Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1His living concealed among the rude people of the country, and then crossing to the north of the Ho, was owing probably to troubles in the kingdom. 118 THE sH® KING. — PART IV. seas look up to my virtue is owing to you. As his legs and arms form the man, so does a good minister form the sage (king). Formerly, there was the first premier of our dynasty, Pao-hing?, who raised up and formed its royal founder. He said, “If 1 cannot make my sovereign like Y4o or Shun, I shall feel ashamed in my heart, as if I were beaten in the market-place.” If any common man did not get (all he should desire), he said, “It is my fault.” (Thus) he assisted my meritorious ancestor, so that he became equal to great Heavén.* Do you give your intelligent and preserving aid to me, and let not A-hang engross all the good service to the House of Shang. ‘ The sovereign should share his government with none but worthy officers. The worthy officer should accept his support from none but the proper sovereign. May you now succeed in making your sovereign a (true) successor of the founder of his line, and in securing the lasting happiness of the people!’ Yiieh did obeisance with his head to the ground, and said, ‘I wilf venture to respond to, and display abroad, your Majesty’s excellent charge.’ Book IX. Tue Day or THE SUPPLEMENTARY SacRIFICE To KAo 3unc. Kio 3une was the title given to Wa-ting, after his death, in the ancestral temple. A supplementary sacrifice was offered on the day following the regular and more solemn service. What special idea was connected with it, it would be difficult to say ; ‘ Styled A-hing in the beginning of ‘the Théi-4ia.’ Pao-hing= ‘the Protector and Steelyard.’ BOOK Ix. SACRIFICE TO KAO 3UNG. 119 but at the close of it, the representatives or personators of the dead in the sacrifice of the preceding day were all feasted. The title of this short Book leaves it uncertain whether the sacrifice was offered to Wf-ting or by him. The prefatory notice proceeds on the former view. Many critics of great intelligence decide for the latter, which a renewed consideration of the text has induced me to adopt. The king then is 30-king, WA-ting’s son. Something irregular or excessive in his sacrificing to his father was the thing which his monitor 34 A? wished to censure, taking occasion to do so from the incident mentioned in the first sentence.
2The king then is 30-king, WA-ting’s son. Something irregular or excessive in his sacrificing to his father was the thing which his monitor 34 A? wished to censure, taking occasion to do so from the incident mentioned in the first sentence. On the day of the supplementary sacrifice of K4o 3ung, there appeared a crowing pheasant}, 30 At said,‘To rectify this affair, the king must first be corrected.’ He delivered accordingly a lesson to the king, saying, ‘In its inspection of men below, Heaven’s first consideration is of their righteousness, and it bestows on them (accordingly) length of years or the contrary.* It is not Heaven that cuts short men’s lives; they bring them to an end themselves. Some men who have not complied with virtue will yet not acknowledge their offences, and when Heaven has by evident tokens charged them to correct their conduct, they still say, “What are these things to us?” ‘Oh! your Majesty’s business is to care reverently for the people. And all (your ancestors) were the heirs of (the kingdom by the gift of) Heaven ;— in attending to the sacrifices (to them), be not so excessive in those to your father.’ * 1 Sze-ma Khien, after the prefatory notice, says that the pheasant sat on the ear—one of the handles—of a tripod. ¢7° THE SHO KING. PART IV. Book X. Tue CuHieF OF THE WestT’s Conquest oF Lf. Tue reigns of seven more kings of Yin or Shang have passed, and this Book brings us to the time of Xau-hsin or Shau, its last sovereign, B.C. 1154-1123. The House of Xu begins to come to the front, for ‘the Chief of the West’ was one of the acknowledged founders of the Aau dynasty ;—whether Kang, known as king Wan, or his son Fa, known as king WA, is uncertain. Ahang’s father, the duke of Xu in the present department of Fang-hsiang, Shen-hsf, had been appointed Chief of the West, that is, of all the western portion of the kingdom, embracing Yii’s provinces of Yung, Liang, and Xing. The same jurisdiction descended to his son and grandson. The state of Lt, the conquest of which is mentioned, was in the present department of L(-an, Shan-hsf, within the royal domain, so that the Chief of the West was no longer confining himself to the west, but threatening the king himself. 80 f, a loyal officer, hears of the conquest of Lf, and hurries away to inform the king and warn him of the danger threatening the dynasty through his evil conduct. The king gives no heed to his remonstrances, and 3( f retires, sighing over the ruin, which he sees is not to be averted. The Book is classed, it would be hard to tell why, among the ‘ Announcements.’ The Chief of the West having subdued Lt, 30 f was afraid, and hastened to report it to the king.
