130
THE Lî Kî.
BK. II.
the mourning rites, had his instruments of music hung on their stands, but did not use them; and when he might have approached the inmates of his harem, he did not enter it. The Master said, "Hsien-jze is a degree above other men[1]."
23. Confucius, after the service at the close of the one year's mourning, in five days more (began to) handle his lute, but brought no perfect sounds from it; in ten days he played on the organ and sang to it[2].
24. Yû-jze, it appears, after the service of the same period of mourning, wore shoes of (white) silk, and had ribbons of (white) silk for his cap-strings[3].
- ↑ The sacrificial service on the final putting off of the mourning dress, and to which reference is here made, was called than (禫). It will come several times before us hereafter. It is celebrated at the end of the "three years' mourning" for a parent; that is, at the end of twenty-seven months from the death: see the Introduction, p. 49. Wang Sû of the Wei dynasty contended that the mourning was put off at the end of twenty-five months, and the editors of the Khang-hsî dictionary rather approve of his decision: see their note under the character than. I do not think the controversy as to the exact time when the mourning ceased can be entirely cleared up. Confucius praised Hsien-jze, because he could not forget his grief, when the outward sign of it was put off.
- ↑ The sacrificial service here is called by a different name from than; it is hsiang (祥); and in mourning for parents there was "the small hsiang," at the end of the first year, and "the great hsiang," at the end of the second. The character here probably denotes the mourning for one year, which is not continued beyond that time. Music was not used during any of the period of mourning; and it is doing violence to the text to take hsiang here as equivalent to than.
- ↑ In condemnation of Yû-jze (see Analects, I, 2), as quick to forget his grief.
