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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1With every month it continues to grow, So that the people have no repose. I am as if intoxicated with the grief of my heart. Who holds the ordering of the kingdom? He attends not himself to the government, And the result is toil and pain to the people. I yoke my four steeds, My four steeds, longnecked. I look to the four quarters (of the kingdom); Distress is everywhere; there is no place I can drive to. Now your evil is rampant *, And I can see your spears. Anon you are pacified and friendly as if you were pledging one another. From great Heaven is the injustice, And our king has no repose. (Yet) he will not correct his heart, And goes on to resent endeavours to rectify him. I, Kia-ft, have made this poem, To lay bare the king’s disorders. If you would but change your heart, Then would the myriad regions be nourished, 1 In this stanza, as in the next and the last but one, the writer complains of Heaven, and charges it foolishly. He does so by way of appeal, however, and indicates the true causes of the misery of the kingdom,—the reckless conduct, namely, of the king and his minister. ; 3 The parties spoken of here are the followers of the minister, ‘mean men,’ however high in place and great in power, now friendly, now hostile to one another. {r] Aa 354 THE SHIH KING. DECADE Iv. OvpE 8, Stanzas 4, 5, anD 7. Tue AANG YUEH. THE XANG YUEH IS, LIKE THE PRECEDING ODE, A LAMENTATION QVER THE MISERIES OF THE KINGDOM, AND THE RUIN COMING ON IT; WITH A SIMILAR, BUT MORE HOPEFULLY EXPRESSED, APPEAL TO HEAVEN, ‘THE GREAT GOD.’ Look into the middle of the forest; There are (only) large faggots and small branches in it’. The people now amidst their perils Look to Heaven, all dark; But let its determination be fixed, And there is no one whom it will not overcome. There is the great God,—Does he hate any one ? If one say of a hill that it is low, There are its ridges and its large masses. The false calumnies of the people,—How is it that you do not repress them?? You call those experienced ancients, You consult the diviner of dreams. They all say, ‘We are very wise, But who can distinguish the male and female crow*?’ Look at the rugged and stony field ;—Luxuriantly rises in it the springing grain. (But) Heaven moves and shakes me, As if it could not overcome me‘. 1 By introducing the word ‘only,’ I have followed the view of the older interpreters, who consider the forest, with merely some faggots and twigs left in it, to be emblematic of the ravages of oppressive government in the court and kingdom. Af Hsf takes a different view of them:—‘In a forest you can easily distinguish the large faggots from the small branches, while Heaven appears unable to distinguish between the good and bad.’ * The calumnies that were abroad were as absurd as the assertion in line 1, and yet the king could not, or would not, see through them and repress them. * This reference to the diviners of dreams is in derision of their pretensions.
2* This reference to the diviners of dreams is in derision of their pretensions. ‘ That is, the productive energy of nature manifests itself in the most unlikely places ; how was it that ‘the great God, who hates no one,’ was contending so with the writer? _ _ _( l_"U_tC ee hh Pee ODE 9g. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 355 They sought me (at first) to be a pattern (to them), (Eagerly) as if they could not get me; (Now) they regard me with great animosity, And will not use my strength. Ove 9. Tue Suin y0enw xiH ATAo. THE LAMENTATION OF AN OFFICER OVER THE PRODIGIES CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL, ESPECIALLY AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, THAT WERE BETOKENING THE RUIN OF XAU. HE SETS FORTH WHAT HE CONSIDERED TO BE THE TRUE CAUSES OF THE PREVAILING MISERY, WHICH WAS BY NO MEANS TO BE CHARGED ON HEAVEN. Attention is called in the Introduction, p. 296, to the date of the solar eclipse mentioned in this piece. At the conjunction (of the sun and moon) in the tenth month, On the first day of the moon, which was hsin-m4o, The sun was eclipsed, A thing of very evil omen. Before, the moon became small, And now the sun became small. Henceforth the lower people Will be in a very deplorable case. The sun and moon announce evil, Not keeping to