1
丘靈鞠
Qiu Lingju
2
丘靈鞠，吳興烏程人也。 祖系，祕書監。
Qiu Lingju was from Wucheng in Wuxing commandery. His grandfather Xi had served as Director of the Secretariat.
3
靈鞠少好學，善屬文。 與上計，仕郡爲吏。 州辟從事，詣領軍沈演之。 演之曰：「身昔爲州職，詣領軍謝晦，賔主坐處，政如今日。 卿將來或復如此也。」 舉秀才，爲州主簿。 累遷員外郎。
From his youth Lingju loved study and excelled at literary composition. He accompanied the annual tribute delegation to the capital and took a post as a commandery clerk. The province appointed him as an aide, and he paid a visit to Shen Yanzi, General of the Vanguard. Yanzi said, "When I was a provincial official I once called on Xie Hui, General of the Vanguard—the arrangement of host and guest was just as it is today. You may find yourself in the same position someday." He was recommended as Cultivated Talent and appointed provincial chief clerk. He rose through successive posts to External Attendant.
4
宋孝武殷貴妃亡，靈鞠獻輓歌詩三首，云「雲橫廣階闇，霜深高殿寒」。 帝擿句嗟賞。 除新安王北中郎參軍，出爲剡烏程令，不得志。 泰始初，坐東賊黨錮數年。 褚淵爲吳興，謂人曰：「此郡才士，唯有丘靈鞠及沈勃耳。」 乃啓申之。 明帝使著《大駕南討紀論》。 久之，除太尉參軍，轉安北記室，帶扶風太守，不就。 爲尚書三公郎，建康令，轉通直郎，兼中書郎。
After the death of Emperor Xiaowu's honored consort Yin, Lingju submitted three dirge poems including the lines, "Clouds spread across the broad terrace in gloom; deep frost chills the lofty hall." The emperor singled out certain lines and praised them with admiration. He was appointed aide to the Prince of Xin'an as Northern Army General of the Center, then sent out as magistrate of Yan and Wucheng, where he found no fulfillment. In the early Taishi era he was imprisoned for several years as an associate of the eastern rebels. When Chu Yuan served as prefect of Wuxing, he told others, "The only true men of talent in this commandery are Qiu Lingju and Shen Bo." He then submitted a memorial recommending him. Emperor Ming had him write the Recorded Discussion of the Imperial Southern Campaign. After some time he was appointed aide to the Grand Commander, then transferred to secretary under the Army Pacifying the North with concurrent appointment as Grand Prefect of Fufeng, which he declined. He served as a Three Excellencies' attendant in the Ministry of Works, then as magistrate of Jiankang, and was later transferred to Direct Attendant with concurrent appointment as Secretariat Attendant.
5
昇明中，遷正員郎，領本郡中正，兼中書郎如故。 時方禪讓，太祖使靈鞠參掌詔策。 建元元年，轉中書郎，中正如故，敕知東宮手筆。 尋又掌知國史。 明年，出爲鎮南長史、尋陽相，遷尚書左丞。 世祖卽位，轉通直常侍，尋領東觀祭酒。 靈鞠曰：「久居官不願數遷，使我終身爲祭酒，不恨也。」 永明二年，領驍騎將軍。 靈鞠不樂武位，謂人曰：「我應還東掘顧榮冢。 江南地方數千里，士子風流，皆出此中。 顧榮忽引諸傖渡，妨我輩塗轍，死有餘罪。」 改正員常侍。
During the Shengming era he was promoted to Regular Attendant, appointed head impartial selector for his native commandery, and retained his concurrent post as Secretariat Attendant. During the impending transfer of the throne, the Founding Emperor put Lingju in charge of drafting imperial edicts and proclamations. In the first year of Jianyuan he became Secretariat Attendant while retaining his post as impartial selector, and was ordered to oversee the crown prince's personal writings. Before long he was also placed in charge of the national history. The following year he was sent out as chief secretary under the Army Guarding the South and administrator of Xunyang, then promoted to Left Assistant Minister. When Emperor Wu came to the throne, he was transferred to Direct Regular Attendant and soon appointed Libationer of the Eastern Pavilion. Lingju said, "I have been in office a long time and do not want to keep moving about—if I could spend my whole career as libationer, I would have no regrets." In the second year of Yongming he was appointed Valiant Cavalry General. Unhappy with a military appointment, Lingju told others, "I ought to go back east and dig up Gu Rong's grave. For thousands of li south of the Yangtze, the elegance of cultured gentlemen had all sprung from this country. Gu Rong suddenly ushered all those crude northerners across the river, blocking the road for the rest of us—even in death his guilt is not exhausted." He was reassigned to Regular Attendant.
6
靈鞠好飲酒，臧否人物，在沈淵座見王儉詩，淵曰：「王令文章大進。」 靈鞠曰：「何如我未進時？」 此言達儉。 靈鞠宋世文名甚盛，入齊頗減。 蓬髮弛縱，無形儀，不治家業。 王儉謂人曰：「丘公仕宦不進，才亦退矣。」 遷長沙王車騎長史，太中大夫，卒。 著《江左文章錄序》，起太興，訖元熙。 文集行於世。
Lingju was fond of drink and quick to praise or disparage others. Once at Shen Yuan's table he saw a poem by Wang Jian; Yuan remarked, "Commander Wang's writing has improved enormously." Lingju replied, "And how does it compare with his work before he improved?" Word of this remark reached Jian. Lingju's literary reputation had been very great in the Song, but after the Qi dynasty it declined noticeably. He let his hair hang wild and paid no heed to propriety or household affairs. Wang Jian told others, "Master Qiu's official career has not advanced—and neither has his talent." He was promoted to chief secretary to the Prince of Changsha as General of Chariots and Cavalry, then Grand Master of Palace Counsel, and died in office. He wrote the Preface to A Catalogue of Writings from the Eastern Region, covering the period from Taixing to Yuanxi. His collected works circulated in his time.
7
檀超
Tan Chao
8
檀超字悅祖，高平金郷人也。 祖弘宗，宋南琅邪太守。
Tan Chao, courtesy name Yuezu, was from Jinxiang in Gaoping commandery. His grandfather Hongzong had served as Grand Administrator of Southern Langye under the Song.
9
超少好文學，放誕任氣，解褐州西曹。 嘗與別駕蕭惠開共事，不爲之下。 謂惠開曰：「我與卿俱起一老姥，何足相誇？」 蕭太后，惠開之祖姑，長沙王道憐妃，超祖姑也。 舉秀才。 孝建初，坐事徙梁州，板宣威府參軍。 孝武聞超有文章，敕還直東宮，除驃騎參軍、寧蠻主簿，鎮北諮議。 超累佐蕃職，不得志，轉尚書度支郎，車騎功曹，桂陽內史。 入爲殿中郎，兼中書郎，零陵內史，征北驃騎記室，國子博士，兼左丞。
From youth Chao loved literature; wild and defiant by nature, he entered service as western bureau clerk for the province. Once when serving alongside the Administration Aide Xiao Huikai, he refused to defer to him. He told Huikai, "You and I both owe our advancement to the same old woman—what is there for either of us to boast about?" Empress Dowager Xiao—Huikai's grandaunt, consort of the Prince of Changsha Dao of Lian—was also Chao's grandaunt. He was recommended as Cultivated Talent. In the early Xiaojian era he was exiled to Liangzhou for an offense and appointed aide on the staff of the General Establishing Prestige. When Emperor Xiaowu learned of Chao's literary gifts, he ordered him recalled to serve at the Eastern Palace and appointed him aide to the Rapid Cavalry General, chief clerk of Pacifying the Barbarians, and adviser under the Army Pacifying the North. After repeated stints on princely staffs left him frustrated, he was transferred to revenue attendant in the Ministry of Works, then to merit recorder for the General of Chariots and Cavalry and interior administrator of Guiyang. He returned to the capital as palace attendant and concurrent Secretariat attendant, then served as interior administrator of Lingling, secretary to the Northern Expedition Rapid Cavalry General, National University erudite, and concurrent left assistant minister.
10
超嗜酒，好言詠，舉止和靡，自比晉郗超，爲「高平二超」。 謂人曰：「猶覺我爲優也。」 太祖賞愛之。 遷驍騎將軍，常侍，司徒右長史。
Chao was devoted to wine and fond of verse; soft and unhurried in manner, he likened himself to Xi Chao of the Jin and spoke of "the two Chaos of Gaoping." He told others, "I still think I come out ahead." The Founding Emperor valued and favored him. He was promoted to Valiant Cavalry General, Regular Attendant, and right chief secretary under the Minister of Education.
11
建元二年，初置史官，以超與驃騎記室江淹掌史職。 上表立條例，開元紀號，不取宋年。 封爵各詳本傳，無假年表。 立十志：《律曆》、《禮樂》、《天文》、《五行》、《郊祀》、《刑法》、《藝文》依班固，《朝會》、《輿服》依蔡邕、司馬彪，《州郡》依徐爰。 《百官》依范曄，合《州郡》。 班固五星載《天文》，日蝕載《五行》； 改日蝕入《天文志》。 以建元爲始。 帝女體自皇宗，立傳以備甥舅之重。 又立《處士》、《列女》傳。 詔內外詳議。 左僕射王儉議：「金粟之重，八政所先，食貨通則國富民實，宜加編錄，以崇務本。 《朝會志》前史不書，蔡邕稱先師胡廣說《漢舊儀》，此乃伯喈一家之意，曲碎小儀，无煩錄。 宜立《食貨》，省《朝會》。 《洪範》九疇，一曰五行。 五行之本，先乎水火之精，是爲日月五行之宗也。 今宜憲章前軌，無所改革。 又立《帝女傳》，亦非淺識所安。 若有高德異行，自當載在《列女》，若止於常美，則仍舊不書。」 詔：「日月災隷《天文》，餘如儉議。」 超史功未就，卒官。 江淹撰成之，猶不備也。
In the second year of Jianyuan, when official historiographers were first appointed, Chao and Jiang Yan, secretary to the Rapid Cavalry General, were assigned to oversee the history project. They submitted a memorial proposing institutional rules: the history would adopt the Jianyuan reign designation and would not use Song era names. Enfeoffments and titles would each be treated fully in the relevant biographies, without relying on a chronological table. Ten treatises were proposed—Calendar and Chronology, Rites and Music, Astronomy, the Five Elements, Suburban Sacrifices, Penal Law, and Arts and Literature following Ban Gu; Court Assemblies and Chariots and Vestments following Cai Yong and Sima Biao; and Provinces and Commanderies following Xu Yuan. Officials would follow Fan Ye's model and be combined with Provinces and Commanderies. Ban Gu had placed the five planets in Astronomy and solar eclipses in the Five Elements treatise; they proposed moving solar eclipses into the Astronomical Treatise. The history would begin with the Jianyuan era. Because imperial daughters spring from the imperial clan, separate biographies would be established to give due weight to affinal kinship. Biographies of Reclusive Scholars and Exemplary Women would also be added. An edict called for detailed deliberation within and outside the court. Left Vice Director Wang Jian argued: "Grain and treasure come first among the eight great duties of government; when food and currency flow freely, the state grows rich and the people secure. A treatise on food and goods ought to be added to honor attention to fundamentals. Previous histories had not included a Court Assemblies treatise; Cai Yong had merely cited his teacher Hu Guang on Han court protocol—this was one man's opinion, concerned with trivial ceremonial minutiae not worth recording. A Food and Goods treatise should be established in place of Court Assemblies. The nine divisions of the Great Plan begin with the Five Elements. The foundation of the Five Elements lies in the essences of water and fire—they are the source of the sun, moon, and the five elemental forces. The existing arrangement should follow precedent without change. Nor would a separate treatise on imperial daughters sit well with sober judgment. Women of exceptional virtue and conduct belong in Exemplary Women; those of merely ordinary worth should, as before, go unrecorded." The edict read: "Solar and lunar portents shall fall under Astronomy; the rest accords with Jian's proposal." Chao died in office before the history could be finished. Jiang Yan completed the draft, but it remained incomplete.
