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a. The Lord Grand Secretary: This is the guiding principle of the Spring and Autumn that there should be no designs2made against Prince or Parent and those guilty of such designs must be punished by death.3 There is, therefore, no greater crime for a minister than the assassination of his prince, and no greater crime for a son than the murder of his father. 4 It is but recently that the princes of Huai Nan and Hêng Shan, 5 encouraging literary studies, invited footloose scholars from the four corners of the Empire. The Confucianists and Mihists from east of the mountains 6 all congregated betwixt the Chiang and the Huai, 7 expounding, arguing, compiling and epitomizing, producing books by the score. Yet finally we saw these princes discarding loyalty, turning to rebellious ways, planning sedition, and perishing the death of criminals together with all their kith and kin. Thus Ch'ao Ts'o was led 8 to change the laws and alter customs, 9 disregard precedent and rule, in his attempt to curb the hereditary houses 10 and curtail the appanages of the feudal lords, until outlying vassals refused allegiance and the royal flesh and blood threw off the bond of consanguinity. Long did Wu and Ch'u 11 nourish their grievances — beheaded was Ch'ao Ts'o in the Eastern Market, sacrificed for the purpose of quieting the soldiers of the army and placating the nobles. Now tell me, pray, who was his real murderer?
b. The Literati: Confucius would not drink of the outflow at "Robber's Spring"; Tsêng Tzŭ would not enter the hamlet of "Mother Surpassed".12 These mere names they hated; how much more would they shrink from doing anything disloyal or unfilial? Thus Confuciusbathed himself and went to Court where he petitioned Duke Ai,13 and although Ch'ên Wên Tzŭ held a fief of ten chariots he abandoned all and left the country.14 The superior man, says the Chuan,15may be exalted and may be humbled; he may undergo punishment and be executed; but never can he be forced to become seditious. Now a man may have polished manners and yet be empty in substance; he may offer lip-service at the shrine of culture but in his conduct never follow its paths. Let him, then, keep company with knaves, for he is nothing short of that; he is not to be tolerated in the precincts of gentlemen. The Spring and Autumn never countenanced opposing the many in behalf of the few. The justice of extreme penalties has its limitations; it should not involve the victimizing of others. Thus when Shun was forced to resort to executions, he executed but Kun, the chief criminal, just as when he made rewards by promotion he chose Yü as the worthiest of all. 16 If all uncarved precious stones were discarded because of some flaw found in the crown jewels, 17 or all members of a group were implicated in the guilt of one individual, there would remain in the whole world not a single precious jewel and not a single trustworthy knight. Master Ch'ao claimed that the feudal lords had waxed strong and rich on their estates and had become so proud and extravagant that they might in time of crisis unite their forces with sinister designs. So for a fault of Wu 18 he decimated Kuei Chi, 19 for the crime of Ch'u 20 he deprived of power Tung Hai 21 so that he might preserve the balance of power and divide their authority; he planned for generations to come. Just as Hsien Kao 22 cheated Ch'in 23 but kept faith with Chêng, 24 Master Ch'ao was faithful to Han and thus came to be an enemy to the princes. Any man serving as minister must be ready to die for his prince in the service of his state. It was thus that Hsieh Yang 25 requited himself fully before Chin 26 by slighting the barbarian power of Ching. 27
1. 晁 錯, held to be an adherent of Shang Yang's school (Duyvendak, Book of Lord Shang, 54). He brought on a grave rebellion of the feudatories against his Imperial patron, Ching Ti (156—140 B.C.), through ill-conceived advice to reduce their power. To satisfy the animosity of the nobles, he was made the scapegoat and was executed. Cf. Shih-chi, chaps. XI, XXIII, (Chavannes, Mém. hist., II, 499, 509; III, 210—11), and CI, where his biography appears. It would seem, though the argument is somewhat obscure and must be largely inferred from the several historical allusions employed by the disputants, that the Lord High Secretary lays the blame for Ch'ao Ts'o's death on the Scholars; while the Literati accuse Ch'ao Ts'o of having been too sweeping in his punishment of the feudal princes. Perhaps the fact that it was recent history (122 B.C.) induced the Literati to express their opinion in a rather guarded manner.
