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卷八十七下揚雄傳第五十七下
Volume 87b: Biography of Yang Xiong, Part Two.
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明年，上將大誇胡人以多禽獸，秋，命右扶風發民入南山，西自褒斜，東至弘農，南驅漢中，張羅罔羆罘，捕熊羆、豪豬、虎豹、□、狐菟、麋鹿，載以檻車，輸長楊射熊館。 以罔為周□，縱禽獸其中，令胡人手搏之，自取其獲，上親臨觀焉。 是時，農民不得收斂。 雄從至射熊館，還，上《長楊賦》，聊因筆墨之成文章，故借翰林以為主人，子墨為客卿以風。 其辭曰：
The following year the emperor meant to dazzle the nomads with the empire’s teeming game. That autumn he had the governor of Right Fufeng press commoners into the Qinling range from Baoxie in the west to Hongnong in the east and south into Hanzhong, stringing nets and traps for bears, boars, tigers, leopards, lynxes, foxes, hares, and deer, then hauling the catch in barred wagons up to the Changyang hunting park. The nets formed a vast pen; the animals were turned loose inside, and the nomads were told to wrestle their prey bare-handed and keep what they killed, while the sovereign looked on from his seat. Meanwhile the farmers could not bring in their crops. Yang Xiong had gone along to the lodge; when he came back he submitted his "Rhapsody on Changyang," casting the piece as a dialogue between a Hanlin host and a guest named Zimo so that counsel could be offered without blunt memorial rhetoric. The piece begins:
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子墨客卿問於翰林主人曰：「蓋聞聖主之養民也，仁沾而恩洽，動不為身。 今年獵長楊，先命右扶風，左太華而右褒斜，□截□而為弋，紆南山以為□，羅千乘於林莽，列萬騎於山隅，帥軍□，錫戎獲胡。 扼熊羆，拖豪豬，木雍槍累，以為儲胥，此天下之窮覽極觀也。 雖然，亦頗擾於農民。 三旬有餘，其廑至矣，而功不圖，恐不識者，外之則以為娛樂之遊，內之則不以為干豆之事，豈為民乎哉！ 且人君以玄默為神，淡泊為德，今樂遠出以露威靈，數搖動以罷車甲，本非人主之急務也，蒙竊或焉。」
The guest Zimo said to the Hanlin host: "They say a true king raises his people so that kindness reaches everywhere and favor runs deep, and that he acts for the realm, not for himself. This year’s Changyang drive began with orders to Right Fufeng: Taishan to the left, Baoxie to the right, passes blocked and cordons set, the southern range bent into a vast corral, a thousand chariots massed in the brush, ten thousand horsemen along the ridges, the host marshaled so that soldiers could win glory by seizing Hu prisoners. Bears and boars are wrestled down, porcupines hauled off, timber and stacked pikes raised as barricades—nothing under heaven could look more like a tour of every spectacle at once. Even so, it throws the countryside into turmoil. It has dragged on more than a month, the people worn threadbare, yet no useful outcome is weighed; outsiders may call it sport, insiders will never call it the business of the ancestral altar—can anyone say this is done for the common folk? A sovereign is supposed to rule from stillness and spare simplicity; riding far afield to flaunt majesty and jostling the host again and again until chariots and mail are exhausted is not what the throne most needs—I say this with private misgiving."
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翰林主人曰：「吁，謂之茲邪！ 若客，所謂知其一未睹其二，見其外不識其內者也。 僕嘗倦談，不能一二其詳，請略舉凡，而客自覽其切焉。」
The host cried, "Ah—is that what you think? You are the sort who grasps one side of a thing and misses the other, who stares at the surface and never sees what lies beneath. I am tired of long speeches and cannot spell out every particular; let me sketch the outline, and you may judge for yourself what matters."
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客曰：「唯，唯。」
The guest murmured, "Yes—yes."
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主人曰：「昔有強秦，封豕其士，□窳其民，鑿齒之徒相與摩牙而爭之，豪俊麋沸雲擾，群黎為之不康。 於是上帝眷顧高祖，高祖奉命，順斗極，運天關，橫巨海，票崑崙，提劍而叱之，所麾城摲邑，下將降旗，一日之戰，不可殫記。 當此之勤，頭蓬不暇疏，饑不及餐，□鍪生蟣虱，介冑被沾汗，以為萬姓請命乎皇天。 乃展民之所詘，振民之所乏，規億載，恢帝業，七年之間而天下密如也。
The host said: "Once there was brutal Qin, devouring its land like a boar and grinding its people down; ruffians sharpened their teeth on one another while heroes boiled up like stampeding deer in a fog, and the common folk knew no rest. Then Heaven turned to Gaozu. He took the mandate, aligned himself with the pole star, burst the passes of the sky, crossed wide seas, swept past Kunlun, and swept his sword before him; cities fell at a wave of his standard, captains struck their colors, and the clashes of a single day are beyond counting. In that labor there was no time to comb matted hair or finish a meal; lice crawled under the casques, mail ran with sweat—all to plead the lives of the people before High Heaven. He eased what had squeezed the people, supplied what they lacked, laid plans for ages to come, and widened the imperial foundations until, inside seven years, the empire stood firm and still.
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「逮至聖文，隨風乘流，方垂意於至寧，躬服節儉，綈衣不敝，革□不穿，大夏不居，木器無文。 於是後宮賤玳瑁而疏珠璣，卻翡翠之飾，除雕□之巧，惡麗靡而不近，斥芬芳而不御，抑止絲竹晏衍之樂，憎聞鄭、衛幼眇之聲，是以玉衡正而太階平也。
"Then came Emperor Wen, who moved with the times and set his heart on deepest peace. He lived plainly himself—homespun that never wore through, leather soles that never split—shunning grand summer halls and keeping wooden vessels free of carving. The inner palace spurned tortoiseshell trinkets and strung pearls, shed kingfisher finery and cut away overwrought carving, turned from heady scents and silken music, and shrank from the thin whines of Zheng and Wei—so the cosmic gauge stood true and the stairway of state ran level.
