1
元稹元稹，字微之，河南人。 後魏昭成皇帝，稹十代祖也。 兵部尚書、昌平公巖，六代祖也。 曾祖延景，岐州參軍。 祖悱，南頓丞。 父寬，比部郎中、舒王府長史，以稹貴，贈左僕射。
Yuan Zhen, whose courtesy name was Weizhi, came from Henan. Emperor Zhaocheng of the Northern Wei was his tenth-generation forebear. His sixth-generation ancestor was Yan, who had served as Minister of War and been enfeoffed as Duke of Changping. His great-grandfather Yanjing had held the post of military aide in Qizhou. His grandfather Fei had served as magistrate of Nandun. His father Kuan had been a director in the Ministry of Justice and senior administrator of the Prince of Shu's household; when Zhen rose to prominence, Kuan was posthumously honored as Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat.
2
稹八歲喪父。 其母鄭夫人，賢明婦人也； 家貧，為稹自授書，教之書學。 稹九歲能屬文。 十五兩經擢第。 二十四調判入第四等，授秘書省校書郎。 二十八應制舉才識兼茂、明於體用科，登第者十八人，稹為第一，元和元年四月也。 制下，除右拾遺。
Zhen was only eight when his father died. His mother, Lady Zheng, was a woman of wisdom and virtue; Though the household was poor, she taught him the classics herself and trained him in letters. By the age of nine he could already compose prose. At fifteen he passed the civil service examinations in both of the Confucian Classics. At twenty-four he qualified at the fourth grade in the provincial assessment and was made a proofreader in the Palace Library. At twenty-eight he sat for the special "Outstanding Talent and Practical Understanding" examination; eighteen candidates passed, and Zhen took first place—in April of the first year of Yuanhe. The appointment edict followed, and he was named Right Reminder.
3
稹性鋒銳，見事風生。 既居諫垣，不欲碌碌自滯，事無不言，即日上疏論諫職。 又以前時王叔文、王伾以猥褻待詔，蒙幸太子，永貞之際，大撓朝政。 是以訓導太子宮官，宜選正人。 乃獻《教本書》曰：
Zhen was quick and incisive by nature, grasping affairs the moment they arose. Once installed in the remonstrance bureau, he refused to settle into routine obscurity; he spoke up on every matter and that very day submitted a memorial on the proper conduct of remonstrance officials. He also recalled how Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi—men of coarse character who had lingered at court awaiting summons—had won the crown prince's favor and, during the Yongzhen regency, had thrown government into turmoil. For this reason he argued that those who instructed the crown prince's household should be men of upright character. He accordingly submitted his "Book on the Foundations of Instruction," which began:
4
憲宗覽之甚悅。
Emperor Xianzong read it with great satisfaction.
5
又論西北邊事，皆朝政之大者。 憲宗召對，問方略。 為執政所忌，出為河南縣尉。 丁母憂，服除，拜監察御史。
He also addressed northwestern frontier affairs, each a matter of central importance to the court. Xianzong summoned him for a private audience and questioned him on strategy. The chief ministers took offense, and he was transferred out to serve as magistrate of Henan County. After observing mourning for his mother and completing the requisite period, he was appointed investigating censor.
6
四年，奉使東蜀，劾奏故劍南東川節度使嚴礪違制擅賦，又籍沒塗山甫等吏民八十八戶田宅一百一十一、奴婢二十七人、草千五百束、錢七千貫。 時礪已死，七州刺史皆責罰。 稹雖舉職，而執政有與礪厚者惡之。 使還，令分務東臺。 浙西觀察使韓臯封杖決湖州安吉令孫澥，四日內死。 徐州監軍使孟升卒，節度使王紹傳送升喪柩還京，給券乘驛，仍於郵舍安喪柩。 稹並劾奏以法。 河南尹房式為不法事，稹欲追攝，擅令停務。 既飛表聞奏，罰式一月俸，仍召稹還京。 宿敷水驛，內官劉士元後至，爭廳。 士元怒，排其戶，稹襪而走廳後。 士元追之，後以棰擊稹傷面。 執政以稹少年後輩，務作威福，貶為江陵府士曹參軍。
In the fourth year he was sent on mission to eastern Shu and impeached the former military governor of eastern Sichuan, Yan Li, for unauthorized levies in violation of regulations. He further documented the confiscation of property from eighty-eight households of officials and commoners—including Tu Shanfu—totaling 111 parcels of land, 27 bondservants, 1,500 bundles of forage, and 7,000 strings of cash. Yan Li was already dead, but the governors of seven prefectures were all called to account and penalized. Though Zhen had done his duty, certain powerful figures who had been on friendly terms with Yan Li turned against him. On his return he was assigned to share duties at the eastern office of the censorate. Han Gao, commissioner of Zhexi, had ordered Sun Xie, magistrate of Anji in Huzhou, beaten with the cudgel; Sun died within four days. When Meng Sheng, the army supervisor at Xuzhou, died, the military governor Wang Shao had his coffin sent to the capital with relay passes and even housed the coffin overnight at a postal station—both grave breaches of protocol. Zhen impeached both men on legal grounds. Fang Shi, intendant of the Henan metropolitan district, had engaged in unlawful conduct; when Zhen sought to summon him, Fang unilaterally suspended his office's operations. Fang rushed a memorial to court; Shi was fined one month's salary, and Zhen was recalled to the capital nonetheless. While staying at Fushui Post, he encountered the eunuch Liu Shiyuan, who had arrived later and contested possession of the reception hall. Shiyuan flew into a rage, forced the door open, and Zhen fled barefoot to the rear of the hall. Shiyuan pursued him and struck him across the face with a club. The chief ministers, deeming the young upstart bent on throwing his weight around, demoted him to staff officer in the Jiangling prefectural army.
7
稹聰警絕人，年少有才名，與太原白居易友善。 工為詩，善狀詠風態物色，當時言詩者，稱元、白焉。 自衣冠士子，至閭閻下俚，悉傳諷之，號為「元和體」。 既以俊爽不容於朝，流放荊蠻者僅十年。 俄而白居易亦貶江州司馬，稹量移通州司馬。 雖通、江懸邈，而二人來往贈答。 凡所為詩，有自三十、五十韻乃至百韻者。 江南人士，傳道諷誦，流聞闕下，裏巷相傳，為之紙貴。 觀其流離放逐之意，靡不淒惋。
Zhen was exceptionally quick-witted; even in youth he enjoyed a reputation for talent, and he formed a close friendship with Bai Juyi of Taiyuan. He excelled at verse and had a gift for capturing mood and scenery; contemporaries who discussed poetry paired "Yuan and Bai." From court gentlemen to common folk in the alleyways, everyone recited his poems; the style became known as the "Yuanhe manner." His brilliance and outspokenness had made him unwelcome at court, and he spent nearly ten years in exile in the Jingnan region. Before long Bai Juyi was demoted to marshal of Jiangzhou as well, while Zhen was transferred to the same post at Tongzhou. Though Tongzhou and Jiangzhou lay far apart, the two men exchanged visits and poems across the distance. Their poems ranged in length from thirty or fifty rhymes to as many as a hundred. Scholars in the south copied and recited them; the poems traveled to the capital, spread through every neighborhood, and drove up the price of paper. Readers found in them the ache of exile and displacement—every poem touched with sorrow.