12
時豫章熊襄著《齊典》，上起十代。 其序云：「《尚書》《堯典》，謂之《虞書》，則附所述，故通謂之齊，名爲《河洛金匱》。」
Around this time Xiong Xiang of Yuzhang composed the Qi Canon, tracing back ten generations. Its preface states: "The Canon of Yao in the Documents is called the Book of Yu; because it attaches to the narrative at hand, the work as a whole may be called Qi, and it is titled Golden Coffer of the River Luo."
13
卞彬
Bian Bin
14
卞彬字士蔚，濟陰冤句人也。 祖嗣之，中領軍。 父延之，有剛氣，爲上虞令。
Bian Bin, courtesy name Shiwei, was from Yuanqu in Jiyin commandery. His grandfather Sizhi had served as General of the Palace Guard. His father Yanzhi was a man of strong character who served as magistrate of Shangyu.
15
彬才操不羣，文多指刺。 州辟西曹主簿，奉朝請，員外郎。 宋元徽末，四貴輔政。 彬謂太祖曰：「外閒有童謠云：『可憐可念尸著服，孝子不在日代哭，列管蹔鳴死滅族。』 公頗聞不？」 時王蘊居父憂，與袁粲同死，故云尸著服也。 服者衣也，褚字邊衣也，孝除子，以日代者，謂褚淵也。 列管，蕭也。」 彬退，太祖笑曰：「彬自作此。」 齊臺初建，彬又曰：「誰謂宋遠，跂予望之。」 太祖聞之，不加罪也。 除右軍參軍。 家貧，出爲南康郡丞。
Bin's talent and conduct were extraordinary; his writings were often biting satire. The province appointed him western bureau chief clerk, then court gentleman in attendance and external attendant. At the end of the Yuanhui era, the four powerful nobles dominated the government. Bin told the Founding Emperor, "There is a popular rhyme abroad that runs: 'Pitiable, lamentable—a corpse in mourning garb; the filial son is absent, the sun stands in for tears; the pipes sound briefly and the clan is annihilated. Have you heard it, sir?" Wang Yun was then in mourning for his father and died with Yuan Can—hence the line about a corpse in mourning dress. "Dress" (fu) means garment—the radical for garment appears beside the character for Chu; "filial" (xiao) minus "son" (zi); and "sun replaces" (ri dai) pointed to Chu Yuan. "Row of pipes" (lie guan) referred to the Xiao clan. When Bin withdrew, the Founding Emperor laughed and said, "Bin made that rhyme up himself." When the Qi regime was first established, Bin quoted the ode: "Who says Song is far? I stand on tiptoe and gaze toward it." The Founding Emperor heard this but imposed no punishment. He was appointed aide to the Right Army. Poor at home, he was sent out as assistant magistrate of Nankang commandery.
16
彬頗飲酒，擯棄形骸。 作《蚤虱賦序》曰：「余居貧，布衣十年不制。 一袍之縕，有生所託，資其寒暑，無與易之。 爲人多病，起居甚疏，縈寢敗絮，不能自釋。 兼攝性懈惰，嬾事皮膚，澡刷不謹，澣沐失時，四體，加以臭穢，故葦席蓬纓之間，蚤虱猥流。 淫癢渭濩，無時恕肉，探揣擭撮，日不替手。 虱有諺言，朝生暮孫。 若吾之虱者，無湯沐之慮，絕相弔之憂，宴聚乎久襟爛布之裳，服無改換，搯齧不能加，脫略緩嬾，復不懃於捕討，孫孫息息，三十五歲焉。」 其略言皆實錄也。
Bin drank heavily and cared nothing for propriety or bodily comfort. In the preface to his Ode to Fleas and Lice he wrote: "I live in poverty; for ten years I have worn the same homespun coat without making a new one. This single padded robe is all I have to rely on for shelter from heat and cold; I have nothing to replace it. I am sickly by nature, careless in my daily habits, and tangled in bedding of rotted cotton stuffing that I cannot shake off. My nature is also slack and lazy; I neglect my skin, bathe and scrub carelessly, and wash at the wrong times. My four limbs, moreover, grow foul and rank, so that fleas and lice swarm between my rush mat and hemp cap cord. Itching runs wild without respite; there is never a moment's relief for my flesh. I probe, grope, pinch, and pick at myself, and my hands never idle for a day. There is a saying about lice: born in the morning, with grandchildren by evening. But lice like mine need never fear hot baths or mourn one another's deaths. They feast on my long-collared robe of rotted cloth, which never changes; biting and gnawing do them no harm. Careless and lazy, I am not diligent in hunting them down, so generation after generation they live at ease—for thirty-five years now." The gist of what he wrote was entirely true.
17
除南海王國郎中令，尚書比部郎，安吉令，車騎記室。 彬性好飲酒，以瓠壺瓢勺杬皮爲肴，著帛冠十二年不改易，以大瓠爲火籠，什物多諸詭異。 自稱「卞田居」，婦爲「傅蠶室」。 或諫曰：「卿都不持操，名器何由得升？」 彬曰：「擲五木子，十擲輙鞬，豈復是擲子之拙。 吾好擲，政極此耳。」 永元中，爲平越長史、綏建太守，卒官。
He was appointed Director of the Secretariat of the Principality of Nanhai, Gentleman of the Ministry of Justice Comparison Section, magistrate of Anji, and recorder for the Chariots and Cavalry. Bin loved wine by nature. He ate from gourd pots, ladles, spoons, and elm bark, wore the same cloth cap for twelve years without changing it, used a large gourd as a brazier, and kept many bizarre household things. He styled himself "Bian the Field Dweller," and called his wife "Mistress of the Silkworm Room." Someone admonished him, saying, "You keep no standards of conduct at all—how can you rise to honored office?" Bin replied, "When I throw the five gaming tiles, I win the full set every ten throws—is that still the thrower's clumsiness? I love to throw—that is all there is to it." During the Yongyuan era he served as chief administrator of Pingyue and administrator of Suijian, and died in office.
18
彬又目禽獸云：「羊性淫而狠，豬性卑而率，鵝性頑而傲，狗性險而出。」 皆指斥貴勢。 其蝦蟆賦云：「紆青拖紫，名爲蛤魚。」 世謂比令僕也。 又云：「科斗唯唯，羣浮闇水。 維朝繼夕，聿役如鬼。」 比令史諮事也。 文章傳於閭巷。
Bin also described birds and beasts, saying, "Sheep are lustful and fierce by nature; pigs are base and blunt; geese are stubborn and proud; dogs are treacherous and outward-going." All of these were aimed at denouncing the powerful and eminent. In his Rhapsody on the Toad he wrote, "Wrapped in green and trailing purple, its name is frog-fish." People took this as a satire on the Director of Attendants. He also wrote, "Tadpoles bob and nod, floating in crowds in dark water. From morning through evening they serve like ghosts." This was taken as a satire on the clerks who handled consultations. His writings circulated among the common people.
19
永明中，琅邪諸葛勗爲國子生，作《雲中賦》，指祭酒以下，皆有形似之目。 坐繫東冶，作《東冶徒賦》，世祖見，赦之。
During the Yongming era, Zhuge Mu of Langya, a student at the Imperial University, wrote the Rhapsody from the Clouds, assigning likeness-titles to the Chancellor and everyone below him. For this he was imprisoned in the Eastern Ironworks. He wrote the Rhapsody of an Eastern Ironworks Prisoner, and when the Emperor saw it, he pardoned him.
20
又有陳郡袁嘏，自重其文。 謂人云：「我詩應須大材迮之，不爾飛去。」 建武末，爲諸暨令，被王敬則所殺。
There was also Yuan Gu of Chen commandery, who held his own writings in high esteem. He told people, "My poems need a great vessel to hold them; otherwise they would fly away." At the end of the Jianwu era he served as magistrate of Zhuji and was killed by Wang Jingze.
21
丘巨源
Qiu Juyuan
22
丘巨源，蘭陵蘭陵人也。 宋初土斷屬丹陽，後屬蘭陵。 巨源少舉丹陽郡孝廉，爲宋孝武所知。 大明五人，敕助徐爰撰國史。 帝崩，江夏王義恭取爲掌書記。 明帝卽位，使參詔誥，引在左右。 自南臺御史爲王景文鎮軍參軍，寧喪還家。
Qiu Juyuan was from Lanling in Lanling commandery. At the beginning of the Song, after the land reallocation his household belonged to Danyang; later it belonged to Lanling. In his youth Juyuan was recommended as Filial and Incorrupt of Danyang commandery and came to the notice of Emperor Xiaowu of Song. In the fifth year of the Daming era, he was ordered to assist Xu Ai in compiling the national history. When the emperor died, Prince Jiangxia Liu Yigong took him on as chief recorder. When Emperor Ming acceded, he had him participate in drafting edicts and proclamations and kept him at his side. From censor of the Southern Secretariat he became military adviser to Wang Jingwen, General of the Garrison; after completing mourning for his parent he returned home.
