1
傅弈傅弈，相州鄴人。 隋開皇中，以儀曹事漢王諒。 諒反，問弈：「今茲熒惑入井，果若何？」 對曰：「東井，黃道所由，熒惑之舍，烏足怪邪？ 若入地上井，乃為災。」 諒怒。 俄及敗，弈以對免，徙扶風。
Fu Yi was from Ye in Xiangzhou. During Sui Kaihuang, he served Prince Liang Yang Liang in the ceremonial office. When Liang rose in rebellion, he asked Yi, "Mars has entered the Well this year—what does that portend? Yi answered, "The Eastern Well lies on the ecliptic and is Mars's lodging—why treat that as strange? Only if it entered a well on earth would it spell disaster." Liang was enraged. Before long Liang was defeated; Yi escaped punishment thanks to that reply and was reassigned to Fufeng.
2
高祖為扶風太守，禮之。 及即位，拜太史丞。 會令庾儉以父質占候忤煬帝死，懲其事，恥以術宦，薦弈自代。 弈遷令，與儉同列，數排毀之，儉不為恨。 於是人多儉仁，罪弈遽且忿。
While still prefect of Fufeng, the future Gaozu honored him. After his accession, Yi was made Vice Director of the Astro-calendrical Bureau. The Director Yu Jian had died after his father Zhi's prognostications offended Emperor Yang; shamed by that precedent, Jian had refused to pursue a career through occult arts and recommended Yi as his successor. Yi rose to Director and served alongside Jian, often disparaging him, but Jian never held a grudge. People then widely praised Jian's forbearance and condemned Yi as hasty and spiteful.
3
時國制草具，多仍隋舊，弈謂承亂世之後，當有變更，乃上言：「龍紀、火官，黃帝廢之，《咸池》、《六英》，堯不相沿，禹弗行舜政，周弗襲湯禮。 《易》稱'巳日乃孚，革而信也'，故曰'革之時大矣哉'。 有隋之季，違天害民，專峻刑法，殺戮賢俊，天下兆庶同心叛之。 陛下撥亂反正，而官名、律令一用隋舊。 且懲沸羹者吹冷齏，傷弓之鳥驚曲木，況天下久苦隋暴，安得不新其耳目哉？ 改正朔，易服色，變律令，革官名，功極作樂，治終制禮，使民知盛德之隆，此其時也。 然官貴簡約，夏後官百不如虞氏五十，週三百不如商之百。」 又曰：「夏有亂政而作《禹刑》，商有亂政而作《湯刑》，周有亂政而作《九刑》。 衛鞅為秦制法，增鑿顛、抽脅、鑊烹等六篇，始皇為挾書律，此失於煩，不可不監。」
State institutions were then being drafted, mostly along Sui lines; Yi argued that after a age of turmoil reforms were due and memorialized: "Huangdi discarded the Dragon Era and Fire Office; Yao did not perpetuate 'Xianchi' and 'Liuying'; Yu did not follow Shun's government, and Zhou did not adopt Tang's ritual code. The Book of Changes says, "On the si day faith is won—revolution brings trust," and therefore declares, "How momentous is the season of reform!" Late Sui defied Heaven, harmed the people, leaned on brutal law, and killed the worthy until the whole realm rose against it as one. Your Majesty has restored order after chaos, yet offices and statutes still follow Sui wholesale. A man scalded by boiling broth will blow on cold pickles; a bird once struck by an arrow flinches at bent wood—after so long under Sui's cruelty, how could the realm not crave something new to see and hear? Revise the calendar, change ritual colors, rewrite laws, rename offices; when achievement is complete, compose music, and when rule is settled, fix the rites—so the people may know how grand your virtue has become. That moment is now. Yet government should prize simplicity: Xia's hundred offices were fewer than Shun's fifty, and Zhou's three hundred fewer than Shang's hundred." He added, "Disorder in Xia produced the Punishments of Yu; disorder in Shang produced the Punishments of Tang; disorder in Zhou produced the Nine Punishments. Wei Yang codified Qin law and added six articles including boring the skull, tearing out the ribs, and cauldron boiling; the First Emperor added the law against private books—such excess must be watched against."
4
是時，太僕卿張道源建言：「官曹文簿繁總易欺，請減之以鈐吏奸。」 公卿舉不為然，弈獨是之，為眾沮訾，不得行。
Then Minister of Studs Zhang Daoyuan proposed, "Government paperwork is so voluminous that clerks can easily cheat—please cut it back to curb their fraud." The chief ministers mostly disagreed; Yi alone endorsed the idea, was blocked and denounced by the rest, and the proposal never took effect.
5
武德七年，上疏極詆浮圖法曰：
In Wude 7 he submitted a memorial fiercely attacking Buddhism, declaring:
6
西域之法，無君臣父子，以三塗六道嚇愚期庸。 追既往之罪，窺將來之福，至有身陷惡逆，獄中禮佛，口誦梵言，以圖偷免。 且生死壽夭，本諸自然； 刑德威福，系之人主。 今其徒矯托，皆云由佛，攘天理，竊主權。 《書》曰：「惟辟作福，惟辟作威，惟辟玉食。」 臣有作福作威玉食，害於而家，凶于而國。
The Western teaching knows neither ruler and subject nor father and son; it terrifies the simple and wheedles the mediocre with talk of three paths and six destinies. It dredges up past guilt and dangles future reward, so that men deep in capital crimes worship Buddha in jail, chant Sanskrit, and hope to cheat their way free. Life, death, longevity, and early death belong to nature itself; while punishment, favor, authority, and blessing rest with the sovereign. Its followers now falsely ascribe everything to Buddha, seizing Heaven's order and usurping the ruler's prerogatives. The Book of Documents says, "Only the sovereign dispenses blessing, only the sovereign wields authority, only the sovereign enjoys fine fare. When subjects dispense blessing, wield authority, and enjoy fine fare, they harm their own house and bring disaster on the state."
7
五帝三王，未有佛法，君明臣忠，年祚長久。 至漢明帝始立胡祠，然惟西域桑門自傳其教。 西晉以上，不許中國髡發事胡。 至石、苻亂華，乃弛厥禁，主庸臣佞，政虐祚短，事佛致然。 梁武、齊襄尤足為戒。 昔褒姒一女，營惑幽王，能亡其國，況今僧尼十萬，刻繪泥像，以惑天下，有不亡乎？ 陛下以十萬之眾，自相夫婦，十年滋產，十年教訓，兵農兩足，利可勝既邪？ 昔高齊章仇子他言僧尼塔廟，外見毀宰臣，內見疾妃嬙，陽讒陰謗，卒死都市，周武帝入齊，封寵其墓，臣竊賢之。
The Five Emperors and Three Kings knew no Buddhism; their rulers were wise, their ministers loyal, and their reigns long. Not until Han Mingdi were foreign shrines founded, and even then only monks from the Western Regions spread the faith themselves. Down through Western Jin, Chinese were forbidden to shave their heads and follow the foreign religion. When the Shi and Fu regimes ravaged China the prohibition lapsed; mediocre rulers, fawning ministers, cruel rule, and short reigns all stemmed from devotion to Buddha. Emperor Wu of Liang and Xiang of Qi are warnings enough. Once Baosi alone beguiled King You and brought down his realm—how then, with a hundred thousand monks and nuns carving clay idols to delude the world, could the state not fall? If Your Majesty took those hundred thousand souls, paired them in marriage, let them breed and be trained for twenty years until arms and farms alike were full—could any gain outweigh what is already lost? In Northern Qi, Zhangqiu Zita denounced monks, nuns, and their temples; he seemed to attack ministers abroad and resent the harem within, and open and covert slander alike brought him to execution in the capital—yet when Emperor Wu of Zhou conquered Qi he honored Zita's tomb, and I for one admire him.
8
又上十二論，言益痛切。 帝下弈議有司，唯道源佐其請。 中書令蕭瑀曰：「佛，聖人也，非聖人者無法，請誅之。」 弈曰：「禮，始事親，終事君。 而佛逃父出家，以匹夫抗天子，以繼體悖所親。 瑀非出空桑，乃尊其言，蓋所謂非孝者無親。」 瑀不答，但合爪曰：「地獄正為是人設矣。」 帝善弈對，未及行，會傳位止。
He also submitted twelve essays, their tone even sharper. The Emperor referred Yi's proposal to the ministries; only Daoyuan backed it. Chief Councilor Xiao Yu said, "Buddha is a sage; those who are not sages may not speak of law—execute this man." Yi replied, "Ritual begins with serving one's parents and ends with serving one's ruler. Yet Buddha fled his father and left home, setting a commoner against the Son of Heaven and making the heir betray his kin. Yu was not born of the hollow mulberry tree, yet he reveres Buddha's words—the very thing meant by 'those without filial piety are without kin." Yu said nothing, only pressed his palms together and said, "Hell was made for men like this." The Emperor approved Yi's retort, but before action could be taken the abdication intervened and the matter ended.
9
初，九年，太白躔秦分，弈奏秦王當有天下，帝以奏付王。 及太宗即位，召賜食，謂曰：「向所奏，幾敗我！ 雖然，自今毋有所諱而不盡言。」 又嘗問：「卿拒佛法，奈何？」 弈曰：「佛，西胡黠人爾，欺訹夷狄以自神。 至入中國，而鏚兒幻夫摸象莊、老以文飾之，有害國家，而無補百姓也。」 帝異之。
Earlier, in year nine, Venus crossed the Qin sector; Yi reported that the Prince of Qin would gain the empire, and the Emperor passed the memorial to him. When Taizong succeeded, he summoned Yi, gave him a meal, and said, "That memorial of yours nearly destroyed me! Even so, from now on speak your mind without reserve." He also once asked, "You reject Buddhism—why?" Yi answered, "Buddha is only a cunning barbarian of the west, tricking the frontier peoples into thinking him divine. Once he reached China, street conjurers and illusionists dressed him up in Zhuangzi and Laozi—harmful to the state and useless to the people." The Emperor was struck by his words.
