1
若夫穹昊垂景，少微以躔其次； 《文》《系》探幽，貞遁以成其象。 故有避於言色，其道聞乎孔公； 驕乎富貴，厥義詳于孫子。 是以處柔伊存，有生之恆性； 在盈斯害，惟神之常道。 古先智士體其若茲，介焉超俗，浩然養素，藏聲江海之上，卷跡囂氛之表，漱流而激其清，寢巢而韜其耀，良畫以符其志，絕機以虛其心。 玉輝冰潔，川渟岳峙，修至樂之道，固無疆之休，長往邈而不追，安排窅而無悶，修身自保，悔吝弗生，詩人《考槃》之歌，抑在茲矣。 至於體天作制之後，訟息刑清之時，尚乃仄席幽貞以康神化，徵聘之禮賁於岩穴，玉帛之贄委於窒衡，故《月令》曰：「季春之月聘名士，禮賢者」，斯之謂歟！ 自典午運開，旁求隱逸，譙元彥之杜絕人事，江思悛之嘯詠林藪，峻其貞白之軌，成其出塵之跡，雖不應其嘉招，亦足激其貪競。 今美其高尚之德，綴集於篇。
Consider how the high heavens let fall their light, and the hermit star Shaowei keeps to its station in the sky. The "Appended Remarks" and "Wings" sound out what lies in shadow, and the hexagram of principled retreat gives that stance its perfect emblem. Hence men who gave nothing away in word or look, whose path we know because Confucius spoke of them; and the proud scorning of wealth and station, whose moral sense Sunzi laid out at length. To hold to yielding strength is how life endures; that is the fixed temper of everything that breathes; while fullness invites injury—such has always been heaven's steady law. Men of old who grasped this truth stood aloof from the crowd, breathed in a clarity that nourished plain living, let their names die away beyond the rivers and seas, and withdrew their footsteps from the world's noise. They drank from running water to keep themselves clean, dwelt like birds in the wild to dim their luster, chose their course with deliberate care, and stilled every scheme so the heart could rest empty. They shone like jade and held the chill of ice; they were still as a held river, steadfast as a mountain. They walked the path of deepest contentment and won a peace without end. Once they had gone far, none could overtake them; they accepted whatever came, untroubled in the dark. Guarding the person, they kept harm away—no cause for remorse—and the ode the Classic of Poetry calls "Kao pan" might almost have been written of them. Even once a ruler had aligned his government with heaven and the courts fell quiet, he would still leave the high seat half-empty for recluses of firm integrity, so culture might flourish. Envoys climbed to mountain huts; jade and silk waited on the doorsteps of the poor. That is why the "Monthly Ordinances" says that in late spring one should call forth noted scholars and honor the wise—surely it speaks of just such a time. Since the house of Jin rose, the throne has combed the hills for hidden men: Qiao Xiu shut his gate on the world, Jiang Dun whistled and sang deep in the hills. They raised the standard of unstained integrity and showed how to step outside the scramble for power. They never took the court's gracious offers, yet their example was enough to shame the grasping and the ambitious. Here I gather their stories to honor the height of their character.
2
孫登，字公和，汲郡共人也。 無家屬，于郡北山為土窟居之，夏則編草為裳，冬則被髮自覆。 好讀《易》，撫一弦琴，見者皆親樂之。 性無恚怒，人或投諸水中，欲觀其怒，登既出，便大笑。 時時遊人間，所經家或設衣食者，一無所辭，去皆捨棄。 嘗住宜陽山，有作炭人見之，知非常人，與語，登亦不應。 文帝聞之，使阮籍往觀，既見，與語，亦不應。 嵇康又從之遊三年，問其所圖，終不答，康每歎息。 將別，謂曰：「先生竟無言乎？」 登乃曰：「子識火乎？ 火生而有光，而不用其光，果在於用光。 人生而有才，而不用其才，而果在於用才。 故用光在乎得薪，所以保其耀； 用才在乎識真，所以全其年。 今子才多識寡，難乎免於今之世矣！ 子無求乎？」 康不能用，果遭非命，乃作《幽憤詩》曰：「昔慚柳下，今愧孫登。」 或謂登以魏晉去就，易生嫌疑，故或嘿者也。 竟不知所終。
Sun Deng, courtesy name Gonghe, came from Gong in Ji commandery. He kept no household. On the mountain north of the city he hollowed out an earth cave for a home: in summer he braided straw into a coat, in winter he spread his long hair like a blanket. He loved the Book of Changes and would pluck a single-stringed lute; everyone who met him felt drawn and glad. Anger was foreign to him. Once men threw him into a pond hoping to rouse his temper; he climbed out and only laughed. He would drift through the villages now and then. If people offered him food or clothes he accepted without fuss, and left everything behind when he walked on. While staying on Mount Yiyang he was spotted by a charcoal-maker who saw at once that he was no common wanderer. The man spoke to him; Deng gave no reply. Emperor Wen of Wei sent Ruan Ji to look in on him. Ji talked with him after they met; again Deng said nothing. Xi Kang stayed with him for three years, asking what design he had in mind, and never received a word in reply. Kang could only sigh again and again. As Kang was leaving he said, "Master, have you no parting counsel at all? Deng replied, "Do you understand fire? Fire is born with a flame, yet its strength is not in brandishing that flame; the point is knowing how to use the light without burning yourself. A man is born with gifts, yet the danger is not in hiding them but in how he spends them; everything turns on the use he makes of his talent. A lamp needs fuel to give steady light; tend the fuel and the glow endures. Talent needs a clear eye for what is real; only then can a man live out his natural span. You are rich in gifts but poor in judgment; in the world as it is now, you will be hard put to stay out of trouble. Will you not seek a post after all? Kang did not take the warning to heart and soon died a violent death. In his "Poem of Hidden Anguish" he wrote, "I once fell short of Liuxia Hui; now I am humbled before Sun Deng. Some thought Deng held his tongue because any word about loyalty to Wei or Jin could invite deadly suspicion. No one knows where he finally went.
3
董京，字威輦，不知何郡人也。 初與隴西計吏俱至洛陽，被髮而行，逍遙吟詠，常宿白社中。 時乞於市，得殘碎繒絮，結以自覆，全帛佳綿則不肯受。 或見推排罵辱，曾無怒色。 孫楚時為著作郎，數就社中與語，遂載與俱歸，京不肯坐。 楚乃貽之書，勸以今堯舜之世，胡為懷道迷邦。 京答之以詩曰：「周道斁兮頌聲沒，夏政衰兮五常汨。 便便君子，顧望而逝，洋洋乎滿目，而作者七。 豈不樂天地之化也？ 哀哉乎時之不可與，對之以獨處。 無娛我以為歡，清流可飲，至道可餐，何為棲棲，自使疲單？ 魚懸獸檻，鄙夫知之。 夫古之至人，藏器於靈，縕袍不能令暖，軒冕不能令榮； 動如川之流，靜如川之渟。 鸚鵡能言，泗濱浮磬，眾人所玩，豈合物情！ 玄鳥紆幕，而不被害？ 𩿦隼遠巢，咸以欲死。 眄彼梁魚，逡巡倒尾，沈吟不決，忽焉失水。 嗟呼！ 魚鳥相與，萬世而不悟； 以我觀之，乃明其故。 焉知不有達人，深穆其度，亦將窺我，顰顣而去。 萬物皆賤，惟人為貴，動以九州為狹，靜以環堵為大。」 後數年，遁去，莫知所之，於其所寢處惟有一石竹子及詩二篇。 其一曰：「乾道剛簡，坤體敦密，茫茫太素，是則是述。 末世流奔，以文代質，悠悠世目，孰知其實！ 逝將去此至虛，歸我自然之室。」 又曰：「孔子不遇，時彼感麟。 麟乎麟！ 胡不遁世以存真？」
Dong Jing, courtesy name Weinian, was a man of unknown origin. He first reached Luoyang in the company of a Longxi county clerk, hair streaming loose, strolling and humming verses, and usually slept in the White Community hall. He begged in the streets for ragged scraps of silk batting and knotted them into a cloak; he turned down whole pieces of cloth or good cotton. People might jostle and curse him; his face never darkened. Sun Chu, then an editorial secretary, often visited the hall to talk with him. Once Chu put him in a carriage to take him home, but Jing refused even to sit inside. Chu wrote urging him that this was an age of Yao and Shun reborn, and asked why he clutched the Way to himself while the kingdom went wanting. Jing answered in verse: "Zhou's great road lies in ruins and the hymns are stilled; Xia's rule has rotted and the five constant virtues are lost in the mud. The smooth courtiers glance around and slip away, while swaggering men fill every corner—yet the makers of policy are only the Seven. Do they not rejoice in heaven and earth's endless change? Alas, this is not an age one can join; I answer it by keeping to myself. I need no pleasure but my own: I can drink from a clear stream and feed on the highest Way—why should I scurry about until I am worn hollow? Any fool knows what it means when fish hang on a line and beasts pace a cage. The sages of old sheathed their gifts deep in the soul: a patched cloak could not warm them with pride, nor chariot and coronet lend them glory; in motion they were a river in flood, at rest a pool that never stirs. A parrot may talk, a chime from the Si's shore may float—baubles the mob toys with. Do you call that the way things really are? The swallow weaves beneath the eaves—yet goes unharmed? Kites and falcons nest on remote cliffs—yet every one of them can die for want. Look at the fish beneath the bridge: they hang back, tails curled, unable to choose—and in a blink the water is gone. Alas! Bird and fish go on the same old way for age after age and never wake to it; from where I stand I see exactly why it is so. Who is to say some wise soul, grave and still within, is not watching me even now, frowning as he turns away? Creation ranks everything low but sets man high: restless, he finds the nine regions too small; at peace, a single cramped room is empire enough. Some years later he disappeared without trace. All that remained where he had slept was a bamboo staff carved from stone and two poems. The first read: "Heaven's way is firm and plain; earth's frame is rich and deep; boundless was the Primal Simplicity—such is the pattern we inherit. Our late age races downstream, polish crowding out truth; the world's dull gaze—who still knows what is real? I am leaving this hollow show for the house nature built for me. The second said: "Confucius never found his season; the unicorn moved him to grief. Unicorn, unicorn! Why will you not leave the world and keep what is true?
4
夏統，字仲御，會稽永興人也。 幼孤貧，養親以孝聞，睦于兄弟，每采梠求食，星行夜歸，或至海邊，拘螊𧑅以資養。 雅善談論。 宗族勸之仕，謂之曰：「卿清亮質直，可作郡綱紀，與府朝接，自當顯至，如何甘辛苦于山林，畢性命于海濱也！」 統悖然作色曰：「諸君待我乃至此乎！ 使統屬太平之時，當與元凱評議出處，遇濁代，念與屈生同汙共泥； 若汙隆之間，自當耦耕沮溺，豈有辱身曲意於郡府之間乎！ 聞君之談，不覺寒毛盡戴，白汗四匝，顏如渥丹，心熱如炭，舌縮口張，兩耳壁塞也。」 言者大慚。 統自此遂不與宗族相見。
Xia Tong, courtesy name Zhongyu, was a native of Yongxing in Kuaiji. Orphaned young and poor, he won a name for supporting his mother with filial care and lived at peace with his brothers. He would gather brushwood before dawn and trudge home in the dark, or walk to the shore to catch crabs and shellfish to help feed the family. He was an elegant and persuasive speaker. His kinsmen pressed him to enter government. "You are honest, lucid, and upright," they said. "You could be a commandery clerk, move among the high officials, and rise in time—why choose the hardship of the hills and spend your whole life on the coast? Tong's face went dark. "Is this how little you think of me? Had I lived under a flawless sage-king, I might have debated office and retirement with the likes of the Eight Yuan and Eight Kai. In a foul age I would gladly foul myself beside Qu Yuan. In an age neither wholly bright nor wholly dark I would hoe side by side with Jie Ni and Chang Zu. Never would I cringe and crawl in some yamen gate! Your words set every hair on my skin on end, sent cold sweat in rivers down my ribs, painted my cheeks fever-red, set my heart smoldering like coals, glued my tongue to the roof of my mouth, and stuffed my ears as if with clay. His relatives were mortified into silence. After that he refused to see his clan at all.
5
會母疾，統侍醫藥，宗親因得見之。 其從父敬甯祠先人，迎女巫章丹、陳珠二人，並有國色，莊服甚麗，善歌儛，又能隱形匿影。 甲夜之初，撞鐘擊鼓，間以絲竹，丹、珠乃拔刀破舌，吞刀吐火，雲霧杳冥，流光電發。 統諸從兄弟欲往觀之，難統，於是共紿之曰：「從父間疾病得瘳，大小以為喜慶，欲因其祭祀，並往賀之，卿可俱行乎？」 統從之。 入門，忽見丹、珠在中庭，輕步佪舞，靈談鬼笑，飛觸挑柈，酬酢翩翻。 統驚愕而走，不由門，破籓直出。 歸責諸人曰：「昔淫亂之俗興，衛文公為之悲惋； 蝀蝀之氣見，君子尚不敢指； 季桓納齊女，仲尼載馳而退； 子路見夏南，憤恚而忼愾。 吾常恨不得頓叔向之頭，陷華父之眼。 奈何諸君迎此妖物，夜與遊戲，放傲逸之情，縱奢淫之行，亂男女之禮，破貞高之節，何也？」 遂隱床上，被髮而臥，不復言。 眾親踧踖，即退遣丹、珠，各各分散。
When his mother grew sick he nursed her with physic, so his kinsmen had a chance to visit. His uncle Jingning was holding a sacrifice to the ancestors and had hired two shamankas, Zhang Dan and Chen Zhu—women of breathtaking beauty in gorgeous ritual dress, who sang and danced superbly and could make themselves vanish from sight. As the first watch began, bells and drums rolled, strings and pipes wove between. Zhang and Chen slashed their tongues with knives, swallowed blades, breathed fire—smoke hid the hall and lightnings seemed to crackle through the murk. Tong's cousins wanted to watch the show but knew he would refuse, so they lied: "Uncle's recurring illness has lifted; the whole family is celebrating. We mean to visit him during the sacrifice to offer our joy. Won't you come along? Tong went with them. Inside the gate he saw Zhang and Chen whirling in the courtyard on light feet, chattering like spirits, laughing like ghosts, leaping to catch cups and platters, wheeling through the drinking games in a blur. Tong bolted in horror, not toward the door but straight through a fence. Back home he rebuked them: "When licentious ways spread through Wei, Duke Wen of Wei wept for the realm; when the rainbow omen showed in the sky, even gentlemen feared to name it; when Ji Huanzi took the dancing-girls of Qi, Confucius turned his chariot and fled south; when Zilu looked on Xia Ji, his rage shook him to the marrow. I have often wished I could strike off Shuxiang's head and blind Huafu with my thumbs. And now you bring such creatures under your roof, sport with them through the night, give free rein to pride and lust, trample the bounds between men and women, and shatter every claim to purity—why? He threw himself on his couch, hair streaming, and would not speak again. The relatives, squirming with shame, sent the two women away at once and slipped off in all directions.
6
後其母病篤，乃詣洛市藥。 會三月上巳，洛中王公已下並至浮橋，士女駢填，車服燭路。 統時在船中曝所市藥，諸貴人車乘來者如雲，統並不之顧。 太尉賈充怪而問之，統初不應，重問，乃徐答曰：「會稽夏仲御也。」 充使問其土地風俗，統曰：「其人循循，猶有大禹之遺風，大伯之義讓，嚴遵之抗志，黃公之高節。」 又問「卿居海濱，頗能隨水戲乎？」 答曰：「可。」 統乃操柂正櫓，折旋中流，初作鯔鷠躍，後作鯆䱐引，飛鷁首，掇獸尾，奪長梢而船直逝者三焉。 於是風波振駭，雲霧杳冥，俄而白魚跳入船者有八九。 觀者皆悚遽，充心尤異之，乃更就船與語，其應如響，欲使之仕，即俯而不答。 充又謂曰：「昔堯亦歌，舜亦歌，子與人歌而善，必反而後和之，明先聖前哲無不盡歌。 卿頗能作卿土地間曲乎？」 統曰：「先公惟寓稽山，朝會萬國，授化鄙邦，崩殂而葬。 恩澤雲布，聖化猶存，百姓感詠，遂作《慕歌》。 又孝女曹娥，年甫十四，貞順之德過越梁宋，其父墮江不得戶，娥仰天哀號，中流悲歎，便投水而死，父子喪屍，後乃俱出，國人哀其孝義，為歌《河女》之章。 伍子胥諫吳王，言不納用，見戮投海，國人痛其忠烈，為作《小海唱》。 今欲歌之。」 眾人僉曰：「善。」 統於是以足叩船，引聲喉囀，清激慷慨，大風應至，含水𠻳天，雲雨響集，叱吒歡呼，雷電晝冥，集氣長嘯，沙塵煙起。 王公已下皆恐，止之乃已。 諸人顧相謂曰：「若不游洛水，安見是人！ 聽《慕歌》之聲，便仿佛見大禹之容。 聞《河女》之音，不覺涕淚交流，即謂伯姬高行在目前也。 聆《小海》之唱，謂子胥、屈平立吾左右矣。」 充欲耀以文武鹵簿，覬其來觀，因而謝之，遂命建硃旗，舉幡校，分羽騎為隊，軍伍肅然。 須臾，鼓吹亂作，胡葭長鳴，車乘紛錯，縱橫馳道，又使妓女之徒服袿襡，炫金翠，繞其船三匝。 統危坐如故，若無所聞。 充等各散曰：「此吳兒是木人石心也。」 統歸會稽，竟不知所終。
When his mother later sank toward death, he traveled to Luoyang to buy drugs. It was the spring festival on the third day of the third month. Everyone from princes downward had gone to the Floating Bridge; noblemen and women jammed the way until carriage canopies and silks lit the road like torches. Tong sat in a small boat sunning his bundles of herbs while great coaches rolled past like clouds; he never lifted his eyes. Grand Commandant Jia Chong, intrigued, hailed him. Tong ignored the first call; when Chong pressed again he answered slowly, "Xia Zhongyu of Kuaiji. Chong asked about the customs of his country. Tong said, "We are a steady, patient folk. We still breathe something of Yu the Great, of Taibo who yielded a throne, of Yan Zun who scorned office, and of the old Lord Huang who chose death rather than serve the Qin. Chong added, "You live on the coast—can you play tricks on the water?" I can," said Tong. Tong seized helm and sweep and spun the boat in the current—first a leap like mullet, then a stretch like a stingray, then the bow reared like a wild goose, the stern dipped like a beast's tail; three times he snatched the long pole and sent the skiff darting straight through the chop. Wind and water roared; mist swallowed the banks. In moments eight or nine white fish vaulted into the boat. The crowd gasped. Chong was more astonished than anyone. He stepped down to the gunwale and questioned him; Tong answered as quick as an echo. When Chong hinted at an appointment, Tong only looked down and said nothing. Chong tried again: "Yao sang, Shun sang; Confucius, hearing a fine song, always turned back to join the chorus. Every sage raised his voice. Can you sing us something from your own country? Tong said, "Our ancient lord dwelt on Mount Kuaiji, gathered the myriad states in audience, and spread civilization through our humble land; when he died he was buried there. His kindness fell like rain clouds; his teaching lingers still. The people sang of their longing, and so we have the 'Song of Admiration.' There is also the filial girl Cao E, who at fourteen showed a devotion brighter than any tale from Yue, Liang, or Song. Her father drowned in the river and his body could not be found. She cried to heaven from midstream, then leaped in and died. Later both corpses rose together. The people mourned her devotion and sang the ballad we call 'The River's Daughter.' When Wu Zixu warned the king of Wu and was ignored, they killed him and threw his body in the sea. The people mourned his fierce loyalty and sang the ballad called the 'Little Sea.' I mean to sing it for you now. The listeners cried as one, "Yes—do!" Tong struck the hull with his foot and let his voice roll out—high, fierce, and full. Wind answered from nowhere; he spat a spray toward the sky until clouds and rain seemed to answer, roared and cheered until thunder rolled at noon, drew one long breath that howled like a gale, and kicked up dust like smoke. Everyone from the nobles down was terrified, and they had to beg him to stop before the storm died away. They turned to one another and said, "Had we not played on the Luo today, we would never have met this man! When they heard the 'Song of Admiration,' they could almost see the face of Yu the Great before them. The 'River's Daughter' left them weeping freely, as if the noble widow Bo Ji stood in their midst. The 'Little Sea' made them feel as though Zixu and Qu Yuan stood on either hand." Chong meant to overawe him with the full imperial guard—hoping he would look up from the river and soften—so he unfurled scarlet flags, broke out the drum corps, and drew up armored horse in disciplined ranks. Suddenly music blared, long horns screamed, carriages clashed and careened along the avenues, and a ring of courtesans in brocade jackets—flashing gold and green—swept three circuits around his skiff. Tong sat bolt upright and never seemed to hear a note. Chong and his party withdrew muttering, "The boy from Wu is wood and stone from the ribs up." Tong went home to Kuaiji, and after that no one knows his fate.
7
朱沖，字巨容，南安人也。 少有至行，閑靜寡欲，好學而貧，常以耕藝爲事。 鄰人失犢，認沖犢以歸，後得犢於林下，大慚，以犢還沖，沖竟不受。 有牛犯其禾稼，沖屢持芻送牛而無恨色。 主愧之，乃不復爲暴。 咸寧四年，詔補博士，沖稱疾不應。 尋又詔曰：「東宮官屬亦宜得履蹈至行敦悅典籍者，其以沖爲太子右庶子。」 沖每聞徵書至，輒逃入深山，時人以爲梁管之流。 沖居近夷俗，羌戎奉之若君，沖亦以禮讓爲訓，邑里化之，路不拾遺，邨無凶人，毒蟲猛獸皆不爲害。 卒以壽終。
Zhu Chong, courtesy name Jurong, came from Nan'an. Even as a boy he showed uncommon decency: quiet, almost without wants, hungry for books yet destitute, he lived by tilling and tending crops. A neighbor misidentified Chong's calf as his own and led it away; when he found his beast under the trees he brought Chong's calf back, shamefaced, but Chong would not take it. When someone's ox ruined his field, Chong kept bringing hay to the owner to feed it, never showing resentment. The owner, ashamed, kept the beast from doing further damage. In Xianning 4 the court named him a doctorate; he pleaded illness and stayed away. Another edict soon followed: the heir apparent needed men of proven integrity who loved the canon—appoint Chong right tutor of the household. Whenever word of a call reached him, he bolted for the deep hills; contemporaries ranked him with Guanning of the eastern coast. He lived among tribesmen who honored him like a chief. He taught them deference, and the whole district changed: lost goods stayed where they fell, brawls vanished, and even snakes and beasts did not strike. He died in ripe old age.
8
范粲，字承明，陳留外黃人，漢萊蕪長丹之孫也。 粲高亮貞正，有丹風，而博涉強記，學皆可師，遠近請益者甚眾，性不矜莊，而見之皆肅如也。 魏時州府交辟，皆無所就。 久之，乃應命為治中，轉別駕，辟太尉掾、尚書郎，出為征西司馬，所曆職皆有聲稱。 及宣帝輔政，遷武威太守。 到郡，選良吏，立學校，勸農桑。 是時戎夷頗侵疆場，粲明設防備，敵不敢犯，西域流通，無烽燧之警。 又郡壤富實，珍玩充積，粲檢制之，息其華侈。 以母老罷官。 郡既接近寇戎，粲又重鎮輒去職，朝廷尤之，左遷樂涫令。
Fan Can, courtesy name Chengming, was from Waihuang in Chenliu—a grandson of Fan Dan, who had been magistrate of Laiwu under the Han. He was as stern and honest as his grandfather Fan Dan, with a memory that drank in books. Students flocked to him from every quarter. He wore no air of pomp, yet everyone who met him stood straighter. During the Wei, provincial and commandery posts came again and again; he refused them all. At length he accepted a place as administrative adviser, rose to chief clerk, served as aide to the grand commandant and gentleman of the palace, then marched west as army marshal—winning praise in each office. When Emperor Xuan took charge of the regency, Can was named governor of Wuwei. There he picked able officers, opened schools, and pushed farming and silk work. Barbarians harried the frontier, but his clear dispositions kept them out; the Silk Road stayed open and the signal fires stayed cold. The prefecture was rich and temptation everywhere; he tightened discipline and cut back extravagance. He left office when his mother grew frail. The court faulted him for walking away from a sensitive post on the barbarian edge and demoted him to magistrate of Leku.
9
頃之，轉太宰從事中郎。 遭母憂，以至孝稱。 服闕，復為太宰中郎。 齊王芳被廢，遷于金墉城，粲素服拜送，哀慟左右。 時景帝輔政，召群官會議，粲又不到，朝廷以其時望，優容之。 粲又稱疾，闔門不出。 於是特詔為侍中，持節使於雍州。 粲因陽狂不言，寢所乘車，足不履地。 子孫恆侍左右，至有婚宦大事，輒密諮焉。 合者則色無變，不合則眠寢不安，妻子以此知其旨。
Soon he was shifted to retainer clerk under the grand steward. His mother's death plunged him into mourning famed for its grief. When the mourning term ended he returned as the steward's clerk. When Cao Fang, the prince of Qi, was cast down and sent to the Metal Rampart palace, Can went in undyed linen to bow him off and wept until bystanders wept with him. Emperor Jing called a plenary council; Can stayed away again, yet the court indulged him because of his moral weight. He pleaded illness once more and barred his gate. A special edict named him palace attendant with credentials and ordered him to Yongzhou. He feigned madness and fell silent, living in his carriage so his feet never touched earth. Sons and grandsons waited on him always; even weddings and appointments they settled only after whispered questions at his pillow. If he approved, his face stayed calm; if not, he tossed all night—so his household read his mind.
10
武帝踐阼，泰始中，粲同郡孫和時為太子中庶子，表薦粲，稱其操行高潔，久嬰疾病，可使郡縣輿致京師，加以聖恩，賜其醫藥，若遂瘳除，必有益於政。 乃詔郡縣給醫藥，又以二千石祿養病，歲以為常，加賜帛百匹。 子喬以父疾篤，辭不敢受，詔不許。 乙太康六年卒，時年八十四，不言三十六載，終於所寢之車。 長子喬。
After Jin Wudi took the throne, Sun He—then junior tutor to the heir apparent and a townsman of Can—memorialized that Can's life was ascetic and his body long ill, that the counties should bring him to Luoyang in a litter, and that imperial physicians might restore him to the state's service. The throne ordered local officials to furnish physic and pay him a two-thousand-bushel stipend year after year to nurse his health, plus a hundred rolls of silk. His son Fan Qiao, thinking the sickness grave, tried to decline the bounty; the edict refused the refusal. He died in Taikang 6 at eighty-four, having kept silence thirty-six years, and breathed his last in the cart that was his bed. His eldest son was Fan Qiao.
11
喬字伯孫。 年二歲時，祖馨臨終，撫喬首曰：「恨不見汝成人！」 因以所用硯與之。 至五歲，祖母以告喬，喬便執硯涕泣。 九歲請學，在同輩之中，言無媟辭。 弱冠，受業于樂安蔣國明。 濟陰劉公榮有知人之鑒，見喬，深相器重。 友人劉彥秋夙有聲譽，嘗謂人曰：「范伯孫體應純和，理思周密，吾每欲錯其一事而終不能。」 光祿大夫李銓嘗論楊雄才學優於劉向，喬以為向定一代之書，正群籍之篇，使雄當之，故非所長，遂著《劉楊優劣論》，文多不載。
Fan Qiao, courtesy name Bosun. When Qiao was two, his dying grandfather Xin cupped his head and said, "I shall not live to see you a man!" With that he pressed his own inkstone into the child's hands. At five, when his grandmother told him the story, he clutched the inkstone and wept. At nine he began formal study; even among playmates he never used a coarse word. When he came of age he studied under Jiang Guoming of Le'an. Liu Gongrong of Jiyin was famed for reading character; one meeting with Qiao won his deepest respect. His friend Liu Yanqiu, himself celebrated, said, "Fan Bosun's nature is mild and his mind tight as mesh; I have tried a hundred times to catch him in a slip and never can." When Minister Li Quan claimed Yang Xiong outshone Liu Xiang, Qiao answered that Xiang had settled the classics of an era—work Xiong could not have matched—and wrote a treatise comparing the two; the piece is omitted here for length.
12
喬好學不倦。 父粲陽狂不言，喬與二弟並棄學業，絕人事，侍疾家庭，至粲沒，足不出邑里。 司隸校尉劉毅嘗抗論於朝廷曰：「使范武威疾若不篤，是為伯夷、叔齊復存於今。 如其信篤，益是聖主所宜哀矜。 其子久侍父疾，名德著茂，不加敘用，深為朝廷惜遺賢之譏也。」 元康中，詔求廉讓沖退覆道寒素者，不計資，以參選敘。 尚書郎王琨乃薦喬曰：「喬稟德真粹，立操高潔，儒學精深，含章內奧，安貧樂道，棲志窮巷，簞瓢詠業，長而彌堅，誠當今之寒素，著厲俗之清彥。」 時張華領司徒，天下所舉凡十七人，于喬特發優論。 又吏部郎郗隆亦思求海內幽遁之士，喬供養衡門，至於白首，於是除樂安令。 辭疾不拜。 喬凡一舉孝廉，八薦公府，再舉清白異行，又舉寒素，一無所就。
Qiao never wearied of books. When his father feigned madness and silence, Qiao and his two brothers quit school, shut out the world, and nursed him until he died—never leaving their hamlet in all those years. Liu Yi once told the court, "If Governor Fan's sickness is feigned, then Bo Yi and Shu Qi walk among us again. If it is genuine, a sage king should pity him all the more. The sons have served a sick father for years with shining virtue; to leave them unranked is to invite the charge that the throne wastes good men." Under Yuankang the throne sought modest scholars of cold pedigree, rank no object. Palace gentleman Wang Kun recommended him: pure in endowment, high in principle, steeped in the canon yet inward-turned, happy in poverty and fixed in purpose—"the very cold-clad scholar the age needs." Zhang Hua presided over the ministry; seventeen names came up from the realm, but only Qiao drew a special encomium. Personnel director Xi Long also combed for hidden talent; learning that Qiao had kept his parents in a lane of wattles until their hair turned white, the court named him magistrate of Le'an. He pleaded illness and never went. He was nominated once as filial-incorrupt, eight times to the Three Ducal Offices, twice for outstanding purity, once again for cold pedigree—and never accepted.
13
初，喬邑人臘夕盜斫其樹，人有告者，喬陽不聞，邑人愧而歸之。 喬往喻曰：「卿節日取柴，欲與父母相歡娛耳，何以愧為！」 其通物善導，皆此類也。 外黃令高頵歎曰：「諸士大夫未有不及私者，而范伯孫恂恂率道，名諱未嘗經于官曹，士之貴異，於今而見。 大道廢而有仁義，信矣！」 其行身不穢，為物所嘆服如此。 以元康八年卒，年七十八。
Once on New Year's Eve a neighbor felled one of his trees; when someone tattled, Qiao pretended not to hear until the culprit, ashamed, brought the timber back. Qiao went to him and said, "You only wanted fuel for a feast with your parents—what shame is there in that?" His tact in smoothing such matters was always like this. Magistrate Gao Jun of Waihuang marveled, "Every gentleman chases some private gain, yet Bosun walks the Way with open hands—his name has never darkened a clerk's ledger. Here is proof that when the great Way fades, humanity and duty still appear. When the great Way is lost, ritual and right rise—how true that is!" He lived without stain and won such admiration. He died in Yuankang 8 at seventy-eight.
14
魯勝，字叔時，代郡人也。 少有才操，為佐著作郎。 元康初，遷建康令。 到官，著《正天論》云：「以冬至之後立晷測影，准度日月星。 臣案日月裁徑百里，無千里； 星十里，不百里。」 遂表上求下群公卿士考論。 「若臣言合理，當得改先代之失，而正天地之紀。 如無據驗，甘即刑戮，以彰虛妄之罪。」 事遂不報。 嘗歲日望氣，知將來多故，便稱疾去官。 中書令張華遣子勸其更仕，再徵博士，舉中書郎，皆不就。
Lu Sheng, courtesy name Shushi, came from Dai commandery. Young, able, and principled, he became assistant editorialist. Early in Yuankang he was named magistrate of Jiankang. On taking office he wrote a treatise called "Setting Heaven Right," arguing that from the winter solstice one should set a gnomon and read shadows to calibrate sun, moon, and stars. He maintained that sun and moon span only a hundred leagues, not a thousand; and stars ten leagues, not a hundred. He tabled the essay and begged the high ministers to debate it. "If I speak with reason," he wrote, "let the court mend the mistakes of earlier calendars and set heaven's pattern straight. If I cannot prove my case, I will gladly die to show the world I was a fraud." The throne never answered. Watching the year's omens at New Year he foresaw chaos and resigned on grounds of illness. Zhang Hua sent his son to coax him back; twice the court called him as erudite and nominated him palace secretary—he refused each time.
15
其著述為世所稱，遭亂遺失，惟注《墨辯》，存其敘曰：
His other works perished in the wars; only his notes on the Mohist logic survive, with this preface:
16
名者所以別同異，明是非，道義之門，政化之準繩也。 孔子曰：「必也正名，名不正則事不成。」 墨子著書，作《辯經》以立名本，惠施、公孫龍祖述其學，以正別名顯於世。 孟子非墨子，其辯言正辭則與墨同。 荀卿、莊周等皆非毀名家，而不能易其論也。
"Names," he writes, "sort the same from the different and right from wrong; they are the doorway of moral teaching and the cord of statecraft." Confucius said, "The first task is to set names straight; when names wander, nothing can be finished." Mozi framed the 'Dialectic Canon' to ground naming; Hui Shi and Gongsun Long continued that teaching and won fame by parsing terms. Mencius attacked Mozi, yet his own arguments matched Mohist rigor. Xunzi and Zhuangzi mocked the logicians yet could not refute them.
17
名必有形，察形莫如別色，故有堅白之辯。 名必有分明，分明莫如有無，故有無序之辯。 是有不是，可有不可，是名兩可。 同而有異，異而有同，是之謂辯同異。 至同無不同，至異無不異，是謂辯同辯異。 同異生是非，是非生吉凶，取辯於一物而原極天下之汙隆，名之至也。
Names cling to shapes; to read shapes one must sort colors—hence the paradox of hard and white. Names demand clear cuts; clearest cuts lie in being and nonbeing—hence the dispute over how nothing orders itself. What is may also not be; what can be done may be impossible—this is the 'double permission' of naming. The same holds difference, the different holds sameness—this is how logicians split and join categories. At the limit of sameness nothing fails to match; at the limit of difference nothing fails to part—those are the debates of pure same and pure difference. From same and different come right and wrong; from right and wrong, fortune and disaster. To argue one thing and thereby map the world's rise and fall—that is naming at its height.
18
自鄧析至秦時名家者，世有篇籍，率頗難知，後學莫復傳習，於今五百餘歲，遂亡絕，《墨辯》有上下《經》，《經》各有《說》，凡四篇，與其書眾篇連第，故獨存。 今引說就經，各附其章，疑者闕之。 又采諸眾雜集為《刑》《名》二篇，略解指歸，以俟君子。 其或興微繼絕者，亦有樂乎此也！
From Deng Xi through the Qin logicians, treatises survived yet were nearly unreadable; for five hundred years no one taught them, and they died out. Only the Mohist Canons endure—upper and lower classics, each with its commentary, four scrolls bound into the Mozi so they escaped oblivion. I align each exegesis with its canon and mark doubtful lines; where the text fails, I leave the space blank. I added two short essays, On Punishments and On Names, mapping their drift for a later reader who cares. Whoever would relight a dying lamp may find some pleasure here too.
19
董養，字仲道，陳留浚儀人也。 泰始初，到洛下，不幹祿求榮。 及楊後廢，養因遊太學，升堂歎曰：「建斯堂也，將何為乎？ 每覽國家赦書，謀反大逆皆赦，至於殺祖父母、父母不赦者，以為王法所不容也。 奈何公卿處議，文飾禮典，以至此乎！ 天人之理既滅，大亂作矣。」 因著《無化論》以非之。 永嘉中，洛城東北步廣里中地陷，有二鵝出焉，其蒼者飛去，白者不能飛。 養聞歎曰：「昔周時所盟會狄泉，即此地也。 今有二鵝，蒼者胡象，白者國家之象，其可盡言乎！ 顧謂謝鯤、阮孚曰：「《易》稱知機其神乎，君等可深藏矣。」 乃與妻荷擔入蜀，莫知所終。
Dong Yang, courtesy name Zhongdao, came from Junyi in Chenliu. In the first Taishi years he came to Luoyang seeking neither stipend nor fame. After Empress Yang was cast down, he climbed the academy hall and cried, "Why did we build this hall? Amnesties forgive treason yet never forgive parricide—that is where the law draws its line. How could ministers varnish the rites until the law reads upside down? When heaven and humanity part company, the great upheaval follows. He answered with his essay 'Against Change.' During Yongjia the earth opened in Buguang ward and two geese crawled out—one gray that flew off, one white that could not. Yang said, "This is the Di Spring where the Zhou lords swore their oaths. The gray bird is the barbarians, the white our dynasty—need I spell the omen out? He turned to Xie Kun and Ruan Fu: 'The Book of Changes praises those who see the turning point—dig in deep, friends. He shouldered a pole and led his wife into Shu, and was never heard from again.
20
霍原，字休明，燕國廣陽人也。 少有志力，叔父坐法當死，原入獄訟之，楚毒備加，終免叔父。 年十八，觀太學行禮，因留習之。 貴游子弟聞而重之，欲與相見，以其名微，不欲晝往，乃夜共造焉。 父友同郡劉岱將舉之，未果而病篤，臨終，敕其子沈曰：「霍原慕道清虛，方成奇器，汝後必薦之。」 後歸鄉里。 高陽許猛素服其名，會為幽州刺史，將詣之，主簿當車諫不可出界，猛歎恨而止。 原山居積年，門徒百數，燕王月致羊酒。 及劉沈為國大中正，元康中，進原為二品，司徒不過，沈乃上表理之。 詔下司徒參論，中書監張華令陳准奏為上品，詔可。 元康末，原與王褒等俱以賢良徵，累下州郡，以禮發遣，皆不到。 後王浚稱制謀僭，使人問之，原不答，浚心銜之。 又有遼東囚徒三百餘人，依山為賊，意欲劫原為主事，亦未行。 時有謠曰：「天子在何許？ 近在豆田中。」 浚以豆為霍，收原斬之，懸其首。 諸生悲哭，夜竊屍共埋殯之。 遠近駭愕，莫不冤痛之。
Huo Yuan, courtesy name Xiuming, was from Guangyang in Yan. While still young he took tortures in prison to save an uncle condemned to die. At eighteen he watched the academy rites and stayed to master them. Great lords' sons respected him but thought his name too slight for a daylight call, so they came by torchlight. Liu Dai, his father's friend, meant to sponsor him but died first, telling his son Shen, 'Huo Yuan is a vessel in the making—remember to lift him up.' Later Yuan went home to the hills. Governor Xu Meng of Gaoyang meant to call on him until his clerk barred a governor from crossing the line—Meng gave up with a sigh. He taught a hundred disciples in the hills while the prince of Yan sent monthly sheep and wine. Liu Shen ranked him second class; the ministry of education balked until Shen memorialized again. Zhang Hua had Chen Zhun move him to the top grade, and the throne agreed. Late in Yuankang he was summoned with Wang Bao as a worthy; the counties escorted him with full rites and he still would not go. When Wang Jun seized the government and sounded him out, Yuan stayed silent, and Jun nursed a grudge. Three hundred Liaodong fugitives in the hills wanted him for chieftain but never acted. A children's rhyme asked, 'Where sits the Son of Heaven? In the bean patch just ahead.' Wang Jun read bean as Huo, seized Yuan, beheaded him, and spiked his head. His students stole the body by night and gave him burial. The realm cried injustice.
21
郭琦，字公偉，太原晉陽人也。 少方直，有雅量，博學，善五行，作《天文志》、《五行傳》，注《穀梁》、《京氏易》百卷。 鄉人王遊等皆就琦學。 武帝欲以琦為佐著作郎，問琦族人尚書郭彰。 彰素疾琦，答云：「不識」。 帝曰：「若如卿言，烏丸家兒能事卿，即堪為郎矣。」 遂決意用之。 及趙王倫篡位，又欲用琦，琦曰：「我已為武帝吏，不容復為今世吏。」 終身處於家。
Guo Qi, courtesy name Gongwei, came from Jinyang in Taiyuan. Young, upright, and learned in astrology, he wrote treatises on heaven, the five phases, and a hundred fascicles on the Guliang and Jing Changes. Townsmen such as Wang You studied at his feet. Emperor Wu meant to name him assistant editor and asked his kinsman Guo Zhang. Zhang hated him and said flatly, 'I never heard of him.' The emperor retorted, 'If a Wuhuan stable-boy is good enough for you, he is good enough for my editorial office.' So the emperor appointed Qi anyway. When Sima Lun seized the throne and offered a post, Qi answered, 'I served Emperor Wu; I will not serve your court. He stayed home for life.
22
伍朝，字世明，武陵漢壽人也。 少有雅操，閒居樂道，不修世事。 性好學，以博士徵，不就。 刺史劉弘薦朝為零陵太守，主者以非選例，不聽。 尚書郎胡濟奏曰：「臣以為當今資喪亂之餘運，承百王之遺弊，進趨者乘國故以僥倖，守道者懷蘊櫝以終身，故令敦褒之化虧，退讓之風薄。 案朝遊心物外，不屑時務，守靜衡門，志道日新，年過耳順而所尚無虧，誠江南之奇才，丘園之逸老也。 不加飾進，何以勸善！ 且白衣為郡，前漢有舊，宜聽光顯，以獎風尚。」 奏可，而朝不就，終於家。
Wu Chao, courtesy name Shiming, came from Hanshou in Wuling. He loved quiet and the Way, and shunned the world's business. Summoned as erudite, he never went. Liu Hong tried to name him governor of Lingling; the ministry blocked it as irregular. Hu Ji told the throne that after chaos flatterers rose while the steadfast hid—so honest praise had waned. Chao's mind wanders beyond things; past sixty he still keeps a wattled gate and grows daily in the Way—a southern marvel, a hermit sage. If we never honor such men, how do we teach the good? Commoners became magistrates under the Former Han—let this man shine to stiffen public morals. The edict passed, yet Chao stayed home and died there.
23
魯褒，字元道，南陽人也。 好學多聞，以貧素自立。 元康之後，綱紀大壞，褒傷時之貪鄙，乃隱姓名，而著《錢神論》以刺之。 其略曰：
Lu Bao, courtesy name Yuandao, came from Nanyang. He was learned, widely read, and proud to stay poor. After Yuankang the moral net rotted; he hid his name and wrote the 'God of Cash' to mock the money-grubbers. It opens:
24
錢之為體，有乾坤之象，內則其方，外則其圓。 其積如山，其流如川。 動靜有時，行藏有節，市井便易，不患耗折。 難折象壽，不匱象道，故能長久，為世神寶。 親之如兄，字曰孔方，失之則貧弱，得之則富昌。 無翼而飛，無足而走，解嚴毅之顏，開難發之口。 錢多者處前，錢少者居後。 處前者為君長，在後者為臣僕。 君長者豐衍而有餘，臣僕者窮竭而不足。 《詩》云：「哿矣富人，哀此煢獨。」
Coin is shaped like heaven and earth—square inside, round skin. Stacked it is a mountain; spent it is a stream. It moves in season, rests by rule, trades easily in the market, and does not fear wear. It breaks seldom like long life, runs never dry like the Way—so the world worships it. Men call it Elder Brother Kongfang: lose him and you starve; win him and you flourish. It flies without wings, runs without feet, melts stern brows, loosens silent tongues. The rich coin walks first; the poor coin trails. The fore ranks play lord; the rear play slave. Front ranks swim in surplus; the rear run dry. As the Classic of Poetry says, 'Happy the rich—pity the poor alone.'
25
錢之為言泉也，無遠不往，無幽不至。 京邑衣冠，疲勞講肄，厭聞清談，對之睡寐，見我家兄，莫不驚視。 錢之所祐，吉無不利，何必讀書，然後富貴！ 昔呂公欣悅於空版，漢祖克之於贏二，文君解布裳而被錦繡，相如乘高蓋而解犢鼻，官尊名顯，皆錢所致。 空版至虛，而況有實； 贏二雖少，以致親密。 由此論之，謂為神物。 無德而尊，無勢而熱，排金門而入紫闥。 危可使安，死可使活，貴可使賤，生可使殺。 是故忿爭非錢不勝，幽滯非錢不拔，怨仇非錢不解，令問非錢不發。
Cash means 'springwater': it runs everywhere, even to the dark. Luoyang's gentry, bored with seminars, nap through abstruse talk yet snap awake at Elder Brother. Where it blesses, luck follows—who needs books if cash smiles? Lü Gong bowed to an empty bond, Gaozu won with two extra coins, Zhuo Wenjun traded sackcloth for silk, Sima Xiangru swapped cowherd shorts for a grand carriage—every rise came from cash. An empty bond is hollow—think what solid coin can do. Two little coins bought an empire's favor. So men call it divine. Virtueless yet revered, powerless yet mighty—it shoulders past the palace gates. It turns peril to peace, death to life, honor to shame, and living men to corpses. No feud ends, no deadlock lifts, no grudge clears, no fair name flies without its nod.
26
洛中硃衣，當途之士，愛我家兄，皆我已已。 執我之手，抱我終始，不計優劣，不論年紀，賓客輻輳，門常如市。 諺曰：「錢無耳，可使鬼。」 凡今之人，惟錢而已。 故曰軍無財，士不來； 軍無賞，士不往。 仕無中人，不如歸田。 雖有中人，而無家兄，不異無翼而欲飛，無足而欲行。
Crimson officials and palace climbers never tire of my elder brother Kongfang. They shake his hand from youth to age, heedless of rank or years; his gate is always a market. The proverb runs, 'Money has no ears, but it can command ghosts.' So men today worship only cash. Hence the saying: no pay, no troops. No bounty, no charge. Serve without a broker in the ministry and you may as well plow. Even with a patron, without Kongfang you are a bird without wings, a man without legs.
27
蓋疾時者共傳其文。 褒不仕，莫知其所終。
Every cynic of the age copied his essay. Bao never served; no one knows his end.
28
氾騰，字無忌，敦煌人也。 舉孝廉，除郎中。 屬天下兵亂，去官還家。 太守張閟造之，閉門不見，禮遺一無所受。 歎曰：「生於亂世，貴而能貧，乃可以免。」 散家財五十萬，以施宗族，柴門灌園，琴書自適。 張軌徵之為府司馬，騰曰：「門一杜，其可開乎！」 固辭。 病兩月餘而卒。
Fan Teng, courtesy name Wuji, came from Dunhuang. Raised as filial-incorrupt, he became a gentleman of the palace. When war swept the empire he resigned and went home. Prefect Zhang Min called; he barred the door and refused every gift. He said, 'In a dark age stay high-minded and poor—that is how you survive.' He gave away half a million to kin, wattled his gate, hoed his garden, and took his ease with lute and books. Zhang Gui wanted him as marshal; Teng said, 'A shut gate should not reopen. He refused flatly. He died after two months' illness.
29
任旭，字次龍，臨海章安人也。 父訪，吳南海太守。 旭幼孤弱，兒童時勤於學。 及長，立操清修，不染流俗，鄉曲推而愛之。 郡將蔣秀嘉其名，請為功曹。 秀居官貪穢，每不奉法，旭正色苦諫。 秀既不納，旭謝去，閉門講習，養志而已。 久之，秀坐事被收，旭狼狽營送，秀慨然歎曰：「任功曹真人也。 吾違其讜言，以至於此，復何言哉！」 尋察孝廉，除郎中，州郡仍舉為郡中正，固辭歸家。 永康初，惠帝博求清節俊異之士，太守仇馥薦旭清貞潔素，學識通博，詔下州郡以禮發遣。 旭以朝廷多故，志尚隱遁，辭疾不行。 尋天下大亂，陳敏作逆，江東名豪並見羈縶，惟旭與賀循守死不回。 敏卒不能屈。
Ren Xu, courtesy name Cilong, came from Zhang'an in Linhai. His father Ren Fang had governed Nanhai under Wu. Orphaned young, he studied with fierce diligence. Grown, he kept his life clean and won the hamlet's love. General Jiang Xiu of the commandery, admiring him, asked him to serve as merit clerk. Jiang Xiu was corrupt and lawless; Xu rebuked him bluntly again and again. When Xiu brushed him off, Xu resigned, barred his door, and lived for his studies and his conscience. When Xiu fell under arrest, Xu scrambled to help him on his way; Xiu sighed, 'Ren Xu is the real thing. I ignored his straight talk and came to this—what is left to say?' Soon Xu passed as filial-incorrupt, served briefly as gentleman, was pressed to be local evaluator, and each time went home instead. In Yongkang 1 Emperor Hui cast a wide net for recluses; Prefect Qiu Fu praised Xu's purity and learning, and the court ordered him escorted with honors. Xu pleaded illness—the court was chaos and his heart was in the hills. When Chen Min rose, every Jiangdong notable was caged; only Xu and He Xun chose death over submission. Chen Min never broke them.
30
元帝初鎮江東，聞其名，召為參軍，手書與旭，欲使必到，旭固辭以疾。 後帝進位鎮東大將軍，復召之； 及為左丞相，辟為祭酒，並不就。 中興建，公車徵，會遭母憂。 于時司空王導啟立學校，選天下明經之士，旭與會稽虞喜俱以隱學被召。 事未行，會有王敦之難，尋而帝崩，事遂寢。 明帝即位，又徵拜給事中，旭稱疾篤，經年不到，尚書以稽留除名，僕射荀崧議以為不可。 太寧末，明帝復下詔備禮徵旭，始下而帝崩。 咸和二年卒，太守馮懷上疏謂宜贈九列值蘇峻作亂，事竟不行。
Emperor Yuan, first settling the east, summoned him as staff adviser and wrote in his own hand; Xu still pleaded sickness. When the prince rose to general of the east, he called again; when he became left chancellor he offered the wine-cup post—Xu refused every one. At the court's revival the summons came; his mother died that same hour. Wang Dao then opened schools and wanted Xu and Yu Xi, famed recluses, to join. Wang Dun's coup came first; the emperor died; the plan died with him. Emperor Ming named him palace counselor; Xu stayed away a year until the ministry struck his name—Xun Song protested. Late in Taining another honored summons went out; the edict landed the day the emperor died. He died in Xianhe 2; Feng Huai asked posthumous rank to the Nine Ministers, but Su Jun's revolt buried the request.
31
子琚，位至大宗正，終於家。
His son Ren Ju reached grand director of the imperial surname and died at home.
32
郭文，字文舉，河內軹人也。 少愛山水，尚嘉遁。 年三十，每游山林，彌旬忘反。 父母終，服畢，不娶，辭家遊名山，歷華陰之崖，以觀石室之石函。 洛陽陷，乃步擔入吳興余杭大辟山中窮谷無人之地，倚木於樹，苫覆其上而居焉，亦無壁障。 時猛獸為暴，入屋害人，而文獨宿十餘年，卒無患害。 恆著鹿裘葛巾，不飲酒食肉，區種菽麥，采竹葉木實，貿鹽以自供。 人或酬下價者，亦即與之。 後人識文，不復賤酬。 食有餘穀，輒恤窮匱。 人有臻遺，取其粗者，示不逆而已。 有猛獸殺大麀鹿於庵側，文以語人，人取賣之，分錢與文。 文曰：「我若須此，自當賣之。 所以相語，正以不須故也。」 聞者皆嗟歎之。 嘗有猛獸忽張口向文，文視其口中有橫骨，乃以手探去之，猛獸明旦致一鹿於其室前。 獵者時往寄宿，文夜為擔水而無倦色。 余杭令顧颺與葛洪共造之，而攜與俱歸。 颺以文山行或須皮衣，贈以韋袴褶一具，文不納，辭歸山中。 颺追遣使者置衣室中而去，文亦無言，韋衣乃至爛於戶內，竟不服用。
Guo Wen, courtesy name Wenju, came from Zhi in Henei. He loved wild country and the name of recluse. At thirty he would vanish into the hills for weeks on end. After burying his parents he took no wife, left kin, and climbed Huayin to see the stone reliquary. When Luoyang fell he walked into the Pi range in Yuhang, leaned poles against trees, thatched a roof, and lived without walls. Beasts raided every hut but left him alone for ten years. He wore buckskin and hemp kerchief, ate no meat, hoed beans, lived on forage, and traded for salt. If buyers underpaid, he let them. Once they knew him, they paid fair coin. He shared spare grain with the hungry. When gifts came he took only the plain pieces to show courtesy, not greed. A tiger left a deer at his door; he told neighbors, they sold it and offered him coin. Wen said, 'Had I wanted money I would have sold it myself. I mentioned it only because I do not need the silver.' Hearing this, they marveled. A beast gaped at him; he pulled a bone from its jaw; at dawn it laid a deer before his door. Hunters camped with him; he fetched their water night after night, untiring. Magistrate Gu Yang and Ge Hong visited him and carried him back to town. Gu Yang gave him leather breeches for the cold; Wen refused and walked back to the hills. Yang left the clothes in his hut; Wen never touched them until they rotted on the floor.
33
王導聞其名，遣人迎之，文不肯就船車，荷擔徒行。 既至，導置之西園，園中果木成林，又有鳥獸麋鹿，因以居文焉。 於是朝士咸共觀之，文頹然踑踞，傍若無人。 溫嶠嘗問文曰：「人皆有六親相娛，先生棄之何樂？」 文曰：「本行學道，不謂遭世亂，欲歸無路，是以來也。」 又問曰：「饑而思食，壯而思室，自然之性，先生安獨無情乎？」 文曰：「情由憶生，不憶故無情。」 又問曰：「先生獨處窮山，若疾病遭命，則為烏鳥所食，顧不酷乎？」 文曰：「藏埋者亦為螻蟻所食，復何異乎！」 又問曰：「猛獸害人，人之所畏，而先生獨不畏邪？」 文曰：「人無害獸之心，則獸亦不害人。」 又問曰：「苟世不寧，身不得安。 今將用先生以濟時，若何？」 文曰：「山草之人，安能佐世！」 導嘗眾客共集，絲竹並奏，試使呼之。 文瞪眸不轉，跨躡華堂如行林野。 于時坐者咸有鉤深味遠之言，文常稱不達來語。 天機鏗宏，莫有窺其門者。 溫嶠嘗稱曰：「文有賢人之性，而無賢人之才，柳下、梁踦之亞乎！」 永昌中，大疫，文病亦殆。 王導遺藥，文曰：「命在天，不在藥也。 夭壽長短，時也。」
Wang Dao sent a coach; Wen shouldered his pole and walked. Wang Dao housed him in West Park among orchards and tame deer. Officials came to gawk; Wen squatted like a stone, indifferent to the crowd. Wen Qiao asked why he abandoned family for the hills. Wen answered, 'I went out to study the Way; chaos penned me in with no road home—so I drifted here.' Qiao pressed: hunger and desire are natural—are you without feeling?' Wen said, 'Passion feeds on memory; I forget, so I am still.' Qiao asked whether dying alone on a peak was not cruel. Wen said, 'Buried men feed ants too—what is the difference?' Qiao asked why he did not fear beasts. Wen said, 'Men who wish beasts no harm need not fear them.' Qiao asked how he would serve a troubled age. The court would use him to save the times—would he? Wen laughed: 'A weed from the hills cannot prop the age.' Wang Dao once held a banquet with music and called him in. Wen stared straight ahead and crossed the marble hall like a path in the woods. Guests spouted abstruse philosophy; Wen always said he could not follow. His mind was a locked drum—no one found the key. Wen Qiao ranked him near Liuxia Hui—virtue without court polish. In Yongchang a plague swept the city; Wen nearly died. Wang Dao sent physic; Wen said, 'Life belongs to heaven, not to drugs. Long or short span is timing alone.'
34
居導園七年，未嘗出入。 一旦忽求還山，導不聽。 後逃歸臨安，結廬舍於山中。 臨安令萬寵迎置縣中。 及蘇峻反，破余杭，而臨安獨全，人皆異之，以為知機。 自後不復語，但舉手指麾，以宣其意。 病甚，求還山，欲枕石安屍，不令人殯葬，寵不聽。 不食二十餘日，亦不瘦。 寵問曰：「先生復可得幾日？」 文三舉手，果以十五日終。 寵葬之于所居之處而祭哭之，葛洪、庾闡並為作傳，讚頌其美云。
Seven years in Wang Dao's park—never a step outside. One dawn he begged to return; Wang Dao refused. He slipped back to Lin'an and raised a hut. Magistrate Wan Chong housed him in the yamen. When Su Jun sacked Yuhang, Lin'an stood untouched—folk called it foresight. After that he spoke only with hand signs. Dying, he asked to lie on stone without funeral; Wan Chong refused. He fasted twenty days yet never wasted. Wan Chong asked how many days remained. Wen lifted three fingers—he died on the fifteenth day as he signaled. Wan Chong buried him where he lived; Ge Hong and Yu Chan wrote his lives, praising his grace.
