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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The good or the bad order of the people depends on this. You will thus follow the practice of your grandfather and father, and make the good government of your sovereign illustrious.’ 252 THE sHé KING. PART V. Book XXVI. Tue Cuarce to A&IUNG. Tue charge recorded here, like that in the last Book, is assigned to king Ma. It was delivered on the appointment of a X/iung or Po-Asiung (that is, the eldest AAiung, the eldest brother in his family) to be High Chamberlain. Of this KAiung we know nothing more than we learn from the Shi. He was no high dignitary of state. That the charge to him found a place in the Shf, we are told, shows how important it was thought that men in the lowest positions, yet coming into contact with the sovereign, should possess correct principles and an earnest desire for his progress in intelligence and virtue. King M€ represents himself as conscious of his own incompetencies, and impressed with a sense of the high duties devolving on him. His predecessors, much superior to himself, were yet greatly indebted to the aid of the officers about them ;—how much more must this be the case with him! He proceeds to appoint KhAiung to be the High Chamberlain, telling him how he should guide correctly all the other servants about the royal person, so that none but good influences should be near to act upon the king ;—telling him also the manner of men whom he should employ, and the care he should exercise in the selection of them. The king spoke to the following effect :—‘ Pokhiung, 1 come short in virtue, and have succeeded to the former kings, to occupy the great throne. I am fearful, and conscious of the peril (of my position). I rise at midnight, and think how I can avoid falling into errors. Formerly Wan and Wd were endowed with all intelligence, august and sage, while their ministers, small and great, all cherished loyalty and goodness. Their servants, charioteers, chamberlains, 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 aw an BOOK XXVI. THE CHARGE TO KHIUNG. 253 down, were thus made reverent. Their every warning or command was good. The people yielded a reverent obedience, and the 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.
2But 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. ‘Now I appoint you to be High Chamberlain, to see that all the officers in your department and my personal attendants are upright and correct, that they strive to promote the virtue of their sovereign, and together supply my deficiencies. Be careful .in selecting your officers. Do not employ men of artful speech and insinuating looks, men whose likes and dislikes are ruled by mine, one-sided men and flatterers; but employ good men. When these household officers are correct, the sovereign will be correct ; when they are flatterers, the sovereign will consider himself a sage. His virtue or his want.of it equally depends on them. Cultivate no intimacy with flatterers, nor get them to do duty for me as my ears and eyes ;—they will lead their sovereign to disregard the statutes of the former kings. If you choose the men not for their personal goodness, but for the sake of their bribes, their offices will be made of no effect, your great want of reverence for your sovereign will be apparent, and I will hold you guilty.’ The king said, ‘Oh! be reverent! Ever help your sovereign to follow the regular laws of duty (which he should exemplify). 254 THE SHO KING. — PART V. Book XXVII. - Tue Marouis or LU on PUNISHMENTS. Tue charge or charges recorded in this Book were given in the hundredth year of the king’s age. The king, it is again under-stood, was MQ; and the hundredth year of his age would be B.c. 952. The title of the Book in Chinese is simply ‘Lt’s Punishments,’ and I conclude that Li, or the marquis of Li, was a high minister who prepared, by the king’s orders, a code of punishments for the regulation of the kingdom, in connexion with the undertaking, or the completion, of which the king delivered to his princes and judges the sentiments that are here preserved. The common view is that Li is the name of a principality, the marquis of which was M(’s Minister of Crime. Where it was is not well known, and as the Book is quoted in the Lf AY © several times under the title of ‘FQ on Punishments,’ it is supposed that Lii and Ff (a small marquisate in the present Ho-nan) were the same.
