Emperor Ai (哀帝) | 24 Histories

Overview

Emperor Ai was a ruler.

Life and dates

Death

BC 1 哀帝崩
Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 71

Attested activity

BC 7 哀帝即位
Directly stated · Book of Han 90, passage 189
BC 7 to BC 1 哀帝在位
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 93, passage 173
BC 7 to BC 1 哀帝時
Directly stated · Book of Han 99, passages 50, 184
BC 7 to BC 1 至成、哀間
Directly stated · Book of Han 103, passage 87

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Consort Fu (傅昭儀)
grandmother 祖母 · 2 generations
Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 173
Child of Liu Kang (康)
father 父 · Through Liu Kang (康)
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 93, passages 173, 175
Child of Mother of Emperor Ai (哀帝母)
mother 母 · maternal line
Strongly inferred · Book of Han 93, passage 180

Key source chapters

Book of Han, Chapter 93 Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi 18 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 103 Volume 91: Usurers 3 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 99 Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 2 passages
Book of Han, Chapter 90 Volume 79: Feng Fengshi 1 passage

Works and attributed material

Dismissal edict · Issuer · With Fu Xi (傅喜)
Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passages 67-68

Events and relationships

Refused Grand Empress Dowager Fu's attempt to strip Fu Xi's marquisate
Title protection · With Fu Xi (傅喜)
Directly stated · Book of Han 93, passage 70

References in the histories

Search passages

History

24 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 90Volume 79: Feng Fengshi · 1 passage

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頃之，哀帝即位，帝祖母傅太后用事，追怨參姊中山太后，陷以祝詛大逆之罪，語在《外戚傳》。 Soon Ai ruled; Grand Empress Dowager Fu hated Shen's sister, the Zhongshan dowager, and framed her for witchcraft—see the outer-kin annals.

Book of Han, Chapter 93Volume 82: Wang Shang, Shi Dan and Fu Xi · 18 passages

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傅喜字稚游，河內溫人也，哀帝祖母定陶傅太后從父弟。 Fu Xi, courtesy name Zhiyou, came from Wen in Henei commandery. He was a paternal cousin of Grand Empress Dowager Fu of Dingtao, Emperor Ai's grandmother.

哀帝立爲太子，成帝選喜爲太子庶子。 When Emperor Ai was made crown prince, Emperor Cheng appointed Fu Xi palace attendant to the heir.

哀帝初即位，以喜爲衛尉，遷右將軍。 When Emperor Ai first took the throne, Fu Xi was made Commandant of the Guard and then General of the Right.

是時，王莽爲大司馬，乞骸骨，避帝外家。 At that time Wang Mang served as Grand Marshal but asked to retire in order to step aside before the new emperor's maternal relatives.

上既聽莽退，眾庶歸望於喜。 Once the emperor accepted Wang Mang's retirement, public expectation turned to Fu Xi.

又帝舅陽安侯丁明，皆親以外屬封。 The emperor's maternal uncle, Marquis of Yang'an Ding Ming, was likewise enfeoffed as a close maternal relative.

上於是用左將軍師丹代王莽爲大司馬，賜喜黃金百斤、上將軍印綬，以光祿大夫養病。 The emperor then replaced Wang Mang with General of the Left Shi Dan as Grand Marshal, gave Fu Xi one hundred jin of gold and the seal and sash of Upper General, and allowed him to convalesce with the rank of Grand Master of the Household.

大司空何武、尚書令唐林皆上書言：「喜行義修潔，忠誠憂國，內輔之臣也，今以寢病，一旦遣歸，眾庶失望，皆曰傅氏賢子，以論議不合於定陶太后故退，百寮莫不為國恨之。 Grand Minister of Works He Wu and Secretary Director Tang Lin jointly wrote: 'Fu Xi is upright, scrupulous, and devoted to the state—exactly the kind of man who should stand at the emperor's side. To dismiss him overnight on grounds of illness will disappoint the empire. People will say the worthy son of the Fu clan was cashiered because he would not trim his opinions to suit the Dowager of Dingtao, and every official will feel the dynasty has wronged itself.

