Volume 10a: Annals of Empresses 1

夏、殷以上，后妃之制，其文略矣。《周禮》王者立后，三夫人，九嬪，二十七世婦，八十一女御，以備內職焉。后正位宮闈，同體天王。夫人坐論婦禮，九嬪掌教四德，世婦主喪、祭、賓客，女御序於王之燕寢。頒官分務，各有典司。女史彤管，記功書過。居有保阿之訓，動有環佩之響。進賢才以輔佐君子，哀窈窕而不淫其色。所以能述宣陰化，修成內則，閨房肅雍，險謁不行也。故康王晚朝，《關雎》作諷；宣后晏起，姜氏請愆。及周室東遷，禮序凋缺。諸侯僭縱，軌制無章。齊桓有如夫人者六人，晉獻升戎女為元妃，終於五子作亂，冢嗣遘屯。爰逮戰國，風憲逾薄，適情任欲，顛倒衣裳，以至破國亡身，不可勝數。斯固輕禮弛防，先色後德者也。

For the Xia and Shang dynasties and earlier, what survives on the institutions governing empresses and consorts is only fragmentary. According to the Rites of Zhou, the Son of Heaven installs one empress, three senior consorts, nine ranked concubines, twenty-seven chief wives of the lineage, and eighty-one junior attendants, so that every duty within the inner palace is staffed. The empress holds the proper rank within the inner palace and stands as the king's equal in ritual body. The madames deliberate on women's ritual; the nine concubines oversee instruction in the four womanly virtues; the chief wives of the lineage direct mourning, sacrifices, and hosting; the attendants rotate attendance at the ruler's private chambers. Offices were promulgated and duties divided, each post with its defined responsibility. Female scribes, brush in hand, recorded good deeds and set down offenses. At rest they heard the counsel of nurses and tutors; in motion they were accompanied by the chime of girdle-pendants. They brought forward able women to support the ruler, cherished modest beauty, and did not indulge mere physical attraction. Thus they could extend the transforming influence of the inner realm, perfect the rules for life within the palace, keep the women's quarters dignified and serene, and stop improper lobbying at its source. Hence, when King Kang held court late, the ode "Guan ju" was composed as a gentle reproof; when the consort of King Xuan rose late, a lady of Jiang asked leave to take the blame. After the Zhou court moved east, ritual precedence decayed and fell away. Regional lords overstepped their bounds without restraint, and norms for rank and conduct lost all clear pattern. Duke Huan of Qi kept six women treated almost as wives; Duke Xian of Jin raised a Rong woman to chief consort, until five sons rose in strife and the legitimate heir met disaster. By the Warring States period moral restraint had worn paper-thin; rulers followed whim and indulged desire, reversed the proper order of the sexes, and brought on the ruin of states and their own deaths beyond counting. These were men who treated ritual lightly, dropped every safeguard, and put physical charm ahead of moral character.

秦幷天下，多自驕大，宮備七國，爵列八品。漢興，因循其號，而婦制莫釐。高祖帷薄不修，孝文衽席無辯。然而選納尚簡，飾翫少華。自武、元之後，世增淫費，至乃掖庭三千，增級十四。妖倖毀政之符，外姻亂邦之迹，前史載之詳矣。

When Qin united the realm, its rulers grew arrogant on a grand scale, stocked the harem with women drawn from the seven rival states, and arrayed eight grades of noble consorts. When Han arose, it kept Qin's titles for the inner court, yet never sorted out a coherent system for imperial consorts. Gaozu was careless of the proprieties that separate inner from outer quarters; under Emperor Wen the boundary between legitimate wife and concubine was scarcely observed. Still, recruitment into the harem remained modest, and finery and amusement were kept relatively plain. After Emperors Wu and Yuan, each reign piled on wasteful excess until the Yeting alone held three thousand women and fourteen new grades of rank had been added. The omens by which favorites and sorcery ruined government, and the record of how in-laws threw the state into chaos, earlier histories have already set down in ample detail.

及光武中興，斲彫為朴，六宮稱號，唯皇后、貴人。貴人金印紫綬，奉不過粟數十斛。又置美人、宮人、采女三等，並無爵秩，歲時賞賜充給而已。漢法常因八月筭人，遣中大夫與掖庭丞及相工，於洛陽鄉中閱視良家童女，年十三以上，二十已下，姿色端麗，合法相者，載還後宮，擇視可否，乃用登御。所以明慎聘納，詳求淑哲。明帝聿遵先旨，宮教頗修，登建嬪后，必先令德，內無出閫之言，權無私溺之授，可謂矯其敝矣。向使因設外戚之禁，編著《甲令》，改正后妃之制，貽厥方來，豈不休哉！雖御己有度，而防閑未篤，故孝章以下，漸用色授，恩隆好合，遂忘淄蠹。

When Guangwu restored the dynasty, he stripped away ornament for simplicity: throughout the six palaces the only formal titles were empress and honorable lady. An honorable lady bore the gold seal and purple ribbon, yet her stipend amounted to no more than a few dozen hu of grain. Below them came three informal grades—beauty, palace woman, and selected maid—none with titular rank; they lived on seasonal gifts and allowances, nothing more. Han statute regularly, in the eighth month, took a census of eligible women: a palace counselor, the assistant director of the Yeting, and a physiognomist toured the villages around Luoyang to review girls of good family between thirteen and twenty whose looks were comely and whose features matched the approved charts. Those chosen were brought to the rear palace, examined again, and only then admitted to the emperor's bed. The aim was to make imperial marriages deliberate and to seek women of true virtue and judgment. Emperor Ming faithfully carried out his father's intent: instruction within the palace was largely restored, and whenever he raised a consort or empress he began with moral worth. Nothing improper was heard from within the women's quarters, and favor carried no private abuse of appointment—one may say he redressed the worst abuses. Had he gone on to codify restraints on maternal relatives, inscribe them in the binding "A-class" statutes, and reform the regulations governing empresses and consorts for generations to come, how splendid that would have been! Although he kept himself within bounds, the barriers against misconduct were not firmly locked. From Emperor Zhang onward, offices were increasingly given for physical charm alone; favor ran deep in private attachments, until the court forgot how such ties stain and devour the state.

自古雖主幼時艱，王家多釁，必委成冢宰，簡求忠賢，未有專任婦人，斷割重器。唯秦羋太后始攝政事，故穰侯權重於昭王，家富於嬴國。漢仍其謬，知患莫改。東京皇統屢絕，權歸女主，外立者四帝，臨朝者六后，莫不定策帷帟，委事父兄，貪孩童以久其政，抑明賢以專其威。任重道悠，利深禍速。身犯霧露於雲臺之上，家嬰縲絏於圄犴之下。湮滅連踵，傾輈繼路。而赴蹈不息，燋爛為期，終於陵夷大運，淪亡神寶。《詩》、《書》所歎，略同一揆。故考列行跡，以為《皇后本紀》。雖成敗事異，而同居正號者，並列于篇。其以私恩追尊，非當時所奉者，則隨它事附出。親屬別事，各依列傳。其餘無所見，則係之此紀，以纘西京《外戚》云爾。

Since antiquity, even when a boy emperor faced hard times and the royal house was rife with strife, power was handed to a chief minister and loyal worthies were chosen; never before had women alone been trusted to wield the great seals of state. Only Lady Mi of Qin first seized the reins of government, so the Marquis of Rang grew mightier than King Zhao and his clan grew wealthier than the ruling house itself. Han persisted in that mistake and, though aware of the peril, never reformed it. At the Eastern capital the imperial line was repeatedly broken off, and power passed to women on the throne: four emperors were enthroned from outside the direct succession, and six empresses regents held court. Each settled policy from behind the curtain, handed real authority to fathers and brothers, clung to child rulers to prolong her rule, and sidelined able men to hoard awe-inspiring power. The charge was weighty and the path long; the gains ran deep but disaster arrived with cruel speed. They themselves perished, exposed on the heights of the Cloud Terrace; their kin were bound in fetters deep in the dungeons. One house after another was wiped out, ruin heaped on ruin along the road. Still they rushed headlong without pause, set on self-immolation, until the great mandate slid into decay and the sacred regalia was lost. The laments of the Poetry and the Documents run to much the same judgment. I have therefore surveyed their deeds and compiled this "Annals of the Empresses." Though their fates differed, all who held the legitimate title of empress are entered here in one sequence. Women honored posthumously by private favor rather than as consorts in their own day are noted wherever other records carry their stories. Their kinsmen and separate incidents are treated in the appropriate biographical chapters. The remainder, where no other source survives, is gathered here, continuing the Western capital's chapter on the "Outer Kin."

光武郭皇后

Her Majesty Empress Guo, consort of Emperor Guangwu

帝憐郭氏，詔況子璜尚淯陽公主，除璜為郎。顯宗即位，況與帝舅陰識、陰就並為特進，教授賞賜，恩寵俱渥。禮待陰、郭，每事必均。永平二年，況卒，贈賜甚厚，帝親自臨喪，謚曰節侯，子璜嗣。

The emperor took pity on the Guo family: he ordered Guo Kuang's son Guo Huang to marry the Princess of Yuyang and appointed Huang a gentleman-at-court. When Emperor Ming took the throne, Guo Kuang was raised to specially advanced eminence together with the emperor's uncles Yin Shi and Yin Jiu; all three received instruction stipends and lavish gifts, and imperial favor ran equally deep for each. In every matter of courtesy the Yin and Guo families were treated with scrupulous evenhandedness. In the second year of Yongping, Guo Kuang died. The posthumous bounty was rich, the emperor attended the funeral in person, Kuang was given the posthumous title Marquis of Moderation, and his son Huang succeeded him.

元和三年，肅宗北巡狩，過真定，會諸郭，朝見上壽，引入倡飲甚歡。以太牢具上郭主冢，賜粟萬斛，錢五十萬。永元初，璜為長樂少府，子舉為侍中，兼射聲校尉。及大將軍竇憲被誅，舉以憲女壻謀逆，故父子俱下獄死，家屬徙合浦，宗族為郎吏者，悉免官。新郪侯竟初為騎將，從征伐有功，拜東海相。永平中卒，子嵩嗣；嵩卒，追坐染楚王英事，國廢。建初二年，章帝紹封嵩子勤為伊亭侯，勤無子，國除。發干侯匡，官至太中大夫，建武三十年卒，子勳嗣；勳卒，子駿嗣，永平十三年，亦坐楚王英事，失國。建初三年，復封駿為觀都侯，卒，無子，國除。郭氏侯者凡三人，皆絕國。

In the third year of Yuanhe, Emperor Zhang toured the north on a hunting inspection. Passing through Zhending, he summoned the Guo kin to court, received their birthday wishes, and brought them in for a banquet with entertainers in high spirits. He offered the full bull, sheep, and pig sacrifice at Lady Guo's tomb and granted ten thousand hu of grain and five hundred thousand cash. Early in the Yongyuan era, Guo Huang became junior steward of Changle Palace, while his son Guo Ju served as palace attendant and concurrently as colonel of the Archer-Sounds regiment. When Grand General Dou Xian was put to death, Guo Ju was implicated as Dou's son-in-law in a treason plot; father and son were both jailed and died. Their families were banished to Hepu, and every clansman who held a court post was stripped of office. Marquis Jing of Xinqing had begun as a cavalry general, earned merit on campaign, and was appointed chancellor of the East Sea kingdom. He died during the Yongping era, and his son Song inherited the fief; when Song died, the line was retroactively implicated in the case of King Ying of Chu, and the marquisate was abolished. In the second year of Jianchu, Emperor Zhang re-enfeoffed Song's son Qin as marquis of Yiting; Qin had no heir, and the title lapsed. Marquis Kuang of Fagan rose to grand counselor within the palace; he died in the thirtieth year of Jianwu, and his son Xun succeeded him; when Xun died, his son Jun inherited, but in the thirteenth year of Yongping he too was caught up in the King Ying of Chu affair and lost the fief. In the third year of Jianchu, Jun was re-enfeoffed as marquis of Guandu; he died without a son, and the marquisate was struck off. Three branches of the Guo family had held marquisates, and every line died out.

論曰：物之興衰，情之起伏，理有固然矣。而崇替去來之甚者，必唯寵惑乎？當其接床笫，承恩色，雖險情贅行，莫不德焉。及至移意愛，析嬿私，雖惠心妍狀，愈獻醜焉。愛升，則天下不足容其高；歡隊，故九服無所逃其命。斯誠志士之所沈溺，君人之所抑揚，未或違之者也。郭后以衰離見貶，恚怨成尤，而猶恩加別館，增寵黨戚。至乎東海逡巡，去就以禮，使後世不見隆薄進退之隙，不亦光於古乎！

The treatise remarks: the waxing and waning of affairs, the ebb and surge of human feeling, follow a pattern that has always been there. Yet when rise and fall, coming and going, swing so wildly, must it always be favor and infatuation at work? While they share the couch and bask in favor's glow, even treacherous intent and outrageous conduct are called virtue. Once affection shifts and private intimacy is broken off, even the kindest heart and loveliest face only grow more hideous in the other's eyes. When love mounts, the whole realm cannot hold her high enough; when favor collapses, nowhere in the nine provinces can escape her sentence. This is the whirlpool in which high-minded men founder and the lever by which rulers exalt or cast down—few have ever stood outside it. Empress Guo was demoted as love faded and estrangement grew, and resentment hardened into blame; yet favor still followed her to her separate residence, and her faction kin were heaped with new honors. How much more the house of the East Sea, which withdrew with deliberation and kept leave-taking within the bounds of ritual, leaving later ages no crack through which to spy favor's rise and fall—does that not outshine antiquity itself?

光烈陰皇后

Her Majesty Empress Yin, posthumously titled Guanglie

光烈陰皇后諱麗華，南陽新野人。初，光武適新野，聞后美，心悅之。後至長安，見執金吾車騎甚盛，因歎曰：『仕宦當作執金吾，娶妻當得陰麗華。』更始元年六月，遂納后於宛當成里，時年十九。及光武為司隸校尉，方西之洛陽，令后歸新野。及鄧奉起兵，后兄識為之將，后隨家屬徙淯陰，止於奉舍。

Empress Yin the Guanglie, personal name Lihua, was a native of Xinye in Nanyang commandery. When Guangwu first visited Xinye, he heard of her beauty and was drawn to her in his heart. Later, in Chang'an, he saw the Bearer of the Mace ride out with a splendid train and sighed: "A man should rise to be Bearer of the Mace; in marriage he should win Yin Lihua." " In the sixth month of the first year of Gengshi he took her to wife in Dangcheng ward in Wan; she was nineteen at the time. When Guangwu became metropolitan superintendent and was about to head west to Luoyang, he sent her back to Xinye. When Deng Feng rose in arms, her elder brother Yin Shi served as his general; she moved with her kin to Yuyin and lodged in Deng Feng's quarters.

光武即位，令侍中傅俊迎后，與胡陽、寧平主諸宮人俱到洛陽，以后為貴人。帝以后雅性寬仁，欲崇以尊位，后固辭，以郭氏有子，終不肯當，故遂立郭皇后。建武四年，從征彭寵，生顯宗於元氏。九年，有盜劫殺后母鄧氏及弟訢，帝甚傷之，乃詔大司空曰：『吾微賤之時，娶於陰氏，因將兵征伐，遂各別離。幸得安全，俱脫虎口。以貴人有母儀之美，宜立為后，而固辭弗敢當，列於媵妾。朕嘉其義讓，許封諸弟。未及爵土，而遭患逢禍，母子同命，愍傷於懷。《小雅》曰：「將恐將懼，惟予與汝。將安將樂。汝轉弃予。」風人之戒，可不慎乎？其追爵謚貴人父陸為宣恩哀侯，弟訢為宣義恭侯，以弟就嗣哀侯後。及尸柩在堂，使太中大夫拜授印綬，如在國列侯禮。魂而有靈，嘉其寵榮！』

When Guangwu took the throne, he ordered Palace Attendant Fu Jun to escort her to Luoyang together with the princesses of Huyang and Ningping and their attendants, and there installed her as an honorable lady. The emperor, knowing her gentle and generous nature, wished to raise her to empress, but she steadfastly refused: the Guos already had a son, and she would not accept precedence over them. Empress Guo was therefore enthroned instead. In the fourth year of Jianwu she accompanied him on the campaign against Peng Chong and gave birth to the future Emperor Ming at Yuanshi. In the ninth year bandits robbed and killed her mother, née Deng, and her younger brother Xin. The emperor was deeply grieved and issued an edict to the grand minister of works: "In my obscure days I married into the Yin family; then I took the field and we were forced apart." By fortune we both came through alive and escaped the tiger's jaws." The honorable lady had every quality fit for empress, yet she firmly declined the throne and would rank only among the lesser consorts. I honored her selfless modesty and promised titles to her brothers. Before those patents of nobility could be granted, disaster struck mother and son alike; my heart is torn with pity." The Lesser Odes says: "In fear and trembling, it was I and you alone." When peace and joy came, you cast me aside." The warning of the poets—should we not heed it with care? Let the honorable lady's father Lu be posthumously ennobled as Marquis Lament of Propagating Grace, her brother Xin as Marquis Reverent of Propagating Righteousness, with the younger brother Jiu to carry on the Lament marquis line. While the coffin still lay in the hall, let a grand counselor within the palace present the seals and ribbons with the full ceremony due a marquis in his own kingdom. If their shades are conscious, let them rejoice in this honor!"

十七年，廢皇后郭氏而立貴人。制詔三公曰：『皇后懷執怨懟，數違教令，不能撫循他子，訓長異室。宮闈之內，若見鷹鸇。既無《關雎》之德，而有呂、霍之風，豈可託以幼孤，恭承明祀。今遣大司徒涉、宗正吉持節，其上皇后璽綬。陰貴人鄉里良家，歸自微賤。「自我不見，于今三年。」宜奉宗廟，為天下母。主者詳案舊典，時上尊號。異常之事，非國休福，不得上壽稱慶。』后在位恭儉，少嗜玩，不喜笑謔。性仁孝，多矜慈。七歲失父，雖已數十年，言及未曾不流涕。帝見，常歎息。

In the seventeenth year he deposed Empress Guo and raised the honorable lady to empress. His rescript to the three dukes read: "The empress nurses resentment and repeatedly defies my commands; she cannot nurture my other sons or rear them properly in their separate households. Within the inner palace she shows the fierce eye of hawk and kite. She lacks the virtue praised in "Guan ju" and shows the spirit of Empress Lü and Huo Chengjun—how could I entrust a young orphan to her or leave her to preside over the bright altars of state? I now send Grand Minister of Education She and Director of the Imperial Clan Ji, bearing the staff of authority, to receive her seals and ribbons of office. The honorable lady Yin comes of a good family in my home commandery and joined me when I was still obscure. "Since last I saw you, three years have passed," as the ode says. She is fit to attend the ancestral shrines and be mother to the realm." Let the officials in charge review the precedents with care and, when the time is right, memorialize the honorable title. Portents and anomalies bring the state no blessing; no one is to present birthday felicitations or offer congratulations on that account. " The empress on the throne was reverent and spare in habit, seldom indulged amusements, and did not care for banter or raillery. By nature she was kind, filial, and quick to show compassion. She had lost her father at the age of seven; though decades had passed, whenever the subject arose she wept without fail. Whenever the emperor witnessed it, he would sigh deeply.

顯宗即位，尊后為皇太后。永平三年冬，帝從太后幸章陵，置酒舊宅，會陰、鄧故人諸家子孫，並受賞賜。七年，崩，在位二十四年，年六十，合葬原陵。

When Emperor Ming succeeded, he honored her as empress dowager. In the winter of the third year of Yongping the emperor accompanied the empress dowager on a visit to Zhangling, where wine was set out in the old home and descendants of the Yin and Deng families and other old associates were summoned; all received gifts. In the seventh year she died. She had held rank for twenty-four years and was sixty. She was buried with the emperor at the Yuan mausoleum.

明帝性孝愛，追慕無已。十七年正月，當謁原陵，夜夢先帝、太后如平生歡。既寤，悲不能寐，即案歷，明旦日吉，遂率百官及故客上陵。其日，降甘露於陵樹，帝令百官采取以薦。會畢，帝從席前伏御床，視太后鏡奩中物，感動悲涕，令易脂澤裝具。左右皆泣，莫能仰視焉。

Emperor Ming was filial and loving by nature and mourned his parents without end. In the first month of the seventeenth year, on the eve of the visit to the Yuan mausoleum, he dreamed of his late father and mother as if they were still alive and at peace together. When he awoke, grief kept him from sleep. He consulted the calendar: the next morning was auspicious, so he led the full bureaucracy and former companions to the tomb. That day sweet dew descended on the trees of the mausoleum; the emperor ordered the officials to collect it for the offering. When the rites were done, he crept from the mats to the imperial couch and opened his mother's cosmetic case. Moved to tears, he ordered her powders and dress things replaced. Those beside him wept; none could lift his eyes.

明德馬皇后

Her Majesty Empress Ma of Virtue and Illustriousness

明德馬皇后諱某，伏波將軍援之小女也。少喪父母。兄客卿敏惠早夭，母藺夫人悲傷發疾慌惚。后時年十歲，幹理家事，勑制僮御，內外諮稟，事同成人。初，諸家莫知者，後聞之，咸歎異焉。后嘗久疾，太夫人令筮之，筮者曰：『此女雖有患狀而當大貴，兆不可言也。』後又呼相者使占諸女，見后，大驚曰：『我必為此女稱臣。然貴而少子，若養它子者得力，乃當踰於所生。』

Empress Ma of Virtue and Illustriousness, personal name withheld from the record, was the youngest daughter of General Ma Yuan, the Wave Subduer. She lost both parents while still a child. Her brother Keqing, clever and gentle, died young; Lady Lin, grief-stricken, fell ill and grew confused and withdrawn. At the age of ten she already ran the household, directed the servants, and saw to consultations within and without as capably as a grown woman. At first the other branches of the clan knew nothing of it; when they learned, every one of them marveled. During a long illness the Grand Lady had her divined. The diviner said, "Though she is sick, this girl is destined for the highest honor; the omen cannot be put into words." " Later a physiognomist was summoned to read all the girls; when his eyes fell on her he cried in alarm, "I shall one day bow to this girl as my sovereign." Yet she will be high-born but bear few sons; if she raises another's child and does it well, her reward will surpass what nature alone would give."

初，援征五溪蠻，卒於師，虎賁中郎將梁松、黃門侍郎竇固等因譖之，由是家益失埶，又數為權貴所侵侮。后從兄嚴不勝憂憤，白太夫人絕竇氏婚，求進女掖庭。乃上書曰：『臣叔父援孤恩不報，而妻子特獲恩全，戴仰陛下，為天為父。人情既得不死，便欲求福。竊聞太子、諸王妃匹未備，援有三女，大者十五，次者十四，小者十三，儀狀髮膚，上中以上。皆孝順小心，婉靜有禮。願下相工，簡其可否。如有萬一，援不朽於黃泉矣。又援姑姊妹並為成帝婕妤，葬於延陵。臣嚴幸得蒙恩更生，冀因緣先姑，當充後宮。』由是選后入太子宮。時年十三。奉承陰后，傍接同列，禮則脩備，上下安之。遂見寵異，常居後堂。

When Ma Yuan was campaigning against the Five Streams tribes, he died in the field. Colonel Liang Song of the Rapid-as-Tigers guard and Gentleman Attendant Dou Gu of the Yellow Gates among others slandered him, and the clan thereafter lost standing and was repeatedly humiliated by the great families. Her cousin Yan, unable to bear the outrage, told the Grand Lady to break off the betrothal with the Dous and sought to send a daughter into the Yeting. He presented a memorial: "My uncle Yuan died with his debt to your grace unpaid, yet his wife and children were spared by your mercy. We look up to Your Majesty as to Heaven and a father. Having been granted life, human nature turns at once to seeking further blessing. I have heard that the heir apparent's and the princes' households still lack proper consorts. Yuan left three daughters: the eldest fifteen, the next fourteen, the youngest thirteen, all of pleasing form and complexion, well above average. They are dutiful, modest, gentle, and well bred. I beg you to send a physiognomist to determine their fitness. If by the slimmest chance one were chosen, Yuan would lie undying in the Yellow Springs. Moreover, Yuan's aunts on his father's side had both served Emperor Cheng as favored ladies and were buried at Yanling. Your subject Yan has received the gift of a new life; I hope that through my late aunts' precedent one of us may enter the rear palace." " On that account she was chosen for the heir apparent's palace. She was thirteen at the time. She served Empress Yin with deference, treated her equals with courtesy, kept every rule of ritual in good order, and set all ranks at ease. She came to enjoy singular favor and was often lodged in the rear hall.

顯宗即位，以后為貴人。時后前母姊女賈氏亦以選入，生肅宗。帝以后無子，命令養之。謂曰：『人未必當自生子，但患愛養不至耳。』后於是盡心撫育，勞悴過於所生。肅宗亦孝性淳篤，恩性天至，母子慈愛，始終無纖介之間。後常以皇嗣未廣，每懷憂歎，薦達左右，若恐不及。後宮有進見者，每加慰納。若數所寵引，輒增隆遇。永平三年春，有司奏立長秋宮，帝未有所言。皇太后曰：『馬貴人德冠後宮，即其人也。』遂立為皇后。

When Emperor Ming took the throne, he made her an honorable lady. Her elder stepsister's daughter, née Jia, had entered by selection as well and gave birth to the future Emperor Zhang. Because the honorable lady had no son of her own, the emperor ordered her to rear the boy. He told her, "One need not bear a child oneself; the only worry is that love and care may fall short." " She thereupon devoted herself utterly to his upbringing, laboring more wearisomely than for a child of her own womb. Emperor Zhang was filial by nature, deep and steadfast; affection between them was heaven-given, and mother and son cherished each other to the end without the slightest estrangement. Later, because the imperial line was still narrow, she often brooded and sighed, recommending attendants to the emperor as if she feared to lag behind. Whenever a woman of the harem was admitted to audience, she greeted her with kindness and encouragement. If the emperor repeatedly favored and promoted someone, she heaped still greater honors on that woman. In the spring of the third year of Yongping the authorities memorialized for the installation of an empress; the emperor made no reply. The empress dowager said, "Among the harem none matches the virtue of the honorable lady Ma; she is the one." " She was thereupon enthroned as empress.

先是數日，夢有小飛蟲無數赴著身，又入皮膚中而復飛出。旣正位宮闈，愈自謙肅。身長七尺二寸，方口，美髮。能誦《易》，好讀《春秋》、《楚辭》，尤善《周官》、《董仲舒書》。常衣大練，裙不加緣。朔望諸姬主朝請，望見后袍衣疏麤，反以為綺縠，就視，乃笑。后辭曰：『此繒特宜染色，故用之耳。』六宮莫不歎息。帝嘗幸宛囿離宮，後輒以風邪露霧為戒，辭意款備，多見詳擇。帝幸濯龍中，並召諸才人，下邳王已下皆在側，請呼皇后。帝笑曰：『是家志不好樂，雖來無歡。』是以遊娛之事希嘗從焉。

A few days earlier she had dreamed of countless tiny flying things settling on her skin, burrowing in, and fluttering out again. Once she held rightful rank in the inner palace, she grew only more humble and austere. She stood seven feet two inches in height, had a square-cut mouth, and beautiful hair. She could recite the 《Changes》, loved the 《Spring and Autumn》 and the 《Chu elegies》, and was especially versed in the 《Zhou offices》 and the writings of Dong Zhongshu. She habitually wore coarse white silk and skirts without hem facings. On the new and full moons the concubines and princesses came to court; seeing her robes so plain, they mistook them for figured damask and crepe until they drew near and laughed. She explained, "This cloth takes dye especially well; that is why I wear it." " Not a woman in the six palaces but sighed in admiration. When the emperor wished to visit the detached palace in the Wan park, she would caution him against wind, damp, and fog in language so earnest and thorough that he often took her advice and stayed away. During a visit to the Zhuolong quarters he summoned the talented ladies; the king of Xiapi and those below him stood by and asked that the empress be called. The emperor laughed and said, "That woman's tastes run to anything but music; even if she came, there would be no pleasure in it." " Hence she seldom joined his outings and revels.

