but (seek for) good officers, and get them to use all their powers in aiding the government of our country. Now, O accomplished son (of Wû), accomplished grandson (of Wăn), young son, the king, do not err in the matter of litigations;—there are the officers and pastors (to attend to them).
'Have well arranged (also) your military accoutrements and weapons, so that you may go forth beyond the steps of Yü, and traverse all under the sky, even to beyond the seas, everywhere meeting with submission:—so shall you display the bright glory of king Wăn, and render more illustrious the great achievements of king Wû[1].
'Oh! from this time forth, may (our) future kings, in establishing the government, be able to employ men of constant virtue!'
6. The duke of Kâu spoke to the following effect:—'O grand historiographer, the duke of Sû, the Minister of Crime, dealt reverently with all the criminal matters that came before him, and thereby perpetuated the fortunes of our kingdom. Here was an example of anxious solicitude (for future ministers), whereby they may rank with him in the ordering of the appropriate punishments[2].'
- ↑ At the close of his address to prince Shih, Book xvi, the duke of Kâu breaks all at once into a warlike mood, as he does here.
- ↑ I have said in the introductory note that this chapter does not seem to have any connexion with the rest of the Book. From a passage in the Zo Kwan, under the eleventh year of duke Khăng, we learn that a Sû Făn-shăng, or Făn-shăng of Sû, was Minister of Crime to king Wû. It is probably to him that the duke here alludes.
