Part 7 (1/2)
The critics agree in holding that this piece was made on occasion of the duke of Kau's completing his instruments of music for the ancestral, temple, and announcing the fact at a grand performance in the temple of king Wan. It cam hardly be regarded as a sacrificial ode.
There are the blind musicians; there are the blind musicians; In the court of (the temple of) Kau.[1]
[1. The blind musicians at the court of Kau were numerous. The blindness of the eyes was supposed to make the ears more acute in hearing, and to be favourable to the powers of the voice. In the Official Book of Kau, III, i, par. 22, the enumeration of these blind musicians gives 2 directors of the first rank, and 4 of the second; 40 performers of the first grade, 100 of the second, and 160 of the third; with 300 a.s.sistants who were possessed of vision. But it is difficult not to be somewhat incredulous as to this great collection of blind musicians about the court of Kau.]
There are (the music-frames with their) face-boards and posts, The high toothed-edge (of the former), and the feathers stuck (in the latter); With the drums, large and small, suspended from them; And the hand-drums and sounding-stones, the instrument to give the signal for commencing, and the stopper. These being all complete, the music is struck up. The pan-pipe and the double flute begin at the same time [1].
Harmoniously blend their sounds; In solemn unison they give forth their notes. Our ancestors will give ear. Our visitors will be there;--Long to witness the complete performance.
ODE 6. THE KHIEN.
SUNG IN THE LAST MONTH OF WINTER, AND IN SPRING, WHEN THE KING PRESENTED A FISH IN THE ANCESTRAL TEMPLE.
Such is the argument of this piece given in the Preface, and in which the critics generally concur. In the Li Ki, IV, vi, 49, it is recorded that the king, in the third Month of winter, gave orders to his chief fisher to commence his duties, and went himself to see his operations.
He partook of the fish first captured, but previously presented some as an offering in the back apartment of the ancestral temple. In the third month of spring, again, when the sturgeons began to make their appearance (Li Ki, IV, i, 25), the king presented one in the same place. On
[1. All the instruments here enumerated were performed on in the open court below the hall. Nothing is said of the stringed instruments which were used in the hall itself; nor is the enumeration of the instruments in the courtyard complete.]
these pa.s.sages, the prefatory notice was, no doubt, constructed. Choice specimens of the earliest-caught fish were presented by the sovereign to his ancestors, as an act of duty, and an acknowledgment that it was to their favour that he and the people were indebted for the supplies of food, which they received from the waters.
Oh! in the Khi and the Khu, There are many fish in the warrens;--Sturgeons, large and snouted, Thryssas, yellow-jaws, mud-fish, and carp;--For offerings, for sacrifice, That our bright happiness may be increased.
ODE 7. THE YUNG.
APPROPRIATE, PROBABLY, AT A SACRIFICE BY KING Wu TO HIS FATHER WAN.
From a reference in the a.n.a.lects, III, ii, to an abuse of this ode in the time of Confucius, We learn that it was sung When the sacrificial vessels and their contents were being removed.
They come full of harmony; They are here in all gravity;--The princes a.s.sisting, While the Son of Heaven looks profound.
(He says), 'While I present (this) n.o.ble bull, And they a.s.sist me in setting forth the sacrifice, O great and august Father, Comfort me, your filial son.
With penetrating wisdom thou didst play the man. A sovereign with the gifts both of peace and war, Giving rest even to great Heaven[1], And ensuring prosperity to thy descendants.
[1. To explain this line one commentator refers to the seventh stanza of the first piece in the Major Odes of the Kingdom, where it is said, 'G.o.d surveyed the four quarters of the kingdom, seeking for some one to give settlement and rest to the people;' and adds, 'Thus what Heaven has at heart is the settlement of the people, When the), have rest given to them, then Heaven is at rest.']
'Thou comfortest me with the eyebrows of longevity; Thou makest me great with manifold blessings, I offer this sacrifice to my meritorious father, And to my accomplished mother[1].'
ODE 8. THE ZaI HSIEN.
APPROPRIATE TO AN OCCASION WHEN THE FEUDAL PRINCES HAD BEEN a.s.sISTING KING KHANG AT A SACRIFICE TO HIS FATHER.
They appeared before their sovereign king, To seek from him the rules (they were to observe). With their dragon-emblazoned banners, flying bright, The bells on them and their front-boards tinkling, And with the rings on the ends of the reins glittering, Admirable was their majesty and splendour.