Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇)

抱朴子曰：有懷冰先生者，薄周流之棲遑，悲吐握之良苦。讓膏壤於陸海，爰躬耕乎斥鹵。秘六奇以括囊，含琳琅而不吐。謐清音則莫之或聞，掩輝藻則世不得睹。背朝華於朱門，保恬寂乎蓬戶。絕軌躅於金張之閭，養浩然於幽人之仵。謂榮顯為不幸，以玉帛為草土。抗靈規於雲表，獨違今而遂古。庇峻岫之巍峨，藉翠蘭之芳茵。漱流霞之澄液，茹八石之精英。思眇眇焉若居乎虹霓之端，意飄飄焉若在乎倒景之鄰。萬物不能攪其和，四海不足汩其神。

Baopuzi said: There was a Master Cherishing-Ice who thought little of the restless scurrying of those who tour the states, and grieved over the toil of the Duke of Zhou, who spat out his food and bound up his hair to receive callers. He yielded the fat fertile fields to lands rich as the sea, and himself went to plow upon the salty wastes. He sealed away stratagems like Chen Ping's six marvels and kept them hid like the tied sack of the Zhou Changes; he held jade and jasper in his mouth yet never let them out. He let his clear ringing tones fall silent so that no one could hear them; he covered his shining phrases so that the world could not see them. He turned his back on the morning glories within the vermilion gates and kept tranquil solitude behind a door of weeds. He let no wheel-ruts run in the lanes of Jin and Zhang (the houses of Jin Midi and Zhang Anshi of Han, standing for the great and powerful), and nourished his flood-like breath among the ranks of the hidden men. He counted glory and rank a misfortune, and counted jade and silk as grass and dirt. He raised the luminous measure of his spirit above the clouds, alone defying the present age to follow high antiquity. He sheltered beneath the towering sheer crags and sat upon fragrant mats of green orchids. He rinsed his mouth with the clear liquor of the drifting auroras and chewed the essence of the eight minerals (the elixir drugs of legend). His thoughts ran faint and far, as though dwelling at the rainbow's end; his bearing floated as if beside the reversed images (where the sun shines back down). The myriad things could not disturb his harmony; the four seas could not muddy his spirit.

於是有赴勢公子聞之，慨然而嘆曰：“空谷有項領之駿者，孫陽之恥也；太平遺冠世之才者，賞真之責也。安可令俊民全其獨善之分，而使聖朝乏乎元凱之用哉！”

Then a young lord who rushed toward power heard of him and sighed with feeling, saying: "For a fine horse with an arched neck to lie hidden in an empty valley is a shame to Sun Yang (Bole); for a talent unsurpassed in a generation to be cast aside in a time of peace is the fault of those who recognize true worth. How can we let a man of excellence keep only the lot of perfecting himself alone, while the sacred court lacks the service of men like Yuan and Kai (the Eight Yuan and Eight Kai, the worthy ministers of antiquity)!"

乃造而說曰：“徒聞振翅竦身，不能凌厲九霄，騰跚玄極，攸敘彝倫者，非英偉也。今先生操立斷之鋒，掩炳蔚之文，玩圖籍於絕跡之藪，括藻麗乎鳥獸之群，陳龍章於晦夜，沈琳琅於重淵，蟄伏於盛夏，藏華於當春；雖復下帷覃思，殫毫騁藻，幽贊太極，闡釋元本，言歡則木梗怡顏如巧笑，語戚則偶嚬顣而滂沱，抑輕則鴻羽沈於弱水，抗重則玉石漂於飛波，離同則肝膽為胡越，合異則萬殊而一和，切論則秋霜春肅，溫辭則冰條吐葩，摧高則峻極頹淪，竦卑則淵池嵯峨，疵清則倚暗夜光，救濁則立澄黃河。然不能沾大惠於庶物，著弘勳於皇家，名與朝露皆晞，體與蜉蝣並化，忽崇高於聖人之寶，忘川逝於大耋之嗟，竊為先生不取焉。

He went to his door and urged him, saying: "I have only heard it said that one who spreads his wings and rears up, yet cannot soar to the ninefold heavens and leap to the dark empyrean to set the constant norms in clear order, does not count as a hero. Now you, sir, wield a blade that cuts in a single stroke and cloak a brilliance of pattern; you savor the charts and records in a marsh where tracks cease, and bind up your rich ornaments among the birds and beasts; you set out dragon blazons in the dark of night and sink your jade and jasper in the deepest pool; at high summer you lie dormant, and in the very spring you hide your flowering. Even were you to let down your curtains and ponder ever more deeply, run your brush-tip dry racing through phrases, praise the Grand Ultimate in mysterious depth and explain the primal root; tell of joy so that even a wooden puppet shows the pleasant face of a knowing smile, tell of grief so that even a wooden figure knits its brows and weeps in floods; when you would press down the light you could sink a swan's feather into the weak water, when you would raise the heavy you could float jade and stone upon the flying waves; when you would part what is alike you could split liver and gall into Hu and Yue, when you would join what differs you could return the myriad kinds to one harmony; your cutting discourse would make spring itself kill like autumn frost, your mild words would make the icicles put out blossoms; to break the high you could topple the sheer peaks into ruin, to lift the lowly you could make a marsh-pool towering; to find fault with the clear you could set the night-shining pearl against a dark place, to rescue the turbid you could clear the Yellow River at once. Yet you cannot let your great bounty water the common things, cannot leave vast merit to the royal house; your name will dry away with the morning dew, your body will change with the mayfly; the exaltation the sage counts the supreme treasure you carelessly make light of, and the sigh that great age runs off like a river you forget. I privately think you ought not so, sir."

“蓋聞大者天地，其次君臣。先聖憂時，思行其道，三月無君，皇皇如也。恥今聖主不與堯舜一致，愍此黎民不可比屋而封，故或負鼎而龍躍，或扣角以鳳歌，不須蒲輪而後動，不待文王而後興。潛初飛五，與時消息，進有攸往之利，退無濡尾之累，明哲以保身，宣化以濟俗。使夫承蘭風以傾柯，濯清波以遣穢者，若沈景之應朗鑑，方圓之赴規矩。故勳格上下，惠沾八表。夫有唐所以巍巍，重華所以恭己，西伯所以三分，姬發所以革命，桓文所以一匡，漢高所以應天，未有不致群賢為六翮，托豪傑為舟輯者也。若令各守洗耳之高，人執耦耕之分，則稽古之化不建，英明之盛不彰，明良之歌不作，括天之網不張矣。

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "I have heard that the greatest are Heaven and Earth, and next come lord and minister. The former sages were anxious about the times and wished to carry out their doctrine; if for three months they had no lord, they were restless and ill at ease. They were ashamed that the sage rulers of the day could not be one with Yao and Shun, and pitied the common people who could not be ennobled house by house. So some shouldered the tripod-ware and leaped like dragons, and some knocked on an ox's horn and sang like phoenixes; they did not wait for the rush-wheeled carriage to come fetch them before setting out, nor for a King Wen to appear before bestirring themselves. Hidden at the first position and soaring at the fifth, they waxed and waned with the fate of the times; advancing they had the benefit of somewhere to go, retreating they had no burden of a wet tail; by enlightened wisdom they preserved their persons, and by spreading teaching they rescued the drifting customs. They made those who received the orchid wind and inclined their branches, who washed in clear waves and cleansed away the filth, respond like sunken shadows to a bright mirror, like square and round hastening to compass and square. Thus their merit reached up to the heavens and down to the yellow springs, and their favor watered the eight bounds. The reason Tang Yao was towering, the reason Chonghua could fold his hands and face south, the reason the Earl of the West held two parts of the three of the world, the reason Ji Fa could change the mandate, the reason Huan and Wen could set the world aright as one, the reason the Han founder could answer Heaven — none was other than gathering the host of the worthy to serve as their six pinions, and entrusting heroes and champions to serve as their boats and oars. If every man kept to the aloofness of washing his ears, and every man clung to the lot of plowing in pairs, then the teaching that examines antiquity could not be established, the enlightened and flourishing virtue could not be made manifest, the song of enlightened lord and good ministers could not be sung, and the net that covers the whole sky could not be spread.

“故藏器者珍於變通隨時，英逸者貴於吐奇撥亂。若乃耀靈翳景於雲表，則麗天之明不著；哮虎韜牙而握爪，則搏噬之捷不揚；太阿潛鋒而不擊，則立斷之勁不顯；驥騄踠趾而不馳，則追風之迅不形；並默則子貢與喑者同口，鹹暝則離朱與蒙瞽不殊矣。先生潔身而忽大倫之亂，得意而忘安上之義，存有關機之累，沒無金石之聲，庸人且猶憤色，何有大雅而無心哉！

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "So the man who harbors capacity is prized for being able to shift and move with the times; the outstanding man is prized for being able to put forth rare stratagems and set disorder back to right. When the brilliant spirit of the sun hides its glow beyond the clouds, the heaven-clinging light is not manifest; when the roaring tiger sheathes its teeth and folds its claws, the swiftness of its pounce cannot be shown; when the Tai'e sword keeps its edge hidden and does not strike, its instant-cutting force does not appear; when the courser curls its hooves and does not gallop, its wind-chasing speed takes no shape. If all are silent together, Zigong shares one mouth with the mute; if all shut their eyes together, Lizhu is no different from the blind. You keep your own person pure yet neglect the great disorder of the proper relations; you take your ease yet forget the great duty of making your lord secure; in life you bear the entanglements of the times, and after death you have no name like metal and stone. Even common men change color in indignation at this — how could a man of great refinement be unmoved!"

“夫繩舒則木直，正進則邪凋，有虞舉則四凶戮，宣尼任則少卯梟，猶震雷駭則鼛鼓堙，朝日出則螢燭幽也。不拯招魂之病，則無為效越人之絕伎；不獎多難之世，則無以知非常之遠量。高拱以觀溺，非勿踐之仁也，懷道以迷國，非作者之務也。若俟中唐殖占日之草，朝陽繁鳴鳳之音，郊跱獨角之獸，野攢連理之林，長旌卷而不懸，干戈戢而莫尋，少伯方將告退於成功，孰能相擢乎陸沈哉深願先生不遠迷復哉！”

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) "When the line is stretched, the wood is made straight; when the right Way is advanced, the crooked withers away; when the lord of Yu was raised up, the four criminals were slain; when Xuanni (Confucius) was employed, Shaozheng Mao was beheaded — as when the thunderclap sounds, the great drums are drowned out, and as when the morning sun comes out, the firefly's candle grows dim. If the sickness that calls for the soul-summoning is not rescued, there is no way to prove the consummate skill of Yueren (Bian Que); if hard and many-troubled times are not rewarded, there is no way to know the far-reaching capacity of the extraordinary man. To stand with hands folded high and watch a man drown is not the humaneness of 'do not tread'; to harbor the Way within while letting the state founder in confusion is not what one who writes ought to do. If one must wait until the day-counting herb (the mingjia and its kind) grows in the central court, until the cry of the phoenix sounds thickly beside the morning sun, until the single-horned beast stands in the fields and trees of joined branches cluster in the groves, until the long banners are rolled up and hung no more and shield and dagger-axe are stored away nowhere to be found — only then would Shaobo (Fan Li) withdraw after his success; who then could raise up those sunken and buried in the land? I earnestly hope, sir, you will not go too far astray on the road and fail to return!"

於是懷冰先生蕭然遐眺，遊氣天衢，情神遼緬，旁若無物。俯而答曰：“嗚呼！有是言乎蓋至人無為，棲神沖漠，不役志於祿利，故害辱不能加也；不*峙於險途，故傾墜不能為患也。藜藿不供，而意佚於方丈；齊編庸民，而心歡於有土。寢宜僚之舍，閉幹木之閭，攜莊萊之友，治陋巷之居，確嶽峙而不拔，豈有懷於卷舒乎以欲廣則濁和，故委世務而不紆眄；以位極者憂深，故背勢利而無餘疑。其貴不以爵也，富不以財也。侶雲鵬以高逝，故不縈翮於腐鼠；以蕃武為厚誡，故不改樂於簞瓢。

Then Master Cherishing-Ice gazed serenely into the distance; his qi (that flowing stuff that constitutes and courses through all things) roamed over the roads of heaven; his feeling and spirit were remote and far, as if nothing else existed beside him. He lowered his head and answered: "Ah! Can there really be such talk? The utmost man does wuwei (does not force things by subjective will, but lets things run according to their nature — not that he does nothing at all); he rests his spirit in empty stillness and solitude, and does not employ his will to serve rank and profit, so harm and disgrace cannot attach to him; he does not stand towering on perilous paths [the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription], so falling cannot be a calamity to him. Though goosefoot and pulse are not supplied, his manner is more at ease than one facing a feast spread over a square zhang; though ranked with the registered common folk, his heart is gladder than one who possesses a state. He sleeps in Yiliao's lodging, shuts the lane-gate of Duan Ganmu, keeps company with friends like Zhuang Zhou and Laolaizi, and governs a dwelling in a narrow lane; firm as a standing peak, unpluckable — how could he keep folding and unfolding in his heart? Because desires, once broad, muddy the harmony, he casts away the affairs of the world without a sidelong glance; because a position pushed to its utmost brings deep care, he turns his back on power and profit without further doubt. His nobility does not rest on rank; his wealth does not rest on goods. Companioning the cloud-borne peng he flies far and away, so he does not wind his wings around a rotten rat; taking Fan and Wu as a grave warning, he does not change his joy for a basket and a gourd."

