1
古之隱者，大抵有三概：上焉者，身藏而德不晦，故自放草野，而名往從之，雖萬乘之貴，猶尋軌而委聘也； 其次，挈治世具弗得伸，或持峭行不可屈於俗，雖有所應，其於爵祿也，泛然受，悠然辭，使人君常有所慕企，怊然如不足，其可貴也； 末焉者，資槁薄，樂山林，內審其才，終不可當世取捨，故逃丘園而不返，使人常高其風而不敢加訾焉。 且世未嘗無隱，有之未嘗不旌賁而先焉者，以孔子所謂「舉逸民，天下之人歸焉」。
Recluses of old fell, broadly speaking, into three kinds. The highest kept themselves out of sight yet never let their virtue go dim; they roamed freely in field and thicket while reputation came to seek them out, and even rulers who commanded ten thousand chariots would trace their path and send formal invitations. The second sort bore the means to govern an age yet could not fully deploy them, or kept so steep a moral line that the world could not bend them; when they did respond to summons, they took titles and stipends lightly and let them go just as easily, leaving rulers forever yearning after them, restless as though something were still lacking—that was their worth. The lowest had modest gifts, loved mountains and woods, and looked within until they knew their talents could never satisfy the world's demands; they withdrew to hill and garden and never came back, so that others always held their bearing in esteem and did not dare speak ill of them. Moreover, the world has never been without recluses; whenever they appeared, courts honored them and put them first—just as Confucius said, 'Promote the withdrawn and the people will come to you.'
2
唐興，賢人在位眾多，其遁戢不出者，才班班可述，然皆下概者也。 雖然，各保其素，非托默於語，足崖壑而志城闕也。 然放利之徒，假隱自名，以詭祿仕，肩相摩於道，至號終南、嵩少為仕途捷徑，高尚之節喪焉。 故裒可喜慕者類於篇。
When the Tang arose, the throne was full of able men; those who stayed in hiding nevertheless had talents worth recording, yet they all belonged to the lowest of the three types. Even so, each kept his native simplicity; this was not silence worn as a mask, with feet in ravines while the heart still yearned for court. Yet profit-seekers took the name of recluse to cheat their way into office, crowding the highways until Mount Zhongnan and the peaks of Song were nicknamed shortcuts to rank—and the high integrity of withdrawal was ruined. Hence this chapter gathers only those whose lives are genuinely worthy of admiration.
3
王績，字無功，絳州龍門人。 性簡放，不喜拜揖。 兄通，隋末大儒也，聚徒河、汾間，仿古作《六經》，又為《中說》以擬《論語》。 不為諸儒稱道，故書不顯，惟《中說》獨傳。 通知績誕縱，不嬰以家事，鄉族慶吊冠昏，不與也。 與李播、呂才善。
Wang Ji, courtesy name Wugong, was a native of Longmen in Jiangzhou. Unrestrained by nature, he disliked bows and formal salutes. His elder brother Wang Tong was a leading Confucian of late Sui, teaching between the Yellow and Fen rivers, composing imitations of the Six Classics and writing the Zhongshuo in the manner of the Analects. Other scholars did not commend him, so most of his books went unknown; only the Zhongshuo survived. Tong saw that Ji had been free-spirited from childhood and never pressed him into family duties; he skipped village weddings, funerals, cappings, and betrothals alike. He was close to Li Bo and Lü Cai.
4
大業中，舉孝悌廉潔，授秘書省正字。 不樂在朝，求為六合丞，以嗜酒不任事，時天下亦亂，因劾，遂解去。 歎曰：「網羅在天，吾且安之！」 乃還鄉里。 有田十六頃在河渚間。 仲長子光者，亦隱者也，無妻子，結廬北渚，凡三十年，非其力不食。 績愛其真，徙與相近。 子光喑，未嘗交語，與對酌酒歡甚。 績有奴婢數人，種黍，春秋釀酒，養鳧雁，蒔藥草自供。 以《周易》、《老子》、《莊子》置床頭，他書罕讀也。 欲見兄弟，輒度河還家。 游北山東皋，著書自號東皋子。 乘牛經酒肆，留或數日。
During the Daye reign he was recommended as filial and incorrupt and appointed a rectifier in the Secretariat. Unhappy in the capital, he asked for the post of magistrate of Liuhe; his love of wine left him unfit for duty, and with the empire falling into chaos he was impeached and removed. He sighed, "Heaven's net is spread wide—I shall settle beneath it! Then he went home. He owned sixteen qing of fields on a river islet. Zhongchang Ziguang, another recluse, had neither wife nor children; he built a hut on the north islet and for thirty years ate only what he himself could earn. Ji admired his authenticity and moved nearby. Ziguang was mute and never spoke; they simply drank together in silent joy. Ji kept several servants who planted millet, brewed wine each spring and autumn, raised ducks and geese, and grew herbs for the household. He kept the Book of Changes, the Laozi, and the Zhuangzi by his bed and seldom read anything else. When he wished to see his brothers he crossed the river to visit them. Wandering the eastern slope of North Mountain, he wrote and called himself Master of the Eastern Slope. Riding his ox past taverns, he sometimes lingered for days.
5
高祖武德初，以前官待詔門下省。 故事，官給酒日三升，或問：「待詔何樂邪？」 答曰：「良醞可戀耳！」 侍中陳叔達聞之，日給一斗，時稱「鬥酒學士」。 貞觀初，以疾罷。 復調有司，時太樂署史焦革家善釀，績求為丞，吏部以非流不許，績固請曰：「有深意。」 竟除之。 革死，妻送酒不絕，歲餘，又死。 績曰：「天不使我酣美酒邪？」 棄官去。 自是太樂丞為清職。 追述革酒法為經，又采杜康、儀狄以來善酒者為譜。 李淳風曰：「君，酒家南、董也。」 所居東南有磐石，立杜康祠祭之，尊為師，以革配。 著《醉鄉記》以次劉伶《酒德頌》。 其飲至五斗不亂，人有以酒邀者，無貴賤輒往，著《五斗先生傳》。 刺史崔喜悅之，請相見，答曰：「奈何坐召嚴君平邪？」 卒不詣。 杜之松，故人也，為刺史，請績講禮，答曰：「吾不能揖讓邦君門，談糟粕，棄醇醪也。」 之松歲時贈以酒脯。 初，兄凝為隋著作郎，撰《隋書》未成，死，績續餘功，亦不能成。 豫知終日，命薄葬，自志其墓。
Early in Emperor Gaozu's Wude reign he was retained at court under his former office. By custom a retained scholar received three sheng of wine daily; someone asked, "What is pleasant about that post? He answered, "Only fine wine is worth the trouble!" Attendant Chen Shuda heard of this and granted him a dou a day; people called him the Scholar of the Dou of Wine. Early in the Zhenguan reign illness forced him from office. He petitioned again: Jiao Ge, a clerk in the Court of Imperial Music, brewed superb wine, and Ji asked to be made his deputy. Personnel refused because he was outside the regular career track, but Ji insisted, "There is a deeper reason. In the end he got the post. When Ge died his wife continued the supply of wine; a year later she died as well. Ji cried, "Does Heaven mean to keep me from good wine? He threw down his office and walked away. After that the music-court deputyship was regarded as a pure and honorable post. He set down Ge's brewing methods as a classic and compiled a genealogy of famous drinkers from Du Kang and Yidi onward. Li Chunfeng said, "You are the wine world's answer to Dong Zhongshu and Nan Yue. A great stone lay southeast of his home; he built a shrine to Du Kang, honored him as master, and paired Ge beside him. He wrote Record of the Land of Drunkenness as a companion piece to Liu Ling's Eulogy on the Virtue of Wine. He could drink five dou without losing his wits; whoever invited him with wine, high or low, he would visit, and he wrote Biography of the Five-Dou Gentleman. Prefect Cui Xi admired him and asked for a meeting; he replied, "Would you summon Yan Junping to sit before you? He never went. Du Zhisong, an old friend, became prefect and asked him to expound ritual; he answered, "I cannot bow at a magistrate's gate or talk of lees while spurning the vintage. Zhisong sent him wine and preserved meat every season. His brother Ning had been Sui compiler of the national history and left the Book of Sui unfinished at his death; Ji tried to finish it but could not. Knowing the day of his death in advance, he ordered a plain burial and wrote his own epitaph.
6
績之仕，以醉失職，鄉人靳之，托無心子以見趣曰：「無心子居越，越王不知其大人也，拘之仕，無喜色。 越國法曰：『穢行者不齒。』 俄而無心子以穢行聞，王黜之，無慍色。 退而適茫蕩之野，過動之邑而見機士，機士撫髀曰：『嘻！ 子賢者而以罪廢邪？』 無心子不應。 機士曰：『願見教。』 曰：『子聞蜚廉氏馬乎？ 一者硃鬣白毳，龍骼鳳臆，驟馳如舞，終日不釋轡而以熱死； 一者重頭昂尾，駝頸貉膝，啉是齧善蹶，棄諸野，終年而肥。 夫鳳不憎山棲，龍不羞泥蟠，君子不苟潔以罹患，不避穢而養精也。』」 其自處如此。
Because drink cost him his post, neighbors sneered at him; he told the tale of the Heartless Child: "The Heartless Child lived in Yue; the king did not know his worth and forced him into service, yet he showed no joy. Yue law declared, 'Whoever behaves foully shall not stand among decent men. Soon the Heartless Child was reported for foul conduct; the king dismissed him, yet he was not angry. He withdrew to open country; in the town of Motion he met a Clever Fellow who slapped his thigh and cried, 'Alas! You are worthy yet cast out for a crime? The Heartless Child did not answer. The Clever Fellow said, 'I wish to learn from you.' He said, 'Have you heard of Feilian's horses?' One had a vermilion mane and white fetlocks, a dragon's chest and phoenix barrel, galloping like a dancer until, reins never slackened all day, it died of heat; another had a heavy head and raised tail, camel neck and badger knee, stumbling and biting, turned loose in the wilds and growing fat all year. The phoenix does not scorn mountain perches, the dragon is not ashamed to coil in mud; the gentleman does not keep himself spotless to invite disaster, nor shuns foulness when it nourishes his spirit. Such was how he thought of himself.
