1
卷九十七下外戚傳第六十七下
Book 97B: Biographies of Empresses and Imperial Affines, Part Two.
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孝元王皇后
Empress Xiaoyuan of the Wang clan.
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孝元王皇后，成帝母也。 家凡十侯，五大司馬，外戚莫盛焉。 自有傳。
Empress Xiaoyuan of the Wang family was Emperor Cheng's mother. Her kin would hold ten marquisates and five grand-marshal posts—no other imperial in-law clan ever rose so high. Her life is recounted in its own chapter.
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孝成許皇后
Empress Xiaocheng of the Xu clan.
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孝成許皇后，大司馬車騎將軍平恩侯嘉女也。 元帝悼傷母恭哀後居位日淺而遭霍氏之辜，故選嘉女以配皇太子。 初入太了家，上令中常侍黃門親近者侍送，還白太子歡說狀，元帝喜謂左右：「酌酒賀我！」 左右皆稱萬歲。 久之，有一男，失之。 乃成帝即位，立許妃為皇后，復生一女，失之。
Empress Xiaocheng was the daughter of Xu Jia, grand marshal and general of chariots and cavalry, Marquis of Pingen. Emperor Yuan still mourned how briefly his mother, Empress Gong'ai, had been empress and how she had been destroyed in the Huo purge; he therefore chose Xu Jia's daughter as consort to the crown prince. On her first arrival at the crown prince's residence, the emperor sent trusted eunuchs from the inner court to attend her; when they reported back how delighted the heir was, Yuan told his attendants, 'Bring wine—I must be congratulated!' The whole company shouted long life. Time passed, and she bore a son who died in infancy. When Cheng took the throne he raised Consort Xu to empress; she gave birth again, to a daughter who did not survive.
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妾誇布服糲糧，加以幼稚愚惑，不明義理，幸得免離茅屋之下，備後宮掃除。 蒙過誤之寵，居非命所當托，污穢不修，曠職屍官，數逆至法，逾越制度，當伏放流之誅，不足以塞責。 乃壬寅日大長秋受詔：「椒房儀法，御服輿駕，所發諸官署，及所造作，遺賜外家群臣妾，皆如竟寧以前故事。」 妾伏自念，入椒房以來，遺賜外家未嘗逾故事，每輒決上，可復問也。 今誠時世異制，長短相補，不出漢制而已，纖微之間，未必可同。 若竟寧前與黃龍前，豈相放哉？ 家吏不曉，今一受詔如此，且使妾搖手不得。 今言無得發取諸官，殆謂未央官不屬妾，不宜獨取也。 言妾家府亦不當得，妾竊惑焉。 幸得賜湯沐邑以自奉養，亦小發取其中，何害於誼而不可哉？ 又詔書言服御所造，皆如竟寧前，吏誠不能揆其意，即且令妾被服所為不得不如前。 設妾欲作某屏風張於某所，曰故事無有，或不能得，則必繩妾以詔書矣。 此二事誠不可行，唯陛下省察。
I wore plain cloth and ate coarse food; I was young and foolish and barely grasped how one ought to behave—yet I was lifted out of a humble cottage and given a place among the women who serve in the inner palace. I accepted honors beyond my deserts and held a station beyond what Heaven intended; I let duty lapse and occupied office like the dead; again and again I broke the law and overstepped the rules—I merit banishment or death, and no punishment could square my account. On the day renyin the head eunuch brought an edict: 'Ritual in the empress's quarters, imperial wardrobe, carriages, requisitions from every office, new work orders, and gifts to my family and the officials—all must follow the practice in force before the Jingning period.' I have considered this carefully: from the day I entered the empress's residence, every gift to my family stayed within precedent, and the sovereign decided each one—it can all be checked again in the records. Times change and so do the rules; one regime patches another, but all still sit inside Han law—only the small points cannot always be matched line for line. How could the era before Jingning simply be copied from the age before Huanglong? My staff do not know how to read this; with one such order they have tied my hands so I can hardly move. The ban on drawing supplies from the offices must mean Weiyang Palace is not mine alone and I should not be the only one drawing from it. The line that my private storehouse may not receive either leaves me quite at a loss. I have been given a fief for my maintenance; to take a little from that for my needs—where is the impropriety, and why should it be forbidden? The edict also says garments and equipage must match pre-Jingning standards; the clerks cannot divine what that means, so they demand my dress and every commission mirror the old models exactly. If I want a certain screen in a certain hall and they say there is no precedent or the materials cannot be had, they will prosecute me for defying the edict. These two points are simply unworkable; I beg you to look into them yourself.
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宦吏忮佷，必欲自勝。 幸妾尚貴時，猶以不急事操人，況今日日益侵，又獲此詔，其操約人，豈有所訴？ 陛下見妾在椒房，終不肯給妾纖微內邪？ 若不私府小取，將安所仰乎？ 舊故，中官乃私奪左右之賤繒，乃發乘輿服繒，言為待詔補，已而貿易其中。 左右多竊怨者，甚恥為之。 又故事以特牛祠大父母，戴侯、敬侯皆得蒙恩以太牢祠，今當率如故事，唯陛下哀之！
The eunuch officials are spiteful and harsh; each one must win at any cost. When I still had standing they would harp on trifles; now my position shrinks by the day and this edict gives them a whip—when they tighten every leash, whom could I possibly petition? Because I sit in the empress's quarters, will you never grant me even the smallest provision from within the palace? If I may not draw even modestly on my private stores, what am I to live on? By long habit inner-court men seize cheap silk from servants, then order fabric meant for the emperor's wardrobe, claim it is for patching gentlemen-in-waiting's robes, and sell the surplus on the side. The attendants nursed secret resentment and were deeply ashamed to take part. Precedent allowed a bull for offerings to my grandparents; both Marquis Dai and Marquis Jing were honored with full taishao sacrifices—let that practice stand; I beg your compassion!
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今吏甫受詔讀記，直豫言使後知之，非可復若私府有所取也。 其萌牙所以約制妾者，恐失人理。 今但損車駕，及毋若未央官有所發，遺賜衣服如故事，則可矣。 其餘誠太迫急，奈何？ 妾薄命，端遇竟寧前，竟寧前於今世而比之，豈可邪？ 故時酒肉有所賜外家，輒上表乃決。 又故杜陵梁美人歲時遺酒一石，肉百斤耳。 妾甚少之，遺田八子誠不可若是。 事率眾多，不可勝以文陳。 俟自見，索言之，唯陛下深察焉！
The clerks have barely finished reading the edict aloud and already proclaim it for the record, as if to bind the future—there can be no repeat of the old informal draws from my treasury. This first tightening of the reins on me seems to me inhuman. If you only trim the carriage establishment, forbid new issues from Weiyang, and keep gifts of clothing on the old footing, that would be enough. The rest is simply too harsh—what am I to do? I am ill-starred: my life straddles the world before Jingning and the world after—how can the two be judged by the same measure? Formerly every gift of wine or meat to my family required a memorial to you before it went forward. Even Lady Liang of Duling at festival time sent only one shi of wine and a hundred jin of meat. I found that allowance paltry; gifts to Lady Tian Bazi cannot in good conscience be cut to the same measure. There are countless particulars that no memorial could hold. When we meet face to face I will lay them out; I implore you to consider them with care.
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上於是采劉向、谷永之言以報曰：
The emperor then drew on what Liu Xiang and Gu Yong had said and answered:
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皇帝向皇后，所言事聞之。 夫日者眾陽之宗，天光之貴，王者之象，人君之位也。 夫以陰而侵陽，虧其正體，是非下陵上，妻乘夫，賤逾貴之變與？ 春秋二百四十二年，變異為眾，莫若日蝕大。 自漢興，日蝕亦為呂、霍之屬見。 以今揆之，豈有此等之效與？ 諸侯拘迫漢制，牧相執持之也，又安獲齊、趙七國之難？ 將相大臣懷誠秉忠，唯義是從，又惡有上官、博陸、宣成之謀？ 若乃徒步豪桀，非有陳勝、項梁之群也； 匈奴、夷狄，非有冒頓、郅支之倫也。 方外內鄉，百蠻賓服，殊俗慕義，八州懷德，雖使其懷挾邪意，狄不足憂，又況其無乎？ 求於夷狄無有，求於臣下無有，微後官也當，何以塞之？
The emperor to the empress: we have heard everything you said. The sun is sovereign among the yang forces, the supreme light of Heaven, the emblem of kingship and of the ruler's throne. When yin encroaches on yang and mars its true form, is that not the omen of subjects lording it over the throne, wives dominating husbands, the lowly overwhelming their betters? Across the Spring and Autumn's two hundred forty-two years Heaven sent many prodigies; none counted for more than a solar eclipse. Since our dynasty began, eclipses have heralded crises such as those of the Lü clan and the Huo clan. Judged by today's court, do we really face anything on that scale? The kingdoms were hemmed in by Han law and held fast by regional governors—how could we again see a rebellion like the seven kingdoms of Qi and Zhao? Our generals and ministers are loyal men who heed duty alone—where would we find another coup like those of the Shangguan, Huo, or Xuancheng factions? Among common-born adventurers there is no host of Chen Shengs and Xiang Liangs. On the steppe there is no new Modun or Zhizhi to fear. The border peoples incline toward us, the tribes pay homage, distant customs admire our rightness, and the heartland rests in our benevolence—even if malice stirred abroad, the barbarians would hardly threaten us, let alone when they do not. We find no fault in the frontier peoples nor among the officials; if the blame lies only with the inner palace, how else can we answer Heaven's warning?
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日者，建始元年正月，白氣出於營室。 營室者，天子之後官也。 正月於《尚書》為皇極。 皇極者，王氣之極也。 白者西方之氣，其於春當廢。 今正於皇極之月，興廢氣於後宮，視後妾無能懷任保全者，以著繼嗣之微，賤人將起也。 至其九月，流星如瓜，出於文昌，貫紫宮，尾委曲如龍，臨於鉤陳，此又章顯前尤，著在內也。 其後則有北宮井溢，南流逆理，數郡水出，流殺人民。 後則訛言傳相驚震，女童入殿，鹹莫覺知。 夫河者水陰，四瀆之長，今乃大決，沒漂陵邑，斯昭陰盛盈溢，違經絕紀之應也。 乃昔之月，鼠巢於樹，野鵲變色。 五月庚子，鳥焚其巢太山之域。 《易》曰：「鳥焚其巢，旅人先笑後號啕。 喪牛於易，凶。」 言王者處民上，如鳥之處巢也，不顧恤百姓，百姓畔而去之，若鳥之自焚也，雖先快意說笑，其後必號而無及也。 百姓喪其君，若牛亡其毛也，故稱凶。 泰山，王者易姓告代之處，今正於岱宗之山，甚可懼也。 三月癸未，大風自西搖祖宗寢廟，揚裂帷席，折拔樹木，頓僵車輦，毀壞檻屋，災及宗廟，足為寒心！ 四月己亥，日蝕東井，轉旅且索，與既無異。 己猶戊也，亥復水也，明陰盛，咎在內。 於戊己，虧君體，著絕世於皇極，顯禍敗及京都。 於東井，變怪眾備，末重益大，來數益甚。 成形之禍月以迫切，不救之患日寢屢深，咎敗灼灼若此，豈可以忽哉！
Not long ago, in the first month of Jianshi 1 (32 BCE), a white emanation appeared in the Encampment constellation. That mansion stands for the emperor's inner palace. The first month is called huangji—'royal perfection'—in the Documents. Huangji marks the pinnacle of the sovereign's vital force. White belongs to the western element and should wither in spring. Now, in the very month that ought to crown royal fortune, a dying western vapor rises over the harem, showing no consort can carry a child safely—Heaven signals how thin the succession runs and warns that low-born rivals will rise. That autumn a melon-sized meteor burst from the Wenchang stars, streaked through the Purple Forbidden enclosure, trailed like a dragon over Gouchen—another blazing advertisement that the earlier guilt sits inside the palace. Then the Northern Palace well burst and poured south against nature; floods broke out across whole commanderies and drowned the populace. Rumors flew from mouth to mouth in panic; a little girl walked into the hall and no guard noticed. The river is yin among waters and head of the four great streams; its breach now swamps imperial tomb districts—a plain sign that yin has flooded its banks and broken every norm Heaven set. That same month rats built nests in treetops and wild magpies changed their plumage. On gengzi in the fifth month birds immolated their own nests on Mount Tai. The Book of Changes reads: 'The bird burns its nest; the traveler first laughs, then breaks into tears. He loses his ox in the open meadow—ill omen.' That pictures the ruler perched above the folk like a bird on its nest: neglect the people and they slip away as surely as if the bird had set fire to its own home—there may be laughter at first, but the reckoning ends in helpless weeping. When the people lose their ruler they are as helpless as an ox stripped of its hide—hence the text names it misfortune. Mount Tai is where dynasties announce the turnover of the mandate; for such a sign to appear right on the sacred summit is terrifying. On guiwei in the third month a gale out of the west shook the imperial shrines, shredded hangings, snapped trees, overturned carriages, tore down colonnades—the ancestral temples themselves were struck; the thought chills the blood. On jihai in the fourth month the sun was eaten over the Eastern Well constellation—waning like a traveler exhausting his provisions, no different from a total eclipse. The stem ji allies with earth like wu; the branch hai belongs to water—together they proclaim surging yin and fault inside the palace. On wu and ji days Heaven wounds the sovereign's person, threatens the succession at the throne's zenith, and brings ruin down on the capital itself. At Eastern Well every kind of prodigy gathers; each new wave weighs heavier than the last and strikes more often. Disaster takes shape with every turning moon; the incurable evil sinks deeper day by day—when Heaven flashes warnings this bright, no ruler dare brush them aside.
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《書》云：「高宗肜日，粵有雊雉。 祖己曰：『惟先假王正厥事。』」 又曰：「雖休勿休，惟敬五刑，以成三德。」 即飭椒房及掖庭耳。 今皇后有所疑，便不便，其條刺，使大長秋來白之。 吏拘於法，亦安足過？ 蓋矯枉者過直，古今同之。 且財幣之省，特牛之祠，其於皇后，所以扶助德美，為華寵也。 咎根不除，災變相襲，祖宗且不血食，何戴侯也！ 傳不雲乎！ 「以納失之者鮮。」 審皇后欲從其奢與？ 朕亦當法孝武皇帝也，如此則甘泉、建章可復興矣。 世俗歲殊，時變日化，遭事制宜，因時而移，舊之非者，何可放焉！ 郡子之道，樂因循而重改作。 昔魯人為長府，閔子騫曰：「仍舊貫如之何？ 何必改作！」 蓋惡之也。 《詩》云：「雖無老成人，尚有典刑，曾是莫聽，大命以傾。」 孝文皇帝，朕之師也。 皇太后，皇后成法也。 假使太后在彼時不如職，今見親厚，又惡可以逾乎！ 皇后其刻心秉德，毋違先後之制度，力誼勉行，稱順婦道，減省群事，謙約為右，其孝東宮，毋厥朔望，推誠永究，爰何不臧！ 養名顯行，以息眾言雚，垂則列妾，使有法焉。 皇后深惟毋忽！
The Documents record: 'The day after Gaozong's offering, a wild pheasant crowed on the temple roof. Zu Ji answered: "He must first enlighten the king so that he sets his house in order." The text also says: 'Even in ease do not trust to ease; honor the five punishments until the three royal virtues are fulfilled.' The emperor concluded: "Apply that counsel to the empress's quarters and the lesser palaces—nothing more." If you have misgivings, great or small, list them clearly and have the chief eunuch bring them to me. The clerks are only enforcing statute—there is no cause to fault them. Correcting a bend always swings past the mark—that has been true in every age. The purse-tightening and the lone bull for sacrifice are meant to shore up your moral standing and surround you with honorable favor. Unless we tear out this evil at the root, omens will pile one on another until our forefathers go hungry in their shrines—what good then is a noble title like Marquis Dai? Has the tradition not warned us? 'Few rulers ruin themselves by listening to good counsel.' The emperor pressed on: "Tell me plainly—do you mean to cling to extravagance?" Should I emulate Martial Emperor's excesses? Then we could rebuild Sweet Springs and Establishing Brilliance palaces overnight. Custom shifts every year; policy must fit the hour—the errors of former reigns are no pattern to copy. A ruler who understands duty prefers steady precedent to restless rebuilding. When the Lu ministers wanted to enlarge the Long Treasury, Min Ziqian asked, 'Why not keep the old vault as it is? What need is there to rip it apart and build anew?' —because he despised the whole project. The Classic of Poetry warns: 'Even without gray-haired ministers, the ancient precedents remain; ignore them and the mandate itself will collapse.' Emperor Wen is my own model. The empress dowager sets the standard you must live up to. Even if her Majesty had fallen short of duty in those days, she shows you such kindness now—how could you presume to go beyond what she allows? Take these words to heart and live by them: honor the precedents set by your predecessors as empress; devote yourself to duty and modest wifely conduct; trim extravagance and let humility be your guide; serve the empress dowager faithfully and never miss the ritual visits at new and full moon; let good faith be your lasting rule—and what blessing could you lack? Build a name through upright behavior, quiet the court's gossip, and set an example for every woman of the harem so that all may see what the law requires. Reflect on this carefully, empress, and do not dismiss it lightly.
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是時，大將軍鳳用事，威權尤盛。 其後，比三年日蝕，言事者頗歸咎於鳳矣。 而谷永等遂著之許氏，許氏自知為鳳所不佑。 久之，皇后寵亦益衰，而後宮多新愛。 後姊平安剛侯夫人謁等為媚道祝詛後宮有身者王美人及鳳等，事發覺，太后大怒，下吏考問，謁等誅死，許後坐廢處昭台宮，親屬皆歸故郡山陽，後弟子平恩侯旦就國。 凡立十四年而廢，在昭台歲餘，還徙長定宮。
Grand General Wang Feng dominated the government, and his power was immense. Then came three successive years of solar eclipses, and memorialists increasingly blamed Wang Feng. Gu Yong and his allies pinned the omen on the Xu family, and the Xus understood they had no shelter under Wang Feng. As time passed the empress faded from favor, and fresh rivals multiplied in the inner palace. Her sister Lady Ye, wife of the Marquis of Ping'an Gang, and others had used witchcraft to curse pregnant women in the harem, including Lady Wang and Wang Feng; when it came out, the empress dowager flew into a rage. Official inquiry followed; Ye and her accomplices were put to death; Empress Xu was deposed and sent to Zhaotai Palace; her family was sent home to Shanyang; her nephew Dan, Marquis of Pingen, was ordered to his estate. She had been empress fourteen years before her fall; she spent a little over a year at Zhaotai, then was transferred to Changding Palace.
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後九年，上憐許氏，下詔曰：「蓋聞仁不遺遠，誼不忘親。 前平安剛侯夫人謁坐大逆罪，家屬幸蒙赦令，歸故郡。 朕惟平恩戴侯，先帝外祖，魂神廢棄，莫奉祭祀，念之未嘗忘於心。 其還平恩侯旦及親屬在山陽郡者。」 是歲，廢後敗。 先是，廢後姊靡寡居，與定陵侯淳于長私通，因為之小妻。 長紿之曰：「我能白東宮，復立許後為左皇后。」 廢後因靡私賂遺長，數通書記相報謝。 長書有悖謾，發覺，天子使廷尉孔光持節賜廢後藥，自殺，葬延陵交道廄西。
Nine years afterward the emperor took pity on the Xu family and proclaimed: "They say the humane do not cast off the far-off, and duty does not forsake one's kin. Lady Ye had been condemned for grave treason, but her household was spared by an amnesty and allowed to return to their native commandery. We remember Marquis Dai of Pingen, our late father's grandfather on his mother's side—his altar stands neglected with no one to tend it, and the thought has never left Us. Let Marquis Dan of Pingen and his relatives dwelling in Shanyang come back to the capital." That same year the fallen empress was destroyed. Earlier her sister Mi, a widow, had become Chunyu Chang's concubine after an illicit affair with him. Chang lied to her: "I can persuade the empress dowager to reinstate your sister as empress—call her the left empress if you like." The ruined empress sent gifts through Mi and exchanged letter after letter with Chang in gratitude. His correspondence proved treasonous; once exposed, the emperor sent Kong Guang with an imperial baton to give the deposed empress poison; she took her own life and was interred west of the posting-house crossroads near Yanling.
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孝成班婕妤
Lady Ban, worthy companion of Emperor Cheng.
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孝成班婕妤。 帝初即位選入後宮。 始為少使，蛾而大幸，為婕妤，居增成捨，再就館，有男，數月失之。 成帝游於後庭，嘗欲與婕妤同輦載，婕妤辭曰：「觀古圖畫，賢聖之君皆有名臣在側，三代末主乃有嬖女，今欲同輦，得無近似之乎？」 上善其言而止。 太后聞之，喜曰：「古有樊姬，今有班婕妤。」 婕妤誦《詩》及《竊窕》、《德象》、《女師》之篇。 每進見上疏，依則古禮。
Lady Ban, companion of Emperor Cheng. She entered the harem as soon as Cheng took the throne. She began as a junior maid, then bloomed into favor and was raised to Favorite Beauty, with quarters in Zengcheng. Twice she entered the birthing residence; each time she bore a son who died within months. Once when Cheng was strolling the inner gardens he asked Lady Ban to share his carriage; she refused. "In every worthy king's portrait," she said, "wise ministers stand at his side; only the degenerate last rulers of the three ages rode with their mistresses. If we rode together now, would we not resemble them?" The emperor approved her argument and dropped the idea. The empress dowager was delighted. "History gave us Fan Ji," she said; "our age has Lady Ban." Lady Ban was versed in the Classic of Poetry and the didactic texts on womanly conduct. Whenever she appeared before the throne or sent up a memorial, she framed herself by classical precedent.
17
自鴻嘉後，上稍隆於內寵。 婕妤進侍者李平，平得幸，立為婕妤。 上曰：「始衛皇后亦從微起。」 乃賜平姓曰衛，所謂衛婕妤也。 其後，趙飛燕姊弟亦從自微賤興，逾越禮制，浸盛於前。 班婕妤及許皇后皆失寵，稀復進見。 鴻嘉三年，趙飛燕譖告許皇后、班婕妤挾媚道，祝詛後宮，詈及主上。 許皇后坐廢。 孝問班婕妤，婕妤對曰：「妾聞『死生有命，富貴在天。』 修正尚未蒙福，為邪欲以何望？ 使鬼神有知，不受不臣之訴； 如其無知，訴之何益？ 故不為也。」 上善其對，憐憫之，賜黃金百斤。
After the Hongjia era (20–17 BCE) the emperor began to shower favor on women of the inner palace. Lady Ban introduced her maid Li Ping, who so pleased the emperor that he raised her to the same rank of Favorite Beauty. The emperor remarked, "Empress Wei herself began as a lowborn girl." He therefore granted Li Ping the surname Wei, and she became known as Lady Wei the Favorite Beauty. Later Zhao Feiyan and her sister climbed from the gutter as well, shattered every protocol, and soon eclipsed all who had gone before. Both Lady Ban and Empress Xu fell from grace and were seldom admitted to the emperor's presence. In Hongjia 3 (18 BCE) Zhao Feiyan accused Empress Xu and Lady Ban of witchcraft—of cursing the harem and even the emperor himself. Empress Xu was stripped of her rank. The emperor questioned Lady Ban, who answered: "I have always been taught that life and death are fated, and station comes from Heaven. A virtuous life may still win no reward—what could witchcraft possibly gain me? If spirits are conscious, they spurn the prayers of traitors; if they are not, what good could prayer do? So I would never stoop to such things." The emperor accepted her defense, pitied her, and gave her a hundred jin of gold.
18
趙氏姊弟驕妒，婕妤恐久見危，求供養太后長信宮，上許焉。 婕妤退處東宮，作賦自傷悼，其辭曰：
The Zhao sisters were proud and spiteful; Lady Ban feared for her life if she stayed and asked to withdraw to wait upon the empress dowager in Changxin Palace. The emperor agreed. Lady Ban withdrew to the Eastern Palace and wrote a lament in fu form; it begins:
19
承祖考之遺德兮，何性命之淑靈，登薄軀於宮闕兮，充下陳於後庭。 蒙聖皇之渥惠兮，當日月之盛明，揚光烈之翕赫兮，奉隆寵於增成。 既過幸於非位兮，竊庶幾乎嘉時，每寤寐而累息兮，申佩離以自思，陳女圖以鏡監兮，顧女史而問詩。 悲晨婦之作戒兮，哀褒、閻之為郵； 美皇、英之女虞兮，榮任、姒之母周。 雖愚陋其靡及兮，敢捨心而忘茲？ 歷年歲而悼懼兮，閔蕃華之不滋。 痛陽祿與柘館兮，仍襁褓而離災，豈妾人之殃咎兮？ 將天命之不可求。
I entered the palace blessed by my ancestors' goodness; though my frame is slight I was chosen to walk these halls and take my place among the women who serve below the throne. The holy emperor showered me with grace; I basked in radiance like sun and moon and burned bright with favor in the lodge at Zengcheng. Favored beyond my station, I still hoped for happy days; night and day I sighed, straightened my sash, and examined myself against the painted models of virtue, turning to the court instructress and the Classic of Poetry. I tremble at the warnings drawn from evil favorites and mourn how Bao Si and others carried ruin to their kings; I praise Ehuang and Nüying who wed Shun, and Jiang Yuan and Taisi who mothered the house of Zhou. Coarse and dull though I am beside such women, how could I lay duty aside or forget their warning? Years slip by in dread; the lush bloom I hoped for never ripens. I mourn the sons born at Yanglu and Zhe Lodge—babes still in the cradle, torn away by fate; is this my own curse? Or is Heaven's decree simply beyond our plea?
20
白日忽已移光兮，遂暗莫而昧幽，猶被覆載之厚德兮，不廢捐於罪郵。 奉供養於東宮兮，托長信之末流，供灑掃於帷幄兮，永終死以為期。 願歸骨於山足兮，依松柏之餘休。
Daylight suddenly fled and left me in shadow; still Heaven's kindness that wraps the world has not cast me off for my faults. I serve the Eastern Palace and cling to the humblest duty at Changxin; I will sweep the dust behind the curtains until my life ends. Let my bones rest at the mountain's foot beneath pines and cypress that shade the dead.
21
重曰：「潛玄官兮幽以清，應門閉兮禁闥ECE7。 華殿塵兮玉階，中庭萋兮綠草生。 廣室陰兮帷幄暗，房櫳虛兮風泠泠。 感帷裳兮發紅羅，紛綷絲G-*3祭兮紈素聲。 神眇眇兮密靚處，君不御兮誰為榮？ 俯視兮丹墀，思君兮履綦。 仰視兮雲屋，雙涕兮橫流。 顧左右兮和顏，酌羽觴兮銷憂。 惟人生兮一世，忽一過兮若浮。 已獨享兮高明，處生民兮極休。 勉虞精兮極樂，與福祿兮無期。 《綠衣》兮《白華》，自古兮有之。
The refrain runs: "Deep in the dark palace, hushed and chill; the outer doors stand shut and the inner wards are barred. Moted halls and jade stairways; the courtyard runs wild with green grass. Vast rooms lie in shadow, curtains drawn tight; empty casements admit only a thin cold wind. Scarlet gauze stirs at my sleeve; white silk whispers as it brushes and sighs. My spirit wanders this lonely chamber; if my lord never visits, what glory can there be? I gaze down the vermilion steps and trace in dust the prints his shoes once left. I lift my eyes to the painted rafters and tears stream unchecked down both cheeks. I force a calm face for those beside me and lift the winged cup to drown my grief. We are granted one human span; it flashes past like foam on the stream. Once I alone dwelt in these lofty halls and stood among mortals at the summit of joy. I strove to sustain pure devotion and endless bliss—or so I dreamed fortune might endure. The Odes knew 'Green Robe' and 'White Flowers'—such sorrow is older than memory.
22
至成帝崩，婕妤充奉園陵，薨，因葬園中。
When Cheng died Lady Ban took charge of offerings at his tomb park; she died there and was buried within its grounds.
23
孝成趙皇后
Empress Zhao of Emperor Cheng.
24
孝成趙皇后，本長安宮人。 初生時，父母不舉，三日不死，乃收養之。 及壯，屬陽阿主家，學歌舞，號曰飛燕。 成帝嘗微行出。 過陽阿主，作樂，上見飛燕而說之，召入宮，大幸。 有女弟復召入，俱為婕妤，貴傾後宮。
Empress Zhao began life as a servant girl in the Chang'an palaces. Her parents tried to expose her at birth; when she lived three days they relented and kept her. As a woman grown she entered the troupe of Mistress Yang'e, trained in song and dance, and took the stage name Flying Swallow. Emperor Cheng once slipped from the palace in disguise. He stopped at Mistress Yang'e's house during a performance, fell under Flying Swallow's spell, brought her to the palace, and cherished her above all others. Her younger sister followed her in; both became Favorite Beauties and together dominated the harem.
25
許後之廢也，上欲立趙婕妤。 皇太后嫌其所出微甚，難之。 太后姊子淳于長為侍中，數往來傳語，得太后指，上立封趙婕妤父臨為成陽侯。 後月餘，乃立婕妤為皇后。 追以長前白罷昌陵功，封為定陵侯。
After Empress Xu fell, the emperor meant to raise Lady Zhao to empress. The empress dowager despised her humble birth and resisted. Her nephew Chunyu Chang, a palace attendant, shuttled messages until he secured the dowager's tacit consent; the emperor then ennobled Zhao Lin, Flying Swallow's father, as Marquis of Chengyang. A month later Lady Zhao was proclaimed empress. Chunyu Chang was rewarded retroactively—with a marquisate at Dingling—for having talked the emperor out of the wasteful Changling project.
26
皇后既立，後寬少衰，而弟絕幸，為昭儀。 居昭陽捨，其中庭彤硃，而殿上髹漆，切皆銅沓黃金塗，白玉階，壁帶往往為黃金釭，函藍田璧，明珠、翠羽飾之，自後宮未嘗有焉。 姊弟顓寵十餘年，卒皆無子。
After her enthronement the elder Zhao cooled slightly while her sister became Brilliant Companion and monopolized the emperor's love. She lived in Zhaoyang Hall: vermilion courtyard, lacquered rafters, gilt bronze fittings, white jade stairs, wall rings of hammered gold holding disks of Lantian jade, studded with pearls and kingfisher plumes—splendor unknown to any earlier consort. For more than a decade the sisters owned the emperor's heart, yet neither bore him an heir.
27
末年，定陶王來朝，王祖母傅太后私賂遺趙皇后、昭儀，定陶王竟為太子。
Near the end of the reign the Prince of Dingtao visited the capital; his grandmother Lady Fu secretly bought off Empress Zhao and her sister so that the prince was named heir.
28
明年春，成帝崩。 帝素強，無疾病。 是時，楚思王衍、梁王立來朝，明旦當辭去，上宿供張白虎殿。 又欲拜左將軍孔光為丞相，已刻侯印書贊。 昏夜平善，鄉晨，傅褲襪欲起，因失衣，不能言，晝漏上十刻而崩。 民間歸罪趙昭儀，皇太后詔大司馬莽、丞相大司空曰：「皇帝暴崩，群眾言雚嘩怪之。 掖庭令輔等在後庭左右，侍燕迫近，雜與御史、丞相、廷尉治問皇帝起居發病狀。」 趙昭儀自殺。
The following spring Emperor Cheng died. He had always been vigorous and showed no sign of sickness. The kings of Chu and Liang were in the capital to bid farewell the next morning; Cheng spent the night at White Tiger Hall, where quarters had been prepared. He planned to promote Kong Guang to chancellor that night—the seal was cut and the patent of enfeoffment drafted. He seemed well at bedtime; near dawn, after pulling on his hose and reaching for his robe, he collapsed dumbstruck; before the morning clock had run ten marks he was dead. The people blamed Zhao the Brilliant Companion; the empress dowager summoned Wang Mang, the chancellor, and the minister of works and declared, "The emperor has died without warning, and rumor runs wild. Commissioner Fu and others who waited on the emperor's revels shall assist the censor, chancellor, and chief judge in tracing his final hours and how the sickness began.' Zhao the Brilliant Companion took her own life.
29
哀帝既立，尊趙皇后為皇太后，封太后弟侍中駙馬都尉欽為新成侯。 趙氏侯者凡二人。 後數月，司隸解光奏言：
Emperor Ai raised Empress Zhao to empress dowager and made her brother Qin—who served as attendant and chief of the mounted escort—Marquis of Xincheng. Two members of the Zhao clan held marquisates. Months afterward Metropolitan Commander Xie Guang memorialized:
30
臣聞許美人及故中宮史曹宮皆御幸孝成皇帝，產子，子隱不見。
I have learned that Lady Xu and the former palace clerk Cao Gong both lay with Emperor Cheng and gave birth—yet those infants vanished without trace.
