The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry Part 6

ODE 9. THE KIH KING.

AN ODE APPROPRIATE IN SACRIFICING TO THE KINGS Wu, KHANG, AND KHANG.

The Chinese critics differ in the interpretation of this ode, the Preface and older scholars restricting it to a sacrifice to king Wu, while Ku Hsi and others find reference in it, as to me also seems most natural, to Khang and Khang, who succeeded him.

The arm of king Wu was full of strength; Irresistible was his ardour.

Greatly ill.u.s.trious were Khang and Khang [1], Kinged by G.o.d.

When we consider how Khang and Khang Grandly held all within the four quarters (of the kingdom), How penetrating was their intelligence!

The bells and drums sound in harmony; The sounding-stones and flutes blend their notes; Abundant blessing is sent down.

Blessing is sent down in large measure. Careful and exact is all our deportment; We have drunk, and we have eaten, to the fall; Our happiness and dignity will be prolonged.

ODE 10. THE SZE WAN.

APPROPRIATE TO ONE OF THE BORDER SACRIFICES, WHEN HaU-Ki WAS WORs.h.i.+PPED AS THE CORRELATE OF G.o.d, AND CELEBRATING HIM.

Hau-ki was the same as Khi, who appears in Part II of the Shu as Minister of Agriculture to Yao and Shun, and co-operating with

[1. If the whole piece be understood only of a sacrifice to Wu, this line will have to be translated--'How ill.u.s.trious was he, who completed (his great work), and secured its tranquillity.' We must deal similarly with the next line. This construction is very forced; nor is the text clear on the view of Ku-Hsi.]

Yu in his labours on the flooded land. The name Hau belongs to him as lord of Thai; that of Ki, as Minister of Agriculture. However the combination arose, Hau-ki became historically the name of Khi of the time of Yao and Shun, the ancestor to whom the kings of Kau traced their lineage. He was to the people the Father of Husbandry, who first taught men to plough and sow and reap. Hence, when the kings offered sacrifice and prayer to G.o.d at the commencement of spring for his blessing on the labours of the year, they a.s.sociated Hau-ki with him at the service.

O accomplished Hau-ki, Thou didst prove thyself the correlate of Heaven.

Thou didst give grain-food to our mult.i.tudes:--The immense gift of thy goodness. Thou didst confer on us the wheat and the barley, Which G.o.d appointed for the nourishment of all. And without distinction of territory or boundary, The rules of social duty were diffused throughout these great regions.

The Second Decade, or that of Khan Kung.

ODE 1. THE KHAN KUNG.

INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO THE OFFICERS OF HUSBANDRY.

The place of this piece among the sacrificial odes makes us a.s.sign it to the conclusion of some sacrifice; but what the sacrifice was we cannot tell. The Preface says that it was addressed, at the conclusion of the spring sacrifice to ancestors to the princes who had been present and taken part in the service. Ku Hsi says nothing but what I have stated in the above argument of the piece.

Ah! ah! ministers and officers, Reverently attend to your public duties.

The king has given you perfect rules;--Consult about them and consider them.

Ah! ah! ye a.s.sistants.. It is now the end of spring [1]; And what have ye to seek for? (Only) how to manage the new fields and those of the third year, How beautiful are the wheat and the barley! The bright and glorious G.o.d Will in them give us a good year. Order all our men To be provided with their spuds and hoes:--Anon we shall see the sickles at work.

ODE 2. THE i HSi.

FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS TO THE OFFICERS OF HUSBANDRY.

Again there is a difficulty in determining to what sacrifice this piece should be referred. The Preface says it was sung on the occasions of sacrifice by the king to G.o.d, in spring and summer, for a good year. But the note on the first two lines will show that this view cannot be accepted without modification.

Oh! yes, king Khang [2] Brightly brought himself near [2]. Lead your husbandmen To sow their various kinds of grain, Going vigorously to work

[1. It is this line which makes it difficult to determine after what sacrifice we are to suppose these instructions to have been delivered.

The year, during the Hsia dynasty, began with the first month of spring, as it now does in China, in consequence of Confucius having said that that was the proper time. Under the Shang dynasty, it commenced a month earlier; and during the Kau period, it ought always to have begun with the new moon preceding the winter solstice,--between our November 22 and December 22. But in the writings of the Kau period we find statements of time continually referred to the calendar of Hsia,--as here.

2 These first two lines are all but unmanageable. The old critics held that there was no mention of king Khang in them; but the text is definite on this point. We must suppose that a special service had been performed at his shrine, asking him to intimate the day when the sacrifice after which the instructions were given should be performed; and that a directing oracle had been received.]

on your private fields[1], All over the thirty li[2]. Attend to your ploughing, With your ten thousand men all in pairs.

ODE 3. THE KaU Lu.

CELEBRATING THE REPRESENTATIVES OF FORMER DYNASTIES, WHO HAD COME TO COURT TO a.s.sIST AT A SACRIFICE IN THE ANCESTRAL TEMPLE.

This piece may have been used when the king was dismissing his distinguished guests in the ancestral temple. See the introductory note to this Part, pp. 300, 301.

A flock of egrets is flying, About the marsh there in the west[3]. My visitors came, With an (elegant) carriage like those birds.

There, (in their states), not disliked, Here, (in Kau), never tired of;-They are sure, day and night, To perpetuate their fame.

[1. The mention of 'the private fields' implies that there were also 'the public fields,' cultivated by the husbandmen in common, in behalf of the government. As the people are elsewhere introduced, wis.h.i.+ng that the rain might first fall on 'the public fields,' to show their loyalty, so the king here mentions only 'the private fields,' to show his sympathy and consideration for the people.

2. For the cultivation of the ground, the allotments of single families were separated by a small ditch; ten allotments, by a larger; a hundred, by what we may call a brook; a thousand, by a small stream; and ten thousand, by a river. The s.p.a.ce occupied by 10,000 families formed a square of a little more than thirty-two li. We may suppose that this s.p.a.ce was intended by the round number of thirty li in the text. So at least Kang Khang-kang explained it.

3. These two lines make the piece allusive. See the Introduction, p. 279.]

ODE 4. THE FANG NIEN.

AN ODE OF THANKSGIVING FOR A PLENTIFUL YEAR.

The Preface says the piece was used at sacrifices in autumn and winter.

Ku Hsi calls it an ode of thanksgiving for a good year,--without any specification of time. He supposes, however, that the thanks were given to the ancient Shan-nang, 'the father of Agriculture,' Hau-ki, 'the first Husbandman,' and the spirits presiding over the four quarters of the heavens. To this the imperial editors rightly demur, saying that the blessings which the piece speaks of could come only from G.o.d.

Abundant is the year with much millet and much rice And we have our high granaries, With myriads, and hundreds of thousands, and millions (of measures in them); For spirits and sweet spirits, To present to our forefathers, male and female, And to supply all our ceremonies. The blessings sent down on us are of every kind.

ODE 5. THE Yu Ku.

THE BLIND MUSICIANS OF THE COURT OF KaU; THE INSTRUMENT OF MUSIC; AND THEIR HARMONY.