Volume 86: He Wu, Wang Jia and Shi Dan

卷八十六何武王嘉師丹傳第五十六

Book 86—the fifty-sixth memoir: He Wu, Wang Jia, and Shi Dan.

何武字君公，蜀郡郫縣人也。宣帝時，天下和平，四夷賓服，神爵、五鳳之間婁蒙瑞應。而益州刺史王襄使辯士王褒頌漢德，作中和、樂職、宣布詩三篇。武年十四五，與成都楊覆眾等共習歌之。是時，宣帝循武帝故事，求通達茂異士，召見武等於宣室。上曰：「此盛德之事，吾何足以當之哉！」以褒為待詔，武等賜帛罷。

He Wu, courtesy name Jungong, was a native of Pi County in the Shu commandery. Under Emperor Xuan the realm was at peace, the peoples beyond the borders came as tributaries, and throughout the Shenjue and Wufeng eras Heaven time and again answered with propitious omens. The inspector of Yi, Wang Xiang, sent the scholar Wang Bao to celebrate the virtue of the Han court; Wang produced the three odes "Harmony," "Joy in Office," and "The Proclamation." At fourteen or fifteen, Wu joined Yang Fuzhong of Chengdu and their circle in learning those songs by heart. Then Emperor Xuan, following the example of Emperor Wu, called for men of insight and rare talent and received Wu and his fellows in the Xuanshi Hall. The emperor said, "Such deeds belong to the highest virtue; how could I possibly be worthy of them?" Wang Bao was appointed expectant at court; Wu and the rest were given silk and sent home.

武詣博士受業，治易。以射策甲科為郎，與翟方進交志相友。光祿勳舉四行，遷為鄠令，坐法免歸。

He enrolled under an academician and took up the study of the Book of Changes. He passed the highest tier of the written examination and was made a court gentleman; he and Zhai Fangjin became close friends who shared the same ambitions. The superintendent of the household nominated him for the "four virtues" examination; he was promoted to magistrate of Hu, then removed from office for a legal infraction and went home.

武兄弟五人，皆為郡吏，郡縣敬憚之。武弟顯家有巿籍，租常不入，縣數負其課。巿嗇夫求商捕辱顯家，顯怒，欲以吏事中商。武曰：「以吾家租賦繇役不為眾先，奉公吏不亦宜乎！」武卒白太守，召商為卒吏，州里聞之皆服焉。

Wu had four brothers; all five brothers held posts in the commandery administration, and officials throughout the county and commandery stood in awe of them. His brother Xian's family was registered as market traders, so their rent payments were habitually late and the county repeatedly fell short on the taxes owed from them. The market clerk Qiu Shang seized Xian's people and publicly shamed them; Xian, furious, plotted to use his official connections to ruin Shang. Wu said, "Our family has never tried to skip ahead of others on rent, taxes, or labor service. A man who serves the public in office should accept the same—is that not only right?" Wu went to the grand administrator, who then appointed Shang as a clerk in the commandery office; the whole locality heard of it and conceded that Wu had acted rightly.

久之，太僕王音舉武賢良方正，徵對策，拜為諫大夫，遷揚州刺史。所舉奏二千石長吏必先露章，服罪者為虧除，免之而已；不服，極法奏之，抵罪或至死。

Eventually the grand coachman Wang Yin nominated him as "worthy and upright"; he was called to the capital to answer policy questions, appointed grandee remonstrant, and then made regional inspector of Yang province. Whenever he impeached a senior official of two-thousand-dan rank, he first made the charges public; if the man admitted fault, Wu would strike only the minimum demerit and limit the penalty to dismissal. If the official refused to admit guilt, Wu would press the memorial to the limit of the statutes, so that the man might face conviction or even death.

九江太守戴聖，禮經號小戴者也，行治多不法，前刺史以其大儒，優容之。及武為刺史，行部錄囚徒，有所舉以屬郡。聖曰：「後進生何知，乃欲亂人治！」皆無所決。武使從事廉得其罪，聖懼，自免。後為博士，毀武於朝廷。武聞之，終不揚其惡。而聖子賓客為群盜，得，繫廬江，聖自以子必死。武平心決之，卒得不死。自是後，聖慚服。武每奏事至京師，聖未嘗不造門謝恩。

Dai Sheng of Jiujiang—the "Lesser Dai" of the ritual canon—ran his administration with many irregularities; the previous inspector had looked the other way because Dai was a celebrated scholar. When Wu took office as inspector, he toured the province, reviewed prisoners, and referred certain findings to the commandery for action. Dai Sheng snapped, "What can a junior upstart know that he dares meddle with another man's government?" Nothing was ever resolved. Wu sent an aide to gather proof of Dai's wrongdoing; Dai grew afraid and resigned his post. Dai Sheng later became an academician and maligned Wu before the whole court. Wu heard of it but never retaliated by spreading word of Dai's misconduct. Then retainers of Dai Sheng's son turned to banditry; they were caught and jailed in Lujiang, and Dai assumed his son was as good as dead. Wu judged the case with impartial care and spared the young man's life. After that Dai Sheng was humbled and conceded Wu's superiority. Whenever Wu came to the capital on official business, Dai Sheng would call at his door without fail to express his gratitude.

武為刺史，二千石有罪，應時舉奏，其餘賢與不肖敬之如一，是以郡國各重其守相，州中清平。行部必先即學官見諸生，試其誦論，問以得失，然後入傳舍，出記問墾田頃畝，五穀美惡，已乃見二千石，以為常。

As inspector, Wu promptly memorialized any two-thousand-dan official who broke the law, yet toward everyone else—capable or not—he showed the same respect; commanderies therefore took their governors seriously, and the province stayed orderly and calm. On his rounds he always began at the local academy: he met the students, heard their lessons and debates, and asked what was working and what was not. Only then did he retire to the post-house, send out written inquiries on acreage under cultivation and the condition of the crops, and finally summon the two-thousand-dan official. This became his fixed routine.

初，武為郡吏時，事太守何壽。壽知武有宰相器，以其同姓故厚之。後壽為大司農，其兄子為廬江長史。時武奏事在邸，壽兄子適在長安，壽為具召武弟顯及故人楊覆眾等，酒酣，見其兄子，曰：「此子揚州長史，材能駑下，未嘗省見。」顯等甚慚，退以謂武，武曰：「刺史古之方伯，上所委任，一州表率也，職在進善退惡。吏治行有茂異，民有隱逸，乃當召見，不可有所私問。」顯、覆眾強之，不得已召見，賜卮酒。歲中，廬江太守舉之。其守法見憚如此。

In his early years, while still a commandery clerk, Wu served under Grand Administrator He Shou. Shou saw in Wu the makings of a chief minister and, sharing the surname He, favored him accordingly. Shou was later promoted to grand minister of agriculture; his nephew held the post of chief clerk in Lujiang. Once, while Wu was staying at the capital lodge on official business, Shou's nephew happened to be in Chang'an. Shou gave a banquet for Wu's brother Xian, Yang Fuzhong, and other friends, and when the wine was flowing he gestured toward his nephew and said, "There is my boy—the chief clerk of Yang province. Mediocre talent, and I have hardly bothered to see him." Xian and the others were mortified; afterward they told Wu. Wu replied, "A regional inspector is the old regional lord: the throne's delegate and the moral example for an entire province. His job is to promote the worthy and remove the corrupt. Only when an official's record shows outstanding merit, or when a recluse of real note appears among the people, should he be summoned for interview—not for private favoritism." Xian and Yang Fuzhong pressed Wu until he gave in, received the nephew in audience, and presented him with a cup of wine. Before the year was out the grand administrator of Lujiang had nominated the nephew for promotion. Such was the rigor with which he upheld the law that even friends learned to fear crossing him.

