1
李襲吉，自言左相林甫之後，父圖，為洛陽令，因家焉。 襲吉乾符末應進士舉，遇亂，避地河中，依節度使李都，擢為鹽鐵判官。 及王重榮代，不喜文士，時喪亂之後，衣冠多逃難汾、晉間。 襲吉訪舊至太原，武皇署為府掾，出宰榆社。 光啟初，武皇遇難上源，記室歿焉，既歸鎮，辟掌奏者，多不如旨。 或有薦襲吉能文，召試稱旨，即署為掌書記。 襲吉博學多通，尤諳悉國朝近事，為文精意練實，動據典故，無所放縱，羽檄軍書，辭理宏健。 自武皇上源之難，與梁祖不協，乾寧末，劉仁恭負恩，其間論列是非，交相聘答者數百篇，警策之句，播在人口，文士稱之。 三年，遷節度副使，從討王行瑜，拜右諫議大夫。 及師還渭北，武皇不獲入覲，為武皇作違離表，中有警句云：「穴禽有翼，聽舜樂以猶來； 天路無梯，望堯雲而不到。」 昭宗覽之嘉歎。 洎襲吉入奏，麵詔諭之，優賜特異。 〈（《北夢瑣言》：習吉從李克用至渭南，令其入奏，帝重其文章，授諫議大夫，使上事北省以榮之。）〉 其年十二月，師還太原，王珂為浮梁於夏陽渡，襲吉從軍，時笮斷航破，武皇僅免，襲吉墜河，得大冰承足，沿流七八里，還岸而止，救之獲免。
Li Xiji claimed descent from the Left Chancellor Li Linfu. His father Tu served as magistrate of Luoyang, and the family made their home there. Near the end of the Qianfu reign Xiji entered the jinshi examinations, but with rebellion abroad he fled to Hezhong and entered the service of Military Commissioner Li Du, who raised him to salt-and-iron commissioner. When Wang Chongrong took his place, the new commissioner had little use for scholars; in the wake of the civil wars, men of the official class fled in droves to the Fen and Jin region. Xiji followed old ties to Taiyuan, where the Martial Emperor Li Keyong named him a headquarters aide and later sent him out to govern Yushe county. Early in the Guangqi reign the Martial Emperor suffered the Shangyuan debacle, and his chief recorder died in the affair. Back in his headquarters he tried one memorialist after another, but few could satisfy him. Someone praised Xiji's literary gifts; summoned for a trial draft, he pleased the prince at once and was named chief secretary on the spot. Xiji was erudite and widely read, with a specialist's grasp of recent court history. His prose was tight and concrete, every line anchored in precedent, never florid; whether drafting battle orders or field reports, his style was vigorous and commanding. From the Shangyuan crisis through the rupture with the Liang Founder and, late in Qianning, Liu Rengong's betrayal, Xiji drafted hundreds of letters debating blame and merit between the rival camps. His sharpest lines passed from mouth to mouth, and men of letters spoke of him with admiration. In the third year of his service he became deputy military commissioner, marched against Wang Xingyu, and received appointment as Right Remonstrance Grand Master. When the army withdrew north of the Wei, the Martial Emperor was denied an imperial audience. Xiji wrote his master's petition of separation, with lines that ran: "Even a bird that nests in caves will spread its wings; hearing the music of Shun, it would still return; yet the road to Heaven has no ladder, and though one gazes at the clouds of Yao, one cannot reach them. Emperor Zhaozong read the memorial and sighed in admiration. When Xiji presented the memorial in person, the emperor received him with a personal audience and lavished extraordinary gifts upon him. (Northern Dreams, Trivial Tales: Xiji accompanied Li Keyong to Weinan and was sent to present a memorial at court. The emperor prized his prose, named him Remonstrance Grand Master, and had him report to the northern secretariat as a mark of honor.)〉 That December, as the army marched back to Taiyuan, Wang Ke threw a pontoon bridge across the Xiayang ford and Xiji went with the column. The bridge cables snapped mid-crossing; the Martial Emperor barely escaped with his life. Xiji plunged into the river, caught a great slab of ice underfoot, and drifted seven or eight li downstream before he could claw his way ashore and be pulled out alive.
2
天復中，武皇議欲修好於梁，命襲吉為書以貽梁祖，書曰：
During the Tianfu reign the Martial Emperor resolved to reopen relations with Liang and charged Xiji to draft a letter to the Liang Founder. It read:
3
一別清德，十有餘年，失意杯盤，爭鋒劍戟。 山長水闊，難追二國之歡； 雁逝魚沉，久絕八行之賜。 比者仆與公實聯宗姓，原忝恩行，投分深情，將期棲托，論交馬上，薦美朝端，傾向仁賢，未省疏闕。 豈謂運由奇特，謗起奸邪。 毒手尊拳，交相於幕夜； 金戈鐵馬，蹂踐於明時。 狂藥致其失歡，陳事止於堪笑。 今則皆登貴位，盡及中年，蘧公亦要知非，君子何勞用壯。 今公貴先列辟，名過古人。 合縱連衡，本務家邦之計； 拓地守境，要存子孫之基。 文王貴奔走之交，仲尼譚損益之友，仆顧慚虛薄，舊忝眷私，一言許心，萬死不悔，壯懷忠力，猶勝他人，盟於三光，願赴湯火。 公又何必終年立敵，懇意相窺，徇一時之襟靈，取四郊之倦弊，今日得其小眾，明日下其危牆，弊師無遺鏃之憂，鄰壤抱剝床之痛。 又慮悠悠之黨，妄瀆聽聞，見仆韜勇枕威，戢兵守境，不量本末，誤致窺覦。
Since we parted in mutual regard, more than ten years have passed—shared cups turned to estrangement, and blades crossed in place of toasts. Mountains lie between us and rivers run wide, so the old warmth of two allied states is hard to recover; the wild goose is gone and the fish lies sunk in the deep—your eight-line letters have long ceased to come. Not long ago we were bound by clan ties and I was unworthy of your kindness; we pledged our hearts to each other and looked to shelter under the same roof, struck up friendship in the saddle, praised each other at court, and leaned toward what was humane and worthy—I never thought you distant. Who could have foreseen that fate would take so strange a turn, and that slander would rise from the wicked? Poisonous hands and clenched fists met under cover of night; golden spears and iron horses trampled the bright age itself. Rash acts born of wine broke our good feeling; the incidents you cite are fit only for laughter. Now we both stand in high office and have reached middle age; even Duke Qu of old came to know his mistake—why should gentlemen still strain their prime? You now outrank the feudal lords of the age, and your fame surpasses the ancients. Vertical alliances and horizontal leagues are fundamentally plans for house and state; to expand territory and hold your borders is to preserve a foundation for your sons and grandsons. King Wen prized friends who came running at his call; Confucius spoke of companions who could tell gain from loss. I know myself shallow and unworthy, yet I was once honored with your private regard; one pledged word bound my heart, and I would not repent though I died ten thousand deaths. My loyal strength still outmatches other men; I swear by sun, moon, and stars and would walk through fire and boiling water for you. Why keep an enemy year on year, probing and testing, indulging a passing mood and draining the weary countryside—winning a skirmish today and storming a crumbling wall tomorrow—until broken armies leave arrows on the field and neighboring lands suffer the ruin the Book of Changes calls "the bed stripped bare"? I fear too that loose tongues in your camp will mislead you: seeing me hoard strength and rest on my reputation, sheathe arms and hold my borders, they may mistake restraint for weakness and tempt you to covetous designs.
4
且仆自壯歲已前，業經陷敵，以殺戮為東作，號兼並為永謀。 及其首陟師壇，躬被公兗，天子命我為群後，明公許我以下交，所以斂跡愛人，蓄兵務德，收燕薊則還其故將，入蒲阪而不負前言。 況五載休兵，三邊校士，鐵騎犀甲，雲屯穀量。 馬邑兒童，皆為銳將； 鷲峰宮闕，鹹作京坻。 問年猶少於仁明，語地幸依於險阻，有何覘睹，便誤英聰。
Moreover, long before my prime I was already plunging among enemies, treating slaughter as spring plowing and calling conquest my lasting design. When I first mounted the commander's altar and received the ducal regalia in person, the Son of Heaven named me among the feudal lords and you, Illustrious Lord, treated me as an equal friend; since then I have restrained my conduct and cherished my people, husbanded arms and pursued virtue, restored Yan and Ji's former commanders when I took those lands, and kept my word when I entered Puban. For five years my armies have rested while the three frontiers drilled their men; iron cavalry and rhinoceros-hide armor stand massed like clouds, and grain is piled like hills. The boys of Mayi are all seasoned commanders; the storehouses on Vulture Peak might as well be the capital's granary mound. Compare our years and I am still the younger; compare our terrain and I am blessed with natural barriers—what is there for you to reconnoiter that should mislead so keen a mind?
5
況仆臨戎握兵，粗有操斷，屈伸進退，久貯心期。 勝則撫三晉之民，敗則征五部之眾，長驅席卷，反首提戈。 但慮隳突中原，為公後患，四海群謗，盡歸仁明，終不能見仆一夫，得仆一馬。 銳師儻失，則難整齊，請防後艱，願存前好。 矧復陰山部落，是仆懿親； 回紇師徒，累從外舍。 文靖求始畢之眾，元海征五部之師，寬言虛詞，猶或得志。 今仆散積財而募勇輩，輦寶貨以誘義戎，征其密親，啗以美利，控弦跨馬，寧有數乎！ 但緣荷位天朝，惻心疲瘵，峨峨亭障，未忍起戎。 亦望公深識鄙懷，洞回英鑒，論交釋憾，慮禍革心，不聽浮譚，以傷霸業。 夫《易》惟忌滿，道貴持盈，儻恃勇以喪師，如擎盤而失水，為蛇刻鶴，幸賜徊翔，
Moreover, I have stood at the head of armies and learned something of command; when to bend, when to strike, when to advance or pull back—these choices I have long weighed in advance. Victory would let me soothe the people of the Three Jins; defeat would still let me rally the Five Divisions; I could drive far and sweep all before me, then wheel about with spear in hand. I only fear ravaging the Central Plain and leaving you a lasting trouble; the world's blame would fall on your reputation for humanity, and in the end you would not capture a single man or horse of mine. If elite troops are once broken, they are hard to re-form; guard against later hardship, and let us keep the friendship we once had. To say nothing of the Yin Mountain tribes, who are my own close kin; the Uighur hosts have marched beside my house again and again. Wen Jing raised the Shibi and Bibi tribes; Yuan Hai marched the Five Divisions—with empty boasts they still sometimes won their way. Today I scatter my hoarded wealth to recruit warriors, cart treasure to entice the frontier tribes, call up their close kin, and feed them rich reward—who can count the bowmen and horsemen I could field! Only because I hold office under the Son of Heaven, my heart aches for a worn and afflicted people, and I cannot bear to raise arms along those towering frontier walls. I hope you will read my humble intent aright, turn your keen judgment, renew friendship and lay resentment aside, foresee disaster and change your course, and refuse idle talk that would wound your hegemony. The Book of Changes warns against excess; the Way values holding one's gains. To lean on courage and lose an army is to carry a full tray and spill the water, or to carve legs on a snake—I beg you grant me room to turn aside,
6
仆少負褊心，天與直氣，間謀詭論，誓不為之。 唯將藥石之譚，願托金蘭之分。 儻愚衷未豁，彼抱猶迷，假令罄三朝之威，窮九流之辯，遣回肝膈，如俟河清。 今者執簡吐誠，願垂保鑒。
I have been narrow-spirited since youth, yet Heaven gave me an upright temper; intrigue and crafty argument I swear never to practice. I offer only words harsh as medicine, and ask to renew the bond we once called kin. If my foolish heart cannot reach you and your mind stays closed, then even exhausting the prestige of three dynasties and every argument the nine schools know would not open your breast—it would be like waiting for the Yellow River to run clear. Now, brush in hand, I speak plainly and beg your careful regard.
7
仆自眷私睽隔，翰墨往來，或有鄙詞，稍侵英聽，亦承嘉論，每賜罵言。 敘歡既罷於尋戈，焚謗幸蠲其載筆，窮因尚口，樂貴和心，願祛沉閼之嫌，以復塤篪之好。 今者卜於嚬分，不欲因人，專遣使乎，直詣鈴閣。 古者兵交兩地，使在其間，致命受辭，幸存前誌。 昔賢貴於投分，義士難於屈讎，若非仰戀恩私，安可輕露肝膈，淒淒丹愫，炳炳血情，臨紙向風，千萬難述。
Since our private bond was broken, letters have flown back and forth; some of my words may have been coarse and grated on your ear, yet I have also received your fine replies—and your scolding, which I took as kindness. Shared joy gave way to drawn swords; let us burn the slanders and erase what the brush recorded. In hardship men still prize honest speech; in friendship they value harmony of heart. Remove the buried grudge between us and restore the old music of pipe and flute. Reading the lines of discord in our faces, I will not send another man's words; I dispatch an envoy of my own straight to your command pavilion. In antiquity, when two armies met, envoys passed between them at the risk of their lives; fortunately the old chronicles still preserve that precedent. Worthies of old prized sworn fellowship; men of honor hate to bow to a feud. Had I not still yearned for your private kindness, how could I lay bare my inmost heart? My loyal breast is desolate, my feeling bright as blood; facing this page into the wind, words fail a thousand times over.
8
梁祖覽之，至「毒手尊拳」之句，怡然謂敬翔曰：「李公鬥絕一隅，安得此文士！ 如吾之智算，得襲吉之筆才，虎傅翼矣！」 又讀至「馬邑兒童」、「陰山部落」之句，梁祖怒謂敬翔曰：「李太原殘喘餘息，猶氣吞宇宙，可詬罵之。」 及翔為報書，詞理非勝，由是襲吉之名愈重。 〈（《通鑒考異》引《唐末見聞錄》載全忠回書云：前年洹水，曾獲賢郎； 去歲青山，又擒列將。 蓋梁之書檄，皆此類也。）〉
The Liang Founder read the letter, and at the line "poisonous hands and honored fists" he said with pleasure to Jing Xiang, "Lord Li holds only a corner of the empire—where did he find a writer like this! If a mind like mine had Xiji's pen, it would be a tiger given wings! But when he reached "boys of Mayi" and "Yin Mountain tribes," the Founder turned angry and told Jing Xiang, "Li of Taiyuan is a man on his last breath, yet he still talks as if he could swallow the universe—answer him with abuse." Jing Xiang drafted the reply, but his prose could not match Xiji's; Xiji's reputation rose all the higher. (Zizhi Tongjian, Examination of Variants cites Late Tang Eyewitness Records: in his reply Quanzhong wrote, "The year before last at the Huan River we captured your worthy son; last year at Green Mountain we took your commanders again."— such was the tone of Liang's letters and proclamations.)〉
9
自廣明大亂之後，諸侯割據方面，競延名士，以掌書檄。 是時梁有敬翔，燕有馬鬱，華州有李巨川，荊南有鄭準， 〈（《唐新纂》云：鄭準，士族，未第時，佐荊門上穀蓮幕，飛書走檄，不讓古人，秉直去邪，無慚往哲，考準為成汭書記，汭封上穀郡王。）〉 鳳翔有王超， 〈（《北夢瑣言》：唐末，鳳翔判官王超，推奉李茂貞，挾曹、馬之勢，箋奏文檄，恣意翱翔。 後為興元留後，遇害，有《鳳鳴集》三十卷行於世。）〉 錢塘有羅隱，魏博有李山甫，皆有文稱，與襲吉齊名於時。
After the great disorders of the Guangming reign, regional lords carved up the empire and competed to recruit famous scholars to draft their letters and battle proclamations. Liang had Jing Xiang, Yan had Ma Yu, Hua had Li Juchuan, and Jingnan had Zheng Zhun, (New Tang Compendium: Zheng Zhun came from the gentry; before he passed the examinations he served on Shanggu Lian's staff at Jingmen, drafting dispatches that matched the ancients and upholding rectitude without shame before the sages of old. He served as secretary to Cheng Rui, who was enfeoffed as Prince of Shanggu.)〉 Fengxiang had Wang Chao, (Northern Dreams, Trivial Tales: Late in Tang, Fengxiang aide Wang Chao backed Li Maozhen and wielded power like Cao Cao and Sima Yi; his memorials and battle letters ranged freely wherever he chose. He later became acting commissioner of Xingyuan, was killed in the turmoil, and left the Phoenix Cry Collection in thirty juan.)〉 Qiantang had Luo Yin and Weibo had Li Shanfu; all were famed for their writing and ranked with Xiji in that age.
10
襲吉在武皇幕府垂十五年，視事之暇，唯讀書業文，手不釋卷。 性恬於榮利，獎誘後進，不以己能格物。 參決府事，務在公平，不交賂遺，綽綽有士大夫之風概焉。 天祐三年六月，以風病卒於太原。 同光二年，追贈禮部尚書。
Xiji served in the Martial Emperor's headquarters for nearly fifteen years; in whatever leisure his duties allowed he read and wrote without setting a book down. He cared little for rank or gain, encouraged younger men, and never used his own talent to block others. In council he strove for fairness, took no bribes, and bore himself with the ample dignity of a scholar-official. In the sixth month of Tianyou year three he died of a stroke at Taiyuan. In Tongguang year two he was posthumously honored as Minister of Rites.
11
王緘，幽州劉仁恭故吏也。 少以刀筆直記室，仁恭假以幕職，令使鳳翔。 還經太原，屬仁恭阻命，武皇留之。 緘堅辭復命，書詞稍抗，武皇怒，下獄詰之，謝罪聽命，乃署為推官，曆掌書記。 〈（《契丹國誌·韓延徽傳》：延徽自契丹奔晉，晉王欲置之幕府掌書記，王緘嫉之，延徽不自安，求東歸省母，遂復入契丹，寓書於晉王，敘所以北去之意。 且曰：「非不戀英主，非不思故鄉，所以不留，正懼王緘之讒耳。」）〉 從莊宗經略山東，承製授檢校司空、魏博節度使。 緘博學善屬文，燕薊多文士，緘後生，未知名，及在太原，名位驟達。 燕人馬鬱，有盛名於鄉里，而緘素以吏職事鬱。 及鬱在太原，謂緘曰：「公在此作文士，所謂避風之鳥，受賜於魯人也。」 每於公宴，但呼王緘而已。 十年，從征幽州，既獲仁恭父子，莊宗命緘為露布，觀其旨趣。 緘起草無所辭避，義士以此少之。 胡柳之役，緘隨輜重前行，歿於亂兵。 際晚，盧質還營，莊宗問副使所在，曰：「某醉不之知也。」 既而緘凶問至，莊宗流涕久之，得其喪，歸葬太原。
Wang Jian had been a clerk in the service of Liu Rengong of Youzhou. As a youth he served as recorder in Rengong's secretariat; the lord gave him a staff post and sent him on a mission to Fengxiang. On his return he passed through Taiyuan; Rengong had meanwhile defied the court, and the Martial Emperor detained him. Jian insisted on returning to complete his mission; his letter was defiant in tone. The Martial Emperor in anger threw him into prison and questioned him. Jian apologized and submitted; he was named investigating officer and later chief secretary. (Khitan State Records, Biography of Han Yanhui: Yanhui fled the Khitan for Jin; the Prince of Jin wished to make him chief secretary. Wang Jian resented him; uneasy in Taiyuan, Yanhui asked leave to visit his mother in the east, returned to the Khitan, and wrote the prince explaining why he had gone north. He wrote, "It is not that I do not love an enlightened master or long for home; I dare not stay because I fear Wang Jian's slander.")〉 He followed Emperor Zhuangzong in the pacification of Shandong and received by imperial order the acting title Minister of Works and the post of military commissioner of Weibo. Jian was erudite and a fine writer; Yan and Ji had many men of letters, and Jian as a younger man was still unknown—at Taiyuan his name and rank rose overnight. Ma Yu of Yan enjoyed great local fame, though Jian had long served him in a clerk's capacity. When Yu came to Taiyuan he told Jian, "You play the literary man here—the bird that flees the storm and finds shelter with a stranger in Lu. At every public feast he would call only "Wang Jian" and use no other name for him. In the tenth year he marched on Youzhou; after Rengong and his sons were taken, Emperor Zhuangzong ordered Jian to draft the victory bulletin to see where his loyalties lay. Jian wrote the bulletin without hesitation or evasion, and men of honor thought less of him for it. At the battle of Huliu, Jian marched with the baggage train ahead of the column and was killed in the rout. Near evening Lu Zhi returned to camp; the emperor asked where the deputy commissioner was, and Lu said, "I was drunk and do not know. Word of Jian's death soon arrived; Emperor Zhuangzong wept a long while, recovered the body, and had it buried at Taiyuan.
