XVIII. Zâ Kî or Miscellaneous Records

29. When an officer, in a mistake, used a name to his ruler which should be avoided, he rose to his feet. If he were speaking to any one who had the name that should be avoided with the ruler, he called him by the name given to him on his maturity. 30. (A Great officer) took no part in any seditious movements within his state, and did not try to avoid calamities coming from without. 31. The treatise on the duties of the Chief Internuncius says, 'The length of the long symbol of rank was for a duke, nine inches; for a marquis or [1. There are differences of opinion as to the meaning of this paragraph, between which it is not easy to decide. It would be tedious to go into an exhibition and discussion of them.] earl, seven; for a count or baron, five. The width in each case was three inches; and the thickness, half an inch. They tapered to the point for one inch and a half. They were all of jade. The mats for them were made with three different colours, (two rows of each,) six in all.' 32. Duke Âi asked Dze-kâo, 'When did members of your family first begin to be in office?' The answer was) 'My ancestor held a small office under duke Wan[1].' 33. When a temple was completed, they proceeded to consecrate it with the following ceremony:--The officer of prayer, the cook, and the butcher, all wore the cap of leather of the colour of a sparrow's head, and the dark-coloured dress with the purple border. The butcher rubbed the sheep clean, the officer of prayer blessed it, and the cook with his face to the north took it to the pillar and placed it on the south-east of it. Then the butcher took it in his arms, went up on the roof at the middle point between the east and west, and with his face to the south stabbed it, so that the blood ran down in front; and then he descended. At the gate of the temple, and of each of the two side apartments, they used a fowl, one at the gate of each (going up as before and stabbing them). The hair and feathers about the ears were first pulled out under the roof (before the victims were killed). When the fowls were cut at the gates of the temple, and the apartments on each side of it, officers stood, opposite to each gate on the north. When the thing was over, the officer of prayer announced that it

[1. This paragraph is supposed to be defective. Duke Wan was marquis of Lû from B.C. 626 to 609.] was so, and they all retired, after which he announced it to the ruler, saying, 'The blood-consecration has been performed.' This announcement was made at the door of the back apartment of the temple, inside which the ruler stood in his court-robes, looking towards the south. This concluded the ceremony, and all withdrew[1]. When the great apartment (of the palace) was completed, it was inaugurated (by a feast), but there was no shedding of blood. The consecration by blood of the temple building was the method taken to show how intercourse with the spirits was sought. All the more distinguished vessels of the ancestral temple were consecrated, when completed, by the blood of a young boar. 34. When a feudal lord sent his wife away, she proceeded on her journey to her own state, and was received there with the observances due to a lord's wife. The messenger, accompanying her, then discharged his commission, saying, 'My poor ruler, from his want of ability, was not able to follow her, and take part in the services at your altars and in your ancestral temple. He has, therefore, sent me, so and so, and I venture to inform your officer appointed for the purpose of what he has done.' The officer presiding (on the occasion) replied, 'My poor ruler in his former communication did not lay (her defects) before you, and he does not presume to do anything but respectfully receive your lord's message.' The officers in attendance on the commissioner

[1. This ceremony is also described in the 'Rites of the greater Tâi,' Book X, with some difference in the details. It is difficult, even from the two accounts, to bring the ceremony fully before the mind's eye.] then set forth the various articles sent with the other the lady on her marriage, and those on side received them. 35. When the wife went away from her husband, she sent a messenger and took leave of him, saying, 'So and so, through her want of ability, is not able to keep on supplying the vessels of grain for your sacrifices, and has sent me, so and so, to, presume to announce this to your attendants.' The principal party (on the other side) replied, 'My son, in his inferiority, does not presume to avoid you punishing him, and dares not but respectfully receive your orders.' The messenger then retired, the principal party bowing to him, and escorting him. If the father-in-law were alive, then he named him self; if he were dead, an elder brother of the husband acted for him, and the message was given as from him; if there were no elder brother, then it ran as from the husband himself. The message, as given above, was) 'The son of me, so and so, in his inferiority.' (At the other end of the transaction), if the lady were an aunt, an elder sister, or a younger, she was mentioned as such. 36. Confucius said, 'When I was at a meal at Shâo-shih's, I ate to the full. He entertained me courteously, according to the rules. When I was about to offer some in sacrifice, he got up and wished to stop me, saying, "My poor food is not worth being offered in sacrifice." When I was about to take the concluding portions, he got up and wished to stop me, saying, "I would not injure you with my poor provisions[1]."

[1. See pages 20, 21, paragraph 13.] 37. A bundle of silk (in a marriage treaty) contained live double rolls, each double roll being forty cubits in length. 38. At the (first) interview of a wife with her father and mother-in-law, (her husband's) unmarried aunts and sisters all stood below the reception hall, with their faces towards the west, the north being the place of honour. After this interview, she visited all the married uncles of her husband, each in his own apartment. Although not engaged to be married, the rule was for a young lady to wear the hair-pin;--she was thus treated with the honours of maturity. The (principal) wife managed the ceremony. When she was unoccupied and at ease, she wore her hair without the pin, on each side of her head.