1
張蒼，陽武人也，好書律曆。 秦時為御史，主柱下方書。 有罪，亡歸。 及沛公略地過陽武，蒼以客從攻南陽。 蒼當斬，解衣伏質，身長大，肥白如瓠，時王陵見而怪其美士，乃言沛公，赦勿斬。 遂西入武關，至咸陽。
Zhang Cang was a native of Yangwu who devoted himself to books, law, and the calendar. Under the Qin he served as imperial clerk, supervising the archive of documents beneath the pillar. He ran afoul of the law and fled home. When the Lord of Pei was expanding his holdings and marched through Yangwu, Zhang Cang joined him as a retainer and took part in the campaign against Nanyang. Zhang Cang was condemned to death. He bared his torso and stretched out on the block—tall and heavyset, his skin pale and smooth as a gourd. Wang Ling happened to see him, struck by what an impressive man he was, and interceded with the Lord of Pei, who spared his life. They then marched west through Wu Pass into Xianyang.
2
沛公立為漢王，入漢中，還定三秦。 陳餘擊走常山王張耳，耳歸漢。 漢以蒼為常山守。 從韓信擊趙，蒼得陳餘。 趙地已平，漢王以蒼為代相，備邊冠。 已而徙為趙相，相趙王耳。 耳卒，相其子敖。 復徙相代。 燕王臧荼反，蒼以代相從攻荼有功，封為北平侯，食邑千二百戶。
The Lord of Pei was made King of Han, withdrew into Hanzhong, and then fought his way back to subdue the Three Qin. Chen Yu routed Zhang Er, the King of Changshan, who then came over to Han. The Han court named Zhang Cang governor of Changshan. He followed Han Xin against Zhao and took Chen Yu prisoner. Once Zhao had been secured, the King of Han appointed Zhang Cang minister of Dai to hold the northern frontier. He was soon transferred to serve as Zhao's chancellor under King Zhang Er. When Zhang Er died, Zhang Cang became chancellor to his son Ao. He was moved once more to the chancellorship of Dai. When Zang Tu, king of Yan, rose in rebellion, Zhang Cang accompanied the campaign in his capacity as chancellor of Dai, distinguished himself, and was enfeoffed as marquis of Beiping with twelve hundred households.
3
遷為計相，一月，更以列侯為主計四歲。 是時，蕭何為相國，而蒼乃自秦時為柱下御史，明習天下圖書計籍，又善用算律曆，故令蒼以列侯居相府，領主郡國上計者。 黥布反，漢立皇子長為淮南王，而蒼相之。 十四年，遷為御史大夫〈(180BCE)〉。
He was promoted to counting minister; a month later he was reassigned, still as a full marquis, to serve four years as chief of the annual accounts. Xiao He was chancellor at the time, and Zhang Cang—who had been a pillar-clerk recorder under the Qin—knew the empire's maps, archives, and tax rolls inside out and was adept at calculation, law, and the calendar. The court therefore had him, still a full marquis, take quarters in the chancellor's compound and supervise the officials who received the year-end reports from every commandery and kingdom. When Qing Bu rebelled, the Han enthroned the imperial prince Liu Chang as king of Huainan, with Zhang Cang as his chancellor. In the fourteenth year of his reign (180 BCE) he was raised to the rank of imperial counsellor.
4
正月甲午，御史大夫北平侯張蒼為丞相〈(176BCE)〉。 張蒼亦學律歷，以為非是，罷之。 其後黃龍見成紀，張蒼自黜，所欲論著不成。 而新垣平以望氣見，頗言正歷服色事，貴幸，後作亂，故孝文帝廢不復問。
On the jiawu day of the first month (176 BCE), Zhang Cang, marquis of Beiping and imperial counsellor, was appointed chancellor. Zhang Cang had also mastered statutes and calendrical science; finding the prevailing scheme unsound, he set it aside. Later, when a yellow dragon was sighted at Chengji, Zhang Cang stepped down of his own accord, and the treatises he had hoped to finish never appeared. Xinyuan Ping had meanwhile won an audience by reading the clouds and airs, held forth on revising the calendar and ritual colors, rose to favor—and then turned traitor. Emperor Wen therefore dropped the whole matter and never reopened it.