十五年，帝案地圖，將封皇子，悉半諸國。后見而言曰：『諸子裁食數縣，於制不已儉乎？』帝曰：『我子豈宜與先帝子等乎？歲給二千萬足矣。』時楚獄連年不斷，囚相證引，坐繫者甚眾。后慮其多濫，乘間言及，惻然。帝感悟之，夜起仿偟，為思所納，卒多有所降宥。時諸將奏事及公卿較議難平者，帝數以試后。后輒分解趣理，各得其情。每於侍執之際，輒言及政事，多所毗補，而未嘗以家私干。故寵敬日隆，始終無衰。

In the fifteenth year the emperor studied the map of the realm, intending to enfeoff his sons at half the size of the old kingdoms. When she saw this she said, "The boys are to receive only a few counties apiece—is that not already spare by precedent?" " The emperor replied, "Should my sons be ranked with the former emperor's?" Twenty million a year in income is enough." " At that time the Chu-case prosecutions dragged on year after year; prisoners denounced one another, and those imprisoned in consequence were legion. Fearing widespread injustice, she found occasion to speak of it with deep compassion. The emperor was moved; he rose in the night and paced, brooding on what she had urged, and in the end granted many mitigations and pardons. Whenever generals' memorials or knotty debates among the high ministers could not be settled, the emperor often tried the questions on her. She would dissect each issue to its guiding principle and lay bare the rights of the case. In their intimate moments she often touched on state business and offered much useful counsel, yet never used family concerns to meddle. His favor and regard for her therefore mounted daily and never slackened to the end.

及帝崩，肅宗即位，尊后曰皇太后。諸貴人當徙居南宮，太后感析別之懷，各賜王赤綬，加安車駟馬，白越三千端，雜帛二千匹，黃金十斤。自撰《顯宗起居注》，削去兄防參醫藥事。帝請曰：『黃門舅旦夕供養且一年，既無褒異，又不錄勤勞，無乃過乎！』太后曰：『吾不欲令後世聞先帝數親後宮之家，故不著也。』

When the emperor died and Emperor Zhang succeeded, she was honored as empress dowager. The honorable ladies were to move to the Southern Palace; touched by the pain of parting, the empress dowager gave each the red ribbon of a royal consort, a cushioned carriage with four horses, three thousand bolts of fine white cloth, two thousand bolts of assorted silk, and ten jin of gold. She herself compiled the 《Daily notes of Emperor Ming》 and struck out the entries on her brother Fang's involvement in medical matters. The emperor pleaded: "The Yellow Gates uncle has attended you day and night for nearly a year; he has received neither commendation nor record of his service—is that not too harsh?" " The empress dowager replied, "I do not wish posterity to read that the late emperor often favored households tied to the harem; that is why I left it out."

帝省詔悲歎，復重請曰：『漢興，舅氏之封侯，猶皇子之為王也。太后誠存謙虛，奈何令臣獨不加恩三舅乎？且衛尉年尊，兩校尉有大病，如令不諱，使臣長抱刻骨之恨。宜及吉時，不可稽留。』

The emperor read her refusal with a heavy heart and pressed again: "Since Han began, enfeoffing a mother's kin as marquis has been the counterpart of raising a prince to kingship. If Your Majesty truly means to be modest, why should your subject alone be denied the grace shown my three uncles? The commandant of the guards is old; both colonels are gravely ill. Should they die without honors, your subject would carry to the grave an unhealable regret. The auspicious moment should be seized; there must be no delay."

太后報曰：『吾反覆念之，思令兩善。豈徒欲獲謙讓之名，而使帝受不外施之嫌哉！昔竇太后欲封王皇后之兄，丞相條侯言受高祖約，無軍功，非劉氏不侯。今馬氏無功於國，豈得與陰、郭中興之后等邪？常觀富貴之家，祿位重疊，猶再實之木，其根必傷。且人所以願封侯者，欲上奉祭祀，下求溫飽耳。今祭祀則受四方之珍，衣食則蒙御府餘資，斯豈不足，而必當得一縣乎？吾計之孰矣，勿有疑也。夫至孝之行，安親為上。今數遭變異，穀價數倍，憂惶晝夜，不安坐臥，而欲先營外封，違慈母之拳拳乎！吾素剛急，有匈中氣，不可不順也。若陰陽調和，邊境清靜，然後行子之誌。吾但當含飴弄孫，不能復關政矣。』

The empress dowager answered: "I have turned the matter over again and again, seeking a course that does justice to both sides. Am I to grasp at the empty name of modesty and leave the emperor under suspicion of withholding favors from his own kin? When Empress Dowager Dou wished to enfeoff Empress Wang's brother, the Marquis of Tiao, as chancellor, cited Gaozu's covenant: without military merit, no non-Liu may be made marquis. The Ma have done no service to the state; how can they be ranked with the Yin and Guo consorts of the restoration? I have often observed that in houses bloated with rank and emolument, like a tree that fruits twice in one season, the roots are sure to suffer. Besides, men desire a marquisate chiefly to maintain the ancestral sacrifices above and to secure warmth and food below. As it is, our sacrifices are supplied with delicacies from every quarter, and our clothing and food draw on the surplus of the imperial treasury—is that not enough? Must we also hold a county apiece? My mind is made up; do not doubt it. The highest filial act is to give one's parents peace of mind. Omens multiply, grain costs several times what it should, and I sit and lie uneasy day and night—yet you would first scheme for outside fiefs and turn against a mother's anxious love! I am by nature abrupt and stern; the fire in my breast must be heeded. When yin and yang are in harmony and the frontiers are still, then you may follow your own inclination. As for me, I shall suck candy and dandle grandsons; I will not meddle in government again."

時，新平主家御者失火，延及北閣後殿。太后以為己過，起居不歡。時當謁原陵，自引守備不慎，慙見陵園，遂不行，初，太夫人葬，起墳微高，太后以為言，兄廖等即時減削。其外親有謙素義行者，輒假借溫言，賞以財位。如有纖介，則先見嚴恪之色，然後加譴。其美車服不軌法度者，便絕屬籍，遣歸田里。廣平、鉅鹿、樂成王車騎朴素，無金銀之飾，帝以白太后，太后即賜錢各五百萬。於是內外從化，被服如一，諸家惶恐，倍於永平時。乃置織室，蠶於濯龍中，數往觀視，以為娛樂。常與帝旦夕言道政事，乃教授諸小王，論議經書，述敘平生，雍和終日。

At that time a groom in the Princess of Xinping's household started a fire that spread to the North Pavilion and the rear hall. The empress dowager blamed herself and went about her days joyless. When the time came to visit the Yuan mausoleum, she blamed her own negligence in maintaining the guard and was too ashamed to face the park, so she did not go. Earlier, when the Grand Lady was buried, the mound had been built a little high; the empress dowager had mentioned it, and her brothers Liao and the others had lowered it at once. When a kinswoman on her mother's side showed modesty and integrity, she would address her with kindly words and reward her with wealth or office. At the slightest fault she first showed a face of stern severity, then applied reproof. Anyone whose carriages and dress broke the rules was struck from the clan register and sent home to the countryside. The kings of Guangping, Julu, and Lecheng rode in plain equipage without gold or silver trim; when the emperor told the empress dowager, she at once gave each of them five million cash. Court and countryside alike took her lesson to heart and dressed with uniform modesty; great families trembled more than they had even in the Yongping era. She set up weaving rooms and raised silkworms in the Zhuolong compound, visiting often to watch the work and taking pleasure in it. She spoke with the emperor morning and evening on the handling of state, tutored the younger kings, debated the classics with them, and reminisced about their lives together in cordial talk that lasted the whole day.

四年，天下豐稔，方垂無事，帝遂封三舅廖、防、光為列侯。並辭讓，願就關內侯。太后聞之，曰：『聖人設教，各有其方，知人情性莫能齊也。吾少壯時，但慕竹帛，志不顧命。今雖已老，而復「戒之在得」，故日夜惕厲，思自降損。居不求安，食不念飽。冀乘此道，不負先帝。所以化導兄弟，共同斯志，欲令瞑目之日，無所復恨。何意老志復不從哉？萬年之日長恨矣！』廖等不得已，受封爵而退位歸第焉。

In the fourth year the realm enjoyed bumper crops and the frontiers were quiet; the emperor thereupon enfeoffed his three uncles Liao, Fang, and Guang as full marquises. They all declined the honor and asked instead for the lesser rank of marquis within the passes. When the empress dowager heard this, she said, "The sages set forth instruction in different ways because they knew that human temperaments can never be made uniform. In my youth I cared only for a name on bamboo and silk and thought nothing of my life. Now, though I am old, I still heed the warning "beware of grasping"; therefore I watch myself day and night and seek to humble my wants. I do not ask comfort in my dwelling nor think of eating my fill. I hope by this path not to fail the late emperor. I have tried to guide my brothers to share this resolve so that when I shut my eyes for the last time I may be free of regret. How is it that in my old age you refuse to follow me? The day I die I shall carry a lasting bitterness! " Liao and the others had no choice but to accept the fiefs, resign their offices, and retire to their town houses.

