kept a prisoner till his death, and his son Yü rose up (and entered on the same undertaking). To him Heaven gave the Great Plan with its nine divisions, and the unvarying principles (of its method) were set forth in their due order.'*
2. '(Of those divisions) the first is called "the five elements;" the second, "reverent attention to the five (personal) matters;" the third, "earnest devotion to the eight (objects of) government;" the fourth, "the harmonious use of the five dividers of time; " the fifth, "the establishment and use of royal perfection;" the sixth, "the discriminating use of the three virtues;" the seventh, "the intelligent use of (the means for) the examination of doubts;" the eighth, "the thoughtful use of the various verifications;" the ninth, "the hortatory use of the five (sources of) happiness, and the awing use of the six (occasions of) suffering."'
3. i. 'First, of the five elements[1].—The first is
- ↑ Gaubil gives here 'les cinq hing,' without translating the Chinese term. English sinologists have got into the habit of rendering it by 'elements,' but it hardly seems possible to determine what the Chinese mean by it. We intend by 'elements' 'the first principles or ingredients of which all things are composed.' The Pythagoreans, by their four elements of earth, water, air, and fire, did not intend so much the nature or essence of material substances, as the forms under which matter is actually presented to us. The character hsing, meaning 'to move,' 'to be in action,' shows that the original conception of the Chinese is of a different nature; and it is said in the Khang-hsî Dictionary, 'The five hsing move and revolve between heaven and earth, without ever ceasing, and hence they are named.' The editors of the latest imperial edition of the Shû say, 'Distributed through the four seasons, they make "the five dividers of time;" exhibited in prognostications, they give rise to divination by the tortoise-shell and the reeds; having lodgment in the human body, they produce "the five personal matters;" moved by good fortune and bad, they
