| Shih King: Minor Odes: The Fourth Decade, or that of Khî fû | Title page | Shih King: Minor Odes: The Sixth Decade, or that of Pei Shan |
A LAMENTATION OVER THE RECKLESSNESS AND INCAPACITY OF THE KING AND HIS COUNSELLORS. DIVINATION HAS BECOME OF NO AVAIL, AND HEAVEN IS DESPAIRINGLY APPEALED TO.
This is referred, like several of the pieces in the fourth decade, to the time of king Yû.
The angry terrors of compassionate Heaven Extend through this lower world. (The king’s) counsels and plans are crooked and bad; When will he stop (in his course)? Counsels that are good he will not follow, And those that are not good he employs. When I look at his counsels and plans, I am greatly pained.
Now they agree, and now they defame one another;—The case is greatly to be deplored. If a counsel be good, They are all found opposing it. If a counsel be bad, They are all found according with it. When I look at such counsels and plans, What will they come to?
Our tortoise-shells are wearied out, And will not tell us anything about the plans. The counsellors are very many, But on that account nothing is accomplished. The speakers fill the court, But [ p. 359 ] who dares to take any responsibility on himself? We are as if we consulted (about a journey) without taking a step in advance, And therefore did not get on on the road.
SOME OFFICER IN A TIME OF DISORDER AND MISGOVERNMENT URGES ON HIS BROTHERS THE DUTY OF MAINTAINING THEIR OWN VIRTUE, AND OF OBSERVING THE GREATEST CAUTION.
Small is the cooing dove, But it flies aloft to heaven. My heart is wounded with sorrow, And I think of our forefathers. When the dawn is breaking, and I cannot sleep, The thoughts in my breast are of our parents.
Men who are grave and wise, Though they drink, are mild and masters of themselves; But those who are benighted and ignorant Become devoted to drink, and more so daily. Be careful, each of you, of your deportment; What Heaven confers, (when once lost), is not regained [^422].
The greenbeaks come and go, Picking up grain about the stackyard. Alas for the distressed and the solitary, Deemed fit inmates for the prisons! With a handful of grain I go out and divine [^423], How I may be able to become good.
[ p. 360 ]
THE ELDEST SON AND HEIR-APPARENT OF KING YÛ BEWAILS HIS DEGRADATION, APPEALING TO HEAVEN AS TO HIS INNOCENCE, AND COMPLAINING OF ITS CASTING HIS LOT IN SUCH A TIME.
It is allowed that this piece is clearly the composition of a banished son, and there is no necessity to call in question the tradition preserved in the Preface which prefers it to Î-_kh_iû, the eldest son of king Yû. His mother was a princess of the House of Shan; but when Yû became enamoured of Sze of Pâo, the queen was degraded, and the son banished to Shan.
With flapping wings the crows Come back, flying all in a flock [^424]. Other people are happy, And I only am full of misery. What is my offence against Heaven? What is my crime? My heart is sad; What is to be done?
Even the mulberry trees and the rottleras Must be regarded with reverence [^425]; But no one is to be looked up to like a father, No one is to be depended on as a mother. Have I not a connexion with the hairs (of my father)? Did I not dwell in the womb (of my mother)? O Heaven, who gave me birth! How was it at so inauspicious a time?
[ p. 361 ]
SOME ONE, SUFFERING FROM THE KING THROUGH SLANDER, APPEALS TO HEAVEN, AND GOES ON TO DWELL ON THE NATURE AND EVIL OF SLANDER.
This piece has been referred to the time of king Lî, B.C. 878 to 828.
O vast and distant Heaven, Who art called our parent, That, without crime or offence, I should suffer from disorders thus great! The terrors of great Heaven are excessive, But indeed I have committed no crime. (The terrors. of) great Heaven are very excessive, But indeed I have committed no offence.
A EUNUCH, HIMSELF THE VICTIM OF SLANDER, COMPLAINS OF HIS FATE, AND WARNS AND DENOUNCES HIS ENEMIES; APPEALING AGAINST THEM, AS HIS LAST RESORT, TO HEAVEN.
The proud are delighted, And the troubled are in sorrow. O azure Heaven! O azure Heaven! Look on those proud men, Pity those who are troubled.
Those slanderers! Who devised their schemes for them? I would take those slanderers, And throw them to wolves and tigers. If these refused to devour them, I would cast them into the north [^426]. If the north refused to receive them, I would throw them into the hands of great (Heaven) [^427].
[ p. 362 ]
AN OFFICER OF ONE OF THE STATES OF THE EAST DEPLORES THE EXACTIONS MADE FROM THEM BY THE GOVERNMENT, COMPLAINS OF THE FAVOUR SHOWN TO THE WEST, CONTRASTS THE MISERY OF THE PRESENT WITH THE HAPPINESS OF THE PAST, AND APPEALS TO THE STARS OF HEAVEN IDLY BEHOLDING THEIR CONDITION.
I give the whole of this piece, because it is an interesting instance of Sabian views. The writer, despairing of help from men, appeals to Heaven; but he distributes the Power that could help him among many heavenly bodies, supposing that there are spiritual beings in them, taking account of human affairs.
Well loaded with millet were the dishes, And long and curved were the spoons of thorn-wood. The way to Kâu was like a whetstone, And straight as an arrow. (So) the officers trod it, And the common people looked on it. When I look back and think of it, My tears run down in streams.
In the states of the east, large and small, The looms are empty. Then shoes of dolichos fibre Are made to serve to walk on the hoar-frost. Slight and elegant gentlemen [^428] Walk along that road to Kâu. Their going and coming makes my heart sad.
Ye cold waters, issuing variously from the spring, Do not soak the firewood I have cut. Sorrowful, I awake and sigh;—Alas for us toiled people! The firewood has been cut;—Would that it were [ p. 363 ] conveyed home! Alas for us the toiled people! Would that we could have rest [^429]!
The sons of the east Are summoned only (to service), without encouragement; While the sons of the west Shine in splendid dresses. The sons of boatmen Have furs of the bear and grisly bear. The sons of the, poorest families Form the officers in public employment.
If we present them with spirits, They regard them as not fit to be called liquor. If we give them long girdle pendants with their stones, They do not think them long enough.
There is the Milky Way in heaven [^430], Which looks down on us in light; And the three stars together are the Weaving Sisters [^431], Passing in a day through seven stages (of the sky).
Although they go through their seven stages, They complete no bright work for us. Brilliant Shine the Draught Oxen [^432], But they do not serve to draw our carts. In the east there is Lucifer [^433]; In the west there is Hesperus [^433]; Long and curved [ p. 364 ] is the Rabbit Net of the sky [^434];—But they only occupy their places.
In the south is the Sieve [^435], But it is of no use to sift. In the north is the Ladle [1], But it lades out no liquor. In the south is the Sieve, Idly showing its mouth. In the north is the Ladle, Raising its handle in the west.
| Shih King: Minor Odes: The Fourth Decade, or that of Khî fû | Title page | Shih King: Minor Odes: The Sixth Decade, or that of Pei Shan |
359:1 ‘What Heaven confers’ is, probably, the good human nature which by vice, and especially by drunkenness, may be irretrievably ruined. ↩︎