8
十四年，自虢州長史征還，為膳部員外郎。 宰相令狐楚一代文宗，雅知稹之辭學，謂稹曰：「嘗覽足下製作，所恨不多，遲之久矣。 請出其所有，以豁予情。」 稹因獻其文，自敘曰：
In the fourteenth year he was recalled from senior administrator of Guozhou and appointed vice director in the Bureau of Foodstuffs. Linghu Chu, the chief minister and a leading literary figure of the age, had long admired Zhen's literary gifts. He told him, "I have read your work before and regretted that there was not more of it; I have waited far too long. Bring out everything you have written and satisfy my wish at last." Zhen accordingly presented his collected writings, prefaced with an autobiographical note that read:
9
楚深稱賞，以為今代之鮑、謝也。
Linghu Chu praised them extravagantly, declaring him the Bao Zhao and Xie Lingyun of their generation.
10
穆宗皇帝在東宮，有妃嬪左右嘗誦稹歌詩以為樂曲者，知稹所為，嘗稱其善，宮中呼為元才子。 荊南監軍崔潭峻甚禮接稹，不以掾吏遇之，常征其詩什諷誦之。 長慶初，潭峻歸朝，出稹《連昌宮辭》等百餘篇奏御。 穆宗大悅，問稹安在。 對曰：「今為南宮散郎。」 即日轉祠部郎中、知制誥。 朝廷以書命不由相府，甚鄙之。 然辭誥所出，夐然與古為侔，遂盛傳於代，由是極承恩顧。 嘗為《長慶宮辭》數十百篇，京師競相傳唱。 居無何，召入翰林，為中書舍人、承旨學士。 中人以潭峻之故，爭與稹交，而知樞密魏弘簡尤與稹相善，穆宗愈深知重。 河東節度使裴度三上疏，言稹與弘簡為刎頸之交，謀亂朝政，言甚激訐。 穆宗顧中外人情，乃罷稹內職，授工部侍郎。 上恩顧未衰。 長慶二年，拜平章事。 詔下之日，朝野無不輕笑之。
When the future Emperor Muzong was still crown prince, ladies of his household had sometimes sung Zhen's poems as songs; they knew his work and praised it, and within the palace he was called "the Yuan talent." Cui Tanjun, army supervisor in Jingnan, treated Zhen with exceptional respect rather than as a lowly clerk, and often asked for his poems to recite. Early in the Changqing reign Tanjun returned to the capital and presented to the throne more than a hundred of Zhen's works, including "Ballad of the Lianchang Palace." Muzong was delighted and asked where Zhen was serving. The answer came: "He is presently a junior gentleman of the Southern Palace." That same day he was transferred to director of the Sacrifices Bureau with charge of drafting edicts. The court looked down on the appointment because the edicts had not passed through the chancellor's office. Yet the edicts he drafted matched the ancients in grandeur and spread swiftly through the realm, and from this he won extraordinary favor. He composed dozens or hundreds of "Changqing Palace Lyrics," which the capital took up and sang in rivalry. Before long he was summoned to the Hanlin Academy as drafting academician and chief academician. Because of Tanjun, eunuchs vied to befriend Zhen, and Wei Hongjian of the Bureau of Military Affairs was especially close to him; Muzong valued him all the more. Pei Du, military governor of Hedong, submitted three memorials claiming that Zhen and Hongjian were sworn friends plotting to disrupt court governance, in fiercely accusatory language. Muzong, weighing opinion within and outside the court, stripped Zhen of his inner-court post and made him vice minister of Works. The emperor's favor had not yet waned. In the second year of Changqing he was appointed chief councilor. When the edict was promulgated, court and populace alike could scarcely suppress a smile.
11
時王廷湊、硃克融連兵圍牛元翼於深州，朝廷俱赦其罪，賜節鉞，令罷兵，俱不奉詔。 稹以天子非次拔擢，欲有所立以報上。 有和王傅於方者，故司空頔之子，干進於稹。 言有奇士王昭、王友明二人，嘗客於燕、趙間，頗與賊黨通熟，可以反間而出元翼。 仍自以家財資其行，仍賂兵吏部令史為出告身二十通，以便宜給賜，稹皆然之。 有李賞者，知於方之謀，以稹與裴度有隙，乃告度云：「於方為稹所使，欲結客王昭等刺度。」 度隱而不發。 及神策軍中尉奏於方之事，乃詔三司使韓臯等訊鞫，而害裴事無驗，而前事盡露。 遂俱罷稹、度平章事，乃出稹為同州刺史，度守僕射。 諫官上疏，言責度太重，稹太輕。 上心憐稹，止削長春宮使。
At that time Wang Tingcou and Zhu Keyi had joined forces to besiege Niu Yuanji at Shenzhou; the court had pardoned their crimes and granted them military commissions, ordering them to withdraw, but both refused the edicts. Zhen, having been raised to office by an exceptional imperial favor, wished to accomplish something worthy in return. A prince's tutor named Yu Fang, son of the former Minister of Works Yu Di, pressed himself on Zhen seeking advancement. He spoke of two men of unusual ability, Wang Zhao and Wang Youming, who had sojourned in the Yan and Zhao region and were well acquainted with the rebel factions, and who might be turned through counter-intelligence to rescue Yuanji. He offered his family wealth to fund their mission and bribed clerks in the Ministry of War to issue twenty blank commissions for discretionary reward; Zhen approved all of this. A man named Li Shang, who knew of Fang's scheme and aware of the rift between Zhen and Pei Du, reported to Du: "Yu Fang is acting at Zhen's orders, recruiting Wang Zhao and others to assassinate you." Du kept silent and did not act on the report. When the director of the Divine Stratagem Army reported on Fang's affair, the three judicial offices under Han Gao and others were ordered to investigate; the plot against Pei could not be verified, but the earlier schemes were fully exposed. Both Zhen and Du were removed as chief councilors; Zhen was sent out as governor of Tongzhou while Du remained vice director. Remonstrance officials submitted memorials arguing that Du's punishment was too severe and Zhen's too lenient. The emperor, taking pity on Zhen, only stripped him of his commission as commissioner of the Everlasting Spring Palace.
12
稹初罷相，三司獄未奏，京兆尹劉遵古遣坊所由潛邏稹居第，稹奏訴之。 上怒，罰遵古，遣中人撫諭稹。 稹至同州，因表謝上，自敘曰：
Soon after Zhen lost the chancellorship, before the three offices had concluded their report, the metropolitan intendant Liu Zungu sent ward officers to spy on Zhen's residence; Zhen memorialized in protest. The emperor was angered, punished Zungu, and dispatched a eunuch to console Zhen. On reaching Tongzhou he submitted a memorial of thanks to the throne, with a self-account that read:
13
在郡二年，改授越州刺史、兼御史大夫、漸東觀察使。 會稽山水奇秀，稹所辟幕職，皆當時文士，而鏡湖、秦望之遊，月三四焉。 而諷詠詩什，動盈卷帙。 副使竇鞏，海內詩名，與稹酬唱最多，至今稱蘭亭絕唱。 稹既放意娛遊，稍不修邊幅，以瀆貨聞於時。 凡在越八年。
After two years in the prefecture he was reassigned as governor of Yuezhou with concurrent appointment as grand censor and surveillance commissioner of Zhedong. The landscape of Kuaiji was wondrously beautiful; the staff he recruited were all leading literary men of the day, and he toured Mirror Lake and Mount Qinwang three or four times a month. The poems he composed on these outings often filled whole scrolls. His deputy Dou Gong, renowned throughout the realm for poetry, exchanged verses with Zhen more than any other; to this day their Lanting songs are called unmatched. Zhen gave himself over to pleasure and travel and paid little heed to personal decorum, gaining a reputation for corrupt enrichment. He remained in Yue for eight years in all.