7
硃桃椎，益州成都人。 澹泊絕俗，被裘曳索，人莫能測其為。 長史竇軌見之，遺以衣服、鹿幘、麂靴，逼署鄉正。 委之地，不肯服。 更結廬山中，夏則裸，冬緝木皮葉自蔽，贈遺無所受。 嘗織十芒屩置道上，見者曰：「居士屩也。」 為鬻米茗易之，置其處，輒取去，終不與人接。 其為屩，草柔細，環結促密，人爭躡之。 高士廉為長史，備禮以請，降階與之語，不答，瞪視而出。 士廉拜曰：「祭酒其使我以無事治蜀邪？」 乃簡條目，薄賦斂，州大治。 屢遣人存問，見輒走林草自匿云。
Zhu Taozhui was a native of Chengdu in Yizhou. Serene and remote from the world, clad in fur and rope sandals, no one could tell what manner of man he was. Chief Administrator Dou Gui saw him and sent clothes, a deer-skin cap, and badger boots, pressing on him the post of village elder. He cast them on the ground and refused to wear them. He built another hut in the hills; in summer he went naked, in winter he stitched bark and leaves for cover, and accepted no gifts. Once he wove ten straw sandals and left them on the road; passersby said, "Those are the recluse's sandals. People left rice and tea in exchange and he took the payment, but he never spoke with anyone. His sandals were woven of fine soft grass, tightly knotted; people vied to wear them. When Gao Shilian was chief administrator he invited him with full ceremony, came down the steps to speak, but Taozhui only stared and walked out. Shilian bowed and said, "Has the libationer sent me to govern Shu in peace? He then simplified laws and lightened levies, and the prefecture was well governed. He sent men again and again to inquire after Taozhui, who always fled into the thickets to hide.
8
孫思邈
Sun Simiao
9
孫思邈，京兆華原人。 通百家說，善言老子、莊周。 周洛州總管獨孤信見其少，異之，曰：「聖童也，顧器大難為用爾！」 及長，居太白山。 隋文帝輔政，以國子博士召，不拜。 密語人曰：「後五十年有聖人出，吾且助之。」 太宗初，召詣京師，年已老，而聽視聰嘹。 帝歎曰：「有道者！」 欲官之，不受。 顯慶中，復召見，拜諫議大夫，固辭。 上元元年，稱疾還山，高宗賜良馬，假鄱陽公主邑司以居之。
Sun Simiao was a native of Huayuan in Jingzhao. He mastered the teachings of the hundred schools and excelled at expounding Laozi and Zhuangzi. Dugu Xin, inspector of Zhou and Luo, saw him young and exclaimed, "A sage child—but his talent is too great to be lightly employed! Grown, he lived on Mount Taibai. When Emperor Wen held the regency he was summoned as erudite of the Directorate of Education and declined. He told others privately, "In fifty years a sage will arise; I mean to aid him. Early in Taizong's reign he was summoned to the capital; though aged, his hearing and sight were keen. The emperor sighed, "A man of the Way! The emperor wished to give him office, but he refused. In the Xianqing era he was summoned again and offered the post of remonstrating grand master, but firmly declined. In Shangyuan 1 he pleaded illness and returned to the hills; Emperor Gaozong gave him fine horses and lent him the fief office of Princess Poyang for his residence.
10
思邈於陰陽、推步、醫藥無不善，孟詵、盧照鄰等師事之。 照鄰有惡疾，不可為，感而問曰：「高醫愈疾，奈何？」 答曰：「天有四時五行，寒暑迭居，和為雨，怒為風，凝為雨霜，張為虹霓，天常數也。 人之四支五藏，一覺一寐，吐納往來，流為榮衛，章為氣色，發為音聲，人常數也。 陽用其形，陰用其精，天人所同也。 失則烝生熱，否生寒，結為瘤贅，陷為癰疽，奔則喘乏，端則燋槁，發乎面，動乎形。 天地亦然：五緯縮贏，孛彗飛流，其危診也； 寒暑不時，其蒸否也； 石立土踴，是其瘤贅； 山崩土陷，是其癰疽； 奔風暴雨其喘乏，川瀆竭涸其燋槁。 高醫導以藥石，救以钅乏劑； 聖人和以至德，輔以人事。 故體有可愈之疾，天有可振之災。」
Simiao had no equal in yin-yang lore, calendrical astronomy, or medicine; Meng Shen and Lu Zhaolin were among his disciples. Zhaolin suffered an incurable illness and asked in anguish, "Great physicians heal disease—how? He answered, "Heaven has four seasons and five phases, cold and heat in turn; harmony becomes rain, anger wind, congelation frost and snow, expansion rainbows—that is heaven's constant way. Man's four limbs and five viscera wake and sleep, breathe in and out, circulate nutritive and defensive qi, show color in the face and sound in the voice—that is man's constant way. Yang uses form, yin uses essence; heaven and man share the same principle. When the pattern is lost, congestion breeds heat and stagnation cold; knots become tumors, sinks become abscesses, rushing brings gasping exhaustion, extreme drying withers the flesh—first in the face, then in the limbs. So too with heaven and earth: the five planets wax and wane, comets streak—that is heaven's dangerous symptom; untimely cold and heat are its congestion and stagnation; stones thrusting up and earth swelling are its tumors; mountains collapsing and earth sinking are its abscesses; rushing storms are its gasping, rivers running dry its withering. Great physicians guide with drugs and stone and rescue with needles and potions; sages harmonize through supreme virtue and assist through human effort. Thus the body has illnesses that can be cured, and heaven has calamities that can be set right."
11
照鄰曰：「人事奈何？」 曰：「心為之君，君尚恭，故欲小。 《詩》曰『如臨深淵，如履薄冰』，小之謂也。 膽為之將，以果決為務，故欲大。 《詩》曰『赳赳武夫，公侯幹城』，大之謂也。 仁者靜，地之象，故欲方，《傳》曰『不為利回，不為義疚』，方之謂也。 智者動，天之象，故欲圓。 《易》曰『見機而作，不俟終日』，圓之謂也。」
Zhaolin asked, "What of human affairs? Sun Simiao replied: "The heart is the ruler of the body; because a ruler must be reverent, the heart should be kept small. As the Book of Odes has it—'as if facing a deep gulf, as if walking on thin ice'—that is the sense in which the heart should be small. The gallbladder is the body's commander-in-chief, charged with decisive action, and therefore should be made large. The Odes' line 'bold and stalwart is the warrior, shield of duke and marquis' captures what is meant by large. Benevolence is stillness, the image of earth, and should be square; as the Zuozhuan puts it, 'not swayed by gain, not shamed by right conduct'—that is squareness. Wisdom is movement, the image of heaven, and should be kept round. The Yijing counsels, 'See the turning point and act—do not wait for the day to end'; that is roundness."
12
復問養性之要，答曰：「天有盈虛，人有屯危，不自慎，不能濟也。 故養性必先知自慎也。 慎以畏為本，故士無畏則簡仁義，農無畏則墮稼穡，工無畏則慢規矩，商無畏則貸不殖，子無畏則忘孝，父無畏則廢慈，臣無畏則勳不立，君無畏則亂不治。 是乙太上畏道，其次畏天，其次畏物，其次畏人，其次畏身。 憂于身者不拘於人，畏於己者不制於彼，慎於小者不懼於大，戒於近者不侮於遠。 知此則人事畢矣。」
Lu Zhaolin asked again about the essentials of nurturing life. Sun Simiao answered: "Heaven waxes and wanes; human lives meet crisis and danger. Without careful self-restraint, none of this can be weathered. To nurture life, one must first master cautious self-governance. Caution is rooted in reverent awe. Without it, scholars neglect benevolence and righteousness, farmers abandon their fields, craftsmen scorn their gauges, merchants find credit unprofitable, sons forget filial duty, fathers set aside parental kindness, ministers win no lasting merit, and rulers cannot bring order from chaos. In order of rank: first revere the Way, then Heaven, then the things of the world, then other people, and finally one's own person. Whoever minds the body is not shackled by others; whoever stands in awe of himself is not mastered by the crowd; caution in small things dispels terror of the large; vigilance at hand keeps distant trouble at bay. Grasp this, and the conduct of human affairs is complete."
13
初，魏征等修齊、梁、周、隋等五家史，屢咨所遺，其傳最詳。 永淳初，卒，年百餘歲，遺令薄葬，不藏明器，祭去牲牢。
When Wei Zheng and his colleagues compiled the histories of Qi, Liang, Zhou, Sui, and the other dynasties, they repeatedly sought Sun Simiao's counsel on lacunae in the record, and the passages bearing his name are among the fullest. He died early in the Yongchun reign, aged over a hundred. He left orders for a spare funeral, no mingqi in the tomb, and offerings without slaughtered animals.
14
孫處約嘗以諸子見，思邈曰：「俊先顯，侑晚貴，佺禍在執兵。」 後皆驗。 太子詹事盧齊卿之少也，思邈曰：「後五十年位方伯，吾孫為屬吏，願自愛。」 時思邈之孫溥尚未生，及溥為蕭丞，而齊卿徐州刺史。
When Sun Chuyue once presented his sons, Simiao said, "Jun will distinguish himself early, You will rise late, and Quan will meet disaster through military office. In every case his words proved true. To the young Lu Qiqing, later Chief Steward of the Heir Apparent, Simiao foretold: "In fifty years you will be a regional inspector; my grandson will be your subordinate—mind how you treat him. Pu had not yet been born; years later, when Pu served as magistrate of Xiao and Qiqing governed Xuzhou, the prophecy was fulfilled.
15
田遊岩
Tian Youyan
16
田遊岩，京兆三原人。 永徽時，補太學生。 罷歸，入太白山。 母及妻皆有方外志，與共棲遲山水間。 自蜀曆荊、楚，愛夷陵青溪，止廬其側。 長史李安期表其才，召赴京師，行及汝，辭疾入箕山，居許由祠旁，自號「由東鄰」，頻召不出。
Tian Youyan, a native of Sanyuan in the Jingzhao commandery. During the Yonghui reign he entered the Imperial University as a student. He left office, returned home, and withdrew to Mount Tai. His mother and wife shared his longing for life beyond the court, and the family settled together in mountain and stream country. Traveling from Shu through Jing and Chu, he fell in love with the Green Stream at Yiling and built his dwelling on its banks. Chief Administrator Li Anqi recommended him to court; he was summoned to the capital, but at Ru prefecture he pleaded illness, retired to Mount Ji beside Xu You's shrine, took the sobriquet "Xu You's Eastern Neighbor," and refused repeated imperial calls.
17
高宗幸嵩山，遣中書侍郎薛元超就問其母，賜藥物絮帛。 帝親至其門，遊岩野服出拜，儀止謹樸，帝令左右扶止，謂曰：「先生比佳否？」 答曰：「臣所謂泉石膏肓，煙霞痼疾者。」 帝曰：「朕得君，何異漢獲四皓乎？」 薛元超贊帝曰：「漢欲廢嫡立庶，故四人者為出，豈如陛下親降岩穴邪？」 帝悅，因敕游岩將家屬乘傳赴都，拜崇文館學士。 帝營奉天宮，遊岩舊宅直宮左，詔不聽毀。 天子自書榜其門，曰「隱士田游岩宅」。 進太子洗馬。 裴炎死，坐素厚善，放還山。 蠶衣耕食，不交當世，惟與韓法昭、宋之問為方外友云。
On Gaozong's tour of Mount Song, the emperor sent Vice Director of the Secretariat Xue Yuanchao to visit Youyan's mother with medicines, floss, and silk. The emperor himself came to his door. Youyan emerged in country clothes to pay his respects, every gesture restrained and plain. Gaozong had attendants steady him and asked, "Have you been well, sir? He answered, "I am one of those whose marrow is springs and stone, whose chronic sickness is mist on the peaks." The emperor said, "To win you—is that not like the Han finding the Four Recluses of Mount Shang?" Xue Yuanchao added, "The Four came out because the Han court meant to displace the heir—how can that compare with Your Majesty honoring a hermit in his own grotto?" Delighted, the emperor ordered Youyan's household brought to the capital by relay carriage and named him Scholar of the Chongwen Pavilion. When Fengtian Palace was built, his old house lay immediately to its left; an edict spared it from demolition. The emperor inscribed his gate himself: "Dwelling of the Recluse Tian Youyan." He was promoted to Groom of the Heir Apparent's Chariot. After Pei Yan's execution, Youyan was dismissed to the hills for his close friendship with him. He dressed in homespun, farmed for his food, kept aloof from public life, and counted only Han Fazhao and Song Zhiwen among his companions in reclusion.
18
時又有史德義者，昆山人，居虎丘山。 騎牛帶瓢，出入廛野。 高宗聞其名，召至洛陽，俄稱疾歸。 天授初，江南宣勞使周興薦之，復召赴都，擢朝散大夫。 興死，免官歸，素譽頓衰。
About the same time there was Shi Deyi of Kunshan, who lived on Tiger Hill. He rode an ox, carried a gourd, and wandered through towns and countryside. Gaozong heard of him, summoned him to Luoyang, and soon afterward he pleaded illness and went home. Early in the Tianshou reign, Commissioner Zhou Xing recommended him; he was called again to court and made Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. When Zhou Xing died, Deyi lost his office and went home, and his once-lofty name quickly faded.
19
孟詵，汝州梁人。 擢進士第，累遷鳳閣舍人。 他日至劉禕之家，見賜金，曰：「此藥金也，燒之，火有五色氣。」 試之，驗。 武后聞，不悅，出為台州司馬，頻遷春官侍郎。 相王召為侍讀。 拜同州刺史。 神龍初，致仕，居伊陽山，治方藥。 睿宗召，將用之，以老固辭，賜物百段，詔河南春秋給羊酒糜粥。 尹畢構以詵有古人風，名所居為子平里。 開元初，卒，年九十三。
Meng Shen, a native of Liang in Ruzhou. A jinshi degree carried him through repeated promotions to Attendant of the Phoenix Pavilion. Visiting Liu Yizhi's house another day, he saw imperial gold and said, "This is medicinal gold—burn it and five-colored vapors rise from the flame. They tested it, and so it proved. The empress took offense and banished him to Taizhou as prefectural marshal, though he was soon made Vice Minister of Rites. Prince Xiang of Dan summoned him as Reader-in-Attendance. He was appointed prefect of Tongzhou. At the opening of the Shenlong reign he retired to Mount Yiyang and devoted himself to medical formulas. Ruizong summoned him to serve at court; he pleaded old age and was refused, but received a hundred lengths of gifts and a standing order that Henan supply him mutton, wine, and gruel each spring and autumn. Prefect Bi Gou, finding in Shen the bearing of the ancients, named his residence Ziping Lane. He died early in the Kaiyuan reign, aged ninety-three.
20
詵居官頗刻斂，然以治稱。 其閒居嘗語人曰：「養性者，善言不可離口，善藥不可離手。」 當時傳其當。
As an official he could be severe in collection, yet he was praised for how he governed. In seclusion he once told others, "Who would nurture life must keep wholesome words on the lips and good medicine in the hand. His contemporaries made the line proverbial.
21
王友貞
Wang Youzhen
22
王友貞，懷州河內人。 父知敬，善書隸。 武后時，仕為麟台少監。 友貞少為司經局正字。 母病，醫言得人肉啖良已，友貞剔股以進，母疾愈。 詔旌表其門。 素好學，訓誨子弟如嚴君。 口不語人過，重然諾，時以為君子。 曆長水令，罷歸。 中宗在東宮，召為司儀郎，不就。 神龍初，以太子中舍人征，固辭疾。 詔致珍饌，給全祿終身，四時送其所，州縣存問。 玄宗在東宮，表以蒲車召，不至。 卒，年九十九，贈銀青光祿大夫，賴縣令弔祭。
Wang Youzhen, a native of Henei in Huai Prefecture. His father Wang Zhijing excelled at clerical and standard script. Under Empress Wu he served as Vice Director of the Imperial Library. Youzhen in his youth held the post of proofreader in the Directorate of Education. When his mother fell ill, the doctor said only human flesh could cure her; Youzhen sliced flesh from his own thigh for her to eat, and she recovered. The court ordered his gate honored with an official commendation. A lifelong student, he taught sons and kin with a father's strict hand. He never gossiped of others' faults, held promises sacred, and his contemporaries called him a true gentleman. He served as magistrate of Changshui, then retired home. When Zhongzong was crown prince he was summoned as Master of Ceremonies; Youzhen declined to come. At the opening of the Shenlong reign he was called as Attendant of the Heir Apparent's Household and again pleaded illness. The throne sent delicacies, granted him full salary for life with seasonal deliveries, and ordered local officials to call on him. When Xuanzong was crown prince, a memorial summoned him in the ceremonial rush cart; he still would not come. He died at ninety-nine, was posthumously made Grand Master of Splendid Honor with Silver Seal, and the magistrate of Lai performed the mourning rites.
23
王希夷
Wang Xiyi
24
王希夷，徐州滕人。 家貧，父母喪，為人牧羊，取傭以葬。 隱嵩山，師黃頤學養生四十年。 頤卒，更居兗州徂徠，與劉玄博友善。 喜讀《周易》、《老子》，餌松柏葉、雜華，年七十餘，筋力柔強。 刺史盧齊卿就謁問政，答曰：「『己所不欲，勿施於人』，此言足矣。」
Wang Xiyi, a native of Teng in Xuzhou. Born poor, he herded sheep for hire to pay for his parents' burial when they died. He withdrew to Mount Song and studied longevity arts under Huang Yi for forty years. After Huang Yi died he moved to Culai in Yanzhou and became close to Liu Xuanbo. He loved the Yijing and Laozi, lived on pine needles and medicinal herbs, and past seventy remained lithe and strong. When Prefect Lu Qiqing visited to ask about governing, he answered, "'Do not do to others what you would not wish done to you'—that single sentence is enough."
25
玄宗東巡狩，詔州縣敦勸見行在，時九十餘，帝令張說訪以政事，宦官扶入宮中，與語甚悅，拜國子博士，聽還山。 敕州縣春秋致束帛酒肉，仍賜絹百、衣一稱。
On Xuanzong's eastern tour, local officials were ordered to present recluses at the imperial camp; Xiyi was then past ninety. Zhang Yue was sent to sound him on policy; eunuchs helped him into the palace. The emperor conversed with him at length, delighted, named him Erudite of the Directorate of Education, and let him go home to the hills. An edict required prefectures to send silk, wine, and meat each spring and autumn, with a further gift of a hundred bolts of silk and a suit of robes.