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「其後熏鬻作虐，東夷橫畔，羌戎睚眥，閩越相亂，遐萌為之不安，中國蒙被其難。 於是聖武勃怒，□整其旅，乃命票、衛，汾□沸渭，雲合電發，飆騰波流，機駭蜂軼，疾如奔星，擊如震霆，砰轒□，破穹廬，腦沙幕，髓余吾。 遂獵乎王廷。 驅橐它，燒□蠡，分梨單于，磔裂屬國，夷坑谷，拔鹵莽，刊山石，蹂屍輿廝，係累老弱，兗鋋瘢耆、金鏃淫夷者數十萬人，皆稽顙樹頷，扶服蛾伏，二十餘年矣，尚不敢惕息。 夫天兵四臨，幽都先加，回戈邪指，南越相夷，靡節西征，羌僰東馳。 是以遐方疏俗殊鄰絕黨之域，自上仁所不化，茂德所不綏，莫不蹺足抗手，請獻厥珍，使海內淡然，永亡邊城之災，金革之患。
"Later the steppe peoples turned savage, eastern tribes rose in arms, Qiang and Rong glared across the passes, Min and Yue tore at one another, the frontiers trembled, and the heartland reeled under the blow. Then Emperor Wu’s wrath flared: he dressed the ranks, sent Piao and Wei ahead, and the Fen and Wei valleys seethed like a cauldron. The army massed like storm clouds, struck like lightning, surged like wind on water, swifter than meteors, louder than thunder—wagons rolled, yurts shattered, the desert ran with blood down to the Yuyu River. They carried the hunt into the barbarian king’s own hall. Camels were driven before the host, signal fires blazed on beacon towers, the Chanyu’s power was broken, client tribes ripped apart, gullies filled, salt pans cleared, cliffs carved with records of victory, the dead ground underfoot, old men and boys roped in lines—hundreds of thousands scarred by blades and bolts groveled brow to dust and dared not catch their breath for twenty years. Imperial troops closed in from every quarter: the northern heartland fell first, then spears swung south to crush Yue, banners streamed west while Qiang and Bo tribes were chased eastward. Even the farthest corners—lands once beyond the reach of kindness or awe—stood on tiptoe, hands lifted, offering tribute of their own accord, so that the realm grew quiet and the border knew neither siege nor the clash of arms.
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「今朝廷純仁，遵道顯義，並包書林，聖風雲靡； 英華沉浮，洋溢八區，普天所覆，莫不沾濡； 士有不談王道者則樵夫笑之。 故意者以為事罔隆而不殺，物靡盛而不虧，故平不肆險，安不忘危。 乃時以有年出兵，整輿竦戎，振師五莋，習馬長楊，簡力狡獸，校武票禽。 乃萃然登南山，瞰烏弋，西厭月，東震日域。 又恐後世迷於一時之事，常以此取國家之大務，淫荒田獵，陵夷而不御也，是以車不安軔，日未靡旃，從者彷彿，□屬而還； 亦所以奉太宗之烈，遵文、武之度，復三王之田，反五帝之虞； 使農不輟□，工不下機，婚姻以時，男女莫違； 出愷弟，行簡易，矜劬勞，休力役； 見百年，存孤弱，帥與之，同苦樂。 然後陳鐘鼓之樂，鳴□磬之和，建碣□之□，拮隔鳴球，掉八列之舞； 酌允鑠，餚樂胥，聽廟中之雍雍，受神人之福祜； 歌投頌，吹合雅。 其勤苦此，故真神之所勞也。 方將俟元符，以禪梁甫之基，增泰山之高，延光於將來，比榮乎往號，豈徒欲淫覽浮觀，馳聘粳稻之地，周流梨栗之林，蹂踐芻蕘，誇詡眾庶，盛□之收，多麋鹿之獲哉！ 且盲不見咫尺，而離婁燭千里之隅； 客徒愛胡人之獲我禽獸，曾不知我亦已獲其王侯。」
"Today the court is steeped in kindness, the Way is honored and right principle shown abroad, the classics are gathered like a forest, and the sovereign’s transforming influence drifts everywhere on the wind. Fine talent rises and falls like surf, spilling across the eight directions until nothing under heaven lies outside its soak. Any scholar who refuses to talk the language of the true king’s government is mocked even by charcoal burners. The design is this: power may swell yet must be checked, plenty may peak yet cannot stay whole—so in calm times one does not court recklessness, and in ease one keeps danger in mind. So, when harvests allow, the host moves out: chariots aligned, troops stiffened, maneuvers held at Wuzuo, horses schooled at Changyang, sturdy game chosen for the chase, and archers matched against swift quarry. They mass to climb the southern range, gaze down on Wuyi in the west, and send their renown from the moon’s verge to the sun’s eastern rim. Yet he dreads lest posterity mistake a seasonal show of force for the true business of state, slide into endless sport, and lose the rein—so the train wheels homeward while axles still tremble, banners scarcely lowered, escorts only half visible in the dust. It is also how he honors Taizong’s martial legacy, holds to the models of Wen and Wu, revives the royal hunts of the Three Kings, and walks again in the royal parks of the Five Sovereigns. Farmers are not pulled from the plow, weavers not dragged from the loom, weddings keep their proper season, and men and women are not torn apart against custom. He shows kindness and easy government, pities the weary, and gives the people respite from forced labor. He seeks out the very old, shelters widows and orphans, and shares their hardship and ease as their leader. Only then come bells and drums in concert, chimes answering one another, stone drums and jade clappers sounding, the eight rows of dancers wheeling through the courtyard. Cups brim with fine ale, dishes delight the guests, the ancestral hall fills with measured resonance, and sovereign and people alike receive heaven’s favor. Hymns rise with the songs, and panpipes keep time with the canonical airs. Such effort is precisely what wins the gods to your side. He waits for the great portent that will let him ascend Mount Tai and add another stone to Liangfu, stretching his fame toward the future to rival ancient sovereigns—not to idle through paddies and orchards, trample the commoners’ fodder, dazzle the mob with heaps of game, or pile up empty trophies. The blind stumble an inch from their faces, yet Lilou could light up a cranny a thousand leagues off. You fret that the nomads took a few of our beasts, and never notice that we have already taken their kings and chiefs captive."
