1
阮籍，字嗣宗，陳留尉氏人也。 父瑀，魏丞相掾，知名於世。 籍容貌瑰傑，志氣宏放，傲然獨得，任性不羈，而喜怒不形於色。 或閉戶視書，累月不出； 或登臨山水，經日忘歸。 博覽群籍，尤好《莊》《老》。 嗜酒能嘯，善彈琴。 當其得意，忽忘形骸。 時人多謂之癡，惟族兄文業每嘆服之，以為勝己，由是咸共稱異。
Ruan Ji, courtesy name Sizong, came from Weishi in Chenliu. His father, Ruan Yu, served as a clerk to the Wei Chancellor and was widely known. He had a striking presence and a bold, expansive spirit—proud, self-possessed, and untrammeled—while his face betrayed neither joy nor anger. Sometimes he would shut himself in and read for months without stepping outside. Sometimes he climbed hills and roamed streams until whole days passed and he forgot to go home. He read voraciously, with a particular love for the Zhuangzi and the Laozi. He loved wine, could whistle, and played the zither with real skill. In moments of elation he would quite forget his own body. Most contemporaries dismissed him as eccentric, but his kinsman Ruan Wenye often marveled and admitted Ruan Ji surpassed him—after which everyone spoke of him as remarkable.
2
籍嘗隨叔父至東郡，兗州刺史王昶請與相見，終日不開一言，自以不能測。 太尉蔣濟聞其有雋才而辟之，籍詣都亭奏記曰：「伏惟明公以含一之德，據上臺之位，英豪翹首，俊賢抗足。 開府之日，人人自以為掾屬； 辟書始下，而下走為首。 昔子夏在於西河之上，而文侯擁篲； 鄒子處於黍谷之陰，而昭王陪乘。 夫布衣韋帶之士，孤居特立，王公大人所以禮下之者，為道存也。 今籍無鄒、卜之道，而有其陋，猥見采擇，無以稱當。 方將耕於東皋之陽，輸黍稷之餘稅。 負薪疲病，足力不強，補吏之召，非所克堪。 乞回謬恩，以光清舉。」 初，濟恐籍不至，得記欣然。 遣卒迎之，而籍已去，濟大怒。 於是鄉親共喻之，乃就吏。 後謝病歸。 復為尚書郎，少時，又以病免。 及曹爽輔政，召為參軍。 籍因以疾辭，屏於田里。 歲余而爽誅，時人服其遠識。 宣帝為太傅，命籍為從事中郎。 及帝崩，復為景帝大司馬從事中郎。 高貴鄉公即位，封關內侯，徙散騎常侍。
When he once traveled with an uncle to Dong commandery, Yanzhou Inspector Wang Chang requested an audience and sat with him all day, but Ruan Ji never spoke; Wang Chang concluded he could not be fathomed. Grand Commandant Jiang Ji, hearing of his talent, summoned him. Ruan Ji presented a memorial at the relay lodge: "You hold the summit of power with all-embracing virtue; heroes and talents strain to join you. When you first opened your office, every man hoped to be named to your staff; when the appointment list appeared, my lowly name headed it. Long ago Zixia taught west of the River, and Marquis Wen of Wei swept the path before him; Zou Yan lived north of Millet Valley, and King Zhao of Yan took the place beside him in the carriage. Poor scholars who stand apart are honored by lords because the Way still dwells in them. I have none of the learning of Zou Yan or Bu Zixia, only their obscurity; I was chosen by mistake and cannot live up to the role. I mean to farm the sunny fields east of the marsh and pay my grain tax from the surplus. I am worn thin hauling fuel and my legs are weak; I cannot sustain the duties of a clerk. Please withdraw this undeserved kindness and keep your recommendation unsullied." At first Jiang Ji had worried Ruan Ji might refuse; the memorial delighted him. He sent men to escort him in, only to find Ruan Ji had already left; Jiang Ji was furious. Villagers and kin together reasoned with him, and he finally accepted the appointment. Soon afterward he pleaded illness and went home. He was appointed Gentleman of the Masters of Writing but, within a short while, again left office citing illness. When Cao Shuang directed the government, he summoned Ruan Ji as an adjutant. Ruan Ji pleaded illness and withdrew to the countryside. A little over a year later Cao Shuang was executed; contemporaries admired his foresight. When Emperor Xuan held the Grand Tutorship, he named Ruan Ji a miscellaneous aide. After that ruler's death he again served Emperor Jing as aide to the Grand Marshal. When the Duke of Gaoling ascended the throne, Ruan Ji was enfeoffed as a marquis within the passes and promoted to Regular Cavalier Attendant.
3
籍本有濟世志，屬魏、晉之際，天下多故，名士少有全者，籍由是不與世事，遂酣飲為常。 文帝初欲為武帝求婚於籍，籍醉六十日，不得言而止。 鐘會數以時事問之，欲因其可否而致之罪，皆以酣醉獲免。 及文帝輔政，籍嘗從容言於帝曰：「籍平生曾游東平，樂其風土。」 帝大悅，即拜東平相。 籍乘驢到郡，壞府舍屏鄣，使內外相望，法令清簡，旬日而還。 帝引為大將軍從事中郎。 有司言有子殺母者，籍曰：「嘻！ 殺父乃可，至殺母乎！」 坐者怪其失言。 帝曰：「殺父，天下之極惡，而以為可乎？」 籍曰：「禽獸知母而不知父，殺父，禽獸之類也。 殺母，禽獸之不若。」 眾乃悅服。
He had once hoped to aid the world, but as Wei gave way to Jin and turmoil mounted, few eminent men escaped with their lives, so he turned away from affairs and sought refuge in perpetual drinking. When Sima Zhao first tried to arrange a marriage between his son Sima Yan and Ruan Ji's family, Ruan Ji drank himself insensible for sixty days until the matchmakers could get nowhere and the plan died. Zhong Hui repeatedly pressed him on state affairs, hoping to trap him in a damaging answer; each time Ruan Ji drank his way out of danger. Once Sima Zhao was regent, Ruan Ji remarked casually, "I have visited Dongping and love its people and landscape. Delighted, the regent immediately named him governor of Dongping. He arrived on a donkey, stripped the office of its screens so clerks and public faced one another, simplified the statutes, and resigned within ten days. He was then recalled as aide to the General-in-Chief. When officials reported a case of a son who had killed his mother, Ruan Ji exclaimed, "Well! Killing one's father might be imaginable—but killing one's mother?" The assembly thought he had spoken monstrously. The regent asked, "Matricide aside, do you call patricide acceptable?" Ruan Ji replied, "Beasts know their dams, not their sires; to slay a father is still the act of a beast. To slay a mother sinks below even beasts." The listeners were satisfied.
4
籍聞步兵廚營人善釀，有貯酒三百斛，乃求為步兵校尉。 遺落世事，雖去佐職，恆遊府內，朝宴必與焉。 會帝讓九錫，公卿將勸進，使籍為其辭。 籍沈醉忘作，臨詣府，使取之，見籍方據案醉眠。 使者以告，籍便書案，使寫之，無所改竄。 辭甚清壯，為時所重。
Learning that the infantry commissary kept excellent wine—three hundred hu in store—he requested appointment as colonel of the infantry garrison. He let worldly duties slide; though no longer adjutant, he still haunted headquarters and never missed the regent's banquets. When Sima Zhao declined the Nine Bestowals, high ministers prepared a joint memorial of urging and charged Ruan Ji with the draft. He was too drunk to write; when the courier arrived at the office, Ruan Ji was slumped over his desk in a stupor. Told the deadline had come, he scribbled the text on the document case and had the envoy copy it off unchanged. The prose was lucid and powerful and won wide admiration.
5
籍雖不拘禮教，然發言玄遠，口不臧否人物。 性至孝，母終，正與人圍棋，對者求止，籍留與決賭。 既而飲酒二斗，舉聲一號，吐血數升。 及將葬，食一蒸肫，飲二斗酒，然後臨訣，直言窮矣，舉聲一號，因又吐血數升，毀瘠骨立，殆致滅性。 裴楷往弔之，籍散發箕踞，醉而直視，楷弔唁畢便去。 或問楷：「凡弔者，主哭，客乃為禮。 籍既不哭，君何為哭？」 楷曰：「阮籍既方外之士，故不崇禮典。 我俗中之士，故以軌儀自居。」 時人歎為兩得。 籍又能為青白眼，見禮俗之士，以白眼對之。 及嵇喜來弔，籍作白眼，喜不懌而退。 喜弟康聞之，乃齎酒挾琴造焉，籍大悅，乃見青眼。 由是禮法之士疾之若仇，而帝每保護之。
He flouted conventional ritual, yet his words ran deep and remote, and he refused to pass judgment on people in ordinary talk. He was profoundly filial, yet when news came that his mother had died he insisted on finishing a weiqi game though his opponent begged to stop. Only then did he drain two dou of wine, utter a single wrenching cry, and bring up several sheng of blood. At the funeral he ate a steamed pig's trotter, drank two dou more, bade the coffin farewell saying he was utterly spent, cried out again, and vomited more blood; he wasted to skin and bone, nearly following his mother in death. When Pei Kai came to mourn, Ruan Ji sat hair unbound, legs sprawled, drunk and staring blankly; Pei Kai completed the rites and withdrew. Someone asked Pei Kai, "At a wake the host leads the weeping before the guest pays respect. Ruan Ji never wept—why did you?" Pei Kai answered, "Ruan Ji stands outside the world of convention, so ritual does not bind him. I remain inside it, so I observe the forms myself." Onlookers said both men had acted fittingly. He could greet people with a "white eye" or a "blue eye": pedants of the ritualists' stamp received only the white. When Ji Xi came to offer condolences, Ruan Ji showed him the white eye; Ji Xi left in annoyance. Ji Xi's brother Ji Kang arrived bearing wine and a zither; Ruan Ji brightened and turned on him the blue eye of welcome. Ritual moralists loathed him, yet the regent shielded him.
6
籍嫂嘗歸甯，籍相見與別。 或譏之，籍曰：「禮豈為我設邪！」 鄰家少婦有美色，當壚沽酒。 籍嘗詣飲，醉，便臥其側。 籍既不自嫌，其夫察之，亦不疑也。 兵家女有才色，未嫁而死。 籍不識其父兄，徑往哭之，盡哀而還。 其外坦蕩而內淳至，皆此類也。 時率意獨駕，不由徑路，車跡所窮，輒慟哭而反。 嘗登廣武，觀楚、漢戰處，歎曰：「時無英雄，使豎子成名！」 登武牢山，望京邑而歎，於是賦《豪傑詩》。 景元四年冬卒，時年五十四。
When his sister-in-law returned to her natal family, Ruan Ji saw her off in person. Critics scoffed; he retorted, "Were the rites written for the likes of me?" A neighbor's pretty young wife kept the wine shop. Ruan Ji would drink there until drunk and sleep beside her counter. He saw nothing improper in it, and her husband, watching closely, never distrusted him. A soldier's talented, beautiful daughter died unwed. Ruan Ji, a stranger to her family, walked straight in to weep out his grief and left. Open and easy outwardly, inwardly he was utterly sincere—such was his way in everything. He would drive alone wherever whim took him; when the road ended he would burst into tears and turn back. Climbing Guangwu Pass to the old Chu–Han battlefield, he sighed, "No true heroes in that hour—so mediocrities won the renown!" From Mount Wulao he looked toward Luoyang and sighed, then composed his "Poem on Heroes." He died in the winter of Wei Jingyuan 4 (263 CE) at the age of fifty-four.
7
籍能屬文，初不留思。 作《詠懷詩》八十餘篇，為世所重。 著《達莊論》，敘無為之貴。 文多不錄。
He could write at speed without brooding beforehand. His eighty-odd "Poems Singing My Cares" became classics of the age. His essay "Mastering the Zhuangzi" praised the worth of non-action. Further compositions are omitted here.
