1
易稱「男正位乎外，女正位乎內； 男女正，天地之大義也」。 古先哲王，莫不明后妃之制，順天地之德，故二妃嬪媯，虞道克隆，任、姒配姬，周室用熈，廢興存亡，恆此之由。 春秋說云天子十二女，諸侯九女，考之情理，不易之典也。 而末世奢縱，肆其侈欲，至使男女怨曠，感動和氣，惟色是崇，不本淑懿，故風教陵遲而大綱毀泯，豈不惜哉！ 嗚呼，有國有家者，其可以永鑒矣！
The Changes says, "The man takes the correct position outside, the woman takes the correct position inside; when each stands in the right relation, that is the great moral order of heaven and earth." Every wise king of antiquity made clear the rules governing empresses and concubines and aligned them with the moral pattern of heaven and earth. Hence the two royal brides who joined the Gui line made Yao’s line thrive, while Ren and Si, wed into the Ji clan, brought radiance to Zhou. Whether a state flourishes or fails has almost always turned on this. Exegetical tradition on the Spring and Autumn Annals assigns twelve consorts to the Son of Heaven and nine to a feudal lord; weighed by common sense, that norm has not changed. In later ages, however, rulers gave themselves to excess and appetite until men and women languished apart in bitterness, unsettling the harmonious air of the realm. They exalted mere loveliness instead of grounding choice in true goodness, until morals frayed and the fundamental ties of society collapsed. What a waste. Alas: any who would hold a realm or a household ought to keep this lesson before them always.
2
漢制，帝祖母曰太皇太后，帝母曰皇太后，帝妃曰皇后，其餘內官十有四等。 魏因漢法，母后之號皆如舊制，自夫人以下，世有增損。 太祖建國，始命王后，其下五等：有夫人，有昭儀，有倢伃，有容華，有美人。 文帝增貴嬪、淑媛、脩容、順成、良人。 明帝增淑妃、昭華、脩儀； 除順成官。 太和中始復命夫人，登其位於淑妃之上。 自夫人以下爵凡十二等：貴嬪、夫人，位次皇后，爵無所視； 淑妃位視相國，爵比諸侯王； 淑媛位視御史大夫，爵比縣公； 昭儀比縣侯； 昭華比鄉侯； 脩容比亭侯； 脩儀比關內侯； 倢伃視中二千石； 容華視真二千石； 美人視比二千石； 良人視千石。
Han law styled the sovereign’s grandmother Grand Empress Dowager, his mother Empress Dowager, his chief consort Empress, and recognized fourteen grades of inner-court women below them. Wei adopted Han precedent: the titles of the empress’s mother and similar ranks stayed as before, while from Lady downward successive reigns added or pruned offices. When Cao Cao established his kingdom he first set a queen above five grades: Lady, Brilliant Companion, Handmaid of Favor, Graceful Splendor, and Beauty. Wen-di expanded the roster with Honored Concubine, Virtuous Lady, Cultivated Countenance, Accomplished Success, and Good Woman. Ming-di added Virtuous Consort, Splendid Companion, and Cultured Bearing; and he abolished the Accomplished Success post. During Taihe the court restored the title Lady and set it above Virtuous Consort. Below the empress came twelve noble grades. Honored Concubine and Lady stood immediately beneath her, with no exact analogue among outside nobility; Virtuous Consort’s salary matched the Chancellor’s and her fief ranked with a prince of the blood; Virtuous Lady matched the Imperial Counselor and ranked with a county duke; Brilliant Companion matched a county marquis; Splendid Companion matched a village marquis; Cultivated Countenance matched a pavilion marquis; Cultured Bearing matched a marquis-within-the-passes; Handmaid of Favor drew pay like a full two-thousand-shi official; Graceful Splendor drew true two-thousand-shi rank; Beauty compared to two-thousand-shi salary; Good Woman matched one thousand shi.
