1
郭躬字仲孫，穎川陽翟人也。 家世衣冠。 父弘，習小杜律。 [一]太守寇恂以弘為決曹掾，斷獄至三十年，用法平。 諸為弘所決者，退無怨情，郡內比之東海于公。 年九十五卒。 [二]
Guo Gong, styled Zhongsun, came from Yangdi in Yingchuan. For generations his family had ranked among the gentry. His father Guo Hong was versed in the “Younger Du” legal tradition. [1] When Kou Xun governed the commandery, he named Hong clerk of the Department of Judgments; Hong heard cases for almost thirty years and kept the scales of justice level. Even those he ruled against went away without bitterness, and people in the district likened him to Yu Gong of Donghai. He died at ninety-five. This marks the second commentary note in the sequence.
2
注[一]前書，杜周武帝時為廷尉、御史大夫，斷獄深刻。 少子延年亦明法律，宣帝時又為御史大夫。 對父故言小。
Note 1: The Former Han History records that under Emperor Wu, Du Zhou served as Commandant of Justice and Imperial Counselor and decided cases with pitiless severity. Du Yannian, his youngest son, was also celebrated for legal learning and under Emperor Xuan again rose to Imperial Counselor. They call it the “Younger” Du tradition to distinguish it from the father’s school.
3
注[二]於公，東海人，丞相於定國父也。 為郡決曹，決獄平，羅文法者，於公所決皆不恨。 見前書也。
Note 2: Yu Gong came from Donghai; he was the father of Chancellor Yu Dingguo. As clerk of judgments for the commandery he was fair in court; even men caught by the letter of the law did not resent his verdicts. The Former Han History tells his story.
4
躬少傳父業，講授徒眾常數百人。 後為郡吏，辟公府。 永平中，奉車都尉竇固出擊匈奴，騎都尉秦彭為副。 彭在別屯而輒以法斬人，固奏彭專擅，請誅之。
While still young Guo Gong took up his father’s craft and regularly taught several hundred students. He later served as a commandery clerk and was recruited into the general-in-chief’s administration. During the Yongping reign, Bearer of the Mace Dou Gu campaigned against the Xiongnu with Cavalry Commandant Qin Peng as his deputy. Qin Peng was encamped apart yet summarily executed men under military regulations; Dou Gu reported him for usurping authority and requested the death penalty.
5
顯宗乃引公卿朝臣平其罪科。 躬以明法律，召入議。 議者皆然固奏，躬獨曰：「於法，彭得斬之。 」帝曰：「軍征，校尉一統於督。 [一]彭既無斧鉞，可得專殺人乎？ 」躬對曰：「一統於督者，謂在部曲也。 [二]今彭專軍別將，有異於此。 兵事呼吸，不容先關督帥。 且漢制棨戟即為斧鉞，於法不合罪。 」[三]帝從躬議。 又有兄弟共殺人者，而罪未有所歸。 帝以兄不訓弟，故報兄重而減弟死。 中常侍孫章宣詔，誤言兩報重，尚書奏章矯制，罪當腰斬。
Emperor Zhang thereupon gathered high ministers and courtiers to settle the legal category of the crime. Guo Gong, known for his grasp of law, was called into the conference. Every speaker sided with Dou Gu’s memorial, but Guo Gong alone said, “By statute Qin Peng was within his rights to behead them.” The emperor replied, “In the field, regimental commandants answer to the supreme commander.” [1] Qin Peng had not been invested with axe and halberd—how could he lawfully kill anyone by his sole decision? Guo Gong answered, “The phrase means troops actually serving inside a formation.” [2] Qin Peng led an independent detachment, which falls outside that rule. War allows no pause; there is no leisure to report up the chain of command before acting. Besides, Han ordinance treats the ceremonial halberd as the emblem of summary authority, so he broke no statute.” [3] The throne accepted Guo Gong’s reading. There was also a pair of brothers who had killed a man together, and the law could not say which bore the guilt. The emperor reasoned that the elder had not taught the younger, and therefore condemned the elder while sparing the younger’s life. When eunuch Sun Zhang read out the edict he misstated that both brothers deserved execution; the Masters of Writing impeached him for falsifying an order, a capital offense.
6
帝復召躬問之，躬對「章應罰金」。 帝曰：「章矯詔殺人，何謂罰金？ 」躬曰：「法令有故、誤，章傳命之謬，於事為誤，誤者其文則輕。 」帝曰：「章與囚同縣，疑其故也。 」躬曰：「『周道如砥，其直如矢。 』[四]『君子不逆詐。 』[五]君王法天，刑不可以委曲生意。 」帝曰：「善。 」遷躬廷尉正，坐法免。
The emperor recalled Guo Gong, who replied, “Sun Zhang should pay a fine in gold.” The emperor said, “He forged a decree that took lives—how is a mere fine enough?” Guo Gong said, “Law divides deliberate wrong from honest error; his was a blunder in relaying orders, and errors are punished more lightly.” The emperor countered, “Sun Zhang hails from the same county as the prisoners; I fear his act was intentional.” Guo Gong quoted, “The road of Zhou is smooth as a grindstone; straight as an arrow it flies.” [4] “The gentleman does not second-guess another’s treachery.” [5] “The sovereign takes Heaven as his pattern; penalties must not be bent to serve a hunch.” The emperor said, “Well spoken.” Guo Gong was promoted to rectifier of the Commandant of Justice, later removed for a legal infraction.
7
注[一]督謂大將。
Note 1: “Commander” here denotes the commander-in-chief.
8
注[二]前書音義曰「大將軍行有五部，部有曲」也。
Note 2: The Former Han “Sounds and Meanings” explains that a field army of the grand general has five divisions, each with its companies.
9
注[三]有衣之戟曰棨。
Note 3: A halberd fitted with a sheath is called a qi halberd.
10
注[四]詩小雅也。 如砥，貢賦平。 如矢，賞罰中。
Note 4: The lines come from the “Lesser Odes” of the Book of Songs. “Like a whetstone” signifies that tribute and taxes stood in fair balance. “Like an arrow” means rewards and penalties struck true.
11
注[五]論語孔子之言。
Note 5: Confucius speaks these words in the Analects.
12
後三遷，元和三年，拜為廷尉。 躬家世掌法，務在寬平，及典理官，決獄斷刑，多依矜恕，乃條諸重文可從輕者四十一事奏之，事皆施行，著於令。 章和元年，赦天下系囚在四月丙子以前減死罪一等，勿笞，詣金城，而文不及亡命未發覺者。 躬上封事曰：「聖恩所以減死罪使戍邊者，重人命也。 今死罪亡命無慮萬人，[一]又自赦以來，捕得甚觿，而詔令不及，皆當重論。 伏惟天恩莫不蕩宥，死罪已下並蒙更生，而亡命捕得獨不沾澤。 臣以為赦前犯死罪而繫在赦後者，可皆勿笞詣金城，以全人命，有益於邊。 」肅宗善之，即下詔赦焉。 躬奏讞法科，多所生全。 永元六年，卒官。 中子晊，亦明法律，[二]至南陽太守，政有名多。 弟子鎮。
After three more advancements, in Yuanhe 3 he was named Commandant of Justice. The Guo household had always guarded the code with a bias toward mercy; as chief judge he commuted sentences wherever he could, listing forty-one clauses where harsh wording could be softened, and the court enacted every one into law. In Zhanghe 1 an edict spared capital convicts arrested before a set day, remitted the rod, and exiled them to Jincheng, but the wording omitted fugitives not yet apprehended. Guo Gong’s sealed memorial ran: “Heaven’s mercy in commuting death to border service shows how highly the throne values a single life.” Today perhaps ten thousand capitally condemned fugitives remain at large; [1] since the amnesty, arrests have been numerous, yet because the proclamation passed them over, each faces a renewed capital charge. I submit that Heaven’s kindness spreads everywhere—everyone short of death has been reborn—only the captured runaways are shut out of the boon. I urge that anyone held for a capital crime committed before the amnesty but jailed afterward should likewise be spared the rod and marched to Jincheng, saving lives while reinforcing the border.” Emperor Zhang approved the plea and at once broadened the amnesty. In his memorials on appellate procedure Guo Gong repeatedly spared the accused. He died in harness in Yongyuan 6. His second son Guo Zhi also mastered the code [2] and became Administrator of Nanyang, where his rule won renown. His nephew Guo Zhen figures below.
13
注[一]廣雅曰：「無慮，都凡也。 」注[二]晊音質。
Note 1: The Guangya glosses wulü as “altogether, in the aggregate.” Note 2: The name Zhi is pronounced like the character for “substance.”
14
弟子鎮
His nephew Guo Zhen
15
鎮字桓鐘，少修家業。 辟太尉府，再遷，延光中為尚書。 及中黃門孫程誅中常侍江京等而立濟陰王，鎮率羽林士擊殺□尉閻景，以成大功，事在宦者傳。 再遷尚書令。 太傅、三公奏鎮冒犯白刃，手□賊臣，奸黨殄滅，宗廟以寧，功比劉章，[一]宜顯爵土，以勵忠貞。 乃封鎮為定穎侯，食邑二千戶。 拜河南尹，轉廷尉，免。 永建四年，卒於家。 詔賜頤塋地。
Guo Zhen, styled Huanzhong, polished the family legal tradition while young. Recruited into the Grand Commandant’s bureau, he rose twice to become a Masters of Writing in the Yanguang years. When the Yellow Gate Sun Cheng executed the chief eunuchs led by Jiang Jing and raised the Prince of Jiyin, Guo Zhen led Feathered Forest guards to cut down Captain of the Guard Yan Jing, clinching the coup—details appear in the lives of the palace attendants. Two more steps carried him to Prefect of the Masters of Writing. The Grand Tutor and the three dukes reported that Guo Zhen had faced naked steel, personally cut down the rebel ministers, annihilated the faction, and brought peace to the imperial temples; his service rivaled Liu Zhang’s; [1] he deserved a fief to honor steadfast loyalty. The court therefore enfeoffed him as Marquis of Dingying with two thousand households. He served as Governor of Henan, then Commandant of Justice, before removal. He died at home in Yongjian 4. An imperial rescript allotted ground for his burial precinct.
16
注[一]章，齊王肥子也，高帝孫，誅諸呂有功，封朱虛侯也。
Note 1: Liu Zhang, a son of Prince Fei of Qi and grandson of Emperor Gaozu, was enfeoffed as Marquis of Zhuxu for extirpating the Lü clan.
17
長子賀當嗣爵，讓與小弟時而逃去。 積數年，詔大鴻臚下州郡追之，賀不得已，乃出受封。 累遷，復至廷尉。 及賀卒，順帝追思鎮功，下詔賜鎮謚曰昭武侯，賀曰成侯。
Eldest son Guo He was to succeed the marquisate but ceded it to younger brother Shi and disappeared. For years edicts sent the Grand Herald through the provinces until Guo He emerged and took the patent. Further promotions eventually restored him to Commandant of Justice. After Guo He’s death Emperor Shun remembered Guo Zhen’s deeds and canonized Zhen as Marquis Zhaowu and He as Marquis Cheng.
18
賀弟禎，亦以能法律至廷尉。
Guo He’s younger brother Guo Zhen also rose to Commandant of Justice on the strength of his legal expertise.
19
鎮弟子禧，[一]少明習家業，兼好儒學，有名譽，延熹中亦為廷尉。 建寧二年，代劉寵為太尉。 禧子鴻，至司隸校尉，封城安鄉侯。
Guo Zhen’s nephew Guo Xi [1] mastered the household jurisprudence in youth while cherishing Confucian letters, won wide esteem, and under the Yanxi reign likewise held the Commandant of Justice. In Jianning 2 he succeeded Liu Chong as Grand Commandant. Guo Xi’s son Guo Hong became Colonel Director of Retainers and Marquis of Cheng’an District.
20
注[一]許其反。
Note 1: The name Xi is read with the qi fanqie grouping.