8
籍嘗于蘇門山遇孫登，與商略終古及棲神導氣之術，登皆不應，籍因長嘯而退。 至半嶺，聞有聲若鸞鳳之音，響乎岩谷，乃登之嘯也。 遂歸著《大人先生傳》，其略曰：「世人所謂君子，惟法是修，惟禮是克。 手執圭璧，足履繩墨。 行欲為目前檢，言欲為無窮則。 少稱鄉黨，長聞鄰國。 上欲圖三公，下不失九州牧。 獨不見群虱之處褌中，逃乎深縫，匿乎壞絮，自以為吉宅也。 行不敢離縫際，動不敢出褌襠，自以為得繩墨也。 然炎丘火流，焦邑滅都，群虱處於褌中而不能出也。 君子之處域內，何異夫虱之處褌中乎！」 此亦籍之胸懷本趣也。
On Mount Sumen he met the recluse Sun Deng and debated high antiquity and breath cultivation; Sun Deng never answered, so Ruan Ji gave a long whistle and walked away. Halfway down the ridge he heard phoenix-like notes echoing through the peaks—it was Sun Deng answering with a whistle of his own. He then wrote "The Great Gentleman," arguing in essence: "The respectable men of the world polish law, hug ritual, jade tablets in hand, inked guideline underfoot, their deeds a curb on the moment, their words a pattern for all time, praised in the village as youths, famous abroad as adults, reaching for the Three Excellencies yet never scorning a provincial post. They never notice the lice in a pair of pants—cowering in seams and moldy wadding, mistaking filth for a lucky home, never daring beyond a crease or outside the fly, convinced they are walking straight lines. Yet when wildfire scorches city and plain, those lice stay trapped in the cloth and burn. What separates a pedant boxed inside the world from a louse boxed inside trousers?" That parable captured Ruan Ji's own temper.
9
子渾，字長成，有父風。 少慕通達，不飾小節。 籍謂曰：「仲容已豫吾此流，汝不得復爾！」 太康中，為太子庶子。
His son Ruan Hun, courtesy name Changcheng, resembled him in spirit. In youth Hun admired breadth of mind and scorned petty scruples. Ruan Ji warned him, "Your cousin Zhongrong already walks this path with me—you must not follow suit!" Under Emperor Wu's Taikang era he became a retainer of the crown prince.
10
阮咸字仲容。 父熙，武都太守。 咸任達不拘，與叔父籍為竹林之遊，當世禮法者譏其所為。 咸與籍居道南，諸阮居道北，北阮富而南阮貧。 七月七日，北阮盛曬衣服，皆錦綺粲目，咸以竿掛大布犢鼻於庭。 人或怪之，答曰：「不能免俗，聊復爾耳！」
Ruan Xian's courtesy name was Zhongrong. His father Ruan Xi governed Wudu as prefect. Ruan Xian was as free-spirited as his uncle Ruan Ji; together they roamed the Bamboo Grove, drawing scorn from the ritual-minded. He lived south of the lane with Ruan Ji while the rest of the clan lived on the north side—there the rich branch flaunted its wealth and here the poor branch scraped by. On the Double Seventh the northerners spread out silks brilliant as jewels; Ruan Xian hoisted a pair of rough cloth shorts on a pole in the yard. When people gawked, he said, "I cannot rise above vulgar ways—so I join them, that is all!"
11
曆仕散騎侍郎。 山濤舉咸典選，曰：「阮咸貞素寡欲，深識清濁，萬物不能移。 若在官人之職，必絕于時。」 武帝以咸耽酒浮虛，遂不用。 太原郭奕高爽有識量，知名于時，少所推先，見咸心醉，不覺歎焉。 而居母喪，縱情越禮。 素幸姑之婢，姑當歸于夫家，初雲留婢，既而自從去。 時方有客，咸聞之，遽借客馬追婢，既及，與婢累騎而還，論者甚非之。
He rose through appointments as Gentleman of the Palace Gate. Shan Tao urged his appointment as personnel evaluator: "Ruan Xian is upright, spare in appetite, and reads men with a clear eye—nothing sways him. Put him in charge of appointments and he would tower above his generation." Emperor Wu dismissed the idea, judging him a drunkard and a lightweight. Guo Yi of Taiyuan—open, shrewd, and seldom impressed—met Ruan Xian and was utterly won over, sighing before he knew it. Yet during mourning for his mother he indulged his impulses and flouted ritual. He had long desired his aunt's maidservant; the aunt first promised to leave her behind, then took her away when she returned to her husband's house. Guests were still in the house when he heard; he borrowed a mount, galloped after the cart, caught the girl, and rode back astride behind her—moralists were scandalized.
12
咸妙解音律，善彈琵琶。 雖處世不交人事，惟共親知弦歌酣宴而已。 與從子脩特相善，每以得意為歡。 諸阮皆飲酒，咸至，宗人間共集，不復用杯觴斟酌，以大盆盛酒，圓坐相向，大酌更飲。 時有群豕來飲其酒，咸直接去其上，便共飲之。 群從昆弟莫不以放達為行，籍弗之許。 荀勖每與咸論音律，自以為遠不及也，疾之，出補始平太守。 以壽終。 二子：瞻、孚。
He had a genius for pitch and rhythm and played the pipa to perfection. He shunned public life except with family, where he passed nights in song, zither, and wine. He was closest to his nephew Ruan Xiu; the two delighted in each other's company. Whenever the clan feasted, they set aside cups and ladled wine from a great basin, sitting in a ring and passing it in deep drafts. Pigs wandered up to the wine basin; Ruan Xian sat down among them without shooing them away and shared the drink. Every younger cousin aped his abandon, but Ruan Ji refused to bless their excess. Xun Xu, outclassed whenever they discussed music, nursed a grudge and had him posted away as governor of Shiping. He ended his days in old age. His sons were Zhan and Fu.
13
瞻字千里。 性清虛寡欲，自得於懷。 讀書不甚研求，而默識其要，遇理而辯，辭不足而旨有餘。 善彈琴，人聞其能，多往求聽，不問貴賤長幼，皆為彈之。 神氣沖和，而不知向人所在。 內兄潘岳每令鼓琴，終日達夜，無忤色。 由是識者歎其恬澹，不可榮辱矣。 舉止灼然。 見司徒王戎，戎問曰：「聖人貴名教，老莊明自然，其旨同異？」 瞻曰：「將無同。」 戎咨嗟良久，即命辟之。 時人謂之「三語掾」。 太尉王衍亦雅重之。 瞻嘗群行，冒熱渴甚，逆旅有井，眾人競趨之，瞻獨逡巡在後，須飲者畢乃進，其夷退無競如此。
Ruan Zhan, courtesy name Qianli, was a man of lucid calm and few wants, content within himself. He read without pedantic drilling yet quietly seized essentials; in debate his language was spare but his meaning ran deep. He played the zither beautifully, and whoever came—high or low, old or young—he would play for. His manner was gentle and diffuse; you could never tell where his mind had drifted. Pan Yue, his brother-in-law, kept him playing from dusk till dawn, yet he never showed irritation. Observers marveled at his equipoise: neither honor nor shame could touch him. In deportment he was luminous and composed. Visiting Minister of Education Wang Rong, he was asked whether the sages' esteem for moral norms and Laozi-Zhuang's teaching of spontaneity meant the same thing or not. Ruan Zhan answered, "I should think they are not unlike each other." Wang Rong mused at length, then ordered him offered a post on the spot. Wits dubbed him the "three-line secretary." Grand Commandant Wang Yan likewise esteemed him. On a sweltering journey the party rushed a roadside well; Ruan Zhan hung back until every thirst was slaked—so unhurried and ungrasping was he.
14
東海王越鎮許昌，以瞻為記室參軍，與王承、謝鯤、鄧攸俱在越府。 越與瞻等書曰：「禮，年八歲出就外傅，明始可以加師訓之則； 十年曰幼學，明可漸先王之教也。 然學之所入淺，體之所安深。 是以閑習禮容，不如式瞻儀度； 諷誦遺言，不若親承音旨。 小兒毗既無令淑之質，不聞道德之風，望諸君時以閑豫，周旋誨接。」
When Sima Yue, Prince of the East Sea, held Xuchang, he named Ruan Zhan secretary-adjutant alongside Wang Cheng, Xie Kun, and Deng You. Sima Yue wrote: "Ritual says a boy of eight leaves home for outer schooling, ready for a teacher's discipline; at ten he enters 'child study' and may absorb the lessons of the ancient kings. Yet book learning stays shallow; what shapes the person runs deeper. So rehearsing ritual gestures counts for less than watching true bearing in action; reciting old texts counts for less than hearing a living voice explain them. My boy Pi lacks natural grace and has felt little of the Way; when you are free, move with him and teach him in conversation."
15
永嘉中，為太子舍人。 瞻素執無鬼論，物莫能難，每自謂此理足可以辯正幽明。 忽有一客通名詣瞻，寒溫畢，聊談名理。 客甚有才辯，瞻與之言，良久及鬼神之事，反覆甚苦。 客遂屈，乃作色曰：「鬼神，古今聖賢所共傳，君何得獨言無！ 即僕便是鬼。」 於是變為異形，須臾消滅。 瞻默然，意色大惡。 後歲餘，病卒於倉垣，時年三十。
During Yongjia he became attendant for the heir apparent. He was famous for arguing there are no ghosts; none could overturn him, and he boasted the point settled spirit against flesh. A stranger announced himself, exchanged courtesies, and drifted into metaphysical talk. He was brilliant in debate; they wrangled for hours until the talk turned to ghosts, growing fierce. At last the visitor flushed and said, "Sages old and new all attest spirits—how dare you deny them! I myself am a ghost." He shifted into a monstrous shape and vanished in an instant. Ruan Zhan sat speechless, his face gone gray. A year later he died of illness at Cangyuan, only thirty years old.
16
孚字遙集。 其母，即胡婢也。 孚之初生，其姑取王延壽《魯靈光殿賦》曰「胡人遙集於上楹」而以字焉。 初辟太傅府，遷騎兵屬。 避亂渡江，元帝以為安東參軍。 蓬髮飲酒，不以王務嬰心。 時帝既用申、韓以救世，而孚之徒未能棄也。 雖然，不以事任處之。 轉丞相從事中郎。 終日酣縱，恆為有司所按，帝每優容之。
Ruan Fu, courtesy name Yaoji, was born to a Hu bondwoman. His aunt, quoting Wang Yanshou's rhapsody on the Hall of Spiritual Light in Lu—where barbarians "gather from afar beneath the ridgepole"—chose his name from those words. He began in the Grand Tutor's bureau and moved up to aide in the cavalry service. Crossing the Yangzi ahead of the collapse, he became adjutant to the eastern pacification command under Emperor Yuan. He drank with hair uncombed and refused to let paperwork weigh on him. The court was applying Legalist rigor to save the realm, yet men of Ruan Fu's stamp could not simply vanish. Still, he kept them away from real responsibility. Ruan Fu was shifted to aide in the chancellery. He caroused endlessly and was repeatedly censored, but the emperor indulged him.
17
琅邪王裒為車騎將軍，鎮廣陵，高選綱佐，以孚為長史。 帝謂曰：「卿既統軍府，郊壘多事，宜節飲也。」 孚答曰：「陛下不以臣不才，委之以戎旅之重。 臣僶勉從事，不敢有言者，竊以今王蒞鎮，威風赫然，皇澤遐被，賊寇斂跡，氛昆既澄，日月自朗，臣亦何可爵火不息？ 正應端拱嘯詠，以樂當年耳。」 遷黃門侍郎、散騎常侍。 嘗以金貂換酒，復為所司彈劾，帝宥之。 轉太子中庶子、左衛率，領屯騎校尉。
Wang Ai of Langye, chariot-and-cavalry general at Guangling, was picking elite staff and chose Ruan Fu as chief clerk. The sovereign told him, "You head an army headquarters on a busy frontier—you should drink less." Ruan Fu replied, "You burden a dullard like me with military weight. I would have kept silent save for this: your prince's presence makes terror spread and imperial grace reach far—foes shrink, the air clears, sun and moon seem brighter—why should I still fuss like a torch flame that will not die? Better I fold my hands, whistle, and enjoy my years in peace." He advanced to Gentleman at the Yellow Gate and Regular Cavalier Attendant. He once traded a gold sable tail for wine, drew another impeachment, and was pardoned. Later he was retainer to the crown prince, leader of the left guards, and colonel of garrison cavalry.