3
武宣卞皇后
Empress Dowager Wu-Xuan (the martial and manifest empress), surnamed Bian
4
武宣卞皇后，琅邪開陽人，文帝母也。 本倡家， 〈《魏書》曰：后以漢延熹三年十二月己巳生齊郡白亭，有黃氣滿室移日。 父敬侯怪之，以問卜者王旦，旦曰：「此吉祥也。」〉 年二十，太祖於譙納后爲妾。 後隨太祖至洛。 及董卓爲亂，太祖微服東出避難。 袁術傳太祖凶問，時太祖左右至洛者皆欲歸，后止之曰：「曹君吉凶未可知，今日還家，明日若在，何靣目復相見也？ 正使禍至，共死何苦！」 遂從后言。 太祖聞而善之。 建安初，丁夫人廢，遂以后爲繼室。 諸子無母者，太祖皆令后養之。 〈《魏略》曰：太祖始有丁夫人，又劉夫人生子脩及清河長公主。 劉早終，丁養子脩。 子脩亡於穰，丁常言：「將我兒殺之，都不復念！」 遂哭泣無節。 太祖忿之，遣歸家，欲其意折。 後太祖就見之，夫人方織，外人傳云「公至」，夫人踞機如故。 太祖到，撫其背曰：「顧我共載歸乎！」 夫人不顧，又不應。 太祖却行，立於戶外，復云：「得無尚可邪！」 遂不應，太祖曰：「真訣矣。」 遂與絕，欲其家嫁之，其家不敢。 初，丁夫人旣爲嫡，加有子脩，丁視后母子不足。 后爲繼室，不念舊惡，因太祖出行，常四時使人饋遺，又私迎之，延以正坐而己下之，迎來送去，有如昔日。 丁謝曰：「廢放之人，夫人何能常爾邪！」 其後丁亡，后請太祖殯葬，許之，乃葬許城南。 後太祖病困，自慮不起，歎曰：「我前後行意，於心未曾有所負也。 假令死而有靈，子脩若問『我母所在』，我將何辭以荅！」 《魏書》曰：后性約儉，不尚華麗，無文繡珠玉，器皆黑漆。 太祖常得名璫數具，命后自選一具，后取其中者，太祖問其故，對曰：「取其上者爲貪，取其下者爲偽，故取其中者。」〉 文帝爲太子，左右長御賀后曰：「將軍拜太子，天下莫不歡喜，后當傾府藏賞賜。」 后曰：「王自以丕年大，故用爲嗣，我但當以免無教導之過爲幸耳，亦何爲當重賜遺乎！」 長御還，具以語太祖。 太祖恱曰：「怒不變容，喜不失節，故是最爲難。」
Lady Bian, posthumously honored as Empress Dowager Wu-Xuan, came from Kaiyang in Langye and was Cao Pi’s mother. She was born into a family of performers. 〈The Book of Wei records that she was born on jisi in the twelfth month of Han Yanxi 3 at White Pavilion in Qi, while yellow vapor filled the room for an entire day. Her father, ennobled as the Respectful Marquis, was troubled and questioned the diviner Wang Dan, who answered, “This is a blessed omen.”〉 When she was twenty, Cao Cao took her as a concubine at Qiao. She later accompanied him to Luoyang. When Dong Zhuo’s rebellion convulsed the capital, Cao Cao slipped away in plain clothes toward the east. Yuan Shu circulated a false report of Cao Cao’s death. His followers in Luoyang wanted to flee homeward, but Lady Bian told them, “You cannot know yet whether my lord lives or dies. If you leave today and he proves alive tomorrow, how could you bear to look him in the eye? Even if the worst comes, is dying together so terrible?” They stayed because she said so. Cao Cao heard the story and approved her steadiness. Early in Jian’an, after Lady Ding was cast off, he made Lady Bian his principal wife. He told her to raise every motherless son of his household. 〈The Wei Summary adds that Cao Cao first had Lady Ding, while Lady Liu bore Cao Ang and the Princess of Qinghe. Lady Liu died young, and Lady Ding reared Cao Ang as her own. After Cao Ang died at Rang, Lady Ding cried again and again, “You got my son killed and spare me no thought at all!” and she wept without measure. Enraged, Cao Cao sent her back to her family, expecting her resolve to crumble. Later the Grand Progenitor went to see her; the lady was weaving, and when outsiders announced "The lord has come" she sat astride the loom as before. He stepped in, laid a hand on her back, and said, “Won’t you come home with me in the carriage?” She neither looked at him nor replied. He withdrew to the threshold and called, “Is there still no way to patch this?” Again she was silent, and he said, “Then it is finished between us.” He severed ties and wanted her kin to remarry her, yet they dared not. While Lady Ding was still principal consort and mother to Cao Ang, she looked down on Lady Bian and her sons. Once Lady Bian became principal wife she refused to nurse old grudges. Whenever Cao Cao was away she sent seasonal gifts, received Lady Ding in private, gave her the host’s seat while taking a lower place herself, and saw her off and welcomed her as in earlier times. Lady Ding protested, “I am a discarded woman—why should you honor me like this?” After Lady Ding died, Lady Bian begged Cao Cao to bury her properly; he agreed, and she was interred south of Xu. Later, as Cao Cao lay dying, he sighed, “In everything I have done I do not believe I ever knowingly betrayed another. Yet if the dead have awareness and Cao Ang asks where his mother is, what answer could I give?” The Book of Wei adds that Lady Bian lived plainly—no embroidered silks or jade ornaments, only black-lacquer ware. When Cao Cao offered her a choice of jeweled pins she picked middling ones, explaining, “The finest would show greed, the poorest affectation; the middle course is honest.”〉 When Cao Pi became heir, his senior maids told Lady Bian, “The heir has been named; the whole realm rejoices. You should fling open the treasuries and give largesse.” She answered, “The king chose Pi because he is the elder son. I am lucky enough not to be faulted for poor upbringing—why heap rewards on everyone?” They reported her words to Cao Cao. He said with satisfaction, “To stay calm in anger and measured in joy—that is the rarest thing of all.”
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二十四年，拜爲王后，策曰：「夫人卞氏，撫養諸子，有母儀之德。 今進位王后，太子諸侯陪位，羣卿上壽，減國內死罪一等。」 二十五年，太祖崩，文帝即王位，尊后曰王太后，及踐阼，尊后曰皇太后，稱永壽宮。 〈《魏書》曰：后以國用不足，滅損御食，諸金銀器物皆去之。 東阿王植，太后少子，最愛之。 後植犯法，爲有司所奏，文帝令太后弟子奉車都尉蘭持公卿議白太后，太后曰：「不意此兒所作如是，汝還語帝，不可以我故壞國法。」 及自見帝，不以爲言。 臣松之案：文帝夢磨錢，欲使文滅而更愈明，以問周宣。 宣荅曰：「此陛下家事，雖意欲爾，而太后不聽。」 則太后用意，不得如此書所言也。 《魏書》又曰：太后每隨軍征行，見高年白首，輙住車呼問，賜與絹帛，對之涕泣曰：「恨父母不及我時也。」 太后每見外親，不假以顏色，常言「居處當務節儉，不當望賞賜，念自佚也。 外舍當怪吾遇之太薄，吾自有常度故也。 吾事武帝四五十年，行儉日久，不能自變爲奢，有犯科禁者，吾且能加罪一等耳，莫望錢米恩貸也。」 帝爲太后弟秉起第，第成，太后幸第請諸家外親，設下廚，無異膳。 太后左右菜食粟飯，無魚肉。 其儉如此。〉 明帝即位，尊太后曰太皇太后。
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian’an she was enfeoffed as queen. The edict read, “Lady Bian has nurtured the princes and embodies a mother’s standard. We therefore raise her to queen; the heir and feudal lords shall attend while ministers toast her long life, and death sentences across the domain are commuted one degree.” The next year Cao Cao died. Cao Pi, now king, styled her Queen Dowager, and as emperor raised her to Empress Dowager of Yongshou Palace. 〈The Book of Wei notes that she cut palace meals when the treasury ran short and stripped the kitchens of gold and silver vessels. Cao Zhi, prince of Dong’e, was her youngest and her favorite. When Cao Zhi broke the law and officials impeached him, Wen-di sent her nephew Lan, commandant of the imperial carriage, with the ministers’ verdict. She said only, “I never thought this boy would go so far. Go back and tell the Son of Heaven not to bend the statutes for my sake.” When she next saw the emperor she never raised the matter. Pei Songzhi remarks: Wen-di dreamed of grinding coins, wanting the characters to fade yet they grew sharper, and asked Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan answered, “This concerns your own household: though you wish one outcome, the empress dowager will not consent.” So her attitude cannot have matched what this passage claims. The Book of Wei also says that on campaign she stopped her carriage for white-haired villagers, gave them silk, and wept, “I mourn that my own parents never lived to see days like these.” To kinsmen from outside the palace she showed no easy warmth, warning, “Live modestly; do not look for gifts or live only for comfort. They may think me harsh, but I keep to my rule. I served Emperor Wu forty or fifty years in frugal habit; I will not turn lavish now. Whoever breaks the law gets an extra degree of punishment from me—never expect money or grain favors.” Ming-di built a mansion for her brother Bing; when she toured it she feasted the kin with plain fare from the lower kitchen, nothing special. Her own attendants ate vegetables and millet, no meat or fish. Such was her austerity.〉 When Ming-di succeeded he raised her to Grand Empress Dowager.
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黃初中，文帝欲追封太后父母，尚書陳羣奏曰：「陛下以聖德應運受命，創業革制，當永爲後式。 案典籍之文，無婦人分土命爵之制。 在禮典，婦因夫爵。 秦違古法，漢氏因之，非先王之令典也。」 帝曰：「此議是也，其勿施行。 以作著詔下藏之臺閣，永爲後式。」 至太和四年春，明帝乃追謚太后祖父廣曰開陽恭侯，父遠曰敬侯，祖母周封陽都君及敬侯夫人，皆贈印綬。 其年五月，后崩。 七月，合葬高陵。
During Huangchu, Wen-di wanted to posthumously ennoble Lady Bian’s parents. Chen Qun objected: “You received the mandate with sage virtue and set new institutions—you must be the pattern for ages to come. The classics nowhere grant women fiefs or noble rank of their own. Ritual gives a wife rank only through her husband. Qin broke the ancient rule and Han followed suit; neither matches the true kings’ code.” The emperor agreed: “Do not enact it. Instead promulgate an edict, file it in the tower archives, and let it stand forever as precedent.” In Taihe 4 Ming-di belatedly ennobled her grandfather Guang as Marquis Gong of Kaiyang, her father Yuan as Marquis Jing, and her grandmother Zhou as lady of Yangdu and consort of Marquis Jing, each with seals and cords. She died that fifth month. In the seventh month she was laid beside Cao Cao in the Gaoling mausoleum.
