Shiying — Testing the Portents是應篇
儒者論太平瑞應，皆言氣物卓異，朱草、醴泉、翔（鳳）〔風〕、甘露、景星、嘉禾、脯、莢、屈軼之屬。
The scholars, discussing the omens that answer great peace, all say that the breaths and the creatures are outstandingly strange: the zhucao, the sweet spring, the auspicious wind, the sweet dew, the jingxing, the fine grain, the shafu, the mingjia, the quyi and their kind.
又言山出車，澤出舟，男女異路，市無二价，耕者讓畔，行者讓路，頒白不提挈，關梁不閉，道無虜掠，風不鳴條，雨不破塊，五日一風，十日一雨，其盛茂者，致黃龍、騏、鳳皇。夫儒者之言，有溢美過實。瑞應之物，或有或無。夫言鳳皇、騏之屬，大瑞較然，不得增飾；其小瑞徵應，恐多非是。夫風氣雨露，本當和適。言其（鳳）〔風〕翔、甘露、風不鳴條、雨不破塊，可也；言其五日一風、十日一雨，褒之也。風雨雖適，不能五日、十日，正如其數。言男女不相干、市价不相欺，可也；言其異路、無二价，褒之也。太平之時，豈更為男女各作道哉？不更作道，一路而行，安得異乎？太平之時，無商人則可；如有，必求便利以為業。買物安肯不求賤，賣貨安肯不求貴！有求貴賤之心，必有二价之語。此皆有其事而褒增過其實也。若夫脯、莢、屈軼之屬，殆無其物。何以驗之？說以實者，太平無有此物。
They say further that carts come out of the hills and boats out of the marshes; that men and women go by different roads; that in the market there are not two prices; that the plowman yields the ridge and the traveler yields the road; that the grizzled old carry no loads; that barrier and bridge are not shut; that on the roads there is no plundering; that the wind does not whistle in the branches and the rain does not break the clods; that once in five days there is a wind and once in ten days a rain; and that at its fullest this brings the yellow dragon, the qilin and the phoenix. Now the words of the scholars run over into praise and go past the truth. Of the creatures that answer as omens, some there are and some there are not. To speak of the phoenix and the qilin and their kind, the great omens are plain enough and cannot be added to and dressed up; but their small omens and proofs are, I fear, mostly not so. Now wind and breath, rain and dew ought of themselves to be harmonious and fitting. To say that the wind is auspicious and the sweet dew comes down, that the wind does not whistle in the branches and the rain does not break the clods, is allowable; to say that once in five days there is a wind and once in ten days a rain is praising it. Though wind and rain be fitting, they cannot be exactly five days and ten days, just to that number. To say that men and women do not trespass upon one another and that market prices do not cheat one another is allowable; to say that they go by different roads and that there are not two prices is praising it. In a time of great peace, would they make a separate road for the men and for the women? If they make no further road, then all go by one road, and how could it be different? In a time of great peace, if there were no merchants it would be allowable; but if there are, they will surely seek their profit and make it their trade. In buying a thing, who is willing not to seek it cheap? In selling goods, who is willing not to seek it dear? If there is a heart that seeks dear and cheap, there will surely be talk of two prices. In all of these the thing is there, but the praise added to it goes past the truth. As for the shafu, the mingjia, the quyi and their kind, there is almost no such thing at all. By what is this proved? Speaking by the facts, in great peace there are no such things.