18
明帝即位，遷侍中。 從平王敦，賜爵南安縣侯。 轉吏部尚書，領東海王師，稱疾不拜。 詔就家用之，尚書令郗鑒以為非禮。 帝曰：「就用之誠不快，不爾便廢才。」 及帝疾大漸，溫嶠入受顧命，過孚，要與同行。 升車，乃告之曰：「主上遂大漸，江左危弱，實資群賢，共康世務。 卿時望所歸，今欲屈卿同受顧托。」 孚不答，固求下車，嶠不許。 垂至台門，告嶠內迫，求暫下，便徒步還家。
Emperor Ming raised him to palace attendant. He followed the campaign against Wang Dun and was enfeoffed marquis of Nan'an. He was named minister of personnel and tutor to the Prince of the East Sea but pleaded illness and stayed home. An edict ordered him employed from his house; Chi Jian, minister of the left, called that improper. The emperor answered, "It is awkward, yes—but otherwise his talent goes unused." When the emperor sank toward death, Wen Jiao came to take the deathbed charge and invited Ruan Fu into the carriage. Wen said, "The throne is failing; the southland is weak—we need worthy men to steady the realm. You command respect; I want you beside me to accept the regency." Ruan Fu said nothing, demanded to be let off, and Wen Jiao refused. Near the palace gate he pleaded a call of nature, slipped down, and walked home.
19
初，祖約性好財，孚性好屐，同是累而未判其得失。 有詣約，見正料財物，客至，屏當不盡，餘兩小簏，以著背後，傾身障之，意未能平。 或有詣阮，正見自蠟屐，因自歎曰：「未知一生當著幾量屐！」 神色甚閑暢。 於是勝負始分。
People once compared Zu Yue's greed for money with Ruan Fu's passion for wooden clogs—two manias, hard to rank. A caller on Zu Yue found him counting coin; startled mid-task, he hid two small chests behind his back, hunched and uneasy. A caller on Ruan Fu found him waxing clogs and sighing, "Who knows how many pairs I'll wear in one lifetime?" His face stayed serene and bright. Then everyone knew which obsession was nobler.
20
咸和初，拜丹陰尹。 時太后臨朝，政出舅族。 孚謂所親曰：「今江東雖累世，而年數實淺。 主幼時艱，運終百六，而庾亮年少，德信未孚，以吾觀之，將兆亂矣。」 會廣州刺史劉顗卒，遂苦求出。 王導等以孚疏放，非京尹才，乃除都督交、廣、寧三州軍事、鎮南將軍、領平越中郎將、廣州刺史、假節。 未至鎮，卒，年四十九。 尋而蘇峻作逆，識者以為知幾。 無子，從孫廣嗣。
At the opening of Xianhe he became governor of Danyang. The empress dowager ruled from behind the screen while her uncles pulled the strings. Ruan Fu told friends, "This southern court may boast many reigns, but its calendar is still short. The boy emperor faces a hard age; the 'hundred-and-six' ill cycle nears; Yu Liang is young, untested, untrusted—I see the makings of chaos." When Guangzhou inspector Liu Kai died, he begged desperately for an outside post. Wang Dao judged him unfit for the capital magistracy but named him military commander over Jiao, Guang, and Ning, general who guards the south, colonel against the Yue, inspector of Guangzhou—with plenipotentiary baton. He died en route, forty-nine years old. When Su Jun rose soon after, wise men said he had read the signs. Childless, he passed his line to a grandnephew, Ruan Guang.
21
修字宣子。 好《易》《老》，善清言。 嘗有論鬼神有無者，皆以人死者有鬼，修獨以為無，曰：「今見鬼者雲著生時衣服，若人死有鬼，衣服有鬼邪？」 論者服焉。 後遂伐社樹，或止之，修曰：「若社而為樹，伐樹則社移； 樹而為社，伐樹則社亡矣。」
Ruan Xiu, courtesy name Xuanzi. He loved the Zhouyi and Laozi and excelled at qingtan. In a debate on ghosts everyone assumed the dead lingered; Ruan Xiu alone denied it: "Witnesses say ghosts wear their living clothes—if the dead have ghosts, do garments have ghosts too?" The others conceded the point. Later he chopped down a village earth-god's tree; when warned, he said, "If the god is the tree, felling it moves the shrine; if the tree is the god, then cutting it ends the god."
22
性簡任，不修人事。 絕不喜見俗人，遇便舍去。 意有所思，率爾褰裳，不避晨夕，至或無言，但欣然相對。 常步行，以百錢掛杖頭，至酒店，便獨酣暢。 雖當世富貴而不肯顧，家無儋石之儲，宴如也。 與兄弟同志，常自得于林阜之間。
He was blunt and easygoing and kept no social façade. He detested philistines and would bolt the moment he met one. When a thought seized him he would hike his skirts and go, heedless of hour; sometimes he and a companion sat in wordless, happy understanding. He walked with coins strung on his staff, slipped into taverns, and drank alone to blissful excess. He scorned the rich and powerful of the day, yet though his larder held not a peck of grain he lived as serenely as if at banquet. He and his brothers shared one mind and took quiet joy in hills and streams.
23
王衍當時談宗，自以論《易》略盡，然有所未了，研之終莫悟，每云「不知比沒當見能通之者不」。 衍族子敦謂衍曰：「阮宣子可與言。」 衍曰：「吾亦聞之，但未知其亹癖之處定何如耳！」 及與修談，言寡而旨暢，衍乃嘆服焉。
Wang Yan headed the pure-talk circles, thought he had plumbed the Zhouyi yet still sensed a blind spot he could not crack, and muttered, "Will I live to meet anyone who truly masters it?" Wang Dun told Wang Yan, "You can actually talk ideas with Ruan Xiu." Wang Yan answered, "I have heard the same—but where lies his real obsession?" Their conversation proved Xiu spare of phrase but lucid in meaning, and Wang Yan cried out in admiration.
24
梁國張偉志趣不常，自隱于屠釣，修愛其才美，而知其不真。 偉後為黃門郎、陳留內史，果以世事受累。
Zhang Wei of Liang was odd in aspiration and posed as a butcher-angler recluse; Ruan Xiu admired his gifts yet sensed the pose was hollow. Zhang Wei later rose to Gentleman of the Yellow Gate and interior secretary of Chenliu and, as Xiu foresaw, was ruined by politics.
25
修居貧，年四十餘未有室，王敦等斂錢為婚，皆名士也，時慕之者求入錢而不得。
Ruan Xiu stayed poor and unmarried past forty, so Wang Dun and other luminaries pooled a bride-price; hangers-on who craved the cachet were refused a share.
26
修所著述甚寡，嘗作《大鵬贊》曰：「蒼蒼大鵬，誕自北溟。 假精靈鱗，神化以生。 如雲之翼，如山之形。 海運水擊，扶搖上征。 翕然層舉，背負太清。 志存天地，不屑唐庭。 鴬鳩仰笑，尺鷃所輕。 超世高逝，莫知其情。」
He wrote little; among his pieces is a "Rhapsody on the Great Peng" that opens: "Darkly vast, the great peng, conceived in the Northern Dark. It draws life from the subtle essences of scale and fin, born of spirit-transformation. Its wings veil the sky like clouds; its bulk looms like a mountain. When seas shift and surge strikes, it rides the whirlwind upward. In one soaring burst it climbs tier on tier, shouldering the empyrean. Its purpose spans heaven and earth; it scorns the halls of Tang. Warbler and dove titter upward; the inch-long quail sneers. It quits the vulgar world and soars away—none can fathom its heart."
27
王敦時為鴻臚卿，謂修曰：「卿常無食，鴻臚丞差有祿，能作不？」 修曰：「亦復可爾耳！」 遂為之。 轉太傅行參軍、太子洗馬。 避亂南行，至西陽期思縣，為賊所害，時年四十二。
Wang Dun, then chamberlain for ceremonials, said, "You are always hungry—the assistant chamberlain has a stipend; will you take it?" Ruan Xiu said, "I suppose I could manage that." So he accepted the post. He moved on to acting adjutant to the Grand Tutor and groom-launderer to the crown prince. Fleeing war southward he reached Qisi in Xiyang, where bandits cut him down at the age of forty-two.
28
放字思度。 祖略，齊郡太守。 父顗，淮南內史。 放少與孚並知名。 中興，除太學博士、太子中舍人、庶子。 時雖戎車屢駕，而放侍太子，常說《老》《莊》，不及軍國。 明帝甚友愛之。 轉黃門侍郎，遷吏部郎，在銓管之任，甚有稱績。
Ruan Fang, courtesy name Sidu, his grandfather Ruan Lue governed Qi commandery, his father Ruan Kai was interior secretary of Huainan. In youth he matched Ruan Fu in reputation. After the Eastern Jin restoration he became academy erudite, household attendant to the heir apparent, and palace retainer. Though armies marched again and again, he tutored the heir only in Laozi and Zhuangzi, never touching strategy or policy. Emperor Ming treated him as an intimate friend. Promoted to Gentleman of the Yellow Gate and then personnel director, he won praise for even-handed appointments.
29
時成帝幼沖，庾氏執政，放求為交州，乃除監交州軍事、揚威將軍、交州刺史。 行達甯浦，逢陶侃將高寶平梁碩自交州還，放設饌請寶，伏兵殺之。 寶眾擊放，敗走，保簡陽城，得免。 到州少時，暴發渴，見寶為祟，遂卒，朝廷甚悼惜之，年四十四。 追贈廷尉。
When Emperor Cheng was a child and the Yu clan ran the court, Ruan Fang begged for distant Jiaozhou and received the posts of military overseer, General Who Displays Might, and inspector. Near Ningpu he met Tao Kan's officer Gao Bao returning from crushing Liang Shuo; Ruan Fang feasted him, then had him ambushed and killed. Gao Bao's men counterattacked; Ruan Fang fled and holed up in Jianyang until the storm passed. Soon after taking up his post he was seized by raging thirst, saw Gao Bao's ghost, and died; the court mourned him deeply—he was forty-four. He was posthumously honored as minister of justice.
30
放素知名，而性清約，不營產業，為吏部郎，不免饑寒。 王導、庾亮以其名士，常供給衣食。 子晞之，南頓太守。
Famous yet frugal, he built no fortune; even as personnel chief he shivered and hungered. Wang Dao and Yu Liang kept him clothed and fed out of respect for his name. His son Ruan Xizhi became governor of Nandun.
31
裕字思曠。 宏達不及放，而以德業知名。 弱冠辟太宰掾。 大將軍王敦命為主簿，甚被知遇。 裕以敦有不臣之心，乃終日酣觴，以酒廢職。 敦謂裕非當世實才，徒有虛譽而已，出為溧陽令，復以公事免官。 由是得違敦難，論者以此貴之。
Ruan Yu, courtesy name Sikuang, lacked Ruan Fang's dash but surpassed him in moral repute. At his capping he entered service as clerk to the grand steward. Wang Dun, grand general, made him chief clerk and doted on him. Sensing Wang Dun's treasonous ambition, Ruan Yu drank all day and feigned incompetence. Wang Dun wrote him off as a hollow reputation and packed him off to Liyang county, then dismissed him on a bureaucratic pretext. Thus he slipped Wang Dun's purge, and wise men praised the stratagem.