10
貞觀十三年，卒，年八十五。 弈病，未嘗問醫，忽酣臥，蹶然悟曰：「吾死矣乎！」 即自志曰：「傅弈，青山白雲人也。 以醉死，嗚乎！」 遺言戒子：「《六經》名教言，若可習也； 妖胡之法，慎勿為。 吾死當倮葬。」 弈雖善數，然嘗自言其學不可以傳。 又注《老子》，並集晉、魏以來與佛議駁者為《高識篇》。 武德時，所改漏刻，定十二軍號，皆詔弈雲。 呂才呂才，博州清平人。 貞觀時，祖孝孫增損樂律，與音家王長通、白明達更質難，不能決。 太宗詔侍臣舉善音者，中書令溫彥博白才天悟絕人，聞見一接，輒窮其妙； 侍中王珪、魏征盛稱才制尺八凡十二枚，長短不同，與律諧契。 即召才直弘文館，參論樂事。
He died in Zhenguan 13, at the age of eighty-five. When ill he never called a doctor; once, after heavy drinking, he woke with a start and cried, "Am I dying?" He wrote his own epitaph at once: "Fu Yi—a man of green hills and white clouds. Died drunk—alas!" He charged his sons, "Study the moral teachings of the Six Classics if you will; but never follow the barbarian cult. Bury me naked when I die." Though skilled in numerology, he said his art could not be passed on. He also annotated the Laozi and compiled anti-Buddhist writings from Jin and Wei onward into the Treatise on Lofty Insight. During Wude, revisions to the water clock and the twelve army titles all followed his counsel. Lu Cai was from Qingping in Bozhou. In Zhenguan, Zu Xiaosun revised the pitch standard; he and the masters Wang Changtong and Bai Mingda debated back and forth without resolution. Taizong asked his ministers to name men skilled in music; Chief Councilor Wen Yanbo said Cai's gift was matchless and that one exposure to any problem exhausted its secrets; Wang Gui and Wei Zheng praised the twelve chi-eight pipes he had made, each of a different length yet all in accord with the pitch standard. Cai was summoned straight to the Hongwen Academy to join the deliberations on music.
11
帝嘗覽周武帝《三局象經》，不能通，或言太子洗馬蔡允恭能之，召問允恭，少通其略，老乃忘。 試問才，退一昔即解，具圖以聞。 允恭記其舊，與才正同，由是知名。 擢累太常博士。
The Emperor once read Emperor Wu of Zhou's Classic of Three-Board Chess and could not follow it; someone said Cai Yungong, Study Aide to the Heir Apparent, understood it. Yungong had known its outline in youth but forgot it in age. Cai was tested; after a single night he mastered it, drew the full diagrams, and submitted them. Yungong's old recollection matched Cai's solution exactly, and from that Cai became famous. He rose through successive appointments to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
12
帝病陰陽家所傳書多謬偽淺惡，世益拘畏，命才與宿學老師刪落煩訛，掇可用者為五十三篇，合舊書四十七，凡百篇，詔頒天下。 才於持議儒而不俚，以經誼推處其驗術，諸家共訶短之，又舉世相惑以禍福，終莫悟雲。
The Emperor disliked the yin-yang masters' books as mostly false, shallow, and crude, and that the world grew ever more fearful of omens; he had Cai and senior scholars cut redundancies and errors, select fifty-three usable chapters, combine them with forty-seven older texts for one hundred chapters in all, and promulgate them empire-wide. Cai argued in a scholarly, not vulgar, way, weighing divinatory arts by canonical principle, yet every school faulted him; the world remained enthralled by fortune and disaster, and no one ever learned better.
13
才之言不甚文，要欲救俗失，切時事，俾易曉也。 故叕刂其三篇。
Cai's prose was plain; he meant to correct popular error, speak to present concerns, and be easily understood. Three of his chapters are therefore excerpted below.
14
《卜宅篇》曰：
The Chapter on Dwelling Selection reads:
15
《易》稱「上古穴居而野處，後世聖人易之以宮室。 蓋取諸《大壯》」。 殷、周時有卜擇之文，《詩》稱「相其陰陽」，《書》卜洛食。 近世乃有五姓，謂宮也，商也，角也，徵也，羽也，以為天下萬物悉配屬之，以處吉凶，然言皆不類。 如張、王為商，武、庾為羽，是以音相諧附； 至柳為宮，趙為角，則又不然。 其間一姓而兩屬，復姓數字不得所歸。 是直野人巫師說爾。 按《堪輿經》，黃帝對天老，始言五姓。 且黃帝時獨姬、薑數姓耳，後世賜族者浸多，然管、蔡、郕、霍、魯、衛、毛、聃、郜、雍、曹、滕、畢、原、酆、郇本之姬姓，孔、殷、宋、華、向、蕭、亳、皇甫本之子姓，至因官命氏，因邑賜族，本同末異，叵為配宮商哉？ 春秋以陳、衛、秦為水姓，齊、鄭、宋為火姓，或所出之祖，所分之星，所居之地，以著由來，非宮、商、角、徵、羽相管攝也。
The Book of Changes says, "In high antiquity men lived in caves and dwelt in the wild; later sages replaced that with houses and halls. That change was drawn from the hexagram Powerful." Yin and Zhou already had texts on site selection; the Odes speak of observing yin and yang, and the Documents record divining at Luo. Lately there is the doctrine of Five Surnames—palace, merchant, horn, chime, and feather—by which all things are assigned to fix fortune and disaster, yet the theory never holds together. Zhang and Wang count as merchant, Wu and Yu as feather, because the names echo the pitch names; yet Liu as palace and Zhao as horn plainly fail. Some surnames fall under two categories at once, and compound surnames of several characters fit nowhere. That is nothing but village sorcery. The Classic of Sitings records Huangdi addressing Tianlao as the first mention of the Five Surnames. In Huangdi's day only the Ji and Jiang lines existed; later enfeoffed houses multiplied—Guan, Cai, Lu, Wei, and the rest stem from Ji; Kong, Song, Yin, and the rest from Zi; still others take names from offices or fiefs—same roots, divergent branches—how could they be sorted into palace and merchant tones? The Spring and Autumn Annals call Chen, Wei, and Qin water clans and Qi, Zheng, and Song fire clans—marking ancestry, allotted stars, or dwelling places, not the five musical notes as rulers of fate.
16
《祿命篇》曰：
The Chapter on Fortune and Fate reads:
17
漢宋忠、賈誼譏司馬季主曰：「卜筮者高人祿命，以悅人心； 矯言禍福，以規人財。」 王充曰：「見骨體，知命祿； 見命祿，知骨體。」 此則言祿命尚矣。 推索本原，固不其然。 「積善之家，必有餘慶」，豈建祿而後吉乎？ 「積惡之家，必有餘殃」，豈劫殺而後災乎？ 「皇天無親，常與善人」，天人之交如影響。 「有夏多罪，天命剿絕」； 宋景脩德，妖星退舍。 「學也祿在某中」，不生當建學。 文王憂勤損壽，非初值空亡； 長平坑降卒，非俱犯三刑； 南陽多近親，非俱當六合； 曆陽成湖，不共河魁； 蜀郡炎火，不盡災厄。 世有同建與祿，而貴賤殊域； 共命若胎，而夭壽異科。 魯桓公六年七月，子同生，是為莊公。 按曆，歲在乙亥，月建申，然則值祿空亡，據法應窮賤。 又觸句絞六害，偝驛馬，身克驛馬三刑，法無官。 命火也，生當病鄉，法曰「為人尪弱矬陋」，而《詩》言莊公曰：「猗嗟昌兮，頎而長兮。 美目揚兮，巧趨蹌兮。」 唯向命一物，法當壽，而公薨止四十五。 一不驗。 秦昭襄王四十八年，始皇帝生以正月，故名政。 是歲壬寅正月，命偝祿，於法無官，假得祿，奴婢應少。 又破驛馬三刑，身克驛馬，法望官不到。 命金也，正月為絕，無始有終，老而吉。 又建命生，法當壽，帝崩時不過五十。 二不驗。 漢武帝以乙酉歲七月七日平旦生，當祿空亡，於法無官。 雖向驛馬，乃隔四辰，法少無官，老而吉； 武帝即位，年十六，末年戶口減耗。 三不驗。 後魏高祖孝文皇帝生皇興元年八月，是歲丁未，為偝祿命與驛馬三刑，身克驛馬，於法無官。 又生父死中，法不見父，而孝文受其父顯祖之禪。 禮，君未逾年，不得正位，故天子無父，事三老也。 孝文率天下生子墓中，法宜嫡子，雖有次子，當早卒，而高祖長子先被弑，次子義隆享國。 又生祖祿下，法得嫡孫財若祿； 其孫劭、浚皆篡逆，幾失宗祧。 五不驗。
In Han, Song Zhong and Jia Yi mocked Sima Jizhu: "Diviners inflate fortune and fate to please their clients; they twist omens of fortune and disaster to extort money. Wang Chong said, "See the bones and you know fortune and fate; see fortune and fate and you know the bones. So the cult of fortune and fate is ancient indeed. Traced to its root, it simply is not true. "The house that accumulates goodness will have surplus blessing"—must blessing wait on a chart of official fortune? "The house that accumulates evil will have surplus disaster"—must disaster wait on violent robbery in the chart? "August Heaven is impartial and ever aids the good"—Heaven and man answer each other like shadow and echo. "The Xia were steeped in crime, and Heaven's mandate destroyed them"; When Duke Jing of Song cultivated virtue, the baleful star retreated from its station. "Scholarly office too depends on Salary falling in a given palace"—unless born at Establishment, one must take the scholar's path. King Wen's anxious toil shortened his life; that was not because his nativity first struck Empty Void. The slaughter of surrendered troops at Changping did not happen because every man there had violated the Three Punishments. Close-kin marriages are common in Nanyang—not because every household was destined for the Six Harmonies. When Liyang sank into a lake, the victims did not all share the same River Chief star. The great fire in Shu Commandery did not afflict everyone with calamity. Men born with the same Establishment and Salary can yet stand at opposite extremes of rank and fortune. They may share a birth chart as twins do, yet one dies young while another lives out his years. In the seventh month of the sixth year of Duke Huan of Lu, Zitong was born—the future Duke Zhuang. By the calendar the year was yihai and the month established in shen, placing Salary in Empty Void; by the rules he ought to have ended poor and lowly. His chart also hit Knot Strangulation and the Six Harms, Opposed Salary and the Post Horse, with the body conquering the Post Horse under the Three Punishments—by the rules he should never have held office. His natal element was Fire and his birth fell in the Sickness Sector; the method declares, "Such a man will be frail, puny, short, and ugly," yet the Odes praise Duke Zhuang: "How splendid he is—tall and stately. Bright his eyes, lifted his gaze; graceful his stride, nimble his step. Only one feature of the chart promised long life, yet the duke died at forty-five. The first prediction does not hold. In the forty-eighth year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, the future First Emperor was born in the first month and was therefore named Zheng. In the first month of the renyin year his chart showed Opposed Salary; by the rules he should have held no office, and even with Salary he should have kept few servants. His chart also broke the Post Horse under the Three Punishments, with the body conquering the Post Horse—by the rules the high office he might have sought would never arrive. His natal element was Metal; the first month marked Cutoff—"no beginning, yet an end"—and old age was said to be fortunate. He was also born under Establishment Fate, which by the rules promised long life, yet he died before he reached fifty. The second prediction does not hold. Emperor Wu of Han was born at dawn on the seventh day of the seventh month in the yiyou year; with Salary in Empty Void, the rules denied him office. Though his chart faced the Post Horse, four branches stood between them; by the rules he should have held no office in youth and only fared well in old age. Emperor Wu ascended the throne at sixteen, yet in his later years the realm's population shrank. The third prediction does not hold. Emperor Xiaowen, High Ancestor of Northern Wei, was born in the eighth month of Huangxing 1, a dingwei year; his chart showed Opposed Salary with the Post Horse in the Three Punishments and the body conquering the Post Horse—by the rules he should never have held office. He was also born in the Father-Death phase, which by the rules meant he should never have seen his father, yet Xiaowen received the abdication from his father, Emperor Xianzu. Rites hold that a ruler who has not completed a full year of mourning may not take formal possession of the throne; thus the Son of Heaven has no living father and instead honors the Three Elders. Of sons born across the realm in the Tomb phase, the method promises a legitimate heir; though a second son exists, he should die young—yet Xiaowen's eldest son was murdered first, and the second, Yilong, inherited the throne. He was also born beneath Ancestral Salary, which by the rules should have brought a legitimate grandson wealth equal to Salary itself. Yet his grandsons Shao and Jun both rebelled and nearly destroyed the imperial line. The fifth prediction does not hold.
