1
梁書卷第四十一列傳第三十五
Book of Liang, Volume 41, Biography 35
2
王規劉瑴宗懍王承褚翔蕭介從父兄洽褚球劉孺弟覽遵劉潛弟孝勝孝威孝先殷芸蕭幾
Wang Gui; Liu Jue; Zong Lin; Wang Cheng; Chu Xiang; Xiao Jie; his father's cousin Qia; Chu Qiu; Liu Ru; his brothers Lan and Zun; Liu Qian; his brothers Xiaosheng, Xiaowei, and Xiaoxian; Yin Yun; Xiao Ji
3
王規字威明，琅邪臨沂人。 祖儉，齊太尉南昌文憲公。 父騫，金紫光祿大夫南昌安侯。
Wang Gui, styled Weiming, came from Linyi in Langye. His grandfather Jian had been Grand Commandant of Qi and Duke Wenxian of Nanchang. His father Qian held the post of Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with the Golden Seal and the title Marquis An of Nanchang.
4
規八歲，以丁所生母憂，居喪有至性。 太尉徐孝嗣每見必爲之流涕，稱曰孝童。 叔父暕亦深器重之，常曰：「此兒吾家千里駒也。」 年十二，《五經》大義，並略能通。 旣長，好學有口辯。 州舉秀才，郡迎主簿。
When Gui was eight he mourned his birth mother, and throughout the mourning period his devotion was profound. Each time Grand Commandant Xu Xiaosi met him he wept and hailed him as a child of true filial piety. His uncle Yang held him in the highest regard and would say, "This child is the swift steed of our house." By twelve he had a working command of the main themes of the Five Classics. As an adult he pursued learning eagerly and spoke with uncommon force. The province put him forward as a Presented Scholar, and the commandery received him as chief clerk.
5
起家秘書郎，累遷太子舍人、安右南康王主簿、太子洗馬。 天監十二年，改構太極殿，功畢，規獻《新殿賦》，其辭甚工。 拜秘書丞。 歷太子中舍人、司徒左西屬、從事中郎。 晉安王綱出爲南徐州，高選僚屬，引爲雲麾諮議參軍。 久之，出爲新安太守，父憂去職。 服闋，襲封南昌縣侯，除中書黃門侍郎。 敕與陳郡殷鈞、琅邪王錫、范陽張緬同侍東宮，俱爲昭明太子所禮。 湘東王時爲京尹，與朝士宴集，屬規爲酒令。 規從容對曰：「自江左以來，未有茲舉。」 特進蕭琛、金紫傅昭在坐，並謂爲知言。 普通初，陳慶之北伐，剋復洛陽，百僚稱賀，規退曰：「道家有云：非爲功難，成功難也。 羯寇遊魂，爲日已久，桓溫得而復失，宋武竟無成功。 我孤軍無援，深入寇境，威勢不接，饋運難繼，將是役也，爲禍階矣。」 俄而王師覆沒，其識達事機多如此類。
He entered service as a secretary gentleman, then advanced through posts as crown prince attendant, chief clerk to the Prince of Kang of Anyou, and crown prince groom. In the twelfth year of Tianjian the court rebuilt the Hall of Great Ultimate; when construction was done, Gui offered his "Rhapsody on the New Hall," a piece of rare craft. He was made secretary aide. He held, in turn, the posts of crown prince central attendant, western attendant under the minister of works, and administrative aide. As Prince Jin'an, Gang, took up South Xuzhou, he selected his aides with unusual rigor and appointed Gui cloud-cavalry adviser on his staff. Before long he was sent out as administrator of Xin'an, then resigned when his father died. After the mourning period he succeeded to the county marquisate of Nanchang and became palace attendant of the secretariat and yellow gates. An edict set him to attend the eastern palace with Yin Jun of Chen, Wang Xi of Langye, and Zhang Mian of Fanyang; each was treated with distinction by Heir Apparent Zhaoming. Prince Xiangdong, who was then metropolitan intendant, feasted with court gentlemen and charged Gui with keeping the drinking rules. Gui replied with composure: "Since the court crossed the Yangtze, nothing of the kind has been seen." Xiao Chen, privileged attendant, and Fu Zhao, grand master with the golden seal, were among those seated; both pronounced his words wise. At the opening of the Putong era Chen Qingzhi marched north and retook Luoyang; as the bureaucracy rejoiced, Gui stepped aside and said, "The Daoists tell us that winning the fight is not the hard part—holding the victory is. The Jie foe has haunted the north for generations; Huan Wen seized the city only to lose it, and even Emperor Wu of Song could not make the gain endure. We march without support into enemy country, our reach cannot be joined to the rear, and provisions will not keep pace—this expedition is laying the stairs to ruin." Before long the imperial forces were wiped out; his grasp of unfolding events was frequently of this kind.
6
六年，高祖於文德殿餞廣州刺史元景隆，詔羣臣賦詩，同用五十韻，規援筆立奏，其文又美。 高祖嘉焉，卽日詔爲侍中。 大通三年，遷五兵尚書，俄領步兵校尉。 中大通二年，出爲貞威將軍驃騎晉安王長史。 其年，王立爲皇太子，仍爲吳郡太守。 主書芮珍宗家在吳，前守宰皆傾意附之。 是時珍宗假還，規遇之甚薄，珍宗還都，密奏規云「不理郡事」。 俄徵爲左民尚書，郡吏民千餘人詣闕請留，表三奏，上不許。 尋以本官領右軍將軍，未拜，復爲散騎常侍、太子中庶子，領步兵校尉。 規辭疾不拜，於鐘山宗熙寺築室居焉。 大同二年，卒，時年四十五。 詔贈散騎常侍、光祿大夫，賻錢二十萬，布百匹。 諡曰章。 皇太子出臨哭，與湘東王繹令曰：「威明昨宵奄復殂化，甚可痛傷。 其風韻遒正，神峰標映，千里絕迹，百尺無枝。 文辯縱橫，才學優贍，跌宕之情彌遠，濠梁之氣特多，斯實俊民也。 一爾過隙，永歸長夜，金刀掩芒，長淮絕涸。 去歲冬中，已傷劉子； 今茲寒孟，復悼王生。 俱往之傷，信非虛說。」 規集《後漢》衆家異同，注《續漢書》二百卷，文集二十卷。
In the sixth year the founding emperor gave a farewell feast for Yuan Jinglong, inspector of Guangzhou, in the Hall of Civil Virtue and commanded the court to write poems sharing fifty rhyme categories; Gui wrote on the spot and submitted immediately, and the work was again superb. The founding emperor was delighted and that very day appointed him palace attendant. In the third year of Datong he became minister of the five armies and shortly afterward took command of the footsoldiers as well. In the second year of Zhongdatong he left the capital as chief clerk to Prince Jin'an of Rapid Cavalry, bearing the rank of general of loyal prestige. In that same year the prince was made heir apparent, and Gui continued as administrator of Wu commandery. The palace scribe Rui Zhenzong had kin in Wu, and every former magistrate had courted him. At the time Zhenzong was home on leave; Gui received him with marked coolness. Zhenzong went back to the capital and privately reported that Gui "neglected the duties of the commandery." He was soon recalled to be minister of the left for the people, but more than a thousand clerks and commoners of the commandery went to the gate to beg he stay; though they petitioned three times, the throne refused. Shortly afterward he was to add the post of general of the right army to his title, yet before he could take it up he was named regular attendant of scattered cavalry, crown prince vice-director, and again commandant of footsoldiers. Gui pleaded illness and refused the appointments, then built a house at Zongxi Temple on Bell Mountain and dwelt there in seclusion. In the second year of Datong he died at the age of forty-five. The throne ordered him honored after death as regular attendant of scattered cavalry and grand master for splendid happiness, with a funeral grant of two hundred thousand cash and a hundred bolts of cloth. He was given the posthumous name Zhang. The crown prince went out himself to weep at the bier and wrote to Prince Xiangdong, Yi: "Weiming was taken from us last night in an instant— the grief is unbearable. His manner was forceful and correct, his presence luminous; for a thousand leagues none could match his track, and among towering trees he stood without a crooked limb. He wielded argument with ease and his erudition was ample; his unconstrained spirit reached ever farther, and he breathed the air of Zhuangzi at the Hao bridge—he was, in truth, a man of rare excellence. Like light slipping through a crevice he passed in a moment into endless night; the golden blade is dulled, and the long Huai has ceased to flow. Only last winter I was grieving for Master Liu; and now, in the first chill of spring, I mourn Master Wang once more. The sorrow of losing them both at once is no figure of speech." Gui gathered the disagreements among Later Han historians and produced a two-hundred-scroll commentary on the Continued Book of Han, along with twenty scrolls of his own writings.