32
咸和初，除尚書郎。 時事故之後，公私弛廢，裕遂去職還家，居會稽剡縣。 司徒王導引為從事中郎，固辭不就。 朝廷將欲征之，裕知不得已，乃求為王舒撫軍長史。 舒薨，除吏部郎，不就。 即家拜臨海太守，少時去職。 司空郗鑒請為長史，詔征秘書監，皆以疾辭。 復除東陽太守。 尋征侍中，不就。 還剡山，有肥遁之志。 有以問王羲之，羲之曰：「此公近不驚寵辱，雖古之沈冥，何以過此！」 人云，裕骨氣不及逸少，簡秀不如真長，韶潤不如仲祖，思致不如殷浩，而兼有諸人之美。 成帝崩，裕赴山陵，事畢便還。 諸人相與追之，裕亦審時流必當逐己，而疾去，至方山不相及。 劉惔歎曰：「我入東，正當泊安石渚下耳，不敢復近思曠傍。」
At Xianhe's opening he was named Gentleman of the Masters of Writing. With the realm still broken after rebellion, he resigned and retired to Shan in Kuaiji. Wang Dao summoned him as staff adviser; he refused flatly. When fresh summons loomed, he begged instead for chief clerk under Wang Shu's pacification command—anything to stay clear of the capital. After Wang Shu died he was offered the personnel ministry and again declined. The court invested him governor of Linhai from his home; he quit within months. Chi Jian wanted him as chief clerk; an edict named him palace librarian—each time he pleaded illness. He briefly served as governor of Dongyang. Palace attendant was next offered; he never appeared. He withdrew to Mount Shan, intent on high reclusion. Asked for a verdict, Wang Xizhi said, "He is proof against glory and shame—who among the ancient recluses surpasses him?" Gossip compared him to Wang Xizhi, Liu Tan, Wang Shu, and Yin Hao—falling short in each trait yet somehow blending their virtues. At Emperor Cheng's funeral he rode to the mausoleum and bolted the moment rites ended. The salon raced after him; foreseeing their chase, he galloped off and vanished past Mount Fangshan. Liu Tan sighed, "Next time I sail east I shall anchor by Xie An's shoal—I would not moor beside Ruan Yu again."
33
裕雖不博學，論難甚精。 嘗問謝萬云：「未見《四本論》，君試為言之。」 萬敘說既畢，裕以傅嘏為長，於是構辭數百言，精義入微，聞者皆嗟味之。 裕嘗以人不須廣學，正應以禮讓為先故終日靜默，無所修綜，而物自宗焉。 在剡曾有好車，借無不給。 有人葬母，意欲借而不敢言。 後裕聞之，乃歎曰：「吾有車而使人不敢借，何以車為！」 遂命焚之。
He was no polymath, yet in debate he was razor-keen. He once asked Xie Wan to summarize the lost "Treatise on the Four Roots." After Xie Wan's précis he sided with Fu Gu's thesis and improvised hundreds of words so subtle the audience savored every line. He argued one need not read widely if ritual yielding came first; sitting silent without display, he still became the cynosure of the age. In Shan county he owned a fine carriage and lent it freely. A neighbor needed it for his mother's funeral yet dared not ask. Learning this, Ruan Yu cried, "What good is a carriage that frightens borrowers?" He ordered it burned on the spot.
34
在東山久之，復征散騎常侍，領國子祭酒。 俄而復以為金紫光祿大夫，領琅邪王師。 經年敦逼，並無所就。 御史中丞周閔奏裕及謝安違詔累載，並應有罪，禁錮終身，詔書貰之。 或問裕曰：「子屢辭徵聘，而宰二郡，何邪？」 裕曰：「雖屢辭王命，非敢為高也。 吾少無宦情，兼拙於人間，既不能躬耕自活，必有所資，故曲躬二郡。 豈以騁能，私計故耳。」 年六十二卒。 三子：傭、寧、普。
Long settled east of Shan, he was recalled as Regular Cavalier Attendant and libationer of the national university. Soon he was offered golden-purple grand master and tutor to the Prince of Langye. Year on year the court pressed him; he never took office. Censor Zhou Min charged him and Xie An with years of ignoring summons; the throne forgave them. Someone asked why he shunned high appointments yet twice ran a commandery. He answered, "I refuse imperial call not from lofty pride. I never craved office and am awkward among men; unable to farm for a living, I bent twice to local posts. That was survival, not swagger." He died at sixty-two. His sons were Yong, Ning, and Pu.
35
傭，早卒。 甯，鄱陽太守。 普，驃騎諮議參軍。 傭子歆之，中領軍。 甯子腆，秘書監。 腆弟萬齡及歆之子彌之，元熙中並列顯位。
Yong died young. Ning governed Poyang. Pu served as adviser to the general of agile cavalry. Yong's son Ruan Xinzhi rose to chief of the central guard. Ning's son Ruan Tian became palace librarian. Tian's brother Wanling and Xinzhi's son Mizhi both reached high rank under the final Jin emperors.
36
嵇康，字叔夜，譙國銍人也。 其先姓奚，會稽上虞人，以避怨，徙焉。 銍有嵇山，家於其側，因而命氏。 兄喜，有當世才，曆太僕、宗正。 康早孤，有奇才，遠邁不群。 身長七尺八寸，美詞氣，有風儀，而土木形骸，不自藻飾，人以為龍章鳳姿，天質自然。 恬靜寡欲，含垢匿瑕，寬簡有大量。 學不師受，博覽無不該通，長好《老》《莊》。 與魏宗室婚，拜中散大夫。 常修養性服食之事，彈琴詠詩，自足於懷。 以為神仙稟之自然，非積學所得，至於導養得理，則安期、彭祖之倫可及，乃著《養生論》。 又以為君子無私，其論曰：「夫稱君子者，心不措乎是非，而行不違乎道者也。 何以言之？ 夫氣靜神虛者，心不存于矜尚； 體亮心達者，情不繫於所欲。 矜尚不存乎心，故能越名教而任自然； 情不繫於所欲，故能審貴賤而通物情。 物情順通，故大道無違； 越名任心，故是非無措也。 是故言君子則以無措為主，以通物為美； 言小人則以匿情為非，以違道為闕。 何者？ 匿情矜吝，小人之至惡； 虛心無措，君子之篤行也。 是以大道言『及吾無身，吾又何患』。 無以生為貴者，是賢於貴生也。 由斯而言，夫至人之用心，固不存有措矣。 故曰『君子行道，忘其為身』，斯言是矣。 君子之行賢也，不察於有度而後行也； 任心無邪，不議於善而後正也； 顯情無措，不論於是而後為也。 是故傲然忘賢，而賢與度會； 忽然任心，而心與善遇； 儻然無措，而事與是俱也。」 其略如此。 蓋其胸懷所寄，以高契難期，每思郢質。 所與神交者惟陳留阮籍、河內山濤，豫其流者河內向秀、沛國劉伶、籍兄子咸、琅邪王戎，遂為竹林之遊，世所謂「竹林七賢」也。 戎自言與康居山陽二十年，未嘗見其喜慍之色。
Ji Kang, courtesy name Shuye, came from Zhi in Qiao. His clan originally surnamed Xi in Shangyu, Kuaiji, and moved here to escape a blood feud. A Ji ridge stood near Zhi; they settled beside it and adopted Ji as their name. His elder brother Ji Xi was a man of affairs, rising to grand coachman and chamberlain for the imperial clan. Orphaned young, he showed genius that towered over others. He stood seven chi eight cun, spoke with grace, yet treated his body like unworked clay—no self-adornment—so men saw dragon markings and phoenix mien, utterly natural. Calm, wanting little, he swallowed slights and bore insults with large-minded ease. Untutored yet omnivorous in reading, he cherished Laozi and Zhuangzi above all. Marriage to Wei imperial women won him the title grand master of the palace. He practiced longevity arts, swallowed drugs, played the zither, and chanted poetry—content in his own mind. Immortals, he argued, are born, not made; yet proper breath-cultivation could match Anqi or Pengzu—hence his treatise "On Nurturing Life." He also taught that the gentleman is selfless: "The gentleman's mind does not clutch at right and wrong, yet his acts never leave the Way. Why is this so? When breath is quiet and spirit open, the mind holds no vanity or rivalry; When body and mind are clear, passion no longer clings to craving. With vanity gone from the heart, you step past moral labels and yield to nature. Unhooked from appetite, you weigh high and low and read the temper of things. Once things' truth flows freely, nothing violates the great Way. Drop reputation and follow the heart, and quarrels over right and wrong fall away. So the gentleman keeps no fixed doctrine—only luminous accord with reality. The petty man hides his heart and breaks the Way—that is his failing. Why? Hoarding feeling and clutching gain is villainy at its worst. An open mind with no ulterior motive is the gentleman's steadfast path. Hence the classic line: lose the self and trouble ends. Whoever disdains life for life's own sake ranks above mere survivalists. Thus the sage's mind never camps on fixed answers. As the adage runs, the gentleman follows the Way until he forgets his own skin—and it is true. His goodness flows without first checking a yardstick. He follows an upright heart without staging virtue for display. With motives clear and no scheming, he never debates correctness before acting. Forget you are virtuous, and virtue aligns with order. Surrender to the heart, and goodness aligns unbidden. Drift without fixed plans, and right action appears on its own." Such was the thrust of his argument. In spirit he pined for rare understanding, forever seeking a listener like the Ying whetstone. His soul-friends were Ruan Ji and Shan Tao; Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Ruan Xian, and Wang Rong rode the same current—the circle later called the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Wang Rong said twenty years beside Ji Kang in Shanyang never showed joy or anger on his face.
37
康嘗采藥遊山澤，會其得意，忽焉忘反。 時有樵蘇者遇之，咸謂神。 至汲郡山中見孫登，康遂從之遊。 登沉默自守，無所言說。 康臨去，登曰：「君性烈而才雋，其能免乎！」 康又遇王烈，共入山，烈嘗得石髓如飴，即自服半，餘半與康，皆凝而為石。 又於石室中見一卷素書，遽呼康往取，輙不復見。 烈乃歎曰：「叔夜志趣非常而輒不遇，命也！」 其神心所感，每遇幽逸如此。
Gathering herbs among hills and streams, he would vanish for days when rapture seized him. Woodsmen who stumbled upon him mistook him for an immortal. In the Ji mountains he met recluse Sun Deng and followed him as a disciple. Sun Deng stayed mute, offering not a word. As Ji Kang turned to go, Sun Deng warned, 'Your temper is fire and your talent blazes—how will you dodge disaster?' With Wang Lie he found stone marrow sweet as syrup; each tasted half, yet both halves hardened into stone. Another time Wang spied a white silk scroll in a grotto and beckoned Ji Kang—by the time he arrived, the book had vanished. Wang Lamented, 'Ji Kang's aspirations outsoar the world, yet fortune never smiles—fate alone decides.' Again and again his spirit met recluses and portents like these.
38
山濤將去選官，舉康自代。 康乃與濤書告絕，曰：
When Shan Tao resigned the personnel post, he proposed Ji Kang as successor. Ji Kang answered with a celebrated letter severing ties:
39
聞足下欲以吾自代，雖事不行，知足下故不知之也。 恐足下羞庖人之獨割，引尸祝以自助，故為足下陳其可不。
'Though the appointment never happened, you still fail to understand me.' 'Lest you draft the sacrificial priest to do the butcher's work, I spell out why this cannot be.'
40
老子、莊周，吾之師也，親居賤職； 柳下惠、東方朔，達人也，安乎卑位。 吾豈敢短之哉！ 又仲尼兼愛，不羞執鞭； 子文無欲卿相，而三為令尹，是乃君子思濟物之意也。 所謂達能兼善而不渝，窮則自得而無悶。 以此觀之，故知堯、舜之居世，許由之巖棲，子房之佐漢，接輿之行歌，其揆一也。 仰瞻數君，可謂能遂其志者也。 故君子百行，殊途同致，循性而動，各附所安。 故有「處朝廷而不出，入山林而不反」之論。 且延陵高子臧之風，長卿慕相如之節，意氣所先，亦不可奪也。
'Laozi and Zhuangzi—my masters—willingly kept humble offices.' 'Liuxia Hui and Dongfang Shuo were realized men content in low rank.' 'Would I belittle such men?' 'Confucius loved humankind and thought nothing demeaning about holding a driver's whip;' 'Ziwen never craved high office yet thrice served as chief intendant—such is the gentleman's urge to help the world.' 'Able in success to lift everyone without swerving; in failure to rest content in private peace.' 'Seen this way, Yao and Shun on the throne, Xu You on a cliff, Zhang Liang serving Han, and mad Jieyu singing past the ruler all obey one inner measure.' 'Each honored his chosen path.' 'So the wise pursue a hundred roads that end one way—each follows his nature to where he rests easy.' 'Hence the old paradox: stay at court yet never "come forth," retreat to the hills yet never "turn back."' 'Yanjiling prized Gaozi Zang's austerity; Sima Xiangru emulated Lin Xiangru's spine—what the heart affirms first, no power can rip away.'
