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THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
establishment of the ancestral temples and of the altars of the land and grain, and the ordering of the hamlets and houses, and of every corner in the districts, large, medium, and small, were in all particulars according to the rules of the sages1. So it was; but yet one morning, Thien Khăng-zze 2 killed the ruler of Khi, and stole his state. And was it only the state that he stole? Along with it he stole also the regulations of the sages and wise men (observed in it). And so, though he got the name of being a thief and a robber, yet he himself continued to live as securely as Yâo and Shun had done. Small states did not dare to find fault with him; great states did not dare to take him off; for twelve generations (his descendants) have possessed the state of Khi 3. Thus do we not have a case in which not only did (the party) steal the state of Khi,
BK. X.
1 The meaning is plain; but to introduce the various geographical terms would make the translation cumbrous. The concluding is perplexing.
2 This event is mentioned in the Analects, XIV, xxii, where the perpetrator of the murder is called Khăn Khăng-zze, and Khăn Hăng. Hǎng was his name, and Khang the honorary title given to him after his death. The family to which he belonged had originally taken refuge in Khî from the state of Khan in B. C. 672. Why and when its chiefs adopted the surname Thien instead of Khan is not well known. The murder took place in 482. Hăng did not immediately usurp the marquisate; but he and his successors disposed of it at their pleasure among the representatives of the old House till 386, when Thien Ho was recognised by the king of Kâu as the marquis; and his next successor but one took the title of king.
The kingdom of Khi came to an end in B. c. 221, the first year of the dynasty of Khin, after it had lasted through five reigns. How Kwang-zze made out his twelve generations' we cannot tell. There may be an interpolation in his text made in the time of Khin, or subsequently.
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