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• Preface.
• The ShÛ King Or Book of Historical Documents.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: The Nature and History of the Shû.
• Chapter II.: The Credibility of the Records In the Shû.
• Chapter III.: On the Chronology of China, and the Principal Eras In the Shû.
• The Use of the Chart.
• Part I.: The Book of Thang.
• The Canon of Yâo.
• Part II.: The Books of YÜ.
• Book I.: The Canon of Shun.
• Book II.: The Counsels of the Great Yü.
• Book III.: The Counsels of Kâo-yâo.
• Book IV.: The Yî and K î.
• Part III.: The Books of HsiÂ.
• Book I.: The Tribute of Yü.
• Book II.: The Speech At Kan.
• Book III.: The Songs of the Five Sons.
• Book IV.: The Punitive Expedition of Yin.
• Part IV.: The Books of Shang.
• Book I.: The Speech of Thang.
• Book II.: The Announcement of K Ung-hui.
• Book III.: The Announcement of Thang.
• Book IV.: The Instructions of Î.
• Book V.: The Thâi K Iâ.
• Book VI.: The Common Possession of Pure Virtue.
• Book VII.: The Pan-kĂng.
• Book VIII.: The Charge to Yüeh.
• Book IX.: The Day of the Supplementary Sacrifice to Kâo Ȝung.
• Book X.: The Chief of the West’s Conquest of Lî.
• Book XI.: The Count of Wei.
• Part V.: The Books of K Âu.
• Book I.: The Great Declaration.
• Book II.: The Speech At Mû.
• Book III.: The Successful Completion of the War.
• Book IV.: The Great Plan.
• Book V.: The Hounds of Lü.
• Book VI.: The Metal-bound Coffer.
• Book VII.: The Great Announcement.
• Book VIII.: The Charge to the Count of Wei.
• Book IX.: The Announcement to the Prince of Khang.
• Book X.: The Announcement About Drunkenness.
• Book XI.: The Timber of the Rottlera.
• Book XII.: The Announcement of the Duke of Shâo.
• Book XIII.: The Announcement Concerning Lo.
• Book XIV.: The Numerous Officers.
• Book XV.: Against Luxurious Ease.
• Book XVI.: The Prince Shih.
• Book XVII.: The Charge to K Ung of Ȝhâi.
• Book XVIII.: The Numerous Regions.
• Book XIX.: The Establishment of Government.
• Book XX.: The Officers of K âu.
• Book XXI.: The K ün- Kh Ăn.
• Book XXII.: The Testamentary Charge.
• Book XXIII.: The Announcement of King Khang.
• Book XXIV.: The Charge to the Duke of Pî.
• Book XXV.: The K ün-yâ.
• Book XXVI.: The Charge to Kh Iung.
• Book XXVII.: The Marquis of Lü On Punishments.
• Book XXVIII.: The Charge to the Marquis WĂn.
• Book XXIX.: The Speech At Pî.
• Book XXX.: The Speech of (the Marquis Of) Kh In.
• The Shih King Or Book of Poetry: All the Pieces and Stanzas In It Illustrating the Religious Views and Practices of the Writers and Their Times.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: The Name and Contents of the Classic.
• Chapter II.: The Shih Before Confucius, and What, If Any, Were His Labours Upon It.
• Chapter III.: The Shih From the Time of Confucius Till the General Acknowledgment of the Present Text.
• Chapter IV.: The Formation of the Collection of the Shih; How It Came to Be So Small and Incomplete; the Interpretation and Authors of the Pieces; One Point of Time Certainly Indicated In It; and the Confucian Preface.
• Odes of the Temple and the Altar.
• I.: The Sacrificial Odes of Shang.
• II.: The Sacrificial Odes of K âu.
• III.: The Praise Odes of Lû.
• The Minor Odes of the Kingdom. Pieces and Stanzas Illustrating the Religious Views and Practices of the Writers and Their Times.
• The Major Odes of the Kingdom. Pieces and Stanzas Illustrating the Religious Views and Practices of the Writers and Their Times.
• Lessons From the States. Odes and Stanzas Illustrating the Religious Views and Practices of the Writers and Their Times.
• The HsiÂo King Or Classic of Filial Piety.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: The Name of the Classic; Its Existence Before the Han Dynasty; Its Contents, and By Whom It Was Written.
• Chapter II.: The Recovery of the Hsiâo King Under the Han Dynasty, and Its Preservation Down to the Publication of the Commentary of the Thang Emperor Hsüan Ȝung.
• Chapter III.: Criticism of the Hsiâo Since the Thang Dynasty.
• Note On the Translation.
• Chapter I.: The Scope and Meaning of the Treatise.
• Chapter II.: Filial Piety In the Son of Heaven.
• Chapter III.: Filial Piety In the Princes of States.
• Chapter IV.: Filial Piety In High Ministers and Great Officers.
• Chapter V.: Filial Piety In Inferior Officers.
• Chapter VI.: Filial Piety In the Common People.
• Chapter VII.: Filial Piety In Relation to the Three Powers 2 .
• Chapter VIII.: Filial Piety In Government.
• Chapter IX.: The Government of the Sages 1 .
• Chapter X.: An Orderly Description of the Acts of Filial Piety.
• Chapter XI.: Filial Piety In Relation to the Five Punishments.
• Chapter XII.: Amplification of ‘the All-embracing Rule of Conduct’ In Chapter I.
• Chapter XIII.: Amplification of ‘the Perfect Virtue’ In Chapter I.
• Chapter XIV.: Amplification of ‘making Our Name Famous’ In Chapter I.
• Chapter XV.: Filial Piety In Relation to Reproof and Remonstrance.
• Chapter XVI.: The Influence of Filial Piety and the Response to It.
• Chapter XVII.: The Service of the Ruler.
• Chapter XVIII.: Filial Piety In Mourning For Parents.
• Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets Adopted For the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East.

