| Chinese Text Project |
《緜 - Mian》 | English translation: James Legge [?] | Books referencing 《緜》 Library Resources |
| 1 | 緜: |
緜緜瓜瓞。 民之初生、自土沮漆。 古公亶父、陶復陶穴、未有家室。 |
| Mian: |
In long trains ever increasing grow the gourds. When [our] people first sprang, From the country about the Ju and the Qi, The ancient duke Dan-fu, Made for them kiln-like huts and caves, Ere they had yet any houses. | |
| 2 | 緜: |
古公亶父、來朝走馬。 率西水滸、至于岐下。 爰及姜女、聿來胥宇。 |
| Mian: |
The ancient duke Dan-fu, Came in the morning, galloping his horses, Along the banks of the western rivers, To the foot of [mount] Qi; And there, he and the lady Jiang, Came, and together looked out for a site on which to settle. | |
| 3 | 緜: |
周原膴膴、菫茶如飴。 爰始爰謀、爰契我龜。 曰止曰時、築室于茲。 |
| Mian: |
The plain of Zhou looked beautiful and rich, With its violets and sowthistles [sweet] as dumplings. There he began with consulting [his followers]; There he singed the tortoise-shell, [and divined]. The responses were - there to stay, and then; And they proceeded there to build their houses. | |
| 4 | 緜: | 迺慰迺止、迺左迺右、迺疆迺理、迺宣迺畝、自西徂東、周爰執事。 |
| Mian: |
He encouraged the people and settled them; Here on the left, there on the right. He divided the ground into larger tracts and smaller portions; He dug the ditches; he defined the acres; From the west to the east, There was nothing which he did not take in hand. | |
| 5 | 緜: |
乃召司空、乃召司徒、俾立室家。 其繩則直、縮版以載、作廟翼翼。 |
| Mian: |
He called his superintendent of works; He called his minister of instruction; And charged them with the building of the houses. With the line they made everything straight; They bound the frame-boards tight, so that they should rise regularly. Uprose the ancestral temple in its solemn grandeur. | |
| 6 | 緜: | 捄之陾陾、度之薨薨、築之登登、削屢馮馮、百堵皆興、鼛鼓弗勝。 |
| Mian: |
Crowds brought the earth in baskets They threw it with shouts into the frames; They beat it with responsive blows; They pared the walls repeatedly, and they sounded strong. Five thousand cubits of them arose together, So that the roll of the great drum did not overpower [the noise of the builders]. | |
| 7 | 緜: |
迺立臯門、臯門有伉。 迺立應門、應門將將。 迺立冢土、戎醜攸行。 |
| Mian: |
They set up the gate of the enceinte; And the gate of the enceinte stood high. They set up the court gate; And the court gate stood grand. They reared the great altar [to the Spirits of the land], From which all great movements should proceed. | |
| 8 | 緜: |
肆不殄厥慍、亦不隕厥問。 柞棫拔矣、行道兌矣。 混夷駾矣、維其喙矣。 |
| Mian: |
Thus though he could nto prevent the rage [of his foes], He did not let fall his own fame. The oaks and the Yu were [gradually] thinned, And roads for travelling were opened. The hordes of the Hun disappeared, Startled and panting. | |
| 9 | 緜: |
虞芮質厥成、文王蹶厥生。 予曰有疏附、予曰有先後、予曰有奔奏、予曰有禦侮。 |
| Mian: |
[The chiefs of] Yu and Rui were brought to an agreement, By king Wen's stimulating their natural virtue. Then, I may say, some came to him, previously not knowing him; And some, drawn the last by the first; And some, drawn by his rapid success; Ans some, by his defence [of the weak] from insult. |
URN: ctp:book-of-poetry/mian