31
臣遣從事掾業、史望驗問知狀者掖庭獄丞籍武，故中黃門王舜、吳恭、靳嚴，官婢曹曉、道房、張棄，故趙昭儀御者於客子、王偏、臧兼等，皆曰宮即曉子女，前屬中宮，為學事史，通《詩》，授皇后。 房與宮對食，元延元年中宮語房曰：「陛下幸宮。」 後數月，曉入殿中，見宮腹大，問宮。 宮曰：「御幸有身。」 其十月中，宮乳掖庭牛官令捨，有婢六人，中黃門田客持詔記，盛綠綈方底，封御史中丞印，予武曰：「取牛官令捨婦人新產兒，婢六人，盡置暴室獄，毋問兒男女，誰兒也！」 武迎置獄，宮曰：「善臧我兒胞，丞知是何等兒也！」 後三日，客持詔記與武，問：「兒死未？ 手書對牘背。」 武即書對：「兒見在，未死。」 有頃，客出曰：「上與昭儀大怒，奈何不殺？」 武叩頭啼曰：「不殺兒，自知當死； 殺之，亦死！」 即因客奏封事，曰：「陛下未有繼嗣，子無貴賤，唯留意！」 奏入，客復持詔記予武曰：「今夜漏上五刻，持兒與舜，會東交掖門。」 武因問客：「陛下得武書，意何如？」 曰：「瞠也。」 武以兒付舜。 舜受詔，內兒殿中，為擇乳母，告「善養兒，且有賞。 毋令漏洩！」 舜擇棄為乳母，時兒生八九日。 後三日，客復持詔記，封如前予武，中有封小綠篋，記曰：「告武以篋中物書予獄中婦人，武自臨飲之。」 武發篋中有裹藥二枚，赫蹄書，曰：「告偉能：努力飲此藥，不可復入。 女自知之！」 偉能即宮。 宮讀書已，曰：「果也，欲姊弟擅天下！ 我兒男也，額上有壯發，類孝元皇帝。 今兒安在？ 危殺之矣！ 奈何令長信得聞之？ 宮飲藥死。 後宮婢六人召入，出語武曰：「昭儀言『女無過。 寧自殺邪，若外家也？』 我曹言願自殺。」 即自繆死。 武皆表奏狀。 棄所養兒十一日，宮長李南以詔書取兒去，不知所置。
I sent clerks Ye and Shi Wang to question jailer jiwu day, eunuchs Wang Shun, Wu Gong, and Jin Yan, maids Cao Xiao, Daofang, and Zhang Qi, and the Brilliant Companion's grooms Yu Kezi, Wang Pian, and Zang Jian. All testified that Cao Gong was Cao Xiao's daughter, once a tutor-scribe in the empress's bureau who taught the Odes to the empress. Daofang and Gong had paired as 'table partners.' In Yuanyan 1 (12 BCE) the empress told Daofang, "The emperor has favored Gong." Months later Cao Xiao entered the hall, saw Gong's swollen belly, and demanded an explanation. Gong answered, "His Majesty's attentions have left me with child." That tenth month Gong bore her child in the rear-palace cattle-keeper's quarters with six maids in attendance. The eunuch Tian Ke arrived with an edict slip in a green silk pouch sealed with the deputy censor's stamp and told jiwu day: "Round up the new mother, the infant, and all six girls; lock them in the Exposure Chamber jail—and don't ask whether the baby is a boy or a girl or who fathered it." Wu locked them away; Gong cried, "Guard my baby's caul—the jailer already knows what bloodline this is!" Three days later Tian Ke returned with another slip: "Is the baby dead yet? He was to answer in his own hand on the reverse of the document." Wu wrote back at once: "The child still lives." Soon Tian Ke emerged furious: "The emperor and the Brilliant Companion are beside themselves—why is that child still breathing?" Wu kowtowed, weeping: "Spare the baby and I know I die; murder him—and I die all the same!" He sent in a sealed plea through Tian Ke: "You still have no successor; no infant should be discarded for birth alone—think on it, Majesty!" When it had been read, Tian Ke brought fresh orders: "At the fifth night-watch bring the child to Wang Shun at the east junction of the lateral gates." Wu asked Tian Ke how the emperor had taken his memorial." He only stared," was the reply. Wu surrendered the infant to Wang Shun. Shun carried the baby into the palace, chose a wet nurse, and told her, "Care for him faithfully—you will be rewarded. Tell no one." He picked the maid Qi as nurse when the boy was barely nine days old. Three days later Ke again bore an edict-note, sealed as before, and gave it to Wu; inside was a sealed small green box; the note said: 'Tell Wu to give to the woman in prison what is written with the objects in the box; Wu shall personally oversee her drinking it.' Wu opened it to find two doses of poison on tissue-thin paper: "Tell Weineng to swallow this willingly and never return. You know why." Weineng was Cao Gong's informal name. After reading she cried, "Just as I thought—the Zhao sisters mean to own the empire between them! My son is a boy with the royal swirl on his brow—he resembles Emperor Yuan. Where is he now? They have murdered him! How could you let word reach Changxin Palace? Gong drank the poison and died. The six maids were summoned inside and emerged to tell Wu: "The Brilliant Companion says you committed no crime. Will you die by your own hands, or shall your kin die for you?" We answered that we preferred to take our own lives." They hanged themselves at once. jiwu day laid the whole affair before the throne in formal memorials. Eleven days after Qi began nursing the baby, Director Li Nan carried him off under sealed orders; no one learned what became of him.
32
許美人前在上林涿沐館，數召入飾室中若捨，一歲再三召，留數月或半歲御幸。 元延二年懷子，其十一月乳。 詔使嚴持乳醫及五種和藥丸三，送美人所。 後客子、偏、兼聞昭儀謂成帝曰：「常給我言從中宮來，即從中宮來，許美人兒何從生中？ 許氏竟當復立邪！」 懟，以手自搗，以頭擊壁戶柱，從床上自投地，啼泣不肯食，曰：「今當安置我，欲歸耳！」 帝曰：「今故告之，反怒為！ 殊不可曉也。」 帝亦不食。 昭儀曰：「陛下自知是，不食為何？ 陛下常自言『約不負女』，今美人有子，竟負約，謂何？」 帝曰：「約以趙氏，故不立許氏。 使天下無出趙氏上者，毋憂也！」 後詔使嚴持綠囊書予許美人，告嚴曰：「美人當有以予女，受來，置飾室中簾南。」 美人以葦篋一合盛所生兒，緘封，及綠囊報書予嚴。 嚴持篋書，置飾室簾南去。 帝與昭儀坐，使客子解篋緘。 未已，帝使客子、偏、兼皆出，自閉戶，獨與昭儀在。 須臾開戶，呼客子、偏、兼，使緘封篋及綠綈方底，推置屏風東。 恭受詔，持篋方底予武，皆封以御史中丞印，曰：「告武：篋中有死兒，埋屏處，勿令人知。」 武穿獄樓垣下為坎，埋其中。
Lady Xu had quarters at Zhuomu Lodge in the Shanglin Park; the emperor repeatedly brought her to his dressing chambers—sometimes two or three summons in a single year—and kept her for months at a stretch. She conceived in Yuanyan 2 (11 BCE) and delivered that winter. The emperor ordered his attendant Yan to bring the obstetrician and three doses of a five-ingredient restorative to Lady Xu's lodge. Yu Kezi, Wang Pian, and Zang Jian overheard the Brilliant Companion rebuke Cheng: "You always swear you come straight from the empress—so how could Lady Xu's baby have been gotten there? Are we to watch the Xu clan rise again?" She flew into a rage, hammered her own breast, dashed her head against posts and walls, rolled from the couch wailing, and refused food: "Dispose of me as you please—I want to leave this place!" Cheng said, "I confided in you honestly—why this tantrum? He added, "It makes no sense at all." The emperor stopped eating as well. She asked, "If your conscience is clear, why starve yourself? You swore you would never break faith with me—yet Lady Xu has borne a son. What do you call that but betrayal?" He answered, "Our pact was for the house of Zhao—that is why Empress Xu fell. So long as no rival rises above your Zhao kin, you have nothing to fear." Later Cheng sent Yan to Lady Xu with a letter in a green silk pouch, telling him, "She will hand you something—bring it back and leave it south of the curtain in the dressing hall." Lady Xu packed her newborn in a reed basket, sealed it, and gave Yan the reply that matched the green pouch. Yan set the basket and letter where he had been told and withdrew. Cheng and the Brilliant Companion sat together while Yu Kezi broke the seals. Before they could finish, Cheng sent the attendants away, bolted the door, and remained alone with her. Moments later he opened the door, called the three men back, had them reseal the basket and green pouch, and slide both behind the eastern screen. Wu Gong took imperial orders, delivered the sealed bundle to jiwu day with the deputy censor's stamp, and said, "There is a dead infant inside—bury it behind that screen and breathe no word of it." jiwu day dug a trench under the prison wall and interred the child there.
33
故長定許貴人及故成都、平阿侯家婢王業、任孋、公孫習前免為庶人，詔召入，屬昭儀為私婢。 成帝崩，未幸梓宮，倉卒悲哀之時，昭儀自知罪惡大，知業等故許氏、王氏婢，恐事洩，而以大婢羊子等賜予業等各且十人，以尉其意，屬「無道我家過失。」
Xu the Fair of Changding and three maids—Wang Ye, Ren Li, and Gongsun Xi—from the Chengdu and Ping'e households, lately stripped of rank, were recalled and handed over as the Brilliant Companion's personal servants. While Cheng's body still awaited the catafalque, the Brilliant Companion knew how grave her sins were. Ye and the others had served the Xu and Wang clans and might talk; she quieted them by gifting each ten senior maids like Yangzi and whispered, "Never breathe a word about what happened in my house."
34
元延二年五月，故掖庭令吾丘遵謂武曰：「掖庭丞吏以下皆與昭儀合通，無可與語者，獨欲與武有所言。 我無子，武有子，是家輕族人，得無不敢乎？ 掖庭中御幸生子者輒死，又飲藥傷墮者無數，欲與武共言之大臣，票騎將軍貪耆錢，不足計事，奈何令長信得聞之？」 遵後病困，謂武：「今我已死，前所語事，武不能獨為也，慎語！」
In Yuanyan 2 (11 BCE), the retired lateral-court chief Wuqiu Zun told jiwu day, "Every underling in this bureau is in the Brilliant Companion's pocket; you are the only man I dare trust. I am childless while you have heirs—isn't this a court that treats its own kin too lightly for anyone to speak up? Every woman here who bore the emperor's child has died; countless others were poisoned into miscarriage. I meant to approach the high ministers with you—but the general of agile cavalry cares only for silver and cannot be trusted. How could word ever reach Changxin Palace?" When Zun lay dying he warned jiwu day, "I am leaving you what we discussed—you cannot carry it alone. Guard your tongue."