武為人仁厚，好進士，獎稱人之善。為楚內史厚兩龔，在沛郡厚兩唐，及為公卿，薦之朝廷。此人顯於世者，何侯力也，世以此多焉。然疾朋黨，問文吏必於儒者，問儒者必於文吏，以相參檢。欲除吏，先為科例以防請託。其所居亦無赫赫名，去後常見思。

Wu was warm and generous by nature; he delighted in promoting able men and was quick to praise others' virtues. As inner scribe of Chu he befriended the two Gong brothers; as administrator of Pei he did the same for the two Tang brothers; once he reached the highest offices he brought all four forward at court. Their later fame was owed to Marquis He; for that the world thought the more of him. Yet he detested cliques: he would cross-check every legal specialist with a classicist and every classicist with a legal man so that neither side could hide the truth. Before any appointment he published clear rules and precedents to block favor-seeking. While in office he never sought a flashy reputation, yet after he left, people often missed him.

及為御史大夫司空，與丞相方進共奏言：「往者諸侯王斷獄治政，內史典獄事，相總綱紀輔王，中尉備盜賊。今王不斷獄與政，中尉官罷，職并內史，郡國守相委任，所以壹統信，安百姓也。今內史位卑而權重，威職相踰，不統尊者，難以為治。臣請相如太守，內史如都尉，以順尊卑之序，平輕重之權。」制曰：「可。」以內史為中尉。初武為九卿時，奏言宜置三公官，又與方進共奏罷刺史，更置州牧，後皆復復故，語在朱博傳。唯內史事施行。

After Wu rose to imperial counselor and minister of works, he and Chancellor Zhai Fangjin jointly submitted: "Formerly kings of principalities heard lawsuits and ran their domains: the inner scribe handled penal matters, the chancellor held the reins and advised the king, and the commandant of the capital guarded against crime. Today the kings no longer hear cases or share in government; the commandancy has been abolished and its duties folded into the inner scribe, while commandery governors hold delegated authority—all intended to unify confidence in the law and give the people security. Yet the inner scribe now stands low in rank while wielding heavy power; authority and office no longer match, and nothing senior unifies the structure—governance suffers for it. We therefore ask that the chancellor be ranked like a grand administrator and the inner scribe like a commandant, so that precedence is clear and power is balanced." The edict read: "Granted." The inner scribe was redesignated commandant of the capital. Earlier, while Wu still held one of the nine minister posts, he had urged creation of the three excellencies and, with Fangjin, had memorialized to abolish regional inspectors in favor of provincial shepherds; those measures were later reversed. The details appear in the memoir of Zhu Bo. Only the reform concerning the inner scribe was actually carried out.

多所舉奏，號為煩碎，不稱賢公。功名略比薛宣，其材不及也，而經術正直過之。武后母在郡，遣吏歸迎。會成帝崩，吏恐道路有盜賊，後母留止，左右或譏武事親不篤。哀帝亦欲改易大臣，遂策免武曰：「君舉錯煩苛，不合眾心，孝聲不聞，惡名流行，無以率示四方。其上大司空印綬，罷歸就國。」後五歲，諫大夫鮑宣數稱冤之，天子感丞相王嘉之對，而高安侯董賢亦薦武，武由是復徵為御史大夫。月餘，徙為前將軍。

His flood of memorials earned him a reputation for fussiness, and he was not counted among the great statesmen of the day. His public career invited comparison with Xue Xuan's, though his administrative gifts fell short; in classical scholarship and moral rigor he was the greater man. His stepmother remained in the commandery, and he sent an official to bring her to the capital. Emperor Cheng then died; the escort, fearing bandits on the road, left the old lady where she was, and some at court sneered that Wu was neglectful of his family duty. Emperor Ai, eager to reshuffle his high ministers, issued an edict dismissing Wu: "Your administration has been harsh and petty, out of step with popular feeling; no one praises your filial conduct, while ill report of you spreads abroad—you cannot be a model to the empire." Surrender the seals of the grand minister of works and retire to your fief." Five years later the remonstrant Bao Xuan kept protesting Wu's unjust dismissal; the emperor was swayed by Chancellor Wang Jia's defense of upright men, and the marquis of Gao'an, Dong Xian, also recommended Wu—so Wu was recalled as imperial counselor. A little over a month later he was made forward general.

先是，新都侯王莽就國，數年，上以太皇太后故徵莽還京師。莽從弟成都侯王邑為侍中，矯稱太皇太后指白哀帝，為莽求特進給事中。哀帝復請之，事發覺。太后為謝，上以太后故不忍誅之，左遷邑為西河屬國都尉，削千戶。後有詔舉大常，莽私從武求舉，武不敢舉。後數月，哀帝崩，太后即日引莽入，收大司馬董賢印綬，詔有司舉可大司馬者。莽故大司馬，辭位辟丁、傅，眾庶稱以為賢，又太后近親，自大司徒孔光以下舉朝皆舉莽。武為前將軍，素與左將軍公孫祿相善，二人獨謀，以為往時孝惠、孝昭少主之世，外戚呂、霍、上官持權，幾危社稷，今孝成、孝哀比世無嗣，方當選立親近輔幼主，不宜令異姓大臣持權，親疏相錯，為國計便。於是武舉公孫祿可大司馬，而祿亦舉武。太后竟自用莽為大司馬。莽風有司劾奏武、公孫祿互相稱舉，皆免。

Earlier, Marquis of Xindu Wang Mang had been sent to his fief; a few years later the emperor recalled him to the capital out of respect for the grand empress dowager. Mang's cousin Wang Yi, marquis of Chengdu and a palace attendant, forged a directive from the grand empress dowager and persuaded Emperor Ai to grant Mang the rank of specially advanced with a seat in the palace advisory corps. When the emperor repeated the request, the fraud came to light. The empress dowager interceded; unwilling to execute Yi for her sake, the emperor demoted him to commandant of dependent states in Xihe and stripped a thousand households from his fief. When an edict called for nominations to the post of grand master of ceremonies, Mang privately asked Wu to name him; Wu refused to comply. Months later Emperor Ai died; the empress dowager at once ushered Mang into the palace, stripped Grand Marshal Dong Xian of his seals, and ordered the ministries to nominate a successor. Mang had once served as grand marshal and stepped down to avoid the Ding and Fu factions, which earned him praise as a disinterested man; he was also the empress dowager's kinsman, so from Grand Minister Kong Guang down the entire court nominated him. Wu, as forward general, was a longtime ally of Left General Gongsun Lu. The two conferred in private: under Emperors Hui and Zhao, when the throne was held by boys, the consort kin—the Lü, the Huo, the Shangguan—had seized power and nearly overturned the dynasty. Now Cheng and Ai had left no sons in succession; the court must choose near kinsmen to guide a child emperor. Power should not rest with ministers of other surnames; alternating close relatives with more distant ones would serve the state best. Wu therefore nominated Gongsun Lu for grand marshal, and Lu nominated Wu in return. The empress dowager overruled them and appointed Mang grand marshal herself. Mang prompted his officials to impeach Wu and Gongsun Lu for collusive nominations, and both men were removed from office.

武就國後，莽寖盛，為宰衡，陰誅不附己者。元始三年，呂寬等事起。時大司空甄豐承莽風指，遣使者乘傳案治黨與，連引諸所欲誅，上黨鮑宣，南陽彭偉、杜公子，郡國豪桀坐死者數百人。武在見誣中，大理正檻車徵武，武自殺。眾人多冤武者，莽欲厭眾意，令武子況嗣為侯，諡武曰剌侯。莽篡位，免況為庶人。

Once Wu had retired to his fief, Mang's power swelled until he took the title of regent and grand tutor and began quietly eliminating anyone who would not follow him. In Yuanshi year three the Lü Kuan conspiracy broke. Grand Minister of Works Zhen Feng, doing Mang's bidding, sent couriers racing along the post roads to round up supposed accomplices, dragging in everyone Mang wished dead—among them Bao Xuan of Shangdang, Peng Wei and Master Du of Nanyang—until several hundred local strongmen across the commanderies were executed on trumped-up charges. Wu was caught in that web of false accusation; the chief judge sent a prison cart to fetch him, and Wu took his own life. Public opinion held Wu unjustly ruined; to quiet the outcry Mang let Wu's son Kuang inherit the marquisate and posthumously titled Wu Marquis La (the "piercing" epithet). When Mang seized the throne he reduced Kuang to commoner status.