their proper paths. Throughout the kingdom there is no (proper) government, Because the good are not employed. For the moon to be eclipsed Is but an ordinary matter. Now that the sun has been eclipsed, — How bad it is! Grandly flashes the lightning of the thunder. There is a want of rest, a want of good. The streams all bubble up and overflow. The crags on the hill-tops fall down. High banks become valleys; Deep valleys become hills. Alas for the men of this time! How does (the king) not stop these things ? . Hwang-f is the President; Fan is the Minister Aa2 356 THE SHIH KING. DECADE IV. of Instruction; ’id-po is the (chief) Administrator; Kung-yiin is the chief Cook; 34u is the Recorder of the Interior; Khwei is Master of the Horse; Yii is Captain of the Guards; And the beautiful wife blazes, now in possession of her place '. This Hwang-ff Will not acknowledge that he is acting out of season. But why does he call us to move, Without coming and consulting with us ? He has removed our walls and roofs; And our fields are all either a marsh or a moor. He says, ‘I am not injuring you; The laws require that thus it should be.’ Hwang-fa is very wise; He has built a great city for himself in Hsiang. He chose three men as his ministers, All of them possessed of great wealth. He could not bring himself to leave a single minister, Who might guard our king. He (also) selected those who had chariots and horses, To go and reside in Hsiang?
3He chose three men as his ministers, All of them possessed of great wealth. He could not bring himself to leave a single minister, Who might guard our king. He (also) selected those who had chariots and horses, To go and reside in Hsiang? 1 We do not know anything from history of the ministers of YO mentioned.in this stanza. Hwang-fd appears to have been the leading minister of the government at the time when the ode was written, and, as appears from the next two stanzas, was very crafty, oppressive, and selfishly ambitious. The mention of ‘the chief Cook’ among the high ministers appears strange; but we shall find that functionary mentioned in another ode ; and from history it appears that ‘the Cook,’ at the royal and feudal courts, sometimes played an important part during the times of Kau. ‘The beautiful wife,’ no doubt, was the well-known Sze of PAo, raised by king YO from her position as one of his concubines to be his queen, and whose insane folly and ambition led to her husband’s death, and great and disastrous changes in the kingdom. * Hsiang was a district of the royal domain, in the present district of Mang, department of Hw4i-shing, Ho-nan. It had been assigned to Hwang-fQ, and he was establishing himself there, without any loyal regard to the king. As a noble in the royal domain, ODE ro. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 357 I have exerted myself to discharge my service, And do not dare to make a report of my toils. Without crime or offence of any kind, Slanderous mouths are loud against me. (But) the calamities of the lower people Do not come down from Heaven. A multitude of (fair) words, and hatred behind the back ;—The earnest, strong pursuit of this is from men. Distant far is my village, And my dissatisfaction is great. In other quarters there is ease, And I dwell here, alone and sorrowful. Everybody is going into retirement, And I alone dare not seek rest. The ordinances of Heaven are inexplicable, But I will not dare to follow my friends, and leave my post. Ope 10, Stanzas 1 aND 3. Tue YU wh XAna. THE WRITER OF THIS PIECE MOURNS OVER THE MISERABLE STATE OF THE KINGDOM, THE INCORRIGIBLE COURSE OF THE KING, AND OTHER EVILS, APPEALING ALSO TO HEAVEN, AND SURPRISED THAT IT ALLOWED SUCH THINGS TO BE. Great and wide Heaven, How is it you have contracted your kindness, Sending down death and famine, Destroying all through the kingdom? Compassionate Heaven, arrayed in terrors, How is it you exercise no forethought, no care? Let alone the criminals :— They have suffered for their guilt, But those who have no crime Are indiscriminately involved in ruin. he was entitled only to two ministers, but he had appointed three as in one of the feudal states, encouraging, moreover, the resort to himself of the wealthy and powerful, while the court was left weak and unprotected, 358 THE SHIH KING. DECADE V.
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.
