Page:Ch'un Ts'ew Pt I.pdf/28

Rh 6. In the prolegomena to vol.IV. p.25, referring to the brief account which we have in the official Book of Chow of the duties of the historiographers of the Exterior at the royal court, I have made it appear that they had charge of the Histories of all the States, rendering the character che by ‘Histories.’ M. Biot, in his translation of the Official Book, has done the same; but Maou K‘e-ling contends that those che were the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw of the different States, or the brief notices of which they were made up. I have failed, however, to find elsewhere any evidence to support his view; and when he goes on to argue that three copies of those notices were always made—one to be kept in the State itself, one for the royal court, and one to be sent to the historiographers of the various feudal courts with which the State was in the habit of exchanging such notifications,—the single passage to which he refers by no means bears out the conclusion which he draws from it; and indeed, as many copies must have been made as there were States to which the notice was to be sent. In other respects the account which he gives of those notices is so instructive that I subjoin a summary of it.

They were merely, he says, ‘slips of subjects,’ and not ‘summaries’ or synopses,—containing barer the mention of the subject to which each of them referred. Acc. to Maou, the contents of the ancient Ch‘un Ts‘ëw might all be arranged under twenty-two heads:—1st, the changing of the first year of a ruler ; 2d, the new ruler’s solemn accession ; 3d, the birth of a son to the ruler ; as in II. vi. 5); 4th, the appointment of a ruler in another State ( as in I. iv. 7); 5th, court and complimentary visits (, in the various forms of ;;;;;); 6th, covenants and meetings (, in the various forms—;;;;;;;;;); 7th, incursions and invasions, (, in the various forms—;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;); 8th, the removal and extinction of States (, in the various forms—;;;;); 9th, marriages (, in the various forms—;;;;;;;;;); 10th, entertainments and condolences ; 11th, deaths and burials (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;;;;;); 12th, sacrifices (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;); 13th, huntings (, in the various forms of ;;;;;); 14th, building (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;;;;); 15th, military arrangements (, in the various forms of ;;;); 16th, military taxation (, in the various forms of ;;;;;); 17th, good years and bad (, in the various forms of ;;;;); 18th, ominous occurrences (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;); 19th, leaving one’s city or State (, in the various forms of ;;;;); 20th, entering a city or State (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;); 21st, ruffians and murders (, in the various forms of ;;;); 22d, punishments (, in the various forms of ;;;;;;;;;). This analysis of the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw is ingenious; but it is all based on the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw of Confucius. Some of the subjects may be called in question, as, e.g., the 3d. In the 12 books of the Spring and Autumn only one such birth is chronicled. It was necessary there should be nothing in them inconsistent with, or contradictory to, the fuller narratives, 11]