{"collection":"cfu","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cfu/bop/bop264.htm","path":"cfu/bop/bop264.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cfu/bop/bop264.htm","text":"The Book of Poetry, tr. by James Legge, [1876]\n2Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! O king of Yin,\n To you the proud oppressors give their aid,\n \u00a0\u00a0And \u2019gainst you fierce exactors sin!\n Why call such men your offices to hold?\n \u00a0\u00a0O\u2019er your affairs why such men set? p. 387\n \u2018Heaven made them thus, so insolent and bold!\u2019\n \u00a0\u00a0But \u2019tis from you their strength they get.\"\n3Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! Yin's king so great,\n You honor not the good, but in their stead\n \u00a0\u00a0Oppressors whom the people hate.\n To you with baseless stories they reply,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thieves and robbers by them stand.\n Their oaths and maledictions fiercely fly,\n \u00a0\u00a0Ceaseless and deep, throughout the land.\"\n4Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! O king of Yin,\n Fierce is your will, here in the court displayed,\n \u00a0\u00a0And only hatred thus you win.\n Your proper virtue you have never sought,\n \u00a0\u00a0And thus none good surround your throne.\n Of what true virtue is you take no thought,\n \u00a0\u00a0Hence are your nobles worthless known.\"\n5Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! Yin's king so great, p. 388\n Not Heaven, but spirits, flush your face with red,\n \u00a0\u00a0That evil thus you imitate.\n You do in all your conduct what is wrong.\n \u00a0\u00a0Darkness to you the same as light,\n Your noisy feasts and revels you prolong;\n \u00a0\u00a0And day through you is black as night.\"\n6Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! O king of Yin,\n Round you it is as if cicadas made,\n \u00a0\u00a0And bubbling soup, their ceaseless din.\n Things, great and small, fast to perdition go,\n \u00a0\u00a0While you pursue your reckless game.\n Our middle states with indignation glow;\n \u00a0\u00a0The demon lands as loudly blame.\"\n7Thus to the tyrant Ju our King W\u00ean said:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! O Yin's great king,\n \u2019Tis Yin, not God, has caused this time of dread,\n \u00a0\u00a0Yin that old ways away would fling.\n Old men and wise may not give you their trust,\n \u00a0\u00a0But statutes and old laws remain. p. 389\n Now is Yin's fortune crumbling to the dust,\n \u00a0\u00a0Because obedience you disdain.\"\n8Thus to the tyrant Ju King W\u00ean did speak:\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0\"Alas! alas! O king of Yin,\n For Yin its beacon was not far to seek;\u2014\n \u00a0\u00a0In Hsia's last king its light was seen.\n True is the lesson in the saying taught:\n \u00a0\u00a0'While leaf and branch still vigorous grow,\n A tree may fall. And what that fall has wrought?\n \u00a0\u00a0Its roots uptorn the cause will show.'\"","title":"The Book of Poetry: Book III. Decade of Tang: I. Tang","type":"page"}