21
郭氏自弘後，數世皆傳法律，子孫至公者一人，廷尉七人，侯者三人，刺史、二千石、侍中、中郎將者二十餘人，侍御史、正、監、平者甚觿。
After Guo Hong the family handed down the code for generations: one kinsman rose to one of the Three Excellencies, seven sat as Commandant of Justice, three held marquisates, and over twenty became governors, two-thousand-bushel officials, attendants-in-ordinary, or commandants of the gentle-attendants; supervising secretaries, rectifiers, supervisors, and adjusters were countless.
22
順帝時，廷尉河南吳雄季高，以明法律，斷獄平，起自孤宦，致位司徒。 雄少時家貧，喪母，營人所不封土者，擇葬其中。 喪事趣辨，不問時日，* (醫) *巫皆言當族滅，而雄不顧。 及子欣孫恭，三世廷尉，為法名家。 [一]
During Emperor Shun’s reign Wu Xiong of Henan, styled Jigao, served as Commandant of Justice; expert law and fair verdicts lifted him from a lone clerk’s station to Minister of Education. As a young man Wu Xiong was destitute; burying his mother, he picked ground others spurned as ill-omened. He rushed the funeral rites and never consulted a calendar for lucky days or hours— (marginal gloss: “physician”) —while shamans and healers warned the whole lineage would be extirpated, yet he brushed their warnings aside. His son Wu Xin and grandson Wu Gong—three generations in a row as Commandant of Justice—made the house a byword for jurisprudence. This marks the first commentary note in the sequence.
23
注[一]名為明法之家。
Note 1: They were celebrated as a “house that illuminates the law.”
24
初，肅宗時，司隸校尉下邳趙興亦不恤諱忌，[一]每入官舍，輒更繕修館宇，移穿改築，故犯妖禁，而家人爵祿，益用豐熾，官至穎川太守。 子峻，太傅，以才器稱。 孫安世，魯相。 三葉皆為司隸，時稱其盛。
Earlier, under Emperor Zhang, Zhao Xing of Xiapi, as Colonel Director of Retainers, scorned geomantic taboos [1]: each time he moved into a yamen he refurbished the buildings, shifting walls and foundations in ways that breached “ill-omen” statutes, yet his family’s enfeoffments and salaries swelled until he became Administrator of Yingchuan. His son Zhao Jun rose to Grand Tutor and was admired for ability. His grandson Zhao Anshi governed Lu as chancellor. Three generations running they held the capital colonelcy, and their contemporaries hailed the clan’s eminence.
25
注[一]恤，憂也。
Note 1: Xu here means “to fret over.”
26
桓帝時，汝南有陳伯敬者，行必矩步，坐必端膝，呵叱狗馬，終不言死，目有所見，不食其肉，行路聞凶，便解駕留止，還觸歸忌，則寄宿鄉亭。 [一]年老寢滯，不過舉孝廉。 後坐女豻亡吏，太守邵夔怒而殺之。 時人罔忌禁者，多談為證焉。 [二]
In Emperor Huan’s time Chen Bojing of Runan walked in measured paces, sat with rigid knees, rebuked animals but never spoke the word death, refused meat from any beast he had seen, halted his carriage at rumor of misfortune, and, should his homecoming clash with a geomantic taboo day, spent the night at a waystation instead. [1] Age slowed him, and he never advanced beyond nomination as Filially Incorrupt. Later his daughter murdered a clerk; enraged, Administrator Shao Kui executed him. Skeptics of the day pointed to his fate as a moral for superstitious scruples. This marks the second commentary note in the sequence.
27
注[一]陰陽書曆法曰：「歸忌日，四孟在丑，四仲在寅，四季在子，其日不可遠行歸家及徙也。」
Note 1: The yin-yang calendar states: “Homecoming taboos fall on chou in each first month, yin in each middle month, and zi in each last month; on those days do not journey far, return home, or relocate.”
28
注[二]罔，無也。
Note 2: Here wang means “there is none,” i.e. they spurned all taboos.
29
論曰：曾子云：「上失其道，民散久矣。 如得其情，則哀矜而勿喜。 」[一]夫不喜於得情則恕心用，恕心用則可寄枉直矣。 夫賢人君子斷獄，其必主於此乎？ 郭躬起自佐史，小大之獄必察焉。 [二]原其平刑審斷，庶於勿喜者乎？ 若乃推己以議物，捨狀以貪情，[三]法家之能慶延於世，蓋由此也！
The historian remarks: Zengzi said, “When those on high abandon the Way, the people have drifted apart for a long time.” “If you learn the truth of their plight, mourn for them and do not take satisfaction.” [1] When a judge does not exult in “getting the facts,” mercy governs; where mercy governs, the innocent and the guilty may both be safely left in his hands. Surely this is the lodestar for every true gentleman who sits in judgment? Guo Gong began as a petty clerk, yet no suit, large or small, escaped his scrutiny. [2] Looking at his level sentences and painstaking verdicts, was he not near the ideal of “do not rejoice”? When a judge measures others by his own conscience and looks past the paper record to the human truth—[3]—it is no wonder houses of law like his flourished for generations.
30
注[一]言人離散犯法，乃自上之所為，非下之過，當哀矜之，勿以得情為喜也。 見論語也。
Note 1: The gloss explains that popular lawlessness reflects misrule from above, not innate depravity below; the judge should grieve, not gloat, when the facts emerge. The passage comes from the Analects.
31
注[二]左傳曰：「小大之獄，雖不能察，必以情。」
Note 2: The Zuo Tradition records: “For great and small lawsuits, though I cannot fathom every detail, I must follow the moral facts of each case.”
32
注[三]秦彭、孫章不死為推己，亡命得減為貪情也。 貪與探同也。
Note 3: Sparing Qin Peng and Sun Zhang exemplifies “extending oneself”; commuting the fugitives exemplifies “probing beneath the surface for the humane truth.” The commentary equates the graph here with tan meaning “to search out,” not “covet.”
33
陳寵字昭公，沛國洨人也。 [一]曾祖父鹹，成哀閒以律令為尚書。 平帝時，王莽輔政，多改漢制，鹹心非之。 及莽因呂寬事誅不附己者何武、鮑宣等，[二]鹹乃歎曰：「易稱『君子見幾而作，不俟終日』，吾可以逝矣！ 」[三]即乞骸骨去職。 及莽篡位，召鹹以為掌寇大夫，謝病不肯應。 時三子參、豐、欽皆在位，乃悉令解官，父子相與歸鄉里，閉門不出入，猶用漢家祖臘。 [四]人問其故，鹹曰：「我先人豈知王氏臘乎？ 」其後莽復征鹹，遂稱病篤。 於是乃收斂其家律令書文，皆壁藏之。 鹹性仁恕，常戒子孫曰：「為人議法，當依於輕，雖有百金之利，慎無與人重比。」
Chen Chong, styled Zhaogong, came from Xiao county in the kingdom of Pei. [1] His great-grandfather Chen Xian, during the reigns of Emperors Cheng and Ai, entered the Masters of Writing for expertise in codified law. When Wang Mang governed as regent under Emperor Ping and refashioned Han institutions, Chen Xian silently rejected the changes. After Mang used the Lü Kuan scandal to butcher He Wu, Bao Xuan, and every independent minister, [2] Chen Xian sighed, “The Book of Changes says the wise man moves the moment he sees peril—I can stay no longer!” [3] He thereupon petitioned to retire on grounds of old age and quit his office. After the usurpation Wang Mang appointed him Grandee for Bandit Suppression; Chen Xian pleaded sickness and never took up the duty. His three sons—Can, Feng, and Qin—still held posts; he made them all resign, led the whole family back to their home district, sealed their doors, and continued to keep the Han calendar’s year-end La sacrifice. [4] Asked why, he replied, “Would our forebears have recognized a La day invented by the Wang clan?” When Wang Mang summoned him again, Chen Xian pleaded a mortal illness. He then collected every law text in the household and immured them inside a wall. Chen Xian was gentle by temperament and admonished his heirs: “When you plead a client’s case, always incline to the milder construction; even for a hundred catties of gold, never help load the scales toward the harsh side.”
34
注[一]洨，縣名，故城在今泗州虹縣西南。 洨音戶交反。
Note 1: Xiao was a county; its ruined city stood southwest of Hong in Si prefecture. The name Xiao is pronounced from the hu–jiao fanqie.
35
注[二]平帝時，王莽輔政，隔絕平帝外家，不得至京師。 莽子宇，恐帝長大後見怨，教帝舅□寶令帝母上書求入，莽不許。 宇與婦兄呂寬謀，以為莽不可說而好鬼神，乃夜以血灑莽第門，以驚懼之，事覺，並誅死。 何武為前將軍，王莽先從武求舉，武不敢。 鮑宣為司隸，免，徙之上黨。 呂寬事起，莽案鞠，並誅不附己者，武與宣在見誣中，皆被誅。 並見前書。
Note 2: While regent for Emperor Ping, Wang Mang isolated the emperor’s mother’s family from the capital. Wang Yu, dreading future vengeance once the boy matured, coached the emperor’s uncle Wei Bao to petition for the empress dowager’s entry; Wang Mang denied it. Wang Yu and his brother-in-law Lü Kuan decided flattery would not move Mang but superstition might, so they daubed blood on his gate by night to shock him; the plot leaked and every conspirator died. He Wu held the post of former General-in-Chief; Wang Mang had once begged him for a recommendation, and He Wu had refused. Bao Xuan, former Colonel Director of Retainers, was removed and exiled to Shangdang. When the Lü Kuan scandal broke, Wang Mang’s inquest swept up every opponent; He Wu and Bao Xuan were framed among the rest and killed. The Former Han History records these events.
36
注[三]幾者事之微，吉凶之先見者。 逝，往也。
Note 3: Ji denotes the first tremor of events, the omen before good or evil arrives. Shi here means “to go away.”
37
注[四]應劭風俗通曰，共工之子好遠遊，死為祖神。 漢家火行盛於午，故以午日為祖也。 臘者，歲終祭觿神之名。 臘，接也，新故交接，故大祭之報功也。 漢火行，衰於戌，故臘用戌日也。
Note 4: Ying Shao explains that Gonggong’s son, who loved to roam, became the tutelary of roads after death. Because Han ruled by the element Fire, whose noon peak falls at wu, the imperial zu offering falls on the wu stem day. La is the title of the year-end rite that feasts the myriad spirits. The word means “junction,” the hinge when the old year yields to the new, so the court holds a great thanksgiving. Han Fire declines toward xu, so the La festival uses a xu day.
38
建武初，欽子躬為廷尉左監，早卒。
Early in the Jianwu reign, Chen Qin’s son Chen Gong became assistant supervisor of the Commandant of Justice but died young.
39
躬生寵，明習家業，少為州郡吏，辟司徒鮑昱府。 是時三府掾屬專尚交遊，以不肯視事為高。 寵常非之，獨勤心物務，數為昱陳當世便宜。 昱高其能，轉為辭曹，掌天下獄訟。 [一]其所平決，無不厭服觿心。 時司徒辭訟，久者數十年，事類溷錯，易為輕重，不良吏得生因緣。 [二]寵為昱撰辭訟比七卷，決事科條，皆以事類相從。 昱奏上之，其後公府奉以為法。
Chen Gong’s son Chen Chong mastered the household jurisprudence, served locally as a clerk, then entered Minister Bao Yu’s bureau. The Three Excellencies’ clerks then prized networking above work and thought shirking business genteel. Chen Chong alone deplored the fashion and threw himself into real administration, memorializing Bao Yu again and again on policy that would help the realm. Bao Yu respected his talent and moved him to the Petitions Bureau, charged with litigation empire-wide. [1] No party ever walked away doubting the justice of his rulings. Some cases in the minister’s basket were decades old; confused categories let clerks tip the scales at will. [2] Chen Chong drafted seven volumes of precedent for Bao Yu, sorting statutes by subject. Bao Yu forwarded the work to the throne, and the high ministries thereafter treated it as their handbook.
40
注[一]續漢志曰「三公掾屬二十四人，有辭曹，主訟事」也。
Note 1: The Continued Han Treatise states that each of the Three Excellencies keeps twenty-four retainers, including a Petitions chief for lawsuits.
41
注[二]因緣謂依附以生輕重也。
Note 2: “Manufacturing pretexts” means latching onto a file to bend its severity.
42
三遷，肅宗初，為尚書。 是時承永平故事，吏政尚嚴切，尚書決事率近於重。
Three advancements brought him to the Masters of Writing when Emperor Zhang first ascended. Court routine still copied Yongping’s severity; the Masters of Writing routinely favored crushing verdicts.
43
注[一]事見左傳蔡大夫聲子辭。
Note 1: The story is told in Shen of Cai’s discourse in the Zuo Tradition.
44
注[二]尚書舜典之辭也。 眚，過也。 □，害也。 肆，緩也。 言過誤有害，當緩赦也。
Note 2: The lines come from the “Canon of Shun” in the Book of Documents. Sheng means “fault” or “oversight.” The glossed graph means “injury” or “harm.” Si means “to relax” or “mitigate.” The gloss explains that unintended harm calls for clemency and pardon.
45
注[三]尚書立政之辭也。 言文子文孫，從今以往，惟以正道理觿獄勿誤也。
Note 3: The citation is from the “Establishment of Government” in the Book of Documents. It tells kings and their heirs to judge only by straight principle and never err in the courts.
46
注[四]三德，剛、柔、正直。 尚書呂刑曰：「伯夷降典，折民惟刑，惟敬五刑，以成三德。」
Note 4: The “three powers” are firmness, yieldingness, and integrity. The Documents’ “Punishments of Lü” reads: “Boyi handed down the model laws, tempered the people with penalties, stood in awe of the five punishments, and so perfected the three powers.”
47
注[五]濟，益也。
Note 5: Ji here means “to add” or “increase.”
48
注[六]晏晏，溫和也。 尚書考靈耀曰：「堯聰明文塞晏晏。」
Note 6: Yanyan describes a mild, unruffled manner. The apocryphal Examination of Effulgent Spirits says Emperor Yao was “clear-sighted, accomplished, and serenely gentle.”
49
注[七]篣即榜也，古字通用。 聲類曰：「笞也。 」說文曰：「格，擊也。」
Note 7: Pang is an old spelling of bang, the cudgel used in beatings. The Sound Categories glosses it as “bastinado.” The Shuowen defines ge as “to strike.”
50
注[八]臧孫，魯大夫，行猛政。 子貢非之曰：「夫政猶張琴瑟也，大弦急則小弦絕矣。 故曰：『罰得則奸邪止，賞得則下歡悅。 』子之賊心見矣。 獨不聞子產之相鄭乎？ 推賢舉能，抑惡揚善，有大略者不問其短，有厚德者不非小疵，家給人足，囹圄空虛。 子產卒，國人皆叩心流涕，三月不聞竽琴之音。 其生也見愛，死也可悲。 故曰； 『德莫大於仁，禍莫大於刻。 』今子病而人賀，子愈而人相懼，曰：『嗟乎！ 何命之不善，臧孫子又不死？ 』」臧孫籩而避位，終身不出。 見新序。
Note 8: Zangsun Tuo of Lu ruled with a heavy hand. Zigong rebuked him: “Rule is like tuning strings—overtighten the bass and the treble snaps.” Hence the saying: “Fit penalties end villainy; fit rewards gladden the commoners.” Your love of harshness stands revealed for all to see. Have you never heard how Zichan ruled Zheng? He lifted the able, praised the virtuous, curbed wickedness, overlooked trifling faults in men of large purpose, and filled every larder until the jails were empty. At his death the people of Zheng tore their breasts and wept, and for three months no music sounded in the streets. They cherished him alive and grieved him dead. The maxim runs: “No excellence surpasses kindness, no disaster surpasses cruelty.” Today they feasted when you sickened and shuddered when you rallied, wailing, “Alas! How cruel heaven—why will not Zangsun the harsh finally die?” ” At that Zangsun resigned his place and shut himself away for life. The tale is preserved in Liu Xiang’s New Discourses.
51
注[九]優優，和也。 注[一０]假，至也，音格。 上下，天地也。
Note 9: Youyou means “harmonious” or “easy.” Note 10: Jia means “to reach,” with the ge reading. “Above and below” denotes Heaven and Earth.
52
注[一一]蒼頡篇曰：「鑽，持也。 」說文曰：「鑽，鐵□也。 」其炎反。 □音陟葉反。 鑽，臏刑，謂鑽去其髕骨也。 鑽音作喚反。
Note 11: The Cangjie Primer defines zuan as “to hold fast.” The Shuowen calls zuan an iron boring implement. Its fanqie is yan + fan. The second graph uses the zhe–ye fanqie. Zuan names the mutilation that drills out the kneecap. Zuan is pronounced from the zuo–huan fanqie.
53
注[一二]文致謂前人無罪，文飾致於法中也。
Note 12: “Literary framing” indicts the innocent by ornamenting the record until statute seems to fit.
54
漢舊事斷獄報重，常盡三冬之月，[一]是時帝始改用冬初十月而已。 元和二年，旱，長水校尉賈宗等上言，以為斷獄不盡三冬，故陰氣微弱，陽氣發洩，招致□旱，事在於此。 帝以其言下公卿議，寵奏曰：「夫冬至之節，陽氣始萌，故十一月有蘭、射干、芸、荔之應。 [二]時令曰：『諸生蕩，安形體。 』[三]天以為正，周以為春。 [四]十二月陽氣上通，雉雊雞乳，地以為正，殷以為春。 [五]十三月陽氣已至，天地已交，萬物皆出，蟄蟲始振，人以為正，夏以為春。 [六]三微成著，以通三統。
Old Han routine required capital reviews to run through all three winter months; [1] Emperor Zhang had just shortened the window to finish by the tenth month’s start. In Yuanhe 2 a drought struck; Colonel Jia Zong argued that cutting short the winter inquests left yin feeble and yang unchecked, causing the drought. The throne referred the point to the high ministers; Chen Chong wrote that at the solstice yang first stirs, so the eleventh month sees orchid, belamcanda, rue, and lichee sprout in answer. [2] The Monthly Ordinances commands: “Let every growing thing quiver and ease its frame.” [3] Heaven counts that month as its beginning; the Zhou calendar treated it as spring. [4] In the twelfth month yang mounts—pheasants crow, hens brood; Earth deems it the true start, and Yin took it as spring. [5] By the “thirteenth” month yang is complete, heaven and earth couple, all life breaks cover, and sleeping insects first stir—humanity calls it the true inception, and the Xia calendar treated it as spring. The sixth point: once the three “micro-beginnings” have each shown their tokens, they jointly realize the rotation of the three dynastic calendars.
55
[七]周以天元，殷以地元，夏以人元。 若以此時行刑，則殷、週歲首皆當流血，不合人心，不稽天意。 月令曰：『孟冬之月，趣獄刑，無留罪。 』[八]明大刑畢在立冬也。 又：『* (孟) **[仲]*冬之月，身欲寧，事欲靜。 』[九]若以降威怒，不可謂寧； 若以行大刑，不可謂靜。 議者鹹曰：『旱之所由，咎在改律。 』臣以為殷、周斷獄不以三微，而化致康平，無有災害。 自元和以前，皆用三冬，而水旱之異，往往為患。 由此言之，災害自為它應，不以改律。 秦為虐政，四時行刑，聖漢初興，改從簡易。 蕭何草律，季秋論囚，俱避立春之月，[一０]而不計天地之正，二王之春，實頗有違。 [一一]陛下探幽析微，允執其中，[一二]革百載之失，建永年之功，[一三]上有迎承之敬，下有奉微之惠，[一四]稽春秋之文，當月令之意，[一五]聖功美業，不宜中疑。 」書奏，帝納之。 遂不復改。
The seventh gloss: Zhou aligned its year with Heaven’s inception, Yin with Earth’s, Xia with humanity’s. To kill criminals now would make both the Yin and Zhou “new-year” moments reek of gore—neither humane nor in tune with cosmic order. The Monthly Ordinances reads: “In early winter, push capital cases to judgment; let no convict linger in limbo.” Note 8: The gloss takes this line to mean that heavy punishments belong to the opening of the winter quarter. The text continues: “ (Marginal note: some manuscripts read “first month” here.) **[mid]winter month—the body should be still and business should be calm.” Note 9: If the court is merely venting wrath, that is not “tranquility.” Nor is mass execution what the canon means by “quiet.” Critics insisted: “The drought comes from tampering with the winter-review rule.” Yet Yin and Zhou ignored the “three micro-beginnings” rule and still enjoyed untroubled harmony. Down to Yuanhe the old three-winter schedule prevailed, and meteorological disasters were commonplace. Calamities, in short, have their own correlates; rewriting the calendar does not conjure them. The Qin killed all year long; the Han founders replaced that cruelty with a leaner ritual calendar. Xiao He’s code held autumn assizes and skipped the month of spring’s return, [10] but ignored the cosmic “first months” that Yin and Zhou honored—so it wandered from the high tradition. [11] You sift the arcane and hold fast the mean, [12] erase a hundred years of error, [13] show Heaven the deference it deserves while blessing the people with observance of the three beginnings, [14] align the Annals with the Monthly Ordinances, [15]—such a consummate act of state must not be second-guessed into oblivion.” The emperor approved the memorial. The court never reopened the question.
56
注[一]報，論也。 重，死刑也。
Note 1: Here bao means “to hand down a verdict.” Zhong denotes the death penalty.
57
注[二]易通卦驗曰：「十一月廣莫風至，則蘭、夜干生。 」月令：「仲冬日短至，陰陽爭，諸生蕩，芸始生，荔挺出。 」射音夜，即今之烏扇也。 芸，香草。 荔，馬薤。
Note 2: The apocryphal Penetrating the Hexagrams records that when the eleventh-month wind blows, orchids and belamcanda break ground. The same canon adds: “At midwinter daylight is briefest; yin and yang wrestle; life trembles; rue appears; allium spikes thrust up.” Belamcanda is read ye; botanists identify it with the modern wushan iris. Rue is an aromatic herb. Wild garlic is the horse-leek allium.
58
注[三]時令，月令也。 蕩，動也。 仲冬一陽爻生，草木皆欲萌動也。 禮記月令「仲冬諸生蕩，君子齋戒，安形性」也。
Note 3: “Seasonal ordinances” is another name for the Monthly Ordinances. Dang means “stir into motion.” At midwinter the first yang line returns; every plant strains toward bud. The Rites version reads: “Midwinter motion in all things; the gentleman fasts, composes body and soul.”
59
注[四]正，春，皆始也。 十一月萬物微而未著，天以為正，而周以為歲首。
Note 4: Both “correct month” and “spring” mean “inception.” Heaven’s “first month” is the eleventh Han month, when life still hides below ground—Zhou adopted it as New Year.
60
注[五]十二月二陽爻生，鴈北鄉，陽氣上通，諸生皆動，始萌牙，地以為正，殷以為歲首也。 月令「季冬，雉雊雞乳」也。
Note 5: By the twelfth month two yang lines shine; geese head north; yang floods upward; Earth calls this its true start—the calendar Yin used for New Year. The canon’s “late winter” stanza notes pheasants crowing and hens sitting on eggs.
61
注[六]十三月今正月也，天子迎春東郊，陰陽交合，萬物皆出於地，人始初見，故曰「人以為正，夏以為歲首」也。 月令「孟春天氣下降，地氣上騰，天地和同，草木萌動，東風解凍，蟄蟲始振」也。
Note 6: The so-called thirteenth month is modern first month: the emperor greets spring east of the city; heaven and earth mate; creation surfaces—Xia therefore treated it as New Year’s dawn. The spring opening lines describe warm breath falling, earth answering, ice splitting, insects twitching awake.
