1
韋賢字長孺。 魯國鄒人也。 其先韋孟，家本彭城，為楚元王傅，傅子夷王及孫王戊。 戊荒淫不遵道，孟作詩風諫。 後遂去位，徒家於鄒，又作一篇。 其諫詩曰：
Wei Xian’s courtesy name was Zhangru. He was a native of Zou in Lu. His forebear Wei Meng came from a family rooted at Pengcheng; he was tutor to Prince Yuan of Chu and later tutored Yuan’s son King Yi and his grandson King Wu. When King Wu gave himself to debauchery and ignored proper conduct, Wei Meng wrote a poem in the classical admonitory style to correct him. He eventually resigned office, relocated his family to Zou, and wrote a second poem there. The admonitory poem runs as follows:
2
肅肅我祖，國自豕韋，黼衣硃紱，四牡龍旂。 彤弓斯征，撫寧遐荒，總齊群邦，以翼大商，迭披大彭，勳績惟光。 至於有周，歷世會同。 王赧聽譖，實絕我邦。 我邦既絕，厥政斯逸，賞罰之行，非由王室。 庶尹群後，靡扶靡衛，五服崩離，宗周以隊。 我祖斯微，遷於彭城，在予小子，勤誒厥生，厄此嫚秦，耒耜以耕。 悠悠嫚秦，上天不寧，乃眷南顧，授漢於京。
Our ancestor rose in solemn dignity from the state of Shiwei, robed in emblazoned silk and cinnabar cords, with four horses and dragon-decked banners at his command. Bearing the crimson bow he marched to still the far frontier, rallied the many domains, and buttressed Great Shang; he overcame Great Peng in turn, and his achievements shone bright. Under the Zhou our line for generations joined the royal assemblies at court. King Nan of Zhou believed malicious talk and in truth extinguished our domain. Once our state was gone, its authority scattered, and reward and punishment no longer issued from the Zhou kings. High ministers and regional lords offered neither help nor shelter; the five zones broke apart, and the house of Zhou came crashing down. Our line then waned and withdrew to Pengcheng; I, a mere stripling, labor to live under the heel of insolent Qin, breaking soil with plough and mattock. Long did arrogant Qin hold sway while Heaven withheld peace; then Heaven’s glance turned south and entrusted the mandate to Han at the capital.
3
於赫有漢，四方是征，靡適不懷，萬國逌平。 乃命厥弟，建侯於楚，俾我小臣，惟傅是輔。 兢兢元王，恭儉淨一，惠此黎民，納彼輔弼。 饗國漸世，垂烈於後，乃及夷王，克奉厥緒。 咨命不永，唯王統祀，左右陪臣，此惟皇士。
Splendid Han marched to the four quarters until none who faced it failed to submit, and the myriad regions knew peace. He enfeoffed his younger brother in Chu and made me, a humble servant, tutor to the house—my sole charge was to guide the prince. Prince Yuan was scrupulous, courteous and spare, single-minded in virtue; he showed kindness to the common folk and welcomed wise counselors. The line held the fief through the generations and left a bright legacy; down to King Yi each heir faithfully continued that inheritance. Alas, no mandate lasts forever; the king alone maintains the ancestral rites, flanked by ministers who are Heaven’s chosen officers.
4
如何我王，不思守保，不惟履冰，以繼祖考！ 邦事是廢，逸游是娛，犬馬繇繇，是放是驅。 務彼鳥獸，忽此稼苗，烝民以匱，我王以愉。 所弘非德，所親非悛，唯囿是恢，唯諛是信。 睮□諂夫，咢咢黃髮，如何我王，曾不是察！ 既藐下臣，追欲從逸，嫚彼顯祖，輕茲削黜。
How can our king neglect his duty to preserve the realm, ignore the peril of walking on thin ice, and fail to carry on what his forebears began? He abandons the business of state for idle sport, and fills his days with hounds and horses loosed and galloped for his pleasure. He chases birds and beasts while the grain fields go untended; the people grow destitute even as the king finds his amusement. He promotes no true virtue and keeps no company with those who would mend his ways; he widens his hunting parks and believes only sycophants. Flatterers crowd his hall while white-haired elders speak plainly—how can our king refuse to see what is before him? He scorns his ministers and gives himself to wanton ease, dishonors his glorious ancestors, and treats the threat of disgrace and loss of title as nothing.
5
嗟嗟我王，漢之睦親，曾不夙夜，以休令聞！ 穆穆天子，臨爾下土，明明群司，執憲靡顧。 正遐由近，殆其怙茲，嗟嗟我王，曷不此思！
Alas, our king is a kinsman bound in friendship to the Han house—will he never labor night and day to earn a good name? The Son of Heaven sits in solemn majesty over your lands; his clear-sighted officials uphold the law without favor. He who would set right the distant must begin at hand; to cling blindly to your course is peril—our king, why will you not reflect on this?
6
非思非鑒，嗣其罔則，彌彌其失，岌岌其國。 致冰匪霜，致隊靡嫚，瞻惟我王，昔靡不練。 興國救顛，孰違悔過，追思黃髮，秦繆以霸。 歲月其徂，年其逮耇，於昔君子，庶顯於後。 我王如何，曾不斯覺！ 黃髮不近，胡不時監！
He neither thinks nor takes warning; the successor follows no pattern; error piles on error until the state totters. Thick ice gathers from more than a single frost, and a throne topples only when pride has long gathered—look at our king, who in youth was schooled in every branch of learning. States are raised and ruin averted only by those who repent their faults and heed white-haired elders—thus Duke Mu of Qin rose to hegemony. The years slip by until one is old; the gentlemen of former times hoped at least to leave a name to posterity. How can our king remain blind to all of this? He keeps no wise elders at his side—why will he not look to himself in the mirror of the past?
7
其在鄒詩曰：
His poem composed at Zou reads:
8
微微小子，既耇且陋，豈不牽位，穢我王朝。 王朝肅清。 唯俊之庭，顧瞻余躬，懼穢此征。
I am but a frail old man, unworthy of rank—yet office tugs at me and I fear I would stain the king’s court by taking it. The royal court is kept in solemn good order. That hall is for the worthy alone; I look at myself and dread that accepting this summons would foul its purity.
9
我之退征，請於天子，天子我恤，矜我發齒。 赫赫天子，明哲且仁，懸車之義，以洎小臣。 嗟我小子，豈不懷土？ 庶我王寤，越遷於魯。
I begged leave to withdraw and lay the matter before the Son of Heaven; he took pity on my gray hair and failing teeth. The glorious Son of Heaven is wise, clear-sighted, and kind; in the spirit of “hanging up the chariot” for old age he extended that grace even to me, a humble servant. Alas, though I am but a minor figure, do I not love my native ground? Would that my king might wake to wisdom and consent to move our house to Lu.
10
既去檷祖，惟懷惟顧，祁祁我徒，戴負盈路。 爰戾於鄒，剪茅作堂，我徒我環，築室於牆。
We left our forebear’s grave at Ni with hearts full of longing and backward glances; my people trailed in a long line, loads borne on shoulder and back till the road was full. We came to rest at Zou, roofed a hall with clipped thatch, and my kinsmen and companions raised dwellings along the lane.
