1
諺曰「力田不如逢年，善仕不如遇合」，固無虛言。 非獨女以色媚，而士宦亦有之。
As the proverb goes, "Hard work in the fields counts for less than a good harvest year, and skill in office counts for less than finding the right patron." These words ring true indeed. It is not only women who win favor through their looks—men in service at court have done the same.
2
昔以色幸者多矣。 至漢興，高祖至暴抗也，然籍孺以佞幸； 孝惠時有閎孺。 此兩人非有材能，徒以婉佞貴幸，與上臥起，公卿皆因關說。 故孝惠時郎侍中皆冠鵕鸃，貝帶，傅脂粉，化閎、籍之屬也。 兩人徙家安陵。
In times past, many rose to favor on the strength of their beauty. When the Han dynasty was founded, Emperor Gaozu was as fierce and unyielding a man as ever lived, yet even he kept Ji Ru as a favorite through flattery and charm. During the reign of Emperor Hui, there was Hong Ru. Neither of these two men possessed any talent whatsoever. They rose to honor and favor solely through their ingratiating ways, sharing the emperor's bed, and every minister and noble at court sought to press their petitions through them. And so during Emperor Hui's reign, every palace gentleman and attendant at court wore caps adorned with junyi feathers and belts studded with cowrie shells, their faces powdered and rouged—all in imitation of Hong Ru and Ji Ru. Both men moved their households to Anling.
3
孝文時中寵臣，士人則鄧通，宦者則趙同、北宮伯子。 北宮伯子以愛人長者； 而趙同以星氣幸，常為文帝參乘； 鄧通無伎能。 鄧通，蜀郡南安人也，以濯船為黃頭郎。 孝文帝夢欲上天，不能，有一黃頭郎從後推之上天，顧見其衣裻帶后穿。 覺而之漸臺，以夢中陰目求推者郎，即見鄧通，其衣后穿，夢中所見也。 召問其名姓，姓鄧氏，名通，文帝說焉，尊幸之日異。 通亦願謹，不好外交，雖賜洗沐，不欲出。 於是文帝賞賜通巨萬以十數，官至上大夫。 文帝時時如鄧通家遊戲。 然鄧通無他能，不能有所薦士，獨自謹其身以媚上而已。 上使善相者相通，曰「當貧餓死」。 文帝曰：「能富通者在我也。 何謂貧乎？」 於是賜鄧通蜀嚴道銅山，得自鑄錢，「鄧氏錢」布天下。 其富如此。
Among the favored intimates at Emperor Wen's court, the gentleman was Deng Tong, and the eunuchs were Zhao Tong and Beigong Bozi. Beigong Bozi won favor for his kindness and dignified bearing. Zhao Tong found favor through his knowledge of astrology and divination by cloud formations, and he regularly rode beside Emperor Wen in the imperial chariot. Deng Tong possessed no particular skill or talent. Deng Tong hailed from Nan'an in the Commandery of Shu. He had entered palace service as a Yellow-Cap Boatman, poling vessels along the imperial waterways. Emperor Wen once dreamed that he was striving to ascend to heaven but could not reach it, when a Yellow-Cap Boatman came up behind him and pushed him aloft. Glancing back, the emperor noticed that the man's robe was torn at the seam in the back. When he woke, the emperor made his way to the Jian Terrace and quietly scanned the attendants, searching for the man from his dream. His gaze fell at once on Deng Tong, whose robe was torn at the back—exactly as he had seen it in the dream. The emperor summoned the man and asked his name. His surname was Deng, his given name Tong. Emperor Wen was delighted, and from that day forward his favor toward Deng Tong only grew. For his part, Tong was circumspect and cautious, with no taste for outside socializing. Even on his leave days for bathing, he preferred not to go out. Emperor Wen showered him with gifts totaling tens of millions of cash, and raised his rank to Senior Grand Master. From time to time, Emperor Wen would visit Deng Tong's residence to amuse himself. Yet Deng Tong had no other talent and never recommended a single person for office. He simply took care to conduct himself properly and please the emperor—nothing more. The emperor summoned a skilled physiognomist to read Tong's face. The verdict was grim: "This man is fated to die in poverty, of starvation." Emperor Wen said, "The power to make Tong rich rests with me." "How could he ever become poor?" Thereupon he granted Deng Tong the copper mines at Yandao in Shu, with the right to mint his own coins. The "Deng coins" soon circulated throughout the empire. Such was the measure of his wealth.
