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有天○以觀嗣 公享王 愆攸乃無萬于王曰國受 無若非皇民則鳴五命 民 日惟于其呼十惟 殷人攸今正遊無繼年中 王丕訓日之于淫自◎身 受則非耽供。田, 今周橛

the appointment of Heaven in the middle of his life, and enjoyed the throne for fifty years."

IV. The duke of Chow said, " Oh! from this time forward, do you who have succeeded to the throne imitate his avoiding of excess in his sights, his ease, his excursions, his hunting; and from the myriads 13 of the people receive only the correct amount of contribution.

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Do

not allow yourself the leisure to say, 'To-day I will indulge in pleasure.' This is not holding out a lesson to the people, nor the way to secure the favour of Heaven. Men will on the contrary

this way with the States which acknowledged | kwd points 繼自今嗣王云云,and

his authority as chief of the West, it is easy to see how gentle was his taxation of his own people. Gan-kwo interpreted the clause quite differently:以衆國所取法則 當以正道供待之, which Ying-tǔ

expounds, 'He considered that it was from him that all the States had to take their pattern, so that his proper business was to regulate himself with a right heart, to minister the treatment to

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them, This is hardly intelligible; and Këang 唯政之恭, and reverently attended to the business of the govt.,' from a passage in the 國語語上, which even Yuh-tsae

says ought not to be credited in the case;-see

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understands the duke to have in view all future

sovereigns of the House of Chow

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and the which follows it refers to king Wăn.

sight-seeing.’以萬民 takes 觀=our here the place of 以麻邦, being appropriate expression was descriptive of Wăn as the.Chief

to the case of the emperor, whereas the other of the West,' the Head of a portion of the States.

Këang Shing gives for the par.嗚呼

段大合古文尙書撰異, in loc. 受命惟中身,Wăn's‘receivin g 繼自今嗣王其毋淫于酒 母佚于游田維正之共 which

the appointment' here can only be understood princes of the empire. Gan-kwo observes that

of his succeeding to his father as one of the Wăn died at the age of 97, and as he was 47

when he came to the principality of Chow, the

expression 中身,‘middle of his life,' must

not be pressed.

Ch. IV. Pp. 12, 13. THE DUKE URGES KING CHING TO MAKE THE MAXIM OF NO DAY FOR

IDLENESS' THE RULE OF HIS LIFE, AND TO

appears in one of the chapters of The Books of Han,' and was perhaps the reading of Fuh= the

shang. 13. 皇 must be taken as =

遑 of par. 10. 非民攸訓=非民

之所以爲教, ‘is not what the people

ESCHEW THE EXAMPLE OF SHOW. 12. Gan- should take as their lesson. 天若=

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訓厥張民保猶聞公酒之

之不為
為無惠胥日日德迷
或訓古鳴哉亂
○胥
胥教告之呼

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乃聽幻R或

亂乃此壽 誨胥人我周于

greatly imitate you, and practise evil. Become not like Show, the king of Yin, who went quite astray, and was abandoned to the practice of drunkenness."

14 V. The duke of Chow said, " Oh! I have heard it said that, in the case of the ancients, their ministers discharged their functions in warning and admonishing them, in protecting and loving them, in teaching and instructing them; and among their people there was hardly one who would impose on them by extravagant language or deceiv15 ing tricks. If you will not listen to this and profit by it, your ministers will imitate you, and so the correct laws of the former 天之所順, what Heaven will accord | lie to deceive. This is plainly the meaning, 時=是, corresponding to the y but I do not know that 張 by itself is ever

with.' above.

時人丕則有愆=是人 大則效之斯有愆尤 酗于酒德-comp. The Viscount of Wei,' p. 1. It is very evident that may be spoken of vice as well as of virtue.

