1
韓曁崔林高柔孫禮王觀
This volume records Han Ji, Cui Lin, Gao Rou, Sun Li, and Wang Guan.
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韓曁字公至，南陽堵陽人也。 〈《楚國先賢傳》曰：曁，韓王信之後。 祖術，河東太守。 父純，南郡太守。〉 同縣豪右陳茂，譖曁父兄，幾至大辟。 曁陽不以為言，庸賃積資，陰結死士，遂追呼尋禽茂，以首祭父墓，由是顯名。 舉孝廉，司空辟，皆不就。 乃變名姓，隱居避亂魯陽山中。 山民合黨，欲行寇掠。 曁散家財以供牛酒，請其渠帥，為陳安危。 山民化之，終不為害。 避袁術命召，徙居山都之山。 荊州牧劉表禮辟，遂遁逃，南居孱陵界，所在見敬愛，而表深恨之。 曁懼，應命，除宜城長。
Han Ji, whose courtesy name was Gongzhi, came from Duyang in Nanyang commandery. 〈The Traditions of Worthies of the Chu Region states that Han Ji was a descendant of King Xin of Han. His grandfather Han Shu had served as Administrator of Hedong. His father Han Chun had served as Administrator of Nan commandery.〉 Chen Mao, a wealthy bully in the same county, denounced Han Ji's father and brothers until they stood on the edge of the death penalty. Han Ji kept his own counsel, took day labor to scrape together money, and quietly recruited loyal followers until he could hunt Chen Mao down, kill him, and offer the man's head at his father's tomb—an act that made his name known far and wide. Recommended as filial and incorrupt and summoned by the Minister of Works, he declined every appointment. He then changed his name, withdrew into the Luyang hills, and sat out the chaos in hiding. The hill folk formed armed bands and were bent on pillage. Han Ji spent his family fortune on feasts of beef and wine, invited their leaders, and patiently explained the stakes—safety against ruin. They took his counsel to heart and never carried out their raids. When Yuan Shu tried to conscript him, he moved deeper into the Shandu range to stay out of reach. Liu Biao, Governor of Jingzhou, courted him with a formal summons; Han Ji slipped away instead and settled south along the Zangling frontier, where commoners and gentry alike admired him—which only deepened Liu Biao's grudge. Alarmed at last, he answered the call and accepted appointment as magistrate of Yicheng.
3
太祖平荊州，辟為丞相士曹屬。 後選樂陵太守，徙監冶謁者。 舊時冶，作馬排， 〈蒲拜反。 為排以吹炭。〉 每一熟石用馬百匹； 更作人排，又費功力； 曁乃因長流為水排，計其利益，三倍於前。 在職七年，器用充實。 制書襃歎，就加司金都尉，班亞九卿。 文帝踐阼，封宜城亭侯。 黃初七年，遷太常，進封南鄉亭侯，邑二百戶。
After Cao Cao conquered Jingzhou, Han Ji was recruited as an aide in the personnel bureau of the Chancellor's office. He was later chosen Administrator of Leling, then reassigned to supervise the imperial foundries. The old practice at the ironworks was to drive the bellows with teams of horses. 〈The commentary glosses the character with the fanqie spelling pu-bai. A "pai" was a set of bellows to fan the furnace coals.〉 Each batch of ore smelted through consumed the strength of a hundred horses. Switching to manpower was just as wasteful of labor. Han Ji harnessed a swift stream to power water bellows; the output and savings tripled compared with the old methods. Seven years in that post left the arsenals and workshops abundantly stocked. The throne issued a written commendation and added the title Director of Metals for the Court of Wei, a post that ranked just below the Nine Ministers. When Cao Pi took the throne, Han Ji received the village marquisate of Yicheng. In Huangchu 7 he rose to Grand Master of Ceremonies and was promoted to village marquis of Nanxiang with a fief of two hundred households.
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時新都洛陽，制度未備，而宗廟主祏 〈祏音石。 《春秋傳》曰：命我先人典司宗祏。 注曰：「宗廟所以藏主石室者。」〉 皆在鄴都。 曁奏請迎鄴四廟神主，建立洛陽廟，四時蒸嘗，親奉粢盛。 崇明正禮，廢去淫祀，多所匡正。 在官八年，以疾遜位。 景初二年春，詔曰：「太中大夫韓曁，澡身浴德，志節高絜，年踰八十，守道彌固，可謂純篤，老而益劭者也。 其以曁為司徒。」 夏四月薨，遺令歛以時服，葬為土藏。 謚曰恭侯。 〈《楚國先賢傳》曰：曁臨終遺言曰：「夫俗奢者，示之以儉，儉則節之以禮。 歷見前代送終過制，失之甚矣。 若爾曹敬聽吾言，斂以時服，葬以土藏，穿畢便葬，送以瓦器，慎勿有增益。」 又上疏曰：「生有益於民，死猶不害於民。 況臣備位台司，在職日淺，未能宣揚聖德以廣益黎庶。 寢疾彌留，奄即幽冥。 方今百姓農務，不宜勞役，乞不令洛陽吏民供設喪具。 懼國典有常，使臣私願不得展從，謹冒以聞，惟蒙哀許。」 帝得表嗟歎，乃詔曰：「故司徒韓曁，積德履行，忠以立朝，至於黃髮，直亮不虧。 旣登三事，望獲毗輔之助，如何奄忽，天命不永！ 曾參臨沒，易簀以禮； 晏嬰尚儉，遣車降制。 今司徒知命，遺言卹民，必欲崇約，可謂善始令終者也。 其喪禮所設，皆如故事，勿有所闕。」 時賜溫明祕器，衣一稱，五時朝服，玉具劒佩。〉 子肇嗣。 肇薨，子邦嗣。 〈《楚國先賢傳》曰：邦字長林。 少有才學。 晉武帝時為野王令，有稱績。 為新城太守，坐舉野王故吏為新城計吏，武帝大怒，遂殺邦。 曁次子繇，高陽太守。 繇子洪，侍御史。 洪子壽，字德貞。 《晉諸公贊》曰：自曁已下，世治素業，壽能敦尚家風，性尤忠厚。 早歷清職，惠帝踐阼，為散騎常侍，遷守河南尹。 病卒，贈驃騎將軍。 壽妻賈充女。 充無後，以壽子謐為嗣，弱冠為祕書監侍中，性驕佚而才出壽。 少子蔚，亦有器望，並為趙王倫所誅。 韓氏遂滅。〉
Luoyang was still being built into a capital, its ritual framework unfinished, and the spirit tablets for the dynastic temple— 〈shi is read like "shi" (stone). The Zuo Tradition records the charge, "He bade my ancestors keep custody of the royal tablets in the ancestral shrine." The commentary note says: "That in the ancestral temple by which the spirit tablets are stored in the stone chamber."〉 —still lay at the old capital in Ye. Han Ji petitioned to bring the four sets of ancestral tablets down from Ye, install them in a new temple at Luoyang, and personally tend the seasonal grain offerings year round. He promoted orthodox rites, swept away illegitimate local cults, and straightened out a host of ritual abuses. After eight years in that office ill health forced him to retire. In the spring of Jingchu 2 an edict declared: "Grand Counselor Han Ji has purified himself in virtue; his resolve stands high and unsullied. Past eighty, he clings to the Way more firmly than ever—utterly steadfast, growing stronger in age. Let him be appointed Minister of Education." He died in the fourth month of summer, leaving orders for a plain shroud and a simple earth-chamber burial. He was posthumously titled Marquis Gong ("the reverent"). 〈The Traditions of Worthies of the Chu Region records his deathbed words: "When the age grows wasteful, teach restraint; when men turn miserly, bring them back with ritual. I have watched generation after generation outdo one another in lavish funerals—the excess is unbearable. If you sons truly honor me, wrap my body in everyday clothes, lay me in a plain earth pit, fill it in at once, and send me off with nothing costlier than coarse pottery—nothing extra on the bier." He also forwarded a memorial: "I tried in life to burden the people as little as possible; I will not burden them in death. Moreover I have sat among the Three Excellencies too briefly to broadcast the sovereign's kindness to the common folk. My sickness has reached its final stage; I am about to cross into the shades. The farmers are in the thick of spring work; do not drag the households of Luoyang into mourning levies for my sake. State ritual may have its rules, yet I beg you to waive them this once so my last wish may be honored—I lay this before you in hope of mercy." The emperor read the plea and sighed with admiration, then replied: "The late Minister of Education Han Ji built his life on integrity; his loyalty shone in court service, and even in white hairs he never bent. We raised him among the Three Excellencies expecting his counsel—how cruel that Heaven cut him off so soon! Zengzi on his deathbed exchanged his fine mat for a humble one, as ritual demanded; Yan Ying insisted on thrift and trimmed the funeral train to what the rites allowed. Our Minister of Education, knowing his end was near, thought first of sparing the people and clung to simplicity—here was a man who began well and finished well. Conduct the state funeral by the book; let nothing be omitted that precedent requires." Nevertheless the court still sent the lacquered "warm-bright" inner coffin, a full set of robes, court dress for each season, and a jade-hilted sword with fittings.〉 His son Han Zhao succeeded to the title. When Han Zhao died, his son Han Bang inherited. 〈The same tradition gives Han Bang the courtesy name Changlin. Even as a youth he showed literary and scholarly gifts. Under Jin Wudi he served as magistrate of Yewang and earned praise for his governance. Promoted to Administrator of Xincheng, he nominated an old Yewang clerk to be county accountant; the emperor took this as a breach of rules and had Han Bang put to death. Han Ji's second son Han You became Administrator of Gaoyang. Han You's son Han Hong rose to imperial secretary. Han Hong's son Han Shou bore the courtesy name Dezhen. The Appraisal of Jin Ministers remarks that from Han Ji onward the family pursued modest callings; Han Shou upheld that tradition and was noted for his frank, generous temper. He rose early through unsullied posts; when Emperor Hui mounted the throne he entered the palace as Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and later acted as governor of Henan. He died in office and was posthumously named General of Agile Cavalry. Han Shou had married a daughter of Jia Chong. Jia Chong had no sons, so he adopted Han Shou's boy Han Mi as heir; still in his twenties Mi became director of the palace library and attendant-in-ordinary—brilliant but arrogant, and cleverer than his father. A younger son, Han Wei, was equally promising, yet Prince Sima Lun of Zhao executed both brothers. With that the house of Han came to an end.〉
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崔林字德儒，清河東武城人也。 少時晚成，宗族莫知，惟從兄琰異之。 太祖定兾州，召除鄔長，貧無車馬，單步之官。 太祖征壺關，問長吏德政最者，并州刺史張陟以林對，於是擢為兾州主簿，徙署別駕、丞相掾屬。 魏國旣建，稍遷御史中丞。
Cui Lin, courtesy name Deru, was a native of Dongwucheng in Qinghe commandery. He was a late bloomer as a boy, ignored by his kinsmen until his cousin Cui Yan singled him out as exceptional. When Cao Cao conquered Jizhou, Cui Lin was called up as magistrate of Wu; too poor to afford a mount, he walked to his post alone. During the Huguan campaign Cao Cao asked which local magistrate governed best; Bingzhou Inspector Zhang Zhi named Cui Lin, who was promptly elevated to chief clerk of Jizhou, then shifted to chief clerk on staff and aide in the Chancellor's office. After the kingdom of Wei was founded he rose step by step to palace assistant secretary.
