tjan tjoe-som on the rendering of the word ti as emperor

8/12/2019 Tjan Tjoe-Som on the Rendering of the Word Ti as Emperor

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On the Rendering of the Word Ti as "Emperor"

Author(s): Tjan Tjoe-SomSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 71, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1951), pp. 115-121Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/595409Accessed: 23/06/2010 04:47

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ON THE RENDERING OF THE WORD TI AS EMPERORTJAN TJOE-SOMtJNISERSITY OF $EIDEN

11l an article in the Journal of the AmericanOriental Society1 ProfessorDubs discussed andcondemned he usual translation of the Chineseword {ia as 'emperor,' as Legge and Chavanneshad done. His argumentsean be summarized sfollows Ti has two diferentmeanings. 1. It is thedenotationof a god, who later by euhemerizationbecomesan earthly ruler; it occurs n names likeShang-tib,Euang TiC,Ti Yaod,Ti Shune,ete 2.It is an ellipsis of the title;huang-tif,, and usedfor it.In 221 B. a. the major part of what is nowChina iE>roperas for the first time united underone rule, and the ruler, to signalizethe fact thathe had risen to a conditionabove hat of the rulersin all other Chinesestates?who had styled them-selves wangg (usually and correctly ranslatedasvking), adopted he new title of hqbang-ts,t alonehaving been used for a brief period beforehThistitle of huang-ti can be properly translated ass emperor,' ince in English, according o the Os-ford dictionary, emperor means a title of sover-eignty considered uperior to that of king.' Tsas an ellipsis of hqbang-ti aythus also be renderedas ' emperor.' But, as before221 B. a. there wereno emperors n China since there was no empire,the translationof ti as ' emperor' in expressionsreferring to a period beforethat date is an ana-chronism. So, to speakof the ' Emperor n Eigh 'as a translation for Shang-ti, or the vYellowEmperor as a translation for Euang Ti, or' EmperorYao ' as a translation or Ti Yao, etcvis wrong. As a substitute or this erroneous rans-lation, ProfessorDubs suggeststhe English word' lord> in its Biblical sense, which possesses aconvenient ambiguity, denoting either a divinebeing or a euhemerized lller.

So much for Professor Dubs, whose soundreasoningwe can accept o a great extent. For thepractical purpose of avoiding historical miscon-ceptions it would ndeed be better not to speakofan emperorand an empire for the period before221 B. C., because n every-day anpage the words

1 lIomer E. Dubs, Chinese Tmperial DesignationsJAOS 65 t 1945) 26-27.

' emperor and ' empire create thought-associaZtions rtot consistent with the facts in Chinesehistory. There are, however,a few points withrespect to the meaning of the word tt which Ithink it interestingenough o discusshere.I am not dealing with the etymologyo ti, forwhich I may refer the reader to the studies ofothers.2 What I want to discuss is that curiousspeculative heory in which ti forms part of thesystem, and which ProfessorDubs apparentlyhasnot taken into account. In fact, we can assumethree, insteadof tnvo,diferent meaningsattachedto the wordt: 1. tz dertoting god, occurring nexpressionslike Shang-ti, and huctng-tt,whichtwice can be found in the Shu ching, (ch. Luhsing), and is identical with Shang-ti; 2. ti asan ellipsis for huang-ti, of which the translation'emperor> ofers no problem or the moment; 3.ti denotingellhemerized lllers, and occurring nthe namesHuang Ti, Ti Yao, etc., which are partof the San-huang wu-t; series, the speculativetheory I have in view. It is with regard to thissystemof ' the three :Efuang nd the Five Ti,' thatProfessorDubs suggested ranslationof; lord forti fails to express he requiredmeaning.It is notpossible o date exactly he origin of theSan-hxang wu-ti theory, which seems to be con-nectedwiththe systemof the ' }five Elements uff-hsinghand the s Three Governments san-tingi 4.References o it in the Chuang tzu,5 the Hsuntzu,6the iEi:uan,7 and the Lu shih ch'un ch'iu

