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Heaven commissioned the swallow, |
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To descend and give birth to [the father of our] Shang. |
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[His descendants] dwelt in the land of Yin, and became great. |
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[Then] long ago God appointed the martial Tang, |
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To regulate the boundaries throughout the four quarters. |
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[In those] quarters he appointed the princes, |
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And grandly possessed the nine regions [of the kingdom]. |
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The first sovereign of Shang, |
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Received the appointment without any element of instability in it, |
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And it is [now] held by the descendant of Wu-ding. |
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The descendant of Wu-ding, |
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Is a martial king, equal to every emergency. |
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Ten princes, [who came] with their dragon-emblazoned banners, |
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Bear the large dishes of millet. |
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The royal domain of a thousand Li, |
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Is where the people rest; |
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But there commence the boundaries that reach to the four seas. |
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From the four seas they come [to out sacrifices]; |
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They come in multitudes; -- |
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King has the He for its outer border. |
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That Yin should have received the apppointment [of Heaven] was entirely right; -- |
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[Its sovereign] sustains all its dignities. |
Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia