1
序
Preface.
2
大矣哉，孝之為德也！ 分渾元而立體，道貫三靈； 資品匯以順名，功苞萬象。 用之于國，動天地而降休征； 行之於家，感鬼神而昭景福。 若乃博施備物，尊仁安義，柔色承顏，怡怡盡樂，擊鮮就養，亹癖忘劬，集包思藝黍之勤，循陔有采蘭之詠，事親之道也。 屬屬如在，哀哀罔極，聚薪流慟，銜索興嗟，曬風樹以隤心，頫寒泉而沫泣，追遠之情也。 審德筮仕，正務移官，居高匪危，在醜無爭，協修升以匡化，懷履冰而砥節，立身之行也。 是以閔曾翼翼，遵六教而緝貞規； 蔡董烝烝，弘七體而垂令跡。 亦有至誠上感，明祗下贊，郭巨致錫金之慶。 陽雍標蒔玉之祉； 烏馴丹羽，巢叔和之室，鹿呈白毳，擾功文之廬。 然則因彼孝慈而生友悌，理在兼綜，義歸一揆。 夫天倫之重，共氣分形，心睽則葉悴荊權，性合則華承棣萼。 乃有推肥代瘦，徇急難之情； 讓果同衾，盡歡愉之致：緬窺緗素，載流塵躅者歟！
How vast is filial devotion as a shaping moral force. From undivided chaos it takes form, and the Way runs through heaven, earth, and humanity. Grounded in every kind of thing to fit its name, its power embraces all that exists. At the level of the state it moves heaven and earth and summons auspicious response. In the household it stirs the spirits and makes lasting good fortune visible. Then there are those who prepare every provision, uphold humanity and right conduct, soften their manner to please a parent's face, share unstinting delight, bring fresh meat to the table, forget their own fatigue in constant care, labor in the fields as the ode remembers, and pace the paths with the song of orchids—the whole path of honoring father and mother. They stand as if the dead were still before them; sorrow without bound moves them to heap fuel and weep aloud, to clutch hemp and lament; the poem of trees in the wind breaks the heart, the spring's chill draws tears—the devotion of those who remember ancestors. They test character before taking office, set duties straight when moved from post, hold rank without arrogance, avoid quarrel among equals, rise in concert with reform, and walk as if on thin ice to temper integrity—the conduct that defines a life. Hence figures such as Min Sun and Zeng Shen walked with awe through the six teachings and knit an enduring standard. Cai Shun and Dong Yong embodied devoted sons of lore; they fulfilled every virtue on the list and left luminous examples. Sometimes sheer sincerity moved heaven and aiding spirits answered below—think of Guo Ju and the gift of gold. Yang Yong earned the omen of buried jade rewarded; Red crows nested tamely at Shu He's door; white deer grazed calm beside Gong Wen's cottage. From parental devotion grows brotherly love; the pattern joins both strands, and the moral logic comes to one measure. Heaven-ordained kin share one breath in separate bodies: estranged hearts leave kin dry as withered leaves; aligned natures flower like blossoms on the same spray. Some surrendered the better portion and bore hardship for a brother, staking everything when danger struck; They yielded fruit and shared one quilt, tasting every joy brotherhood affords—open those yellowed scrolls and their footprints still seem to stir the dust.
3
晉氏始自中朝，逮于江左，雖百六之災遄及，而君子之道未消，孝悌名流，猶為繼踵。 王偉元之行己，許季義之立節，夏方、盛彥體至性以馳芬，庾袞、顏含篤友于而宣范，自餘群士，咸標懿德。 采其遺絢，足厲澆風，故著《孝友篇》以續前史云耳。
From the central plains down to the southern shore, the Jin endured wave after disaster, yet the gentlemanly way never died; names famed for filial duty followed hard on one another. Wang Weiyuan's bearing, Xu Jiyi's integrity, Xia Fang and Sheng Yan living pure humaneness, Yu Gun and Yan Han modeling brotherly love—the roster runs on, each man a monument of grace. Their lingering brilliance can still stiffen a lax age; I set down this "Filial Friends" chapter to carry the histories forward.
4
李密
Li Mi
5
李密，字令伯，犍為武陽人也，一名虔。 父早亡，母何氏醮。 密時年數歲，感戀彌至，烝烝之性，遂以成疾。 祖母劉氏，躬自撫養，密奉事以孝謹聞。 劉氏有疾，則涕泣側息，未嘗解衣，飲膳湯藥必先嘗後進。 有暇則講學忘疲，而師事譙周，周門人方之游夏。
Li Mi, styled Lingbo, came from Wuyang in Qianwei commandery; he was also known as Qian. His father died while he was young, and his mother, a Ms. He, remarried. Li Mi was still a small child, yet clung to her so fiercely that his tender devotion turned into sickness. His grandmother Lady Liu raised him herself, and he waited on her so dutifully that his filial name spread. Whenever she took sick he wept beside her and slept in his clothes; every meal, broth, or dose he tasted himself before she received it. In spare moments he studied till weariness vanished; he sat at Qiao Zhou's feet, and fellow students likened him to Confucius's finest disciples.
6
少仕蜀，為郎。 數使吳，有才辯，吳人稱之。 蜀平，泰始初，詔徵為太子洗馬。 密以祖母年高，無人奉養，遂不應命。 乃上疏曰：臣以險釁，夙遭閔凶：生孩六月，慈父見背；行年四歲，舅奪母志。 祖母劉湣臣孤弱，躬親撫養。 臣少多疾病，九歲不行，零丁辛苦，至於成立。 既無伯叔，終鮮兄弟，門衰祚薄，晚有兒息。 外無期功強近之親，內無應門五尺之童，煢煢孑立，形影相弔。 而劉早嬰疾病，常在床蓐。 臣侍湯藥，未嘗廢離。 自奉聖朝，沐浴清化；前太守臣逵察臣孝廉，後刺史臣榮舉臣秀才。 臣以供養無主，辭不赴命。 明詔特下，拜臣郎中，尋蒙國恩，除臣洗馬。 猥以微賤，當侍東宮，非臣隕首所能上報。 臣具以表聞，辭不就職。 詔書切峻，責臣逋慢，郡縣逼迫，催臣上道，州司臨門，急於星火。 臣欲奉詔賓士，則劉病日篤；苟徇私情，則告訴不許。 臣之進退，實為狼狽。 伏惟聖朝以孝治天下，凡在故老，猶蒙矜恤，況臣孤苦尪羸之極。 且臣少仕偽朝，曆職郎署，本圖宦達，不矜名節。 今臣亡國賤俘，至微至陋，猥蒙拔擢，寵命殊私，豈敢盤桓，有所希冀！ 但以劉日薄西山，氣息奄奄，人命危淺，朝不慮夕。 臣無祖母，無以至今日；祖母無臣，無以終餘年。 母孫二人，更相為命，是以私情區區不敢棄遠。 臣密今年四十有四，祖母劉今年九十有六，是臣盡節于陛下之日長，而報養劉之日短也。 烏鳥私情，願乞終養。 臣之辛苦，非但蜀之人士及二州牧伯之所明知，皇天后土，實所鑒見。 伏願陛下矜湣愚誠，聽臣微志，庶劉僥倖，保卒餘年。 臣生當隕身，死當結草。
Young, he entered Shu service as a court gentleman. Sent repeatedly to Wu, he debated with polish and won southern acclaim. After Shu fell, in early Taishi an edict named him groom-purifier to the crown prince. He pleaded that his aged grandmother had no one else to care for her and declined the appointment. Thereupon he submitted a memorial: Your servant, because of perilous misfortune, early encountered sorrow and calamity: when I was a child of six months, my loving father turned his back on me; when I was four years old, my maternal uncle took away my mother's will to remain widowed. My grandmother Lady Liu pitied my weakness and loneliness and personally raised and nourished me. As a child I had many illnesses; at nine I still could not walk, and in solitary hardship and bitter toil I came through to adulthood. I had no uncles, and in the end few brothers; the household declined and its fortune was thin, and only late did I have sons. Outside, I had no close kin within the mourning degrees of qi and gong; inside, no boy five chi tall to answer the gate. I stood alone and solitary, with only my shadow and form to console each other. Moreover, Lady Liu was early afflicted with illness and was constantly on her bed and mats. I attended her decoctions and medicines and never once abandoned or left her. Since I came to serve the sage court and bathe in its pure transformation, first the governor, Your servant Kui, examined me as Filial and Incorrupt; later the inspector, Your servant Rong, recommended me as Flourishing Talent. Because there was no one to take charge of her care, I declined and did not answer the summons. A bright edict was specially issued appointing me gentleman; soon I received state grace and was appointed xima. That one lowly and base as I should serve the Eastern Palace is not something I could repay above even by losing my head. I reported everything in a memorial and declined to take office. The edict was urgent and stern, reproaching me for evasion and negligence; the commandery and county pressed me and urged me onto the road, and the provincial office came to my gate, more urgent than sparks from fire. I wished to receive the edict and hurry forward, but Lady Liu's illness grew more severe each day; if I merely followed private feeling, my plea was not permitted. My advance and retreat were truly distress and confusion. I humbly reflect that the sage court governs the realm by filial piety; all the old and aged still receive pity and care, how much more one so utterly orphaned, suffering, weak, and emaciated as I. Moreover, in youth I served the false court and passed through offices in the gentlemen's bureau; originally I sought official advancement and did not pride myself on reputation or integrity. Now I am a low captive of a fallen state, most slight and most base, yet have been unexpectedly selected and promoted, and the favored command is especially private; how would I dare linger and harbor hopes? It is only because Lady Liu is like the sun nearing the western hills, her breath faint and failing, her life in shallow danger, with morning not expecting evening. Without my grandmother, I would have had no way to reach today; without me, my grandmother has no way to finish her remaining years. Grandmother and grandson, the two of us, are each other's life; therefore my small private feeling does not dare abandon her and go far away. I, Mi, am now forty-four years old, and my grandmother Lady Liu is now ninety-six; thus the days in which I can fully devote loyalty to Your Majesty are long, while the days in which I can repay and support Lady Liu are short. With the private feeling of the crow that feeds its parent, I beg to be allowed to complete her care to the end. My hardship is clearly known not only to the men of Shu and the governors and inspectors of the two provinces; August Heaven and Sovereign Earth truly see and discern it. I humbly beg Your Majesty to pity my foolish sincerity and allow my small wish, so that Lady Liu may by good fortune preserve and complete her remaining years. While alive I shall give up my body; after death I shall repay You by knotting grass.