aSee for exaleple the article by Liu FUU n Ku-shihpient 2 (1930) 20-27.s See E. AIaspero, L4gendes mytholoiques dans leChou Eing Journal asiotique, Ser. 12 vol. 3 (1924), 97and w ang K'uansv in K-shih pien 7 shang ( 1941 ,189 ff.' C. f. Ku Chieh-kangx,Ean-tai hsuehvsh1hhih-luehY(1936), 1-7.5 Ch. Tsab gu: Euo-hsueh ch-pen ts'ung-shu chien-pien ed., 11.61, and especially ch. ltsien yun (14.83 85,86 which has, however too polished a style not toarouse suspicion.6 Ch. Ta lueh: same edition, 27. 83.7Ch. Ping fa: same edition 17.79.8 Ch. :B:ueskung: Erh-shih-erh tt1h ed., 1. 12a- ch.l7ung chung: 4. 12b; ch. Ch'u sa; 7. 8b; ch. Esiao hsing:


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6 TJANTJOE-SOM: n the Renderingof the WordTi as {'Emperorsuggest that it was known,at least in a fragmen-tary form, in the periodof the WarringStates. Itreached its heyday, however, during the LaterHan; and t is especially n the so-called pocryphalbooksweij, the origin of which can be ascribed othe latter half of the first Han dynasty,that thetheoryreceived ts fullest svstematization.Even aman like Tung Chung-shu, he great advocateofConfucianism,and the ablest expositor of thedoctrineof the Sung Yang school,did not deem tbeneathhis dignity to devotehis energy o buildingup an ingeniousf ystem) n which wang, ti, andhuang play a role.9In the strange heoryof the San-huangwu-ti apicture s given of the succession f sovereigns.Inchronological rder are rangedthe Three Euang7the Five Ti, the Three Wang, and the Five Pak.This succession n time, however, s not the im-portant hing. The chief feature s the descendinghierarchywhich is representedby the successivesovereigns,a hierarchy from high to low. Thedif3Serences expressed n severalways.So we can read in the Suan tzu (ch. Ping fa),which is, however,not abovesuspicion: ' He whounderstandshe one undivided ife-essence s calledhuang, he who has examined he Way is called {i,he who has penetrated nto its spiritual power scalled wang.' 10 The Sou-ming chueh1l gives ashort and striking characteristic: ' The ThreeHuang walked leisurely, the Fis-e Ti walkedhurriedly, the Three Wang ran, the Five Pagalloped,' which according to the commentatorSung Chun}of the Wei Dynasty means: 'Whenthe spiritualpowerof the sovereignswas abundantand their Way perfect,the sun and moon seemedto go slowly; the more aious they became toattend to the daily afEairs,he more the sun andmoonseemed o hurry; and when n their diligencethey could not restraintheir thoughts from theirduties, the sun and moon seemed o gallop.'12 Inthe Huai-nantzu we read, 'in Ancient times theFive Ti esteemed piritualpower, he ThreeWangused righteousness,he :FivePa employed orce 13

9 Cf. O. Franke, fitudten zur Geschichte des konfqZran-ischen Dopmas qxnd der chinessschen Staatsreligron( 1920), 242, and Woo Kang, Les trois theorres polttiq?besd?b Tch'oqxen ts'reo?b (1932), 114ff.See note 7, above.11Koqx ming chuehz, an apocryphal work of the IIsiaoching quoted in the Po-h?b t'qbng,ch. hao.12 Yq-han-shan-fang chr-r shuaa, 58. 29b.l8Ch. Jen hsien heqxn: 18.25b of the edition by LiuWen-tien.

