man is restless, prone to err; its affinity to what is right is small. Be discriminating, be uniform in the pursuit of what is right, that you may sincerely hold fast the Mean. Do not listen to unsubstantiated words; do not follow plans about which you have not sought counsel. Of all who are to be loved, is not the ruler the chief? Of all who are to be feared, are not the people the chief? If the multitude were without their sovereign Head, whom should they sustain aloft? If the sovereign had not the multitude, there would be none to guard the country for him. Be reverential! Carefully maintain the throne which you are to occupy, cultivating the virtues that are to be desired in you. If within the four seas there be distress and poverty, your Heaven-conferred revenues will come to a perpetual end. It is the mouth which sends forth what is good, and raises up war. I will not alter my words."

Yu said, "Submit the meritorious ministers one by one to the trial of divination, and let the favoring indication be followed." The Ti replied, " According to the rules for the regulation of divination, one should first make up his mind, and afterward refer his judgment to the great tortoise-shell. My mind in this matter was determined in the first place; I consulted and deliberated with all my ministers and people, and they were of one accord with me. The spirits signified their assent, and the tortoise-shell and divining stalks concurred. Divination, when fortunate, should not be repeated." Yu did obeisance with his head to the ground, and firmly declined the place. The Ti said, "You must not do So. It is you who can suitably occupy my place." On the first morning of the first month, Yu received the appointment in the temple dedicated by Shun to the spirits of his ancestors, and took the leading of all the officers, as had been done by the Ti at the commencement of his government.

3. The Ti said, "Alas! O Yu, there is only the lord of

4 Many contend that this was the ancestral temple of Yao. But we learn from Confucius, in the seventeenth chapter of the Doctrine of the Mean, that Shun had established such a temple for his own ancestors, which must be that intended here.

Miao 5 who refuses obedience; do you go and correct him." Yu on this assembled all the princes, and made a speech to the host, saying, "Ye multitudes here arrayed, listen all of you to my orders. Stupid is this lord of Miao, ignorant, erring, and disrespectful. Despiteful and insolent to others, he thinks that all ability and virtue are with himself. A rebel to the right, he destroys all the obligations of virtue. Superior men are kept by him in obscurity, and mean men fill all the offices. The people reject him and will not protect him. Heaven is sending down calamities upon him. I therefore, along with you, my multitude of gallant men, bear the instructions of the Ti to punish his crimes. Do you proceed with united heart and strength, so shall our enterprise be crowned with success."

of

At the end of three decades, the people of Miao continued rebellious against the commands issued to them, when Yi came to the help of Yu, saying, "It is virtue that moves Heaven; there is no distance to which it does not reach. Pride brings loss, and humility receives increase; this is the way Heaven. In the early time of the Ti, when he was living by mount Li," he went into the fields, and daily cried with tears to compassionate Heaven, and to his parents, taking to himself all guilt, and charging himself with their wickedAt the same time with respectful service he appeared before Ku-sau, looking grave and awe-struck, till Ku also became transformed by his example. Entire sincerity moves spiritual beings; how much more will it move this lord of Miao!" Yu did homage to the excellent words, and said, "Yes." Thereupon he led back his army, having drawn off the troops. The Ti set about diffusing on a grand scale the virtuous influences of peace; with shields and feathers they

ness.

5 The lord of Miao against whom Yu proceeded would not be the one whom Shun banished to San-wei, as related in the former Book, but some chieftain of the whole or a portion of the people, who had been left in their native seat. That Yao, Shun, and Yu were all obliged to take active measures against the people of Miao, shows the difficulty with which the Chinese sway was established over the country.

6 Mount Li is found in a hill near Phu Chau, department of Phingyang, Shan-hsi.

danced between the two staircases in his courtyard. In seventy days, the lord of Miao came and made his submission.

Book III.- THE COUNSELS OF KAO-YAO 1

1. Examining into antiquity, we find that Kao-yao said, "If the sovereign sincerely pursues the course of his virtue, the counsels offered to him will be intelligent, and the aids of admonition that he receives will be harmonious." Yu said, "Yes, but explain yourself." Kao-yao said, "Oh! let him be careful about his personal cultivation, with thoughts that are far-reaching, and thus he will produce a generous kindness and nice observance of distinctions among the nine branches of his kindred. All the intelligent also will exert themselves in his service; and in this way from what is near he will reach to what is distant." Yu did homage to the excellent words, and said, "Yes." Kao-yao continued, "Oh! it lies in knowing men, and giving repose to the people." Yu said, "Alas! to attain to both these things might well be a difficulty even to the Ti. When the sovereign knows men, he is wise, and can put every one into the office for which he is fit. When he gives repose to the people, his kindness is felt, and the black-haired race cherish him in their hearts. When he can be thus wise and kind, what occasion will he have for anxiety about a Hwan-tau? what to be removing a lord of Miao? what to fear any one of fair words, insinuating appearance, and great artfulness? "