7
帝覽之曰：「士之有名，不虛然哉！」 乃停召。 後劉終，服闋，復以洗馬徵至洛。 司空張華問之曰：「安樂公何如？」 密曰：「可次齊桓。」 華問其故，對曰：「齊桓得管仲而霸，用豎刁而蟲流。 安樂公得諸葛亮而抗魏，任黃皓而喪國，是知成敗一也。」 次問：「孔明言教何碎？」 密曰：「昔舜、禹、皋陶相與語，故得簡雅； 《大誥》與凡人言，宜碎。 孔明與言者無己敵，言教是以碎耳。」 華善之。
The emperor read it and said, "A gentleman's reputation truly is not empty!" The emperor suspended the appointment. After Lady Liu died and mourning ended, he was summoned again as groom-purifier and traveled to Luoyang. Zhang Hua asked him, "What do you make of the Duke of Anle?" Li Mi replied, "Roughly on par with Duke Huan of Qi." Zhang Hua pressed why; Li Mi said, "Qi Huan rose with Guan Zhong and rotted with Shu Diao—worms poured from his corpse. The Duke of Anle held Wei at bay with Zhuge Liang and lost his realm to Huang Hao—triumph and ruin turn on the same hinge." Zhang Hua went on, "Why did Zhuge Liang lecture so tediously?" Li Mi answered, "When Shun, Yu, and Gao Yao spoke among peers, their words stayed spare and refined; the "Great Announcement" addresses plain folk and therefore sounds granular. Zhuge Liang faced listeners who could not match him, so his teaching grew painstakingly detailed." Zhang Hua accepted the answer.
8
出為溫令，而憎疾從事，嘗與人書曰：「慶父不死，魯難未已。」 從事白其書司隸，司隸以密在縣清慎，弗之劾也。 密有才能，常望內轉，而朝廷無援，乃遷漢中太守，自以失分懷怨。 及賜餞東堂，詔密令賦詩，末章曰：「人亦有言，有因有緣。 官無中人，不如歸田。 明明在上，斯語豈然！」 武帝忿之，於是都官從事奏免密官。 後卒於家。 二子：賜、興。
Posted magistrate of Wen, he despised his clerk and once wrote a friend, "Until Qing Fu dies, Lu never rests—" The clerk denounced the letter to the capital inspector, who left Li Mi untouched because his county rule stayed scrupulous. Talented and eager for a capital post, he lacked patrons and was shunted to governor of Hanzhong—a posting he resented as a slight. At a farewell banquet in the Eastern Hall he was told to improvise a poem whose closing lines ran, "As the proverb goes, cause and condition rule our lot. Without a friend inside the palace, better go home and plow. The radiant Son of Heaven reigns on high—would such words stand?" Emperor Wu took offense, and the metropolitan clerk impeached him out of office. He died at home in the end. Two sons survived him: Li Ci and Li Xing.
9
賜字宗石，少能屬文，嘗為《玄鳥賦》，詞甚美。 州辟別駕，舉秀才，未行而終。 興字雋石，亦有文才，刺史羅尚辟別駕。 尚為李雄所攻，使興詣鎮南將軍劉弘求救，興因願留，為弘參軍而不還。 尚白弘，弘即奪其手版而遣之。 興之在弘府，弘立諸葛孔明、羊叔子碣，使興俱為之文，甚有辭理。
Li Ci, styled Zongshi, wrote verse early; his "Rhapsody on the Dark Bird" was superbly turned. The province wanted him as junior aide and nominated him as "flourishing talent," yet he died before reporting. Li Xing, styled Juanshi, showed the same literary gifts; Governor Luo Shang appointed him aide. When Luo Shao faced Li Xiong's assault he sent Li Xing south to beg relief from Liu Hong; Li Xing stayed on as Liu Hong's staff adviser and never went back. Luo Shao complained to Liu Hong, who seized Li Xing's official tablet and ordered him home. During Li Xing's stay, Liu Hong raised steles to Zhuge Liang and Yang Hu and had Li Xing draft both inscriptions—each tightly argued.
10
盛彥
Sheng Yan
11
盛彥，字翁子，廣陵人也。 少有異才。 年八歲，詣吳太尉戴昌，昌贈詩以觀之，彥於坐答之。 辭甚慷慨。 母王氏因疾失明，彥每言及，未嘗不流涕。 於是不應辟召，躬自侍養，母食必自哺之。 母既疾久，至於婢使數見捶撻。 婢忿恨，伺彥暫行，取蠐螬灸飴之。 母食以為美，然疑是異物，密藏以示彥。 彥見之，抱母慟哭，絕而復蘇。 母目豁然即開，從此遂愈。 彥仕吳，至中書侍郎，吳平，陸雲薦之于刺史周浚，本邑大中正劉頌又舉彥為小中正。 太康中卒。
Sheng Yan, styled Wengzi, came from Guangling. Even as a boy he showed extraordinary gifts. At eight he called on Grand Commandant Dai Chang of Wu, who handed him a poem as a test; Sheng Yan answered on the spot. His reply rang with generous fervor. His mother Lady Wang went blind from illness; whenever he spoke of her he wept. He refused every appointment and nursed her himself, spooning every meal to her lips. Her long sickness frayed every nerve until he flogged the maids time and again. One maid nursed a grudge; when Sheng Yan stepped out she roasted grubs into the sweets. His mother found it savory yet suspected foul play and hid a sample for her son. When he saw it he clutched his mother and sobbed himself unconscious, then revived. Her eyes flew open at once and from that day she healed. He served Wu as palace secretary cadet; after conquest Lu Yun urged Inspector Zhou Jun to employ him, and local chief classifier Liu Song nominated him junior classifier. He died during Taikang.
12
夏方
Xia Fang
13
夏方，字文正，會稽永興人也。 家遭疫癘，父母伯叔群從死者十三人。 方年十四，夜則號哭，晝則負土，十有七載，葬送得畢，因廬於墓側，種植松柏，烏鳥猛獸馴擾其旁。 吳時拜仁義都尉，累遷五官中郎將。 朝會未嘗乘車，行必讓路。 吳平，除高山令。 百姓有罪應加捶撻者，方向之涕泣而不加罪，大小莫敢犯焉。 在官三年，州舉秀才，還家，卒，年八十七。
Xia Fang, styled Wenzheng, came from Yongxing in Kuaiji commandery. Plague swept his clan: parents, uncles, and cousins—thirteen dead. At fourteen he keened through nights and hauled soil by day for seventeen years until every burial closed; he hutched beside the tombs, planted evergreens, and found birds and beasts grazing tame at his side. Wu named him chief for ritual warriors and later promoted him to captain of the imperial guard. At court he never rode; on foot he always stood aside for others. After Wu fell he became magistrate of Gaoshan. When townsfolk deserved the rod he wept until punishment seemed cruel and forgave them all—none dared sin twice. Three years into office the province nominated him as "flourishing talent"; he went home and died at eighty-seven.
14
王裒
Wang Pou
15
王裒，字偉元，城陽營陵人也。 祖修，有名魏世。 父儀，高亮雅直，為文帝司馬。 東關之役，帝問於眾曰：「近日之事，誰任其咎？」 儀對曰：「責在元帥。」 帝怒曰：「司馬欲委罪於孤邪！」 遂引出斬之。
Wang Pou, styled Weiyuan, came from Yingling in Chengyang commandery. His grandfather Wang Xiu had been celebrated under Wei. His father Wang Yi—lofty, blunt, and upright—had served Emperor Wen of Wei as chief of staff. During the Dongguan battle Emperor Wen asked his officials, "Who owns this recent defeat?" Wang Yi answered, "Blame rests with the supreme commander." The emperor snapped, "Do you mean to hang this on your sovereign?" He had Wang Yi dragged out and beheaded.
16
裒少立操尚，行己以禮，身長八尺四寸，容貌絕異，音聲清亮，辭氣雅正，博學多能，痛父非命，未嘗西向而坐。 示不臣朝廷也。 於是隱居教授，三征七辟皆不就。 廬于墓側，旦夕常至墓所拜跪，攀柏悲號，涕淚著樹，樹為之枯。 母性畏雷，母沒，每雷，輒到墓曰：「裒在此。」 及讀《詩》至「哀哀父母，生我劬勞」，未嘗不三復流涕，門人受業者並廢《蓼莪》之篇。
Young Wang Pou formed stern principles and lived by ritual—tall, striking, voice clear, speech measured, learned in many arts; mourning his father's unjust death he never sat facing west. He refused ever to turn toward Luoyang's throne. He withdrew to teach privately and thrice spurned summonses, seven times refusing appointments. He hutched beside her grave, bowing morning and night, clutching the cypress until his tears soaked the bark and the trees died. His mother had feared thunder; after she died he hurried to the mound at every peal and cried, "Your son Pou is here." Whenever lessons touched "How bitterly I cry for father and mother" he wept through three readings, so students skipped the "Motherwort" ode altogether.
17
家貧，躬耕，計口而田，度身而蠶。 或有助之者，不聽。 諸生密為刈麥，裒遂棄之。 知舊有致遺者，皆不受。 門人為本縣所役，告裒求屬令，裒曰：「卿學不足以庇身，吾德薄不足以廕卿，屬之何益！ 且吾不執筆已四十年矣。」 乃步擔乾飯，兒負鹽豉草屐，送所役生到縣，門徒隨從者千餘人。 安丘令以為詣己，整衣出迎之。 裒乃下道至土牛旁，磬折而立，云：「門生為縣所役，故來送別。」 因執手涕泣而去。 令即放之，一縣以為恥。
Poor, he worked his own fields—measuring seed to mouths and silk to bodies. Anyone offering help he politely refused. Students once harvested wheat for him in secret; he dumped every kernel rather than accept. He turned away every gift from old friends. When a pupil faced county corvée and begged Wang Pou to intercede with the magistrate, Wang said, "Your scholarship cannot shield you; my thin virtue cannot shade you—what use is pulling strings? Besides, I have not taken up a brush for anyone in forty years." Then he hoisted dried rations on a shoulder pole while his son lugged salt, bean relish, and straw sandals, and walked the drafted pupil to the yamen with more than a thousand students trailing behind. The Anqiu magistrate assumed the visit was for him, dressed formally, and hurried out to greet Wang Pou. Wang Pou stepped off the road to the clay ox, stood bent like a chime-stone, and said, "My student has been conscripted by the county; therefore I have come to see him off." He clasped hands, wept, and walked away. The magistrate freed the man at once, and the county squirmed at its own pettiness.
18
鄉人管彥少有才而未知名，裒獨以為必當自達，拔而友之，男女各始生，便共許為婚。 彥後為西夷校尉，卒而葬於洛陽，裒後更嫁其女。 彥弟馥問裒，裒曰：「吾薄志畢願山藪，昔嫁姊妹皆遠，吉凶斷絕，每以此自誓。 今賢兄子葬於洛陽。 此則京邑之人也，由吾結好之本意哉！」 馥曰：「嫂，齊人也，當還臨淄。」 裒曰：「安有葬父河南而隨母還齊！ 用意如此，何婚之有！」
Townsmen Guan Yan had talent but no fame until Wang Pou singled him out, befriended him, and betrothed their infant son and daughter while still in the cradle. Guan Yan rose to western frontier colonel and was buried at Luoyang; Wang Pou later gave his daughter to another house. Guan Fu asked Wang Pou about it, and Wang said, "My small resolve was to end my wishes among the hills and marshes. In former days, when I married off my sisters, all went far away, and good and ill were cut off; I always swore this to myself. Now your worthy elder brother's son is buried at Luoyang. This makes him a man of the capital. Was that the original intention with which I formed the match!" Fu answered, "His mother is a Qi woman—she belongs back in Linzi." Wang shot back, "Who buries a father in Henan yet trails mother to Qi? With motives like that, what alliance is left?"
19
北海邴春少立志操，寒苦自居，負笈遊學，鄉邑僉以為邴原復出。 裒以春性險狹慕名，終必不成。 其後春果無行，學業不終，有識以此歸之。 裒常以為人之所行期於當歸善道，何必以所能而責人所不能。
Bing Chun of Beihai embraced austerity and wandered with books on his back until locals swore Bing Yuan had been reborn. Wang Pou judged him restless and fame-hungry—he would come to nothing. Chun later proved faithless and dropped his studies—thoughtful men credited Wang Pou's foresight. Wang Pou felt conduct should bend toward the good—never judge others by talents they lack.
20
及洛京傾覆，寇資蜂起，親族悉欲移渡江東，裒戀墳壟不去。 賊大盛，方行，猶思慕不能進，遂為賊所害。
When Luoyang fell and rebels multiplied, kin fled toward the eastern Jin redoubt, but Wang Pou stayed by the tombs. When robbers closed in he tried to flee yet lingered at the graves until they cut him down.
21
許孜
Xu Zi
22
許孜，字季義，東陽吳寧人也。 孝友恭讓，敏而好學。 年二十，師事豫章太守會稽孔沖，受《詩》、《書》、《禮》、《易》及《孝經》、《論語》。 學竟，還鄉里。 沖在郡喪亡，孜聞問盡哀，負擔奔赴，送喪還會稽，蔬食執役，制服三年。 俄而二親沒，柴毀骨立，杖而能起，建墓於縣之東山，躬自負土，不受鄉人之助。 或湣孜羸憊，苦求來助，孜晝助不逆，夜便除之。 每一悲號，鳥獸翔集。 孜以方營大功，乃棄其妻，鎮宿墓所，列植松柏亙五六里。 時有鹿犯其松栽，改悲歎曰：「鹿獨不念我乎！」 明日，忽見鹿為猛獸所殺，置於所犯栽下。 孜悵惋不已，乃為作塚，埋於隧側。 猛獸即於孜前自撲而死，孜益歎息，又取埋之。 自後樹木滋茂，而無犯者。 積二十餘年孜乃更娶妻，立宅墓次，烝烝朝夕，奉亡如存，鷹雉棲其梁，簷鹿與猛獸擾其庭圃，交頸同遊，不相搏噬。 元康中，郡察孝廉，不起，巾褐終身。 年八十餘，卒於家。 邑人號其居為孝順里。
Xu Zi, styled Jiyi, came from Wuning in Dongyang. Filial, gentle, courteous, and eager to learn. At twenty he studied under Kong Chong, governor of Yuzhang, mastering the Poetry, Documents, Rites, Changes, Filial Piety, and Analects. When coursework ended he went home. When Kong Chong died in post, Xu Zi raced to the funeral, carried the coffin to Kuaiji, ate plain food, served like a laborer, and mourned three years. When both parents died he grew skeletal yet rose with a cane; he piled tombs on the eastern hill, hauling soil alone and refusing neighbors' aid. Neighbors pitied his exhaustion and insisted on helping; he let them work by day but tore their work down overnight. Each time he wailed, birds and beasts flocked in as if answering his cry. He set aside his wife to keep the great mourning, slept at the tumulus, and lined the hills with pines and cypress for miles. When a deer damaged his planted pines, Zi lamented sadly and said, "Does even a deer not think of me!" Next morning he found the deer torn by some beast and laid under the same seedlings. Heartbroken, he dug a grave beside the path and buried the deer. Then a predator dropped dead at his feet—he buried that beast too, sighing still deeper. The grove grew thick, and no animal ever trampled it again. Only after two decades did he remarry, building a house at the grave and serving the dead as if alive; hawks and pheasants nested in his rafters, deer and predators mingled in the yard without strife. In the Yuankang years the province cited him as filial and honest, but he never took office, spending life in homespun. He died at home in his eighties. Neighbors called his lane the Hamlet of Filial Sons.
23
咸康中，太守張虞上疏曰：「臣聞聖賢明訓存乎舉善，褒貶所興，不遠千載。 謹案所領吳甯縣物故人許孜，至性孝友，立節清峻，與物恭讓，言行不貳。 當其奉師，則在三之義盡； 及其喪親，實古今之所難。 咸稱殊類致感，猛獸弭害。 雖臣不及見，然備聞斯語，竊謂蔡順、董黯無以過之。 孜沒積年，其子尚在，性行純愨，今亦家於墓側。 臣以為孜之履操，世所希逮，宜標其令跡，甄其後嗣，以酬既往，以獎方來。 《陽秋傳》曰：'善善及其子孫'。 臣不達大體，請台量議。」 疏奏，詔旌表門閭。 蠲復子孫。 其子生亦有孝行。 圖孜像於堂，朝夕拜焉。
In Xiankang, Prefect Zhang Yu wrote, "Sages teach us to exalt the good; their praise and blame still echo a millennium on. I review Wuning’s late Xu Zi—utterly filial, upright, humble, and consistent in word and deed. Honoring his master he met every duty the “threes” require of a pupil; Burying his parents he did what few ancients or moderns could match. All said wild things bowed to him and savage beasts forgot to harm. I did not witness it, yet the accounts make Cai Shun and Dong Yin look no greater. Long after Xu Zi’s death his son still lives in pure piety, keeping house by the grave. Such conduct is matchless; the court should ennoble his name and free his heirs to reward the past and teach the future. The Zuo tradition says, 'When you honor goodness, bless the next generation too.' Your subject does not understand the larger principle; I ask the ministry to deliberate and decide." The throne approved the memorial and ordered a honorific plaque for his gate. His descendants were excused from labor service. His son showed the same filial devotion. He hung a portrait of Xu Zi in the hall and bowed to it daily.
