1
朱暉字文季，南陽宛人也。 [一]家世衣冠。 暉早孤，有氣決。 年十三，王莽敗，天下亂，與外氏家屬從田閒奔入宛城。 [二]道遇腢賊，白刃劫諸婦女，略奪衣物。 昆弟賓客皆惶迫，伏地莫敢動。 暉拔□前曰：「財物皆可取耳，諸母衣不可得。 今日朱暉死日也！ 」賊見其小，壯其志，笑曰：「童子內刀。 」遂捨之而去。 注[一]東觀記曰「其先宋微子之後也，以國氏姓。 周衰，諸侯滅宋，罐碭，易姓為朱，後徙於宛」也。
Zhu Hui, whose courtesy name was Wenji, came from Wan in Nanyang. [Annotation 1] His family had held office for generations. He lost his father while still young, yet showed both courage and firm resolve. At thirteen, after Wang Mang's fall threw the empire into turmoil, he fled the countryside with his mother's family and took refuge inside the walls of Wan. [Annotation 2] Along the way they ran into robbers who threatened the women at sword point and stripped them of their garments. His kinsmen and followers cowered on the ground in panic, too frightened to stir. Zhu Hui stepped forward with blade drawn and said, 'Take whatever valuables you like, but you will not have these women's clothes. If you insist, then today is the day I die!' The robbers saw how young he was yet respected his courage; they laughed and told him, 'Put the blade away, lad. They let him go and moved on. Commentary 1: The Eastern Han Records states that his line descended from Weizi of Song and bore the state's name as their clan. When Zhou power waned and the states wiped out Song, the family fled to Dang, adopted the surname Zhu, and eventually resettled in Wan.'
2
注[二]東觀記曰「暉外祖父孔休，以德行稱於代」也。
Commentary 2: The Eastern Han Records adds that his maternal grandfather Kong Xiu was celebrated in his day for moral character.
3
初，光武與暉父岑俱學長安，有舊故。 及即位，求問岑，時已卒，乃召暉拜為郎。 暉尋以病去，卒業於太學。 性矜嚴，進止必以禮，諸儒稱其高。
Earlier, Emperor Guangwu and Zhu Hui's father, Zhu Cen, had been fellow students in Chang'an and were old friends. After he took the throne he asked after Zhu Cen, only to learn he had died; he then called Zhu Hui to court and gave him a post as a gentleman. Zhu Hui soon resigned because of ill health and finished his training at the Imperial Academy. He was austere and punctilious, and every move he made conformed to propriety, which won him the respect of the scholarly community.
4
永平初，顯宗舅新陽侯陰就慕暉賢，自往候之，暉避不見。 復遣家丞致禮，[一]暉遂閉門不受。 就聞，歎曰：「志士也，勿奪其節。 」後為郡吏，太守阮況嘗欲市暉* (牛) **[婢]*，暉不從。 [二]及況卒，暉乃厚贈送其家。 人或譏焉，暉曰：「前阮府君有求於我，所以不敢聞命，誠恐以財貨□君。 今而相送，明吾非有愛也。 」驃騎將軍東平王蒼聞而辟之，甚禮敬焉。 正月朔旦，蒼當入賀。 故事，少府給璧。 是時陰就為府卿，貴驕，吏□不奉法。 蒼坐朝堂，漏且盡，而求璧不可得，顧謂掾屬曰：「若之何？ 」暉望見少府主簿持璧，即往紿之曰：[三]「我數聞璧未嘗見，試請觀之。 」主簿以授暉，暉顧召令史奉之。 [四]主簿大驚，遽以白就。 就曰：「朱掾義士，勿復求。 」更以它璧朝。 蒼既罷，召暉謂曰：「屬者掾自視孰與藺相如？」
Early in the Yongping era, Yin Jiu, the Marquis of Xinyang and maternal uncle of Emperor Ming, admired Zhu Hui's reputation and called on him in person; Zhu Hui declined to receive him. Yin Jiu sent his household steward with gifts a second time, yet Zhu Hui shut his door and refused the offerings. When Yin Jiu heard this, he sighed, 'He is a man of principle; no one should force him to compromise his integrity. Later, as a commandery clerk, he served under Grand Administrator Ruan Kuang, who once tried to buy from him an ox and a maidservant; Zhu Hui refused. [Annotation 2] After Ruan Kuang died, Zhu Hui sent his family a substantial funeral gift. People criticized him for this. Zhu Hui replied, 'When Lord Ruan wanted those things from me, I dared not comply because I was afraid accepting payment would compromise him. By contributing now, I show I was never begrudging—only careful.' Prince Cang of Dongping, the general of agile cavalry, heard the story and recruited him, honoring him with exceptional deference. On New Year's Day of the first month, Prince Cang was due at court for the congratulatory audience. By established practice the privy treasurer provided the ceremonial jade. Yin Jiu was then chief of the privy treasury; swollen with pride at his rank, his subordinates flouted regulations. Prince Cang waited in the court until the water clock was almost dry, but the jade still had not arrived. Turning to his staff he asked, 'What can we do? Zhu Hui spotted the chief clerk of the privy treasury carrying the jade. He walked up and coaxed him, [3] saying, 'I have heard so much about that disk but never laid eyes on it—may I have a look? The clerk handed it over; Zhu Hui immediately signaled an aide to carry it away to the prince. [4] The chief clerk panicked and rushed to tell Yin Jiu. Yin Jiu said, 'Zhu Hui is a man of honor; do not ask for it back. They substituted another jade for the audience. Afterward Prince Cang called Zhu Hui in and asked, 'How do you think your exploit today measures against Lin Xiangru's?
5
[五]帝聞壯之。 及當幸長安，欲嚴宿□，故以暉為衛士令。 再遷臨淮太守。 注[一]續漢志曰：「諸侯家丞，秩三百石。」
[5] When the emperor heard the tale, he admired Zhu Hui's boldness. Planning a journey to Chang'an, the emperor wanted the palace watch strengthened, so he appointed Zhu Hui captain of the guards. He was promoted twice, eventually becoming grand administrator of Linhuai. Commentary 1: The Continued Han Treatises notes that stewards of imperial princes held rank at three hundred bushels.
6
注[二]東觀記曰：「暉為* (掾) *督郵，況當歸女，欲買暉婢，暉不敢與。 後況卒，暉送其家金三斤。」
Commentary 2: The Eastern Han Records relates that Zhu Hui served as a clerk supervising secretary when Ruan Kuang, preparing to marry off his daughter, wanted to buy Zhu Hui's maidservant; Zhu Hui dared not sell her. After Ruan Kuang died, Zhu Hui sent his household three jin of gold.'
7
注[三]紿，欺也。 注[四]奉之於蒼。
Commentary 3: Dai means to deceive or trick. Commentary 4: That is, he had it delivered to Prince Cang.
8
注[五]屬，向也。 與猶如也。 史記曰，藺相如，趙人也。 趙惠文王時得楚和氏璧，秦昭王欲以十五城易之，趙王使相如奉璧入秦。 秦王大喜，無意償趙城。 相如乃前曰：「璧有瑕，願指示王。 」相如因持璧卻立倚柱，怒發上衝冠，曰：「臣觀大王無償趙城色，故臣復取璧。 大王必欲急臣，臣今頭與璧俱碎於柱矣。 」相如持其璧睨柱，欲以擊柱。 秦王恐其璧破，乃謝之。
Commentary 5: Shu here means 'a moment ago' or 'just then.' Yu here has the same force as ru, 'like' or 'as.' The Records of the Grand Historian identifies Lin Xiangru as a native of Zhao. Under King Huiwen of Zhao the state acquired the He-family jade from Chu. King Zhaoxiang of Qin offered fifteen cities in trade, so the king of Zhao dispatched Lin Xiangru to carry the disk into Qin. The Qin ruler was delighted but never intended to hand over the promised towns. Lin Xiangru stepped forward and said, 'There is a blemish on the jade; allow me to show Your Majesty. He took the jade, retreated to a pillar, and with hair bristling against his cap declared, 'I saw that Your Majesty had no intention of yielding those cities to Zhao, so I took the disk back. If you force me, my skull and this jade will both shatter against this pillar!' He held the disk, eyed the pillar, and made as if to smash the jade against it. Fearing the jade would be ruined, the king of Qin apologized.
9
暉好節□，有所拔用，皆厲行士。 其諸報怨，以義犯率，皆為求其理，多得生濟。 其不義之囚，實時僵仆。 [一]吏人畏愛，為之歌曰：「強直自遂，南陽朱季。 吏畏其威，人懷其惠。 」[二]數年，坐法免。 [三]注[一]僵，偃； 僕，踣也。
Zhu Hui valued integrity; everyone he singled out for office was a man of upright, rigorous character. When people struck back at wrongs or broke the letter of the law for a just cause, he worked their cases through proper channels and often saved them from execution. Prisoners whose guilt was genuine died on schedule. [1] The clerks and common folk both feared and loved him, and sang: 'Firm and upright, he goes his own way—Zhu Ji from Nanyang. Clerks dread his sternness; the people remember his kindness.' [2] A few years later he lost his post for a legal infraction. [3] Commentary 1: Jiang means to fall prostrate; pu means to collapse or topple.
10
注[二]東觀記曰：「建武十六年，四方牛大疫，臨淮獨不，鄰郡人多牽牛入界。」
Commentary 2: The Eastern Han Records records that in Jianwu 16 a severe cattle plague swept the empire while Linhuai was spared, so herdsmen from neighboring commanderies drove their stock across its border.
11
注[三]東觀記曰：「坐考長吏囚死獄中，州奏免官。」
Commentary 3: The Eastern Han Records adds that he was removed from office after a prisoner died under interrogation ordered by a senior official he was examining, and the province reported the case.
12
暉剛於為吏，見忌於上，所在多被劾。 自去臨淮，屏居野澤，布衣蔬食，不與邑裡通，鄉黨譏其介。 [一]建初中，南陽大饑，米石千餘，暉盡散其家資，以分宗裡故舊之貧羸者，鄉族皆歸焉。 初，暉同縣張堪素有名稱，嘗於太學見暉，甚重之，接以友道，乃把暉臂曰：「欲以妻子托朱生。 」暉以堪先達，舉手未敢對，自後不復相見。 堪卒，暉聞其妻子貧困，乃自往候視，厚賑贍之。 暉少子頡怪而問曰：「大人不與堪為友，平生未曾相聞，子孫竊怪之。 」暉曰：「堪嘗有知己之言，吾以信於心也。 」[二]暉又與同郡陳揖交善，揖早卒，有遺腹子友，暉常哀之。 及司徒桓虞為南陽太守，召暉子駢為吏，暉辭駢而薦友。 虞歎息，遂召之。 其義烈若此。 注[一]介，特也。 言不與觿同。
Zhu Hui's uncompromising style as an official earned him enemies among his superiors, and he was frequently impeached wherever he served. After leaving Linhuai he withdrew to the countryside, dressed in plain cloth and lived simply, cut himself off from neighbors, and local opinion ridiculed him for being too standoffish. [1] Midway through the Jianchu era Nanyang suffered a terrible famine—grain cost more than a thousand cash a bushel—yet Zhu Hui gave away his entire fortune to clansmen, neighbors, and old friends who were starving, and the whole community came to rely on him. Zhang Kan of the same county had long enjoyed a fine name. When he met Zhu Hui at the Imperial Academy he thought the world of him, treated him as a true friend, took his arm, and said, 'I want to leave my wife and children in your care, Zhu. Zhu Hui, out of deference to Zhang Kan as his senior, raised his hand in salute but could not bring himself to answer, and the two never met again. When Zhang Kan died, Zhu Hui learned that his family was destitute, called on them in person, and gave generous support. His youngest son, Zhu Jie, asked in puzzlement, 'You were never close to Zhang Kan and scarcely exchanged a word with him in all those years—we find this hard to understand. Zhu Hui replied, 'He once spoke to me as a true friend would; I pledged myself in silence.' [2] Zhu Hui was also close to Chen Yi of the same commandery. When Chen died young, leaving a son, Chen You, born after his death, Zhu Hui watched over the boy with constant sympathy. When Huan Yu became grand administrator of Nanyang, he offered a clerkship to Zhu Hui's son Zhu Pian; Zhu Hui declined on his son's behalf and recommended Chen You instead. Huan Yu was moved and summoned Chen You. Such was the steadfastness of his sense of honor. Commentary 1: Jie means singular or aloof. That is, he did not mingle with the ordinary run of people.
13
注[二]以堪先托妻子，心已許之，故言信於心也。
Commentary 2: Zhang Kan had entrusted his family in spirit if not in words, and Zhu Hui had already given his word in his heart.
14
元和中，肅宗巡狩，告南陽太守問暉起居，召拜為尚書僕射。 歲中遷太山太守。
During the Yuanhe era, Emperor Zhang, on an imperial progress, sent word through the grand administrator of Nanyang to inquire after Zhu Hui's health, then summoned him and appointed him vice director of the secretariat. That same year he was promoted to grand administrator of Taishan.
15
暉上疏乞留中，詔許之。 因上便宜，陳密事，深見嘉納。 詔報曰：「補公家之闕，[一]不累清白之素，斯善美之士也。 俗吏苟合，阿意面從，進無謇謇之志，卻無退思之念，[二]患之甚久。 惟今所言，適我願也。 生其勉之！ 」注[一]詩曰：「袞職有闕，仲山甫補之。」
Zhu Hui petitioned to stay at the capital rather than take up the provincial post, and the throne granted his request. He followed with practical policy suggestions and confidential memorials, which the court warmly endorsed. The emperor replied in an edict: 'You supply what the state lacks [1] without tarnishing your reputation for integrity—that is the mark of an admirable man. Mediocre officials trim their sails, nod along to please their betters, show no loyal frankness in office, and never pause to mend their faults on their own [2]; I have long deplored that habit. What you have just said is exactly what I hoped to hear. Take this to heart, good sir, and strive all the harder!' Commentary 1: The Book of Songs says, 'Where the king's robe was wanting, Zhong Shanfu made it whole.'
16
注[二]易蹇卦艮下坎上，艮為山，坎為水，山上有水，蹇難之象也。 六二爻上應於五，五為君位，二宜為臣也。 居儉難之時，履當其位，不以五在難私身遠害，故曰「王臣蹇蹇，匪躬之故」。 孝經曰：「退思補過。 」「謇」與「蹇」通。
Commentary 2: The hexagram Jian in the Changes stacks Gen (mountain) beneath Kan (water); water above a mountain symbolizes hardship and obstruction. The second line answers the fifth, which stands for the ruler, while the second fittingly represents the minister. In perilous times he holds the minister's place yet does not save himself by abandoning his lord in distress; hence the text reads, 'The king's minister goes faithfully through hardship—not for his own sake.' The Classic of Filial Piety says, 'In retirement reflect on correcting your errors. The characters jian (outspoken) and jian (hardship) are used interchangeably in this gloss.
17
是時谷貴，縣官經用不足，[一]朝廷憂之。 尚書張林上言：「谷所以貴，由錢賤故也。 可盡封錢，一取布帛為租，以通天下之用。 又鹽，食之急者，雖貴，人不得不須，官可自□。 [二]又宜因交址﹑益州上計吏往來，市珍寶，收采其利，武帝時所謂均輸者也。 」[三]於是詔諸尚書通議。 暉奏據林言不可施行，事遂寢。 後陳事者復重述林前議，以為於國誠便，帝然之，有詔施行。 暉復獨奏曰：
Grain had grown costly and the treasury could not meet its routine outlays [1], which alarmed the court. Zhang Lin of the secretariat argued that grain was expensive because copper coin was undervalued. He proposed halting the circulation of coin, collecting taxes in cloth and silk alone, and thus restoring liquidity to the economy. Salt is a necessity of the table; however high the price, people must buy it—so the state might as well retail it itself and capture the revenue.' [2] He also urged using the annual journeys of account clerks from Jiaozhi and Yizhou to buy up valuables and capture the markup—the policy Han Wudi had called 'balanced delivery.' [3] The throne then ordered the secretariat directors to debate the proposal in full.' Zhu Hui memorialized that Zhang Lin's plan was unworkable, and the proposal was dropped. Later memorialists revived Zhang Lin's scheme, insisting it would serve the empire; the emperor agreed and issued orders to carry it out. Zhu Hui once more filed a lone memorial:
18
「王制，天子不言有無，諸侯不言多少，祿食之家不與百姓爭利。 今均輸之法與賈販無異，鹽利歸官，則下人窮怨，布帛為租，則吏多奸盜，誠非明主所當宜行。 」帝卒以林等言為然，得暉重議，因發怒，切責諸尚書。 暉等皆自系獄。
'The royal code says the Son of Heaven does not haggle over scarcity and plenty, nobles do not quibble over quantities, and those who live on state stipends must not compete with the people for gain.' Balanced delivery would reduce the court to huckstering. State monopoly on salt would beggar and embitter the populace; collecting taxes in cloth would invite clerkly fraud and theft. No enlightened sovereign should follow such a course.' The emperor had already sided with Zhang Lin; Zhu Hui's second memorial provoked his wrath, and he roundly berated the entire secretariat.' Zhu Hui and his colleagues placed themselves under arrest.
19
三日，詔敕出之。 曰：「國家樂聞駁議，黃發無愆，詔書過耳，[四]何故自系？ 」暉因稱病篤，不肯復署議。
Three days later an edict ordered their release. It read: 'The government welcomes dissent. Gray-haired ministers owe no apology—the fault lay with my edict. [4] Why imprison yourselves?' Zhu Hui pleaded serious illness and declined to countersign any further deliberations.'
20
尚書令以下惶怖，謂暉曰：「今臨得譴讓，柰何稱病，其禍不細！ 」暉曰：「行年八十，蒙恩得在機密，當以死報。 若心知不可而順旨雷同，負臣子之義。 今耳目無所聞見，伏待死命。 」遂閉口不復言。 諸尚書不知所為，乃共劾奏暉。
The secretariat staff panicked and urged him, 'Rebuke is about to fall on us all—how can you fall ill now? The consequences will be grave!' Zhu Hui answered, 'I am eighty and have been honored with a place in the inner councils; I owe the throne a life for that.' To know a policy is wrong yet parrot the edict like everyone else would betray every duty I owe as a subject.' I have nothing more to say; I await whatever sentence you impose.' With that he fell silent and would not speak again.' The secretariat directors, at a loss, joined in a memorial impeaching Zhu Hui.
