1
卷四十六萬石衛直周張傳第十六
Volume 46: Biography 16 — The Lords of Wan, Wei, Zhi, Zhou, and Zhang.
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萬石君
The Lord of Wan.
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萬石君石奮，其父趙人也。 趙亡，徙溫。 高祖東擊項籍，過河內，時奮年十五，為小吏，侍高祖。 高祖與語，愛其恭敬，問曰：「若何有？」 對曰； 「有母，不幸失明。 家貧。 有姊，能鼓瑟。」 高祖曰：「若能從我乎？」 曰：「願盡力。」 於是高祖召其姊為美人，以奮為中涓，受書謁。 徙其家長安中戚里，以姊為美人故也。
The Lord of Wan, Shi Fen, traced his father’s line to the state of Zhao. When Zhao was destroyed, the family relocated to Wen. While the Supreme Ancestor was campaigning east against Xiang Yu and passed through Henei, Fen—then fifteen—held a minor clerkship and waited upon him. The emperor found him respectful in conversation and asked what family he had. Fen answered: “My mother has gone blind, I am sorry to say. We are poor. My elder sister plays the se zither well.” The Supreme Ancestor said, “Will you come with me?” “I will serve you with all I have,” he said. The emperor then took Fen’s sister into the harem as a Meiren beauty and made Fen a zhongjuan usher to handle petitions and callers. Their household was settled in Qili ward in Chang’an on account of her appointment.
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奮積功勞，孝文時官至太中大夫。 無文學，恭謹，舉無與比。 東陽侯張相如為太子太傅，免。 選可為傅者，皆推奮太子太傅。 及孝景即位，以奮為九卿。 迫近，憚之，徙奮為諸侯相。 奮長子建，次甲，次乙，次慶，皆以馴行孝謹，官至二千石。 於是景帝曰：「石君及四子皆二千石，人臣尊寵乃舉集其門。」 凡號奮為萬石君。
By steady service under Emperor Wen he reached the rank of Grand Counselor of the Palace. He was no scholar, yet in courtesy and care no one was his match. When Marquis of Dongyang Zhang Xiangru vacated the post of Grand Tutor to the heir apparent, the court unanimously nominated Fen for Grand Tutor. Emperor Jing raised him to one of the Nine Ministers. Finding him too near and formidable, they moved him to a chancellorship among the feudal states. His sons Jian, Jia, Yi, and Qing—every one dutiful, filial, and careful—each rose to two-thousand-picul office. Emperor Jing remarked, “The Shi household now holds five posts at two thousand piculs; favor has massed at one door.” Hence people called him the Lord of Wan—the “ten thousand piculs” lord.
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孝景季年，萬石君以上大夫祿歸老于家，以歲時為朝臣。 過宮門闕必下車趨，見路馬必軾焉。 子孫謂小吏，來歸謁，萬石君必朝服見之，不名。 子孫有過失，不誚讓，側，雖燕必冠，申申如也。 僮僕訢訢如也，唯謹。 上時賜食於家，必稽首俯伏而食，如在上前。 其執喪，哀戚甚。 子孫遵教，亦如之。 萬石君家以孝謹聞乎郡國，雖齊魯諸儒質行，皆自以為不及也。
In Emperor Jing’s closing years he retired on a senior grandee’s stipend, appearing at court only on seasonal occasions. He would dismount and quicken his step at every palace gate; if he saw the emperor’s horses on the road he touched the chariot rail in respect. When a grandson who held even a minor post came to visit, he received him in full court dress and never used a familiar name. When they erred he offered no sharp rebuke—only a turned shoulder—yet even in private he kept his cap straight and his bearing solemn. The servants were easy and orderly; discipline ran through every detail. Imperial gifts of food he accepted on his knees, touching his forehead to the floor, as though dining in the ruler’s presence. In mourning he showed profound grief. The younger generations imitated him in this as in everything else. Word of their filial care spread through every province; the sober Confucians of Qi and Lu conceded they could not equal the household.
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建元二年，郎中令王臧以文學獲罪皇太后。 太后以為儒者文多質少，今萬石君家不言而躬行，乃以長子建為郎中令，少子慶為內史。
In Jianyuan 2 the Grand Empress Dowager punished Palace Commandant Wang Zang for his scholarly faction. She distrusted bookish rhetoric and prized the Shis’ silent example, so she named Jian Palace Commandant and Qing Secretary of the Capital.