12
李敬義，本名延古，太尉衛公德裕之孫。 初隨父煒貶連州，遇赦得還。 嘗從事浙東，自言遇涿道士，謂之曰：「子方厄運，不宜仕進。」 敬義悚然對曰：「吾終老賤哉？」 涿曰：「自此四十三年，必遇聖王大任，子其志之。」 敬義以為然，乃無心仕宦，退歸洛南平泉舊業。 為河南尹張全義所和，歲時給遺特厚，出入其門，欲署幕職，堅辭不就。
Li Jingyi, born Yangu, was a grandson of Grand Preceptor Li Deyu of Wei. He first followed his father Wei into exile at Lianzhou and returned only when an amnesty was declared. He once served in eastern Zhe and said he met a Daoist of Zhuo who told him, "You are in an unlucky season and should not pursue office. Jingyi answered with a start, "Am I then to grow old in obscurity?" The priest of Zhuo said, "Forty-three years from now you will surely meet a sage king's great commission—remember it." Jingyi believed him, lost all appetite for office, and retired to the family's old estate at Pingquan south of Luoyang. Henan prefect Zhang Quanyi befriended him and sent lavish seasonal gifts; Jingyi frequented his house, but when Quanyi offered a staff post he firmly refused.
13
初，德裕之為將相也，大有勳於王室，出藩入輔，綿曆累朝； 及留守洛陽，有終焉之志，於平泉置別墅，采天下奇花異竹、珍木怪石，為園池之玩。 自為家戒序錄，誌其草木之得處，刊於石，云：「移吾片石，折樹一枝，非子孫也。」 洎巢、蔡之亂，洛都灰燼，全義披榛而創都邑，李氏花木，多為都下移掘，樵人鬻賣，園亭掃地矣。 有醒酒石，德裕醉即踞之，最保惜者。 光化初，中使有監全義軍得此石，置於家園。 敬義知之，泣渭全義曰：「平泉別業，吾祖戒約甚嚴，子孫不肖，動違先旨。」 因托全義請石於監軍。 他日宴會，全義謂監軍曰：「李員外泣告，言內侍得衛公醒酒石，其祖戒堪哀，內侍能回遺否？」 監軍忿然厲聲曰：「黃巢敗後，誰家園池完復，豈獨平泉有石哉！」 全義始受黃巢偽命，以為詬己，大怒曰：「吾今為唐臣，非巢賊也。」 即署奏笞斃之。
In his prime, when Deyu served as general and minister, he won great merit for the throne, moving between the provinces and the capital through many reigns; when he stayed on as guardian of Luoyang he meant to end his days there, built a villa at Pingquan, and gathered rare flowers, exotic bamboos, precious trees, and curious stones from across the empire for his gardens and ponds. He drew up a family admonition listing where each plant came from and had it carved in stone: "Whoever moves one stone of mine or breaks one branch of my trees is not my descendant. When the rebellions of Huang Chao and Cai Jing engulfed Luoyang, the capital lay in ashes; Quanyi hacked through the ruins to rebuild the city. The Li family's plants were dug up and carted away, sold by woodcutters until the gardens stood bare. Among them was a sobering stone on which Deyu would sit when drunk—the treasure he guarded most closely. Early in the Guanghua reign an imperial eunuch supervising Quanyi's army took the stone for his private garden. When Jingyi learned of it he wept and told Quanyi at the Wei River, "At the Pingquan villa my grandfather's admonitions were strict; his unworthy descendants have again broken his will. He asked Quanyi to request the stone back from the eunuch commander. At a later banquet Quanyi told the eunuch, "Vice Director Li came weeping to say you took Duke Wei's sobering stone; his grandfather's admonition makes the loss pitiable—can you return it? The eunuch snapped back in anger, "After Huang Chao's defeat, whose gardens survived intact? Does Pingquan alone have stones!" Quanyi had once accepted a post under Huang Chao and took the remark as a personal insult; he roared, "I am a minister of Tang now, not Huang Chao's creature." He at once drafted a memorial ordering the man flogged to death.
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昭宗遷都洛陽，以敬義為司勳員外郎。 柳璨之陷裴、趙諸族，希梁祖旨奏云：「近年浮薄相扇，趨競成風，乃有臥邀軒冕，視王爵如土梗者。 司空圖、李敬義三度除官，養望不至，咸宜屏黜，以勸事君者。」 翌日，詔曰：「司勳史外郎李延古，世荷國恩，兩葉相位，幸從筮仕，累忝寵榮，多曆歲時，不趨班列。 而自遷都卜洛，紀律載張，去明庭而非遙，處別墅而無懼，岡思報效，姑務便安。 為臣之節如斯，貽厥之謀何在！ 須加懲責，以肅朝倫，九寺勾稽，尚謂寬典，可責授衛尉寺主簿。」 司空圖亦追停前詔，任從閑適。 圖，唐史有傳。 〈（《舊唐書·哀帝紀》：六月戊申，敕前司勳員外郎、賜緋魚袋李延古責授衛尉寺主簿。 九月壬寅，敕前大中大夫、尚書兵部侍郎、賜紫金魚袋司空圖放還中條山。 蓋延古與司空圖同時被劾，其降敕則有先後也。）〉 時全義既不能庇護，乃密托楊師厚，令敬義潛往依之，因挈族客居衛州者累年，師厚給遺周厚。
When Emperor Zhaozong moved the capital to Luoyang, he named Jingyi Vice Director in the Bureau of Merits. When Liu Can destroyed the Pei and Zhao clans, he flattered the Liang Founder with a memorial: "In recent years the frivolous egg one another on and office-seeking has become a fashion; some even lie in wait for high rank and treat royal titles like dirt. Sikong Tu and Li Jingyi have been appointed three times yet nursed their reputations and never reported—all should be dismissed to encourage loyal service. The next day an edict ran: "Vice Director Li Yangu's family has borne the state's favor for generations; two generations served as chief ministers. He entered office by fortune and received repeated honors, yet for years he has not attended court ranks. Since the capital moved to Luoyang and discipline was proclaimed, the bright court is not far—yet he dwells in his villa without fear, scarcely thinks of service, and seeks only his own ease. Such is his conduct as a minister—where is the legacy he leaves his heirs! He must be punished to restore court order; even the Nine Offices' review calls this lenient—demote him to recorder of the Court of the Imperial Stud." Sikong Tu's prior appointment was also revoked, and he was left to his leisure. Tu has a biography in the Tang histories. (Old Book of Tang, Annals of Emperor Ai: On the wushen day of the sixth month, an edict demoted former Vice Director Li Yangu, bearer of the crimson fish tally, to recorder of the Court of the Imperial Stud. On the renyin day of the ninth month, an edict released former Vice Minister of War Sikong Tu, bearer of the purple-gold fish tally, to return to Mount Zhongtiao. Yangu and Sikong Tu were impeached together, though the demotion edicts came in sequence.)〉 Quanyi could no longer protect him and secretly asked Yang Shihou to take him in; Jingyi brought his clan to live as guests at Weizhou for years, and Shihou supported them generously.
15
十二年，莊宗定河朔，史建瑭收新鄉，敬義謁見。 是歲，上遣使迎至魏州，置北京留守判官承製拜工部尚書，奉使王鎔。 敬義以遠祖趙郡，見鎔展維桑之敬，鎔遣判官李翥送《讚皇集》三卷，令謁前代碑壟，使還，歸職太原。 監軍張承業尤不悅本朝宰輔子孫，待敬義甚薄，或面折於公宴，或指言德裕過惡，敬義不得志，鬱憤而卒。 同光二年，贈右僕射。 〈（《五代史闕文》：司空圖，字表聖，自言泗州人。 少有俊才，威通中，一舉登進士第。 雅好為文，躁於進取，頗臬矜伐，端士鄙之。 初，從事使府，及登朝，驟曆清要。 巢賊之亂，車駕播遷，圖有先人舊業在中條山，極林泉之美，圖自禮部員外郎，因避地焉，日以詩酒自娛。 屬天下板蕩，士多往依之，互相推獎，由是聲名藉甚。 昭宗反正，以戶部侍郎征至京師。 圖既負才慢世，謂己當為宰輔，時要惡之，稍抑其銳，圖憤憤謝病，復歸中條。 與人書疏，不名官位，但稱知非子，又稱耐辱居士。 其所居曰禎貽溪，溪上結茅屋，命曰休休亭，常自為記雲。 臣謹案：圖，河中虞鄉人，少有文彩，未為鄉里所稱。 會王凝自尚書郎出為絳刺史，圖以文謁之，大為凝所賞歎，由是知名。 未幾，凝入知制誥，遷中書舍人、知貢舉。 擢圖上第。 頃之，凝出為宣州觀察使，辟圖為從事。 既渡江，御史府奏圖監察，下詔追之。 圖感知己之恩，不忍輕離幕府，滿百日不赴闕，為台司所劾，遂以本官分司。 久之，征拜禮部員外郎，俄知制誥，故集中有文曰：戀恩稽命，點係洛師，於今十年，方忝綸閣，此豈躁於進取者耶！ 舊史不詳，一至於此。 圖見唐政多僻，中官用事，知天下必亂，即棄官歸中條山。 尋以中書舍人征，又拜禮部、戶部侍郎，皆不起。 及昭宗播遷華下，圖以密邇乘輿，即時奔問，復辭還山，故詩曰「多病形容五十三，誰憐借笏趙朝參」，此豈有意於相位耶！ 河中節度使王重榮請圖撰碑，得絹數千匹，圖致於虞鄉市心，恣鄉人所取，一日而盡。 是時盜賊充斥，獨不入王官穀，河中士人依圖避難，全者甚眾。 昭宗東遷，又以兵部侍郎召至洛下，為柳璨所阻，一謝而退。 梁祖受禪，以禮部尚書征，辭以老疾，卒時年八十餘。 臣又案：梁室大臣，如敬翔、李振、杜曉、楊涉等，皆唐朝舊族，本當忠義立身，重侯累將，三百餘年，一旦委質朱梁，其甚者讚成弑逆。 惟圖以清直避世，終身不事梁祖，故《梁史》揭圖小瑕以泯大節者，良有以也。）〉
In the twelfth year Zhuangzong pacified Hebei; when Shi Jiantang took Xinxing, Jingyi came to pay his respects. That year the emperor sent envoys to bring him to Weizhou, named him investigating officer of the northern capital with imperial commission, appointed him Minister of Works, and sent him as envoy to Wang Rong. Jingyi's distant ancestors came from Zhao; Wang Rong received him with the courtesy due a fellow townsman, sent his aide Li Zhu with three juan of the Zanhuang Collection, and had him visit the family tombs and steles of earlier generations. When the mission ended, Jingyi returned to duty at Taiyuan. The eunuch commander Zhang Chengye especially disliked descendants of Tang chief ministers and treated Jingyi harshly, sometimes humiliating him at public feasts or reciting Li Deyu's faults; Jingyi failed to prosper and died of grief and anger. In Tongguang year two he was posthumously honored as Right Vice Director. (Lost Texts of the History of the Five Dynasties: Sikong Tu, style name Biaosheng, said he was from Sizhou. He showed outstanding talent in youth and passed the jinshi examination at one sitting in the Xiantong reign. He loved literature, was impatient for advancement, rather vain and boastful, and upright gentlemen despised him for it. He first served in provincial staffs; once he reached court he rose swiftly through the most coveted offices. During Huang Chao's rebellion the court fled; Tu held his family's old estate on Mount Zhongtiao, famed for forest and spring. As Vice Director of Rites he took refuge there and passed his days in poetry and wine. With the realm in turmoil, scholars flocked to him and praised one another, and his fame spread far. When Emperor Zhaozong restored order, Tu was summoned to the capital as Vice Minister of Revenue. Tu, proud of his talent and scornful of the age, believed he should be chief minister; the powerful disliked him and checked his rise. Indignant, he pleaded illness and returned to Mount Zhongtiao. In correspondence he never used his titles, signing only as Master Who Knows His Faults or Recluse Who Endures Insult. His home lay on Zhenyi Stream; above the water he built a thatched hut called the Rest-Rest Pavilion and often wrote accounts of it himself. Your subject notes: Tu came from Yuxiang in Hezhong; as a youth he showed literary promise but won no praise at home. When Wang Ning left the