11
我即□逝，心存我舊，夢我瀆上，立於王朝。 其夢如何？ 夢爭王室。 其爭如何？ 夢王我弼。 寤其外邦，歎其喟然，念我祖考，泣涕其漣。 微微老夫，咨既遷絕，洋洋仲尼，視我遺烈。 濟濟鄒魯，禮義唯恭，誦習弦歌，於異他邦。 我雖鄙耇，心其好而，我徒侃爾，樂亦在而。
Though I go forth, my heart stays with the old home; I dream myself standing once more in the royal hall above the river. What manner of dream was it? I dreamed I was struggling for place in the king’s household. What was the struggle like? I dreamed the king had appointed me his helper. I woke in a distant land and groaned aloud; I thought of my forebears and wept till the tears ran in streams. I am a frail old man, severed from all I knew; great Confucius looks down on the little legacy I still might leave. Zou and Lu teem with scholars where rite and right are honored, where the Classics are chanted to lute and song—unlike any other land. Though I am old and meanly born, my heart rejoices in this place; my companions are merry, and I too find my contentment here.
12
孟卒於鄒。 或曰其子孫好事，述先人之志而作是詩也。
Wei Meng died in Zou. Some hold that later generations, eager to commemorate him, set down what their ancestor had meant to say and framed these poems in his name.
13
賢四子：長子方山為高寢令，早終； 次子弘，至東海太守； 次子舜，留魯守墳墓； 少子玄成，復以明經歷位至丞相。 故鄒魯諺曰：「遺子黃金滿□，不如一經。」
Wei Xian had four sons. The eldest, Fangshan, served as keeper of the Gaoling mausoleum and died young; Hong, the second son, rose to be governor of Donghai; Shun, another son, remained in Lu to watch over the ancestral graves; the youngest, Xuancheng, won successive posts through mastery of the Classics until he became chancellor. Hence the Zou–Lu saying: “A cartload of gold left to your son is worth less than a single classic mastered.”
14
玄成字少翁，以父任為郎，常侍騎。 少好學，修父業，尤謙遜下士。 出遇知識步行，輒下從者，與載送之，以為常。 其接人，貧賤者益加敬，繇是名譽日廣。 以明經擢為諫大夫，遷大河都尉。
Wei Xuancheng, courtesy name Shaoweng, entered office as a gentleman-attendant through his father’s rank and served in the mounted escort. From youth he loved books, continued his father’s scholarly path, and was unusually modest toward those of lower station. Whenever he met someone he knew afoot, he would send his attendants aside, offer a seat in his carriage, and see the man home—so habitual was his courtesy. With the humble and poor he was doubly respectful, and his reputation spread ever wider. For his mastery of the Classics he was raised to remonstrance grandee, then promoted to commandant of the Great River circuit.
15
初，玄成兄弘為太常丞，職奉宗廟，典諸陵邑，煩劇多罪過。 父賢以弘當為嗣，故敕令自免。 弘懷謙，不去官。 及賢病篤，弘竟坐宗廟事系獄，罪未決。 室家問賢當為後者，賢恚恨不肯言。 於是賢門下生博士義倩等與宗家計議，共矯賢令，使家丞上書言大行，以大河都尉玄成為後。 賢薨，玄成在官聞喪，又言當為嗣，玄成深知其非賢雅意，即陽為病狂，臥便利，妄笑語昏亂。 徵至長安，既葬，當襲爵，以病狂不應召。 大鴻臚奏狀，章下丞相、御史案驗。 玄成素有名聲，士大夫多疑其欲讓爵辟兄者。 案事丞相史乃與玄成書曰：「古之辭讓，必有文義可觀，故能垂榮於後。 今子獨壞容貌，蒙恥辱，為狂癡，光耀暗而不宣。 微哉！ 子之所托名也。 僕素愚陋，過為宰相執事，願少聞風聲。 不然，恐子傷高而僕為小人也。」 玄成友人侍郎章亦上疏言：「聖王貴以禮讓為國，宜優養玄成，勿枉其志，使得自安衡門之下。」 而丞相、御史遂以玄成實不病，劾奏之。 有詔勿劾，引拜。 玄成不得已受爵。 宣帝高其節，以玄成為河南太守。 兄弘太山都尉，遷東海太守。
Earlier, Xuancheng’s brother Hong had served as assistant chamberlain for ceremonials, charged with the imperial shrines and the tomb districts—a grinding office in which he racked up many infractions. Their father Wei Xian, intending Hong to succeed him, ordered Hong to resign his post. Hong, out of modesty, refused to step down. By the time Wei Xian lay gravely ill, Hong had landed in jail on charges arising from the shrines, and his case was still undecided. The family asked Wei Xian whom he meant to name heir, but he was too bitter to answer. Then Yi Qian, an erudite among Wei Xian’s students, conspired with kinsmen to forge their patron’s dying instructions: the household steward was made to memorialize the marquis’s death and nominate Xuancheng, commandant of the Great River, as heir. When Wei Xian died, Xuancheng was still in post and learned of the death; word came that he was to inherit the title. Knowing this could not have been his father’s true wish, he feigned madness—rolling in the latrine, cackling and babbling incoherently. He was summoned to the capital; after the funeral he was expected to assume the marquisate, but he pleaded madness and ignored the call. The grand herald reported the matter; the memorial went to the chancellor and the censor for investigation. Xuancheng was widely respected, and many officials suspected he was shamming illness to yield the title to his elder brother. The investigating clerk under the chancellor wrote to Xuancheng: “In antiquity those who declined honor did so in language worthy of the ages, and so left a shining name to posterity.” You alone have disfigured yourself, heaped shame upon your head, and played the madman—so that the luster you might have shown is hidden and never seen. How mean a thing to do! This is the reputation you choose to stand on. I am a dull man who happens to clerk for the chancellor; I would hear even a whisper of your true intent. Otherwise I fear you will injure your own nobility and leave me looking the villain.” Xuancheng’s friend, Palace Gentleman Zhang, also memorialized: “A sage ruler prizes courtesy and yielding in governing; Xuancheng should be treated with indulgence, his wishes not forced aside, so he may live content behind a poor man’s door.” The chancellor and the imperial censor nonetheless impeached him, holding that he was not truly ill. An edict forbade prosecution, and he was summoned to receive the investiture. Left no honorable exit, Xuancheng accepted the title. Emperor Xuan admired his scruples and appointed him governor of Henan. His brother Hong served as commandant of Taishan before being promoted to governor of Donghai.
16
數歲，玄成徵為未央衛尉，遷太常。 坐與故平通侯楊惲厚善，惲誅，黨友皆免官。 後以列侯侍祀孝惠廟，當晨入廟，天雨淖，不駕駟馬車而騎至廟下。 有司劾奏，等輩數人皆削爵為關內侯。 玄成自傷貶黜父爵，歎曰：「吾何面目以奉祭祀！」 作詩自劾責，曰：
Some years later he was recalled as commandant of the Weiyang Palace guard, then promoted to chamberlain for ceremonials. He was stripped of office for his close ties to the disgraced Marquis of Pingtong, Yang Yun; when Yun was executed, his associates were dismissed as well. Later, as a marquis charged with sacrifice at Emperor Xiaohui’s shrine, he arrived at dawn in a driving rain; instead of riding in his four-horse state carriage, he came on horseback to the temple steps. The authorities impeached him, and he and several others were reduced from full marquis to marquis-within-the-passes. Bitter that he had lost the marquisate his father had held, he cried, “What face have I left to stand before the altars?” He wrote a poem of self-reproach, which begins:
17
赫矣我祖，侯於豕韋，賜命建伯，有殷以綏。 厥績既昭，車服有常，朝宗商邑，四牡翔翔，德之令顯，慶流於裔，宗周至漢，群後歷世。
Glorious was our forebear, enfeoffed at Shiwei, charged as a founding lord and charged with bringing peace to Yin. His merit shone clear; his chariots and robes matched his rank; four horses bore him to homage at the Shang capital; his virtue was plain for all to see, and blessing passed down the line from Zhou through Han, generation upon generation of lords.