Ch. V. Pp. 14, 15. THE DUKE URGES THE KING TO RECEIVE GOOD ADVICE, REFERRING TO THE CASE OF ANCIENT SOVEREIGNS WHO HAD

DONE SO, AND POINTING OUT THE EVIL CONSE

found with this signification. is defined by

變名易實以眩觀 changing names

and transposing realities, to deceive the sight.'
In Fuh-shang's text this clause appears to have
wanted the commencing, and the
after 或

15. An application of the state

ments in the prec. par. is here made to king

Ching. If he will not listen to them, 人乃

訓之(一人乃法則之), ‘men will

QUENCES OF A CONTRARY COURSE. 14. By learn of him The ‘men' intended are his 古之人 we are probably to understand the three sovereigns of Yin celebrated in the second

chapter, and king Wăn. 猶胥至教 誨一 -we have to understand 其臣, their ministers,' as the subject of the verbs 訓告 &c. The force of the 猶, ‘still,' is thus brought out:-The virtue of those ancient sovereigns was complete. It seemed as if they needed no assistance; but still their ministers did not cease

to instruct them,'&c. 胥=相. It indicates

the mutual intercourse of sovereigns and ministers, while we must restrict the action of the

verbs to the latter. 民無或云云

-this shows the result throughout the empire,

when those good sovereigns were guided and

supported in such a way by their ministers. The dict. explains 壽張 together by 誑, ‘to

ministers.

正刑正法, correct

laws.' Ts'ae instances the light punishments and

light taxatiou, which were the rule with ancient by severe penalties, and heavy exactions.

good sovereigns, and which would be superseded

to be joined with 正刑 至于小大is

民否‘the people disapproving.' The

disallowing and changing the laws which were favourable to them will awaken their disaffection and displeasure. Hostile feelings will be cherished in their hearts, and turn to curses on their tongues.

詛祝,一these two terms

together = our to curse. Ying-tă says that 'to ask the spirits to make miserable is called

and to announce one's thoughts to the 詛:

spirits by words is called 祝 (請神加 謂之詛以言告神謂之祝)

Ts'ae and many others explain the par. in

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允敬人哲。我宗公否大先

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厥文 嗚厥
厥否

或王宗呼

先王之正刑至于小

告兹及自詛刑

之四祖殷祝心

皇日人甲 王〇

自小迪及中周認

kings, both small and great, will be changed and disordered. The

people blaming you will disobey and rebel in their hearts;-yea,

they will curse you with their mouths."

VI. The duke of Chow said, "Oh! those kings of Yin, Chungtsung, Kaou-tsung, and Tsoo-këă, with king Wăn of our Chow,-these 17 four men carried their knowledge into practice. If it was told them-'The inferior people murmur against you, and revile you,' then they paid great and reverent attention to their conduct; and with reference to the faults imputed to them they said, 'Our faults are really so.' They acted thus, not simply not daring to cherish

the way thus exhibited; and I don't think we can

do better with it. Woo Ching, taking 此厥 不聽 as Ts'ae does, gives for the rest a construction of his own, and makes the meaning"If you will not hearken to this and profit by it, then men will persuade you to change and confuse the correct laws of the former kings. Those laws were very favourable to the people; and when they are so changed, the people, small and great, will cherish, some of them, a rebellious resentment in their hearts, while others will proceed to curse you with their mouths'

the genuineness of the 民; and indeed, if 民

be genuine here (and there is no evidence to the contrary), the same character in the prec.

par. cannot be assailed. The reading of, moreover, and consequent making this chapter terminate without any application to king Ching, takes from its connection with the rest of the Book.

Ch. VI. Pp. 16–18. THE DUKE PRESSES

ON THE KING THE DUTY OF LISTENING TO
ADVICE BY THE EXAMPLE OF THE GOOD SOVE-
REIGNS WHOM HE HAS MENTIONED, AND POINTS
OUT AGAIN THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF A CON-
TRARY COURSE.

6

-the knowing, and not putting the knowledge

王于此古人 不聽信則 人乃道說之以變亂先王 way of their knowledge. Tsue says this is 16. 迪哲‘trod in the 之正法先王之法甚便于 what Mencius calls . the richest fruit of wisdom, 民一變亂之則至于或小 或大或有違怨于心者矣 或有詛祝于口者矣》. Shing reads 此厥不聖人乃訓變 亂正形云云, When the ancient 亂正刑云云=‘When

Keang

sovereigns were not sage, then men led them

away to change,' &c., according to the view of

away'(智之實知而弗去是

17. 皇自

(; see IV., Pt. I., xxvii. 2.).

敬德-皇=大,‘grent,' ‘greatly:

wo generally, as I have done in the translation. may take 敬德 as in Bk. XII., or more

Ying-tě makes the clause=增修善政

Woo Ching. He is compelled, however, to doubt | ‘they increasingly cultivated good government.'

