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:臣聞黎庶之性,人眾而賢寡; 設官分職,則官寡而賢眾。 為賢眾而多官,則妨化; 以無官而棄賢,則廢道。 是故聖王之禦世也,因人之性,或出或處,故有朝廷之士,又有山林之士。 朝廷之士,佐主成化,猶人之有股肱心膂,共為一體也。 山林之士,被褐懷玉,太上棲於丘園,高節出於眾庶。 其次輕爵服,遠恥辱以全志。 最下就列位,惟無功而能知止。 彼其清劭足以抑貪污,退讓足以息鄙事。 故在朝之士聞其風而悅之,將受爵者皆恥躬之不逮。 斯山林之士、避寵之臣所以為美也,先王嘉之。 節雖離世,而德合於主; 行雖詭朝,而功同於政。 故大者有玉帛之命,其次有几杖之禮,以厚德載物,出處有地。 既廊廟多賢才,而野人亦不失為君子,此先王之弘也。 秦塞斯路,利出一官。 雖有處士之名,而無爵列於朝者,商君謂之六蠍,韓非謂之五蠹。 時不知德,惟爵是聞。 故閭閻以公乘侮其鄉人,郎中以上爵傲其父兄。 漢祖反之,大暢斯否。 任蕭、曹以天下,重四皓于南山。 以張良之勳,而班在叔孫之後; 蓋公之賤,而曹相諮之以政。 帝王貴德於上,俗亦反本於下。 故田叔等十人,漢廷臣無能出其右者,而未嘗幹祿于時。 以釋之之貴,結王生之襪於朝,而其名愈重。 自非主臣尚德兼愛,孰能通天下之志,如此其大者乎! 夫不革百王之弊,徒務救世之政,文士競智而務入,武夫恃力而爭先。 官高矣,而意未滿; 功報矣,其求不已。 又國無隨才任官之制,俗無難進易退之恥。 位一高,雖無功而不見下,已負敗而後見用。 故因前而升,則處士之路塞矣。 又仕者黜陟無章,是以普天之下,先競而後讓,舉世之士,有進而無退。 大人溺于動俗,執政撓於群言,衡石為之失平,清濁安可復分? 昔者先王患向之所以取天下者,今之為弊,是故功成必改其物,業定必易其教。 雖以爵祿使下,臣無貪陵之行; 雖以甲兵定功,主無窮武之悔也。 臣愚以為古者大夫七十懸車,今自非元功國老,三司上才,可聽七十致仕,則士無懷祿之嫌矣。 其父母八十,可聽終養,則孝莫大於事親矣。 吏曆試無績,依古終身不仕,則官無秕政矣。 能小而不能大,可降還涖小,則使人以器矣。 人主進人以禮,退人以禮,人臣亦量能受爵矣。 其有孝如王陽,臨九折而去官,潔如貢禹,冠一免而不著,及知止如王孫,知足如疏廣,雖去列位而居東野,與人父言,依於慈,與人子言,依於孝。 此其出言合于國檢,危行彰於本朝。 去勢如脫屣,路人為之隕涕; 辭寵如金石,庸夫為之興行。 是故先王許之,而聖人貴之。 夫人之性陵上,猶水之趣下也,益而不已必決,升而不已必困。 始於匹夫行義不敦,終於皇輿為之敗績,固不可不慎也。 下人並心進趣,上宜以退讓去其甚者。 退讓不可以刑罰使,莫若聽朝士時時從志,山林往往間出。 無使入者不能復出,往者不能復反。 然後出處交泰,提衡而立,時靡有爭,天下可得而化矣。
Public manners had turned brutally competitive; deference and yielding were everywhere eclipsed. Yu Jun submitted a memorial: I have heard that among the common people the multitude is large but the worthy are few; establish offices and divide duties, and offices are few while the worthy are many. Creating many offices to accommodate the worthy obstructs good governance; abandoning the worthy for lack of office abandons the Way. Therefore the sage king governs the age by following human nature: some serve in office, others withdraw from it. Hence there are men of the court and men of the mountains and forests. Men of the court assist the ruler in completing the transformation of society, like the arms, legs, heart, and sinew that together make one body. Men of the mountains and forests wear coarse cloth while cherishing jade within. The highest dwell in garden and grove; their lofty integrity stands above the common crowd. The next rank lightly esteem titles and robes and keep far from shame and disgrace to preserve their purpose. The lowest still take office, but without seeking merit and knowing when to stop. Their purity and strength are enough to check greed and corruption; their willingness to yield is enough to still petty strife. Thus men at court, hearing their example, are moved with admiration, and those about to receive rank are ashamed that they do not measure up. That is why recluses and ministers who shun favor are admirable, and why former kings praised them. Though their conduct withdraws from the world, their virtue still accords with the ruler; though their ways seem strange at court, their contribution equals that of active government. Therefore the greatest received commissions of jade and silk, the next received the rites of stool and staff. With deep virtue bearing all things, both service and withdrawal had their proper place. The court was filled with worthy talent, yet men in retirement still remained true gentlemen. That was the magnanimity of the former kings. Qin blocked this path and confined profit to a single track of office. Men who bore the name of retired scholar but held no rank at court Shang Yang called the six pests and Han Fei the five banes. The age no longer recognized virtue; only rank was heard. Thus a man of fifth rank in the lanes would insult his neighbors, and a langzhong or higher would look down on his father and elder brothers. The founding emperor of Han reversed this and thoroughly overturned that evil. He entrusted the realm to Xiao He and Cao Can and honored the Four Whiteheads of South Mountain. Zhang Liang, for all his merit, was ranked after Shusun Tong; though Old Master Gai was humble in station, Chancellor Cao consulted him on affairs of state. When emperors and kings valued virtue above, custom below also returned to fundamentals. Thus Tian Shu and ten like him were unmatched among Han