SBE 3: Part I: The Book of Thang: The Canon of Yâo

The Tî said, 'Ho! (President of) the Four Mountains, I have been on the throne seventy years. You can carry out my commands;--I will resign my place to you.' The Chief said, 'I have not the virtue; I should disgrace your place.' (The Tî) said, 'Show me some one among the illustrious, or set forth one from among the poor and mean.' All (then) said to the Tî, 'There is an unmarried man among the lower people, called Shun of Yü 3'. The Tî p. 36 said, 'Yes, I have heard of him. What have you to say about him?' The Chief said,' He is the son of a blind man. His father was obstinately unprincipled; his (step-)mother was insincere; his (half-) brother Hsiang was arrogant. He has been able (however), by his filial piety to live in harmony with them, and to lead them gradually to self-government, so that they (no longer) proceed to great wickedness.' The Tî said, 'I will try him; I will wive him, and thereby see his behaviour with my two daughters.' (Accordingly) he arranged and sent down his two daughters to the north of the Kwei 1, to be wives in (the family of) Yü. The Tî said to them, 'Be reverent!' 32:1 Yâo is to us now the name of the ancient ruler so denominated. The character means 'high,' 'lofty and grand.' It may originally have been an epithet, 'the Exalted One.' On the meaning of Tî in Tî Yâo, see what has been said in the Preface. 32:2 The Han scholars held that Fang-hsün was the name of Yâo. Those of Sung, taking the characters as an epithet, make them signify 'the Highly Meritorious.'