Ch.03 Sacred Books of the East Sacred Book (401-497) Page

8/6/2019 Ch.03 Sacred Books of the East Sacred Book (401-497) Page

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ODE 9. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 393submission, And throughout the region none haddared to insult him. The engines of onfall andassault were (then) vigorously plied, Against thewalls of Khung very strong. He attacked it, andlet loose all his forces; He extinguished (its sacri-fices) 1 , and made an end of its existence; Andthroughout the kingdom none dared to oppose him.

ODE 9. THE H"IA W O .IN PRAISE OF KING w~, WALKING IN "CHI: WAYS OF HIS FORElO'ATHEllS,

AND BY HIS FILIAL PIETY SECtRIl'.G THE THRONE TO HilIlSELF ANDHIS POSTERITY.

Successors tread in the steps (oftheir predecessors)in our /(au. For generations there had been wisekings; The three sovereigns were in heaven II ;And king (Wil.) was their worthy successor 10 hiscapital s,King (Wu) was their worthy successor in his

capital, Rousing himself to seek for the hereditaryvirtue, A1ways striving to be in accordance with themythical period of Chmese history. But Khih Vo. appears as arebel, or opposed to the One man Inall the country who "as thenfit to rule. It is difficult to imagine how they could be associated,and sacrificed to together.1 The extinction of Its sacrifices was the final act in the exnuc-tion of a state. Any members of Its ruhng House who mightsurvive could no longer sacr!" ce to their ancestors as having beenmen of princely dignity. The family was reduced to the ranksof the people.I The three sovereigns,' or wise kings,' are to be understoodof the three celebrated in ode 7,-TMi, Kt. and Wan. We arethus obliged, with all Chinese scholars, to understand this odeof king Wo.. The statement that' the three kings were in heaven'is very express.8 The capital here is Ho, to which Wft removed in B. c. 1134.the year after his father's death. It was on the east of the river

Fang, and only about eight miles from Win's capital of Fi1ng.


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394 THE SHIH XING. DECADE I.will (of Heaven); And thus he secured the con-fidence due to a king.He secured the confidence due to a king, Andbecame the pattern of all below him. Ever thinkinghow to be filial, H is filial mind was the model(which he supplied).Men loved him, the One man, And responded

(to his example) with a docile virtue. Ever thinkinghow to be filial, He brilliantly continued the doings(of his fathers).Brilliantly! and his posterity, Continuing to walk

in the steps of their forefathers, For myriads ofyears, Will receive the blessing of Heaven.They will receive the blessing of Heaven, And

from the four quarters (of the kingdom) willfelicitations come to them. For myriads of yearsWill there not be their helpers?

ODE 10. THE WAN WANG y O SHANG.THE PRAISE OF KINGS WAN AND w it :-HOW THE FORMER DISPLAYED HIS

MILITARY PROWESS ONLY TO SECURE THE TRANQUILLITY OF THEPEOPLE; AND HOW THE LATTER, IN ACCORDANCEWITH THE JlESULTSOF DIVINATION, ENTERED IN HIS NEW CAPITAL OF Hio, INTO THESOVEREIGNTY OF THE KINGDOJl WITH THE SINCERE GOOD WILL OFALL THE PEOPLE.King Wan is famous j Yea, he is very famous.

What he sought was the repose (of the people);Vlhat he saw was the completion (of his work). Asovereign true was king Wan!King Wan received the appointment (from Hea-ven). And achieved his martial success. Having

overthrown Kkung 1 He fixed his (capital) city inFang z. A sovereign true was king Wan!1As related inode '1 .I Flng had. probably. been the capital of Kkung, and Wiln


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oot to. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 395He repaired the walls along the (old) moat. His

establishing himself in Fang was according co (thepattern of his forefathers), I t was not that he wasin haste to gratify his wishes i-Itwas to show thefilial duty that had come down to him. A sovereigntrue was the royal prince IHis royal merit was brightly displayed By those

walls of Fang. There were collected (the sympathiesof the people of) the four quarters, Who regardedthe royal prince as their protector. A sovereigntrue was the royal prince!The Fang-water flowed on to the east (of the

city), Through the meritorious labour ofYu. Therewere collected (the sympathies of the people of) thefour quarters, Who would have the great king astheir ruler. A sovereign true was the great king 1!In the capital of Hao he built his hall with its

circlet of water 2. From the west to the east, Fromthe south to the north, There was not a thoughtbut did him homage. A sovereign true was thegreat king!. He examined and divined, did the king, Aboutsettling in the capital of Hao, The tortoise-shell'decided the site 8, And king W(1 completed thecity. A sovereign true was king W(1!removed to it, simply making the necessary repairs and alterations.This explains how we find nothing about the divinations whichshould have preceded so important a step as the founding ofa new capital.1 The writer has passed on to Wil, who did actually become

king.I See on the third of the Praise Odes of Lo. in Part IV.a HAo was built by Wil, and hence we have the account of his

divining about the site and the undertaking.


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THE SHIH KING. DECADE II.

By the Fang-water grows the white millet 1;-Did not king Wi! show wisdom in his employ-ment of officers? He would leave his plans to hisdescendants, And secure comfort and support tohis son. A sovereign true was king Wll!

The Second Decade, or that of Shang Min.ODE 1. THE SHANG MIN.

THE LEGEND OF HAU-Ki :-HIS CONCEPTION; HIS BIRTH; THE PERILSOF HIS INFANCY; HIS BOYISHlIABITS OF AGRICULTURE; HIS St.:BSE-QUENT METHODS AND TEACHING OF AGRICULTURE; HIS FOUNDINGOF CERTAIN SACRU'YCES; ANDTHE HONOURSOF SACRIFICE PAID TOHIM BY THE HOUSE OF KAU.

Of Hau-hi there is some notice on the tenth ode of the firstdecade of the Sacrificial Odes of Kliu. To him the kings ofKliu traced their lineage. Of Kiang Ynan, his mother, ourknowledge is very scanty. It is said that she was a daughterof the House of Thai, which traced its lineage up to Sban-nungin prrehistoric times. From the first stanza of. this piece Itappears that she was married, and had been so for some timewithout having any child. But who her husband was it isimpossible to say with certainty. As the Kau surname was Ki,he must have been one of the descendants of Hwang Ti.The first birth of (our) peoples Was from Kiang

YUan. How did she give birth to (our) people?She had presented a pure offering and sacrificed J,1 'The white millet,' a valuable species, grown near the Flng,suggests to the writer the idea of all the men of ability whom WQcollected around him.lOur Ipeople' is of course the people of Kh. The wholepiece is about the individual from whom the House of Kin sprang.of which were the kings of the dynasty so called.9 To whom Kiang YUan sacrificed and prayed we are not told,but I receive the impression that it was to God,-see the nextstanza,-and that she did so aU alone with the special object whichh mentioned.


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ODEI. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 397That her childlessness might be taken away. Shethen trod 01 '1 . a toe-print made by God, and wasmoved I, In the large place where she rested. Shebecame pregnant; she dwelt retired; She gavebirth to, and nourished (a son), Who was Hau-ktWhen she had fulfilled her months, Her first-

born son (came forth) like a lamb. There was no. bursting, nor rending, No injury, no hurt; Show-ing how wonderful he would be. Did not God giveher the comfort? Had he not accepted her pureoffering and sacrifice, So that thus easily shebrought forth her son?He was placed in a narrow lane, But the sheep

and oxen protected him with loving care 2. He wasplaced in a wide forest, Where he was met with bythe wood-cutters. He was placed on the cold ice,And a bird screened and supported him with itswings. When the bird went away, H~u-kl beganto wail. H is cry was long and loud, So that hisvoice filled the whole way 2.1The toe-print made by God' has occasioned much speculation

of the critics. We may simply draw the conclusion that the poetmeant to have his readers believe with him that the conception ofhis hero was supernatural. We saw in the third of the SacrificialOdes of Shang that there was also a legend assigning a preter-natural birth to the father of the House of Shang.I It does not appear from the ode who exposed the infant to

these various perils; nor did Chinese tradition ever fashion anystory on the subject. Mio makes the exposure to have been madeby Kiang YUan's husband, dissatisfied with what had taken place jRang, by the mother herself, to show the more the wonderfulcharacter of her child. Readers will compare the accounts withthe Roman legends about Romulus and Remus, their mother andher father; but the two legends differ according to the differentcharacters of the Chinese and Roman peoples.


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THE SHIH KING. DECADE II.

When he was able to crawl, He looked majesticand intelligent. When he was able to feed himself,He fell to planting beans. The beans grew luxu-riantly ; His rows of paddy shot up beautifully;His hemp and wheat grew strong and close j Hisgourds yielded abundantly.The husbandry of H~u-kt Proceeded on the plan

of helping (the growth). Having cleared away thethick grass, He sowed the ground with the yellowcereals. He managed the living grain, till it wasready to burst; Then he used it as seed, and itsprang up j It grew and came into ear; It becamestrong and good; It hung down, every grain com-plete; And thus he was appointed lord of Thai 1.He gave (his people) the beautiful grains ;-The

black millet and the double-kernelled, The tall redand the white. They planted extensively the blackand the double-kernelled, Which were reaped andstacked on the ground. They planted extensivelythe tall red and the white, Which were carried ontheir shoulders and backs, Home for the sacrificeswhich he founded 2.And how as to our sacrifices (continued from him)?1Hau-ki's mother, we have seen, was a princess of ThAi, in the

present district ofWfl.-kung, Khien Kau, Shen-hst, This maybaveled to his appointment to that principality, and the transference ofthe lordship from Kiangs to Kts. Evidently he was appointed tothat dignity for his services in the promotion of agriculture. Stillhe has not displaced the older Shlin-nung, with whom on his father'sside he had a connexion, as 'the Father of Husbandry.', This is not to be understood of sacrifice in general, as if therehad been no such thing before Hau-kt j but of the sacrifices of theHouse of Kau,-those ill the ancestral temple and otheri,-whichbegan with him as its gre,at ancestor.


