2
3
武帝末，郡國盜賊群起，暴勝之為直指使者，衣繡衣，持斧，逐捕盜賊，督課郡國，東至海，以軍興誅不從命者，威振州郡。 勝之素聞不疑賢，至勃海，遣吏請與相見。 不疑冠進賢冠，帶櫑具劍，佩環玦，褒衣博帶，盛服至門上謁。 門下欲使解劍，不疑曰：「劍者，君子武備，所以衛身，不可解。 請退。」 吏白勝之。 勝之開閣延請，望見不疑容貌尊嚴，衣冠甚偉，勝之□履起迎。 登堂坐定，不疑據地曰：「竊伏海瀕，聞暴公子威名舊矣，今乃承顏接辭。 凡為吏，太剛則折，太柔則廢，威行施之以恩，然後樹功揚名，永終天祿。」 勝之知不疑非庸人，敬納其戒，深接以禮意，問當世所施行。 門下諸從事皆州郡選吏，側聽不疑，莫不驚駭。 至昏夜，罷去。 勝之遂表薦不疑，征詣公車，拜為青州刺史。
Late in Emperor Wu's reign bandits sprang up everywhere; Bao Shengzhi was named commissioner with plenipotentiary powers, robed in silk and carrying the imperial axe, hunted down outlaws eastward to the sea, enforced the law with military rigor, and cowed every circuit he touched. Shengzhi had long heard of Buyi's worth; on reaching Bohai he sent an officer to ask for an interview. Buyi appeared in the cap of the worthy candidate, the long sword at his belt, jade ring and pendant, wide sleeves and flowing sash, and presented himself at the gate in full court dress. The porters asked him to leave his sword outside. Buyi replied, "The sword is a gentleman's arms; it guards his person and must stay at his side. Then I shall withdraw." The officer reported this to Shengzhi. Shengzhi threw open the door to receive him; one look at Buyi's stern bearing and magnificent dress sent him scrambling from his seat in his slippers to greet him. When they were seated in the hall, Buyi knelt and said, "I have lived obscurely by the coast and long admired your lordship's name; today I am honored to look upon you and speak with you. For any magistrate, too much rigidity snaps him, too much softness undoes him; temper stern rule with kindness, and only then can he win lasting merit, a good name, and the blessings of office." Shengzhi saw he was no common man, took his counsel to heart, treated him with full courtesy, and asked his views on current policy. The staff—all picked men from the provinces—listened in stunned silence. They talked on until nightfall before breaking up. Shengzhi memorialized his name; the court summoned him through the public carriage office and named him Governor of Qingzhou.
4
In time Emperor Wu died and Emperor Zhao succeeded him. Liu Ze, grandson of Prince Xiao of Qi, conspired with bold men across the commanderies and states to rebel and planned to strike first at the governor of Qing province. Buyi uncovered the plot, made arrests, and all the conspirators paid with their lives. He was promoted to Governor of the Capital and rewarded with a million cash. Officials and commoners in the capital respected his authority. Whenever he returned from touring the counties to review prisoners, his mother would ask Buyi, "How many wrongful cases did you reverse and how many lives did you save?" If Buyi had exonerated many, his mother beamed and treated him to food and talk unlike at other times; if there were none, his mother grew angry and refused to eat. Thus Buyi governed with severity but without cruelty.
5
In Shiyuan 5 a man arrived at the north gate in a yellow cart under a yellow banner, dressed in yellow from cap to coat, and announced that he was the crown prince of Wei. The public carriage office reported the matter, and the emperor ordered high ministers, generals, and officials at the two-thousand-shi rank to go and identify him. Tens of thousands of officials and commoners mobbed the streets of Chang'an to watch. The General of the Right drew up troops beneath the gate in case of trouble. The chancellor, the imperial counselor, and every two-thousand-shi official on the scene kept silent. Jun Buyi, Governor of the Capital, arrived last and ordered his men to arrest the man at once. Someone urged him to wait: "We cannot yet be sure—go slowly." Buyi replied, "Why should you fear the crown prince of Wei? When Prince Kuai Kui fled Wei, his son refused him entry, and the Spring and Autumn praises that refusal. The crown prince of Wei wronged the late emperor and ran away instead of dying for it; whoever walks in now is a criminal impostor." He was marched off to the imperial prison.
