The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry Part 17

They became subject to Kau, (For) the appointment of Heaven is not unchangeable. The officers of Yin, admirable and alert, a.s.sist at the libations in our capital[1]. They a.s.sist at those libations, Always wearing the hatchet-figures on their lower garments and their peculiar cap[2]. O ye loyal ministers of the king, Ever think of your ancestor!

Ever think of your ancestor, Cultivating your virtue, Always seeking to accord with the will (of Heaven):-So shall you be seeking for much happiness, Before Yin lost the mult.i.tudes, (Its kings) were the correlates of G.o.d'. Look to Yin as a beacon i The great appointment is not easily preserved.

The appointment is not easily (preserved):--Do not cause your own extinction. Display and make bright your righteousness and fame, And look at (the fate of) Yin in the light of Heaven. The doings of high Heaven Have neither sound nor

[1. These officers of Yin would be the descendants of the Yin kings and of their princ.i.p.al n.o.bles, scions likewise of the, Yin stock. They would a.s.sist, at the court of Kau, at the services in the ancestral temple, which began with a libation of fragrant spirits to bring down the spirits of the departed.

2 These, differing from the dress worn by the representatives of the ruling House, were still worn by the officers of Yin or Shang, by way of honour, and also by way of warning.

3 There was G.o.d in heaven hating none, desiring the good of all the people; there were the sovereigns on earth, G.o.d's vicegerents, maintained by him so long as they carried out in their government his purpose of good.]

smell[1]. Take your pattern from king Wan, And the myriad regions will repose confidence in you.

ODE 2. THE Ta MING.

HOW THE APPOINTMENT OF HEAVEN OR G.o.d CAME FROM HIS FATHER TO KING WAN, AND DESCENDED TO HIS SON, KING Wu, WHO OVERTHREW THE DYNASTY OF SHANG BY HIS VICTORY AT Mu; CELEBRATING ALSO THE MOTHER AND WIFE OF KING WAN.

The ill.u.s.tration of ill.u.s.trious (virtue) is required below, And the dread majesty is or, high[2]. Heaven is not readily to be relied on; It is not easy to be king. Yin's rightful heir to the heavenly seat Was not permitted to possess the kingdom.

Zan, the second of the princesses of Kih[3], From (the domain of) Yin-shang, Came to be married to (the prince of) Kau, And became his wife in his

[1. These two lines are quoted in the last paragraph of the Doctrine of the Mean, as representing the ideal of perfect virtue. They are indicative of Power, operating silently, and not to be perceived by the senses, but resistless in its operations.

2. 'The first two lines,' says the commentator Yen Zhan, 'contain a general sentiment, expressing the principle that governs the relation between Heaven and men. According to line 1, the good or evil of a ruler cannot be-concealed; according to 2, Heaven, in giving its favour or taking it away, acts with strict decision. When below there is the ill.u.s.trious ill.u.s.tration (of virtue), that reaches up on high. When above there is the awful majesty, that exercises a survey below. The relation between Heaven and men ought to excite our awe.'

3. The state of Kih must have been somewhere in the royal domain of Yin.

Its lords had the surname of Zan, and the second daughter of the House became the wife of Ki of Kau. She is called in the eighth line Thai-zan, by which name she is still famous in China. 'She commenced,' it is said, 'the instruction of her child when he was still in her womb, looking on no improper sight, listening to no licentious sound, uttering no word of pride.']

capital. Both she and king Ki Were entirely virtuous. (Then) Thai-zan became pregnant, And gave birth to our king Wan.

This king Wan, Watchfully and reverently, With entire intelligence served G.o.d, And so secured the great blessing. His virtue was without deflection; And in consequence he received (the allegiance of) the states from all quarters.

Heaven surveyed this lower world; And its appointment lighted (on king Wan). In his early years, It made for him a mate[1];--On the north of the Hsia, On the banks of the Wei. When king Wan would marry, There was the lady in a large state[2].

In a large state was the lady, Like a fair denizen of heaven. The ceremonies determined the auspiciousness (of the union) [3], And in person he met her on the Wei. Over it he made a bridge of boats; The glory (of the occasion) was ill.u.s.trious.

The favouring appointment was from Heaven, Giving the throne to our kin Wan, In the capital of Kau. The lady-successor was from Hsin, Its eldest daughter, who came to marry him. She was blessed to give birth to king Wu, Who was preserved, and helped, and received (also) the. appointment,

[1. Heaven is here represented as arranging for the fulfilment of its purposes beforehand.

2. The name of the state was Hsin, and it must have been near the Hsia and the Wei, somewhere in the south-east of the present Shen-hsi.

3. 'The ceremonies' would be various; first of all, divination by means of the tortoise-sh.e.l.l.]

And in accordance with it smote the great Shang.