“且夫玄黃遐邈，而人生倏忽，以過隙之促，托罔極之間，迅乎猶奔星之暫見，飄乎似飛矢之電經。聊且優遊以自得，安能苦形於外物哉！夫鸞不絓網，驎不墮阱，相彼鳥獸，猶知為患，風塵之徒，曾是未吝也

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Moreover, the dark and yellow (Heaven and Earth) are vast and remote, while man's life is a sudden flash: lodged within the boundless for a span as brief as a colt glimpsed through a crack, swift as a shooting star's momentary gleam, fleeting as a flying arrow passing like lightning. For the while, let me roam free and content — how could I embitter my body over external things! The luan is not caught in the net; the lin does not fall into the pit; look at those birds and beasts — even they know calamity, yet men in the wind and dust fall short even of them. (The base text reads 'lin,' suspected as a corruption of 'ruo,' 'to equal.')"

若夫要離滅家以效功，紀信赴燔以誑楚，陳賈刎頸以證弟，仲由投命而菹醢，嬴門伏劍以表心，聶政感惠而屠菹，荊卿絕臏以報燕，樊公含悲而授首，皆下愚之狂惑，豈上智之攸取哉！

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) As for Yao Li destroying his whole family to prove his merit, Ji Xin going into the flames to deceive Chu, Chen Jia cutting his throat to bear witness for his younger brother, Zhong You staking his life and being made into mince, Ying of the gate falling on his sword to make his heart plain, Nie Zheng moved by kindness going to his butcher's work, Jing Qing breaking his shin to repay Yan, and Lord Fan bearing his grief and offering up his own head — these are all the mad delusions of the lowest foolishness; whence would the highest wisdom choose them!

“蓋祿厚者責重，爵尊者神勞。故漆園垂綸，而不顧卿相之貴；柏成操耜，而不屑諸侯之高。羊說安乎屠肆，楊朱吝其一毛。僥求之徒，昧乎可欲，集不擇木，仕不料世，貪進不慮負乘之禍，受任不計不堪之敗；論榮貴則引伊周以救溺，言亢悔則諱覆餗而不記；伺河龍之睡而撥明珠，居量表之寵而冀無患；耽漏刻之安，蔽必至之危；無朝菌之榮，望大椿之壽；似蹈薄冰以待夏日，登朽枝而須勁風；淵魚之引芳餌，澤雉之咽毒粒；咀漏脯以充飢，酣鴆酒以止渴也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "The man with a fat salary bears heavy charge; the man with an honored title wears out his spirit. So the keeper of the lacquer garden (Zhuang Zhou) trailed his fishing line and paid no heed to the dignity of minister; Baicheng Zigao plied his plowshare and disdained the high seat of a feudal lord. Yang Yue was content in the butcher's stalls, and Yang Zhu begrudged a single one of his hairs. Those who advance by lucky chance have their eyes dazzled by desirable things: they roost without choosing the tree, take office without weighing the age, and in greed for advancement give no thought to the calamity of bearing a load in a cart meant for better men; accepting the appointment they do not reckon the collapse of what they cannot carry. When glory and rank are discussed they bring out Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou to save men from drowning; when the overreaching dragon's regret is mentioned they hide the words of the overturned stew and do not remember. They pluck at the bright pearl while the river-dragon sleeps, and dwelling in favor beyond measure still hope there will be no calamity; sinking in a safety short as the water-clock, they cannot see through to the peril sure to come; without even the flowering of the morning fungus, they hope for the lifespan of the great chun tree; like treading on thin ice while waiting for summer, climbing a rotten bough to await the strong wind; like the fish of the deep drawing at the fragrant bait, the pheasant of the marsh swallowing the poisoned pellet; chewing leak-dripping meat to fill their hunger, drinking deep of poisoned wine to quench their thirst.

“昔箕子睹象箸而流泣，尼父聞偶葬而永嘆，蓋尋微以知著，原始以見終。然而暗夫蹈機不覺，何前識之至難，而利慾之*篤邪！周成賢而信流言，公旦聖而走南楚，托鴟鴞以告悲，賴金縢以僅免。況能寤之主，不世而一有；不悅之謗，無時而暫乏。德不以激烈風而起斃禾，事不以載圭璧而稱多才，嗟泣靡及，宜其然也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Of old, Jizi wept when he saw the ivory chopsticks, and Nifu sighed long when he heard of burying wooden figures with the dead — that was following the faint sign and knowing the manifest, tracing the beginning and seeing the end. Yet dim men tread on the trigger-mechanism and do not feel it — why is foreknowledge so hard, and the hunger for profit [the base text has a rare character here, lost in transcription] so thick? King Cheng of Zhou was wise yet believed the rumors; Dan, Duke of Zhou, was a sage yet fled to southern Chu, told his grief through 'The Owl,' and barely escaped disaster by the metal-bound coffer. Moreover, lords who can awaken are not found in every generation, while unwelcome slander is not absent for a single moment. Virtue cannot raise again the grain already flattened by the violent wind; a task cannot be called manifold talent merely because jade tablets were borne upon it; sighing and weeping come too late — such is how it is.

“夫漸漬之久，則膠漆解堅；浸潤之至，則骨肉乖析；塵羽之積，則沈舟折軸；三至之言，則市虎以成。故江充疏賤，非親於元儲，後母假繼，非密於伯奇；而掘梗之誣，滅父子之恩；袖蜂之誑，破天性之愛。又況其他，安可自必。嗟乎！伍員所以懷忠而漂屍；悲夫！白起所以秉義而刎頸也。蓋徹鑑所為寒心，匠人之所眩惑矣。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Long soaking can loosen even glue and lacquer; when slander soaks to the utmost, even bone and flesh come apart and split; dust and feathers piled high can sink a boat and break an axle; a tale told a third time makes it fact that there is a tiger in the market. Thus Jiang Chong was distant and lowly, no closer than the crown prince; the stepmother was a borrowed successor, no closer than Boqi; yet the slander of the dug-up puppet extinguished a father's love for his son, and the deceit of the wasp hidden in the sleeve broke heaven-born affection. How much more the rest — who can be sure he is safe? Alas! This is why Wu Yuan, harboring loyalty, had his corpse set adrift; pitiful! This is why Bai Qi, holding righteousness, cut his own throat. This is what chills the heart of clear discernment and confounds men like Carpenter Shi."

“又欲推短才以釐雷同，仗獨是以彈眾非。然不睹金雖克木，而錐鑽不可以伐鄧林；水雖勝火，而升合不足以救焚山。寸膠不能治黃河之濁，尺水不能卻蕭丘之熱。是以身名並全者甚稀，而先笑後號者多有也。畏亢悔而貪榮之慾不滅，忌毀辱而爭肆之情不遣，亦猶惡溼而泳深淵，憎影而不就陰，穿舟而息漏，猛爨而止沸者也。

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "They would moreover take short and shallow talent to rectify a conforming crowd, and lean on the rightness of one man to impeach the wrongness of the many. Yet they do not see that though metal conquers wood, an awl or drill cannot fell the Deng forest; though water overcomes fire, a sheng or a ge of water cannot save a burning mountain. An inch of glue cannot clear the Yellow River's turbidity; a chi of water cannot cool the heat of Xiaoqiu. So those who keep body and name together whole are few, while those who laugh first and wail after are many. They fear the overreaching dragon's regret, yet the craving for glory will not die; they dread disgrace, yet the will to compete in license cannot be dismissed — it is like hating dampness yet swimming in the deep pool, loathing one's shadow yet not seeking the shade, boring through the boat yet trying to stop the leak, stoking the fire fiercely yet trying to stop the boiling."

“夫七尺之骸，稟之以所生，不可受全而歸殘也；方寸之心，制之在我，不可放之於流遁也。躬耕以食之，穿井以飲之，短褐以蔽之，蓬廬以覆之，彈詠以娛之，呼吸以延之，逍遙竹素，寄情玄毫，守常待終，斯亦足矣。且夫道存則尊，德勝則貴，隋珠彈雀，知者不為。何必須權而顯，俟祿而飽哉！

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "The frame of seven chi was endowed by what begot us; one must not receive it whole and return it maimed. The inch-square heart — its governing is mine; one must not let it loose into flight and wandering. To plow for oneself and eat, bore a well and drink, be screened by coarse short cloth, covered by a thatched hut, amused by strumming and chanting, lengthened in years by breath, roaming free among bamboo and silk, lodging one's feelings on the dark brush-tip, keeping to the constant Way while awaiting the end — this is enough. Moreover, where the Dao (the word Laozi borrows for the origin and working of all things, itself beyond naming) is present there is honor; where the de (the capacity the Dao shows when lodged in a particular thing, not virtue in the moral sense) prevails there is esteem; to take the Marquis of Sui's pearl to shoot at sparrows — the wise do not do that. Why must one wait for power to be distinguished, wait for a salary to be fed!"

“且夫安貧者以無財為富，甘卑者以不仕為榮。故幼安浮海而澄神，鬍子甘心於退耕。逢比有令德之罪，信布陷功大之刑。一枝足以戢鸞羽，何煩乎豐林潢洿足以泛龍鱗，豈事乎滄海藜藿嘉於八珍，寒泉旨於醽醁；躡履美於赤舄，縕袍麗於袞服；把橦安於杖鉞，鳴條樂乎絲竹；茅茨豔於丹楹，辨椽珍於刻桷；登高峰為臺榭，疵巖溜為華屋；積篇章為敖庾，寶玄談為金玉；棄細人之近戀，捐庸隸之所欲；遊九皋以含歡，遣智慧以絕俗。同屈尺蠖，藏光守樸；表拙示訥，知止常足。然後咀嚼芝芳，風飛雲浮；晞景九陽，附翼高遊；仰棲梧桐，俯集玄洲。孰與銜轡而伏櫪，同被繡於犧牛哉！”

(Master Cherishing-Ice continued:) "Moreover, one at peace in poverty counts having no wealth as riches; one content in low station counts not serving as glory. So Guan Ning floated out to sea to settle his spirit, and Hu Zhao was glad to withdraw and plow. Guan Longfeng and Bigan possessed fine virtue yet met with punishment; Han Xin and Ying Bu, because their merit was great, fell into the executioner's net. A single branch suffices to furl the luan's feathers — why trouble the luxuriant grove? A puddle suffices to float the dragon's scales — what need of the gray sea? Goosefoot and pulse taste better than the eight delicacies; cold spring water is sweeter than linglu wine; plain sandals are finer than vermilion slippers; a wadded gown is lovelier than a dragon robe; gripping a staff is steadier than bearing scepter and axe; wind in the branches makes better music than strings and pipes; a thatch roof outshines vermilion pillars; uncarved rafters are rarer than chiseled beams. Take the high peaks for towers and terraces; count the dripping of the cliffs the flaw of a grand house; pile up written chapters like the granaries of Ao; treasure dark discourse (discourse on the deep and unfathomable) as gold and jade; cast off the petty man's cravings before his eyes; abandon what the common drudge desires; roam the ninefold marsh-banks harboring joy, dismiss cleverness and cut off the drifting vulgar. Curl like the inchworm, hide one's light, and keep to the uncarved block (unworked timber, the image of the true state untouched by human fashioning); show clumsiness, display slowness of tongue, know when to stop, and be ever content. Then chew the fragrance of the zhi-plants, fly like the wind, float like the clouds; bask in the sun's shadow upon the ninefold yang, fasten wings and roam on high; alight above on the wutong tree, gather below upon the dark isle. How does this compare with holding the bit in one's teeth and crouching in the stable, like the sacrificial ox draped in embroidered cloth?"

赴勢公子曰：“夫入而不出者，謂之耽寵忘退；往而不反者，謂之不任無義。故達者以身非我有，任乎所值。隱顯默語，無所必固。時止則止，時行則行。束帛之集，庭燎之舉，則君子道長，在天利見。若運涉陽九讒勝之時，則不出戶庭，括囊勿用。龍起鳳戢，隨時之宜。古人所以或避危亂而不肯入，或色斯而不終日者，慮巫山之失火，恐芝艾之並焚耳。

The power-seeking young lord said: "To enter and not come out is called dallying in favor and forgetting to withdraw; to go away and not return is called abandoning responsibility and lacking righteousness. So the man who understands holds that the body is not one's own possession, and leaves it to whatever comes. Hiding or showing, silence or speech — none of it must be clung to. When the time calls for halting, halt; when the time calls for going, go. When the rolls of silk are gathered and the courtyard torches raised, that is when the way of the gentleman stretches and it profits to see the great man in the heavens. If the cycle falls upon yang-nine and slander prevails, then do not come out of doors and courts, and like the tied sack remain unused. The dragon rouses, the phoenix folds — each according to what the time makes fitting. Among the ancients some fled danger and disorder and would not enter, and some at a single change of countenance left before the day was out — they only feared that when Mount Wu catches fire, the zhi and the ai are burned together."