14
太和初，就加檢校禮部尚書。 三年九月，入為尚書左丞。 振舉紀綱，出郎官頗乖公議者七人。 然以稹素無檢操，人情不厭服。 會宰相王播倉卒而卒，稹大為路歧，經營相位。 四年正月，檢校戶部尚書，兼鄂州刺史、御史大夫、武昌軍節度使。 五年七月二十二日暴疾，一日而卒於鎮，時年五十三，贈尚書右僕射。 有子曰道護，時年三歲。 稹仲兄司農少卿積，營護喪事。 所著詩賦、詔冊、銘誄、論議等雜文一百卷，號曰《元氏長慶集》。 又著古今刑政書三百卷，號《類集》，並行於代。
In the early Taihe era he received an additional appointment as acting Minister of Rites. In the ninth month of the third year he entered the capital as Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat. He raised standards and regulations and removed seven bureau officials who had long fallen short of public consensus. Yet because Zhen had never been restrained in conduct, popular sentiment did not willingly accept him. When the chief minister Wang Bo died suddenly, Zhen went to great lengths along the road, maneuvering for the chancellorship. In the first month of the fourth year he received an additional appointment as acting Minister of Revenue with concurrent posts as governor of Ezhou, grand censor, and military commissioner of the Wuchang army. On the twenty-second day of the seventh month of the fifth year he was seized by sudden illness and died at his post within a day, at the age of fifty-three; he was posthumously enfeoffed as Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat. He left a son named Daohu, then three years old. Zhen's elder brother Ji, Vice Director of the Court of the Imperial Granaries, arranged the funeral. His collected poems, fu, edicts, inscriptions, eulogies, discourses, and miscellaneous prose fill one hundred scrolls, entitled Collected Writings of Master Yuan of the Changqing Era. He also compiled three hundred scrolls on penal administration ancient and modern, entitled Classified Compilations, and both works circulated widely in his age.
15
稹長慶末因編刪其文稿，《自敘》曰：
At the end of the Changqing era Zhen edited his manuscripts; his "Self-Account" reads:
16
其自敘如此，欲知其作者之意，備於此篇。
His self-account is as above; those who wish to know the author's intent will find it fully set forth in that piece.
17
稹文友與白居易最善。 後進之士，最重龐嚴，言其文體類己，保薦之。 龐嚴龐嚴者，壽春人。 父景昭。 嚴元和中登進士第，長慶元年應制舉賢良方正、能直言極諫科，策入三等，冠制科之首。 是月，拜左拾遺。 聰敏絕人，文章峭麗。 翰林學士元稹、李紳頗知之。 明年二月，召入翰林為學士。 轉左補闕，再遷駕部郎中、知制誥。 嚴與右拾遺蔣防俱為稹、紳保薦，至諫官內職。
Of Zhen's literary friends, none was closer than Bai Juyi. Younger writers esteemed Pang Yan most highly, saying his style resembled Zhen's, and Zhen recommended him. Pang Yan came from Shouchun. His father was Jingzhao. Yan passed the jinshi in the Yuanhe era; in the first year of Changqing he entered the special examination for worthy and upright men able to speak blunt remonstrance, placing third in grade and ranking first among the special-examination candidates. That same month he was appointed Left Reminder. He was exceptionally intelligent, and his prose was sharp and elegant. The Hanlin academicians Yuan Zhen and Li Shen knew him well. In the second month of the following year he was summoned to the Hanlin Academy as academician. He was transferred to Left Supplementation Officer, then promoted to director of the Carriages Bureau with charge of drafting edicts. Yan and the Right Reminder Jiang Fang were both recommended by Zhen and Shen for remonstrance posts and inner-court offices.
18
四年，昭湣即位，李紳為宰相李逢吉所排，貶端州司馬。 嚴坐累，出為江州刺史。 給事中於敖素與嚴善，制既下，敖封還，時人凜然相顧曰：「於給事犯宰相怒而為知己，不亦危乎！」 及覆制出，乃知敖駁制書貶嚴太輕，中外無不嗤誚，以為口實。 初李紳謫官，朝官皆賀逢吉，唯右拾遺吳思不賀。 逢吉怒，改為殿中侍御史，充入蕃告哀使。 嚴復入為庫部郎中。
In the fourth year, when Emperor Zhaomin ascended the throne, Li Shen was ousted by the chief minister Li Fengji and demoted to marshal of Duanzhou. Yan was implicated by association and sent out as governor of Jiangzhou. The Attendant-in-Ordinary Yu Ao had long been friendly with Yan; when the appointment edict was issued, Ao sealed it and returned it, and people at court looked at one another in alarm and said, "Attendant Yu has offended the chief minister's wrath for a friend's sake—is he not in peril?" When the revised edict appeared, it turned out Ao had rejected the draft as punishing Yan too lightly; court and populace alike mocked the affair and made it a byword. When Li Shen was first demoted, court officials all congratulated Fengji; only the Right Reminder Wu Si refused to join them. Fengji in anger transferred him to palace censor and appointed him envoy to announce mourning in a foreign land. Yan was recalled and made director of the Storehouses Bureau.
