1
陳騫
Chen Qian
2
陳騫,臨淮東陽人也。 父矯,魏司徒。 矯本廣陵劉氏,為外祖陳氏所養,因而改焉。 騫沈厚有智謀。 初,矯為尚書令,侍中劉曄見幸于魏明帝,譖矯專權。 矯憂懼,以問騫。 騫曰:「主上明聖,大人大臣,今若不合意,不過不作公耳。」 後帝意果釋,騫尚少,為夏侯玄所侮,意色自若,玄以此異之。
Chen Qian came from Dongyang in Linhuai commandery. His father, Chen Jiao, had served Wei as Minister of Education. Though Jiao was born into the Liu family of Guangling, his mother's Chen relatives raised him, and he took their surname. Qian was reserved and thoughtful, with a gift for strategy. While Jiao headed the Department of State Affairs, Palace Attendant Liu Ye enjoyed Emperor Ming of Wei's favor and accused Jiao of wielding unchecked authority. Alarmed, Jiao sought Qian's advice. Qian replied, 'The sovereign is wise, and you stand among the great ministers. Even if you fall from favor, the worst that happens is that you are not enfeoffed as a duke.' The emperor's anger soon passed. Qian was still a youth when Xiahou Xuan slighted him; he never lost his composure, and Xuan came to respect him for it.
3
起家尚書郎,遷中山、安平太守,並著稱績。 徵為相國司馬、長史、禦吏中丞,遷尚書,封安國亭侯。 蜀賊寇隴右,以尚書持節行征蜀將軍,破賊而還。 會諸葛誕之亂,復以尚書行安東將軍。 壽春平,拜使持節、都督淮北諸軍事、安東將軍,進爵廣陵侯。 轉都督豫州諸軍事、豫州刺史,持節、將軍如故。 又轉都督江南諸軍事,徙都督荊州諸軍事、征南大將軍,封郯侯。 武帝受禪,以佐命之勳,進車騎將軍,封高平郡公,遷侍中、大將軍,出為都督揚州諸軍事,餘如故,假黃鉞。 攻拔吳枳裏城,破塗中屯戍。 賜騫兄子惺爵關中侯。
He rose from Gentleman of the Palace Secretariat to governor of Zhongshan and Anping, distinguishing himself in both posts. The court called him to be chief clerk and major under the minister of state and palace censor, then director of the Department of State Affairs, with a village marquisate at An'guo. During the Shu incursion into Longyou he led the expedition as acting general while holding his director's commission, routed the raiders, and withdrew. During Zhuge Dan's revolt he took the same minister's commission and served as acting General of the East. When Shouchun fell, he received the credentials of area commander north of the Huai and kept his eastern generalship, with his title raised to Marquis of Guangling. He moved on to command Yuzhou's armies and govern the province, still bearing the staff and his general's rank. His command shifted to the southland, then to Jingzhou as General Who Conquers the South, with a marquisate at Tan. After Sima Yan founded the Jin, Qian's founding service earned him the chariots-and-cavalry command, the ducal fief of Gaoping, posts as palace attendant and grand general, command of Yangzhou, and the ceremonial axe that marked supreme delegated authority. He seized Wu's Zhili fortress and dismantled the encampment at Tuzhong. An imperial grant raised Qian's nephew Xing to Marquis of Guanzhong.
4
咸甯初,遷太尉,轉大司馬。 騫因入朝,言於帝曰:「胡烈、牽弘皆勇而無謀,強于自用,非綏邊之材,將為國恥。 願陛下詳之。」 時弘為揚州刺史,不承順騫命。 帝以為不協相構,於是征弘,既至,尋復以為涼州刺史。 騫竊歎息,以為必敗。 二人後果失羌戎之和,皆被寇喪沒,征討連歲,僅而得定,帝乃悔之。
At the opening of the Xianning reign he became Grand Commandant, then Grand Marshal. Qian then entered court and said to the emperor, "Hu Lie and Qian Hong are both brave but without strategy and are forceful in following their own judgment. They are not men fit to pacify the frontier and will become a disgrace to the state. I hope Your Majesty will examine this carefully." Hong was then governor of Yangzhou and would not follow Qian's directives. The ruler took their clash for mutual spite, recalled Hong, then almost immediately sent him west as governor of Liangzhou once more. Qian privately groaned, certain the policy would end badly. Both later shattered tribal alliances, fell to raids, and cost years of campaigning before the frontier steadied—only then did the court regret ignoring Qian.
5
騫少有度量,含垢匿瑕,所在有績。 與賈充、石苞、裴秀等俱為心膂,而騫智度過之,充等亦自以為不及也。 累處方任,為士庶所懷。 既位極人臣,年逾致仕,思欲退身, 咸寧三年,求入朝,因乞骸骨。 賜袞冕之服,詔曰:「騫元勳舊德,統乂東夏,方弘遠績,以一吳會,而所苦未除,每表懇切,重勞以方事。 今聽留京城,以前太尉府為大司馬府,增置祭酒二人,帳下司馬、官騎、大車、鼓吹皆如前,親兵百人,廚田十頃,廚園五十畝,廚士十人,器物經用皆留給焉。 又給乘輿輦,出入殿中加鼓吹,如漢蕭何故事。」 騫累稱疾辭位,詔曰:「騫履德論道,朕所諮詢。 方賴謀猷,以弘庶績,宜時視事。 可遣散騎常侍諭意。」 騫輒歸第,詔又遣侍中敦諭還府。 遂固請,許之,位同保傅,在三司之上,賜以几杖,不朝,安車駟馬,以高平公還第。 帝以其勳舊耆老,禮之甚重。 又以騫有疾,聽乘輿上殿。
From boyhood Qian bore slights lightly and governed effectively wherever he was posted. He stood with Jia Chong, Shi Bao, and Pei Xiu among the sovereign's closest advisers, but his political judgment exceeded theirs, as they themselves allowed. Repeated tours as a regional commander won him the confidence of scholar and commoner alike. At the summit of a minister's career and past the usual age of retirement, he longed to withdraw. In the third year of Xianning, he sought permission to return to Luoyang and yield his office, pleading age and infirmity. He was granted the robe with gun-dragon and coronet, and the edict said, "Qian has old virtue and founding merit, governs and orders the eastern Xia, and is about to broaden distant achievements by unifying Wu and Kuaiji. But his affliction has not been removed, and whenever he memorializes earnestly, we again burden him with current affairs. Now he is permitted to remain in the capital. The former Grand Commandant's office is to be made the Grand Marshal's office; two Libationers are to be added, and his tent staff, office cavalry, great carriages, and drums and pipes are all to be as before. A hundred personal troops, ten qing of kitchen fields, fifty mu of kitchen gardens, ten kitchen workers, and vessels and regular expenses are all to remain supplied to him. He is also to be given the imperial carriage litter, and when entering and leaving the palace halls he is to have drums and pipes added, following the precedent of Xiao He under the Han." Qian repeatedly claimed illness and declined his position. The edict said, "Qian practices virtue and discusses the Way; he is someone whom I consult. I am just now relying on his plans and counsels in order to broaden the many achievements, and he should attend to affairs at the proper time. A Cavalier Regular Attendant may be sent to explain my intent." Instead Qian retired to his house, prompting another round of messages from attendants pressing him to reopen his offices. At last his resignation stood: he was ranked above the three highest ministers like an imperial mentor, with chair, staff, freedom from court audience, a coach and four, and the title of Duke of Gaoping while living privately. As a dynastic founder now grown old, Qian received extraordinary deference from the throne. Ill health won him the privilege of a litter right up to the audience hall.
6
騫素無謇諤之風,然與帝語傲; 及見皇太子加敬,時人以為諂。 弟稚與其子輿忿爭,遂說騫子女穢行,騫表徙弟,以此獲譏於世。
He was not known for blunt remonstrance, but he spoke to the sovereign with something like insolence, yet before the heir apparent he became deferential, which contemporaries dismissed as sycophancy. When his brother Zhi feuded with nephew Yu and aired lurid tales about Qian's sons and daughters, Qian used a memorial to exile Zhi—earning widespread scorn.
7
元康二年薨,年八十一,加以袞斂,贈太傅,諡曰武。 及葬,帝于大司馬門臨喪,望柩流涕,禮依大司馬石苞故事。 子輿嗣爵。=
In the second year of Yuankang, he died at eighty-one, laid out in princely robes, ennobled posthumously as Grand Tutor with the epithet "Martial." The sovereign mourned him at the Grand Marshal Gate, weeping over the bier as had been done for Grand Marshal Shi Bao. The marquisate passed to his son Yu.
