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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Those tribes are variously enumerated in the ancient books. Generally the f are assigned to the east, the Zung to the west, the Tf to the north, and the Man to the south. BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. I51I he ruins his aims. His aims should repose in what is right; he should listen to words (also) in their relation to what is right. ‘When he does not do what is unprofitable to the injury of what is profitable, his merit can be completed. When he does not value strange things to the contemning things that are useful, his people will be able to supply (all that he needs). (Even) dogs and horses that are not native to his country he will not keep. Fine birds and strange animals he will not nourish in his state. When he does not look on foreign things as precious, foreigners will come to him; when it is real worth that is precious to him, (his own) people near at hand will be in a state of repose. ‘Oh! early and late never be but earnest. If you do not attend jealously to your small actions, the result will be to affect your virtue in great matters ; —in raising a mound of nine fathoms, the work may be unfinished for want of one basket (of earth). If you really pursue this course (which I indicate), the people will preserve their possessions, and the throne will descend from generation to generation.’ Book VI. Tue METAL-BouND COoFFER. A certain chest or coffer, that was fastened with bands of metal, and in which important state documents were deposited, plays an important part among the incidents of the Book, which is therefore called ‘the Metal-bound Coffer.’ To what class among the documents of the Shfi it should be assigned is doubtful. King W4 is very ill, and his death seems imminent. His brother, the duke of Hau, apprehensive of the disasters which such an 152 THE SHO KING. PART V. event would occasion to their infant dynasty, conceives the idea of dying in his stead, and prays to ‘the three kings,’ their immediate progenitors, that he might be taken and king Wd left. Having done so, and divined that he was heard, he deposits the prayer in the metal-bound coffer. The king gets well, and the duke is also spared; but five years later, WQ does die, and is succeeded by his son, a boy only thirteen years old. Rumours are spread abroad that the duke has designs on the throne, and he withdraws for a time from the court. At length, in the third year of the young king, Heaven interposes. He has occasion to open the coffer, and the prayer of the duke is found. His devotion to his brother and to the interests of their family is brought to light. The boy-monarch weeps because of the unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the approval of Heaven.
2His devotion to his brother and to the interests of their family is brought to light. The boy-monarch weeps because of the unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the approval of Heaven. The whole narrative is a very pleasing episode in the history of the times. It divides itself naturally into two chapters :—the first, ending with the placing the prayer in the coffer; and the second, detailing how it was brought to light, and the consequences of the discovery. It is in this Book that we first meet in the Shi with the duke of 4u, a name in Chinese history only second to that of Confucius. He was the legislator and consolidator of the dynasty of X4u, equally mighty in words and in deeds,—a man of counsel and of action. Confucius regarded his memory with reverence, and spoke of it as a sign of his own failing powers, that the duke of K4u no longer appeared to him in his dreams. He was the fourth son of king Wan; his name was Tan, and he had for his appanage the territory of Kau, where Than-fQ, canonized by him as king ThAi, first placed the seat of his family in B.c. 1327, and hence he is commonly called ‘the duke of Kau.’ 1. Two years after the conquest of Shang?!, the king fell ill, and was quite disconsolate. The two (other great) dukes? said, ‘Let us reverently consult 1 Bc. 112I. * These were the duke of Sh4o, to whom the preceding Book is ascribed, and Th4i-kung, who became the first of the lords of Khi. BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. 1§3 the tortoise-shell about the king;’ but the duke of Au said, ‘You must not so distress our former kings.” He then took the business on himself, and reared three altars of earth on the same cleared space; and having made another altar on the south of these, and facing the north, he took there his own position. Having put a round symbol of jade (on each of the three altars), and holding in his hands the lengthened symbol (of his own rank), he addressed the kings Thai, At, and W&n.* The (grand) historiographer had written on tablets his prayer, which was to this effect :—‘ A. B., your great descendant, is suffering from a severe and violent disease ;—if you three kings have in heaven the charge of (watching over) him, (Heaven’s) great son, let me Tan be a substitute for his person *. I was lovingly obedient to my father ; I am possessed of many abilities and arts, which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your great descendant, on the other hand, has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so capable of serving spiritual beings. And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid all over the kingdom, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower earth. The people of the four quarters all stand in reverent 1 He negatives their proposal, having determined to take the whole thing on himself.
