eulogy. It is not the rule for princes of states to deliver the eulogy of one another[1].
14. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "When a ruler goes across the boundary of his own state, he takes with him his inner coffin as a precaution for the preparations against the three years' (mourning rites) for him[2]. If he die (abroad), what are the proceedings on his being brought back?"
Confucius said, "The clothes to be put on him after the coffining having been provided, the son in the linen cap, with the sackcloth band round it, wearing coarse sackcloth and the shoes of straw, and carrying a staff, will enter by the opening made in the wall of the apartment for the coffin, having ascended by the western steps. If the slighter dressing (preparatory to the coffining) have still (to be made), the son will follow the bier without a cap, enter by the gate, and ascend by the steps on the east There is one and the same rule for a ruler, a Great officer, and an ordinary officer."
15. 𝖅ǎng-𝖟ze asked, "If one is occupied in drawing (the carriage with the bier on it) at the funeral rites of his ruler, and is then called to the funeral rites of
his father or mother, what should he do?"
- ↑ The eulogy has in China for more than a thousand years taken the form of inscriptions on tombs and sacrificial compositions; of which there are many elegant and eloquent specimens. It should be summed up in the honorary title. Truth, however, might require that that should be the reverse of eulogistic; and perhaps this led to its being conferred, as a rule, by one superior in rank and position. The honorary title of a deceased sovereign was first proclaimed at the great sacrifice to Heaven at the winter solstice; and hence it is referred to in the text as coming from Heaven!
- ↑ That is, I think, simply, "as a precaution against his dying while abroad." Zottoli renders:—"Regulus excedens confinia, ut in tres annos praecaveatur, habit sandapilam sequacem."
