1
李華字遐叔，趙郡人。 開元二十三年進士擢第。 天寶中，登朝為監察御史。 累轉侍御史，禮部、吏部二員外郎。 華善屬文，與蘭陵蕭穎士友善。 華進士時，著含元殿賦萬餘言，穎士見而賞之，曰：「景福之上，靈光之下。」 華文體溫麗，少宏傑之氣，穎士詞鋒俊發，華自以所業過之，疑其誣詞。 乃為祭古戰場文，熏汙之如故物，置於佛書之閣。 華與穎士因閱佛書得之，華謂之曰：「此文何如？」 穎士曰：「可矣。」 華曰：「當代秉筆者，誰及於此？」 穎士曰：「君稍精思，便可及此。」 華愕然。 華著論言龜卜可廢，通人當其言。
Li Hua, whose courtesy name was Xiashu, came from Zhao commandery. In 735 he passed the jinshi civil examination. During the Tianbao reign he entered court service as a supervisory censor. He rose in turn to attendant censor and to vice director in both the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. Hua excelled at literary composition and was on friendly terms with Xiao Yingshi of Lanling. While still a jinshi candidate, Hua composed a Rhapsody on the Hanyuan Hall of more than ten thousand characters. Yingshi read it and exclaimed, "It ranks above the Jingfu and below the Lingguang. Hua wrote in a warm, elegant style with little of the grand and heroic, whereas Yingshi's diction was sharp and brilliant. Hua thought his own work the better and suspected that Yingshi's praise was insincere. He therefore composed his Lament for an Ancient Battlefield, smoked and smudged the manuscript until it looked like an old relic, and hid it among Buddhist texts. While Hua and Yingshi were leafing through Buddhist books they came upon it. Hua asked him, "How do you rate this essay? Yingshi replied, "It will do." Hua asked, "Among the leading writers of our day, who could match this?" Yingshi answered, "If you give the matter a little more thought, you could write at this level yourself." Hua was dumbfounded. Hua wrote a treatise arguing that tortoise-shell and milfoil divination ought to be abandoned, and thoughtful men endorsed his position.
2
祿山陷京師，玄宗出幸，華扈從不及，陷賊，偽署為鳳閣舍人。 收城後，三司類例減等，從輕貶官，遂廢於家，卒。 華嘗為魯山令元德秀墓碑，顏真卿書，李陽冰篆額，後人爭模寫之，號為「四絕碑」。 有文集十卷，行於時。
When An Lushan seized the capital, Emperor Xuanzong fled the court. Hua failed to join the imperial entourage, fell into rebel hands, and was given a false appointment as Secretariat Drafter. After the capital was retaken, the Three Offices classified his offense at a reduced grade and demoted him leniently. He was then dismissed to live at home, where he died. Hua once wrote the epitaph for Yuan Dexiu, magistrate of Lushan; Yan Zhenqing penned the inscription and Li Yangbing cut the title in seal script. Later generations copied it eagerly, and it became known as the "Stele of Four Excellences." His collected works in ten juan circulated widely in his day.
3
李商隐，字义山，怀州河内人。 曾祖叔恒，年十九登进士第，位终安阳令。 祖俌，位终邢州录事参军。 父嗣。
Li Shangyin, whose courtesy name was Yishan, came from Henei in Huai prefecture. His great-grandfather Shuhuan passed the jinshi examination at nineteen and ended his career as magistrate of Anyang. His grandfather Fu rose no higher than recording secretary of Xing prefecture. His father was Si.