儒者言脯生於庖廚者，言廚中自生肉脯，薄如形，搖鼓生風，寒涼食物，使之不臭。夫太平之氣雖和，不能使廚生肉，以為寒涼。若能如此，則能使五谷自生，不須人為之也。能使廚自生肉，何不使飯自蒸於甑，火自燃於灶乎！凡生者，欲以風吹食物也，何不使食物自不臭，何必生以風之乎？廚中能自生，則冰室何事而復伐冰以寒物乎？人夏月操，須手搖之，然後生風，從手握持，以當疾風，不鼓動，言脯自鼓，可也？須風乃鼓，不風不動，從手風來，自足以寒廚中之物，何須脯！世言燕太子丹使日再中，天雨粟，烏白頭，馬生角，廚門〔木〕象生肉足。論之既虛，則脯之語，五應之類，恐無其實。
The scholars say the shafu grows in the kitchen, meaning that dried flesh comes of itself in the kitchen, thin as a fan in shape, and that waving it stirs up wind and cools the food so that it does not go bad. Now though the breath of great peace be harmonious, it cannot make flesh grow in the kitchen to be used as a fan. If it could do this, it could make the five grains grow of themselves, with no need of men to do it. If it can make flesh grow of itself in the kitchen, why does it not make the rice steam of itself in the pot and the fire burn of itself in the stove! Now the bringing forth of a fan is to blow the food with wind; why does it not keep the food from going bad of itself, and why must a fan be brought forth to fan it with wind? If a fan can grow of itself in the kitchen, what business has the icehouse to go on cutting ice to cool things? When a man takes a fan in the summer months, he must wave it with his hand, and only then does wind come; as it is held in the hand one meets a sharp wind, and if it is not waved it does not stir. Is it right to say that the shafu waves of itself? It must wait for a wind to wave, and without wind it does not move; and if the wind comes with the hand, that is enough of itself to cool the things in the kitchen, so what need is there of a shafu! The world says that the crown prince Dan of Yan made the sun stand at noon a second time, that Heaven rained millet, that the crow's head turned white, that horns grew on a horse, and that the wooden elephant at the kitchen gate grew feet of flesh. Since the discussion of these is already empty, the talk of the shafu is of a kind with those five answerings, and, I fear, has no truth in it.
儒者又言：古者莢夾階而生，月朔，日一莢生，至十五日而十五莢；於十六日，日一莢落，至月晦莢盡，來月朔，一莢復生。王者南面視莢生落，則知日數多少，不須煩擾案日歷以知之也。夫天既能生莢以為日數，何不使莢有日名，王者視莢之字則知今日名乎？徒知日數，不知日名，猶復案歷，然後知之，是則王者視日則更須擾，不省莢之生，安能為福？夫，草之實也，猶豆之有莢也，春夏未生，其生必於秋末。冬月隆寒，霜雪隕零，萬物皆枯，儒者敢謂莢達冬獨不死乎？如與萬物俱生俱死，莢成而以秋末，是則季秋得察莢，春夏冬三時不得案也。且月十五日生十五莢，於十六日莢落，二十一日六莢落，落莢棄殞，不可得數，猶當計未落莢以知日數，是勞心苦意，非善佑也。使莢生於堂上，人君坐戶牖間，望察莢生以知日數，匪謂善矣。今云夾階而生，生於堂下也。王者之堂，墨子稱堯、舜高三尺，儒家以為卑下。假使之然，高三尺之堂，莢生於階下，王者欲視其莢，不能從戶牖之間見也，須臨堂察之，乃知莢數。夫起視堂下之莢，孰與懸歷日於坐，傍顧輒見之也？天之生瑞欲以娛王者，須起察乃知日數，是生煩物以累之也。且莢，草也，王者之堂，旦夕所坐，古者雖質，宮室之中，草生輒耘，安得生莢而人得經月數之乎？且凡數日一二者，欲以紀識事也，古有史官典歷主日，王者何事而自數莢？堯候四時之中，命曦和察四星以占時氣，四星至重，猶不躬視，而自察莢以數日也？
The scholars say further: in old times the mingjia grew flanking the steps. On the first of the month one pod grew each day, till on the fifteenth day there were fifteen pods; from the sixteenth day one pod fell each day, till at the month's end the pods were gone, and on the first of the next month one pod grew again. When the king faced south and looked at the pods growing and falling, he knew whether the days were many or few, and had no need to trouble himself with looking at a calendar to know it. Now if Heaven could bring forth pods to serve as the count of the days, why did it not let the pods carry the names of the days, so that the king looking at the writing on a pod would know the name of today? If he knows only the count of the days and does not know the name of the day, he must still look at the calendar and only then know it; then the king, to look at the day, must be troubled over again, and the growing of the pods spares him nothing, so how can it be a blessing? Now the mingjia is the fruit of a grass, as the bean has its pod. In spring and summer it does not yet grow; its growing must be at the end of autumn. In the winter months of deep cold, when frost and snow