7. The duke of Kâu said, 'Oh! let the king, who has succeeded to the throne, make a study of these things.'
Book XVI. The Prince Shih.
The words 'Prince Shih' occur at the commencement of the Book, and are taken as its title. Shih was the name of the duke of Shâo, the author of Book xii. To him the address or announcement here preserved was delivered, and his name is not an inappropriate title for it.
The common view of Chinese critics is that the duke of Shâo had announced his purpose to withdraw from office on account of his age, when the duke of Kâu persuaded him to remain at his post, and that the reasons which he set before him were recorded in this Book. It may have been so, but the language is far from clearly indicating it. A few expressions, indeed, may be taken as intimating a wish that Shih should continue at court, but some violence has to be put upon them.
I have divided the whole into four chapters, but the two principal ideas in the address are these:—that the favour of Heaven can be permanently secured for a dynasty only by the virtue of its sovereigns; and that that virtue is secured mainly by the counsels and help of virtuous ministers. The ablest sovereigns of Shang are mentioned, and the ministers by whose aid it was, in a great measure, that they became what they were. The cases of Wăn and Wû of their own dynasty, similarly aided by able men, are adduced in the same way; and the speaker adverts to the services which they—the two dukes—had already rendered to their sovereign, and insists that they must go on to the end, and accomplish still greater things.
1. The duke of Kâu spoke to the following effect:—'Prince Shih, Heaven, unpitying, sent down ruin on Yin. Yin has lost its appointment (to the throne), which our House of Kâu has received. I do not dare, however, to say, as if I knew
