SECT. II. THE WEI 3t HEXAGRAM. 207
LXIV. The Wei 31 Hexagram.
Wei 3* intimates progress and success (in the cir- cumstances which it implies). (We see) a young fox that has nearly crossed (the stream), when its tail gets immersed. There will be no advantage in any way.
further so soon after success has been achieved ; but keep herself hidden and retired. Let her not try to find the screen. When it is said that she will find this ' after seven days/ the meaning seems to be simply this, that the period of K 3? will then have been exhausted, the six lines having been gone through, and a new period, when action will be proper, shall have commenced.
The strong line 3, at the top of the lower trigram, suggests for its subject one undertaking a vigorous enterprise. The writer thinks of Kao 3 un g> tne sacrificial title of Wu Ting, one of the ablest sovereigns of the Shang dynasty (b. c. 1364-1324), who undertook an expedition against the barbarous hordes of the cold and bleak regions north of the Middle States. He is mentioned again under the next hexagram. He appears also in the Shu, IV, ix, and in the Shih, IV, iii, ode 5. His enterprise may have been good, and successful, but it was tedious, and the paragraph con- cludes with a caution.
Line 4 is weak, and has advanced into the trigram for water. Its subject will be cautious, and prepare for evil, as in the sym- bolism, suggested probably by the nature of the trigram.
' The neighbour in the East ' is the subject of line 5, and l the neighbour in the West ' is the subject of the correlate 2, the former quarter being yang and the latter yin. Line 5 is strong, and 2 is weak ; but weakness is more likely to be patient and cautious than strength. They are compared to two men sacrificing. The one
presents valuable offerings; the other very poor ones. But the
