THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

i
146 THE BOOK OF POETRY. [PART I.
But the large rats we mean are you,
With whom three years we've had to do.
From you there came not all that while
One word of comfort 'mid our toil.
We take our leave of you and Wei;
And to those happier coasts we flee.
0 happy coasts, to you we wend !
There shall our groans and sorrows end.
BK X. i.] THE BOOK OF POETKY. 147
BOOK X.
THE ODES OF TfA.NG.
THE odes of T'ang were the odes of Tsin,—the greatest, perhaps, of the
fiefs of Chow, until the rise and growth of Ts'in. King Ching, in B.C. 11110,
invested his youngest brother, called Sliuh-yu, with the territory where
Yaou was supposed to have ruled anciently as the marquis of T'ang;—
in the present department of T'ae-yuen, Shan-se, the fief retaining that
ancient name. In the south of the territory was the river Tsin, and Shih-
foo, the son of Shuh-yu, gave its name to the marquisate. The soil,
it is said, was thin and the people poor ; but they were diligent, thrifty,
and plain in their ways, thinking deeply and forecasting. It is difficult to
say why the name of the State, which had gone into disuse, should be
given to the collection of its poems. The State of Tsin developed greatly,
having the Ho as its boundary on the west, and extending nearly to it
on the south and east.
I.
The Si7i-fsu7i; narrative. THE CHEERFULNESS ASD DISCRETION OF
THE PEOPLE OF TSIN, AND THEIR TEMPERED ENJOYMENT AT PITTING
SEASONS.
1 The cricket appears in the hall,
And towards its close draws the year.
Then let us to-day to pleasure give way,
Ere the days and months disappear.
But duty should have our first thought ;
Indulgence we strictly must bound.
Take heed lest the joy our reason destroy :—
The good man looks out and around.
2 The cricket appears in the hall.
And the year is fast passing on.
Then let us to-day to pleasure give way,
Ere the days and months shall be gone.
But some things our care still demand;
Against all excess we must guard.
Take heed lest the joy our reason destroy :—
The good man thinks 110 toil too hard.
10*