1
卷四十七文三王傳第十七
Book 47: “The Three Princes of Emperor Wen,” Treatise 17.
2
孝文皇帝四男：竇皇后生孝景帝、梁孝王武，諸姬生代孝王參、梁懷王揖。
Emperor Wen had four sons. Empress Dou gave birth to Emperor Jing and King Xiao Wu of Liang; other consorts bore King Xiao Can of Dai and King Huai Yi of Liang.
3
梁孝王武以孝文二年與太原王參、梁王揖同日立。 武為代王，四年徙為淮陽王，十二年徙梁，自初王通歷已十一年矣。
In the second year of Emperor Wen’s reign, King Xiao Wu of Liang was enfeoffed on the same day as the King of Taiyuan, Can, and the King of Liang, Yi. He was first King of Dai, then in his fourth year as king was moved to Huaiyang, and in his twelfth year to Liang—eleven years in all from his initial appointment as king.
4
孝王十四年，入朝。 十七年、十八年，比年入朝，留。 其明年，乃之國。 二十一年，入朝。 二十二年，文帝崩。 二十四年，入朝。 二十五年，復入朝。 是時，上未置太子，與孝王宴飲，從容言曰：「千秋萬歲後傳於王。」 王辭謝。 雖知非至言，然心內喜。 太后亦然。
In his fourteenth year as king, he came to the capital for an audience. In the seventeenth and eighteenth years he came to court two years running and remained at the capital. The following year he returned to his kingdom. In his twenty-first year he came to court again. In the twenty-second year Emperor Wen died. In the twenty-fourth year he came to court. In the twenty-fifth year he came once more. The emperor had not yet named an heir. At a banquet with the king of Liang he said, almost casually, that when he was gone he would pass the throne to him. The king demurred and thanked him. He knew it was not a binding pledge, yet he could not help rejoicing inwardly. The empress dowager felt the same way.
5
其春，吳、楚、齊、趙七國反，先擊梁棘壁，殺數萬人。 梁王城守睢陽，而使韓安國、張羽等為將軍以距吳、楚。 吳、楚以梁為限，不敢過而西，與太尉亞夫等相距三月。 吳、楚破，而梁所殺虜略與漢中分。
That spring the seven kingdoms of Wu, Chu, Qi, Zhao, and the rest rose in revolt. Their first blow fell on Liang at Ji Rampart, where they slaughtered tens of thousands. The king of Liang held Suiyang while Han Anguo, Zhang Yu, and others led his troops against Wu and Chu. Wu and Chu could not get past Liang to march west; for three months they were locked in stalemate with Grand Commandant Zhou Yafu and the imperial army. When Wu and Chu were crushed, the casualties Liang inflicted were roughly on a par with those of the central army.
6
明年，漢立太子。 梁最親，有功，又為大國，居天下膏腴地，北界泰山，西至高陽，四十餘城，多大縣。 孝王，太后少子，愛之，賞賜不可勝道。 於是孝王築東苑，方三百餘里，廣睢陽城七十里，大治宮室，為復道，自宮連屬於平台三十餘里。 得賜天子旌旗，從千乘萬騎，出稱警，入言蹕，擬於天子。 招延四方豪桀，自山東游士莫不至：齊人羊勝、公孫詭、鄒陽之屬。 公孫詭多奇邪計，初見日，王賜千金，官至中尉，號曰公孫將軍。 多作兵弩弓數十萬，而府庫金錢且百巨萬，珠玉寶器多於京師。
The next year the court formally invested a crown prince. Liang was the emperor’s closest kin, had earned distinction in the war, and remained a vast domain—the richest soil in the realm, stretching from Mount Tai in the north to Gaoyang in the west, with over forty counties, many of them populous. As the empress dowager’s youngest son, King Xiao was her favorite; the gifts showered on him were beyond counting. He built the Eastern Park, over three hundred li on a side, expanded Suiyang’s walls to seventy li, raised palaces on a grand scale, and ran covered walkways more than thirty li from his residence to the terrace park. He was allowed the imperial pennants and escort of a thousand chariots and ten thousand horsemen; when he left his precincts heralds cleared the way, and when he entered they enforced the halt—privileges that mirrored the emperor’s own. He drew in adventurers from every quarter; no notable wandering scholar east of the mountains failed to answer his call—among them Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and Zou Yang of Qi. Gongsun Gui trafficked in devious stratagems. The king gave him a thousand pieces of gold the day they met, raised him to commandant of the capital, and called him “General Gongsun.” He stockpiled tens of thousands of crossbows and bows; his treasuries held nearly a hundred million in cash, and his hoard of jewels and curios outshone the imperial storehouses.