24
庾袞
Yu Gun
25
庾袞，字叔褒，明穆皇后伯父也。 少履勤儉，篤學好問，事親以孝稱。 咸寧中，大疫，二兄俱亡，次兄毗復殆，癘氣方熾，父母諸弟皆出次於外，袞獨留不去。 諸父兄強之，乃曰：「袞性不畏病。」 遂親自扶持，晝夜不眠，其間復撫柩哀臨不輟。 如此十有餘旬，疫勢既歇，家人乃反，毗病得差，袞亦無恙。 父老咸曰：「異哉此子！ 守人所不能守，行人所不能行，歲寒然後知松柏之後凋，始疑疫癘之不相染也。」
Yu Gun, styled Shubao, was the Empress Mingmu’s uncle on her father’s side. He grew up frugal, bookish, and already praised for filial care. In the Xianning plague both elder brothers died; a third, Pi, lay near death while the miasma raged, so parents and brothers fled the house—only Yu Gun stayed. Kinsmen tried to drag him away; he said, "I am not afraid of sickness." He nursed Pi without sleeping, pausing only to beat his breast beside the coffins. After three months the plague broke; the family returned, Pi lived, and Yu Gun never sickened. Village elders marveled, "What manner of youth is this? He stayed where others fled and endured what others could not—cold winters reveal which trees stay green; maybe foul vapors spare the steadfast after all."
26
初，袞諸父並貴盛，惟父獨守貧約。 袞躬親稼穡，以給供養，而執事勤恪，與弟子樹籬，跪以授條。 或曰：「今在隱屏，先生何恭之過？」 袞曰：「幽顯易操，非君子之志也。」 父亡，作筥賣以養母。 母見其勤，曰：「我無所食。」 對曰：「母食不甘，袞將何居！」 母感而安之。 袞前妻荀氏，繼妻樂氏，皆官族富室，及適袞，俱棄華麗，散資財，與袞共安貧苦，相敬如賓。 母終，服喪居於墓側。
His uncles lived rich and prominent lives while his father alone stayed poor. He farmed to feed his parents, worked like a servant, and knelt to pass wicker slips when planting hedges with students. Someone asked why he knelt even in private—“why such ceremony?” Yu Gun answered, "The gentleman does not shift manners between private rooms and public hall." After his father died he wove baskets for coin to feed his mother. Seeing his toil, his mother said, "I have nothing to eat." He answered, "If you cannot enjoy a meal, how can I go on living?" She wept and found peace again. Two wives from great houses married down to his hovel, shed silks, shared their dowries, and lived in mutual respect like honored guests. When his mother died he hutched the grave through mourning.
27
歲大饑，藜羹不糝，門人欲進其飯者，而袞每曰已食，莫敢為設。 及麥熟，獲者已畢，而采捃尚多，袞乃引其群子以退，曰「待其間。」 及其捃也，不曲行，不旁掇，跪而把之，則亦大獲，又與邑人入山拾橡，分夷險，序長幼，推易居難，禮無違者。 或有斬其墓柏，莫知其誰，乃召鄰人集於墓而自責焉，因叩頭泣涕，謝祖禰曰：「德之不修，不能庇先人之樹，袞之罪也。」 父老咸亦為之垂泣，自後人莫之犯。 撫諸孤以慈，奉諸寡以仁，事加於厚而教之義方，使長者體其行，幼者忘其孤。 孤甥郭秀，比諸子侄，衣食而每先之。 孤兄女曰芳，將嫁，美服既具，袞乃刈荊苕為箕帚，召諸子集之於堂，男女以班，命芳曰：「芳乎！ 汝少孤，汝逸汝豫，不汝疵瑕。 今汝適人，將事舅姑，灑掃庭內，婦之道也，故賜汝此。 匪器之為美，欲溫恭朝夕，雖休勿休也。」 而以舊宅與其長兄子賡、翕。 及翕卒，袞哀其早孤，痛其成人而未娶，乃撫柩長號，哀感行路，聞者莫不垂涕。
In famine even weed soup lacked grain; students offered rice, yet he always claimed to have eaten already. When the wheat ripened and the reapers had finished, with many gleaners still at work, Gun drew back his sons and nephews and said, "Wait until there is a gap." They walked straight rows, knelt to scoop fallen ears, and filled sacks honorably; gathering acorns in the hills they ranked age before youth and claimed the stony slopes themselves. When someone cut the cypresses at his tomb and no one knew who it was, he summoned the neighbors to gather at the grave and reproached himself; then he kowtowed, wept, and apologized to his ancestors, saying, "My virtue is uncultivated, and I cannot protect the trees of my forebears; this is Gun's crime." Elders wept with him, and no one touched the trees again. He raised orphans gently and widowed sisters-in-law generously, teaching propriety until elders imitated him and children forgot their loss. He clothed and fed nephew Guo Xiu alongside his own sons yet always served the boy first. His orphaned elder brother's daughter was named Fang and was about to marry. Fine garments had already been prepared, but Gun cut thorn and broom-plant to make baskets and brooms, summoned his sons and daughters to gather in the hall, arranged the men and women by rank, and instructed Fang, saying, "Fang! You were orphaned young; you were at ease and indulged, and no one blamed your faults. Now you are going to another household and will serve your parents-in-law; sweeping and sprinkling within the courtyard is the way of a wife, and therefore I give you these. It is not that the implements are beautiful; I want you to be gentle and respectful morning and night, and though you may have leisure, not to take leisure." Then he deeded the old house to his nephews Geng and Xi. When Xi died young he hugged the coffin and keened until passersby wept.
28
初，袞父誡袞以酒，每醉，輒自責曰：「余廢先父之誡，其何以訓人！」 乃于父墓前自杖三十。 鄰人褚德逸者，善事其親，老而不倦，袞每拜之。 嘗與諸兄過邑人陳准兄弟，諸兄友之，皆拜其母，袞獨不拜。 准弟徽曰：「子不拜吾親何？」 袞曰：「未知所以拜也。 夫拜人之親者，將自同於人之子也，其義至重，袞敢輕之乎？」 遂不拜。 准、徽歎曰：「古有亮直之士，君近之矣。 君若當朝，則社稷之臣歟！ 君若握兵，臨大節，孰能奪之！ 方今徵聘，君實宜之。」 於是鄉黨薦之，州郡交命，察孝廉，舉秀才、清白異行，皆不降志，世遂號之為異行。
At first, Gun's father had admonished him about wine; whenever Gun became drunk, he would reproach himself and say, "I have cast aside my late father's admonition; how can I instruct others!" Before his father’s grave he flogged himself thirty strokes. Neighbor Chu Deyi nursed aged parents without tiring—Yu Gun bowed low whenever they met. Visiting the Chen brothers with kin, everyone bowed to their mother except Yu Gun. Chen Hui, Chen Zhun's younger brother, said, "Why do you not bow to my parent?" Yu Gun answered, "I saw no ground for such a bow. Prostrating before another’s parents means adopting their son’s place—that obligation dwarfs ordinary courtesy." So he stayed upright. Chen Zhun and Chen Hui sighed and said, "In antiquity there were men of bright uprightness; you are close to them. If you were to serve at court, you would be a minister of the altars of soil and grain! If you were to command troops and face a great crisis, who could take that resolve from you! Now summons and invitations are being issued; you truly ought to accept." Yet counties, provinces, and tribunals piled summons on him—filial, talented, pure—and he refused every title, so peers called him the man of singular principle.
29
元康末，潁川太守召為功曹，袞服造役之衣，杖鍤荷斧，不俟駕而行，曰：「請受下夫之役。」 太守飾車而迎，袞逡巡辭退，請徒行入郡，將命者遂逼扶升車，納于功曹舍。 既而袞自取己車而寢處焉，形雖恭而神有不可動之色。 太守知其不屈，乃歎曰：「非常士也，吾何以降之！」 厚為之禮而遣焉。
Late in Yuankang, the governor of Yingchuan summoned him to be clerk of merit. Gun put on the clothes of a corvee laborer, took a spade as a staff, shouldered an axe, and set out without waiting for a carriage, saying, "Please let me receive the service of a lowly laborer." The governor sent a decorated rig; Yu Gun refused until handlers bundled him into the carriage and dumped him in the clerk's quarters. He slept in his own cart anyway—demure in manner, adamant in spirit. Knowing that Gun would not bend, the governor sighed and said, "He is an extraordinary gentleman; how can I lower him!" He honored him richly and let him go.
