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Classic of History — The Canon of Yâo

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1. Examining into antiquity, the Tî Yâo^[1] was styled Fang-hsün^[2]. He was reverential, intelligent, accomplished, and thoughtful,—naturally and without effort. He was sincerely courteous, and capable of complaisance. The bright was felt through the four quarters, and reached to above and beneath.

He made the able and virtuous distinguished, and thence proceeded to the love of the nine classes of his kindred, who became harmonious. He regulated and polished the people, who all became brightly intelligent. He united and harmonized the myriad states; and so the black-haired people were transformed. The result was 2. He commanded the Hsîs and Hos^[3], in reverent accordance with the wide heavens, to calculate and delineate the sun, the moon, the stars, and the zodiacal spaces, and so to deliver respectfully the seasons to be observed by the people.

He separately commanded the second brother Hsî to reside at Yü-î^[4], in what was called the Bright Valley, and respectfully to receive as a guest the rising sun, and to adjust and arrange the labours of the spring. ‘The day is of the medium length, and the star is in Niâo;—you may thus exactly determine mid-spring. The people are dispersed, and birds and beasts breed and copulate.’

He further commanded the third brother. Hsî to reside at Nan-kiâo ^[5], to adjust and arrange the transformations of the summer, and respectfully-to observe the exact limit. ‘The day is at its longest, and the star is in Hwo;—you may thus exactly determine mid-summer. The people are more dispersed; and birds and beasts have their feathers and hair thin, and change their coats.’

He separately commanded the second brother Ho to reside at the west, in what was called the Dark Valley, and respectfully to convoy the setting sun, and to adjust and arrange the completing labours of the autumn. ‘The night is of the medium length, and the star is In Hsü;—you may thus exactly determine mid-autumn. The people feel at ease, and birds and beasts have, their coats in good condition.’

He further commanded the third brother Ho to reside in the northern region, in what was called the Sombre Capital, and to adjust and examine the changes of the winter. ‘The day is at its shortest, and the star is in Mâo;—you may thus exactly determine mid-winter. The people, keep in their houses, and the coats of birds and beasts are downy and thick.’

The Tî said, ‘Ah! you, Hsîs and Hos, a round year consists of three hundred, sixty, and six days. Do you, by means of the intercalary month, fix the four seasons, and complete the year. The various officers being regulated, in accordance with this, all the works will be fully performed.’

3. The Tî said, ‘Who will search out a man according to the times, whom I can raise and employ?’ Fang-khî said, ‘Heir-son Kû^[6] is highly intelligent.’ The Tî said, ‘Alas; he is insincere and quarrelsome:—can he do?’

The Tî said, ‘Who will search out a man’. equal to the exigency of my affairs?’ Hwan-tâu^[7] said, ‘Oh! the merits of the Minister of Works have just been displayed on a wide scale.’ The Tî, said, ‘Alas! when all is quiet, he talks; but when, employed, his actions turn out differently. he is respectful in appearance. See! the floods assail the heavens!’

The Tî said, ‘Ho! The Four Mountains^[8], destructive in their overflow are the waters of the inundation. In their vast extent they embrace the hills and overtop the great heights, threatening the heavens with their floods, so that the lower people groan and murmur ‘Is there a capable man to whom I can assign the correction ?’ All said, ‘Ah! is there not Khwăn^[9]?’ The Tî said, ‘Alas! how perverse is he! He is disobedient to orders, and tries to injure his peers.’ the Mountains said, ‘Well but—. Try if he can.’ Was employed accordingly. The Tî said, ‘Go; and be reverent!’ For nine years he laboured, but the work was unaccomplished.

The Tî said, ‘Ho! The Four Mountains, I have been on the throne seventy years. You can carry out my commands;—I will resign my place to you.’ The Chief said, ‘I have not the virtue; I should disgrace your place.’ Said, ‘Show me some one among the illustrious, or set forth one from among the poor and mean.’ All said to the Tî, ‘There is an unmarried man among the lower people, called Shun of Yü^[10]‘. The Tî said, ‘Yes, I have heard of him. What have you to say about him?’ The Chief said,’ He is the son of a blind man. His father was obstinately unprincipled; his mother was insincere; his brother Hsiang was arrogant. He has been able, by his filial piety to live in harmony with them, and to lead them gradually to self-government, so that they proceed to great wickedness.’ The Tî said, ‘I will try him; I will wive him, and thereby see his behaviour with my two daughters.’ e arranged and sent down his two daughters to the north of the Kwei^[11], to be wives in Yü. The Tî said to them, ‘Be reverent!’

Legge’s footnotes

1 ↑ Yâo is to us now the name of the ancient ruler so denominated. The character means ‘high,’ ‘lofty and grand.’ It may originally have been an epithet, ‘the Exalted One.’ On the meaning of Tî in Tî Yâo, see what has been said in the Preface.

2 ↑ The Han scholars held that Fang-hsün was the name of Yâo. Those of Sung, taking the characters as an epithet, make them signify ‘the Highly Meritorious.’

3 ↑ The Hsîs and Hos seem to ‘have been brothers of two families, on whom devolved the care of the calendar, principally with a view to regulate the seasons of agriculture. See Parts III, iv, and V, xxvii. On Yâo’s directions to them, see the Introduction, pp. 24-28.

4 ↑ Yü-î is by some identified with Tăng-kâu, in Shan-tung, lat. 37° 48´ long. 12° 4´; by others, it is sought in Corea.

5 ↑ Nan-kiâo was south, it is said, on the border of An-nan or Cochin-China. The characters for ‘in what was called the Brilliant Capital’ are supposed to have dropt out of the text.

6 ↑ In Part II, iv, 2, Yü speaks of this son of Yâo as ‘the haughty Kû of Tan,’ Tan probably being the name of a state, over which, according to tradition, he had been appointed.

7 ↑ Hwan-tâu and the Minister of Works, whom he recommends, appear in the next Book as great criminals.

8 ↑ The Four Mountains, or simply Four Mountains, appears to have been the title of the chief minister of Yâo. The four mountains were—mount Thâi in the east; Hwâ in the west in Shan-hsî; Hăng in the south, in Hû-nan; and Hăng in the north, in Kih-lî. These, probably, were the limits of the country, so far as known, and all within these points were the care of the chief minister.

9 ↑ Khwăn is believed to have been the father of Yü, who afterwards coped successfully with the inundation. We are told that he was earl of Khung, corresponding to the present district of Hû, in Shen-hsî.

10 ↑ See on the title of next Book.

11 ↑ The Kwei is a small stream in Shan-hsî, which flows into the Ho