ministers, yet never sought salary from their age. Though exalted in rank, Zhang Shizhi tied Wang Sheng's socks at court—and his reputation grew all the greater. Unless ruler and ministers alike honored virtue and universal care, who could harmonize the will of the empire on so grand a scale? If one does not reform the abuses accumulated over many reigns but only pursues expedients to save the age, scholars will compete in cleverness to gain office and soldiers will rely on force to push ahead. Rank grows ever higher, yet ambition is never satisfied; Merit is rewarded, yet desire does not cease. Moreover the state has no system of appointing men according to talent, and custom no longer shames those who press forward easily and withdraw with difficulty. Once rank is high, a man is not demoted though he achieves nothing; even after failure he may later be employed again. Thus promotion by inheritance alone blocks the path of the worthy recluse. And because promotion and dismissal follow no clear rule, all under Heaven compete first and yield only afterward; men everywhere advance but never withdraw. Great men are drowned by prevailing fashion, those in power bend to clamor, and the scales lose their balance. How then can clear and turbid be told apart? Former kings feared that the very means by which the realm had been won would become abuses. Therefore when the work is accomplished its instruments must be changed, and when the enterprise is settled its teaching must be altered. Though rank and salary are used to employ subordinates, ministers need not become greedy and overbearing; though arms and armor settle achievement, the ruler need not regret endless war. I humbly suggest that in antiquity grandees at seventy hung up their chariots. Now, except for men of the highest merit, national elders, and the foremost talent of the Three Departments, men should be permitted to retire at seventy. Then gentlemen would no longer be suspected of clinging to salary. If parents are eighty, sons should be permitted to retire completely to care for them. Then nothing would be greater filial piety than serving one's parents. If officials who repeatedly failed in trial were, by ancient rule, barred from office for life, government would be free of chaff. If a man proves fit for lesser posts but not for greater ones, he should be demoted back to lesser office. Then men would be employed according to their capacity. If the ruler advances and dismisses men by ritual, ministers too will accept rank only according to their measure. There are men filial like Wang Yang, who resigned at the Nine Bends; scrupulous like Gong Yu, who once removed his cap never put it on again; and men who knew when to stop, like Wang Sun, and were content, like Shu Guang. Though they left office and lived in retirement, in speaking with fathers they spoke with kindness, and in speaking with sons they spoke with filial duty. Their words accorded with the standards of the state, and their lofty conduct shone in their own age. They cast off power like worn shoes, and passersby wept for them; they declined favor with the firmness of metal and stone, and even common men were moved to better conduct. Therefore former kings approved such conduct, and sages prized it. Human nature presses upward as water presses downward: add without stopping and it must burst; rise without stopping and one must come to ruin. What begins with common men failing in conduct may end with the imperial carriage itself brought to ruin. This cannot be treated lightly. When subordinates all press forward with one mind, superiors should use withdrawal and yielding to remove the worst excesses. Withdrawal cannot be forced by punishment. Better to let court officials sometimes follow their own inclination and let men of the mountains and forests emerge from time to time. Do not let those who enter office be unable to leave it, or those who withdraw be unable to return. Then service and withdrawal will both flourish, the scales will stand level, strife will disappear from the age, and all under Heaven may be transformed.