come down and all things wither, will the scholars dare to say that the mingjia alone does not die when winter comes? If it is born with all things and dies with all things, and the pods are formed at the end of autumn, then only in late autumn can the pods be looked at, and in the three seasons of spring, summer and winter they cannot be consulted. Again, on the fifteenth day of the month fifteen pods have grown, and on the sixteenth day a pod falls, and on the twenty-first day six pods have fallen. The fallen pods are thrown away and lost and cannot be counted, so one must still reckon the pods not yet fallen in order to know the count of the days. This wearies the mind and troubles the thoughts; it is no good help. Even if the mingjia grew above the hall, and the lord of men sat between the door and the window and looked out at the pods growing to know the count of the days, it could not be called good. Now it is said to grow flanking the steps, and that is below the hall. As for the king's hall, Mozi says that the halls of Yao and Shun were three feet high, and the Confucians hold this to be low. Suppose it were so. With a hall three feet high and the pods growing below the steps, if the king wished to look at the pods he could not see them from between the door and the window, but would have to come to the edge of the hall and look, and only then would he know the number of the pods. Now which is better, to rise and look at the pods below the hall, or to hang a calendar by one's seat and see it as soon as one turns aside? Heaven brings forth omens to delight the king; but if he must rise and look before he knows the count of the days, this is bringing forth a troublesome thing to burden him. Again, the mingjia is a grass, and the king's hall is where he sits morning and evening; and though the ancients were plain, when grass grew within the palace rooms it was weeded out at once, so how could the mingjia grow and men count it for a month together? Again, the counting of the days as one and two is for keeping a record of affairs; and in old times there were court historians in charge of the calendar and of the days, so what business had the king to count the pods himself? When Yao watched for the mid-points of the four seasons, he charged Xi and He to observe the four stars and divine the breath of the season. The four stars are of the greatest weight, and still he did not look at them in his own person; would he then look at pods himself and count the days?
儒者又言：太平之時，屈軼生於庭之末，若草之狀，主指佞人，佞人入朝，屈軼庭末以指之，聖王則知佞人所在。夫天能故生此物以指佞人，不使聖王性自知之；或佞人本不生出，必復更生一物以指明之，何天之不憚煩也！聖王莫過堯、舜，堯、舜之治，最為平矣，即屈軼已自於庭之末，佞人來輒指知之，則舜何難於知佞人，而使皋陶陳知人之術？《經》曰：「知人則哲，惟帝難之。」
The scholars say further: in a time of great peace the quyi grows at the end of the courtyard, in the shape of a grass, and its office is to point at flatterers. When a flatterer enters the court, the quyi bends at the end of the courtyard and points at him, and the sage king then knows where the flatterer is. Now Heaven can bring forth this thing on purpose to point at flatterers, and yet does not let the sage king know it of himself by his nature; or else it does not keep the flatterers from coming forth at all, but must bring forth one more thing to point at them and make them plain. How is it that Heaven does not shrink from trouble! No sage king surpasses Yao and Shun, and the rule of Yao and Shun was the most peaceful of all. If the quyi was already there of itself at the end of the courtyard, and pointed out flatterers as soon as they came and made them known, then why did Shun find it hard to know a flatterer, so that he had Gao Yao set out the art of knowing men? The Classic says, "To know men is wisdom, and even the sovereign found it hard."