7
文昭甄皇后
Empress Wen-Zhao of the Zhen clan
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景初元年夏，有司議定七廟。 冬，又奏曰：「蓋帝王之興，既有受命之君，又有聖妃協於神靈，然後克昌厥世，以成王業焉。 昔高辛氏卜其四妃之子皆有天下，而帝摯、陶唐、商、周代興。 週人上推后稷，以配皇天，追述王初，本之姜嫄，特立宮廟，世世享嘗，周禮所謂『奏夷則，歌中呂，舞大濩，以享先妣』者也。 詩人頌之曰：『厥初生民，時維姜嫄。』 言王化之本，生民所由。 又曰：『閟宮有侐，實實枚枚，赫赫姜嫄，其德不回。』 詩、禮所稱姬宗之盛，其美如此。 大魏期運，繼於有虞，然崇弘帝道，三世彌隆，廟祧之數，實與周同。 今武宣皇后、文德皇后各配無窮之祚，至於文昭皇后膺天靈符，誕育明聖，功濟生民，德盈宇宙，開諸後嗣，乃道化之所興也。 寢廟特祀，亦姜嫄之閟宮也，而未著不毀之制，懼論功報德之義，萬世或闕焉，非所以昭孝示後世也。 文昭廟宜世世享祀奏樂，與祖廟同，永著不毀之典，以播聖善之風。」 於是與七廟議並勒金策，藏之金匱。
In Jingchu 1 (237 CE) officials debated the arrangement of the seven imperial temples. That winter they memorialized: “Every dynastic founder has both the ruler who receives the mandate and the consort who answers heaven; only then does the house flourish and the great work stand complete. High antiquity saw Gaoxin divine which of his four wives’ sons would rule; lines descended through Di Zhi, Yao’s house, Shang, and Zhou each rose in turn. The Zhou looked back to Hou Ji to pair with High Heaven and, tracing their kings to Jiang Yuan, set her a special temple where each generation offered sacrifice—what the Rites of Zhou means by honoring the founding mother with music and dance. The Odes sing, “The birth of the people began from Jiang Yuan.” That is the taproot of royal civilizing power and of the people themselves. They add, “Bi’s shrine stands in awe, firm and ample; august Jiang Yuan’s virtue never falters.” So the canonical texts glorify the Ji house. Wei’s mandate follows Shun’s line, yet across three reigns the imperial way has only deepened; the temple shifts now contemplated mirror Zhou practice. Empresses Dowager Wu-Xuan and Wen-De already receive perpetual pairing rites; Empress Wen-Zhao bore the sage heir, succored the people, and filled heaven and earth with merit—she is the mother in whom the moral order itself is renewed. Her shrine deserves singular rites like Jiang Yuan’s, yet we have not fixed the rule that her temple never be dismantled; I fear posterity might slight the duty to repay her deeds. That would ill serve filial display for generations to come. Wen-Zhao’s temple ought to receive music and offerings in every generation on the same footing as the founding shrines, fixing forever the rule that it never be dismantled so her sanctity may shine for ages.” The court then had this, together with the seven-temples decision, engraved on gold slips and laid them in the golden coffer.
9
文德郭皇后
Empress Wen-De of the Guo clan
10
后早喪兄弟，以從兄表繼永後，拜奉車都尉。 后外親劉斐與他國為婚，后聞之，敕曰：「諸親戚嫁娶，自當與鄉里門戶匹敵者，不得因勢，強與他方人婚也。」 后姊子孟武還鄉里，求小妻，后止之。 遂敕諸家曰：「今世婦女少，當配將士，不得因緣取以為妾也。 宜各自慎，無為罰首。」 〈《魏書》曰：后常敕戒表、武等曰：「漢氏椒房之家，少能自全者，皆由驕奢，可不慎乎！」〉
After her brothers died young, she had her cousin Guo Biao posthumously continue another brother’s line and appointed him commandant of the imperial carriage. When a relative by marriage, Liu Fei, allied his house with another kingdom, she issued an order: “Our kinsmen’s weddings should pair like with like in their own neighborhoods; no one may use influence to drag in spouses from far away.” She also blocked her sister’s son Meng Wu when he went home looking for a secondary wife. She then warned every branch of the clan: “Women are scarce in wartime; they belong with the troops. Do not invent excuses to press them into concubinage. Watch yourselves—do not be the first to bring down the law.” 〈The Book of Wei adds that she repeatedly cautioned Guo Biao, Meng Wu, and their circle: “Few consort clans under Han survived their own pride and waste—take care.”〉