王嘉字公仲，平陵人也。以明經射策甲科為郎，坐戶殿門失闌免。光祿勳于永除為掾，察廉為南陵丞，復察廉為長陵尉。鴻嘉中，舉敦朴能直言，召見宣室，對政事得失，超遷太中大夫。出為九江、河南太守，治甚有聲。徵入為大鴻臚，徙京兆尹，遷御史大夫。建平三年代平當為丞相，封新甫侯，加食邑千一百戶。

Wang Jia, courtesy name Gongzhong, came from Pingling. He entered the court as a gentleman after ranking first on the classics examination, then lost his post for letting the hall gate bar slip while on watch. Superintendent Yu Yong took him on as a clerk; twice recommended for integrity, he rose to assistant magistrate of Nanling and then to commandant of Changling. During Hongjia he was nominated as frank and outspoken, received in the Xuanshi Hall to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of government, and jumped several ranks to grand counselor of the palace. As grand administrator of Jiujiang and later of Henan he earned wide renown for his administration. He was recalled as grand herald, moved to governor of the capital region, and then promoted to imperial counselor. In Jianping year three he succeeded Ping Dang as chancellor, was ennobled as marquis of Xinfu, and received an additional eleven hundred households in his fief.

嘉為人剛直嚴毅有威重，上甚敬之。哀帝初立，欲匡成帝之政，多所變動，嘉上疏曰：

Jia was stern, upright, and carried natural authority; the emperor held him in high regard. Early in Emperor Ai's reign, when the court was busy reversing Cheng-era policies, Jia presented a memorial:

臣聞聖王之功在於得人。孔子曰：「材難，不其然與！」「故繼世立諸侯，象賢也。」雖不能盡賢，天子為擇臣，立命卿以輔之。居是國也，累世尊重，然後士民之眾附焉，是以教化行而治功立。今之郡守重於古諸侯，往者致選賢材，賢材難得，拔擢可用者，或起於囚徒。昔魏尚坐事繫，文帝感馮唐之言，遣使持節赦其罪，拜為雲中太守，匈奴忌之。武帝擢韓安國於徒中，拜為梁內史，骨肉以安。張敞為京兆尹，有罪當免，黠吏知而犯敞，敞收殺之，其家自冤，使者覆獄，劾敞賊殺人，上逮捕不下，會免，亡命數十日，宣帝徵敞拜為冀州刺史，卒獲其用。前世非私此三人，貪其材器有益於公家也。

Your servant has heard that a sage king's true achievement is winning the right men to serve him. Confucius said, "Good men are hard to find—is that not the truth?" "So when a new king enfeoffs the heir among the lords, he is choosing a pattern of virtue." Even when the heir is not wholly worthy, the Son of Heaven still picks his ministers for him and appoints senior officers to guide him. Respected across generations in that domain, they win the allegiance of gentry and commoners alike—only then does moral instruction take hold and good government follow. A grand administrator today wields more power than a feudal lord of old; past dynasties strained to find able men, and when talent ran short they did not hesitate to promote a man straight from chains. Wei Shang was once jailed for an offense; Emperor Wen, persuaded by Feng Tang, sent an envoy with the imperial staff to free him and made him grand administrator of Yunzhong, to the Xiongnu' alarm. Emperor Wu pulled Han Anguo out of penal labor and named him inner scribe of Liang, and the imperial house knew peace again. Zhang Chang, as governor of the capital, faced removal for an offense; a wily subordinate deliberately provoked him, and Chang had the man executed. The family cried foul; an imperial investigator reheard the case and charged Chang with malicious killing. The emperor withheld the warrant for his arrest until Chang was out of office; Chang then fled and hid for some weeks until Emperor Xuan recalled him as regional inspector of Ji—where he proved indispensable. Those earlier courts did not show those three men personal favor; they valued their abilities because they served the state.

孝文時，吏居官者或長子孫，以官為氏，倉氏、庫氏則倉庫吏之後也。其二千石長吏亦安官樂職，然後上下相望，莫有苟且之意。其後稍稍變易，公卿以下傳相促急，又數改更政事，司隸、部刺史察過悉劾，發揚陰私，吏或居官數月而退，送故迎新，交錯道路。中材苟容求全，下材懷危內顧，壹切營私者多。二千石益輕賤，吏民慢易之。或持其微過，增加成罪，言於刺史、司隸，或至上書章下；眾庶知其易危，小失意則有離畔之心。前山陽亡徒蘇令等從橫，吏士臨難，莫肯伏節死義，以守相威權素奪也。孝成皇帝悔之，下詔書，二千石不為縱，遣使者賜金，尉厚其意，誠以為國家有急，取辦於二千石，二千石尊重難危，乃能使下。

Under Emperor Wen some families held the same minor post for generations until the office became their surname—the Cangs and the Kus, for instance, descend from granary and treasury clerks. Then the two-thousand-dan men could settle into their posts with confidence; ruler and officials looked to each other in good faith, and no one nursed a merely cynical careerism. Little by little the climate changed: from the highest ministers down, everyone hectored everyone else; policy swung back and forth; metropolitan and regional inspectors hunted for slip-ups and dragged private faults into the open; magistrates lasted only months before transfer; processions seeing off the outgoing and greeting the incoming choked the highways. Mediocre men played it safe to survive; lesser men watched their backs; across the board, self-dealing multiplied. Grand administrators lost standing until clerks and commoners openly treated them with disrespect. People seized on petty faults, inflated them into crimes, whispered to regional and metropolitan inspectors, or pushed memorials to the throne until rescripts came down against the victim. The people saw how precarious high office had become; the slightest setback could turn a man disloyal. When Su Ling the escaped convict from Shanyang and his band rampaged, not one official or soldier would stand firm and die for duty—because governors and chancellors had long since been stripped of real authority. Emperor Cheng regretted the policy: he promulgated an edict shielding grand administrators from trumped-up charges of abetting criminals, sent envoys with gold to steady their morale, and declared that in an emergency the realm must rely on those officers—only when they stand secure in dignity and danger alike can they truly lead their subordinates.

孝宣皇帝愛其良民吏，有章劾，事留中，會赦壹解。故事，尚書希下章，為煩擾百姓，證驗繫治，或死獄中，章文必有「敢告之」字乃下。唯陛下留神於擇賢，記善忘過，容忍臣子，勿責以備。二千石、部刺史、三輔縣令有材任職者，人情不能不有過差，宜可闊略，令盡力者有所勸。此方今急務，國家之利也。前蘇令發，欲遣大夫使逐問狀，時見大夫無可使者，召盩厔令尹逢拜為諫大夫遣之。令諸大夫有材能者甚少，宜豫畜養可成就者，則士赴難不愛其死；臨事倉卒乃求，非所以明朝廷也。

Emperor Xuan cherished honest local officials: impeachment papers were held inside the palace until a general amnesty could clear the matter in one stroke. By established rule the secretariat seldom forwarded accusations to the provinces, lest common folk be harrowed by endless questioning and jailings—even deaths in custody; a charge had to carry the formula "I dare report" before it went out. May Your Majesty devote care to choosing able men, remember their strengths and overlook small faults, bear with your servants, and not demand perfection of everyone. Grand administrators, regional inspectors, and magistrates of the capital counties who are genuinely competent will still stumble now and then; Your Majesty should judge them generously so that men who give their all still have reason to try harder. That is the pressing business of the moment and the true interest of the realm. When Su Ling's revolt broke out the court wanted a senior envoy to investigate, but no suitable grandee could be found—so the emperor summoned Yin Feng, magistrate of Zhizhi, named him grandee remonstrant, and sent him. Capable grandees are scarce today; the court should cultivate promising men in advance, so that when crisis comes gentlemen will go to their deaths without hesitation. Scrambling for talent only after trouble erupts is no way to show the world that this court knows its business.

