← Back to 梁書

卷三十七 列傳第三十一 謝舉 何敬容

Volume 37: Xie Ju; He Jingrong

Chapter 37 of 梁書 · Book of Liang
← Previous Chapter
Chapter 37
Next Chapter →
1
Book of Liang, Volume 37, Biography 31
2
Xie Ju; He Jingrong
3
Xie Ju, whose courtesy name was Yanyang, was the younger brother of Xie Lan, Director of the Palace Library. As a boy he loved study, excelled at pure conversation, and was as famous as his brother Lan. When Ju was fourteen he once gave Shen Yue a pentasyllabic poem, and Yue praised it highly. People said of them: “The Wangs have Yang and Ju; the Xies have Lan and Ju.” Yang and Ju were the childhood names of Wang Jun and Wang Tai.
4
He entered service as a Secretariat gentleman, then rose through posts as heir-apparent attendant, merit-office secretary, secretariat aide, masters-of-works attendant, crown-prince household administrator, and household master, overseeing the Eastern Palace archives, and won the deep favor of Crown Prince Zhaoming. When Ren Fang, Director of the Secretariat, left for Xin’an Commandery, he sent Ju a farewell poem: “I would not dwell on the groaning elder—yet how deeply I place my trust in you, old friend.” Such was the feeling he meant to convey. Once at a banquet in Huaglin Garden the Founding Emperor asked Lan about Ju; Lan answered: “His learning and skill far exceed mine—only in wine he cannot match me.” The Founding Emperor was delighted. He was made an attendant in the heir’s palace while continuing to keep the archives.
5
In his youth Ju read widely and mastered many fields, above all metaphysics and Buddhist teaching. As governor of Jinling he often exchanged lectures on scripture and doctrine with Buddhist monks, and the recluse He Yin would come from Tiger Hill to hear them. The assemblies were as grand as that. Earlier the northern scholar Lu Guang, skilled in Confucian learning, was Libationer of the National University; when he lectured there, Vice Director Xu Mian and the rest all attended. Ju took a seat and repeatedly overturned Guang’s points, his argument lucid and bold. Guang marveled and, in token of esteem, gave Ju the fly-whisk in his hand—as if setting out a second mat for a master.
6
祿
In the fourth year he was made Palace Attendant. In the fifth year he became Right Vice Director of the Secretariat while retaining his post as Palace Attendant. In the third year of Datong he asked leave on grounds of illness and was shifted to Right Master of the Imperial Household with twenty personal attendants. That same year he left the capital as Cloud-Banner General and Governor of Wu. Earlier, when He Jingrong had governed the commandery, his record was so fine that men called him “He of Wu Commandery.” Under Ju’s rule his reputation and deeds were nearly on a par. In the sixth year he returned as Palace Attendant and Director of the Palace Library; before he could assume the latter post he was made Grand Warden of the Heir Apparent and General of the Left Guards, still Palace Attendant. Ju’s father Yue had ended his career in that same office under Qi; Ju memorialized again and again to be given a different post, but the throne refused until, after long delay, he at last entered upon the duty. In the ninth year he was made Vice Director of the Secretariat, retaining Palace Attendant and general’s rank. Though he stood at the head of government, Ju never cared to meddle in the day’s business and often pleaded illness to withdraw. Each time the emperor granted him leave, wrote prescriptions in his own hand, and sent the finest drugs. Such was the grace shown him. That year he also took part in appointments in his existing rank.
7
In the second year of Taiqing he became Director of the Secretariat, still Palace Attendant and general. That year, when Hou Jing besieged the capital, Ju died inside the encircled city. An edict mourned him with Palace Attendant, Central Guard General, and Grand Honorific with the Three Insignia, while his posts as Palace Attendant and Director of the Secretariat stood unchanged. His collected works perished entirely in the upheaval.
8
His two sons Xi and Gu were both noted while young. Gu, in the Taiqing era, served as heir’s attendant and then went out as Administrator of Jian’an.
9
He Jingrong, courtesy name Guoli, came from Lujiang. His grandfather Youzhi had been Grand Minister of Ceremonies under Song; his father Changxu had been Director of the Imperial Secretariat under Qi; both were celebrated in earlier ages.
10
Jingrong stood eight chi tall, with fair skin and handsome beard and brows. Proud and formal by nature, he lavished care on bright, elegant dress; whenever he took his place at court his bearing outshone the rest. In the third year he became Right Vice Director of the Secretariat and shared in appointments, still Palace Attendant. Vice Director Xu Mian then held the secret reins of power; when he resigned on grounds of illness he recommended Jingrong to succeed him, and so the post fell to him. In the fifth year he was made Left Vice Director and General Who Spreads Grace, with clerks assigned, while he remained Palace Attendant and kept his role in administration. In the first month of the third year of Datong the Vermilion Bird Gate burned; the Founding Emperor told the ministers: “The gate was built too low and cramped—I had only just meant to rebuild it when Heaven sent this blaze.” The courtiers looked at one another and none answered. Only Jingrong spoke: “This is what Your Majesty calls acting before Heaven so that Heaven does not oppose you.” Men at the time hailed it as a brilliant reply. Soon he was made Central Authority General and Intendant of Danyang, keeping Palace Attendant, his administrative role, and his staff. In the fifth year he returned as Director of the Secretariat, still Palace Attendant, general, administrator, and chief clerk.
11
簿