8
子輿
Yu
9
=輿字顯初,拜散騎侍郎、洛陽令,遷黃門侍郎,厲將校左軍、大司農、侍中。 坐與叔父不睦,出為河內太守。 輿雖無檢正,而有力致。 尋卒,子植字弘先嗣,官至散騎常侍。 卒,子粹嗣,永嘉中遇害,孝武帝以騫玄孫襲爵。 卒,弟子浩之嗣。 宋受禪,國除。
Chen Yu, style Xianchu, rose through supernumerary gentleman and Luoyang magistrate to palace attendant, then led the left colonel's corps, ran the Ministry of Agriculture, and returned to the palace corps. A bitter break with his uncle cost him the capital and landed him in Henei as governor. He was no model of propriety, but he wielded real power. He died soon after; his heir Zhi (Hongxian) reached the post of supernumerary attendant. The line ran Zhi to Cui until Yongjia partisans murdered Cui; Emperor Xiaowu then restored the title through a great-grandson of Qian. When this successor died, cousin Haozhi inherited the fief. The Song founder's usurpation ended the house's noble title.
10
裴秀
Pei Xiu
11
裴秀,字季彥,河東聞喜人也。 祖茂,漢尚書令。 父潛,魏尚書令。 秀少好學,有風操,八歲能屬文。 叔父徽有盛名,賓客甚眾。 秀年十餘歲,有詣徽者,出則過秀。 然秀母賤,嫡母宣氏不之禮,嘗使進饌於客,見者皆為之起。 秀母曰:「微賤如此,當應為小兒故也。」 宣氏知之,後遂止。 時人為之語曰:「後進領袖有裴秀。」
Pei Xiu, style Jiyan, hailed from Wenxi county in Hedong. His grandfather Mao once directed the Han Department of State Affairs. His father Qian held the same office under Wei. He was bookish and principled even as a boy, composing polished prose at eight. Uncle Wei attracted crowds of distinguished visitors. Before he was eleven, departing guests routinely paid their respects to young Xiu. Because Xiu's mother was a concubine of humble origin, Lady Xuan snubbed her and once made her wait on guests—yet visitors rose to honor the boy she bore. Xiu's mother said, "With lowliness like this, it must be because of the child." Once Lady Xuan grasped the point, the abuse stopped. People of the time made a saying about him: "Among the leaders of those who came later, there is Pei Xiu."
12
渡遼將軍毌丘儉嘗薦秀于大將軍曹爽,曰:「生而岐嶷,長蹈自然,玄靜守真,性入道奧; 博學強記,無文不該; 孝友著于鄉党,高聲聞於遠近。 誠宜弼佐謨明,助和鼎味,毗贊大府,光昭盛化。 非徒子奇、甘羅之儔,兼包顏、冉、游、夏之美。」 爽乃辟為掾,襲父爵清陽亭侯,遷黃門侍郎。 爽誅,以故吏免。 頃之,為廷尉正,曆文帝安東及衛將軍司馬,軍國之政,多見信納。 遷散騎常侍。
General Who Crosses the Liao Guanqiu Jian once recommended Xiu to Great General Cao Shuang, saying, "Born extraordinary and lofty, growing up he trod what was natural, was profound and still, guarded truth, and by nature entered the depths of the Way. He is broadly learned and strong in memory, and there is no writing he does not encompass. His filial piety and friendship are manifest in his village, and his high reputation is heard near and far. Truly he should assist bright plans, help harmonize the flavor of the tripod, aid and support the great office, and make flourishing transformation shine. He is not merely of the class of Ziqi and Gan Luo, but also contains the virtues of Yan, Ran, You, and Xia." Shuang took him on staff; Xiu succeeded to the Qingyang village fief and entered the palace corps. Shuang's fall stripped Xiu of rank as an affiliated official. He soon judged cases at court, then advised Sima Zhao as army major through the eastern and household commands, shaping both strategy and administration. He advanced to supernumerary palace attendant.
13
帝之討諸葛誕也,秀與尚書僕射陳泰、黃門侍郎鍾會以行台從,豫參謀略。 及誕平,轉尚書,進封魯陽鄉侯,增邑千戶。 常道鄉公立,以豫議定策,進爵縣侯,增邑七百戶,遷尚書僕射。 魏咸熙初,厘革憲司。 時荀顗定禮儀,賈充正法律,而秀改官制焉。 秀議五等之爵,自騎督已上六百餘人皆封。 於是秀封濟川侯,地方六十里,邑千四百戶,以高苑縣濟川墟為侯國。
During the Zhuge Dan campaign he rode with Chen Tai and Zhong Hui on the field headquarters staff, shaping operational plans. Dan's defeat brought him the ministry, a Luyang district marquisate, and a thousand extra households. He helped seat the Duke of Changdao and earned a county marquisate, seven hundred added households, and the ministry of the left. Wei reform reached the legal organs in the first Xianxi years. While Xun Yi handled rites and Jia Chong the code, Xiu rewrote the bureaucracy. His scheme of five noble grades ennobled over six hundred officers from cavalry commander up. He himself became marquis of Jichuan—sixty square li and fourteen hundred households centered on the Gaoyuan canton.
14
初,文帝未定嗣,而屬意舞陽侯攸。 武帝懼不得立,問秀曰:「人有相否?」 因以奇表示之。 秀後言于文帝曰:「中撫軍人望既茂,天表如此,固非人臣之相也。」 由是世子乃定。 武帝既即王位,拜尚書令、右光祿大夫,與御史大夫王沈、衛將軍賈充俱開府,加給事中。 及帝受禪,加左光祿大夫,封钜鹿郡公,邑三千戶。
When Sima Zhao still hesitated over the succession, his eye rested on Prince You of Wuyang. Emperor Wu feared he would not be established and asked Xiu, "Do people have physiognomic signs or not?" He unveiled his own striking features for Xiu to read. Xiu later said to Emperor Wen, "The Central Pacification Army already has flourishing public hopes, and his heavenly appearance is like this; it certainly is not the appearance of a subject." That endorsement fixed Yan as heir. After Emperor Wu had taken the position of king, he appointed Pei Xiu Secretariat Director and Right Guanglu Grandee. Together with Censor-in-chief Wang Shen and General Who Guards Jia Chong, Pei Xiu opened an office, and he was additionally made Palace Attendant. At the Jin founding Xiu gained the left household grandee, the Julu ducal fief, and three thousand households.
15
時安遠護軍郝詡與故人書云:「與尚書令裴秀相知,望其為益。」 有司奏免秀官,詔曰:「不能使人之不加諸我,此古人所難。 交關人事,詡之罪耳,豈尚書令能防乎! 其勿有所問。」 司隸校尉李憙復上言,騎都尉劉尚為尚書令裴秀占官稻田,求禁止秀。 詔又以秀幹翼朝政,有勳績於王室,不可以小疵掩大德,使推正尚罪而解秀禁止焉。
At the time, Protector of the Army Who Pacifies Distant Places Hao Xu wrote to an old friend, "I am acquainted with Secretariat Director Pei Xiu and hope he will be of benefit." The responsible offices memorialized to dismiss Xiu from office, but the edict said, "Being unable to make others not add things to me is what even the ancients found difficult. Making connections over personnel affairs is Xu's crime; how could the Secretariat Director have prevented it? Let there be no inquiry into this." Li Xi then accused Liu Shang of grabbing state grain fields for Pei and demanded Pei's house arrest. The emperor refused: Pei's stewardship outweighed petty corruption; punish Shang instead and release Pei.
16
久之,詔曰:「夫三司之任,以翼宣皇極,弼成王事者也。 故經國論道,賴之明喆,苟非其人,官不虛備。 尚書令、左光祿大夫裴秀,雅量弘博,思心通遠,先帝登庸,贊事前朝。 朕受明命,光佐大業,勳德茂著,配蹤元凱。 宜正位居體,以康庶績。 其以秀為司空。」
After a long while, an edict said, "The responsibility of the Three Excellencies is to assist and proclaim the imperial standard and help complete the kingly affairs. Good government requires worthy occupants; hollow titles dishonor the dynasty. It singled out Pei—minister of state and left household grandee—for wisdom cultivated under the previous reign. The new emperor hailed Pei's aid as rivaling the ancient worthies Gaoyuan and Kai. He should assume the fitting office and embody his role so that every branch of government thrives. Appoint Pei Xiu Minister of Works."
