Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/229

 The Preface by Li Yang-ping

and came to see me. It was when I was about to hang up my mandarin cap 18 that our master sickened. His manuscripts in ten thousand bundles and his hand col- lections were not yet arranged. So while lying on his pillow, he delivered them to me to be put in order. In discoursing on the significations of the Kuan-chu, now I feel ashamed to Pu Shang; 19 while in expounding the words of the Spring and Autumn I must forever blush before Tu Yu.

Since confusion befell the mid imperial plains, 20 our master sought refuge elsewhere for eight years. His writings of those years were lost, nine out of ten. What are preserved herein, are for the most part what I obtained from others.

Done on the I-chiu, the 11th moon of the First Year of the Pao-ying Era. (762).

��18 To "hang up one's mandarin cap" is to resign from office. Yang-ping was transferred from Tang-tu to Chin-yun Chekiang, in 763.

19 Pu-shang (born, 507 B.C.), a disciple of Confucius, had the distinction of being entrusted by his master with the fa- mous collection of Odes, the "Shi King," of which Kuan-chu forms a part. Tu Yu of the 3rd century, a. d., was a celebrated commentator on another Confucian classic, the Spring and Autumn. By his metaphorical allusions to these eminent men and books Li Yang-ping means to exalt the works of Li Po which he is editing and commenting upon.

20 The "Confusion," of the "mid imperial plains" refers to the Rebellion of An Lu-shan which was started in 755. [203]

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