18
《葬篇》曰：
The Chapter on Burial reads:
19
《易》稱：「古之葬者，衣之以薪，不封不樹，喪期無數，後世聖人易之以棺槨。 蓋取諸《大過》。」 《經》曰：「葬者，藏也，欲人之弗得見也。」 又曰：「卜其宅兆，而安厝之。」 以是為感慕之所也，魂神之宅也。 朝市貿遷不可知，石泉頹齧不可常，是其謀及卜筮，庶無後艱，斯則備於慎終之禮也。 後代葬說出於巫史，一物有失，便謂災及死生，多為妨禁，以售其術，附妄憑妖，至其書乃有百二十家。 《春秋》：「王者七日而殯，七月而葬； 諸侯五日而殯，五月而葬； 大夫三月，士庶人逾月而已。」 貴賤不同，禮亦異數。 此直為赴吊遠近之期，量事制法。 故先期而葬，謂之不懷也； 後期不葬，謂之殆禮也。 此則葬有定期，不擇年與月，一也。 又曰：「丁巳，葬定公，雨，不克葬，至於戊午襄事。」 君子善之。 《禮》「卜先遠日」者，自末而進，避不懷也。 今法己亥日用葬最凶，春秋是日葬者二十餘族。 此葬不擇日，二也。 《禮》：「周尚赤，大事用旦； 殷尚白，大事用日中； 夏尚黑，大事用昏。」 大事者何？ 喪禮也。 此直取當代所尚，而不擇時早晚也。 鄭卿子產及子太叔葬簡公。 於是，司墓大夫室當柩路，若壞其室，即平旦而堋； 不壞其室，即日中而堋。 子產不欲壞室，欲待日中。 子太叔曰：「若日中而堋，恐久勞諸侯大夫來會葬者。」 然子產、太叔不問時之得失，惟論人事可否而已。 曾子曰：「葬逢日蝕，舍于路左，待明而行。」 所以備非常也。 按法，葬家多取乾、艮二時，乃近夜半，文與禮乖。 此葬不擇時，三也。 《經》曰：「立身行道，揚名於後世，以顯父母。」 《易》謂：「聖人之大寶曰位，何以守位曰仁。」 而法曰：「官爵富貴，葬可致也； 年壽修促，子姓蕃衍，葬可招也。」 夫日慎一日，澤及無疆； 德則不建，而祚乃無永。 臧孫有後於魯，不聞葬得吉也； 若敖絕祀于荊，不聞葬得凶也。 此葬有吉凶不可信，四也。 今法皆據五姓為之。 古之葬，並在國都之北，趙氏之葬，在九原，漢家山陵，或散處諸域，又何上利下利、大墓小墓為哉？ 然劉之子孫，本支不絕，趙後與六國等王。 此則葬用五姓不可信，五也。 且人有初賤而後貴、始泰而終否者。 子文為令尹，三仕三已，展禽三黜于士師。 彼塚墓已定而不改，此名位不常，何也？ 故知榮辱升降，事關諸人，而不由於葬，六也。 世之人為葬巫所欺，忘擗踴荼毒，以期徼幸。 由是相塋隴，希官爵； 擇日時，規財利。 謂辰日不哭，欣然而受吊； 謂同屬不得臨壙，吉服避送其親。 詭斁禮俗，不可以法，七也。
The Book of Changes says: "The ancients buried the dead wrapped in firewood, neither heaping earth nor planting trees; mourning had no fixed duration, until later sages replaced this with inner and outer coffins. That practice was drawn from the hexagram Great Excess. The Classic says: "Burial means concealment, so that the dead may not be seen. It also says: "Divine the grave site and its signs, and inter the body in peace. Thus the tomb becomes a place of longing and remembrance—the home of soul and spirit. Markets and capitals shift unpredictably; stone cliffs and springs erode and cannot endure—hence the ancients turned to divination and milfoil, hoping to spare posterity later hardship. That is what the rites of reverent closure were meant to secure. Later burial lore came from shamans and record-keepers; one misstep, they claimed, would bring disaster upon the living and the dead. They piled up taboos to sell their craft, draping nonsense in spirits and portents, until such books numbered a hundred and twenty schools. The Spring and Autumn Annals say: "A king lies in state for seven days and is buried in the seventh month; a feudal lord lies in state for five days and is buried in the fifth month; a grandee for three months, and officers and commoners after a month—no longer. Rank differs, and so do the prescribed intervals. These intervals simply fixed the time for mourners near and far to assemble—rules scaled to circumstance. To bury before the appointed term is called being unfeeling; to leave the dead unburied after the term is called neglect of rite. Burial therefore has a fixed interval and does not depend on choosing year or month—that is the first point. It also says: "On ding-si they began burying Duke Ding, but rain prevented the burial; not until wu-wu were the rites completed. The gentleman praised this. When the Rites speak of "divining the more distant day first," they mean working backward from the latest permissible date to avoid being unfeeling. Current methods call ji-hai the most ill-omened day for burial, yet the Spring and Autumn record more than twenty clans buried on that very day. Burial, then, does not depend on choosing the day—that is the second point. The Rites say: "Zhou honored red and performed great affairs at dawn; Yin honored white and performed great affairs at midday; Xia honored black and performed great affairs at dusk. What are "great affairs"? Funeral rites. Each dynasty simply followed what it honored and did not fuss over whether the hour was early or late. Zichan of Zheng and Z Taishu buried Duke Jian. The tomb-keeper's house then blocked the bier's route; if they tore it down, the coffin would be lowered at dawn; if they left the house standing, the coffin would be lowered at midday. Zichan refused to destroy the house and wished to wait until midday. Z Taishu said, "If we wait until midday to lower the coffin, I fear we will keep the feudal lords and grandees who have come to mourn waiting too long. Yet Zichan and Taishu never asked whether the hour was lucky or unlucky; they debated only whether the human task could be carried out. Zengzi said, "If a burial coincides with a solar eclipse, halt by the left side of the road and wait for dawn before going on. That was to prepare for the unforeseen. By current methods, burial masters mostly choose the Qian and Gen hours, near midnight—plainly at odds with the rites. Burial, then, does not depend on choosing the hour—that is the third point. The Classic says: "Establish yourself and walk in the Way; win a name that shines through later ages and thereby honor your parents. The Book of Changes says: "The sage's great treasure is rank; by what does he keep rank? By benevolence. Yet the geomancers say: "Office, rank, wealth, and honor can be secured through burial; long or short life and the flourishing of one's line can be summoned through burial. If one is careful day by day, blessing extends without bound; if virtue is never cultivated, fortune cannot long endure. Zangsun left descendants in Lu—no one says that came from a lucky tomb; the Ruo'ao line died out in Chu—no one says that came from an unlucky tomb. The claim that burial brings good or ill fortune cannot be trusted—that is the fourth point. Current methods are built entirely on the Five Surnames. Ancient burials lay north of the capital; the Zhao were buried at Jiuyuan, while Han imperial tombs were scattered across the realm—what then of "upper benefit," "lower benefit," great tombs, and small tombs? Yet the Liu line never died out in its main branch, and the Zhao later ranked as equals among the kings of the Six States. Burial by the Five Surnames, then, cannot be trusted—that is the fifth point. Moreover, some men begin in low estate and rise to honor, or start in prosperity and end in ruin. Ziwen became chief minister, taking office three times and resigning three times; Zhan Qiu was dismissed three times from the post of criminal judge. Their graves were long since fixed and never moved, yet rank and fortune kept changing—why? Honor and shame, rise and fall, belong to the living—not to the tomb. That is the sixth point. Men of the age let burial shamans deceive them, forgetting the grief of breast-beating and mourning, all for a stroke of luck. So they inspect grave mounds, hoping for office and rank; they choose days and hours, scheming for wealth and profit. They say one must not weep on certain days and accept condolences with cheer; they say clansmen may not approach the grave and, in festive dress, shun escorting their own dead. They twist and ruin custom and rite and cannot stand as law—that is the seventh point.
