The Chinese Classics

relate, and when all the previous kings of the dynasty and the early lords of Shang, and their famous ministers and advisers, would be associated in the service.

The mother of Seeh was a daughter of the State of Sung; but this Sung is not to be confounded with the dukedom of Sung under the Chow dynasty. Where this earlier Sung (the name for it is a different Chinese character) was, I do not know.

Seeh is "the dark king" in st. 2. Why he was so styled is a mystery. Perhaps there is an allusion to the legend about his birth, as the name for the swallow in III., line 1, is "the dark bird." "The small State "with which he was first charged would be Shang, which under him became "great." Seang-t'oo appears in the genealogical lists as Seeh's grandson. He would seem, from what is said here, to have been employed under the Hea sovereigns, as a director or president of all the other princes. From Seang-t'oo the poet hurries on to Tang. His chief opponent was, of course, Këeh, the last king of Hea. Këeh's three great helpers were the princes of Wei (or Ch'e-wei), Koo, and Keun-woo; but the exact site of those principalities cannot be made out. Their lords are represented as being descended from Chuh-yung, a son of the ancient Chuen-hëuh.

On E yin, or A-hang, see the Shoo or Book of History, IV. iv.

What the shaking and peril which threatened Shang immediately before T'ang were we do not know.

1 The lords of Shang wisdom profound had shown,
And omens of their greatness long were known.
When the great flood its waters spread around,
And Yu alone to curb its power was found,-
Yu who the regions of the land defined,
And to the great fiefs boundaries assigned,
Till o'er the realm was plainly marked each State,-
Even then the House of Sung 'gan to be great.
God viewed its daughter's son with favouring grace;-
He founded Shang; to him its kings their lineage trace.

2 He, the dark king, ruled with a powerful sway,
Success attendant on his glorious way.

First with a small State charged, then with a large, He failed not well his duties to discharge. His rules of conduct he himself obeyed, And prompt response all to his lessons made. Next came Seang-t'oo, the prince of ardent soul, And from Hea's centre, to the four seas' goal, Submissively all owned and bowed to his control. 3 God in His favour Shang's House would not leave, And then T'ang rose that favour to receive.

T'ang's birth was not from Seeh too far removed.
His sagely reverence daily greater proved.
For long to Heaven his brilliant influence rose,
And while his acts the fear of God disclose,
T'ang as fit model God for the nine regions chose.

4 To him gave up the princes, great and small,
The ensigns of their rank; on him they all,
Like to the pendants of a banner, hung :—
So from indulgent Heaven his greatness sprung!
T'ang used no violence, nor was he slow;
Nor hard, nor soft, extremes he did not know.
His royal rules abroad were gently spread;-
All dignities and wealth were gathered round his head.

5 To him from all the States their tribute flowed,
And like a strong steed, he sustained the load.
Such was the favour he received from Heaven!
Proof of his valour through the realm was given.
His steadfast soul 'mid terrors never quailed;
Nor wavered he by troublous doubts assailed;-
On to the sovereign seat he struggled, and prevailed.

6 The martial king aloft his banner reared,
And in the field against his foes appeared.
He grasped his battle-axe with reverent hand;
'Gainst the attack his foes could make no stand.
His progress was like march of blazing fire;
None could resist the torrent of his ire.

Like root with three shoots was the chiefest foe ;-
Advance none made he, and no growth could show.
Of the nine regions T'ang possession got;

First with the lords of Wei and Koo he fought, And then Keun-woo's strong chief, and Keeh of Hea he smote.

7 In the mid time, between Seang-t'oo and T'ang,
A shaking came, and peril threatened Shang.
But Heaven approved T'ang as its chosen son,
And gave for minister the great E Yun,-
A-hang, who for the king a prosperous issue won.

The Yin woo; narrative. CELEBRATING THE WAR OF WOO-TING AGAINST KING-TS'00, ITS SUCCESS, AND THE GENERAL HAPPINESS AND VIRTUE OF HIS REIGN ;-MADE, PROBABLY, WHEN A SPECIAL AND PERMANENT TEMPLE WAS MADE FOR HIM AS THE KAOU TSUNG, "THE HIGH AND HONOURED" KING OF SHANG.

After Woo-ting's death, his Spirit-tablet would be shrined in the ancestral temple of Shang, and he would have his share in the seasonal sacrifices; but several reigns would elapse before there was a necessity for any other arrangement to prevent his table from being removed and his share in the sacrifices from being discontinued. Hence some critics have referred the composition of the piece to the reign of Te-yih, the last but one of the sovereigns of Shang.

In King-ts'oo we have two names of the same State combined together, just as we have occasion to notice the combination Yin-shang as the name of the Shang or Yin dynasty. But the combination here is more perplexing. Both the names of Yin and Shang were in common use long before the time when their combination occurs in the She; we should say, however, but for this ode, that the name of Ts'oo was not in use at all till long after the Shang dynasty. The name King appears several times in the Ch'un Ts'ew in the annals of duke Chwang of Loo, and then it gives place to the name Ts'oo in the 1st year of duke He, and subsequently disappears itself altogether. The common opinion is that the name of Ts'oo did not come into use till between four and five centuries after the overthrow of the Shang dynasty. If the ode before us be a genuine production of the Shang dynasty, that opinion of course is incorrect. Some, however, contend that it should be referred to the time of duke Sëang of Sung; and the balance of the argument seems to me to incline in favour of that view.

"The Keang of Te," or " the Te-këang," still existed in the time of the Han dynasty, occupying portions of the present Kan-suh. Wooting's reign, according to the common chronology, extended over fiftynine years.

