IV. Këw muh. 南福 荒 南福 之。有履之。有歷 樛 縈之樂只君子, 樛 木。之。 ●藟 履綏 木。之 君 葛 子黄 △ 田田 1 In the south are the trees with curved drooping branches, With the dolichos creepers clinging to them. To be rejoiced in is our princely lady: May she repose in her happiness and dignity! 2 In the south are the trees with curved drooping branches, Covered by the dolichos creepers. To be rejoiced in is our princely lady: May she be great in her happiness and dignity! 3 In the south are the trees with curved drooping branches, Round which the dolichos creepers twine. Ode 4. To be rejoiced in is our princely lady: May she be complete in her happiness and dignity! CELEBRATING T'AE-SZE's FREEDOM | FOR HER HAPPINESS. So far both the schools of interpreters are agreed on this ode. and we need not be long detained with it. The piece is allusive, supposed to be spoken or sung by the ladies of the harem, in praise of Tae-szé, who was not jealous of them, and did not try to keep them in the back ground, but cherished them rather, as the great tree does the creepers that twine FROM JEALOUSY, AND OFFERING FERVENT WISHES round it. The stanzas are very little different, (Ana. XVI. xiv.), and of 內子, given to the the 3rd character in the 2d and 4th lines being varied, merely to give different rhymes. St.1. L.1. For 'the south' we need not go beyond the south of the territory of Chow Kang-shing errs in thinking that the distant wife of a great officer. The imperial editors allow his exegesis. It certainly gives a unity to the piece, which it does not have on the other view, and I have followed it. L.4. Choo, after the Urh-ya and Maou, takes 履一祿 (e provinces of King and Yang, beyond the Kéang, molument, ‘dignity Trying to preserve the are meant. Trees whose branches curved down to the ground were designated 櫻木. Such branches were easily laid hold of by creepers. 葛: 纍 is explained by 繫 'to be attached to.' L.3. 只 is another of the untranslateable particles; it occurs both in the middle and at the end of lines. The critics differ on the inter proper meaning of履 ‘to tread on', foot steps', Yen Ts'an (嚴粲; Sung dyn.) and Others say, 動罔不吉謂之福履 'The movements all felicitous are what is meant by福履綏=安,‘to give repose to’ St.2. 荒奄or芘覆‘to cover,' to overshadow.' The creepers send out their shoots, 4.7 # V. Chung-sze. 今。子薨螽兮。子詵 孫兮。 系兮。 繩宜羽 繩爾薨 1 Ye locusts, winged tribes, 一章 振宜羽.斯 振爾詵 How harmoniously you collect together! Right is it that your descendants 2 Should be multitudinous! Ye locusts, winged tribes, How sound your wings in flight! and cover the branches of the tree. is here St.3. = t in descriptions and plates the length of the antennæ is made very prominent, so that the creature is probably to be found among the achetido. is to be taken as in the translation, wish the happiness of T'ae-sz', 'from first to, and not as meaning 'wings.' So, last, from the smallest things to the greatest', to be complete. Ying-tah. The 'Complete Digest' says, The rhymes are in st. 1, 纍,cat.15,t1: 翅說 in 2 將, cat. 10: in3.榮成 ,, cat. 11. Ode 5. THE FRUITFULNESS OF THE LOCUST; SUPPOSED TO CELEBRATE T'AE-SZE'S FREEDOM The piece is purely metaphorical H, Tae-sze not being mentioned in it. The reference to her only exists in the writer's mind. This often distinguishes such pieces from those which are allusive. The locusts cluster together in harmony, it is supposed, without quarrelling, and consequently they increase at a wonderful rate; each female laying, some say 81 eggs, others 99, and others 100. to be L.3. Maou and his school make is explained by Choo as the appearance of their with at the side. We have the character L.1. in all the stanzas. The fin in the text, the form of the Shwoh-wăn, is by many disregarded, as being merely one of the poetical particles. We shall meet with it as such beyond dispute, and we find alone, 蚀 frequently in the Ch'un Tsew. Here, however, it would seem to be a part of the name, the insect intended being the same probably, as the , in xv., Ode I. 5. Maou gives for it the synonym of and Choo calls it 'one of the locusts (But will include crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts. We cannot as yet do more than approximate to an identification of the insects in the She. Williams calls the chung-sze one of the truxalis locusts; but with at the side, 羽 with at the side, and with another at the side;-all in The last lines. is the 'appearance of 12 室宜于之其灼夭桃 家.