1
楊終字子山，蜀郡成都人也。 年十三，為郡小吏，太守奇其才，遣詣京師受業，習春秋。 [一]顯宗時，征詣蘭台，拜校書郎。
Yang Zhong, styled Zishan, came from Chengdu in Shu commandery. When he was thirteen he served as a junior clerk in the commandery. The grand administrator, struck by his ability, sent him to the capital for schooling, and there he mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals. Under Emperor Ming he was called to the Orchid Terrace and given the post of collating secretary [1].
2
注[一]袁山松書曰：「時蜀郡有雷震決曹，終上白記，以為斷獄煩苛所致，太守乃令終賦雷電之意，而奇之也。」
Commentary [1]: "Yuan Shansong writes that when lightning in Shu commandery struck the office that handled legal decisions, Yang Zhong submitted a written report blaming harsh and tangled litigation; the grand administrator then had him compose a piece on thunder and lightning and was greatly impressed."
3
建初元年，大旱谷貴，終以為廣陵、楚、淮陽、濟南之獄，徙者萬數，又遠屯絕域，吏民怨曠，乃上疏曰：「臣聞『善善及子孫，惡惡止其身』，百王常典，不易之道也。 [一]秦政酷烈，違啎天心，一人有罪，延及三族。 [二]高祖平亂，約法三章。 太宗至仁，除去收孥。 [三]萬姓廓然，蒙被更生，澤及昆蟲，功垂萬世。 陛下聖祖，德被四表。 今以比年久旱，□疫未息，[四]躬自菲薄，廣訪失得，三代之隆，無以加焉。 臣竊桉春秋水旱之變，皆應暴急，惠不下流。 自永平以來，仍連大獄，有司窮考，轉相牽引，掠考冤濫，家屬徙邊。 加以北征匈奴，西開三十六國，頻年服役，轉輸煩費。 又遠屯伊吾、樓蘭、車師、戊己，民懷土思，怨結邊域。 傳曰：『安土重居，謂之觿庶。』 [五]昔殷民近遷洛邑，且猶怨望，[六]何況去中土之肥饒，寄不毛之荒極乎？ [七]且南方暑濕，障毒互生。 愁困之民，足以感動天地，移變陰陽矣。 陛下留念省察，以濟元元。」 書奏，肅宗下其章。 司空第五倫亦同終議。 太尉牟融、司徒鮑昱、校書郎班固等難倫，以施行既久，孝子無改父之道，先帝所建，不宜回異。 終復上書曰：「秦築長城，功役繁興，胡亥不革，卒亡四海。 故孝元□珠崖之郡，光武絕西域之國，不以介鱗易我衣裳。 [八]魯文公毀泉台，春秋譏之曰『先祖為之而己毀之，不如勿居而已』，以其無妨害於民也。 [九]襄公作三軍，昭公捨之，君子大其復古，以為不捨則有害於民也。 [一〇]今伊吾之役，樓蘭之屯，久而未還，非天意也。」 帝從之，聽還徙者，悉罷邊屯。
In Jianchu 1 (76 CE) drought drove grain prices sky-high. Yang Zhong blamed the great prison cases in Guangling, Chu, Huaiyang, and Jinan—tens of thousands exiled—and distant garrisons on the frontier that left officials and people bitter and homesick. He memorialized: "I have read that good done to the good may reach their descendants, but evil is punished only in the evildoer's own person—that has been every dynasty's rule and cannot change. [One] Qin policy was pitiless and defied Heaven; one man's crime could wipe out three kin-groups. [Two] Han Gaozu ended the turmoil with his three-article compact. Emperor Wen's mercy abolished punishing kin by confiscating wives and children. [Three] The common people breathed free again; grace reached even the crawling things; the merit would last forever. Your house of sage ancestors spreads virtue to the ends of the earth. Year after year of drought and sickness—the manuscript has a lacuna before "plague"—have yet to lift; [four] yet you tighten the court's belt and seek every fault and merit as no ruler since the Three Dynasties has done. The Spring and Autumn Annals tie flood and drought to harsh rule—when kindness never reaches the people below. Since Yongping the court has run one massive treason case after another: investigators torture until guilt spreads by chain reaction—innocents die under the rod and families are shipped to the frontier. Add northern campaigns against the Xiongnu and the opening of the thirty-six western states—year after year of levies and crippling supply trains. Remote garrisons at Yiwu, Loulan, Jushi, and the Wuji protector—troops ache for home and the frontier seethes. The classical gloss runs, "Those content to remain where they live are called the settled common people." [Five] Even when the Yin people were moved only as far as Luoyang they still muttered; [six] how much worse to tear men from the fertile heartland and dump them in barren wasteland? [Seven] The south is steamy and rank—miasma breeds every ill. The despair of such people can move Heaven and Earth and upset the balance of yin and yang. Please weigh these matters and bring relief to the common people." When the memorial arrived, Emperor Zhang circulated it for deliberation. Minister of works Fifth Lun sided with Yang Zhong. Grand Commandant Mou Rong, Minister Bao Yu, and Ban Gu objected to Fifth Lun: the policy had stood too long; a filial son does not overturn his father's institutions; what the late emperor built must not be reversed lightly. Yang Zhong wrote again: "Qin raised the Long Walls and drafted endless labor; Er Shi refused reform and lost the empire. Emperor Yuan abandoned Zhuya—the text has a lacuna before the verb—and Guangwu cut ties with the Western Regions: neither traded our civilized realm for barbarian coasts and sands. [Eight] When Duke Wen of Lu tore down the Spring Terrace, the Spring and Autumn Annals scolded him: "Your forefathers built it—yet you destroy it? Better never to have occupied it"—for it harmed no one. [Nine] Duke Xiang tripled the armies; Duke Zhao abolished the extra hosts—the gentlemen praised his return to ancient restraint, for keeping them would have hurt the people. [Ten] The Yiwu expedition and Loulan garrison keep men away year after year—that cannot be Heaven's will." The emperor accepted his advice: exiles could come home and frontier camps were dismantled.
4
注[一]春秋：「昭公二十年，曹公孫會自鄸出奔宋。」 公羊傳曰：「畔也。 曷為不言畔？ 為公子喜時之後諱也。 春秋為賢者諱也。 何賢乎公子喜時？ 讓國也。 君子善善也長，惡惡也短，惡惡止其身，善善及子孫。 賢者子孫，故君子為之諱。」
Note [1] Chunqiu: "In the twentieth year of Duke Zhao, Gongsun Hui of Cao fled from Mao to Song." The Gongyang commentary says: "It means rebellion. Why does the text avoid saying outright that he rebelled? The wording spares the descendants of Prince Xishi. The Spring and Autumn spares the worthy by concealing their shame. What made Prince Xishi worthy? He gave up his claim to the rulership. The gentleman prolongs praise of the good and keeps censure of the wicked short; he limits blame to the individual but lets praise extend to posterity. Because they are heirs of a worthy man, the gentleman shields their fault in the record."
5
注[二]前書音義曰：「父族、母族、妻族也。」
Commentary [2]: The Qian Han shu "Yinyi" defines the three clans as the father's, the mother's, and the wife's lines.
6
注[三]太宗，文帝也。 史記曰：「文帝德至盛也，豈不仁哉。」 除去收孥相坐之律也。
Commentary [3]: Taizong is Emperor Wen of the Former Han. The Shiji says: "Emperor Wen's virtue reached the utmost—how could he not be benevolent? He did away with laws that seized kin and punished whole households for one person's crime."
7
注[四]「□」字或作「牛」。 疫，病也。
Commentary [4]: The lacuna in the text is sometimes written with the character for "ox." Yi here means pestilence or epidemic disease.
8
注[五]元帝詔曰「安土重遷，黎人之性」也。
Commentary [5]: "Emperor Yuan's edict quotes the saying that people naturally cling to their land and dread uprooting."
9
注[六]尚書盤庚序曰：「盤庚五遷，將治亳，殷人咨胥怨。」 亳，今河南偃師，故曰「近遷洛邑」。
Commentary [6]: The preface to "Pan Geng" in the Documents says Pan Geng relocated the capital five times; as he was about to rule from Bo, the Yin people grumbled together. Bo is today's Yanshi in Henan—hence it says "near moving to Luoyi."
10
注[七]毛，草也。 爾雅曰：「孤竹、北戶、西王母、日下謂之四荒。」 又曰：「東至於泰遠，西至於邠國，南至於濮鈆，北至於祝栗，謂之四極。」 言不毛、荒極，直論遠耳，非必此地也。
Commentary [7]: Mao means vegetation or grassland. The Erya lists Guzhu, Beihu, the Queen Mother of the West, and Rixia as the "four outer wastes." It also says: "East to Taiyuan, west to Bin, south to Puyin, north to Zhuli—these are called the four extremes." Calling a place "without grass" or placing it among the wastes and extremes is a way of saying "very far away," not a claim that it lies exactly at those named points.
11
注[八]元帝初元三年，珠崖郡反，待詔賈捐之以為宜□珠崖，救人飢餓，乃罷珠崖郡。 光武二十一年，鄯善、車師王等十六國皆遣子入侍，請都護。 帝以中國初定，未遑外事，還其侍子，厚加賞賜。 介鱗喻遠夷，言其人與魚□無異也。 衣裳謂中國也。 楊雄法言曰：「珠崖之絕，捐之之力也，否則鱗介易我衣裳。」
Commentary [8]: In the third year of Chuyuan under Emperor Yuan, Zhuya commandery rose in revolt; Jia Juanzhi, holding the rank of awaiting orders, argued for abandoning Zhuya to relieve famine, and the commandery was abolished. In the twenty-first year of Emperor Guangwu, the rulers of Shanshan, Jushi, and sixteen other polities sent their sons to court as hostages and begged for a protector-general. The emperor, with China still consolidating and no margin for frontier entanglements, sent the hostages home and showered them with rewards. The image of fish and scaly creatures stands for distant tribes whose inhabitants are treated as little different from sea life. By "robes and caps" the text means the Chinese heartland. Yang Xiong's Fa yan says: "The severing of Zhuya was Juanzhi's doing; otherwise fish-scales would have traded places with our robes and caps."
12
注[九]公羊傳曰「毀泉台何以書？ 譏爾。 築之譏，毀之譏，先祖為之而己毀之，勿居而已」也。
Commentary [9]: "The Gongyang asks why the annals record the razing of the Spring Platform. To register blame. Both raising and tearing it down draw censure: the ancestors built it, yet later generations tear it down; the proper course is simply not to live there."
13
注[一〇]公羊傳曰：「襄公十一年作三軍。 三軍者何？ 三卿也。」 昭公五年傳曰：「捨中軍。 捨中軍者何？ 復古也。」 言捨之與留，量時制宜也。
Note [10] The Gongyang says: "In Duke Xiang's eleventh year three armies were created. What did "three armies" signify? They corresponded to three high ministers." The fifth year of Duke Zhao commentary says: "They abolished the central army. What did abolishing the central army mean? A return to the older military organization." Keeping or abolishing those forces was a matter of suiting institutions to the moment.
14
終又言：「宣帝博征腢儒，論定五經於石渠閣。 方今天下少事，學者得成其業，而章句之徒，破壞大體。 宜如石渠故事，永為後世則。」 於是詔諸儒於白虎觀論考同異焉。 會終坐事系獄，博士趙博、校書郎班固、賈逵等，以終深曉春秋，學多異聞，表請之，終又上書自訟，即日貰出，乃得與於白虎觀焉。 [一]後受詔刪太史公書為十餘萬言。
Zhong also said: "Emperor Xuan widely summoned Confucian scholars and fixed the meaning of the Five Classics in the Stone Canal Pavilion. Today, with few disturbances in the empire, learners could perfect their craft, but petty exegetes are tearing apart the larger tradition. He proposed repeating the Stone Canal conference so as to leave a permanent standard for posterity." An edict followed, summoning Confucians to the White Tiger Hall to thrash out textual agreement and disagreement. When Yang Zhong was jailed for a separate matter, Zhao Bo, Ban Gu, Jia Kui, and others petitioned that his mastery of the Annals and wide learning deserved mercy; his own memorial won him a pardon that very day, and he joined the White Tiger deliberations. He was later commissioned to condense Sima Qian's history to more than one hundred thousand characters.
15
注[一]與音預。
Commentary [1]: The gloss gives the reading yu (fourth tone), the same sound as in the word meaning to take part in.
16
時太后兄□尉馬廖，謹篤自守，不訓諸子。 終與廖交善，以書戒之曰：「終聞堯舜之民，可比屋而封； 桀紂之民，可比屋而誅。 [一]何者？ 堯舜為之堤防，桀紂示之驕奢故也。 詩曰：『皎皎練絲，在所染之。』 [二]上智下愚，謂之不移； 中庸之流，要在教化。 春秋殺太子母弟，直稱君甚惡之者，坐失教也。 [三]禮制，人君之子年八歲，為置少傅，教之書計，以開其明； [四]十五置太傅，教之經典，以道其志。 漢興，諸侯王不力教誨，多觸禁忌，故有亡國之禍，而乏嘉善之稱。 今君位地尊重，海內所望，豈可不臨深履薄，以為至戒！ 黃門郎年幼，血氣方盛，[五]既無長君退讓之風，[六]而要結輕狡無行之客，縱而莫誨，視成任性，[七]鑒念前往，可為寒心。 君侯誠宜以臨深履薄為戒。」 廖不納。 子豫後坐縣書誹謗，[八]廖以就國。
Ma Liao, elder brother of the empress dowager and commandant of the guards, lived carefully and frugally for himself yet failed to discipline his children. Yang Zhong, who was friendly with Ma Liao, sent a letter of warning: "They say that under Yao and Shun every household deserved a noble's patent; under Jie and Zhou every household would have deserved the executioner. Why was that? Yao and Shun built moral dikes around the people, while Jie and Zhou taught arrogance and waste. The Classic of Poetry says, "Gleaming white silk—its color depends on what dye it meets." The brightest and the dullest are said to be beyond reshaping; those in between rise or fall through education. When the Spring and Autumn names only the ruler for killing an heir or full brother, it heaps blame on him for failing to teach. Rite prescribes that at eight a prince receives a junior tutor in literacy and arithmetic to awaken his mind; at fifteen a grand tutor instructs him in the canon to set his purpose straight. Since the Han founding, many kings have neglected moral instruction, stumbled into taboos, lost their fiefs, and won no good name. Your rank is exalted and all eyes are on you; you must walk as if on thin ice or a precipice and make that your chief rule! The young gentlemen at the Yellow Gates are in their vigorous years; they have none of Elder Prince Changjun's modest reserve, yet they bind themselves to reckless companions. Left unchecked they grow willful. One glance at past examples is enough to freeze the heart. You, my lord, ought to live by that same warning of ice and abyss." Ma Liao ignored the advice. His son Ma Yu was later condemned for displaying libelous placards, and Ma Liao was sent back to his fief.
17
注[一]事見陸賈新語。
Commentary [1]: The comparison appears in Lu Jia's New Sayings.
18
注[二]逸詩也。 皎皎，白貌也。 墨子曰：「墨子見染絲者歎曰：『染於蒼則蒼，染於黃則黃，故染不可不慎也。』」
Commentary [2]: The line comes from a poem not preserved in the received Odes. Jiaojiao describes a gleaming white look. Mozi tells of watching silk being dyed and sighing that indigo turns it blue and yellow turns it yellow, so the dyer's choice matters fatally."
19
注[三]公羊傳曰：「晉侯殺其太子申生。 曷為直稱晉侯？ 曰以殺其太子母弟，直稱君者甚之也。」
Commentary [3]: "The Gongyang asks why the text says the marquis of Jin killed Crown Prince Shensheng. Why name the ruler of Jin alone? The answer: naming only the lord when he kills his heir or full brother heaps the guilt on him."
20
注[四]大戴禮曰：「古者八歲出就外捨，學小蓺焉，履小節焉。」 又曰：「為置三少，曰少保、少傅、少師，是與太子宴者也。」 禮記內則曰「十年出就外傅，居宿於外學書計」也。
Commentary [4]: "The Elder Dai record says children at eight went to outer quarters for minor skills and etiquette." It adds that three "junior" officers—the junior guardian, tutor, and instructor—kept company with the heir apparent. The "Inner Rules" in the Record of Rites sets study abroad with writing and reckoning at ten.
21
注[五]廖子防及光俱為黃門郎。 孔子曰「及其壯也，血氣方剛，戒之在□」也。
Commentary [5]: Ma Liao's sons Fang and Guang both held posts as gentlemen of the Yellow Gates. Confucius warned that in the vigor of life one must beware strife."
22
注[六]文帝竇後兄長君，弟廣國字少君，此兩人所出微，絳、灌等選長者之有節行者與之居，長君、少君由此為退讓君子，不敢以富貴驕人也。
Commentary [6]: Dou Changjun, elder brother of Emperor Wen's empress, and Dou Guangguo (Shaojun), though of low birth, were paired with steady mentors by Zhou Bo and Guan Ying and grew into modest gentlemen who never flaunted their new rank.
23
注[七]馬防傳曰「兄弟貴盛，賓客奔湊，四方畢至，數百餘人皆為食客」也。
Commentary [7]: "Ma Fang's biography notes hundreds of hangers-on thronging the brothers' gates."
24
注[八]縣音懸。
Commentary [8]: The character xian (county) is here read xuan, meaning "to display in public" or "to suspend."
25
終兄鳳為郡吏，太守廉范為州所考，遣鳳候終，終為范遊說，坐徙北地。 [一]帝東巡狩，鳳皇黃龍並集，終讚頌嘉瑞，上述祖宗鴻業，凡十五章，奏上，詔貰還故郡。
Yang Zhong's brother Feng served the commandery. When Grand Administrator Lian Fan fell under provincial investigation, Feng visited Yang Zhong, who spoke up for Fan and was exiled to Beidi for meddling. On the emperor's eastern progress, phoenix and yellow dragon appeared; Yang Zhong offered fifteen odes celebrating the portents and the ancestral achievement, received a pardon, and was allowed home.
26
著春秋外傳十二篇，改定章句十五萬言。 永元十二年，征拜郎中，以病卒。 [二]
He authored twelve fascicles of outer commentary on the Spring and Autumn and revised chapter-and-verse commentary to one hundred fifty thousand characters. In the twelfth year of Yongyuan he was called to office as a gentleman of the palace and died in that post. The chapter ends this entry with commentary note two.
27
注[一]益部耆舊傳曰「終徙於北地望松縣，而母於蜀物故。 終自傷被罪充邊，乃作晨風之詩以舒其憤」也。
Commentary [1]: "Local tradition says Yang Zhong was banished to Wangsong in Beidi while his mother died in Shu. He wrote the "Morning Breeze" poem to voice his bitterness at punishment and exile."
28
注[二]袁山松書曰「侍中賈逵薦終博達忠直，征拜郎中。 及卒，賜錢二十萬」也。
Commentary [2]: "Yuan Shansong records Jia Kui's recommendation and Yang Zhong's summons as gentleman of the palace. At his death the court granted two hundred thousand cash for burial expenses."
29
李法字伯度，漢中南鄭人也。 博通腢書，性剛而有節。 和帝永元九年，應賢良方正對策，除博士，遷侍中、光祿大夫。 歲餘，上疏以為朝政苛碎，違永平、建初故事； 宦官權重，椒房寵盛； 又譏史官記事不實，後世有識，尋功計德，必不明信。 坐失旨，下有司，免為庶人。 還鄉里，杜門自守。 故人儒生時有候之者，言談之次，問其不合上意之由，法未嘗應對。 友人固問之，法曰：「鄙夫可與事君乎哉？ 苟患失之，無所不至。 [一]孟子有言：『夫仁者如射，正己而後發。 發而不中，不怨勝己者，反諸身而已矣。』」 [二]在家八年，征拜議郎、諫議大夫，正言極辭，無改於舊。 出為汝南太守，政有聲多。 後歸鄉里，卒於家。
Li Fa, styled Bodu, came from Nanzheng in Hanzhong commandery. He read widely in the canon and was upright by temperament, with a strong sense of duty. In the ninth year of Yongyuan under Emperor He he took the worthy-and-upright examination, became an erudite, and rose to palace attendant and supernumerary grandee of the Household. A year later he memorialized that government had grown harsh and fussy, straying from the Yongping and Jianchu models; eunuchs wielded too much power and the imperial in-laws enjoyed excessive favor; he charged the historiographers with falsifying the record, so that later readers weighing deeds would find no clear warrant. He missed the sovereign's meaning, was referred to judicial officials, and reduced to commoner status. He went home, barred his gate, and lived in seclusion. Old acquaintances and students would call; when talk turned to why he had offended the throne, he would not reply. Pressed until he spoke, Fa answered with a line from the Analects: "Can a worthless man be trusted to serve his prince? Men who dread the loss of office will stop at nothing. [1] Mencius compares the humane man to an archer who straightens his stance before he looses the string. When his shot goes wide, he blames no rival who outshoots him; he looks to his own form alone." After eight years at home the court called him back as a gentleman consultant and remonstrance grandee; he still spoke his mind as sharply as before. As grand administrator of Runan he governed so well that his name was widely praised. He eventually retired to his home district and died there.
30
注[一]此以上論語孔子之言也。 鄭玄注云：「無所不至謂諂佞邪媚，無所不為也。」
Commentary [1]: The lines above quote Confucius from the Analects. Zheng Xuan's commentary says: 'Nothing to which he will not descend means fawning, toadying, and wicked flattery—there is nothing such men will not do.'
31
注[二]孟子公孫丑篇之言也。 反諸身而已，言克己自責，不責人也。
Commentary [2]: The passage comes from the Gongsun Chou section of Mencius. To turn the matter back on oneself is to practice self-restraint and self-reproach rather than faulting others.
32
翟酺字子超，廣漢雒人也。 [一]四世傳詩。 酺好老子，尤善圖緯、天文、歷筭。 以報舅讎，當徙日南，亡於長安，為卜相工，後牧羊涼州。 遇赦還。 仕郡，征拜議郎，遷侍中。
Zhai Pu, styled Zichao, came from Luo in Guanghan commandery. Poetry had been the family learning for four generations. He favored the Laozi and excelled at apocryphal charts, astronomy, and calendar mathematics. After killing a man to avenge his uncle he faced exile to Rinan, fled to Chang'an, earned a living as a fortune-teller and face-reader, and later tended sheep in Liangzhou. An amnesty allowed him to come home. He held commandery office, then received appointment as gentleman consultant and rose to palace attendant.
33
注[一]雒屬廣漢郡，漳山雒水所出，南入湔，故城在今雒縣南。 湔音子田反。
Commentary [1]: Luo was in Guanghan; the river rises on Mount Zhang and flows south into Jian; the old walled town stood south of modern Luo county. The gloss gives the fanqie spelling zi-tian for the name Jian.
34
時尚書有缺，詔將大夫六百石以上試對政事、天文、道術，以高第者補之。 酺自恃能高，而忌故太史令孫懿，恐其先用，乃往候懿。 既坐，言無所及，唯涕泣流連。 懿怪而問之，酺曰：「圖書有漢賊孫登，將以才智為中官所害。 觀君表相，似當應之。 [一]酺受恩接，淒愴君之禍耳！」 懿憂懼，移病不試。 [二]由是酺對第一，拜尚書。
A Secretariat seat was open; the emperor told officers at six hundred bushels and above to sit an examination on government, astronomy, and occult learning, with top scorers to be appointed. Confident in his own talent, Zhai Pu resented the former grand astrologer Sun Yi and feared Yi would be chosen ahead of him, so he paid Yi a visit. Once seated he wept continuously and said nothing else. Yi, wondering, asked him; Pu said, 'The charts and books record a Han traitor named Sun Deng who will be ruined by inner-court eunuchs because of his talents and wisdom. From your looks, he said, Yi seemed the man the prophecy described. [1] He added that, owing to Yi's kindness to him, he wept for the calamity about to strike Yi." Terrified, Sun Yi filed a illness report and skipped the exam. [2] With Yi out of the running, Zhai Pu took first place and became a Secretariat director.
35
注[一]春秋保干圖曰「漢賊臣，名孫登，大形小口，長七尺九寸，巧用法，多技方，詩書不用，賢人杜口」也。
Commentary [1]: "An apocryphal chart describes a Han traitor Sun Deng—tall, small-mouthed, legally shrewd, contemptuous of the classics, and silencing good men."
36
注[二]移病謂作文移而稱病也。
Commentary [2]: 'Shifting illness' meant filing a memorial pleading sickness to withdraw.
37
時安帝始親政事，追感祖母宋貴人，悉封其家。 又元舅耿寶及皇后兄弟閻顯等並用威權。 酺上疏諫曰：
Emperor An had just begun to rule in his own name; moved by memory of his grandmother Lady Song, he showered titles on her kin. His uncle Geng Bao and the Yan brothers, the empress's siblings, likewise monopolized frightening influence. Zhai Pu therefore offered a long memorial of remonstrance.
38
臣聞微子佯狂而去殷，叔孫通背秦而歸漢，彼非自□其君，時不可也。 臣荷殊絕之恩，蒙值不諱之政，豈敢雷同受寵，而以戴天履地。 [一]伏惟陛下應天履祚，歷值中興，當建太平之功，而未聞致化之道。 蓋遠者難明，請以近事征之。 昔竇、鄧之寵，傾動四方，兼官重紱，盈金積貨，至使議弄神器，改更社稷。 [二]豈不以埶尊威廣，以致斯患乎？ 及其破壞，頭顙墯地，願為孤豚，豈可得哉！ [三]夫致貴無漸失必暴，受爵非道殃必疾。 今外戚寵幸，功均造化，漢元以來，未有等比。 陛下誠仁恩周洽，以親九族。 然祿去公室，政移私門，覆車重尋，寧無摧折。 [四]而朝臣在位，莫肯正議，翕翕訾訾，更相佐附。 [五]臣恐威權外假，歸之良難，虎翼一奮，卒不可制。 [六]故孔子曰「吐珠於澤，誰能不含」； [七]老子稱「國之利器，不可以示人」。 [八]此最安危*[之極]*戒，社稷之深計也。
He cited Weizi, who feigned madness to flee Yin, and Shusun Tong, who abandoned Qin for Han—not because they scorned their rulers, but because the age forced their hand. He had received exceptional favor under a court that tolerated frank speech; he could not parrot the crowd for profit while claiming to stand between heaven and earth. [1] The emperor bore Heaven's mandate and had survived the restoration; he should be building an era of supreme peace, yet no path to true reform was visible. Distant precedents were obscure; he asked to prove his point with recent history. The Dou and Deng affines had once tilted the realm, stacking offices, seals, gold, and goods until advisers meddled with the throne itself and plotted to shift the dynastic altars. [2] Had not their exalted station and wide reach bred that catastrophe? When those houses fell, heads rolled like melons—who would not then trade rank for the life of a lone pig, if only he could? [3] Sudden greatness ends in violent ruin; rank gained by crooked paths draws swift punishment. The present in-laws enjoyed favor rivaling nature's own shaping power—unmatched since Emperor Yuan's reign. The emperor's kindness truly embraced the wider kinship network. Yet revenue and power had drained from the public fisc into private mansions; to repeat the overturned-cart mistake invited another smash-up. [4] Meanwhile ministers stayed mute or murmured approval, bolstering one another's cowardice. [5] Authority delegated to outsiders might never be reclaimed; a tiger given wings could not be caged afterward. [6] Hence Confucius said, 'When pearls are spat into the marsh, who can keep from taking them in his mouth?' [7] Laozi says, 'The sharp tools of the state must not be shown to others.' [8] That, he concluded, was the crux of survival or ruin for the dynasty.
39
注[一]雷之發聲，物皆同應，言無是非者謂之雷同。 禮記曰：「無雷同。」 左傳曰「君履后土而戴皇天」也。
Commentary [1]: Ministers who chimed together regardless of truth were likened to mindless thunder-echoes. The Record of Rites says: 'Do not echo thunder.' The Zuo Commentary says, 'The lord treads on the rear earth while he bears the august heaven on his crown.'
40
注[二]神器謂天位也。 老子曰：「天下神器，不可為也。」 竇憲出入禁中，得幸太後，圖為殺害。 帝知其謀，誅之。 鄧太后崩，宮人告鄧悝、鄧弘等取廢帝故事，謀立平原王得。 帝聞，遂免鄧氏為庶人也。
Commentary [2]: 'Sacred regalia' denoted the imperial throne. Laozi says: 'The sacred instruments of All under Heaven must not be acted upon.' Dou Xian had haunted the inner palace, won the empress dowager's trust, and conspired to kill. The emperor uncovered the plot and put him to death. After Empress Dowager Deng's death, palace informants charged Deng Kui and Deng Hong with copying the deposed emperor's coup and backing Prince De of Pingyuan. The emperor believed the tale and stripped the Dengs to commoners.
41
注[三]莊子曰，或聘莊子，莊子謂其使曰：「子見夫犧牛乎？ 衣以文繡，食以芻菽。 及其牽而入於太廟，欲為孤犢，其可得乎？」 此作「豚」，不同也。
Commentary [3]: "Zhuangzi's parable of the fattened ox begins with a hiring offer. The beast wears brocade and eats grain and fodder. Dragged to the great temple, it would gladly trade places with any scrawny calf—if only it could." The Hou Han shu text reads 'piglet' instead of 'calf,' a variant wording.
42
注[四]賈誼曰「諺雲前車覆，後車誡」也。
Commentary [4]: "Jia Yi quoted the proverb about learning from a predecessor's wreck."
43
注[五]詩小雅曰：「翕翕訾訾，亦孔之哀。」 毛傳曰：「翕翕然患其上，訾訾然不思稱職。」 爾雅曰：「翕翕，訾訾，莫供職也。」 訾音將徙反。 「訿」與「訾」古字通。
Commentary [5]: "The Shijing laments ministers buzzing and backbiting." The Mao commentary says: 'Buzzing means fretting at one's superiors; whispering means not thinking about performing one's duty.' The Erya says: 'Buzzing and whispering mean failing to serve in office.' The commentary gives fanqie jiang-xi for the reading of zi. "The ancient graphs for zi and zi were interchangeable."
44
注[六]韓詩外傳曰：「無為虎傅翼，將飛入邑，擇人而食。」 夫置不肖之人土位，是為虎傅翼也。
Commentary [6]: "The Outer Commentary to the Han Odes warns against giving a tiger wings." Seating unworthy men in high office was likened to that fatal gift.
45
注[七]春秋保干圖曰：「臣功大者主威侵，權並族害* (屍) **[己]*奸行，吐珠於澤，誰能不含。」 諭君之權柄外假，則必競取以為己利，猶珠出於澤中，誰能不含取以為己寶也。 吐猶出也。
Commentary [7]: "The apocryphal chart warns that overmighty ministers diminish the throne and that concentrated kin power turns clans against one another. The manuscript carries the gloss corpse at this break in the quotation. The quotation continues with evil deeds and the image of pearls cast into a marsh, tempting every mouth to seize them." The commentary explains that delegated power tempts every hand to seize private gain, like pearls lying in a fen that no mouth can resist pocketing. Here 'spit' means simply to cast forth.
46
注[八]老子道經曰：「魚不可脫於泉，國之利器不可以示人。」 河上公注曰：「利器謂權道也。 理國權道，不可以示執事之臣。」
Commentary [8]: "Laozi's Dao jing compares state secrets to fish that must stay in deep water." Lord He of the River's commentary says: 'Sharp tools mean the arts of power. Those techniques must not be exposed to every petty official."
47
夫儉德之恭，政存約節。 [一]故文帝愛百金於露台，飾帷帳於皁囊。 [二]或有譏其儉者，上曰：「朕為天下守財耳，豈得妄用之哉！」 至倉谷腐而不可食，錢貫朽而不可校。 今自初政已來，日月未久，費用賞賜已不可筭。 斂天下之財，積無功之家，帑藏單盡，民物雕傷，卒有不虞，復當重賦百姓，怨叛既生，危亂可待也。
Frugality is the beauty of virtue, and sound government lives in restraint. [1] Emperor Wen had refused a terrace that cost a hundred jin of cash and had curtains sewn from memorial bags. [2] Some mocked his frugality; the emperor said, 'I am guarding the realm's wealth for All under Heaven—how dare I squander it wantonly!' His thrift left granaries bursting until grain spoiled and cash strings rotted uncounted. Yet in the few months since the present reign began, gifts and stipends had already surpassed counting. Taxing the realm to enrich idle mansions had emptied the treasury and beggared the people; another emergency would demand fresh levies, and hatred would soon breed revolt.
48
注[一]左氏傳魯大夫御孫曰「儉，德之恭； 侈，惡之大」也。
Commentary [1]: "Yu Sun of Lu praised thrift as the ornament of virtue— and condemned extravagance as the root of vice."
49
注[二]文帝常欲作露台，計直百金。 曰：「百金中人十家之產，何以台為？」 遂止不作。 又東方朔曰：「文帝集上書囊以為殿帷。」
Commentary [2]: Emperor Wen had priced a pleasure terrace at a hundred jin of metal. He said, 'A hundred jin is the substance of ten middle households—why build a terrace for that?' So he abandoned the project. Further, Dongfang Shuo said, 'Emperor Wen collected document bags from memorial submissions and used them as hall curtains.'
50
昔成王之政，周公在前，邵公在後，畢公在左，史佚在右，四子挾而維之。 目見正容，耳聞正言，一日即位，天下曠然，言其法度素定也。 今陛下有成王之尊而無數子之佐，雖欲崇雍熙，致太平，其可得乎？
King Cheng of Zhou had been ringed by the dukes of Zhou, Shao, and Bi and by Scribe Yi—four mentors bracing the throne. Correct models met his eyes and ears, so that when he mounted the throne the realm felt secure—policy was already settled. The throne now had King Cheng's dignity but not his ring of wise ministers; how could perfect peace follow from that?
51
自去年已來，□譴頻數，地坼天崩，高岸為谷。 修身恐懼，則轉禍為福； 輕慢天戒，則其害彌深。 願陛下親自勞恤，研精緻思，勉求忠貞之臣，誅遠佞諂之黨，損玉堂之盛，尊天爵之重，[一]割情慾之歡，罷宴私之好。 帝王圖籍，陳列左右，心存亡國所以失之，鑒觀興王所以得之，庶□害可息，豐年可招矣。
Since the previous year omens and reprimands had crowded in—earth fissures, heaven's portents, cliffs turned to gullies. Earnest self-scrutiny could yet turn ill luck to good. Contempt for those warnings would deepen the wound. He begged the emperor to toil for the people, think deeply, promote loyal men, purge flatterers, curb palace luxury, prize moral worth over display, bridle appetite, and end private revels. Portraits of past rulers should line the halls as reminders of how states rise and fall—only then might harm cease and good harvests return.
52
注[一]孟子曰：「公卿大夫，人爵也。 仁義禮智信，天爵也。」
Commentary [1]: "Mencius distinguishes human rank— from the heaven-given virtues of benevolence, right, ritual, wisdom, and trustworthiness."
53
書奏不省，而外戚寵臣鹹畏惡之。
The throne ignored the memorial, and the powerful in-laws and favorites hated Zhai Pu for it.
54
延光三年，出為酒泉太守。 叛羌千餘騎徙敦煌來鈔郡界，酺赴擊，斬首九百級，羌觿幾盡，威名大震。 遷京兆尹。 順帝即位，拜光祿大夫，遷將作大匠。 損省經用，歲息四五千萬。 [一]屢因□異，多所匡正。 [三]由是權貴共誣酺及尚書令高堂芝等交通屬托，坐減死歸家。 復被章雲酺前與河南張楷等謀反，逮詣廷尉。 及杜真等上書訟之，事得明釋。 卒於家。 [三]
In the third year of the Yanguang era he was sent out as grand administrator of Jiuquan. When over a thousand rebel Qiang horsemen from Dunhuang raided the frontier, Zhai Pu counterattacked, claimed nine hundred heads, and all but destroyed the band; his reputation thundered across the northwest. He was promoted to metropolitan superintendent of the capital region. Emperor Shun appointed him supernumerary grandee of the Household and then superintendent of imperial works. By trimming routine outlays he saved forty or fifty million cash every year. [1] Again and again he used anomalies as occasions to set policy straight, though one graph in the source is illegible. [3] The great families jointly accused Zhai Pu and Secretariat Director Gao Tang Zhi of taking bribes and pulling strings; he escaped execution by one degree and was sent home. A fresh memorial claimed he had once conspired with Zhang Kai of Henan to rebel; he was arrested and remanded to the minister of justice. Du Zhen and others filed counter-memorials, and the charge was exposed as false. He died in retirement at his house. Endnote marker for commentary three.
55
注[一]經，常也。
Commentary [1]: Here jing denotes the standing or regular budget.
56
注[二]益部耆舊傳曰：「時詔問酺陰陽失序，水旱隔並，其設銷復興濟之本。 酺上奏陳圖書之意曰：『漢四百年將有弱主閉門聽難之禍，數在三百年之閒。* (宜升) **[斗]*歷改憲，*[宜]*行先王至德要道，奉率時禁，抑損奢侈，宣明質樸，以延四百年之難。』 帝從之。」
Commentary [2]: "The court asked Zhai Pu how to repair cosmic imbalance when flood and drought struck together. Zhai Pu answered with a memorial on the prognostications: the charts foretold that around the fourth century of Han a feeble emperor would bar his gates to calamity, with the fatal count falling near the three-hundred-year mark. Parenthetical characters in the source suggest a textual emendation at this break. The damaged quotation urges calendar reform around the dou pitch, return to the ancient kings' core virtues, seasonal sumptuary law, and plain living to push back the four-hundred-year crisis. The emperor accepted the advice, says the quotation."
57
注[三]益部耆舊傳曰：「杜真字孟宗，廣漢綿竹人也。 少有孝行，習易、春秋，誦百萬言，兄事同郡翟酺。 酺後被系獄，真上檄章救酺，系獄笞六百，竟免酺難，京師莫不壯之。」
Commentary [3]: "The regional tradition introduces Du Zhen of Mianzhu, styled Mengzong. From boyhood he was known for filial piety, mastered the Changes and the Spring and Autumn, memorized a vast corpus, and honored Zhai Pu of his commandery as an elder brother. When Zhai Pu was jailed, Du Zhen filed a desperate appeal, took six hundred blows for it, and still won Pu's release; the capital applauded his courage."
58
著援神、鉤命解詁十二篇。 [一]
He composed twelve fascicles of glosses on the apocryphal Yuanshen and Gouming texts. Endnote marker for commentary one.
59
注[一]援神契，鉤命決，皆孝經緯篇名也。 詁音古。
Commentary [1]: Both titles belong to the weft-book tradition attached to the Classic of Filial Piety. The commentary glosses gu with the usual reading for exegesis.
60
初，酺之為大匠，上言：「孝文皇帝始置一經博士，[一]武帝大合天下之書，[二]而孝宣論六經於石渠，學者滋盛，弟子萬數。 [三]光武初興，愍其荒廢，起太學博士捨、內外講堂，諸生橫巷，為海內所集。 明帝時辟雍始成，欲毀太學，太尉趙□以為太學、辟雍皆宜兼存，故並傳至今。 而頃者頹廢，至為園采芻牧之處。 宜更修繕，誘進後學。」 帝從之。 酺免後，遂起太學，更開拓房室，學者為酺立碑銘於學雲。
Earlier, when Pu was superintendent of construction, he submitted a statement: 'Emperor Wen first established erudites for a single classic; [1] Emperor Wu broadly gathered the books of All under Heaven; [2] while Emperor Xuan debated the six classics at the Stone Canal—scholars flourished and disciples numbered in the tens of thousands. [3] Emperor Guangwu, grieving the ruin of learning, had rebuilt the Grand Academy with dormitories, inner and outer lecture halls, and student quarters that drew scholars from everywhere. When Emperor Ming finished the circular moat school, some wanted the Grand Academy torn down; Grand Commandant Zhao, whose personal name is missing in the text, argued both institutions should survive, and both stand today. Lately the grounds had fallen into disuse as vegetable patches, hayfields, and sheep walks. Zhai Pu urged a fresh restoration to attract the next generation of learners." The throne approved his plan. After his disgrace the Grand Academy was rebuilt and expanded; students are said to have raised a stele in his honor on the campus.
61
注[一]武帝建元五年始置五經博士，文帝之時未遑庠序之事，酺之此言，不知何據。
Commentary [1]: Emperor Wu first established Erudites for the Five Classics in the fifth year of Jianyuan. In Emperor Wen's time there was not yet leisure for affairs of schools and academies, so it is unclear what authority Zhai Pu had for this statement.
62
注[二]武帝詔曰：「其令禮官勸學，舉遺興禮。」 舉遺謂搜求遺逸，是合天下之書也。
Commentary [2]: "Emperor Wu had ordered the ritual bureau to revive neglected learning and rites." Raising the lost meant recovering lost texts, that is, the empire-wide book hunt.
63
注[三]宣帝甘露三年，詔諸儒講五經於殿中，兼平公羊、谷梁同異，上親臨決焉。 時更崇谷梁傳，故此言「六經」也。 石渠，閣名。 昭帝時博士弟子員百人，宣帝末增倍之，元帝時詔無置弟子員，以廣學者，故言以萬數也。
Commentary [3]: In Ganlu 3 Emperor Xuan held a palace conference on the five classics and adjudicated Gongyang versus Guliang in person. At that time they further honored the Guliang commentary, hence this speaks of 'six classics.' Stone Canal was the name of the palace gallery where the debate met. Student rolls had grown from one hundred under Zhao to doubled under Xuan, then Yuan removed caps so enrollments could soar toward ten thousand.
64
應奉字世叔，汝南南頓人也。 曾祖父順，字華仲。 和帝時為河南尹、將作大匠，公廉約己，明達政事。 [一]生十子，皆有才學。 中子疊，江夏太守。 疊生郴，武陵太守。 郴生奉。
Ying Feng, styled Shishu, came from Nandun in Runan commandery. His great-grandfather Ying Shun bore the courtesy name Huazhong. Under Emperor He he served as metropolitan governor of Henan and superintendent of works, famed for clean self-discipline and shrewd administration. [1] He had ten sons, each accomplished as a scholar. His third son Die became grand administrator of Jiangxia. Die begat Chen, who in turn governed Wuling as grand administrator. Chen was the father of Ying Feng.
65
注[一]華嶠書曰：「華仲少給事郡縣，為吏清公，不發私書。 舉孝廉，尚書郎轉右丞，遷冀州刺史，廉直無私。 遷東平相，賞罰必信，吏不敢犯。 有梓樹生於廳事室上，事後母至孝，觿以為孝感之應。 時竇憲出屯河西，刺史、二千石皆遣子弟奉賂遺憲，憲敗後鹹被繩黜，順獨不在其中，由是顯名。 為將作大匠，視事五年，省費億萬。」 汝南記曰「華仲妻本是汝南鄧元義前妻也。 元義父伯考為尚書僕射，元義還鄉里，妻留事姑甚謹，姑憎之，幽閉空室，節其食飲，羸露日困，妻終無怨言。 後伯考怪而問之。 時義子朗年數歲，言母不病，但苦饑耳。 伯考流涕曰：『何意親姑反為此禍！』 因遣歸家。 更嫁為華仲妻。 仲為將作大匠，妻乘朝車出，元義於路傍觀之，謂人曰：『此我故婦，非有它過，家夫人遇之實酷，本自相貴。』 其子朗時為郎，母與書皆不荅，與衣裳輒燒之。 母不以介意，意欲見之，乃至親家李氏堂上，令人以它詞請朗。 朗至，見母，再拜涕泣，因起出。 母追謂之曰：『我幾死，自為汝家所□，我何罪過，乃如此邪？』 因此遂絕」也。
Commentary [1]: "Hua Qiao describes young Shun as a scrupulous clerk who never opened private mail. Recommended as filial and incorrupt, he rose through palace gentleman and right aide to regional inspector of Ji, unstained by favoritism. As chancellor of Dongping he enforced rewards and punishments so consistently that clerks feared to transgress. A catalpa sprouted on his courtroom roof; observers attributed it to his extreme filial care for his stepmother. When Dou Xian held the western frontier, local magnates sent sons with bribes; after Xian's fall they were purged, but Shun alone had stayed clean and so won renown. Five years as superintendent of works yielded savings reckoned in the hundreds of millions." The Record of Runan says: 'Huazhong's wife had originally been the former wife of Deng Yuanyi of Runan. Deng Yuanyi's father Bokao was vice-director of the Secretariat; Yuanyi went home, but his wife stayed to wait on her mother-in-law until the old woman, despising her, locked her up and starved her—still she never complained. When Bokao noticed her state, he pressed for an explanation. Yuanyi's little boy Lang said plainly that his mother was not sick, only starving. Bokao burst into tears at the cruelty of a kinswoman-by-marriage. He sent the daughter-in-law home to her own family at once. She later remarried Ying Shun and became Huazhong's consort. One day Shun's wife rode the official carriage past Yuanyi, who told bystanders that she had been his blameless ex-wife ruined by his mother's cruelty. Their son Lang, now a court gentleman, refused her letters and burned the clothes she sent. Undeterred, she contrived a meeting at her Li in-laws' house under a false pretext. Lang came, bowed to his mother in tears, and fled the room. She ran after him crying that she had nearly perished at their hands through no fault of her own. After that mother and son never spoke again."
66
奉少聰明，自為童兒及長，凡所經履，莫不暗記。 讀書五行並下。 為郡決曹史，行部四十二縣，錄囚徒數百千人。 及還，太守備問之，奉口說罪系姓名，坐狀輕重，無所遺脫，時人奇之。 [一]著漢書後序，多所述載。 [二]大將軍梁冀舉茂才。
Ying Feng had been prodigious from childhood: every journey and sight fixed itself in his memory without effort. He could take in five columns of text at a single glance. As the commandery's sentencing clerk he inspected forty-two counties and logged hundreds or thousands of inmates. Back at headquarters he recited every prisoner's name, charge, and sentence from memory and astonished his superiors. [1] He composed a long sequel to the Book of Han preserving many details. [2] Grand General Liang Ju nominated him as flourishing talent.
67
注[一]謝承書曰：「奉少為上計吏，許訓為計掾，俱到京師。 訓自發鄉里，在路晝頓暮宿，所見長吏、賓客、亭長、吏卒、奴僕，訓皆密疏姓名，欲試奉。 還郡，出疏示奉。 奉云：『前食穎川綸氏都亭，亭長胡奴名祿，以飲漿來，何不在疏？』 坐中皆驚。」 又云：「奉年二十時，嘗詣彭城相袁賀，賀時出行閉門，造車匠於內開扇出半面視奉，奉即委去。 後數十年於路見車匠，識而呼之。」
Commentary [1]: "Xie Cheng tells how young Feng went to the capital as chief clerk on the annual accounting mission beside Xu Xun. Xu Xun secretly listed every official, guest, post-house clerk, and servant they met along the road to test Feng's memory. On returning home he handed Feng his written tally. Feng immediately spotted one omission: a station chief's Hu slave named Lu who had served him drink in Yingchuan. Everyone present was dumbfounded." It also says: 'When Feng was twenty sui he once visited Chancellor Yuan He of Pengcheng; He was out and the gate was closed; a cart maker inside opened the door halfway and looked at Feng with half his face; Feng thereupon turned away and left. Years later he recognized that same wheelwright on the road and hailed him by sight."
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注[二]袁山松書曰：「奉又刪史記、漢書及漢記三百六十餘年，自漢興至其時，凡十七卷，名曰漢事。」
Commentary [2]: "Yuan Shansong credits him with a seventeen-fascicle digest of Sima Qian, the Han histories, and the Han ji from the founding down to his day."
69
先是，武陵蠻詹山等四千餘人反叛，執縣令，屯結連年。 詔下公卿議，四府舉奉才堪將帥。 [一]永興元年，拜武陵太守。 到官慰納，山等皆悉降散。 於是興學校，舉仄陋，政稱變俗。 坐公事免。
Earlier the Wuling tribesman Zhanshan had led four thousand rebels in seizing a magistrate and holding out for years. The emperor asked the high ministers for a plan, and the four offices nominated Ying Feng as the general the crisis needed. [1] In Yongxing 1 he became grand administrator of Wuling. On arrival he soothed the tribes; Zhanshan and his followers surrendered and broke camp. He founded schools, promoted men of mean origin, and his rule was praised for transforming local ways. He lost office over a procedural fault in public business.
70
注[一]四府，解見皇后紀。
Commentary [1]: The four high offices are explained in the empress's basic annals.
71
延熹中，武陵蠻復寇亂荊州，車騎將軍馮緄以奉有威恩，為蠻夷所服，上請與俱征。 拜從事中郎。 [一]奉勤設方略，賊破軍罷，緄推功於奉，薦為司隸校尉。 糾舉奸違，不避豪戚，以嚴厲為名。
During Xianxi the Wuling tribes again ravaged Jingzhou; General of Chariots and Cavalry Feng Gun, knowing Ying Feng's prestige among the tribes, asked him to join the expedition. He received appointment as staff supervisor on the campaign. [1] Ying Feng planned the campaign; when the enemy broke, Gun credited him and recommended him as metropolitan commandant. As metropolitan commandant he indicted wrongdoing without sparing great houses, earning a name for harsh justice.
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注[一]謝承書曰：「時詔奉曰：『蠻夷叛逆作難，積惡放恣，鑊中之魚，火熾湯盡，當悉燋爛，以刷國恥。 朝廷以奉昔守南土，威名播越，故複式序重任。 奉之廢興，期在於今。 賜奉錢十萬，駁犀方具□、金錯把刀□、革帶各一。 奉其勉之！』」
Commentary [1]: "Xie Cheng preserves an edict branding the rebels fish in a boiling pot who must be scorched away to cleanse national shame. Because he had once ruled the south and his name still carried there, the court gave him the mission again. His career now hung on this campaign. The edict granted him one hundred thousand cash, rhinoceros-horn gear, a gold-inlaid saber, and a leather belt, though the manuscript is damaged on two gift names. The edict closed by urging him to spare no effort!"
73
及鄧皇后敗，而田貴人見幸，桓帝有建立之議。 奉以田氏微賤，不宜超登後位，上書諫曰：「臣聞周納狄女，襄王出居於鄭； [一]漢立飛燕，成帝胤嗣泯絕。 母后之重，興廢所因。 宜思關睢之所求，遠五禁之所忌。」 [二]帝納其言，竟立竇皇后。
After Empress Deng's fall, Lady Tian won Emperor Huan's favor, and he considered raising her as empress. Feng, holding that the Tian clan was mean and lowly and not fit to leap to empress's rank, submitted a memorial remonstrating, saying: 'I have heard that Zhou took a Di woman and King Xiang went out to dwell at Zheng; [1] He reminded the throne that Emperor Cheng's favor for Flying Swallow Zhao ended his line. The choice of empress governs whether the house rises or falls. He urged the emperor to seek a bride like the Guanju poem praises and to shun the five forbidden matches." [2] The emperor took the advice and enthroned Empress Dou instead.
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注[一]左傳襄王將以狄女為後，富* (臣) **[辰]*諫曰：「不可，狄固貪惏，王又啟之。」 王不從。 狄人伐周，襄王出奔。
Commentary [1]: The Zuo cites King Xiang's plan to wed a Di princess—Fu Chen's name is damaged in the manuscript. The gloss supplies the character chen for the damaged minister's name. [Chen] remonstrated, saying: 'You cannot—the Di are by nature greedy and cruel, and the king again opens the way for them.' King Xiang ignored the warning. Di tribes struck the royal domain and drove King Xiang from his capital.
75
注[二]韓詩外傳曰：「婦人有五不娶：喪婦之長女不娶，為其不受命也； 世有惡疾不娶，□於天也； 世有刑人不娶，□於人也； 亂家女不娶，類不正也； 逆家子不娶，廢人倫也。」
Commentary [2]: "The Outer Han Odes lists five forbidden brides, beginning with a widow's eldest daughter. A household afflicted with foul hereditary disease was another barred match. Families whose members bore mutilating punishments were likewise excluded. Women from morally chaotic clans were unsuitable. Sons of traitorous houses completed the list of forbidden unions."
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及黨事起，奉乃慨然以疾自退。 追愍屈原，因以自傷，著感騷三十篇，數萬言。 諸公多薦舉，會病卒。 子劭。
When the faction cases erupted, Ying Feng retired in disgust, pleading sickness. He wrote thirty laments modeled on Encountering Sorrow, grieving Qu Yuan and his own plight. Notables repeatedly nominated him, but he died before another posting came. His son was Ying Shao.
77
劭字仲遠。 [一]少篤學，博覽多聞。 靈帝時舉孝廉，辟車騎將軍何苗掾。
Ying Shao took the courtesy name Zhongyuan. From boyhood he studied deeply and read omnivorously. Under Emperor Ling he took the filial-and-incorrupt examination and became an aide to General He Miao.
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注[一]謝承書、* (曰) *應氏譜並云「字仲遠」，續漢書文士傳作「仲援」，漢官儀又作「*[仲]*瑗」，未知孰是。
Commentary [1]: Xie Cheng's work and other sources diverge on detail. The gloss character yue appears in parentheses in the manuscript. The Ying clan genealogy and other texts all say his courtesy name was Zhongyuan; the Xu Han shu Literary Men's Tradition writes Zhongyuan; the Han guan yi again writes Zhongyuan—which is correct is unknown.'
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中平二年，漢陽賊邊章、韓遂與羌胡為寇，東侵三輔，時遣車騎將軍皇甫嵩西討之。 嵩請發烏桓三千人。 北軍中候鄒靖上言：「烏桓觿弱，宜開募鮮卑。」 事下四府，大將軍掾韓卓議，以為「烏桓兵寡，而與鮮卑世為仇敵，若烏桓被發，則鮮卑必襲其家。 烏桓聞之，當復□軍還救。 非唯無益於實，乃更沮三軍之情。
In Zhongping 2 the Hanyang rebels Bian Zhang and Han Sui allied with Qiang and Hu, pushed east into the capital region, and Huangfu Song marched west against them. Huangfu Song asked for three thousand Wuhuan auxiliaries. Northern Army middle commander Zou Jing submitted a statement: 'The Wuhuan host is weak; it is fitting to open recruitment among the Xianbei.' The matter went down to the four offices; chief clerk to the grand general Han Zhuo deliberated, holding that 'Wuhuan troops are few, yet with the Xianbei they are hereditary foes—if the Wuhuan are stripped bare, the Xianbei will surely raid their homes. The Wuhuan would rush home to defend their hearths, crippling the campaign. The scheme would help neither the war effort nor the troops' spirit.
80
鄒靖居近邊塞，究其態詐。 若令靖募鮮卑輕騎五千，必有破敵之效」。 劭駁之曰：
Zou Jing lived on the frontier and knew nomad duplicity firsthand. He insisted five thousand Xianbei riders under Zou Jing would shatter the rebels. Ying Shao answered with a counter-memorial.
81
鮮卑隔在漠北，犬羊為腢，無君長之帥，廬落之居，而天性貪暴，不拘信義，故數犯障塞，且無寧歲。 唯至互巿，乃來靡服。 苟欲中國珍貨，非為畏威懷德。 計獲事足，旋踵為害。 是以朝家外而不內，蓋為此也。 [一]往者匈奴反叛，度遼將軍馬續、烏桓校尉王元發鮮卑五千餘騎，又武威太守趙沖亦率鮮卑征討叛羌。 斬獲丑虜，既不足言，而鮮卑越溢，多為不法。 裁以軍令，則忿戾作亂； 制御小緩，則陸掠殘害。 劫居人，鈔商旅，噉人牛羊，略人兵馬。 得賞既多，不肯去，復欲以物買鐵。 邊將不聽，便取縑帛聚欲燒之。 邊將恐怖，畏其反叛，辭謝撫順，無敢拒違。 今狡寇未殄，而羌為巨害，如或致悔，其可追乎！ 臣愚以為可募隴西羌胡守善不叛者，簡其精勇，多其牢賞。 [二]太守李參沈靜有謀，必能□厲得其死力。 當思漸消之略，不可倉卒望也。
He painted the Xianbei as rootless nomads beyond the Gobi, faithless plunderers who yearly raided the frontier. They feigned submission only at border markets when Chinese goods tempted them. Their trade was greed for silk and metal, not respect for Han might. Sated with profit they always turned on their hosts. That is why wise policy kept them outside the pale. He cited Ma Xu and Wang Yuan hiring Xianbei against Xiongnu and Zhao Chong doing the same against Qiang—precedents that proved costly. Those allies had taken heads yet mostly ran amok. Strict discipline made them mutinous. Loose rein let them loot settlements. They robbed farmers, waylaid caravans, rustled stock, and stole weapons. Paid off in silk, they stayed and demanded iron for more arms. When refused iron they piled silk to burn, blackmailing the commanders. Frontier officers, fearing mutiny, bought peace with concessions. With rebels still in the field, trusting Xianbei courted irreparable regret. He proposed recruiting loyal Longxi Qiang auxiliaries, paying them well. [2] Li Can of the commandery, steady and shrewd, could inspire such allies. Victory required a gradual strategy, not a rushed gamble.
82
韓卓復與劭相難反覆。 於是詔百官大會朝堂，皆從劭議。
Han Zhuo and Ying Shao traded further memorials. The emperor convened the ministers and adopted Ying Shao's view.
