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POSTSCRIPT.
This second volume of the Lun-hêng contains the 40 chapters omitted in Vol. I, and
referred to in the Additional Note Vol. I, p. 576. The version of
Wang Ch`ung's work is now complete, only the sequence of
the chapters differ from the original. A Comparative Table of the Chinese Text
and the Translation on p. 421 seq. will enable the reader in possession of the
original to find each chapter of the translation without difficulty.
As the time of the publication of the
Lun-hêng I gave the years 76-84 A.D. (Vol. I, p. 9). A passage on p. 207 of this volume
allows of a still narrower limitation. Wang Ch`ung there
speaks of the sixth year of the emperor Chang Ti = 81
A.D. Consequently the Lun-hêng
must have been written after 81 and prior to 84 A.D.,viz. in 82 or 83 A.D.
It has been noticed that the Lun-hêng originally contained more than a hundred chapters,
whereas we now only possess 84, and of one the mere title. From the present
volume we learn the names of three more lost chapters: "Recognising the
Cunning" (p. 48 Note 3), probably in the style of the existing chapter VI "On
the Cunning and Artful," "How to become a Sage," and "True Sagehood" (p. 227
Notes 2 and 3), most likely propounding similar views to those contained in
chapters XIII "The Real Nature of Knowledge" and XXVI "The Knowledge of
Truth."
In the Introduction to Vol. I p. 11, I mentioned a
separate edition of the Lun-hêng printed under the
Ming dynasty which I had not seen, and of which I was
ignorant whether it was still to be found in the book-shops, since my efforts
to buy one had been unsuccessful. In the meantime I was fortunate enough to
obtain a copy of this edition, which I regard as the best of the three current
editions, and for this reason have used it as the basis of the second volume of
my translation.
This Ming edition referred to
by Chang Chih Tung in his bibliography (Ed. B) was prepared by a certain chin-shih, Liu Kuang Tou (Hui Chi, Jên
Wei) (T. ) of Chin-ling = Ch`ang-chou-fu in Kiangsu, together
with his friends, all fervent admirers of Wang Ch`ung,
most likely in 1626 A.D. Each of them has written a
preface, so that we have five altogether. Two of these prefaces are dated
1626.
Liu Kuang Tou informs us that
in course of time the text of the Lun-hêng had been
disfigured by misprints and errata sometimes completely altering the sense.
Searching into the libraries and spending much money, his friend
Yen Kuang Piao (Tse Yi) (), a
native of Ch`ien-t`ang in Chekiang, at last succeeded in hunting up a good edition of
Yang Wên Ch`ang , a chin-shih of
the Sung time. This Sung edition
was first revised by Liu Kuang Tou, afterwards by
Yen Kuang Piao and his friends Ma
Yuan (Jên Po) (T. ) and Shih
Chuang (K`ang Fu) (T. ). Yen
Kuang Piao finally fixed the text and edited it at his own expense. His
preface dates from his "Hall of Frozen Perfume," whence this edition is
designated as on the title-page.
My copy seems to be the original edition, and a red
stamp on the title-page to contain the name of Yen (Kuang Piao). Another red impression states that the blocks
of this edition are kept in the office of the owner, and that any unauthorised
reprint will be pursued to a thousand Li's distance: .
I have denoted the edition of the Han Wei ts`ung-shu as Ed. A, the
Ming edition as Ed. B, and the
edition contained in the Tseshu-po-chia as
Ed. C. In my notes to Vol. II, I have frequently pointed
out differences in the three editions, which after all are not very great. In
regard to correctness of the text Ed. B ranks first,
then follows Ed. C, and Ed. A
comes last. Whenever there is any divergence, Ed. A and
C mostly agree, but Ed. C avoids
the apparent misprints of which Ed. A has a great many.
This remark refers to my own edition of the Han Wei
t`sung-shu which is not very good. In the newly acquired copy of the Royal
Library in Berlin many mistakes have been corrected. Ed.
C would seem to be a revised reprint of Ed. A. Ed.
B is much more independent, and in most cases gives the best reading.
Wang Ch`ung is very fond of
quoting the Classics and other old authors, notably the Analects, the Shuking, and the
Shi-chi. Since not only his reading often differs from
the now authorised text, but his explanations also not seldom disagree with
those of modern commentators, I thought it worth while preparing a list of all
the quotations I was able to trace, which may be useful for a critique of the
old texts.
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