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ODE 2. THE MAJOR. ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 399Some hull (the grain); some take it from themortar; Some sift it i some tread it. It is rattlingin the dishes; It is distilled, and the steam floatsabout. We consult 1; we observe the rites of puri-fication j We take southemwood and offer it withthe fat; We sacrifice a ram to the spirit of thepath II ; We offer roast flesh and broiled :-Andthus introduce the coming year 3.We load the stands with the offerings, The standsboth of wood and of earthenware. As soon as thefragrance ascends, God, well pleased, smells thesweet savour. Fragrant it is, and in its due seasons,Hau-kt founded our sacrifices, And no one, wepresume, has given occasion for blame or regret inregard to them, Down to the present day.

ODE 2. THE HSIN WEI.A FESTAL ODE, CELEBRATING SOME ENTERTAINMENT GIVEN BY THE

KINGTO HIS RELATIVES,WITH THE TRIAL OF ARCHERYAFTER THEFEAST; CELEBRATING ESPECIALLY THE HONOUR DONE ON SUCHOCCASIONSTO THE AGED.

This ode is given here, because it is commonly taken as a preludeto the next. K !1 Hst interprets it of the feast, given by the1That is, we divine about the day, and choose the officers totake part in the service.S A sacrifice was offered to the spirit of the road on commencinga journey, and we see here that it was offered also in connexionwith the king's going to the ancestral temple or the border altar.a It does not appear clearly what sacrifices the poet had in view

here. I think they must be all those in which the kings of K~uappeared as the principals or sacrificers. The concluding line isunderstood to intimate that the kings were not to forget that a pros-perous agriculture was the foundation of their prosperity.( In this stanza we have the peculiar honour paid to Hlu-M byhis descendants at one of the great border sacrifices to God,-thesame to which the last ode in the first decade of the SacrificialOdes of nu belongs.


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400 THE SHIH KING. DECADE II.'king, at the close of the sacrifice in the ancestral temple, to theprinces of his own surname. There are difficulties in the inter-pretation of the piece on this view, which. however, is to bepreferred to any other.In thick patches are those rushes, Springing by

the way-side :-Let not the cattle and sheep tramplethem. Anon they will grow up; anon they wi l l becompletely formed, With their leaves soft andglossy 1. Closely related are brethren; Let nonebe absent, let all be near. For some there aremats spread; For some there are given stools 2,The mats are spread, and a second one above;

The stools are given, and there are plenty of ser-vants. (The guests) are pledged, and they pledge(the host) in return; He rinses the cups (and refillsthem, but 'the guests) put them down, Sauces and~ickles are brought in, With roasted meat andbroiled. Excellent provisions there are of tripe andpalates ; With singing to lutes, and with drums.The ornamented bows are strong, And the four

arrows are all balanced. They discharge the arrows,and all hit, And the guests are arranged accord-ing to their skill. The ornamented bows are drawnto the fun, And the arrows are grasped in thehand. They go straight to the mark as if planted

1 In the rushes growing up densely from a common root wehave an emblem of brothers all sprung from the same ancestor jand in the plants developing so finely, when preserved from in-jury, an emblem of the happy fellowships of consanguinity, whennothing is allowed to interfere with mutual confidence and goodfeeling.

2 In a previous note I have said that chairs and tables had notcome into use in those early times. Guests sat and feasts werespread on mats on the floor; for the aged, however, ,stools wereplaced on which they could lean forward,


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ODE 3. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM:. 401in it. And the guests are arranged according tothe humble propriety of their behaviour.The distant descendant presides over the feast;

His sweet spirits are strong. He fills their cupsfrom a large vase, And prays for the hoary old(among his guests) :-That with hoary age andwrinkled back, They may lead on one another (tovirtue), and support one another (in it); That sotheir old age may be blessed, And their brighthappiness ever increased.

ODE 3. THE Xt .sUI.IlESPONSIVB TO THE LAST :-THE UNCLES AND BRETHREN OF THE rrNG

BXPRESS THEIR SENSE OF HIS ICINDNESS, AND THEIR WISHES FOR HISHAPPINESS, MOSTLY IN rHE WOg))$ IN wmCH THE PERSONATORS orTHE DEPARTED ANCESTORS HAD COl\"VJtYBD THEIR SATIS'lA.CTlOKWITH THE SACRIFICE OJ!FEJl.ED '10 THEM, AND PROJUSED TO 111MTHJUII. BLESSING.

You have made us drink 10 the full of your spirits;You have satiated us with your kindness. May youenjoy, 0 our lord. myriads of years! May yourbright happiness (ever) be increased rYou have made us drink to the full ofyour spirits;

Your viands were set out before us. May you enjoy.o our lord, myriads of years! May your brightintelligence ever be increased!May your bright inteUigence become perfect.

High and brilliant, leading to a good end r Thatgood end has (now) its beginning :- The personatorsof your ancestors announced it in their blessing.What was their announcement? ' (The offerings)

in your dishes of bamboo and wood are clean and[I] D d


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THE SHIH KING. DECADEU.

fine. Your friends 1, assisting in the service, Havedone their part with reverent demeanour., Your reverent demeanour was altogether whatthe occasion required; And also that of your filialsonI. For such filialpiety, continued without ceasing,There wi l l ever be conferred blessings upon you.'What will the blessings be? 'That along the

passages of your palace, You shall move for tenthousand years, And there will be granted to youfor ever dignity and posterity.'How as to your posterity? "Heaven invests youwith your dignity; Yea, for ten thousand years,The bright appointment is attached (to your line).'How is it attached? 'There is given you aheroic wife. There is given you a heroic wife, Andfrom her shall come the (line of) descendants.'

ODE4. THE Hft t,AN ODEAPPltOPltIATE TO THE FEAST GIVENTO THE PERSONATORSOF

THE DEPUTED, ON THE DAYAFTER THE SACB.lFlCE IN THE ANCES-TIlAL TEMPLE.This supplementary sacrifice on the day after the principal servicein the temple appeared in the ninth Book of the fourth Part ofthe SM; and of the feast after it to the personators of the deadI have spoken on r - 301.The wild-ducks and widgeons are on the King 3 ;S That is, the guests, visitors, and officers of the court. Towarcis the end of the sacrificial service, the eldest son ofthe king joined in pledging the representatives of their ancestors. The King is an affluent of the Wei, Dot far frOQJWU's capitalof H40. The birds, feeling at nome in its waters, on its sands, &c.,serve to introduce the parties feasted, in a sitUation where they

might relax from the gravity of the preceding day, and be happy.


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ODE 4. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

The personators of your ancestors feast and arehappy. Your spirits are clear; Your viands arefragrant. The personators of your ancestors feastand drink ;-Their happiness and dignity are madecomplete.The wild-ducks and widgeons are on the sand;

The personators of the dead enjoy the feast, theirappropriate tribute. Your spirits are abundant;Your viands are good. The personators of yourancestors fC1astand drink;-Happiness and dignitylend them their aids.The wild-ducks and widgeons are on the islets;

The personators of your ancestors feast and enjoythemselves. Your spirits are strained; Your viandsare in slices. The personators of your ancestorsfeast and drink ;-Happiness and dignity descendon them.The wild-ducks and widgeons are where the

waters meet; The personators of your ancestorsfeast and are honoured. The feast is spread in theancestral temple, The place where happiness anddignity descend. The personators of your ancestorsfeast and drink ;-Their happiness and dignity are .at the highest point.The wild-ducks and widgeons are in the gorge;

The personators of your ancestors rest, full ofcomplacency. The fine spirits are delicious; Yourmeat, roast and broiled, is fragrant. The personatorsof your ancestors feast and drink ;-No troubles willbe theirs after this.


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THE SHIH KING. DECADE If.

ODE 5, STANz\ 1. TIlE KIA Lo.IN PRAISE OF SOIlE KING, WHOSE "IRTUE SECURED TO HIH THE

FAVOUR OF HEAVEN.Perhaps the response of the feasted personators of the ancestors.Of our admirable, amiable sovereign Most illus-trious is the excellent virtue. He orders rightlythe people, orders rightly the officers, And receiveshis dignity from Heaven, Which protects and helpshim, and (confirms) his appointment, By repeatedacts of renewal from heaven.

ODE 8. THE KHUAN A .ADDRESSED,PROBABLY,BYTHE DUKE OF SHAO TO XING KHXNG, DESIRING

FOR m!l[ LONG PROSPERITY, AND CONGRATULATING HIM, IN ORDERTO ADMONISHHIlII, ON THE HAPPINESS OF HIS PEOPLE, THE NUMBEROF HIS ADMIRABLE OFFICERS, AND THE AUSPICIOUS OMEN ARISINGFROM THE APPEARANCE OF THE PHCENIX.

The duke of SMo was the famous Shih, who appears in the fifthand other Books of the fifth Part of the ShIl, the colleague of theduke of K~u in the early days of the Kiu dynasty. This piecemay have been composed by him, but there is no evidence in itthat it was so. The assigning it to him rests entirely on theauthority of the preface. The language, however. is that inwhich an old statesman of that time might express his com-placeney in his young sovereign.Into the recesses of the large mound Came thewind, whirling from the south. There was (our).happy, courteous sovereign, Rambling and singing;And I took occasion to give forth my notes.'Full of spirits you ramble; Full of satisfactionyou rest. 0 happy and courteous sovereign, Mayyou fulfil your years, And end them like yourancestors!,Your territory is great and glorious, And per-


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ODE 8. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.fectly secure. 0 happy and courteous sovereign,May you fulfil your years, As the host of all thespirits 11

c You have received the appointmentlongacknow-ledged, With peace around your happiness anddignity. 0 happy and courteous sovereign, Mayyou fulfil your years, With pure happiness yourconstant possession!

c You have helpers and supporters, Men of filialpiety and of virtue, To lead you on, and act aswings to you, (So that), 0 happy and courteoussovereign, You are a pattern to the four quarters(of the kingdom).

