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日亦歸戍載止。曰

歸剛薇聘.未 飢 憂 歸柔薇 歲止采 定。載 止。采

日 薇。

靡 渴 烈亦白薇。

陽歸薇

使我烈憂歸薇

2 Let us gather the thorn-ferns, let us gather the thorn-ferns;

The thorn-ferns are now tender.

When shall we return? When shall we return?

Our hearts are sorrowful.

Our hearts are sad and sorrowful;

We shall hunger, we shall thirst.

While our service on guard is not finished,

We can send no one home to enquire about our families.

3 Let us gather the thorn-ferns, let us gather the thorn-ferns;

The thorn-ferns are now hard.

When shall we return? When shall we return ?

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The year will be in the tenth month.

抵皆是預道之辭耳): I have

adapted my translation to this peculiarity.

St. 1.薇 –as in Lii. III. 3. 亦 and E,

here and below, must be taken as expletives. describes the ferns as just rising out of the

ground (生出地), when it must have been

early in the spring. This gives the date of the first despatch of the troops, which is thus allusively intimated. The two in 1.3 are ex

Huns. Wang Taou anys that the Heen-yun of

Yin and Chow, the Heung-noo of Ts'in and Han,

and the Tuh-keueh (突厥) of Suy and Tang, all refer to the same tribes. Sze-ma Ts'ëen in his Record of the House of Chow, and of the Heungnoo, says that in the time of king E (B.C.933

909), those northern tribes became very trouble

some, and refers to this ode as a composition of that time.--It is understood that this reference to the cause of the expedition is made by the troops in a public spirit, showing that they sympathized with the court in the necessity of

pletives. Wang Yin-che says 日歸 is simply undertaking it. L. 7,–as in II. 2.

equivalent to

于歸

When the men were

going away, they had naturally been anxious to

have the date of their return fixed. We may |

St. 2. I must believe that in this st. we have the words of a second detachment of troops sent off somewhat later than the former, when the ferns which, in st. 1, were only showing them

translate 日歸 by ‘as to our return, or in- | selves, were now somewhat grown (柔). 烈

terrogatively, as I have done, after Yen Ts'an. 烈 is descriptive of the app., or manifestation,

L. 4, as in I.x. I. 1, where the expletives are

different. L.5. A wife gives the husband a of their sorrow of heart’戍守, to guard. 室; a husband gives the wife a 家. L.6. The term denotes the service of troops stationed Choo simply says that the Heen-yun were anywhere to defend territory from invasion. 北狄‘wild tribes of the north. The Shwoh- | = [1, to be at an end 聘一問, to ask'’

wan does not give the characters, and elsewhere the same sounds are differently represented. Ching K'ang-shing says they were the same tribe that in his days went by the name

of Heung-noo (囟奴). I suppose the two names are imperfect phonetic expressions of the same sound, which we also have adopted in

families.
to inquire, that is, about the welfare of their

St. 3. We have here a third detachment sent off, when the ferns had attained their full growth.

This view of three separate detachments is sanctioned by Ch'ing Kang-shing and Ying-tah. The latter calls them the 一輩二輩三

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騤駕一牡之華。彼行啟止。

君彼 車彼爾不 不處。王 戎 維來憂事

君子所依

四牡

所牡

人联

豈車斯何。

旣何

定駕

居。四子

孔盬。

疚。不

我遑

But the king's business must not be slackly performed;

We shall have no leisure to rest.

Our sorrowing hearts are in great distress;

But we shall not return from our expedition.

4 What is that so gorgeous ?

It is the flowers of the cherry tree.

What carriage is that?

It is the carriage of our general.

His war carriage is yoked;

The four steeds are strong.

Dare we remain inactive?

In one month we shall have three victories.

5 The four steeds are yoked,

The four steeds, eager and strong;–

The confidence of the general,

輩 sent off respectively in the 3d decade of the instead of, defining the term by 'the app.

2d month, the 1st decade of the 3d, and the 2d

decade of it. is here the name of the 10th

month : the sun was drawing near to the extreme point of its southern course, and the Yin principle ruled predominant in the year;-only,

however, to give place to the Yang. On the

eve of its extinction, apparently, the principle of light and heat, was like an embryo in the womb,' about to make its appearance; and hence So say all the the month was named after it.

critics. From the 10th to the 12th month, in

clusive, was the conclusion of the year of st. 1.

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St. 5. Maou defines 'wei-k'wei here by

疢=病, ‘sick,' ‘distressed' 來復來, (strong; and in III.ii.III. by ‘不息,’unrest

or, 'to come back.'

St. 4. The three detachments would seem here to be united, and marching with their

general at their head, confident of great suc

cess.

ing. I have united the explanations. Choo

says is here equivalent to乘,‘to ride in.

We may admit this, but need not, in translating, depart from the ordinary meaning of the term.

The Shwoh-wăn quotes 1.1, with 爾| There is more difficulty with 腓, which proper

我遲
遲雨 依昔 昔日象
象所
戒。弭腓。

我心傷悲

星。 雪

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我往

莫載 行來 楊孔

知飢,道思,柳

The protection of the men.

