1
劉頌
Liu Song.
2
劉頌，字子雅，廣陵人，漢廣陵厲王胥之後也。 世為名族。 同郡有雷、蔣、谷、魯四姓，皆出其下，時人為之語曰「雷、蔣、谷、魯，劉最為祖。」 父觀，平陽太守。 頌少能辨物理，為時人所稱。 察孝廉，舉秀才，皆不就。 文帝辟為相府掾，奉使於蜀。 時蜀新平，人饑土荒，頌表求振貸，不待報而行，由是除名。 武帝踐阼，拜尚書三公郎，典科律，申冤訟。 累遷中書侍郎。 咸寧中，詔頌與散騎郎白褒巡撫荊、揚，以奉使稱旨，轉黃門郎。 遷議郎，守廷尉。 時尚書令史扈寅非罪下獄，詔使考竟，頌執據無罪，寅遂得免，時人以頌比張釋之。 在職六年，號為詳平。 會滅吳，諸將爭功，遣頌校其事，以王渾為上功，王浚為中功。 帝以頌持法失理，左遷京兆太守，不行，轉任河內。 臨發，上便宜，多所納用。 郡界多公主水碓，遏塞流水，轉為浸害，頌表罷之，百姓獲其便利。 尋以母憂去職。 服闋，除淮南相。 在官嚴整，甚有政績。 舊修芍陂，年用數萬人，豪強兼併，孤貧失業，頌使大小戮力，計功受分，百姓歌其平惠。
Liu Song, courtesy name Ziya, came from Guangling and traced his line to Prince Li of Guangling under the Han, Liu Xu. For generations his family had ranked among the great houses of the region. Guangling also boasted the four houses of Lei, Jiang, Gu, and Lu, yet all stood beneath the Lius, and a local rhyme ran, Lei, Jiang, Gu, and Lu bow to Liu as their elder stock. His father Liu Guan had served as prefect of Pingyang. From youth Liu Song could reason to the root of affairs and won wide praise. Though nominated as filial and incorrupt and as a flourishing talent, he declined each summons. Emperor Wen appointed him a staff clerk in the princely chancellery and dispatched him on embassy to Shu. Shu had only just been pacified: the people were starving and the fields lay waste. Liu Song submitted an urgent plea for grain relief and distributed aid before imperial approval arrived, for which he was struck from office. When Emperor Wu took the throne Liu Song was named a Three Excellencies gentleman in the Masters of Writing, charged with statutes and codes and with redressing unjust suits. He rose step by step to gentleman attendant of the palace secretariat. During Xianning the court sent Liu Song and Bai Bao, cavalier gentleman, on an inspection tour of Jingzhou and Yangzhou. The mission pleased the throne, and Liu Song was moved to gentleman of the yellow gate. He advanced to consultant and served as acting commandant of justice. When Hu Yin, a clerk of the Masters of Writing, was jailed on a false charge and the emperor ordered a full inquest, Liu Song proved his innocence and secured his release. Contemporaries likened him to the Han jurist Zhang Shizhi. Six years in the post earned him a reputation for meticulous fairness. After the conquest of Wu the generals wrangled over credit. The court charged Liu Song with adjudicating their claims; he ranked Wang Hun first and Wang Jun second. The emperor faulted Liu Song for misapplying the law and demoted him to prefect of Jingzhao. Liu Song never took up that post and was reassigned instead to Henei. Before he set out he offered practical policy recommendations, many of which the throne accepted. Princess-owned water mills across the commandery had choked the streams and caused flooding. Liu Song had them shut down by edict, to the great relief of the commoners. He soon resigned to observe mourning for his mother. After the mourning term ended he was named chancellor of Huainan. He ran a tight administration and compiled an impressive record. The old Shao Lake works had drafted tens of thousands each year while magnates monopolized labor and left widows and paupers destitute. Liu Song made every household share the burden by measured shifts and fair rationing, and the people praised his equity.
3
頌在郡，上疏曰：
While administering the commandery Liu Song memorialized as follows.
4
又論肉刑，見《刑法志》。 詔答曰：「得表陳封國之制，宜如古典，任刑齊法，宜復肉刑，及六州將士之役，居職之宜，諸所陳聞，具知卿之乃心為國也。 動靜數以聞。」
His further memorial on restoring mutilating punishments is recorded in the Treatise on Punishments and Law. The throne answered that it had read his views on princely fiefdoms after the ancient pattern, on restoring corporal punishment to unify the law, on service obligations for the six provinces, and on tenure in office, and that in every point it saw how wholly he devoted himself to the realm. Keep the throne informed as matters develop.