C Full of dignity and majesty (are they), Like a1IHost of the hundred-e-l.e., of all-the spirits' is one of the

titles of the sovereign of China. It was and is his prerogative tooffer the great border sacrifices' to Heaven and Earth, or, as Con-fucius explains them, to God, and to the spirits of his ancestors inhis ancestral temple j and in his progresses (now neglected), amongthe states, to the spirits of the hills and rivers throughout the king-dom. Every feudal prince could only sacrifice to the hills andstreams within his own territory. Under the changed conditions ofthe government of China, the sacrificial ritual of the emperor stillretains the substance of whatever belonged to the sovereigns inthis respect from the earliest dynasties. On the text here, KhungYing-ti of the Thang dynasty said, He who possesses all under thesky, sacrifices to all the spirits, and thus he is the host of them all.'Ko. Hst said on it, IAnd always be "the host of (the spirits of)Heaven and Earth, of the hills and rivers, and of the departed.'The tenn 'bost' does not imply any superiority of rank on thepart of the entertainer. In the greatest sacrifices the emperoracknowledges himself as the servant or subject of Heaven.' S eethe prayer of the first of the present Manchiu line of emperors, jnannouncing that he had ascended the throne, at the altar of Heavenand Earth, in 1644, as translated by the Rev. Dr. Edkins in thechapter on Imperial Worship, in the recent edition of his Religionin China.'


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406 THE SHIH KING. DECADE II.

jade-mace(in its purity), The subject of praise, thecontemplation of hope. 0 happy and courteoussovereign, (Through them) the four quarters (ofthe kingdom) are guided by you.

I The male and female phcenixflyabout 1 , Theirwings rustling, While they settle in their properresting-place. Many are your admirable officers,o king, Ready to be employed by you, Lovingyou, the Son of Heaven.

I The male and female phoenix fiy about, Theirwings rustling, As they soar up to heaven. Manyare your admirable officers, 0 king, Waiting foryour commands, And loving the multitudes of thepeople.'The male and female pheenix:give out their

.notes, On that lofty ridge. The dryandras grow,On those eastern slopes. They grow luxuriantly;And harmoniously the notes resound.1 The phoenix (so the creature has been named) is a fabulousbird, 'the chief of the 360 classes of the winged tribes,' It ismentioned in the fourth Book of the second Part of the Shft, as

appearing in the courtyard of Shun; and the appearance of apair of them has always been understood to denote a sage on thethrone and prosperity in the country. Even Confucius (Analects,IX, vii i) could not express his hopelessness about his own timesmore strongly than by saying that the phrenix did not make itsappearance.' He was himself also called' a phoenix,' in derision, byone of the recluses of his time (Analects, XVIII, v). The type ofthe bird was, perhaps, the Argus pheasant, but the descriptionsof it are of a monstrous creature, having' a fowl's head, a swallow'schin, a serpent's neck, a fish's tail,' &c. It only lights on thedryandra cordifoHa, of which tree also many marvellousstories are related. The poet is not to be understood as sayingthat the phrenix actually appeared; but that the king was sageand b iB government prosperous, as if it had appeared.


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ODEg. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

IYour chariots, 0 sovereign,many. Your horses, 0 sovereign,and fleet. I have made my fewlongation of your song.'

Are numerous,Are well trainedverses, In pro-

ODE 9, STANZA 1. THE MIN LAo.DI' A TIllE OF DISORDER AND SUFI'ERlNG, SOME OFl'lC1'!R OF DJSTDrC-TION CALLS ON IUS FELLOWS TO JODI' WITH HJ)[ TO HFFBCT A

REFORMATION IN THE CAPITAL, AND PUT AWAY THE PARTIES W HOWEllE THE CAUSE OF THE PREVAILING MISERY.

With the KhUan A , wha t are called the correct' odes of Part m ,or those belonging to a period of good government, and thecomposition of which is ascribed mainly to the duke of Kiu, cometo an end j and those that follow are the 'changed' Major Odesof the Kingdom, or those belonging to a degenerate period, com-mencing with this. Some among them, however, are equal toany of the fanner class. The Min Uo has been assigned toduke Mo.of SUo, a descendant of duke Khang, the Shih of theSM, the reputed author of the KhUan A , and w as directedagainst king Lt, B. c. 878 to 828.The people indeed are heavily burdened, But

perhaps a little relief may be got for them. Letus cherish this centre of the kingdom, To securethe repose of the four quarters of it. Let us giveno indulgence to the wily and obsequious, In orderto make the unconscientious careful, And to repressrobbers and oppressors, Who have no fear of theclear will (of Heaven}', Then let us show kindnessto those who are distant, And help those who arenear,-Thus establishing (the throne of) our king.

1The clear will,' according to Xo. Hst, is the clear appointmentof Heaven i' according to Ko. Kung-Mien, correct principle.'They both mean the law of human duty, as gathered from tbenature of man's moral constitution conferred by Heaven.


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THE SHIH KING. D EC A D E II .

ODE10. THE PAN.A N O F l'lC Ell 0 1 ' E XP ER IE N CE M O UR N S O V ER T H E P RE VA IL DlG J DS EllY ;

C O M P LA IN SO F T H E W A N T O P 'S Y M PA T H YW I T H H IM S H O W NB Y O T H E JtO FFICERS; AD M ON ISHESTHEM , A N D SETS FO RTH THE DU TY RE-QU IllED O F THEM , ESPEC IA LLY IN THE AN GRY M oon IN W HICH ITM IG HT SEE M T HA T H EA VE N W A S.

This p iece, like the las t, is ass igned to the tim e of king Lt.God has reversed (his usual course of procedure)1,

And the lower people are full of distress. Thewords which you utter are not right; The planswhich you form are not far-reaching. As there arenot sages, you think you have no guidance:-Youhave no real sincerity. (Thus) your plans do notreach far, And I therefore strongly admonish you.Heaven is now sending down calamities;-Do not

be so complacent. Heaven is now producing suchmovements i-Do not be so indifferent. If yourwords were harmonious, The people would becomeunited. If your words were gentle and kind, Thepeople would be settled.Though my duties are different from yours, I amyour fellow-servant. I come to advise with you,

And you hear me with contemptuous indifference.M y words are about the (present urgent) affairs ;-Do not think them matter for laughter. The ancientshad a saying :-' Consult the gatherers of grassand firewood 2 . '1 The proof of G od's having reversed his usual course of pro-

cedure w as to be found in the univeIsal m isery of the peop le,w hose good He w as unders tood to des ire, and for the securing ofw hich governm ent b y righteous kings wa s m ai ntained by him.I If ancient w orthies thought that persons in such m ean em ploy-

m ents w ere to b e consulted, surely the advice of the w riter deservedto b e taken into account by hi s com rades .


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ODE 10. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 409

Heaven is now exercising oppression ;-Do not insuch a way make a mock of things. An old ,man,(I speak) with entire sincerity; But you, my juniors,are full of pride. It is not that my words are thoseof age, But you make a joke of what is sad. Butthe troubles will multiply like flames. Till theyare beyond help or remedy.Heaven is now displaying its anger ;-Do not beeither boastful or flatrering, Utterly departing from

all propriety of demeanour, Till good men arereduced to personators of the dead 1. The peoplenow sigh and groan, And we dare not examine(into the causes of their trouble). The ruin anddisorder are exhausting all their means of livingAnd we show no kindness to our multitudes.Heaven enlightens the people 2, As the bamboo

flute responds to the earthen whistle; As two half-maces form a whole one; As you take a thing,and bring it away in your hand, Bringing it away,without any more ado. The enlightenment of thepeople is very easy. They have (now) many per-versities ;-Do not you set up your perversitybefore them.Good men are a fence; The multitudes of the

people are a wall; Great states are screens; Greatfamilies are buttresses; The cherishing of virtue1During all the time of the sacrifice, the personators of the dead

said not a word, but only ate and drank. To the semblance ofthem good men were now reduced. The meaning is, that Heaven has so attuned the mind to virtue.that, if good example were set before the people, they would cer-tainly and readily follow it. This is illustrated by various instancesof things, in which the one succeeded the other freely and as ifnecessarily; so that government by virtue was really very easy.


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410 THE SHIH KING. DECADE III.secures repose i The circle of (the king's) relativesis a fortified wall. We must not let the fortifiedwall get destroyed; We must not let (the king)be solitary and consumed with terrors.Revere the anger of Heaven, And presume notto make sport or be idle. Revere the changirigmoods of Heaven, And presume not to drive about

(at your pleasure). Great Heaven is intelligent,And is with you in all your goings. Great Heavenis clear-seeing, And is with you in your wanderingsand indulgences.

The Third Decade, or that of Tang.ODE 1. THE TANG.

WARNINGS, SUPPOSED TO BE ADDRESSED TO XING d, ON THE ISSUJISOF THE COURSE WHICH HE WAS PURSUING, SHOWING THAT THElIIISERIES OF THE TIllIE AND THE IMMINENT DANGER OF RUIN WERETO BE ATTRIBUTED, NOT TO HEAVEN, BUT TO HIMSELF AND BISMINISTERS.

This ode, like the ninth of the second decade, is a.ttributed to dukeM ft of SMo. The structure of the piece is peculiar, for, afterthe first stanza, we have king Wan introduced delivering a seriesof warnings to Kau-hsin, the last king of the Shang dynasty.They are put into Wan's mouth, in the hope that Lt, if, indeed,he was the monarch whom the writer had in view, wouldtransfer the figure of Kiu-hsin to himself, and alter his courseso as to avoid a similar ruin.How vast is God, The ruler of men below I Howarrayed in terrors is God, With many things irre-gular in his ordinations. Heaven gave birth tothe multitudes of the people, But the nature itconfers is not to be depended on. All are (good)


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O D B [ THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

. at first, But few prove themselves to be so atthe last '.King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you sovereign

of Shang, That you should have such violendyoppressive ministers, That you should have suchextortionate exactors, That you should have themin offices, That you should have them in the conductof affairs! ..Heaven made them with their insolentdispositions;" But it is you who employ them, andgive them strength.'King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign

of) Yin-shang, You ought to employ such as aregood, But (you employ instead) violent oppressors,who cause many dissatisfactions. They respondto you with baseless stories, And (thus) robbersand thieves are in your court. Hence come oathsand curses, Without limit, without end.'King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of)

Yin-shang, You show a strong fierce will in thecentre of the kingdom, And consider the con-tracting of enmities a proof of virtue. All-unintelli-gent are you of your (proper) virtue, And so youhave no (good) men behind you, nor by your side.Without any intelligence of your (proper) virtue,You have no (good) intimate adviser or minister.'King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of)

Yin-shang, It is not Heaven that flushes your facewith spirits, So that you follow what is evil andimitate it. You go wrong in all your conduct; Youmake no distinction between the light and the1 The meaning seems to be that, whatever miseries might pre-vail, and be ignorantly ascribed to God, they were in reality owingto men's neglect of the law of Heaven inscribed on their hearts.