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文帝踐阼，拜尚書，出為幽州刺史。 北中郎將吳質統河北軍事，涿郡太守王雄謂林別駕曰：「吳中郎將，上所親重，國之貴臣也。 杖節統事，州郡莫不奉牋致敬，而崔使君初不與相聞。 若以邊塞不脩斬卿，使君寧能護卿邪？」 別駕具以白林，林曰：「刺史視去此州如脫屣，寧當相累邪？ 此州與胡虜接，宜鎮之以靜，擾之則動其逆心，特為國家生北顧憂，以此為寄。」 在官一期，寇竊寢息； 〈案《王氏譜》：雄字元伯，太保祥之宗也。 《魏名臣奏》載安定太守孟達薦雄曰：「臣聞明君以求賢為業，忠臣以進善為效，故易稱『拔茅連茹』，傳曰『舉爾所知』。 臣不自量，竊慕其義。 臣昔以人乏，謬充備部職。 時涿郡太守王雄為西部從事，與臣同僚。 雄天性良固，果而有謀。 歷試三縣，政成人和。 及在近職，奉宣威恩，懷柔有術，清慎持法。 臣往年出使，經過雄郡。 自說特受陛下拔擢之恩，常勵節精心，思投命為效。 言辭激揚，情趣款惻。 臣雖愚闇，不識真偽，以謂雄才兼資文武，忠烈之性，踰越倫輩。 今涿郡領戶三千，孤寡之家，參居其半，北有守兵藩衞之固，誠不足舒雄智力，展其勤幹也。 臣受恩深厚，無以報國，不勝慺慺淺見之情，謹冒陳聞。」 詔曰：「昔蕭何薦韓信，鄧禹進吳漢，惟賢知賢也。 雄有膽智技能文武之姿，吾宿知之。 今便以參散騎之選，方使少在吾門下知指歸，便大用之矣。 天下之士，欲使皆先歷散騎，然後出據州郡，是吾本意也。」 雄後為幽州刺史。 子渾，涼州刺史。 次乂，平北將軍。 司徒安豐侯戎，渾之子。 太尉武陵侯衍、荊州刺史澄，皆乂之子。〉 猶以不事上司，左遷河間太守，清論多為林怨也。 〈《魏名臣奏》載侍中辛毗奏曰：「昔桓階為尚書令，以崔林非尚書才，遷以為河間太守。」 與此傳不同。〉
When Cao Pi took the throne Cui Lin became a Master of Writing, then left the capital as Inspector of Youzhou. Wu Zhi, General of the North Center, held military authority over Hebei. Zhuo Administrator Wang Xiong warned Cui Lin's chief clerk: "Wu Zhi is a favorite of the throne and a pillar of the court. He wields the imperial baton—every province sends him respectful letters—yet your Inspector Cui has never so much as called on him. If he decides the frontier works are neglected and orders your execution, do you imagine Cui Lin will shield you?" The chief clerk relayed the threat. Cui Lin replied: "I would leave this province as lightly as kicking off a sandal—why would I let his bullying implicate you? Youzhou fronts the steppe; it must be governed with calm. Provoke Wu Zhi and you rouse the tribes—nothing but fresh trouble on the northern frontier. That is what truly worries me." Within a single tour of duty banditry faded to nothing. 〈The Wang clan genealogy identifies Wang Xiong, style Yuanbo, as kin to Grand Guardian Wang Xiang. The Memorials of Wei Notables preserves Meng Da, Administrator of Anding, recommending Wang Xiong: "A wise sovereign wins the realm by seeking talent; a loyal minister repays favor by lifting the worthy. The Zhou yi speaks of pulling a single reed and drawing the whole clump; the Analects tell a ruler to promote men he truly knows. I hardly match that standard, yet I admire the principle. Once, when offices stood empty, I overstayed my turn in the clerical ranks. Wang Xiong of Zhuo then served as a western-section clerk alongside me. His nature is steady and resolute, bold yet thoughtful. Trials in three counties left good order and contented people. Closer to court he spread imperial majesty with tact, soothed the people, and enforced the code with scrupulous care. On an embassy last year I traveled through his district. He told me how deeply he valued Your Majesty's personal promotion and swore to polish his integrity and lay down his life in your service. His voice shook with feeling; there was no mistaking his sincerity. I am no judge of fine distinctions, yet I see in him both civil talent and military grit, with a loyalty fiercer than most of his contemporaries. Zhuo today counts only three thousand households, half of them widows and orphans under garrison protection—hardly enough scope to stretch Wang Xiong's abilities. I owe the dynasty too much to stay silent; forgive this blunt memorial born of gratitude." The emperor answered: "Xiao He once lifted Han Xin; Deng Yu raised Wu Han—talent knows talent. Wang Xiong has courage, wit, and both book and sword—I have watched him for years. Enroll him at once among the attendants-in-ordinary; let him study court usage at my side awhile, then give him a weightier post. I want every promising man in the empire to serve first as attendant-in-ordinary before he is sent to a provincial seat—that has always been my design." 〉Wang Xiong was later promoted to Inspector of Youzhou. His son Wang Hun became Inspector of Liangzhou. His second son Wang Yi rose to General Who Pacifies the North. Wang Rong—the future Minister of Education and Marquis of Anfeng—was Wang Hun's son. Grand Commandant Wang Yan, Marquis of Wuling, and Wang Cheng, who governed Jingzhou, were both sons of Wang Yi.〉 Cui Lin was nonetheless demoted to Administrator of Hejian for refusing to court his superiors, and the literati set never forgave him for it. 〈The Wei mingchen zou records Attendant-in-Ordinary Xin Pi's memorial: "Formerly Huan Jie was Master of Writing and, because Cui Lin was not Master of Writing material, transferred him to be Administrator of Hejian. —a version that disagrees with the account given here.
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遷大鴻臚。 龜茲王遣侍子來朝，朝廷嘉其遠至，襃賞其王甚厚。 餘國各遣子來朝，閒使連屬，林恐所遣或非真的，權取疏屬賈胡，因通使命，利得印綬，而道路護送，所損滋多。 勞所養之民，資無益之事，為夷狄所笑，此曩時之所患也。 乃移書燉煌喻指，并錄前世待遇諸國豐約故事，使有恒常。 明帝即位，賜爵關內侯，轉光祿勳、司隷校尉。 屬郡皆罷非法除過員吏。 林為政推誠，簡存大體，是以去後每輒見思。
He was later promoted to Grand Herald. When the king of Kucha sent a princely hostage to Luoyang, the court lavished titles and gifts on the distant ruler. Other kingdoms began sending their own "sons" in an endless stream of envoys. Cui Lin worried that many were impostors—distant cousins or Sogdian traders buying patents of investiture—while the cost of escorts along the highway kept mounting. It wastes the people we are meant to protect, funds a pointless pageant, and invites ridicule from the border peoples—the very abuse earlier dynasties deplored. He therefore wrote Dunhuang spelling out court policy and attached a digest of how past regimes had treated foreign princes, thick or thin, so that practice would settle into a steady rule. When Cao Rui came to the throne, Cui Lin received a secondary marquisate, then moved to supervisor of the imperial clan bureau and colonel director of retainers. He ordered every county under his jurisdiction to purge supernumerary appointees made without proper warrant. Cui Lin governed with candor and kept his eye on essentials, so that wherever he served, people missed him after he left.