7
子褒，字子漢，七歲能屬文。 外祖司空袁昂愛之，謂賓客曰：「此兒當成吾宅相。」 弱冠舉秀才，除秘書郎、太子舍人，以父憂去職。 服闋，襲封南昌侯，除武昌王文學、太子洗馬，兼東宮管記，遷司徒屬，秘書丞，出爲安成內史。 太清中，侯景陷京城，江州刺史當陽公大心舉州附賊，賊轉寇南中，褒猶據郡拒守。 大寶二年，世祖命徵褒赴江陵，旣至，以爲忠武將軍、南平內史，俄遷吏部尚書、侍中。 承聖二年，遷尚書右僕射，仍參掌選事，又加侍中。 其年，遷左僕射，參掌如故。 三年，江陵陷，入于周。
His son Bao, styled Zihan, was already writing polished prose at seven. His maternal grandfather Yuan Ang, minister of works, doted on him and said to his guests, "This child will be the blessing that shapes our clan." When he came of age he was chosen as a presented scholar, made secretary gentleman and crown prince attendant, then resigned to observe mourning for his father. After mourning he succeeded to the marquisate of Nanchang, served as literary adjutant to the Prince of Wuchang and crown prince groom while also keeping the eastern palace record, rose to an attendant post under the minister of works and to secretary aide, and finally went out as interior governor of Ancheng. During the Taqing period Hou Jing seized the capital; the inspector of Jiangzhou, Duke Daxin of Dangyang, yielded the whole province to the rebels, yet when the band turned southward Bao still held his commandery and fought them off. In the second year of Dabao the ancestral sovereign called Bao to Jiangling; once he arrived he was named general of loyal martiality and interior governor of Nanping, and before long became minister of personnel and palace attendant. In the second year of Chengsheng he was promoted to right vice director of the imperial secretariat while continuing to oversee appointments, and was again made palace attendant. In that year he was transferred to left vice director, still sharing charge of personnel as before. In the third year Jiangling was lost, and he was carried off into the lands of Zhou.
8
褒著《幼訓》，以誡諸子。 其一章云：
Bao composed the "Instructions for Youth" to warn his sons. One section runs thus:
9
陶士衡曰：「昔大禹不吝尺璧而重寸陰。」 文士何不誦書，武士何不馬射？ 若乃玄冬脩夜，朱明永日，肅其居處，崇其牆仞，門無糅雜，坐闕號呶。 以之求學，則仲尼之門人也； 以之爲文，則賈生之升堂也。 古者盤盂有銘，几杖有誡，進退循焉，俯仰觀焉。 文王之詩曰：「靡不有初，鮮克有終。」 立身行道，終始若一。 「造次必於是」，君子之言歟。
Tao Kan wrote: "In antiquity Yu the Great did not spare a foot-wide jade disk, yet he weighed every inch of passing light." Why, then, do men of letters fail to read, and men of war fail to practice mounted archery? Whether in the black depths of winter or the blazing length of summer, keep your household grave, make your walls as high as a city rampart, admit no riffraff at the door, and let no shouting disturb your seat. Learn in that way and you may stand among the followers of Confucius; write in that way and you may enter the hall as Jia Yi did. The ancients inscribed their platters and bowls and carved admonitions on tables and staves; in every motion forward or back they obeyed them, and in every glance up or down they took their lesson. King Wen's ode says, "Everything has a beginning; few see it through to the end." To stand in the world and follow the Way, let beginning and end be one. "Even in sudden distress one must hold to this"—are these not a gentleman's words?
10
儒家則尊卑等差，吉凶降殺。 君南面而臣北面，天地之義也； 鼎俎奇而籩豆偶，陰陽之義也。 道家則墮支體，黜聰明，棄義絕仁，離形去智。 釋氏之義，見苦斷習，證滅循道，明因辨果，偶凡成聖，斯雖爲教等差，而義歸汲引。 吾始乎幼學，及於知命，旣崇周、孔之教，兼循老、釋之談，江左以來，斯業不墜，汝能修之，吾之志也。
In the Confucian school, honor and baseness are ordered in ranks, and rites for fortune and misfortune are graded in severity. The lord turns to the south and his ministers to the north: that is the pattern of Heaven and Earth; the great stands are set in odd numbers and the platters in even numbers: that is the pattern of yin and yang. The Daoist way discards the body, silences cleverness, casts away righteousness and severs humaneness, and departs from shape and intellect alike. The Buddhist teaching perceives suffering and breaks habit, attains quiescence by treading the path, distinguishes cause from fruit, and lifts the ordinary toward sanctity; though the schools stand at different levels, their aim is to draw all beings upward. From boyhood through the age of fifty I have revered the teaching of Zhou and Confucius while also walking the paths of Laozi and the Buddha; since the court crossed to the south this learning has not perished, and if you can keep it alive, my heart's desire is met.
11
初，有沛國劉瑴、南陽宗懍與褒俱爲中興佐命，同參帷幄。
At the outset Liu Jue of Pei and Zong Lin of Nanyang, together with Bao, had helped raise the dynasty from ruin and sat with him in the war council.
12
劉瑴字仲寶，晉丹陽尹真長七世孫也。 少方正有器局。 自國子禮生射策高第，爲寧海令，稍遷湘東王記室參軍，又轉中記室。 太清中，侯景亂，世祖承制上流，書檄多委鐧焉，鐧亦竭力盡忠，甚蒙賞遇。 歷尚書左丞、御史中丞。 承聖二年，遷吏部尚書、國子祭酒，餘如故。
Liu Jue, styled Zhongbao, was the seventh-generation descendant of Liu Zhenchang, Jin's governor of Danyang. As a young man he was square in conduct and broad in capacity. He began as a ritual student in the national university, took first place in the policy examination, served as magistrate of Ninghai, and in time became recorder on the staff of the Prince of Xiangdong and then central recorder. During the Taqing troubles Hou Jing rose in revolt; as the ancestral sovereign assumed provisional rule on the upper Yangtze, most proclamations and letters were placed in Jue's hands, and his tireless loyalty won him high favor. He held the posts of left assistant director of the secretariat and censor-in-chief. In the second year of Chengsheng he became minister of personnel and libationer of the national university, retaining his other offices.
13
宗懍字元懍。 八世祖承，晉宜都郡守，屬永嘉東徙，子孫因居江陵焉。 懍少聰敏好學，晝夜不倦，鄉里號爲「童子學士」。 普通中，爲湘東王府兼記室，轉刑獄，仍掌書記。 歷臨汝、建成、廣晉等令，後又爲世祖荊州別駕。 及世祖卽位，以爲尚書郎，封信安縣侯，邑一千戶。 累遷吏部郎中、五兵尚書、吏部尚書。 承聖三年，江陵沒，與瑴俱入于周。
Zong Lin, styled Yuanlin. Eight generations back his forebear Cheng had been Jin's administrator of Yidu; when the Yongjia upheaval drove the court east, the family took up residence in Jiangling. As a boy Lin was quick and studious, laboring day and night without rest, and his neighbors nicknamed him "the child academician." Under the Putong reign he served as concurrent recorder in the household of the Prince of Xiangdong, then took charge of criminal cases while continuing to manage written records. He governed as magistrate of Linru, Jiancheng, Guangjin, and other districts, and later became vice-governor of Jingzhou under the ancestral sovereign. At the ancestral sovereign's accession he was appointed secretariat gentleman and enfeoffed as marquis of Xin'an county with a fief of one thousand households. He advanced through section chief in the ministry of personnel, minister of the five armies, and finally minister of personnel. In the third year of Chengsheng Jiangling was overrun, and he was taken into Zhou together with Liu Jue.
