汝克愆位良,咸不 大先 謬士賴○下發 若合居务 後人萬罔罔承 命俾繩有無邦有有弼 and followers, were all men of correctness, morning and evening waiting on their sovereign's wishes or supplying his deficiencies. Those kings, going out and coming in, rising up and sitting down, were thus made reverent. Their every warning and command was good. The people yielded a reverent obedience, and the 3 myriad regions were all happy. But I, the one man, am destitute of goodness, and really depend on the officers who have places about me to help my deficiencies, applying the line to my faults, and exhibiting my errors, thus correcting my bad heart, and enabling me to be the successor of my meritorious predecessors. 4 "Now I appoint you to be High Chamberlain, to see that all belonging to your department and my personal attendants are correct, istering and waiting; 御=御車者chari oteers;' 僕=太僕羣僕‘the chamber 繩愆糾謬繩 is the ‘line' by which things are made straight. We naturally look for a corresponding figure in, but we lains and all their subordinates;從=凡 do not have it. It is taken here by Gan-kwð, 從王者, all in close attendance on the Sovereign's person.' Choo He remarks that anciently and in the Han dyn., 'all who were even in mean offices about the sovereign were officers of some rank’(士大夫) 承=順 as= 一舉 'to raise up,' 'to exhibit.' Lin Che kfe understands by 繩 the thread which is in the used in mending rents;' and he takes sense of, 'to examine.' 先烈‘the 'to accord with,' 'to obey.' 弼匡正former ardent and meritorious ones are Wán ‘to support and correct.’ 出入至 and Woo. 發號施令,Wang Gan-shih Pp. 4-8. The appointment of Pih-keung. 4. 欽−this is to be understood of the sovereigns. His duties, and rules for their discharge. 大正=太僕正 ;–see the note on the name of the Book. 正于至之臣 observes that intimations of the imperial will to serve as warnings were called, while such as were to have the force of laws were 令(發之以為警戒之謂號 施之以為法守之謂令). 3. The king declares how much more he must be −the于 need not be translated. It merely carries on the action of 正 to臣 羣 僕侍御 are all the officers of the High Chamberlain's department mentioned in the said dependent on the good services of those about him. note. Ts'ae taking 大正3s=太僕 , 厥厥惟合簡德侍 不后 后后吉色 于 德自克士。便 迪㷿惟聖正○ 辟 間乃僚無以 臣 上人臣后僕僕側以逮懋 以充◎德臣臣媚巧〇乃 非耳爾諫正其言慎后 that you may strive to promote the virtue of your sovereign, and 5 together supply my deficiencies. Be careful in choosing your officers. Do not employ men of artful speech and insinuating looks, men whose likes and dislikes are ruled by mine, one-sided 6 men and flatterers; but employ good men. When these household officers are correct, their sovereign will be correct; when they are flatterers, the sovereign will consider himself a sage. The sovereign's virtue and his want of it depend equally on those officers. 7 Cultivate no intimacy with flatterers, nor get them to fill the offices of my ears and eyes;-they will lead their sovereign to would yet include among them the various of- | here:一便者,順人之所欲 太馭, which, I said, we saw to be wrong. 者避人之所惡 吉士,一路 in Bk. XIX, p. 9, 一善士君子 ficers of the carriages who were under the The here can have nothing to do with the carriages. I have my doubts, indeed, whether 其惟吉士所用者惟吉士 it should be translated ‘charioteers' in p. 2. 而已. 6. The importance of having correct 交修,‘cultivate together.交 is used as men about the sovereign. 僕臣, we may in EJ, Mencius, I., Pt. I., i., translate this here by 'household officers.' 3. Wang Tsëaou says on it:-言左右 言左右 后德惟臣,不惟臣Gan-kwǒ 前後非一人交以修君之 says for this:-君之有德惟臣成 所不逮爲事也 5. How Keung 之君之無德惟臣誤之言 君所行善惡專在左右 自聖'sages himself,' 自以為聖 should be careful in selecting his officers. 慎 簡乃僚朋: friends,' companions,''brother officers. But we must take the term here as meaning the subordinate officers of the Chamberlain's dept. It would appear from this that, under the Chow dyn., it was the business of every head of a dept. to select all the members of it. There were, no doubt, general principles for his guidance, but it was his to choose the men. 巧言令色 see 'The Counsels of Kaou-yaou,' p. 2. 辟一 = 7. The king warns Keung again against 昵 having anything to do with flatterers. see Pt. IV., Bk. VIII., Pt. ii., 5. -see Bk. XIX., p. 20. 