其歸子華灼夭之 1 The peach tree is young and elegant; Brilliant are its flowers. This young lady is going to her future home, And will order well her chamber and house. The idea of all the critics is that Wan's queen lived harmoniously with all the other ladies of the harem, so that all had their share in his favours, and there was no more quarrelling among them than among a bunch of locusts. All children born in the palace would be the queen's; and it was right they should increase as they did. Surely this is sad stuff. Ode 6. Allusive. PRAISE of a bride GOING TO BE MARRIED. The critics see a great deal more in the piece than this;-the happy state of Chow, produced by king Wan(acc. to Choo), or by Teae-sze (acc. to Maou), in which all the young people were married in the proper season, i.e., in the spring, when the peach tree was in flower, and at the proper age, i. e., young men between 20 and 30, and girls between 15 and 20. It was a rule of the Chow dyn. that marriages should take place in the middle of spring (Chow Le, II. vi. 54). This marriage would be about that time, and the peach tree was in flower; but it was only the latter circumstance which was in the poet's mind. | | 桃夭 that it is, perhaps, not worth while to resolve such lines as this in the above manner. 夭夭 with at the side) denotes the (Shwoh-wǎn, appearance of youth and elegance.' L.2.灼灼 is descriptive rather of the brilliance of the flowers than of their luxuriance, as Choo has it. The young peach tree is allusive of the bride in the flush of youth, and its brilliant flowers of her beauty. L.3. 之一是,‘this;’子="young lady. Maou and Ching take于as=往‘to go to.' But it is better to regard it as a particle, as in Ode II.1. 歸 here is used of the bride going to her husband's house. As Choo says, women speak of being married as going home Should we take 之子 謂嫁日歸). in the singular or plural? Lacharme translates it by puellae nobiles, and Hen Hëen (許謙; Yuen dyn.) says, The poet saw the thing going on from the flowering of the peach tree till the fruit was ripe; the young ladies were many.’ This seems to me very unpoetical. L.4. is the chamber appropriated to husband and wife; 家 is‘all within the door,'=our house. St.1. L.1. 之 may be taken as the sign of 室家 here, 家室 in st.2, and 家人 in the genitive, the whole line being in the young and beautiful time of the peach tree.' Still, is so constantly used throughout the She in the middle of lines, where we can only regard it as a particle, eking out the number of feet, st.3, convey the same idea, the terms being varied for the sake of the rhythm. Tso-she says that when a couple marry, the man has a 室 家; so that 室家 and the woman a are 之有 有桃 宜 桃 子葉之 子菁之 人。歸。蓁。夭。室。歸。實。夭。 2 The peach tree is young and elegant; 3 1 Abundant will be its fruit. This young lady is going to her future home, And will order well her house and chamber. The peach tree is young and elegant; Luxuriant are its leaves. This young lady is going to her future home, And will order well her family. VII. Too tseu. 干公武赳丁啄兔 兔 城。