35
龔壯，字子瑋，巴西人也。 潔己自守，與鄉人譙秀齊名。 父叔為李特所害，壯積年不除喪，力弱不能復仇。 及李壽戍漢中，與李期有嫌，期，特孫也，壯欲假壽以報，乃說壽曰：「節下若能並有西土，稱籓于晉，人必樂從。 且舍小就大，以危易安，莫大之策也。」 壽然之，遂率眾討期，果克之。 壽猶襲偽號，欲官之，壯誓不仕，賂遺一無所取。 會天久雨，百姓饑墊，壯上書說壽以歸順，允天心，應人望，永為國籓，福流子孫。 壽省書內愧，秘而不宣。 乃遣使入胡，壯又諫之，壽又不納。 壯謂百行之本莫大忠孝，即假壽殺期，私仇以雪，又欲使其歸朝，以明臣節。 壽既不從，壯遂稱聾，又云手不制物，終身不復至成都，惟研考經典，譚思文章，至李勢時卒。
Gong Zhuang, courtesy name Ziwei, came from Brazil. He matched his townsman Qiao Xiu for stainless repute. Li Te had his father killed; Zhuang wore mourning for years, too weak to strike back. When Li Shou feuded with Li Qi, Zhuang urged Shou to seize the west and submit to Jin. Trade a small throne for a great protectorship—no wiser plan.' Shou agreed, crushed Li Qi, and took power. Shou still played emperor and offered posts; Zhuang refused every bribe. When famine came he memorialized Shou to yield to Jin and save the people. Shou hid the memorial, ashamed. Shou then courted the Hu; Zhuang warned again; Shou ignored him. Zhuang had used Shou to kill his foe yet still wanted Jin's suzerainty honored. When Shou refused, Zhuang feigned deafness and paralysis, never returned to Chengdu, studied until Li Shi's day, and died.
36
初，壯每歎中夏多經學，而巴蜀鄙陋，兼遭李氏之難，無復學徒，乃著《邁德論》，文多不載。
He wrote 'On Surpassing Virtue' to mourn learning lost in Shu—text omitted here.
37
孟陋，字少孤，武昌人也。 吳司空宗之曾孫也。 兄嘉，桓溫征西長史。 陋少而貞立，清操絕倫，布衣蔬食，以文籍自娛。 口不及世事，未曾交遊，時或弋釣，孤興獨往，雖家人亦不知其所之也。 喪母，毀瘠殆於滅性，不飲酒食肉十有餘年。 親族迭謂之曰：「少孤！ 誰無父母？ 誰有父母！ 聖人制禮，令賢者俯就，不肖企及。 若使毀性無嗣，更為不孝也。 陋感此言，然後從吉。 由是名著海內。 簡文帝輔政，命為參軍，稱疾不起。 桓溫躬往造焉。 或謂溫曰：「孟陋高行，學為儒宗，宜引在府，以和鼎味。」 溫歎曰：「會稽王尚不能屈，非敢擬議也。」 陋聞之曰：「桓公正當以我不往故耳。 億兆之人，無官者十居其九，豈皆高士哉！ 我疾病不堪恭相王之命，非敢為高也。」 由是名稱益重。 博學多通，長於《三禮》。 注《論語》，行於世。 卒以壽終。
Meng Lou, courtesy name Shaogu, came from Wuchang. He was great-grandson of Wu minister Meng Zong. His brother Meng Jia had been chief clerk under Huan Wen. Young, he was chaste, austere, in sackcloth and gruel, happy only in books. He never gossiped, rarely visited anyone, fished or hunted alone—his family never knew his path. His mother's death left him skeletal; he ate no meat over ten years. Kinsmen pleaded, 'Shaogu! Who has no parents? Who keeps parents forever? The sages set rites so the wise may ease grief and fools may aim higher. To die childless is the greater unfilial act. He heard them, relented, and ended mourning properly. His name then filled the empire. Emperor Jianwen summoned him as adviser; he pleaded illness. Huan Wen himself knocked on his door. A friend told Huan Wen, 'Meng Lou's virtue tops the scholars; bring him to your staff to leaven the court.' Wen sighed, 'Even the prince of Kuaiji could not move him—I hardly dare speak of hiring him.' Lou heard and said, 'Huan Wen only thinks I snubbed him on purpose. Nine men in ten lack office—are they all recluses? I am too sick to obey the prince's summons—that is no pose of pride.' His name only grew weightier after that. He mastered the Three Rites. His Analects commentary circulates still. He died in ripe old age.
38
韓績，字興齊，廣陵人也。 其先避亂，居於吳之嘉興。 父建，仕吳至大鴻臚。 績少好文學，以潛退為操，布衣蔬食，不交當世，由是東土並宗敬焉。 司徒王導聞其名，辟以為掾，不就。 咸康末，會稽內史孔愉上疏薦之，詔以安車束帛徵之。 尚書令諸葛恢奏績名望猶輕，未宜備禮，於是召拜博士。 稱老病不起，卒於家。
Han Ji, courtesy name Xingqi, came from Guangling. His clan fled war and settled in Jiaxing. His father Han Jian rose to grand herald under Wu. He loved books, lived poor, shunned office, and the whole east coast revered him. Wang Dao summoned him as clerk; he stayed away. Late in Xiankang Kong Yu recommended him; the court sent carriage and silk. Zhuge Hui said his name was still slight; the court named him erudite instead. He pleaded age and died at home.
39
于時高密劉鮞字長魚、城陽邴郁字弘文，並有高名。 鮞幼不慕俗，長而希古，篤學厲行，化流邦邑。 郁，魏徵士原之曾孫，少有原風，敕身謹潔，口不妄說，耳不妄聽，端拱恂恂，舉動有禮。 咸康中，成帝博求異行之士，鮞、鬱並被公卿薦舉，於是依績及翟湯等例，以博士徵之。 鬱辭以疾，鮞隨使者到京師，自陳年老，不拜。 各以壽終。
Liu Jun of Gaomi and Bing Yu of Chengyang shared his fame. Liu Jun scorned fashion, copied the ancients, and reshaped his town. Bing Yu was Bing Yuan's heir: silent, careful, every gesture correct. Emperor Cheng sought odd talents; both were nominated like Han Ji and Zhai Tang. Yu pleaded sick; Liu Jun went to the capital, declared himself too old, and refused the cap. Both died in honored old age.
40
譙秀，字元彥，巴西人也。 祖周，以儒學著稱，顯明蜀朝。 秀少而靜默，不交於世，知天下將亂，預絕人事，雖內外宗親，不與相見。 郡察孝廉，州舉秀才，皆不就。 及李雄據蜀，略有巴西，雄叔父驤、驤子壽皆慕秀名，具束帛安車徵之，皆不應。 常冠皮弁，弊衣，躬耕山藪。 龔壯常嘆服焉。 桓溫滅蜀，上疏薦之，朝廷以秀年在篤老，兼道遠，故不徵，遣使敕所在四時存問。 尋而范賁、蕭敬相繼作亂，秀避難宕渠，鄉里宗族依憑之者以百數。 秀年出八十，眾人欲代之負擔，秀曰：「各有老弱，當先營護。 吾氣力猶足自堪，豈以垂朽之年累諸君也！」 年九十餘卒。
Qiao Xiu, courtesy name Yuanyan, came from Brazil. His ancestor Qiao Zhou was a famed scholar of Shu Han. He foresaw chaos, cut ties, and would not even see kin. He refused every provincial summons. Li Xiong's clan offered carriage and silk; he ignored them all. He farmed in buckskin cap and rags. Gong Zhuang marveled at his resolve. Huan Wen recommended him after the conquest of Shu; the court, citing age and distance, only sent seasonal greetings. When Fan Ben rose, a hundred clansmen sheltered under his staff. Past eighty, kin wished to carry his gear; he said, 'You have elders and babes to tend first. I can still shoulder my pack—do not load my age on you.' He died past ninety.
41
翟湯，字道深，尋陽人。 篤行純素，仁讓廉潔，不屑世事，耕而後食，人有饋贈，雖釜庾一無所受。 永嘉末，寇害相繼，聞湯名德，皆不敢犯，鄉人賴之。 司徒王導辟，不就，隱于縣界南山。 始安太守干寶與湯通家，遣船餉之，敕吏云：「翟公廉讓，卿致書訖，便委船還。」 湯無人反致，乃貨易絹物，因寄還寶。 寶本以為惠，而更煩之，益愧歎焉。 咸康中，征西大將軍庾亮上疏薦之，成帝徵為國子博士，湯不起。 建元初，安西將軍庾翼北征石季龍，大發僮客以充戎役，敕有司特蠲湯所調。 湯悉推僕使委之鄉吏，吏奉旨一無所受，湯依所調限，放免其僕，使令編戶為百姓。 康帝復以散騎常侍徵湯，固辭老疾，不至。 年七十三，卒於家。
Zhai Tang, courtesy name Daoshen, was from Xunyang. He was kind, frugal, refused gifts—even a pot of grain. In Yongjia's chaos bandits spared his village for his name. Wang Dao summoned him; he hid on South Mountain. Gan Bao, his kinsman-by-marriage, sent a boat of supplies, telling the crew to drop the cargo and leave. Zhai sold goods for silk and repaid him. Gan Bao meant a favor yet felt only shame and deeper respect. Yu Liang recommended him; Emperor Cheng named him national erudite; he stayed home. Yu Yi's levy on retainers skipped Zhai Tang by edict. Zhai handed his servants to the clerk, refused special favor, and freed them to commoner status. Emperor Kang summoned him as attendant censor; again he pleaded age. He died at seventy-three at home.
42
子莊，字祖休。 少以孝友著名，遵湯之操，不交人物，耕而後食，語不及俗，惟以弋釣為事。 及長，不復獵。 或問：「漁獵同是害生之事，而先生止去其一，何哉？」 莊曰：「獵自我，釣自物，未能頓盡，故先節其甚者。 且夫貪餌吞鉤，豈我哉！」 時人以為知言。 晚節亦不復釣，端居篳門，歠菽飲水。 州府禮命，及公車徵，並不就。 年五十六，卒。 子矯，亦有高操，屢辭辟命。 矯子法賜，孝武帝以散騎郎徵，亦不至。 世有隱行云。
His son Zhai Zhuang, courtesy name Zuxiu. Zhuang copied his father's life: farmed, fished, shunned gossip. As an adult he gave up hunting. Someone asked why he quit hunting but still fished. Zhuang said, 'Hunting is my cruelty; fish choose the hook—I curbed the worse first. Fish greedily take hooks—how is that my sin?' Listeners called it wise. Late in life he quit fishing too, lived on beans and water. He refused every summons. He died at fifty-six. His son Zhai Jiao kept the same path. Emperor Xiaowu summoned Fasi; he too stayed away. The family was called a line of recluses.
43
郭翻，字長翔，武昌人也。 伯父訥，廣州刺史。 父察，安城太守。 翻少有志操，辭州郡辟及賢良之舉。 家於臨川，不交世事，惟以漁釣射獵為娛。 居貧無業，欲墾荒田，先立表題，經年無主，然後乃作。 稻將熟，有認之者，悉推與之。 縣令聞而詰之，以稻還翻，翻遂不受。 嘗以車獵，去家百餘里，道中逢病人，以車送之，徒步而歸。 其漁獵所得，或從買者，便與之而不取直，亦不告姓名。 由是士庶咸敬貴焉。 與翟湯俱為庾亮所薦，公車博士徵，不就。 咸康末，乘小船暫歸武昌省墳墓，安西將軍庾翼以帝舅之重，躬往造翻，欲強起之。 翻曰：「人性各有所短，焉可強逼！」 翼又以其船小狹，欲引就大船。 翻曰：「使君不以鄙賤而辱臨之，此固野人之舟也。」 翼俯屈入其船中，終日而去。 嘗墜刀于水，路人有為取者，因與之。 路人不取，固辭，翻曰：「爾向不取，我豈能得！」 路人曰：「我若取此，將為天地鬼神所責矣。」 翻知其終不受，復沈刀于水。 路人悵焉，乃復沈沒取之。 翻於是不逆其意，乃以十倍刀價與之。 其廉不受惠，皆此類也。 卒於家。
Guo Fan, courtesy name Changxiang, came from Wuchang. His uncle Guo Ne governed Guangzhou. His father Guo Cha governed Ancheng. Youthful, he refused every nomination. He lived in Linchuan on fishing and hunting. He marked abandoned land, waited a year, then plowed. When a neighbor claimed the field, he gave the whole crop away. The magistrate forced the rice back; Fan still refused. He gave his cart to a sick stranger and walked home. He gave game to buyers, took no pay, left no name. Gentry and commoners alike honored him. Yu Liang recommended him with Zhai Tang; he ignored the doctorate call. Yu Yi, the emperor's uncle, boarded his skiff at Wuchang to drag him to office. Fan said, 'Every man has limits—do not force mine.' Yi asked him onto a larger barge. Fan answered, 'This skiff suits a countryman; honor it as you find it.' Yu Yi crawled into the tiny boat and sat with him all day. He dropped a knife in a stream; a farmer fished it out and Fan offered it as gift. The man would not keep it; Fan said, 'If you refuse, neither of us owns it.' The man said, 'If I kept it, heaven would blame me.' Fan sank the knife again. The farmer dove and brought it back, vexed. Fan paid him tenfold the knife's worth and let him keep it. Such was his stubborn honesty. He died at home.
