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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1THe AUN-KHAN. Kon-KHKN was the successor in ‘the eastern capital’ of the duke of Kau, who has now passed off the stage of the Sh@, which he occupied so long. Between ‘the Officers of Kau’ and this Book, there were, when the Shi was complete, two others, which are both lost. We must greatly deplore the loss of the second of them, for it contained an account of the death of the duke of Kau, and an announcement made by king KAang by his bier. Who Atin-k44n, the charge to whom on entering on his important government is here preserved, really was, we are not informed. Some have supposed that he was a son of the duke of Kau; but we may be sure, from the analogy of other charges, that if he had been so, the fact would have been alluded to in the text. tin-£Ain might be translated ‘the prince AA&n,’ like Xin Shih in the title of Book xvi, but we know nothing of any territory with which he was invested. The following summary of the contents is given by a Chinese critic: —‘ The whole Book may be divided into three chapters. The first relates Kin-244n’s appointment to the government of the eastern capital. The concluding words, “ Be reverent,” 1¢The threefold business of government’ is the appointment of the men of office, the officers of law, and the pastors, ‘the three concerns of those in the three highest positions,’ as described in the last Book, ch. 4. The king, probably, intends the Kung, the K4, and the six ministers, whose duties he has spoken of. The ‘great officers’ will be all the officers inferior to these in their several departments. 232 THE SHO KING. PART V. are emphatic, and give the key-note to all that follows. The second chapter enjoins on him to exert himself to illustrate the lessons of the duke of K4u, and thereby transform the people of Yin. The third requires him to give full development to those lessons, and instances various particulars in which his doing so would appear ;—all illustrative of the command at the commencement, that he should be reverent.’ _ 1. The king spake to the following effect :— ‘ Kiin-kan, it is you who are possessed of excellent virtue, filial and respectful. Being filial, and friendly with your brethren, you can display these qualities in the exercise of goverment. I appoint you to rule this eastern border. Be reverent.’
2The king spake to the following effect :— ‘ Kiin-kan, it is you who are possessed of excellent virtue, filial and respectful. Being filial, and friendly with your brethren, you can display these qualities in the exercise of goverment. I appoint you to rule this eastern border. Be reverent.’ 2. ‘Formerly, the duke of A4u acted as teacher and guardian of the myriads of the people, who cherish (the remembrance of) his virtue. Go and with sedulous care enter upon his charge; act in accordance with his regular ways, and exert yourself to illustrate his lessons ;—so shall the people be regulated. I have heard that he said, “ Perfect government has a piercing fragrance, and influences the spiritual intelligences.* It is not the millet which has the piercing fragrance ; it is bright virtue.” Do you make this lesson of the duke of KAu your rule, being diligent from day to day, and not presuming to indulge in luxurious ease. Ordinary men, while they have not yet seen a sage, (are full of desire) as if they should never get a sight of him; and after they have seen him, they are still unable to follow him. Be cautioned by this! You are the wind; the inferior people are the grass. In revolving the plans of your government, never hesitate to acknowledge the difficulty of the subject. Some things have to be abolished, and some new things to be enacted ;— BOOK XXI. THE KUN-KHAN. 233 going out and coming in, seek the judgment of your people about them, and, when there is a general agreement, exert your own powers of reflection. When you have any good plans or counsels, enter and lay them before your sovereign in the palace. Thereafter, when you are acting abroad in accordance with them, say, “ This plan or this view is all due to our sovereign.” Oh! if all ministers were to act thus, how excellent would they be, and how distinguished !’ 3. The king said, ‘ Kiin-£44n, do you give their full development to the great lessons of the duke of Kau. Do not make use of your power to exercise oppression; do not make use of the laws to practise extortion. Be gentle, but with strictness of rule. Promote harmony by the display of an easy forbearance. ‘When any of the people of Yin are amenable to punishment, if I say “ Punish,” do not you therefore punish ; and if I say “ Spare,” do not you therefore spare. Seek the due middle course. Those who are disobedient to your government, and uninfluenced by your instructions, you will punish, remembering that the end of punishment is to make an end of punishing. Those who are inured to villainy and treachery, those who violate the regular duties of society, and those who introduce disorder into the public manners :—those three classes you will not spare, though their particular offences be but small. ‘Do not cherish anger against the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek: not every quality in one individual. You must have patience, and you will be successful; have forbearance, and your virtue will 234 THE sH6 KING. PART V.
