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憂 邊 第 十 二大 夫 曰 ： 「 文 學 言 ： 『 天 下 不 平 ， 庶 國 不 寧 ， 明 王 之 憂 也 。 』 故 王 者 之 於 天 下 ， 猶 一 室 之 中 也 ， 有 一 人 不 得 其 所 ， 則 謂 之 不 樂 。 故 民 流 溺 而 弗 救 ， 非 惠 君 也 。 國 家 有 難 而 不 憂 ， 非 忠 臣 也 。 夫 守 節 死 難 者 ， 人 臣 之 職 也； 衣 食 饑 寒 者 ， 慈 父 之 道 也 。 今 子 弟 遠 勞 於 外 ， 人 主 為 之 夙 夜 不 寧 ， 群 臣 盡 力 畢 議 ， 冊 滋 國 用 。 故 少 府 丞 令 請 建 酒 榷 ， 以 贍 邊 ， 給 戰 士 ， 拯 救 民 於 難 也 。 為 人 父 兄 者 ，豈 可 以 已 乎 ！ 內 省 衣 食 以 卹 在 外 者 ， 猶 未 足 ， 今 又 欲 罷 諸 用 ， 減 奉 邊 之 費 ， 未 可 為 慈 父 賢 兄 也 。 」 文 學 曰 ： 「 周 之 季 末 ， 天 子 微 弱 ， 諸 侯 力 政 ， 故 國 君 不 安 ， 謀 臣 奔 馳 。 何 者？ 敵 國 眾 而 社 稷 危 也 。 今 九 州 同 域 ， 天 下 一 統 ， 陛 下 優 遊 巖 廊 ， 覽 群 臣 極 言 至 論 ，內 詠 雅 、 頌 ， 外 鳴 和 鑾 ， 純 德 粲 然 ， 並 於 唐 、 虞 ， 功 烈 流 於 子 孫 。 夫 蠻 、 貊 之 人 ， 不 食 之 地 ， 何 足 以 煩 慮 ， 而 有 戰 國 之 憂 哉 ？ 若 陛 下 不 棄 ， 加 之 以 德 ， 施 之 以 惠 ， 北 夷 必 內 向 ， 款 塞 自 至 ， 然 後 以 為 胡 制 於 外 臣 ， 即 匈 奴 沒 齒 不 食 其 所 用 矣 。 」 大 夫 曰 ： 「 聖 主 思 念 中 國 之 未 寧 ， 北 邊 之 未 安 ， 使 故 廷 尉 評 等 問 人 間 所 疾 苦 。 拯 卹 貧 賤 ， 周 贍 不 足 。 群 臣 所 宣 明 王 之 德 ， 安 宇 內 者 ， 未 得 其 紀 ， 故 問 諸 生 。 諸 生 議 不 干 天 則 入 淵 ， 乃 欲 以 閭 里 之 治 ， 而 況 國 家 之 大 事 ，亦 不 幾 矣 ！ 發 於 畎 畝 ， 出 於 窮 巷 ， 不 知 冰 水 之 寒 ， 若 醉 而 新 寐 ， 殊 不 足 與 言 也 。 」 文 學 曰 ： 「 夫 欲 安 民 富 國 之 道 ， 在 於 反 本 ， 本 立 而 道 生 。 順 天 之 理 ， 因 地 之 利 ， 即 不 勞 而 功 成 。 夫 不 修 其 源 而 事 其 流 ， 無 本 以 統 之 ， 雖 竭 精 神 ， 盡 思 慮 ， 無 益 於 治 。 欲 安 之 適 足 以 危 之 ， 欲 救 之 適 足 以 敗 之 。 夫 治 亂 之 端 ， 在 於 本 末 而 已 ， 不 至 勞 其 心 而 道 可 得 也 。 孔 子 曰： 『 不 通 於 論 者 難 於 言 治 ， 道 不 同 者 ， 不 相 與 謀 。 』 今 公 卿 意 有 所 倚 ， 故 文 學 之 言 ， 不 可 用 也 。 」 大 夫 曰 ： 「 吾 聞 為 人 臣 者 盡 忠 以 順 職 ， 為 人 子 者 致 孝 以 承 業 。 君 有 非 ， 則 臣 覆 蓋 之 。 父 有 非 ， 則 子 匿 逃之 。 故 君 薨 ， 臣 不 變 君 之 政 ， 父 沒 ， 則 子 不 改 父 之 道 也。 春 秋 譏 毀 泉 臺 ， 為 其 隳 先 祖 之 所 為 ， 而 揚 君 父 之 惡 也。 今 鹽 、 鐵 、 均 輸 ， 所 從 來 久 矣 ， 而 欲 罷 之 ， 得 無 害 先 帝 之 功 ， 而 妨 聖 主 之 德 乎 ？ 有 司 倚 於 忠 孝 之 路 ， 是 道 殊 而 不 同 於 文 學 之 謀 也 。 」 文 學 曰 ： 「 明 者 因 時 而 變 ， 知 者 隨 世 而 制 。 孔 子 曰 ： 『 麻 冕 ， 禮 也 ， 今 也 純 ， 儉 ， 吾 從 眾 。 』 故 聖 人 上 賢 不 離 古 ， 順 俗 而 不 偏 宜 。 魯 定 公 序 昭 穆 ， 順 祖 禰 ， 昭 公 廢 卿 士 ， 以 省 事 節 用 ， 不 可 謂 變 祖 之 所 為 ， 而 改 父 之 道 也 ？ 二 世 充 大 阿 房 以 崇 緒 ， 趙 高 增 累 秦 法 以 廣 威 ， 而未 可 謂 忠 臣 孝 子 也 。 」 |
Chapter XII. Frontiers, The Great Concern1a. The Lord Grand Secretary: You say, oh Literati, that the Enlightened Ruler is concerned when the Empire is not at peace and the states are not at rest. 2 To be sure, the Prince should consider the Empire as if it formed a single household. Even if one man find not his proper position in life, he cannot be happy. Consequently, he is not a Benevolent Prince who lets his people drown in distress 3 without making an attempt to rescue them; and he is not a loyal minister who shows no concern for the misfortunes of his state. To hold fast to his charge in defeat, even unto death, is the duty of a minister; to clothe the cold and feed the hungry is the way of a kindly father. b. At present as our sons and younger brothers, far from home, suffer privations on the borders, the Ruler of Men feels uneasy for them day and night; and all the ministers turn all their energies to the consideration of methods whereby the state revenue might be increased. Thus it came about that the Keeper of the Privy Treasury 4 proposed to establish the liquor excise, 5 in order to provide for the frontier, supply the needs of our fighting men, and bring succor to the people in distress. Out of sheer humanity, could we, their fathers and elder brothers, help but do it? But it has been found insufficient to have thus economized in the interior on prime necessities, in order to relieve the need abroad. If we follow your repeated suggestions to abolish these sources of revenue, and to decrease thereby