THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

118 THE BOOK OF POETET. [PART I.
If haply thou should'st say that I
Am not iu this sincere,
I swear its truth by that day's eye,
Whose piercing glance I fear.
The JZ'ew chung yew ma; narrative. A WOMAN LONGS FOE THE
PRESENCE OF HER LOVERS, WHO, SHE THINKS, ABE DETAINED FROM
HER BY ANOTHER WOMAN.
This interpretation of the ode lies upon the surface of it, and is that
given by Choo He. The older interpreters refer the piece to the time of
king Chwang (B.C. 695—fi79), who drove away from their employment
men of worth through his want of intelligence. The people, they say,
mourned the loss of such men, and expressed their desire for their return
in these verses.
1 Where the hemp grows on the mound,
There some one keeps Tsze-tseay;
There some one keeps Tsze-tseay:—
Why comes not lie to me with a bound ?
2 On the mound where grows the wheat,
There some one keeps Tsze-kwoh;
There some one keeps Tsze-kwoh :—
Why comes not he with me here to eat ?
3 On the mound plum trees have place.
There some one keeps those youths;
There some one keeps those youths:—
0 for their kew-stones girdle to grace!
BK VII. i.] THE BOOK OF POETET. 119
BOOK VII.
THE ODES OF CHfING.
THE State of Ch'ing was not one of the oldest fief s of the Chow dynasty.
In B.C. 805, king Seuen conferred on his brother Yew the appanage of
Ch'ing in the present Hwa Chow, department of T'ung-chow, Shen-se.
Yiw, who is called duke Hwan in the list of the lords of Ch'ing, acted as
minister of Instruction at the royal court, and was killed in 773, not long
before the Juag hordes took the capital, and put the reigning sovereign
to death. His son, known as duke Woo, was of great service to king
P'ing when he moved the capital to the east, and succeeded to his father's
office ; and becoming possessed of the lands of Kih and K'wei, south of
the Ho, north of the Ying, east of the Loh, and west of the Tse, he re
moved there, and called his State New Ch'ing (/Sire Ch'ing), which is still
the name of one of the districts of the department of K'ae-fung, Ho-nan.
For further information about Ch'ing, see the note on the title of Bkxiii.
I.
The Tsze e; narrative. THE PEOPLE OF THE CAPITAL EXPBESS THEIS
ADM1BATION OF, AND REGARD FOR, DUKE WoO OF Cll'lNG.
We have the authority of Confucius, in the Le Ke, for understanding
this piece as expressive of the regard due to ability and virtue. The
subject of it is by all critics understood to be duke Woo, mentioned in
the preceding note. Ministers of the court wore black robes,—not in the
king's court when having audience of him, but in their own courts or
offices, to which they proceeded after the morning audience to discharge
their several duties.
1 The black robes well your form befit;
When they are worn we'll make you new.
Now for your court! oh ! there we'll sit,
And watch how you your duties do.
And when we to our homes repair,
We'll send to you our richest fare,
Such is the love to you we bear!!
2 Those robes well with your virtue match ;
When they are worn we'll make you new.
Now for your court! There will we watch,
Well pleased, how you your duties do.