The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry Part 10

and affected his ancestors in their spirit-state, and would draw down their protecting favour. Their blessing, seen in his prosperity, was the natural result of his filial piety.

2. The Hwai rises in the department of Nan-yang, Ho-nan, and flows eastward to the sea. South of it, down to the time of this ode, were many rude and wild tribes that gave frequent occupation to the kings of Kau.

3. When prisoners refused to submit, their left ears were cut off, and shown as trophies.

4. The ancient Shun's Minister of Crime. The 'examiners' were officers.

who questioned the prisoners, especially the more important of them, to elicit information, and decide as to the amount of their guilt and punishment.]

grand, Without noise or display, Without appeal to the judges [1], They will here present (the proofs of) their merit.

7. How they draw their bows adorned with bone! How their arrows whiz forth! Their war chariots are very large! Their footmen and charioteers never weary! They have subdued the tribes of Hwai, And brought them to an unrebellious submission. Only lay your plans securely, And all the tribes of the Hwai will be won [2].

8. They come flying on the wing, those owls, And settle on the trees about the college; They eat the fruit of our mulberry trees, And salute us with fine notes [3]. So awakened shall be those tribes of the Hwai.

They will come presenting their precious things, Their large tortoises, and their elephants' teeth, And great contributions of the southern metals [4].

[1. The 'judges' decided all questions of dispute in the army, and on the merits of different men who had distinguished themselves.

2. In this stanza the poet describes a battle with the wild tribes, as if it were going on before his eyes.

3 An owl is a bird with a disagreeable scream, instead of a beautiful note; but the mulberries grown about the college would make them sing delightfully. And so would the influence of Lu, going forth from the college, transform the nature of the tribes about the Hwai.

4 That is, according to 'the Tribute of Yu,' in the Shu, from King-kau and Yang-kau.]

ODE 4. THE Pi KUNG.

IN PRAISE OF DUKE HSi, AND AUSPICING FOR HIM A MAGNIFICENT CAREER OF SUCCESS, WHICH WOULD MAKE-Lu ALL THAT IT HAD EVER BEEN:--WRITTEN, PROBABLY, ON AN OCCASION WHEN HSi HAD REPAIRED THE TEMPLES OF THE STATE, OF WHICH PIOUS ACT HIS SUCCESS WOULD BE THE REWARD.

There is no doubt that duke Hsi is the hero of this piece. He is mentioned in the third stanza as 'the son of duke Kw.a.n.g,' and the Hsi-sze referred to in the last stanza as the architect under whose superintendence the temples had been repaired was his brother, whom we meet with elsewhere as 'duke's son, Yu'. The descriptions of various sacrifices prove that the lords of Lu, whether permitted to use royal ceremonies or not, did really do so. The writer was evidently in a poetic rapture as to what his ruler was, and would do. The piece is a genuine bardic effusion.

The poet traces the lords of Lu to Khang Yuen and her son Hau-ki. He then comes to the establishment of the Kau dynasty, and under it of the marquisate of Lu; and finally to duke Hsi, dilating on his sacrificial services, the military power of Lu, and the achievements which be might be expected to accomplish in subjugating all the territory lying to the east and a long way South, of Lu.

I. How pure and still are the solemn temples, In their strong solidity and minute completeness! Highly distinguished was Kiang Yuan[1], Of virtue undeflected. G.o.d regarded her with favour, And without injury or hurt, Immediately, when her months were completed, She gave birth to Hau-ki! On him were conferred all blessings,--(To know) how the (ordinary) millet ripened early, and the sacrificial millet late; How first to sow pulse

[1. About Kiang Yuan and her conception and birth of Hau-ki, see the first piece in the third decade of the Major Odes of the Kingdom. There also Hau-ki's teaching of husbandry is more fully described.]

and then wheat. Anon he was invested with an inferior state, And taught the people how to sow and to reap, The (ordinary) millet and the sacrificial, Rice and the black millet; Ere long over the whole country:--(Thus) continuing the work of Yu.

2. Among the descendants of Hau-ki, There was king Thai[1], Dwelling on the south of (mount) Khi, Where the clipping of Shang began. In process of time Wan and Wu Continued the work of king Thai, And (the purpose of) Heaven was carried out in its time, In the plain of Mu [2]. 'Have no doubts, no anxieties,'--(it was said), 'G.o.d is with you [3].' Wu disposed of the troops of Shang; He and his men equally, shared in the achievement. (Then) king (Khang) said, 'My uncle [4], I will set up your eldest son, And make him marquis of Lu. I will greatly enlarge your territory there, To be a help and support to the House of Kau.'

3. Accordingly he appointed (our first) duke of Lo, And made him marquis in the east, Giving him the hills and rivers, The lands and fields, and the attached states [5]. The (present) descendant of the duke of Kau, The son of duke Kw.a.n.g, With dragon-emblazoned banner, attends the sacrifices, (Grasping) his six reins soft and pliant. In spring

[1. See on the Sacrificial Odes of Kau, decade i, ode 5.

