Part 15 (1/2)

ODE 6. THE HSIN NAN SHAN.

HUSBANDRY TRACED TO ITS FIRST AUTHOR; DETAILS ABOUT IT, GOING ON TO THE SUBJECT OF SACRIFICES TO ANCESTORS.

The Preface refers this piece to the reign of king Yu; but there is nothing. in it to suggest the idea of its having been made in a time of disorder and misgovernment. 'The distant descendant' in the first stanza is evidently the princ.i.p.al in the sacrifice of the last two stanzas:--according to Ku, a n.o.ble or great landholder in the royal domain; according to others, some one of the kings of Kau. I incline myself to this latter view. The three pieces,

[1. These uncles and cousins were all present at the sacrifice, and of the same surname as the princ.i.p.al. The feast to them was to show his peculiar affection for his relatives.

2. The feast was given in the apartment of the temple behind the hall where the sacrifice had been performed, so that the musicians are represented as going in to continue at the feast the music they had discoursed at the sacrifice.

3. The transition to the second person here is a difficulty. We can hardly make the speech, made by some one of the guests on behalf of all the others, commence here. We must come to the conclusion that the ode was written, in compliment to the sacrificer, by one of the relatives who shared in the feast; and so here he addresses him directly.]

of which this is the middle one, seem all to be royal odes. The mention of 'the southern hill' strongly confirms this view.

Yes, (all about) that southern hill Was made manageable by Yu [1]. Its plains and marshes being opened up, It was made into fields by the distant descendant. We define their boundaries, We form their smaller divisions, And make the acres lie, here to the south, there to the east.

The heavens overhead are one arch of clouds, Snowing in mult.i.tudinous flakes; There is super-added the drizzling rain. When (the land) has received the moistening, Soaking influence abundantly, It produces all our kinds of grain.

The boundaries and smaller divisions are nicely adjusted, And the millets yield abundant crops, The harvest of the distant descendant. We proceed to make therewith spirits and food, To supply our representatives of the departed, and our guests;--To obtain long life, extending over myriads of years.

In the midst of the fields are the huts[2], And

[1. There is here a recognition of the work of the great Yu, as the real founder of the kingdom of China, extending the territory of former elective chiefs, and opening up the country. 'The southern hill' bounded the prospect to the south from the capital of Kau, and hence the writer makes mention of it. He does not mean to confine the work of Yu to that part of the country; but, on the other hand, there is nothing in his language to afford a confirmation to the account given in the third Part of the SU of that hero's achievements.

2. In every King, or s.p.a.ce of 900 Chinese acres or mau, a.s.signed to eight families, there were in the Centre 100 mau of 'public fields,'

belonging to the government, and cultivated by the husbandmen in common.

In this s.p.a.ce of 100 mau, two mau and a half were again -a.s.signed to each family, and on them were erected the huts in which they lived, while they were actively engaged in their agricultural labours.]

along the bounding divisions are gourds. The fruit is sliced and pickled, To be presented to our great ancestors, That their distant descendant may have long life, And receive the blessing of Heaven [1].

We sacrifice (first) with clear spirits, And then follow with a red bull; Offering them to our ancestors, (Our lord) holds the knife with tinkling bells, To lay open the hair of the victim, And takes the blood and fat [2].

Then we present, then we offer; All round the fragrance is diffused.

Complete and brilliant is the sacrificial service; Grandly come our ancestors. They will reward (their descendant) with great blessing, Long life, years without end.

ODE 7. THE PHu THIEN.

PICTURES OF HUSBANDRY, AND SACRIFICES CONNECTED WITH IT. HAPPY UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE PEOPLE AND THEIR SUPERIORS.

It is difficult to say who the 'I' in the piece is, but evidently he and the 'distant descendant' are different persons. I suppose he may have been an officer, who had charge of the farms, as we may call them, in the royal domain.

Bright are those extensive fields, A tenth of whose produce is annually levied [3]. I take the old

[1. Here, as in so many other places, the sovereign Power, ruling in the lots of men, is referred to as Heaven.

2. The fat was taken from the victim, and then burnt along with fragrant herbs, so as to form a cloud of incense. On the taking of the 'blood,'