1
張純字伯仁，京兆杜陵人也。 高祖父安世，宣帝時為大司馬衛將軍，封富平侯。 父放，為成帝侍中。 純少襲爵士，哀、平間為侍中，王莽時至列卿。 遭值篡偽，多亡爵士，純以敦謹守約，保全前封。
Zhang Chun, style Boren, came from Duling in the Jingzhao commandery area. Four generations back, his ancestor Zhang Anshi had served under Emperor Xuan as grand marshal and general of the guard and had been made marquis of Fuping. His father Zhang Fang had been attendant-in-chief under Emperor Cheng. Zhang Chun succeeded to the title while still young; during the Ai and Ping reigns he became attendant-in-chief, and under Wang Mang he advanced to senior ministerial rank. Many houses lost their fiefs when the usurpation came, but Zhang Chun kept his earlier grant by staying scrupulous and reliable.
2
建武初，先來詣闕，故得復國。 五年，拜太中大夫，使將潁川突騎安集荊、徐、楊部，督委輸，監諸將營。 反又將兵屯田南陽，遷五官中郎將。 有司奏，列侯非宗室不宜復國。 光武曰：『張純宿衛十有餘年，其勿廢，更封武始侯，食富平之半。』
Early in the Jianwu reign he presented himself at court ahead of others, which earned him restoration of his marquisate. In the fifth year of Jianwu he received appointment as grand palace counsellor and was sent with Yingchuan's shock cavalry to settle the Jing, Xu, and Yang theaters, oversee convoys, and inspect the generals' encampments. He later commanded troops on an agricultural colony at Nanyang and was raised to general of the household for all five bureaus. The authorities memorialized that non-clan marquises should not have their kingdoms revived. Guangwu replied: "Zhang Chun has stood palace watch for over a decade; do not strip him—transfer his fief to Wushi marquisate with half the income of Fuping."
3
純在朝歷世，明習故事。 建武初，舊章多闕，每有疑議，輒以訪純，自郊廟婚冠喪紀禮儀義，多所正定。 帝甚重之，以純兼虎賁中郎將，數被引見，一日或至數四。 純以宗廟未定，昭穆失序，十九年，乃與太仆朱浮共奏言：『陛下興於匹庶，蕩滌天下，誅鋤暴亂，興繼祖宗。 竊以經義所紀，人事眾心，雖實同創革，而名為中興，宜奉先帝，恭承祭祀者也。 元帝以來，宗廟奉祠高皇帝為受命祖，孝文皇帝為太宗，孝武皇帝為世宗，皆如舊制。 又立親廟四世，推南頓君以上盡於舂陵節侯。 禮，為人後者則為之子，既事大宗，則降其私親。 今禘祫高廟，陳序昭穆，而舂陵四世，君臣並列，以卑廁尊，不合禮意，設不遭王莽，而國嗣無寄，推求宗室，以陛下繼統者，安得復顧私親，違禮制乎？ 昔高帝以自受命，不由太上，宣帝以孫後祖，不敢私親，故為父立廟，獨群臣侍祠。 臣愚謂宜除今親廟，以則二帝舊典，願下有司博采其議。 』詔下公卿，大司徒戴涉、大司空竇融議：『宜以宣、元、成、哀、平五帝四世代今親廟，宣、元皇帝尊為祖、父，可親奉祠，成帝以下，有司行事，別為南頓君立皇考廟。 其祭上至舂陵節侯，群臣奉祠，以明尊尊之敬，親親之恩。 』帝從之。 是時宗廟未備，自元帝以上，祭於洛陽高廟，成帝以下，祠於長安高廟，其南頓四世，隨所在而祭焉。
Zhang Chun had served through several reigns and knew administrative precedent inside out. Early in Jianwu the statutes were full of gaps; on every doubtful point the court turned to Zhang Chun, and he fixed much of the ritual for suburban sacrifices, temples, weddings, cappings, and mourning. The emperor thought highly of him, gave him the concurrent post of leader of the household gentlemen of the tiger guard, and called him in so often that he might be seen four times in one day. In the nineteenth year of Jianwu, because the imperial shrines were unsettled and the zhao-mu sequence wrong, he and grand coachman Zhu Fu jointly argued: "You rose from outside the court, purged the empire, crushed rebellion, and restored the ancestral house. The canon and common expectation alike treat this as a restoration in name though like a new foundation; the former emperors must be honored and their cult maintained." Since Emperor Yuan, the high temple had worshipped Gaozu as the recipient of the mandate, Emperor Wen as the great progenitor, and Emperor Wu as the exalted ancestor, following the old pattern. Four generations of "close" shrines had also been set, running from Lord Nandun back to Marquis Jieling of Chunling. Ritual says an adopted heir is a son of the line he enters; serving the great trunk means demoting one's own blood relatives. At the great di and xia rites in the high temple the generations are ordered, yet the four Chunling generations appear as lord and subject together—base beside exalted—which breaks ritual. Had Wang Mang never seized power and the throne lacked an heir, and a clansman had been chosen for you to succeed, would private kin still override the code? Gaozu took the mandate in his own person, not from a "supreme emperor"; Emperor Xuan, exalting an ancestor as a grandson, still shrank from privileging kin and built a father-temple served only by ministers. I would abolish the current "close" shrines to match those two precedents and ask that the ministries debate this broadly." The edict went to the high ministers. Dai She and Dou Rong proposed: "Use the five rulers from Xuan through Ping, with four generations, in place of today's private shrines; Xuan and Yuan as grandfather and father may receive worship from you in person; from Cheng on let officials officiate; add a separate "imperial father" temple for Lord Nandun. Worship should reach up to Marquis Jieling of Chunling with ministers conducting it, to mark both reverence for rank and affection for kin." The emperor accepted their recommendation. The national shrines were still incomplete: from Yuan upward rites were at Luoyang's high temple, from Cheng downward at Chang'an's high temple, while the four Nandun generations were honored wherever their tablets happened to be.
