefore, but use all my powers to give a happy settlement to the great charge entrusted to the Tranquillizing king?

'If a father have those among his friends who attack his child, will the elders of his people encourage the attack, and not come to the rescue?"

would not be willing to say that he had a
son and successor who would not let his
inheritance fall to the ground.'
The para-

these revolters (順昔前王之事則| Ts'ne says The spirit of king Woo in heaven 我其當往征 Of the hardships connected with the expedition I have spoken, and I daily think of them.' The view which I have followed seems to me much preferable to either |

phrase in the Daily Explanation' takes the phrase in the plural, 其家敬事之

父老, 'the old and reverent elders of the

of these, 若考作室旣底法 一考 is ‘a father deceased We must take it | family. This is the view also of Woo Ching,

Bo here, king Woo being intended, while Ching who has: 其之輔翼者, the as

is the son on whom it devolves to carry out and

finish his father's undertakings. 旣底法,

sistants of his father.' I must understand the

-* has settled the plan, ie, has laid out the phrase in the singular. 肆予云云

foundation, and defined all the dimensions, the 一越卬一於我身, 'in my person,' It

length, breadth and height.

For

Woo

is a strange and unsatisfactory expression; but all the critics explain it thus.

Q.12. The king reproaches the princes and

A short paragraph, and all but unintelligible. The view which Gan-kwŏ gives may be seen in the

officers who would let the revolt take its course.

蓋 ‘to cover;' here, == 'to construct the roof.' [Immediately after構 Kang-shing read註疏 I cannot make it out, even with the 厥考翼其肯日予有後弗 help of Ying-tä, Tsine says that he does not 棄基 which thus occurred with him twice | understand what is meant by the phrase in the paragraph.] 菑-反土草養 He takes it, however, after Soo Tung-po 日菑 ‘turning over the earth and removing 人之臣僕o民長, as in the

the grass is called It denotes the first steps taken to bring waste land or virgin soil

into cultivation. 考翼至乘基Are we to take 考翼 in the singular, referring |

to the and in the preceding clauses, or in the plural, like the same phrase in p. 7? Gan-kwo and Ts'ae take it in the singular.

as

translation, ‘By 兄考, he says, ‘is intend– ed king Woo; by友, Woo-kǎng and his confederates, the king's uncles ; by 子, 'the people; and by 民養. the princes of the States, and

the officers.' I would only differ from him in taking not of the people, but of king Ching himself.

不室人,敢越十事爾

易爾誕于易天人爽庶王蓋 ○ 亦鄰周法棐迪邦邦

予不胥邦矧忱知由君嗚 伐惟今爾上哲越呼 時帝亦

于

命艱降罔命惟御哉

13 V. “The king says, Oh! Take heart, ye princes of the various States, and ye managers of my affairs. The enlightening of the country was from the wise, even from the ten men who obeyed and knew the decree of God, and the sincere assistance given by Heaven. At that time none of you presumed to change the royal appointments. And now, when Heaven is sending down calamity on the State of Chow, and the authors of these great distresses appear as if the inmates of a house were mutually to attack one another, you are without any knowledge that the decree of Heaven is not to be changed!

Ch. V. Pp.13–15. THE KING CONTRASTS

THE PRESENT CONDUCT OF THE PRINCES AND
OFFICERS WITH THE PAST, AND TRIES TO STIMU-

HE THEN STATES HIS OWN DETERMINATION, AND

misgivings, and think it necessary to preserve

the other also. 肆=放心, put your hearts

LATE THEM TO CARRY OUT THE WISH OF HEAVEN. at ease.' 爽邦由哲-爽=明, as in 爽厥師, Pt. IV. Bk. II, p. 3. King 13. Tsae Chin, Woo put an end to the ‘dark ways' (昏德)

CONCLUDES BY VINDICATING HIS FOLLOWING THE
ORACLES OF DIVINATION.