23
元徽初，桂陽王休範在尋陽，以巨源有筆翰，遣船迎之，餉以錢物。 巨源因太祖自啓，敕板起巨源使留京都。 桂陽事起，使於中書省撰符檄，事平，除奉朝請。
At the beginning of the Yuanhui era, Prince Guiyang Liu Xiufan was at Xunyang. Because Juyuan had literary talent, the prince sent a boat to welcome him and presented him with money and goods. Juyuan thereupon petitioned the Founding Emperor directly; an edict was issued appointing him and ordering him to remain in the capital. When the Guiyang rebellion broke out, he was assigned to draft proclamations and summons at the Secretariat. When the affair was settled, he was appointed palace attendant.
24
巨源望有封賞，旣而不獲，乃與尚書令袁粲書曰：
Juyuan hoped for enfeoffment and reward, but in the end received none. Thereupon he wrote to Yuan Can, Director of the Secretariat, saying:
25
:民信理推心，闇於量事，庶謂丹誠感達，賞報孱期； 豈虞寂寥，忽焉三稔？ 議者必云筆記賤伎，非殺活所待； 開勸小說，非否判所寄。 然則先聲後實，軍國舊章，七德九功，將名當世。 仰觀天緯，則右將而左相，俯察人序，則西武而東文，固非胥祝之倫伍，巫匠之流匹矣。
: I, trusting in reason, speak from the heart. Though poor at judging affairs, I hoped my sincere devotion would be felt and reward would come soon; who expected to be left in silence while three years suddenly passed? Critics will surely say that note-taking is a low craft, not what matters of life and death depend on; and that composing persuasive pamphlets is not what judgment and decision rely on. Yet first sound and then substance is the old rule of army and state, and the seven virtues and nine accomplishments are what make one's name in an age. Looking up at the patterns of heaven, the Right General stands on the right and the Chancellor on the left; looking down at human order, martial worthies stand in the west and literary men in the east. This is clearly not the class of scribes and diviners, shamans and craftsmen.
26
:去昔奇兵，變起呼吸，雖凶渠卽勦，而人情更迷。 茅恬開城，千齡出叛，當此之時，心膂胡、越，奉迎新亭者，士庶填路，投名朱雀者，愚智空閨，人惑而民不惑，人畏而民不畏，其一可論也。
: When elite troops were deployed in the past, crisis arose in a breath. Though the chief rebel was quickly suppressed, popular sentiment grew only more confused. Mao Tian opened the city gates and Qian Ling went out in rebellion. At that time, with heart and backbone from Hu and Yue, those welcoming the rebels at Xinting filled the roads with gentry and commoners, and those submitting their names at Zhuque emptied homes of wise and simple alike. Others were confused, but I was not; others feared, but I did not—the first point may be discussed.
27
:臨機新亭，獨能抽刃斬賊者，唯有張敬兒； 而中書省獨能奮筆弗顧者，唯有丘巨源。 文武相方，誠有優劣，就其死亡以決成敗，當崩天之敵，抗不測之禍，請問海內，此膽何如？ 其二可論也。
: At the critical moment at Xinting, the only one who could draw his blade and slay the rebel was Zhang Jinger; and of those in the Secretariat who alone could wield the brush without hesitation, there was only Qiu Juyuan. Compared, martial and literary merit do differ in degree, but judged by facing death to decide success or failure, confronting a heaven-shaking enemy and resisting unforeseen disaster—I ask the realm, how does such courage rank? The second point may be discussed.
28
:又爾時顛沛，普喚文士，黃門中書，靡不畢集，摛翰振藻，非爲乏人，朝廷洪筆，何故假手凡賤？ 若以此賊彊盛，勝負難測，羣賢怯不染豪者，則民宜以勇獲賞； 若云羽檄之難，必須筆傑，羣賢推能見委者，則民宜以才賜列，其三可論也。
: Moreover, in that turmoil literary men were summoned everywhere; the Yellow Gate and Secretariat all gathered without exception. There was no lack of men wielding brush and polishing phrases—so why did the court's grand pens borrow hands from common and base men? If the rebels were strong and victory or defeat hard to foretell, and the worthy were timid and unstained by boldness, then I ought to be rewarded for courage; if it is said that proclamations are difficult and require literary genius, and the worthy were chosen by ability and entrusted with the task, then I ought to be granted rank for talent—the third point may be discussed.
29
:竊見桂陽賊賞不赦之條凡二十五人，而李恒、鍾爽同在此例，戰敗後出，罪竝釋然，而吳邁遠族誅之。 罰則操筆大禍而操戈尤害，論以賞科，則武人超越而文人埋沒，其四可論也。
: I have seen that among the Guiyang rebels' unpardonable list there were twenty-five persons in all. Li Heng and Zhong Shuang were in the same category; they came forward after defeat and their crimes were all pardoned—yet Wu Maiyuan's entire clan was executed. In punishment, wielding the brush brought great disaster while wielding the spear was treated as even worse; speaking of rewards by statute, martial men were elevated while literary men were buried—the fourth point may be discussed.
30
:且邁遠置辭，無乃侵慢，民作符檄，肆言詈辱，放筆出手，卽就兖粉。 若使桂陽得志，民若不轘裂軍門，則應腰斬都市，嬰孩脯膾，伊可熟念，其五可論也。
: Moreover, Maiyuan's wording was perhaps merely insolent. I wrote the proclamation, freely cursing and insulting—as soon as my brush left my hand, I would immediately have been ground to powder. If Guiyang had succeeded, I would either have been torn apart at the army gate or executed in the marketplace; infants minced into paste—this may well be pondered deeply. The fifth point may be discussed.
31
:往年戎旅，萬有餘甲，十分之中，九分冗隷，可謂衆矣。 攀龍附驎，翻焉雲翔。 至若民狂夫，可謂寡矣。 徒關敕旨，空然泥沈。 詎其荷瞂塵末，皆是白起，操牘事始，必非魯連邪？ 民傎，國算迅足，馳烽旆之機，帝擇逸翰，赴羅之會。 旣能陵敵不殿，爭先無負，宜其微賜存在，少沾飲齕。 遂乃棄之溝間，如蜉如蟻，擲之言外，如土如灰。 絓隷帖戰，無拳無勇，竝隨資峻級矣； 凡豫臺內，不文不武，已坐拱清階矣。 撫骸如此，瞻例如彼，旣非草木，何能弭聲？
: In last year's military campaign there were more than ten thousand armored men; nine-tenths of them were superfluous attendants—one may say the ranks were full. Clinging to dragons and attaching to unicorns, they soared like clouds. As for me, a reckless fellow, one may say I stood alone. I cared only for the imperial edict and threw myself in vain into the mire. How could it be that every soldier bearing a shield in the dusty rear is treated as Bai Qi, yet those who wielded the brush at the outset were surely no Lu Lian? I threw myself into peril. The nation's reckoning moved swiftly; I raced toward the moment of beacon fires and banners; the Emperor selected my skilled brush to meet the perilous crisis. Since I could press the enemy without falling behind and strive to be first without falling short, there ought to have been some small reward, a little share of sustenance. Yet I was cast aside in the ditch like mayflies and ants, thrown outside the realm of discourse like dirt and ash. Hanger-on soldiers who tagged along in battle, without strength or courage, all rose through high ranks according to seniority; All those within the Secretariat who were neither literary nor martial already sat on the high clear steps. When I touch my own bones and look at the example set by others, since I am not grass or wood, how can I keep silent?
32
巨源竟不被申。
In the end Juyuan's petition was not granted.
33
歷佐諸王府，轉羽林監。 建元元年，爲尚書主客郎，領軍司馬，越騎校尉。 除武昌太守，拜竟，不樂江外行，世祖問之，巨源曰：「古人云：『寧飲建業水，不食武昌魚。』 臣年已老，寧死於建業。」 以爲餘杭令。
He successively served various princely households and was transferred to supervisor of the Feathered Forest Guard. In the first year of Jianyuan he served as Gentleman of the Ministry of Receptions, army marshal of the Garrison Command, and colonel of the Yue Cavalry. He was appointed administrator of Wuchang. When the appointment was announced, he was unhappy about serving west of the Yangzi. When the Emperor asked him, Juyuan said, "The ancients said, 'Better to drink the water of Jianye than eat the fish of Wuchang. I am already old and would rather die in Jianye." He was appointed magistrate of Yuhang instead.
34
沈攸之事，太祖使巨源爲尚書符荊州，巨源以此又望賞異，自此意常不滿。 高宗爲吳興，巨源作《秋胡詩》，有譏刺語，以事見殺。
During the affair of Shen Youzhi, the Founding Emperor had Juyuan draft the Secretariat dispatch to Jingzhou. Juyuan again hoped for special reward for this, and from then on was often discontent. When Emperor Gao was in Wuxing, Juyuan composed the Poem on Qiuhu with satirical language. Because of the affair he was executed.
35
王智深
Wang Zhisen
36
王智深字雲才，琅邪臨沂人也。 少從陳郡謝超宗學屬文。 好飲酒，拙澀乏風儀。 宋建平王景素爲南徐州，作《觀法篇》，智深和之，見賞，辟爲西曹書佐。 貧無衣，未到職而景素敗。 後解褐爲州祭酒。 太祖爲鎮軍時，丘巨源薦之於太祖，板爲府行參軍，除豫章王國常侍，遷太學博士，豫章王大司馬參軍，兼記室。
Wang Zhisen, courtesy name Yuncai, was from Linyi in Langya commandery. In his youth he studied literary composition under Xie Chaozong of Chen commandery. He loved wine, but was clumsy, awkward, and lacking in bearing. When Prince Jianping Liu Jingsu of Song served as governor of Southern Xuzhou, he composed the Observing the Law chapter. Zhisen harmonized with it, won praise, and was recruited as secretary assistant in the Western Bureau. Too poor to afford clothes, he had not yet taken up his post when Jingsu was defeated. Later he entered official service and was appointed chancellor of the province. When the Founding Emperor was General of the Garrison, Qiu Juyuan recommended him to the Founding Emperor. He was appointed staff officer of the headquarters, attendant of the Principality of Yuzhang, erudite of the Imperial University, military adviser to the Grand Marshal of Yuzhang, and concurrently recorder.