方今聖皇御運，世夷道泰，仁及蒼生，惠風遐邁，威肅鬼方，澤沾九裔；儀坤德以厚載，擬乾穹以高蓋；神化則雲行雨施，玄澤則煙熅汪濊；四門穆穆以博延，主思英逸以俾乂。此乃千載所希值，剖判之一會。而先生慕嘉遁之偏枯，不覺狷華之患害也；務乎單豹之養內，未睹暴虎之犯外也。是聞涉水之或溺，則謂乘舟者皆敗；以商臣之凶逆，則謂繼體無類也。”

(The power-seeking young lord continued:) Now the sage emperor drives the cycles of fortune; the way of the age is level and the great Way is secure; benevolence reaches the green-haired people, a wind of favor spreads afar; his majesty has put Guifang in stern order, his grace waters the ninefold marches; he takes the virtue of Earth for pattern in bearing richly, and matches the vault of Heaven in covering high; his spirit-like transformation moves like the clouds and pours like rain; his dark bounty is like steaming vapor, deep and wide; at his four gates, solemn, he invites men in broadly, and the lord longs for outstanding talents to aid his rule. This is a meeting that comes once in a thousand years, once since heaven and earth were parted. Yet you, sir, admire the half-withered side of noble withdrawal and do not feel the calamity of men like Juanjie and Huashi; you mind only Shanbao's nourishing of the inner and do not see the wild tiger attacking from without. This is hearing that a man drowned in fording a stream and declaring that all who take boats will founder; it is, because of a villainous rebel like Shangchen, declaring that no heir who succeeds can be good."

懷冰先生曰：“聖化之盛，誠如高論。出處之事，人各有懷。故堯舜在上，而箕潁有巢棲之客；夏後御世，而窮藪有握耒之賢。豈有慮於此險哉蓋各附於所安也。是以高尚其志，不仕王侯，存夫爻象，匹夫所執，延州守節，聖人許焉。”

Master Cherishing-Ice said: "The loftiness of sage-like transformation is indeed as you say. But as for serving or hiding, each man has his own embrace. Thus while Yao and Shun were above, between Mount Ji and the Ying River there were still guests nesting; while the Xia lord governed the world, in the poorest and remotest marshes there were still worthy men gripping their plows. What is there to fear in those perils? Each simply cleaves to what gives him rest. Thus 'ennobling one's resolve and not serving kings and lords' is preserved in the line-images, and a common man may hold fast to it; Yanzhou (Ji Zha) kept his integrity, and the sage permitted it."

“僕所以逍遙於丘園，斂跡乎草澤者，誠以才非政事，器乏治民，而多士雲起，髦彥鱗萃，文武盈朝，庶事既康，故不欲復舉熠耀以廁日月之間，拊甂瓴於洪鍾之側，貢輕扇於堅冰之節，炫裘爐乎隆暑之月，必見捐於無用，速非時之巨嗤。若擁經著述，可以全真成名，有補末化；若強所不堪，則將顛沛惟咎，同悔小狐。故居其所長，以全其所短耳。雖無立朝之勳，即戎之勞；然切磋後生，弘道養正，殊塗一致，非損之民也。劣者全其一介，何及於許由，聖世恕而容之，同曠於有唐，不亦可乎！”

(Master Huaibing continued:) "The reason I roam at ease in mounds and gardens and draw in my tracks among marshes and wilds is truly that my talent is unsuited to affairs of government and my capacity lacks what ruling the people requires; fine gentlemen rise like clouds and choice worthies gather like scales, civil and martial officers crowd the court, and all matters are already at peace. So I have no wish to lift a firefly to take a place between sun and moon, to beat a clay pot beside a great bell, to offer a light fan in the season of hard ice, or to flaunt furs and brazier in the hottest month—surely to be cast aside as useless and draw untimely laughter. If I hold fast to the classics and compose works, I can preserve the genuine and achieve a name, and still benefit the teaching of a declining age; but if I strain to bear what I cannot carry, I will stumble to ruin with nothing but fault, regretting like the little fox. So I dwell in what I am good at, to keep safe what I am not. Though I have no merit in standing at court nor toil in following the army, yet to polish those who come after, magnify the Way and nourish the right—by a different road to the same end—is no loss to the people. The inferior man keeps his single self whole; how could he compare with Xu You? That the sage age forgives and harbors him, as magnanimous as the house of Tang—is that not acceptable?"

赴勢公子勃然自失，肅爾改容，曰：“先生立言助教，文討奸違，摽退靜以抑躁競之俗，興儒教以救微言之絕，非有出者，誰敘彝倫非有隱者，誰誨童蒙普天率土，莫匪臣民。亦何必垂纓執笏者為是，而樂飢衡門者可非乎！夫群迷乎雲夢者，必須指南以知道；並乎滄海者，必仰辰極以得反。今聞嘉訓，乃覺其蔽。請負衣冠，策駑希驥，泛愛與進，不嫌擇焉。”

The power-seeking gentleman, suddenly at a loss, respectfully changed countenance and said: "You establish words to aid instruction and use letters to punish the treacherous and perverse; you raise retiring stillness to curb the customs of restless striving, and revive Confucian teaching to rescue the subtle words from dying out. But if no one took office, who would set the constant relations in order? If no one lived in hiding, who would teach the young and ignorant? Over all under heaven, to the shores of all the land, there is no one who is not a subject. Why must only those with dangling cap-strings and held tablets be right, while those content to hunger beneath a crossbar gate may be faulted? Men lost in Yunmeng must have the south-pointer to know direction; men adrift on the great sea must look up to the north star to come home. Now, hearing your fine instruction, I have come to see my own blindness. Let me bind up my cap and gown, whip my sorry nag to gaze after the qiji steed, embrace all and advance together, not scorning any choice."

抱朴子曰：餘昔遊乎雲臺之山，而造逸民，遇仕人在焉。仕人之言曰：“明明在上，總御八紘，華夷同歸，要荒服事；而先生遊柏成之遐武，混群伍於鳥獸。然時移俗異，世務不拘，故木食山棲，外物遺累者，古之清高，今之逋逃也。君子思危於未形，絕禍於方來，無乃去張毅之內熱，就單豹之外害，畏盈抗慮，忘亂群之近憂，避牛跡之淺嶮，而墮百仞之不測，違濡足之泥涇，投爐冶而不覺乎”

Baopuzi said: Once, while roaming on Yuntai Mountain, I went to visit the recluse and met a man of office there. The man of office said: "An enlightened ruler is on high, grasping the reins of the eight bounds; Chinese and alien alike submit, and the border zones of the controlled and the wild all come to serve. Yet you follow the far-off footprints of Baicheng Zigao and mingle yourself with the herds of birds and beasts. But times shift and customs change, and the affairs of the day are not bound to one pattern: so a man who eats the fruit of trees, lodges on the mountain, and casts off external things with all their entanglements was pure and lofty in antiquity, but today he is a fugitive. The superior man thinks of danger before calamity has taken shape and cuts it off before it arrives; I fear that you leave the inward fever of a Zhang Yi only to meet the outward harm of a Shan Bao; dreading fullness, you take up worry and forget the near peril of disturbing the herd; you avoid a danger shallow as an ox's hoofprint only to fall into a fathomless pit a hundred fathoms deep; you flee mud that would only wet your feet only to cast yourself into the furnace without even noticing?"

逸民答曰：“夫銳志於雛鼠者，不識騶虞之用心；盛務於庭粒者，安知鴛鸞之遠指猶焦螟之笑雲鵬，朝菌之怪大椿，坎蛙之疑海鱉，井蛇之嗤應龍也。子誠喜懼於勸沮，焉識玄曠之高韻哉！吾幸生於堯舜之世，何憂不得此人之志乎！”

The recluse answered: "He who sharpens his ambition upon a baby rat does not know the zouyu's mind; he who lavishes his effort on millet grains in the courtyard—how could he know where the yuan and the luan are bound? So the gnat laughs at the cloud-roofing roc, the morning fungus marvels at the great chun, the frog of the broken well doubts the sea-turtle, and the snake in the well sneers at the winged yinglong. You truly delight and tremble only between urging on and holding back—how could you recognize the high music of the mysterious and vast? By good fortune I live in the age of Yao and Shun—why need I worry that the resolve of such men cannot be had?"

仕人曰：“昔狂狷華士義不事上，隱於海隅，而太公誅之。吾子沈遁，不亦危乎”

The man of office said: "In old days the wild and unbending Huashi kept faith by refusing to serve his lord and dwelt in hiding by the sea's corner—yet Taigong put him to death. You have fled into deep hiding; is that not dangerous?"

逸民曰：“呂尚長於用兵，短於為國，不能儀玄黃以覆載，擬海嶽以博納，褒賢貴德，樂育人才；而甘於刑殺，不修仁義，故其劫殺之禍，萌於始封，周公聞之，知其無國也。夫攻守異容，道貴知變，而呂尚無烹鮮之術，出致遠之御，推戰陳之法，害高尚之士，可謂賴甲冑以完刃，又兼之浮泳，以射走之儀，又望求之於準的者也。

The recluse said: "Lü Shang excelled at war and fell short in governing a state: he could not take heaven and earth as his model in covering and bearing all, nor measure himself by sea and mountain in taking all in, nor honor the worthy, esteem virtue, and delight in nurturing men; instead he was content with punishment and slaughter and did not cultivate benevolence and right. So the calamity of his cutthroat rule sprouted from the very day he was enfeoffed, and when the Duke of Zhou heard of it, he knew the state could not be kept. Attack and defense wear different faces; the Way is precious in knowing change. But Lü Shang had not the art of simmering a small fish, yet applied the far-ranging harness, pushing the law of battle formations onto lofty gentlemen to harm them—this may be called trusting to armor to keep the blade whole while also trying to swim afloat, or taking a stance for shooting beasts while hoping to hit the bull's-eye.

夫傾庶鳥之巢，則靈鳳不集；漉魚鱉之池，則神虯遐逝；刳凡獸之胎，則麒麟不止寺其郊；害一介之士，則英傑不踐其境。呂尚創業垂統，以示後人，而張苛酷之端，開殘賊之軌，適足以驅俊民以資他國，逐賢能以遺讎敵也。去彼市馬骨以致駿足，軾陋巷以退秦兵者，不亦遠乎！子謂呂尚何如周公乎”仕人曰：“不能審也。”

(The recluse continued:) "Overturn the nests of common birds and the numinous phoenix will not gather; drain the pool of fish and turtles and the spirit-dragon will go far away; slit the womb of ordinary beasts and the unicorn will not come to that countryside (the base text's word is probably a corruption for 'come'); injure a single gentleman and the heroes will not set foot in that land. Lü Shang founded an enterprise and handed down a line for later men to see, yet opened a precedent of harsh cruelty and laid a track for maiming and slaughter—just enough to drive the finest men to other states as gifts to rivals and chase the able away to be left to enemies. Compared with buying a dead horse's bones to summon swift feet, or bowing on the carriage bar in a mean lane until the Qin army withdrew, is he not far behind! Tell me, how does Lü Shang compare with the Duke of Zhou?" The man of office said: "I cannot judge them clearly."

逸民曰：“夫周公大聖，以貴下賤，吐哺握髮，懼於失人，從白屋之士七十人，布衣之徒親執贄所師見者十人，所友者十有二人，皆不逼以在朝也。設令呂尚居周公之地，則此等皆成市朝之暴屍，而溝澗之腐此肉矣。

The recluse said: "The Duke of Zhou was a great sage who honored the lowly from his own eminence; he would spit out his meal and wring out his hair for fear of losing a man. The gentlemen of the white-walled houses who followed him numbered seventy; the plain-clothed men to whom he went in person with a gift, to treat as teacher and pay respects, were ten; those he kept as friends were twelve—and he forced none of them to remain at court. Had Lü Shang stood in the Duke of Zhou's place, all these men would have become corpses exposed in market and court, rotting flesh in the ditches and ravines.

