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南齊書卷三十三‧列傳第十四
Book of the Southern Qi, Volume 33 — Biography 14
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王僧虔張緒
Wang Sengqian; Zhang Xu
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王僧虔，琅邪臨沂人也。 祖珣，晉司徒。 伯父太保弘，宋元嘉世爲宰輔。 賔客疑所諱，弘曰：「身家諱與蘇子高同。」 父曇首，右光祿大夫。 曇首兄弟集會諸子孫，弘子僧達下地跳戲，僧虔年數歲，獨正坐採蠟燭珠爲鳳凰。 弘曰：「此兒終當爲長者。」
Wang Sengqian was a man of Linyi in Langye. His grandfather Xun had been grand steward under the Jin. His father's elder brother, Grand Tutor Hong, in Liu Song's Yuanjia reign had served as chief minister. Guests were unsure which names to avoid; Hong said: 「The taboo of my person and household is the same as Su Zigao's. 」His father Tanshou was right grand master for luminous offerings. When Tanshou's brothers gathered their sons and grandsons, Hong's son Sengda leapt down to romp, while Sengqian, only a few years old, sat upright alone shaping a phoenix from wax-candle beads. Hong said: 「This boy will surely become the clan's elder one day.」
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僧虔弱冠，弘厚，善隷書。 宋文帝見其書素扇，歎曰：「非唯迹逾子敬，方當器雅過之。」 除祕書郎，太子舍人。 退默少交接，與袁淑、謝莊善。 轉義陽王文學，太子洗馬，遷司徒左西屬。
Coming of age, Sengqian was thickset and excelled at clerical script. Emperor Wen of Song saw his writing on a plain fan and sighed: 「Not only do his strokes surpass Zijing's—his refined bearing will soon outshine him as well. 」He was named secretary gentleman and aide to the crown prince. Withdrawn and sparing in company, he kept few ties abroad; he was close to Yuan Shu and Xie Zhuang. He was moved to literary aide to Prince of Yiyang, wash for the crown prince, then to left western aide on the grand steward's staff.
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兄僧綽，爲太初所害，親賔咸勸僧虔逃。 僧虔涕泣曰：「吾兄奉國以忠貞，撫我以慈愛，今日之事，苦不見及耳。 若同歸九泉，猶羽化也。」 孝武初，出爲武陵太守。 兄子儉於中途得病，僧虔爲廢寢食。 同行客慰喻之。 僧虔曰：「昔馬援處兒姪之閒一情不異，鄧攸於弟子更逾所生，吾實懷其心，誠未異古。 亡兄之胤，不宜忽諸。 若此兒不救，便當回舟謝職，無復遊宦之興矣。」 還爲中書郎，轉黃門郎，太子中庶子。
His elder brother Sengchuo was slain in the Taichu reign; kin and guests alike urged Sengqian to flee. Sengqian wept and said: 「My brother served the state with loyalty and raised me with kindness—in what has happened today, I bitterly wish I had not been spared. If we could go together to the nine springs, it would still be like shedding the mortal shell. At the opening of Emperor Xiaowu's reign he went out as administrator of Wuling. His brother's son Jian took ill on the road midway; Sengqian gave up sleep and meals for his sake. Fellow travelers on the road comforted and urged him on. Sengqian said: 「Long ago Ma Yuan made no distinction of feeling between sons and nephews; Deng You toward his brother's son went even beyond what he owed his own children—I hold that same heart and am in no way unlike the ancients. My dead brother's heir must not be cast aside. If this boy cannot be saved, I shall turn the boat back and resign my post; I will have no further heart for roaming in office. 」He returned and became gentleman of the secretariat, then gentleman of the yellow gate and junior mentor to the crown prince.
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孝武欲擅書名，僧虔不敢顯迹。 大明世，常用掘筆書，以此見容。 出爲豫章王子尚撫軍長史，遷散騎常侍，復爲新安王子鸞北中郎長史、南東海太守，行南徐州事，二蕃皆帝愛子也。
Emperor Xiaowu wished to keep the fame of calligraphy to himself; Sengqian did not dare show his hand openly. In the Daming era he commonly wrote with a stub brush, and by that was spared. He went out as chief clerk on Prince of Yuzhang Zishang's pacification staff, was moved to attendant at leisure, then again became chief clerk on Prince of Xin'an Ziluan's northern central commandant staff and administrator of Southern Donghai, with charge of southern Xuzhou—both posts were the emperor's beloved sons.
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尋遷豫章內史。 入爲侍中，遷御史中丞，領驍騎將軍。 甲族向來多不居憲臺，王氏以分枝居烏衣者，位官微減，僧虔爲此官，乃曰：「此是烏衣諸郎坐處，我亦可試爲耳。」 復爲侍中，領屯騎校尉。 泰始中，出爲輔國將軍、吳興太守，秩中二千石。 王獻之善書，爲吳興郡，及僧虔工書，又爲郡，論者稱之。
Before long he was moved to interior administrator of Yuzhang. He entered court as palace attendant, was moved to director of the censorate, and also led the fierce-cavalry general. Great clans had long shunned the censor's bench; among the Wangs, the branch that lived on Wuyi Lane had seen their offices slightly diminished—when Sengqian took the post he said: 「This is where the gentlemen of Wuyi Lane sit; I too may try it awhile. 」He was again palace attendant and also led the colonel of the encampment cavalry. In the Taishi era he went out as general who assists the state and administrator of Wuxing, with stipend at middle two-thousand-dan rank. Wang Xianzhi was skilled at calligraphy and had held Wu commandery; when Sengqian too mastered the brush and again held the commandery, talkers paired their names.
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徙爲會稽太守，秩中二千石，將軍如故。 中書舍人阮佃夫家在會稽，請假東歸。 客勸僧虔以佃夫要倖，宜加禮接。 僧虔曰：「我立身有素，豈能曲意此輩。 彼若見惡，當拂衣去耳。」 佃夫言於宋明帝，使御史中丞孫敻奏：「僧虔前莅吳興，多有謬命，檢到郡至遷，凡用功曹五官主簿至二禮吏署三傳及度與弟子，合四百四十八人。 又聽民何係先等一百十家爲舊門。 委州檢削。」 坐免官。
He was transferred to administrator of Kuaiji, stipend at middle two-thousand-dan rank, his generalship unchanged. Palace interior retainer Ruan Tianfu's family was in Kuaiji; he asked leave to travel east and return home. Guests urged Sengqian that Tianfu stood in the emperor's favor and that he ought to treat him with added ceremony. Sengqian said: 「I have long stood on my own footing—how could I bend my will to such people? If they take offense, I shall only shake out my robes and go. 」Tianfu spoke to Emperor Ming of Song and had censorate director Sun Que impeach him: 「When Sengqian previously governed Wuxing he issued many wrongful appointments; from his arrival until his transfer, in all he placed merit clerks, five-offices chief recorders, two-rites clerks' transmission students, and quota disciples—448 persons in total. He also allowed the commoner He Xixian and 110 households to be registered as old eminent families. Refer the matter to the province for verification and reduction. He was convicted and removed from office.
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尋以白衣兼侍中，出監吳郡太守，遷使持節、都督湘州諸軍事、建武將軍、行湘州事，仍轉輔國將軍，湘州刺史。 所在以寬惠著稱。 巴峽流民多在湘土，僧虔表割益陽、羅、湘西三縣緣江民立湘陰縣，從之。
Before long, in plain dress he concurrently served as palace attendant, went out to supervise the administrator of Wu commandery, was moved to bearer of the staff as supervisor of military affairs for Xiang, general who establishes might, with charge of Xiang affairs, then to general who assists the state and inspector of Xiang. In every post he was known for lenience and kindness. Displaced people from Ba Gorge were numerous in Xiang territory; Sengqian memorialized to cut from Yiyang, Luo, and Xiangxi the river-bank households of three counties and establish Xiangyin county—the emperor approved.
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元徽中，遷吏部尚書。 高平檀珪罷沅南令，僧虔以爲征北板行參軍。 訴僧虔求祿不得，與僧虔書曰：「五常之始，文武爲先，文則經緯天地，武則撥亂定國。 僕一門雖謝文通，乃忝武達。 羣從姑叔，三媾帝室，祖兄二世，糜軀奉國，而致子姪餓死草壤。 去冬今春，頻荷二敕，旣無中人，屢見蹉奪。 經涉五朔，踰歷四晦，書牘十二，接覲六七，遂不荷潤，反更曝鰓。 九流繩平，自不宜獨苦一物，蟬腹龜腸，爲日已久。 飢虎能嚇，人遽與肉； 餓麟不噬，誰爲落毛。 去冬乞豫章丞，爲馬超所爭； 今春蒙敕南昌縣，爲史偃所奪。 二子勳蔭人才，有何見勝。 若以貧富相奪，則分受不如。 身雖孤微，百世國士，姻媾位宦，亦不後物。 尚書同堂姊爲江夏王妃，檀珪同堂姑爲南譙王妃； 尚書婦是江夏王女，檀珪祖姑嬪長沙景王； 尚書伯爲江州，檀珪祖亦爲江州； 尚書從兄出身爲後軍參軍，檀珪父釋褐亦爲中軍參軍。 僕於尚書，人地本懸，至於婚宦，不肯殊絕。 今通塞雖異，猶忝氣類，尚書何事乃爾見苦？ 泰始之初，八表同逆，一門二世，粉骨衞主，殊勳異績，已不能甄，常階舊途，復見侵抑。」 僧虔報書曰：「征北板比歲處遇小優，殷主簿從此府入崇禮，何儀曹卽代殷，亦不見訴爲苦。 足下積屈，一朝超升，政自小難。 泰始初勤苦十年，自未見其賞，而頓就求稱，亦何可遂。 吾與足下素無怨憾，何以相侵苦，直是意有佐佑耳。」 珪又書曰：「昔荀公達漢之功臣，晉武帝方爵其玄孫。 夏侯惇魏氏勳佐，金德初融，亦始就甄顯，方賞其孫，封樹近族。 羊叔子以晉泰始中建策伐吳，至咸寧末，方加褒寵，封其兄子。 卞望之以咸和初殞身國難，至興寧末，方崇禮秩，官其子孫。 蜀郡主簿田混，黃初末死故君之難，咸康中方擢其子孫。 似不以世代遠而被棄，年世疏而見遺。 檀珪百罹六極，造化罕比，五喪停露，百口轉命，存亡披迫，本希小祿，無意階榮。 自古以來有沐食侯，近代有王官。 府佐非沐食之職，參軍非王官之謂。 質非匏瓜，實羞空懸。 殷、何二生，或是府主情味，或是朝廷意旨，豈與悠悠之人同口而語。 使僕就此職，尚書能以郎見轉不？ 若使日得五升祿，則不恥執鞭。」 僧虔乃用爲安城郡丞。 珪，宋安南將軍韶孫也。
In the Yuanhui era he was moved to director of the ministry of personnel. Tan Gui of Gaoping had left office as administrator of Yuannan; Sengqian made him acting aide on the eastern-strike staff. Gui complained that Sengqian would not grant him salary and wrote to him: 「At the founding of the five constants, wen and wu stand foremost—wen threads heaven and earth together; wu quells disorder and settles the realm. Though my household may have fallen short in literary attainment, we are not unworthy in martial eminence. Among the clan's paternal uncles, three marriages joined the imperial house; grandfather and elder brother for two generations gave their flesh to serve the state—yet it brought sons and nephews to starve and die on the open field. Last winter and again this spring I received two imperial edicts, yet without a broker at court my appointments were seized again and again. Five months and four month-ends have passed; I have sent twelve letters and gained six or seven audiences — yet no kindness came, and I am left more destitute than before. When all walks of life are judged by one measure, a single man should not bear the whole burden; I have been hollow with hunger for a very long time. A starving tiger only has to snarl and men rush to feed it meat; a starving qilin will not bite, and no one will even pluck its fallen feathers. Last winter I asked for the assistant magistracy of Yuzhang and lost the post to Ma Chao; this spring I was granted Nanchang county magistrate and had it taken by Shi Yan. Those two men inherit merit and office — in what way are they my betters? If posts are handed out according to wealth and poverty, then by rights of inheritance I am the poorer man. Humble as I am, my house for generations has produced men who served the state; in marriage alliances and official standing I am not beneath others. Your paternal cousin by marriage was Princess of Jiangxia; my own paternal aunt held the same rank as Princess of Nanqiao; your wife is a daughter of the Prince of Jiangxia; my great-aunt was consort to Prince Jing of Changsha; your uncle served as inspector of Jiangzhou, and my grandfather held the same post; your cousin first took office as staff officer on the rear-army command; when my father left the academy he too became staff officer on the central-army command. Between us, I know, birth and standing were always far apart — yet in marriage and rank I should not have been cut off altogether. Today our fortunes differ, but we are still of the same kin. Minister, why must you treat me with such bitterness? At the start of the Taishi era the empire revolted on every side; two generations of my house shattered their bones in the sovereign's defense — yet such service could not win its due reward, and on the old ladder of promotion I am pushed down again. 