7
二十九年十月，孝王入朝。 景帝使使持乘輿駟，迎梁王於關下。 既朝，上疏，因留。 以太后故，入則侍帝同輦，出則同車遊獵上林中。 梁之侍中、郎、謁者著引籍出入天子殿門，與漢宦官亡異。
In the tenth month of his twenty-ninth year as king he came to court. Emperor Jing dispatched officials with the imperial team of four bays to meet the king of Liang outside the frontier passes. After his audience he petitioned to remain, and was allowed to stay. For his mother’s sake he rode with the emperor in the same palanquin when they went in, and hunted together in the imperial park in the same chariot when they went out. Liang’s household chamberlains, gentlemen-in-attendance, and ushers entered the palace gates on registry tallies exactly like the emperor’s own staff.
8
十一月，上廢栗太子，太后心欲以梁王為嗣。 大臣及爰盎等有所關說於帝，太后議格，孝王不敢復言太后以嗣事。 事秘，世莫知，乃辭歸國。
That November the emperor deposed the heir from the Su clan; the empress dowager began to hope openly that the king of Liang might succeed him. Ministers led by Yuan Ang remonstrated with the emperor until the dowager’s plan stalled; the king of Liang never again raised the succession with his mother. The matter was kept so close that the world knew nothing of it until the king asked leave and went home.
9
其夏，上立膠東王為太子。 梁王怨爰盎及議臣，乃與羊勝、公孫詭之屬謀，陰使人刺殺爰盎及他議臣十餘人。 賊未得也。 於是天子意梁，逐賊，果梁使之。 遣使冠蓋相望於道，復案梁事。 捕公孫詭、羊勝，皆匿王后宮。 使者責二千石急，梁相軒丘豹及內史安國皆泣諫王，王乃令勝、詭皆自殺，出之。 上由此怨望於梁王。 梁王恐，乃使韓安國因長公主謝罪太后，然後得釋。
That summer the emperor named the prince of Jiaodong crown prince. The king of Liang blamed Yuan Ang and the ministers who had opposed him. With Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and their confederates he arranged the secret murder of Yuan Ang and more than a dozen others who had spoken against him. The assassins were not caught. The emperor’s suspicions fell on Liang; when the trail was followed, the killers proved to have been sent from Liang. Imperial messengers shuttled along the roads while the court reopened the case against Liang. Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng were ordered seized, but both had taken refuge in the queen’s apartments. Under relentless pressure from the envoys, Chancellor Xuanqiu Bao and Inner Scribe Anguo wept as they urged the king to yield; at last he had Yang Sheng and Gongsun Gui kill themselves and handed over their bodies. From that day the emperor nursed a grudge against the king of Liang. Terrified, he sent Han Anguo to plead through the Eldest Princess before the empress dowager, and only then escaped worse punishment.
10
上怒稍解，因上書請朝。 既至關，茅蘭說王，使乘布車，從兩騎入，匿於長公主園。 漢使迎王，王已入關，車騎盡居外，外不知王處。 太后泣曰：「帝殺吾子！」 帝憂恐。 於是梁王伏斧質，之闕下謝罪。 然後太后、帝皆大喜，相與泣，復如故。 悉召王從官入關。 然帝益疏王，不與同車輦矣。
As the emperor’s wrath cooled, the king petitioned for permission to come to court. When he reached the frontier, Mao Lan advised him to enter in a plain covered cart with only two outriders and conceal himself in the Eldest Princess’s villa. The imperial escort came to meet him, but he had already slipped through the gates; his train waited outside while no one knew his whereabouts. The empress dowager wept, “The emperor has murdered my son!” The emperor was stricken with fear. Then the king of Liang appeared at the palace gate with the executioner’s axe and chopping-block across his neck to offer his submission. Mother and son embraced in tears and were reconciled as before. He ordered every member of the king’s entourage admitted through the passes. Even so, the emperor grew cooler toward him and never again shared a palanquin.
