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曆象誌下○朔考
Celestial Phenomena, Part Three — New Moons
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古者太史掌正歲年以敘事，國史以事系日，以日、月、時系年。 時月不正，則敘事不一。 故二史合為一官，頒歷授時，必大一統。 遼、漢、周、宋，俱行夏時，各自為歷。 國史閏朔，頗有異同。 遼初用《乙未元曆》，本何承天《元嘉曆》法，後用《大明曆》，本祖沖之《甲子元曆》法。 承天日食晦朏，一章必七閏； 沖之日食必朔，或四年一閏。 用《乙未曆》，漢、周多同； 用《大明曆》，則間與宋異。 國史敘事，甲子不殊，閏朔多異，以此故也。 耶律儼《紀》以《大明》法追正《乙未》月朔，又與陳大任《紀》時或抵牾。 稽古君子，往往惑之。
In ancient times the Grand Astrologer set the civil year so the court could record events in order; the national chronicle linked each affair to its day, and days, months, and seasons to the year. If the seasons and months are wrong, the historical record falls out of step. For that reason the two chronicle offices were merged into one, charged with issuing calendars and marking the seasons under a single standard. Liao, Later Han, Zhou, and Song all followed the Xia seasonal scheme, but each maintained its own calendar. Their intercalary months and new-moon dates often disagreed. The Liao first adopted the 《Yiwei Origin Calendar》, derived from He Chengtian's 《Yuanjia Calendar》, and later the 《Daming Calendar》, derived from Zu Chongzhi's 《Jiazi Origin Calendar》. He Chengtian placed eclipses on month-end or month-begin and required seven intercalary months in every era; Zu Chongzhi insisted eclipses fall on the new moon and allowed an intercalary month as seldom as once in four years. On the 《Yiwei Calendar》, the Later Han and Zhou usually matched; on the 《Daming Calendar》, they sometimes diverged from the Song. In the annals the sexagenary day-counts agree, but intercalary months and new moons often do not—and that is why. Yelü Yan's 《Annals》 retrofitted 《Yiwei》 new-moon dates with the 《Daming》 system, which sometimes conflicts with Chen Daren's 《Annals》. Scholars who weigh the past are often left puzzled.
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用《五代職方考》誌契丹州軍例，作《朔考》。 法殊曰「異」，傳訛曰「誤」； 遼史不書國，儼、大任偏見並見各名； 他史以國冠朔。 並見註於後。 〈（見書568－677頁有表）〉
Following the model of the 《Five Dynasties Administrative Geography Study》, this 《Study of New Moons》 records Khitan prefectures and garrisons. A difference in calendrical method is marked 「variant」; a corrupt transmission is marked 「error」; The Liao History omits state labels; Yan's and Daren's partisan readings both appear under each entry; other histories prefix each new moon with the reigning state. Both conventions are explained in the notes that follow. (Tables appear on pages 568–677 of the printed edition.)〉
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高麗所進《大遼事跡》載諸王冊文，頗見月朔，因附入。 ○象
Goryeo's tribute text, the 《Great Liao Affairs》, preserves princely investiture edicts with many month-and-new-moon dates, and so it is included here. ○ Instruments and Omens
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孟子有言：「天之高也，星辰之遠也，茍求其故，千歲之日至可坐而致。」 甚哉，聖人之用心，可謂廣大精微，至矣盡矣！
Mencius said: 「Heaven is so high and the stars so distant that, if you truly seek their principles, you can sit where you are and calculate the solstice a thousand years from now. 」What breadth and fineness of mind the sages showed—nothing left beyond their grasp!
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日有晷景，月有明魄，鬥有建除，星有昏旦。 觀天之變而制器以候之，八尺之表，六尺之筒，百刻之漏，日月星辰示諸掌上。 運行既察，度分即審，於是像天圜以顯運行，置地櫃以驗出入，渾象是作。 天道之常，尋尺之中可以俯窺，陶唐之象是矣。 設三儀以明度分，管一衡以正辰極，渾儀是作。 天文之變，六合之表可以仰觀，有虞之璣是矣。 體莫固於金，用莫利於水。 範金走水，不出戶而知天道，此聖人之所以為聖也。
The sun casts measurable shadows, the moon waxes and wanes, the Dipper marks the seasonal nodes, and the stars have their risings and settings. They watched the sky's motions and built instruments to track them—eight-foot gnomons, six-foot sighting tubes, hundred-division water clocks—until sun, moon, and stars could be read as if on the palm of the hand. When their measurements of motion were secure, they cast a celestial globe to show the heavens turning and fitted an earth cabinet to test risings and settings—the armillary sphere was born. The regularities of heaven could be inspected within a few feet—such was the celestial model of the age of Yao. They mounted the three rings to fix degrees and minutes and aligned a sighting tube to the pole—the observational armillary was made. The shifting heavens across the four quarters could be viewed directly—such was the sighting instrument of the age of Shun. Nothing is sturdier than metal for structure, nothing more versatile than water for motion. By casting bronze and channeling water they could know heaven's Way without leaving the hall—that is what made the sages sages.
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○刻漏
○ Water Clocks
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晉天福三年造。 《周官》契壺氏，懸壺必爨之以火。 地雖沍寒，蓋可施也。 ○官星
It was built in the third Tianfu year of the Later Jin. The 《Rites of Zhou》 describe the Pitcher-Kettle officers, who always warmed the suspended vessels with fire. Even in bitter frost the method can still be used. ○ Star Officials
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古者官星萬餘名。 遭秦焚滅圖籍，世秘不傳。 漢收散亡，得甘德、石申、巫咸三家圖經。 經緯合千餘官，僅存什一。 分為三垣、四宮、二十八宿，樞以二極，建以北斗，緯以五星，日月代明，貴而太一，賤逮屎糠。 占決之用，亦云備矣。 司馬遷《天官書》既以具錄，後世保章守候，無出三家官星之外者。 天象昭垂，歷代不易，而漢、晉、隋、唐之書累誌天文，近於衍矣。 且天象機祥，律格有禁，書於勝國之史，詿誤學者，不宜書。 其日食、星變、風雲、震雪之祥，具載《帝紀》，不復書。
Antiquity named more than ten thousand stellar offices. Qin's burning of the archives destroyed them, and later ages kept what survived hidden. The Han recovered what survived and obtained the celestial maps of Gan De, Shi Shen, and Wu Xian. Their combined catalogs listed more than a thousand stars—only a tenth of the ancient names survived. They were arranged into the Three Enclosures, Four Palaces, and Twenty-eight Mansions, anchored on the celestial poles and the Northern Dipper, woven through the five planets; sun and moon take turns in glory, from the exalted Supreme One down to the lowliest chaff. For divination the system was already more than adequate. Sima Qian's 《Treatise on the Heavenly Offices》 preserved the full roster, and later court astronomers never looked beyond the three classical star catalogs. The heavens themselves do not change, yet Han, Jin, Sui, and Tang histories piled up repeated treatises on astronomy until the subject grew redundant. Heavenly omens are governed by strict rules; to set them down in the annals of a fallen dynasty only misleads students, and so they should not be recorded here. Eclipses, strange stars, winds, clouds, thunder, and snow are already given in full in the 《Imperial Annals》, and are not repeated in this treatise.