Page:A Chinese Biographical Dictionary.djvu/739

720

the ground' was coYered with snow, T^ao E'an's mother tore op the sleeping-mats to provide fodder for his horse, and cot off her own hair and sold it in order to buy some wine. He began Ufe as a petty clerk in a Magistrate's yamto, ad?anciug to the rank of Archivist. He then took his degree and went to Lo-yang, where he attracted the notice of Chang Hna and obtained a post. Under the Emperor T^an Ti he became Governor of Wu-cb'aog and wu successful in crushing the rebel ^ ^ Tu T^eu), for which he was highly commended by Wang Tun. He was beaten however by the rebels J /rjl Wang Ch*ung and ^ ^ Tu Ts'teg; and for this he was cashiered and reduced to the status of a private individual. Upon Wang Tun*s representations he was restored to his rank; and when the former broke into open rebellion he was sent to oppose him, after being invested with the title of 1{j£ ^^ ^ ff^ ^ . From this time he was uniformly successful in his undertakings, and was ultimately ennobled as Duke. He was an able and energetic commander, and set his face against drinking and religious superstition among his subordinates. With reference to the saying attributed to the Great Yd, viz. that we should be careful of every inch of time (on the sundial), he declared that it was necessary for men of modern times to be careful even of tenths of an inch, and not to live without being of use to their age and die without leaving a name to posterity. He made a practice of carrying a hundred large bricks out of his study every morning, and of carrying them back again every evening, in order to keep np his physical -actirity. Canonised as jj^. 1898 T*ao Ku 1^ U (T. ^ If ). A.D. 902-970. A native of ^ ^ Hsiu-p4ug in Shensi, whose real name was ^ T'ang. A precocious child, he took service in early life under the Chin dynasty. In 946 Yeh-ld T^-kuang, second Emperor of the Liao dynasty, wished to carry him off to the north; upon which T^ao En hid