1
荀淑字季和，穎川穎陰人 (也) ，荀卿十一世孫也。 〈卿名況，趙人也。 為楚蘭陵令。 著書二十二篇，號荀卿子。 避宣帝諱，故改曰「孫」也。〉 少有高行，博學而不好章句，多為俗儒所非，而州里稱其知人。
Xun Shu, styled Jihe, came from Yingyin in Yingchuan Commandery. (This particle closes the clause identifying him; English absorbs it into the preceding sentence.) He was the eleventh-generation descendant of Xun Qing. 〈Xun Qing's personal name was Kuang; he was a native of Zhao. He held office as magistrate of Lanling in the state of Chu. He authored twenty-two works and came to be known as Master Xun. To honor the taboo on Emperor Xuan's name, the character used for the clan was therefore written as 'Sun.'〉 From an early age he showed exemplary conduct. Though erudite, he disdained fussy textual philology; commonplace scholars often faulted him for it, while people in his district praised his judgment of character.
2
安帝時，徵拜郎中，後再遷當塗長。 〈當塗，縣名，故城在今宣州。〉 去職還鄉里。 當世名賢李固、李膺等皆師宗之。 及梁太后臨朝，有日食地震之變，詔公卿舉賢良方正，光祿勳杜喬、少府房植舉淑對策，譏刺貴倖，為大將軍梁冀所忌，出補朗陵侯相。 〈《續漢書》曰：淑對策譏刺梁氏，故出也。 馬事明理，稱為神君。〉 頃之，弃官歸，閒居養志。 產業每增，輒以贍宗族知友。 年六十七，建和三年卒。 李膺時為尚書，自表師喪。 〈《禮記》曰「事師無犯無隱，左右就養無方，服勤至心，心喪三年」也。〉 二縣皆為立祠。 有子八人：儉，緄，靖，燾，汪，爽，肅，專，並有名稱，時人謂[之]「八龍。」 〈緄音昆。 燾音道。 汪音烏光反。 《說文》云：「汪，深廣也。 」俗本改作「注」，非。 「專」本或作「敷」。〉
During Emperor An's reign he was called to court as a Gentleman of the Palace and later rose twice in rank to become magistrate of Dangtu. 〈Dangtu was a county; its former seat lies in what is now Xuanzhou.〉 He resigned his post and returned home. Contemporary luminaries—Li Gu, Li Ying, and others—all revered him as their master. When Empress Dowager Liang held the reins of government, eclipses and earthquakes prompted an edict calling on high officials to recommend worthy and upright candidates. Du Qiao, Superintendent of the Imperial Household, and Fang Zhi, Privy Treasurer, nominated Shu for the policy examination. His answers skewered powerful favorites; the Grand General Liang Ji took offense and had him sent out as chancellor to the Marquis of Langling. 〈According to the Xu Hanshu, Shu's policy critique targeted the Liang family, which explains his relegation to a provincial post.〉 As magistrate he governed with clarity and integrity and was hailed as the 'divine lord.'〉 Soon afterward he quit office and retired home to pursue his studies in seclusion. Whenever his income grew, he shared it with kinsmen and friends. He died at sixty-seven in Jianhe 3. Li Ying, then a Secretary in the Imperial Secretariat, memorialized to observe mourning for his teacher. 〈The Liji states that one serves a teacher without giving offense or holding back, cares for him without rigid formulas, and labors with full devotion—mourning him in heart for three full years.〉 Both counties erected shrines in his honor. He fathered eight sons—Jian, Kun, Jing, Tao, Wang, Shuang, Su, and Zhuan—each widely known; contemporaries dubbed them the "Eight Dragons." 〈The name Kun is pronounced like the character 昆.〉 The character 燾 is pronounced dao. Wang is spelled with the fanqie initial wu and final guang. The Shuowen jiezi glosses the graph wang as meaning deep and vast. Vulgar editions wrongly substitute the character zhu; that is incorrect. Some manuscripts write his name with fu instead of zhuan.〉
3
初，荀氏舊里名西豪， 〈今許州城內西南有荀淑故宅，相傳云即舊西豪里也。〉 穎陰令勃海苑康以為昔高陽氏有才子八人， 〈《左傳》曰：「昔高陽氏有才子八人：蒼舒，隤敳，檮戭，大臨，尨降，庭堅，仲容，叔達。 」今荀氏亦有八子，故改其里曰高陽里。〉
Long ago the Xun family's old neighborhood was known as West Hao, 〈In the southwest of modern Xuchang city stands Xun Shu's former home, traditionally identified with old West Hao.〉 Yuan Kang of Bohai, magistrate of Yingyin, recalled that the Gaoyang lineage once boasted eight gifted men, 〈As the Zuozhuan records, the Gaoyang line produced eight paragons: Cang Shu, Tui Ai, Tao Yin, Da Lin, Pang Jiang, Ting Jian, Zhong Rong, and Shu Da. ' Since the Xuns likewise had eight distinguished sons, he renamed the district Gaoyang Ward.'〉
4
靖有至行，不仕，年五十而終，號曰玄行先生。 〈皇甫謐《高士傳》曰「靖字叔慈，少有俊才，動止以禮。 靖弟爽亦以才顯於當時。 或問汝南許章曰：『爽與靖孰賢？ 』章曰：『皆玉也。 慈明外朗，叔慈內潤。 』及卒，學士惜之，誄靖者二十六人。 穎陰令丘禎追號靖曰玄行先生」也。〉
Jing lived an exemplary life without entering office; he died at fifty and was remembered as Master Profound Conduct. 〈Huangfu Mi's Biographies of High-Minded Men records that Jing, styled Shuci, showed precocious talent and kept every gesture within the bounds of ritual. His younger brother Shuang likewise won renown in their day. When someone asked Xu Zhang of Runan whether Shuang or Jing was the better man, Xu answered, 'Both are flawless jade.' 'Ciming shines outwardly; Shuci glows from within.' When Jing died, scholars mourned him deeply—twenty-six men contributed elegies for him.'〉 Qiu Zhen, magistrate of Yingyin, posthumously honored him as Master of Profound Conduct.'〉
5
淑兄子昱字伯條，曇字元智。 昱為沛相，曇為廣陵太守。 兄弟皆正身疾惡，志除閹宦。 其支黨賓客有在二郡者，纖罪必誅。 昱後共大將軍竇武謀誅中官，與李膺俱死。 曇亦禁錮終身。
Shu's nephews—Yu, styled Botiao, and Tan, styled Yuanzhi— Yu became chancellor of the Pei kingdom and Tan governor of Guangling. Both brothers kept their conduct upright, loathed corruption, and resolved to purge the eunuch faction. Any associate or client of their faction found in either jurisdiction was executed for the slightest offense. Yu later conspired with Grand General Dou Wu to destroy the inner court eunuchs and perished alongside Li Ying. Tan was permanently blacklisted from holding office.
6
爽字慈明，一名諝。 〈音息汝反。〉 幼而好學，年十二，能通《春秋》、《論語》。 太尉杜喬見而稱之，曰：「可為人師。 」爽遂耽思經書，慶吊不行，征命不應。 穎川為之語曰：「荀氏八龍，慈明無雙。」
Shuang, styled Ciming, also bore the name Xu. 〈Pronounced with the fanqie spelling xi–ru.〉 He loved books from childhood; by twelve he had mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Analects. Grand Commandant Du Qiao, impressed, declared that he was fit to instruct others. Shuang thereupon buried himself in the classics, avoided social calls of congratulation and condolence, and ignored every imperial summons. A Yingchuan proverb ran: "Of the Xun clan's Eight Dragons, none rivals Ciming."
