A modern English adaption of the Analects of Confucius.
Confucius said, “I can speak of the rituals of the Xia Dynasty, but there’s little left in the state of Qii to document them. I can speak of the rituals of the Shang Dynasty, too, but there’s little left in the state of Song to document them.
“There’s not much in the way of documentation or worthy scholars in those states. If there were, I could back up my words with evidence.”
Duke Ai asked Zai Wo about the altar to the soil.
Zai Wo answered, “The Xia used pine and the Shang used cypress. But the Zhou, they say, used chestnut in order to instill the people with fear.”
After hearing about this, Confucius said, “Don’t try to explain what is already over and done with. Don’t try to criticize what’s already past. Don’t try to assign blame after something is past.”
Confucius said the music of the Shao was both perfectly beautiful and perfectly good. He said the music of the Wu was perfectly beautiful, but not perfectly good.
Zigong said, “Zhouxin wasn’t as evil as his reputation makes him out to be. That’s why a noble person hates living downstream from public opinion—all the world’s filth ends up there.”