in another hapter,l4 in Ancient imes ChenNung(one of the Huang) made no use of ordinancesand commandments ut the people obeyed; Yaoand Shun (two of the Ti) had ordinancesandcommandmentsbut no penal laws; the IIsia-dynasty did not go back on their word, the Yinexhorted, he Chou made convenants (the Hsia,Yin, and Chouwere he ThreeWang). Furtherweread: 5 'He who identifies himself with theprimeval essence is called ti; he who identifieshimself with righteousnesss called ang; he whoidentifieshimself with force is called a.' In theFeng-su 'ung-i16 t is said, ' The Five Ti practisedsageness, after their death the Three Wangpractisedhumanity,after their death the Five Papractised knowledge.' The Lun yu tse-ch'iensheng 7 says; ' The Ti did not put righteousnessfirst but employed he spiritual powerwhich pro-ceeded rom their possession f the Way; the Wangdid not put force first but esteemedhumanityandrighteousness; he Pa did not put justice first butesteemedmilitary force.' The Tou-wei i 18 says,' The Ti haveobtained he root and stem,the Wanghave obtained the blossomsand flowers, the Pahave obtained he appended ranches.'The T'ungfk'ao lun lg says: ' The Three E[uangbasedthem-selves on the Way, the :FiveTi took their supportfrom their spiritual power, the Three Wangpractisedhumanity, the Five Pa esercised right-eousness.'

We see that, in this hierarchical uccession, heHuang are representedas beings possessing thehighest qualities: they are the incomparable nes,paragonswhich never appearagain in the world.They shedforth a brilliancewhichnone can escape,says the Po-hu i'ung.20 And the Tu tuan21 saysof them, ' their accomplishedpiritualpowerhas aresplendencewhich shines on everyoneand every-thing.' In this conceptionof the Huang as theacme of perfection standing at the top of a de-scending line, we may suspect the influence of4 Ch. Ftan Iqxnhsgn: l3.ab.]5 Ch. T'a} tsqx hsiin; 20. 12a.16Fteng-sqxt'qxng tbb, Ssu-pu ts'?ng-k'an ed., 2. 4b.1TLt4n-yu tse-ch'ten shengec, an apocryphal work ofthe Lun-yu, quoted in the T ai-p'ing yq-lan, 76. 3b.

18 ToM4-wet idd, an apocryphal work of the Lr chr, quotedin the T'a-p'+ng yvu-lan, 76. 2a.19 Juan Chiee (210-263), T'qxng k'ao 1t4ntt quoted inT;ar-p'rng yz-lan, 77. 7b.20 Ch. hao: Pao-chtng-t'ang ts'qxng-shtbed., 1 shang. lb.21Ts'ai Yunggg t 133-192 , Tx Ttbonhh, Ss -pqb ts'qbngk'an ed. ch. shang. lb.


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TJANTJOS_SOM:n the Renderingof the WordTi as {f Emperor 117of sages.26Be it as it may, by luang areindicatedthose sovereignswho, in all respects, were con-sidered o be the highest of earthlyrulers.Comparedwith them the Ti were ostensiblylower,even though their qualitiesalso are praisedto the skies. Again we must not look for consis-tency in the depictionof the Ti. Sometimes heyapproach he excellenceof the Huang, as whenthey are identified with IIeaven itself; 27 some-times they are said to combine he spiritualpowerof Eeaven and Earth; 8 sometimes hey are saidto be set up by Heaven to act as its aid, as isstated by the Shang-shuta-chuan,29which pro-ceeds: 'As the four seasons dispose of life anddeath,so according o laws and measures he Ticlearly examine the cases of men, bestowingrewards n spring and summer, and giving outpunishmentsn autumnand winter.' But in spiteof all this, the positionof the Ti is alwaysbelowthat of the Huang, and we may suppose hat it isonly due to the inadequacy f expressions hat thedescriptionof their beauty often overlaps hat ofthe Huang. The same can be seen, to a certainextent, with respect to the picture of the Wang,which, accordingto the Ch'un-ch'iu an-lu,30 san appellation conferred by HeaxTen; r who,according o the well-known, houghunwarrantedexplanation f the character, onnects he WaysofHeaven,Earth, and man.31The three titles for the ancient Chinesesover-eigns, huang, tz, and wang, in our system ofheirarchicalsuccessionrepresent a marked scaleof diminishingperfection.It is thus necessary nthe translationof thosetitles to find wordswhichclearlypreserve he distinction n this very sense.But first we have to ascertain he nature of thedecline and in what direction it tends. It iscertainlynot a difEerencen the extensionof theterritories verwhichthesovereigns ule. No wordis said about political boundaries n any of theexpositionsof the hierarchicalsystem. On theother hand we have the explicit statementof theCh'un-ch'iuan-lu whichsays: ' The moreremote