7
延熹九年，太常趙典舉爽至孝，拜郎中。 對策陳便宜曰：
In Yanxi 9, Minister of Ceremonies Zhao Dian nominated Shuang for outstanding filial devotion, and he received appointment as a Gentleman of the Palace. In his policy response he offered practical recommendations:
8
臣聞之於師曰：「漢為火德，火生於木，木盛於火，故其德為孝， 〈火，木之子； 夏，火之位。 木至夏而盛，故為孝。 其像在周易之離。〉 」夫在地為火，在天為日。 〈易說卦曰「離為火，為日」也。〉 在天者用其精，在地者用其形。 夏則火王，其精在天，溫暖之氣，養生百木，是其孝也。 冬時則廢，其形在地，酷烈之氣，焚燒山林，是其不孝也。 故漢制使天下誦孝經，選吏舉孝廉。 〈平帝時，王莽作書八篇戒子孫，令學官以教授，吏能誦者比《孝經》。 音義云：「言用之得選舉之也。」〉 夫喪親自盡，孝之終也。 〈盡謂盡其哀戚也。〉 今之公卿及二千石，三年之喪，不得即去，殆非所以增崇孝道而克稱火德者也。 往者孝文勞謙，行過乎儉， 〈《易》謙卦九三爻：「勞謙君子，有終吉。」〉 故有遺詔以日易月。 此當時之宜，不可貫之萬世。 古今之制雖有損益，而諒闇之禮未嘗改移，以示天下莫遺其親。 〈遺，忘也。〉 今公卿羣寮皆政教所瞻，而父母之喪不得奔赴。 夫仁義之行，自上而始； 敦厚之俗，以應乎下。 傳曰：「喪祭之禮闕，則人臣之恩薄，背死忘生者眾矣。 」曾子曰：「人未有自致者，必也親喪乎！」 〈事見《論語》。 致猶盡也，極也。〉 春秋傳曰：「上之所為，民之歸也。」 〈《左氏傳》臧武仲之言。〉 夫上所不為而民或為之，故加刑罰； 若上之所為，民亦為之，又何誅焉？ 昔丞相翟方進，以自備宰相，而不敢踰制。 至遭母憂，三十六日而除。 〈前書翟方進為丞相，遭後母憂，行服三十六日起視事，曰：「不敢踰國制也。」〉 夫失禮之源，自上而始。 古者大喪三年不呼其門， 〈《公羊傳》之文也。 何休注云：「重奪孝子之恩。」〉 所以崇國厚俗篤化之道也。 事失宜正。 過勿憚改。 〈憚，難也。〉 天下通喪，可如舊禮。 〈《禮記》曰：「三年之喪，天下之通喪也。」〉
I learned from my teachers that the Han claims the Fire phase: fire is born of wood, yet wood in turn thrives amid fire—hence its ruling virtue is filial devotion, 〈Fire is the child of the Wood phase;〉 Summer corresponds to the Fire position. Wood reaches its peak in summer; that abundance embodies filial piety. The Zhouyi images this relationship in the trigram Li (Fire).〉 On earth it appears as fire; in the sky it is the sun.' 〈The "Explanation of the Trigrams" states that Li stands for fire and for the sun.〉 The celestial aspect manifests as refined qi; the terrestrial aspect takes visible form. In summer Fire holds sway: its subtle power fills heaven, and the warm air quickens every growing thing—that is its "filial" nurturing. In winter that virtue fails: its harsh form scorches hill and forest—an "unfilial" destructiveness. Thus Han law required the realm to study the Classic of Filial Piety and promoted officials through the "filial and incorrupt" recommendation. 〈Under Emperor Ping, Wang Mang wrote eight moral essays for his heirs and had the Imperial Academy teach them; clerks who memorized them were ranked like students of the Xiaojing.〉 A phonological commentary explains that mastering those texts helped one win nomination.〉 To exhaust one's grief for parents is the culmination of filial duty. 〈"Exhaust" here means giving full expression to grief.〉 Yet today high ministers and officials paid two thousand shi cannot leave their posts to observe three years' mourning; that can scarcely exalt filial teaching or live up to the Fire virtue the Han claims. Formerly Emperor Wen practiced strenuous humility; his personal austerity overshot the mean. 〈The Book of Changes, Qian's third line: "The humble gentleman who keeps toiling wins a fortunate outcome."〉 Hence his final edict allowed officials to abbreviate mourning—counting days as months. That compromise suited his age; it cannot be codified for all time. Rites have changed across dynasties, but the core mourning seclusion has endured—to remind the world never to neglect one's parents. 〈Here yi carries the sense of to forget or neglect.〉 The very men who exemplify statecraft are barred from rushing home when parents die. Humane and righteous conduct must begin with those on high; only then can honest, generous customs take root among the people. The classical texts warn that when funeral and sacrificial rites lapse, the bond between ruler and minister weakens, and many abandon the dead to court the living. Master Zeng added, "No one summons that depth of feeling on purpose—it breaks forth only in the loss of a parent."' 〈The passage appears in the Analects.'〉 "Bring forth" here means to exhaust one's feeling utterly.〉 The commentaries say, "The people follow wherever their superiors lead." 〈This comes from Zang Wuzhong in the Zuo Tradition.〉 When commoners do what their betters forbid, the law punishes them; but when ruler and people share the same fault, blame cannot rest on the people alone. Chancellor Zhai Fangjin once held himself to the highest standard and would not bend the rules even for himself. Yet when his mother died he observed only thirty-six days of mourning before returning to duty. 〈The Han shu relates that as chancellor he mourned a stepmother for thirty-six days, then resumed office saying he dared not exceed national precedent.〉 When ritual collapses, the rot starts at the top. Antiquity demanded three years of mourning during which no state business intruded at one's gate, 〈As the Gongyang commentary puts it.'〉 He Xiu explains that this rule shields the mourner's grief from intrusion.〉 That is how a state honors grief, thickens honest customs, and deepens moral transformation. Errors in policy ought to be righted. When wrong, do not fear to change course. 〈Dan here means to shrink from or dread.〉 Let the empire's universal mourning again follow the classical three-year standard. 〈The Book of Rites declares that three years of mourning is the mourning obligation shared by the whole world.〉
9
臣聞有夫婦然後有父子，有父子然後有君臣，有君臣然後有上下，有上下然後有禮義。 禮義備，則人知所厝矣。 〈語見易序卦也。〉 夫婦人倫之始，王化之端，故文王作易，上經首干、坤，下經首鹹、恆。 〈易乾、坤至離為上經，鹹、恆至未濟為下經。〉 孔子曰：「天尊地卑，乾坤定矣。」 〈易系辭也。〉 夫婦之道，所謂順也。 堯典曰：「厘降二女於媯汭，嬪於虞。 」降者下也，嬪者婦也。 言雖帝堯之女，下嫁於虞，猶屈體降下，勤修婦道。 易曰：「帝乙歸妹，以祉元吉。」 〈易泰卦六五爻辭也。 王輔嗣注云：「婦人謂嫁曰歸。 泰者，陰陽交通之時，女處尊位，履中居順，降身應二，帝乙歸妹，誠合斯義也。 」案《史記》紂父名帝乙，此文以帝乙為湯，湯名天乙也。〉 婦人謂嫁曰歸，言湯以娶禮歸其妹於諸侯也。 春秋之義，王姬嫁齊，使魯主之，不以天子之尊加於諸侯也。 〈《公羊傳》曰：「夏單伯逆王姬。 單伯者何？ 吾大夫之命於天子者。 何以不稱使？ 天子召而使逆之。 逆之者何？ 使我主之也。 曷為使我主之？ 天子嫁女於諸侯，必使同姓諸侯主之。 」何休注云：「不自為主，尊卑不敵也。」〉 今漢承秦法，設尚主之儀，以妻制夫，以卑臨尊，違乾坤之道，失陽唱之義。 〈易緯曰「陽唱而陰和」也。〉
I was taught that marriage begets the family, the family begets the state, ranks arise from ruler and minister, and only then can ritual and righteousness take shape. Once ritual and right conduct are in place, people know how to order their lives. 〈This idea appears in the "Sequence of the Hexagrams" in the Zhouyi.〉 Marriage is the first bond in human ethics and the seed of civilizing rule; hence King Wen arranged the Zhouyi so the upper wing opens with Qian and Kun and the lower wing with Xian and Heng. 〈The upper cycle runs from Qian and Kun to Li; the lower cycle from Xian and Heng to Weiji.〉 Confucius said, "Heaven ranks above and earth below—thereby the hexagrams Qian and Kun establish the cosmic pattern." 〈This is quoted from the "Appended Remarks" to the Zhouyi.〉 Conjugal relations are meant to exemplify harmony and deference. The Canon of Yao records that he gave his two daughters in marriage at the bend of the Gui River to become wives in Yu's house. The word "sent down" signals humility; "wives" denotes their role as spouses. Although they were the emperor's daughters marrying beneath their station to Yu, they still humbled themselves and devoted themselves to proper wifely conduct. The Zhouyi says, "King Di Yi gave his sister in marriage—great fortune and the highest good." 〈This gloss cites the upper trigram's fifth line of the hexagram Tai.〉 Wang Bi glosses the line: for a woman, going to her husband's house is "returning." Under Tai, yin and yang meet in balance; the bride occupies a dignified place yet stays centered and yielding, answering the second line—so Di Yi's marriage alliance embodies the image. The Records treat Zhou's father as Di Yi, while this passage equates Di Yi with Tang (whose formal name was Tian Yi).〉 Calling marriage "returning" shows Tang escorting his sister to her husband among the regional lords with full nuptial ceremony. The Spring and Autumn principle is illustrated when the Zhou princess wedded into Qi and Lu acted as master of ceremonies—keeping the Son of Heaven from placing his majesty directly over the nobles. 〈The Gongyang commentary records: "In summer Duke Shan went to meet the royal bride." Who was Duke Shan? A Lu nobleman holding a royal commission. Why is he not styled as an envoy? The king summoned him personally to perform the meeting ceremony. What does "meet her" imply? That Lu would receive her as host. Why should Lu play host? When the Zhou king married a daughter to a vassal, a ruler of the same clan always stood as host—never the bride's father himself. He Xiu explains that the king cannot receive the groom himself without violating the hierarchy between supreme lord and vassal.〉 The Han has kept Qin-era precedent that elevates an imperial princess above her husband—wives commanding husbands and inferiors lording over superiors—running counter to Qian and Kun and to the norm that yang leads and yin follows. 〈An apocryphon on the Changes states that yang initiates while yin responds.〉