41
吾每讀《尚子平、臺孝感傳》，慨然慕之，想其為人。 加少孤露，母兄驕恣，不涉經學，又讀《老》《莊》，重增其放，故使榮進之心日頹，任逸之情轉篤。 阮嗣宗口不論人過，吾每師之，而未能及。 至性過人，與物無傷，惟飲酒過差耳，至為禮法之士所繩，疾之如仇讎，幸賴大將軍保持之耳。 吾以不如嗣宗之資，而有慢弛之闕； 又不識物情，闇於機宜； 無萬石之慎，而有好盡之累； 久與事接，疵釁日興，雖欲無患，其可得乎！
'Whenever I read lives like Shang Ziping and Tai Xiaowei I ache with longing.' 'Orphaned, spoiled by mother and brother without classical drill, steeping instead in Laozi-Zhuangzi, my ambition for rank rotted while love of freedom deepened.' 'Ruan Ji never gossiped—I try to model him and still fall short.' 'His nature was fierce yet gentle to others—only drinking drew ritualists' hatred, until the Grand General shielded him.' 'I lack his gifts yet carry insolence and slackness;' 'I misread human tides and mistime every move;' 'I am no paragon of stone-faced caution yet always speak my whole mind;' 'long tangled in office, fault lines widen daily—how could I dodge scandal?'
42
又聞道士遺言，餌术黃精，令人久壽，意甚信之。 遊山澤，觀魚鳥，心甚樂之。 一行作吏，此事便廢，安能舍其所樂，而從其所懼哉！
'Daoist lore promises long life from atractylodes and sealwort—I want to believe it.' 'I exult in roaming hills, greeting fish and birds—' 'the moment I buckle on an official seal, joy ends—could I trade beloved freedom for feared bondage?'
43
夫人之相知，貴識其天性，因而濟之。 禹不逼伯成子高，全其長也； 仲尼不假蓋于子夏，護其短也。 近諸葛孔明不迫元直以入蜀，華子魚不彊幼安以卿相，此可謂能相終始，真相知者也。 自卜已審，若道盡塗殫則已耳，足下無事冤之令轉於溝壑也。
'True friendship reads innate nature and eases it forward:' 'Yu never forced the sage hermit Bozhang Zigao—honoring his height of character;' 'Confucius refused Zixia's umbrella—shielding his fussy flaw.' 'Zhuge Liang never pressed Xu Shu west; Hua Xin never strong-armed Guan You'an into high office—such men knew how to respect a friend's whole arc.' 'I have taken my own augury. If my path ends in ruin, so be it—do not push me into the ditch for nothing.'
44
吾新失母兄之歡，意常淒切。 女年十三，男年八歲，未及成人，況復多疾，顧此悢悢，如何可言。 今但欲守陋巷，教養子孫，時時與親舊敘離闊，陳說平生，濁酒一盃，彈琴一曲，志意畢矣，豈可見黃門而稱貞哉！ 若趣欲共登王塗，期於相致，時為懽益，一旦迫之，必發狂疾。 自非重讎，不至此也。 既以解足下，并以為別。
'Freshly bereaved of mother and brother, I ache constantly.' 'My daughter thirteen, son eight—still children, still sick—how can I bear to leave them?' 'I only want a mean lane, music, muddy wine, chatter with old friends, teaching the young—why must I prove chastity to some petty inspector?' 'If you drag me up the road to power for joint advancement, merriment will sour into frenzy the day you push too hard.' 'I would not speak so harshly were this not existential.' 'Consider this explanation your parting gift.'
45
此書既行，知其不可羈屈也。 性絕巧而好鍛。 宅中有一柳樹甚茂，乃激水圜之，每夏月，居其下以鍛。 東平呂安服康高致，每一相思，輙千里命駕，康友而善之。 後安為兄所枉訴，以事繫獄，辭相證引，遂復收康。 康性慎言行，一旦縲紲，乃作《幽憤詩》，曰：
Once the letter spread, everyone saw he could never be harnessed. He loathed petty cleverness and loved to hammer iron. A lush willow shaded his yard; he trench-irrigated a ring around it and spent midsummer forging in its cool. Lü An of Dongping revered him; a whim of longing sent Lü driving a thousand li, and Ji Kang welcomed him as a dear friend. Later Lü An's brother framed him; confessions in jail implicated Ji Kang, who was seized again. Fastidious in word and deed, he wrote his 'Poem of Secret Resentment' from prison:
46
嗟余薄祜，少遭不造，哀煢靡識，越在襁褓。 母兄鞠育，有慈無威，恃愛肆好，不訓不師。 爰及冠帶，憑寵自放，抗心希古，任其所尚。 託好《莊》《老》，賤物貴身，志在守樸，養素全真。
'Alas, thin my fate—orphaned young, still swaddled, knowing nothing.' 'Mother and brother coddled without discipline; I followed whim, untaught.' 'At capping I leaned on indulgence, set my heart on antiquity, and chased whatever I admired.' 'Laozi-Zhuangzi taught me to slight things and prize the self—to keep plainness and nurture the whole.'
47
曰予不敏，好善闇人，子玉之敗，屢增惟塵。 大人含弘，藏垢懷恥。 人之多僻，政不由己。 惟此褊心，顯明臧否； 感悟思愆，恒若創痏。 欲寡其過，謗議沸騰，性不傷物，頻致怨憎。 昔慙柳惠，今愧孫登，內負宿心，外恧良朋。 仰慕嚴、鄭，樂道閑居，與世無營，神氣晏如。
'They call me dim—loving good yet blind to men—like Ziyu's defeats piling blame.' 'Great souls embrace shame to hide another's stain.' 'Men are crooked; rule never rests with oneself alone.' My narrow heart alone blurts judgments of good and bad. 'Awakened, I brood on faults like fresh wounds.' 'I try to curb fault, yet slander boils; I harm no creature, yet hatred gathers.' 'Once I blushed before Liuxia Hui; now before Sun Deng—betraying my old vow, shaming true friends.' 'I revere Yan Zun and Zheng Zizhen, who loved the Way in quiet homes—no striving with the world, spirits calm.'
48
咨予不淑，嬰累多虞。 匪降自天，寔由頑疎，理弊患結，卒致囹圄。 對答鄙訊，縶此幽阻，實恥訟冤，時不我與。 雖曰義直，神辱志沮，澡身滄浪，曷云能補。 雍雍鳴雁，厲翼北遊，順時而動，得意忘憂。 嗟我憤歎，曾莫能疇。 事與願違，遘茲淹留，窮達有命，亦又何求？
'Alas, weak my virtue—trouble rings me round.' 'Not heaven's curse—my own stubborn slack snapped principle into jail.' 'Grilled by vile questions, tangled here—ashamed to plead innocence, the hour is wrong.' 'Though my case is just, my spirit is broken; even bathing in Canglang's stream cannot wash the stain.' 'Wild geese cry in tune, beat north on season's cue, carefree in joy.' 'Alas, my rage—never their match.' 'Events thwart my will; I linger here—riches and ruin are fated—what more to seek?'
49
古人有言，善莫近名。 奉時恭默，咎悔不生。 萬石周慎，安親保榮。 世務紛紜，祗攪余情，安樂必誡，乃終利貞。 煌煌靈芝，一年三秀； 予獨何為，有志不就。 懲難思復，心焉內疚，庶勖將來，無馨無臭。 採薇山阿，散發巖岫，永嘯長吟，頤神養壽。
'The ancients said: best stay shy of renown.' 'Serve the age in humble silence—no regret rises.' 'The Wan clan's stone-like care kept kin safe and honor bright.' 'Worldly clamor stirs my heart; guard peace and joy to end in lasting good.' The numinous lingzhi blazes forth three times each year. So why am I stalled—high aims I never reach? Scarred by disaster I yearn for renewal, gnawed by guilt, vowing the morrow will bear neither fame nor infamy. I will pluck ferns in glens, loose my hair on cliffs, whistle for life, and breathe to lengthen years.
50
初，康居貧，嘗與向秀共鍛於大樹之下，以自贍給。 潁川鐘會，貴公子也，精練有才辯，故往造焉。 康不為之禮，而鍛不輟。 良久會去，康謂曰：「何所聞而來？ 何所見而去？」 會曰：「聞所聞而來，見所見而去。」 會以此憾之。 及是，言于文帝曰：「嵇康，臥龍也，不可起。 公無憂天下，顧以康為慮耳。」 因譖「康欲助毌丘儉，賴山濤不聽。 昔齊戮華士，魯誅少正卯，誠以害時亂教，故聖賢去之。 康、安等言論放蕩，非毀典謨，帝王者所不宜容。 宜因釁除之，以淳風俗」。 帝既昵聽信會，遂并害之。
Once, destitute, he hammered iron under a tree with Xiang Xiu to earn his keep. Zhong Hui—a polished aristocrat—paid a call hoping to spar in debate. Ji Kang ignored him and kept hammering. As Zhong rose to leave, Ji Kang asked, "What rumor brought you? What sight sends you away?" Zhong snapped, "I came for what I heard; I leave from what I saw." Zhong nursed a grudge. At his chance he told Sima Zhao, "Ji Kang is a sleeping dragon you will never harness. Forget the realm—worry about Ji Kang." He added the lie that Ji Kang meant to join Wuqiu Jian's revolt and was blocked only by Shan Tao. Ancient states executed men who broke the moral order—saints pruned such weeds. Ji Kang, Lü An, and their circle sneer at the classics—no throne can tolerate them. Kill them on a pretext to cleanse society." The regent, ear bent to Zhong Hui, had them executed together.
51
康將刑東市，太學生三千人請以為師，弗許。 康顧視日影，索琴彈之，曰：「昔袁孝尼嘗從吾學《廣陵散》，吾每靳固之，《廣陵散》於今絕矣！」 時年四十。 海內之士，莫不痛之。 帝尋悟而恨焉。 初，康嘗游乎洛西，暮宿華陽亭，引琴而彈。 夜分，忽有客詣之，稱是古人，與康共談音律，辭致清辯，因索琴彈之，而為《廣陵散》，聲調絕倫，遂以授康，仍誓不傳人，亦不言其姓字。
Three thousand academy scholars begged to study under him at the block; the court refused. He studied the sundial, called for his zither, and said, "Yuan Zhun once begged for the Guangling melody—I was too stingy. Today the Guangling tune dies with me." He was forty. The empire mourned him. Sima Zhao soon repented—but too late. Long before, west of the Luo, he lodged at Huayang pavilion and played his zither. At midnight a stranger calling himself an ancient shared music theory, played the peerless Guangling score, handed it over, swore Ji Kang to secrecy, and vanished nameless.
52
康善談理，又能屬文，其高情遠趣，率然玄遠。 撰上古以來高士為之傳贊，欲友其人於千載也。 又作《太師箴》，亦足以明帝王之道焉。 復作《聲無哀樂論》，甚有條理。 子紹，別有傳。
He argued principle and wrote prose with cool distance always veering toward the arcane. He wrote lives of ancient worthies, courting their ghosts as friends. His Grand Tutor Admonition spells out kingship itself. His essay "Sound Has Neither Joy Nor Sorrow" is tightly reasoned. His son Ji Shao has his own chapter.
53
向秀，字子期，河內懷人也。 清悟有遠識，少為山濤所知，雅好老莊之學。 莊周著內外數十篇，曆世才士雖有觀者，莫適論其旨統也，秀乃為之隱解，發明奇趣，振起玄風，讀之者超然心悟，莫不自足一時也。 惠帝之世，郭象又述而廣之，儒墨之跡見鄙，道家之言遂盛焉。 始，秀欲注，嵇康曰：「此書詎復須注，正是妨人作樂耳。」 及成，示康曰：「殊復勝不？」 又與康論養生，辭難往復，蓋欲發康高致也。
Xiang Xiu, courtesy Ziqi, came from Huai in Henei. Bright and farsighted, he came early to Shan Tao's notice and loved Daoist texts. Generations had read Zhuangzi without cracking its spine; Xiang Xiu's commentary awakened readers to a new metaphysical breeze. Guo Xiang later elaborated the same line, burying Confucianism and Mohism under rising Daoist fashion. When Xiang Xiu began annotating Zhuangzi, Ji Kang joked, "Does that text need glosses? You only spoil the sport." When the draft was done he asked, "Still not better than the original?" They sparred over longevity lore simply to draw out Ji Kang's wit.