」Sengqian wrote back: 「In recent years the Pacify-the-North staff has been treated somewhat more generously. Registrar Yin left this office for Chongli, and Master of Ceremony He replaced him at once — yet Yin never complained that he had suffered. You have been wronged for years; to rise in a single morning is bound to feel hard. From the beginning of Taishi you toiled bitterly for ten years without seeing reward; to demand a title all at once — how can that be allowed? You and I have never borne each other ill will — why this mutual harassment? It is only that favor follows preference. 」Gui wrote again: 「Long ago Xun Yu was a pillar of the Han; only under Emperor Wu of Jin was his great-grandson ennobled. Xiahou Dun was a founding aide of Wei; when the Jin first took the throne, his house was only then singled out for honor, his grandson rewarded and near kin enfeoffed. Yang Hu at the opening of Jin proposed the campaign against Wu; only at the end of the Xiankeng era was his merit rewarded, when his brother's son was enfeoffed. Bian Hu perished for the state at the start of the Xiankang era; only at the end of Xingning were rites and rank restored to his descendants. Tian Hun, registrar of Shu commandery, died for his fallen lord at the end of the Huangchu era; only midway through Xiankang were his descendants raised to office. Merit, it seems, is not cast aside because generations are distant, nor forgotten because years have passed. Tan Gui has known every extremity of fortune; heaven and earth offer few parallels. Five dead lie unburied, a hundred mouths hang on his breath; pressed between life and death, he asked only a modest stipend and never sought glory. Since antiquity there have been marquises who lived on bath-grant income; in recent times there are palace attendants who draw stipends from court. A staff aide is no salaried fief post, and a staff officer is no court sinecure. I am no ornamental gourd hung out to dry — yet that is exactly the shame I live in. Yin and He may answer to the prince's fancy or the court's will — how can they be named in the same breath as men like me? If you force me into this post, will you not at least advance me to a palace gentleman's rank? Give me five sheng of grain a day and I would not be ashamed to tend horses at your gate. 」Sengqian then appointed him assistant magistrate of Ancheng commandery. Gui was grandson of Shao, Pacify-South general of Song.
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僧虔尋加散騎常侍，轉右僕射。 昇明元年，遷尚書僕射，尋轉中書令，左僕射，二年，爲尚書令。 僧虔好文史，解音律，以朝廷禮樂多違正典，民閒競造新聲雜曲，時太祖輔政，僧虔上表曰：「夫懸鍾之器，以雅爲用； 凱容之禮，八佾爲儀。 今總章羽佾，音服舛異。 又歌鍾一肆，克諧女樂，以歌爲務，非雅器也。 大明中，卽以宮懸合和《鞞》、《拂》，節數雖會，慮乖《雅》體，將來知音，或譏聖世。 若謂鍾舞已諧，重違成憲，更立歌鍾，不參舊例。 四縣所奏，謹依《雅》條，卽義沿理。 如或可附。 又今之清商，實由銅爵，三祖風流，遺音盈耳，京、洛相高，江左彌貴。 諒以金石干羽，事絕私室，桑、濮、鄭、衞，訓隔紳冕，中庸和雅，莫復於斯。 而情變聽移，稍復銷落，十數年閒，亡者將半。 自頃家競新哇，人尚謠俗，務在噍殺，不顧音紀，流宕無崖，未知所極，排斥正曲，崇長煩淫。 士有等差，無故不可去樂； 禮有攸序，長幼不可共聞。 故喧醜之制，日盛於里； 風味之響，獨盡於衣冠。 宜命有司，務懃功課，緝理遺逸，迭相開曉，所經漏忘，悉加補綴。 曲全者祿厚，藝妙者位優。 利以動之，則人思刻厲。 反本還源，庶可跂踵。」 事見納。
Sengqian was soon made irregular attendant of the cavalry and then right vice director. In the first year of Shengming he was made vice director of the ministry of state, then directorate of the palace and left vice director; in the second year he became director of the ministry of state. Sengqian loved letters and history and understood music. Because court ritual and music often strayed from the canon while the people rushed to invent new airs, and with the founding emperor then assisting government, Sengqian submitted a memorial: 「Suspended bells are instruments of the elegant style; the Rites of Triumphant Bearing take the eight ranks of dancers as their measure. Today the dancers of Zongzhang in feathered costume differ in both music and dress. Also, a full set of chiming bells has been tuned to female entertainers and made to serve song — no instrument of the elegant style. In the Daming era the court suspended bells were set to accompany the Shield and Flywhisk dances; though the beats align, I fear the spirit of the Ya music is lost, and later masters of tone may laugh at our age. If the court holds that bells and dance are already harmonized and will not break established statutes, then set up separate song-bells and keep them outside the old pattern. Let what the four districts perform follow the rules of the Ya music in strict accord — that accords with both ritual and reason. Perhaps this may be adopted. As for today's Pure Shang melodies, they descend from the Bronze Bird Terrace; the elegant music of the three founders still rings in men's ears, prized in the northern capitals and treasured all the more in the south. Stone bells and feathered pipes belong not to private halls; the music of Mulberry, Pu, Zheng, and Wei was barred from court by the sages; nowhere should refined harmony be restored more than here. Yet as taste changes and hearing shifts, it fades away; within a dozen years nearly half will be gone. Lately every household vies in vulgar novelty and every man chases street ballads, caring only for shrill and fractured tones and not for musical law. The fashion drifts without limit, repels the canonical airs, and exalts what is elaborate and licentious. Men of rank stand in their grades; without good cause they must not abandon music; ritual has its sequence; what the elder hears must not be shared with the younger. So the vulgar and clamorous pieces grow louder in the lanes day by day; while what is fine in flavor lingers only among the gentry in cap and gown. Let the responsible offices be charged to drive their work hard, gather what was lost, teach one another in turn, and wherever something was missed or forgotten, stitch it back into place. Full mastery of a piece should win a fat stipend; subtle mastery should win the better seat. Stir them with profit, and men will drive themselves to hone their craft. Turn back to root and source, and perhaps they may catch the old pace again. The proposal was adopted.