21
帝意解，寑其事。 後數日，詔使直事郎問暉起居，[五]太醫視疾，太官賜食。 暉乃起謝，復賜錢十萬，布百匹，衣十領。
The emperor's anger cooled and he let the matter drop. A few days later the court dispatched a duty gentleman to inquire after Zhu Hui's health, [5] sent the imperial physician to treat him, and ordered the palace kitchen to send meals. Zhu Hui rose to give thanks; he also received a hundred thousand cash, a hundred bolts of cloth, and ten suits of clothing.
22
注[一]經，常也。
Commentary 1: Jing here means 'regular' or 'routine.'
23
注[二]前書曰：「因官器作□鹽。 」音義曰：「□，古『煮』字。」
Commentary 2: The History of the Former Han states that the government boiled salt with official equipment.' The Sounds and Meanings gloss identifies the lacuna as the old graph for 'to boil.'
24
注[三]武帝作均輸法，謂州郡所出租賦，並雇運之直，官總取之，市其土地所出之物。 官自轉輸於京，謂之均輸。
Commentary 3: Emperor Wu's equal-transport system pooled each region's tax grain and shipping fees so the state could buy local specialties in bulk. Officials then moved those goods to the capital themselves—that was 'balanced delivery.'
25
注[四]黃發，老稱。 謂朱暉也。
Commentary 4: 'Yellow hair' is a polite epithet for the aged. That is, it refers to Zhu Hui.
26
注[五]直事郎謂署郎當次直者。
Commentary 5: A duty gentleman was a palace gentleman whose turn it was to stand watch.
27
後遷為尚書令，以老病乞身，拜騎都尉，賜錢二十萬。 和帝即位，竇憲北征匈奴，暉復上疏諫。 頃之，病卒。 [一]注[一]華嶠書曰「暉年五十失妻，昆弟欲為繼室，暉歎曰：『時俗希不以後妻敗家者！ 』遂不復娶」也。
He was later promoted to secretariat director, then retired on grounds of age and ill health with appointment as chief of cavalry and a gift of two hundred thousand cash. After Emperor He came to the throne, Dou Xian led a northern campaign against the Xiongnu; Zhu Hui again memorialized in protest. He died of illness soon afterward. [1] Hua Qiao's history records that when Zhu Hui was fifty his wife died and his brothers urged him to remarry. He sighed, 'Hardly anyone in our day escapes ruin when he takes a second wife!' So he never married again.'
28
子頡，修儒術，安帝時至陳相。 頡子穆。
His son Zhu Jie studied the Confucian classics and rose under Emperor An to chancellor of Chen. Zhu Jie's son was Zhu Mu.
29
穆字公叔。 年五歲，便有孝稱。 父母有病，輒不飲食，差乃復常。 及壯耽學，銳意講誦，或時思至，不自知亡失衣冠，顛隊坑岸。 其父常以為專愚，幾不知數馬足。
Zhu Mu, whose courtesy name was Gongshu, was already known at the age of five for filial devotion. Whenever his parents fell ill he refused food until they recovered. As a man he gave himself to study with fierce concentration; when inspiration struck he would lose track of his hat and shoes and stumble into ditches without noticing. His father dismissed him as obtuse—almost as absentminded as the steward who could not count the horses in the stable.
30
[一]穆愈更精篤。 注[一]幾音近衣反。 前書曰：「石慶為太僕，上問車中幾馬？ 慶以策數馬畢，舉手曰『六馬。 』」言穆用心專愚更甚也。
[1] Zhu Mu only grew more single-minded in his scholarship. Commentary 1: Ji is read with the same initial as yi (approximate fanqie spelling). The History of the Former Han tells how Grand Coachman Shi Qing was asked how many horses drew the imperial carriage.' Shi Qing counted them with his whip and answered, 'Six horses.' The point is that Zhu Mu's bookish absorption surpassed even that story.'
31
初舉孝廉。 [一]順帝末，江淮盜賊腢起，州郡不能禁。 或說大將軍梁冀曰：「朱公叔兼資文武，海內奇士，若以為謀主，賊不足平也。 」冀亦素聞穆名，乃辟之，使典兵事，甚見親任。 及桓帝即位，順烈太后臨朝，穆以冀埶地親重，望有以扶持王室，因推災異，奏記以勸戒冀曰：「穆伏念明年丁亥之歲，刑德合於干位，[二]易經龍戰之會。 其文曰：『龍戰於野，其道窮也。 』[三]謂陽道將勝而陰道負也。 今年九月天氣鬱冒，五位四候連失正氣，此互相明也。 夫善道屬陽，惡道屬陰，若修正守陽，摧折惡類，則福從之矣。 穆每事不逮，所好唯學，傳受於師，時有可試。 願將軍少察愚言，申納諸儒，[四]而親其忠正，絕其姑息，[五]專心公朝，割除私慾，廣求賢能，斥遠佞惡。 夫人君不可不學，當以天地順道漸漬其心。 宜為皇帝選置師傅及侍講者，得小心忠篤敦禮之士，將軍與之俱入，參勸講授，師賢法古，此猶倚南山坐平原也，誰能傾之！ 今年夏，月暈房星，明年當有小□。 宜急誅奸臣為天下所怨毒者，以塞災咎。 議郎﹑大夫之位，本以式序儒術高行之士，今多非其人； 九卿之中，亦有乖其任者。 惟將軍察焉。 」又薦種暠﹑欒巴等。 而明年嚴鮪謀立清河王蒜，又黃龍二見沛國。
He was first recommended as filial and incorrupt. [1] Late in Emperor Shun's reign banditry flared along the Yangzi and Huai, beyond the power of local officials to suppress. Someone urged the great general Liang Ji: 'Zhu Gongshu is both scholar and strategist, a rare talent in the realm; appoint him your chief counselor and the rebels will soon be crushed.' Liang Ji had long heard of Zhu Mu, summoned him to his staff, put him in charge of military planning, and came to rely on him intimately.' When Emperor Huan came to the throne and Empress Dowager Shunlie ruled as regent, Zhu Mu hoped that Liang Ji, with his immense power and proximity to the throne, might strengthen the house of Han. Citing omens, he sent Liang Ji a long letter of warning: 'I have calculated that in the coming dinghai year the cosmic forces of virtue and punishment will converge on the stem position—[2] the configuration the Book of Changes calls "dragons fighting in the field."' The line reads, "Dragons contend in the open country; their path has reached an end."' [3] That is, the yang principle is about to triumph while yin must give way.' This past ninth month the heavens hung heavy and murky; the five planetary stations and four seasonal winds have fallen out of alignment—omens that reinforce one another. Good aligns with yang and evil with yin; if you hold fast to what is right and crush wicked factions, good fortune will follow. I am no statesman; my only strength is scholarship learned from my teachers, yet even that may sometimes prove useful. I beg you to weigh these clumsy words, give ear to the scholars, [4] draw close to the loyal and upright, reject easy appeasement, [5] fix your mind on the public good, curb private appetite, seek out talent widely, and drive sycophants and villains from your side.' A ruler must never stop learning; let the natural order of heaven and earth slowly reshape his heart.' Choose tutors and readers for the emperor—men of loyalty, gravity, and ritual—and attend the lectures with them. Take the worthy as teachers and antiquity as your model. That would be like resting against Mount Tai while seated on the plain; who could shake you?' This summer a lunar halo ringed the House asterism; expect a minor disaster next year.' Execute at once the wicked ministers whom the empire detests, and you will avert Heaven's rebuke.' The posts of consultant and grandee were meant to rank men of learning and integrity; too many incumbents are unworthy.' Even among the nine ministers some betray their trust.' I leave these matters to your judgment, General.' He also recommended Zhong Hao, Luan Ba, and others.' The following year Yan Wei conspired to set Prince Suan of Qinghe on the throne, and pair of yellow dragons was sighted in the kingdom of Pei.
32
冀無術學，遂以穆「龍戰」之言為應，於是請暠為從事中郎，薦巴為議郎，舉穆高第，為侍御史。 [六]注[一]謝承書曰「穆少有英才，學明五經。 性矜嚴疾惡，不交非類。 年二十為郡督郵，迎新太守，見穆曰：『君年少為督郵，因族埶？ 為有令德？ 』穆荅曰：『郡中瞻望明府謂如仲尼，非顏回不敢以迎孔子。 』更問風俗人物。 太守甚奇之，曰：『僕非仲尼，督郵可謂顏回也。 』遂歷職股肱，舉孝廉」也。
Liang Ji, no scholar himself, decided Zhu Mu's talk of battling dragons had come true. He appointed Zhong Hao retainer attendant gentleman, nominated Luan Ba as consultant, and advanced Zhu Mu with highest marks to attendant censor. [6] Xie Cheng's history says that Zhu Mu showed exceptional gifts in youth and mastered the Five Classics.' He was austere, hated wickedness, and kept company only with the worthy.' At twenty he became a commandery supervising secretary. When the new grand administrator arrived he asked Zhu Mu, 'How does a man your age hold this post—family influence?' Or because you possess true virtue?' Zhu Mu replied, 'The whole commandery looks up to Your Honor as to Confucius himself; only a Yan Hui would be fit to welcome Confucius.' The administrator went on to ask about local customs and leading figures.' The grand administrator was deeply impressed. 'I am no Confucius,' he said, 'but you may well be my Yan Hui.' Zhu Mu went on to serve him in key posts and was eventually recommended as filial and incorrupt.'
33
注[二]曆法，太歲在丁﹑壬，歲德在北宮，太歲在亥﹑卯﹑未，歲刑亦在北宮，故合於干位也。
Commentary 2: When the Grand Year stands at ding or ren, the year's virtue lodges in the northern palace; when it stands at hai, mao, or wei, the year's punishment also lies in the northern palace—hence the convergence on the stem position for dinghai.
34
注[三]易坤卦上六象詞也。 以爻居上六，故雲其道窮也。 王弼注云：「陰之為道，卑順不逆，乃全其美，盛而不已。 固陽之地，陽所不堪，故戰於野。」
Commentary 3: The line is the image commentary on the top yin line of the Kun hexagram. Because the line sits at the top of Kun, the text says its path has reached its limit. Wang Bi comments: 'Yin should stay lowly and yielding; only thus does it preserve its excellence. When it swells without end,' it occupies ground yang cannot tolerate, and so the dragons fight in the open field.'
35
注[四]申，重也。
Commentary 4: Shen means 'to extend' or 'double.'
36
注[五]姑，且也。 息，安也。 小人之道，苟且取安也。 禮記曰「君子之愛人也以德，細人之愛人也以姑息」也。
Commentary 5: Gu here means 'for the nonce' or 'temporarily.' Xi means 'peace' or 'ease.' The small man's way is to settle for a quiet life at any cost. The Book of Rites says, 'The gentleman cherishes others by building their character; the small man cherishes them by letting things slide.'
37
注[六]續漢書曰：「穆舉高第，拜侍御史。 桓帝臨辟雍，行禮畢，公卿出，虎賁置弓階上，公卿下階皆避弓。 穆過，呵虎賁曰：『執天子器，何故投於地！ 』虎賁怖，即攝弓。 穆劾奏虎賁抵罪，公卿皆籩，曰『朱御史可謂臨事不惑者也』。」
Commentary 6: The Continued Han History records that Zhu Mu passed with highest honors and was appointed attendant censor.' When Emperor Huan visited the imperial academy and the ceremony ended, the high ministers filed out. Palace guards laid ceremonial bows on the stairs, and every minister stepped around them on the way down. Zhu Mu stopped and rebuked the guards: 'These are the Son of Heaven's regalia—why throw them on the steps?' The guards, alarmed, picked the bows up at once.' Zhu Mu memorialized to punish the guards. The ministers were abashed and said, 'Censor Zhu keeps his head when others lose theirs.'
38
時同郡趙康叔盛者，隱於武當山，清靜不仕，以經傳教授。 穆時年五十，乃奉書稱弟子。 及康歿，喪之如師。 其尊德重道，為當時所服。
A fellow townsman, Zhao Kang (courtesy name Shusheng), had withdrawn to Mount Wudang, where he lived in seclusion, declined office, and taught the classics. At fifty Zhu Mu sent him a letter enrolling himself as a student. When Zhao Kang died, Zhu Mu mourned him as he would a master. His reverence for learning and moral character won wide admiration.
39
常感時澆薄，慕尚敦篤，乃作祟厚論。 其辭曰：
Distressed by the thinness of public morals, he longed for plain sincerity and composed his Treatise on Honoring Thickness. It begins:
40
夫俗之薄也，有自來矣。 故仲尼歎曰：「大道之行也，而丘不與焉。 」[一]蓋傷之也。 夫道者，以天下為一，在彼猶在己也。 故行違於道則愧生於心，非畏義也；
The coarsening of manners is nothing new. Confucius once lamented, 'The great way once prevailed in the world, yet I was not born in time to see it.' [1]—because the loss filled him with sorrow.' The Way treats the empire as a single whole; another's good is one's own. When your deeds stray from the Way, shame rises within you; that is not mere fear of moral censure.
41
事違於理則負結於意，非憚禮也。 故率性而行謂之道，[二]得其天性謂之德。 [三]德性失然後貴仁義，[四]是以仁義起而道德遷，[五]禮法興而淳樸散。 故道德以仁義為薄，淳樸以禮法為賊也。 [六]夫中世之所敦，已為上世之所薄，[七]況又薄於此乎！ 注[一]禮記仲尼歎曰：「大道之行，三代之英，丘未之逮也，而有志焉。 」鄭玄注曰：「大道，謂三皇﹑五帝時也。」
When affairs run counter to right principle, your conscience is burdened; that is not mere dread of ritual forms. To follow innate nature in action is the Way; [2] to preserve that heaven-endowed nature intact is virtue. [3] Only after innate virtue is lost do people prize benevolence and duty; [4] hence those virtues appear and the true Way recedes; [5] as ritual and penal law multiply, simplicity vanishes. Thus the higher Way looks on forced benevolence and duty as a thin substitute, and natural simplicity sees elaborate ritual and statutes as its destroyer. [6] The virtues later ages hold dear were already thought shallow in high antiquity; [7] how much more contemptible are the habits of our own day! Commentary 1: The Book of Rites records Confucius sighing, 'The age when the great way prevailed, the finest rulers of the three dynasties—I never lived to see them, though I aspired to their standard.' Zheng Xuan glosses the great way as the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.'
42
注[二]率，循也。 子思曰「天命之謂性，率性之謂道，修道之謂教」也。
Commentary 2: Shuai means to follow or accord with. Zisi wrote, 'What heaven imparts is nature; to follow nature is the Way; to cultivate the Way is education.'
43
注[三]天之所命之謂性，不失天性是為德。
Commentary 3: Heaven's endowment is nature; virtue means never forfeiting that endowment.
44
注[四]道德之性失，仁義之多彰。 注[五]遷，徙也。
Commentary 4: Once the innate Way is lost, people parade an excess of preached benevolence and duty. Commentary 5: Qian means to shift aside or depart.
45
注[六]老子曰：「失道而後德，失德而後仁，失仁而後義，失義而後禮。 夫禮者，忠信之薄而亂之首也。」
Commentary 6: Laozi says, 'When the Way is lost, men speak of virtue; when virtue is lost, of benevolence; when benevolence is lost, of righteousness; when righteousness is lost, of ritual.' Ritual is the scant remnant of good faith and the first step toward disorder.'
46
注[七]中世謂五帝時。
Commentary 7: 'Middle age' here denotes the era of the Five Emperors.
47
故夫天不崇大則覆幬不廣，地不深厚則載物不博，[一]人不敦厖則道數不遠。 [二]昔在仲尼不失舊於原壤，[三]楚嚴不忍章於絕纓。 [四]由此觀之，聖賢之德敦矣。 老氏之經曰：「大丈夫處其厚不處其薄，居其實不居其華，故去彼取此。」
If heaven were not vast, it could not shelter all beneath it; if earth were not deep, it could not sustain every creature; [1] if a man lacks breadth of character, he cannot grasp the subtle principles of the Way. [2] Confucius never cast off his old friend Yuan Rang; [3] King Zhuang of Chu refused to expose the courtier who had tugged his consort's sash when the lamps went out. [4] From this we see how large-minded the sages truly were. Laozi teaches that the true man stands on what is solid, not on what is shallow; he rests in substance, not in show—so he leaves the one and holds to the other.'
48
[五]夫時有薄而厚施，行有失而惠用。 [六]故覆人之過者，敦之道也； 救人之失者，厚之行也。 往者，馬援深昭此道，可以為德，誡其兄子曰：「吾欲汝曹聞人之過如聞父母之名。 耳可得聞，口不得言。 」斯言要矣。 遠則聖賢履之上世，[七]近則丙吉﹑張子孺行之漢廷。 [八]故能振英聲於百世，播不滅之遺風，不亦美哉！ 注[一]幬亦覆。 左傳曰：「如天之無不燾，如地之無不載。 」「幬」與「燾」同。
[5] When the times turn mean, respond with generosity; when others stumble, treat them with kindness. [6] To shield another's error is the path of true magnanimity; to rescue a man from his mistakes is the practice of deep humanity. Ma Yuan grasped this truth and made it a family rule, telling his nephews, 'I want you to react to gossip about others' faults as you would to hearing your parents' personal names.' You may hear such things with your ears, but you must not repeat them with your mouth.' Those words hit the mark.' [7] The ancients lived by this principle; in our own dynasty Bing Ji and Zhang Ziru put it into practice at court. [8] Hence their noble reputations ring down the centuries and an imperishable breeze of virtue still stirs—is that not splendid! Commentary 1: Chou here means 'to cover' or 'shelter.' The Zuo Commentary says heaven hides nothing in its canopy and earth supports nothing beneath its load.' The graphs chou and dao are equivalent here.'
49
注[二]敦厖，厚大也。 左傳曰：「人生敦厖。 」數猶理也。 言人不敦厚，不能入道之精理也。
Commentary 2: Dun pang means broad and substantial. The Zuo Commentary speaks of a man 'born to breadth of character.' Shu here means principle or inner pattern.' Without generous depth of character one cannot fathom the subtle truths of the Way.
50
注[三]原壤，孔子之舊也。 禮記曰：「原壤之母死，孔子助之沐幟。 原壤登木而歌曰：『狸首之班然，執女手之卷然。 』從者曰：『子未可以已乎？ 』夫子曰：『親者無失其為親，故者無失其為故。 』」注[四]說苑曰：「楚莊王賜腢臣酒，日暮燭滅，乃有人引美人之衣者。 美人援絕其冠纓，告王趣火來上，視絕纓者。 王曰：『賜人酒，使醉失禮，柰何欲顯婦人之節而辱士乎？ 』乃命左右曰：『與寡人飲，不絕冠纓者不歡。 』腢臣百餘人皆絕去其冠纓，乃上火」也。
Commentary 3: Yuan Rang was an old acquaintance of Confucius. The Book of Rites records that when Yuan Rang's mother died, Confucius helped him prepare the mortuary drapery.' Yuan Rang climbed a beam and sang, 'How dappled the fox's head, how soft the hand I hold.' His followers asked, 'Master, can you not put a stop to this?' Confucius replied, 'Kin remain kin, and old friends remain friends—that is all.' Commentary 4: Liu Xiang's Garden of Persuasions tells how King Zhuang of Chu feasted his ministers; when dusk came and the torches died, one guest tugged at a lady of the court.' She tore off his hat cord and asked the king to relight the lamps so the culprit could be identified. The king said, 'I gave them wine; if drunken discourtesy follows, why should I vindicate a woman's modesty at a gentleman's expense?' He ordered his attendants, 'Let no man call himself merry at my feast until he has snapped his hat cord.' More than a hundred ministers ripped their cords free, and only then were the lights brought back.'
51
注[五]此老子*[道]*德經之詞也。 顧歡注曰：「道德為厚，禮法為薄，清虛為實，聲色為華。 去彼華薄，取此厚實。」
Commentary 5: The quotation comes from Laozi's Daodejing. Gu Huan comments that the Way and inner power are the solid foundation, ritual and law the shallow veneer; stillness is substance, sensual display mere blossom.' Reject the showy and thin; embrace the deep and real.'
52
注[六]俗之凋薄，以厚御之； 行*[之]*有失，以惠待之。 即上孔子﹑楚莊是也。
Commentary 6: Meet social decay with steadfast generosity; meet others' missteps with forgiving kindness. That is precisely what Confucius and King Zhuang of Chu exemplified.
53
注[七]履，踐也。 言敦厚之道，孔子﹑楚莊已踐履之。
Commentary 7: Lu means to tread or put into practice. Confucius and King Zhuang had already walked this path of magnanimity.
54
注[八]宣帝時丙吉為丞相，不案吏，曰：「夫以三公府案吏，吾竊陋之。 」子孺為車騎將軍，匿名遠權，隱人過失。
Commentary 8: Under Emperor Xuan, Chancellor Bing Ji refused to grill his subordinates, saying, 'I would be ashamed to see the highest office used as an inquisitorial court.' Zhang Ziru, as general of chariots and cavalry, shunned publicity and power and glossed over others' errors.'
55
然而時俗或異，風化不敦，而尚相誹謗，謂之臧否。 記短則兼折其長，貶惡則並伐其善。 悠悠者皆是，其可稱乎！ [一]凡此之類，豈徒乖為君子之道哉，將有危身累家之禍焉。 悲夫！ 行之者不知憂其然，故害興而莫之及也。 斯既然矣，又有異焉。
Yet customs change; when public morals grow lax, people take delight in mutual slander and call it honest appraisal. To harp on a man's faults is to deny his strengths; to dwell on his vices is to erase his virtues. The common herd all behave so—can that be called admirable! [1] Such conduct does not merely break the gentleman's code; it invites ruin upon oneself and one's kin. How lamentable! Those who indulge in it never foresee the end; disaster strikes before they can mend their ways. Nor is that the whole evil.
56
人皆見之而不能自遷。 何則？ 務進者趨前而不顧後，榮貴者矜己而不待人，智不接愚，富不賑貧，貞士孤而不恤，賢者□而不存。 故田蚡以尊顯致安國之金，[二]淳於以貴埶引方進之言。 [三]夫以韓、翟之操，為漢之名宰，[四]然猶不能振一貧賢，薦一孤士，又況其下者乎！ 此禽息、史魚所以專名於前，而莫繼於後者也。 [五]故時敦俗美，則小人守正，利不能誘也； 時否俗薄，雖君子為邪，義不能止也。 [六]何則？ 先進者既往而不反，後來者複習俗而追之，是以虛華盛而忠信微，刻薄稠而純篤稀。 斯蓋谷風有「棄予」之歎，[七]伐木有「鳥鳴」之悲矣！ [八]注[一]悠悠，多也。 稱，舉也。
Everyone sees the danger yet few can turn themselves around. Why? The ambitious press ahead and never look back; the privileged preen themselves and spare no thought for others. The clever ignore the simple, the rich ignore the poor, men of integrity are left to stand alone, and true talent goes unsupported. [2] Tian Fen traded rank for Han Anguo's bribes; Chunyu Chang used influence to win praise from Zhai Fangjin. [3] Men of Han Anguo's and Zhai Fangjin's caliber served as the Han's most celebrated ministers, [4] yet even they could not lift a single needy scholar or recommend one friendless gentleman—what hope for lesser men! That is why Qin Xi and Shi Yu stand alone in history, with scarcely anyone to follow their example. [5] When the age is generous and manners sound, even ordinary folk keep to the straight path and profit cannot sway them; when the times turn sour and morals thin, gentlemen themselves turn crooked, and duty cannot hold them back. [6] Why? The first generation passes and does not return; the next absorbs the prevailing habit and follows suit—so hollow display thrives while good faith withers, harshness spreads and simple sincerity grows rare. [7] Hence the Valley Wind laments the lover who casts his mate away, and Felling Trees mourns the friend who will not heed the calling bird! [8] Commentary 1: You you means 'numerous' or 'the multitude.' Cheng means to praise or commend.
57
注[二]田蚡，* (武) **[景]*帝王皇后同產弟，為太尉，親貴用事。 韓安國為梁王太傅，坐法失官，安國以五百金遺蚡，蚡為言太后，即召以為北地都尉也。
Commentary 2: Tian Fen Emperor Wu's younger brother of Empress Wang of Emperor Jing by the same mother—served as grand commandant and wielded power as a favorite of the throne. Han Anguo had been tutor to the king of Liang but lost his post for a legal offense; he sent Tian Fen five hundred pounds of gold, Tian Fen spoke to the empress dowager on his behalf, and Han Anguo was recalled as commandant of the northern frontier.
58
注[三]翟方進，成帝時為丞相。 淳于長，元後姊子，封定陵侯，以能謀議為九卿，用事。 方進獨與長交，稱薦之也。
Commentary 3: Zhai Fangjin served as chancellor under Emperor Cheng. Chunyu Chang, nephew of Empress Yuan, was made marquis of Dingling; his talent for counsel won him one of the nine ministerial posts and real influence at court. Zhai Fangjin alone cultivated his friendship and sang his praises.
59
注[四]前書曰：「天子以韓安國為國器，拜御史大夫。 」又曰：「翟方進智能有餘，天子甚重之。 」故言名宰也。
Commentary 4: The History of the Former Han records that the emperor deemed Han Anguo a pillar of the state and appointed him grandee secretary.' It also says of Zhai Fangjin that his abilities exceeded ordinary measure and the emperor held him in the highest regard.' Hence the text speaks of them as eminent chief ministers.'
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注[五]韓詩外傳曰：「禽息，秦大夫，薦百里奚不見納。 繆公出，當車以頭擊闑，腦乃精出，曰：『臣生無補於國，不如死也。 』繆公感寤而用百里奚，秦以大化。 」禮，大夫殯於正室，士於適室。 韓子曰，史魚，□大夫。 卒，委柩後寢。 □君吊而問之。 曰：「不能進蘧伯玉，退彌子瑕。 」以尸諫也。
Commentary 5: The Outer Commentary to the Han version of the Songs tells how Qin Xi, a Qin minister, urged the employment of Baili Xi without success.' When Duke Mu came forth, Qin Xi dashed his head against the chariot gate until his brains burst, crying, 'Alive I did the state no good—I might as well be dead!' The duke was shaken into sense, employed Baili Xi, and Qin flourished.' By ritual, a grandee's corpse lies in the main chamber and a gentleman's in the side chamber.' Han Feizi records that Shi Yu was a grandee of Wei. When he died he had his coffin placed in the rear chamber. The ruler of Wei came to condole and inquired into the meaning of the arrangement. The inscription recorded his final remonstrance: 'I failed to advance Qu Boyu and to dismiss Mi Zixia.' Thus he remonstrated from beyond the grave.'
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注[六]皆牽於時也。
Commentary 6: In each case they were constrained by the temper of their times.
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注[七]詩小雅曰：「習習谷風，維風及雨。 將恐將懼，維予與汝。 將安將樂，汝轉棄予。」
Commentary 7: The Minor Odes sing, 'The valley wind blows softly; wind brings the rain along.' In fear and trembling I clung to you alone.' When peace and joy returned, you cast me away instead.'
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注[八]詩小雅曰「伐木丁丁，鳥鳴嚶嚶。 出自幽谷，遷於喬木。 嚶其鳴矣，求其友聲」也。
Commentary 8: The Minor Odes read, 'Woodmen's axes ring; birds cry in chorus.' They leave the deep valley and settle in the tall trees.' They call in chorus, seeking the answering cry of friends.'
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嗟乎！ 世士誠躬師孔聖之崇則，嘉楚嚴之美行，希李老之雅誨，思馬援之所尚，鄙二宰之失度，美韓稜之抗正，[一]貴丙、張之弘裕，賤時俗之誹謗，則道豐績盛，名顯身榮，載不刊之德，[二]播不滅之聲。 然*[後]*知薄者之不足，厚者之有餘也。 彼與草木俱朽，[三]此與金石相傾，[四]豈得同年而語，並日而談哉？ 」注[一]事具韓稜傳也。
Alas! If scholars would truly model themselves on Confucius's supreme standard, applaud King Zhuang of Chu's magnanimity, heed Laozi's gentle teaching, remember Ma Yuan's precepts, scorn the excesses of Tian Fen and Zhai Fangjin, honor Han Ling's fearless integrity, [1] esteem the breadth of Bing Ji and Zhang Ziru, and spurn the fashion for backbiting—then the Way would flourish, their achievement would be great, their names glorious and persons honored, they would bear imperishable virtue, [2] and leave a fame that never dies. Only then do we see how shallow conduct falls short and generous conduct abounds. The one sort decays like grass and wood; [3] the other endures like metal and stone set against each other in lasting balance; [4] how can the two be named in the same breath! Commentary 1: The episode is given in full in the biography of Han Ling.'
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注[二]刊，削也。 注[三]彼謂薄也。
Commentary 2: Kan means to inscribe by cutting—hence 'indelible.' Commentary 3: 'Those' refers to men of shallow conduct.
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注[四]此謂厚也。 老子曰：「高下之相傾。」
Commentary 4: 'These' refers to the magnanimous. Laozi says, 'High and low define each other.'
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穆又著絕交論，亦矯時之作。 [一]注[一]穆集載論，其略曰：「或曰：『子絕存問，不見客，亦不荅也，何故？ 』曰：『古者，進退趨業，無私游之交，相見以公朝，享會以禮紀，否則朋徒受習而已。 』曰：『人將疾子，如何？ 』曰：『寧受疾。 』曰：『受疾可乎？ 』曰：『世之務交遊也久矣，敦千乘不忌於君，犯禮以追之，背公以從之。 其愈者，則孺子之愛也； 其甚者，則求蔽過竊譽，以贍其私。 事替義退，公輕私重，居勞於聽也。 或於道而求其私，贍矣。 是故遂往不反，而莫敢止焉。 是川瀆並決，而莫之敢塞； 游豶蹂稼，而莫之禁也。 詩云：「威儀棣棣，不可筭也。 」後生將復何述？
Zhu Mu also wrote his Treatise on Severing Friendships, another essay aimed at the vices of the day. [1] Zhu Mu's collected works preserve the treatise, which opens with a question: 'You refuse visits, turn away callers, and answer no one—why?' The answer: In antiquity men moved between duty and rest without cultivating private friendships; they met in the public hall and feasted only by ritual; otherwise they simply studied with fellow students.' They asked, 'People will despise you for it—what then?' He answered, 'I would rather be despised.' They pressed, 'Can you accept being hated?' He replied, 'Fashionable networking has gone on too long: men with the weight of princes show no scruple toward their ruler, break ritual to chase connections, and abandon the public good for private ties.' At best it is the fondness of children; at worst it means hiding faults, stealing reputation, and lining private pockets. Duty withers and right retreats, the state counts for little and selfish interest for much, and one's ears tire of the clamor.' Some twist the Way itself to serve private greed—there is no end to it.' So the rush goes ever forward and none dare call a halt.' It is like rivers in flood that no one dares to dam; like wild boars rooting through the grain that no one can drive off.' The Classic of Poetry says, 'Solemn deportment, orderly and serene, cannot be reckoned.' What will the next generation have left to tell?'
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而吾不才，焉能規此？ 實悼無行，子道多闕，臣事多尤，思復白圭，重考古言，以補往過。 時無孔堂，思兼則滯，匪有廢也，則亦焉興？ 是以敢受疾也，不亦可乎！ 』」文士傳曰：「世無絕交。 」又與劉伯宗絕交書及詩曰：「昔我為豐令，足下不遭母憂乎？ 親解縗絰，來入豐寺。 及我為持書御史，足下親來入台。 足下今為二千石，我下為郎，乃反因計吏以謁相與。 足下豈丞尉之徒，我豈足下部*[民]*，欲以此謁為榮寵乎？ 咄！ 劉伯宗於仁義道何其薄哉！ 」其詩曰：「北山有鴟，不絜其翼。 飛不正向，寢不定息。 饑則木攬，飽則泥伏。 饕餮貪污，臭腐是食。 填腸滿嗉，嗜欲無極。 長鳴呼鳳，謂鳳無德。 鳳之所趣，與子異域。 永從此訣，各自努力！ 」蓋因此而著論也。
I am no genius—how can I reform the world?' I mourn my own want of virtue, my failures as a son and subject; I wish to polish the 'white jade' of my conduct, study the words of the ancients again, and make good past mistakes.' We have no Confucian academy today; to pursue every tie is to be overwhelmed. Unless something is given up, how can anything worthwhile rise?' So I choose to bear men's hatred—why should that not serve?' The Biographies of Literary Men remarks, 'No one in our time really breaks off friendships.' He also addressed Liu Bozong in a letter of rupture and a poem: 'When I was magistrate of Feng, had you not just lost your mother?' You took off your mourning garments and came to the county office in person.' When I became secretary censor, you came in person to the censorate.' Now you rank at two thousand piculs while I am only a gentleman at court, yet you would visit me through a county clerk as if we were strangers trading favors.' Do you take me for some petty clerk, yourself for my superior, and think this call would honor me?' Fie! How thin Liu Bozong's notion of duty and decency has grown! His poem runs: 'On the northern hill an owl sits, wings never clean.' It flies askew and roosts without peace.' Hungry, it claws the trees; gorged, it wallows in the mire.' Gluttonous and foul, it feeds on carrion and rot.' It stuffs gut and craw, yet its appetites know no bound.' It screeches at the phoenix and calls the phoenix virtueless.' The phoenix aims for a realm you will never know.' This is farewell forever—each of us must go his own way!' It was this quarrel that prompted his treatise.'
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梁冀驕暴不悛，朝野嗟毒，穆以故吏，懼其釁積招禍，復奏記諫曰：「古之明君，必有輔德之臣，規諫之官，下至器物，銘書成敗，以防遺失。 [一]故君有正道，臣有正路，[二]從之如升堂，違之如赴壑。 今明將軍地有申伯之尊，[三]位為腢公之首，[四]一日行善，天下歸仁，[五]終朝為惡，四海傾覆。 頃者，官人俱匱，加以水蟲為害。 [六]京師諸官費用增多，詔書發調或至十倍。 各言官無見財，皆當出民，搒掠割剝，強令充足。 公賦既重，私斂又深。 牧守長吏，多非德選，貪聚無猒，遇人如虜，或絕命於棰楚之下，或自賊於迫切之求。 [七]又掠奪百姓，皆托之尊府。 遂令將軍結怨天下，吏人酸毒，道路歎嗟。 昔秦政煩苛，百姓土崩，陳勝奮臂一呼，天下鼎沸，[八]而面諛之臣，猶言安耳。 [九]諱惡不悛，卒至亡滅。 昔永和之末，綱紀少□，頗失人望。 四五歲耳，而財空戶散，下有離心。 馬免之徒乘敝而起，荊揚之閒幾成大患。 [一０]幸賴順烈皇后初政清靜，內外同力，僅乃討定。 今百姓戚戚，困於永和，內非仁愛之心可得容忍，外非守國之計所宜久安也。 夫將相大臣，均體元首，共輿而馳，同舟而濟，輿傾舟覆，患實共之。
Liang Ji grew ever more arrogant and cruel, and the whole realm groaned under him. Zhu Mu, as his former subordinate, feared that mounting grievances would bring catastrophe, and sent another letter of remonstrance: 'Every enlightened ruler of old had ministers to strengthen his virtue and officers to speak plain truth; even on utensils he recorded success and failure to guard against error.' [1] When the ruler holds to the straight path and ministers to the straight course, [2] to follow it is like climbing the high hall; to abandon it is like hurtling into a chasm.' You, General, hold lands as honored as those of the Earl of Shen, [3] and stand first among the great ministers of state. [4] A single day of good deeds would win the empire to humaneness; [5] one morning of evil could overturn the four seas.' Lately officials and commoners alike have been drained, and flood and locusts have added to their misery.' [6] Expenses at the capital have multiplied, and edicts for conscript labor and supplies sometimes demand ten times the old amounts.' Each office claims empty coffers and says everything must come from the people; they beat and extort until quotas are met.' State taxes are crushing and private squeeze goes deeper still.' Many prefects and magistrates are not men of moral worth; they pile up wealth insatiably and handle the people like prisoners—some die under the rod, others destroy themselves trying to meet impossible demands.' [7] Robbery of the common people is everywhere laid at your mansion's door.' You have made the General hated across the land; officials and folk are embittered, and travelers groan on every road.' When Qin's laws grew intolerable, the people crumbled like clods of earth; Chen Sheng raised his arm and the empire boiled over, [8] yet courtiers still looked the emperor in the face and called all well.' [9] Because the court hid its faults and would not change, it was destroyed in the end.' Late in the Yonghe era discipline grew lax and the court forfeited much of the people's confidence.' Within four or five years the treasury was bare, households scattered, and the provinces nursed rebellion in their hearts.' Men like Ma Mian seized the moment of weakness; between Jing and Yang the realm nearly faced disaster.' [10] Only because Empress Dowager Shunlie began her regency with calm government and court and countryside worked together was the trouble barely put down.' Today the people are as distressed as in Yonghe times; inwardly no government founded on benevolence can long endure such strain, outwardly no policy for defending the state can rest on endless oppression.' Generals and chief ministers share one body with the sovereign: they ride the same carriage and sail the same boat—if it overturns, they drown together.'
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豈可以去明即昧，履危自安，[一一]主孤時困，而莫之恤乎！ 宜時易宰守非其人者，減省第宅園池之費，拒絕郡國諸所奉送。 內以自明，外解人惑，使挾奸之吏無所依托，司察之臣得盡耳目。 憲度既張，遠邇清壹，則將軍身尊事顯，德耀無窮。 天道明察，無言不信，惟垂省覽。 」冀不納，而縱放日滋，遂復賂遺左右，交通宦者，任其子弟﹑賓客以為州郡要職。 穆又奏記極諫，冀終不悟。
How can you turn from light to shadow, court danger for private ease, [11] while the ruler stands alone in hard times and no one shows him mercy! Replace unworthy prefects and magistrates at once, cut back spending on mansions, gardens, and pools, and refuse the gifts sent from every commandery and kingdom.' Thus you clear your own name within and lift suspicion abroad, give corrupt clerks no cover, and let censors and inspectors use their eyes and ears to the full.' Once the law stands firm and near and far are brought into good order, you will stand honored, your deeds illustrious, and your virtue will shine without end.' Heaven sees all and never fails to answer; I beg you to weigh these words carefully.' Liang Ji ignored the advice and grew more wanton by the day; he bribed the emperor's attendants, colluded with the eunuchs, and placed his kinsmen, clients, and guests in key posts across the provinces.' Zhu Mu sent further letters of fierce remonstrance, but Liang Ji never took the warning to heart.
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報書云：「如此，僕亦無一可邪？ 」穆言雖切，然亦不甚罪也。 注[一]黃帝作巾機之法，孔甲有盤盂之誡。 太公陰謀曰，武王衣之銘曰：「桑蠶苦，女工難，得新捐故後必寒。 」鏡銘曰：「以鏡自照者見形容，以人自照者見吉凶。 」觴銘曰「樂極則悲，沉湎致非，社稷為危」也。
Liang Ji's reply read, 'By your reckoning, am I good for nothing at all?' Though Zhu Mu's language was blunt, he was not seriously punished.' Commentary 1: The Yellow Emperor devised warnings on the napkin-loom; Kong Jia inscribed admonitions on basins and bowls. The Taigong yinmou records an inscription on King Wu's robe: 'Sericulture is bitter and women's work is hard; he who throws away the old for the new will soon feel cold.' A mirror inscription says, 'The mirror shows your face; other men show your fortune.' A goblet inscription warns, 'Extreme joy turns to grief; deep drinking leads to wrong; the altars of state are put at risk.'
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注[二]說苑君道篇曰：「人君之道，清淨無為，務在博愛，趨在任賢，廣開耳目，以察萬方，不固溺於流俗，不拘繫於左右。 」臣術篇曰「人臣之術，順從覆命，無所敢專，義不苟合，位不苟尊，必有益於國，必有補於君」也。
Commentary 2: The Garden of Persuasions, 'Way of the Ruler' chapter, says the sovereign should keep still and selfless, devote himself to universal love, hasten to employ the worthy, open his eyes and ears to the empire, not be drowned in vulgar fashion, nor tethered to his favorites.' The 'Arts of the Minister' chapter says ministers must obey orders without arrogating power, must not cling to office unworthily, and must bring real benefit to the state and their ruler.'
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注[三]申國之伯，周宣王之元舅。 注[四]冀絕席於三公。
Commentary 3: The Earl of Shen was the senior maternal uncle of King Xuan of Zhou. Commentary 4: Liang Ji was ranked apart from the three dukes—above them in precedence.
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注[五]論語曰：「一日克己復禮，天下歸仁焉。」
Commentary 5: The Analects says, 'Master yourself for one day and return to ritual, and the world will rally to humaneness.'
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注[六]水災及蝗蟲也。 注[七]賊，殺也。
Commentary 6: That is, floods and locusts. Commentary 7: Zei here means to kill oneself.
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注[八]前書淮南王謂伍被曰「陳勝，吳廣起於大澤，奮臂大呼，天下響應」也。
Commentary 8: The History of the Former Han records the prince of Huainan telling Wu Bei that Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose from the swamps, waved their arms, and the empire answered like an echo.'
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注[九]秦胡亥時，山東兵大起，叔孫通謂胡亥曰：「鼠竊狗盜，郡縣逐捕之，不足憂。 」諸生曰：「何先生言之諛也！」
Commentary 9: When rebellion flared east of the mountains under the Second Emperor of Qin, Shusun Tong told him the trouble was mere 'rat theft and dog robbery' that local officials could handle—nothing to fear.' The scholars cried, 'How servile your words are, sir!'
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注[一０]質帝時，九江賊馬免稱「黃帝」，歷陽賊華孟稱「黑帝」，並九江都尉滕撫討斬之。 九江、歷陽是荊揚之閒也。
Commentary 10: Under Emperor Zhi, the Jiujiang rebel Ma Mian called himself Yellow Emperor and the Liyang rebel Hua Meng called himself Black Emperor; both were defeated and beheaded by the Jiujiang commandant Teng Fu. Jiujiang and Liyang lie in the region between Jing and Yang.
79
注[一一]即，就也。
Commentary 11: Ji means to choose or embrace.
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永興元年，河溢，漂害人庶數十萬戶，百姓荒饉，流移道路。 冀州盜賊尤多，故擢穆為冀州刺史。 州人有宦者三人為中常侍，並以檄謁穆。 穆疾之，辭不相見。 冀部令長聞穆濟河，解印綬去者四十餘人。 及到，奏劾諸郡，至有自殺者。
In the first year of Yongxing the Yellow River burst its banks and drowned hundreds of thousands of families; famine drove multitudes onto the roads. Banditry was worst in Ji Province, so Zhu Mu was promoted to inspector of Ji. Three eunuchs from the province who held rank as regular palace attendants sent calling cards to announce a visit. Zhu Mu detested the impropriety and refused to receive them. When word spread that Zhu Mu had crossed the river into Ji, more than forty county magistrates resigned their seals and fled. After his arrival he impeached whole commanderies; some officials took their own lives.
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以威略權宜，盡誅賊渠帥。 舉劾權貴，或乃死獄中。 有宦者趙忠喪父，歸葬安平，[一]僭為璵璠、玉匣、偶人。 [二]穆聞之，下郡案驗。 吏畏其嚴明，遂發墓剖棺，陳屍出之，而收其家屬。 帝聞大怒，征穆詣廷尉，[三]輸作左校。 [四]太學書生劉陶等數千人詣闕上書訟穆曰：「伏見施刑徒朱穆，處公憂國，拜州之日，志清奸惡。 誠以常侍貴寵，父兄子弟布在州郡，競為虎狼，噬食小人，故穆張理天網，補綴漏目，羅取殘禍，以塞天意。 由是內官鹹共恚疾，謗讟煩興，讒隙仍作，極其刑□，輸作左校。 天下有識，皆以穆同勤禹、稷而被共、鯀之戾，若死者有知，則唐帝怒於崇山，重華忿於蒼墓矣。 [五]當今中官近習，[六]竊持國柄，[七]手握王爵，口含天憲，運賞則使餓隸富於季孫，[八]呼腔則令伊、顏化為桀、跖。 [九]而穆獨亢然不顧身害。 非惡榮而好辱，惡生而好死也，徒感王綱之不攝，[一０]懼天網之久失，故竭心懷憂，為上深計。 臣願黥首系趾，[一一]代穆校作。」
By a mix of authority and flexible tactics he exterminated the bandit chiefs. He brought charges against powerful men at court; some died in custody. When the eunuch Zhao Zhong went home to Anping to bury his father, [1] he used forbidden grave goods—ornamental jade, a jade burial suit, and clay substitutes for the living.' [2] When Zhu Mu learned of it, he ordered the commandery to open a formal inquiry. Fearing his rigor, the officials exhumed the grave, broke open the coffin, exposed the corpse, and took his kin into custody. The emperor, enraged, had Zhu Mu summoned before the commandant of justice [3] and condemned to corvée labor at the Left Work Camp. [4] Several thousand academy students, Liu Tao among them, thronged the palace gate with a petition for Zhu Mu: 'We see Zhu Mu, now made a convict, as a man who served the common weal and mourned for the realm; from the day he entered office he meant to cleanse away evil.' The regular attendants are powerful; their kin fill every province and prey like wolves on the common folk. Zhu Mu only tightened heaven's net, mended its gaps, and caught lingering scourges to satisfy what heaven demands.' The eunuchs therefore nursed a common grudge; calumny multiplied and intrigue never ceased until he was broken with the harshest penalties and sent to the Left Work Camp.' Thoughtful men everywhere compare Zhu Mu to the toil of Yu and Hou Ji yet punished like Gun or Huandou; had the dead knowledge, Yao would rage at Mount Chong where Huandou was banished, and Shun would chafe at his own tomb on Cangwu.' [5] Today's eunuchs and favorites [6] usurp the levers of power, [7] dispense noble rank with a gesture and pronounce law with a word; [8] their favors can enrich a starving slave beyond the house of Jisun, their breath can turn men like Yi Yin and Yan Hui into tyrants like Jie or thieves like Zhi.' [9] Yet Zhu Mu alone stood upright and ignored the danger to himself.' He did not court disgrace or death for their own sake; he was stirred because the royal discipline hung slack [10] and feared heaven's justice had long failed—so he gave his whole heart in loyal anxiety and counseled his ruler with care.' We beg to be branded and shackled [11] in Zhu Mu's place at the work camp.'
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帝覽其奏，乃赦之。 注[一]安平，郡，冀州所部。
The emperor read the petition and granted a pardon. Commentary 1: Anping was a commandery in Ji Province.
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注[二]玉匣長尺，廣二寸半，衣死者自□以下至足，連以金縷，天子之制也。 左傳曰：「陽虎將以璵璠斂。 」杜預注云：「美玉名，君所佩也。 」偶人，明器之屬也。
Commentary 2: The jade suit was a foot long and two and a half inches wide, covering the corpse from chest to foot with gold thread—the privilege of emperors alone.' The Zuo Commentary records that Yang Hu meant to bury himself with fine jade.' Du Yu glosses them as precious jades proper to a ruler's girdle.' Funerary figurines are a class of grave goods.'
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注[三]謝承書曰：「穆臨當就道，冀州從事欲為畫像置聽事上，穆留板書曰：『勿畫吾形，以為重負。 忠義之未顯，何形象之足紀也！ 』」注[四]左校，署名，屬將作，掌左工徒。
Commentary 3: Xie Cheng relates that as Zhu Mu set out for punishment, a Ji staff officer wanted to hang his portrait in the hall; Zhu Mu left a placard reading, 'Do not paint my face—I would find it an intolerable burden.' When my loyalty is still unrecognized, what use is a portrait?' Commentary 4: The Left Work Camp was a convict workshop under the superintendent of works.'
85
注[五]尚書曰：「放驩兜於崇山。 」孔安國注曰：「崇山，南裔也。 」山海經曰：「有讙頭之國，帝堯葬焉。 」郭璞注云：「讙頭，驩兜也。 」禮記曰：「舜葬蒼梧之野。」
Commentary 5: The Book of Documents says Yao banished Huandou to Mount Chong.' Kong Anguo identifies Mount Chong with the southern marches.' The Shanhaijing places Yao's tomb in the land of Huantou.' Guo Pu equates Huantou with Huandou.' The Book of Rites says Shun was buried in the wilds of Cangwu.'
86
注[六]鄭玄注禮記云：「近習，天子所親幸者。」
Commentary 6: Zheng Xuan defines intimates as those the emperor favors and keeps near.
87
注[七]周禮以八柄詔王馭腢臣，謂爵、祿、予、置、生、奪、廢、誅也。
Commentary 7: The Rites of Zhou lists eight handles—nobility, emolument, gift, placement, sparing, confiscation, dismissal, and execution—by which the king governs his ministers.
88
注[八]運，行也。 論語曰：「季氏富於周公。」
Commentary 8: Yun means to dispense or apply. The Analects says the house of Ji grew wealthier than the Duke of Zhou.'
89
注[九]呼腔，吐納也。 伊尹、顏回、夏桀、盜跖也。
Commentary 9: Hu qiang refers to issuing commands—breath in and out. That is, Yi Yin and Yan Hui versus Jie and Robber Zhi.
90
注[一０]攝，持也。
Commentary 10: She means to hold firm or maintain.
91
注[一一]黥首謂鑿額涅墨也。 系趾謂釱其足也，以鐵著足曰釱也。
Commentary 11: Forehead tattooing means branding the brow with ink. Fettering the feet means iron shackles called zhi.
92
穆居家數年，在朝諸公多有相推薦者，於是征拜尚書。 穆既深疾宦官，及在台閣，旦夕共事，志欲除之。 乃上疏曰：「案漢故事，中常侍參選士人。 建武以後，乃悉用宦者。 自延平以來，浸益貴盛，假貂璫之飾，處常伯之任，[一]天朝政事，一更其手，灌傾海內，寵貴無極，子弟親戚，並荷榮任，故放濫驕溢，莫能禁御。 凶狡無行之徒，媚以求官，恃埶怙寵之輩，漁食百姓，窮破天下，空竭小人。 愚臣以為可悉罷省，遵復往初，率由舊章，更選海內清淳之士，明達國體者，以補其處。 即陛下可為堯舜之君，觿僚皆為稷契之臣，兆庶黎萌蒙被聖化矣。 」帝不納。 後穆因進見，口復陳曰：「臣聞漢家舊典，置侍中、中常侍各一人，省尚書事，[二]黃門侍郎一人，傳發書奏，[三]皆用姓族。 [四]自和熹太后以女主稱制，不接公卿，乃以閹人為常侍，小黃門通命兩宮。 自此以來，權傾人主，窮困天下。 宜皆罷遣，博選耆儒宿德，與參政事。 」帝怒，不應。
Zhu Mu lived in retirement for some years until leading ministers repeatedly recommended him; he was then recalled as a director of the secretariat. He loathed the eunuchs bitterly; once inside the secretariat he worked among them daily and meant to root them out. He memorialized: Under Han precedent, regular attendants were chosen from scholars.' After Guangwu's restoration every such post went to castrates.' Since Yanping they have swelled in power, wearing sable and jade pendants and bearing the old 'regular attendant' titles [1]; the whole administration passes through their hands, they flood the empire with influence, their kin load every office, and no one can check their excess.' Wicked men fawn their way to office; favorites who lean on power strip the people bare and beggar the realm.' I urge that they be abolished wholesale, that we return to the old statutes, and that their places be filled with men of integrity who understand government.' Then you may rank with Yao and Shun, your ministers with Hou Ji and Xie, and the people will feel true royal virtue.' The emperor rejected the proposal.' Later, at a personal audience, Zhu Mu repeated from memory: 'The Han code set one attendant-in-ordinary and one regular attendant to oversee the secretariat [2], one yellow-gate gentleman to carry memorials [3]—all drawn from great clans.' [4] When Empress Dowager Hexi held power as regent and shut out the high ministers, eunuchs became regular attendants and petty yellow gates carried orders between the two palaces.' Since then their power has overshadowed the throne and ruined the empire.' Dismiss them all and fill their offices with venerable scholars of proven character.' The emperor flushed with anger and gave no answer.'
93
穆伏不肯起。 左右傳出，[五]良久乃趨而去。 自此中官數因事稱詔詆毀之。 注[一]璫以金為之，當冠前，附以金蟬也。 漢官儀曰：「中常侍，秦官也。 漢興，或用士人，銀璫左貂。 光武已後，專任宦者，右貂金璫。 」常伯，侍中。
Zhu Mu remained kneeling and refused to rise. Attendants had to lead him out [5]; only after a long interval did he withdraw.' Afterward the eunuchs seized every chance to traduce him in forged edicts. Commentary 1: The dang was a gold ornament before the cap, with a golden cicada. The Han Official Regulations state that the regular attendant was originally a Qin office.' Early Han sometimes filled the post with gentlemen, who wore silver pendants and sable on the left.' After Guangwu only eunuchs held the office, with sable on the right and gold pendants.' Chang bo is another name for attendant-in-ordinary.'
94
注[二]省，覽也。 注[三]傳，通也。
Commentary 2: Sheng means to review or oversee. Commentary 3: Chuan means to transmit.
95
注[四]引用士人有族望者。 注[五]傳聲令出。
Commentary 4: Appointees came from families of high pedigree. Commentary 5: That is, they conveyed orders to escort him out.
96
穆素剛，不得意，居無幾，憤懣發疽。 [一]延熹六年，卒，時年六十四。 祿仕數十年，蔬食布衣，家無餘財。 公卿共表穆立節忠清，虔恭機密，守死善道，宜蒙旌寵。 策詔□述，追贈益州太守。 所著論、策、奏、教、書、詩、記、嘲，凡二十篇。 [二]注[一]疽，癰也。
Zhu Mu was naturally inflexible; thwarted in office, he soon fell ill with an abscess born of frustration. [1] He died in Yanxi 6 at the age of sixty-four. After decades in office he still ate plain food and wore homespun; his house held no surplus. The high ministers jointly praised his integrity, loyalty, purity, and faithful service in secret matters, and urged posthumous honors. An edict of praise was issued, and he was posthumously titled grand administrator of Yizhou. His writings—treatises, policy pieces, memorials, instructions, letters, poems, records, and satires—number twenty pieces. [2] Commentary 1: Ju means a suppurating sore.
97
注[二]袁山松書曰：「穆著論甚美，蔡邕嘗至其家自寫之。」
Commentary 2: Yuan Shansong records that Cai Yong once visited Zhu Mu's home to copy his essays by hand.'
98
穆前在冀州，所辟用皆清德長者，多至公卿、州郡。 子野，少有名節，仕至河南尹。 [一]初，穆父卒，穆與諸儒考依古義，謚曰貞宣先生。 [二]及穆卒，蔡邕復與門人共述其體行，謚為文忠先生。 [三]注[一]野字子遼，見荀爽薦文。
The men Zhu Mu had recruited in Ji were mostly men of sterling character; many rose to ministerial rank or governed provinces. His son Zhu Ye enjoyed a youthful reputation for integrity and rose to metropolitan governor of Henan. [1] When Zhu Mu's father died, Zhu Mu and other scholars gave him the private posthumous style Master Zhenxuan. [2] When Zhu Mu died, Cai Yong and his students summarized his life and styled him Master Wenzhong. [3] Commentary 1: Zhu Ye, courtesy name Ziliao, appears in Xun Shuang's letter of recommendation.
99
注[二]謚法曰：「清白守節曰貞，善聞周達曰宣。」
Commentary 2: The canon of posthumous names defines zhen as keeping pure integrity and xuan as a reputation that spreads far.
100
注[三]袁山松書曰：「蔡邕議曰：『魯季文子，君子以為忠，而謚曰文子。 又傳曰：「忠，文之實也。 」忠以為實，文以彰之。 』遂共謚穆。 荀爽聞而非之。 故張璠論曰：『夫謚者，上之所贈，非下之所造，故顏、閔至德，不聞有謚。 朱、蔡各以衰世臧否不立，故私議之。』」
Commentary 3: Yuan Shansong cites Cai Yong: Ji Wenzi of Lu was judged loyal by the gentlemen, yet received the posthumous name Wen.' The tradition adds that loyalty is the substance of culture.' Loyalty forms the core; culture makes it shine.' On that basis they gave Zhu Mu his posthumous title.' Xun Shuang heard of it and objected. Zhang Fan therefore argues that posthumous names are gifts from the throne, not labels private scholars may invent; even Yan Hui and Min Ziqian, paragons of virtue, received none from their peers.' Zhu and Cai took it on themselves only because public judgment had collapsed in a decadent age.'
101
論曰：朱穆見比周傷義，偏黨毀俗，[一]志抑朋游之私，遂著絕交之論。 蔡邕以為穆貞而孤，又作正交而廣其致焉。 [二]蓋孔子稱「上交不諂，下交不黷」，[三]又曰「晏平仲善與人交」，子夏之門人亦問交於子張。 [四]故易明「斷金」之義，[五]詩載「燕朋」之謠。 [六]若夫文會輔仁，直諒多聞之友，時濟其益，[七]紵衣傾蓋，彈冠結綬之夫，遂隆其好，[八]斯固交者之方焉。 [九]至乃田、竇、□、霍之遊客，[一０]廉頗、翟公之門賓，[一一]進由埶合，退因衰異。 又專諸、荊卿之感激，[一二]侯生、豫子之投身，[一三]情為恩使，命緣義輕。 皆以利害移心，懷德成節，非夫交照之本，未可語失得之原也。 穆徒以友分少全，因絕同志之求； 黨俠生敝，而忘得朋之義。 [一四]蔡氏貞孤之言，其為然也！ 古之善交者詳矣。 漢興稱王陽、貢禹、陳遵、張竦，[一五]中世有廉范、慶鴻、陳重、賴義雲。
The historian's judgment: Zhu Mu saw how cliques injured duty and partisan bands ruined morals [1], and meant to curb the selfishness of fashionable networking—hence his Treatise on Severing Friendships. Cai Yong thought him upright but lonely, and wrote On Correct Friendship to broaden the argument. [2] Confucius praised those who neither flatter their betters nor presume on their inferiors [3], praised Yan Ying's skill in friendship, and heard Zixia's disciples ask Zizhang how to choose friends.' [4] Hence the Changes celebrates friendship strong as metal cut in two [5], while the Songs warn against flocks of fair-weather friends.' [6] Literary societies that nurture virtue, friends who are frank, faithful, and learned, can truly help a man [7]; chance meetings on the road, old classmates who dust off caps and share office—these deepen affection [8] and show the right way to friendship.' [9] But the clients of Tian Fen, Dou Ying, Wei Qing, and Huo Guang [10], the hangers-on at Lian Po's and Zhai Gong's gates [11], came when power beckoned and fled when fortune failed.' So too the assassins Zhuan Zhu and Jing Ke, moved by favor [12], or Lord Hou and Yurang, who gave their lives [13], acted because emotion answered kindness and they held life cheap beside duty.' Such ties turn on profit and loss, not on the mutual enlightenment that is friendship's root; they do not touch the true source of gain and loss in human relations.' Zhu Mu, because few friendships endure intact, cut himself off from like-minded men; he saw faction and bravado breed abuse and forgot how true friends complete one another.' [14] Cai Yong was right to call him upright yet isolated.' The ancients understood friendship in all its complexity. Early Han celebrated Wang Yang, Gong Yu, Chen Zun, and Zhang Song [15]; mid-Han produced Lian Fan, Qing Hong, Chen Zhong, and Lai Yun.
102
注[一]左傳曰：「頑嚚不友，是與比周。 」杜預注云：「比，近也。 周，密也。」
Commentary 1: The Zuo Commentary condemns the stubborn and unruly who have no true friends but only cliques.' Du Yu glosses bi as 'close association.' Zhou means secret collusion.'
103
注[二]邕論略曰：「聞之前訓曰：『君子以朋友講習，而正人無有淫朋。 』是以古之交者，其義敦以正，其誓信以固。 逮至周德始衰，頌聲既寢，伐木有『鳥鳴』之刺，谷風有『棄予』之怨，其所由來，政之缺也。 自此已降，彌以陵□，或闕其始終，或強其比周。 是以搢紳患其然，而論者諄諄如也。 疾淺薄而攜貳者有之，惡朋黨而絕交遊者有之。 其論交也，曰富貴則人爭趣之，貧賤則人爭去之。 是以君子慎人所以交己，審己所以交人，富貴則無暴集之客，貧賤則無棄舊之賓矣。 故原其所以來，則知其所以去； 見其所以始，則鶯其所以終。 彼貞士者，貧賤不待夫富貴，富貴不驕乎貧賤，故可貴也。 蓋朋友之道，有義則合，無義則離。 善則久要不忘平生之言，惡則忠告善誨之，否則止，無自辱焉。 故君子不為可棄之行，不患人之遺己也。 信有可歸之德，不病人之遠己也。 不幸或然，則躬自厚而薄責於人，怨其遠矣； 求諸己而不求諸人，咎其稀矣。 夫遠怨稀咎之機，鹹在乎躬，莫之能改也。 子夏之門人問交於子張，而二子各有聞乎夫子，然則以交誨也。 商也寬，故告之以距人，師也褊，故訓之以容觿，各從其行而矯之。 至於仲尼之正教，則泛愛觿而親仁，故非善不喜，非仁不親，交遊以方，會友以文，可無貶也。 谷梁子亦曰：『心志既通，名譽不聞，友之罪也。 』今將患其流而塞其源，病其末而刈其本，無乃未若擇其正而黜其邪，與其彼農皆黍而獨稷焉。 夫黍亦神農之嘉谷，與稷並為粢盛也，使交而可廢，則黍其愆矣。 括二論而言之，則刺薄者博而洽，斷交者貞而孤。 孤有羔羊之節，與其不獲已而矯時也，走將從夫孤焉。」
Commentary 2: Cai Yong's essay cites the teaching that the gentleman learns with his friends while the upright man keeps no corrupting clique.' Hence ancient friendship rested on integrity and trust.' When Zhou power waned and praise fell silent, the poets used Felling Trees and Valley Wind to lament broken friendship—fault lay with bad government.' Afterward the record grew ever more careless—some accounts omit beginnings and endings, others force partisan readings onto the facts. Officials therefore fretted over the trend, and essayists never tired of debating it. Some attacked superficiality and withdrew in distrust; others condemned faction and renounced society altogether. They argued that the world flocks to the rich and powerful and scatters from the poor and obscure. The gentleman therefore watches how others approach him and how he approaches others: in prosperity he admits no sudden swarm of flatterers, in adversity he loses no true friends who knew him before. Trace why men come to you and you will see why they leave. See how a friendship begins and you can predict how it will end. The truly steadfast do not fawn when they are poor nor despise others when they rise; that is why they command respect. Friendship rests on duty: share a moral purpose and you unite; lose it and you part. With the worthy, keep lifelong promises; with the straying, offer frank counsel—if they will not hear you, withdraw rather than demean yourself. The gentleman avoids conduct that invites desertion, and does not fret when others turn away. If your virtue truly draws men, you need not fear their distance. Should it happen nonetheless, blame yourself generously and others sparingly—then bitterness stays far off; look inward, not outward, and reproach will be rare. The secret of escaping blame and rancor lies in oneself alone; no one else can shift it. Zixia's pupils asked Zizhang about friendship; each had heard Confucius differently, and each taught friendship from his own lesson. Zixia was indulgent, so the Master warned him to keep others at arm's length; Zizhang was rigid, so he was taught breadth—each was corrected to suit his temperament. Confucius taught universal love grounded in humaneness: delight only in the good, draw close only to the humane, keep company within bounds, and gather friends through learning—then there is nothing to censure. The Guliangzi adds: 'When hearts already understand each other, failure to win a good name is the friend's fault.' To dam the flood while ignoring the spring, or prune the twigs while ignoring the root, is worse than choosing the right and rejecting the wrong—like sowing nothing but panicled millet when millet and glutinous grain both have their place.' Glutinous millet was itself a sacred grain of Shennong, offered beside panicled millet at the altars—if friendship could be abolished, then grain itself would stand condemned.' Taken together, the satire on shallowness is comprehensive, while the counsel to break off ties is stern yet lonely. Isolation keeps the purity praised in the Lamb ode; if I must choose between trimming my sails to the times and standing alone, I would choose solitude.'
104
注[三]易系辭之言也。 注[四]並見論語。
Commentary 3: A quotation from the Appended Remarks of the Changes. Commentary 4: Both passages appear in the Analects.
105
注[五]易系辭曰：「二人同心，其利斷金。」
Commentary 5: The Appended Remarks reads, 'Two men of one mind can cut metal with their sharpness.'
106
注[六]詩小雅伐木序云：「燕朋友故舊也。 」其詩曰：「伐木滸滸，釃酒有藇。 」釃音所宜反。 藇音序。
Commentary 6: The preface to Felling Trees says the poem is about feasting friends and old companions.' The text runs, 'Along the bank we fell trees; we strain the fragrant wine.' Shi is read with the same initial as suo (fanqie spelling). Yu is read xu.
107
注[七]論語曰：「君子以文會友，以友輔仁。 」又曰：「益者三友，友直，友諒，友多聞，益矣。」
Commentary 7: The Analects says the gentleman gathers friends through learning and completes humaneness through friendship.' It also names the three kinds of friends who bring profit: the upright, the faithful, and the learned.'
108
注[八]左傳曰，吳季札以縞帶贈子產，子產獻紵衣焉。 孔叢子曰：「孔子與程子相遇於塗，傾蓋而語。 」傾蓋謂駐車交蓋也。 前書曰，王陽、貢禹相與為友，朱博與蕭育為友，時稱「蕭朱結綬，王貢彈冠」，言其趣捨同，相薦達。
Commentary 8: The Zuo Commentary tells how Jizha of Wu gave Zichan a white silk sash and received a ramie robe in return. The Kongcongzi records that Confucius met Master Cheng on the road and talked with canopies touching.' Tilting canopies means they reined in their chariots until the carriage hoods met.' The History of the Former Han pairs Wang Yang with Gong Yu and Zhu Bo with Xiao Yu, saying 'Xiao and Zhu tied on office sashes, Wang and Gong dusted their caps'—men who shared the same aims and lifted each other into office.
109
注[九]方，道也。
Commentary 9: Fang means the proper measure or path.
110
注[一０]竇嬰，孝文皇后從兄子，封魏其侯，游士賓客爭歸之。 武帝時為丞相。 田蚡，* (武) **[景]*帝王皇后同產弟，為太尉。 蚡以太后故親幸，數言事多效，士吏趨埶利者皆去嬰而歸蚡。 □青拜大將軍，青姊子霍去病為驃騎將軍，皆為大司馬。 去病秩祿與大將軍等，自是後青日衰而去病益貴，青故人門下多去事去病，輒得官爵也。
Commentary 10: Dou Ying, nephew of Empress Wen, was made marquis of Weiji; clients flocked to him. He served as chancellor under Emperor Wu. Tian Fen, Emperor Wu's younger brother of Empress Wang of Emperor Jing by the same mother—held the post of grand commandant. Favored because of the empress dowager, Tian Fen's word carried weight, and opportunists deserted Dou Ying for him. Wei Qing became grand general; his nephew Huo Qubing became general of agile cavalry; both held the title of grand marshal. Huo Qubing's stipend soon matched Wei Qing's; Wei Qing waned as his nephew rose, and old followers of Wei Qing transferred to Huo Qubing's service and won titles overnight.
111
注[一一]史記曰，廉頗趙人，封為信平君，假相國。 長平之免歸也，故客盡去； 及復用為將，客又至。 廉頗曰：「客退矣。 」客曰：「吁！ 君何見之晚也？ 夫以市道交，君有埶我即從君，無埶即去，此其理也，又何怨焉？ 」下邽翟公為廷尉，賓客亦填門； 及廢，門外可設爵羅。 後復為廷尉，賓客欲往，翟公大署其門曰「一死一生，乃知交情。 一貧一富，乃知交態。 一貴一賤，交情乃見」也。
Commentary 11: The Records identifies Lian Po of Zhao as Lord Xinping, acting chancellor. After his disgrace at Changping his clients all deserted him; when he was restored to command, they returned. Lian Po told them, 'Leave.' They replied, 'Ah!' How slow you are to understand!' Friendship is a marketplace: we follow your star while it shines and leave when it sets—that is only natural; why blame us?' Zhai Gong of Xiagui, as commandant of justice, had a crowded gate; when dismissed, sparrows could nest in his doorway. When he was restored, would-be visitors found this inscription: 'One turn through death and life shows the heart of friendship.' One spell of wealth and poverty shows its shifting face.' One rise and fall in rank lays friendship bare.'
112
注[一二]史記曰，專諸，堂邑人。 吳公子光以嫡嗣未得立，請專諸刺吳王僚。 諸曰：「王僚可殺也，母老子弱，是其無如我何？ 」光乃置酒請王僚。 酒酣，專諸置匕首魚炙之中，以刺王僚，立死。 又曰，荊軻，□人也。 燕太子丹質於秦，秦王政遇之不善，丹怨亡歸，與軻交結，乃尊為上卿，故謂之荊卿。 軻入秦，刺始皇不遂而死也。
Commentary 12: The Records names Zhuan Zhu of Tangyi. Prince Guang of Wu, blocked from the succession, asked Zhuan Zhu to kill King Liao. Zhuan Zhu said, 'King Liao can be struck down; his mother is old and his heir a child—what could they do to us?' Guang then feasted King Liao.' At the height of the banquet Zhuan Zhu hid a dagger in the roast fish and stabbed King Liao dead on the spot. The same text names Jing Ke of Wei (or Yan). Prince Dan of Yan, ill used as a hostage by the king of Qin, fled home, befriended Jing Ke, and raised him to senior minister—hence the name Jing Qing. Jing Ke went to Qin to stab the First Emperor, failed, and died.
113
注[一三]史記曰，侯嬴，魏隱士，為大梁夷門門者，魏公子無忌請為上客。 秦圍邯鄲，嬴教公子竊兵符北救趙，乃自剄。 又曰，豫讓，晉人。 趙襄子滅智伯，讓曰：「士為知己者死。 」乃變名姓，欲刺襄子，襄子令執之，遂伏□而死。
Commentary 13: Hou Ying of Wei kept the Yimen gate for Lord Xinling, who took him as chief retainer. When Qin besieged Handan, he taught the prince to steal the command tally and ride north; then he killed himself. The text also names Yurang of Jin. When Zhao Xiangzi destroyed the Zhi clan, Yurang declared, 'A knight dies for a patron who knows his worth.' He changed his identity and tried to kill Xiangzi; captured, he accepted execution.'
114
注[一四]易曰：「西南得朋。」
Commentary 14: The Changes speaks of 'finding companions in the southwest.'
115
注[一五]前書曰，陳遵字孟公，杜陵人也。 張竦字伯松。 竦博學通達，以廉儉自守，而遵放縱不拘。 操行雖異，然相親友也。
Commentary 15: Chen Zun, courtesy name Menggong, came from Duling. Zhang Song's courtesy name was Bosong. Zhang Song was learned and austere; Chen Zun was flamboyant and unrestrained. Their temperaments differed, yet they were close friends.
116
樂恢字伯奇，京兆長陵人也。 父親，為縣吏，得罪於令，收將殺之。 恢年十一，常俯伏寺門，晝夜號泣。 令聞而矜之，即解出親。
Yue Hui, courtesy name Boqi, was a native of Changling in the metropolitan region. His father Qin served as a county clerk, angered the magistrate, and was arrested for execution. At eleven he lay day and night weeping at the gate of the county compound. The magistrate, moved, released his father.
117
恢長好經學，事博士焦永。 永為河東太守，恢隨之官，閉廬精誦，不交人物。
As a man he devoted himself to the classics under Erudite Jiao Yong. When Jiao Yong became grand administrator of Hedong, Yue Hui went with him, shut himself in to study, and shunned society.
118
後永以事被考，諸弟子皆以通關被系，[一]恢獨* (皦) **[曒]*然不□於法，[二]遂篤志為名儒。 性廉直介立，[三]行不合己者，雖貴不與交。 信陽侯陰就數致禮請恢，恢絕不荅。 注[一]為交通關涉也。
Later Jiao Yong fell under investigation; his students were jailed for illicit contact with him [1], but Yue Hui alone stood spotless under the law [2] and went on to become a celebrated scholar. He was incorrupt and uncompromising [3]: he would not befriend anyone whose conduct offended him, however exalted. Yin Jiu, marquis of Xinyang, courted him with repeated gifts; Yue Hui refused every overture. Commentary 1: That is, they had illicitly communicated with him.
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注[二]* (皦) **[曒]*，明也，音公鳥反。 或從「白」作「皎」，音亦同。
Commentary 2: The graph jiao means 'bright,' read with the gong initial (fanqie). Some write the same word with the 'white' phonetic, using the graph jiao, with the same pronunciation.
120
注[三]介，特也。
Commentary 3: Jie means standing alone or aloof.
121
後仕本郡吏，太守坐法誅，[一]故人莫敢往，恢獨奔喪行服，坐以抵罪。 歸，復為功曹，選舉不阿，請托無所容。 同郡楊政數觿毀恢，後舉政子為孝廉，由是鄉里歸之。 辟司空牟融府。 會蜀郡太守第五倫代融為司空，恢以與倫同郡，不肯留，薦穎川杜安而退。 諸公多其行，連辟之，遂皆不應。 [二]注[一]東觀記京兆尹張恂召恢，署戶曹史。
He later served his home commandery; when the grand administrator was executed for a crime [1], old friends dared not attend the funeral, but Yue Hui alone went in mourning and was punished for it. Restored as merit assessor, he refused to bend appointments to favor or pull. Though Yang Zheng of the same commandery had often slandered him, he later recommended Yang's son as filial and incorrupt, and the district came to honor him. He was summoned to the ministry of Minister of Works Mou Rong. When Diwu Lun of Shu succeeded Mou Rong as minister of works, Yue Hui, being from the same commandery as Diwu Lun, declined to remain, recommended Du An of Yingchuan, and withdrew. High ministers admired his integrity and summoned him repeatedly; he refused every call. [2] Commentary 1: The Eastern Han Records notes that Metropolitan Governor Zhang Xun appointed him clerk of the household section.
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注[二]華嶠書曰：「安擢為宛令，以病去。 章帝行過穎川，安上書，召拜御史，遷至巴郡太守。 而恢在家，安與恢書通問，恢告吏口謝，且讓之曰：『為宛令不合志，病去可也。 干人主以窺覦，非也。 違平生操，故不報。 』安亦節士也，年十三入太學，號奇童。 洛陽令周紆自往候安，安謝不見。 京師貴戚慕其行，或遺之書，安不發，悉壁藏之。 及後捕案貴戚賓客，安開壁出書，印封如故。」
Commentary 2: Hua Qiao records that Du An became magistrate of Wan but resigned because of illness.' On an imperial progress through Yingchuan, Zhang Di read Du An's memorial, appointed him attendant censor, and eventually promoted him to grand administrator of Ba. Yue Hui was still at home when Du An wrote; Yue Hui had a clerk thank him orally and scolded him: 'Giving up the magistracy of Wan because it cramped your style—illness is a fair excuse.' Importuning the throne for preferment is another matter entirely.' It breaks a lifetime of scruple, so I offer no reply.' Du An was himself a man of principle: at thirteen he entered the academy and was celebrated as a prodigy.' Zhou Xu, prefect of Luoyang, called on him in person; Du An refused to come out. Powerful families at court admired him and sent letters; he sealed them unopened inside a wall. When the great houses were later investigated, he broke open the cache; every envelope bore its original seal intact.'
123
後征拜議郎。 會車騎將軍竇憲出征匈奴，恢數上書諫爭，朝廷稱其忠。 [一]入為尚書僕射。 是時河南尹王調、洛陽令李阜與竇憲厚善，縱捨自由。 恢劾奏調、阜，並及司隸校尉。 諸所刺舉，無所迴避，貴戚惡之。 [二]憲弟夏陽侯纓欲往候恢，恢謝不與通。 憲兄弟放縱，而忿其不附己。 妻每諫恢曰：「昔人有容身避害，何必以言取怨？ 」恢歎曰：「吾何忍素餐立人之朝乎！ 」遂上疏諫曰：「臣聞百王之失，皆由權移於下。 大臣持國，常以埶盛為咎。 伏念先帝，聖德未永，早棄萬國。 陛下富於春秋，纂承大業，[三]諸舅不宜干正王室，以示天下之私。 經曰：『天地乖互，觿物夭傷。 君臣失序，萬人受殃。 』政失不救，其極不測。 方今之宜，上以義自割，下以謙自引。 四舅可長保爵土之榮，[四]皇太后永無籩負宗廟之憂，誠策之上者也。 」書奏不省。
He was later recalled to serve as a gentleman consultant. When Dou Xian led the northern campaign, Yue Hui sent memorial after memorial in protest, and the court praised his loyalty. [1] He was brought in as vice director of the secretariat. The metropolitan governor Wang Diao and Luoyang prefect Li Gao were Dou Xian's intimates and abused their power. Yue Hui memorialized against both men and implicated the metropolitan commandant. He named the guilty without flinching at rank; the great clans detested him. [2] Dou Kui, marquis of Xiayang and Dou Xian's brother, tried to pay a call; Yue Hui shut the door. The Dou brothers were lawless and bitter that he would not join their faction. His wife urged him, 'The ancients withdrew to save themselves—why court resentment with outspokenness?' Yue Hui answered, 'I cannot bear to hold office and draw pay I have not earned.' He then memorialized: 'The fall of every dynasty begins when authority drains from the throne.' When chief ministers grip the government, excess of power is the root of calamity.' Our late emperor's reign was cut short and he left the realm too soon.' You are young and have inherited the throne [3]; your uncles must not intrude on the Han house and teach the empire that power is a family affair.' The canon warns: When heaven and earth fall out of harmony, creation suffers.' When ruler and minister lose their stations, the people pay the price.' Unchecked disorder leads to ends no one can predict.' The right course is for the throne to cut back out of principle and for your kin to withdraw in modesty.' Your four uncles would keep their noble rank in safety [4], and the empress dowager would never fear disgracing the imperial shrines—that is the supreme strategy.' The court filed his words away and took no action.'
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時竇太后臨朝，和帝未親萬機，恢以意不得行，乃稱疾乞骸骨。 詔賜錢，太醫視疾。 恢薦任城郭均、成陽高鳳，而遂稱篤。 拜騎都尉，上書辭謝曰：「仍受厚恩，無以報效。 夫政在大夫，孔子所疾； [五]世卿持權，春秋以戒。 [六]聖人懇惻，不虛言也。
With the Dou empress dowager regent and the emperor still a minor, Yue Hui saw he could not prevail and asked to retire on grounds of illness. The throne sent money and the court physician to tend him. He nominated Guo Jun of Rencheng and Gao Feng of Chengyang, then insisted he was mortally ill. Named chief of cavalry, he memorialized his refusal: 'I owe too much already to repay with service.' Confucius condemned regimes where ministers held real power;' [5] the Annals warn against noble houses that monopolize office generation after generation.' [6] The sage meant every word of that warning.'
125
近世外戚富貴，必有驕溢之敗。 今陛下思慕山陵，未遑政事； 諸舅寵盛，權行四方。 若不能自損，誅罰必加。 臣壽命垂盡，臨死竭愚，惟蒙留神。 」詔聽上印綬，乃歸鄉里。 竇憲因是風厲州郡迫脅，恢遂飲藥死。 弟子縗絰挽者數百人，[七]觿庶痛傷之。 注[一]東觀記載恢所上書諫曰：「春秋之義，王者不理夷狄。 得其地不可墾發，得其人無益於政，故明王之於夷狄，紅縻而已。 孔子曰：『遠人不服，則修文德以來之。 』以漢之盛，不務修舜、禹、周公之* (術) **[德]*，而無故興干戈，動兵革，以求無用之物，臣誠惑之！」
In our own day maternal relatives who rose to wealth and power have always fallen to pride and license.' The emperor still grieves for his father and has little time for statecraft;' meanwhile your uncles bask in favor and their orders run through the four directions.' If they do not pull back, the axe will fall.' I am near my end; I speak this folly with my last breath—only let the throne consider it.' The emperor allowed him to yield his seal and return home.' Dou Xian then leaned on local officials to hound him; Yue Hui took poison and died. Hundreds of students in mourning drew his hearse [7], and the people mourned him. Commentary 1: The Eastern Han Records preserves Yue Hui's argument that the sage-kings left the barbarians alone.' Their territory is not worth farming, their tribes not worth governing—the wise king keeps them on a loose tether, nothing more. Confucius said, 'When the far peoples refuse allegiance, improve culture and virtue to draw them in.' Yet at Han's zenith the court would not polish the ways of Shun, Yu, and the Duke of Zhou' (methods) but stirs up war without cause to chase worthless gain—I cannot fathom it!'
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注[二]決錄注曰：「調字叔和，為河南尹。 永和二年，坐買洛陽令同郡任稜竹田及上罷城東漕渠免官。」
Commentary 2: The Judgments of the Three Capitals note that Wang Diao, courtesy name Shuhe, governed Henan.' In Yonghe 2 he lost office for buying bamboo groves from Ren Ling, prefect of Luoyang, and for abuses connected with the eastern canal.'
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注[三]春秋謂年也。 言年少，春秋尚多，故稱富。
Commentary 3: 'Spring and autumn' means the emperor's youth. The phrase stresses that he was young and had long years before him.'
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注[四]四舅謂竇憲、弟篤、景、纓也。
Commentary 4: The four uncles are Dou Xian, Dou Du, Dou Jing, and Dou Kui.
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注[五]論語孔子曰：「天下有道，政不在大夫。」
Commentary 5: Confucius said that when the Way prevails, power does not lodge with ministers.
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注[六]左傳曰：「齊崔氏出奔□。 」公羊傳曰：「崔氏者何？ 齊大夫。 稱崔氏者何？ 貶。 曷為貶？ 譏世卿也。」
Commentary 6: The Zuo Commentary tells of the exile of the Cui clan of Qi.' The Gongyang Commentary asks who the house of Cui were.' They were great officers of Qi.' Why name the whole clan? To mark condemnation.' Why single them out? To rebuke ministers who monopolized office.'
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注[七]挽，引柩也。
Commentary 7: Wan means to pull the funeral carriage.
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後竇氏誅，帝始親事，恢門生何融等上書陳恢忠節，除子己為郎中。 [一]注[一]三輔決錄注曰：「己字伯文，為郎非其好也，去官。」
When the Dou family fell and the emperor took power, student He Rong and others memorialized Yue Hui's loyalty, and his son Yue Ji was made a gentleman of the palace. [1] The same work says Yue Ji, courtesy name Bowen, disliked serving as a gentleman and quit.
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何敞字文高，扶風平陵人也。 其先家於汝陰。 六世祖比干，學尚書於朝錯，[一]武帝時為廷尉正，與張湯同時。 湯持法深而比干務仁恕，數與湯爭，雖不能盡得，然所濟活者以千數。 後遷丹* (楊) **[陽]*都尉，因徙居平陵。 敞父寵，建武中為千乘都尉，以病免，遂隱居不仕。 注[一]何氏家傳：「* (雲並) **[六世]*祖父比干，字少卿，經明行修，兼通法律。
He Chang, courtesy name Wengao, came from Pingling in Fufeng. His family had earlier lived in Ruyin. Six generations back, He Bigan studied the Documents under Chao Cuo [1] and under Emperor Wu served as rectifier under the commandant of justice with Zhang Tang. Zhang Tang was severe; He Bigan pressed for mercy and often crossed him—though he did not always prevail, he saved thousands of lives. He was later promoted to (Dan) commandant of cavalry in Danyang and resettled at Pingling. His father He Chong had been commandant of cavalry at Qiansheng under Guangwu; ill health forced him to retire, and he lived out his days in reclusion. Commentary 1: The He family tradition records that (six generations) his ancestor Bigan, courtesy name Shaoqing, mastered the classics and law and was a man of upright conduct.'
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為汝陰縣獄吏決曹掾，平活數千人。 後為丹陽都尉，獄無冤囚，淮汝號曰『何公』。 征和三年三月辛亥，天大陰雨，比干在家，日中夢貴客車騎滿門，覺以語妻。 語未已，而門有老嫗可八十餘，頭白，求寄避雨，雨甚而衣履不沾清。 雨止，送至門，乃謂比干曰：『公有陰德，今天錫君策，以廣公之子孫。 』因出懷中符策，狀如簡，長九寸，凡九百九十枚，以授比干，子孫佩印綬者當如此筭。
As jail clerk and decision clerk in Ruyin he acquitted thousands. As commandant of cavalry in Danyang he kept his prisons free of wrongful convictions, and the Huai-Ru region hailed him as Lord He.' On a xinhai day in Zhenghe 3 the heavens opened in a downpour; at noon Bigan dreamed noble carriages thronged his gate and told his wife when he woke. An old woman of eighty with white hair asked shelter; though the storm raged, her garments stayed dry. As she left she told him, 'Secret virtue fills your house; heaven sends tallies to bless your descendants.' She produced nine hundred ninety slips from her sleeve, each nine inches long, and said the number of his posterity who would wear seals would match that count.'
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比干年五十八，有六男，又生三子。 本始元年，自汝陰徙平陵，代為名族。」
He lived fifty-eight years and had six sons, then three more. In Benshi 1 they moved from Ruyin to Pingling and rose to prominence.'
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敞性公正。 自以趣捨不合時務，每請召，常稱疾不應。 元和中，辟太尉宋由府，由待以殊禮。 敞論議高，常引大體，多所匡正。 司徒袁安亦深敬重之。 是時京師及四方累有奇異鳥獸草木，言事者以為祥瑞。 敞通經傳，能為天官，意甚惡之。 乃言於二公曰：「夫瑞應依德而至，災異緣政而生。 故鈽鵒來巢，昭公有干侯之□； [一]西狩獲麟，孔子有兩楹之殯。 [二]海鳥避風，臧文祀之，君子譏焉。 [三]今異鳥翔於殿屋，怪草生於庭際，不可不察。 」由、安懼然不敢荅。 [四]居無何而肅宗崩。 注[一]春秋：「有鈽鵒來巢。 」左氏傳魯大夫師已曰：「文、成之世，童謠有之曰：『鈽鵒之羽，公在外野，往饋之馬。 鈽鵒跦跦，公在干侯。 』」季平子逐昭公，公遜於干侯。 杜預註：「干侯在魏郡斥丘縣，晉境內邑也。」
He Chang was fair-minded and principled. Finding the age uncongenial, he habitually declined summons on grounds of illness. During Yuanhe he entered Grand Commandant Song You's service and was treated with exceptional respect. His debate was elevated; he cited the larger pattern of government and set many errors right. Minister of Education Yuan An esteemed him equally. Odd creatures and plants kept appearing in the capital and provinces; memorialists hailed them as good omens. Well read in the classics and skilled in celestial signs, he detested such flattery. He told the two ministers, 'Lucky signs follow virtue; disasters track misgovernment.' When shrikes nested in Lu, Duke Zhao was driven to Ganhou;' [1] when a unicorn was captured in the west, Confucius knew his death was near.' [2] When Zang Wenzhong sacrificed to a storm-driven sea bird, wise men laughed.' [3] Strange birds circle the roof and uncanny plants sprout in the courtyard—these demand investigation, not praise.' Song You and Yuan An blanched and had no reply.' [4] Soon afterward Emperor Zhang died. Commentary 1: The Annals record that shrikes nested in Lu.' The Zuo Commentary quotes Shi Ji: In the reigns of Wen and Cheng a children's song said of the shrike, "The duke wanders the field; we feed his horse."' The shrikes flit and hop; the exiled duke waits at Ganhou. Ji Pingzi drove Duke Zhao out; the duke took refuge at Ganhou.' Du Yu locates Ganhou at Chiqiu in Wei commandery, on Jin soil.'
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注[二]公羊傳曰：「西狩獲麟，有以告孔子者曰：『有志而角者何？ 』孔子曰：『孰為來哉！ 孰為來哉！ 』反袂拭面，涕下沾袍，曰：『吾道窮矣！ 』」何氏注曰：「麟者，太平之符，聖人之類。 時得麟而死，此亦天告夫子將沒之征也。 」禮記孔子謂子貢曰：「予疇昔夜夢坐奠於兩楹之閒焉。 殷人殯於兩楹之閒，丘即殷人也，予殆將死也。 」遂寢疾，七日而死。
Commentary 2: The Gongyang Commentary describes the western hunt that caught a unicorn and the puzzled question put to Confucius.' Confucius exclaimed, 'What brings you here!' What brings you here!' He covered his face with his sleeve and wept, 'My teaching has reached its end.' He Yan glosses the unicorn as the omen of Great Peace and the sage's counterpart.' Its capture and death foretold Confucius's own death. The Book of Rites records Confucius telling Zigong he dreamed of sitting with offerings between two pillars.' The Yin laid out their dead between two pillars; I am of Yin stock—I am dying.' He took ill and died within seven days.'
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注[三]國語曰，海鳥爰居，止於魯東門之外三日，臧文仲使國人祭之。 展禽譏焉，因曰：「今茲海其有風乎？ 廣川之鳥恆知避風。 」是歲海多大風，冬暖。 文仲聞之，曰：「吾過矣！」
Commentary 3: The Discourses of the States tells how a sea bird rested three days outside Lu's east gate and Zang Wenzhong ordered sacrifices.' Zhan Qin mocked him, asking whether the sea would send great winds.' Coastal birds always flee storms.' That year brought violent winds at sea and a mild winter.' Wenzhong admitted his error.'
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注[四]懼音紀具反。
Commentary 4: Ju is read ji-ju (fanqie).
140
時竇氏專政，外戚奢侈，賞賜過制，倉帑為虛。 [一]敞奏記由曰：「敞聞事君之義，進思盡忠，退思補過。 歷觀世主時臣，無不各欲為化，垂之無窮，然而平和之政萬無一者，蓋以聖主賢臣不能相遭故也。 今國家秉聰明之弘道，明公履晏晏之純德，[二]君臣相合，天下翕然，治平之化，有望於今。 孔子曰：『如有用我者，三年有成。 』今明公視事，出入再開，宜當克己，以□四海之心。 禮，一谷不升，則損服徹膳。 [三]天下不足，若己使然。 而比年水旱，人不收穫，涼州緣邊，家被凶害，[四]男子疲於戰陳，妻女勞於轉運，老幼孤寡，歎息相依，又中州內郡，公私屈竭，此實損膳節用之時。 國恩覆載，賞賚過度，但聞臘賜，自郎官以上，公卿王侯以下，至於空竭帑藏，損耗國資。 尋公家之用，皆百姓之力。 明君賜賚，宜有品制，忠臣受賞，亦應有度，[五]是以夏禹玄圭，周公束帛。 [六]今明公位尊任重，責深負大，上當匡正綱紀，下當濟安元元，豈但空空無違而已哉！ 宜先正己以率腢下，還所得賜，因陳得失，奏王侯就國，除苑囿之禁，節省浮費，賑恤窮孤，則恩澤下暢，黎庶悅豫，上天聰明，必有立應。 使百姓歌誦，史官紀德，豈但子文逃祿，[七]公儀退食之比哉！ 」[八]由不能用。
The Dou clan ran the government; imperial in-laws spent wildly; gifts broke precedent and emptied the vaults. [1] He Chang wrote Song You: 'A minister owes full loyalty in office and self-correction in retirement.' Every ruler and minister hopes to reform the age, yet lasting peace is rare because worthy pairs seldom meet.' The Han now follows enlightened policy; you embody gentle virtue; court and minister are aligned—the age of good government may be at hand.' Confucius said, 'Employ me, and within three years there will be results.' You have passed two cycles of the palace gates; restrain yourself now and answer the hopes of the realm.' Ritual requires that when one grade of grain fails, the ruler cut wardrobe and table.' [3] When the empire suffers want, the ruler must own it as his fault.' Yet floods and droughts have ruined harvests for years; the Liangzhou marches are devastated [4]; soldiers tire at the front, women haul supplies, the helpless cling together, and the heartland is drained—this is the hour for austerity.' Imperial largesse knows no limit: year-end bounty runs from gentlemen to princes until the vaults are bare.' What the court spends is drawn from the people.' Wise sovereigns give by rule; loyal ministers take by measure [5]—hence Yu's black scepter and the Duke of Zhou's silks.' [6] You bear high office: set the laws aright above and comfort the people below—mere avoidance of fault is not enough!' Lead by example, return excess gifts, report true conditions, send nobles to their fiefs, open the parks, cut waste, aid the poor—then grace will spread, the people will cheer, and heaven will answer.' The people would sing your praise and historians your deed—far more than Ziwen refusing pay or Gongyi skipping meals!' Song You ignored the advice.'
141
注[一]帑音它朗反。 注[二]晏晏，溫和也。
Commentary 1: Tang is read ta-lang (fanqie). Commentary 2: Yanyan means mild and harmonious.
142
注[三]禮記曰：「歲凶，年谷不登，君膳不祭肺。 」損服，減損服御。
Commentary 3: The Book of Rites says that in famine years the ruler's meat offering is cut.' Reducing garments means cutting court splendor.'
143
注[四]時西羌犯邊為害也。
Commentary 4: The western Qiang were raiding the frontier.
144
注[五]臘賜大將軍、三公錢各二十萬，牛肉二百斤，粳米二百斛，特進、侯十五萬，卿十萬，校尉五萬，尚書三萬，侍中、將、大夫各二萬，千石、六百石各七千，虎賁、羽林郎二人共三千，以為祀門戶直。 見漢官儀也。
Commentary 5: The Han Official Regulations spell out the year-end gifts in cash, beef, and grain down each rank for gate and household sacrifice.' See the Han Official Regulations.
145
注[六]尚書曰：「召公出取幣，入錫周公。」
Commentary 6: The Book of Documents describes the Duke of Shao fetching gifts for the Duke of Zhou.'
146
注[七]國語：「昔楚□子文三登令尹，無一日之積。 成王聞子文朝不及夕也，於是乎每朝設脯七束，糗一筐，以羞子文。 成王每出子文之祿，必逃，王止而後復。 人謂子文曰：『人生求富，子逃之，何也？ 』對曰：『從政者，以庇人也。 人多曠者而我取富焉，是勤人以自封也，死無日矣。 我逃死，非逃富也。』」
Commentary 7: The Discourses tell how Dou Ziwen of Chu thrice became chief minister without saving a day's grain.' King Cheng learned he came to court hungry and sent seven bundles of dried meat and a basket of grain each morning.' Whenever salary was issued, Ziwen fled until the king forced him to accept.' People asked why he fled wealth.' He replied, 'Office exists to shelter the people.' To enrich myself while the multitude starves is to invite my own end.' I flee ruin, not salary.'
147
注[八]史記：「公儀休相魯，食茹而美，拔園葵而棄之，見布好而逐出其家婦，燔其機，雲『欲令農士女工安得奪其貨乎』？ 」比音庇。
Commentary 8: The Records tells how Gongyi Xiu of Lu refused to compete with farmers and weavers.' Bi is read pi.
148
時齊殤王子都鄉侯暢奔吊國憂，上書未報，[一]侍中竇憲遂令人刺殺暢於城門屯□之中，[二]而主名不立。 敞又說由曰：「劉暢宗室肺府，茅土藩臣，來吊大憂，上書須報，[三]親在武□，致此殘酷。 奉憲之吏，莫適討捕，[四]蹤多不顯，主名不立。 敞備數股肱，職典賊曹，[五]故欲親至發所，以糾其變，而二府以為故事三公不與賊盜。 [六]昔陳平生於征戰之世，猶知宰相之分，云『外鎮四夷，內撫諸侯，使卿大夫各得其宜』。 [七]今二府執事不深惟大義，惑於所聞，公縱奸慝，莫以為咎。 惟明公運獨見之明，昭然勿疑，敞不勝所見，請獨奏案。 」由乃許焉。 二府聞敞行，皆遣主者隨之，[八]於是推舉具得事實，京師稱其正。 注[一]時章帝崩也。 殤王名石，齊武王演之孫也。
Prince Liu Chang of Duxiang came to mourn the late emperor; before his petition was answered [1], Dou Xian had him murdered at the city gate watchpost [2], and the culprit went unnamed.' He Chang urged Song You: 'Liu Chang was imperial bone, a feudal prince mourning at court, waiting on a reply [3], yet he was cut down at the capital.' Dou's agents had no one to charge [4]; clues multiplied but no culprit was named.' I am but a limb of your office yet hold the bandit section [5]; I wished to examine the scene myself, but the two bureaus cited the rule that the three dukes do not try theft.' [6] Even Chen Ping in wartime knew a chancellor's duty: 'Without, pacify the barbarians; within, settle the lords—let each officer fill his role.' [7] Your subordinates ignore the larger duty and let you wink at crime as harmless.' Only you can see clearly; I beg leave to pursue the case alone by memorial.' Song You agreed.' Both bureaus sent men after him [8]; the truth came out and the capital praised his integrity.' Commentary 1: This was after Emperor Zhang's death. Prince Shang was named Shi, grandson of Prince Wu of Qi.
149
注[二]暢得幸竇太后，故刺殺之。
Commentary 2: Liu Chang had won the empress dowager's favor, so Dou Xian had him killed.
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注[三]須，待也。
Commentary 3: Xu means to await.
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注[四]適音的。 謂無指的討捕也。
Commentary 4: Di is read di. That is, no definite culprit to seize.
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注[五]股肱謂手臂也。 公府有賊曹，主知盜賊也。
Commentary 5: 'Limb' means a trusted arm of the office. The high bureau has a bandit section that handles robbery.
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注[六]敞在太尉府，二府謂司徒、司空。 丙吉為丞相不案事，遂為故事，見馬防傳也。
Commentary 6: He Chang served the grand commandant; the two bureaus are the ministers of education and works. Bing Ji as chancellor refused to try cases, setting a precedent—see the biography of Ma Fang.
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注[七]陳平為左丞相，對文帝曰：「宰相者，佐天子理陰陽，順四時，下育萬物之宜，外鎮撫四夷、諸侯，內親附百姓，使卿大夫各得任其職焉。」
Commentary 7: Chen Ping defined the chancellor's role as harmonizing heaven and earth, ordering the seasons, aiding all creatures, pacifying barbarians and lords abroad, and settling the people at home.'
155
注[八]主者謂主知之盜賊之曹也。
Commentary 8: The supervisors were clerks from the bandit section.
156
以高第拜侍御史。 時遂以竇憲為車騎將軍，大發軍擊匈奴，而詔使者為憲弟篤、景並起邸第，興造勞役，百姓愁苦。 敞上疏諫曰：「臣聞匈奴之為桀逆久矣。 平城之圍，嫚書之恥，[一]此二辱者，臣子所為捐軀而必死，高祖、呂後忍怒還忿，捨而不誅。 伏惟皇太后秉文母之操，[二]陛下履晏晏之姿，匈奴無逆節之罪，漢朝無可籩之恥，而盛春東作，[三]興動大役，元元怨恨，鹹懷不悅。 而猥復為□尉篤、奉車都尉景繕修館第，彌街絕裡。 臣雖斗筲之人，[四]誠竊懷怪，以為篤、景親近貴臣，當為百僚表儀。 今觿軍在道，朝廷焦唇，百姓愁苦，縣官無用，而遽起大第，崇飾玩好，非所以垂令德，示無窮也。 宜且罷工匠，專憂北邊，恤人之困。 」書奏不省。 注[一]匈奴冒頓以精兵三十萬騎，圍高帝於白登七日。 案：白登在平城東南十餘里。 高後時，冒頓遺高後書曰：「陛下獨立，孤僨獨居，兩主不樂，無以自娛，願以所有，易其所無。 」孤僨，冒頓自請。
For high marks he was made attendant censor. Dou Xian was made general of chariots and cavalry for a great northern campaign while edicts raised palaces for his brothers Dou Du and Dou Jing, driving the people to exhaustion. He Chang memorialized: 'The Xiongnu have long been rebels.' The siege at Pingcheng and Modun's lewd letter to Empress Lü [1] were insults ministers would die to avenge—yet Gaozu and the empress bore the shame.' The empress dowager follows the pattern of Wen's mother [2]; you are gentle of mien; the Xiongnu have not rebelled and the Han need not blush—yet in spring when plowing should begin [3] you launch a vast campaign that embitters the realm.' You also rush to build mansions for Dou Du and Dou Jing that swallow whole blocks.' I am a man of small measure [4], yet I marvel: Dou Du and Dou Jing are your close ministers and should set the standard for every office.' Armies march while the court frets, the people groan, and the treasury is bare—yet you raise vast houses and dangle baubles; that is no way to teach lasting virtue.' Stop the builders, worry about the northern frontier, and pity the people's plight.' The court ignored the memorial.' Commentary 1: Modun trapped Gaozu at Baideng for seven days with three hundred thousand horsemen. Note: Baideng is southeast of Pingcheng. Under Empress Gao, Modun wrote offering to trade pleasures with the widowed empress.' Gu fen was Modun's self-reference.'
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注[二]文母，文王之妻大姒也。 詩曰「既有烈考，亦有文母」也。
Commentary 2: Wen's mother is Taisi, wife of King Wen. The Book of Songs praises both a martial father and a cultured mother.'
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注[三]歲起於東，人始就耕，故曰東作。
Commentary 3: Spring work in the east means the season of plowing.
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注[四]鄭玄注論語：「筲，竹器，容斗二升。」
Commentary 4: Zheng Xuan defines shao as a small bamboo measure.
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後拜為尚書，復上封事曰：「夫忠臣憂世，犯主嚴顏，譏刺貴臣，至以殺身滅家而猶為之者，何邪？ 君臣義重，有不得已也。 臣伏見往事，國之危亂，家之將凶，皆有所由，較然易知。 [一]昔鄭武姜之幸叔段，[二]□莊公之寵州吁，[三]愛而不教，終至凶戾。
Later as secretariat director he sent a sealed memorial: 'Why do loyal ministers risk death to remonstrate?' Because the bond of ruler and minister leaves them no choice.' I have studied past crises: every fall of state or house had visible causes.' [1] Lady Wu of Zheng spoiled Shuduan [2]; Duke Zhuang of Wei spoiled Zhouxu—love without teaching bred monsters.'
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由是觀之，愛子若此，猶饑而食之以毒，適所以害之也。 [四]伏見大將軍憲，始遭大憂，公卿比奏，欲令典干國事。 [五]憲深執謙退，固辭盛位，懇懇勤勤，言之深至，天下聞之，莫不悅喜。 今踰年無幾，大禮未終，卒然中改，兄弟專朝。 憲秉三軍之重，篤、景總宮□之權，而虐用百姓，奢侈僭偪，誅戮無罪，肆心自快。 今者論議凶凶，鹹謂叔段、州吁復生於漢。 臣觀公卿懷持兩端，不肯極言者，以為憲等若有匪懈之志，則己受吉甫□申伯之功，[六]如憲等陷於罪辜，則自取陳平、周勃順呂後之權，[七]終不以憲等吉凶為憂也。 臣敞區區，誠欲計策兩安，絕其撓撓，塞其涓涓，[八]上不欲令皇太后損文母之號，陛下有誓泉之譏，[九]下使憲等得長保其福佑。 然臧獲之謀，上安主父，下存主母，猶不免於嚴怒。 [一０]臣伏惟累祖蒙恩，至臣八世，[一一]復以愚陋，旬年之閒，歷顯位，備機近，每念厚德，忽然忘生。 雖知言必夷滅，而冒死自盡者，誠不忍目見其禍而懷默苟全。 駙馬都尉纓，雖在弱冠，有不隱之忠，比請退身，願抑家權。 可與參謀，聽順其意，誠宗廟至計，竇氏之福。 」注[一]較，明。
To dote on a son that way is to feed him poison—only harm can follow.' [4] When the great mourning began, the ministers asked Dou Xian to manage affairs.' [5] He refused power with earnest words and the empire rejoiced.' Within a year, before mourning ended, everything changed—the brothers seized the government.' Dou Xian commands the hosts; Dou Du and Dou Jing hold the inner palace; they oppress the people, spend beyond their rank, kill the innocent, and please themselves.' Men now whisper that Shuduan and Zhouxu walk again in the Han court.' High ministers sit on the fence: if Dou Xian thrives they hope to share Jifu-style praise [6]; if he falls they mean to play Chen Ping and Zhou Bo to Empress Lü [7]—they care nothing for Dou's fate either way.' I beg only to secure both throne and kin, stop faction before it swells [8], spare the empress dowager her good name and you the shame of Zheng Zhuang's oath [9], and let the Dou brothers keep their fortune.' Even a slave-girl's stratagem that saved both master and mistress earned a beating.' [10] My line has enjoyed imperial favor for eight generations [11]; in a few short years I rose to the inner court and each time I recall that grace I would gladly die.' I know frank words may destroy me, yet I cannot stand silent while ruin approaches.' Dou Kui, chief of cavalry for the princess-consort, though young, is loyal: he has asked to retire and curb his clan's power.' Hear him out—it is the best policy for state and Dou alike.' Commentary 1: Jiao means clear or evident.'
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注[二]左傳，鄭武姜愛少子叔段，莊公立，武姜請以京封叔段，謂之京城大叔，後武姜引以襲鄭。
Commentary 2: The Zuo tells how Lady Wu of Zheng favored Shuduan and helped him rebel.'
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注[三]左傳，□莊公寵庶子州吁，州吁好兵，公不禁。 大夫石碏諫曰：「臣聞愛子教之以義方，弗納於邪。 」莊公不從。 及卒，適子桓公立，州吁乃殺桓公而篡其位。
Commentary 3: Duke Zhuang of Wei spoiled Zhouxu and let him love arms.' Shi Que warned, 'Love a son by teaching duty, not by indulging vice.' The duke refused.' When Zhuang died, Zhouxu murdered Duke Huan and seized the throne.'
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注[四]史記蘇秦曰：「饑人之所以饑而不食烏喙，為其愈充腹而與餓死同患也。」
Commentary 4: Su Qin compared poisoned food to fatal favor.'
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注[五]比，頻也。 干，主也。
Commentary 5: Bi means repeatedly. Gan here means to meddle in.
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注[六]申伯，周宣王元舅也，有令德，故尹吉甫作頌以美之。 其詩曰：「維岳降神，生甫及申。 申伯之德，柔惠且直。 揉此萬邦，聞於四國。」
Commentary 6: Shenbo was King Xuan's uncle; Jifu sang his praises.' The ode runs, 'The sacred peak sent down spirits; it bore Fu and Shen.' Shenbo's virtue was gentle, kind, and upright.' He brought peace to the states and his fame reached the four quarters.'
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注[七]呂後欲封呂祿﹑呂產為王，王陵諫不許，陳平﹑周勃順旨而封之。 呂後崩，平﹑勃合謀，卒誅產﹑祿也。
Commentary 7: Empress Lü wanted the Lü ennobled; Wang Ling opposed but Chen Ping and Zhou Bo acquiesced.' After her death Chen Ping and Zhou Bo destroyed the Lü clan.'
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注[八]周金人銘曰「涓涓不壅，終為江河； 綿綿不絕，或成網羅」也。
Commentary 8: A bronze inscription warns that small streams become floods.' Unchecked threads become snares.'