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魚服

棘。不 翼

The four steeds move regularly, like wings;

There are the bow with its ivory ends, and the seal-skin quiver.

Shall we not daily warn one another?

The business of the Hëen-yun is very urgent.

6 At first, when we set out,

The willows were fresh and green;

Now, when we shall be returning,
The snow will be falling in clouds.

Long and tedious will be our marching;

We shall hunger; we shall thirst.

Our hearts are wounded with grief,

And no one knows our sadness.

VIII. Ch'uh keu.

召來謂子自牧于我

彼矣我所天矣。彼車。出

1 We proceeded with our carriages

To those pasture grounds.

'From the place of the son of Heaven,

Came an order to me to march,' [said the general].

ly means 'the calf of the leg.' Choo follows Ching Kang-shing, who says the character

should be 芘 to shelter." By 小人, the small men,' the speakers denote themselves. 翼翼 describes the regular, orderly, progress of the horses.弭the ends of a bow’魚

is here explained as 'the name of an animal, like

a pig, found in the eastern sea, spotted on the

back and green underneath.' Medhurst calls it a seal. Perhaps a porpoise may be meant.

He explains 魚服 as meaning fish skins, or

出車

clothes made of seal skins;' but is here used in the sense of ‘a quiver,

In 1. 7 it is doubtful whether we should read

日or日棘=急‘urgent.

St. 6. Here the soldiers project their thoughts forward to the end of their expedition, or at

least to the arrival of their relief. The楊柳 called also simply 楊, is akin to the 蒲柳; see I. vi. IV. 3.依依‘the app. of being

weak and tender;' so, Yen Ts'an. -as in

建此郊車。我棘難。王之僕 彼施矣。于出矣維事載夫。 其多矣。謂

旄矣設彼我

So he called his carriage-officers,

And told them to get the carriages all ready.

'The king's business,' [said he], 'is surrounded with difficulties;

We must use despatch.'

2 We proceeded with our carriages

To that suburban region.

The banner with tortoises and serpents was raised,

And the ox-tails set up at the top of its staff;

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The rhymes are—in st. 1,,, cat. 15, ..., cat. 5, 薇歸;柔憂cat.

t.1: in 2, cat. 3, t. 1;

grounds,' a considerable distance from the capital, and there waited till the other detachment

should arrive, and the whole should be put in

order for the march. To the distance of 50 le

from the capital was called 'the near suburbs ;' for other 50 le, the country was call

渴,cat.15,t.3;定聘, cat.11: in 3,薇, the distant suburbs (遠郊);" and beyond that 歸;剛,陽,cat.10;鹽處,cat. 5, t. 2; ,, cat. 1, t. 1: in 4, J, J, cat. 17;

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were the pasture grounds, where herds of horses and cattle were kept. Ll. 3, 4 abruptly introduce

the words of the general, in which he informed

the troops of the commission which he had

received. We must identify the 天子 here

with the of 1. 7, and other places. To make theking Wăn, as Yen Ts'an and others do, is quite inadmissible. Ll. 5-8 give another abrupt turn, or rather two abrupt turns, in the composition of the stanza;-6 and 7 are narrative of the next proceedings of the general.

is here defined as the drivers,'-not of the general's war chariot, but of the baggage

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Ode 8. Narrative. AN ODE OF CONGRATULATION ON THE Return of the TROOPS FROM THE EXPEDITION AGAINST THE HEEN-YUN. While the old interpreters and Choo differ, as in the case of the prec. ode, as to the time to which they refer this, they agree in regarding it as specially designed to felicitate the leader of the expedition, the awe-inspiring Nan Chung.' And so aso carriages. 載 is explained by 載其車以 far they are correct. When the former go on,, 'load their carriages for the march.' however, to make the general the principal speaker throughout the piece, hearing his words, is active, 'ordering,' or 'and ordered,' whereas in e.g., in the whole of the first two stanzas, the 1. 4 it was passive, being difficulties of such a view are very great. Keang Ping-chang has pointed this out; but when he refers the first personal pronoun mainly to the poet (who wrote the piece, I cannot accept his construction. The soldiers of the expedition are the speakers throughout. They speak freely of their own toils and anxieties, while they glorify their general. At the same time they introduce his words, and the words of their own wives, in a manner which is perplexing and unartistic.

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St. 1. Ll. 1, 2. The 'carriages' here are those composing the force of the expedition, or of the 1st detachment of it. They proceeded to 'the pasture

'it was said to me,' or 'I received orders.' The last two lines give what the general said to the drivers. —as in st.5 of prec. ode. sentence a hortatory force.

gives to the

St 2. Ll. 1, 2 relate to a second detachment of the force, which arrived at the suburbs, probably 'the distant suburbs,' while the other was in the pasture grounds. Ll. 2-6 describe various arrangements for the march to the enemy, and should be extended to both the detachments. The chaou was a banner with

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