17
秀儒學洽聞,且留心政事,當禪代之際,總納言之要,其所裁當,禮無違者。 又以職在地官,以《禹貢》山川地名,從來久遠,多有變易。 後世說者或強牽引,漸以暗昧。 於是甄摘舊文,疑者則闕,古有名而今無者,皆隨事注列,作《禹貢地域圖》十八篇,奏之,藏于秘府。 其序曰: 圖書之設,由來尚矣。 自古立象垂制,而賴其用。 三代置其官,國史掌厥職。 暨漢屠咸陽,丞相蕭何盡收秦之圖籍。 今秘書既無古之地圖,又無蕭何所得,惟有漢氏《輿地》及《括地》諸雜圖。 各不設分率,又不考正准望,亦不備載名山大川。 雖有粗形,皆不精審,不可依據。 或荒外迂誕之言,不合事實,於義無取。 大晉龍興,混一六合,以清宇宙,始於庸蜀,冞入其岨。 文皇帝乃命有司,撰訪吳蜀地圖。 蜀土既定,六軍所經,地域遠近,山川險易,征路迂直,校驗圖記,罔或有差。 今上考《禹貢》山海川流,原隰陂澤,古之九州,及今之十六州,郡國縣邑,疆界鄉陬,及古國盟會舊名,水陸徑路,為地圖十八篇。 製圖之體有六焉。 一曰分率,所以辨廣輪之度也。 二曰准望,所以正彼此之體也。 三曰道里,所以定所由之數也。 四曰高下,五曰方邪,六曰迂直,此三者各因地而制宜,所以校夷險之異也。 有圖像而無分率,則無以審遠近之差; 有分率而無准望,雖得之於一隅,必失之于他方; 有准望而無道里,則施於山海絕隔之地,不能以相通; 有道里而無高下、方邪、迂直之校,則徑路之數必與遠近之實相違,失准望之正矣,故以此六者參而考之。 然遠近之實定於分率,彼此之實定於道里,度數之實定于高下、方邪、迂直之算。 故雖有峻山钜海之隔,絕域殊方之迥,登降詭曲之因,皆可得舉而定者。 准望之法既正,則曲直遠近無所隱其形也。
Trained in the classics and widely read, Xiu focused on administration; at the dynastic handover he controlled the channels of counsel, and his rulings never violated prescribed ritual. His duties under the earth ministry also concerned the "Tribute of Yu," whose topography had shifted across centuries. Later exegetes often forced contrived readings, obscuring the original geography. He sifted the classical text, omitted uncertain points, glossed every obsolete toponym, and submitted his eighteen-scroll "Yugong" atlas to the palace library. The preface begins: The establishment of maps and documents has a very ancient origin. From antiquity, setting up images and handing down institutions depended on their use. The Three Dynasties established the relevant office, and the state historians managed its duties. When the Han slaughtered Xianyang, Chancellor Xiao He collected all the maps and registers of Qin. Now the Imperial Library has neither the maps of antiquity nor what Xiao He obtained, but only the miscellaneous Han maps such as Yudi and Kuodi. None of them establishes scale ratios, nor do they examine and correct orientation and sighting; they also do not fully record famous mountains and great rivers. Although they have rough forms, none is precise and examined, and they cannot be relied on. Some contain roundabout and absurd statements from beyond the wilds, do not accord with actual facts, and have no value in meaning. When the Great Jin rose like a dragon, unified the six directions, and cleared the universe, it began with Yong and Shu and went deeply into their rugged terrain. Emperor Wen then ordered the responsible offices to compile and seek out maps of Wu and Shu. After the lands of Shu were settled, the distances of the regions, the danger or ease of mountains and rivers, and the bends or straights of campaign routes traversed by the Six Armies were checked against maps and records, and there was no discrepancy. Now, by examining above the mountains, seas, streams, plains, wetlands, embankments, and marshes of the Tribute of Yu, the ancient Nine Provinces, the present sixteen provinces, commanderies, kingdoms, counties, cities, borders, villages, corners, old names of ancient states and covenant sites, and water and land routes, I have made eighteen fascicles of maps. The essentials for making maps are six. The first is scale ratio, by which the measures of breadth and length are distinguished. The second is orientation and sighting, by which the forms of one place and another are corrected. The third is route distance, by which the numbers of the paths taken are fixed. The fourth is height and depth, the fifth is square and oblique, and the sixth is winding and straight. These three each adapt their standards according to the terrain and are used to compare differences between level and difficult ground. If there are map images but no scale ratios, there is no way to examine differences in distance. If there are scale ratios but no orientation and sighting, even if one gets it right in one corner, one will inevitably lose it in another direction. If there is orientation and sighting but no route distance, then when it is applied to lands cut off by mountains and seas, they cannot be connected with one another. If there is route distance but no comparison of height and depth, square and oblique, and winding and straight, then the numbers for direct routes will inevitably conflict with the reality of distance and lose the correctness of orientation and sighting. Therefore these six are cross-checked and examined. Thus the reality of distance is fixed by scale ratios; the reality of one place and another is fixed by route distance; and the reality of measures and numbers is fixed by calculations of height and depth, square and oblique, and winding and straight. Therefore even where there are barriers of steep mountains and great seas, remoteness of cut-off regions and different quarters, and causes of ascent, descent, irregularity, and curvature, all can be raised and fixed. Once the method of orientation and sighting is correct, then winding and straight, far and near have nowhere to hide their forms.
18
秀創制朝儀,廣陳刑政,朝廷多遵用之,以為故事。 在位四載,為當世名公。 服寒食散,當飲熱酒而飲冷酒,泰始七年薨,時年四十八。 詔曰:「司空經德履哲,體蹈儒雅,佐命翼世,勳業弘茂。 方將宣獻敷制,為世宗範,不幸薨殂,朕甚痛之。 其賜秘器、朝服一具、衣一襲、錢三十萬、布百匹。 諡曰元。」
His protocols for audience and criminal policy became the templates the court routinely followed. Across four years at court he stood among the reign's most eminent statesmen. Abusing the cold-food elixir with chilled wine instead of warm killed him in Taishi year seven at forty-eight. The throne mourned: "The minister embodied learning and wisdom, shaped the founding enterprise, and built vast achievements. We expected fresh institutions from him; his death leaves us grief-stricken. The burial grant included ritual vessels, court dress, a full wardrobe, three hundred thousand coins, and a hundred bolts of silk. Posthumously he received the epithet Yuan."
19
初,秀以尚書三十六曹統事准例不明,宜使諸卿任職,未及奏而薨。 其友人料其書記,得表草言平吳之事,其詞曰:「孫皓酷虐,不及聖明禦世兼弱攻昧,使遺子孫,將遂不能臣; 時有否泰,非萬安之勢也。 臣昔雖已屢言,未有成旨。 今既疾篤不起,謹重屍啟。 願陛下時共施用。」 乃封以上聞。 詔報曰:「司空薨,痛悼不能去心。 又得表草,雖在危困,不忘王室,盡忠憂國。 省益傷切,輒當與諸賢共論也。」
He had planned to clarify the thirty-six directorates and devolve power to senior ministers but died before submitting the reform. His friends sorted his writings and found a draft memorial discussing the pacification of Wu. Its words said, "Sun Hao is cruel and tyrannical. If he does not meet a sagely and enlightened ruler who governs the age, annexes the weak, and attacks the benighted, and if descendants are left to him, then in the end he will be unable to become a subject. Times have obstruction and peace; this is not a situation of ten thousandfold security. Although I have already spoken repeatedly in the past, there has not yet been a completed decision. Now my illness is already severe and I will not rise; I respectfully submit this again as a corpse-like memorial. I hope Your Majesty will put it into use at the proper time together with the other measures." They forwarded the sealed memorial to the throne. The emperor answered: "We cannot shake our sorrow at losing the minister. His draft shows that even dying he thought only of the dynasty's welfare. Its words wound us anew; we will take counsel with the ministers immediately."
20
咸甯初,與石苞等並為王公,配享廟庭。 有二子:浚、頠。 浚嗣位,至散騎常侍,早卒。 浚庶子憬不惠,別封高陽亭侯,以浚少弟頠嗣。=
Early in Xianning he joined Shi Bao and other peers as a spirit recipient in the imperial temple. His sons were Pei Jun and Pei Yi. Jun inherited the fief, rose to supernumerary attendant, and died young. The dull illegitimate Jing received a minor Gaoyang village marquisate while the legitimate junior uncle Yi took the primary succession.
21
子頠
Pei Yi
22
=頠字逸民。 弘雅有遠識,博學稽古,自少知名。 御史中丞周弼見而歎曰:「頠若武庫,五兵縱橫,一時之傑也。」 賈充即頠從母夫也,表「秀有佐命之勳,不幸嫡長喪亡,遺孤稚弱。 頠才德英茂,足以興隆國嗣。」 詔頠襲爵,頠固讓,不許。 太康二年,徵為太子中庶子,遷散騎常侍。 惠帝既位,轉國子祭酒,兼右軍將軍。
Pei Yi, whose courtesy name was Yimin, Renowned while still young, he combined Classical breadth with long vision. When Palace Assistant Censor-in-chief Zhou Bi saw him, he sighed and said, "Wei is like an arsenal, with the five weapons crisscrossing; he is an outstanding man of the age." Jia Chong was the husband of Wei's mother's sister. He memorialized, "Xiu had merit in assisting the mandate, but unfortunately his legitimate eldest son died and left an orphan young and weak. Wei's talent and virtue are outstanding and flourishing, enough to raise and prosper the state succession." The court ordered Yi to succeed; he refused repeatedly yet had to accept. Taikang year two brought him tutor of the heir and promotion to supernumerary attendant. Under Emperor Hui he directed the imperial academy and still led the right guard.
