Volume 68: Huo Guang and Jin Midi

霍光字子孟，票騎將軍去病弟也。父中孺，〈師古曰：「中讀曰仲。」〉河東平陽人也，以縣吏給事平陽侯家，〈師古曰：「縣遣吏於侯家供事也。」〉與侍者衞少兒私通而生去病。中孺吏畢歸家，娶婦生光，因絕不相聞。乆之，少兒女弟子夫得幸於武帝，立爲皇后，去病以皇后姊子貴幸。旣壯大，迺自知父爲霍中孺，未及求問。會爲票騎將軍擊匈奴，道出河東，河東太守郊迎，負弩矢先驅，〈師古曰：「郊迎，迎於郊界之上也。先驅者，導其路也。」〉至平陽傳舍，遣吏迎霍中孺。中孺趨入拜謁，將軍迎拜，因跪曰：「去病不早自知爲大人遺體也。」中孺扶服叩頭，〈師古曰：「服音蒲北反。」〉曰：「老臣得託命將軍，此天力也。」去病大爲中孺買田宅奴婢而去。還，復過焉，迺將光西至長安，時年十餘歲，任光爲郎，稍遷諸曹侍中。去病死後，光爲奉車都尉光祿大夫，出則奉車，入侍左右，出入禁闥二十餘年，〈師古曰：「宮中小門謂之闥。」〉小心謹慎，未甞有過，甚見親信。

Huo Guang, styled Zimeng, was the younger brother of Huo Qubing, the general who led the agile cavalry against the Xiongnu. His father was Huo Zhongru. Yan Shigu notes that the character written for his given name should be read with the same sound as the name Zhong, the ordinal "second." He came from Pingyang in Hedong, where the county assigned him as a clerk to work in the household of the Marquis of Pingyang. Yan Shigu explains that the county had posted a clerk to the marquis's establishment. He had an affair with a maid in the household, Wei Shao'er, and she gave birth to Qubing. Zhongru eventually went home when his posting ended, married, and fathered Guang, after which he and Shao'er lost touch entirely. Years later Shao'er's daughter Wei Zifu caught Emperor Wu's eye and became empress, and Qubing, as her nephew, rose with her into wealth and imperial favor. When Qubing came of age he discovered that Huo Zhongru was his father, though he had not yet found time to look him up. While leading the cavalry campaign against the Xiongnu he passed through Hedong, where the governor rode out to the suburbs to greet him, weapons shouldered, clearing the road before him. Yan Shigu glosses the reception at the commandery border and the escort riding in front as standard forms of honor for a returning general. At the Pingyang post station he sent for Zhongru. Zhongru rushed in to bow; Qubing returned the courtesy, dropped to his knees, and said he had not known until then that he was his father's son. Zhongru collapsed forward and kowtowed. Yan Shigu gives the pronunciation of the character in "prostrate." He said an old man like him could only thank heaven for the chance to place his life in the general's hands. Qubing bought him land, a house, and servants in abundance, then left. On the way back he stopped again and brought Guang to Chang'an; the boy was just past ten. Qubing enrolled him as a gentleman and steadily moved him up until he served among the palace attendants. After Qubing's death Guang served as chief charioteer and grand counsellor of the imperial household—driving the carriage on outings, standing at the ruler's elbow indoors—for more than twenty years within the palace's inner doors. Yan Shigu explains that ye denotes the small inner gates of the palace. He was meticulous and never slipped; the emperor came to rely on him completely.

征和二年，衞太子爲江充所敗，而燕王旦、廣陵王胥皆多過失。是時上年老，寵姬鈎弋趙倢伃有男，〈師古曰：「倢伃居鉤弋宮，故稱之。」〉上心欲以爲嗣，命大臣輔之。察羣臣唯光任大重，可屬社稷。〈師古曰：「任，堪也。屬，委也。任音壬。屬音之欲反。」〉上迺使黃門畫者畫周公負成王朝諸侯以賜光。〈師古曰：「黃門之署，職任親近，以供天子，百物在焉，故亦有畫工。」〉後元二年春，上游五柞宮，病篤，光涕泣問曰：「如有不諱，誰當嗣者？」〈師古曰：「不諱，言不可諱也。」〉上曰：「君未諭前畫意邪？〈師古曰：「諭，曉也。」〉立少子，君行周公之事。」光頓首讓曰：「臣不如金日磾。」日磾亦曰：「臣外國人，不如光。」上以光爲大司馬大將軍，日磾爲車騎將軍，及太僕上官桀爲左將軍，搜粟都尉桑弘羊爲御史大夫，皆拜卧內牀下，〈師古曰：「於天子所卧床前拜職。」〉受遺詔輔少主。明日，武帝崩，太子襲尊號，是爲孝昭皇帝。帝年八歲，政事壹決於光。

In 91 BCE the crown prince Wei fell to Jiang Chong's intrigue, and Princes Dan of Yan and Xu of Guangling were both flawed candidates in their own ways. The emperor was old by then, and his favorite, Lady Zhao of the Hooked Gate, had given him a boy. Yan Shigu explains the epithet from her residence in the Hooked Gate palace. The emperor meant to make that child his successor and wanted senior ministers to support him. Looking over the court he saw only Huo Guang as strong enough to shoulder the realm itself. Yan Shigu: "Ren (to bear) means to be equal to the task." Zhu means to commit something to someone's charge. The name ren (to bear) is pronounced like the ninth heavenly stem. Zhu (to entrust) is read with the fanqie gloss given in the commentary. He then had an artist of the Yellow Gate paint the Duke of Zhou bearing young King Cheng on his back as the feudal lords did homage, and presented the scroll to Guang. Yan Shigu remarks that the Yellow Gate supplied the ruler's daily needs and therefore kept craftsmen, including painters, on staff. In the spring of 87 BCE, as the emperor lay dying at the Five Oaks Palace, Guang wept and asked who would inherit the throne if the worst came. Yan Shigu glosses "the unmentionable" as death. Yan Shigu explains the euphemism for the emperor's approaching death. The emperor said, "Surely you understood that painting I gave you? Yan Shigu: "Yu means to grasp or understand." Raise the young prince and act as the Duke of Zhou did for King Cheng." Guang kowtowed and demurred, saying Jin Midi was the better man. Midi for his part said he was a foreigner and could not match Guang. The emperor named Guang grand marshal and commander-in-chief, Midi general of chariots and cavalry, Shangguan Jie grand coachman as left general, and Sang Hongyang superintendent of grain as imperial counsellor, each commissioned kneeling at the bedside. Yan Shigu notes they were sworn in at the ruler's sickbed. They took the deathbed edict to govern for the boy emperor. Wu died the next day; the crown prince ascended as Emperor Zhao. The boy was eight; every state decision passed through Guang alone.

先是，後元元年，侍中僕射莽何羅與弟重合侯通謀爲逆，〈師古曰：「莽音莫戶反。」〉時光與金日磾、上官桀等共誅之，功未錄。武帝病，封璽書曰：「帝崩發書以從事。」遺詔封金日磾爲秺侯，上官桀爲安陽侯，光爲博陸侯，〈文穎曰：「博，大。陸，平。取其嘉名，無此縣也，食邑北海河東城。」師古曰：「蓋亦取鄉聚之名以爲國號，非必縣也，公孫弘平津鄉則是矣。」〉皆以前捕反者功封。時衞尉王莽子男忽侍中，〈師古曰：「即右將軍王莽也。其子名忽。」〉揚語曰：〈師古曰：「揚謂宣唱之。」〉「帝崩，忽常在左右，安得遺詔封三子事！〈師古曰：「安猶焉。」〉羣兒自相貴耳。」光聞之，切讓王莽，〈師古曰：「切，深也。讓，責也。」〉莽酖殺忽。

Earlier, in 88 BCE, the attendant-in-ordinary and supervisor Mang Heluo and his brother, Marquis Tong of Chonghe, had conspired treason. Yan Shigu gives the reading of Mang. Guang, Midi, Jie, and others had put them down together, though the court had not yet ennobled them for it. As Wu lay ill he sealed a rescript: it was to be opened at his death and followed to the letter. The will made Midi marquis of Du, Jie marquis of Anyang, and Guang marquis of Bolu. Wen Ying explains the compound as "great and level"—an auspicious title without a matching county. Lu means "level" or "plain." The name was chosen for its good sense; the income came from parcels in Beihai and Hedongcheng." Yan Shigu adds that a noble title could be taken from a hamlet, not necessarily a full county, as with Gongsun Hong's "Pingjin." All three were now rewarded for having crushed the plotters. The commandant of the guards Wang Mang—later the right general—had a son, Hu, serving as attendant. Yan Shigu identifies them. The son's name was Hu." He began to broadcast a story—Yan Shigu says yang means to announce publicly. "I was at the emperor's side when he died—where was any sealed order ennobling the three of them? Yan Shigu explains that an here means how then or how possibly. It is only those fellows puffing each other up." Guang heard and rebuked Wang Mang harshly. Yan Shigu glosses the words for severity and reproof. Rang means to take someone to task." Mang silenced his son with poisoned wine.

光爲人沈靜詳審，長財七尺三寸，〈師古曰：「財與纔同。」〉白晢，疏眉目，美須䫇。〈師古曰：「晢，潔白也。䫇，頰毛也。晢音先歷反。䫇音人占反。」〉每出入下殿門，止進有常處，郎僕射竊識視之，不失尺寸，〈師古曰：「識，記也，音式志反。」〉其資性端正如此。初輔幼主，政自己出，〈師古曰：「自，從也。」〉天下想聞其風采。〈師古曰：「采，文采。」〉殿中甞有怪，一夜羣臣相驚，光召尚符璽郎，〈師古曰：「恐有變難，故欲收取璽。」〉郎不肯授光。光欲奪之，郎按劔曰：「臣頭可得，璽不可得也！」光甚誼之。明日，詔增此郎秩二等。衆庶莫不多光。〈師古曰：「多猶重也。以此事爲多足重也。」〉

Guang was steady and deliberate, a little over seven feet three inches tall. Yan Shigu notes that cai here means "only" or "barely," the same graph as the word for "talent" read differently. His complexion was fair, his brows and eyes finely drawn, his beard full. Yan Shigu: "Zhe means luminous white. Ran denotes the whiskers at the cheek. The commentary gives the fanqie spelling for reading the graph zhe (fair-skinned). Ran is read ren-zhan." Each time he passed the lower gate he halted and paced to the same marks; a gentleman secretly chalked his steps and found he never deviated. Yan Shigu glosses shi as "to mark" or "to record." His habits were that exacting. At first, with a child on the throne, every edict issued from Guang alone. Yan Shigu: zi means "from." The empire strained to catch word of his manner and reputation. Yan Shigu explains cai as bearing or presence—the outward color of a man. When odd things happened in the palace one night and the court panicked, Guang called for the clerk who kept the imperial seal, fearing coup. Yan Shigu explains he wanted the chop in hand. That clerk would not surrender it. Guang tried to seize it; the man gripped his sword and said he would die before giving up the seal. Guang admired his integrity. Next day an edict promoted him two steps in rank. Word spread and the people thought more of Guang for it. Yan Shigu: "Duo means to hold in high regard. They counted that gesture as proof of his weight."

光與左將軍桀結婚相親，光長女爲桀子安妻。有女年與帝相配，〈晉灼曰：「漢語光嫡妻東閭氏生安夫人，昭后之母也。」〉桀因帝姊鄂邑蓋主內安女後宮爲倢伃，〈師古曰：「鄂邑，所食邑，爲蓋侯所尚，故云蓋主也。」〉數月立爲皇后。父安爲票騎將軍，封桑樂侯。光時休沐出，桀輒入代光決事。桀父子旣尊盛，而德長公主。〈師古曰：「懷其恩德也。」〉公主內行不修，近幸河間丁外人。桀、安欲爲外人求封，幸依國家故事以列侯尚公主者，光不許。又爲外人求光祿大夫，欲令得召見，又不許。長主大以是怨光。而桀、安數爲外人求官爵弗能得，亦慙。自先帝時，桀已爲九卿，位在光右。〈師古曰：「右，上也。」〉及父子並爲將軍，有椒房中宮之重，〈師古曰：「椒房殿，皇后所居。」〉皇后親安女，光迺其外祖，而顧專制朝事，〈師古曰：「顧猶反也。」〉繇是與光爭權。〈師古曰：「繇讀與由同。」〉

Guang cemented ties with Left General Shangguan Jie by marrying his elder daughter to Jie's son An. He also had a daughter of marriageable age to match the emperor. Jin Zhuo cites the Han Yu on Guang's first wife and the empress's mother. Jie had the princess of Eyi, known as the Lady of Gai, place An's daughter in the harem as a jieyu. Yan Shigu explains the princess's titles. Within months she was made empress. An became cavalry general and marquis of Sanglo. Whenever Guang left on rest days, Jie stepped in and ran the government from his desk. Once the Jies were powerful they curried favor with the elder princess. Yan Shigu says they remembered her patronage. The princess's morals were loose; her lover was Ding Wairen from Hejian. Jie and An asked Guang to ennoble the lover by the precedent used for men who married princesses; Guang refused. They tried again for a grand counsellor's title so Ding could attend court; Guang blocked that too. The princess came to hate Guang for it. Jie and An were embarrassed at their repeated failure to win Ding any honor. Under the late emperor Jie had already ranked among the nine ministers and senior to Guang. Yan Shigu: in court seating, "right" meant the more honored side. Now both Jies were generals with ties to the empress in the Pepper Chamber. Yan Shigu identifies the hall. The empress was An's own child and Guang only her mother's father, yet Guang held every rein. Yan Shigu glosses gu as "yet" or "on the contrary." From that they vied with Guang for authority. Yan Shigu notes that yao here is read like you, meaning "thereby" or "from that."

