THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

322 THE BOOK OF POETRY. [PART III,
Why call such men your offices to hold ?
O'er your affairs why such men set ?
' Heaven made them thus, so insolent and bold !'
But 'tis from you their strength they get."
3 Thus to the tyrant Show our king Wan said:—
" Alas ! alas ! Yin's king so great,
You honour not the good, but in their stead
Oppressors whom the people hate.
To you with baseless stories they reply,
And thieves and robbers by them stand.
Their oaths and maledictions fiercely fly,
Ceaseless and deep, throughout the land."
4 Thus to the tyrant Show our king Wan said :—
" Alas ! alas ! 0 king of Yin,
Fierce is your will, here in the court displayed,
And only hatred thus you win.
Your proper virtue you have never sought,
And thus none good surround your throne.
Of what true virtue is you take no thought,
Hence are your nobles worthless known."
5 Thus to the tyrant Show our king Wan said :—
" Alas ! alas ! Yin's king so great,
Not Heaven, but spirits, flush your face with red,
That evil thus you imitate.
You do in all your conduct what is wrong.
Darkness to you the same as light,
Your noisy feasts and revels you prolong;
And day through you is black as night."
G Thus to the tyrant Show our king Wan said :—
" Alas ! alas ! 0 king of Yin,
Round you it is as if cicadas made,
And bubbling soup, their ceaseless din.
Things, great and small, fast to perdition go,
While you pursue your reckless game.
Our Middle States with indignation glow; '
The Demon lands as loudly blame."
7 Thus to the tyrant Show our king Wan said :—
" Alas ! alas ! O Yin's great king,
III. II.] THE BOOK OP POETRY. 323
'Tis Yin, not God, has caused this time of dread,
Yin that old ways away would fling.
Old men and wise may not give you their trust,
But statutes and old laws remain.
Now is Yin's fortune crumbling to the dust,
Because obedience you disdain."
8 Thus to the tyrant Show king Wan did speak : —
" Alas ! alas ! O king of Yin,
For Yin its beacon was not far to seek ; —
In Hea's last king its light was seen.
True is the lesson in the saying taught ; —
'While leaf and branch still vigorous grow,
A tree may fall. And what that fall has wrought ?
Its roots uptorn the cause will show.' "
II.
The Yih ; narrative, excepting st. 9, which is allusive, CONTAINING
VAEIOUS COUNSELS WHICH DUKE WOO OF WEI MADE TO ADMONISH
HIMSELF, WHEN HE WAS OVEE HIS NINETIETH YEAE ;—ESPECIALLY
ON THE DUTY OF A EULEE TO RE CAREFUL OF HIS OUTWABD DE
MEANOUR, AND TO RECEIVE WITH DOCILITY INSTEUCTIONS DELIVEEED
TO HIM.
Ode VI. in the 7th Book of last Part is also attributed, we saw, to the
same duke Woo, and there is a remarkable similarity in the structure
of the two pieces and in many of the phrases. Especially do there ap
pear in both the duty of attending to the outward deportment, and the
way in which that is liable to be disordered by drunkenness. The
authority for attributing the composition of the piece to duke Woo is the
statement of the Preface, and an article in the " Narratives of the States,"
—a Work often ascribed to the author of the Tso-chuen. This article
relates how Woo, at the age of 95, insisted on his miuisters and officers
being instant, in season and out of season, to admonish him on his con
duct ; and concludes by saying that " he made the warnings of the E to
admonish himself." The E is taken, correctly, I believe, to be only
another name for the Till.
Thus the speaker throughout the piece is Woo, and the "young son,"
whom he sometimes addresses, is himself also. The conception of the
writer in taking such a method to admonish himself is almost unique ;
and the execution of it is successful.
1 Outward demeanour, cool and grave,
Reveals who inward virtue have.
People in common parlance say,
" Wise men stupidity display."
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