11
三十五年冬，復入朝。 上疏欲留，上弗許。 歸國，意忽忽不樂。 北獵梁山，有獻牛，足上出背上，孝王惡之。 六月中，病熱，六日薨。
In the winter of his thirty-fifth year as king he returned to the capital. He asked leave to remain; the emperor refused. Back in his kingdom he sank into restless gloom. While hunting north of Mount Liang he was given an ox whose hooves grew from its back—a monstrous omen he found deeply ominous. He took fever in the sixth month and died on the sixth day.
12
孝王慈孝，每聞太后病，口不能食，常欲留長安侍太后。 太后亦愛之。 及聞孝王死，竇太后泣極哀，不食，曰：「帝果殺吾子！」 帝哀懼，不知所為。 與長公主計之，乃分梁為五國，盡立孝王男五人為王，女五人皆令食湯沐邑。 奏之太后，太后乃說，為帝壹餐。
The king was devoted to his mother: whenever he heard she was unwell he lost his appetite and longed to stay in Chang’an to nurse her. She loved him in return. When news came that King Xiao had died, Empress Dou wept until she could not eat, crying that the emperor had truly killed her son. The emperor was grief-stricken and at a loss. He and the Eldest Princess agreed to split Liang into five kingdoms, enfeoffing each of the king’s five sons as a ruler and assigning each of his five daughters an income from a bathing-fief town. When this was laid before the empress dowager she relented and took a single meal for her son’s sake.
13
孝王未死時，財以巨萬計，不可勝數。 及死，藏府余黃金尚四十餘萬斤，他財物稱是。
Before his death his fortune already ran to uncountable millions. At his death the treasuries still held over forty ten-thousand jin of gold, with goods to match.
14
地節中，冀州刺史林奏年為太子時與女弟則私通。 及年立為王后，則懷年子，其婿使勿舉。 則曰：「自來殺之。」 婿怒曰：「為王生子，自令王家養之。」 則送兒頃太后所。 相聞知，禁止則，令不得入宮。 年使從季父往來送迎則，連年不絕。 有司奏年淫亂，年坐廢為庶人，徙房陵，與湯沐邑百戶。 立三年，國除。
Under Emperor Xuan’s Dijie reign, Ji provincial inspector Lin reported that in his crown-prince days Liu Nian had carried on an incestuous affair with his younger sister Ze. After Nian became king of Dai, Ze conceived his child; her husband ordered the pregnancy concealed and the child not delivered. Ze said she would do away with the infant herself. Her husband retorted, “If you bear a prince for the royal house, let the royal house raise him.” Ze sent the infant to the apartments of Empress Dowager Qing, the queen mother at Dai. When the chancellor learned of it he barred Ze from the palace. Nian kept sending a cousin to shuttle Ze in and out, year after year without pause. The authorities impeached Nian for sexual misconduct; he was stripped of rank, banished to Fangling, and left with a stipend of only a hundred households. Three years after his enfeoffment the kingdom was abolished.
15
元始二年，新都侯王莽興滅繼絕，白太皇太后，立年弟子如意為廣宗王，奉代孝王后。 莽篡位，國絕。
In Yuanshi 2 Wang Mang, as marquis of Xindu, petitioned the Grand Empress Dowager to revive a fallen line and enfeoffed Nian’s nephew Ruyi as king of Guangzong to continue the sacrifices to King Xiao of Dai’s queen. When Wang Mang seized the throne the line ended again.
16
梁懷王揖，文帝少子也。 好《詩》、《書》，帝愛之，異於他子。 五年一朝，凡再入朝。 因墮馬死，立十年薨。 無子，國除。 明年，梁孝王武徙王梁。
King Huai Yi of Liang was the last son born to Emperor Wen. He loved the Classics of Poetry and History, and the emperor favored him above his other sons. He was required to attend court once every five years and did so twice in all. He died from a fall from his horse in the tenth year of his reign. He left no heir, so the kingdom was abolished. The following year King Xiao Wu of Liang was moved to the vacant Liang domain.
