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於將國流群叔旣

周獳不言弟及

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公子利公於乃其管王

十八斤

II. Afterwards, upon the death of king Woo, the duke's elder bro

ther, he of Kwan, and his younger brothers, spread a baseless rumour

through the kingdom, saying, "The duke will do no good to the

The analogy of the circle of religious notions among the Chinese obliges us to adopt this conclusion, and, in par. 7, we have an express reference to the supreme disposing of God in human affairs. Still it must be allowed that the doctrine of the former kings being only intercessors is not indicated in the text so clearly as it might have been. In illustration of this I shall quote the words of Ts'aou Heotscuen (; Ming dyn). He says: -The earlier scholars were led, by the words —“I have received a new appointment for him from the three kings," to doubt whether the duke's language (in p. 6)—“ I have many abilities and arts which fit me to serve spiritual beings," really referred to Heaven. They rather thought it did not; but we must not thus pertinaciously insist upon particular expressions. Anciently, when sovereigns sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, they associated their ancestors as assessors and sharers at the ceremony; when they prayed for anything to Heaven and Earth, they depended on the efficacious spirituality of their ancestors to present and second their request. Heaven was the most honourable, and they did not dare to approach it abruptly; their ancestors were the nearest to them, and they could, through the kindness between them, make their thoughts known to them. There is no reason why we should not say that the words, "I have received a new appointment from the three kings," are equivalent to "I have received a new

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AND

PRAYER IN THE COFFER IS DISCOVERED,
THE YOUNG KING ACKNOWLEDGES WITH HIS
TEARS THE INJUSTICE OF HIS THOUGHTS, AND
RECEIVES THE DUKE BACK, WHILE HEAVEN AC-
CORDS EVIDENT TOKENS OF ITS APPROVAL.

12. The manner in which the duke of Chow was
brought into suspicion. The last par. closes with
the statement that the king suddenly recovered
the day after the duke's prayer. This opens with
a reference to his death. Five years have elapsed.
Woo died B.C., 1,115, and was succeeded by
his son Sung ), whose reign dates from
B.C. 1,114, and who is known in history by
the title of Ching ), 'the Completer.'
Ching was only 13 years old, and the duke of
Chow acted as regent of the empire. It was
natural he should do so, for he was the ablest
of all the sons of Wăn, and had been devotedly
attached to his brother Woo, whose chief adviser
he had been, and was without the shadow of
disloyal feeling. The accession of dignity and
influence which he now received, however, moved
his elder brother Seen, and some of his other
brothers to envy, and they had come to be
engaged in a treasonable conspiracy against the
throne. We have seen how Woo, after the
death of the tyrant Show, pardoned his son,
generally known by the name of Woo-kăng
(t), and continued him in Yin to main-

tain the sacrifices to the kings of his line. To guard against the very probable contingency of his rebellion, however, he placed three of his own brothers in the State along with him, with

appointment for him from Heaven' (先儒 因新命 E the title of 'Inspectors' or 'Overscers' (

能多材多藝以服事鬼神 非指天言亦不必如此 泥古者人君 天地必以 祖考配享其

靈以爲 不敢唐

而祖宗至親

祖至

可以情告 也謂新命于三王卽新受 命于天可也)

Ch. II. Pp. 12-19. AFTER THE DEATH OF
KING WOO THE DUKE OF CHOW FALLS UNDER
SUSPICION OF NOT BEING LOYAL TO THE THRONE.

TWO YEARS PASS BY, AND THEN HEAVEN INTER-
POSES TO BRING HIS INNOCENCE TO LIGHT; THE

who should overawe both him and the old ),

ministers of Show. Those overseers were Sëen,

known as Kwan Shuh, older than the duke of Chow; Too (度), known as Ts'ae Shuh (蔡

), immediately younger than the duke; and

Choo(處), known as Hoh Shuh (霍叔), the

eighth of Wăn's sons. Perhaps Seen thought that on the death of Woo the regency, if not the throne, should have devolved upon himself. Mencius ascribes the appointment of him as overseer of Yin to the duke of Chow (see Men., II., Pt. II., ix.), as, no doubt, it was made by Woo on his advice. This may have exasperated him the more against Tan who had thus shelved him, he would think, away from the court. However it was induced, soon after the death of Woo, those three brothers entered into a conspiracy with Woo-kǎng to throw off the yoke of the

得罪二公王告我老公乃 ○年居○我無弗日告 于撕 則 東 周先以辟我 =

13 king's young son.". Upon this the duke of Chow represented to the two dukes, saying, "If I do not take the law to these men, I shall not be able to make my report to our former kings."

14

He resided accordingly in the east for two years, when the

new dynasty, and as a preliminary step, they endeavoured, in the manner indicated in the text, to stir up division between the regent and his nephew.