10
孔子曰：「昔聖人之作易也，仰則觀象於天，俯則察法於池，鶯鳥獸之文，與地之宜。 近取諸身，遠取諸物，以通神明之德，以類萬物之情。」 〈皆易系之文也。〉 今觀法於天，則北極至尊，四星妃後。 〈北極，北辰也。 軒轅四星，女主之象也。〉 察法於地，則櫫山象夫，卑澤象妻。 〈櫫猶高也。 易艮下兌上為鹹。 艮為山，夫象也。 兌為澤，妻象也。 鹹，感也。 山澤通氣，夫婦之相感也。〉 鶯鳥獸之文，鳥則雄者鳴鴝，雌能順服； 獸則牡為唱導，牝乃相從。 近取諸身，則干為人首，坤為人腹。 〈易說卦之文也。〉 遠取諸物，則木實屬天，根荄屬地。 〈荄音該。〉 陽尊陰卑，蓋乃天性。 且詩初篇實首關雎； 禮始冠、婚，先正夫婦。 〈儀禮士冠禮為始，士婚禮次之。〉 天地六經，其旨一揆。 宜改尚主之制，以稱乾坤之性。 遵法堯、湯，式是周、孔。 〈式，法也。〉 合之天地而不謬，質之鬼神而不疑。 人事如此，則嘉瑞降天，吉符出地，五韙鹹備，各以其敍矣。 〈韙，是也。 《史記》曰：「休征：曰肅，時雨若； 曰乂，時 (陽) [暘]若； 曰哲，時燠若； 曰謀，時寒若； 曰聖，時風若。 」五是來備，各以其敍也。〉
Confucius said the ancient sages composed the Changes by reading celestial images above, terrestrial patterns below, and the markings of birds and beasts together with how each region nourishes life. They took images from their own bodies and from every kind of thing, linking numinous virtue with the myriad beings and their inclinations." 〈These lines come from the "Appended Remarks."〉 Look at the sky: the Pole Star sits supreme while surrounding stars mark the queen and concubines. 〈The apex star is the Pole Star. The Xuanyuan asterism's four stars symbolize the mistress of the inner palace.〉 On earth, mountains rise like husbands and marshes lie low like wives. 〈Here ju means "lofty.". The hexagram Xian stacks Gen beneath Dui. Gen represents the mountain—emblem of the husband. Dui represents the marsh—emblem of the wife. The name Xian denotes mutual resonance. Where mountain and marsh exchange vapor, husband and wife interact—such is the image of Xian.〉 Among birds the cock crows and pipes while the hen answers in submission; among mammals the stag leads and the doe follows. Taking the human body as metaphor, Qian is the head and Kun the belly. 〈As the "Explanation of the Trigrams" teaches.〉 Among things, fruit aloft belongs to heaven while roots below belong to earth. 〈The character gai is pronounced like the syllable gai.〉 Superior yang and subordinate yin reflect the order written into nature. The Book of Songs opens with the "Ospreys"—marriage as moral foundation; the ritual canon begins with capping and wedding because spouses must be set right first. 〈The Etiquette and Rites starts with the commoner's capping ceremony and follows with his nuptials.〉 Heaven, earth, and the six classics share a single intent. The court should revise the institution that subordinates husbands to imperial brides so that policy once again accords with Qian and Kun. Take Yao and Tang for historical precedent and the Duke of Zhou and Confucius for ritual authority. 〈Shi means "to take as model."〉 So aligned with heaven and earth it cannot be wrong; laid before spirits it admits no doubt. Human conduct shaped like this draws favorable omens from above and propitious signs from below—the five auspicious responses arrive, each in its season. 〈Wei glosses as "right" or "verified.". The Historical Records enumerate auspicious responses from the "Great Plan": when solemn reverence prevails, rains fall in season; when orderly administration prevails, timely (interlinear note: read the following graph as yang 'sunshine') sunshine agrees with the season; when perspicacity prevails, heat stays temperate; when deliberation prevails, cold arrives as it should; when sagacity prevails, winds blow seasonably. When all five responses appear in order, harmony is complete throughout heaven and earth.〉
11
昔者聖人建天地之中而謂之禮，禮者，所以興福祥之本，而止禍亂之源也。 人能枉欲從禮者，則福歸之； 順情廢禮者，則禍歸之。 推禍福之所應，知興廢之所由來也。 眾禮之中，婚禮為首。 故天子娶十二，天之數也； 諸侯以下各有等差，事之降也。 〈《白武通》曰：「天子娶十二，法天，則有十二月，百物畢生也。 」又曰「諸侯娶九女」也。〉 陽性純而能施，陰體順而能化，以禮濟樂，節宣其氣。 〈《左傳》曰，昔晉侯有疾，醫和視之，曰：「疾不可為也。 是為近女室，疾如蠱，非鬼非食，惑以喪志。 」公曰：「女不可近乎？ 」對曰：「節之。 先王之樂，所以節百事也。 天有六氣，過則為災。 」於是乎節宣其氣也。〉 故能豐子孫之祥，致老壽之福。 及三代之季，淫而無節。 瑤台、傾宮，陳妾數百。 〈列女傳曰，夏桀為琁室、瑤台，以臨雲雨，紂為傾宮。 解見桓帝紀也。〉 陽竭於上，陰隔於下。 故周公之戒曰：「不知稼穡之艱難，不聞小人之勞，惟耽樂之從，時亦罔或克壽。 」是其明戒。 〈事見《尚書無逸篇》，其詞與此微有不同也。〉 後世之人，好福不務其本，惡禍不易其軌。 傳曰：「𢧵趾適履，孰雲其愚？ 何與斯人，追欲喪軀？ 」誠可痛也。 〈適猶從也。 言喪身之愚，甚於□趾也。〉
The sages framed ritual as the pivot between heaven and earth—the taproot of blessing and the dam against chaos. Those who curb appetite with ritual harvest good fortune; those who pamper passion and discard ritual invite calamity. Tracing how blessings and curses follow conduct reveals why dynasties flourish or fail. Among all ceremonies, marriage ranks first. The Son of Heaven takes twelve consorts—matching heaven's dozen months; nobles below step down by rank because human obligations mirror cosmic gradation. 〈The Baihu tong explains that twelve royal consorts mirror twelve months and the yearly rebirth of creatures. The same text limits feudal lords to nine wives.〉 Yang is pure and generative, yin yielding and transformative; ritual balances music and regulates vital energies. 〈The Zuo Tradition tells how Physician He told the ailing Marquis of Jin, "Your sickness comes from the women's quarters—it mimics gu poison; neither ghost nor diet explains it; excess has stolen your will." The marquis asked whether men must shun women entirely. The physician answered: "Temper it." The kings used ritual music to keep every affair within bounds." Heaven sends six climates; intemperance turns them into scourges." That is why the former kings used ritual and music to temper those vital forces.〉 Balance yields prolific, fortunate heirs and the boon of longevity. Yet by the late Xia, Shang, and Zhou, lust knew no limit. Jade towers and leaning palaces housed hundreds of stacked concubines. 〈Liu Xiang's Biographies of Women describes Jie's ringed chamber and jade terrace reaching into the clouds and Zhou's leaning palace. Details appear in the annals of Emperor Huan.〉 Heaven's yang burned out aloft while yin stagnated below. So the Duke of Zhou warns: ignoring farmers' toil, deaf to common labor, drowning in pleasure—such rulers never grow old. That passage is the plain admonition. 〈The story appears in the "Against Luxurious Ease" chapter of the Documents, with wording slightly different.〉 Later generations crave blessings yet refuse to cultivate them; dread ruin yet refuse to mend their ways. A proverb asks who would call it foolish to chop one's toes to fit a shoe— yet many march with that crowd, chasing lust until their bodies collapse. That finale lands as bitter indictment rather than mere folly. 〈Here shi glosses as "to follow" or "to comply with."〉 The gloss adds that self-destruction through lust outstrips the folly of cutting one's feet to fit a shoe.〉
12
臣竊聞後宮采女五六千人，從官侍使復在其外。 冬夏衣服，朝夕稟糧，耗費縑帛，空竭府藏，徵調增倍，十而稅一，空賦不辜之民，以供無用之女，百姓窮困於外，陰陽隔塞於內。 故感動和氣，災異屢臻。 臣愚以為諸非禮聘未曾幸御者，一皆遣出，使成妃合。 一曰通怨曠，和陰陽。 二曰省財用，實府藏。 三曰修禮制，綏眉壽。 四曰配陽施，祈螽斯。 〈螽斯，蚣蝑也，其性不妒，故能子孫眾多。 詩曰：「螽斯羽，詵詵兮。 宜爾子孫，振振兮。」〉 五曰寬役賦，安黎民。 此誠國家之弘利，天人之大福也。
I have heard in private that the harem numbers five or six thousand ladies-in-waiting, with eunuch attendants and staff in addition. They need clothes for every season, food at every turn, and the cost in silk and grain empties the state coffers. Levies are doubled to a one-in-ten exaction, squeezing innocent subjects to keep idle concubines—the people are beggared in the open while harmony between yin and yang is stifled at court. No wonder the vital harmony is jarred and portents keep appearing. I humbly suggest that every woman not lawfully betrothed and never visited by the throne be released to marry in due form. First, it would relieve men and women trapped outside marriage and restore balance between yin and yang. Second, it would curb spending and replenish the state's reserves. Third, it would uphold ceremonial standards and foster longevity. Fourth, it would align the emperor's procreative role with Heaven and pray for abundant heirs. 〈The ode's zhongsi bugs are long-horned grasshoppers, proverbially free of jealousy, hence a metaphor for prolific families. The Classic of Songs sings, "Thick flutter the zhongsi's wings;" may your descendants multiply in thriving hosts."〉 Fifth, it would ease corvée and grain levies and bring peace to the common people. That would serve both statecraft and cosmic blessing at once.
