Classic of Documents
周書 Zhōu shū
泰誓下 第二十九 Book Twenty-nine · Tài shì xià
時厥明，王乃大巡六師，明誓眾士。
The time was on the morrow, when the king went round his six hosts in state, and made a clear declaration to all his officers.
王曰：「嗚呼！我西土君子，天有顯道，厥類惟彰。今商王受，狎侮五常，荒怠弗敬。自絕于天，結怨于民。
He said, “Oh! my valiant men of the west, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several characters are quite plain. And now Show, the king of Shang treats with contemptuous slight the five constant virtues, and abandons himself to wild idleness and irreverence. He has cut himself off from Heaven, and brought enmity between himself and the people.
「斮朝涉之脛，剖賢人之心。作威殺戮毒痡四海。崇信姦回，放黜師保，屏棄典刑，囚奴正士，郊社不修，宗廟不享，作奇技淫巧以悅婦人。上帝弗順，祝降時喪。爾其孜孜，奉予一人，恭行天罰。
“He cut through the leg-bones of those who were wading in the morning; he cut out the heart of the worthy man. By the use of his power killing and murdering, he has poisoned and sickened all within the four seas. His honour and confidence are given to the villainous and bad. He has driven from him his instructors and guardians. He has thrown to the winds the statutes and penal laws. He has imprisoned and enslaved the upright officer. He neglects the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth. He has discontinued the offerings in the ancestral temple. He makes contrivances of wonderful device and extraordinary cunning, to please his woman.—God will no longer indulge him, but with a curse is sending down on him this ruin. Do ye support with untiring zeal me, the one man, reverently to execute the punishment appointed by Heaven.
「古人有言曰：『撫我則后，虐我則讎。』獨夫受，洪惟作威，乃汝世讎。樹德務滋，除惡務本，肆予小子，誕以爾眾士，殄殲乃讎。爾眾士其尚迪果毅，以登乃辟。功多有厚賞，不迪有顯戮。
The ancients have said, ‘He who soothes us is our sovereign; he who oppresses us is our enemy.’ This solitary fellow Show, having exercised great tyranny, is your perpetual enemy. It is said again, ‘In planting a man’s virtue, strive to make it great; in putting away a man’s wickedness, strive to do it from the root.’ Here I, who am a little child, by the powerful help of you, all my officers, will utterly exterminate your enemy. Do you, all my officers, march forwards with determined boldness, to sustain your prince. Where there is much merit, there shall be large reward. Where you advance not so, there shall be conspicuous disgrace.
「嗚呼！惟我文考，若日月之照臨，光于四方，顯于西土。惟我有周，誕受多方。
“Oh! the virtue of my deceased father Wăn was like the shining and influence of the sun and moon. His brightness extended over the four quarters of the empire, and shone signally in the western region. Hence it is that our Chow has received the allegiance of many States.
「予克受，非予武，惟朕文考無罪。受克予，非朕文考有罪，惟予小子無良。」
If I subdue Show, it will not be my prowess, but the faultless virtue of my deceased father Wăn. If Show subdue me, it will not be from any fault of my deceased father Wăn, but because I, who am a little child, am not good.”