18
肅肅楚傅，輔翼元、夷，厥駟有庸，惟慎惟祗。 嗣王孔佚，越遷於鄒，五世壙僚，至我節侯。
Solemn stood the tutor of Chu who steadied Princes Yuan and Yi; his team served the realm in harness, ever cautious, ever reverent. Later kings failed in duty until the line moved to Zou; for five generations they kept vigil at the royal tombs, down to my father, Marquis Jie.
19
惟我節侯，顯德遐聞，左右昭、宣，五呂以訓。 既耇致位，惟懿惟奐，厥賜祁祁，百金洎館。 國彼扶陽，在京之東，惟帝是留，政謀是從。 繹繹六轡，是列是理，威儀濟濟，朝享天子。 天子穆穆，是宗是師，四方遐爾，觀國之輝。
My father, Marquis Jie, was known far and wide for virtue; he stood at the side of Emperors Zhao and Xuan and by his example schooled the court in right conduct. In old age he resigned his post, splendid in dignity; imperial gifts came in streams—gold by the hundred and a mansion besides. He was enfeoffed at Fuyang east of the capital; the emperor kept him at court and followed his counsel in affairs of state. The six reins run smooth as he sets his team in order; in full dignity he enters court to attend sacrifice before the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven sits in majesty, honored as forebear and teacher, while from every quarter of the realm men behold the splendor of his rule.
20
茅土之繼，在我俊兄，惟我俊兄，是讓是形。 於休厥德，於赫有聲，致我小子，越留於京。 惟我小子，不肅會同，惰彼車服，黜此附庸。
The noble fief ought by right to pass to my worthy elder brother; he would yield the title, yet his conduct itself sets the pattern all should follow. His virtue was perfect and his name resounded, while I, the lesser son, was kept behind in the capital. I, a mere stripling, failed in reverence at the great assemblies, grew slack in carriage and dress, and was stripped of this servant marquis’s standing.
21
赫赫顯爵，自我隊之； 微微附庸，自我招之。 誰能忍愧，寄之我顏； 誰將遐征，從之夷蠻。 於赫三事，匪俊匪作，於蔑小子，終焉其度。 誰謂華高，企其齊而； 誰謂德難，厲其庶而。 嗟我小子，於貳其尤，隊彼令聲，申此擇辭。 四方群後，我監我視，威儀車服，唯肅是履！
That glorious, exalted title—I myself cast it down; this mean vassal’s station—I brought it on myself. Who could bear such shame branded on his face; or willingly march to the ends of the earth in barbarian exile? August are the three high offices, not won by merit or founding deed alone; I am the scorned stripling whose measure is fixed at last. Who says Mount Hua is too high? On tiptoe you can stand level with its peak; who says virtue is beyond reach? Exhort the people, and they will rise to it. Alas for me, doubly at fault: I brought a fair name to ruin and set down these chosen words in my defense. The regional lords of the four quarters watch and judge me—carriage, robes, and bearing—reverence alone is the path you must walk!
22
初，宣帝寵姬張婕妤男淮陽憲王好政事，通法律，上奇其才，有意欲以為嗣，然用太子起於細微，又早失母，故不忍也。 久之，上欲感風憲王，輔以禮讓之臣，乃召拜玄成為淮陽中尉。 是時，王未就國，玄成受詔，與太子太傅蕭望之及《五經》諸儒雜論同異於石渠閣，條奏其對。 及元帝即位，以玄成為少府，遷太子太傅，至御史大夫。 永光中，代於定國為丞相。 貶黜十年之間，遂繼父相位，封侯故國，榮當世焉。 玄成復作詩，自著復玷缺之艱難，因以戒示子孫，曰：
Emperor Xuan’s favorite, Lady Zhang, bore Prince Xian of Huaiyang, who loved government and knew the law; the emperor admired his gifts and considered naming him heir, yet the crown prince had risen from humble origins and had lost his mother young, so the emperor could not bring himself to replace him. In time the emperor sought to influence Prince Xian through example and surround him with men who valued courtesy and deference, so he summoned Xuancheng and named him marshal of Huaiyang. The prince had not yet taken up his fief when Xuancheng was ordered to join Grand Tutor Xiao Wangzhi and the Five Classics scholars at the Stone Canal Pavilion to debate points of doctrine, then to memorialize their conclusions in orderly articles. After Emperor Yuan ascended the throne, Xuancheng served as superintendent of the household, then as grand tutor to the crown prince, and finally rose to imperial censor. During the Yongguang era he succeeded Yu Dingguo as chancellor. Within a decade of disgrace he had climbed back to his father’s post as chancellor, recovered the family marquisate in his home commandery, and won the highest honor of his age. Xuancheng composed another poem describing how hard it was to rise again after disgrace, as a warning to his descendants. It reads:
23
於肅君子，既令厥德，儀服此恭，棣棣其則。 咨余小子，既德靡逮，曾是車服，荒嫚以隊。
Solemn were the gentlemen of old who perfected their virtue, whose bearing and dress matched their reverence, and who moved with unruffled dignity as a model to all. Alas for me, whose virtue never matched theirs; I had the same carriage and robes yet through sloth and arrogance brought ruin on myself.
24
明明天子，俊德烈烈，不遂我遺，恤我九列。 我既茲恤，惟夙惟夜，畏忌是申，供事靡惰。 天子我監，登我三事，顧我傷隊，爵復我舊。
The radiant Son of Heaven blazed with surpassing virtue; he did not abandon me to my disgrace but took pity and restored me among the nine ministerial grades. Once shown such mercy, I rose early and retired late, kept fear and caution ever in mind, and shirked no duty in office. The emperor watched over me, raised me to the three high ministries, saw the hurt of my fall, and gave back the title I had lost.
25
我即此登，望我舊階，先後茲度，漣漣孔懷。 司直御事，我熙我盛； 群公百僚，我嘉我慶。 於異卿士，非同我心，三事惟艱，莫我肯矜。 赫赫三事，力雖此畢，非我所度，退其罔日。 昔我之隊，畏不此居，今我度茲，戚戚其懼。
Standing again on that height, I looked toward the steps I once climbed; past and present weighed on me, and tears of longing would not cease. The director of integrity and the overseers of affairs rejoice with me in this renewal; the host of nobles and hundred officials share my joy and offer their praise. Yet these high ministers are strangers to my heart; the three offices are a crushing burden, and none will pity my plight. The three great posts shine in glory, yet though I spend my strength to the end, they are not what I would have chosen; I cannot find a day to step back. When I fell before, I feared I might never hold office again; now that I stand here once more, anxiety and dread fill my breast.
26
嗟我後人，命其靡常，靖享爾位，瞻仰靡荒。 慎爾會同，戒爾車服，無惰爾儀，以保爾域。 爾無我視，不慎不整； 我之此復，惟祿之幸。 於戲後人，惟肅惟栗。 無忝顯祖，以蕃漢室！
Alas, you who come after: fortune is never fixed; hold your rank in quiet reverence and never grow slack in duty toward those above you. Be scrupulous at the great assemblies, keep watch over your carriages and dress, let no slackness mar your bearing, and so preserve your fiefs. Do not look to me as an example, for I was heedless and ill-disciplined; my return to honor rests on fortune and stipend alone. O you who follow after—be reverent, be awestruck. Bring no shame on your glorious forebears, and so give strength to the house of Han!