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注[九]左傳，鄭武姜引大叔段襲莊公，莊公寘姜氏於城穎，誓之曰：「不及黃泉，無相見也。」
Commentary 9: The Zuo cites Duke Zhuang's oath to his mother after Duan's revolt.'
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注[一０]方言：「臧獲，奴婢賤稱也。 」史記曰：「蘇秦謂燕王曰：『客有遠為吏，其妻私人。 其夫將來，私者憂之，妻曰：「勿憂，吾已為作藥酒待之矣。 」居三日，其夫果至，妻使妾舉藥酒而進之。 妾欲言酒之藥乎，則恐逐其主母也； 欲勿言邪，則恐殺其主父。 於是佯僵而棄酒。 主父怒，笞之。 故妾僵而覆酒，上存主父，下存主母，然猶不免於笞。』」
Commentary 10: Fangyan glosses zanghuo as bondservants.' The Records tells Su Qin's parable of the adulterous wife.' The wife brewed poisoned wine for her returning husband.' Three days later the husband came; she had a maid serve the wine.' The maid wanted to warn of poison but feared betraying her mistress;' to stay silent meant killing her master;' she feigned a fit and spilled the cup.' The master beat her.' She saved both yet was whipped all the same.'
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注[一一]東觀記曰，何修生成，為漢膠東相； 成生果，為太中大夫； 果生比干，為丹陽都尉； 比干生壽，蜀郡太守； 壽生顯，京輔都尉； 顯生鄢，光祿大夫； 鄢生寵，濟南都尉； 寵生敞：八世也。
Commentary 11: The Eastern Han Records gives the He lineage from Xiu to Chang.' Cheng begat Guo, grand palace grandee;' Guo begat Bigan, Danyang commandant;' Bigan begat Shou, Shu grand administrator;' Shou begat Xian, capital commandant;' Xian begat Yan, grandee of brilliant fortune;' Yan begat Chong, Jinan commandant;' Chong begat He Chang—the eighth generation.'
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敞數切諫，言諸竇罪過，憲等深怨之。 時濟南王康尊貴驕甚，[一]憲乃白出敞為濟南太傅。 敞至國，輔康以道義，數引法度諫正之，康敬禮焉。 注[一]康，光武少子也。
He Chang's blunt attacks on the Dou enraged them. [1] Prince Kang of Jinan was haughty; Dou Xian had He Chang sent as his grand tutor.' He Chang guided Kang with principle and law; the prince honored him.' Commentary 1: Kang was Guangwu's youngest son.
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歲餘，遷汝南太守。 敞疾文俗吏以苛刻求當時名譽，故在職以寬和為政。 立春日，常召督郵還府，[一]分遣儒術大吏案行屬縣，顯孝悌有義行者。 及舉冤獄，以春秋義斷之。 是以郡中無怨聲，百姓化其恩禮。 其出居者，皆歸養其父母，追行喪服，[二]推財相讓者二百許人。 [三]置立禮官，不任文吏。 又修理鮦陽舊渠，百姓賴其利，[四]墾田增三萬餘頃。 吏人共刻石，頌敞功德。 注[一]督郵主司察愆過，立春陽氣發生，故召歸。
A year later he became grand administrator of Runan. He despised petty officials who built reputations on cruelty and ruled Runan with kindness. Each spring he recalled the supervising secretaries [1] and sent learned clerks to tour the counties and honor the filial and righteous.' He cleared unjust jails with principles drawn from the Annals.' The commandery fell quiet; the people responded to his grace. Families reunited to care for parents and observe belated mourning [2]; some two hundred households yielded property to neighbors.' [3] He appointed ritual specialists instead of leaving rites to clerks.' He restored the Tongyang canal so the people profited [4] and opened over thirty thousand qing of new land.' Officials and commoners carved a stele praising his rule. Commentary 1: Supervising secretaries inspect wrongdoing; spring recall was a humane custom.'
174
注[二]出居謂與父母別居者。 其親先亡者自恨喪禮不足，追行喪制也。
Commentary 2: Those who had left their parents' homes.' Some mourned late for parents they had neglected.'
175
注[三]東觀記曰：「高譚等百八十五人推財相讓。」
Commentary 3: One hundred eighty-five men yielded property, says the Eastern Han Records.'
176
注[四]鮦陽，縣，屬汝南郡，故城在今豫州新蔡縣北。 水經注云：「葛陂東出為鮦水，俗謂之三丈陂。」
Commentary 4: Tongyang lay in Runan, north of present Xincai.' The Shuijingzhu identifies the canal east of Ge marsh.'
177
論曰：永元之際，天子幼弱，太后臨朝，竇氏憑盛戚之權，將有呂﹑霍之變。 [一]幸漢德未衰，大臣方忠，袁﹑任二公正色立朝，[二]樂﹑何之徒抗議柱下，[三]故能挾幼主*[之]*斷，剿奸回之偪。 [四]不然，國家危矣。 夫竇氏之閒，唯何敞可以免，而特以子失交之故廢黜，不顯大位。 惜乎，過矣哉！
The historian's judgment: In Yongyuan the boy emperor and Dou regency threatened a Lü or Huo-style seizure.' [1] Han virtue still held and loyal ministers stood firm: Yuan An and Ren Kui faced the court [2], Yue Hui and He Chang spoke from the censor's place [3], and together they steadied the boy emperor and broke the Dou grip.' [4] Otherwise the dynasty would have fallen.' He Chang alone might have survived the Dou purge, yet he lost high rank over a son's quarrel with a friend.' A pity—and how harsh the irony!'
178
注[一]呂祿、呂產也。 霍光之子禹。 注[二]袁安、任隗也。
Commentary 1: The Lü partisans Lu and Chan. Huo Guang's son Huo Yu. Commentary 2: Yuan An and Ren Kui.
179
注[三]漢官儀曰：「侍御史，周官也，為柱下史，冠法冠。 」案禮圖注云：「法冠，執法者服之。 」樂恢為司隸，何敞為御史，並彈射糾察之官也。
Commentary 3: Attendant censors were pillar-base scribes under Zhou precedent.' The law cap was the enforcer's headgear.' Yue Hui as metropolitan commandant and He Chang as censor both held investigative posts.'
180
注[四]剿，絕也。
Commentary 4: Jiao means to extirpate.
181
贊曰：朱生受寄，誠不愆義。 公叔辟梁，允納明刺。 絕交面朋，崇厚浮偽。 [一]恢舉謗己，敞非祥瑞。 永言國偪，甘心強詖。 [二]注[一]楊雄法言曰：「朋而不心，面朋也。 友而不心，面友也。 」浮偽者，勸之以崇厚也。
Praise: Zhu Hui kept a friend's trust without fault. Zhu Mu shunned Liang Ji but accepted frank counsel.' He renounced hollow friendships and honored true substance.' [1] Yue Hui recommended his detractor; He Chang dismissed fake prodigies.' Both spoke truth to peril and defied the mighty.' [2] Yang Xiong said, 'Friends without inward truth are friends in face only.' Friends without heart are friends in name only.' The gloss urges readers toward substance over show.'
182
注[二]詖，佞諂也。 竇憲兄弟奢僭上偪，敞冒死切諫，是甘心於強詖之人也。
Commentary 2: Bi means flattery. He Chang risked death remonstrating against the Dou brothers' arrogance—that was courage before flatterers.'
183
校勘記
Collation notes
184
一四五七頁三行朱暉字文季袁宏紀作「文秀」。 按：下云「強直自遂，南陽朱季」，則作「文季」是。
Collation: Yuan Hong records Zhu Hui's style as Wenxiu.' The text favors Wenji over Wenxiu.'
185
一四五七頁一二行太守阮況嘗欲巿暉* (牛) **[婢]*據汲本、殿本改。 按：注引東觀記「欲買暉婢」，則作「婢」是。
Collation: Ruan Kuang wished to buy from Zhu Hui (ox) and a maidservant per Ji and Palace editions.' The commentary quotes the Eastern Han Records as wishing to buy Zhu Hui's maidservant, so the reading maidservant is correct.
186
一四五八頁三行是時陰就為府卿按：御覽八０六引「府卿」作「少府卿」。
Collation: Taiping yulan reads privy treasurer for fu qing.'
187
一四五八頁九行暉為* (掾) *督郵據汲本、殿本刪。 按：聚珍本東觀記作「暉為郡督郵」。
Collation: Zhu Hui was (clerk) The words supervising secretary are omitted in Ji and Palace.' A variant reads commandery supervising secretary.'
188
一四五八頁一四行臣觀大王無償趙城色汲本、殿本「無」下有「意」字，「色」作「邑」。 今按：史記作「臣觀大王無意償趙王城邑」。
Collation: The Records reads 'no intent to yield Zhao's towns.' The Shiji line uses yi and yi (towns).
189
一四六０頁六行居儉難之時汲本、殿本「儉」作「險」。 按：易否卦「君子以儉德辟難」，為此語所本。 儉與險通。
Collation: Some editions read xian (danger) for jian.' The line echoes the Changes Pi hexagram.' Jian and xian are used interchangeably here.'
190
一四六二頁一五行嚴鮪謀立清河王蒜按：集解引沉宇說，謂清河王、李固、杜喬傳皆作「劉鮪」。
Collation: Shen Yu notes the conspirator should read Liu Wei, not Yan Wei, matching parallel texts.
191
一四六三頁四行郡中瞻望明府謂如仲尼非顏回不敢以迎孔子按：汲本、殿本「謂」字在「非顏回」上。
Collation: Ji and Palace editions move the graph wei to a different position in the sentence.
192
一四六五頁一一行此老子*[道]*德經之詞也據汲本、殿本補。
Collation: The text dao was restored from Ji and Palace editions.
193
一四六五頁一二行行*[之]*有失據汲本、殿本補。
Collation: The graph zhi was restored in xing zhi you shi.
194
一四六六頁一０行* (武) **[景]*帝王皇后據陳景雲說改。
Collation fragment: Emperor Wu Collation: Emended per Chen Jingyun to the Jing emperor's empress.
195
一四六七頁六行然*[後]*知薄者之不足刊誤謂案文「然」字下不可少「後」字，明脫之。 今據補。
Collation: Errata requires hou after ran; the graph was missing. Supplied in modern editions.
196
一四六七頁一四行世之務交遊也久矣敦千乘不忌於君按：御覽四一０引作「世之務交遊也甚矣，不惇於業，不忌於君」。
Collation: Taiping yulan gives a longer variant of Zhu Mu's sentence.
197
一四六八頁五行我豈足下部*[民]*據汲本補。 按：刊誤謂「部」下應有「民」字。
Collation: The graph min after bu was restored from Ji. Errata notes min missing after department.
198
一四六九頁一行馬免之徒按：集解引惠棟說，謂蔣杲雲帝紀「免」作「勉」。
Collation: Some texts read Ma Mian as Ma Mian with a different graph.
199
一四七０頁八行漂害人庶數十萬戶按：校補引錢大昭說，謂續漢五行志注引此傳作「數千萬戶」。
Collation: A variant gives a far larger household count for the flood victims.
200
一四七０頁一０行奏劾諸郡按：汲本、殿本「郡」作「部」。
Collation: Ji and Palace read department instead of commandery.
201
一四七二頁三行系趾謂釱其足也以鐵著足曰釱也按：兩「釱」字原並斗「□」，逕改正。
Collation: Two corrupted zhi graphs were restored.
202
一四七三頁七行追贈益州太守集解引沉欽韓說，謂袁紀作「益州刺史」為是。 按：校補謂蔡邕朱公叔碑首云「忠文公益州太守朱君」，則固可為贈太守之一證。 漢制刺史雖巡行所部各郡，以六條問事，而秩僅六百石，遠不逮太守，故太守轉為刺史遷途，贈官亦例以太守為重也。
Collation: Shen Qinhan prefers posthumous title inspector over grand administrator. Cai Yong's stele supports the grand reading. Note explains why posthumous rank used grand administrator rather than inspector.
203
一四七五頁四行否則止按：刊誤謂「否」當作「不可」。
Collation: Errata emends fou to bu ke.
204
一四七五頁六行莫之能改也按：殿本無「能」字，王先謙謂無「能」字是。
Collation: Wang Xianqian prefers the text without neng.
205
一四七五頁一一行走將從夫孤焉按：「夫」原斗「失」，逕改正。
Collation: fu was miswritten as shi.
206
一四七六頁三行* (武) **[景]*帝王皇后據陳景雲說改。
Collation: Martial Same emendation as above for the empress line.
207
一四七六頁一三行為大梁夷門門者按：汲本、殿本下「門」字作「監」。
Collation: Second men read jian in some editions.
208
一四七七頁一行恢年十一按：校補引柳從辰說，謂袁宏紀「一」作「二」。
Collation: Yuan Hong gives Yue Hui's age as twelve.
209
一四七七頁三行事博士焦永按：集解引惠棟說，謂袁宏紀作「焦貺」。 案鄭宏傳，宏師河東太守焦貺，袁紀稱貺嘗為博士，後為河東太守，則「永」當為「貺」也。
Collation: Some texts read Jiao Huang instead of Jiao Yong. Scholars identify Yong as Huang from Zheng Hong's biography.
210
一四七七頁四行恢獨* (皦) **[曒]*然不污於法據殿本改，注同。
Collation on jiao: bright Collation: Palace reads wu for a corrupted graph in not stained by law.
211
一四七七頁一０行同郡楊政按：校補引柳從辰說，謂袁紀作「杜陵人楊正」。
Collation: Yuan Hong gives a different name and origin for Yang.
212
一四七八頁二行干人主以窺覦按：「覦」原斗「踰」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。
Collation: Graph for covet was corrected.
213
一四七八頁三行年十三入太學按：集解引沉欽韓說，謂書鈔引先賢行狀作「年十五」。
Collation: Some sources give fifteen for Du An's entry to the academy.
214
一四七八頁一一行觿物夭傷按：汲本「夭」作「大」。
Collation: Ji edition reads great harm instead of premature death.
215
一四七八頁一四行成陽高鳳集解引錢大昕說，謂案逸民傳，高鳳南陽葉人，此「成陽」恐是「南陽」之鬥，或別有同姓名者。 按：張森楷校勘記謂南陽高鳳以建初元年為任隗所薦，尋卒，此在永元之時，則卒已久矣，蓋非一人。 錢說疑尚未審。
Collation: Qian Daxin doubts Chengyang for Gao Feng. Collation argues two different men named Gao Feng. The identification remains disputed.
216
一四七九頁五行不務修舜禹周公之* (術) **[德]*據汲本、殿本改。 按：今東觀記亦作「德」。
Collation note for page 1479 line 5: the sentence about emulating Shun, Yu, and the Duke of Zhou was damaged mid-word; the missing wording is restored in the next entry. Methods (the gloss supplied for the lacuna). Collation: Virtue restored from Ji and Palace. The Eastern Han Records agrees on virtue.
217
一四七九頁一一行左傳曰齊崔氏出奔□按：校補謂此春秋宣公十年經文，「左傳」二字乃「春秋」之誤，各本皆未正。
Collation: The citation should be Spring and Autumn, not Zuo.
218
一四八０頁三行後遷丹* (楊) **[陽]*都尉據汲本、殿本改。
Collation note for page 1480 line 3: the promotion line was split across entries after a corrupted graph in the place-name. Yang Collation: Danyang emended to Yang per editions.
219
一四八０頁四行何氏家傳* (雲並) **[六世]*祖父比干據汲本改。 按：「雲並」與「六世」形近而鬥。
Collation note for page 1480 line 4: the He genealogy quotation was broken at the asterisk and continues in the next fragment. Six generations (the gloss supplied for the lacuna). Collation: Six generations restored from Ji. Collation explains a copying error between phrases.
220
一四八０頁一五行文成之世汲本﹑殿本「成」作「武」。 按：今本左傳亦作「文武之世」，汲本﹑殿本殆據今本左傳改也。 然阮元校勘記謂石經﹑宋本﹑岳本「武」作「成」，謂文公﹑成公也，則作「文成之世」是。
Collation: Some editions read martial for Cheng in the ode context. Modern Zuo text favors Wen and Wu. Ruan Yuan argues Cheng is correct for Dukes Wen and Cheng.
221
一四八一頁一二行治平之化按：「治」原斗「洽」，逕據汲本﹑殿本改正。
Collation: Order graph restored from Ji and Palace.
222
一四八二頁二行豈但空空無違而已哉按：集解引通鑒胡注，謂「空」當作「悾」，悾悾，謹□也。
Collation: Hu Sanxing reads kong kong as diligent care.
223
一四八二頁一五行欲令農士女工安得奪其貨乎汲本「奪」作「售」。 刊誤謂案文「奪」當作「售」，「得」當作「所」。 按：史記循吏傳作「欲令農士女工安所讎其貨乎」。
Collation: Ji edition reads sell instead of seize. Errata proposes shou and suo. Shiji parallel uses a different wording for market goods.
224
一四八三頁一行齊殤王按：刊誤謂「殤」當作「煬」。
Collation: Prince Yang, not Shang.
225
一四八四頁二行嫚書之恥按：「嫚」原斗「慢」，逕據汲本﹑殿本改正。
Collation: Insult graph restored from slow.
226
一四八五頁二行伏見大將軍憲按：汲本﹑殿本「憲」上有「竇」字。
Collation: Ji and Palace add the Dou surname.
227
一四八五頁一四行鄭武姜愛少子叔段按：「少」原斗「小」，逕改正。
Collation: Younger son graph corrected.
228
一四八六頁一二行比干生壽按：張森楷校勘記謂案漢書百官表及何武傳，壽是盧江人，與比干居郡絕遠，東觀記乃以為比干生壽，恐非也。
Collation doubts the He genealogy on Shou.
229
一四八六頁一二行壽生顯按：張森楷校勘記謂案前書何武傳，壽子不見名字，名顯者乃武弟，非壽子也。
Collation doubts Xian as Shou's son.
230
一四八七頁一０行三遷五官中郎將按：校補引錢大昭說，謂張酺傳作「左中郎將」。
Collation: Zhang Fu's parallel reads left gentleman instead of five offices.
231
一四八七頁一四行故能挾幼主*[之]*斷據刊誤補。
Collation: The graph zhi was supplied in support the young lord's judgment.