30
齊王冏之唱義也，張泓等肆掠于陽翟，袞乃率其同族及庶姓保于禹山。 是時百姓安寧，未知戰守之事，袞曰：「孔子云：'不教而戰，是謂棄之。 '」乃集諸如士而謀曰：「二三君子相與處於險，將以安保親尊，全妻孥也。 古人有言：'千人聚而不以一人為主，不散則亂矣。 '將若之何！」 眾曰：「善。 今日之主，非君而誰！」 袞默然有間，乃言曰：「古人急病讓夷，不敢逃難，然人之立主，貴從其命也。」 乃誓之曰：「無恃險，無怙亂，無暴鄰，無抽屋，無樵采人所植，無謀非德，無犯非義，戮力一心，同恤危難。」 眾咸從之。 於是峻險厄，杜蹊徑，修壁塢，樹蕃障，考功庸，計丈尺，均勞逸，通有無，繕完器備，量力任能，物應其宜，使邑推其長，裏推其賢，而身率之。 分數既明，號令不二，上下有禮，少長有儀，將順其美，匡救其惡。 及賊至，袞乃勒部曲，整行伍，皆持滿而勿發。 賊挑戰，晏然不動，且辭焉。 賊服其慎而畏其整，是以皆退，如是者三。 時人語曰：「所謂臨事而懼、好謀而成者，其庾異行乎！」
When Sima Jiong rose against usurpation and Zhang Hong looted Yangzhai, Yu Gun led clan and neighbors onto fortified Mount Yu. At that time the people were peaceful and did not know the affairs of war and defense. Gun said, "Confucius said: 'To fight without teaching is called abandoning them.'" He then gathered all the gentlemen and discussed matters, saying, "You gentlemen are dwelling together in danger in order to secure and protect your parents and elders and preserve your wives and children. The ancients had a saying: 'When a thousand people gather and do not make one person their leader, if they do not scatter, they will fall into disorder.' What shall we do!" The crowd said, "Good. For today's leader, if not you, then who!" Gun was silent for a while, then said, "The ancients yielded precedence in urgent hardship and dared not flee danger, yet when people establish a leader, what matters is obeying his commands." He then made them swear an oath, saying, "Do not rely on the stronghold, do not take advantage of disorder, do not abuse neighbors, do not strip houses, do not cut firewood from what others have planted, do not plot what is not virtuous, do not commit what is not righteous; join your strength with one heart and together relieve danger and hardship." Everyone swore the covenant. They walled ravines, guarded trails, tallied labor and supplies, elected hamlet heads and worthy advisers—Gun led every detail. Orders unified; etiquette governed young and old; they amplified virtue and curbed vice. When raiders came he drew up ranks with bows taut yet silent. Raiders taunted; his lines stayed motionless and refused combat. They feared his discipline and withdrew three separate times. People of the time said, "Is this not what is meant by, 'To be cautious when facing affairs, and to succeed by loving plans'? Surely it is Yu the Singular!"
31
及冏歸於京師，逾年不朝，袞曰：「晉室卑矣，寇難方興！」 乃攜其妻適林慮山，事其新鄉如其故鄉，言忠信，行篤敬。 經及期年，而林慮之人歸之，咸曰庾賢。 及石勒攻林慮，父老謀曰：「此有大頭山，九州之絕險也。 上有古人遺跡，可共保之。」 惠帝遷于長安，袞乃相與登於大頭山而田於其下。 年穀未熟，食木實，餌石蕊，同保安之，有終焉之志。 及將收穫，命子怞與之下山，中途目眩瞀，墜崖而卒。 同保赴哭曰：「天乎！ 獨不可舍我賢乎！」 時人傷之曰：「庾賢絕塵避地，超然遠跡，固窮安陋，木食山棲，不與世同榮，不與人爭利，不免遭命，悲夫！」
When Sima Jiong returned to the capital and did not attend court for more than a year, Gun said, "The Jin house is humbled; rebel troubles are about to rise!" He fled with his wife to Linlu peaks and honored strangers like hometown kin. Within a year locals called him Worthy Yu. When Shi Le attacked Linlu, the elders planned and said, "Here there is Great Head Mountain, the most precipitous stronghold in the nine provinces. On it are traces left by men of antiquity; we can defend it together." As Emperor Hui withdrew westward the refugee band farmed the heights. They ate bark and moss until harvest and hoped to die untainted. At harvest he sent son Yu You downslope; the boy grew dizzy and plunged from the cliff. Those sheltering with him rushed to weep and said, "Heaven! Could you alone not spare our worthy man!" People of the time grieved for him and said, "Worthy Yu cut himself off from the dust and avoided the age, transcendent and far removed; he held firm in poverty and accepted hardship, eating from trees and living in the mountains. He did not share the world's glory and did not compete with others for profit, yet he still could not escape fate. How sad!"
32
袞學通《詩》《書》，非法不言，非道不行，尊事耆老，惠訓蒙幼，臨人之喪必盡哀，會人之葬必躬築，勞則先之，逸則後之，言必行之，行必安之。 是以宗族鄉黨莫不崇仰，門人感慕，為人樹碑焉。
He embodied Poetry and Documents—speaking only rightly, aiding funerals, elders first. Clans idolized him; students carved him a stone.
33
有四子：怞、蔑、澤、捃。 在澤生，故名澤，因捃生，故曰捃。 蔑後南渡江，中興初，為侍中。 蔑生願，安成太守。
Four sons: You, Mie, Ze, Jun. One son arrived amid the harvest levy—names matched their births. Mie fled south and became attendant-in-waiting after the restoration. Mie's son Yuan governed Ancheng.
34
孫晷
Sun Gui
35
孫晷，字文度，吳國富春人，吳伏波將軍秀之曾孫也。 晷為兒童，未嘗被呵怒。 顧榮見而稱之，謂其外祖薛兼曰：「此兒神明清審，志氣貞立，非常童也。」 及長，恭孝清約，學識有理義，每獨處幽暗之中，容止瞻望未嘗傾邪。 雖侯家豐厚，而晷常布衣蔬食，躬親壟畝，誦詠不廢，欣然獨得。 父母湣其如此，欲加優饒，而夙興夜寐，無暫懈也。 父母起居嘗饌，雖諸兄親饋，而晷不離左右。 富春車道既少，動經江川，父難於風波，每行乘籃輿，晷躬自扶侍，所詣之處，則於門外樹下籓屏之間隱息，初不令主人知之。 兄嘗篤疾經年，晷躬自扶侍，藥石甘苦，必經心目，跋涉山水，祈求懇至。 而聞人之善，欣若有得； 聞人之惡，慘若有失。 見人饑寒，並周贍之，鄉里贈遺，一無所受。 親故有窮老者數人，恆往來告索，人多厭慢之，而晷見之。 欣敬逾甚，寒則與同衾，食則與同器，或解衣推被以恤之。 時年饑穀貴，人有生刈其稻者，晷見而避之，須去而出，既而自刈送與之。 鄉鄰感愧，莫敢侵犯。
Sun Gui, styled Wendu, of Fuchun, traced descent from general Sun Xiu of Wu. Not even a harsh word marred his boyhood. Gu Rong saw him and praised him, saying to the boy's maternal grandfather Xue Jian, "This child's spirit is clear and judicious, and his will is firm and upright; he is no ordinary child." Grown, he was frugal, learned, and unimpeachable even in the dark. Born to wealth he chose coarse cloth, farmed his fields, and never stopped chanting texts. Parents urged comfort but he rose before dawn and slept after dusk. At every meal he hovered beside his parents even when brothers served. River crossings frightened his father; Sun Gui carried his sedan and hid outside inns so hosts never fussed. He nursed a dying brother a year—every dose tasted, every shrine visited. Others' virtue delighted him like personal gain. Others' vice saddened him like personal loss. He fed the needy and refused neighborhood gifts. Needy elders bored neighbors—Sun Gui welcomed them. He shared quilts and bowls and stripped his cloak for them. When thieves stole his grain he hid until they fled, then harvested rice for them. Neighbors repented and never stole again.
36
會稽虞喜隱居海嵎，有高世之風。 晷欽其德，聘喜弟預女為妻。 喜戒女棄華尚素，與晷同志。 時人號為梁鴻夫婦。 濟陽江淳少有高操，聞晷學行過人，自東陽往候之，始面，便終日譚宴，結歡而別。
Hermit Yu Xi of Kuaiji commanded coastal renown. Sun Gui married Yu Xi's niece out of respect. Yu Xi told his daughter to live plainly beside Sun Gui. Neighbors compared them to Liang Hong and Meng Guang. Jiang Chun traveled from Dongyang for one banquet that lasted till dusk.
37
司空何充為揚州，檄晷為主簿，司徒蔡謨辟為掾屬，並不就。 尚書經國明，州土之望，表薦晷，公車徑征。 會卒，時年三十八，朝野嗟痛之。 晷未及大斂，有一老父縕袍草屨，不通姓名，徑入撫柩而哭，哀聲慷慨，感於左右。 哭止便出，容貌甚清，眼瞳又方，門者告之喪主，怪而追焉。 直去不顧。 同郡顧和等百餘人歎其神貌有異，而莫之測也。
He Chong and Cai Mo sought him—he refused both. A minister of state—pillar of the province—recommended him and court coaches raced to fetch him. He died at thirty-eight before answering—the realm wept. Before burial an unnamed elder in straw sandals rushed in and sobbed over the coffin. He vanished—features luminous, eyes square—mourners chased him. He strode off without looking back. A hundred locals swore his face was uncanny—none understood.