2. Kao-yao said, "Oh! there are in all nine virtues to be discovered in conduct, and when we say that a man possesses any virtue, that is as much as to say he does such and such

1 Kao-yao was Minister of Crime to Shun, and is still celebrated in China as the model for all administrators of justice. There are few or no reliable details of his history. Sze-ma Chien says that Yu, on his accession to the throne, made Kao-yao his chief minister, with the view of his ultimately succeeding him, but that the design was frustrated by Kao-yao's death. But if there had been such a tradition in the time of Mencius, he would probably have mentioned it, when defending Yu from the charge of being inferior to Yao and Shun, who resigned the throne to the worthiest, whereas he transmitted it to his

son.

things." Yu asked, "What are the nine virtues?" Kaoyao replied, "Affability combined with dignity; mildness combined with firmness; bluntness combined with respectfulness; aptness for government combined with reverent caution; docility combined with boldness; straightforwardness combined with gentleness; an easy negligence combined with discrimination; boldness combined with sincerity; and valor combined with righteousness. When these qualities are displayed, and that continuously, have we not the good officer? When there is a daily display of three of these virtues, their possessor could early and late regulate and brighten the clan of which he was made chief. When there is a daily severe and reverent cultivation of six of them, their possessor could brilliantly conduct the affairs of the State with which he was invested. When such men are all received and advanced, the possessors of those nine virtues will be employed in the public service. The men of a thousand and men of a hundred will be in their offices; the various ministers will emulate one another; all the officers will accomplish their duties at the proper times, observant of the five seasons as the several elements predominate in them, and thus their various duties will be fully accomplished. Let not the Son of Heaven set to the holders of States the example of indolence or dissoluteness. Let him be wary and fearful, remembering that in one day or two days there may occur ten thousand springs of things. Let him not have his various officers cumberers of their places. The work is Heaven's; men must act for it!"

3. "From Heaven are the social relationships with their several duties; we are charged with the enforcement of those five duties; and lo! we have the five courses of honorable conduct.2 From Heaven are the social distinctions with their several ceremonies; from us come the observances of those five ceremonies; and lo! they appear in regular practise.3

2 The five duties are those belonging to the five relationships, which are the constituents of society: those between husband and wife, father and son, ruler and subject, eldest brother and younger, friend and friend. 8 The five ceremonies are here those belonging to the distinctions of rank in connection with the five constituent relations of society.

When sovereign and ministers show a common reverence and united respect for these, lo! the moral nature of the people is made harmonious. Heaven graciously distinguishes the virtuous; are there not the five habiliments, five decorations of them? Heaven punishes the guilty; are there not the five punishments, to be severally used for that purpose? The business of government!-ought we not to be earnest in it? ought we not to be earnest in it?

"Heaven hears and sees as our people hear and see; Heaven brightly approves and displays its terrors as our people brightly approve and would awe-such connection is there between the upper and lower worlds. How reverent ought the masters of territories to be!"

4. Kao-yao said, "My words are in accordance with reason, and may be put in practise." Yu said, "Yes, your words may be put in practise, and crowned with success." Kao-yao added, "As to that I do not know, but I wish daily to be helpful. May the government be perfected!"

Book IV. THE YI AND CHI 1

1. The Ti said, "Come Yu, you also must have excellent words to bring before me." Yu did obeisance, and said, "Oh! what can I say, O. Ti, after Kao-yao? I can only think of maintaining a daily assiduity." Kao-yao said, "Alas! will you describe it?" Yu replied, "The inundating waters seemed to assail the heavens, and in their vast extent embraced the hills and overtopped the great mounds, so that the people were bewildered and overwhelmed. I mounted my four conveyances, and all along the hills hewed down the trees, at the same time, along with Yi, showing the multitudes how to get flesh to eat. I also opened passages for the streams throughout the nine provinces, and

1 Yi and Chi, the names of Shun's Forester and Minister of Agriculture, both of whom receive their appointments in Book i, occur near the commencement of this Book, and occasion is thence taken to give its title to the whole. But without good reason; for these worthies do not appear at all as interlocutors in it. Yu is the principal speaker; the Book belongs to the class of "Counsels."

VOL. XI.-8.