6
When the Son of Heaven and Grand General Huo Guang heard of this, they praised him, saying, "The high ministers should use classical learning to illuminate the great principles." His name rang through the court, and every man in office felt himself outmatched. Huo Guang offered him a daughter in marriage, but Buyi steadfastly refused. In time he resigned on grounds of illness and died at home. The capital long remembered the deed. Later Zhao Guanghan, as Governor of the Capital, said, "I can curb crime among officials and commoners, but beside Buyi I am nothing when it comes to affairs of state." The commandant of justice investigated and exposed the imposture. He was a native of Xiayang named Cheng Fangsu, who lived at Hu and earned his living as a diviner. A former gentleman-attendant of the heir apparent had once consulted him and remarked, "You look remarkably like the crown prince of Wei." Fangsu seized on the idea, hoping for rank and riches, and presented himself at the palace gates under a false name. The commandant of justice rounded up witnesses such as Zhang Zonglu; Fangsu was convicted of outrageous imposture and beheaded in the eastern market. Another tradition gives his name as Zhang Yannian.
7
Shu Guang, courtesy name Zhongweng, came from Lanling in Donghai commandery. He loved learning from boyhood, mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals, and taught at home until students came from afar. The court summoned him as an erudite and then as Grand Counselor of the Palace. In Dijie 3, when the heir apparent was installed, Bing Ji became grand tutor and Shu Guang junior tutor; a few months later Ji rose to commandant of the imperial counselors and Guang succeeded him as grand tutor.
8
His nephew Shu Shou, courtesy name Gongzi, was likewise recommended on the worthy-and-good list and made superintendent of the heir's household. Shu Shou loved ritual, was deferential and careful, quick-witted and eloquent. When Emperor Xuan visited the heir's palace, Shou received him with flawless courtesy; at the banquet he raised the toast with such grace that the emperor was delighted. Soon afterward he was named junior tutor.
9
The heir's maternal grandfather, Marquis of Ping'en Xu Bo, thought the boy needed more minders and asked that his brother, General of the Household Xu Shun, oversee the heir's establishment. The emperor consulted Shu Guang, who answered, "The heir is the nation's reserve; his teachers and companions should be the finest men in the empire, not drawn chiefly from the Xu in-laws. Besides, he already has a grand tutor and a junior tutor. His staff is complete; to add Xu Shun as overseer looks petty and does nothing to spread the heir's virtue through the realm." The emperor approved and repeated the remark to Chancellor Wei Xiang, who removed his cap and said, "We could never have risen to that." From then on Guang stood high in favor and often received imperial gifts. Whenever the heir attended court, the grand tutor walked before him and the junior tutor behind. Uncle and nephew serving together as the heir's tutors was counted an honor throughout the court.
10
After five years in office the heir was twelve and had mastered the Analects and the Classic of Filial Piety. Guang said to Shou, "I have read that contentment saves a man from shame, that knowing when to stop keeps him from harm, and that to retire once the deed is done is heaven's own way. We stand at the two-thousand-shi rank with name and office secure; if we stay on we may live to regret it. Better that we two leave the capital together, go home to grow old, and die in our own beds—would that not be the better course?" Shou kowtowed and said, "I obey your counsel, uncle." That same day both men reported themselves ill. After three months' sick leave Guang declared his illness grave and memorialized for permission to retire. Considering their age, the emperor granted the request, added twenty jin of gold from his own purse, and the heir sent fifty more. High officials, old friends, and fellow townsmen staged a farewell banquet outside the eastern gate; hundreds of carts lined the road as the two men took their leave and set out. Onlookers along the way cried, "What worthy men these two grandees are!" Some sighed and wept for them.
11
Back in his home district Guang had his household lay a feast every day for kinsmen, old friends, and guests, and joined them in good cheer. He often asked how much gold was left and urged his people to sell some whenever supplies ran low. After a year his descendants quietly said to the old kinsmen Guang trusted, "We hoped to build up land and houses while you still lived, but these feasts are eating the fortune away. Ask our elders to urge him to buy land and a house." When the elders relayed the plea, Guang said, "Do you take me for a senile fool who no longer cares for his descendants? They already have our old fields and cottages; if they work them hard they can dress and eat like any other family. To pile up more for them now would only teach them idleness. Talent plus a fat purse erodes ambition; foolishness plus wealth only magnifies fault. Besides, riches draw the world's resentment; I have no new wisdom to pass on; I will not swell their faults and make enemies for them. This gold is the emperor's gift to an old servant; I mean to share it with neighbors and kin and toast away my last years—what could be better?" The clan accepted his reasoning. Both men lived out their full span.