太后其年寢疾，不信巫祝小醫，數勑絕禱祀。至六月，崩。在位二十三年，年四十餘。合葬顯節陵。

That year the empress dowager took to her bed. She put no trust in shamans, prayers, or quack physicians and repeatedly forbade supplicatory rites. In the sixth month she died. She had held her rank twenty-three years and was in her forties. She was buried with Emperor Ming at the Manifest Restraint mausoleum.

〈附〉賈貴人

Supplement The Honorable Lady Jia

賈貴人，南陽人。建武末選入太子宮，中元二年生肅宗，而顯宗以為貴人。帝既為太后所養，專以馬氏為外家，故貴人不登極位，賈氏親族無受寵榮者。及太后崩，乃策書加貴人王赤綬，安車一駟，永巷宮人二百，御府雜帛二萬匹，大司農黃金千斤，錢二千萬。諸史並闕後事，故不知所終。

The Honorable Lady Jia was a native of Nanyang. At the end of the Jianwu era she was chosen for the heir apparent's palace; in the second year of Zhongyuan she gave birth to the future Emperor Zhang, and Emperor Ming raised her to honorable lady. Because the emperor had been reared by the empress dowager and the Ma alone were treated as his maternal kin, the honorable lady never reached the highest rank, and no member of the Jia clan enjoyed favor or glory. When the empress dowager died, an edict raised the honorable lady to the red ribbon of a royal consort, gave her a cushioned four-horse carriage, two hundred Eternal Lane attendants, twenty thousand bolts of assorted silk from the imperial treasury, a thousand jin of gold from the grand minister of agriculture, and twenty million cash. The histories all omit what became of her, so her end is unknown.

章德竇皇后

Her Majesty Empress Dou of Virtue and Proclamation

章德竇皇后諱某，扶風平陵人，大司空融之曾孫也。祖穆，父勳，坐事死，事在《竇融傳》。勳尚東海恭王彊女沘陽公主，后其長女也。家既廢壞，數呼相工問息耗，見后者皆言當大尊貴，非臣妾容貌。年六歲能書，親家皆奇之。建初二年，后與女弟俱以選例入見長樂宮，進止有序，風容甚盛。肅宗先聞后有才色，數以訊諸姬傅。及見，雅以為美，馬太后亦異焉，因入掖庭，見於北宮章德殿。后性敏給，傾心承接，稱譽日聞。明年，遂立為皇后，妹為貴人。七年，追爵謚后父勳為安成思侯。后寵幸殊特，專固後宮。

Empress Dou of Virtue and Proclamation, personal name withheld from the record, was a native of Pingling in Fufeng and the great-granddaughter of Grand Minister of Works Dou Rong. Her grandfather was Mu and her father Xun, who died as punishment for an offense; the matter is told in the biography of Dou Rong. Xun had married the Princess of Biyang, daughter of King Qiang the Reverent of the East Sea; the empress was their eldest daughter. After the family fell into ruin they often summoned physiognomists to ask their fortune; every one who saw the empress declared she would rise to supreme honor and that hers was no face fit for a mere concubine. At six she could write; both sides of the family marveled at her. In the second year of Jianchu she and her younger sister were both presented at Changle Palace under the selection rules; their carriage and bearing were perfectly ordered and their presence imposing. Emperor Zhang had long heard of her talent and beauty and often questioned the concubines' attendants about her. When he met her he found her truly lovely; Empress Dowager Ma was struck as well, and she was admitted to the Yeting and received in the Hall of Virtue and Proclamation in the Northern Palace. Quick and alert by nature, she gave herself wholly to winning favor, and praise of her was heard daily. The following year she was enthroned as empress and her younger sister made an honorable lady. In the seventh year her father Xun was posthumously ennobled as Marquis of Thoughtful Peace at Ancheng. She enjoyed extraordinary favor and held the harem in an exclusive grip.

初，宋貴人生皇太子慶，梁貴人生和帝。后既無子，並疾忌之，數間於帝，漸致疏嫌。因誣宋貴人挾邪媚道，遂自殺，廢慶為清河王，語在《慶傳》。

At first the Honorable Lady Song had borne Heir Apparent Qing, and the Honorable Lady Liang had borne the future Emperor He. Childless herself, she hated them both and slandered them repeatedly to the emperor until he grew distant and suspicious of them. She framed the Honorable Lady Song for witchcraft and illicit seduction; the lady took her own life, Qing was demoted to prince of Qinghe, as narrated in Qing's biography.

梁貴人者，褒親愍侯梁竦之女也。少失母，為伯母舞陰長公主所養。年十六，亦以建初二年與中姊俱選入掖庭為貴人。四年，生和帝。后養為己子。欲專名外家而忌梁氏。八年，乃作飛書以陷竦，竦坐誅，貴人姊妹以憂卒。自是宮房惵息，后愛日隆。

The Honorable Lady Liang was a daughter of Liang Song, the Lament Marquis of Baoqin. She had lost her mother young and was brought up by her aunt, the senior princess of Wuyin. At sixteen, in the second year of Jianchu, she and her next elder sister were both chosen for the Yeting as honorable ladies. In the fourth year she gave birth to the future Emperor He. The empress reared him as her own son. She wished to reserve glory for her own kin and resented the Liangs. In the eighth year she forged an anonymous denunciation to destroy Song; Song was executed for it, and the honorable lady and her sisters died of grief. After that the inner palace fell silent with fear, and the empress's favor mounted daily.

及帝崩，和帝即位，尊后為皇太后。皇太后臨朝，尊母沘陽公主為長公主，益湯沐邑三千戶。兄憲，弟篤、景，並顯貴，擅威權，後遂密謀不軌，永元四年，發覺被誅。

When the emperor died and Emperor He succeeded, she was honored as empress dowager. As empress regent she raised her mother, the Princess of Biyang, to senior princess rank and added three thousand households to her bath fief. Her brothers Xian, Du, and Jing all rose to high rank, seized power, and eventually plotted treason; in the fourth year of Yongyuan the plot was uncovered and they were put to death.

九年，太后崩，未及葬，而梁貴人姊嫕上書陳貴人枉歿之狀。太尉張酺、司徒劉方、司空張奮上奏，依光武黜呂太后故事，貶太后尊號，不宜合葬先帝。百官亦多上言者。帝手詔曰：『竇氏雖不遵法度，而太后常自減損。朕奉事十年，深惟大義，禮，臣子無貶尊上之文。恩不忍離，義不忍虧。案前世上官太后亦無降黜，其勿復議。』於是合葬敬陵。在位十八年。

In the ninth year the empress dowager died before she could be buried when Liang Yi, the late Honorable Lady Liang's elder sister, submitted a memorial describing how the honorable lady had been wronged to death. Grand Commandant Zhang Pu, Minister of Education Liu Fang, and Minister of Works Zhang Fen memorialized that, following Emperor Guangwu's demotion of Empress Dowager Lü, the late empress dowager's title should be stripped and she should not be buried with the former emperor. Many other officials joined in with similar memorials. The emperor wrote in his own hand: "Though the Dou did not keep within the law, the empress dowager herself habitually practiced restraint. I have served her ten years and have weighed the great principle that ritual gives no precedent for a son of the house to dishonor his superior. Affection forbids me to cast her off; duty forbids me to wrong her. Under Former Han Empress Dowager Shangguan was never degraded; let the matter be discussed no further." " She was therefore buried with Emperor Zhang at the Reverent mausoleum. She had held power eighteen years.

帝以貴人酷歿，斂葬禮闕，乃改殯於承光宮，上尊謚曰恭懷皇后，追服喪制，百官縞素，與姊大貴人俱葬西陵，儀比敬園。

Because the honorable lady had died a cruel death without proper laying-out and burial, the emperor moved her catafalque to Chengguang Palace, gave her the posthumous title Empress Reverent and Cherished, ordered mourning dress as for a parent, clothed the officials in white, and buried her with her elder sister, the senior honorable lady, in the western mausoleum park with rites matching those at the Reverent park.

和帝陰皇后

Her Majesty Empress Yin, consort of Emperor He

和帝陰皇后諱某，光烈皇后兄執金吾識之曾孫也。后少聰慧，善書蓺。永元四年，選入掖庭，以先后近屬，故得為貴人。有殊寵。八年，遂立為皇后。

Empress Yin of Emperor He, personal name withheld from the record, was the great-granddaughter of Yin Shi, Bearer of the Mace and elder brother of Empress Guanglie. From girlhood she was clever and skilled in calligraphy and the arts. In the fourth year of Yongyuan she was chosen for the Yeting; as a close kinswoman of the late empress she became an honorable lady. She enjoyed extraordinary favor. In the eighth year she was enthroned as empress.