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散騎常侍劉劭作考課論，制下百僚。 林議曰：「案周官考課，其文備矣，自康王以下，遂以陵遲，此即考課之法存乎其人也。 及漢之季，其失豈在乎佐吏之職不密哉？ 方今軍旅，或猥或卒，備之以科條，申之以內外，增減無常，固難一矣。 且萬目不張舉其綱，衆毛不整振其領。 臯陶仕虞，伊尹臣殷，不仁者遠。 五帝三王未必如一，而各以治亂。 易曰：『易簡，而天下之理得矣。』 太祖隨宜設辟，以遺來今，不患不法古也。 以為今之制度，不為疏闊，惟在守一勿失而已。 若朝臣能任仲山甫之重，式是百辟，則孰敢不肅？」
Liu Shao, as cavalier attendant-in-ordinary, drafted a blueprint for grading officials, and the throne circulated it to the whole bureaucracy. Cui Lin argued: "The Rites of Zhou already spell out inspection of merit; after King Kang the system decayed—proof that written rules matter less than the integrity of the men who wield them. When Eastern Han collapsed, was the flaw really that aides kept sloppy files? Today armies march at a moment's notice or swell without warning; statutes multiply, inner and outer bureaus tug the rules in opposite directions—no single ledger can cover every case. As the adage says, lift the main cord when the mesh will not spread; straighten the collar when the fur lies awry. Gao Yao served Shun, Yi Yin served the Yin kings, and the vicious simply melted away. The Five Thearchs and Three Kings never ruled alike, yet each age found its own path to order or ruin. The Zhou yi teaches: "Keep policy plain and easy, and the way of the world becomes clear." The Founder tailored recruitment to circumstance and left us that flexibility; we need not obsess over copying antiquity. Our present institutions are not too loose; the task is simply to hold the line without drifting. Give us ministers with the backbone of Zhong Shanfu to awe the regional heads, and who would dare slacken?"
9
魯相上言：「漢舊立孔子廟，襃成侯歲時奉祠，辟雍行禮，必祭先師，王家出穀，春秋祭祀。 今宗聖侯奉嗣，未有命祭之禮，宜給牲牢，長吏奉祀，尊為貴神。」 制三府議，博士傅祗以春秋傳言立在祀典，則孔子是也。 宗聖適足繼絕世，章盛德耳。 至於顯立言，崇明德，則宜如魯相所上。 林議以為「宗聖侯亦以王命祀，不為未有命也。 周武王封黃帝、堯、舜之後，及立三恪，禹、湯之世，不列于時，復特命他官祭也。 今周公已上，達於三皇，忽焉不祀，而其禮經亦存其言。 今獨祀孔子者，以世近故也。 以大夫之後，特受無疆之祀，禮過古帝，義踰湯、武，可謂崇明報德矣，無復重祀於非族也。」 〈臣松之以為孟軻稱宰我之辭曰：「予以觀夫子，賢於堯舜遠矣。」 又曰：「生民以來，未有盛於孔子者也。」 斯非通賢之格言，商較之定準乎！ 雖妙極則同，萬聖猶一，然淳薄異時，質文殊用，或當時則榮，沒則已焉，是以遺風所被，寔有深淺。 若乃經緯天人，立言垂制，百王莫之能違，彝倫資之以立，誠一人而已耳。 周監二代，斯文為盛。 然於六經之道，未能及其精致。 加以聖賢不興，曠年五百，道化陵夷，憲章殆滅，若使時無孔門，則周典幾乎息矣。 夫能光明先王之道，以成萬世之功，齊天地之無窮，等日月之久照，豈不有踰於羣聖哉？ 林曾無史遷洞想之誠，梅真慷慨之志，而守其蓬心以塞明義，可謂多見其不知量也。〉
The chancellor of Lu memorialized: "Han law maintained a Confucian shrine; the marquis who "continues the praise" tended its seasonal rites; the circular moat academy always honored the First Teacher; the imperial clan supplied grain for spring and autumn offerings. Today the marquis who "continues the sage" lacks a statutory cult; he should receive oxen and grain, with local magistrates conducting the service and the sage ranked among the highest gods." The throne told the Three Dukes to debate the point. Erudite Fu Di cited the Zuo Tradition: whoever is entered in the state register of sacrifices deserves worship—Confucius plainly qualifies. The "sage's heir" title only keeps an extinct line alive and advertises imperial largesse. If the goal is to broadcast the Master's doctrine and honor his virtue, the Lu memorial has the right of it. Cui Lin countered that the marquis already sacrificed by imperial writ—hardly an "unmandated" cult. King Wu enfeoffed the Yellow Thearch's line and those of Yao and Shun and added the "three reverend houses," yet in Yu's or Tang's day they were not on the regular roster—other officers handled their offerings. From the Duke of Zhou back to the Three August Ones the classics still name them, yet we no longer maintain their altars. We single out Confucius chiefly because his age lies closest to our own. To give a minister's heir limitless oblations—outranking ancient thearchs and outshining even Tang and Wu—is already the utmost "exalting virtue"; we need not pile duplicate rites on unrelated forebears." 〈Pei Songzhi comments: Mencius quoted Zai Wo—"Compared with the Master, even Yao and Shun seem lesser men." He added, "In all the lives Heaven has granted humankind, none matches Confucius." Are those not the very yardstick by which the wise judge greatness! Ultimate truth may be one, yet ages differ in simplicity or decadence, and genius takes many forms—some blaze only in their own day. That is why later reverence runs deep for some teachers and shallow for others. To weave Heaven and humanity into one teaching, to set a model every throne must acknowledge—there stands truly only one such man. The Zhou house looked back on Xia and Shang; its ritual culture reached a peak. Even so, Zhou learning never quite matched the subtlety of the Six Classics themselves. Five hundred years without a sage left the moral order in tatters; had Confucius and his disciples not rescued the texts, Zhou civilization might have died on the vine. How could a teacher who relit the ancient kings' path, secured merit for endless generations, and rivals heaven and earth in endurance be anything less than greater than every other so-called sage? Cui Lin showed neither Sima Qian's luminous empathy nor Mei Fu's indignant zeal—only a pedant's stubbornness masquerading as principle. He simply did not know his own measure.〉
10
高柔字文惠，陳留圉人也。 父靖，為蜀郡都尉。 〈《陳留耆舊傳》曰：靖高祖父固，不仕王莽世，為淮陽太守所害，以烈節垂名。 固子慎，字孝甫。 敦厚少華，有沈深之量。 撫育孤兄子五人，恩義甚篤。 琅邪相何英嘉其行履，以女妻焉。 英即車騎將軍熈之父也。 慎歷二縣令、東萊太守。 老病歸家，草屋蓬戶，甕缶無儲。 其妻謂之曰：「君累經宰守，積有年歲，何能不少為儲畜以遺子孫乎？」 慎曰：「我以勤身清名為之基，以二千石遺之，不亦可乎！」 子式，至孝，常盡力供養。 永初中，螟蝗為害，獨不食式麥，圉令周彊以表州郡。 太守楊舜舉式孝子，讓不行。 後以孝廉為郎。 次子昌，昌弟賜，並為刺史、郡守。 式子弘，孝廉。 弘生靖。〉
Gao Rou, courtesy name Wenhui, came from Yu in Chenliu commandery. His father Gao Jing had served as commandant of Shu commandery. 〈The Chenliu Traditions of the Elderly states that Gao Jing's great-great-grandfather Gao Gu refused office under Wang Mang and was murdered by the Administrator of Huaiyang, winning posthumous fame for his steadfast honor. Gu's son Gao Shen bore the courtesy name Xiaofu. He was plain, steady, and unflashy, with a calm depth about him. He raised his late brother's five sons as his own, with unstinting kindness. He Ying, chancellor of Langye, admired his character and gave him a daughter in marriage. That He Ying was the father of General of Chariots and Cavalry He Xi. Gao Shen served as magistrate of two counties and then as administrator of Donglai. Age and illness drove him home to a thatched hovel with not a jar of grain in reserve. His wife asked, "You have been magistrate and two-thousand-bushel official year after year—could you not salt away something for the children?" Gao Shen answered, "I leave them an honest name earned by toil and a father who held a two-thousand-bushel post—is that not inheritance enough!" His son Gao Shi was famously filial and strained every nerve to support his parents. During the Yongchu locust plague, the swarms devoured every field except Gao Shi's; Magistrate Zhou Qiang of Yu reported the miracle to his superiors. Administrator Yang Shun nominated him as an exemplar of filial piety, but Gao Shi modestly refused. He later entered office as a gentleman cadet on a filial-and-incorrupt recommendation. His second son Gao Chang and younger son Gao Ci both rose to inspector and grand administrator posts. Gao Shi's son Gao Hong also earned a filial-and-incorrupt nomination. Gao Hong was the father of Gao Jing.〉
11
柔留鄉里，謂邑中曰：「今者英雄並起，陳留四戰之地也。 曹將軍雖據兖州，本有四方之圖，未得安坐守也。 而張府君先得志於陳留，吾恐變乘間作也，欲與諸君避之。」 衆人皆以張邈與太祖善，柔又年少，不然其言。 柔從兄幹，袁紹甥也， 〈謝承《後漢書》曰：幹字元才。 才志弘邈，文武秀出。 父躬，蜀郡太守。 祖賜，司隷校尉。 案陳留耆舊傳及謝承書，幹應為柔從父，非從兄也。 未知何者為誤。〉 在河北呼柔，柔舉宗從之。 會靖卒於西州，時道路艱澁，兵寇縱橫，而柔冒艱險詣蜀迎喪，辛苦荼毒，無所不嘗，三年乃還。
Gao Rou stayed in his home county and warned his neighbors, "Warlords are rising on every side, and Chenliu lies at the crossroads of four armies. Cao Cao may hold Yan Province, but his ambitions range beyond it—he will not sit idle. Zhang Miao already controls Chenliu; I fear trouble will break out between them—I urge everyone to leave while we can." They only scoffed: Zhang Miao was Cao Cao's old friend, and Gao Rou was too young to know anything. Gao Rou was tied by kinship to Gao Gan, who was Yuan Shao's nephew. 〈Xie Cheng's Later Han History gives Gao Gan the courtesy name Yuancai. He combined wide vision with real ability in both civil and military affairs. His father Gao Gong had governed Shu commandery. His grandfather Gao Ci had been colonel director of retainers. The Chenliu elder traditions and Xie Cheng's history both make Gao Gan Gao Rou's first cousin once removed, not an elder cousin. Pei Songzhi cannot tell which genealogy is wrong.〉 When Gao Gan summoned him to the north, Gao Rou moved the whole clan to join him. Then word came that Gao Jing had died in the west; roads were cut by warlords and bandits, yet Gao Rou fought his way to Shu, spent three years escorting his father's bier home through every hardship imaginable.
