1
卷九十二遊俠傳第六十二
Volume 92: Biographies of the Knights-Errant (the sixty-second chapter).
2
古者天子建國，諸侯立家，自卿、大夫以至於庶人，各有等差，是以民服事其上，而下無覬覦。 孔子曰：「天下有道，政不在大夫。 」百官有司奉法承令，以修所職，失職有誅，侵官有罰。 夫然，故上下相順，而庶事理焉。
In the old order the Son of Heaven founded states, nobles founded lineages, and every rank from minister to peasant knew its place, so the people obeyed their betters and no underling nursed designs on his superior's seat. Confucius said, "When the Way holds sway, ministers do not hijack the government." Every official followed statute and orders, did only the job assigned him, faced death for neglect, and fines for meddling outside his portfolio. Superiors and inferiors moved in step, and the business of the realm ran straight.
3
周室既微，禮樂征伐自諸侯出。 桓、文之後，大夫世權，陪臣執命。 陵夷至於戰國，合從連衡，力政爭強。 由是列國公子，魏有信陵、趙有平原、齊有孟嘗、楚有春申，皆借王公之勢，競為遊俠，雞鳴狗盜，無不賓禮。 而趙相虞卿棄國捐君，以周窮交魏齊之厄； 信陵無忌竊符矯命，戮將專師，以赴平原之急：皆以取重諸侯，顯名天下，扼腕而游談者，以四豪為稱首。 於是背公死黨之議成，守職奉上之義廢矣。
Once Zhou grew weak, the feudal lords—not the king—set the tune for war and ceremony. After Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin, ministers held hereditary sway and household stewards dictated policy. By the Warring States era the realm had slid into leagues of north–south alliance and east–west deal-making, with every state flexing raw muscle. Then came the famous lords of the blood—Xinling in Wei, Pingyuan in Zhao, Mengchang in Qi, Chunshen in Chu—who traded on royal connections, bankrolled knights-errant, and honored even petty schemers as honored guests. Minister Yu Qing of Zhao threw away office and ruler to ransom his ruined friend Wei Qi from disaster; Lord Xinling forged a royal order, killed a general, and seized an army to lift the siege on Pingyuan—all for the glamour of being indispensable to princes and famous across the world, so every bravo who cracked knuckles in a wine shop ranked the Four Lords first. Private loyalty trumped public duty, and the old ethic of serving one's post vanished.
4
及至漢興，禁網疏闊，未之匡改也。 是故代相陳豨從車千乘，而吳濞、淮南皆招賓客以千數。 外戚大臣魏其、武安之屬競逐於京師，布衣遊俠劇孟、郭解之徒馳騖於閭閻，權行州域，力折公侯。 眾庶榮其名跡，覬而慕之。 雖其陷於刑辟，自與殺身成名，若季路、仇牧，死而不悔也。 故曾子曰：「上失其道，民散久矣。 」非明王在上，視之以好惡，齊之以禮法，民曷由知禁而反正乎！
When the Han rose, the law stayed slack, and no one tightened it in time. Hence Chen Xi, chancellor of Dai, rolled with a thousand chariots in his train, while Liu Pi in Wu and the king of Huainan each kept client armies counted in thousands. Inside Chang'an the Dou and Tian factions jostled for power, while in the alleys bare-chested swordsmen like Ju Meng and Guo Xie built reputations that cowed nobles and bent whole commanderies. Commoners gloried in their legends and ached to imitate them. Even when the law caught them, they styled themselves martyrs like Zilu or Qiu Mu—ready to die unrepentant for a famous end. Master Zeng warned, "When rulers stray from the Way, the people lose their moorings." Without a clear-sighted sovereign to show what he honors and detests, and ritual and statute to snap them back into line, how will folk learn where the boundary lies?
5
古之正法：五伯，三王之罪人也； 而六國，五伯之罪人也。 夫四豪者，又六國之罪人也。 況於郭解之倫，以匹夫之細，竊殺生之權，其罪已不容於誅矣。 觀其溫良泛愛，振窮周急，謙退不伐，亦皆有絕異之姿。 惜乎不入於道德，苟放縱於末流，殺身亡宗，非不幸也。
By ancient right standards the Five Hegemons were already traitors to the Three Sage-Kings; the Warring States were worse again. The four lordly parvenus sank lower still. How much less pardonable are commoners like Guo Xie who arrogate the power of life and death—no punishment could be enough. Yet watch them help the poor, soothe the desperate, and refuse praise—they could show a charisma few gentlemen matched. What a waste that they never steered that energy into true virtue, but rode the fad to ruin—death and lineage cut off were not accidents but the natural bill.
6
自魏其、武安、淮南之後，天子切齒，衛、霍改節。 然郡國豪桀處處各有，京師親戚冠蓋相望，亦古今常道，莫足言者。 唯成帝時，外家王氏賓客為盛，而樓護為帥。 及王莽時，諸公之間陳遵為雄，閭里之俠原涉為魁。
After the Dou–Tian feud and the Huainan revolt, the emperor set his jaw, and even Wei Qing and Huo Qubing learned to keep clients at arm's length. Still, every province bred its bravos, and Chang'an kinfolk still jostled in official carriages—an old story, hardly worth another line. Under Chengdi the Wang in-laws ran the richest salon of retainers, headed by Lou Hu. By Wang Mang's day Chen Zun lorded it among the great ministers, while Yuan She ruled the back-alley swordsmen.
7
硃家，魯人，高祖同時也。 魯人皆以儒教，而硃家用俠聞。 所臧活豪士以百數，其餘庸人不可勝言。 然終不伐其能，飲其德，諸所嘗施，唯恐見之。 振人不贍，先從貧賤始。 家亡余財，衣不兼采，食不重味，乘不過軥牛。 專趨人之急，甚於己私。 既陰脫季布之厄，及布尊貴，終身不見。 自關以東，莫不延頸願交。
Zhu Jia of Lu was a man of Gaozu's generation. Lu was famous for scholars, yet the Zhu family made its name with swords. He saved hundreds of desperate fighting men and countless humbler souls besides. He never bragged of his power or waited for thanks, and he hid from everyone he had helped. When he handed out relief, the poorest got served first. His house stayed bare: plain single-color robes, one dish to a meal, and travel no grander than an ox cart. He chased other people's crises harder than his own comfort. After smuggling Ji Bu out of danger, he never showed his face again—not even when Ji Bu rose to high office. East of Hangu every bravo strained to claim his friendship.
