Classic of Poetry

How pure and still are the solemn temples, In their strong solidity and minute completeness! Highly distinguished was Këang Yuen, Of virtue undeflected. God regarded her with favour; And without injury or hurt, Immediately, when her months were fulfilled, She gave birth to How-tseih. On him were conferred all blessings,— [To know] how the millet ripened early, and the sacrificial millet late, How first to sow pulse, and then wheat. Anon he was invested with an inferior State, And taught the people how to sow and to reap The millet and the sacrificial millet, Rice and the black millet; Ere long all over the whole country;— [Thus] continuing the work of Yu.

Among the descendants of How-tseih There was king T‘ae, Dwelling on the south of [mount] K‘e, Where the clipping of Shang began. In process of time Wăn and Woo Continued the work of king T‘ae, And [the purpose of] Heaven was carried out in its time, In the plain of Muh. ‘Have no doubts, no anxieties,’ [it was said]; ‘God is with you.’ [Woo] disposed of the troops of Shang; He and his men shared equally in the achievement. [Then] king [Ching] said, ‘My uncle, I will set up your eldest son, And make him marquis of Loo. I will greatly enlarge your territory there, To be a help and support to the House of Chow.

Accordingly he appointed [our first] duke of Loo, And made him marquis in the east, Giving him the hills and rivers, The lands and fields, and the attached States. The [present] descendant of the duke of Chow, The son of duke Chwang, With dragon-emblazoned banner attends the sacrifices, His six reins soft and pliant. In spring and autumn he does not neglect [the sacrifices]; His offerings are all without error. To the great and sovereign God, And to his great ancestor How-tseih, He offers the victims, red and pure. They enjoy, they approve, And bestow blessings in large number. The duke of Chow, and [your other] great ancestors, Also bless you.

In autumn comes the sacrifice of the season, But in summer the bulls for it have had their horns capped. They are the white bull and the red one; [There are] the bull-figured goblet in its dignity; Roast pig, minced meat, and soups; The dishes of bamboo and wood, and the large stand; And the dancers all-complete. The filial descendant will be blessed. [Your ancestors] will make you gloriously prosperous! They will make you long-lived and good,— To preserve this eastern region, Long possessing the State of Loo, Unwaning, unfallen, Unshaken, undisturbed! They will make your friendship with your three aged [ministers], Like the hills, like the mountains!

Our prince’s chariots are a thousand, [And in each] are the vermilion tassels and the green bands of the two spears and two bows. His footmen are thirty thousand, With shells on vermilion-strings adorning their helmets. So numerous are his ardent followers, To deal with the tribes of the west and north, And to punish [those of] King and Shoo, So that none of them will dare to withstand us. May [the Spirits] make you grandly prosperous! May they make you long-lived and wealthy! May the hoary hair and wrinkled back, Marking the aged men, be always in your employment! May they make you prosperous and great! May they grant you old age, ever vigorous, For myriads and thousands of years, With the eyebrows of longevity, and ever unharmed!

The mountain of T‘ae is lofty, Looked up to by the State of Loo. We grandly possess also Kwei and Mung; And we shall extend to the limits of the east, Even the States along the sea. The tribes of the Hwae will seek our alliance;— All will proffer their allegiance:— Such shall be the the achievements of the marquis of Loo.

He shall maintain the possession of Hoo and Yih, And extend his sway to the regions of Seu, Even to the States along the sea. The tribes of the Hwae, the Man, and the Mih, And those tribes [still more] to the south, All will proffer their allegiance;— Not one will dare not to answer to his call, Thus showing their obedience to the marquis of Loo.

Heaven will give great blessing to our prince, So that with the eyebrows of longevity he shall maintain Loo. He shall possess Chang and Heu, And recover all the territory of the duke of Chow. Then shall the marquis of Loo feast and be glad, With his admirable wife and aged mother; With his excellent ministers and all his [other] officers. Our region and State shall he hold, Thus receiving many blessings, To hoary hair, with a child’s teeth.

The pines of Tsoo-lae, And the cypresses of Sin-foo, Were cut down and measured, With the cubit line and the eight cubits line. The projecting beams of pine were large; The large inner apartments rose vast. Splendid look the new temples, The work of He-sze, Very wide and large, Answering to the expectations of all the people.