,
a magic whip which possessed the property of compressing the surface
of the earth into a small space. To-day Chinese envoys, with steam and
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electricity at command, are frequently heard to exclaim: "Now at
last we have got the swift steeds and the magic whip of Mu-wang."

Two other kings, Li and Yu, are pointed at with the finger of scorn
as examples of what a king ought not to be. The latter set aside
his queen and her son in favour of a concubine and her son; and
so offended was high heaven by this unkingly conduct that the sun
hid his face in a total eclipse. This happened 775 B. C.; and it
furnishes the starting-point for a reliable chronology. For her
amusement the king caused the signal-fires to be lighted. She laughed
heartily to see the great barons rush to the rescue and find it was
a false alarm; but she did not smile when, not long after this,
the capital was attacked by a real foe, the father of her injured
rival. The signal-fires were again lighted; but the barons, having
once been deceived by the cry of "Wolf," took care not to expose
themselves again to derision.

The other king has not been lifted into the fierce light that beats
upon a throne by anything so tragic as a burning palace; but his
name is coupled with that of the former as a synonym of all that
is weak and contemptible.

The story of the House of Chou is not to be disposed of in a few
paragraphs, like the accounts of the preceding dynasties, because
it was preeminently the formative period of ancient China; the age
of her greatest sages, and the birthday of poetry and philosophy.
I shall therefore devote a chapter to the sages and another to the
reign of anarchy before closing the Book of Chou.

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CHAPTER XVII

THE SAGES OF CHINA

_Confucius--Describes Himself as Editor, not Author--"Model Teacher
of All Ages"--Mencius--More Eloquent than his Great Master--Lao-tse,
the Founder of Taoism_

I shall not introduce the reader to all who justly bear the august
title of sage; for China has had more and wiser sages than any other
ancient country. Some of them may be referred to in the sequel; but
this chapter I shall devote chiefly to the two who by universal
consent have no equals in the history of the Empire--Confucius and
Mencius. These great men owe much of their fame to the learned
Jesuits who first brought them on the stage, clad in the Roman toga,
and made them citizens of the world by giving them the euph