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412 THE SHIH KING. DECADE III.

darkness; But amid clamour and shouting, Youturn the day into night 1 :King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you '(sovereign of)

Yin-shang, (All round you) is like the noise ofcicadas, Or like the bubbling of boiling soup.Affairs, great and small, are approaching to ruin,And still you (and your creatures) go on in thiscourse. Indignation is rife against you here in theMiddle Kingdom, And extends to the demonregions 2 . 'King Wan said, 'Alas I Alas! you (sovereign of)

Yin-shang, It is not God that has caused this eviltime, But it arises from Yin's not using the old(ways). Although you have not old experiencedmen, There are still the ancient statutes and laws.But you will not listen to them, And so your greatappointment is being overthrown:King Wan said, 'Alas! Alas! you (sovereign of)

Shang, People have a saying, "When a tree fallsutterly, While its branches and leaves are yet un-injured, It must first have been uprooted." Thebeacon of Yin is not far distant ;-It is in the age. of the (last) sovereign of Hsia.'

1 We speak of 'turning night into day.' The tyrant of Shangturned day into night. Excesses, generally committed in darkness,were by him done openly. These 'demon regions' are understood to mean the seat of

the Turkic tribes to the north of China, known from the earliesttimes by various names-' The hill Zung,' 'the northern Lt/ theHsien-yun,' &:c. Towards the beginning of our era, they werecalled Hsiung-nu, from which, perhaps, came the name Huns;and some centuries later, Thu-kiieh (Thuh-~ileh), from whichcame Turk. We are told in the Yi, under the diagram Kl-kt,that Kdo Bung (B.C. 1324-1266) conducted an expedition againstthe demon regions, and in three years subdued them.


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ODE I. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

ODE 2. THE V I.CONTADmrG VARIOUS COUNSELS WHICH DUD wi) OF WEI IIIADE TO

ADMONISH HIMSELF, WHEN HE WAS OVER HIS NINETIETH YEAR;ESPECIALLY ON THE DUTY OF A RULER TO BE CAREFUL OF HISOUTWARD DEIIIEANOUR, FEEUNG THAT HE IS EVER UNDER THE IN-SPECTION OF SPIRITUAL BEINGS, AND TO RECEIVE WITH DOCILITYn.-STRUCTIONS DELIVERED TO HIIII.

The sixth ode in the seventh decade of the Minor Odes of theKingdom is attributed to the same duke of Wei as this; and thetwo bear traces of having proceeded from the same writer. Theexternal authorities for assigning this piece to duke Wtl are thestatement of the preface and an article in the 'Narratives of theStates,' a work already referred to as belonging to the period o Cthe Kiu dynasty. That article relates how Wo., at the age ofninety-five, insisted on all his ministers and officers being instant.in season and out of season, to admonish him 011 his conduct,and that he made the warnings in the t to admonish himself.'The t is understood to be only another name for this Vi. Thusthe speaker throughout the piece is Wo., and 'the young son:whom he sometimes addresses, is himself also. The conceptionof the writer in taking such a method to admonish himselC,andgive forth the lessons of his long life, is very remarkable iandthe execution of it is successful.Outward demeanour, cautious and grave, Is an

indication of the (inward) virtue. People have thesaying, '-There is no wise man who is not (also)stupid' The stupidity of the ordinary man Isdetermined by his (natural) defects. The stupidityof the wise man Is from his doing violence (tohis proper character).What is most powerful is the being the man 1j-1wo. writes as the marquis of Wei, the ruler of a . state; butwhat he says is susceptible of universal application. In everysmaller sphere, and in the largest", 'being the -man,' displaying,

that is, the proper qualities of humanity, will D e appreciated andfelt.


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414 TlIE SHIH XING. DECADE III.

In all quarters (of the state) men are influenced byit. To an upright virtuous conduct All in the fourquarters of the state render obedient homage. Withgreat counsels and determinate orders, With far-reaching plans and timely announcements, And withreverent care of his outward demeanour, One willbecome the pattern of the people.As for the circumstances of the present time,You are bent on error and confusion in your govern-

ment. Your virtue is subverted; You are besottedby drink 1. Although you thus pursue nothing butpleasure, How is it you do not think of your rela-tion to the past, And do not widely study theformer kings, That you might hold fast their wiselaws?Shall not those whom great Heaven does notapprove of, Surely as the waters flowfrom a spring,Sink down together in ruin? Rise early and go'to bed late, Sprinkle and sweep your courtyard ;-So as to be a pattern to the people II. Have in goodorder your chariots and horses, Your bows andarrows, and (other) weapons of war;-To be pre-pared for warlike action, To keep at a distance(the hordes of) the south.Perfect what concerns your officers and people;1 Han Ying (who has been mentioned in the Introduction) saysthat Wft made the sixth ode of the seventh decade of the former

Part against drunkenness, when he was repenting of his own givingway to that vice. His mention of the habit here, at the age ofninety-five, must be understood as a warning to other rulers.I' Line 3 describes things important to the cultivation of one'sself; and line 4, things important to the regulation of one's family.They may seem unimportant, it is said, as compared with thedefence of the state, spoken of in the last four lines of the stanza ibut the ru ler ou gh t not to neg lect them .


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ODE 2. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

Be' careful of your duties as a prince (of the king-dom). To be prepared for unforeseen dangers, Becautious of what you say; Be reverentially carefulof your outward behaviour; In all things be mildand correct. A flaw in a mace of white jade Maybe ground away j But for a flawin speech Nothingcan be done.Do not speak lightly; your words are your own1.

Do not say, 'This is of little importance; Noonecan hold my tongue for me.' Words are not to becast away. Every word finds its answer; Everygood.deed has its recompense. If you are graciousamong your friends, And to the people, as if theywere your children, Your descendants will continuein unbroken line, And all the people will surelybe obedient to you.Looked at in friendly intercourse with superior

men, You make your countenance harmonious andmild; Anxious not to do anything wrong. Lookedat in your chamber, You ought to be equally freefrom shame before the light which shines in. Donot say, 'This place is not public; No one can seeme here.' The approaches of spiritual beingsCannot be calculated beforehand; But the moreshould they not be slighted 2.

1And therefore every one is himself responsible for his words., Eft Hsl says that from the fourth line this stanza only speaks ofthe constant care there should be in watching over one's thougbts;but in saying so, he overlooks the consideration by which suchwatchful care is enforced. Compare what is said of king wan inthe third stanza of the sixth ode of the first decade. King Winand duke Wft were both influenced by the consideration that the irinmost thoughts, even when 'unseen by men: were open to theinspection of spiritual beings.


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THE SHIH KING. DECADE III.

o prince, let your practice of virtue Be en-tirely good and admirable. Watch well over yourbehaviour, And allow nothing wrong in yourdemeanour. Committing no excess, doing nothinginjurious, There are few who will 110t in such acase take you for their pattern. When one throwsto me a peach, I return to him a plum 1. To lookfor horns on a young ram Will only weary you,my son 2.The tough and elastic wood Can be fitted with

the silken string 3. The mild and respectful manPossesses the foundation of virtue. There is awise man ;-1 tell him good words, And he yieldsto them the practice of docile virtue. There is astupid man j-He says on the contrary that mywords are not true :-50 different are people'sminds.Oh! my son, When you did not know what was

good, and what was not good, Not only did I leadyou by the hand, But I showed the differencebetween them by appealing to instances. Not (only)did I charge you face to face, But I held you bythe ear '. And still perhaps you do not know,Although you have held a son in your arms. Ifpeople be not self-sufficient, Who comes to a latematurity after early instruction?Great Heaven is very intelligent, And I pass1That is, every deed, in fact, meets with its recompense.S See the conclusion of duke Wf1's ode against drunkenness.

Horns grow as the young ram grows. Effects must Dot beexpected where there have Dot been the conditione from whichthey naturally spring.r Such wood is the proper material for a bow. That is , to secure you r a tt en ti on .


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ODE 3. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.my life without pleasure. When I see you so darkand stupid, My heart is full of pain. I taught youwith assiduous repetition, And you listened tome with contempt. You would not consider meas your teacher, But regarded me as trouble-some. Still perhaps you do not know ;-But youare very old.Ohl my son, I have told you the old ways. Hear

and follow my counsels :-Then shall you have nocause for great regret. Heaven is now inflictingcalamities, And is destroying the state. My illus-trations are not taken from things remote :-GreatHeaven makes no mistakes. Ifyou go on to dete-riorate in your virtue, You will bring the people togreat distress.ODE 3, STANZAS 1,2,3,4, AND 7. THE SANG ZJ..u.l"HE WRITER 1II0URNS OVER THE llISERY Al>U) DISORDJ:R OF THE TIlIl!S,

WITH A VIEW TO REPREHEND THE llISGOVERNlIlE!IIT 0'" KING d,APPEALING ALSO TO HEAVEN TO HAVE COlIPASSJON.

