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BOOK XIX. SANG TẢ KỈ
OR
THE GREATER RECORD OF MOURNING RITES1.
SECTION I.
1. When the illness was extreme, all about the establishment was swept clean, inside and out. In the case of a ruler or Great officer, the stands, with the martial instruments suspended from them, were removed; in that of an officer, his lute and cithern. The sufferer lay with his head to the east, under the window on the north. His couch was removed (and he was laid on the ground). The clothes ordinarily worn at home were removed, and new clothes substituted for them. (In moving the body) one person took hold of each limb. Males and females changed their dress2. Some fine floss was put (on the mouth and nostrils), to make sure that the breath was gone. A man was not permitted to die in the hands of the women, or a woman in the hands of the men.
2. A ruler and his wife both died in the Great chamber, a Great officer and his acknowledged wife in the Proper chamber3; the not yet acknowledged
1 See introductory notice, vol. xxvii, pages 34, 35.
The clothes of the dying master and friend were changed; it was right that all about them should also change their dress. The court or best robes were put on, moreover, that inquiring visitors might be properly received.
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3 This proper, or legitimate' chamber corresponded in the mansion of a Great officer to the Grand chamber in the palace.
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