the provisions for the frontier, we would certainly be acting contrary to the ways of kindly fathers or worthy elder brothers. c. The Literati: In the period of Chou's decline, the Emperor's power grew weak and the feudal lords ruled by force. Consequently, princes sat uneasy on their thrones, and their counsellors rushed restlessly about. Why? Because, threatened by enemy countries on all sides, the Dynasty 6 was in constant danger. At present, however, the Nine Provinces 7 are enclosed within one boundary and the whole Empire is under one rule. Your Majesty can leisurely promenade through Your lofty halls, while the ministers advance their exhaustive proposals. In unison 8 the hymns and chants sound within Your court, and the jingling bells of Your chariot resound merrily outside. 9 Your pure virtue is as illuminating as that of Yao and Shun; Your illustrious deeds will flow down to posterity. How could the barbarian tribes of the Man or Mai, 10 and their barren lands, be worth all this trouble and worry that brings us back to the uncertainty of the Warring States 11 period. Should Your Majesty be unwilling to abandon them to their fate, You have but to manifest Your virtue 12 towards them and extend Your favors to cover them, and the northern barbarians will undoubtedly come of their own accord to pay You tribute at the Wall. If held to be our "outside subjects", 13 then the Hsiung Nu will never 14 in all their lives lack the sustenance they need. d. The Lord Grand Secretary: The Sage Ruler gives much thought to the fact that the Middle Kingdom is not yet tranquilized and the northern frontier not yet pacified. So He dispatched the chief criminal judge 15 P'ing to inquire about the grievances among the people, to succor the poor and the lowly, and satisfy all the wants of the needy. Envisaging, however, the possibility that in spite of their efforts to make manifest the Imperial virtue and to give peace to the world, the officials 16 might not obtain complete records, He gave orders that the scholars were to be questioned on these subjects. e. Now, your learned men in their arguments would either try to reach high Heaven or penetrate the Abyss. 17 Then they would attempt, and how ineffectively, to compare the conduct of the affairs of some hamlet or village with the great business of the nation! They come straight from farms or out of their beggars' alleys, unmindful of cold douches of icy waters, as half-awakened drunkards. They have certainly proved unfit to take part in discussions. f. The Literati: If one desired to find the Way to pacify the people and enrich the country, one would find it in a return to the fundamental; for when the fundamental is established, the Way comes of itself.18 Follow the principles of Heaven and utilize the wealth of the Earth, and you will accomplish deeds without laborious effort. If you do not improve the fountain-head and busy yourself only with the stream; if you have not the fundamental as the rallying point, although you exhaust your energy and overtax your mind, you will not advantage the administration. In your attempts to settle matters, you only succeed in endangering the situation. And in your efforts to save the situation, you only bring about destruction. The principle of order and disorder depends on whether the fundamental or the non-essential is cultivated. With that understood, you can attain to the Way without exerting your mind. Confucius said: Those who do not understand one's