23
初,頠兄子憬為白衣,頠論述世勳,賜爵高陽亭侯。 楊駿將誅也,駿党左軍將軍劉豫陳兵在門,遇頠,問太傅所在。 頠紿之曰:「向於西掖門遇公乘素車,從二人西出矣。」 豫曰:「吾何之?」 頠曰:「宜至廷尉。」 豫從頠言,遂委而去。 尋而詔頠代豫領左軍將軍,屯萬春門。 及駿誅,以功當封武昌侯,頠請以封憬,帝竟封頠次子該。 頠苦陳憬本承嫡,宜襲钜鹿,先帝恩旨,辭不獲命。 武昌之封,己之所蒙,特請以封憬。 該時尚主,故帝不聽。 累遷侍中。
Once cousin Jing wore only commoner's garb, Yi narrated the clan's achievements until the court ennobled Jing at Gaoyang village. As Yang Jun fell, Liu Yu—Jun's colonel of the left—blocked the gate and demanded Sima Liang's whereabouts. Yi lied that he had seen the grand tutor leave west through the western portal in a plain cart." Where should I run?" Yu asked." Surrender to the Ministry of Justice," Yi replied. Yu obeyed, abandoned his post, and withdrew. Yi soon replaced Yu as colonel of the left, camped at Wanchun Gate. After Jun's purge Yi earned a Wuchang marquisate but begged to transfer it to Jing; the throne instead ennobled second son Gai. Yi insisted Jing deserved the Julu title per the late emperor's grace yet could not refuse the earlier mandate. He tried to give his own Wuchang prize to Jing. Because Gai had married into the imperial clan, the emperor refused. He rose again to palace attendant.
24
時天下暫寧,頠奏修國學,刻石寫經。 皇太子既講,釋奠祀孔子,飲饗射侯,甚有儀序。 又令荀籓終父勖之志,鑄鐘鑿磬,以備郊廟朝享禮樂。 頠通博多聞,兼明醫術。 荀勖之修律度也,檢得古尺,短世所用四分有餘。 頠上言:「宜改諸度量。 若未能悉革,可先改太醫權衡。 此若差違,遂失神農、岐伯之正。 藥物輕重,分兩乖互,所可傷夭,為害尤深。 古壽考而今短折者,未必不由此也。」 卒不能用。 樂廣嘗與頠清言,欲以理服之,而頠辭論豐博,廣笑而不言。 時人謂頠為言談之林藪。
During the lull he urged rebuilding the academy and cutting stone classics. Once the heir finished lectures, courtiers sacrificed to Confucius, banqueted, and shot at targets with punctilious ritual. He tasked Xun Fan with casting bells and lithophones for suburban rites and ancestral music, honoring Xun Xu's unfinished plan. Besides encyclopedic scholarship he practiced medicine. Xun Xu's pitch reform uncovered an old foot-rule nearly a quarter shorter than contemporary measures. "Every balance and yardstick needs reform," he wrote. If wholesale change is impossible, start with the imperial dispensary's weights. Wrong measures betray Shennong and Qi Bo's pharmacological norms. Inconsistent dosages kill patients. Perhaps shorter modern lifespans stem from exactly these errors." The court ignored him. Yue Guang tried to win a xuanxue debate yet yielded silently before Yi's torrent. Contemporaries dubbed him the wilderness where discourse gathered.
25
頠以賈后不悅太子,抗表請增崇太子所生謝淑妃位號,仍啟增置後衛率吏,給三千兵,於是東宮宿衛萬人。 遷尚書,侍中如故,加光祿大夫。 每授一職,未嘗不殷勤固讓,表疏十餘上,博引古今成敗以為言,覽之者莫不寒心。
To shield Crown Prince Yu against Empress Jia's spite, Yi demanded higher honors for Lady Xie and three thousand extra rear-guard troops, swelling the heir's garrison to ten thousand. He moved up to minister of state, kept his attendant post, and gained the household grandee title. Every promotion drew stacks of refusal memorials stuffed with historical warnings that chilled every reader.
26
頠深慮賈后亂政,與司空張華、侍中賈模議廢之而立謝淑妃。 華、模皆曰:「帝自無廢黜之意,若吾等專行之,上心不以為是。 且諸王方剛,朋黨異議,恐禍如發機,身死國危,無益社稷。」 頠曰:「誠如公慮。 但昏虐之人,無所忌憚,亂可立待,將如之何?」 華曰:「卿二人猶且見信,然勤為左右陳禍福之戒,冀無大悖。 幸天下尚安,庶可優遊卒歲。」 此謀遂寢。 頠旦夕勸說從母廣城君,令戒喻賈后親待太子而已。 或說頠曰:「幸與中宮內外可得盡言。 言若不行,則可辭病摒退。 若二者不立,雖有十表,難乎免矣。」 頠慨然久之,而竟不能行。
Fearing Jia Nanfeng's misrule, he plotted with Zhang Hua and Jia Mo to replace her with Lady Xie. "The emperor never meant to depose her," Zhang and Jia replied; acting alone would anger him. The martial princes split into factions; forcing the issue might spring a trap that kills us without saving the realm." True enough," Yi conceded. Yet a reckless tyrant invites instant chaos—what then?" Stay close and lecture him on fortune and ruin," Zhang urged. While peace lasts we might survive." They dropped the plot. Yi besought Aunt Guangcheng daily to teach Nanfeng to honor the heir. Someone advised Wei, "Fortunately, with those inside and outside the central palace, you can speak fully. If ignored, resign on grounds of illness. Otherwise ten memorials will not spare you." Yi brooded yet never acted.
27
遷尚書左僕射,侍中如故。 頠雖後之親屬,然雅望素隆,四海不謂之以親戚進也,惟恐其不居位。 俄復使頠專任門下事,固讓,不聽。 頠上言:「賈模適亡,復以臣代,崇外戚之望,彰偏私之舉。 後族何常有能自保,皆知重親無脫者也。 然漢二十四帝惟孝文、光武、明帝不重外戚,皆保其宗,豈將獨賢,實以安理故也。 昔穆叔不拜越禮之饗,臣亦不敢聞殊常之詔。」 又表云:「咎繇謨虞,伊尹相商,呂望翊周,蕭張佐漢,咸播功化,光格四極。 暨于繼體,咎單、傅說,祖己、樊仲,亦隆中興。 或明揚側陋,或起自庶族,豈非尚德之舉,以臻斯美哉! 曆觀近世,不能慕遠,溺於近情,多任後親,以致不靜。 昔疏廣戒太子以舅氏為官屬,前世以為知禮。 況朝廷何取于外戚,正復才均,尚當先其疏者,以明至公。 漢世不用馮野王,即其事也。」 表上,皆優詔敦譬。
He became senior minister of the left while remaining attendant. Despite ties to Nanfeng, his prestige rested on merit; the realm dreaded losing him, not nepotism. The court tried to leave the entire Chancellery to him; refusals went unheard. "Replacing Jia Mo with me," he warned, "spotlights consort power. No maternal house survives forever by leaning on blood ties. Only Han Wen, Guangwu, and Ming avoided nepotism—and kept their dynasties secure. Like Shu Zhao rejecting improper feasts, I cannot obey irregular favors." He also memorialized, "Gao Yao counseled Yu, Yi Yin served as minister to Shang, Lu Wang aided Zhou, and Xiao He and Zhang Liang assisted Han; all spread merit and transformation, and their radiance reached the four extremes. Lesser heirs too relied on Gu Dan, Fu Yue, Zu Yi, and Fan Zhong during revivals. Elevating talent over pedigree produced golden ages. Later courts chased sentiment and stuffed offices with in-laws—hence chaos. Shu Guang once forbade crown-prince posts for maternal uncles—praised as ritual correctness. Even when talent matches, prefer distant kin to prove impartiality. The Han age did not employ Feng Yewang; this is that matter." Each memorial drew soothing replies begging him to stay.
28
時以陳准子匡、韓蔚子嵩並侍東宮,頠諫曰:「東宮之建,以儲皇極。 其所與遊接,必簡英俊,宜用成德。 匡、嵩幼弱,未識人理立身之節。 東宮實體夙成之表,而今有童子侍從之聲,未是光闡遐風之弘理也。」 湣懷太子之廢也,頠與張華苦爭不從,語在《華傳》。
At the time, Chen Zhun's son Kuang and Han Wei's son Song were both serving in the Eastern Palace. Wei remonstrated, saying, "The establishment of the Eastern Palace is to store up the imperial standard. Its companions must be seasoned worthies. Kuang and Song were mere boys ignorant of duty. The Eastern Palace is in substance the sign of early maturity, but now there is the sound of children attending there; this is not the broad principle by which to make distant custom shine forth." Yi and Zhang Hua fought bitterly against Minhuai's removal—the fuller story sits in Zhang's biography.