4
明年，純代朱浮為太仆。 二十三年，代杜林為大司空。 在位慕曹參之跡，務於無為，選辟椽史，皆知名大儒。 明年，上穿陽渠，引洛水為漕，百姓得其利。
The following year Zhang Chun succeeded Zhu Fu as grand coachman. In Jianwu 23 he replaced Du Lin as grand minister of works. In office he modeled himself on Cao Shen's quiet governance and filled his bureau with eminent Confucians. The next year the court cut the Yang canal to feed the Luo into the grain waterways, to the people's profit.
5
二十六年，詔純曰：『禘、祫之祭，不行已久矣。 「三年不為禮，禮必壞； 三年不為樂，樂必崩」。 宜據經典，詳為其制。 』純奏曰：『《禮》，三年一祫，五年一禘。 《春秋傳》曰：「大祫者何？ 合祭也。 」毀廟及未毀廟之主皆登，合食乎太祖，五年而再殷。 漢舊制三年一祫，毀廟主合良高廟，存廟主未嘗合祭。 元始五年，諸王公列侯廟會，始為禘祭。 又前十八年親幸長安，亦行此禮。 禮說三年一閏，天氣小備； 五年再閏，天氣大備。 故三年一祫，五年一禘。 禘之為言諦，諦定昭穆尊卑之義也。 禘祭以夏四月，夏者陽氣在上，陰氣在下，故正尊卑之義也。 祫祭以冬十月，冬者五谷成孰，物備禮成，故合聚飲食也。 斯典之廢，於茲八年，謂可如禮施行，以時定議。 』定從之，自是禘、祫遂定。
In Jianwu 26 an edict told him: "The di and xia sacrifices have long been neglected. "If ritual is neglected for three years, it will decay; if music is neglected for three years, it will fall apart." Ground the schedule in the classics and spell it out in detail." Zhang Chun replied: "The Rites prescribe a xia every three years and a di every five. The Zuo asks what the great xia is: a combined offering to all ancestors." Tablets from demolished and standing shrines alike ascend to feast with the first ancestor; the grand assembly recurs every five years. Under Han practice a triennial xia joined the deposed-line tablets at Gaozu's temple, whereas lines still in their own shrines had not been merged in one rite. In Yuanshi 5, when the nobles and shrines assembled, the di rite was first performed. Eighteen years earlier you had gone to Chang'an in person and observed the same ceremony. Canonists compare the three-year cycle to one intercalation—heaven's breath partly restored; the five-year span to two intercalations—full restoration of the seasonal order. Hence the triennial xia and the quinquennial di. Di means "to sort": it fixes who is zhao, who is mu, who ranks above whom. The di falls in summer's fourth month, yang aloft and yin below, the right season to order high and low. The xia comes in winter's tenth month, when grain is in, goods gathered, and the rites complete—time for the great common meal. That norm has lapsed eight years; it should be restored on schedule and the calendar fixed." The court agreed, and from then on di and xia were on the books.
6
時，南單於及烏桓來降，邊境無事，百姓新去兵革，歲仍有年，家給人足。 純以聖王之建辟雍，所以崇尊禮義，既富而教者也。 乃案七經讖、明堂圖、河間《古辟雍記》、孝武太山明堂制度，及平帝時議，欲具奏之。 未及上，會博士桓榮上言宜立辟雍、明堂，章下三公、太常，而純議同榮，帝乃許之。
The southern Shanyu and Wuhuan had surrendered, the frontier was calm, the realm had just put down weapons, harvests ran in succession, and families were well fed. Zhang Chun argued that the sage-kings built the Bright Hall and the ritual enclosure to magnify li and yi and to instruct a people already prosperous. He collated the seven-classics weft-texts, a Bright Hall diagram, the Hejian "Ancient Bright Hall" record, Emperor Wu's Tai-shan Bright Hall plan, and Ping-era debates, preparing a full memorial. Before he could present it, Erudite Huan Rong urged building Bright Hall and the ritual hall; the memorial went to the three dukes and the grand master of ceremonies, Zhang Chun concurred with Huan Rong, and the emperor approved.
7
三十年，純奏上宜封禪，曰：『自古受命而帝，治世之隆，必有封禪，以告成功焉。 《樂動聲儀》曰：「以《雅》治人，《風》成於《頌》。 」有周之盛，成、康之間，郊配封禪，皆可見也。 書曰：「歲二月，東巡狩，至於岱宗，祡」，則封禪之義也。 臣伏見陛下受中興之命，平海內之亂，修復祖宗，撫存萬姓，天下曠然，咸蒙更生，恩德雲行，惠澤雨施，黎元安寧，夷狄慕義。 《詩》云：『受天之祜，四方來賀。 」今攝提之歲，倉龍甲寅，德在東宮。 宜及嘉時，遵唐帝之典，繼孝武之業，以二月東巡狩，封於岱宗，明中興，勒功勛，復祖統，報天神，禪梁父，祀地祇，傳祚子孫，萬世之基也。 』中元元年，帝乃東巡岱宗，以純視禦史大夫從，並上元封舊儀及刻石文。 三月，薨，謚曰節候。
In Jianwu 30 he urged feng and shan: "Since antiquity every true recipient of the mandate, at the zenith of good rule, has mounted Tai to announce success. The Yue dong sheng yi says: The Ya orders the people; the Feng and Song crown the ode." Zhou's glory under Cheng and Kang shows suburban pairing and feng-shan alike. The Documents record the second-month eastern inspection at Daizong with the chai offering—that is the sense of feng and shan. I have watched you take up the restoration mandate, end civil war, repair the ancestral enterprise, and nurture the people: the land lies open, all feel reborn, grace spreads like clouds, bounty falls like rain, commoners rest easy, and foreigners incline to duty. The Odes say: Heaven's blessing draws tribute from every quarter. This is the Sheti year, jia-yin of the azure dragon, with virtue in the eastern quarter. You should use this propitious season, follow Yao's model and Emperor Wu's example, tour east in the second month, feng Mount Tai to proclaim the restoration, record achievements, realign the cult with the founders, thank heaven above, shan at Liangfu, honor earth below, and lay a foundation for endless generations." In Zhongyuan 1 the emperor traveled east to Tai; Zhang Chun attended as acting imperial counsellor and brought up the Yuanfeng precedents and the stele texts. He died in the third month and was posthumously titled marquis Jie.