4
商隐幼能为文。 令狐楚镇河阳，以所业文干之，年才及弱冠。 楚以其少俊，深礼之，令与诸子游。 楚镇天平、汴州，从为巡官，岁给资装，令随计上都。 开成二年，方登进士第，释褐秘书省校书郎，调补弘农尉。 会昌二年，又以书判拔萃。
Shangyin could already write essays as a boy. When Linghu Chu governed Heyang as military commissioner, Shangyin presented his writings to him, though he had not yet turned twenty. Chu admired his youth and talent, treated him with exceptional courtesy, and let him mingle with his sons. When Chu served at Tianping and Bian, Shangyin followed him as a staff officer. Chu paid his travel expenses each year and sent him to the capital with the tribute mission to sit for the examination. In 837 he finally passed the jinshi examination, took his first office as proofreader in the Secretariat, and was later transferred to magistrate of Hongnong. In 842 he again distinguished himself in the examination for legal and documentary excellence.
5
王茂元镇河阳，辟为掌书记，得待御史。 茂元爱其才，以子妻之。 茂元虽读书为儒，然本将家子，李德裕素遇之，时德裕秉政，用为河阳帅。 德裕与李宗闵、杨嗣复、令狐楚大相仇怨。 商隐既为茂元从事，宗闵党大薄之。 时令狐楚已卒，子绹为员外郎，以商隐背恩，尤恶其无行。 俄而茂元卒，来游京师，久之不调。 会给事中郑亚廉察桂州，请为观察判官、检校水部员外郎。 大中初，白敏中执政，令狐绹在内署，共排李德裕逐之。 亚坐德裕党，亦贬循州刺史。 商隐随亚在岭表累载。
When Wang Maoyuan governed Heyang, he recruited Shangyin as chief clerk and secured for him appointment as censor awaiting imperial disposition. Maoyuan admired his talent and gave him his daughter in marriage. Maoyuan had studied the classics and was a Confucian in learning, yet he came from a military family. Li Deyu had long favored him, and while Deyu held power he appointed him commander of Heyang. Deyu was locked in bitter enmity with Li Zongmin, Yang Sifu, and Linghu Chu. Once Shangyin entered Maoyuan's service, Zongmin's faction held him in deep contempt. By then Linghu Chu had died and his son Tao held an outer court post. Tao regarded Shangyin as ungrateful and especially despised his lack of principle. Before long Maoyuan died. Shangyin came to the capital in search of office but remained unemployed for a long time. Soon afterward Supervising Secretary Zheng Ya was sent to inspect Guizhou. He invited Shangyin to serve as administrative aide on the observation staff and acting vice director of the Ministry of Waterways. Early in the Dazhong reign Bai Minzhong came to power, with Linghu Tao in the inner secretariat; together they forced Li Deyu from office. Ya was condemned as a member of Deyu's faction and was demoted to prefect of Xunzhou. Shangyin followed Ya in the far south for several years.
6
三年入朝，京兆尹卢弘正奏署掾曹，令典笺奏。 明年，令狐绹作相，商隐屡启陈情，绹不之省。 弘正镇徐州，又从为掌书记。 府罢入朝，复以文章干襜，乃补太学博士。 会河南尹柳仲郢镇东蜀，辟为节度判官、检校工部郎中。 大中末，仲郢坐专杀左迁，商隐废罢，还郑州，未几病卒。
Three years later he returned to court. The capital intendant Lu Hongzheng memorialized to place him on his staff and put him in charge of petitions and memorials. The following year Linghu Tao became chief minister. Shangyin repeatedly petitioned to explain his circumstances, but Tao ignored him. When Hongzheng governed Xuzhou, Shangyin again served him as chief clerk. When that appointment ended he returned to court, again pressed his literary writings in search of office, and was appointed Erudite of the Imperial University. Soon the Henan intendant Liu Zhongying was sent to govern the eastern Shu region. He recruited Shangyin as administrative aide on his staff and acting director of the Ministry of Works. Late in the Dazhong reign Zhongying was demoted for an unauthorized execution. Shangyin was dismissed, returned to Zhengzhou, and died of illness not long afterward.