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言未卒，墨客降席再拜稽首曰：「大哉體乎！ 允非小子之所能及也。 乃今日發矇，廓然已昭矣！」
Before the host had finished, Zimo left his cushion, bowed twice, and touched his forehead to the floor: "What a vast design! This is far beyond what a lesser man could grasp. Today you have opened my eyes—suddenly the whole matter stands clear."
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哀帝時，丁、傅、董賢用事，諸附離之者或起家至二千石。 時，雄方草《太玄》，有以自守，泊如也。 或嘲雄以玄尚白，而雄解之，號曰《解嘲》。 其辭曰：
Under Emperor Ai the Ding clan, the Fu clan, and the favorite Dong Xian ran the government, and hangers-on vaulted overnight to salaries of two thousand piculs. Yang Xiong was then drafting his Great Mystery and kept his own counsel, unruffled amid the storm. Wits taunted him for toiling over an abstruse classic while still wearing a commoner’s white headband; he answered them in a piece he titled "Dispelling Mockery." It runs thus:
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客嘲揚子曰：「吾聞上世之士，人綱人紀，不生則已，生則上尊人君，下榮父母。 析人之圭，儋人之爵，懷人之符，分人之祿，紆青拖紫，硃丹其轂。 今子幸得遭明盛之世，處不諱之朝，與群賢同行，歷金門上玉堂有日矣，曾不能畫一奇，出一策，上說人主，下談公卿。 目如耀星，舌如電光，一從一衡，論者莫當，顧而作《太玄》五千文，支葉扶疏，獨說十餘萬言，深者入黃泉，高者出蒼天，大者含元氣，纖者入無倫，然而位不過侍郎，擢才給事黃門。 意者玄得毋尚白乎？ 何為官之拓落也？」
A visitor needled Yang Xiong: "The worthies of old were the backbone of society: once they appeared, they brought honor to their ruler above and glory to their parents below. They carried ministerial scepters, shouldered noble titles, clasped seals of office, drew fat stipends, trailed blue and purple ribbons, and reddened their axles with dust of high rank. You live in an enlightened age, under a candid court, walking with the elite through the Golden Gate into the Jade Hall for years, yet you have never offered one striking plan—nothing to catch the sovereign’s ear or win debate among the high ministers. With a glance like a comet and a tongue like lightning you might have swept every disputant aside; instead you bury yourself in five thousand characters of the Great Mystery, spin commentaries past a hundred thousand words, plumbing the underworld and scaling the sky—yet you stall at junior gentleman and a clerk’s post at the Yellow Gate. I suppose your "dark" learning still shows plain white on the page? No wonder your career looks so threadbare!"
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揚子笑而應之曰：「客徒欲硃丹吾轂，不知一跌將赤吾之族也！ 往者周罔解結，群鹿爭逸，離為十二，合為六七，四分五剖，並為戰國。 士無常君，國亡定臣，得士者富，失士者貧，矯翼厲翮，恣意所存，戰士或自盛以橐，或鑿壞以遁。 是故騶衍以頡亢而取世資，孟軻雖連蹇，猶為萬乘師。
Yang Xiong answered with a smile: "You only want to see my carriage lacquered red—you never think that one misstep could redden my whole kindred in blood. Long ago the Zhou net frayed and the realm bolted like deer from a snare—twelve states, then six or seven, split and splintered until every patch of ground was a warring kingdom. No patron was permanent, no minister secure; states with talent thrived, those without withered. Men flexed their wings wherever fortune called—some rolled themselves up in luggage to flee a court, others dug through courtyard walls by night. Zou Yan won the age’s ear with lofty paradox; Mencius, for all his ill luck, still lectured kings who commanded ten thousand chariots.