13
夫寒熱晦明，所以為歲； 尊卑奢儉，所以為禮：故以晦明寒暑之氣，尊卑侈約之禮為其節也。 易曰：「天地節而四時成。」 〈節卦彖辭文也。〉 春秋傳曰：「唯器與名不可以假人。」 〈杜預注左氏云：「器謂車服，名謂爵號。」〉 《孝經》曰：「安上治民，莫善於禮。 」禮者，尊卑之差，上下之制也。 昔季氏八佾舞於庭，非有傷害困於人物，而孔子猶曰「是可忍也，孰不可忍」。 洪範曰：「惟闢作威，惟闢作福，惟辟玉食。 」凡此三者，君所獨行而臣不得同也。 今臣僭君服，下食上珍，所謂害於而家，凶於而國者也。 宜略依古禮尊卑之差，及董仲舒制度之別， 〈《前書董仲舒曰：「王者正法度之宜，別上下之序，以防欲也。」〉 嚴 (篤) [督]有司，必行其命。 此則禁亂善俗足用之要。
Cold and heat, night and day—these turns mark the year; rank and sumptuary scale—these define ritual. Seasonal rhythm and hierarchical decorum must therefore set the limits. The Zhouyi says, "When heaven and earth observe limits, the four seasons complete their round." 〈These words belong to the hexagram Jie's Judgment.〉 The Spring and Autumn commentaries warn that regalia and titles must never be delegated away. 〈Du Yu glosses "implements" as chariots and insignia and "names" as noble ranks.〉 The Classic of Filial Piety teaches that nothing settles rulers and orders the people like ritual— for ritual encodes who ranks above whom and how far authority extends. When the Ji clan staged the eight-row dance at home, no one was physically injured, yet Confucius cried, "If we tolerate this, what will we not tolerate?" The Great Plan warns that awe-inspiring punishments, blessings, and feasting from jade vessels belong to the ruler alone— These three prerogatives belong to the sovereign alone; subjects must never share in them. Yet subjects now wear what belongs on the throne and dine like emperors—the very harm to household and realm the classics dread. Policy should restore ancient distinctions of rank and Dong Zhongshu's sumptuary scheme— 〈Dong Zhongshu's memorial urged kings to align statutes with moral hierarchy and curb appetite through ritual gradations.〉 Enforce (phonetic gloss: read as du, earnest) empower overseers to execute the edict without compromise. That is the crux of stopping chaos, improving customs, and keeping the realm solvent.
14
奏聞，即弃官去。
Once the memorial reached the emperor, he resigned on the spot and departed.
15
後遭黨錮，隱於海上，又南遁漢濱，積十餘年，以著述為事，遂稱為碩儒。 黨禁解，五府並辟，司空袁逢舉有道，不應。 及逢卒，爽制服三年，當世往往化以為俗。 時人多不行妻服，雖在親憂猶有弔問喪疾者，又私謚其君父及諸名士，爽皆引據大義，正之經典，雖不悉變，亦頗有改。 〈喪服曰：「夫為妻齊縗杖開。 」禮記曰：「曾子問：『三年之喪吊乎？ 』孔子曰：『禮以飾情。 三年之喪而吊哭，不亦虛乎！』」〉
When the faction lists struck, he vanished to the coast, then drifted south along the Han for over a decade, devoting himself to scholarship until everyone called him a leading Ru. After the prohibition ended, all five executive bureaus courted him; Yuan Feng, Minister of Works, nominated him as a man of outstanding virtue, yet he refused. When Yuan Feng died, Shuang observed three years of mourning—soon contemporaries imitated him as fashion. Most men still skipped wife-mourning and continued social calls even while mourning parents; private posthumous titles flourished for patrons and celebrities. Shuang cited canonical doctrine against each abuse—not every habit vanished, but many shifted. 〈The Mourning Dress canon prescribes even-hemp garments with split staff for a husband mourning his wife— while the Record of Rites records Master Zeng asking whether condolence calls belong within three years' mourning— Confucius answered that ritual shapes feeling— so to rush off condolence visits mid-mourning hollows the heart.'"〉
16
後公車徵為大將軍何進從事中郎。 進恐其不至，迎薦為侍中，及進敗而詔命中絕。 獻帝即立，董卓輔政，復徵之。 爽欲遁命，吏持之急，不得去，因復就拜平原相。 行至宛陵，復追為光祿勳。 視事三日，進拜司空。 爽自被徵命及登臺司，九十五日。 因從遷都長安。
Later an imperial carriage summons made him staff adviser to Grand General He Jin. He Jin promoted him to palace attendant to secure his loyalty; after Jin's coup collapsed, the appointments stalled. Emperor Xian's enthronement brought Dong Zhuo to power and another summons for Shuang. Shuang meant to decline, but clerks hounded him until he could not escape and accepted the chancellorship of Pingyuan. He had not yet reached his post when, at Wanling, an edict promoted him to Superintendent of the Imperial Household. Three days into office he was elevated to Minister of Works. Ninety-five days elapsed between the first summons and his seat among the Three Excellencies. He then accompanied the court's forced move to Chang'an.
17
爽見董卓忍暴滋甚，必危社稷，其所辟舉皆取才略之士，將共圖之，亦與司徒王允及卓長史何顒等為內謀。 會病薨，年六十三。
Seeing Dong Zhuo's brutality swell until it threatened the dynasty, Shuang stacked his staff with capable tacticians to strike at Zhuo, coordinating secretly with Wang Yun and He Yong. He died of illness soon afterward at sixty-three.
18
著禮、易傳、詩傳、尚書正經、春秋條例，又集漢事成敗可為鑒戒者，謂之《漢語》。 又作公羊問及辯讖，並它所論敍，題為新書。 凡百餘篇，今多所亡缺。
His scholarly legacy spans ritual scholarship, Zhouyi and Songs commentaries, a critical edition of the Documents, Spring and Autumn precedents, plus an anthology of cautionary Han episodes published as Han Discourses. He likewise composed Gongyang dialogues, critiques of chenwei lore, and miscellaneous treatises published under the title New Writings. Over a hundred scrolls once circulated; most are now fragmentary or gone.
19
兄子悅、彧並知名。 彧自有傳。
His nephews Xun Yue and Xun Yu both became famous. Xun Yu receives a separate biography.
20
論曰：荀爽、鄭玄、申屠蟠俱以儒行為處士，累征並謝病不詣。 及董卓當朝，復備禮召之。 蟠、玄竟不屈以全其高。 爽已黃發矣，獨至焉，未十旬而取卿相。 意者疑其乖趣捨，余竊商其情，以為出處君子之大致也，平運則弘道以求志，陵夷則濡跡以匡時。 〈濡跡，解見崔駰傳。〉 荀公之急急自勵，其濡跡乎？ 不然，何為違貞吉而履虎尾焉？ 〈易履卦曰：「履道坦坦，幽人貞吉。 」又曰：「履虎尾，不咥人亨。 」王輔嗣注云：「履虎尾者，言其危也。」〉 觀其遜言遷都之議，以救楊、黃之禍。 〈楊彪、黃琬也。〉 及後潛圖董氏，幾振國命，所謂「大直若屈」，道固逶迤也。 〈《老子》云：「大直若屈，大巧若拙。 」逶迤，曲也。〉
The historian reflects that Xun Shuang, Zheng Xuan, and Shentu Pan exemplified Confucian integrity in reclusion, refusing summons after summons with claims of illness. When Dong Zhuo seized the government, he rolled out full ceremony to drag them in. Shentu Pan and Zheng Xuan never bent, guarding their moral height. Shuang alone answered the call, gray-haired yet advancing from summons to chief minister within ninety days. Critics call his choice inconsistent; I read his situation differently—the gentleman adapts: in peace he teaches to fulfill ambition; in collapse he may muddy his footprints to salvage the times. 〈"Smearing traces" is glossed in Cui Yin's biography.〉 Was Master Xun's anxious self-discipline that very tactic of deliberate compromise? If not, why abandon secure righteousness and walk on a tiger's tail? 〈The hexagram Lu promises smooth roads and auspicious reclusion— It also warns of stepping a tiger's tail without being devoured—success through peril— Wang Bi notes that the image stresses mortal danger.〉 Consider how deferential rhetoric on relocating the capital shielded Yang Biao and Huang Wan. 〈The ministers Yang Biao and Huang Wan.〉 Later he conspired against Dong Zhuo's faction and nearly restored the throne—the Daodejing's "great straightness seems twisted" fits; the Way moves in curves. 〈Laozi teaches that perfection looks awkward— and weiyi means twisting, winding motion.〉
21
悅字仲豫，儉之子也。 儉早卒。 悅年十二，能說春秋。 家貧無書，每之人閒，所見篇牘，一覽多能誦記。 性沉靜，美姿容，尤好著述。 靈帝時閹官用權，士多退身窮處，悅乃托疾隱居，時人莫之識，雖從弟彧特稱敬焉。 初辟鎮東將軍曹操府，遷黃門侍郎。 獻帝頗好文學，悅與彧及少府孔融侍講禁中，旦夕談論。 累遷秘書監、侍中。
Xun Yue, styled Zhongyu, was Xun Jian's son. His father died young. At twelve he could lecture on the Spring and Autumn Annals. Books were beyond the family's means, yet whatever text he glimpsed in town he memorized after a single reading. He was sober, handsome, and happiest composing. As eunuchs dominated Lingdi's court, scholars fled to backwaters; Yue hid behind illness, unknown to most though his cousin Yu revered him. He began in Cao Cao's eastern-guard headquarters and rose to palace attendant. Emperor Xian loved literature; Yue joined Yu and Privy Treasurer Kong Rong lecturing in the inner palace from dawn to dusk. Promotions carried him to Director of the Palace Library and attendant-in-ordinary.
