1
Confucius said that the Changes has four aspects of the way of the superior man, and among them he said, 'Those who divine by tortoise shell and milfoil esteem its prognostications.' Divination was how the ancient kings fixed fortune against misfortune, cut through uncertainty, drew hidden aid from the gods, and so discerned what lay ahead. The yin-yang arts and astronomical computation already turn up again and again in those old grave records. The spirit texts and marvel registers, the jade slips bound with golden cord, locked away in the courts of the numinous and sealed on high altars, remain beyond anyone's sight. Then there are the River and Luo documents, the tortoise-and-dragon diagrams, Jizi's methods, Shi Kuang's writings, apocryphal weft-books, and talismanic slips—all tools to sound the hidden depths and test them against the human world, and occasionally something credible surfaces. The tradition also spawned wind-angle, Dunjia, the seven governors, original breath, six-day-seven-part reckoning, encounter divination, day-selectors, the ting-zhuan and shunyu methods, orphan-and-void calculation—ways of reading the sky and qi to trace good or ill omens—and sometimes they really seemed to work. But the way runs dark and far off, too abstruse to pin down, which is why the sage kept silent about ghosts and marvels and seldom spoke of fate or human nature. Some opened the branch ends while restraining the root, others used tortuous wording to display the meaning—what is called 'The people may be made to follow it, but may not be made to understand it.'
2
Under the Han, once Emperor Wu took a strong interest in esoteric techniques, every adept who hoarded a trick or two shouldered his satchel and hurried to court, eager to catch the imperial breeze. Wang Mang then twisted the chenwei oracles to his ends, and Emperor Guangwu believed the apocrypha with unusual fervor, so opportunists raced to wrench texts into shape and outdid one another in expounding them. So Wang Liang and Sun Xian, whose names matched prophetic slips, vaulted into the highest ministerial seats overnight; Zheng Xing and Jia Kui climbed to prominence by swimming with the tide; Huan Tan and Yin Min were ruined because they stood athwart it. After that the fashion was to call them 'inner classics,' to dote on bizarre writings and rare numerologies, and the age never lacked for either. Learned men, furious at the fraud and want of canonical grounding, petitioned in blunt anger that the lot be locked away and cast aside. Zi Chang also said, 'Reading the books of yin and yang makes one cramped and full of taboos.' He had this very abuse in mind.
3
夫物之所偏，未能無蔽。 雖云大道，其硋或同。 若乃《詩》之失愚，《書》之失誣。 然則數術之失，至於詭俗乎？ 如令溫柔敦厚而不愚，斯深於《詩》者也； 疏通知遠而不誣，斯深於《書》者也； 極數知變而不詭俗，斯深於數術者也。 故曰：「苟非其人，道不虛行。」 意者多迷其統，取遣頗偏，甚有雖流宕過誕亦失也。
Whatever doctrine tilts too far inevitably blinds itself somewhere. Even the highest teaching can trip over the same obstacles. The Odes, they say, err toward naïveté; the Documents err toward exaggeration. If so, do the number arts stray until they simply cozen the crowd? To be tender, honest, and still not naive is to have mastered the Odes; to be lucid, far-reaching, and still not mendacious is to have mastered the Documents; and to push calculation to its limits, grasp change, and never pander to superstition is to have mastered the technical arts. Hence the adage: "without the right man, the Way does not move of itself." Most enthusiasts lose the whole in the parts, pick their evidence with bias, and some grow so wild in speculation that they miss the truth altogether.
4
At mid-Han Zhang Heng led the yin-yang field, Lang Yi was tightest on omen interpretation, and others glittered each in a niche. Their disciples included men of real culture and character who never reached the summit of technique. Here I single out those whose predictive skill did most for the age and list them together.
6
Ren Wengong came from Langzhong in Ba commandery. His father Ren Wensun knew the astrological canons and the wind-angle art inside out. The son trained in his father's science and the province appointed him a retainer. Under Emperor Ai a rumor spread that the Yuexi governor meant to rise; the terrified inspector dispatched Wengong and five colleagues to scout the frontier. They were sharing a relay inn when a gale struck; Wengong shouted that a deadly revolt was brewing and they must flee at once, then leaped into his cart and bolted. His companions hesitated until troops from the commandery cut them down; only Wengong got away.
7
He was later promoted to retainer in the headquarters bureau. During a severe drought he warned the inspector, 'On the first of the fifth month a flood will break. The signs are already here; nothing can hold it back—have every clerk and household prepare now.' The inspector scoffed, but Wengong quietly laid in big boats. Word spread, and many people took precautions. The sun beat down as he predicted; he pressed people to load up and again warned the inspector, who only laughed. Near noon clouds piled up from the north, rain burst forth, and by mid-afternoon the Jian River had risen thirty feet, sweeping away homes and drowning thousands. From that day his mantic skill was famous. The Minister of Works gave him a clerkship. When Emperor Ping ascended the throne he pleaded illness and went home.
8
After Wang Mang seized power he foresaw turmoil and made his family shoulder hundred-jin packs and trot laps around the compound daily while neighbors wondered what game he was playing. When war and pillage followed, refugees rarely survived, yet his whole clan, laden with grain, outran danger and escaped intact. They withdrew to Mount Zigong and lived a dozen years without seeing a blade.
9
Under Gongsun Shu the martial stone at Wudan in Shu snapped. Wengong murmured, 'Ah— when the western realm's best minds perish, the reckoning falls on me.' After that he kept calling his descendants together for feasts. Three months later he was dead. Yizhou folk coined the line, 'Ren Wengong—no mind matches his.'
10
Guo Xian, styled Ziheng, hailed from Song in Runan. As a boy he took the eastern sea scholar Wang Zhongzi as his master. Wang Mang, then Grand Marshal, summoned Zhongzi. The master meant to obey. Guo Xian objected: 'Propriety allows pupils to come to the teacher, not great men to drag the teacher to them. To demean the Way and cower before rank is something I cannot stomach.' Zhongzi replied, 'The minister's summons is not to be refused.' Guo Xian said, 'We are mid-lecture; let us finish the lesson first.' Zhongzi agreed and arrived only at dusk. Mang asked, 'Why have you come so late?' Zhongzi repeated Guo Xian's words, and Mang quietly marked the young man. After usurping the throne Mang named him a palace gentleman and sent robes as gifts. Guo Xian took the silks, burned them, and fled to the eastern seaboard. Mang raged and hunted him without success.
11
When Guangwu took the throne he searched the realm for men of the Way and summoned Xian as Erudite. Promoted again, in Jianwu 7 he succeeded Zhang Kan as Superintendent of the Imperial Household. He attended the emperor at the southern suburban rite. At his post Xian suddenly faced northeast and spat wine three times. Ritual officers reported him for disrespect. The emperor ordered an inquiry into the cause. Xian answered, "There is a fire in Qi; I am doing this to avert the disaster." Later Qi indeed reported a fire—on the very day of the suburban rite.
12
In the eighth year of Jianwu the emperor marched west against Wei Xiao. Xian remonstrated, saying, 'The realm has only just been settled; the imperial carriage ought not to move.' He planted himself before the team, drew his belt knife, and cut the traces. The emperor ignored him and climbed Long Mountain. When Yingchuan rose in revolt he had to wheel about and ride back. The emperor sighed, saying, 'I regret I did not use Ziheng's words.'
13
As the Xiongnu kept raiding the passes, he called a full court to debate a response. Guo Xian argued the country was too spent for another campaign. When he lost the argument he dropped flat, feigned vertigo, and fell silent. Two attendants were told to haul him off the dais, yet he refused even a curt bow. The emperor remarked, 'They say east of the pass Guo Ziheng fears nothing—true enough.' Guo Xian then retired citing illness and died at home.
14
Xu Yang, styled Weijun, came from Pingyu in Runan. From boyhood he loved numerology and technique. Wang Mang, as regent, called him to court as a gentleman and later promoted him to Jiuquan commandant. When Mang seized the throne Xu Yang changed his name, posed as a witch-doctor, and hid in another province. After Mang fell he came home.
15
Runan once held the great Hongxi marsh until Chancellor Zhai Fangjin persuaded Emperor Cheng to drain it. Early in Jianwu Governor Deng Chen wanted to rebuild the works. Learning that Xu Yang read water patterns, Deng Chen called him in to plan. Xu Yang said, 'Emperor Cheng listened to Zhai Fangjin and soon dreamed he had ascended to heaven, where the High God demanded, “Why ruin my Dragon Pool? The people lost the lake and starved in droves. A rhyme ran: Zhai Ziwei wrecked our dyke, fed us beans, stewed our taro. Turn and turn again—the marsh must return.' Great Yu cut channels for the rivers to benefit the world. If you revive this drowned work to enrich the commandery and feed the people, the old children's song will prove true at last. I am willing to stake my life on the task.' Deng Chen delightedly named him clerk of waterworks and put him in charge. Xu Yang traced the terrain and threw up four hundred li of embankment; the job took years. The farmers prospered and harvests turned fat year on year.
16
At first the great clans tried to rig the corvée; Xu Yang blocked every squeeze play, so they joined in accusing him of taking bribes. Deng Chen jailed Xu Yang, but the manacles kept falling open on their own. The terrified wardens ran to Deng Chen. Deng Chen exclaimed, 'The charge was unjust. They say loyalty can touch the gods—here is the proof!' That night he freed Xu Yang and sent him home. The heavens were black as ink, yet a glow lit his path like a torch, and onlookers took it for a wonder. He later died of an illness. Deng Chen built him a shrine in the metropolitan temple and hung his portrait; grateful folk kept his altars busy.
17
Gao Huo, styled Jinggong, came from Xinxi in Runan. He was built like a man with a sloping forehead and a square jaw. As a young scholar in the capital he had known Emperor Guangwu long before. He studied under Ouyang Xi, the minister over the masses. When Ouyang Xi was jailed and sentenced to die, Gao Huo put on an iron cap, buckled on the felon's axe and fetters, and pleaded at the palace gate. The emperor refused the pardon but still granted him an audience. He told him, 'Jinggong, I mean to give you office; you must mend your stubborn ways.' Gao Huo answered, 'What my parents gave me in temperament no edict can reshape.' He bowed out and left without looking back.
18
All three dukes tried to recruit him; he ignored every offer. Governor Bao Yu later invited him in, yet at the door the chief clerk sent only outriders instead of greeting him in person; Gao Huo turned on his heel. Bao Yu sent runners to fetch him back; Gao Huo called over his shoulder, 'Your honor is hoodwinked by a clerk—not worth my time.' He never set foot inside. A killing drought gripped the commandery. Gao Huo read the stars, knew Dunjia, and was said to command spirits. Bao Yu rode out to ask the rite for rain. Gao Huo said, 'Dismiss your three touring supervisors at once, then ride north yourself to the thirty-li post station—that will draw the storm.' Bao Yu obeyed, and the heavens opened. Whenever Bao Yu inspected the counties he lifted the carriage bar in salute as he passed Gao Huo's lane. Gao Huo withdrew deep into the southland and died at Shicheng. The people of Shicheng missed him and raised a temple in his honor.
19
Wang Qiao came from Hedong. Under Emperor Ming he served as magistrate of Ye. He possessed uncanny skills: every new and full moon he traveled from Ye to the capital for court without fail. The court wondered how he arrived so often yet never with a train, so the emperor told the grand astrologer to spy on him. They reported that each time he neared the capital two wild ducks flew in from the southeast. When the birds appeared the watchers cast a net and snared only one slipper. The palace workshops identified it as footwear given four years before to attendants of the minister of education. On court days the gate drum at Ye would roll without a hand touching it, and the capital could hear it. Then a jade sarcophagus appeared before the yamen; clerks heaved together but could not shift it. Wang Qiao asked, 'Does Heaven call for me alone?' He bathed, robed himself, lay inside, and the lid dropped straight shut. By morning he lay buried east of the walls, a mound rising as if shaped by unseen hands. That same night every ox in the county streamed sweat and heaved for breath, though no one understood why. The people raised a temple and hailed him as Lord Ye. Each new governor, roster in hand, bowed at his shrine before doing anything else. Petitions from clerks and commoners were answered every time. Break his rules and he would lash back as a vengeful ghost. The emperor seized the drum and hung it under the capital post station, after which it barely spoke again. Some identify him with the immortal Wang Ziqiao of old.
21
Xie Yiwu, styled Yaoqing, came from Shanyin in Kuaiji. He began as a commandery clerk and trained in wind-angle and portent lore. Governor Diwu Lun raised him to supervising clerk. The magistrate of Wucheng was rumored corrupt; Diwu Lun ordered Xie Yiwu to arrest and examine him. Xie Yiwu reached the county, proved nothing in court, faced the gate tower, wept prostrate, and rode back. The whole county was baffled. Back at headquarters he told Diwu Lun, 'My divination shows the magistrate is dying. Within thirty days at soonest, sixty at latest; his soul already wanders—no law can touch him—so I made no arrest.' Diwu Lun waited; a month later couriers arrived with the dead man's seal and word of a sudden death. From then on Diwu Lun honored him the more.
22
23
臣聞堯登稷、契，政隆太平； 舜用皋陶，政致雍熙、殷、周雖有高宗、昌、發之君，猶賴傅說、呂望之策，故能克崇其業，允協大中。 竊見鉅鹿太守會稽謝夷吾，出自東州，厥土塗泥，而英姿挺特，奇偉秀出。 才兼四科，行包九德，仁足濟時，知周萬物。 加以少膺儒雅，韜含六籍，推考星度，綜校圖錄，探賾聖秘，觀變曆徵，佔天知地，與神合契，據其道德，以經王務。 昔為陪隸，與臣從事，奮忠毅之操，躬史魚之節，董臣嚴綱，勗臣懦弱，得以免戾，實賴厥勳。 及其應選作宰，惠敷百里，降福彌異，流化若神，爰牧荊州，威行邦國。 奉法作政，有周、召之風； 居儉履約，紹公儀之操。 尋功簡能，為外臺之表； 聽聲察實，為九伯之冠。 遷守鉅鹿，政合時雍。 德量績謀，有伊、呂、管、晏之任； 闡弘道奧，同史蘇、京房之倫。 雖密勿在公，而身出心隱，不殉名以求譽，不馳鶩以要寵，念存遜遁，演志箕山。 方之古賢，實有倫序； 采之於今，超焉絕俗。 誠社稷之元龜，大漢之棟甍。 宜當拔擢，使登鼎司。 上令三辰順軌於歷象，下使五品咸訓於嘉時，必致休徵克昌之慶，非徒循法奉職而已。 臣以頑駑，器非其疇，屍祿負乘，夕惕若厲。 願乞骸骨，更授夷吾，上以光七曜之明，下以厭率土之望，庶令微臣塞咎免悔。
Your servant has heard that when Yao raised Ji and Xie, peace spread across the realm; Shun used Gao Yao and harmony followed. Yin and Zhou boasted kings like Gaozong, Wen, and Wu, yet even they leaned on Fu Yue and Lü Wang—only thus could they magnify their work and hit the great mean. Your servant has watched Julu Governor Xie Yiwu of Kuaiji: though he springs from the eastern mudflats, his mien is heroic, his talent towering. He unites the four classes of talent, walks the nine virtues, has benevolence enough to save the times, and knowledge wide as creation. Trained in the classics, he stores the Six Books, tracks the constellations, collates apocrypha, probes the sages' arcana, reads omens in the calendar, knows heaven and earth, moves in tune with the gods, and steers statecraft by virtue. When he served under me, he displayed loyal resolve and the integrity of Shi Yu. He tightened my lax discipline, strengthened my weak resolve, and kept me from fault; I truly owe that to his merit. As magistrate his grace soaked a hundred li, blessings fell strangely, his teaching seemed divine; as Jing inspector his majesty ran the whole province. His government has the Duke of Zhou's discipline and the Duke of Shao's clarity; living spare and keeping faith, he matches Gongyi Xiu. In weighing merit and talent he is the outer court's paragon; in testing rumor against fact he leads the nine regional inspectors. As Julu governor his rule matched the season of harmony. In moral breadth and policy depth he rivals Yi Yin, Lü Wang, Guan Zhong, and Yan Ying; in opening the Way's depths he ranks with Shi Su and Jing Fang. Though he slaves for the state, his mind stays hidden; he trades neither fame nor favor for ambition, and his heart already wanders toward Mount Ji's reclusion. Set beside the ancients he holds his rank; measured against our own age he stands clean above the crowd. He is the tortoise-oracle of the state, the roof-tree of Han. He should be lifted into the three highest seats. Above he would set sun, moon, and stars to their tracks; below he would school the five ranks in a golden age—more than a dutiful clerk, he would summon the omens of a golden peace. Your servant is a dull nag, unfit for the yoke, fat on unearned pay and riding above his station, and quakes each night like a man on a cliff. Let me yield my bones and yield the post to Yiwu—above to light the seven governors, below to quiet the empire—so this fool may dodge blame and regret.
24
後以行春乘柴車，從兩史，冀州刺史上其儀序失中，有損國典，左轉下邳令。 豫克死日，如期果卒。 敕其子曰：「漢末當亂，必有發掘露骸之禍。」 使懸棺下葬，墓不起墳。
Later, riding a rough cart with two clerks on his spring rounds, the Ji inspector impeached his retinue as a breach of ritual; he was busted down to magistrate of Xiapi. He foretold his own death and died exactly on schedule. He warned his sons, 'When Han falls, tombs will be opened and bones left in the sun.' He told them to bury him in a suspended coffin and leave no mound.
25
26
Yang You, styled Aihou, of Chengdu in Shu, studied the Changes, the seven governors, original breath, and weather omens. He served as the commandery's educational aide. A huge sparrow roosted one night on the arsenal tower; Governor Lian Fan asked Yang You what it meant. Yang You said, 'It marks petty fighting inside the commandery, nothing serious.' Twenty days later Guangrou's barbarians rose, cut down officers, and the commandery unlocked the arsenal to fight them off. Wind next blew carved feeding boards about; the governor again consulted Yang You. He answered, 'Someone will soon bring fruit—yellow-red in color.' Soon a clerk of the five bureaus offered several sacks of oranges.
27
Once at a banquet Yang You told his driver, 'After the third round, hitch the horses tight.' He left in haste before the feast ended. A brawl broke out in the host's house and men died; guests asked how he had foreseen it. Yang You said, 'I saw doves brawling on the tree over the village shrine—a sign of armed strife.' Again and again his readings came true. He left a dozen essays collected under the title Qi Ping. He died at home.
28
Li Nan, styled Xiaoshan, came from Jurong in Danyang. He studied hard in youth and mastered the wind-angle art. Under Emperor He, when Governor Ma Ling was called to the capital on a banditry charge, the commandery panicked—only Li Nan asked for an audience to congratulate him. Ma Ling took offense and said, 'I am disgraced—why do you offer joy?' Li Nan replied, 'The wind at dawn was favorable; by noon tomorrow good word will arrive—that is why I came to rejoice.' Next morning Ma Ling watched the sky until noon and saw no sign; only in mid-afternoon did a post rider gallop up with an edict dropping the case. Li Nan asked why he was late. The messenger said, 'Just now when crossing the Wanling inlet at Puli, my horse sprained its foot, and therefore I could not be swift.' Ma Ling conceded Li Nan had been right. Recommended for the 'conduct of the Way' and called to the high minister's bureau, he pleaded sickness and stayed home until he died.