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注[一]朝家猶國家也。 公羊傳曰「春秋內諸夏而外夷狄」也。
Commentary [1]: 'Court house' here means the central government. The Gongyang says: 'The Chunqiu treats the Hua Xia as inner and the Yi Di as outer.'"
84
注[二]牢，稟食也。 或作「勞」。 勞，功也。
Commentary [2]: Lao here means issued rations. Some manuscripts write 'lao' meaning merit. In that reading it means reward for merit.
85
三年，舉高第，再遷，六年，拜太山太守。 初平二年，黃巾三十萬觿入郡界。 劭糾率文武連與賊戰，前後斬首數千級，獲生口老弱萬餘人，輜重二千兩，賊皆退□，郡內以安。
He ranked top in a third-year evaluation, rose twice, and in year six became grand administrator of Taishan. Chuping 2 brought three hundred thousand Yellow Turbans swarming into Taishan. Ying Shao rallied his staff, killed thousands, took ten thousand prisoners and two thousand supply wagons, and drove the rebels from the commandery.
86
興平元年，前太尉曹嵩及子德從琅邪入太山，劭遣兵迎之，未到，而徐州牧陶謙素怨嵩子操數擊之，乃使輕騎追嵩﹑德，並殺之於郡界。 劭畏操誅，□郡奔冀州牧袁紹。
In Xingping 1 (194 CE) former grand commandant Cao Song and his son Cao De traveled from Langya into Taishan. Ying Shao sent troops to escort them, but before they arrived, Governor Tao Qian of Xuzhou—who bore Cao Cao a grudge for repeated attacks—dispatched light horse who overtook Song and De and killed both at the commandery line. Fearing Cao Cao's vengeance, Shao abandoned his post—the verb is missing in the text—and fled to Ji governor Yuan Shao.
87
初，安帝時河閒人尹次﹑穎川人史玉皆坐殺人當死，次兄初及玉母軍並詣官曹求代其命，因縊而物故。 尚書陳忠以罪疑從輕，議活次﹑玉。 劭後追駁之，據正典刑，有可存者。 其議曰：
He recalled how Yin Ci and Shi Yu faced death for murder until kin offered to die in their place. Chen Zhong had argued for mercy on grounds of doubt. Ying Shao later answered Chen Zhong, insisting on the letter of the law while conceding narrow exceptions. His written rebuttal ran as follows.
88
尚書稱「天秩有禮，五服五章哉。 天討有罪，五刑五用哉」。 而孫卿亦云「凡制刑之本，將以禁暴惡，且懲其末也。 凡爵列﹑官秩﹑賞慶﹑刑威，皆以類相從，使當其實也」。 若德不副位，能不稱官，賞不酬功，刑不應罪，不祥莫大焉。 殺人者死，傷人者刑，此百王之定制，有法之成科。 高祖入關，雖尚約法，然殺人者死，亦無寬降。 夫時化則刑重，時亂則刑輕。 [一]書曰「刑罰時輕時重」，此之謂也。
The Shang shu says: 'Heaven's ordering has ritual; the five garments have five emblems. Heaven's punishments too have their proper fivefold use." Sun Qing also says: 'In general the root of making punishments is to forbid violence and evil, and moreover to warn those who follow. Ranks, offices, rewards, and terrors must each fit the deed." When virtue, talent, reward, and penalty fall out of alignment, the state courts disaster. Killers die and maimers are maimed: that code stood for every dynasty. Even Gaozu's simplified Qin laws kept capital punishment for homicide. Stable times call for stern justice; chaotic times may temper severity. [1] The Documents says: 'Punishments are at times light, at times heavy'—this is what is meant.'
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注[一]犯化之罪固重，犯亂之罪為輕。
Commentary [1]: The gloss explains the Documents line about matching penalty to the age.
90
今次﹑玉公以清時釋其私憾，阻兵安忍，殭屍道路。 [一]朝恩在寬，幸至冬獄，而初﹑軍愚狷，妄自投斃。 昔召忽親死子糾之難，而孔子曰「經於溝瀆，人莫之知」。 [二]朝氏之父非錯刻峻，遂能自隕其命，班固亦云「不如趙母指括以全其宗」。 [三]傳曰「僕妾感慨而致死者，非能義勇，顧無慮耳」。 [四]夫刑罰威獄，以類天之震耀殺戮也； 溫慈和惠，以放天之生殖長育也。 [五]是故春一草枯則為□，秋一木華亦為異。 今殺無罪之初﹑軍，而活當死之次﹑玉，其為枯華，不亦然乎？ 陳忠不詳制刑之本，而信一時之仁，遂廣引八議求生之端。 夫親故賢能功貴勤賓，豈有次﹑玉當罪之科哉？ [六]若乃小大以情，原心定罪，[七]此為求生，非謂代死可以生也。 敗法亂政，悔其可追。
Yet Yin Ci and Shi Yu had murdered in peacetime out of private spite. [1] Their relatives had volunteered to die in winter review, not to commute the convicts' guilt. Formerly Shao Hu died in person for Prince Jiu's disaster, yet Confucius said, 'He strangled himself in a ditch—no one knows him.' [2] The father of Chao Cuo was not like Chao Ke's harsh carving—yet he was able to destroy his own life; Ban Gu also said, 'He was not like Mother Zhao, who pointed at Kuo to save her clan.' [3] The tradition says: 'When slaves and concubines hang themselves out of emotion, it is not courage in duty—they simply lack forethought.' [4] Prisons echo Heaven's killing thunder; mercy mirrors Heaven's nurturing rain. [5] One withered blade in spring or one bloom in autumn were omens— —so sparing murderers while executing innocent volunteers would invert those signs. Chen Zhong had mistaken transient mercy for principle and stretched the eight mitigations too far. None of the eight mitigation categories covered common murder. [6][7] Mitigating intent is not the same as trading innocent lives for guilty ones. Twisting the code would corrupt the state beyond repair.
91
劭凡為駁議三十篇，皆此類也。
Ying Shao wrote thirty such forensic refutations in all.
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注[一]阻，恃也。 左傳曰，□州吁「阻兵而安忍。」
Commentary [1]: Zu here means to lean on or trust in force. The Zuo Tradition says, [lacuna] Zhou Xu 'relied on arms and bore cruelty with ease.'"
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注[二]召忽，齊大夫。 子糾，齊襄公之庶子也。 子糾與小白爭國，子糾被殺，召忽其傅也，遂死之。 論語孔子論召忽曰：「豈若匹夫匹婦之為諒也，自經於溝瀆而莫之知也。」
Commentary [2]: Shao Hu served as a Qi minister. Prince Jiu was Duke Xiang of Qi's illegitimate son. When Jiu lost the succession struggle to Duke Huan, his tutor Shao Hu died with him. The Analects records Confucius judging Shao Hu: 'Was it like the stubbornness of common men and women, who strangle themselves in ditches and are unknown to anyone?'"
94
注[三]前書，□錯為御史大夫，改更律令，諸侯諠嘩。 錯父聞而非之，曰：「劉氏安而□氏危矣。」 遂飲藥而死。 史記曰，趙母，趙將馬服君趙奢之妻，趙括之母也。 奢死，趙欲以括為將，母謂趙王曰：「王以為括如其父，父子異心，願王勿遣。」 王曰：「吾計決矣。」 括母曰：「王終將之，即有不稱，妾得無隨乎？」 王許諾。 及括敗，王以母先言，竟不誅也。 而班固引之以為□錯贊詞。
Commentary [3]: Chao Cuo's reforms stirred the kingdoms against the throne. Chao's father heard and condemned him, saying, 'The Liu house will be secure while the Chao house is in peril.' The old man poisoned himself in protest. The Records introduce Zhao Kuo's mother, wife of Zhao She. When She died, Zhao wished to make Kuo general; the mother told the king of Zhao, 'If you think Kuo is like his father, father and son have different hearts—I beg you not to send him.' The king said, 'My mind is settled.'" Kuo's mother said, 'If in the end you send him, and there is failure, may I escape punishment?'" The king swore agreement. After Changping the court spared her because she had protested on record. Ban Gu invoked her example in discussing Chao Cuo—though the text is damaged at one graph.
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注[四]言僕妾之致死者，顧由無計慮耳。 語見史記欒布傳贊也。
Commentary [4]: The gloss stresses that such suicides stem from blind passion, not policy. The same point appears in the Shiji encomium on Luan Bu.
96
注[五]左傳鄭大夫游吉之詞。
Commentary [5]: You Ji's Zuo Tradition remark is cited.
97
注[六]周禮小司寇職鄭司農曰：「親，宗室有罪先請也。 故謂舊知也。 賢謂有德行者。 能謂有道蓺者。 功謂有大勳也。 貴謂若今墨綬，有罪先請也。 勤謂憔悴國事。 賓謂二王后。」
Commentary [6]: "The Zhou li gloss explains kin among the eight deliberations. Kin here includes former associates. Worthy denotes moral character. Able denotes technical and ritual competence. Merit covers men of outstanding service. Noble rank matches officials who must be consulted before punishment. Diligence covers ministers exhausted in public toil. Guest covers the two honored descendant houses."
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注[七]左傳曰：「小大之獄，雖不能察，必以情。」 原心定罪，解見霍諝傳也。
Commentary [7]: "The Zuo line on judging by human circumstance is quoted." The gloss on intent-based judgment points to Hu Guang's treatment.
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又刪定律令為漢儀，建安元年乃奏之。 曰：
He condensed statutes into the Han ritual compendium and submitted it in the first year of Jianan. The memorial began:
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夫國之大事，莫尚載籍。 載籍也者，決嫌疑，明是非，[一]賞刑之宜，允獲厥中，俾後之人永為監焉。 故膠* (東) **[西]*相董仲舒老病致仕，朝廷每有政議，數遣廷尉張湯親至陋巷，問其得失。 [二]於是作春秋決獄二百三十二事，動以經對，言之詳矣。 逆臣董卓，蕩覆王室，典憲焚燎，靡有孑遺，開闢以來，莫或茲酷。 [三]今大駕東邁，巡省許都，拔出險難，其命惟新。 臣累世受恩，榮祚豐衍，竊不自揆，貪少雲補，輒撰具律本章句﹑尚書舊事﹑廷尉板令﹑決事比例﹑司徒都目﹑五曹詔書[四]及春秋斷獄凡二百五十篇。 蠲去復重，為之節文。 [五]又集駁議三十篇，以類相從，凡八十二事。 其見漢書二十五，漢記四，[六]皆刪□潤色，以全本體。 其二十六，博采古今纓瑋之士，文章煥炳，德義可觀。 其二十七，臣所創造。 豈繄自謂必合道衷，[七]心焉憤邑，聊以藉手。 [八]昔鄭人以干鼠為璞，鬻之於周； 宋愚夫亦寶燕石，緹□十重。 夫鶯之者掩口盧胡而笑，斯文之族，無乃類旃。 [九]左氏實雲雖有姬姜絲麻，不□憔悴菅蒯，蓋所以代匱也。 [一〇]是用敢露頑才，廁於明哲之末。 雖未足綱紀國體，宣洽時雍，庶幾觀察，增闡聖聽。 惟因萬機之餘暇，游意省覽焉。
No state business outweighs preserving the documentary record. Archives settle doubt, clarify justice, align rewards and penalties with the golden mean, and instruct posterity. Therefore Chancellor Dong— The manuscript gloss marks east for a damaged place-name graph. —Zhongshu retired ill, yet Zhang Tang still walked to his alley for legal advice. [2] From that came 232 Spring-and-Autumn case rulings grounded in canonical text. Dong Zhuo's fires destroyed the Han law library as nothing in history had. [3] With the court removed to Xu, the mandate must be rebuilt from scratch. Your servant's family has received favor for generations, and its honors and blessings have been abundant. Without measuring my own capacity, and greedy to make even a small contribution, I have compiled the basic statutes and their chapter-and-verse explanations, old precedents from the Documents, board ordinances of the Commandant of Justice, analogies from decided cases, the general registers of the Minister over the Masses, edicts to the five bureaus, and Spring and Autumn judicial decisions, 250 sections in all. He removed repetition and imposed a clear structure. [5] Thirty forensic refutations grouped eighty-two topics. [6] Twenty-five pieces echo the Han shu, four the Han ji, all edited for consistency. Twenty-six draw on notable authors old and new. Twenty-seven fascicles are his own composition. He disclaimed perfection yet offered the work as a tool for the throne. [8] He likened himself to the fool who sold sun-dried rats as gems. The Song rustic who cherished worthless Yan stone in silken wraps is a parallel. Listeners laughed behind their sleeves at such pedantry. [9] The Zuo line prefers plain utility over vain splendor. [10] So he humbly offered his compilation to wiser men. It might not reorder the realm yet could broaden the emperor's counsel. He begged the sovereign to read it in spare moments.
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獻帝善之。
Emperor Xian approved the work.
102
注[一]禮記曰：「夫禮者，決嫌疑，明是非。」
Commentary [1]: "The Liji defines ritual as clearing doubt."
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注[二]事見前書。 注[三]或，有也。
Commentary [2]: Dong Zhongshu's consultations appear in the Han shu. Commentary [3]: Huo glosses as existence.
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注[四]司徒即丞相也。 總領綱紀，佐理萬機，故有都目。 成帝初置尚書員五人，漢舊儀有常侍曹﹑二千石曹﹑戶曹﹑主客曹﹑三公曹也。
Commentary [4]: Here the minister of works stands for the chancellor. Hence the office kept master registers of business. Cheng's Secretariat divided into five bureaus listed in Han precedents.
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注[五]復音復，重音直容反。 注[六]即東觀記。
Commentary [5]: Fanqie readings for duplicate graphs are given. Commentary [6]: Han ji means the Eastern Lodge annals.
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注[七]繄音烏兮反。 繄猶是也。 注[八]藉音自夜反。
Commentary [7]: Fanqie for yi. Yi here means 'thus' or 'this.' Commentary [8]: Fanqie for ji.
