PROBABLY LIKE THE LAST ODE, APPROPRIATE TO A SACRIFICE TO THANG,
DWELLING ON THE SPIRITS, THE SOUP, AND THE GRAVITY OF THE
SERVICE, AND ON THE ASSISTING PRINCES.

Neither can we tell by which of the kings of Shang this ode was first
used. Ku Hsi says that the object of the sacrifice was Thang. The
Preface assigns it to Thai Mau, the Kung Zung, or second of the three
'honoured Ones.' But there is not a

[1. Dancing thus entered into the service as an accompaniment of the
music. Two terms are employed; one denoting the movements appropriate to
a dance Of war, the other those appropriate to a dance of peace.

2. The visitors would be the representatives of the lines of Hsia, Shun,
and Yao.

3. Two of the seasonal sacrifices are thus specified, by synecdoche, for
all the four.]

word in praise of Fung Zung, and the 'meritorious ancestor' of the first
line is not to be got over. Still more clearly than in the case of the
former ode does this appear to have been made by some one who had taken
part in the service, for in line 4 he addresses the sacrificing king as
'you.'

Ah! ah! our meritorious ancestor! Permanent are the blessings coming
from him, Repeatedly conferred without end;--They have come to you in
this place.