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.
11
子瑉
Yu Min
12
=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).
13
瑉弟敳
Yu Ai, younger brother of Yu Min.
14
=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.
15
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!"
16
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."
17
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.
18
郭象
Guo Xiang
19
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.
20
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.
21
庾純
Yu Chun
22
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:司空公賈充請諸卿校並及臣。 臣不自量,飲酒過多。 醉亂行酒,重酌於公,公不肯飲,言語往來,公遂訶臣父老不歸供養,卿為無天地。 臣不服罪自引,而更忿怒,厲聲名公,臨時喧饒,遂至荒越。 禮,‘八十月制’,誠以衰老之年,變難無常也。 臣不惟生育之恩,求養老父,而懷祿貪榮,烏鳥之不若。 充為三公,論道興化,以教義責臣,是也。 而以枉錯直,居下犯上,醉酒迷荒,昏亂儀度。 臣得以凡才,擢授顯任。 《易》戒濡首,《論語論》誨酒困,而臣聞義不服,過言盈庭,黷幔台司,違犯憲度,不可以訓。 請台免臣官,廷尉結罪,大鴻臚削爵土。 敕身不謹,伏須罪誅。
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: Minister of Works Jia Chong had asked that all chief ministers and military officers be consulted, myself included. I overestimated myself and drank far too much. Drunk and disorderly while passing the cup, I pressed Chong again and again to drink; he refused, words flew back and forth, and he rebuked me for leaving an aged father unsupported at home, calling me "without Heaven and Earth." Instead of accepting guilt and withdrawing, I only grew angrier, shouted Chong's name aloud, and on the spot raised such a clamor that I crossed every line of decency. Ritual's "eighty-and-ninety regulations" exist precisely because old age is uncertain and disaster may come at any time. I failed to honor the debt of life and care for my aging father, clinging instead to salary and rank—worse even than the birds that feed their parents. Chong, as one of the Three Dukes charged with guiding the realm and promoting moral transformation, was right to reproach me with instruction in righteousness. But I perverted wrong into right, as a subordinate offending my superior—drunk, reckless, and utterly disordered in ritual decorum. Ordinary as I am, I was raised to a high and conspicuous office. The Book of Changes warns against drowning one's head in wine; the Analects warns against wine's ruin—yet when I heard righteous reproof I would not submit, reckless words filled the hall, I slighted the high ministers of state, violated the law, and can no longer serve as any model. I ask that the court remove me from office, the Commandant of Justice fix my guilt, and the Grand Herald strip my title and fief. I failed to keep proper discipline over myself and now prostrate myself, awaiting judgment and punishment.
23
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.
24
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:敦敘風俗,以人倫為先; 人倫之教,以忠孝為主。 忠故不忘其君,孝故不忘其親。 若孝必專心於色養,則明君不得而臣; 忠必不顧其親,則父母不得而子也。 是以為臣者,必以義斷其恩; 為子也,必以情割其義。 在朝則從君之命,在家則隨父之制。 然後君父兩濟,忠孝各序。 純兄峻以父老求歸,峻若得歸,純無不歸之勢; 峻不得歸,純無得歸之理。 純雖自聞,同不見聽。 近遼東太守孫和、廣漢太守鄧良皆有老母,良無兄弟,授之遠郡,辛苦自歸,皆不見聽。 且純近為京尹,父在界內,時得自啟定省,獨于禮法外處其貶黜,斌愚以為非理也。 禮,年八十,一子不從政。 純有二弟在家,不為違禮。 又令,年九十,乃聽悉歸。 今純父實未九十,不為犯令。 罵辱宰相,宜加放斥,以明國典。 聖恩愷悌,示加貶退,臣愚無所清議。 河南功曹史龐劄等表曰:臣郡前尹關內侯純,醉酒失常,《戊申詔書》既免尹官,以父篤老不求供養,下五府依禮典正其臧否。 臣謹按三王養老之制,八十,一子不從政; 九十,其家不從政,斯誠使人無闕孝養之道,為臣不違在公之節也。 先王制禮垂訓,莫尚于周。 當其時也,姬公留周,伯禽之魯,孝子不匱,典禮無愆。 今公府議,七十時制,八十月制,欲以駁奪從政之限,削除爵土。 是為公旦立法,還自越之,魯侯為子,即為罰首也。 石奮期頤,四子列郡。 近太宰獻王諸子,亦有籓外。 古今同符,忠孝並濟。 臣聞悔吝之疵,君子有之。 尹性少飲多,遂至沈醉。 尹醒聞知,悼恨前失,執謙引罪,深自奏劾,求入重法。 今公府不原所由,而謂傲很,是為重罪過醉之言,而沒迷復之義也。 臣聞父子天性,愛由自然,君臣之交,出自義合,而求忠臣必于孝子。 是以先王立禮,敬同于父,原始要終,齊於所生,如此猶患人臣罕能致身。 今公府議雲,禮律雖有常限,至於疾病歸養,不奪其志。 如此則為禮禁正直,而陷人以詐,違越王制,開其殆原。 尹少履清苦,事親色養,曆職內外,公廉無私,此陛下之所以屢發明詔,而尹之所以仍見擢授也。 尹行己也恭,率下也敬,先眾後己,實是宿心。 一旦由醉,責以暴慢。 按奏狀不忠不孝,群公建議削除爵土,此愚臣所以自悲自悼,拊心泣血也。 按今父母年過八十,聽令其子不給限外職,誠以得有歸來之緣。 今尹居在郡內,前每表屢蒙定省。 尹昆弟六人,三人在家,孝養不廢。 兄侍中峻,家之嫡長,往比自表,求歸供養,詔喻不聽。 國體法同,兄弟無異,而虛責尹不求供養如斯,臣懼長假飾之名,而損忠誠之實也。 夫禮者,所以經國家,定社稷也。 故陶唐之隆,順考古典; 周成之美,率由舊章。 伏惟陛下聖德欽明,敦禮崇教,疇諮四嶽,以詳典制。 尹以犯違受黜,而所由者醉。 公以教義見責,而所因者忿。 積忿以立義,由醉以得罪,禮律不復為斷,文致欲以成法。 是以愚臣敢冒死亡之誅,而恥不伸于盛明之世。 惟蒙哀察。
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 argued that when ordering public morals, human relations must come first; The core of that teaching is loyalty and filial piety. Loyalty keeps the lord in mind; filial piety keeps one's parents in mind. If filial piety meant devoting oneself wholly to nursing parents at home, no worthy ruler could keep a man in office; If loyalty required ignoring one's kin entirely, no parent could count on having a son. So the subject must set duty above private affection; and the son must let natural feeling temper what duty demands. At court he obeys his lord; at home he follows his father's wishes. Only then are both lord and father served, and loyalty and filial piety kept in their proper places. Yu Chun's elder brother Yu Jun had already petitioned to go home because their father was aged; had Jun been allowed to leave office, Yu Chun would inevitably have had to do the same; Jun was refused, so Chun had no reasonable grounds on which he could have been allowed to resign either. Yu Chun petitioned on his own account as well, and was likewise ignored. Recently Liaodong governor Sun He and Guanghan governor Deng Liang both had aged mothers; Liang had no brothers. Posted to distant commanderies, they pleaded hard to be allowed home—and were refused in every case. Moreover Yu Chun had lately been metropolitan governor while his father lived within the same jurisdiction, so he could regularly request leave to visit him. To punish him beyond what ritual and statute allow was, in Liu Bin's view, simply unjust. Ritual provides that when a parent reaches eighty, one son may stay home from office. Yu Chun still had two younger brothers at home, so he did not breach ritual. Statute further provides that only at ninety may a son be allowed to leave office altogether. Yu Chun's father was not yet ninety, so he did not violate the statute either. For reviling the chancellor, however, he should be further dismissed and expelled, to make the law clear. The throne's merciful forbearance in merely demoting him is enough; this humble servant has no further argument to offer on that score. Henan clerks led by Pang Zha submitted a memorial: our former governor, Marquis of Guan Nei Yu Chun, behaved improperly while drunk. The Wushen edict already removed him as metropolitan governor; because his father was gravely aged and he did not seek leave to care for him, the case was referred to the Five Offices to judge his conduct by ritual law. We respectfully cite the Three Dynasties' rule on supporting the aged: at eighty, one son may stay home from office; at ninety, the whole household may stand aside. That truly leaves no gap in filial care while keeping the subject's public duty intact. When the ancient kings framed ritual and handed down instruction, none surpassed the Zhou. In that age the Duke of Zhou remained at the Zhou court while Boyi of Lu went east to his fief—filial sons were not left wanting, and ritual was never breached. Now the high councils invoke age-seventy seasonal and age-eighty monthly rules to override the statutory limits on holding office and strip rank and fief. That would mean the Duke of Zhou made the law and then broke it himself—and Boyi of Lu, as a filial son, would be the first man punished. Shi Fen lived to a full hundred, with four sons serving as prefects in different commanderies. Even recently, several sons of Grand Preceptor Prince Xian held office beyond their princely domain. Antiquity and the present accord on this point: loyalty and filial duty can both be satisfied. I have heard that even worthy men are subject to the fault of shame and remorse. Yu Chun was ordinarily a light drinker, but this time he drank heavily and became thoroughly drunk. When he sobered and learned what had happened, he was filled with grief and remorse. He humbled himself, accepted blame, memorialized