King Lr is not mentioned by name in the piece, but the secondl ine of stanza 7 can only be explained of him. He w as drivenfrom the throne, in consequence of his misgovernment, in B. c. 843,and only saved his life bj' flying to Klh, a place in the presentHo Kau, department Phing-yang, Shan-hat, where he remainedtill his death in B.C. 828. The government in the meantime wascarried on by the dukes of SMo and Kau, "hose administration,called the period of 'Mutual Harmon},' forms an importantchronological era in Chinese nistory, On the authority ofa reference in the . 9 0 Rwan, the piece is ascribed to an earlof Zui.Luxuriant is that young mulberry tree, Andbeneath it wide is the shade; But they wi l l pluck

its leaves till it is quite destroyed 1. The distress1These three lines are metaphorical of the once flourishingkingdom, which was now brought to the verge of ruin.[I] E e '


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THE SHIH KING. DECADEIII.

inflicted on these (multitudes of the) people, Is anunceasing sorrow to my heart; My commiserationfills (my breast). 0 thou bright and, great Heaven,Shouldest thou not have compassion on us ?The four steeds (gallop about), eager and strong",

The tortoise-and-serpent and the falcon banners flyabout. Disorder grows, and no peace can be secured.Every state is being ruined; There are no blackheads among the people 2. Everything is reducedto ashes by calamity. Oh! alas! The doom of thekingdom hurries on. .There is nothing to arrest the doom of the A n g-

dom; Heaven does not nourish us. There is noplace in which to stop securely; There is no placeto which to go. Superior men are the bonds (of thesocial state) 3, Allowing no love of strife in theirhearts. Who reared the steps of the dissatisfaction 4 ,Which has reached the present distress?The grief of my heart is extreme, And I dwell

on (the condition of) our land. I was born at anunhappy time, To meet with the severe anger ofHeaven. From the west to the east, There is noquiet place of abiding. Many are the distresses Imeet with; Very urgent is the trouble on ourborders.Heaven is sendingdown death and disorder, And1That is, the war-chariots, each drawn by its team of four

horses.I The yOU'lg and able-bodied of the people were slain or absenton distant expeditions, and only old and gray-headed men were tobe seen. Intimating that no such men were now to be found in office.4 Meaning the king by his misgovernment and employment ofbad men.


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ODE.,.. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.

has put an end to our king. It is (now) sendingdown those devourers of the grain, So that thehusbandry is all in evil case. Alas for our middlestates If All is in peril and going to ruin. I haveno strength (to do anything), And think of (thePower in) the azure vault.

ODE 4. THE YUN HAN.XING HSVAN, ON OCCASION OF A GREAT DROUGHT, EXPOSTULATES WITH

GOD AND ALL THE SPIRITS, WHO MIGHT BE EXPECTED TO HELP HDI-AND HIS PEOPLE; ASKS THEM WHEREFORE THEY WERE CONTENDING 'WITH HIM; AND DETAILS THE IIIEASURES HE HAD TAKEN, AND WASSTILL TAXING, FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE CALAMITY.

King Hsiian does not occur by name in the ode, though the remark-able prayer which it relates is ascribed to a king in stanza I. Allcritics have admitted the statement of the Preface that the piecewas made, in admiration of king Hsiian, by Z3.ng Shll, a greatofficer, we may presume, of the court. The standard chronologyplaces the commencement of the drought in B.C. 822, the sixthyear of Hsiian's reign. How long it continued we cannot tell.Bright was the milky way, Shining and revolving

in the sky. The king said, ' Oh ! \Vhat crime ischargeable on us now, That Heaven (thus) sendsdown death and disorder? Famine comes againand again. There is no spirit I have not sacrificedto l!; There is no victim I have grudged; Our

1We must translate here in the plural. 'the middle states' mean-ing all the states subject to the sovereign of Kau.I In the Official Book of Kiu, among the duties of the Minister

of Instruction, or, as Biot translates the title, 'the Director of th eMultitudes,' it is stated that one of the things he bas to do, 00occurrences of famine, is to seek out the spirits: that is, as ex-plained by the commentators, to see that sacrifices are offered toall the spirits, even such as may have been discontinued. Thisrule had, no doubt, been acted on during the drought which thisode describes.E e 2


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420 THE SHIH KING. DECADE Ill.jade symbols, oblong and rounel, are exhausted 1;_How is it that I am not heard?'The drought is excessive : Its fervours become

more and more tormenting. I have not ceasedoffering pure sacrifices : From the border altarsI have gone to the ancestral temple 2. To the(Powers) above and below I have presented myofferings and then buried them 3 ;-There is nospirit whom I have not honoured. Hau-kt is notequal to the occasion, God does not come to us.This wasting and rum of our country,-Would thatit fell (only) on me!'The drought is excessive, And I may not try

to excuse myself I am full of terror, and feel theperil, Like the clap of thunder or the roll. Of theremnant of Kan, among the black-haired people,There wi l l not be half a man left, Nor wi l l Godfrom his great heaven exempt (even) me. Shall

1 We have, m the sixth Book of the fifth Part of the Sh6, aninstance of the use of the symbols here mentioned m sacnficing tothe spmtn of departed kmgs, The Official Book, among theduties of the Mimster of Religion, mentions the use of these andother symbols-in all SIX, of different shapes and colours-at thedifferent sacnficesI B y 'the border Altars' we are to understand the altars m thesuburbs of the capital, "here Heaven and Earth were sacrificedto ;-the great services at the solstices, and any other seasonsThe mention of H!u-if m the seventh hne makes us think espe-cially of the service 10 the spring. to pray for a good year, whenHtl1-Rl was associated With God.3 'The (Powers) above and below' are Heaven and Earth. Theoffermgs, dunng the progress of the service, were placed on theground, or on the altars and buned m the earth at the close of It.This expla ns what the kmg sws 10 the first stanza about theofrermgs of Jade bemg exhausted.


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ODE 4. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 42Iwe not mingle our fears together? (The sacrificesto) my ancestors will be extinguished 1.

IThe drought is excessive, And it cannot bestopped. More fierce ard fiery, It is leaving me00 place. My end is near ;-1 have none to lookup, none to look round, to. The many dukes andtheir ministers of the past 2 Give me no help.o ye parents and (nearer) ancestors d, How canye bear to see me thus?'The drought is excessive i-Parched are the

hills, and the streams are dried. The demon ofdrought exercises his oppression, As if scatteringflames and fire 4 My heart is terrified with theheat ;-My sorrowing heart is as if on fire. The

1Equivalent to the extinction of the dynasty.II The king had sacrificed to all the early lords of K:1u. IThemany dukes' may comprehend kings Th:1i and Xi. He had alsosacrificed to their ministers. Compare what Pan-kang says in theSM, p. 109, about his predecessors and their ministers. Sometak.e 'the many dukes, and the ministers,' of. all princes of stateswho had signalised themselves by services to the people andkingdom.8 The king could hardly hope that his iather, the oppressive Lt.would jn his spirit-state give him any aid; but we need only lind iDhis words the expression of natural feeling. Probably it was theconsideration of the character of Lt which has made some criticsunderstand by Iparents' and 'ancestors' the same indiv iduals,namely, kings Wan and WIl, Ithe ancestors" of Hsnan, and whohad truly been Ithe parents' of the people., Khung Ying-t:1,from ' the Book of Spirits and Marvels,' givesthe following account of' the demon of drought :'-' In the southernregions there is a man, two or three cubits in height, with theupper part of his body bare, and his eyes in the top of his head.He runs with the speed of the wind, and is named Po. In what-ever state he appears, there ensues a great drought.' The Bookof Spirits and Marvels, however, as it now exists, cannot be olderthan oar fourth or fifth century. _


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422 THE SHIH KING. DECADE m,many dukes and their ministers of the past Do nothear me. 0 God, from thy great heaven, Grantme the liberty to withdraw (into retirement 1 )., The drought is excessive ;-1 struggle and fear

to go away. How is it that I am afflicted with thisdrought? I cannot ascertain the cause of it. Inpraying for a good year I was abundantly early 2.I was not late (in sacrificing) to (the spirits of)the four quarters and of the land 3. God in greatheaven Does not consider me. Reverent to theintelligent spirits, I ought not to be thus theobject of their anger.'The drought is excessive ;-All is dispersion,

and the bonds of government arc relaxed. Reducedto extremities are the heads of departments; Fullof distress are my chief ministers, The Master ofthe Horse, the Commander of the Guards, Thechief Cook 4 , and my attendants. There is no onewho hac; not (tried to) help (the people); Theyhave not refrained on the ground of being unable.I look up to the great heaven i-Why am I plungedin this sorrow?(I look up to the great heaven, But its starssparkle bright. My great officers and excellent men,Ye have reverently drawn near (to Heaven) with all1 That is, to withdraw and give place to a more worthysovereign.I This was the border sacrifice to God, when Hau-it w asassociated with him. Some critics add a sacrifice in the firstmonth of winter, for a blessing on the ensuing year, offered to

th~ honoured ones of beaven,'-the sun, moon, and zodiacalconstellations. See note :2 on p. 31I.t See note I on p. 356


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ODE 5. THE MAJOR ones OF THE KINGDOM. 423your powers. Death is approaching, But do notcast away what you have done. You are seekingnot for me only, But to give rest to all our depart-ments. I look up to the great heaven i-Whenshall I be favoured with repose?'ODE 5, STANZAS 1, 2, AND 4. THE SUNG Kio.

CELEBRATING 1HE APPolNTllrNT B\ AING H!>CAN OF A RELATIVE TOBE THE lIARQVI5 OF 511IN , A"'D IlHE,\DI R OF THE SOUTHERNBORDER OF nlr. KINGDO'I. "ITH 111E ARRA"'GElIE"'1S ~I,\DE FOilms E~TERING ox HIS CII.\RGr..

