The Odes of the Temple and the Altar are, most of them, connected with
the ancestral worship of the sovereigns of the Shang and Kau dynasties,
and of the marquises of Lu. Of the ancestral worship of the common
people we have almost no information in the Shih. It was binding,
however, on all, and two utterances of Confucius may be given in
illustration of this. In the eighteenth chapter of the Doctrine of the
Mean, telling how the duke of Kau, the legislator of the dynasty so
called, had 'completed the virtuous course of Wan and Wu, carrying up
the title of king to Wan's father and grandfather, and sacrificing to
the dukes before them with the royal ceremonies,' he adds, And this rule
he extended to the feudal princes, the great officers, the other
officers, and the common people. In the mourning and other duties
rendered to a deceased father or mother, he allowed no difference
between the noble and the mean. Again, his summary in the tenth chapter
of the Hsiao King, of the duties of filial piety, is the following:--'A
filial son, in serving his parents, in his ordinary intercourse with
them, should show the utmost respect; in supplying them with food, the
greatest delight; when they are ill, the utmost solicitude; when
mourning for their death, the deepest grief; and when sacrificing to
them, the profoundest solemnity. When these things are all complete, he
is able to serve his parents.'

The royal worship of ancestors.

Of the ceremonies in the royal worship of ancestors, and perhaps on some
other occasions, we have much information in the pieces of this Part,
and in many others in the second and third Parts. They were preceded by
fasting and various purifications on the part of the king and the
parties who were to assist in the performance of them. The was a great
concourse of the feudal princes, and much importance was attached to the