Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/344

 332 CHINESE LITERATURE

The verses are considered spirited by Chinese critics, and are frequently given in collections, which certainly would not be the case if Imperial authorship was their only claim :

-< Southward, in all the panoply of cruel war arrayed, See, our heroic general points

and waves his glittering blade ! Across the hills and streams

the lizard-drums terrific roll, While glint of myriad banners

flashes high from pole to pole. . . . Go, scion of the Unicorn,

and prove thy heavenly birth, And crush to all eternity

these insects of the earth; And when thou confst, a conqueror,

from those wild barbarian lands, WE will unhitch thy war-cloak

with our own Imperial hands / *

The courtesans of ancient and mediaeval China formed a class which now seems no longer to exist. Like the hetaircs of Greece, they were often highly educated, and exercised considerable influence. Bio- graphies of the most famous of these ladies are in existence, extending back to the seventh century A.D. The following is an extract from that of Hsieh Su-su, who flourished in the fourteenth century, and "with whom but few of the beauties of old could compare " :

" Su-su's beauty was of a most refined style, with a captivating sweetness of voice and grace of movement. She was a skilful artist, sweeping the paper with a few rapid touches, which produced such speaking effects that few, even of the first rank, could hope to excel her work. She was a fine horsewoman, and could shoot

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