14
王承字安期，僕射暕子。 七歲通《周易》，選補國子生。 年十五，射策高第，除秘書郎。 歷太子舍人、南康王文學、邵陵王友、太子中舍人。 以父憂去職。 服闋，復爲中舍人，累遷中書黃門侍郎，兼國子博士。 時膏腴貴遊，咸以文學相尚，罕以經術爲業，惟承獨好之，發言吐論，造次儒者。 在學訓諸生，述《禮》、《易》義。 中大通五年，遷長兼侍中，俄轉國子祭酒。 承祖儉及父暕嘗爲此職，三世爲國師，前代未之有也，當世以爲榮。 久之，出爲戎昭將軍、東陽太守。 爲政寬惠，吏民悅之。 視事未期，卒于郡，時年四十一。 諡曰章子。
Wang Cheng, styled Anqi, was the son of Vice Director Wang Yang. At seven he had mastered the Book of Changes and was chosen for the national university. At fifteen he placed first in the policy examination and was made secretary gentleman. He held posts as crown prince attendant, literary adjutant to the Prince of Kang of Nankang, companion to the Prince of Shaoling, and crown prince central attendant. He resigned when his father died. After mourning he resumed service as central attendant, advanced to palace attendant of the secretariat and yellow gates, and also served as erudite of the national university. In those days the wealthy and fashionable set one another literary feats and seldom devoted themselves to the classics; Cheng alone delighted in the canon, and even in offhand talk he spoke like a true Confucian scholar. At the university he taught the students, lecturing on the meaning of the Rituals and the Book of Changes. In the fifth year of Zhongdatong he was made chief director with concurrent appointment as palace attendant, and soon afterward became libationer of the national university. His grandfather Jian and his father Yang had each held the same office, so that three generations in succession served as national teacher—a thing unheard of in earlier times and regarded in his day as supreme honor. Before long he was sent out as general of martial manifestation and administrator of Dongyang. He ruled with generosity and grace, and both clerks and commoners rejoiced in him. He had not finished his tenure when he died in office, at the age of forty-one. After death he was given the posthumous title Marquis Zi.
15
承性簡貴有風格。 時右衛朱异當朝用事，每休下，車馬常填門。 時有魏郡申英好危言高論，以忤權右，常指异門曰：「此中輻輳，皆以利往。 能不至者，惟有大小王東陽。」 小東陽，卽承弟稚也。 當時惟承兄弟及褚翔不至异門，時以此稱之。
Cheng was naturally reserved and noble in bearing, with a style all his own. In those days Zhu Yi of the Right Guard dominated the government, and on every day he was free from court, horses and carriages packed his doorway. A man of Wei commandery named Shen Ying loved startling words and high argument; he crossed those in power and would point at Yi's gate and say, "They crowd in here like spokes on a hub—every one of them comes for gain. The only ones who can keep away are the Greater and Lesser Wangs of Dongyang." The Lesser Dongyang meant Cheng's younger brother Zhi. In that age only the Cheng brothers and Chu Xiang refused Yi's door, and their contemporaries honored them for it.
16
褚翔字世舉，河南陽翟人。 曾祖淵，齊太宰文簡公，佐命齊室。 祖蓁，太常穆子。 父向，字景政。 年數歲，父母相繼亡沒，向哀毀若成人者，親表咸異之。 旣長，淹雅有器量。 高祖踐阼，選補國子生。 起家秘書郎，遷太子舍人、尚書殿中郎。 出爲安成內史。 還除太子洗馬、中舍人，累遷太尉從事中郎、黃門侍郎、鎮右豫章王長史。 頃之，入爲長兼侍中。 向風儀端麗，眉目如點，每公庭就列，爲衆所瞻望焉。 大通四年，出爲寧遠將軍北中郎廬陵王長史。 三年，卒官。 外兄謝舉爲制墓銘，其略曰：「弘治推華，子嵩慚量； 酒歸月下，風清琴上。」 論者以爲擬得其人。
Chu Xiang, styled Shiju, came from Yangdi in Henan. His great-grandfather Yuan had been Grand Preceptor of Qi and Duke Wenjian, a man who helped found the Qi dynasty. His grandfather Qin was Minister of Ceremonies and bore the posthumous name Mu. His father Xiang, styled Jingzheng. While still a child he lost both parents in turn; Xiang grieved with a ruin so complete that he seemed already adult, and all who knew him were astonished. As a man he was cultivated and measured, with breadth of character. When the Founding Emperor ascended, Xiang was chosen for the national university. He entered service as a secretary gentleman, then advanced through crown prince groom and attendant in the secretariat's bureau of audience. He was sent out as interior minister of Ancheng. Recalled, he became crown prince groom and household aide, and in due course rose to recorder on the grand marshal's staff, yellow gate attendant, and chief steward to the Prince of Yu of Yuzhang. Before long he entered the palace as acting attendant. Xiang's carriage was poised and handsome, his brows and eyes delicately marked; whenever he stood in the court ranks the whole assembly would gaze at him. In the fourth year of Datong he was sent out as chief steward to the Prince of Luling, bearing the rank of general of distant appeasement. Three years later he died in his post. His maternal cousin Xie Ju composed the tomb epitaph, which in brief runs: "Hongzhi advanced his splendor, Zisong blushed at his measure; wine came home under the moon, wind grew clear upon the zither." Critics agreed that the portrait hit the man.
17
翔初爲國子生，舉高第。 丁父憂。 服闋，除秘書郎，累遷太子舍人、宣城王主簿。 中大通五年，高祖宴羣臣樂游苑，別詔翔與王訓爲二十韻詩，限三刻成。 翔于坐立奏，高祖異焉，卽日轉宣城王文學，俄遷爲友。 時宣城友、文學加它王二等，故以翔超爲之，時論美焉。
Xiang had begun as a student in the national university and placed at the head of his class. He then went into mourning for his father. When mourning was over he was made secretary gentleman and advanced through crown prince groom and recorder to the Prince of Xuancheng. In the fifth year of Zhongdatong the Founding Emperor gave a feast for his ministers in the Park of Joyous Excursion and by special edict ordered Xiang and Wang Xun each to compose a twenty-rhyme poem within three quarters of an hour. Xiang read his while still seated; the Founding Emperor marveled and that same day made him literary adjutant to the Prince of Xuancheng, and soon raised him to companion. In those days a companion and literary adjutant to the Prince of Xuancheng stood two grades higher than the same posts under other princes, so Xiang was promoted above the usual level, and public opinion applauded the choice.
18
出爲義興太守。 翔在政潔已，省繁苛，去浮費，百姓安之。 郡之西亭有古樹，積年枯死； 翔至郡，忽更生枝葉，百姓咸以爲善政所感。 及秩滿，吏民詣闕請之，敕許焉。 尋徵爲吏部郎，去郡，百姓無老少追送出境，涕泣拜辭。
He was sent out as administrator of Yixing. As magistrate he kept his person clean, pared away harsh excess, and stripped off empty expenditure, and the people found rest. West of the city at the district pavilion stood an ancient tree that had been dead for many years; when Xiang arrived it suddenly put out branches and leaves again, and the people all believed good rule had moved heaven. When his term ended, officials and commoners went to the capital to ask that he be kept on, and an edict allowed it. Before long he was summoned as director in the ministry of personnel; as he left the commandery, young and old followed him to the border, weeping and bowing him out.
19
翔居小選公清，不爲請屬易意，號爲平允。 俄遷侍中，頃之轉散騎常侍，領羽林監，侍東宮。 出爲晉陵太守，在郡未期，以公事免。 俄復爲散騎常侍，侍東宮。 太清二年，遷守吏部尚書。 其年冬，侯景圍宮城，翔於圍內丁母憂，以毀卒，時年四十四。 詔贈本官。
In the lower appointments he was upright and would not shift his judgment for petitions or connections, and men called him even-handed. Soon he was made attendant; shortly afterward he became attendant at large and superintendent of the feathered forest, serving the eastern palace. He went out as administrator of Jinling; before his term was finished he was removed on official grounds. Before long he was again attendant at large, attending the eastern palace. In the second year of Taqing he was moved to acting minister of personnel. That winter Hou Jing besieged the palace city; Xiang began mourning for his mother within the encirclement and died of grief at forty-four. An edict granted him posthumously his last office.