12
太祖平袁氏，以柔為菅長。 縣中素聞其名，姧吏數人皆自引去。 柔教曰：「昔邴吉臨政，吏嘗有非，猶尚容之。 況此諸吏，於吾未有失乎！ 其召復之。」 咸還，皆自勵，咸為佳吏。 高幹旣降，頃之以并州叛。 柔自歸太祖，太祖欲因事誅之，以為刺姧令史； 處法允當，獄無留滯，辟為丞相倉曹屬。 〈《魏氏春秋》曰：柔旣處法平允，又夙夜匪懈，至擁膝抱文書而寢。 太祖嘗夜微出，觀察諸吏，見柔，哀之，徐解裘覆柔而去。 自是辟焉。〉 太祖欲遣鍾繇等討張魯，柔諫，以為今猥遣大兵，西有韓遂、馬超，謂為己舉，將相扇動作逆，宜先招集三輔，三輔苟平，漢中可傳檄而定也。 繇入關，遂、超等果反。
After Cao Cao crushed the Yuans, he named Gao Rou magistrate of Jian county. The county clerks had heard his reputation; several corrupt men resigned before he arrived. Gao Rou announced, "When Bing Ji governed, he forgave minor faults in his staff. These men have done nothing wrong by me! He ordered them recalled to their posts." They returned, ashamed and determined, and became a model staff. Soon after surrendering, Gao Gan rose in revolt with Bing Province. Gao Rou slipped back to Cao Cao, who briefly thought of executing him for kinship with the rebel, then instead named him clerk for criminal investigation; he judged cases with scrupulous fairness, cleared the jails, and was promoted to the Chancellor's granary office. 〈The Spring and Autumn Annals of the House of Wei notes that Gao Rou worked such long fair shifts that he fell asleep hugging case files. Cao Cao once made a midnight inspection of his offices, found Gao Rou asleep at his desk, pitied him, and draped his own fur cloak over him before leaving. After that incident Cao Cao formally promoted him.〉 When Cao Cao planned to send Zhong Yao west against Zhang Lu, Gao Rou objected: a massive expedition would panic Han Sui and Ma Chao into thinking they were the target and invite mutiny; secure the Guanzhong heartland first, he urged, and Hanzhong would fall to a summons. Zhong Yao crossed the passes as ordered; Han Sui and Ma Chao promptly rebelled.
13
魏國初建，為尚書郎。 轉拜丞相理曹掾，令曰：「夫治定之化，以禮為首。 撥亂之政，以刑為先。 是以舜流四凶族，臯陶作士。 漢祖除秦苛法，蕭何定律。 掾清識平當，明于憲典，勉恤之哉！」 鼓吹宋金等在合肥亡逃。 舊法，軍征士亡，考竟其妻子。 太祖患猶不息，更重其刑。 金有母妻及二弟皆給官，主者奏盡殺之。 柔啟曰：「士卒亡軍，誠在可疾，然竊聞其中時有悔者。 愚謂乃宜貸其妻子，一可使賊中不信，二可使誘其還心。 正如前科，固已絕其意望，而猥復重之，柔恐自今在軍之士，見一人亡逃，誅將及己，亦且相隨而走，不可復得殺也。 此重刑非所以止亡，乃所以益走耳。」 太祖曰：「善。」 即止不殺金母、弟，蒙活者甚衆。
When the kingdom of Wei was founded he entered the Masters of Writing as a gentleman. He shifted to the Chancellor's law bureau with an edict reading, "In peacetime, teach with ritual first. In times of chaos, begin with punishment. Thus Shun exiled the Four Fiends and made Gao Yao minister of justice. The Han founder swept away Qin's cruel code; Xiao He rebuilt the statutes. You are clear-sighted, even-handed, and master the code—apply it with mercy!" The military musicians Song Jin and their mates deserted at Hefei. Under the old code, a deserter's wife and children could be put to death after inquiry. Cao Cao found the practice still failed to stop desertion and made the penalty harsher still. Song Jin's mother, wife, and two brothers were all held as government dependents; the clerk in charge asked permission to execute the entire family. Gao Rou replied: "Deserters deserve contempt, yet some later repent. I urge you to spare their families: the enemy will trust one another less, and wavering men will have a reason to come back. The old law already left deserters hopeless; to heap worse punishment on their kin will only convince every soldier in the ranks that when one man runs, his comrades die too—so they will bolt in chains and you will never catch them all. Such cruelty does not stop desertion; it multiplies it." 〉Cao Cao said, "Well argued." 〉He stayed the execution of Jin's mother and brothers, and a great many others owed their lives to the decision.
14
遷為潁川太守，復還為法曹掾。 時置校事盧洪、趙達等，使察羣下，柔諫曰：「設官分職，各有所司。 今置校事，旣非居上信下之旨。 又達等數以憎愛擅作威福，宜檢治之。」 太祖曰：「卿知達等，恐不如吾也。 要能刺舉而辨衆事，使賢人君子為之，則不能也。 昔叔孫通用羣盜，良有以也。」 達等後姧利發，太祖殺之以謝於柔。
Gao Rou was promoted to Administrator of Yingchuan, then recalled to serve again as law-bureau aide. When the court named Lu Hong, Zhao Da, and other "surveillance" agents to spy on the bureaucracy, Gao Rou protested: "Government works by fixed offices and clear portfolios. These roving inquisitors are the opposite of trusting ministers with their jobs. Zhao Da and his like have repeatedly thrown their weight around from private likes and dislikes—they should be investigated and punished." Cao Cao answered, "You may think you know Zhao Da; I know him better. The job takes informers who can sift every rumor—no gentleman could stomach it. Shusun Tong once staffed his rites with bandits for good reason." 〉When Zhao Da's corruption surfaced, Cao Cao executed him and his confederates and made a point of apologizing to Gao Rou.
15
文帝踐阼，以柔為治書侍御史，賜爵關內侯，轉加治書執法。 民間數有誹謗妖言，帝疾之，有妖言輒殺，而賞告者。 柔上疏曰：「今妖言者必戮，告之者輒賞。 旣使過誤無反善之路，又將開凶狡之羣相誣罔之漸，誠非所以息姧省訟，緝熈治道也。 昔周公作誥，稱殷之祖宗，咸不顧小人之怨。 在漢太宗，亦除妖言誹謗之令。 臣愚以為宜除妖謗賞告之法，以隆天父養物之仁。」 帝不即從，而相誣告者滋甚。 帝乃下詔：「敢以誹謗相告者，以所告者罪罪之。」 於是遂絕。 校事劉慈等，自黃初初數年之閒，舉吏民姧罪以萬數，柔皆請懲虛實； 其餘小小挂法者，不過罰金。 四年，遷為廷尉。
When Cao Pi took the throne he named Gao Rou palace assistant secretary for documents, enfeoffed him as a secondary marquis, and added the post of assistant for documents and law enforcement. Slanderous "prophetic" talk spread in the countryside; Cao Pi detested it, executed every accused author, and paid informers. Gao Rou wrote: "You kill every rumor-monger and reward every accuser. That leaves the misguided no path to reform, and invites vicious men to frame one another—hardly the way to reduce lawsuits or brighten the realm. The Duke of Zhou's proclamations praised Yin's forebears and brushed aside small men's grudges. Emperor Wen of Han repealed the laws against "prophecy" and defamation. I urge you to repeal the witch-hunt rewards and show the compassion of Heaven toward its creatures." 〉The emperor hesitated, and malicious denunciations multiplied. Cao Pi then decreed: "Whoever lodges a slander charge will himself suffer the penalty he sought for his victim." 〉The flood of false accusations dried up. Within a few years of Huangchu, surveillance agent Liu Ci and his colleagues denounced tens of thousands of supposed crimes; Gao Rou insisted each case be checked for substance; petty offenders he punished with fines at most. In the fourth year of Huangchu he became commandant of justice.