3The Book is classed, it would be hard to tell why, among the ‘ Announcements.’ The Chief of the West having subdued Lt, 30 f was afraid, and hastened to report it to the king. He said, ‘Son of Heaven, Heaven is bringing to an end the dynasty of Yin;* the wisest men and the shell of the great tortoise do not presume to know anything fortunate for it.* It is not that the former kings do not aid us, the men of this later time; * but by your dissoluteness and sport you are bringing on the end yourself. On this account Heaven has cast us off, and there are no good harvests to supply us with food.* Men have no regard to their BOOK XI. THE COUNT OF WEI. 12! heavenly nature, and pay no obedience to the statutes (of the kingdom). (Yea), our people now all wish (the dynasty) to perish, saying, “Why does not Heaven send down its indignation? Why does not (some one with) its great appointment make his appearance? What has the present king to do with us ?”’ The king said, ‘Oh! was not my birth in accordance with the appointment of Heaven (in favour of my House)?’ (On this) 30 { returned (to his own city), and said, ‘ Your crimes, which are many, are registered above, and can you still appeal to the appointment of Heaven in your favour ?* Yin will perish very shortly. As to all your deeds, can they but bring ruin on your country?’ Book XI. Tue Count or WE1. Tue conversation recorded here—called, like the last Book, and with as little reason, an ‘Announcement’—is referred to B.c. 1123, the year in which the dynasty of Shang perished. Wei was a principality in the royal domain, corresponding to the present district of LQ-44%ng, department Lf-an, Shan-hsf, the lords of which were counts. The count who appears here was, most probably, an elder brother of the king, and by the same mother, who was, however, only a concubine when the count was born, but raised to be queen before the birth of Kau-hsin. Saddened with the thought of the impending ruin of the dynasty, the count seeks the counsel of two other high nobles, and asks them to tell him what was to be done. One of them replies to him in still stronger language about the condition and prospects of the kingdom, and concludes by advising the count to make his escape, and declaring that he himself would remain at his post, and share in the unavoidable ruin, 122 THE sHO KING. PART IV.
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.
1His living concealed among the rude people of the country, and then crossing to the north of the Ho, was owing probably to troubles in the kingdom. 118 THE sH® KING. — PART IV. seas look up to my virtue is owing to you. As his legs and arms form the man, so does a good minister form the sage (king). Formerly, there was the first premier of our dynasty, Pao-hing?, who raised up and formed its royal founder. He said, “If 1 cannot make my sovereign like Y4o or Shun, I shall feel ashamed in my heart, as if I were beaten in the market-place.” If any common man did not get (all he should desire), he said, “It is my fault.” (Thus) he assisted my meritorious ancestor, so that he became equal to great Heavén.* Do you give your intelligent and preserving aid to me, and let not A-hang engross all the good service to the House of Shang. ‘ The sovereign should share his government with none but worthy officers. The worthy officer should accept his support from none but the proper sovereign. May you now succeed in making your sovereign a (true) successor of the founder of his line, and in securing the lasting happiness of the people!’ Yiieh did obeisance with his head to the ground, and said, ‘I wilf venture to respond to, and display abroad, your Majesty’s excellent charge.’ Book IX. Tue Day or THE SUPPLEMENTARY SacRIFICE To KAo 3unc. Kio 3une was the title given to Wa-ting, after his death, in the ancestral temple. A supplementary sacrifice was offered on the day following the regular and more solemn service. What special idea was connected with it, it would be difficult to say ; ‘ Styled A-hing in the beginning of ‘the Théi-4ia.’ Pao-hing= ‘the Protector and Steelyard.’ BOOK Ix. SACRIFICE TO KAO 3UNG. 119 but at the close of it, the representatives or personators of the dead in the sacrifice of the preceding day were all feasted. The title of this short Book leaves it uncertain whether the sacrifice was offered to Wf-ting or by him. The prefatory notice proceeds on the former view. Many critics of great intelligence decide for the latter, which a renewed consideration of the text has induced me to adopt. The king then is 30-king, WA-ting’s son. Something irregular or excessive in his sacrificing to his father was the thing which his monitor 34 A? wished to censure, taking occasion to do so from the incident mentioned in the first sentence.