3‘Do not cherish anger against the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek: not every quality in one individual. You must have patience, and you will be successful; have forbearance, and your virtue will 234 THE sH6 KING. PART V. be great. Mark those who discharge their duties well, and also mark those who do not do so, (and distinguish them from one another.) Advance the good, to induce those who may not be so to follow (their example). ‘The people are born good, and are changed by (external) things,* so that they resist what their superiors command, and follow what they (themselves) love. Do you but reverently observe the Statutes, and they will be found in (the way of) virtue; they will thus all be changed, and truly advance to a great degree of excellence. Then shall I, the One man, receive much happiness, and your excellent services will be famous through long ages |’ Book XXII. Tue TestaMENTARY CHARGE. Tuts Book brings us to the closing act of the life of king KA&ng, whose reign, according to the current chronology, lasted thirtyseven years, ending in B.c. 1079. From the appointment of Xiinkhan to his death, the king’s history is almost a blank. The only events chronicled by Sze-m4 Kéien are a coinage of round money with a square hole in the centre,—the prototype of the present cash; and an enactment about the width and length in which pieces of silk and cloth were to be manufactured. King X4ang, feeling that his end-is near, calls his principal ministers and other officers around his bed, and commits his son Ko to their care and guidance. The record of all these things and the dying charge form a chapter that ends with the statement of the king’s death. The rest of the Book forms a second chapter, in which we have a detailed account of the ceremonies connected with the publication of the charge, and the accession of Ko to the throne. It is an interesting account of the ways of that distant time on such occasions. 1. In the fourth month, when the moon began to wane, the king was indisposed. On the day Xia- BOOK XXII. THE TESTAMENTARY CHARGE, 235 §ze, he washed his hands and face; his attendants , put on him his cap and robes!; (and he sat up), leaning on a gem-adorned bench*. He then called together the Grand-Guardian Shih, the earls of Zui and Thung, the duke of Pi, the marquis of Wei, the duke of MAo, the master of the warders, the master of the guards, the heads of the various departments, and the superintendents of affairs *. The king said, ‘Oh! my illness has greatly increased, and it will soon be over with me. The malady comes on daily with more violence, and maintains its hold. I am afraid I may not find (another opportunity) to declare my wishes about my successor, and therefore I (now) lay my charge upon you with special instructions. The former rulers, our kings Wan and W4, displayed in succession their equal glory, making sure provision for the support of the people, and setting forth their
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.
1THe AUN-KHAN. Kon-KHKN was the successor in ‘the eastern capital’ of the duke of Kau, who has now passed off the stage of the Sh@, which he occupied so long. Between ‘the Officers of Kau’ and this Book, there were, when the Shi was complete, two others, which are both lost. We must greatly deplore the loss of the second of them, for it contained an account of the death of the duke of Kau, and an announcement made by king KAang by his bier. Who Atin-k44n, the charge to whom on entering on his important government is here preserved, really was, we are not informed. Some have supposed that he was a son of the duke of Kau; but we may be sure, from the analogy of other charges, that if he had been so, the fact would have been alluded to in the text. tin-£Ain might be translated ‘the prince AA&n,’ like Xin Shih in the title of Book xvi, but we know nothing of any territory with which he was invested. The following summary of the contents is given by a Chinese critic: —‘ The whole Book may be divided into three chapters. The first relates Kin-244n’s appointment to the government of the eastern capital. The concluding words, “ Be reverent,” 1¢The threefold business of government’ is the appointment of the men of office, the officers of law, and the pastors, ‘the three concerns of those in the three highest positions,’ as described in the last Book, ch. 4. The king, probably, intends the Kung, the K4, and the six ministers, whose duties he has spoken of. The ‘great officers’ will be all the officers inferior to these in their several departments. 232 THE SHO KING. PART V. are emphatic, and give the key-note to all that follows. The second chapter enjoins on him to exert himself to illustrate the lessons of the duke of K4u, and thereby transform the people of Yin. The third requires him to give full development to those lessons, and instances various particulars in which his doing so would appear ;—all illustrative of the command at the commencement, that he should be reverent.’ _ 1. The king spake to the following effect :— ‘ Kiin-kan, it is you who are possessed of excellent virtue, filial and respectful. Being filial, and friendly with your brethren, you can display these qualities in the exercise of goverment. I appoint you to rule this eastern border. Be reverent.’