26 See for example, Chiao Chouij,Ku shih k'aokk.27 See Hu Shih, in Ku shih pien, 1 (1926), 199.28 Po-hu t'ung, 1 shang. 9b.29 Shang-shu ta-chuanll, quoted in the Feng-su t'ung-i,1. 3a.30Tung Chung-shumm 17o-c. 105 B.C.), Chsun-chsiu.fan-lunn, Ku-ching chih-hui han ed., 7. 21b, l1. 8a.31 Ibid., 11. 7b; and Shqho-qvenchieh-tzu chqhoo,Ktbo-hs?heh chi-pen ts ?hng-shqh hien-pien ed., 1 shang. 35.

certain Taoist doctrineswith their pessimism nregard to social progress, the efficacy of socialmeasures and the usefulnessof human virtues;with their nsistenceon spontaneity nd artlessness,'on simplicityand non-action.The qualitiesof thelIuang can be comparedwith those of Heaven,indeed hq4angs Heaven as the Tun tou shu 22says. This source continuesby saying:Eeaven does not speak, but the four seasons go theireourses, while the hundred things grow; the ThreeHuang with robes hanging down and folded hands didnot establish recorded rules, but none of the peopleescaped their influence; the spiritual power proeeedingfrom their possession of the \N ay was profound andquiet, resembling August 23 Heaven . . . they eontalnedin themselves the vast, and trod the path of harmony,they opened the soft and unrolled the hard; above theywere in harmony with the August Perfeetion, spendingtheir radiant light; pointing to Eeaen they drewpatterns on the Earth; their spiritual reforming in-Huence secretly penetrated everything, resplendent andof eonsummate beauty they were immeasurable.The pictureof their simplicity even approachesthat of the uncultured avage. ' The Huang dis-regarded he gold that lay hid in the mountains,and sufferedpearlsand jade to be lost in the deep;they dwelt on mountainpeaksor lived in caves;they clothed themselves n hides and fur, theydrankthe freshnesof the well, and suppedon theglamourof the dew,'says the Po-hu t'ung.24This,however, mmediatelycontinues:' empty and ab-

sent, vast and void, they were in communicationwith the sacred powers of Heaven and Earth.'We may not expect consistency n this fancifuldescription f the goldenpast, in which all ancientChinese hinkersseem to havebelieved,especiallythe Confucians f the Han dynastywho, while try-ing to gain the ascendencyover other schoolsofthought, were at the sametime incorporating llsorts of elements rom their adversariesnto theirconceptionof life. Thus the Confucianson theone hand ,see n Fu IIsi and Shen Sung, who aretwo of the IIuang, culture-heroeserminating aperiod of crudeignoranceand creating a societyof suddenperfection.25Onthe other hand an ageof bliss is sometimessupposed o have precededthat of savagery, ollowedagain by tlle appearanee

22 Y1bB tO1b sh14ii, an apocryphal work of the Ch 1bnch i1b, quoted in the Pweng-stb 1bn8-i, 1. lb.23 For the word ' August ' see below.241 shang. 1Oa.26 This is the proeess deseribedin the I ching, ch. Hsi

tZW hsia.