54
康善鍛，秀為之佐，相對欣然，傍若無人。 又共呂安灌園于山陽。 康既被誅，秀應本郡計入洛。 文帝問曰：「聞有箕山之志，何以在此？」 秀曰：「以為巢許狷介之士，未達堯心，豈足多慕。」 帝甚悅。 秀乃自此役，作《思舊賦》云：
Ji Kang smithied while Xiang Xiu pumped the bellows, both grinning as if alone in the world. With Lü An he tended gardens in Shanyang. After the execution Xiang Xiu answered a census call and went to Luoyang. Sima Zhao asked why a Mount-Ji recluse had come to court. He replied that hermits like Chao and Xu were cramped pedants who never grasped Yao's mind—not worth imitating. The regent beamed. Then he wrote his "Rhapsody Recalling Old Friends":
55
余與嵇康、呂安居止接近，其人並有不羈之才，嵇意遠而疏，呂心曠而放，其後並以事見法。 嵇博綜伎藝，於絲竹特妙，臨當就命，顧視日影，索琴而彈之。 逝將西邁，經其舊廬。 于時日薄虞泉，寒冰淒然。 鄰人有吹笛者，發聲寥亮。 追想曩昔遊宴之好，感音而歎，故作賦曰：
"Ji Kang kept a cool distance, Lü An was effusive; both died by the law." "Ji Kang mastered every art; facing execution he read the sundial and played his zither one last time." "Now I ride west past their lanes." "The sun sank toward Yuquan; ice-bit air bit sharp." "A neighbor's flute pierced the dusk, bright and clear." "Moved by that sound, I sigh for old feasts and set brush to silk:"
56
將命適於遠京兮，遂旋反以北徂。 濟黃河以泛舟兮，經山陽之舊居。 瞻曠野之蕭條兮，息餘駕乎城隅。 踐二子之遺跡兮，曆窮巷之空廬。 歎《黍離》之湣周兮，悲《麥秀》於殷墟。 惟追昔以懷今兮，心徘徊以躊躇。 棟宇在而弗毀兮，形神逝其焉如。 昔李斯之受罪兮，歎黃犬而長吟。 悼嵇生之永辭兮，顧日影而彈琴。 托運遇于領會兮，寄余命於寸陰。 聽鳴笛之慷慨兮，妙聲絕而復尋。 佇駕言其將邁兮，故援翰以寫心。
"Ordered to the distant capital, I wheel my carriage north again;" "I float the Yellow River and pass our Shanyang homes;" "I scan bleak fields and halt my horses at the wall;" "I walk their lanes—only empty cottages;" "I sigh like the Odes for fallen Zhou, grieve like the wheat song for lost Yin;" "Past and present knot my heart in hesitation;" "The beams still stand—where are their souls?" "Li Si, condemned, moaned for his yellow hound;" "I mourn Ji Kang, who read the shadow and played his zither;" "I lodge my fate in a breath of shadow;" "The flute's passion fades yet I strain to hear;" "My chariot waits—so I dip ink to bare the heart."
57
後為散騎侍郎，轉黃門侍郎、散騎常侍，在朝不任職，容跡而已。 卒於位。 二子：純、悌。
Later he held titular court posts, leaving no mark of power. He died in office. His sons were Xiang Chun and Xiang Ti.
58
劉伶，字伯倫，沛國人也。 身長六尺，容貌甚陋。 放情肆志，常以細宇宙齊萬物為心。 澹默少言，不妄交遊，與阮籍、嵇康相遇，欣然神解，攜手入林。 初不以家產有無介意。 常乘鹿車，攜一壺酒，使人荷鍤而隨之，謂曰：「死便埋我。」 其遺形骸如此。 嘗渴甚，求酒于其妻。 妻捐酒毀器，涕泣諫曰：「君酒太過，非攝生之道，必宜斷之。」 伶曰：「善！ 吾不能自禁，惟當祝鬼神自誓耳。 便可具酒肉。」 妻從之。 伶跪祝曰：「天生劉伶，以酒為名。 一飲一斛，五斗解酲。 婦兒之言，慎不可聽。」 仍引酒禦肉，隗然復醉。 嘗醉與俗人相忤，其人攘袂奮拳而往。 伶徐曰：「雞肋不足以安尊拳。」 其人笑而止。
Liu Ling, courtesy Bolun, came from Pei. He stood six chi tall and was famously ugly. He treated heaven and earth as a speck and the myriad things as equals. Silent and solitary until he met Ruan Ji and Ji Kang—then he plunged into the grove with them, soul alight. Wealth never crossed his mind. He rode a deer cart with wine while a servant trailed with a spade, saying, "Where I drop, dig me in." So little did he cling to the flesh. Once parched, he begged wine from his wife. She smashed the jars and wept, "Your drinking will kill you—you must quit." He said, "Well spoken! I cannot stop alone—I must swear off drink before the spirits. Set out wine and meat for the oath." She obeyed. He knelt and intoned, "Heaven spawned Liu Ling to prove the power of wine. One hu steadies me; five dou clears the dregs. Never heed a wife or child." Then he ate, drank, and passed out again. Drunk once, he insulted a bully who came swinging fists. Liu Ling drawled, "These ribs of a frame cannot hold your mighty fists." The man laughed and walked off.
59
伶雖陶兀昏放，而機應不差。 未嘗厝意文翰，惟著《酒德頌》一篇。 其辭曰：
For all his stupor his timing was exact. He wrote almost nothing save the "Eulogy on the Virtue of Wine." It begins:
60
有大人先生，以天地為一朝，萬期為須臾，日月為扃牖，八荒為庭衢。 行無轍跡，居無室廬，幕天席地，縱意所如。 止則操卮執觚，動則挈榼提壺，惟酒是務，焉知其餘。 有貴介公子、搢紳處士，聞吾風聲，議其所以，乃奮袂攘襟，怒目切齒，陳說禮法，是非蜂起。 先生於是方捧甕承槽，銜杯漱醪，奮髯箕踞，枕曲藉糟，無思無慮，其樂陶陶。 兀然而醉，怳爾而醒。 靜聽不聞雷霆之聲，熟視不睹泰山之形。 不覺寒暑之切肌，利欲之感情。 俯觀萬物，擾擾焉若江海之載浮萍。 二豪侍側焉，如蜾蠃之與螟蛉。
"A great soul treats the cosmos as one morning, eternity as a blink, sun and moon as windows, the eight wastes as his courtyard." "He leaves no tracks, owns no roof—sky his curtain, earth his mat—roaming wherever whim leads." "Stopped, he grips cup and horn; moving, he hoists keg and jug—wine is his trade; the rest is noise." "Pedants hear of him, roll up sleeves, gnash teeth, thundering ritual until right and wrong swarm." "The master hugs the vat, rinses mash in his teeth, sprawls on lees—thoughtless, ecstatic." "He floats drunk, then snaps awake;" "Deaf to thunder, blind to Tai;" "numb to frost and flame, deaf to greed;" "Below him creation teems like duckweed on a sea;" "the moralists at his side look like wasps beside worms."
61
嘗為建威參軍。 泰始初對策，盛言無為之化。 時輩皆以高第得調，伶獨以無用罷。 竟以壽終。
He once served as adjutant to the general who displays might. At the opening of Taishi he aced the policy exam praising non-action. Classmates won high placement; Liu Ling alone failed as useless. Liu Ling died in bed of old age.
62
謝鯤，字幼輿，陳國陽夏人也。 祖纘，典農中郎將。 父衡，以儒素顯，仕至國子祭酒。 鯤少知名，通簡有高識，不修威儀，好《老》《易》，能歌，善鼓琴，王衍、嵇紹並奇之。
Xie Kun, courtesy Youyu, came from Yangxia in Chen. His grandfather Xie Zuan commanded the agricultural colonies. His father Xie Heng was a noted Confucian scholar who became libationer of the national university. Young Xie Kun was famous for insight and ease—he loved the Changes and Laozi, sang and played zither, and won Wang Yan's and Ji Shao's admiration.
63
永興中，長沙王乂入輔政，時有疾鯤者，言其將出奔。 乂欲鞭之，鯤解衣就罰，曾無忤容。 既舍之，又無喜色。 太傅東海王越聞其名，辟為掾，任達不拘，尋坐家僮取官稿除名。 于時名士王玄、阮修之徒，並以鯤初登宰府，便至黜辱，為之歎恨。 鯤聞之，方清歌鼓琴，不以屑意，莫不服其遠暢，而恬於榮辱。 鄰家高氏女有美色，鯤嘗挑之，女投梭，折其兩齒。 時人為之語曰：「任達不已，幼輿折齒。」 鯤聞之，敖然長嘯曰：「猶不廢我嘯歌。」 越尋更辟之，轉參軍事。 鯤以時方多故，乃謝病去職，避地于豫章。 嘗行經空亭中夜宿，此亭舊每殺人。 將曉，有黃衣人呼鯤字令開戶，鯤憺然無懼色，便於窗中度手牽之，胛斷，視之，鹿也，尋血獲焉。 爾後此亭無復妖怪。
Under Yongxing, Prince Wang Yi of Changsha entered the capital; a slanderer claimed Xie Kun meant to desert. Wang Yi ordered a flogging; Xie Kun stripped without flinching. Freed, he showed no elation either. Sima Yue summoned him as clerk; he lost his post when a servant stole official fuel. Wang Xuan and Ruan Xiu mourned his fall from the ministry. Xie Kun merely sang and played, unruffled—everyone marveled at his distance from fame. He flirted with a neighbor's beauty; she hurled her shuttle and knocked out two teeth. Wits sang, "So free he lost his teeth—our Youyu!" He roared with laughter, "She never silenced my song!" Sima Yue soon recalled him as military adjutant. Troubled times drove him to resign and flee to Yuzhang. He once slept in a murder-haunted post-house. At dawn a yellow-clad voice demanded entry; he reached through the lattice, tore off a shoulder—it was a bleeding deer, not a ghost. The haunt never troubled travelers again.
64
左將軍王敦引為長史，以討杜弢功封咸亭侯。 母憂去職，服闋，遷敦大將軍長史。 時王澄在敦坐，見鯤談話無勌，惟歎謝長史可與言，都不眄敦，其為人所慕如此。 鯤不徇功名，無砥礪行，居身於可否之間，雖自處若穢，而動不累高。 敦有不臣之跡，顯於朝野。 鯤知不可以道匡弼，乃優遊寄遇，不屑政事，從容諷議，卒歲而已。 每與畢卓、王尼、阮放、羊曼、桓彝、阮孚等縱酒，敦以其名高，雅相賓禮。
Wang Dun made him chief clerk; he earned the Xianting marquisate crushing Du Tao. After mourning his mother he became Wang Dun's chief clerk. At Wang Dun's banquet he talked only to Xie Kun, ignoring Wang Dun—such was his charisma. He chased neither fame nor polish, lived in moral gray zones, yet never debased the ideal. Wang Dun's treason showed plain to all. Knowing he could not steer Wang Dun, he drifted, shirked duties, and offered only oblique counsel. He caroused with the Seven Sages set; Wang Dun honored his name.
65
嘗使至都，明帝在東宮見之，甚相親重。 問曰：「論者以君方庾亮，自謂何如？」 答曰：「端委廟堂，使百僚準則，鯤不如亮。 一丘一壑，自謂過之。」 溫嶠嘗謂鯤子尚曰：「尊大君豈惟識量淹遠，至於神鑒沈深，雖諸葛瑾之喻孫權不過也。」
Crown prince Sima Shao adored him on a mission to the capital. The heir asked how he compared to Yu Liang. He replied, "In court regalia, making ministers take their cue, I fall short of Yu Liang. Among hills and streams I surpass him." Wen Jiao told Xie Shang his father's discernment rivaled Zhuge Jin's praise of Sun Quan.