20
翔少有孝性。 爲侍中時，母疾篤，請沙門祈福。 中夜忽見戶外有異光，又聞空中彈指，及曉，疾遂愈。 咸以翔精誠所致焉。
From boyhood Xiang was deeply filial. While he was attendant his mother fell gravely ill, and he asked Buddhist monks to pray for her recovery. In the depth of night he suddenly saw an unearthly light outside the door and heard fingers snap in the air; by morning the sickness had lifted. All agreed that this came of Xiang's perfect sincerity.
21
蕭介字茂鏡，蘭陵人也。 祖思話，宋開府儀同三司、尚書僕射。 父惠茜，齊左民尚書。
Xiao Jie, styled Maojing, came from Lanling. His grandfather Sihua had been Song's grand preceptor of equipage and vice director of the secretariat. His father Huixi had been Qi's minister of the left for the people.
22
介少穎悟，有器識，博涉經史，兼善屬文。 齊永元末，釋褐著作佐郎。 天監六年，除太子舍人。 八年，遷尚書金部郎。 十二年，轉主客郎。 出爲吳令，甚著聲績。 湘東王聞介名，思共遊處，表請之。 普通三年，乃以介爲湘東王諮議參軍。 大通二年，除給事黃門侍郎。 大同二年，武陵王爲揚州刺史，以介爲府長史，在職清白，爲朝廷所稱。 高祖謂何敬容曰：「蕭介甚貧，可處以一郡。」 敬容未對，高祖曰：「始興郡頃無良守，嶺上民頗不安，可以介爲之。」 由是出爲始興太守。 介至任，宣佈威德，境內肅清。 七年，徵爲少府卿，尋加散騎常侍。 會侍中闕，選司舉王筠等四人，並不稱旨，高祖曰：「我門中久無此職，宜用蕭介爲之。」 介博物強識，應對左右，多所匡正，高祖甚重之。 遷都官尚書，每軍國大事，必先詢訪於介焉。 高祖謂朱异曰：「端右之材也。」 中大同二年，辭疾致事，高祖優詔不許。 終不肯起，乃遣謁者僕射魏祥就拜光祿大夫。
As a youth Jie was bright and far-seeing, with breadth of judgment; he ranged through the classics and histories and wrote with uncommon skill. At the close of Yongyuan in Qi he took his first post as assistant editor in the palace library. In the sixth year of Tianjian he was made crown prince groom. In the eighth year he was transferred to director of the ministry's bureau of metals. In the twelfth year he became director of guest affairs. He went out as magistrate of Wu and won a name for outstanding work. The Prince of Xiangdong heard of Jie and wished his company, and memorialized to have him brought in. In the third year of Putong he was at last made staff adviser to the Prince of Xiangdong. In the second year of Datong he was made supervising attendant of the yellow gate. In the second year of Datong the Prince of Wuling became governor of Yangzhou and made Jie chief steward of his household; Jie kept his post clean and the court spoke well of him. The Founding Emperor said to He Jingrong, "Xiao Jie is very poor; we might set him over a commandery." Jingrong made no reply; the Founding Emperor said, "Shixing commandery has lately lacked a capable governor, and the hill people are uneasy—Jie may go there." So he was sent out as administrator of Shixing. When Jie took up his post he proclaimed authority and virtue, and within the borders all was brought to order. In the seventh year he was recalled as minister steward and soon given concurrent appointment as attendant at large. When the post of attendant fell vacant the selection office put forward Wang Yun and three others; none suited the throne, and the Founding Emperor said, "Our house has long gone without this office—Xiao Jie should have it." Jie was encyclopedic and quick of recall; at the emperor's side he often set matters right, and the Founding Emperor held him in high regard. He was made minister of the court for state offices; whenever army or state faced a great decision, the emperor would first ask Jie. The Founding Emperor said to Zhu Yi, "Here is timber for the chief minister's chair." In the second year of Zhongdatong he asked to retire on grounds of illness; the Founding Emperor answered with a gracious edict that would not allow it. He still would not take up office, so the palace messenger and vice director Wei Xiang was sent to invest him as grand master for splendor.
23
太清中，侯景於渦陽敗走，入壽陽。 高祖敕防主韋默納之，介聞而上表諫曰：
In the Taqing troubles Hou Jing was beaten at Woyang and fled into Shouyang. The Founding Emperor ordered the defense chief Wei Mo to receive him; when Jie heard of it he submitted a memorial of remonstrance:
24
臣抱患私門，竊聞侯景以渦陽敗績，只馬歸命，陛下不悔前禍，復敕容納。 臣聞凶人之性不移，天下之惡一也。 昔呂布殺丁原以事董卓，終誅董而爲賊； 劉牢反王恭以歸晉，還背晉以構妖。 何者？ 狼子野心，終無馴狎之性； 養虎之喻，必見饑噬之禍。 侯景獸心之種，鳴鏑之類。 以凶狡之才，荷高歡翼長之遇，位忝台司，任居方伯； 然而高歡墳土未幹，卽還反噬。 逆力不逮，乃復逃死關西； 宇文不容，故復投身於我。 陛下前者所以不逆細流，正欲以屬國降胡以討匈奴，冀獲一戰之效耳。 今旣亡師失地，直是境上之匹夫。 陛下愛匹夫而棄與國之好，臣竊不取也。
Your servant lies ill at home, yet I have privately heard that Hou Jing, broken at Woyang, came with a single horse to surrender—and Your Majesty, unmindful of the earlier wound, again orders him taken in. I have heard that the nature of a wicked man never changes, and that evil under heaven is all of one kind. Long ago Lü Bu killed Ding Yuan to follow Dong Zhuo, then in the end killed Dong Zhuo and became a traitor in his turn; Liu Lao turned on Wang Gong to enter Jin's service, then betrayed Jin and raised rebellion. Why should this be? The heart of a wolf's whelp can never be gentled; the old warning about feeding a tiger must end in being eaten when hunger comes. Hou Jing belongs to the breed of beasts' hearts, to the kind that whinny at the arrow. With his savage cunning he enjoyed Gao Huan's favor until his wings were full-grown; his rank matched the Three Dukes and his charge lay over a frontier command; yet before the earth on Gao Huan's grave was dry he turned again to bite the hand that fed him. When his rebellion failed he fled for his life to the western passes; Yuwen would not keep him, so he cast himself upon us. Your Majesty earlier did not reject so small a stream precisely because you wished to use a surrendered barbarian of the Han to strike the Xiongnu, hoping for the fruit of a single battle. Now he has lost his army and his land and is nothing but a lone man on our border. Your Majesty would cherish this lone man and cast aside friendship with a whole state—your servant dares not approve.
25
若國家猶待其更鳴之晨，歲暮之效，臣竊惟侯景必非歲暮之臣。 棄鄉國如脫屣，背君親如遺芥，豈知遠慕聖德，爲江淮之純臣！ 事蹟顯然，無可致惑。 一隅尚其如此，觸類何可具陳？
If the court still waits for his cock-crow at dawn, his service at year's end, I venture to think Hou Jing will never be the man who brings a year to its close. He cast off his homeland as one casts off a shoe, abandoned ruler and kin as one throws away chaff—how should such a man know to admire sagely virtue from afar and become a loyal minister of the Huai and Jiang? The record is plain and leaves no room for doubt. If in one corner he is like this, how much more when every kind of deed is set forth in full?
26
臣朽老疾侵，不應輒幹朝政。 但楚囊將死，有城郢之忠； 衛魚臨亡，亦有屍諫之節。 臣忝爲宗室遺老，敢忘劉向之心？ 伏願天慈，少思危苦之語。
Your servant is worn with age and sickness and ought not rashly to meddle in the governance of the court. Yet when Chu Shenba was dying he still had the loyalty that would defend Ying for his state; when the fish Weizi faced death he too had the integrity to remonstrate with his own corpse. Your servant, though unworthy, am an elder of the imperial clan; how could I forget the heart of Liu Xiang? I bow and pray that Heaven's compassion may lend an ear to words of peril and hardship.
27
高祖省表歎息，卒不能用。
The Founding Emperor read the memorial, sighed, and in the end did not follow it.