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帝又詔造《方域圖》及教飛騎戰陣圖，屢稱旨。 擢太常丞。 麟德中，以太子司更大夫卒。 生平豫修書及著述甚多。 子方毅子方毅，七歲能誦經。 太宗聞其敏，召見，奇之，賜束帛。 長為右衛鎧曹參軍。 母喪，以毀卒。 布車從母葬，通人郎余令以白粥、玄酒、生芻祭路隅，世共哀之。 陳子昂陳子昂，字伯玉，梓州射洪人。 其先居新城，六世祖太樂，當齊時。 兄弟競豪傑，梁武帝命為郡司馬。 父元敬，世高貲，歲饑，出粟萬石賑鄉里。 舉明經，調文林郎。
The emperor also ordered him to compile the Territorial Atlas and to instruct the court in Flying Cavalry battle formations; again and again his work pleased the throne. He was promoted to Vice Director of Imperial Sacrifices. During the Linde reign he died in office as Grand Master of the Heir Apparent's Household. In life he helped compile many books and wrote a great deal. His son Fang Yi could recite the classics at the age of seven. When Emperor Taizong heard how bright he was, he summoned the boy, was struck by his talent, and granted him silks. As an adult he served as Staff Officer of the Armor Bureau in the Right Guard. When his mother died, he wasted away in mourning and died. He followed his stepmother to the grave in a simple cloth-covered cart; the commoner Lang Yuling laid out white porridge, unmixed wine, and fresh grass at a roadside corner as an offering, and all who heard of it grieved for him. Chen Zi'ang, styled Boyu, was a native of Shehong in Zizhou. His forebears had settled in Xincheng; his sixth-generation ancestor Tai Yue lived under the Qi. His brothers competed in bold spirit; Emperor Wu of Liang appointed him Commandant of the commandery. His father Yuanjing came from a wealthy family; when famine struck, he gave ten thousand shi of grain to relieve the neighboring districts. He passed the Mingjing examination and was posted as Gentleman of the Forest of Letters.
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子昂十八未知書，以富家子，尚氣決，弋博自如。 它日入鄉校，感悔，即痛修飭。 文明初，舉進士。 時高宗崩，將遷梓宮長安，於是，關中無歲，子昂盛言東都勝塏，可營山陵。 上書曰：
At eighteen Zi'ang was still unlettered; as a rich man's son he valued daring, and he gambled and hunted as he pleased. One day he entered the district school, was seized with regret, and threw himself into rigorous self-reform. At the opening of the Wensite reign he passed the jinshi examination. When Emperor Gaozong died and the imperial coffin was to be taken to Chang'an, Guanzhong had known famine year after year; Zi'ang argued at length that the Eastern Capital offered better ground and that the tomb should be built there. He submitted a memorial that read:
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「臣聞秦據咸陽，漢都長安，山河為固，而天下服者，以北假胡、宛之利，南資巴、蜀之饒，轉關東之粟，而收山西之寶，長羈利策，橫制宇宙。 今則不然，燕、代迫匈奴，巴、隴嬰吐蕃，西老千里贏糧，北丁十五乘塞，歲月奔命，秦之首尾不完，所餘獨三輔間耳。 頃遭荒饉，百姓薦饑，薄河而右，惟有赤地； 循隴以北，不逢青草。 父兄轉徙，妻子流離。 賴天悔禍，去年薄稔，羸耗之餘，幾不沉命。 然流亡未還，白骨縱橫，阡陌無主，至於蓄積，猶可哀傷。 陛下以先帝遺意，方大駕長驅，按節西京，千乘萬騎，何從仰給？ 山陵穿復，必資徒役，率臒弊之眾，興數萬之軍，調發近畿，督抶稚老，鏟山輦石，驅以就功，春作無時，何望有秋？ 雕氓遺噍，再罹艱苦，有不堪其困，則逸為盜賊，揭梃叫呼，可不深圖哉！
Your subject has heard that Qin held Xianyang and Han made Chang'an its capital; protected by mountains and rivers, they ruled the realm because they drew northern profit from Beijia Hu and Wan, southern wealth from Ba and Shu, shipped grain from east of the Pass, and gathered the treasures of the western lands—holding profitable leverage and commanding the world. Now it is otherwise: Yan and Dai face the Xiongnu; Ba and Long are hemmed in by Tibet; in the west old men haul grain a thousand li; in the north boys of fifteen garrison the frontier; month after month men race to their posts—the extremities of the Qin lands are broken off, and only the three metropolitan districts remain intact. Famine has struck recently; the people have gone hungry again and again; south of the Yellow River there is nothing but bare ground; Travel north along Long and you find no green grass. Fathers and elder brothers have been driven from place to place; wives and children have been torn apart. Heaven relented from disaster, and last year brought a thin harvest; after wasting and exhaustion, the people barely clung to life. Yet refugees have not come home; bleached bones lie everywhere; fields stand without owners—and even what grain remains in store is a sorrow to behold. Your Majesty, honoring the late emperor's final wishes, is about to lead the great procession west to Chang'an—where will supplies come from for thousands of chariots and myriads of horsemen? Excavating and rebuilding the mountain tomb will demand forced labor; leading exhausted masses, raising armies in the tens of thousands, mobilizing the capital districts, whipping young and old to cut hills and haul stone and drive the work to completion—with no time left for spring planting, what hope is there of an autumn harvest? The worn-out people, barely surviving on scraps, would suffer hardship again; those who could not endure would break away as bandits, brandishing clubs and crying out—should this not be weighed with the utmost care!
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且天子以四海為家，舜葬蒼梧，禹葬會稽，豈愛夷裔而鄙中國耶？ 示無外也。 周平王、漢光武都洛，而山陵寢廟並在西土者，實以時有不可，故遺小存大，去禍取福也。 今景山崇秀，北對嵩、邙，右眄汝、海，祝融、太昊之故墟在焉。 園陵之美，復何以加？ 且太原廥巨萬之倉，洛口儲天下之粟，乃欲舍而不顧，儻鼠竊狗盜，西入陝郊，東犯虎牢。 取敖倉一抔粟，陛下何與遏之？
Moreover, the Son of Heaven makes the four seas his home; Shun was buried at Cangwu and Yu at Kuaiji—did they love foreign lands and despise the heartland? It showed that they drew no line between center and periphery. King Ping of Zhou and Emperor Guangwu of Han both ruled from Luoyang, yet their tombs and ancestral temples stood in the west—because the times made it impossible to do otherwise; they kept the greater good and set aside the lesser, turning from disaster toward blessing. Today Jingshan stands tall and splendid; to the north it faces Mount Song and Mount Mang; to the right it overlooks the Ru River and the sea; the ancient grounds of Zhurong and Taihao lie there. What could surpass the beauty of an imperial park and tomb there? Moreover, Taiyuan keeps granaries filled with tens of thousands of measures, and Luokou stores the empire's grain—yet you would leave them unattended. Suppose common thieves slipped in from Shaan in the west and struck east at Hulao. If rebels scooped up a handful of grain from Aocang, how could Your Majesty prevent it?
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武后奇其才，召見金華殿。 子昂貌柔野，少威儀，而占對慷慨，擢麟台正字。
Empress Wu was struck by his talent and summoned him to audience in the Jinhua Hall. Zi'ang looked mild and rough, with little courtly bearing, yet his replies were bold and impassioned; he was promoted to Correcter of the Forest Terrace.
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垂拱初，詔問群臣「調元氣當以何道？」 子昂因是勸後興明堂、大學，即上言：
At the opening of the Chuigong reign, an edict asked the ministers, "By what means should primordial qi be harmonized?" Zi'ang then urged the Empress to restore the Bright Hall and the Imperial Academy, and submitted a memorial:
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臣聞之于師曰：「元氣，天地之始，萬物之祖，王政之大端也。 天地莫大于陰陽，萬物莫靈于人，王政莫先于安人。 故人安則陰陽和，陰陽和則天地平，天地平則元氣正。 先王以人之通於天也，於是養成群生，順天德，使人樂其業，甘其食，美其服，然後天瑞降，地符升，風雨時，草木茂遂。 故顓頊、唐、虞不敢荒寧，其《書》曰：「百姓昭明，協和萬邦，黎人于變時雍。 乃命羲和，欽若昊天，曆象日月星辰，敬授人時。」 和之得也。 夏、商之衰，桀、紂昏暴，陰陽乖行，天地震怒，山川神鬼，發妖見災，疾疫大興，終以滅亡，和之失也。 迨周文、武創業，誠信忠厚加于百姓，故成、康刑措四十餘年，天人方和。 而幽、厲亂常，苛慝暴虐，詬黷天地，川塚沸崩，人用愁怨。 其《詩》曰：「昊天不惠，降此大戾」，不先不後，為虐為瘵，顧不哀哉！ 近隋煬帝恃四海之富，鑿渠決河，自伊、洛屬之揚州，疲生人之力，泄天地之藏，中國之難起，故身死人手，宗廟為墟。 逆元氣之理也。 臣觀禍亂之動，天人之際，先師之說，昭然著明，不可欺也。
Your subject heard from his teacher: "Primordial qi is the origin of Heaven and Earth, the source of the ten thousand things, and the great root of royal government. In Heaven and Earth nothing is greater than yin and yang; among the ten thousand things nothing is more vital than man; in royal government nothing comes before settling the people. When the people are at peace, yin and yang are in harmony; when yin and yang are in harmony, Heaven and Earth are level; when Heaven and Earth are level, primordial qi is set right. The ancient kings, knowing that man communes with Heaven, nourished all living things, followed Heaven's virtue, and let people take joy in their work, relish their food, and be proud of their dress—then heavenly omens appeared, earthly signs rose up, wind and rain came in season, and grass and trees flourished. Therefore Zhuanxu, Tang, and Yu dared not neglect their duties; the Book says: "The common people were enlightened; the myriad states were brought into harmony; the people were transformed until all was tranquil. He then appointed Xi and He, in reverent accord with vast Heaven, to measure and chart the sun, moon, stars, and constellations, and reverently set the seasons for the people." That was harmony attained. In the decline of Xia and Shang, Jie and Zhou were dark and brutal; yin and yang fell out of step; Heaven and Earth trembled in wrath; mountains, rivers, spirits, and ghosts sent omens and disasters; pestilence spread widely—and at last they perished; that was harmony lost. When Kings Wen and Wu founded their rule, sincerity, trust, and generous loyalty were shown to the people; under Cheng and Kang punishments went unused for more than forty years, and Heaven and man were then in harmony. But You and Li overturned the norms, were harsh, cruel, and oppressive, and insulted Heaven and Earth; rivers boiled and tombs collapsed; the people were steeped in grief and resentment. The Odes say: "Great Heaven is unkind and sends down this great calamity"—neither early nor late, they brought torment and wasting sickness—how lamentable! Not long ago Emperor Yang of Sui, trusting in the wealth of the four seas, dug canals and cut rivers from Yi and Luo all the way to Yangzhou, exhausting the living and draining Heaven and Earth's stores—then rebellion rose within China; he died by another's hand and his ancestral temple was reduced to ruins. That was a violation of the principle of primordial qi. Your subject sees that when calamity and disorder move, at the juncture of Heaven and man, the teaching of the former masters stands plainly revealed and cannot be denied.