Secretariat to become prefect of Jiang, Tu presented his writings and won Ning's warm admiration, and from that gained his name. Soon Ning entered the edict office, became Secretariat Drafter, and took charge of the civil examinations. He placed Tu at the head of the list. Before long Ning became surveillance commissioner of Xuanzhou and recruited Tu as an aide. After he crossed the Yangzi, the Censorate nominated him as investigating censor and the court issued a recall. Grateful to his patron, Tu could not bear to leave the staff; he failed to report within the hundred-day limit and was impeached by the Censorate, serving out his term as a detached official. Long afterward he was summoned as Vice Director of Rites and soon managed edicts; his collected works include the line, "Cherishing kindness I delayed my commission, was posted to Luoyang, and only after ten years reached the edict office—was that the conduct of a man restless for office?" The old histories omit these details, yet the facts run so far as this. Tu saw Tang government growing corrupt and eunuchs in power; knowing chaos must come, he resigned at once and returned to Mount Zhongtiao. He was soon summoned as Secretariat Drafter and offered the vice ministries of Rites and Revenue, but accepted none of them. When Zhaozong fled to the region below Mount Hua, Tu, living nearby, hurried to pay his respects, then declined and returned to the hills. His poem runs, "Sick at fifty-three, who pities the court attendant clutching his tablet?"—could that be ambition for the chief ministership! Wang Chongrong of Hezhong asked Tu to write a stele and paid him several thousand bolts of silk; Tu piled them in the Yuxiang market and let the townspeople take what they wished—it was all gone in a day. Bandits filled the land, yet none entered Wangguan Valley; scholars of Hezhong sheltered with Tu, and a great many were spared. When Zhaozong moved east, Tu was again summoned as Vice Minister of War to Luoyang; Liu Can blocked him, and after a single refusal he withdrew. When the Liang Founder took the throne, Tu was summoned as Minister of Rites; he declined on grounds of age and illness and died in his eighties. Your subject further notes: Liang ministers such as Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, Du Xiao, and Yang She were old Tang families who should have lived by loyalty; for three hundred years their houses had been enfeoffed and their sons had held command—yet in a day they submitted to Zhu Liang, and the worst praised regicide. Only Tu, through purity and integrity, withdrew from the world and never served the Liang Founder; the Liang History's harping on his small faults to obscure his great integrity is understandable.)〉
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盧汝弼， 〈（《宣和書譜》：汝弼字子諧，祖綸，唐貞元年有詩名。 父簡求，為河東節度使。 汝弼少力學，不喜為世胄，篤誌科舉，登進士第，文彩秀麗，一時士大夫稱之。）〉 唐昭宗景福中，擢進士第，曆台省。 昭宗自秦遷洛，時為祠部郎中、知制誥。 時梁祖淩弱唐室，殄滅衣冠，懼禍渡河，由上黨歸於晉陽。 初，武皇平王行瑜，天子許承製授將吏官秩。 是時藩侯倔強者，多偽行墨製，武皇恥而不行，長吏皆表授。 及莊宗嗣晉王位，承製置吏，又得汝弼，有若符契，由是除補之命，皆出汝弼之手，既而畿內官吏，考課議擬，奔走盈門，頗以賄賂聞，士論少之。 洎帝平定趙、魏，汝弼每請謁迎勞，必陳說天命，顒俟中興，帝亦以宰輔期之。 建國前，卒於晉。 〈（《宣和書譜》：贈兵部尚書。）〉
Lu Rubi, (Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue: Rubi, style name Zixie; his grandfather Lun was famed for poetry in the Zhenyuan reign. His father Jianqiu was military commissioner of Hedong. Rubi studied hard in youth, disdained resting on his birth, devoted himself to the examinations, passed the jinshi, and won praise from contemporaries for his elegant prose.)〉 In Emperor Zhaozong's Jingfu reign he passed the jinshi and served in the Censorate and Secretariat. When Zhaozong moved the capital from Qin to Luoyang, Rubi was Director in the Bureau of Sacrifices and managed edicts. As the Liang Founder bullied the Tang court and destroyed the gentry, Rubi feared for his life, crossed the Yellow River, and from Shangdang made his way to Jinyang. When the Martial Emperor pacified Wang Xingyu, the emperor allowed him to commission ranks for his officers by imperial order. Stubborn regional lords then forged written commissions at will; the Martial Emperor disdained that practice and appointed all senior officers by formal memorial. When Zhuangzong succeeded to the Jin throne, he again gained Rubi, as if by fate; thereafter all appointments passed through Rubi's hands. Soon officials of the capital districts thronged his gate for examination and promotion, and he gained a reputation for taking bribes, which lowered him in gentlemen's eyes. When the emperor pacified Zhao and Wei, Rubi always sought audience to welcome him and expounded the Mandate of Heaven, looking earnestly for restoration; the emperor likewise expected to make him chief minister. He died at Jinyang before the founding of the dynasty. (Xuanhe Calligraphy Catalogue: posthumously honored as Minister of War.)〉
17
李德休，字表逸，趙郡讚皇人也。 祖絳，山南西道節度使，唐史有傳。 父璋，宣州觀察使。 德休登進士第，曆鹽鐵官、渭南尉、右補闕、侍御史。 天祐初，兩京喪亂，乃寓跡河朔，定州節度使王處直辟為從事。 莊宗即位於魏州，征為御史中丞，轉兵部、吏部侍郎，權知左丞，以禮部尚書致仕。 卒時年七十四。 贈太子少保。
Li Dexiu, whose style name was Biaoyi, came from Zanhuang in Zhao commandery. His grandfather Jiang was military commissioner of Shannan West Circuit and has a biography in the Tang histories. His father Zhang was surveillance commissioner of Xuanzhou. Dexiu passed the jinshi and served as salt-and-iron officer, magistrate of Weinan, Right Supplementation Censor, and attending censor. Early in Tianyou, with both capitals in chaos, he took refuge in Hebei; Wang Chuzhi of Dingzhou recruited him as an aide. When Zhuangzong took the throne at Weizhou, Dexiu was summoned as censor-in-chief, became vice ministers of War and Personnel, acted as Left Vice Director, and retired as Minister of Rites. He died at seventy-four. He was posthumously honored as Junior Mentor of the Heir Apparent.