That the king who appears in this piece was king Hsiian is suffi-ciently established, lie appears In it commissioning 'his greatuncle,' an elder brother, that is, of his mother, to go and rule, asmarquis of Shan, and chief 01 president of the states in thesouth of the kingdom, to defend the border s against the en-croaching hordes of the south, headed by the pi inees of KilO,whose lords had been rebellious against the middle states evenin the time of the Shang dynasty;-see the last of the SacrificialOdes of Shang.Grandly lofty are rhe mountains, With their

large masses reaching to the heavens. From thosemountains was sent down a spirit, Who producedthe birth of (the princes of) Fll and Shan I. Fu and

1 Shan was a small marqmsate, a part of "hat is the presentdepartment of Nan-yang, Ho-nan. FIi, which "as also calledLn, was another small territory, not far from Shan. The princesof both "ere Kiangs, descended from the chief minister of Yao,called in the first nook of the Shi'I, 'the Four Mountains.' Otherstates were ruled by his descendants, pal ticularly the great stale ofKlli. When it is said here that a spirit was sent down from the.great mountains, and produced the birth of (the princes of) Fo.andShan, we have, probably, a legendary tradition concerning thebirth of Yao's minister, which was current among all his descend-ante ; and with which we may compare the legends that have comeunder our notice about the supcruatural births of the ancestors ofthe founders of the Houses of Shang and K:iu. The character for


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Shan Are the support of Kau, Screens to allthe states, Diffusing (their influence) over the fourquarters of the kingdom.Full of activity is the chief of Shan, And the

king would employ him to continue the services (ofhis fathers), With his capital in Hsieh 1, Where heshould be a pattern to the states of the south. Theking gave charge to the earl of 5h:10, To arrangeall about the residence of the chief of Shan, Wherehe should do what was necessary for the regions ofthe south, And where his posterity might maintainhis merit.Of the services of the chief of Shan The founda-

tion was laid by the earl of Shao, Who first builtthe walls (of his city), And then completed hisancestral temple", When the temple was completed,wide and grand, The king conferred on the chief ofShao Four noble steeds, With the hooks for thetrappings of the breast-bands, glittering bright 3. mountains' in lines 1and 3 is the same that occurs in the title ofYdo's minister. On the statement about the mountains sendingdown a spirit, Hwang Hstm, a critic of the Sung dynasty, says that'it is merely a personification of the poet, to show how highHeaven had a mind to revive the fortunes of Kau, and that weneed not trouble ourselves about whether there was such a spiritor not.'

t Hsieh was in the present Fang Kdu of the department ofNan-gang,I Compare with this the account given, in ode 3 of the first

decade, of the settling of' the ancient duke Than-fft' in tbe plainof Kau. Here, as there, the great rellgious edifice, the ancestraltemple, takes precedence of all other buildings in the new city.a The steeds with their equipments were tokens of the royalfavour, usually granted on occasions of investiture. The con-ferring of them was followed immediately by the departure of theJ!ewly-invested prince to his charge.


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ODE 6. THE MAJOR ODESOF THE KINGDOM.

ODE 6, STANZAS 1 AND 7. THE KXNG MIN.CELEBRATING THE VIRTUES OF KUNG 5HAN-F~, WHO APPEARS TO HAVE

BEEN ONE OF THE PRIYCIPAL lIUSISTERS OF KING HStJ,\N, AND HISDESPATCH TO THE EAST,TO FORTIFY THE C.\PITAL OF THE STATEOF KHf.Heaven, in giving birth to the multitudes of the

people, To every faculty and relationship annexedits law. The people possess this normal nature,And they (consequently) love its normal virtue 1Heaven beheld the ruler of Kau, Brilliantly affect-ing it by his conduct below, And to maintain him,its Son, Gave birth to Kung Shan-fir 2,Kung Shan-fa went forth, having sacrif.ced to the

spirit of the road 3. His four steeds were strong;1We get an idea of the meaning which has been attached tothese four lines from a very early time by Mencius' quotationof them (VI, i,ch. 6) in support of his doctrine of the goodness ofhuman nature, and the remark 011 the piece which he attributesto Confucius, that' the maker of It knew indeed the constitution(of our nature).' Every faculty, bodily or mental, has its function

to fulfil, and every relationship its duty to be discharged, The func-tion and the duty are the things which the human being has toobserve :-the seeing clearly, for instance, with the eyes, and hearingdistinctly with the ears; the maintenance of righteousness betweenruler and minister, and of affection between parent and child.This is the normal nature,' and the 'normal virtue' is the naturefulfilling the various laws of its constitution.S The connexion between these four lines and those that pre-cede is this :-that while Heaven produces all men with the good

nature there described, on occasions it produces others with virtueand powers in a super-eItlinent degree. Such an occasion waspresented by the case of king Hsnan, and therefore, to mark itsappreciation of him, and for his help, it now produced KungShan-fll.S This was a special sacrifice at the commencement of a journey.

or of an expedition. See note 2 on p. 399


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TIlE SHIH KIXG. DECADE III.

His men were alert, He was always anxious lesthe should not be equal to his commission; Hissteeds went on without stopping, To the tinklingof their eight bells. The king had given chargeto Kung Shan-fa, To fortify the city there inthe east.

ODE 7, STANZAS 1 AND PART OF 3, THE HAN Vi.CELEBRATING THE IIARQGIS OF HAN:-HIS n..'VES,{ITGRE,AND THE KING'S

CHARGE TO HIM j THE GIFTS HE RECEI....ED. J l . 1 I " D THE PARTING FEASTAT THE COURT; HIS 1IIARRIAGE; THE EXCELLENCE OF HIS TERRI-TORY; AND HIS SWAYOVER THE REGIONS or THE NORTH.

Only one line-the first of stanza. 3-in this interesting pieceserves to illustrate the religious practices of the time, and needsno further note than what has been given on the first line ofstanza 7 in the preceding ode. The name of the marquisateof Han remains in the distnct of Han-Mang, department ofHsi-an, Shen-hsi, in which also is mount Liang.Vcry grand is the mountain of Liang, Which wasmade cultivable by Yu, Bright is the way from it,

(Along which came) the marquis of Han to receiveinvestiture. The king in person gave the charge:-, Continue the services of your ancestors; Let notmy charge to you come to nought. Be diligent earlyand late. And reverently discharge your duties:-So shall my appointment of you not change. Be asupport against those princes who do not come tocourt, Thus assisting your sovereign.'When the marquis of Han left the court, hesacrificed to the spirit of the road. He went forth,

and lodged for the night in Tu.


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ODE 8. THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGrOM.

ODE 8, STANZAS 4 AND 5. THE KIANG HAN.CELEBRATING AN EXPEDITION AGAUrST THE SOUTHERN TRIBES OF THE

HWAI, A!I"D THE WORK DONE FOR THE KING IN THEIR COUNTRY, BYH U , THE EARL OF SHAO, WITH THE MANNER IN WHICH THE KINGREWARDED IUM, AND HE RESPOll"DED TO THE ROVAL FAYOl'R.

Hft was probably the same earl of SMo, who is mentioned inode 5, as building his capital of Hsieh for the new marquis ofShlin. The lords of Shao had been distinguished in the serviceof Kau ever since the rise of the dynasty.The king gave charge to H u of Shao :-' Youhave everywhere made known (and carried out myorders). When (the kings) \V5.n and \\Ttl received

their appointment, The duke of Shao was theirstrong support. You not (only) have a regard tome the little child, But you try to resemble thatduke of Shao, You have commenced and earnestlydisplayed your merit; And I will make you happy., I give you a large libation-cup of jade \ And ajar of herb-flavoured spirits from the black millet 2.I have made announcement to the Accomplishedone 3, And confer on rou hills, lands, and fields.

In (/ihi-)kc1u shall you receive investiture, Accord-ing as your ancestor received his.' Hu bowed with1 See note 2 on p. 386.t The cup and the spirits would be used by the earl whensacrificing in his ancestral temple. Compare the similar gift fromking Kkang to the duke of Kau, in the Shft, p. 194. More sub-stantial gifts are immediately specified.8 The Accomplished one' is understood to be king Wan (=' theAccomplished king '). He was the founder of the K4u dynasty.To him the kingdom had first come by the appointment and giftof Heaven. It was the duty therefore of his successors, in makinggrants of territory to meritorious officers, to announce them to himin Kht-kiu, the old territory of the family, and obtain, as it were,

his leave for what they were doing.


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his head to the ground (and said), 'May the Sonof Heaven live for ever!'

ODE 10, STANZAS 1,5,6, AND 7. THE KAN ZANG.THE WRlTER DEPLORES, Wl'TH AN APPEALING WAn. '!'O HEAVEN, THI!

MISERY AND OPPRESSION THAT PREVAILE." MID !NTIMATES THATTHEY WERE CAUSEDBY THE INTERFERENCE Ob WOllEN AND EUNUCHSIN THE GOVERNMENT.The king addressed in this piece was most probably Y1l. It suitshis character and reign.I look up to great Heaven, But it shows us no

kindness. Very long have we been disquieted, Andthese great calamities are sent down (upon us).There is nothing settled in the country; Officersand people are in distress. Through the insectsfrom without and from within, There is. no peaceor limit (to our misery). The net of crime is nottaken up \ And there is no peace nor cure (forour state).Why is it that Heaven is (thus) reproving (you)?

Why is it that Heaven is not blessing (you)? Youneglect your great barbarian (foes), And regardme with hatred. You are regardless of the evilomens (that abound 2 ) , And your demeanour is allunseemly. (Good) men are going away, And thecountry is sure to go to ruin.Heaven is letting down its net, And many (are

the calamities in it). (Good) men are going away,And my heart is sorrowful. Heaven is letting down1 B y I t 1 1 C net of crime' we are to understand the multitude of

penal laws, to whose doom people were exposed. In stanza 6,Heaven is represented as letting it down.S Compare ode 9 of the fourth decade in the former Part.


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ODE II THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KLXGDml.

its net, And soon (all wiI I be caught in it). (Good)men are going away, And my heart is sad.Right from the spring comes the water bubbling,

Revealing its depth. The sorrow of my heart,-Isit (only) of to-day? \Vhy were these things notbefore me? Or why were they not after me? Butmysteriously great Heaven Is able to strengthenanything. Do not disgrace your great ancestors :-This will save your posterity 1.

ODE 11, STAN.!,. 1 AND 2. THE SHAO MIN.THE WRITER APPEALS TO HEAVEN, BE1rlOANING THE MISERY AND RUIN

WHICH WERE GOING ON, AND SHOWJNG HOW THEY WERE DUE TO THEXING'S ElIlPLOnmNT OF ?lEAN AND WORTHLESS CREATURES.