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建元元年，轉侍中，撫軍將軍，丹陽尹。 二年，進號左衞將軍，固讓不拜。 改授左光祿大夫，侍中、尹如故。 郡縣獄相承有上湯殺囚，僧虔上疏言之曰：「湯本以救疾，而實行冤暴，或以肆忿。 若罪必入重，自有正刑； 若去惡宜疾，則應先啟。 豈有死生大命，而潛制下邑。 愚謂治下囚病，必先刺郡，求職司與醫對共診驗； 遠縣，家人省視，然後處理。 可使死者不恨，生者無怨。」 上納其言。
Jianyuan's first year saw him made regular attendant, Pacification Army general, and intendant of Danyang. The second year brought promotion to Left Guard General; he declined firmly and would not take it. He was given instead the Left Grand Master of the Splendid Hall, while keeping regular attendant and the intendantcy. District and county jails still carried on the custom of reporting hot-water baths to kill prisoners; Sengqian memorialized: 「Hot water was meant to heal the sick, yet in practice it worked injustice—or vented private rage. If guilt truly warranted the heavy code, the proper punishments were already there; if evil had to be cut down fast, word should go up first. How could the supreme charge of life and death be wielded in secret by a distant county? My foolish view is that a sick prisoner must first be reported to the prefecture, and the duty officer made to face a physician in joint diagnosis; in remote counties, let kin see him first, and only then act. Then the dead would die without hate and the living live without grievance. 」The throne took his counsel.
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僧虔留意雅樂，昇明中所奏，雖微有釐改，尚多遺失。 是時上始欲通使，僧虔與兄子儉書曰：「古語云『中國失禮，問之四夷』。 計樂亦如。 苻堅敗後，東晉始備金石樂，故知不可全誣也。 北國或有遺樂，誠未可便以補中夏之闕，且得知其存亡，亦一理也。 但《鼓吹》舊有二十一曲，今所能者十一而已，意謂北使會有散役，得今樂署一人粗別同異者，充此使限。 雖復延州難追，其得知所知，亦當不同。 若謂有此理者，可得申吾意上聞否？ 試爲思之。」 事竟不行。
Sengqian cared deeply for the elegant repertoire; the pieces set forth in Shengming, though tweaked in spots, were still riddled with losses. The sovereign was first thinking of sending envoys; Sengqian wrote his nephew Jian: 「There is an old saying: 『When the Middle Kingdom loses ritual, ask the four quarters.』 I reckon music is no different. After Fu Jian fell, Eastern Jin at last had metal and stone again—proof that not everything can be written off as pretense. The north may still have stray pieces, yet one must not rashly pad the Central Lands' breaches with them; still, to learn whether they survive is reason enough. Yet the old Drumming and Blowing held twenty-one pieces, and only eleven remain playable—I think the northern embassy may bring stray servants; let the Music Office lend one man who can roughly tell like from unlike, and count him toward the mission's roster. Even if Yanzhou's tunes cannot be chased down, what knowledge meets knowledge would still not be the same. If you think the reasoning holds, might you carry my meaning to the throne? Think it through and tell me. 」Nothing came of it.
14
太祖善書，及卽位，篤好不已。 與僧虔賭書畢，謂僧虔曰：「誰爲第一？」 僧虔曰：「臣書第一，陛下亦第一。」 上笑曰：「卿可謂善自爲謀矣。」 示僧虔古迹十一袠，就求能書人名。 僧虔得民閒所有，袠中所無者，吳大皇帝、景帝、歸命侯書，桓玄書，及王丞相導、領軍洽、中書令珉、張芝、索靖、衞伯儒、張翼十二卷奏之。 又上羊欣所撰《能書人名》一卷。
The Grand Ancestor wrote well, and once he held the throne his passion only deepened. When a calligraphy match with Sengqian was done, he asked him: 「Who is first? 」Sengqian said: 「Mine ranks first, and Your Majesty's ranks first as well. 」The emperor laughed: 「You know how to scheme on your own behalf. 」He showed Sengqian eleven fascicles of ancient work and bade him list who wrote well. What Sengqian found in the world but not in the bundles were pieces by Wu's Great Emperor, Emperor Jing, the Marquis of Guiming, Huan Xuan, Chancellor Wang Dao, Pacification Army Wang Qia, Secretariat Director Wang Min, Zhang Zhi, Suo Jing, Wei Boyu, and Zhang Yi—twelve fascicles in all, which he submitted. He also submitted Yang Xin's one-fascicle Names of Able Calligraphers.