19
太和二年二月，上試制舉人，命嚴與左散騎常侍馮宿、太常少卿賈餗為試官，以裴休為甲等制科之首。 有應直言極諫舉人劉蕡，條對激切，凡數千言。 不中選，人鹹以為屈。 其所對策，大行於時，登科者有請以身名授蕡者。 嚴再遷太常少卿。
In the second month of the second year of Taihe the emperor tested special-examination candidates and appointed Yan, together with the Left Regular Attendant Feng Su and Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Jia Su, as examiners, with Pei Xiu ranking first in the top grade of the special examination. Among the candidates for blunt remonstrance was Liu Fen, whose itemized responses were fiercely incisive, running to several thousand words in all. He was not selected, and people widely regarded it as unjust. His policy essay circulated widely at the time, and some who had passed the examination offered to yield their fame to Fen. Yan was promoted again to Vice Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
20
五年，權知京兆尹，以強幹不避權豪稱，然無士君子之檢操，貪勢嗜利。 因醉而卒。 白居易白居易，字樂天，太原人。 北齊五兵尚書建之仍孫。 建生士通，皇朝利州都督。 士通生志善，尚衣奉御。 志善生溫，檢校都官郎中。 溫生锽，歷酸棗、鞏二縣令。 锽生季庚，建中初為彭城令。 時李正己據河南十餘州叛。 正己宗人洧為徐州刺史，季庚說洧以彭門歸國，因授朝散大夫、大理少卿、徐州別駕，賜緋魚袋，兼徐泗觀察判官。 歷衢州、襄州別駕。 自锽至季庚，世敦儒業，皆以明經出身。 季庚生居易。 初，建立功於高齊，賜田於韓城，子孫家焉，遂移籍同州。 至溫徙於下邽，今為下邽人焉。
In the fifth year he served as acting metropolitan intendant of Jingzhao, praised for being forceful and unafraid of powerful families, yet he lacked a gentleman-scholar's restraint and was greedy for power and profit. He died in a drunken stupor. Bai Juyi, whose courtesy name was Letian, came from Taiyuan. He was the great-grandson of Jian, Minister of the Five Armies under the Northern Qi. Jian begot Shitong, who served as military governor of Lizhou in the present dynasty. Shitong begot Zhishan, Attendant for Imperial Vestments. Zhishan begot Wen, acting director in the Ministry of Justice. Wen begot Huang, who served in turn as magistrate of Suozao and Gong counties. Huang begot Jigeng, who in the early Jianzhong era was magistrate of Pengcheng. At that time Li Zhengji held more than ten prefectures south of the Yellow River in rebellion. Zhengji's clansman Wei was military governor of Xuzhou; Jigeng persuaded Wei to return Pengmen to the state, and for this he was granted Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, Vice Director of the Court of Judicial Review, Xuzhou vice governor, a crimson fish bag, and concurrent appointment as administrative aide to the Xuzhou-Si surveillance commissioner. He served in turn as vice governor of Quzhou and Xiangzhou. From Huang down to Jigeng, the family cultivated Confucian learning for generations, all entering office through the Classics examinations. Jigeng begot Juyi. At first Jian had rendered meritorious service to the Northern Qi and was granted fields in Hancheng; the family settled there and later transferred their registry to Tongzhou. When Wen moved to Xiaji, the family settled there; today they are registered as men of Xiaji.
21
居易幼聰慧絕人，襟懷宏放。 年十五六時，袖文一編，投著作郎吳人顧況。 況能文，而性浮薄，後進文章無可意者。 覽居易文，不覺迎門禮遇，曰：「吾謂斯文遂絕，復得吾子矣。」
Juyi in youth was exceptionally intelligent, with a broad and expansive spirit. When he was fifteen or sixteen he tucked a literary manuscript under his sleeve and presented it to Gu Kuang, a native of Wu who was an editorial director. Kuang could write but was by nature frivolous; he found nothing satisfactory in the writings of junior scholars. Reading Juyi's essay, he could not help but go out to the gate to receive him with courtesy and said, "I thought this literary tradition had perished; I have found you again."
22
貞元十四年，始以進士就試，禮部侍郎高郢擢升甲科，吏部判入等，授秘書省校書郎。 元和元年四月，憲宗策試制舉人，應才識兼茂、明於體用科，策入第四等，授盩厔縣慰、集賢校理。
In the fourteenth year of Zhenyuan he first took the jinshi examination; Vice Director of Rites Gao Ying elevated him to the top grade, the Ministry of Personnel assessment placed him in grade, and he was appointed proofreader in the Palace Library. In the fourth month of the first year of Yuanhe Emperor Xianzong tested special-examination candidates; Juyi entered the examination for outstanding talent and practical understanding, his policy placing in the fourth grade, and he was appointed magistrate of Zhouzhi and collator in the Hall of Assembled Worthies.
23
居易文辭富艷，尤精於詩筆。 自讎校至結綬畿甸，所著歌詩數十百篇，皆意存諷賦，箴時之病，補政之缺。 而士君子多之，而往往流聞禁中。 章武皇帝納諫思理，渴聞讜言，二年十一月，召入翰林為學士。 三年五月，拜左拾遺。 居易自以逢好文之主，非次拔擢，欲以生平所貯，仰酬恩造。 拜命之日，獻疏言事曰：
Juyi's literary compositions were rich and gorgeous, and he was especially skilled in poetic writing. From proofreading through receiving his sash in the capital region, the songs and poems he composed numbered dozens or hundreds, all intending satirical expression, admonishing the ills of the age and repairing the gaps in governance. Gentlemen and scholars mostly approved of them, and they often reached the ears of the inner palace. Emperor Zhangwu, wishing to receive remonstrance and ponder governance, was eager to hear blunt counsel; in the eleventh month of the second year he summoned Juyi into the Hanlin Academy as academician. In the fifth month of the third year he was appointed Left Reminder. Juyi considered that he had encountered a sovereign who loved literature and had been raised out of turn; he wished to offer up what he had stored through his life to repay the grace of his elevation. On the day he received his appointment he submitted a memorial setting forth his views, which read:
24
居易與河南元稹相善，同年登制舉，交情隆厚。 稹自監察御史謫為江陵府士曹掾，翰林學士李絳、崔群上前面論稹無罪，居易累疏切諫曰：
Juyi was on friendly terms with Yuan Zhen of Henan; they had passed the special examination in the same year and their friendship was deep and thick. When Zhen was demoted from investigating censor to army staff officer of Jiangling prefecture, Hanlin academicians Li Jiang and Cui Qun spoke to the emperor's face arguing that Zhen was guiltless; Juyi submitted memorial after memorial in blunt remonstrance, saying:
25
疏入不報。
The memorial entered and received no response.
26
又淄青節度使李師道進絹，為魏徵子孫贖宅。 居易諫曰：「徵是陛下先朝宰相，太宗嘗賜殿材成其正室，尤與諸家第宅不同。 子孫典貼，其錢不多，自可官中為之收贖，而令師道掠美，事實非宜。」 憲宗深然之。
Also the military governor of Ziqing, Li Shidao, presented silk to ransom the residence of Wei Zheng's descendants. Juyi remonstrated, saying, "Wei was a chief minister of Your Majesty's former reign; Taizong once bestowed hall timber to complete his main hall, and it was especially unlike the mansions of other families. The descendants pawned it; the sum was not large and the court itself could redeem it, yet to let Shidao seize the credit is in truth not fitting." The emperor deeply agreed.
27
上又欲加河東王鍔平章事，居易諫曰：「宰相是陛下輔臣，非賢良不可當此位。 鍔誅剝民財，以市恩澤，不可使四方之人謂陛下得王鍔進奉，而與之宰相，深無益於聖朝。」 乃止。
The emperor also wished to add Wang E of Hedong as chief councilor; Juyi remonstrated, saying, "The chief councilor is Your Majesty's assisting minister; only the worthy and good should hold this post. E strips the people's wealth to purchase favor; it must not be allowed that people in the four directions say Your Majesty received Wang E's tribute offerings and gave him the chancellorship—this is deeply without benefit to the holy court." And so it was stopped.