燕王旦自以昭帝兄，常懷怨望。及御史大夫桑弘羊建造酒榷鹽鐵，爲國興利，伐其功，〈師古曰：「伐，矜也。」〉欲爲子弟得官，亦怨恨光。於是蓋主、上官桀、安及弘羊皆與燕王旦通謀，詐令人爲燕王上書，言「光出都肄郎羽林，〈孟康曰：「都，試也。肄，習也。」師古曰：「謂緫閱試習武備也。」〉道上稱䟆，太官先置。〈師古曰：「供飲食之具。」〉又引蘇武前使匈奴，拘留二十年不降，還迺爲典屬國，而大將軍長史敞亡功爲搜粟都尉。〈師古曰：「楊敞也。」〉又擅調益莫府校尉。〈師古曰：「調，選也。莫府，大將軍府也。調音徒釣反。」〉光專權自恣，疑有非常。臣旦願歸符璽，入宿衞，察姦臣變。」候司光出沐日奏之。桀欲從中下其事，〈師古曰：「下謂下有司也，音胡稼反。」〉桑弘羊當與諸大臣共執退光。書奏，帝不肯下。

Prince Dan of Yan, older brother to the boy emperor, nursed a grievance. Sang Hongyang, who had built the wine, salt, and iron monopolies that filled the treasury, bragged of his achievement. Yan Shigu glosses fa as self-praise. He wanted posts for his sons and kin and blamed Guang when they were denied. So the Lady of Gai, the Jies, Sang Hongyang, and Dan plotted together and sent up a forged memorial in the prince's name accusing Guang of drilling the palace guard and imperial guard on the parade ground. Meng Kang explains the terms. Yi means to exercise or drill." Yan Shigu clarifies that Guang was holding a full-dress military rehearsal. The memorial claimed he had cleared the road as for an imperial progress and ordered the imperial kitchen to go ahead of him. Yan Shigu explains that the grand provisioner had set out the emperor's meal service. The forgery also claimed Guang had slighted Su Wu—twenty years a captive among the Xiongnu, never yielding, yet rewarded only as superintendent of dependent states—while Yang Chang, the commander's chief clerk, had won the grain commission with no achievement to show. Yan Shigu identifies Chang as Yang Chang. It accused him of arbitrarily reshuffling the staff colonels of his field headquarters. Yan Shigu: diao means to select or assign. Mo fu is the commander's headquarters. The commentary gives the reading for diao." Guang was running the state as his private fief; I fear he plots usurpation. I, Dan, will surrender my credentials, take up palace guard duty, and help expose any traitors." They waited for Guang's statutory bath day to file the memorial. Jie wanted the document routed from the inner court to the ministries for action. Yan Shigu glosses xia as referring the matter to subordinate agencies. Sang Hongyang and the senior ministers would then arrest Guang and strip him of power. The memorial reached the throne; the young emperor refused to endorse it.

明旦，光聞之，止畫室中不入。〈如淳曰：「近臣所止計畫之室也，或曰彫畫之室。」師古曰：「彫畫是也。」〉上問「大將軍安在？」左將軍桀對曰：「以燕王告其罪，故不敢入。」有詔召大將軍。光入，免冠頓首謝，上曰：「將軍冠。〈師古曰：「令復著冠也。」〉朕知是書詐也，將軍亡罪。」光曰：「陛下何以知之？」上曰：「將軍之廣明，都郎屬耳。〈師古曰：「之，往也。廣明，亭名也。屬耳，近耳也。屬音之欲反。」〉調校尉以來未能十日，燕王何以得知之？且將軍爲非，不須校尉。」〈文穎曰：「帝云將軍欲反，不由一校尉。」〉是時帝年十四，尚書左右皆驚，而上書者果亡，捕之甚急。桀等懼，白上小事不足遂，〈師古曰：「遂猶竟也。不須窮竟也。」〉上不聽。

At dawn Guang heard the news and stopped in the painted chamber, refusing to enter court. Ru Chun says it was the room where close advisers planned strategy—some say the mural chamber. Yan Shigu sides with the reading "painted chamber." The emperor asked where the commander-in-chief was. Left General Jie answered that Guang dared not appear because the Prince of Yan had denounced him. An edict called Guang in at once. Guang came in bareheaded and kowtowed in apology. The emperor told him to replace his cap. Yan Shigu notes the ruler was telling him to dress properly again. I know that memorial is a lie; you are innocent." Guang asked how he could be sure. The boy said, "You drilled the guards at Guangming within earshot of the throne. Yan Shigu: zhi means "went to." Guangming was a post station on the drill ground. Shu er means the emperor could hear it nearby. The commentary gives the fanqie for shu." The colonel transfers were less than ten days old—how could a prince in Yan already know the details? Besides, a general plotting revolt would not bother with petty colonel appointments." Wen Ying explains the emperor's point: treason would not turn on a single colonel's post. The emperor was fourteen; the secretaries gaped at his reasoning, while the accuser vanished and a manhunt began. Jie and his allies, unnerved, urged the emperor to drop the matter as trivial. Yan Shigu glosses sui as carrying an inquiry to its conclusion. They said there was no need to press the investigation." The emperor would not let it go.

後桀黨與有譖光者，上輒怒曰：「大將軍忠臣，先帝所屬以輔朕身，〈師古曰：「屬，委也，音之欲反。其下亦同。」〉敢有毀者坐之。」自是桀等不敢復言，迺謀令長公主置酒請光，伏兵格殺之，因廢帝，迎立燕王爲天子。事發覺，光盡誅桀、安、弘羊、外人宗族。燕王、蓋主皆自殺。光威震海內。昭帝旣冠，遂委任光，訖十三年，百姓充實，四夷賔服。

Afterward, whenever Jie's people maligned Guang, the boy emperor snapped that Guang was the loyal minister the late emperor had left to guide him. Yan Shigu again glosses zhu as entrust. The same gloss applies wherever the word appears below." Anyone who defames him will answer for it." Jie fell silent in public but plotted with the princess to lure Guang to a feast and cut him down, depose Zhao, and put Dan on the throne. When the plot surfaced, Guang extirpated the Jies, Sang Hongyang, Ding Wairen, and their kin. Prince Dan and the Lady of Gai killed themselves. Guang's authority now filled the empire. Once Zhao came of age he still left the reins to Guang; for thirteen years the people prospered and the border peoples submitted.

元平元年，昭帝崩，亡嗣。武帝六男獨有廣陵王胥在，羣臣議所立，咸持廣陵王。王本以行失道，先帝所不用。光內不自安。郎有上書言「周太王廢太伯立王季，文王舍伯邑考立武王，唯在所宜，〈師古曰：「太伯者，王季之兄。伯邑考，文王長子也。」〉雖廢長立少可也。廣陵王不可以承宗廟。」言合光意。光以其書視丞相敞等，〈師古曰：「視讀曰示。敞即楊敞也。」〉擢郎爲九江太守，即日承皇太后詔，遣行大鴻臚事少府樂成、宗正德、光祿大夫吉、中郎將利漢迎昌邑王賀。

In 74 BCE Emperor Zhao died childless. Among Wu's six sons only Xu of Guangling remained alive, and the court leaned toward naming him. Xu was the prince the late emperor had already rejected for his depravity. Guang was privately appalled at the prospect. A palace clerk memorialized that King Tai of Zhou had passed the eldest line to install the worthier son, and King Wen had done the same—precedent for choosing merit over birth order. Yan Shigu identifies Taibo as Wang Ji's elder brother. Bo Yikao was King Wen's firstborn." So setting aside the senior prince for a junior could be justified. The Prince of Guangling must not receive the imperial shrines." The argument tracked exactly what Guang wanted said. Guang passed the memorial to Chancellor Yang Chang and his colleagues. Yan Shigu notes shi here means "show." Chang is Yang Chang." He raised that clerk to governor of Jiujiang, then that very hour, under the empress dowager's order, sent Yuecheng as acting grand herald, the director of the imperial clan De, the grand counsellor Ji, and General Li Han to escort Prince He of Changyi to the capital.

賀者，武帝孫，昌邑哀王子也。旣至，即位，行淫亂。光憂懣，〈師古曰：「懣音滿，又音悶。」〉獨以問所親故吏大司農田延年。延年曰：「將軍爲國柱石，〈師古曰：「柱者，梁下之柱；石者，承柱之礎也。言大臣負國重任，如屋之柱及其石也。」〉審此人不可，何不建白太后，〈師古曰：「立議而白之。」〉更選賢而立之？」光曰：「今欲如是，於古甞有此否？」〈師古曰：「光不涉學，故有此問也。」〉延年曰：「伊尹相殷，廢太甲以安宗廟，後世稱其忠。〈師古曰：「商書太甲篇曰『太甲旣立，弗明，伊尹放諸桐』是也。」〉將軍若能行此，亦漢之伊尹也。」光迺引延年給事中，陰與車騎將軍張安世圖計，〈師古曰：「圖，謀也。」〉遂召丞相、御史、將軍、列侯、中二千石、大夫、博士會議未央宮。光曰：「昌邑王行昬亂，恐危社稷，如何？」羣臣皆驚鄂失色，〈師古曰：「凡言鄂者，皆謂阻礙不依順也，後字作愕，其義亦同。」〉莫敢發言，但唯唯而已。田延年前，離席按劔，曰：「先帝屬將軍以幼孤，寄將軍以天下，以將軍忠賢能安劉氏也。今羣下鼎沸，社稷將傾，且漢之傳謚常爲孝者，以長有天下，令宗廟血食也。如令漢家絕祀，〈師古曰：「如，若也。」〉將軍雖死，何面目見先帝於地下乎？今日之議，不得旋踵。〈師古曰：「宜速決。」〉羣臣後應者，臣請劔斬之。」光謝曰：「九卿責光是也。天下匈匈不安，光當受難。」〈師古曰：「受其憂責也。」〉於是議者皆叩頭，曰：「萬姓之命在於將軍，唯大將軍令。」〈師古曰：「言一聽之也。」〉

He was Wu's grandson, the son of the late Prince Ai of Changyi. Once enthroned he gave himself to lewdness and chaos. Guang was frantic with worry. Yan Shigu gives two readings for men. He confided only in Tian Yannian, the minister of finance and an old retainer. Yannian said, "You are the state's load-bearing timber. Yan Shigu likens the minister to a roof pillar. The stone is the pedestal that takes the pillar's weight. The image is of a great officer shouldering the realm as architecture bears a roof." If this man is unfit, why not frame a memorial for the empress dowager? Yan Shigu explains jian bai as laying the case before her. Then choose a worthier man and enthrone him?" Guang asked whether history offered a precedent for deposing an enthroned prince. Yan Shigu remarks that Guang was no scholar and needed the reassurance of precedent. Yannian cited Yi Yin, who banished Tai Jia for the good of the Shang house and was honored ever after. Yan Shigu quotes the document on Tai Jia's banishment to Tong. Do that, he said, and Guang would be Han's Yi Yin." Guang then named Yannian palace attendant and met secretly with Zhang Anshi, general of chariots and cavalry. Yan Shigu glosses tu as plotting. He called a plenary session at Weiyang Palace—chancellor, counsellor, generals, nobles, senior two-thousand-shi officials, grandees, and academicians. Guang opened with the king's misconduct and the danger to the dynasty. The room went white with shock. Yan Shigu explains the graph for stunned silence. No one would speak except to mumble agreement. Yannian rose, left his seat, gripped his sword, and said the late emperor had left the boy and the empire to Guang as the one man who could preserve the Liu line. Now the court boiled over and the state tottered; Han's emperors bore the posthumous epithet Filial precisely so the sacrifices might continue forever. If the Han line were to end—Yan Shigu glosses ru as if. Even in death, how could Guang face the late emperor? Today's decision cannot wait or waver. Yan Shigu explains the idiom as demanding an immediate resolution. Anyone who hangs back, he said, he would cut down himself." Guang bowed and said the nine ministers were right to rebuke him. The realm was in turmoil and he must bear the blame." Yan Shigu glosses the phrase as accepting the burden of care. The assembly kowtowed and said the people's fate rested with Guang alone. Yan Shigu explains that they would follow his single word.

