When wilt thou, O sun, expire? We will all perish with thee.' 94 Such is the course of the sovereign of Hsia, and now I must go and punish him.

Assist, I pray you, me, the One man, to carry out the punishment appointed by Heaven. I will greatly reward you. On no account disbelieve me; I will not eat my words. If you do not obey the words which I have thus spoken to you, I will put your children to death with you; you shall find no forgiveness."

Book II.-THE ANNOUNCEMENT 1 OF CHUNG-HUI2

1. When Thang the Successful was keeping Chieh in banishment in Nan-chao, he had a feeling of shame on account of his conduct, and said, "I am afraid that in future ages men will fill their mouths with me, as an apology for their rebellious proceedings."

2. On this Chung-hui made the following announcement: "Oh! Heaven gives birth to the people with such desires, that without a ruler they must fall into all disorders; and Heaven again gives birth to the man of intelligence to regulate them. The sovereign of Hsia had his virtue all-obscured, and the people were as if they had fallen amid mire and burning charcoal. Heaven hereupon gifted our king with valor and prudence, to serve as a sign and director to the myriad regions, and to continue the old ways of Yu. You are now only following the proper course, honoring and obeying the appointment of Heaven. The king of Hsia was an offender, falsely and calumniously alleging the sanction of supreme Heaven, to spread abroad his commands among the people.

4 Chieh, it is said, had on one occasion, when told of the danger he was incurring by his cruelties, pointed to the sun, and said that as surely as the sun was in the heavens, so firm was he on the throne.

1 This Book is the first of the "Announcements," which form a large class of the documents in the Shu. They are distinguished from the Speeches, as being made in a general assembly, or published, for the information of all, whereas the Speeches were made to an army.

2 Chung-hui, of an old family, whose surname was Tsan, with its seat in the territory of Hsieh, corresponding to the present district of Thang, department Yen-chau, Shan-tung, was a minister of Thang.

On this account God viewed him with disapprobation, caused our Shang to receive his appointment, and employed you to enlighten the multitudes of the people.

3. "Contemners of the worthy and parasites of the powerful-many such followers he had indeed; but from the first our country was to the sovereign of Hsia like weeds among the springing corn, and blasted grains among the good. Our people, great and small, were in constant apprehension, fearful though they were guilty of no crime. How much more was this the case, when our prince's virtues became a theme eagerly listened to! Our king did not approach to dissolute music and women; he did not seek to accumulate property and wealth. To great virtue he gave great offices, and to great merit great rewards. He employed others as if their excellences were his own; he was not slow to change his errors. Rightly indulgent and rightly benevolent, from the display of such virtue, confidence was reposed in him by the millions of the people.

"When the earl of Ko 3 showed his enmity to the provisioncarriers, the work of punishment began with Ko. When it went on in the east, the wild tribes of the west murmured; when it went on in the south, those of the north murmured: they said, 'Why does he make us alone the last?' To whatever people he went, they congratulated one another in their families, saying, ' We have waited for our prince; our prince is come, and we revive.' The people's honoring our Shang is a thing of long existence.

4. "Show favor to the able and right-principled among the princes, and aid the virtuous; distinguish the loyal, and let the good have free course. Absorb the weak, and punish the wilfully blind; take their States from the disorderly, and

8 Ko was a principality corresponding to the present district of Ningling, department of Kwei-teh, Ho-nan. It was thus near the southern Po, which belonged to Thang. Mencius tells us that Thang sent a multitude of his people to assist the farmers of Ko, about the poor produce of which their chief had lamented to him. That chief, however, instead of showing any gratitude, surprised and robbed those who were carrying provisions from Po to the laborers in the field, and committed various atrocities upon them. This aroused Thang's indignation, and he made him the first object of his punitive justice.

deal summarily with those going to ruin. When you thus accelerate the end of what is of itself ready to perish, and strengthen what is itself strong to live, how will the States all flourish! When a sovereign's virtue is daily being renewed, he is cherished throughout the myriad regions; when his mind is full only of himself, he is abandoned by the nine branches of his kindred. Exert yourself, O king, to make your virtue still more illustrious, and set up the standard of the Mean before the people. Order your affairs by righteousness; order your heart by propriety; so shall you transmit a grand example to posterity. I have heard the saying, 'He who finds instructors for himself comes to the supreme dominion; he who says that others are not equal to himself comes to ruin. He who likes to put questions becomes enlarged; he who uses only his own views becomes smaller than he was.' Oh! he who would take care for the end must be attentive to the beginning. There is establishment for the observers of propriety, and overthrow for the blinded and wantonly indifferent. To revere and honor the path prescribed by Heaven is the way ever to preserve the favoring appointment of Heaven."

