Ode 1. The <I>Kh</I>ing Miâo

II. THE SACRIFICIAL ODES OF KÂU.

IN this division we have thirty-one sacrificial odes of Kâu, arranged in three decades, the third of which, however, contains eleven pieces. They belong mostly to the time of king Wăn, the founder of the Kâu dynasty, and to the reigns of his son and grandson, kings Wû and Khăng. The decades are named from the name of the first piece in each.

The First Decade, or that of Khing Miâo.

ODE 1. The Khing Miâo.

CELEBRATING THE REVERENTIAL MANNER IN WHICH A SACRIFICE TO KING WĂN WAS PERFORMED, AND FURTHER PRAISING HIM.

Chinese critics agree in assigning this piece to the sacrifice mentioned in the Shû, in the end of the thirteenth Book of Part V, when, the building of Lo being finished, king Khăng came to

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the new city, and offered a red bull to Wăn, and the same to Wû. It seems to me to have been sung in honour of Wăn, after the service was completed. This determination of the occasion of the piece being accepted, we should refer it to B.C. 1108.

Oh! solemn is the ancestral temple in its pure stillness. Reverent and harmonious were the distinguished assistants ¹; Great was the number of the officers ²:--(All) assiduous followers of the virtue of (king Wăn). In response to him in heaven, Grandly they hurried about in the temple. Distinguished is he and honoured, And will never be wearied of among men.

Footnotes

314:1 These would be the princes who were assembled on the occasion, and assisted the king in the service.

314:2 That is, the officers who took part in the libations, prayers, and other parts of the sacrifice.