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Book XXXI.— THE SACRIFICIAL ODES OF SHANG 1

ODE ONE.- THE NA 2

How admirable! how complete!

Here are set our hand-drums and drums.
The drums resound harmonious and loud,
To delight our meritorious ancestor.3

The descendant of Thang invites him with this music,
That he may soothe us with the realization of our thoughts.*
Deep is the sound of our hand-drums and drums;

Shrilly sound the flutes;

All harmonious and blending together,
According to the notes of the sonorous gem.
Oh! majestic is the descendant of Thang;
Very admirable is his music.

1 These odes of Shang constitute the last Book in the ordinary editions of the Shih. Yet they are the oldest of all the songs. There are only five of them. For the Shang Dynasty and its great ruler Thang see Part IV of the Shu King. The Odes of Shang are here given in the literal translation of Professor Legge.

2 The piece is called the Na, because a character so named is an important part of the first line. So generally the pieces in the Shih receive their names from a character or phrase occurring in them.

8 The "meritorious ancestor" is Thang. The sacrifices of the Shang Dynasty commenced with music; those of the Chau, libations of fragrant spirits; in both cases with the same object, to attract the spirit, or spirits, sacrificed to, and secure their presence at the service. Chan Hao (Ming Dynasty) says, "The departed spirits hover between heaven and earth, and sound goes forth, filling the region of the air. Hence in sacrificing, the people of Yin began with a performance of music."

4 The Li Chi tells us, that the sacrificer, as preliminary to the service, had to fast for some days, and to think of the person of his ancestor - where he had stood and sat, how he had smiled and spoken, what had been his cherished aims, pleasures, and delights; and on the third day he would have a complete image of him in his mind's eye. Then on the day of sacrifice, when he entered the temple, he would seem to see him in his shrine, and to hear him, as he went about in the discharge of the service. This line seems to indicate the realization of all this.

VOL. XI.-13.

The large bells and drums fill the ear;
The various dances are grandly performed."
We have the admirable visitors,

Who are pleased and delighted.

From of old, before our time,

The former men set us the example

How to be mild and humble from morning to night,
And to be reverent in discharging the service.

May he regard our sacrifices of winter and autumn,
Thus offered by the descendant of Thang!

ODE TWO.- THE LIEH TSU 8

Ah! ah! our meritorious ancestor!
Permanent are the blessings coming from him,
Repeatedly conferred without end;

They have come to you in this place.

The clear spirits are in our vessels,

And there is granted to us the realization of our thoughts.
There are also the well-tempered soups,

Prepared beforehand, with ingredients rightly proportioned.
By these offerings we invite his presence without a word,
Without unseemly contention among the worshipers.
He will bless us with the eyebrows of longevity,

With the gray hair and wrinkled face in unlimited degree.

With the naves of their wheels bound with leather, and their ornamented yokes,

5 Dancing thus entered into the service as an accompaniment of the music. Two terms are employed; one denoting the movements appropriate to a dance of war, the other those appropriate to a dance of peace.

• The visitors would be the representatives of the lines of Hsia, Shun, and Yao.

7 Two of the seasonal sacrifices are thus specified, by synecdoche, for all the four.

8 Probably like the last ode, appropriate to a sacrifice to Thang, dwelling on the spirits, the soup, and the gravity of the service, and on the assisting princes.

With the eight bells at their horses' bits all tinkling,
The princes come to assist at the offerings."

We have received the appointment in all its greatness,
And from Heaven is our prosperity sent down,
Fruitful years of great abundance.

Our ancestor will come and enjoy our offerings,
And confer on us happiness without limit.

May he regard our sacrifices of winter and autumn,
Thus offered by the descendant of Thang!

ODE THREE- THE HSUAN NIAO 10

Heaven commissioned the swallow,

To descend and give birth to the father of our Shang.11
His descendants dwelt in the land of Yin, and became great.
Then long ago God appointed the martial Thang

To regulate the boundaries throughout the four quarters of the kingdom.

These lines are descriptive of the feudal princes, who were present and assisted at the sacrificial service. The chariot of each was drawn by four horses yoked abreast, two insides and two outsides, on each side of the bits of which small bells were attached.