光即與羣臣俱見白太后，具陳昌邑王不可以承宗廟狀。皇太后迺車駕幸未央承明殿，詔諸禁門毋內昌邑羣臣。王入朝太后還，乘輦欲歸溫室，中黃門宦者各持門扇，王入，門閉，昌邑羣臣不得入。王曰：「何爲？」大將軍跪曰：「有皇太后詔，毋內昌邑羣臣。」王曰：「徐之，何迺驚人如是！」光使盡驅出昌邑羣臣，置金馬門外。車騎將軍安世將羽林騎收縛二百餘人，皆送廷尉詔獄。令故昭帝侍中中臣侍守王。光勑左右：「謹宿衞，卒有物故自裁，令我負天下，有殺主名。」〈師古曰：「卒讀曰猝。物故，死也。自裁，自殺也。」〉王尚未自知當廢，謂左右：「我故羣臣從官安得罪，〈師古曰：「安，焉也。」〉而大將軍盡繫之乎。」頃之，有太后詔召王。王聞召，意恐，迺曰：「我安得罪而召我哉！」太后被珠襦，〈如淳曰：「以珠飾襦也。」晉灼曰：「貫珠以爲襦，形若今革襦矣。」師古曰：「晉說是也。」〉盛服坐武帳中，侍御數百人皆持兵，期門武士陛戟，〈師古曰：「陛戟謂執戟以衞陛下也。」〉陳列殿下。羣臣以次上殿，召昌邑王伏前聽詔。光與羣臣連名奏王，尚書令讀奏曰：

Guang led the ministers to the empress dowager and laid out Prince He's unfitness to continue the imperial line. She proceeded by carriage to Weiyang's Chenming Hall and ordered every gate closed to He's retinue. He paid his respects, turned back toward the Warm Chamber, and found eunuchs shutting each leaf of the doors behind him—his own officials shut out. The king demanded an explanation. Guang knelt and cited the empress dowager: no Changyi men inside. He told them to take it easy—there was no need for such drama. Guang had He's entire suite expelled to wait beyond the Golden Horse Gate. Zhang Anshi rode at the head of the imperial guard, bound over two hundred of them, and sent them to the capital jail. He left Zhao's old chamberlains to watch the king. Guang warned the guards that if anything happened to the king they were to kill themselves rather than leave Guang accused of regicide. Yan Shigu reads zu as cu, suddenly. Wu gu means death in office or by mischance. Zi cai means suicide." He still did not grasp that he would be removed, and asked his attendants what crime his old followers had committed. Yan Shigu glosses an. Has the commander-in-chief clapped every one of my followers in fetters?" Soon an edict from the empress dowager called him to audience. The summons filled him with dread. "What crime have I committed," he cried, "that they should drag me in?" The empress dowager appeared in a jacket strung with pearls. Ru Chun explains that the pearls ornamented the upper garment. Jin Zhuo compares it to a cuirass of pearls shaped like a leather vest. Yan Shigu accepts Jin Zhuo's reading. She sat in full state under the martial canopy, flanked by hundreds of armed attendants and gate guards with halberds ranked along the stair. Yan Shigu explains that bi ji means halberds posted to guard the imperial steps. They filled the courtyard below the dais. The ministers filed up in order; Changyi was ordered forward to kneel for the reading. Guang and the council had framed a joint indictment, and the secretary began to read it aloud:

丞相臣敞、〈師古曰：「楊敞也。」〉大司馬大將軍臣光、車騎將軍臣安世、〈師古曰：「張子孺。」〉度遼將軍臣明友、〈師古曰：「范明友。」〉前將軍臣增、〈師古曰：「韓增。」〉後將軍臣充國、〈師古曰：「趙充國。」〉御史大夫臣誼、〈師古曰：「蔡誼。」〉宜春侯臣譚、〈師古曰：「王訢子。」〉當塗侯臣聖、〈師古曰：「姓魏也。」〉隨桃侯臣昌樂、〈師古曰：「姓趙，故蒼梧王趙光子。」〉杜侯臣屠耆堂、〈師古曰：「故胡人。」〉太僕臣延年、〈師古曰：「杜延年。」〉太常臣昌、〈師古曰：「蒲侯蘇昌。」〉大司農臣延年、〈師古曰：「田延年。」〉宗正臣德、〈師古曰：「劉向父。」〉少府臣樂成、〈師古曰：「姓史也。」〉廷尉臣光、〈師古曰：「李光。」〉執金吾臣延壽、〈師古曰：「李延壽。」〉大鴻臚臣賢、〈師古曰：「韋賢。」〉左馮翊臣廣明、〈師古曰：「田廣明。」〉右扶風臣德、〈師古曰：「周德。」〉長信少府臣嘉、〈師古曰：「不知姓。」〉典屬國臣武、〈師古曰：「蘇武。」〉京輔都尉臣廣漢、〈師古曰：「趙廣漢。」〉司隷校尉臣辟兵、〈師古曰：「不知姓。」〉諸吏文學光祿大夫臣遷、〈師古曰：「王遷。」〉臣畸、〈師古曰：「宋畸。」〉臣吉、〈師古曰：「景吉。」〉臣賜、臣管、臣勝、臣梁、臣長幸、〈師古曰：「並不知姓也。」〉臣夏侯勝、〈李竒曰：「同官同名，故以姓別也。」〉太中大夫臣德、〈師古曰：「不知姓。」〉臣卬〈師古曰：「趙充國子也。」〉昧死言皇太后陛下：臣敞等頓首死罪。天子所以永保宗廟緫壹海內者，以慈孝禮誼賞罰爲本。孝昭皇帝早棄天下，亡嗣，臣敞等議，禮曰「爲人後者爲之子也」，昌邑王宜嗣後，遣宗正、大鴻臚、光祿大夫奉節使徵昌邑王典喪。服斬縗，〈師古曰：「典喪服，言爲喪主也。斬縗，謂縗裳下不緶，直斬割之而已。緶音步千反。」〉亡悲哀之心，廢禮誼，居道上不素食，〈師古曰：「素食，菜食無肉也。言王在道常肉食，非居喪之制也。而鄭康成解喪服素食云『平常之食』，失之遠矣。素食，義亦見王莽傳。」〉使從官略女子載衣車，內所居傳舍。始至謁見，立爲皇太子，常私買雞豚以食。受皇帝信璽、行璽大行前，〈孟康曰：「漢初有三璽，天子之璽自佩，行璽、信璽在符節臺。大行前，昭帝柩前也。」韋昭曰：「大行，不反之辭也。」〉就次發璽不封。〈師古曰：「璽旣國器，常當緘封，而王於大行前受之，退還所次，遂爾發漏，更不封之，得令凡人皆見，言不重慎也。」〉從官更持節，〈師古曰：「更音工衡反。次下亦同。」〉引內昌邑從官騶宰官奴二百餘人，常與居禁闥內敖戲。自之符璽取節十六，〈師古曰：「之，往也。自往至署取節也。」〉朝暮臨，〈師古曰：「臨，哭臨也，音力禁反。」〉令從官更持節從。〈師古曰：「更互執節，從至哭臨之所。」〉爲書曰「皇帝問侍中君卿：〈師古曰：「昌邑之侍中名君卿也。」〉使中御府令高昌奉黃金千斤，賜君卿取十妻。」大行在前殿，發樂府樂器，引內昌邑樂人，擊鼓歌吹作俳倡。〈師古曰：「俳優，諧戲也。倡，樂人也。俳音排。」〉會下還，上前殿，〈如淳曰：「下謂柩之入冢。葬還不居喪位，便處前殿也。」師古曰：「下音胡稼反。」〉擊鐘磬，召內泰壹宗廟樂人輦道牟首，〈鄭氏曰：「祭泰壹神樂人也。」孟康曰：「牟首，地名也，上有觀。」如淳曰：「輦道，閣道也。牟首，屏面也。以屏面自隔，無哀戚也。」臣瓚曰：「牟首，池名也，在上林苑中。方在衰絰而輦游於池，言無哀戚也。」師古曰：「召泰壹樂人，內之於輦道牟首而鼓吹歌舞也。牟首，瓚說是也。屏面之說，失之遠矣。又左思吳都賦云『長塗牟首』，劉逵以爲牟首閣道有室屋也，此說更無所出。或者思及逵據此『輦道牟首』便誤用之乎？」〉鼓吹歌舞，悉奏衆樂。發長安厨三太牢具祠閣室中，〈如淳曰：「黃圖北出中門有長安厨，故謂之厨城門。閣室，閣道之有室者。不知禱何淫祀也。」〉祀已，與從官飲啗。〈師古曰：「啗，食也，音徒敢反。」〉駕法駕，皮軒鸞旗，驅馳北宮、桂宮，〈師古曰：「皮軒鸞旗皆法駕所陳也。北宮、桂宮並在未央宮北。」〉弄彘鬬虎。召皇太后御小馬車，〈張晏曰：「皇太后所駕遊宮中輦車也。漢廄有果下馬，高三尺，以駕輦。」師古曰：「小馬可於果樹下乘之，故號果下馬。」〉使官奴騎乘，遊戲掖庭中。與孝昭皇帝宮人蒙等淫亂，詔掖庭令敢泄言要斬。

"Chancellor Yang Chang"—Yan Shigu names him. Huo Guang as grand marshal and Zhang Anshi as general of chariots and cavalry; Yan Shigu gives Anshi's style Ziru. Fan Mingyou as general who crosses the Liao. Han Zeng as former general. Zhao Chongguo as rear general. Cai Yi as imperial counsellor. Wang Tan, marquis of Yichun—Yan Shigu identifies him as Wang Xin's son. Wei Sheng, marquis of Dangtu. Zhao Changle, marquis of Suitao, a son of the former Prince of Cangwu. Tuqitang, marquis of Du, of steppe origin. Du Yannian as grand coachman. Su Chang as grand master of ceremonies, the marquis of Pucheng. Tian Yannian as grand minister of agriculture. Liu De as director of the imperial clan—father of Liu Xiang. Shi Yuecheng as privy treasurer. Li Guang as commandant of justice. Li Yanshou as commandant of the guard. Wei Xian as grand herald. Tian Guangming as governor of the left capital region. Zhou De as governor of the right capital region. Jia as privy treasurer of Changgxin—surname unrecorded. Su Wu as superintendent of dependent states. Zhao Guanghan as metropolitan commandant. Bing as metropolitan superintendent—surname unknown. Wang Qian among the grand counsellors of the household. Song Ji. Jing Ji. Ci, Guan, Sheng, Liang, and Changxing—none of their surnames survive in the record. Xiahou Sheng; Li Qi notes that the surname is spelled out because another official shared the same name and post. A grand counsellor of the household surnamed De—otherwise unknown. Ang—Zhao Chongguo's son. They addressed the throne: "We, Yang Chang and the rest, kowtow, guilty of a capital fault." The emperor keeps the shrines and holds the realm together through compassion, filial duty, ritual, right conduct, and even-handed reward and punishment. When Zhao died without a son, we cited the rule that an adopted heir counts as a true son and judged Prince He of Changyi the proper successor; we sent senior envoys with staff and ribbons to bring him to lead the obsequies. He was to wear the coarsest hemp as chief mourner. Yan Shigu explains dian sang fu. The zhan cui robe has a rough-cut hem, left unsewn, as mourning dress requires. The commentary gives the fanqie reading for bian." He showed no grief and spurned ritual: on the journey he never took the meatless meals mourning required. Yan Shigu defines vegetarian fare as food without meat. The accusation is that he kept to rich meat dishes on the road instead of the spare diet of bereavement. Yan Shigu rejects Zheng Xuan's gloss of "vegetarian" as everyday diet as far off the mark. The same point is argued again in Wang Mang's biography." He let his retinue abduct women into curtained carts and lodge them in the post houses he occupied. Even after he was named heir apparent he secretly bought chickens and pigs for his kitchen. Before Emperor Zhao's bier he received the jade seals of trust and of travel. Meng Kang lists the three Han seals and where the two lesser ones were stored. The phrase means at the late emperor's coffin." Wei Zhao explains da xing as the formula for the ruler's final journey. He retired to his quarters and broke the seal cords without resealing the cases. Yan Shigu scolds him for treating the chops of state like curiosities, leaving them open where any passerby might see. Attendants passed the credential staff from hand to hand. Yan Shigu gives the reading for geng. The same gloss applies in the sentences below." He brought over two hundred grooms and stableboys from his princedom and frolicked with them inside the palace. He walked into the tallies bureau and helped himself to sixteen tallies. Yan Shigu glosses zhi as "went to." He personally seized the tallies from the office." He appeared morning and evening for the ritual weeping at the bier. Yan Shigu glosses lin. He had attendants rotate carrying the staff of office when he moved about. Yan Shigu explains that they handed off the staff on the way to the mourning hall. He forged an imperial note to his favorite attendant Junqing. Yan Shigu identifies the man. He told the eunuch Gaochang to deliver a thousand pounds of gold so Junqing could buy ten concubines." With Zhao's body still in the front hall he summoned the imperial instruments, imported musicians from Changyi, and staged drums, pipes, and comic turns. Yan Shigu defines pai you as comic players. Chang means singers. Pai is read like the word for comic skit." After the cortège came back from the tomb he went straight to the front audience hall. Ru Chun explains xia as the lowering of the coffin into the grave; instead of keeping mourning quarters he moved into the state hall." Yan Shigu gives the reading for xia. He rang bells and stone chimes and summoned the ritual musicians of Grand Unity and the shrines to the gallery at Mou shou. Zheng Shi identifies them as the choir for the Grand Unity cult. Meng Kang calls Mou shou a place with a watchtower above it. Ru Chun reads the elevated walk as a covered gallery; and Mou shou as a screen held before the face— meaning they hid behind screens and felt no grief." Chen Zan argues Mou shou is a pond in the imperial park; still in mourning weeds he drove the gallery to amuse himself on the water—utter heartlessness." Yan Shigu concludes that he hauled the ritual musicians to the gallery by the Mou shou pool for revelry; Mou shou is the pond name—Chen Zan is right; the screen reading is wrong; and Zuo Si's rhapsody and Liu Kui's gloss on a "long road Mou shou" gallery have no other textual support. Perhaps later scholars misread the phrase from that poem." They ran through the full repertoire of palace music. He ordered three bullocks from the imperial kitchen sacrificed in a closet off the gallery. Ru Chun locates the kitchen north of the central gate and names the Kitchen Gate. Ge shi is a gallery with rooms built into it. The text does not say which illicit deity he meant to honor." When the offering ended he feasted his companions there. Yan Shigu glosses dan as "to eat." He took the full imperial equipage—leather-screen carriage, phoenix pennants—and raced through Beigong and Guigong. Yan Shigu lists the regalia of the statutory train. Both palaces lay north of Weiyang." He set pigs and tigers against each other for sport. He commandeered the empress dowager's pony carriage. Zhang Yan describes the small palace gig in which she toured the compounds; the imperial studs kept orchard ponies barely three feet high to pull it." Yan Shigu explains that dwarf horses ridden under fruit branches were nicknamed orchard ponies. He made eunuch slaves drive the carriage and race through the ladies' courts for amusement. He took Emperor Zhao's concubines, including Meng, as his lovers and ordered the keeper of the ladies' quarters to execute anyone who spoke of it.