7
商隐能为古文，不喜偶对。 从事令狐楚幕。 楚能章奏，遂以其道授商隐，自是始为今体章奏。 博学强记，下笔不能自休，尤善为诔奠之辞。 与太原温庭筠、南郡段成式齐名，时号“三十六”。 文思清丽，庭筠过之。 而俱无持操，恃才诡激，为当涂者所薄。 名宦不进，坎壈终身。
Shangyin could write in the ancient prose style and disliked regulated parallel composition. He had served on Linghu Chu's staff. Chu excelled at memorials and edicts and taught Shangyin that craft, after which Shangyin began to write in the contemporary style of court documents. Learned and with a formidable memory, he wrote tirelessly once he took up the brush and was especially skilled at dirges and funeral offerings. His fame stood with Wen Tingyun of Taiyuan and Duan Chengshi of Nancheng; contemporaries called them the "Thirty-six." His literary sensibility was clear and refined, and in this he surpassed Tingyun. Yet both lacked firm moral principle. They relied on talent, behaved with eccentric vehemence, and men in power looked down on them. Neither advanced in official career and both were thwarted to the end of their lives.
8
弟羲叟，亦以进士擢第，累为宾佐。 商隐有表状集四十卷。
His younger brother Yishou also passed the jinshi examination and served repeatedly on provincial staffs. Shangyin left a collection of memorials and formal petitions in forty juan.
9
吳通玄，海州人。 父道瓘為道士，善教誘童孺，大曆中，召入宮，為太子諸王授經。 德宗在東宮，師道瓘，而通玄兄弟，出入宮掖，恆侍太子遊，故遇之厚。 通玄與兄通微，俱博學善屬文，文彩綺麗。 通玄幼應神童舉，釋褐祕書正字、左驍衞兵曹、大理評事。 建中初，策賢良方正等科，通玄應文詞清麗，登乙第，授同州司戶、京兆戶曹。
Wu Tongxuan came from Haizhou. His father Daojian was a Daoist priest skilled at teaching children. In the Dali reign he was summoned to court to instruct the crown prince and the imperial princes in the classics. When Dezong was still crown prince he studied under Daojian. The Tongxuan brothers moved freely within the inner palace and constantly attended the prince in his pastimes, and for this they won exceptional favor. Tongxuan and his elder brother Tongwei were both learned and skilled at literary composition, their style rich and ornate. In youth Tongxuan passed the Child Prodigy examination. His first offices were Regular Scribe in the Secretariat, clerk in the Left Courageous Guards, and reviewer in the Court of Judicial Review. Early in the Jianzhong reign, at the examination for worthies and upright men, Tongxuan entered the category for elegant literary phrasing, placed in the second tier, and was appointed registrar of Tong prefecture and household registrar of the capital district.
10
貞元初，召充翰林學士。 遷起居舍人、知制誥，與陸贄、吉中孚、韋執誼等同視草。 陸贄富詞藻，特承德宗重顧，經歷艱難，通玄弟兄又以東宮侍上，由是爭寵，頗相嫌恨。 贄性褊急，屢於上前短通玄，又言：「承平時工藝書畫之徒，待詔翰林，比無學士，只自至德後，天子召集賢學士于禁中草書詔，因在翰林院待進止，遂以為名。 奔播之時，道途或豫除改，權令草制。 今四方無事，百揆時序，制書職分，宜歸中書舍人。 學士之名，理須停寢。」 贄以通玄援引朋黨，於禁中叶力排己，故欲廢之，德宗不許。 會贄權知兵部侍郎，知貢舉，乃正拜之，罷內職，皆通玄譖之也。
Early in the Zhenyuan reign he was summoned to serve as a Hanlin academician. He was promoted to diarist-attendant and drafter of edicts, and together with Lu Zhi, Ji Zhongfu, Wei Zhiyi, and others shared the duty of drafting imperial documents. Lu Zhi was richly gifted in language and enjoyed Dezong's special trust because he had shared the hardships of exile. The Tongxuan brothers had likewise attended the emperor when he was crown prince. The two sides therefore competed for favor and came to resent one another deeply. Zhi was narrow and quick-tempered by nature. He repeatedly denounced Tongxuan before the throne and argued: "In peaceful times craftsmen, painters, and calligraphers merely waited on the emperor in the Hanlin. There were no 'academicians' as such. Only after the Zhide era did the Son of Heaven gather worthy scholars within the palace to draft edicts in draft script. Because they waited in the Hanlin Academy for orders, the title came into use. In times of flight and disorder appointments were sometimes made on the road in advance, and drafting was entrusted to them only as an expedient. Now the realm is at peace and every ministry is in its proper course. The duty of drafting edicts should return to the Secretariat drafters. The title of Hanlin academician ought by rights to be abolished. Zhi believed Tongxuan had brought in a faction of allies and was working within the palace to exclude him, and for that reason he wished to abolish the Hanlin Academy. Dezong would not allow it. When Zhi was placed in charge of the Ministry of Personnel and conducted the civil service examinations, he received a formal appointment and was removed from inner-court duties — all because Tongxuan had slandered him.