嘉因薦儒者公孫光、滿昌及能吏蕭咸、薛修等，皆故二千石有名稱。天子納而用之。

Jia therefore nominated the scholars Gongsun Guang and Man Chang and the seasoned administrators Xiao Xian and Xue Xiu—all former grand administrators of proven reputation. The emperor accepted the nominations and appointed them.

後數月，日食，舉直言，嘉復奏封事曰：

Months later an eclipse prompted a call for frank counsel; Jia again submitted a sealed memorial:

臣聞咎繇戒帝舜曰：「亡敖佚欲有國，兢兢業業，一日二日萬機。」箕子戒武王曰：「臣無有作威作福，亡有玉食；臣之有作威作福玉食，害于而家，凶于而國，人用側頗辟，民用僭慝。」言如此則逆尊卑之序，亂陰陽之統，而害及王者，其國極危。國人傾仄不正，民用僭差不壹，此君不由法度，上下失序之敗也。武王躬履此道，隆至成康。自是以後，縱心恣欲，法度陵遲，至於臣弒君，子弒父。父子至親，失禮患生，何況異姓之臣？孔子曰：「道千乘之國，敬事而信，節用而愛人，使民以時。」孝文皇帝備行此道，海內蒙恩，為漢太宗。孝宣皇帝賞罰信明，施與有節，記人之功，忽於小過，以致治平。孝元皇帝奉承大業，溫恭少欲，都內錢四十萬萬，水衡錢二十五萬萬，少府錢十八萬萬。嘗幸上林，後宮馮貴人從臨獸圈，猛獸驚出，貴人前當之，元帝嘉美其義，賜錢五萬。掖庭見親，有加賞賜，屬其人勿眾謝。示平惡偏，重失人心，賞賜節約。是時外戚貲千萬者少耳，故少府水衡見錢多也。雖遭初元、永光凶年飢饉，加有西羌之變，外奉師旅，內振貧民，終無傾危之憂，以府臧內充實也。孝成皇帝時，諫臣多言燕出之害，及女寵專愛，耽於酒色，損德傷年，其言甚切，然終不怨怒也。寵臣淳于長、張放、史育，育數貶退，家貲不滿千萬，放斥逐就國，長榜死於獄。不以私愛害公義，故雖多內譏，朝廷安平，傳業陛下。

Your servant recalls Gao Yao's warning to Shun: "Do not grow arrogant or wallow in pleasure while you hold the realm; tremble with care—day and night the myriad threads of government pull at you." Jizi warned King Wu: "No minister may arrogate the power of reward and punishment, nor dine with the regalia of a sovereign;" when ministers seize such power and live like kings, your house suffers harm and your state meets ruin; officials grow crooked and the people turn lawless." That is to say: such conduct overturns proper rank, throws yin and yang out of balance, and the harm reaches the throne itself—the state stands at the brink. When the elite lean every which way and common folk no longer know their place, the fault lies with a ruler who ignores the statutes—high and low have lost their proper order. King Wu walked that path himself, and its blessings carried all the way to the peace of Cheng and Kang. Afterward rulers followed their whims while the laws rotted away, until ministers murdered their sovereigns and sons murdered their fathers. Even the bond of father and son, the closest tie of all, breaks down when ritual fails—how much more easily, then, the loyalty of unrelated ministers? Confucius said, "To govern a state that can field a thousand chariots: handle public business with reverence and good faith, spend frugally and care for your people, and call the commoners to labor only in season." Emperor Wen embodied that teaching; the whole empire received his kindness, and posterity honors him as the Grand Exemplar of the Han. Emperor Xuan made rewards and penalties plain and predictable, spent with restraint, remembered men's achievements, and overlooked petty slips—thus he brought the realm to stability. Emperor Yuan took up the great legacy in gentleness and restraint: the capital treasuries held four billion cash in the imperial storehouse, two and a half billion in the hydraulic treasury, and one point eight billion in the privy purse. Once at the Shanglin park the concubine Feng of honorable rank stepped between the emperor and a maddened beast; Yuan admired her courage and gave her fifty thousand cash. When palace women received kin, any extra bounty came with orders not to parade thanks before the whole court. He meant to show even-handed justice, avoid favoritism, keep popular confidence, and keep largesse within bounds. Few consort families then counted their wealth in the tens of millions—hence the privy and hydraulic treasuries stayed flush. Even through the bad harvests of Chuyuan and Yongguang and the Qiang revolt in the west—armies in the field and relief for the starving at home—the dynasty never teetered, because the granaries and treasuries remained full. Under Emperor Cheng remonstrators often warned of the evils of secret excursions, of a favorite's monopoly on affection, of dissipation in wine and women that sapped virtue and shortened life; their language was blunt, yet the emperor never turned bitter on them. Among Cheng's favorites—Chunyu Chang, Zhang Fang, and Shi Yu—Shi Yu was demoted time and again and never amassed ten million in family wealth; Zhang Fang was banished to his fief; Chunyu Chang died under the flogging staff in jail. Because he never let private affection corrupt public duty, the court stayed stable despite palace gossip, and the mandate passed down to Your Majesty.

陛下在國之時，好詩書，上儉節，徵來所過道上稱誦德美，此天下所以回心也。初即位，易帷帳，去錦繡，乘輿席緣綈繒而已。共皇寢廟比比當作，憂閔元元，惟用度不足，以義割恩，輒且止息，今始作治。而駙馬都尉董賢亦起官寺上林中，又為賢治大第，開門鄉北闕，引王渠灌園池，使者護作，賞賜吏卒，甚於治宗廟。賢母病，長安廚給祠具，道中過者皆飲食。為賢治器，器成，奏御乃行，或物好，特賜其工，自貢獻宗廟三宮，猶不至此。賢家有賓婚及見親，諸官並共，賜及倉頭奴婢，人十萬錢。使者護視，發取市物，百賈震動，道路讙譁，群臣惶惑。詔書罷菀，而以賜賢二千餘頃，均田之制從此墮壞。奢僭放縱，變亂陰陽，災異眾多，百姓訛言，持籌相驚，被髮徒跣而走，乘馬者馳，天惑其意，不能自止。或以為籌者策失之戒也。陛下素仁智慎事，今而有此大譏。

While still heir-apparent you loved the classics and honored simplicity; everywhere your procession passed the people praised your virtue—that is why the realm put its hope in you. At your accession you replaced palace hangings, stripped out brocade, and rode with mat borders of plain damask—nothing more. Your father's mausoleum shrines should have risen one after another, yet out of pity for the common people and fear of the treasury you set duty above affection and halted the work—only now has building slowly resumed. Meanwhile Commandant Dong Xian has had yamen offices raised inside Shanglin Park, and a mansion for him whose gate lines up with the northern palace tower, with the imperial canal diverted to fill his gardens—imperial couriers oversee the labor, and the gratuities to workmen outstrip what was spent on the imperial shrines. When Dong Xian's mother fell ill, the capital kitchens supplied ritual vessels for her prayers, and every traveler on the road was fed from the public purse. Vessels forged for Dong Xian must be shown to the throne before use; if a piece is especially fine the artisan receives a personal reward—treatment stricter than what attends tribute for the ancestral shrines and the three palaces. Whenever Dong Xian entertained wedding guests or received relatives, every ministry contributed, down to a hundred thousand cash for each of his young male slaves and maidservants. Imperial agents supervise the scene, requisitioning goods from the markets; merchants panic, the streets buzz with rumor, and the ministers walk in a daze. An edict closed the imperial breeding park—only to hand more than two thousand qing of it to Dong Xian, wrecking the equitable land system at a stroke. Such luxury and presumption have thrown yin and yang out of joint: omens multiply, wild rumors fly, and folk run through the streets barefoot with hair unbound, tally-sticks in hand, while horsemen gallop past—Heaven has muddled their minds and they cannot stop. Some read those counting-rods as Heaven's warning that the court's policies had gone astray. You have always been humane, wise, and careful—yet now the world heaps this bitter mockery on you.