5
置陽陵邑。 丞相北平侯張蒼卒〈(151BCE)〉。
A settlement was founded at Yangling. Zhang Cang, chancellor and marquis of Beiping, died in 151 BCE.
6
周昌者，沛人也。 其從兄苛，秦時皆為泗水卒史。 及高祖起沛，擊破泗水守監，於是苛、昌以卒史從沛公，沛公以昌為職志，苛為客。 從入關破秦。 沛公立為漢王，以苛為御史大夫，昌為中尉。
Zhou Chang was a native of Pei. His cousin Zhou Ke had served with him under the Qin as clerks of the corps for the Sishui commandery. When the High Ancestor rose at Pei and overthrew the Sishui governor and his inspector, the Zhou brothers followed the Lord of Pei in their old clerkships; the Lord of Pei named Zhou Chang duty officer and Zhou Ke a guest-retainer. They accompanied him through the passes and helped bring down the Qin. When the Lord of Pei became King of Han, he appointed Zhou Ke imperial counsellor and Zhou Chang commandant of the guard.
7
漢三年，楚圍漢王滎陽急，漢王出去，而使苛守滎陽城。 楚破滎陽城，欲令苛將，苛罵曰：「若趣降漢王！ 不然，今為虜矣！」 項羽怒，亨苛。 漢王於是拜昌為御史大夫。 常從擊破項籍。 六年，與蕭、曹等俱封，為汾陰侯。 苛子成以父死事，封為高景侯。
In the third year of Han, Chu forces had Xingyang in a stranglehold; the King of Han slipped away but left Zhou Ke to hold the city. When Chu took Xingyang, they tried to make Zhou Ke switch sides. He shouted back at them, "Surrender to the King of Han at once! If you refuse, you will be prisoners before the day is out!" Enraged, Xiang Yu had Zhou Ke executed in the cauldron. The King of Han then named Zhou Chang imperial counsellor. He fought at the king's side until Xiang Yu was destroyed. In the sixth year he was enfeoffed along with Xiao He, Cao Shen, and the rest, as marquis of Fenyin. Zhou Ke's son Cheng was enfeoffed as marquis of Gaojing in recognition of his father's sacrifice.
8
昌為人強力，敢直言，自蕭、曹等皆卑下之。 昌嘗燕入奏事，高帝方擁戚姬，昌還走。 高帝逐得，騎昌項，上問曰：「我何如主也？」 昌仰曰：「陛下即桀、紂之主也。」 於是上笑之，然尤憚昌。 及高帝欲廢太子，而立威姬子如意為太子，大臣固爭莫能得，上以留侯策止。 而昌庭爭之強，上問其說，昌為人吃，又盛怒，曰：「臣口不能言，然臣期期知其不可。 陛下欲廢太子，臣期期不奉詔。」 上欣然而笑，即罷。 呂後側耳於東箱聽，見昌，為跪謝曰：「微君，太子幾廢。」
Zhou Chang was blunt and fearless; even Xiao He and Cao Shen treated him with deference. Once, when Zhou Chang came in informally to report on business, he found the High Ancestor with Lady Qi in his arms and beat a hasty retreat. The High Ancestor caught up, threw an arm over his shoulders like a rider's grip, and asked, "What kind of sovereign do you take me for?" Zhou Chang looked him in the eye and said, "You are a sovereign in the mold of Jie or Zhou—the last kings of Xia and Shang." The emperor laughed—but from then on he was warier of Zhou Chang than ever. When the High Ancestor wanted to set aside the heir apparent in favor of Lady Qi's son Ruyi, his senior ministers argued themselves hoarse to no avail, until he dropped the idea on the advice of the Marquis of Liu. Zhou Chang opposed him just as fiercely in open court. Asked to explain, he stammered with rage: "I—I cannot find the words, but I know in my bones this must not happen. If Your Majesty insists on deposing the heir, I—I will not carry out the edict." The emperor broke into a relieved laugh and let the matter drop. Empress Lü had been listening from the eastern gallery. When she met Zhou Chang afterward, she knelt in gratitude and said, "Had it not been for you, the heir would have been lost."