唐堯非不能致許由巢父也，虞舜非不能脅善鄭石戶也，夏禹非不能逼柏成子高也，成湯非不能錄卞隨務光也，魏文非不能屈幹木也，晉平非不能吏亥唐也，然服而師之，貴而重之，豈六君之小弱也誠以百行殊尚，默默難齊，慕尊賢之美稱，恥賊善之醜跡，取之不足以增威，放之未憂於官曠，從其志則可以闡弘風化，熙隆退讓，厲苟進之貪夫，感輕薄之冒昧；雖器不益於旦夕之用，才不周於立朝之俊，不亦愈於脅肩低眉，諂媚權右，提贄懷貨，宵征同塵，爭津競濟，市買名品，棄德行學問之本，赴雷同比周之末也彼六君尚不肯苦言以侵隱士，寧肯加之鋒刃乎！聖賢誠可師者，呂尚居然謬矣。

(The recluse continued:) "It was not that Tang Yao could not summon Xu You and Chaofu; not that Yu Shun could not coerce Shanjuan and the farmer of Shihu; not that Xia Yu could not compel Baicheng Zigao; not that Cheng Tang could not employ Bian Sui and Wuguang; not that Marquis Wen of Wei could not bend down Duangan Mu; not that Duke Ping of Jin could not make Haitang take office. Rather, they admired them and served them as teachers, prized them and held them in honor—were those six rulers the weaker for it? Truly, the hundred walks of life each have their own esteem, silent and hard to make one. They envied the fair name of honoring the worthy and were ashamed of the ugly deed of harming good men; employing such men could not add to their majesty, and leaving them free brought no worry of vacant offices. By yielding to their bent they could magnify the work of suasion, make deference flourish, prod greedy men who scramble for gain, and stir the shallow and presumptuous. Even if such men's abilities serve no need of dawn and dusk, and their talents cannot round out the brilliant company at court, is that not better than men who hunch their shoulders and lower their brows to flatter the powerful, carry gifts and clutch goods, hurry by night to mingle with the dust, fight for the ford and scramble across the river, buy a celebrated name with money, cast off the root of virtue and learning, and rush toward the last reaches of echo and cabal? Those six rulers would not even trouble the recluses with harsh words—would they have laid blade to them? Sages and worthies are truly fit to be taken as models; Lü Shang was plainly wrong.

“漢高帝雖細行多闕，不涉典藝，然其弘曠恢廓，善恕多容，不繫近累，蓋豁如也。雖飢渴四皓，而不逼也。及太子卑辭致之，以為羽翼，便敬德矯情，惜其大者，發《黃鵠》之悲歌，杜宛妾之覬覦，其珍賢貴隱，如此之至也。宜其以布衣而君四海，其度量蓋有過人者矣。

(The recluse continued:) "Though Emperor Gao of Han had many faults in small conduct and never steeped himself in the classics, he was broad and generous, good at pardoning and containing much, not tethered by the entanglements before his eyes—in a word, open-hearted. Even though he wanted the Four Hoaryheads as a starving man wants food, he did not press them. Then, when the heir-apparent abased himself and brought them as his wings, the emperor honored virtue and bridled his feelings, cherished the greater side, sang the sad song of the Yellow Swan, and dammed Lady Qi's ambition—his treasuring of the worthy and prizing of recluses went so far. That a man of common cloth became lord of the four seas was fitting; his measure plainly exceeded other men's.

且夫呂尚之殺狷華者，在於恐其沮眾也。然俗之所患者，病乎躁於進趨，不務行業耳。不苦於安貧樂賤者之太多也。假令隱士往往屬目，至於情掛勢利，志無止足者，終莫能割此常欲，而慕彼退靜者也。開闢已降，非少人也，而忘富遺貴之士，猶不能居萬分之一。仲尼親受業於老子，而不能修其無為；子貢與原憲同門，而不能模其清苦。四凶與巢由同時，王莽與二龔共世，而不能效也。凡民雖復笞督之，危辱之，使追狷華，猶必不肯，乃反憂其壞俗邪呂尚思不及此，以軍法治平世，枉害賢人，酷誤已甚矣！賴其功大，不便以至顛沛耳。

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, Lü Shang killed the wild and unbending Huashi for fear he would corrupt the multitude. But the flaw the common run laments is haste to advance and indifference to conduct—not a surplus of men content in poverty and low station. Even if recluses stood everywhere under men's eyes, those whose hearts cling to power and gain, whose ambitions know no bound, could never in the end cut off that common craving to envy the retiring and still. Since heaven and earth opened, men have been many, yet gentlemen who forgot wealth and abandoned rank have not come to one in ten thousand. Confucius himself studied under Laozi yet could not practice his nonaction; Zigong shared a school with Yuanxian yet could not imitate his austerity. The Four Fiends lived alongside Chaofu and Xu You; Wang Mang lived in the same world as Gong Sheng and Gong She—none could emulate them. Even if you whipped and harried the common folk and faced them with peril and disgrace to make them tread in the footsteps of the wild Huashi, they would never consent—so why worry that such men will corrupt the customs? Lü Shang never thought this through: he governed a settled age with military law and unjustly slaughtered a worthy—his cruelty and error went much too far. Only because his merit was great did he escape instant ruin.

且呂尚之未遇文王也，亦曾隱於窮賤，凡人易之，老婦逐之，賣庸不售，屠釣無獲，曾無一人慕之。其避世也，何獨慮狷華之沮眾邪設令殷紂以尚逃遁，收而斂之，尚臨死，豈能自謂罪所應邪魏武帝亦弄法嚴峻，果於殺戮，乃心欲用乎孔明，孔明自稱不樂出身。武帝謝遣之曰：‘義不使高世之士，辱於汙君之朝也。’其鞭撻九有，草創皇基，亦不妄矣。

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, before Lü Shang met King Wen, he too lay hidden in poverty and low estate: common men slighted him, an old woman drove him off, no one would hire his labor, and his butchery and fishing took nothing—not one man envied him. While he himself was shunning the world, why worry only that the wild Huashi would corrupt the crowd? If Zhou of Yin, because Lü Shang had fled, had seized and imprisoned him, could Lü Shang on the point of death have declared his punishment deserved? Emperor Wu of Wei too played with statutes and was harsh, ready to kill, yet in his heart wished to employ Kongming; Kongming declared himself unwilling to take office. The emperor politely declined and sent him back, saying: 'In right I cannot let a gentleman loftier than the world suffer disgrace at the court of a murky ruler.' He whipped the nine provinces and first raised the imperial enterprise—his was not rank folly either.

“紛擾日久，求競成俗，或推貨賄以龍躍，或階黨援以鳳起，風成化習，大道漸蕪，後生昧然，儒訓遂堙。將為立身，非財莫可。苟有卓然不群之士，不出戶庭，潛志味道，誠宜優訪，以興謙退也。夫使孫吳荷戈，一人之力耳；用其計術，則賢於萬夫。今令大儒為吏，不必切事。肆之山林，則能陶冶童蒙，闡弘禮敬。何必服巨象使捕鼠韛鸞(有脫文)也。”(脫“仕人曰”數語)“若乃零淪藪澤，空生徒死，亦安足貴乎”

(The recluse continued:) "Confusion and disorder lasted long; scrambling to advance became the custom. Some leap up like dragons on the strength of pushed goods and bribes; some fly up like phoenixes on the steps of faction and pull. Wind becomes usage and usage becomes habit; the great Way falls slowly to weed, the young grow up dim and unknowing, and the instruction of the Confucians sinks out of sight. To establish oneself without wealth cannot be done. If there is a gentleman outstanding above the crowd who never leaves his own door and court, immersing his will in tasting the Way, then truly he should be sought out with generous courtesy, to raise the practice of yielding. Give Sun and Wu a spear and they are one man's strength; use their arts and they are worth ten thousand men. Likewise, make great Confucians minor clerks and they need not match the business; set them in the mountain forests and they can mold the young and ignorant and magnify propriety and reverence. Why make a great elephant catch rats, or set the bellows-luan to its task (the base text seems to lose words here)!" (The base text drops the words 'the man of office said' here.) "If he withers and sinks away in the marshes, living in vain and then dying, what is there to prize in that?"

逸民答曰：“子可謂守培螻，玩狐丘，未登閬風而臨雲霓；玩瀅汀，遊潢洿，未浮南溟而涉天漢。凡所謂志人者，不必在乎祿位，不必須乎勳伐也。太上無己，其次無名，能振翼以絕群，騁跡以絕軌，為常人所不能為，割近才所不能割，少多不為凡俗所量，恬粹不為名位所染，淳風足以濯百代之穢，高操足以激將來之濁。何必紆朱曳紫，服冕乘軺，被犧牛之文繡，吞詹何之香餌，朝為張天之炎熱，夕成冰冷之季灰！

The recluse answered: "You may be said to keep to the anthill and play upon the foxes' mound, never having climbed Mount Langfeng to look down on cloud and rainbow; you play in the shallows and swim the stagnant pools, never having floated the Southern Deep to ford the River of Heaven. As for the men called resolute: they need not depend on salary and place, need not wait on merit and record. The highest has no self; the next has no name. To beat one's wings and leave the flock, to gallop one's track beyond the ruts, to do what ordinary men cannot do, to renounce what petty talents cannot renounce, unfathomed by the common measure, tranquil purity unstained by fame and place—such pure air suffices to wash away a hundred ages' filth; such high conduct suffices to stir the coming generations' turbid flow. What need is there to knot the vermilion and trail the purple, wear the cap and ride the light carriage, don the embroidered robe of the sacrificial ox, swallow Zhan He's baited hook—at dawn a blazing canopy of heat, by nightfall cold as dead ashes!

“夫斥鴳不以蓬榛易雲霄之表，王鮪不以幽岫貿滄海之曠，虎豹入廣廈而懷悲，鴻鵾登嵩巒而含戚。物各有心，安其所長。莫不泰於得意，而慘於失所也。經世之士，悠悠皆是，一日無君，惶惶如也。譬猶藍田之積玉，鄧林之多材，良工大匠，肆意所用。亦何必棲魚而沈鳥哉！嘉遁高蹈，先聖所許；或出或處，各從攸好。

(The recluse continued:) "The marsh-quail would not trade its brambles for the regions beyond the clouds; the royal sturgeon would not trade its deep ravine for the vastness of the gray sea; tiger and leopard entering a broad hall carry grief; the great hong-bird mounting the ridges of Song holds sorrow. Each creature has its own heart and rests in what suits it; none is not content in its element and wretched out of it. Gentlemen who order the world, anxious and toiling, are all like this: a single day without a lord and they go restless. But like the piled jade of Lantian and the massed timber of Deng Forest, the good workman and master carpenter may take as they please. Why make fish roost in trees and birds sink below the waves! Noble withdrawal and high stepping were sanctioned by the former sages; to go forth or stay, each follows his own bent.

“蓋士之所貴，立德立言。若夫孝友仁義，操業清高，可謂立德矣。窮覽《墳》《索》，著述粲然，可謂立言矣。夫善鄭無治民之功，未可謂減於俗吏；仲尼無攻伐之勳，不可以為不及於韓白矣。身名並全，謂之為上。隱居求志，先民嘉焉。夷齊一介，不合變通，古人嗟嘆，謂不降辱。夫言不降者，明隱逸之為高也；不辱者，知羈縶之為洿也。聖人之清者，孟軻所美，亦云天爵貴於印綬。志修遺榮，孫卿所尚，道義既備，可輕王公。而世人所畏唯勢，所重唯利。盛德身滯，便謂庸人；器小任大，便謂高士。或有乘危冒嶮，投死忘生，棄遺體於萬仞之下，邀榮華乎一朝之間，比夫輕四海愛脛毛之士，何其緬然邪！”

(The recluse continued:) "What a gentleman prizes is establishing virtue and establishing words. As for filial piety, brotherly love, benevolence and right, keeping one's conduct and deeds clear and high—this may be called establishing virtue. Reading to the last the Three Fen and Eight Suo and composing works splendid to behold—this may be called establishing words. That Shanjuan had no merit in ruling men does not make him worse than a common clerk; that Zhongni had no labor in attack and conquest does not make him inferior to Han Xin and Bai Qi. When person and name are both kept whole, we call it the highest. To live hidden and seek one's own resolve—the men of old commended. Boyi and Shuqi were but single men, not given to compromise; the ancients sighed over them, saying they would not be lowered nor shamed. 'Not lowered' marks withdrawal as high; 'not shamed' knows bridle and bond as foul. The pure kind among sages is what Meng Ke praised, and he also held heaven's rank more precious than seals and ribbons. A will well ordered and glory forsaken is what Sun Qing esteemed: when the Way and right are complete, one may think lightly of kings and dukes. But what the world fears is only power; what it prizes is only profit. When a man of great virtue lingers in obscurity they call him a mediocrity; when a small capacity fills a great post they call him a high gentleman. Some ride peril and brave danger, fling off death and forget life, cast the body their parents left them beneath a thousand-fathom cliff to win glory in a single morning—how far they are from the gentleman who thought the four seas light and grudged a hair on his own shank!"

仕人曰：“潛退之士，得意山澤，不荷世貴，蕩然縱肆，不為時用，嗅祿利(有脫文)，誠為天下無益之物，何如”

The man of office said: "A gentleman who withdraws and hides, pleased among the mountains and marshes, carrying no burden of the world's honor, drifting loose and free, unused by his age, sniffing at salary and profit (the base text seems to lose words here)—he is truly a useless thing under heaven. What say you?"

