Sacred Books of the East/Volume 3/The Shih/Odes of the Temple and the Altar/The Sacrificial Odes of Kâu/Decade 3/Ode 8

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Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III, The Shih King
translated by James Legge

Odes of the Temple and the Altar, The Sacrificial Odes of Kâu, Decade iii, Ode 8: The Ko

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The exact meaning of Zhuó (酌) is uncertain here. In The Chinese Classics, Vol. IV, Legge supposed it was the name of a dance.

3742617Sacred Books of the East, Vol. III, The Shih King — Odes of the Temple and the Altar, The Sacrificial Odes of Kâu, Decade iii, Ode 8: The KoJames Legge

Ode 8. The Ko.

An ode in praise of king Wû, and recognising the duty to follow his course.

This was sung, according to the Preface, at the conclusion of the dance in honour of king Wû;—see on the last piece of the second decade.

Oh! powerful was the king's army,
But he nursed it, in obedience to circumstances, while the time was yet dark.
When the time was clearly bright,
He thereupon donned his grand armour.
We have been favoured to receive
What the martial king accomplished.
To deal aright with what we have inherited,
We have to be sincere imitators of thy course, (O king).