15
其年冬，遷持節、都督湘州諸軍事、征南將軍、湘州刺史，侍中如故。 清簡無所欲，不營財產，百姓安之。 世祖卽位，僧虔以風疾欲陳解，會遷侍中、左光祿大夫、開府儀同三司。 僧虔少時羣從宗族竝會，客有相之者云：「僧虔年位最高，仕當至公，餘人莫及也。」 及授，僧虔謂兄子儉曰：「汝任重於朝，行當有八命之禮，我若復此授，則一門有二台司，實可畏懼。」 乃固辭不拜，上優而許之。 改授侍中、特進、左光祿大夫。 客問僧虔固讓之意，僧虔曰：「君子所憂無德，不憂無寵。 吾衣食周身，榮位已過，所慚庸薄無以報國，豈容更受高爵，方貽官謗邪！」 兄子儉爲朝宰，起長梁齋，制度小過，僧虔視之不悅，竟不入戶，儉卽毀之。
That winter he went out as Bearer of the Staff over Xiang Province, Southern Expedition general, and inspector of Xiangzhou, while keeping regular attendant. He was spare and clear of want, built no fortune, and the people beneath him rested easy. When Shizu acceded, Sengqian—afflicted with wind numbness—meant to resign by memorial, but was instead raised to regular attendant, Left Grand Master of the Splendid Hall, and Merit Equal to the Founding Duke. In youth the clan cousins all met; a fortune-teller among the guests said: 「Sengqian will outlive and outrank you all—he is fated for the highest office, and none of the rest will touch him. 」When the appointment came, Sengqian told his nephew Jian: 「You already carry the court's weight and will soon take the eightfold rites; if I took this post too, one house would seat two terrace ministers—that is a thing to dread. 」He refused firmly and would not bow to it; the throne was gracious and let him go. He was given instead regular attendant, special advancement, and Left Grand Master of the Splendid Hall. A guest asked why he had refused so hard; Sengqian said: 「A gentleman fears lacking virtue, not lacking favor. I am already clothed and fed; honor has outrun my worth. What shames me is mediocrity that cannot repay the realm—how then take a higher rank and invite the censor's lash? Nephew Jian was chief minister and built a Hall of the Long Beam whose scale edged past propriety; Sengqian looked on it with displeasure and never crossed the door—so Jian tore it down at once.
16
永明三年，薨。 僧虔頗解星文，夜坐見豫章分野當有事故，時僧虔子慈爲豫章內史，慮其有公事。 少時，僧虔薨，慈棄郡奔赴。 僧虔時年六十。 追贈司空，侍中如故。 諡簡穆。
In Yongming's third year he died. Sengqian knew the stars well; one night he saw trouble brewing in Yuzhang's allotment—his son Ci was then interior administrator there, and he feared some public crisis. Soon Sengqian died; Ci left his post and rushed home on the funeral road. Sengqian was sixty at the time. After death he was made minister of works, with palace attendant unchanged. His posthumous title was Jianmu, Refined and Solemn.
17
其論書曰：「宋文帝書，自云可比王子敬，時議者云『天然勝羊欣，功夫少於欣』。 王平南廙、右軍叔，過江之前以爲最。 亡曾祖領軍書，右軍云『弟書遂不減吾』。 變古制，今唯右軍。 領軍不爾，至今猶法鍾、張。 亡從祖中書令書，子敬云『弟書如騎騾，駸駸恒欲度驊騮前』。 庾征西翼書，少時與右軍齊名，右軍後進，庾猶不分，在荊州與都下人書云：『小兒輩賤家雞，皆學逸少書，須吾下，當比之。』 張翼，王右軍自書表，晉穆帝令翼寫題後答，右軍當時不別，久後方悟，云『小人幾欲亂真』。 張芝、索靖、韋誕、鍾會、二衞竝得名前代，無以辨其優劣，唯見其筆力驚異耳。 張澄當時亦呼有意。 郗愔章草亞於右軍。 郗嘉賔草亞於二王，緊媚過其父。 桓玄自謂右軍之流，論者以比孔琳之。 謝安亦入能書錄，亦自重，爲子敬書嵇康詩。 羊欣書見重一時，親受子敬，行書尤善，正乃不稱名。 孔琳之書天然放縱，極有筆力，規矩恐在羊欣後。 丘道護與羊欣俱面受子敬，故當在欣後。 范曅與蕭思話同師羊欣，後小叛，旣失故步，爲復小有意耳。 蕭思話書，羊欣之影，風流趣好，殆當不減，筆力恨弱。 謝綜書，其舅云『緊生起，是得賞也，恨少媚好』。 謝靈運乃不倫，遇其合時，亦得入流。 賀道力書亞丘道護。 庾昕學右軍，亦欲亂真矣。」 又著《書賦》，傳於世。
In his discourse on calligraphy he wrote: 「Emperor Wen of Song claimed his hand could stand beside Wang Zijing's; men of the time said, 「By native gift he outdoes Yang Xin, yet in practiced craft he trails Xin.」 Wang Pingnan Yi, uncle to the Right General, were reckoned the best before the river crossing. Of my late great-grandfather the commandant-in-chief's hand, the Right General said, 「The younger brother's writing in no way diminishes mine.」 He broke with the old forms; today only the Right General has done the same. The commandant-in-chief did not; even now his line still follows Zhong and Zhang. My late collateral forebear the director of the Secretariat—Zijing said of his hand, 「The younger brother writes as one rides a mule, forever lunging to get past the thoroughbred in front.」 Western campaigning general Yu Yi—in his youth he stood even with the Right General; the Right General later outpaced him, yet Yu would still not yield. From Jingzhou he wrote someone in the capital: 「Every wretched barnyard fowl among the young imitates Yi Shao's hand. Wait until I come down—then they may be compared. 」Zhang Yi: when the Right General Wang drafted a memorial himself, Emperor Mu of Jin had Yi copy it and pen the heading on the reply; at the time the Right General could not tell which was which; only much later did he see through it and say, 「The little man nearly turned truth upside down.」 Zhang Zhi, Suo Jing, Wei Dan, Zhong Hui, and the two Weis all made names in former times; one cannot sort their ranks—only that their brushwork struck the eye as uncanny. Zhang Cheng in his day was likewise called a man of purpose. Xi Kai's draft clerical stood beneath the Right General's. Xi Jiabin's cursive trailed the Two Wangs, yet was more compact and graceful than his father's. Huan Xuan called himself of the Right General's line; reviewers set him beside Kong Linzhi. Xie An too made the roll of able calligraphers, prized his own hand, and wrote out Xi Kang's poems for Zijing. Yang Xin's hand was honored for a season; he studied face to face with Zijing; in running script he shone, yet in regular script he never won a name. Kong Linzhi wrote with native abandon and fearsome stroke; in measure and rule he likely stood behind Yang Xin. Qiu Daohu and Yang Xin both sat before Zijing in person; Daohu therefore belongs after Xin. Fan Ye and Xiao Sihua shared Yang Xin as teacher; later Ye slipped a little from the path, lost his old step, and kept only a trace of purpose. Xiao Sihua's hand is Yang Xin's shadow: in ease and taste he nearly does not fall short, yet his stroke power is painfully thin. On Xie Zong's writing his uncle said, 「He is tightening up—that wins praise—but alas, too little sweetness.」 Xie Lingyun was simply not of the same breed; when the fit was right, he too could join the stream. He Daoli's hand stood beneath Qiu Daohu's. Yu Xin trained on the Right General and likewise came close to passing for the real thing. 」He also wrote Rhapsody on Calligraphy, which circulated in his time.
