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Shi Jing Introduction Table of content – The Book of Odes

The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).

Section II — ¤p ¶® Minor odes of the kingdom
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Chapter 6 — ¥_ ¤s ¤§ ¤° Decade of Bei Shan

205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214

Shijing II. 6. (205)

I ascend that northern hill,
And gather the medlars.
An officer, strong and vigorous,
Morning and evening I am engaged in service.
The king's business is not to be slackly performed ;
And my parents are left in sorrow.

Under the wide heaven,
All is the king's land.
Within the sea-boundaries of the land,
All are the king's servants.
His great officers are unfair, –
Making me serve thus as if I alone were worthy.

My four horses never halt ;
The king's business allows no rest.
They praise me as not yet old ;
They think few like me in vigour.
While the backbone retains its strength,
I must plan and labour in all parts of the kingdom.

Some enjoy their ease and rest,
And some are worn out in the service of the State ;
Some rest and loll upon their couches,
And some never cease marching about.

Some never hear a sound,
And some are cruelly toiled ;
Some lazily roost, on their backs looking up,
And some are all-bustled in the service of the king.

Some indulge long in pleasure and drinking,
And some are miserable, in apprehension of blame ;
Some, at home and abroad, pass critical remarks,
And some have everything to do.

Legge 205

Shi Jing II. 6. (205) IntroductionTable of content
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The Book of Odes – Shi Jing II. 6. (205) – Chinese on/offFrançais/English
Alias Shijing, Shi Jing, Book of Odes, Book of Songs, Classic of Odes, Classic of Poetry, Livre des Odes, Canon des Poèmes.

The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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