Part 9 (1/2)

They formed a society, whose members helped one another in their field work, so that their harvest might be said to be carried home at the same time. Then would come the thres.h.i.+ng or treading, and winnowing, after which the groin would be brought into the houses.

2 It has been observed that under the Kau dynasty, red was the colour of the sacrificial victims. So it was for the ancestral temple but in sacrificing to the spirits of the land and grain, the victim was a 'yellow' bull with black lips.]

sacrifice, in the ancestral temple, to the personators of the dead, described on p. 301. Ku Hsi denies this, and holds simply that it belongs to the feast after a sacrifice, without further specifying what sacrifice. The old view is probably the more correct.

In his silken robes, clean and bright, With his cap on his head, looking so respectful, From the hall he goes to the foot of the stairs, And (then) from the sheep to the oxen[1]. (He inspects) the tripods, large and small, And the curved goblet of rhinoceros horn[2]. The good spirits are mild, (But) there is no noise, no insolence:--An auspice (this) of great longevity.

ODE 8. THE KO.

AN ODE IN PRAISE OF KING Wu, AND RECOGNISING THE DUTY TO FOLLOW HIS COURSE.

This was sung, according to the Preface, at the conclusion of the dance in honour of king Wu;--see on the last piece of the second decade.

Oh! powerful was the king's army, But he nursed it, in obedience to circ.u.mstances, while the

[1. The subject of these lines must be an ordinary officer, for to such the silk robes and a purple cap were proper, when he was a.s.sisting at the sacrifices of the king or of a feudal prince. There were two buildings outside the princ.i.p.al gate leading to the ancestral temple, and two corresponding inside, in which the personators of the departed ancestors were feasted. We must suppose the officer in question descending from the upper hall to the vestibule of the gate, to inspect the dishes, arranged for the feast, and then proceeding to see the animals, and the tripods for boiling the flesh, &c.

2 The goblet of rhinoceros horn was to be drained, as a penalty, by any one offending at the feast against the rules of propriety; but here there was no occasion for it.]

time was yet dark. When the time was clearly bright, He thereupon donned his grand armour. We have been favoured to receive What the martial king accomplished. To deal aright with what we have inherited, We have to be sincere imitators of thy course, (O king).

ODE 9. THE HWAN.

CELEBRATING THE MERIT AND SUCCESS OF KING Wu.

According to a statement in the Zo Kwan, this piece also was sung in connexion with the dance of Wu. The Preface says it was used in declarations of war, and in sacrificing to G.o.d and the Father of War.

Perhaps it came to be used on such occasions; but we must refer it in the first place to the reign of king Khang.

There is peace throughout our myriad regions. There has been a succession of plentiful years:--Heaven does not weary in its favour. The martial king Wu Maintained (the confidence of) his officers, And employed them all over the kingdom, So securing the establishment of his family. Oh! glorious was he in the sight of Heaven, Which kinged him in the room (of Shang).

ODE 10. THE LaI.

CELEBRATING THE PRAISE OF KING WAN.

This is the only account of the piece that can be given from itself. The Zo Kwan, however, refers it to the dance of king Wu; and the Preface says it contains the words with which Wu accompanied his grant of fiefs and appanages in the ancestral temple to his princ.i.p.al followers.

King Wan laboured earnestly:--Right is it we should have received (the kingdom). We will diffuse (his virtue), ever cheris.h.i.+ng the thought of him; Henceforth we will seek only the settlement (of the kingdom). It was he through whom came the appointment of Kau. Oh! let us ever cherish the thought of him.

ODE 11. THE PAN.

CELEBRATING THE GREATNESS OF KaU, AND ITS FIRM POSSESSION OF THE KINGDOM, AS SEEN IN THE PROGRESSES OF ITS REIGNING SOVEREIGN.

In the eighth piece of the first decade we have an ode akin to this, relating a tentative progress of king Wu, to test the acceptance of his sovereignty. This is of a later date, and should be referred, probably, to the reign of king Khang, when the dynasty was fully acknowledged.

Some critics, however, make it, like the three preceding, a portion of what was sung at the Wu dance.

Oh! great now is Kau. We ascend the high hills, Both those that are long and narrow, and the lofty mountains. Yes, and (we travel) along the regulated Ho, All under the sky, a.s.sembling those who now respond to me.