自和熹鄧后入宮，愛寵稍衰，數有恚恨。后外祖母鄧朱出入宮掖。十四年夏，有言后與朱共挾巫蠱道，事發覺，帝遂使中常侍張慎與尚書陳褒於掖庭獄雜考案之。朱及二子奉、毅與后弟軼、輔、敞辭語相連及，以為祠祭祝詛，大逆無道。奉、毅、輔考死獄中。帝使司徒魯恭持節賜后策，上璽綬，遷於桐宮，以憂死。立七年，葬臨平亭部。父特進綱自殺。軼、敞及朱家屬徙日南比景縣，宗親外內昆弟皆免官還田里。永初四年，鄧太后詔赦陰氏諸徙者悉歸故郡，還其資財五百餘萬。

After Empress Deng of Harmony and Radiance entered the palace, the emperor's love slackened and the empress nursed repeated resentment. The empress's maternal grandmother, Deng Zhu, came and went freely in the inner palace. In the summer of the fourteenth year it was alleged that the empress and Zhu had practiced witchcraft together; when the matter came to light the emperor sent Palace Regular Attendant Zhang Shen and Secretary Chen Bao to the Yeting prison to conduct a joint interrogation. Zhu, her sons Feng and Yi, and the empress's brothers Yi, Fu, and Chang gave confessions that implicated one another, alleging shrine offerings and cursing rites—capital crimes of the gravest kind. Feng, Yi, and Fu died under torture in prison. The emperor sent Minister of Education Lu Gong with the staff of authority to present the edict of deposition, receive her seals and ribbons, and move her to the Tong Palace, where she died of grief. She had been empress seven years and was buried in the Linping pavilion precinct. Her father, Specially Advanced Gang, took his own life. Yi, Chang, and the Zhu kin were banished to Bijing county in Rinan; every cousin of the clan inside and out was dismissed and sent home to the fields. In the fourth year of Yongchu Empress Dowager Deng issued an edict pardoning the Yin exiles to return to their home commanderies and restoring to them more than five million in property.

和熹鄧皇后

Her Majesty Empress Deng of Harmony and Radiance

和熹鄧皇后諱綏，太傅禹之孫也。父訓，護羌校尉；母陰氏，光烈皇后從弟女也。后年五歲，太傅夫人愛之，自為剪髮。夫人年高目冥，誤傷后額，忍痛不言。左右見者怪而問之，后曰：『非不痛也，太夫人哀憐為斷髮，難傷老人意，故忍之耳。』六歲能《史書》，十二通《詩》、《論語》。諸兄每讀經傳，輒下意難問。志在典籍，不問居家之事。母常非之，曰：『汝不習女工以供衣服，乃更務學，寧當舉博士邪？』后重違母言，晝修婦業，暮誦經典，家人號曰『諸生』。父訓異之，事無大小，輒與詳議。

Empress Deng of Harmony and Radiance, personal name Sui, was a granddaughter of Grand Tutor Deng Yu. Her father Xun had been colonel protecting the Qiang; her mother was of the Yin clan, a niece of Empress Guanglie's male cousins. At five she was doted on by the grand tutor's wife, who cut her hair herself. The old lady's eyes were dim; she accidentally cut the girl's forehead, who bore the pain in silence. Those who saw wondered and asked; she said, "It did hurt, but the Grand Lady cut my hair out of kindness; I could not wound an old woman's feelings, so I bore it." " At six she had mastered the scribe primer; at twelve she knew the "Odes" and the "Analects" through. Whenever her brothers read the classics and their commentaries, she would pose searching questions from her own reading. Her heart was in the texts; she took no interest in household management. Her mother often scolded her: "You neglect woman's work to clothe the family and busy yourself with books—do you mean to sit for the erudite examination?" " Unwilling to defy her mother outright, she practiced needlework by day and recited the classics at night, and the household nicknamed her "the scholar." Her father Xun thought her extraordinary and consulted her on matters great and small.

永元四年，當以選入，會訓卒，后晝夜號泣，終三年不食鹽菜，憔悴毀容，親人不識之。后嘗夢捫天，蕩蕩正青，若有鐘乳狀，乃仰嗽飲之。以訊諸占夢，言堯夢攀天而上，湯夢及天而咶之，斯皆聖王之前占，吉不可言。又相者見后驚曰：『此成湯之法也。』家人竊喜而不敢宣。后叔父陔言：『常聞活千人者，子孫有封。兄訓為謁者，使修石臼河，歲活數千人。天道可信，家必蒙福。』初，太傅禹嘆曰：『吾將百萬之眾，未嘗妄殺一人，其後世必有興者。』

In the fourth year of Yongyuan she was due for selection when Xun died; she wailed day and night, for the full three years ate no salted or pickled food, grew gaunt and unrecognizable, and her own kin did not know her. She once dreamed she touched heaven, vast and clear blue, as though hung with stalactites; she raised her head, sipped, and drank. She asked the dream interpreters, who said that Yao had dreamed of climbing to heaven and Tang of licking the sky—omens of sage kings past, auspicious beyond words. A physiognomist who saw her cried in alarm, "This is the pattern of Cheng Tang." " Her family rejoiced in secret but dared not speak of it. Her uncle Gai said, "I have always heard that whoever saves a thousand lives wins a fief for his posterity. My elder brother Xun, as herald, was charged with repairing the Stone Mortar Canal and each year kept several thousand people from starving." Heaven's way may be trusted; the household is sure to be blessed. " Long before, Grand Tutor Yu had sighed, "I commanded hosts in the hundreds of thousands yet never wantonly took a single life; posterity of my line is bound to rise."

七年，后復與諸家子俱選入宮。后長七尺二寸，姿顏姝麗，絕異於眾，左右皆驚。八年冬，入掖庭為貴人，時年十六。恭肅小心，動有法度。承事陰后，夙夜戰兢。接撫同列，常克己以下之，雖宮人隸役，皆加恩借。帝深嘉愛焉。及后有疾，特令后母兄弟入視醫藥，不限以日數。后言於帝曰：『宮禁至重，而使外舍久在內省，上令陛下有幸私之譏，下使賤妾獲不知足之謗。上下交損，誠不願也。』帝曰：『人皆以數入為榮，貴人反以為憂，深自抑損，誠難及也。』每有讌會，諸姬貴人競自修整，簪珥光采，袿裳鮮明，而后獨著素，裝服無飾。其衣有與陰后同色者，即時解易。若並時進見，則不敢正坐離立，行則僂身自卑。帝每有所問，常逡巡後對，不敢先陰后言。帝知后勞心曲體，歎曰：『修德之勞，乃如是乎！』後陰后漸疏，每當御見，輒辭以疾。時帝數失皇子，后憂繼嗣不廣，恒垂涕歎息，數選進才人，以博帝意。

In the seventh year she was chosen again for the palace together with daughters of other houses. She stood seven feet two inches, with a face and bearing so lovely that she stood apart from every other girl; all who saw her were struck with wonder. In the winter of the eighth year she entered the Yeting as an honorable lady, aged sixteen. She was reverent, cautious, and careful, and every act kept within the bounds of propriety. In serving Empress Yin she trembled with apprehension day and night. With her equals she was always self-effacing; even palace women and menial servants received her kindness. The emperor praised and cherished her deeply. When Empress Yin fell ill, he specially allowed the honorable lady's mother and brothers to attend her with medicine, with no limit on the number of days. The honorable lady said to the emperor, "The inner palace is sacrosanct; to let outsiders from my family linger in the privy chamber exposes Your Majesty above to the reproach of partiality and your humble servant below to the slander of ingratitude. Both high and low would suffer harm; that is truly what I do not wish." " The emperor said, "Others count repeated access a glory; you alone take it as a burden and humble yourself so far—few could match that." " At every feast the concubines and honorable ladies vied in dress, their pins and pendants glittering, their robes brilliant, while she alone wore undyed cloth without ornament. If any garment matched Empress Yin's color, she changed it at once. If they were admitted together, she would not sit squarely beside the empress but stood apart, and in walking she stooped to show humility. Whenever the emperor put a question, she would hesitate and answer only after Empress Yin, never speaking ahead of her. Seeing how she strained heart and body to observe every courtesy, the emperor sighed, "The labor of cultivating virtue goes this far!" " Later, as Empress Yin grew distant from favor, the honorable lady always pleaded illness when summoned to the emperor's couch. The emperor had repeatedly lost infant princes; she grieved that the succession was not secure, wept and sighed often, and repeatedly selected talented ladies to present to him so as to win his goodwill.

陰后見后德稱日盛，不知所為，遂造祝詛，欲以為害。帝嘗寢病危甚，陰后密言：『我得意，不令鄧氏復有遺類！』后聞，乃對左右流涕言曰：『我竭誠盡心以事皇后，竟不為所祐，而當獲罪於天。婦人雖無從死之義，然周公身請武王之命，越姬心誓必死之分，上以報帝之恩，中以解宗族之禍，下不令陰氏有人豕之譏。』即欲飲藥，宮人趙玉者固禁之，因詐言屬有使來，上疾已愈。后信以為然，乃止。明日，帝果瘳。

Empress Yin, seeing the honorable lady's reputation rise daily, lost her bearings and resorted to curses and imprecations to destroy her. Once when the emperor lay gravely ill, Empress Yin whispered, "If I have my way, not one of the Dengs shall be left alive!" " When the honorable lady heard this, she wept to her attendants and said, "I have served the empress with utter devotion, yet I am not spared by her and must bear heaven's punishment. A woman is not bound to follow her lord in death, yet the Duke of Zhou pledged his life for King Wu's charge, and the lady of Yue set her heart on the portion of certain death: above, to repay the emperor's kindness; in the middle, to avert disaster for my clan; below, lest the Yin be mocked as treating men like swine." " She was about to take poison when the palace woman Zhao Yu forcibly stopped her, falsely reporting that envoys had arrived and the sovereign's illness had lifted. The honorable lady believed it and desisted. The next day the emperor did in fact recover.

