尤天帝亦君于敢天基我 違威命不已不知棐永不 惟越弗敢日祥。曰忱孚敢 人我永寧時○其我于知 在民遠于我鳴終亦休日, 我罔念上我呼出不若厥 abide in prosperity. [If Heaven aid sincerity,-]' Nor do I dare to say, as if I knew it,‘The final end will issue in our misfor3 tunes.’ Oh! you have said, O prince, 'It depends on ourselves.' I also do not dare to rest in the favour of God, never forecasting at a distance the terrors of Heaven in the present time when there is no murmuring or disobedience among the people;-the issue is with men. Should our present successor to his fathers YOUR MAY NOT BE PERMANENT. THE DUKE OF 1. 君奭-in the plainness of ancient manners, it is said, when people were talking together they called each other by their names. Shih, however, is honour ed with the title of prince, which might be given to him, as he had been invested with the principality of Yen. See on the name of Bk. XII. 2. Chow had superseded Yin in the possession of the empire, but it could not be known sincerely virtuous, and so be aided by Heaven, and yet not abide in security, is contrary to reason, and. to the most strongly cherished principles of Chinese doctrine. Medhurst read the words with the next part of the par.- And should Heaven aid us in very deed, still I would not dare positively to affirm that our end would' be entirely the result of misfortune. But such a construction is inadmissible. I have put the clause in the translation as incomplete, and also within brackets, to intimate that I think it out of place. 其終出于不祥 beforehand how long it would continue. 弗 -Këang Shing reals 其崇出于不 弔云云一 云云,-see Bk. XIV, p. 2. The 旣詳; but he explains 祟by終 and 詳 by ; explains崇by終, and詳 in the next two clauses has no conjunctive force,善(一样). Another reading, evidently false, but marks the perfect tense. 我不敢 一道出于不詳 知至末-compare Bk. XIE., p. 17. That passage seems to have misled the old interpret ers, and still to mislead many of the present day, as to the meaning of the text. They make the speaker to have the fate of the past-away was Pp.3–5. The duty of the ministers of Chow was to do what they could in the present to secura the permanence of the dynasty. 3. 嗚呼, dynasty of Yin before him, and not that of their 君已日時我-the simplest way of existing Chow.-'I do not dare to know and “The House of Yin at its beginning might explaining these words, is by taking 時我一 &c. It is plain to me that the speaker Wayte" 是在我而已, it-the permanence of have long accorded with prosperous ways,' fore him the destiny of Chow, which they of the dynasty must fashion for themselves. Whether it would be long or short must depend on their conduct. 厥基永学于休, -'its foundation will for ever be sincerely established in prosperity.’ I do not understand the next clause,若天棐忧 ‘if Heaven assist the sincere.' Whether we suppose the speaker to have reference to the past Yin or the present Chow, these words seem equally out of place. To say that either dynasty might be the dyn.-depends on us,' and supposing that the duke refers to a remark to that effect made at some former period by Shih. Lin Che-k'e and others adduce his language in many parts of his Announcement, e.y. pp. 19, 20, which they think the duke has in view. This is very likely. Other methods to try to get a meaning from the passage are harsh and violent. Gan kwd, for instance, took the meaning to be− Oh prince, what shall I say? I will say, “You should approve of my remaining in the govt." It is strange that Maou Ke-ling should still approve of such a construction. Woo Ching 前克其天天家前上大後 人 經墜難命不人下弗嗣 恭歴命諶不知光遏克子 嗣弗乃易○在佚恭系 prove greatly unable to reverence Heaven and the people, and so bring to an end their glory, could we in our families be ignorant of it? 4 The favour of Heaven is not easily preserved. Heaven is hard to be depended on. Men lose its favouring appointment because they cannot pursue and carry out the reverence and brilliant virtue takes in the same way, and then makes same interpretation must be given of the read 日時我‘But it is my duty to do my ing-我嗣事子孫, adopted by Këang utmost to preserve the favour of Heaven.' 我亦至惟人,-the惟人 with which this part ends corresponds to the 時我 at the beginning, and 實惟在人而已. 弗永遠佘天威越我民 罔尤違 is all one clause, and to be read 1 together, another instance of Choo He's long Shing from a passage in the 'Books of the Early Han;'-see the 王莽傳上 恭 上下,一Ts'ae understands ‘Heaven, to be meant by 上, and the people' by 下, so that the expression敬天敬民 Others understand Heaven and Earth' to be intended. 遏佚前人光-遏 sentences in the Announcements of the Shoo.