9
是歲，戚姬子如意為趙王，年十歲，高祖憂萬歲之後不全也。 趙堯為符璽御史，趙人方與公謂御史大夫周昌曰：「君之史趙堯年雖少，然奇士，君必異之，是且代君之位。」 昌笑曰：「堯年少，刀筆吏耳，何至是乎！」 居頃之，堯侍高祖，高祖獨心不樂，悲歌，群臣不知上所以然。 堯進請問曰：「陛下所為不樂，非以趙王年少，而戚夫人與呂後有隙，備萬歲之後而趙王不能自全乎？」 高祖曰：「我私憂之，不知所出。」 堯曰：「陛下獨為趙王置貴強相，及呂後、太子、群臣素所敬憚者乃可。」 高祖曰：「然。 吾念之欲如是，而群臣誰可者？」 堯曰：「御史大夫昌，其人堅忍伉直，自呂後、太子及大臣皆素嚴憚之。 獨昌可。」 高祖曰：「善。」 於是召昌謂曰：「吾固欲煩公，公強為我相趙。」 昌泣曰：「臣初起從陛下，陛下獨奈何中道而棄之于諸侯乎？」 高祖曰：「吾極知其左遷，然吾私憂趙，念非公無可者。 公不得已強行！」 於是徙御史大夫昌為趙相。
That same year Lady Qi's son Ruyi, only ten, was invested as king of Zhao, and the High Ancestor brooded over how to keep the boy safe after his own death. Zhao Yao served as clerk of tallies and seals. A Zhao native known as the lord of Fangyu said to Imperial Counsellor Zhou Chang, "That clerk of yours, Zhao Yao, is young, but he is no ordinary man. Mark my words—he will one day take your chair." Zhou Chang laughed. "Zhao Yao is a youngster—a mere scribal clerk. How could he rise that high?" Not long afterward Zhao Yao was attending the High Ancestor, who sat alone in gloom, humming a mournful tune while his ministers wondered what troubled him. Zhao Yao stepped forward and said softly, "Your Majesty's sorrow—is it not because the king of Zhao is still a child, because Lady Qi and the empress are at odds, and because you fear for his life once you are gone?" The High Ancestor replied, "It weighs on me privately, and I see no way through." Zhao Yao said, "Then invest Zhao with a chancellor who is both weighty and formidable—someone the empress, the heir, and the whole court already fear and respect." The High Ancestor said, "Exactly. I have been turning that very thought over in my mind—but whom among my ministers can I send?" Zhao Yao answered, "Imperial Counsellor Zhou Chang is stubborn, plain-spoken, and unbending. The empress, the heir, and every senior minister already tread softly around him. He alone will do." The High Ancestor said, "Very well." He summoned Zhou Chang and said, "I hate to impose on you, but I need you to take the chancellorship of Zhao." Zhou Chang wept. "I have followed Your Majesty since the very beginning. How can you cast me off midway among the regional kings?" The High Ancestor said, "I know full well this is a step down for you. My heart is with Zhao, and no one but you will serve. You must go, however hard it is!" Imperial Counsellor Zhou Chang was therefore transferred to the chancellorship of Zhao.
10
既行久之，高祖持御史大夫印弄之，曰：「誰可以為御史大夫者？」 孰視堯曰：「無以易堯。」 遂拜堯為御史大夫。 堯亦前有軍功食邑，及以御史大夫從擊陳豨有功，封為江邑侯。
Some time after Zhou Chang had left, the High Ancestor turned the imperial counsellor's seal over in his hands and asked, "Who is fit to be imperial counsellor now?" He fixed his gaze on Zhao Yao and said, "No one else will do." Zhao Yao was appointed imperial counsellor on the spot. Zhao Yao already held a fief for earlier military service; as imperial counsellor he campaigned against Chen Xi with distinction and was enfeoffed as marquis of Jiangyi.