人含五常，音氣交通，且猶不能相知。屈軼草也，安能知佞？如儒者之言是，則太平之時，草木逾賢聖也。獄訟有是非，人情有曲直，何不并令屈軼指其非而不直者，必苦心聽訟，三人斷獄乎？故夫屈軼之草，或時無有而空言生，或時實有而虛言能指，假令能指，或時草性見人而動。古者質朴，見草之動，則言能指，能指則言指佞人。司南之杓，投之於地，其柢指南。魚肉之蟲，集地北行，夫蟲之性然也。
Men hold the five constants, and sound and breath pass between them, and still they cannot know one another. The quyi is a grass; how could it know flattery? If the words of the scholars are right, then in a time of great peace grasses and trees are better than the worthy and the sage. In cases and suits there is right and wrong, and in men's feelings there is crooked and straight; why not have the quyi point out the wrong and the crooked as well, instead of laboring the mind to hear suits and having three men decide a case? So the grass called quyi either at times is not there at all and is idly said to grow, or at times is really there and is idly said to be able to point. Suppose it can point: it may be that the nature of the grass is to move when it sees a man. The ancients were plain, and seeing the grass move they said it could point, and saying it could point they said it pointed at flatterers. Throw the ladle of the south-pointer on the ground, and its handle points south. The worms of fish and meat gather on the ground and go north. This is simply the nature of such creatures.
今草能指，亦天性也。聖人因草能指，宣言曰庭末有屈軼能指佞人，百官臣子懷奸心者，則各變性易操，為忠正之行矣，猶今府廷畫皋陶〔〕也。
Now the grass's being able to point is also a nature from Heaven. The sage, taking the grass's power to point, proclaimed that at the end of the courtyard there was a quyi that could point at flatterers; and the hundred officers and the ministers who kept a crooked heart each changed his nature and altered his conduct and took up loyal and upright ways. It is like the painting of Gao Yao and the xiezhi in the courts of the offices today.
儒者說云：〔〕者，一角之羊也，性知有罪。皋陶治獄，其罪疑者令羊觸之，有罪則觸，無罪則不觸。斯蓋天生一角聖獸，助獄為驗，故皋陶敬羊，起坐事之。此則神奇瑞應之類也。曰：夫〔〕則復屈軼之語也。羊本二角，〔〕一角，體損於群，不及眾類，何以為奇？鱉三足曰能，龜三足曰賁。案能與賁，不能神於四足之龜鱉；一角之羊，何能聖於兩角之禽？
The scholars' saying runs, "The xiezhi is a sheep with one horn, and its nature is to know where there is guilt. When Gao Yao was trying cases, he had the sheep butt those whose guilt was in doubt; if a man was guilty it butted him, and if he was not guilty it did not butt him. This surely was Heaven bringing forth a sage beast with one horn to help in trials and serve as proof, and so Gao Yao honored the sheep and served it in rising and in sitting." This is of a kind with the divine and wonderful omens that answer. I answer: the xiezhi is only the talk about the quyi over again. A sheep has two horns by nature, and the xiezhi has one horn; its body is less than its fellows' and falls short of the common kind, so how is it a wonder? A turtle with three feet is called a neng, and a tortoise with three feet is called a ben. Look at the neng and the ben: they cannot be more divine than four-footed tortoises and turtles. How could a sheep with one horn be holier than a beast with two horns?