16
魏初，三公無事，又希與朝政。 柔上疏曰：「天地以四時成功，元首以輔弼興治； 成湯杖阿衡之佐，文、武憑旦、望之力，逮至漢初，蕭、曹之儔並以元勳代作心膂，此皆明王聖主任臣於上，賢相良輔股肱於下也。 今公輔之臣，皆國之棟梁，民所具瞻，而置之三事，不使知政，遂各偃息養高，鮮有進納，誠非朝廷崇用大臣之義，大臣獻可替否之謂也。 古者刑政有疑，輒議於槐棘之下。 自今之後，朝有疑議及刑獄大事，宜數以咨訪三公。 三公朝朔望之日，又可特延入，講論得失，博盡事情，庶有裨起天聽，弘益大化。」 帝嘉納焉。
Early in the Wei dynasty the three dukes had little real work and seldom joined policy debates. Gao Rou wrote: "Heaven finishes its year through the seasons; a ruler finishes his task through good ministers; Tang leaned on Yi Yin; the Zhou kings on the Duke of Zhou and Jiang Taigong; at Han's founding Xiao He and Cao Shen turned battlefield merit into the emperor's right hand—true partnership between throne and ministers. Your dukes are the empire's roof timbers and the people's mirror, yet you park them in empty honor, bar them from policy, and let them idle away their prestige—hardly the way to "honor great ministers," nor how ministers "approve the sound and reject the unsound. When ancient kings doubted a case, they opened debate under the court's "locust and zelkova"—the place for public justice. Henceforth every doubtful policy or major criminal case should be referred to the three dukes for counsel. On the regular audience days you might also keep them after court to thrash out policy in detail—so your ears stay open and the realm profits." 〉The emperor approved the memorial.
17
帝以宿嫌，欲枉法誅治書執法鮑勛，而柔固執不從詔命。 帝怒甚，遂召柔詣臺； 遣使者承指至廷尉考竟勛，勛死乃遣柔還寺。
Cao Pi nursed an old grudge against Bao Xun and tried to twist the statutes to have him killed; Gao Rou refused to sign the order. Furious, the emperor summoned Gao Rou to the palace tower and sent a runner to the commandant of justice with orders to torture Bao Xun to death; only after Xun died was Gao Rou allowed back to his yamen.
18
明帝即位，封柔延壽亭侯。 時博士執經，柔上疏曰：「臣聞遵道重學，聖人洪訓； 褒文崇儒，帝者明義。 昔漢末陵遲，禮樂崩壞，雄戰虎爭，以戰陣為務，遂使儒林之羣，幽隱而不顯。 太祖初興，愍其如此，在於撥亂之際，並使郡縣立教學之官。 高祖即位，遂闡其業，興復辟雍，州立課試，於是天下之士，復聞庠序之教，親俎豆之禮焉。 陛下臨政，允迪叡哲，敷弘大猷，光濟先軌，雖夏啟之承基，周成之繼業，誠無以加也。 然今博士皆經明行脩，一國清選，而使遷除限不過長，懼非所以崇顯儒術，帥勵怠惰也。 孔子稱『舉善而教不能則勸』，故楚禮申公，學士銳精，漢隆卓茂，搢紳競慕。 臣以為博士者，道之淵藪，六藝所宗，宜隨學行優劣，待以不次之位。 敦崇道教，以勸學者，於化為弘。」 帝納之。
When Cao Rui came to the throne he enfeoffed Gao Rou as village marquis of Yanshou. While the court doctors lectured on the classics, Gao Rou wrote: "The sages teach us to revere learning. A wise sovereign promotes letters and respects scholars. At the end of Han ritual collapsed and warlords fought like tigers; scholars were driven into obscurity. The Founder pitied them and, even while pacifying the realm, ordered every county to appoint education officers. When Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) succeeded, he expanded those schools, rebuilt the circular moat academy, and instituted provincial exams—so students once more heard lectures and watched the archery and banquet rites. Your Majesty rules with sagely insight and carries forward their work; not even Qi of Xia or Cheng of Zhou has surpassed you. Yet your doctors are the pick of the empire—learned and upright—while promotion rules cap them at county chief rank; that hardly advertises Confucian learning or shames the idle. Confucius said, "Promote the worthy and coach the slow, and all strive": Chu honored Prince Shen and scholars burned midnight oil; Han exalted Zhuo Mao and gentlemen rushed to imitate. The doctors are the treasury of the Way and fountainhead of the Six Arts; rank them by merit and break the usual promotion ladder. Honor their vocation and students everywhere will take heart." 〉The emperor agreed.
19
後大興殿舍，百姓勞役； 廣采衆女，充盈後宮； 後宮皇子連夭，繼嗣未育。 柔上疏曰：「二虜狡猾，潛自講肄，謀動干戈，未圖束手； 宜畜養將士，繕治甲兵，以逸待之。 而頃興造殿舍，上下勞擾； 若使吳、蜀知人虛實，通謀并勢，復俱送死，甚不易也。 昔漢文惜十家之資，不營小臺之娛； 去病慮匈奴之害，不遑治第之事。 況今所損者非惟百金之費，所憂者非徒北狄之患乎？ 可粗成見所營立，以充朝宴之儀。 訖罷作者，使得就農。 二方平定，復可徐興。 昔軒轅以二十五子，傳祚彌遠； 周室以姬國四十，歷年滋多。 陛下聦達，窮理盡性，而頃皇子連多夭逝，熊羆之祥又未感應。 羣下之心，莫不悒戚。 周禮，天子后妃以下百二十人，嬪嬙之儀，旣以盛矣。 竊聞後庭之數，或復過之，聖嗣不昌，殆能由此。 臣愚以為可妙簡淑媛，以備內官之數，其餘盡遣還家。 且以育精養神，專靜為寶。 如此，則螽斯之徵，可庶而致矣。」 帝報曰：「知卿忠允，乃心王室，輒克昌言； 他復以聞。」
Later the court launched vast palace projects that crushed the commoners with labor; drafted girls by the score until the harem overflowed; yet imperial sons died one after another and still no heir lived. Gao Rou warned: "Wu and Shu drill their armies in secret; they are not ready to surrender. We should train troops, stock armor, and wait at leisure for their move. Instead we exhaust the realm raising palaces; if Shu and Wu learn how thin we are stretched and strike together, the war will not be easily won. Emperor Wen of Han refused a small terrace to save a few households' taxes; Huo Qubing ignored his own mansion while the Xiongnu threatened the frontier. Our waste runs far beyond a hundred pounds of gold, and the danger is not only the northern tribes. Finish only what is already half built—enough for court ceremony. Then dismiss the corvée gangs so they can go back to the fields. When the two enemy states fall, you can build at leisure. The Yellow Thearch had twenty-five sons and his line ran long; the house of Zhou ruled through forty Ji principalities and lasted many centuries. Your Majesty is wise as Heaven, yet princes keep dying in infancy and the omen of the "bear in the bedchamber" has not come. Every official beneath you grieves in silence. Zhou ritual capped the harem at one hundred twenty women—already ample. I hear your inner palaces hold even more; that may be why the imperial seed will not take. Choose a modest number of worthy consorts and send the surplus home. Reserve your strength in calm—that is the true tonic. Then you may win the blessing of many sons promised in the Odes." 〉Cao Rui answered: "I know you are loyal and speak for the throne; keep such counsel coming."
20
時獵法甚峻。 宜陽典農劉龜竊於禁內射兎，其功曹張京詣校事言之。 帝匿京名，收龜付獄。 柔表請告者名，帝大怒曰：「劉龜當死，乃敢獵吾禁地。 送龜廷尉，廷尉便當考掠，何復請告者主名，吾豈妄收龜邪？」 柔曰：「廷尉，天下之平也，安得以至尊喜怒而毀法乎？」 重復為奏，辭指深切。 帝意寤，乃下京名。 即還訊，各當其罪。
Court hunting regulations had grown brutally strict. Liu Gui, chief of the Yiyang agricultural colony, shot rabbits inside the imperial preserve; his merit clerk Zhang Jing denounced him to the surveillance office. The emperor withheld the informer's name, arrested Liu Gui, and jailed him. Gao Rou asked who had accused him. The emperor thundered: "Liu Gui deserves death for hunting my preserve. I sent him to your tribunal for torture—why demand the informer's name? Do you think I arrested him wrongly?" Gao Rou answered: "The commandant of justice is the scale of the empire—not even the sovereign's temper may tip it." He resubmitted the memorial in blunt, forceful language. The emperor relented and released Zhang Jing's name. The court retried both men and sentenced each according to his guilt.
21
時制，吏遭大喪者，百日後皆給役。 有司徒吏解弘遭父喪，後有軍事，受勑當行，以疾病為辭。 詔怒曰：「汝非曾、閔，何言毀邪？」 促收考竟。 柔見弘信甚羸劣，奏陳其事，宜加寬貸。 帝乃詔曰：「孝哉弘也！ 其原之。」
By regulation, clerks who had buried a parent were drafted for service after only a hundred days. Xie Hong of the Steward's Bureau was still mourning his father when a military levy arrived; he pleaded sickness to stay home. An edict snapped: "You are no Zengzi or Min Ziqian—how dare you hide behind filial piety?" The emperor ordered him seized and tortured to death. Gao Rou saw that Xie Hong was genuinely ill and asked clemency. The emperor then said, "This is true filial devotion! Release him."