in interpreting this par., struck out a new path
for himself, in which I have followed him. The
par. mentions ten men who obeyed and knew
the mind of God.' Were they the 'ten men of

worth, mentioned in par. 5, who came forward

to support king Ching against the revolt of
Yin ? All the old interpreters say so, and Woo
Ching and Keang Shing, still hold to that
view. This is to be said for it, that in the com-
pass
references to ‘ten men,' of the same purport,
and yet that they should be difft. men. I would
willingly accept Gan-kwo's view, if it did not

of a short Book, we can hardly expect two

make all attempts to explain the context not

only troublesome but to my mind vain. Ts'ae decided that the ten men here were not the ten men of par. 5, but king Woo's ‘virtuous men,' his ten ministers capable of govt.,' celebrated in 'The Great Speech.' He contends that the

of Show, and displayed the mind of Heaven to

the empire, by means of the wise men (由 哲) who were his counsellors and helpers,一

'the ten men who walked in (迪 ) and knew the commands of God.'

越天棐忱

as in p. 10. This clause is colla

teral with, and under the regimen 迪知爾時爾於是時, You

of

at that time.' Among those who followed Woo to the conquest of Shang, there were many of the princes and officers who were now shrinking

from the expedition against Woo-kang. 矧

predicates of the ‘ten men' here are too great今,云云,一it is difficult to render 矧 here

for the ten men of the people who came forward

to encourage king Ching, and tries to fortify his view by referring to the duke of Chow's language in Bk. XVI., p. 14, where he is speak

ing of king Wan's able ministers, as he speaks

of the ten men here. The editors of Yungching's Shoo accept his view, but with some

by how much more,' in the usual way; yet its
force extends to the end of the par., and may be
indicated by a point of exclamation. The al-

lusion in 天降于周邦 is
death of king Woo. By 惟大艱人w

we

僭爾并指于曷于朕夫天

卜東 陳

疆從 從其
土率極

畝予惟

天曷喪

14

15

惟 天朕 下.人。亦敢殷 若命 人敢○惟不若

兹不以下有弗子休終穡

'I ever think and say, Heaven in destroying Yin is doing husbandman's work;-how dare I but complete the business of my fields! Heaven will thereby show its favour to the former Tranquillizer.

'How should I be all for the oracle of divination, and presume not to follow your advice? I am following the Tranquillizer, whose purpose embraced all the limits of the land. How much more must I proceed, when the divinations are all favourable! It is on these accounts that I make this expedition in force to the east. There is no mistake about the decree of Heaven. The indications of the divinations are all to the same effect."

are to understand the king's uncles, confederate | 忱又如此在今日武庚作

with Woo-kǎng. For誕鄰胥伐Tshe 亂不可不討天命亦

gives 大近相伐 and the Daily Ex- 民獻予翼朕卜并

planation, has 相逼相攻厥室棐忱亦文如此是

taken by Woo Ching of 其君之室理一也然在昔

and he supposes the meaning of the whole to be

that the rebel-uncles were endeavouring to force others of their brothers in their neighbour

hoods to join them in the revolt. The meaning

爾

亦不敢

庚如天昔十敢可言命之與那 作此之之人易征害不心迪者

I have given is preferable, though the

is difficult to manage. Gan-kwo says that when the king's uncles took arms against him, it was truly like the inmates of one house fighting with each other. If king Woo had been commissioned to destroy Show for his wickedness,

much more must it be Heaven's will that this

revolt should be suppressed; and yet the princes

and officers were telling the king not to proceed

with the expedition.

Wang Tseaou traces the course of thought

法今考翼不

卜,則亦不知

奉法

可易矣以

為今日順天之義

知者惟有間而與爽邦者 實同功矣

ground of weeds;-he must not let their roots

P.14. 穡夫 is ‘a reaper,' but the phrase in the par. on Ts'ae's view very clearly: is here used for a husbandman generally. A 迪知上帝命者心與天通,husbandman's work is thoroughly to clear his 自然合理者也知天命不 remain. King Woo had spared Show's son, but 易者未能真知而不敢不 it was plain that he must now be made an end 信者也在武王時商貫 盈不可不討天命如此 displayed; the eupire would be made sure to 佑有周夢卜協吉天之 天之栞 his posterity. 15 予曷其極卜下,

of. So would king Ching complete the business our of Heaven to king Woo would be more fully

of his fields. And when hehad done so, the fav