11
七年，自起居郎拜諫議大夫、知制誥。 通玄自以久次當拜中書舍人，而反除諫議，殊失望。 陸贄與宰相竇參相惡。 參從子給事中申，參尤寵之，每預中書擬議，所至人呼申為「喜鵲」。 申，嗣虢王則之從父甥也。 申與則之親善。 則之為金吾將軍，好學有文，申與則之潛結吳通玄兄弟，為參共傾陸贄。 則之令人造謗書，言贄考試舉人不實，招納賄賂。 時通玄取宗室女為外婦，德宗知之。 既聞申、則之譖陸贄，綱紀伺之，果與通玄結構其謀，帝大怒，罷竇參知政事，尋貶郴州司馬，竇申錦州司戶，李則之昭州司馬，通玄泉州司馬。 帝召見之，親自臨問，責以污辱近屬。 行至華州長城驛，賜死。 尋以陸贄為中書侍郎、平章事，代竇參。
In the seventh year he was promoted from diarist to Remonstrator and Drafter of Edicts. Tongxuan had expected that after long seniority he would be appointed Secretariat Drafter, but was made Remonstrator instead and was deeply disappointed. Lu Zhi and the chief minister Dou Can were bitter enemies. Can's nephew by marriage, Attendant-in-waiting Shen, was especially favored by Can and took part in every Secretariat deliberation. Wherever he appeared people called him "the Magpie." Shen was a paternal cousin of Li Zezhi, heir to the princedom of Guo. Shen and Zezhi were close friends. Zezhi was a general of the Imperial Guards, fond of learning and skilled in letters. Shen and Zezhi secretly joined the Wu Tongxuan brothers in a plot to bring down Lu Zhi on Dou Can's behalf. Zezhi had someone compose a libelous letter accusing Zhi of conducting the examinations dishonestly and accepting bribes. At the time Tongxuan had taken an imperial clanswoman as an illicit consort, and Dezong already knew of it. When the emperor learned that Shen and Zezhi had slandered Lu Zhi, investigators watched them and confirmed that they had plotted with Tongxuan. The emperor was enraged. He removed Dou Can from the chief ministership and soon demoted Can to secretary at Chen, Shen to registrar at Jin, Li Zezhi to secretary at Zhao, and Tongxuan to secretary at Quan. The emperor summoned Tongxuan for a personal audience, questioned him himself, and rebuked him for dishonoring the imperial clan. When he reached Great Wall Post in Huazhou, he was ordered to take his own life. Soon afterward Lu Zhi was appointed vice director of the Secretariat and Grand Councilor in Dou Can's place.
