passed into an environment of vulgar ignorance. I left behind me obligations to sovereign and family for life amid barbarian hordes ; and now barbarian children will carry on the line of my forefathers. And yet my merit was great, my guilt of small account. I had no fair hearing ; and when I pause to think of these things, I ask to what end I have lived ? With a thrust I could have cleared myself of all blame : my severed throat would have borne witness to my resolution ; and be- tween me and my country all would have been over for aye. But to kill myself would have been of no avail : I should only have added to my shame. I therefore steeled myself to obloquy and to life. There were not wanting those who mistook my attitude for compliance, and urged me to a nobler course ; ignorant that the joys of a foreign land are sources only of a keener grief.
" O Tzu-ch'ing, O my friend, 1 will complete the half- told record of my former tale. His late Majesty com- missioned me, with five thousand infantry under my command, to carry on operations in a distant country. Five brother generals missed their way : I alone reached the theatre of war. With rations for a long march, leading on my men, I passed beyond the limits of the Celestial Land, and entered the territory of the fierce Huns. With five thousand men I stood opposed to a hundred thousand : mine jaded foot - soldiers, theirs horsemen fresh from the stable. Yet we slew their leaders, and captured their standards, and drove them back in confusion towards the north. We obliterated their very traces : we swept them away like dust : we beheaded their general. A martial spirit spread abroad among my men. With them, to die in battle was to
�� �
