1
曹志
Cao Zhi
2
曹志，字允恭，譙國譙人，魏陳思王植之孽子也。 少好學，以才行稱，夷簡有大度，兼善騎射。 植曰：「此保家主也。」 立以為嗣。 後改封濟北王。 武帝為撫軍將軍，迎陳留王於鄴，志夜謁見，帝與語，自暮達旦，甚奇之。 及帝受禪，降為鄄城縣公。 詔曰：「昔在前世，雖曆運迭興，至於先代苗裔，傳祚不替，或列籓九服，式序王官。 選眾命賢，惟德是與，蓋至公之道也。 魏氏諸王公養德藏器，壅滯曠久，前雖有詔，當須簡授，而自頃眾職少缺，未得式敘。 前濟北王曹志履德清純，才高行潔，好古博物，為魏宗英，朕甚嘉之。 其以志為樂平太守。」 志在郡上書，以為宜尊儒重道，請為博士置吏卒。 遷章武、趙郡太守。 雖累郡職，不以政事為意，晝則遊獵，夜誦《詩》《書》，以聲色自娛，當時見者未能審其量也。
Cao Zhi, courtesy name Yungong, came from Qiao in the Principality of Qiao. He was a natural son of Prince Si of Chen, Cao Zhi, of Wei—the celebrated poet-prince whose name is written with the same characters as his son's. From boyhood he loved learning and was praised for talent and character: unassuming, broad-minded, and also a capable horseman and archer. His father said, "This is a son who will keep our house secure." He named him heir. He was subsequently given the princely title of Jibei. While Sima Yan still held the post of General Who Comforts the Army and had gone to Ye to welcome the Prince of Chenliu, Cao Zhi sought a nighttime audience. The two talked from dusk until dawn, and Sima Yan was deeply struck by him. After Sima Yan accepted the abdication and ascended the throne, Cao Zhi was reduced in rank to Duke of Juancheng county. An edict declared: "In antiquity, even as one mandate succeeded another, the bloodlines of earlier houses often kept their altars—some enfeoffed across the submissive regions, others enrolled in the ruler's bureaucracy. Choosing worthies wherever they are found and favouring only virtue—that is the path of perfect impartiality. The princes and dukes of Wei have long kept their talents hidden and gone unused. Though an edict already called for their careful selection and posting, many offices have lately stood vacant, and proper placement has yet to come. As for the former Prince of Jibei, Cao Zhi, he practices virtue with singular purity, combines high talent with spotless conduct, and delights in antiquity and wide learning—an ornament of the Wei imperial clan. We hold him in high regard. Cao Zhi is hereby appointed Administrator of Leping." While governing the commandery Cao Zhi submitted a memorial arguing that Confucian learning and the Way deserved renewed emphasis, and asking that the doctoral scholars be allotted clerks and guard details. He was promoted to serve as Administrator of Zhangwu and then of Zhao commandery. Though he served in several commanderies, he showed little zeal for paperwork—hunting by day, reading the Classic of Poetry and the Documents by night, finding his ease in music and company. Contemporaries who watched him could not yet read the depth of the man.
3
咸甯初，詔曰：「鄄城公曹志，篤行履素，達學通識，宜在儒林，以弘胄子之教。 其以志為散騎常侍、國子博士。」 帝嘗閱《六代論》，問志曰：「是卿先王所作邪？」 志對曰：「先王有手所作目錄，請歸尋按。」 還奏曰：「按錄無此。」 帝曰：「誰作？」 志曰：「以臣所聞，是臣族父冏所作。 以先王文高名著，欲令書傳於後，是以假託。」 帝曰：「古來亦多有是。」 顧謂公卿曰：「父子證明，足以為審。 自今已後，可無復疑。」
Early in the Xianning era an edict declared: "Duke of Juancheng Cao Zhi combines steady character with plain living, wide scholarship with sound judgment. He belongs among the literati who may enlarge the education of the heir-apparents. Appoint him Palace Attendant-in-ordinary and Doctoral Lecturer at the National University." Sima Yan once read the Treatise on the Six Dynasties and asked Cao Zhi, "Did your royal father compose this?" Cao Zhi answered, "My father kept a catalogue in his own hand. Allow me to go home and check it against that record." When he came back he reported, "The catalogue contains no such title." The emperor asked, "Who did write it, then?" Cao Zhi said, "From what I have learned, it was the work of my kinsman Cao Jiong. Because his own father's literary name stood so high, Cao Jiong hoped the essay would endure under that name, and therefore published it under borrowed authorship." The emperor replied, "Such things are common enough in the record of the past." Turning to the assembled nobles he added, "Father and son have attested to the facts; that is proof enough. Henceforth no one should doubt the matter."
4
後遷祭酒。 齊王攸將之國，下太常議崇錫文物。 時博士秦秀等以為齊王宜內匡朝政，不可之籓。 志又常恨其父不得志于魏，因愴然歎曰：「安有如此之才，如此之親，不得樹本助化，而遠出海隅？ 晉朝之隆，其殆乎哉！」 乃奏議曰：「伏聞大司馬齊王當出籓東夏，備物盡禮，同之二伯。 今陛下為聖君，稷、契為賢臣，內有魯、衛之親，外有齊、晉之輔，坐而守安，此萬世之基也。 古之夾輔王室，同姓則周公其人也，異姓則太公其人也，皆身在內，五世反葬。 後雖有五霸代興，桓、文譎主，下有請隧之僭，上有九錫之禮，終於譎而不正，驗於尾大不掉，豈與召公之歌《棠棣》，周詩之詠《鴟鴞》同日論哉！ 今聖朝創業之始，始之不諒，後事難工。 幹植不強，枝葉不茂； 骨骾不存，皮膚不充。 自羲皇以來，豈是一姓之獨有！ 欲結其心者，當有磐石之固。 夫欲享萬世之利者，當與天下議之。 故天之聰明，自我人之聰明。 秦、魏欲獨擅其威，而財得沒其身； 周、漢能分其利，而親疏為之用。 此自聖主之深慮，日月之所照。 事雖淺，當深謀之； 言雖輕，當重思之。 志備位儒官，若言不及禮，是志寇竊。 知忠不言，議所不敢。 志以為當如博士等議。」 議成當上，見其從弟高邑公嘉。 嘉曰：「兄議甚切，百年之後必書晉史，目下將見責邪。」 帝覽議，大怒曰：「曹志尚不明吾心，況四海乎！」 以議者不指答所問，橫造異論，策免太常鄭默。 於是有司奏收志等結罪，詔惟免志官，以公還第，其餘皆付廷尉。
He was subsequently promoted to Libationer of the National University. When Prince Sima You of Qi was preparing to leave for his princely fief, the court referred the matter to the Chamberlain of Ceremonies to decide what honours and ritual gear should be granted. Erudits led by Qin Xiu argued that the Prince of Qi should stay at court to steady the government rather than be sent out to a regional apanage. Cao Zhi still nursed the old wound of his father's thwarted career in Wei, and once said in bitter sorrow, "When a man wields such talent and bears such closeness to the throne, how can he be denied a place at the capital to nourish the state, and instead be banished to some remote corner by the sea? If this is the court's policy, how can the Jin dynasty hope to flourish?" Thereupon he drafted a memorial: "I have learned that the Grand Marshal, Prince of Qi, is ordered to his fief in the east with full panoply of gifts and rites, his dignity equated with the two great bulwarks of Zhou. Your Majesty reigns as a true sage; ministers of the caliber of Ji and Xie serve at your side. Within the palace you have princes as close as the ancient dukes of Lu and Wei; beyond it you have bulwarks like Qi and Jin. To preserve stability from the throne is to lay a foundation meant to last for ages. History's model guardians of the throne were men like the Duke of Zhou for royal kin or the Grand Duke Wang for outsiders—both kept their persons at the capital and, even after generations of service abroad, were brought home to lie with their ancestors. Later ages produced the so-called Five Hegemons: rulers like Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin who ruled by cunning. Their vassals pressed for rites reserved for a king—tunnel entrances to their tombs—while the hegemons themselves pressed upward for the "nine ritual gifts" meant to signal abdication. Such power never rested on legitimate authority; history shows it always ends with a vassal too bloated for his lord to control. How can that arrogant rising of ministers be mentioned in the same breath as the Duke of Shao's hymn to brotherhood in The Elder Brothers, or the loyal reproof voiced in the ode The Owl? At the founding of a dynasty like ours, what is not settled honestly at the outset can scarcely be put right later. A weak trunk cannot bear luxuriant branches. Without bone and marrow beneath, the skin has nothing to rest on. From the age of the legendary rulers onward, no single clan has ever monopolized the realm forever. He who would win men's loyalty must offer them a bulwark as immovable as stone. He who seeks a blessing that lasts many lifetimes must consult the realm at large. Thus the wisdom attributed to Heaven is drawn from the wisdom of the human community itself. Qin and Wei tried to hoard all power in their own hands—and succeeded only in destroying themselves. Zhou and Han shared their advantages with many hands and so turned both kinsmen and outsiders to account. Such is the far-sighted policy of wise sovereigns—plain as sunlight and moonlight. Even a seemingly small matter calls for the deepest counsel. Even words spoken lightly deserve the most serious reflection. I hold a merely nominal place among the ritual specialists; if what I say falls short of propriety, then I am no better than a thief dressed in scholar's robes. To see what duty requires and hold silence is something my conscience will not allow. Cao Zhi believed the court should adopt the erudits' recommendation." When the memorial was ready to go up, he met his cousin Cao Jia, Duke of Gaoyi. Cao Jia warned him, "This memorial cuts deep. Historians will note it—but are you ready for the anger you will draw today?" When the emperor read the memorial his wrath flared. "If Cao Zhi cannot read my mind," he cried, "what hope is there for the four seas?" On the grounds that the memorialists had strayed from the brief and stirred irrelevant controversy, he dismissed Zheng Mo from the chamberlainship by rescript. The bureaus then asked that Cao Zhi and his colleagues be seized on charges of conspiracy. The emperor would go no further than stripping Cao Zhi of office while letting him retire to his ducal mansion; the others he sent to the Commandant of Justice.
5
頃之，志復為散騎常侍。 遭母憂，居喪過禮，因此篤病，喜怒失常。 九年卒，太常奏以惡諡。 崔褒歎曰：「魏顆不從亂，以病為亂故也。 今諡曹志而諡其病，豈謂其病不為亂乎！」 於是諡為定。
Soon afterward Cao Zhi was restored to his former post as Palace Attendant-in-ordinary. When his mother died he mourned so extravagantly that he broke down in health; joy and anger thereafter slipped beyond his control. He died in the ninth year of the era; the Chamberlain of Ceremonies proposed withholding a favourable posthumous title. Cui Bao reminded them, "Wei Ke earned the posthumous epithet Steadfast precisely because he refused a father's insane order, knowing that illness—not defiance—had caused the confusion. To fix a cruel posthumous verdict on Cao Zhi by citing his mental collapse is to pretend his ailment was not the very sort of disorder that excused Wei Ke's father—not a fair reading of precedent at all." On that reasoning they settled on the posthumous name Ding (Steadfast).
6
庾峻
Yu Jun
7
庾峻，字山甫，潁川鄢陵人也。 祖乘，才學洽聞，漢司徒辟，有道征，皆不就。 伯父嶷，中正簡素，仕魏為太僕。 父道，廉退貞固，養志不仕。 牛馬有踶齧者，恐傷人，不貨於市。 及諸子貴，賜拜太中大夫。 峻少好學，有才思。 嘗游京師，聞魏散騎常侍蘇林老疾在家，往候之。 林嘗就乘學，見峻流涕，良久曰：「尊祖高才而性退讓，慈和泛愛，清靜寡欲，不營當世，惟修德行而已。 鄢陵舊五六萬戶，聞今裁有數百。 君二父孩抱經亂，獨至今日，尊伯為當世令器，君兄弟復俊茂，此尊祖積德之所由也。」
Yu Jun, courtesy name Shanfu, came from Yanling in Yingchuan commandery. His grandfather Yu Cheng combined wide learning with a celebrated reputation. The Han Excellency over the Masses called him to office and he was nominated as a man of high principle, yet he declined every appointment. His uncle Yu Ni, chosen as a local merit assessor, was known for plain integrity; he rose under Wei to Grand Coachman. His father Yu Dao lived modestly, withdrew from ambition, and kept such stern integrity that he never took office. Yu Dao refused to sell cattle or horses known to kick or bite, lest they injure buyers in the market. Once his sons had risen to distinction, the court honoured him with the title of Grand Palace Grandee. Yu Jun loved learning from boyhood and showed a ready wit. During a visit to the capital he heard that the veteran scholar Su Lin lay ill at home, and he went to pay his respects. Su Lin had once studied under Yu Cheng. When he saw Yu Jun he wept and said after a long silence, "Your grandfather was a man of towering ability yet modest habits—kind, generous, quiet, and little interested in worldly gain. He cared only for cultivating character. Yanling once counted fifty or sixty thousand households; today I hear there are only a few hundred left. Your father and uncle were only infants when the realm convulsed, yet they alone survived to this day. Your uncle is one of the age's chief talents, and you brothers are rising stars beside him—all of it fruit of the virtue your grandfather laid up."
8
曆郡功曹，舉計掾，州辟從事。 太常鄭袤見峻，大奇之，舉為博士。 時重《莊》《老》而輕《經》《史》，駿懼雅道陵遲，乃潛心儒典。 屬高貴鄉公幸太學，問《尚書》義于峻，峻援引師說，發明經旨，申暢疑滯，對答詳悉。 遷秘書丞。 長安有大獄，久不決，拜峻侍御史，往斷之，朝野稱允。 武帝踐阼，賜爵關中侯，遷司空長史，轉秘書監、御史中丞，拜侍中，加諫議大夫。 常侍帝講《詩》，中庶子何劭論《風》《雅》正變之義，峻起難往反，四坐莫能屈之。
He served as headquarters clerk in the commandery, was nominated as accounting officer, and the province summoned him as a staff retainer. When Chamberlain Zheng Mao met Yu Jun he was so impressed that he nominated him for a doctorate. At court the Zhuangzi and Laozi were all the fashion while the Classics and histories languished. Fearing that the high culture of the Confucian tradition would fade, Yu Jun buried himself in the orthodox canon. On the occasion of Duke Cao Mao's visit to the Imperial Academy, the young emperor quizzed Yu Jun on the Documents. Yu Jun drew on the glosses of the masters, unfolded the text layer by layer, and unraveled every knotty passage with patient clarity. He was promoted to assistant director of the Palace Library. A major lawsuit had stalled for months in Chang'an; the court named Yu Jun Attendant Censor and sent him to settle it. Both capital and province praised the outcome as just. When Sima Yan mounted the throne he ennobled Yu Jun as Marquis Within the Passes, advanced him through chief clerk of the Ministry of Works to director of the Palace Library and censor-in-chief, then appointed him palace attendant with the added title of grand counsellor of the household. While attending Sima Yan's lectures on the Classic of Poetry, he crossed swords with Household Grandee He Shao over what counted as orthodox or declining lyrics in the Airs and Elegances; after several rounds of debate no one at table could break his argument.
9
是時風俗趣競，禮讓陵遲。 峻上疏曰：
Public manners had turned brutally competitive; deference and yielding were everywhere eclipsed. Yu Jun therefore submitted a memorial:
10
又疾世浮華，不修名實，著論以非之，文繁不載。 九年卒，詔賜朝服一具、衣一襲、錢三十萬。 臨終，敕子瑉朝卒夕殯，幅巾布衣，葬勿擇日。 瑉奉遵遺命，斂以時服。 二子：瑉、敳。
He likewise loathed the age's love of display and neglect of substance, and composed a polemic against it—the editors omit the essay here on grounds of length. He died in the ninth year of the Taishi era; the court sent one full set of court dress, a suit of clothes, and three hundred thousand cash for his funeral. On his deathbed he ordered his son Yu Min to bury him the same evening he died, with no imported finery—only hemp headcloth and plain robes—and without fussing over an auspicious burial day. Yu Min followed those instructions to the letter, laying his father out only in the clothes of the season. He had two sons, Yu Min and Yu Ai.
12
子瑉
Yu Min
13
=瑉字子琚。 性淳和好學，行己忠恕。 少曆散騎常侍、本國中正、侍中，封長岑男。 懷帝之沒劉元海也，瑉從在平陽。 元海大會，因使帝行酒，瑉不勝悲憤，再拜上酒，因大號哭，賊惡之。 會有告瑉及王儁等謀應劉琨者，元海因圖弑逆，瑉等並遇害。 初，洛陽之未陷也，瑉為侍中，直於省內，謂同僚許遐曰：「世路如此，禍難將及，吾當死乎此屋耳！」 及是，竟不免焉。 太元末，追諡曰貞。
Yu Min, courtesy name Ziju—the stray mark before his name is an edition artifact. He was guileless, affable, devoted to learning, and governed himself with loyalty and tolerance. While still young he rose through palace attendant-in-chief, local merit assessor for his princedom, palace attendant, and received the barony of Changcen. When Emperor Huai fell captive to Liu Yuan (Liu Yuanhai), Yu Min accompanied him to Pingyang. At one of Liu Yuan's banquets the Jin emperor was forced to serve wine to the guests. Yu Min, unable to choke back grief, bowed twice as he presented the cup, then burst into open weeping. The rebels took an instant dislike to him. When someone accused Yu Min, Wang Jun, and others of plotting to help Liu Kun, Liu Yuan seized the excuse to move against the emperor; Yu Min and his fellows were put to death. Before Luoyang fell, Yu Min was on duty as a palace attendant in the ministries. He once told his colleague Xu Xia, "The times have turned this vicious; disaster is at our door—I expect to die in this very hall!" In the end he did not escape the fate he foresaw. Late in the Taiyuan era the court posthumously honoured him with the name Zhen (Steadfast).
15
瑉弟敳
Yu Ai, younger brother of Yu Min.
16
=敳字子嵩。 長不滿七尺，而腰帶十圍，雅有遠韻。 為陳留相，未嘗以事嬰心，從容酣暢，寄通而已。 處眾人中，居然獨立。 嘗讀《老》《莊》，曰：「正與人意暗同。」 太尉王衍雅重之。
Yu Ai, courtesy name Zisong—the stray mark before his name is an edition artifact. He stood under seven feet tall yet girded a waist ten spans round, carrying an air of distant, understated elegance. As chancellor of Chenliu he refused to let paperwork fret him—he drank deep, took life as it came, and let events pass like water. In a throng he seemed to stand apart, self-contained and untouchable. Once, reading the 《Laozi》 and the 《Zhuangzi》, he remarked, "These texts voice exactly what most of us feel but never say aloud." Grand Commandant Wang Yan held him in the highest regard.
17
敳見王室多難，終知嬰禍，乃著《意賦》以豁情，猶賈誼之《服鳥》也。 其詞曰：「至理歸於渾一兮，榮辱固亦同貫。 存亡既已均齊兮，正盡死復何歎。 物咸定于無初兮，俟時至而後驗。 若四節之素代兮，豈當今之得遠？ 且安有壽之與夭兮，或者情橫多戀。 宗統竟初不別兮，大德亡其情願。 蠢動皆神之為兮，癡聖惟質所建。 真人都遣穢累兮，性茫蕩而無岸。 縱驅於遼廓之庭兮，委體乎寂寥之館。 天地短於朝生兮，億代促於始旦。 顧瞻宇宙微細兮，眇若豪鋒之半。 飄搖玄曠之域兮，深漠暢而靡玩。 兀與自然並體兮，融液忽而四散。」 從子亮見賦，問曰：「若有意也，非賦所盡； 若無意也，復何所賦？」 答曰：「在有無之間耳！」
Seeing endless peril closing in on the throne, Yu Ai knew calamity would find him too; he wrote the Rhapsody on Intent to steady his heart, much as Jia Yi once wrote the Rhapsody on the Owl. The piece opens: "The highest truth folds back into primal unity; honour and disgrace run on the same string. Since life and death are already level, why lament once duty ends and death arrives? Every creature is set on its course before a beginning can be named; only when the appointed hour comes is the pattern plain. If spring, summer, autumn, and winter rotate in their proper round, how can anyone keep the present moment at arm's length? What sense is there in calling one span long and another short, except where passion clings too fiercely? The lineage runs unbroken from root to tip; the greatest virtue is to release private craving. Even the twitch of the smallest worm is spirit at work; fool and sage alike are fashioned from the same stuff. The perfected man sheds the world's grime, while human nature stretches wide without a farther shore. He races through the boundless inner courtyard and rests his frame in the silent, empty lodge. Heaven and earth are briefer than a mayfly's morning; aeons flash past before the first dawn breaks. Glance backward and the universe shrinks to half a speck of down. He drifts in dark immensity—depth without limit, desolation without charm. Suddenly he shares one body with spontaneity itself, melting and pouring away on every side." His nephew Yu Liang read the work and asked, "If you still harbour intent, no poem can exhaust it; if you have left intent behind, what is left for a rhapsody to say? Yu Ai replied, "Between having intent and having none—that is where I stand!"
18
遷吏部郎。 是時天下多故，機變屢起，敳常靜默無為。 參東海王越太傅軍事，轉軍諮祭酒。 時越府多雋異，敳在其中，常自袖手。 豫州牧長史河南郭象善《老》《莊》，時人以為王弼之亞。 敳甚知之，每曰：「郭子玄何必減瘐子嵩」。 象後為太傅主簿，任事專勢。 敳謂象曰：「卿自是當世大才，我疇昔之意都已盡矣。」
He rose to director in the Ministry of Personnel. The age seethed with intrigue and sudden shifts, yet Yu Ai stayed quiet and let events run their course. He served on Grand Mentor Sima Yue of Donghai's staff, then moved to the post of army libationer. Yue's bureau glittered with talent, yet Yu Ai usually stood apart with folded arms, refusing to jostle for favour. Guo Xiang of Henan, chief clerk to the governor of Yuzhou, excelled at the 《Laozi》 and 《Zhuangzi》; contemporaries ranked him just below Wang Bi. Yu Ai knew his worth and used to say, "Guo Zixuan has nothing to fear beside Yu Zisong." Later Guo Xiang became chief clerk to the Grand Mentor, running business with a heavy hand. Yu Ai told him plainly, "You are a leading intellect of our day, but the esteem I once felt for you is spent."
19
敳有重名，為搢紳所推，而聚斂積實，談者譏之。 都官從事溫嶠奏之，敳更器嶠，目嶠森森如千丈松，雖礧砢多節，施之大廈，有棟樑之用。 時劉輿見任于越，人士多為所構，惟敳縱心事外，無跡可間。 後以其性儉家富，說越令就換錢千萬，冀其有吝，因此可乘。 越于眾坐中問於敳，而敳乃穨然已醉，幘墮機上，以頭就穿取，徐答-{云}-：「下官家有二千萬，隨公所取矣。」 輿於是乃服。 越甚悅，因曰：「不可以小人之慮度君子之心。」 王衍不與敳交，敳卿之不置。 衍曰：「君不得為耳。」 敳曰：「卿自君我，我自卿卿。 我自用我家法，卿自用卿家法。」 衍甚奇之。 石勒之亂，與衍俱被害，時年五十。
Yu Ai enjoyed towering repute among the silk-robed elite, yet he piled up riches, and gossips mocked him for it. Wen Jiao of the capital bureau denounced him, yet Yu Ai only grew to admire Wen Jiao, likening him to a thousand-foot pine: knotted and rugged, yet the timber you want for a palace ridgepole. Liu Yu then enjoyed Yue's confidence and ruined many colleagues; only Yu Ai kept his heart outside the fray, offering no foothold for intrigue. Knowing Yu Ai was tight-fisted yet rich, Liu Yu talked Yue into ordering him to put up ten million cash for an exchange, expecting miserliness that could be turned against him. Before the whole company Yue raised the demand. Yu Ai was dead drunk by then—his turban slipped onto the crossbow rack and he fished it back by threading his head through the slit—then drawled, "I keep twenty million at home; help yourself to whatever share you like." Liu Yu dropped his scheme in admiration. Sima Yue was delighted and remarked, "Never gauge a gentleman's mind with a small man's calculus." Wang Yan refused his friendship, yet Yu Ai pursued his company relentlessly. Wang Yan said, "You cannot force this." Yu Ai shot back, "Call me 'lord' if you wish; I'll still call you darling if I wish. I follow my family's customs; you follow yours." Wang Yan could only marvel. When Shi Le rose in revolt, Yu Ai died alongside Wang Yan at the age of fifty.
20
郭象
Guo Xiang
21
郭象，字子玄，少有才理，好《老》《莊》，能清言。 太尉王衍每云：「聽象語，如懸河瀉水，注而不竭。」 州郡辟召，不就。 常閒居，以文論自娛。 後辟司徒掾，稍至黃門侍郎。 東海王越引為太傅主簿，甚見親委，遂任職當權，熏灼內外，由是素論去之。 永嘉末病卒，著碑論十二篇。
Guo Xiang, courtesy name Zixuan, showed a sharp logical mind early on, delighted in the 《Laozi》 and 《Zhuangzi》, and shone at qingtan debate. Wang Yan used to say, "Hearing Guo Xiang speak is like watching a cataract hang in the air: it floods out and never runs dry." He declined every provincial and commandery appointment. He lived quietly at home, passing the time with essays and treatises. Later he accepted a retainer's post under the minister of education and worked his way up to gentleman at the Yellow Gates. Sima Yue of Donghai made him chief clerk to the Grand Mentor and leaned on him heavily. Guo Xiang soon monopolized power, searing court and camp alike, and men of principle quietly withdrew their respect. He died of illness at the close of the Yongjia era, leaving twelve commemorative essays.
22
先是，注《莊子》者數十家，莫能究其旨統。 向秀於舊注外而為解義，妙演奇致，大暢玄風，惟《秋水》、《至樂》二篇未竟而秀卒。 秀子幼，其義零落，然頗有別本遷流。 象為人行薄，以秀義不傳於世，遂竊以為己注，乃自注《秋水》、《至樂》二篇，又易《馬蹄》一篇，其餘眾篇或點定文句而巳。 其後秀義別本出，故今有向、郭二《莊》，其義一也。
Before his day dozens of scholars had glossed the 《Zhuangzi》, yet none had mapped its full design. Xiang Xiu went beyond older commentaries with a brilliant new reading that opened the text's subtleties and gave new life to Dark Learning—only the 《Autumn Floods》 and 《Perfect Joy》 chapters remained unfinished when he died. His son was still a child, so the manuscript fell apart, though stray copies still circulated. Guo Xiang, a man of thin integrity, saw that Xiang Xiu's gloss was not in wide circulation and appropriated it as his own. He added fresh notes only on 《Autumn Floods》 and 《Perfect Joy》, revised 《Horse's Hoofs》, and for the rest merely tweaked wording here and there. When Xiang Xiu's authentic draft resurfaced, the world ended up with two 《Zhuangzi》 traditions—Xiang's and Guo's—though the doctrine is really one.
23
庾純
Yu Chun
24
庾純，字謀甫，博學有才義，為世儒宗。 郡補主簿，仍參征南府，累遷黃門侍郎，封關內侯，曆中書令、河南尹。 初，純以賈充奸佞，與任愷共舉充西鎮關中，充由是不平。 充嘗宴朝士，而純後至，充謂曰：「君行常居人前，今何以在後？」 純曰：「旦有小市井事不了，是以來後。」 世言純之先嘗有伍伯者，充之先有市魁者，充、純以此相譏焉。 充自以位隆望重，意殊不平。 及純行酒，充不時飲。 純曰：「長者為壽，何敢爾乎！」 充曰：「父老不歸供養，將何言也！」 純因發怒曰：「賈充！ 天下凶凶，由爾一人。」 充曰：「充輔佐二世，蕩平巴、蜀，有何罪而天下為之凶凶？」 純曰：「高貴鄉公何在？」 眾坐因罷。 充左右欲執純，中護軍羊琇、侍中王濟佑之，因得出。 充慚怒，上表解職。 純懼，上河南尹、關內侯印綬，上表自劾曰：
Yu Chun, courtesy name Moufu, commanded wide learning, moral clarity, and was revered as the age's leading Confucian. The commandery made him chief clerk; he joined the southern campaign staff, rose through gentleman at the Yellow Gates to marquis within the passes, then served as palace secretariat director and governor of Henan. Early on, seeing Jia Chong's treachery, Yu Chun joined Ren Kai in urging that Chong be posted west to guard Guanzhong—an affront Chong never forgave. At a banquet Jia Chong gave for courtiers Yu Chun arrived late. Jia needled him, "You usually elbow your way to the front; why drag in last today?" Yu Chun answered, "A petty market errand detained me this morning—that is why I am late." Wits said Yu Chun's forebears had once been market constables while Jia Chong's had been market bosses—barbs the two men now traded openly. Jia Chong, puffed up by rank and reputation, fumed more than ever. When Yu Chun pressed him to drink, Jia Chong refused to lift his cup on cue. Yu Chun snapped, "An elder raises his cup in blessing—how dare you ignore it?" Jia Chong retorted, "While your aged father goes unsupported at home, what right have you to lecture others?" Yu Chun's temper broke: "Jia Chong! The realm is sliding into chaos, and you alone are the cause." Jia shouted back, "I have served two emperors and crushed Ba and Shu—what crime have I committed to unsettle the realm?" Yu Chun answered, "Then where is Duke Cao Mao of Gaoguixiang?" The guests scattered in silence. Jia Chong's guards moved to seize Yu Chun, but Army Protector Yang Xiu and Palace Attendant Wang Ji shielded him until he could slip away. Smarting with humiliation, Jia Chong memorialized to resign his posts. Yu Chun, frightened, returned the seals of the Henan governorship and his marquisate and filed a self-accusation that read:
25
御史中丞孔恂劾純，請免官。 詔曰：「先王崇尊卑之禮，明貴賤之序，著溫克之德，記沈酗之禍，所以光宣道化，示人軌儀也。 昔廣漢陵慢宰相，獲犯上之刑； 灌夫托醉肆忿，致誅斃之罪。 純以凡才，備位卿尹，不惟謙敬之節，不忌覆車之戒，陵上無禮，悖言自口，宜加顯黜，以肅朝倫。」 遂免純官。
Palace attendant censor-in-chief Kong Xun indicted Yu Chun and asked that he be cashiered. The edict intoned: "Ancient kings exalted hierarchy, fixed noble and base in their places, praised self-restraint, and warned against drowning in wine—all to spread the Way and give the realm a mirror. Once a Guanghan man insulted his chancellor and earned the penalty for lèse-majesté; Guan Fu vented drunken spite and paid with his life. Yu Chun, a man of middling gifts, sits among chief ministers yet spurns humility, ignores the lesson of the overturned cart, insults his betters, and lets reckless words fly from his lips. He should be disgraced in public to restore court decency." Yu Chun was stripped of office.
26
又以純父老不求供養，使據禮典正其臧否。 太傅何曾、太尉荀顗、驃騎將軍齊王攸議曰：「凡斷正臧否，宜先稽之禮、律。 八十者，一子不從政； 九十者，其家不從政。 新令亦如之。 按純父年八十一，兄弟六人，三人在家，不廢侍養。 純不求供養，其於禮、律未有違也。 司空公以純備位卿尹，望其有加於人。 而純荒醉，肆其忿怒。 臣以為純不遠布孝至之行，而近習常人之失，應在譏貶。」 司徒石苞議：「純榮官忘親，惡聞格言，不忠不孝，宜除名削爵土。」 司徒西曹掾劉斌議以為：
The court added a charge that he failed to care for an aged father and asked the ritual code to judge his guilt. Grand tutor He Zeng, grand commandant Xun Yi, and general of agile cavalry Prince Sima You ruled: "Any verdict must rest on ritual and written law. At eighty, one son may stay home from office; at ninety, the whole household may stand aside. The new code says the same. Yu Chun's father is eighty-one; of six brothers, three remain at home, so the old man is not left unattended. Yu Chun's choice not to resign therefore breaks neither ritual nor statute. The minister of works noted that Yu Chun sat among chief ministers and ought to set an example above the common run. Yet Yu Chun, blind drunk, spewed insults instead. We grant he has not shown heroic filial piety, but his lapse is the common human sort and merits censure, not ruin." Minister Shi Bao countered: "Yu Chun chose office over parents and scorned good counsel—both unfilial and disloyal. Strip his titles and lands." Western bureau clerk Liu Bin offered yet another opinion:
27
河南功曹史龐劄等表曰：
Henan clerks led by Pang Zha tabled a joint appeal:
28
帝復下詔曰：「自中世以來，多為貴重順意，賤者生情，故令釋之、定國得揚名於前世。 今議責庾純，不惟溫克，醉酒沈湎，此責人以齊聖也。 疑賈公亦醉，若其不醉，終不於百客之中責以不去官供養也。 大晉依聖人典禮，制臣子出處之宜，若有八十，皆當歸養，亦不獨純也。 古人云：'由醉之言，俾出童羖。 '明不責醉，恐失度也。 所以免純者，當為將來之醉戒耳。 齊王、劉掾議當矣。」 復以純為國子祭酒，加散騎常侍。 後將軍荀眅于朝會中奏純以前坐不孝免黜，不宜升進。 侍中甄德進曰：「孝以顯親為大，祿養為榮。 詔赦純前愆，擢為近侍，兼掌教官，此純召不俟駕之日。 而後將軍眅敢以私議貶奪公論，抗言矯情，誣罔朝廷，宜加貶黜。」 眅坐免官。
The emperor spoke again: "Since mid-antiquity judges have often truckled to the mighty while venting spite on the weak—which is how men like Shi Ji and Yu Dingguo won fame by doing justice. To fault Yu Chun now for lacking perfect sobriety is to demand sagehood of a man reeling at a banquet. I suspect Duke Jia was drunk himself; had he been sober he would never have raised, before a hundred guests, the charge that Yu Chun refused to quit office to nurse his father. The Great Jin follows the sages' statutes on when officials may serve or retire: anyone with an eighty-year-old parent ought to go home to care for him, not Yu Chun alone. The classic warns: take a drunkard's taunts as seriously as if he demanded you produce a black ram. That means you do not punish mere drunkenness, lest you lose all sense of proportion. Yu Chun is pardoned precisely so the realm may learn restraint the next time wine flows at court. The opinions of Prince Sima You and clerk Liu Bin were sound." Yu Chun was reappointed libationer of the National University with the added title of palace attendant-in-ordinary. At open court General of the Rear Xun Pan memorialized that Yu Chun's earlier dismissal for unfiliality disqualified him from fresh promotion. Palace attendant Zhen De rose to argue: "True filial piety means bringing glory to one's parents and supporting them on official income. The throne had already forgiven Yu Chun's slip, elevated him as an inner-court adviser, and entrusted him with the education of cadets—the very model of a subject who answered a summons without waiting for his carriage. Yet Xun Pan presumed to use private spite to overturn a settled consensus, posturing as righteous while slandering the court—he deserves demotion." Xun Pan was stripped of his post.
29
初，眅與純俱為大將軍所辟，眅整麗車服，純率素而已，眅以為愧恨。 至是，毀純。 眅既免黜，純更以此愧之，亟往慰勉之，時人稱純通恕。
Long before, Xun Pan and Yu Chun had both been recruited by the grand general: Xun Pan arrived in glossy equipage while Yu Chun came plainly dressed, and Xun Pan nursed a grudge for the contrast. He now used the affair to smear Yu Chun. Once Xun Pan fell, Yu Chun was ashamed on his behalf and visited him again and again to cheer him up; contemporaries praised Yu Chun's breadth of mind.
30
遷侍中，以父憂去官。 起為御史中丞，轉尚書。 除魏郡太守，不之官，拜少府。 年六十四卒。 子旉。
He rose to palace attendant but stepped down to mourn his father. He was recalled as palace attendant censor-in-chief, then moved to director in the Masters of Writing. He was named governor of Wei commandery but never took up the post, receiving instead the ministership of the household. He died at sixty-four. His son was Yu Fu.
32
子旉
Yu Fu
33
=旉字允臧。 少有清節，歷位博士。 齊王攸之就國也，下禮官議崇錫之物。 旉與博士太叔廣、劉暾、繆蔚、郭頤、秦秀、傅珍等上表諫曰：
Yu Fu, courtesy name Yuncang—the stray mark before his name is an edition artifact. From youth he was known for spotless conduct and rose through a doctorate. When Prince Sima You of Qi prepared to leave for his fief, the court ordered the ritual bureau to decide what honours and gifts to bestow. Yu Fu joined erudits Taishu Guang, Liu Tun, Miao Wei, Guo Yi, Qin Xiu, Fu Zhen, and others in a memorial of remonstrance that read:
34
旉草議，先以呈父純，純不禁。 太常鄭默、博士祭酒曹志並過其事。 武帝以博士不答所問，答所不問，大怒，事下有司。 尚書硃整、褚䂮等奏：「旉等侵官離局，迷罔朝廷，崇飾惡言，假託無諱，請收旉等八人付廷尉科罪。」 旉父純詣廷尉自首：「旉以議草見示，愚淺聽之。」 詔免純罪。
Yu Fu drafted the protest and showed it to his father Yu Chun, who raised no objection. Chamberlain Zheng Mo and Libationer Cao Zhi were likewise drawn into the business. Emperor Wu, furious that the scholars answered beside the point, referred the case to the bureaus. Directors Zhu Zheng and Chu Li reported that Yu Fu and his colleagues had exceeded their brief, confused the throne, and peddled slander thinly veiled as frankness, and asked that Yu Fu and seven others be sent to the Commandant of Justice. Yu Chun appeared at the Commandant of Justice and confessed: "My son showed me his draft; I listened like a fool." The emperor forgave Yu Chun.
35
廷尉劉頌又奏旉等大不敬，棄市論，求平議。 尚書又奏請報聽廷尉行刑。 尚書夏侯駿謂硃整曰：「國家乃欲誅諫臣！ 官立八座，正為此時，卿可共駁正之。」 整不從，駿怒起，曰：「非所望也！」 乃獨為駁議。 左僕射魏舒、右僕射下邳王晃等從駿議。 奏留中七日，乃詔曰：「旉等備為儒官，不念奉憲制，不指答所問，敢肆其誣罔之言，以幹亂視聽。 而旉是議主，應為戮首。 但旉及家人並自首，大信不可奪。 秦秀、傅珍前者虛妄，幸而得免，復不以為懼，當加罪戮，以彰凶慝。 猶復不忍，皆丐其死命。 秀、珍、旉等並除名。」 後數歲，復起為散騎侍郎。 終於國子祭酒。
Commandant Liu Song renewed the charge of grave lèse-majesté against Yu Fu and company, recommending public execution pending a full collegial review. The Masters of Writing asked leave to let the commandant enforce the death verdict. Xiahou Jun of the Masters of Writing told Zhu Zheng, "The court would kill men for daring to remonstrate! Those eight senior seats exist for exactly such crises—you must join me in blocking this." Zhu Zheng refused. Xiahou Jun rose in fury and said, "Then I expected too much of you!" He therefore drafted a lone rebuttal. Left director Wei Shu, right director Prince Sima Huang of Xiapi, and the rest sided with Xiahou Jun. After a week the emperor ruled: "Yu Fu and his fellow scholars ignored the law, evaded the question, and spread lies that poisoned public opinion. Yu Fu led the memorial and should bear the heaviest blame. Yet Yu Fu and his kin had all confessed in person, and imperial good faith must not be broken. Qin Xiu and Fu Zhen had already escaped once for empty rhetoric; fear taught them nothing and they deserve added punishment to expose malice. Still I cannot bring myself to kill them outright. Qin Xiu, Fu Zhen, Yu Fu, and the others were stricken from the rolls." Years later Yu Fu was recalled as palace attendant-in-ordinary. He ended his career as libationer of the National University.
