1. 舜典

曰 若 稽 古. 帝 舜曰 重 華 .協 于 帝. 濬 哲 文 明. 溫 恭 允 塞. 德 升 聞 乃 命 以 位.

慎徽五典，五典克從；納于百揆，百揆時敘；賓于四門，四門穆穆；納于大麓，烈風雷雨弗迷。帝曰：「格汝舜！詢事考言，乃言厎可績，三載！汝陟帝位。」舜讓于德，弗嗣。正月上日，受終于文祖。

在璇璣玉衡，以齊七政。肆類于上帝，禋于六宗，望于山川，遍于群神。輯五瑞，既月乃日，覲四岳群牧，班瑞于群後。歲二月，東巡守，至于岱宗，柴；望秩于山川，肆覲東後。協時、月，正日；同律、度、量、衡。修五禮、五玉、三帛、二生、一死贄。如五器，卒乃復。五月，南巡守，至于南岳，如岱禮。八月，西巡守，至于西岳，如初。十月一月，朔巡守，至于北岳，如西禮。歸，格于藝祖，用特。五載一巡守，群後四朝；敷奏以言，明試以功，車服以庸。肇十有二州，封十有二山，浚川。象以典刑。流宥五刑。鞭作官刑，撲作教刑，金作贖刑，眚災肆赦，怙終賊刑。「欽哉！欽哉！惟刑之恤哉！」流共工于幽洲，放驩兜于崇山，竄三苗于三危，殛鯀于羽山：四罪而天下咸服。

二十有八載，帝乃殂落，百姓如喪考妣，三載，四海遏密八音。月正元日，舜格于文祖。

詢于四岳，辟四門，明四目，達四聰。咨十有二牧，曰：「食哉，惟時！柔遠能邇，惇德允元，而難任人；蠻夷率服。」舜曰：「咨！四岳！有能奮庸，熙帝之載，使宅百揆，亮采惠疇？」僉曰：「伯禹作司空。」帝曰：「俞咨！禹，汝平水土；惟時懋哉！」禹拜稽首，讓于稷、契暨皋陶。帝曰：「俞，汝往哉！」帝曰：「棄！黎民阻饑。汝后稷，播時百穀。」帝曰：「契，百姓不親，五品不遜。汝作司徒，敬敷五教，在寬。」帝曰：「皋陶！蠻夷猾夏，寇賊奸宄。汝作士，五刑有服，五服三就；五流有宅，五宅三居：惟明克允。」帝曰：「疇若予工？」僉曰：「垂哉。」帝曰：「俞咨！垂，汝共工。」垂拜稽首，讓于殳斨暨伯與。帝曰：「俞，往哉；汝諧。」帝曰：「疇若予上下草木鳥獸？」僉曰：「益哉！」帝曰：「俞咨！益，汝作朕虞。」益拜稽首，讓于朱、虎、熊、羆。帝曰：「俞，往哉！汝諧。」帝曰：「咨，四岳！有能典朕三禮？」僉曰：「伯夷。」帝曰：「俞咨！伯，汝作秩宗。夙夜惟寅，直哉惟清。」伯拜稽首，讓于夔、龍。帝曰：「俞，往欽哉！」帝曰：「夔，命汝典樂，教胄子。直而溫，寬而栗，剛而無虐，簡而無傲，詩言志，歌詠言，聲依詠，律和聲；八音克諧，無相奪倫：神人以和。」夔曰：「於！予擊石拊石，百獸率舞。」帝曰：「龍，朕??讒說殄行，震驚朕師。命汝作納言，夙夜出納朕命，惟允。」帝曰：「咨！汝二十有二人，欽哉！惟時亮天功。」三載考績；三考，黜陟幽明；庶績咸熙。分北三苗。

舜生三十徵庸，三十在位，五十載，陟方乃死。

BOOK I. THE CANON OF SHUN.

¹

Examining into antiquity, (we find that) the Tî Shun ² was styled Khung-hwâ ³. His character was entirely conformed to (that of) the (former) Tî; he was profound, wise, accomplished, and intelligent. He was mild and courteous, and truly sincere. The report of his mysterious virtue was heard on high, and he was appointed to office.