8
子奮
His son was Zhang Fen.
9
奮字稚通。 父純，臨終敕家丞曰：『司空無功於時，猥蒙爵士，身死之後，勿議傳國。 』奮兄根，少被病，光武詔奮嗣爵，奮稱純遺敕，固不肯受。 帝以奮違詔，敕收下獄，奮惶怖，乃襲封。 永平四年，隨例歸國。
Zhang Fen, style Zhitong. On his deathbed Zhang Chun told his household steward: "I have done nothing to earn the age's praise yet hold rank and fief; after I die do not press for transmission of the title." Zhang Fen's elder brother Gen had been ill since youth; Guangwu ordered Fen to inherit, but Fen cited his father's last words and refused. The emperor took this as defiance of an edict and had him jailed; terrified, Zhang Fen then took the title. In Yongping 4 he surrendered his fief under the general rule.
10
時歲災旱，祈雨不應，乃上表曰：『比年不登，人用饑匱，今復久旱，秋稼未立，陽氣垂盡，歲月迫促。 夫國以民為本，民以谷為命，政之急務，憂之重者也。 臣蒙恩尤深，受職過任，夙夜憂懼，章奏不能敘心，願對中常侍疏奏。 』即時引見，復口陳時政之宜。 明日，和帝召太尉、司徒幸洛陽獄，錄囚徒，收洛陽令陳歆，即大雨三日。
Years of drought had followed one another; rain rituals failed. He memorialized: "Harvests have failed and the people are hungry; the drought drags on and autumn grain is not yet in the ground; yang is almost spent and the season runs out. The state rests on the people, the people on grain—nothing in government is more urgent or more worrisome. I am more deeply favored than I deserve and hold a post above my strength; I fret day and night and paper cannot say it all—I ask leave to speak face to face before the regular palace attendants." He was summoned at once and repeated his policy advice in person. The next day Emperor He sent the grand commandant and minister of education to review prisoners at the Luoyang jail, arrested magistrate Chen Xin, and rain fell for three days.
11
奮在位清白，無他異績。 九年，以病罷。 在家上疏曰：『聖人所美，政道至要，本在禮樂。 《五經》同歸，而禮樂之用尤急。 孔子曰：「安上治民，莫善於禮； 移風易俗，莫善於樂。 」又曰：「揖讓而化天下者，禮樂之謂也。 」先王之道，禮樂可謂盛矣。 孔子謂子夏曰：「禮以修外，樂以制內，丘已矣夫！ 」又曰：「禮樂不興，則刑罰不中； 刑罰不中，則民無所厝其手足。 」臣以為漢當制作禮樂，是以先帝聖德，數下詔書，湣傷崩缺，而眾儒不達，議多駁異。 臣累世臺輔，而大典未定，私竊惟憂，不忘寢食。 臣犬馬齒盡，誠冀先死見禮樂之定。 』十三年，更召拜太常。 復上疏曰：『漢當改作禮樂，圖書著明。 王者化定制禮，功成作樂。 謹條禮樂異議三事，願下有司，以時考定。 昔者孝武皇帝、光武皇帝封禪告成，而禮樂不定，事不相副。 先帝已詔曹褒，今陛下但奉而成之，猶周公斟酌文武之道，非自為制，誠無所疑。 久執謙謙，令大漢之業不以時成，非所以章顯祖宗功德，建太平之基，為後世法。 』帝雖善之，猶未施行。 其冬，復以病罷。 明年，卒於家。
Zhang Fen's tenure was clean but otherwise unremarkable. In the ninth year he stepped down on grounds of illness. From retirement he wrote: "The sages prized above all the essentials of good rule—ritual and music. The Five Classics converge on one aim, yet ritual and music matter most urgently. Confucius said, Nothing steadies ruler and people like ritual; nothing changes manners like music. He also said, He who remolds the world through deference does it with ritual and music. The way of the ancient kings shows how splendid ritual and music can be. To Zi Xia he said, Ritual dresses the outside, music orders the inside—there I rest. He added, When ritual and music fail, penalties go awry; when penalties go awry, the people do not know where to set hand or foot. I believe Han should promulgate ritual and music; past sage emperors sent edict after edict lamenting the gaps, but the scholars quarreled and contradicted one another. My house has served at the summit for generations, yet the great codes remain unsettled—I cannot sleep or eat for thinking of it. I am old as a spent horse and only hope to see ritual and music settled before I die." In the thirteenth year he was recalled and made grand master of ceremonies. He wrote again: "Han must revise and institute ritual and music—the charts and texts say so plainly. When a king's civilizing work is set he prescribes ritual; when his achievement is full he composes music. I list three disputed points on ritual and music and ask the ministries to settle them soon. Emperors Wu and Guangwu had already reported success on Tai, yet ritual and music stayed unsettled—deed and word did not match. The late emperor commissioned Cao Bao; you need only enact his work, as the Duke of Zhou adjusted Wen and Wu without inventing law—there is no real doubt here. Endless modesty that delays Han's great work ill serves the ancestors' glory, the peace of the realm, or an example to posterity." The emperor praised the plea but did not act on it. That winter he again retired ill. The next year he died at home.
12
子甫嗣，官至津城門候。 甫卒，子吉嗣。 永初三年，吉卒，無子，國除。 自昭帝封安世，至吉，傳國八世，經歷篡亂，二百年間未嘗譴黜，封者莫與為此。
His son Zhang Fu inherited the title and rose to captain of the Jin-cheng gate. When Fu died, his son Ji succeeded. In Yongchu 3 Ji died sonless and the marquisate was struck off. From Zhang Anshi's fief under Emperor Zhao to Zhang Ji, the line held the marquisate through eight generations and two centuries of chaos without a single demotion—no other house matched that record.
13
褒少篤誌，有大度，結發傳充業，博雅疏通，尤好禮事。 常感朝廷制度未備，慕叔孫通為漢禮儀，晝夜研精，沈吟專思，寢則懷抱筆劄，行則誦習文書，當其念至，忘所之適。
Cao Bao was serious-minded from boyhood, generous in spirit, took up the family calling at adulthood, was learned and clear-thinking, and cared above all for ritual. He felt the dynasty's ceremonial code was still half-built and modeled himself on Shusun Tong; he pored over texts day and night, slept with brush and tablets in his belt, muttered classics on the road, and when an idea struck he would lose track of his path.
14
初舉孝廉，再遷圉令，以禮理人，以德化俗。 時它郡盜徒五人來入圉界，吏捕得入，陳留太守馬嚴聞而疾惡，風縣殺之。 褒敕吏曰：『夫絕人命者，天亦絕之。 臯陶不為盜制死刑，管仲遇盜而升諸公。 今承旨而殺之，是逆天心，順府意也，其罰重矣。 如得全此人命而身坐之，吾所願也。 』遂不為殺。 嚴奏褒耎弱，免官歸郡，為功曹。
Recommended as filial and honest, he rose twice to magistrate of Yu, ruling through ritual and reshaping manners with virtue. Five thieves from a neighboring district crossed into Yu; his officers arrested them; Ma Yan, prefect of Chenliu, heard the news, hated the criminals, and signaled the county to execute them. Cao Bao told his staff: "Those who take life will have life taken from them. Gao Yao did not fix death as the penalty for theft; Guan Zhong once promoted thieves to the lord's notice. To kill them now on a superior's nod would defy heaven and merely please the prefect—that would be the graver fault. If I may save their lives and take the blame myself, I will gladly do it." He refused to execute them. Ma Yan denounced him as soft; Cao Bao was stripped of office and went home to serve as merit clerk.
15
征拜博士。 會肅宗欲制定禮樂，元和二年下詔曰：『《河圖》稱「赤九會昌，十世以光，十一以興」。 《尚書璇機鈐》曰：「述堯理世，平制禮樂，放唐之文。 」予末小子，托於數終，曷以纘興，崇弘祖宗，仁濟元元？ 《帝命驗》曰：「順堯考德，題期立象。 」且三五步驟，優劣殊軌，況予頑陋，無以克堪，雖欲從之，末由也已。 每見圖書，中心恧焉。 』褒知帝旨欲有興作，乃上疏曰：『昔者聖人受命而王，莫不制禮作樂，以著功德。 功成作樂，化定制禮，所以救世俗，致禎祥，為萬姓獲福於皇天者也。 今皇天降祉，嘉瑞並臻，制作之符，甚於言語。 宜定文制，著成漢禮，丕顯祖宗盛德之美。 』章下太常，太常巢堪以為一世大典，非褒所定，不可許。
The court summoned him as an erudite. As Emperor Zhang (Suzong) planned to codify ritual and music, in Yuanhe 2 he proclaimed: "The River Chart says: The red nine shall flourish; the tenth line shall blaze; the eleventh shall rise. The Shang shu xuan ji qian says: He followed Yao in ordering the world, set ritual and music in balance, and unfolded Tang's pattern. I, a mere child, rest on the close of the cycle—how am I to carry on the revival, magnify the forebears, and bring mercy to the people? The Di ming yan says: He followed Yao, tested virtue, set the calendar, and raised the emblems. The Three Ages and Five Rulers each trod a different path of better and worse—far more then may I, coarse and limited, bear the load; I would follow them yet find no road. Whenever I read those prophecies, I am abashed." Cao Bao saw the sovereign meant to build something lasting, and wrote: "Every sage who took the mandate and rose as king fashioned ritual and music to display achievement. Work finished, they composed music; custom settled, they prescribed ritual—thus to redeem a coarse age, draw down good omens, and win heaven's blessing for the people. Heaven now showers favor, prodigies crowd in, and the signs for legislation outshout mere speech. It is time to set the literary code, finish the Han ritual canon, and make plain the ancestors' shining virtue." The edict went to the grand master of ceremonies Chao Kan, who replied that a code for an entire reign could not be settled by Cao Bao and should be denied.
16
帝知群僚拘攣，難與圖始，朝廷禮憲，宜時刊立，明年復下詔曰：『朕以不德，膺祖宗弘烈。 乃者鸞鳳仍集，麟龍並臻，甘露宵降，嘉谷滋生，赤草之類，紀於史官。 朕夙夜祗畏，上無以彰於先功，下無以克稱靈物。 漢遭秦餘，禮壞樂崩，且因循故事，未可觀省，有知其說者，各盡所能。 』褒省詔，乃嘆息謂諸生曰：『昔奚斯頌魯，考甫詠殷。 夫人臣依義顯君，竭忠彰主，行之美也。 當仁不讓，吾何辭哉！ 』遂復上疏，具陳禮樂之本，制改之意。 拜褒侍中，從駕南巡，既還，以事下三公，未及奏，詔召玄武司馬班固，問改定禮制之宜。 固曰：『京師諸儒，多能說禮，宜廣招集，共議得失。 』帝曰：『諺言「作舍道邊，三年不成」。 會禮之家，名為聚訟，互生疑異，筆不得下。 昔堯作《大章》，一夔足矣。』
The emperor knew his ministers were timid starters, but national ritual needed writing down; the next year he said again: "I lack virtue yet shoulder my forebears' vast charge. Lately phoenixes flock again, qilin and dragon appear together, sweet dew falls at night, choice grain springs up, and red grass and the like fill the court diary. I tremble day and night: I cannot display the old achievements above, nor worthily answer these portents below. Han followed Qin's wreck—rites in ruins, music lost—and we still coast on habit without a clear review. Whoever understands the system, give your best." Reading this, Cao Bao sighed to his disciples: "Once Xi Si sang Lu's praise and Kaofu hymned Yin. A minister's finest act is to illumine his ruler through duty and show his sovereign's worth through loyalty. When humanity calls, one does not step aside—why should I refuse?" He sent another memorial laying out the foundations of ritual and music and what the reform should achieve. He was made attendant-in-chief and joined the southern tour; on return the case went to the three dukes, but before they reported the emperor called in Ban Gu of the Black Tortoise office to ask how ritual ought to be revised. Ban Gu said: "Capital scholars mostly know ritual—call a wide conference and thrash out the pros and cons." The emperor answered: "The proverb says, Build a house beside the road and three years later it is still not done. Ritual specialists mean wrangling assemblies—suspicion on every side and no pen can move. When Yao composed the Da zhang, one Kui was enough."