8
楚田仲以俠聞，父事硃家，自以為行弗及也。 田仲死後，有劇孟。
Tian Zhong of Chu, famed as a knight, treated Zhu Jia like a father and admitted he could not match him. When Tian Zhong died, Ju Meng picked up his mantle.
9
劇孟者，洛陽人也。 周人以商賈為資，劇孟以俠顯。 吳、楚反時，條侯為太尉，乘傳東，將至河南，得劇孟，喜曰：「吳、楚舉大事而不求劇孟，吾知其無能為已。 」天下騷動，大將軍得之若一敵國雲。 劇孟行大類硃家，而好博，多少年之戲。 然孟母死，自遠方送喪蓋千乘。 及孟死，家無十金之財。 而符離王孟，亦以俠稱江、淮之間。 是時，濟南瞷氏、陳周膚亦以豪聞。 景帝聞之，使使盡誅此屬。 其後，代諸白、梁韓毋辟、陽翟薛況、陝寒孺，紛紛復出焉。
Ju Meng came from Luoyang. Where Zhou folk prided themselves on trade, Ju Meng made his name with a sword. During the Rebellion of Seven States, Zhou Yafu rode east as Grand Commandant, picked up Ju Meng in Henan, and laughed with relief: "If Wu and Chu forgot to recruit Ju Meng, they have already lost." In a shaken empire, landing Ju Meng was like capturing an enemy capital. Ju Meng lived like Zhu Jia but loved dice and the games of the young. When his mother died, a thousand chariots followed her bier from every corner of the realm. When he died, his heirs could not scrape together ten catties of gold. Wang Meng of Fuli was another blade between the Yangzi and the Huai. Around then the Jians of Jinan and Zhou Fu of Chen were feared as local tyrants. Emperor Jing sent agents to wipe out every one of those clans. Soon enough new names surfaced—the Bai families of Dai, Han Wubi in Liang, Xue Kuang in Yangdi, Han Ru in Shan—each as bold as the last.
10
郭解，河內軹人也，溫善相人許負外孫也。 解父任俠，孝文時誅死。 解為人靜悍，不飲酒。 少時陰賊感概，不快意，所殺甚眾。 以軀借友報仇，臧命作奸剽攻，休乃鑄錢掘塚，不可勝數。 適有天幸，窘急常得脫，若遇赦。
Guo Xie of Zhi in Henei was the maternal grandson of Xu Fu, the famous face-reader from Wen. His father had lived by the sword and died on the execution ground under Emperor Wen. Guo Xie was soft-spoken and deadly sober. As a youth he nursed grudges in silence and left a long trail of corpses whenever he felt slighted. He lent his blade for friends' feuds, hid wanted men, led raids, and in quieter moments counterfeited cash and robbed graves—too often to count. Heaven smiled on him: every tight corner opened like a general pardon.
11
及解年長，更折節為儉，以德報怨，厚施而薄望。 然其自喜為俠益甚。 既已振人之命，不矜其功，其陰賊著於心本發於睚眥如故云。 而少年慕其行，亦輒為報仇，不使知也。
In middle age he curbed his temper, paid good for evil, gave liberally, and asked nothing back. Yet he only relished the knight's role more fiercely. He saved lives without crowing, but the old killer still lurked inside, ready to strike over a sideways glance. Young blades who worshipped him settled scores on his behalf and never told him.
12
解姊子負解之勢，與人飲，使之釂，非其任，強灌之。 人怒，刺殺解姊子，亡去。 解姊怒曰：「以翁伯時人殺吾子，賊不得！ 」棄其屍道旁，弗葬，欲以辱解。 解使人微知賊處。 賊窘自歸，具以實告解。 解曰：「公殺之當，吾兒不直。 」遂去其賊，罪其姊子，收而葬之。 諸公聞之，皆多解之義，益附焉。
Guo Xie's nephew traded on his name, forced a drinking partner to empty his cup, and when the man faltered, held him down and poured liquor down his throat. The guest lost his temper, stabbed the nephew to death, and vanished. Guo Xie's sister raged, "When you still answered to the name Wengbo, no killer of my boy would have lived an hour!" She left the body in the ditch unburied to shame her brother into action. Guo Xie quietly traced the killer's hideout. Cornered, the man gave himself up and confessed everything to Guo Xie. Guo Xie said, "You were right to kill him; my nephew was in the wrong." He dismissed the killer, blamed his nephew for the fight, and gave the body a decent burial. The local notables praised his fairness and clung to him tighter than ever.
13
解出，人皆避，有一人獨箕踞視之。 解問其姓名，客欲殺之。 解曰：「居邑屋不見敬，是吾德不修也，彼何罪！ 」乃陰請尉史曰：「是人吾所重，至踐更時脫之。 」每至直更，數過，吏弗求。 怪之，問其故，解使脫之。 箕踞者乃肉袒謝罪。 少年聞之，愈益慕解之行。
When Guo Xie walked abroad, crowds parted—except one lounger who sat sprawled and stared him down. Guo Xie asked his name; his followers drew steel. Guo Xie stopped them: "If folk in my own town do not respect me, the fault is mine—what has he done!" He slipped the precinct clerk a word: "That man matters to me—scratch him from corvée rolls when his turn comes." Month after month the man showed for night watch and was waved past while clerks looked the other way. Puzzled, he pressed for an answer and learned Guo Xie had bought him free. The lounger stripped to the waist and begged forgiveness. The young blades heard the story and idolized him more than ever.