22
時政移曹氏，天子恭己而已。 悅志在獻替，而謀無所用，乃作申鑒五篇。 其所論辯，通見政體，既成而奏之。 其大略曰：
Real power had passed to the Caos while the emperor ritually "tended his person" alone. Yue meant to remonstrate and reform policy; thwarted, he wrote the five scrolls of Extended Reflections. Its arguments map the full machinery of rule; when complete he laid it before the throne. The synopsis opens:
23
夫道之本，仁義而已矣。 〈《易》曰：「立人之道曰仁與義。」〉 五典以經之，群籍以緯之，詠之歌之，弦之舞之，前監既明，後復申之。 故古之聖王，其於仁義也，申重而已。
The Way rests, at bottom, on humanity and justice. 〈The Zhouyi defines the human Way as benevolence and righteousness.〉 The Five Classics weave it as warp, other texts as weft—sung, played, danced—and each generation reiterates the lesson. Ancient sage-kings did nothing but hammer humanity and justice again and again.
24
致政之術，先屏四患，乃崇五政。
Good government first eliminates four scourges, then advances five positive measures.
25
一曰偽，二曰私，三曰放，四曰奢。 偽亂俗，私壞法，放越軌，奢敗制。 四者不除，則政末由行矣。 夫俗亂則道荒，雖天地不得保其性矣； 法壞則世傾，雖人主不得守其度矣； 軌越則禮亡，雖聖人不得全其道矣； 制敗則欲肆，雖四表不得充其求矣。 〈肆，放也。〉 是謂四患。
They are hypocrisy, private interest, unrestraint, and luxury. Hypocrisy corrupts manners, selfishness breaks statutes, license leaps boundaries, luxury shatters sumptuary rules. Until those four are cleared away, no reform can move. When customs rot, the moral Way starves—even heaven and earth lose their proper temper; when law collapses, the age reels—even the throne cannot hold its standards; when boundaries blur, ritual dies—even sages cannot preserve the full Way; when institutions fail, appetite runs wild—not even the empire's wealth can feed it. 〈Si glosses as licentious excess.〉 Those four are the scourges.
26
興農桑以養其 (性) [生]，審好惡以正其俗，宣文教以章其化，立武備以秉以其威，明賞罰以統其法。 是謂五政。
Promote farming and silk production to sustain the people's (Copyists gloss the broken phrase by reading sheng as xing, tying the line to human nature.) They nourish the people's livelihoods, discriminate good from evil to straighten custom, broadcast civilization to display moral transformation, keep arms in readiness to project awe, and make rewards and penalties transparent so the laws stand as one body. Those five measures complete the positive agenda.
27
人不畏死，不可懼以罪。 人不樂生，不可勸以善。 雖使契布五教，戲陶作士，政不行焉。 〈尚書舜謂契曰：「汝作司徒，敬敷五教在寬。 」謂戲陶曰：「汝作士，明於五刑。」〉 故在上者先豐人財以定其志，帝耕籍田，後桑蠶宮， 〈籍田事，解見明紀。 禮記曰：「季春之月，后妃齋戒，親東向桑，以勸蠶事。 」古者天子諸侯必有公桑蠶室，近川而為之，宮仞有三尺也。〉 國無遊人，野無荒業，財不賈用， 〈言自足也。〉 力不妄加，以周人事。 是謂養生。 〈周，給也。〉
Subjects numb to death ignore penal threats. Those who see no joy in living cannot be moved toward virtue. Let Shun's ministers preach the five relations and Gao Yao guard the five punishments—without hope, edicts still fail. 〈The Documents records Shun telling Xie to spread the five moral teachings with lenience— and charging Gao Yao to master the five penal statutes.'〉 Rulers must therefore secure livelihoods before preaching virtue: the sovereign farms the sacred acre while the empress tends mulberries— 〈The plowed field is discussed in Emperor Ming's annals— the Book of Rites says the queen and consorts fast, face east, and pick mulberry to model silkworm work— and that every court maintained public silkworm houses by running water, their walls three ren high.'〉 No vagrants crowd the capital, no field lies fallow, and wealth is not thrown away frivolously— 〈That is, the realm becomes self-sufficient.〉 labor is never wasted, so the people's work actually meets their needs. This is the policy of nurturing life. 〈Zhou here means to supply or provide for.〉
28
君子之所以動天地，應神明，正萬物而成王化者，必乎真定而已。 故在上者審定好丑焉。 善惡要乎功罪，毀譽効於准驗。 聽言責事，舉名察實，無惑詐偽，以蕩眾心。 故事無不核，物無不切，善無不顯，惡無不章，俗無奸怪，民無淫風。 百姓上下鶯利害之存乎己也，故肅恭其心，慎修其行，內不回惑，外無異望，則民志平矣。 是謂正俗。
What lets the noble man stir Heaven and Earth, answer the spirits, set the myriad creatures right, and perfect royal transformation is steadfast authenticity. Hence superiors must judge clearly what counts as noble or base. Praise and blame track actual deeds; reputation must match proof. Test rhetoric against performance and titles against facts so fraud cannot shake public trust. Then every deed is checked, every claim tested, virtue shines, vice is exposed, customs stay sane, and lewd fashions die. From court to village people realize gain and loss are their own doing; when they steady intent, polish conduct, quiet inner doubt, and curb vain ambition, public mood levels out. That is the policy of rectifying customs.
29
君子以情用，小人以刑用。 榮辱者，賞罰之精華也。 故禮教榮辱，以加君子，化其情也； 桎梏鞭撲，以加小人，化其刑也。 君子不犯辱，況於刑乎！ 小人不忌刑，況於辱乎！ 若教化之廢，推中人而墜於小人之域； 教化之行，引中人而納於君子之塗。 是謂章化。 〈章，明也。〉 小人之情，緩則驕，驕則恣，恣則怨，怨則叛，危則謀亂，安則思欲，非威強無以懲之。 故在上者，必有武備，以戒不虞，以遏寇虐。 安居則寄之內政，有事則用之軍旅。 〈《國語》齊桓公問管仲曰：「國安可乎？ 」管仲曰：「未可。 君若正卒伍，修甲兵，則大國亦將修之，小國設備，可作內政而寄軍令焉。 」注云：「 (正) [政]，國政也。 言修國政而寄軍令，鄰國不知。」〉 是謂秉威。
Great men respond to moral suasion; small men only to sanctions. Honor and disgrace distill reward and punishment into moral feeling. Teach the gentleman with ritualized honor and shame so his emotions reform— but curb the petty man with fetters and flogging so fear reshapes him. A gentleman avoids dishonor altogether, let alone the stocks. Petty men fear neither fetters nor stigma. When instruction fails, average men sink to the gutter— when it thrives, average men climb toward nobility. That is how transformation becomes visible. 〈Zhang glosses as making plain or luminous.〉 Small natures, once pampered, swell into arrogance, spite, mutiny, or reckless craving—only naked force checks them. Those aloft need armed readiness to foil surprise attacks and crush marauders. Embed drill in civil routine during peace; unleash it on campaign when war comes. 〈The Discourses of States records Duke Huan asking Guan Zhong whether Lu could rest secure— Guan answered, "Not yet." "If you openly drill troops, rivals arm in kind; better embed army regulations inside civil reform so neighbors stay blind." The commentary continues: " (variant reading zheng) meaning domestic administration— training the state without advertising mobilization to outsiders.'〉 That policy concentrates deterrent awe.
30
賞罰，政之柄也。 〈《韓子》曰：「二柄者，刑、德也。 殺戮之謂刑，慶賞之謂德。」〉 明賞必罰，審信慎令，賞以勸善，罰以懲惡。 人主不妄賞，非徒愛其財也，賞妄行則善不勸矣。 不妄罰，非矜其人也，罰妄行則惡不懲矣。 賞不勸謂之止善，罰不懲謂之縱惡。 在上者能不止下為善，不縱下為惡，則國法立矣。 是謂統法。
Reward and punishment are the twin levers of rule. 〈Han Feizi calls them the two handles—punishment and kindness— death dealing versus bounty bestowing.'〉 Spell out incentives and sanctions, keep promises literal, and pair bounty with terror so virtue advances and vice recoils. Sovereigns withhold idle gifts not from stinginess—scatter rewards and merit loses meaning. Nor does he strike capriciously from mercy—random blows let villainy run free. Rewards that fire no zeal stall virtue; punishments that bite no deterrence license crime. When the throne neither smothers virtue nor pampers vice, statute takes root. That is the policy of harmonizing law.