66
及敦將為逆，謂鯤曰：「劉隗奸邪，將危社稷。 吾欲除君側之惡，匡主濟時，何如？」 對曰：「隗誠始禍，然城狐社鼠也。」 敦怒曰：「君庸才，豈達大理。」 出鯤為豫章太守，又留不遣，藉其才望，逼與俱下。 敦至石頭，歎曰：「吾不復得為盛德事矣。」 鯤曰：「何為其然？ 但使自今以往，日忘日去耳。」 初，敦謂鯤曰：「吾當以周伯仁為尚書令，戴若思為僕射。」 及至都，復曰：「近來人情何如？」 鯤對曰：「明公之舉，雖欲大存社稷，然悠悠之言，實未達高義。 周顗、戴若思，南北人士之望，明公舉而用之，群情帖然矣。」 是日，敦遣兵收周、戴，而鯤弗知，敦怒曰：「君粗疏邪！ 二子不相當，吾已收之矣。」 鯤與顗素相親重，聞之愕然，若喪諸己。 參軍王驕以敦誅顗，諫之甚切，敦大怒，命斬嶠，時人士畏懼，莫敢言者。 鯤曰：「明公舉大事，不戮一人。 嶠以獻替忤旨，便以釁鼓，不亦過乎！」 敦乃止。
As Wang Dun plotted revolt he said, "Liu Wei threatens the state. I will purge the villain beside the throne—what say you?" Xie Kun answered, "Liu Wei is a pest, yet only a fox on the city wall, a rat in the shrine—" Wang Dun snarled that he was a mediocrity. Wang Dun named him governor of Yuzhang yet held him hostage for his prestige. At Stone Citadel Wang Dun sighed he could no longer play the benefactor. Xie Kun asked why despair. From today forget yesterday's grudges, day by day." Wang Dun once planned to name Zhou Yi and Dai Yuan to high office. Entering the capital he asked the mood of the city. Xie Kun said, "Your move may save the dynasty, but rumor has not caught your noble aim. Win the people by elevating Zhou Yi and Dai Yuan." That day Wang Dun arrested Zhou and Dai without telling Xie Kun, then accused him of stupidity. They would not serve me—I have seized them." Xie Kun reeled as if he had died with Zhou Yi. Wang Jiao protested Zhou Yi's death; Wang Dun ordered him executed—none dared speak. Xie Kun said, "You launch a coup yet kill no one— yet for one blunt remonstrance you would kill Wang Jiao and paint the war drum with his blood? That crosses the line!" Wang Dun relented.
67
敦既誅害忠賢，而稱疾不朝，將還武昌。 鯤喻敦曰：「公大存社稷，建不世之勳，然天下之心實有未達。 若能朝天子，使君臣釋然，萬物之心於是乃服。 杖眾望以順群情，盡沖退以奉主上，如斯則勳侔一匡，名垂千載矣。」 敦曰：「君能保無變乎？」 對曰：「鯤近日入覲，主上側席，遲得見公，宮省穆然，必無虞矣。 公若入朝，鯤請侍從。」 敦勃然曰：「正復殺君等數百人，亦復何損于時！」 竟不朝而去。 是時朝望被害，皆為其憂。 而鯤推理安常，時進正言。 敦既不能用，內亦不悅。 軍還，使之郡，涖政清肅，百姓愛之。 尋卒官，時年四十三。 敦死後，追贈太常，諡曰康。 子尚嗣，別有傳。
After murdering loyalists Wang Dun feigned illness and prepared to withdraw to Wuchang. Xie Kun urged him to face the emperor and heal the realm's mistrust. A royal audience would calm court and country. Humility before the throne would crown your deed for ages." Wang Dun asked, "Can you guarantee no treachery?" Xie Kun swore the emperor waited eagerly and the palace was calm. Let me escort you in." Wang Dun roared that killing hundreds would not matter. He marched away without an audience. Friends feared for Xie Kun's life. Yet Xie Kun stayed calm and spoke plain truth. Wang Dun ignored his counsel and nursed resentment. Sent to his province, he ruled cleanly and the people loved him. He died in office at forty-three. After Wang Dun fell he was canonized minister of rites as "Kang." His son Xie Shang has his own biography.
68
胡毋輔之
Biography of Hu Wu Fuzhi.
69
胡毋輔之，字彥國，泰山奉高人也。 高祖班，漢執金吾。 父原，練習兵馬，山濤稱其才堪邊任，舉為太尉長史，終河南令。 輔之少擅高名，有知人之鑒。 性嗜酒，任縱不拘小節。 與王澄、王敦、庾敳俱為太尉王衍所昵，號曰四友。 澄嘗與人書曰：「彥國吐佳言如鋸木屑，霏霏不絕，誠為後進領袖也。」
Huwu Fuzhi, courtesy Yanguo, came from Fenggao in Taishan. His ancestor Huwu Ban was Bearer of the Golden Mace under Han. His father Huwu Yuan was a soldier-scholar praised by Shan Tao and ended as magistrate of Henan. Youth brought him fame and a knack for reading character. He drank freely and scorned petty scruples. Wang Yan favored him with Wang Cheng, Wang Dun, and Yu Kai as the "Four Friends." Wang Cheng wrote that Fuzhi showered wit like sawdust—leader of the rising generation.
70
辟別駕、太尉掾，並不就。 以家貧，求試守繁昌令，始節酒自厲，甚有能名。 遷尚書郎。 豫討齊王冏，賜爵陰平男。 累轉司徒左長史。 復求外出，為建武將軍、樂安太守。 與郡人光逸晝夜酣飲，不視郡事。 成都王穎為太弟，召為中庶子，遂與謝鯤、王澄、阮修、王尼、畢卓俱為放達。
He declined aide posts to the grand commandant. Poor, he took acting magistrate of Fanchang, sobered up, and earned a capable name. He rose to Gentleman of the Masters of Writing. He helped crush Sima Jiong and won the Yinping barony. He became chief clerk of the left in the ministry of education. He then sought field duty as General Who Establishes Might and governor of Le'an. He drank day and night with Guang Yi and ignored the yamen. When Sima Ying was heir apparent, Fuzhi joined the carousing set with Xie Kun and others.
71
嘗過河南門下飲，河南騶王子博箕坐其傍，輔之叱使取火。 子博曰：「我卒也，惟不乏吾事則已，安復為人使！」 輔之因就與語，歎曰：「吾不及也！」 薦之河南尹樂廣，廣召見，甚悅之，擢為功曹。 其甄拔人物若此。
Drinking at the Henan commandery gate, he ordered a courier Wang Zibo to fetch a light. The man snapped that he served no one. Huwu Fuzhi talked with him and cried, "I am not his peer!" He recommended Wang Zibo to Yue Guang, who made him merit assessor. Such was his eye for talent.
72
胡毋謙之
His son Hu Wu Qianzhi.
73
謙之字子光。 才學不及父，而傲縱過之。 至酣醉，常呼其父字，輔之亦不以介意，談者以為狂。 輔之正酣飲，謙之規而厲聲曰：「彥國年老，不得為爾！ 將令我尻背東壁。」 輔之歡笑，呼入與共飲。 其所為如此。 年未三十卒。
Huwu Qianzhi, courtesy Ziguang, fell short of his father's learning but outdid him in swagger. Drunk, he called his father "Yanguo" to his face; Fuzhi only laughed—others called him mad. Once, as Fuzhi drank, his son barked, "Old Yanguo, stop this— you will leave me arse to the east wall!" Fuzhi laughed him inside to share the jar. Such were his ways. He died before thirty.
74
畢卓字茂世，新蔡鮦陽人也。 父諶，中書郎。 卓少希放達，為胡毋輔之所知。 太興末，為吏部郎，常飲酒廢職。 比舍郎釀熟，卓因醉夜至其甕間盜飲之，為掌酒者所縛，明旦視之，乃畢吏部也，遽釋其縛。 卓遂引主人宴于甕側，致醉而去。 卓嘗謂人曰：「得酒滿數百斛船，四時甘味置兩頭，右手持酒杯，左手持蟹螯，拍浮酒船中，便足了一生矣。」 及過江，為溫嶠平南長史，卒官。
Bi Zhuo, courtesy Maoshi, came from Tongyang in Xincai. His father Bi Chen was a palace secretary. Youthful Bi Zhuo yearned for freedom and won Huwu Fuzhi's notice. Late in Taixing he was personnel director who drank away his duties. A neighbor's wine matured; Bi Zhuo, drunk, raided the vats at night and was tied up by the cellar master—come dawn they found the thief was the personnel minister himself and cut him loose. He dragged the owner into a binge beside the casks, then staggered off. He said life would be complete with a boatload of wine, delicacies fore and aft, a cup in one hand and crab claws in the other, splashing midstream. South of the Yangzi he served Wen Jiao as chief clerk and died in harness.
75
王尼，字孝孫，城陽人也，或云河內人。 本兵家子，寓居洛陽，卓犖不羈。 初為護軍府軍士，胡毋輔之與琅邪王澄、北地傅暢、中山劉輿、潁川荀邃、河東裴遐迭屬河南功曹甄述及洛陽令曹攄請解之。 攄等以制旨所及，不敢。 輔之等齎羊酒詣護軍門，門吏疏名呈護軍，護軍歎曰：「諸名士持羊酒來，將有以也。」 尼時以給府養馬，輔之等入，遂坐馬廄下，與尼炙羊飲酒，醉飽而去，竟不見護軍。 護軍大驚，即與尼長假，因免為兵。 東嬴公騰辟為車騎府舍人，不就。 時尚書何綏奢侈過度，尼謂人曰：「綏居亂世，矜豪乃爾，將死不久。」 人曰：「伯蔚聞言，必相危害。」 尼曰：「伯蔚比聞我語，已死矣。」 未幾，綏果為東海王越所殺。 初入洛，尼詣越不拜。 越問其故，尼曰：「公無宰相之能，是以不拜。」 因數之，言甚切。 又云：「公負尼物。」 越大驚曰：「寧有是也？」 尼曰：「昔楚人亡布，謂令尹盜之。 今尼屋舍資財，悉為公軍人所略，尼今饑凍，是亦明公之負也。」 越大笑，即賜絹五十匹。 諸貴人聞，競往餉之。 洛陽陷，避亂江夏。 時王登為荊州刺史，遇之甚厚。 尼早喪婦，止有一子。 無居宅，惟畜露車，有牛一頭，每行，輒使子禦之，暮則共宿車上。 常歎曰：「滄海橫流，處處不安也。」 俄而澄卒，荊土饑荒，尼不得食，乃殺牛壞車，煮肉啖之。 既盡，父子俱餓死。
Wang Ni, courtesy Xiaosun, was said to hail from Chengyang or Henei. Son of a soldier family in Luoyang, he was bold and unbending. Huwu Fuzhi, Wang Cheng, Fu Chang, Liu Yu, Xun Sui, and Pei Xia petitioned the Henan clerks to free him from military service. The magistrates dared not break the rules. They arrived with mutton and wine; the gate captain reported up; the general muttered that such a deputation meant trouble. They bypassed the general, roasted mutton in Wang Ni's stable, drank their fill, and left. The general, stunned, gave Wang Ni long leave and struck him from the rolls. Sima Teng offered him a staff post; he refused. Wang Ni said wastrel He Sui would not live long in troubled times. Friends warned He Sui would retaliate. Wang Ni answered that He Sui was already a dead man walking. He Sui soon fell to Sima Yue's purge. Entering Luoyang he refused to bow to Sima Yue. He said Sima Yue lacked the talent of a true chancellor. He listed the warlord's failings bluntly. He added that Sima Yue owed him a debt. Sima Yue gaped—how could that be? Wang Ni cited the parable of the lost cloth blamed on the chief minister. Sima Yue's troops had stripped him bare—so the debt was real. Sima Yue roared with laughter and handed him fifty bolts of silk. Luoyang grandees showered him with gifts. When Luoyang fell he fled to Jiangxia. Jingzhou inspector Wang Deng treated him kindly. Widowed early, he had one son. Homeless, he lived in an ox-cart with his boy. He sighed that chaos left nowhere safe. After Wang Deng died and famine struck, he slaughtered his ox and burned his cart for food. When the food ran out, father and son starved.