against himself in the strongest terms, and asked to be punished under the harshest statute. Yet the tribunal will not excuse the cause of his conduct and instead calls him arrogant and obstinate. That is to treat drunken words as a serious crime and to suppress the very principle that a man who has gone astray should be allowed to return to the right path. I have heard that the tie between father and son is natural and love springs from it, while the tie between ruler and minister rests on duty freely accepted—and that loyal ministers are sought among filial sons. That is why the former kings made ritual require reverence equal to that owed a father, tracing conduct from its origin to its end and treating the ruler as one treats the parent who bore one. Even with such standards, they still feared that few ministers would truly give themselves to service. The tribunal now argues that although ritual and statute set fixed limits, illness and return to care for parents should not be denied when the intent is genuine. Applied in this way, ritual would forbid honest conduct, trap men in pretense, violate the king's institutions, and open the way to grave danger. From youth Yu Chun lived plainly and austerely, cared for his parents with constant devotion, served both in the capital and in the provinces, and was upright and selfless. That is why Your Majesty has repeatedly issued edicts praising him, and why he has continued to receive promotion. In personal conduct he was respectful; in leading subordinates he was dutiful; he always put others before himself. That was his settled character. Yet on one occasion, because he was drunk, he was charged with arrogance and insolence. On that basis he was accused of disloyalty and unfiliality, and the assembled officials recommended stripping him of rank and fief. That is why I, your unworthy servant, grieve in my heart and weep blood. Under present law, when parents are over eighty their sons may be excused from appointments beyond the usual term limits, precisely so that they may have opportunity to return home. Yu Chun now serves within the metropolitan region, and in the past his repeated petitions for leave to visit his parents were regularly granted. Of Yu Chun's six brothers, three remain at home, so filial care of their parents has never lapsed. His elder brother Yu Jun, palace attendant and legitimate eldest son of the family, previously submitted his own memorial asking to resign and care for their parents, but the throne refused permission. The law applies equally to brothers, yet Yu Chun alone is falsely blamed for failing to seek leave to care for his parents. I fear that empty talk of propriety will flourish while genuine loyalty and sincerity are harmed. Ritual exists to govern the state and secure the altars of land and grain. The glory of the Taotang age rested on reverent study of the ancient canons; the excellence of King Cheng of Zhou lay in following the old statutes. Your Majesty's sacred virtue is reverent and discerning; you promote ritual and exalt instruction and consult your chief ministers to refine the canonical institutions. Yu Chun was dismissed for misconduct, yet the cause was drunkenness alone. The minister of works was censured in the name of moral instruction, yet the real cause was anger. Righteousness was built on stored-up anger, guilt was fixed on drunkenness, ritual and statute were no longer the standard of judgment, and charges were twisted into law. That is why I, your unworthy servant, dare risk death, yet am ashamed that justice cannot prevail in so enlightened an age. I humbly beg Your Majesty to look upon this with compassion and discernment.
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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.
26
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.
27
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.