1With every month it continues to grow, So that the people have no repose. I am as if intoxicated with the grief of my heart. Who holds the ordering of the kingdom? He attends not himself to the government, And the result is toil and pain to the people. I yoke my four steeds, My four steeds, longnecked. I look to the four quarters (of the kingdom); Distress is everywhere; there is no place I can drive to. Now your evil is rampant *, And I can see your spears. Anon you are pacified and friendly as if you were pledging one another. From great Heaven is the injustice, And our king has no repose. (Yet) he will not correct his heart, And goes on to resent endeavours to rectify him. I, Kia-ft, have made this poem, To lay bare the king’s disorders. If you would but change your heart, Then would the myriad regions be nourished, 1 In this stanza, as in the next and the last but one, the writer complains of Heaven, and charges it foolishly. He does so by way of appeal, however, and indicates the true causes of the misery of the kingdom,—the reckless conduct, namely, of the king and his minister. ; 3 The parties spoken of here are the followers of the minister, ‘mean men,’ however high in place and great in power, now friendly, now hostile to one another. {r] Aa 354 THE SHIH KING. DECADE Iv. OvpE 8, Stanzas 4, 5, anD 7. Tue AANG YUEH. THE XANG YUEH IS, LIKE THE PRECEDING ODE, A LAMENTATION QVER THE MISERIES OF THE KINGDOM, AND THE RUIN COMING ON IT; WITH A SIMILAR, BUT MORE HOPEFULLY EXPRESSED, APPEAL TO HEAVEN, ‘THE GREAT GOD.’ Look into the middle of the forest; There are (only) large faggots and small branches in it’. The people now amidst their perils Look to Heaven, all dark; But let its determination be fixed, And there is no one whom it will not overcome. There is the great God,—Does he hate any one ? If one say of a hill that it is low, There are its ridges and its large masses. The false calumnies of the people,—How is it that you do not repress them?? You call those experienced ancients, You consult the diviner of dreams. They all say, ‘We are very wise, But who can distinguish the male and female crow*?’ Look at the rugged and stony field ;—Luxuriantly rises in it the springing grain. (But) Heaven moves and shakes me, As if it could not overcome me‘. 1 By introducing the word ‘only,’ I have followed the view of the older interpreters, who consider the forest, with merely some faggots and twigs left in it, to be emblematic of the ravages of oppressive government in the court and kingdom. Af Hsf takes a different view of them:—‘In a forest you can easily distinguish the large faggots from the small branches, while Heaven appears unable to distinguish between the good and bad.’ * The calumnies that were abroad were as absurd as the assertion in line 1, and yet the king could not, or would not, see through them and repress them. * This reference to the diviners of dreams is in derision of their pretensions.
2* This reference to the diviners of dreams is in derision of their pretensions. ‘ That is, the productive energy of nature manifests itself in the most unlikely places ; how was it that ‘the great God, who hates no one,’ was contending so with the writer? _ _ _( l_"U_tC ee hh Pee ODE 9g. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 355 They sought me (at first) to be a pattern (to them), (Eagerly) as if they could not get me; (Now) they regard me with great animosity, And will not use my strength. Ove 9. Tue Suin y0enw xiH ATAo. THE LAMENTATION OF AN OFFICER OVER THE PRODIGIES CELESTIAL AND TERRESTRIAL, ESPECIALLY AN ECLIPSE OF THE SUN, THAT WERE BETOKENING THE RUIN OF XAU. HE SETS FORTH WHAT HE CONSIDERED TO BE THE TRUE CAUSES OF THE PREVAILING MISERY, WHICH WAS BY NO MEANS TO BE CHARGED ON HEAVEN. Attention is called in the Introduction, p. 296, to the date of the solar eclipse mentioned in this piece. At the conjunction (of the sun and moon) in the tenth month, On the first day of the moon, which was hsin-m4o, The sun was eclipsed, A thing of very evil omen. Before, the moon became small, And now the sun became small. Henceforth the lower people Will be in a very deplorable case. The sun and moon announce evil, Not keeping to their proper paths. Throughout the kingdom there is no (proper) government, Because the good are not employed. For