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陛下含天地之德，日月之明，眇然遠思，欲求太和，此伏羲氏所以為三皇首也。 昔者，天皇大帝攬元符，東封太山，然未建明堂，享上帝，使萬世鴻業闕而不昭，殆留此盛德，以發揮陛下哉！ 臣謂和元氣，睦人倫，舍此則無以為也。 昔黃帝合宮，有虞總期，堯衢室，夏世室，皆所以調元氣，治陰陽也。 臣聞明堂有天地之制，陰陽之統，二十四氣、八風、十二月、四時、五行、二十八宿，莫不率備。 王者政失則災，政順則祥。 臣願陛下為唐恢萬世之業，相國南郊，建明堂，與天下更始，按《周禮》、《月令》而成之。 乃月孟春，乘鸞輅，駕蒼龍，朝在三公、九卿、大夫于青陽左個，負斧扆，馮玉幾，聽天下之政。 躬藉田、親蠶以勸農桑，養三老、五更以教孝悌，明訟恤獄以息淫刑，脩文德以止干戈，察孝廉以除貪吏。 後宮非妃嬪禦女者，出之； 珠玉錦繡、雕琢伎巧無益者，棄之； 巫鬼淫祀營惑於人者，禁之。 臣謂不數期且見太平雲。
Your Majesty holds the virtue of Heaven and Earth and the brightness of sun and moon; with far-sighted intent you seek supreme harmony—this is why Fuxi stood first among the Three Sovereigns. In former times the Heavenly Sovereign received the mandate and performed the eastern feng at Mount Tai—yet he did not build the Bright Hall or sacrifice to the Supreme Lord, leaving the great enterprise of ten thousand generations unfinished and unrevealed—perhaps he kept this supreme merit for Your Majesty to fulfill! Your subject believes that harmonizing primordial qi and nurturing human relations—without these there is nothing worth doing. In antiquity the Yellow Emperor had the Hall of Union, Shun the Hall of Total Governance, Yao the Crossroads Chamber, and the Xia the Chamber of Generations—all to harmonize primordial qi and regulate yin and yang. Your subject has heard that the Bright Hall holds the design of Heaven and Earth and the governing thread of yin and yang—the twenty-four qi, eight winds, twelve months, four seasons, five phases, and twenty-eight lodges are all fully embodied. When a ruler's government goes wrong, disaster follows; when it is right, good omens appear. Your subject wishes Your Majesty, for Tang to restore an enterprise lasting ten thousand generations, to take the southern suburb rite as the state's model, build the Bright Hall, and begin anew with the realm—completing it according to the Rites of Zhou and the Monthly Ordinances. Then in the first month of spring, riding the phoenix carriage and driving the azure dragon, holding court with the Three Excellencies, Nine Ministers, and grand masters at the Left Alcove of Qingyang, leaning on the axe-screen and seated before the jade armrest, hearing the governance of the realm. Personally plowing the sacred field and tending silkworms to encourage farming and sericulture; supporting the Three Elders and Five Worthies to teach filial piety and brotherly duty; clarifying lawsuits and showing mercy in prisons to end excessive punishment; cultivating civil virtue to halt warfare; examining Filial and Incorrupt candidates to remove corrupt officials. Women in the inner palace who are not consorts or palace attendants should be sent away; Pearls, jade, brocades, carved ornaments, and useless crafts should be cast aside; Shamans, ghost cults, improper sacrifices, and practices that mislead the people should be banned. Your subject believes that before long the clouds of great peace will appear.
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又言：
He also wrote:
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陛下方興大化，而太學久廢，堂皇埃蕪，《詩》、《書》不聞，明詔尚未及之，愚臣所以私恨也。 太學者，政教之地也，君臣上下之取則也，俎豆揖讓之所興也，天子于此得賢臣焉。 今委而不論，雖欲睦人倫，興治綱，失之本而求之末，不可得也。 「君子三年不為禮，禮必壞，三年不為樂，樂必崩」，奈何為天下而輕禮樂哉？ 願引胄子使歸太學，國家之大務不可廢已。
Your Majesty is launching great reform, yet the Imperial Academy has long stood abandoned; its halls are dusty and overgrown; the Odes and Documents are no longer heard in them; the bright edicts have not yet touched this matter—the reason your humble subject grieves in private. The Imperial Academy is the ground of government and teaching, the measure for ruler and subject, high and low, the place where ritual vessels and courteous yielding are cultivated—the Son of Heaven there finds worthy ministers. Now it is set aside without debate; though one wishes to nurture human relations and strengthen the bonds of rule, to lose the root and chase the branch is to seek what cannot be found. "If a gentleman goes three years without performing ritual, ritual must decay; three years without music, music must collapse"—how can one treat ritual and music lightly while governing the realm? I ask that sons of officials be brought back to the Imperial Academy—this great business of state must not be abandoned.
30
後召見，賜筆劄中書省，令條上利害。 子昂對三事。 其一言：
Later he was summoned to audience; the Secretariat granted him writing materials and ordered him to list benefits and harms in detail. Zi'ang responded on three points. The first point read:
31
九道出大使巡按天下，申黜陟，求人瘼，臣謂計有未盡也。 且陛下發使，必欲使百姓知天子夙夜憂勤之也，群臣知考績而任之也，奸暴不逞知將除之也，則莫如擇仁可以恤孤、明可以振滯、剛不避強禦、智足以照奸者，然後以為使，故輶軒未動，而天下翹然待之矣。 今使且未出，道路之人皆已指笑，欲望進賢下不肖，豈可得邪？ 宰相奉詔書，有遣使之名，無任使之實。 使愈出，天下愈弊，徒令百姓治道路，送往迎來，不見其益也。 臣願陛下更選有威重風概為眾推者，因御前殿，以使者之禮禮之，諄諄戒敕所以出使之意，乃授以節。 自京師及州縣，登拔才良，求人瘼，宣佈上意，令若家見而戶曉。 昔堯、舜不下席而化天下，蓋黜陟幽明能折衷者。 陛下知難得人，則不如少出使。 彼煩數而無益於化，是烹小鮮而數撓之矣。
Nine routes sent out envoys to tour the realm, announce promotions and demotions, and seek the people's hardships—your subject believes the plan still falls short. Moreover, when Your Majesty sends envoys, you surely want the people to know the Son of Heaven's sleepless diligence, the ministers to know they will be judged and entrusted by merit, and the wicked and violent to know they will be removed—then nothing is better than choosing men benevolent enough to comfort the orphaned, clear enough to revive the neglected, firm enough not to shrink from the powerful, and wise enough to expose wrongdoing—and only then making them envoys; then before the inspection carriages even move, the realm will look up in eager expectation. Now the envoys have not yet departed, yet travelers are already pointing and laughing; to hope thereby to promote the worthy and demote the unworthy—how can that be done? The chancellor receives the edict—there is the title of sending envoys, but not the substance of entrusting them. The more envoys go out, the more the realm is worn down; it only makes the people repair roads and escort arrivals and departures, with no visible gain. Your subject asks Your Majesty to choose anew men of authority, presence, and reputation whom the people respect; in the imperial front hall, receive them with the rites due envoys; earnestly instruct them in the purpose of the mission; then grant them credentials. From the capital down to prefectures and counties, they should promote the talented and worthy, seek the people's hardships, and proclaim the sovereign's intent, so that orders seem seen in every home and understood at every door. In antiquity Yao and Shun transformed the realm without leaving their seats—because they could weigh promotion and demotion of the obscure and the clear and strike the balance. Your Majesty knows worthy men are hard to find—then it would be better to send out fewer envoys. To send them out again and again without benefit to reform is like cooking a small fish and stirring it repeatedly.
32
其二言：
The second point read:
33
刺史、縣令，政教之首。 陛下布德澤，下詔書，必待刺史、縣令謹宣而奉行之。 不得其人，則委棄有司，掛牆屋耳，百姓安得知之？ 一州得才刺史，十萬戶賴其福； 得不才刺史，十萬戶受其困。 國家興衰，在此職也。 今吏部調縣令如補一尉，但計資考，不求賢良。 有如不次用人，則天下囂然相謗矣，狃于常而不變也。 故庸人皆任縣令，教化之陵遲，顧不甚哉！
Prefects and magistrates stand at the head of government and teaching. When Your Majesty spreads gracious favor and issues edicts, they must wait for prefects and magistrates to proclaim and carry them out faithfully. If the wrong men are appointed, the edicts are left with the offices and merely hung on walls—how can the common people ever know of them? When a prefecture gets a capable prefect, a hundred thousand households share in his blessing; when it gets an incapable one, a hundred thousand households suffer under him. The rise and fall of the state depend on this office. Today the Ministry of Personnel posts magistrates as if filling a single aide's vacancy—counting only seniority and review scores, not seeking the worthy. If anyone were promoted out of turn, the realm would erupt in mutual slander—they cling to routine and refuse to change. So mediocrities fill every magistracy—is it not plain that teaching and transformation have decayed!
34
其三言：
The third point read:
35
天下有危機，禍福因之而生。 機靜則有福，動則有禍，百姓安則樂生，不安則輕生者是也。 今軍旅之弊，夫妻不得安，父子不相養，五六年矣。 自劍南盡河、隴，山東由青、徐、曹、汴，河北舉滄、瀛、趙、鄚，或困水旱，或頓兵疫，死亡流離略盡，尚賴陛下憫其失職，凡兵戍調發，一切罷之，使人得妻子相見，父兄相保，可謂能靜其機也。 然臣恐將相有貪夷狄利，以廣地強武說陛下者，欲動其機，機動則禍構。 宜脩文德，去刑罰，勸農桑，以息疲民。 蠻夷知中國有聖王，必累譯至矣。
The realm has a critical pivot, and fortune and calamity spring from it. When the pivot stays still, fortune follows; when it moves, calamity follows; when the people are secure they value life, when insecure they treat life lightly—such is the case. Now the harm of military service: husbands and wives cannot live in peace, fathers and sons cannot care for one another—and this has lasted five or six years. From Jiannan through He and Long, in Shandong from Qing, Xu, Cao, and Bian, and across Hebei in Cang, Ying, Zhao, and Mo—some ravaged by flood and drought, some broken by war and pestilence—death and exile have nearly emptied the land; yet thanks to Your Majesty's pity for their plight, all military levies and conscriptions were abolished, letting men see wives and children again and fathers and elder brothers protect one another—this may be called stilling the pivot. Yet your subject fears that generals and chancellors who greedily seek profit from the barbarians, urging Your Majesty with talk of wider territory and stronger arms, will move the pivot—and when the pivot moves, calamity takes form. You should cultivate civil virtue, reduce punishments, encourage farming and sericulture, and give rest to the exhausted people. When the barbarians know that China has a sage king, envoys will surely come in endless succession.