38
顏含
Yan Han
39
顏含，字弘都，琅邪莘人也。 祖欽，給事中。 父默，汝陰太守。 含少有操行，以孝聞。 兄畿，咸寧中得疾，就醫自療，遂死於醫家。 家人迎喪，旐每繞樹而不可解，引喪者顛仆，稱畿言曰：「我壽命未死，但服藥太多，傷我五藏耳。 今當復活，慎無葬也。」 其父祝之曰：「若爾有命復生，豈非骨肉所願！ 今但欲還家，不爾葬也。」 旐乃解。 及還，其婦夢之曰：「吾當復生，可急開棺。」 婦頗說之。 其夕，母及家人又夢之，即欲開棺，而父不聽。 含時尚少，乃慨然曰：「非常之事，古則有之，今靈異至此，開棺之痛，孰與不開相負？」 父母從之，乃共發棺果有生驗，以手刮棺，指爪盡傷，然氣息甚微，存亡不分矣。 飲哺將護，累月猶不能語，飲食所須，托之以夢。 闔家營視，頓廢生業，雖在母妻，不能無倦矣。 含乃絕棄人事，躬親侍養，足不出戶者十有三年。 石崇重含淳行，贈以甘旨，含謝而不受。 或問其故，答曰：「病者綿昧，生理未全，既不能進噉，又未識人惠，若當謬留，豈施者之意也！」 畿竟不起。
Yan Han, styled Hongdu, came from Shen in Langya. Grandfather Yan Qin served as palace attendant. Father Yan Mo governed Ruyin. Young Yan Han was known for duty and devotion. Brother Yan Ji died under a physician's care in Xianning. When the family went to receive the coffin, the funeral banner repeatedly wound around trees and could not be freed, and those drawing the bier stumbled and fell. They reported Ji's words, saying, "My allotted life is not yet over; it is only that I took too much medicine and injured my five viscera. Now I am about to come back to life; take care not to bury me." His father prayed to him, saying, "If you have the fate to return to life, would this not be what your flesh and blood desire! Now we only wish to bring you home; otherwise we will bury you." The catafalque loosened. When they returned, his wife dreamed of him, and he said, "I am about to come back to life; open the coffin quickly." She nearly believed it. Kin dreamed the same but the father forbade opening. Yan Han was still young at the time, but he said with emotion, "Extraordinary things existed in antiquity, and now the numinous has reached this point; compared with the pain of opening the coffin, how could we bear the fault of not opening it?" They opened the lid—Ji scratched weakly until nails tore—breath barely stirred. Months passed speechless; needs came through dreams. Kin exhausted themselves nursing until wives grew weary. Yan Han quit the world and nursed thirteen years indoors. Shi Chong's delicacies he refused. Someone asked the reason, and he answered, "The sick person is dim and confused, and the principle of life is not yet complete. Since he cannot take food, and also does not yet recognize others' kindness, if the gifts were mistakenly kept, how could that be the donor's intention!" Brother Ji never woke.
40
含二親既終，兩兄繼沒，次嫂樊氏因疾失明，含課勵家人，盡心奉養，每日自嘗省藥饌，察問息耗，必簪屨束帶。 醫人疏方，應須髯蛇膽，而尋求備至，無由得之，含憂歎累時。 嘗晝獨坐，忽有一青衣童子年可十三四，持一青囊授含，含開視，乃蛇膽也。 童子逡巡出戶，化成青鳥飛去。 得膽，藥成，嫂病即愈。 由是著名。
Parents gone, brothers dead, blind sister-in-law Fan—he tasted every dose and visited formally dressed. Doctors wanted python gall—none could be found. A boy in blue left a pouch—inside lay snake gall. The messenger became a bluebird and flew off. The medicine cured her blindness. His fame spread.
41
本州辟，不就。 東海王越以為太傅參軍，出補闓陽令。 元帝初鎮下邳，復命為參軍。 過江，以含為上虞令。 轉王國郎中、丞相東閣祭酒，出為東陽太守。 東宮初建，含以儒素篤行補太子中庶子，遷黃門侍郎、本州大中正，曆散騎常侍、大司農。 豫討蘇峻功，封西平縣侯，拜侍中，除吳郡太守。 王導問含曰：「卿今蒞名郡，政將何先？」 答曰：「王師歲動，編戶虛耗，南北權豪競招游食，國弊家豐，執事之憂。 且當征之勢門，使反田桑，數年之間，欲令戶給人足，如其禮樂，俟之明宰。」 含所曆簡而有恩，明而能斷，然以威禦下。 導歎曰：「顏公在事，吳人斂手矣。」 未之官，復為侍中。 尋除國子祭酒，加散騎常侍，遷光祿勳，以年老遜位。 成帝美其素行，就加右光祿大夫，門施行馬，賜床帳被褥，敕太官四時致膳，固辭不受。
He refused provincial summons. Sima Yue, Prince of Donghai, named him tutor's secretary and Kaiyang magistrate. When Yuan-di camped at Xiapi Yan Han joined staff again. South of the river he governed Shangyu. He rose to prince's secretary, eastern pavilion libationer, then Dongyang governor. Named tutor to the crown prince for his scholar's honesty, he climbed to palace cadre, provincial classifier, chamberlain, and minister of finance. His role against Su Jun earned the Xiping marquisate, court attendantship, then Wu governorship. Wang Dao asked Yan Han, "Now that you are governing a famed commandery, what will you put first in policy?" He answered, "The royal armies move every year, and the registered households are depleted. Powerful houses north and south compete to recruit idle dependents; the state is exhausted while households grow rich. This is the worry of those in charge. For now we should summon them from powerful gates and make them return to farming and mulberry cultivation. Within several years I would like to make households sufficient and people well supplied; as for rites and music, I will await an enlightened governor." He ruled Wu with terse mercy, sharp judgment, and stern discipline. Wang Dao sighed and said, "When Lord Yan is in office, the people of Wu will fold their hands." Recall reached him before he took his Wu seat. He rose to academy libationer and chamberlain, then retired with age. Emperor Cheng piled honors—carriage posts, quilts, royal kitchens—all refused.
42
于時論者以王導帝之師傅，名位隆重，百僚宜為降禮。 太常馮懷以問於含，含曰：「王公雖重，理無偏敬，降禮之言，或是諸君事宜。 鄙人老矣，不識時務。」 既而告人曰：「吾聞伐國不問仁人。 向馮祖思問佞於我，我有邪德乎？」 人嘗論少正卯、盜蹠其惡孰深。 或曰：「正卯雖奸，不至剖人棄膳，盜蹠為甚。」 含曰：「為惡彰露，人思加戮； 隱伏之奸，非聖不誅。 由此言之，少正為甚。」 眾咸服焉。 郭璞嘗遇含，欲為之筮。 含曰：「年在天，位在人，修己而天不與者，命也； 守道而人不知者，性也。 自有性命，無勞蓍龜。」 桓溫求婚於含，含以其盛滿，不許。 惟與鄧攸深交。 或問江左群士優劣，答曰：「周伯仁之正，鄧伯道之清，卞望之之節，餘則吾不知也。」 其雅重行實，抑絕浮偽如此。
Critics wanted officials to grovel because Wang Dao taught the throne. Grand Master of Ceremonies Feng Huai asked Yan Han about this. Han said, "Although Lord Wang is weighty, principle has no partial reverence; talk of lowering the rites may perhaps be suitable for you gentlemen. This rustic is old and does not understand current affairs." Afterward he told someone, "I have heard that when attacking a state, one does not ask a humane man. Just now Feng Zusi asked me for flattery; do I have perverse virtue?" Someone compared Shaozheng Mao to Robber Zhi. Someone said, "Although Shaozheng Mao was wicked, he did not go so far as to cut men open and abandon his meal; Robber Zhi was worse." Yan Han said, "When evil is manifest and exposed, people think to add punishment; hidden and concealed treachery is not punished unless there is a sage. From this point of view, Shaozheng Mao was worse." The hall agreed. Diviner Guo Pu offered him a reading. "Years belong to fate; effort defines character; integrity needs no oracle. Life answers itself—skip the shells." He spurned Huan Wen's match as hubris. Only Deng You won his trust. "He praised Zhou, Deng, and Bian—and dismissed the rest." So he weighed deeds over fame.
43
致仕二十餘年，年九十三卒。 遺命素棺薄斂。 諡曰靖。 喪在殯而鄰家失火，移棺紼斷，火將至而滅，僉以為淳誠所感也。
He died at ninety-three after twenty quiet years. He asked for a plain coffin. Canonized as Jing. Funeral flames reversed—people called it heaven's nod to his virtue.
44
三子：髦、謙、約。 髦曆黃門郎、侍中、光祿勳，謙至安成太守，約零陵太守，並有聲譽。
Three sons—Mao, Qian, and Yue—carried the line. Each son earned office and renown.
45
劉殷
Liu Yin
46
劉殷，字長盛，新興人也。 高祖陵，漢光祿大夫。 殷七歲喪父，哀毀過禮，服喪三年，未曾見齒。 曾祖母王氏，盛冬思堇而不言，食不飽者一旬矣。 殷怪而問之，王言其故。 殷時年九歲，乃於澤中慟哭，曰：「殷罪釁深重，幼丁艱罰，王母在堂，無旬月之養。 殷為人子，而所思無獲，皇天后土，願垂哀湣。」 聲不絕者半日，於是忽若有人云：「止，止聲。」 殷收淚視地，便有堇生焉，因得斛餘而歸，食而不減，至時，堇生乃盡。 又嘗夜夢人謂之曰：「西籬下有粟。」 寤而掘之，得粟十五鐘，銘曰「七年粟百石，以賜孝子劉殷。」 自是食之，七載方盡。 時人嘉其至性通感，競以穀帛遺之。 殷受而不謝，直云待後貴當相酬耳。
Liu Yin, styled Changsheng, hailed from Xinxing. Ancestor Liu Ling had been Han counselor of splendid virtue. Fatherless at seven he mourned beyond measure—three years without a smile. Great-grandmother Wang craved winter greens yet starved in silence. He pressed until she admitted hunger. Yin was nine years old at the time and wailed bitterly in the marsh, saying, "Yin's guilt and misfortune are deep and heavy; young as I am, I have met hardship and punishment, and with my grandmother in the hall I cannot provide even ten days' sustenance. I am a son, yet I cannot obtain what she longs for. August Heaven and Sovereign Earth, I beg you to show pity." His crying did not cease for half a day. Then suddenly there seemed to be someone saying, "Stop, stop your voice." Winter weeds burst from the mud—enough to feed her for the season. Another time, at night he dreamed that someone told him, "There is millet below the western fence." When he awoke and dug there, he obtained fifteen zhong of millet, with an inscription saying, "Seven years of millet, one hundred shi, to bestow on the filial son Liu Yin." The grain lasted seven years. Neighbors flooded him with grain and cloth. He took gifts promising repayment after fortune rose.
