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1Yii presented the dark-coloured symbol of his rank, and announced the completion of his work. a Book II. THe SpeecuH aT Kan. Witx this Book there commence the documents of the Sh that may be regarded, as I have said in the Introduction, as contemporaneous with the events which they describe. It is the first of the ‘Speeches,’ which form one class of the documents of the classic. The text does not say who the king mentioned in it was, but the prevalent tradition has always been that he was Ki, the son and successor of Yii. Its place between the Tribute of Yi and the next Book belonging to the reign of Thai Khang, Ais son, corroborates this view. Kan is taken as the name of a place in the southern border of the principality of H, with the lord of which XAf fought. The name of HQ itself still remains in the district so called of the department Hsi-an, in Shen-hsf, The king, about to engage in battle with a rebellious vassal, assembles his generals and troops, and addresses them. He declares obscurely the grounds of the expedition which he had undertaken, and concludes by stimulating the soldiers to the display of courage and observance of order by promises of reward and threats of punishment. There was a great battle at Kan. (Previous to it), the king called together the six nobles, (the leaders of his six hosts), and said,‘Ah! all ye who BOOK II. THE SPEECH AT KAN. 77 are engaged in my six hosts, I have a solemn announcement to make to you. ‘The lord of Hd wildly wastes and despises the five elements (that regulate the seasons), and has idly abandoned the three acknowledged commencements of the year’. On this account Heaven is about to destroy him, and bring to an end his appointment (to Hf); and I am now reverently executing the punishment appointed by Heaven.* ‘If you, (the archers) on the left?, do not do your work on the left, it will be a disregard of my orders. If you, (the spearmen) on the right’, do not do your work on the right, it will be a disregard of my orders. If you, charioteers?, do not observe the rules for the management of your horses, it will be a disregard of my orders. You who obey my orders, shall be rewarded before (the spirits of) my ancestors; and you who disobey my orders, shall be put to death before the altar of the spirits of the land, and I will also put to death your children.’ * 1 The crimes of the lord of Hf are here very obscurely stated. With regard to the second of them, we know that Hsia commenced its year with the first month of spring, Shang a month earlier, and au about mid-winter. It was understood that every dynasty should fix a new month for the beginning of the year, and the dynasty of Xhin actually carried its first month back into our November. If the lord of Hf claimed to begin the year with another month than that which Yi had fixed, he was refusing submission to the new dynasty. No doubt, the object of the expedition was to put down a dangerous rival.
2If the lord of Hf claimed to begin the year with another month than that which Yi had fixed, he was refusing submission to the new dynasty. No doubt, the object of the expedition was to put down a dangerous rival. * The chariots were the principal part of an ancient Chinese army ; it is long before we read of cavalry. A war-chariot generally carried three. The driver was in the centre; on his left was an archer, and a spearman occupied the place on his right. They all wore mail, 78 THE SHO KING. PART III. Book III. Tue Soncs or THE FIVE Sons. This Book ranks in that class of the documents of the Shi which goes by the name of ‘Instructions.’ Though the form of it be poetical, the subject-matter is derived from the Lessons left by Yu for the guidance of his posterity. Thai Khang succeeded to his father in .c. 2188, and his reign continues in chronology to 2160. His character is given here in the introductory chapter. A‘iung, the principality of f who took the field against him, is identified with the sub-department of Té- Ku, department Ai-nan, Shan-tung. There is a tradition that i, at an early period of his life, was lord of a state in the present Ho-nan. This would make his movement against Thai Khang, ‘south of the Ho,’ more easy for him. The name of Thai Khang remains in the district so called of the department AAin-Adu, Ho-nan. There, it is said, he died, having never been able to recross the Ho. In his song the king’s first brother deplores how he had lost the affections of the people; the second speaks of his dissolute extravagance ; the third mourns his loss of the throne; the fourth deplores his departure from the principles of Yu, and its disastrous consequences; and the fifth is a wail over the miserable condition of them all. 1. Thai Khang occupied the throne like a personator of the dead‘. By idleness and dissipation he extinguished his virtue, till the black-haired people all wavered in their allegiance. He, however, pursued his pleasure and wanderings without any ' The character that here as a verb governs the character signifying ‘throne’ means properly ‘a corpse,’ and is often used for the personator of the dead, in the sacrificial services to the dead which formed a large part of the religious ceremonies of the ancient Chinese. A common definition of it is ‘the semblance of the spirit, =the image into which the spirit entered. Th4i Khang was but a personator on the throne, no better than a sham sovereign. BOOK III. THE SONGS OF THE FIVE SONS. 79