孔子曰：「危而不持，顛而不扶，則將安用彼相矣！」臣嘉幸得備位，竊內悲傷不能通愚忠之信；身死有益於國，不敢自惜。唯陛下慎己之所獨鄉，察眾人之所共疑。往者寵臣鄧通、韓嫣驕貴失度，逸豫無厭，小人不勝情欲，卒陷罪辜。亂國亡驅，不終其祿，所謂愛之適足以害之者也。宜深覽前世，以節賢↨，全安其命。

Confucius said, "If in danger you do not lend a hand, if at the brink you offer no support—what good is such a minister?" Your servant Jia is honored to hold office, yet grieves that he cannot make his stubborn loyalty understood. If my death would serve the realm, I would not cling to life. May Your Majesty weigh the private inclinations you alone pursue against the doubts the whole court shares. The favorites Deng Tong and Han Yan rose too high, gave themselves to pleasure without limit, and as petty men could not master passion—both ended in crime and ruin. They brought chaos on the state and destruction on themselves, never outliving their stipends—proof that doting on a favorite can be the surest way to destroy him. Ponder the precedents of earlier ages, curb the excess of royal affection toward a favorite, and so preserve his life intact.

於是上寖不說，而愈愛賢，不能自勝。

The emperor grew steadily colder toward Jia's counsel yet more infatuated with Dong Xian—utterly unable to master himself.

會祖母傅太后薨，上因託傅太后遺詔，令成帝母王太后下丞相御史，益封賢二千戶，及賜孔鄉侯、汝昌侯、陽新侯國。嘉封還詔書，因奏封事諫上及太后曰：「臣聞爵祿土地，天之有也。《書》云：『天命有德，五服五章哉！』王者代天爵人，尤宜慎之。裂地而封，不得其宜，則眾庶不服，感動陰陽，其害疾自深。今聖體久不平，此臣嘉所內懼也。高安侯賢，佞幸之臣，陛下傾爵位以貴之，單貨財以富之，損至尊以寵之，主威已黜，府藏已竭，唯恐不足。財皆民力所為，孝文皇帝欲起露臺，重百金之費，克己不作。今賢散公賦以施私惠，一家至受千金，往古以來貴臣未嘗有此，流聞四方，皆同怨之。里諺曰：『千人所指，無病而死。』臣常為之寒心。今太皇太后以永信太后遺詔，詔丞相御史益賢戶，賜三侯國，臣嘉竊惑。山崩地動，日食於三朝，皆陰侵陽之戒也。前賢已再封，晏、商再易邑，業緣私橫求，恩已過厚，求索自恣，不知厭足，甚傷尊卑之義，不可以示天下，為害痛矣！臣驕侵罔，陰陽失節，氣感相動，害及身體。陛下寢疾久不平，繼嗣未立，宜思正萬事，順天人之心，以求福祐，柰何輕身肆意，不念高祖之勤苦垂立制度欲傳之於無窮哉！孝經曰：『天子有爭臣七人，雖無道，不失其天下。』臣謹封上詔書，不敢露見，非愛死而不自法，恐天下聞之，故不敢自劾。愚贛數犯忌諱，唯陛下省察。」

When the grand empress dowager Fu died, the emperor claimed to act on her deathbed will and had Empress Dowager Wang instruct the chancellor and counselor to add two thousand households to Dong Xian's income and to enlarge the fiefs of the marquises of Kongxiang, Ruchang, and Yangxin. Jia resealed the edict and returned it unopened, then sent a sealed memorial to the emperor and empress dowager: "Your servant has heard that noble rank, salary, and territory belong to Heaven. The Book of Documents says, 'Heaven appoints the virtuous; the five grades of robe mark the five ranks of honor.' The Son of Heaven ennobles men on Heaven's behalf; he must proceed with the utmost care. Ill-judged enfeoffments alienate the people, disturb the balance of yin and yang, and bring harm with terrible speed. Your Majesty's health has long been unsettled—that is what fills your servant with dread. Marquis of Gao'an Dong Xian is a creature of flattery: you have tilted the whole ladder of rank to exalt him, poured out the treasury to enrich him, and bent the majesty of the throne to indulge him—sovereign dignity is eclipsed, the storehouses are bare, and still you fear it is not enough. Every coin comes from the people's labor: Emperor Wen once planned an open terrace, balked at a cost of a hundred catties of gold, and gave it up. Now Dong Xian spends the public revenue on private largesse; a single household pockets a thousand pounds in gold—no favorite in history has been so enriched, and resentment runs through the four quarters. The proverb runs, 'Let a thousand fingers point at a man and he will die though no illness touch him.' Your servant shudders whenever he thinks of it. Now the grand empress dowager invokes a testament of the late empress dowager of Yongxin and orders the chancellor and counselor to swell Dong Xian's fief and add whole principalities for three marquises—your servant is baffled. Landslides, earthquakes, and eclipses on three successive mornings—all are Heaven's warning that yin is overwhelming yang. Dong Xian has already been enfeoffed twice; Ding Yan and Ding Shang have had their fiefs reshuffled again and again; through private connections they keep pressing for more—favor heaped past measure, greed still unsated, until the whole hierarchy of rank is mocked. You cannot display such conduct to the empire; the harm is cruel indeed. When ministers grow arrogant and deceitful, yin and yang fall out of season; the vital ethers clash and the damage reaches Your Majesty's own person. Your illness lingers, the heir yet unchosen: you should set the myriad affairs aright and win the hearts of Heaven and men—yet you risk your person and follow every whim, forgetting how Gaozu toiled to frame institutions meant to endure forever. The Classic of Filial Piety says, 'If a Son of Heaven keeps seven ministers who will speak bluntly, he will not lose the realm even when his own conduct falters.' Your servant returns the edict sealed because he dares not publish it—not from cowardice about impeaching himself, but lest the empire learn that the chancellor had to denounce his own sovereign's order. A dull man has again trespassed on forbidden ground—may Your Majesty judge him with care.