47
弱冠，博通經史，綜核羣言，文章詩賦靡不該覽，性倜儻，有濟世之志，儉而不陋，清而不介，望之頹然而不可侵也。 鄉黨親族莫不稱之。 郡命主簿，州辟從事，皆以供養無主，辭不赴命。 司空、齊王攸辟為掾，征南將軍羊祜召參軍事，皆以疾辭。 同郡張宣子，識達之士也，勸殷就徵。 殷曰：「當今二公，有晉之棟楹也。 吾方希達如榱椽耳，不憑之，豈能立乎！ 吾今王母在堂，既應他命，無容不竭盡臣禮，使不得就養。 子輿所以辭齊大夫，良以色養無主故耳。」 宣子曰：「如子所言，豈庸人所識哉！ 而今而後，吾子當為吾師矣。」 遂以女妻之。 宣子者，并州豪族也，家富於財，其妻怒曰：「我女年始十四。 姿識如此，何慮不得為公侯妃，而遽以妻劉殷乎！」 宣子曰：「非爾所及也。」 誡其女曰：「劉殷至孝冥感，兼才識超世，此人終當遠達，為世名公，汝其謹事之。」 張氏性亦婉順，事王母以孝聞，奉殷如君父焉。 及王氏卒，殷夫婦毀瘠，幾至滅性，時柩在殯而西鄰失火，風勢甚盛，殷夫婦叩殯號哭，火遂越燒東家。 後有二白鳩巢其庭樹，自是名譽彌顯。
Capped, he commanded every classic—bold, austere, formidable. Kin and neighbors praised him. He refused clerkships to nurse kin. He spurned Sima You and Yang Hu. Zhang Xuanzi urged him to serve. "Those grandees are palace pillars. He compared himself to roof beams needing timber. Grandmother still lived—office would steal her care. Like Zengzi's excuse—care came first." Xuanzi said, "As you speak, how could ordinary men understand! From now on, sir, you shall be my teacher." He married Liu Yin his daughter. Xuanzi was a powerful clansman of Bingzhou, and his household was wealthy. His wife angrily said, "My daughter is only fourteen. With such appearance and understanding, why worry that she could not become consort to a duke or marquis? Why hastily marry her to Liu Yin!" Xuanzi said, "This is beyond your reach." He admonished his daughter, saying, "Liu Yin's utmost filial piety moves the unseen, and his talent and understanding surpass the age. This man will in the end reach far and become a famous lord of the age; you must serve him carefully." His bride served grandmother like kin. Their mourning shifted a blaze away from the coffin. White doves nested—his fame soared.
48
太傅楊駿輔政，備禮聘殷，殷以母老固辭。 駿於是表之，優詔遂其高志，聽終色養，敕所在供其衣食，蠲其徭賦，賜帛二百匹，穀五百斛。 趙王倫纂位，孫秀重殷名，以散騎常侍徵之，殷逃奔雁門。 及齊王冏輔政，辟為大司馬軍諮祭酒。 既至，謂殷曰； 「先王虛心召君，君不至。 今孤辟君，君何能屈也？」 殷曰：「世祖以大聖應期，先王以至德輔世，既堯舜為君，稷契為佐，故殷希以一夫而距千乘，為不可回之圖，幸邀唐虞之世，是以不懼斧鉞之戮耳。 今殿下以神武睿姿，除殘反政，然聖跡稍粗，嚴威滋肅，殷若復爾，恐招華士之誅，故不敢不至也。」 冏奇之，轉拜新興太守，明刑旌善，甚有政能。
Yang Jun courted him—he cited mother. The court fed mother and son and waived taxes. He fled Sun Xi's summons under Sima Lun. Sima Jiong named him war council libationer. At audience Sima Jiong challenged him: "The former prince summoned you with an empty heart, yet you did not come. Now I summon you; how is it that you can bend?" Yin said, "Shizu answered the age as a great sage, and the former king aided the world with utmost virtue; since Yao and Shun were rulers and Ji and Xie were assistants, I hoped, as one man, to refuse a lord of a thousand chariots and make an unalterable plan. Happily I met an age of Tang and Yu, and therefore I did not fear punishment by axe and halberd. Now Your Highness, with divine martial power and sagely bearing, has removed cruelty and restored government, yet the traces of sagehood are somewhat rough, and stern majesty grows severe. If I were to do the same again, I fear I would bring on the execution of Huashi; therefore I did not dare not to come." Sima Jiong made him Xinxing governor.
49
屬永嘉之亂，沒于劉聰。 聰奇其才而擢任之，累至侍中、太保、錄尚書事。 殷恆戒子孫曰：「事君之法，當務幾諫，凡人尚不可面斥其過，而況萬乘乎！ 夫犯顏之禍，將彰君過，宜上思召公咨商之義，下念鮑勳觸鱗之誅也。」 在聰之朝，與公卿恂恂然，常有後己之色。 士不修操行者，無得入其門，然滯理不申，藉殷而濟者，亦已百數。
The Yongjia disaster delivered him to Liu Cong. Liu Cong raised him to chief minister ranks. Yin constantly warned his descendants, "The method for serving a ruler is to strive for subtle remonstrance. One should not even rebuke an ordinary man's faults to his face; how much less a lord of ten thousand chariots! The calamity of offending the countenance will make the ruler's fault manifest. Above, one should think of Duke Shao's duty of consultation; below, one should remember Bao Xun's execution for touching the scales." At Han Zhao court he stayed humble. He barred poseurs yet aided countless plaintiffs.
50
有七子，五子各授一經。 一子授《太史公》，一子授《漢書》，一門之內，七業俱興，北州之學，殷門為盛。 竟以壽終。
Seven sons studied classics. His school dominated northern letters. He died full of years.
51
王延
Wang Yan
52
王延，字延元。 西河人也。 九歲喪母，泣血三年，幾至滅性。 每至忌日，則悲啼至旬。 繼母卜氏遇之無道，恆以薄穰及敗麻頭與延貯衣。 其姑聞而問之，延知而不言，事母彌謹。 卜氏嘗盛冬思生魚，敕延求而不獲，杖之流血。 延尋汾叩淩而哭，忽有一魚長五尺，踴出水上，延取以進母。 卜氏食之，積日不盡，於是心悟，撫延如己生。 延事親色養，夏則扇枕席，冬則以身溫被，隆立盛寒，體無全衣，而親極滋味。 晝則傭賃，夜則誦書，遂究覽經史，皆通大義。 州郡禮辟，貪供養不起。 父母終後，廬於墓側，非其蠶不衣，非其耕不食。 屬天下喪亂，隨劉元海遷于平陽，農蠶之暇，訓誘宗族，侃侃不倦。 家牛一生犢，他人認之，延牽而授與，初無吝色。 其人後自知妄認，送犢還延，叩頭謝罪，延仍以與之，不復取也。 年六十，方仕于劉聰，稍遷尚書左丞，至金紫光祿大夫。 聰死後，靳準將作亂，謀之於延，延不從。 准既誅劉氏，自號漢天王，以延為左光祿大夫，延又大罵不受，准遂殺之。
Wang Yan, styled Yanyuan. He came from Xihe. Motherless at nine he mourned bloodily. Anniversaries brought weeks of tears. Stepmother stuffed his quilts with chaff. He hid her cruelty and grew more dutiful. She beat him bloody failing to fetch winter fish. He cracked river ice until a giant fish leaped forth. The miracle thawed her heart. He fanned beds in summer, warmed quilts in winter—parents ate best while he froze. Days laboring, nights reading—he mastered the canon. He refused honors to keep nursing parents. He mourned at the graves wearing only homespun from his silkworms. Amid turmoil he followed Liu Yuan to Pingyang and taught kin between furrows. He gave away a disputed calf without hesitation. Even after restitution he let the neighbor keep the calf. At sixty he entered Liu Cong's service and rose to chief minister rank. He spurned Jin Zhun's coup plot. Jin Zhun murdered the imperial clan and offered Yan high office—Yan cursed him and died for it.
53
王談
Wang Tan
54
王談，吳興烏程人也。 年十歲，父為鄰人竇度所殺。 談陰有復仇志，而懼為度所疑，寸刃不畜，日夜伺度，未得。 至年十八，乃密市利鍤，陽若耕鋤者。 度常乘船出入，經一橋下，談伺度行還，伏草中，度既過，談於橋上以鍤斬之，應手而死。 既而歸罪有司，太守孔岩義其孝勇，列上宥之。 岩諸子為孫恩所害，無嗣，談乃移居會稽，修理岩父子墳墓，盡其心力。 後太守孔廞究其義行，元興三年，舉談為孝廉，時稱其得人。 談不應召，終於家。
Wang Tan came from Wucheng. His father fell to neighbor Dou Du when Wang Tan was ten. He hid his vendetta and stalked Dou Du weaponless. At eighteen he hid iron spades under farm tools. He ambushed Dou beneath the bridge and killed him with a spade. Prefect Kong Yan pardoned him for righteous revenge. He tended patron Kong Yan's tomb after Sun En slew Kong's sons. Prefect Kong Yin cited him as filial exemplar. He stayed home until death.