Compassionate Heaven is arrayed in angry terrors.Heaven is indeed sending down ruin, Afflicting uswith famine, So that the people are all wanderingfugitives. In the settled regions, and on the borders,all is desolation.Heaven sends down its net of crime ;-Devour-

ing insects, who weary and confuse men's minds,Ignorant, oppressive, negligent, Breeders of con-fusion, utterly perverse: - These are the menemployed.1The \vriter in these concluding lines ventures to summon theking to repentance, and to.hold out a hope that there might come

a change in their state. He does this, believing that all things arepossible with Heaven.


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LESSONS FROM THE STATES.

ODES AND STANZAS ILLUSTRATING THE RELIGIOUSVIEWS AND PRACTICES OF THE WRITERS ANDTHEIR TIMES.

IT has been stated in the Introduction, p. 276, that the first Partof the Shih, called the Kwo Fang, or 'Lessons from theStates,' consists of 160 pieces, descriptive of manners andevents in several of the feudal states into which the kingdomof Kiu was divided. Nearly all of them are short; and thepassages illustrating the religious views and practices of theirtimes are comparatively few. What passages there are, however,of this nature wi l l all be found below. The pieces are notarranged in decades, as in the Odes of the Kingdom, but inBooks, under the names of the states in which they wereproduced.Although the Kwo Fang form, as usually published, the first Partof the Shih, nearly all of them are more recent in their originthan the pieces of the other Parts. They bring us face to facewith the states of the kingdom, and the ways of their officers andpeople for several centuries of the dynasty of Kiu.

BOOK II. TUE ODES OF SHAO AND THE SOUTH.THE SM and previous portions of the Shih have made us familiarwith SMo, the name of the appanage of Shih, one of the prin-cipal ministers at the court of Kiu in the first two reigns of thedynasty. The site of the city of Shio was in the present depart-ment of Fang-khiang, Shen-hst, The first possessor of it,along with the still more famous duke of Kiu, remained atcourt, to watch over the fortunes of the new dynasty. They wereknown as the highest dukes' and 'the two great chiefs,' theduke of Kiu having charge of the eastern portions of the king-dom, and the other of the western. The pieces in this Book aresupposed to have been produced in Shao, and the principalitiessouth of it within his jurisdiction, by the duke.


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BOOX n.a. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 431

ODE 2. THE ZHAI FAN.CELEBRATING THE INDUSTRY AND UVERENCE OF A PRINCE'S WII'B,

ASSISTING HIlII IN SACRIFICING.We must suppose the ladies of a harem, in one of the states of thesouth, admiring and praising in these simple stanzas the way inwhich their mistress discharged her duties. A view of the odemaintained by many is that the lady gathered the southernwood,not to use it in sacrificing, but in the nurture of the silkwormsunder her care; but the evidence of the characters in the text is,on the whole, in favour of the more common view. Constantreference is made to the piece by Chinese moralists, to show thatthe most. trivial things are accepted in sacrifice, when there arereverence and sincerity in the presenting of them.One critic asked Kft Hsl whether it was conceivable that the wifeof a prince did herself what is here related, and he replied thatthe poet said so. Another has observed that if the lady orderedand employed others, it was still her own doing. But that tbelady did it herself is not incredible, when we consider the sim-plicity of those early times, in the twelfth century B. c.She gathers the white southernwood,

ponds, on the islets. She employs it,business of our prince.She gathers the white southernwood,

the streams in the valleys. She employsthe temple 1of our prince.

By theIn the

Alongit, In

1 If the character here translated 'temple' had no other signifi-cation but that, there would be an end of the dispute about themeaning of the piece. But while we find it often used of theancestral temple, it may ~so mean any building, especially one ofa large and public character, such as a palace or mansion i \andhence some contend that it should be interpreted here of 'the silk-worm house.' We are to conceive of the lady, after havinggathered the materials for sacrificial usc, then preparing themaccording to rule, and while it is yet dark on the morning of thesacrificial day, going with them into the temple. and setting themforth in their proper vessels and places.


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432 THE SHIH KING. BOOX II. 4.With head-dress reverently rising aloft, Early,

while yet it is night, she is in the prince's (temple).In her head-dress, slowly retiring, She returns (toher own apartments).

ODE 4. TIlE ZHAr PIN.CELEDRATL'I;GTHE DILIGENCE AND RE\'ERENCE OF THE YOUNGWIFE OF

AN OF~'ICER, DOING HER PART L'I SACRIFICIAL OFFERINGS.She gathers the large duckweed, By the banks

of the stream in the southern valley. She gathersthe pondweed, In those pools leit by the floods.She deposits what she gathers, In her square

baskets and round ones. She boils it, In her tripodsand pans.She sets forth her preparations, Under the window

in the ancestral chamber 1. Who superintends thebusiness? It is (this) reverent young lady.

1 'The ancestral chamber' was a room behind the temple of thefamily, dedicated specially to the anc.estor of the officer whose wifeis the subject of the piece. The princes of states were succeeded,as a rule, b y the eldest son of the wife proper. Their sons byother wives were called 'other sons.' The eldest son by the wifeproper of one of them became the 'great ancestor' of the clandescended from him, and 'the ancestral chamber' was an apart-ment dedicated to him. Milo and other interpreters, going on cer-tain statements as to the training of daughters in the business ofsacrificing in this apartment for three months previous to theirmarriage, contend that the lady spoken of here was not yetmarried, but w as only undergoing this preparatory education.It is not necessary, however, to adopt this interpretation. Thelady appears doing the same duties as the wife in the former piece.


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B O O K nr.4. LESSONS FRO1\[ THE STATES. 433

BOOK II. THE ODES OF PIlEI.WHEN king WU overthrew the dynasty of Shang, the domain of itskings was divided into three portions, the northern pornon beingcalled Phei, the southern Yung, and the eastern Wei, the rulersof which last in course of time absorbed the other two. Itis impossible to say why the old names were retained in thearrangement of the odes in this Part of the Shih, for it is acknow-ledged on all hands that the pieces in Books iii and iv, as we~as those of Book v, are all odes of Wei.

ODE 4. THE Z 1 . . H YOEH.SUPPO~ED TO BE THE COMPLAINT AND APPEAL OF X\i' ANG KIAl


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434 THE SHIH KING. BOOK IV.o sun, 0 moon, From the east that come forth!o father, 0 mother, There is no sequel to your'nourishingofme. How can he get his mindsettled?

Would he then respond tomecontraryto all reason?ODE 15, STANZA 1 . THE PEl M A N .

/oN OJI'I'ICU OF WEI SETS FORTH HIS JUilD LOT, THROUGH DISTRESSES.AND THE BURDENS LAID t7P0N HIM, AND HIS SILENCE UNDER IT INSUBIIDSSION TO HEAVEN.I go out at the north gate, With my heart full

of sorrow. Straitened am I and poor, And no onetakes knowledgeofmy distress. So it is! Heavenhas done it I;-What then shall I say?

BOOK IV. THE ODES OF YUNG.See the preliminary note on p. 433.ODE 1. THE PAl sa

PROTEST OF A WIDOW AGAINST BEING VllG:&D TO MARRY AGAIN, ANDHER APPEAL TO lU.ll MOTHER .AND TO HEAVEN.

THIS piece, it is said, w as made by Kung Kiang, the widow ofKung-po, SO D of the marquis Hst ofWei {B.C. 855-814). Kung-po having died an early death, her parents (who must have beenthe marquis ofKAt and hiswife or one of the ladies of his harem)wanted to force her to a second marriage, against which sheprotests. The ode w as preserved, no doubt, as an example of1The Comple te Digest of Comment s on the Shib' wams itsreaders not to take 'Heaven' here as synonymous with Ming,'what is decreed or commanded.' The writer does not go onto define the precise idea which he understood the character toconvey. This appears to be what we orien mean by Providence,'when we 'Jpeak of an,thing permitted, rather than appointed, bythe s up reme ruling POWw.


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ODEa LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 435what the Chinese have always considered a great virtue,-therefusal of a widow to marry again.It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There

in the middle of the Ho 1, With his two tufts ofhair falling over his forehead 2, He was my mate;And I swear that till death I wi l l have no other.o mother, 0 Heaven 3, Why wi l l you not under-stand me?It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There

by the side of the Ho. With his two tufts of hairfaIling over his forehead, He was my only one;And I swear that till death I will not do the evilthing. 0 mother, 0 Heaven, Why will you notunderstand me?ODE 3 , STANZA 2. THE KUN-SZE KIEH LAO .

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE BEAUTY AND SPLENDOUR OF HSOAN KIANG,u,'D HER VICIOl'SNESS.