17
梁孝王子五人為王。 太子買為梁共王，次子明為濟川王，彭離為濟東王，定為山陽王，不識為濟陰王，皆以孝景中六年同日立。
King Xiao’s five sons were each made kings. The heir Mai became King Gong of Liang; his brothers Ming, Pengli, Ding, and Bushi received Jichuan, Jidong, Shanyang, and Jiyin respectively—all invested on the same day in the sixth year of Emperor Jing’s mid-reign.
18
梁共王買立七年薨，子平王襄嗣。
King Gong Mai ruled seven years and died; his son King Xiang the Peaceful succeeded him.
19
濟川王明以垣邑侯立。 七年，坐射殺其中尉，有司請誅，武帝弗忍，廢為庶人，徙房陵，國除。
The king of Jichuan, Ming, had previously held the marquisate of Yuanyi. In his seventh year he was convicted of murdering his capital commandant with a crossbow; though officials demanded his death, Emperor Wu spared his life, stripped him of rank, banished him to Fangling, and abolished his kingdom.
20
濟東王彭離立二十九年。 彭離驕悍，昏暮私與其奴亡命少年數十人行剽，殺人取財物以為好。 所殺發覺者百餘人，國皆知之，莫敢夜行。 所殺者子上書告言，有司請誅，武帝弗忍，廢為庶人，徙上庸，國除，為大河郡。
King Pengli of Jidong reigned twenty-nine years. Pengli was violent and headstrong. At nightfall he would slip out with slaves and a band of young outlaws to rob and kill for sport. More than a hundred victims were traced to him; everyone in the kingdom knew, and no one dared walk abroad after dark. When a victim’s son petitioned the throne, officials again demanded his life; the emperor commuted the sentence to commoner status, exile to Shangyong, and annexation of the territory as Great River commandery.
21
山陽哀王定立九年薨。 亡子，國除。
King Ai Ding of Shanyang died in his ninth year. He had no heir, so the kingdom was struck off.
22
濟陰哀王不識立一年薨。 亡子，國除。
King Ai Bushi of Jiyin died after a single year on the throne. He too left no son, and the fief lapsed.
23
孝王支子四王，皆絕於身。
The four collateral kings descended from King Xiao all died without issue.
24
梁平王襄，母曰陳太后。 共王母曰李太后。 李太后，親平王之大母也。 而平王之後曰任後，任後甚有寵於襄。
King Xiang the Peaceful of Liang was the son of Empress Dowager Chen. King Gong’s mother was Empress Dowager Li. Empress Dowager Li was King Xiang’s grandmother on his father’s side—King Gong’s mother—by direct descent. King Xiang’s chief consort was Lady Ren, and she held his affection completely.
25
元朔中，睢陽人犴反，人辱其父，而與睢陽太守客俱出同車。 犴反殺其仇車上，亡去。 睢陽太守怒，以讓梁二千石。 二千石以下求反急，執反親戚。 反知國陰事，乃上變告梁王與大母爭尊狀。 時相以下具知之，欲以傷梁長吏，書聞。 天子下吏驗問，有之。 公卿治，奏以為不孝，請誅王及太后。 天子曰：「首惡失道，任後也。 朕置相吏不逮，無以輔王，故陷不誼，不忍致法。」 削梁王五縣，奪王太后湯沐成陽邑，梟任後首於市，中郎胡等皆伏誅。 梁余尚有八城。
Under Emperor Wu’s Yuanshuo reign, a Suiyang commoner named Han Fan, whose father had been publicly shamed, happened to share a carriage leaving town with one of the grand administrator’s retainers. Fan stabbed his enemy to death in the cart and fled. The grand administrator was furious and called Liang’s senior officials to account. Officials down the line hunted Fan relentlessly and rounded up his relatives. Fan, knowing the court’s dirty secrets, filed a capital denunciation accusing the king of Liang of lording it over his grandmother, Empress Dowager Li, in matters of precedence. From the chancellor on down everyone already knew the story; they let the memorial go up the chain, hoping to wound Liang’s high commissioners. The emperor ordered an inquiry, and the charges proved true. The council of state tried the affair, ruled it grossly unfilial, and asked that both the king and the dowager empress be put to death. The emperor replied, “The real culprit who abandoned moral duty was Consort Ren.” I chose tutors and ministers who were not up to the task and failed to guide him, which led him into wrongdoing—but I will not press the matter to the letter of the law.” Five counties were cut from Liang, the dowager’s bathing-town income at Chengyang was seized, Consort Ren’s head was spiked in the marketplace, and Palace Gentleman Hu and his accomplices went to the block. Eight cities were left to the kingdom of Liang.