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8 TJANTJOE-SO10::n the Renderingof the WordTi as ErnFerorsovereignshad a high appellation though theirterritorieswere small; the nearersovereigns ad alowly appellation though their territories werelarge.' 9 It is true that the appellationwhich adynastyadoptsat tlle assumption f its reign (andas such the namesof Fu Bsi, Shen Nung, Sui Jen,ChuJung, lOuangTi, Chuan Esu,Ti K'u, Ti Yao,Ti Shull, Hsia, Yin, Chouare regarded)expressesits possessionof T'ten-hsiam all under Heaven.'But we must not overlook hese facts: 1. accord-ing to an opinion,recorded y the Po-hu t'ung, thehad no 1leedfor an appellation o express theirpossession of all under Heaven, because theirspiritualpowerwas so very great; 3 2. even in thecase of more or less llistorical dynasties, as thelEsia, Yin, or Chou, he appellation, n our specu-lative systemof hierarchy,primarilydenotes heirspiritualquality. Thus Hsiameans tan great,'andindicates hat the dynastywas equal o the task ofpreservingand holding fast the great principle,ta Tao, while Yin means chung 'equilibrium,'and indicates that the dynasty was equal to thetask of maintaining the way of equilibriumandharmony;and Chou means chihP to reach,' miq' perfect,' t indicates hat the spiritualpowerpro-ceeding rom the possession f the right Way,wascompleteand perfect,and therewas nothingwhichit did not reach.34We may ask, whether he es-pression T'ten-hsia,even in later times, has evercompletely shaken of the idea of a spiritualrather than a territorial realm; and contrary oBodde's statement that the primary meaning ofthe title Huclng-tiafter Ch'in Shih-huang was apolitical alld not a religious one,' 5 I may quoteTung Chung-shuwho, three quartersof a centuryafter Ch'inShih-huang, ees reason o explain hat' he who is in communicationwith Heaven andEarth, the yin and the yang, the four seasons, hesun, the moonand the stars,the mountains nd therivers, and the humanrelationships;whosespirit-ual powerresembles hat of Heaven and Earth iscalled Huang-ti.' 6 When Ch'in Shih-huanghadunited the Chinese nation, and adopted a newtitle, he deSnitely closed a period of Chinesehistory, and turned over a new leaf: it was the

32 Ch'iin-ch'iz fan-lu, 7. l lb.S3 Po-htl t'ung, 1 shang. 13a.4Ibid., 1 sha7zg. 12b.85D. Bodde, China's First Unifier (1938) p. 131.86 Ch'un-chiu fan-lun 7.1lb.

very goal which had been aimed at hy the LegalistSchool,of which the state of Ch'in had long beenan adherent. But it doesnot necessarilymeanthatreligion had been entirely disposed of, to bereplacedby politicalutility. Althoughwe may seethe development f Ch'in from a petty state intoan all-embracing mpire as an attempt to secu-larize society out of the socio-religious rammelsof the time, religion as such was not abolished.Ch'in Shin-huangwas as superstitious s any manof his period. Hqgang-tzmay have expressed heidea of a politicalunity, for the first time achievedin such an ambience;but it certainly also meantthat Ch'in Shill-huangns piritual power, whichenabledhim to accomplish he feat, could only beadequately xpressed y a new term. We may finda counterpart ven n modern imes whenwe thinkof the rise of the Third Reich, the head of whichthought it necessary o use the term Fqihrer n anew sense, so that, apart from its ordinarysenseof leader, t acquired or his followersa contentofreligioussanctity.The differencebetweenHuang, Ti, Wang andPa is a matter of declining spiritual power. It isexplicitlystated thus in the case of the Ti and theWang,when, for example, he Po-hu t'ung says:37' A distinction is made between he possessionofspiritual power in abundance (denoted by Tt),and spirittlal power in scantiness (denoted byWang).' By what translationcan this distinctionbe best expressed?Let us take as our starting-point the trans-lation of Wangby ' king.' I do not think it neces-sary to look for another erm. Going down a stepin the hierarchy, he word Pa should not oflermuch difficultyeither. It has usually and con-veniently been renderedby 'hegemon,' which iscorroborated y the Chineseexplanation:namelypak meanspOr vthe eldest,' chief,' and by the factthat synonymouswith pa the term meng-chus' head of the confederation is used.38We may aswell translatepa by ' chief ' insteadof ' hegemon,'or if we like to drawa lessonfrom modernhistory,by ' Buhrer,'because he pa, according o the usualbelief, relied foremoston the 1lseof force.What is the word expressinga superiority oking? ' Emperor is such a word,but then we haveProfessorDubs' objections. llis are based on the