初，廷尉梁相與丞相長史、御史中丞及五二千石雜治東平王雲獄，時冬月未盡二旬，而相心疑雲冤，獄有飾辭，奏欲傳之長安，更下公卿覆治。尚書令鞫譚、僕射宗伯鳳以為可許。天子以相等皆見上體不平，外內顧望，操持兩心，幸雲踰冬，無討賊疾惡主讎之意，制詔免相等皆為庶人。後數月大赦，嘉奏封事薦相等明習治獄，「相計謀深沈，譚頗知雅文，鳳經明行修，聖王有計功除過，臣竊為朝廷惜此三人。」書奏，上不能平。後二十餘日，嘉封還益董賢戶事，上乃發怒，召嘉詣尚書，責問以「

Earlier, Commandant of Justice Liang Xiang, the chancellor's chief clerk, the palace assistant secretary, and five senior officials jointly tried King Yun of Dongping. Winter court had not yet run twenty days when Xiang began to doubt the king's guilt—the record looked cooked—and he asked to move the dossier to Chang'an for review by the high ministers. Director Ju Tan of the secretariat and Supervisor Zongbo Feng ruled that the request should be granted. The emperor decided that Xiang and his colleagues, seeing the throne unsettled, had hedged their bets and dragged their feet so that Yun might live out the winter—showing no zeal to punish treason or avenge their sovereign—and stripped them all to commoner status. Months later a general amnesty cleared their names; Jia sent a sealed memorial praising their skill in criminal justice—"Xiang is deep and steady, Tan masters court prose, Feng is a scholar of spotless conduct; sage kings weigh merit against fault—and your servant grieves that the court cast away such men." The emperor read the memorial and seethed. Some twenty days later, when Jia again returned the edict enlarging Dong Xian's fief, the emperor exploded: he summoned Jia to the secretariat and began his rebuke with "

相等前坐在位不盡忠誠，外附諸侯，操持兩心，背人臣之義，今所稱相等材美，足以相計除罪。君以道德，位在三公，以總方略一統萬類分明善惡為職，知相等罪惡陳列，著聞天下，時輒以自劾，今又稱譽相等，云為朝廷惜之。大臣舉錯，恣心自在，迷國罔上，近由君始，將謂遠者何！對狀。」嘉免冠謝罪。

Xiang and his colleagues once held office without loyalty, courted the feudal kings, and played both sides against the middle—violating every duty a minister owes. Are their talents now so splendid that they can erase those crimes by arithmetic? You sit as chancellor on moral grounds: your charge is to set policy for the myriad affairs and distinguish right from wrong. You knew Xiang's guilt was notorious, impeached yourself at the time—yet now you praise those same men and say the court should regret losing them. When great ministers act on whim, delude the state, and mock the throne, the rot begins with you—what then of the ranks below? Answer the charge in writing." Jia took off his cap and apologized.

事下將軍中朝者。光祿大夫孔光、左將軍公孫祿、右將軍王安、光祿勳馬宮、光祿大夫龔勝劾嘉迷國罔上不道，請與廷尉雜治。勝獨以為嘉備宰相，諸事並廢，咎由嘉生；嘉坐薦相等，微薄，以應迷國罔上不道，恐不可以示天下。遂可光等奏。

The case was referred to the generals and the inner court. Kong Guang, Gongsun Lu, Wang An, Ma Gong, and Gong Sheng impeached Jia for misleading the state and deceiving the throne, and asked that he be handed to the commandant of justice for joint trial. Gong Sheng alone argued that as chancellor Jia had let every duty slide—the blame lay with him; yet his offense in recommending Liang Xiang was a small matter—too thin a reed on which to hang the capital charge of deceiving the realm; it would not convince the empire. The emperor approved Kong Guang's memorial.

光等請謁者召嘉詣廷尉詔獄，制曰：「票騎將軍、御史大夫、中二千石、二千石、諸大夫、博士、議郎議。」衛尉雲等五十人以為「

Kong Guang and his party asked that a herald escort Jia to the imperial prison under the commandant of justice. The edict read: "Let the general of agile cavalry, the imperial counselor, all two-thousand-dan officials, the grandees, academicians, and consultants deliberate." Commandant of the guards Wang Yun and fifty colleagues held that "

如光等言可許」。議郎龔等以為「嘉言事前後相違，無所執守，不任宰相之職，宜奪爵土，免為庶人。」永信少府猛等十人以為「聖王斷獄，必先原心定罪，探意立情，故死者不抱恨而入地，生者不銜怨而受罪。明主躬聖德，重大臣刑辟，廣延有司議，欲使海內咸服。嘉罪名雖應法，聖王之於大臣，在輿為下，御坐則起，疾病視之無數，死則臨弔之，廢宗廟之祭，進之以禮，退之以義，誄之以行。案嘉本以相等為罪，罪惡雖著，大臣括髮關械、裸躬就笞，非所以重國褒宗廟也。今春月寒氣錯繆，霜露數降，宜示天下以寬和。臣等不知大義，唯陛下察焉。」有詔假謁者節，召丞相詣廷尉詔獄。

Kong Guang's proposal should be accepted." Consultants led by Gong argued that Jia's statements contradicted themselves, that he lacked a consistent standard, that he was unfit to be chancellor, and that he should be stripped of rank and fief and reduced to commoner status. Privy treasurer Meng of Yongxin and nine others countered: "A sage king weighs a man's intent before fixing guilt, so the dead go to the grave unresentful and the living accept punishment without bitterness. A wise ruler, himself steeped in virtue, treats a minister's punishment as a grave matter and casts the net wide for counsel, so that the whole realm may be persuaded of the justice done. Even if Jia's offense fits the statute, sage kings treat high ministers with ceremony: they bow lower in the carriage, rise when the minister is seated, visit him tirelessly in illness, mourn him at death, and pause the ancestral rites; they advance him with ritual, dismiss him with justice, and praise his conduct in the funeral ode. Jia's real offense was recommending Liang Xiang; however grave that looks, to shackle a chief minister, strip him, and flog him is no way to dignify the state or bring honor to the imperial shrines. This spring the weather runs wild—frost and dew keep falling out of season; it is time to show the empire mercy and restraint. We may lack the larger view—may Your Majesty judge." An edict followed: lend the herald's baton of office and escort the chancellor to the commandant of justice's imperial prison.

使者既到府，掾史涕泣，共和藥進嘉，嘉不肯服。主簿曰：「將相不對理陳冤，相踵以為故事，君侯宜引決。」使者危坐府門上。主簿復前進藥，嘉引藥杯以擊地，謂官屬曰：「丞相幸得備位三公，奉職負國，當伏刑都市以示萬眾。丞相豈兒女子邪，何謂咀藥而死！」嘉遂裝出，見使者再拜受詔，乘吏小車，去蓋不冠，隨使者詣廷尉。廷尉收嘉丞相新甫侯印綬，縛嘉載致都船詔獄。

When the herald reached the chancellery, the staff wept and mixed poison for Jia to drink; he refused. The chief clerk said, "Generals and ministers do not submit to public trial to plead innocence—it has become the custom to take one's own life; you should follow suit, my lord." The herald sat stiffly atop the chancellery gate. The chief clerk pressed the cup again; Jia dashed it to the floor and told his officers, "I have had the honor to rank among the Three Excellencies; I held office and failed the state—I should die in the public market as a lesson to the multitude. Do you take the chancellor for some weak girl who ends her life with poison?" Jia then dressed, came out, bowed twice to the herald and accepted the edict, rode a clerk's plain cart without canopy or cap, and followed him to the commandant of justice. The commandant took Jia's seals as chancellor and marquis of Xinfu, bound him, and sent him in a cart to the imperial prison under the superintendent of capital ships.