speech are difficult to speak with about administration; men of different ways cannot deliberate with one another.19 As for you, the Minister, your mind is biased, and therefore you have no use for our words. g. The Lord Grand Secretary: I have heard that a minister should execute his duties with all loyalty, and a son should assume his patrimony with due filial piety. When the ruler commits some error, the minister should cover it. When the father does some wrong, the son should aid and abet. 20 Thus, when the ruler dies, the minister does not change his policy. When the father dies, the son does not alter his ways. 21 The Spring and Autumn22 disapproved of the destruction of the Ch'üan Tower, because the work of the ancestors was destroyed; and this created the impression of a wrong act of old by rulers and fathers. h. Now the salt and iron monopoly and the equable marketing are long standing. 23 To abolish them, would that be possible without destroying the achievement of His late Majesty, and thus aspersing the virtue of the Enlightened Ruler! The officials, therefore, are biased in favor of the ways of loyalty and filial piety. 24 This is how their ways "differ" from, and why they cannot "deliberate" with, the Literati. i. The Literati: Enlightened persons adapt themselves to the times. The wise devise systems to conform with the needs of their contemporaries. Confucius said: A linen cap is the prescribed form, but nowadays silk is worn. This saves expense and I follow the general usage.25 Therefore the Sages and the Worthies without departing from antiquity, follow custom but without being partial to what is convenient. Duke Ting of Lu arranged his ancestors' tablets in the order of his remote progenitors and immediate ancestors. 26 Duke Chao 27 dismissed his ministers and officers to save expense. No one could call this a change in their ancestors' policies or in their father's ways. On the other hand, the Second Emperor wasted money in elaborating the O-pang Palace 28 to promote the prestige of the House, and Chao Kao piled up 29 the legislation of Ch'in to extend its awesomeness. No one could call them a loyal minister and a filial son. Notes1. 憂 邊. Cf. ch. I, paras. d to h. The most detailed study of the age-old conflict of the Chinese with the peoples on the north and west frontiers, designated by Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien as the Hsiung Nu (Hung-nŏ ) 匈 奴, has been made by de Groot in Die Hunnen der vorchristlichen Zeit. (Chi. Urk. zur Gesch. Asiens, I). The Chinese sources made use of by de Groot for the Han period are especially, Shih-chi CX, 匈 奴 列 傳 (to 97 B. C.), and Ch'ien-han-shu XCIV, 匈 奴 傳 (to about 25 A. D.). His posthumously published work, a continuation of studies on the peoples beyond the western frontiers of China, has appeared as a second volume, Chi. Urk. zur Gesch. Asiens, II, Die Westlande Chinas in der vorchristlichen Zeit. The Chinese records of the wars with the Hsiung Nu, the subject matter of the discussion in this chapter of the YTL., appear in chaps. XII and XIII (for the periods 96—85, 85—68, B. C.) of de Groot's first volume. The extraordinary importance in the world's history of the unremitting defence of China's frontier (as advocated by Sang Hung-yang), is summarized by de Groot (op. cit., I, 192): Die Stiftung eines westlichen Hunnenreichs war nun im Werden begriffen; die Abwanderung der Hunnen nach dem weiten Westen und Éuropa, die den Anstoss gab zu der grossen Völkerwanderung, hatte ihren Anfang genommen. 