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五年，帝東征，后留許昌永始台。 時霖雨百餘日，城樓多壞，有司奏請移止。 后曰：「昔楚昭王出遊，貞姜留漸台，江水至，使者迎而無符，不去，卒沒。 今帝在遠，吾幸未有是患，而便移止，奈何？」 群臣莫敢復言。 六年，帝東征吳，至廣陵，后留譙宮。 時表留宿衛，欲遏水取魚。 后曰：「水噹通運漕，又少材木，奴客不在目前，當複私取官竹木作梁遏。 今奉車所不足者，豈魚乎？」
In the fifth year of an era (Huangchu) the emperor marched east while she stayed at Yongshi Terrace in Xuchang. Rain fell for over a hundred days straight, ruining tower works, so officials begged her to relocate. She answered, “Long ago, when King Zhao of Chu was away, his faithful Jiang stayed on the Gradual Terrace; the river rose, yet without the proper tally she refused to flee and drowned. The sovereign is far off, and I have no such flood at my door—why should I bolt at the first leak?” No minister dared press the point again. The next year he campaigned east against Wu as far as Guangling, leaving her at the Qiao palace. Guo Biao, left on night duty, wanted to block a stream to seine for fish. She reproved him: “That water feeds the supply barges, and lumber is short. Your servants are not here to haul timber—would you raid government bamboo to brace a private weir? Is the commandant of the carriage short of fish?”
12
明悼毛皇后
Empress Ming-Dao, née Mao
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明悼毛皇后，河內人也。 黃初中，以選入東宮，明帝時為平原王，進御有寵，出入與同輿輦。 及即帝立，以為貴嬪。 太和元年，立為皇后。 后父嘉，拜騎都尉，后弟曾，郎中。
Lady Mao, honored as Empress Ming-Dao, came from Henei. During Huangchu she entered the heir’s residence; while the future Ming-di was still prince of Pingyuan she won his favor and rode with him in the same carriage. Once he took the throne he raised her to Honored Concubine. In Taihe 1 she was enthroned as empress. Her father Mao Jia became cavalry commandant; her brother Mao Zeng, a gentleman at court.
14
帝之幸郭元后也，后愛寵日弛。 景初元年，帝遊后園，召才人以上曲宴極樂。 元后曰「宜延皇后」，帝弗許。 乃禁左右，使不得宣。 后知之，明日，帝見后，后曰：「昨日遊宴北園，樂乎？」 帝以左右洩之，所殺十餘人。 賜后死，然猶加諡，葬愍陵。 遷曾散騎常侍，後徙為羽林虎賁中郎將、原武典農。
Once Ming-di’s affection shifted to Lady Guo—the future Empress Yuan—Lady Mao’s favor ebbed by the day. In Jingchu 1 he held a private revel in the rear park with every consort from Talent upward. The Yuan empress said, "You ought to invite the empress"; the emperor did not permit it. He ordered his attendants to keep silent so word would not reach her. The next day, when he came to her apartments, she asked calmly, “Was the north-garden party yesterday to your liking?” Enraged that someone had told her, he executed over a dozen people. He then forced her to take her own life, yet still granted a posthumous name and buried her at the Mausoleum of Lament. Mao Zeng was moved up to regular attendant at court, then to colonel of the feathered forest guards and overseer of the Yuanwu agricultural colony.
15
明元郭皇后
Empress Ming-Yuan, née Guo
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【評】
Commentary
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評曰：魏后妃之家，雖云富貴，未有若衰漢乘非其據，宰割朝政者也。 鑑往易軌，於斯為美。 追觀陳群之議，棧潛之論，適足以為百王之規典，垂憲範乎後葉矣。
The historian’s verdict: Wei’s consort clans grew wealthy, yet none usurped the government the way late Han favorites did. They learned from history and kept to a safer path—that is the virtue here. Seen in hindsight, Chen Qun’s memorial and Zhan Qian’s admonitions are enough to serve as precedent for any line of kings and to hand down a pattern of law for generations yet to come.