喜立於朝，陛下之光輝，傅氏之廢興也。」 Fu Xi's presence at court is both your majesty's good fortune and the making or breaking of the Fu clan.'

上亦自重之。 The emperor himself still set great store by him.

明年正月，乃徙師丹為大司空，而拜喜為大司馬，封高武侯。 The following first month the emperor moved Shi Dan into the grand minister of works post, appointed Fu Xi grand marshal, and enfeoffed him as Marquis of Gaowu.

傅太后大怒，上不得已，先免師丹以感動喜，喜終不順。 The grand empress dowager raged. Cornered, the emperor first dismissed Shi Dan, hoping to intimidate Fu Xi into yielding; Fu Xi still refused to bend.

其上大司馬印綬，就第。」 Surrender the grand marshal's seal and sash and retire to your estate.'

傅太后又自詔丞相、御史曰：「高武侯喜無功而封，內懷不忠，附下罔上，與故大司空丹同心背畔，放命圮族，虧損德化，罪惡雖在赦前，不宜奉朝請，其遣就國。」 Grand Empress Dowager Fu then issued her own order to the chancellor and censor: 'Marquis of Gaowu Fu Xi received a fief without merit. In his heart he is disloyal: he panders to factions below while misleading the throne, and he conspired with the former grand minister of works Shi Dan in mutinous defiance. Such conduct tears down the moral order. Even though his offenses predate the last amnesty, he must not continue at court; send him back to his fief.'

後又欲奪喜侯，上亦不聽。 She later tried to strip him of his title as well, but the emperor would not allow it.

喜在國三歲余，哀帝崩，平帝即位，王莽用事，免傅氏宮爵歸故郡，晏將妻子徙合浦。 Fu Xi spent three years in his fief. After Emperor Ai died and the child Emperor Ping ascended, Wang Mang took charge, stripped the Fu clan of their titles, and sent them home; Fu Yan removed his wife and children to Hepu on the southern coast.

贊曰：自宜、元、成、哀外戚興者，許、史、三王、丁、傅之家，皆重侯累將，窮貴極富，見其位矣，未見其人也。 The historian's judgment: From the reigns of Xuan through Ai, the consort clans—the Xu, the Shi, the three Wang lines, the Ding, and the Fu—stacked marquisates and generalships until they towered in wealth and rank; you could see their offices, rarely the men who deserved them.

哀、平際會，禍福速哉！ How swiftly fortune and misfortune alternated at the juncture of the Ai and Ping reigns!

Book of Han, Chapter 99Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 · 2 passages

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哀帝時，丁、傅、董賢用事，諸附離之者或起家至二千石。 Under Emperor Ai the Ding clan, the Fu clan, and the favorite Dong Xian ran the government, and hangers-on vaulted overnight to salaries of two thousand piculs.

哀帝之初，又與董賢同官。 Early in Emperor Ai’s reign he held office with the favorite Dong Xian.

Book of Han, Chapter 103Volume 91: Usurers · 3 passages

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程、卓既衰，至成、哀間，成都羅裒訾至巨萬。 Long after the Cheng and Zhuo fortunes faded, during Chengdi and Aidi a Chengdu broker named Luo Pou piled up tens of millions.

刀間既衰，至成、哀間，臨淄姓偉訾五千萬。 When Dao Jian's star faded, a Linzi magnate surnamed Wei, in the reigns of Cheng and Ai, sat on fifty million cash.

師史既衰，至成、哀、王莽時，雒陽張長叔、薛子促訾亦十千萬。 When Shi's house waned, Luoyang partners Zhang Changshu and Xue Zicu—through Cheng, Ai, and into Wang Mang's day—matched his nine-figure hoard.