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注[九]尹文子曰：「鄭人謂玉未琢者為璞，周人謂鼠未臘者為璞。 周人遇鄭賈，人曰：『欲買璞乎？』 鄭賈曰：『欲之。』 出璞視之，乃鼠也，因謝不取。」 戰國策亦然。 今此乃云「鄭人以干鼠為璞」，便與二說不同。 此云「干鼠」，彼云「未臘」，事又差舛。 闕子曰：「宋之愚人得燕石梧台之東，歸而藏之，以為大寶。 周客聞而觀之，主人父齋七日，端冕之衣，釁之以特牲，革匱十重，緹巾十襲。 客見之，俛而掩口盧胡而笑曰：『此燕石也，與瓦甓不殊。』 主人父怒曰：『商賈之言，□匠之心。』 藏之愈固，守之彌謹。」 旃，之也。 □音襲。 緹，赤色繒也。 楚詞曰：「襲英衣兮緹□。」 謂鮮明之衣。
Commentary [9]: "Yin Wenzi tells the pun on pu. The Zhou buyer asked the trader for pu. The merchant agreed. He found a dried rat and walked away abashed." The Zhanguo ce repeats the tale. Now this says 'men of Zheng took dried rats as pu,' which differs from the two accounts. Here it says 'dried rat'; there it said 'unsmoked'—the facts again disagree. Master Que says: 'A fool of Song found Yan stone east of Wutai and brought it home as a great treasure. The host staged a ritual unveiling in brocade and leather cases. The guest laughed that it was mere paving stone. The host fumed at the insult. He only hid the rock more zealously." Commentary: zhan is a pronoun. A damaged graph is read like xi. Ti denotes crimson silk. The Songs of Chu says: 'Put on the bright coat with ti [lacuna].'" The gloss explains vivid garments.
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注[一〇]左傳曰：「詩云：『雖有絲麻，無□菅蒯。 雖有姬﹑姜，無□蕉萃。 凡百君子，莫不代匱。』」 杜注云：「逸詩也。 姬、姜，大國之女。 蕉萃，陋賤之人。」 蕉萃﹑憔* (萃) **[悴]*古字通。
Commentary [10]: "The Zuo quotes a lost ode on preferring coarse cloth. Fine brides are contrasted with humble mates. The ode urges mutual aid among lords." Du's commentary says: 'It is a lost ode. Ji and Jiang mean princesses of great houses. Jiao cui glosses as humble folk." The text parallels jiao cui with qiao— —the graph cui appears in parentheses. The variants are ancient graphic swaps.
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二年，詔拜劭為袁紹軍謀校尉。 時始遷都於許，舊章堙沒，書記罕存。 劭慨然歎息，乃綴集所聞，著漢官禮儀故事，凡朝廷制度，百官典式，多劭所立。
In the second year he became Yuan Shao's strategic colonel. With the move to Xu, precedents were lost and archives thin. He compiled Han bureaucratic ritual; much of what survived was his work.
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初，父奉為司隸時，並下諸官府郡國，各上前人像贊，劭乃連綴其名，錄為狀人紀。 又論當時行事，著中漢輯序。 撰風俗通，以辯物類名號，釋時俗嫌疑。 文雖不典，後世服其洽聞。 凡所著述百三十六篇。 又集解漢書，皆傳於時。 後卒於鄴。
He turned the portrait eulogies his father collected into a biographical register. He also wrote the Middle Han preface on recent events. His Fengsu tong sorted terminology and folk belief. The prose is plain yet later scholars prize his erudition. His corpus totals 136 works. His Han shu commentary also circulated widely. He died at Ye.
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弟子瑒﹑璩，並以文才稱。 [一]
Students Yang and Qu won fame as writers. Endnote marker one.
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注[一]華嶠書曰：「劭弟珣，字季瑜，司空掾。 珣生瑒。」 魏志曰「瑒字德璉，瑒弟璩字休璉，鹹以文章顯」也。
Commentary [1]: "Hua Qiao names brother Ying Xun. Xun was Yang's father." The Wei zhi says Yang styled Deqian and Qu styled Xiuqian—both distinguished in letters.'"
113
中興初，有應嫗者，生四子而寡。 見神光照社，試探之，乃得黃金。 自是諸子宦學，並有才名，至瑒七世通顯。 [一]
Early Eastern Han saw a widow of the Ying clan with four sons. Spirit light on the village altar revealed buried gold. Her line rose for seven generations to Yang's eminence. Endnote marker one.
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注[一]應順，將作大匠； 子疊，江夏太守； 疊生郴，武陵太守； 郴生奉，從事中郎； 奉生劭，車騎將軍掾； 劭弟珣，司空掾； 珣子瑒，曹操闢為丞相掾。
Commentary [1]: The genealogy begins with Ying Shun. Die governed Jiangxia. Chen governed Wuling. Feng served as staff supervisor. Feng begat Ying Shao, aide to the general-in-chief. Xun served the ministry of works. Ying Xun's son Ying Yang became an aide under Cao Cao's chancellery.
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霍諝字叔智，魏郡鄴人也。 少為諸生，明經。 有人誣諝舅宋光於大將軍梁商者，以為妄刊章文，坐系洛陽詔獄，掠考困極。 諝時年十五，奏記於商曰：
Huo Xu, styled Shuzhi, came from Ye in Wei commandery. As a young scholar he mastered the canon. A malice-bearer accused Song Guang, Xu's uncle, of falsifying imperial documents; Guang landed in the Luoyang edict prison under torture. At fifteen Huo Xu addressed Liang Shang in writing.
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將軍天覆厚恩，愍舅光冤結，前者溫教許為平議，雖未下吏斷決其事，已蒙神明顧省之聽。 皇天后土，寔聞德音。 竊獨踴躍，私自慶幸。 諝聞春秋之義，原情定過，赦事誅意，故許止雖弒君而不罪，趙盾以縱賊而見書。 [一]此仲尼所以垂王法，漢世所宜遵前修也。 傳曰：「人心不同，譬若其面。」 [二]斯蓋謂大小窳隆丑美之形，至於鼻目觿竅毛髮之狀，未有不然者也。 情之異者，剛柔舒急倨敬之閒。 至於趨利避害，畏死樂生，亦復均也。 諝與光骨肉，義有相隱，言其冤濫，未必可諒，且以人情平論其理。
He thanked Liang Shang for promising a fair review of Guang's case. Heaven and earth, he said, had heard the general's fairness. He confessed his personal relief. He cited Spring and Autumn doctrine on intent versus deed, naming Xu Zhi and Zhao Dun. [1] Confucius's method, he argued, should guide Han justice. The tradition says: 'Human hearts differ, as do their faces.' [2] Physical variety, he added, mirrors moral variety. Temperaments range from rigid to yielding. Yet all men share instinct for survival and gain. He admitted bias as kin yet asked Liang Shang to judge by common sense.
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注[一]許止，許悼公之子名止也。 公羊傳曰：「冬，葬許悼公。 賊未討何以書葬？ 不成乎弒也。 許悼公是止進藥而殺，是以君子加弒焉。 葬許悼公是君子之赦止。 赦止者，免止罪之辭也。」 何休注云：「原止欲愈父之病，無害父之意，故赦之。」 是原情定過也。 又曰：「晉史書趙盾弒其君。 趙盾曰：『天乎無辜，吾不弒君。』 太史曰：『爾為仁為義，人殺爾君而不討賊，此非弒君如何？』」 此赦事誅意也。
Commentary [1]: Identifies Xu Zhi of the Xu Zhi case. The Gongyang says: 'In winter they buried Duke Dao of Xu. The classic asks why burial is recorded before the regicide is avenged. The answer: the act was not treated as murder. Zhi's fatal dose is labeled regicide in the text. The burial line shows mercy toward Zhi. Forgiveness here means no criminal label." He Xiu's commentary says: 'Tracing Zhi's wish to heal his father, he had no mind to harm his father—therefore forgive him.'" That illustrates judging by motive. It also says: 'The Jin scribe wrote that Zhao Dun assassinated his lord. Zhao Dun protested his innocence. The scribe answered that failing to avenge regicide is itself regicide." That exemplifies punishing intent over deed.
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注[二]左傳鄭子產謂子皮曰：「人心不同，譬如面焉。 吾豈敢謂子面如吾面乎？」
Commentary [2]: "Zichan's remark in the Zuo is cited. Zichan denied that all faces—or hearts—match."
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光衣冠子孫，逕路平易，[一]位極州郡，日望征辟，亦無瑕穢纖介之累，無故刊定詔書，欲以何名？ 就有所疑，當求其便安，豈有觸冒死禍，以解細微？ 譬猶療饑於附子，止渴於酖毒，未入腸胃，已絕咽喉，豈可為哉！ [二]昔東海孝婦見枉不辜，幽靈感革，天應枯旱。 [三]光之所坐，情既可原，守闕連年，而終不見理。 呼嗟紫宮之門，泣血兩觀之下，[四]傷和致災，為害滋甚。 凡事更赦令，不應復案。 夫以罪刑明白，尚蒙天恩，豈有冤謗無征，反不得理？ 是為刑宥正罪，戮加誣侵也。 不偏不黨，其若是乎？ 明將軍德盛位尊，人臣無二，言行動天地，舉厝移陰陽，誠能留神，沛然曉察，必有於公高門之福，[五]和氣立應，天下幸甚。
[1] Song Guang was a clean official who needed no forgery for career gain. Had he doubted a text, he would have sought a safe fix, not capital crime. Forging an edict to solve a small problem was suicidal folly. [2] He cited the Donghai widow whose false conviction brought three years of drought. [3] Guang's case deserved review, yet he languished unheard. [4] Injustice at court, he warned, skewed cosmic harmony. Amnesties should not be reopened on whim. Clear criminals win mercy sometimes; how much more a framed innocent? That would spare the guilty and kill the wrongly accused. He appealed to impartial justice. [5] He flattered Liang Shang while begging him to act as the just minister Yu Gong once was.
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注[一]謂遵依常轍，無所規求也。
Commentary [1]: Guang walked the straight path of office.
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注[二]史記蘇秦曰：「饑人之所以饑而不食烏喙者，以其愈充腹而與餓死者同患也。」 附子﹑烏喙，根同而狀異也。
Commentary [2]: "Su Qin compared desperate remedies to poisoned food." The gloss notes aconite variants share one rhizome.
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注[三]前書曰，東海有孝婦，少寡無子，養姑甚謹，姑欲嫁之，終不肯。 姑告□人曰：「孝婦養我勤苦，我老，久累丁壯。」 乃自經死。 姑女告吏曰：「婦殺我母。」 吏驗之急，孝婦自誣服，具獄上府，太守竟論殺婦。 郡中枯旱三年。 後太守至，自祭孝婦墓，天立大雨，歲熟。
Commentary [3]: The Donghai widow legend begins. The mother-in-law told [lacuna] people: 'The filial woman tends me with bitter toil; I am old and long burden her prime years.' She hanged herself to free the younger woman. The mother-in-law's daughter told the clerk: 'The woman killed my mother.'" Officials tortured a confession from the innocent widow and executed her. Donghai then suffered three years of drought. A new magistrate sacrificed at her grave; rain fell and the harvest returned.
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注[四]天有紫微宮，是上帝之所居也。 王者立宮，像而為之。 兩觀謂闕也。
Commentary [4]: The Purple Palace symbolizes the high throne. The royal palace mirrored Heaven's court. The twin gate towers stood for the palace gate.
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注[五]於公，東海人，為郡決曹，決獄平。 其閭門壞，父老共修之。 於公曰：「少高大閭門，令容駟馬蓋車。 我決獄多有陰德，子孫必有興者。」 至子定國為丞相，孫永御史大夫。
Commentary [5]: Yu Gong of Donghai was a famously just sentencing clerk. Neighbors rebuilt his broken gate. Yu Gong said: 'Raise the lane gate a little higher so it may admit a four-horse carriage with canopy. He prophesied honor for his line because of his secret justice." His son became chancellor and his grandson imperial counselor.
125
商高諝才志，即為奏原光罪，由是顯名。
Liang Shang, impressed, cleared Song Guang and made Huo Xu famous.
126
仕郡，舉孝廉，稍遷金城太守。 性明達篤厚，能以恩信化誘殊俗，甚為羌胡所敬服。 遭母憂，自上歸行喪。 服闋，公車征，再遷北海相，入為尚書僕射。 是時大將軍梁冀貴戚秉權，自公卿以下莫敢違啎。 諝與尚書令尹勳數奏其事，又因陛見陳聞罪失。 及冀誅後，桓帝嘉其忠節，封鄴都亭侯。 前後固讓，不許。
He rose from commandery service to governor of Jincheng. As governor he won tribal peoples by kindness and was deeply respected. He resigned to mourn his mother. After mourning the court recalled him to Beihai chancellorship and then vice director of the Secretariat. Under Liang Ji's dictatorship no minister dared resist. Huo Xu and Yin Xun kept impeaching Liang Ji at audience. After Ji's fall Emperor Huan ennobled Huo Xu for loyalty. He tried to refuse the fief but the throne insisted.
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出為河南尹，遷司隸校尉，轉少府﹑廷尉，卒官。 子鑈，安定太守。
He capped his career as minister of justice and died in harness. His son Huo Jun governed Anding.
128
爰延字季平，陳留外黃人也。 清苦好學，能通經教授。 性質□，少言辭。 縣令隴西牛述好士知人，乃禮請延為廷掾，范丹為功曹，濮陽潛為主簿，[一]常共言談而已。 後令史昭以為鄉嗇夫，仁化大行，人但聞嗇夫，不知郡縣。 在事二年，州府禮請，不就。 桓帝時征博士，太尉楊秉等舉賢良方正，再遷為侍中。
Yuan Yan, styled Jiping, came from Waihuang in Chenliu. He lived austerely, loved study, and taught the canon. He was plain-spoken and laconic, though one graph in the text is damaged. [1] Magistrate Niu Shu of Longxi hired him as commandant's clerk alongside Fan Dan and Puyang Qian for conversation and counsel. As village overseer his moral sway was so strong that locals knew his name above the county. After two years higher offices called him, but he stayed put. Emperor Huan summoned him as erudite; Yang Bing nominated him worthy and upright, and he rose to palace attendant.
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注[一]濮陽，姓也。
Commentary [1]: Puyang is the clan name, not the place.
130
帝游上林苑，從容問延曰：「朕何如主也？」 對曰：「陛下為漢中主。」 帝曰：「何以言之？」 對曰：「尚書令陳蕃任事則化，中常侍黃門豫政則亂，是以知陛下可與為善，可與為非。」 [一]帝曰：「昔朱雲廷折欄檻，今侍中面稱朕違，敬聞闕矣。」 [二]拜五官中郎將，轉長水校尉，遷魏郡太守，征拜大鴻臚。
The emperor toured the Shanglin Park and calmly asked Yan: 'What sort of ruler am I?' He answered: 'Your Majesty is a middling ruler of Han.'" The emperor said: 'Why do you say that?' He answered: 'When Minister Secretariat Director Chen Fan handles affairs there is transformation; when palace attendants and yellow gates anticipate government there is chaos—therefore I know Your Majesty can be led to good and can be led to evil.'" [1] The emperor said: 'Formerly Zhu Yun in court broke the railing; now the attendant in person calls my fault—I respectfully hear the omission.'" [2] He then rose through military and civil posts to grand herald.