55
桑虞
Sang Yu
56
桑虞，字子深，魏郡黎陽人也。 父沖，有深識遠量，惠帝時為黃門郎。 河間王顒執權，引為司馬。 沖知顒必敗，就職一旬，便稱疾求退。 虞仁孝自天至，年十四喪父，毀瘠過禮，日以米百粒用糝藜藿，其姊諭之曰：「汝毀瘠如此，必至滅性，滅性不孝，宜自抑割。」 虞曰：「藜藿雜米，足以勝哀。」 虞有園在宅北數里，瓜果初熟，有人逾垣盜之。 虞以園援多棘刺，恐偷見人驚走而致傷損，乃使奴為之開道。 及偷負瓜將出，見道通利，知虞使除之，乃送所盜瓜，叩頭請罪。 虞乃歡然，盡以瓜與之。 嘗行，寄宿逆旅，同宿客失脯，疑虞為盜。 虞默然無言，便解衣償之。 主人曰：「此舍數失魚肉雞鴨，多是狐狸偷去，君何以疑人？」 乃將脯主至山塚間尋求，果得之。 客求還衣，虞投之不顧。
Sang Yu, styled Zishen, hailed from Liyang. Father Sang Chong served at court with foresight. Prince Yong named Chong marshal. Sang Chong quit Yong's staff within ten days. Yu's benevolence and filial piety came from Heaven. At fourteen he lost his father; he wasted himself beyond the rites, using only one hundred grains of rice each day to thicken his weed soup. His elder sister admonished him, saying, "If you waste yourself like this, you will surely destroy your nature. To destroy one's nature is not filial; you should restrain and cut back your grief." Yu said, "Weeds mixed with rice are enough to bear my grief." Thieves stole melons from his orchard. He cleared thorns so thieves would not hurt themselves fleeing. Thieves returned fruit ashamed. He gifted every melon. An innmate blamed him for stolen jerky. He paid with his coat in silence. The host said, "This lodging has several times lost fish, meat, chickens, and ducks; most were stolen by foxes. Why do you suspect a man?" They recovered meat near graves. He refused his cloak back.
57
虞諸兄仕于石勒之世，咸登顯位，惟虞恥臣非類，陰欲避地海東，會丁母憂，遂止。 哀毀骨立，廬於墓側。 五年後，石勒以為武城令。 虞以密邇黃河，去海微近，將申前志，欣然就職。 石季龍太守劉徵甚器重之，徵遷青州刺史，請虞長史，帶祝阿郡。 徵遇疾還鄴，令虞監行州府屬。 季龍死，國中大亂，朝廷以虞名父之子，必能立功海岱，潛遣東莞人華挺授虞甯朔將軍、青州刺史。 虞曰：「功名非吾志也。」 乃附使者啟，讓刺史，靖居海右，不交境外。 雖曆偽朝，而不豫亂，世以此高之。 卒於官。
His brothers served Later Zhao—he refused alien masters until mourning trapped him. He mourned beside mother's grave. Shi Le named him Wucheng magistrate. Coastal post suited his escape plan. Prefect Liu Zheng made him aide. When Liu fell ill Sang Yu ran the prefecture. Later Zhao chaos brought recruiters offering Qingzhou—Sang Yu refused glory. "He said rank meant nothing." He stayed coastal and cut ties with rival courts. He served usurpers yet kept clean hands. He died in harness.
58
何琦
He Qi
59
何琦，字萬倫，司空充之從兄也。 祖父龕，後將軍。 父阜，淮南內史。 琦年十四喪父，哀毀過禮。 性沈敏有識度，好古博學，居於宣城陽穀縣，事母孜，朝夕色養。 常患甘鮮不贍，乃為郡主簿，察孝廉，除郎中，以選補宣城涇縣令。 司徒王導引為參軍，不就。 及丁母憂，居喪泣血，杖而後起，停柩在殯，為鄰火所逼，煙焰已交，家乏僮使，計無從出，乃匍匐撫棺號哭。 俄而風止火息，堂屋一間免燒，其精誠所感如此。 服闋，乃慨然歎曰：「所以出身仕者，非謂有尺寸之能以效智力，實利微祿，私展供養。 一旦煢然，無復恃怙，豈可復以朽鈍之質塵默清朝哉！」 於是養志衡門，不交人事，耽玩典籍，以琴書自娛。 不營產業，節儉寡欲，豐約與鄉鄰共之。 鄉里遭亂，姊沒人家，琦惟有一婢，便為購贖。 然不為小謙，凡有贈遺，亦不苟讓，但于己有餘，輒復隨而散之。 任心而行，率意而動，不占卜，無所事。 司空陸玩、太尉桓溫並辟命，皆不就。 詔征博士，又不起。 簡文帝時為撫軍，欽其名行，召為參軍，固辭以疾。 公車再征通直散騎侍郎、散騎常侍，不行。 由是君子仰德，莫能屈也。 桓溫嘗登琦縣界山，喟然歎曰：「此山南有人焉，何公真止足者也！」 琦善養性，老而不衰，布褐蔬食，恆以述作為事，著《三國評論》，凡所撰錄百許篇，皆行於世。 年八十二卒。
He Qi, styled Wanlun, was He Chong's cousin. Grandfather He Kan led the rear army. Father He Fu governed Huainan interior. Fatherless at fourteen he mourned fiercely. Bookish anchorite of Xuancheng—devoted son. He took petty posts to feed mother. He refused Wang Dao. Mother's funeral caught fire—he clung to the coffin weeping on the floor. Wind shifted—the hall survived untouched. "After mourning he renounced office—parents gone. Why polish ambition for an empty court?" He lived on classics and music. He shared famine and feast with neighbors. He sold his lone maid to ransom his sister. He accepted gifts only to give them away. He acted by conscience alone. Lu Wan and Huan Wen failed to recruit him. Imperial doctorate summons went unanswered. Prince Jianwen wanted him—pleaded illness. Twice summoned court gentleman—ignored. The elite idolized his stubborn virtue. Huan Wen once climbed a boundary mountain in Qi County, sighed deeply, and said, "South of this mountain there is a man; Lord He truly knows contentment!" He wrote histories and essays past eighty. He died at eighty-two.
60
吳逵
Wu Kui
61
吳逵，吳興人也。 經荒饑疾病，合門死者十有三人，逵時亦病篤，其喪皆鄰里以葦席裹而埋之。 逵夫妻既存，家極貧窘，冬無衣被，晝則傭賃，夜燒磚甓，晝夜在山，未嘗休止，遇毒蟲猛獸，輒為之下道。 期年，成七墓、十三棺。 時有賻贈，一無所受。 太守張崇義之，以羔雁之禮禮焉。 卒於家。
Wu Kui hailed from Wuxing. Famine killed thirteen kin—neighbors buried them in rush mats. Destitute pair fired bricks by night and labored by day among beasts. In one year he raised seven tombs for thirteen dead. He refused funeral gifts. Prefect Zhang Chong honored him formally. He died at home.
62
史評
Closing commentary by the historians.
63
史臣曰：尊親之道，禮經之明訓； 孝友之義，詩人之美談，是知人倫之本，罔茲攸尚。 盛翁子立行淳至，素蓄異才，流慟致其感通，含哺申其就養，戴昌賞其清韻，陸雲嘉其茂德。 王裒隱居不從其辟，行己莫逾其禮，枯柏以應其誠，驚雷以危其慮。 永言董蔡，異時均美。 許孜少而敏學，禮備在三，馴雉棲其梁棟，猛獸擾其庭圃，居喪之禮，實古今之所難焉。 庾叔褒不匱表於執勤，則裕存乎敬業，幽顯不易其操，疫癘不駭其心，急病讓夷之規，有古人之風烈矣。 孫晷之匪懈，王談之復仇，神人惜其亡，良守宥其罪。 劉殷幼丁艱酷，柴毀逾制，發三冬之堇，賜七年之粟，至誠之契，義形於茲。 王延叩冰而召鱗，扇席而清暑，雖黃香、孟宗，抑為倫輩。 其餘群子，並孝養可崇，清風素范，高山景行，會其宗流，同斯志也。
Historians: honoring parents anchors ritual; filial devotion defines human ethics. Sheng Yan moved heaven with tears. Wang Pou's thunder oath shook readers. He ranks with Dong Yong and Cai Shun. Xu Zi's mourning moved birds and beasts. Yu Gun modeled plague-era courage. Sun Gui and Wang Tan moved gods and judges alike. Liu Yin's miracles fed scholars. Wang Yan rivals Huang Xiang's filial lore. All exemplars join one humane chorus.
64
贊曰：德之所屆，有感和征。 孝哉王許，永慕烝烝。 揮泗凋柏，對榥巢鷹。 密、彥、夏、庾，夙標至性。 文度、弘都，勤修懿行。 敦彼孝友，載光謠詠。 鳩馴長盛，魚薦延元。 談桑義闡，琦吳道存。 專洞之德，咸摛左言。
Encomium: virtue draws heaven's echo. How Wang and Xu longed endlessly. Tears stained trees where hawks nested. Li Mi, Sheng Yan, Xia Fang, Yu Gun showed pure hearts. Sun Gui and Yan Han polished grace. Their friendship lit every ode. Liu Yin's doves and Wang Yan's fish blessed heirs. Wang Tan and Sang Yu carried humane truth. Their purity fills these annals.