Portrait of an Emperor
Together we will set about the task of stifling War. Battles are not won by arms, but by reputation. I will send story-tellers far and wide to every corner of the Empire. They will tell stories in the marketplace as the people gather around them, and all the stories will be of your great power and skill. Fame spreads on the wings of the wind and is breathed into the lungs by the people and never forgotten. It eventually sinks to the very marrow of the bones. Battles are won or lost in men's hearts. A man with a sword at his throat is no more easily influenced than a man enslaved by fear."
Chang bowed. "Truly you are indeed the Illustrious Emperor."
"A good Emperor is the servant of his people. Man's mission is to rise; it is the property of water to fall. But there must be energy to direct that rise. That is the property of an Emperor. I am conscious of it in every rustle of the wind over blue-tiled roofs. Or when my retinue passes through the main roads of Changan. Kao Li-shih tells me that some of the most devoted of my subjects kneel in prayer over my footprints as I walk in the bazaars. Such stories bring warmth to my heart. Only this morning at our Court was a strange man from India. In a gentle voice he recited strange poetry. I made him repeat it over and over again, until I too could quote it. 'Live neither in the present, nor in the future, but in the Eternal. . . because nothing that is embodied, nothing that is conscious of separation, nothing that is out of the Eternal, can aid you. . .
within you is the light of the world. . . . Read the