上聞嘉生自詣吏，大怒，使將軍以下與五二千石雜治。吏詰問嘉，嘉對曰：「案事者思得實。竊見相等前治東平王獄，不以雲為不當死，欲關公卿示重慎；置驛馬傳囚，勢不得踰冬月，誠不見其外內顧望阿附為雲驗。復幸得蒙大赦，相等皆良善吏，臣竊為國惜賢，不私此三人。」獄吏曰：「苟如此，則君何以為罪猶當？有以負國，不空入獄矣。」吏稍侵辱嘉，嘉喟然卬天嘆曰：「幸得充備宰相，不能進賢退不肖，以是負國，死有餘責。」吏問賢不肖主名，嘉曰：「賢，故丞相孔光、故大司空何武，不能進；惡，高安侯董賢父子，佞邪亂朝，而不能退。罪當死，死無所恨。」嘉繫獄二十餘日，不食歐血而死。帝舅大司馬票騎將軍丁明素重嘉而憐之，上遂免明，以董賢代之，語在賢傳。

Learning that Jia had surrendered alive, the emperor flew into a rage and ordered generals and five senior officials to sit in joint judgment on him. The examiners pressed him; Jia answered, "Anyone who handles a case should seek the truth. Liang Xiang and his colleagues never said King Yun should escape death—they only wanted the high ministers to review the file and show due care. They used post horses to move the prisoner so the case could not slip past the winter session; I see no proof that they were stalling or currying favor for Yun. They were later swept clean by a general amnesty; they were honest officials all, and your servant grieved for the state's loss of talent—not from any private fondness for those three." The jailer said, "If that is so, what charge then still hangs on you? You must have failed the state in some other way—you did not land here for nothing." As the clerks grew rougher, Jia looked up and groaned, "I was honored with the chancellorship yet failed to promote the good and remove the wicked—for that I betrayed the state, and death cannot expiate my fault." They asked him to name the worthy and the base. He said, "The worthy: former Chancellor Kong Guang and former Grand Minister of Works He Wu—I could not bring them forward; the base: Marquis of Gao'an Dong Xian and his father, sycophants who threw the court into chaos—yet I could not remove them. I deserve death for it, and I die without complaint." After more than twenty days in prison without food, he vomited blood and died. Ding Ming, the emperor's uncle, grand marshal and general of agile cavalry, had always respected Jia and pitied his fate; the emperor removed Ding and gave his post to Dong Xian, as told in Dong Xian's memoir.

嘉為相三年誅，國除。死後上覽其對而思嘉言，復以孔光代嘉為丞相，徵用何武為御史大夫。元始四年，詔書追錄忠臣，封嘉子崇為新甫侯，追諡嘉為忠侯。

Jia had been chancellor three years when he was put to death and his marquisate struck off. After his death the emperor read Jia's prison statements, remembered his counsel, appointed Kong Guang chancellor in his place, and recalled He Wu as imperial counselor. In Yuanshi year four an edict honored loyal ministers posthumously: Jia's son Chong received the marquisate of Xinfu, and Jia himself was titled posthumously Marquis of Loyalty.

師丹字仲公，琅邪東武人也。治詩，事匡衡。舉孝廉為郎。元帝末，為博士，免。建始中，州舉茂材，復補博士，出為東平王太傅。丞相方進、御史大夫孔光舉丹論議深博，廉正守道，徵入為光祿大夫、丞相司直。數月，復以光祿大夫給事中，由是為少府、光祿勳、侍中，甚見尊重。成帝末年，立定陶王為皇太子，以丹為太子太傅。哀帝即位，為左將軍，賜爵關內侯，食邑，領尚書事，遂代王莽為大司馬，封高樂侯。月餘，徙為大司空。

Shi Dan, courtesy name Zhonggong, was a native of Dongwu in Langye commandery. He studied the Odes under Kuang Heng. Recommended as filial and incorrupt, he was appointed a court gentleman. Late in Emperor Yuan's reign he held an academician's chair, then lost the post. During Jianshi the province nominated him as abundantly talented; he was reappointed academician and then became grand tutor to the king of Dongping. Chancellor Zhai Fangjin and Imperial Counselor Kong Guang cited Dan's learning, integrity, and moral steadfastness; he was recalled as grand counselor of the palace and director of integrity for the chancellor. Months later he added palace advisory duty, then rose through privy treasurer, superintendent of the household, and palace attendant—each step bringing him greater esteem. Near the end of Emperor Cheng's reign the king of Dingtao was named crown prince, and Dan became his grand tutor. Emperor Ai made him left general, ennobled him as marquis within the passes with a stipendiary estate, put him in charge of the secretariat, then had him succeed Wang Mang as grand marshal with the title marquis of Gaole. A little over a month later he was moved to grand minister of works.

會有上書言古者以龜貝為貨，今以錢易之，民以故貧，宜可改幣。上以問丹，丹對言可改。章下有司議，皆以為行錢以來久，難卒變易。丹老人，忘其前語，後從公卿議。又丹使吏書奏，吏私寫其草，丁、傅子弟聞之，使人上書告丹上封事行道人遍持其書。上以問將軍中朝臣，皆對曰：「忠臣不顯諫，大臣奏事不宜漏泄，令吏民傳寫流聞四方。『臣不密則失身』，宜下廷尉治。」事下廷尉，廷尉劾丹大不敬。事未決，給事中博士申咸、炔欽上書，言「丹經行無比，自近世大臣能若丹者少。發憤懣，奏封事，不及深思遠慮，使主簿書，漏泄之過不在丹。以此貶黜，恐不厭眾心。」尚書劾咸、欽：「幸得以儒官選擢備腹心，上所折中定疑，知丹社稷重臣，議罪處罰，國之所慎，咸、欽初傅經義以為當治，事以暴列，乃復上書妄稱譽丹，前後相違，不敬。」上貶咸、欽秩各二等，遂策免丹曰：「夫三公者，朕之腹心也，輔善相過，匡率百僚，和合天下者也。朕既不明，委政於公，間者陰陽不調，寒暑失常，變異婁臻，山崩地震，河決泉涌，流殺人民，百姓流連，無所歸心，司空之職尤廢焉。君在位出入三年，未聞忠言嘉謀，而反有朋黨相進不公之名。乃者以挺力田議改幣章示君，君內為朕建可改不疑；以君之言博考朝臣，君乃希眾雷同，外以為不便，令觀聽者歸非於朕。朕隱忍不宣，為君受愆。朕疾夫比周之徒虛偽壞化，寖以成俗，故屢以書飭君，幾君省過求己，而反不受，退有後言。及君奏封事，傳於道路，布聞朝市，言事者以為大臣不忠，辜陷重辟，獲虛采名，謗譏匈匈，流於四方。腹心如此，謂疏者何？殆謬於二人同心之利焉，將何以率示群下，附親遠方？朕惟君位尊任重，慮不周密，懷諼迷國，進退違命，反覆異言，甚為君恥之，非所以共承天地，永保國家之意。以君嘗託傅位，未忍考於理，已詔有司赦君勿治。其上大司空高樂侯印綬，罷歸。」

