Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The 1 The officer of prayer had in the first place obtained, or professed to have obtained, this answer of the progenitors from their " personators. 3 The music now announced that the sacrificial service in the temple was ended. * The sacrificer, or principal in the service, now left the place which he had occupied, descended from the hall, and took his position at the foot of the steps on the east,—the place appropriate to him in dismissing his guests. « Where did they retum to? According to Kang Hsian, ‘To heaven,’ 368 THE SHIH KING. DECADE VI. (sacrificer’s) uncles and cousins All repair to the private feast 1. The musicians all go in to perform, And give their soothing aid at the second blessing*. Your? viands are set forth; There is no dissatisfaction, but all feel happy. They drink to the full, and eat to the full; Great and small, they bow their heads, (saying), ‘The spirits enjoyed your spirits and viands, And will cause you to live long. Your sacrifices, all in their seasons, Are completely discharged by you. May your ‘sons and your grandsons Never fail to perpetuate these services!’ Ove 6. Tue Hsin Nan Suan. HUSBANDRY TRACED TO ITS FIRST AUTHOR; DETAILS ABOUT IT, GOING ON TO THE SUBJECT OF SACRIFICES TO ANCESTORS. The Preface refers this piece to the reign of king YQ; but there is nothing in it to suggest the idea of its having been made in a time of disorder and misgovernment. ‘The distant descendant’ in the first stanza is evidently the principal in the sacrifice of the last two stanzas :—according to Af, a noble or great landholder in the royal domain; according to others, some one of the kings of Xau. Tincline myself to this latter view. The three pieces, 1 These uncles and cousins were all present at the sacrifice, and of the same surname as the principal. The feast to them was to show his peculiar affection for his relatives. * The feast was given in the apartment of the temple behind the hall where the sacrifice had been performed, so that the musicians are represented as going in to continue at the feast the music they had discoursed at the sacrifice. ’ The transition to the second person here is a difficulty. We can hardly make the speech, made by some one of the guests on behalf of all the others, commence here. We must come to the conclusion that the ode was written, in compliment to the sacrificer, by one of the relatives who shared in the feast; and so here he addresses him directly. ODE 6. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 369 of which this is the middle one, seem all to be royal odes. The mention of ‘ the southern hill’ strongly confirms this view. Yes, (all about) that southern hill Was made manageable by Yii?. Its plains and marshes being opened up, It was made into fields by the distant descendant. We define their boundaries, We form their smaller divisions, And make the acres _ lie, here to the south, there to the east.
2Yes, (all about) that southern hill Was made manageable by Yii?. Its plains and marshes being opened up, It was made into fields by the distant descendant. We define their boundaries, We form their smaller divisions, And make the acres _ lie, here to the south, there to the east. The heavens overhead are one arch of clouds, Snowing in multitudinous flakes; There is superadded the drizzling rain. When (the land) has received the moistening, Soaking influence abundantly, It produces all our kinds of grain. The boundaries and smaller divisions are nicely adjusted, And the millets yield abundant crops, The harvest of the distant descendant. We proceed to make therewith spirits and food, To supply our representatives of the departed, and our guests;—To obtain long life, extending over myriads of years. In the midst of the fields are the huts?, And 1 There is here a recognition of the work of the great Yd, as the real founder of the kingdom of China, extending the territory of former elective chiefs, and opening up the country. ‘The southern hill’ bounded the prospect to the south from the capital of Xau, and hence the writer makes mention of it. He does not mean to confine the work of Yi to that part of the country ; but, on the other hand, there is nothing in his language to afford a confirmation to the account given in the third Part of the Sha of that hero’s achievements. ? In every Xing, or space of 900 Chinese acres or mAu, assigned to eight families, there were in the centre roo mau of ‘ public fields,’ belonging to the government, and. cultivated by the husbandmen in common. In this space of 100 m4u, two mau and a half were again assigned to each family, and on them were {J Bb 370 THE SHIH KING, DECADE VI. along the bounding divisions are gourds. The fruit is sliced and pickled, To be presented to our great ancestors, That their distant descendant may have long life, And receive the blessing of Heaven}. We sacrifice (first) with clear spirits, And then follow with a red bull; Offering them to our ancestors, ‘(Our lord) holds the knife with tinkling bells, To lay open the hair of the victim, And takes the blood and fat * Then we present, then we offer; All round the fragrance is diffused. Complete and brilliant is the sacrificial service; Grandly come our ancestors. They will reward (their descendant) with great blessing, Long life, years without end, Ope 7%. Tue Put Tuien. PICTURES OF HUSBANDRY, AND SACRIFICES CONNECTED WITH IT. HAPPY UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THEIR SUPERIORS. It is difficult to say who the ‘I’ in the piece is, but evidently he and the ‘distant descendant’ are different persons. I suppose he may have been an officer, who had charge of the farms, as we may call them, in the royal domain, Bright are those extensive fields, A tenth of whose produce is annually levied’, I take the old erected the huts in which they lived, while they were actively engaged in their agricultural labours.
