18. When sacrificing to Heaven, the earth is
swept, and the sacrifice presented on the ground,—from
a regard to the simplicity of such an unartificial
altar. Admirable as are the vinegar and pickles,
suet boiled and produced through evaporation is
preferred,—to do honour to the natural product of
heaven. An ordinary knife might be employed (to
kill the victim), but that fitted with bells is preferred,—giving
honour to the idea thereby indicated; there
is the harmony of sound, and then the cutting work
is done.
Section III.
1. (As to) the meaning of (the ceremony of) capping[1]:—The cap used for the first act of the service was of black cloth,—the cap of the highest antiquity. It was originally of (white) cloth, but the colour when it was used in fasting was dyed black. As to its strings, Confucius said, "I have not heard anything about them." This cap, after it had been once put upon (the young man), might be disused.
2. The son by the wife proper was capped by the eastern stairs (appropriate to the use of the master), to show how he was in their line of
- ↑ These paragraphs about capping are not in the expurgated copy of the Lî, and many commentators, especially Wang of Shih-liang, would relegate them to Book XI. And they are not all easy to be understood. The capping was thrice repeated, and each time with a different cap. So much is clear. The names and forms of the caps in paragraph 3 have given rise to much speculation, from which I purposely abstain; nor do I clearly comprehend its relation to the threefold capping in the ceremony.
sentence:—"Je laisse à ceux qui peuvent suivre ce logogriphe dans le texte Chinois, le soin d'en saisir toutes les finesses; car, à mon sens, ce n'est qu'une ineptie."