太后曰：「止！〈師古曰：「令且止讀奏。」〉爲人臣子當悖亂如是邪！」〈師古曰：「責王也。悖，乖也，音布內反。」〉王離席伏。尚書令復讀曰：

The empress dowager cried, "Enough! Yan Shigu explains she meant to halt the reading of the indictment. Should a subject and a son of the house behave in such treasonous disorder!" Yan Shigu notes she is rebuking the king. Bei means perverse; the commentary gives its reading." He slid from his cushion and kowtowed. The secretary resumed reading:

取諸侯王列侯二千石綬及墨綬黃綬以并佩昌邑郎官者免奴。〈師古曰：「免奴謂免放爲良人者。」〉變易節上黃旄以赤。〈師古曰：「以劉屈氂與戾太子戰，加節上黃旄，遂以爲常。賀今輒改之。」〉發御府金錢刀劔玉器采繒，賞賜所與遊戲者。與從官官奴夜飲，湛沔於酒。〈師古曰：「湛讀曰沈，又讀曰耽。沈沔，荒迷也。」〉詔太官上乘輿食如故。食監奏未釋服未可御故食，〈師古曰：「釋謂解脫也。」〉復詔太官趣具，無關食監。〈師古曰：「趣讀曰促。關，由也。」〉太官不敢具，即使從官出買雞豚，詔殿門內，以爲常。〈師古曰：「內，入也。令每日常入雞豚也。」〉獨夜設九賔溫室，〈師古曰：「於溫室中設九賔之禮也。九賔，解在叔孫通傳。」〉延見姊夫昌邑關內侯。祖宗廟祠未舉，爲璽書使使者持節，以三太牢祠昌邑哀王園廟，〈師古曰：「時在喪服，故未祠宗廟而私祭昌邑哀王也。」〉稱嗣子皇帝。受璽以來二十七日，使者旁午，〈如淳曰：「旁午，分布也。」師古曰：「一從一橫爲旁午，猶言交橫也。」〉持節詔諸官署徵發，凡千一百二十七事。文學光祿大夫夏侯勝等及侍中傅嘉數進諫以過失，使人簿責勝，〈師古曰：「簿音步戶反。簿責，以文簿具責之。」〉縛嘉繫獄。荒淫迷惑，失帝王禮誼，亂漢制度。臣敞等數進諫，不變更，〈師古曰：「更，改也。」〉日以益甚，恐危社稷，天下不安。

He seized nobles' seals and cords—black and yellow—and pinned them on his Changyi attendants, including freed slaves. Yan Shigu clarifies that these were former bondservants now freed. He replaced the yellow yak-hair pennant on the credential staff with red. Yan Shigu recalls that after Liu Quji's fight with Crown Prince Li a yellow pennant had been added to the staff as precedent; He had now changed that emblem without authority." He looted the imperial treasury of coin, blades, jades, and silks and showered them on his playmates. He caroused nights with his men and eunuchs, dead drunk. Yan Shigu gives alternate readings for zhan. Chen mian means stupefied with drink." He ordered the imperial kitchen to serve him the full imperial menu again. The steward replied that while still in mourning he could not take the old diet. Yan Shigu glosses shi as "put off" mourning dress. He countermanded: tell the kitchen to hurry and bypass the steward. Yan Shigu reads cu as "hasten." Guan means "through" or "by way of."" The kitchen refused; his men bought chickens and pigs in the market instead, and he ordered the inner hall gates to let the supplies through as a standing practice. Yan Shigu glosses nei as "bring in." He made daily delivery of meat through the gates routine." He staged the nine-guest reception rite in the Warm Chamber at night. Yan Shigu explains the venue. The protocol is explained in the biography of Shu Sun Tong." He received his sister's husband, the guannei marquis from Changyi, in formal audience. Before the imperial shrines had been served, he used a sealed rescript to dispatch envoys with the triple ox offering to his own father's temple in Changyi. Yan Shigu notes this was private worship while still in mourning for Zhao. He called himself the emperor who was heir. In twenty-seven days on the throne his runners crisscrossed the capital. Ru Chun explains pang wu as spread in every direction. Yan Shigu likens the image to a lattice of couriers. Staff-bearing orders flew to every bureau—1,127 separate commands in all. Xiahou Sheng and Fu Jia remonstrated until he had clerks interrogate Sheng with written charges. Yan Shigu gives the reading for bu. Bu ze means to call someone to account with paperwork." He had Fu Jia bound and thrown in jail. He abandoned every norm of kingship and turned Han law upside down. We remonstrated again and again; he would not mend his ways. Yan Shigu glosses geng as change. Each day he grew worse, threatening the realm and unsettling the empire.

臣敞等謹與博士臣霸、臣雋舍、〈晉灼曰：「雋姓，舍名也。下有臣虞舍，故以姓別之。」師古曰：「雋音辭阮反，又音字阮反。」〉臣德、臣虞舍、臣射、臣倉議，皆曰：「高皇帝建功業爲漢太祖，孝文皇帝慈仁節儉爲太宗，今陛下嗣孝昭皇帝後，行淫辟不軌。〈師古曰：「軌，法也。辟讀曰僻。」〉詩云：『籍曰未知，亦旣抱子。』〈師古曰：「大雅抑之詩。衞武公刺厲王也。籍，假也。此言假令人云王尚幼少，未有所知，亦已長大而抱子矣，實不幼少也。」〉五辟之屬，莫大不孝。〈師古曰：「五辟即五刑也。辟音頻亦反。」〉周襄王不能事母，春秋曰『天王出居于鄭』，繇不孝出之，絕之於天下也。〈師古曰：「襄王，惠王子也。僖二十四年經書『天王出居于鄭』。公羊傳曰：『王者無外，此其言出何？不能乎母也。』繇讀與由同。」〉宗廟重於君，陛下未見命高廟，不可以承天序，奉祖宗廟，子萬姓，當廢。」臣請有司御史大夫臣誼、宗正臣德、太常臣昌與太祝以一太牢具，告祠高廟。臣敞等昧死以聞。

We therefore met with Erudites Wang Ba and Juan She—Jin Zhuo gives She's surname; because another man named She appears below, the surname is spelled out." Yan Shigu gives the fanqie for Juan. Liu De, Yu She, and the others concluded: Gaozu built the dynasty; Wendi embodied benevolent thrift as "Grand Exemplar"; yet this king, though chosen to follow Zhao, behaved with depraved disregard for law. Yan Shigu: gui means the proper pattern. Pi (depraved) is read like pi, perverse." They quoted the Shijing: "Though men say the king is still a child and knows nothing, he already cradles a son." Yan Shigu identifies the stanza in the Da Ya. The poem is Duke Wu of Wei's rebuke of King Li. Ji means "suppose" or "pretend." The sense is: even if one pretended the ruler were still a boy, he already had a child in his arms—he was no infant." Of the five grave offenses none outweighs impiety toward parents. Yan Shigu identifies the five pi with the five punishments. Pi is read pin-yi." When King Xiang of Zhou failed his mother, the Chunqiu wrote "the Son of Heaven went out to dwell at Zheng"—blaming filial failure and casting him off from the world. Yan Shigu identifies Xiang as Hui's son. The Duke Xi annal carries that line for the twenty-fourth year. Gongyang asks why the Son of Heaven, who should have no "outside," is said to have "gone out." The answer: he could not obey his mother.' Yao is read like you, meaning "from" or "thereby." The shrines matter more than the man on the throne: you have not been presented at Gaozu's temple and cannot continue the line or be shepherd to the people—you must be set aside." We ask that Yi, De, Chang, and the grand invocator sacrifice a single bull at Gaozu's shrine to announce the deposition. We kowtow and lay this before the throne at peril of our lives.

皇太后詔曰：「可。」光令王起拜受詔，王曰：「聞天子有爭臣七人，雖無道不失天下。」〈師古曰：「引孝經之言。」〉光曰：「皇太后詔廢，安得天子！」迺即持其手，〈師古曰：「即，就也。」〉解脫其璽組，奉上太后，扶王下殿，出金馬門，羣臣隨送。王西面拜，曰：「愚戇不任漢事。」起就乘輿副車。大將軍光送至昌邑邸，光謝曰：「王行自絕於天，臣等駑怯，不能殺身報德。臣寧負王，不敢負社稷。願王自愛，臣長不復左右。」〈師古曰：「言不復得侍見於左右。」〉光涕泣而去。羣臣奏言：「古者廢放之人屏於遠方，不及以政，〈師古曰：「言不豫政令。」〉請徙王賀漢中房陵縣。」太后詔歸賀昌邑，賜湯沐邑二千戶。昌邑羣臣坐亡輔導之誼，陷王於惡，光悉誅殺二百餘人。出死，號呼巿中曰：〈師古曰：「呼音火故反。」〉「當斷不斷，反受其亂。」〈師古曰：「悔不早殺光等也。」〉

The empress dowager answered: "Granted." Guang told him to stand and take the edict; He quoted the Classic of Filial Piety—that even a wicked ruler keeps the realm if seven ministers will speak plain truth. Yan Shigu identifies the quotation. Guang cut him short: "The empress dowager has deposed you—there is no Son of Heaven here!" He seized the king's wrist at once. Yan Shigu glosses ji as "went to" or "immediately." He stripped the jade from He's sash, handed it to the empress dowager, helped him down the steps and out through the Golden Horse Gate while the ministers trailed behind. He bowed westward and said he was too dull to serve the Han. He climbed into the escort carriage behind the imperial equipage. Guang saw him to the Changyi hostel and said, "You have cut yourself off from heaven; we were too timid to die for your favor. We would rather wrong you than wrong the state. Guard your health, for I shall never attend you again." Yan Shigu explains it as a permanent parting from service. Guang left in tears. The ministers asked to exile him as antiquity treated the disgraced—far from power, never again in office. Yan Shigu glosses the phrase. They proposed Fangling in Hanzhong as his place of banishment." She instead sent him back to Changyi with an income of two thousand households for his upkeep. Guang executed over two hundred of He's officials for failing to guide their prince into duty. As they were led to execution they howled in the streets. Yan Shigu gives the reading for hu. They chanted, "Hesitate to strike and you suffer the turmoil yourself." Yan Shigu says they meant they should have killed Guang sooner.