31
四患既蠲，五政又立，行之以誠，守之以固，簡而不怠，疏而不失，無為為之，使自施之，無事事之，使自交之。 〈《老子》曰：「為無為，事無事。 」又曰「故德交歸」也。〉 不肅而成，不嚴而化，垂拱揖讓，而海內平矣。 是謂為政之方。
With scourges gone and tools in place, practice them faithfully: stay lean yet tireless, delegate yet monitor—govern by non-interference so tasks finish themselves and relationships self-order. 〈Laozi teaches acting without forcing— so cumulative power flows back of its own accord.'〉 Order emerges without crackdowns, customs soften without terror—the ruler folds hands on the dais and the realm rests. That is the art of true governance.
32
又言：
The memorial continues:
33
尚主之制非古。 厘降二女，陶唐之典。 歸妹元吉，帝乙之訓。 王姬歸齊，宗周之禮。 以陰乘陽違天，以婦陵夫違人。 違天不祥，違人不義。 又古者天子諸侯有事，必告於廟。 朝有二史，左史記言，右史書事。 〈《禮記》曰「天子朝日於東門之外，聽朔於南門之外，閏月則闔門左扉，立於其中，動則左史書之，言則右史書之」也。〉 事為春秋，言為尚書。 君舉必記，善惡成敗，無不存焉。 下及士庶，苟有茂異，咸在載籍。 或欲顯而不得，或欲隱而名章。 得失一朝，而榮辱千載。 善人勸焉，淫人懼焉。 〈淫，過也。 《左氏傳》曰「或求名而不得，或欲蓋而名章，書齊豹盜三叛人名，以懲不義」也。〉 宜於今者備置史官，掌其典文，紀其行事。 每於歲盡，舉之尚書。 以助賞罰，以弘法教。
Elevating princess-brides above their husbands has no classical warrant. Yao's solemn transfer of his daughters embodies Tang-era orthodoxy. Di Yi's oracle about marrying out the princess teaches supreme fortune. Royal daughters entering Qi follow Western Zhou protocol. Letting yin dominate yang offends Heaven; wives commanding husbands offends human ethics. Heaven punishes inversion of cosmic order; society condemns moral inversion. Ancient sovereigns and nobles reported every major act to the ancestral shrine. Two historians stood at court—left chronicling speeches, right chronicling acts. 〈The Book of Rites prescribes exactly how sunrise audiences and monthly audiences were logged by paired historians.〉 Events fed the Spring and Autumn Annals; pronouncements became the Book of Documents. Nothing the monarch does escapes the log—triumph, disaster, virtue, vice. Commoners of striking merit likewise enter the chronicle. Some seek fame and miss it; some court obscurity and become notorious. A single morning's choice stamps millennial honor or infamy. The worthy strive harder; the wanton tremble. 〈Yin glosses as moral excess or dissipation— the Zuo Tradition notes men who court fame yet earn infamy, citing Qi Bao as warning against injustice.'〉 Today we should staff historians, give them access to archives, and chronicle every deed. Each winter submit compiled drafts to the Secretariat. Those records would reinforce justice and spread moral education.
34
帝覽而善之。
Emperor Xian read the memorial and approved.
35
帝好典籍，常以班固《漢書》文繁難省，乃令悅依左氏傳體以為《漢紀》三十篇，詔尚書給筆札。 辭約事詳，論辯多美。 其序之曰：「昔在上聖，惟建皇極，經緯天地，觀象立法，乃作書契，以通宇宙，揚於王庭，厥用大焉。 先王光演大業，肆於時夏。 〈詩周頌曰：「我求懿德，肆於時夏。 」鄭玄注曰：「懿，美也。 肆，陳也。 我，武王也。 求美德之士而任用之，故陳於是夏而歌之也。」〉 亦惟厥後，永世作典。 夫立典有五志焉：一曰達道義，二曰章法式，三曰通古今，四曰著功勳，五曰表賢能。 於是天人之際，事物之宜，粲然顯著，罔不備矣。 世濟其軌，不隕其業。 〈濟，成也。〉 損益盈虛，與時消息。 臧否不同，其揆一也。 漢四百有六載，撥亂反正，統武興文，永惟祖宗之洪業，思光啟乎萬嗣。 聖上穆然，惟文之恤，瞻前顧後，是紹是繼，闡崇大猷，命立國典。 於是綴□舊書，以述漢紀。 中興以前，明主賢臣得失之軌，亦足以觀矣。」
Because Emperor Xian prized literature yet found Ban Gu's History of the Han unwieldy, he commissioned Yue to distill thirty chapters of Han Annals in Zuo-style annals, issuing stationery from the Secretariat. The prose stays lean while incidents stay vivid; many judgments sing. Yue's preface opens: ancient sages framed the cosmic pivot, aligned heaven and earth, read omens, codified law, invented script to link all under heaven— Former kings broadcast their grand mandate across the Chinese heartland— 〈The Zhou hymn sings that King Wu sought noble virtue and proclaimed it to the summer lands— Zheng Xuan glosses yi as beautiful— si as to display— and "I" names King Wu— having enlisted worthy men, he celebrated them in seasonal hymns.'〉 Their heirs likewise forged enduring classical models. A great chronicle serves five ends—articulating principle, codifying institutions, linking eras, memorializing achievement, and spotlighting talent. Then the fit between heaven and humanity, act and outcome, stands luminous—nothing omitted. Each reign carried the project forward without letting it fall. 〈Ji means to accomplish or carry through.〉 Plenty and want ebb and flow with the times. Verdicts vary, but the yardstick stays constant. Across four hundred six Han years, rulers turned rebellion into restoration, traded swords for books, and pondered how to widen the ancestors' light for endless successors. Our sage sovereign broods on letters alone, scanning past and future to enlarge the great blueprint and commission a state history. From scattered archives he fashioned the Han Annals. The deeds of wise rulers and loyal ministers from the era before Guangwu's revival already offer ample warning and example.'
36
又著崇德、正論及諸論數十篇。 年六十二，建安十四年卒。
He also wrote Exalting Virtue, Correct Disputation, and dozens of further essays. He died at sixty-two in Jian'an 14.
37
韓韶字仲黃，穎川舞陽人也。 少仕郡，辟司徒府。 時太山賊公孫舉偽號歷年，守令不能破散，多為坐法。 尚書選三府掾能理劇者，乃以韶為贏長。 〈贏，縣，故城在今兗州博城縣東北。〉 賊聞其賢，相戒不入贏境。 余縣多被寇盜，廢耕桑，其流入縣界求索衣糧者甚眾。 韶愍其饑困，乃開倉賑之，所稟贍萬餘戶。 主者爭謂不可。 韶曰：「長活溝壑之人，而以此伏罪，含笑入地矣。 」太守素知韶名德，竟無所坐。 以病卒官。 同郡李膺、陳寔、杜密、荀淑等為立碑頌焉。
Han Shao, styled Zhonghuang, came from Wuyang in Yingchuan Commandery. He began in local office and won appointment to the Excellency of Works. While the Taishan rebel Gongsun Ju styled himself ruler year after year, county defenders failed to crush him and many magistrates paid with their careers. The Secretariat picked a crisis-tested aide from the Three Offices and named Shao magistrate of Ying county. 〈Ying county stood northeast of present Bocheng in Yanzhou.〉 Word of his integrity kept brigands from crossing into Ying. Raiders had ruined neighboring farms; refugees poured across the border begging food and clothing. Shao opened the granaries without hesitation, feeding well over ten thousand households. His staff insisted the law forbade it. Shao replied, "If feeding starving refugees costs me my head, I will meet the executioner grinning." The prefect, who respected Shao already, took no action. He died in harness. Li Ying, Chen Shi, Du Mi, Xun Shu, and other local luminaries raised a monument to his memory.
38
子融，字符長。 少能辯理而不為章句學。 聲名甚盛，五府並辟。 獻帝初，至太僕。 年七十卒。
His son Han Rong bore the style Zhangchang. He argued doctrine fluently yet spurned fussy philology. His reputation drew simultaneous summons from all five executive bureaus. Early in Emperor Xian's reign he rose to Grand Coachman. He died at seventy.
39
鍾皓字季明，穎川長社人也。 為郡著姓，世善刑律。 皓少以篤行稱，公府連辟，為二兄未仕，避隱密山， 〈密縣山也。〉 以詩律教授門徒千餘人。 同郡陳寔，年不及皓，皓引與為友。 皓為郡功曹，會辟司徒府，臨辭，太守問：「誰可代卿者？ 」皓曰：「明府欲必得其人，西門亭長陳寔可。 」寔聞之，曰：「鍾君似不察人，不知何獨識我？ 」皓頃之自劾去。 前後九辟公府，征為廷尉正、博士、林慮長，皆不就。 時皓及荀淑並為士大夫所歸慕。 李膺常歎曰：「荀君清識難尚，鍾君至德可師。」
Zhong Hao, styled Jiming, came from Changshe in Yingchuan. The Zhongs were a leading clan and for generations had mastered penal codes. Though offices courted him for sterling conduct, he fled to Mount Mi until his elder brothers could precede him into service— 〈That range lies in Mi county.〉 there he taught more than a thousand students the Songs and statute law. Chen Shi, younger than Hao, became his intimate despite the age gap. Summoned from county merit-assessor to the Works ministry, he was asked who should succeed him. Hao named Chen Shi, chief of the west-gate post, as the only worthy successor. Chen wondered aloud why Zhong Hao, supposedly poor at reading men, singled him out. Hao soon resigned to make way. Nine national summonses followed—for Supreme Judge clerk, academician, Linyu magistrate—and he refused each. He and Xun Shu became the moral poles that literati orbited. Li Ying sighed that Xun Shu's discernment was unrivaled and Zhong Hao's character worthy of emulation.