44
辛謐，字叔重，隴西狄道人也。 父怡，幽州刺史，世稱冠族。 謐少有志尚，博學善屬文，工草隸書，為時楷法。 性恬靜，不妄交遊。 召拜太子舍人、諸王文學，累徵不起。 永嘉末，以謐兼散騎常侍，慰撫關中。 謐以洛陽將敗，故應之。 及長安陷沒于劉聰，聰拜太中大夫，固辭不受。 又曆石勒、季龍之世，並不應辟命。 雖處喪亂之中，頹然高邁，視榮利蔑如也。 及冉閔僭號，復備禮徵為太常，謐遺閔書曰：「昔許由辭堯，以天下讓之，全其清高之節。 伯夷去國，子推逃賞，皆顯史牒，傳之無窮。 此往而不反者也。 然賢人君子雖居廟堂之上，無異于山林之中，斯窮理盡性之妙，豈有識之者邪！ 是故不嬰於禍難者，非為避之，但冥心至趣而與吉會耳。 謐聞物極則變，冬夏是也； 致高則危，累棋是也。 君王功以成矣，而久處之，非所以顧萬全遠危亡之禍也。 宜因茲大捷，歸身本朝，必有許由、伯夷之廉，享松喬之壽，永為世輔，豈不美哉！」 因不食而卒。
Xin Mi, courtesy name Shuzhong, came from Didao in Longxi. His father Xin Yi governed Youzhou; the clan wore high caps in reputation. He was a scholar and calligrapher others copied. He lived quietly and made few friends. The court named him tutor to princes; he never went. Late in Yongjia the court sent him west as envoy. He went because he saw Luoyang falling. Liu Cong offered a grandee title; he refused. Shi Le and Shi Hu could not move him either. Through war after war he stayed aloof from rank. When Ran Min seized the throne and offered the grand astrologer post, Xin wrote comparing himself to Xu You and Boyi. Boyi and Jie Zitui fled power—names that never die. They left court never to return. Yet a sage at court may be no different from a sage on the hill—who sees that truth? Those who escape calamity are not hiding—they simply still the heart until fortune finds them. Xin Mi wrote that all things turn at the limit—winter and summer prove it. Stack too high and you topple—like a tower of stones. Your merit is won; to cling to power is not the way to stay safe. Yield now, return to Jin, and win the clean fame of Xu You—live long as a pillar of the realm. He stopped eating and died.
45
劉驎之
Liu Linzhi
46
劉驎之，字子驥，南陽人，光祿大夫耽之族也。 驎之少尚質素，虛退寡欲，不修儀操，人莫之知。 好遊山澤，志存遁逸。 嘗采藥至衡山，深入忘反，見有一澗水，水南有二石囷，一囷閉，一囷開，水深廣不得過。 欲還，失道，遇伐弓人，問徑，僅得還家。 或說囷中皆仙靈方藥諸雜物，驎之欲更尋索，終不復知處也。 車騎將軍桓沖聞其名，請為長史，驎之固辭不受。 沖嘗到其家，驎之于樹條桑，使者致命，驎之曰：「使君既枉駕光臨，宜先詣家君。」 沖聞大愧，於是乃造其父。 父命驎之，然後方還，拂短褐與沖言話。 父使驎之於內自持濁酒蔬菜供賓，沖敕人代驎之斟酌，父辭曰：「若使從者，非野人之意也。」 沖慨然，至昏乃退。 驎之雖冠冕之族，信儀著於群小，凡廝伍之家婚娶葬送，無不躬自造焉。 居於陽岐，在官道之側，人物來往，莫不投之。 驎之躬自供給，士君子頗以勞累，更憚過焉。 凡人致贈，一無所受。 去驎之家百餘里，有一孤姥，病將死，歎息謂人曰：「誰當埋我，惟有劉長史耳！ 何由令知。」 驎之先聞其有患，故往侯之，值其命終，乃身為營棺殯送之。 其仁愛隱惻若此。 卒以壽終。
Liu Linzhi, courtesy name Ziji, of Nanyang, was kin to Liu Dan. He loved plain living and shunned display—no one noticed him. He wandered peaks and meant to hide. On Hengshan he found twin stone silos by a ford too deep to cross. He lost the trail until a woodcutter pointed the way home. Some said the silos held immortal drugs; he searched again and never found them. Huan Chong offered chief clerk; he refused. When Huan Chong called, Liu was in the mulberry tree and said, 'Honor my father first.' Chong flushed and went in to greet the old man first. His father sent him down; Liu brushed his coat and spoke with Chong. Liu served wine himself; when Chong sent a servant the father said, 'A rustic host pours his own cup.' Chong stayed until dusk, moved. Though born noble, he attended every poor neighbor's wedding and funeral. His house stood by the post road; every traveler stopped for his charity. He fed them all himself until travelers dreaded the detour. He took no gifts. A dying crone miles away cried, 'Only Liu will bury me! How can he hear?' He had heard her cough, arrived as she died, and buried her himself. Such was his kindness. He died in honored age.
47
索襲，字偉祖，敦煌人也。 虛靖好學，不應州郡之命，舉孝廉、賢良方正，皆以疾辭。 游思於陰陽之術，著天文地理十餘篇，多所啟發。 不與當世交通，或獨語獨笑，或長歎涕泣，或請問不言。 張茂時，敦煌太守陰澹奇而造焉，經日忘反，出而歎曰：「索先生碩德名儒，真可以諮大義。」 澹欲行鄉射之禮，請襲為三老，曰：「今四表輯寧，將行鄉射之禮，先生年耆望重，道冠一時，養老之義，實系儒賢。 既樹非梧桐，而希鸞鳳降翼； 器謝曹公，而冀蓋公枉駕，誠非所謂也。 然夫子至聖，有召赴焉； 孟軻大德，無聘不至，蓋欲弘闡大猷，敷明道化故也。 今之相屈，遵道崇教，非有爵位，意者或可然乎！」 會病卒，時年七十九。 澹素服會葬，贈賤二萬。 澹曰：「世人之所有餘者，富貴也； 目之所好者，五色也； 耳之所玩者，五音也。 而先生棄眾人之所收，收眾人之所棄，味無味於慌惚之際，兼重玄於眾妙之內。 宅不彌畝而志忽九州，形居塵俗而棲心天外，雖黔婁之高遠，莊生之不願，蔑以過也。」 乃諡曰玄居先生。
Suo Xi, courtesy name Weizu, came from Dunhuang. He declined every nomination as ill. He wrote on heaven and earth and the dark arts. He muttered alone, wept alone, fell silent when questioned. Prefect Yin Dan spent a day with him and called him a walking scripture. Yin asked him to preside as village elder at the archery rite. You are no phoenix tree yet hope phoenixes to roost— you are no Duke Cao yet hope sages to call—this will not do. Confucius answered summons— Mencius waited for the right invite—both taught the world. I call you only to honor learning, not for rank—say you will come.' He died at seventy-nine. Yin Dan mourned in undyed linen and sent twenty thousand cash. Yin said, 'The world hoards riches— eyes crave color— ears crave music. Master Suo chose poverty, tasted the void, doubled the mystery others flee. His hut was tiny yet his mind held the empire; not even Zhuangzi outdid him.' They styled him Master of the Dark Retreat.
48
楊軻，天水人也。 少好《易》，長而不娶，學業精微，養徒數百，常食粗飲水，衣褐縕袍，人不堪其憂，而軻悠然自得，疏賓異客，音旨未曾交也。 雖受業門徒，非入室弟子，莫昨親言。 欲所論授，須旁無雜人，授入室弟子，令遞相宣授。 劉曜僭號，徵拜太常，軻固辭不起，曜亦敬而不逼，遂隱於隴山。 曜後為石勒所擒，秦人東徙，軻留長安。 及石季龍嗣偽位。 備玄纁束帛安車徵之，軻以疾辭。 迫之，乃發。 既見季龍，不拜，與語，不言，命舍之於永昌乙第。 其有司以軻倨傲，請從大不敬論，季龍不從，下書任軻所尚。 軻在永昌，季龍每有饋餼，輒口授弟子，使為表謝，其文甚美，覽者歎有深致。 季龍欲觀其真趣，乃密令美女夜以動之，軻蕭然不顧。 又使人將其弟子盡行，遣魁壯羯士衣甲持刀，臨之以兵，並竊其所賜衣服而去，軻視而不信，了無懼色。 常臥土床，覆以布被，倮寢其中，下無茵褥。 潁川荀鋪，好奇之士也，造而談經，軻瞑目不答。 鋪發軻被露其形，大笑之。 軻神體頹然，無驚怒之狀。 于時咸以為焦先之徒，未有能量其深淺也。 後上疏陳鄉思，求還，季龍送以安車蒲輪，蠲十戶供之。 自歸秦州，仍教授不絕。 其後秦人西奔涼州，軻弟子以牛負之，為戍軍追擒，並為所害。
Yang Ke of Tianshui. He taught the Book of Changes, never married, lived on gruel, and refused small talk with strangers. Only handpicked disciples heard his voice in person. He taught in secret, relayed through chosen disciples. Liu Yao named him grand astrologer; he fled to Longshan. When Liu Yao fell to Shi Le, Ke stayed in Chang'an. Shi Hu took the throne— Shi Hu sent silks and carriage; Ke pleaded sick. Forced, he went. He faced Shi Hu silent and upright, and was lodged in Yongchang. Ministers wanted him executed for lese-majesty; Shi Hu refused and let him be. His thank-you letters through disciples were praised as profound. Shi Hu sent a girl to tempt him; he never looked. Soldiers stole his gifts and leveled swords; he showed no fear. He slept naked on bare earth under a rag quilt. The eccentric Xun Pu debated him; Ke feigned sleep. Xun stripped his quilt and laughed. Ke never flinched. People compared him to Jiao Xian—none plumbed his depth. He begged leave westward; Shi Hu sent carriage and ten tax-free households. Back home he kept teaching. Fleeing west, his ox-cart was overtaken by guards who killed master and pupils.
49
公孫鳳
Gongsun Feng
50
公孫鳳，字子鸞，上穀人也。 隱于昌黎之九城山谷，冬衣單布，寢處士床，夏則並食於器，停令臭敗，然後食之。 彈琴吟詠，陶然自得，人咸異之，莫能測也。 慕容暐以安車徵至鄴，及見暐，不言不拜，衣食舉動如在九城。 賓客造請，鮮得與言。 數年病卒。
Gongsun Feng, courtesy name Ziluan, came from Shanggu. He wintered in one layer, summered on rotted gruel in a jar. He sang to his lute, self-content; none understood him. Murong Wei brought him to Ye; he still would not bow or speak. Visitors seldom won a word. He died after a few years.
51
公孫永
Gongsun Yong
52
公孫永，字子陽，襄平人也。 少而好學恬虛，隱于平郭南山，不娶妻妾，非身所墾植，則不衣食之，吟詠岩間，欣然自得，年餘九十，操尚不虧。 與公孫鳳俱被容暐徵至鄴，及見暐，不拜，王公以下造之，皆不與言，雖經隆冬盛暑，端然自若。 一歲餘，詐狂，暐送之平郭。 後苻堅又將備禮徵之，難其年耆路遠，乃遣使者致問。 未至而永亡，堅深悼之，諡曰崇虛先生。
Gongsun Yong, courtesy name Ziyang, came from Xiangping. He lived ninety years in the hills, eating only what he tilled. He and Feng reached court; he bowed to no prince, spoke to no lord, winter or summer. After a year he played madman and Murong Wei sent him home. Fu Jian meant to summon him but sent only greetings because of age and distance. He died before Fu Jian's envoy came; Fu Jian mourned him as Master of Honored Void.
53
張忠，字巨和，中山人也。 永嘉之亂，隱于泰山。 恬靜寡欲，清虛服氣，餐芝餌石，修導養之法。 冬則縕袍，夏則帶索，端拱若屍。 無琴書之適，不修經典，勸教但以至道虛無為宗。 其居依崇岩幽谷，鑿地為窟室。 弟子亦以窟居，去忠六十餘步，五日一朝。 其教以形不以言，弟子受業，觀形而退。 立道壇於窟上，每旦朝拜之。 食用瓦器，鑿石為釜。 左右居人饋之衣食，一無所受。 好事少年頗或問以水旱之祥，忠曰：「天不言而四時行焉，萬物生焉，陰陽之事非窮山野叟所能知之。」 其遣諸外物，皆此類也。 年在期頤，而視聽無爽。 苻堅遣使徵之。 使者至，忠沐浴而起，謂弟子曰：「吾餘年無幾，不可以逆時主之意。」 浴訖就車。 及至長安，堅賜以冠衣，辭曰：「年朽發落，不堪衣冠，請以野服入覲。」 從之。 及見，堅謂之曰：「先生考磐山林，研精道素，獨善之美有餘，兼濟之功未也。 故遠屈先生，將任齊尚父。」 忠曰：「昔因喪亂，避地泰山，與鳥獸為侶，以全朝夕之命。 屬堯舜之世，思一奉聖顏。 年衰志謝，不堪展效，尚父之況，非敢竊擬。 山棲之性，情存岩岫，乞還餘齒，歸死岱宗。 堅以安車送之。 行達華山。 歎曰：「我東嶽道士，沒于西嶽，命也，奈何！ 行五十里，及關而死。 使者馳驛白之，堅遣黃門郎韋華持節策吊，祀乙太牢，褒賜命服，諡曰安道先生。
Zhang Zhong, courtesy name Juhe, came from Zhongshan. When Yongjia fell he fled to Mount Tai. He lived on qi, herbs, and elixirs. Winter coat, summer rope—he sat like a corpse. He taught the wordless Way, not the canon. He carved a cave in the cliff. Pupils lived in nearby caves and visited every five days. He taught by gesture, not lecture. Each dawn he bowed to a stone altar. He ate from pottery, cooked in stone pots. Neighbors offered clothes; he refused. Asked about omens he said, 'Heaven needs no words to run the seasons—what would I know of yin and yang?' He brushed the world off so in every case. Past a hundred he saw and heard clearly. Fu Jian summoned him. He bathed and told his pupils, 'I am old—I cannot defy an emperor's call.' He mounted the carriage when dry. In Chang'an he refused court dress: 'Let this wild man meet you in hemp.' Fu Jian agreed. Fu Jian said, 'You perfected the private Way—now help the world. He offered him the role of Jiang Ziya to the king of Qi.' Zhang Zhong answered, 'I fled to Tai with the beasts to save my skin. I longed to see a sage king once. I am too old for office—do not call me Jiang Ziya. Let me end my days on sacred Tai. Fu Jian sent him home in the honor coach. He reached Mount Hua westward. He cried, 'An eastern hermit dies on the western peak—fate.' Fifty li on he died at the barrier. Fu Jian sent rites, grand sacrifice, posthumous name Master of the Peaceful Way.