the moon to be eclipsed Is but an ordinary matter. Now that the sun has been eclipsed, — How bad it is! Grandly flashes the lightning of the thunder. There is a want of rest, a want of good. The streams all bubble up and overflow. The crags on the hill-tops fall down. High banks become valleys; Deep valleys become hills. Alas for the men of this time! How does (the king) not stop these things ? . Hwang-f is the President; Fan is the Minister Aa2 356 THE SHIH KING. DECADE IV. of Instruction; ’id-po is the (chief) Administrator; Kung-yiin is the chief Cook; 34u is the Recorder of the Interior; Khwei is Master of the Horse; Yii is Captain of the Guards; And the beautiful wife blazes, now in possession of her place '. This Hwang-ff Will not acknowledge that he is acting out of season. But why does he call us to move, Without coming and consulting with us ? He has removed our walls and roofs; And our fields are all either a marsh or a moor. He says, ‘I am not injuring you; The laws require that thus it should be.’ Hwang-fa is very wise; He has built a great city for himself in Hsiang. He chose three men as his ministers, All of them possessed of great wealth. He could not bring himself to leave a single minister, Who might guard our king. He (also) selected those who had chariots and horses, To go and reside in Hsiang?
3He chose three men as his ministers, All of them possessed of great wealth. He could not bring himself to leave a single minister, Who might guard our king. He (also) selected those who had chariots and horses, To go and reside in Hsiang? 1 We do not know anything from history of the ministers of YO mentioned.in this stanza. Hwang-fd appears to have been the leading minister of the government at the time when the ode was written, and, as appears from the next two stanzas, was very crafty, oppressive, and selfishly ambitious. The mention of ‘the chief Cook’ among the high ministers appears strange; but we shall find that functionary mentioned in another ode ; and from history it appears that ‘the Cook,’ at the royal and feudal courts, sometimes played an important part during the times of Kau. ‘The beautiful wife,’ no doubt, was the well-known Sze of PAo, raised by king YO from her position as one of his concubines to be his queen, and whose insane folly and ambition led to her husband’s death, and great and disastrous changes in the kingdom. * Hsiang was a district of the royal domain, in the present district of Mang, department of Hw4i-shing, Ho-nan. It had been assigned to Hwang-fQ, and he was establishing himself there, without any loyal regard to the king. As a noble in the royal domain, ODE ro. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 357 I have exerted myself to discharge my service, And do not dare to make a report of my toils. Without crime or offence of any kind, Slanderous mouths are loud against me. (But) the calamities of the lower people Do not come down from Heaven. A multitude of (fair) words, and hatred behind the back ;—The earnest, strong pursuit of this is from men. Distant far is my village, And my dissatisfaction is great. In other quarters there is ease, And I dwell here, alone and sorrowful. Everybody is going into retirement, And I alone dare not seek rest. The ordinances of Heaven are inexplicable, But I will not dare to follow my friends, and leave my post. Ope 10, Stanzas 1 aND 3. Tue YU wh XAna. THE WRITER OF THIS PIECE MOURNS OVER THE MISERABLE STATE OF THE KINGDOM, THE INCORRIGIBLE COURSE OF THE KING, AND OTHER EVILS, APPEALING ALSO TO HEAVEN, AND SURPRISED THAT IT ALLOWED SUCH THINGS TO BE. Great and wide Heaven, How is it you have contracted your kindness, Sending down death and famine, Destroying all through the kingdom? Compassionate Heaven, arrayed in terrors, How is it you exercise no forethought, no care? Let alone the criminals :— They have suffered for their guilt, But those who have no crime Are indiscriminately involved in ruin. he was entitled only to two ministers, but he had appointed three as in one of the feudal states, encouraging, moreover, the resort to himself of the wealthy and powerful, while the court was left weak and unprotected, 358 THE SHIH KING. DECADE V.
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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