29
頠深患時俗放蕩,不尊儒術,何晏、阮籍素有高名於世,口談浮虛,不遵禮法,屍祿耽寵,仕不事事; 至王衍之徒,聲譽太盛,位高勢重,不以物務自嬰,遂相放效,風教陵遲,乃著崇有之論以釋其蔽曰:夫總混群本,宗極之道也。 方以族異,庶類之品也。 形象著分,有生之體也。 化感錯綜,理跡之原也。 夫品而為族,則所稟者偏,偏無自足,故憑乎外資。 是以生而可尋,所謂理也。 理之所體,所謂有也。 有之所須,所謂資也。 資有攸合,所謂宜也。 擇乎厥宜,所謂情也。 識智既授,雖出處異業,默語殊塗,所以寶生存宜,其情一也。 眾理並而無害,故貴賤形焉。 失得由乎所接,故吉凶兆焉。 是以賢人君子,知欲不可絕,而交物有會。 觀乎往復,稽中定務。 惟夫用天之道,分地之利,躬其力任,勞而後饗。 居以仁順,守以恭儉,率以忠信,行以敬讓,志無盈求,事無過用,乃可濟乎! 故大建厥極,綏理群生,訓物垂範,於是乎在,斯則聖人為政之由也。 若乃淫抗陵肆,則危害萌矣。 故欲衍則速患,情佚則怨博,擅恣則興攻,專利則延寇,可謂以厚生而失生者也。 悠悠之徒,駭乎若茲之釁,而尋艱爭所緣。 察夫偏質有弊,而睹簡損之善,遂闡貴無之議,而建賤有之論。 賤有則必外形,外形則必遺制,遺制則必忽防,忽防則必忘禮。 禮制弗存,則無以為政矣。 眾之從上,猶水之居器也。 故兆庶之情,信于所習; 習則心服其業,業服則謂之理然。 是以君人必慎所教,班其政刑一切之務,分宅百姓,各授四職,能令稟命之者不肅而安,忽然忘異,莫有遷志。 況於據在三之尊,懷所隆之情,敦以為訓者哉! 斯乃昏明所階,不可不審。 夫盈欲可損而未可絕有也,過用可節而未可謂無貴也。 蓋有講言之具者,深列有形之故,盛稱空無之美。 形器之故有征,空無之義難檢,辯巧之文可悅,似象之言足惑,眾聽眩焉,溺其成說。 雖頗有異此心者,辭不獲濟,屈於所狎,因謂虛無之理,誠不可蓋。 唱而有和,多往弗反,遂薄綜世之務,賤功烈之用,高浮游之業,埤經實之賢。 人情所殉,篤夫名利。 於是文者衍其辭,訥者贊其旨,染其眾也。 是以立言藉於虛無,謂之玄妙; 處官不親所司,謂之雅遠; 奉身散其廉操,謂之曠達。 故砥礪之風,彌以陵遲。 放者因斯,或悖吉凶之禮,而忽容止之表,瀆棄長幼之序,混漫貴賤之級。 其甚者至於裸裎,言笑忘宜,以不惜為弘,士行又虧矣。 老子既著五千之文,表摭穢雜之弊,甄舉靜一之義,有以令人釋然自夷,合于《易》之《損》、《謙》、《艮》、《節》之旨。 而靜一守本,無虛無之謂也; 《損》《艮》之屬,蓋君子之一道,非《易》之所以為體守本無也。 觀老子之書雖博有所經,而云「有生於無」,以虛為主,偏立一家之辭,豈有以而然哉! 人之既生,以保生為全,全之所階,以順感為務。 若味近以虧業,則沈溺之釁興; 懷末以忘本,則天理之真滅。 故動之所交,存亡之會也。 夫有非有,於無非無; 于無非無,於有非有。 是以申縱播之累,而著貴無之文。 將以絕所非之盈謬,存大善之中節,收流遁於既過,反澄正於胸懷。 宜其以無為辭,而旨在全有,故其辭曰「以為文不足」。 若斯,則是所寄之塗,一方之言也。 若謂至理信以無為宗,則偏而害當矣。 先賢達識,以非所滯,示之深論。 惟班固著難,未足折其情。 孫卿、楊雄大體抑之,猶偏有所許。 而虛無之言,日以廣衍,眾家扇起,各列其說。 上及造化,下被萬事,莫不貴無,所存僉同。 情以眾固,乃號凡有之理皆義之埤者,薄而鄙焉。 辯論人倫及經明之業,遂易門肆。 頠用矍然,申其所懷,而攻者盈集。 或以為一時口言。 有客幸過,咸見命著文,擿列虛無不允之征。 若未能每事釋正,則無家之義弗可奪也。 頠退而思之,雖君子宅情,無求於顯,及其立言,在乎達旨而已。 然去聖久遠,異同紛糾,苟少有仿佛,可以崇濟先典,扶明大業,有益於時,則惟患言之不能,焉得靜默,及未舉一隅,略示所存而已哉! 夫至無者無以能生,故始生者自生也。 自生而必體有,則有遺而生虧矣。 生以有為已分,則虛無是有之所謂遺者也。 故養既化之有,非無用之所能全也; 理既有之眾,非無為之所能循也。 心非事也,而制事必由於心,然不可以制事以非事,謂心為無也。 匠非器也,而制器必須於匠,然不可以制器以非器,謂匠非有也。 是以欲收重泉之鱗,非偃息之所能獲也; 隕高墉之禽,非靜拱之所能捷也; 審投弦餌之用,非無知之所能覽也。 由此而觀,濟有者皆有也,虛無奚益於已有之群生哉!
Yi despised how fashion praised He Yan and Ruan Ji for idle chatter that ignored ritual while they pocketed salaries and neglected duty. When it came to Wang Yan and his followers, their reputations were too great and their positions high and powerful, yet they did not entangle themselves in practical affairs. They then imitated one another, and custom and teaching declined. Pei Wei therefore wrote the Treatise on Honoring Being to explain this harm, saying: Gathering and blending the many roots is the Way that honors the ultimate. Being square or regular differs according to kind; this is the ordering of the many classes. Forms and appearances display distinctions; this is the substance of what has life. Transformation and response are interwoven; this is the source of the traces of principle. When things are ordered into classes and become kinds, what each receives is partial. What is partial cannot suffice by itself, and therefore depends on external resources. Thus what can be traced in life is what is called principle. What principle embodies is what is called being. What being requires is what is called resource. When resources have what they fit, this is what is called appropriateness. Choosing according to that appropriateness is what is called feeling or disposition. Once perception and intelligence have been granted, even if withdrawal and service are different activities and silence and speech are different paths, the reason one values life and preserves what is appropriate is one in disposition. The many principles coexist without harming one another, and therefore noble and base take shape. Loss and gain arise from what one engages, and therefore good and bad fortune show their signs. Therefore worthy men and gentlemen know that desires cannot be cut off, and that engagement with things has its proper meeting point. They observe going and returning, examine the mean, and settle affairs. Only by using the Way of Heaven, dividing the benefits of Earth, personally taking up one's strength and responsibilities, and laboring before enjoying can things be done. Dwell in humaneness and compliance, keep to reverence and frugality, lead with loyalty and trustworthiness, act with respect and yielding, let the will have no overflowing demands, and let affairs have no excessive use; only then can one succeed. Thus greatly establishing the standard, pacifying and ordering the multitude of living beings, instructing things and leaving models depend on this; this is the route by which the sages carried out government. If, however, excess, resistance, arrogance, and unrestrained conduct arise, danger and harm begin to sprout. Thus when desire spreads it hastens trouble; when feeling is indulgent resentments broaden; when one acts arbitrarily and willfully attacks arise; when one monopolizes benefit bandits are invited. This may be called losing life while trying to enrich life. The drifting sort of people were startled by troubles like these and sought out the causes from which hardship and contention arose. They observed that partial substance has defects, and saw the good in simplicity and reduction; they then expounded the doctrine that honors nonbeing and established the argument that devalues being. If being is devalued, then form must be externalized; if form is externalized, then institutions must be abandoned; if institutions are abandoned, then safeguards must be neglected; if safeguards are neglected, then ritual must be forgotten. If ritual institutions do not remain, there is nothing by which to govern. The multitude following those above is like water occupying a vessel. Therefore the feelings of the common people trust in what they are accustomed to. Once accustomed, their minds submit to their tasks; when their tasks are accepted, they call it naturally right. Therefore one who rules people must be careful about what he teaches, distributes all the affairs of government and punishments, divides dwellings among the hundred surnames, and assigns each of the four occupations. He can make those who receive commands be at ease without sternness, suddenly forget differences, and have no mind to shift. How much more is this true for one who occupies honor among the Three, holds feelings about what should be exalted, and treats them seriously as instruction. This is the step by which darkness or clarity proceeds, and it must be examined carefully. Overflowing desire may be reduced, but being cannot be cut off; excessive use may be regulated, but it cannot be said that there is nothing valuable. Those equipped for discourse deeply arrayed the causes of what has form and grandly praised the beauty of emptiness and nonbeing. The causes of forms and vessels have evidence; the meaning of emptiness and nonbeing is hard to check. Cleverly argued writings can delight, and words resembling images are enough to confuse, so the many listeners were dazzled and drowned in these completed doctrines. Although some had minds that differed from this, their words could not prevail; they yielded to what was familiar, and accordingly said that the principle of emptiness and nonbeing truly could not be covered over. When one sang out, others harmonized; many went forth and did not return. They then slighted the work of managing the age, devalued the use of achievements, elevated the occupation of drifting idly, and lowered worthies of canonical substance. What human feelings die for is especially name and profit. Thereupon those skilled in writing elaborated their words, and those slow of speech praised their intent, staining the multitude with it. Thus setting up words by relying on emptiness and nonbeing was called mysterious subtlety. Holding office without personally attending to one's responsibilities was called elegant remoteness. Supporting oneself while scattering one's integrity and conduct was called broad-minded freedom. Therefore the custom of whetting and disciplining oneself declined all the more. The unrestrained used this as their basis, sometimes violating the rituals of auspicious and inauspicious occasions, neglecting the outward signs of bearing and deportment, profaning and abandoning the order of elder and younger, and confusing and blurring the ranks of noble and base. The worst of them even reached naked exposure, forgot what was proper in speech and laughter, took lack of restraint as magnanimity, and