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. 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?" 16 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. character denotes a monstrous animal,

66

a dragon with one leg."

The

20 We are in ignorance of Lung, as we are of Khwei. The character

denotes "the dragon."

Book II.- THE COUNSELS 1 OF THE GREAT YU

1. Examining into antiquity, we find that the Great Yu 2 was styled Wan-ming.3 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.

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

have doubts. Study that all your purposes may be with the light of reason. Do not go against what is right, to get the praise of the people. Do not oppose the people's wishes, to follow your own desires. Attend to these things without idleness or omission, and the barbarous tribes all around will come and acknowledge your sovereignty."

Yu said, "O! think of these things, O Ti. The virtue of the ruler is seen in his good government, and that government in the nourishing of the people. There are water, fire, metal, wood, the earth, and grain these must be duly regulated; there are the rectification of the people's virtue, the tools and other things that supply the conveniences of life, and the securing abundant means of sustentation - these must be harmoniously attended to. When the nine services thus indicated have been orderly accomplished, that accomplishment will be hailed by the people's songs. Caution them with gentle words, correct them with the majesty of law, stimulate them with the songs on those nine subjects, in order that your success may not suffer diminution." Ti said, "The earth has been reduced to order, and the influences of heaven produce their complete effect; those six magazines and three departments of governmental action are all truly regulated, and may be depended on for a myriad generations; this is your merit."

The

2. The Ti said, "Come, you Yu. I have occupied my place for thirty and three years. I am between ninety and a hundred years old, and the laborious duties weary me. Do you, eschewing all indolence, take the leading of my people." Yu replied, "My virtue is not equal to the position, and the people will not repose in me. But there is Kao-yao with vigorous activity sowing abroad his virtue, which has descended on the black-haired people, till they cherish him in their hearts. O Ti, think of him! When I think of him, my mind rests on him as the man fit for this place; when I would put him out of my thoughts, my mind still rests on him; when I name and speak of him, my mind rests on him for this; the sincere outgoing of my thoughts about him is that he is the man. O Ti, think of his merits."

The Ti said, "Kao-yao, that of these my ministers and all my people hardly one is found to offend against the regulations of the government is owing to your being Minister of Crime, and intelligent in the use of the five punishments, thereby assisting the inculcation of the five cardinal duties, with a view to the perfection of my government, and that through punishment there may come to be no punishments, but the people accord with the path of the Mean. Continue to be strenuous." Kao-yao replied, "Your virtue, O Ti, is faultless. You condescend to your ministers with a kindly ease; you preside over the multitudes with a generous forbearance. Punishments do not extend to the criminal's heirs, while rewards reach to succeeding generations. You pardon inadvertent faults, however great, and punish purposed crimes, however small. In cases of doubtful crimes, you deal with them lightly; in cases of doubtful merit, you prefer the high estimation. Rather than put an innocent person to death, you will run the risk of irregularity and This life-loving virtue has penetrated the minds of the people, and this is why they do not render themselves liable to be punished by your officers." The Ti said, "That I am able to follow and obtain what I desire in my government, the people responding everywhere as if moved by the wind this is your excellence."

error.

The Ti said, "Come Yu. The inundating waters filled me with dread, when you accomplished truly all that you had represented, and completed your service; thus showing your superiority to other men. Full of toilsome earnestness in the service of the country, and sparing in your expenditure on your family, and this without being full of yourself and elated, you again show your superiority to other men. You are without any prideful assumption, but no one under heaven can contest with you the palm of ability; you make no boasting, but no one under heaven can contest with you the palm of merit. I see how great is your virtue, how admirable your vast achievements. The determinate appointment of Heaven rests on your person; you must eventually ascend the throne of the great sovereign. The mind of