22
初，公孫淵兄晃，為叔父恭任內侍，先淵未反，數陳其變。 及淵謀逆，帝不忍巿斬，欲就獄殺之。 柔上疏曰：「書稱『用罪伐厥死，用德彰厥善』，此王制之明典也。 晃及妻子叛逆之類，誠應梟縣，勿使遺育。 而臣竊聞晃先數自歸，陳淵禍萌，雖為凶族，原心可恕。 夫仲尼亮司馬牛之憂，祁奚明叔向之過，在昔之美義也。 臣以為晃信有言，宜貸其死； 苟自無言，便當巿斬。 今進不赦其命，退不彰其罪，閉著囹圄，使自引分，四方觀國，或疑此舉也。」 帝不聽，竟遣使齎金屑飲晃及其妻子，賜以棺、衣，殯歛於宅。 〈孫盛曰：聞五帝無誥誓之文，三王無盟祝之事，然則盟誓之文，始自三季，質任之作，起於周微。 夫貞夫之一，則天地可動，機心內萌，則鷗鳥不下。 況信不足焉而祈物之必附，猜生於我而望彼之必懷，何異挾冰求溫，抱炭希涼者哉？ 且夫要功之倫，陵肆之類，莫不背情任計，昧利忘親，縱懷慈孝之愛，或慮傾身之禍。 是以周、鄭交惡，漢高請羹，隗嚻捐子，馬超背父，其為酷忍如此之極也，安在其因質委誠，取任永固哉？ 世主若能遠覽先王閑邪之至道，近鑒狡肆徇利之凶心，勝之以解網之仁，致之以來蘇之惠，燿之以雷霆之威，潤之以時雨之施，則不恭可歛衽於一朝，炰哮可屈膝於象魏矣。 何必拘厥親以來其情，逼所愛以制其命乎？ 苟不能然，而仗夫計術，籠之以權數，檢之以一切，雖覽一室而庶徵於四海，法生鄙局，兾或半之暫益，自不得不有不忍之刑，以遂孥戮之罰，亦猶瀆盟由乎一人，而云俾墜其師，無克遺育之言耳。 豈得復引四罪不及之典，司馬牛獲宥之義乎？ 假令任者皆不保其父兄，輒有二三之言，曲哀其意而悉活之，則長人子危親自存之悖。 子弟雖質，必無刑戮之憂，父兄雖逆，終無勦絕之慮。 柔不究明此術非盛王之道，宜開張遠義，蠲此近制，而陳法內之刑以申一人之命，可謂心存小善，非王者之體。 古者殺人之中，又有仁焉。 刑之於獄，未為失也。 臣松之以為辨章事理，貴得當時之宜，無為虛唱大言而終歸無用。 浮誕之論，不切於實，猶若畫魑魅之象，而躓於犬馬之形也。 質任之興，非防近世，況三方鼎峙，遼東偏遠，羈其親屬以防未然，不為非矣。 柔謂晃有先言之善，宜蒙原心之宥。 而盛責柔不能開張遠理，蠲此近制。 不達此言竟為何謂？ 若云猜防為非，質任宜廢，是謂應大明先王之道，不預任者生死也。 晃之為任，歷年已久，豈得於殺活之際，方論至理之本。 是何異叢棘旣繁，事須判決，空論刑措之美，無聞當不之實哉？ 其為迂闊，亦已甚矣，漢高事窮理迫，權以濟親，而總之酷忍之科，旣已大有所誣。 且自古已來，未有子弟妄告父兄以圖全身者，自存之悖，未之或聞。 晃以兄告弟，而其事果驗。 謂晃應殺，將以遏防。 若言之亦死，不言亦死，豈不杜歸善之心，失正刑之中哉？ 若趙括之母，以先請獲免，鍾會之兄，以密言全子，古今此比，蓋為不少。 晃之前言，事同斯例，而獨遇否閉，良可哀哉！〉
Earlier, Gongsun Yuan's brother Gongsun Huang had served at court under his uncle Gongsun Gong and repeatedly warned that Yuan was turning traitor. When Yuan rebelled, Cao Rui shrank from a public execution and planned to murder Huang in jail. Gao Rou quoted the classic: "Punish the guilty to the death, reward the good to make them shine"—the true royal standard. A rebel's kin may lawfully be strung on stakes and left childless. Yet Huang came forward more than once before the revolt to expose Yuan's plot; wicked clan or not, his motives deserve mercy. Confucius comforted Sima Niu; Qi Xi cleared Shu Xiang—antiquity honored such compassion. I believe Huang told the truth and should be spared execution; If he offers no defense, let him die on the public scaffold. You neither spare him as a reward nor publish his guilt as a warning—you only pen him until he takes his own life. Neighboring powers will ask what sort of justice that is." 〉The emperor would not hear of it. He sent a messenger with gold-dust wine for Huang and his household, then sent coffins and winding-sheets and had the bodies laid out at their home—execution dressed up as mercy. 〈Sun Sheng remarks: the Five Thearchs swore no written oaths; the Three Kings cut no hostage treaties—such instruments belong to the decadent last three dynasties, and "pledge hostages" began as the Zhou house rotted. One utterly steadfast man can move heaven and earth; let cunning enter the heart and even the gulls will not land. How much worse to lack good faith yet expect loyalty, or nurse suspicion yet demand devotion—as futile as hugging ice for warmth or clutching coals for coolness? Men who traffic in "merit" or swagger without restraint always choose calculation over feeling and profit over family; even when they mouth filial piety, they tremble for their own skins. Hence the feud of Zhou and Zheng, Gaozu's "share the soup" threat, Wei Xiao abandoning his son, Ma Chao turning on his father—history is packed with such cruelty. Where is the "lasting trust" of hostages in that? A wise sovereign studies the ancient kings' guard against treachery and the greedy tempers of his own day; he wins men with mercy, calls them back with kindness, overawes them like thunder, refreshes them like spring rain—then insolence can be folded away in a single court session and rebels can kneel beneath the palace gate. Why seize a man's relatives to squeeze out his loyalty or threaten what he loves to puppet his fate? If you cannot rule that way but lean on tricks, snare men with schemes, and police them with blanket decrees—if you hope to read the empire's mood from one closet while the law grows petty—you may win a moment's gain but you will inevitably reach for unbearable punishments, wipe out families, and call it justice—as empty as blaming one treaty-breaker and pretending no survivor was meant to remain. How then can you invoke "the Four Punishments spared the families" or Confucius's pardon of Sima Niu? Suppose every hostage who whispered a warning were spared for "good intentions"—you would only teach sons to sacrifice fathers to save themselves. Sons would hold hostage status as a license to rebel without fear of the block; fathers would plot knowing their boys could never be touched. Gao Rou never explained that hostage policy is unworthy of a great king—that the throne should widen its principles and drop such petty leverage—yet he bent the statutes to spare one man. That is private kindness, not royal statesmanship. Even in antiquity the harshest justice could show humanity. Executing Huang in his cell would not have been unjust. Pei Songzhi holds that sound argument means what fits the moment—not lofty slogans that help nobody. Bombastic theory that never touches fact is like painting goblins and tripping over the shape of a dog. Hostages were never a modern invention; with three powers balanced and Liaodong far away, holding families as surety against future treason is hardly irrational. Gao Rou argued that Huang had warned the throne in advance and deserved clemency for his motives. Sun Sheng faulted Gao Rou for not urging the emperor to scrap hostage policy altogether. What exactly did Sun Sheng mean by that? If he meant "distrust is wrong, abandon hostages," he was asking the throne to proclaim high principle and stop deciding the fate of every pledge-holder. Huang had lived as a hostage for years; the moment of kill-or-spare is no time to reopen metaphysics. It is like a briar patch of lawsuits awaiting verdict while scholars drone about the idyll of "no punishments needed"—pretty words with no bearing on the case. Sun Sheng's lecture is hopelessly remote from the facts. Gaozu of Han bent the law under desperate pressure to help kin; to file that under "heartless cruelty" is simply wrong. History offers no parade of sons who denounced fathers just to save their skins. Here an elder brother informed on a younger brother—and the warning proved true. Executing him would punish the very informant you need for frontier security. If confession and silence alike mean death, you choke off repentance and abandon the mean of justice. Zhao Kuo's mother won exemption by petitioning first; Zhong Hui's brother saved a son with a secret plea—history knows many such parallels. Huang's warnings belong in that same class, yet he alone was silenced and destroyed—deeply to be mourned.〉
23
是時，殺禁地鹿者身死，財產沒官，有能覺告者厚加賞賜。 柔上疏曰：「聖王之御世，莫不以廣農為務，儉用為資。 夫農廣則穀積，用儉則財畜，畜財積穀而有憂患之虞者，未之有也。 古者，一夫不耕，或為之饑； 一婦不織，或為之寒。 中閒已來，百姓供給衆役，親田者旣減，加頃復有獵禁，羣鹿犯暴，殘食生苗，處處為害，所傷不貲。 民雖障防，力不能禦。 至如熒陽左右，周數百里，歲略不收，元元之命，實可矜傷。 方今天下生財者甚少，而麋鹿之損者甚多。 卒有兵戎之役，凶年之災，將無以待之。 惟陛下覽先聖之所念，愍稼穡之艱難，寬放民間，使得捕鹿，遂除其禁，則衆庶久濟，莫不恱預矣。」 〈《魏名臣奏》載柔上疏曰：「臣深思陛下所以不早取此鹿者，誠欲使極蕃息，然後大取以為軍國之用。 然臣竊以為今鹿但有日耗，終無從得多也。 何以知之？ 今禁地廣輪且千餘里，臣下計無慮其中有虎大小六百頭，狼有五百頭，狐萬頭。 使大虎一頭三日食一鹿，一虎一歲百二十鹿，是為六百頭虎一歲食七萬二千頭鹿也。 使十狼日共食一鹿，是為五百頭狼一歲共食萬八千頭鹿。 鹿子始生，未能善走，使十狐一日共食一子，比至健走一月之間，是為萬狐一月共食鹿子三萬頭也。 大凡一歲所食十二萬頭。 其鵰鶚所害，臣置不計。 以此推之，終無從得多，不如早取之為便也。」〉