62
注[七]統者，統一歲之事。 王者三正遞用，周環無窮，故曰通三統。 三禮義宗曰：「三微，三正也。 言十一月陽氣始施，萬物動於黃泉之下，微而未著，其色皆赤，赤者陽氣。 故周以天正為歲，色尚赤，夜半為朔。 十二月萬物始牙，色白，白者陰氣。 故殷以地正為歲，色尚白，雞鳴為朔。 十三月萬物始達，其色皆黑，人得加功以展其業。 夏以人正為歲，色尚黑，平旦為朔。 故曰三微。 王者奉而成之，各法其一以改正朔也。 」易干鑿度曰：「三微而成著，三著而體成。 」當此之時，天地交，萬物通也。
Note 7: Tong here means “to order the year’s business.” Each dynasty adopted a different inaugural month, cycling forever—this is “threading the three systems.” The Three Rites commentary equates the three wei with the three inaugural months. In the eleventh month yang just infiltrates the underworld; life is still invisible but tinged with red—the color of nascent yang. Zhou therefore began the civil year at that celestial moment, favored red, and opened each month at midnight. Twelfth-month life shows white tips—white being yin’s hue. Yin accordingly took that earth month as New Year, honored white, and reckoned months from cockcrow. By the “thirteenth” month every creature stands in black, fertile readiness—the moment human labor may reshape the world. Xia therefore crowned that human-centered month, preferred black, and began each month at daybreak. These three moments are the “three micro-beginnings.” Each dynasty picked one inception to reset the calendar and called it orthodoxy. The Qian Opening the Degrees apocryphon says: “Three subtleties ripen into visibility; three visibilities body forth the whole year.” Then heaven and earth couple and every creature speaks across the divide.
63
注[八]臣賢案：月令及淮南子皆言季秋趣獄刑，無留罪，今言孟冬，未詳其故。
Note 8: Li Xian observes that canonical texts place the rush on late-autumn assizes, not early winter; the variant wording here remains unexplained.
64
注[九]月令「仲冬，君子齋戒，身欲寧，事欲靜，以待陰陽之所定」也。
Note 9: Midwinter is for fasting, bodily calm, and quiet administration while yin and yang find their balance.
65
注[一０]草謂創造之也。 論，決也。
Note 10: Cao means “to draft from scratch.” Lun means “to dispose of a case.”
66
注[一一]言蕭何不論天地之正及殷、周之春，實乖正道。
Note 11: Xiao He’s code ignored the cosmic first months honored by Yin and Zhou, so it strayed from classical justice.
67
注[一二]允，信也。 中，正也。 言信執中正之道。 語見尚書。
Note 12: Yun means “sincerity.” Zhong is the “mean” or “true center.” The phrase praises a ruler who steers by that steady middle. The line echoes the Documents.
68
注[一三]尚書曰：「立功立事，可以永年。」
Note 13: The Documents promises long life to those who build lasting deeds.
69
注[一四]三正之月，不用斷獄，敬承天意，奉順三微也。
Note 14: No death verdicts in the three inception months—that is how the court “receives Heaven” and respects the three wei.
70
注[一五]春秋於春每月書王，所以通三統也。 何休注云：「二月三月皆有王者，二月殷正月，三月夏正月也。」
Note 15: The Annals’ triple “king” in spring encodes the three dynastic calendars. He Xiu explains that extra “king” entries mark Yin’s and Xia’s parallel New Years.
71
壟性周密，常稱人臣之義，苦不畏慎。 自在樞機，謝遣門人，拒絕知友，唯在公家而已。 朝廷器之。 [一]
Chen Chong was punctilious by nature and repeated that a minister must live in dread of slipping. Once he controlled the levers of power, he dismissed hangers-on, shunned clubbish ties, and spoke only for the state. The high ministers relied on him. The marker introduces the commentary note that glosses the word rendered here as “esteemed.”
72
注[一]器，重也。
Note 1: Qi here means “to treat as weighty.”
73
皇后弟侍中竇憲，[一]薦真定令張林為尚書，帝以問壟，壟對「林雖有才能，而素行貪濁」，憲以此深恨壟。 林卒被用，而以臧污抵罪。 及帝崩，憲等秉權，常銜寵，乃白太后，令典喪事，欲因過中之。 黃門侍郎鮑德素敬寵，說憲弟夏陽侯纓曰：「陳寵奉事先帝，深見納任，故久留台閣，賞賜有殊。 今不蒙忠能之賞，而計幾微之故，[二]誠傷輔政容貸之德。 」纓亦好士，深然之。 故得出為太山太守。
Dou Xian, brother of the empress and attendant inside the palace, [1] pushed Zhang Lin of Zhending for a seat among the Masters of Writing; when the emperor canvassed Chen Chong, Chong answered that Lin was venal—Dou Xian never forgave the slight. Zhang Lin did win the post—and soon fell for graft. After the emperor’s death Dou Xian’s clique, still smarting, had the dowager put Chong in charge of the obsequies, scheming to catch him in a misstep. Bao De, a eunuch who admired Chong, pleaded with Dou Kan: “Chen Chong was the late emperor’s confidant for years and earned lavish favor. To punish him now for ancient grudges rather than reward his loyalty [2] would betray every principle of magnanimous rule.” Dou Kan, himself a patron of talent, accepted the argument. Chen Chong escaped to a provincial post as Administrator of Mount Tai.
74
注[一]臣賢案：竇後紀及憲傳並雲憲竇後兄，今諸本皆言弟，蓋誤也。
Note 1: Li Xian points out that standard histories name Dou Xian the empress’s elder brother; editions that call him “younger brother” are likely wrong.
75
注[二]幾微言微細也。
Note 2: Jiwei denotes petty, long-nursed grievances.
76
後轉廣漢太守。 西州豪右並兼，吏多奸貪，訴訟日百數。 寵到，顯用良吏王渙、鐔顯等，以為腹心，[一]訟者日減，郡中清肅。 先是* (洛) **[雒]*縣城南，[二]每陰雨，常有哭聲聞於府中，積數十年。 寵聞而疑其故，使吏案行。 還言：「世衰亂時，此下多死亡者，而骸骨不得葬，儻在於是？ 」寵愴然矜歎，即□縣盡收斂葬之。 自是哭聲遂絕。
He was next posted as Administrator of Guanghan. The west was a maze of magnate estates, venal yamen runners, and hundreds of new suits daily. Chen Chong promoted Wang Huan, Tan Xian, and other clean hands as his inner council [1]; dockets shrank and the region sobered up. Earlier— (Some manuscripts read the place name as “Luo.”) **south of Luo county’s wall [2]—rainy nights brought decades of ghostly wailing inside the yamen. Chen Chong ordered a patrol to learn why. They reported: “When the realm collapsed, corpses were dumped unburied below the compound—could that explain it?” Heart-struck, Chen Chong commanded a mass reburial for every neglected skeleton. The crying stopped that very season.
77
注[一]鐔音徒南反。
Note 1: The surname Tan uses the tu–nan fanqie reading.
78
注[二]* (洛) **[雒]*，縣名，故城在今益州雒縣南也。
The second annotation continues on the place name, with manuscript variants noted in the lines that follow. (Some manuscripts read “Luo” for the toponym.) **Luo county’s ruin stands south of present-day Luoxian in Yizhou.
79
及竇憲為大將軍征匈奴，公卿以下及郡國無不遣吏子弟奉獻遺者，而寵與中山相汝南張郴、[一]東平相應順[二]守正不阿。 後和帝聞之，擢寵為大司農，郴太僕，順左馮翊。
When Dou Xian led the northern expedition, every office showered him with bribes—while Chen Chong, Zhang Bin of Runan (chancellor to the Prince of Zhongshan), [1] and Ying Shun of Dongping [2] sent nothing and bowed to no extortion. Emperor He, learning of their probity, raised Chen Chong to Minister of Finance, Zhang Bin to Grand Coachman, and Ying Shun to Governor of Zuo Fengyi.
80
注[一]光武子中山王焉相也。 注[二]東平王蒼孫敞之相也。
Note 1: Zhang Bin served Liu Yan, Guangwu’s son and prince of Zhongshan. Note 2: Ying Shun advised Liu Chang, grandson of Prince Xian of Dongping.
81
永元六年，寵代郭躬為廷尉。 性仁矜。 及為理官，數議疑獄，常親自為奏，每附經典，務從寬恕，帝輒從之，濟活著甚觿。 其深文刻敝，於此少衰。 寵又鉤校律令條法，溢於甫刑者除之。 [一]曰：「臣聞禮經三百，威儀三千，[二]故甫刑大辟二百，五刑之屬三千。 禮之所去，刑之所取，[三]失禮則入刑，相為表裡者也。 今律令死刑六百一十，耐罪千六百九十八，[四]贖罪以下二千六百八十一，溢於甫刑者千九百八十九，其四百一十大辟，千五百耐罪，七十九贖罪。
In Yongyuan 6 Chen Chong succeeded Guo Gong as Commandant of Justice. He was merciful by temperament. As chief judge he personally framed appeals, cited canonical mercy, and won the emperor’s assent case after case—uncountable defendants lived because of him. The vogue for twisting the letter of the law to crush defendants eased for a time. He collated the code and deleted provisions harsher than the Fu-oath canon allowed. [1] His memorial ran: “The Rites speak of three hundred major statutes and three thousand observances; [2] the Fu-oath code accordingly fixed two hundred capital crimes and three thousand entries under the five punishments.” [3] What courtesy rejects, the criminal code seizes; breach of ritual lands you under statute—law and rite are the twin faces of one rule. The living code counts 610 capital clauses, 1,698 mutilation-grade crimes, [4] and 2,681 lesser offenses—1,989 lines harsher than the Fu canon allows, including 410 capital counts, 1,500 mutilation counts, and 79 redeemable ones.
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春秋保干圖曰：『王者三百年一蠲法。 』漢興以來，三百二年，憲令稍增，科條無限。 又律有三家，其說各異。 宜令三公、廷尉平定律令，應經合義者，可使大辟二百，而耐罪、贖罪二千八百，並為三千，悉刪除其餘令，與禮相應，以易萬人視聽，以致刑措之美，傳之無窮。 」未及施行，會坐詔獄吏與囚交通抵罪。 詔特免刑，拜為尚書。 遷大鴻臚。
An apocryphal Spring and Autumn text promises a statutory cleansing every three centuries. Three hundred two years have passed since the founding; decrees keep swelling without bound. Three rival exegetical schools wrangle over the same statutes. Chen Chong urged the throne to commission the three dukes and the Commandant of Justice to harmonize the code with the canon: retain two hundred capital statutes and 2,800 other offenses for a clean total of 3,000, strike all surplus clauses, align law with ritual, give the empire a legible rulebook, and realize the age when “the rack stood empty,” a legacy without end. Before the reform launched, he was impeached when a capital-prison clerk was caught colluding with a prisoner. The emperor spared him the rod and named him a Masters of Writing. He rose again to Grand Herald.
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注[一]鉤猶動也。 前書曰：「鉤校得其奸賊。 」鉤音工候反。 溢，出也。 孔安國注尚書曰：「呂侯後為甫侯，故或稱甫刑也。」
Note 1: Gou here means “to comb through” or “audit.” The Former Han History records that audits exposed hidden guilt. The graph gou is read from the gong–hou fanqie. Yi means “to exceed a proper limit.” Kong Anguo notes that Marquis Lü became Marquis Fu, whence the alternate title “Fu punishments.”
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注[二]禮記曰：「禮經三百，曲禮三千。 」鄭玄注云：「禮篇多亡，本數未聞，其中事儀有三千也。」
Note 2: The Rites speaks of three hundred major ritual texts and three thousand minor observances. Zheng Xuan adds that most ancient ritual books perished, yet roughly three thousand ceremonial details survive.
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注[三]去禮之人，刑以加之，故曰取也。 注[四]耐者，輕刑之名也。
Note 3: Those whom ritual rejects are precisely those the code “takes up.” Note 4: Nai denotes the lighter mutilating penalties such as shaving.
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寵歷二郡三卿，所在有多，見稱當時。 十六年，代徐防為司空。 寵雖傳法律，而兼通經書，奏議溫粹，號為任職相。 在位三年薨。 以太常南陽尹勤代為司空。
Chen Chong governed two commanderies and held three ministerial portfolios, leaving a record of solid achievement wherever he went. In Yuanhe 16 he succeeded Xu Fang as Minister of Works. Though a jurist by training, he was steeped in the classics; contemporaries called his memorials the work of a “minister who actually governed.” He died in the third year of his tenure. Yin Qin of Nanyang, Grand Master of Ceremonies, took the vacant portfolio.