40
皓兄子瑾母，膺之姑也。 瑾好學慕古，有退讓風，與膺同年，俱有聲名。 膺祖太尉修，常言：「瑾似我家性，邦有道不廢，邦無道免於刑戮。 」復以膺妹妻之。 瑾辟州府，未嘗屈志。 膺謂之曰：「孟子以為『人無是非之心，非人也』。 〈《孟子》曰：「人無惻隱之心，非人也。 無羞惡之心，非人也。 無辭讓之心，非人也。 無是非之心，非人也。」〉 弟何期不與孟軻同邪？ 」瑾常以膺言白皓。 皓曰：「昔國武子好昭人過，以致怨本。 〈國武子，齊大夫。 齊慶克通於齊君之母，國武子知之而責慶克，夫人遂譖武子而逐之。 事見《左傳》。〉 卒保身全家，爾道為貴。 」其體訓所安，多此類也。
Zhong Jin's mother was Li Ying's aunt. Jin revered antiquity, lived modestly, shared Ying's age cohort, and matched his fame. Ying's grandfather Grand Commandant Li Xiu said Jin carried the family temperament—useful when the court pursued virtue, safe when it turned cruel— so Ying married his younger sister to Jin. Provincial and central offices courted Jin, yet he never compromised. Ying challenged him with Mencius: "Lacking the sense of shame and right is inhuman." 〈Mencius lists hearts of compassion— of shame— of courtesy— and of moral discernment—without these one is not human.'〉 Why, brother, do you fall short of Mencius's standard? Jin relayed the rebuke to Zhong Hao. Hao answered, "Guo Wuzi invited ruin by broadcasting others' sins— 〈Guo Wuzi served Qi— when he exposed Qing Ke's affair with the duchess, she drove him out— the Zuo Tradition tells the tale.'〉 Survival of kin matters most in such ages. Most of Hao's counseling sounded this theme.
41
年六十九，終於家。 諸儒頌之曰：「林慮懿德，非禮不處。 悅此詩書，弦琴樂古。 五就州招，九應台輔。 逡巡王命，卒歲容與。」
He died at home at sixty-nine. A collective elegy sang: "In Linyu he kept unsullied virtue, lodging only where ritual allowed— loving the classics and zither, rejoicing in ancient models— five provincial summonses, nine invitations from the high ministries— yet he dallied with imperial mandates and finished life in quiet ease.'"
42
皓孫繇，建安中為司隸校尉。 〈海內先賢傳曰：「繇字符常，郡主簿迪之子也。 」魏志曰：「舉孝廉為尚書郎，辟三府為廷尉正、黃門侍郎。」〉
His grandson Zhong You became metropolitan commandant under Jian'an. 〈Regional lore records You as Di's son, styled Yuanchang— while the Wei history lists his rise through filial recommendation and palace posts.'〉
43
陳寔字仲弓，穎川許人也。 出於單微。 自為兒童，雖在戲弄，為等類所歸。 少作縣吏，常給事廝役，後為都亭 (刺) 佐。 而有志好學，坐立誦讀。 縣令鄧邵試與語，奇之，聽受業太學。 後令復召為吏，乃避隱陽城山中。 時有殺人者，同縣楊吏以疑寔，縣遂逮系，考掠無實，而後得出。 及為督郵，乃密托許令，禮召楊吏。 遠近聞者，鹹歎服之。
Chen Shi, styled Zhonggong, came from Xu in Yingchuan. He began from the humblest line. Even as a child his playmates treated him as leader. He started as county clerk running errands, then clerk at the capital district pavilion (copyists vary the graph for the pavilion title) watch-post. Ambition drove him to study seated or standing. Magistrate Deng Shao, struck by his wit, sponsored study at the Imperial Academy. When the magistrate pressed him back into clerking, he fled to Yangcheng Mountain. A murder implicated him falsely; clerks jailed and beat him until proof failed and they released him. As inspector's aide he persuaded Xu's magistrate to honor Summons Yang formally. News of that generosity won admiration far and wide.
44
家貧，復為郡西門亭長，尋轉功曹。 時中常侍侯覽托太守高倫用吏，倫教署為文學掾。 寔知非其人，懷檄請見。 〈檄，板書。 謂以高倫之教書之於檄而懷之者，懼洩事也。〉 言曰：「此人不宜用，而侯常侍不可違。 寔乞從外署，不足以塵明德。 」倫從之。 〈請從外署之舉，不欲陷倫於請托也。〉 於是鄉論怪其非舉，寔終無所言。 倫後被征為尚書，郡中士大夫送至輪氏傳捨。 〈輪氏，縣名，屬穎川郡，今故高陽縣是。〉 倫謂眾人言曰：「吾前為侯常侍用吏，陳君密持教還，而於外白署。 比聞議者以此少之，此咎由故人畏憚強禦，陳君可謂善則稱君，過則稱己者也。 」寔固自引愆，聞者方歎息，由是天下服其德。
Poverty returned him to west-gate chief, then merit-assessor. Eunuch Hou Lan leaned on Prefect Gao Lun to place a client as literary aide. Knowing the nominee unfit, Shi tucked the appointment slip under his robe and sought Gao Lun. 〈Xi denotes an inscribed wooden slip— here Shi's hidden tablet preserved Lun's order while avoiding scandal.'〉 Shi said, "The candidate is worthless, yet we cannot defy Hou Lan— assign me to fill the post abroad so your integrity stays blameless.'" Lun agreed. 〈Shi absorbed Hou's patronage fault himself so Lun could remain clean.〉 Gossip blamed Shi for a bad nomination; he stayed silent. When Lun rose to Secretariat chief, local elites saw him off at Lunshi station. 〈Lunshi lay in Yingchuan—modern Gaoyang township.〉 Lun told the crowd how Shi had pocketed Hou's writ and reassigned the job outward— fault belonged to Lun's cowardice, while Shi credited his superior and bore shame himself— yet Shi publicly assumed guilt, moving listeners until the empire praised his decency.
45
司空黃瓊辟選理劇，補聞喜長，旬月，以開喪去官。 復再遷除太丘長。 〈太丘，縣，屬沛國，故城在今亳州永城縣西北也。〉 修德清靜，百姓以安。 鄰縣人戶歸附者，寔輒訓導譬解，發遣各令還本司官行部。 〈司官謂主司之官也。〉 吏慮有訟者，白欲禁之。 寔曰：「訟以求直，禁之理將何申？ 其勿有所拘。 」司官聞而歎息曰：「陳君所言若是，豈有怨於人乎？ 」亦竟無訟者。 以沛相賦斂違法，及解印綬去，吏人追思之。
Huang Qiong's Works ministry named him Wenxi magistrate for crisis duty; he quit within a month when mourning called. Two further promotions made him magistrate of Taiqiu. 〈Taiqiu in Pei lay northwest of today's Yongcheng in Bozhou.〉 Quiet integrity brought the county peace. Refugees from other jurisdictions he coached and sent home when inspectors toured. 〈"Inspecting official" denotes each county's proper chief.〉 Staff feared lawsuits and urged a ban. Shi replied, "Suits seek justice—silencing them smothers truth." Let no one obstruct petitioners. The touring inspector sighed that Chen's fairness left no room for grudges— and indeed no suits arose. When Pei's chancellor taxed illegally, Shi resigned his seal; clerks and folk never forgot him.
46
及後逮捕黨人，事亦連寔。 餘人多逃避求免，寔曰：「吾不就獄，眾無所恃。 」乃請囚焉。 遇赦得出。 靈帝初，大將軍竇武辟以為掾屬。 時中常侍張讓權傾天下。 讓父死，歸葬穎川，雖一郡畢至，而名士無往者，讓甚恥之，寔乃獨吊焉。 乃後復誅黨人，讓感寔，故多所全宥。
When the faction lists swept the realm, Chen Shi's name landed on them. While others fled the arrest lists, Shi insisted that without his surrender the community would lose its moral anchor. He volunteered for jail. An amnesty freed him. Emperor Ling's early years brought recruitment from Grand General Dou Wu. Eunuch Zhang Rang then overshadowed the empire. When Zhang Rang buried his father in Yingchuan, every official attended except the luminaries—until Chen Shi alone appeared, humbling Rang's clan. When the lists reopened, Rang remembered Chen Shi's grace and spared numerous scholars.
47
寔在鄉閭，平心率物。 其有爭訟，輒求判正，曉譬曲直，退無怨者。 至乃歎曰：「寧為刑罰所加，不為陳君所短。 」時歲荒民儉，有盜夜入其室，止於樑上。 寔陰見，乃起自整拂，呼命子孫，正色訓之曰：「夫人不可不自勉。 不善之人未必本惡，習以性成，遂至於此。 樑上君子者是矣！ 」盜大驚，自投於地，稽顙歸罪。 寔徐譬之曰：「視君狀貌，不似惡人，宜深克己反善。 然此當由貧困。 」令遺絹二匹。 自是一縣無復盜竊。
At home he treated neighbors with unvarying fairness. Villagers brought every quarrel to him; he explained right from wrong so both sides left satisfied. People said they would rather face the magistrate's rod than disappoint Chen Shi. In a hunger year a burglar hid on his roof beam— Shi caught sight of him, rose, straightened his dress, gathered the family, and said every man must struggle toward virtue— bad character often comes from habit, not innate malice— as with the man on our beam." The thief slid down, kowtowing in shame. Shi soothed him: his looks suggested reform remained possible— poverty had driven him to theft. Shi sent him off with two rolls of silk. After that the county saw no more burglaries.