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Yu Dingguo, courtesy name Manqian, came from Tan in Donghai commandery. His father, known as Lord Yu, was a county prison clerk and a commandery sentencing officer; his verdicts were so fair that even those he condemned under the statutes felt no bitterness. The commandery built him a shrine while he still lived—the Shrine of Lord Yu.
14
Donghai had a famously dutiful daughter-in-law: widowed young and childless, she cared for her mother-in-law with devotion; when the old woman tried to marry her off, she refused. The mother-in-law told a neighbor, "She slaves for me out of pity—she lost her child and stays a widow for my sake. I am old and have tied down a young woman—what am I to do?" Later the mother-in-law hanged herself, and the old woman's daughter told the magistrate, "The daughter-in-law murdered my mother." Officers seized the daughter-in-law, who swore she had not harmed her mother-in-law. Under interrogation she broke and confessed to a crime she had not committed. When the file reached headquarters, Lord Yu argued that a woman famed for more than ten years of care could not have killed her. The grand administrator would not hear him; Lord Yu wept on the steps with the dossier in his arms, then resigned on grounds of illness. In the end the grand administrator had the innocent woman executed. For three years the commandery withered in drought. A new grand administrator cast divinations to learn the cause. Lord Yu said, "That woman should never have died; the last magistrate forced a verdict—perhaps the blame lies there?" The magistrate sacrificed an ox at her grave and had the tomb marked; rain fell at once and the harvest ripened. From that day the commandery revered Lord Yu all the more.
15
Dingguo studied law under his father as a youth. After his father died, Dingguo too served in the prison office and the commandery sentencing bureau, became a clerk of the commandant of justice, and by selection assisted the imperial counselor in treason cases. For his outstanding ability he was recommended as attendant imperial counselor and then promoted to imperial counselor. When Emperor Zhao died, the king of Changyi was summoned to the throne and behaved with dissolute disorder; Dingguo memorialized in remonstrance. After the king was deposed and Emperor Xuan took the throne, Grand General Guang directed the Masters of Writing and memorialized that every minister who had remonstrated the king of Changyi should be promoted out of turn. Dingguo thereupon became Imperial Household Grandee, assisted with the Masters of Writing, and was greatly trusted. Several years later, he was promoted to Superintendent of Waterways and Parks, then advanced exceptionally to Commandant of Justice.
16
Dingguo took a tutor in the Spring and Autumn Annals, clasped the text in his own hands, and sat as a pupil facing north. He was modest and scrupulous and honored classicists; even a poor scholar who walked to his door received the same courtesy as a noble guest, and men of learning sang his praises. In doubtful cases he leaned toward mercy for the widow and the orphan and always chose the lighter penalty when the facts were unclear. He added a painstaking care of his own. The court said of him, "When Zhang Shizhi held the seal of the commandant of justice, no innocent man languished in prison; under Yu Dingguo as commandant of justice, the common folk still believed themselves free of injustice." Dingguo could drink several stone of wine without losing his wits; in the deep of winter, when he reviewed capital appeals, a cup seemed only to sharpen his judgment. After eighteen years as commandant of justice he rose to commandant of the imperial counselors.
