Ode 7. The Sze Î

ODE 7. THE SZE Î.

AN ODE APPROPRIATE TO THE PREPARATIONS AND PROGRESS OF A FEAST AFTER A SACRIFICE.

The Preface and the editors of the Yung-khăng Shih say that the piece has reference to the entertainment given, the day after a

p. 334

sacrifice, in the ancestral temple, to the personators of the dead, described on p. 301. Kû Hsî denies this, and holds simply that it belongs to the feast after a sacrifice, without further specifying what sacrifice. The old view is probably the more correct.

In his silken robes, clean and bright, With his cap on his head, looking so respectful, From the hall he goes to the foot of the stairs, And (then) from the sheep to the oxen ¹. (He inspects) the tripods, large and small, And the curved goblet of rhinoceros horn ². The good spirits are mild, (But) there is no noise, no insolence:--An auspice (this) of great longevity.

Footnotes

334:1 The subject of these lines must be an ordinary officer, for to such the silk robes and a purple cap were proper, when he was assisting at the sacrifices of the king or of a feudal prince. There were two buildings outside the principal gate leading to the ancestral temple, and two corresponding inside, in which the personators of the departed ancestors were feasted. We must suppose the officer in question descending from the upper hall to the vestibule of the gate, to inspect the dishes, arranged for the feast, and then proceeding to see the animals, and the tripods for boiling the flesh, &c.

334:2 The goblet of rhinoceros horn was to be drained, as a penalty, by any one offending at the feast against the rules of propriety; but here there was no occasion for it.