35
皆在今年四月丙辰赦令前。 臣謹案永光三年男子忠等發長陵傅夫人塚。 事更大赦，孝元皇帝下詔曰：「此朕不當所得赦也。」 窮治，盡伏辜，天下以為當。 魯嚴公夫人殺世子，齊桓召而誅焉，《春秋》予之。 趙昭儀傾亂聖朝，親滅繼嗣，家屬當伏天誅。 前平安剛侯夫人謁坐大逆，同產當坐，以蒙赦令，歸故郡。 今昭儀所犯尤悖逆，罪重於謁，而同產親屬皆在尊貴之位，迫近幃幄，群下寒心，非所以懲惡崇誼示四方也。 請事窮竟，丞相以下議正法。
Every crime predated the general amnesty proclaimed on bingchen in the fourth month of this year. Consider Yongguang 3 (41 BCE), when grave robbers broke into Lady Fu's tomb at Changling. A general amnesty would have spared them, yet Emperor Yuan ruled, "This outrage falls outside any pardon I may grant." He ordered a full prosecution; every culprit confessed; the empire agreed justice had been done. When Duchess Zhuang of Lu murdered her heir, Duke Huan of Qi had her executed—and the Spring and Autumn praises him for it. Zhao the Brilliant Companion wrecked the dynasty and murdered its heirs; her clan merits Heaven's own sentence. Lady Ye's treason should have doomed her whole bloodline, yet an amnesty allowed them to return to their native commandery. The Brilliant Companion's crimes dwarf Lady Ye's, yet her kin still crowd the inner chambers and wear noble rank—the court trembles and the empire sees no justice. I ask that the case be prosecuted to its conclusion and that the chancellor and his colleagues determine the proper penalty.
36
哀帝於是免新成侯趙欽、欽兄子成陽侯訢，皆為庶人，將家屬徙遼西郡。 時議郎耿育上疏言：
Emperor Ai stripped Zhao Qin and his nephew Xin—Marquises of Xincheng and Chengyang—of rank and banished their families to Liaoxi. Then Consultant Geng Yu delivered this memorial:
37
臣聞繼嗣失統，廢適立庶，聖人法禁，古今至戒。 然大怕見歷知適，逡循固讓，委身吳粵，權變所設，不計常法，致位王季，以崇聖嗣，卒有天下，子孫承業，七八百載，功冠三王，道德最備，是以尊號追及大王。 故世必有非常之變，然後乃有非常之謀。 孝成皇帝自知繼嗣不以時立，念雖末有皇子，萬歲之後未能持國，權柄之重，制於女主，女主驕盛則耆欲無極，少主幼弱則大臣不使，世無周公抱負之輔，恐危社稷，傾亂天下。 知陛下有賢聖通明之德，仁孝子愛之恩，懷獨見之明，內斷於身，故廢後宮就館之漸，絕微嗣禍亂之根，乃欲致位陛下以安宗廟。 愚臣既不能深援安危，定金匱之計，又不知推演聖德，述先帝之志，乃反覆校省內，暴露私燕，誣污先帝傾惑之過，成結寵妾妒媚之誅，甚失賢聖遠見之明，逆負先帝憂國之意。
Disordering the succession—deposing the heir for a younger son—is barred by every sage and cited as the gravest warning in history. Yet Taibo of Zhou knew he must yield to the rightful heir; he withdrew to Wu and Yue, bent ritual for the realm's sake, and elevated his brother Jili so the sacred line could rule. His house held All-under-Heaven for seven or eight hundred years, outshining the three dynasties in virtue—posterity even hailed his father as King Tai. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures—that is the lesson of the Zhou. Emperor Cheng understood he had named no heir in good time. Without a son of his own body the dynasty would totter after his death; power would fall to an empress dowager—and an arrogant dowager knows no limit, while an infant emperor leaves ministers unteachable. With no Zhou-style regent in sight, the altars could fall and the realm descend into chaos. He saw in you lucid virtue, filial devotion, and independence of mind; he broke off every rear-palace pregnancy that might breed turmoil and chose you to steady the ancestral shrines. Petty officials could neither shore up the succession nor expound your father's purpose; instead they raked the women's quarters, aired imperial pillow-talk, smeared late Emperor Cheng as besotted, and branded his favorites for jealousy—all of which insults his foresight and betrays the care he took for the dynasty.
38
夫論大德不拘俗，立大功不合眾，此乃孝成皇帝至思所以萬萬於眾臣，陛下聖德盛茂所以符合於皇天也，豈當世庸庸斗筲之臣所能及哉！ 且褒廣將順君父之美，匡救銷滅既往之過，古今通義也。 事不當時固爭，防禍於未然，各隨指阿從，以求容媚，晏駕之後，尊號已定，萬事已訖，乃探追不及之事，訐揚幽昧之過，此臣所深痛也！
Great virtue ignores vulgar opinion; great deeds never please every petty voice—that was Cheng's surpassing wisdom and is your own Heaven-matching excellence—far beyond the grasp of narrow clerk-minds. It is universal duty to magnify a father's virtues and quietly mend his faults. Men who said nothing when disaster could have been forestalled now fawn for favor; once the late emperor's catafalque had passed and his temple name was fixed, they rake up stale gossip and whisper of bedroom sins—that makes honest ministers sick.
39
願下有司議，即如臣言，宜宣佈天下，使鹹嘵知先帝聖意所起。 不然，空使謗議上及山陵，下流後世，遠聞百蠻，近布海內，甚非先帝托後之意也。 蓋孝子善述父之志，善成人之事，唯陛下省察！
Refer this to the ministries; if my reading holds, proclaim it so the empire understands why late Emperor Cheng acted as he did. Otherwise slander will cling to his tomb, stain later ages, and reach every barbarian ear—nothing could betray his trust in you more cruelly. A true son completes his father's work and guards his memory—I beg you weigh this carefully.
40
哀帝為太子，亦頗得趙太后力，遂不竟其事。 傅太后恩趙太后，趙太后亦歸心，故成帝母及王氏皆怨之。
Emperor Ai owed his nomination largely to Empress Dowager Zhao, so the prosecution stalled. Lady Fu courted Lady Zhao and won her loyalty; Cheng's mother and the Wang family bitterly resented the bargain.
41
哀帝崩，王莽白太后詔有司曰：「前皇太后與昭儀俱侍帷幄，姊弟專寵錮寢，執賊亂之謀，殘滅繼嗣以危宗廟，悖天犯祖，無為天下母之義。 貶皇太后為孝成皇後，徙居北宮。」 後月餘，復下詔曰：「皇后自知罪惡深大，朝請希闊，失婦道，無共養之禮，而有狼虎之毒，宗室所怨，海內之仇也，而尚在小君之位，誠非皇天之心。 夫小不忍亂大謀，恩之所不能已者義之所割也。 今廢皇后為庶人，就其園。」 是日自殺。 立十六年而誅。 先是，有童謠曰：「燕燕，尾□□，張公子，時相見。 木門倉琅根，燕飛來，啄皇孫。 皇孫死，燕啄矢。」 成帝每微行出，常與張放俱，而稱富平侯家，故曰張公子。 倉琅根，宮門銅鍰也。
After Ai died Wang Mang persuaded Grand Empress Dowager Wang to proclaim: "The former empress dowager and Zhao the Brilliant Companion shared the inner chambers; the sisters locked Cheng in their embrace and schemed murder; they destroyed heirs and threatened the temples—they offended Heaven and the ancestors and forfeited any claim to be mothers of the realm. Strip her of empress dowager rank, style her merely Empress of Cheng, and remove her to the Northern Palace." More than a month later, another edict was issued: 'The empress knows herself guilty of deep enormity; court audiences are sparse and distant; she has lost the way of a wife; she has no ritual of joint nourishment—yet has wolf-and-tiger poison; she is what the imperial lineage resents and what within the seas hates—yet still occupies the petty lord's position—truly this is not august Heaven's intent. Mercy that poisons great designs must yield to justice that severs even kinship. She is hereby reduced to commoner rank and confined to her tomb park." That same day she took her own life. Sixteen years after her enthronement she perished under sentence. A children's song had run: "Swallow, swallow, tail held high—Lord Zhang's heir meets her again and again"—two graphs were missing in the text. Through the wooden gate with its bronze rings the swallow darts to peck the imperial grandson. When the grandson dies the swallow picks at the shaft." Cheng used to sneak out with Zhang Fang of the Fuping marquisate—the "Lord Zhang" of the rhyme. "Bronze rings" meant the metal fittings on palace gates.
42
孝元傅昭儀
Lady Fu, Brilliant Companion of Emperor Yuan.
43
孝元傅昭儀，哀帝祖母也。 父河內溫人，蚤卒，母更嫁為魏郡鄭翁妻，生男惲。 昭儀少為上官太后才人，自元帝為太子，得進幸。 元帝即位，立為婕妤，甚有寵。 為人有材略，善事人，下至宮人左右，飲酒酹地，皆祝延之。 產一男一女，女為平都公主，男為定陶恭王。 恭王有材藝，尤愛於上。 元帝既重傅婕妤，及馮婕妤亦幸，生中山孝王，上欲殊之於後宮，以二人皆有子為王，上尚在，未得稱太后，乃更號曰昭儀，賜以印綬，在婕妤上。 昭其儀，尊之也。 至成、哀時，趙昭儀、董昭儀皆無子，猶稱焉。
Lady Fu the Brilliant Companion was Emperor Ai's grandmother. Her father was a commoner of Wen in Henei who died young; her mother remarried an old man named Zheng in Wei commandery and bore a son, Fu Yun. She entered service as a talented lady under Grand Empress Dowager Shangguan and won Yuan's favor while he was still heir apparent. When Yuan took the throne she became Favorite Beauty and basked in his favor. She was clever and winning; she cultivated everyone from the emperor down to the meanest maid, and when servants poured libations for her they prayed she would live forever. She bore a daughter, Princess Pingdu, and a son who became the king of Dingtao posthumously styled Gong. The boy showed gifts that endeared him above all others to the emperor. Yuan favored Lady Fu and later Lady Feng, who bore the king of Zhongshan; wishing to honor both mothers while he still lived—when neither could yet be called empress dowager—he invented the title Brilliant Companion, complete with seals of office, ranking them above ordinary Favorite Beauties. The title proclaimed their heightened ceremonial standing. Under Cheng and Ai, Zhao and Dong held the same title though neither bore an heir.