Someone memorialized that antiquity used cowries and shells as money, whereas today metal coin has made the people poor, and that the currency system ought to be reformed. The emperor asked Dan, who answered that reform was feasible. The memorial went to the ministries for debate; all agreed that cash had been in use too long to be overturned overnight. Dan was elderly; he forgot his earlier opinion and later sided with the majority of the high ministers. Dan had a clerk draft a memorial; the clerk secretly copied the rough text. Young men of the Ding and Fu factions heard of it and lodged a charge that Dan had let his sealed memorial circulate among travelers on the highway. The emperor put the question to generals and inner-court ministers, who replied, "A loyal minister does not publish his remonstrance abroad; a chief minister's papers must not leak and be copied by officials and commoners until rumor spreads everywhere. 'When a minister fails to keep secrets, he loses his life'—the case should go to the commandant of justice." The matter went to the commandant of justice, who impeached Dan for grave disrespect. Before judgment fell, Palace Attendants Shen Xian and Geng Qin submitted that no minister of recent times matched Dan's learning and conduct. He spoke in honest anger in a sealed memorial, without weighing every consequence, and had his chief clerk fair-copy it—the leak was not his doing. To dismiss him on that ground would not satisfy public opinion." The secretariat impeached Shen and Geng: "Raised from scholarly posts to advise the throne, they knew Dan was a pillar of the state and that fixing his punishment was a matter of national gravity. They first cited the classics to argue he should be prosecuted; once the facts were public, they reversed themselves with a memorial praising him—contradictory and disrespectful." The emperor docked Shen and Geng two ranks each, then issued an edict dismissing Dan: "The Three Excellencies are my inner council: they nurture what is right, correct my faults, give heart to the bureaucracy, and bring harmony to the realm. I am no sage; I laid the government on you—yet yin and yang have fallen out of tune, the seasons run wild, omens pile up, the earth shakes, rivers break their banks and drown the people, and the common folk are adrift with nowhere to turn. You have especially neglected the office of grand minister of works. In the three years of your tenure We have heard neither loyal counsel nor sound strategy—only whispers that you pack your faction and hand out unfair favors. When the memorial on currency reform was laid before you (the transmitted text of the sponsor's name appears corrupt), you assured Me in private without hesitation that reform was possible; yet when We canvassed the court on your advice, you echoed the crowd and declared the change impractical, so that every onlooker lays the blame on Me. I swallowed the affront and said nothing—I took the disgrace for you. I detest cliques whose hypocrisy rots public morals until it becomes habit; I wrote you again and again, hoping you would search your own faults—yet you brushed it off and carped behind My back. Then your sealed memorial ran along the highways and through the markets, and critics began to say that ministers feign loyalty, wriggle out of capital charges, and steal empty fame—slander now roars in every quarter. If my closest ministers behave so, what may I expect of those farther out? You have missed entirely the good of 'two minds with one purpose'—how then am I to guide the officials below or win the allegiance of the distant regions? You held high office yet schemed carelessly, harbored deceit that misled the state, defied My orders, and contradicted yourself at every turn—I am deeply shamed for you. That is no way to serve Heaven and Earth or to keep the dynasty secure. Because you once served as crown tutor, I cannot bring Myself to press the full rigor of the law; I have ordered the ministries to pardon you from prosecution. Surrender the seals of grand minister of works and marquis of Gaole and retire to your home."

尚書令唐林上疏曰：「竊見免大司空丹策書，泰深痛切，君子作文，為賢者諱。丹經為世儒宗，德為國黃耇，親傅聖躬，位在三公，所坐者微，海內未見其大過，事既已往，免爵大重，京師識者咸以為宜復丹邑爵，使奉朝請，四方所瞻卬也。惟陛下財覽眾心，有以尉復師傅之臣。」上從林言，下詔賜丹爵關內侯，食邑三百戶。

Director of the secretariat Tang Lin wrote: "The edict dismissing Grand Minister of Works Dan is unbearably harsh; a gentleman drafting state papers should veil the faults of the worthy." Dan is the foremost scholar of the age, a venerable pillar of the state, once tutor to Your Majesty's own person and a member of the Three Excellencies. His offense was trifling; the empire sees no grave crime in him. To strip his title now is excessive. Men of judgment in the capital urge that his rank and income be restored and that he attend court on summons—the eyes of the realm are on this. May Your Majesty weigh the general feeling and offer some consolation to the man who was once your tutor." The emperor accepted Tang Lin's advice and issued an edict making Dan marquis within the passes with three hundred taxable households.

丹既免數月，上用朱博議，尊傅太后為皇太太后，丁后為帝太后，與太皇太后及皇太后同尊，又為共皇立廟京師，儀如孝元皇帝。博遷為丞相，復與御史大夫趙玄奏言：「前高昌侯宏首建尊號之議，而為丹所劾奏，免為庶人。時天下衰麤，委政於丹。丹不深惟褒廣尊親之義而妄稱說，抑貶尊號，虧損孝道，不忠莫大焉。陛下聖仁，昭然定尊號，宏以忠孝復封高昌侯。丹惡逆暴著，雖蒙赦令，不宜有爵邑，請免為庶人。」奏可。丹於是廢歸鄉里者數年。

Months after Dan's removal the emperor adopted Zhu Bo's advice: Empress Dowager Fu became grand grand empress dowager, Empress Ding became imperial empress dowager, coequal in honor with the grand empress dowager and the empress dowager; a temple to Emperor Gong was raised in the capital on the model of Emperor Yuan's rites. Zhu Bo became chancellor and jointly with Imperial Counselor Zhao Xuan submitted: "Marquis of Gaochang Dong Hong was the first to urge the new honorific titles, yet Shi Dan impeached him and had him reduced to commoner status. The realm was in turmoil and the decision rested with Dan. Dan gave no thought to exalting the emperor's kin but spread reckless talk, belittling the new titles and wounding filial piety—there is no greater disloyalty. Your Majesty in sage clarity settled the titles and restored Hong as marquis of Gaochang for his loyalty and filial devotion. Dan's malice stands plain for all to see; though pardoned from criminal trial, he should not keep title or fief—reduce him to commoner status." The emperor approved the memorial. Dan was then stripped of office and lived in his home commandery for several years.

平帝即位，新都侯王莽白太皇太后發掘傅太后、丁太后冢，奪其璽綬，更以民葬之，定陶隳廢共皇廟。諸造議泠褒、段猶等皆徙合浦，復免高昌侯宏為庶人。徵丹詣公車，賜爵關內侯，食故邑。數月，太皇太后詔大司徒、大司空曰：「夫褒有德，賞元功，先聖之制，百王不易之道也。故定陶太后造稱僭號，甚悖義理。關內侯師丹端誠於國，不顧患難，執忠節，據聖法，分明尊卑之制，確然有柱石之固，臨大節而不可奪，可謂社稷之臣矣。有司條奏邪臣建定稱號者已放退，而丹功賞未加，殆繆乎先賞後罰之義，非所以章有德報厥功也。其以厚丘之中鄉戶二千一百封丹為義陽侯。」月餘薨，諡曰節侯。子業嗣，王莽敗乃絕。

When Emperor Ping came to the throne, Marquis of Xindu Wang Mang persuaded the grand empress dowager to open the tombs of the empresses dowager Fu and Ding, strip their imperial seals, and rebury them as commoners; the shrines at Dingtao to Emperor Gong were torn down. The architects of the policy—Ling Bao, Duan You, and their ilk—were banished to Hepu, and Marquis of Gaochang Dong Hong was again reduced to commoner status. Dan was summoned to the public carriage gate, made marquis within the passes, and given his old stipendiary estate back. Months later the grand empress dowager addressed the grand minister of education and grand minister of works: "To honor the virtuous and reward founding merit is the teaching of the ancient sages and the constant rule of every true king. The empress dowager of Dingtao arrogated titles that violated every principle of right. Marquis within the passes Shi Dan served the state with single-minded loyalty, heedless of personal danger; he upheld the statutes, drew the line between proper rank high and low, and stood like a cornerstone that no crisis could shake—a true pillar of the dynasty. The ministries have already banished the wicked ministers who devised those titles, yet Dan has received no reward for his service—that inverts the principle of rewarding merit before inflicting punishment and fails to make manifest his virtue. Enfeoff Dan as marquis of Yiyang with the two thousand one hundred households of Zhong township in Houqiu commandery." He died a little over a month later and was posthumously titled Marquis of Integrity. His son Ye inherited the title; the line ended when Wang Mang fell.

贊曰：何武之舉，王嘉之爭，師丹之議，考其禍福，乃效於後。當王莽之作，外內咸服，董賢之愛，疑於親戚，武、嘉區區，以一蕢障江河，用沒其身。丹與董宏更受賞罰，哀哉！故曰「依世則廢道，違俗則免殆」，此古人所以難受爵位者也。

The historian's judgment: He Wu's nominations, Wang Jia's remonstrance, Shi Dan's policy debates—study their outcomes, and the sequel proves the point. While Wang Mang won obedience inside and out, and Dong Xian's favor rivaled kinship itself, Wu and Jia stood their ground like men trying to dam a river with a reed mat—and paid with their lives. Shi Dan and Dong Hong alike knew reward and ruin—how bitter a fate! Hence the saying: "Heed the times and you abandon the right; defy fashion and you may escape ruin"—that is why the ancients found high office so hard to bear.

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