2.
君 親 無 將. Chang quotes Yen
Shih-ku's explanation of 將 as "to
have designs upon", 將 有 其 意. The
exact quotation occurs in the Kung-yang Chuan,
Chao 昭, I. Cf. Tz'ŭ-yüan, sub
將, and K'ang Hsi
Tzŭ-tien, the latter assigning the quotation to op. cit.,
Chuang 莊, XXXII.
3.
This dogmatic interpretation of the Ch'un-ch'iu 春 秋,
in a work of the first half of the century before the Christian era, is
of special interest. The critical school of K'ang Yu-wei asserted that
the great commentary on the Ch'un-ch'iu, the
Tso-chuan
左 傳, was specially composed from
earlier works by Liu Hsin 劉 歆 at the
beginning of the Christian era, to make manifest that the venerated
chronicle, whose entries contain numerous accounts of murders and
usurpations in the feudal states, did not necessarily reprobate regicide
and usurpation. Liu Hsin's purpose, according to K'ang, was to vindicate
his patron, Wang Mang 王 莽, who had
obtained the throne through such measures. Karlgren argues against such a
theory (cf. On the Authenticity of the Tso chuan,
1926). The Ch'un-ch'iu has been subjected to a renewed
examination by Franke in Studien zur Geschichte des
Konfuzianischen Dogmas und der chinesischen Staats-religion: Das Problem des
Tsch'un-ts'iu und Tung Tschung-schu's Tsch'un-ts'iu-fan-lu
(1920).
4.
A possible reference to the Lun-yü,
XI, xxiii, 6, where regicide and parricide are
under discussion. Cf. Soothill, Analects, 540,
note.
5.
淮 南, who is described
as gathering about him a heterogeneous group of scholars. With the Prince
of Hêng Shan 衡 山, he rebelled
against the Han house, and ultimately committed suicide (122 B.C.). Cf.
Wieger, Textes historiques (ap. Ch'ien-han-shu), I, 468—9.
6.
山 東 儒 墨.
7.
江 (Yangtzŭ)
and 淮 (Huai) rivers.
8.
使. It was the
activities of the seditious scholars that led Ch'ao Ts'o to adopt his
vigorous policy of centralization.
9.
變 法 易 常. The
Shih-chi, ch. CI, has
變 古 亂 常.
10.
宗 族 should read
宗 室. The substitution crept in under
the influence of the preceding
宗 族.
11.
吳、楚.
12.
Cf. ch. XVI of the Shuo-yüan of Liu
Hsiang (B.C. 80—9) where the same passage indicates the
fastidiousness of the two ancients regarding improper names.
13.
哀 公. To obtain
vengeance for the murder of Duke Chien of Ch'i
齊 簡 公. Lun-yü, XIV, xxii.
14.
When Ts'ui Tzŭ
崔 子 put to death Duke Chuang of Ch'i
齊 莊 公. Lun-yü, V, xviii.
15.
The quotation occurs substantially in the Li-chi, 表 記,
para. 44.
16.
Shun 舜 executed Kun
鯀, father of Yü
禹, for failure to curb the waters
of the great flood, a task accomplished by Yü, as recorded in the
Shu-ching.
17.
璵 璠, "crown jewel" of
Lu.
18.
吳.
19.
會 稽.
20.
楚.
21.
東 海.
22.
弦 高, an example of
disinterested loyalty.
23.
秦.
24.
鄭.
25.
解 楊, who, despite all
pressure brought to bear, remained faithful to his Sovereign. The
anecdote is in the Tso-chuan, Hsüan
宣, XV, (Legge, Chi. Classics, V, i,
327).
26.
晉
27.
荆, i. e. Ch'u
楚.
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