37
世祖使太子家令沈約撰《宋書》，擬立《袁粲傳》，以審世祖。 世祖曰：「袁粲自是宋家忠臣。」 約又多載孝武、明帝諸鄙瀆事，上遣左右謂約曰：「孝武事迹不容頓爾。 我昔經事宋明帝，卿可思諱惡之義。」 於是多所省除。
The Emperor ordered Crown Prince Household Steward Shen Yue to compile the Book of Song and proposed establishing a biography of Yuan Can to test the Emperor's reaction. The Emperor said, "Yuan Can was naturally a loyal minister of the Song house." Yue also included many vulgar and disrespectful matters concerning Xiaowu and Mingdi. The Emperor sent attendants to tell Yue, "The deeds of Xiaowu cannot be dismissed so abruptly. I once served under Emperor Ming of Song; you should consider the meaning of concealing evil." Thereupon much was cut and removed.
38
又敕智深撰《宋紀》，召見芙蓉堂，賜衣服，給宅。 智深告貧於豫章王，王曰：「須卿書成，當相論以祿。」 書成三十卷，世祖後召見智深於璿明殿，令拜表奏上。 表未奏而世祖崩。 隆昌元年，敕索其書，智深遷爲竟陵王司徒參軍，坐事免。 江夏王鋒衡陽王鈞竝善待之。
He also ordered Zhisen to compile the Annals of Song, summoned him to Furong Hall, bestowed clothing on him, and granted him a residence. Zhisen reported his poverty to the Prince of Yuzhang. The prince said, "When your book is finished, I shall discuss salary with you." When the book was finished in thirty volumes, the Emperor later summoned Zhisen to Xuanming Hall and ordered him to submit a memorial presenting it. Before the memorial was submitted, the Emperor died. In the first year of Longchang an edict demanded the book. Zhisen was transferred to military adviser to the Prince of Jingling, Grand Minister of Education, and was dismissed because of an affair. Prince Jiangxia Liu Feng and Prince Hengyang Liu Jun both treated him well.
39
初，智深爲司徒袁粲所接，及撰宋紀，意常依依。 粲幼孤，祖母名其爲愍孫，後慕荀粲，自改名，會稽賀喬譏之，智深於是著論。
At first Zhisen was taken in by Grand Minister Yuan Can, and when he compiled the Annals of Song his feelings remained deeply attached. Yuan Can was orphaned in youth, and his grandmother named him Minsun. Later, admiring Xun Can, he changed his own name. He Qiao of Kuaiji mocked this, and Zhisen thereupon wrote a treatise.
40
家貧無人事，嘗餓五日不得食，掘莧根食之。 司空王僧虔及子志分其衣食。 卒於家。
His family was poor and he had few visitors. Once he went hungry for five days without food and dug amaranth roots to eat. Minister of Works Wang Sengqian and his son Zhi shared their food and clothing with him. He died at home.
41
先是陳郡袁炳，字叔明，有文學，亦爲袁粲所知。 著《晉書》未成，卒。
Earlier there had been Yuan Bing of Chen Commandery, courtesy name Shuming, a man of letters who had also won the esteem of Yuan Can. He began a History of Jin but died before finishing it.
42
潁川庾銑，善屬文，見賞豫章王，引至大司馬記室參軍，卒。
Yu Rui of Yingchuan excelled at prose. The Prince of Yuzhang took notice of him and appointed him recorder-adjutant on the Grand Marshal's staff; he died in office.
43
陸厥
Lu Jue
44
陸厥字韓卿，吳郡吳人，揚州別駕閑子也。 厥少有風概，好屬文，五言詩體甚新變。 永明九年，詔百官舉士，同郡司徒左西掾顧暠之表薦焉。 州舉秀才，王晏少傅主簿，遷後軍行參軍。
Lu Jue, courtesy name Hanqing, was a native of Wu in Wu Commandery and the son of Xian, deputy governor of Yang Province. From youth Lu Jue had force of character and loved to write. His five-character poetry was strikingly fresh and innovative. In the ninth year of Yongming (491), the throne ordered officials to recommend worthy men; Gu Hao-zhi of the same commandery, left western attendant on the Minister of Works' staff, submitted a memorial recommending him. The province nominated him as a cultivated talent. He served as chief clerk to the Junior Mentor Wang Yan, then was promoted to acting adjutant on the rear army staff.
45
永明末，盛爲文章。 吳興沈約、陳郡謝朓、琅邪王融以氣類相推轂。 汝南周顒善識聲韻。 約等文皆用宮商，以平上去入爲四聲，以此制韻，不可增減，世呼爲「永明體」。 沈約《宋書謝靈運傳》後又論宮商。 厥與約書曰：
In the closing years of the Yongming era he became one of the period's leading writers. Shen Yue of Wuxing, Xie Tiao of Chen Commandery, and Wang Rong of Langya championed one another as literary kindred spirits. Zhou Yong of Runan had a fine ear for tones and rhyme. Shen Yue and his circle wrote with tonal modulation—level, rising, departing, and entering as the four tones—and composed rhyme by fixed rules that admitted no addition or subtraction. The age came to call this the Yongming style. In his biography of Xie Lingyun in the History of Song, Shen Yue had already gone on to discuss tonal modulation. Lu Jue wrote to Shen Yue:
46
:范詹事《自序》「性別宮商，識清濁，特能適輕重，濟艱難。 古今文人，多不全了斯處，縱有會此者，不必從根本中來。」 沈尚書亦云「自靈均以來，此祕未睹」。 或「闇與理合，匪由思至。 張蔡曹王，曾無先覺，潘陸顏謝，去之彌遠」。 大旨鈞使「宮羽相變，低昂舛節。 若前有浮聲，則後須切響，一簡之內，音韻盡殊，兩句之中，輕重悉異」。 辭旣美矣，理又善焉。 但觀歷代衆賢，似不都闇此處，而云「此祕未睹」，近於誣乎？
In his Self-Preface, Director Fan wrote: By nature I distinguish gong from shang and discern clear from muddy tones; I am especially able to balance weight and lightness and to smooth out what is hard. Ancient and modern writers have for the most part not fully mastered this point; even those who sometimes hit upon it have not necessarily arrived at it from first principles. Minister Shen likewise wrote that since Qu Yuan's day this secret has gone unseen. Or again: It accords with reason in ways one cannot see, not by deliberate thought alone. Among Zhang Heng, Cai Yong, Cao Zhi, and Wang Can there was never a pioneer in this art; among Pan Yue, Lu Ji, Yan Yanzhi, and Xie Lingyun the distance only grew. The main thrust of your doctrine states: Gong and yu tones alternate; highs and lows must not fall out of step. If the first half carries a lighter tone, the second must answer with a sharper one; within a single line every syllable must differ in sound and rhyme, and across two lines light and heavy must be wholly distinct. The language is elegant and the reasoning sound. Yet when one looks at the great writers of past ages, they do not all seem wholly ignorant of this art—so to say this secret has gone unseen comes close to slander, does it not?
47
:案范云「不從根本中來」。 尚書云「匪由思至」。 斯可謂揣情謬於玄黃，擿句差其音律也。 范又云「時有會此者」。 尚書云「或闇與理合」。 則美詠清謳，有辭章調韻者，雖有差謬，亦有會合，推此以往，可得而言。 夫思有合離，前哲同所不免，文有開塞，卽事不得無之。 子建所以好人譏彈，士衡所以遺恨終篇。 旣曰遺恨，非盡美之作，理可詆訶。 君子執其詆訶，便謂合理爲闇。 豈如指其合理而寄詆訶爲遺恨邪？
Regarding Fan's claim that mastery does not come from first principles: the Minister writes that it is not reached by deliberate thought. This is like misreading intent in what is black and white, or singling out lines that miss their proper tonal pattern. Fan also admits that there are times when one hits upon it. The Minister writes that it sometimes accords with reason in ways one cannot see. Beautiful lyrics and polished verse—works with patterned diction and rhyme—may err here and there yet still contain passages that fit; extend the principle and the case can be stated plainly. Thought has its moments of clarity and confusion, which no sage entirely escapes; writing has its fluent and obstructed passages, which no author can wholly avoid. This is why Cao Zhi invited others' ridicule, and why Lu Ji ended his works with acknowledged regret. If a work is said to carry remaining regret, it is not perfection itself, and criticism is only fair. The critic seizes on such faults and treats passages that do fit the rule as if they were born of ignorance. Should one not rather acknowledge what fits the rule and treat the censure as the source of remaining regret?
48
:自魏文屬論，深以清濁爲言，劉楨奏書，大明體勢之致，岨峿妥怗之談，操末續顛之說，興玄黃於律呂，比五色之相宣，苟此祕未睹，茲論爲何所指邪？ 故愚謂前英已早識宮徵，但未屈曲指的，若今論所申。 至於掩瑕藏疾，合少謬多，則臨淄所云「人之著述，不能無病」者也。 非知之而不改，謂不改則不知，斯曹、陸又稱「竭情多悔，不可力彊」者也。 今許以有病有悔爲言，則必自知無悔無病之地，引其不了不合爲闇，何獨誣其一合一了之明乎？ 意者亦質文時異，古今好殊，將急在情物，而緩於章句。 情物，文之所急，美惡猶且相半； 章句，意之所緩，故合少而謬多。 義兼於斯，必非不知明矣。
From Emperor Wen of Wei's essays, with their emphasis on clear versus muddy tones, to Liu Zhen's memorial expounding form and force, treatises on rugged and smooth style, and theories of broken endings and linked inversions—setting pitch-pipes against the interplay of the five colors—if this secret truly went unseen, what were all these earlier critics talking about? I take it that earlier masters already grasped gong and zhi tones long ago—they simply did not spell out the point with the precision of your present thesis. As for glossing over flaws and keeping faults hidden—more misses than hits—this is exactly what the Prince of Linzi meant by saying that no human writing is without blemish. It is not that they knew yet refused to revise; to say that failure to revise means ignorance is to miss what Cao Zhi and Lu Ji meant by to pour out every feeling is to invite much regret—this cannot be forced. If one admits flaws and regret in writing, one must also know there are passages without flaw or regret—so to treat what fails or misfits as proof of ignorance while ignoring what succeeds is to slander their clear hits alone. Perhaps substance and ornament shift with the age, and tastes change from era to era—earlier writers cared chiefly for emotion and subject matter, and gave less urgency to line and clause. Emotion and subject matter are what writing most urgently pursues, and even there good and bad run about even; line and clause were what they treated lightly, and so hits were fewer and misses more numerous. When both points are taken together, it can hardly be ignorance that is at issue.