26
李元愷
Li Yuankai
27
李元愷，邢州人。 博學，善天步律曆，性恭慎，未嘗敢語人。 宋璟嘗師之，既當國，厚遺以束帛，將薦之朝，拒不答。 洺州刺史元行沖邀致之，問經義畢，贈衣服，辭曰：「吾軀不可服新麗，懼不稱以速咎也。」 行沖垢衊復與之，不獲已而受。 俄報身所蠶素絲，曰：「義不受無妄財也。」 先是，定州崔元鑒善《禮》學，用張易之力，授朝散大夫，家居給半祿。 元愷誚曰：「無功而祿，災也。」 卒，年八十餘。
Li Yuankai, a native of Xingzhou. Widely learned, expert in astronomy and the calendar, he was by nature reverent and cautious and never spoke lightly with others. Song Jing had studied under him; once in power, Jing sent a rich gift of silk and meant to recommend him to court, but Yuankai would not accept or reply. Luozhou Prefect Yuan Xingchong invited him; after their discussion of the classics, Xingchong offered robes. Yuankai declined: "This frame cannot wear fresh splendor—I fear the mismatch will bring swift calamity. Xingchong deliberately soiled the garments and offered them again; unable to refuse further, Yuankai took them. Soon he explained that the plain silk he wore came from his own silkworms: "I cannot in good conscience keep wealth I did not earn. Earlier, Cui Yuanjian of Dingzhou, learned in ritual, had used Zhang Yizhi's patronage to win the title Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and half pay while living at home. Yuankai mocked him: "Stipend without merit is its own disaster. He died in his eighties.
28
衛大經
Wei Dajing
29
衛大經，蒲州解人。 卓然高行，口無二言。 武后時，召之，固辭疾。 素善魏夏侯乾童，聞其母卒，盛暑步往吊，或止之曰：「方夏，涉遠不如致書。」 答曰：「書能盡意邪？」 比至，乾童以事行，乃設席行吊禮，不訊其家而還。 開元初，畢構為刺史，使縣令孔慎言就謁，辭不見。
Wei Dajing, a native of Jie in Puzhou. Upright and austere in conduct, he never spoke an idle or contradictory word. Under Empress Wu he was summoned to court and firmly pleaded illness. He had long been intimate with Xiahou Qiantong of Weizhou; learning that Qiantong's mother had died, he walked through the midsummer heat to mourn. Some urged him to stay: "In this heat, a letter would serve as well as such a journey. He answered, "Can ink on paper exhaust what the heart must say?" When he arrived, Qiantong was away on business; Dajing spread mats at the door, performed the mourning rites, asked nothing of the family, and went home. Early in Kaiyuan, when Bi Gou was prefect, he sent Magistrate Kong Shenyan to call; Dajing refused to receive him.
30
大經邃于《易》，人謂之「《易》聖」。 豫筮死日，鑿墓自為志，如言終。
Deep in the Yijing, contemporaries called him the Sage of the Changes. He divined the day of his death in advance, dug his own grave, wrote his epitaph, and died exactly as he had foretold.
31
武攸緒
Wu Youxu
32
武攸緒，則天皇后兄惟良子也。 恬淡寡欲，好《易》、莊周書。 少變姓名，賣卜長安市，得錢輒委去。 後更授太子通事舍人，累遷揚州大都督府長史、鴻臚少卿。 後革命，封安平郡王，從封中嶽，固辭官，願隱居。 後疑其詐，許之，以觀所為。 攸緒廬岩下如素遁者，後遣其兄攸宜敦諭，卒不起，後乃異之。 盤桓龍門、少室間，冬蔽茅椒，夏居石室，所賜金銀鐺鬲、野服，王公所遺鹿裘、素障、癭杯，塵皆流積，不禦也。 市田潁陽，使家奴雜作，自混於民。 晚年肌肉消眚，瞳有紫光，晝能見星。
Wu Youxu was the son of Youliang, elder brother to Empress Wu Zetian. Even-tempered and sparing in his wants, he delighted in the Book of Changes and the works of Zhuangzi. While young he assumed another name, told fortunes in the markets of Chang'an, and cast aside whatever coins he earned. He later returned to office as Attendant Gentleman for Palace Communications to the Heir Apparent, then advanced to chief administrator of the Yangzhou metropolitan prefecture and vice minister of ceremonial affairs. When Wu Zetian overturned the Tang and founded her Zhou, he was enfeoffed Prince of Anping; he accompanied the court to Mount Song for the fengshan rites, yet steadfastly refused rank and asked to withdraw from public life. The Empress at first suspected he was feigning, but allowed his request so she could see how he behaved. Youxu lived in a thatched shelter on the cliffs as though he had long been a recluse. The Empress then sent his brother Youyi to press him, but he still would not take office; at last she marveled at him. Roaming between Longmen and Mount Song, he wintered beneath thatch and brush and summered in stone cells. Imperial gifts of gold and silver vessels, his own coarse dress, and deer-hide robes, plain screens, and gnarled cups from nobles all gathered dust in piles, for he never troubled to clean them. He purchased farmland at Yingyang and set his household slaves to work alongside commoners, blending himself into the crowd. In old age his body thinned to skin and bone, his pupils shone with a violet gleam, and he could discern stars even in daylight.
33
中宗初，降封巢國公，遣國子司業杜慎盈齎書以安車召，拜太子賓客。 苦祈還山，詔可。 安樂公主出降，又遣通事舍人李邈以璽書迎之。 將至，帝敕有司即兩儀殿設位，行問道禮，詔見日山帔葛巾，不名不拜。 攸緒至，更冠帶。 仗入，通事舍人贊就位，攸緒趨就常班再拜，帝愕然，禮不及行，朝廷歎息。 賜予無所受，親貴來謁，道寒溫外，默無所言。 及還，中書、門下、學士、朝官五品以上，並祖城東。
When Emperor Zhongzong first took the throne, Youxu's title was reduced to Duke of Chao. Du Shenying, vice director of the Directorate of Education, was dispatched with an imperial letter to summon him in a state carriage, and he was appointed grand mentor to the heir apparent. He pleaded bitterly to go back to the hills, and the throne granted his request. When Princess Anle wed, the emperor once more sent Attendant Gentleman Li Miao with an imperial missive to bring him to court. Before he arrived, the emperor commanded that a seat be prepared in the Hall of Two Principles for the rite of inquiring into the Way, and decreed that on the day of audience he should wear a hermit's stole and hemp cap, without being named or required to bow. When Youxu came, he put on official cap and sash once more. Leaning on a staff he entered. As the attendant announced him to his place, Youxu hastened instead to the ordinary court rows and bowed twice. The emperor was dumbfounded; the intended ceremony never took place, and the whole court sighed. He refused every gift pressed on him. When relatives and grandees visited, beyond a word on the weather he would say nothing. When he left, secretariat and chancellery officials, Hanlin scholars, and every courtier of fifth rank or higher escorted him to the city's eastern gate.
34
俄而諸韋誅，武氏連禍，唯攸緒不及。 睿宗恐其不自安，下詔慰諭，復召拜太子賓客，不就。 譙王重福之亂，攸緒以誣被系，張說表置廬山，中書令姚元崇奏：「攸緒在武后時未嘗輒出，今州縣逼遣，士為驚嗟。 願詔賜嵩山舊居，令州縣存問。」 詔可。 開元十一年卒。
Soon the Wei faction was purged and the Wu kindred swept into ruin; Youxu alone escaped harm. Emperor Ruizong, anxious lest he feel unsafe, sent a comforting edict and summoned him once more as grand mentor to the heir apparent, but he would not take the post. During the rebellion of Prince Chongfu of Qiao, Youxu was jailed on trumped-up charges. Zhang Yue memorialized to lodge him on Mount Lu, and Chief Minister Yao Yuanchong wrote: 'Under Empress Wu, Youxu would not stir from seclusion; now local officials hound him to travel, to the astonishment and grief of the learned. I ask that he be granted his former home on Mount Song and that prefectural officials be charged to look after him. The throne assented. He died in Kaiyuan 11 (723).
35
白履忠
Bai Lüzhong
36
白履忠，汴州浚儀人。 貫知文史，居古大梁城，時號梁丘子。 景雲中，召為校書郎，棄官去。 開元十年，刑部尚書王志愔薦履忠博學守操，可代褚無量、馬懷素入閣侍讀，國子祭酒楊瑒又表其賢，召赴京師。 辭病老不任職，詔拜朝散大夫。 乞還，手詔許游京師，徐返里閭。 履忠留數月乃去。
Bai Lüzhong came from Junyi in Bianzhou. Deeply learned in letters and history, he made his home in the ancient city of Daliang and was known in his day as Master Liangqiu. During the Jingyun period he was called up as a collating editor, then threw down his post and walked away. In Kaiyuan 10 (722), Minister of Justice Wang Zhiyin urged that Lüzhong's erudition and integrity suited him to succeed Chu Wuliang and Ma Huaiyi as a palace reader, and the director of education Yang Cheng also praised him; he was summoned to the capital. He pleaded age and infirmity, unfit to serve; the court named him Grand Master of Palace Leisure. He asked leave to go home; the emperor's own brush granted him time to stroll the capital before drifting back to his village. Lüzhong remained a few months more and then left.
37
吳兢，其里人也，謂曰：「子素貧，不沾斗米匹帛，雖得五品亦何益？」 履忠曰：「往契丹入寇，家取排門夫，吾以讀書，縣為免。 今終身高臥，寬徭役，豈易得哉！」
Wu Jing, a man of his home district, told him: 'You have always been poor and never touched official grain or silk. Even a fifth-rank title—what would it add? Lüzhong replied: 'When the Khitans invaded, the district drafted gate guards from every household. Because I was a reader of books, the county excused me. Now I may rest out my days with lighter labor service. That is no small thing to come by!'