17
章和元年正月，乃召褒詣嘉德門，令小黃門持班固所上叔孫通《漢儀》十二篇，敕褒曰：『此制散略，多不合經，今宜依禮條正，使可族行。 於南宮、東觀盡心集作。 』褒既受命，及次序禮事，依準舊典，雜以《五經》讖記之文，撰次天子至於庶人冠婚吉兇終始制度，以為百五十篇，寫以二尺四寸簡。 其年十二月奏上。 帝以眾論難一，故但納之，不復令有司平奏。 會帝崩，和帝即位，褒乃為作章句，帝遂以《新禮》二篇冠。 擢褒監羽林左騎。 永元四年，遷射聲校尉。 後太尉張酺、尚書張敏等奏褒擅制《漢禮》，破亂聖術，宜加刑誅。 帝雖寢其奏，而《漢禮》遂不行。
In Zhanghe 1, first month, he called Cao Bao to the Gate of Virtuous Blessing, had a junior eunuch hand him the twelve-fascicle Han ceremonies of Shusun Tong that Ban Gu had submitted, and ordered: "This draft is loose and often uncanonical—revise it by the classics so it can be enforced everywhere. Compile it with full care at the Southern Palace and the Eastern View." Once commissioned he sequenced the rites from old precedents and Five-Classic weft-books, covering the Son of Heaven down to commoners—capping, weddings, lucky and unlucky rites from birth to death—in one hundred fifty chapters on two-foot-four slips. That December he presented the work. Opinions were too divided for the throne to impose one view, so the emperor filed the work away without ordering a full ministerial review. When the emperor died and He succeeded, Cao Bao wrote glosses; the new ruler then prefixed two fascicles as the New Rites. He was raised to superintendent of the left wing of the feathered forest guard. In Yongyuan 4 he became colonel of the shout-sheng corps. Later Zhang Fu, Zhang Min, and others charged him with arrogating the Han ritual code and corrupting the sages' teaching—they demanded his death. The emperor tabled the indictment, but Cao Bao's Han li never went into force.
18
褒在射聲，營舍有停棺不葬者百餘所，褒親自履行，問其意故。 吏對曰：『此等多是建武以來絕無後者，不得埋掩。 』褒乃愴然，為買空地，悉葬其無主者，設祭以祀之。 遷城門校尉、將作大匠。 時有疾疫，褒巡行病徒，為致醫藥，經理饘粥，多蒙濟活。 七年，出為河內太守。 時春夏大旱，糧谷踴貴。 褒到，乃省吏並職，退去奸殘，澍雨數降。 其秋大孰，百姓給足，流冗皆還。 後坐上災害不實免。 有頃征，再遷，復為侍中。
At the shout-sheng camp over a hundred coffins waited unburied; Cao Bao walked the lines and asked why. The officers said: "Most are people without heirs since Jianwu who could not afford burial." Stricken, he bought vacant ground, interred every unclaimed body, and offered sacrifice. He moved up to colonel of the city gates and superintendent of works. During an epidemic he toured the sick wards, sent doctors and drugs, and saw that gruel was served—many lived because of him. In the seventh year he left the capital as prefect of Henei. Spring and summer brought severe drought and soaring grain prices. On arrival he merged redundant posts, purged cruel and corrupt officers, and soaking rains came again and again. Autumn brought a bumper crop; households were fed and drifters came home. He later lost office for misreporting calamities. Soon recalled, he rose twice more and again became attendant-in-chief.
19
褒博物識古，為儒者宗。 十四年，卒官。 作《通義》十二篇，演經雜論百二十篇，又傳《禮記》四十九篇，教授諸生千餘人，慶氏學遂行於世。
Cao Bao's learning spanned antiquity and made him dean to the Ru school. He died in office in the fourteenth year. He wrote twelve chapters of Comprehensive Meaning, one hundred twenty essays explicating the canon, transmitted the forty-nine-fascicle Book of Rites, taught over a thousand disciples, and established Qing's school in the world.
20
論曰：『漢初天下創定，朝制無文，叔孫通頗采經禮，參酌秦法，雖適物觀時，有救崩敝，然先王之容典蓋多闕矣，是以賈誼、仲舒、王吉、劉向之徒，懷憤嘆息所不能已也。 資文、宣之遠圖明懿，而終莫或用，故知自燕而觀，有不盡矣。 孝章永言前王，明發興作，專命禮臣，撰定國憲，洋洋乎盛德之事焉。 而業絕天算，議黜異端，斯道竟復墜矣。 夫三王不相襲禮，五帝不相氵公樂，所以《咸》、《莖》異調，中都殊絕。 況物運遷回，情數萬化，制則不能隨其流變，品度未足定其滋章，斯固世主所當損益者也。 且樂非夔、襄，而新音代起，律謝臯、蘇，而制令亟易，修補舊文，獨何猜焉？ 禮云禮云，曷其然哉！
The historian comments: "Early Han had no written court ritual; Shusun Tong drew on classical rites and Qin statutes—it met the moment and staunched decay, yet the old kings' forms were largely gone, which is why men like Jia Yi, Dong Zhongshu, Wang Ji, and Liu Xiang fumed and could not rest. Wen and Xuan had long vision and clear virtue, yet none of these schemes was adopted—so viewing from a swallow's nest, one never sees the whole. Zhangdi never ceased invoking the ancient kings, rose at dawn intent on creation, charged ritual officers, and drafted the national code—a magnificent act of virtue. Heaven cut short his years, faction dismissed rival opinions, and the whole effort collapsed. The Three Kings did not inherit each other's rites nor the Five Emperors each other's music—hence the Xian and Jing odes differ and the two capitals stand worlds apart. Far more today, as things revolve and feeling shifts endlessly—written rules cannot chase every change, nor can measures fix their swelling tangle; that is what each age's ruler must adjust. Music was never only Kui and Master Xiang, yet new airs keep coming; pitch was never only Gao and Su, yet scales and edicts change fast—why shrink from revising old texts? They say "ritual, ritual"—can it really be only that?"
