nfucian Analects,
those of this work are headed by two or three words at or near the
commencement of them. Each Book is divided into two parts. This
arrangement was made by Chaou K'e, and to him are due also the divisions
into chapters, and sentences, or paragraphs, containing, it may be, many
sentences.]

[Footnote 2: Seang was the son of King Hwuy. The first year of his reign
is supposed to be B.C. 317. Seang's name was Hih. As a posthumous
epithet, Seang has various meanings: "Land-enlarger and Virtuous";
"Successful in Arms." The interview here recorded seems to have taken
place immediately after Hih's accession, and Mencius, it is said, was so
disappointed by it that he soon after left the country.]

THE SHI-KING

[_Metrical translation by James Legge_]

INTRODUCTION

The wisdom of Confucius as a social reformer, as a teacher and guide of
the Chinese people, is shown in many ways. He not only gave them a code
of personal deportment, providing them with rules for the etiquette and
ceremony of life, but he instilled into them that profound spirit of
domestic piety which is one of the strongest features in the Chinese
character. He took measures to secure also the intellectual cultivation
of his followers, and his Five Canons contain all the most ancient works
of Chinese literature, in the departments of poetry, history,
philosophy, and legislation. The Shi-King is a collection of Chinese
poetry made by Confucius himself. This great anthology consists of more
than three hundred pieces, covering the whole range of Chinese lyric
poetry, the oldest of which dates some eighteen centuries before Christ,
while the latest of the selections must have been written at the
beginning of the sixth century before Christ. These poems are of the
highest interest, and even nowadays may be read with delight by
Europeans. The ballad and the hymn are among the earliest forms of
national poetry, and the contents of the Shi-King naturally show
specimens of lyric poetry of this sort. We find there not only hymns,
but also ballads of a really fine and spirited character. Sometimes the
poems celebrate the common pursuits, occupations, and incidents of life.
They rise to the exaltation of the epithalamium, or of the vintage song;
at other times they deal with sentiment and human conduct, being in the
highest degree sententious and epigrammatic. We must give the credit to
Confucius of having saved for us the literature of Ch