‘“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  [who was compelled to abdicate], passed away in the seventh year of Great Beginning, in Jin calendar (CE 271). Cao Huang, the Emperor of Wei  [who was compelled to abdicate by Sima Yan, first emperor of the Jin dynasty], passed away in the first year of Magnificent Peace (CE 302). And Sun Hao, the Emperor of Wu  [who was compelled to abdicate by Sima Yan, first emperor of the Jin dynasty], passed away in the fourth year of Prosperous Peace (CE 283). All three [emperors of each of the three kingdoms] 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>;