The Chinese Classics | Page 9

to that of Confucius, and some of them still hold a place in
Chinese literature, and contain many references to the five Classics,
and to Confucius and his disciples.
10. The inquiry pursued in the above paragraphs conducts us to the
conclusion that the materials from which the classics, as they have
come down to us, were compiled and edited in the two centuries
preceding our Christian era, were genuine remains, going back to a still
more remote period. The injury which they sustained from the dynasty
of Ch'in was, I believe, the same in character as that to which they were
exposed during all the time of 'the Warring States.' It may have been
more intense in degree, but the constant warfare which prevailed for
some centuries among the different states which composed the

kingdom was eminently unfavourable to the cultivation of literature.
Mencius tells us how the princes had made away with many of the
records of antiquity, from which their own usurpations and innovations
might have been condemned [3]. Still the times were not unfruitful,
either in scholars or statesmen, to whom the ways and monuments of
antiquity were dear, and the space from the rise of the Ch'in dynasty to
the death of Confucius was not very great. It only amounted to 258
years. Between these two periods Mencius stands as a connecting link.
Born probably in the year B.C. 371, he reached, by the intervention of
Kung Chi, back to the sage himself, and as his death happened B.C.
288, we are brought down to within nearly half a century of the Ch'in
dynasty. From all these considerations we may proceed with
confidence to consider each separate Work, believing that we have in
these Classics and Books what the great sage of China and his disciples
gave to their country more than 2000 years ago.
1 é“家者æµ.
2 墨家者æµ.
3 See Mencius, V. Pt. II. ii. 2.


CHAPTER II.
OF THE CONFUCIAN ANALECTS.
SECTION I.
FORMATION OF THE TEXT OF THE ANALECTS BY THE
SCHOLARS OF THE HAN DYNASTY.
1. When the work of collecting and editing the remains of the Classical
Books was undertaken by the scholars of Han, there appeared two
different copies of the Analects, one from Lu, the native State of

Confucius, and the other from Ch'i, the State adjoining. Between these
there were considerable differences. The former consisted of twenty
Books or Chapters, the same as those into which the Classic is now
divided. The latter contained two Books in addition, and in the twenty
Books, which they had in common, the chapters and sentences were
somewhat more numerous than in the Lu exemplar.
2. The names of several individuals are given, who devoted themselves
to the study of those two copies of the Classic. Among the patrons of
the Lu copy are mentioned the names of Hsia-hau Shang, grand-tutor of
the heir- apparent, who died at the age of 90, and in the reign of the
emperor Hsuan (B.C. 73-49) [1]; Hsiao Wang-chih [2], a
general-officer, who died in the reign of the emperor Yuan (B.C.
48-33); Wei Hsien, who was a premier of the empire from B.C. 70-66;
and his son Hsuan-ch'ang [3]. As patrons of the Ch'i copy, we have
Wang Ch'ing, who was a censor in the year B.C. 99 [4]; Yung Shang
[5]; and Wang Chi [6], a statesman who died in the beginning of the
reign of the emperor Yuan.
3. But a third copy of the Analects was discovered about B.C. 150. One
of the sons of the emperor Ching was appointed king of Lu [7] in the
year B.C. 154, and some time after, wishing to enlarge his palace, he
proceeded to pull down the house of the K'ung family, known as that
where Confucius himself had lived.
1 太å-大傳å¤ä¾¯å‹.
2 å‰å°‡è», è•-望之.
3 丞相, 韋賢, åŠå-, 玄æˆ.
4 王å¿.
5 庸生.
6 ä¸-尉王å‰.
7 é-¯çŽ‹å…± (or æ-).

While doing so, there were found in the wall copies of the Shu-ching,
the Ch'un Ch'iu, the Hsiao-ching, and the Lun Yu or Analects, which
had been deposited there, when the edict for the burning of the Books
was issued. There were all written, however, in the most ancient form
of the Chinese character [1], which had fallen into disuse, and the king
returned them to the K'ung family, the head of which, K'ung An-kwo
[2], gave himself to the study of them, and finally, in obedience to an
imperial order, published a Work called "The Lun Yu, with
Explanations of the Characters, and Exhibition of the Meaning [3].'
4. The recovery of this copy will be seen to be a most important
circumstance in the history f the text of the Analects. It is referred to by
Chinese writers, as 'The old Lun Yu.'