by Confucius, ended in B.C. 484, after which the States quarrelled among themselves for two hundred years, the greater coercing or absorbing the less powerful, until the event related in lines 211, 212. There is an historical work, the 戰國策 Chan kuo ts'ê, which records the troubles of these times, covering the period B.C. 362-255.]
| 209. | 五 | 霸 | 强 | Next, the Five Chieftains domineered, | |
| Wu3 | pa4 | ch'iang2 | |||
| Five | chief | strong |
Wu see line 15.
Pa is composed of 月 yüeh moon, its old radical, and an obsolete phonetic, and originally referred to the new moon. It is now classed under radical 雨 yü rain. [The Five Chieftains were Dukes 桓 Huan, 文 Wên, 襄 Hsiang, 穆 Mu, and Prince 莊 Chuang. They were the rulers of various States under the Spring and Autumn period.]
Ch'iang is composed of 虫 ch'ung insect as radical, with 弘 hung the clang of a bow as phonetic, and originally meant a fierce kind of fly. It is now classed under radical 弓 kung a bow, and is also written 強.
| 210. | 七 | 雄 | 出 | and the Seven Martial States came to the front. | |
| Ch'i1 | hsiung2 | ch'u1 | |||
| Seven | male | come-forth |
Ch'i see line 84.
Hsiung is composed of 隹 chui birds as radical, with 厷 kung the arm as phonetic, and is defined as 鳥父 niao fu the male of birds (line 18). [The States alluded to as flourishing during the second epoch were 秦 Ch'in, 楚 Ch'u, 齊 Ch'i, 燕 Yen, 漢 Han, 趙 Chao, and 魏 Wei.]
Ch'u was originally a picture of luxuriant vegetation, and meant
