中山三器铭文考释

NOTES ON THE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE THREE BRONZE VESSELS OF THE STATE OF ZHONGSHAN

一中山王鼎铭隹(惟)十四年,中山王(?)詐(作)鼎,于(為)铭日:於(烏)虖(呼)!語不(?)(悖)(?)(哉)! (?)从臼从鬲省,昔声,疑即错字。《礼记·月令》:"毋或作为淫巧",注:"今《月令》‘作为’为‘诈伪’。"是诈可读为作。于读为"为",详《经传释词》卷一。 (?)从(?)得声,以音近读为悖。古从发、从犮、从弗、从孛得声之字常相通假,如马王堆帛书《周易·困》"絑发方来"、"困于赤发,"今本《周易》作"朱绂"、"赤绂",《诗·采芑》、《斯干》则作"朱芾",《白虎通·绋冕》引《诗》又作"朱绋";而《礼记·曲礼》:"助葬必执绋",《杂记》:"

The recent excavation of the royal tombs of the State of Zhongshan of the Warring States period with its discovery of several thousand pieces of tomb furniture is another major event in Chinese archaeology. The long inscriptions found on three of the bronzes unearthed in particular, are of great significance to the study of the history of this period.The bronze ding-tripod and the hu-vase inscribed with the names of Cuo 错, a king of the State of Zhongshan, were both made by him in the fourteenth year of his reign. As related in the text of the inscriptions, his father died when he was still a child and he had to succeed to the throne and rule the country with the help of Zhou 赒, his loyal Prime Minister. Later when the king of the State of Yan by the name of Zi kuai 子哙, abdicated in favor of his Prime Minister Zi Zhi 子之, both his Crown Prince Ping 平 and a general named Shi Bei 市被 revolted against Zi Zhi. Taking advantage of this politilal disorder, Zhou personally led an army to attack the tate of Yan and succeeded in occupying several hundred li of territory and scores of cities of the latter. As a result, the tiny State of Zhongshan became a rather powerful country. In the texts of the inscriptions, Cuo cites the well-known historical precedent of a king of Yue's success in conquering his enemy the State of Wu and restoring his own country only five years after his country was annexed by the State of Wu, and admonished his son to keep up his vigilence all the time.The hu-vase inscribed with the name of Qie Ci was made by him in memory of his late father Cuo after he succeeded to the latter's throne. According to the text of the inscription, Cuo was a benevolent ruler who was in favor of alleviating the harshness of the criminal Code so that innocent people could be spared from wanton punishment. It also relates that taking advantage of a political disorder in the State of Yan, Cuo attacked the latter with the help of his si ma 司马 (general) and occupied a large stretch of the latter's territory. To commemorate this achievement of the late king, as proclaimed by the text of the inscription, his son decrees that in the newly occupied territory, the people should make offerings to his deceased father from generation to generation.Since the inscriptions of the ding-tripod and hu-vase made by Cuo refer to the invasion of the state of yan in 314 B. C., these two vessels were obviously made after that year. The hu-vase bearing the name of Qie Ci was of a slightly later date, but still before the year of 301 when the State of Zhong Shan was annexed by the State of Zhao.The discovery of these three bronzes has shed much new light on the history of the State of Zhong Shan during this period.