At that time anyone who killed an imperial-park deer faced execution and forfeiture, while informers were richly paid. Gao Rou wrote: "Every sage king made farming his first task and thrift his treasury. Expand the fields and the granaries fill; tighten spending and the treasury swells—no dynasty that did both ever starved in crisis. The proverb says: let one man skip the plow and someone goes hungry; let one woman skip the loom and someone shivers. Since mid-Han the people stagger under endless levies; fewer hands work the soil; now the deer preserves forbid hunting while the herds trample every green shoot—the damage is beyond reckoning. Farmers fence their plots in vain—the beasts overwhelm them. Around Yingyang for hundreds of li the fields often yield nothing; the commoners' plight is heartbreaking. Too few hands grow food while too many deer devour it. When war or famine strikes, the state will have no reserves. I beg you to remember how the sages cherished the harvest, pity the farmer's toil, lift the ban, and let the people cull the deer—then the realm will prosper and every household rejoice." 〈The Memorials of Wei Notables preserves another Gao Rou memorial: "I have pondered why Your Majesty lets the deer herds grow—to multiply them, then draft them wholesale for army and state. Yet the herds shrink every day; you will never harvest more by waiting. How do I know? The preserve spans more than a thousand li; my clerks estimate six hundred tigers, five hundred wolves, and ten thousand foxes within it. If each big cat eats one deer every three days, one tiger consumes 120 deer a year—600 tigers eat 72,000 deer annually. If ten wolves share a deer daily, 500 wolves polish off 18,000 deer a year. Newborn fawns cannot outrun a pack; ten thousand foxes eating one fawn each per day for a month devour 30,000 calves before they can bolt. Rough annual toll: 120,000 deer. I leave raptors out of the ledger entirely. The arithmetic leaves no path to a larger herd—better to thin them now."〉"
24
頃之，護軍營士竇禮近出不還。 營以為亡，表言逐捕，沒其妻盈及男女為官奴婢。 盈連至州府，稱冤自訟，莫有省者。 乃辭詣廷尉。 柔問曰：「汝何以知夫不亡？」 盈垂泣對曰：「夫少單特，養一老嫗為母，事甚恭謹，又哀兒女，撫視不離，非是輕狡不顧室家者也。」 柔重問曰：「汝夫不與人有怨讎乎？」 對曰：「夫良善，與人無讎。」 又曰：「汝夫不與人交錢財乎？」 對曰：「嘗出錢與同營士焦子文，求不得。」 時子文適坐小事繫獄，柔乃見子文，問所坐。 言次，曰：「汝頗曾舉人錢不？」 子文曰：「自以單貧，初不敢舉人錢物也。」 柔察子文色動，遂曰：「汝昔舉竇禮錢，何言不邪？」 子文恠知事露，應對不次。 柔曰：「汝已殺禮，便宜早服。」 子文於是叩頭，具首殺禮本末，埋藏處所。 柔便遣吏卒，承子文辭往掘禮，即得其屍。 詔書復盈母子為平民。 班下天下，以禮為戒。
Soon after, Dou Li, a man in the guards camp, left camp on an errand and vanished. His unit listed him as a deserter, asked for a warrant, and seized his wife Ying and children as government slaves. Ying petitioned every yamen that her husband was no fugitive; no one listened. She took her case to the commandant of justice. Rou asked: "By what do you know your husband did not desert?" 〉Weeping, she said Dou Li had raised his widowed mother with reverence and doted on his children—no flighty man who abandons kin." 〉"Did he have enemies?" Gao Rou asked. 〉"He was gentle and quarreled with no one." 〉"Did he lend money to anyone?" 〉"He once lent cash to Jiao Ziwen of the same camp and could not collect it." Jiao Ziwen was in jail on a petty charge; Gao Rou had him brought in and asked what crime held him. In the midst of speaking, he said: "Have you perhaps ever borrowed people's money?" 〉"I am too poor," Ziwen said, "to borrow from anyone." 〉Gao Rou saw his face change. "You borrowed from Dou Li—why deny it?" 〉Ziwen realized the game was up and stammered. 〉"You killed Dou Li. Confess now." 〉Ziwen kowtowed and confessed the murder and burial site. 〉Officers dug where he pointed and found Dou Li's body. 〉An edict freed Ying and her children. 〉The case was published empire-wide as a warning.
25
孫禮字德達，涿郡容城人也。 太祖平幽州，召為司空軍謀掾。 初喪亂時，禮與母相失，同郡馬台求得禮母，禮推家財盡以與台。 台後坐法當死，禮私導令踰獄自首，旣而曰：「臣無逃亡之義。」 徑詣刺姧主簿溫恢。 恢嘉之，具白太祖，各減死一等。
Sun Li, courtesy name Deda, came from Rongcheng in Zhuo commandery. After Cao Cao conquered Youzhou, Sun Li joined his staff as military-planning aide to the Minister of Works. During the wars he lost his mother until a townsman named Ma Tai found her; Sun Li gave Ma Tai his entire fortune in gratitude. Tai afterward sat for a crime deserving death; Li privately guided him to leap the prison and surrender himself; having done so then said: "Your subject has no righteousness of fleeing." He walked straight in to see chief clerk Wen Hui of the arrest bureau. Wen Hui praised both men and reported to Cao Cao, who commuted their sentences one degree.
26
後除河間郡丞，稍遷熒陽都尉。 魯山中賊數百人，保固險阻，為民作害； 乃徙禮為魯相。 禮至官，出俸穀，發吏民，募首級，招納降附，使還為閒，應時平泰。 歷山陽、平原、平昌、琅邪太守。 從大司馬曹休征吳於夾石，禮諫以為不可深入，不從而敗。 遷陽平太守，入為尚書。
He later became Hejian assistant magistrate and rose to commandant of Yingyang. Hundreds of bandits held the Lu range and terrorized the district; Sun Li was named chancellor of Lu to deal with them. He spent his own salary on grain, mobilized troops and civilians, paid bounties for heads, accepted surrenders, and turned captives into double agents until the hills were calm. He served in turn as administrator of Shanyang, Pingyuan, Pingchang, and Langye. He followed Cao Xiu against Wu at Shiting and urged him not to advance too deep; Xiu ignored him and lost the battle. He was promoted to administrator of Yangping, then recalled to the Masters of Writing.
27
明帝方脩宮室，而節氣不和，天下少穀。 禮固爭，罷役，詔曰：「敬納讜言，促遣民作。」 時李惠監作，復奏留一月，有所成訖。 禮徑至作所，不復重奏，稱詔罷民，帝奇其意而不責也。
While Cao Rui lavished labor on palace projects, the weather turned foul and grain grew scarce. Sun Li protested until the emperor ordered the builders sent home "in respect for honest counsel." Supervisor Li Hui then asked for one more month to finish the job. Sun Li rode straight to the site, cited the earlier edict without waiting for a new rescript, and dismissed the labor gangs; the emperor admired his nerve and let it pass.
28
帝獵於大石山，虎趨乘輿，禮便投鞭下馬，欲奮劒斫虎，詔令禮上馬。 明帝臨崩之時，以曹爽為大將軍，宜得良佐，於牀下受遺詔，拜禮大將軍長史，加散騎常侍。 禮亮直不撓，爽弗便也，以為揚州刺史，加伏波將軍，賜爵關內侯。 吳大將全琮帥數萬衆來侵寇，時州兵休使，在者無幾。 禮躬勒衞兵禦之，戰於芍陂，自旦及暮，將士死傷過半。 禮犯蹈白刃，馬被數創，手秉枹鼓，奮不顧身，賊衆乃退。 詔書慰勞，賜絹七百匹。 禮為死事者設祀哭臨，哀號發心，皆以絹付亡者家，無以入身。
On a hunt at Great Stone Mountain a tiger charged the imperial carriage; Sun Li threw down his crop, drew his sword, and would have fought the beast until the emperor ordered him back into the saddle. On his deathbed Cao Rui named Cao Shuang grand general and needed a strong chief clerk; he summoned Sun Li to the couch, appointed him chief clerk to the grand general, and added cavalier attendant-in-ordinary. Sun Li's blunt integrity irked Shuang, who shunted him off as inspector of Yangzhou with the title General Who Crosses the Waves and a secondary marquisate. When Wu general Quan Zong invaded with tens of thousands, most Yangzhou troops were on leave and few stood ready. Sun Li led what guards he had to Quebei and fought from dawn to dusk until more than half his command fell. He plunged into the blades, his mount was cut again and again, yet he beat the war drum himself until the enemy drew back. The court sent him seven hundred bolts of silk in commendation. He held rites for the fallen, wept over the dead, and gave every bolt of his reward to the soldiers' widows—keeping none for himself.