27
玄成為相七年，守正持重不及父賢，而文采過之。 建昭三年薨，謚曰共侯。 初，賢以昭帝時徙平陵，玄成別徙杜陵，病且死，因使者自白曰：「不勝父子恩，願乞骸骨，歸葬父墓。」 上許焉。
Xuancheng served seven years as chancellor; he was less steadfast and grave than his father Wei Xian, yet his literary polish exceeded the elder’s. He died in the third year of Jianzhao (36 BCE) and received the posthumous title Marquis Gong (“Reverent”). Wei Xian had moved his tomb to Pingling under Emperor Zhao, while Xuancheng’s line was settled at Duling. On his deathbed Xuancheng sent word through an envoy: “The bond between father and son weighs on me beyond bearing; I beg leave to surrender my bones and lie beside my father’s grave. The emperor granted his request.
28
初，高祖時，令諸侯王都皆立太上皇廟。 至惠帝尊高帝廟為太祖廟，景帝尊孝文廟為太宗廟，行所嘗幸郡國各立太祖、太宗廟。 至宣帝本始二年，復尊孝武廟為世宗廟，行所巡狩亦立焉。 凡祖宗廟在郡國六十八，合百六十七所。 而京師自高祖下至宣帝，與太上皇、悼皇考各自居陵旁立廟，並為百七十六。 又園中各有寢、便殿，日祭於寢，月祭於廟，時祭於便殿。 寢，日四上食； 廟，歲二十五祠； 便殿，歲四祠。 又有一遊衣冠。 而昭靈後、武哀王、昭哀後、孝文太后、孝昭太后、衛思後、戾太子、戾後各有寢園，與諸帝合，凡三十所。 一歲祠，上食二萬四千四百五十五，用衛士四萬五千一百二十九人，祝宰樂人萬二千一百四十七人，養犧牲卒不在數中。
Under Gaozu it was ordered that every feudal king’s capital erect a shrine to the Grand Supreme Emperor. Emperor Hui elevated Gaozu’s shrine to “Grand Founder,” and Emperor Jing named Emperor Wen’s shrine “Grand Exemplar”; in every commandery and kingdom the sovereign had visited, matching shrines were built. In the second year of Benshi (72 BCE) Emperor Xuan added Emperor Wu’s shrine as “Shizong,” and similar shrines were raised wherever he had toured on imperial progress. In all there were sixty-eight ancestral shrines in the commanderies and kingdoms, making one hundred sixty-seven establishments in the provinces. In the capital, shrines from Gaozu through Emperor Xuan, together with those to the Grand Supreme Emperor and Emperor Xuan’s father the Lamented Imperial Father, each stood beside its tomb, bringing the capital total to one hundred seventy-six. Each mausoleum park also had a resting hall and a side hall: daily offerings at the resting hall, monthly rites at the main shrine, and seasonal sacrifices at the side hall. At the resting hall food was presented four times a day; at the main shrine, twenty-five sacrifices each year; at the side hall, four a year. There was also the annual procession of the late emperor’s cap and gown. Empress Zhaoling, King Wuai, Empress Zhaoai, Empress Dowager Bo (mother of Emperor Wen), Empress Dowager Zhao, Empress Wei Si, Crown Prince Li, and Empress Li each had a mausoleum park; together with the imperial shrines there were thirty such sites in all. In a single year of worship there were 24,455 food offerings, requiring 45,129 guards, plus 12,147 invocators, cooks, and musicians—not counting those who tended the sacrificial animals.
29
至元帝時，貢禹奏言：「古者天子七廟，今孝惠、孝景廟皆親盡，宜毀。 及郡國廟不應古禮，宜正定。」 天子是其議，未及施行而禹卒。 光永四年，乃下詔先議罷郡國廟，曰：「朕聞明王之御世也，遭時為法，因事制宜。 往者天下初定，遠方未賓，因嘗所親以立宗廟，蓋建威銷萌，一民之至權也。 今賴天地之靈，宗廟之福，四方同軌，蠻貊貢職，久遵而不定，令疏遠卑賤共承尊祀，殆非皇天祖宗之意，朕甚懼焉。 傳不雲乎？ 『吾不與祭，如不祭。』 其與將軍、列侯、中二千石、二千石、諸大夫、博士、議郎議。」 丞相玄成、御史大夫鄭弘、太子太傅嚴彭祖、少府歐陽地餘、諫大夫尹更始等七十人皆曰：「臣聞祭，非自外至者也，繇中出，生於心也。 故唯聖人為能饗帝，孝子為能饗親。 立廟京師之居，躬親承事，四海之內各以其職來助祭，尊親之大義，五帝、三王所共，不易之道也。 《詩》云：『有來雍雍，至止肅肅，相維辟公，天子穆穆。』 《春秋》之義，父不祭於支庶之宅，君不祭於臣僕之家，王不祭於下土諸侯。 臣等愚以為宗廟在郡國，宜無修，臣請勿復修。」 奏可。 因罷昭靈後、武哀王、昭哀後、衛思後、戾太子、戾後園，皆不奉祠，裁置吏卒守焉。
Under Emperor Yuan, Gong Yu memorialized: “The ancient Son of Heaven kept seven shrines; those to Emperors Hui and Jing have passed out of the mourning generations and should be abolished. The shrines in the commanderies and kingdoms also violate classical rite and ought to be set right. The emperor endorsed the plan, but Gong Yu died before it could be carried out. In the fourth year of the Yongguang era (40 BCE) an edict called for deliberation on abolishing shrines in the commanderies and kingdoms. It read: "We have heard that wise kings shape law to the times and tailor measures to circumstances." When the realm was first pacified and the frontiers had not yet submitted, shrines were raised in places the founder had favored—chiefly to awe the unruly and nip rebellion, the surest way to bind the people. Now, thanks to Heaven and Earth and the blessing of the shrines, the empire moves on one course and barbarians pay tribute, yet we have long left rites unsettled and allowed the remote and humble to share the highest sacrifices—hardly the mind of Heaven or the ancestors, and We are deeply uneasy. Does not the tradition say? ‘When I do not take part in the offering, it is as though no offering were made at all.’ Let this be discussed with the generals, full marquises, ministers at full and regular two thousand piculs, grandees, erudites, and gentleman consultants. Chancellor Wei Xuancheng, Imperial Censor Zheng Hong, Grand Tutor Yan Pengzu, Superintendent Ouyang Duyu, Remonstrance Grandee Yin Gengshi, and seventy others said: We understand sacrifice not as something imposed from without but as rising from within, from the heart. Thus only the sage can truly feast High God, and only the filial son can truly feast his parents. Shrines belong in the capital where the ruler dwells, so he may officiate in person while the realm sends officers to assist—that is the great principle of honoring ancestors, common to the Five Thearchs and Three Kings and not to be altered. The Odes says: "They came in harmony; they arrived in awe; the regional lords stood as assistants while the Son of Heaven sat in majesty." The Spring and Autumn teaches that a father does not offer sacrifice in a cadet son’s house, a ruler not in a minister’s home, nor the king among the regional lords of the provinces. We therefore hold that shrines in the commanderies and kingdoms should not be kept up, and we ask that they be allowed to fall into disuse. The emperor approved the memorial. The mausoleum parks of Empress Zhaoling, King Wuai, Empress Zhaoai, Empress Wei Si, Crown Prince Li, and Empress Li were closed to sacrifice and left with only a token guard.