28
王承宗拒命，上令神策中尉吐突承璀為招討使，諫官上章者十七八。 居易面論，辭情切至。 既而又請罷河北用兵，凡數千百言，皆人之難言者，上多聽納。 唯諫承璀事切，上頗不悅，謂李絳曰：「白居易小子，是朕拔擢致名位，而無禮於朕，朕實難奈。」 絳對曰：「居易所以不避死亡之誅，事無巨細必言者，蓋酬陛下特力拔擢耳，非輕言也。 陛下欲開諫諍之路，不宜阻居易言。」 上曰：「卿言是也。」 由是多見聽納。
Wang Chengzong defied orders; the emperor appointed the director of the Divine Stratagem Army, Tuoba Chenghuan, as campaign commissioner, and remonstrance officials submitted memorials numbering seventeen or eighteen. Juyi argued face to face, his words urgent and sincere. Afterward he again requested withdrawal of troops in Hebei; in all several thousand words, all things difficult for others to speak, and the emperor mostly listened and accepted. Only on the matter of remonstrating against Chenghuan was the emperor somewhat displeased, and he said to Li Jiang, "Bai Juyi the youngster is one I raised and elevated to fame and position, yet he is without propriety toward me—I truly find it hard to bear." Jiang replied, "The reason Juyi does not avoid the punishment of death and speaks on matters great and small is that he is repaying Your Majesty's special elevation of him by force—it is not light speech. Your Majesty wishes to open the path of blunt remonstrance; you should not obstruct Juyi's words." The emperor said, "Your words are correct." From this Juyi was often heard and accepted.
29
五年，當改官，上謂崔群曰：「居易官卑俸薄，拘於資地，不能超等，其官可聽自便奏來。」 居易奏曰：「臣聞姜公輔為內職，求為京府判司，為奉親也。 臣有老母，家貧養薄，乞如公輔例。」 於是，除京兆府戶曹參軍。 六年四月，丁母陳夫人之喪，退居下邽。 九年冬，入朝，授太子左贊善大夫。
In the fifth year, when his term for office change came due, the emperor said to Cui Qun, "Juyi's office is low and his salary thin; constrained by seniority he cannot be promoted beyond grade—his office may be reported as he himself wishes." Juyi memorialized, saying, "I have heard that Jiang Gongfu, holding an inner post, requested appointment as administrative aide in the capital prefecture for the sake of supporting his parents. I have an aged mother; our household is poor and support is thin—I beg to follow Gongfu's example." Thereupon he was appointed army staff officer in the metropolitan prefecture's revenue section. In the fourth month of the sixth year he entered mourning for his mother Lady Chen and retired to Xiaji. In the winter of the ninth year he entered court and was appointed Left Mentor to the Heir Apparent.
30
十年七月，盜殺宰相武元衡，居易首上疏論其冤，急請捕賊以雪國恥。 宰相以宮官非諫職，不當先諫官言事。 會有素惡居易者，掎摭居易，言浮華無行，其母因看花墮井而死，而居易作《賞花》及《新井》詩，甚傷名教，不宜置彼周行。 執政方惡其言事，奏貶為江表刺史。 詔出，中書舍人王涯上疏論之，言居易所犯狀跡，不宜治郡，追詔授江州司馬。
In the seventh month of the tenth year bandits killed the chief minister Wu Yuanheng; Juyi was first to submit a memorial on his injustice and urgently requested capture of the assassins to wash away the national shame. The chief ministers held that a palace official was not a remonstrance post and ought not speak before remonstrance officials. There happened to be one who had long disliked Juyi; he seized on Juyi and said he was frivolous and without conduct—that his mother had died from falling into a well while viewing flowers, yet Juyi composed "Viewing Flowers" and "The New Well," gravely injuring moral teaching, and was unfit to stand among the court ranks. Those in power at the time detested his remonstrances and memorialized that he be demoted to prefect south of the Yangtze. When the edict was issued, Drafting Academician Wang Ya submitted a memorial on the matter, saying that given the nature of Juyi's offenses he was unfit to govern a prefecture; the edict was recalled and he was appointed marshal of Jiangzhou instead.
31
居易儒學之外，尤通釋典，常以忘懷處順為事，都不以遷謫介意。 在湓城，立隱舍於廬山遺愛寺，嘗與人書言之曰：「予去年秋始遊廬山，到東西二林間香爐峰下，見雲木泉石，勝絕第一。 愛不能舍，因立草堂。 前有喬松十數株，修竹千餘竿，青羅為墻援，白石為橋道，流水周於舍下，飛泉落於檐間，紅榴白蓮，羅生池砌。」 居易與湊、滿、朗、晦四禪師，追永、遠、宗、雷之跡，為人外之交。 每相摧遊詠，躋危登險，極林泉之幽邃。 至於翛然順適之際，幾欲忘其形骸。 或經時不歸，或逾月而返，郡守以朝貴遇之，不之責。
Beyond Confucian learning Juyi was especially versed in Buddhist scriptures and often took forgetting cares and accepting circumstances as his practice, not minding exile and demotion at all. At Xuncheng he established a hermitage at the Jian'ai Temple on Mount Lu and once wrote to someone, saying, "Last autumn I first traveled Mount Lu; between the eastern and western forests at the foot of Incense Burner Peak I saw clouds, trees, springs, and rocks surpassing all else in excellence. I loved it and could not leave; therefore I built a thatched hall. Before it were more than ten tall pines, more than a thousand bamboo poles, green silk for a wall enclosure, white stone for a bridge path, flowing water circling below the lodge, flying springs falling between the eaves, red pomegranate and white lotus growing thick around the pool ledge." Juyi with the four Chan masters Cou, Man, Lang, and Hui pursued the traces of Yong, Yuan, Zong, and Lei and formed friendships outside the world of men. They often urged one another to travel and chant, climbing peril and ascending heights, reaching the utmost seclusion of forests and springs. When they arrived at a state of free and easy accord, they nearly forgot their own bodies. Sometimes they did not return for a whole season, or returned only after more than a month; the prefect treated them as court nobility and did not hold them accountable.
32
時元稹在通州，篇詠贈答往來，不以數千里為遠。 嘗與稹書，因論作文之大旨曰：
At that time Yuan Zhen was in Tongzhou; poems exchanged in gift and response traveled back and forth, not considering several thousand li distant. He once wrote to Zhen, and in discussing the great principles of writing said:
33
居易自敘如此，文士以為信然。
Juyi's self-account is as above; literary men regarded it as trustworthy.