(Shun) carefully set forth the beauty of the five cardinal duties, and they came to be (universally) observed. Being appointed to be General Regulator, the affairs of every (official) department were arranged in their proper seasons. (Being charged) to receive (the princes) from the four quarters of the land, they were all docilely submissive. Being sent to the great plains at the foot of the mountains, notwithstanding the tempests of wind, thunder, and rain, he did not go astray. The Tî said, 'Come, you Shun. I have consulted you on (all) affairs, and examined your words, and found that they can be carried into practice;--(now) for three years. Do you ascend the seat of the Tî.' Shun wished to decline in favour of some one more virtuous, and not to consent to be (Yâo's) successor. On the first day of the first month, (however), he received (Yâo's) retirement (from his duties) in the temple of the Accomplished Ancestor ⁴.*

He examined the pearl-adorned turning sphere, with its transverse tube of jade, and reduced to a harmonious system (the movements of) the Seven Directors ⁵. Thereafter, he sacrificed specially, but with the ordinary forms, to God; sacrificed with reverent purity to the Six Honoured Ones; offered their appropriate sacrifices to the hills and rivers; and extended his worship to the host of spirits ⁶.* He called in (all) the five jade-symbols of rank; and when the month was over, he gave daily audience to (the President of) the Four Mountains, and all the Pastors ⁷, (finally) returning their symbols to the various princes. In the second month of the year he made a tour of inspection eastwards, as far as Thâi-zung ⁸, where he presented a burnt-offering to Heaven, and sacrificed in order to the hills and rivers.* Thereafter he gave audience to the princes of the east. He set in accord their seasons and months, and regulated the days; he made uniform the standard-tubes, with the measures of length and of capacity, and the steelyards; he regulated the five (classes of) ceremonies, with (the various) articles of introduction,--the five symbols of jade, the three kinds of silk, the two living (animals) and the one dead one. As to the five instruments of rank, when all was over, he returned them. In the fifth month he made a similar tour southwards, as far as the mountain of the south ⁹, where he observed the same ceremonies as at Thâi. In the eighth month he made a tour westwards, as far as the mountain of the west ¹⁰, where he did as before. In the eleventh month he made a tour northwards, as far as the mountain of the north ¹¹, where he observed the same ceremonies as in the west. He (then) returned (to the capital), went to (the temple of) the Cultivated Ancestor ¹², and sacrificed a single bull.* In five years there was one tour of inspection, and there were four appearances of the princes at court. They gave a report (of their government) in words, which was clearly tested by their works. They received chariots and robes according to their merits. He instituted the division (of the land) into twelve provinces ¹³, raising altars upon twelve hills in them.* He (also) deepened the rivers. He exhibited (to the people) the statutory punishments, enacting banishment as a mitigation of the five (great) inflictions ¹⁴; with the whip to be employed in the magistrates' courts, the stick to be employed in schools ¹⁵, and money to be received for redeemable offences. Inadvertent offences and those which could be ascribed to misfortune were to be pardoned, but those who transgressed presumptuously and repeatedly were to be punished with death. 'Let me be reverent! Let me be reverent!' (he said to himself.) 'Let compassion rule in punishment!' He banished the Minister of Works to Yû island; confined Hwan-tâu on mount Khung; drove (the chief of) San-miâo (and his people) into San-wei, and kept them there; and held Khwan a prisoner till death on mount Yü. These four criminals being thus dealt with, all under heaven acknowledged the justice (of Shun's administration) ¹⁶.

