Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/357

 lay aside when the interment has taken place. If it be the husband who dies, a similar course will be followed on the other side."

23. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "Is it according to rule that at the mourning rites there should be two (performing the part of) the orphan son (and heir, receiving visitors), or that at a temple-shrine there should be two spirit-tablets?"

Confucius said, "In heaven there are not two suns; in a country there are not two kings ; in the seasonal sacrifices, and those to Heaven and Earth, there are not two who occupy the highest place of honour. I do not know that what you ask about is according to rule. Formerly duke Hwan of Khî , going frequently to war, made fictitious tablets and took them with him on his expeditions, depositing them on his return in the ancestral temple . The practice of having two tablets in a temple-shrine originated from duke Hwan. As to two (playing the part of the) orphan son, it may be thus explained:—Formerly, on occasion of a visit to Lû by duke Ling of Wei, the mourning rites of Kî Hwan-𝖟ze were in progress. The ruler of Wei requested leave to offer his condolences. Duke Âî (of Lû) declined (the ceremony), but could not