光坐庭中，會丞相以下議定所立。廣陵王已前不用，及燕剌王反誅，其子不在議中。近親唯有衞太子孫號皇曾孫在民間，咸稱述焉。光遂復與丞相敞等上奏曰：「禮曰『人道親親故尊祖，尊祖故敬宗。』太宗亡嗣，擇支子孫賢者爲嗣。孝武皇帝曾孫病已，武帝時有詔掖庭養視，至今年十八，師受詩、論語、孝經，躬行節儉，慈仁愛人，可以嗣孝昭皇帝後，奉承祖宗廟，子萬姓。臣昧死以聞。」皇太后詔曰：「可。」光遣宗正劉德至曾孫家尚冠里，洗沐賜御衣，太僕以軨獵車迎曾孫就齋宗正府，入未央宮見皇太后，封爲陽武侯。〈師古曰：「解並在宣紀。軨音零。」〉已而光奉上皇帝璽綬，謁于高廟，是爲孝宣皇帝。明年，下詔曰：「夫襃有德，賞元功，古今通誼也。大司馬大將軍光宿衞忠正，宣德明恩，守節秉誼，以安宗廟。其以河北、東武陽益封光萬七千戶。」與故所食凡二萬戶。賞賜前後黃金七千斤，錢六千萬，雜繒三萬疋，奴婢百七十人，馬二千疋，甲第一區。

Guang took his seat in the court and called a council from the chancellor downward to choose the next heir. Xu of Guangling was already ruled out; Dan of Yan had been executed, so his sons were not considered. The only near kinsman left was the grown great-grandson of Crown Prince Wei, living as a commoner, whom everyone praised. Guang and Yang Chang memorialized again, quoting the canon on honoring kin and ancestral line. Because the "Grand Exemplar" line had failed, they asked to pick a worthy from a cadet branch. They named Liu Bingyi, Wu's great-grandson, reared in the palace as a boy, now eighteen, trained in the classics, frugal and kind, as fit to succeed Zhao and tend the shrines and the people. They closed with a formula: they laid the matter before the throne at peril of their lives." She replied: "Granted." Guang sent Liu De to bathe the youth, dress him in imperial robes, and bring him by carriage to the clan director's house to observe abstinence, then into Weiyang to meet the empress dowager and receive the marquisate of Yangwu. Yan Shigu defers the fuller account to Emperor Xuan's basic annals." Ling is read ling." Soon Guang invested him with the imperial seal before Gaozu's shrine: he became Emperor Xuan. The following year an edict declared that honoring virtue and rewarding founding service is the constant way of rule. It praised Guang for guarding the throne with loyalty, clarifying favor, and securing the shrines. It added seventeen thousand households from Hebei and Dongwuyang to his fief." Together with his old lands the total came to twenty thousand households. His gifts over the years included seven thousand jin of gold, sixty million cash, thirty thousand rolls of silk, a hundred and seventy servants, two thousand horses, and a top-tier mansion.

光秉政前後二十年，地節二年春病篤，車駕自臨問光病，上爲之涕泣。光上書謝恩曰：「願分國邑三千戶，以封兄孫奉車都尉山爲列侯，奉兄票騎將軍去病祀。」事下丞相御史，即日拜光子禹爲右將軍。

Guang dominated the government for two decades; in the spring of 68 BCE, dying, he received a bedside visit from the emperor himself, who wept over him. Guang asked to carve three thousand households from his fief for his nephew Huo Shan, chief charioteer, so Shan could hold a marquisate and tend Qubing's sacrifices. The ministers approved at once and named his son Huo Yu right general.

旣葬，封山爲樂平侯，以奉車都尉領尚書事。天子思光功德，下詔曰：「故大司馬大將軍愽陸侯宿衞孝武皇帝三十有餘年，輔孝昭皇帝十有餘年，遭大難，躬秉誼，率三公九卿大夫定萬世冊以安社稷，天下蒸庶咸以康寧。功德茂盛，朕甚嘉之。復其後世，疇其爵邑，〈應劭曰：「疇，等也。」師古曰：「復音方目反。」〉世世無有所與，功如蕭相國。」〈師古曰：「與讀曰豫。」〉明年夏，封太子外祖父許廣漢爲平恩侯。復下詔曰：「宣成侯光宿衞忠正，勤勞國家。善善及後世，〈師古曰：「善善者，謂襃寵善人也。」〉其封光兄孫中郎將雲爲冠陽侯。」

After the funeral Shan became marquis of Leping and, still chief charioteer, headed the secretariat. The edict recalled how Guang had guarded Wu for decades, guided Zhao through crisis, deposed Changyi, and enthroned Xuan, bringing peace to the people. His achievements were towering, and the emperor praised them. The throne promised his heirs perpetual favor equal to the fief itself. Ying Shuo glosses chou as parity. Yan Shigu gives the reading for fu (restore). His line would never pay corvée like Xiao He's descendants." Yan Shigu reads yu in the sense of sharing corvée or privilege. Next summer the emperor ennobled Empress Xu's father, Xu Guanghan, as marquis of Ping'en. A second edict praised the marquis of Xuancheng for loyal guard duty and service to the realm. Good done to worthy men should extend to their descendants. Yan Shigu explains the phrase. They therefore made Huo Yun, gentleman of the palace and Guang's grandnephew, marquis of Guanyang."

禹旣嗣爲博陸侯，大夫人顯改光時所自造塋制而侈大之。〈師古曰：「塋，墓域也，音營。」〉起三山闕，築神道，北臨昭靈，南出承恩，〈服虔曰：「昭靈、承恩，皆館名也。」李竒曰：「昭靈，高祖母冢園也。」文穎曰：「承恩，宣平侯冢園也。」師古曰：「服說是也，文、李並失之。」〉盛飾祠室，輦閣通屬永巷，而幽良人婢妾守之。〈晉灼曰：「閣道乃通屬至永巷中也。」師古曰：「此亦其冢上作輦閣之道及永巷也，非謂掖庭之永巷也。」〉廣治第室，作乘輿輦，加畫繡絪馮，黃金塗，〈如淳曰：「絪亦茵。馮謂所馮者也，以黃金塗飾之。」師古曰：「茵，蓐也，以繡爲茵馮而黃金塗輿輦也。」〉韋絮薦輪，〈晉灼曰：「御輦以韋緣輪，著之以絮。」師古曰：「取其行安，不搖動也。著音張呂反。」〉侍婢以五采絲輓顯，游戲第中。〈師古曰：「輓謂牽引車輦也，音晚。」〉初，光愛幸監奴馮子都，常與計事，及顯寡居，與子都亂。〈晉灼曰：「漢語東閭氏亡，顯以婢代立，素與馮殷姦也。」師古曰：「監奴，謂奴之監知家務者也，殷者，子都之名。」〉而禹、山亦並繕治第宅，走馬馳逐平樂館。雲當朝請，數稱病私出，〈師古曰：「請音才姓反。」〉多從賔客，張圍獵黃山苑中，使蒼頭奴上朝謁，〈文穎曰：「朝當用謁，不自行而令奴上謁者也。」師古曰：「上謁，若今參見尊貴而通名也。」〉莫敢譴者。而顯及諸女，晝夜出入長信宮殿中，亡期度。〈師古曰：「長信宮，上官太后所居。」〉

When Yu inherited the Bolu title, Lady Xian tore up Guang's modest tomb plan and built a vast mortuary park. Yan Shigu defines ying as the burial ground. She added triple gate-mountains and a spirit avenue north toward Zhaoling and south toward Chengen. Fu Qian identifies the lodge names. Li Qi says Zhaoling was the grave garden of Liu Bang's mother. Wen Ying identifies Chengen with the Xuanping marquis's cemetery. Yan Shigu sides with Fu Qian against the other two. She built lavish shrine halls linked by covered walks to the Eternal Lane and locked innocent women inside as guardians. Jin Zhuo describes the gallery running into the Eternal Lane. Yan Shigu insists this Eternal Lane belongs to the tomb complex, not the harem corridor of the same name. She expanded the mansion, built carriages fit for an emperor, with embroidered cushions and gold leaf. Ru Chun glosses the cushion terms. Ping are the arm-rests, gilded." Yan Shigu clarifies yin as matting on the carriage, all overlaid with gold. The wheels were leather-wrapped and padded with floss for a soft ride. Jin Zhuo describes the imperial carriage build. Yan Shigu says the padding steadied the ride. The commentary gives the reading for zhuo." Maidens in colored silks hauled Lady Xian's carriage for sport around the compound. Yan Shigu glosses wan as towing the vehicle. Guang once doted on his steward-slave Feng Zidu; after Guang's death the widow Xian took Zidu as her lover. Jin Zhuo cites the Han Yu on Xian's rise from concubine and her affair with Feng Yin. Yan Shigu explains overseer slave and gives Zidu's name Yin. Yu and Shan likewise threw up mansions and raced horses at the Pingle racing lodge. Yun often feigned illness to skip court. Yan Shigu gives the reading for qing. He hunted in the imperial park with a crowd and sent a house slave to file his morning notice. Wen Ying explains the breach of etiquette. Yan Shigu compares shang ye to sending a card before an audience. No one dared call him to account. Lady Xian and her daughters came and went in Empress Dowager Shangguan's Changxin halls at all hours without restraint. Yan Shigu identifies Changxin as the Shangguan empress dowager's residence.

宣帝始立，立微時許妃爲皇后。顯愛小女成君，欲貴之，私使乳醫淳于衍行毒藥殺許后，〈師古曰：「乳醫，視產乳之疾者。乳音而樹反。」〉因勸光內成君，代立爲后。語在外戚傳。始許后暴崩，吏捕諸醫，劾衍侍疾亡狀不道，下獄。吏簿問急，〈師古曰：「簿音步戶反。」〉顯恐事敗，即具以實語光。光大驚，欲自發舉，不忍，猶與。〈師古曰：「猶與，不決也。與讀曰豫。」〉會奏上，因署衍勿論。〈師古曰：「署者，題其奏後也。」〉光薨後，語稍泄。於是上始聞之而未察，〈師古曰：「未知其虛實。」〉迺徙光女壻度遼將軍未央衞尉平陵侯范明友爲光祿勳，次壻諸吏中郎將羽林監任勝出爲安定太守。數月，復出光姊壻給事中光祿大夫張朔爲蜀郡太守，羣孫壻中郎將王漢爲武威太守。頃之，復徙光長女壻長樂衞尉鄧廣漢爲少府。更以禹爲大司馬，冠小冠，亡印綬，罷其右將軍屯兵官屬，特使禹官名與光俱大司馬者。〈蘇林曰：「特，但也。」〉又收范明友度遼將軍印綬，但爲光祿勳。及光中女壻趙平爲散騎騎都尉光祿大夫將屯兵，又收平騎都尉印綬。諸領胡越騎、羽林及兩宮衞將屯兵，悉易以所親信許、史子弟代之。

At his accession Xuan made his old love from common days, Lady Xu, empress. Lady Xian wanted her daughter to be empress and bribed the midwife-physician Chunyu Yan to poison Xu. Yan Shigu defines the medical office. Ru (milk) is read with the given fanqie." Then she pressed Guang to install Chengjun in Xu's place. The full story stands in the treatise on the imperial in-laws. When Xu died suddenly the court seized the doctors and charged Yan with malpractice. The interrogators pressed hard with written questions. Yan Shigu gives the reading for bu. Fearing exposure, Xian confessed the whole plot to Guang. Guang was stunned and thought of denouncing his own household but shrank from it and wavered. Yan Shigu glosses you yu as indecision. Yu is read like the graph for hesitation." When the case reached him he scribbled on the docket that Yan should not be prosecuted. Yan Shigu explains shu as a marginal endorsement on the document. After Guang's death hints of the murder began to spread. Xuan caught wind of the rumor but could not yet verify it. Yan Shigu notes he had not investigated. He began stripping the Huo in-laws of military power: Fan Mingyou became a household superintendent; Ren Sheng was sent out as governor of Anding. Months later he posted Zhang Shuo to Shu and Wang Han, another in-law of the Huo grandsons, to Wuwei—more of the clan stripped of capital posts. Soon Deng Guanghan went from guarding Changle Palace to the harmless post of privy treasurer. Yu was kept as grand marshal in name only—small cap, no seals, no troops—a hollow echo of his father's title. Su Lin reads te as merely nominal. He stripped Fan Mingyou of the Liao command, leaving him a household superintendent in title alone. Zhao Ping lost his cavalry command as well. Every Huo-held commission—barbarian horse guards, feathered guard, twin-palace garrisons—went to youths of the Xu and Shi clans whom the emperor trusted.