侯夫赳丁之罝肅罝 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets; Clang clang go the blows on the pegs. That stalwart, martial man Might be shield and wall to his prince. equivalent to husband and wife. Accordingly, Maou takes the line as meaning, 'Right is it they should be married without going beyond | The rhymes are–in st.1, 華 * 家 * cat. 5, t.1: in 2, 實室 cat. 12, t. 3; in 3, 蓁人, their proper years; and in this view he is fol- ib., t. 1. lowed by K'ang-shing. But to this there are two objections. 1st, the antecedent to #tis 之子, the girl, and the girl only. 2d, in the 4th line, must be construed as an active verb. So it is in the Great Learning,' Comm. ix.6, where the passage is quoted. St.2. L.2. Choo says fun denotes the abundance of the fruit, intimating that the young lady would have many children. Maou makes the term=' the appearance of the fruit,' inti' mating, that the lady had not beauty only, but also (woman's virtue.' Fun is properly the seeds of hemp, which are exceedingly numer ous; and hence it is applied to the fruit of other plants and trees to indicate its abundance. So, Lo Yuen (羅願; Sung dyn.), Wang Taou, and others. | Ode 7. , PRAISE OF A RABBIT-CATCHER, AS FIT TO BE A PRINCE'S MATE. Whether any parsidered in the note on the interpretation. ticular individual was intended will be con The generally accepted view is that the ode sets forth the influence of king Wăn (acc. to Choo), or of T.ae-sze (acc. to Maou), as so powerful and beneficial, that individuals in the lowest rank were made fit by it to occupy the highest posi tions. St.1. L.1. 罝 is defined in the Urh.ya as ‘a rabbit-net; to which Le Seun, the glos sarist,(李巡; end of the Han dyn.), adds, that the rabbit makes paths underground for itself. Choo makes descriptive of the careful manner in which the nets were set; Maou, of the reverent demeanour of the trapper. St.3. L.2. Tsin-ts'in sets forth the luxuriance It is difficult to choose between them. On Choo's view the piece is allusive; on Maou's, narrative. of the foliage,一至盛貌 赳施公赳施 于肃侯赳于肅 腹武中兔好武中免 心。夫林。罝。仇。夫。逵。罝。 2 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets, And placed where many ways meet. That stalwart, martial man Would be a good companion for his prince. 3 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets, And placed in the midst of the forest. That stalwart, martial man Might be head and heart to his prince. VIII. Fow-e. 采有薄茗采 采之言菅。采 1 We gather and gather the plantains; Now we may gather them. We gather and gather the plantains; Now we have got them. I have asked L.2. 丁(read chǎng) 丁 is intended to | from which 9 ways proceed. represent the sound of the blows on the pins or pegs used in setting the nets. Wang Taou and other scholars, whether such L.3. Both Maou and Choo give 赳赳: as ‘martial-like,' while the Shwoh-wăn defines the phrase by 輕勁有材力,‘light, vigorous, able, and strong.' L.4. - 'duke and marquis;' together,=prince. We are to under stand king Wăn by the designation. At the time to which the ode refers, he was not yet styled king, and, indeed, Choo takes the phrase as one proof that Wăn never assumed that title. go to Maou takes +=+T, so that gether, 'defender,' or 'wall of defence;' probably after Tso-she, in his narrative appended to the 12th year of duke Ching, ‘Shield andorah however, are suitable enough in the connection. St.2. L.2. 施 is read she, ‘to place,’‘to set.’ 中逵 and 中林 below, like 中谷 in Ode II. 逵=九達之道, a place a thoroughfare was not an unlikely place to catch rabbits in, and got no satisfactory answer. L.4. 仇一逑 in Ode I. There is a difficulty as to the rhyming of and . The latter is said to be here read, by poetical license, k'e. A better solution is to adopt the reading of with at the side, instead of, for which there is some evidence. St.3. L.4. 腹心='confidant and guide;' lit., 'belly and heart.' We do not use 'belly,' as the Chinese do. The rhynes are–in st.1, 罝夫, cat. 5. t. 1; 丁,城,cat.11: in2,罝夫逵仇 cat. 3 t.1 (this is a doubtful rhyme): in 3, 罝, 夫;林,心, cat. 7. t. 1. The alternate lines all rhyme, which is called 隔句韻 |