was lifted from off their possessions. The couch was restored by magic
art to its former condition, the boat was returned by a justice-loving
person into whose hands it had fallen lower down the river, and the
orange-tree put out new branches. Kao therefore passed into an
undiminished inheritance. He married three wives, to commemorate the
number of his brothers, and had three sons, whom he called Chu, Shan,
and Hing, for a like purpose. These three all attained to high office
in the State, and by their enlightened morals succeeded in wiping all
the discreditable references to others bearing the same names from off
the domestic tablets.

From this story it will be seen that by acting virtuously, yet with an
observing discretion, on all occasions, it is generally possible not
only to rise to an assured position, but at the same time
unsuspectedly to involve those who stand in our way in a just
destruction.




LETTER XIII


Concerning a state of necessity; the arisings engendered
thereby, and the turned-away face of those ruling the literary
quarter of the city towards one possessing a style. This
foreign manner of feigning representations, and concerning my
dignified portrayal of two.