3And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid all over the kingdom, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower earth. The people of the four quarters all stand in reverent 1 He negatives their proposal, having determined to take the whole thing on himself. * Two things are here plain :—first, that the duke of Kau offered himself to die in the room of his brother; and second, that he thought that his offer might somehow be accepted through the intervention of the great kings, their progenitors. He proceeds to give his reasons for making such an offer, which are sufficiently interesting. It was hardly necessary for Chinese scholars to take the pains they have done to free the duke from the charge of boasting in them. 154 THE SHO KING. PART V. awe of him. Oh! do not let that precious Heavenconferred appointment fall to the ground, and (all the long line of) our former kings will also have one in whom they can ever rest at our sacrifices.* I will now seek for your determination (in this matter) from the great tortoise-shell. If you grant me (my request), I will take these symbols and this mace, and return and wait for your orders. If you do not grant it, I will put them by?’ * The duke then divined with the three tortoiseshells, and all were favourable. He opened with a key the place where the (oracular) responses were kept, and looked at them, and they also were favourable. He said, ‘According to the form (of the prognostic) the king will take no injury. I, the little child, have got the renewal of his appointment from the three kings, by whom a long futurity has been consulted for. I have now to wait for the issue. They can provide for our One man.’ * When the duke returned, he placed the tablets (of the prayer) in a metal-bound coffer?, and next day the king got better. 2. (Afterwards), upon the death of king W4, (the duke’s) elder brother, he of Kwan, and his younger brothers, spread a baseless report through the king- 1 I suppose that the divination took place before the altars, and that a different shell was used to ascertain the mind of each king. The oracular responses would be a few lines, kept apart by themselves, and consulted, on occasion, according to certain rules which have not come down to the present day. * Many scholars think that it was this coffer which contained the oracles of divination mentioned above. It may have been so; but I rather suppose it to have been different, and a special chest in which important archives of the dynasty, to be referred to on great emergencies, were kept. e BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. 155 dom, to the effect that the duke would do no good to the (king’s) young son. On this the duke said to the two (other great) dukes, ‘If I do not take the law (to these men), I shall not be able to make my report to the former kings!’ *
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Those tribes are variously enumerated in the ancient books. Generally the f are assigned to the east, the Zung to the west, the Tf to the north, and the Man to the south. BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. I51I he ruins his aims. His aims should repose in what is right; he should listen to words (also) in their relation to what is right. ‘When he does not do what is unprofitable to the injury of what is profitable, his merit can be completed. When he does not value strange things to the contemning things that are useful, his people will be able to supply (all that he needs). (Even) dogs and horses that are not native to his country he will not keep. Fine birds and strange animals he will not nourish in his state. When he does not look on foreign things as precious, foreigners will come to him; when it is real worth that is precious to him, (his own) people near at hand will be in a state of repose. ‘Oh! early and late never be but earnest. If you do not attend jealously to your small actions, the result will be to affect your virtue in great matters ; —in raising a mound of nine fathoms, the work may be unfinished for want of one basket (of earth). If you really pursue this course (which I indicate), the people will preserve their possessions, and the throne will descend from generation to generation.’ Book VI. Tue METAL-BouND COoFFER. A certain chest or coffer, that was fastened with bands of metal, and in which important state documents were deposited, plays an important part among the incidents of the Book, which is therefore called ‘the Metal-bound Coffer.’ To what class among the documents of the Shfi it should be assigned is doubtful. King W4 is very ill, and his death seems imminent. His brother, the duke of Hau, apprehensive of the disasters which such an 152 THE SHO KING. PART V. event would occasion to their infant dynasty, conceives the idea of dying in his stead, and prays to ‘the three kings,’ their immediate progenitors, that he might be taken and king Wd left. Having done so, and divined that he was heard, he deposits the prayer in the metal-bound coffer. The king gets well, and the duke is also spared; but five years later, WQ does die, and is succeeded by his son, a boy only thirteen years old. Rumours are spread abroad that the duke has designs on the throne, and he withdraws for a time from the court. At length, in the third year of the young king, Heaven interposes. He has occasion to open the coffer, and the prayer of the duke is found. His devotion to his brother and to the interests of their family is brought to light. The boy-monarch weeps because of the unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the approval of Heaven.