5
元康初，從准南王允入朝。 會誅楊駿，頌屯衛殿中，其夜，詔以頌為三公尚書。 又上疏論律令事，為時論所美。 久之，轉吏部尚書，建九班之制，欲令百官居職希遷，考課能否，明其賞罰。 賈郭專朝，仕者欲速，竟不施行。
Early in the Yuankang era he accompanied Prince Yun of Huainan to the capital; the received text miswrites the river name Huai. When Yang Jun was put to death Liu Song held the palace watch, and that same night the emperor named him director of the Three Excellencies section of the Masters of Writing. A further memorial on statutes and ordinances drew admiration across the court. In time he became director of personnel and framed a nine-grade scheme meant to keep officials in post longer, grade their performance, and make rewards and sanctions transparent. With the Jia and Guo factions dominating the government and every careerist demanding rapid promotion, the reform was never carried out.
6
及趙王倫之害張華也，頌哭之甚慟。 聞華子得逃，喜曰：「茂先，卿尚有種也！」 倫党張林聞之，大怒，憚頌持正而不能害也。 孫秀等推崇倫功，宜加九錫，百僚莫敢異議。 頌獨曰：「昔漢之錫魏，魏之錫晉，皆一時之用，非可通行。 今宗廟乂安，雖嬖後被退，勢臣受誅，周勃誅諸呂而尊孝文，霍光廢昌邑而奉孝宣，並無九錫之命。 違舊典而習權變，非先王之制。 九錫之議，請無所施。」 張林積忿不已，以頌為張華之黨，將害之。 孫秀曰：「誅張、裴已傷時望，不可復誅頌。」 林乃止。 於是以頌為光祿大夫，門施行馬。 尋病卒，使使者弔祭，賜錢二十萬、朝服一具，諡曰貞。 中書侍郎劉沈議，頌當時少輩，應贈開府。 孫秀素恨之，不聽。 頌無子，養弟和子雍早卒，更以雍弟詡子𨻳為嫡孫，襲封。 ，詔以頌誅賈謐督攝眾事有功，追封梁鄒縣侯，食邑千五百戶。
When Prince Lun of Zhao murdered Zhang Hua, Liu Song mourned him with wrenching grief. Learning that Zhang Hua's son had escaped, he cried with relief, Maoxian, your line survives yet! Zhang Lin, a partisan of Prince Lun, heard this and fumed, yet dared not strike Liu Song down because his integrity commanded respect. Sun Xiu and his clique praised Prince Lun's merits and pressed for the nine insignia of usurpation, and not a minister dared dissent. Liu Song alone objected, The Han grant to Wei and the Wei grant to Jin were one-off expedients, not a precedent to repeat at will. The shrines are secure again: the favorite consort has been set aside and the overmighty ministers executed, as when Zhou Bo purged the Lü clan for Emperor Wen or Huo Guang deposed the king of Changyi for Emperor Xuan. Neither crisis was answered with the nine bestowals. To cast aside established rite and reach for such contrivances is alien to the way of the ancient kings. I urge that the proposal for the nine bestowals be dropped entirely. Zhang Lin nursed a growing grudge, branded Liu Song a partisan of Zhang Hua, and plotted to destroy him. Sun Xiu warned him, Executing Zhang Hua and Pei Xiu has already cost us the goodwill of the realm. Liu Song must not be killed as well. Zhang Lin abandoned the plan. Liu Song was therefore appointed grand master of splendid carriage with the honor of dismounting rails before his gate. He soon died of illness. The court sent envoys to mourn him, gave two hundred thousand cash and a full set of court robes, and posthumously styled him Zhen, Upright. Liu Shen of the palace secretariat argued that Liu Song, among the foremost men of his generation, deserved the posthumous privilege of a grand commander's establishment. Sun Xiu, who had long detested Liu Shen, rejected the recommendation. Liu Song left no sons. He had adopted Yong, son of his brother Liu He, but Yong died young, so the line passed to Na, son of Xu, Yong's younger brother, as heir grandson to inherit the title. Later an edict noted Liu Song's part in executing Jia Mi and steadying the government, posthumously creating him marquis of Liangzou with fifteen hundred taxable households.