逸民答曰：“夫麟不吠守，鳳不司晨，騰黃不引犁，尸祝不治庖也。且夫揚大明乎無外，宜嫗煦之和風者，日也；耀華燈於暗夜，治金石以致用者，火也。天下不可以經時無日，不可以一旦無火，然其大小，不可同也。江海之外，彌綸二儀，升為雲雨，降成百川；而朝夕之用，不及累仞之井，灌田溉園，未若溝渠之沃。校其鉅細，孰為曠哉

The recluse answered: "The unicorn is not used to bark a watch; the phoenix is not used to crow the dawn; the flying yellow steed is not used to draw the plow; the invocator does not manage the kitchen. Moreover, what lifts a great brightness to regions without outside and is fit to warm all things with a mild wind is the sun; what lights the ornate lamp in the dark night and melts metal and stone for men's use is fire. The world cannot do without the sun for a single season, nor without fire for a single day—yet in size the two cannot be held equal. Beyond the rivers and seas, the waters enfold the two powers, rising to become cloud and rain, sinking to become the hundred streams; yet for the uses of morning and evening they are not worth a well a few fathoms deep, and for watering field and garden not as fertile as a ditch. Compare their great and small—which is the more far-reaching?

桀紂，帝王也；仲尼，陪臣也。今見比於桀紂，則莫不怒焉；見擬於仲尼，則莫不悅焉。爾則貴賤果不在位也。故孟子云，禹稷顏淵，易地皆然矣。宰予亦謂，孔子賢於堯舜遠矣。夫匹庶而鈞稱於王者，儒生高極乎唐虞者，德而已矣，何必官哉！

(The recluse continued:) "Jie and Zhou were sovereign kings; Zhongni was a subordinate officer. Yet today, show a man he is likened to Jie and Zhou and none fails to be angry; show him he is matched with Zhongni and none fails to be pleased. Seen thus, noble and low truly lie not in the office. So Mencius said: Yu, Ji, and Yan Yuan—change their places and each is the same. Zai Yu too said Confucius was far more worthy than Yao and Shun. A commoner praised equally with kings, a scholar lofty enough to be matched with Tang and Yu—it is only because of virtue. What need is there of office?

“且夫交靈升於造化，運天地於懷抱，恢恢然世故不棲於心術，茫茫然寵辱不汨其純白，流俗之所欲，不能染其神，近人之所惑，不能移其志。榮華，猶贅疣也；萬物，猶蜩翼也。若然者，豈肯詰屈其支體，俯仰其容儀，挹酌於其所不喜，修索於其所棄遺，怡顏以取進，曲躬以避退，恐俗人之不悅，戚我身之凌遲，屈龍淵為錐鑽之用，抑靈鼖為鼓兆鼙之音，推黃鉞以適釤鎌之持，撓華旗以入林杞之下乎

(The recluse continued:) "Moreover, one who soars in communion with the Creator, turning heaven and earth within his breast—vast, so that worldly affairs cannot roost in the heart's art; boundless, so that favor and disgrace cannot stir his pure white—what the common run desires cannot soil his spirit; what near men doubt cannot shift his will. Glory is a wart and tumor; the myriad things are a cicada's wing. Would such a man bend and contort his limbs, bow and raise his mien, weigh out what he dislikes, rummage in what he has abandoned, sweeten his face to seek advancement, crook his body to dodge retreat, fear that vulgar men might be displeased, fret over his own frame's decline, bend a Longyuan blade to serve as a drill, press the numinous war-drum into a rattle's note, push the yellow axe to fit a reaper's grip, and bow the flowered banner to slip beneath the trees?

古公杖策而捐之，越翳入穴以逃之，季札退耕以委之，老萊灌園以遠之，從其所好，莫與易也。故醇而不雜，斯則富矣；身不受役，其則貴矣。若夫剖符有土，所謂祿利耳，非富貴也。且夫官高者其責重，功大者人忌之，獨有貧賤，莫與我爭，可得長寶，而無憂焉。

(The recluse continued:) "Old Duke Dan leaned on his staff and gave up the kingship; Prince Yi of Yue crept into a cave to flee it; Jizha withdrew to plowing to refuse it; Laolaizi watered his garden to keep far from it—each followed his own bent, and nothing could be traded for it. So to be mellow and unmixed—this is wealth; to have the body free of corvée—this is rank. As for receiving a split tally and an enfeoffed fief, that is only what is called salary and profit, not wealth and honor. Moreover, he whose office is high bears heavy duty; he whose merit is great is envied by men. Only in poverty and low station does no one contend with me: it can be kept long, and without care.

“濯裘布被，拔葵去織，豚不掩豆，菜餚糲餐，又獲逼下邀偽之譏，樹塞反坫，三歸玉食，穰侯之富，安昌之泰，則有僭上洿濁之累。未若遊神典文，吐故納新，求飽乎耒梠之端，索縕乎杼軸之間，腹仰河而已滿，身集一枝而餘安，萬物芸芸，化為埃塵矣。食齧弱餬口，布褐縕袍，淡泊肆志，不憂不喜，斯尊樂，喻之無物也。

(The recluse continued:) "Wash the fur and take a cloth quilt, pull up the mallows and dismiss the weavers; pork that does not cover the dish, vegetable broth with coarse rice—and still you draw the sneer of cramping those below and fishing for hollow praise. Plant a screen-gate, build a goblet-stand, keep three households and eat jade viands, have the wealth of the Marquis of Rang or the ease of Anchang—and you bear the taint of usurping the ruler and sinking in mire. Better to let the spirit roam among the texts of the canon, breathe out the old and take in the new; seek one's fill at the tip of the plowshare, seek a padded robe among the loom's shuttle and axle; the belly is full once it has faced the river, the body at peace once it settles on a single bough—the myriad things in their swarm all turn to dust and dirt. Eating plain weak fare to fill the mouth, wearing hemp cloth and padded rags, calm and unbound in will, without sorrow and without joy—this is true honor and true delight, for which no outward thing can stand as likeness.

“夫仕也者，欲以為名邪則修毫可以洩憤懣，篇章可以寄姓字，何假乎良史，何煩乎鑱鼎哉！孟子不以矢石為功，揚雲不以治民益世，求仁而得，不亦可乎”

(The recluse continued:) "Is taking office meant to seek a name by it? Then a well-wielded brush can vent one's indignation, and a chapter can lodge one's surname and name—what need to lean on a good chronicler, what need to trouble the engraving on a tripod? Mencius did not take arrows and stones for merit; Yang Xiong did not count ruling the people a benefit to the age. To seek benevolence and obtain benevolence—is that not enough?"

仕人又曰：“隱遁之士，則為不臣，亦豈宜居君之地，食君谷乎”逸民曰：“何謂其然乎！昔顏回死，魯定公將躬吊焉，使人訪仲尼。仲尼曰：‘凡在邦內，皆臣也。’定公乃升自東階，行君禮焉。由此論之，‘率土之濱，莫匪王臣’可知也。在朝者陳力以秉庶事，山林者修德以厲貪濁，殊途同歸，俱人臣也。王者無外，天下為家，日月所照，雨露所及，皆其境也。安得懸虛空，餐咀流霞，而使之不居乎地，不食乎谷哉

The man of office said again: "A gentleman in hiding is, in effect, no subject—can it be right for him to dwell on the ruler's soil and eat the ruler's grain?" The recluse said: "How can you say so? In old days, when Yan Hui died, Duke Ding of Lu was about to mourn him in person and sent a man to ask Zhongni. Zhongni said: 'All who are within the state are subjects.' Duke Ding therefore mounted by the eastern steps and performed the rites of a ruler. From this it may be known that 'on the shores of all the land there is none who is not the king's subject.' Those at court contribute their strength to manage the affairs; those in mountain forests cultivate virtue to shame the greedy and foul—different roads to the same end, all servants of the throne. The king has no outside; the realm is his household; wherever sun and moon shine, wherever rain and dew reach, is his domain. Would you have them hang in empty air and chew the flowing mist, dwelling nowhere on the land and eating no grain?

“夫山之金玉，水之珠貝，雖不在府庫之中，不給朝夕之用，然皆君之財也。退士不居肉食之列，亦猶山水之物也，豈非國有乎許由不竄於四海之外，四皓不走於八荒之表也。故曰：萬邦黎獻，共惟帝臣。幹木不荷戈戍境，築壘疆場，而有蕃魏之功。今隱者潔行蓬蓽之內，以詠先王之道，使民知退讓，儒墨不替，此亦堯舜之所許也。昔夷齊不食周粟，鮑焦死於橋上，彼之硜硜，何足師表哉

(The recluse continued:) "The metal and jade in the mountains, the pearls and shells in the waters—though they are not in the treasury and supply no use of dawn and dusk—are all the ruler's wealth. Retired gentlemen do not stand in the ranks of the meat-eaters, yet like the things in mountain and water, are they not the state's own? Xu You never fled beyond the four seas; the Four Hoaryheads never ran to the edge of the eight wastes. Thus it is said: the black-haired worthies of the myriad states are all the emperor's servants. Duangan Mu never shouldered a spear to guard the border nor raised ramparts on the field, yet he had the merit of screening and guarding Wei. Now the recluse, within his door of brambles, makes his virtue clean and chants the way of the former kings, so that the hundred surnames learn to yield and the teachings of Confucian and Mohist are not cast aside—this too is what Yao and Shun approved. In old days Boyi and Shuqi would not eat the millet of Zhou, and Bao Jiao died clinging to the bridge—their petty obstinacy was never worth taking as a model.

“昔安帝以玄纁玉帛聘周彥祖。桓帝以玄纁玉帛聘韋休明，順帝以玄纁玉帛聘楊仲宣，就拜侍中，不到。魏文帝徵管幼安不至，又就拜光祿勳，竟不到；乃詔所在常八月致羊一口酒二斛。桓帝玄纁玉帛聘憑藉孺子，就拜太原太守及東海相，不到。順帝以玄纁玉帛聘樊季高，不到；乃詔所在常以八月致羊一口酒二斛，又賜几杖，待以師傅之禮。獻帝時，鄭康成州辟舉賢良方正茂才，公府十四闢，皆不就；公車徵左中郎博士趙相侍中大司農，皆不起。昭帝公車徵韓福，到；賜帛五十匹及羊酒。法高卿再舉孝廉，本州五辟，公府八辟，九舉賢良博士，三徵，皆不就。桓帝以玄纁玉帛安車軺輪聘韓伯休，不到。以玄纁玉帛安車軺輪聘妾伯雅，就拜太中大夫犍為太守，不起。然皆見優重，不加威闢也。若此諸帝褒隱逸之士不謬者，則呂尚之誅華士為兇酷過惡，斷可知矣。”

(The recluse continued:) "In former days Emperor An summoned Zhou Yanzu with gifts of dark-crimson silk and jade. Emperor Huan so summoned Wei Xiuming; Emperor Shun so summoned Yang Zhongxuan, appointing him Palace Attendant where he stood—he did not take the post. Emperor Wen of Wei summoned Guan You'an; he did not come, and was appointed Superintendent of the Household where he stood, yet never took the post—whereupon an edict ordered his district to send one sheep and two hu of wine every eighth month. Emperor Huan so summoned Xu Ruzi, appointing him Grand Administrator of Taiyuan and Chancellor of Donghai where he stood—he did not take the post. Emperor Shun so summoned Fan Jigao; he did not take the post—whereupon an edict ordered his district to send sheep and wine each eighth month and bestow an armrest and staff, treating him with the rites due a master. In Emperor Xian's time, Zheng Kangcheng was recommended by his province as worthy, upright, and flourishing talent; the ducal offices summoned him fourteen times and he did not go; the public carriage called him to be General of the Gentlemen of the Left, Erudite, Chancellor of Zhao, Palace Attendant, and Grand Minister of Agriculture—he rose for none. Emperor Zhao sent the public carriage for Han Fu; he came, and was granted fifty bolts of silk with sheep and wine. Fazhen (Fa Gaoqing) was twice recommended as filial and incorrupt, five times summoned by his own province, eight times by the ducal offices, nine times named worthy or erudite, and three times summoned—he went to none. Emperor Huan sent dark-crimson silk and jade, with an easy carriage and padded wheels, for Han Boxiu—he did not come; and for Jiang Boya, appointing him Grand Palace Grandee and Grand Administrator of Qianwei where he stood—he did not rise. Yet all were treated with generous courtesy and honor, and no force of majesty was used to summon them. If these emperors did no wrong in commending reclusive gentlemen, then Lü Shang's execution of Huashi was cruel excess—this can be known for certain."

仕人乃悵然自失，慨爾永嘆曰：“始悟超俗之理，非庸瑣所見矣。”

The man of office, now at a loss, sighed long with feeling and said: "Only now do I grasp that the truth which rises above the common stream is not something mediocre, petty sight can see."

抱朴子曰：夫學者所以清澄性理，簸揚埃穢，雕鍛礦璞，礱煉屯鈍，啟導聰明，飾染質素，察往知來，博涉勸戒，仰觀俯察，於是乎在，人事王道，於是乎備。進可以為國，退可以保己。是以聖賢罔莫孜孜而勤之，夙夜以勉之，命盡日中而釋，飢寒危困而不廢。豈以有求於當世哉誠樂之自然也。

Baopuzi said: Learning serves to clarify the pattern of the nature, to winnow away dust and filth, to carve and forge the ore and the unpolished jade, to whet the dull, to open and guide the keen of mind, to adorn and dye the plain silk, to discern the past and know the future, and to range broadly among admonitions. Looking up to observe and bending to examine—it lies in this; human affairs and the kingly way are here made whole. Advancing, one can use it to order the state; retiring, one can use it to keep oneself whole. So sages and worthies without exception study with tireless zeal, laboring from morning to night, not laying it down even when life has passed its noon, not abandoning it in hunger, cold, or peril. What had they to seek from the age? Truly they took it as joy—it was simply so of itself (self-so, not 'the natural world').