28
介性高簡，少交遊，惟與族兄琛、從兄眎素及洽、從弟淑等文酒賞會，時人以比謝氏烏衣之遊。 初，高祖招延後進二十餘人，置酒賦詩。 臧盾以詩不成，罰酒一斗，盾飲盡，顏色不變，言笑自若； 介染翰便成，文無加點。 高祖兩美之曰：「臧盾之飲，蕭介之文，卽席之美也。」 年七十三，卒於家。
By nature Jie was lofty and reserved and kept few companions; only with his clansman Chen, his elder cousin's son Shisu, Qia, and his younger cousin's son Shu and others did he gather for wine and literary pleasure—men of the day compared them to the black-robed outings of the Xie clan. In the beginning the Founding Emperor gathered more than twenty rising talents, poured wine, and bade them write poems. Zang Dun could not complete his poem and was penalized a dou of wine; he drank it off without a change of face, chatting and laughing as though nothing had happened. Jie wet his brush and the piece was done on the spot, the prose flawless without a single added stroke. The Founding Emperor admired them both and said, "Zang Dun's capacity for wine and Xiao Jie's gift for prose are the splendor of this very feast." He was seventy-three when he died at home.
29
第三子允，初以兼散騎常侍聘魏，還爲太子中庶子，後至光祿大夫。
His third son Yun first went as acting palace attendant and regular cavalier on an embassy to Wei; recalled, he became junior tutor to the crown prince and in time reached Grand Master of Splendid Happiness.
30
洽字宏稱，介從父兄也。 父惠基，齊吏部尚書，有重名前世。
Qia, styled Hongcheng, was Jie's elder cousin on the father's side. His father Huibi had been Minister of Personnel in Qi and enjoyed great renown in the former dynasty.
31
洽幼敏寤，年七歲，誦《楚辭》略上口。 及長，好學博涉，亦善屬文。 齊永明中，爲國子生，舉明經。 起家著作佐郎，遷西中郎外兵參軍。 天監初，爲前軍鄱陽王主簿、尚書囗部郎，遷太子中舍人。 出爲南徐州治中，旣近畿重鎮，史數千人，前後居之者皆致巨富。 洽爲之，清身率職，饋遺一無所受，妻子不免饑寒。 還除司空從事中郎，爲建安內史，坐事免。 久之，起爲護軍長史、北中郎諮議參軍，遷太府卿、司徒臨川王司馬。 普通初，拜員外散騎常侍，兼御史中丞，以公事免。 頃之，爲通直散騎常侍。 洽少有才思，高祖令制同泰、大愛敬二寺刹下銘，其文甚美。 二年，遷散騎常侍。 出爲招遠將軍、臨海太守。 爲政清平，不尚威猛，民俗便之。 還拜司徒左長史，又敕撰《當塗堰碑》，辭亦贍麗。 六年，卒官，時年五十五。 有詔出舉哀，賻錢二萬，布五十匹。 集二十卷，行於世。
Qia was bright and precocious as a boy; at seven he had the Songs of Chu nearly memorized. As a man he loved study and read broadly, and wrote with real skill. Under Qi in the Yongming period he studied at the national university and was nominated for mastery of the classics. He entered service as assistant editor in the Secretariat, then moved to outer corps adjutant under the Western Central Command. When Heavenly Surveillance began he was registrar to the Prince of Poyang of the Forward Army and secretary in the Ministry of Revenue ([lacuna] bureau), then advanced to attendant in the crown prince's household. He was sent out as aide to the governor of Southern Xuzhou—a post hard by the capital in a great commandery, with thousands of clerks, and every predecessor had left it enormously wealthy. Qia served with integrity and led by example, refusing every gift that came his way, so that wife and children knew hunger and cold. Recalled, he became aide in the Ministry of Works and interior minister of Jian'an, but lost his post over a disciplinary matter. Long afterward he was made chief clerk of the Guard Army and advisory aide of the Northern Central Command, then rose to Minister of the Court for State Ceremonies and marshal to the Prince of Linchuan of the Secretariat. When Universal Harmony began he was named acting palace attendant and regular cavalier and concurrently censor-in-chief, then removed for an official offense. Shortly he became regular palace attendant and cavalier. Qia had been gifted with words from youth; the Founding Emperor charged him with the inscriptions under the reliquaries at Tongtai and Daaijing, and the writing was superb. In the second year he advanced to palace attendant and regular cavalier. He was sent out as General Who Wins the Distant and interior minister of Linhai. He governed with clarity and calm, shunning harsh methods, and the people took comfort in his rule. Recalled, he became chief clerk on the left of the Secretariat and was again charged with the Stele of the Dangtu Weir, the prose once more lush and fine. In the sixth year he died in post, at the age of fifty-five. The throne ordered mourning proclaimed; the funeral gift was twenty thousand cash and fifty bolts of cloth. He left twenty juan of writings in circulation.
32
褚球字仲寶，河南陽翟人。 高祖叔度，宋征虜將軍、雍州刺史； 祖曖，太宰外兵參軍； 父繢，太子舍人； 並尚宋公主。
Chu Qiu, styled Zhongbao, came from Yangzhai in Henan. His grandfather Shudu had been General Who Subdues the Barbarians and governor of Yongzhou in Song. His grandfather Ai had been outer corps adjutant to the Grand Preceptor. His father Hui had been an attendant in the crown prince's household. All three had taken princesses of Song in marriage.
33
球少孤貧，篤志好學，有才思。 宋建平王景素，元徽中誅滅，惟有一女得存。 其故吏何昌珝、王思遠聞球清立，以此女妻之，因爲之延譽。 仕齊，起家征虜行參軍，俄署法曹，遷右軍曲江公主簿。 出爲溧陽令，在縣清白，資公俸而已。 除平西主簿。
Qiu lost his parents early and knew poverty, yet he studied with single-minded devotion and had a gift for letters. Under Song, the Prince of Pingling, Jing Su, was put to death in the Yuanhui period; a single daughter alone was spared. His former retainers He Changyu and Wang Siyuan, hearing of Qiu's integrity, married this daughter to him and spread his name abroad. In Qi he began as acting adjutant on the staff of the General Who Subdues the Barbarians, soon held the law bureau in commission, and was moved to registrar to the Princess of Qujiang under the Right Army. He was sent out as magistrate of Liyang and governed with spotless integrity, content with his public stipend alone. He was appointed chief clerk to the Pacification of the West.
34
天監初，遷太子洗馬、散騎侍郎，兼中書通事舍人。 出爲建康令，母憂去職，以本官起之，固辭不拜。 服闋，除北中郎諮議參軍，俄遷中書郎，復兼中書通事舍人。 除雲騎將軍，累兼廷尉、光祿卿，舍人如故。 遷御史中丞。 球性公強，無所屈撓，在憲司甚稱職。 普通四年，出爲北中郎長史、南蘭陵太守； 入爲通直散騎常侍，領羽林監。 七年，遷太府卿，頃之，遷都官尚書。 中大同中，出爲仁威臨川王長史、江夏太守，以疾不赴職。 改授光祿大夫，未拜，復爲太府卿，領步兵校尉。 俄遷通直散騎常侍、秘書監，領著作。 遷司徒左長史，常侍、著作如故。 自魏孫禮、晉荀組以後，台佐加貂，始有球也。 尋出爲貞威將軍輕車河東王長史、南蘭陵太守。 入爲散騎常侍，領步兵。 尋表致仕，詔不許。 俄復拜光祿大夫，加給事中。 卒官，時年七十。 劉孺字孝稚，彭城安上里人也。 祖勔，宋司空忠昭公。 父悛，齊太常敬子。
When Heavenly Surveillance began he rose to groom of the crown prince and regular cavalier attendant, and concurrently master of audience in the Secretariat. He became magistrate of Jiankang; at his mother's death he resigned, and when the court tried to restore him to the same rank he refused outright. After mourning he became advisory aide of the Northern Central Command, then secretary in the Secretariat, again holding the post of master of audience. He was named General of Cloud Cavalry and in succession held Minister of Justice and Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, still keeping his post as master of audience. He was made censor-in-chief. Qiu was upright and unyielding by nature and bowed to no man; in the censorate he was reckoned exemplary. In the fourth year of Universal Harmony he was sent out as chief clerk of the Northern Central Command and interior minister of Southern Lanling. He returned to the capital as regular palace attendant and cavalier and superintendent of the Feathered Forest. In the seventh year he became Minister of the Court for State Ceremonies, and shortly afterward Minister of Justice. In the Zhongdatong period he was named chief clerk to the Prince of Linchuan of Benevolent Might and interior minister of Jiangxia, but illness kept him from the post. The appointment was changed to Grand Master of Splendid Happiness; before he took it up he was again Minister of the Court for State Ceremonies and colonel of the foot soldiers. Shortly he rose to regular palace attendant and cavalier and director of the Secretariat, holding concurrently the directorship of composition. He became chief clerk on the left of the Secretariat, still palace attendant and director of composition. Since Sun Li in Wei and Xun Zu in Jin, no Secretariat aide had worn the court ermine until Qiu. Before long he was chief clerk to the Prince of Hedong, General of Upright Might with the Light Chariot, and interior minister of Southern Lanling. He returned as palace attendant and regular cavalier and colonel of the foot soldiers. Shortly he asked leave to retire; the throne refused. Before long he was again Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with the added post of attendant. He died in post at the age of seventy. Liu Ru, styled Xiaozhi, came from Anshangli in Pengcheng. His grandfather Kan was Duke Zhongzhao, Minister of Works under Song. His father Juan was Grand Minister of Ceremonies in Qi and bore the posthumous name Jingzi.