17
甘露中，代黃霸為丞相，封西平侯。 三年，宣帝崩，元帝立，以定國任職舊臣，敬重之。 時陳萬年為御史大夫，與定國並位八年，論議無所拂。 後貢禹代為御史大夫，數處駁議，定國明習政事，率常丞相議可。 然上始即位，關東連年被災害，民流入關，言事者歸咎於大臣。 上於是數以朝日引見丞相、御史，入受詔，條責以職事，曰：「惡吏負賊，妄意良民，至亡辜死。 或盜賊發，吏不亟追而反系亡家，後不敢復告，以故浸廣。 民多冤結，州郡不理，連上書者交於闕廷。 二千石選舉不實，是以在位多不任職。 民田有災害，吏不肯除，收趣其租，以故重困。 關東流民饑寒疾疫，已詔吏轉漕，虛倉廩開府臧相振救，賜寒者衣，至春猶恐不贍。 今丞相、御史將欲何施以塞此咎？ 悉意條狀，陳朕過失。」 定國上書謝罪。 永光元年，春霜夏寒，日青亡光，上復以詔條責曰：「郎有從東方來者，言民父子相棄。 丞相、御史案事之吏匿不言邪？ 將從東方來者加增之也？ 何以錯繆至是？ 欲知其實。 方今年歲未可預知也，即有水旱，其憂不細。 公卿有可以防其未然，救其已然者不？ 各以誠對，毋有所諱。」 定國惶恐，上書自劾，歸侯印，乞骸骨。 上報曰：「君相朕躬，不敢怠息，萬方之事，大錄於君。 能毋過者，其唯聖人。 方今承周、秦之敝，俗化陵夷，民寡禮誼，陰陽不調，災咎之發，不為一端而作，自聖人推類以記，不敢專也，況於非聖者乎！ 日夜惟思所以，未能盡明。 經曰：『萬方有罪，罪在朕躬。』 君雖任職，何必顓焉？ 其勉察郡國守相群牧，非其人者毋令久賊民。 永執綱紀，務悉聰明，強食慎疾。」 定國遂稱篤，固辭。 上乃賜安車駟馬、黃金六十斤，罷就第。 數歲，七十餘薨。 謚曰安侯。
During the Ganlu era he replaced Huang Ba as chancellor and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Xiping. Three years later Emperor Xuan died and Emperor Yuan succeeded him; as an old minister still in office, Dingguo was held in high regard. Chen Wannian then served as commandant of the imperial counselors; he and Dingguo held equal rank for eight years without clashing in council. Later Gong Yu replaced him as commandant of the imperial counselors and often disagreed in debate, but Dingguo knew administration thoroughly and the chancellor's views usually carried the day. But the new emperor's reign opened with disaster after disaster in Guandong; refugees poured through the passes, and memorialists blamed the high ministers. The emperor therefore repeatedly summoned chancellor and imperial counselor on court days, received them with edicts, and rebuked them point by point for their duties, saying, "Wicked clerks shelter bandits and falsely accuse honest people, even to the death of the innocent. When bandits struck, officers failed to pursue them but instead detained ruined households; afterward people dared not report crimes, and the evil spread. Grievances multiplied while provinces and commanderies neglected them, and memorials piled up at the palace gates. Recommendations for two-thousand-shi posts were false, and many officeholders failed their duties. When farmers' fields were ruined, clerks refused remission and still pressed for rent, deepening their hardship. Refugees from Guandong faced hunger, cold, and plague; the court had ordered grain shipments, emptied granaries, opened treasuries, and given clothes to the freezing, yet even by spring he feared the relief would not suffice. What do chancellor and imperial counselor propose to do to answer for this blame? Set out everything in full and lay Our faults before Us." Dingguo memorialized to apologize. In the first year of Yongguang, frost came in spring and cold in summer, and the sun turned pale and dim. The emperor again rebuked them by edict, saying, "A court gentleman arrived from the east reporting that fathers and sons were abandoning one another. Have the chancellor's and imperial counselor's investigating clerks concealed this and said nothing? Or has the man from the east exaggerated it? How could things have gone so wrong? We wish to know the truth. This year's harvest cannot yet be foretold; if flood or drought comes, the worry will be grave. Can any of you prevent what has not yet happened and remedy what has already happened? Answer with full sincerity and hide nothing." Dingguo, in fear and trembling, memorialized against himself, returned his marquis seal, and asked to retire. The emperor answered, "You assist Our person; We dare not slacken. The affairs of the realm rest largely upon you. Only a sage can be wholly without fault. We inherit the exhaustion left by Zhou and Qin; custom has decayed, the people lack ritual and duty, yin and yang are awry, and disasters do not spring from one cause alone. Even a sage, when extending categories to record blame, does not take it all upon himself—how much less anyone who is no sage! Day and night We ponder the remedy, yet cannot see it fully. The Classic says, "When the myriad regions are guilty, the guilt lies in Our person." Though you hold office, why must you shoulder all the blame? Examine the governors and regional shepherds of the commanderies and states, and do not let unfit men long prey upon the people. Hold fast to discipline, strive to be wholly clear-minded, eat well, and guard your health." Dingguo then pleaded grave illness and firmly declined. The emperor then gave him a comfortable carriage, four horses, and sixty jin of gold, dismissed him, and sent him home. Some years later he died, aged more than seventy. He was given the posthumous title Marquis An.