禹爲大司馬，稱病。禹故長史任宣候問，禹曰：「我何病？縣官非我家將軍不得至是，〈如淳曰：「縣官謂天子。」〉今將軍墳墓未乾，盡外我家，〈師古曰：「外謂疏斥之。」〉反任許、史，奪我印綬，令人不省死。」〈師古曰：「不自省有過也。」〉宣見禹恨望深，〈師古曰：「望，怨也。」〉迺謂曰：「大將軍時何可復行！〈師古曰：「言今何得復如此也。」〉持國權柄，殺生在手中。廷尉李种、王平、〈師古曰：「种音沖。」〉左馮翊賈勝胡及車丞相女壻少府徐仁皆坐逆將軍意下獄死。使樂成小家子得幸將軍，至九卿封侯。〈師古曰：「即上所云少府樂成者也。使者，其姓也，字或作史。」〉百官以下但事馮子都、王子方等，〈服虔曰：「皆光奴。」〉視丞相亡如也。〈師古曰：「亡如猶言無所象似也。」〉各自有時，今許、史自天子骨肉，貴正宜耳。大司馬欲用是怨恨，愚以爲不可。」禹默然。數日，起視事。

Huo Yu feigned illness once he was gutted of real authority. His old chief clerk Ren Xuan visited; Yu snapped, "What illness? The throne owes everything to our general. Ru Chun glosses xian guan as the emperor. His grave is still fresh and they are already casting us off. Yan Shigu glosses wai as cold-shouldering. They hand our offices to the Xu and Shi and take our chops—it's maddening." Yan Shigu reads the line as refusing to admit wrongdoing. Ren Xuan saw how bitter Yu had grown. Yan Shigu glosses wang as grudge. Xuan told him, "You cannot relive the days when your father held the realm in his hand! Yan Shigu explains: those times are gone. He held the power of life and death over the court. He named judges Li Chong and Wang Ping—Yan Shigu gives the reading for Chong. Jia Sheng Hu and Xu Ren died in prison for crossing Guang's will—examples Yu recalled. Yuecheng rose from nowhere to nine minister rank on Guang's nod. Yan Shigu identifies him as the same Shi Yuecheng. The surname is Shi, sometimes written with the history graph." Every clerk answered to Guang's slaves Feng Zidu and Wang Zifang. Fu Qian identifies them as household bondsmen. They treated the chancellor with contempt. Yan Shigu glosses wu ru. Ren Xuan argued that times change: the Xu and Shi are the emperor's kin and deserve their rise. For Yu to nurse a grudge over that, he said, was foolish." Yu had no answer. A few days later he went back on duty. Lady Xian and her sons saw their power shaved daily and wept together in self-reproach.

顯及禹、山、雲自見日侵削，數相對啼泣，自怨。山曰：「今丞相用事，縣官信之，盡變易大將軍時法令，以公田賦與貧民，發揚大將軍過失。又諸儒生多窶人子，〈師古曰：「窶，貧而無禮，音其羽反。」〉遠客飢寒，喜妄說狂言，〈師古曰：「喜音許吏反。」〉不避忌諱，大將軍常讎之，〈師古曰：「言嫉之如仇讎也。」〉今陛下好與諸儒生語，人人自使書對事，多言我家者。甞有上書言大將軍時主弱臣強，專制擅權，今其子孫用事，昆弟益驕恣，恐危宗廟，灾異數見，盡爲是也。其言絕痛，山屏不奏其書。後上書者益黠，盡奏封事，輒下中書令出取之，不關尚書，益不信人。」顯曰：「丞相數言我家，獨無罪乎？」山曰：「丞相廉正，安得罪？我家昆弟諸壻多不謹。又聞民間讙言霍氏毒殺許皇后，〈師古曰：「讙，衆聲也，音許爰反。」〉寧有是邪？」顯恐急，即具以實告山、雲、禹。山、雲、禹驚曰：「如是，何不早告禹等！縣官離散斥逐諸壻，用是故也。此大事，誅罰不小，柰何？」於是始有邪謀矣。

Shan complained that the chancellor was dismantling Guang's policies, handing out public land to commoners, and airing Guang's errors. The literati, he sneered, were poor men's sons without breeding. Yan Shigu glosses lou. Wandering scholars, cold and hungry, loved wild talk. Yan Shigu gives the reading for xi. They ignored taboo, and Guang had always hated them for it. Yan Shigu explains chou. Now the emperor encourages memorials, and many attack the Huo house. Someone had written that under Guang the court was minister-heavy, and now the Huo kin were haughtier still—omens, they said, all stemmed from the Huo. The language was vicious; Shan suppressed the memorial. Later writers sealed their submissions and bypassed the secretariat, so the emperor grew ever more suspicious." Lady Xian asked whether the chancellor's attacks meant the family was innocent. Shan replied that the chancellor was incorrupt—he would not invent crimes. The fault lay with careless brothers and sons-in-law. Street rumor said the Huos had murdered Empress Xu. Yan Shigu glosses huan. Street rumor said the Huos had murdered Empress Xu. Yan Shigu glosses huan as the murmur of the crowd. Could that really be true?" Panicked, Lady Xian confessed everything to Shan, Yun, and Yu. The three brothers cried, "Why did you not warn us sooner? This is why the emperor has been stripping our in-laws of their posts." It is capital treason—what can we do?" From that moment they began to plot rebellion.

初，趙平客石夏善爲天官，〈師古曰：「曉星文者。」〉語平曰：「熒惑守御星，御星，太僕奉車都尉也，不黜則死。」平內憂山等。雲舅李竟所善張赦見雲家卒卒，〈師古曰：「卒讀曰猝，怱遽之貌也。」〉謂竟曰：「今丞相與平恩侯用事，可令太夫人言太后，先誅此兩人。移徙陛下，在太后耳。」長安男子張章告之，事下廷尉。執金吾捕張赦、石夏等，後有詔止勿捕。山等愈恐，相謂曰：「此縣官重太后，故不竟也。〈師古曰：「重，難也。竟，窮竟其事也。」〉然惡端已見，又有弒許后事，陛下雖寬仁，恐左右不聽，乆之猶發，發即族矣，不如先也。」〈師古曰：「言先反。」〉遂令諸女各歸報其夫，皆曰：「安所相避？」〈師古曰：「言無處相避，當受禍也。」〉

Zhao Ping's client Shi Xia was an astrologer. Yan Shigu defines tian guan as star lore. He warned that Mars had stalled on the star of the imperial equipage—the star of the coachman—and meant demotion or death for whoever held those offices. Zhao Ping began to fear for Shan and his kin. Zhang She, a friend of Yun's uncle Li Jing, noticed the Huo household in a panic. Yan Shigu glosses cu as sudden flurry. He urged Jing to have the empress dowager's mother intercede so Shangguan and Wei could be killed first. Deposing the emperor, he said, was only a word away for the empress dowager." Zhang Zhang denounced the plot to the throne, and the case landed with the commandant of justice. Guards seized Zhang She and Shi Xia, then a counter-edict halted the arrests. They told one another the prosecution had stalled only because the emperor hesitated to shame the empress dowager. Yan Shigu glosses zhong as difficulty. Jing means pressing an inquiry to its conclusion." The stain was already public, and the Xu murder hung over them: even a lenient emperor's courtiers would not forgive them forever—better revolt than wait for extermination. Yan Shigu explains xian as striking first. They sent their wives home to their husbands with one question: where could any of them run? Yan Shigu explains that no refuge remained from the coming reckoning.

會李竟坐與諸侯王交通，辭語及霍氏，有詔雲、山不宜宿衞，免就第。光諸女遇太后無禮，〈服虔曰：「光諸女自以於上官太后爲姨母，遇之無禮。」〉馮子都數犯法，上并以爲讓，〈師古曰：「揔以此事責之也。」〉山、禹等甚恐。顯夢第中井水溢流庭下，竈居樹上，又夢大將軍謂顯曰：「知捕兒不？〈師古曰：「知兒見捕否？」〉亟下捕之。」〈蘇林曰：「且疾下捕之。」師古曰：「亟音居力反。」〉第中鼠暴多，與人相觸，以尾畫地。鴞數鳴殿前樹上。〈師古曰：「鴞，惡聲之鳥也。古者室屋高大，則通呼爲殿耳，非止天子宮中。其語亦見黃霸傳。鴞音羽驕反。」〉第門自壞。雲尚冠里宅中門亦壞。巷端人共見有人居雲屋上，徹瓦投地，就視，亡有，大怪之。禹夢車騎聲正讙來捕禹，舉家憂愁。山曰：「丞相擅減宗廟羔、菟、鼃，〈如淳曰：「高后時定令，敢有擅議宗廟者，棄市。」師古曰：「羔、菟、鼃所以供祭也。」〉可以此罪也。」謀令太后爲博平君置酒，〈文穎曰：「宣帝外祖母也。」〉召丞相、平恩侯以下，使范明友、鄧廣漢承太后制引斬之，因廢天子而立禹。約定未發，雲拜爲玄菟太守，太中大夫任宣爲代郡太守。山又坐寫祕書，顯爲上書獻城西第，入馬千匹以贖山罪。書報聞。〈師古曰：「不許之。」〉會事發覺，雲、山、明友自殺，顯、禹、廣漢等捕得。禹要斬，顯及諸女昆弟皆弃市。唯獨霍后廢處昭臺宮。與霍氏相連坐誅滅者數千家。

When Li Jing was convicted of dealing with princes, his confession implicated the Huos; an edict stripped Yun and Shan of palace guard duty and sent them home. Guang's daughters insulted Empress Dowager Shangguan, claiming aunt's privilege. Fu Qian explains their arrogance. Feng Zidu's crimes drew a blanket rebuke from the throne. Yan Shigu notes the emperor piled on every grievance. Shan and Yu were terrified. Lady Xian dreamed the well flooded the court and the cooking stove sat in a tree; then Guang asked in a dream whether she knew the sons were being seized. Yan Shigu clarifies the dream question. Act at once to seize them." Su Lin reads the line as an order to move quickly. Yan Shigu gives the reading for ji. Rats swarmed the house, bumping into people and tracing lines on the floor with their tails. Owls shrieked in the hall trees night after night. Yan Shigu calls the owl an ill-omened bird. In old usage any tall house could be called a hall, not only the palace. The same omen language appears in Huang Ba's chapter. Yan Shigu gives the reading for xiao (owl)." The main gate of the mansion collapsed on its own. The inner gate of Yun's house in Shangguan ward fell the same way. Neighbors saw a figure on Yun's roof hurling tiles; when they climbed up, no one was there. Yu dreamed of officers thundering up to arrest him, and the whole family sank in dread. Shan proposed framing the chancellor for cutting sacrificial victims without authority—a capital offense since Empress Lü's statute. Yan Shigu lists the animals used at the shrines. That statute, he said, could send the chancellor to his death." They would lure the empress dowager into hosting a feast for the king's grandmother Ping'en. Wen Ying identifies her. They would call Wei and the chancellor to the feast and have Mingyou and Guanghan cut them down in the empress dowager's name, then depose Xuan and enthrone Yu. Before the coup fired, Yun was posted to Xuantu and Ren Xuan to Dai—a deliberate split of the conspirators. When Shan was charged with copying sealed archives, Lady Xian offered a mansion west of the city and a thousand horses to buy off his sentence. The throne acknowledged the memorial without granting it. Yan Shigu explains bao wen as polite refusal. When the plot broke, Yun, Shan, and Mingyou killed themselves; Xian, Yu, and Guanghan were taken alive. Yu died by waist-sawing; Lady Xian and her kin were executed in the public market. Empress Huo alone was spared death but cast into Zhaotai Palace as a commoner. Several thousand households linked to the Huos were extirpated.

上迺下詔曰：「迺者東織室令史張赦使魏郡豪李竟報冠陽侯雲謀爲大逆，〈師古曰：「解在宣紀也。」〉朕以大將軍故，抑而不揚，兾其自新。今大司馬博陸侯禹與母宣成侯夫人顯及從昆弟子冠陽侯雲、樂平侯山諸姊妺壻謀爲大逆，欲詿誤百姓。賴宗廟神靈，先發得，咸伏其辜，〈師古曰：「事發而捕得。」〉朕甚悼之。諸爲霍氏所詿誤，事在丙申前，未發覺在吏者，皆赦除之。男子張章先發覺，以語期門董忠，忠告左曹楊惲，惲告侍中金安上。惲召見對狀，後章上書以聞。侍中史高與金安上建發其事，〈師古曰：「言共立意發之也。」〉言無入霍氏禁闥，卒不得遂其謀，〈師古曰：「遂，成也。」〉皆讎有功。〈晉灼曰：「讎，等也。」師古曰：「言其功相等類也。」〉封章爲博成侯，忠高昌侯，惲平通侯，安上都成侯，高樂陵侯。」

Xuan published the case: Zhang She and Li Jing had denounced Yun's treason—Yan Shigu defers detail to the annals of Xuan. He said he had hushed the first reports out of respect for Guang, hoping the family would mend its ways. Instead Yu, Lady Xian, Yun, Shan, and the sons-in-law had plotted treason and tried to deceive the people. Thanks to the shrines the plot surfaced in time and all confessed. Yan Shigu notes they were caught once exposed. The emperor professed grief even at punishing them. Anyone implicated before the bingyin date who had not yet been charged was amnestied. Zhang Zhang had tipped Dong Zhong, who told Yang Yun, who told Jin Anshang. Yun was examined and confirmed the chain; Zhang Zhang then filed a formal memorial. Shi Gao and Jin Anshang together urged the emperor to move. Yan Shigu glosses jian fa. They argued that had guards not penetrated the Huo compound, the coup might have succeeded. Yan Shigu glosses sui. Each informer had earned equal credit. Jin Zhuo reads chou as equal rank. Yan Shigu agrees their rewards matched. The edict ennobled Zhang Zhang, Dong Zhong, Yang Yun, Jin Anshang, and Shi Gao."