34
十三年冬，量移忠州刺史。 自潯陽浮江上峽。 十四年三月，元稹會居易於峽口，停舟夷陵三日。 時季弟行簡從行，三人於峽州西二十里黃牛峽口石洞中，置酒賦詩，戀戀不能訣。 南賓郡當峽路之深險處也，花木多奇。 居易在郡，為《木蓮荔枝圖》，寄朝中親友，各記其狀曰：「荔枝生巴、峽間，形圓如帷蓋。 葉如桂，冬青； 華如橘，春榮； 實如丹，夏熟。 朵如蒲萄，核如枇杷，殼如紅繒，膜如紫綃，瓤肉瑩白如雪，漿液甘酸如醴酪。 大略如此，其實過之。 若離本枝，一日而色變，二日而香變，三日而味變，四五日外，色香味盡去矣。」 「木蓮大者高四五丈，巴民呼為黃心樹，經冬不雕。 身如青楊，有白文。 葉如桂，厚大無脊。 花如蓮，香色艷膩皆同，房獨蕊有異。 四月初始開，自開迨謝，僅二十日。 元和十四年夏，命道士毋丘元志寫之。 惜其遐僻，因以三絕賦之。」 有「天教拋擲在深山」之句，鹹傳於都下，好事者喧然模寫。
In the winter of the thirteenth year he was transferred in grade to governor of Zhongzhou. From Xunyang he floated upriver on the Yangtze into the gorges. In the third month of the fourteenth year Yuan Zhen met Juyi at the gorge mouth and moored their boats at Yiling for three days. At the time his younger brother Xingjian was traveling with him; the three men at a stone cave twenty li west of Yiling at the mouth of Yellow Ox Gorge set out wine and composed poems, reluctant to part and unable to take leave. Nanbin prefecture lies at the deepest peril of the gorge route, and its flowers and trees are mostly extraordinary. While in the prefecture Juyi composed "Illustrations of Magnolia and Lychee" and sent them to kin and friends at court, each recording their forms, which read, "The lychee grows between Ba and the gorges; its form is round like a canopy. Its leaves are like cassia, evergreen in winter; Its blossoms resemble the orange, opening in spring; Its fruit is like cinnabar, ripening in summer. Clusters hang like grapes; the pit resembles a loquat; the shell is red silk gauze, the membrane purple gauze; the flesh gleams white as snow; the juice is sweet-sour as cultured curds. That is the general picture—and the fruit itself surpasses it. If separated from its branch, in one day its color changes, in two days its fragrance changes, in three days its flavor changes, and beyond four or five days its color, fragrance, and flavor are all gone." The magnolia grows as tall as four or five zhang; Ba people call it the yellow-heart tree and it never sheds in winter. Its trunk is like green poplar, with white markings. Its leaves are like cassia, thick and large without a midrib. Its flowers are like the lotus; fragrance, color, and lush beauty are all the same, only the calyx and solitary pistil differ. It first opens in the fourth month; from opening until fading is only twenty days. In the summer of the fourteenth year of Yuanhe he ordered the Daoist priest Wuqiu Yuanzhi to paint them. Pitying their remote seclusion, he therefore composed a fu in three parts on them." Among its lines was "Heaven cast them off deep in the mountains," which swept through the capital until enthusiasts clamored to copy it.
35
其年冬，召還京師，拜司門員外郎。 明年，轉主客郎中、知制誥，加朝散大夫，始著緋。 時元稹亦征還為尚書郎、知制誥，同在綸閣。 長慶元年三月，受詔與中書舍人王起覆，試禮部侍郎錢徽下及第人鄭朗等一十四人。 十月，轉中書舍人。 十一月，穆宗親試制舉人，又與賈餗、陳岵為考策官。 凡朝廷文字之職，無不首居其選，然多為排擯，不得用其才。
That winter he was summoned back to the capital and appointed vice director of the Gate Office. The following year he was transferred to director of the Guests Bureau with charge of drafting edicts, granted Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and for the first time wore crimson. At that time Yuan Zhen was also summoned back as director in a ministry with charge of drafting edicts, and both were together in the drafting pavilion. In the third month of the first year of Changqing he received an edict together with Drafting Academician Wang Qi to review the fourteen men including Zheng Lang whom Vice Director of Rites Qian Hui had passed in the lower examination. In the tenth month he was transferred to drafting academician. In the eleventh month Emperor Muzong personally tested special-examination candidates, and Juyi again served with Jia Su and Chen Hu as policy examiners. Of all court posts for written composition, none failed to place him first in selection, yet he was often ostracized and could not employ his talents.
36
時天子荒縱不法，執政非其人，制御乖方，河朔復亂。 居易累上疏論其事，天子不能用，乃求外任。 七月，除杭州刺史。 俄而元稹罷相，自馮翊轉浙東觀察使。 交契素深，杭、越鄰境，篇詠往來，不間旬浹。 嘗會於境上，數日而別。 秩滿，除太子左庶子，分司東都。 寶歷中，復出為蘇州刺史。 文宗即位，征拜秘書監，賜金紫。 九月上誕節，召居易與僧惟澄、道土趙常盈對御講論於麟德殿。 居易論難鋒起，辭辨泉註，上疑宿構，深嗟挹之。 太和二年正月，轉刑部侍郎，封晉陽縣男，食邑三百戶。 三年，稱病東歸，求為分司官，尋除太子賓客。
At that time the Son of Heaven was dissolute and lawless, those in power were not the right men, regulation and control were misaligned, and Hebei again fell into turmoil. Juyi submitted memorial after memorial discussing these matters; the Son of Heaven could not employ them, and Juyi then sought an outer appointment. In the seventh month he was appointed governor of Hangzhou. Before long Yuan Zhen was removed as chief councilor and transferred from Fengyi to surveillance commissioner of Zhedong. Their bond of friendship had always been deep; Hang and Yue were neighboring jurisdictions, and poems exchanged in gift and response came without a break of ten days. They once met on the border and parted after several days. When his term expired he was appointed Left Mentor to the Heir Apparent with duty at the eastern capital. In the Baoli era he was again sent out as governor of Suzhou. When Emperor Wenzong ascended the throne, Juyi was summoned as Director of the Palace Library and granted the gold-purple seal. On the imperial birthday in the ninth month he summoned Juyi together with the monk Weicheng and the Daoist Zhao Changying to lecture before the throne in the Qinde Hall. Juyi's rebuttals flashed like spears and his eloquence poured forth; the emperor suspected prepared answers and marveled at his mastery. In the first month of the second year of Taihe he was transferred to vice minister of Punishments, enfeoffed as Baron of Jinyang with a fief of three hundred households. In the third year he claimed illness and returned east, requesting a duty-at-large post, and soon was appointed Mentor to the Heir Apparent.
37
居易初對策高第，擢入翰林，蒙英主特達顧遇，頗欲奮厲效報，茍致身於訏謨之地，則兼濟生靈，蓄意未果，望風為當路者所擠，流徙江湖。 四五年間，幾淪蠻瘴。 自是宦情衰落，無意於出處，唯以逍遙自得，吟詠情性為事。 太和已後，李宗閔、李德裕朋黨事起，是非排陷，朝升暮黜，天子亦無如之何。 楊穎士、楊虞卿與宗閔善，居易妻，穎士從父妹也。 居易愈不自安，懼以黨人見斥，乃求致身散地，冀於遠害。 凡所居官，未嘗終秩，率以病免，固求分務，識者多之。 五年，除河南尹。 七年，復授太子賓客分司。
When Juyi first topped the policy examination and entered the Hanlin, an enlightened sovereign singled him out for favor and he burned to repay it—hoping to reach the council chamber and benefit the people at once. His intent never ripened; those in power read the wind and crowded him out until he drifted on rivers and lakes. Within four or five years he nearly succumbed to miasma in the southern wilds. From this his official ambition declined and he had no mind for advancement or withdrawal, taking only free roaming and self-contentment and chanting to express his nature as his affairs. After Taihe, the factional affairs of Li Zongmin and Li Deyu arose; right and wrong were used to entrap one another, and men were elevated at dawn and demoted at dusk—the Son of Heaven likewise could do nothing about it. Yang Yingshi and Yang Yuqing were friendly with Zongmin; Juyi's wife was Yingshi's cousin on the father's side. Juyi grew all the more ill at ease, fearing rejection as a faction member, and sought to place himself in a scattered post, hoping to escape harm from afar. In every office he held he never completed a full term, generally leaving on grounds of illness, firmly requesting duty-at-large posts—those who understood approved of this. In the fifth year he was appointed metropolitan intendant of Henan. In the seventh year he was again appointed Mentor to the Heir Apparent with duty at large.