7
頌弟彪字仲雅，參安東軍事。 伐吳，獲張悌，累官積弩將軍。 及武庫火，彪建計斷屋，得出諸寶器。 曆荊州刺史。 次弟仲字世混，曆黃門郎、滎陽太守，未之官，卒。
Liu Song's younger brother Liu Biao, courtesy name Zhongya, served on the staff of the army of eastern pacification. In the conquest of Wu he took the Wu commander Zhang Ti prisoner and rose through several posts to general of the crossbowmen. When the imperial armory burned, Liu Biao ordered sections of roof struck away so the stored weapons could be salvaged. He later served as inspector of Jingzhou. The next brother, Liu Zhong, courtesy name Shihun, held appointments as gentleman of the yellow gate and prefect of Xingyang but died before he could assume the latter post.
8
初，頌嫁女臨淮陳矯，矯本劉氏子，與頌近親，出養于姑，改姓陳氏。 中正劉友譏之，頌曰：「舜後姚虞、陳田本同根系，而世皆為婚，禮律不禁。 今與此同義，為婚可也。」 友方欲列上，為陳騫所止，故得不劾。 頌問明法掾陳默、蔡畿曰：「鄉里誰最屈？」 二人俱云：「劉友屈。」 頌作色呵之，畿曰：「友以私議冒犯明府為非，然鄉里公論稱屈。」 友辟公府掾、尚書郎、黃沙御史。
Earlier Liu Song had given a daughter in marriage to Chen Jiao of Linhuai. Chen Jiao was born a Liu, a near kinsman of Liu Song, but had been adopted by an aunt and took the Chen surname. The local rectifier Liu You objected. Liu Song replied, The houses of Yao, Yu, Chen, and Tian stem from a single Shun-line ancestry, yet they have intermarried for generations without the code forbidding it. Our case falls under the same principle, so the match is lawful. Liu You was preparing a formal denunciation when Chen Qian intervened, so no charges were filed. Liu Song asked his law clerks Chen Mo and Cai Ji, Who in our district has been wronged worst? Both answered, "Liu You." Liu Song flushed and rebuked them. Cai Ji ventured, "Liu You was wrong to press a private grudge against your honor, yet public opinion still calls him the injured party." Liu You went on to serve as princely clerk, gentleman of the Masters of Writing, and cavalier investigator at the Huangsha prison.
9
李重
Li Zhong.
10
李重字茂曾，江夏鐘武人也。 父景，秦州刺史、都亭定侯。 重少好學，有文辭； 早孤，與群弟居，以友愛著稱。 弱冠為本國中正，遜讓不行。 後為始平王文學，上疏陳九品曰：
Li Zhong, courtesy name Maozeng, was a native of Zhongwu in Jiangxia commandery. His father Li Jing had been inspector of Qinzhou and marquis Ding of Duting. Li Zhong loved learning from youth and wrote with polish; orphaned early, he kept house with his younger brothers and was famed for fraternal devotion. When capped he was offered the rectifier's post for his home principality but modestly refused to serve. He later became tutor in letters to the prince of Shiping and memorialized on the nine-rank system as follows.
11
遷太子舍人，轉尚書郎。 時太中大夫恬和表陳便宜，稱漢孔光、魏徐幹等議，使王公已下制奴婢限數，及禁百姓賣田宅。 中書啟可，屬主者為條制。 重奏曰：
He rose to household gentleman to the heir apparent and then to gentleman of the Masters of Writing. Grand Palace Grandee Tian He then submitted a utilitarian memorial, invoking Han debates led by Kong Guang and Wei discussions by Xu Gan, urging caps on slaveholding for the nobility downward and a ban on commoners' sale of land and houses. The palace secretariat endorsed the plan and told the responsible agencies to draft implementing rules. Li Zhong replied in a memorial.
12
又司隸校尉石鑒奏，郁林太守介登役使所監，求召還； 尚書荀愷以為遠郡非人情所樂，奏登貶秩居官。 重駁曰：「臣聞立法無制，所以齊眾檢邪，非必曲尋事情，而理無所遺也。 故所滯者寡，而所濟者眾。 今如登郡比者多，若聽其貶秩居官，動為准例，懼庸才負遠，必有黷貨之累，非所以肅清王化，輯寧殊域也。 臣愚以為宜聽鑒所上，先召登還，且使體例有常，不為遠近異制。」 詔從之。
Metropolitan Commandant Shi Jian also charged Jie Deng, prefect of Yulin, with illegally drafting men under his supervision and asked that Deng be recalled. Xun Kai of the Masters of Writing argued that no one willingly took a distant post and proposed merely demoting Jie Deng in rank while leaving him in place. Li Zhong demurred, Law exists to hold the many to one standard and curb abuse, not to chase every special case while leaving justice undone. Clear rules snag few and help the many. Remote posts like Yulin abound. If we treat a token demotion as precedent, every mediocre official banished to the marches will resort to graft. That will not purify government or pacify the borderlands. I urge acceptance of Shi Jian's memorial: recall Jie Deng at once and hold one rule for near and distant posts alike. The emperor agreed and issued an edict accordingly.