49
:《長門》、《上林》，殆非一家之賦，《洛神》、《池鴈》，便成二體之作。 孟堅精正，詠史無虧於東主，平子恢富，《羽獵》不累於憑虛。 王粲《初征》，他文未能稱是； 楊脩敏捷，《暑賦》彌日不獻。 率意寡尤，則事促乎一日； 翳翳愈伏，而理賒於七步。 一人之思，遲速天懸； 一家之文，工拙壤隔。 何獨宮商律呂，必責其如一邪？ 論者乃可言未窮其致，不得言曾無先覺也。
The Changmen Rhapsody and the Shanglin Rhapsody can hardly be called the work of a single hand; the Luoshen Rhapsody and the Goose Pond Rhapsody plainly belong to two different styles. Ban Gu was precise and upright—his Ode on History does not suffer beside the Eastern Lord's work; Zhang Heng was expansive and rich—his Feathered Hunt does not drag down his Upon Emptiness. Wang Can's First Campaign stands apart—his other pieces cannot be called its equal; Yang Xiu was quick-witted, yet his Summer Heat Rhapsody took a full day and still was not finished. when one follows the flow and errs little, the work may be done in a day; when inspiration dims and the mind grows sluggish, the argument may stretch to seven paces. Within a single mind, speed and slowness may be worlds apart; within a single author's corpus, mastery and mediocrity may stand as far apart as heaven and earth. Why should gong, shang, pitch-pipes, and scales alone be held to perfect uniformity? One may say the doctrine has not yet been fully exhausted, but one may not say there was never any foreknowledge at all.
50
約答曰：
Shen Yue replied:
51
:宮商之聲有五，文字之別累萬，以累萬之繁，配五聲之約，高下低昂，非思力所舉。 又非止若斯而已也。 十字之文，顛倒相配，字不過十，巧歷已不能盡，何況復過於此者乎？ 靈均以來，未經用之於懷抱，固無從得其髣彿矣。 若斯之妙，而聖人不尚，何邪？ 此蓋曲折聲韻之巧，無當於訓義，非聖哲立言之所急也。 是以子雲譬之「雕蟲篆刻」，云「壯夫不爲」。
There are five notes in the gong-shang scale, yet written characters number in the tens of thousands. To match that vast complexity to the narrow compass of five tones—balancing high, low, and pitch—is beyond what deliberate thought can achieve. And the difficulty does not stop there. In a passage of ten characters, permuted and paired, there are no more than ten glyphs—yet even a master calculator could not exhaust the combinations. How much more so when the text runs longer? Since Qu Yuan's day no one has truly applied this art in composition, and so there is no way even to glimpse its likeness. If the art is so subtle, why did the sages not prize it? This is merely the clever manipulation of winding tones and rhyme. It has nothing to do with moral instruction, and was never what the sages urgently sought in their teaching. That is why Yang Xiong likened it to ornamental insect carving and seal-script engraving, saying that a grown man does not stoop to such work.
52
:自古辭人，豈不知宮羽之殊，商征之別。 雖知五音之異，而其中參差變動，所昧實多，故鄙意所謂「此祕未睹」者也。 以此而推，則知前世文士便未悟此處。
Writers since antiquity surely knew the difference between gong and yu, and between shang and zhi. They knew the five tones differed, but the uneven shifts within them remained largely obscure—this is what I mean by saying this secret has gone unseen. Extend the logic and it follows that earlier writers had not truly grasped this point.
53
:若以文章之音韻，同弦管之聲曲，則美惡妍蚩，不得頓相乖反。 譬由子野操曲，安得忽有闡緩失調之聲，以《洛神》比陳思他賦，有似異手之作。 故知天機啓，則律呂自調； 六情滯，則音律頓舛也。
If the tonal pattern of a literary work were the same as the melody of string and pipe, then beauty and ugliness, grace and coarseness, could not suddenly contradict one another. When Shi Kuang played a tune, how could a sudden broad, slack, out-of-key passage appear? Compare the Luoshen Rhapsody with Cao Zhi's other rhapsodies—it reads like the work of another hand. This shows that when inspiration flows freely, pitch and tone fall into place of themselves; when the six emotions stall, rhythm and tone at once go awry.
54
:士衡雖云「炳若縟錦」，寧有濯色江波，其中復有一片是衞文之服？ 此則陸生之言，卽復不盡者矣。 韻與不韻，復有精麤，輪扁不能言，老夫亦不盡辨此。
Lu Ji may have said that a work shines like brocade—but could brocade washed in river water contain within it a patch of Duke Wen of Wei's robe? Even Lu Ji's remark, apt as it is, does not say everything. Whether a passage rhymes or not admits degrees of refinement and coarseness. Lun Bian could not put the craft into words, and I too cannot fully sort out every case.
55
永元元年，始安王遙光反，厥父閑被誅，厥坐繫尚方，尋有赦令，厥恨父不及，感慟而卒，年二十八。 文集行於世。
In the first year of Yongyuan (499), when the Prince of Shian, Xiao Yaoguang, rebelled, Lu Jue's father Xian was executed. Lu Jue was imprisoned in the Palace Workshops. An amnesty soon followed, but he grieved that his father had not lived to see it, and died of grief at the age of twenty-eight. His collected writings circulated in his day.
56
會稽虞炎，永明中以文學與沈約俱爲文惠太子所遇，意眄殊常。 官至驍騎將軍。
Yu Yan of Kuaiji, noted for his learning during the Yongming era, was favored along with Shen Yue by Crown Prince Wen Hui, who regarded him with unusual warmth. He rose to the rank of General of Valiant Cavalry.
57
崔慰祖
Cui Weizu
58
崔慰祖字悅宗，清河東武城人也。 父慶緒，永明中，爲梁州刺史。
Cui Weizu, courtesy name Yuezong, was a native of Dongwucheng in Qinghe Commandery. His father Qingxu served as governor of Liang Province during the Yongming era.
59
慰祖解褐奉朝請。 父喪不食鹽，母曰：「汝旣無兄弟，又未有子胤。 毀不滅性，政當不進肴羞耳，如何絕鹽！ 吾今亦不食矣。」 慰祖不得已從之。 父梁州之資，家財千萬，散與宗族，漆器題爲日字，日字之器，流乎遠近。 料得父時假貰文疏，謂族子紘曰：「彼有，自當見還； 彼無，吾何言哉！」 悉火焚之。
Weizu began his career as an attendant at court. During his father's mourning he abstained from salt. His mother said: You have no brothers and still no son to carry on the line. Grief must not destroy your life. You need only forgo rich foods—not cut off salt altogether! If you will not eat, then I shall not eat either. Weizu had no choice but to comply. His father's wealth from Liang Province amounted to ten million cash. He distributed it among his clan, marking lacquerware with the character ri (sun); vessels so marked spread far and wide. When he came upon his father's loan records, he told his clansman Hong: Those who have the means will repay in their own time; those who do not—what more is there to say? He burned them all.
60
好學，聚書至萬卷，隣里年少好事者來從假借，日數十袠，慰祖親自取與，未常爲辭。
He loved learning and amassed a library of ten thousand scrolls. Young neighbors who shared his interests came to borrow books—dozens of fascicles a day—and Weizu personally fetched and returned them, never refusing.
61
爲始安王撫軍墨曹行參軍，轉刑獄，兼記室。 遙光好棋，數召慰祖對戲，慰祖輙辭拙，非朔望不見也。 建武中，詔舉士，從兄慧景舉慰祖及平原劉孝標，竝碩學。 帝欲試以百里，慰祖辭不就。
He served as acting adjutant in the ink office on the Prince of Shian's pacification army staff, then moved to criminal cases and concurrently served as recorder. Yaoguang loved weiqi and often summoned Weizu to play, but Weizu always pleaded incompetence and would see him only on the first and fifteenth of the month. During the Jianwu era, when the throne ordered officials to recommend scholars, his cousin Huijing nominated Weizu and Liu Xiaobiao of Pingyuan, both noted for deep learning. The emperor wished to test him with a district magistracy, but Weizu declined.
62
國子祭酒沈約、吏部郎謝朓嘗於吏部省中賔友俱集，各問慰祖地理中所不悉十餘事，慰祖口吃，無華辭，而酬據精悉，一座稱服之。 朓歎曰：「假使班、馬復生，無以過此。」
Director of the National University Shen Yue and Department Director Xie Tiao once gathered with friends in the personnel office and each put more than a dozen geographical questions to Weizu on points they did not know. Weizu stuttered and had no polished rhetoric, yet answered with precise command of the sources, and the whole company was impressed. Xie Tiao sighed and said: Even if Ban Gu and Sima Qian were alive again, they could not do better.
63
慰祖賣宅四十五萬，買者云：「寧有減不？」 答曰：「誠慚韓伯休，何容二價。」 買者又曰：「君但責四十六萬，一萬見與。」 慰祖曰：「是卽同君欺人，豈是我心乎？」
Weizu sold his house for four hundred fifty thousand cash. The buyer asked: Could you come down on the price? He replied: I would be ashamed before Han Kang—how could I name two prices? The buyer said again: Just ask four hundred sixty thousand—I will give you the extra ten thousand. Weizu said: That would mean joining you in cheating others—is that what I intend?
64
少與侍中江祀款，及祀貴，常來候之，而慰祖不往也。 與丹陽丞劉渢素善，遙光據東府反，慰祖在城內。 城未潰一日，渢謂之曰：「卿有老母，宜其出矣。」 命門者出之。 慰祖詣闕自首。 繫尚方，病卒。
In youth he was on close terms with Attendant-in-Ordinary Jiang Si. When Si rose high, he often came to call on Weizu, but Weizu never returned the visits. He was also close to Liu Hong, assistant magistrate of Danyang. When Yaoguang seized the Eastern Palace and rebelled, Weizu was inside the city walls. One day before the city fell, Hong told him, "You have an old mother at home—you ought to get out while you can." He ordered the gatekeepers to let him pass out of the city. Weizu presented himself at the imperial court to confess his guilt. He was held in the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories, where he died of illness.
