Part 6 (2/2)

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.

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