Han shih wai chuan Han Ying's Illustrations of the didactic application of the Classic of songs |
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 | CHAPTER VII Han shih wai chuan |  |
2[1]
The King of Chao was [on the point of] sending an envoy to
Ch`u. He played [for a while] on the cither, and then dispatched
him saying, "Be careful not to forget the words [of my message]."[2]
The envoy received the order kneeling and said without rising,
on the cither as today."
The king said, "[It is true. The cither is certainly well] tuned."[3]
The envoy said, "Since it is in tune, it would be a good thing
to make a note of [the position of] the bridge."
The king said, "It will not do. As the weather is dry or wet,
so the strings are loose or tight. The bridge [must] be adjustable,[4]
and cannot be marked [for a given position]."
The envoy said, "May I borrow a metaphor from this?[5]
Ch`u
is more than a thousand li distant from Chao. Furthermore
fortune is variable. Bad luck calls for condolences, and good luck
for congratulation. It is like the bridge [of a cither] which must
be adjustable and cannot be marked [for a given position]. So
when a ruler sends an envoy, he should hold him to the mission
he is sent on and not charge him with [specific] words."[6]
The Ode says,[7]
Ever anxious lest they should not succeed.
SY 12.1b-2a tells the same story rather more clearly, but is probably based on
the HSWC, which text is defective.
[OMITTED]. Li Shan's com. on Wên hsüan 55.3b quotes this as [OMITTED]
"You must speak my very words"; likewise SY, but without [OMITTED]. Chih-yao 8.25a-b
combines the two lines. Chao (165-6) admits this is repetitious, but maintains that
stylistically it is a better reading. TPYL 576.4b-5a is the same as the modern text of
HSWC. (Chao.)
[OMITTED]. Read [OMITTED] with Chih-yao, loc cit. Likewise TPYL,
loc. cit., with [OMITTED] for [OMITTED] and [OMITTED] at the end. SY has [OMITTED] "The
tones kung and shang are certainly well tuned." (Chao.)
[OMITTED]. SY is more logical: [OMITTED] "The tones kung and shang are
[produced] in different positions."
Chih-yao, TPYL, and Li Shan's com. all have [OMITTED] before [OMITTED]. (Chao.) SY adds
here "When the enlightened prince sends an envoy, he charges him with [the execution
of] a mission; he does not hold him to definite words. If [the envoy] finds them well
off, he congratulates them; if they have suffered misfortune, he offers condolences."
[OMITTED] ○ [OMITTED].
For [OMITTED] read [OMITTED] with Chih-yao: [OMITTED] ○ [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] "When the enlightened prince sends an envoy, he
is always careful about the man he employs for the mission. Once he has sent him
off, he charges him with an idea [to be communicated], but does not hold him to
[specific] words." (Chao.) Literally, [OMITTED] refers to the mission rather than to
the man, but it comes to the same thing, whether you pick the mission for a given
man or the man for a specific mission.
[OMITTED] is from Shih 545 No. 260/7. SY quotes [OMITTED], a variant of
Mao [OMITTED], Shih 249 No. 163/1. The next line [OMITTED] is the same in both
poems. That HSWC originally quoted the same line as SY is apparent both from the
Mao shih number sequence (162-163-168) and from the quotation in Shih k`ao 39a.
I surmise that the variant reading in HSWC led an inept editor to emend to the Mao
shih reading, with the result that he chose the wrong poem. Kuo yü 10.3a also has
[OMITTED]. (Chao 167.)
| CHAPTER VII Han shih wai chuan | |