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勤字叔梁，篤性好學，屏居人外，荊棘生門，時人重其節。 後以定策立安帝，封福亭侯，五百戶。 永初元年，以雨水傷稼，策免就國。 病卒，無子，國除。
Yin Qin, styled Shuliang, was a recluse scholar whose gate choked with weeds; the age admired his austerity. He later earned the marquisate of Futing, five hundred households, for backing Emperor An’s accession. Yongchu 1 saw him cashiered for storm damage to the harvest and ordered to his estate. He died childless and the fief lapsed.
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壟子忠。
Chen Chong’s heir was Chen Zhong.
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忠字伯始，永始中辟司徒府，三遷廷尉正，[一]以才能有聲稱。 司徒劉愷舉忠明習法律，宜備機密，於是擢拜尚書，使居三公曹。 [二]忠自以世典刑法，用心務在寬詳。 初，父寵在廷尉，上除漢法溢於甫刑者，未施行，[三]及寵免後遂寢。 而苛法稍繁，人不堪之。 忠略依寵意，奏上二十三條，為決事比，[四]以省請讞之敝。 又上除蠶室刑； [五]解臧吏三世禁錮； 狂易殺人，得減重論； [六]母子兄弟相代死，聽，赦所代者。 事皆施行。
Chen Zhong, styled Boshi, entered the Minister of Education’s bureau in the Yongshi years, rose thrice to rectifier of the Commandant of Justice, [1] and was famed for ability. Minister Liu Kai urged that Chen Zhong’s mastery of the code suited secretariat work; the court named him a Masters of Writing in the Three Excellencies section. [2] Mindful that his house had long guarded the code, he vowed to judge with mercy and care. His father’s sweeping proposal to prune statutes fiercer than the Fu canon never took effect [3] and died with Chen Chong’s removal. Meanwhile the statutes only grew crueller until commoners buckled. Chen Zhong drafted twenty-three precedent clauses in his father’s spirit [4] to stop the spiral of dilatory appeals. He also asked the throne to end castration in the silkworm chamber. [5] He eased the lifelong ban that had barred three generations of corrupt clerks’ kin from office. Insane offenders who killed might receive lighter verdicts. [6] If kin volunteered to die for one another, the court allowed the swap and pardoned the condemned whose life was ransomed. The emperor enacted every item.
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注[一]正，廷尉屬官也，秩千石也。
Note 1: The rectifier was a thousand-bushel aide of the Commandant of Justice.
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注[二]成帝置五尚書，三公曹尚書主知斷獄也。
Note 2: Chengdi created five secretariat offices; the Three Excellencies desk heard death-penalty appeals.
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注[三]上音時掌反。 注[四]比，例也，必寐反。
Note 3: The verb “to memorialize” uses the shi–zhang reading here. Note 4: Bi means “analogical precedent,” pronounced from the bi–mei fanqie.
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注[五]蠶室，宮刑名也，或雲犗刑也。 音奇敗反。 作窨室畜火如蠶室。 說文曰：「犗，騬牛也。 」騬音繒。 漢舊儀注曰「少府若盧獄有蠶室」也。
Note 5: The silkworm chamber was the heated cell where castration was performed—also called the gelding penalty. The rare graph is read qi–bai. Executioners stoked a vaulted room as hot as a silkworm shed. The Shuowen defines ji as a castrated bull. Cheng here rhymes with zeng. Han court manuals note a silkworm chamber inside the Ruolu prison of the Minister Steward.
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注[六]狂易謂狂而易性也。
Note 6: Kuang yi describes mania that deranges the character.
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及鄧太后崩，安帝始親朝事。 忠以為臨政之初，宜微聘賢才，以宣助風化，數上薦隱逸及直道之士馮良、周燮、杜根、成翊世之徒。 於是公車禮聘良、燮等。
After Empress Deng’s death Emperor An began to rule in person. Chen Zhong urged the young emperor to recruit hidden talents—names like Feng Liang, Zhou Xie, Du Gen, and Cheng Yishi—to renew public morals. The court’s summoning coaches duly fetched Feng Liang and Zhou Xie.
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後連有災異，詔舉有道，公卿百僚各上封事。 忠以詔書既開諫爭，慮言事者必多激切，或致不能容，乃上疏豫通廣帝意。 曰：「臣聞仁君廣山藪之大，納切直之謀； [一]忠臣盡謇諤之節，不畏逆耳之害。 [二]是以高祖捨周昌桀紂之譬，[三]孝文嘉爰盎人豕之譏，[四]武帝納東方朔宣室之正，[五]元帝容薛廣德自刎之切。 [六]昔晉平公問於叔向曰：『國家之患孰為大？ 』對曰：『大臣重祿不極諫，小臣畏罪不敢言，下情不上通，此患之大者。 』公曰：『善。 』於是下令曰：
Serial portents brought an edict calling for candidates of dao and sealed advice from the whole bureaucracy. Fearing acid tongues might provoke reprisals, Chen Zhong first memorialized to soften the sovereign’s ear. He wrote: “A humane king keeps hills and swamps wide open for honest speech. [1] Loyal servants speak bluntly though the truth bruise the throne. [2] Gaozu laughed off Zhou Chang’s insult, [3] Wendi thanked Yuan Ang for the human-swine analogy, [4] Wudi heeded Dongfang Shuo in the Xuanshi Hall, [5] Yuandi yielded when Xue Guangde drew a blade on himself. [6] Duke Ping of Jin once asked Shuxiang where the gravest danger lay. Shuxiang answered: “When grandees hug their salaries and stay silent, when petty clerks fear the law and seal their lips, when the people’s voice cannot rise—there lies ruin.” The duke said, “Well said.” He then proclaimed:
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『吾欲進善，有謁而不通者，罪至死。 』[七]今明詔崇高宗之德，[八]推宋景之誠，[九]引咎克躬，諮訪腢吏。 言事者見杜根、成翊世等新蒙表錄，顯列二台，[一０]必承風響應，爭為切直。 若嘉謀異策，宜輒納用。 如其管穴，妄有譏刺，[一一]雖苦口逆耳，不得事實，且優遊寬容，以示聖朝無諱之美。 若有道之士，對問高者，宜垂省覽，特遷一等，以廣直言之路。 」書御，有詔拜有道高第士沛國施延為侍中，延後位至太尉。 [一二]
“Whoever blocks a man who would do me good shall die for it.” [7] Today's rescript honors the virtue of High Ancestor Wu Ding, [8] copies the contrite earnestness of Song's Duke Jing, [9] shoulders blame, and seeks counsel from the full body of officials. Seeing Du Gen and Cheng Yishi elevated to the two high bureaus [10], critics will rush to outdo one another in bluntness. Sound schemes ought to win immediate adoption. Petty carping—even false or grating—should be heard with patience to show that this court fears no word. Candidates of dao who shine in audience deserve a special promotion to keep the avenue of counsel open.” The emperor read the plea, named Shi Yan of Pei—top scorer among the dao nominees—palace attendant; Shi Yan later became Grand Commandant. This marker introduces the twelfth gloss in Chen Zhong’s memorial cluster.
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注[一]左氏傳曰：「川澤納污，山藪藏疾，瑾瑜匿瑕，國君含垢，天之道也。」
Note 1: The Zuo Tradition praises rulers who stomach slander like marshes absorbing mud.
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注[二]史記曰，趙簡子有臣周捨好直諫。 周捨死，簡子曰：「吾聞千羊之皮，不如一狐之腋； 觿人之唯唯，不如周捨之諤諤。 」家語孔子曰「忠言逆耳而利於行」也。
Note 2: Sima Qian records Zhou She, Zhao Jianzi’s blunt adviser. After Zhou She’s death Jianzi mourned: “A thousand sheepskins are worth less than one fox’s pelt. A chorus of flatterers cannot match one Zhou She’s ‘no.’” The Kong family Analects adds that honest speech hurts the ear yet helps the deed.
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注[三]周昌為御史大夫，嘗燕入奏事，高帝方擁戚姬，昌走出，高帝逐得，騎昌項問曰：「我何如主也？ 」昌仰曰：「陛下桀紂之主也。 」上笑，不之罪也。
Note 3: Zhou Chang once caught Gaozu dallying with Lady Qi; the emperor leaped on Chang’s shoulders and demanded a verdict on his kingship. Zhou Chang looked up: “You are a Jie or Zhou among kings.” Gaozu only laughed and let it pass.
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注[四]文帝幸慎夫人，常與皇后同坐。 後幸上林，慎夫人從，盎為中郎將，□慎夫人坐。 慎夫人怒，不坐，帝亦起。 盎前說曰：「陛下為慎夫人，適所以禍之也。 獨不見人豕乎？ 」上大悅。 人豕，解見皇后紀也。
Note 4: Emperor Wen habitually gave Lady Shen a seat equal to the empress’s. At a Shanglin outing Yuan Ang, commanding the guards, moved Lady Shen’s mat below the queen’s. The favorite sulked; the emperor stood up in sympathy. Yuan Ang warned: “Your doting is the very thing that will doom her. Have you forgotten the human pig?” Wendi was delighted with the rebuke. The “human pig” allusion is glossed in Empress Lü’s biography.
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注[五]武帝為館陶公主私人董偃置酒宣室，東方朔為太中大夫，諫曰：「不可。 夫宣室者，先帝之正處也，非法度之正不得入焉。 」上曰：「善。 」更置酒北宮也。
Note 5: When Wudi feasted Dong Yan in the Xuanshi Hall, Dongfang Shuo protested that the hall was sacrosanct. “Only state ritual belongs there; private revels profane the shrine.” The emperor agreed. The party relocated to the Northern Palace.
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注[六]元帝酎祭宗廟，出便門，欲御樓船。 御史大夫薛廣德當車免冠諫曰：「宜從橋。 」詔曰：「大夫冠。 」廣德曰：「陛下不聽臣，臣自刎，以血污車輪。 」帝乃從橋。
Note 6: Yuandi, leaving the zhou sacrifice, meant to take a pleasure boat from the Convenient Gate. Xue Guangde threw himself before the wheels and begged him to cross by the bridge. The sovereign told him to replace his cap. Xue Guangde swore to slash his throat across the axle if refused. Yuandi yielded and crossed on foot.
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注[七]此已上皆見新序。
Note 7: These anecdotes come from Liu Xiang’s New Discourses.
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注[八]高宗，殷王武丁也。 有雉登鼎耳而雊，懼而修德，位以永年。
Note 8: “High Ancestor” means the Shang king Wu Ding. A crowing pheasant on the bronze cauldron drove him to reform, and his reign ran long.
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注[九]史記曰，宋景公時熒惑守心星，太史子韋請移之大臣、國人與歲，公皆不聽，天感其誠，熒惑為之退三捨也。
Note 9: Song’s Duke Jing refused to shift a lethal Mars omen onto ministers or people; Heaven withdrew the star three mansions in admiration.
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注[一０]謂杜根為侍御史，成翊世為尚書郎也。
Note 10: Du Gen became supervising secretary; Cheng Yishi became a gentleman of the Masters of Writing.
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注[一一]管穴言小也。 史記扁鵲曰：「若以管窺天，以隙視文。 」隙即穴也。
Note 11: “Tube-and-gnat” means a petty, tunnel vision. Bian Que in the Records warns against judging the whole from a pinhole view. Xi here means a narrow chink or peephole.
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注[一二]謝承書曰：「延字君子，蘄縣人也。 少為諸生，明於五經，星官風角，靡有不綜。 家貧母老，周流傭賃。 常避地於廬江臨湖縣種瓜，後到吳郡海鹽，取卒月直，賃作半路亭父以養其母。 是時吳會未分，山陰馮敷為督郵，到縣，延持□往，敷知其賢者，下車謝，使入亭，請與飲食，脫衣與之，餉餞不受。 順帝征拜太尉，年七十六薨。」
Note 12: Xie Cheng records that Shi Yan, styled Junzi, came from Qi county. As a young scholar he commanded the Five Classics, star lore, and wind-angle divination. Poverty and an aged mother sent him wandering for hire. He hid out in Lujiang’s Linhu to grow melons, then took a conscript’s wage in Wu’s Haiyan and worked as a halt warden to feed his mother. Before Wu split from Kuaiji, inspector Feng Fu arrived; Shi Yan presented his papers; Feng recognized his quality, apologized, feasted him, offered his cloak, but Shi refused the largesse. Emperor Shun named him Grand Commandant; he died at seventy-six.”