30
罷郡國廟後月餘，復下詔曰：「蓋聞明王制禮，立親廟四，祖宗之廟，萬世不毀，所以明尊祖敬宗，著親親也。 朕獲承祖宗之重，惟大禮未備，戰慄恐懼，不敢自顓，其與將軍、列侯、中二千石、二千石、諸大夫、博士議。」 玄成等四十四人奏議曰：「《禮》，王者始受命，諸侯始封之君，皆為太祖。 以下，五廟而迭毀，毀廟之主臧乎太祖，五年而再殷祭，言一禘祫也。 祫祭者，毀廟與未毀廟之主皆合食於太祖，父為昭，子為穆，孫復為昭，古之正禮也。 《祭義》曰：『王者禘其祖自出，以其祖配之，而立四廟。』 言始受命而王，祭天以其祖配，而不為立廟，親盡也。 立親廟四，親親也。 親盡而迭毀，親疏之殺，示有終也。 周之所以七廟者，以後稷始封，文王、武王受命而王，是以三廟不毀，與親廟四而七。 非有後稷始封，文、武受命之功者，皆當親盡而毀。 成王成二聖之業，制禮作樂，功德茂盛，廟猶不世，以行為謚而已。 《禮》，廟在大門之內，不敢遠親也。 臣愚以為高帝受命定天下，宜為帝者太祖之廟，世世不毀，承後屬盡者宜毀。 今宗廟異處，昭穆不序，宜入就太祖廟而序昭穆如禮。 太上皇、孝惠、孝文、孝景廟皆親盡宜毀，皇考廟親未盡，如故。」 大司馬車騎將軍許嘉等二十九人以為，孝文皇帝除誹謗，去肉刑，躬節儉，不受獻，罪人不帑，不私其利，出美人，重絕人類，賓賜長老，收恤孤獨，德厚侔天地，利澤施四海，宜為帝者太宗之廟。 廷尉忠以為，孝武皇帝改正朔，易服色，攘四夷，宜為世宗之廟。 諫大夫尹更始等十八人以為，皇考廟上序於昭穆，非正禮，宜毀。
A month after the provincial shrines were closed, another edict ran: “We have heard that wise kings ordain ritual with four shrines to close ancestors and undying shrines to the founding line, thereby showing reverence for forebears and love of kin. We have inherited a weighty charge from the ancestors, yet the great rites remain incomplete; We tremble at the responsibility and dare not decide alone. Let the generals, full marquises, ministers at full and regular two thousand piculs, grandees, and erudites deliberate. Wei Xuancheng and forty-four colleagues reported: “The Rites state that the king who first receives the mandate and the first enfeoffed lord of a state are each honored as Grand Founder. Below them stand five shrines, rotated and abolished in turn; tablets from abolished shrines are housed with the Grand Founder, and every five years a grand joint sacrifice—the di and xia rites—unites them. At the xia offering, tablets from both abolished and standing shrines feast together at the Grand Founder’s hall in the classical zhao-mu alternation of father, son, and grandson. The Meaning of Sacrifices says: The king performs the great di to the ultimate ancestor and matches him in Heaven, while maintaining four shrines to close kin. This means that the first recipient of the mandate sacrifices to Heaven with his ancestor as correlative but builds no separate shrine because that kinship has passed out of the mourning grades. The four shrines to close kin express love of family. When mourning ties end, shrines are rotated away in sequence, marking the gradation of near and distant kin and showing that honor too has its limit. Zhou kept seven shrines because Hou Ji was the first enfeoffment and Kings Wen and Wu received the mandate—three perpetual shrines plus four for close kin made seven. Any line without the founding merit of Hou Ji or the mandate won by Wen and Wu should lose its shrine when kinship is exhausted. King Cheng finished the work of the two sages and set ritual and music; though his merit was great, his shrine was not made perpetual—only his posthumous name by conduct survives. The Rites place the ancestral shrine inside the main gate so the dead are never far from the living. We hold that Gaozu, who received the mandate and settled the realm, should stand as the perpetual Grand Founder of Han, while later shrines should be abolished when their lines pass out of the mourning generations. Today the shrines stand scattered and the zhao-mu order is confused; they should be gathered at the Grand Founder’s temple and arranged according to classical precedence. The shrines to the Grand Supreme Emperor and to Emperors Hui, Wen, and Jing should be abolished as remote, while the shrine to the Imperial Father remains while kinship endures. Grand Marshal Xu Jia and twenty-nine others argued that Emperor Wen had abolished slander laws and corporal mutilation, lived in personal austerity, refused tribute, spared criminals’ families confiscation, took no private profit from the realm, released palace women so they might bear children, honored elders with gifts, and sheltered the orphaned—virtue as deep as Heaven and earth, bounty reaching the four seas—and therefore deserved a perpetual shrine as Grand Exemplar of Han. Commandant of Justice Zhong held that Emperor Wu had reformed the calendar, changed court regalia, and driven back the barbarians on every side, and so merited a standing shrine as Shizong. Remonstrance Grandee Yin Gengshi and eighteen others held that placing the shrine to Emperor Xuan’s father in the zhao-mu sequence violated canonical rite and should be abolished.
31
議者又以為《清廟》之詩言交神之禮無不清靜，今衣冠出遊，有車騎之眾，風雨之氣，非所謂清靜也。 「祭不欲數，數則瀆，瀆則不敬。」 宜復古禮，四時祭於廟，諸寢園日月間祀皆可勿復修。 上亦不改也。 明年，玄成復言：「古者制禮，別尊卑貴賤，國君之母非適不得配食，則薦於寢，身沒而已。 陛下躬至孝，承天心，建祖宗，定迭毀，序昭穆，大禮既定，孝文太后、孝昭太后寢祠園宜如禮勿復修。」 奏可。
Some argued that the ode “The Clear Temple” describes communion with the spirits as always pure and still, whereas the procession of imperial vestments abroad, with crowds of chariots and exposure to wind and rain, is anything but stillness. The classic warns that sacrifice must not be too frequent, for frequency breeds contempt, and contempt is irreverence. They urged a return to the old pattern—seasonal offerings at the main shrines—and an end to the costly monthly and daily rites at the mausoleum resting halls. The emperor left these practices unchanged. The following year Xuancheng memorialized again: “Ancient ritual distinguished rank high and low: a ruler’s mother who was not principal consort could not share the grand sacrifice and received offerings only in the side hall until her death. Your Majesty embodies the highest filial piety, follows Heaven’s intent, has fixed the rotation of shrines and the zhao-mu order; now that the great rites are settled, the resting shrines and parks of Empress Dowagers Wen and Zhao should, as classical usage requires, be allowed to lapse. The emperor approved the memorial.