是時新遭大憂，法禁未設。宮中亡大珠一篋，太后念，欲考問，必有不辜。乃親閱宮人，觀察顏色，即時首服。又和帝幸人吉成，御者共枉吉成以巫蠱事，遂下掖庭考訊，辭證明白。太后以先帝左右，待之有恩，平日尚無惡言，今反若此，不合人情，更自呼見實覈，果御者所為。莫不歎服，以為聖明。常以鬼神難徵，淫祀無福。乃詔有司罷諸祠官不合典禮者。又詔赦除建武以來諸犯妖惡，及馬、竇家屬所被禁錮者，皆復之為平人。減大官、導官、尚方、內者服御珍膳靡麗難成之物，自非供陵廟，稻粱米不得導擇，朝夕一肉飯而已。舊太官湯官經用歲且二萬萬，太后勑止，日殺省珍費，自是裁數千萬。及郡國所貢，皆減其過半。悉斥賣上林鷹犬。其蜀、漢釦器九帶佩刀，並不復調。止畫工三十九種。又御府、尚方、織室錦繡、冰紈、綺縠、金銀、珠玉、犀象、瑇瑁、彫鏤翫弄之物，皆絕不作。離宮別館儲峙米糒薪炭，悉令省之。又詔諸園貴人，其宮人有宗室同族若羸老不任使者，令園監實覈上名，自御北宮增喜觀閱問之，恣其去留，即日免遣者五六百人。

The court had just suffered a great bereavement and regulations were not yet in place. A basket of large pearls went missing in the palace. The empress dowager considered ordering a general interrogation but feared the innocent would suffer. She therefore examined the palace women herself, reading their faces, and the culprit confessed at once. The late emperor's favorite Jicheng had been jointly framed by her grooms on a charge of witchcraft; the case was sent to the Yeting for examination, and the confessions seemed clear. The empress dowager reflected that the late emperor's attendants had treated Jicheng kindly and she had never been heard to speak ill; such a turn was against human nature. She summoned and questioned her in person, and it proved to be the grooms' doing. All marveled and conceded her sage discernment. She held that ghosts and spirits are hard to verify and that illicit sacrifices bring no blessing. She therefore ordered the authorities to abolish shrine offices that did not conform to canonical ritual. Another edict pardoned everyone convicted of sorcery or malign arts since the Jianwu era and restored commoner status to the Ma and Dou dependents who had been proscribed. She cut the grand provisioner, guide provisioner, imperial workshops, and inner bureau of costly and laborious dainties for the table; except for offerings at the mausolea, rice was no longer winnowed to fineness, and morning and evening meals were limited to a single meat dish with rice. Formerly the grand and soup provisioners had run to nearly two hundred million cash a year; the empress dowager ordered a halt and daily pared rare expenses until the figure stood at only a few tens of millions. Tribute from the commanderies and kingdoms was cut by more than half. All the hawks and hounds of the Shanglin park were sold off. Shu and Han inlaid metalwork and nine-linked girdle-swords were no longer requisitioned. Painter-artisans were retained for only thirty-nine categories of work. The imperial treasury, workshops, and weaving chambers ceased altogether to produce brocades, ice-silk, figured gauze, gold and silver, pearls and jade, rhinoceros and ivory, tortoiseshell, and carved gewgaws for amusement. Stockpiles of grain, dried rations, firewood, and charcoal at detached palaces and lodges were all ordered cut back. She also ordered the honorable ladies of the various parks to report, through the warden with verified lists, any attendants who were imperial clanswomen or too frail for service; she herself received them at the Zengxi belvedere in the Northern Palace and let each choose to stay or go, and five or six hundred were dismissed that day.

及殤帝崩，太后定策立安帝，猶臨朝政。以連遭大憂，百姓苦役，殤帝康陵方中秘藏，及諸工作，事事減約，十分居一。

When Emperor Shang died, the empress dowager settled the succession on Emperor An and continued to hold court. Because the realm had suffered repeated mourning and the people were worn by labor service, the secret burial chamber of Emperor Shang's Kang mausoleum and every construction project was scaled back to a tenth of the original plan.

詔告司隸校尉、河南尹、南陽太守曰：『每覽前代外戚賓客，假借威權，輕薄謥詷，至有濁亂奉公，為人患苦。咎在執法怠懈，不輒行其罰故也。今車騎將軍騭等雖懷敬順之志，而宗門廣大，姻戚不少，賓客姦猾，多干禁憲。其明加檢勑，勿相容護。』自是親屬犯罪，無所假貸。太后愍陰氏之罪廢，赦其徙者歸鄉，勑還資財五百餘萬。永初元年，爵號太夫人為新野君，萬戶供湯沐邑。

An edict informed the metropolitan superintendent, the governor of Henan, and the grand administrator of Nanyang: "In reviewing how kin by marriage and their clients of former ages borrowed power, behaved with shallow cunning, and in the end fouled public duty and brought misery on the people, the blame lay with lax enforcement that failed to apply penalties in good time. Though General of Chariots and Cavalry Zhi and his kin are respectful in intent, their clan is large, their marriage connections many, and their clients are often rogues who violate the statutes. Inspect them strictly and show no favoritism in covering their faults." " After that, when kinsmen broke the law, no indulgence was granted. The empress dowager took pity on the Yin for their crime and deposition, pardoned the exiles to return home, and ordered more than five million in property restored to them. In the first year of Yongchu the Grand Lady was given noble rank as lord of Xinye with a bath fief of ten thousand households.

二年夏，京師旱，親幸洛陽寺錄冤獄。有囚實不殺人而被考自誣，羸困輿見，畏吏不敢言，將去，舉頭若欲自訴。太后察視覺之，即呼還問狀，具得枉實，即時收洛陽令下獄抵罪。行未還宮，澍雨大降。

In the summer of the second year there was drought in the capital; she went in person to the Luoyang prison temple to review unjust convictions. One prisoner had not killed anyone but had confessed under torture; wasted and weak, he was brought in a cart, too afraid of the clerks to speak, yet as he was led away he lifted his head as if to plead. The empress dowager noticed, called him back, questioned him, and learned the full injustice; she at once jailed the magistrate of Luoyang to answer for his crime. Before her party had returned to the palace, a soaking rain began to fall.

七年正月，初入太廟，齋七日，賜公卿百僚各有差。庚戌，謁宗廟，率命婦群妾相禮儀，與皇帝交獻親薦，成禮而還。因下詔曰：『凡供薦新味，多非其節，或鬱養強孰，或穿掘萌牙，味無所至而夭折生長，豈所以順時育物乎！傳曰：「非其時不食。」自今當奉祠陵廟及給御者，皆須時乃上。』凡所省二十三種。

In the first month of the seventh year she first entered the Grand Temple, fasted seven days, and distributed gifts to the dukes, ministers, and officials according to rank. On the gengxu day she attended the ancestral shrines, led the titled wives and concubines in the rites, and with the emperor exchanged offerings and presented them in person; when the ceremony was complete she returned. She then issued an edict: "Most offerings of fresh delicacies are out of season—forced to ripen in hothouses or dug up while still sprouts—so flavor never develops while life is cut short; how does that accord with nurturing things in their proper season? The tradition says, "Do not eat what is not in season." " Henceforth whatever is offered at the mausolea or supplied to the imperial table must be presented only in its proper season." " In all, twenty-three kinds of tribute were cut."

自太后臨朝，水旱十載，四夷外侵，盜賊內起。每聞人飢，或達旦不寐，而躬自減徹，以救災戹，故天下復平，歲還豐穰。

During the decade the empress dowager held court there were floods and droughts, incursions on every border, and rebellion within. Whenever she heard that people were starving she sometimes lay awake until dawn, cutting her own expenses to relieve the distress, so that the realm was restored to peace and the harvests turned full again.

元初五年，平望侯劉毅以太后多德政，欲令早有注記，上書安帝曰：『臣聞《易》載羲、農而皇德著，《書》述唐、虞而帝道崇，故雖聖明，必書功於竹帛，流音於管弦。伏惟皇太后膺大聖之姿，體乾坤之德，齊蹤虞妃，比跡任、姒。孝悌慈仁，允恭節約，杜絕奢盈之源，防抑逸欲之兆。正位內朝，流化四海。及元興、延平之際，國無儲副，仰觀乾象，參之人譽，援立陛下為天下主，永安漢室，綏靜四海。又遭水潦，東州飢荒。垂恩元元，冠蓋交路，菲薄衣食，躬率群下，損膳解驂，以贍黎苗。惻隱之恩，猶視赤子。克已引愆，顯揚仄陋。崇晏晏之政，敷在寬之教。興滅國，繼絕世，錄功臣，復宗室。追還徙人，蠲除禁錮。政非惠和，不圖於心，制非舊典，不訪於朝。弘德洋溢，充塞宇宙；洪澤豐沛，漫衍八方。華夏樂化，戎狄混幷。丕功著於大漢，碩惠加於生人。巍巍之業，可聞而不可及；蕩蕩之勳，可誦而不可名。古之帝王，左右置史；漢之舊典，世有注記。夫道有夷崇，治有進退。若善政不述，細異輒書，是為堯、湯負洪水大旱之責，而無咸熙假天之美；高宗、成王有雉雊迅風之變，而無中興康寧之功也。上考《詩》、《書》，有虞二妃，周室三母，修行佐德，思不逾閾。未有內遭家難，外遇灾害，覽總大麓，經營天物，功德巍巍若茲者也。宜令史官著《長樂宮注》、《聖德頌》，以敷宣景燿，勒勳金石，縣之日月，攄之罔極，以崇陛下烝烝之孝。』帝從之。