29
Li Nan's daughter knew the family divinations; she had married into Youquan county. One morning, as she entered the kitchen, a violent wind suddenly arose. She went to the hall and asked her mother-in-law to let her return home to bid farewell to her parents. The mother-in-law refused; kneeling, she wept, 'Our family reads omens: a sudden gale that hits the chimney and well first marks the cook's doom—I am the one who will die.' She named the very day she would die. They sent her home, and she fell ill and died exactly as she foretold.
30
Li He, styled Mengjie, came from Nanzheng in Hanzhong. His father Li Jie was a noted classicist who reached the doctorate. He followed his father's scholarship, entered the Imperial Academy, and mastered the Five Classics. He knew the River-Luo charts and stellar winds, yet seemed so plain that nobody noticed him. The county put him on duty as watchman at the camp gate.
31
Emperor He sent secret inspectors in plain clothes, each riding alone to hear folk songs and rumor. Two of them were bound for Yi and put up at Li He's guardhouse. At the time, on a summer evening sitting in the dew, He therefore looked up at the sky and asked, 'When you two gentlemen set out from the capital, did you know the court had dispatched two envoys?' The two were silent, then looked at each other in alarm and said, 'We did not hear of it.' They asked how he could tell. He traced two 'envoy' stars sliding toward Yi's celestial field—that was his proof.
32
Three years later one of those men became governor of Hanzhong while Li He remained a petty clerk. The new governor, struck by his quiet gifts, made him clerk of the households bureau. When Dou Xian married, every province sent gifts; Hanzhong prepared a messenger too. Li He warned, 'Dou Xian is imperial in-law yet flouts virtue and bullies the realm—his fall is a toe's length away. He begged the governor to cleave to the throne and send no gift.' The governor insisted; Li He could not block him. He asked to carry the gift himself and was allowed. He dawdled at every stop to see what would happen. By the time he reached Fufeng, Dou Xian had been sent to his fief and forced to suicide; his clique was wiped out. Everyone who had courted Dou Xian lost his post—except the Hanzhong governor.
33
That same year Li He won filial-incorrupt rank, climbed five steps to director of the secretariat, then became minister of cults. In Yuanchu 4 he succeeded Yuan Chang as minister of works and spoke bluntly on policy like a true loyalist. Four years later he fell on a favor-seeking charge.
34
When Emperor An died and the Beixiang marquis mounted the throne, Li He returned as minister of education. When the boy emperor sickened, Li He conspired with Tao Fan and Zhao Zhi to enthrone Emperor Shun, but eunuch Sun Cheng moved first, so his plot never surfaced. Next year plague and omens cost him his seal under an imperial rebuke. The master of works Zhai Pu memorialized that He 'secretly framed a great plan to secure the altars of soil and grain,' and therefore his merit in the hidden plot was recorded and He was enfeoffed marquis of Shedu, but he declined and would not accept. He died at home in his eighties. Only his pupil Feng Zhou of Shangdang wore mourning three years—an act the age found remarkable.
35
Feng Zhou, styled Shiwei, descended from Feng Shishi. He modeled himself on Zhou Bokuang and Min Zhongshu, living hidden in the hills and ignoring every call to office.
36
His son Li Gu appears in an earlier chapter. A disciple, Li, styled Jizi. He was incorrupt, learned, and befriended men like Zheng Xuan and Chen Ji. As magistrate of Xincheng he ruled by doing little. He too dabbled in esoteric technique. While the empire baked in drought, his county alone caught rain. He rose to chief commandant for the imperial carriage.
37
Duan Yi, styled Yuanzhang, came from Xindu in Guanghan. He studied the Changes and the wind-angle art. Pupils who had not yet arrived found their names already on his lips. He once told the ferry-clerk on guard, 'On such-and-such a day there will be two students carrying loads who will ask where Yi's house is—be so good as to tell them.' It happened just as he said. Another pupil studied years, thought he had the gist, and left for home. Duan Yi gave him salve and a sealed bamboo slip, saying, 'Open only in crisis.' At Jiameng he fought the ferryman, who clubbed his servant's head open. Inside the tube the slip said that at Jiameng a clerk would crack someone's skull and this salve would heal it. He applied the paste and the wound closed overnight. Awestruck, the student went back to finish the course. Duan Yi then vanished into reclusion and died at home.
