Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 3.djvu/205

 when the report of them goes up so manifestly to heaven!'

The king says, 'Oh! Făng, be reverent! Do not what will cause murmurings; and do not use bad counsels and uncommon ways. With the determination of sincerity, give yourself to imitate the active virtue (of the ancients). Hereby give repose to your mind, examine your virtue, send far forward your plans; and thus by your generous forbearance you will make the people repose in what is good, and I shall not have to blame you or cast you off'

The king says, 'Oh! you, Făng, the little one, (Heaven's) appointments are not unchanging.* Think of this, and do not make me deprive you of your dignity. Make illustrious the charge which you have received; exalt (the instructions) which you have heard, and tranquillize and regulate the people accordingly.'

The king speaks to this effect: 'Go, Făng. Do not disregard the statutes you should reverence; hearken to what I have told you;—so shall you among the people of Yin enjoy (your dignity), and hand it down to your posterity.'

Announcement was, like the last, made to Făng, the prince of Khang, about the time when he was invested with the principality of Wei. Mention has often been made in previous documents of the Shû of the drunken debauchery of Kieh as the chief cause of the downfal of the dynasty of Hsiâ, and of the same vice in Kâu-hsin, the last of the kings of