were four appearances of the princes at court. They gave a report of their government in words, which was clearly tested by their works. They received chariots and robes according to their merits.

He instituted the division of the land into twelve provinces, raising altars upon twelve hills in them. He also deepened the rivers.

He exhibited to the people the statutory punishments, enacting banishment as a mitigation of the five great inflictions; with the whip to be employed in the magistrates' courts, the stick to be employed in schools, and money to be received for redeemable offenses. Inadvertent offenses and those which could be ascribed to misfortune were to be pardoned, but those who transgressed presumptuously and repeatedly were to be punished with death. "Let me be reverent! Let me be reverent!" he said to himself. "Let compassion rule in punishment!"

He banished the Minister of Works to Yu island; confined Hwan-tau on mount Chung; drove the chief of Sanmaio and his people into San-wei, and kept them there; and held Khwan a prisoner till death on mount Yu. These four criminals being thus dealt with, all under heaven acknowledged the justice of Shun's administration. 10

4. After twenty-eight years the Ti deceased, when the people mourned for him as for a parent for three years. Within the four seas all the eight kinds of instruments of music were stopped and hushed. On the first day of the first month of the next year, Shun went to the temple of the Accomplished Ancestor.

5. He deliberated with the President of the Four Moun

7 As Yu, according to Part III, divided the land into nine provinces, this division of it into twelve must have been subsequent to the completion of Yu's work.

8 Those five great inflictions were: branding on the forehead; cutting off the nose; cutting off the feet; castration; and death, inflicted in various ways.

> This punishment was for officers in training; not for boys at school. 10 The Minister of Works, Hwan-tau, and Khwan are mentioned in the former Canon. Yu island, or Yu Chau, was in the extreme north of the present district of Mi-yun.

tains how to throw open the doors of communication between himself and the four quarters of the land, and how he could see with the eyes, and hear with the ears of all.

Give

He consulted with the twelve Pastors,11 and said to them, "The food! - it depends on observing the seasons. Be kind to the distant, and cultivate the ability of the near. honor to the virtuous, and your confidence to the good, while you discountenance the artful; so shall the barbarous tribes lead on one another to make their submission."

Shun said, "Ho, President of the Four Mountains, is there any one who can with vigorous service attend to all the affairs of the Ti, whom I may appoint to be General Regulator, to assist me in all affairs, managing each department according to its nature?" All in the court replied, "There is Po-yu,12 the Minister of Works." The Ti said, "Yes. Ho! Yu, you have regulated the water and the land. In this new office exert yourself." Yu did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favor of the Minister of Agriculture, or Hsieh, or Kao-yao. The Ti said, "Yes, but do you go and undertake the duties."

The Ti said, "Chi,13 the black-haired people are still suffering from famine. Do you, O prince, as Minister of Agriculture, continue to sow for them the various kinds of grain."

The Ti said, “Hsieh,1 the people are still wanting in affection for one another, and do not docilely observe the five orders of relationship. It is yours, as the Minister of Instruction, reverently to set forth the lessons of duty belonging to those five orders. Do so with gentleness."

The Ti said, "Kao-yao, the barbarous tribes trouble our great land. There are also robbers, murderers, insurgents, 11 These were the twelve princes holding the chief sway and superintendence in his twelve provinces.

12 Po-yu is the great Yu, the founder of the Hsia Dynasty. Po denotes, probably, his order as the eldest among his brothers.

13 Chi was the name of the Minister of Agriculture, better known in the Shih and other books as Hau-chi, the progenitor of the kings of Chau.

14 Hsieh was honored by the kings of the Shang Dynasty as their progenitor.

and traitors. It is yours, as the Minister of Crime, to use the five punishments to deal with their offenses. For the infliction of these there are the three appointed places. There are the five cases in which banishment in the appropriate places is to be resorted to, to which places, though five, three localities are assigned. Perform your duties with intelligence, and you will secure a sincere submission."

The Ti said, "Who can superintend my works, as they severally require?" All in the court replied, "Is there not Tsui?" 15 The Ti said, "Yes. Ho! Tsui, you must be Minister of Works." Tsui did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favor of Shu, Chiang, or Po-yu. The Ti said, "Yes, but do you go and undertake the duties. Effect a harmony in all the departments."

The Ti said, "Who can superintend, as the nature of the charge requires, the grass and trees, with the birds and beasts on my hills and in my marshes?" All in the court replied, "Is there not Yi?" 18 The Ti said, "Yes. Ho! Yi, do you be my Forester." Yi did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favor of Chu, Hu, Hsiung, or Pi.16 The Ti said, "Yes, but do you go and undertake the duties. You must manage them harmoniously."

