)
[Illustration: Original inscription on the Sacrificial Tripod,
together with (1) transcription in modern Chinese character (to
the right), and (2) an account of its history (to the left). Taken
from Dr. Bushell's "Chinese Art."]
Ts'u seems to have possessed a knowledge of ancient history and of
literature at a very early date. In 597 B.C., after his victory
over Tsin, the King of Ts'u had, as previously narrated, declined
to rear a barrow over the corpses slain, and had said: "No! the
written or pictograph character for 'soldierly' is made up of two
parts, one signifying 'stop,' and the other 'weapons.'" By this he
meant to say what the great philosopher Lao-tsz, himself a Ts'u
man, over and over again inculcated; namely, that the true soldier
does not glory in war, but mournfully aims at victory with the
sole view of attaining rightful ends. Not only was this half-
barbarian king thus capable of making a pun which from the
pictograph point of view still holds good to-day, but he goes on
in the same speech to cite the "peace-loving war" of Wu Wang, or
the Martial King, founder of the Chou dynasty, and to cite several
standard odes in allusion to it.
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