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建老白首，萬石君尚無恙。 每五日洗沐歸謁親，入子舍，竊問侍者，取親中茕廁牏，身自澣洒，復與侍者，不敢令萬石君知之，以為常。 建奏事於上前，即有可言，屏人乃言極切； 至廷見，如不能言者。 上以是親而禮之。
Jian’s hair had turned white while his father remained vigorous. On each five-day rest he went home, slipped into his parents’ rooms, took the old man’s bedpan screen from the servants, scrubbed it himself, and handed it back—all without Father’s knowledge, week after week. Before the throne he spoke his mind bluntly once the room was cleared; in open session he looked tongue-tied. The emperor therefore trusted and honored him.
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萬石君徙居陵里。 內史慶醉歸，入外門不下車。 萬石君聞之，不食。 慶恐，肉袒謝請罪，不許。 舉宗及兄建肉袒，萬石君讓曰：「內史貴人，入閭里，里中長老皆走匿，而內史坐車中自如，固當！」 乃謝罷慶。 慶及諸子入里門，趨至家。
The household later moved to Mausoleum ward. Qing, drunk one night, rode through the outer gate without dismounting. The old man heard and went on a hunger strike. Qing stripped to the waist to apologize; the father would not relent. The whole family, with Jian, bared their shoulders until the patriarch cried, “A capital secretary is a grandee: the elders scatter when you enter the lane, yet you ride through at ease—how fitting!” Only then did he forgive Qing and send him off. After that Qing and his sons dismounted at the ward gate and ran the rest of the way.
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萬石君元朔五年卒，建哭泣哀思，杖乃能行。 歲餘，建亦死。 諸子孫咸孝，然建最甚，甚於萬石君。
He died in Yuanshuo 5; Jian mourned until he could barely walk without a staff. A year later Jian followed him. Every descendant was dutiful, yet none surpassed Jian—not even the old lord himself.
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建為郎中令，奏事下，建讀之，驚恐曰：「書『馬』者與尾而五，今乃四，不足一，獲譴死矣！」 其為謹慎，雖他皆如是。
As Palace Commandant he once read an edict and panicked: “The character ma ‘horse’ should have five strokes; this copy has four—I am a dead man for the blunder!” That was his level of care in everything he did.
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慶為太僕，御出，上問車中幾馬，慶以策數馬畢，舉手曰：「六馬。」 慶於兄弟最為簡易矣，然猶如此。 出為齊相，齊國慕其家行，不治而齊國大治，為立石相祠。
As Grand Coachman he drove the imperial equipage; when asked how many horses drew it, he counted each with his crop and answered, “Six.” Qing was the least rigid of the brothers—yet even he was that meticulous. Sent to Qi as chancellor, he governed lightly; the state admired the family’s reputation, order followed without severity, and the people set up a stone shrine in his honor.
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元狩元年，上立太子，選群臣可傅者，慶自沛守為太子太傅，七歲遷御史大夫。 元鼎五年，丞相趙周坐酎金免，制詔御史：「萬石君先帝尊之，子孫至孝，其以御史大夫慶為丞相，封牧丘侯。」 是時漢方南誅兩越，東擊朝鮮，北逐匈奴，西伐大宛，中國多事。 天子巡狩海內，修古神祠，封禪，興禮樂。 公家用少，桑弘羊等致利，王溫舒之屬峻法，兒寬等推文學，九卿更進用事，事不關決於慶，慶醇謹而已。 在位九歲，無能有所匡言。 嘗欲請治上近臣所忠、九卿咸宣，不能服，反受其過，贖罪。
In Yuanshou 1 the heir apparent was chosen ministers to instruct him; Qing rose from governor of Pei to Grand Tutor, then after seven years to Grand Clerk. In Yuanding 5 Chancellor Zhao Zhou lost his post over the vassals’ gold offering; an edict named Qing chancellor and Marquis of Muqiu, citing the late emperor’s regard for the Shi line. The empire was at war on every frontier—Yue, Joseon, the Xiongnu, and Dayuan—while the heartland churned with business. The emperor toured the empire, refurbished ancient cults, carried out Feng and Shan, and revived rites and music. Treasury was lean: Sang Hongyang squeezed revenue, Wang Wenshu’s faction wielded harsh codes, Ni Kuan’s circle pushed scholarship; ministers jostled for influence while Qing, ever cautious, scarcely decided a thing. Nine years in the chancellorship passed without a memorable policy from him. He tried to indict the favorites Suozhong and Xian Xuan, failed, and was fined for his trouble.