18
His son Yu Yong inherited his title. In youth he drank hard and often stumbled; near thirty he mended his ways, and through his father's rank became a palace attendant, General of the Household, and Colonel of the Changshui Archers. When Dingguo died, he observed the full mourning rites and his filial piety became known. He rose from full marquis to attendant at leisure and superintendent of the imperial household, then to commandant of the imperial counselors. He was given in marriage to Princess Guantao, whose personal name was Shi. Shi was Emperor Xuan's eldest daughter and Emperor Cheng's aunt, a woman of virtue and good repute; Yong was chosen as her consort. The emperor was on the point of making him chancellor when Yu Yong died. His son Yu Tian inherited the line. Yu Tian proved unworthy and mean in his conduct.
19
Long before, when Dingguo's father Lord Yu was alive, the gate of their lane fell into ruin and the elders of the village were repairing it together. Lord Yu told them, "Raise the gate high enough for a four-horse carriage with a tall canopy to pass through. I have tried cases with a mind to hidden merit and have never knowingly wronged a soul; my descendants will flourish for it." In the end Dingguo became chancellor and Yong commandant of the imperial counselors, both enfeoffed as marquises whose lines endured for generations.
20
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Xue Guangde, courtesy name Changqing, came from Xiang in Pei commandery. He taught the Lu recension of the Classic of Songs in the state of Chu; Gong Sheng and Gong She became his disciples. When Xiao Wangzhi was commandant of the imperial counselors he took Guangde onto his staff, debated policy with him often, admired him, and recommended his learning and character as fit for high office at court. He served as an erudite, took part in the Stone Canal conference, became remonstrance grandee, then succeeded Gong Yu as superintendent of the Changle Palace and as commandant of the imperial counselors.
22
Guangde was gentle, refined, and self-contained. Once he sat among the three dukes he spoke bluntly in remonstrance. Within days of his appointment the emperor went to Sweet Springs to sacrifice at the Taiyi and Tai shrines and then lingered to hunt. Guangde memorialized: "East of the passes the people are destitute and driven from their homes. Yet Your Majesty tolls the bell of fallen Qin day after day and fills your ears with the licentious airs of Zheng and Wei—I grieve for it. Your soldiers stand exposed to the weather and your attendants are worn out; I beg Your Majesty to return to the palace at once and share the people's weal and woe—that would be the realm's good fortune." The emperor turned back the same day. That autumn, after the zhōu offering at the ancestral shrines, the emperor left by the Convenient Gate intending to board a tower ship. Guangde planted himself before the chariot, removed his cap, and kowtowed: "You should take the bridge." The edict read, "Grandee, put your cap back on." Guangde cried, "If you will not hear me I shall cut my throat here and foul your wheels with my blood—you will never enter the temple!" The emperor was not pleased. Zhang Meng, Imperial Household Grandee riding in the van, stepped forward: "They say a wise sovereign has blunt ministers. A boat is perilous, the bridge is safe, and a sage king does not court danger. The commandant of the imperial counselors speaks with good sense." The emperor said, "Is this not the way to set a man right!" He took the bridge.
23
A month later, citing a bad harvest and wandering refugees, he joined Chancellor Yu Dingguo and Grand Marshal Shi Gao in asking to retire; each received a comfortable carriage, four horses, sixty jin of gold, and was dismissed. Guangde had held the post of commandant of the imperial counselors for only ten months when he stepped down. He went home east to Pei, where the grand administrator met him at the commandery border. Pei took pride in him and hung up the imperial carriage in the hall to hand down to his descendants.
24
Ping Dang, courtesy name Zisi, was descended from a grandfather worth a million cash who had moved the family from Xiayi to Pingling. In youth he served as assistant for rites under the grand courier, rose through merit to an erudite post at the office of the grand herald, was nominated incorrupt and became chief of Shunyang and magistrate of Xunyi, then, on his mastery of the classics, was named an erudite; the high ministers praised the clarity of his memorials and he received appointment as palace attendant. Whenever omens appeared he framed his analysis in the classics and spoke plainly of policy failures and successes. His literary polish fell short of Xiao Wangzhi's or Kuang Heng's, but his aims ran along the same lines.