37 Po-hu t;ung 1 shan9- 9b-S8 Shih chi, Po na ed., 5.18a, Tso chxann Legge's trans-lation, 244.


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TJANTJOE-SO1W:n the Rendertngof the VVord i as Emperor 9fact that the word ' emperor rouses thoughts ofpolitical supremacy ssociatedwith territorial ule.But although t must be conceded hat at presentwe meanby ' emperor a sovereignwieldingpowergreater han a king and over a larger extent thanthe realm of a king, the etymologyof the Latinword imperator from which 'emperor' has beenderived, eachesus some interesting hings. Froman illuminating study by Professor Wagenvoort,originally published n Dutch under the title ofImperiumand recently ranslated nto English asRomanDynamics, haveextracted he following: 9

Imperator was the title which a Romangeneralreceived by appellation' from his soldiers aftera great victory (appellare imperatorem). Ele borethat title until he had returned o Rome. It wasonly with Caesar hat the title becamepermanent,though whether t was made hereditaryor not isan open question. The Imperator was he whopossessed he imperium,not however mperium nits later senseof politicalentity or even of absolutepolitical power, but in its original meaning oflife-engenderingorce,'mana,numen,virtus. Theword mperare, to be placedbesideparere, as OCCtl-pare beside apere, can be explainedmoreor less asa causativeof parere 'to appear,' hus 'to call tolife.' Imperiumwas thought to be present n thepersonof the king, of the magistrateswho imbuedpersonsand things with new strengthby a solemntouch (the magistrates um imperio), of the priest,and of the victoriousgeneral, who by it instilledstrength into his soldiers. In the oldest times thegods were imperatores.I am not at all competent o judge the value ofthis exposition; however, ts correctnesswas con-firmed o me by a Latin scholarof our university.And in this case, surely, the term ' emperor as atranslation or ti is not altogether nadequate.Inthe oldest period of Romanhistory the gods wereimperatores;i originallydenotesa god. The im-perator was the person endowedwith imperium,that is ' life-engendering orce,>virtus; the Tipossesseda spiritual power, tet, alike to that ofHeaven,or a combination f those of Heaven andEarth. Though am not yielding o the temptationof seeing a cognaterelation between he words iand te, yet it would not seem wrong to say that aTi was a personwith a very great te, virtus, life-

39 H. lVagenvoort, Imperium: Studien over hetMana - beprip in Z;ede en Taal der Romeinen (1941esp. ch. 2.

engendering orce, imperium;he is an imperator,an emperor n the most pregnant enseof the word.The fears for anachronismf ' emperor shouldbeemployed as a translation for ti for the periodbefore 221 s. a., appears o be unfounded, or itis as little anachronistic s the use of the words' imperial and ' empire in the English coronationceremonybefore the king of England was pro-claimedEmperor f India which itself is an illu-stration of the spiritual nature of kingship.During this ceremony, t the investingof the robesand the delivery of the orb, after the Dean ofWestminsterhas placed upon the king the thirdrobe,calledthe ImperialMantle,and after the orbhas been delivered nto his hand, the Archbishoptraditionallyspeaks the following words:' Receive his Imperial Robe, and Orb, and theLord Your Gkodndue You with linowledge andWisdom,with Majesty and with Power from onHigh; The Lord clothe You with the Robe ofRighteousness,and with the GEarmentsf Sal-vation. And when You see this Orbset under theCross,remember hat the whole World is subjectto the Power and Empireof Christour Redeemer.For :EIes the Prince of the :K:ings f the Earth;CIVingf Kings, and Lord of Lords: So that noman can reign happily, who derives not hisAuthority from Him, and directs not all hisActions according o His Laws.' 0The realmof the liing of England,of any king,is latently he wholeworld, he T'ien-hsia, f whichthe actual kingdom s but the earthly manifesta-tion. Thoughactuallya king, he may, in a specialsense, be called emperorbecausevirtually he pos-sesses the power o attain that state.If we may, with some measureof right, adopt' emperor as an adequate endering or ti, we havenow to proceed o the word huang,which has beenleft undiscussed y ProfessorDubs. The originandmeaningof huanghas beenamplydealtwith by liuChieh-kang nd Yang :EIsiang-kuein their San-huang k'ao:4l Hlbang was originally only usedadjectively in the sense of great, beautiful,splendid;or verballyor adverbially, ut neversub-stantively. As an adjective it was applied to