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常侍江京、李閏等皆為列侯，共秉權任。 帝又愛信阿母王聖，封為野王君。 忠內懷懼懣而未敢陳諫，乃作搢紳先生論以諷，文多故不載。 [一]
Chief eunuchs Jiang Jing and Li Run held full marquisates and shared the levers of power. The sovereign doted on his nurse Wang Sheng and patented her as Lady of Yewang. Chen Zhong vented his unease in a satirical essay, “The Belted Gentleman,” too long to quote here. This note introduces the gloss on jin and shen.
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注[一]搢，插也。 紳，大帶也。
Note 1: Jin means to tuck the tablet into the belt. Shen denotes the formal great sash of office.
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自帝即位以後，頻遭元二之□，[一]百姓流亡，盜賊並起，郡縣更相飾匿，莫肯糾發。 [二]忠獨以為憂，上疏曰：「臣聞輕者重之端，小者大之源，故堤潰蟻孔，氣洩針芒。 [三]是以明者慎微，智者識幾。 書曰：『小不可不殺。 』[四]詩云：『無縱詭隨，以謹無良。 』[五]蓋所以崇本絕末，鉤深之慮也。 臣竊見元年以來，盜賊連發，攻亭劫掠，多所傷殺。 夫穿窬不禁，則致強盜； [六]強盜不斷，則為攻盜； 攻盜成腢，必生大奸。 故亡逃之科，憲令所急，至於通行飲食，罪致大辟。 [七]而頃者以來，莫以為憂。 州郡督錄怠慢，長吏防禦不肅，皆欲采獲虛名，諱以盜賊為負。 雖有發覺，不務清澄。 至有逞威濫怒，無辜僵仆。 或有局蹐比伍，轉相賦斂。 [八]或隨吏追赴，周章道路。
Since his accession the realm had been battered by the “yuan-er” calamities [1]; refugees swelled, bandits multiplied, and magistrates conspired to hide the truth. [2] Chen Zhong alone brooded on it, writing: “Small evils become great; a levee fails at an ant bore, steam hisses through a needle eye. [3] The wise watch the smallest sign. The Book of Documents says even petty guilt must be punished. The Songs add: “Do not indulge smooth deceivers—check the vicious.” [5] That is how to strengthen the trunk and lop the twigs—to plumb trouble at its depth.” Since the first regnal year, outlaws have raided stations and left corpses. Unpunished petty theft breeds armed theft. [6] Unstopped brigandage escalates to open assault. Once raiders coalesce into gangs, treason follows. Statute makes aiding fugitives a capital crime. [7] Lately officials shrug as if it did not matter. Provincial overseers loaf; chiefs neglect guard duty; everyone chases empty credit and denies the bandit stain. Even exposed cases go uninvestigated. Some bully innocents to death in show trials. Some squeeze the neighborhood grid for serial “fines.” [8] Families flee clerks who harry them highway to highway.
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是以盜發之家，不敢申告，鄰舍比裡，共相壓迮，[九]或出私財，以償所亡。 其大章著不可掩者，乃肯發露。 陵遲之漸，遂且成俗。 寇攘誅咎，皆由於此。 [一０]前年勃海張伯路，可為至戒。 覆車之軌，其多不遠。 蓋失之末流，求之本源。
Victims stay silent; neighbors blackmail them [9] or pool private silver to buy peace. Only notorious cases surface. The rot has hardened into habit. Raiding and revenge spiral from this cover-up culture. [10] Remember Zhang Bolu of Bohai—your mirror of disaster. The wrecked wagon’s wheel track lies just ahead. Mend the headwaters, not the muddy eddies.
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宜愨增舊科，以防來事。 自今強盜為上官若它郡縣所愨覺，一發，部吏皆正法，[一一]尉貶秩一等，令長三月奉贖罪； 二發，尉免官，令長貶秩一等； 三發以上，令長免官。 便可撰立科條，處為詔文，切□刺史，嚴加愨罰。 冀以猛濟寬，驚懼奸慝。 頃季夏大暑，而消息不協，[一二]寒氣錯時，水湧為變。 天之降異，必有其故。 所舉有道之士，可策問國典所務，王事過差，令處暖氣不效之意。 庶有讜言，以承天誡。」
Strengthen old statutes now to forestall worse. First strike: every precinct clerk faces full penalty [11], the commandant drops one salary grade, the magistrate pays three months’ salary as fine. Second strike: dismiss the commandant, demote the magistrate one grade. Third strike: cashier the magistrate. Encode this in edict prose and hammer the regional inspectors. Let severity shore up lax mercy and frighten villains. Last late summer broiled yet yin and yang fell out of step [12]; untimely cold swelled the rivers—an omen. Heaven’s anomalies always answer human fault. Quiz the dao nominees on state ritual, imperial excess, and why nurturing warmth failed. Blunt answers may channel Heaven’s rebuke.”
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注[一]元二，解見鄧騭傳。 注[二]更相文飾，隱匿盜賊也。
Note 1: The “yuan-er” disasters are glossed under Deng Zhi. Note 2: Magistrates whitewashed returns and concealed banditry.
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注[三]韓子曰：「千丈之堤，以螻蟻之穴而潰。 」黃帝素問曰：「針頭如芒，氣出如筐」也。
Note 3: Han Feizi’s image of the ant hole in a levee. The Suwen compares escaping qi to steam from a needle tip.
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注[四]尚書康誥曰：「有厥罪，小乃不可不殺。」
Note 4: The Kang Gao demands punishment even for small guilt.
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注[五]詩大雅也。 言詭誑委隨之人不可縱，宜即罪之，用謹□不善之人也。
Note 5: The quotation is from the Greater Odes. Ban smooth traitors immediately to choke off evil.
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注[六]論語孔子曰：「色厲而內荏，其猶穿窬之盜乎？」
Note 6: The Analects likens cowardly thieves to wall-borers.
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注[七]通行飲食，猶今律雲過致資給，與同罪也。 飲音蔭。 食音寺。
Note 7: Han law equated feeding fugitives with harboring—capital guilt. The word “drink” is read with the yin tone here. The word “food” is read si as in “offering.”
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注[八]說文曰：「蹐，小步也。 」言局身小步，畏吏之甚也。
Note 8: Shuowen defines ji as mincing steps. It pictures commoners tiptoeing in terror of yamen runners.
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注[九]迮，迫也。 注[一０]寇，盜； 攘，竊也。 尚書曰「無敢寇攘」也。
Note 9: Ze means to corner or squeeze. Note 10: Kou is open robbery. Rang is covert theft. The Documents forbids both kinds.
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注[一一]上官謂郡府也。 若，及也。 部吏謂督郵﹑游徼也。 正法，依法也。
Note 11: “Superior” denotes the commandery yamen. Ruo means “or” in the sense of “including.” “Section clerks” covers visiting inspectors and patrol captains. “According to law” means full statutory penalty.
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注[一二]前書音義曰：「息卦曰太陽，消卦曰太陰，其餘雜卦曰少陰﹑少陽」也。
Note 12: Han exegetes label waxing lines “greater yang,” waning lines “greater yin,” and the rest lesser yin or yang.
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元初三年有詔，大臣得行三年喪，服闋還職。 忠因此上言：「孝宣皇帝舊令，人從軍屯及給事縣官者，大父母死未滿三月，皆勿徭，令得葬送。 請依此制。」
Yuanchu 3 permitted ministers to keep three years’ mourning, then resume posts. Chen Zhong cited Xuandi’s rule: clerks on border or county duty got leave within three months of a great-grandparent’s death to bury kin. He asked the court to revive it.”
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太后從之。 至建光中，尚書令祝諷﹑[一]尚書孟布等奏，以為「孝文皇帝定約禮之制，[二]光武皇帝絕告寧之典，[三]貽則萬世，誠不可改。 宜復建武故事」。
Empress Dowager Deng agreed. Later, Zhu Feng and Meng Bu [1] urged that Wendi’s shortened mourning [2] and Guangwudi’s ban on bereavement leave [3] were permanent models. They wanted the Jianwu austerity restored.”
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忠上疏曰：「臣聞之孝經，始於愛親，終於哀戚。 上自天子，下至庶人，尊卑貴賤，其義一也。 夫父母於子，同氣異息，一體而分，三年乃免於懷抱。 先聖緣人情而著其節，制服二十五月，是以春秋臣有大喪，君三年不呼其門，閔子雖要絰服事，以赴公難，退而致位，以究私恩，故稱『君使之非也，臣行之禮也』。
Chen Zhong answered from the Classic of Filial Piety: love begins at home and ends in mourning. The rule binds emperor and peasant alike. Parent and child share one life-breath; three years pass before the infant leaves the cradle-debt. The sages set twenty-five months of mourning; the Annals excuse a minister from court calls for three years; Min Zi wore hemp yet answered a state emergency, then quit to finish private grief—hence the gloss: “The lord’s order was wrong; the minister’s act was ritual.”
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[四]周室陵□，禮制不序，蓼莪之人作詩自傷曰：『瓶之罊矣，惟罍之恥。 』[五]言己不得終竟子道者，亦上之恥也。 高祖受命，蕭何創製，大臣有寧告之科，合於致憂之義。 [六]建武之初，新承大亂，凡諸國政，多趣簡易，大臣既不得告寧，而腢司營祿念私，鮮循三年之喪，以報顧復之恩者。 禮義之方，實為雕損。 大漢之興，雖承衰敝，而先王之制，稍以施行。 故藉田之耕，起於孝文； [七]孝廉之貢，發於孝武； [八]郊祀之禮，定於元﹑成； [九]三雍之序，備於顯宗； [一０]大臣終喪，成乎陛下。 [一一]聖功美業，靡以尚茲。 孟子有言：『老吾老以及人之老，幼吾幼以及人之幼，天下可運於掌。 』[一二]臣願陛下登高北望，以甘陵之思，揆度臣子之心，則海內鹹得其所。 」[一三]宦豎不便之，竟寢忠奏而從諷﹑布議，遂著於令。
[4] As Zhou decayed, the poet of “Luxuriant Reeds” cried: “The little jug is smashed—shame on the great urn.” [5] Failing filial duty shames the throne above. Gaozu and Xiao He granted ministers formal mourning leave. [6] Early Jianwu chaos forced austerity: no ministerial leave, while every office scrambled for stipends and private gain, so almost no one kept three years for parents. Filial ritual was carved hollow. Yet Han gradually restored ancient kings’ ways. The imperial field rite began under Wendi. [7] The Filially Incorrupt examination began under Wudi. [8] Suburban worship was codified under Yuandi and Chengdi. [9] The three Yong ritual complex was finished under Emperor Zhang. [10] Your reign finally allowed ministers to finish mourning. [11] No finer model of sage-kingship exists. Mencius said: “Honor your elders and others’ elders; cherish your children and others’ children—then the realm sits in your palm.” [12] Look north toward Ganling, feel your own filial ache, and every subject will find his place.” [13] Eunuchs blocked him; Chen Zhong lost; Zhu Feng’s side entered the statute book.
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注[一]「祝」或作「祋」。
Note 1: The graph may read Zhu or Di.
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注[二]約，儉也。 孝文帝崩，遺詔薄葬，以日易月，凡三十六日釋服，後以為故事。
Note 2: Yue means economical, spare. Wendi’s testament ordered thirty-six days of shortened mourning and frugal burial, later taken as precedent.
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注[三]前書音義曰：「告寧，休謁之名。 吉曰告，凶曰寧。 古者名吏休假曰告，吏二千石有予告﹑賜告。 予告，在官有功，法所當得也。 賜告，病三月當免，天子優賜其告，使帶印綬，將官屬歸家養疾也。」
Note 3: “Gao” named lucky leave, “ning” unlucky leave. Happy events used gao, bereavement ning.” Ancient usage called official time off gao; top salaries enjoyed two special leave types. “Granted leave” rewarded documented service. “Gift leave” let a sick minister keep rank and escort his bureau home rather than resign at the three-month mark.”