54
石垣，字洪孫，自雲北海劇人。 居無定所，不娶妻妾，不營產業，食不求美，衣必粗弊。 或有遺其衣服，受而施人。 人有喪葬，輒杖策吊之。 路無遠近，時有寒暑，必在其中； 或同日共時，咸皆見焉。 又能暗中取物，如晝無差。 姚萇之亂，莫知所終。
Shi Yuan claimed origin from Ju in Beihai. He wandered, no wife, no land, coarse food, ragged coat. He passed on any gift of clothes. He walked any distance to mourn the dead. Heat or cold, near or far, he always arrived— sometimes the same mourners saw him twice at once. He could pick objects in pitch dark as if at noon. He vanished in Yao Chang's rebellion.
55
宋纖，字令艾，敦煌效穀人也。 少有遠操，沈靖不與世交，隱居于酒泉南山。 明究經緯，弟子受業三千餘人。 不應州郡辟命，惟與陰顒、齊好友善。 張祚時，太守楊宣畫其象於閣上； 出入視之，作頌曰：「為枕何石？ 為瀨何流？ 身不可見，名不可求。」 酒泉太守馬岌，高尚之士也，具威儀，鳴鐃鼓，造焉。 纖高樓重閣，距而不見。 岌歎曰：「名可聞而身不可見，德可仰而形不可睹，吾而今而後知先生人中之龍也。」 銘詩於石壁曰：「丹崖百丈，青壁萬尋。 奇木蓊鬱，蔚若鄧林。 其人如玉，維國之琛。 室邇人遐，實勞我心。」
Song Xian, courtesy name Ling'ai, from Xiaogu in Dunhuang. He hid on Jiuquan South Mountain. He taught three thousand students astronomy and classics. He spoke only to Yin Yong and Qi Liang. Prefect Yang Xuan hung his portrait in the gallery— and wrote, 'What stone for pillow? What rapid for ford? The man stays hidden—only the name rings.' Prefect Ma Ji marched with full pomp to call. Song Xian barred his high gate. Ma Ji sighed, 'Hearing his name yet never his face—he is a dragon among men.' He carved on the cliff: red walls, green peaks— trees thick as the magic grove— that man is jade, the state's jewel— his hut is near yet he is far—my heart aches.'
56
纖注《論語》，及為詩頌數萬言。 年八十，篤學不倦。 張祚後遣使者張興備禮徵為太子友，興逼喻甚切，纖喟然歎曰：「德非莊生，才非幹木，何取稽停明命！」 遂隨興至姑臧。 祚遣其太子太和以執友禮造之，纖稱疾不見，贈遺一皆不受。 尋遷太子太傅。 頃之，上疏曰：「臣受生方外，心慕太古。 生不喜存，死不悲沒。 素有遺屬，屬諸知識，在山投山，臨水投水，處澤露形，在人親土。 聲聞書疏，勿告我家。 今當命終，乞如素願。」 遂不食而卒，時年八十二，諡曰玄虛先生。
He wrote ten thousand words of poetry and Analects notes. At eighty he still studied. Zhang Zuo summoned him as crown prince's friend; he sighed, 'I am no Zhuangzi—why defy a clear edict?' He went to Guzang. The crown prince called; he feigned illness and took no gifts. Soon he was made grand tutor. He memorialized, 'I was born for the hills, my heart in high antiquity. Life does not delight me; death will not grieve me. Bury me in mountain stone or river—no word home. Let no letter reach my kin. Now I ask only that wish.' He fasted to death at eighty-two, styled Master of Dark Void.
57
郭荷，字承休，略陽人也。 六世祖整，漢安順之世，公府八辟，公車五徵，皆不就。 自整及荷，世以經學致位。 荷明究群籍，特善史書。 不應州郡之命。 張祚遣使者以安車束帛徵為博士祭酒，使者迫而致之。 及至，署太子友。 荷上疏乞還，祚許之，遣以安車蒲輪送還張掖東山。 年八十四卒，諡曰玄德先生。
Guo He, courtesy name Chengxiu, from Lueyang. Ancestor Guo Zheng refused eight ducal calls and five carriages under the Han. The clan rose on the classics for generations. Guo He mastered every corpus, best in histories. He refused local office. Zhang Zuo's envoy dragged him to the libationer post. At court they named him the crown prince's companion. He memorialized for release and rode home to eastern Zhangye. He died at eighty-four as Master of Dark Power.
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郭瑀，字元瑜，敦煌人也。 少有超俗之操，東遊張掖，師事郭荷，盡傳其業。 精通經義，雅辯談論，多才藝，善屬文。 荷卒，瑀以為父生之，師成之，君爵之，而五服之制，師不服重，蓋聖人謙也，遂服斬衰，廬墓三年。 禮畢，隱於臨松薤穀，鑿石窟而居，服柏實以輕身，作《春秋墨說》、《孝經錯緯》，弟子著錄千餘人。
Guo Yu, courtesy name Yuanyu, from Dunhuang. He studied under Guo He in Zhangye. He debated well and wrote well. He mourned his teacher Guo He with three years' sackcloth by the grave. He carved a cave in Linsong, ate pine nuts, wrote commentaries, taught a thousand pupils.
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張天賜遣使者孟公明持節，以浦輪玄纁備禮徵之，遺瑀書曰：「先生潛光九皋，懷真獨遠，心與至境冥符，志與四時消息，豈知蒼生倒懸，四海待拯者乎！ 孤忝承時運，負荷大業，思與賢明同贊帝道。 昔傳說龍翔殷朝，尚父鷹揚周室，孔聖車不停軌，墨子駕不俟旦，皆以黔首之禍不可以不救，君不獨立，道由人弘故也。 況今九服分為狄場，二都盡為戎穴，天子僻陋江東，名教淪于左衽，創毒之甚，開避未聞。 先生懷濟世之才，坐觀而不救，其于仁智，孤竊惑焉。 故遣使者虛左授綏，鶴企先生，乃眷下國。」 公明至山，瑀指翔鴻以示之曰：「此鳥也，安可籠哉！」 遂深逃絕跡。 公明拘其門人，瑀歎曰：「吾逃祿，非避罪也，豈得隱居行義，害及門人！」 乃出而就徵。 及至姑臧，值天賜母卒，瑀括發入吊，三踴而出，還于南山。
Zhang Tianci wrote begging him to save the northwest. The prince asked him to join the government. He cited Fu Yue, Jiang Ziya, Confucius, Mozi. He said Jin was cornered east while the north fell to barbarians. He asked how a sage could watch and not save. He sent a carriage with empty seat of honor.' Guo Yu pointed at wild geese: 'You cannot cage that bird.' He fled deeper into the hills. When pupils were seized he said, 'I flee salary, not justice—I cannot let pupils suffer.' He went to court. He mourned Tianci's mother with curt rites then fled back south.
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及天錫滅，苻堅又以安車徵瑀定禮儀，會父喪而止，太守辛章遣書生三百人就受業焉。 及苻氏之末，略陽王穆起兵酒泉，以應張大豫，遣使招瑀。 瑀歎曰：「臨河救溺，不卜命之短長； 脈病三年，不豫絕其餐饋； 魯連在趙，義不結舌，況人將左衽而不救之！」 乃與敦煌索嘏起兵五千，運粟三萬石，東應王穆。 穆以瑀為太府左長史、軍師將軍。 雖居元佐，而口詠黃老，冀功成世定，追伯成之蹤。
Fu Jian later summoned him for rites; father's death stopped him; three hundred students came to his cliff. Wang Mu rebelled in Jiuquan and called on Guo Yu. He said, 'To save a drowning man you do not cast lots— to nurse a patient three years you do not withhold food— Lu Zhong never held his tongue—how can I stay silent while men go barbarian?' He raised five thousand men and thirty thousand shi for Wang Mu. Wang Mu made him chief clerk and strategist. Though a minister he chanted Daoism, dreaming of returning like Bo Cheng.
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穆惑於讒間，西伐索嘏，瑀諫曰：「昔漢定天下，然後誅功臣。 今事業未建而誅之，立見麋鹿游於此庭矣。」 穆不從。 瑀出城大哭，舉手謝城曰：「吾不復見汝矣！」 還而引被覆面，不與人言，不食七日，與疾而歸，旦夕祈死。 夜夢乘青龍上天，至屋而止，寤而歎曰：「龍飛在天，今止於屋。 屋之為字，屍下至也。 龍飛至屍，吾其死也。 古之君子不卒內寢，況吾正士乎！」 遂還酒泉南山赤崖閣，飲氣而卒。
He warned Wang Mu not to kill allies like Han did. Strike now and deer will graze your courtyard.' Wang Mu ignored him. He wept at the gate, 'I will not see this city again.' He hid under his quilt, fasted seven days, begged for death. He dreamed a dragon stopped on a roof— 'Roof' writes as corpse over a beam— a dragon to a corpse means I die. Sages die not in women's quarters—nor shall I.' He returned to Chiya pavilion and died meditating.
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祈嘉，字孔賓，酒泉人也。 少清貧，好學。 年二十餘，夜忽窗中有聲呼曰：「祈孔賓，祈孔賓！ 隱去來，隱去來！ 修飾人世，甚苦不可諧。 所得未毛銖，所喪如山崖。」 旦而逃去，西至敦煌，依學官誦書，貧無衣食，為書生都養以自給，遂博通經傳，精究大義。 西游海渚，教授門生百餘人。 張重華徵為儒林祭酒。 性和裕，教授不倦，依《孝經》作《二九神經》。 在朝卿士、郡縣守令彭和正等受業獨拜床下者二千餘人，天錫謂為先生而不名之。 竟以壽終。
Qi Jia, courtesy name Kongbin, from Jiuquan. He was poor and book-loving. At night a voice cried his name— Flee and hide, flee and hide! The world bruises those who dress it— gain is a hair's weight, loss a cliff of stone.' He fled to Dunhuang, worked as a school cook, and became a scholar. He taught a hundred pupils on the western shore. Zhang Chonghua named him erudite libationer. He wrote the Two-Nine Spirit Classic from the Filial Piety, teaching without weariness. Two thousand officials bowed to Qi Jia as 'Master' without daring his name. He died full of years.
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瞿硎先生
Master of the Quxing Cliff
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瞿硎先生者，不得姓名，亦不知何許人也。 太和末，常居宣城郡界文脊山中，山有瞿硎，因以為名焉。 大司馬桓溫嘗往造之。 既至，見先生被鹿裘，坐於石室，神無忤色，溫及僚佐數十人皆莫測之，乃命伏滔為之銘贊。 竟卒於山中。
The recluse of Quxing cliff—name and home unknown. He lived on Mount Wenji in Xuancheng near the Quxing grotto. Huan Wen climbed to his cave. Huan found him in deerskin in a stone room, baffled his retinue, and had Fu Tao write his praise. He died in the hills.
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謝敷，字慶緒，會稽人也。 性澄靖寡欲，入太平山十餘年。 鎮軍郗愔召為主簿，台徵博士，皆不就。 初，月犯少微，少微一名處士星，占者以陷士當之。 譙國戴逵有美才，人或憂之。 俄而敷死，故會稽人士以嘲吳人云：「吳中高士，便是求死不得死。」
Xie Fu, courtesy name Qingxu, from Kuaiji. He hid on Mount Taiping ten years. Xi Yin and the ministry summoned him; he refused. A moon omen touched the hermit star—seers said a recluse would die. People feared for Dai Kui. When Xie Fu died, Kuaiji wits mocked Wu: 'Their hermits cannot even manage to die.'
66
戴逵，字安道，譙國人也。 少博學，好談論，善屬文，能鼓琴，工書畫，其餘巧藝靡不畢綜。 總角時，以雞卵汁溲白瓦屑作《鄭玄碑》，又為文而自鐫之，詞麗器妙，時人莫不驚歎。 性不樂當世，常以琴書自娛。 師事術士范宣于豫章，宣異之，以兄女妻焉。 太宰、武陵王晞聞其善鼓琴，使人召之，逵對使者破琴曰：「戴安道不為王門伶人！」 晞怒，乃更引其兄述。 述聞命欣然，擁琴而往。
Dai Kui, courtesy name Andao, from Qiao. He mastered debate, letters, lute, painting, and every art. As a boy he carved a Zheng Xuan stele in mortar—crowds marveled. He lived for lute and books, not office. His teacher Fan Xuan gave him a niece in marriage. Prince Xi summoned him to play; Kui smashed his lute: 'I will not be a prince's jester.' Xi called his brother Dai Shu instead. Shu happily took his lute to the palace.
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逵後徙居會稽之剡縣。 性高潔，常以禮度自處，深以放達為非道，乃著論曰：
Kui moved to Shan in Kuaiji. He condemned 'free and easy' excess and wrote:
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夫親沒而采藥不反者，不仁之子也； 君危而屢出近關者，苟免之臣也。 而古之人未始以彼害名教之體者何？ 達其旨故也。 達其旨，故不惑其跡。 若元康之人，可謂好遁跡而不求其本，故有捐本徇末之弊，舍實逐聲之行，是猶美西施而學其顰眉，慕有道而折其巾角，所以為慕者，非其所以為美，徒貴貌似而已矣。 夫紫之亂硃，以其似硃也。 故鄉原似中和，所以亂德； 放者似達，所以亂道。 然竹林之為放，有疾而為顰者也，元康之為放，無德而折巾者也，可無察乎！
To roam while parents need you is unfilial; to bolt the border while the throne totters is cowardice. The ancients never let conduct wreck the teaching—why? They grasped the meaning. Knowing the root, they ignored the pose. He mocked Yuankang poseurs who mimicked reclusion without virtue. Purple passes for crimson because it looks like crimson. Village worthies mimic the mean and rot virtue; libertines mimic freedom and ruin the Way. Bamboo Grove had excuse; Yuankang only aped the scarf.
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且儒家尚譽者，本以興賢也，既失其本，則有色取之行。 懷情喪真，以容貌相欺，其弊必至於末偽。 道家去名者，欲以篤實也，苟失其本，又有越檢之行。 情禮俱虧，則仰詠兼忘，其弊必至於本薄。 夫偽薄者，非二本之失，而為弊者必托二本以自通。 夫道有常經而弊無常情，是以六經有失，王政有弊，苟乖其本，固聖賢所無奈何也。
Confucians chase fame and lose the substance. They trade masks until all truth dies. Daoists flee names yet leap bounds. Both schools thin to hypocrisy. Hypocrites hide behind Confucius and Laozi. When the root rots, neither sage can save it.