32
又告謝毀廟曰：「往者大臣以為，在昔帝王承祖宗之休典，取象於天地，天序五行，人親五屬，天子奉天，故率其意而尊其制。 是以禘嘗之序，靡有過五。 受命之君躬接於天，萬世不墮。 繼烈以下，五廟而遷，上陳太祖，間歲而祫，其道應天，故福祿永終。 太上皇非受命而屬盡，義則當遷。 又以為孝莫大於嚴父，故父之所尊子不敢不承，父之所異子不敢同。 禮，公子不得為母信，為後則於子祭，於孫止，尊祖嚴父之義也。 寢日四上食，園廟間祠，皆可亡修。 皇帝思慕悼懼，未敢盡從。 惟念高皇帝聖德茂盛，受命溥將，欽若稽古，承順天心，子孫本支，陳錫亡疆。 誠以為遷廟合祭，久長之策，高皇帝之意，乃敢不聽？ 即以令日遷太上、孝惠廟，孝文太后、孝昭太后寢，將以昭祖宗之德，順天人之序，定無窮之業。 今皇帝未受茲福，乃有不能共職之疾。 皇帝願復修承祀，臣衡等咸以為禮不得。 如不合高皇帝、孝惠皇帝、孝文皇帝、孝武皇帝、孝昭皇帝、孝宣皇帝、太上皇、孝文太后、孝昭太后之意，罪盡在臣衡等，當受其咎。 今皇帝尚未平，詔中朝臣具復毀廟之文。 臣衡中朝臣咸復以為天子之祀義有所斷，禮有所承，違統背制，不可以奉先祖，皇天不祐，鬼神不饗。 《六藝》所載皆言不當，無所依緣以作其文。 事如失指，罪乃在臣衡，當深受其殃。 皇帝宜厚蒙祉福，嘉氣日興，疾病平復，永保宗廟，與天亡極，群生百神，有所歸息。」 諸廟皆同文。
A further proclamation thanked the spirits for the abolition of shrines: “Ministers once held that ancient kings took pattern from Heaven and earth—Heaven’s five phases and mankind’s five degrees of kin—so the Son of Heaven, serving Heaven, modeled his institutions on that order. Hence the sequence of the great di and seasonal sacrifices never exceeded five in number. The founder who receives the mandate stands in direct relation to Heaven and must never be removed from the line of sacrifice. From the heirs who continue the ancestral flame, five shrines rotate in turn, their tablets rise to the Grand Founder, and the great xia unites them every other year—a pattern that answers Heaven and secures lasting blessing. The Grand Supreme Emperor never received the mandate, and mourning kinship has run out; by every rule his shrine should be moved aside. They further argued that the highest filial duty is to honor the father: a son must uphold whatever his father honored and must not claim parity with what his father deliberately set apart. Ritual does not allow a noble heir to prolong mourning for his mother as an ordinary son would; once he succeeds, sacrifice reaches his own son’s generation and ends with the grandson—such is the logic of exalting the lineage and honoring the father. The four daily meals at the resting halls and the periodic rites at the mausoleum shrines may all be discontinued. The emperor grieved and hesitated, and did not dare adopt every recommendation. He reflected that Gaozu’s sacred virtue flourished, that his mandate spread far and wide, that he reverently modeled antiquity and obeyed Heaven’s will, and that his descendants—main line and cadet branches—have received blessings without end. If merging the shrines and joint sacrifice is truly the lasting policy Gaozu intended, who would dare refuse? On this chosen day, then, let the shrines to the Grand Supreme Emperor and Emperor Hui be moved, together with the resting halls of Empress Dowagers Wen and Zhao, to make plain the virtue of the ancestors, align human order with Heaven, and secure the dynasty for ages to come. Yet the present sovereign has not enjoyed this blessing, for illness has left him unable to discharge his duties. The emperor wished to restore the suspended rites, but Heng and his colleagues held that ritual would not permit it. If this should offend the spirits of Gaozu, Emperors Hui, Wen, Wu, Zhao, and Xuan, the Grand Supreme Emperor, and Empress Dowagers Wen and Zhao, let the full blame fall on Heng and his associates. Because the emperor was still unwell, he ordered the inner court to set out in full the documents justifying the abolition of shrines. Heng and the inner court reaffirmed that the Son of Heaven’s sacrifices rest on fixed principles and inherited rite; to violate the canonical line and break the regulations is to fail the ancestors, forfeit Heaven’s favor, and leave the spirits unaccepting of the offerings. The Six Classics nowhere authorize a reversal; there is no textual basis on which to draft a reprieve. If the policy should prove wrong, let Heng bear the full punishment. May the emperor be richly blessed, see auspicious omens daily increase, regain full health, guard the shrines forever, share Heaven’s endless span, and give gods and men alike a settled place to rest. The same wording was proclaimed at every shrine.
33
久之，上疾連年，遂盡復諸所罷寢廟園，皆修祀如故，初，上定迭毀禮，獨尊孝文廟為太宗，而孝武廟親未盡，故未毀。 上於是乃復申明之，曰：「孝宣皇帝尊孝武廟曰世宗，損益之禮，不敢有與焉。 他皆如舊制。」 唯郡國廟遂廢雲。
Years of illness followed, and the emperor restored every mausoleum shrine and park he had closed, reviving the old rites. Earlier, when he had fixed the rotation of shrines, he had singled out Emperor Wen’s temple as Grand Exemplar and left Emperor Wu’s standing because mourning kinship had not yet lapsed. He then issued a clarification: “Emperor Xuan named Emperor Wu’s shrine Shizong; We may not alter what he ordained touching the addition or subtraction of rites. Everything else follows the former regulations. Only the shrines in the commanderies and kingdoms remained abolished.
34
成帝崩，哀帝即位。 丞相孔光、大司空何武奏言：「永光五年制書，高皇帝為漢太祖，孝文皇帝為太宗。 建昭五年制書，孝武皇帝為世宗。 損益之禮，不敢有與。 臣愚以為迭毀之次，當以時定，非令所為擅議宗廟之意也。 臣請與群臣雜議。」 奏可。 於是，光祿勳彭宣、詹事滿昌、博士左咸等五十三人皆以為繼祖宗以下，五廟而迭毀，後雖有賢君，猶不得與祖宗並列。 子孫雖欲褒大顯揚而立之，鬼神不饗也。 孝武皇帝雖有功烈，親盡宜殿。
When Emperor Cheng died, Emperor Ai ascended the throne. Chancellor Kong Guang and Grand Minister of Works He Wu memorialized: “The edict of the fifth year of Yongguang (39 BCE) named Gaozu Grand Founder of Han and Emperor Wen Grand Exemplar. The fifth year of Jianzhao (34 BCE) proclaimed Emperor Wu Shizong. We may not tamper with those additions to the ritual. We hold that the order in which shrines are rotated out should be settled in due course; the present order was never meant to invite arbitrary debate over the imperial temples. We ask leave to deliberate jointly with the full court. The emperor approved. Superintendent Peng Xuan, Household Supervisor Man Chang, Erudite Zuo Xian, and fifty-three others argued that, below the founding ancestors, five shrines rotate in succession and no later ruler, however worthy, may be classed with those founders. Even if descendants try to magnify a later ruler’s cult, the spirits will not accept the sacrifice. Emperor Wu, for all his great deeds, has passed out of the mourning generations and should give way under the rotation of shrines.
