| Chinese Text Project | |
| Simplified Chinese version |
《小旻 - Xiao Min》 | English translation: James Legge [?] | Books referencing 《小旻》 Library Resources |
| 1 | 小旻: |
旻天疾威、敷于下土。 谋犹回遹、何日斯沮。 谋臧不从、不臧覆用。 我视谋犹、亦孔之邛。 |
| Xiao Min: |
The angry terrors of Compassionate Heaven, Extend through this lower world; [The king's] counsels and plans are crooked and bad; - When will he stop [in the course]? Counsels which are good he will not follow, And those which are not good he employs, When I look at his counsels and plans, I am greatly pained. | |
| 2 | 小旻: |
潝潝訿訿、亦孔之哀。 谋之其臧、则具是违。 谋之不臧、则具是依。 我视谋犹、伊于胡底。 |
| Xiao Min: |
Now they agree, and now they defame one another; - The case is greatly to be deplored. If a counsel be good, They all are found opposing it. If a counsel be bad, They all are found according with it. When I look at such counsels and plans, What will they come to? | |
| 3 | 小旻: |
我龟既厌、不我告犹。 谋夫孔多、是用不集。 发言盈庭、谁敢执其咎。 如匪行迈谋、是用不得于道。 |
| Xiao Min: |
Our tortoises are wearied out, And will not tell us anything about the plans. The counsellors are very many, But on that account nothing is accomplished. The speakers fill the court, But who dares to take any responsibility on himself? We are as if we consulted [about a journey] without taking a step in advance, And therefore did not get on on the road. | |
| 4 | 小旻: |
哀哉为犹、匪先民是程、匪大犹是经、维迩言是听、维迩言是争。 如彼筑室于道谋、是用不溃于成。 |
| Xiao Min: |
Alas! our formers of plans, Do not take the ancients for their pattern, And do not regulate them by great principles. They only hearken to shallow words, And quarrel about shallow words, They are like one taking counsel with wayfarers about building a house. Which will consequently never come to completion. | |
| 5 | 小旻: |
国虽靡止、或圣或否。 民虽靡膴、或哲或谋、或肃或艾。 如彼泉流、无沦胥以败。 |
| Xiao Min: |
Although the kingdom be unsettled, There are some who are wise, and others who are not. Although the people may not be numerous, Some have perspicacity, some have counsel, Some have gravity, and some have orderliness. But we are going on like the stream flowing from a spring, And will sink together in a common ruin. | |
| 6 | 小旻: |
不敢暴虎、不敢冯河。 人知其一、莫知其他。 战战兢兢、如临深渊、如履薄冰。 |
| Xiao Min: |
They dare not without weapons attack a tiger; They dare not without a boat cross the He. They know one thing, But they only know that one. We should be apprehensive and careful, As if we were on the brink of a deep gulf, As if we were treading on thin ice. |
URN: ctp:book-of-poetry/xiao-min