3A common definition of it is ‘the semblance of the spirit, =the image into which the spirit entered. Th4i Khang was but a personator on the throne, no better than a sham sovereign. BOOK III. THE SONGS OF THE FIVE SONS. 79 self-restraint. He went out to hunt beyond the Lo, and a hundred days elapsed without his returning. (On this) f, the prince of A/iung, taking advantage of the discontent of the people, resisted (his return) on (the south of) the Ho. The (king’s) five brothers had attended their mother in following him, and were waiting for him on the north of the Lo; and (when they heard of f’s movement), all full of dissatisfaction, they related the Cautions of the great Yii in the form of songs. 2. The first said, ‘It was the lesson of our great ancestor :— The people should be cherished, And not looked down upon. The people are the root of a country ; The root firm, the country is tranquil. When I look at all under heaven, Of the simple men and simple women, Any one may surpass me. If the One man err repeatedly', Should dissatisfaction be waited for till it appears ? Before it is seen, it should be guarded against. In my dealing with the millions of the people, I should feel as much anxiety as if I were driving six horses with rotten reins, The ruler of men— How should he be but reverent (of his duties) ?’ The second said, ‘It is in the Lessons :-— When the palace is a wild of lust, And the country is a wild for hunting ; 1 Any king, in the person of Yu, may be understood to be the speaker. 80 THE SHO KING. PART III, When spirits are liked, and music is the delight ; When there are lofty roofs and carved walls ;— The existence of any one of these things Has never been but the prelude to ruin.’ The third said, ‘ There was the lord of Thao and Thang?, Who possessed this region of Kt. Now we have fallen from his ways, And thrown into confusion his rules and laws ;— The consequence is extinction and ruin.’ The fourth said, Brightly intelligent was our ancestor, Sovereign of the myriad regions. He had canons, he had patterns, Which he transmitted to his posterity. The standard stone and the equalizing quarter. Were in the royal treasury. Wildly have we dropt the clue he gave us, Overturning our temple, and extinguishing our sacrifices.’ * The fifth said, ‘Oh! whither shall we turn? The thoughts in my breast make me sad. All the people are hostile to us ; On whom can we rely ? . Anxieties crowd together in our hearts ; Thick as are our faces, they are covered with blushes. We have not been careful of our virtue ; And though we repent, we cannot overtake the past.’ 1 The lord of Théo and Thang is Y4o, who was lord of the principalities of Thao and Thang, but of which first and which last is uncertain, before his accession to the throne. 7 is the At au of the Tribute of Yi. BOOK Iv. THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION OF YIN. 81 Book IV. Tue Punitive Expepition or YIN.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Yii presented the dark-coloured symbol of his rank, and announced the completion of his work. a Book II. THe SpeecuH aT Kan. Witx this Book there commence the documents of the Sh that may be regarded, as I have said in the Introduction, as contemporaneous with the events which they describe. It is the first of the ‘Speeches,’ which form one class of the documents of the classic. The text does not say who the king mentioned in it was, but the prevalent tradition has always been that he was Ki, the son and successor of Yii. Its place between the Tribute of Yi and the next Book belonging to the reign of Thai Khang, Ais son, corroborates this view. Kan is taken as the name of a place in the southern border of the principality of H, with the lord of which XAf fought. The name of HQ itself still remains in the district so called of the department Hsi-an, in Shen-hsf, The king, about to engage in battle with a rebellious vassal, assembles his generals and troops, and addresses them. He declares obscurely the grounds of the expedition which he had undertaken, and concludes by stimulating the soldiers to the display of courage and observance of order by promises of reward and threats of punishment. There was a great battle at Kan. (Previous to it), the king called together the six nobles, (the leaders of his six hosts), and said,‘Ah! all ye who BOOK II. THE SPEECH AT KAN. 77 are engaged in my six hosts, I have a solemn announcement to make to you. ‘The lord of Hd wildly wastes and despises the five elements (that regulate the seasons), and has idly abandoned the three acknowledged commencements of the year’. On this account Heaven is about to destroy him, and bring to an end his appointment (to Hf); and I am now reverently executing the punishment appointed by Heaven.* ‘If you, (the archers) on the left?, do not do your work on the left, it will be a disregard of my orders. If you, (the spearmen) on the right’, do not do your work on the right, it will be a disregard of my orders. If you, charioteers?, do not observe the rules for the management of your horses, it will be a disregard of my orders. You who obey my orders, shall be rewarded before (the spirits of) my ancestors; and you who disobey my orders, shall be put to death before the altar of the spirits of the land, and I will also put to death your children.’ * 1 The crimes of the lord of Hf are here very obscurely stated. With regard to the second of them, we know that Hsia commenced its year with the first month of spring, Shang a month earlier, and au about mid-winter. It was understood that every dynasty should fix a new month for the beginning of the year, and the dynasty of Xhin actually carried its first month back into our November. If the lord of Hf claimed to begin the year with another month than that which Yi had fixed, he was refusing submission to the new dynasty. No doubt, the object of the expedition was to put down a dangerous rival.