36
于時，吐蕃、九姓叛，詔田揚名發金山道十姓兵討之。 十姓君長以三萬騎戰，有功，遂請入朝。 後責其嘗不奉命擅破回紇，不聽。 子昂上疏曰：
At that time the Tibetans and the Nine Surnames rebelled; an edict ordered Tian Yangming to mobilize the Ten Surnames' troops on the Jingshan route to suppress them. The chieftains of the Ten Surnames fought with thirty thousand horsemen, won distinction, and then asked to come to court. Afterward the court blamed Yang Ming for having attacked the Uyghurs without authorization, and refused to heed the petition. Chen Zi'ang submitted a memorial, saying:
37
國家能制十姓者，繇九姓強大，臣服中國，故勢微弱，委命下吏。 今九姓叛亡，北蕃喪亂，君長無主，回紇殘破，磧北諸姓已非國有，欲犄角亡叛，唯金山諸蕃共為形勢。 有司乃以揚名擅破回紇，歸十姓之罪，拒而遣還，不使入朝，恐非羈戎之長策也。 夫戎有鳥獸心，親之則順，疑之則亂，今阻其善意，則十姓內無國家親信之恩，外有回紇報仇之患，懷不自安，鳥駭狼顧，則河西諸蕃自此拒命矣。 且夷狄相攻，中國之福。 今回紇已破，既無可言； 十姓非罪，又不當絕。 罪止揚名，足以慰其酋領矣。
The court could control the Ten Surnames only because the Nine Surnames had been strong enough to submit to China, leaving the Ten Surnames weak and dependent on our frontier officials. Now the Nine Surnames have rebelled and scattered, the northern frontier is in chaos, tribal leaders are headless, the Uyghurs are shattered, and the peoples north of the desert no longer belong to the empire. If they mean to ally with the rebels, only the Golden Mountain tribes can still form a common front. Yet the officials, holding Yang Ming's unauthorized attack on the Uyghurs against the Ten Surnames, turned them away and barred them from court audience—hardly a wise long-term policy for keeping the frontier tribes in hand. Barbarians have the hearts of wild creatures: win their trust and they follow; breed suspicion and they turn violent. By rejecting their goodwill, the Ten Surnames will lose the state's favor at home and face Uyghur vengeance abroad. Restless and fearful, they will bolt like startled birds—and from that moment the Hexi tribes will refuse to obey. When barbarians fight one another, China profits. The Uyghurs are already broken; nothing more need be said of them. The Ten Surnames are not at fault and should not be rejected. Punish Yang Ming alone, and that will be enough to satisfy their leaders.
38
近詔同城權置安北府，其地當磧南口，制匈奴之沖，常為劇鎮。 臣頃聞磧北突厥之歸者已千餘帳，來者未止，甘州降戶四千帳，亦置同城。 今磧北喪亂、荒饉之餘，無所存仰，陛下開府招納，誠覆全戎狄之仁也。 然同城本無儲峙，而降附蕃落不免寒饑，更相劫掠。 今安北有官牛羊六千，粟麥萬斛，城孤兵少，降者日眾，不加救恤，盜劫日多。 夫人情以求生為急，今有粟麥牛羊為之餌，而不救其死，安得不為盜乎？ 盜興則安北不全，甘、涼以往，蹺以待陷，後為邊患，禍未可量。 是則誘使亂，誨之盜也。 且夷狄代有雄傑，與中國抗，有如勃起，招合遺散，眾將系興，此國家大機，不可失也。
A recent edict provisionally established the Anbei Protectorate at Tongcheng, at the desert's southern gateway—the choke point against the northern nomads and a post that will always be critical. I have lately heard that more than a thousand tents of Turks returning from north of the desert have already arrived, with more still coming, and four thousand tents of surrendered households from Ganzhou were also settled at Tongcheng. North of the desert lies only ruin and famine; these people have nowhere to turn. In opening a protectorate to receive them, Your Majesty shows the benevolence that truly shelters the frontier peoples. But Tongcheng had no stores to begin with, and the surrendered tribes could not escape hunger and cold, so they began raiding one another. Anbei now holds six thousand government cattle and sheep and ten thousand bushels of grain, yet the city is isolated, the garrison is small, and surrendered tribes arrive daily. Without relief, theft and plunder multiply by the day. Men will do anything to live. Grain, cattle, and sheep lie within reach like bait, yet no one saves them from starvation—is it any wonder they turn to banditry? Once banditry spreads, Anbei cannot hold; from Ganzhou and Liangzhou westward the frontier will stand open to collapse. The border trouble that follows will be beyond reckoning. This is to invite chaos and teach men to steal. Moreover, the barbarians produce bold leaders generation after generation who stand against China. Like a sudden uprising, one such man can rally the scattered and bind the masses to him. This is a great opening for the state and must not be missed.
39
又謂：
He also argued:
40
河西諸州，軍興以來，公私儲蓄，尤可嗟痛。 涼州歲食六萬斛，屯田所收不能償墾。 陛下欲制河西，定亂戎，此州空虛，未可動也。 甘州所積四十萬斛，觀其山川，誠河西喉咽地，北當九姓，南逼吐蕃，奸回不測，伺我邊罅。 故甘州地廣粟多，左右受敵，但戶止三千，勝兵者少，屯田廣夷，倉庾豐衍，瓜、肅以西，皆仰其餫，一旬不往，士已枵饑。 是河西之命系于甘州矣。 且其四十余屯，水泉良沃，不待天時，歲取二十萬斛，但人力寡乏，未盡墾發。 異時吐番不敢東侵者，繇甘、涼士馬強盛，以振其入。 今甘州積粟萬計，兵少不足以制賊，若吐蕃敢大入，燔蓄谷，蹂諸屯，則河西諸州，我何以守？ 宜益屯兵，外得以防盜，內得以營農，取數年之收，可飽士百萬，則天兵所臨，何求不得哉？
Since the wars began, public and private reserves across the Hexi commanderies have been shockingly depleted. Liangzhou consumes sixty thousand bushels of grain each year, yet its garrison farms cannot recover the cost of the land they break. If Your Majesty means to hold Hexi and pacify the frontier tribes, this commandery is too hollow to disturb. Ganzhou holds four hundred thousand bushels in its granaries. By its terrain it is truly the throat of Hexi: the Nine Surnames lie to the north, Tibet to the south, and restless enemies watch every gap in our defenses. Ganzhou's lands are wide and its grain plentiful, yet it is menaced from both sides. It has only three thousand households and few fit for battle; its garrison farms stretch deep into tribal country and its granaries are full. From Guazhou and Suzhou westward all live on its grain—ten days without a convoy and the troops are starving. Hexi's fate hangs on Ganzhou. Its forty-odd garrison farms enjoy good water and rich soil; without relying on favorable seasons they yield two hundred thousand bushels a year, yet labor is too thin and much land remains unbroken. In earlier times Tibet did not dare strike eastward because Ganzhou and Liangzhou had strong troops and horses enough to repel any advance. Ganzhou's granaries are now stocked by the ten thousand bushels, yet its garrison is too small to check the enemy. If Tibet launches a major raid, burns the stores, and destroys the farms, how will we hold Hexi? Troops should be increased: outwardly to suppress raiders, inwardly to work the farms. A few years' harvest would feed a million men—then when the imperial army moves, what could it not achieve?
41
其後吐蕃果入寇，終後世為邊患最甚。
Tibet did invade, and for the rest of the dynasty it proved the gravest border threat.
