Full of activity is the chief of Shin, And the king would employ him to continue the services (of his fathers), With his capital in Hsieh [1], Where he should be a pattern to the states of the south. The king gave charge to the earl of Shâo, To arrange all about the residence of the chief of Shin, Where he should do what was necessary for the regions of the south, And where his posterity might maintain his merit.
Of the services of the chief of Shan The foundation was laid by the earl of Shâo, Who first built the walls (of his city), And then completed his ancestral temple [2]. When the temple was completed, wide and grand, The king conferred on the chief of Shâo Four noble steeds, With the hooks for the trappings of the breast-bands, glittering bright[3].
[1. Hsieh was in the present Fang Kâu of the department of Nan-yang.
2. Compare with this the account given, in ode 3 of the first decade, of the settling of 'the ancient duke Than-fû' in the plain of Kâu. Here, as there, the great religious edifice, the ancestral temple, takes precedence of all other buildings in the new city.
3. The steeds with their equipments were tokens of the royal favour, usually granted on occasions of investiture. The. conferring of them was followed immediately by the departure of the newly-invested prince to his charge.]
ODE 6, STANZAS 1 AND 7. THE KANG MIN.
CELEBRATING THE VIRTUES OF KUNG SHAN-FÛ, WHO APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL MINISTERS OF KING HSÜAN, AND HIS DESPATCH TO THE EAST, TO FORTIFY THE CAPITAL OF TIM STATE OF KHÎ.
Heaven, in giving birth to the multitudes of the people, To every faculty and relationship annexed its law. The people possess this normal nature, And they (consequently) love its normal virtue [1]. Heaven beheld the ruler of Kâu, Brilliantly affecting it by his conduct below, And to maintain him, its Son, Gave birth to Kung Shan-fû [2].
Kung Shan-fû went forth, having sacrificed to the spirit of the road [3]. His four steeds were strong;
[1. We get an idea of the meaning which has been attached to these four lines from a very early time by Mencius' quotation of them (VI, i, ch. 6) in support of his doctrine of the goodness of human nature, and the remark on the piece which he 'attributes to Confucius, that 'the maker of it knew indeed the constitution (of our nature).' Every faculty, bodily or mental, has its function to fulfil, and every relationship its duty to be discharged. The function and the duty are the things which the human being has to observe:--the seeing clearly, for instance, with the eyes, and bearing distinctly with the ears; the maintenance of righteousness between ruler and minister, and of affection between parent and child. This is the 'normal nature,' and the 'normal virtue' is the nature fulfilling the various laws of its constitution.