21
鄭玄字康成，北海高密人也。 八世祖崇，哀帝時尚書仆射。 玄少為鄉嗇夫，得休歸，嘗詣學官，不樂為吏，父數怒之，不能禁。 遂造太學受業，師事京兆第五元先，始通《京氏易》、《公羊春秋》、《三統歷》、《九章算術》。 又從東郡張恭祖受《周官》、《禮記》、《左氏春秋》、《韓詩》、《古文尚書》。 以山東無兄問者，乃西入關，因涿郡盧植，事扶風馬融。
Zheng Xuan, style Kangcheng, came from Gaomi in Beihai commandery. Eight generations back, Zheng Chong had been vice-director of the secretariat under Emperor Ai. As a youth he was a township clerk; on leave he visited the local school, found clerking distasteful, and though his father berated him repeatedly could not change his mind. He entered the imperial academy under Fifth Yuanxian of Jingzhao, mastering the Jing Changes, Gongyang Annals, Triple Concordance calendar, and Nine Chapters. From Zhang Gongzu of Dong he took the Rites of Zhou, Book of Rites, Zuo Annals, Han Odes, and old-text Documents. Finding no teacher of stature east of the mountains, he crossed into the west and, introduced by Lu Zhi of Zhu, studied under Ma Rong of Fufeng.
22
融門徒四百餘人，升堂進者五十餘生。 融素驕貴，玄在門下，三年不得見，乃使高業弟子傳授於玄。 玄日夜尋誦，未嘗怠倦。 會融集諸生考論圖緯，聞玄善算，乃召見於樓上，玄因從質諸疑義，問畢辭歸。 融喟然謂門人曰：『鄭生今去，吾道東矣。』
Ma Rong had over four hundred disciples; more than fifty were admitted to the inner hall. Ma Rong was haughty by nature; Zheng Xuan studied at his gate three years without an interview and learned only through Ma's senior pupils. Zheng Xuan read day and night without slackening. When Ma Rong gathered his students to debate charts and weft-books, he heard Zheng Xuan excelled at reckoning and summoned him upstairs; Zheng exhausted his doubts, then bowed out and left. Ma Rong sighed to his disciples: "When Zheng goes east, my teaching travels with him."
23
玄自遊學，十餘年乃歸鄉裏。 家貧，客耕東萊，學徒相隨已數百千人。 及黨事起，乃與同郡孫嵩等四十餘人俱被禁錮，遂隱修經業，杜門不出。 時任城何休好《公羊》學，遂著《公羊墨守》、《左氏膏肓》、《穀梁廢疾》； 玄乃發《墨守》，針《膏肓》，起《廢疾》。 休見而嘆曰：『康成入吾室，操吾矛，以伐我乎！ 』初，中興之後，範升、陳元、李育、賈逵之徒爭論古今學，後馬融答北地太守劉瑰及玄答何休，義據通深，由是古學遂明。
More than ten years passed in wandering study before he went home. Poor, he farmed for hire in Donglai while hundreds and then thousands of pupils trailed after him. When the partisan proscription struck, he and forty-odd countrymen including Sun Song were banned from office; he shut his doors, deepened his textual studies, and stayed in. He Xiu of Rencheng, devoted to Gongyang, had written The Gongyang Fortress, The Zuo Vital Zone, and The Guliang Morbid Spots; Zheng Xuan breached the Fortress, lanced the Vital Zone, and cured the Morbid Spots. He Xiu exclaimed: "Kangcheng is in my room, wielding my own spear against me! Earlier, after Guangwu, Fan Sheng, Chen Yuan, Li Yu, and Jia Kui had wrangled old versus new learning; later Ma Rong answered Liu Gui, prefect of Beidi, and Zheng Xuan answered He Xiu—with such depth that old-text scholarship carried the day.
24
靈帝末，黨禁解，大將軍何進聞而辟之。 州郡以進權威，不敢違意，遂迫脅玄，不得已而詣之。 進為設幾杖，禮待甚優。 玄不受朝服，而以幅巾見。 一宿逃去。 時年六十，弟子河內趙商等自遠方至者數千。 後將軍袁隗表為侍中，以父喪不行。 國相孔融深敬於玄，履履造門。 告高密縣為玄特立一鄉，曰：『昔齊置「土鄉」，越有「君子軍」，皆異賢之意也。 鄭君好學，實懷明德。 昔太史公、廷尉吳公、謁者仆射鄧公，皆漢之名臣。 又南山四皓有園公、夏黃公，潛光隱耀，世嘉其高，皆悉稱公。 然則公者仁德之正號，不必三事大夫也。 今鄭君鄉宜曰「鄭公鄉」。 昔東海於公僅有一節，猶或戒鄉人侈其門閭，矧乃鄭公之德，而無駟牡之路！ 可廣開門衢，令容高車，號為「通德門」。』
Near the end of Lingdi's reign the ban ended; He Jin the general-in-chief heard of him and called him in. Local authorities, awed by He Jin, pressed Zheng Xuan until he had no choice but to present himself. He Jin set out a couch and cane and treated him with exceptional respect. Zheng Xuan refused court robes and appeared in a scholar's cloth turban. He slipped away the next night. He was sixty; disciples like Zhao Shang of Henei arrived from afar by the thousand. General of the Rear Yuan Wei recommended him for attendant-in-chief, but mourning for his father kept him from accepting. State chancellor Kong Rong revered him deeply and hurried to his door in his house slippers. He told Gaomi county to carve out a special township, saying: "Qi once founded a 'scholar township' and Yue a 'gentlemen's host'—both honored worthies. Master Zheng loves learning and bears shining virtue. The grand historian, Minister Wu of trials, and Chief Herald Deng were all celebrated Han ministers. Among the South Mountain Four, Lord Yuan and Lord Xia Huang hid their light; the world praised their height, and each was called lord. So "lord" is the proper honor for humane excellence, not reserved for ministers of the three bureaus. Master Zheng's township should therefore be named the Township of Lord Zheng." Even Yu Gong of Donghai, with a single good turn, told his neighbors to broaden his gate—how much more should we for Master Zheng's virtue, when his lane could not fit a team of four! Widen the lanes and gates for high-wheeled carriages and call the approach the Gate of Pervading Virtue."