36
秦秀
Qin Xiu
37
秦秀，字玄良，新興雲中人也。 父朗，魏驍騎將軍。 秀少敦學行，以忠直知名。 咸甯中，為博士。 何曾卒，下禮官議諡。 秀議曰：
Qin Xiu, courtesy name Xuanliang, came from Yunzhong in Xinxing commandery. His father Qin Lang had served Wei as general of agile cavalry on the right. From youth Qin Xiu studied diligently and was famed for blunt integrity. During the Xianning era he held a doctorate. When He Zeng died, the court asked the ritualists for a posthumous title. Qin Xiu argued:
38
故太宰何曾，雖階世族之胤，而少以高亮嚴肅，顯登王朝。 事親有色養之名，在官奏科尹模，此二者實得臣子事上之概。 然資性驕奢，不循軌則。 《詩》云：「節彼南山，惟石岩岩，赫赫師尹，人具爾瞻。」 言其德行高峻，動必以禮耳。 丘明有言：「儉，德之恭； 侈，惡之大也。」 大晉受命，勞廉隱約，曾受寵二代，顯赫累世。 暨乎耳順之年，身兼三公之位，食大國之租，荷保傅之貴，執司徒之均。 二子皆金貂卿校，列於帝側。 方之古人，責深負重，雖舉門盡死，猶不稱位。 而乃驕奢過度，名被九域，行不履道，而享位非常。 以古義言之，非惟失輔相之宜，違斷金之利也。 穢皇代之美，壞人倫之教，生天下之醜，示後生之傲，莫大於此。 自近世以來，宰臣輔相，未有受垢辱之聲，被有司之劾，父子塵累而蒙恩貸若曾者也。
The late grand tutor He Zeng, though born to privilege, first rose through conspicuous dignity and austerity. He won praise for delighting his parents at table and once impeached the minister Yin Mo—both deeds show the heart of a loyal servant. Yet his temperament was arrogant and spendthrift, heedless of proper bounds. The Classic of Poetry says: "Lofty stands that southern mountain, its crags sheer as a wall; awesome sits Minister Yin, and every eye is fixed on you." The verse praises a minister whose virtue towers so high that every step follows ritual. Zuo Qiuming adds: frugality is the crown of virtue; extravagance is the chief of vices. When the Great Jin took the throne it honoured modesty; He Zeng basked in favour across two reigns and dazzled for generations. Past his sixtieth year he piled three dukedoms on one frame, drew income from a great princedom, doubled as tutor and guardian, and wielded the minister of education's staff of equity. Both sons flanked the throne in gold-marten ministerial rank. Set against ancient exemplars, the duty was crushing: had his entire household perished in service it would scarcely match such rank. Instead he flaunted luxury to every corner of the realm, walked outside the Way, yet clung to offices no norm would allow. By classical standards he failed both as minister and as steadfast partner warned of in the Changes. Nothing did more to stain the new dynasty's brilliance, corrupt public ethics, advertise vice to the world, and teach the young to sneer at restraint. In living memory no chief minister has wallowed in scandal, faced censorial impeachment, dragged his sons through the mire, and still won lavish pardon as He Zeng did.
39
周公吊二季之陵遲，哀大教之不行，於是作諡以紀其終。 曾參奉之，啟手歸全，易簀而沒，蓋明慎終，死而後已。 齊之史氏，亂世陪臣耳，猶書君賊，累死不懲。 況於皇代守典之官，敢畏強盛，而不盡禮。 管子有言：「禮義廉恥，是謂四維，四維不張，國乃滅亡。」 宰相大臣，人之表儀，若生極其情，死又無貶，是則帝室無正刑也。 王公貴人，復何畏哉！ 所謂四維，復何寄乎！ 謹按《諡法》：「名與實爽曰繆，怙亂肆行曰醜。」 曾之行己，皆與此同，宜諡繆醜公。
The Duke of Zhou lamented how the Ji brothers had slipped from virtue and how the great teaching faltered, which is why posthumous names were invented—to seal a life's moral ledger. Zeng Shen followed that lesson, straightening his limbs on his deathbed and refusing an improper mat—proof that a gentleman polishes his end to the last breath. Even Qi scribes, mere retainers in a chaotic age, branded a murderous lord and kept recording despite repeated peril. How much less may officers of our dynasty, charged with preserving the rites, flinch from the mighty and shrink from speaking the full ritual truth! Guan Zhong said propriety, justice, integrity, and honour are the four cables of state; let them slack and the realm collapses. Chief ministers are the realm's mirror: if they live in open excess yet escape posthumous censure, the court has no standard of justice left. Why should great lords fear the law at all? And where are those four moral cables supposed to anchor themselves? The Posthumous Canon states: when title and deed diverge the name is Miu; when a man rides chaos to do as he pleases the name is Chou. He Zeng's life fits both clauses; he should be called Duke Miu-Chou.
40
時雖不同秀議，而聞者懼焉。
The court rejected Qin Xiu's formula, yet everyone who heard it shivered.
41
秀性忌讒佞，疾之如仇，素輕鄙賈充，及伐吳之役，聞其為大都督，謂所親者曰：「充文案小才，乃居伐國大任，吾將哭以送師。」 或止秀曰：「昔蹇叔知秦軍必敗，故哭送其子耳。 今吳君無道，國有自亡之形，群率踐境，將不戰而潰。 子之哭也，既為不智，乃不赦之罪。」 於是乃止。 及孫皓降于王濬，充未之知，方以吳未可平，抗表請班師。 充表與告捷同至，朝野以充位居人上，智出人下，僉以秀為知言。
Qin Xiu detested flatterers as mortal foes and scorned Jia Chong. When the Wu campaign began and Jia Chong was named grand commander, Qin told friends, "A clerk's wit now commands a conquest—I mean to weep the hosts onto the road." A friend warned him: "Jian Shu wept only because he foresaw Qin's defeat. Wu is ruled by a tyrant ripe for collapse; our armies will walk in unopposed. To wail now would be folly and a punishable insult. Qin Xiu relented. Sun Hao had already capitulated to Wang Jun before Jia Chong heard the news; he was still insisting Wu could not be taken and begging to recall the troops. Jia Chong's plea reached court the same day as the victory bulletin, and the whole capital concluded that a man so high in rank and so low in judgment proved Qin Xiu a prophet.
