Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

134
THE SHI-KING
dom of China fell into disorder and decrepitude this one great
teacher stepped forward to save the precious record of historic
fact, philosophical thought, and of legislation as well as poetry,
from being swept away by the deluge of revolution. Confucius
showed his wisdom by the high value he set upon the poetry
of his native land, and his name must be set side by side with
that of the astute tyrant of Athens who collected the poems of
Homer and preserved them as a precious heritage to the
Greek world. Confucius has given us his opinion with regard
to the poems of the Shi-King. No man, he says, is worth
speaking to who has not mastered the poems of an anthology,
the perusal of which elevates the mind and purifies it from all
corrupt thoughts. Thanks to the work of modern scholarship,
English readers can now verify this dictum for them-
selves.
E. W.