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元封四年，關東流民二百萬口，無名數者四十萬，公卿議欲請徙流民於邊以適之。 上以為慶老謹，不能與其議，乃賜丞相告歸，而案御史大夫以下議為請者。 慶慚不任職，上書曰：「臣幸得待罪丞相，疲駑無以輔治。 城郭倉廩空虛，民多流亡，罪當伏斧質，上不忍致法。 願歸丞相侯印，乞骸骨歸，避賢者路。」
In Yuanfeng 4 some two million refugees thronged east of the passes, four hundred thousand unregistered; ministers proposed shipping them to the border as punishment. The emperor, deeming Qing too timid for such a fight, sent him on sick leave and turned on the officials who had backed the plan. Mortified, he wrote, “I have disgraced the chancellorship; like a spent horse I can no longer help govern. Our storehouses are bare and the people scattered; I deserve execution, yet you show mercy. I beg to surrender seal and ribbon and retire, making room for abler men.”
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上報曰：「間者，河水滔陸，泛濫十餘郡，隄防勤勞，弗能讯塞，朕甚憂之。 是故巡方州，禮嵩嶽，通八神，以合宣房。 濟淮江，歷山濱海，問百年民所疾苦。 惟吏多私，徵求無已，去者便，居者擾，故為流民法，以禁重賦。 乃者封泰山，皇天嘉況，神物並見。 朕方答氣應，未能承意，是以切比閭里，知吏姦邪。 委任有司，然則官曠民愁，盜賊公行。 往年覲明堂，赦殊死，無禁錮，咸自新，與更始。 今流民愈多，計文不改，君不繩責長吏，而請以興徙四十萬口，搖蕩百姓，孤兒幼年未滿十歲，無罪而坐率，朕失望焉。 今君上書言倉庫城郭不充實，民多貧，盜賊眾，請入粟為庶人。 夫懷知民貧而請益賦，動危之而辭位，欲安歸難乎？ 君其反室！」
The reply ran: “Lately the river has overrun its banks and swamped a dozen commanderies; dikes have failed despite every effort, and I am gravely worried. So I have inspected the regions, worshipped at Mount Song, and linked the Eight Spirits with the Xuanyuan rite. I crossed the Ji, Huai, and Chang Jiang, traced coast and hill, and asked the aged what ailed the common folk. Local officials still line their pockets and tax without end, driving people from their homes; I issued statutes for refugees to curb extortion. At the recent Feng on Mount Tai Heaven signaled approval and omens multiplied. I meant to answer Heaven’s signs, yet I still probe village by village for official malfeasance. I left affairs to the bureaus—only to see posts neglected, popular resentment rise, and robbery flourish in the open. Last time I visited the Bright Hall I spared capital offenders and lifted legal disabilities so men could begin anew. Refugees increase while your tallies lie; instead of punishing magistrates you would uproot four hundred thousand innocents, even children under ten, by mass banishment—I expected better. Now you write that granaries gape, the poor swarm, thieves multiply, and you offer to pay grain and resign. You know their want yet talk of new taxes; you stir crisis then quit—how is that to bring peace?” Go back to your office!”
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慶素質，見詔報反室，自以為得許，欲上印綬。 掾史以為見責甚深，而終以反室者，醜惡之辭也。 或勸慶宜引決。 慶甚懼，不知所出，遂復起視事。
Plain-spoken Qing read “return to your quarters” as permission to resign and reached for his seal. His staff read the phrase as vicious mockery, not leave to retire. Some told him he should fall on his sword. Terror-stricken and unsure, he went back to his desk the next morning.
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慶為丞相，文深審謹，無他大略。 後三歲餘薨，諡曰恬侯。 中子德，慶愛之。 上以德嗣，後為太常，坐法免，國除。 慶方為丞相時，諸子孫為小吏至二千石者十三人。 及慶死後，稍以罪去，孝謹衰矣。
As chancellor he was meticulous but offered no larger vision. He died three years later with the posthumous name Quiet Marquis. He doted on his middle son, De. The emperor let De succeed, but De later lost the Grand Master post for a legal offense and the fief lapsed. At the height of Qing’s power thirteen younger kin held office from clerk to two thousand piculs. After his death they drifted away under charges, and the old discipline faded.