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18 anger. If you will not listen to this and profit by it, when men with extravagant language and deceptive tricks say to you, 'The inferior

19

people are murmuring against you and reviling you,' you will believe them. Doing this, you will not be always thinking of your princely duties, and will not cultivate a large and generous heart. You will confusedly punish the crimeless, and put the innocent to death. There will be a general murmuring, which will be concentrated upon your person.

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VII. The duke of Chow said, " Oh! you king, who have succeeded to the throne, make a study of these things.”

厥愆于其所誣毁之愆

in the case of the faults which were wrongly imputed to them.' 18. This is the applica

tion of the prec. two parr., as par. 15 was an

as in the translation. This is much better 道,

than, with Këang Shing, to read辟 as peih

and understand the expression as

不能

application of 14. Këang Shing cannot adopt | 引咎自責也‘they could not have

selves.' 怨有同‘resentments will

here in the first clause as in p. 15, not acknowledged the blame, and reproved themhaving the precedent which he there had. Still he says we ought to read ; but I cannot think so. The duke of Chow would not have put the case that the worthies he celebrated could have behaved themselves so unworthily.

At 則若是 the transition is abrupt, but

the meaning is plain. 不永念厥 辟=不能永念其為君之

be the same,' i.e., people may receive injuries of different kinds, but all will agree in the feeling of injury and resentment.

Ch. VII. P. 19. Concluding exhortation, that the king should think of all that had been said to

him, and use the address as a light to guide him to from what was evil and dangerous.

safety and excellence, -as a beacon to warn him

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BOOK XVI. PRINCE SHIH.

周命旣于天○日周 旣我墜殷降弗君公 受有厥殷喪弔奭。若

君奭

1 I. The duke of Chow spake to the following effect, "Prince Shih, 2 Heaven, unpitying, sent down ruin on Yin; Yin has lost its appointment, and the princes of our Chow have received it. I do not dare, however, to say, as if I knew it,

THE NAME OF THE BOOK.-, Prince Shih.' With these words the Book begins, and they are taken to be its designation. Shih was the name of the duke of Shaou; see on the title of Book XII. It was to him that the address or announcement here preserved was delivered, so that his name is not an inappropriate designation for it. The Book is found in both the texts.

CONTENTS. Ts'ae says that the duke of Shaou had announced his purpose to retire from office on account of his age, when the duke of Chow persuaded him to remain at his post; and the reasons which he set before him were recorded to form this Book. If this was the design of the duke of Chow, he was a master of the art of veiling his thoughts with a cloud of words. There are expressions which may be taken, indeed, as intimating a wish that the prince Shih should continue at court, but some violence has to be put upon them.

The prefatory notice is to the effect that, when the two dukes were acting as chief ministers to king Ching, the duke of Chow was

'not pleased'E ; see p. 11), and the duke of Chow made the 'Prince Shih.' This expression-not pleased '-has wonderfully vexed the ingenuity of the critics. It is of no use adducing their various explanations of it, for there is nothing in the Book to indicate the existence of such a feeling in Shih's mind. If

"The foundation will ever truly

he was really entertaining such a feeling from any cause, and had in consequence sought leave to withdraw from public life, the duke of Chow thought it his best plan to make no open reference to those delicate points.

The two principal ideas in the address are— that the favour of Heaven can only be permanently secured for a dynasty by the virtue of its sovereigns; and that that virtue is secured mainly by the counsels and help of virtuous ministers. The ablest sovereigns of Shang aro mentioned, and the ministers by whose aid it was, in a great measure, that they became what they were. The cases of Wăn and Woo of their own dynasty, similarly aided by able men, are adduced in the same way; and the speaker adverts to the services which they-the two dukes-had already rendered to their House and their sovereign, and insists that they must go on to the end, and accomplish still greater things. It may be that he is all the while combating some suspicion of himself in the mind of prince Shih, and rebuking some purpose which Shih had formed to abandon his post at the helm of the State; but this is only matter of inference, and does not by any means clearly appear. It will be seen that I have, for convenience' sake, arranged the three and twenty paragraphs in four chapters.

Ch. I. Pp. 1-6. CHOW IS FOR THE PRESENT RAISED BY THE FAVOUR OF HEAVEN TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE EMPIRE. BUT THAT FA

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