42
及充薨，秀議曰：「充舍宗族弗授，而以異姓為後，悖禮溺情，以亂大倫。 昔鄫養外孫莒公子為後，《春秋》書'莒人滅鄫'。 聖人豈不知外孫親邪！ 但以義推之，則無父子耳。 又案詔書'自非功如太宰，始封無後如太宰，所取必己自出如太宰，不得以為比'。 然則以外孫為後，自非元功顯德，不之得也。 天子之禮，蓋可然乎？ 絕父祖之血食，開朝廷之禍門。 《諡法》'昏亂紀度曰荒'，請諡荒公。」 不從。
After Jia Chong died Qin Xiu argued that he had spurned his own kin for heirs and adopted an outsider—trampling ritual and sentiment alike to wreck the natural order of the family. When the state of Zeng made a Ju prince's grandson heir, the Annals recorded it as "Ju extinguished Zeng". The sage knew full well how dear a daughter's son can be; duty still forbids treating him as a true heir. The throne's own edict said no precedent applies unless the merit, the lack of heirs, and the blood tie all match the Grand Tutor's unique case. Adopting a daughter's son is therefore barred except for founders of towering merit. May the Son of Heaven's rites be bent that far? It severs ancestral sacrifice at the root and invites catastrophe into the court. The Posthumous Canon calls a man who scrambles the norms "Huang"; Jia Chong should be Duke Huang. The court refused.
43
王濬有平吳之勳，而為王渾所譖毀。 帝雖不從，無明賞罰，以濬為輔國大將軍，天下咸為之怨。 秀乃上言曰：「自大晉啟祚，輔國之號，率以舊恩。 此為王濬無功之時，受九列之顯位，立功之後更得寵人之辱號也。 四海視之，孰不失望！ 蜀小吳大，平蜀之後，二將皆就加三事，今濬還而降等，天下安得不惑乎！ 吳之未亡也，雖以三祖之神武，猶躬受其屈。 以孫皓之虛名，足以驚動諸夏，每一小出，雖聖心知其垂亡，然中國輒懷惶怖。 當爾時，有能借天子百萬之眾，平而有之，與國家結兄弟之交，臣恐朝野實皆甘之耳。 今濬舉蜀、漢之卒，數旬而平吳，雖舉吳人之財寶以與之，本非己分有焉，而遽與計校乎？」
Wang Jun earned the credit for conquering Wu but Wang Hun's slander nearly ruined him. The emperor declined Qin Xiu's advice yet never settled the score fairly, merely naming Wang Jun general who supports the state—an insult the realm resented on his behalf. Qin Xiu therefore wrote: "Since our dynasty began, the title general who supports the state has been a sinecure for court favourites. So Wang Jun first drew a minister's stipend without merit, then earned the sneering reward reserved for imperial pets. Everyone under heaven sees the slight—who could fail to feel cheated? Shu was the lesser foe, Wu the greater: after Shu fell both generals who took it were raised to the three highest posts. Wang Jun conquers Wu yet is demoted—how can the realm not be baffled? Even the three martial founders had to swallow indignities from Wu while it still stood. Sun Hao's hollow prestige still shook the heartland: each time he sortied, the court knew he was dying, yet every garrison trembled as if doom were near. Had someone offered to borrow the emperor's hosts, crush Wu, and seal a brotherly pact with the throne, I suspect every minister would have leapt at the bargain. Wang Jun led the armies of the west and finished Wu in weeks. Even if you poured Wu's plunder into his lap, it would still be largesse he never owned—yet you quibble over his reward?
44
後與劉暾等同議齊王攸事，忤旨，除名。 尋復起為博士。 秀性悻直，與物多忤。 為博士前後垂二十年，卒於官。
Later he joined Liu Tun and others debating Prince Sima You's fief issue, crossed the emperor's will, and was stricken from the rolls. Soon he was recalled to a doctorate. Qin Xiu was prickly and blunt, and crossed paths with many. He spent the better part of two decades as a doctoral scholar and died in harness.
45
【史評】
Historiographer's appraisal
46
史臣曰：齊獻王以明德茂親，經邦論道，允厘庶績，式敘彝倫。 武帝納奸諂之邪謀，懷紹終之遠慮，遂乃君茲青土，作牧東籓。 遠邇驚嗟，朝野失望。 曹志等服膺教義，方軌儒門，蹇蹇匪躬，慺慺體國。 故能抗言鳳闕，忤犯龍鱗，身雖暫屈，道亦弘矣！ 庾氏世載清德，見稱於世，汝潁之多奇士，斯焉取斯。 謀甫素疾佞邪，而發因醉飽，投鼠忌器，豈易由言。 竊人之財，猶謂之盜，子玄假譽攘善，將非盜乎！
The historians write: Prince Xian of Qi combined royal virtue with true kinship—he was meant to steady the realm, guide policy, align every branch of government, and model the human order. Emperor Wu listened to corrupt advisers, brooded on long-term succession, and so banished him to a distant green fief to rule the eastern march. The news drew gasps near and far; court and countryside alike felt betrayed. Men like Cao Zhi took the rites to heart, kept to the Confucian path, risked themselves without self-interest, and wore the state's worries on their sleeves. So they could speak truth at the palace gate and brush the emperor's temper: though their careers bent for a season, the Way itself grew stronger. For generations the Yu family stood for unstained honour in Ru and Ying, a house from which the age drew its finest scholars. Yu Chun loathed sycophants by nature, yet wine loosened his tongue; striking the rat without smashing the vase is never simple. Theft of another's goods is theft by law; Guo Zixuan stole another's glory—what is that if not theft?
47
贊曰：魏氏維城，濟北知名。 潁川多士，峻亦飛英。 長岑徇義，祭酒遺榮。 謀甫三爵，酗醟斯作。 象既攘善，秀惟癉惡。 旉獻嘉謀，幾趨鼎鑊。
The verse praises: Among Wei's princely shields, Jibei's name shone bright. Yingchuan bred statesmen, and Yu Jun rose among them. The lord of Changcen chose duty; the libationer turned his back on pomp. Three cups undid Yu Moufu, and drunken brawling followed. Guo Xiang stole the credit; Qin Xiu exposed the wicked. Yu Fu offered wise remonstrance and nearly boiled in the cauldron for it.