2The king spake to the following effect :— ‘ Kiin-kan, it is you who are possessed of excellent virtue, filial and respectful. Being filial, and friendly with your brethren, you can display these qualities in the exercise of goverment. I appoint you to rule this eastern border. Be reverent.’ 2. ‘Formerly, the duke of A4u acted as teacher and guardian of the myriads of the people, who cherish (the remembrance of) his virtue. Go and with sedulous care enter upon his charge; act in accordance with his regular ways, and exert yourself to illustrate his lessons ;—so shall the people be regulated. I have heard that he said, “ Perfect government has a piercing fragrance, and influences the spiritual intelligences.* It is not the millet which has the piercing fragrance ; it is bright virtue.” Do you make this lesson of the duke of KAu your rule, being diligent from day to day, and not presuming to indulge in luxurious ease. Ordinary men, while they have not yet seen a sage, (are full of desire) as if they should never get a sight of him; and after they have seen him, they are still unable to follow him. Be cautioned by this! You are the wind; the inferior people are the grass. In revolving the plans of your government, never hesitate to acknowledge the difficulty of the subject. Some things have to be abolished, and some new things to be enacted ;— BOOK XXI. THE KUN-KHAN. 233 going out and coming in, seek the judgment of your people about them, and, when there is a general agreement, exert your own powers of reflection. When you have any good plans or counsels, enter and lay them before your sovereign in the palace. Thereafter, when you are acting abroad in accordance with them, say, “ This plan or this view is all due to our sovereign.” Oh! if all ministers were to act thus, how excellent would they be, and how distinguished !’ 3. The king said, ‘ Kiin-£44n, do you give their full development to the great lessons of the duke of Kau. Do not make use of your power to exercise oppression; do not make use of the laws to practise extortion. Be gentle, but with strictness of rule. Promote harmony by the display of an easy forbearance. ‘When any of the people of Yin are amenable to punishment, if I say “ Punish,” do not you therefore punish ; and if I say “ Spare,” do not you therefore spare. Seek the due middle course. Those who are disobedient to your government, and uninfluenced by your instructions, you will punish, remembering that the end of punishment is to make an end of punishing. Those who are inured to villainy and treachery, those who violate the regular duties of society, and those who introduce disorder into the public manners :—those three classes you will not spare, though their particular offences be but small. ‘Do not cherish anger against the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek: not every quality in one individual. You must have patience, and you will be successful; have forbearance, and your virtue will 234 THE sH6 KING. PART V.
3‘Do not cherish anger against the obstinate, and dislike them. Seek: not every quality in one individual. You must have patience, and you will be successful; have forbearance, and your virtue will 234 THE sH6 KING. PART V. be great. Mark those who discharge their duties well, and also mark those who do not do so, (and distinguish them from one another.) Advance the good, to induce those who may not be so to follow (their example). ‘The people are born good, and are changed by (external) things,* so that they resist what their superiors command, and follow what they (themselves) love. Do you but reverently observe the Statutes, and they will be found in (the way of) virtue; they will thus all be changed, and truly advance to a great degree of excellence. Then shall I, the One man, receive much happiness, and your excellent services will be famous through long ages |’ Book XXII. Tue TestaMENTARY CHARGE. Tuts Book brings us to the closing act of the life of king KA&ng, whose reign, according to the current chronology, lasted thirtyseven years, ending in B.c. 1079. From the appointment of Xiinkhan to his death, the king’s history is almost a blank. The only events chronicled by Sze-m4 Kéien are a coinage of round money with a square hole in the centre,—the prototype of the present cash; and an enactment about the width and length in which pieces of silk and cloth were to be manufactured. King X4ang, feeling that his end-is near, calls his principal ministers and other officers around his bed, and commits his son Ko to their care and guidance. The record of all these things and the dying charge form a chapter that ends with the statement of the king’s death. The rest of the Book forms a second chapter, in which we have a detailed account of the ceremonies connected with the publication of the charge, and the accession of Ko to the throne. It is an interesting account of the ways of that distant time on such occasions. 1. In the fourth month, when the moon began to wane, the king was indisposed. On the day Xia- BOOK XXII. THE TESTAMENTARY CHARGE, 235 §ze, he washed his hands and face; his attendants , put on him his cap and robes!; (and he sat up), leaning on a gem-adorned bench*. He then called together the Grand-Guardian Shih, the earls of Zui and Thung, the duke of Pi, the marquis of Wei, the duke of MAo, the master of the warders, the master of the guards, the heads of the various departments, and the superintendents of affairs *. The king said, ‘Oh! my illness has greatly increased, and it will soon be over with me. The malady comes on daily with more violence, and maintains its hold. I am afraid I may not find (another opportunity) to declare my wishes about my successor, and therefore I (now) lay my charge upon you with special instructions. The former rulers, our kings Wan and W4, displayed in succession their equal glory, making sure provision for the support of the people, and setting forth their
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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