14
洛陽人有相仇者，邑中賢豪居間以十數，終不聽。 客乃見解。 解夜見仇家，仇家曲聽。 解謂仇家：「吾聞洛陽諸公在間，多不聽。 今子幸而聽解，解奈何從它縣奪人邑賢大夫權乎！ 」乃夜去，不使人知，曰：「且毋庸，待我去，令洛陽豪居間乃聽。」
Two feuding Luoyang clans ignored a dozen local peacemakers. Finally they sent for Guo Xie. Guo Xie called by night, and even the bitterest foe bent his ear. He told them, "Your Luoyang elders have pleaded with you for months and you ignored them." Now you honor me by yielding—how could I steal the credit that belongs to your own town worthies! He slipped away before dawn and left word: "Pretend nothing happened until I am gone, then let your local heroes announce the truce as theirs."
15
解為人短小，恭儉，出未嘗有騎，不敢乘車入其縣庭。 之旁郡國，為人請求事，事可出，出之； 不可者，各令厭其意，然後乃敢嘗酒食。 諸公以此嚴重之，爭為用。 邑中少年及旁近縣豪夜半過門，常十餘車，請得解客舍養之。
Guo Xie was a slight, humble man who walked everywhere and would not drive a cart onto the magistrate's yard. In neighboring provinces he pled cases: if a door could be opened, he opened it; when he could not win a pardon, he brokered face-saving terms for both sides—only then would he touch wine or meat. Notables stood in awe of that scruple and competed to do his errands. Local youths and county bravos would roll up in a dozen carts after midnight, begging to put his guests up at their expense.
16
及徙豪茂陵也，解貧，不中訾。 吏恐，不敢不徙。 衛將軍為言：「郭解家貧，不中徙。 」上曰：「解布衣，權至使將軍，此其家不貧！ 」解徙，諸公送者出千餘萬。 軹人楊季主子為縣掾，隔之，解兄子斷楊掾頭。 解入關，關中賢豪知與不知，聞聲爭交歡。 邑人又殺楊季主，季主家上書人又殺闕下。 上聞，乃下吏捕解。 解亡，置其母家室夏陽，身至臨晉。 臨晉籍少翁素不知解，因出關。 籍少翁已出解，解傳太原，所過輒告主人處。 吏逐跡至籍少翁，少翁自殺，口絕。 久之得解，窮治所犯為，而解所殺，皆在赦前。
When the court ordered rich families moved to Maoling, Guo Xie was too poor on paper to qualify. The local clerks dared not exempt him for fear of higher wrath. General Wei Qing pleaded, "Guo Xie is too poor to be on the removal list." The emperor snapped, "A commoner who can move my general is not poor!" When he was forced west, well-wishers showered him with more than ten million cash in parting gifts. Yang Jizhu's son, a county clerk, blocked the convoy, so Guo Xie's nephew took the man's head. Once inside the pass every Guanzhong notable, stranger or friend, rushed to win his smile at the mere mention of his name. Locals murdered Yang Jizhu; when his kin sent a petitioner to the throne, someone cut the petitioner down on the palace steps. The emperor heard and ordered Guo Xie's arrest. Guo Xie ran, stashed his mother and kin in Xiayang, and slipped on alone to Linjin. Ji Shao'weng of Linjin, a stranger to Guo Xie, smuggled him through the barrier. Once Ji Shao'weng had passed him through the barrier, Guo Xie sent word ahead through Taiyuan, telling every host where he would lodge. The trail led the police to Ji Shao'weng, who killed himself to seal his lips. Eventually they took Guo Xie and combed his record—yet every homicide dated to before a general amnesty.
17
軹有儒生侍使者坐，客譽郭解，生曰：「解專以奸犯公法，何謂賢？ 」解客聞之，殺此生，斷舌。 吏以責解，解實不知殺者，殺者亦竟莫知為誰。 吏奏解無罪。 御史大夫公孫弘議曰：「解布衣為任俠行權，以睚眥殺人，解不知，此罪甚於解知殺之。 當大逆無道。 」遂族解。
At Zhi a pedant sitting with the imperial envoy heard a guest praise Guo Xie and snapped, "Guo Xie lives by breaking the law—what is worthy about that?" One of Guo Xie's followers cut him down and took his tongue. Magistrates blamed Guo Xie, who swore he knew nothing, and no informer ever named the blade. The local report cleared him. Imperial Counselor Gongsun Hong argued, "A commoner who wields a lord's power so that men kill over a dirty look—even if he never gave the order—has committed a worse crime than murder itself." He should be judged for treason against the Way. The court wiped out his whole lineage.
18
自是之後，俠者極眾，而無足數者。 然關中長安樊中子，槐裡趙王孫，長陵高公子，西河郭翁中，太原魯翁孺，臨淮兒長卿，東陽陳君孺，雖為俠而恂恂有退讓君子之風。 至若北道姚氏，西道諸杜，南道仇景，東道趙佗羽公子，南陽趙調之徒，盜跖而居民間者耳，曷足道哉！ 此乃鄉者硃家所羞也。
After that, bravos swarmed the empire, but few worth naming. Still, men like Fan Zhongzi in Chang'an, Zhao Wangsun in Huaili, Gao Gongzi in Changling, Guo Wengzhong west of the river, Lu Wengru in Taiyuan, Er Changqing in Linhuai, and Chen Junru in Dongyang wore the knight's label yet behaved with courteous restraint. As for the Yao gang on the northern road, the Du clans on the western, Qiu Jing in the south, the so-called Zhao Tuo princeling in the east, Zhao Diao in Nanyang—they were bandits in broad daylight, hardly worth ink. Zhu Jia of old would have blushed to share a sentence with them.
19
萭章字子夏，長安人也。 長安熾盛，街閭各有豪俠，章在城西柳市，號曰「城西萭章子夏」。 為京兆尹門下督，從至殿中，侍中諸侯貴人爭欲揖章，莫與京兆尹言者。 章逡循甚懼。 其後京兆不復從也。
Yu Zhang, styled Zixia, came from Chang'an. Chang'an seethed with swagger, each ward its own swordsmen; Yu Zhang held Willow Market west of the walls and was known as "West-City Yu Zixia." As chief retainer to the Metropolitan Governor he entered the palace, where nobles and attendants crowded to bow to him and ignored their own superior. Yu Zhang shrank back in terror. After that the governor never brought him inside again.