12
通微，建中四年自壽安縣令入為金部員外，召充翰林學士。 尋改職方郎中，知制誥。 與弟通玄同職禁署，人士榮之。 七年，改禮部郎中，尋轉中書舍人。 通玄死，素服待罪於國門，帝特宥之，通微竟不敢為喪服。
Tongwei, in the fourth year of Jianzhong, rose from magistrate of Shou'an to outer-court director in the Ministry of Revenue and was then summoned as Hanlin academician. Soon he was transferred to director in the Ministry of Personnel and drafter of edicts. He served in the same forbidden secretariat as his younger brother Tongxuan, to the envy of the scholarly world. In the seventh year he was made director in the Ministry of Rites and soon afterward promoted to Secretariat Drafter. When Tongxuan died, Tongwei appeared at the capital gate in plain robes to await punishment. The emperor specially pardoned him, yet Tongwei still did not dare observe mourning for his brother.
13
通玄詞藻婉麗，帝尤憐之。 貞元初，昭德王皇后崩，詔李紓為諡冊文，宰相張延賞、柳渾為廟樂章。 及進，皆不稱旨，並召通玄重撰。 凡中旨撰述，非通玄之筆，無不慊然，重之如此。
Tongxuan's diction was graceful and elegant, and the emperor favored him above all others. Early in the Zhenyuan reign Empress Zhaode died. The court ordered Li Shu to draft her posthumous title and eulogy, and the chief ministers Zhang Yanshang and Liu Hun to compose the temple hymns. When the drafts were submitted none satisfied the throne, and Tongxuan alone was summoned to rewrite them. For every important drafting assignment from the throne, if the text was not Tongxuan's the emperor was never content — such was the regard in which he was held.
14
王仲舒字弘中，太原人。 少孤貧，事母以孝聞。 嗜學工文，不就鄉舉。 凡與結交，必知名之士，與楊頊、梁肅、裴樞為忘形之契。
Wang Zhongshu, whose courtesy name was Hongzhong, came from Taiyuan. Orphaned while young and poor, he became known for filial devotion to his mother. He loved learning and excelled at letters, but refused to sit for the provincial examination. He would befriend only men of established reputation. With Yang Xian, Liang Su, and Pei Shu he formed friendships without reserve.
15
貞元十年，策試賢良方正能直言極諫等科，仲舒登乙第，超拜右拾遺。 裴延齡領度支，矯誕大言，中傷良善，仲舒上疏極論之。 累轉尚書郎。 元和五年，自職方郎中知制誥。 仲舒文思溫雅，制誥所出，人皆傳寫。 京兆尹楊憑為中丞李夷簡所劾，貶臨賀尉。 仲舒與憑善，宣言於朝，言夷簡掎摭憑罪，仲舒坐貶硤州刺史。 遷蘇州。
In 794, at the examination for worthies and upright men able to speak frankly and remonstrate boldly, Zhongshu placed in the second tier and was promoted directly to Right Remonstrator. Pei Yanling headed the Revenue Commission. With boastful falsehoods he slandered the worthy, and Zhongshu submitted a memorial denouncing him at length. He rose in succession through director posts in the central ministries. In 810 he advanced from director in the Ministry of Personnel to Drafter of Edicts. Zhongshu wrote with a warm, elegant mind, and every edict that left his desk was copied and circulated. The capital intendant Yang Ping was impeached by the censor-in-chief Li Yijian and demoted to district defender of Linhe. Zhongshu was on friendly terms with Ping and declared openly at court that Yijian had manufactured charges against him. For this Zhongshu was demoted to prefect of Xia. He was later transferred to Suzhou.
16
穆宗即位，復召為中書舍人。 其年出為洪州刺史、御史中丞、江南西道觀察使。 江西前例榷酒私釀法深，仲舒至鎮，奏罷之。 又出官錢二萬貫，代貧戶輸稅。 長慶三年冬，卒于鎮。
When Emperor Muzong ascended the throne, Zhongshu was recalled and appointed Secretariat Drafter. That same year he was sent out as prefect of Hong, imperial censor-in-chief, and observation commissioner of Jiangnan West Circuit. Jiangxi had long enforced harsh laws against private brewing under the wine monopoly. When Zhongshu took up his post he memorialized to repeal them. He also drew twenty thousand strings from official funds to pay taxes for impoverished households. In the winter of 823 he died at his post.