65
慰祖著《海岱志》，起太公迄西晉人物，爲四十卷，半未成。 臨卒，與從弟緯書云：「常欲更注遷、固二史，採史、漢所漏二百餘事，在廚簏，可檢寫之，以存大意。 《海岱志》良未周悉，可寫數本，付護軍諸從事人一通，及友人任昉、徐夤、劉洋、裴揆。」 又令「以棺親土，不須塼，勿設靈座」。 時年三十五。
Weizu authored the Record of Hai and Dai, treating figures from the Grand Duke of Qi through the Western Jin in forty juan, of which only half were completed. On his deathbed he wrote his younger cousin Wei: "I had long wished to revise the commentaries on Sima Qian and Ban Gu, gathering more than two hundred items the Records and the History of Han had overlooked; they are in the kitchen cabinet. You may find them, copy them out, and keep the substance. The Record of Hai and Dai is still far from complete. Make several copies: one for the clerks of the Protector Army, and others for my friends Ren Fang, Xu Yin, Liu Yang, and Pei Kui." He also instructed: "Let the coffin rest directly on the earth—no brick lining, and no spirit seat." He was thirty-five at the time.
66
王逡之
Wang Qunzhi
67
王逡之字宣約，琅邪臨沂人也。 父祖皆爲郡守。
Wang Qunzhi, courtesy name Xuanyue, was from Linyi in Langya commandery. Both his father and grandfather had served as provincial grand administrators.
68
逡之少禮學博聞。 起家江夏王國常侍，大司馬行參軍，章安令，累至始安內史。 不之官，除山陽王驃騎參軍，兼治書御史，安成國郎中，吳令。
From youth Qunzhi was steeped in ritual studies and widely read. He entered service as attendant of the Principality of Jiangxia, staff officer to the Grand Marshal, and magistrate of Zhang'an, rising in time to interior minister of Shi'an. He declined to take up one appointment and was instead appointed military adviser to the Prince of Shanyang's Valiant Cavalry, with concurrent posts as drafting secretary, gentleman of the Principality of Ancheng, and magistrate of Wu.
69
昇明末，右僕射王儉重儒術，逡之以著作郎兼尚書左丞，參定齊國儀禮。 初，儉撰《古今喪服集記》，逡之難儉十一條。 更撰《世行》五卷。 轉國子博士。 國學久廢，建元二年，逡之先上表立學，又兼著作，撰《永明起居注》。 轉通直常侍，驍騎將軍，領博士、著作如故。 出爲寧朔將軍、南康相，太中、光祿大夫，加侍中。 逡之率素，衣裘不澣，机案塵黑，年老，手不釋卷。 建武二年，卒。
At the end of the Shengming era, Right Vice Director Wang Jian valued Confucian learning. Qunzhi was appointed editor and concurrently Left Assistant Director of the Secretariat to help codify Qi ritual. Earlier Jian had compiled the Comprehensive Record of Mourning Garments Ancient and Modern; Qunzhi challenged him on eleven points. He also wrote the Conduct of the Ages in five juan. He was promoted to erudite of the Imperial University. The imperial academy had long lain abandoned. In the second year of Jianyuan, Qunzhi was the first to memorialize for its revival; he also served concurrently as editor and compiled the Yongming Daily Records. He was promoted to Direct Regular Attendant and Valiant Cavalry General, retaining his posts as erudite and editor. He was posted as General of Pacifying the North and administrator of Nankang, then promoted to Grand Master of Palace Counsel and Chamberlain for Attendants, with the additional title of Attendant-in-Ordinary. Qunzhi lived plainly: his fur robes went unwashed, his desk and writing case were black with dust, and even in old age he never set his scrolls aside. He died in the second year of Jianwu.
70
從弟珪之，有史學，撰《齊職儀》。 永明九年，其子中軍參軍顥上啓曰：「臣亡父故長水校尉珪之，藉素爲基，依儒習性。 以宋元徽二年，被敕使纂集古設官歷代分職，凡在墳策，必盡詳究。 是以等級掌司，咸加編錄。 黜陟遷補，悉該研記。 述章服之差，兼冠佩之飾。 屬值啓運，軌度惟新。 故太宰臣淵奉宣敕旨，使速洗正。 刊定未畢，臣私門凶禍。 不揆庸微，謹冒啓上，凡五十卷，謂之《齊職儀》。 仰希永升天閣，長銘祕府。」 詔付祕閣。
His younger cousin Guizhi was skilled in historical studies and compiled the Qi Official Protocol. In the ninth year of Yongming, his son Hao, a staff officer of the Central Army, submitted a memorial: "My late father, the former Colonel of the Long River Guizhi, made plain integrity his foundation and shaped his character through Confucian study. In the second year of Yuanhui under the Song, by imperial command he was tasked with compiling the history of government offices and their division of duties through the ages, investigating every record preserved in the archives. Every rank and office was therefore fully recorded. Dismissals, promotions, transfers, and replacements were all traced and annotated. He treated distinctions in robes and insignia together with caps and girdle ornaments. This came just as the dynasty was being founded anew and its institutions were being remade. The late Grand Preceptor Xiao Yuan received and proclaimed the imperial command that the work be swiftly revised and corrected. Revision was not yet complete when disaster struck my family. Underestimating my own meagerness, I respectfully submit this work—all fifty juan, entitled the Qi Official Protocol. I earnestly hope it may be received into the Imperial Archives and long preserved in the Secret Repository. An edict ordered the work deposited in the Secret Repository.
71
祖沖之
Zu Chongzhi
72
祖沖之字文遠，范陽薊人也。 祖昌，宋大匠卿。 父朔之，奉朝請。
Zu Chongzhi, courtesy name Wenyuan, was from Ji in Fanyang commandery. His grandfather Chang had served as Master of Works under the Song. His father Shuozhi held the rank of Attendant at Court.
73
沖之少稽古，有機思。 宋孝武使直華林學省，賜宅宇車服。 解褐徐州迎從事，公府參軍。
From youth Chongzhi steeped himself in antiquity and possessed a keenly inventive mind. Emperor Xiaowu of Song had him serve directly in the Hualin Academicians' Office and granted him a residence, carriage, and formal robes. Upon entering office he served as reception assistant in Xuzhou and staff officer at a princely headquarters.
74
宋元嘉中，用何承天所制歷，比古十一家爲密，沖之以爲尚疏，乃更造新法。 上表曰：
During Song Yuanjia the court used the calendar He Chengtian had devised, tighter than the eleven ancient systems; Chongzhi still found it too loose and devised a new method. He submitted a memorial that read:
75
:臣博訪前墳，遠稽昔典，五帝𨇠次，三王交分，《春秋》朔氣，《紀年》薄蝕，談、遷載述，彪、固列志，魏世注歷，晉代《起居》，探異今古，觀要華戎。 書契以降，二千餘稔，日月離會之徵，星度疏密之驗。 專功耽思，咸可得而言也。 加以親量圭尺，躬察儀漏，目盡毫氂，心窮籌筴，考課推移，又曲備其詳矣。
": I have consulted the ancient records and traced the old canon—from the ordered reigns of the Five Emperors and the successive divisions of the Three Dynasties to the new-moon qi in the Spring and Autumn Annals and the eclipses in the Bamboo Annals; from the chronicles of Tan and Sima Qian and the treatises of Biao and Ban Gu to Wei's annotated calendars and Jin's Daily Records. I have weighed past against present and gathered what is essential for the Central Lands and the frontier." Since the age of written records, more than two thousand years have passed—the signs of solar and lunar conjunction and separation, the tests of stellar positions whether sparse or dense. All that specialists have achieved through devoted labor and deep reflection can be set forth. Moreover, I have measured the gnomon and rule myself, inspected instruments and water clocks myself, examined matters to the finest hair's breadth and calculated them through to the last rod—in testing how things shift over time I have again made every detail complete.
76
:然而古曆疏舛，類不精密，羣氏糾紛，莫審其會。 尋何承天所上，意存改革，而置法簡略，今已乖遠。 以臣校之，三睹厥謬，日月所在，差覺三度，二至晷景，幾失一日，五星見伏，至差四旬，留逆進退，或移兩宿。 分至失實，則節閏非正； 宿度違天，則伺察無准。 臣生屬聖辰，詢逮在運，敢率愚瞽，更創新曆。
Yet the ancient calendars were loose and full of error, broadly imprecise; the many schools argued among themselves, and none could discern the true conjunctions. Examining what He Chengtian submitted, his aim was reform, but the methods he established were abbreviated and simple—and they are already far wide of the mark. By my reckoning I have thrice seen its errors: the positions of sun and moon are off by nearly three degrees; solstice gnomon shadows miss by nearly a whole day; the five planets' appearances and disappearances are off by as much as forty days; their pauses, reversals, advances, and retreats sometimes shift by two lunar lodges. when the equinoxes and solstices miss the truth, intercalation and the seasons fall out of alignment; when stellar degrees diverge from Heaven, observation has no reliable standard. I was born under a sage reign and have lived to see Heaven's turning; led by my own imperfect sight, I dare to create a new calendar.