gentlemanly conduct was further damaged. Laozi wrote the text of five thousand words, displayed and picked out the harms of filth and mixture, and selected and raised the meaning of stillness and unity, so that people could be released and level themselves. This accords with the meanings of Decrease, Modesty, Keeping Still, and Regulation in the Changes. But stillness, unity, and guarding the root do not mean emptiness and nonbeing. Decrease, Keeping Still, and the like are one way of the gentleman; they are not the way by which the Changes makes guarding root nonbeing its substance. Looking at Laozi's book, although it broadly passes through many things, it says, "Being is born from nonbeing," takes emptiness as its master, and partially establishes the words of one school. How could there be a sufficient reason for this? Once people have been born, they take preserving life as wholeness; the step to wholeness takes responding in accord as its task. If one savors what is near and thereby damages one's work, then the trouble of sinking and drowning arises. If one cherishes the branch and forgets the root, then the truth of heavenly principle is extinguished. Therefore what action engages is the meeting point of survival and ruin. Being is not merely being; in relation to nonbeing it is not nonbeing. In relation to nonbeing it is not nonbeing, and in relation to being it is not merely being. Therefore Laozi extended the harms of indulgence and diffusion, and wrote a text that honored nonbeing. He was about to cut off the overflowing errors he rejected, preserve the central measure of great goodness, gather back what had flowed away after going too far, and return clarity and correctness to the breast. It is fitting that he used nonbeing as his wording while his intent lay in making being whole; therefore his words say, "I consider writing insufficient." If it is like this, then this is a path on which something was lodged, the words of one side. If one says that the highest principle truly takes nonbeing as its ancestor, then this is partial and harms what is appropriate. Earlier worthies of penetrating understanding, because they were not stuck there, showed this in deep arguments. Only Ban Gu wrote objections, but they were not sufficient to break its appeal. Xunzi and Yang Xiong suppressed it in general outline, yet still partly allowed it. But the words of emptiness and nonbeing spread more widely day by day, and the many schools stirred one another up, each setting forth its theory. Above they reached creation and transformation, below they covered the ten thousand affairs; there was nothing in which they did not honor nonbeing, and what they preserved was all the same. Because feeling was made firm by the crowd, they then called every principle of being a low supplement to meaning and treated it as slight and contemptible. Debating human relations and the work of making the classics clear accordingly changed gates and marketplaces. Pei Wei therefore became alarmed and expressed what he held in mind, but attackers gathered in numbers. Some thought it was only words spoken for the moment. When guests happened to visit, all urged him to write an essay and pick out and list the proofs that emptiness and nonbeing were not sound. If he could not explain and correct each matter, then the meaning of the school of nonbeing could not be seized away. Pei Wei withdrew and thought about it. Although a gentleman lodges his feelings and does not seek display, when it comes to establishing words, it only lies in making the intent clear. Yet the age was long distant from the sages, and differences and agreements were tangled. If there were even a slight resemblance by which one could exalt and aid the former canons, support and clarify the great enterprise, and benefit the time, then one should worry only that one could not say it. How could one remain silent, or merely point to one corner and sketch what one preserved? Utter nonbeing has no means by which it can generate life; therefore what first produces life produces itself. If what produces itself must embody being, then if being is left behind, production is deficient. Since production takes being as its own allotment, emptiness and nonbeing are what being calls something left behind. Therefore nourishing being after it has transformed is not something the function of nonbeing can make whole. Ordering the multitude after it already exists is not something nonaction can follow through on. The mind is not an affair, yet regulating affairs must come from the mind; but one cannot, because regulating affairs is not itself an affair, call the mind nonbeing. The artisan is not the vessel, yet making vessels must require the artisan; but one cannot, because making vessels is not itself the vessel, say that the artisan is not being. Therefore if one wants to catch fish in the deep springs, it is not something lying still can obtain. If one wants to bring down birds from high walls, it is not something standing quietly with folded hands can swiftly accomplish. Examining the use of casting lines and bait is not something without knowledge can perceive. Seen from this, what assists being is all being. What benefit do emptiness and nonbeing have for the multitude of living beings that already exist?
30
王衍之徒攻難交至,並莫能屈。 又著《辯才論》,古今精義皆辨釋焉,未成而遇禍。
The qingtan circle attacked his thesis from every side without refuting it. His unfinished "Treatise on Eloquence" surveyed classical debates but death cut it short.
31
初,趙王倫諂事賈后,頠甚惡之,倫數求官,頠與張華復固執不許,由是深為倫所怨。 倫又潛懷篡逆,欲先除朝望,因廢賈后之際遂誅之,時年三十四。 二子嵩、該,倫亦欲害之。 梁王肜、東海王越稱頠父秀有勳王室,配食太廟,不宜滅其後嗣,故得不死,徙帶方; 惠帝反正,追復頠本官,改葬以卿禮,諡曰成。 以嵩嗣爵,為中書黃門侍郎。 該出後從伯凱,為散騎常侍,並為乞活賊陳午所害。
Sima Lun curried Jia Nanfeng's favor while Yi and Zhang Hua blocked his offices, planting a deadly grudge. Lun used Jia's fall as cover to murder Yi at thirty-four while plotting a coup. Lun targeted Yi's sons Song and Gai next. Liang and Donghai princes cited Xiu's temple honors to spare the sons, exiling them to Liaodong instead. After Hui's restoration Yi won reinstatement, a proper reburial, and the posthumous name Cheng. The marquisate passed to Song in the central secretariat. Adopted heir Gai died beside Song when Chen Wu's refugee warriors slaughtered them.
33
秀從弟楷
Pei Kai—cousin to Pei Xiu
34
=楷字叔則。 父徽,魏冀州刺史。 楷明悟有識量,弱冠知名,尤精《老》、《易》,少與王戎齊名。 鍾會薦之于文帝,辟相國掾,遷尚書郎。 賈充改定律令,以楷為定科郎。 事畢,詔楷於御前執讀,平議當否。 楷善宣吐,左右屬目,聽者忘倦。 武帝為撫軍,妙選僚采,以楷為參軍事。 吏部郎缺,文帝問其人於鍾會。 會曰:「裴楷清通,王戎簡要,皆其選也。」 於是以楷為吏部郎。
Pei Kai, whose courtesy name was Shuzé, Father Pei Wei governed Ji province for Wei. Celebrated before twenty, he mastered the Daoist classics alongside Wang Rong. Zhong Hui's referral brought him into Sima Zhao's bureau and the secretariat. Jia Chong's law revision named Kai specialist for codifying clauses. At court he read the new code aloud for imperial scrutiny. His exposition captivated the hall. Sima Yan made him staff adviser during the princely generalship. Sima Zhao asked Zhong Hui who should head personnel. "Pei Kai or Wang Rong," said Zhong Hui, "both fit." Kai received the appointment.
35
楷風神高邁,容儀俊爽,博涉群書,特精理義,時人謂之「玉人」,又稱「見裴叔則如近玉山,映照人也」。 轉中書郎,出入宮省,見者肅然改容。 武帝初登阼,探策以卜世數多少,而得一,帝不悅,群臣失色,莫有言者。 楷正容儀,和其聲氣,從容進曰:「臣聞天得一以清,地得一以甯,王侯得一以為天下貞。」 武帝大悅,群臣皆稱萬歲。 俄拜散騎侍郎,累遷散騎常侍、河內太守,入為屯騎校尉、右軍將軍,轉侍中。
His aura and learning earned the nickname "jade man"—seeing him was likened to climbing a luminous jade peak. Palace corridors fell silent when he passed. An ill-omened slip "one" from the imperial divination silenced the court. Kai corrected his bearing, harmonized his voice and breath, and calmly advanced, saying, "I have heard that Heaven obtains the One and is clear, Earth obtains the One and is tranquil, and kings and lords obtain the One and become the rectitude of all under Heaven." The emperor brightened and the hall cheered. Promotions swept him through Henei, camp command, the right guard, and back to attendant.
36
石崇以功臣子有才氣,與楷志趣各異,不與之交。 長水校尉孫季舒嘗與崇酣燕,慢傲過度,崇欲表免之。 楷聞之,謂崇曰:「足下飲人狂藥,責人正禮,不亦乖乎!」 崇乃止。
The meritor Shi Chong avoided Kai on temperament. Sun Jishu's drunken arrogance at Chong's banquet nearly cost him his post. "You ply guests with reckless wine," Kai said, "then fault their manners—how absurd?" Chong relented.