26
襄立四十年薨，子頃王無傷嗣。 十一年薨，子敬王定國嗣。 四十年薨，子夷王遂嗣。 六年薨，子荒王嘉嗣。 十五年薨，子立嗣。
King Xiang ruled forty years and died; his son Wushang succeeded as King Qing of Liang. Eleven years later King Qing died, and his son Dingguo succeeded as King Jing. King Jing reigned forty years; his son Sui succeeded as King Yi. King Yi died in his sixth year; his son Jia succeeded as King Huang. Fifteen years later King Huang died, and his son Li inherited the kingdom.
27
鴻嘉中，太傅輔奏：「立一日至十一犯法，臣下愁苦，莫敢親近，不可諫止。 願令王，非耕、祠，法駕毋得出宮，盡出馬置外苑，收兵杖藏私府，毋得以金錢財物假賜人。」 事下丞相、御史，請許。 奏可。 後數復驅傷郎，夜私出宮。 傅相連奏，坐削或千戶或五百戶，如是者數焉。
During Hongjia, Grand Tutor Fu reported to the throne that in a single day King Li had broken the law as many as eleven times, leaving his staff demoralized and unable either to approach him or to check his excesses. Fu asked that the king be confined to his palace except when using the prescribed chariot for farming or ancestral rites, that his horses be quartered in the outer park, his arms locked in the privy treasury, and that he be forbidden to hand out cash or gifts. The memorial was referred to the chancellor and the censorate, which recommended approval. The emperor approved the request. Soon he was racing his chariot again, injuring palace attendants, and slipping out of the palace after dark. His tutor and chancellor filed repeated complaints; each time he lost either five hundred or a thousand households of revenue from his fief.
28
荒王女弟園子為立舅任寶妻，寶兄子昭為立後。 數過寶飲食，報寶曰：「我好翁主，欲得之。」 寶曰：「翁主，姑也，法重。」 立曰：「何能為！」 遂與園子奸。
King Huang’s younger sister Lady Yuánzi was married to Li’s uncle Ren Bao, and Bao’s nephew Ren Zhao had become Li’s queen. Li began visiting Bao’s house for feasts and confided that he coveted the princess and meant to have her. Bao warned him, “That princess is your aunt by marriage; the statutes treat such a union harshly.” Li replied, “What is there to fear?” He then seduced his aunt Yuanzi.