2The king then is 30-king, WA-ting’s son. Something irregular or excessive in his sacrificing to his father was the thing which his monitor 34 A? wished to censure, taking occasion to do so from the incident mentioned in the first sentence. On the day of the supplementary sacrifice of K4o 3ung, there appeared a crowing pheasant}, 30 At said,‘To rectify this affair, the king must first be corrected.’ He delivered accordingly a lesson to the king, saying, ‘In its inspection of men below, Heaven’s first consideration is of their righteousness, and it bestows on them (accordingly) length of years or the contrary.* It is not Heaven that cuts short men’s lives; they bring them to an end themselves. Some men who have not complied with virtue will yet not acknowledge their offences, and when Heaven has by evident tokens charged them to correct their conduct, they still say, “What are these things to us?” ‘Oh! your Majesty’s business is to care reverently for the people. And all (your ancestors) were the heirs of (the kingdom by the gift of) Heaven ;— in attending to the sacrifices (to them), be not so excessive in those to your father.’ * 1 Sze-ma Khien, after the prefatory notice, says that the pheasant sat on the ear—one of the handles—of a tripod. ¢7° THE SHO KING. PART IV. Book X. Tue CuHieF OF THE WestT’s Conquest oF Lf. Tue reigns of seven more kings of Yin or Shang have passed, and this Book brings us to the time of Xau-hsin or Shau, its last sovereign, B.C. 1154-1123. The House of Xu begins to come to the front, for ‘the Chief of the West’ was one of the acknowledged founders of the Aau dynasty ;—whether Kang, known as king Wan, or his son Fa, known as king WA, is uncertain. Ahang’s father, the duke of Xu in the present department of Fang-hsiang, Shen-hsf, had been appointed Chief of the West, that is, of all the western portion of the kingdom, embracing Yii’s provinces of Yung, Liang, and Xing. The same jurisdiction descended to his son and grandson. The state of Lt, the conquest of which is mentioned, was in the present department of L(-an, Shan-hsf, within the royal domain, so that the Chief of the West was no longer confining himself to the west, but threatening the king himself. 80 f, a loyal officer, hears of the conquest of Lf, and hurries away to inform the king and warn him of the danger threatening the dynasty through his evil conduct. The king gives no heed to his remonstrances, and 3( f retires, sighing over the ruin, which he sees is not to be averted. The Book is classed, it would be hard to tell why, among the ‘ Announcements.’ The Chief of the West having subdued Lt, 30 f was afraid, and hastened to report it to the king.
3The Book is classed, it would be hard to tell why, among the ‘ Announcements.’ The Chief of the West having subdued Lt, 30 f was afraid, and hastened to report it to the king. He said, ‘Son of Heaven, Heaven is bringing to an end the dynasty of Yin;* the wisest men and the shell of the great tortoise do not presume to know anything fortunate for it.* It is not that the former kings do not aid us, the men of this later time; * but by your dissoluteness and sport you are bringing on the end yourself. On this account Heaven has cast us off, and there are no good harvests to supply us with food.* Men have no regard to their BOOK XI. THE COUNT OF WEI. 12! heavenly nature, and pay no obedience to the statutes (of the kingdom). (Yea), our people now all wish (the dynasty) to perish, saying, “Why does not Heaven send down its indignation? Why does not (some one with) its great appointment make his appearance? What has the present king to do with us ?”’ The king said, ‘Oh! was not my birth in accordance with the appointment of Heaven (in favour of my House)?’ (On this) 30 { returned (to his own city), and said, ‘ Your crimes, which are many, are registered above, and can you still appeal to the appointment of Heaven in your favour ?* Yin will perish very shortly. As to all your deeds, can they but bring ruin on your country?’ Book XI. Tue Count or WE1. Tue conversation recorded here—called, like the last Book, and with as little reason, an ‘Announcement’—is referred to B.c. 1123, the year in which the dynasty of Shang perished. Wei was a principality in the royal domain, corresponding to the present district of LQ-44%ng, department Lf-an, Shan-hsf, the lords of which were counts. The count who appears here was, most probably, an elder brother of the king, and by the same mother, who was, however, only a concubine when the count was born, but raised to be queen before the birth of Kau-hsin. Saddened with the thought of the impending ruin of the dynasty, the count seeks the counsel of two other high nobles, and asks them to tell him what was to be done. One of them replies to him in still stronger language about the condition and prospects of the kingdom, and concludes by advising the count to make his escape, and declaring that he himself would remain at his post, and share in the unavoidable ruin, 122 THE sHO KING. PART IV.
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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