35
太僕王舜、中壘校尉劉歆議曰：
Grand Coachman Wang Shun and Colonel of the Central Rampart Liu Xin offered a counter-memorial:
36
臣聞周室既衰，四夷並侵，獫狁最強，於今匈奴是也。 至宣王而伐之，詩人美而頌之曰「薄伐獫狁，至於太原」，又曰「嘽□推推，如霆如雷，顯允方叔，征伐獫狁，荊蠻來威」，故稱中興。 及至幽王，犬戎來伐，殺幽王，取宗器。 自是之後，南夷與北夷交侵，中國不絕如線。 《春秋》紀齊桓南伐楚，北伐山戎，孔子曰：「微管仲，吾其被髮左衽矣。」 是故棄桓之過而錄其功，以為伯首。 及漢興，冒頓始強，破東胡，禽月氏，並其土地，地廣兵強，為中國害。 南越尉佗總百粵，自稱帝。 故中國雖平，猶有四夷之患，且無寧歲。 一方有急，三面救之，是天下皆動而被其害也。 孝文皇帝厚以貨賂，與結和親，猶侵暴無已。 甚者，興師十餘萬眾，近屯京師及四邊，歲發屯備虜，其為患久矣，非一世之漸也。 諸侯郡守連匈奴及百粵以為逆者非一人也。 匈奴所殺郡守、都尉，略取人民，不可勝數。 孝武皇帝愍中國罷勞無安寧之時，乃遣大將軍、驃騎、伏波、樓船之屬，南滅百粵，起七郡； 北攘匈奴，降昆邪十萬之眾，置五屬國，起朔方，以奪其肥饒之地； 東伐朝鮮，起玄菟、樂浪，以斷匈奴之左臂； 西伐大宛，並三十六國，結烏孫，起敦煌、酒泉、張掖，以隔婼羌，裂匈奴之右肩。 單于孤特，遠遁於幕北。 四垂無事，斥地遠境，起十餘郡。 功業既定，乃封丞相為富民侯，以大安天下，富實百姓，其規□可見。 又招集天下賢俊，與協心同謀，興制度，改正朔，易服色，立天下之祠，建封禪，殊官號，存周後，定諸侯之制，永無逆爭之心，至今累世賴之。 單于守籓，百蠻服從，萬世之基也，中興之功未有高焉者也。 高帝建大業，為太祖； 孝文皇帝德至厚也，為文太宗； 孝武皇帝功至著也，為武世宗，此孝宣帝所以發德音也。
We have heard that as Zhou waned, barbarians pressed in from every side; the fiercest were the Xianyun—today’s Xiongnu. King Xuan struck back, and the Odes celebrate him: he drove the Xianyun back to Taiyuan, and Fang Shu’s chariots rolled like thunder until even the southern Man submitted—hence the age is called Zhou’s restoration. Under King You the Dog Rong attacked, slew the king, and carried off the ritual bronzes. Afterward north and south barbarians harried the heartland in turn until China hung by a thread. The Spring and Autumn records how Duke Huan of Qi struck Chu in the south and the Mountain Rong in the north; Confucius said that without Guan Zhong the Chinese would have worn the dress and hair of barbarians. The classic passes over his faults and records his merit, ranking him first among the hegemons. After Han’s founding, Modu built a power that shattered the Eastern Hu, broke the Yuezhi, and swallowed their pasturelands, until the Xiongnu became a broad-realm scourge. Zhao Tuo of Southern Yue united the Yue peoples and took the title of emperor. Thus even when the interior was quiet, the border peoples kept the realm in arms year after year. When one frontier flared, three others had to march in relief, so the whole empire shook under the strain. Emperor Wen sent rich gifts and princess brides, yet the raids never stopped. At worst the court kept hundreds of thousands camped about the capital and the marches, drafting garrison troops every year—a chronic evil, not the work of a single reign. More than one feudal lord or governor has allied with the Xiongnu or the Yue to rebel. The Xiongnu have slain governors and commandants and carried off subjects beyond counting. Emperor Wu, grieving that China knew no rest, sent the Grand General, the Swift Cavalry general, the Wave-Subduing and Tower-Ship commanders south to crush the Yue and carve seven new commanderies; northward he drove the Xiongnu, brought the hundred thousand tribesmen of the Kunye prince to surrender, set up five dependent states, and founded Shuofang to strip them of their richest pastures; eastward he conquered Korea and founded Xuantu and Lelang to sever the Xiongnu left arm; westward he struck Dayuan, annexed thirty-six states, allied with Wusun, and built Dunhuang, Jiuquan, and Zhangye to wall off the Qiang and break the Xiongnu right wing. The chanyu stood alone and fled deep beyond the desert. The frontiers fell quiet while Han pushed its borders outward and added more than ten new commanderies. When those deeds were done, he ennobled the chancellor as Marquis of Enriching the People to settle the realm and fill the common people’s granaries—so plain was his design. He rallied the empire’s best minds, refashioned institutions, reformed the calendar and court dress, founded the grand sacrifices, performed the feng and shan rites on Mount Tai, overhauled titles, preserved the house of Zhou’s descendants, fixed the laws for feudal lords, and left a legacy that still steadies the realm generation after generation. The chanyu now keeps to his tributary role and the hundred barbarians obey—a foundation meant to last ten thousand generations—and no restoration in history has surpassed this achievement. Gaozu founded the dynasty and stands as Grand Founder; Emperor Wen’s virtue ran deepest and he is honored as Grand Exemplar; Emperor Wu’s achievements were the most conspicuous and he is honored as Shizong—this is why Emperor Xuan proclaimed those august titles.
37
《禮記‧王制》及《春秋穀梁傳》，天子七廟，諸侯五，大夫三，士二。 天子七日而殯，七月而葬； 諸侯五日而殯，五月而葬。 此喪事尊卑之序也，與廟數相應。 其文曰：「天子三昭三穆，與太祖之廟而七； 諸侯二昭二穆，與太祖之廟而五。」 故德厚者流光，德薄者流卑。 《春秋左氏傳》曰：「名位不同，禮亦異數。」 自上以下，降殺以兩，禮也。 七者，其正法數，可常數者也。 宗不在此數中。 宗，變也，苟有功德則宗之，不可預為設數。 故於殷，太甲為太宗，大戊曰中宗，武丁曰高宗。 周公為《毋逸》之戒，舉殷三宗以勸成王。 繇是言之，宗無數也，然則所以勸帝者之功德博矣。 以七廟言之，孝武皇帝未宜殿； 以所宗言之，則不可謂無功德。 《禮記》祀典曰：「夫聖王之制祀也，功施於民則祀之，以勞定國則祀之，能救大災則祀之。」 竊觀孝武皇帝，功德皆兼而有焉。 凡在於異姓，猶將特祀之，況於先祖？ 或說天子五廟無見文，又說中宗、高宗者，宗其道而毀其廟。 名與實異，非尊德貴功之意也。 《詩》云：「蔽芾甘棠，勿剪勿伐，邵伯所茇。」 思其人猶愛其樹，況宗其道而毀其廟乎？ 迭毀之禮自有常法，無殊功異德，固以親疏相推及。 至祖宗之序，多少之數，經傳無明文，至尊至重，難以疑文虛說定也。 孝宣皇帝舉公卿之議，用眾儒之謀，既以為世宗之廟，建之萬世，宣佈天下。 臣愚以為孝武皇帝功烈如彼，孝宣皇帝崇立之如此，不宜毀。
The Royal Regulations chapter of the Book of Rites and the Guliang Commentary prescribe seven shrines for the Son of Heaven, five for feudal lords, three for grandees, and two for gentlemen. The Son of Heaven lies in state seven days and is buried after seven months; feudal lords five days in state and five months to the grave. Such is the gradation of mourning by rank, matching the number of shrines each station may keep. The canonical text says the Son of Heaven keeps three zhao and three mu halls plus the Grand Founder, for seven shrines in all; feudal lords keep two zhao and two mu with the Grand Founder, for five in all. Thus deep virtue casts its light far, while shallow virtue reaches only a little way. The Zuo Commentary says that rank determines the measure of ritual. From the highest rank downward, each step halves the privilege—such is ritual propriety. Seven is the canonical count that may stand as a fixed rule. The special cult of an ‘exemplar’ (zong) lies outside that number. ‘Zong’ is an exceptional honor: whoever has outstanding merit may receive it, and no quota can be fixed in advance. Among the Yin, Taijia was revered as Grand Exemplar, Da Wu as Middle Exemplar, and Wu Ding as High Exemplar. The Duke of Zhou, in ‘Do Not Slacken,’ cited Yin’s three exemplars to instruct King Cheng. Thus the zong title is not capped by number, and the field for rewarding an emperor’s merit is wide indeed. Judged by the rule of seven shrines, Emperor Wu’s tablet should not yet be rotated out; judged by the standard for a zong cult, no one can call him lacking in merit. The Canon of Sacrifice in the Book of Rites says that sage kings enshrine those whose bounty reached the people, who ordered the state by their labor, or who saved the realm from great disaster. Emperor Wu meets every one of those tests of merit and virtue. Men of other surnames would still merit a special cult—how much more a dynastic forebear? Some argue that a five-shrine rule for the Son of Heaven lacks clear textual support, and that Middle and High Exemplars of Yin were honored in name while their shrines were still abolished. That would split title from substance and defeat the very purpose of honoring virtue and achievement. The Odes says of the pear tree beneath which the Earl of Shao once rested: do not lop or cut its boughs. Later generations loved the tree for love of the man; how then can we honor his Way and tear down his shrine? The rotation of shrines follows a fixed rule for rulers of ordinary merit, advancing by degrees of kinship alone. The classics give no explicit count for ordering founder shrines; the matter is too grave to settle on doubtful glosses. Emperor Xuan took counsel from his high ministers and the Confucian academicians, named the shrine Shizong, and proclaimed to the empire that it should stand forever. We hold that Emperor Wu’s achievements were of that order, Emperor Xuan’s elevation of him so explicit, and the shrine ought not to be abolished.
