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20 THE ANALECTS : INTRODUCTION.
-i _ _ _ theSecondEmperor,and so on for"ten
thousand generations." Alas! for human ambition, his
own reign lasted but twelve short yea,'s, his elder son
was murdered by the younger, for the sake of a throne
which he held for three years only, and after Shih
Huang Ti's grandson had sat oll the throne for a few
brief weeks this "' dynasty of ten thousand generations "
came to a bitter end.
As to the literature ot China, while what we possess
of it dates only from the dynasty of Chou, and especially
from the three centuries of its decline, it must ever be
_'emembered that its foundation was laid in tile two
preceding dynasties, and that Confucius and Mencius
were the topstone rather than the foundation ot their
country's genius. To change tile metaphor they are the
bright particular stars that shone in a sombre night, and
the very sombreness of the background, both then and
since, has lent an exaggeration to their brilliancy which
a brighter sky would have toned to normal hue, and
which after the long and dreary night must, at this late
hour, pale before the roseate flush of advancing Day.