28
子旉
Yu Fu
29
=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:《尚書書》稱帝堯「克明俊德,以親九族」。 武王光有天下,兄弟之國十有六人,同姓之國四十人,元勳睦親,顯以殊禮,而魯、衛、齊、晉大啟土宇,並受分器。 所謂惟善所在,親疏一也。 大晉龍興,隆唐、周之遠跡,王室親屬,佐命功臣,咸受爵土,而四海乂安。 今吳、會已平,詔大司馬齊王出統方嶽,當遂撫其國家,將准古典,以垂永制。 昔周之選建明德以左右王室也,則周公為太宰,康叔為司寇,聃季為司空。 及召、芮、畢、毛諸國,皆入居公卿大夫之位,明股肱之任重,守地之位輕也,未聞古典以三事之重出之國者。 漢氏諸侯王位尊勢重,在丞相三公上。 其入贊朝政者,乃有兼官,其出之國,亦不復假台司虛名為隆寵也。 昔申無宇曰「五大不在邊」,先儒以為貴寵公子公孫,累世正卿也。 又曰「五細不在庭」,先儒以為賤妨貴,少陵長,遠間親,新間舊,小加大也。 不在庭,不在朝廷為政也。 又曰:「親不在外,羈不在內。 今棄疾在外,鄭丹在內,君其少戒之。」 叔向有言:「公室將卑,其枝葉先落。」 公族,公室之本,而去之,諺所謂芘焉而縱尋斧柯者也。 今使齊王賢邪,則不宜以母弟之親尊,居魯、衛之常職; 不賢邪,不宜大啟土宇,表建東海也。 古禮,三公無職,坐而論道,不聞以方任嬰之。 惟周室大壞,宣王中興,四夷交侵,救急朝夕,然後命召穆公征淮夷。 故其詩曰「徐方不回,王曰旋歸」,宰相不得久在外也。 今天下已定,六合為家,將數延三事,與論太平之基,而更出之,去王城二千里,違舊章矣。
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, and Fu Zhen in a memorial of remonstrance citing the Documents on Emperor Yao: "Make his virtuous excellence illustrious, and cherish the nine branches of his kindred." When King Wu held the realm, he enfeoffed sixteen brother-states and forty states of the royal surname. Founding merit and kinship were honored with extraordinary rites, and Lu, Wei, Qi, and Jin received broad domains and the ritual vessels of investiture. This is the meaning of treating kin and outsiders alike wherever virtue lies. When Great Jin arose, it carried forward the distant example of Tang and Zhou. Royal kin and founding ministers alike received titles and domains, and the empire was at peace. With Wu and Kuaiji now pacified, the throne has ordered the Grand Marshal, Prince Sima You of Qi, to leave and govern his regional domain. He is expected to administer his princely state according to ancient precedent and thereby set a lasting institutional example. In antiquity Zhou chose men of established virtue to support the throne: the Duke of Zhou became Grand Steward, the Duke of Kang Minister of Crime, and Duke Dan Minister of Works. The states of Shao, Rui, Bi, and Mao likewise took high court offices, showing that serving as the king's arms and thighs was weighty while guarding a domain was comparatively light. Ancient precedent never sends the Three Excellencies out to govern a state. Han feudal kings outranked the chancellor and the Three Dukes in dignity and authority. Princes who stayed to assist at court might hold concurrent offices, but when they left for their domains they were not granted empty high ministerial titles merely as inflated favor. Shen Wuyu once said, "Great power must not sit on the frontier"—earlier scholars understood this to mean that favored princes and grandsons, who were chief ministers for generations, must not hold border commands. He also said, "Petty power must not be in the inner court"—earlier scholars took this to mean that the lowly obstruct the exalted, the young bully the elder, outsiders displace intimates, newcomers displace the established, and the small presume upon the great. "Not in the court" means not wielding power in the central government. He also said: "Kin should not be kept outside, detainees should not be kept inside. Qi Ji is now outside and Zheng Dan inside—Your Majesty should take warning." Shu Xiang said: "When the ruling house is about to fall, its branches wither first." The royal clan is the root of the dynasty, yet you would send it away—this is exactly what the proverb describes as sheltering oneself under a tree while letting the axe-handle grow to a full fathom. If Prince Sima You of Qi is worthy, it is unfitting to honor a uterine younger brother with the routine apanage role of Lu or Wei; If he is not worthy, it is unfitting to grant him a vast domain and proclaim a great eastern fief. By ancient ritual the Three Dukes had no fixed duties; they sat and counseled on the Way. One never hears of burdening them with regional command. Only when the Zhou house was near collapse, King Xuan restored it amid invasions from all quarters and daily emergencies, was Duke Mu of Shao sent to campaign against the Huaiyi. Hence the ode says, "Xu had not yet submitted when the king said, Turn back and return"—showing that a chief minister must not long remain abroad. Now the realm is settled and all under Heaven is one household. You will repeatedly summon the Three Excellencies to discuss the foundations of peace, yet you would send him out again two thousand li from the capital—in violation of ancient precedent.
30
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: "Yu Fu and his colleagues exceeded their brief, confused the throne, and peddled slander thinly veiled as frankness. We ask 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.
31
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.
32
秦秀
Qin Xiu
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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:
34
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 said: "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.
35
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.
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時雖不同秀議,而聞者懼焉。
The court rejected Qin Xiu's formula, yet everyone who heard it shivered.
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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.
38
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: "He 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.
39
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?"
40
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.
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【史評】
Historiographer's appraisal
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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?
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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.