38
上覽其議而從之。 制曰：「太僕舜、中壘校尉歆議可。」
The emperor read their memorial and agreed. An edict ruled: “The proposal of Grand Coachman Wang Shun and Colonel Liu Xin is accepted.
39
歆又以為「禮，去事有殺，故《春秋外傳》曰：『日祭，月祀，時享，歲貢，終王』祖檷則日祭，曾高則月祀，二祧則時享，壇墠則歲貢，大禘則終王。 德盛而游廣，親親之殺也； 彌遠則彌尊，故禘為重矣。 孫居王父之處，正昭穆，則孫常與祖相代，此遷廟之殺也。 聖人於其祖，出於情矣，禮無所不順，故無毀廟。 自貢禹建迭毀之議，惠、景及太上寢園廢而為虛，失禮意矣。」
Liu Xin added that ritual thins with distance, citing the Guoyu formula of daily, monthly, seasonal, and yearly rites capped by the great di, each grade of ancestry matched to its proper frequency. Where virtue is great, the circuit of sacrifice widens, and love of kin is graded by nearness; the more remote the ancestor, the more solemn the rite, so the great di stands highest of all. When a grandson steps into his grandfather’s zhao-mu place, the two generations trade rank in the rotation—such is the logic by which shrines are moved. The sage’s feeling for his forebears is complete, and ritual leaves no proper sentiment unfollowed, so no true shrine of the heart is ever simply destroyed. Ever since Gong Yu’s policy of rotating abolitions, the mausoleum parks of Emperors Hui and Jing and the Grand Supreme Emperor have lain abandoned—utterly at odds with the spirit of the rites.
40
至平帝元始中，大司馬王莽奏：「本始元年丞相義等議，謚孝宣皇帝親曰悼園，置邑三百家，至元康元年，丞相相等奏，父為士，子為天子，祭以天子，悼園宜稱尊號曰『皇考』，立廟，益故奉園民滿千六百家，以為縣。 臣愚以為皇考廟本不當立，累世奉之，非是。 又孝文太后南陵、孝昭太后雲陵園，雖前以禮不復修，陵名未正。 謹與大司徒晏等百四十七人議，皆曰孝宣皇帝以兄孫繼統為孝昭皇帝後，以數，故孝元世以孝景皇帝及皇考廟親未盡，不毀。 此兩統貳父，違於禮制。 案義奏親謚曰『悼』，裁置奉邑，皆應經義。 相奏悼園稱『皇考』，立廟，益民為縣，違離祖統，乖繆本義。 父為士，子為天子，祭以天子者，乃謂若虞舜、夏禹、殷湯、周文、漢之高祖受命而王者也，非謂繼祖統為後者也。 臣請皇高祖考廟奉明園毀勿修，罷南陵、雲陵為縣。」 奏可。
Under Emperor Ping, Wang Mang memorialized that in 73 BCE Chancellor Cai Yi had posthumously titled Emperor Xuan’s father the Dao domain with three hundred households, and that in 65 BCE Chancellor Wei Xiang had argued that a father who died a commoner but whose son became emperor should receive imperial rites—the domain should be titled Imperial Father, given its own shrine, and its caretakers raised to sixteen hundred households as a county seat. We hold that the shrine to the Imperial Father should never have been founded; to maintain it for generation after generation was wrong. The mausoleum parks of Empress Dowager Bo at Nanling and of Empress Dowager Zhao at Yunling, though rites had already allowed them to lapse, still bear irregular titles. We have consulted Grand Minister of Education Yan and 147 others, who note that Emperor Xuan entered the succession as Emperor Zhao’s heir from another branch; by generational count, Emperor Yuan therefore left Emperor Jing’s shrine and the Imperial Father shrine standing because mourning ties had not yet run out. That created two legitimate lines and two fathers for one heir, which classical ritual forbids. Cai Yi’s memorial had posthumously titled the prince ‘Dao,’ limited the tomb domain to a modest settlement, and matched what the classics allow. Wei Xiang’s later memorial elevated the Dao domain to ‘Imperial Father,’ founded a separate shrine, and swelled its staff into a county—severing the line from the true imperial ancestry and twisting the original intent of the rule. The formula ‘a commoner father and an emperor son, honored with imperial sacrifice’ applies to founders such as Shun, Yu, Tang, King Wen, and Han Gaozu, who received the mandate as kings; it was never meant for an heir who merely continues another emperor’s line. We ask that the shrine to Emperor Xuan’s father in the Fengming tomb park be torn down and not rebuilt, and that the Nanling and Yunling mausoleum districts be turned into regular counties. The emperor approved the memorial.
41
司徒掾班彪曰：漢承亡秦絕學之後，祖宗之制因時施宜。 自元、成後學者蕃滋，貢禹毀宗廟，匡衡改郊兆，何武定三公，後皆數復，故紛紛不定。 何者？ 禮文缺微，古今異制，各為一家，未易可偏定也。 考觀諸儒之議，劉歆博而篤矣。
Ban Biao, a clerk in the ministry of education, observed that Han inherited a realm in which Qin had nearly extinguished learning, so its ancestral institutions had to be adapted to circumstance. After Emperors Yuan and Cheng, scholarship flourished: Gong Yu pared the shrines, Kuang Heng shifted the suburban altars, He Wu fixed the three dukes—yet each reform was undone and redone, so policy seesawed without rest. Why was that? The ritual canon is laconic and ambiguous, ancient usage differs from Han practice, and every school claims the truth, so no partisan verdict can easily settle the matter. Reviewing the scholars’ debates, Liu Xin’s learning was the widest and his conclusions the soundest.