13
太熙初，遷廷尉平。 駁廷尉奏邯鄲醉等，文多不載。 再遷中書郎，每大事及疑議，輒參以經典處決，多皆施行。 遷尚書吏部郎，務抑華競，不通私謁，特留心隱逸，由是群才畢舉。 拔用北海西郭湯、琅邪劉珩、燕國霍原、馮翊吉謀等為秘書郎及諸王文學，故海內莫不歸心。 時燕國中正劉沈舉霍原為寒素，司徒府不從，沈又抗詣中書奏原，而中書復下司徒參論。 司徒左長史荀組以為：「寒素者，當謂門寒身素，無世祚之資。 原為列侯，顯佩金紫，先為人間流通之事，晚乃務學，少長異業，年逾始立，草野之譽未洽，德禮無聞，不應寒素之目。」 重奏曰：
Early in the Taixi era he was promoted to justice assessor in the commandant of justice's office. He overturned several commandant findings in cases such as Handan Zui; the full texts are omitted here. A second promotion brought him to gentleman of the palace secretariat. On great matters and doubtful points he habitually cited the classics in his rulings, and most of his opinions were adopted. As personnel gentleman of the Masters of Writing he curbed ostentatious rivalry, refused private solicitations, and sought out hidden talent until worthy men filled the ranks. He promoted Guo Tang of Beihai, Liu Hang of Langye, Huo Yuan of Yan, Ji Mou of Fengyi, and others to secretariat posts and princely tutorships, winning the loyalty of scholars everywhere. When Liu Shen, rectifier for Yan, nominated Huo Yuan for the cold-and-plain category, the ministry of education balked. Liu Shen appealed to the palace secretariat, which bounced the case back to the ministry for joint review. Xun Zu, left chief clerk of the ministry of education, argued that cold-and-plain means humble birth and plain station, without inherited stipends. Huo Yuan is already a full marquis with gold seal and purple ribbon. He trafficked in worldly affairs in youth and turned to scholarship only late; he has passed thirty with no wide rural reputation and no renown for virtue or ritual. He does not fit the cold-and-plain rubric. Li Zhong answered in a further memorial.
14
詔從之。
The throne ruled in Li Zhong's favor.
16
李毅
Li Yi.
17
=重與李毅同為吏部郎，時王戎為尚書，重以清尚見稱，毅淹通有智識，雖二人操異，然俱處要職，戎以識會待之，各得其所。 毅字茂彥，舊史闕其行事。 于時內官重，外官輕，兼階級繁多，重議之，見《百官志》。 又上疏曰：「凡山林避寵之士，雖違世背時，出處殊軌，而先王許之者，嘉其服膺高義也。 昔先帝患風流之弊，而思反純樸，乃諮詢朝眾，搜求隱逸。 ，始以太子中庶子征安定皇甫謐，四年又以博士征南安朱沖，，復以太子庶子征沖，雖皆以病疾不至，而朝野悅服。 陛下遠邁先帝禮賢之旨，臣訪沖州邑，言其雖年近耋耋，而志氣克壯，耽道窮藪，老而彌新，操尚貞純，所居成化，誠山棲耆德，足以表世篤俗者也。 臣以為宜垂聖恩，及其未沒，顯加優命。」 時朝廷政亂，竟不能從。 出為行討虜護軍、平陽太守，崇德化，修學校，表篤行，拔賢能，清簡無欲，正身率下，在職三年，彈黜四縣。 弟嶷亡，表去官。
Li Zhong served alongside Li Yi as personnel gentleman while Wang Rong headed the Masters of Writing. Li Zhong was admired for austere integrity, Li Yi for encyclopedic wit. Though their temperaments differed, Wang Rong sized up each man and used him to best effect. Li Yi, courtesy name Maoyan, left so slight a record that older histories omit his career. At that time inner-court posts outweighed local office and rank titles had proliferated wildly. Li Zhong's critique is preserved in the Treatise on Officials. He also memorialized, Recluses who flee the court to the hills may shun the age, yet the sage-kings honored them for clinging to a higher duty than office. When the late emperor grew alarmed at fashionable excess and sought to restore plain virtue, he polled the court and summoned recluses. He first called Huangfu Mi of Anding with the title attendant of the heir apparent's household, then in the fourth year summoned Zhu Chong of Nan'an as a court erudite, and later summoned Zhu Chong again as heir apparent's attendant. Both men pleaded illness and stayed home, yet the gesture won acclaim at court and in the countryside. Your Majesty exceeds even Emperor Wu's reverence for recluses. I have asked about Zhu Chong in his home commandery: though he is in his eighties his spirit is vigorous, he pursues the Way in the depths of the wilds with growing zeal, and his life chastens every village he touches. He is a sage of the hills who could edify the age. I urge you to show him imperial favor while he still lives and grant him a distinguished summons. Yet the court was in turmoil and never acted on the proposal. He was posted as acting general who punishes the caitiffs and army protector and as prefect of Pingyang, where he promoted moral education, rebuilt schools, cited men of proven integrity, promoted talent, lived plainly without private wants, and set a personal example for subordinates. Within three years he had four magistrates removed for cause. When his brother Yi died he resigned by memorial.