44
元帝崩，傅昭儀隨王歸國，稱定陶太后。 後十年，恭王薨，子代為王。 王母曰丁姬。 傅太后躬自養視，既壯大，成帝無繼嗣。 時中山孝王在。 元延四年，孝王及定陶王皆入朝。 傅太后多以珍寶賂遺趙昭儀及帝舅票騎將軍王根，陰為王求漢嗣。 昭儀及根皆見上無子，欲豫自結為久長計，更稱譽定陶王。 上亦自器之，明年，遂征定陶王立為太子，語在《哀紀》。 月餘，天子立楚孝王孫景為定陶王，奉恭王后。 太子議欲謝，少傅閻崇以為：「《春秋》不以父命廢王父命，為人後之禮不得顧私親，不當謝。」 太傅趙玄以為當謝，太子從之。 詔問所以謝狀，尚書劾奏玄，左遷少府，以光祿勳師丹為太傅。 詔傅太后與太子母丁姬自居定陶國邸，下有司議皇太子得與傅太后、丁姬相見不，有司秦議不得相見。 頃之，成帝母王太后欲令傅太后、丁姬十日一至太子家，成帝曰：「太子丞正統，當共養陛下，不得復顧私親。」 王太后曰：「太子小，而傅太后抱養之。 今至太子家，以乳母恩耳，不足有所妨。」 於是令傅太后得至太子家。 丁姬以不安養太子，獨不得。
After Yuan died Lady Fu accompanied her son to Dingtao and was honored as that kingdom's grand empress dowager. A decade later King Gong died and his son inherited the title. The new king's mother was Lady Ding. Grand Empress Dowager Fu had raised the boy herself; by the time he came of age Cheng still had no heir. The king of Zhongshan was still living. In Yuanyan 4 both the Zhongshan and Dingtao princes arrived for audience. Lady Fu showered Zhao the Brilliant Companion and Wang Gen with jewels, quietly bidding them make her grandson heir to the throne. Seeing Cheng childless, Zhao and Wang curried lasting favor by praising the Dingtao prince. Cheng admired the youth himself; the following year he summoned him as crown prince—the full story is told in the annals of Emperor Ai. A month later another prince was installed at Dingtao to maintain King Gong's line. The heir apparent deliberated wishing to give thanks; Junior Tutor Yan Chong held: 'The Spring and Autumn does not use father's command to dismiss grandfather's command; the ritual of being another's heir does not permit regard for private kin—he ought not give thanks.' Senior Tutor Zhao Xuan disagreed, and the prince sided with him. When the court demanded his reasons, Zhao Xuan was impeached, demoted to oversee the lesser treasury, and replaced as senior tutor by Shi Dan. Fu and Lady Ding were lodged at the Dingtao hostel while officials debated visits; the memorialists ruled that mother and grandmother must not see the heir. Grand Empress Dowager Wang proposed fortnightly visits; Cheng refused: "The crown prince belongs to the imperial line now—his duty is to you, not his birth kin." She answered, "The boy is young; Lady Fu nursed him as a grandmother would. Let her visit as a foster mother would—where is the harm in that?" Cheng relented and allowed Lady Fu to call on the crown prince. Lady Ding, who had not raised him, was denied the same privilege.
45
成帝崩，哀帝即位。 王太后詔令傅太后、丁姬十日一至未央宮。 高昌侯董宏希指，上書言宜立丁姬為帝太后。 師丹劾奏：「宏懷邪誤朝，不道。」 上初即位，謙讓，從師丹言止。 後乃白令王太后下詔，尊定陶恭王為恭皇。 哀帝因是曰：「《春秋》『母以子貴』，尊傅太后為恭皇太后，丁姬為恭皇后，各置左右詹事，食邑如長信宮、中宮。 追尊恭皇太后父為崇祖侯，恭皇后父為褒德侯。」 後歲餘，遂下詔曰：「漢家之制，推親親以顯尊尊，定陶恭皇之號不宜復稱定陶。 其尊恭皇太后為帝太太后，丁后為帝太后。」 後又更號帝太太后為皇太太后，稱永信宮，帝太后稱中安宮，而成帝母太皇太后本稱長信宮，成帝趙后為皇太后，並四太后，各置少府、太僕，秩皆中二千石。 為恭皇立寢廟於京師，比宣帝父悼皇考制度，序昭穆於前殿。
When Cheng died Ai succeeded. Grand Empress Dowager Wang allowed Fu and Lady Ding to visit Weiyang Palace every ten days. Dong Hong of Gaochang curried favor by urging that Lady Ding be named empress dowager. Shi Dan impeached and memorialized: 'Hong harbors wickedness and misleads the court—non-canonical.' The new emperor, still cautious, accepted Shi's advice and dropped the proposal. Later he persuaded Grand Empress Dowager Wang to canonize his late father as Emperor Gong. Ai cited the Spring and Autumn—"a mother rises with her son"—and titled Fu Gong grand empress dowager and Ding Gong empress, each with household stewards and incomes matching the principal palaces. He also ordered that Gong Grand Empress Dowager's father be honored posthumously as Marquis of Chongzu and Gong Empress's father as Marquis of Baode.' A year later an edict declared that Han ritual distinguished degrees of kin—the canonized ruler must shed the old regional title "Dingtao. Fu became "Empress Dowager Supreme" and Ding plain "Empress Dowager of the Emperor." Fu was renamed grand empress dowager supreme with residence Yongxin; Ding took Zhong'an; Cheng's mother kept Changxin; Zhao Feiyan remained empress dowager—four dowagers at once, each with her own minister of the lesser treasury and grand coachman at two thousand shi. A metropolitan shrine was built for Emperor Gong on the model of Emperor Xuan's father, with proper father-son placement in the imperial temple.
46
傅太后父同產弟四人，曰子孟、中叔、子元、幼君。 子孟子喜至大司馬，封高武侯。 中叔子晏亦大司馬，封孔鄉侯。 幼君子商封汝昌侯，為太后父崇祖侯後，更號崇祖曰汝昌哀侯。 太后同母弟鄭惲前死，以惲子業為陽信侯，追尊惲為陽信節侯。 鄭氏、傅氏侯者凡六人，大司馬二人，九卿二千石六人，侍中諸曹十餘人。
Lady Fu's father had four full brothers: Zimeng, Zhongshu, Ziyuan, and Youjun. Zimeng's son Xi became grand marshal and Marquis of Gaowu. Zhongshu's son Yan also rose to grand marshal with the marquisate of Kongxiang. Youjun's son Shang held Ruchang and inherited Lady Fu's father's line, whose tomb title became Marquis Ai of Ruchang. Her half-brother Zheng Yun was dead; his son Ye became Marquis of Yangxin and Yun was honored posthumously as Marquis Jie. The Zheng and Fu houses held six marquisates, two grand marshals, six ministerial posts, and more than a dozen palace attendants.
47
傅太后既尊，後尤驕，與成帝母語，至謂之嫗。 與中山孝王母馮太后並事元帝，追怨之，陷以祝詛罪，令自殺。 元壽元年崩，合葬渭陵，稱孝元傅皇后雲。
Elevated to supremacy, Lady Fu grew insolent enough to call Cheng's mother an old hag. She had shared Yuan's harem with Lady Feng of Zhongshan; nursing old grudges she framed her for witchcraft and drove her to suicide. She died in the first year of Yuanshou (2 BCE) and was buried with Yuan at Weiling as his empress Fu.
48
定陶丁姬
Lady Ding of Dingtao, mother of Emperor Ai.
49
定陶丁姬，哀帝母也，《易》祖師丁將軍之玄孫。 家在山陽瑕丘，父至廬江太守。 始，定陶恭王先為山陽王，而丁氏內其女為姬。 王后姓張氏，其母鄭禮，即傅太后同母弟也。 太后以親戚故，欲其有子，然終無有。 唯丁姬河平四年生哀帝。 丁姬為帝太后，兩兄忠、明。 明以帝舅封陽安侯。 忠蚤死，封忠子滿為平周侯。 太后叔父憲、望，望為左將軍，憲為太僕。 明為大司馬票騎將軍，輔政。 丁氏侯者凡二人，大司馬一人，將軍、九卿、二千石六人，侍中、諸曹亦十餘人。 丁、傅以一二年間暴興尤盛。 然哀帝不甚假以權勢，權勢不如王氏在成帝世也。
Lady Ding of Dingtao, Emperor Ai's mother, traced her line to General Ding Kuan, the Han master of the Changes. Her people came from Xiaqiu in Shanyang; her father became governor of Lujiang. When the future King Gong still ruled Shanyang, the Ding family sent her in as his concubine. The principal queen was surnamed Zhang; her maternal uncle Zheng Li was Lady Fu's uterine younger brother. Lady Fu hoped her kinswoman would bear an heir, but she remained childless. Only Lady Ding gave birth—to Ai—in Heping 4 (25 BCE). As empress dowager she had two brothers, Zhong and Ming. Ming became Marquis of Yang'an as the emperor's uncle. Zhong died young; his son Man inherited the marquisate of Pingzhou. Her uncles Xian and Wang became grand coachman and left general respectively. Ming served as regent with the titles of grand marshal and general of agile cavalry. The Ding held two marquisates, one grand marshal, six senior posts, and a dozen court offices. The Ding and Fu clans shot to power within a year or two. Yet Ai never gave them the leverage the Wangs had enjoyed under Cheng.
50
建平二年，丁太后崩。 上曰：「《詩》云『谷則異室，死則同穴』。 昔季武子成寢，杜氏之墓在西階下，請合葬而許之。 附葬之禮，自周興焉。 孝子事亡如事存，帝太后宜起陵恭皇之園。」 遣大司馬票騎將軍明，東送葬於定陶，貴震山東。
In Jianping 2 (5 BCE) Empress Dowager Ding died. The emperor quoted the Odes: "We dwelt apart in life—let us share one grave in death. When Ji Wuzi built his hall the Du family tomb lay beneath his western steps—he asked to bury his wife beside them and was granted leave. Joint burial has been orthodox since Zhou. A dutiful son honors the dead as the living—lay Empress Dowager Ding's mausoleum in Emperor Gong's tomb park." He sent Ming east as grand marshal to bury her at Dingtao with pomp that shook the eastern provinces.
51
哀帝崩，王莽秉政，使有司舉奏丁、傅罪惡。 莽以太皇太后詔皆免官爵，丁氏徙歸故郡。 莽奏貶傅太后號為定陶恭王母，丁太后號曰丁姬。
After Ai died Wang Mang ordered indictments of the Ding and Fu clans. Acting for Grand Empress Dowager Wang he stripped their titles and sent the Dings home. He reduced Fu to "mother of King Gong of Dingtao" and Ding to plain Lady Ding.
52
元始五年，莽復言：「恭王母、丁姬前不臣妾，至葬渭陵，塚高與元帝山齊，懷帝太后、皇太太后璽綬以葬，不應禮。 禮有改葬，請發恭王母及丁姬塚，取其璽綬消滅，徙恭王母及丁姬歸定陶，葬恭王塚次，而葬丁姬復其故。」 太后以為既已之事，不須復發。 莽固爭之，太后詔曰：「因故棺為致槨作塚，祠以太牢。」 謁者護既發傅太后塚，崩壓殺數百人； 開丁姬槨戶，火出炎四五丈，吏卒以水沃滅乃得入，燒燔槨中器物。
In the fifth year of Yuanshi, Mang again said: 'Gong King's mother and Lady Ding formerly did not submit as concubines; reaching burial at Weiling, mound height matched Yuan Emperor's hill; bearing Empress Dowager of the Emperor and Grand Empress Dowager Supreme seals and ribbons to bury—this does not accord with ritual. Ritual allows reburial—your servant requests opening Gong King's mother's and Lady Ding's tombs, taking their seals and ribbons and destroying them, moving Gong King's mother and Lady Ding back to Dingtao, burying Gong King's mother beside King Gong's mound, while burying Lady Ding restoring her former status.' Grand Empress Dowager Wang thought the dead should rest undisturbed. Mang firmly contested it; the empress dowager issued an edict: 'Using the old inner coffin make an outer shell and mound; sacrifice with grand beast.' When they broke into Fu's tomb the vault collapsed and killed hundreds; opening Ding's sarcophagus unleashed a pillar of flame; crews had to flood it before entering, by which time the grave goods were ash.
