Classic of Documents
商書 Shāng shū
仲虺之誥 第十一 Book Eleven · Zhòng Huǐ zhī gào
成湯放桀于南巢，惟有慚德，曰：「予恐來世以台為口實。」
When T‘ang, the Successful, was keeping Këĕ in banishment in Nan-ch‘aou, 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.”
仲虺乃作誥，曰：「嗚呼！惟天生民有欲，無主乃亂；惟天生聰明時乂，有夏昏德，民墜塗炭，天乃錫王勇智，表正萬邦，纘禹舊服。茲率厥典，奉若天命。
On this Chung-hwuy 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 whose business it is to regulate them. The sovereign of Hea had his virtue all-obscured, and the people were as if they were fallen amid mire and charcoal. Heaven hereupon gifted our king with valour and wisdom, to serve as a mark and director to the myriad States, and to continue the old ways of Yu. You are now only following the standard course, honouring and obeying the appointment of Heaven.
「夏王有罪，矯誣上天，以布命于下；帝用不臧，式商受命，用爽厥師；
The king of Hea was an offender, falsely pretending; to the sanction of supreme Heaven, to spread abroad his commands among the people. 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.
「簡賢附勢，寔繁有徒；肇我邦于有夏，若苗之有莠，若粟之有秕；小大戰戰，罔不懼于非辜，矧予之德言足聽聞；
“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 Hea 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 made them a theme eagerly listened to!
「惟王不邇聲色，不殖貨利。德懋懋官，功懋懋賞，用人惟已，改過不吝，克寬克仁，彰信兆民。
Our king did not approach to dissolute music and women; he did not seek to accumulate property and money. To great virtue he gave great offices; to great merit he gave great rewards. He employed others as if their abilities 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.
「乃葛伯仇餉，初征自葛，東征西夷怨，南征北狄怨；曰：『奚獨後予。』攸徂之民，室家相慶，曰：『徯予后，后來其蘇。』民之戴商，厥惟舊哉。
“When the chief of Kŏ showed his enmity to the provision-carriers, the work of punishment began with Kŏ. 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 chambers, saying, ‘We have waited for our prince;—our prince is come, and we revive.’ The people’s honouring our Shang is a thing of long existence.
「佑賢輔德，顯忠遂良，兼弱攻昧，取亂侮亡，推亡固存，邦乃其昌。
“Show favour 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 deal summarily with those going to ruin.
「德日新，萬邦惟懷；志自滿，九族乃離。王懋昭大德，建中于民，以義制事，以禮制心，垂裕後昆。予聞曰：『能自得師者王，謂人莫已若者亡。』好問則裕，自用則小。
Thus overthrowing the perishing and strengthening what is being preserved, how will the States all flourish! “When a sovereign’s virtue is daily being renewed, he is cherished throughout the myriad States; when he is full of his own will, he is abandoned by the nine classes of his kindred. Exert yourself, O king, to make your great virtue illustrious, and set up the pattern 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 ask becomes enlarged; he who uses only himself becomes small.’
「嗚呼！慎厥終，惟其始；殖有禮，覆昏暴。欽崇天道，永保天命。」
“Oh! he who would take care for his end must be attentive to his beginning. There is establishment for the observers of propriety, and overthrow for the blinded and wantonly indifferent. To revere and honour the way of Heaven is the way ever to preserve the favouring regard of Heaven.”