This page has been validated.
ODE 4.
THE PRAISE ODES OF LÛ.
343
and autumn he is not remiss; His offerings are all without error[1]. To the great and sovereign God, And to his great ancestor Hâu-kî, He offers the victims, red and pure[2]. They enjoy, they approve, And bestow blessings in large number. The duke of Kâu, and (your other) great ancestors, Also bless you.
4. In autumn comes the sacrifice of the season[3], But the bulls for it have had their horns capped in summer[4]; They are the white bull and the red one[5]. (There are) the bull-figured goblet in its dignity[6]; Roast pig, minced meat, and soups; The dishes of bamboo and wood, and the large stands[7], And the dancers all complete. The filial descendant
- ↑ These lines refer to the seasonal sacrifices in the temple of ancestors, two seasons being mentioned for all the four, as in some of the odes of Shang.
- ↑ From the seasonal sacrifices the poet passes to the sacrifice to God at the border altar in the spring,—no doubt the same which is referred to in the last ode of the first decade of the Sacrificial Odes of Kâu.
- ↑ The subject of the seasonal sacrifices is resumed.
- ↑ A piece of wood was fixed across the horns of the victim-bulls, to prevent their injuring them by pushing or rubbing against any hard substance. An animal injured in any way was not fit to be used in sacrifice.
- ↑ In sacrificing to the duke of Kâu, a white bull was used by way of distinction. His great services to the dynasty had obtained for him the privilege of being sacrificed to with royal ceremonies. A white bull, such as had been offered to the kings of Shang, was therefore devoted to him; while for Po-khin, and the other marquises (or dukes as spoken of by their own subjects), a victim of the orthodox Kâu colour was employed.
- ↑ This goblet, fashioned in the shape of a bull, or with a bull pictured on it, must have been well known in connexion with these services.
- ↑ 'The large stand' was of a size to support half the roasted body of a victim.
