Classic of Documents
商書 Shāng shū
高宗肜日 第二十四 Book Twenty-four · Gāozōng róng rì
高宗肜日，越有雊雉。
On the day of the supplementary sacrifice of Kaou-tsung, there appeared a crowing pheasant.
祖己曰：「惟先格王，正厥事。」
Tsoo Ke said, “To rectify this affair, the king must first be corrected.”
乃訓于王曰：「惟天監下民，典厥義。降年有永有不永；非天夭民，民中絕命。
Accordingly he lessoned the king, saying, “In its inspection of men below, Heaven’s first consideration is of their righteousness; and it bestows on them accordingly length of years or the contrary. Heaven does not cut short men’s lives;—they bring them to an end in the midst themselves.
「民有不若德，不聽罪；天既孚命正厥德，乃曰：『其如台？』
Some men may not have complied with virtue, and will not acknowledge their crimes, but when Heaven has evidently charged them to correct their conduct, and they still say, ‘What is this to us?’ —
「嗚呼！王司敬民；罔非天胤，典祀無豐于昵。」
“Oh! Your Majesty’s business is to care reverently for the people. And all your ancestors were the heirs of the empire favoured by Heaven;—attend to the sacrifices to them, and be not so excessive in those to your father.”