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「今大漢左東海，右渠搜，前番禺，後陶塗。 東南一尉，西北一候。 徽以糾墨，制以質鐵，散以禮樂，風以《詩》、《書》，曠以歲月，結以倚廬。 天下之士，雷動雲合，魚鱗雜襲，鹹營於八區，家家自以為稷、契，人人自以為咎繇，戴縰垂纓而談者皆擬於阿衡，五尺童子羞比晏嬰與夷吾，當塗者入青雲，失路者委溝渠，旦握權則為卿相，夕失勢則為匹夫； 譬若江湖之雀，勃解之鳥，乘雁集不為之多，雙鳧飛不為之少。 昔三仁去而殷虛，二老歸而周熾，子胥死而吳亡，種、蠡存而粵伯，五□入而秦喜，樂毅出而燕懼，范睢以折□而危穰侯，蔡澤雖噤吟而笑唐舉。 故當其有事也，非蕭、曹、子房、平、勃、樊、霍則不能安； 當其亡事也，章句之徒相與坐而守之，亦亡所患。 故世亂，則聖哲馳騖而不足； 世治，則庸夫高枕而有余。
"Great Han today: the Eastern Sea on the left, the desert of Qusou on the right, Panyu to the south, the northern marches to the rear. A single commandant holds the southeast, a lone scout watches the northwest. The law’s black cord runs everywhere, iron discipline binds the realm, yet rites and music soften the grip, the Odes and Documents shape manners, time itself is the tether, and mourning huts remind all of human debt. Scholars swarm like thunderheads—layer on layer they crowd the eight circuits, every house fancying itself the line of Ji and Xie, every man a second Gao Yao; anyone in cap and ribbons plays at being Yi Yin, and boys barely five feet tall scorn to mention Yan Ying or Guan Zhong. Catch favor and you ride the clouds; miss your footing and you lie in the gutter—minister at dawn, nobody at dusk. They are like marsh sparrows: a thousand wild geese settling does not make the flock seem large, two ducks rising does not make it seem small. The Three Worthies left and Shang collapsed; the Two Elders came home and Zhou flourished; Wu died with Wu Zixu; Yue rose while Zhong and Fan Li lived; five captives entered Xianyang to Qin’s delight; Yue Yi’s exile struck terror into Yan; Fan Ju’s stratagem toppled the Marquis of Rang; Cai Ze, stammering all the while, still got the laugh on the physiognomist Tang Ju. When trouble came, only Xiao He, Cao Shen, Zhang Liang, Chen Ping, Zhou Bo, Fan Kuai, and Huo Guang could set it right. In quiet times pedants could sit in a circle reciting glosses and the empire never noticed their absence. In chaos even sages race until they drop and still cannot save the day. In peace the dullest soul can pillow high and feel he has done enough.
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「夫上世之士，或解縛而相，或釋褐而傅； 或倚夷門而笑，或橫江潭而漁； 或七十說而不遇，或立談間而封侯； 或枉千乘於陋巷，或擁帚彗而先驅。 是以士頗得信其舌而奮其筆，窒隙蹈瑕而無所詘也。 當今縣令不請士，郡守不迎師，群卿不揖客，將相不俯眉； 言奇者見疑，行殊者得辟，是以欲談者宛舌而固聲，欲行者擬足而投跡。 鄉使上世之士處乎今，策非甲科，行非孝廉，舉非方正，獨可抗疏，時道是非，高得待詔，下觸聞罷，又安得青紫？
"Men of old might go straight from chains to chancellorship, or from a commoner’s coat to tutoring a crown prince. Some lounged by the Yi Gate and smiled at power, others angled midstream and let the world float by. Some preached seventy times without a hearing; others won a marquisate between one breath and the next. Some humbled a thousand-chariot lord in a back alley; others swept the path as outrunners for their patron. So they could trust tongue and brush, wedge into every crack in policy, and never be silenced. Today a county magistrate never summons a scholar, a governor never greets a teacher, high ministers ignore visitors, generals and chancellors keep their chins high. Say something odd and you are suspect; act out of line and you are indicted—so would-be speakers bite their tongues and would-be movers step only where others have stepped before. If those same ancients lived now—without top examination scores, without filial-incorrupt or upright-and-square nominations—memorials would be their only outlet, and at best they might idle as expectant officials, at worst be dismissed on rumor; how would they ever win ribbons of rank?
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「且吾聞之，炎炎者滅，隆隆者絕； 觀雷觀火，為盈為實，天收其聲，地藏其熱。 高明之家，鬼瞰其室。 攫□者亡，默默者存； 位極者宗危，自守者身全。 是故知玄知默，守道之極； □清□靜，游神之廷； 惟寂惟莫，守德之宅。 世異事變，人道不殊，彼我易時，未知何如。 今子乃以鴟梟而笑鳳皇，執□蜓而嘲龜龍，不亦病乎！ 子徒笑我玄之尚白，吾亦笑子之病甚，不遭臾跗、扁鵲，悲夫！」
"I have heard it said: the fieriest blaze soon dies, the loudest thunder soon ends. Watch lightning and flame swell to their peak—then heaven muffles the roar and earth swallows the heat. The grandest hall invites the jealous gaze of heaven itself. The grasping perish; the quiet endure. Climb to the top and your whole lineage teeters; keep to yourself and you keep your skin. Knowing when to speak and when to stay dark is the highest art of holding the Way. In clarity and stillness the mind wanders the court of the spirits. Silence and depth are the true home of virtue. Times change and events turn, yet human nature stays much the same—swap their age for ours and who can say how they would fare? Yet you liken an owl mocking a phoenix or a newt sneering at the tortoise and dragon—is that not a sickness of judgment? You laugh at my "dark" classic still showing white—I laugh at how ill you are, and that no Yu Fu or Bian Que is at hand to cure you—pity!"
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客曰：「然則靡《玄》無所成名乎？ 范、蔡以下何必《玄》哉？」
The visitor asked, "So without the Great Mystery one can win no reputation? Men like Fan and Cai never needed such a book—why should you?"