知往，乾鵲知來，鸚鵡能言，天性能一，不能為二。或時〔〕之性，徒能觸人，未必能知罪人，皋陶欲神事助政，惡受罪者之不厭服，因〔〕觸人則罪之，欲人畏之不犯，受罪之家，沒齒無怨言也。夫物性各自有所知，如以〔〕能觸謂之為神，則
The xingxing knows what is past, the magpie knows what is to come, and the parrot can speak: a nature from Heaven can do one thing and cannot do two. It may be that the nature of the xiezhi is only to butt men, and that it cannot surely know a guilty man; and that Gao Yao, wishing to make the business divine and so help his government, and hating it that those who took punishment would not submit, therefore punished a man when the xiezhi butted him, wanting men to fear it and not offend, so that the households that took punishment would have no word of complaint to the end of their days. Now the nature of each creature has something it knows of itself; and if the xiezhi's power to butt is to be called divine, then
之徒皆為神也。巫知吉凶，占人禍福，無不然者。如以〔〕謂之巫類，則巫何奇而以為善？斯皆人欲神事立化也。師尚父為周司馬，將師伐紂，到孟津之上，杖鉞把旄，號其眾曰倉（光）〔兕〕。倉（光）〔兕〕者，水中之獸也，善覆人船，因神以化，欲令急渡，不急渡，倉（光）〔兕〕害汝，則復〔〕之類也。河中有此異物，時出浮揚，一身九頭，人畏惡之，未必覆人之舟也，尚父緣河有此異物，因以威眾。夫〔〕之觸罪人，猶倉（光）〔兕〕之覆舟也，蓋有虛名，無其實效也。人畏怪奇，故空褒增。
the xingxing and its kind are all divine. Shamans know good and ill fortune and divine men's misfortune and blessing, and there is not one of them that is not so. If the xiezhi is to be called of a kind with the shamans, then what wonder is there in a shaman, that it should be called good? All this is men wishing to make a business divine and so set up their teaching. Shi Shangfu was marshal of Zhou, and leading the army to strike King Zhou he came to the ford of Mengjin, and leaning on his axe and holding the banner he cried out to his host, "Cangsi!" The cangsi is a beast in the water, and it is good at overturning men's boats. He used the divine to work his teaching, wishing to make them cross quickly: if they did not cross quickly, the cangsi would harm them. This is the talk about the xiezhi over again. There is a strange creature in the Yellow River (河) which at times comes out and floats up, one body with nine heads, and men fear it and hate it, but it does not always overturn men's boats; and Shangfu, because there was this strange creature in the Yellow River, used it to overawe the host. Now the xiezhi's butting a guilty man is like the cangsi's overturning a boat: there is an empty name, and no real effect. Men fear what is strange and wonderful, and so they praise it up for nothing.
又言太平之時有景星。《尚書中候》曰：「堯時景星見於軫。」
They say further that in a time of great peace there is the jingxing. The Shangshu zhonghou says, "In the time of Yao the jingxing appeared in the lodge Zhen."
夫景星，或時五星也，大者歲星、太白也。彼或時歲星、太白行於軫度，古質不能推步五星，不知歲星、太白何如狀，見大星則謂景星矣。《詩》又言：「東有啟明，西有長庚。」
Now the jingxing may at times be one of the five planets, and the great ones are the Sui star (歲星) and Taibai (太白). It may be that the Sui star and Taibai were then moving through the degrees of Zhen; the ancients were plain and could not reckon the courses of the five planets, and did not know what the Sui star and Taibai looked like, and seeing a great star they called it the jingxing. The Odes say further, "In the east there is Qiming, in the west there is Changgeng."
亦或時復歲星、太白也。或時昏見於西，或時晨出於東，詩人不知，則名曰啟明、長庚矣。
These too may at times be the Sui star and Taibai again. At times it shows in the west at dusk, and at times it comes out in the east at dawn, and the poet did not know it, and so named them Qiming and Changgeng.
然則長庚與景星同，皆五星也。太平之時，日月精明。五星，日月之類也，太平更有景星，可復更有日月乎？詩人，俗人也。《中候》之時，質世也。俱不知星。王莽之時，太白經天，精如半月，使不知星者見之，則亦復名之曰景星。《爾雅》《釋四時》章曰：「春為發生，夏為長嬴，秋為收成，冬為安宁。四氣和為景星。」
That being so, Changgeng and the jingxing are the same, and both are the five planets. In a time of great peace the sun and the moon are pure and bright. The five planets are of a kind with the sun and the moon. If in great peace there is a jingxing besides, can there be a sun and a moon besides? The poet was a common man. The time of the Zhonghou was a plain age. Neither of them knew the stars. In the time of Wang Mang, Taibai crossed the sky with a light like a half moon; and if one who did not know the stars had seen it, he too would have named it the jingxing. The chapter Shi sishi of the Erya says, "Spring is the putting forth, summer is the growing full, autumn is the gathering in, winter is the settling at rest. The four breaths in harmony make the jingxing."