35
孺幼聰敏，七歲能屬文。 年十四，居父喪，毀瘠骨立，宗黨咸異之。 服闋，叔父瑱爲義興郡，攜以之官，常置坐側，謂賓客曰：「此兒吾家之明珠也。」 旣長，美風采，性通和，雖家人不見其喜慍。 本州召迎主簿。
Ru was bright and sharp as a boy; at seven he could already write. At fourteen he mourned his father until he was skin and bone; kinsmen and neighbors were astonished. When mourning ended his uncle Zhen governed Yixing and brought him along, keeping him always at his side, and said to guests, "This child is the pearl of our clan." Grown handsome in bearing and even-tempered, even his own household never caught him in joy or anger. His home province called him to be registrar.
36
起家中軍法曹行參軍。 時鎮軍沈約聞其名，引爲主簿，常與遊宴賦詩，大爲約所嗟賞。 累遷太子舍人、中軍臨川王主簿、太子洗馬、尚書殿中郎。 出爲太末令，在縣有清績。 還除晉安王友，轉太子中舍人。
He entered service as acting adjutant in the law bureau of the Central Army. Shen Yue of the Pacification Army heard of him and made him chief clerk; they often feasted and wrote poems together, and Yue prized him highly. He advanced through attendant in the crown prince's household, chief clerk to the Prince of Linchuan of the Central Army, groom of the crown prince, and gentleman in the Audience Hall. He was magistrate of Taimo and governed the district with a clean record. Recalled, he became companion to the Prince of Jin'an, then attendant in the crown prince's household.
37
孺少好文章，性又敏速，嘗於御坐爲《李賦》，受詔便成，文不加點，高祖甚稱賞之。 後侍宴壽光殿，詔羣臣賦詩，時孺與張率並醉，未及成，高祖取孺手板題戲之曰：「張率東南美，劉孺雒陽才。 攬筆便應就，何事久遲回？」 其見親愛如此。
Ru loved letters from boyhood and wrote with speed; once before the throne he was ordered to compose a "Rhapsody on Li," finished on the spot without a single correction, and the Founding Emperor was lavish in praise. Later at a banquet in the Hall of Everlasting Light the emperor bade the ministers write poems; Ru and Zhang Shuai were both drunk and slow, so the Founding Emperor took Ru's tablet and wrote in play: Zhang Shuai, jewel of the south; Liu Ru, Luoyang's wit. Wet the brush and answer now—why hold back so long?" So dearly was he held.
38
轉中書郎，兼中書通事舍人。 頃之遷太子家令，餘如故。 出爲宣惠晉安王長史，領丹陽尹丞。 遷太子中庶子、尚書吏部郎。 出爲輕車湘東王長史，領會稽郡丞，公事免。 頃之，起爲王府記室散騎侍郎，兼光祿卿。 累遷少府卿、司徒左長史、御史中丞，號爲稱職。 大通二年，遷散騎常侍。 三年，遷左民尚書，領步兵校尉。 中大通四年，出爲仁威臨川王長史、江夏太守，加貞威將軍。 五年，爲寧遠將軍、司徒左長史，未拜，改爲都官尚書，領右軍將軍。 大同五年，守吏部尚書。 其年，出爲明威將軍、晉陵太守。 在郡和理，爲吏民所稱。 七年，入爲侍中，領右軍。 其年，復爲吏部尚書，以母憂去職。 居喪未期，以毀卒，時年五十九。 諡曰孝子。
He became secretary in the Secretariat and concurrently master of audience. Shortly he rose to steward of the crown prince's household, keeping his other offices. He was sent out as chief clerk to the Prince of Jin'an, General of Propagating Grace, and concurrently aide to the governor of Danyang. He advanced to junior tutor to the crown prince and secretary in the Ministry of Personnel. He was chief clerk to the Prince of Xiangdong with the Light Chariot and concurrently aide to the governor of Kuaiji, then removed for an official offense. Shortly he was made recorder in the prince's household and regular cavalier attendant, and concurrently Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. He advanced through Minister of the Court for State Treasuries, chief clerk on the left of the Secretariat, and censor-in-chief, and in each was reckoned fit for the post. In the second year of Great Communication he became palace attendant and regular cavalier. In the third year he rose to Minister of the Left for the People and colonel of the foot soldiers. In the fourth year of Middle Great Communication he was chief clerk to the Prince of Linchuan of Benevolent Might and interior minister of Jiangxia, with the added rank General of Upright Might. In the fifth year he was named General Who Pacifies the Distant and chief clerk on the left of the Secretariat; before taking up the post he was made Minister of Justice and colonel of the Right Army. In the fifth year of Great Unity he served as acting Minister of Personnel. The same year he was sent out as General of Illustrious Might and interior minister of Jinling. In the commandery he governed with harmony and order, and both clerks and common people spoke well of him. In the seventh year he returned to court as attendant and colonel of the Right Army. The same year he was again Minister of Personnel and resigned when his mother died. He had not finished the mourning period when grief killed him, at fifty-nine. After death he was given the posthumous name The Filial.
39
孺少與從兄苞、孝綽齊名。 苞早卒，孝綽數坐免黜，位並不高，惟孺貴顯。 有文集二十卷。
In youth Ru shared renown with his cousins Bao and Xiaochuo. Bao died early; Xiaochuo was dismissed again and again and never rose far—only Ru won wealth and high office. His collected writings ran to twenty juan.
40
子芻，著作郎，早卒。 孺二弟：覽、遵。
His son Chu was an editor in the Secretariat and died early. Ru's two younger brothers were Lan and Zun.
41
覽字孝智，十六通《老》、《易》。 歷官中書郎，以所生母憂，廬于墓。 再期，口不嚐鹽酪，冬止著單布。 家人患其不勝喪，中夜竊置炭於床下，覽因暖氣得睡，旣覺知之，號慟歐血。 高祖聞其有至性，數省視之。 服闋，除尚書左丞。 性聰敏，尚書令史七百人，一見並記名姓。 當官清正，無所私。 姊夫御史中丞褚湮、從兄吏部郎孝綽，在職頗通贓貨，覽劾奏，並免官。 孝綽怨之，嘗謂人曰：「犬齧行路，覽噬家人。」 出爲始興內史，治郡尤勵清節。 還復爲左丞，卒官。
Lan, styled Xiaozhi, at sixteen had mastered the Laozi and the Book of Changes. He rose to secretary in the Secretariat; at the death of the mother who bore him he dwelt in a hut beside her grave. For two full mourning cycles he never touched salt or dairy, and in winter wore nothing but a single layer of plain cloth. The household worried he would not survive the mourning; in the dead of night they stole charcoal under his couch. Lan slept at last in the warmth, and when he woke and knew what they had done, he cried out in anguish until blood came up with his sobs. When the Founding Emperor learned how deep his devotion ran, he came again and again to see him. After the mourning period he was made Left Assistant in the Secretariat. He was quick-witted by nature: of the Secretariat's seven hundred clerks, one meeting was enough for him to fix name and surname in memory. As an official he was scrupulously honest and took no private gain. His brother-in-law Chu Yan, the censor-in-chief, and his cousin Xiaochuo of the Ministry of Personnel had both taken bribes freely in office; Lan denounced them, and both lost their posts. Xiaochuo nursed a grievance and once told others, "Dogs snap at strangers in the street—Lan tears into his own family." He was sent out as interior minister of Shixing and ruled the commandery with uncommon devotion to clean government. Recalled, he again served as Left Assistant and died in that post.