42
後方謀開蜀山，由雅州道翦生羌，因以襲吐蕃。 子昂上書以七驗諫止之，曰：
Later officials proposed opening routes through the Shu mountains, marching by way of Yazhou to subdue the Raw Qiang and then strike Tibet. Chen Zi'ang submitted a memorial offering seven proofs against the plan, saying:
43
臣聞亂生必由於怨。 雅州羌未嘗一日為盜，今無罪蒙戮，怨必甚，怨甚則蜂駭且亡，而邊邑連兵，守備不解，蜀之禍構矣。 東漢喪敗，亂始諸羌，一驗也。 吐蕃黠獪，抗天誅者二十餘年。 前日薛仁貴、郭待封以十萬眾敗大非川，一甲不返； 李敬玄、劉審禮舉十八萬眾困青海，身執賊廷，關、隴為空。 今乃欲建李處一為上將，驅疲兵襲不可幸之吐蕃，舉為賊笑，二驗也。 夫事有求利而得害者。 昔蜀與中國不通，秦以金牛、美女啖蜀侯，侯使五丁力士棧褒斜，鑿通谷，迎秦之饋。 秦隨以兵，而地入中州，三驗也。 吐蕃愛蜀富，思盜之矣，徒以障隊隘絕，頓餓喙不得噬。 今撤山羌，開阪險，使賊得收奔亡以攻邊，是除道待賊，舉蜀以遺之，四驗也。 蜀為西南一都會，國之寶府，又人富粟多，浮江而下，可濟中國。 今圖僥倖之利，以事西羌，得羌地不足耕，得羌財不足富。 是過殺無辜之眾，以傷陛下之仁，五驗也。 蜀所恃，有險也； 蜀所安，無役也。 今開蜀險，役蜀人，險開則便寇，人役則傷財。 臣恐未及見羌，而奸盜在其中矣。 異時益州長史李崇真托言吐蕃寇松州，天子為盛軍師，趣轉餉以備之。 不三年，巴、蜀大困，不見一賊，而崇真奸贓已钜萬。 今得非有奸臣圖利，復以生羌為資？ 六驗也。 蜀士尪孱不知兵，一虜持矛，百人不敢當。 若西戎不即破滅，臣見蜀之邊垂且不守，而為羌夷所暴，七驗也。 國家近廢安北，拔單于，棄龜茲、疏勒，天下以為務仁不務廣，務養不務殺，行太古三皇事。 今徇貪夫之議，誅無罪之羌，遺全蜀患，此臣所未諭。 方山東饑，關隴弊，生人流亡，誠陛下寧靜思和天人之時，安可動甲兵、興大役，以自生亂？ 又西軍失守，北屯不利，邊人駭情，今復舉輿師投不測，小人徒知議夷狄之利，非帝王至德也。 善為天下者，計大而不計小，務德而不務刑，據安念危，值利思害。 願陛下審計之。
I have heard that rebellion always springs from grievance. The Yazhou Qiang have never been bandits for a single day. Now innocent men face slaughter—their resentment will be fierce. Fierce resentment will scatter them like a disturbed hive and send them fleeing; border towns will mobilize, garrisons will never stand down, and disaster will take root in Shu. Eastern Han collapsed and rebellion began with the Qiang—that is the first proof. Tibet is cunning and has defied imperial punishment for more than twenty years. Earlier Xue Rengui and Guo Daifeng led a hundred thousand men to defeat at Da Feichuan and not one soldier returned in armor; Li Jingxuan and Liu Shenli mustered a hundred and eighty thousand men and were trapped at Qinghai; they were taken in the enemy court, and Guanzhong and Longyou were stripped bare. Now you would make Li Chuyi supreme commander and drive exhausted troops against Tibet when success cannot be left to chance—the whole venture will become the enemy's laughingstock. That is the second proof. Some undertakings promise profit and deliver ruin. Once Shu and the heartland were not connected. Qin baited the Lord of Shu with a golden ox and beautiful women; the lord sent five strong men to build a plank road through Baoxie, open the pass, and receive Qin's grain. Qin marched in after its grain, and the land passed into the central realm—that is the third proof. Tibet covets Shu's wealth and longs to seize it, yet mountain barriers and narrow passes hold it back—it can only hunger at the gate and cannot bite. Now, by uprooting the mountain Qiang and opening the dangerous passes, you would let the enemy rally fugitives to strike the frontier—this is to level the road for invaders and hand Shu over to them. That is the fourth proof. Shu is the great metropolis of the southwest and the empire's treasure house; its people are wealthy, its grain plentiful, and by river it can feed the heartland. Now, chasing lucky profit, you would strike the western Qiang—yet Qiang land won would not repay cultivation, and Qiang goods won would not repay the cost. This is to slaughter innocent multitudes and wound Your Majesty's benevolence—that is the fifth proof. Shu relies on its natural defenses; Shu rests secure because it bears no corvée. Open Shu's defenses and conscript its people—open the passes and invaders gain easy access; levy labor and wealth is drained. I fear that before a single Qiang is reached, treachery and plunder will already be at work among us. Once the Yizhou chief administrator Li Chongzhen falsely claimed Tibet was raiding Songzhou, moved the emperor to mobilize a great army, and rushed supplies to meet the threat. In less than three years Ba and Shu were exhausted; not one enemy was seen, yet Chongzhen's corrupt takings already ran to tens of thousands. Might treacherous ministers not now be scheming for profit and again using the Raw Qiang as their pretext? That is the sixth proof. Shu men are frail and untrained in war; one barbarian with a spear and a hundred Shu soldiers will not stand against him. If the western tribes are not swiftly crushed, I see Shu's frontier soon undefended and overrun by Qiang and tribal raiders—that is the seventh proof. The court has lately abolished Anbei, withdrawn the Chanyu Protectorate, and abandoned Kucha and Kashgar; the realm takes this as a turn toward benevolence over expansion, nurture over slaughter—the way of the ancient Three Sovereigns. Now, heeding greedy advisers, you would punish innocent Qiang and leave all Shu exposed to disaster—this I cannot understand. Meanwhile the east starves, Guanzhong and Longyou are worn out, and people flee in exile. Your Majesty should reflect in stillness and align with the harmony of Heaven and man—how can you stir armies, launch great projects, and breed rebellion at home? The western armies have lost their positions and the northern garrisons fare poorly; frontier people are terrified. To raise troops again and hurl them into the unknown—small men know only to argue the profit in barbarian wars, not the supreme virtue befitting an emperor. A ruler who truly governs the realm plans for the large, not the small; pursues virtue, not punishment; rests in security yet minds peril; sees profit yet weighs harm. I beg Your Majesty to weigh this carefully.
44
後復召見，使論為政之要，適時不便者，毋援上古，角空言。 子昂乃奏八科：一措刑，二官人，三知賢，四去疑，五招諫，六勸賞，七息兵，八安宗子。 其大榷謂：
Later he was summoned again and told to discuss the essentials of governance—but where the times made a point impractical, he was not to invoke antiquity or trade in empty rhetoric. Chen Zi'ang then submitted eight proposals: easing punishments; appointing officials; recognizing talent; removing suspicion; inviting remonstrance; encouraging reward; resting the armies; and securing the imperial clansmen. Their main points were these:
45
今百度已備，但刑急罔密，非為政之要。 凡大人初制天下，必有凶亂叛逆之人為我驅除，以明天誅。 凶叛已滅，則順人情，赦過宥罪。 蓋刑以禁亂，亂靜而刑息，不為承平設也。 太平之人，樂德而惡刑，刑之所加，人必慘怛，故聖人貴措刑也。 比大赦，澡蕩群罪，天下蒙慶，咸得自新。 近日詔獄稍滋，鉤捕支黨，株蔓推窮，蓋獄吏不識天意，以抵慘刻。 誠宜廣愷悌之道，敕法慎罰，省白誣冤，此太平安人之務也。
The hundred offices are now in place, yet punishments are harsh and the legal net is tight—this is not the heart of good government. Whenever a founder first establishes the realm, violent and rebellious men always arise to serve as his instruments of removal, making Heaven's punishment plain. Once the violent and rebellious are destroyed, the ruler should follow human feeling, pardon faults, and forgive crimes. Punishment exists to restrain disorder; when disorder subsides, punishment should cease—it is not meant for peaceful times. In great peace men delight in virtue and loathe punishment; wherever punishment falls, men grieve bitterly. That is why the sage values easing punishment. In the recent great amnesty all crimes were washed away; the realm shared the blessing and every man could begin anew. Lately prison edicts have multiplied, associates are snared, and cases are pursued to the last branch—because jailers do not understand Heaven's intent and answer severity with severity. Truly the way of kindness and forbearance should be broadened, the law restrained, punishments applied with care, and false accusations reduced—this is the work of great peace and a settled people.
46
官人惟賢，政所以治也。 然君子小人各尚其類。 若陛下好賢而不任，任而不能信，信而不能終，終而不賞，雖有賢人，終不肯至，又不肯勸。 反是，則天下之賢集矣。
In appointing officials, choose only the worthy—that is how government is ordered. Yet noble men and petty men each cleave to their own kind. If Your Majesty loves the worthy yet will not use them, uses them yet cannot trust them, trusts them yet cannot stay the course, and stays the course yet does not reward—even worthy men will neither come nor give their best. Reverse this, and worthy men throughout the realm will gather.
47
議者乃雲「賢不可知，人不易識」。 臣以為固易知，固易識。 夫尚德行者無兇險，務公正者無邪朋，廉者憎貪，信者疾偽，智不為愚者謀，勇不為怯者死，猶鸞隼不接翼，薰蕕不共氣，其理自然。 何者？ 以德並凶，勢不相入； 以正攻佞，勢不相利； 以廉勸貪，勢不相售； 以信質偽，勢不相和。 智者尚謀，愚者所不聽； 勇者徇死，怯者所不從。 此趣向之反也。 賢人未嘗不思效用，顧無其類則難進，是以湮汩于時。 誠能信任俊良，知左右有灼然賢行者，賜之尊爵厚祿，使以類相舉，則天下之理得矣。
Critics then said, "Talent cannot be known; men are hard to read." I hold that they are in fact easy to know and easy to recognize. Men who honor virtue and conduct are never violent or treacherous; men who pursue fairness have no wicked factions; the incorruptible despise greed; the faithful despise deceit; the wise do not scheme for fools; the brave do not die for cowards—just as luan birds and hawks do not fold wings together, and orchid and stenchweed do not share the same air, the principle is natural. Why? Virtue placed beside violence—the two cannot mix; uprightness set against flattery—the two cannot profit each other; incorruptibility urging greed—the two cannot bargain together; faith confronting falsehood—the two cannot harmonize. The wise live by counsel; fools will not heed it; the brave follow death into battle; cowards will not follow. These inclinations stand directly opposed. Worthy men never cease wishing to serve, yet without their kind they cannot advance, and so they are lost in their age. Truly, if you trust outstanding men and recognize plainly worthy conduct among those at your side, grant them high rank and generous salary and let them recommend their kind—then the realm will be rightly ordered.
48
陛下知得賢須任，今未能者，蓋以常信任者不效。 如裴炎、劉禕之、周思茂、騫味道固蒙用矣，皆孤恩前死，以是陛下疑于信賢。 臣固不然。 昔人有以噎得病，乃欲絕食，不知食絕而身殞。 賢人于國，猶食在人，人不可以一噎而止餐，國不可以謬一賢而遠正士，此神鑒所知也。
Your Majesty knows that talent must be employed, yet today you cannot do so—presumably because those you have regularly trusted have failed you. Pei Yan, Liu Yizhi, Zhou Simao, and Qian Weidao were indeed employed, yet all died forsaken and stripped of favor—thus Your Majesty doubts whether worthy men can be trusted. I do not agree. Once a man choked while eating and wished to stop eating altogether, not knowing that when eating stops the body dies. Worthy men in the state are like food in the body: one choke must not end all eating, and one mistaken appointment must not drive all upright men away—Heaven's mirror knows this.
49
聖人大德，在能納諫，太宗德參三王，而能容魏徵之直。 今誠有敢諫骨鯁之臣，陛下廣延順納，以新盛德，則萬世有述。
The sage's great virtue lies in accepting remonstrance. Emperor Taizong's virtue matched the Three Sage-Kings, and he could bear Wei Zheng's blunt honesty. Now, if there truly are ministers bold enough to remonstrate like a bone in the throat, and Your Majesty welcomes their counsel to renew your flourishing virtue, then ten thousand generations will have your example to praise.
50
臣聞勞臣不賞，不可勸功； 死士不賞，不可勸勇。 今或勤勞死難，名爵不及； 偷榮屍祿，寵秩妄加，非所以表庸勵行者也。 願表顯徇節，勵勉百僚。 古之賞一人，千萬人悅者，蓋雲當也。
I have heard that when ministers who toil are not rewarded, merit cannot be encouraged; If those who die in service go unrewarded, there is no spurring men to valor. Today some who labor until death in the state's service never receive rank or title; yet the undeserving hoard honor and draw salaries they never earned, while rank and favor are lavished without cause—hardly the way to honor merit and inspire right action. I ask that you publicly honor those who died upholding principle, and use their example to stir the whole bureaucracy. In old times, when a single reward sent ten thousand hearts singing, it was because the honor was truly deserved.