37
楷性寬厚,與物無忤。 不持儉素,每游榮貴,輒取其珍玩。 雖車馬器服,宿昔之間,便以施諸窮乏。 嘗營別宅,其從兄衍見而悅之,即以宅與衍。 梁、趙二王,國之近屬,貴重當時,楷歲請二國租錢百萬,以散親族。 人或譏之,楷曰:「損有餘以補不足,天之道也。」 安於毀譽,其行己任率,皆此類也。 與山濤、和嶠並以盛德居位,帝嘗問曰:「朕應天順時,海內更始,天下風聲,何得何失?」 楷對曰:「陛下受命,四海承風,所以未比德於堯舜者,但以賈充之徒尚在朝耳。 方宜引天下賢人,與弘正道,不宜示人以私。」 時任愷、庾純亦以充為言,帝乃出充為關中都督。 充納女于太子,乃止。 平吳之後,帝方修太平之化,每延公卿,與論政道。 楷陳三五之風,次敘漢魏盛衰之跡。 帝稱善,坐者嘆服焉。
Genial and conciliatory, he picked no quarrels. He freely accepted gifts from the mighty. By morning those luxuries reached the poor. Yan admired his new manor; Kai signed it over. He diverted a million coins yearly from those princely estates to aid relatives. "Redistribution follows Heaven," he replied. He shrugged at gossip and followed instinct. Together with Shan Tao and He Jiao, he held office with abundant virtue. The emperor once asked, "I respond to Heaven and follow the time, and within the seas there is a new beginning. In the voices of custom throughout the realm, what has been gained and what has been lost?" Kai replied, "Your Majesty has received the mandate, and the four seas follow your influence. The reason your virtue is not yet compared with Yao and Shun is only that the likes of Jia Chong are still at court. Just now you should draw in worthy men from all under Heaven and with them broaden the correct Way; you should not show people private favor." Ren Kai and Yu Chun echoed him until the emperor reassigned Chong as Guanzhong area commander. Chong betrothed his daughter to the crown prince, so the transfer was cancelled. Pacifying Wu opened seminars on governance. He lectured on antiquity's golden ages versus Han-Wei cycles. The throne approved and the assembly marveled.
38
楷子瓚娶楊駿女,然楷素輕駿,與之不平。 駿既執政,乃轉為衛尉,遷太子少師,優遊無事,默如也。 及駿誅,楷以婚親收付廷尉,將加法。 是日事倉卒,誅戮縱橫,眾人為之震恐。 楷容色不變,舉動自若,索紙筆與親故書。 賴侍中傅祗救護得免,猶坐去官。 太保衛瓘、太宰亮稱楷貞正不阿附,宜蒙爵土,乃封臨海侯,食邑二千戶。 代楚王瑋為北軍中候,加散騎常侍。 瑋怨瓘、亮斥己任楷,楷聞之,不敢拜,轉為尚書。
Zan's marriage to Jun's daughter strained Kai's contempt for Jun. Jun sidelined him as ceremonial tutor with nothing to do. Jun's purge dragged Kai toward execution. Sudden killings terrified Luoyang. He calmly penned letters while awaiting death. Fu Zhi intervened; Kai merely lost rank. Wei Guan and Sima Liang restored him as marquis of Linhai. He took the northern army colonelcy alongside attendant honors. Wei blamed Kai for stealing his command; Kai fled upward to the ministry.
39
楷長子輿先娶亮女,女適衛瓘子,楷慮內難未已,求出外鎮,除安南將軍、假節、都督荊州諸軍事,垂當發而瑋果矯詔誅亮、瓘。 瑋以楷前奪己中候,又與亮、瓘婚親,密遣討楷。 楷素知瑋有望于己,聞有變,單車入城,匿于妻父王渾家,與亮小子一夜八徙,故得免難。 瑋既伏誅,以楷為中書令,加侍中,與張華、王戎並管機要。
Marriage ties to both factions drove Kai toward Jingzhou—Wei's forged orders struck first. Wei sent killers after Kai for family links to his victims. He dodged patrols by hiding with Wang Hun and Liang's orphan. Wei fell and Kai joined Zhang Hua and Wang Rong at power's core.
40
楷有渴利疾,不樂處勢。 王渾為楷請曰:「楷受先帝拔擢之恩,復蒙陛下寵遇,誠竭節之秋也。 然楷性不競於物,昔為常侍,求出為河內太守; 後為侍中,復求出為河南尹; 與楊駿不平,求為衛尉; 及轉東宮,班在時類之下,安於淡退,有識有以見其心也。 楷今委頓,臣深憂之。 光祿勳缺,以為可用。 今張華在中書,王戎在尚書,足舉其契,無為復令楷入,名臣不多,當見將養,不違其志,要其遠濟之益。」 不聽,就加光祿大夫、開府儀同三司。 及疾篤,詔遣黃門郎王衍省疾,楷回眸矚之曰:「竟未相識。」 衍深歎其神俊。
Diabetes-like thirst made central office unbearable. Wang Hun made a request on Kai's behalf, saying, "Kai received the grace of being promoted by the former emperor and again has received Your Majesty's favor and treatment; truly this is the autumn for exhausting his integrity. Yet Kai's nature does not compete with things. Formerly, when he was Regular Attendant, he sought to go out as Grand Administrator of Henei. Later, when he was Palace Attendant, he again sought to go out as Governor of Henan. When he was not on good terms with Yang Jun, he sought to become Chamberlain for the Palace Garrison. When he was transferred to the Eastern Palace, his rank was below those of his time and class, yet he was at ease in plain withdrawal. Those with understanding had means to see his mind. Kai is now worn down, and I am deeply worried about him. The office of Chamberlain for the Splendid Blessings is vacant, and I think he can be used there. Now Zhang Hua is in the Palace Secretariat, and Wang Rong is in the Department of State Affairs; they are enough to raise what fits. There is no need to make Kai enter again. Eminent ministers are not many, and he should be cared for and nourished, without violating his will, so as to seek his long-range benefit." The throne instead piled on Household Grandee and three-duke parity. When his illness became severe, the edict sent Yellow Gate Gentleman Wang Yan to inspect his illness. Kai turned his eyes back and gazed at him, saying, "In the end, we never came to know one another." Yan stood awed by that dying brilliance.
41
楷有知人之鑒,初在河南,樂廣僑居郡界,未知名,楷見而奇之,致之於宰府。 嘗目夏侯玄云「肅肅如入宗廟中,但見禮樂器」,鍾會「如觀武庫森森,但見矛戟在前」,傅嘏「汪翔靡所不見」,山濤「若登山臨下,幽然深遠」。
He discovered Yue Guang before fame. He once judged Xiahou Xuan, saying, "Grave and reverent, as if entering the ancestral temple, where one sees only vessels for ritual and music"; Zhong Hui, "as if viewing an arsenal thickly arrayed, where one sees only spears and halberds in front"; Fu Gu, "vast and soaring, with nothing he does not see"; and Shan Tao, "like climbing a mountain and looking down, deep and distant in quietness."
42
初,楷家炊黍在甑,或變如拳,或作血,或作蕪菁子。 其年而卒,時年五十五,諡曰元。 有五子:輿、瓚、憲、禮、遜。
Omens spoiled his grain—fists, blood, turnip seeds. He died the same year at fifty-five as Marquis Yuan. His sons were Yu, Zan, Xian, Li, and Xun.
43
輿字祖明。 少襲父爵,官至散騎侍郎,卒諡曰簡。
Pei Yu bore the style Zuming. He succeeded early, died as supernumerary gentleman Jian.
44
瓚字國寶,中書郎,風神高邁,見者皆敬之。 特為王綏所重,每從其遊。 綏父戎謂之曰:「國寶初不來,汝數往,何也?」 對曰:「國寶雖不知綏,綏自知國寶。」 楊駿之誅,為亂兵所害。=
Guobao Zan awed onlookers from the palace secretariat. Wang Sui constantly shadowed Zan. Wang Rong wondered why Sui chased a host who never called." He need not notice me," Sui said, "I notice him." Jun's purge left Zan dead among the soldiers.
45
楷子憲
Pei Xian
46
=憲字景思。 少而穎悟,好交輕俠。 及弱冠,更折節嚴重,修尚儒學,足不逾閾者數年。 陳郡謝鯤、潁川庾敳皆俊郎士也,見而奇之,相謂曰:「裴憲鯁亮宏達,通機識命,不知其何如父; 至於深弘保素,不以世物嬰心者,其殆過之。」
Pei Xian, style Jingsi, Brilliant boy, he chased gallantry. He sobered into scholarship and stayed home. Xie Kun of Chen Commandery and Yu Ai of Yingchuan were both handsome young gentlemen. Seeing Xian, they considered him remarkable and said to one another, "Pei Xian is upright, bright, broad, and penetrating, understands opportunities, and knows the mandate. We do not know how he compares with his father; but as for being deep and broad, preserving plainness, and not letting worldly things entangle his mind, he probably surpasses him."