-Kwan was the name of a city and territory,—the pres. sub. dep. of Ch'ing

, in the dep. of K'ae-fung, Ho-nan. It formed the appanage of Seen, the third of Wăn's sons. I suppose that was originally merely indicative of Seen's place in the line of his brothers (see on Con. Ana., XVIII., xi.); but it has come to be joined with, so that Kwănshuh is now in effect simply a historical name.

b(the younger brothers' were Too and

羣弟一

Ch'oo, as has been detailed above. 流言,

'set words flowing,' spread a baseless ru

mour.

不利於孺子' will not be

13.

advantageous to the child.' By, of
course, the young emperor is meant.
The resolution of the duke.

-ever since the Han dynasty the meaning of
here has been debated. Gan-kwo, reading
the term peih, according to its proper enuncia-

as

-as

in the translation. K'ang-shing, on the other
hand read
, and with the meaning of
that term, so that the text='If I do not get out
of the way,-leave my dignities, and retire from
court, I shall not be able,' &c., &c. The editors
of Yung-ching's Shoo do not give a decided
opinion on either side. Ts'ae has followed
K'ang-shing, but his master Choo He wavered
between the two views, approving now the one,
and now the other. Maou K'e-ling has a long
Lote on the subject, in his

The duke of Chow, on being aware of the insinuations circulated against him, resolved to meet them with promptitude. He owed a duty to the former kings and to the dynasty, and whatever the young king might think, he would act at once against the rebellious and the disloyal.

14. Justice done on the criminals. The different views that are taken of the last paragraph necessarily affect the interpretation of this. Acc. to Gan-kwo, the duke spent two years in the east, operating against Woo-kang and the false brothers, and at the end of that time he had got them into his hands, and dealt with them according to his views of their several guilt. Ying-tă says:-'

·居東(this has already

been explained by 東征之二年,則 罪人於此皆得謂獲三叔

Kang-shing on the other

hand says: 居東者出處東國 待罪以須君之察已

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"He resided in the east means that he left the court and dwelt in an eastern State, allowing the charge of guilt till the king should have examinadmit of this interpretation, but what he says ed into it.' The language so far will certainly

on the next clause is too ridiculous. It is :

罪人周公之屬黨與

攝者周公出皆奔今二年

tion, defined it by and explained the text by 我不以法法三叔則我 無以成周道告我先王 盡為成王所得謂之罪人,史 書成王意也, The criminals are the partizans of the duke of Chow and his acquaintances while he held the regency. When he withdrew from the court, they fled; but now in the two years they were all apprehended by king Ching. The historian calls them criminals, writing from the king's point of view.' Even Keang Shing does not venture to adopt this interpretation, but supposes the meaning to be that the duke, while in the east, came to know who the criminals were that had slandered him. I have said that the phrase admit of the interpretation put on it by K'angshing; but Maou Ke-ling has shown, that if we do not understand it as Gan-kwŏ does, of the duke's operating in the east against his rebellious brothers, there is no other place in that direction from the court, to which his sojourn.

Bk. III., recanting his early opinion in favour of K'ang-shing's view, and giving eight reasons for adopting in preference that of Gan-kwo. Some of them are sufficiently forcible. I have no hesitation in differing on this point from the generally approved interpretation sanctioned by Ts'ae.

will itself

代武王之說一

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代周啟王木電大亦 王後 公金與斯以熟未名公 所縢大拔風未敢之乃 自之夫邦禾穫日為 書盡人盡天公鴟詩 為乃弁大偃大○鴞以 公功得以恐大雷秋王貽

15 criminals were got and brought to justice. Afterwards he made a poen to present to the king, and called it “The Owl.” The king on his part did not dare to blame the duke.

16

In the autumn, when the grain was abundant and ripe, but before it was reaped, Heaven sent a great storm of thunder and lightning, along with wind, by which the grain was all beaten down, and great trees torn up. The people were greatly terrified; and the king and great officers, all in their caps of state, proceeded to open the metalbound coffer, and examine the writings, when they found the words of the duke of Chow when he took on himself the business of taking ing for so long a time can be assigned with any had reference, would not find the difficulty in

degree of probability. 15. The duke sends understanding it which we do. 王亦

a poem to the king to clear himself, but is only

partially successful. The poem here referred to未敢公誚 is now superseded by is in the She King, Part I., Bk. XV., Ode ii. It; it means 'to reprove,' 'to blame.' The

begins : ---

'O owl, O owl,

You have taken my young ones:

Do not also destroy my nest.

I loved them; I laboured for them; I nourished them.-How am I to be pitied.' The received interpretation of it is that it was composed by the duke after he had crushed the insurrectionary movements in Yin, and put to death Woo-käng and Kwan-shuli. By the 'owl' is intended Woo-kăng; and by the ‘nest,' the dynasty of Chow. The writer meant that king Ching should understand by it the devotion which he felt to the imperial House,

and the sorrow which the stern justice he had

clause is understood to intimate that though the king now partially understood the motives of the duke's conduct, and could not blame him for the way in which he had dealt with his other uncles, he still looked on him with some degree of suspicion.