11
高祖崩，太后使使召趙王，其相昌令王稱疾不行。 使者三反，昌曰：「高帝屬臣趙王，王年少，竊聞太后怨戚夫人，欲召趙王並誅之。 臣不敢遣王，王且亦疾，不能奉詔。」 太后怒，乃使使召趙相。 相至，謁太后，太后罵昌曰：「爾不知我之怨戚氏乎？ 而不遣趙王！」 昌既被征，高後使使召趙王。 王果來，至長安月餘，見鴆殺。 昌謝病不朝見，三歲而薨，諡曰悼侯。 傳子至孫意，有罪，國除。 景帝復封昌孫左車為安陽侯，有罪，國除。
After the High Ancestor's death, the empress dowager sent for the king of Zhao. Chancellor Zhou Chang had the young king plead illness and refuse to travel. The envoys came back three times. Zhou Chang replied, "The late emperor left the king of Zhao in my care. The boy is young, and word has reached me that the empress dowager bears a grudge against Lady Qi and means to summon the king of Zhao so she can destroy them together. I dare not send him on his way, and in any case he is unwell and cannot obey the summons." Furious, the empress dowager sent for the chancellor of Zhao instead. When he arrived at court and was admitted to her presence, she rounded on Zhou Chang: "Do you not know how I hate the Qi house? Yet you still would not send me the king of Zhao!" Once Zhou Chang had been called away, Empress Gao sent again for the king of Zhao. The boy came. Within little more than a month of his arrival in Chang'an he was dead—poisoned. Zhou Chang pleaded illness and stayed away from court. He died three years later and was given the posthumous title Dao—"the Lamented Marquis." The title passed to his son and then to his grandson Yi, who forfeited the fief for a crime. Emperor Jing later restored the line, enfeoffing Zhou Chang's grandson Zuoche as marquis of Anyang, but that fief, too, was stripped after a conviction.
12
初，趙堯既代周昌為御史大夫，高祖崩，事惠帝終世。 高後元年，怨堯前定趙王如意之畫，乃抵堯罪，以廣阿侯任敖為御史大夫。
Zhao Yao had succeeded Zhou Chang as imperial counsellor before the High Ancestor died, and he served out Emperor Hui's entire reign. In the first year of Empress Gao's reign she remembered how Zhao Yao had engineered the plan to protect Prince Ruyi as king of Zhao, found a charge against him, and replaced him with Ren Ao, marquis of Guang'a, as imperial counsellor.
13
初任敖免，平陽侯曹窋代敖為御史大夫。 高後崩，與大臣共誅諸呂。 後坐事免，以淮南相張蒼為御史大夫。 蒼來絳侯等尊立孝文皇帝，四年，代灌嬰為丞相。
When Ren Ao was removed from office, Cao Zhu, marquis of Pingyang, succeeded him as imperial counsellor. After Empress Gao's death he joined the senior ministers in wiping out the Lü clan. He was later dismissed for an offense, and Zhang Cang, chancellor of Huainan, was named imperial counsellor in his place. Zhang Cang had arrived with the Marquis of Jiang and the others who raised Emperor Wen to the throne; in the fourth year of that reign he succeeded Guan Ying as chancellor.
14
漢興二十餘年，天下初定，公卿皆軍吏。 蒼為計相時，緒正律曆。 以高祖十月始至霸上，故因秦時本十月為歲首，不革。 推五德之運，以為漢當水德之時，上黑如故。 吹律調樂，入之音聲，及以比定律令。 若百工，天下作程品。 至於為丞相，卒就之。 故漢家言律曆者本張蒼。 蒼凡好書，無所不觀，無所不通，而尤邃律曆。
More than twenty years had passed since the founding of Han; the realm was only beginning to settle, and most of the men at the summit of government were veterans who had risen from the ranks. While Zhang Cang held the office of counting minister, he set the statutes and calendar in order. The High Ancestor had first reached Bashang in the tenth month, so the Han kept the Qin practice of reckoning the new year from the tenth month and did not alter it. He traced the cycle of the Five Phases and concluded that Han stood under the power of Water; court ritual therefore continued to favor black, as under the Qin. He matched pitch-pipes to tune the court music, aligned the scales, and on that basis harmonized the statutes and regulations. For every craft under heaven he established standards and grades of workmanship. By the time he rose to chancellor, he had brought the whole program to completion. Henceforth, whenever the Han court spoke of law and the calendar, it traced the authority back to Zhang Cang. Zhang Cang loved books in general—he read widely, missed little, and went deepest of all into law and calendrical science.
15
蒼德安國侯王陵，及貴，父事陵。 陵死後，蒼為丞相，洗沐，常先朝陵夫人上食，然後敢歸家。
Zhang Cang never forgot that Wang Ling, marquis of Anguo, had saved his life; once he was powerful, he treated Wang Ling with the deference a son owes a father. After Wang Ling died, Zhang Cang—by then chancellor—would on his days of rest call first on Lady Wang to bring her provisions before he would think of going home.
