The moral of the piece is evidently to expose the evil consequences of
luxury, effeminacy, and supineness in the sovereign.
"When love was all an easy monarch's care,
Seldom at council--never in a war."
The hero, or rather the chief personage, of the drama, came to the
throne very near the beginning of the Christian era, about B.C. 42. The
fate of the Lady Chaoukeun is a favorite incident in history, of which
painters, poets, and romancers frequently avail themselves; her "Verdant
Lamb" is said to exist at the present day, and to remain green all the
year round, while the vegetation of the desert in which it stands is
parched by the summer sun.
In selecting this single specimen from among so many, the translator was
influenced by the consideration of its remarkable accordance with our
own canons of criticism. The Chinese themselves make no regular
classification of comedy and tragedy; but we are quite at liberty to
give the latter title to a play which so completely answers to the
European definition. The unity of action is complete, and the unities of
time and place much less violated than they frequently are on our own
stage. The grandeur and gravity of the subject, the rank and dignity of
the personages, the tragical catastrophe, and the strict award of
poetical justice, might satisfy the most rigid admirer of Grecian rules.
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