25
董卓遷都長安，公卿舉玄為趙相，道斷不至。 會黃巾寇青部，乃避地徐州，徐州牧陶謙接以師友之禮。 建安元年，自徐州還高密，道遇黃巾賊數萬人，見玄皆拜，相約不敢入縣境。 玄後嘗疾篤，自慮，以書戒子益恩曰：
Dong Zhuo's move to Chang'an brought a nomination for Zheng Xuan as chancellor of Zhao, but blocked roads kept him from taking up the post. When the Yellow Turbans ravaged Qing, he fled to Xuzhou, where prefect Tao Qian treated him as teacher and peer. In Jian'an 1, returning from Xuzhou to Gaomi, he met tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans who bowed to him and pledged not to cross into his county. When illness laid him low, he wrote to his son Yi'en:
26
吾家舊貧，不為父母群弟所容，去廝役之吏，遊學周、秦之都，往來幽、並、兗、豫之域，獲覲乎在位通人，處逸大儒，得意者咸從捧手，有所受焉。 遂博稽《六藝》，粗覽傳記，時睹秘書緯術之奧。 年過四十，乃歸供養，假田播殖，以娛朝夕。 遇閹尹擅勢，坐黨禁錮，十有四年，而蒙赦令，舉賢良方正有道，辟大將軍三司府。 公車再召，比牒並名，早為宰相。 惟彼數公，懿德大雅，克堪王臣，故宜式序。 吾自忖度，無任於此，但念述先聖之元意，思整百家之不齊，亦庶幾以竭吾才，故聞命罔從。 而黃巾為害，萍浮南北，復歸邦鄉。 入此歲來，已七十矣。 宿素衰落，仍有失誤，案之禮典，便合傳家。 今我告爾以老，歸爾以事，將閑居以安性，賈思以終業。 自非拜國君之命，問族親之憂，展敬墳墓，觀省野物，胡嘗扶杖出門乎！ 家事大小，汝一承之。 咨爾焭々一夫，曾無同生相依。 其勖求君子之道，研鉆勿替，敬慎威儀，以近有德。 顯譽成於僚友，德行立於已誌。 若致聲稱，亦有榮於所生，可不深念邪！ 可不深念邪！ 吾雖無紱冕之緒，頗有讓爵之高。 自樂以論贊之功，庶不遺後人之羞，末所憤憤者，徒以亡親墳壟未成，所好群書率皆腐敝，不得於禮堂寫定，傳與其人。 日西方暮，其可圖乎！ 家今差多於昔，勤力務時，無恤饑寒。 菲饑食，薄衣服，節夫二者，尚令吾寡恨。 若忽忘不識，亦已焉哉！
We were once poor and unwelcome at home; I quit petty clerkship to study in the old Zhou and Qin capitals, wandered You, Bing, Yan, and Yu, met serving worthies and reclusive masters, and learned from all who would take my hand. I mastered the Six Arts in breadth, skimmed historiography, and sometimes touched the arcana of palace weft-texts. After forty I came home to care for my parents, rented land to farm, and lived out my days in quiet work. Then the eunuchs seized power; I fell under the partisan ban for fourteen years, was freed by amnesty, recommended worthy and upright, and summoned to the general-in-chief and the three departments. Twice the court coach called; my name was bundled on lists with men who would soon sit as chancellors. Those men had the stature to serve a king and deserved their promotions. I knew I was not cut for high office; I wanted only to recover the sages' original intent and harmonize the warring schools—so I declined the summons. Then the Turbans drove me to drift north and south until I could go home. This year I turn seventy. My powers fail and I still err; by the rites it is time to pass the household on. I tell you I am old and leave the household in your hands; I will live quietly to steady my temper and bend my mind to complete my scholarly work. Save for state orders, kin in distress, graveside duty, or a look at the countryside, you will not see me leaning on a cane outside my gate. You alone must manage everything at home, great or small. You stand alone, my boy, with no brother to lean on. Seek the gentleman's path, grind at your studies without slack, guard your deportment, and keep company with the virtuous. A public name is forged among peers; character rests on your own will. Win honor and your parents share it—think long on that! Let that thought sink deep! I never held high office, but I did refuse titles others craved. I have been content with exegesis, hoping to spare posterity shame; what still gnaws is my parents' unfinished graves, my mold-eaten library, and my inability to finish fair copies in the lecture hall for worthy heirs. The sun is low—what time is left to plan! We are a little better off than once; work the seasons hard and do not brood on want. Plain food and spare clothing, if you hold to both, will leave me little to regret. If you forget all this, then we are done talking."
