T'OO TSEU
1 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets;
Clang clang go the blows on the pegs.
That stalwart, martial man
Might be shield and wall to his prince.
Accordingly, Maou takes the line as meaning, 'Right is proper years'; and in this there are two objections. 1st, it they should be married without going beyond their the antecedent to 其 is 之子, the girl, and the girl only. 2d, in the 4th line, 宜 must be construed as an active verb. So it is in the 'Great Learning', Comm. ix. 6, where the passage is quoted.
St.2. L.2. Choo says fun denotes the abundance of the fruit, intimating that the young lady would have many children. Maou makes the term= 'the appearance of the fruit', intimating, that the lady had not beauty only, but also 'woman's virtue'. Fun is properly the seeds of hemp, which are exceedingly numerous; and hence it is applied to the fruit of other plants and trees to indicate its abundance. So, Lo Yuen (羅願; Sung dyn.), Wang T'aou, and others.
St.3. L.2. Ts'in-ts'in sets forth the luxuriance of the foliage,—至盛貌.
The rhymes are—in st.1, 華*, 家*, cat. 5, t. 1: in 2,實, 室, cat. 12, t. 3; in 3, 蓁, 人, ib., t. 1.
Ode 7. PRAISE OF A RABBIT-CATCHER, AS FIT TO BE A PRINCE'S MATE. Whether any particular individual was intended will be considered in the note on the interpretation. The generally accepted view is that the ode sets forth the influence of king Wăn (acc. to Choo), or of T'ae-sze (acc. to Maou), as so powerful and beneficial, that individuals in the lowest rank were made fit by it to occupy the highest positions
St.1. L.1. 罝 is defined in the Urh-ya as 'a rabbit-net'; to which Le Seun, the glossarist, (李巡; end of the Han dyn.), adds, that the rabbit makes paths underground for itself. Choo makes 肅肅 descriptive of the careful manner in which the nets were set; Maou, of the reverent demeanour of the trapper.
2 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets,
And placed where many ways meet.
That stalwart, martial man
Would be a good companion for his prince.
3 Carefully adjusted are the rabbit nets,
And placed in the midst of the forest.
That stalwart, martial man
Might be head and heart to his prince.
