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Several levels of influence on Legge's approach to the Chinese classics can be associated with his intimate knowledge of Buchanan's History of Scotland.
It is, for instance, possible to identify in Legge a particular view of history, which he had received from Buchanan's portrayal of Scottish history. Buchanan was aware of both the tenuous nature of the Scottish monarchy and the military might of the English. He searched through the most ancient Latin texts in order to identify sources for facts and issues almost completely lost by his contemporaries. In doing so, he set standards for the critical assessment of ancient manuscripts, consequently creating a chronological reconstruction of Scottish history. In Legge's scholarly reconstruction of the dynastic histories of China we find the same concern for reliability of texts, long prolegomena which attempt to splice together the missing pieces, and a relentless standard which distinguished myth from historical event.
Still there was more than this in The History of Scotland: it is full of the accounts of clan wars, the complexities of international politics, and the heroes of the nation. Could it be that these were reflected in Legge's approach to Chinese history as he was drawn into the ducal duels and internecine warfare of The Spring and Autumn Annals (IBPA) and its commentaries? There is a remarkable concurrence between the Warring States period of China and the battles of Scottish patriots in the formative years before union with England.
Two further dimensions of Buchanan's life and efforts are of interest: first, Buchanan's concern to revitalize the old medieval Latin tradition by an intimate knowledge of the classics and to apply lessons learned from the classics to his own time; secondly, the fact that this Catholic scholar later converted to Calvinism. Cherishing the classics was, for both Christian Latinists and Confucians, a means of gaining wisdom to live in a dynamically changing world. At Oxford Legge would reveal his great admiration and interest in the Tang dynasty scholar, Han Yu (768-824), having recognized in Han Yu this same concern to cherish "old" knowledge in order to acquire new knowledge. Furthermore, Han Yu was a kind of Confucian fundamentalist, using his renaissance of past wisdom to effect direct intellectual and political renewal.
TT
Protestant conversion in the sixteenth century demanded as drastic
191
Several levels of influence on Legge's approach to the Chinese classics can be associated with his intimate knowledge of Buchanan's History of Scotland.
It is, for instance, possible to identify in Legge a particular view of history, which he had received from Buchanan's portrayal of Scottish history. Buchanan was aware of both the tenuous nature of the Scottish monarchy and the military might of the English. He searched through the most ancient Latin texts in order to identify sources for facts and issues almost completely lost by his contemporaries. In doing so, he set standards for the critical assessment of ancient manuscripts. consequently creating a chronological reconstruction of Scottish history. In Legge's scholarly reconstruction of the dynastic histories of China we find the same concern for reliability of texts, long prolegomena which attempt to splice together the missing pieces, and a relentless standard which distinguished myth from historical event.
Still there was more than this in The History of Scotland: it is full of the accounts of clan wars, the complexities of international politics, and the heroes of the nation. Could it be that these were reflected in Legge's approach to Chinese history as he was drawn into the ducal duals and internecine warfare of The Spring and Autumn Annals (IBPA) and its commentaries? There is a remarkable concurrence between the Warring States period of China and the battles of Scottish patriots in the formative years before union with England.
Two further dimensions of Buchanan's life and efforts are of interest: first, Buchanan's concern to revitalize the old medieval Latin tradition by an intimate knowledge of the classies and to apply lessons learned from the classics to his own time; secondly, the fact that this Catholic scholar later converted to Calvinism. Cherishing the classics was, for both Christian Latinists and Confucians, a means of gaining wisdom to live in a dynamically changing world. At Oxford Legge would reveal his great admiration and interest in the Tang dynasty scholar, Han Yu ( 6 ) (768-824), having recognized in Han Yu this same concern to cherish "old" knowledge in order to acquire new knowledge. Furthermore, Han Yu was a kind of Confucian fundamentalist, using his renaissance of past wisdom to effect direct intellectual and political renewal.
TT
Protestant conversion in the sixteenth century demanded as drastic
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