The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry Part 27

'Fu-kwan must have been the place where the man lived, according to Ku.

Rather, it must have been a pa.s.s (Fu-kwan may mean 'the gate or pa.s.s of Fu'), through which he would come, and was visible from near the residence of the woman.

4 Ying ta observes that the man had never divined about the matter, and said that he had done so only to complete the process of seduction. The critics dwell on the inconsistency of divination being resorted to in such a case:--'Divination is proper only if used in reference to what is right and moral.']

of Kau, near the present Lo-yang, and called 'the eastern capital.'

Meetings of the princes of the states a.s.sembled there; but the court continued to be held at Hao till the accession of king Phing in B.C.

770. From that time, the kings of Kau sank nearly to the level of the princes of the states, and the poems collected in their domain were cla.s.sed among the 'Lessons of Manners from the States,' though still distinguished by the epithet 'royal' prefixed to them.

ODE 1, STANZA 1. THE SHu-Li.

AN OFFICER DESCRIBES HIS MELANCHOLY AND REFLECTIONS ON SEEING THE DESOLATION OF THE OLD CAPITAL OF KAU, MAKING HIS MOAN TO HEAVEN BECAUSE OF IT.

There is no specific mention of the old. capital of Kau in the piece, but the schools of Mao and Ku are agreed in this interpretation, which is much more likely than any of the others that have been proposed.

There was the millet with its drooping heads; There was the sacrificial millet coming into blade[1]. Slowly I moved about, In my heart all-agitated. Those who knew me said I was sad at heart. Those who did not know me, Said I was seeking for something. O thou distant and azure Heaven[2]! By what man was this (brought about)[3]?

[1. That is, there where the ancestral temple and other grand buildings of Hao had once stood.

2. 'He cried out to Heaven,' says Yen Zhan, 'and told (his distress), but he calls it distant in its azure brightness, lamenting that his complaint was not heard.' This is, probably, the correct explanation of the language. The speaker would by it express his grief that the dynasty of Kau and its people were abandoned and uncared for by Heaven.

3. Referring to king Yu, whose reckless course had led to the destruction of Hao by the Zung, and in a minor degree to his son, king Phing, who had subsequently removed to the eastern capital.]

ODE 9, STANZAS 1 AND 3. THE Ta Ku.

A LADY EXCUSES HERSELF FOR NOT FLYING TO HER LOVER BY HER FEAR OF A SEVERE AND VIRTUOUS MAGISTRATE, AND SWEARS TO HIS THAT SHE IS SINCERE IN HER ATTACHMENT TO HIM.

His great carriage rolls along, And his robes of rank glitter like the young sedge. Do I not think of you? But I am afraid of this officer, and dare not (fly to you).

While living we may have to occupy different apartments; But, when dead, we shall share the same grave. If you say that I am not sincere, By the bright sun I swear that I am[1].

BOOK X. THE, ODES OF THANG.

THE odes of Thang were really the odes of Zin, the greatest of the fiefs of Kau until the rise of Khin. King Khang, in B.C. 1107, invested his younger brother, called Shu-yu, with the territory where Yao was supposed to have ruled anciently as the marquis of Thang, in the present department of Thai-yuan, Shan-hsi, the fief retaining that ancient name.

Subsequently the name of the state was changed to Zin, from the river Zin in the southern part of it.

ODE, 8, STANZA 1. THE PaO Yu.

THE MEN OF ZIN, CALLED OUT TO WARFARE BY THE KING'S ORDER, MOURN OVER THE CONSEQUENT SUFFERING OF THEIR PARENTS, AND LONG FOR THEIR RETURN TO THEIR ORDINARY AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS, MAKING THEIR APPEAL TO HEAVEN.

Su-su go the feathers of the wild geese, As

[1. In the 'Complete Digest' this oath is expanded in the following way:--'These words are from my heart. If you think that they are not sincere, there is (a Power) above, like the bright sun, observing me;--how should my words not be sincere?']

they settle on the bushy oaks[1]. The king's affairs must not be slackly discharged, And (so) we cannot plant our millets;--What will our parents have to rely on? O thou distant and azure Heaven [2]! When shall we be in our places again?

ODE 11. THE KO SHANG.

