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Rh Ch‘in murdered his ruler P‘ing-kwoh.' The circumstances in which the murder took place are sufficient, I am sure, to make us pronounce it a case of justifiable homicide. Hëa Ch‘ing-shoo's mother, a widow, was a vile woman, and was carrying on a licentious connexion with the marquis of Ch‘in and two of his ministers at the same time. The things which are related about the four are inexpressibly filthy. As the young man grew up, he felt deeply the disgrace of his family; and one day when the marquis and his ministers were feasting in an apartment of his mother's mansion, or rather of his own, for he was now the Head of the clan, he overheard them joking about himself. 'He is like you,' said the marquis to one of his companions. 'And he is also like your lordship,' returned the other. The three went on to speculate on what share each of them had in the youth, till he could no longer contain himself, and made a violent attack upon them. The ministers made their escape, and the marquis had nearly done so too, when, as he was getting through a hole in the stable, an arrow from the young man's bow transfixed him. So he died, and the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw records the event as if it had been an atrocious murder! The poor youth met with a horrible fate. In the following year, the viscount of Ts‘oo, himself flaunting the usurped title of king, determined to do justice upon him. Aided by the forces of other States, he invaded Ch‘in, made a prisoner of Hëa Ch‘ing-shoo, and had him torn in pieces by five chariots to which his head and his four limbs were bound. This execution is coldly related in xi. 5 by 'The people of Ts‘oo put to death Hëa Ch‘ing-shoo of Ch‘in.' The text goes on to tell that the viscount entered the capital of Ch‘in, and restored the two ministers, partners in the marquis's adultery, who had made their escape to Ts‘oo; the whole being worded, according to Tso, 'to show how he observed the rules of propriety!'

4. It remains for me, having thus set forth the suppressions, the concealments, and the misrepresentations which abound in the Ch‘un Ts‘ëw, to say a few words on the view which we must take from it of Confucius as its author or compiler. Again and again I have spoken of the triviality of the Work, and indicated my opinion of its being unworthy of the sage to have put together so slight a thing. But these positively bad characteristics of it on which I have now enlarged demand the expression of a sterner judgment.

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