The Chinese Classics | Page 7

and could thus depend upon them for support and
aid;-- that I have heard. But now Your Majesty is in possession of all
within the seas, and your sons and younger brothers are nothing but
private individuals. The issue will be that some one will arise to play
the part of T'ien Ch'ang [4], or of the six nobles of Tsin. Without the
support of your own family, where will you find the aid which you may
require? That a state of things not modelled from the lessons of
antiquity can long continue;-- that is what I have not heard. Ch'ing is
now showing himself to be a flatterer, who increases the errors of Your
Majesty, and not a loyal minister."
'The emperor requested the opinions of others on this representation,
and the premier, Li Sze [5], said, "The five emperors were not one the
double of the other, nor did the three dynasties accept one another's
ways. Each had a peculiar system of government, not for the sake of the
contrariety, but as being required by the changed times. Now, Your
Majesty has laid the foundations of
1 åšå£«ä¸ƒå人å‰ç‚ºå£½. The åšå£« were not only 'great scholars,' but
had an official rank. There was what we may call a college of them,
consisting of seventy members.
2 僕射, 周é’臣.
3 淳于越.
4 田常. -- 常 should probably be æ†, as it is given in the T'ung Chien.
See Analects XIV. xxii. T'ien Hang was the same as Ch'an Ch'ang of
that chapter.

5 丞相æŽæ–¯
imperial sway, so that it will last for 10,000 generations. This is indeed
beyond what a stupid scholar can understand. And, moreover, Yueh
only talks of things belonging to the Three Dynasties, which are not fit
to be models to you. At other times, when the princes were all striving
together, they endeavoured to gather the wandering scholars about
them; but now, the empire is in a stable condition, and laws and
ordinances issue from one supreme authority. Let those of the people
who abide in their homes give their strength to the toils of husbandry,
while those who become scholars should study the various laws and
prohibitions. Instead of doing this, however, the scholars do not learn
what belongs to the present day, but study antiquity. They go on to
condemn the present time, leading the masses of the people astray, and
to disorder.
'"At the risk of my life, I, the prime minister, say: Formerly, when the
nation was disunited and disturbed, there was no one who could give
unity to it. The princes therefore stood up together; constant references
were made to antiquity to the injury of the present state; baseless
statements were dressed up to confound what was real, and men made a
boast of their own peculiar learning to condemn what their rulers
appointed. And now, when Your Majesty has consolidated the empire,
and, distinguishing black from white, has constituted it a stable unity,
they still honour their peculiar learning, and combine together; they
teach men what is contrary to your laws. When they hear that an
ordinance has been issued, every one sets to discussing it with his
learning. In the court, they are dissatisfied in heart; out of it, they keep
talking in the streets. While they make a pretense of vaunting their
Master, they consider it fine to have extraordinary views of their own.
And so they lead on the people to be guilty of murmuring and evil
speaking. If these things are not prohibited, Your Majesty's authority
will decline, and parties will be formed. The best way is to prohibit
them, I pray that all the Records in charge of the Historiographers be
burned, excepting those of Ch'in; that, with the exception of those
officers belonging to the Board of Great Scholars, all throughout the
empire who presume to keep copies of the Shih-ching, or of the

Shu-ching, or of the books of the Hundred Schools, be required to go
with them to the officers in charge of the several districts, and burn
them [1]; that all who may dare to speak
1 悉詣守尉雜燒之.
together about the Shih and the Shu be put to death, and their bodies
exposed in the market-place; that those who make mention of the past,
so as to blame the present, be put to death along with their relatives;
that officers who shall know of the violation of those rules and not
inform against the offenders, be held equally guilty with them; and that
whoever shall not have burned their Books within thirty days after the
issuing of the ordinance, be branded and sent to labor on the wall for
four years. The only Books which should be spared are those on
medicine, divination, and husbandry. Whoever wants to learn the laws
may go