38
Liao Fu, styled Wenqi, came from Pingyu in Runan. He taught the Han Odes and Ouyang Documents to hundreds of students. His father governed Beidi and died in prison after the Qiang overran the commandery in Yongchu. Liao Fu shrank from office after seeing the law kill his father. When mourning was ended he sighed, saying, "Laozi has a saying, 'Fame and the person—which is dearer?' Surely I will not chase reputation!" He renounced the world of ambition. He plunged into the canon, mastering stars, apocrypha, wind-angle, and calendars. He ignored every summons from province or capital. Even when asked for omens he stayed silent.
39
Foreseeing famine, he stored grain for clan and in-laws and buried plague victims who had no one to tend them. He lived by the family graves and never went to town. Governor Ye Huan had once been his pupil. Ye Huan, before taking his post, sent a man to honor him as teacher and tried to promote his sons; Liao Fu refused and was nicknamed the Sage beyond the north wall. He died at home at eighty.
41
42
She Guo owned two hundred million cash and eight hundred retainers. Even as a boy She Xiang spared insects and never snapped young shoots. He mastered Jing Fang's Changes and loved Huang-Lao philosophy. When his father died he remembered that great hoards invite great loss and gave away gold, silk, and land to kin near and far. Someone remonstrated with Xiang, saying, 'You have three sons and two daughters, and grandchildren throng before you—you ought to increase your estate; why sit and exhaust yourself?' He quoted Dou Ziwen: 'I shed wealth to dodge disaster, not because I scorn riches. Our house has been rich too long; Daoists warn that excess invites ruin. The age is turning and my sons lack talent. Wealth without virtue is the worst misfortune. A high wall built on a crack must fall fast.' Thoughtful listeners took his point and conceded he was right.
43
自知亡日，召賓客九族飲食辭訣，忽然而終。 時年八十四。 家無餘資，諸子衰劣如其言云。
He foreknew his last day, feasted kin and friends in farewell, and slipped away as if in a breath. He was eighty-four years old. The estate was bare, and his sons turned out as dull as he had warned.
44
Fan Ying, styled Jiqi, came from Luyang in Nanyang. He trained in the capital region, mastered Jing Fang's Changes, and knew the Five Classics. He read wind omens, stars, River-Luo lore, the seven weft apocrypha, and disaster math. He lived south of Mount Hu and drew pupils from every direction. Provincial and commandery posts courted him in vain; high ministers nominated him as worthy and as a man of the Way, yet he never took office.
45
When a gale blew from the west he told his class, 'Chengdu's market is burning hard.' He rinsed his mouth westward with water and had them note the time. Later a guest came from the Shu capital and said, "That day there was a great fire; suddenly a black cloud rose from the east, and in a moment heavy rain fell, and the fire was then extinguished." All under heaven marveled at his skill.
46
At the start of Emperor An's reign he was summoned as Erudite. In Jianguang 1 the court again sent imperial coaches with written summonses for Ying, Kong Qiao and Li Bing of his commandery, Lang Zong of Beihai, Yang Lun of Chenliu, and Wang Fu of Dongping. Only Lang Zong and Yang Lun reached Luoyang; Ying and the other three never came.
47
In Yongjian 2 Emperor Shun summoned him with full honors; Fan Ying pleaded grave illness again. The court rebuked local officials and had him carted to the capital. Fan Ying yielded, arrived, and stayed abed feigning sickness. They carried him into the hall on a litter; he still refused court etiquette. The emperor thundered, 'I can spare or end you; raise you high or cast you low; make you rich or strip you bare. Why defy an emperor?' Fan Ying answered, 'My life comes from Heaven. Live your full span—that is Heaven; die before your time—that too is Heaven. So how can you grant me life or deal me death? I would sooner face a tyrant as an enemy than bow in his court—can you truly honor me? Give me a hovel and plain clothes and I am content—I would not swap that for the throne—can you humble me? So how can you honor or shame me? Unrighteous stipends, even ten thousand zhong, I reject; feed my purpose and a bowl of gruel satisfies me. So how can you enrich or ruin me?' The emperor could not break him, yet prized his name, sent him to the imperial physicians, and monthly supplied mutton and wine.
