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A Chinese Biographical Dictionary
573


45, upon a threatened incorsion of the Hdang-nn, he begged to be allowed to go to the front; and in order to show that the infirmities of old age had not overtaken him, he donned his armour, and springing upon his war-horse glared around him with the terrifying eyes of days by-gone. *^It is better," said he, ^'for a general to be brought back in a horse^s hide than to die in his bed surrounded by boys and girls." '^Truly," cried the Emperor, ^^this is a grand old manl" In A.D. 48 he took command of an army sent against the wild tribes of Hunan, and died during the campaign. After his death he was accused of appropriating a large quantity of precious stones which he had brought back from Tongking; but his memory was ably defended by his widow who showed that the stones in question were simply Job's Tears {Coix *lacryma^ L.), r^arded as a specific against infectious diseases. He certainly earned large sums of iponey; but feeling, as he said, that he who hoarded wealth was a slave to it, he distributed his fortune among his relatives and friends. Fond of sententious utterances,, he said to his two nephews, ^^Ifjl'fj^ ^ Lung Po-kao is grave and studious. Strive to be like him; for though you fail in carving a swan, the result will at any rate be like a duck. 1^ ^ ^ Tu Chi-liang is a hero. If you strive to be like him, it will be as though you tried to carve a tiger and turned out only a dog." He is still worshipped in Euangsi as the Wave-quelling (jod, and at :j^ H6ng-chou he presides over the navigation of the rapids. In 1890 tablets were granted to his shrine in Euangsi. Canonised as J^ Jg^ .

Ma Yung-oh*ing ,B| ^ ^ (T. ;^ ^ ). A philosophical and 1491

miscellaneous writer of the Sung dynasty. Held office A.D. 1111 — 1117. Author of the collection of notes entitled j^ ^ -^ » Mang-i-fu ^# ^. A.D. 1683-^1680. A Manchu officer, who 1492 distinguished himself against the forces of Wu San-kuei in Euangsi and Hunan. He also shared in quelling the revolt of Shang Chih-hsin