18
揚子曰：「范雎，魏之亡命也，折脅拉髂，免於微索，翕肩蹈背，扶服入橐，激卬萬乘之主，界涇陽抵穰侯而代之，當也。 蔡澤，山東之匹夫也，顉頤折頞，涕唾流沫，西揖強秦之相，扼其咽，炕其氣，附其背而奪其位，時也。 天下已定，金革已平，都於雒陽，婁敬委輅脫挽，掉三寸之舌，建不拔之策，舉中國徙之長安，適也。 五帝垂典，三王傳禮，百世不易，叔孫通起於枹鼓之間，解甲投戈，遂作君臣之儀，得也。 《甫刑》靡敝，秦法酷烈，聖漢權制，而蕭何造律，宜也。 故有造蕭何律於唐、虞之世，則悖矣； 有作叔孫通儀於夏、殷之時，則惑矣； 有建婁敬之策於成周之世，則繆矣； 有談范、蔡之說於金、張、許、史之間，則狂矣。 夫蕭規曹隨，留侯畫策，陳平出奇，功若泰山，向若□隤，唯其人之贍知哉，亦會其時之可為也。 故為可為於可為之時，則從； 為不可為於不可為之時，則凶。 夫藺先生收功於章台，四皓采榮於南山，公孫創業於金馬，票騎發跡於祁連，司馬長卿竊訾於卓氏，東方朔割炙於細君。 僕誠不能與此數公者並，故默然獨守吾《太玄》。」
Yang Xiong replied: "Fan Ju fled Wei with a broken body, dodged the searchers, crept into a sack to reach Qin, roused the king of ten thousand chariots, blocked Lord Jingyang, and unseated the Marquis of Rang—that was exactly the right moment for such a man. Cai Ze was a rough man from the eastern hills—stooped, scarred, slobbering—yet he crossed to Qin, bowed to the chief minister, seized him by the throat, leaned on his back, and took his chair because the hour called for it. When the wars were over and the court sat at Luoyang, Lou Jing dropped his harness, used nothing but eloquence, and persuaded the throne to move the seat of empire to Chang’an—that was the fitting move for that age. The Five Sovereigns left models, the Three Kings handed down ritual—unchanged for ages—yet Shusun Tong stepped from the drum corps, laid down arms, and drafted the court ceremony for the new dynasty; that was what the times required. The old "Fu punishments" had decayed, Qin’s code was savage; sagely Han needed a measured code, and Xiao He framed the statutes—that was appropriate. Had someone drafted Xiao He’s Han code in the age of Yao and Shun, it would have been absurd. To stage Shusun Tong’s court rituals in the days of Xia or Shang would be sheer folly. To press Lou Jing’s resettlement scheme on the mature Zhou would be wide of the mark. To peddle the stratagems of Fan Ju and Cai Ze in the antechambers of the Jin, Zhang, Xu, and Shi clans would be madness. Xiao He drew the blueprint, Cao Shen kept to it; Zhang Liang plotted, Chen Ping surprised—merit steady as Taishan, effect like an avalanche. Credit their genius, yes, but credit the age that let them act. Do the doable when the time allows, and you ride the tide. Attempt the impossible when the moment forbids it, and ruin follows. Lord Lin won his fame on the Zhangtai terrace; the Four Whiteheads took honor on Mount Shang; Gongsun Hong built a career from the Golden Horse gate; Huo Qubing made his name beyond Qilian; Sima Xiangru wangled a fortune from the Zhuos; Dongfang Shuo carved a roast for his bride. I am no match for such men; I keep silence and cling to my 《Great Mystery》."
19
雄以為賦者，將以風之也，必推類而言，極麗靡之辭，閎侈巨衍，競於使人不能加也，既乃歸之於正，然覽者已過矣。 往時武帝好神仙，相如上《大人賦》，欲以風，帝反縹縹有陵雲之志。 由是言之，賦勸而不止，明矣。 又頗似俳優淳于髡、優孟之徒，非法度所存，賢人君子詩賦之正也，於是輟不復為。 而大潭思渾天，參摹而四分之，極於八十一。 旁則三摹九據，極之七百二十九贊，亦自然之道也。 故觀《易》者，見其卦而名之； 觀《玄》者，數其畫而定之。 《玄》首四重者，非卦也，數也。 其用自天元推一晝一夜陰陽數度律歷之紀，九九大運，與天終始。 故《玄》三方、九州、二十七部、八十一家、二百四十三表、七百二十九贊，分為三卷，曰一二三，與《泰初歷》相慶，亦有顓頊之歷焉。 手筮之以三策，關之以休咎，絣之以象類，播之以人事，文之以五行，擬之以道德仁義禮知。 無主無名，要合《五經》，苟非其事，文不虛生。 為其泰曼漶而不可知，故有《首》、《沖》、《錯》、《測》、《摛》、《瑩》、《數》、《文》、《□》、《圖》、《告》十一篇，皆以解剝《玄》體，離散其文，章句尚不存焉。 《玄》文多，故不著，觀之者難知，學之者難成。 客有難《玄》大深，眾人之不好也，雄解之，號曰《解難》。 其辭曰：
Yang Xiong held that fu verse was meant to remonstrate, yet it piles analogy upon analogy, heaps the richest diction, swells to grandiose excess until nothing more can be added, and only then veers toward moral correction—by which time the reader has long since been swept past the point. When Emperor Wu doted on immortals, Sima Xiangru offered his "Rhapsody of the Great Man" as a cautionary mirror—only to leave the sovereign drifting, more eager than ever to ride the wind above the clouds. From this it is plain: fu may counsel, but it rarely curbs. It smacked too much of court buffoons like Chunyu Kun or You Meng—far from the norm for poetry and fu that gentlemen should keep—so he gave the genre up. He turned instead to the armillary cosmos, modeled it in threes and fours, and carried the numerology to eighty-one. From that base—three tiers, nine divisions—it runs out to seven hundred twenty-nine "appraisals," following nature’s own arithmetic. Readers of the 《Changes》 read a hexagram and know its name. Readers of the 《Great Mystery》 count its strokes and fix its sense. The fourfold heads of the 《Mystery》 are numerology, not hexagrams in the 《Changes》 sense. From the celestial pivot it reckons the round of day and night, yin and yang, pitch and calendar, the great nine-times-nine cycle that begins and ends with heaven itself. So the work maps three realms, nine domains, twenty-seven parts, eighty-one lineages, two hundred forty-three charts, and seven hundred twenty-nine appraisals in three books titled One, Two, Three—harmonizing with the 《Grand Inception》 calendar and echoing Zhuanxu’s old reckoning. One divines with three stalks, reads good or ill, ties image to category, sifts human affairs, weaves in the five phases, and frames everything with virtue, the Way, benevolence, right, ritual, and wisdom. It claims no arbitrary master: at every turn it aligns with the 《Five Classics》, and no passage appears without a real referent. Because the core text is so vast and hard to parse, he added eleven expository books—from 《Head》 through 《Announcement》—to dissect the 《Mystery》 and spread its meaning; even line glosses were still lacking. The main text is too bulky to print in full here: readers struggle to grasp it, students struggle to master it. When a visitor attacked the 《Mystery》 for its obscurity and unpopularity, Yang Xiong answered him in a piece titled 《Dispelling Difficulty》. It begins:
20
客難揚子曰：「凡著書者，為眾人之所好也，美味期乎合口，工聲調於比耳。 今吾子乃抗辭幽說，閎意眇指，獨馳聘於有亡之際，而陶冶大爐，旁薄群生，歷覽者茲年矣，而殊不□。 但費精神於此，而煩學者於彼，譬畫者畫於無形，弦者放於無聲，殆不可乎？」
The visitor challenged Yang Xiong: "Books are written for popular taste—like dishes that must please the palate or tunes that must gratify the ear. Yet you loft obscure arguments and subtle hints, gallop alone along the edge of being and nothingness, stir all creation like ore in a giant furnace—and for years readers have stared without the least awakening. You spend your soul here and exhaust students there—as if painting what has no shape or plucking a silent string. Can that be right?"
