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316
THE TEXTS OF TAOISM.
It continued to be a favourite down to the Thang dynasty, after which it fell very much into disuse. Through the many assonances of the Chinese characters, and the attention paid to the tones, we have in Chinese composition much of the art of rhyming, but comparatively little of the genius of poetry.]
II.
THE INSCRIPTION.
St. 1. Back in the depths of ancient time; Remote, before the Tîs began ; Four equal sides defined the earth, And pillars eight the heaven sustained. All living things in classes came, The valleys wide, and mighty streams. The Perfect Tâo, with movement wise, Unseen, Its work did naturally.
St. 2. Its power the elements1 all felt;
The incipient germs of things appeared. Shepherd and Lord established were, And in their hands the ivory bonds3. The Tîs must blush before the Hwangs1; The Wangs must blush before the Tis*. More distant grew Tâo's highest gifts, And simple ways more rare became.
St. 3. The still placidity was gone,
And all the old harmonious ways. Men talents prized, and varnished wit; The laws displayed proved but a net.
APP. VII.
1 'The five essences;' meaning, I think, the subtle power and operation of the five elements.
So Williams, under Wei (1). See also the Khang-hsî Thesaurus under the phrase 三微
'Bonds' with written characters on them superseded the 'knotted cords' of the primitive age. That the material of the bonds should be, as here represented, slips of ivory, would seem to anticipate the progress of society.
The Hwangs () preceded the Tîs in the Tâoistic genesis of history;
and as being more simple were Tâoistically superior to them; so it was with the Tis and the Wangs or Kings.
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