77
:謹立改易之意有二，設法之情有三。 改易者一：以舊法一章，十九歲有七閏，閏數爲多，經二百年輙差一日。 節閏旣移，則應改法，歷紀屢遷，寔由此條。 今改章法三百九十一年有一百四十四閏，令却合周、漢，則將來永用，無復差動。 其二：以堯典云「日短星昴，以正仲冬」。 以此推之，唐世冬至日，在今宿之左五十許度。 漢代之初，卽用秦曆，冬至日在牽牛六度。 漢武改立《太初曆》，冬至日在牛初。 後漢四分法，冬至日在斗二十二。 晉世姜岌以月蝕檢日，知冬至在斗十七。 今參以中星，課以蝕望，冬至之日，在斗十一。 通而計之，未盈百載，所差二度。 舊法竝令冬至日有定處，天數旣差，則七曜宿度，漸與舛訛。 乖謬旣著，輙應改易。 僅合一時，莫能通遠。 遷革不已，又由此條。 今令冬至所在歲歲微差，却檢漢注，竝皆審密，將來久用，無煩屢改。 又設法者，其一：以子爲辰首，位在正北，爻應初九升氣之端，虛爲北方列宿之中。 元氣肇初，宜在此次。 前儒虞喜，備論其義。 今曆上元日度，發自虛一。 其二：以日辰之號，甲子爲先，歷法設元，應在此歲。 而黃帝以來，世代所用，凡十一曆，上元之歲，莫值此名。 今曆上元歲在甲子。 其三：以上元之歲，歷中衆條，竝應以此爲始。 而《景初曆》交會遲疾，元首有差。 又承天法，日月五星，各自有元，交會遲疾，亦竝置差，裁得朔氣合而已，條序紛錯，不及古意。 今設法日月五緯交會遲疾，悉以上元歲首爲始，羣流共源，庶無乖誤。
I respectfully set forth two principles for reform and three points in how the method is to be structured. The first reform: under the old method, nineteen years contained seven intercalary months—the number of intercalations was too high, and after two centuries the calendar was soon off by a day. Once intercalation and the seasons drift, the method must change—this, in truth, is why calendars have been revised again and again. The new intercalation rule sets one hundred forty-four intercalations in three hundred ninety-one years, bringing the calendar back into accord with Zhou and Han usage—so that hereafter it may be used indefinitely without further drift. The second concerns the Canon of Yao, which says: "The day is short and the star Mao stands at zenith—thereby to fix midwinter." Extrapolating from this, Tang-era winter solstice fell some fifty degrees or so to the west of its present lodge position. At the Han founding the court immediately adopted the Qin calendar, placing winter solstice at six degrees within the Ox lodge. Emperor Wu of Han established the Taichu Calendar afresh, placing winter solstice at the beginning of the Ox lodge. The Quarter-Remainder Calendar of Later Han placed winter solstice at twenty-two degrees within the Dipper lodge. In Jin times Jiang Kui tested the sun by lunar eclipse and found winter solstice at seventeen degrees within Dipper. Comparing now by culmination stars and verifying by eclipses and full moons, winter solstice falls at eleven degrees within Dipper. Taken together, in less than a century the deviation amounts to two degrees. Old methods all fixed winter solstice at a single position; once the heavenly cycles drifted, the lodge degrees of the seven luminaries gradually came adrift. Once the error is plain, revision must follow at once. Such fixes suit only a single age and cannot extend far into time. Endless rounds of revision stem from this same flaw. Under the new method winter solstice shifts slightly year by year; checked against Han-era annotations all is exact—and for long use hereafter there will be no need for repeated revisions. As for the design of methods—the first: let zi serve as head of the earthly branches, positioned due north, corresponding to the first nine line where ascending qi begins; the Emptiness lodge marks the center of the northern asterisms. At the first emergence of primordial qi, the starting point ought to lie here. The earlier scholar Yu Xi discussed this principle at length. In the new calendar the origin-era solar degree begins from the first degree of Emptiness. The second: among the names of days and branches, jiazi comes first; when a calendar sets its origin, it ought to fall in that year. Yet from the Yellow Emperor down through every calendar each age has used—eleven in all—not one origin year has borne this designation. In the new calendar the origin year falls in jiazi. The third: in the origin year every item in the calendar ought to begin from this point. Yet in the Jingchu Calendar the lunar conjunction and the motions of fast and slow at the origin carried discrepancies. Chengtian's method likewise gave sun, moon, and the five planets each its own origin; conjunction and fast and slow motion were each assigned separate discrepancies—barely forcing new-moon qi to align while leaving the sequence of rules tangled and far from ancient intent. The new method sets conjunction and the fast and slow motions of sun, moon, and the five planets all to begin from the origin year's head, with every stream from one source, so that error may hopefully be avoided.
78
:若夫測以定形，據以實效。 懸象著明，尺表之驗可推； 動氣幽微，寸管之候不忒。 今臣所立，易以取信。 但綜覈始終，大存緩密，革新變舊，有約有繁。 用約之條，理不自懼，用繁之意，顧非謬然。 何者？ 夫紀閏參差，數各有分，分之爲體，非不細密，臣是用深惜毫釐，以全求妙之准，不辭積累，以成永定之制，非爲思而莫知，悟而弗改也。 若所上萬一可採，伏願頒宣羣司，賜垂詳究。
Measure to fix form; rely on that for actual proof. the hanging constellations shine bright—gnomon-and-rule tests can be extrapolated from them; the stirring of qi is subtle—yet the inch-tube's mark does not err. What I have established is easy to put to the proof. Yet taken from beginning to end, it keeps both slackness and tightness in balance; in replacing the old with the new, some parts are abbreviated and some more elaborate. Where the rules are abbreviated the logic still holds; where they are elaborate the reasoning is by no means absurd. Why so? Intercalation is uneven and each number has its allotted part; as structural units those parts are not imprecise. That is why I have clung to every hair's breadth to preserve the standard of exactitude, and have not shrunk from accumulated detail to build a permanently fixed system—not from inability to think through the matter, nor from understanding and yet refusing to change. If any part of what I submit may be adopted, I humbly beg that it be promulgated to the relevant offices and that Your Majesty will deign to examine it closely.
79
事奏。 孝武令朝士善曆者難之，不能屈。 會帝崩，不施行。 出爲婁縣令，謁者僕射。
The memorial was submitted. Emperor Xiaowu ordered court scholars skilled in calendrical science to challenge it, but none could refute him. The Emperor then died, and the calendar was never adopted. He was posted as magistrate of Lou and Director of Messengers.
80
初，宋武平關中，得姚興指南車，有外形而無機巧，每行，使人於內轉之。 昇明中，太祖輔政，使沖之追修古法。 沖之改造銅機，圓轉不窮，而司方如一，馬均以來未有也。 時有北人索馭驎者，亦云能造指南車，太祖使與沖之各造，使於樂遊苑對共校試，而頗有差僻，乃毀焚之。 永明中，竟陵王子良好古，沖之造欹器獻之。
Earlier, when Emperor Wu of Song pacified Guanzhong he obtained Yao Xing's south-pointing carriage. It had outward form but no inner mechanism; every time it traveled someone inside had to turn it by hand. During Shengming, while the Founding Emperor served as regent, he had Chongzhi restore the ancient design. Chongzhi rebuilt it with a bronze mechanism that revolved endlessly yet kept true direction—something unseen since Ma Jun. At the time a northerner named Suo Yulin also claimed he could build a south-pointing carriage. The Founding Emperor had him and Chongzhi each build one and face them off for testing at Leyou Park—but Suo's device was noticeably skewed and defective, so it was destroyed by burning. During Yongming, Prince Ziliang of Jingling was fond of antiquity. Chongzhi crafted a tipping vessel and presented it to him.
81
文惠太子在東宮，見沖之曆法，啓世祖施行，文惠尋薨，事又寢。 轉長水校尉，領本職。 沖之造《安邊論》，欲開屯田，廣農殖。 建武中，明帝使沖之巡行四方，興造大業，可以利百姓者，會連有軍事，事竟不行。
Crown Prince Wen Hui, while in the Eastern Palace, saw Chongzhi's calendar method and memorialized Emperor Wu to adopt it. Wen Hui soon died, and the matter again lapsed. He was transferred to Colonel Director of Waters, retaining his original post. Chongzhi composed "On Securing the Frontier," seeking to open military colonies and broaden farming. During Jianwu, Emperor Ming sent Chongzhi to tour the realm and launch great undertakings that might benefit the people. Continuous warfare intervened, and in the end the plan was never enacted.
82
沖之解鍾律，博塞當時獨絕，莫能對者。 以諸葛亮有木牛流馬，乃造一器，不因風水，施機自運，不勞人力。 又造千里船，於新亭江試之，日行百餘里。 於樂遊苑造水碓磨，世祖親自臨視。 又特善算。 永元二年，沖之卒。 年七十二。 著《易老莊義釋》、《論語孝經注》，《九章》造《綴述》數十篇。
Chongzhi mastered bells and pitch pipes, and at games of chance he stood alone in his age—no one could match him. Recalling that Zhuge Liang had devised the wooden ox and flowing horse, he built a contrivance that needed neither wind nor water but moved of itself through applied mechanism, without human toil. He also built a thousand-li boat and tested it on the Xinting River, where it covered more than a hundred li in a single day. At Leyou Park he constructed water-powered stamp mills and grinding mills, and Emperor Wu came in person to inspect them. He was also exceptionally skilled at calculation. In the second year of Yongyuan, Chongzhi died. He was seventy-two. He wrote "Exposition of the Meanings of the Changes, Laozi, and Zhuangzi," "Commentary on the Analects and Classic of Filial Piety," and several dozen chapters of "Appended Treatises" to the Nine Chapters.
83
賈淵
Jia Yuan
84
賈淵字希鏡，平陽襄陵人也。 祖弼之，晉員外郎。 父匪之，驃騎參軍。
Jia Yuan, courtesy name Xijing, was from Xiangling in Pingyang commandery. His grandfather Bizhi served as an acting gentleman of Jin. His father Feizhi was an aide on the staff of the Rapid Cavalry.
85
世傳譜學。 孝武世，青州人發古冢，銘云「青州世子，東海女郎」。 帝問學士鮑照、徐爰、蘇寶生，竝不能悉。 淵對曰：「此是司馬越女，嫁苟晞兒。」 檢訪果然。 由是見遇。 敕淵注《郭子》。
His family had transmitted genealogical scholarship for generations. During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu, a man from Qingzhou excavated an ancient tomb whose inscription read, "Heir of Qingzhou, Maiden of Donghai." The emperor questioned the scholars Bao Zhao, Xu Ai, and Su Baosheng, but none could explain it fully. Yuan answered, "This is the daughter of Sima Yue, who was given in marriage to the son of Gou Xi. When investigators checked, they found it was exactly as he had said. Thereupon he won imperial favor. The emperor ordered Yuan to annotate the "Book of Guo."
86
泰始初，辟丹陽郡主簿，奉朝請，太學博士，安成王撫軍行參軍，出爲丹徒令。 昇明中，太祖嘉淵世學，取爲驃騎參軍，武陵王國郎中令，補餘姚令。 未行，仍爲義興郡丞。 永明初，轉尚書外兵郎，歷大司馬司徒府參軍。 竟陵王子良使淵撰見客譜，出爲句容令。
At the beginning of Taishi he was recruited as chief clerk of Danyang commandery, appointed Attendant at Court and Erudite of the Imperial Academy, served as acting aide on the Pacifying Army staff under the Prince of Ancheng, and was then sent out as magistrate of Dantu. During Shengming the Founding Emperor, admiring Yuan's hereditary learning, appointed him aide on the Rapid Cavalry staff, Director of the Prince of Wuling's household, and selected him to serve as magistrate of Yuyao. Before he could take up that post he was instead made assistant magistrate of Yixing commandery. At the beginning of Yongming he was transferred to External Military Affairs Secretary in the Ministry of Works and served in turn on the staffs of the Grand Marshal and the Minister over the Masses. Prince Ziliang of Jingling had Yuan compile a guest-reception genealogy, after which he was sent out as magistrate of Jurong.