4
文帝嘗病癰，鄧通常為帝唶吮之。 文帝不樂，從容問通曰：「天下誰最愛我者乎？」 通曰：「宜莫如太子。」 太子入問病，文帝使唶癰，唶癰而色難之。 已而聞鄧通常為帝唶吮之，心慚，由此怨通矣。 及文帝崩，景帝立，鄧通免，家居。 居無何，人有告鄧通盜出徼外鑄錢。 下吏驗問，頗有之，遂竟案，盡沒入鄧通家，尚負責數巨萬。 長公主賜鄧通，吏輒隨沒入之，一簪不得著身。 於是長公主乃令假衣食。 竟不得名一錢，寄死人家。
Once Emperor Wen developed an abscess, and Deng Tong would regularly suck the infected wound clean for him. One day, feeling low, Emperor Wen asked Tong offhandedly, "Who in all the realm loves me the most?" Tong replied, "Surely none more than the Crown Prince." When the Crown Prince came to inquire about the emperor's illness, Emperor Wen bade him suck the abscess. The prince did so, but his face betrayed his disgust. Later, when the Crown Prince learned that Deng Tong had been doing this all along without complaint, he was filled with shame, and from that day bore a bitter grudge against Tong. When Emperor Wen died and Emperor Jing took the throne, Deng Tong was stripped of his offices and sent home. Before long, someone reported that Deng Tong had been illegally minting coins and smuggling them beyond the frontier. The matter was handed to the officials for investigation. Substantial evidence was found, and the case was prosecuted to its end. The entire Deng household was stripped of its property, yet Tong still owed debts amounting to tens of millions of cash. Whenever the Elder Princess sent gifts to Deng Tong, officials would swoop in at once to confiscate them. He was not allowed to keep so much as a hairpin. In the end, the Elder Princess could only arrange to lend him clothes and food. He ended his days without a single coin to his name, dying as a dependent in someone else's household.
5
孝景帝時，中無寵臣，然獨郎中令周文仁，仁寵最過庸，乃不甚篤。
During Emperor Jing's reign, there were no notable court favorites. The only exception was Zhou Wren, the Palace Gentleman Commander, whose favor somewhat exceeded his merits, though even that was nothing remarkable.
6
今天子中寵臣，士人則韓王孫嫣，宦者則李延年。 嫣者，弓高侯孽孫也。 今上為膠東王時，嫣與上學書相愛。 及上為太子，愈益親嫣。 嫣善騎射，善佞。 上即位，欲事伐匈奴，而嫣先習胡兵，以故益尊貴，官至上大夫，賞賜擬於鄧通。 時嫣常與上臥起。 江都王入朝，有詔得從入獵上林中。 天子車駕蹕道未行，而先使嫣乘副車，從數十百騎，騖馳視獸。 江都王望見，以為天子，辟從者，伏謁道傍。 嫣驅不見。 既過，江都王怒，為皇太后泣曰：「請得歸國入宿衛，比韓嫣。」 太后由此嗛嫣。 嫣侍上，出入永巷不禁，以姦聞皇太后。 皇太后怒，使使賜嫣死。 上為謝，終不能得，嫣遂死。 而案道侯韓說，其弟也，亦佞幸。
Among the current emperor's favored intimates, the gentleman is Han Yan, a scion of the former Kings of Han, and the eunuch is Li Yannian. Han Yan was a collateral grandson of the Marquis of Gonggao. When the current emperor was still the King of Jiaodong, Yan studied with him, and the two grew deeply attached. When the emperor became Crown Prince, his intimacy with Yan only deepened. Yan excelled at riding and archery, and was adept at the art of flattery. When the emperor took the throne and resolved to wage war against the Xiongnu, Yan's prior training in the military arts of the steppe peoples made him all the more valued. His rank rose to Senior Grand Master, and the gifts he received rivaled those once lavished on Deng Tong. In those days, Yan shared the emperor's bed and table. The King of Jiangdu came to court on an audience visit and was granted an imperial edict allowing him to join the emperor's hunt in the Shanglin Park. Before the emperor's own chariot had even set out along the cleared road, he sent Yan ahead in a secondary imperial carriage, attended by scores of mounted riders, galloping