31 Here, as in so many other places, the sovereign Power, ruling in the lots of men, is referred to as Heaven. 2 The fat was taken from the victim, and then burnt along with fragrant herbs, so as to form a cloud of incense. On the taking of the ‘blood,’ it is only said, that it was done to enable the sacrificer to announce that a proper victim had been slain. * This line, literally, is, ‘Yearly are taken ten (and a) thousand ;’ meaning the produce of ten acres in every hundred, and of a thousand in every ten thousand. ODE 7. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 371 stores, And with them feed the husbandmen. From of old we have had good years; And now I go to the south-lying acres, Where some are weeding, and some gather the earth about the roots. The millets look luxuriant; And in a spacious restingplace, I collect and encourage the men of greater promise }, With my vessels full of bright millet, And my pure victim-rams, We sacrificed at the altar of the spirits of the land, and at (the altars of those of the four) quarters *, That my fields are in such good condition Is matter of joy to the husbandmen. With lutes, and with drums beating, We will invoke the Father of Husbandry*, And pray for sweet rain, To increase the produce of our millets, And. to bless my men and their wives, The distant descendant comes, When their wives and children Are bringing food to those (at work) in the south-lying acres, The surveyor of the fields (also) comes and is glad. He takes (of the food) on the left and the right, And tastes whether 1 The general rule was that the sons of husbandmen should continue husbandmen ; but their superior might select those among them in whom he saw promising abilities, and facilitate their advancement to the higher grade of officers. 2 The sacrifices here mentioned were of thanksgiving at the end of the harvest of the preceding year. The one was to ‘sovereign Earth,’ supposed to be the supreme Power in correla: . tion with Heaven, or, possibly, to the spirits supposed to preside over the productive energies of the land; the other to the spirits presiding over the four quarters of the sky, and ruling all atmospherical influences. 8 This was the sacrifice that had been, or was about to be, offered in spring to ‘the Father of Husbandry,’—probably the ancient mythical Tf, Shin Nang. Bb 2 372 THE SHIH KING. DECADE vr. it be good or not. The grain is well cultivated, all the acres over; Good will it be and abundant. The distant descendant has no displacency ; The husbandmen are encouraged to diligence. The crops of the distant descendant Look (thick) as thatch, and (swelling) like a carriage-cover. His stacks will stand like islands and mounds. He will seek for thousands of granaries; He will seek for tens of thousands of carts. The millets, the paddy, and the maize Will awake the joy of the husbandmen; (And they will say), ‘May he be rewarded with great happiness, With myriads of years, life without end!’ Ove 8. Tue TA THIEN.
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.
1The 1 The officer of prayer had in the first place obtained, or professed to have obtained, this answer of the progenitors from their " personators. 3 The music now announced that the sacrificial service in the temple was ended. * The sacrificer, or principal in the service, now left the place which he had occupied, descended from the hall, and took his position at the foot of the steps on the east,—the place appropriate to him in dismissing his guests. « Where did they retum to? According to Kang Hsian, ‘To heaven,’ 368 THE SHIH KING. DECADE VI. (sacrificer’s) uncles and cousins All repair to the private feast 1. The musicians all go in to perform, And give their soothing aid at the second blessing*. Your? viands are set forth; There is no dissatisfaction, but all feel happy. They drink to the full, and eat to the full; Great and small, they bow their heads, (saying), ‘The spirits enjoyed your spirits and viands, And will cause you to live long. Your sacrifices, all in their seasons, Are completely discharged by you. May your ‘sons and your grandsons Never fail to perpetuate these services!’ Ove 6. Tue Hsin Nan Suan. HUSBANDRY TRACED TO ITS FIRST AUTHOR; DETAILS ABOUT IT, GOING ON TO THE SUBJECT OF SACRIFICES TO ANCESTORS. The Preface refers this piece to the reign of king YQ; but there is nothing in it to suggest the idea of its having been made in a time of disorder and misgovernment. ‘The distant descendant’ in the first stanza is evidently the principal in the sacrifice of the last two stanzas :—according to Af, a noble or great landholder in the royal domain; according to others, some one of the kings of Xau. Tincline myself to this latter view. The three pieces, 1 These uncles and cousins were all present at the sacrifice, and of the same surname as the principal. The feast to them was to show his peculiar affection for his relatives. * The feast was given in the apartment of the temple behind the hall where the sacrifice had been performed, so that the musicians are represented as going in to continue at the feast the music they had discoursed at the sacrifice. ’ The transition to the second person here is a difficulty. We can hardly make the speech, made by some one of the guests on behalf of all the others, commence here. We must come to the conclusion that the ode was written, in compliment to the sacrificer, by one of the relatives who shared in the feast; and so here he addresses him directly. ODE 6. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 369 of which this is the middle one, seem all to be royal odes. The mention of ‘ the southern hill’ strongly confirms this view. Yes, (all about) that southern hill Was made manageable by Yii?. Its plains and marshes being opened up, It was made into fields by the distant descendant. We define their boundaries, We form their smaller divisions, And make the acres _ lie, here to the south, there to the east.