87
先是譜學未有名家，淵祖弼之廣集百氏譜記，專心治業。 晉太元中，朝廷給弼之令史書吏，撰定繕寫，藏祕閣及左民曹。 淵父及淵三世傳學，凡十八州士族譜，合百帙七百餘卷，該究精悉，當世莫比。 永明中，衞軍王儉抄次《百家譜》，與淵參懷撰定。
Previously genealogical scholarship had had no great family name; Yuan's grandfather Bizhi gathered genealogical records from the hundred clans on a wide scale and devoted himself entirely to the work. In the Taixuan era of Jin the court provided Bizhi with clerks and copyists to compile and transcribe the records, which were stored in the Secret Archive and the Left Population Bureau. Yuan's father and Yuan himself transmitted the learning through three generations: genealogies of gentry clans from eighteen provinces, a hundred fascicles and more than seven hundred scrolls in all—thorough, precise, and without peer in their age. During Yongming, Guard General Wang Jian abridged the "Hundred Clans Genealogy," with Yuan assisting in its compilation and revision.
88
建武初，淵遷長水校尉。 荒傖人王泰寶買襲琅邪譜，尚書令王晏以啓高宗，淵坐被收，當極法，子棲長謝罪，稽顙流血，朝廷哀之，免淵罪。 數年，始安王遙光板撫軍諮議，不就，仍爲北中郎參軍。 中興元年，卒。 年六十二。 撰《氏族要狀》及《人名書》，竝行於世。
At the beginning of Jianwu, Yuan was promoted to Colonel Director of Waters. A rustic northerner named Wang Taibao bought and seized the Langye genealogy; Minister over the Masses Wang Yan reported the matter to Emperor Gaozong. Yuan was implicated, arrested, and condemned to the extreme penalty. His son Qichang confessed on his behalf, kowtowing until his forehead bled; the court took pity and pardoned Yuan. Several years later Prince Yao Guang of Shi'an invited him by written placard to serve as army counselor on the Pacifying Army staff, but he declined and remained a staff member under the Northern Corps Commander. In the first year of Zhongxing, he died. He was sixty-two. He compiled "Essential Records of Clans" and "Book of Personal Names," both of which circulated widely in his day.
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史論
Historical Commentary
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史臣曰：文章者，蓋情性之風標，神明之律呂也。 蘊思含毫，遊心內運，放言落紙，氣韻天成。 莫不稟以生靈，遷乎愛嗜，機見殊門，賞悟紛雜。 若子桓之品藻人才，仲治之區判文體，陸機辨於《文賦》，李充論於《翰林》，張視擿句褒貶，顏延圖寫情興，各任懷抱，共爲權衡。 屬文之道，事出神思，感召無象，變化不窮。 俱五聲之音響，而出言異句； 等萬物之情狀，而下筆殊形。 吟詠規範，本之雅什，流分條散，各以言區。 若陳思《代馬》羣章，王粲《飛鸞》諸製，四言之美，前超後絕。 少卿離辭，五言才骨，難與爭鶩。 桂林湘水，平子之華篇，飛館玉池，魏文之麗篆，七言之作，非此誰先。 卿、雲巨麗，升堂冠冕，張、左恢廓，登高不繼，賦貴披陳，未或加矣。 顯宗之述傅毅，簡文之摛彥伯，分言制句，多得頌體。 裴頠內侍，元規鳳池，子章以來，章表之選。 孫綽之碑，嗣伯喈之後，謝莊之誄，起安仁之塵，顏延《楊瓚》，自比《馬督》，以多稱貴，歸莊爲允。 王褒《僮約》，束皙《發蒙》，滑稽之流，亦可奇瑋。 五言之制，獨秀衆品。 習玩爲理，事久則瀆，在乎文章，彌患凡舊。 若無新變，不能代雄。 建安一體，典論短長互出； 潘、陸齊名，機、岳之文永異。 江左風味，盛道家之言，郭璞舉其靈變，許詢極其名理，仲文玄氣，猶不盡除，謝混情新，得名未盛。 顏、謝竝起，乃各擅奇，休、鮑後出，咸亦標世。 朱藍共妍，不相祖述。 今之文章，作者雖衆，總而爲論，略有三體。 一則啓心閑繹，託辭華曠，雖存巧綺，終致迂回。 宜登公宴，本非准的。 而疏慢闡緩，膏肓之病，典正可採，酷不入情。 此體之源，出靈運而成也。 次則緝事比類，非對不發，博物可嘉，職成拘制。 或全借古語，用申今情，崎嶇牽引，直爲偶說。 唯睹事例，頓失清采。 此則傅咸五經，應璩指事，雖不全似，可以類從。 次則發唱驚挺，操調險急，雕藻淫豔，傾炫心魂。 亦猶五色之有紅紫，八音之有鄭、衞。 斯鮑照之遺烈也。 三體之外，請試妄談。 若夫委自天機，參之史傳，應思悱來，勿先構聚。 言尚易了，文憎過意，吐石含金，滋潤婉切。 雜以風謠，輕脣利吻，不雅不俗，獨中胷懷。 輪扁斲輪，言之未盡，文人談士，罕或兼工。 非唯識有不周，道實相妨，談家所習，理勝其辭，就此求文，終然翳奪。 故兼之者鮮矣。
The historiographer says: Literature is the standard of temperament and the tuning-pipe of the divine mind. Thought gathers as the brush is held poised; the mind roams inward in its workings; words spill onto the page, and breath and cadence take shape of themselves. All partake of living spirit and move with personal inclination; insight appears by different paths, and judgments of worth grow confused and diverse. Cao Pi appraised men of talent, Wang Can divided literary forms, Lu Ji reasoned in the "Rhapsody on Literature," Li Chong argued in the "Forest of Letters," Zhang Shi extracted lines for praise and blame, and Yan Yanzhi traced the movements of feeling—each trusting his own mind, together forming a standard. The art of writing proceeds from spirit-thought: it evokes what has no image and changes without limit. both alike are sounds of the five tones, yet the lines they speak take different forms; equally the conditions of the ten thousand things, yet what falls from the brush takes unlike forms. The standards of song and recitation derive from the canonical odes; currents divide and spread, each marked off by its own language. Such as Cao Zhi's suite "Substitute Horses" and Wang Can's compositions "Flying Luan"—in the splendor of four-character verse, they surpassed all before and left none after. Sima Xiangru's parting words—in five-character verse his talent and sinew are hard to match in rivalry. "Guilin and Xiang Waters" is Zhang Heng's splendid piece; "Flying Tower and Jade Pool" is Emperor Wen of Wei's elegant composition—in works of seven characters, who came before these? Sima Xiangru and Yang Xiong are magnificently ornate, entering the hall in full regalia; Zhang Heng and Zuo Si are broad and expansive, climbing high with none to follow; among fu that valued open unfolding, perhaps none surpassed them. Emperor Ming of Han's narration of Fu Yi and Emperor Jianwen's rendering of Yan Bo—by dividing phrases and shaping lines, they mostly attained the eulogy form. Pei Wei in attendance at the inner court, Yu Liang at the Phoenix Pool—from Zizhang onward, the finest among memorials and formal letters. Sun Chuo's stele inscription follows in the wake of Cai Yong; Xie Zhuang's dirge stirs the dust left by Pan Yue; Yan Yanzhi's "Yang Zan" sets itself beside "Supervisor Ma"—though the former is praised for its fullness, the latter is the one that truly deserves esteem. Wang Bao's "Bondservant's Contract" and Shu Xi's "Awakening the Unlettered"—works in the comic vein, also marvelously singular. The five-character form stands alone, surpassing all other kinds. What is practiced until familiar becomes principle; what endures long grows stale—in literature, the danger is all the more that of the ordinary and the old. Without new transformation, none can stand in for the old champions. the Jian'an school as one style—in "Discourses on Literature" strengths and flaws appear in turn; Pan and Lu share equal renown, yet the writings of Ji and Yue remain forever unlike. The taste of the Jiangzuo age overflowed with Daoist speech—Guo Pu embodied spiritual transformation, Xu Xun carried name-principle to its extreme; Yin Zhongwen's dark ether was not wholly cleared away, and Xie Hun's fresh feeling had not yet won wide fame. Yan and Xie rose together, each possessing a singular brilliance; Tiao and Bao came later, both likewise setting the mark of their age. Crimson and indigo each beautiful—neither merely following the other's example. In writing today, though authors are many, considered as a whole there are roughly three styles. First: the heart opened in leisurely unfolding, language placed in splendid breadth—though clever ornament remains, the end is roundabout. It suits grand public banquets; it was never truly the mark to aim at. Yet its looseness, laxity, and lingering pace are sickness in the marrow—what is canonical and correct may be gathered from it, but it cruelly fails to enter the feelings. The source of this style issued from Xie Lingyun and took form. Second: assembling matters and comparing categories—nothing is uttered except in paired contrast; breadth of learning is admirable, but the craft ends in constraint. Sometimes whole ancient phrases are borrowed to voice present feeling—dragged in by tortuous routes, it becomes nothing but paired talk. One sees only instances and at once loses clarity and luster. This resembles Fu Xian's "Five Classics" and Ying Qu's pointed pieces—though not wholly alike, it may be grouped with them. Third: the opening note startles and shoots upward; tonal handling is perilous and urgent; carved ornament is lush and seductive—it overturns and dazzles the soul. It is like red and purple among the five colors, like the music of Zheng and Wei among the eight tones. This is the surviving fire of Bao Zhao. Beyond these three styles, allow me to speak presumptuously. If one yields to heaven's mechanism, consults histories and annals, and answers when thought presses inward—do not first build and gather. Words should be easy to finish; writing hates meaning pushed too far—spitting stone that holds gold, rich, smooth, and delicately incisive. Blend in folk songs—light lips and a nimble tongue; neither refined nor coarse, hitting the mark within the breast alone. Like Wheelwright Bian carving wheels—what is said never fully reaches it; literary men and disputants in doctrine rarely master both. It is not only that understanding is incomplete—the paths truly hinder one another; what disputants practice makes principle overpower their language, and if one seeks writing from this, in the end writing is obscured. Thus those who unite both are few.
91
贊曰：學亞生知，多識前仁。 文成筆下。 芬藻麗春。
Encomium: Learning approaches inborn knowing; one knows many worthies of old. When writing takes shape beneath the brush— Fragrant ornament rivals spring.
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案
Note