76
羊曼，字祖延，太傅祜兄孫也。 父暨，陽平太守。 曼少知名，本州禮命，太傅辟，皆不就。 避難渡江，元帝以為鎮東參軍，轉丞相主簿，委以機密。 曆黃門侍郎、尚書吏部郎、晉陵太守，以公事免。 曼任達穨縱，好飲酒。 溫嶠、庾亮、阮放、桓彝同志友善，並為中興名士。 時州裏稱陳留阮放為宏伯，高平郗鑒為方伯，泰山胡毋輔之為達伯，濟陰卞壺為裁伯，陳留蔡謨為朗伯，阮孚為誕伯，高平劉綏為委伯，而曼為濌伯，凡八人，號兗州八伯，蓋擬古之八雋也。
Yang Man, courtesy Zuyan, descended from Yang Hu's brother's line. His father Yang Ji governed Yangping. Youth brought fame; he spurned provincial and court summons. East of the river he became Sima Rui's adjutant and confidential clerk. He rose to personnel director and Jinling governor until a public scandal dismissed him. He drank freely and lived loose. He ran with Wen Jiao, Yu Liang, Ruan Fang, and Huan Yi—stars of the Eastern Jin revival. Yang Man headed the "Eight Barons" clique aping the Han Eight Paragons—each man had a mock noble title.
77
王敦既與朝廷乖貳，羈錄朝士，曼為右長史。 曼知敦不臣，終日酣醉，諷議而已。 敦以其士望，厚加禮遇，不委以事，故得不涉其難。 敦敗，代阮孚為丹陽尹。 時朝士過江初拜官，相飾供饌。 曼拜丹陽，客來早者得佳設，日宴則漸罄，不復及精，隨客早晚而不問貴賤。 有羊固拜臨海太守，竟日皆美，雖晚至者猶獲盛饌。 論者以固之豐腆，乃不如曼之真率。
When Wang Dun held the capital, Yang Man became his chief clerk. Knowing Wang Dun's treason, he stayed drunk and offered only veiled advice. Wang Dun honored his name but gave him no real work, sparing him the purge. After Wang Dun fell he became governor of Danyang. New southern appointees vied to host banquets. Yang Man's feasts started lavish for early guests and thinned by night—he never ranked guests by rank. His kinsman Yang Gu fed everyone lavishly all day, even latecomers. Critics said Yang Gu's opulence lacked Yang Man's honest ease.
78
蘇峻作亂，加前將軍，率文武守雲龍門。 王師不振，或勸曼避峻。 曼曰：「朝廷破敗，吾安所求生？」 勒眾不動，為峻所害，年五十五。 峻平，追贈太常。 子賁嗣，少知名，尚明帝女南郡悼公主，除秘書郎，早卒。 弟聃。
Su Jun's revolt won him general's rank to hold Cloud Dragon Gate. Imperial forces faltered; friends urged retreat. Where could a loyalist flee for life? He held his post and died to Su Jun at fifty-five. After Su Jun fell he was canonized minister of rites. His son Yang Ben married Mingdi's daughter and died young. His brother was Yang Dan.
79
聃字彭祖。 少不經學，時論皆鄙其凡庸。 先是，兗州有八伯之號，其後更有四伯。 大鴻臚陳留江泉以能食為谷伯，豫章太守史疇以大肥為笨伯，散騎郎高平張嶷以狡妄為猾伯，而聃以狼戾為瑣伯，蓋擬古之四凶。
Yang Dan, courtesy Pengzu. He skipped scholarship and was mocked as dull. After the Eight Barons came the "Four Barons" mockery. Yang Dan was dubbed "Petty Baron" beside three other jest titles, aping the Four Fiends.
80
聃初辟元帝丞相府，累遷廬陵太守。 剛克粗暴，恃國戚，縱恣尤甚，睚眥之嫌輒加刑殺。 疑郡人簡良等為賊，殺二百餘人，誅及嬰孩，所髡鎖復百餘。 庾亮執之，歸於京都。 有司奏聃罪當死，以景獻皇后是其祖姑，應八議。 成帝詔曰：「此事古今所無，何八議之有！ 猶未忍肆之市朝，其賜命獄所。」 兄子賁尚公主，自表求解婚。 詔曰：「罪不相及，古今之令典也。 聃雖極法，于賁何有！ 其特不聽離婚。」 琅邪太妃山氏，聃之甥也，入殿叩頭請命。 王導又啟：「聃罪不容恕，宜極重法。 山太妃憂戚成疾，陛下罔極之恩，宜蒙生全之宥。」 於是詔下曰：「太妃惟此一舅，發言摧咽，乃至吐血，情慮深重。 朕往丁荼毒，受太妃撫育之恩，同於慈親。 若不堪難忍之痛，以致頓弊，朕亦何顏以寄。 今便原聃生命，以慰太妃渭陽之思。」 於是除名。 頃之，遇疾，恆見簡良等為祟，旬日而死。
He entered Yuan's chancellery and rose to governor of Luling. Brutal and well-connected, he killed over slights. He massacred over two hundred—including babies—on a bandit scare. Yu Liang arrested him for the capital. The law demanded death, but kinship to the empress triggered the eight deliberations. Chengdi called the case unprecedented—no eight deliberations. He spared public execution and ordered prison suicide. Prince-in-law Yang Ben begged to divorce him. An edict cited the rule that guilt does not taint kin. Yang Dan's guilt should not stain Yang Ben. The throne refused the divorce. Lady Shan, Yang Dan's niece, fell to her knees to plead for his life. Wang Dao urged maximum punishment. Yet killing him might kill the grieving grand consort. A second edict cited Lady Shan's grief. The emperor recalled her nurture like a mother's. He feared her death more than his own shame. He spared Yang Dan to console Lady Shan. Yang Dan was stripped of office. Soon visions of his victims drove him mad and he died within days.
81
光逸，字孟祖，樂安人也。 初為博昌小吏，縣令使逸送客，冒寒舉體凍濕，還遇令不在，逸解衣炙之，入令被中臥。 令還，大怒，將加嚴罰。 逸曰：「家貧衣單，沾濕無可代。 若不暫溫，勢必凍死，奈何惜一被而殺一人乎！ 君子仁愛，必不爾也，故寢而不疑。」 令奇而釋之。 後為門亭長，迎新令至京師。 胡毋輔之與荀邃共詣令家，望見逸，謂邃曰：「彼似奇才。」 便呼上車，與談良久，果俊器。 令怪客不入，吏白與光逸語。 令大怒，除逸名，斥遣之。
Guang Yi, courtesy Mengzu, came from Le'an. A frozen courier, he warmed himself in his boss's bed. The magistrate returned furious. Guang Yi pleaded poverty—his clothes were soaked. Without warmth he would freeze—better than dying for modesty. A humane magistrate would not punish that sleep. The magistrate spared him. He later greeted a new magistrate bound for the capital. Huwu Fuzhi and Xun Sui spotted him as a genius in the street. They hauled him into a carriage for a long talk and confirmed his brilliance. The magistrate fumed that his guests dallied with a clerk. He struck Guang Yi from the roster.
82
後舉孝廉，為州從事，棄官投輔之。 輔之時為太傅越從事中郎，薦逸於越，越以門寒而不召。 越後因閑宴，責輔之無所舉薦。 輔之曰：「前舉光逸，公以非世家不召，非不舉也。」 越即辟焉。 書到郡縣，皆以為誤，審知是逸，乃備禮遣之。 尋以世難，避亂渡江，復依輔之。 初至，屬輔之與謝鯤、阮放、畢卓、羊曼、桓彝、阮孚散發裸袒，閉室酣飲已累日。 逸將排戶入，守者不聽，逸便於戶外脫衣露頭于狗竇中窺之而大叫。 輔之驚曰：「他人決不能爾，必我孟祖也。」 遽呼入，遂與飲，不舍晝夜。 時人謂之八達。 元帝以逸補軍諮祭酒。 中興建，為給事中，卒官。
Recommended as filial, he quit to join Huwu Fuzhi. Sima Yue snubbed him as low-born despite Fuzhi's memo. Later at a banquet Sima Yue scolded Fuzhi for poor recommendations. Fuzhi answered that Guang Yi had been recommended but blackballed for pedigree. Sima Yue summoned him on the spot. Local clerks thought the summons a mistake until they saw his name. He fled south with the court and again joined Fuzhi. He arrived while Huwu Fuzhi and friends had been naked, hair down, drinking behind locked doors for days. Blocked at the door, Guang Yi stripped and shoved his head through the dog flap, shouting. Huwu Fuzhi shouted, "No one else would dare—that is my Guang Yi!" They hauled him in and drank without pause for days. Onlookers dubbed them the Eight Free Spirits. Emperor Yuan appointed Guang Yi army adviser with libationer's stipend. When the Eastern Jin court stood, he became palace counselor and died in harness.
83
史臣曰：夫學非常道，則物靡不通； 理有忘言，則在情斯遣。 其進也，撫俗同塵，不居名利； 其退也，餐和履順，以保天真。 若乃一其本原，體無為之用，分其華葉，開寓言之道，是以伯陽垂范，鳴謙置式，欲崇諸己，先下於人，猶大樂無聲，而蹌鸞斯應者也。 莊生放達其旨，而馳辯無窮； 棄彼榮華，則俯輕爵位，懷其道術，則顧蔑王公； 舐痔兼車，鳴鳶吞腐。 以茲自口，於焉玩物，殊異虛舟，有同攘臂。 嵇、阮竹林之會，劉、畢芳樽之友，馳騁莊門，排登李室。 若夫儀天布憲，百官從軌，經禮之外，棄而不存。 是以帝堯縱許由於埃盍之表，光武舍子陵於潺湲之瀨，松蘿低舉，用以優賢，岩水澄華，茲焉賜隱； 臣行厥志，主有嘉名。 至於嵇康遺巨源之書，阮氏創先生之傳，軍諮散發，吏部盜樽，豈以世疾名流，茲焉自垢？ 臨鍛灶而不回，登廣武而長歎，則嵇琴絕響，阮氣徒存。 通其旁徑，必凋風俗； 召以效官，居然屍素。 軌躅之外，或有可觀者焉。 咸能符契情靈，各敦終始，愴神交於晚笛，或相思而動駕。 史臣是以拾其遺事，附於篇雲。
The historian writes: without a fixed Way, inquiry reaches everywhere; when truth outruns speech, passion falls away. In office they mingled with dust and shunned fame; in withdrawal they harmonized with nature and kept Heaven's core. Laozi modeled silence, Zhuangzi spun fables—like soundless music that still draws the phoenix dance. Zhuangzi preached release yet argued without end; they scorned tinsel rank yet scorned kings who wore it; they mocked lickers of sores and crows at carrion—Zhuangzi's bitter jests. Their talk toyed with scandal the way Zhuangzi's empty boat excuses rage—yet it stirred the age like rolled sleeves. Ji Kang's circle drank Zhuang's wine yet camped in Laozi's quiet. Where heaven's pattern needs officials in harness, they cast ritual aside. So Yao exalted Xu You beyond the dust, Guangwu left Yan Ziling on the stream—landscape itself became the stipend of reclusion; ministers kept their vows, rulers kept repute. From Ji's break with Shan Tao to Ruan's "Great Man," from naked advisers to stolen wine—were they fouling themselves because the age despised fame? At the forge and Guangwu Pass they sealed Ji Kang's silent zither and Ruan Ji's lonely breath. Their shortcuts wither public morals; call them to office and they become empty sacks. Yet beyond the ruts they still reward the gaze. They answered spirit with spirit—flute notes at dusk, carriages racing for a last word. So this chapter gathers their scattered tales.
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贊曰：老篇爰植，孔教提衡。 各存其趣，道貴無名。 相彼非禮，遵乎達生。 秋水揚波，春雲斂映。 旨酒厥德，憑虛其性。 不玩斯風，誰虧王政？
The encomium sings: Laozi planted the seed, Confucius weighed the scales; each path keeps its charm, yet the nameless Way is highest; Those who flouted ritual were chasing the art of the fulfilled life. Autumn floods lift long waves; spring clouds soften the sunlight. Fine wine was their virtue; emptiness was their nature. Who could condemn their temper without faulting the throne?