絕佚墜文武光顯 在 Ts'ae explains it by 不永遠怠天之 家不知 is to be taken interrogatively, 威於我民無尤怨違之 可得謂在家不知乎.Tsae, . Këang Shing puts a stop at understanding the duke as giving one reason for his remaining in the govt. that he could not rest in the present favour of Heaven, but must forecast a change in the aspects of Providence. For the same resolution he finds another reason in the words that follow-越我民 尤 違,惟人在(so he points), (That our = holding that the object of the address was to induce the duke of Shaou to abandon his purpose of retirement, takes the question as addressed to him,- Could you be ignorant of it? The old interpreters, holding that the speaker is much occupied with vindicating his own remaining in the government, take it in the first person, -'Could I be ignorant.' The best plan seems to be to put it as in the translation. It may thus be applied to either of the dukes; and I be people may be kept from murmurs and disaffec-lieve that the duke of Chow intended it both tion depends on the right men being there.' for himself and his friend. 4,5. 天命 To make the language in any way bear this in terpretation he is obliged to suppose that 越 is a mistake for E. Gan-kwo paused at opposition. Interpretation could hardly be| more unlicensed. Nor does he succeed better in what remains of the par. K'e-ling labours in vain to impart some likelihood to his views. 在我後至末-the 在 is used as in the last Book, pp.5 and 6. By 我後嗣 子孫 we must understand king Ching. The the Both pos不易天難諶-comp. sessed Pure Virtue,' p. 2; et al, Këang Shing, 不易天應棐諶 which may safely on the authority mentioned above, reads一命 be rejected on internal grounds. In interpreting the rest of the par. there is much difference of view. Acc. to that followed in the translation, 前人恭明德=前人 之恭德與明德‘the reverent virtue and the brilliant virtue of their forefathers; the former referring to the 恭上下 of the last par, and the latter to the 前人光 This 恭明德 is governed by the 伊旣奭王延信子前旦德。 我聞 伊尹格于皇天 昔 受天我○人非 命不道又光克在品 ○ 庸惟曰施有今 公釋天于正 天有成日于王不我迪小 在若湯君文德可沖惟子 5 of their forefathers. Now I, Tan, being but as a little child, am not able to correct our king. I would simply conduct him to the glory 6 of his forefathers, and make his youth partaker of that." He also said, "Heaven is not to be trusted. Our course is simply to seek the prolongation of the virtue of the Tranquillizing king, and Heaven will not find occasion to remove its favouring decree which king Wan received." 7 II. The duke said, " Prince Shih, I have heard that of ancient time, when T'ang the Successful had received the favouring decree, he had with him E Yin, making his virtue like that of great Heaven. verbs 經歴 and 嗣 Gan-kwo, instead the P. 6. The favour of Heaven being so uncertain, way to secure it is by perpetuating the virtue of king Woo. We are to understand king Woo by and read on the conclusion with the first part | The Tranquillizing king,'-see on Bk. VII., p. of construing the passage thus, put a stop at of the 5th par.-嗣前人恭明德 3. Ts'ae expands the text very clearly:-天 在今予小子日 To continue the 固不可信然在我之道,惟 reverent and brilliant virtue of our forefathers 以延長武王之德使天不 rests now with me the little child Tan.' Keang Shing has nearly the same punctuation. After 容捨文王所受之命也 all this, no two agree in explaining the former portion一乃其 (K. S. omits this 其墜 命弗克經歴 It will suffice to mention the view of Ke-ling:一夫天之墜 命者以其不能有經歷人 'now Heaven lets its favouring decree fall to the ground, because they cannot have men of Ch. II. Pp. 7–10. WHAT BENEFITS WERE DERIVED DURING THE TIME OF YIN FROM THE GREAT AND ABLE MINISTERS WHO LIVED IN DIFFERENT REIGNS. IT WAS FOR PRINCE SHIH IN HIS TIME TO SERVE IN THE SAME WAY THE DYNASTY OF CHOW. 7. The most distinguished ministers of Yin, and the emperors under whom they flourished. 我聞至皇天-the 若 prefixed to all the names = 'a man like,' yet experience!’ For非克有正云 hot implying any other besides the minister thus 云, the ‘Daily Explanation' gives: 我非 pointed out. 伊尹, , see the first introduc眞有格心之術可以匡正 tory note on The Instructions of E. 格于皇天,see(The Charge to Yuğ, 格于皇天在太甲至保衡 Charge to Yuě Pt. iii, p. 10. 吾君也所孜孜啟迪著惟 以前人光大之德付與我 沖子使其上而事天下而 治民知所經歷繼嗣不至 于遏佚前人之光耳 Pt. iii., p. 10. with evident reference to the beginning of 有惟有賢 賢乙咸扈 咸扈則保太 殷兹若在時又格有衡甲 故有甘武則王于若 時 殷陳盤。丁有家上伊太則 禮保○時若在帝陟戊有 陟又率則巫祖巫臣時若 Tae-kën, again, had Paou-hăng. Tae-mow had E Chih and Chin Hoo, through whom his virtue was made to affect God; he had also Woo Heen, who regulated the royal House. Tsoo-yih had Woo 8 Heen. Woo-ting had Kan Pwan. These ministers carried out their principles, and effected their arrangements, preserving and regulating the empire of Yin, so that, while its ceremonies lasted, those sove–see the notices 22 and 23 in the Confucian (安上治民之禮 ), and the whole clause preface. We may assume that in this passage the duke of Chow had before him the Books of Shang mentioned in those notices, which are now lost. If we had them, we should find the as meaning that the govt. of Yin was so good that its sovereigns were on earth the representatives of God above, and occupied the imperial expression 格于上帝 as we find 格 seat(殷得此安上治民之禮 于皇天 in (The Charge to Yuě From the 13th notice in the preface we learn that Tang had a minister called Chin Hoo. He would be an ancestor probably of the Chin Hoo mentioned here in connection with T'ae-mow. 