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衛綰，代大陵人也，以戲車為郎，事文帝，功次遷中郎將，醇謹無它。 孝景為太子時，召上左右飲，而綰稱病不行。 文帝且崩時，屬孝景曰：「綰長者，善遇之。」 及景帝立，歲餘，不孰何綰，綰日以謹力。
Wei Wan of Daling in Dai entered the guard corps as a stunt charioteer, rose under Emperor Wen to General of the Household, and was stolidly reliable. When still heir apparent Jing had invited the emperor’s attendants to a banquet; Wan declined on grounds of illness. Wen’s deathbed words to Jing were, “Wan is a steady man—keep him close.” Jing never investigated him; year by year Wan only grew more careful.
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景帝幸上林，詔中郎將參乘，還而問曰：「君知所以得驂乘乎？」 綰曰：「臣代戲車士，幸得功次遷，待罪中郎將，不知也。」 上問曰：「吾為太子時召君，君不肯來，何也？」 對曰：「死罪，病。」 上賜之劍，綰曰：「先帝賜臣劍凡六，不敢奉詔。」 上曰：「劍，人之所施易，獨至今乎？」 綰曰：「具在。」 上使取六劍，劍常盛，未嘗服也。
On a visit to Shanglin the emperor made him ride escort and afterward asked whether he knew why. Wan said, “I was a Dai chariot acrobat who rose by seniority; I am honored to hold this post—I cannot guess.” The emperor pressed: “As heir I called you to a feast and you stayed away—why?” “I deserve death for it—I was ill,” he answered. Offered a new sword, he said, “The late emperor gave me six; I cannot take another.” “Swords are traded every day—have you hoarded yours alone?” “They are all here,” said Wan. Messengers brought the six blades—still bright in their sheaths, never worn.
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郎官有譴，常蒙其罪，不與它將爭； 有功，常讓它將。 上以為廉，忠實無它腸，乃拜綰為河間王太傅。 吳楚反，詔綰為將，將河間兵擊吳楚有功，拜為中尉。 三歲，以軍功封綰為建陵侯。
When a subordinate was reprimanded he shouldered the fault himself and never jostled fellow officers for credit; when praise was due he stepped aside and let others take it. The throne judged him honest, steadfast, and free of second motives, and named him Grand Tutor to the king of Hejian. In the revolt of Wu and Chu he commanded Hejian’s host, distinguished himself, and was raised to Commandant of the Capital. Three years later battlefield service won him the marquisate of Jianling.
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明年，上廢太子，誅栗卿之屬。 上以綰為長者，不忍，乃賜綰告歸，而使郅都治捕栗氏。 既已，上立膠東王為太子，召綰拜為太子太傅，遷為御史大夫。 五歲，代桃侯舍為丞相，朝奏事如職所奏。 然自初宦以至相，終無可言。 上以為敦厚可相少主，尊寵之，賞賜甚多。
The following year the crown prince was cast aside and Li Qing’s faction was put to the sword. Jing still treated Wan as an elder he would not soil with that purge, sent him on leave, and handed the Li roundup to Zhi Du. Once the heir from Jiaodong was chosen, Wan was recalled as his tutor and soon advanced to Imperial Clerk. Five years on he succeeded Marquis Liu She of Tao as chancellor, filing routine memorials without flourish. From first appointment to the highest seat he left almost no policy record. The emperor deemed him steady enough for a boy emperor, showered him with favor, and piled on rewards.
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為丞相三歲，景帝崩，武帝立。 建元中，丞相以景帝病時諸官囚多坐不辜者，而君不任職，免之。 後薨，諡曰哀侯。 子信嗣，坐酎金，國除。
He held the seal three years; Jing died and Wu took the throne. Early in Emperor Wu’s Jianyuan reign the court stripped him of the chancellorship, citing the jailings of the innocent during Emperor Jing’s final illness and his own failure to act while in that post. He died not long after, posthumously styled Marquis Ai. His heir Xin lost the fief over the vassals’ gold offering.
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直不疑
Zhi Buyi.
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直不疑，南陽人也。 為郎，事文帝。 其同舍有告歸，誤持其同舍郎金去。 已而同舍郎覺，亡意不疑，不疑謝有之，買金償。 後告歸者至而歸金，亡金郎大慚，以此稱為長者。 稍遷至中大夫。 朝，廷見，人或毀不疑曰：「不疑狀貌甚美，然特毋柰其善盜嫂何也！」 不疑聞，曰：「我乃無兄。」 然終不自明也。
Zhi Buyi came from Nanyang. He served Emperor Wen as a gentleman-of-the-palace. A dorm-mate packing for leave accidentally walked off with a neighbor’s hoard of gold. When the theft surfaced suspicion fell on Buyi; he accepted blame and bought replacement gold. The traveler soon sent the original back; the accuser was mortified, and Buyi’s reputation as a gentleman was sealed. He rose step by step to Grand Counselor of the Household. At a formal audience a whisperer said, “He is handsome enough—if only he did not carry on with his sister-in-law!” Buyi only replied, “I have never had an elder brother.” He never bothered to argue the point further.
