the interment, those of sacrifice. When the mourning is over, let him resume his usual ways, and study the pieces of music. 14. When occupied with the duties of mourning, one should not speak of music. When sacrificing, one should not speak of what is inauspicious. In the rulers court, parties should not speak of wives and daughters.
8. 15. For one to have to dust his (collection of) written tablets, or adjust them before the ruler, is a punishable offence; and so also is it to have the divining stalks turned upside down or the tortoise- shell turned on one side, before him[1]. 16. One should not enter the rulers gate, (carrying with him) a tortoise-shell or divining stalks, a stool or a staff, mats or (sun-)shades, or having his upper and lower garments both of white or in a single robe of fine or coarse hempen cloth[2]. Nor should he do so in rush sandals, or with the skirts of his lower garment tucked in at his waist, or in the cap worn in the shorter periods of mourning. Nor, unless announcement of it has been made (and permission given), can one take in the square tablets with the written (lists of articles for a funeral), or the frayed sackcloth, or the coffin and its furniture[3]. 17. Public affairs should not be privately discussed.
9. 18. When a superior man, (high in rank), is about to engage in building, the ancestral temple should
- ↑ These things indicated a want of due preparation and care.
- ↑ All these things were, for various reasons, considered inauspicious.
- ↑ A death had in this case occurred in the palace, and the things mentioned were all necessary to prepare for the interment; but still they could not be taken in without permission asked and granted.