2If the lord of Hf claimed to begin the year with another month than that which Yi had fixed, he was refusing submission to the new dynasty. No doubt, the object of the expedition was to put down a dangerous rival. * The chariots were the principal part of an ancient Chinese army ; it is long before we read of cavalry. A war-chariot generally carried three. The driver was in the centre; on his left was an archer, and a spearman occupied the place on his right. They all wore mail, 78 THE SHO KING. PART III. Book III. Tue Soncs or THE FIVE Sons. This Book ranks in that class of the documents of the Shi which goes by the name of ‘Instructions.’ Though the form of it be poetical, the subject-matter is derived from the Lessons left by Yu for the guidance of his posterity. Thai Khang succeeded to his father in .c. 2188, and his reign continues in chronology to 2160. His character is given here in the introductory chapter. A‘iung, the principality of f who took the field against him, is identified with the sub-department of Té- Ku, department Ai-nan, Shan-tung. There is a tradition that i, at an early period of his life, was lord of a state in the present Ho-nan. This would make his movement against Thai Khang, ‘south of the Ho,’ more easy for him. The name of Thai Khang remains in the district so called of the department AAin-Adu, Ho-nan. There, it is said, he died, having never been able to recross the Ho. In his song the king’s first brother deplores how he had lost the affections of the people; the second speaks of his dissolute extravagance ; the third mourns his loss of the throne; the fourth deplores his departure from the principles of Yu, and its disastrous consequences; and the fifth is a wail over the miserable condition of them all. 1. Thai Khang occupied the throne like a personator of the dead‘. By idleness and dissipation he extinguished his virtue, till the black-haired people all wavered in their allegiance. He, however, pursued his pleasure and wanderings without any ' The character that here as a verb governs the character signifying ‘throne’ means properly ‘a corpse,’ and is often used for the personator of the dead, in the sacrificial services to the dead which formed a large part of the religious ceremonies of the ancient Chinese. A common definition of it is ‘the semblance of the spirit, =the image into which the spirit entered. Th4i Khang was but a personator on the throne, no better than a sham sovereign. BOOK III. THE SONGS OF THE FIVE SONS. 79
3A common definition of it is ‘the semblance of the spirit, =the image into which the spirit entered. Th4i Khang was but a personator on the throne, no better than a sham sovereign. BOOK III. THE SONGS OF THE FIVE SONS. 79 self-restraint. He went out to hunt beyond the Lo, and a hundred days elapsed without his returning. (On this) f, the prince of A/iung, taking advantage of the discontent of the people, resisted (his return) on (the south of) the Ho. The (king’s) five brothers had attended their mother in following him, and were waiting for him on the north of the Lo; and (when they heard of f’s movement), all full of dissatisfaction, they related the Cautions of the great Yii in the form of songs. 2. The first said, ‘It was the lesson of our great ancestor :— The people should be cherished, And not looked down upon. The people are the root of a country ; The root firm, the country is tranquil. When I look at all under heaven, Of the simple men and simple women, Any one may surpass me. If the One man err repeatedly', Should dissatisfaction be waited for till it appears ? Before it is seen, it should be guarded against. In my dealing with the millions of the people, I should feel as much anxiety as if I were driving six horses with rotten reins, The ruler of men— How should he be but reverent (of his duties) ?’ The second said, ‘It is in the Lessons :-— When the palace is a wild of lust, And the country is a wild for hunting ; 1 Any king, in the person of Yu, may be understood to be the speaker. 80 THE SHO KING. PART III, When spirits are liked, and music is the delight ; When there are lofty roofs and carved walls ;— The existence of any one of these things Has never been but the prelude to ruin.’ The third said, ‘ There was the lord of Thao and Thang?, Who possessed this region of Kt. Now we have fallen from his ways, And thrown into confusion his rules and laws ;— The consequence is extinction and ruin.’ The fourth said, Brightly intelligent was our ancestor, Sovereign of the myriad regions. He had canons, he had patterns, Which he transmitted to his posterity. The standard stone and the equalizing quarter. Were in the royal treasury. Wildly have we dropt the clue he gave us, Overturning our temple, and extinguishing our sacrifices.’ * The fifth said, ‘Oh! whither shall we turn? The thoughts in my breast make me sad. All the people are hostile to us ; On whom can we rely ? . Anxieties crowd together in our hearts ; Thick as are our faces, they are covered with blushes. We have not been careful of our virtue ; And though we repent, we cannot overtake the past.’ 1 The lord of Théo and Thang is Y4o, who was lord of the principalities of Thao and Thang, but of which first and which last is uncertain, before his accession to the throne. 7 is the At au of the Tribute of Yi. BOOK Iv. THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION OF YIN. 81 Book IV. Tue Punitive Expepition or YIN.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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