Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/190

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��115. TO HIS WIFE ON HIS DEPARTURE— II

At the gate you still hold me by the robe, And ask me when I shall come back from the west. I will return some day, wearing, perhaps, a seal of gold. And you will not imitate the wife of Su Chin, Who came not down from her loom.

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���Su Chin (died B. C. 817) was a native of Lo-yang. In his youthful years he went out, seeking for a career, but returned in rags and tatters. His wife would not take the trouble of leaving her place at the loom in order to greet him. However, he succeeded later in his scheme of the federation of six weaker states against the strong state of Chin, and he was appointed prime minister of each of the six states thus combined. A seal of gold was given to a state minister as the symbol of authority.

In this poem Li Po*s political ambition is evident. [164]

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