same question about an (ordinary) officer, the reply should be by giving the number of his carriages; and to one about a common man, by telling the number of the animals that he keeps.
4. 6. The son of Heaven sacrifices (or presents oblations) to Heaven and Earth[1]; to the (spirits presiding over the) four quarters; to (the spirits of) the hills and rivers; and offers the five sacrifices of the house,—all in the course of the year. The feudal princes present oblations, each to (the spirit presiding over) his own quarter; to (the spirits of) its hills and rivers; and offer the five sacrifices of the house,—all in the course of the year. Great officers present the oblations of the five sacrifices of the house,—all in the course of the year. (Other) officers present oblations to their ancestors[2]. 7. There should be no presuming to resume any sacrifice which has been abolished (by proper authority)[3] nor to abolish any which has been so established. A sacrifice which it is not proper to offer, and which yet is offered, is called a licentious sacrifice. A licentious sacrifice brings no blessing. 8. The son of Heaven uses an ox of one colour, pure and unmixed; a feudal prince, a fatted ox; a Great officer, an ox selected for the occasion; an (ordinary)
officer, a sheep or a pig. 9. The son of an inferior
- ↑ There were various sacrifices to Heaven and also to Earth. The great ones were—that to Heaven at the winter solstice, and that to Earth at the summer solstice. But all the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth were confined to the king.
- ↑ The king offered all the sacrifices in this paragraph. The other parties only those here assigned to them, and the sacrifices allowed to others of inferior rank. The five sacrifices of the house will come before the reader in Book IV and elsewhere.
- ↑ The "proper authority" would be the statutes of each dynasty.