29
積數歲，永始中，相禹奏立對外家怨望，有惡言。 有司案驗，因發淫亂事，奏立禽獸行，請誅。 太中大夫谷永上疏曰：「臣聞『禮，天子外屏，不欲見外』也。 是故帝王之意，不窺人閨門之私，聽聞中□之言。 《春秋》為親者諱。 《詩》云『戚戚兄弟，莫遠具爾』。 今梁王年少，頗有狂病，始以惡言按驗，既亡事實，而發閨門之私，非本章所指。 王辭又不服，猥強劾立，傅致難明之事，獨以偏辭成罪斷獄，亡益於治道。 污蔑宗室，以內亂之惡披布宣揚於天下，非所以為公族隱諱，增朝廷之榮華，昭聖德之風化也。 臣愚以為王少，而父同產長，年齒不倫； 梁國之富，足以厚聘美女，招致妖麗； 父同產亦有恥辱之心。 案事者乃驗問惡言，何故猥自發舒？ 以三者揆之，殆非人情，疑有所迫切，過誤失言，文吏躡尋，不得轉移。 萌牙之時，加恩勿治，上也。 既已案驗舉憲，宜及王辭不服，詔廷尉選上德通理之吏，更審考清問，著不然之效，定失誤之法，而反命於下吏，以廣公族附疏之德，為宗室刷污亂之恥，甚得治親之誼。」 天子由是寢而不治。
Years later, in the Yongshi era, Chancellor Yu impeached Li for muttering slander against his in-laws. A full investigation exposed the incest; the prosecutors denounced Li for bestial conduct and demanded his life. Gu Yong of the Palace submitted a long memorial: “The Rites prescribe an outer screen for the Son of Heaven so that he need not gaze upon what lies beyond.” For that reason true kings do not pry into bedroom secrets or traffic in gossip from the inner quarters [one character illegible in the received text]. The Spring and Autumn Annals teach us to cover the shame of those near the throne. As the Odes put it, ‘Brothers should cling to one another, not stand aloof.’ The king of Liang is young and somewhat unstable; you began with vague charges of slander, found no solid proof, and are now airing bedroom scandal—far from the point of the original accusation. He denies the indictment, yet you would convict him on strained charges and one-sided testimony, which does nothing for good government. To drag the Liu house through the mire and broadcast a tale of incest across the realm neither shields the imperial clan nor adds luster to the throne or to sagely example. The king is still a youth, while his father’s cousins by the same mother are grown men—there is no parity between them; Liang is rich enough to buy any beauty he wants; and his father’s cousins still retain some sense of shame. If investigators press only on loose talk, why should they themselves broadcast every lurid detail? Weigh those three points and the story strains credulity: I suspect someone spoke rashly under pressure, and petty clerks simply ran with it. The best policy is to show mercy while the offense is still a bud and let the matter drop. If you must pursue it, then while the king still protests his innocence, name an upright judge to rehear the case, expose any fabrication, correct procedural abuse, and discipline the minor officials who stirred the pot—thus showing generosity to distant kin of the throne and wiping the stain from the house of Liu. That would be true justice among kinsmen.” On that plea the emperor shelved the case and took no further action.
30
居數歲，元延中，立復以公事怨相掾及睢陽丞，使奴殺之，殺奴以滅口。 凡殺三人，傷五人，手驅郎吏二十餘人。 上書不拜奏。 謀篡死罪囚。 有司請誅，上不忍，削立五縣。
Some years into Yuanyan, Li nursed a grudge against a secretary of his chancellor and the assistant magistrate of Suiyang over routine business; he had them murdered by slaves, then murdered the slaves to cover his tracks. In all he took three lives, wounded five men, and personally drove down more than twenty palace attendants and officials. He filed memorials, but the court refused to transmit them. He conspired to spring men condemned to death from prison. Prosecutors again demanded his head; the emperor spared him but carved five more counties from his fief.
31
哀帝建平中，立復殺人。 天子遣廷尉賞、大鴻鼐由持節即訊。 至，移書傅、相、中尉曰：「王背策戒，悖暴妄行，連犯大辟，毒流吏民。 比比蒙恩，不伏重誅，不思改過，復賊殺人。 幸得蒙恩，丞相長史、大鴻臚丞即問。 王陽病抵讕，置辭驕嫚，不首主令，與背畔亡異。 丞相、御史請收王璽綬，送陳留獄。 明詔加恩，復遣廷尉、大鴻臚雜問。 今王當受詔置辭，恐復不首實對。 《書》曰：『至於再三，有不用，我降爾命。』 傅、相、中尉皆以輔正為職，『虎兕出於匣，龜玉毀於匱中，是誰之過也？』 書到，明以誼曉王。 敢復懷詐，罪過益深。 傅、相以下，不能輔導，有正法。」
Under Emperor Ai’s Jianping reign he killed yet another man. The emperor sent Commandant of Justice Shang and Grand Herald You, rod of authority in hand, to take his deposition on site in Liang. On arrival they wrote to his tutor, chancellor, and capital commandant: “The king has spurned the warnings sealed in his patent of enfeoffment; he behaves like a tyrant, piles up capital offenses, and spreads misery through officials and people alike.” Again and again he has been pardoned the death he deserved, yet he refuses to mend his ways and has just murdered again. Since he has already been spared once, the chief clerk of the chancellor and an assistant grand herald are hereby ordered to question him without delay.” He pretends illness, answers with contempt, and refuses to acknowledge his superiors’ authority—as good as open revolt. The chancellor and censorate now ask that his seal and sash be seized and that he be remanded to the jail at Chenliu. An edict tempered justice with mercy and ordered the commandant of justice and grand herald to conduct a joint hearing. The king must respond under that edict, yet he will probably still refuse a truthful account.” The Documents warn, ‘After repeated warnings, if you still disobey, I will bring my sentence down upon you.’” His tutor, chancellor, and capital commandant exist to set him right—‘If tigers break from their pens or sacred relics shatter in the box, who bears the blame?’” When this reaches you, explain the moral stakes to the king in plain terms.” Further deceit will only deepen his guilt.” And any tutor or minister who fails to guide him will face the law as well.”