29
徵拜少府，出為荊州刺史，遷兾州牧。 太傅司馬宣王謂禮曰：「今清河、平原爭界八年，更二刺史，靡能決之； 虞、芮待文王而了，宜善令分明。」 禮曰：「訟者據墟墓為驗，聽者以先老為正，而老者不可加以榎楚，又墟墓或遷就高敞，或徙避仇讎。 如今所聞，雖臯陶猶將為難。 若欲使必也無訟，當以烈祖初封平原時圖決之。 何必推古問故，以益辭訟？ 昔成王以桐葉戲叔虞，周公便以封之。 今圖藏在天府，便可於坐上斷也，豈待到州乎？」 宣王曰：「是也。 當別下圖。」 禮到，案圖宜屬平原。 而曹爽信清河言，下書云：「圖不可用，當參異同。」 禮上疏曰：「管仲霸者之佐，其器又小，猶能奪伯氏駢邑，使沒齒無怨言。 臣受牧伯之任，奉聖朝明圖，驗地著之界，界實以王翁河為限； 而鄃以馬丹候為驗，詐以鳴犢河為界。 假虛訟訴，疑誤臺閣。 竊聞衆口鑠金，浮石沈木，三人成巿虎，慈母投其杼。 今二郡爭界八年，一朝決之者，緣有解書圖畫，可得尋案擿校也。 平原在兩河，向東上，其閒有爵隄，爵隄在高唐西南，所爭地在高唐西北，相去二十餘里，可謂長歎息流涕者也。 案解與圖奏而鄃不受詔，此臣軟弱不勝其任，臣亦何顏尸祿素餐。」 輒束帶著履，駕車待放。 爽見禮奏，大怒。 劾禮怨望，結刑五歲。 在家期年，衆人多以為言，除城門校尉。
He was recalled as junior minister, sent out as inspector of Jingzhou, then raised to shepherd of Jizhou. Grand Tutor Sima Yi said to Sun Li, "Qinghe and Pingyuan have wrangled over this border for eight years and outlasted two regional inspectors—no one has settled it. The lords of Yu and Rui waited for King Wen to draw the line; you must mark the boundary with equal clarity." 〉Sun Li replied, "Litigants wave grave mounds as evidence; judges defer to the oldest memory—yet you cannot flog octogenarians, and tombs migrate uphill or families relocate to escape feuds. Given such tangle, even Gao Yao would throw up his hands. If you want the suit to end, pull the survey drafted when Emperor Lie first created Pingyuan commandery and rule from that. Why dig up ancient anecdotes only to feed new litigation? King Cheng once teased his brother with a toy leaf "seal," and the Duke of Zhou turned the jest into a real enfeoffment. The true map sits in the imperial archive; you can settle the case from Luoyang—why send me back to the field?" 〉Sima Yi said, "You are right. 〉We shall have the archive issue the map." 〉When Sun Li compared the charts, Pingyuan clearly held the disputed ground. Cao Shuang sided with Qinghe and wrote back, "The archive map is unreliable—reopen the case." 〉Sun Li shot back: "Guan Zhong was only a hegemon's minister, petty in talent, yet he could strip the Bo family of its Boling fief without earning a lifelong grudge. I hold a governor's commission and the court's own survey: the line runs along the Wangweng River. Shu county points to Ma Danhou and pretends the Mingdu River is the line. They peddle perjury and clog the ministries with false claims. As the proverb says, slander melts metal, rumor floats stone, three men invent a market tiger, and even a fond mother drops her shuttle when the neighbors cry wolf. Eight years of quarrel can end in one morning because we finally have maps and affidavits that can be checked against one another. Pingyuan sits between two streams that bend east; the Jue levee stands southwest of Gaotang while the contested fields lie northwest—more than twenty li apart. The fraud is enough to make an honest man weep. Examining the explanation and map memorialized yet Shu does not accept the edict—this is your subject's weakness being unable to bear the duty; your subject also with what face 'corpse salary' and eat plain?" 〉He belted his robe, laced his boots, hitched his cart, and waited to be cashiered. Cao Shuang read the memorial and flew into a rage. He impeached Sun Li for disloyal muttering and sentenced him to five years' hard labor. After a year at home public opinion rallied for him, and he was named colonel of the city gates.
30
王觀字偉臺，東郡廩丘人也。 少孤貧勵志，太祖召為丞相文學掾，出為高唐、陽泉、酇、任令，所在稱治。 文帝踐阼，入為尚書郎、廷尉監，出為南陽、涿郡太守。 涿北接鮮卑，數有寇盜，觀令邊民十家已上，屯居，築京候。 時或有不願者，觀乃假遣朝吏，使歸助子弟，不與期會，但勑事訖各還。 於是吏民相率不督自勸，旬日之中，一時俱成。 守禦有備，寇鈔以息。 明帝即位，下詔書使郡縣條為劇、中、平者。 主者欲言郡為中平，觀教曰：「此郡濵近外虜，數有寇害，云何不為劇邪？」 主者曰：「若郡為外劇，恐於明府有任子。」 觀曰：「夫君者，所以為民也。 今郡在外劇，則於役條當有降差。 豈可為太守之私而負一郡之民乎？」 遂言為外劇郡，後送任子詣鄴。 時觀但有一子而又幼弱。 其公心如此。 觀治身清素，帥下以儉，僚屬承風，莫不自勵。
Wang Guan, courtesy name Weitai, came from Linqiu in Dong commandery. Orphaned and destitute, he drove himself to study; Cao Cao took him on as literary aide to the Chancellor, then sent him out as magistrate of Gaotang, Yangquan, Zan, and Ren—each district praised his rule. When Cao Pi took the throne Wang Guan entered the Masters of Writing as a gentleman and supervised the commandant of justice's office, then governed Nanyang and Zhuo as administrator. Zhuo faced the Xianbei on the north and suffered constant raids; Wang Guan ordered households of ten or more to build clustered forts and watchtowers. When farmers balked, he pretended to dispatch capital clerks to "help" their sons at home—no fixed deadline, just "return when done." Officials and villagers nudged one another along and finished every fort within ten days—no whip needed. The line was garrisoned and the raids stopped. When Cao Rui came to the throne he ordered every commandery to rate its own burden as heavy, middling, or light. His chief clerk wanted to file Zhuo as "middling"; Wang Guan snapped, "We border the steppe and take raids every season—how is that not a heavy district?" The clerk murmured, "A heavy rating means the administrator must send a son to court as hostage." Wang Guan answered, "A magistrate exists for the people, not the reverse. A "heavy" label lowers our corvée quota—that is the law's reward for danger. How could I lighten the county's burden just to spare myself a hostage son?" 〉He filed Zhuo as a heavy frontier commandery and later sent his only son to Ye as required. He had but one boy, still small and frail. Such was his sense of public duty. He lived plainly and taught frugality by example; his staff caught the habit and policed themselves.
31
明帝幸許昌，召觀為治書侍御史，典行臺獄。 時多有倉卒喜怒，而觀不阿意順指。 太尉司馬宣王請觀為從事中郎，遷為尚書，出為河南尹，徙少府。 大將軍曹爽使材官張達斫家屋材，及諸私用之物，觀聞知，皆錄奪以沒官。 少府統三尚方御府內藏玩弄之寶，爽等奢放，多有干求，憚觀守法，乃徙為太僕。 司馬宣王誅爽，使觀行中領軍，據爽弟羲營，賜爵關內侯，復為尚書，加駙馬都尉。 高貴鄉公即位，封中鄉亭侯。 頃之，加光祿大夫，轉為右僕射。 常道鄉公即位，進封陽鄉侯，增邑千戶，并前二千五百戶。 遷司空，固辭，不許，遣使即第拜授。 就官數日，上送印綬，輒自輿歸里舍。 薨于家，遺令藏足容棺，不設明器，不封不樹。 謚曰肅侯。 子悝嗣。 咸熈中，開建五等，以觀著勳前朝，改封悝膠東子。
When Cao Rui moved to Xuchang he named Wang Guan palace assistant secretary for documents and put him in charge of the mobile headquarters jails. The court mood swung violently, yet Wang Guan refused to trim his opinions to please. Sima Yi recruited him as senior clerk, then promoted him to Master of Writing, governor of Henan, and junior minister. Cao Shuang had engineer Zhang Da strip timber from Wang Guan's house for private building; Wang Guan seized every stick and impounded it for the state. The junior minister controlled the imperial workshops and inner treasuries; Shuang and his clique lived lavishly and hated a man who enforced the rules, so they kicked Wang Guan upstairs to grand coachman—a sinecure. When Sima Yi struck down Shuang he sent Wang Guan as acting central camp commander to seize Cao Xi's barracks, enfeoffed him as a secondary marquis, restored him to Master of Writing, and added chief of horse for the consort carriages. When Cao Mao took the throne Wang Guan received the village marquisate of Zhongxiang. Soon he added grand counselor of the household and shifted to right vice director of the secretariat. When Cao Huan succeeded, Wang Guan was promoted to village marquis of Yangxiang with another thousand households, for 2,500 in all. He was named minister of works, declined repeatedly, was refused permission to retire, and received the seal at his own door. After a few days in office he returned the seal by litter and went home. He died at home, ordering a pit only wide enough for the coffin, no grave goods, no mound, no marker tree. He was posthumously titled Marquis Su ("the austere"). His son Wang Kui inherited the title. When the five ranks were established in the Xianxi era, Wang Guan's service to the former Wei court won Wang Kui a demotion in name to secondary marquis of Jiaodong under the new Jin system.
32
【評】
【Historian's appraisal】
33
評曰：韓曁處以靜居行化，出以任職流稱； 崔林簡樸知能； 高柔明於法理； 孫禮剛斷伉厲； 王觀清勁貞白：咸克致公輔。 及曁年過八十，起家就列； 柔保官二十年，元老終位：比之徐邈、常林，於茲為疚矣。
The historian writes: Han Ji taught by quiet example at home and won renown in every post abroad; Cui Lin was spare, honest, and shrewd in judging men; Gao Rou mastered the statutes and applied them with an even hand. Sun Li was resolute, blunt, and fearless; Wang Guan was incorruptible, stern, and spotless: each rose to steady the state at the highest level. Han Ji passed eighty yet left retirement to take a minister's seat; Gao Rou clung to office for twenty years and died at the top of the ladder—set beside Xu Miao and Chang Lin, that record invites regret.