27
時，大將軍袁紹總兵冀州，遣使要玄，大會賓客，玄最後至，乃延升上坐。 身長八尺，飲酒一斛，秀眉明目，容儀溫偉。 紹客多豪俊，並有才說，見玄儒者，未以通人許之，競設異端，百家互起。 玄依方辯對，咸出問表，皆得所未聞，莫不嗟服。 時汝南應劭亦歸於紹，因自贊曰：『故太山太守應中遠，北面稱弟子何如？ 』玄笑曰：『仲尼之門考以四科，回、賜之徒不稱官閥。 』劭有慚色。 紹乃舉玄茂才，表為左中郎將，皆不就。 公車征為大司農，給安車一乘，所過長吏送迎。 玄乃以病自乞還家。
Yuan Shao of Ji invited him to a great banquet; Zheng Xuan came last and was shown to the highest seat. He stood eight feet, could drain a hu of wine at one sitting, had fine brows and clear eyes, and a warm, commanding presence. Yuan's guests were swaggering debaters who, seeing a mere Ru, denied him mastery and tried every paradox from every school. Zheng Xuan met each challenge on its own terms, outpaced every question, and said what none had heard; they gasped in admiration. Ying Shao of Runan, also Yuan's client, boasted: "I am Ying Zhongyuan, late prefect of Taishan—may I face north as your disciple? Zheng Xuan smiled: "Confucius tested disciples in four arts; men like Yan Hui and Duanmu Ci never traded on their offices." Ying Shao colored with embarrassment. Yuan Shao then nominated him flourishing talent and recommended him as general of the household for the left; Zheng Xuan refused both. The court coach summoned him as grand minister of agriculture with a single cushioned carriage and escort from every magistrate along the way. He pleaded illness and went home.
28
五年春，夢孔子告之曰：『起，起，今年歲在辰，來年歲在巳。 』既寤，以讖合之，知命當終，有頃寢疾。 時袁紹與曹操相拒於官度，令其子譚遣使逼玄隨軍，不得已，載病到元城縣，疾篤不進，其年六月卒，年七十四。 遺令薄葬。 自郡守以下嘗受業者，缞绖赴會千餘人。
In the fifth year's spring he dreamed Confucius said: "Up, up—the year-star stands in chen this year, in si the next." Awake, he read the weft-texts and knew his end was near; soon he took to his bed. While Yuan Shao and Cao Cao faced off at Guandu, Yuan Tan sent men to drag him to camp; he yielded, rode sick to Yuancheng, could go no farther, and died there that sixth month at seventy-four. His testament called for a simple funeral. Over a thousand former pupils, from prefects on down, came in hemp mourning.
29
門人相與撰玄答諸弟子問《五經》，依《論語》作《鄭誌》八篇。 凡玄所註《周易》、《尚書》、《毛詩》、《儀禮》、《禮記》、《論語》、《孝經》、《尚書大傳》、《中候》、《乾象歷》，又著《天文七政論》、《魯禮禘祫義》、《六藝論》、《毛詩譜》、《駁許慎五經異義》、《答臨孝存周禮難》，凡百餘萬言。
His students collected his replies on the Five Classics and, on the model of the Analects, produced the Zheng zhi in eight chapters. All told he glossed the Changes, Documents, Mao Odes, Ceremonial, Book of Rites, Analects, Filial Piety, Amplified Documents, Zhong hou, and the Qian xiang calendar, and wrote treatises on the seven celestial governors, Lu di and xia, the six arts, the Mao ode stemma, a refutation of Xu Shen's divergent glosses, and a reply to Lin Xiaocun's Zhou li critique—well over a million characters.
30
玄質於辭訓，通人頗譏其繁。 至於經傳洽孰，稱為純儒，齊、魯間宗之。 其門人山陽郗慮至禦史大夫，東萊王基、清河崔琰著名於世。 又樂安國淵、任嘏，時並童幼，玄稱淵為國器，嘏有道德，其餘亦多所鑒拔，皆如其言。 玄唯有一子益恩，孔融在北海，舉為孝廉； 及融為黃巾所圍，益恩赴難損身。 有遺腹子，玄以其手文似己，名之曰小同。
Critics found his glosses plain but wordy. On mastery of canon and commentary he was judged a pure Ru, and Qi and Lu bowed to him. His pupils included Xi Lu of Shanyang, who reached imperial counsellor, and Wang Ji of Donglai and Cui Yan of Qinghe, who became famous. As boys, Guo Yuan of Le'an and Ren Gu drew his praise—Yuan a state vessel, Gu a moral nature—and his other judgments likewise proved true. His only son Yi'en was recommended filial and honest while Kong Rong governed Beihai; when Kong Rong was trapped by the Turbans, Yi'en rushed to help and was killed. A posthumous child was born; Zheng Xuan, seeing palm lines like his own, named the boy Xiaotong.
31
論曰：自秦焚《六經》，聖文埃滅。 漢興，諸儒頗修藝文； 及東京，學者亦各名家。 而守文之徒，滯固所稟，異端紛紜，互相詭激，遂令經有數家，家有數說，章句多者或乃百餘萬言，學徒勞而少功，後生疑而莫正。 鄭玄括囊大典，網羅眾家，刪裁繁誣，刊改漏失，自是學者略知所歸。 王父豫章君每考先儒經訓，而長於玄，常以為仲尼之門不能過也。 及傳授生徒，並專以鄭氏家法云。
The historian writes: Qin's burning of the Six Classics left the sages' words in ash. Han brought scholars who began to restore the canon; by the Eastern Han each school claimed its own master. Literalists clung to sect, schools crossed swords, every classic spawned rival houses and every house rival glosses—some running to a million characters—so students labored without profit and youth had no touchstone. Zheng Xuan gathered the great texts, sifted every school, cut bombast and error, and gave scholars a compass. Fan Ye's grandfather, the lord of Yuzhang, collated earlier masters' glosses and always put Zheng Xuan first, convinced that even Confucius's school did not outrank him. When he taught pupils himself, he followed only the Zheng method."
32
贊曰：富平之緒，承家載世。 伯仁先歸，厘我國祭。 玄定義乖，褒修禮缺。 孔書遂明，漢章中輟。
The verse says: Fuping's line, handed down age after age. Boren returned first and straightened the dynastic cult. Zheng Xuan set wandering glosses right; Cao Bao patched missing rite. Confucius's canon grew clear; Han's code stalled halfway.