38
初，居易罷杭州，歸洛陽。 於履道里得故散騎常侍楊憑宅，竹木池館，有林泉之致。 家妓樊素、蠻子者，能歌善舞。 居易既以尹正罷歸，每獨酌賦詠於舟中，因為《池上篇》曰：
At first, when Juyi left Hangzhou, he returned to Luoyang. At Lüdao Lane he obtained the former residence of the Regular Attendant Yang Ping, with bamboo, trees, ponds, and lodges possessing the charm of forests and springs. His household entertainers Fansu and Manzi could sing and dance well. After leaving the intendant's post he would drink alone in his boat and compose verses, producing "On the Pond," which begins:
39
又效陶潛《五柳先生傳》，作《醉吟先生傳》以自況。 文章曠達，皆此類也。
He also modeled Tao Qian's "Biography of the Five-Willow Gentleman" and composed "Biography of the Drunken Chanting Gentleman" to portray himself. His writing was free and far-reaching—all of this kind.
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太和末，李訓構禍，衣冠塗地，士林傷感，居易愈無宦情。 開成元年，除同州刺史，辭疾不拜。 尋授太子少傅，進封馮翊縣開國侯。 四年冬，得風病，伏枕者累月，乃放諸妓女樊、蠻等，仍自為墓誌，病中吟詠不輟。 自言曰：「予年六十有八，始患風痹之疾，體郤首胘，左足不支。 蓋老病相乘，有時而至耳。 予棲心釋梵，浪跡老、莊，因疾觀身，果有所得。 何則？ 外形骸而內忘憂患，先禪觀而後順醫治。 旬月以還，厥疾少間，杜門高枕，淡然安閑。 吟詠興來，亦不能遏，遂為《病中詩》十五篇以自諭。」
At the end of Taihe, Li Xun engineered disaster; the gentry were trampled in blood and scholars grieved deeply; Juyi's official ambition declined all the more. In the first year of Kaicheng he was appointed governor of Tongzhou but declined on grounds of illness. Soon he was appointed Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent and advanced to enfeoffment as Marquis of Fengyi with an opening fief. In the winter of the fourth year he contracted wind illness and lay on his pillow for months; he then released the entertainers Fan and Man and others, and even composed his own epitaph, chanting without cease even in illness. He said to himself, "I am sixty-eight years old and have first contracted wind-block illness; my body is bent and my head droops, and my left foot cannot support me. It is that old age and illness multiply, and sometimes arrive together. I have set my mind on Buddhist teaching and wandered in the tracks of Laozi and Zhuangzi; through illness I have observed the body and truly gained something. How so? Outwardly I discard the bodily form and inwardly forget worry and calamity; first Chan contemplation and afterward compliance with medical treatment. Within a month or so the illness abated somewhat; I shut the gate and lay on a high pillow, calm and at ease. When the urge to compose returned he could not check it, and wrote fifteen "Poems in Illness" as self-admonition."
41
會昌中，請罷太子少傅，以刑部尚書致仕。 與香山僧如滿結香火社，每肩輿往來，白衣鳩杖，自稱香山居士。
In the Huichang era he requested removal as Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent and retired as Minister of Punishments. He formed a incense-and-fire fellowship with the Xiangshan monk Ruman; each went back and forth in a shoulder carriage, white robe and dove staff, calling himself the Xiangshan Recluse.
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大中元年卒，時年七十六，贈尚書右僕射。 有文集七十五卷，《經史事類》三十卷，並行於世。 長慶末，浙東觀察使元稹，為居易集序曰：
In the first year of Dazhong he died at the age of seventy-six and was posthumously enfeoffed as Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat. He had a collected works of seventy-five scrolls and Classified Matters from the Classics and Histories of thirty scrolls, and both circulated in his age. At the end of Changqing, Yuan Zhen, surveillance commissioner of Zhedong, composed a preface for Juyi's collected works, which read:
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人以為稹序盡其能事。
People regarded Zhen's preface as exhausting his powers in the task.
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居易嘗寫其文集，送江州東西二林寺、洛城香山聖善等寺，如佛書雜傳例流行之。 無子，以其侄孫嗣。 遺命不歸下邽，可葬於香山如滿師塔之側，家人從命而葬焉。 弟行簡行簡，字知退。 貞元末，登進士第，授秘書省校書郎。 元和中，盧坦鎮東蜀，辟為掌書記。 府罷，歸潯陽。 居易授江州司馬，從兄之郡。 十五年，居易入朝為尚書郎，行簡亦授左拾遺。 累遷司門員外郎、主客郎中。 長慶末，振武奏水運營田使賀拔志言營田數過實，詔令行簡按覆之。 不實，志弘，自刺死。 行簡寶歷二年冬病卒，有文集一十卷。 行簡文筆有兄風，辭賦尤稱精密，文士皆師法之。 居易友愛過人，兄弟相待如賓客。 行簡子龜兒，多自教習，以至成名。 當時友悌，無以比焉。 從父弟敏中敏中，字用晦，居易從父弟也。 祖鏻，位終揚府錄事參軍。 父季康，溧陽令。 敏中少孤，為諸兄之所訓歷。 長慶初，登進士第，佐李聽，歷河東、鄭滑、邠寧三府節度掌書記，試大理評事。 大和七年，丁母憂，退居下邽。 會昌初，為殿中侍御史，分司東都。 尋除戶部員外郎，還京。
Juyi once copied his collected works and sent them to the eastern and western forest temples of Jiangzhou and to the Xiangshan Shenshan and other temples of Luoyang, circulating them like Buddhist scriptures and miscellaneous transmissions. He had no son and made his nephew's grandson his heir. His final instructions were not to return to Xiaji but to be buried beside Master Ruman's pagoda on Xiangshan, and the family followed the command in burying him. His younger brother Xingjian, whose courtesy name was Zhitui. At the end of Zhenyuan he passed the jinshi examination and was appointed proofreader in the Palace Library. In the Yuanhe era Lu Tan governed eastern Shu and recruited him as recorder. When the prefecture was dissolved he returned to Xunyang. Juyi was appointed marshal of Jiangzhou and Xingjian accompanied him to the prefecture. In the fifteenth year Juyi entered court as a director in a ministry and Xingjian was also appointed Left Reminder. He was promoted in turn to vice director of the Gate Office and director of the Guests Bureau. At the end of Changqing Zhenwu reported that the water-transport garrison-field commissioner Heba Zhiyan's garrison-field figures greatly exceeded reality; an edict ordered Xingjian to investigate and verify. The report proved false; in alarm Zhiyan stabbed himself to death. Xingjian died of illness in the winter of the second year of Baoli, leaving collected works of ten scrolls. Xingjian's brush had his elder brother's manner, and his fu were especially praised as refined and close; literary men all took him as a model. Juyi's fraternal affection surpassed others; the brothers treated one another like guests. Xingjian's son Guier was largely taught by Juyi himself and thereby achieved fame. At the time none matched them in fraternal devotion. His younger cousin Minzhong, whose courtesy name was Yonghui, was Juyi's cousin on the father's side. His grandfather Lian ended his career as recorder of Yang prefecture. His father Jikang was magistrate of Liyang. Minzhong was orphaned young and was trained through experience by his elder brothers. In the early Changqing era he passed the jinshi examination, served Li Ting as aide, and in turn was recorder under the military governors of Hedong, Zheng-Hua, and Binning, and tested as reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. In the seventh year of Dahe he entered mourning for his mother and retired to Xiaji. In the early Huichang era he was palace censor with duty at the eastern capital. Soon he was appointed vice director in the Ministry of Revenue and returned to the capital.