25
自元帝時，韋玄成為丞相，奏罷太上皇寢廟園，當上書言：「臣聞孔子曰：『如有王者，必世而後仁。』 三十年之間，道德和洽，制禮興樂，災害不生，禍亂不作。 今聖漢受命而王，繼體承業二百餘年，孜孜不怠，政令清矣。 然風俗未和，陰陽未調，災害數見，意者大本有不立與？ 何德化休征不應之久也！ 禍福不虛，必有因而至者焉。 宜深跡其道而務修其本。 昔者帝堯南面而治，先『克膽俊德，以親九族』，而化及萬國《孝經》曰『天地之性人為貴，人之行莫大於孝，孝莫大於嚴父，嚴父莫大於配天，則周公其人也。』 夫孝子善述人之志，周公既成文、武之業而製作禮樂，修嚴父配天之事，知文王不欲以子臨父，故推而序之，上極於後稷而以配天。 此聖人之德，亡以加於孝也。 高皇帝聖德受命，有天下，尊太上皇，猶周文、武之追王太王、王季也。 此漢之始祖，後嗣所宜尊奉以廣盛德，孝之至也。 《書》云：『正稽古建功立事，可以永年，傳於亡窮。』」 上納其言，下詔復太上皇寢廟園。
Under Emperor Yuan, Chancellor Wei Xuancheng had persuaded the throne to close the shrine park of the Exalted Supreme Emperor. Ping Dang memorialized: "Confucius said, 'Give a true king one generation and benevolence will appear.' Within thirty years virtue and custom would blend, rites and music would flourish, and neither disaster nor rebellion would arise. Sacred Han has held the mandate for more than two hundred tireless years, and the statutes run clear. Yet custom is still discordant, yin and yang are out of tune, and omens come thick and fast—can the great foundations still be unsettled? How long has virtuous rule waited in vain for its auspicious answer! Blessing and calamity do not strike at random; each has its cause. We should trace the way to its source and mend the root. Emperor Yao faced his court and began by illumining matchless virtue and bringing harmony to his nine clans, until his influence spread to every state. The Classic of Filial Piety says that among heaven and earth's gifts none ranks above man, that among human deeds none ranks above filial piety, that honoring the father is filial piety's height, and that joining the father to heaven is its summit—and the Duke of Zhou is the model. A true son carries on his forebears' purpose. The Duke of Zhou, having finished the work of Kings Wen and Wu, composed the rites and music and set his father King Wen beside heaven; knowing that a living son must not overshadow his father, he pushed the line back through the ancestors to Hou Ji so that Hou Ji might share heaven's honor. That is sage virtue, and filial piety cannot rise higher. The High Emperor received heaven's mandate and ruled the world; he honored his father as Exalted Supreme Emperor just as Kings Wen and Wu of Zhou posthumously ennobled King Tai and Wang Ji. He is Han's founding forebear; later generations owe him reverent service to magnify the dynasty's virtue—that is filial piety in full measure. The Documents says, 'He who founds lasting deeds on the lessons of antiquity may enjoy long life and hand his work down forever.'" The emperor accepted the argument and ordered the shrine park of the Exalted Supreme Emperor restored.
26
頃之，使行流民幽州。 舉奏刺史二千石勞徠有意者，言勃海鹽池可且勿禁，以救民急。 所過見稱，奉使者十一人，為最，遷丞相司直。 坐法，左遷逆方刺史，復征入為太中大夫給事中，累遷長信少府、大鴻臚、光祿勳。
Soon afterward he was dispatched to Youzhou to oversee relief for displaced people. He cited governors and two-thousand-shi officials who had worked earnestly to settle refugees and urged that the Bohai salt ponds be opened temporarily to ease the people's distress. Wherever he went he won praise; among eleven commissioners on the same errand he ranked first and was promoted director of integrity for the chancellor. Convicted of an offense, he was demoted to governor of Shuofang commandery; he was recalled as grand counselor of the palace with palace attendant duties and rose through superintendent of the Changle Palace, grand herald, and superintendent of the imperial household.
27
Earlier the Empress Dowager's nephew, Commandant of the Guards Chunyu Chang, had warned that the Changling project could not succeed, and the matter was sent to the ministries for debate. Ping Dang had argued that work already stretched over many years and could be brought to completion. When the emperor abandoned Changling, he credited Chunyu Chang with the loyal warning and asked the high ministers whether to enfeoff him. Ping Dang replied that Chang's counsel, however sound, did not meet the criteria for a noble title. He was faulted for that earlier opinion and demoted to grand administrator of Julu. The emperor later enfeoffed Chunyu Chang anyway. For his mastery of the Tribute of Yu he was sent to inspect the Yellow River, appointed Commandant of Cavalry, and put in charge of the dikes.