After twenty-eight years the Tî deceased, when the people mourned for him as for a parent for three years. Within the four seas all the eight kinds of instruments of music were stopped and hushed. On the first day of the first month (of the) next year, Shun went to (the temple of) the Accomplished Ancestor.*

He deliberated with (the President of) the Four Mountains how to throw open the doors (of communication between himself and the) four (quarters of the land), and how he could see with the eyes, and hear with the ears of all. He consulted with the twelve Pastors ¹⁷, and said to them, 'The food!--it depends on observing the seasons. Be kind to the distant, and cultivate the ability of the near. Give honour to the virtuous, and your confidence to the good, while you discountenance the artful;--so shall the barbarous tribes lead on one another to make their submission.' Shun said, 'Ho! (President of) the Four Mountains, is there any one who can with vigorous service attend to all the affairs of the Tî, whom I may appoint to be General Regulator, to assist me in (all) affairs, managing each department according to its nature?' All (in the court) replied, 'There is Po-yü ¹⁸, the Minister of Works.' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Yü, you have regulated the water and the land. In this (new office) exert yourself.' Yü did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of the Minister of Agriculture, or Hsieh, or Kâo-yâo. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties).' The Tî said, 'Khî ¹⁹, the black-haired people are (still) suffering from famine. Do you, O prince, as Minister of Agriculture, (continue to) sow (for them) the various kinds of grain.' The Tî said, 'Hsieh ²⁰, the people are (still) wanting in affection for one another, and do not docilely observe the five orders of relationship. It is yours, as the Minister of Instruction, reverently to set forth the lessons of duty belonging to those five orders. Do so with gentleness.' The Tî said, 'Kâo-yâo ²¹, the barbarous tribes trouble our great land. There are (also) robbers, murderers, insurgents, and traitors. It is yours, as the Minister of Crime, to use the five punishments to deal with their offences. For the infliction of these there are the three appointed places. There are the five cases in which banishment in the appropriate places is to be resorted to, to which places, though five, three localities are assigned. Perform your duties with intelligence, and you will secure a sincere (submission).' The Tî said, 'Who can superintend my works, as they severally require?' All (in the court) replied, 'Is there not Zui ²²?' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Zui, you must be Minister of Works.' Zui did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of Shû, Khiang, or Po-yü. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). Effect a harmony (in all the departments).' The Tî said, 'Who can superintend, as the nature of the charge requires, the grass and trees, with the birds and beasts on my hills and in my marshes?' All (in the court) replied, 'Is there not Yî ²³?' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Yî, do you be my Forester.' Yî did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of Kû, Hû, Hsiung, or Pî ²⁴. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). You must manage them harmoniously.' The Tî said, 'Ho! (President of the) Four Mountains, is there any one able to direct my three (religious) ceremonies ²⁵?' All (in the court) answered, 'Is there not Po-î ²⁶?' The Tî said, 'Yes. Ho! Po, you must be the Arranger in the Ancestral Temple. Morning and night be reverent. Be upright, be pure.' Po did obeisance with his head to the ground, and wished to decline in favour of Khwei or Lung. The Tî said, 'Yes, but do you go (and undertake the duties). Be reverential!'* The Tî said, 'Khwei ²⁷, I appoint you to be Director of Music, and to teach our sons, so that the straightforward shall yet be mild; the gentle, dignified: the strong, not tyrannical; and the impetuous, not arrogant. Poetry is the expression of earnest thought; singing is the prolonged utterance of that expression; the notes accompany that utterance, and they are harmonized themselves by the standard-tubes. (In this way) the eight different kinds of musical instruments can be adjusted so that one shall not take from or interfere with another; and spirits and men are brought into harmony.' Khwei said, 'I smite the (sounding-) stone, I gently strike it, and the various animals lead on one another to dance.' The Tî said, 'Lung ²⁸, I abominate slanderous speakers and destroyers of the (right) ways, who agitate and alarm my people. I appoint you to be the Minister of Communication. Early and late give forth my orders and report to me, seeing that everything is true.' The Tî said, 'Ho! you, twenty and two men, be reverent; so shall you be helpful to the business (entrusted to me by) Heaven.'* Every three years there was an examination of merits, and after three examinations the undeserving were degraded, and the deserving advanced. (By this arrangement) the duties of all the departments were fully discharged; the (people of) San-miâo (also) were discriminated and separated.

In the thirtieth year of his age, Shun was called to employment. Thirty years he was on the throne (with Yâo). Fifty years afterwards he went on high and died ²⁹.*