131
注[一]前書曰：「齊桓公，管仲相之則霸，豎貂輔之則亂。 可與為善，可與為惡，是謂中人。」
Commentary [1]: "The Han history compares good and evil ministers to Guan Zhong and Shu Diao. That defines a middling ruler swayed by counselors."
132
注[二]朱雲字游。 成帝時上書求見，曰：「今朝廷大臣，上不能匡主，下無以益人，臣願賜尚方斬馬□，斷佞臣一人，以勵其餘。」 上問曰：「誰也？」 對曰：「安昌侯張禹。」 上大怒曰：「小臣廷辱師傅，罪死不赦。」 御史將雲下，雲□殿檻折。 雲呼曰：「臣得從龍逢﹑比干游於地下足矣，未知朝廷如何耳！」 上意乃解。 及後當修檻，上曰「勿易」，因而輯之，以旌直臣。
Commentary [2]: Zhu Yun, styled You. In Emperor Cheng's time he submitted a memorial asking audience, saying: 'Now the great ministers of court above cannot correct the ruler and below cannot benefit the people—I beg to be granted the Shangfang beheading saber to cut off one flattering minister and encourage the rest.'" The emperor asked: 'Who?' He answered: 'Marquis Anchang Zhang Yu.'" The emperor grew angry and said: 'A petty minister insults my tutor in court—death cannot pardon the crime.'" As guards dragged him away he snapped the palace railing. Yun shouted: 'If I may follow Longfeng and Bigan in the underworld it is enough—I do not know what will become of the court!' The emperor relented. Later when they were to repair the railing, the emperor said 'Do not replace it' and thereupon patched it, thereby displaying the straight minister.
133
帝以延儒生，常特宴見。 時太史令上言客星經帝坐，帝密以問延。 延因上封事曰：「臣聞天子尊無為上，故天以為子，位臨臣庶，威重四海。 動靜以禮，則星辰順序； 意有邪僻，則晷度錯違。 陛下以河南尹鄧萬有龍潛之舊，封為通侯，恩重公卿，惠豐宗室。 加頃引見，與之對博，上下媟黷，有虧尊嚴。 臣聞之，帝左右者，所以咨政德也。 故周公戒成王曰『其朋其朋』，言慎所與也。 [一]昔宋閔公與強臣共博，列婦人於側，積此無禮，以致大□。 [二]武帝與幸臣李延年﹑韓嫣同臥起，尊爵重賜，情慾無猒，遂生驕淫之心，行不義之事，卒延年被戮，嫣伏其辜。 [三]夫愛之則不覺其過，惡之則不知其善，所以事多放濫，物情生怨。
Emperor Huan often feasted Yuan Yan alone as a scholar-favorite. When a stray star crossed the throne asterism, the emperor quietly asked Yuan Yan what it meant. Yan thereupon submitted a sealed memorial, saying: 'I have heard the Son of Heaven is honored as none above—therefore Heaven makes him son; his position overlooks ministers and commoners; his awesome might fills the four seas. Right conduct keeps the constellations in harmony; wicked intent throws the calendar and omens out of true. Emperor Huan ennobled Deng Wan, an old companion from before the throne, beyond normal ministerial favor. He added that gambling with Wan in public shamed the throne. Court companions should refine policy, not dice games. He quoted the Documents' warning about friends of the ruler. [1] Duke Min of Song's fatal dice game illustrated the danger. [2] Emperor Wu's intimacy with singers ended in executions. [3] Passion blinds rulers to fault and merit alike.
134
故王者賞人必酬其功，爵人必甄其德。 [四]善人同處，則日聞嘉訓； 惡人從游，則日生邪情。 孔子曰：『益者三友，損者三友。』 [五]邪臣惑君，亂妾危主，以非所言則悅於耳，以非所行則翫於目，故令人君不能遠之。 仲尼曰：『唯女子與小人為難養，近之則不遜，遠之則怨。』 蓋聖人之明戒也！ 昔光武皇帝與嚴光俱寢，上天之異，其夕即見。 [六]夫以光武之聖德，嚴光之高賢，君臣合道，尚降此變，豈況陛下今所親幸，以賤為貴，以卑為尊哉？ 惟陛下遠讒諛之人，納謇謇之士，除左右之權，寤宦官之敝。 使積善日熙，[七]佞惡消殄，則干□可除。」 帝省其奏。 因以病自上，乞骸骨還家。 靈帝復特徵，不行，病卒。
True kings match rank to proven virtue and service. [4] Good company improves the ruler daily; evil company corrupts him. He quoted Confucius on the three good and three bad friendships. [5] Flatterers and palace women ensnare the sovereign's senses. He cited Confucius on the difficulty of managing women and petty men. That was the sage's blunt warning. Even Guangwu sleeping with recluse Yan Guang drew a heavenly portent. [6] If even that virtuous pair drew omens, how much riskier were Huan's low-born favorites? He begged Huan to shun flatterers, hear upright men, and clip eunuch power. [7] Virtue would dispel the drought omens. Emperor Huan read the memorial. Yuan Yan then resigned on grounds of illness. Emperor Ling called him again; he stayed home and died.
135
注[一]尚書周公戒成王曰：「孺子其朋，孺子其朋，慎其往！」
Commentary [1]: "The Documents passage on companions is cited."
136
注[二]公羊經書「宋萬弒其君捷」。 傳曰：「宋萬嘗與魯莊公戰，獲於莊公，歸捨諸宮中，數月然後歸之。 與宋閔公博，婦人在側，萬曰：『甚矣魯侯之淑，魯侯之美！ 天下諸侯宜為君者唯魯侯爾。』 閔公矜此婦人，妒其言，顧曰：『此虜也，魯侯之美惡乎至？』 萬怒，搏閔公，絕其脰。」
Commentary [2]: "Song Wan's crime heads the Gongyang note." The commentary says: 'Song Wan once fought Duke Zhuang of Lu, was captured by Zhuang, lodged in the palace several months, then was returned. At dice Wan praised Duke Zhuang of Lu while a woman watched. Wan said only Lu's duke deserved the throne. Min jealously sneered that Wan was a prisoner praising Lu. Wan murdered Min in rage."
137
注[三]李延年，中山人也。 身及父母兄弟皆故倡人也。 武帝時，延年女弟得幸，號曰李夫人。 延年善歌舞，為協律都尉，佩二千石印綬，與上臥起。 弟季與中人亂，出入驕恣，上遂誅延年兄弟。 韓嫣，韓王信之曾孫也。 武帝為王時，與嫣相愛，後位至上大夫，賞賜擬鄧通，與上臥起，出入永巷，以奸聞被誅。
Commentary [3]: Li Yannian's origin. His whole family were performers. His sister became Lady Li. He rose to music director with ministerial rank and shared the emperor's bed. His brother's scandal cost the whole family their lives. Han Yan descended from Han Xin. Yan had been Wu's boyhood favorite until scandal brought execution.
138
注[四]甄，明也。
Commentary [4]: Zhen means to judge clearly.
139
注[五]論語孔子曰：「友直，友諒，友多聞，益矣。 友便僻，友善柔，友便佞，損矣。」
Commentary [5]: "Confucius lists three good friends. Befriend the devious, the ingratiating, and the glib, and you will suffer harm—these are the three kinds of friends that injure you."
140
注[六]事見逸人傳。 注[七]熙，廣也。
Commentary [6]: Yan Guang's story is in the recluse tradition. Commentary [7]: Xi glosses as broad or spreading.
141
子驥，白馬令，亦稱善士。 [一]
His son Yuan Ji governed Baima and won a good name. Endnote marker.
142
注[一]謝承書曰興字驥。
Commentary [1]: Xie Cheng gives the son's style as Ji.
143
徐璆字孟玉，[一]廣陵海西人也。 父淑，度遼將軍，有名於邊。 [二]璆少博學，辟公府，舉高第。 [三]稍遷荊州刺史。 時董太后姊子張忠為南陽太守，因埶放濫，臧罪數億。 璆臨當之部，太后遣中常侍以忠屬璆。 璆對曰：「臣身為國，不敢聞命。」 太后怒，遽征忠為司隸校尉，以相威臨。 璆到州，舉奏忠臧余一億，使冠軍縣上簿詣大司農，以彰暴其事。 又奏五郡太守及屬縣有臧污者，悉征案罪，威風大行。 中平元年，與中郎將朱儁擊黃巾賊於宛，破之。 張忠怨璆，與諸閹官構造無端，璆遂以罪征。 有破賊功，得免官歸家。 後再征，遷汝南太守，轉東海相，所在化行。
Xu Qiu, styled Mengyu, came from Haixi in Guangling. His father Xu Shu was the famous frontier general. [2] Young Xu Qiu read widely, entered the bureaucracy, and ranked top in evaluation. [3] He rose to regional inspector of Jingzhou. Zhang Zhong, the empress's nephew, looted Nanyang. The empress dowager sent a eunuch to ask Qiu to spare Zhong. Qiu answered: 'Your servant's person belongs to the state—I dare not heed private orders.' She retaliated by promoting Zhong to metropolitan commandant over Qiu. Qiu impeached Zhong anyway and sent the books to the minister of finance. He purged five corrupt prefects and their counties. In Zhongping 1 he joined Zhu Jun to crush rebels at Wan. Zhong and eunuchs framed Xu Qiu. His military merit won him dismissal instead of worse punishment. He later governed Runan and Donghai with the same transforming touch.
144
注[一]璆音仇。
Commentary [1]: Fanqie note on the name.
145
注[二]謝承書曰：「淑字伯進，寬裕* (傳) **[博]*學，習孟氏易、春秋公羊傳、禮記、周官。 善誦太公六韜，交接英雄，常有壯志。」
Commentary [2]: "Xie Cheng begins praise of Xu Shu— The manuscript inserts the graph zhuan in parentheses. —calling him learned in the classics and military texts. He knew the Tai Gong's six arts and befriended bold men."
146
注[三]袁山松書曰：「璆少履清高，立朝正色。 稱揚後進，惟恐不及。」
Commentary [3]: "Yuan Shansong praises his integrity. He promoted juniors zealously."
147
獻帝遷許，以廷尉征，當詣京師，道為袁術所劫，授璆以上公之位。 璆乃歎曰：「龔勝、鮑宣，獨何人哉？ 守之必死！」 [一]術不敢逼。 術死軍破，璆得其盜國璽，及還許，上之，[二]並送前所假汝南、東海二郡印綬。 司徒趙溫謂璆曰：「君遭大難，猶存此邪？」 璆曰：「昔蘇武困於匈奴，不隊七尺之節，況此方寸印乎？」
En route to Xu, Yuan Shu kidnapped him and offered a princely title. Qiu thereupon sighed: 'Gong Sheng, Bao Xuan—what manner of men were they? He swore he would die before yielding." [1] Yuan Shu dared not press him. After Shu's fall Qiu brought the imperial seal and borrowed seals back to Xu. Director of works Zhao Wen said to Qiu: 'You met great disaster—yet you still keep this?' Qiu said: 'Formerly Su Wu was trapped among the Xiongnu yet did not drop his seven-foot tassel—how much more this square-inch seal?'"
148
注[一]龔勝字君賓，楚人也。 好學明經，哀帝時為光祿大夫，乞骸骨。 王莽即位，遣使以上卿征，勝不食而死。 鮑宣字子都，渤海人也，哀帝時為司隸校尉。 王莽輔政，誅漢忠臣不附己者，宣及何武等皆死。
Note [1] Gong Sheng, courtesy Junbin, came from the old Chu lands. A devoted classicist, he served Emperor Ai as grand master of ceremonials before asking leave to retire. When Wang Mang took the throne he summoned Gong Sheng as a senior minister; Gong refused food until he died. Bao Xuan, courtesy Zidu, was a Bohai native who served Emperor Ai as metropolitan commandant. While Wang Mang dominated the court he executed Han loyalists who would not bow—including Bao Xuan and He Wu.
149
注[二]□宏曰：「秦以前以金、玉、銀為方寸璽。 秦以來天子獨稱璽，又以玉，腢下莫得用。 其玉出藍田山，題是李斯書，其文曰『受命於天，既壽永昌』，號曰傳國璽。 漢高祖定三秦，子嬰獻之，高祖即位乃佩之。 王莽篡位，就元後求璽，後乃出以投地，上螭一角缺。 及莽敗時，仍帶璽紱，杜吳殺莽，不知取璽，公賓就斬莽首，並取璽。 更始將李松送上更始。 赤眉至高陵，更始奉璽上赤眉。 建武三年，盆子奉以上光武。 孫堅從桂陽入雒討董卓，軍於城南，見井中有五色光，軍人莫敢汲，堅乃浚得璽。 袁術有僭盜意，乃拘堅妻求之。 術得璽，舉以向肘。 魏武謂之曰：『我在，不聽汝乃至此。』」 時璆得而獻之。
Note [2] □ Hong said: "Before Qin used gold, jade, silver for square-cun seals. Under Qin only the Son of Heaven's seal was called a xi, and only jade sufficed—subject officials could not use one; the graph before "below" is corrupt in the text. The stone came from Mount Lantian with an inscription in Li Si's hand: "Received from Heaven: long life and enduring glory"—the heirloom seal of state. After Gaozu pacified the Three Qin, Ziying surrendered the seal and Gaozu wore it from his accession onward. When Wang Mang seized the throne he demanded the seal from Grand Empress Dowager Yuan; she flung it down and chipped one horn of the knob. At Wang Mang's fall he still wore the seal cord; Du Wu slew Mang without thinking to seize the seal; Gongbin Jiu cut off Mang's head and took it. General Li Song of the Gengshi regime delivered it to Emperor Gengshi. When the Red Eyebrows reached Gaoling, Emperor Gengshi surrendered the seal to them. In Jianwu 3 Liu Penzi handed it up to Emperor Guangwu. Sun Jian marched from Guiyang into Luoyang against Dong Zhuo and camped south of the city: a well showed five-colored light—no soldier would draw water until Sun Jian dredged up the seal. Yuan Shu coveted the throne and held Sun Jian's wife hostage until the seal was yielded. Once Yuan Shu had the seal he brandished it—the phrase "toward elbow" is likely corrupt (perhaps read xu for Xu capital). Cao Cao told him, "While I live I would never have let you climb so high." Later Xu Qiu recovered it and presented it to the throne.