Hsflan .Kiang was a princess of Khl, who, towards the close of theseventh century B.C., became wife to the marquis of Wei, knownas duke Hsfian. She was beautiful and unfortunate, but variousthings are related of her indicative of the grossest immoralitiesprevailing in the court of Wei.How rich and splendid Is her pheasant-figured1These allusive lines, probably, indicate the speaker's widow-

hood, which left her like I a boat floating about on the water.'B Such was the mode in which the hair was kept, while a boy oryoung man's parents were alive, parted into two tufts from the piamater, and brought down as low as the eyebrows on either sideof the forehead.8 Mio thought that the lady intended her rather by Heaven ;.while Kll held that her rather may have been dead, and that themother is called IIeaven, with reference to the kindness and pro-tection that she ought to show. There seems rather to be in theterm a wild, and not very intelligent, appeal to the supreme Power

in heaven. .F C 2


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436 THE SHIH KING. BOOK IV. 6.robe 11 Her black hair in masses like clouds, Nofalse locks does she descend to. There are her ear-plugs of jade, Her comb-pin of ivory, And herhigh forehead, so white. She appears like a visitantfrom heaven! She appears like a goddess 2.ODE 6, STANZAS 1AND 2. THE TING KIH FANG KUNG.CELEBRATING THE PRAISE OF DUKE WANj-HIS DILIGENCE, FORESIGHT,

USB OF DIVINATION, AND OTHER QUALITIES.The state of Wei was reduced to extremity by an irruption of somenorthern hordes in B. c. 660, and had nearly disappeared fromamong the states of Kau. Under the marquis Wei, known inhistory as duke Wan, its fortunes revived, and he became a sort

of second founder of the state.When Ting culminated (at night-fall) s, He

began to build the palace at KhO 4, DeterminingI The lady is introduced arrayed in the gorgeous robes worn bythe princess of a state in the ancestral temple.I P. Lacharme translated these two concluding lines by Tuprimo aspectu coelos (pulchri tudine), et imperatorem (majestate)

adaequas,' without any sanction of the Chinese critics; and more-over there Wall no Tl < $ > in the- sense of imperator then inChina. The sovereigns of Kiu were wang or kings. Kli Hsfexpands the lines thus :-' Such is the beauty of her robes andappearance, that beholders are struck with awe, as if she werea spiritual being.' Hsii Kkien (Yuan dynasty) deals with themthus:-' With such splendour of beauty and dress, how is it that sheis here? She has come down from heaven I She is a spiritualbeing!' Ting is the name of a small space in the heavens, embracing

IlMarkab and another star of Pegasus. Its culminating at night-fallwas the signal that the labours of husbandry were over for theyear, and that building operations should be taken in hand. Greatas was the urgency for the building of his new capital, duke wanwould not take it in hand till the proper time for such a labourwas arrived., K A C t , or Kku-khiu, was the new capital of Wei, in the pre-

sent district of Kkang-wli. department .6kao-kau, Shan-tug.


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BOOX V. 4. LESSONS FROM: THE STATES. 437its aspects by means of the sun. He built thepalace at Kho. . He planted about it hazel andchesnut trees, The 1 , the Thung, the Bze, and thevarnish tree. Which, when cut down, might affordmaterials for lutes.He ascended those old walls, And thence sur-

veyed (the site of) KIzi1. He surveyed KIzi1 andThang 1, With the lofty hills and high elevationsabout. He descended and examined the mulberrytrees. He then divined by the tortoise-shell, andgot a favourable response II ; And thus the issuehas been truly good.

BOOK V . THE ODESOF WEI.IT has been said on the title of Book iii, that Wei at first was theeastern portion of the old domain of the kings of Shang. Withthis a brother of king WQ, called Khang-sM, was invested. Theprincipality was afterwards increased by the absorption of Pheiand Yung. It came to embrace portions of the present pro-vinces of .Kih-Ir, Shan-tung, and Ho-nan. It outlasted thedynasty of KU its"elf, the last prince of Wei being reduced tothe ranks of the people only during the dynasty of Khin.

ODE 4, STANZAS 1 AND 2. THE MAKG.A N UNFORTUNATE WOMAN,WHO HAD BEEN SEDUCED INTO A N lllPROPER

CONNEXION,NOWCAST OFF, RELATES AND BE)IOANS HER SID CASE.An extract is given from the pathetic history here related, because

it shows how divination was used among the common people,and entered generally into the ordinary affairs of life.A simple-looking lad you were, Carrying cloth1 Thang was the name of a town, evidently not far from K4Q.t 'Ve have seen before how divination was resorted to on oeea-sion of new under takings, especially ill proceeding to rear a CI~}.


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THE SHIH KING. BOOK VI.

to exchange it for silk. (But) you came not soto purchase silk ;-Y011 came to make proposals tome. I convoyed you through the Khi 1, As faras Tun-khill 2, C It is not I,' (I said), C who wouldprotract the time; But you have had no good go-between. 1 pray you be not angry, And let autumnbe the time.'I ascended that ruinous wall, To look towardsFu-kwan s; And when I saw (you) not (comingfrom) it, My tears flowed in streams. When I didsee (you coming from) Fn-kwan, I laughed and1 spoke. You had consulted, (you said), the tortoise-shell and the divining stalks, And there was nothingunfavourable in their response 4. c Then come,' (I

said), 'with your carriage, And I will remove withmy goods.'

BOOK VI. THE ODES OF THE ROYAL DOl\lAIN.KING Wan, it has been seen, had for his capital the city of Fang,from which his son, king w a, moved the seat of governmentto HAo. In the time of king Kh!ing, a city was built by the duke1 The Kht w as a famous river of Wei.t Tun-khift was a well-known place _, the mound or height of

Tun' -south of the Wei.8 Fft-kwan must have been the place where the m an lived,

according to n. Rather, it must have been a pass (Fo.-kwanm ay mean the gate or pass of Fu'), through which he would come,and was visible from near the residence of the woman.

4 Ying-ti observes that the man had never divined about thematter, and said that he had done so only to complete the processof seduction. The critics dwell on the inconsistency of divinationbeing resorted to in such a case :-' Divination is proper only ifused inreference to what is right and moraL'


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ODE I. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 439of Kiu, near the present Lo-yang, and called I the easterncapital.' Meetings of the princes of the states assembled there;but the court continued to be held at H40 t i l l the accession ofking Phing in B. c. 770. From that time, the kings of Kiu sanknearly to the level of the princes of the states, and the poemscollected in their domain were classed among the ILessons ofManners from the States,' though still distinguished by theepithet Iroyal' prefixed to them.

ODE 1, STANZA 1. THE SHU U.AN OFFICER DESCRIBES HIS lIlELANCHOLYAND REFLECTIONS ON sEEING

THB DESOLATION OF THE OLD CAPITAL OF KjV, MAKING HIS MOANTO HEAVEN BECAUSE OF IT.

There is no specific mention of the old capital of Kiu in the piece,but the schools of Mao and Kd are agreed in this interpreta-tion, which is much more likely than any of the others that havebeen proposed.There was the millet with its drooping heads i

There was the sacrificial millet coming into blade 1.Slowly I moved about, In my heart all-agitated.Those who knew me Said I was sad at heart.Those who did not know me, Said I was seekingfor something. 0 thou distant and azure Heaven"!By what man was this (brought about) 3 ?1 That is, there where the ancestral temple and other grand

buildings of Hio had once stood.S 'He cried out to Heaven,' says Yen B~an, 'and told (his dis-tress), but he calls it distant in its azure brightness, lamenting thathis complaint was not heard.' This is, probably, the correct expla-nation of the language. The speaker would by it express hi.. grief

that the dynasty of .Kiu and its people were abandoned and un-cared for by Heaven.S Referring to king Yd, whose reckless course had led to thedestruction of Hio by the Zung, and in a minor degree to hisson, king Phing, who had subsequently removed to the eastern

capital.


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440 TIlE SHIH KING. BOOK X.

ODE 9, STANZAS 1 AND S. THE TA KO ..A LADY EXCUSES HERSELF FOR NOT FLYING TO HER LOVER BY HER

FEAR OF A SEVERE AND VIRTUOUS MAGISTRATE, AND SWEARS TO HIMTHAT SHE IS SINCERE L~ HER ATTACHMENT TO HIM.His great carriage rolls along, And his robes ofrank glitter like the young sedge. Do I not think

of yOU? But I am afraid of this officer, and darenot (fly to you).While living we may have to occupy differentapartments; But, when dead, we shall share thesame grave. If you say that I am not sincere, B ythe bright sun I swear that I am I.

BOOK X. THE ODES OF THANG.THE odes of Thang were really the odes of Bin, the greatest of thefiefs of KAu until the rise of Ehin. King Ehiing, in B.C. 1107,invested his younger brother, called Sh~-yu, with the territorywhere Y 40 was supposed to have ruled anciently as the marquisof Thang, in the present department of Thai-yuan, Shan-hsl,the fief retaining that ancient name. Subsequently the name ofthe state was changed to Bin, from the river Bin in the southernpart of it.

ODE 8, STANZA 1. THE PAO YO.THE UN OF SIN, CALLED OUT TO WARFAllE BY THE KING'S ORDER,

MOURN OVER THE CONSEQUENT SUFFERING OF THEIR PARENTS, ANDLONG FOR THEIR RETURN TO THEIR ORDINARY AGRICULTURAL PUR-SUITS, MAKING THI!iR A.1'PEAL TO HEAVEN.Sft-s!i go the feathers of the wild geese, As1 In the Complete Digest' this oath is expanded in the fol-lowing way : .: These words are from my heart. Ifyou think thatthey are not sincere, there is (a Power) above, like the bright sun,observing me;-how should my words not be sineerel'


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ODEII. LESSONS FROM THE STATES. 441they settle on the bushy oaks I, The king's affairsmust not be slackly discharged, And (so) we cannotplant our millets;- What wi l l our parents have torely on? 0 thou distant and azure Heaven t!When shall we be in our places again ?

ODE 11. THE Ko SHANG.A WIFE MOURNS THE DEATH 01' HER HUSBAND,REFUSING TO BE COM-

FORTED, AND DECLARES THAT SHE WILL CHERISH HIS DHORY TILLHER OWNDEATH.

It is supposed that the husband whose death is bewailed in thispiece had died in one of the military expeditions of which dukeHsien ( B . C . 676-651) was fond. It may have been SO, but thereis nothing in the piece to make us think of duke Hsien. I giveit a place in the volume, not because of the religious sentimentin it, but because of the absence of that sentiment, where wemight expect it. The lady shows the grand virtue of a Chinesewidow, in that she will never marry again. And her grief wouldnot be assuaged. The dys would aU seem long summer days,and the nights all long winter nights; so that a hundred longyears would seem to drag their slow course. But there is notany hope expressed of a re-union with her husband in anotherstate. The C abode' and the 'chamber' of which she speaks areto be understood of his grave; and her thoughts do not appearto go beyond it.The dolichos grows, covering the thorn trees;

The convolvulus spreads all over the waste s. The1 Trees are not the proper place for geese to rest on; and theattempt to do so is productive of much noise and trouble to the birds.The lines would seem to allude to the hardships of the soldiers' lot,

called from their homes to go on a distant expedition.S See note 2 on ode I of Book vi, where Heaven is appealed tGin the same language.S These two lines are taken as allusive, the speaker being ledby the sight of the weak plants supported by the trees, shrubs, andtom

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