3Where it was is not well known, and as the Book is quoted in the Lf AY © several times under the title of ‘FQ on Punishments,’ it is supposed that Lii and Ff (a small marquisate in the present Ho-nan) were the same. The whole Book is divided into seven chapters. The first is merely a brief introduction, the historiographer’s account of the circumstances in which king Mf delivered his lessons. Each of the other chapters begins with the words, ‘The king said.’ The first two of them are an historical resumé of the lessons of antiquity on the subject of punishments, and an inculcation on the princes and officers of justice to give heed to them, and learn from them. The next two tell the princes of the diligence and carefulness to be employed in the use of punishments, and how they can make punishments a blessing. The fourth chapter treats principally of the commutation or redemption of punishments, and has been very strongly condemned by critics and moralists. They express their surprise that such a document should be in the Sh, and, holding that the collection was made by Confucius, venture to ask what the sage meant by admitting it. There is, in fact, no evidence that the redemption of punishments on the scale here laid down, existed in China before Mi’s time. It has entered, however, into the penal code of every subsequent dynasty. Great official corruption and depravation of the general morality would seem to be inseparable from such a system. The fifth chapter returns again to the BOOK XXVII. MARQUIS OF LU ON PUNISHMENTS, 255 reverence with which punishments should be employed; and the sixth and last is addressed to future generations, and directs them to the ancient models, in order that punishments may never be but a blessing to the kingdom. A Chinese critic says that throughout the Book ‘virtue’ and ‘exact adaptation’ are the terms that carry the weight of the meaning. Virtue must underlie the use of punishments, of which their exact adaptation will be the manifestation. 1. In reference to the charge to (the marquis of) Lii :—When the king had occupied the throne till he reached the age of a hundred years, he gave great consideration to the appointment of punishments, in order to deal with (the people of) the four quarters. 2. The king said, ‘According to the teachings of ancient times, X/ih YQ was the first to produce disorder, which spread among the quiet, orderly people, till all became robbers and murderers, owl-like and yet self-complacent in their conduct, traitors and villains, snatching and filching, dissemblers and oppressors '. ‘Among the people of Miao, they did not use the power of goodness, but the restraint of punishments. They made the five punishments engines of oppression?, calling them the laws. They
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 good or the bad order of the people depends on this. You will thus follow the practice of your grandfather and father, and make the good government of your sovereign illustrious.’ 252 THE sHé KING. PART V. Book XXVI. Tue Cuarce to A&IUNG. Tue charge recorded here, like that in the last Book, is assigned to king Ma. It was delivered on the appointment of a X/iung or Po-Asiung (that is, the eldest AAiung, the eldest brother in his family) to be High Chamberlain. Of this KAiung we know nothing more than we learn from the Shi. He was no high dignitary of state. That the charge to him found a place in the Shf, we are told, shows how important it was thought that men in the lowest positions, yet coming into contact with the sovereign, should possess correct principles and an earnest desire for his progress in intelligence and virtue. King M€ represents himself as conscious of his own incompetencies, and impressed with a sense of the high duties devolving on him. His predecessors, much superior to himself, were yet greatly indebted to the aid of the officers about them ;—how much more must this be the case with him! He proceeds to appoint KhAiung to be the High Chamberlain, telling him how he should guide correctly all the other servants about the royal person, so that none but good influences should be near to act upon the king ;—telling him also the manner of men whom he should employ, and the care he should exercise in the selection of them. The king spoke to the following effect :—‘ Pokhiung, 1 come short in virtue, and have succeeded to the former kings, to occupy the great throne. I am fearful, and conscious of the peril (of my position). I rise at midnight, and think how I can avoid falling into errors. Formerly Wan and Wd were endowed with all intelligence, august and sage, while their ministers, small and great, all cherished loyalty and goodness. Their servants, charioteers, chamberlains, 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 aw an BOOK XXVI. THE CHARGE TO KHIUNG. 253 down, were thus made reverent. Their every warning or command was good. The people yielded a reverent obedience, and the 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.