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注[四]自此已上至「臣有大喪」，並公羊傳之文也。 閔子騫，孔子弟子也，遭喪，君使之從軍，騫乃要絰而服，以從軍役，事了退家，致位喪次，極盡私恩。 故君使之雖非，臣從君命有禮也。
Note 4: The preceding lines paraphrase the Gongyang Commentary. Min Ziqian wore mourning under uniform to obey a wartime draft, then quit to finish the funeral rites at home. Even a wrongful royal command could be obeyed without breaking ritual propriety.
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注[五]小雅蓼莪之詩也。 蓼蓼，長大魍也。 莪，蘿也。 言孝子憂思，中心不精，不識莪蘿，誤以為蒿也。 其詩曰：「蓼蓼者莪，匪莪伊蒿。 哀哀父母，生我劬勞。 瓶之罄矣，惟罍之恥。 」注云：「瓶小而罍大也。 罄，盡也。 瓶小而盡，罍大而盈。 言為罍恥者，刺幽王不使富分貧，觿恤寡也。」
Note 5: The gloss cites the Lesser Odes poem “Luxuriant Reeds.” “Luxuriant” pictures the tall, thriving plants. E names a wild mustard-like herb. The poet’s grief blurs plant names—metaphor for a mind clouded by mourning. The lines read: “So tall those e—yet no e, only wormwood.” “Alas, my parents who bore me in toil.” “The jug is empty—shame on the great urn.” The Mao commentary explains the jug–urn metaphor. Qing means “utterly emptied.” The small vessel runs dry while the huge one still brims. The image rebukes a king who hoards plenty while the needy starve.
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注[六]論語曾子曰：「吾聞夫子，人未有自致者也，必也親喪乎！」
Note 6: Zengzi says only a parent’s death draws out ultimate grief.
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注[七]文帝二年，詔曰「農，天下之本也，其開藉田」也。
Note 7: Wendi’s second-year edict inaugurated the imperial plowing rite.
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注[八]武帝元光元年，初令郡國舉孝廉。
Note 8: Wudi’s Yuanguang 1 edict began the Filially Incorrupt nominations.
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注[九]元帝﹑成帝時，匡衡﹑韋玄成定迭毀郊祀之禮也。
Note 9: Kuang Heng and Wei Xuancheng codified suburban rites under Yuandi and Chengdi.
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注[一０]三雍，明堂﹑辟雍﹑靈台也。 雍，和也。 解具明紀也。
Note 10: The “three harmonious halls” are Bright Hall, Biyong, and Lingtai. Yong glosses as “harmonious convergence.” See Emperor Ming’s annals for architectural detail.
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注[一一]謂安帝詔大臣得行三年喪也。
Note 11: Points to An’s permission for ministers’ three-year mourning.
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注[一二]言敬吾老亦敬人之老，愛吾幼亦愛人之幼，有敬愛之心，則天下歸順之也。 運掌言易也。
Note 12: Mencius’s formula: extend family love and the empire follows. “Turn on the palm” means effortless rule.
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注[一三]甘陵，安帝母陵。 陵在清河，故言北望也。
Note 13: Ganling entombed An’s mother, Empress Xiaoyi. Because the mausoleum sits in Qinghe, Chen Zhong bids the emperor look north.
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忠以久次，轉為僕射。 時帝數遣黃門常侍及中使伯榮往來甘陵，[一]而伯榮負寵驕蹇，所經郡國莫不迎為禮謁。 又霖雨積時，河水湧溢，百姓騷動。 忠上疏曰：「臣聞位非其人，則庶事不□； 庶事不□，則政有得失； 政有得失，則感動陰陽，妖變為應。 陛下每引災自厚，不責臣司，臣司狃恩，莫以為負。 [二]故天心未得，隔並屢臻，[三]青﹑冀之域淫雨漏河，[四]徐﹑岱之濱海水盆溢，兗﹑豫蝗蝝滋生，[五]荊﹑楊稻收儉薄，並涼二州羌戎叛戾。 加以百姓不足，府帑虛匱，自西徂東，杼柚將空。 [六]臣聞洪範五事，一曰貌，貌以恭，恭作肅，貌傷則狂，而致常雨。 [七]春秋大水，皆為君上威儀不穆，臨馬不嚴，臣下輕慢，貴幸擅權，陰氣盛強，陽不能禁，故為淫雨。 陛下以不得親奉孝德皇園廟，[八]比遣中使致敬甘陵，朱軒軿馬，相望道路，可謂孝至矣。 [九]然臣竊聞使者所過，威權翕赫，震動郡縣，王侯二千石至為伯榮獨拜車下，儀體上僭，侔於人主。 長吏惶怖譴責，或邪諂自媚，發人修道，繕理亭傳，多設儲跱，征役無度，[一０]老弱相隨，動有萬計，賂遺僕從，人數百匹，頓踣呼嗟，莫不叩心。 河閒托叔父之屬，[一一]清河有陵廟之尊，[一二]及剖符大臣，皆猥為伯榮屈節車下。 陛下不問，必以陛下欲其然也。 伯榮之威重於陛下，陛下之柄在於臣妾。 水災之發，必起於此。 昔韓嫣托副車之乘，受馳視之使； 江都誤為一拜，而嫣受歐刀之誅。 [一三]臣願明主嚴天元之尊，正干剛之位，[一四]職事鉅細，皆任賢能，不宜復令女使干錯萬機。 重察左右，得無石顯洩漏之奸； [一五]尚書納言，得無趙昌譖崇之詐； [一六]公卿大臣，得無朱博阿傅之援； [一七]外屬近戚，得無王鳳害商之謀。 [一八]若國政一由帝命，王事每決於己，則下不得偪上，臣不得干君，常雨大水必當霽止，[一九]四方觿異不能為害。 」書奏不省。
Seniority promoted Chen Zhong to Masters of Writing vice director. The court constantly dispatched Bo Rong to Ganling [1]; she threw her weight about, and no district dared greet her with less than princely pomp. Endless drizzle swelled the river and panicked the populace. Chen Zhong wrote: “When wrong men hold posts, nothing in government lines up.” Misrule follows misaligned portfolios. Policy wobble disturbs yin and yang and summons omens. You blame yourself, never your ministers—so they grow smug. [2] Heaven stays unsatisfied: flood and drought alternate; [3] Qingji rots under leaks; [4] the Xu-Dai coast floods; [5] locusts blanket Yan-Yu; the Yangzi harvest fails; Bing-Liang boil with Qiang raids. The treasury is bare and looms fall silent from west to east. [6] The Great Plan lists “demeanor” first: disrespect warps the weather toward endless rain. [7] Confucian portent lore ties cloudbursts to slack ritual, lazy grooms, arrogant favorites, and bloated yin. You cannot visit Xiaode’s shrines yourself [8], yet your red-canopied couriers pack the road to Ganling—filial piety pushed to the limit. [9] Yet Bo Rong’s cortège makes princes kowtow in the dust—ritual fit for an emperor, not a nurse’s daughter. Magistrates terrorize the people to curry her favor [10]: forced roadwork, stuffed granaries, ruinous levies, thousands stumbling in her wake, buying her servants with silver. Hejian is the emperor’s uncle [11], Qinghe guards the royal tombs [12]—yet both demean themselves before Bo Rong. Silence reads as consent. A wet nurse’s daughter now wields more awe than the throne. This hubris is what summons the deluge. Han Yan once raced the imperial spare chariot to scout the hunt. Jiangdu’s prince kowtowed by mistake—Yan died for the insult [13]. [13] Secure the dignity of the Qian trigram [14]; give every portfolio to talent; stop palace women from steering policy. Guard against another Shi Xian whispering palace secrets. [15] Beware Zhao Chang–style frame-ups inside the secretariat. [16] Let no Zhu Bo flatter the empress dowager’s faction. [17] Let no Wang Feng clan cabal murder the chancellor. [18] When only you hold the brush, the rains end and regional omens lose their sting. The throne ignored the plea.
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注[一]伯榮，帝乳母王聖女也。
Note 1: Bo Rong was Wang Sheng’s daughter.
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注[二]狃音女九反。 詩曰：「將叔無狃。 」注云：「狃，習也。 」言屢被恩貸，不以災變為憂負也。
Note 2: Niu uses the nü–jiu fanqie reading. The Songs warn: “Do not let Uncle grow reckless.” The Mao gloss: niu means “habituated.” Officials grown numb to mercy shrug at omens.”
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注[三]隔並謂水旱不節也。 尚書曰：「一極備凶，一極亡凶。 」並音必姓反。
Note 3: “Ge bing” denotes untimely flood or drought. The Great Plan warns that excess or dearth in any element brings disaster. Bing is pronounced from the bi–xing fanqie.
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注[四]漏，溢也。 注[五]蝝，螽子也。
Note 4: Lou here means “pour over the banks.” Note 5: Yuan are hopping locust larvae.
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注[六]杼柚謂機也。 小雅大東詩曰「小東大東，杼柚其空」也。
Note 6: Zhu-zhou names the weaver’s shuttle and beam. The “Greater East” ode cries that the looms are bare.
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注[七]洪範五行傳辭。
Note 7: The line echoes the Five Phases chapter of the Great Plan.
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注[八]孝德皇，安帝父清河王慶也。
Note 8: Xiaode posthumously honors Liu Qing, An’s father.
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注[九]朱軒車，使者所乘。 軿，並也。
Note 9: Imperial envoys ride vermillion-barred chariots. Ping denotes paired horses abreast.
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注[一０]儲，積也。 跱，具也。
Note 10: Chu means stockpiled stores. Zhi means staged gear and victuals.
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注[一一]河閒王開，安帝叔也。
Note 11: Liu Kai of Hejian was the emperor’s uncle.
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注[一二]清河王延平也。 陵廟所在，故曰尊。
Note 12: The Qinghe princely house guarded the tombs. Hence the commandery’s ritual eminence.
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注[一三]韓嫣，弓高侯之孫也。 得幸於武帝。 武帝獵上林中，先使嫣乘副車從數十百騎馳視獸，江都王望見以為天子，伏謁道傍。 嫣驅不見，王怒，為皇太后泣言，太后銜之。 後嫣出入永巷以奸聞，太后賜嫣死也。
Note 13: Han Yan descended from the Gonggao marquisate. He became Wudi’s favorite. Wudi sent Yan ahead in the spare chariot; Liu Pengli of Jiangdu mistook the train for the imperial party and bowed in the mud. Yan snubbed the prince, who tattled to the empress dowager. When Yan’s harem intrigues surfaced, the dowager had him killed.
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注[一四]天元猶干元也。 易曰「大哉干元」也。
Note 14: “Heaven’s origin” equals the Qian trigram’s creative force. The Changes exclaims at the greatness of Qian yuan.
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注[一五]石顯字君房，少時坐法腐刑，為中書令，元帝委以政事，公卿畏之，重足一多。 顯恐天子一旦納用左右閒己，乃取一言為驗。 上嘗使至諸宮征發，先白上，恐漏盡宮門閉，請詔開門，上許之。 顯故投夜還，召開宮門，後果有上書告顯矯詔開宮門，天子聞之笑。 顯泣曰：「陛下過私小臣，屬任以事，腢下無不嫉□欲陷害者，唯明主能知之。 」上以為然而憐之。
Note 15: Eunuch Shi Xian dominated Yuandi’s paperwork; ministers went on tiptoe in dread. He staged a loyalty test. He begged a late-night gate order for a requisition run. He came back after curfew, forced the gate, then let a stooge impeach him—Yuandi laughed off the stunt. Shi Xian wept that “the whole court envies your humble servant.” Yuandi believed the act and pitied him.
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注[一六]鄭崇，哀帝時為尚書僕射，數諫爭，帝不許。 尚書令趙昌佞諂，因奏崇與宗族通，疑有奸。 上怒，下崇獄，死獄中也。
Note 16: Zheng Chong remonstrated Aidi in vain. Zhao Chang accused Zheng Chong of clan conspiracy. Aidi jailed Zheng Chong, who perished inside.
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注[一七]哀帝時博為丞相，承傅太后指，奏免大司馬傅喜，哀帝怒，下博獄，自殺也。
Note 17: Zhu Bo did Fu Taihou’s dirty work against Fu Xi, then killed himself in prison.
