The history of the nation is then reviewed, and it is made to appear that king Wû had displaced the kings of Yin or Shang, just as Thang, the founder of the Shang dynasty, had displaced those of Hsiâ. It was their duty therefore to submit to Kâu. If they did not avail themselves of its leniency, they should be dealt with in another way.
Having thus spoken, the duke turns, in the fourth of the five chapters into which I have divided the Book, and addresses the many officers of the states, and especially those of Yin, who had been removed to Lo, speaking to them, as 'the Numerous Officers,' after the style of Book xiv. Finally, he admonishes them all that it is time to begin a new course. If they do well, it will be well with them; if they continue perverse, they will have to blame themselves for the consequences.
1. In the fifth month, on the day Ting-hâi, the king arrived from Yen, and came to (Hâo), the honoured (capital of) Kâu. The duke of Kâu said, 'The king speaks to the following effect: "Ho! I make an announcement to you of the four states, and the numerous (other) regions. Ye who were the officers and people of the prince of Yin, I have dealt very leniently as regards your lives, as ye all know. You kept reckoning greatly on (some) decree of Heaven, and did not keep with perpetual awe before your thoughts (the preservation of) your sacrifices[1].*
'"God sent down correction on Hsiâ, but the sovereign (only) increased his luxury and sloth, and would not speak kindly to the people. He showed himself dissolute and dark, and would not yield for a single day to the leadings of God:—this is what you have heard.* He kept reckoning on the
- ↑ The extinction of the sacrifices of a state was its utter overthrow. None were left—or if some might be left, none of them were permitted—to continue the sacrifices to its founder and his descendants.