42
賢從中庶，奄至殞逝，痛可言乎！ 其孝友淳深，立身貞固； 內含玉潤，外表瀾清。 美譽嘉聲，流于士友； 言行相符，終始如一。 文史該富，琬琰爲心； 辭章博贍，玄黃成采。 旣以鳴謙表性，又以難進自居，未嘗造請公卿，締交榮利。 是以新遝莫之舉，社武弗之知。 自阮放之官，野王之職，棲遲門下，已逾五載； 同僚已陟，後進多升，而怡然清靜，不以少多爲念。 確爾之志，亦何易得？ 西河觀寶，東江獨步，書籍所載，必不是過。
The worthy attendant of the crown prince, gone in an instant—how can grief be spoken! Filial and fraternal to the bone, upright in the conduct of his life; within he shone like polished jade, without he stood clear as still water. Praise and fair fame ran among scholars and friends; what he said and what he did were one; beginning to end, he never wavered. He was stocked with letters and histories; fine jade was his inward standard; his essays and poems were rich and ample; black and yellow—the arts themselves—were his palette. He wore modesty as his nature and made a point of not pushing for promotion; he never called on powerful ministers or courted profit and rank. So the newly come did not put his name forward, and She Wu never noticed him. From the time of Ruan Fang's appointment and the King of Ye's office, he had waited at the threshold more than five years; men who had entered with him had climbed, and many juniors had risen, yet he stayed serene and unstirred, never counting what he lacked against what others gained. A will like his—where is its like to be found! To gaze on treasures west of the river, to walk alone east of the Yangzi—what the histories record cannot have been wrong about him.
43
吾昔在漢南，連翩書記，及忝硃方，從容坐首。 良辰美景，清風月夜，鷁舟乍動，硃鷺徐鳴，未嘗一日而不追隨，一時而不會遇。 酒蘭耳熱，言志賦詩，校覆忠賢，榷揚文史，益者三友，此實其人。 及弘道下邑，未申善政，而能使民結去思，野多馴雉，此亦威鳳一羽，足以驗其五德。 比在春坊，載獲申晤，博望無通賓之務，司成多節文之科。 所賴故人，時相媲偶； 而此子溘然，實可嗟痛。 「惟與善人」，此爲虛說； 天之報施，豈若此乎！ 想卿痛悼之誠，亦當何已。 往矣奈何，投筆惻愴。
In years past I was in Han'nan and our correspondence never ceased; when I was honored with Zhufang, you took the seat of honor at my side. Bright seasons and beautiful vistas, clear breezes and moonlit nights—when the painted boat moved or the scarlet bird sang, there was never a day we did not keep company, never an hour we did not meet. Cups empty and hearts warmed, we spoke our aims in poetry, sifted the loyal and good, and lifted up literature and history—the threefold friend of the sage: that was truly this man. Sent to a small county to carry the teaching forward, he had little time to govern well, yet the people mourned his going and tame pheasants filled the wilds—one pinion of the royal bird, enough to show all five of its virtues. Of late in the Eastern Palace we were able to meet once more; the Broad View had no duty of entertaining guests, and the Director of Studies was hemmed in by ceremony. I depended on old companions to keep me company now and then; and now this man is gone—how bitter the pain. "Heaven helps the good man"—so much empty doctrine; can Heaven's reward truly work like this! I know your sorrow must be beyond words as well. He is gone—what is there to say; I set down the brush in grief.
44
吾昨欲爲志銘，並爲撰集。 吾之劣薄，其生也不能揄揚吹歔，使得騁其才用，今者爲銘爲集，何益旣往？ 故爲痛惜之情，不能已已耳。
Only yesterday I meant to compose his epitaph and gather his writings. My own poverty of gift—while he lived I could not sing him aloud so his talent might show; what use now to write epitaph and anthology for what is already gone? So this ache of loss will not leave me.
45
劉潛字孝儀，秘書監孝綽弟也。 幼孤，與兄弟相勵勤學，並工屬文。 孝綽常曰「三筆六詩」，三卽孝儀，六孝威也。 天監五年，舉秀才。 起家鎮右始興王法曹行參軍，隨府益州，兼記室。 王入爲中撫軍，轉主簿，遷尚書殿中郎。 敕令制《雍州平等金像碑》，文甚宏麗。 晉安王綱出鎮襄陽，引爲安北功曹史，以母憂去職。 王立爲皇太子，孝儀服闋，仍補洗馬，遷中舍人。 出爲戎昭將軍、陽羨令，甚有稱績，擢爲建康令。 大同三年，遷中書郎，以公事左遷安西諮議參軍，兼散騎常侍。 使魏還，復除中書郎。 頃之，權兼司徒右長史，又兼寧遠長史、行彭城琅邪二郡事。 累遷尚書左丞，兼御史中丞。 在職彈糾無所顧望，當時稱之。 十年，出爲伏波將軍、臨海太守。 是時政網疏闊，百姓多不遵禁。 孝儀下車，宣示條制，勵精綏撫，境內翕然，風俗大革。 中大同元年，入守都官尚書。 太清元年，出爲明威將軍、豫章內史。 二年，侯景寇京邑，孝儀遣子勵帥郡兵三千人，隨前衡州刺史韋粲入援。 三年，宮城不守，孝儀爲前歷陽太守莊鐵所逼，失郡。 大寶元年，病卒，時年六十七。
Liu Qian, styled Xiaoyi, was the younger brother of Secretariat Director Liu Xiaochuo. Left fatherless early, he and his brothers spurred one another to study and all wrote with skill. Xiaochuo liked to say "three brushes and six poems": the three meant Xiaoyi, the six meant Xiaowei. In the fifth year of Heavenly Surveillance he was presented as a cultivated talent. He entered service as acting law aide to the Prince of Shixing of the Right Forward Army, followed the prince to Yizhou, and also served as recorder. When the prince came in as Central General Who Pacifies the Barbarians, Qian became his chief clerk, then advanced to secretary in the Hall of Audience. Ordered to draft the inscription for the Yongzhou equal-weight golden-image stele, he produced a text of great splendor. When Prince Gang of Jin'an went out to govern Xiangyang, Qian was named recorder on the Pacifier of the North's staff and resigned for his mother's mourning. When the prince became crown prince, Xiaoyi, mourning finished, returned as junior mentor and rose to palace secretary. He was sent out as General of Martial Proclamation and magistrate of Yangxian, governed with real distinction, and was promoted to magistrate of Jiankang. In the third year of Great Unity he became secretary in the Secretariat; a disciplinary matter lowered him to advisory aide of the Pacifier of the West with concurrent regular palace attendant. Back from an embassy to Wei, he again held the post of secretary in the Secretariat. Shortly he served concurrently as right chief clerk of the Secretariat, then also as acting chief clerk of Pacifying the Distant and acting administrator of Pengcheng and Langye. He advanced in turn to Left Assistant in the Secretariat and concurrently Censor-in-Chief. In that post he censured without fear of whom he struck, and his contemporaries honored him for it. In the tenth year he was sent out as General Who Subdues Waves and administrator of Linhai. Government was lax then, and many among the people ignored the law. Xiaoyi, on arriving, published the statutes and labored to comfort the people; the district settled at once, and manners were thoroughly changed. In the first year of Middle Great Unity he returned to court as Minister of Punishments. In the first year of Great Clarity he was made General of Illustrious Might and interior minister of Yuzhang. In the second year Hou Jing attacked the capital; Xiaoyi sent his son Li with three thousand troops of the commandery to join the former forward colonel and governor of Hengzhou, Wei Can, in relief. In the third year the palace fell; Xiaoyi was driven out by Zhuang Tie, former administrator of Liyang, and lost his post. In the first year of Great Treasure he died of illness at sixty-seven.
