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346
THE SHIH KING.
ODE 4.

maintain Lû. He shall possess Kang and Hsü[1], And recover all the territory of the duke of Kâu. Then shall the marquis of Lû feast and be glad, With his admirable wife and aged mother; With his excellent ministers and all his (other) officers[2]. Our region and state shall he hold, Thus receiving many blessings, To hoary hair, and with teeth ever renewed like a child's.

9. The pines of Zû-lâi[3], And the cypresses of Hsin-fû[3], Were cut down and measured, With the cubit line and the eight cubits' line. The projecting beams of pine were made very large; The grand inner apartments rose vast. Splendid look the new temples, The work of Hsî-sze, Very wide and large, Answering to the expectations of all the people.


  1. Kang was a city with some adjacent territory, in the present district of Thăng, that had been taken from by Khî. Hsü, called in the Spring and Autumn 'the fields of Hsü,' was west from Lû, and had been granted to it as a convenient place for its princes to stop at on their way to the royal court; but it had been sold or parted with to Kăng in the first year of duke Hwan (B.C. 711). The poet desires that Hsî should recover these and all other territory which had at any time belonged to Lû.
  2. He would feast with the ladies in the inner apartment of the palace, suitable for such a purpose; with his ministers in the outer banqueting-room.
  3. 3.0 3.1 These were two hills, in the present department of Thâi-an.