The troops of Yin-shang Were collected like a forest, And marshalled in the wilderness of Mu. We rose (to the crisis); 'G.o.d is with you,' (said Shang-fu to the king), 'Have no doubts in your heart[1].'

The wilderness of Mu spread out extensive; Bright shone the chariots of sandal; The teams of bays, black-maned and white-bellied, galloped along; The Grand-Master Shang-fu. Was like an eagle on the wing, a.s.sisting king Wu, Who at one onset smote the great Shang. That morning's encounter was followed by a clear, bright (day).

ODE 3. THE MIEN.

SMALL BEGINNINGS AND SUBSEQUENT GROWTH OF THE HOUSE OF KaU IN KaU. ITS REMOVAL FROM PIN UNDER THAN-Fu, WITH ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN KaU, WITH THE PLACE THEN GIVEN TO THE BUILDING OF THE ANCESTRAL TEMPLE, AND THE ALTAR TO THE SPIRITS OF THE LAND.

CONSOLIDATION OF ITS FORTUNES BY KING WAN.

'The ancient duke Than-fu' was the grandfather of king Wan, and was canonized by the duke of Kau as 'king Thai.' As mentioned in a note on p. 316, he was the first of his family to settle in Kau, removing there from Pin. the site of their earlier settlement, 'the country about the Khu and the Khi.'

In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds[2]. When (our) people first sprang, From the country about the Khu and the Khi[1], The ancient duke

[1. See the account of the battle of Mu in the third Book of the fifth Part of the Shu. Shang-fu was one of Wu's princ.i.p.al leaders and counsellors, his 'Grand-Master Shang-fu' in the next stanza.

2. As a gourd grows and extends, with a vast development of its tendrils and leaves, so had the House of Kau increased.

3. These were two rivers in the territory of Pin, which name still remains in the small department of Pin Kau, in Shen-hsi. The Khu flows into the Lo, and the Khi into the Wei.]

Than-fu Made for them kiln-like huts and caves, Ere they had yet any houses [1].

The ancient duke Than-fu Came in the morning, galloping his horses, Along the banks of the western rivers, To the foot of mount Khi[2]; And there he and the lady Kiang[3] Came and together looked out for a site.

The plain of Kau looked beautiful and rich, With its violets, and sowthistles (sweet) as dumplings. There he began by consulting (with his followers); There he singed the tortoise-sh.e.l.l, (and divined). The responses were there to stay and then; And they proceeded there to build[4].

He encouraged the people, and settled them; Here on the left, there on the right. He divided the ground, and subdivided it; If he dug the ditches; he defined the acres. From the east to the west, There was nothing which he did not take in hand [5].

[1. According to this ode then, up to the time of Than-fu, the Kau people had only had the dwellings here described; but this is not easily reconciled with other accounts, or even with other stanzas of this piece.

2. See a graphic account of the circ.u.mstances in which this migration took place, in the fifteenth chapter of the second Part of the first Book of Mencius, very much to the honour of the ancient duke.

3. This lady is known as Thai-kiang, the worthy predecessor of Thai-zan.

4. This stanza has reference to the choice--by council and divination--of a site for what should be the chief town of the new settlement.

5. This stanza describes the general arrangements for the occupancy and cultivation of the plain of Kau, and the distribution of the people over it.]

He called his Superintendent of Works; He called his Minister of Instruction; And charged them with the rearing of the houses. With the line they made everything straight; They bound the frame-boards tight, so that they should rise regularly uprose the ancestral temple in its solemn grandeur[1].

Crowds brought the earth in baskets; They threw it with shouts into the frames; They beat it with responsive blows. They pared the walls repeatedly, till they sounded strong. Five thousand cubits of them arose together, So that the roll of the great drums did not overpower (the noise of the builders)[2].

They reared the outer gate (of the palace), Which rose in lofty state.

They set up the gate of audience, Which rose severe and exact. They reared the great altar to the spirits of the land, From which all great movements should proceed[3].

[1. This stanza describes the preparations and processes for erecting the buildings of the new city. The whole took place under the direction of two officers, in whom we have the germ probably of the Six Heads of the Boards or Departments, whose functions are described in the Shu and the Official Book of Kau. The materials of the buildings were earth and lime pounded together in frames, as is still to be seen in many parts of the country. The first great building taken in hand was the ancestral temple. Than-fit would make a home for the spirits of his fathers, before he made one for himself. However imperfectly directed, the religious feeling a.s.serted the supremacy which it ought to possess.

2. The bustle and order of the building all over the city is here graphically set forth.

3. Than-fu was now at leisure to build the palace for himself, which appears to have been not a very large building, though the Chinese names of its gates are those belonging to the two which were peculiar to the palaces of the kings of Kau in the subsequent times of the dynasty.