18
第九子寂，字子玄，性迅動，好文章，讀《范滂傳》，未常不歎挹。 王融敗後，賔客多歸之。 建武初，欲獻《中興頌》，兄志謂之曰：「汝膏粱年少，何患不達，不鎮之以靜，將恐貽譏。」 寂乃止。 初爲祕書郎，卒，年二十一。
His ninth son Ji, styled Zixuan, was swift and restless by nature and loved letters; whenever he read the biography of Fan Peng he could not keep from sighing in wonder. After Wang Rong's fall, many of his former guests attached themselves to Ji. At the opening of Jianwu he meant to offer an Ode on Restoration; his elder brother Zhi told him, 「You are young, well-fed, and born to rank—what fear that you will not arrive? Without quiet to anchor you, you will only buy mockery. 」Ji dropped the plan. He had first been made secretariat gentleman; he died at twenty-one.
19
僧虔宋世嘗有書誡子曰：
Under the Song, Sengqian once wrote his son a letter of warning that ran thus:
20
知汝恨吾不許汝學，欲自悔厲，或以闔棺自欺，或更擇美業，且得有慨，亦慰窮生。 但亟聞斯唱，未睹其實。 請從先師聽言觀行，冀此不復虛身。 吾未信汝，非徒然也。 往年有意於史，取《三國志》聚置牀頭，百日許，復徙業就玄，自當小差於史，猶未近彷佛。 曼倩有云：「談何容易。」 見諸玄，志爲之逸，腸爲之抽，專一書，轉誦數十家注，自少至老，手不釋卷，尚未敢輕言。 汝開《老子》卷頭五尺許，未知輔嗣何所道，平叔何所說，馬、鄭何所異，《指》《例》何所明，而便盛於麈尾，自呼談士，此最險事。 設令袁令命汝言《易》，謝中書挑汝言《莊》，張吳興叩汝言《老》，端可復言未嘗看邪？ 談故如射，前人得破，後人應解，不解卽輸賭矣。 且論注百氏，荊州《八袠》，又《才性四本》，《聲無哀樂》，皆言家口實，如客至之有設也。 汝皆未經拂耳瞥目。 豈有庖廚不脩，而欲延大賔者哉？ 就如張衡思侔造化，郭象言類懸河，不自勞苦，何由至此？ 汝曾未窺其題目，未辨其指歸； 六十四卦，未知何名； 莊子衆篇，何者內外； 八袠所載，凡有幾家； 《四本》之稱，以何爲長。 而終日欺人，人亦不受汝欺也。 由吾不學，無以爲訓。 然重華無嚴父，放勳無令子，亦各由己耳。 汝輩竊議亦當云：「何日不學？ 在天地閒可嬉戲，何忽自課謫？ 幸及盛時逐歲暮，何必有所減？」 汝見其一耳，不全爾也。 設令吾學如馬、鄭，亦必甚勝； 復倍不如，今亦必大減。 致之有由，從身上來也。 汝今壯年，自懃數倍許勝，劣及吾耳。 世中比例舉眼是，汝足知此，不復具言。
I know you chafe that I forbid your studies, that you mean to whip yourself into shape—or fool yourself behind a closed coffin lid, or pick some brighter trade instead; still, that you feel something at all is a small comfort to this threadbare life. Yet I have heard this song too often and never once seen the deed. Take the old masters as your measure—listen to what they say, watch what they do—and perhaps you will not waste yourself again. I do not yet believe you, and not for nothing. Years back you bent toward history, stacked the Records of the Three Kingdoms at your pillow, kept at it a hundred days or so, then changed course for the arcane arts—already a step down from history, and still nowhere near even a likeness. Manqian said, 「How lightly men talk! 」Before the masters of the arcane, the heart runs off and the bowels knot; they fix on a single text, cycle through glosses from dozens of houses—from boyhood to gray hair never letting the scroll leave the hand—and even then dare not speak rashly. You unfold the Laozi a foot or five into the first fascicle, yet cannot say what Fusi argued, what Pingshu taught, where Ma and Zheng part company, what the Pointers and Examples make plain—and already you brandish the fly-whisk and call yourself a talker. That is the deadliest folly. Suppose Magistrate Yuan bade you lecture on the Changes, Director Xie of the Secretariat goaded you on Zhuangzi, Zhang of Wuxing grilled you on the Laozi—would you still claim you had never opened them? Talk is like archery: when the first shooter finds the mark, the next must answer; fail to answer and you forfeit the match. And the commentaries of the hundred schools, the Jingzhou Eight Fascicles, the Four Roots of Talent and Nature, Sound Has No Grief or Joy—these are meat and drink on every debater's table, set out as soon as guests cross the threshold. You have not brushed them past ear or eye even once. Who keeps an empty kitchen and still expects to feast great guests? Even Zhang Heng, whose mind rivaled creation, and Guo Xiang, whose speech hung like a river in flood—without grinding themselves down, how could they have arrived there? You have never so much as looked into their subjects or sorted out where they lead; of the sixty-four hexagrams you cannot name a single one; among Zhuangzi's many chapters, which are Inner, which Outer— How many schools are named in the Eight Fascicles? Of the work called Four Roots, what is its strong point? Yet you spend the day bluffing others, and others will not be bluffed by you either. Because I never studied, I have nothing fit to pass on as teaching. Yet Shun had no stern father, and Yao had no worthy son—each came to it by his own path. When you mutter among yourselves you surely say: 「What day do we not study? Under heaven and earth one may play—why suddenly set yourself a penance? Luckily one catches vigorous years before old age—why must anything be cut back? 」You see one face of it—not the whole, and not for you. Suppose I had studied like Ma and Zheng, I would surely have stood far above you; and again, if doubled and still below them—even now I would surely be much the lesser. There is a cause for it, and it rises from the man himself. You are in your prime; be diligent and you may be several times the better—only short of matching me. Such comparisons fill the world wherever you look—you know it well enough; I need not spell it out.
