by righteousness; order your heart by propriety;—so shall you transmit a grand example to posterity. I have heard the saying, "He who finds instructors for himself, comes to the supreme dominion; he who says that others are not equal to himself, comes to ruin. He who likes to put questions, becomes enlarged; he who uses only his own views, becomes smaller (than he was)." Oh! he who would take care for the end must be attentive to the beginning. There is establishment for the observers of propriety, and overthrow for the blinded and wantonly indifferent. To revere and honour the path prescribed by Heaven is the way ever to preserve the favouring appointment of Heaven.'*
Book III. The Announcement of Thang.
Thang had made an end of the dynasty of Hsiâ, and returned to Po, when he issued this Announcement, which may be considered as a solemn inauguration of the new dynasty. He shows how he had taken possession of the throne in reverent submission to the will of Heaven, what appreciation he had of the duties devolving on him, and the spirit in which he would discharge them. In the end he calls on the princes and the people to sympathize and co-operate with him.
1. When the king returned from vanquishing Hsiâ and came to Po, he made a grand announcement to the myriad regions.
2. The king said, 'Ah! ye multitudes of the myriad regions, listen clearly to the announcement of me, the One man[1]. The great God has conferred
- ↑ 'The One man' has occurred before, in the Songs of the Five Sons, as a designation of the sovereign. It continues to be so to the present day.