53
莽復奏言：「前恭王母生，僭居桂宮，皇天震怒，災其正殿； 丁姬死，葬逾制度，今火焚其槨，此天見變以告，當改如媵妾也。 臣前奏請葬丁姬復故，非是。 恭王母及丁姬棺皆名梓宮，珠玉之衣非籓妾服，請更以木棺代，去珠玉衣，葬丁姬媵妾之次。」 奏可。 既開傅太后棺，臭聞數里。 公卿在位皆阿莽指，入錢帛，遣子弟及諸生四夷，凡十餘萬人，操持作具，助將作掘平恭王母、丁姬故塚，二旬間皆平。 莽又周棘其處以為世戒雲。 時有群燕數千，銜土投丁姬穿中。 丁、傅既敗，孔鄉侯晏將家屬徙合浦，宗族皆歸故郡。 唯高武侯喜得全，自有傳。
Mang again memorialized: 'Formerly Gong King's mother while alive overstepped dwelling in Cassia Palace; august Heaven shook with anger and disaster struck its main hall; Ding's overscale tomb now burst into flame—Heaven itself demands she be buried as a mere concubine. His earlier plan to rebury Ding in her old plot was wrong. Gong King's mother's and Lady Ding's coffins were both named catalpa palace coffins; pearl-jade shrouds are not vassal concubine dress—your servant requests replacing with wooden coffins instead, removing pearl-jade shrouds, burying Lady Ding in concubine-handmaid station.' The throne assented. Opening Fu's coffin released a stench for miles. The whole bureaucracy toadied to Mang, sent cash, and drafted more than a hundred thousand laborers to level Fu and Ding's mounds within twenty days. He ringed the site with brambles as a lesson to posterity. Thousands of swallows were seen dropping mud into Ding's open grave. When the clans fell, Yan of Kongxiang was banished to Hepu while kin scattered home. Only Xi of Gaowu survived unscathed—his life is told elsewhere.
54
孝哀傅皇后
Empress Fu of Emperor Ai.
55
孝哀傅皇后，定陶太后從弟子也。 哀帝為定陶王時，傅太后欲重親，取以配王。 王入為漢太子，傅氏女為妃。 哀帝即位，成帝大行尚在前殿，而傅太后封傅妃父晏為孔鄉侯，與帝舅陽安侯丁明同日俱封。 時師丹諫，以為：「天下自王者所有，親戚何患不富貴？ 而倉卒若是，其不久長矣！」 晏封後月餘，傅妃立為皇后。 傅氏既盛，晏最尊重。 哀帝崩，王莽白太皇太后下詔曰：「定陶恭王太后與孔鄉侯晏同心合謀，背恩忘本，專恣不軌，與至尊同稱號，終沒，至乃配食於左坐，悖逆無道。 今令孝哀皇后退就桂宮。」 後月餘，復與孝成趙皇后俱廢為庶人，就其園自殺。
Empress Fu was a niece of Lady Fu of Dingtao. While Ai was still prince of Dingtao, Lady Fu married him to a kinswoman to tighten the family bond. When he became crown prince she followed as his consort. Ai had barely taken the throne while Cheng's bier still stood in the hall when Lady Fu ennobled her father Yan alongside the emperor's uncle Ding Ming. Shi Dan protested: "The realm is the emperor's—kin will prosper in due time without such haste. Rewards thrown out this rashly will not endure!" A month after Yan's enfeoffment his daughter became empress. Among the Fu kin Yan stood highest. When Emperor Ai died, Wang Mang reported to Grand Empress Dowager and issued an edict: 'Grand Empress Dowager of King Gong of Dingtao and Marquis of Kongxiang Yan joined hearts in plotting; they turned back on grace and forgot roots; they monopolized and indulged against the track; they shared titles with the supreme one; at final death they even received paired sacrifice at the left seat—rebellious and non-canonical. Now order Empress of Emperor Ai to withdraw to Cassia Palace.' Within weeks she and Zhao Feiyan were stripped to commoners and driven to suicide in their tomb parks.
56
孝元馮昭儀
Lady Feng, Brilliant Companion of Emperor Yuan.
57
孝元馮昭儀，平帝祖母也。 元帝即位二年，以選入後宮。 時父奉世為執金吾。 昭儀始為長使，數月至美人，後五年就館生男，拜為婕妤。 時父奉世為右將軍光祿勳，奉世長男野王為左馮翊，父子並居朝廷，議者以為器能當其位，非用女寵故也。 而馮婕妤內寵與傅昭儀等。
Lady Feng was Emperor Ping's grandmother. She entered the harem in the second year of Yuan's reign. Her father Feng Shi then served as Bearer of the Mace. She rose from senior attendant to Fair Lady within months; five years later she bore a son in the birthing lodge and was named Favorite Beauty. By then her father was right general and superintendent of the household; her brother Yewang governed Fengyi—commentators said merit, not nepotism through the harem, had won those posts. Lady Feng stood in Cheng's affection beside Lady Fu the Brilliant Companion.
58
建昭中，上幸虎圈鬥獸，後宮皆坐。 熊佚出圈，攀檻欲上殿。 左右貴人傅昭儀等皆驚走，馮婕妤直前當熊而立，左右格殺熊。 上問：「人情驚懼，何故前當熊？」 婕妤對曰：「猛獸得人而止，妾恐熊至御坐，故以身當之。」 元帝嗟歎，以此倍敬重焉。 傅昭儀等皆慚。 明年夏，馮婕妤男立為信都王，尊婕妤為昭儀。 元帝崩，為信都太后，與王俱居儲元宮。 河平中，隨王之國。 後徙中山，是為孝王。
During Jianzhao Yuan watched beast fights at the tiger pit while the harem looked on. A bear broke loose, clawed the rail, and tried to rush the dais. Lady Fu and the others fled; Lady Feng stepped in front of the beast until guards brought it down. The sovereign asked: 'Human feeling is alarm and fear—why did you advance to block the bear?' She answered, "Beasts halt once they seize prey—I feared it would reach your throne, so I stood in its path." Yuan marveled and honored her twice over. Lady Fu and the rest were mortified. The next summer her son was made king of Xindu and she was raised to Brilliant Companion. After Yuan died she became dowager of Xindu and lived with her son in Chuyuan Palace. During Heping she followed him to his fief. He was later transferred to Zhongshan and posthumously styled King Xiao.
59
後征定陶王為太子，封中山王舅參為宜鄉侯。 參，馮太后少弟也。 是歲，孝王薨，有一男，嗣為王，時未滿歲，有眚病，太后自養視，數禱祠解。
When the Dingtao prince became heir, Lady Feng's brother Shen was ennobled as Marquis of Yixiang. Shen was her younger brother. That year King Xiao left an infant heir plagued by ill omens; Lady Feng nursed him herself and offered prayer after prayer for his recovery.
60
哀帝即位，遣中郎謁者張由將醫治中山小王。 由素有狂易病，病發怒去，西歸長安。 尚書簿責擅去狀，由恐，因誣言中山太后祝詛上及太后。 太后即傅昭儀也，素常怨馮太后，因是遣御史丁玄案驗，盡收御者官吏及馮氏昆弟在國者百餘人，分系雒陽、魏郡、巨鹿。 數十日無所得，更使中謁者令史立與丞相長史、大鴻臚丞雜治。 立受傅太后指，幾得封侯，治馮太后女弟習及寡弟婦君之，死者數十人。 巫劉吾服祝詛。 醫徐遂成言習、君之曰：「武帝時醫修氏剌治武帝得二千萬耳，今愈上，不得封侯，不如殺上，令中山王代，可得封。」 立等劾奏祝詛謀反，大逆。 責問馮太后，無服辭。 立曰：「熊之上殿何其勇，今何怯也！」 太后還謂左右：「此乃中語，前世事，吏何用知之？ 是欲陷我效也！」 乃飲藥自殺。
Ai sent Zhang You with physicians to treat the young king of Zhongshan. Zhang You was mentally unstable; in a fit he abandoned his post and fled to Chang'an. The secretariat called him to account; panicking, he accused Lady Feng of cursing the emperor and empress dowager. Lady Fu, who had long hated Lady Feng, sent Ding Xuan to investigate; more than a hundred Feng kin and officials were jailed across three commanderies. After weeks without proof she handed the case to Shi Li and senior ministers for joint trial. Shi Li, hoping for a marquisate from Lady Fu, tortured Lady Feng's sister Xi and her sister-in-law Junzhi until dozens lay dead. The witch Liu Wu confessed to cursing the throne. Physician Xu Suicheng said Xi and Junzhi said: 'In Emperor Wu's time physician Xiu clan lanced-treated Emperor Wu and got twenty million cash only; now curing the sovereign, not obtaining enfeoffment as marquis—better kill the sovereign and order the King of Zhongshan to succeed—then one can obtain enfeoffment.' Shi Li memorialized treason and witchcraft. Lady Feng admitted nothing under interrogation. Shi Li sneered, "You faced a bear on the steps—why so timid today?" She told her attendants, "Those were palace whispers from another reign—how would petty clerks know them? They mean to frame me!" She took poison.
61
先未死，有司請誅之，上不忍致法，廢為庶人，徙雲陽宮。 既死，有司復奏：「太后死在未廢前。」 有詔以諸侯王太后儀葬之。 宜鄉侯參、君之、習夫及子當相坐者，或自殺，或伏法。 參女弁為孝王后，有兩女，有司奏免為庶人，與馮氏宗族徙歸故郡。 張由以先告賜爵關內侯，史立遷中太僕。
Before her death officials had sought execution; Ai commuted the sentence to commoner status and exile at Yunyang. Once dead, offices again memorialized: 'The grand empress dowager died before being deposed.' An edict granted her burial as a king's mother. Shen, Junzhi, Xi's family, and others implicated died by suicide or execution. Shen's daughter, queen at Zhongshan, was reduced to commoner rank and the Feng clan sent home. Zhang You was ennobled for his accusation; Shi Li was promoted to grand coachman.
62
哀帝崩，大司徒孔光奏「由前誣告骨肉，立陷人入大辟，為國家結怨於天下，以取秩遷，獲爵邑，幸蒙赦令，請免為庶人，徒合浦」云。
When Emperor Ai died, Grand Minister of Education Kong Guang memorialized: 'You formerly falsely accused bone and flesh; Li trapped people into great death penalty; for the state he tied resentment under Heaven—to obtain rank promotion, obtain noble rank and fief; fortunately covered by amnesty edict—request dismissal as commoner, exile to Hepu.'