47
初,侍講東宮,曆黃門吏部郎、侍中。 東海王越以為豫州刺史、北中郎將、假節。 王浚承制,以憲為尚書。 永嘉末,王浚為石勒所破,棗嵩等莫不謝罪軍門,貢賂交錯,惟憲及荀綽恬然私室。 勒素聞其名,召而謂之曰:「王浚虐暴幽州,人鬼同疾。 孤恭行乾憲,拯茲黎元,羈舊咸歡,慶謝交路。 二君齊惡傲威,誠信岨絕,防風之戮,將誰歸乎?」 憲神色侃然,泣而對曰:「臣等世荷晉榮,恩遇隆重。 王浚凶粗醜正,尚晉之遺籓。 雖欣聖化,義岨誠心。 且武王伐紂,表商容之閭,未聞商容在倒戈之例也。 明公既不欲以道化厲物,必于刑忍為治者,防風之戮,臣之分也。 請就辟有司。」 不拜而出。 勒深嘉之,待以賓禮。 勒乃簿王浚官寮親屬,皆貲至巨萬,惟憲與荀綽家有書百餘帙,鹽米各十數斛而已。 勒聞之,謂其長史張賓曰:「名不虛也。 吾不喜得幽州,喜獲二子。」 署從事中郎,出為長樂太守。 及勒僭號,未遑制度,與王波為之撰朝儀,於是憲章文物,擬于王者。 勒大悅,署太中大夫,遷司徒。
He rose from tutor through Huangmen and personnel to attendant. Sima Yue sent him to Yuzhou as northern commander with staff. Wang Jun's mandate elevated him to minister. When Le crushed Jun, officials rushed to abase themselves—Xian and Xun Chuo stayed dignified. Le had long heard of his reputation, summoned him, and said to him, "Wang Jun was cruel and violent in Youzhou, and humans and spirits alike hated him. I respectfully carry out the heavenly constitution and rescue these common people; old dependents and captives are all rejoicing, and celebrations and thanks fill the roads. You two gentlemen join him in evil and are arrogant toward authority; sincerity and trust are cut off and blocked. To whom will the execution of Fangfeng return?" Xian's expression was composed, and he wept as he replied, "We have for generations borne Jin glory, and its grace and treatment have been deep and weighty. Wang Jun is fierce, coarse, and hostile to the correct, but he still is a surviving regional lord of Jin. Although I rejoice in sagely transformation, righteousness blocks my sincere heart. Moreover, when King Wu attacked Zhou, he marked the lane of Shang Rong; I have not heard that Shang Rong was placed among those who reversed their spears. If Your Enlightened Lordship does not wish to transform and encourage things by the Way, but must make governance through punishment and cruelty, then Fangfeng's execution is my allotment. I request to go before the responsible officers for punishment." He declined the post and withdrew. Shi Le honored him as a guest. Le inventoried Jun's corrupt circle—only Xian and Chuo owned books and handfuls of grain instead of piled gold. When Le heard of this, he said to his Chief Clerk Zhang Bin, "Their names are not empty. I do not rejoice at obtaining Youzhou; I rejoice at obtaining these two men." Le named him staff adviser and governor of Changle. When Later Zhao began court ritual, Xian and Wang Bo drafted ceremonies fit for emperors. Le made him grand counselor, then minister of education.
48
及季龍之世,彌加禮重。 憲有二子:挹、㲄,並以文才知名。 㲄仕季龍為太子中庶子、散騎常侍。 挹、㲄俱豪俠耽酒,好臧否人物。 與河間邢魚有隙,魚竊乘㲄馬奔段遼,為人所獲,魚誣㲄使己以季龍當襲鮮卑,告之為備。 時季龍適謀伐遼,而與魚辭正合。 季龍悉誅挹、㲄,憲亦坐免。 未幾,復以為右光祿大夫、司徒、太傅,封安定郡公。
Shi Hu later elevated him further. Yi and Gu inherited literary fame. Gu advised Shi Hu's heir as household tutor. The brothers drank, swaggered, and gossiped about peers. A stolen horse and Xing Yu's lie framed them before Duan Liao. Hu's planned Xianbei war lent credence to the forgery. Hu purged both sons and cashiered Xian. He returned as household grandee, minister, tutor, and duke of Anding.
49
憲曆官無干績之稱,然在朝玄默,未嘗以物務經懷。 但以德重名高,動見尊禮。 竟卒于石氏,以族人峙子邁為嗣。
He governed quietly without bustle while minds praised his virtue. Reputation alone won him ritual honor. He died under Shi rule; cousin Mai continued the line.
50
楷長兄黎,次兄康,並知名。 康子盾,少曆顯位。 永嘉中,為徐州刺史,委任長史司馬奧。 奧勸盾刑殺立威,大發良人為兵,有不奉法者罪便至死。 在任三年,百姓嗟怨。 東海王越,盾妹夫也。 越既薨,騎督滿衡便引所發良人東還。 尋而劉元海遣將王桑、趙固向彭城,前鋒數騎至下邳,文武不堪苛政,悉皆散走,盾、奧奔淮陰,妻子為賊人所得。 奧又誘盾降趙固。 固妻盾女,有寵,盾向女涕泣,固遂殺之。
Pei Li and Pei Kang matched their fame. Kang's son Dun rose fast. As Xuzhou governor he delegated to Sima Ao. Ao's terror tactics—mass levies and capital punishment—ruled Xuzhou. Within three years the people cursed them. Donghai Wang Yue was Dun's brother-in-law. After Yue died Man Heng marched the levies east. Liu Yuan's vanguard reached Xiapi; officials fled harsh rule; Dun fled to Huaiyin and lost family to bandits. Ao pushed Dun toward Zhao Gu. Gu slew Dun's daughter—his own wife—after Dun's tearful plea.
51
盾弟邵,字道期。 元帝為安東將軍,以邵為長史,王導為司馬,二人相與為深交。 徵為太子中庶子,復轉散騎常侍,使持節、都督揚州江西淮北諸軍事、東中郎將,隨越出項,而卒於軍中。 及王導為司空,既拜,歎曰:「裴道期、劉王喬在,吾不得獨登此位。」 導子仲豫與康同字,導思舊好,乃改為敬豫焉。
Younger brother Shao, style Daoqi. Under Yuan-di Shao served with Wang Dao as the prince's twin pillars. He died with Yue's army after tutor and Yangzhou commands. When Wang Dao became Minister of Works, after he had received the appointment, he sighed and said, "If Pei Daoqi and Liu Wangqiao were alive, I could not have ascended this position alone." Dao renamed a son to avoid clashing with Pei Kang's style.
52
楷弟綽,字季舒,器宇宏曠,官至黃門侍郎、長水校尉。 綽子遐,善言玄理,音辭清暢,泠然若琴瑟。 嘗與河南郭象談論,一坐嗟服。 又嘗在平東將軍周馥坐,與人圍棋。 馥司馬行酒,遐未即飲,司馬醉怒,因曳遐墮地。 遐徐起還坐,顏色不變,復棋如故。 其性虛和如此。 東海王越引為主簿,後為越子毗所害。
Chuo rose to palace gates and the Long River corps. Xia's qingtan equaled music in clarity. He once silenced a hall debating Guo Xiang. At Pacifying the East Zhou Fu's headquarters he played weiqi with companions. When Fu's major passed wine, Xia hesitated; drunk and furious, the man dragged him from the mat. He rose slowly, resumed his seat without changing color, and continued the game. His cool temper matched his metaphysics. Donghai heir Pi executed him.
53
初,裴、王二族盛于魏晉之世,時人以為八裴方八王:徽比王祥,楷比王衍,康比王綏,綽比王澄,瓚比王敦,遐比王導,頠比王戎,邈比王玄雲。
Wei-Jin society paired eight Peis with eight Wangs like paired stars.
54
史評
Section heading for editorial judgement.
55
史臣曰:周稱多士,漢曰得人,取類星象,頡頏符契。 時乏名流,多以幹翮相許,自家光國,豈陳騫之謂歟! 秀則聲蓋朋僚,稱為領袖。 楷則機神幼發,目以清通。 俱為晉氏名臣,良有以也。
The Jin historians compare worthy ministers to Zhou's host of talents and Han's knack for personnel. They hint Chen Qian embodied vain ministerial boasting. Pei Xiu led his generation. Pei Kai earned his reputation for enlightened clarity. They deserved Jin's esteem.
56
贊曰:世既順才,才膺世至。 高平沈敏,蘊茲名器。 钜鹿自然,亦云經笥。 媧皇煉石,晉圖開秘。 頠有清規,承家來媚。
The verse praises timely union of talent and age. It salutes Chen Qian's steady grasp of power. It salutes Pei Xiu's effortless scholarship. It invokes myth and charts to praise Jin mapping. It closes by honoring Pei Yi's integrity.