38
盧鴻，字顥然，其先幽州范陽人，徙洛陽。 博學，善書籀。 廬嵩山。 玄宗開元初，備禮征再，不至。 五年，詔曰：「鴻有泰一之道，中庸之德，鉤深詣微，確乎自高。 詔書屢下，每輒辭托，使朕虛心引領，於今數年。 雖得素履幽人之介，而失考父滋恭之誼，豈朝廷之故與生殊趣邪？ 將縱欲山林，往而不能返乎？ 禮有大倫，君臣之義不可廢也。 今城闕密邇，不足為勞，有司其齎束帛之具，重宣茲旨，想有以翻然易節，副朕意焉。」
Lu Hong, courtesy name Haoran, was descended from families of Fanyang in Youzhou who had relocated to Luoyang. He was widely read and accomplished in seal and clerical calligraphy. He made his dwelling on Mount Song. Early in Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan reign he was twice summoned with full court ceremony, and twice he stayed away. In the fifth year an edict declared: 'Hong holds the Way of the Grand Unity and the virtue of equilibrium; plumbing depths and subtle truths, he stands aloof and self-possessed. Imperial summons have gone out again and again, and each time he declines with excuses, leaving Us to strain forward in vain these many years. He keeps the integrity of a mountain hermit, yet lacks the ever-deepening deference of Kaofu. Are court and hillside truly worlds apart? Or will he indulge the hills and forests, wander off, and never turn back? Ritual has its great bonds; the relation of ruler and minister cannot be abandoned. The capital is near and should not weary him. Let the proper offices bear silks and gifts and proclaim this anew. We trust he will turn his heart, change his course, and answer Our wish.'
39
鴻至東都，謁見不拜，宰相遣通事舍人問狀，答曰：「禮者，忠信所薄，臣敢以忠信見。」 帝召升內殿，置酒。 拜諫議大夫，固辭。 復下制，許還山，歲給米百斛、絹五十，府縣為致其家，朝廷得失，其以狀聞。 將行，賜隱居服，官營草堂，恩禮殊渥。 鴻到山中，廣學廬，聚徒至五百人。 及卒，帝賜萬錢。 鴻所居室，自號寧極云。
Hong came to the eastern capital and on audience did not bow. The chief minister sent an attendant to question him; he replied: 'Rites are where loyalty and sincerity attach—I dare meet you through loyalty and sincerity alone. The emperor called him into the inner hall and offered wine. He was named Remonstrating Grand Master, but steadfastly refused. A second decree allowed him back to the mountains with an annual stipend of a hundred hu of grain and fifty bolts of silk, delivered by local officials to his door, and he was to report what he observed of the court's right and wrong. On his departure he received a recluse's robe; the state built his mountain lodge, and the honors were unusually lavish. Back on Mount Song he enlarged his lecture halls until five hundred disciples gathered about him. At his death the emperor granted ten thousand cash. He called the place where he lived Tranquil Ultimate.
40
吳筠，字貞節，華州華陰人。 通經誼，美文辭，舉進士不中。 性高鯁，不耐沈浮于時，去居南陽倚帝山。
Wu Yun, courtesy name Zhenjie, came from Huayin in Huazhou. He mastered the classics and their glosses, wrote elegant prose, and failed the presented-scholar examination. Proud and unbending by nature, he could not bear the world's rise and fall, so he withdrew to Mount Yidi in Nanyang.
41
天寶初，召至京師，請隸道士籍，乃入嵩山依潘師正，究其術。 南遊天臺，觀滄海，與有名士相娛樂，文辭傳京師。 玄宗遣使召見大同殿，與語甚悅，敕待詔翰林，獻《玄綱》三篇。 帝嘗問道，對曰：「深於道者，無如《老子》五千文，其餘徒喪紙劄耳。」 復問神仙治煉法，對曰：「此野人事，積歲月求之，非人主宜留意。」 筠每開陳，皆名教世務，以微言諷天子，天子重之。 群沙門嫉其見遇，而高力士素事浮屠，共短筠於帝，筠亦知天下將亂，懇求還嵩山。 詔為立道館。 安祿山欲稱兵，乃還茅山。 而兩京陷，江、淮盜賊起，因東入會稽剡中。 大曆十三年卒，弟子私諡為宗元先生。
Early in the Tianbao reign he was called to the capital, petitioned to be registered as a Daoist priest, entered Mount Song under Pan Shizheng, and pursued the arts to their depth. He wandered south to Tiantai, looked out on the eastern sea, and kept company with celebrated men; his writings soon filled the capital. Emperor Xuanzong summoned him to the Hall of Great Unity, delighted in their talk, made him a Hanlin attendant awaiting edicts, and received his three chapters of the Dark Net. When the emperor asked about the Way, he answered: 'Nothing goes deeper than the five thousand words of Laozi; everything else is wasted paper. Asked about immortality and elixir refining, he said: 'Those are pursuits of mountain dwellers, labored over for years—not what a Son of Heaven should mind.' Whenever he spoke, it was of moral teaching and the business of the realm; in delicate phrases he admonished the throne, and the throne weighed him heavily. Buddhist clergy envied his favor at court; Gao Lishi, a lifelong patron of Buddhism, joined them in speaking ill of him to the emperor. Yun, sensing chaos ahead, pleaded earnestly to return to Mount Song. An edict commanded that a Daoist abbey be built for him. As An Lushan prepared to rebel, he went back to Mount Mao. After both capitals fell and brigands swarmed the Yangzi and Huai, he traveled east into Kuaiji and the Shan stream country. He died in Dali 13 (778); his disciples privately styled him Master Zongyuan.
42
始，蟋嘻惡於力士而斥，故文章深詆釋氏。 筠所善孔巢父、李白，歌詩略相甲乙云。
At first, because Gao Lishi had rebuked him, Yun resented him and filled his writings with fierce attacks on Buddhism. Kong Chaofu and Li Bai, whom Yun befriended, were said to match him poem for poem.
43
潘師正
Pan Shizheng
44
潘師正者，貝州宗城人。 少喪母，廬墓，以孝聞。 事王遠知為道士，得其術，居逍遙穀。 高宗幸東都，召見，問所須，對曰：「茂松清泉，臣所須也，既不乏矣。」 帝尊異之，詔即其廬作崇唐觀。 及營奉天宮，又敕直逍遙穀作門曰仙遊，北曰尋真。 時太常獻新樂，帝更名《祈仙》、《望仙》、《翹仙曲》。 卒，年九十八，贈太中大夫，諡體玄先生。
Pan Shizheng came from Zongcheng in Beizhou. His mother died when he was young; he kept vigil at her tomb and won renown for filial devotion. He became a Daoist disciple of Wang Yuanzhi, mastered his techniques, and lived in Roaming Vale. When Emperor Gaozong came to the eastern capital he summoned him and asked what he wished for; he replied: 'Your subject needs only lofty pines and clear springs, and those he already has in plenty. The emperor treated him with special distinction and ordered Chongtang Abbey erected at his dwelling. While the Fengtian Palace was under construction, he was again commanded to name gates at Roaming Vale: to the south, Seeking Immortals; to the north, Seeking Truth. When the Court of Imperial Sacrifices offered new music, the emperor retitled the pieces Praying to Immortals, Gazing at Immortals, and Soaring toward Immortals. He died at ninety-eight, and was posthumously granted Grand Master of the Palace with the posthumous title Master Tixuan.
45
又有劉道合者，亦與師正同居嵩山，帝即所隱立太一觀，使居之。 時將封太山，雨不止，帝令道合禳祝，俄而霽，乃令馳傳先行太山祈祓。 得賞賜輒散貧乏，無所蓄。
There was also Liu Daohe, who shared Mount Song with Shizheng; the emperor founded Taiyi Abbey at his retreat and installed him there. As the emperor prepared the fengshan on Mount Tai, unending rain fell; he had Daohe perform exorcistic rites, the sky soon cleared, and he was sent by relay post to Mount Tai to conduct purification ahead of the rites. Whatever rewards he received he gave to the destitute, hoarding nothing.
46
咸亨中，為帝作丹，劑成而卒。 帝后營宮，遷道合墓，開其棺，見骸坼若蟬蛻者。 帝聞，恨曰：「為我合丹，而自服去。」 然所餘丹無它異。
During the Xianheng period he compounded elixir for the emperor; when the batch was finished, he died. Later, while the emperor was building a palace, Daohe's tomb was opened; inside, the bones lay split as though a cicada had shed its shell. Hearing this, the emperor said bitterly: 'He brewed elixir for me, then swallowed it himself and went away. The elixir left behind, however, showed no unusual power.
47
司馬承禎
Sima Chengzhen
48
司馬承禎，字子微，洛州溫人。 事潘師正，傳辟穀道引術，無不通。 師正異之，曰：「我得陶隱居正一法，逮而四世矣。」 因辭去，遍遊名山，廬天臺不出。 武后嘗召之，未幾，去。 睿宗復命其兄承禕就起之。 既至，引入中掖廷問其術，對曰：「為道日損，損之又損，以至於無為。 夫心目所知見，每損之尚不能已，況攻異端而增智慮哉？」 帝曰：「治身則爾，治國若何？」 對曰：「國猶身也，故游心於淡，合氣於漠，與物自然而無私焉，而天下治。」 帝嗟味曰：「廣成之言也！」 錫寶琴、霞紋帔，還之。
Sima Chengzhen, courtesy name Ziwei, came from Wen in Luozhou. He studied under Pan Shizheng, inherited techniques of abstaining from grain and guiding the breath, and left nothing unmastered. Shizheng marveled at him, saying: 'I received Lord Tao Hongjing's Orthodox Unity teaching, and it has passed four generations to reach you. Then Chengzhen departed, wandered every celebrated peak, and settled on Tiantai without emerging. Empress Wu once summoned him; he stayed only briefly and was gone. Emperor Ruizong again sent his elder brother Chengyi to fetch him. Once he arrived, the emperor led him into the inner palace and asked about his teaching. He answered: 'In the Way one diminishes day by day—diminish again and again until there is nothing left to do. What the eyes and mind know and see—even stripping that away is endless; how much less to chase strange doctrines and pile up cunning plans? The emperor asked: 'So for the self—but for governing the realm?' He replied: 'The realm is like the body. Let the heart dwell in simplicity, unite the breath with the vast silence, move with things as they are and without private ends—and the world orders itself.' The emperor sighed and said: 'These are Guangcheng's words!' He was given a precious zither and a cloud-woven robe, then sent home.
