Fetching
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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
11. When the king returned from vanquishing Hsia and came to Po, he made a grand announcement to the myriad regions. 2. The king said, ‘Ah! ye multitudes of the myriad regions, listen clearly to the announcement of me, the One man!. The great God has conferred 1 «The One man’ has occurred before, in the Songs of the Five Sons, as a designation of the sovereign. It continues to be so to the present day. 90 THE SHO KING. PART IV. (even) on the inferior people a moral sense, compliance with which would show their nature invariably right.* To make them tranquilly pursue the course which it would indicate is the work of the sovereign. ‘The king of Hsia extinguished his virtue, and played the tyrant, extending his oppression over you, the people of the myriad regions. Suffering from his cruel injuries, and unable to endure the wormwood and poison, you protested with one accord your innocence to the spirits of heaven and earth.* The way of Heaven is to bless the good, and make the bad miserable. It sent down calamities on (the House of) Hsia, to make manifest its guilt. Therefore I, the little child, charged with the decree of Heaven and its bright terrors, did not dare to forgive (the criminal). I presumed to use a dark-coloured victimbull, and, making clear announcement to the Spiritual Sovereign in the high heavens?, requested leave to deal with the ruler of Hsia as a criminal.* Then I sought for the great Sage *, with whom I might unite my strength, to request the favour (of Heaven) for you, my multitudes. High Heaven truly showed its favour to the inferior people, and the criminal has been degraded and subjected. What Heaven appoints is without error ;—brilliantly (now), like the blossoming of plants and trees, the millions of the people show a true reviving.’ * 3. ‘It is given to me, the One man, to secure the ’ For ‘the Spiritual Sovereign in the high heavens,’ we have in the Confucian Analects, XX, 1, professing to quote this passage, ‘the most great and Sovereign God.’ 2 <The great Sage’ must be f Yin, Thang’s chief adviser and minister, who appears prominently in the next Book. BOOK III. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THANG. gI
2BOOK III. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THANG. gI harmony and tranquillity of your states and clans ; and now I know not whether I may not offend against (the Powers) above and below.* I am fearful and trembling, as if I were in danger of falling into a deep abyss. Throughout all the regions that enter on a new life under me, do not, (ye princes), follow lawless ways ; make no approach to insolence and dissoluteness ; let every one be careful to keep his statutes ;—that so we may receive the favour of Heaven.* The good in you I will not dare to keep concealed; and for the evil in me I will not dare to forgive myself. I will examine these things in harmony with the mind of God.* When guilt is found anywhere in you who occupy the myriad regions, let it rest on me, the One man’. When guilt is found in me, the One man, it shall not attach to you who occupy the myriad regions. ‘Oh! let us attain to be sincere in these things, and so we shall likewise have a (happy) consummation.’ 1 There was a tradition in the Xau dynasty, given with variations by Hsiin-3ze, Sze-m4 A‘Aien, and others, which may be quoted to illustrate these noble sentiments of Thang. For seven years after his accession to the throne, B. c. 1766-1760, there was a great drought and famine. It was suggested at last that some human being should be offered in sacrifice to Heaven, and prayer made for rain. Thang said, ‘Ifa man must be the victim, I will be he.’ He fasted, cut off his hair and nails, and in a plain carriage, drawn by white horses, clad in rushes, in the guise of a sacrificial victim, he proceeded to a forest of mulberry trees, and there prayed, asking to what error or crime of his the calamity was owing. He had not done speaking when a copious rain fell. 92 THE SHO KING. PART IV. Boox IV. Tue Instructions or f.
3He had not done speaking when a copious rain fell. 92 THE SHO KING. PART IV. Boox IV. Tue Instructions or f. Tuane died in B.c. 1754 or 1753, and was succeeded, so far as the evidence of the ShQ goes, by his grandson, known as Thai Xia. The chief minister of Thang had been f Yin, who delivers these Instructions to his young sovereign soon after his accession. ft was a great and wise man, ‘a great sage,’ as Thang calls him in the last Book, and is classed by Mencius among other celebrated ministers as ‘the one most inclined to take office.’ He reasons thus :—‘ Heaven’s plan with mankind is that they who are first informed should instruct those who are later in being informed, and they who first apprehend principles should instruct those who are later in doing so.’ He thought he was one of the former class, and a fire burned within him, impelling him to seek for office with a view to benefit the ignorant and erring. There were many legends about him in the times of Kau. He was surnamed f, from having been born near the river of that name, an affluent of the Ho. His name is said to pave been Xih, and also A-hing (see the beginning of next Book). Yin was his designation. Thang had, probably, entrusted to him the guardianship of his grandson, and so he now went over the history of the kingdom from Yi, till it was transferred from the line of Hsia to that of Shang, celebrated the virtues of Thang and his government, and warned the young king of the fate that he must incur, if he neglected the instructions given to him. 1. In the twelfth month of the first year, on (the day) Yt-244u, { Yin sacrificed to the former king, and presented the heir-king reverently before (the shrine of) his grandfather.* All the princes from the domain of the nobles and the royal domain were present; all the officers (also), each continuing to discharge his particular duties, were there to receive the orders of the chief minister. { Yin then clearly described the complete virtue of the Meritorious Ancestor for the instruction of the (young) king. BOOK IV. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF f. 93
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.