Pp. 16–18. Heaven interposes to bring the duke's innocence to light by means of the prayer in the metal-bound coffer. 16. 秋 -we may

suppose this was the autumn of the the third
雷電
year of Ching,–n.c. 1,112.

J-Lin Che-k'e brings out theby

been obliged to execute upon his brother occa- expanding:一天忽雷電大作又

sioned him. K'ang-shing took a difft. view of

it, in accordance with his interpretation of 繼之以風 as in the translation. The 罪人斯得 in the last par, and supposed paraphrase of the Daily Explanation' is similar. 王與至之書,the 弁

that the duke intended by it to expostulate with the king on the persecution of his friends which he had instituted. But we cannot believe that he would have thus addressed the king as an Owl.' There is nothing in the poem or ode, which readily suggests the interpretation to be put upon it; but there is perhaps something in what Choo He says, that readers at the time, all-excited by the circumstances to which it

was a

skin cap,' worn in court at audiences. It is generally said that the king was going to divine that he might discover the reason of the unusual storm, and therefore opened the coffer which contained the oracles of divination. But we saw, on p. 11, that it is not certain those oracles were kept in that coffer. Possibly it was a repository of important archives, which

偃起

偃盡起而築之歲則大

周○對及
公弗昔王曰王
之及公執信乃
德知勤書噫問

邦 雨禮惟今以公諸
人反亦朕天王 命史

凡風宜小動家日我與

大禾之子威惟其勿百

大木則○其以予勿敢執

孰所畫王新彰沖穆言事。

17 the place of king Woo. The king and the two dukes asked the grand historian and all the other officers about the thing. They replied, "Ah! it was really thus; but the duke charged us that we should 18 not presume to speak about it." The king held the writing, and wept, saying, “We need not now go on reverently to divine. Formerly the duke was thus earnest for the royal House, but I, being a child, did not know it. Now Heaven has moved its terrors to display the virtue of the duke of Chow. That I meet him a new man, is what the rules of propriety of our empire require.”

19

The king then went out to the borders, when Heaven sent down rain; and by virtue of a contrary wind, the grain all rose up. The two dukes gave orders to the people to take up all the large trees which had fallen, and replace them. The year then turned out very fruitful.

were consulted on great emergencies of the State. were all

17. 史與百執事,these

the officers who had assisted the duke when he

made his prayer, &c. 信噫云云

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惟朕小子其新逆

kăng,' Pt. iii., p. 7. Here king Ching was really
a youth.

Ying-ti says: 一噫心不平之聲暗一逆一迎.to meet Ma Yung read 親

is a sound expressive of dissatisfaction of mind.' Gan-kwo calls it They were vexed

恨辭 They were vexed

at being thus obliged to tell what the duke had

charged them to keep secret. Keang Shing

instead of 新 so that the meaning is-"That

I go out and meet him in person,' &e. This

certainly gives a good meaning; and Ts'ae and

Keang Shing both adopt it. Gan-kwo and
K'ang-shing, however, both understand

as

reads, which he explains in a similar way. in the translation. The language of the latter

18. 其勿穆卜今觀公 is:-新迎先時之心更自

書可知天變之所由我君 臣不必更穆卜

;-see the

新以迎周公. This is rather harsh,

but it is more difficult to get a tolerable mean-
ing out of many other passages of the Shoo.

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P. 19. The duke is received buck, and Heaven | sacrifice to Heaven was offered, and thought -it that the going forth was to offer a sacrifice of is most natural to understand this going forth thanksgiving to Heaven for his deliverance to the suburbs with reference to the king's from the unjust suspicions which he had har

signifies its approbation. 王出郊−it | th

purpose indicated in the 朕小子其新boured.

Ts'ae says that after reading this paragraph

逆of the last par. Gan-kwǔ, however, takes it is impossible to doubt the doctrine of 'veri郊 of the place, outside the city, where the great | fications,' laid down in the‘Plan!’

[I may here, in the vacant space of this page | 天則後面能不能事鬼神

introduce Wang Pih's chapter on the 金之語全

in his 'Doubts about the Shoo.' His views are

questionable, but the student will be glad to 于帝廷 廷却

have a complete specimen of the style and man

ner of his Work.一此書敘事體也

武成同武成是敘伐商

事始末此篇是東征

金縢之首尾也其敘事

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之言啟籥而參

書乃是證三卜之果

【身代

代命也惟来

但為

則語帝舉者言乃小以命爲王代天代而聲征而非於

與一後之此不
天之于復吉之書予欲代但三以亦之代入心恩東義也
田家責是以日責
有竊責願三于

責繼若之

事歴

年始末詳略

中,有

力焉納册啟書,

其敘流言居東

間, 情隱然

此武成先列四

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王有任保護丕子之責

未一 一者因

終之計

必不忘於

誅之

瘳而公

神命合是者之也公當我者言死公以作爲私居一

事如二乃此龜果王則圖所人公不俟只天得之下不 鬼乃字幷卜卜吉者公者待之不從命是下以而只牴

公之心而不從

在公

公避

二穆

待者

下為

義於敬字為近初不牴牾

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