2. A repetition of the Literati's dictum in para. k, XI. 3. 故 民 流 沈 溺.... Wang omits 沈, as 流 and 沈 are interchanged in ancient texts. 沈 is held to be a copyist's gloss. 4. 少 府 丞 令. Cf. p. 34, note 4, supra. 5. 酒 榷. Cf. p. 2, note 2, supra. 6. The term used here is shê-chi 社 稷, the spirits, or gods, of the land and grain. In early times each prince, feudal lord, or district, possessed a tutelary god of the soil. The Lord of the Harvest 后 稷 was necessarily associated with the god of the soil. The two terms thus became a synonym for the protecting institution of the ruling family, the "palladium" of the reigning dynasty, as in our text. The origins of the term shê have been exhaustively treated by Chavannes in Le Dieu du Sol dans la Chine antique, and have been recently discussed by Ku Chieh-kang 顧 頡 剛 in the autobiographical section of his Ku Shih Pien 古 史 辨, 自 序. Cf. also Maspero, La Chine Antique, 167—175; and Karlgren, "Some Fecundity Symbols in Ancient China," in Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, No. 2, 1930, on the possibility of the original phallic significance of shê. 7. 九州: the Empire. Cf. p. 8, note 5 supra. 8. 論, here, is taken as 和. 9. Li-chi, Ching Chieh 經 解 [Legge, Sacred Books, Vol. XXVIII, 256]: At his entertainments he listens to the singing of the Odes of the Kingdom and the Odes of the Temple and Altar . . . . When he rides in his chariot, there are the harmonious sounds of the bells attached to his horses. 10. 蠻 、 貊. See glossary. 11. 戰 國: the several states of China of the Vth to the IIIrd centuries B. C., who struggled incessantly for the hegemony, culminating in the triumph of Ch'in 秦. (Cf. Maspero, La Chine Antique, 392 seq.). The wars of the period form the subject matter of the Chu-shu-chi-nien 竹 書 紀 年, the Chan-kuo-ts'ê 戰 國 策, and ch. V of the Shih-chi. 12. That peoples may be attracted by a manifestation of Kingly
virtue is of course a favored tenet of early Chinese literature. The
theme of the Odes (Shih-ching, III, i,
x, King Wên
文 王),
13. 胡 制 於, found in this passage, are omitted, following Wang's opinion. 14. 沒 齒 "to the end of their days", cf. Lun-yü XIV, x. 15. 廷 尉 "chief criminal judge", an office dating from the Ch'in dynasty and maintained under Han Wu Ti. The text here is evidently corrupt. The t'ing-wei Wang P'ing 王 評 and others, altogether five officers, were despatched to make such enquiries (cf. the Han-wu-chi 漢 武 紀, Ch'ien-han-shu, 2nd year of the shih-yüan era). 16. The text has 君 臣, probably 羣 臣, as an edition, the Hua-pên 華 本, cited by Chang, reads. 17. Cf. Huai-nan-tzŭ ch. XIX: Speakers (所 為 言 者) should stay on the level with the mass (齊 於 眾) and be in agreement with custom (同 於 俗). Nowadays if they do not discourse on the "Empyrean" (九 天 之 頂), then they speak of the "Tartarean" (黃 泉 之 氏) . . . . 18. 本 立 而 道 生, from the Lun-yü I, ii: The true philosopher devotes himself to the fundamental, for when that has been established right courses naturally evolve . . . [Soothill]. 19. The first half of this quotation is not found in the Lun-yü; the second is from ch. XV, xxix: Those whose ways are different do not make plans together [Soothill]. The Lun-yü reads 為 謀 for YTL. 