The Shih King, or, Book of Poetry Part 26

AN OFFICER OF WEI SETS FORTH HIS HARD LOT, THROUGH DISTRESSES AND THE BURDENS LAID UPON HIM, AND HIS SILENCE UNDER IT IN SUBMISSION TO HEAVEN.

I go out at the north gate, With my heart full of sorrow. Straitened am I and poor, And no one takes knowledge of my distress. So it is! Heaven has done it[1];--What then shall I say?

BOOK IV. THE ODES OF YUNG.

See the preliminary note on p. 433.

ODE 1. THE PAI KaU.

PROTEST OF A WIDOW AGAINST BEING URGED TO MARRY AGAIN, AND HER APPEAL TO HER MOTHER AND TO HEAVEN.

THIS piece, it is said, was made by Kung Kiang, the widow of Kung-po, son of the marquis Hsi Of Wei (B.C. 855-814). Kung-po having died an early death, her parents (who must have been the marquis of Khi and his wife or one of the ladies of his harem) wanted to force her to a second marriage, against which she protests. The ode was preserved, no doubt, as an example of

[1. The 'Complete Digest of Comments on the Shih' warns its readers not to take 'Heaven' here as synonymous with Ming, 'what is decreed or Commanded.' The writer does not go on to define the precise idea which he understood the character to convey. This appears to be what we often mean by 'Providence,' when we speak of anything permitted, rather than appointed, by the supreme ruling Power.]

what the Chinese have always considered a great virtue,--the refusal of a, widow to marry again.

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There in the middle of the Ho [1]. With his two tufts of hair falling over his forehead [2], He was my mate; And I swear that till death I will have no other. O mother, O Heavens[3], Why will you not understand me?

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood, There by the side of the Ho.

With his two tufts of hair falling over his forehead, He was my only one; And I swear that till death I will not do the evil thing. O mother, O Heaven, Why will you not understand me?

ODE 3, STANZA 2. THE KuN-DZE KIEH LaO.

CONTRAST BETWEEN THE BEAUTY AND SPLENDOUR OF HSuAN KIANG AND HER VICIOUSNESS.

Hsuan Kiang was a princess of Khi, Who, towards the close of the seventh century B.C., became wife to the marquis of Wei, known as duke Hsuan.

She was beautiful and unfortunate, but various things are related of her indicative of the grossest immoralities prevailing in the court of Wei.

How rich and splendid Is her pheasant-figured

[1. These allusive lines, probably, indicate the speaker's widowhood, Which left her like 'a boat floating about on the water.'

2. Such was the mode in which the hair was kept, while a boy or young man's parents were alive, parted into two tufts from the pia mater, and brought down as low as the eyebrows on either side of the forehead.

3. Mao, thought that the lady intended her father by 'Heaven;' while Ku held that her father may have been dead, and that the mother is called Heaven, with reference to the kindness and protection that she ought to show. There seems rather to be in the term a wild, and not very intelligent, appeal to the supreme Power in heaven.]

robe[1]! Her black hair in ma.s.ses like clouds, No false locks does she descend to. There are her earplugs of jade, Her comb-pin of ivory, And her high forehead, so white. She appears like a visitant from heaven!

She appears like a G.o.ddess[2].

ODE 6, STANZAS 1 AND 2. THE TING KIH FANG KuNG.

CELEBRATING THE PRAISE OF DUKE WIN;--HIS DILIGENCE, FORESIGHT, USE OF DIVINATION, AND OTHER QUALITIES.

The state of Wei was reduced to extremity by an irruption of some northern hordes in B.C. 660, and had nearly disappeared from among the states of Kau. Under the marquis Wei, known in history as duke Wan, its fortunes revived, and he became a sort of second founder of the state.

When Ting culminated (at night-fall)[3] He began to build the palace at Khu [4], Determining

[1. The lady is introduced arrayed in the gorgeous robes worn by the princess of a state in the ancestral temple.

2 P. Lacharme translated these two concluding lines by 'Tu primo aspectu coelos (pulchritudine), et imperatorem (majestate) adaequas,' without any sanction of the Chinese critics; and moreover there was no Ti (###) in the sense of imperator then in China. The sovereigns of Kau were w.a.n.g or kings. Ku Hsi expands the lines thus:--'Such is the beauty of her robes and appearance, that beholders are struck with awe, as if she were a spiritual being.' Hsu Khien (Yuan dynasty) deals with them thus:--With such splendour of beauty and dress, how is it that she is here? She has come down from heaven I She is a spiritual being!'

3 Ting is the name of a small s.p.a.ce in the heavens, embracing /alpha/ Markab and another star of Pegasus. Its culminating at night-fall was the signal that the labours of husbandry were over for the year, and that building operations should be taken in hand. Great as was the urgency for the building of his new capital, duke Win would not take it in hand till the proper time for such a labour was arrived.

4 Khu, or Khu-khiu, was the new capital of Wei, in the present district of Khang-wu, department Zhao-kau, Shan-tung.]

its aspects by means of the sun. He built the palace at Khu. He planted about it hazel and chesnut trees, The i, the Thung, the Dze, and the varnish tree. Which, when cut down, might afford materials for lutes.

He ascended those old walls, And thence surveyed (the site of) Khu. He surveyed Khu and Thang[1], With the lofty hills and high elevations about. He descended and examined the mulberry trees. He then divined by the tortoise-sh.e.l.l, and got a favourable response [2]; And thus the issue has been truly good.

BOOK V. THE ODES OF WEI.

IT has been said on the t.i.tle of Book iii, that Wei at first was the eastern portion of the old domain of the kings of Shang. With this a brother of king Wu, called Khang-shu, was invested. The princ.i.p.ality was afterwards increased by the absorption of Phei and Yung. It came to embrace portions of the present provinces of Kih-li, Shan-tung, and Ho-nan. It outlasted the dynasty of Kau itself, the last prince of Wei being reduced to the ranks of the people only during the dynasty of Khin.

ODE 4, STANZAS I AND 2. THE MANG.

AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN, WHO HAD BEEN SEDUCED INTO AN IMPROPER CONNEXION, NOW CAST OFF, RELATES AND BEMOANS HER SAD CASE.

An extract is given from the pathetic history here related, because it shows how divination was used among the common people, and entered generally into the ordinary affairs of life.

A simple-looking lad you were, Carrying cloth

[1. Thang was the name of a town, evidently not far from Khu.

2. We have seen before how divination was resorted to on occasion of new undertakings, especially in proceeding to rear a city.]

to exchange it for silk. (But) you came not so to purchase silk;-You came to make proposals to me. I convoyed you through the Khi [1], As far as Tun-khiu [2], 'It is not I,' (I said), 'who would protract the time; But you have had no good go-between. I pray you be not angry, And let autumn be the time.'

I ascended that ruinous wall, To look towards Fu-kwan [3]; And when I saw (you) not (coming from) it, My tears flowed in streams. When I did see (you coming from) Fu-kwan, I laughed and I spoke. You had consulted, (you said), the tortoisesh.e.l.l and the divining stalks, And there was nothing unfavourable in their response [4]. 'Then come,' (I said), 'with your carriage, And I will remove with my goods.'

BOOK VI. THE ODES OF THE ROYAL DOMAIN.

KING Wan, it has been seen, had for his capital the city of Fang, from which his son, king Wu, moved the seat of government to Hao. In the time of king Khang, a city was built by the duke

[1. The Khi was a famous river of Wei.

2. Tun-khiu was a well-known place--'the mound or height of Tun'-south of the Wei.