eturned to his own state. That
he was allowed to do so--does it not speak as much for the morality
of Ts'in as for the courage of Lin? The latter is the accepted
type of a brave and faithful envoy.

HEROES RECONCILED

Jealous of his fame, Lien P'o, a general of Chao, announced that he
would kill Lin at sight. The latter took pains to avoid a meeting.
Lien P'o, taxing him with cowardice, sent him a challenge, to which
Lin responded, "You and I are the pillars of our
[Page 99]
state. If either falls, our country is lost. This is why I have
shunned an encounter." So impressed was the general with the spirit
of this reply that he took a rod in his hand and presented himself
at the door of his rival, not to thrash the latter, but to beg
that he himself might be castigated. Forgetting their feud the two
joined hands to build up their native state much as Aristides and
Themistocles buried their enmity in view of the war with Persia.

As the Athenian orators thundered against Macedon so the statesmen
of China formed leagues and counterplots for and against the rising
power of the northwest. The type of patient, shrewd diplomacy is Su
Ts'in who, at the cost of incredible hardships in journeying from
court to court, succeeded in bringing six of the leading states
into line to bar the southward movement of their common foe. His
machinations were all in vain, however; for not only was his ultimate
success thwarted by the counterplots of Chang Yee, an equally able
diplomatist, but his reputation, like that of Parnell in our own
times, was ruined by his own passions. The rising power of Ts'in,
like a glacier, was advancing by slow degrees to universal sway. In
the next generation it absorbed all the feudal states. Chau-siang
subjugated Tung-chou-Kiun, the last monarch of the Chou dynasty, and
the House of Chou was exterminated by Chwang-siang, who, however,
enjoyed the supreme power for only three years (249-246 B. C).

[Page 100]
CHAPTER XIX

THE HOUSE OF TS'IN, 246-206 B. C.

(2 Emperors)

_Ts'in Shi-hwang-ti, "Emperor First"--The Great Wall--The Centralised
Monarchy--The title Hwang-ti--Origin of the name China--Burning
of the Books--Expedition to Japan--Revolution Places the House
of Han on the Throne_

"Viewed in the light of philosophy," says Schiller, "Cain killed
Abel because Abel's sheep trespassed on Cain's cornfield." From
that day to this farmers and shepherds have not been able to live
together in p