夫斫削刻畫之薄伎，射御騎乘之易事，猶須慣習，然後能善，況乎人理之曠，道德之遠，陰陽之變，鬼神之情，緬邈玄奧，誠難生知。雖雲色白，匪染弗麗；雖雲味甘，匪和弗美。故瑤華不琢，則耀夜之景不發；丹青不治，則純鉤之勁不就。火則不鑽不生，不扇不熾；水則不決不流，不積不深。故質雖在我，而成之由彼也。登閬風，捫晨極，然後知井谷之暗隘也；披七經，玩百氏，然後覺面牆之至困也。

Crafts as slight as whittling and carving, skills as easy as archery, charioteering, and riding, must still be practiced before they are done well—how much more the far reach of human pattern, the deep range of the Way and its power, the permutations of yin and yang, and the dispositions of ghosts and spirits: remote, mysterious, subtle—hard indeed to know from birth. Though the color is white, undyed it is not lovely; though the taste is sweet, unblended it is not fine. So gem-flowers unground and uncut cannot send out a night-lighting gleam; cinnabar and azurite unrefined cannot achieve Chungou-like temper. Fire unbored does not kindle, unfanned does not blaze; water unbreached does not flow, ungathered does not run deep. So though the substance is in me, what perfects it comes from elsewhere. Climb Mount Langfeng and touch the North Star, and only then do you know the well-gulf's darkness and narrowness; unroll the seven classics and savor the hundred schools, and only then do you feel how stifling it is to face a wall.

夫不學而求知，猶願魚而無網焉，心雖勤而無獲矣；廣博以窮理，猶須風而托焉，體不勞而致遠矣。粉黛至則西施以加麗，而宿瘤以藏醜；經術深則高才者洞達，鹵鈍者醒悟。文梓幹云，而不可名臺榭者，未加班輪之結構也；天然爽朗，而不可謂之君子者，不識大倫之臧否也。

To seek knowledge without study is like hoping for fish with no net—the heart toils but gains nothing. To range broadly and exhaust the pattern of things is like riding the wind and being borne—the body does not labor yet reaches far. Powder and mascara make Xishi still more beautiful and hide even Suliu's ugliness; when the classics' arts run deep, men of high talent penetrate through and even the dull are awakened. The towering catalpa pierces the clouds, yet cannot be called a terrace or kiosk, because Gongshu Ban's joinery has not yet been laid upon it; a nature may be clear and bright, yet cannot be called a gentleman, because it does not know good and ill within the great human bonds.

欲超千里於終朝，必假追影之足；欲凌洪波而遐濟，必因艘楫之器；欲見無外而不下堂，必由之乎載籍；欲測淵微而不役神，必得之乎明師。故朱綠所以改素絲，訓誨所以移矇蔽。披玄雲而揚大明，則萬物無所隱其狀矣；舒竹帛而考古今，則天地無所藏其情矣。況於鬼神乎而況於人事乎泥涅可令齊堅乎金玉，曲木可攻之以應繩墨，百獸可教之以戰陳，畜牲可習之以進退，沈鱗可動之以聲音，機石可感之以精誠，又況乎含五常而稟最靈者哉！

To pass a thousand leagues in a single morning you must borrow feet that overtake the light; to soar over mighty billows and cross far you must rely on boat and oar; to see the realm that has no outside without leaving the hall you must go by way of the records and books; to fathom the abyssal and subtle without harnessing your own spirit you must receive it from an enlightened teacher. So vermilion and green are for altering white silk; instruction and precept are for shifting the blinded. Draw back the dark clouds and raise the great brightness, and the myriad things can no longer hide their shapes; unroll the bamboo and silk to examine past and present, and heaven and earth can no longer hide their dispositions—how much less ghosts and spirits, and how much less human affairs! Clay can be tempered hard as metal or jade; bent wood can be trued to the marking-line; the hundred beasts can be taught the ranks of battle; dumb stock can be drilled to advance and halt; scaled creatures sunk in the water can be stirred by sound; crossbow and stone can be mastered by utmost sincerity—how much more man, who holds the five constants and receives the most numinous endowment!

低仰之駟，教之功也；鷙擊之禽，習之馴也。與彼凡馬野鷹，本實一類，此以飾貴，彼以質賤。運行潦而勿輟，必混流乎滄海矣；崇一簣而弗休，必鈞高乎峻極矣。大川滔漾，則虯螭群遊；日就月將，則德立道備。乃可以正。夢乎丘旦，何徒解桎乎困蒙哉！

A four-horse team that lowers and raises, advances and retreats, is the work of training; a raptor that stoops to strike is made tame by practice. They and common horses and wild falcons were truly one kind at first: the one is prized for its adornment, the other despised for its bare substance. Keep the gathered rainwater running without stop and it must mingle down into the gray sea; pile on one more basketful without pause and it must rise level with the towering peak. When the great stream swells and spreads, horned dragons gather and swim; when the days bring achievement and the months bring advance, virtue stands and the Way is complete. Only then can one be set upright. To see Confucius and the Duke of Zhou even in dreams—how much more than merely loosening the fetters of benighted confusion!

昔仲由冠雞帶豚，靃珥鳴蟬，杖劍而舞，盛稱南山之勁竹，欲任掘強之自然；尼父善誘，染以德教，遂成升堂之生，而登四科之哲。子張鄙人，而灼聚兇猾，漸漬道訓，成化名儒，乃抗禮於王公，豈直免於庸陋！

In former days Zhongyou wore a cap of cockscomb and a boar's-tusk girdle, flaunting ear-pendant and chirping cicada, whirling his sword in dance and loudly praising the tough bamboo of South Mountain, bent on giving his stubborn nature free rein. But Nifu knew how to draw him on and steeped him in the teaching of virtue, until he became a student who ascended the hall and a worthy mounted among the Four Classes. Zizhang was a man of low station; Zhuoju was a savage rogue—yet both were slowly steeped in the Way's instruction and transformed into famous Confucians, able in the end to face kings and dukes as equals—far more than merely escaping the common and the crude!

以是賢人悲寓世之倏忽，疾泯沒之無稱；感朝聞之弘訓，悟通微之無類；懼將落之明戒，覺罔念之作狂；不飽食以終日，不棄功於寸陰；鑑逝川之勉志，悼過隙之電速；割遊情之不急，損人間之末務；洗憂貧之心，遣廣願之穢，息畋獵博奕之遊戲，矯晝寢坐睡之懈怠；知徒思之無益，遂振策於聖途。學以聚之，問以辯之，進德修業，溫故知新。

Therefore the worthy man grieves at the briefness of this lodging in the world and burns at vanishing without a name; stirred by the grand maxim of hearing the Way at dawn, he awakes to the subtle, which no class confines; fearing the clear warning of coming decay, he knows that without reflection one runs wild. He does not merely eat his fill all day, nor cast off the merit of an inch of shadow; he watches the river that flows on to spur his will, and mourns the lightning that streaks past the crack; he cuts away the unurgent pleasures of roaming fancy and pares back the world's lesser tasks; he washes out the heart that frets at poverty and sends off the filth of sprawling wants; he puts a stop to the games of hunting and gambling and corrects the slackness of sleeping by day and dozing at the seat; knowing that empty thought brings no gain, he cracks his whip upon the sages' road. By study to gather, by questioning to dispute; to advance in virtue and perfect the work; to warm the old and know the new.

夫周公上聖，而日讀百篇。仲尼天縱，而韋編三絕。墨翟大賢，載文盈車。仲舒命世，不窺園門。倪寬帶經以芸鉏，路生截蒲以寫書，黃霸抱桎梏以受業，寧子勤夙夜以倍功，故能究覽道奧，窮測微言，觀萬古如同日，知八荒若廬庭，考七耀之盈虛，步三五之變化，審盛衰之方來，驗善否於既往，料玄黃於掌握，甄未兆以如成。故能盛德大業，冠於當世，清芒令問，播於罔極也。

The Duke of Zhou was a supreme sage, yet read a hundred pieces in a day. Zhongni was a sage heaven had let loose, yet thrice wore out the leather bindings of his books. Mozi was a great worthy, yet the books he carried filled a cart. Dong Zhongshu was a man to name his age, yet never once glanced toward his garden gate. Ni Kuan carried the classic while he weeded; Lu Wenshu cut rushes to write his book; Huang Ba received instruction wearing fetters; Ning Yue labored from dawn to night to double his gains. So they could read to the bottom the mysteries of the Way, fathom the subtle words to their end, look on ten thousand ages as one day, and know the eight wastes like their own courtyard; they examined the waxing and waning of the seven luminaries, measured the courses of the three luminaries and five planets, discerned rise and decline before it came, tested good and ill against what had gone before, held heaven and earth reckoned within the palm, and distinguished things not yet sprouted as if already done. Thus they achieved great virtue and great works, crowning their age, their clear light and fair fame spreading to bounds unknown.

且夫聞商羊而戒浩漾，訪鳥砮而洽東肅，諮萍實而言色味，訊土狗而識墳羊，披《靈寶》而知山隱，因折俎而說專車，瞻離畢而分陰陽之候，由冬螽而覺閏餘之錯，何神之有學而已矣。夫童謠猶助聖人之耳目，豈況《墳》《索》之弘博哉！

Moreover, hearing of the shangyang bird one can prepare for a mighty flood; asking after the arrow of fletched wood and stone barb one can square with Sushen in the east; asked of the duck-weed fruit one can tell its color and taste; questioned about the earthen dog one can recognize the tomb-sheep; reading the Lingbao one can know the mountain's hidden thing; drawing on the sundered joints one can explain the bone that filled a cart; watching the moon lodge by the Hyades one can tell the climes of yin and yang; from winter locusts one can detect the error of the intercalary excess. What magic is there in this? Learning, that is all. Even children's rhymes can aid a sage's ears and eyes—how much more the broad reach of the Three Fen and Eight Suo!

才性有優劣，思理有修短。或有夙知而早成，或有提耳而後喻。夫速悟時習者，驥騄之腳也；遲解晚覺者，鶉鵲之翼也。彼雖尋飛絕景，止而不行，則步武不過焉；此雖咫尺以進，往而不輟，則山澤可越焉。明暗之學，其猶茲乎蓋少則志一而難忘，長則神放而易失，故修學務早，及其精專，習與性成，不異自然也。若乃絕倫之器，盛年有故，雖失之於暘谷，而收之於虞淵。方知良田之晚播，愈於座歲之荒蕪也。日燭之喻，斯言當矣。

Natural gifts have their better and worse; reasoning has its long and short. Some know early and finish early; others must be led by the ear before they see. The quick of wit who also warms his lessons is the qiji's foot; the slow to grasp who wakes only late is the quail's wing. The latter, though it follows flight and overtakes the light, once it halts cannot cover the ground by foot; the former, though it creep a foot and an inch at a time, if it goes without stopping may cross mountains and marshes. The learning of the bright and the dim is roughly like this. The young have a single-minded will that forgets nothing; the grown have spirits that stray and lose easily—so the pursuit of learning must begin early; once essence is fixed and habit and nature are formed, they are one with the natural. As for a capacity beyond compare, even if accident strikes in the prime—though it be lost at Yanggu, the vale of sunrise—it may still be recovered at Yuyuan, the abyss of sunset. Then one learns that a fine field sown late is better than a whole year left fallow. The simile of the sun and the lamp is exactly apt.

世道多難，儒教淪喪，文武之軌，將遂凋墜。或沈溺於聲色之中，或驅馳於競逐之路。孤貧而精六藝者，以遊夏之資，而抑頓乎九泉之下；因風而附鳳翼者，以駑庸之質，猶辶回遑乎霞霄之表。捨本逐末者，謂之勤修庶幾；擁經求己者，謂之陸沈迂闊。於是莫不蒙塵觸雨，戴霜履冰，懷黃握白，提清挈肥，以赴邪徑之近易，規朝種而暮獲矣。

The age is full of troubles, Confucian teaching lies in ruin, and the tracks of civil and martial are about to fall. Some are sunk in music and women; some gallop on the road of rivalry. The orphaned and poor who master the six arts, though they have the substance of a Ziyou or Zixia, are pressed down and broken beneath the nine springs; while those who ride the wind to cling to a phoenix's wing, though of dull and common stock, still wheel at ease beyond the mists of dawn (the base text is damaged here). Men who cast off the root and chase the branch are called diligent cultivators, near enough; those who hold the classics and seek in themselves are called benighted and unworldly. So there is none who does not brave dust and beat through rain, wear frost and tread ice, cradle gold and clutch silver, carry clear wine and bear fat meat, hurrying to the near and easy profit of the crooked path, planning to plant in the morning and harvest by night.