2His devotion to his brother and to the interests of their family is brought to light. The boy-monarch weeps because of the unjust suspicions he had harboured, and welcomes the duke back to court, amid unmistakeable demonstrations of the approval of Heaven. The whole narrative is a very pleasing episode in the history of the times. It divides itself naturally into two chapters :—the first, ending with the placing the prayer in the coffer; and the second, detailing how it was brought to light, and the consequences of the discovery. It is in this Book that we first meet in the Shi with the duke of 4u, a name in Chinese history only second to that of Confucius. He was the legislator and consolidator of the dynasty of X4u, equally mighty in words and in deeds,—a man of counsel and of action. Confucius regarded his memory with reverence, and spoke of it as a sign of his own failing powers, that the duke of K4u no longer appeared to him in his dreams. He was the fourth son of king Wan; his name was Tan, and he had for his appanage the territory of Kau, where Than-fQ, canonized by him as king ThAi, first placed the seat of his family in B.c. 1327, and hence he is commonly called ‘the duke of Kau.’ 1. Two years after the conquest of Shang?!, the king fell ill, and was quite disconsolate. The two (other great) dukes? said, ‘Let us reverently consult 1 Bc. 112I. * These were the duke of Sh4o, to whom the preceding Book is ascribed, and Th4i-kung, who became the first of the lords of Khi. BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. 1§3 the tortoise-shell about the king;’ but the duke of Au said, ‘You must not so distress our former kings.” He then took the business on himself, and reared three altars of earth on the same cleared space; and having made another altar on the south of these, and facing the north, he took there his own position. Having put a round symbol of jade (on each of the three altars), and holding in his hands the lengthened symbol (of his own rank), he addressed the kings Thai, At, and W&n.* The (grand) historiographer had written on tablets his prayer, which was to this effect :—‘ A. B., your great descendant, is suffering from a severe and violent disease ;—if you three kings have in heaven the charge of (watching over) him, (Heaven’s) great son, let me Tan be a substitute for his person *. I was lovingly obedient to my father ; I am possessed of many abilities and arts, which fit me to serve spiritual beings. Your great descendant, on the other hand, has not so many abilities and arts as I, and is not so capable of serving spiritual beings. And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid all over the kingdom, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower earth. The people of the four quarters all stand in reverent 1 He negatives their proposal, having determined to take the whole thing on himself.
3And moreover he was appointed in the hall of God to extend his aid all over the kingdom, so that he might establish your descendants in this lower earth. The people of the four quarters all stand in reverent 1 He negatives their proposal, having determined to take the whole thing on himself. * Two things are here plain :—first, that the duke of Kau offered himself to die in the room of his brother; and second, that he thought that his offer might somehow be accepted through the intervention of the great kings, their progenitors. He proceeds to give his reasons for making such an offer, which are sufficiently interesting. It was hardly necessary for Chinese scholars to take the pains they have done to free the duke from the charge of boasting in them. 154 THE SHO KING. PART V. awe of him. Oh! do not let that precious Heavenconferred appointment fall to the ground, and (all the long line of) our former kings will also have one in whom they can ever rest at our sacrifices.* I will now seek for your determination (in this matter) from the great tortoise-shell. If you grant me (my request), I will take these symbols and this mace, and return and wait for your orders. If you do not grant it, I will put them by?’ * The duke then divined with the three tortoiseshells, and all were favourable. He opened with a key the place where the (oracular) responses were kept, and looked at them, and they also were favourable. He said, ‘According to the form (of the prognostic) the king will take no injury. I, the little child, have got the renewal of his appointment from the three kings, by whom a long futurity has been consulted for. I have now to wait for the issue. They can provide for our One man.’ * When the duke returned, he placed the tablets (of the prayer) in a metal-bound coffer?, and next day the king got better. 2. (Afterwards), upon the death of king W4, (the duke’s) elder brother, he of Kwan, and his younger brothers, spread a baseless report through the king- 1 I suppose that the divination took place before the altars, and that a different shell was used to ascertain the mind of each king. The oracular responses would be a few lines, kept apart by themselves, and consulted, on occasion, according to certain rules which have not come down to the present day. * Many scholars think that it was this coffer which contained the oracles of divination mentioned above. It may have been so; but I rather suppose it to have been different, and a special chest in which important archives of the dynasty, to be referred to on great emergencies, were kept. e BOOK VI. THE METAL-BOUND COFFER. 155 dom, to the effect that the duke would do no good to the (king’s) young son. On this the duke said to the two (other great) dukes, ‘If I do not take the law (to these men), I shall not be able to make my report to the former kings!’ *
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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