20
與中書令石顯相善，亦得顯權力，門車常接轂。 至成帝初，石顯坐專權擅勢免官，徙歸故郡。 顯資巨萬，當去，留床席器物數百萬直，欲以與章，章不受。 賓客或問其故，章歎曰：「吾以布衣見哀於石君，石君家破，不能有以安也，而受其財物，此為石氏之禍，萭氏反當以為福邪！ 」諸公以是服而稱之。
He befriended Palace Secretary Shi Xian and borrowed the eunuch's clout until guest coaches jammed axle to axle at his gate. Early in Chengdi's reign Shi Xian lost his post for bullying the government and was banished home. Shi Xian was worth millions; on the road out he tried to deed Yu Zhang furniture and fittings valued in the millions, but Yu Zhang refused. When retainers pressed him, Yu Zhang sighed, "Shi Xian pitied me when I was nobody; now his house is ruined and I cannot save him—if I grabbed his goods I would pile disaster on the Shis and call it luck for the Yus!" Notables honored him for that scruple.
21
河平中，王尊為京兆尹，捕擊豪俠，殺章及箭張回、酒市趙君都、賈子光，皆長安名豪，報仇怨養刺客者也。
Under Heping, Wang Zun as Metropolitan Governor swept the bravos: he executed Yu Zhang, the archer Zhang Hui, Zhao Jundu of Wine Market, and Jia Ziguang—Chang'an kingpins who kept killers on retainer.
22
樓護字君卿，齊人。 父世醫也，護少隨父為醫長安，出入貴戚家。 護誦醫經、本草、方術數十萬言，長者咸愛重之，共謂曰：「以君卿之材，何不宦學乎？ 」由是辭其父，學經傳，為京兆吏數年，甚得名譽。
Lou Hu, styled Junqing, came from Qi. His father was a hereditary physician; Lou Hu grew up trailing him through the mansions of the great in Chang'an. He memorized hundreds of thousands of characters of pharmacopeia and case lore, and elders urged him, "A mind like yours belongs in office, not in an apothecary." So he quit medicine, mastered the canonical texts, spent years on the Metropolitan staff, and made a name.
23
是時，王氏方盛，賓客滿門，五侯兄弟爭名，其客各有所厚，不得左右，唯護盡入其門，咸得其歡心。 結士大夫，無所不傾，其交長者，尤見親而敬，眾以是服。 為人短小精辯，論議常依名節，聽之者皆竦。 與谷永俱為五侯上客，長安號曰「谷子雲筆札，樓君卿脣舌」，言其見信用也。 母死，送葬者致車二三千兩，閭里歌之曰：「五侯治喪樓君卿。」
The Wangs were at their zenith: each of the five brothers hoarded clients who would not cross to a rival house—except Lou Hu, who dined in every mansion and kept them all smiling. He charmed every circle of scholar-officials, showed real deference to his seniors, and won universal respect. He was small, quick-tongued, and anchored every argument in honor—listeners sat bolt upright. He and Gu Yong were chief clients of the five Wang marquises, and the capital joked, "Ziyun wields the brush; Junqing wields the tongue"—both men were indispensable. His mother's funeral drew two or three thousand wagons, and balladeers sang that the five marquises themselves had staged the rites for Lou Junqing.
24
久之，平阿侯舉護方正，為諫大夫，使郡國。 護假貸，多持幣帛，過齊，上書求上先人塚，因會宗族故人，各以親疏與束帛，一日數百金之費。 使還，奏事稱意，擢為天水太守。 數歲免，家長安中。 時成都侯商為大司馬衛將軍，罷朝，欲候護，其主簿諫：「將軍至尊，不宜入閭巷。 」商不聽，遂往至護家。 家狹小，官屬立車下，久住移時，天欲雨，主簿謂西曹諸掾曰：「不肯強諫，反雨立閭巷！ 」商還，或白主簿語，商恨，以他職事去主簿，終身廢錮。
Marquis Ping'e eventually nominated him as a candidate of integrity; he became a remonstrance grandee and toured the provinces on imperial business. He borrowed heavily, loaded up with silk, detoured through Qi to petition at the ancestral tombs, feasted every kinsman and crony, and handed out silk by rank—burning hundreds of gold in a day. His tour report pleased the throne, and he was jumped up to governor of Tianshui. A few years later he was cashiered and settled again in the capital. Grand Marshal Wang Shang of Chengdu wanted to visit him after court; his chief clerk protested that a man of such rank should not prowl back alleys. Wang Shang ignored the advice and rolled up to Lou Hu's door. The cottage was tiny, so the escort froze under their axles while rain threatened; the chief clerk hissed at the western staff, "No strong warning—now we soak in an alley!" When Wang Shang heard the clerk's gibe on his return, he dismissed him on a trumped-up charge and barred him from office for life.
25
後護復以薦為廣漢太守。 元始中，王莽為安漢公，專政，莽長子宇與妻兄呂寬謀以血塗莽第門，欲懼莽令歸政。 發覺，莽大怒，殺宇，而呂寬亡。 寬父素與護相知，寬至廣漢過護，不以事實語也。 到數日，名捕寬詔書至，護執寬。 莽大喜，征護入為前D025光，封息鄉侯，列子九卿。
Later a nomination made him governor of Guanghan. In the Yuan shi years Wang Mang ruled as Lord of Anhan while his heir Wang Yu and brother-in-law Lü Kuan smeared blood on the mansion gate hoping to scare him into yielding power. The plot surfaced; Mang executed his own son while Lü Kuan ran. Lü Kuan's father was an old friend of Lou Hu's; the fugitive called on him in Guanghan but never breathed a word of the conspiracy. Within days the empire-wide warrant arrived, and Lou Hu handed Lü Kuan over. Wang Mang was delighted, recalled him to court as Former Brilliance Minister—the title is corrupt in the received text—ennobled him as marquis of Xixiang, and ranked him with the Nine Ministers.