21
揚子曰：「俞。 若夫閎言崇議，幽微之塗，蓋難與覽者同也。 昔人有觀象於天，視度於地，察法於人者，天麗且彌，地普而深，昔人之辭，乃玉乃金。 彼豈好為艱難哉？ 勢不得已也。 獨不見夫翠□絳螭之將登乎天，必聳身於倉梧之淵； 不階浮雲，翼疾風，虛舉而上升，則不能□膠葛，騰九閎。 日月之經不千里，則不能燭六合，耀八□； 泰山之高不□嶢，則不能□雲而散歊□。 是以宓犧氏之作《易》也，綿絡天地，經以八卦，文王附六爻，孔子錯其象而彖其辭，然後發天地之臧，定萬物之基。 《典》、《謨》之篇，《雅》、《頌》之聲，不溫純深潤，則不足以揚鴻烈而章緝熙。 蓋胥靡為宰，寂寞為屍； 大味必淡，大音必希； 大語叫叫，大道低回。 是以聲之眇者不可同於眾人之耳，形之美者不可棍於世俗之目，辭之衍者不可齊於庸人之聽。 今夫弦者，高張急徽，追趨逐耆，則坐者不期而附矣； 試為之族《咸池》，揄《六莖》，發《簫韶》，詠《九成》，則莫有和也。 是故鐘期死，伯牙絕弦破琴而不肯與眾鼓； □人亡，則匠石輟斤而不敢妄斫。 師曠之調鐘，俟知音者之在後也； 孔子作《春秋》，幾君子之前睹也。 老聃有遺言，貴知我者希，此非其操與！」
Yang Xiong said, "Quite so. Grand language and recondite paths are not meant for every reader. The ancients read heaven’s patterns, earth’s measures, and human law: heaven is broad and starred, earth wide and deep—and their words ring like jade and bronze. Did they court obscurity for sport? The subject forced their hand. Have you never watched a kingfisher dragon ready to mount the sky? It must first hurl itself from the Cangwu deeps. Without riding mist, without banking the gale, without that long climb through tangled ether, it never bursts the ninefold gate of heaven. Sun and moon must run a thousand leagues aloft or they cannot light the six reaches and blaze across the eight poles. Mount Tai must rear its crags or it cannot rake the clouds and blow mist across the plain. So Fuxi’s 《Changes》 laced heaven and earth, the eight trigrams forming its warp; King Wen added the six lines; Confucius aligned the images and wrote the judgments—only then could the hidden stores of nature be opened and the basis of the ten thousand things fixed. The documents of Yao and Shun, the hymns of the 《Odes》, must be warm, dense, and deep or they cannot trumpet great merit and spread the light of good rule. Sometimes a convict becomes chief cook; sometimes stillness itself is the offering. The richest flavor tastes almost plain; the mightiest note is seldom heard. Lofty rhetoric shouts itself hoarse, while the true Way circles quietly below. Subtle music is wasted on common ears, fine form on vulgar eyes, and expansive diction on shallow listeners. Strum loud, press hard, chase every fad, and the crowd claps without being asked. Play the true 《Xianchi》, the 《Six Stems》, Shun’s 《Xiaoshao》, the 《Ninefold》 suite, and no one hums along. When Zhong Ziqi died, Boya snapped his strings and dashed his qin rather than play for the mob. When his one true listener died, Carpenter Shi laid down his axe and would not cut at random. Shi Kuang tuned the bells in hope of a later connoisseur. Confucius wrote the 《Spring and Autumn》 for the few who could already see what was coming. Laozi said those who understand you are few—was he not describing the same calling?"