1 Swift moved with martial force the king of Yin,
And King-ts'oo he attacked, resolved to win.
Its dangerous passes fearlessly he sought,
And then its multitudes together brought.
Soon was the country subject at his feet ;-
Such triumph proved him Tang's descendant meet.

2 "Ye people," thus to King-ts'oo's hosts he said,
"My kingdom's southern part your home have made.
Of old, when the successful T'ang bore sway,
The States made haste their offerings to pay.

The distant Keang of Te in homage came;

No chief then dared deny our sovereign claim. Shall ye, who dwell much nearer than the Keang, Transgress what long has been th' unvaried rule of Shang?

3 "Twas Heaven assigned to all the States their bounds; But where within the sphere of Yu's grand rounds Their capitals were placed, then every year, As business called, their princes did appear Before our king, and to him humbly said, 'Prepare not us to punish or upbraid,

For we the due regard to husbandry have paid.'”

4 When Heaven's high glance this lower world surveys, Attention to the people first it pays.

Aware of this, our king impartial was,
Nor punished so as justice to o'erpass.
'Gainst idleness he took precaution sure;—
So o'er the States his rule did firm endure,
And all his life he made his happiness secure.

5 Well ordered was his capital, and grand,
And served as model good to all the land.
Men recognized his energy as great;

His glorious fame rang loud through every State.
Long was his life, and tranquil was his end;
He blesses and protects us who from him descend.

6 Eager we climbed the King hill near at hand,
Where round and straight the pine and cypress stand.
We felled these to the ground, and hither brought,
And, reverent, hewed them to the shape we sought.
Long from the wall project the beams of pine,
And numerous rise the pillars, large and fine ;—
So have we built this house for Woo-ting's peaceful shrine.

INDEXES.

INDEX I.

OF SUBJECTS.

Parts of the whole Book are indicated by I., II., &c.; separate Books
by i., ii.; Parts of a Book by [i.], [ii.], &c.; the odes by I., II., &c. ;
and the stanzas by 1, 2, &c.

References to Parts are preceded by: to Books of the same Part, and
odes of the same Book, by ;.

Abode, the tranquil (of the tablet of
Woo-ting), IV. iii. `V. 6.
Absence of a friend, lamenting the, I.
i. III.; of a husband, I. ii. III.;
VIII. iii. VIII.; v. VIII.; vi.
II.; xi. III.; VII.: II. viii. II.;
of soldiers from their families, I. iii.
VI.; vi. IV.

Abundance and prosperity, II. ii. III.:
III. ii. IV.; iii. V.; IX.
Accomplished one, the (king Wăn),
III. iii. VIII. 5.

Accomplishments of duke Woo of Wei,
I. v. I.

Accoutrements, warlike, II. iii. III.
Acred height, the, II. v. VI. 7.
Acres, I. viii. VI. 3: II. vi. VI. 1;
ten, I. ix. V.; south-lying, I. xv. I.
1: II. vi. VII. 1, 3; VÌII. 1, 4: IV.
i. [iii.] V.; VI.; newly cultivated,
II.iii. IV.; defining the, III. i. III.

Address of Woo-ting to the people of
King-ts'oo, III. iii. V. 2.
Admirable officers of king Ch'ing, III.
ii. VIII.; how!, IV. iii. I.
Admiration of a husband, I. ii. VIII.;
of a lady, I. xii. X.; of Shuh-twan,
I. vii. III.; IV.; of hounds and
hunting, I. viii. VIII.; of the duke
of Chow, I. xv. VI.; of princely
men, II. viii. IV.

Admonition, an, I. xii. VI.; to king
Ch'ing, III. ii. VIII.; to fellow-
officers, III. ii. IX. 5; X.; duke
Woo's to himself, III. iii. II.

Advice, the difficulty of giving, to a
bad king, II. iv. X.; v. I.
Adviser, the sovereign of Yin has no,
III. iii. I. 4.

Affinity, by marriage, II. iv. IV.;
vii. III. 3; IX.

Age, from age to, III. i. I. 2, 3; the
words of, III. ii. X. 4.

Aged men, II. iv. VIII. 5; honour
done to the, III. ii. II.; spirits give
comfort to the, IV. i. [iii.] V. See
Longevity.

Agricultural pursuits, longing for, I.
x. VIII.; described, I. xv. I.: II.
vi. VI. 1V. i. [iii.] V.; VI.;
prosperity of, II. ii. IV. 1, 2; neg-
lected, II. iv. IX. 5; and sacrifice,
II. vi. V.; VI.; VII.; VIII.;
of How-tseih, III. ii. I.: IV. i. (i.]
X.; the threefold labours of, lll.
iii. IX. 2; instructions in, IV. i.
[.] I.; II.; attention to, IV. iii.
V. 3.

Ah! Ah!, IV. i. [ii.] I.; iii. II.
Alarm, a note of, I. xv. II. 3.
Alas! III. iii. I.'; III. 2; XI. 7: IV.
i. [iii.] I.

Alienation of a lover, I. xii. VII.;
of an old friend, II. v. VII.
Altar, the great, reared, III. i. III. 7.
Altars, the border, III. iii. IV. 2.
Ancestor, think of your, III. i. I. 5, 6;
like your, III. ii. VIII. 2; of the
marquis of Han, III. iii. VII. 6;
of the earl of Shaou, III. iii. VIII.
5, 6; How-tseih, the great, IV. ii.

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The Chinese Classics, כרך 3