Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/99

 and all those dear to me, allured by sordid thoughts of gain ? It was not indeed without cause that I did not elect to die. I longed, as explained in my former letter, to prove my loyalty to my prince. Rather than die to no purpose, I chose to live and to establish my good name. It was better to achieve something than to perish. Of old, Fan Li did not slay himself after the battle of Hui-chi ; neither did Ts'ao Mo die after the ignominy of three defeats. Revenge came at last ; and thus I too had hoped to prevail. Why then was I over- taken with punishment before the plan was matured ? Why were my own flesh and blood condemned before the design could be carried out ? It is for this that I raise my face to Heaven, and beating my breast, shed tears of blood.

" O my friend, thou sayest that the House of Han never fails to reward a deserving servant. But thou art thyself a servant of the House, and it would ill beseem thee to say other words than these. Yet Hsiao and Fan were bound in chains ; Han and P'eng were sliced to death ; Ch'ao Ts'o was beheaded. Chou Po was dis- graced, and Tou Ying paid the penalty with his life. Others, great in their generation, have also succumbed to the intrigues of base men, and have been overwhelmed beneath a weight of shame from which they were unable to emerge. And now, the misfortunes of Fan Li and Ts ao Mo command the sympathies of all.

" My grandfather filled heaven and earth with the fame of his exploits the bravest of the brave. Yet, fearing the animosity of an Imperial favourite, he slew himself in a distant land, his death being followed by the secession, in disgust, of many a brother-hero. Can this

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