10 If this ode were not intended to do honor to King Wu-ting of Shang, we can not account for the repeated mention of him in it. Chu Hsi, however, in his note on it, says nothing about Wu-ting, but simply that the piece belonged to the sacrifices in the ancestral temple, tracing back the line of the kings of Shang to its origin, and to its attaining the sovereignty of the kingdom. Not at all unlikely is the view of Chang Hsuan, that the sacrifice was in the third year after the death of Wuting, and offered to him in the temple of Hsieh, the ancestor of the Shang Dynasty.

11 The father of Shang is Hsieh, who has already been mentioned. The mother of Hsieh was a daughter of the House of the ancient State of Sung, and a concubine of the ancient ruler Khu (2435 B.C.). According to Mao, she accompanied Khu, at the time of the vernal equinox, when the swallow made its appearance, to sacrifice and pray to the first match-maker, and the result was the birth of Hsieh. Sze-ma Chien and Chang make Hsieh's birth more marvelous: The lady was bathing in some open place, when a swallow made its appearance, and dropped an egg, which she took and swallowed; and from this came Hsieh. The editors of the imperial edition of the Shih, of the present dynasty, say we need not believe the legends; the important point is to believe that the birth of Hsieh was specially ordered by Heaven.

12

In those quarters he appointed the princes,
And grandly possessed the nine regions.
The first sovereign of Shang 13

Received the appointment without any element of instability in it,

And it is now held by the descendant of Wu-ting.

The descendant of Wu-ting

Is a martial sovereign, equal to every emergency.

Ten princes, who came with their dragon-emblazoned ban

ners,

Bear the large dishes of millet.

The royal domain of a thousand li

Is where the people rest;

But the boundaries that reach to the four seas commence there.

From the four seas 14 they come to our sacrifices;

They come in multitudes.

Ching has the Ho for its outer border.

That Yin 15 should have received the appointment of

Heaven was entirely right;

Its sovereign sustains all its dignities.

ODE FOUR. THE CHANG FA 16

Profoundly wise were the lords of Shang,

And long had there appeared the omens of their dignity.

12"The nine regions" are the nine provinces into which Yu divided the kingdom.

1a That is, Thang.

14 This expression, which occurs also in the Shu, indicates that the early Chinese believed that their country extended to the sea, east, west, north, and south.

15 We saw in the Shu that the name the time of Pan-kang, 1401 to 1374 B.C. to that of Pan-kang.

Shang gave place to Yin after
Wu-ting's reign was subsequent

16 It does not appear on what occasion of sacrifice this piece was made. The most probable view is that of Mao, that it was the "great Ti sacrifice," when the principal object of honor would be the ancient

When the waters of the deluge spread vast abroad,
Yu arranged and divided the regions of the land,
And assigned to the exterior great States their boundaries,
With their borders extending all over the kingdom.
Even then the chief of Sung was beginning to be great,

And God raised up the son of his daughter, and founded the line of Shang.1 17

The dark king exercised an effective sway.'

18

Charged with a small State, he commanded success;
Charged with a large State, he commanded success. 19
He followed his rules of conduct without error;

Wherever he inspected the people, they responded to his instructions, 20

Then came Hsiang-thu all ardent, 21

And all within the four seas, beyond the middle regions, acknowledged his restraints.

The favor of God did not leave Shang,

And in Thang was found the fit object for its display.

Thang was not born too late,

And his wisdom and reverence daily advanced:

Brilliant was the influence of his character on Heaven for

long.

God he revered,

And God appointed him to be the model for the nine regions. Khu, the father of Hsieh, with Hsieh as his correlate, and all the kings of the dynasty, with the earlier lords of Shang, and their famous ministers and advisers, would have their places at the service. This is probably the oldest of the odes of Shang.

17 This line refers to the birth of Hsieh, as described in the previous ode, and his being made lord of Shang.

18 It would be hard to say why Hsieh is here called "the dark king." There may be an allusion to the legend about the connection of the swallow" the dark bird"—with his birth. He never was a king"; but his descendants here represented him as such.

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19 All that is meant here is that the territory of Shang was enlarged under Hsieh.

20 There is a reference here to Hsieh's appointment by Shun to be Minister of Instruction.

21 Hsiang-thu appears in the genealogical lists as grandson of Hsieh. We know nothing of him but what is related here.

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