與 謀. Cf. Shih-chi, LXI, where the quotation from the Lun-yü is found followed by 亦 各 從 其 志 也, "and so each one follows the bent of his own will." 20. Cf. Lun-yü XIII, xviii, where Confucius defends this principle: The father conceals the misconduct of the son, and the son conceals the misconduct of the father [Legge]. Here and in the ensuing paragraphs, the statesman employs the Confucian argument, evidently with the direct purpose of attacking his opponents with their own weapons. The clash between the Confucian standards of personal morality, and the emphasis on civic duties maintained by the School of Law, is discussed by Duyvendak, The Book of Lord Shang, 114 seq. 21. Paraphrase of Lun-yü, I, xi: . . . when [a man's] father is dead mark his conduct. If for three years he does not change from his father's ways . . . . [Soothill]. 22. The story is based on the Kung-yang comm., Wên Kung 文 公, XVI. ". . . lady Këang was . . . the mother of Wăn. Kungyang says that `the tower of Ts'euen' [泉 臺] was the name given to that built at Lang by Duke Chwang in his 31st year. The Chuan says: `There came out from the palace of Ts'euen, and entered the capital, serpents, as many as there had been marquises of Loo; and when Këang died on Sin-we in the 8th month, [the duke] caused the tower to be pulled down' " [Legge, Chi. Classics, vol. V, pt. i, 27; cf. also op. cit. 281, note, par. 1]. 23. See p. 2, notes 1 and 3, supra, where the date for the establishment of the salt and iron control is stated as 119 B. C., and for the introduction of equable marketing as 115 B. C. 24. Here the Lord Grand Secretary cleverly reverses his usual arguments against following the precedents of antiquity; while in the ensuing passage (para. i), the Literati, on the defensive, employ the legalist principle of opportunism, 因 時 而 變 … 隨 世 而 制, quoting Confucius to justify it. 25. Soothill, Analects, IX, iii. The commentator (Chu Hsi 朱 熹) is quoted: The prescribed cap was of the very finest linen and of a dark color. Its warp had 2400 strands. 26. 序 昭 穆 順 祖 禰. In the ancestral temple 廟, the four shrines or tablets of the ancestors of a feudal prince were arranged in two rows, north and south of the shrine of the founder of the house 祖. On one side, fronting south, were the of fathers. These were called chao 昭. On the other side, fronting north, were those of sons; these were called mu 穆. Upon the interment of a prince, the tablet of one of the remote ancestors was removed to make room. The ni 禰 was the shrine or tablet of the deceased father of the prince. The arrangement of the tablets in the shrines of the ancestral temple was thus specifically prescribed, and any departure therefrom was "unnatural." Duke Ting of Lu 魯 定 公 (508 B. C. [Legge]) corrected a previous error in the arrangement of the tablets of his ancestors, by restoring them to their proper places. For the arrangement of the ancestral tablets, cf. Couvreur, Li Ki, I, 287, note on 廟, and for 禰, ibid., 415, note. The record of the incident appears in the Ch'un-ch'iu, XI, vii, 15 [Legge, Chi. Classics, vol. V, pt. ii, 768—9, and note]. 27. 昭公. The incident has not been found in the Ch'un-ch'iu, in the chronicle of Duke Chao (Book X). 28. 阿 房, the celebrated edifice constructed by Shih-huang-ti, the "First Emperor" 世 皇 帝, and described by Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien (Shih-chi, VI). Any elaboration of the original structure by the Second Emperor 二 世 [ 皇 帝 ], would be an example of extravagance. For the pronunciation and meaning of O-pang, cf. Chavannes, Mém. hist., II, 174, note 5. 29. 趙 高 增 累 秦 法. 增 is omitted by Chang, but is required to complete the parallelism of the two sentences. |
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