16
初蒼父長不滿五尺，蒼長八尺餘，蒼子復長八尺，及孫類長六尺餘。 蒼免相後，口中無齒，食乳，女子為乳母。 妻妾以百數，嘗孕者不復幸。 年百餘歲乃卒。 著書十八篇，言陰陽律曆事。
Zhang Cang's father had stood under five feet; Zhang Cang himself towered at well over eight feet; his son matched that height; by the grandson Lei the line had shrunk to a little over six feet. After Zhang Cang left the chancellorship he lost his teeth and lived on human milk, supplied by a household of wet nurses. He kept more than a hundred wives and concubines but never again visited any woman who had once borne him a child. He lived past the age of a hundred before he died. He left eighteen treatises on yin and yang, law, and the calendar.
17
申屠嘉
Shentu Jia
18
申屠嘉，梁人也。 以材官蹶張從高帝擊項籍，遷為隊率。 從擊黥布，為都尉。 孝惠時，為淮陽守。 孝文元年，舉故以二千石從高祖者，悉以為關內侯，食邑二十四人，而嘉食邑五百戶。 十六年，遷為御史大夫。 張蒼免相，文帝以皇后弟竇廣國賢有行，欲相之，曰：「恐天下以吾私廣國。」 久念不可，而高帝時大臣余見無可者，乃以御史大夫嘉為丞相，因故邑封為故安侯。
Shentu Jia was a native of Liang. He served as a strong-arm crossbowman under the High Ancestor in the war against Xiang Yu and rose to platoon leader. He campaigned against Qing Bu and was named commandant. Under Emperor Hui he was governor of Huaiyang. In the first year of Emperor Wen's reign, every former official at the two-thousand-dan level who had served the High Ancestor was ennobled as a noble within the passes; twenty-four were granted revenue from estates, among them Jia, with five hundred households. In the sixteenth year of that reign he was promoted to imperial counsellor. When Zhang Cang left the chancellorship, Emperor Wen wished to appoint the empress's brother Dou Guangguo—virtuous and well regarded—to the post, but said, "I am afraid the realm would think I am playing favorites for Guangguo." After long reflection he gave the idea up, and among the surviving senior ministers who had served the founder he could find no one equal to the task. He therefore elevated Imperial Counsellor Shentu Jia to chancellor and, building on the old enfeoffment, created him marquis of Gu'an.
19
嘉為人廉直，門不受私謁。 是時，太中大夫鄧通方愛幸，賞賜累巨萬。 文帝常燕飲通家，其寵如是。 是時，嘉入朝而通居上旁，有怠慢之禮。 嘉奏事畢，因言曰：「陛下幸愛群臣則富貴之，至於朝廷之禮，不可以不肅！」 上曰：「君勿言，吾私之。」 罷朝坐府中，嘉為檄召通詣丞相府，不來，且斬通。 通恐，入言上。 上曰：「汝第往，吾今使人召若。」 通至丞相府，免冠，徒跣，頓首謝嘉。 嘉坐自如，弗為禮，責曰：「夫朝廷者，高皇帝之朝廷也，通小臣，戲殿上，大不敬，當斬。 史今行斬之！」 通頓首，首盡出血，不解。 上度丞相已困通，使使持節召通，而謝丞相：「此語弄臣，君釋之。」 鄧通既至，為上泣曰：「丞相幾殺臣。」
Shentu Jia was honest and blunt; he would not receive private callers at his gate. At that time Deng Tong, a grandee of the palace, stood high in the emperor's favor, and the gifts heaped on him ran into tens of thousands in cash. Emperor Wen often dropped in informally to drink at Deng Tong's house; such was the extent of his favor. Once, when Shentu Jia came to court, Deng Tong was lounging at the emperor's side with a slovenly disregard for protocol. When Shentu Jia had finished his report, he added, "If Your Majesty wishes to show love to your ministers, wealth and rank are the way to do it—but the dignity of the court must be kept inviolate." The emperor said, "Say no more; he is my private favorite." After court Shentu Jia returned to his compound and issued a written summons ordering Deng Tong to report to the chancellor's residence, warning that if he failed to appear he would be executed. Deng Tong was terrified and ran to the emperor. The emperor told him, "Go as summoned; I will send for you in good time." Deng Tong presented himself at the chancellor's gate bareheaded and barefoot, kowtowing in apology to Shentu Jia. Shentu Jia remained seated and did not return the courtesy. "This court," he said, "is the court of the High Emperor. Deng Tong is a minor official who has made a mockery of the throne—a capital offense. Officers, carry out the sentence and behead him!" Deng Tong knocked his head on the floor until the blood ran, but Shentu Jia would not relent. When the emperor judged that the chancellor had Deng Tong sufficiently frightened, he dispatched an envoy with imperial credentials to recall him and sent word to Shentu Jia: "He is my household fool; let him go." When Deng Tong reached the palace, he wept before the emperor and said, "The chancellor came within a hair of killing me."