through the park to scout the game. The King of Jiangdu saw this procession from a distance and, mistaking it for the emperor's own, waved his retinue aside and prostrated himself in greeting by the roadside. Yan swept past without so much as a glance. After the procession had passed, the King of Jiangdu was livid. He went weeping before the Empress Dowager and said, "I beg leave to surrender my kingdom and join the Palace Guard, if only to be treated as well as Han Yan." From that moment, the Empress Dowager harbored a deep resentment toward Yan. In his attendance upon the emperor, Yan came and went freely through the Yongxiang, the palace women's quarters, without restriction. Word of his illicit affairs reached the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager was furious and dispatched a messenger to order Yan to take his own life. The emperor pleaded for clemency, but the Empress Dowager would not relent, and Yan was put to death. Han Yue, the Marquis of Andao, was Yan's younger brother, and he too became a court favorite.
7
李延年，中山人也。 父母及身兄弟及女，皆故倡也。 延年坐法腐，給事狗中。 而平陽公主言延年女弟善舞，上見，心說之，及入永巷，而召貴延年。 延年善歌，為變新聲，而上方興天地祠，欲造樂詩歌弦之。 延年善承意，弦次初詩。 其女弟亦幸，有子男。 延年佩二千石印，號協聲律。 與上臥起，甚貴幸，埒如韓嫣也。 久之，寖與中人亂，出入驕恣。 及其女弟李夫人卒后，愛弛，則禽誅延年昆弟也。
Li Yannian hailed from the kingdom of Zhongshan. His parents, he himself, his brothers, and his sisters had all been entertainers. Yannian was convicted of a crime and sentenced to castration, after which he was set to work in the palace dog kennels. Princess Pingyang mentioned that Yannian's younger sister was a gifted dancer. When the emperor saw her perform, he was captivated. After she was taken into the palace, the emperor summoned Yannian and raised him to a position of honor. Yannian was a gifted singer and composer of new melodies. At that time the emperor was instituting grand sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, and wished to commission poems and hymns to be set to music for the ceremonies. Yannian had a gift for anticipating the emperor's wishes, and deftly set the newly composed poems to music. His younger sister likewise became an imperial favorite and bore the emperor a son. Yannian was granted the seal of a two-thousand-bushel official and bore the title Harmonizer of Tones and Pitches. He shared the emperor's bed and table, honored and favored to a degree that rivaled Han Yan himself. In time, he began carrying on illicit affairs with the palace women and grew ever more brazen and unrestrained. After his sister, Lady Li, died, the emperor's affection cooled, and Yannian and his brothers were arrested and put to death.
8
自是之后，內寵嬖臣大底外戚之家，然不足數也。 衛青、霍去病亦以外戚貴幸，然頗用材能自進。
From this time on, the court favorites were for the most part drawn from the families of imperial consorts, but they were hardly worth mentioning. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing likewise rose to prominence through their ties to the imperial consort's family, yet they owed much of their advancement to genuine talent and ability.
9
太史公曰：甚哉愛憎之時！ 彌子瑕之行，足以觀后人佞幸矣。 雖百世可知也。
The Grand Historian remarks: How swiftly love turns to loathing! The tale of Mi Zixia tells all that later ages need to know about the fate of imperial favorites. Even a hundred generations hence, the pattern will be plain to see.