The Chinese Classics (Prolegomena) | Page 9

complete destruction of them. There would be no occasion for the

scholars of the Han dynasty, in regard to the bulk of their ancient literature, to undertake
more than the work of recension and editing.
9. The idea of forgery by them on a large scale is out of the question. The catalogues of
Liang Hsin enumerated more than
13,000 volumes of a larger or smaller size, the productions of nearly 600 different writers,
and arranged in thirty-eight subdivisions of subjects [1]. In the third catalogue, the first
subdivision contained the orthodox writers [2], to the number of fifty-three, with 836
Works or portions of their Works. Between Mencius and
1 ¤Z®Ñ¤»²¤, ¤T¤Q¤KºØ, ¤-¦Ê¤E¤Q¤»®a, ¸U¤T¤d¤G¦Ê¤»¤E¨÷.
2 ¾§®aªÌ¬y.
K'ung Chi, the grandson of Confucius, eight different authors have place. The second
subdivision contained the Works of the Taoist school [1], amounting to 993 collections,
from thirty-seven different authors. The sixth subdivision contained the Mohist writers
[2], to the number of six, with their productions in 86 collections. I specify these two
subdivisions, because they embrace the Works of schools or sects antagonistic 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 ¹D®aªÌ¬y.
2 ¾¥®aªÌ¬y.
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