2. See the Shu, V, iii.

3. Shang-fu, one of Wu's princ.i.p.al leaders, encouraged him at the battle of Mu with these words.

4 That is, the duke of Kau.

5 That is, small territories, held by chiefs of other surnames, but acknowledging the jurisdiction of. the lords of Lu, and dependent on them for introduction to the royal court.]

and autumn he is not remiss; His offerings are all without error[1]. To the great and sovereign G.o.d, And to his great ancestor Hau-ki, He offers the victims, red and pure [2] They enjoy, they approve, And bestow blessings in large number. The duke of Kau, and (your other) great ancestors, Also bless you.

4. In autumn comes the sacrifice of the season[3], But the bulls for it have had their horns capped in summer [4]; They are the white bull and the red one [5]. (There are) the bull-figured goblet in, its dignity [6]; Roast pig, minced meat, and soups; The dishes of bamboo and wood, and the large stands [7], And the dancers all complete. The filial descendant

[1. These lines refer to the seasonal sacrifices in the temple of ancestors, two seasons being mentioned for all the four, as in some of the odes of Shang.

2. From the seasonal sacrifices the poet pa.s.ses to the sacrifice to G.o.d at the border altar in the spring,--no doubt the same which is referred to in the last ode of the first decade of the Sacrificial Odes of Kau.

3. The subject of the seasonal sacrifices is resumed.

4. A piece of wood was fixed across the horns of the victim-bulls, to prevent their injuring them by pus.h.i.+ng or rubbing against any hard substance. An animal injured in any way was not fit to be used in sacrifice.

5. In sacrificing to the duke of Kau, a white bull was used by way of distinction. His great services to the. dynasty had obtained for him the privilege of being sacrificed to with royal ceremonies. A white bull, such as had been offered to the kings of Shang, was therefore devoted to him; while for Po-khin, and 'the other marquises (or dukes as spoken of by their own subjects), a victim of the orthodox Kau colour was employed.

6. This goblet, fas.h.i.+oned in the shape of a bull, or with a bull pictured on it, must have been well known in connexion with these services.

7. 'The large stand' was of a size to support half the roasted body of a victim.]

will be blessed. (Your ancestors) will make you gloriously prosperous, They will make you long-lived and good, To preserve this eastern, region, Long possessing the state of Lu, Unwaning, unfallen, Unshaken, undisturbed! They will make your friends.h.i.+p with your three aged (ministers)[1] Like the hills, like the mountains.

5. Our prince's chariots are a thousand, And (in each) are (the two spears with their) vermilion ta.s.sels, and (the two bows with their) green bands. His footmen are thirty thousand, With sh.e.l.ls on vermilion strings adorning their helmets [2]. So numerous are his ardent followers, To deal with the tribes of the west and north, And to punish those of King and Shu [3], So that none of them will dare to withstand us. (The spirits of your ancestors) shall make you grandly prosperous; They

[1. Referring, probably, to the three princ.i.p.al ministers of the state.

2. These lines describe Hsi's resources for war. A thousand chariots was the regular force which a great state could at the utmost bring into the field. Each chariot contained three mailed men;--the charioteer in the middle, a spearman on the right, and an archer on the left. Two spears rose aloft with vermilion ta.s.sels, and there were two bows, bound with green bands to frames in their cases. Attached to every chariot were seventy-two foot-soldiers and twenty-five followers, making with the three men in it, 100 in all; so that the whole force would amount to 100,000 men. But in actual service the force of a great state was restricted to three 'armies' or 375 chariots, attended by 37,500 men, of whom 27,500 were foot-soldiers, put down here in round numbers as 30,000.

3 King is the King-khu of the last of the Sacrificial Odes of Shang, and the name Shu was applied to several half-civilized states to the east of it, which it brought, during the Khun Khiu period, one after another under its jurisdiction.]

shall make you long-lived and wealthy. The h.o.a.ry hair and wrinkled back, Marking the aged men, shall always be in your service. They shall grant you old age, ever vigorous, For myriads and thousands of years, With the eyebrows of longevity, and ever unharmed.

6. The mountain of Thai is lofty, Looked up to by the state of Lu [1].

We grandly possess also Kwei and Mang [2]. And we shall extend to the limits of the east, Even the states along the sea. The tribes of the Hwai will seek our alliance; All will proffer their allegiance:--Such shall be the achievements of the marquis of Lu.

7. He shall maintain the possession of Hu and Yi [3], And extend his sway to the regions of Hsu [4], Even to the states along the sea. The tribes of the Hwai, the Man, and the Mo [5], And those tribes (still more) to the south, All will proffer their allegiance;--Not one will dare not to answer to his call, Thus showing their obedience to the marquis of Lu.

8. Heaven will give great blessing to our prince, So that with the eyebrows of longevity he shall

[1. Mount Thai is well known, the eastern of the four great mountains of China in the time of Shun. It is in the department of Thai-an, Shan-tung.

2 These were two smaller hills in Lu.

3 These were two hills of Lu, in the present district of Zau.

4. Hsu was the name of one of Yu's nine provinces, embracing portions of the present Shan-tung, Kiang-su, and An-hui.

5. Mo was properly the name of certain wild tribes in the north, as Man was that of the tribes of the south. But we cannot suppose any tribes to be meant here but such as lay south of Lu.]