49
開元中，再被召至都，玄宗詔于王屋山置壇室以居。 善篆、隸，帝命以三體寫《老子》，刊正文句。 又命玉真公主及光祿卿韋縚至所居，按金籙，設祠，厚賜焉。 卒，年八十九，贈銀青光祿大夫，諡貞一先生，親文其碑。
During Kaiyuan he was summoned to the capital once more; Emperor Xuanzong ordered an altar lodge built on Mount Wangwu for his residence. Skilled in seal and clerical calligraphy, he was commanded to transcribe the Laozi in three scripts and to correct its wording. The emperor also sent Princess Yuzhen and the Director of Court Banquets Wei Chao to his home to conduct Golden Register rituals and offerings, and lavished gifts upon him. He died at eighty-nine. The court granted him the posthumous rank of Silver-Green-Glory Grand Master of the Palace and the title Master of Pure Unity, and the emperor himself wrote his tomb inscription.
50
自師正、道合與承禎等，語言詼譎似方士，剟之不錄，直取其隱概云。
From Shi Zheng and Daohe through Chengzhen, their talk was witty and smacked of the wonder-workers; such material is omitted here, and only the broad outline of their withdrawal is preserved.
51
賀知章
He Zhizhang
52
賀知章，字季真，越州永興人。 性曠夷，善談說，與族姑子陸象先善。 象先嘗謂人曰：「季真清談風流，吾一日不見，則鄙吝生矣。」
He Zhizhang, courtesy name Jizhen, came from Yongxing in Yuezhou. Open and unencumbered by nature, a gifted talker, he was close to his cousin Lu Xiangxian. Lu Xiangxian once remarked, "One day without Jizhen's refined conversation and easy grace, and I turn petty again."
53
證聖初，擢進士、超拔群類科，累遷太常博士。 張說為麗正殿修書使，表知章及徐堅、趙冬曦入院，撰《六典》等書，累年無功。 開元十三年，遷禮部侍郎，兼集賢院學士，一日並謝。 宰相源乾曜語說曰：「賀公兩命之榮，足為光寵，然學士、侍郎孰為美？」 說曰：「侍郎衣冠之選，然要為具員吏； 學士懷先王之道，經緯之文，然後處之。 此其為間也。」 玄宗自為贊賜之。 遷太子右庶子，充侍讀。
In the first year of Zhengsheng he passed the jinshi examination and the special "Outstanding Among All Categories" test, rising step by step to Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. When Zhang Yue headed the Lizheng Hall book project, he had Zhizhang, Xu Jian, and Zhao Dongxi join the staff to compile the Six Codes and related works, but after years little was finished. In Kaiyuan 13 he was appointed Vice Minister of Rites and concurrently a Hanlin academician, receiving both honors in a single audience of thanks. The chief minister Yuan Qianyao asked Zhang Yue, "Master He has two honors at once—splendid—but which is the greater, academician or vice minister? Zhang Yue replied, "Vice minister is the pick of the robed bureaucracy, yet in the end it is still a seat anyone can fill. The academician must carry the way of the ancient kings and the weave of classical writing—only then does he belong there. That is the difference between the two. Emperor Xuanzong wrote a commendation in his own hand and presented it to him. He was promoted to Right Vice Director of the Crown Prince's Household and made a lecturing attendant to the heir apparent.
54
申王薨，詔選挽郎，而知章取捨不平，廕子喧訴不能止，知章梯牆出首以決事，人皆靳之，坐徙工部。 肅宗為太子，知章遷賓客，授秘書監，而左補闕薛令之兼侍讀。 時東宮官積年不遷，令之書壁，望禮之薄，帝見，復題「聽自安者」。 令之即棄官，徒步歸鄉里。
After Prince Shen's death, the court chose funeral singers; Zhizhang's picks were biased, and officials' sons raised such a clamor of protest that he had to climb the wall and lean over it to settle the dispute. People sneered at him, and he was demoted to the Ministry of Works. When Suzong was heir apparent, Zhizhang became a palace guest and Director of the Palace Library, with Left Remonstrator Xue Lingzhi as co-lecturer. Eastern-palace staff had gone years without promotion. Lingzhi wrote on a wall that he found the court's regard too slight; the emperor saw it and added, "Hear this and rest content." Lingzhi immediately resigned and walked home on foot.
55
知章晚節尤誕放，遨嬉裏巷，自號「四明狂客」及「秘書外監」。 每醉，輒屬辭，筆不停書，咸有可觀，未始刊飭。 善草隸，好事者具筆研從之，意有所愜，不復拒，然紙才十數字，世傳以為寶。
In old age he grew wilder still, carousing in the alleys and calling himself the "Mad Guest of Siming" and the "Outer Overseer of the Secretariat." Drunk, he would pour out verse after verse without pause; everything he wrote was striking, and he never revised a line. A master of cursive and clerical script, admirers brought him brush and ink wherever he went. When the mood took him he would not refuse, though he rarely wrote more than a dozen characters—and those scraps were treasured as heirlooms.
56
天寶初，病，夢游帝居，數日寤，乃請為道士，還鄉里，詔許之，以宅為千秋觀而居。 又求周宮湖數頃為放生池，有詔賜鏡湖剡川一曲。 既行，帝賜詩，皇太子百官餞送。 擢其子僧子為會稽郡司馬，賜緋魚，使侍養，幼子亦聽為道士。 卒，年八十六。 肅宗乾元初，以雅舊，贈禮部尚書。
Early in the Tianbao era he fell ill, dreamed he wandered the imperial palace, and woke after several days. He then asked to take Daoist orders and go home; the emperor agreed and turned his house into the Qianqiu Abbey for his retirement. He also requested a tract of Zhou Palace Lake as a pond for releasing captive animals; the throne instead granted him a stretch of Mirror Lake and the Shanchuan stream. On his departure the emperor gave him a parting poem, and the crown prince and the whole court escorted him. His son Sengzi was made assistant magistrate of Kuaiji to support him, given crimson robes and the fish tally of rank, and his younger son was allowed to become a Daoist priest as well. He died at eighty-six. In the first year of Qianyuan, Suzong posthumously made him Minister of Rites in remembrance of their long friendship.
57
令之，長溪人。 肅宗亦以舊恩召，而令之已前卒。
Xue Lingzhi was from Changxi. Suzong meant to summon him too out of old regard, but Lingzhi had already died.
58
秦系，字公緒，越州會稽人。 天寶末，避亂剡溪，北都留守薛兼訓奏為右衛率府倉曹參軍，不就。 客泉州，南安有九日山，大松百餘章，俗傳東晉時所植，系結廬其上，穴石為研，注《老子》，彌年不出。 刺史薛播數往見之，歲時致羊酒，而系未嘗至城門。 薑公輔之謫，見系輒窮日不能去，築室與相近，忘流落之苦。 公輔卒，妻子在遠，系為葬山下。 張建封聞系之不可致，請就加校書郎。
Qin Xi, courtesy name Gongxu, was from Kuaiji in Yuezhou. When the Tianbao disorders broke out he fled to Shaxi. Xue Jianxun, commander of the northern capital garrison, recommended him as aide in the Right Guard Rate Office, but he declined. Living in Quanzhou, he settled on Nine Peaks at Nan'an, where folk said more than a hundred ancient pines had stood since Eastern Jin. He built a hut among them, carved an inkstone from the rock, worked on the Laozi, and did not emerge for a year. Prefect Xue Bo visited repeatedly and sent wine and mutton at the festivals, but Xi never once entered the city gate. When Jiang Gongfu was exiled, a single meeting with Xi held him all day; he built a cottage nearby and forgot the misery of banishment. After Gongfu died, with his family far away, Xi buried him at the foot of the mountain. Zhang Jianfeng, learning that Xi could not be lured to office, had him appointed proofreader in absentia.
59
與劉長卿善，以詩相贈答。 權德輿曰：「長卿自以為五言長城，系用偏師攻之，雖老益壯。」 其後東度秣陵，年八十餘卒。 南安人思之，為立於亭，號其山為高士峰云。
He was close to Liu Changqing and they exchanged poems. Quan Deyu wrote, "Changqing thought himself a Great Wall of pentasyllabic verse; Xi assailed him with a flanking army—and in age he only fought harder. Later he crossed east to Moling and died in his eighties. The people of Nan'an honored him with a pavilion and named the peak Lofty Gentleman's Peak.
60
張志和
Zhang Zhike
61
張志和，字子同，婺州金華人。 始名龜齡。 父游朝，通莊、列二子書，為《象罔》、《白馬證》諸篇佐其說。 母夢楓生腹上而產志和。 十六擢明經，以策幹肅宗，特見賞重，命待詔翰林，授左金吾衛錄事參軍，因賜名。 後坐事貶南浦尉，會赦還，以親既喪，不復仕，居江湖，自稱煙波釣徒。 著《玄真子》，亦以自號。 有韋詣者，為撰《內解》。 志和又著《太易》十五篇，其卦三百六十五。
Zhang Zhike, courtesy name Zitong, came from Jinhua in Wuzhou. He was born Zhang Guiling. His father Youchao was steeped in Zhuangzi and Liezi and wrote essays such as "Elephant Without" and "White Horse Proof" to expound their teaching. His mother dreamed a maple tree sprouting from her belly before he was born. At sixteen he passed the Mingjing examination. His policy essays won Suzong's special favor; he was kept at Hanlin awaiting edicts, made recorder in the Left Golden Crow Guard, and given the name Zhike. Later he was banished to magistrate of Nanpu. After an amnesty brought him back, both parents were dead and he never served again. He lived on the waterways and called himself the Angler of Misty Waves. He wrote the Xuanzhenzi and took that as his sobriquet as well. Wei Gai composed an "Inner Explication" for his work. He also wrote fifteen chapters on the Changes, with all three hundred sixty-five hexagrams.