21
吾在世，雖乏德素，要復推排人閒數十許年，故是一舊物，人或以比數汝等耳。 卽化之後，若自無調度，誰復知汝事者？ 舍中亦有少負令譽弱冠越超清級者，于時王家門中，優者則龍鳳，劣者猶虎豹，失蔭之後，豈龍虎之議？ 況吾不能爲汝蔭，政應各自努力耳。 或有身經三公，蔑爾無聞； 布衣寒素，卿相屈體。 或父子貴賤殊，兄弟聲名異。 何也？ 體盡讀數百卷書耳。 吾今悔無所及，欲以前車誡爾後乘也。 汝年入立境，方應從官，兼有室累，牽役情性，何處復得下帷如王郎時邪？ 爲可作世中學，取過一生耳。 試復三思，勿諱吾言。 猶捶撻志輩，冀脫万一，未死之閒，望有成就者，不知當有益否？ 各在爾身己切，豈復關吾邪？ 鬼唯知愛深松茂柏，寧知子弟毀譽事！ 因汝有感，故略敘胷懷矣。
While I live, though short on virtue and plain living, I have still ranked among men for several decades, so I am an old piece on the board—people may set you beside me for measure. Once I am gone, if you cannot govern yourselves, who will know your business? In the household there were also a few who in their prime won fair name and shot past the clear grades—in the Wang line then, the best were dragon and phoenix, the lesser still tiger and leopard; once the shade was gone, who still spoke of dragon and tiger? How much more when I cannot shade you—you must each drive yourselves. Some who sat in the Three Excellencies are passed over as if they never were; some in hemp and cold poverty make ministers bow their bodies. Some father and son stand far apart in rank, brothers far apart in name. Why? Simply because they have worn their way through several hundred scrolls of books. My regret cannot be mended now—I mean to warn the cart behind with the cart that overturned ahead. Your years enter the standing of manhood, office awaits you, and household cares tug at your temper—where could you again lower the curtain and study as in the young Wang's day? You may take what learning the world allows and scrape through a life. Think it over again—do not dodge what I say. I still lash and goad those who have will, hoping one in ten thousand may break free—before death, hoping for some mark—whether it will help, I do not know. Each rests in your own person, already pressing—what has that to do with me? Ghosts love only deep pine and thick cypress—how should they know sons and grandsons, ruin and renown! Stirred by you, I have sketched what lies in my breast.
22
張緒字思曼，吳郡吳人也。 祖茂度，會稽太守。 父寅，太子中舍人。
Zhang Xu, styled Siman, came from Wu in Wu commandery. His grandfather Maodu had been administrator of Kuaiji. His father Yin had been crown prince attendant within the palace.
23
緒少知名，清簡寡欲，叔父鏡謂人曰：「此兒，今之樂廣也。」
Xu was famed from youth, pure and spare, with few wants; his uncle Jing told others: 「This boy is the Yue Guang of our day.」
24
州辟議曹從事，舉秀才。 建平王護軍主簿，右軍法曹行參軍，司空主簿，撫軍、南中郎二府功曹，尚書倉部郎。 都令史諮郡縣米事，緒蕭然直視，不以經懷。 除巴陵王文學，太子洗馬，北中郎參軍，太子中舍人，本郡中正，車騎從事中郎，中書郎，州治中，黃門郎。
The province drafted him as aide in the deliberation bureau and nominated him as eminent scholar. He served as chief clerk on Prince of Jianping's army-protector staff, acting aide in the Right Army law bureau, chief clerk to the minister of works, merit recorder on the pacification and southern central staffs, and gentleman of the ministry granary bureau. Capital clerks came to consult on county grain matters; Xu gazed off with cool detachment and never took it to heart. He was made literary aide to the Prince of Baling, crown prince groom, northern central staff aide, crown prince attendant within the palace, chief rectifier of his native commandery, attendant on the chariot and horse staff, secretariat gentleman, commandery rectifier, and gentleman at the Yellow Gate.
25
宋明帝每見緒，輙歎其清淡。 轉太子中庶子，本州大中正，遷司徒左長史。 吏部尚書袁粲言於帝曰：「臣觀張緒有正始遺風，宜爲宮職。」 復轉中庶子，領翊軍校尉，轉散騎常侍，領長水校尉，尋兼侍中，遷吏部郎，參掌大選。 元徽初，東宮罷，選曹擬舍人王儉格外記室，緒以儉人地兼美，宜轉祕書丞，從之。 緒又遷侍中，郎如故。
Whenever Emperor Ming of Song saw Xu he would sigh over his spare purity. He became crown prince senior aide and grand rectifier of his native province, then shifted to left chief aide on the minister of education's staff. Minister of personnel Yuan Can told the emperor: 「I see in Zhang Xu the air of the Zhengshi masters; he is fit for palace rank. 」He was again made senior crown prince aide and held the colonelcy of the assisting army; he became regular attendant and held the long river colonelcy; before long he also served as attendant, was moved to director of the ministry of personnel, and shared charge of the great selection. At the opening of Yuanhui the eastern palace was shut; the selection bureau proposed Registrar Wang Jian as extraordinary recorder outside the ranks; Xu argued that Jian's person and standing were both excellent and he should be shifted to secretariat aide—the throne agreed. Xu was again made attendant, while keeping his directorate.