26
莽居攝，槐裡大賊趙朋、霍鴻等群起，延入前D025光界，護坐免為庶人。 其居位，爵祿賂遺所得亦緣手盡。 既退居里巷，時五侯皆已死，年老失勢，賓客益衰。 至王莽篡位，以舊恩召見護，封為樓舊裡附城。 而成都侯商子邑為大司空，貴重，商故人皆敬事邑，唯護自安如舊節，邑亦父事之，不敢有闕。 時請召賓客，邑居樽下，稱「賤子上壽」。 坐者百數，皆離席伏，護獨東鄉正坐，字謂邑曰：「公子貴如何！」
During Mang's regency the Huaili rebels Zhao Peng and Huo Hong overran the district under Lou Hu's ministry; he lost his post and became a commoner. Every salary and gift he ever drew slipped through his fingers as fast as it came. Back in the alleys, the five Wang patrons dead and his own vigor gone, his salon thinned to a whisper. When Wang Mang seized the throne he remembered old ties, summoned Lou Hu, and enfeoffed him as a minor attached-city noble at Loujiuli. Wang Yi, Wang Shang's son, became Grand Minister of Works; every old friend flattered him—except Lou Hu, who kept the easy equality of earlier days, so Yi treated him like a father and never slipped in courtesy. At feasts Wang Yi took the seat below the wine jar and toasted him as "your humble son." A hundred guests dropped to the kowtow while Lou Hu alone sat facing east and drawled, "Well, Yi—how does it feel to be the great man?"
27
初，護有故人呂公，無子，歸護。 護身與呂公、妻與呂嫗同食。 及護家居，妻子頗厭呂公。 護聞之，流涕責其妻子曰：「呂公以故舊窮老托身於我，義所當奉。 」遂養呂公終身。 護卒，子嗣其爵。
Long before, a childless friend surnamed Lü had moved in with him. He and his wife shared table and board with the old couple. Once Lou Hu retired, his wife and children grew tired of the guests. Lou Hu wept and scolded his household: "Lord Lü is a ruined old friend who threw himself on my mercy—duty says I keep him." He fed the couple until they died. When Lou Hu died, his son inherited the fief.
28
遵少孤，與張竦伯松俱為京兆史。 竦博學通達，以廉儉自守，而遵放縱不拘，操行雖異，然相親友，哀帝之末俱著名字，為後進冠。 並入公府，公府掾史率皆羸車小馬，不上鮮明，而遵獨極輿馬衣服之好，門外車騎交錯。 又日出醉歸，曹事數廢。 西曹以故事適之，侍曹輒詣寺捨白遵曰：「陳卿今日以某事適。 」遵曰：「滿百乃相聞。 」故事，有百適者斥，滿百，西曹白請斥。 大司徒馬宮大儒優士，又重遵，謂西曹：「此人大度士，奈何以小文責之？ 」乃舉遵能治三輔劇縣，補郁夷令。 久之，與扶風相失，自免去。
Chen Zun lost his father young and served with Zhang Song as a Metropolitan clerk. Zhang Song was bookish and abstemious; Chen Zun was a rake—opposites who stayed fast friends and, by Aidi's end, topped every young blade's list. They joined a minister's staff where everyone else rattled up in patched carts—Chen Zun alone rolled in matched teams and silks until his gate looked like a parade ground. He drank from dawn to stupor and let paperwork pile up. The western office docked his pay by rule; runners tracked him to his lodgings: "Sir, today's fine is for such-and-such." Chen Zun said, "Wake me when the tally hits a hundred." Regulations said a hundred demerits meant expulsion; at the hundredth mark the western bureau filed to fire him. Grand Minister Ma Gong, a Confucian who prized talent, told the western bureau, "Chen Zun is a big spirit—do not nag him over trivia." So he nominated Chen Zun for a tough county in the capital region and got him posted to Yuyi. He later quarreled with the Fufeng chancellor and resigned on his own.
29
槐裡大賊趙朋、霍鴻等起，遵為校尉，擊朋、鴻有功，封嘉威侯。 居長安中，列侯近臣貴戚皆貴重之。 牧守當之官，及郡國豪桀至京師者，莫不相因到遵門。
When Zhao Peng and Huo Hong raided Huaili, Chen Zun led a column, crushed them, and earned the marquisate of Jiawei. Back in Chang'an every marquis and in-law treated him as royalty. Every governor bound for a post and every provincial bravo who hit the capital made Chen Zun's house their first stop.
30
遵嗜酒，每大飲，賓客滿堂，輒關門，取客車轄投井中，雖有急，終不得去。 嘗有部刺史奏事，過遵，值其方飲，刺史大窮，候遵沾醉時，突入見遵母，叩頭自白當對尚書有期會狀，母乃令從後閣出去。 遵大率常醉，然事亦不廢。
Chen Zun loved banquets: once the hall filled he barred the doors and dropped the guests' axle pins down the well so no emergency could pry them loose. A provincial inspector once needed an audience at the Secretariat but found Chen Zun mid-orgy; he crawled to Mistress Chen, kowtowed, explained his deadline, and she smuggled him out the back gate while her son reeled. He was almost always drunk—yet the desk work still got done.
31
長八尺餘，長頭大鼻，容貌甚偉。 略涉傳記，贍於文辭。 性善書，與人尺牘，主皆藏去以為榮。 請求不敢逆，所到，衣冠懷之，唯恐在後。 時列侯有與遵同姓字者，每至人門，曰陳孟公，坐中莫不震動，既至而非，因號其人曰陳驚坐雲。
He stood over eight feet, with a long head, big nose, and a commanding frame. He had read widely and wrote with flair. His calligraphy was prized; hosts framed his notes as trophies. No favor asked was refused; everywhere the elite courted him for fear of missing his notice. Another Chen shared his name; whenever that man announced "Chen Menggong" at a door the room jumped—then groaned when the wrong Chen walked in, so wits dubbed him "Chen Who Frightens the Seats."