Long in the secretariat, Jingrong knew every old rule by heart; clever and skilled in affairs, he toiled over registers and papers, taking up business at dawn and working past sunset without pause. From Jin and Song onward ministers had prided themselves on literary ease; Jingrong alone sweated over clerical work, and the age sneered at him. Xiao Chen’s son Xun had a gift for light verse and wrote riddling poems from hexagram names to ridicule him; Jingrong bore it as before and would not stoop to reply.
12
In the eleventh year his concubine’s younger brother Fei Huiming, a grain-depot clerk, stole government grain by night; the patrol seized him and handed him to the Rear Guard command. Prince of Hedong Xiao Yu then commanded the Rear Guard; Jingrong wrote to plead for Huiming, and Yu at once sealed the letter and reported it to the throne. The Founding Emperor was enraged and sent the case to the Southern Office for prosecution. Censor Zhang Zan charged that Jingrong had used private ties to mislead the throne and deserved death; an edict spared his life but stripped him of office. Earlier, in the Tianjian era, the monk Baozhi had met him and said: “You are sure to reach the heights, yet in the end—what defeat, what?” Once he was chancellor he feared harm from anyone surnamed He and blocked his clan from office; in the end he was brought down by the Prince of Hedong.
13
祿
In the third month of the first year of Zhongdatong the Founding Emperor went to Tongtai Temple to expound the Golden-character Three Wisdom Sutra; Jingrong asked to hear it and was allowed by edict. Another edict let him attend the new- and full-moon audiences to offer greetings. Soon he was recalled as Grand Master with the Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon; before he could accept it he was again made Palace Attendant. His old clients and students raised the same clamor as before, hoping he would be used again. Xie Yu of Kuaiji wrote to warn him: “From common report we hear that you may once more gaze on the court at dawn and dusk and pass the palace gates—that even the drunken gate guard will not bark at you—yet the slope is not absent; how fortunate, how fortunate! I congratulate you beforehand—and I must mourn you as well. When rumor first arose, the Duke of Zhou fled east; when the letter from Yan came, Zi Meng would not go in. Sages have been slandered and therefore held themselves back; no wise man has ever sought intimacy at a time of blame. Fish with drying gills do not think of a cup of water; wings that touch the clouds do not glance at fodder in a pen. Why? Because what they rest on is already vast. Once, when you were chief minister, jade chimed at your belt; you swept sable robes as you entered Wenchang and lifted your cicada crest as you hastened to the martial hall—truly a time of glory. You did not then lift men of talent to repay your sovereign’s kindness; now, as Master Ai’s words have it, you bear blame and fault, yet you would look again toward the court and hope for the slightest chance—I cannot think this wise for you. Dou Ying and Yang Yun too offended a luminous court; unable to shut their doors to guests, they still traded on connections, and in the end won no blessing but deepened their fall. My condolences are for this very thing. Those who still throng your door are not all moved by grace or bound like Guan Fu and Ren An; they dread Duke Zhai’s famous notice and hope for your return to power. To cling to hope of office while you should be repenting is not counsel fit for a wise man. Shut your door, ponder your fault, deal with no one, raise a thatched hut on Bell Peak, and live out your days at leisure, showing that you accept reproach and await your end. Remember that Confucius said a man may mend his ways, and Zigong that one may change; speak less to the multitude and rescue yourself a little on the page—that is “what is lost at sunrise is gained at sunset.” Do this, and if the wise sovereign learns of it, hope may yet remain. I am a humble man of the eastern shore; though I live apart I am not ashamed to speak; I blush that no gentleman in the realm speaks frankly to you, and so I bare my inmost heart—will you not see it?”
14
From Jin’s Grand Master He Chong and Song’s Grand Master He Shangzhi, the He family served Buddhism and raised pagodas and temples; Jingrong too gave his eastern house for a monastery; flatterers supplied money to build it, and he did not refuse, so the shrine’s halls and ornaments grew very grand. Wits of the day nicknamed it the “Temple Built by the Crowd.” When he was removed and quit his mansion, he took only ordinary goods and a bundle of clothes, with no wealth left—on this too the age praised him.
15
His son Jiao, a secretariat aide, died early.
16
簿 使 [1]
Yao Cha, Chen Director of the Imperial Secretariat, said: From the Zhengshi reign through Jin’s middle courts the vogue favored abstruse talk and unrestrained conduct; secretariat directors and above no longer touched papers—everything fell to the clerks. Under the Eastern Jin the fashion spread further; only Bian Kun tried to manage secretariat business, and Ruan Fu told him: “You are never free—is that not toilsome?” In Song, Wang Hongjing sat at the head yet never opened a file; elegance was admired, and the current ran deep. To stare at empty paper and leave the desk vacant was called refined dignity; unflagging diligence in the end kept one among the coarse. So state discipline perished at the top and office work collapsed below. Petty ways flourished—and this is why. Alas! Manners were harmed and morals spoiled, and no one ever understood. When Yongjia could no longer hold its own and war horses foaled by the city wall, it was only to be expected. That He Guoli knew how to govern yet was scorned by shallow men—alas! Editorial footnote marker in the source text.
17
The full text has been collated against the Zhonghua Shuju edition of 《Book of Liang》, May 1973.
← Previous Chapter
Back to Chapters
Next Chapter →