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蘇循，父特，陳州刺史。 循，咸通中登進士第，累曆台閣。 昭宗朝，再至禮部尚書。 循性阿諛，善承順苟容，以希進取。 昭宗自遷洛之後，梁祖凶勢日滋，唐室舊臣，陰懷主辱之憤，名族之胄，往往有違禍不仕者，唯循希旨附會。 及梁祖失律於淮南，西屯於壽春，要少帝欲授九錫。 朝臣或議是非，循揚言云：「梁王功業顯大，曆數有歸，朝廷速宜揖讓。」 當時朝士畏梁祖如虎，罔敢違其言者。 明年，梁祖逼禪，循為冊禮副使。 梁祖既受命，宴於元德殿，舉酒曰：「朕夾輔日淺，代德未隆，置朕及此者，群公推崇之意也。」 楊涉、張文蔚慚懼失對，致謝而已。 循與張禕、薛貽矩因盛陳梁祖之德業，應天順人之美。 循自以奉冊之勞，旦夕望居宰輔，而敬翔惡其為人，謂梁祖曰：「聖祚維新，宜選端士，以鎮風俗。 如循等輩，俱無士行，實唐家之鴟梟，當今之狐魅，彼專賣國以取利，不可立維新之朝。」
Su Xun's father Te was prefect of Chen. Xun passed the jinshi in the Xiantong reign and rose through the Censorate and Secretariat. Under Emperor Zhaozong he twice served as Minister of Rites. Xun was fawning by nature, skilled at compliance and accommodation, and eager for advancement. After Zhaozong moved to Luoyang, the Liang Founder's power grew daily; old Tang ministers nursed secret shame for their sovereign's humiliation, and sons of great families often refused office to avoid disaster—only Xun flattered every whim. When the Liang Founder suffered setbacks in Huainan and encamped at Shouchun, he pressed the young emperor to grant him the Nine Bestowals. When some courtiers debated the matter, Xun proclaimed aloud, "Prince Liang's achievements are manifest; the mandate has turned to him—the court should yield the throne at once. Court gentlemen then feared the Liang Founder like a tiger, and none dared contradict him. The next year the Liang Founder forced abdication; Xun served as deputy envoy for the enthronement rites. After receiving the Mandate, the Liang Founder feasted in the Hall of Primary Virtue and raised his cup: "I have aided the throne but briefly, and my house's virtue is not yet lofty; I stand here through your lords' promotion. Yang She and Zhang Wenwei, ashamed and afraid, could find no reply and only thanked him. Xun, Zhang Yi, and Xue Yiju thereupon lavishly praised the Liang Founder's virtue and the beauty of his accord with Heaven and the people. Xun, counting on his service in the enthronement rites, expected soon to become chief minister; but Jing Xiang detested him and told the Liang Founder, "The sacred reign is newly renewed—you should choose upright men to steady the manners of the age. Men like Xun lack the conduct of gentlemen; they are Tang's owls and bats, the fox-spirits of our age—men who sell the state for profit cannot build a renewed court."
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初，循子楷，乾寧二年登進士第。 中使有奏禦者云：「今年進士二十餘人，僥幸者半，物論以為不可。」 昭宗命學士陸扆、馮渥重試於雲韶殿，及格者一十四人。 詔云：「蘇楷、盧賡等四人，詩句最卑，蕪累頗甚，曾無學業，敢竊科名，浼我至公，難從濫進，宜付所司落下，不得再赴舉場。」 楷以此慚恨，長幸國家之災。 昭宗遇弑，輝王嗣位，國命出於朱氏，楷始得為起居郎。
Xun's son Kai passed the jinshi in the second year of Qianning. An imperial eunuch reported to the throne, "This year's jinshi number more than twenty, and half won their degrees by luck—public opinion calls that unacceptable. Emperor Zhaozong ordered Academicians Lu Yi and Feng Wo to re-examine them in the Hall of Cloud Music; only fourteen passed. An edict declared, "Su Kai, Lu Geng, and four others wrote the meanest verse, piled redundancy upon redundancy, had no learning yet stole degrees, and stained the court's fairness—they are struck from the rolls and barred from the examination grounds forever. Kai nursed shame and resentment from this and long rejoiced in the state's misfortunes. After Zhaozong was murdered and Prince Hui succeeded, with the Zhu clan holding the mandate, Kai at last became Attendant of the Imperial Diary.