2Yes, (all about) that southern hill Was made manageable by Yii?. Its plains and marshes being opened up, It was made into fields by the distant descendant. We define their boundaries, We form their smaller divisions, And make the acres _ lie, here to the south, there to the east. The heavens overhead are one arch of clouds, Snowing in multitudinous flakes; There is superadded the drizzling rain. When (the land) has received the moistening, Soaking influence abundantly, It produces all our kinds of grain. The boundaries and smaller divisions are nicely adjusted, And the millets yield abundant crops, The harvest of the distant descendant. We proceed to make therewith spirits and food, To supply our representatives of the departed, and our guests;—To obtain long life, extending over myriads of years. In the midst of the fields are the huts?, And 1 There is here a recognition of the work of the great Yd, as the real founder of the kingdom of China, extending the territory of former elective chiefs, and opening up the country. ‘The southern hill’ bounded the prospect to the south from the capital of Xau, and hence the writer makes mention of it. He does not mean to confine the work of Yi to that part of the country ; but, on the other hand, there is nothing in his language to afford a confirmation to the account given in the third Part of the Sha of that hero’s achievements. ? In every Xing, or space of 900 Chinese acres or mAu, assigned to eight families, there were in the centre roo mau of ‘ public fields,’ belonging to the government, and. cultivated by the husbandmen in common. In this space of 100 m4u, two mau and a half were again assigned to each family, and on them were {J Bb 370 THE SHIH KING, DECADE VI. along the bounding divisions are gourds. The fruit is sliced and pickled, To be presented to our great ancestors, That their distant descendant may have long life, And receive the blessing of Heaven}. We sacrifice (first) with clear spirits, And then follow with a red bull; Offering them to our ancestors, ‘(Our lord) holds the knife with tinkling bells, To lay open the hair of the victim, And takes the blood and fat * Then we present, then we offer; All round the fragrance is diffused. Complete and brilliant is the sacrificial service; Grandly come our ancestors. They will reward (their descendant) with great blessing, Long life, years without end, Ope 7%. Tue Put Tuien. PICTURES OF HUSBANDRY, AND SACRIFICES CONNECTED WITH IT. HAPPY UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THEIR SUPERIORS. It is difficult to say who the ‘I’ in the piece is, but evidently he and the ‘distant descendant’ are different persons. I suppose he may have been an officer, who had charge of the farms, as we may call them, in the royal domain, Bright are those extensive fields, A tenth of whose produce is annually levied’, I take the old erected the huts in which they lived, while they were actively engaged in their agricultural labours.
31 Here, as in so many other places, the sovereign Power, ruling in the lots of men, is referred to as Heaven. 2 The fat was taken from the victim, and then burnt along with fragrant herbs, so as to form a cloud of incense. On the taking of the ‘blood,’ it is only said, that it was done to enable the sacrificer to announce that a proper victim had been slain. * This line, literally, is, ‘Yearly are taken ten (and a) thousand ;’ meaning the produce of ten acres in every hundred, and of a thousand in every ten thousand. ODE 7. THE MINOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM. 371 stores, And with them feed the husbandmen. From of old we have had good years; And now I go to the south-lying acres, Where some are weeding, and some gather the earth about the roots. The millets look luxuriant; And in a spacious restingplace, I collect and encourage the men of greater promise }, With my vessels full of bright millet, And my pure victim-rams, We sacrificed at the altar of the spirits of the land, and at (the altars of those of the four) quarters *, That my fields are in such good condition Is matter of joy to the husbandmen. With lutes, and with drums beating, We will invoke the Father of Husbandry*, And pray for sweet rain, To increase the produce of our millets, And. to bless my men and their wives, The distant descendant comes, When their wives and children Are bringing food to those (at work) in the south-lying acres, The surveyor of the fields (also) comes and is glad. He takes (of the food) on the left and the right, And tastes whether 1 The general rule was that the sons of husbandmen should continue husbandmen ; but their superior might select those among them in whom he saw promising abilities, and facilitate their advancement to the higher grade of officers. 2 The sacrifices here mentioned were of thanksgiving at the end of the harvest of the preceding year. The one was to ‘sovereign Earth,’ supposed to be the supreme Power in correla: . tion with Heaven, or, possibly, to the spirits supposed to preside over the productive energies of the land; the other to the spirits presiding over the four quarters of the sky, and ruling all atmospherical influences. 8 This was the sacrifice that had been, or was about to be, offered in spring to ‘the Father of Husbandry,’—probably the ancient mythical Tf, Shin Nang. Bb 2 372 THE SHIH KING. DECADE vr. it be good or not. The grain is well cultivated, all the acres over; Good will it be and abundant. The distant descendant has no displacency ; The husbandmen are encouraged to diligence. The crops of the distant descendant Look (thick) as thatch, and (swelling) like a carriage-cover. His stacks will stand like islands and mounds. He will seek for thousands of granaries; He will seek for tens of thousands of carts. The millets, the paddy, and the maize Will awake the joy of the husbandmen; (And they will say), ‘May he be rewarded with great happiness, With myriads of years, life without end!’ Ove 8. Tue TA THIEN.
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.
No commentary for this page.