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BK. XXXIX.
TÂ HSIO.
415
continually on the bright requirements of Heaven' (Shû, III, v, sect. 1, 2).
It is said in the Canon of the Ti (Yâo), 'He was able to make illustrious his lofty virtue' (Shû, I, 2). These (passages) all show how (those sovereigns) made themselves illustrious.
10. On the bathing-tub of Thang1, the following words were engraved, ‘If you can one day renovate yourself, do so from day to day. Yea, daily renovate yourself.'
In the Announcement to the Prince of Khang it is said, 'Stir up the new people' (Shû, V, ix, 7). In the Book of Poetry it is said (III, i, 1, 1),
'The state of Kâu had long been known; Heaven's will as new at last was shown.' Therefore the superior man in everything uses his utmost endeavours 2.
II. It is said in the Book of Poetry (IV, iii, 3), 'A thousand lt extends the king's domain, And there the people to repose are fain.'
And in another place (II, viii, 1),
'Twitters fast the oriole
Where yonder bends the mound, The happy little creature
Its resting-place has found.'
The Master said, 'Yes, it rests; it knows where
1 A fact not elsewhere noted. But such inscriptions are still common in China.
The repeated use of 'new,' 'renovated,' in this paragraph, is thought to justify the change of 'loving the people,' in paragraph 1, to 'renovating the people;' but the object of the renovating here is not the people.
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