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柳璨陷害朝臣，衣冠惕息，無敢言者。 初，梁祖欲以張廷範為太常卿，裴樞以為不可。 柳璨懼梁祖之毒，乃歸過於樞，故裴、趙罹白馬之禍。 楷因附璨，復依廷範。 時有司初定昭宗諡號，楷謂廷範曰：「諡者所以表行實，前有司之諡先帝為昭宗，所謂名實不副。 司空為樂卿，餘忝史職，典章有失，安得不言。」 乃上疏曰：「帝王禦宇，察理亂以審汙隆； 祀享配天，資諡號以定升降。 故臣下君上，皆不得而私也。 先帝睿哲居尊，恭儉垂化，其於善美，孰敢蔽虧。 然而否運莫興，至理猶鬱，遂致四方多事，萬乘播遷。 始則宦豎凶狂，受幽辱於東內； 終則嬪嬙悖亂，罹夭閼於中闈。 其於易名，宜循考行。 有司先定尊諡曰聖穆景文孝皇帝，廟號昭宗，敢言溢美，似異直書。 今郊禋有日，祫祭惟時，將期允愜列聖之心，更在詳議新廟之稱，庶使葉先朝罪己之德，表聖上無私之明。」 〈（《舊唐書》云：蘇楷目不知書，僅能執筆，其文羅袞作也。）〉 太常卿張廷範奏議曰：「昭宗初實彰於聖德，後漸減於休明，致季述幽辱於前，茂貞劫幸於後，雖數拘厄運，亦道失始終。 違陵寢於西京，徙兆民於東洛，軔輦輅未逾於寒暑，行大事俄起於宮闈。 謹聞執事堅固之謂恭，亂而不損之謂靈，武而不遂之謂莊，在國逢難之謂閔，因事有功之謂襄。 今請改諡曰恭靈莊閔皇帝，廟號襄宗。」 輝王答詔曰：「勉依所奏，哀咽良深。」 楷附會幸災也如是。
Liu Can framed court ministers; the gentry trembled in silence, and none dared speak out. At first the Liang Founder wished to name Zhang Tingfan Minister of Ceremonies; Pei Shu opposed it. Liu Can, fearing the Founder's wrath, shifted blame onto Shu; thus Pei and Zhao suffered the massacre at Baima. Kai attached himself to Can and again relied on Tingfan. When the proper offices first fixed Zhaozong's posthumous title, Kai told Tingfan, "A posthumous name should reflect true conduct; to call the late emperor Zhaozong is a mismatch of name and reality. The Minister of Works oversees music; I hold a historian's post—when ritual law errs, how can I remain silent? He then memorialized: "Emperors govern the realm by discerning order from chaos and rise from fall; in sacrifice they match Heaven, relying on posthumous names to fix honor high or low. Therefore neither subject nor sovereign may treat this as a private matter. The late emperor was wise upon the throne and spread respectful frugality—who would dare conceal his virtues? Yet fortune did not turn, supreme principle remained blocked, the four quarters erupted in trouble, and the imperial carriage was driven into exile. First eunuch attendants ran wild and he suffered insult in the Eastern Inner Palace; in the end consorts rebelled and he met untimely death within the inner palace. In choosing a new name, one should follow and examine his conduct. The proper offices first fixed his posthumous title as Sagacious, Solemn, Illustrious, Cultured, Filial Emperor and his temple name as Zhaozong—a title so lavish it seems unlike honest record. The suburban sacrifice draws near and the collective ancestral rite is due; we must satisfy the former sages and deliberate anew the temple designation, that we may honor the late dynasty's virtue of self-reproach and display the present sovereign's impartial clarity." (Old Book of Tang: Su Kai could scarcely read; he could barely hold a brush—his essays were written by Luo Gun.)〉 Minister of Ceremonies Zhang Tingfan submitted: "Zhaozong at first showed true sagely virtue, but later his glory faded; Ji kept him captive and Maozhen seized the court—though ill fortune pressed him repeatedly, he also lost the Way from first to last. He abandoned the tombs in Chang'an, moved the people to Luoyang; scarcely a season passed before catastrophe struck within the palace. I have heard that firmness is called Gong, surviving disorder unharmed is Ling, martial effort uncompleted is Zhuang, meeting national hardship is Min, and merit through events is Xiang. I request the posthumous title Respectful, Spirited, Solemn, Sorrowful Emperor and the temple name Emperor Xiang. Prince Hui replied, "I reluctantly follow your submission; my grief is profound." Such was Kai's way of attaching himself to power and rejoicing in disaster.
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及梁祖即位於汴，楷自以遭遇千載一時，敬翔深鄙其行。 尋有詔云：「蘇楷、高貽休、蕭聞禮等，人才寢陋，不可塵穢班行，並勒歸田里。」 循、楷既失所望，懼以前過獲罪，乃退歸河中依朱友謙。 莊宗將即位於魏州，時百官多缺，乃求訪本朝衣冠，友謙令赴行台。 時張承業未欲莊宗即尊位，諸將賓僚無敢讚成者，及循至，入衙城見府廨即拜，謂之拜殿。 時將吏未行蹈舞禮，及循朝謁，即呼萬歲舞抃，泣而稱臣，莊宗大悅。 翌日，又獻大筆三十管，曰「畫日筆」，莊宗益喜。 承業聞之怒，會盧汝弼卒，即令循守本官，代為副使。 明年春，循因食蜜雪，傷寒而卒。 同光二年，贈左僕射，以楷為員外郎。 天成中，累曆使幕，會執政欲糾其駁諡之罪，竟以憂慚而卒。
When the Liang Founder took the throne at Bian, Kai thought he had met a once-in-a-millennium chance; Jing Xiang despised his conduct. Soon an edict declared, "Su Kai, Gao Yixiu, Xiao Wenli, and others are base in talent and must not stain the court ranks—all are ordered home to their fields. Xun and Kai, disappointed in their hopes, feared punishment for past faults and withdrew to Hezhong to serve Zhu Youqian. As Zhuangzong prepared to take the throne at Weizhou, many offices stood empty; he sought men of the old Tang gentry, and Youqian sent Xun to the mobile headquarters. Zhang Chengye did not yet wish Zhuangzong to assume the throne; none of the generals or staff dared approve. When Xun arrived he entered the headquarters, saw the offices, and bowed at once—this was called bowing to the hall. The officers had not yet performed the court dance; at audience Xun cried "Long live the emperor," danced and clapped, wept, and declared himself a subject—Zhuangzong was delighted. The next day he presented thirty large brushes called "sun-painting brushes," and Zhuangzong was still more pleased. Chengye heard and was furious; when Lu Rubi died, he had Xun keep his old post and replace him as deputy envoy. The following spring Xun ate chilled honeyed snow, took cold, and died. In Tongguang year two he was posthumously honored as Left Vice Director, and Kai was named Vice Director. Under Tiancheng he served repeatedly in commissioners' staffs; when the authorities moved to prosecute him for rejecting Zhaozong's posthumous title, he died of shame and grief.
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史臣曰：昔武皇之樹霸基，莊宗之開帝業，皆旁求多士，用佐丕圖。 故數君子者，或以書檄敏才，或以搢紳舊族，鹹登貴仕，諒亦宜哉！ 唯蘇循讚梁祖之強禪，蘇楷駁昭宗之舊諡，士風臣節，豈若是乎！ 斯蓋文苑之豺狼，儒林之荊棘也。
The historiographer writes: When the Martial Emperor laid the foundations of hegemony and Zhuangzong opened the imperial enterprise, both sought scholars broadly to assist their great designs. These gentlemen, whether by nimble pen in letters and proclamations or by birth in old gentry families, all rose to high office—and rightly so! Only Su Xun praised the Liang Founder's forced abdication and Su Kai rejected Zhaozong's posthumous title—can scholarly integrity and ministerial duty sink so low! They are jackals and wolves in the grove of letters, thorns in the forest of scholars.