150
後拜太常，使持節拜曹操為丞相。 操以相讓璆，璆不敢當。 卒於官。
He later carried the staff to appoint Cao Cao chancellor. Cao Cao offered him the post; he refused. He died in office.
151
論曰：孫懿以高明見忌，而受欺於陰計； 翟酺資譎數取通，而終之以謇諫。 豈性智自有周偏，先後之要殊度乎？ 應氏七世才聞，而奉、劭采章為盛。 及撰著篇籍，甄紀異知，雖雲小道，亦有可觀者焉。 延、璆應對辯正，而不* (可) *犯陵上之尤，斯固辭之不可以已也。 [一]
The historian judges Sun Yi credulous, Zhai Pu wily, yet Zhai ended as a straight speaker. Perhaps timing and temperament simply differ. The Ying clan shone for seven generations, especially Feng and Shao. Their reference works, though minor genres, reward reading. Yuan Yan and Xu Qiu spoke truth to power without— The text marks a damaged graph read ke. —without crossing into lethal insult; remonstrance could not be abandoned. Endnote marker.
152
注[一]左氏傳孔子曰：「辭之不可以已也如是夫！ 子產有辭，諸侯賴之。」
Commentary [1]: "Confucius praised Zichan's unstoppable counsel. Zichan's eloquence steadied the age."
153
贊曰：楊終、李法，華陽有聞。 [一]二應克聰，亦表汝濆。 [二]翟酺詐懿，霍諝請舅。 延能訐帝，璆亦啎後。
The eulogy praises Yang Zhong and Li Fa in the west. [1] The two Yings likewise glittered along the Ru River. [2] Zhai tricked Sun; Huo pleaded for Song Guang. Yuan Yan faced the emperor; Xu Qiu defied empress pressure.
154
注[一]益州，古梁州之域。 尚書曰：「華陽黑水惟梁州。」 孔安國注曰：「北拒華山之陽，南拒黑水。」 故常璩□蜀事而謂之華陽國志焉。
Commentary [1]: Yizhou corresponds to ancient Liangzhou. The Shang shu says: 'South of Huayang, north of Blackwater—that is Liangzhou.'" Kong Anguo's commentary says: 'North reaching the sunny side of Mount Hua, south reaching Blackwater.'" Hence Chang Qu titled his regional history Huayang guo zhi.
155
注[二]鄭玄注周禮曰：「水涯曰濆。」
Commentary [2]: "Fen means a riverbank—here the Ru ford."
156
校勘記
The heading marks the collation section.
157
一五九七頁一二行民懷土思群書治要「民」作「人」。 按：作「人」是，此蓋後人回改而誤者。
Collation: "variant ren for min in an quoted line." Commentary: "writing ren is correct; this is probably a later mistaken emendation back to min."
158
一六〇〇頁二行豈可不臨深履薄以為至戒按：王先謙謂末有復語，疑此衍文。
Collation: possible redundant phrase in Yang Zhong's letter.
159
一六〇〇頁四行鑒念前往按：殿本「往」作「世」。
Collation: "variant graph in Ma Liao warning."
160
一六〇〇頁八行晉侯殺其太子申生至直稱君者甚之也按：章懷引經傳多刪節，此注所引，與公羊傳原文更多出入。 公羊傳原文作「晉侯殺其世子申生。 曷為直稱晉侯以殺？ 殺世子母弟直稱君者甚之也」。
Collation: Zhang's Gongyang quotes are abridged versus the received classic. Collation: "the received Gongyang wording on Jin and Shensheng. Collation continues the Gongyang question. Collation cites the Gongyang answer on naming the ruler."
161
一六〇〇頁一一行廖子防及光俱為黃門郎按：沉家本謂光、防乃廖弟，非廖子，注謬。 此傳上文言廖不訓諸子，下文言廖不納，子豫後坐縣書誹謗，廖以就國，則終所稱黃門郎即指廖子豫，廖傳不言豫為黃門郎，史文不具耳。 下文「視成任性」注引馬防傳云云，亦誤。
Collation: Ma Fang and Guang were brothers of Liao, not sons. Collation: reconciles yellow-gate reference with Ma Yu. The note below on "shi cheng ren xing" citing Ma Fang's tradition is also mistaken.
162
一六〇〇頁一二行選長者之有節行者與之居按：史記外戚傳作「選長者士之有節行者與居」。
Collation: "Shiji variant with shi inserted."
163
一六〇三頁七行此最安危*[之極]*戒據汲本、殿本補。
Collation: textual restoration of ji.
164
一六〇四頁二行權並族害* (屍) **[己]*奸行據汲本、殿本改。
Collation: damaged line in apocryphon— —gloss inserts shi. —editors restore ji for wicked conduct.
165
一六〇四頁八行斂天下之財按：「天」下原脫「下」字，逕據汲本、殿本補。
Page 1604 line 8: "gathering the realm's wealth—the character xia after tian was missing and is supplied from editions."
166
一六〇五頁六行叛羌千餘騎徙敦煌來鈔郡界按：刊誤謂案文「徙」當作「從」。
Collation: xi should be cong meaning 'from.'
167
一六〇五頁一三行* (宜升) **[斗]*歷改憲*[宜]*行先王至德要道校補引錢大昭說，謂「升」當作「斗」，見春秋保干圖。 校補謂案續志律歷中篇論歷，凡三引保干圖讖文，皆作「三百年斗歷改憲」。 所謂斗歷者，即古法冬至日在建星，建星謂北斗也。 歲十二月以配天之十二辰，取斗杓所指為驗，閏月無中氣，則北斗邪指兩辰之閒，以定四時而成歲。 漢興迄章帝，改用四分歷，適當三百年，已應斗歷改憲之讖矣。 輔本謂漢更有四百年之難，其數即起於三百年改憲之閒，宜豫修省，以銷其禍，則注引耆舊傳「宜」字，並當在「斗歷改憲」下也。 今據改。
Collation marks asterisk in commentary. Collation gloss yi sheng. Collation: "dou for calendar omen." The collation supplement says the Xu Han treatise on pitchpipes and calendar quotes the Baogan tu thrice with 'three hundred years, dou calendar change constitution.' Collation explains dou as Dipper-based reckoning. Collation glosses intercalation via Dipper. Collation links Han calendar reform to the prophecy. "Fu editions say Han would face another four-hundred-year crisis beginning from the three-hundred-year calendar change—so the yi character in the Yibu qijiu zhuan quotation should stand below dou calendar change." Collation states the emendation is adopted.
168
一六〇六頁一行上檄章救酺按：殿本考證王會汾謂上移下曰檄，此止可言上章耳，不應有「檄」字，明衍。
Collation: "xi in memorial title is likely error."
169
一六〇六頁四行孝文皇帝始置一經博士汲本「一經」作「五經」。 惠校本作「一經」，惠所據乃北宋本也。 集解引周壽昌說，謂據王氏玉海引此，作「文帝始置一經博士」，殆宋本此書有作「一經」者，非「五經」也。 今按：證以章懷注，則作「五經」為合，作「一經」者，殆後人以文帝未嘗於五經□置博士而改之耳。
Collation: "one versus five classics debate." Hui's collation keeps "one classic," matching Northern Song. Collected notes cite Zhou Shouchang: "Wang Yuhai quotes this as Wen establishing one-classics doctors—Northern Song had one classic, not five." Now judged against Zhang's commentary, "five classics" fits; "one classic" is probably a later change because Wen had not yet set five-classics chairs.
170
一六〇七頁一一行行部四十二縣按：集解引錢大昕說，謂郡國志汝南郡領三十七城，此云「四十二」，未詳。
Page 1607 line 11: "touring forty-two counties—Qian Daxin notes the commandery gazetteer lists only thirty-seven cities; forty-two is unexplained."
171
一六〇七頁一四行奉少為上計吏按：刊誤謂「吏」當作「史」。
Collation: "li versus shi for clerk title."
172
一六〇八頁一六行富* (臣) **[辰]*諫曰據汲本改。
Collation damaged fu line— —gloss chen. —restores minister Chen's name.
173
一六〇九頁一行喪婦之長女不娶為其不受命也按：李慈銘謂「喪婦」當作「喪父」。 今韓詩外傳無此文。 何氏公羊莊二十七年解詁與此略同，惟「為其不受命也」作「無教戒也」。 大戴禮本命篇又小異。
Page 1609 line 1: "eldest daughter of a widow not taken because she does not receive command—Li Ciming says sang fu should be sang fu meaning widowed father." Collation notes missing Han shi passage. He Xiu's Gongyang Zhuang 27 commentary matches this roughly except 'does not receive command' reads 'lacks instruction.' Collation cites Da Dai li variant.
174
一六〇九頁三行數萬言按：汲本作「數十萬言」。
Collation: "tenfold figure variant."
175
一六〇九頁六行謝承書* (曰) *應氏譜並雲字仲遠據刊誤刪。
Collation break in Xie Cheng— —insert yue. Collation removes erroneous phrase.
176
一六〇九頁六行漢官儀又作*[仲]*瑗據汲本、殿本補。
Collation restores graph in style name.
177
一六一一頁四行夫時化則刑重按：集解引錢大昕說，謂案漢書刑法志「治則刑重，亂則刑輕」。 此傳及注中「化」字本是「治」字，唐人諱治，故章懷注范史，多改「治」為「理」，亦有改為「化」者，「世」皆改為「代」，亦有改為「時」者，此傳下文「時輕時重」是也。
Collation: "hua versus zhi Tang taboo issue." Editors explain that graphs read hua in this biography and its commentary originally stood for zhi (to govern); Tang dynasty taboo on the emperor's name replaced zhi with li (to order), sometimes with hua (to transform), while shi (age) became dai (generation) or occasionally shi (season)—which is why the line below reads 'punishments are at times light, at times heavy.'
178
一六一二頁八行顧由是無計慮耳按：汲本、殿本「由無」作「無由」。
Collation: "word order in gloss."
179
一六一二頁一四行故膠* (東) **[西]*相董仲舒按：集解引錢大昕說，謂「膠東」當作「膠西」。 今據改。
Collation on Dong Zhongshu line— —east gloss. Collation: "Jiaoxi not Jiaodong." Collation adopts Jiaoxi.
180
一六一三頁六行斯文之族按：汲本「族」作「俗」。
Collation: "zu versus su."
181
一六一四頁一一行惟* (萃) **[悴]*古字通據汲本、殿本改。
Collation lacuna wei— —cui gloss. Collation restores cui.
182
一六一四頁一五行釋時俗嫌疑按：汲本「釋」作「識」。
Collation: "shi versus shi variant."
183
一六一四頁一六行皆傳於時按：「於」原作「乎」，逕據汲本、殿本改。
Collation: "yu versus hu preposition."
184
一六一五頁一行弟子瑒按：原本正文及注「瑒」字皆斗「宜」，各本不誤，逕改正。
Page 1615 line 1: "disciple Yang—original text and notes wrote wrong graph for Yang, editions correct."
185
一六一五頁二行瑒字德璉按：原於「璉」作「□」，□不成字，據汲本、殿本徑改正。
Page 1615 line 2: "Yang styled Deqian—original had lacuna on lian, corrected per editions."
186
一六一六頁一五行謂遵依常轍按：「謂」原斗「論」，「勂」原斗「徹」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。
Page 1616 line 15: "meaning follow usual rut—wei was dou lun, che was dou che, corrected per editions."
187
一六一七頁一行不食烏喙按：「喙」原斗「啄」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。 下同。
Page 1617 line 1: "not eating wuhui—hui was dou zhuo, corrected per editions." Collation: same fix below.
188
一六一七頁六行令容駟馬蓋車按：「令」原斗「今」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。
Page 1617 line 6: "order the gate to admit four-horse carriage—ling was dou jin, corrected per editions."
189
一六一七頁一三行子鑈按：汲本、殿本「鑈」作「雋」。
Collation: "son's name Jun versus Xun."
190
一六一八頁三行在事二年按：汲本、殿本「二」作「三」。
Collation: "two versus three years."
191
一六一八頁七行尚書令陳蕃任事則化按：御覽四二七、四五二引，「化」並作「治」，此亦避唐諱改。
Collation: "hua for zhi in Yuan Yan memorial."
192
一六一八頁八行昔朱雲廷折欄檻按：刊誤謂案文「廷」下少「爭」字。
Page 1618 line 8: "formerly Zhu Yun in court broke the railing—Kanwu says ting lacks zheng."
193
一六一九頁二行河南尹鄧萬按：集解引王補說，謂通鑒作「鄧萬世」，本書鄧後、陳蕃傳引並作「鄧萬世」。 又引惠棟說，謂唐諱「世」，故削之，猶「韓擒虎」為「韓擒」也。
Collation: "Deng Wan versus Deng Wanshi." Further cites Huidong: "Tang taboo on shi cuts shi, like Han Qinhu becoming Han Qin."
194
一六一九頁七行爵人必甄其德按：「必」原斗「以」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。
Page 1619 line 7: "ennobling men must zhen their virtue—bi was dou yi, corrected per editions."
195
一六二〇頁四行出入驕恣按：「驕」原斗「嬌」，逕據汲本、殿本改正。
Page 1620 line 4: "coming and going arrogant zi—jiao was dou jiao, corrected per editions."
196
一六二〇頁一二行徐璆字孟玉殿本「玉」作「本」。 按：集解引洪亮吉說，謂案先賢行狀作「孟平」，汝南先賢傳作「孟玉」。 校補謂洪氏歷舉孟平、孟玉兩說，知所見本正文亦必作「孟本」。
Collation: "Mengyu versus Mengben." Commentary: "Hong Liangji cites Xianxian xingzhuang as Mengping and Ru nan xianxian zhuan as Mengyu." Collation supplement says Hong listed both Mengping and Mengyu, so his text must have read Mengben; note should read 'also styled Mengyu.'
197
一六二一頁三行構造無端按：「構」原斗「構」，逕改正。
Page 1621 line 3: "fabricating without basis—gou was miswritten as gou, corrected."
198
一六二一頁五行璆音仇按：殿本此下有「字孟玉」三字。 校補謂殿本就監本改刊，其正文作「字孟本」，注當是「一作字孟玉」，脫「一作」二字。
Collation: "Palace adds style to phonetic note." Collation supplement says Palace changed base text to Mengben and note should read 'also styled Mengyu' with yi zuo dropped.
199
一六二一頁六行寬裕* (傳) **[博]*學據汲本、殿本改。
Collation Xu Shu note— —zhuan gloss. Collation restores bo for learning.