22
雄見諸子各以其知舛馳，大氐詆訾聖人，即為怪迂。 析辯詭辭，以撓世事，雖小辯，終破大道而或眾，使溺於所聞而不自知其非也。 及太史公記六國，歷楚、漢，訖麟止，不與聖人同，是非頗謬於經。 故人時有問雄者，常用法應之，撰以為十三卷，像《論語》，號曰《法言》。 《法言》文多不著，獨著其目：
Yang Xiong watched the philosophers race their doctrines in every direction, mostly slandering the sages until their teaching turned bizarre. They split hairs with clever sophistry, unsettle public life, and though their logic is petty it shatters the great Way and misleads the crowd, who soak up hearsay and never notice their error. Even the Grand Scribe’s history of the Warring States through Chu and Han to the unicorn hunt diverges from the sages, and its judgments often clash with the classics. When visitors pressed him with questions, he answered in the same spirit, set his replies in thirteen books modeled on the 《Analects》, and called the work 《Exemplary Sayings》. The full text of the 《Exemplary Sayings》 is too long to quote here; only the chapter headings are given:
23
天降生民，倥侗顓蒙，恣於情性，聰明不開，訓諸理。 撰《學行》第一。
Heaven sends forth mankind in blank ignorance, slaves to impulse, wit still sleeping—so they must be schooled in principle. Hence Book I, 《Learning and Conduct》.
24
降周迄孔，成於王道，終後誕章乖離，諸子圖微。 撰《吾子》第二。
From the fall of Zhou to Confucius the kingly way was perfected; later ages splintered into wild doctrines as each school chased its own subtle teaching. Book II, 《My Teachers》.
25
事有本真，陳施於億，動不克鹹，本諸身。 撰《修身》第三。
Things have their root; spread across the myriad occasions, action cannot always succeed unless it grows from the self. Book III, 《Cultivating the Self》.
26
芒芒天道，在昔聖考，過則失中，不及則不至，不可奸罔。 撰《問道》第四。
The Way of Heaven is boundless; the ancient sages watched it—too much misses the center, too little falls short, and no cleverness can fool it. Book IV, 《Asking about the Way》.
27
神心□恍，經緯萬方，事系諸道德仁誼禮。 撰《問神》第五。
The numinous mind spans the cosmos; every affair hangs on virtue, the Way, benevolence, right, and ritual. Book V, 《Asking about the Spirits》.
28
明哲煌煌，旁燭亡疆，遜於不虞，以保天命。 撰《問明》第六。
Clear insight shines everywhere, lights every border, yields before the unexpected, and so keeps heaven’s mandate secure. Book VI, 《Asking about Clarity》.
29
假言周於天地，贊於神明，幽弘橫廣，絕於邇言。 撰《寡見》第七。
Borrowed words ring heaven and earth, second the gods, reach into the vast dark, and leave petty chatter behind. Book VII, 《Little Learning》.
30
聖人聰明淵懿，繼天測靈，冠於群倫，經諸范。 撰《五百》第八。
The sage’s insight is deep as a pool; he follows heaven, plumbs the spirits, stands first among mankind, and sets the pattern for all. Book VIII, 《The Five Hundred》.
31
立政鼓眾，動化天下，莫上於中和，中和之發，在於哲民情。 撰《先知》第九。
To govern and move the world nothing surpasses the golden mean; the mean works only when the ruler reads the people’s heart. Book IX, 《Foreknowledge》.
32
仲尼以來，國君、將相、卿士、名臣參差不齊，一概諸聖。 撰《重黎》第十。
Since Confucius, rulers, generals, ministers, and famous officers have risen uneven heights—here they are judged by one sage standard. Book X, 《Chong and Li》.
33
仲尼之後，訖於漢道，德行顏、閔、股肱蕭、曹，□及名將尊卑之條，稱述品藻。 撰《淵騫》第十一。
From Confucius down to Han times—Yan Hui and Min Ziqian for virtue, Xiao He and Cao Shen as arms of state, and the ranking of celebrated generals—each is weighed and characterized. Book XI, 《Yuan and Qian》.
34
君子純終領聞，蠢迪檢押，旁開聖則。 撰《君子》第十二。
The gentleman keeps a flawless name, plods in discipline and restraint, and everywhere opens the path of the sages. Book XII, 《The Gentleman》.
35
孝莫大於寧親，寧親莫大於寧神，寧神莫大於四表之歡心。 撰《孝至》第十三。
The highest filial duty is to give parents peace; beyond that lies quieting the ancestral spirits; beyond that, winning glad hearts to the farthest horizon. Book XIII, 《Filial Piety Perfected》.
36
贊曰：雄之自序云爾。 初，雄年四十餘，自蜀來至游京師，大司馬車騎將軍王音奇其文雅，召以為門下史，薦雄待詔，歲餘，奏《羽獵賦》，除為郎，給事黃門，與王莽、劉歆並。 哀帝之初，又與董賢同官。 當成、哀、平間，莽、賢皆為三公，權傾人主，所薦莫不拔擢，而雄三世不徙官。 及莽篡位，談說之士用符命稱功德獲封爵者甚眾，雄復不侯，以耆老久次轉為大夫，恬於勢利乃如是。 實好古而樂道，其意欲求文章成名於後世，以為經莫大於《易》，故作《太玄》； 傳莫大於《論語》，作《法言》； 史篇莫善於《倉頡》，作《訓纂》； 箴莫善於《虞箴》，作《州箴》； 賦莫深於《離騷》，反而廣之； 辭莫麗於相如，作四賦； 皆斟酌其本，相與放依而馳騁雲。 用心於內，不求於外，於時人皆□之； 唯劉歆及范逡敬焉，而桓譚以為絕倫。
The summation runs: Yang Xiong’s own preface spoke to this effect. In his forties Yang Xiong left Shu for the capital. Wang Yin, commander-in-chief and chariot general, admired his polish, took him on as a gate clerk, and recommended him as an expectant scholar. A year later his 《Rhapsody on the Imperial Hunt》 won him a gentleman’s post at the Yellow Gate, where he served alongside Wang Mang and Liu Xin. Early in Emperor Ai’s reign he held office with the favorite Dong Xian. Through Emperors Cheng, Ai, and Ping, Wang Mang and Dong Xian rose to the three highest posts and bent the throne to their will; every protégé they named leapt up the ladder, yet Yang Xiong never moved rank for three reigns. When Wang Mang seized the throne, crowds of rhetoricians won titles by brandishing forged portents—Yang Xiong still took no marquisate, slid sideways by seniority to grandee, and remained indifferent to power and profit. He truly loved antiquity and the Way, hoping his writings would outlive him. No classic, he thought, surpassed the 《Changes》—so he wrote the 《Great Mystery》. No commentary matched the 《Analects》—so he wrote the 《Exemplary Sayings》. No character primer excelled the 《Cangjie》—so he compiled the 《Training Compendium》. No admonition surpassed the ancient 《Yu Admonition》—so he wrote the 《Provincial Admonitions》. No fu plumbed depths like the 《Li sao》—he answered it and widened its scope. No voice was richer than Sima Xiangru’s—he composed four great fu in that mold. Each work drew from its source, echoed its model, and ran with it like wind across the clouds. He turned his mind inward, not outward, and his contemporaries all despised him for it. Only Liu Xin and Fan Qun honored him; Huan Tan pronounced him without peer.