40 This was the formula spoken at the coronation ofQueen Victoria, on June 28th 1838. See John FullerRussell, The Coronation Service according to the Useof the Church of England (1875), 16. See also A. M.Hocart, Kingship (1927 , 95.41 San huang k'aoPP, Yenching Journal of ChineseStudies, MoIlographSeries, 8 (1936), ch. 2.


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120 TJANTJOE-SOM:On the Renderingof the WordTi as EmperorlIeaven, spirits, and men having a superhumanappearance.n theoldestwrittendocuments qxangasa nounonlyoccurs n the Shu ching (ch. lIungfan), which s generallyheldto bea productof thelate WarringStates period. In this sense,hqbangdenotinga person,particularlya lord, is, as wehaveseen,understoodo be a higherdenominationthan ti. We havethus to look for a word,whichpreciselyexpressesllis superiorityo ' emperor.'Againwe turn to Romanhistory,to discoverfsome ermcanbeadoptedromthatculture,which,withrespect o its magnitudeand extentof influ-ence, s sovery ike the Chinese.Andthenwefinda term which, in its etymology, s cognatewithimperator,and yet is felt to expresssomethinghigher than it. It is the wordAqzgqzstqbs.romthe book by ProfessorWagenvoort, nd from astudy by the late Professor Muller of LeydenUniversity,42 give the followingsummary:It was only in 27 B. a. that Aqzgustuswasappliedasa title-name o a man,viz.Octavian,whoreceived t fromthe Senateandadded t afterhistitle ImperatorCaesar.Beforethis time aqzgqzstuswas an adjective,usually employedfor temples,neverfor persons.The wordapparently oesbackto augere to augment,' togrow ; aqzgustus eans' to be provided with augmentation (augus),'' having superhumanqualities.' The personalityof Octavian eemsto havesuggested o the Senatethat he be given this name, which denotesthepossessionof vital force, of the qualityto bringto new ife, in short hepossession f mana,numen,virtus. The connectionbetween imperatorandaugustus s evidentfrom the fact that only thosewhohavebeenwitnessesof the auguso:f he leader,i. e. the troops,havethe right to conferthe titleof imperator. In Octavian'stitle: ImperatorCaesarAugustus,augqbstuss the mostimportant;ilqzguostuseems to have been consideredhigherthan eitherImperatoror Caesar.When aterwithDiocletianusthe distinction was made betweenemperorsbearing the title of Caesarand thosebearing the title of Augutstqbs,he latter wereregardedas the higher.43So Augustus,or 'august one,' appears o be ahappy ranslationor huang. Bothwereoriginally

42 F. Muller, Augustus, Bedeeliylgen Eoninklijke Aka-deqnie van Wetenschoppeq$, Afd. Letterkunde, 63 A 11(1927) .48 For the last statement I am indebted to ProfessorJ. Waszink of Leyden University.