初，霍氏奢侈，茂陵徐生曰：「霍氏必亡。夫奢則不遜，不遜必侮上。侮上者，逆道也。在人之右，衆必害之。〈師古曰：「右，上也。」〉霍氏秉權日乆，害之者多矣。天下害之，而又行以逆道，不亡何待！」迺上疏言「霍氏泰盛，陛下即愛厚之，宜以時抑制，無使至亡。」書三上，輒報聞。其後霍氏誅滅，而告霍氏者皆封。人爲徐生上書曰：「臣聞客有過主人者，見其竈直突，傍有積薪，客謂主人，更爲曲突，遠徙其薪，不者且有火患。主人默然不應。俄而家果失火，鄰里共救之，幸而得息。於是殺牛置酒，謝其鄰人，灼爛者在於上行，〈師古曰：「灼謂被燒炙者也。行音胡郎反。」〉餘各以功次坐，而不錄言曲突者。人謂主人曰：『鄉使聽客之言，不費牛酒，終亡火患。〈師古曰：「鄉讀曰嚮。次下亦同也。」〉今論功而請賔，曲突徙薪亡恩澤，燋頭爛額爲上客耶？』主人迺寤而請之。今茂陵徐福數上書言霍氏且有變，宜防絕之。鄉使福說得行，則國亡裂土出爵之費，臣亡逆亂誅滅之敗。往事旣已，而福獨不蒙其功，唯陛下察之，貴徙薪曲突之策，使居焦髮灼爛之右。」〈師古曰：「右，上也。」〉上迺賜福帛十疋，後以爲郎。

Even while the Huos flourished, Xu Sheng of Maoling predicted their fall. Luxury breeds arrogance, arrogance breeds contempt for the throne. Contempt for the ruler is rebellion against heaven's pattern. Whoever stands above the crowd draws every man's malice. Yan Shigu glosses you as "above" or senior. The Huos had been on top so long that enemies had piled up. The realm hated them, and they added outrage to power—how could they survive?" He urged Xuan to trim the Huos' power before they crashed of their own weight. He filed three memorials; each came back with a noncommittal acknowledgment. When the Huos fell, every informer received a fief. A petitioner retold the parable of the straight chimney and the brushwood—foresight spurned until the fire. The master ignored the warning. Soon the house burned; neighbors saved it just in time. He feasted his rescuers, giving the scarred survivors the place of honor. Yan Shigu defines zhuo. Yan Shigu gives the reading for hang (row)." Others were seated by merit, but the man who had warned about the chimney was forgotten. A neighbor reminded him: had he heeded advice, he would have saved the feast and the fire. Yan Shigu reads xiang as "if formerly." The same gloss applies below." Now you reward the burned brows but not the man who told you to move the kindling?' Only then did the host honor his prophet. Xu Fu of Maoling had warned repeatedly that the Huos would turn traitor. Had Xuan listened, the throne would have spared fiefs to informers and heads to rebels. The memorial asked Xuan to honor Xu Fu as the man who moved the brushwood—more deserving than the late informers." Yan Shigu again glosses you as the higher seat. Xuan gave Xu Fu ten rolls of silk and later a gentleman appointment.

宣帝始立，謁見高廟，大將軍光從驂乘，上內嚴憚之，若有芒刺在背。後車騎將軍張安世代光驂乘，天子從容肆體，甚安近焉。〈師古曰：「肆，放也，展也。近音鉅靳反。」〉及光身死而宗族竟誅，故俗傳之曰：「威震主者不畜，霍氏之禍萌於驂乘。」〈師古曰：「萌謂始生也。」〉

On his first visit to Gaozu's shrine Xuan rode beside Guang and felt a spine of dread, as if sitting on needles. When Zhang Anshi took Guang's place beside him, the emperor could breathe and sit at ease. Yan Shigu glosses si as loosening up. Yan Shigu gives the reading for jin (near)." Folk wisdom summed it up: no ruler long tolerates a subject who terrifies him—the Huo ruin began in that shared carriage seat. Yan Shigu defines meng as the first sprouting of disaster.

至成帝時，爲光置守冢百家，吏卒奉祠焉。元始二年，封光從父昆弟曾孫陽爲博陸侯，千戶。

Chengdi assigned a hundred families to tend Guang's tomb with official sacrifices. In 2 CE the court revived the Bolu marquisate for a distant kinsman named Yang with a thousand households.

金日磾

Jin Midi.

金日磾字翁叔，〈師古曰：「磾音丁奚反。」〉本匈奴休屠王太子也。〈師古曰：「休音許蚪反。屠音儲。」〉武帝元狩中，票騎將軍霍去病將兵擊匈奴右地，多斬首，虜獲休屠王祭天金人。其夏，票騎復西過居延，攻祁連山，大克獲。於是單于怨昆邪、休屠居西方多爲漢所破，〈師古曰：「昆音下門反。」〉召其王欲誅之。昆邪、休屠恐，謀降漢。休屠王後悔，昆邪王殺之，并將其衆降漢。封昆邪王爲列侯。日磾以父不降見殺，與母閼氏、弟倫俱沒入官，輸黃門養馬，時年十四矣。

Jin Midi, styled Wengshu. Yan Shigu gives the reading for the character Di in his name. He was a Xiongnu prince, heir to the Xiutu king in the west. Yan Shigu gives the reading for Xiu in Xiutu. Tu is read chu." When Qubing struck the western steppe, he seized the Xiutu king's golden heaven idol among many captives. The same summer Qubing swept past Juyan, stormed the Qilian range, and took huge booty. The chanyu blamed Kunye and Xiutu for repeated defeats at Han hands. Yan Shigu gives the reading for Kun. He summoned both kings to the court tent intending to kill them. The two kings panicked and agreed to defect to the Han. When Xiutu wavered, Kunye murdered him and led the combined tribes in to Han. The Han court ennobled Kunye as a marquis. Midi's father died resisting; the boy, his mother, and brother Lun became government slaves and were sent to the imperial stables at fourteen.

乆之，武帝游宴見馬，〈師古曰：「方於宴游之時，而召閱諸馬。」〉後宮滿側。日磾等數十人牽馬過殿下，莫不竊視，〈師古曰：「視宮人。」〉至日磾獨不敢。日磾長八尺二寸，容貌甚嚴，馬又肥好，上異而問之，具以本狀對。上竒焉，即日賜湯沐衣冠，拜爲馬監，遷侍中駙馬都尉光祿大夫。日磾旣親近，未甞有過失，上甚信愛之，賞賜累千金，出則驂乘，入侍左右。貴戚多竊怨，曰：「陛下妄得一胡兒，反貴重之！」上聞，愈厚焉。

One day Wu was feasting at the park and called for his horses to be paraded. Yan Shigu explains the setting. Concubines crowded his couch while he watched the mounts. Dozens of grooms led horses below the dais; every one peeked at the women. Yan Shigu notes what they eyed. When Midi's turn came he kept his eyes down. Tall, grave, with splendid horses, he caught the emperor's eye; he answered every question about his princely origins. Wu was so struck that he bathed Midi, dressed him in court clothes, and jumped him from groom to gentleman and chief commandant of cavalry in a day. Once at the ruler's elbow he never slipped; gifts ran to a thousand pounds of gold and he rode beside the chariot on every outing. Imperial in-laws grumbled that a stray barbarian boy had eclipsed them. Wu only favored Midi the more when he heard the gossip.

日磾母敎誨兩子，甚有法度，上聞而嘉之。病死，詔圖畫於甘泉宮，署曰「休屠王閼氏。」〈師古曰：「題其畫。」〉日磾每見畫常拜，鄉之涕泣，然後迺去。〈師古曰：「鄉讀曰嚮。」〉日磾子二人皆愛，爲帝弄兒，常在旁側。弄兒或自後擁上項，〈師古曰：「擁，抱也。」〉日磾在前，見而目之。〈師古曰：「目，視怒也。」〉弄兒走且啼曰：「翁怒。」上謂日磾「何怒吾兒爲？」其後弄兒壯大，不謹，自殿下與宮人戲，日磾適見之，惡其淫亂，遂殺弄兒。弄兒即日磾長子也。上聞之大怒，日磾頓首謝，具言所以殺弄兒狀。上甚哀，爲之泣，已而心敬日磾。

His mother raised her sons with strict discipline; the emperor praised her when he heard of it. When she died he had her portrait hung in Ganquan with the title Queen of Xiutu. Yan Shigu explains the caption on the portrait. Midi always kowtowed to her image and wept before he could leave. Yan Shigu reads xiang as "face toward." His two sons became Wu's toddler playmates, always at his knee. A child once hugged the emperor from behind. Yan Shigu glosses yong as embrace. Midi, standing forward, shot the boy a furious look. Yan Shigu explains mu as a wrathful stare. The child ran away wailing that the old man was angry. Wu asked why he scolded the favorite boy. When the same youth grew lustful with a palace girl under the hall, Midi killed him for shaming the harem. The dead boy was Midi's firstborn. Wu raged until Midi kowtowed and explained why a father had struck down his own son. The emperor wept for the child, then respected Midi more than ever.

初，莽何羅與江充相善，及充敗衞太子，何羅弟通用誅太子時力戰得封。後上知太子冤，迺夷滅充宗族黨與。何羅兄弟懼及，〈師古曰：「及謂及於禍也。」〉遂謀爲逆。日磾視其志意有非常，心疑之，陰獨察其動靜，與俱上下。〈師古曰：「上下於殿也。」〉何羅亦覺日磾意，以故乆不得發。是時上行幸林光宮，〈服虔曰：「甘泉一名林光。」師古曰：「秦之林光宮，胡亥所造，漢又於其旁起甘泉宮。」〉日磾小疾卧廬。〈師古曰：「殿中所止曰廬。」〉何羅與通及小弟安成矯制夜出，共殺使者，發兵。明旦，上未起，何羅亡何從外入。〈師古曰：「亡何猶言無故也。」〉日磾奏厠心動，〈師古曰：「奏，向也。日磾方向厠而心動。」〉立入坐內戶下。須臾，何羅褏白刃從東箱上，〈師古曰：「置刃於衣褏中也。褏，古袖字。」〉見日磾，色變，走趨卧內欲入，〈師古曰：「趨讀曰趣，嚮也。卧內，天子卧處。」〉行觸寶瑟，僵。日磾得抱何羅，因傳曰：「莽何羅反！」〈師古曰：「傳謂傳聲而唱之。」〉上驚起，左右拔刃欲格之，上恐并中日磾，〈師古曰：「中音竹仲反。」〉止勿格。日磾捽胡投何羅殿下，〈孟康曰：「胡音互。捽胡，若今相僻卧輪之類也。」晉灼曰：「胡，頸也，捽其頸而投殿下也。」師古曰：「晉說是也。捽音才乞反。」〉得禽縛之，窮治皆伏辜。繇是著忠孝節。〈師古曰：「繇讀與由同。」〉

Mang Heluo had been Jiang Chong's ally; when Chong destroyed Crown Prince Wei, Heluo's brother Tong won a marquisate for fighting in the purge. When Wu learned the prince had been wronged, he wiped out Jiang Chong's entire faction. The Mang brothers feared they would be swept up in the reckoning. Yan Shigu glosses ji. They began to plot regicide. Midi sensed their intent, watched them alone, and never let them out of his sight in the halls. Yan Shigu means they moved together up and down the palace steps. Heluo knew Midi was watching and could not strike. The emperor was at Linqiong—Fu Qian identifies it with Ganquan. Yan Shigu places the palace complex built by Second Emperor Qin and expanded under Han. Midi was ill and resting in the chamber cubicle. Yan Shigu defines lu as the resting niche in the hall. Heluo, Tong, and Ancheng forged an edict, slipped out at night, murdered the courier, and called out arms. Next dawn, before Wu had left his couch, Heluo walked in unannounced. Yan Shigu glosses wu he as "without cause." Midi said he felt a sudden dread on his way to the privy. Yan Shigu glosses zou as toward. The foreboding struck as he headed for the privy." He rushed in and seated himself inside the inner portal. Heluo appeared from the east alcove with a dagger up his sleeve. Yan Shigu explains the hiding place. Mei is the old form for sleeve." Seeing Midi he blanched and bolted for the emperor's bedroom. Yan Shigu reads qu as "hasten toward." The inner bedchamber is the ruler's sleeping alcove." He tripped on a jade-inlaid zither and fell flat. Midi grappled him and shouted that Mang Heluo was turning traitor. Yan Shigu explains chuan as raising the alarm aloud. Guards drew steel; Wu stopped them for fear they would cut Midi. Yan Shigu gives the reading for zhong (hit). He forbade them to hack at the grappling pair. Midi twisted Heluo's neck and threw him down the steps. Meng Kang glosses hu. Meng compares zuo hu to a wrestling throw." Jin Zhuo reads it as seizing the throat. Yan Shigu accepts Jin Zhuo's reading. Zuo is read cai-qi." Guards bound Heluo; under torture the whole plot confessed. That exploit made his name synonymous with loyalty and duty. Yao is read like you, meaning "from this."