11. When the king returned from vanquishing Hsia and came to Po, he made a grand announcement to the myriad regions. 2. The king said, ‘Ah! ye multitudes of the myriad regions, listen clearly to the announcement of me, the One man!. The great God has conferred 1 «The One man’ has occurred before, in the Songs of the Five Sons, as a designation of the sovereign. It continues to be so to the present day. 90 THE SHO KING. PART IV. (even) on the inferior people a moral sense, compliance with which would show their nature invariably right.* To make them tranquilly pursue the course which it would indicate is the work of the sovereign. ‘The king of Hsia extinguished his virtue, and played the tyrant, extending his oppression over you, the people of the myriad regions. Suffering from his cruel injuries, and unable to endure the wormwood and poison, you protested with one accord your innocence to the spirits of heaven and earth.* The way of Heaven is to bless the good, and make the bad miserable. It sent down calamities on (the House of) Hsia, to make manifest its guilt. Therefore I, the little child, charged with the decree of Heaven and its bright terrors, did not dare to forgive (the criminal). I presumed to use a dark-coloured victimbull, and, making clear announcement to the Spiritual Sovereign in the high heavens?, requested leave to deal with the ruler of Hsia as a criminal.* Then I sought for the great Sage *, with whom I might unite my strength, to request the favour (of Heaven) for you, my multitudes. High Heaven truly showed its favour to the inferior people, and the criminal has been degraded and subjected. What Heaven appoints is without error ;—brilliantly (now), like the blossoming of plants and trees, the millions of the people show a true reviving.’ * 3. ‘It is given to me, the One man, to secure the ’ For ‘the Spiritual Sovereign in the high heavens,’ we have in the Confucian Analects, XX, 1, professing to quote this passage, ‘the most great and Sovereign God.’ 2 <The great Sage’ must be f Yin, Thang’s chief adviser and minister, who appears prominently in the next Book. BOOK III. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THANG. gI
2BOOK III. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THANG. gI harmony and tranquillity of your states and clans ; and now I know not whether I may not offend against (the Powers) above and below.* I am fearful and trembling, as if I were in danger of falling into a deep abyss. Throughout all the regions that enter on a new life under me, do not, (ye princes), follow lawless ways ; make no approach to insolence and dissoluteness ; let every one be careful to keep his statutes ;—that so we may receive the favour of Heaven.* The good in you I will not dare to keep concealed; and for the evil in me I will not dare to forgive myself. I will examine these things in harmony with the mind of God.* When guilt is found anywhere in you who occupy the myriad regions, let it rest on me, the One man’. When guilt is found in me, the One man, it shall not attach to you who occupy the myriad regions. ‘Oh! let us attain to be sincere in these things, and so we shall likewise have a (happy) consummation.’ 1 There was a tradition in the Xau dynasty, given with variations by Hsiin-3ze, Sze-m4 A‘Aien, and others, which may be quoted to illustrate these noble sentiments of Thang. For seven years after his accession to the throne, B. c. 1766-1760, there was a great drought and famine. It was suggested at last that some human being should be offered in sacrifice to Heaven, and prayer made for rain. Thang said, ‘Ifa man must be the victim, I will be he.’ He fasted, cut off his hair and nails, and in a plain carriage, drawn by white horses, clad in rushes, in the guise of a sacrificial victim, he proceeded to a forest of mulberry trees, and there prayed, asking to what error or crime of his the calamity was owing. He had not done speaking when a copious rain fell. 92 THE SHO KING. PART IV. Boox IV. Tue Instructions or f.
3He had not done speaking when a copious rain fell. 92 THE SHO KING. PART IV. Boox IV. Tue Instructions or f. Tuane died in B.c. 1754 or 1753, and was succeeded, so far as the evidence of the ShQ goes, by his grandson, known as Thai Xia. The chief minister of Thang had been f Yin, who delivers these Instructions to his young sovereign soon after his accession. ft was a great and wise man, ‘a great sage,’ as Thang calls him in the last Book, and is classed by Mencius among other celebrated ministers as ‘the one most inclined to take office.’ He reasons thus :—‘ Heaven’s plan with mankind is that they who are first informed should instruct those who are later in being informed, and they who first apprehend principles should instruct those who are later in doing so.’ He thought he was one of the former class, and a fire burned within him, impelling him to seek for office with a view to benefit the ignorant and erring. There were many legends about him in the times of Kau. He was surnamed f, from having been born near the river of that name, an affluent of the Ho. His name is said to pave been Xih, and also A-hing (see the beginning of next Book). Yin was his designation. Thang had, probably, entrusted to him the guardianship of his grandson, and so he now went over the history of the kingdom from Yi, till it was transferred from the line of Hsia to that of Shang, celebrated the virtues of Thang and his government, and warned the young king of the fate that he must incur, if he neglected the instructions given to him. 1. In the twelfth month of the first year, on (the day) Yt-244u, { Yin sacrificed to the former king, and presented the heir-king reverently before (the shrine of) his grandfather.* All the princes from the domain of the nobles and the royal domain were present; all the officers (also), each continuing to discharge his particular duties, were there to receive the orders of the chief minister. { Yin then clearly described the complete virtue of the Meritorious Ancestor for the instruction of the (young) king. BOOK IV. THE INSTRUCTIONS OF f. 93
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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