48
In the third month of the fourth year the emperor staged a dais for Fan Ying, had coaches and secretaries escort him, gave him a seat and cane, honored him like a teacher, and asked his counsel on state affairs. Fan Ying bowed and accepted rank as supernumerary gentleman of the household. Months later he pleaded worse health; the court named him grand counselor of the palace and let him go home. His district was told to send a thousand hu of grain yearly, each eighth month an ox and three hu of wine; and if he died, to sacrifice with the middle offering. He tried to refuse the title; the emperor insisted he keep it.
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At first everyone expected Fan Ying to defy the throne; when he took office without brilliant policy, chatter called him a letdown. Henan's Zhang Kai, summoned with him, later said, 'There are two paths—serve or withdraw. I thought you went to aid the ruler and save the people. Instead you, a man beyond price, first enraged the Son of Heaven; then took salary without offering bold counsel—your stance makes no sense.'
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He wrote Fan's Commentary on the Changes and taught with charts and apocrypha. Chen Shi of Yingchuan studied under him as a boy. While Fan Ying was ill, Chen Shi’s wife sent a maid to pay her respects and ask after him; he rose from his sickbed and returned the bow. Chen Shi asked why. Fan Ying said, 'A wife is partner, not servant. We share the ancestral rites—propriety demands I answer her messenger.' Such was his punctilious courtesy. He died at home in his seventies.
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His grandson Ling rose to Minister of Education under Emperor Ling by flattering the eunuchs.
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論曰：漢世之所謂名士者，其風流可知矣。 雖弛張趣舍，時有未純，於刻情修容，依倚道藝，以就其聲價，非所能通物方，弘時務也。 及徵樊英、楊厚，朝廷若待神明，至，竟無他異。 英名最高，毀最甚。 李固、硃穆等，以為處士純盜虛名，無益於用，故其所以然也。 然而後進希之以成名，世主禮之以得眾，原其無用亦所以為用，則其有用或歸於無用矣。 何以言之？ 夫煥乎文章，時或乖用； 本乎禮樂，適末或疏。 及其陶搢紳，藻心性，使由之而不知者，豈非道邈用表，乖之數跡乎？ 而或者忽不踐之地，賒無用之功，至乃誚噪遠術，賤斥國華，以為力詐可以救淪敝，文律足以致寧平，智盡於猜察，道足於法令，雖濟萬世，其將與夷狄同也。 孟軻有言曰：「以夏變夷，不聞變夷於夏。」 況有未濟者乎！
The historian remarks: the Han fashion for 'famous scholars' tells its own tale. Some tightened or loosened their principles, trimmed their manners, and traded on technique for fame, yet few could grasp the world or serve the times. Fan Ying and Yang Hou were awaited like gods; when they came they offered no marvels. Fan Ying's reputation stood tallest—and drew the bitterest mockery. Li Gu and Zhu Mu judged such hermits mere hoarders of hollow renown, useless on the job—and so it looked. Still, juniors aped them for renown and rulers courted them for crowds; their very uselessness became a political tool, until usefulness and uselessness traded places. How shall we put this? Brilliant writing can still be misapplied; Ritual and music anchor the root, yet the twigs may run wild. When doctrine refines the elite yet they follow blindly, has not the Way grown so thin its use is only veneer—a hair's miss from the mark? Worse are those who scorn high learning, mock statecraft, and trust only force, statutes, and suspicion—such men may save a day but will civilize no better than barbarians. Mencius said, 'Use civilization to transform barbarism, not the reverse.' —and how much less when the task is unfinished!