充耳目之 -to get them to fill the offices of the ears 官,一 and eyes. The king must in a great measure hear with the ears and see with the eyes of those -see Ana., XVI., , iv. Ts'ae defines them | about him. See the phrase 耳目之官 9 后欽 后于彝害 辟大痰貨非先 人 惟弗厥 予 克官 嗚汝祗惟 乃呼辜。 貨其吉若時 寺惟 先王之典C 8 disregard the statutes of the former kings. If you choose your men not for the goodness of their personal qualities, but for the sake of their bribes, the offices will thus be all made of no effect. Your great want of reverence for your sovereign will be apparent, and to you I will impute the blame." The king said, “Oh! be reverent! Ever help your sovereign to follow the regular laws of duty which he should exemplify." in Men., VI., Pt. I., xv., 2. 8. Let Keung | should be explained in accordance with this choose his officers on the ground of what they are, and not for what they have or can give him. 貨 is here =賂, to bribe,''a bribe.’ 非 人其吉惟貨其吉-this is ad dressed directly to Pih-keung. If it be not the man in whom is the excellence, but it is the bribe in which you see the excellence.' Gan-kwo missed the point and terseness of the language: -若非其人實吉良惟以貨 財配其吉良以求入于僕 侍之中, 若時=如是,‘thus 瓌一曠, ‘to make void,' 'to leave as it were empty. This is difft. from its use in Bk. IX., text. P.9. The conclusion. 彝憲常法 'the regular or constant laws of conduct,' which the sovereign should observe. CONCLUDING NOTE. The character of king Muh does not stand high with Chinese historians. Towards the end of his long reign, for 55 years are assigned to him, he took it into his head that he should travel, without any pire, wherever he could go. He did not prove definite purpose of usefulness, all over the em the man that the critics say might have been expected from the language of his Charges to Keun-ya and Pih-keung. Lin Che-k'e thinks his fallings off have been exaggerated. To my mind these two addresses betray a tendency to PP. 6, 17. Perhaps 瘰 在, Bk. XII, p. 10, | exaggeration, and betoken a feebleness of mind. BOOK XXVII. THE PRINCE OF LEU UPON PUNISHMENTS. 詰刑度耄百享命 四以作荒年國王呂 1 節 呂刑 1 I. In reference to the charge to the prince of Leu:-When the king had enjoyed the throne till he was the age of a hundred years, he gave great consideration to the appointment of punishments, in order to restrain the people of all quarters. INTRODUCTORY NOTE. The two last Books, there was reason to believe, were to be referred to the commencement of king Muh's reign; this, we learn from the Book itself, was the work of its close, when the king was not less than a century old. During the half century that he occupied the throne, the House of Chow went on to decline. Acc. to Sze-ma Ts'een, the king would engage in hostilities with the wild tribes round about, contrary to the counsels of his advisers, losing consequently the former reverence with which they had regarded the sovereigns of Chow, and the good-will also of many of the princes. As to the character of his enactments about punishments, which were the work of his hundredth year, opinions are greatly divided, some critics condemning it so much that they cannot understand why Confucius gave the Book a place in the Shoo. I will reserve the expression of a judgment in the case till we have considered its different parts in detail. THE NAME OF THE BOOK. The tions which the king announces had in the first place been digested by him. is to be taken as = 侯(The prince of Leu,' being itself the name of a principality, the place of which cannot be clearly ascertained. The Book is quoted in the Le Ke several times, and in other works, by the name of "The Punishments of the prince of Foo.' Indeed this was the prevailing name of it during the Han dynasty. The truth seems to be, that the descendants of the prince of Leu were appointed to the principality of Foo, and their territorial title was transferred to him and to this Book. The Houses of Ts'e ), Shin (Ħ), Heu ), and Foo (), all traced their descent to Yaou's president of the Four Eminences, surnamed Keang). He or his son was to the great Yu a minister who served the pur prince of Leu upon Punishments, or "The pose of his heart and backbone’(Ŭ E Z Punishments of the prince of Leu.' The Prefatory note say's that 'Leu received the orders of king Muh to set forth the lessons of Hea on the redemption of punishments, and there was made LEU ON PUNISHMENTS' (see page. 13., n. 64). We can hardly say that any of this appears in the Book, for Leu, or the prince of Leu, is mentioned only once. The king is the speaker throughout. Nothing is said of Hea. We may accept the tradition, however, that Leu was Muh's minister of Crime, and that the regula CONTENTS. I confine myself for the present subjoins Mencius' account of it,to the account of these given in the Complete 無厭謂之荒 ments. Digest.Par. 1 is the historiographer's account of the circumstances in which these lessons on punishments were made. Parr. 2-12 relate the lessons of antiquity for the information of the judges and princes, being a historical resumé which it was important for them to be acquainted with. Par. 13 is addressed specially to the princes, admonishing them of the diligence and carefulness to be employed in the use of punishParr. 14-20 tell them how they should proceed in that use so as to make punishments a blessing. Par. 21 insists again on the reverence with which punishments should be employ ed. The last par. is addressed to future generations, and directs them to the ancient models, that punishments may never be but a blessing to the empire. Throughout the Book, "virtue" and "exact adaptation" are the terms which carry the weight of the meaning. Virtue must underlie the use of punishments, and exact adaptation will be the manifestation of it' PUNISHMENTS WAS MADE. 惟呂命 · Pursuing the chase without satiety is what I call being wild;'— this clause has no syntactical connection with★EZZ. But in this the rest of the par. Ts'ae says that the characters are used in the same way as 惟認命 latter criticism he is incorrect. We have the character used by Shun of himself in The Counsels of Yu,' p. 9, where it simply expresses the fact of his great age, and I do not think that we are to seek for any other meaning for it in the text. The general rhythm of the par. also satisfies me that Shih's construction is to be preferred, unless indeed we should introduce a before in 'The Charge to Yuě,' Pt. ii., p. 1; but the student will perceive that the cases are not at all analogous. is an integral part of the par. where it stands, and supplies the nominative to the first verb in the par. which follows. We may suppose that the prince of Leu had received charge to digest the subject of punishments in acc. with his own views and, as Keang Shing does, but on insufficient authose of king Muh; that he had done so; and that the king published the result as is subsequently narrated. In this way we may give the meaning which appears in the translation. It is not certain how the rest of the par. thority. Thus taken, the historiogaprher in this par. indicates neither censure nor approbation of king Muh's labours on the subject of punishments; and this is a recommendation of the view. It still remains to direct attention to the ought to be pointed. Should and peculiarity of the language-07 be joined together and stand intermediately, which, on the analogy of Bk. XV., p. 4, between what precedes and what follows, quali fying more especially what follows? or should et al., and most naturally too, would be under stood as saying that king Muh occupied the throne for a hundred years. Such a view has its supporters. Wang Ch'ung, for instance, we put a stop at 耄, joining it to 享國 百年, and make an adv, qualifying | maintains it, in his 論衡卷一氣壽篇 荒 Gan-kwo took the former method, in which he is followed by Ts'ae, who says that is the designation of one who is old, with the weakness and mental disorders of age (老而亂之稱荒 he defines, after adding that Muh lived altogether to the age of about 140. This cannot be admitted. Szema Ts'een says he was 50 when he succeeded to the throne, and that he reigned 55 years. has a meaning here intermediate between that in Bk. XX., p, p. 22, and that in XX., p. Gan-kwo, by sudden,' ' neglectful,' and 11,-. |