若乃下帷高枕，遊神九典，精義賾隱，味道居靜，確乎建不拔之操，揚青於歲寒之後，不揆世以投跡，不隨眾以萍漂者，蓋亦鮮矣。汲汲於進趨，悒悶於否滯者，豈能捨至易速達之通途，而守甚難必窮之塞路乎此川上所以無人，《子衿》之所為作。憫俗者所以痛心而長慨，憂道者所以含悲而頹思也。

As for men who let down the curtain and sleep on a high pillow, let the spirit roam among the Nine Canons, sift the rightness of the pattern and probe the hidden and subtle, taste the Way and dwell in purity, firmly set a hold that cannot be pulled up, lift greenness after the season of cold, plant their feet without gauging the times, and refuse to drift with the crowd like a weed upon the water—such men are rare indeed. How could one frantic to advance and sullen at delay forsake the broad road of easiest, quickest reach to keep to the blocked path that is very hard and sure to end in want? This is why 'by the river' there is no one, and why 'Your Collar' was written. Those who grieve for the common ways therefore ache and sigh long; those who care for the Way therefore harbor sorrow and sink in thought.

夫寒暑代謝，否終則泰，文武迭貴，常然之數也。冀群寇畢滌，中興在今，七耀遵度，舊邦惟新，振天彗以廣埽，鼓九陽之洪爐，運大鈞乎皇極，開玄模以軌物。陶冶庶類，匠成翹秀，蕩汰積埃，革邪反正。戢干戈，橐弓矢，興辟雍之庠序，集國子，修文德，發金聲，振玉音。降風雲於潛初，旅束帛乎丘園，令抱翼之鳳，奮翮於清虛；項領之駿，騁跡於千里。使夫含章抑鬱，窮覽洽聞者，申公伏生之徒，發玄纁，登蒲輪，吐結氣，陳立素，顯其身，行其道，俾聖世迪唐虞之高軌，馳昇平之廣途，玄流沾於九垓，惠風被乎無外。五刑厝而頌聲作，和氣洽而嘉禾遂生，不亦休哉！

Cold and heat give way in turn; when obstruction ends, peace comes; civil and martial are prized in alternation—this is the fixed constant. May the hordes of brigands be washed clean away and the restoration dawn this very day; may the seven luminaries keep their measures and the old realm be made new; may the sky-broom be waved in a great sweeping and the vast forge of the nine yangs be drummed, the great potter's wheel turned at the august pivot, the mysterious mold opened to give things their norm. Mold and fire the myriad kinds, craft the towering and the fine, wash away the gathered dust, cast out the crooked and come back to the straight. Put away shield and spear, bag up bow and arrow; raise the schools of the Biyong and the village halls, gather the sons of the state, brighten civil virtue, let the golden bell sound and the jade note ring. Bring down wind and cloud to the first hidden station; send bundled silk to mound and garden; let the phoenix that folded its wings raise its pinions in the clear void; let the high-necked courser gallop its track along the thousand-league road. Let those who hold a literary gift suppressed, who have read to exhaustion and heard to the utmost—men like Shengong and Fusheng—open the dark-crimson gifts and mount the rush-wheeled carriage, breathe out their long-pent air and set forth their long-held doctrine, show themselves and practice their way, so that the sage age may follow the high track of Tang and Yu and race along the broad highway of peace, the mysterious current watering the nine reaches, the gracious wind touching all that has no outside—then the five punishments lie idle while songs of praise arise, the harmonious qi joins and fine grain grows. Is that not splendid?

昔秦之二世，不重儒術，舍先聖之道，習刑獄之法。民不見德，唯戮是聞。故惑而不知反迷之路，敗而不知自救之方，遂墮墜於雲霄之上，而敕韭粉乎不測之下。惟尊及卑，可無鑑乎！

In former days the Second Emperor of Qin did not prize Confucian arts; he abandoned the way of the former sages and practiced the law of prison and punishment. The people saw no virtue, heard only slaughter. So, confused, they did not know the road back, and in ruin they did not know how to save themselves; and he, from above the clouds, fell down, and in the fathomless below was crushed to powder by decree. From honored to humble—can any be without this warning?

抱朴子曰：澄視於秋毫者，不見天文之煥炳。肆心於細務者，不覺儒道之弘遠。玩鮑者忘茞蕙，迷大者不能反。夫受繩墨者無枉刳之木，染道訓者無邪僻之人。飾治之術，莫良乎學。學之廣在於不倦，不倦在於固志。志苟不固，則貧賤者汲汲於營生，富貴者沈倫於逸樂。是以遐覽淵博者，曠代而時有；面牆之徒，比肩而接武也。

Baopuzi said: A man who strains his sight to an autumn hair cannot see the blaze of the heavens' pattern; a man who lets his heart loose on petty tasks cannot feel how broad and far the Confucian Way runs. One who toys with putrid fish forgets the fragrant herbs; one lost in the great cannot return. Wood under the marking-line is never carved awry; a man steeped in the Way's instruction is never crooked. Of methods for shaping and ordering, none is better than study. Study's breadth lies in never flagging; never flagging lies in a firm will. If the will is not firm, the poor man hurries to keep himself fed and the rich man sinks into idle pleasure. So men of far sight and deep breadth appear once in an age, while the sort who face a bare wall crowd shoulder to shoulder and heel to heel.

若使素士則晝躬耕以餬口，夜薪火以修業，在位則以酣宴之餘暇，時遊觀於勸誡，則世無視肉，遊夏不乏矣。亦有飢寒切己，藜藿不給，膚困風霜，口乏糟糠，出無從師之資，家有暮旦之急，釋耒則農事廢，執卷則供養虧者，雖闕學業，可怒者也。所謂千里之足，困於鹽車之下；赤刀之礦，不經歐冶之門者也。

If a gentleman of cold and plain station plows by day to fill his mouth and burns firewood by night to pursue his work, and if men in office use the leisure left from feasting to roam from time to time among the books of counsel, then the world will not lack for sight-flesh (the legendary meat that regrows—an image for rare talent), and the likes of Ziyou and Zixia will not be wanting. There are also those with hunger and cold at their own skin, whom pigweed cannot supply, whose skin is worn by wind and frost, whose mouths lack even dregs and husks, who go out without the means to follow a teacher, whose homes have urgent needs of morning and night, who lay down the plow and the farm work fails, take up the book and the family's keep falls short—even if such men fall short in learning, they may be forgiven. This is what is meant by feet that could run a thousand leagues trapped under a salt cart, ore fit for a crimson blade that never passes through Ou Yezi's door.

若夫王孫公子，優遊貴樂，婆娑綺紈之間，不知稼穡之艱難，目倦於玄黃，耳疲乎鄭衛，鼻饜乎蘭麝，口爽於膏粱，冬沓貂狐之縕麗，夏縝紗縠之翩飄，出驅慶封之輕軒，入宴華房之粲蔚，飾朱翠於楹梲，積無已於篋匱，陳妖冶以娛心，湎醹醁以沈醉，行為會飲之魁，坐為博奕之帥。省文章既不曉，睹學士如草芥，口筆乏乎典據，牽引錯於事類。劇談則方戰而已屈，臨疑則未老而憔悴。雖叔麥之能辯，亦奚別乎瞽瞶哉！

As for the sons of kings and dukes, idling in noble pleasure, lingering among silks and gauzes, never knowing the hardship of sowing and reaping—their eyes are sated with bright colors, their ears wearied by the tunes of Zheng and Wei, their noses glutted with orchid and musk, their mouths spoiled by fat and grain; in winter they pile on the downy splendor of marten and fox, in summer the close-woven gossamer of fine gauze floats; going out they drive a light carriage like Qing Feng's, coming in they feast in the glorious lushness of a fine chamber; they dress their pillars and joists with vermilion and kingfisher, and store in chest and coffer without end; they set out seduction to gladden the heart and drown in green liquor till drunk—standing, they are the chiefs of the drinking party; sitting, they are marshals of the gaming board. They can no longer read a text; they look on scholars as weeds; mouth and brush lack canonical ground; they string instances together in tangled classes. A sharp bout of talk and they yield at the first clash; a knotty question and they wither before they are old. Even if they can tell beans from wheat (the base text miswrites the character), what difference is there between them and the blind and dim?

抱朴子曰：蓋聞帝之元儲，必入太學，承師問道。齒於國子者，以知為臣，然後可以為君；知為子，然後可以為父也。故學立而仕，不以政學，操刀傷割，鄭喬所嘆。觸情縱慾，謂之非人。而貴遊子弟，生乎深宮之中，長乎婦人之手，憂懼之勞，未常經心，或未免於襁褓之中，而加青紫之官；才勝衣冠，而居清顯之位。操殺生之威，提黜陟之柄，榮辱決於與奪，利病感於唇吻，愛惡無時暫乏，譭譽括厲於耳。嫌疑象類，似是而非，因機會以生無端，藉素信以設巧言，交構之變，千端萬緒，巧算所不能詳，毫墨所不能究也。無術學，則安能見邪正之真偽，具古今之行事自悟之理，無所惑假，能無傾巢覆車之禍乎！

Baopuzi said: It has been heard that the heir of a sovereign must enter the Grand Academy to receive his masters and ask about the Way. He is ranked by age among the sons of the state so as to learn how to be a subject—only then can he be a ruler; how to be a son—only then can he be a father. So learning must be completed before one takes office; to take state business as one's practice piece is to wound oneself with the knife—this is what Zichan of Zheng lamented. To be dragged by feeling and indulge desire is called 'not human.' But the sons of noble families are born deep in the palace and raised in women's hands; the labor of care has never passed through their hearts. Before they have left swaddling clothes, azure and purple office is laid upon them; barely have their talents filled out cap and gown before they hold clear and splendid posts. They wield the majesty of life and death and grasp the handle of demotion and advancement; honor and disgrace hinge on giving or taking; benefit and harm respond to the lips; fondness and hatred lack not an instant; praise and slander batter furiously at the ear. Suspects and resemblances, seeming and not—seizing the moment they breed the groundless; relying on long-held trust they set up clever speech; the shifts of mutual frame-up run to a thousand heads and ten thousand ends, beyond even cunning reckoning and past what brush and ink can exhaust. Without the learning of method, how could they see the true and false of crooked and straight, possess the self-waking truth of how deeds in past and present have gone, keep from being led astray on loan, and escape the calamity of the overturned nest and the toppled carriage?

先哲居高，不敢忘危，愛子欲教之義方，雕琢切磋，弗納於邪偽。選明師以象成之，擇良友以漸染之，督之以博覽，示之以成敗，使之察往以悟來，觀彼以知此，驅之於直道之上，斂之乎檢括之中，懍乎若跟掛於萬仞，慄然有如乘奔以履冰。故能多遠悔吝，保其貞吉也。

The former wise men, dwelling in high places, dared not forget peril; loving their sons, they wished to teach them the ways of right, carving and polishing them, never letting them be received into the crooked and false. They chose enlightened teachers for them to model on and be completed by; chose good friends to steep them slowly; pressed them to read widely; showed them success and failure; made them discern what has come and gone to wake to what is to come, and watch the other to know this; drove them onto the straight road and gathered them within the bounds of check and rule—wary as if their heels hung over a thousand-fathom brink, trembling as if they rode a runaway horse across ice. So they could keep far from regret and trouble, and keep whole their steadfast fortune.

昔諸竇蒙遺教之福，霍禹受率意之禍，中山東平以好古而安，燕剌由面牆而危。前事不忘，今之良鑑也。湯武染乎伊呂，其興勃然；辛癸染乎推崇，其亡忽焉。朋友師傅，尤宜精簡。必取寒素德行之士，以清苦自立，以不群見憚者。其經術如仲舒桓榮者，強直若龔遂王吉者，能朝夕講論忠孝之至道，正色證存亡之軌跡，以洗濯垢涅，閒邪矯枉，宜必抑情遵憲法，入德訓者矣。

In former times the various Dous enjoyed the blessing of bequeathed instruction, while Huo Yu suffered the calamity of his willfulness; the princes of Zhongshan and Dongping were kept safe by their love of antiquity, and the King La of Yan was endangered by facing the wall. Things past not forgotten are a good mirror for today. Tang and Wu were steeped in Yi Yin and Lü Shang, and their rise was swift and strong; Xin and Gui were steeped in the men they esteemed, and their ruin came suddenly. Friends and teachers above all should be chosen with rigor and care. One must take scholars of plain and lowly lot who possess virtue, who stand by their own austere toil and are shunned for not flocking with the crowd—those who in the arts of the classics are like Dong Zhongshu and Huan Rong, in firmness and straightness like Gong Sui and Wang Ji—who can morning and evening discourse on the utmost way of loyalty and filiality and prove with grave countenance the tracks of survival and ruin. Used to wash away grime and defilement, to fend off the wicked and straighten the bent, they will surely be able to restrain the feelings, hold to the statutes, and enter upon the teaching of virtue.