2But 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. ‘Now I appoint you to be High Chamberlain, to see that all the officers in your department and my personal attendants are upright and correct, that they strive to promote the virtue of their sovereign, and together supply my deficiencies. Be careful .in selecting your officers. Do not employ men of artful speech and insinuating looks, men whose likes and dislikes are ruled by mine, one-sided men and flatterers; but employ good men. When these household officers are correct, the sovereign will be correct ; when they are flatterers, the sovereign will consider himself a sage. His virtue or his want.of it equally depends on them. Cultivate no intimacy with flatterers, nor get them to do duty for me as my ears and eyes ;—they will lead their sovereign to disregard the statutes of the former kings. If you choose the men not for their personal goodness, but for the sake of their bribes, their offices will be made of no effect, your great want of reverence for your sovereign will be apparent, and I will hold you guilty.’ The king said, ‘Oh! be reverent! Ever help your sovereign to follow the regular laws of duty (which he should exemplify). 254 THE SHO KING. — PART V. Book XXVII. - Tue Marouis or LU on PUNISHMENTS. Tue charge or charges recorded in this Book were given in the hundredth year of the king’s age. The king, it is again under-stood, was MQ; and the hundredth year of his age would be B.c. 952. The title of the Book in Chinese is simply ‘Lt’s Punishments,’ and I conclude that Li, or the marquis of Li, was a high minister who prepared, by the king’s orders, a code of punishments for the regulation of the kingdom, in connexion with the undertaking, or the completion, of which the king delivered to his princes and judges the sentiments that are here preserved. The common view is that Li is the name of a principality, the marquis of which was M(’s Minister of Crime. Where it was is not well known, and as the Book is quoted in the Lf AY © several times under the title of ‘FQ on Punishments,’ it is supposed that Lii and Ff (a small marquisate in the present Ho-nan) were the same.
3Where it was is not well known, and as the Book is quoted in the Lf AY © several times under the title of ‘FQ on Punishments,’ it is supposed that Lii and Ff (a small marquisate in the present Ho-nan) were the same. The whole Book is divided into seven chapters. The first is merely a brief introduction, the historiographer’s account of the circumstances in which king Mf delivered his lessons. Each of the other chapters begins with the words, ‘The king said.’ The first two of them are an historical resumé of the lessons of antiquity on the subject of punishments, and an inculcation on the princes and officers of justice to give heed to them, and learn from them. The next two tell the princes of the diligence and carefulness to be employed in the use of punishments, and how they can make punishments a blessing. The fourth chapter treats principally of the commutation or redemption of punishments, and has been very strongly condemned by critics and moralists. They express their surprise that such a document should be in the Sh, and, holding that the collection was made by Confucius, venture to ask what the sage meant by admitting it. There is, in fact, no evidence that the redemption of punishments on the scale here laid down, existed in China before Mi’s time. It has entered, however, into the penal code of every subsequent dynasty. Great official corruption and depravation of the general morality would seem to be inseparable from such a system. The fifth chapter returns again to the BOOK XXVII. MARQUIS OF LU ON PUNISHMENTS, 255 reverence with which punishments should be employed; and the sixth and last is addressed to future generations, and directs them to the ancient models, in order that punishments may never be but a blessing to the kingdom. A Chinese critic says that throughout the Book ‘virtue’ and ‘exact adaptation’ are the terms that carry the weight of the meaning. Virtue must underlie the use of punishments, of which their exact adaptation will be the manifestation. 1. In reference to the charge to (the marquis of) Lii :—When the king had occupied the throne till he reached the age of a hundred years, he gave great consideration to the appointment of punishments, in order to deal with (the people of) the four quarters. 2. The king said, ‘According to the teachings of ancient times, X/ih YQ was the first to produce disorder, which spread among the quiet, orderly people, till all became robbers and murderers, owl-like and yet self-complacent in their conduct, traitors and villains, snatching and filching, dissemblers and oppressors '. ‘Among the people of Miao, they did not use the power of goodness, but the restraint of punishments. They made the five punishments engines of oppression?, calling them the laws. They
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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