BOOK III.- THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THANG

1. When the king returned from vanquishing Hsia and came to Po, he made a grand announcement to the myriad regions.

2. The king said, "Ah! ye multitudes of the myriad regions, listen clearly to the announcement of me, the One man.1 The great God has conferred even on the inferior people a moral sense, compliance with which would show their nature invariably right. To make them tranquilly pursue the course which it would indicate is the work of the sovereign.

"The king of Hsia extinguished his virtue, and played

1 "The One man" has occurred before, in the Songs of the Five Sons, as a designation of the sovereign. It continues to be so to the present day.

the tyrant, extending his oppression over you, the people of the myriad regions. Suffering from his cruel injuries, and unable to endure the wormwood and poison, you protested with one accord your innocence to the spirits of heaven and earth. The way of Heaven is to bless the good, and make the bad miserable. It sent down calamities on the House of Hsia, to make manifest its guilt. Therefore I, the little child, charged with the decree of Heaven and its bright terrors, did not dare to forgive the criminal. I presumed to use a dark-colored victim-bull, and, making clear announcement to the Spiritual Sovereign in the high heavens, requested leave to deal with the ruler of Hsia as a criminal. Then I sought for the great Sage,2 with whom I might unite my strength, to request the favor of Heaven for you, my multitudes. High Heaven truly showed its favor to the inferior people, and the criminal has been degraded and subjected. What Heaven appoints is without error-brilliantly now, like the blossoming of plants and trees, the millions of the people show a true reviving.

3. "It is given to me, the One man, to secure the harmony and tranquillity of your States and clans; and now I know not whether I may not offend against the Powers above and below. I am fearful and trembling, as if I were in danger of falling into a deep abyss. Throughout all the regions that enter on a new life under me, do not, ye princes, follow lawless ways; make no approach to insolence and dissoluteness; let every one be careful to keep his statutes, that so we may receive the favor of Heaven. The good in you I will not dare to keep concealed; and for the evil in me I will not dare to forgive myself. I will examine these things in harmony with the mind of God. When guilt is found anywhere in you who occupy the myriad regions, let it rest on me, the One man.3 When guilt is found in me, the One man, it shall not attach to you who occupy the myriad regions.

2"The great Sage" must be I Yin, Thang's chief adviser and minister, who appears prominently in the next Book.

3 There was a tradition in the Chau Dynasty, given with variations by Hsun-tze, Sze-ma Chien, and others, which may be quoted to illustrate these noble sentiments of Thang. For seven years after his accession to

"Oh! let us attain to be sincere in these things, and so we shall likewise have a happy consummation."

Book IV.- THE INSTRUCTIONS OF I1

1. In the twelfth month of the first year, on the day Yichau, I Yin sacrificed to the former king, and presented the heir-king reverently before the shrine of his grandfather. All the princes from the domain of the nobles and the royal domain were present; all the officers also, each continuing to discharge his particular duties, were there to receive the orders of the chief minister. I Yin then clearly described the complete virtue of the Meritorious Ancestor for the instruction of the young king.

2. He said, "Oh! of old the former kings of Hsia cultivated earnestly their virtue, and then there were no calamities from Heaven. The spirits of the hills and rivers likewise were all in tranquillity; and the birds and beasts, the fishes and tortoises all enjoyed their existence according to their nature. But their descendant did not follow their example, and great Heaven sent down calamities, employing the agency of our ruler who was in possession of its favoring appointment. The attack on Hsia may be traced to the the throne, 1766–1760 B.C., there was a great drought and famine. It was suggested at last that some human being should be offered in sacrifice to Heaven, and prayer made for rain. Thang said, "If a man must be the victim, I will be he." He fasted, cut off his hair and nails, and in a plain carriage, drawn by white horses, clad in rushes, in the guise of a sacrificial victim, he proceeded to a forest of mulberry-trees, and there prayed, asking to what error or crime of his the calamity was owing. He had not done speaking when a copious rain fell.

1 Thang died in 1754 or 1753 B.C., and was succeeded, so far as the evidence of the Shu goes, by his grandson, known as Thai Chia. The chief minister of Thang had been I Yin, who delivers these Instructions to his young sovereign soon after his accession. I was a great and wise man, a great sage," as Thang calls him in the last Book, and is classed by Mencius among other celebrated ministers as the one most inclined to take office." He reasons thus: "Heaven's plan with mankind is that they who are first informed should instruct those who are later in being informed, and they who first apprehend principles should instruct those who are later in doing so." He thought he was one of the former class, and a fire burned within him, impelling him to seek for office with a view to benefit the ignorant and erring.