62
兄鶴齡恐其遁世不還，為築室越州東郭，茨以生草，椽棟不施斤斧。 豹席棕〓，每垂釣不設餌，志不在魚也。 縣令使浚渠，執畚無忤色。 嘗欲以大布制裘，嫂為躬績織，及成，衣之，雖暑不解。
His brother Heling, fearing he would vanish into reclusion forever, built him a cottage east of Yuezhou city, thatched with living turf, its timbers left uncut by any axe. He sat on leopard skins and wore palm-fiber sandals; when he fished he used no bait, for fish were never the point. When the county magistrate put him to dredging a canal, he took up the hod without a trace of resentment. He once wanted a coat of coarse cloth; his sister-in-law spun and wove it herself, and when it was finished he wore it through the hottest summer without taking it off.
63
觀察使陳少遊往見，為終日留，表其居曰玄真坊。 以門隘，為買地大其閎，號回軒巷。 先是門阻流水，無梁，少遊為構之，人號大夫橋。 帝嘗賜奴婢各一，志和配為夫婦，號漁童、樵青。
Regional inspector Chen Shaoyou visited, stayed the full day, and had his quarter officially named Xuanzhen Ward. Finding the gate too narrow, Shaoyou bought land to widen the compound and named the lane Turning-Pavilion Alley. Before that, a stream blocked the door and there was no bridge; Shaoyou built one, and people called it the Grandee's Bridge. The emperor once gave him a male and female servant; Zhike married them to each other and named them Fisher Boy and Woodcutter Green.
64
陸羽常問：「孰為往來者？」 對曰：「太虛為室，明月為燭，與四海諸公共處，未嘗少別也，何有往來？」 顏真卿為湖州刺史值志和來謁，真卿以舟敝漏，請更之，志和曰：「願為浮家泛宅，往來苕、霅間。」 辯捷類如此。
Lu Yu once asked him, "Who are your visitors? He replied, "The void is my hall and the bright moon my lamp. I keep company with everyone under heaven and am never apart from them—what visitors do you mean?" When Yan Zhenqing was prefect of Huzhou and Zhike came to visit, Zhenqing offered to replace his leaky boat. Zhike answered, "I mean to be a floating home on the currents, roaming between the Tiao and Zha rivers." His wit ran in that vein.
65
善圖山水，酒酣，或擊鼓吹笛，舐筆輒成。 嘗撰《漁歌》，憲宗圖真求其歌，不能致。 李德裕稱志和「隱而有名，顯而無事，不窮不達，嚴光之比」云。
He painted landscapes masterfully; drunk, he might drum, play the flute, or wet the brush with his tongue and finish a painting on the spot. He once wrote Fisher Songs; Emperor Xianzong had his portrait painted and asked for the songs but could not get them. Li Deyu said of him, "Reclusive yet renowned, in the world yet unencumbered—neither poor nor grand—a man in the mold of Yan Guang."
66
孫述睿
Sun Shurui
67
孫述睿，越州山陰人。 梁侍中休源八世孫。 高祖德紹，事竇建德為中書侍郎，嘗草檄毀薄太宗，賊平，執登汜水樓，責曰：「爾以檄謗我云何？」 對曰：「犬吠非其主。」 帝怒曰：「賊乃主邪？」 命壯士捽殞樓下。 曾祖昌寓，字廣成，貞觀中對策高第，歷魏州司馬，有治狀，帝為不置刺史。 為政三年，璽書褒美，進膳部郎中。 祖祖舜，字奉先，為監察御史，以累下除成武令，雉馴於廷。
Sun Shurui was from Shanyin in Yuezhou. He was the eighth-generation descendant of Liang's Attendant-in-Ordinary Sun Xiuyuan. His great-grandfather Deshao had served Dou Jiande as vice director of the secretariat and once drafted a proclamation vilifying Taizong. After the rebellion was crushed he was taken to the top of Sishui Tower, where Taizong demanded, "You reviled me in that dispatch—how do you answer? He answered, "A dog barks at whoever is not his master." The emperor flared up: "Then the rebel was your master?" He ordered brawny guards to hurl him from the tower to his death. His grandfather Changyu, courtesy name Guangcheng, took top honors in the Zhenguan policy examination, served as Weizhou vice prefect with such distinction that the throne left the prefecture without a separate prefect. After three years an imperial commendation raised him to director in the Ministry of Provisions. His grandfather Zushun, courtesy name Fengxian, was an investigating censor; demoted for repeated faults to magistrate of Chengwu, he governed so gently that pheasants grew tame in his courtyard.
68
述睿少與兄充符、弟克讓篤孝，已孤，偕隱嵩山。 而述睿資嗜學。 大曆中，劉晏薦于代宗，乙太常寺協律郎召，擢累司勳員外郎、史館修撰。 述睿每一遷，即至朝謝。 俄而辭疾歸，以為常。
In youth Shurui, his elder brother Chongfu, and his younger brother Kerang were models of filial piety; orphaned, they retired together to Mount Song. Yet Shurui was devoted to study by nature. During Dali, Liu Yan recommended him to Daizong; summoned as vice director of music and then steadily promoted, he became vice director in the Ministry of Honors and a historiography compiler. Every promotion brought Shurui to court to give thanks in person. Soon he would plead illness and go home again—his lifelong pattern.
69
德宗立，拜諫議大夫，命河南尹趙惠伯齎詔書束帛，備禮敦遣。 既至，對別殿，賜第宅，給廄馬，兼皇太子侍讀。 固辭，弗許。 久乃改秘書少監，兼右庶子，復為史館修撰。 述睿重次《地理志》，本末最詳。 性退讓，未始忤物，雖親朋燕集，至嚴默終日，人皆畏之。 與令狐峘同職，峘數抵侮，然卒不校也，時稱長者。
When Dezong ascended the throne he was made remonstrator; Henan governor Zhao Huibo was sent with edict, silks, and full ceremony to press him to accept. On arrival he was received in a side hall, given a mansion and stable horses, and appointed lecturer to the crown prince as well. He refused firmly; the court would not hear of it. Only after a long interval was he moved to vice director of the palace library and right vice director of the crown prince's household, again as historiography compiler. He reorganized the Geographic Treatise with unmatched thoroughness from start to finish. Humble by nature, he never gave offense; even at family feasts he sat in grave silence all day, and people stood in awe of him. He served with Linghu Di, who often insulted him, yet he never answered back and was known as a man of forbearance.
70
貞元四年，帝念平涼之難尤惻怛，以述睿精愨而誠，故遣持祠具稱詔臨祭。 又以疾乞解，久乃許，以太子賓客還鄉，賜帛五十匹、衣一襲。 故事，致仕不給公馹，帝特命給焉。 卒，年七十一，贈工部尚書。
In Zhenyuan 4, still anguished over the Pingliang disaster, the emperor sent him—with full ritual gear and an edict in hand—to offer sacrifice in person, trusting his scrupulous loyalty. He again begged leave on grounds of illness; only after long delay was he allowed to go home as crown prince's guest, with fifty bolts of silk and a suit of robes. By custom retired officials received no post horses; the emperor made an exception for him. He died at seventy-one and was posthumously made Minister of Works.
71
子敏行，字至之。 元和初，擢進士第。 岳鄂呂元膺表在節度府，元膺徙東都、河中，輒隨府遷。 入拜右拾遺，四遷司勳郎中、集賢殿學士、諫議大夫。 李絳遇害，事本監軍楊叔元，時無敢言，敏行上書極論之，叔元乃得罪。 以名臣子，少修潔，及仕宦，能交當時豪俊，有名一時，而雅操不逮父矣。 卒，年三十九，贈工部侍郎。
His son Minxing, courtesy name Zhizhi. Early in the Yuanhe era he passed the jinshi examination. Lü Yuanfu of Yue-E brought him into his staff; when Yuanfu was transferred to the eastern capital and then to Hezhong, Minxing followed each move. He entered court as right remembrancer and rose through four posts to director in the Ministry of Honors, Hanlin academician, and remonstrator. When Li Jiang was assassinated the trail led to army supervisor Yang Shuyuan, and no one dared speak; Minxing submitted a fierce memorial and Shuyuan was punished. A famous minister's son, he kept himself clean in youth and in office moved among the great men of the day, winning renown for a time—but in moral stature he never matched his father. He died at thirty-nine and was posthumously made Vice Minister of Works.
72
陸羽，字鴻漸，一名疾，字季疵，復州竟陵人。 不知所生，或言有僧得諸水濱，畜之。 既長，以《易》自筮，得《蹇》之《漸》，曰：「鴻漸于陸，其羽可用為儀。」 乃以陸為氏，名而字之。
Lu Yu, courtesy name Hongjian, also called Ji and Jici, was from Jingling in Fuzhou. No one knew his birth; some said a monk found him beside the water and raised him. Grown, he cast the Changes and drew Gradual within Obstruction: "The wild goose advances onto the land; its feathers may serve as ritual regalia. He took Lu as his surname and Hongjian as his name and courtesy name.