32
立惶恐，免冠對曰：「立少失父母，孤弱處深宮中，獨與宦者婢妾居，漸漬小國之俗，加以質性下愚，有不可移之姿。 往者傅、相亦不純以仁誼輔翼立，大臣皆尚苛刻，刺求微密。 讒臣在其間，左右弄口，積使上下不和，更相眄伺。 宮殿之裡，毛□過失，亡不暴陳。 當伏重誅，以視海內，數蒙聖恩，得見貰赦。 今立自知賊殺中郎曹將，冬月迫促，貪生畏死，即詐僵仆陽病，僥倖得逾於須臾。 謹以實對，伏須重誅。」 時冬月盡，其春大赦，不治。
Trembling, Li doffed his cap and said, “I was orphaned young and grew up shut inside the palace with only eunuchs and women; a petty frontier kingdom was all I knew, and I am dull by nature—habits that are not easily broken. Nor did my former tutors and chancellors guide me with consistent kindness; the high ministers preferred harshness, picking at every trifle. Sycophants came between us; attendants whispered poison until court and household eyed each other with suspicion. Every trivial fault committed within the palace was trumpeted abroad. I deserve execution for the world to see, yet time after time I have been spared by imperial grace. I know I murdered Palace Gentleman Cao Jiang; in the depth of winter, clinging to life, I feigned a seizure, hoping to buy a few moments’ reprieve. This is the truth as I lay it before you; I await whatever sentence you impose.” Winter ended before a verdict came; a general amnesty in the following spring let the matter die.
33
元始中，立坐與平帝外家中山衛氏交通，新都侯王莽奏廢立為庶人，徙漢中。 立自殺。 二十七年，國除。 後二歲，莽白太皇太后立孝王玄孫之曾孫沛郡卒史音為梁王，奉孝王后。 莽篡，國絕。
Under Yuanshi, Li was convicted of dealing with the Wei family of Zhongshan, in-laws of Emperor Ping; Wang Mang of Xindu had him reduced to commoner rank and banished to Hanzhong. Li took his own life. Twenty-seven years after his accession the kingdom was abolished. Two years later Wang Mang persuaded the Grand Empress Dowager to enfeoff Yin, a registrar from Pei who stood many generations down from King Xiao in the main line, as king of Liang so that the queen consort of King Xiao would still receive offerings. When Wang Mang seized the throne the line was extinguished again.
34
贊曰：梁孝王雖以愛親故王膏腴之地，然會漢家隆盛，百姓殷富，故能殖其貨財，廣其宮室車服。 然亦僭矣。 怙親亡厭，牛禍告罰，卒用憂死，悲夫！
The historian’s verdict: King Xiao Wu of Liang owed his rich domain to imperial favor, but he also lived when the Han was at its zenith and the people were prosperous—conditions that let him pile up treasure and expand palaces, chariots, and wardrobe beyond any prince’s needs. Even so, he exceeded what a vassal may claim. He trusted blood ties too greedily; heaven sent the monstrous ox as warning, and worry consumed him in the end—a bitter lesson.