20
嘉為丞相五歲，文帝崩，孝景即位。 二年，晁錯為內史，貴幸用事，諸法令多所請變更，議以適罰侵削諸侯，而丞相嘉自絀所言不用，疾錯。 錯為內史，門東出，不便，更穿一門，南出。 南出者，太上皇廟堧垣也。 嘉聞錯穿宗廟垣，為奏請誅錯。 客有語錯，錯恐，夜入宮上謁，自歸上。 至朝，嘉請誅內史錯。 上曰：「錯所穿非真廟垣，乃外堧垣，故冗官居其中，且又我使為之，錯無罪。」 罷朝，嘉謂長史曰：「吾悔不先斬錯乃請之，為錯所賣！」 至舍，因嘔血而死。 諡曰節侯。 傳子至孫臾，有罪，國除。
Shentu Jia had been chancellor five years when Emperor Wen died and Emperor Jing came to the throne. In the second year of the reign Chao Cuo held the post of inner scribe; favored and powerful, he pushed through wholesale revisions of the law and urged fines and legal pressure to whittle away the princes' domains. Chancellor Shentu Jia found his own counsel ignored and came to detest Chao Cuo. As inner scribe, Chao Cuo's official gate opened inconveniently to the east, so he opened a second gate to the south. The southern opening cut through the sacred boundary wall of the Grand Supreme Emperor's temple. When Shentu Jia learned that Chao Cuo had breached a wall of the imperial temple precinct, he memorialized for Chao Cuo's death. A client warned Chao Cuo, who in panic went to the palace that night, sought an audience, and placed himself at the emperor's mercy. At the next court session Shentu Jia demanded the execution of Inner Scribe Chao Cuo. The emperor replied, "Chao Cuo did not breach the inner temple wall but the outer precinct wall, where retired supernumerary officials were quartered—and I told him to do it. He is guilty of nothing." After court Shentu Jia told his chief clerk, "I should have cut Chao Cuo's throat before I ever brought the matter to the throne—he has made a fool of me." He reached home, vomited blood, and died. His posthumous title was Jie—"the Steadfast Marquis." The title passed to his son and then to his grandson Yu, who lost the fief for a crime.
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自嘉死後，開封侯陶青、桃侯劉舍及武帝時柏至侯許昌、平棘侯薛澤、武強侯莊青翟、商陵侯趙周，皆以列侯繼踵，娖娖廉謹，為丞相備員而已，無所能發明功名著於世者。
After Shentu Jia's death came Tao Qing of Kaifeng and Liu She of Tao, and under Emperor wuxu day Chang of Bozhi, Xue Ze of Pingji, Zhuang Qingdi of Wuqiang, and Zhao Zhou of Shangling—each a full marquis who stepped into the chancellorship in turn. They were honest, cautious placeholders, none of whom left a mark on the age.
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贊曰：張蒼文好律曆，為漢名相，而專遵用奉之《顓頊曆》，何哉？ 周昌，木強人也。 任敖以舊德用。 申屠嘉可謂剛毅守節，然無術學，殆與蕭、曹、陳平異矣。
The historian's appraisal: Zhang Cang was learned in law and the calendar and ranked among the Han's great chancellors—yet he clung exclusively to the Zhuanxu calendar the Qin had adopted. How could that be? Zhou Chang was a blunt, obstinate man. Ren Ao rose on the strength of long-standing loyalty. Shentu Jia was resolute and held fast to principle, but he lacked the strategic breadth of learning that set Xiao He, Cao Shen, and Chen Ping apart.