48
太尉楊賜、司徒陳耽，每拜公卿，羣僚畢賀，賜等常歎寔大位未登，愧於先之。 及黨禁始解，大將軍何進、司徒袁隗遣人敦寔， 〈敦，勸也。〉 欲特表以不次之位。 寔乃謝使者曰：「寔久絕人事，飾巾待終而已。 」時三公每缺，議者歸之，累見征命，遂不起，閉門懸車，棲□養老。 中平四年，年八十四，卒於家。 何進遣使弔祭，海內赴者三萬餘人，制衰麻者以百數。 共刊石立碑，謚為文范先生。 〈先賢行狀曰：「將軍何進遣官屬吊祠為謚。」〉
Yang Ci and Chen Dan, on winning the highest posts, confessed shame that Chen Shi had not been promoted first. When the ban ended, He Jin and Yuan Wei pressed envoys on Chen Shi— 〈Dun means to press or exhort.〉 intending to recommend him for a rank that skipped the normal ladder. Shi told them he had left public life and only awaited death in the turban of retirement. Whenever a ministership opened, opinion nominated Shi; edicts piled up but he bolted his gate, hung up his cart, and aged in seclusion. He died at home in Zhongping 4 at eighty-four. He Jin sponsored the rites; over thirty thousand mourners arrived, hundreds in full hemp. They carved a stele and gave him the posthumous title Master of Patterned Exemplarity. 〈Local records credit He Jin's office with the mourning service and posthumous style.〉
49
有六子，紀、諶最賢。
Six sons survived; Chen Ji and Chen Chen topped them in talent.
50
紀字符方，亦以至德稱。 兄弟孝養，閨門廱和，後進之士皆推慕其風。 及遭黨錮，發憤著書數萬言，號曰陳子。 黨禁解，四府並命，無所屈就。 遭父憂，每哀至，輒歐血絕氣，雖衰服已除，而積毀消瘠，殆將滅性。 豫州刺史嘉其至行，表上尚書，圖像百城，以厲風俗。 董卓入洛陽，乃使就家拜五官中郎將，不得已，到京師，遷侍中。
Chen Ji, styled Yuanfang, matched his father's moral fame. The brothers' filial harmony drew younger scholars to emulate them. Under the faction ban he vented in essays published as Master Chen. Four ministries summoned him when the ban lifted; he refused all. Mourning his father he spat blood at each surge of grief; even after shed mourning he wasted nearly to death. Yuzhou's inspector memorialized his devotion and ordered his portrait hung in every county seat. Dong Zhuo's entry forced him to accept General of the Household, then palace attendant in the capital.
51
出為平原相，往謁卓，時欲徙都長安。 乃謂紀曰：「三輔平敞，四面險固，土地肥美，號為陸海。 〈《前書》曰，東方朔曰：「三輔之地，南有江、淮，北有河、渭，汧、隴以東，商、洛以西，厥壤肥饒，此所謂天府陸海之地。」〉 今關東兵起，恐洛陽不可久居。 長安猶有宮室，今欲西遷何如？ 」紀曰：「天下有道，守在四夷。 〈《左傳》曰，楚沈尹戍曰「古者天子守在四夷。 天子卑，守在諸侯」也。〉 宜修德政，以懷不附。 遷移至尊，誠計之末者。 愚以公宜事委公卿，專精外任。 其有違命，則威之以武。 今關東兵起，民不堪命。 若謙遠朝政，率師討伐，則塗炭之民，庶幾可全。 若欲徙萬乘以自安，將有累卵之危，崢嶸之險也。」 〈累卵，解見皇后紀。 崢音士耕反。〉 卓意甚忤，而敬紀名行，無所復言。 時議欲以為司徒，紀見禍亂方作，不復辨嚴， 〈嚴讀曰裝也。〉 實時之郡。 璽書追拜太僕，又征為尚書令。 建安初，袁紹為太尉，讓於紀； 紀不受，拜大鴻臚。 年七十一，卒於官。
As Pingyuan chancellor he called on Zhuo, who meant to move the court west. Zhuo argued the Guanzhong heartland was fertile, defensible, the proverbial land-and-sea granary— 〈Han sources quote Dongfang Shuo's praise of Guanzhong's natural fortress and fertility.〉 With coalition armies east of the pass, Luoyang could not hold— while Chang'an still offered palaces for a western move. Chen Ji answered that virtuous rule secures the realm through frontier allies— 〈The Zuo Tradition glosses "defense in the four Yi"— or in vassal armies when the throne weakens.'〉 Better win dissidents through humane rule— while relocating the emperor ranks last among strategies. Shi urged Zhuo to delegate civil rule and focus on military command— using force only against open rebels. Eastern levies already crushed the people— personal command against the coalition might yet spare the commoners— whereas hauling the court west stacked disaster like eggs on a cliff." 〈"Stacked eggs" recalls the empresses' annals— zheng is read with the fanqie shi–geng.〉 Zhuo bridled but respected Chen Ji too much to argue. When ministers wished to install Chen Ji as Minister of Education, he saw turmoil coming and never bothered packing— 〈Yan here reads as zhuang, baggage.〉 fleeing straight to his commandery post. Imperial messengers chased him with Grand Coachman and Secretariat Director appointments. In early Jian'an Yuan Shao held Grand Commandant and offered the title to Chen Ji— Ji refused, accepting only Grand Herald. He died in office at seventy-one.
52
子羣，為魏司空。 〈羣字長文。 魏志曰「魯國孔融才高倨傲，年在羣、紀之閒，先與[紀友，後與]羣交，更為紀拜，由是顯名」也。〉 天下以為公慙卿，卿慙長。
His son Chen Qun became Wei Minister of Works. 〈Qun bore the style Changwen— 〈Wei histories note Kong Rong respecting both Chen brothers, shifting friendship from elder to younger.〉 Wits quipped that the Excellency blushed before the minister and the minister before the patriarch.
53
弟諶，字季方。 與紀齊德同行，父子並著高名，時號三君。 每宰府辟召，常同時旌命，羔鴈成羣， 〈古者諸侯朝天子，卿執羔，大夫執鴈，士執雉。 成羣言眾多也。〉 當世者靡不榮之。 諶早終。 〈先賢行狀曰：「豫州百城，皆圖書寔、紀、諶形像焉。」〉
Younger brother Chen Chen styled Jifang. He rivaled Chen Ji in virtue; father and sons were hailed as the Three Paragons. Bureaus courted them in tandem—gift lambs and geese arrived in crowds— 〈Classical audiences required lambs from ministers, geese from grandees— hence the metaphor of flocking gifts.〉 Contemporaries venerated them without exception. Chen Chen died young. 〈Local records say Yuzhou hung portraits of all three Chens.〉
54
論曰：漢自中世以下，閹豎□恣，故俗遂以遁身矯絜放言為高。 〈放肆其言，不拘節制也。 論語曰：「隱居放言。」〉 士有不談此者，則芸夫牧豎已叫呼之矣。 〈叫呼，譏笑之也。 芸，除草也。〉 故時政彌惛，而其風愈往。 唯陳先生進退之節，必可度也。 據於德故物不犯，安於仁故不離羣，行成乎身而道訓天下，故凶邪不能以權奪，王公不能以貴驕，所以聲教廢於上，而風俗清乎下也。
Mid-Han eunuchs ran wild; fashion praised recluses who flaunted purity and brazen talk. 〈"Reckless speech" means unbridled words— the Analects pairing it with eremitic life.〉 Any scholar who spurned that pose faced mockery from the roughest laborers. 〈To shout at someone here means to jeer— yun means hoeing weeds.〉 So policy rotted while pose-striking spread. Only Chen Shi navigated office and retirement with measurable principle. Grounded in virtue, nothing could stain him; anchored in humanity, he never abandoned community; personal integrity broadcast the Way so neither intrigue nor rank could sway him—keeping local morals clean even when court rhetoric collapsed.
55
贊曰：二李師淑，陳君友皓。 韓韶就吏，贏寇懷道。 太丘奧廣，模我彝倫。 曾是淵軌，薄夫以淳。 〈曾之言則也。〉 慶基既啟，有蔚穎濱，二方承則，八慈繼塵。 〈二方，元方﹑季方也。 荀淑八子，皆以慈為字，見荀氏家傳也。
The stanza pairs Li Gu and Li Ying with Xun Shu, Han Shao's virtue, Zhong Hao's friendship— Han Shao fed refugees while brigands respected his name. Taiqiu's magnanimity modeled enduring ethics. Those deep ruts turned cynics sincere. 〈Zeng functions as "thus" or "then."〉 Their lineage flourished along the Ying River: Chen Yuanfang and Chen Jifang upheld their father's example while Xun Shu's eight sons—all bearing the courtesy element Ci—trooped after them as admirers. 〈"Two Fang" names the Chen brothers— The family chronicle records that each of Xun Shu's eight sons embedded the character for kindness in his courtesy name.'〉