THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

THE BOOK OF POETEY.
PAET IV.
ODES OF THE TEMPLE AND THE ALTAE.
BOOK I. Sacrificial Odes of Chow.
SECTION I. DECADE OF TS'ING MEAOU.
TITLE or THE PART. This is simply in Chinese Sung;—meaning,
according to the Preface, "pieces in admiration of the embodied mani
festation of complete virtue, announcing to Spiritual Beings their achieve
ment thereof." Two other definitions are—" Songs for the music of the
ancestral temple," and " Songs for the music at sacrifices." I have com-
bined these two accounts of the pieces, though there are a few whose
only claim to have anything to do with sacrifices is that they are found
here. Of the pieces in the Second Book I will speak when we come to them.
—It has been mentioned in the prolegomena that some of the pieces do
not rhyme. This is probably the reason why they have not in this Book
been divided into stanzas and numbered.
TITLE OF THE BOOK. The pieces in this were all appropriate to the
temple services of the kings of Chow ; and they are arranged in sections,
two of which contain ten pieces each, and the third, like the third Book
of last Part, eleven. Yet all the sections are called Decades. Choo con
tends, in opposition to the older interpreters, and correctly in my opinion,
that of the thirty-one pieces in the Sung of Chow, while most were made
(or fixed) by the duke of Chow, there are some among them belonging to
the reign of king K'ang (B.C. 1077—1050), and even of a later date.
I.
The Ts'ing meartu; narrative. CELEBRATING THE REVERENTIAL
MANNER IN WHICH A SACRIFICE TO KING WAN WAS PERFORMED, ASD
FURTHER PRAISING HIM.
Choo agrees with the Preface in assigning the composition of this piece
to the time of the sacrifice mentioned in the Book of History, V. xiii. 29,
when, the building of Loh being completed, king Ching came to the new
city, and offered a red bull to Wan and the same to Woo.
BE I. ii.] THE BOOK OF POETEY. 351
Solemn and pure the ancestral temple stands.
The princes aiding in the service move
With reverent harmony. The numerous bands
Of officers their rapt devotion prove.
All these the virtues of king Wan pursue;
And while they think of him on high in heaven,
With grace and dignity they haste to do
The duties to them in his temple given.
Glory and honour follow Wan's great name,
And ne'er will men be weary of his fame.
II.
The Wei Teen eke ming; narrative. CELEBRATING THE VIRTUE or
KING WAN AS COMPARABLE TO THAT OF HEAVEN ; AND LOOKING TO
HIM FOR BLESSING IN THE FUTURE.
The Preface says that in this piece there is an announcement of the
realization of complete peace throughout the kingdom ; and the old in
terpreters referred it to a sacrifice to Wan by the duke of Chow, when he
had completed his Statutes for the new dynasty in the sixth year of hia
regency after the death of Woo. But neither the piece nor any ancient
testimony authorizes a more definite argument of the contents than that
which I have given.
Heaven by a deep and ceaseless law
Orders its ways with man.
Pure shone, without a single flaw, .
The virtue of king Wan.
To us he shows his kindness still.
As all our powers we strain
To be in concord with his will,
His favour we shall gain.
So may the last his throne to fill
His love and grace retain !
Latirie. By W. T. Mercer.
Jussa profunda taanent magni mandataque Cosli,
Et Regis probitas undique mira fuit.
Qua ratione petit Rex nunc monstrare favorem?
Sit satis; et nobis munera grata fluant:
Nos inter Tiegemque bonum concordia regnet,
Et mentem similem saacla futura colant.
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