32
王莽素奇遵材，在位多稱譽者，由是起為河南太守。 既至官，當遣從史西，召善書吏十人於前，治私書謝京師故人。 遵馮幾，口占書吏，且省官事，書數百封，親疏各有意，河南大驚。 數月免。
Wang Mang admired his gifts; enough officials sang his praise that he was named governor of Henan. On his first day he lined up ten copyists and dictated hundreds of thank-you notes to Chang'an friends. He leaned on the desk, dictated mail while signing documents, tailored every letter to its recipient, and left Henan clerks gaping. Within months he was sacked again.
33
初，遵為河南太守，而弟級為荊州牧，當之官，俱過長安富人故淮陽王外家左氏飲食作樂。 後司直陳崇聞之，劾奏：「遵兄弟幸得蒙恩超等歷位，遵爵列侯，備郡守，級州牧奉使，皆以舉直察枉宣揚聖化為職，不正身自慎。 始遵初除，乘籓車入閭巷，過寡婦左阿君置酒歌謳，遵起舞跳梁，頓僕坐上，暮因留宿，為侍婢扶臥。 遵知飲酒飫宴有節，禮不入寡婦之門，而湛酒混餚，亂男女之別，輕辱爵位，羞污印□，惡不可忍聞。 臣請皆免。 」遵既免，歸長安，賓客愈盛，飲食自若。
While Chen Zun governed Henan and his brother Chen Ji was taking up the Jingzhou shepherdship, both detoured to party at the Chang'an villa of the Zuo clan—rich in-laws of the late King of Huaiyang. Director Chen Chong impeached them: "These brothers owe their rapid rise to imperial favor—one a marquis and governor, the other a regional shepherd—yet they refuse the sober bearing their offices demand." Chen Zun's first act in office was to roll a curtain cart into a back lane, join Widow Zuo's singing party, dance on the rafters, collapse drunk among the cushions, and spend the night carried off by her maids. He knows ritual forbids carousing in a widow's house, yet he drowned in wine, blurred the sexes, insulted his commission, and smeared the seal—conduct too foul to repeat. I ask that both be stripped of office." Both men were cashiered, yet Chen Zun's parties in Chang'an only grew wilder.
34
久之，復為九江及河內都尉，凡三為二千石。 而張竦亦至丹陽太守，封淑德侯。 後俱免官，以列侯歸長安。 竦居貧，無賓客，時時好事者從之質疑問事，論道經書而已。 而遵晝夜呼號，車騎滿門，酒肉相屬。
Years later he served as chief commandant in Jiujiang and Henei—three stints at two-thousand-bushel rank. Zhang Song meanwhile rose to governor of Danyang and the marquisate of Shude. Eventually both lost their posts and came home to Chang'an as titled nobles. Zhang Song lived poor and alone except when curious visitors dropped by to debate the canon. Chen Zun howled night and day, jammed his gate with carriages, and stacked feast on feast.
35
先是，黃門郎揚雄作《酒箴》以諷諫成帝，其文為酒客難法度士，譬之於物，曰：「子猶瓶矣。 觀瓶之居，居井之眉，處高臨深，動常近危。 酒醪不入口，臧水滿懷，不得左右，牽於纆徽。 一旦叀礙，為瓽所轠，身提黃泉，骨肉為泥。 自用如此，不如鴟夷。 鴟夷滑稽，腹如大壺，盡日盛酒，人復借酤。 常為國器，托於屬車，出入兩宮，經營公家。 由是言之，酒何過乎！ 」遵大喜之，常謂張竦：「吾與爾猶是矣。 足下諷誦經書，苦身自約，不敢差跌，而我放意自恣，浮湛俗間，官爵功名，不減於子，而差獨樂，顧不優邪！ 」竦曰：「人各有性，長短自裁。 子欲為我亦不能，吾而效子亦敗矣。 雖然，學我者易持，效子者難將，吾常道也。」
Earlier Yang Xiong had written his Wine Admonition for Chengdi—a drunk lecturing a prig: "You are the pottery jar." Look at the jar on the well curb—perched high over a fatal drop, every shift nearly a spill. No wine ever wets its lips, yet it hoards the whole well; it cannot roll, only hangs on its hawser. One slip of the rope and the jar shatters in the shaft—down you go, nothing left but mud. Better the wandering wineskin than that brittle pride. The wineskin is supple as a belly-jar, holds liquor all day, and goes out on loan to every tavern. It rides the imperial baggage train, passes both palaces, and runs the court business—true state gear. Tell me again how wine is the villain! Chen Zun loved the parable and told Zhang Song, "That wineskin is you and me. You grind through the canon and watch every step; I drift through the world drunk—yet my titles match yours and I have twice the fun. Who is ahead?" Zhang Song answered, "Nature sets each man his span. You could not live my life, nor I yours without ruin. Still, my disciples stay steady; yours would break the reins—that is my proverb."
36
及王莽敗，二人俱客於池陽，竦為賊兵所殺。 更始至長安，大臣薦遵為大司馬護軍，與歸德侯劉颯俱使匈奴。 單于欲脅詘遵，遵陳利害，為言曲直，單于大奇之，遣還。 會更始敗，遵留朔方，為賊所敗，時醉見殺。
When Wang Mang fell they fled to Chiyang, where bandits cut down Zhang Song. Gengshi's court named Chen Zun marshal-guard to the Grand Marshal and sent him with Liu Sa of Guide marquisate as envoys to the shanyu. The shanyu tried to break him; Chen Zun laid out every consequence until the ruler admired his nerve and sent him home. When Gengshi collapsed Chen Zun stayed north, was overrun by raiders, and died drunk in the melee.