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嗟夫！ 行道之人自非性足體備、暗蹈而當者，亦曷能不棲情古烈，擬規前修。 苟迷擬之然後動，議之然後言，固當先辯其趣舍之極，求其用心之本，識其枉尺直尋之旨，采其被褐懷玉之由。 若斯，途雖殊，而其歸可觀也； 跡雖亂，而其契不乖也。 不然，則流遁忘反，為風波之行，自驅以物，自誑以偽，外眩囂華，內喪道實，以矜尚奪其真主，以塵垢翳其天正，貽笑千載，可不慎歟！
Alas! Unless you are born whole, model the ancients with care. Judge ends and means before you act. Paths differ yet aim one way; tracks tangle yet the tally holds. Else you chase fashion, lose the core, and earn a thousand years' mockery.
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孝武帝時，以散騎常侍、國子博士累徵，辭父疾不就。 郡縣敦逼不已，乃逃于吳。 吳國內史王珣有別館在武丘山，逵潛詣之，與珣遊處積旬。 會稽內史謝玄慮逵遠遁不反，乃上疏曰：「伏見譙國戴逵希心俗表，不嬰世務，棲遲衡門，與琴書為友。 雖策命屢加，幽操不回，超然絕跡，自求其志。 且年垂耳順，常抱羸疾，時或失適，轉至委篤。 今王命未回，將離風霜之患。 陛下既已愛而器之，亦宜使其身名並存，請絕其召命。」 疏奏，帝許之，逵復還剡。
Xiaowu called him to court; he pleaded his father's health. Officials hounded him until he fled to Wu. He hid with Wang Xun on Mount Wuqiu for weeks. Xie Xuan memorialized that Dai should be left alone to save his health. Summons never moved his resolve. He was past sixty and frail. Another summons might kill him. Xie asked the throne to leave him in peace. The emperor agreed; Dai Kui went home to Shan.
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後王珣為尚書僕射，上疏復請徵為國子祭酒，加散騎常侍，徵之，復不至。 太元二十年，皇太子始出東宮，太子太傳會稽王道子、少傅王雅、詹事王珣又上疏曰：「逵執操貞厲，含味獨遊，年在耆老，清風彌劭。 東宮虛德，式延事外，宜加旌命，以參僚侍。 逵既重幽居之操，必以難進為美，宜下所在備禮發遣。」 會病卒。
Wang Xun tried again; Dai stayed away. The eastern palace begged Dai as tutor. They wanted him as palace tutor. They knew he would spurn pomp—send full ritual anyway.' He died before taking the post.
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長子勃，有父風。 義熙初，以散騎侍郎徵，不起，尋卒。
His son Dai Bo matched his spirit. Dai Bo was summoned in Yixi and died unreached.
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龔玄之
Gong Xuanzhi
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龔玄之，字道玄，武陵漢壽人也。 父登，歷長沙相、散騎常侍。 玄之好學潛默，安於陋巷。 州舉秀才，公府辟，不就。 孝武帝下詔曰：「夫哲王禦世，必搜揚幽隱，故空谷流縶維之詠，丘園旅束帛之觀。 譙國戴逵、武陵龔玄之並高尚其操，依仁遊藝，潔己貞鮮，學弘儒業，朕虛懷久矣。 二三君子，豈其戢賢於懷抱哉！ 思挹雅言，虛誠諷議，可並以為散騎常侍，領國子博士，指下所在備禮發遣，不得循常，以稽側席之望。」 郡縣敦逼，苦辭疾篤，不行。 尋卒，時年五十八。
Gong Xuanzhi, courtesy name Daoxuan, from Hanshou in Wuling. His father Gong Deng had been minister and attendant. He loved books and quiet alleys. He refused nominations. Xiaowu's edict praised recluses. The edict paired Dai Kui and Gong Xuanzhi. Why hide such men? Both were named attendant and erudite with full honors.' County officers pressed; both pleaded mortal illness. Gong died at fifty-eight.
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弟子元壽，亦有德操，高尚不仕，舉秀才及州辟召，並稱疾不就。 孝武帝以太學博士、散騎侍郎、給事中累徵，遂不起。 卒於家。
His pupil Yuan Shou also refused office. Xiaowu hounded Yuan Shou in vain. Yuan died at home.
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陶淡，字處靜，太尉侃之孫也。 父夏，以無行被廢。 淡幼孤，好導養之術，謂仙道可祈。 年十五六，便服食絕穀，不婚娶。 家累千金，僮客百數，淡終日端拱，曾不營問。 頗好讀《易》善卜筮。 于長沙臨湘山中結廬居之，養一白鹿以自偶。 親故有候之者，輒移渡澗水，莫得近之。 州舉秀才，淡聞，遂轉逃羅縣埤山中，終身不返，莫知所終。
Tao Dan, courtesy name Chujing, was Tao Kan's grandson. His father Tao Xia was disgraced. Orphaned, he chased immortality. He stopped eating grain and never wed. He ignored vast wealth and many servants. He read the Book of Changes and divined. He built a hut in Linxiang hills with a white deer. He moved visitors across a stream they could not ford. When summoned he fled to Pi mountain and vanished.
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陶潛，字元亮，大司馬侃之曾孫也。 祖茂，武昌太守。 潛少懷高尚，博學善屬文，穎脫不羈，任真自得，為鄉鄰之所貴。 嘗著《五柳先生傳》以自況曰：「先生不知何許人，不詳姓字，宅邊有五柳樹，因以為號焉。 閒靜少言，不慕榮利。 好讀書，不求甚解，每有會意，欣然忘食。 性嗜酒，而家貧不能恆得。 親舊知其如此，或置酒招之，造飲必盡，期在必醉。 既醉而退，曾不吝情。 環堵蕭然，不蔽風日，短褐穿結，簞瓢屢空，晏如也。 常著文章自娛，頗示己志，忘懷得失，以此自終。」 其自序如此，時人謂之實錄。
Tao Qian (Yuanming), courtesy name Yuanliang, great-grandson of Tao Kan. His grandfather Tao Mao governed Wuchang. Youthful, proud, learned, the hamlet esteemed him. His 'Five Willows' self-portrait begins: Quiet, terse, no taste for rank. He read for joy, not pedantry, and forgot meals when moved. He loved wine but stayed poor. Friends poured for him; he drank to blackout. He left drunk without fuss. His hut leaked; he wore patches; his ladle was empty—yet he smiled. He wrote for himself, forgot fortune, accepted his end. People called his self-sketch honest.
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以親老家貧，起為州祭酒，不堪吏職，少日自解歸。 州召主簿，不就，躬耕自資，遂抱羸疾。 復為鎮軍、建威參軍，謂親朋曰：「聊欲弦歌，以為三徑之資可乎？」 執事者聞之，以為彭澤令。 在縣，公田悉令種秫穀，曰：「令吾常醉於酒足矣。」 妻子固請種粳。 乃使一頃五十畝種秫，五十畝種粳。 素簡貴，不私事上官。 郡遣督郵至縣，吏白應束帶見之，潛歎曰：「吾不能為五斗米折腰，拳拳事鄉里小人邪！」 義熙二年，解印去縣，乃賦《歸去來》。 其辭曰：
He took a small post for his parents' rice, quit at once. He refused clerkship, farmed, and fell ill. He told friends he would take a stint as magistrate for farm money. The court named him magistrate of Pengze. He planted the county fields to glutinous rice for wine. His family begged for food grain. He split the fields half for wine, half for rice. He scorned toadying to superiors. He said he would not bow for a clerk's pay. In Yixi 2 he quit and wrote 'Returning Home.' It begins:
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歸去來兮，田園將蕪胡不歸？ 既自以心為形役，奚惆悵而獨悲？ 悟已往之不諫，知來者之可追。 實迷途其未遠，覺今是而昨非。 舟遙遙以輕颺，風飄飄而吹衣，問征夫以前路，恨晨光之希微。 乃瞻衡宇，載欣載奔。 僮僕來迎，稚子侯門。 三徑就荒，松菊猶存。 攜幼入室，有酒盈樽。 引壺觚以自酌，眄庭柯以怡顏，倚南窗以寄傲，審容膝之易安。 園日涉而成趣，門雖設而常關； 策扶老而流憩，時翹首而遐觀。 雲無心而出岫，鳥倦飛而知還； 景翳翳其將入，撫孤松而盤桓。
Home again! The fields run wild—why stay away? I let flesh rule soul—why grieve alone? Past faults cannot be mended; the future may yet be caught. I strayed but a little; today I know right from wrong. Boat and breeze bear me; I ask the way; dawn comes too slow. I see my eaves and run. Boys wait at the gate. Weeds choke the paths—pines and mums still stand. Wine brims the cup with children by my side. I pour my own cup, smile at the trees, lean on the southern sill—this little room is enough. I stroll the garden daily; the gate stays shut; I lean on a cane, lift my eyes to the hills. Clouds drift from peaks without a plan; tired birds know the way home; Sunset dims; I linger by a lone pine.
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歸去來兮，請息交以絕遊，世與我而相遺，復駕言兮焉求！ 悅親戚之情話，樂琴書以消憂。 農人告餘以春暮，將有事乎西疇。 或命巾車，或棹孤舟，既窈窕以尋壑，亦崎嶇而經丘。 木欣欣以向榮，泉涓涓而始流，善萬物之得時，感吾生之行休。
I end visits—world and I have parted—why chase more words? Kin and books and lute melt my care. Farmers say spring is late—west field calls. Cart or skiff—winding dales, rugged hills. Woods thrive, springs run—I envy things their hour, know my life ebbs.
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已矣乎！ 寓形宇內復幾時，曷不委心任去留，胡為乎遑遑欲何之？ 富貴非吾願，帝鄉不可期。 懷良晨以孤往，或植杖而芸秄，登東皋以舒嘯，臨清流而賦詩； 聊乘化而歸盡，樂夫天命復奚疑！
Enough! Why not trust the heart to stay or go—why scurry with nowhere bound? Rank is not my wish; heaven's court is not for me. Dawn walks, weeding, whistle on the eastern mound, poems by the stream— I ride change to the end and doubt heaven no more!
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頃之，徵著作郎，不就。 既絕州郡覲謁，其鄉親張野及周旋人羊松齡、寵遵等或有酒要之，或要之共至酒坐，雖不識主人，亦欣然無忤，酣醉便反。 未嘗有所造詣，所之唯至田舍及廬山遊觀而已。
The court called him editor; he stayed away. He drank with anyone who offered, even strangers, until blind drunk. He only visited farms and Lu Mountain.
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刺史王弘以元熙中臨州，甚欽遲之，後自造焉。 潛稱疾不見，既而語人云：「我性不狎世，因疾守閑，幸非潔志慕聲，豈敢以王公紆軫為榮邪！ 夫謬以不賢，此劉公幹所以招謗君子，其罪不細也。」 弘每令人候之，密知當往廬山，乃遣其故人龐通之等齎酒，先於半道要之。 潛既遇酒，便引酌野亭，欣然忘進。 弘乃出與相見，遂歡宴窮日。 潛無履，弘顧左右為之造履。 左右請履度，潛便於坐申腳令度焉。 弘要之還州，問其所乘，答云：「素有腳疾，向乘藍輿，亦足自反。」 乃令一門生二兒共轝之至州，而言笑賞適，不覺其有羨于華軒也。 弘後欲見，輒于林澤間候之。 至於酒米乏絕，亦時相贍。
Wang Hong came to govern and longed to meet him. He said he shunned fame, not princes' chariots. He cited Liu Zhen's warning against false slander. Wang Hong sent a friend with wine mid-road to Lu. Tao stopped for wine and forgot the journey. Wang Hong joined the feast. Tao had no shoes; Wang ordered sandals made. Tao stretched his bare feet to be measured. He said he needed a litter for bad feet. Students carried his chair; he chatted as if no shame. Wang met him only in the wilds. Wang sent grain when the larder ran dry.
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其親朋好事，或載酒肴而往，潛亦無所辭焉。 每一醉，則大適融然。 又不營生業，家務悉委之兒僕。 未嘗有喜慍之色，惟遇酒則飲，時或無酒，亦雅詠不輟。 嘗言夏月虛閑，高臥北窗之下，清風颯至，自謂羲皇上人。 性不解音，而畜素琴一張，弦徽不具，每朋酒之會，則撫而和之，曰：「但識琴中趣，何勞弦上聲！」 以宋元嘉中卒，時年六十三，所有文集並行於世。
Friends brought feasts; he never refused. Each drunk brought pure joy. He left chores to servants. He showed no temper except toward wine; sober, he still sang. Summer nap by the north window—he called himself older than history. He strung a soundless lute: 'Taste the music in the mind, not the ear.' He died under Song at sixty-three; his works survive.
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史臣曰：君子之行殊途，顯晦之謂也。 出則允釐庶政，以道濟時； 處則振拔囂埃，以卑自牧。 詳求厥義，其來夐矣。 公和之居窟室，裳唯編草，誡叔夜而凝神鑒； 威輦之處叢祠，衣無全帛，對子荊而陳貞則：並滅景而弗追，柳禽、尚平之流亞。 夏統遠邇稱其孝友，宗党高其諒直，歌《小海》之曲。 則伍胥猶存； 固貞石之心，則公閭尤愧，時幸洛濱之觀，信乎茲言。 宋纖幼懷遠操，清規映拔，楊宣頌其畫象，馬岌歎其人龍，玄虛之號，實期為美。 餘之數子，或移病而去官，或著論而矯俗，或箕踞而對時人，或弋釣而棲衡泌，含和隱璞，乘道匿輝，不屈其志，激清風于來葉者矣。
The historian says: office and reclusion are one man's two roads. In court he orders the state; at home he washes off dust and feeds the soul. Both ways are ancient. Sun Deng in his cave, Dong Jing in straw— Dong Jing in rags—men like Liu Ling and Shang Ziping. Xia Tong's filial name rang far; his kin prized his blunt truth; when he sang the 'Little Sea'— Wu Zixu seemed to walk again; and that flint heart of his shamed even Jia Chong—on the Luo embankment the crowd saw it was true. Song Xian earned the name Master of Dark Void. Others fled office, wrote, fished, hid jade in sackcloth—each stiffened the breeze for later ages.
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贊曰：厚秩招累，修名順欲。 確乎群士，超然絕俗。 養粹岩阿，銷聲林曲。 激貪止競，永垂高躅。
The verse says: fat pay brings grief; fame chains desire. Yet these men stood clear of both. They fed the spirit in cliffs and woods. They shamed the greedy and left high footprints.