詩 經 Shi Jing – The Book of Odes

蕩
蕩蕩上帝、下民之辟。
疾威上帝、其命多辟。
天生烝民、其命匪諶。
靡不有初、鮮克有終。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
曾是彊禦、曾是掊克。
曾是在位、曾是在服。
天降慆德、女興是力 。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
而秉義類 、彊禦多懟。
流言以對、寇攘式內。
侯作侯祝、靡屆靡究 。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
女炰烋于中國、歛怨以為德。
不明爾德、時無背無側 。
爾德不明、以無陪無卿。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
天不湎爾以酒、不義從式。
既愆爾止、靡明靡晦。
式號式呼、俾晝作夜 。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
如蜩如螗、如沸如羹。
小大近喪、人尚乎由行。
內奰于中國、覃及鬼方 。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
匪上帝不時、殷不用舊。
雖無老成人、尚有典刑。
曾是莫聽、大命以傾 。

文王曰咨、咨女殷商。
人亦有言、顛沛之揭。
枝葉未有害、本實先撥。
殷鑒不遠、在夏后之世 。

原文 255

How vast is God,
The ruler of men below !
How arrayed in terrors is God,
With many things irregular in His ordinations !
Heaven gave birth to the multitudes of the people,
But the nature it confers is not to be depended on.
All are [good] at first,
But few prove themselves to be so at the last.

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
That you should have such violently oppressive ministers,
That you should have such extortionate exactors,
That you should have them in offices,
That you should have them in the conduct of affairs !
Heaven made them with their insolent dispositions,
But it is you who employ them, and gave them strength. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
You ought to employ such as are good,
But [you employ instead] violent oppressors, who cause many dissatisfactions.
They respond to you with baseless stories,
And [thus] robbers and thieves are in your court.
Thence come oaths and curses,
Without limit, without end. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
You show a strong fierce will in the centre of the kingdom,
And consider the contracting of enmities a proof of virtue.
All unintelligent are you of your [proper] virtue,
And so you have no [good] men behind you, nor by your side.
Without any intelligence of your [proper] virtue,
You have no [good] intimate adviser nor minister. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
It is not Heaven that flushes your face with spirits,
So that you follow what is evil and imitate it.
You go wrong in all your conduct ;
You make no distinction between the light and the darkness ;
But amid clamour and shouting,
You turn the day into night. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
[All around you] is like the noise of cicadas,
Or like the bubbling of boiling soup.
Affairs, great and small, are approaching to ruin ;
And still you [and your creatures] go on in this course.
Indignation is rife against you here in the Middle kingdom,
And extends to the demon regions. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
It is not God that has caused this evil time,
But it arises from Yin's not using the old [ways].
Although you have not old experienced men,
There are still the ancient statutes and laws.
But you will not listen to them,
And so your great appointment is being overthrown. '

King Wen said, 'Alas !
Alas ! you [sovereign of] Yin-shang,
People have a saying,
'When a tree falls utterly,
While its branches and leaves are yet uninjured,
It must first have been uprooted. '
The beacon of Yin is not far-distant ; –
It is in the age of the [last] sovereign of Xia. '

Legge 255