37
原涉字巨先。 祖父武帝時以豪桀自陽翟徙茂陵。 涉父哀帝時為南陽太守。 天下殷富，大郡二千石列官，賦斂送葬皆千萬以上，妻子通共受之，以定產業。 時又少行三年喪者。 及涉父死，讓還南陽賻送，行喪塚廬三年，由是顯名京師。 禮畢，扶風謁請為議曹，衣冠慕之輻輳。 為大司徒史丹舉能治劇，為谷口令，時年二十餘。 谷口聞其名，不言而治。
Yuan She, styled Juxian. His grandfather, a noted bravo, was resettled from Yangzhai to Maoling under Emperor Wu. His father governed Nanyang under Emperor Ai. The empire was flush: great governors collected millions in funeral gifts, and families banked the windfall to build fortunes. Hardly anyone still kept three years of mourning. When his father died he sent back the Nanyang condolence gold, mourned three years by the grave, and became famous in Chang'an. After mourning Fufeng named him a deliberation clerk, and every gentleman in the capital flocked to him. Shi Dan recommended him for a tough magistracy; at twenty-odd he took Gukou. Gukou obeyed his reputation before he issued a single order.
38
先是，涉季父為茂陵秦氏所殺，涉居谷口半歲所，自劾去官，欲報仇。 谷口豪桀為殺秦氏，亡命歲餘，逢赦出。 郡國諸豪及長安、五陵諸為氣節者皆歸慕之。 涉遂傾身與相待，人無賢不肖闐門，在所閭里盡滿客。 或譏涉曰：「子本吏二千石之世，結髮自修，以行喪推財禮讓為名，正復讎取仇，猶不失仁義，何故遂自放縱，為輕俠之徒乎？ 」涉應曰：「子獨不見家人寡婦邪？ 始自約敕之時，意乃慕宋伯姬及陳孝婦，不幸一為盜賊所污，遂行淫失，知其非禮，然不能自還。 吾猶此矣！」
Years before, a Qin of Maoling had murdered his uncle; Yuan She quit Gukou after six months to hunt revenge. Local swordsmen slew the Qins for him; he hid a year, then walked free on a general amnesty. Every provincial bravo and Wuling gallant who cared about honor claimed him as hero. He threw his doors open to saint and scoundrel alike until every lane he touched overflowed with clients. A critic said, "You were born to office, built a name on refusing gifts and keeping mourning—even blood feud could stay righteous—so why slide into alley-knight swagger?" Yuan She shot back, "Have you never seen a widow slip?" She begins chaste as Song Bo Ji or the Chen widow; one rape later she cannot find the road back though she knows it is wrong. I am that widow."
39
涉自以為前讓南陽賻送，身得其名，而令先人墳墓儉約，非孝也。 乃大治起塚捨，周閣重門。 初，武帝時，京兆尹曹氏葬茂陵，民謂其道為京兆仟，涉慕之，乃買地開道，立表署曰南陽仟，人不肯從，謂之原氏仟。 費用皆仰富人長者，然身衣服車馬才具，妻子內困。 專以振施貧窮赴人之急為務。 人嘗置酒請涉，涉入里門，客有道涉所知母病避疾在裡宅者。 涉即往候，叩門。 家哭，涉因入吊，問以喪事。 家無所有，涉曰：「但潔掃除沐浴，待涉。 」還至主人，對賓客歎息曰：「人親臥地不收，涉何心鄉此！ 願撤去酒食。 」賓客爭問所當得，涉乃側席而坐，削牘為疏，具記衣被棺木，下至飯含之物，分付諸客。 諸客奔走市買，至日昳皆會。 涉親閱視已，謂主人：「願受賜矣。 」既共飲食，涉獨不飽，乃載棺物，從賓客往至喪家，為棺斂勞徠畢葬。 其周急待人如此。 後人有毀涉者曰「奸人之雄也」，喪家子即時刺殺言者。
He decided that refusing Nanyang gold had bought him fame at the cost of shabby ancestral tombs—unfilial after all. So he raised a mansion-tomb with ringed galleries and doubled gates. Emperor Wu's Governor Cao had left a "Metropolitan Thousand" funeral avenue at Maoling; Yuan She copied the stunt, labeled his "Nanyang Thousand," but locals dubbed it the Yuan family lane. Rich friends paid the bills while he dressed plain and kept his household short. His mission was feeding the hungry and answering every midnight plea. Halfway to a banquet he heard an old woman he knew lay dying of fever in the lane. He turned aside at once and knocked at her door. He found the house in tears, stepped in to mourn, and asked what the burial needed. They owned nothing; he said, "Scrub the rooms, wash the body, and wait for me. Back at the party he told the crowd, "A mother lies unburied—how can I swallow your wine! Clear the table." Guests pressed for tasks; he sat, cut a tally sheet, and assigned shroud, coffin, even grave goods to each man. They scattered to the markets and reassembled by dusk with every item. He checked the haul and told the host, "Now I will take your cup. He barely touched food, then convoyed the goods to the dead woman's house and stayed until she was sealed in the earth. That was how he met emergencies. When a sneerer called him king of crooks, the bereaved son knifed him on the spot.