A WIFE MOURNS THE DEATH OF HER HUSBAND, REFUSING TO BE COMFORTED, AND DECLARES THAT SHE WILL CHERISH HIS MEMORY TILL HER OWN DEATH.

It is supposed that the husband whose death is bewailed in this piece had died in one of the military expeditions of which duke Hsien (B.C.

676-651) was fond. It may have been so, but there is nothing in the piece to make us think of duke Hsien. I give it a place in the volume, not because of the religious sentiment in it, but because of the absence of that sentiment, Where we might expect it. The lady shows the grand virtue of a Chinese widow, in that she will never marry again. And her grief would not be a.s.suaged. The days would all seem long summer days, and the nights all long winter nights; so that a hundred long years would seem to drag their slow course, But there is not any hope expressed of a re-union with her husband in another state. The 'abode'

and the 'chamber' of which she speaks are to be understood of his grave; and her thoughts do not appear to go beyond it.

The dolichos grows, covering the thorn trees; The convolvulus spreads all over the waste [3]. The

[1. Trees are not the proper. place for geese to rest on; and the attempt to do so is productive of much noise and trouble to the birds.

The lines would seem to allude to the hards.h.i.+ps of the soldiers' lot, called from their homes to go on a distant expedition.

2. See note 2 on ode I of Book vi, where Heaven is appealed to in the same language.

3. These two lines are taken as allusive, the speaker being led by the sight of the weak plants supported by the trees, shrubs, and tombs, to think of her own desolate, unsupported condition. But they may also be taken as narrative, and descriptive of the battleground, where her husband had met his death.]

man of my admiration is no more here;--With whom can I dwell? I abide alone.

The dolichos grows, covering the jujube trees; The convolvulus spreads all over the tombs. The man of my admiration is no more here;--With whom can I dwell? I rest alone.

How beautiful was the pillow of horn! How splendid was the embroidered coverlet[1]! The man of my admiration is no more here;--With whom can I dwell? Alone (I wait for) the morning.

Through the (long) days of summer, Through the (long) nights of winter (shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his abode.

Through the (long) nights of winter, Through the (long) days of summer(shall I be alone), Till the lapse of a hundred years, When I shall go home to his chamber.

BOOK XI. THE ODES OF KHIN.

THE state of Khin took its name from its earliest princ.i.p.al city, in the present district of Khing-shui, in Khin Kau, Kan-su. Its chiefs claimed to be descended from Yi, who appears in the Shu as the forester of Shun, and the a.s.sistant of the great Yu in his labours on the flood of Yao.

The history of his descendants is very imperfectly related till we come to a Fei-Dze, who had charge of the herds of horses belonging to king Hsiao (B.C. 90989.5), and in consequence of his good services. was invested with

[1. These things had been ornaments of the bridal chamber; and as the widow thinks of them, her grief becomes more intense.]

the small territory of Khin, as an attached state. A descendant of his, known as duke Hsiang, in consequence of his loyal services, when the capital was moved to the cast in B.C. 770, was raised to the dignity of an earl, and took his place among the great feudal princes of the kingdom, receiving also a large portion of territory, which included the ancient capital of the House of Kau. In course of time Khin, as is well known, superseded the dynasty of Kau, having gradually moved its capital more and more to the east. The people of Khin were, no doubt, mainly composed of the wild tribes of the west.

ODE 6, STANZA 1. THE Hw.a.n.g NIaO.

LAMENT FOR THREE WORTHIES OF KHIN, WHO WERE BURIED IN THE SAME GRAVE WITH DUKE Mu.

There is no difficulty or difference in the interpretation of this piece; and it brings us down to B.C. 621. Then died duke Mu, after playing an important part in the north-west of China for thirty-nine years. The Zo Kwan, under the sixth year of duke Wan, makes mention of Mu's requiring that the three brothers here celebrated should be buried with him, and of the composition of this piece in consequence. Sze-ma Khien says that this barbarous practice began with Mu's predecessor, with whom sixty-six persons were buried alive, and that one hundred and seventy-seven in all were buried with Mu. The death of the last distinguished man of the House of Khin, the emperor [1], was subsequently celebrated by the entombment with him of all the inmates of his harem.