‘“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”—How it Begins and Ends’

 

 

The opening:

Domains under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. This has been so since antiquity.

The penultimate paragraph:

That is domains under heaven, after a long period of union, tends to divide; after a long period of division, tends to unite.

And its text ends with:

Liu Shan, the Emperor of Shu-Han, passed away in the seventh year of Great Beginning, in Jin calendar (CE 271). Cao Huang, the Emperor of Wei, passed away in the first year of Magnificent Peace (CE 302). And Sun Hao, the Emperor of Wu, passed away in the fourth year of Prosperous Peace (CE 283). All three [emperors] died of natural causes. 

Seth Barrett Tillman, ‘“Romance of the Three Kingdoms”—How it Begins and Ends,’ New Reform Club (May 31, 2023, 9:18 AM), <https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2023/05/romance-of-three-kingdomshow-it-begins.html>;