51
今事之最大者，患兵甲歲興，賦役不省，興師十萬，則百萬之家不得安業。 自有事北狄，於今十年，不聞中國之勝。 以庸將禦冗兵，徭役日廣，兵甲日敝。 願審量損益，計利害，勢有不可，毋虛出兵，則人安矣。
Of all pressing issues today, none match the annual call to arms and unrelenting levies: mobilize a hundred thousand troops, and a million homes lose their livelihood. For ten years now we have been at war with the northern tribes, yet not once have we heard of a Chinese victory. Mediocre commanders lead bloated armies; corvée grows heavier by the day, and weapons and armor more battered. Weigh costs against benefits, measure harm against gain, and when the situation does not permit action, refrain from empty campaigns—then the people will know peace.
52
虺賊幹紀，自取屠滅，罪止魁逆，無復緣坐，宗室子弟，皆得更生。 然臣願陛下重曉慰之，使明知天子慈仁，下得自安。 臣聞人情不能自明則疑，疑則懼，懼則罪生。 惟賜愷悌之德，使居無過之地。
The serpent rebels defied heaven's order and brought destruction on themselves; punishment stopped with the ringleaders, collateral guilt was ended, and the younger members of the imperial clan were granted new life. Yet I beg Your Majesty to reassure them again, so they may know plainly the Son of Heaven's mercy—and find peace beneath it. I have heard that when people cannot clear their own names, suspicion follows; suspicion breeds fear, and fear begets crime. Grant them your kindness and forbearance, that they may live without reproach.
53
俄遷右衛胄曹參軍。
Before long he was appointed Army Aide in the Right Guard's Rear-Office Bureau.
54
後既稱皇帝，改號周，子昂上《周受命頌》以媚悅後。 雖數召見問政事，論亦詳切，故奏聞輒罷。 以母喪去官，服終，擢右拾遺。
When the Empress declared herself Emperor and changed the era name to Zhou, Zi'ang submitted An Ode on Zhou's Receipt of the Mandate to flatter her. Though often summoned to discuss affairs of state—and though his counsel was thorough and pointed—every memorial he submitted was heard and then dismissed. He resigned on his mother's death; when mourning ended, he was promoted to Right Reminder.
55
子昂多病，居職不樂。 會武攸宜討契丹，高置幕府，表子昂參謀。 次漁陽，前軍敗，舉軍震恐，攸宜輕易無將略，子昂諫曰：「陛下發天下兵以屬大王，安危成敗在此舉，安可忽哉？」 今大王法制不立，如小兒戲。 願審智愚，量勇怯，度眾寡，以長攻短，此刷恥之道也。 夫按軍尚威嚴，擇親信以虞不測。 大王提重兵精甲，屯之境上，硃亥竊發之變，良可懼也。 王能聽愚計，分麾下萬人為前驅，契丹小丑，指日可擒。」 攸宜以其儒者，謝不納。 居數日，復進計，攸宜怒，徙署軍曹。 子昂知不合，不復言。
Zi'ang was chronically ill and found little satisfaction in his post. When Wu Youyi was sent to campaign against the Khitan, he raised a grand headquarters staff and petitioned to have Zi'ang serve as adviser. At Yuyang the vanguard was routed and the whole army shook with fear. Youyi was careless and lacked a commander's art. Zi'ang remonstrated: "Your Majesty has entrusted the armies of the empire to the Great Prince; safety and ruin, victory and defeat, all hang on this campaign—how can you treat it lightly?" Yet the Great Prince has established no military discipline—it is child's play. Discern the wise from the foolish, measure courage against cowardice, count numbers high and low, and strike with your strengths at their weaknesses—that is how shame is washed away. An army demands awe and discipline; choose trusted men to guard against the unexpected. The Great Prince commands a heavy host in fine armor, encamped on the border—a stealthy blow like Zhu Hai's is truly to be feared. If you will hear my humble counsel, detach ten thousand of your men as vanguard—the Khitan rabble can be taken within days." Youyi, dismissing him as a mere scholar, politely refused. Several days later he offered counsel again; Youyi grew angry and reassigned him to army registrar. Realizing he had no audience, Zi'ang said nothing more.
56
聖曆初，以父老，表解官歸侍，詔以官供養。 會父喪，廬塚次，每哀慟，聞者為涕。 縣令段簡貪暴，聞其富，欲害子昂，家人納錢二十萬緡，簡薄其賂，捕送獄中。 子昂之見捕，自筮，卦成，驚曰：「天命不祐，吾殆死乎！」 果死獄中，年四十三。
In the first year of Shengli, citing his father's age, he petitioned to resign and return home to care for him; the throne ordered his salary paid for his father's support. When his father died, he lived in a hut beside the tomb; his every cry of grief moved listeners to tears. Magistrate Duan Jian was greedy and violent; learning of Zi'ang's wealth, he sought to destroy him. The family paid two hundred thousand strings of cash, but Jian scorned the bribe as too small and had Zi'ang arrested and thrown into prison. When Zi'ang was arrested, he cast a hexagram for himself; when it was complete, he cried in alarm: "Heaven does not protect me—I am surely about to die!" He did die in prison, at forty-three.
57
子昂資褊躁，然輕財好施，篤朋友，與陸余慶、王無競、房融、崔泰之、盧藏用、趙元最厚。
Zi'ang was by nature narrow and impetuous, yet he cared little for money and loved to give; he was devoted to his friends, and closest of all to Lu Yuqing, Wang Wujing, Fang Rong, Cui Taizhi, Lu Zangyong, and Zhao Yuan.
58
唐興，文章承徐、庾餘風，天下祖尚，子昂始變雅正。 初，為《感遇詩》三十八章，王適曰：「是必為海內文宗。」 乃請交。 子昂所論著，當世以為法。 大曆中，東川節度使李叔明為立旌德碑於梓州，而學堂至今猶存。
After the Tang founding, literature still breathed the lingering air of Xu Ling and Yu Xin; the realm looked to them as models—until Zi'ang turned the tide toward elegance and moral tone. Early on he composed thirty-eight Poems on Encountering Fate; Wang Shi said, "This man will surely become the literary patriarch of the realm." He then asked to become his friend. Zi'ang's essays and poems became the standard of his age. In the Dali era, Li Shuming, military commissioner of Dongchuan, erected a stele honoring his virtue in Zizhou; the school hall still stands today.
59
子光，復與趙元子少微相善，俱以文稱。 光終商州刺史。 子易甫、簡甫，皆位御史。 附王無競王無競者，字仲烈，世徙東萊，宋太尉弘之遠裔。 家足於財，頗負氣豪縱。 擢下筆成章科，調欒城尉，三遷監察御史，改殿中。 會朝，宰相宗楚客、楊再思離立偶語，無競揚笏曰：「朝禮上敬，公等大臣，不宜慢常典。」 楚客怒，徙無競太子舍人。
His son Zi Guang was also close to Zhao Yuan and Zi Shaowei; all three were renowned for their writing. Guang eventually served as prefect of Shangzhou. His sons Yifu and Jianfu both rose to be censors. Appendix: Wang Wujing. Wang Wujing, styled Zhonglie, came from a family long settled in Donglai, a distant scion of Grand Commandant Hong of Song. The family was wealthy; he was proud-spirited, bold, and unrestrained. He passed the Draft Prose at Will examination, was posted as magistrate of Luancheng, was promoted three times to investigating censor, and then transferred to palace censor. At court, chief ministers Zong Chuke and Yang Zaisi stood apart whispering together. Wujing raised his court tablet and said, "Court ritual demands reverence for what is above; you are great ministers—you should not treat the regular statutes lightly." Chuke was angered and reassigned Wujing to attendant of the heir apparent.
60
神龍初，詆權幸，出為蘇州司馬。 張易之等誅，坐嘗交往，貶廣州，仇家矯制搒殺之。 附趙元趙元，字貞固，河間人。 祖掞，號通儒，在隋，與同郡劉焯俱召至京師，補黎陽長，徙居汲。
At the opening of the Shenlong era, he denounced the powerful favorites and was demoted to vice-prefect of Suzhou. After Zhang Yizhi and his faction were executed, Wujing was punished for past association with them, exiled to Guangzhou, where enemies forged an imperial order and had him beaten to death. Appendix: Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan, styled Zhengue, was from Hejian. His grandfather Shan, known as the Comprehensive Scholar, served under the Sui; he and Liu Zhuo of the same commandery were summoned to the capital, appointed magistrate of Liyang, and later moved to Ji.
61
元少負志略，好論辯。 來游雒陽，士爭慕向，所以造謝皆縉紳選。 武后方稱制，懼不容其高，調宜祿尉。 到職，非公事不言，彈琴蒔藥，如隱者之操。 自傷位不配才，卒年四十九。 其友魏元忠、孟詵、宋之問、崔璩等共諡昭夷先生。
From youth Yuan possessed lofty ambition and loved debate. When he traveled to Luoyang, scholars vied to seek him out; every caller at his door was drawn from the finest of the gentry. When Empress Wu had just seized power, fearing she could not brook his eminence, she posted him as magistrate of Yilu. Once in office he spoke only on official business; he played the zither and cultivated herbs, living like a hermit. Mourning that his rank did not match his gifts, he died at forty-nine. His friends Wei Yuanzhong, Meng Shen, Song Zhiwen, Cui Cong, and others jointly gave him the posthumous title Master Zhaoyi.
62
贊曰：子昂說武后興明堂太學，其言甚高，殊可怪笑。 後竊威柄，誅大臣、宗室，肋逼長君而奪之權。 子昂乃以王者之術勉之，卒為婦人訕侮不用，可謂薦圭璧于房闥，以脂澤汙漫之也。 瞽者不見泰山，聾者不聞震霆，子昂之於言，其聾瞽歟。
The commentary says: Zi'ang urged Empress Wu to build the Bright Hall and restore the Imperial Academy—his rhetoric soared high, which is both strange and absurd. Later she seized power for herself, executed ministers and imperial kinsmen, and pressed the true sovereign aside to take his throne. Zi'ang counseled her with the arts of kingship, yet was mocked and ignored as a woman dismisses unwanted counsel—like offering jade scepters in the inner chambers only to have them smeared with cosmetics. The blind cannot see Mount Tai; the deaf cannot hear thunder—for Zi'ang and his counsel, was he not deaf and blind?