日磾兩子，賞、建，俱侍中，與昭帝略同年，共卧起。賞爲奉車、建駙馬都尉。及賞嗣侯，佩兩綬，上謂霍將軍曰：「金氏兄弟兩人不可使俱兩綬邪？」霍光對曰：「賞自嗣父爲侯耳。」上笑曰：「侯不在我與將軍乎？」光曰：「先帝之約，有功迺得封侯。」時年俱八九歲。宣帝即位，賞爲太僕，霍氏有事萌牙，上書去妻。〈師古曰：「萌牙者，言始有端緒，若草之始生。」〉上亦自哀之，獨得不坐。元帝時爲光祿勳，薨，亡子，國除。元始中繼絕世，封建孫當爲秺侯，奉日磾後。

Shang and Jian, both gentlemen, grew up beside Emperor Zhao as playfellows. Shang became chief charioteer, Jian chief commandant of cavalry. When Shang inherited a marquisate and double cords, Xuan asked Huo Guang whether both Jins could hold twin seals. Guang answered that only Shang had inherited a title. The emperor laughed: "Are marquises not ours to give?" Guang cited Wudi's rule—no fief without merit. The boys had been only eight or nine at the time. After Xuan's accession Shang served as grand coachman; when the Huo conspiracy first appeared he filed for divorce to cut ties with the Huo women. Yan Shigu explains meng ya as the first green shoot of trouble. The emperor pitied him and alone among the affines he was not prosecuted. Under Yuandi he rose to palace superintendent, died sonless, and the marquisate lapsed. In the Yuanshi era the court revived the Du marquisate for Dang to continue Midi's line.

初，日磾所將俱降弟倫，字少卿，爲黃門郎，早卒。日磾兩子貴，及孫則衰矣，而倫後嗣遂盛，子安上始貴顯封侯。

Lun, Midi's younger brother who had surrendered with him, styled Shaoqing, became a Yellow Gate gentleman but died young. Midi's own sons rose high then thinned in the next generation, while Lun's branch flourished and Anshang became the first of that line to win a marquisate.

涉明經儉節，諸儒稱之。成帝時爲侍中騎都尉，領三輔胡越騎。〈師古曰：「胡越騎之在三輔者，若長水、長楊、宣曲之屬是也。」〉哀帝即位，爲奉車都尉，至長信少府。而參使匈奴，匈奴中郎將，〈師古曰：「以其出使匈奴，故拜爲匈奴中郎將也。」〉越騎校尉，關內都尉，安定、東海太守。饒爲越騎校尉。

Jin She mastered the classics and lived frugally; the scholars praised him. Under Chengdi Jin She served as gentleman and cavalry commandant, leading Hu and Yue horse regiments around the capital. Yan Shigu lists sample garrison units such as Changshui and Changyang. Under Aidi he rose to chief charioteer and privy treasurer of Changxin. Jin Shen served as envoy and as mounted attendant-in-ordinary for Xiongnu affairs. Yan Shigu explains the title from his missions. He went on to colonel of Yue cavalry, metropolitan guannei marquis, and governor of Anding and Donghai. Jin Rao served as colonel of Yue cavalry.

時王莽新誅平帝外家衞氏，召明禮少府宗伯鳳〈如淳曰：「宗伯，姓。」〉入說爲人後之誼，白令公卿、將軍、侍中、朝臣並聽，〈師古曰：「白令皆聽之。」〉欲以內厲平帝而外塞百姓之議。〈師古曰；「塞，止也。」〉欽與族昆弟秺侯當俱封。初，當曾祖父日磾傳子節侯賞，而欽祖父安上傳子夷侯常，皆亡子，國絕，故莽封欽、當奉其後。當母南即莽母功顯君同產弟也。當上南大行爲太夫人。〈文穎曰：「南，名也。大行，官名也。當上名狀於大行也。」鄧展曰：「當上南爲太夫人，恃莽姨母故耳。爲父立廟，非也。」〉欽因緣謂當：「詔書陳日磾功，亡有賞語。當名爲以孫繼祖也，自當爲父、祖父立廟。〈晉灼曰：「當是賞弟建之孫，此言自當爲其父及祖父建立廟也。」〉賞故國君，使大夫主其祭。」〈如淳曰；「以賞故國君，使大夫掌其祭事。」臣瓚曰：「當是支庶上繼大宗，不得顧其外親也。而欽見當母南爲太夫人，遂尊其父祖以續日磾，不復爲後賞，而令大夫主賞祭事。」師古曰：「瓚說是也。」〉時甄邯在旁，庭叱欽，〈師古曰：「於朝庭中叱之也。」〉因劾奏曰：「欽幸得以通經術，超擢侍帷幄，重蒙厚恩，〈師古曰：「重音直用反。」〉封襲爵號，知聖朝以世有爲人後之誼。前遭故定陶太后背本逆天，孝哀不獲厥福，迺者呂寬、衞寶復造姦謀，至於反逆，咸伏厥辜。太皇太后懲艾悼懼，〈師古曰：「艾讀曰乂。乂，創也。」〉逆天之咎，非聖誣法，大亂之殃，誠欲奉承天心，遵明聖制，專壹爲後之誼，以安天下之命，數臨正殿，延見羣臣，講習禮經。孫繼祖者，謂亡正統持重者也。賞見嗣日磾，後成爲君，持大宗重，則禮所謂『尊祖故敬宗』，大宗不可以絕者也。欽自知與當俱拜同誼，即數揚言殿省中，敎當云云。〈師古曰：「云云者，多言也。謂上所陳以孫繼祖也。」〉當即如其言，則欽亦欲爲父明立廟而不入夷侯常廟矣。進退異言，頗惑衆心，亂國大綱，開禍亂原，誣祖不孝，罪莫大焉。尤非大臣所宜，大不敬。秺侯當上母南爲太夫人，失禮不敬。」莽白太后，下四輔、公卿、大夫、博士、議郎，皆曰：「欽宜以時即罪。」〈師古曰：「即，就也。」〉謁者召欽詣詔獄，欽自殺。邯以綱紀國體，亡所阿私，忠孝尤著，益封千戶。更封長信少府涉子右曹湯爲都成侯。湯受封日，不敢還歸家，以明爲人後之誼。益封之後，莽復用欽弟遵，封侯，歷九卿位。

When Mang had just executed Pingdi's Wei kin, he summoned Privy Treasurer Zong Bo Feng, a ritual specialist. Ru Chun notes that Zong Bo is a compound surname. Feng was brought in to lecture on the duty of an adopted heir while Mang ordered every high official to attend. Yan Shigu glosses bai ling. Mang meant to brace the boy emperor and silence public criticism. Yan Shigu glosses sai as block. A fragment of Yan Shigu's commentary opens here. Sai means to choke off debate." Wang Mang enfeoffed Jin Qin together with his kinsman by marriage, Marquis of Du Dang. Dang descended from Midi through Marquis Shang of Jie; Qin descended from Anshang through Marquis Chang of Yi; both lines had failed for lack of heirs, so Mang used Qin and Dang to carry on the sacrifices. Dang's mother was Wang Mang's maternal aunt. Dang had his mother honored as grand lady at her obsequies. Wen Ying explains that Nan was a given name. Da xing was the title of the officer who oversaw grand funeral rites. Dang filed the petition for his mother's honors with the grand herald." Deng Zhan thought Dang promoted his mother only because she was Wang Mang's aunt. He condemned erecting a private shrine to Dang's father as illegitimate." Jin Qin urged Dang: the edict praised Midi but said nothing about extra honors. As a grandson continuing the main line, Dang should erect shrines to his father and grandfather. Jin Zhuo identifies Dang's descent from Jian and clarifies the temple argument. Let a grand officer tend the offerings to Marquis Shang, the former fief-holder." Ru Chun's gloss begins here. Ru Chun means a minister should keep Shang's ancestral rites." Chen Zan argues that a minor branch inheriting the great line cannot favor maternal kin. Yet Qin pushed Dang to glorify his own parents under Midi's name, abandoning his duty to Shang's line and handing Shang's rites to a mere official." Yan Shigu endorses Chen Zan. Zhen Han was present and publicly berated Qin in the court yard. He memorialized that Qin had risen on scholarship and imperial favor—Yan Shigu gives the reading for chong (repeated). Qin knew the state's adoption law yet twisted it. He cited Dingtao's mother defying heaven, Ai's misfortune, and Lü Kuan's plot as warnings. The grand empress dowager was chastened and afraid. Yan Shigu reads ai as yi. Yi means the wound of experience." She meant to uphold adoption law, meet ministers in the main hall, and drill the canon of rites. The gloss defines grandson succession when the direct line has failed. Shang had continued Midi's line as the great-house heir, which the canon forbids to sever. Qin knew he and Dang had been ennobled on the same legal basis yet coached Dang in public. Yan Shigu glosses yun yun as wordy instruction. He refers to the grandson-succeeds-grandfather argument." If Dang obeyed, Qin would get his own father's shrine while dodging duty to Marquis Chang of Yi. Their shifting claims confused the public, subverted the law of succession, insulted the ancestors, and amounted to the gravest unfilial crime. For a minister it was supreme irreverence. The memorial charged Dang with promoting his mother beyond ritual bounds." Mang referred the case; every advisory body voted to punish Qin at once. Yan Shigu glosses ji as facing punishment. An usher led Qin to the imperial jail; he killed himself first. Zhen Han was rewarded with another thousand households for upholding public duty over private ties. The court transferred Jin She son Tang from the right bureau to the marquisate of Ducheng. On his enfeoffment day Tang did not go home, to show he was now heir to another line. Afterward Mang still used Qin's brother Zun, made him a marquis, and moved him through ministerial rank.

【贊】

The chapter ends with Ban Gu's summative eulogy.

贊曰：霍光以結髮內侍，起於階闥之閒，確然秉志，誼形於主。〈師古曰：「形，見也。」〉受襁褓之託，任漢室之寄，當廟堂，擁幼君，摧燕王，仆上官，〈師古曰：「仆，頓也，音赴。」〉因權制敵，以成其忠。處廢置之際，臨大節而不可奪，遂匡國家，安社稷。擁昭立宣，光爲師保，雖周公、阿衡，何以加此！〈師古曰：「阿衡，伊尹官號也。阿，倚也。衡，平也。言天子所倚，群下取平也。」〉然光不學亡術，闇於大理，陰妻邪謀，〈晉灼曰：「不揚其過也。」〉立女爲后，湛溺盈溢之欲，〈師古曰：「湛讀曰沈。」〉以增顛覆之禍，死財三年，〈師古曰：「財與纔同。」〉宗族誅夷，哀哉！昔霍叔封於晉，〈師古曰：「霍叔，文王之子，武王之弟也。」〉晉即河東，光豈其苗裔乎？金日磾夷狄亡國，羈虜漢庭，而以篤敬寤主，忠信自著，勒功上將，傳國後嗣，世名忠孝，七世內侍，何其盛也！本以休屠作金人爲祭天主，故因賜姓金氏云。

The eulogy opens: from groom of the inner palace Guang rose with unwavering purpose and loyalty plain to his ruler. Yan Shigu glosses xing as visible. He took Wu's deathbed charge, steadied the boy emperor, broke Prince Dan and the Shangguans. Yan Shigu glosses pu as cast down. He wielded authority against foes and so fulfilled his trust. At the crisis of deposing one king and raising another he did not bend, and the realm was set right. He set Zhao on the throne, then Xuan, as regent—no tutor in history, says Ban Gu, surpassed him. Yan Shigu identifies Ah Heng as Yi Yin's title. Ah means to lean upon. Heng means to level the scales for all below. The compound names the minister who steadies the ruler's hand." Yet Guang was no scholar; he connived at his wife's crime. Jin Zhuo notes he hid her guilt. He put his daughter on the throne and drowned in excess. Yan Shigu reads zhan as drown. So he multiplied the chance of ruin; within three years of his death—Yan Shigu notes cai means barely three years. His whole clan was extirpated—how pitiful! Ban Gu wonders whether Guang descended from Huo Shu enfeoffed at Jin. Yan Shigu identifies Huo Shu. Jin lay in Hedong; might Guang's bloodline run from that house? Midi, a conquered barbarian slave, won the emperor by steadfast duty, rose to chief general, left a name for seven generations of palace service—Ban Gu marvels at the Jin house. The surname Jin was an imperial gift, from the golden heaven idols of Xiutu.

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