能升配上天天在人上故 謂之升為天之子是配也 This is ingenious, but it imposes too great vio lence on the language. cannot be taken as 祖乙至巫賢,一if Book Tsoo-yih (see Pref.,n.26), we should 甘盤-see (The Charge to Yuğ' Pt. iii., p. 1. We cannot but be surprised that the duke does not make any mention of Foo Yuě. Keang Shing throws out the hint that Kan Pwan and Foo Yuč may have been the same man,which is absurd. Gan-shih says that as Pwan was the earliest instructor of Woo-ting, the wisdom which guided that emperor to get Yue for his minister was owing to him; but this does not account for the omission of Yue in the duke's list. Perhaps something like a reason for it is suggested by the next par. 8. The happy| result of the services of those ministers. 率性 兹有陳−this must be spoken of the six great ministers just enumerated.-'In accordance with this,'-i.e., their course of action so described 'they had an arrangement.' The meaning is very obscure. The critics, however, all expand it much as Ts'ae does:一六臣循 惟此道有陳列之功殷禮 陟配天,Gan-kwǒ takes 殷禮 the 殷禮 are most naturally taken adverbially, = 'according to the ceremonial usages of Yin,' or as in the translation. Then 陟 and 配天 are predicates of the emperors of Yin, probably of those who are specially mentioned in the preceding par., the former char. describing them as deceased’(see (The Canon of Shun,' p. 28), and declaring the fact of their being associated with Heaven in the sacrifices to it. In the present dyn. all its departed emperors are so honoured at the great sacrificial services. Under the Chow dyn. only How-tseih and king Wán enjoyed the distinction. The rule of the emperors of whom the duke has been speaking. Yin dyn. seems to have been to associate the five [We have perhaps in this custom a reason for the omission of Foo Yue iu the prec. par. From the Pwan-kang, Pt. i., 14, we learn that their ministers shared in the sacrifices to the sovereigns of Yin. Each emperor would have one minister as his assessor, and so Woo-ting could the latter may have been the greater man of the not have both Kan Pwan and Foo Yuě. Though two, the sacrificial honour was given to the other as having been the earlier instructor of ceremonies of Yin,' as = 'the govt. of Yin' the emperor. The duke, having the emperors 罔于辟惟矧恤人則 則O配 不四故德咸小罔商天天 是方一稱奔臣不實惟多 孚若人用走屏秉百純歴 下有 惟侯德姓佑年 公噬事兹甸明王命所。 reigns though deceased were assessors to Heaven, while it extended 9 over many years. Heaven thus determinately maintained its favouring appointment, and Shang was replenished with men. The various officers, and members of the royal House holding employments, all held fast their virtue, and displayed an anxious solicitude for the empire. The smaller officers, and the chiefs in the How and Teen domains, hurried about on their services. Thus did they all put forth their virtue, and aid their sovereign, so that whatever affairs he, the one man, had in hand, throughout the four quarters of the empire, an entire sincerity was conceded to them as to the indications of the tortoise or the milfoil." as sacrified to in his mind, had no occasion therefore to mention Yuě. This explanation was first suggested by Soo Shih.] I acquiesce in this view of the text, in preference to that proposed by Gan-kwo. It has its difficulties, however, and one of the principal is that we are obliged to find another subject for the verb in the concluding clause. The use of所, at the end is peculiar. The Daily Explanation' says it is merely an expletive' ( void.' The meaning seems to be that Heaven smiled upon the empire sustained by those great ministers, and there was no lack of smaller men to do their duty in their less important spheres with ability and virtue. what 百姓 it is not possible to say positively officers are intended by these designa as 'the tions. Woo Ching takes 百姓 people of the imperial domain’(王畿之 which is saying that no account of it; comp. the use of the phrase in The can be given. A usage of it apparently analogous to that here is given in the Dict., with the definition-指物之辭, a demon strative.’ P. 9. The same subject. 天惟純 佑命則商實一such is the punctuation adopted by Ts'ae, and also by Keang Shing. Gan-kwǒ read on to 百姓, but the meaning which he endeavours to make out for 商實百姓 is inadmissible. Ts'ae sup ports the explanation of which appears in the translation, by referring to Mencius, Book VII, Pt. II, xii, 1,不信仁賢 則國空虛.If men of virtue and ability Canon of Yaou,'p. 2); but it must be used of officers or ministers, and not of the people. Perhaps Keang I suppose it=百官 Shing is correct in taking 百姓 officers with different as the surnames from that of the imperial House (異姓之臣), and EA as cadets of that House in official employment (王之族人同姓之 憂國之心. The phrase is correlative 甸為屏藩于侯甸之服 be not trusted, a State will become empty and those who acted as screens (=the prin |