Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 3.djvu/425

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ODE 7.
THE MAJOR ODES OF THE KINGDOM.
391

virtue left nothing to be dissatisfied with, He received the blessing of God, And it was extended to his descendants.

God said to king Wăn[1], 'Be not like those who reject this and cling to that; Be not like those who are ruled by their likings and desires;' So he grandly ascended before others to the height (of virtue). The people of [2] were disobedient, Daring to oppose our great country, And invaded Yüan, marching to Kung[3]. The king rose, majestic in his wrath; He marshalled his troops, To stop the invading foes; To consolidate the prosperity of Kâu; To meet the expectations of all under heaven.

He remained quietly in the capital, But (his troops) went on from the borders of Yüan. They ascended our lofty ridges, And (the enemy) arrayed no forces on our hills, On our hills, small or large, Nor drank at our springs, Our springs or our pools. He then determined the finest of the plains, And settled on the south of Khî[4], On the banks of


    to the dynasty of Shang, and his making all the states under his presidency loyal also.

  1. The statement that 'God spake to king Wăn,' repeated in stanza 7, vexes the Chinese critics, and they find in it simply an intimation that Wăn's conduct was 'in accordance with the will of Heaven.' I am not prepared to object to that view of the meaning; but it is plain that the writer, in giving such a form to his meaning, must have conceived of God as a personal Being, knowing men's hearts, and able to influence them.
  2. or Mî-hsü was a state in the present King-ning Kâu, of Phing-liang department, Kan-sû.
  3. Yüan was a state adjacent to ,—the present King Kâu, and Kung must have been a place or district in it.
  4. Wăn, it appears, made now a small change in the site of his capital, but did not move to Făng, where he finally settled.