37
王莽時，劉歆、甄豐皆為上公，莽既以符命自立，即位之後，欲絕其原以神前事，而豐子尋、歆子□復獻之。 莽誅豐父子，投□四裔，辭所連及，便收不請。 時，雄校書天祿閣上，治獄使者來，欲收雄，雄恐不能自免，乃從閣上自投下，幾死。 莽聞之曰：「雄素不與事，何故在此？」 間請問其故，乃劉□嘗從雄學作奇字，雄不知情。 有詔勿問。 然京師為之語曰：「惟寂寞，自投閣； □清靜，作符命。」
Under Wang Mang, Liu Xin and Zhen Feng stood among the highest nobles. Mang had risen on forged portents and, once enthroned, tried to bury that origin—yet Zhen’s son Zhen Xun and Liu Xin’s son again submitted such documents. Mang executed the Zhens and banished their kin to the frontiers; anyone named in the indictments was seized without warrant. Yang Xiong was collating texts in the Tianlu Pavilion when bailiffs came to arrest him. Thinking he could not escape, he leapt from the gallery and nearly died. Wang Mang said, "Yang Xiong never meddled in politics—why is his name here?" On inquiry it emerged that Liu Xin’s son had once studied rare characters with Yang Xiong, of which Xiong knew nothing. An edict was issued: he was not to be prosecuted. Still the capital wagged: "He sought quiet—then leapt from the gallery; sought purity and stillness—then forged prophetic tallies."
38
雄以病免，復召為大夫。 家素貧，耆酒，人希至其門。 時有好事者載酒餚從游學，而巨鹿侯芭常從雄居，受其《太玄》、《法言》焉。 劉歆亦嘗觀之，謂雄曰：「空自苦！ 今學者有祿利，然向不能明《易》，又如《玄》何？ 吾恐後人用覆醬瓿也。」 雄笑而不應。 年七十一，天鳳五年卒，侯芭為起墳，喪之三年。
He resigned on grounds of ill health, then was recalled as a grandee. His household had always been poor, he loved his cup, and few callers crossed his threshold. Occasionally an enthusiast would bring food and wine to study at his side; Hou Ba of Julu lodged with him for long stretches and took instruction in the "Great Mystery" and "Exemplary Sayings." Liu Xin read the work and told him, "You torture yourself for nothing! Scholars today chase stipends and still cannot master the "Changes"—what hope is there for the "Mystery"? I fear posterity will only use your book to cap a pickle jar." Yang Xiong smiled and said nothing. He died at seventy-one in the fifth year of Tianfeng. Hou Ba built his grave and mourned him for three years.
39
時，大司空王邑、納言嚴尤聞雄死，謂桓譚曰：「子常稱揚雄書，豈能傳於後世乎？」 譚曰：「必傳。 顧君與譚不及見也。 凡人賤近而貴遠，親見揚子雲祿位容貌不能動人，故輕其書。 昔老聃著虛無之言兩篇，薄仁義，非禮學，然後世好之者尚以為過於《五經》，自漢文、景之君及司馬遷皆有是言。 今診子之書文義至深，而論不詭於聖人，若使遭遇時君，更閱賢知，為所稱善，則必度越諸子矣。」 諸儒或譏以為雄非聖人而作經，猶春秋吳楚之君僭號稱王，蓋誅絕之罪也。 自雄之沒至今四十餘年，其《法言》大行，而《玄》終不顯，然篇籍具存。
When Grand Minister of Works Wang Yi and Yan You heard of his death, they asked Huan Tan, "You always praised Yang Xiong. Will his books survive?" Huan Tan replied, "They will endure. Only you and I will not live to see the day. Men scorn the near and revere the distant. They saw Yang Ziyun’s modest rank and plain looks and felt no awe, so they underrate his writing. Laozi wrote two brief texts that spurned benevolence, right, and ritual learning—yet later admirers ranked them above the Five Classics. Emperors Wen and Jing of Han, and Sima Qian, said as much. Yangzi’s writing runs deeper than most, and his doctrine never strays from the sages. Given a receptive ruler and a circle of discerning scholars to praise it, it would tower above the philosophers of his age." Some scholars jeered that for a non-sage to compose a classic was like Wu or Chu usurping the royal title in the Spring and Autumn period—a capital offense. More than forty years have passed since his death: the "Exemplary Sayings" circulates widely, the "Great Mystery" never quite caught on, yet every scroll is still extant.