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不疑學老子言。 其所臨，為官如故，唯恐人之知其為吏跡也。 不好立名，稱為長者。 薨，諡曰信侯。 傳子至孫彭祖，坐酎金，國除。
His reading ran to Laozi. In every post he kept the same low profile, almost hiding the fact that he had ever wielded a brush. He sought no fame yet was everywhere called a gentleman. At his death he received the posthumous name Trustworthy Marquis. The title passed to his son and grandson Pengzu until the gold-offering scandal stripped the house of its fief.
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周仁，其先任城人也。 以毉見。 景帝為太子時，為舍人，積功遷至太中大夫。 景帝初立，拜仁為郎中令。
Zhou Ren’s family hailed from Rencheng. He entered court on the strength of his medical skill. While Jing was still heir apparent Ren served as household attendant and climbed to Grand Counselor of the Palace. At the beginning of Jing’s reign Ren became Palace Commandant.
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仁為人陰重不泄。 常衣弊補衣溺苎，期為不潔清，以是得幸，入臥內。 於後宮祕戲，仁常在旁，終無所言。 上時問人，仁曰：「上自察之。」 然亦無所毀，如此。 景帝再自幸其家。 家徙陽陵。 上所賜甚多，然終常讓，不敢受也。 諸侯群臣賂遺，終無所受。 武帝立，為先帝臣重之。 仁乃病免，以二千石祿歸老，子孫咸至大官。
Ren was close-mouthed, imperturbable, and impossible to read. He affected torn, patched garments and urine-stained ramie so he would look too foul for intrigue—exactly the disguise that won him access to the inner rooms. When the consorts staged their private entertainments he stood by in silence year after year. If the emperor asked his opinion of a man, he answered only, “Your Majesty must judge that yourself.” He maligned no one either; his neutrality was absolute. Jing called at his home twice in person. The family later relocated to Yangling. Imperial largesse flowed freely, yet he habitually refused it. He took nothing—from princes, ministers, or anyone with a purse. Wu honored him as a survivor of his father’s court. He resigned on grounds of illness, retired on a minister’s stipend, and left descendants who rose to the highest ranks.
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張敺字叔，高祖功臣安丘侯說少子也。 敺孝文時以治刑名侍太子，然其人長者。 景帝時尊重，常為九卿。 至武帝元朔中，代韓安國為御史大夫。 敺為吏，未嘗言按人，剸以誠長者處官。 官屬以為長者，亦不敢大欺。 上具獄事，有可卻，卻之； 不可者，不得已，為涕泣，面而封之。 其愛人如此。
Zhang Ou—styled Shu—was the youngest son of Zhang Shuo, the Anqiu marquis who had served the dynastic founder. Under Wen he tutored the heir in legalist “forms and names,” though his manner remained that of a gentleman. Jing treated him with respect and kept him among the Nine Ministers. In Wu’s Yuanshuo years he succeeded Han Anguo as Imperial Clerk. He never boasted of cracking cases; he ran his bureau as a patient elder. Staff who saw him as a soft touch found they could not easily fool him. Edicts from the throne that could be softened, he softened; when the law left no room, he wept before the emperor, then sealed the dossier anyway. Such was his reluctance to harm others.
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老篤，請免，天子亦寵以上大夫祿，歸老于家。 家陽陵。 子孫咸至大官。
Age and frailty brought a request for release; the court kept him on a senior grandee’s pay at home. He ended his days at Yangling. His posterity likewise rose to great posts.
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贊曰：仲尼有言「君子欲訥於言而敏於行」，其萬石君、建陵侯、塞侯、張叔之謂與？ 是以其教不肅而成，不嚴而治。 至石建之澣衣，周仁為垢汙，君子譏之。
The historian’s verdict quotes Confucius: the true gentleman is slow to speak and swift to act—do we not see that in the Lord of Wan, the lords of Jianling and Sai, and Zhang the elder? Their example brought order without thunder, discipline without the rod. Still, later moralists have smiled at Shi Jian scrubbing bedpans and Zhou Ren’s studied squalor.