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POSTSCRIPT.
This second volume of the Lun-hêng contains the 40 chapters
omitted in Vol. I, and referred to in the Additional Note Vol. I, p. 576.
The version of Wang Ch`ung's work is now complete, only the sequence
of the chapters differ from the original. A Comparative Table of
the Chinese Text and the Translation on p. 421 seq. will enable
the reader in possession of the original to find each chapter of
the translation without difficulty.
As the time of the publication of the Lun-hêng I gave the
years 76-84 A.D. (Vol. I, p. 9). A passage on p. 207 of this volume
allows of a still narrower limitation. Wang Ch`ung there speaks of
the sixth year of the emperor Chang Ti = 81 A.D. Consequently
the Lun-hêng must have been written after 81 and prior to 84 A.D.,
viz. in 82 or 83 A.D.
It has been noticed that the Lun-hêng originally contained
more than a hundred chapters, whereas we now only possess 84,
and of one the mere title. From the present volume we learn the
names of three more lost chapters: [OMITTED] "Recognising the Cunning"
(p. 48 Note 3), probably in the style of the existing chapter VI
"On the Cunning and Artful," [OMITTED] "How to become a Sage,"
and [OMITTED] "True Sagehood" (p. 227 Notes 2 and 3), most likely
propounding similar views to those contained in chapters XIII "The
Real Nature of Knowledge" and XXVI "The Knowledge of Truth."
In the Introduction to Vol. I p. 11, I mentioned a separate
edition of the Lun-hêng printed under the Ming dynasty which I
had not seen, and of which I was ignorant whether it was still to
be found in the book-shops, since my efforts to buy one had been
unsuccessful. In the meantime I was fortunate enough to obtain
a copy of this edition, which I regard as the best of the three
current editions, and for this reason have used it as the basis of
the second volume of my translation.
This Ming edition referred to by Chang Chih Tung in his bibliography
(Ed. B) was prepared by a certain chin-shih, Liu Kuang Tou
(Hui Chi, Jên Wei) [OMITTED] (T. [OMITTED]) of Chin-ling [OMITTED] =
Ch`ang-chou-fu in Kiangsu, together with his friends, all fervent admirers
of Wang Ch`ung, most likely in 1626 A.D. Each of them
these prefaces are dated 1626.
Liu Kuang Tou informs us that in course of time the text of
the Lun-hêng had been disfigured by misprints and errata sometimes
completely altering the sense. Searching into the libraries and
spending much money, his friend Yen Kuang Piao (Tse Yi) [OMITTED]
([OMITTED]), a native of Ch`ien-t`ang [OMITTED] in Chekiang, at last succeeded
in hunting up a good edition of Yang Wên Ch`ang [OMITTED], a chin-shih
of the Sung time. This Sung edition was first revised by Liu
Kuang Tou, afterwards by Yen Kuang Piao and his friends Ma Yuan
(Jên Po) [OMITTED] (T. [OMITTED]) and Shih Chuang (K`ang Fu) [OMITTED] (T.
[OMITTED]). Yen Kuang Piao finally fixed the text and edited it at his
own expense. His preface dates from his "Hall of Frozen Perfume,"
whence this edition is designated as [OMITTED] on the title-page.
My copy seems to be the original edition, and a red stamp
on the title-page to contain the name of Yen (Kuang Piao). Another
red impression states that the blocks of this edition are kept in
the office of the owner, and that any unauthorised reprint will
be pursued to a thousand Li's distance: [OMITTED]
[OMITTED].
I have denoted the edition of the Han Wei ts`ung-shu as Ed. A,
the Ming edition as Ed. B, and the edition contained in the Tseshu-po-chia
as Ed. C. In my notes to Vol. II, I have frequently
pointed out differences in the three editions, which after all are
not very great. In regard to correctness of the text Ed. B ranks
first, then follows Ed. C, and Ed. A comes last. Whenever there
is any divergence, Ed. A and C mostly agree, but Ed. C avoids the
apparent misprints of which Ed. A has a great many. This remark
refers to my own edition of the Han Wei t`sung-shu which is not
very good. In the newly acquired copy of the Royal Library in
Berlin many mistakes have been corrected. Ed. C would seem to
be a revised reprint of Ed. A. Ed. B is much more independent,
and in most cases gives the best reading.
Wang Ch`ung is very fond of quoting the Classics and other
old authors, notably the Analects, the Shuking, and the Shi-chi. Since
not only his reading often differs from the now authorised text,
but his explanations also not seldom disagree with those of modern
commentators, I thought it worth while preparing a list of all the
quotations I was able to trace, which may be useful for a critique
of the old texts.
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