Book III.

The Songs of the Five Sons.

1. Thâi Khang occupied the throne like a personator of the dead1 . By idleness and dissipation he extinguished his virtue, till the black-haired people all wavered in their allegiance. He, however, pursued his pleasure and wanderings without any self-restraint. He went out to hunt beyond the Lo, and a hundred days elapsed without his returning. (On this) Î, the prince of Khiung, taking advantage of the discontent of the people, resisted (his return) on (the south of) the Ho. The (king’s) five brothers had attended their mother in following him, and were waiting for him on the north of the Lo; and (when they heard of Î’s movement), all full of dissatisfaction, they related the Cautions of the great Yü in the form of songs.

2. The first said,

• • ‘It was the lesson of our great ancestor:—
  • The people should be cherished,
  • And not looked down upon.
  • The people are the root of a country;
  • The root firm, the country is tranquil.
  • When I look at all under heaven,
  • Of the simple men and simple women,
  • Any one may surpass me.
  • If the One man err repeatedly1 ,
  • Should dissatisfaction be waited for till it appears?
  • Before it is seen, it should be guarded against.
  • In my dealing with the millions of the people,
  • I should feel as much anxiety as if I were driving six horses with rotten reins.
  • The ruler of men—
  • How should he be but reverent (of his duties)?’
  • The second said,
• • ‘It is in the Lessons:—
  • When the palace is a wild of lust,
  • And the country is a wild for hunting;
  • When spirits are liked, and music is the delight;
  • When there are lofty roofs and carved walls;—
  • The existence of any one of these things
  • Has never been but the prelude to ruin.’
  • The third said,
• • ‘There was the lord of Thâo and Thang1 ,
  • Who possessed this region of Kî.
  • Now we have fallen from his ways,
  • And thrown into confusion his rules and laws;—
  • The consequence is extinction and ruin.’
  • The fourth said,
• • Brightly intelligent was our ancestor,
  • Sovereign of the myriad regions.
  • He had canons, he had patterns,
  • Which he transmitted to his posterity.
  • The standard stone and the equalizing quarter
  • Were in the royal treasury.
  • Wildly have we dropt the clue he gave us,
  • Overturning our temple, and extinguishing our sacrifices.’*
  • The fifth said,
• • ‘Oh! whither shall we turn?
  • The thoughts in my breast make me sad,
  • All the people are hostile to us;
  • On whom can we rely?
  • Anxieties crowd together in our hearts;
  • Thick as are our faces, they are covered with blushes.
  • We have not been careful of our virtue;
  • And though we repent, we cannot overtake the past.’

[1 ] The character that here as a verb governs the character signifying ‘throne’ means properly ‘a corpse,’ and is often used for the personator of the dead, in the sacrificial services to the dead which formed a large part of the religious ceremonies of the ancient Chinese. A common definition of it is ‘the semblance of the spirit,’ = the image into which the spirit entered. Thâi Khang was but a personator on the throne, no better than a sham sovereign.

[1 ] Any king, in the person of Yü, may be understood to be the speaker.

[1 ] The lord of Thâo and Thang is Yâo, who was lord of the principalities of Thâo and Thang, but of which first and which last is uncertain, before his accession to the throne. Kî is the Kî Kâu of the Tribute of Yü.