The Ti said, "Ho! President of the Four Mountains, is there any one able to direct my three religious ceremonies ? " 17 All in the court answered, "Is there not Po-i?" 18 The Ti said, "Yes. Ho! Po, you must be the Arranger in the Ancestral Temple. Morning and night be

15 Tsui was not claimed by any great family as its progenitor, but he was handed down by tradition as a great artificer. Shu and Chiang must have been named from their skill in making halberds and axes. The Yu (quite different from the name of the great Yu) in Po-yu gives us no indication of the skill of that individual.

16 For Yi, see the note to Book iv. He wishes here to decline his appointment in favor of Chu ("The Cedar "), Hu ("The Tiger ”), Hsiung ("The Bear"), or Pi ("The Grizzly Bear ").

17 The three ceremonies were the observances in the worship of the Spirits of Heaven, the Spirits of Earth, and the Spirits of Men.

18 Po-i was the progenitor of the great family of Chiang, members of which ruled in Chi and other States.

reverent. Be upright, be pure." Po did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favor of Khwei or Lung. The Ti said, "Yes, but do you go and undertake the duties. Be reverential!"

The Ti said, "Khwei,19 I appoint you to be Director of Music, and to teach our sons, so that the straightforward shall yet be mild; the gentle, dignified; the strong, not tyrannical; and the impetuous, not arrogant. Poetry is the expression of earnest thought; singing is the prolonged utterance of that expression; the notes accompany that utterance, and they are harmonized themselves by the standard-tubes. In this way the eight different kinds of musical instruments can be adjusted so that one shall not take or interfere with another; and spirits and men are brought into harmony."

Khwei then said, "I smite the sounding-stone, I gently strike it, and the various animals lead on one another to dance."

The Ti said, "Lung, 20 I abominate slanderous speakers and destroyers of the right ways, who agitate and alarm my people. I appoint you to be the Minister of Communication. Early and late give forth my orders and report to me, seeing that everything is true."

The Ti said," Ho! you, twenty and two men, be reverent; so shall you be helpful to the business entrusted to me by Heaven."

Every three years there was an examination of merits, and after three examinations the undeserving were degraded, and the deserving advanced. By this arrangement the duties of all the departments were fully discharged; the people of San-miao also were discriminated and separated.

6. In the thirtieth year of his age Shun was called to employment. Thirty years he was on the throne with Yao. Fifty years afterward he went on high and died.

19 Of Khwei we know nothing more than what is here told us. The character denotes a monstrous animal, "a dragon with one leg."

20 We are in ignorance of Lung, as we are of Khwei. The character denotes "the dragon."

1

BOOK II.- THE COUNSELS OF THE GREAT YU

3

1. Examining into antiquity, we find that the Great Yu 2 was styled Wan-ming. Having arranged and divided the land, all to the four seas, in reverent response to the Ti, he said, "If the sovereign can realize the difficulty of his sovereignship, and the minister the difficulty of his ministry, the government will be well ordered, and the black-haired people will sedulously seek to be virtuous."

The Ti said, "Yes; let this really be the case, and good words will nowhere lie hidden; no men of virtue and talents will be left neglected, away from court, and the myriad States will all enjoy repose. But to obtain the views of all; to give up one's opinion and follow that of others; to keep from oppressing the helpless, and not to neglect the straitened and poor it was only the former Ti who could attain to this." Yi said, "Oh! your virtue, O Ti, is vast and incessant. It is sagely, spirit-like, awe-inspiring, and adorned with all accomplishments. Great Heaven regarded you with its favor, and bestowed on you its appointment. Suddenly you possessed all within the four seas, and became ruler of all under heaven."

Yu said, "Accordance with the right leads to good fortune; following what is opposed to it, to bad the shadow and the echo." Yi said, "Alas! be cautious! Admonish yourself to caution, when there seems to be no occasion for anxiety. Do not fail to observe the laws and ordinances. Do not find your enjoyment in idleness. Do not go to excess in pleasure. In your employment of men of worth, let none come between you and them. Put away evil without hesitation. Do not carry out plans, of the wisdom of which you

1 Of the six classes of documents in the Shu, "Counsels " are the second, containing the wise remarks and suggestions of high officers on the subject of government.

2 The name Yu, taken as an epithet, would mean "the Unconstrained." As an epithet after death, it has the meaning of "Receiving the Resignation and Perfecting the Merit "; but this is evidently based on the commonly received history of Yu.

3 Wan-ming may be translated, "the Accomplished and the Issuer of Commands."