adjectives, oth cameto be used later as a sub-stantive o indicatea living humanbeing, bothdenote high degreeof spiritualpower,both arefeltto expresssuperiorityo that otherword,alsodenotinghe possessionof spiritualpower-ti orimperator. The San-huang series, wu-Ti, san-Wang,wu-Pa, expressinga descendingscale ofspiritualpower, can thus be renderedas: the'Three August Ones,'the 'Five Emperorsfl'he'ThreeKings,'the ' Five Chiefs (or HegemonorFuhrer),and in doing so we are not using ana-chronisticerms,because mperator, ' emperor,'snotmeanthereas a sovereign uling overa terri-tory arger hana kingdom,butas a beingpossess-ing the imperium,te, which entitles him to beemperor,atently, over an empirecomprisingallunder Heaven, the T'ien-hsia. Neither would'AugustOne beanarbitrary ndhaphazardrans-lation for huang; for in the sameway as huung,Augustusdenotesthe highest degreeof spiritualpower,supersedinghat of an imperator r ti, yetakinto it, bothbelongingo thatsphereof religioussacredness,whichalwayssurrounds ndpertneatesthe idea of kingship,evento the present ime.Someobjectionsmayberaisedagainstthe aboveexposition.The first is: If ti is to be translatedby ' em-peror,'notonlyin theexpressions an-huangwu-ti,LEuangTi, Ti Yao, etc., but also as an ellipsisof the title huang-ti, what should theIl be therendering f this termhuang-ti,whichwasfor thefirsttime applied o a rulerwhenChinahadbeenunited into what we in moderndaily languagewouldcall an empire? The case is a simpleone.In the same way as ti is elliptically used forhuang-ti, so ' emperor should be seen as anellipsisof ' AugustEmperor,'Augq4stusmperator.If Ch'inShih-huangchoseto invent a new termby a combinationdenotingthe topmostdegreeofspiritualpower,andif laterrulerschose o continuethe ornateand sententious itle, whyshouldwe ina translationnot give them their due, and whyshould we deprivethem of one element of theepithetwhichthey thoughtit theirright to adoptfor the manifestationof their greatness?Thesecondobjections: Whyshouldwe, in ourattempt to arrive at an understandingof theChinesepast, sufferourselves o be led astraybyfancifultheorieswhichonlyrepresenthe capriolesof a prolific magination, ndonlymarthe pictureof a true history? Canwe not simplysee ancientChinesehistoryas the gradualdevelopmentrom


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TJANTJOE-SOM: n the Rendertngof the VVord s as Emperor 121a loose confederationof small independencies,through a phase of mutual wars of big statesarising out of the amalgamationof those smalliIldependencies,nto a unificationwhich only therjustifies the use of the term 'empire' and ' em-peror ? Canwe not simplysee the wordshqgng, i,and wang as just words meaning 'sovereign,' orClord' in a general sense, without the technicalcoloringwhich, probablymuch later and not con-sonantwith the actual processof history,has beenattached o them? And may not the theoryof theSan-huangwu-ti only be an invention of a lateperiod when the existenceof a vast and unitedempirehad already ong been a fact, or when theidea of it at least had alreadytaken a firm rootin the minds of men, and when some men, forsome reason,felt urged to project nto the past acrazy system the elements and the contents ofwhich they had borrowed rom present, currentideas?I wish to emphasize hat the theory of the San-huangwu-ti is certainlynot to be understood s anhistorical account. For the reconstruction f thepolitical historyof ancient China he texts dealingwith this theorycouldperhapsbe neglectedwithoutserious oss. But history is made by men, and bythe workingsof their mind,which is again subjectto and determinedby the world they live in andthe ideas that prevail there. They may appearsenseless and fantastic to the modern mind, anddevoidof any scientificvalue,but they werenever-theless the expressionof a time, the nature ofwhich we want to know. To attain knowledge f aremoteperiodwe must take it seriously;we musttake the men seriously whose minds groped, intheir own unaccountableway, after some hiddentruth, buildingup systemswhich do not fit ln ourown historicalpictureof that past, but show n anycase a greater or lesser degreeof consistency otheir own peculiarorder.

A serious attempt to arrive at a translationofterms occurring n texts which, from the stand-point of scientifichistory, could safely be brushedaside, is the least we can do to show that we areindeed trying our best to understand hat whichthey proclaimedas being, if not historical truth,at all events a kind of gospel truth to themselves.And we should not forget that the problem ofhistorical ruth is a very great one, one in which,it seems o me, philologyalone has not the decisivesay.

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