63
中山衛姬
Lady Wei of Zhongshan, mother of Emperor Ping.
64
中山衛姬，平帝母也。 父子豪，中山盧奴人，官至衛尉。 子豪女弟為宣帝婕妤，生楚孝王； 長女又為元帝婕妤，生平陽公主。 成帝時，中山孝王無子，上以衛氏吉祥，以子豪少女配孝王。 元延四年，生平帝。
Lady Wei of Zhongshan was Emperor Ping's mother. Her father Wei Zihao of Lunu rose to commandant of the guards. His sister had been a Favorite Beauty of Emperor Xuan and mother of the king of Chu; his eldest daughter became Yuan's Favorite Beauty and bore Princess Pingyang. When Zhongshan lacked an heir Cheng married Wei Zihao's youngest daughter to the king as a lucky match. She bore Ping in Yuanyan 4 (9 BCE).
65
平帝年二歲，孝王薨，代為王。 哀帝崩，無嗣。 太皇太后與新都侯莽迎中山王立為帝。 莽欲顓國權，懲丁、傅行事，以帝為成帝后，母衛姬及外家不當得至京師。 乃更立宗室桃鄉侯子成都為中山王，奉孝王後，遣少傅左將軍甄豐賜衛姬璽綬，即拜為中山孝王后，以苦陘縣為湯沐邑。 又賜帝舅衛寶、寶弟玄爵關內侯。 賜帝三妹，謁臣號修義君，哉皮為承禮君，鬲子為尊德君，食邑各二千戶。 莽長子宇非莽隔絕衛氏，恐久後受禍，即私與衛寶通書記，教衛後上書謝恩，因陳丁、傅舊惡，幾得至京師。 莽白太皇太后詔有司曰：「中山孝王后深分明為人後之義，條陳故定陶傅太后、丁姬悖天逆理，上僭位號，徙定陶王於信都，為恭王立廟於京師，如天子制，不畏天命，侮聖人言，壞亂法度，居非其制，稱非其號。 是以皇天震怒，火燒其殿，六年之間大命不遂，禍殃仍重，竟令孝哀帝受其餘災，大失天心，夭命暴崩，又令恭王祭祀絕廢，精魂無所依歸。 朕惟孝王后深說經義，明鏡聖法，懼古人之禍敗，近事之咎殃，畏天命，奉聖言，是乃久保一國，長獲天祿，而令孝王永享無疆之祀，福祥之大者也。 朕甚嘉之。 夫褒義賞善，聖王之制，其以中山故安戶七千益中山後湯沐邑，加賜及中山王黃金各百斤，增傅相以下秩。」
Ping was two when King Xiao died and the boy inherited the throne. Ai died without an heir. Grand Empress Dowager Wang and Wang Mang of Xindu raised the Zhongshan prince to the throne. Mang meant to monopolize power; remembering the Ding and Fu clans, he styled Ping as Cheng's heir and barred Lady Wei and her kin from the capital. He installed another prince at Zhongshan, sent Zhen Feng to invest Lady Wei as dowager with Ku county as her maintenance fief. He ennobled Wei's brothers Bao and Xuan as secondary marquises. Ping's three sisters received titles as noble ladies with two-thousand-household fiefs. Wang Yu, fearing Mang's isolation of the Weis would bring disaster, secretly urged Lady Wei to memorialize thanks and cite the old Ding–Fu crimes—nearly winning a visit to Chang'an. Mang reported to Grand Empress Dowager Wang and had her order the officials: "Lady Wei, widow of King Xiao of Zhongshan, deeply understands the meaning of serving as another man's heir. She has set out article by article how the late Grand Empress Dowager Fu and Lady Ding of Dingtao defied Heaven and violated principle, arrogated titles above their station, moved the King of Dingtao to Xindu, built a temple for King Gong in the capital on the Son of Heaven's scale, did not fear Heaven's command, insulted the words of the sages, ruined the statutes, occupied what was not their proper establishment, and used titles that were not theirs. Heaven had burned their halls, cut short Ai's life, and left Emperor Gong's spirit without offerings. The edict praised her grasp of the classics and promise of lasting fortune for Zhongshan. The court applauded her wisdom. It ordered: 'Praising righteousness and rewarding good is the sage king's system; take Zhongshan's former seven thousand An households to augment Zhongshan posterity's bath-and-wash fief; grant King of Zhongshan and her each one hundred jin of yellow gold; and increase the rank of the tutor, chancellor, and those below them.'
66
衛后日夜啼泣，思見帝，而但益戶邑。 宇復教令上書求至京師。 會事發覺，莽殺宇，盡誅衛氏支屬。 衛寶女為中山王后，免后，徙合浦。 唯衛后在，王莽篡國，廢為家人，后歲余卒，葬孝王旁。
Lady Wei wept night and day to see her son but received only larger fiefs. Wang Yu again urged her to petition for entry to the capital. When the plot surfaced Mang executed Yu and extirpated the Wei kin. Wei's niece lost her queenship and was banished to Hepu. Lady Wei alone survived until Mang's usurpation; stripped of title she died a year later and was buried beside King Xiao.
67
孝平王皇后
Empress Wang, consort of Emperor Ping.
68
孝平王皇后，安漢公太傅大司馬莽女也。 平帝即位，年九歲，成帝母太皇太后稱制，而莽秉政。 莽欲依霍光故事，以女配帝，太后意不欲也。 莽設變詐，令女必入，因以自重，事在《莽傳》。 太后不得已而許之，遣長樂少府夏侯籓、宗正劉宏、少府宗伯鳳、尚書令平晏納采、太師光、大司徒馬宮、大司空甄豐、左將軍孫建、執金吾尹賞、行太常事太中大夫劉歆及太卜、太史令以下四十九人賜皮弁素績，以禮雜卜筮，太牢祠宗廟，待吉月日。 明年春，遣大司徒宮、大司空豐、左將軍建、右將軍甄邯、光祿大夫歆奉乘輿法駕，迎皇后於安漢公第。 宮、豐、歆授皇后璽紱，登車稱警蹕，便時上林延壽門，入未央宮前殿。 群臣就位行禮，大赦天下。 益封父安漢公地滿百里，賜迎皇后及行禮者，自三公以下至騶宰執事長樂、未央宮、安漢公第者，皆增秩，賜金、帛各有差。 皇后立三月，以禮見高廟。 尊父安漢公號曰宰衡，位在諸侯王上。 賜公夫人號曰功顯君，食邑。 封公子安為褒新侯，臨為賞都侯。
Empress Wang was the daughter of Wang Mang, styled Duke of Pacifying Han. Ping came to the throne at nine under Grand Empress Dowager Wang with Mang holding real power. Mang sought to imitate Huo Guang by marrying his daughter to the boy emperor; the grand empress dowager resisted. Mang schemed until the match was fixed; the full intrigue is told in his biography. The Empress Dowager had no choice and agreed. She sent Xiahou Fan, Changle Lesser Treasurer; Liu Hong, Director of the Imperial Clan; Zongbo Feng, Lesser Treasurer; Ping Yan, Director of the Secretariat; Grand Tutor Kong Guang; Grand Minister of Education Ma Gong; Grand Minister of Works Zhen Feng; Left General Sun Jian; Capital Commandant Yin Shang; Liu Xin, Palace Grandee acting as Grand Master of Ceremonies; and forty-nine men down to the Grand Diviner and Grand Astrologer. They were given hide caps and plain silk robes, performed the mixed divination according to ritual, sacrificed a grand victim at the ancestral temple, and awaited an auspicious month and day. That spring Ma Gong, Zhen Feng, Sun Jian, Zhen Han, and Liu Xin went with the full imperial train to fetch the bride from Wang Mang’s ducal residence. They invested her with the empress’s seal, rolled out with full escort through Shanglin’s Yanshou Gate, and brought her into Weiyang’s main hall. The court completed the ceremony and proclaimed an empire-wide amnesty. Mang’s father’s ducal estate was expanded to a full hundred li, and everyone involved in the wedding—from the three excellencies down to stable hands at the palaces—got a promotion and a share of gold and silk. Three months after her installation she paid formal homage at Gaozu's temple. Mang’s father was titled Regulator and Balance and ranked above the imperial princes. His mother was styled Lady Merit-Illustrious with a sustaining fief. Mang’s brothers An and Lin were made marquises of Bao-Xin and Shang-Du.
69
后立歲餘，平帝崩。 莽立孝宣帝玄孫嬰為孺子，莽攝帝位，尊皇后為皇太后。 三年，莽即真，以嬰為定安公，改皇太后號為定安公太后。 太后時年十八矣，為人婉娩有節操。 自劉氏廢，常稱疾不朝會。 莽敬憚傷哀，欲嫁之，乃更號為黃皇室主，令立國將軍成新公孫建世子盛飾，將醫往問疾。 後大怒，笞鞭其旁侍御。 因發病，不肯起，莽遂不復強也。 及漢兵誅莽，燔燒未央宮，後曰：「何面目以見漢家！」 自投火中而死。
A year after the wedding Emperor Ping died. Mang set the infant Liu Ying on the throne as puppet heir while he ruled as regent and elevated the empress to empress dowager. Three years later Wang Mang took the throne for real, demoted Ying to Duke of Ding-An, and restyled her as dowager of that petty dukedom. She was only eighteen, soft-spoken and principled. After the Han line was set aside she stayed away from court, pleading illness. Mang pitied her and wanted her remarried; he restyled her Princess of the Yellow House and sent Sun Jian's son, the heir of the Duke of Cheng-Xin, dressed to the nines with physicians in tow, to call on her illness. She flew into a rage and had the attendants at her side whipped. She took to her bed and refused to get up, and Mang finally stopped forcing the issue. When Han forces killed Wang Mang and burned Weiyang Palace, she cried, "What face do I have left to show the Liu house!" She leaped into the flames and died.
70
贊曰：《易》著吉凶而言謙盈之效，天地鬼神至於人道靡不同之。 夫女寵之興，由至微而體至尊，窮富貴而不以功，此固道家所畏，禍福之宗也。 序自漢興，終於孝平，外戚後庭色寵著聞二十有餘人，然其保位全家者，唯文、景、武帝太后及邛成後四人而已。 至如史良娣、王悼後、許恭哀後身皆夭折不辜，而家依托舊恩，不敢縱恣，是以能全。 其餘大者夷滅，小者放流，嗚呼！ 鑒茲行事，變亦備矣。」」
The summation: the Book of Changes ties fortune to humility and excess; the pattern runs from cosmos to commoner. Favored consorts climb from obscurity to the pinnacle yet owe nothing to merit; small wonder Daoist thought treats them as omens of rise and ruin. Since Han began through Ping, over twenty imperial in-laws and inner-palace favorites made the chronicles, but only four—the dowagers of Wen, Jing, and Wu, plus Empress Cheng of Qiong—kept their houses intact. Shi the heir's mother, Empress Wang Dao, and Empress Xu the Mourning died young and wronged, yet their kin clung to old favor and kept their heads down, so they survived. The rest were wiped out or driven into exile—alas! Read these stories and every turn of fortune is already spelled out.””