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注[一八]成帝舅王鳳為大將軍，專權驕僭，王商為丞相，論議不能平，鳳* (鳳) *陰求商短，使人上書告商閨門內事，商坐免。 王商，宣帝舅樂昌侯王武之子，非成帝舅成都侯也。
Note 18: Wang Feng clashed with Chancellor Wang Shang; Feng (The text names Wang Feng.) —secretly framed Wang Shang for “inner chamber” gossip and ousted him. This Wang Shang was Xuandi’s cousin, not Chengdi’s Chengdu Wang.
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注[一九]霽亦止也。
Note 19: Ji means the skies clear and disasters halt.
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時三府任輕，機事專委尚書，而□眚變咎，輒切免公台。 [一]忠以為非國舊體，上疏諫曰：「臣聞『君使臣以禮，臣事君以忠』。 [二]故三公稱曰頤宰，王者待以殊敬，在輿為下，御坐為起，[三]入則參對而議政事，出則監察而董是非。 [四]漢典舊事，丞相所請，靡有不聽。 今之三公，雖當其名而無其實，選舉誅賞，一由尚書，尚書見任，重於三公，陵□以來，其漸久矣。 臣忠心常獨不安，是故臨事戰懼，不敢穴見有所興造，[五]又不希意同僚，以謬平典，而謗讟日聞，罪足萬死。 近以地震策免司空陳□，[六]今者□異，復欲切讓三公。 昔孝成皇帝以妖星守心，移咎丞相，使賁麗納說方進，方進自引，卒不蒙上天之福，[七]徒乖宋景之誠。 [八]故知是非之分，較然有歸矣。 又尚書決事，多違故典，罪法無例，詆欺為先，文慘言丑，有乖章憲。 宜責求其意，割而勿聽。 上順國典，下防威福，置方員於規矩，審輕重於衡石，[九]誠國家之典，萬世之法也。」
The Three Excellencies were figureheads; the secretariat held real power, yet eclipses cost grand ministers their heads. [1] Chen Zhong protested that scapegoating ministers broke old Han practice, opening with Confucius: the lord owes ritual to his servants, and they owe loyalty in return. [2] The three dukes were “nourishing stewards,” honored with rises and chariot descents [3], who debated policy within and audited conduct without. [4] Old Han statute said the chancellor’s word was law. Today the three dukes are hollow titles; the secretariat hires, fires, and rewards—its power long eclipsing the high ministers’. Chen Zhong admits he quakes at duty [5], avoids factional deals, yet hears daily impeachment. An earthquake ousted Minister Chen [6]; new omens threaten the three dukes again. Chengdi’s Mars omen killed Zhai Fangjin through Ben Li’s pressure [7]—the opposite of Song Jing’s self-sacrifice. [8] Right and wrong in such cases are not ambiguous. The secretariat’s rulings ignore precedent, invent cruel formulas, and mock the code. The throne should audit their motives and reject lawless drafts. [9] Restore the scales of justice—square for square, weight for weight—and you fix the empire for eternity.
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注[一]切，責也。
Note 1: Qie means “to blame harshly.”
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注[二]論語孔子對魯定公之辭也。
Note 2: The quotation comes from the Analects, Duke Ding chapter.
164
注[三]漢舊儀云：「皇帝見丞相起，謁者贊稱曰『皇帝為丞相起立』，乃坐。 皇帝在道，丞相迎，謁者贊稱曰『皇帝為丞相下輿立』，乃升車。」
Note 3: Court ritual had the emperor stand for the chancellor. The same manual required him to step down from the carriage to greet him.
165
注[四]董，督也。 注[五]穴見言不廣也。 注[六]□字伯仁，廬江人也。
Note 4: Dong means to oversee or inspect. Note 5: “Peephole insight” means narrow vision. Note 6: The text’s lacuna marks the cashiered Minister of Works from Lujiang, styled Boren.
166
注[七]成帝時，熒惑守心，議郎李尋奏記丞相翟方進曰：「唯君侯盡節轉凶。 」方進憂，不知所出。 有郎賁麗善為星，言大臣宜當之。 上乃召見方進，賜養牛、上尊酒，令審處焉。 方進即日自殺。 賁音肥。
Note 7: Li Xun urged Zhai Fangjin to shoulder the Mars omen. Fangjin panicked. Ben Li the star-reader said a minister must absorb the portent. Chengdi feasted Fangjin and told him to choose. Zhai Fangjin killed himself the same day. Ben is pronounced fei.
167
注[八]解見前文。 言景公有□，身自引咎，成帝不然，故曰徒也。
Note 8: See the earlier gloss on Song Jing. Song Jing owned the omen; Chengdi shifted it—hence “vainly.”
168
注[九]衡，秤衡也。 三十斤為鈞，四鈞為石也。
Note 9: Heng is the balance arm. Thirty pounds equal one jun; four jun make one shi.
169
忠意常在□崇大臣，待下以禮。 其九卿有疾，使者臨問，加賜錢布，皆忠所建奏。 頃之，遷尚書令。 延光三年，拜司隸校尉。 糾正中官外戚賓客，近幸憚之，不欲忠在內。 明年，出為江夏太守，復留拜尚書令，會疾卒。
Chen Zhong meant to dignify the high ministers and treat juniors courteously. His memorials won sick ministers imperial messengers and stipends of coin and cloth. Soon he became Prefect of the Masters of Writing. Yanguang 3 named him Colonel Director of Retainers. He disciplined eunuchs, in-laws, and their hangers-on—insiders dreaded him and pushed him out of the capital. The following year he was posted to Jiangxia, recalled as prefect, and died in office.
170
初，太尉張禹﹑司徒徐防欲與忠父寵共奏追封和熹皇后父護羌校尉鄧訓，寵以先世無奏請故事，爭之連日不能奪，乃從二府議。 及訓追加封謚，禹﹑防復約寵俱遣子奉禮於虎賁中郎將鄧騭，寵不從，騭心不平之，故忠不得志於鄧氏。
Once Zhang Yu and Xu Fang wanted Chen Chong to join a posthumous patent for Deng Xun; Chen Chong resisted until he yielded. When Deng Xun was canonized, they tried to make Chen Chong bribe Deng Zhi; Chong refused, so Chen Zhong never rose under the Deng clan.
171
及騭等敗，觿庶多怨之，而忠數上疏陷成其惡，遂詆劾大司農朱寵。 順帝之為太子廢也，諸名臣來歷﹑祝諷等守闕固爭，時忠為尚書令，與諸尚書復共劾奏之。 及帝立，司隸校尉虞詡追奏忠等罪過，當世以此譏焉。
After the Deng fell, Chen Zhong piled on memorials and smeared Zhu Chong. When the crown prince was removed, Lai Li and Zhu Feng protested; Chen Zhong as prefect joined other secretaries in impeaching the protesters. After Shun took the throne, Yu Xu attacked Chen Zhong’s record, and the age mocked him.
172
論曰：陳公居理官則議獄緩死，相幼主則正不僭寵，可謂有宰相之器矣。 忠能承風，亦庶乎明慎用刑而不留獄。 然其聽狂易殺人，開父子兄弟得相代死，斯大謬矣。 是則不善人多幸，而善人常代其禍，進退無所措也。
The historian judges Chen Chong: merciful judge, upright regent—true chancellor timber. Chen Zhong carried that legacy toward the ideal of swift, humane justice. Yet commuting insane killers and swapping family deaths was a grave error. Villains prosper while the virtuous pay the price—no safe ground remains.
173
贊曰：陳﹑郭主刑，人賴其平。 寵矜枯胔，躬斷以情。 忠用詳密，損益有程。 [一]施於孫子，且公且卿。 [二]
Verse: Chen and Guo held the scales; the people trusted their balance. Chen Chong mourned the unburied dead and judged with heart. Chen Zhong refined the code with methodical care. [1] Their descendants rose to ducal rank and ministerial office. This marker ends the couplet gloss.
174
注[一]程，品式也。 謂強盜發，貶黜令長，各有科條，故曰程也。
Note 1: Cheng means a graded statutory pattern. Bandit-response demotions followed written grades—hence “measure.”
175
注[二]施，延也。 音羊豉反。
Note 2: Shi means to extend or hand down. Read with the yang–zhi fanqie.
176
校勘記
Editorial collation for this chapter.
177
一五四四頁七行大將軍行有五部汲本﹑殿本「五」作「伍」。 按：五伍通。
Collation: some editions write the military unit character for the numeral five in the army-division line. The variants are orthographic equivalents.
178
一五四六頁六行* (醫) *巫皆言當族滅據刊誤刪。
Page 1546 line 6: marginal variant marker. (Marginal gloss “physician.”) Errata removes a duplicated shaman line.
179
一五四六頁七行為法名家按：王先謙謂初學記十二引華嶠書云「以法為名家」。
Wang Xianqian notes Hua Qiao’s wording “house that made law its fame.”
180
一五四九頁九行斷獄者急於篣格酷烈之痛按：張森楷校勘記謂今說文木部格下雲「長木魍」，無擊義，惟手部挌下云「擊也」，與注引說文合，疑此「格」字及注文「格」字並是「挌」字之誤。
Collation: “ge” for beating may be a miswritten “strike” graph per Shuowen.
181
一五四九頁一三行絕鑽鑽諸慘酷之科按：「鑽」原斗「鈷」，注同，逕改正。
Editors corrected a misprinted “drill” character.
182
一五五０頁一五行文致謂前人無罪文飾致於法中也按：校補引柳從辰說，謂「前」字疑「其」字之誤。
Collation: possibly “its” for “former” in the gloss.
183
一五五一頁六行* (孟) **[仲]*冬之月刊誤謂案文並注意，「孟」當作「仲」。 今據改。
Page 1551 line 13: variant marker. (Marginal note: “first month.”) Errata: “midwinter” not “first month” of winter. Text updated per errata.
184
一五五一頁一四行廣莫風至則蘭夜干生殿本﹑集解本「夜」作「射」。 按：校補謂射夜古本通作，故注射即音夜。
Palace Library block-print and collected-commentary editions use the plant-name character where other prints use the night graph before belamcanda. Phonetic gloss links she to ye.
185
一五五三頁一三行先是* (洛) **[雒]*縣城南集解引錢大昕說，謂「洛」當作「雒」，廣漢郡治所。 今據改。 注同。
Page 1553 line 13: lacuna before place name. (Marginal “Luo.”) Qian Daxin: the toponym should be Luo in Guanghan. Adopted Qian’s emendation. Same fix in the commentary.
186
一五五六頁一行奏上二十三條錢大昭謂晉書刑法志引作「三十三」。
Jin law treatise reads thirty-three clauses, not twenty-three.
187
一五五八頁九行餉餞不受按：王先謙謂「餞」當作「錢」。
Collation: gift “cash” not “farewell feast.”
188
一五六０頁九行人從軍屯刊誤謂「屯」當作「役」，說詳下。 按：校補謂漢時有卒更﹑踐更﹑過更之律，天下人民皆應戍邊三日，謂之徭戍。 既云「未滿三月皆勿徭」，自系言軍役，非言軍屯，且屯墾者，亦不得歸家送葬也。
Errata: “garrison” should be “military service.” Han corvée law required three days of frontier duty. The exemption targets active service, not military colonies.
189
一五六０頁一一行尚書令祝諷殿本此下引刊誤謂「案文祝當作役」，宸翰樓覆宋本東漢書刊誤作「案文祝當作祋」。 今按：劉攽此條刊誤，乃刊上文「人從軍屯」之誤，原文當作「案文屯當作役」，覆宋本東漢書刊誤斗「屯」為「祝」，斗「役」為「祋」，而殿本引刊誤則斗「屯」為「祝」，且皆誤列於「祝諷」之下，遂扞格不可通矣。 又按：「祝諷」來歷傳﹑鄧騭傳並作「祋諷」。
Manuscripts confuse Zhu, yi, and Di for the minister’s name. Editorial note: the real error was substituting the garrison character for the service character; successive misprints then clustered under the wrong minister’s name. Parallel texts write Di Feng.
190
一五六五頁一行鳳* (鳳) *陰求商短據汲本﹑殿本刪。
Page 1565 line 1: lacuna after Feng. (Marginal confirmation: Feng.) Jibu/Dian delete the forged-intrigue line as spurious.