In the fifth year of Yuanchu, Liu Yi, marquis of Level View, wishing the empress dowager's many good deeds to be recorded while memory was fresh, memorialized Emperor An: "Your subject has heard that the 《Changes》 sets forth Fuxi and Shennong and august virtue shines; the 《Documents》 tells of Yao and Shun and the way of the sage-kings is honored. Thus even the wisest ruler inscribes his achievements on bamboo and silk and sets them to music. The Empress Dowager has been endowed with the bearing of the greatest sage and embodies the virtue of heaven and earth; her steps match those of the consorts of Yu, her footprints those of Ren and Si. Filial, gentle, and kind, reverent and spare, she has stopped the springs of extravagance and curbed every sign of dissolute appetite. Holding rightful place in the inner court, she has spread transforming influence through the four seas. At the crisis of Yuanxing and Yanping, when the state lacked an heir, she read the signs of heaven and weighed men's voices, raised Your Majesty as lord of the realm, secured the house of Han forever, and brought calm to the four seas. Floods followed, and the eastern provinces knew famine. She extended grace to the common people, sent officials crowding every road, wore thin clothes and ate plain food, led her subordinates by example, cut palace meals and spare horses from her teams, and fed the black-haired masses. Her compassionate care was like a mother's toward a newborn. She restrained herself and owned fault, and brought forward talent from the humblest corners. She honored a government of mildness and spread the teaching of clemency. She restored ruined states, continued lines cut off, enrolled meritorious ministers, and reinstated the imperial house. She recalled the exiled, remitted sentences, and lifted proscriptions. No policy that was not kindly and conciliating was laid to heart; no measure not grounded in ancient precedent was brought before the court. Her magnanimous virtue overflows and fills the cosmos; her vast bounty spreads in flood to the eight directions. The Hua and Xia rejoice in her transforming influence; barbarians merge in allegiance. Her great merit shines on mighty Han; her rich grace rests on every living soul. Her towering achievement may be heard of but not attained; her boundless merit may be recited but not named. The emperors of old set scribes at their left and right; Han precedent likewise has each reign annotated. The Way has its seasons of rise and decline; government advances and recedes. If good rule goes unrecorded while petty portents are always written down, then Yao and Tang bear blame for flood and drought yet lack the beauty of universal harmony borrowed from heaven; Gaozong and King Cheng had omens of crowing pheasants and sudden winds, yet lack the record of restoration and peace. Consult the 《Poetry》 and 《Documents》: the two consorts of Yu, the three mothers of Zhou, cultivated conduct to support virtue and kept thought within woman's inner threshold. Never has one faced domestic calamity within and disaster without, grasped the great charge, ordered the affairs of heaven and man, and piled merit so high as this. Let the historians compile 《Notes on Changle Palace》 and a 《Eulogy on sage virtue》 to spread her bright glory, inscribe her merit on metal and stone, hang it beside sun and moon, and publish it without end, thereby exalting Your Majesty's filial devotion. " The emperor agreed.

六年，太后詔徵和帝弟濟北、河間王子男女年五歲以上四十餘人，又鄧氏近親子孫三十餘人，並為開邸第，教學經書，躬自監試。尚幼者，使置師保，朝夕入宮，撫循詔導，恩愛甚渥。乃詔從兄河南尹豹、越騎校尉康等曰：『吾所以引納群子，置之學官者，實以方今承百王之敝，時俗淺薄，巧偽滋生，《五經》衰缺，不有化導，將遂陵遲，故欲褒崇聖道，以匡失俗。傳不云乎：「飽食終日，無所用心，難矣哉！」今末世貴戚食祿之家，溫衣美飯，乘堅驅良，而面牆術學，不識臧否，斯故禍敗所從來也。永平中，四姓小侯皆令入學，所以矯俗厲薄，反之忠孝。先公既以武功書之竹帛，兼以文德教化子孫，故能束脩，不觸羅網。誠令兒曹上述祖考休烈，下念詔書本意，則足矣。其勉之哉！』

In the sixth year the empress dowager issued an edict summoning more than forty sons and daughters of He's younger brothers, the kings of Jibei and Hejian, aged five and above, together with over thirty descendants of the near Deng kin; mansions were opened for them, the classics were taught, and she supervised the examinations in person. The younger children were given tutors and guardians, came to the palace morning and evening, were comforted and instructed by edict, and received the deepest affection. She then addressed her cousins Bao, governor of Henan, Kang, colonel of agile cavalry, and others: "I have gathered these boys and placed them under instructors because we now inherit the decay of a hundred reigns, the age is shallow and deceit flourishes, and the Five Classics are in decline; without moral guidance the slide will continue, so I mean to honor the sage way and set right a fallen world. Does not the tradition say, "To eat one's fill all day and apply the mind to nothing—there is the difficulty!" " In this late age the great families on stipends wear warm clothes, eat fine food, ride strong carriages and good horses, yet stand like fools before a wall in their studies and cannot tell right from wrong—that is whence ruin comes. In the Yongping era the minor marquises of the four great clans were all sent to school to correct shallow custom and turn men back to loyalty and filial piety." Our late lord inscribed his martial merit on bamboo and silk and also taught his descendants with civil virtue, so they could keep proper conduct and never run foul of the law. If the boys will look up to the glorious deeds of their forebears and look down to the true intent of this edict, that is enough. Let the young men strive with all their hearts in this."

康以太后久臨朝政，心懷畏懼，托病不朝。太后使內人問之。時宮婢出入，多能有所毀譽，其耆宿者皆稱中大人，所使者乃康家先婢，亦自通中大人。康聞，詬之曰：『汝我家出，爾敢爾鴉！』婢怒，還說康詐疾而言不遜。太后遂免康官，遣歸國，絕屬籍。

Kang, fearful because the empress dowager had long held the reins of government, pleaded illness and stayed away from court. The empress dowager sent a palace insider to inquire after him. Palace maids who came and went often carried slander or praise; the senior ones were all addressed as "madame of the middle palace." The woman sent was a former maid of Kang's household, and she too presented herself as a "madame of the middle palace." When Kang heard this he berated her: "You came from my household—how dare you caw like a crow!" " The maid, furious, went back and reported that Kang was shamming illness and had spoken disrespectfully. The empress dowager thereupon stripped Kang of office, sent him back to his fief, and struck him from the clan register.

永寧二年二月，寢病漸篤，乃乘輦於前殿，見侍中、尚書，因北至太子新所繕宮。還，大赦天下，賜諸園貴人、王、主、群僚錢、布各有差。詔曰：『朕以無德，託母天下，而薄祐不天，早離大憂。延平之際，海內無主，元元戹運，危於累卵。勤勤苦心，不敢以萬乘為樂，上欲不欺天愧先帝，下不違人負宿心，誠在濟度百姓，以安劉氏。自謂感徹天地，當蒙福祚，而喪禍內外，傷痛不絕。頃以廢病沈滯，久不得侍祠，自力上原陵，加欬逆唾血，遂至不解。存亡大分，無可奈何。公卿百官，其勉盡忠恪，以輔朝廷。』三月崩。在位二十年，年四十一。合葬順陵。

In the second month of the second year of Yongning her illness grew grave; she rode in a palanquin to the front hall, received the palace attendant and secretaries, then went north to the heir apparent's newly repaired palace. On her return she proclaimed a general amnesty and distributed cash and cloth to the honorable ladies of the parks, kings, princesses, and officials according to rank. Her edict read: "I lack virtue yet have been entrusted as mother to the realm; heaven granted me little blessing, and I was parted early from my great sorrow. At the crisis of Yanping there was no ruler within the seas; the people faced cruel fate, and the danger was worse than a tower of eggs. I have toiled with anxious care and dared not take the throne for pleasure: above, I would not deceive heaven nor shame the late emperor; below, I would not wrong the people nor betray what I long resolved—to save the common folk and secure the house of Liu. I believed my devotion had moved heaven and earth and that the blessing would follow; yet mourning and calamity struck within and without, and grief has not ceased. Lately lingering illness has kept me long from the sacrifices; I forced myself to climb the Yuan mausoleum, then suffered coughing fits and spat blood, until I could not recover. Life and death are heaven's great allotment; nothing can be done. Let the dukes, ministers, and all officials strive to the utmost in loyalty and reverence to support the court." She died in the third month. She had held power twenty years and was forty-one. She was buried with Emperor He at the Compliant mausoleum.

論曰：鄧后稱制終身，號令自出，術謝前政之良，身闕明辟之義，至使嗣主側目，斂衽於虛器，直生懷懣，懸書於象魏。借之儀者，殆其惑哉！然而建光之後，王柄有歸，遂乃名賢戮辱，便孽黨進，衰斁之來，茲焉有徴。故知持權引謗，所幸者非己；焦心恤患，自強者唯國。是以班母一說，闔門辭事；愛侄微愆，髡剔謝罪。將杜根逢誅，未值其誠乎！但蹊田之牛，奪之已甚。

The treatise remarks: Empress Deng held the regency to the end, issuing every order herself; her policies fell short of the good government that went before, and she personally lacked the righteousness of yielding to the rightful sovereign, until the heir looked on her askance and paid ritual homage to an empty title, while upright men nursed resentment and posted their protests on the gate towers. To borrow the forms of legitimacy—how deluded that was! Yet after Jianguang the royal scepter returned to its master, whereupon noted worthies were slaughtered and shamed, a clique of petty favorites advanced, and the onset of decay—here is the proof. Hence we see that grasping power invites slander and that those who profit are not oneself; an anxious heart may care for calamity, yet only the state grows stronger by it. Hence Mother Ban's single remonstrance closed the whole house to office; love for a nephew's slight fault was answered with shaving and mutilation in atonement. As for Du Gen, who faced execution—did he not meet her "sincerity"! Yet it was like the ox that merely trod another's field—to seize it was going too far.

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