73
幼時，其師教以旁行書，答曰：「終鮮兄弟，而絕後嗣，得為孝乎？」 師怒，使執糞除圬塓以苦之，又使牧牛三十，羽潛以竹畫牛背為字。 得張衡《南都賦》，不能讀，危坐效群兒囁嚅若成誦狀，師拘之，令薙草莽。 當其記文字，懵懵若有遺，過日不作，主者鞭苦，因歎曰：「歲月往矣，奈何不知書！」 嗚咽不自勝，因亡去，匿為優人，作詼諧數千言。
As a boy his teacher had him practice vertical script; he replied, "Few brothers in the end, and no heirs—is that filial? The teacher, furious, set him to hauling night soil and daubing walls, and made him tend thirty oxen; Yu secretly scratched characters on their backs with bamboo slips. He got hold of Zhang Heng's Rhapsody on the Southern Capital; unable to read it, he sat stiffly mimicking the other boys' mumbling as though he knew it by heart. The teacher tied him up and set him to clearing brush. When set to memorize text he stared blankly as though something were missing; if he produced nothing in a day the master beat him savagely. He burst out, "The years are slipping away—how can I still be illiterate! Weeping, he ran away, joined a troupe of jesters, and wrote several thousand lines of comic verse.
74
天寶中，州人酺，吏署羽伶師，太守李齊物見，異之，授以書，遂廬火門山。 貌侻陋，口吃而辯。 聞人善，若在己，見有過者，規切至忤人。 朋友燕處，意有所行輒去，人疑其多嗔。 與人期，雨雪虎狼不避也。 上元初，更隱苕溪，自稱桑苧翁，闔門著書。 或獨行野中，誦詩擊木，裴回不得意，或慟哭而歸，故時謂今接輿也。 久之，詔拜羽太子文學，徙太常寺太祝，不就職。 貞元末，卒。
During Tianbao the prefecture held a public feast; the clerk made Yu master of ceremonies. Prefect Li Qiwu saw him, was struck by him, and gave him books; he then lived as a recluse on Huomen Mountain. Ugly and eccentric in looks, he stammered yet argued brilliantly. He rejoiced in others' gifts as though they were his own and rebuked wrongdoing so bluntly that he gave offense. At gatherings of friends he would walk out the moment the mood struck him; people thought him quick to wrath. He kept appointments through snow, rain, tigers, and wolves alike. Early in the Shangyuan era he retired deeper to Tiaoxi, called himself the Old Man of Mulberry and Hemp, and wrote behind closed doors. Sometimes he wandered alone in the countryside chanting verse and beating a clapper; unable to settle his mind he would circle back weeping—and men called him the Jieyu of his age. Eventually an edict made him literary attendant to the crown prince and then sacrificial official in the Court of Imperial Sacrifices; he accepted neither post. He died near the end of the Zhenyuan era.
75
羽嗜茶，著經三篇，言茶之原、之法、之具尤備，天下益知飲茶矣。 時鬻茶者，至陶羽形置煬突間，祀為茶神。 有常伯熊者，因羽論復廣著茶之功。 御史大夫李季卿宣慰江南，次臨淮，知伯熊善煮茶，召之，伯熊執器前，季卿為再舉杯。 至江南，又有薦羽者，召之，羽衣野服，挈具而入，季卿不為禮，羽愧之，更著《毀茶論》。 其後尚茶成風，時回紇入朝，始驅馬市茶。
Lu Yu loved tea and wrote three classic treatises on its origin, preparation, and utensils so fully that the empire learned to drink tea through him. Tea merchants cast his image and set it in their stove vents, worshipping him as the god of tea. Chang Boxiong, building on Yu's work, wrote at greater length on the virtues of tea. Censor-in-chief Li Jiqing, touring Jiangnan, stopped at Linhuai; told that Boxiong brewed tea superbly, he summoned him; Boxiong came forward with his implements and Jiqing drank two cups in his honor. Farther south someone recommended Lu Yu; he was summoned. Yu entered in country clothes with his tea kit; Jiqing showed no courtesy. Mortified, Yu wrote On the Ruin of Tea. Tea fashion spread; when the Uyghurs came to court they first drove horses to market to buy tea.
76
崔覲，梁州城固人。 以儒自業，身耕耨取給。 老無子，乃以田宅財貲分給奴婢各為業，而身與妻隱南山，約奴婢過其舍則給酒食，夫婦嘯詠相視為娛。 山南西道節度使鄭余慶辟為參謀，敦趣就職，不曉吏事，余慶稱長者。 文宗時，左補厥王直方，其里中人也，上書論事，見便殿，訪遺逸，直方薦覲高行，詔以起居郎召，辭疾不至。
Cui Guan was from Chenggu in Liangzhou. He lived by Confucian study and fed himself with his own hoe. Childless in old age, he divided fields, house, and goods among his servants so each could make a living, then he and his wife retired to the southern hills. Servants who passed their hut were fed; the couple amused themselves with songs and whistles, content in each other's company. Zheng Yuqing, military governor of Shannan West, made him a staff adviser and pressed him to serve; Guan knew nothing of bureaucratic business, and Yuqing called him a man of virtue. Under Wenzong, Left Remonstrator Wang Zhifang, a fellow townsman, was heard in the Convenient Hall on state affairs; asked about hidden worthies he praised Guan's conduct. The throne summoned him as attendant gentleman; he pleaded illness and stayed away.
77
陸龜蒙
Lu Guimeng
78
陸龜蒙，字魯望，元方七世孫也。 父賓虞，以文曆侍御史。 龜蒙少高放，通《六經》大義，尤明《春秋》。 舉進士，一不中，往從湖州刺史張摶游，摶曆湖、蘇二州，辟以自佐。 嘗至饒州，三日無所詣。 刺史蔡京率官屬就見之，龜蒙不樂，拂衣去。
Lu Guimeng, courtesy name Luwang, was the seventh-generation descendant of Lu Yuanfang. His father Binyu had been an attendant censor distinguished for his writing. From youth Guimeng was proud and detached, master of the Six Classics and especially of the Spring and Autumn Annals. He failed the jinshi examination once, then attached himself to Zhang Bo, prefect of Huzhou; when Bo served in Hu and Suzhou in turn, Guimeng served on his staff. Once in Raozhou he spent three days without calling on anyone. Prefect Cai Jing brought his entire staff to visit; Guimeng was displeased, brushed off his robes, and left.
79
居松江甫裏，多所論撰，雖幽憂疾痛，貲無十日計，不少輟也。 文成，竄稿篋中，或歷年不省，為好事者盜去。 得書熟誦乃錄，讎比勤勤，硃黃不去手，所藏雖少，其精皆可傳。 借人書，篇帙壞舛，必為輯褫刊正。 樂聞人學，講論不倦。
He lived at Puli on the Song River and wrote ceaselessly; even in private grief and sickness, with scarcely ten days' provisions, he never stopped. Finished pieces went into a basket; sometimes he left them untouched for years, and admirers stole them. He read borrowed books through before copying them, collating with red and yellow ink always in hand; his library was small, but everything in it was worth passing on. When borrowed volumes were torn or out of order he always repaired and corrected them. He loved to hear others learn and never wearied of teaching talk.
80
有田數百畝，屋三十楹，田苦下，雨潦則與江通，故常苦饑。 身畚鍤，茠刺無休時，或譏其勞，答曰：「堯、舜黴瘠，禹胼胝。 彼聖人也，吾一褐衣，敢不勤乎？」 嗜茶，置園顧渚山下，歲取租茶，自判品第。 張又新為《水說》七種，其二慧山泉，三虎丘井，六松江。 人助其好者，雖百里為致之。 初，病酒，再期乃已，其後客至，挈壺置杯不復飲。 不喜與流俗交，雖造門不肯見。 不乘馬，升舟設蓬席，齎束書、茶灶、筆床、釣具往來。 時謂江湖散人，或號天隨子、甫裏先生，自比涪翁、漁父、江上丈人。 寬以高士召，不至。 李蔚、盧攜素與善，及當國，召拜左拾遺。 詔方下，龜蒙卒。 光化中，韋莊表龜蒙及孟郊等十人，皆贈右補闕。
He held several hundred mu of land and thirty rooms, but the fields were low and flooded into the river every rainy season, so hunger was his frequent guest. He worked basket and hoe himself, clearing thorns without rest. When mocked for toiling he answered, "Yao and Shun grew thin, Yu's palms blistered— they were sages. I wear only coarse cloth—how dare I be idle? He loved tea, planted a garden below Guzhu Mountain, and each year judged the tribute tea himself. Zhang Youxin's Seven Waters ranked Hui Mountain spring second, Tiger Hill well third, and the Song River sixth. Friends who shared his passion would fetch water for him from a hundred li away. At first illness forced him off wine; after two rounds of recovery he quit entirely. When guests came he still set out pot and cups but drank no more. He shunned vulgar company; visitors at his door were often turned away unseen. He never rode a horse; he sailed with rush mats, a bundle of books, a tea stove, a writing desk, and fishing tackle. Men called him the Riverside Wanderer, or the Heaven-Follower, or the Gentleman of Puli—likening himself to the old man of Fuling, the fisherman on the river, and the riverbank elder. Summoned as a lofty gentleman, he did not appear. Li Wei and Lu Zhi, his old friends, summoned him as left remembrancer when they came to power. The edict had barely been issued when Guimeng died. In the Guanghua era Wei Zhuang memorialized Guimeng, Meng Jiao, and eight others, each posthumously made right remonstrator.
81
陸氏在姑蘇，其門有巨石。 遠祖績嘗事吳為郁林太守，罷歸無裝，舟輕不可越海，取石為重，人稱其廉，號「郁林石」，世保其居云。
The Lu family at Gusu kept a great stone at their gate. An early ancestor, Ji, had been Yulin governor for Wu; retiring without luggage, he found his boat too light for the sea and loaded it with stone ballast. Men praised his integrity and named it the Yulin Stone; the family kept it at their home for generations.