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武宗皇帝素聞居易之名，及即位，欲征用之。 宰相李德裕言居易衰病，不任朝謁，因言從弟敏中辭藝類居易，即日知制誥，召入翰林充學士，遷中書舍人。 累至兵部侍郎、學士承旨。 會昌末，同平章事，兼刑部尚書、集賢史館大學士。 宣宗即位，加右僕射、金紫光祿大夫、太清宮使、太原郡開國公、食邑二千戶。 及李德裕再貶嶺南，敏中居四輔之首，雷同毀譽，無一言伸理，特論罪之。 五年，罷相，檢校司空，出為邠州刺史、邠寧節度、招撫党項都制置等使。 七年，進位特進、成都尹、劍南西川節度副大使、知節度等事。 十一年二月，檢校司徒、平章事、江陵尹、荊南節度使。 懿宗即位，征拜司徒、門下侍郎、平章事，復輔政。 尋加侍中。 三年罷相，為河中尹、河中晉絳節度使。 累遷中書令。 太子太師致仕，卒。 評贊史臣曰：舉才選士之法，尚矣！ 自漢策賢良，隋加詩賦，罷中正之法，委銓舉之司。 由是爭務雕蟲，罕趨函丈，矯首皆希於屈、宋，駕肩並擬於《風》、《騷》。 或侔箴闕之篇，或敩補亡之句。 鹹欲錙銖《采葛》，糠秕《懷沙》，較麗藻於碧雞，鬥新奇於白鳳。 暨編之簡牘，播在管弦，未逃季緒之詆訶，孰望《子虛》之稱賞？ 迨今千載，不乏辭人，統論六義之源，較其三變之體，如二班者蓋寡，類七子者幾何？ 至潘、陸情致之文，鮑、謝清便之作，迨於徐、庾，踵麗增華，纂組成而耀以珠璣，瑤臺構而間之金碧。 國初開文館，高宗禮茂才，虞、許擅價於前，蘇、李馳聲於後。 或位升臺鼎，學際天人，潤色之文，鹹布編集。 然而向古者傷於太僻，徇華者或至不經，齷齪者局於宮商，放縱者流於鄭、衛。 若品調律度，揚搉古今，賢不肖皆賞其文，未如元、白之盛也。 昔建安才子，始定霸於曹、劉； 永明辭宗，先讓功於沈、謝。 元和主盟，微之、樂天而已。 臣觀元之制策，白之奏議，極文章之壺奧，盡治亂之根荄。 非徒謠頌之片言，盤盂之小說。 就文觀行，居易為優，放心於自得之場，置器於必安之地，優遊卒歲，不亦賢乎？
Emperor Wuzong had long heard Juyi's name, and when he ascended the throne wished to summon and employ him. The chief minister Li Deyu said Juyi was aged and ill and unfit for court audience, and therefore spoke of his cousin Minzhong, whose literary arts resembled Juyi's; that same day Minzhong received charge of drafting edicts, was summoned into the Hanlin Academy as academician, was transferred to drafting academician. He was promoted in turn to vice minister of War and chief academician. At the end of Huichang he was appointed chief councilor with concurrent posts as Minister of Punishments and Grand Academician of the Hall of Assembled Worthies and History Office. When Emperor Xuanzong ascended the throne, he was added as Right Vice Director, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with golden seal, commissioner of the Great Pure Palace, Duke of Taiyuan with an opening fief of two thousand households. When Li Deyu was banished again to the southern mountains, Minzhong led the four chief ministers and chimed in with the attack, never speaking a word in his defense—a fault for which he was specially censured. In the fifth year he was removed as chief councilor, appointed acting Minister of Works, and sent out as governor of Binzhou with military commission over Binning, commissioner for pacifying the Tangut, and overall disposition. In the seventh year he advanced to Special Grand Master, metropolitan intendant of Chengdu, deputy military commissioner of Sword-South West with charge of military affairs. In the second month of the eleventh year he was appointed acting Minister of Works, chief councilor, metropolitan intendant of Jiangling, and military commissioner of Jingnan. When Emperor Yizong took the throne, Minzhong was summoned as Minister of Works, Vice Director of the Gate Department, and chief councilor, returning to assist at court. He was soon made Palace Attendant as well. In the third year he left the chancellorship and became metropolitan intendant of Hezhong and military commissioner of Hezhong-Jin-Jiang. He rose in turn to drafting director. He retired as Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent and died in office. The evaluating historian writes: Methods for raising talent and choosing scholars are very old indeed! From the Han examination of worthy men through the Sui addition of poetry and fu, the impartial-evaluation system was abandoned and selection entrusted to the examination offices. Candidates then strove for ornamental craft and rarely attended the lecture hall; all craned their necks toward Qu Yuan and Song Yu and marched shoulder to shoulder after the "Airs" and "Elegies." Some matched pieces admonishing the throne, others imitated lines mending what was lost. Each hoped to measure up to "Gathering Mugwort," sift chaff from "Lament for Huai," rival the green cock in ornament, and outdo the white phoenix in novelty. Once copied on bamboo and spread through pipes and strings, they still could not escape Ji Xu's censure—who could expect the praise accorded "Sir Fantasy"? A thousand years on, writers have never been scarce; yet surveying the source of the Six Principles and comparing their three transformations, how few have equaled the two Bans, how many resemble the Seven Masters? Pan and Lu wrote with feeling; Bao and Xie wrote with clarity and ease; by Xu and Yu splendor piled on splendor—brocade woven and studded with pearls, jade terraces framed in gold and azure. At the dynasty's founding the Literary Hall opened; under Gaozong eminent talent was honored; Yu and Xu set the standard early, Su and Li carried fame later. Some reached the highest offices with learning that touched heaven and man; their polishing compositions were gathered into collections. Those who looked to antiquity grew too eccentric; those who chased ornament sometimes left the canon; the cramped were trapped by pitch and mode, the unrestrained drifted into Zheng and Wey music. If one grades tone and measure and weighs past and present so that worthy and unworthy alike prize the writing, none has matched the ascendancy of Yuan and Bai. In Jian'an, literary talent first crowned Cao and Liu; in Yongming, the literary masters first yielded pride of place to Shen and Xie. In the Yuanhe literary league, only Weizhi and Letian held the field. This subject finds that Zhen's policy essays and Bai's memorials reach the innermost chamber of letters and lay bare the roots of order and disorder. These were not mere snatches of praise-song or little allegories on platters. Judging conduct by their writing, Juyi is the finer: he rested his heart where contentment lives and set his vessel on ground that must hold—passing his years at ease; is that not the better part?
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贊曰：文章新體，建安、永明。 沈、謝既往，元、白挺生。 但留金石，長有《莖英》。 不習孫、吳，焉知用兵？
The eulogy reads: New literary forms arose in Jian'an and Yongming. After Shen and Xie, Yuan and Bai stood forth. Metal and stone alone remain; "Stalk and Blossom" endures. Without studying Sun and Wu, how could one know the use of arms?