26
緒忘情榮祿，朝野皆貴其風，嘗與客閑言，一生不解作諾。 時袁粲、褚淵秉政，有人以緒言告粲、淵者，卽出緒爲吳郡太守，緒初不知也。 遷爲祠部尚書，復領中正，遷太常，加散騎常侍，尋領始安王師。 昇明二年，遷太祖太傅長史，加征虜將軍。
Xu set rank and stipend out of mind; court and countryside alike honored his bearing; chatting once with guests, he said he had never in his life learned to say yes. Yuan Can and Chu Yuan then held the reins; someone carried Xu's remark to Can and Yuan, and at once he was sent out as administrator of Wu commandery—at first he did not know it. He became minister of rites for the imperial clan, again held the chief rectifiercy, was moved to grand minister of ceremonies, was given added rank as regular attendant, and soon tutored the Prince of Shi'an. In the second year of Shengming he became chief aide on the Grand Ancestor's grand tutor staff, with added rank as general who chastises the barbarians.
27
尋加驍騎將軍。 欲用緒爲右僕射，以問王儉，儉曰：「南士由來少居此職。」 褚淵在座，啟上曰：「儉年少，或不盡憶。 江左用陸玩、顧和，皆南人也。」 儉曰：「晉氏衰政，不可以爲准則。」 上乃止。 四年，初立國學，以緒爲太常卿，領國子祭酒，常侍、中正如故。 緒旣遷官，上以王延之代緒爲中書令，時人以此選爲得人，比晉朝之用王子敬、王季琰也。
Before long he was given added rank as valiant cavalry general. They meant to make Xu Right Vice Director of the Masters of Writing and consulted Wang Jian; Jian said, 「Men of the south have rarely held this post. 」Chu Yuan, who was in attendance, told the throne, 「Jian is still young and may not recall the full record. In the Jiangzuo era Lu Wan and Gu He were both appointed—and both were men of the south. 」Jian replied, 「The Jin dynasty's corrupt rule cannot be taken as a model. 」The emperor thereupon abandoned the plan. In year four the National Academy was founded; Xu was made director of ceremonies with concurrent charge as director of the imperial university, his posts as regular attendant and rectifier unchanged. After Xu's transfer the emperor set Wang Yanzhi in his place as director of the secretariat; contemporaries called the pick a happy one, comparing it to the Jin dynasty's pairing of Wang Zijing and Wang Jiyan.
28
緒長於《周易》，言精理奧，見宗一時。 常云何平叔所不解《易》中七事，諸卦中所有時義，是其一也。
Xu was master of the Book of Changes—his speech subtle and its principles deep—and for a season the age looked up to him. He often remarked that of the seven points in the Changes He Yan could not fathom, the timely import within each hexagram was one of them.
29
緒口不言利，有財輙散之。 清言端坐，或竟日無食，門生見緒飢，爲之辨餐，然未嘗求也。 卒時年六十八。 遺命作蘆葭轜車，靈上置杯水香火，不設祭。 從弟融敬重緒，事之如親兄，齎酒於緒靈前酌飲，慟哭曰：「阿兄風流頓盡！」 追贈散騎常侍、特進、金紫光祿大夫。 諡簡子。
Xu would not speak of gain; the moment money came to hand he scattered it. He sat in quiet talk for hours; at times he ate nothing all day. When students saw him famished they laid out food for him, but he never once begged for it. He died at sixty-eight. By his own order his coffin was a cart lined with reeds; on the spirit stand only a cup of water and incense—no offerings. His cousin Rong honored Xu and served him as he would an elder brother; he carried wine, poured a libation before Xu's spirit, and wept aloud: 「Brother—your elegance is spent! 」After death he was granted regular attendant of the scattered cavalry, special advancement, and household minister with the golden seal and purple ribbon. His posthumous title was Jianzi, Master Simple.
30
子克，蒼梧世，正員郎，險行見寵，坐廢錮。
His son Ke, in the Cangwu reign, held a regular secretariat post; his rash ways pleased the throne until he was disgraced and put under confinement.
31
克弟允，永明中，安西功曹，淫通殺人，伏法。
Ke's younger brother Yun, in Yongming, served as staff officer to the Pacify-the-West general; he lay with another man's wife and killed a man, and paid with his life.
32
允兄充，永明元年，爲武陵王友，坐書與尚書令王儉，辭旨激揚，爲御史中丞到撝所奏，免官禁錮。 論者以爲有恨於儉也。
Yun's elder brother Chong, in Yongming year 1, was companion to the Prince of Wuling; he wrote Wang Jian, director of the secretariat, in words sharp and provocative, was impeached by censor-in-chief Dao Hu, and was removed from office and forbidden to serve. Opinion held that he nursed a grievance against Jian.
33
案建元初，中詔序朝臣，欲以右僕射擬張岱。 褚淵謂「得此過優，若別有忠誠，特進升引者，別是一理，仰由裁照」。 詔「更量」。 說者旣異，今兩記焉。
Editorial note: At the opening of Jianyuan an inner edict ordered the ranking of ministers and would have set Zhang Dai as Right Vice Director of the Masters of Writing. Chu Yuan said, 「The appointment is too lofty; if some other loyalty merits special advancement, that is a different case—let Your Majesty decide.」 An edict replied, 「Reconsider.」 The tellings diverge; both are set down here.
34
史臣曰：王僧虔有希聲之量，兼以藝業。 戒盈守滿，屈己自容，方軌諸公，實平世之良相。 張緒凝衿素氣，自然標格，搢紳端委，朝宗民望。 夫如緒之風流者，豈不謂之名臣！
The historiographer writes: Wang Sengqian had the stature of sound too faint to hear, joined to mastery of his craft. He shunned overflow and kept to the full, bowed himself to fit the room, stood level with the great lords, and was in truth a fine minister for a tranquil age. Zhang Xu bore a concentrated purity and an unadorned air, a nobility that came of itself; belted officials in court dress were what the age looked to and the people watched. A man of Xu's elegance—who would not name him a great minister!
35
贊曰：簡穆長者，其義恢恢。 聲律草隷，燮理三台。 思曼廉靜，自絕風埃。 遊心《爻繫》，物允清才。 [1]
The encomium runs: Jianmu's elder lord—his meaning wide and high. Music's laws and grass and clerical hands; he tuned the Three Platforms. Siman lived in clean quiet, severing himself from the world's grime. His heart ranged through the Judgments and Images; men allowed he was bright talent. [1] Endnote marker.
36
全文以中華書局、一九七二年一月版《南齊書》爲本校。
The entire text has been collated against the Zhonghua Shuju edition of the Book of Southern Qi (January 1972).