常者，質。
質主天。
“Substance” is modeled on heaven. Xia means “great” 大.
夏者，大也。
大者，文也。
The quality of greatness is akin to “visible pattern” (wen 文).
文主地。
故王者一商一夏，再而復者也。
“Visible pattern” is akin to earth.
正色，三而復者也。
味尚甘，聲尚宮，一而復者。
Thus, the rulers of the state passed through a Shang phase and a Xia phase: a two-stage cycle.
故三王術如循環。
故夏后氏教以忠，而君子忠矣，小人之失野。
The emblematic color changes thrice and then returns to what it was originally.
救野莫如敬，故殷人教以敬，而君子敬矣，小人之失鬼。
救鬼莫如文，故周人教以文，而君子文矣，小人之失薄。
Among flavors, sweetness is regarded as the foremost, and, among tones, gong is regarded as the foremost; these two are primary and [not] cyclical in nature.5 4 Speculative etymology based on sound resemblances appears often in early texts 5 The word bu 不·(not) appears to have dropped from the text here.
救薄莫如忠。
故聖人之與聖也，如矩之三雜，規之三雜。
See textual note 16 for this item.