40
賓客多犯法，罪過數上聞。 王莽數收系欲殺，輒復赦出之。 涉懼，求為卿府掾史，欲以避客。 文母太后喪時，守復土校尉。 已為中郎，後免官。 涉欲上塚，不欲會賓客，密獨與故人期會。 涉單車驅上茂陵，投暮，入其裡宅，因自匿不見人。 遣奴至市買肉，奴乘涉氣與屠爭言，斫傷屠者，亡。 是時，茂陵守令尹公新視事，涉未謁也，聞之大怒。 知涉名豪，欲以示眾厲俗，遣兩吏脅守涉。 至日中，奴不出，吏欲便殺涉去。 涉迫窘不知所為。 會涉所與期上塚者車數十乘到，皆諸豪也，共說尹公。 尹公不聽，諸豪則曰：「原巨先奴犯法不得，使肉袒自縛，箭貫耳，詣廷門謝罪，於君威亦足矣。 」尹公許之。 涉如言謝，復服遣去。
His followers broke laws until reports stacked up at court. Wang Mang jailed him again and again, then pardoned him every time. He took a clerkship to dodge his mob of hangers-on. He guarded the empress dowager tomb detail as earth-return colonel. He rose to gentleman of the palace, then lost the post. He wanted a quiet grave visit and set secret rendezvous with old friends only. He raced alone to Maoling, slipped into his lane house at dusk, and hid. He sent a slave for meat; the man picked a fight with a butcher, cut him, and bolted. The new Maoling prefect Yin had not been visited; when he heard, he raged. Knowing Yuan She's fame, Yin posted two bailiffs on him to teach the town a lesson. Noon passed with no slave; the bailiffs threatened to execute Yuan She instead. Yuan She was cornered. Dozens of chariots of his grave-appointment allies roared in and pleaded with Yin. Yin refused; they offered, "Let Yuan strip, bind himself, thread his ear with an arrow, and kowtow at your gate—that should satisfy your honor. Yin agreed." Yuan She did the ritual penance and walked free.
41
初，涉寫新豐富人祁太伯為友，太伯同母弟王游公素嫉涉，時為縣門下掾，說尹公曰：「君以守令辱原涉如是，一旦真令至，君復單車歸為府吏，涉刺客如雲，殺人皆不知主名，可為寒心。 涉治塚捨，奢僭逾制，罪惡暴著，主上知之。 今為君計，莫若墮壞涉塚捨，條奏其舊惡，君必得真令。 如此，涉亦不敢怨矣。 」尹公如其計，莽果以為真令。 涉由此怨王游公，選賓客，遣長子初從車二十乘劫王游公家。 游公母即祁太伯母也，諸客見之皆拜，傳曰「無驚祁夫人」。 遂殺游公父及子，斷兩頭去。
Wang Yougong, a county clerk who hated Yuan She, warned Yin, "Humiliate him now and when a real prefect arrives you will crawl back as a clerk while his nameless killers haunt you. Yuan's tomb mansion breaks sumptuary law—one memorial and the throne will hear. Smash his shrine, list his crimes, and you will win the real post. Yuan would not dare blame you." Yin followed the advice; Wang Mang gave him the full prefecture. Yuan She then sent his son Chu at the head of twenty wagons to sack Wang Yougong's house. Yougong's mother was Qi Taibo's mother; the raiders bowed and shouted, "Spare Lady Qi!" They killed Wang's father and son and rode off with two heads.
42
涉性略似郭解，外溫仁謙遜，而內隱好殺。 睚眥於塵中，觸死者甚多。 王莽末，東方兵起，諸王子弟多薦涉能得士死，可用。 莽乃召見，責以罪惡，赦貰，拜鎮戎大尹。 涉至官無幾，長安敗，郡縣諸假號起兵攻殺二千石長吏以應漢。 諸假號素聞涉名，爭問原尹何在，拜謁之。 時莽州牧使者依附涉者皆得活。 傳送致涉長安，更始西屏將軍申徒建請涉與相見，大重之。 故茂陵令尹公壞涉塚捨者為建主簿，涉本不怨也。 涉從建所出，尹公故遮拜涉，謂曰：「易世矣，宜勿復相怨！ 」涉曰：「尹君，何一魚肉涉也！ 」涉用是怒，使客刺殺主簿。
Like Guo Xie he smiled in public and nursed killers within. Petty slights in the street left a trail of corpses. Late in Wang Mang's reign eastern rebels rose; princelings urged hiring Yuan She for his suicide squads. Wang Mang hauled him in, scolded his record, then pardoned him and named him Pacification governor. He had barely taken office when Chang'an fell and every pretender army murdered Han magistrates. Rebel chiefs who knew his name hunted him down to pay homage. Wang Mang stranded officials who clung to him lived. They convoyed him to Chang'an where Shentu Jian, Gengshi's western-screen general, courted him. The old prefect Yin who had smashed his tomb-shrine now served as Shentu Jian's chief clerk—Yuan bore him no malice. Yin blocked his path, bowed, and said, "Times have turned—we should bury the feud. Yuan She snarled, "Yin, you carved me like a carcass once! —and I remember." He had the chief clerk murdered.
43
涉欲亡去，申徒建內恨恥之，陽言「吾欲與原巨先共鎮三輔，豈以一吏易之哉！ 」賓客通言，令涉自系獄謝，建許之。 賓客車數十乘共送涉至獄。 建遣兵道徼取涉於車上，送車分散馳，遂斬涉，懸之長安市。
Yuan She bolted; Shentu Jian, shamed and furious, announced, "I meant to hold the capital with Yuan Juxian—I would not trade him for one clerk! Clients relayed a deal: turn yourself in—Jian agreed." Dozens of wagons escorted him to jail. Shentu Jian's soldiers snatched him from his carriage, scattered his friends, and spiked his head in the Chang'an market.
44
自哀、平間，郡國處處有豪桀，然莫足數。 其名聞州郡者，霸陵杜君敖、池陽韓幼孺、馬領繡君賓、西河漕中叔，皆有謙退之風。 王莽居懾，誅鋤豪俠，名捕漕中叔，不能得。 素善強弩將軍孫建，莽疑建藏匿，泛以問建。 建曰：「臣名善之，誅臣足以塞責。 」莽性果賊，無所容忍，然重建，不竟問，遂不得也。 中叔子少游，復以俠聞於世雲。
Between Emperors Ai and Ping bravos sprouted in every province, few worth naming. Men like Du Jun'ao of Baling, Han Youru of Chiyang, Xiu Junbin of Maling, and Cao Zhongshu of Xihe were famous yet courteous. Wang Mang's purge named Cao Zhongshu, who vanished. He was tight with General Sun Jian; Wang Mang suspected Jian of hiding him and pressed the general. Sun Jian said, "Execute me and your account is closed." Wang Mang was vicious but prized Sun Jian, dropped the probe, and never caught Cao. Cao son Shaoyou won a knightly name in his turn, they say.