46
孝儀爲人寬厚，內行尤篤。 第二兄孝能早卒，孝儀事寡嫂甚謹，家內巨細，必先諮決。 與妻子朝夕供事，未嘗失禮。 世以此稱之。 有文集二十卷，行於世。
Xiaoyi was open-handed by nature and especially strict in family duty. His second brother Xiaoneng died young; Xiaoyi tended his widowed sister-in-law with deep respect, and no matter in the house, large or small, was settled without her counsel. He and his wife attended her morning and evening without once failing in propriety. His age spoke well of him for it. His collected writings in twenty juan circulated in his time.
47
第五弟孝勝，歷官邵陵王法曹、湘東王安西主簿記室、尚書左丞。 出爲信義太守，公事免。 久之，復爲尚書右丞，兼散騎常侍。 聘魏還，爲安西武陵王紀長史、蜀郡太守。 太清中，侯景陷京師，紀僭號於蜀，以孝勝爲尚書僕射。 承聖中，隨紀出峽口，兵敗，被執下獄。 世祖尋宥之，起爲司徒右長史。
His fifth brother Xiaosheng served as law aide to the Prince of Shaoling, recorder to the Prince of Xiangdong of the Pacifier of the West, and Left Assistant in the Secretariat. He was sent out as administrator of Xinyi and removed for a disciplinary offense. Long afterward he again became Right Assistant in the Secretariat and concurrently regular palace attendant. Back from an embassy to Wei he was chief clerk to Prince Ji of Wuling, Pacifier of the West, and administrator of Shujun. During Great Clarity, after Hou Jing seized the capital, Ji set himself up in Shu and made Xiaosheng Minister of the Left. In the Chengsheng period he followed Ji through the gorge; defeated, he was taken and cast into prison. The Founding Emperor soon forgave him and made him right chief clerk of the Secretariat.
48
第六弟孝威，初爲安北晉安王法曹，轉主簿，以母憂去職。 服闋，除太子洗馬，累遷中舍人、庶子、率更令，並掌管記。 大同九年，白雀集東宮，孝威上頌，其辭甚美。 太清中，遷中庶子，兼通事舍人。 及侯景寇亂，孝威於圍城得出，隨司州刺史柳仲禮西上，至安陸，遇疾卒。
His sixth brother Xiaowei began as law aide to the Prince of Jin'an of the Pacifier of the North, then became chief clerk, and resigned for his mother's mourning. After mourning he was junior mentor to the crown prince and advanced through palace secretary, aide to the heir apparent, and director of the heir apparent's household, always keeping the records. In the ninth year of Great Unity a white sparrow settled in the Eastern Palace; Xiaowei presented a hymn of praise, beautifully wrought. In Great Clarity he rose to attendant of the crown prince and concurrently master of guests. When Hou Jing rebelled, Xiaowei got out of the encircled capital and followed Liu Zhongli, governor of Sizhou, west; at Anlu he sickened and died.
49
第七弟孝先，武陵王法曹、主簿。 王遷益州，隨府轉安西記室。 承聖中，與兄孝勝俱隨紀軍出峽口，兵敗，至江陵，世祖以爲黃門侍郎，遷侍中。 兄弟並善五言詩，見重於世。 文集值亂，今不具存。
His seventh brother Xiaoxian was law aide and chief clerk to the Prince of Wuling. When the prince moved to Yizhou, he followed the staff and became recorder to the Pacifier of the West. In Chengsheng he and Xiaosheng both followed Ji's army through the gorge; beaten, they came to Jiangling, and the Founding Emperor made Xiaoxian Gentleman of the Yellow Gates, then palace attendant. All the brothers excelled at five-character poetry and were held in honor by their age. Their collections were destroyed in the chaos and no longer survive whole.
50
殷芸字灌蔬，陳郡長平人。 性倜儻，不拘細行。 然不妄交遊，門無雜客。 勵精勤學，博洽羣書。 幼而廬江何憲見之，深相歎賞。 永明中，爲宜都王行參軍。 天監初，爲西中郎主簿、後軍臨川王記室。 七年，遷通直散騎侍郎，兼中書通事舍人。 十年，除通直散騎侍郎，兼尚書左丞，又兼中書舍人，遷國子博士、昭明太子侍讀、西中郎豫章王長史，領丹陽尹丞，累遷通直散騎常侍、秘書監、司徒左長史。 普通六年，直東宮學士省。 大通三年卒，時年五十九。
Yin Yun, styled Guanshu, came from Changping in Chen commandery. He was bold and unconventional by nature and cared little for petty rules. Yet he did not trade friendship cheaply, and no casual guest entered his door. He labored at learning and read widely across the canon. In childhood he was seen by He Xian of Lujiang, who marveled at him aloud. Under Qi in the Yongming period he served as acting aide to the Prince of Yidu. When Heavenly Surveillance began he was chief clerk to the Western Central Command and recorder to the Prince of Linchuan of the Rear Army. In the seventh year he rose to regular palace attendant and master of guests in the Secretariat. In the tenth year he became regular palace attendant and concurrently Left Assistant and secretary in the Secretariat, then erudite of the national university, reader to Crown Prince Zhaoming, chief clerk to the Prince of Yuzhang of the Western Central Command with acting charge of Danyang, and finally regular palace attendant, Secretariat Director, and left chief clerk of the Secretariat. In the sixth year of Universal Harmony he was in the Eastern Palace Scholars' Office. In the third year of Great Communication he died at fifty-nine.
51
蕭幾字德玄，齊曲江公遙欣子也。 年十歲，能屬文。 早孤，有弟九人，並皆稚小，幾恩愛篤睦，聞於朝野。 性溫和，與物無競，清貧自立。 好學，善草隸書。 湘州刺史楊公則，曲江之故吏也。 每見幾，謂人曰：「康公此子，可謂桓靈寶出。」 及公則卒，幾爲之誄，時年十五，沈約見而奇之，謂其舅蔡撙曰：「昨見賢甥楊平南誄文，不減希逸之作，始驗康公積善之慶。」 釋褐著作佐郎、廬陵王文學、尚書殿中郎、太子舍人、掌管記，遷庶子、中書侍郎、尚書左丞。 末年，專尚釋教。 爲新安太守，郡多山水，特其所好，適性遊履，遂爲之記。 卒於官。
Xiao Ji, styled Dexuan, was the son of Duke Yaoxin of Qujiang under Qi. At ten he could already write prose. Fatherless while young, he had nine younger brothers, all infants; Ji's love among them was warm and close, and word of it reached court and countryside. Gentle by nature, he strove with no one and lived upright in honest poverty. He loved study and wrote well in cursive and clerical hands. Yang Gongze, governor of Xiangzhou, had long served the house of Qujiang. Whenever he met Ji he would tell others, "Duke Kang's son is truly a Huan Lingbao come again." When Gongze died, Ji composed his funeral elegy at fifteen. Shen Yue read it with wonder and said to his uncle Cai Bo, "Yesterday I saw your worthy nephew's dirge for Yang, Pacifier of the South—not a step below Xiyi's writing; here is the first sign of Duke Kang's stored grace." After his first office he rose through Gentleman of the Palace Library, literary aide to the Prince of Luling, Secretariat gentleman in the palace bureau, crown prince attendant, and keeper of the records, then junior tutor, Secretariat gentleman, and left assistant in the Secretariat. In his last years he gave himself wholly to Buddhist teaching. Made magistrate of Xin'an, whose hills and streams were his special delight, he roamed at ease and composed a record of the commandery. He died while holding office.
52
子爲，字元專，亦有文才。 仕至太子舍人，永康令。
His son Wei, styled Yuanzhuan, likewise showed a gift for letters. He served as crown prince attendant and magistrate of Yongkang.
53
史臣曰：王規之徒，俱著名譽，旣逢休運，才用各展，美矣。 蕭洽《當塗》之制，見偉辭人； 劉孝儀兄弟，並以文章顯。 君子知梁代之有人焉。 [1]
The historian writes: Men such as Wang Gui all bore famous names; favored by a prosperous reign, each unfolded his abilities—admirable indeed. Xiao Qia's "On the Royal Road" reveals a writer of mighty eloquence; and the brothers Liu Xiaoyi and the others all rose to notice through their writing. A cultivated reader sees that the Liang had men of real stature. Editorial footnote marker in the source text.
54
全文以中華書局、一九七三年五月版《梁書》爲本校。
The full text has been collated against the Zhonghua Shuju edition of the Book of Liang, May 1973.