夫如《爾雅》之言，景星乃四時氣和之名也，恐非著天之大星。《爾雅》之書，《五經》之訓，故儒者所共觀察也，而不信從，更謂大星為景星，豈《爾雅》所言景星與儒者之所說異哉！《爾雅》又言：「甘露時降，萬物以嘉，謂之醴泉。」
Now if it is as the Erya says, the jingxing is the name for the harmony of the breaths of the four seasons, and, I fear, is not a great star fixed in the sky. The book of the Erya is the gloss of the Five Classics, and so it is what the scholars all look into; yet they do not believe it and follow it, but instead call a great star the jingxing. How should the jingxing the Erya speaks of differ from what the scholars say! The Erya says further, "When the sweet dew comes down in its season, all things are made fine by it, and this is called the sweet spring."
醴泉乃謂甘露也。今儒者說之，謂泉從地中出，其味甘若醴，故曰醴泉。二說相遠，實未可知。案《爾雅》《釋水》〔章〕：「泉（章）一見一否曰。檻泉正出，正出，涌出也；沃泉懸出，懸出，下出也。」
So the sweet spring means the sweet dew. Now the scholars explain it and say that a spring comes out of the ground and its taste is sweet as sweet wine, and that it is therefore called the sweet spring. The two sayings are far apart, and the truth of it cannot be known. Look at the chapter Shi shui of the Erya: "A spring that shows at one time and not at another is called eol. The jian spring comes out straight, and coming out straight is welling up; the wo spring comes out hanging, and coming out hanging is coming out downward."
是泉出之異，輒有異名。使太平之時，更有醴泉從地中出，當於此章中言之，何故反居《釋四時》章中，言甘露為醴泉乎？若此，儒者之言醴泉從地中出，又言甘露其味甚甜，未可然也。
This shows that where springs come out differently, they at once have different names. If in a time of great peace there were a sweet spring besides, coming out of the ground, it ought to be spoken of in this chapter; for what reason is it instead in the chapter Shi sishi, where the sweet dew is called the sweet spring? This being so, the scholars' saying that the sweet spring comes out of the ground, and their saying too that the sweet dew is very sweet in taste, cannot be held right.
儒曰：「道至大者，日月精明，星辰不失其行，翔風起，甘露降。雨（濟）〔霽〕而陰（一）〔〕者謂之甘雨，非謂雨水之味甘也。」
The scholars say, "He whose Way is greatest of all has the sun and the moon pure and bright, the stars not losing their courses, the auspicious wind rising and the sweet dew coming down. When the rain clears and the sky is overcast, this is called the sweet rain; it does not mean that the taste of the rainwater is sweet."
推此以論，甘露必謂其降下時，適潤養萬物，未必露味甘也。亦有露甘味如飴蜜者，俱太平之應，非養萬物之甘露也。何以明之？案甘露如飴蜜者，著於樹木，不著五谷。彼露味不甘者，其下時，土地滋潤，流濕萬物，洽沾濡溥。由此言之，《爾雅》且近得實。緣《爾雅》之言，驗之於物，案味甘之露，下著樹木，察所著之樹，不能茂於所不著之木。然今之甘露，殆異於《爾雅》之所謂甘露。欲驗《爾雅》之甘露，以萬物丰熟，災害不生，此則甘露降下之驗也。甘露下，是則醴泉矣。
Reckoning by this, the sweet dew must mean that when it comes down it just then moistens and nourishes all things; it does not have to be that the taste of the dew is sweet. There is also a dew whose sweet taste is like syrup and honey, and both are answerings of great peace, but that is not the sweet dew that nourishes all things. By what is this made clear? Look: the sweet dew that is like syrup and honey settles on trees and does not settle on the five grains. That dew whose taste is not sweet, when it comes down, swells and wets earth and ground and runs over all things and soaks them broadly. Speaking from this, the Erya again comes nearer the truth. Following the words of the Erya and proving them on things: look at the dew whose taste is sweet, which comes down and settles on trees, and examine the trees it settles on, and they cannot be more flourishing than the trees it does not settle on. So the sweet dew of today is far from what the Erya calls the sweet dew. To prove the sweet dew of the Erya, take it by all things ripening in plenty and no disasters arising: this is the proof that the sweet dew has come down. When the sweet dew comes down, that is the sweet spring.