28
Emperor Ai summoned him as Imperial Household Grandee with attendant-at-leisure privileges; he rose again to superintendent of the imperial household and commandant of the imperial counselors, and finally to chancellor. That winter he was given the rank of marquis within the passes. The next spring the emperor sent messengers to call him to court for enfeoffment. He was too ill to answer the summons. Someone in his household urged him, "Why not drag yourself to court, take the seal of a full marquis, and secure something for your heirs?" Dang answered, "I have held high office long enough to be ashamed of an empty salary; to rise now, clutch a marquis's seal, and die the moment I return to bed would leave guilt enough for the grave. My refusal to rise is precisely how I mean to help my descendants." He then memorialized for permission to retire. The emperor answered, "We picked you from many men for chancellor; you have not long held the seal, yet yin and yang are awry, no heavy snow fell this winter, and drought stalks the land. The fault is Our lack of virtue—why blame you? Why doubt yourself, resign your post, and give back the income of a marquis within the passes? We send Secretary Director Tan with a fattening ox and ten stone of finest ale. Take physic and nurse your strength." He died a little over a month later. His son Ping Yan, a classicist, rose to grand minister of education and was enfeoffed as Marquis of Fang township. Since the founding of Han only the Wei and Ping families had both father and son serve as chancellor.
29
Peng Xuan, courtesy name Zipei, came from Yangxia in Huaiyang commandery. He mastered the Changes under Zhang Yu, was recommended as an erudite, and became tutor to the king of Dongping. Zhang Yu, honored as the emperor's teacher, recommended Xuan as a classicist of authority fit for government. Xuan thereupon entered court as Youfufeng, rose to commandant of justice, and later left office to govern Taiyuan because he was a man of a royal domain. Some years later he returned to court as grand minister of agriculture, superintendent of the imperial household, and General of the Right. When Emperor Ai succeeded, he was transferred to General of the Left. More than a year later the emperor wished to place the Ding and Fu factions in military posts and addressed Xuan with an edict: "The responsible offices have repeatedly reported that men of the feudal states may not serve in palace guard. The general ought not command troops and horses or hold so high a post. We alone have entrusted you with the weight of Han's military command, yet your son earlier married the daughter of the king of Huaiyang; such an unbroken marriage tie is not the state's rule. We send the Imperial Household Grandee Man to bestow fifty jin of gold and a comfortable carriage with four horses; surrender the seal and ribbon of General of the Left and return home as marquis within the passes."
30
Some years after Peng Xuan retired, Remonstrance Grandee Bao Xuan repeatedly recommended him to the throne. At the solar eclipse on the new moon of the first month of the first year of Yuanshou, Bao Xuan spoke again; the emperor recalled Peng Xuan as Imperial Household Grandee, then promoted him to commandant of the imperial counselors, grand minister of works, and Marquis of Changping.
31
When Emperor Ai died, Wang Mang of Xindu became grand marshal and seized sole power. Peng Xuan submitted a memorial: "The Three Excellencies support the ruler like the legs of a tripod. If one leg cannot bear its weight, the vessel overturns and its precious contents are spoiled. Your servant's nature and abilities are shallow; I am old and dim, often laid low by illness, confused, and forgetful. I wish to return the seals and ribbons of Grand Minister of Works and Marquis of Changping, beg leave to take my old bones back to my village, and wait there to be laid in a ditch or ravine." Wang Mang informed the Empress Dowager and issued a rescript: "You have held office briefly and shown little merit; age and infirmity unfit you to steady the state within the four seas. We are sending Feng, Superintendent of the Imperial Household, with this written summons. Return the seals and ribbons of Grand Minister of Works and proceed at once to your fief." Mang resented his asking to withdraw and withheld the usual gift of gold, carriage, and four horses. Peng Xuan lived on his fief a few years, died, and was posthumously titled Marquis Qing. The title passed to his son and grandson until Wang Mang fell and the line ended.
32
The historian's judgment: Jun Buyi turned classical learning into firm government; he never wavered in a crisis and left a name worth telling from first to last. Shu Guang knew when enough was enough and so escaped shame and danger—a worthy second. Yu Dingguo and his son showed mercy to the helpless and wisdom in judgment—true ministers for their posts. Xue Guangde preserved the honor of retiring his carriage; Ping Dang withdrew with a sense of shame; and Peng Xuan stopped when he saw danger. They were unlike those who "are anxious only over losing office."