18
永康初，趙王倫用為相國左司馬，以憂逼成疾而卒，時年四十八。 家貧，宅宇狹小，無殯斂之地，詔於典客署營喪。 追贈散騎常侍，諡曰成。 子式，有美名，官至侍中，咸和初卒。
Early in the Yongkang era Prince Lun of Zhao named him left major to the chancellor of state. Anxiety and intimidation broke his health, and he died at forty-eight. His family was destitute and his house too small for the funeral rites, so the court ordered the reception office to host the obsequies. He was posthumously given the title cavalier attendant-in-ordinary and the posthumous name Cheng, Accomplished. His son Li Shi enjoyed a fine reputation, rose to palace attendant, and died early in the Xianhe era.
19
【史評】
Editorial rubric: historical judgment.
20
史臣曰：子雅束發登朝，竭誠奉國，廣陳封建，深中機宜，詳辨刑名，該核政體。 雖文慚華婉，而理歸切要。 游目西京，望賈誼而非遠； 眷言東國，顧郎顗而有餘。 逮元康之間，賊臣專命，舉朝戰慄，苟避菹醢； 頌以此時，忠鯁不撓，哭張公之非罪，拒趙王之妄錫，雖古遺直，何以尚茲。 至於緣其私議，不平劉友，異夫憎而知善，舉不避仇者歟！ 李重言因革之理，駁田產之制，詞愜事當，蓋亹癖可觀。 及銳志銓衡，留心隱逸，浚沖期之識會，豈虛也哉！
The historians write that from the day Liu Song bound up his hair for office he served the state with utter loyalty, laid out far-reaching plans for feudal enfeoffment that struck the heart of the matter, and dissected penal law and administrative structure with exhaustive care. His prose may lack literary polish, yet his reasoning always drives to the crux. Measured against the Western Han capital he stands within sight of Jia Yi. Turning to the scholars of the eastern heartland, he matches the stature of men such as Lang Yi with room to spare. In the Yuankang years, when usurping ministers held absolute power and the whole court cowered merely to escape the chopping block. Liu Song alone remained bluntly loyal: he mourned Zhang Hua's innocence and rejected Prince Lun's illicit honors. The straight-speaking worthies of antiquity could scarcely better him. Yet when private pique led him to wrong Liu You, he fell short of the ideal that hates the sin yet knows the good and recommends even a foe! Li Zhong expounded the logic of continuity and reform and demolished unsound rules on land and property; his language fit the facts, and his tireless precision repays reading. When he turned his keen mind to appointments and to recluses, he vindicated Wang Rong's trust in his discernment—that reputation was no empty boast!
21
贊曰：劉頌剛直，義形於詞。 自下摩上，彼實有之。 李重清雅，志乃無私。 推賢拔滯，嘉言在茲。 懋哉兩哲，邦家之基。
The encomium runs: Liu Song was unbending, and righteousness shaped every word he spoke. He dared remonstrate upward against power, and he meant every word. Li Zhong was refined and disinterested, and his aims were never self-serving. He lifted the worthy and freed the blocked; here lies his lasting counsel. Splendid were these two sages, true foundations of the house of Jin.