漢之末世，吳之晚年，則不然焉。望冠蓋以選用，任朋黨之華譽，有師友之名，無拾遺之實。匪唯無益，乃反為損。故其所講說，非道德也；其所貢進，非忠益也。唯在於新聲豔色，輕體妙手，評歌謳之清濁，理管絃之長短，相狗馬之剿駑，議遨遊之處所，比錯途之好惡，方雕琢之精粗，校彈棋樗蒲之巧拙，計漁獵相掊之勝負，品藻妓妾之妍蚩，指摘衣服之鄙野，爭騎乘之善否，論弓劍之疏密。招奇合異，至於無限，盈溢之過，日增月甚。

At the end of Han and in the late years of Wu it was no longer so. They chose men by gazing at hats and canopies and heeded the floating praise of factions: they had the name of teacher and friend but not the substance of picking up omissions and mending defects. Far from profiting, it did harm. So what they discoursed on was not the Way and virtue; what they offered up was not loyal benefit. Their concern lay only in new tunes and luring looks, light bodies and clever hands—in judging the clear and the muddy in songs, in managing the long and short of pipes and strings; in eyeing whether dogs and horses were fleet or slow, discussing the places to roam; comparing the good and bad of diversions on the roads; weighing the fine and coarse of carvings; checking skill at chess and chupu; reckoning wins and losses in fishing, hunting, and wrestling; grading the beauty of singing-girls and concubines; faulting the rusticity of clothes; vying over the quality of mounts; discoursing on the temper of bows and swords. They fetched the strange and gathered the rare until there was no end; the fault of overfullness grew by day and month.

其談宮殿，則遠擬瑤臺瓊室，近效阿房林光，以千門萬戶為侷促，以昆明太液為淺陋，笑茅茨為不肖，以土階為樸馬矣。民力竭於功役，儲蓄靡於不急，起土山以準嵩霍，決渠水以象九河；登凌霄之華觀，闢雲際之綺窗。淫音噪而惑耳，羅袂揮而亂目，濮上北里，迭奏迭起；或號或呼，俾晝作夜。流連於羽觴之間，沈淪乎弦節之側。

When they talk of palaces, they compare them afar to the Jasper Terrace and the Chambers of Jade, and at hand imitate Epang and Linguang; they hold a thousand gates and ten thousand doors to be cramped, Kunming and Taiye to be shallow and mean, laugh at thatch roofs as unworthy, and see earthen steps as plain and poor (the base text reads 'pu ma,' 'ma' being an error for 'yan'). The people's strength is drained on works, stores are melted away on what is not urgent; they heap earthen mountains to match Song and Huo and cut channel waters to imitate the Nine Rivers; they climb floriate towers that overtop the sky and open ornate windows at the edge of the clouds. Wanton sounds and raucous din bewilder the ear; waving gauze sleeves disorder the eye; the tunes of Pushang and Beili sound in turn; some howl, some cry out, taking day for night. They linger over winged goblets and sink beside strings and beat.

或建翠翳之青蔥，或射勇禽於郊垧，馳輕足於嶮峻之上，暴僚隸於盛日之下，舉火而往，乘星而返，機事廢而不修，賞罰棄而不治。或浮文艘於滉漾，布密網於綠川，垂香餌於漣潭，縱擢歌於清淵，飛高繳以下輕鴻，引沈綸以拔潛鱗；或結罝罘於林麓之中，合重圍於山澤之表，列丹飈於豐草，騁逸騎於平原，縱盧獵以噬狡獸，飛輕鷂以鷙翔禽，勁弩殪狂兕，長戟斃熊虎。如此，既彌年而不厭，歷載而無已矣。

Some raise canopies green as kingfisher shade; some shoot bold fowl in the open fields, driving fleet feet over the sheer and steep and baring their underlings under the high sun; they set out with torches and come home by starlight, while matters of moment are abandoned unmended and reward and punishment lie discarded ungoverned. Some float painted boats on the swelling waters, spread close nets in green streams, trail fragrant bait in rippling pools, let the songs of the oars loose upon the clear depths, loose high-corded arrows to bring down the light wild goose, and draw sunken lines to pull up hidden scales; or set rabbit-nets in the skirts of the forest, join great rings beyond the mountains and meres, range cinnabar kites in the deep grass, and gallop loose horses over the plain, slipping the hounds of Han and Lu on the cunning beast and flying the light hawk at the winged fowl; strong crossbows fell the maddened rhinoceros, long halberds slay bears and tigers. In things like these a full year brings no satiety, and year upon year there is no end.

而又加之以四時請會，祖送慶賀，要思數之密客，接執贄之嘉賓。人間之務，密勿罔極。是以雅正稍遠，遨逸漸篤。其去儒學，緬乎邈矣。能獨見崇替之理，自拔淪溺之中，舍敗德之嶮途，履長世之大道者，良甚鮮矣。嗟乎！此所以保國安家者至稀，而傾撓泣血者無算也。

Add to this the feasts of the four seasons—farewells and send-offs and congratulations—inviting guests bound by favor and closeness, receiving guests bearing their presents. The business of men is diligent without limit. So the proper and elegant drifts ever farther away, and roaming ease grows ever heavier. To leave the learning of the Ru is far indeed. One who can alone see the pattern of rise and fall, pull himself out of the drowning, quit the perilous road of ruined virtue, and set foot on the great way of a lasting age—such men are truly few. Alas! This is why those who keep the state and the house safe are so few, while the overturned, the disordered, and the weeping of blood cannot be counted.

今聖明在上，稽古濟物，堅堤防以杜決溢，明褒貶以彰勸沮；想宗室公族，及貴門富年，必當競尚儒術，撙節藝文，釋老莊之意(意字衍)不急，精六經之正道也。

Now with the sage and enlightened on high, examining antiquity to perfect the myriad things, firming the dikes to cut off breaches, and making praise and blame plain to show exhortation and restraint—surely the royal house and the ducal clans, and the young men of the honored houses, ought to vie in esteeming the arts of the Ru, husband letters and learning, set aside whatever is not urgent in the ideas of Lao-Zhuang (the character 'yi' in the base text is a stray), and study intently the true way of the Six Classics.

抱朴子曰：清玄剖而上浮，濁黃判而下沈。尊卑等威，於是乎著。往聖取諸兩儀，而君臣之道立；設官分職，而雍熙之化隆。君人者，必修諸己以先四海，去偏黨以平王道，遣私情以標至公，氦宇宙以籠萬殊。真偽既明於物外矣，而兼之以自見；聽受既聰於接來矣，而加之以自聞。儀決水以進善，鈞絕弦以黜惡，昭德塞違，庸親暱賢，使規盡其圓，矩竭其方，繩肆其直，斤效其斫。器無量表之任，才無失授之用。

Baopuzi said: The clear and the dark cleft and floated upward; the turbid and the yellow parted and sank below. Honored and base, and the dignified forms of rank, were from that time made plain. The sages of old took pattern from the two forms, and the way of lord and minister was thereby established; offices were set up and charges divided, and the harmonious, bright teaching grew great. One who is a lord of men must first cultivate himself to be a guide to the four seas, put away partisan faction to make the kingly way level, dismiss private feeling to hold up utmost impartiality, and enfold the cosmos to cover its myriad differences (the base text reads 'hai,' an error for 'han'). When the true and the false have already been discerned beyond things, add to that seeing oneself; when hearing has already been keen for what comes, add to that hearing oneself. Take pattern from breaching the dike to let the good in; measure against cutting the string to dismiss the evil; make virtue bright and stop the wayward; treat kin as kin and draw near to the worthy; let the compass use up its roundness, the square use up its squareness, the line give play to its straightness, and the axe prove its hewing. Vessels were not used beyond their measure; talents were not given misplaced employment.

考名責實，屢省勤恤，樹訓典以示民極，審褒貶以彰勸沮，明檢齊以杜僭濫，詳直枉以違晦吝。其與之也，無叛理之幸；其奪之也，有百氏之掩。匠之以六藝，軌之以忠信，蒞之以慈和，齊之以禮刑。揚仄陋以促沈抑，激清流以澄臧否。使物無詭道，事無非分。立朝牧民者，不得侵官越局；推轂即戎者，莫敢憚危顧命。悅近以懷遠，修文以招攜。阜百姓之財粟，闡進德之廣途，杜機偽之繁務(下有脫文)，則明罰敕法，哀敬折獄；淳化洽，則匿瑕藏疾，五教在寬。

He assessed names to exact realities, repeatedly examined and diligently comforted, set up canons of instruction to show the hundred surnames their utmost rule, weighed praise and blame to make exhortation and restraint plain, made the standards clear to cut off usurpation and excess, and distinguished straight from crooked to keep far from regret and harm. When he gave, there was no luck contrary to the pattern; when he took away, there was the place where the hundred officers are covered. He used the Six Arts to form them, loyalty and good faith to regulate them, kindness and concord to preside over them, rites and punishments to unify them. He raised the obscure to urge on the suppressed and stirred the clear streams to clarify the good and the bad. He made it so that things had no way of deceit and affairs no excess of station; those standing at court shepherding the people could not overstep the bounds of their offices; and none of those who pushed the wheel and joined the ranks dared fear danger and grudge their lives. He made those near rejoice so as to cherish those far, and cultivated bright letters to beckon the wavering. He made the people's grain and wealth abundant, opened the broad road of advancing in virtue, and stopped the crowded chores of artifice and deceit (the base text here seems to have lost characters); then he made penalties manifest, put laws and commands in order, and judged suits with pity and reverent care. When pure transformation was joined, he hid flaws and bore with hurts—the five teachings chiefly in generosity.

外總多士於文武，內建維城之穆屬，使親疏相持，尾為身幹。枝雖茂而無傷本之憂，流雖盛而無背源之勢。石盤嶽峙，式遏覬覦。見三苗之傾殄，則知川源之未可恃也；睹翳幽之不守，則覺嚴*嶮之不足賴也。夫江漢猶存，而強楚虜辱；劍閣自如，而子陽赤族。四嶽三塗土，實不一姓；金城湯池，未若人和。守在海外，匪山河也。

Abroad he gathered the many officers of letters and arms; within he raised kinsmen like encircling walls, so that near and far upheld one another and the tail became the body's bone. The branches, though luxuriant, bore no worry of hurting the root; the streams, though great, had no bent away from the source. Like a rock's mass, a peak's stance—they served to bar covetous glances. Seeing the Three Miao overthrown and destroyed, one knows that river-sources cannot be relied on; seeing that Yi and You could not be held, one feels that steepness and fastness are not enough to lean on. The Jiang and the Han remain, yet mighty Chu was captured and shamed; the Sword Tower is as of old, yet Ziyang's clan was wiped out. The lands of the Four Peaks and Three Tu have truly belonged to more than one surname; walls of metal and moats of boiling water are no match for the concord of men. Guarding lies beyond the seas, not in mountains and rivers.

是以賢君抱(有脫文)懼不足，而改過恐有餘。謀當計得，猶思危而弗休焉；戰勝地廣，猶戒盈而夕惕焉。象渾穹以遐燾，式坤厚以廣載。運重光以表微，致遠思乎未兆。資春景以嫗煦，範秋霜以肅物。言州諮以校同異，平衡以銓群言。虛己以盡下情，推功以勸將來。御之以術，則終始可竭也；整之以度，則叄差可齊也。嶷若閬風之凌霄，而諸下不得以輕重料焉；窈若玄淵之萬仞，則近侍不能以少多量焉。然則君之流源不窮，而百僚之才力畢陳矣；我之涯畔無外，而彼之斤兩可限矣。

So the worthy lord, holding on (the base text seems to have lost characters here), fears falling short, and corrects his faults fearing to leave any over. His plans succeed, yet he thinks on danger and does not rest; he wins and the land broadens, yet he warns against fullness and keeps watch at dusk. He takes pattern from the murky dome to cover far, models on the generous earth to bear widely. He turns the double light to show forth the minute and sends his deep and far thought where sprouts are not yet formed. He draws on spring's sun to warm them, takes autumn's frost to order the myriad things. He consults speech and ward and village to check sameness and difference, and uses the balance to weigh the many words. He empties himself to sound the truth below, yields merit to encourage what comes after. Ride it with method and end and beginning can be used to the full; order it with rules and the uneven can be leveled. Towering like the Langfeng overpassing the clouds, those below cannot guess him by his weight; dim like the dark deep of ten thousand ren, those near cannot measure him by amount. In this way the lord's wellspring is never spent, and the strengths of the hundred officers are all laid out; my bounds have no outside, and their pounds and ounces can be fixed.

發號吐令，則車訇若震霆之激響，而不為邪辯改其正。畫法創制，則炳若七曜之麗天，而不以愛惡曲其情。宏略遠罩，則藹若密雲之高結。居貞成務，則確若嵩岱之根地。料倚伏於未萌之前，審譭譽於巧言之口。不使敦樸散於雕偽，不使一體澆於二端。雖能獨斷，必博納乎芻蕘；雖務含弘，必清耳於浸潤。

When he issues proclamations and commands, they resound like thunder stirring echoes—yet no perverse pleading changes their rightness. When he draws laws and makes rules, they blaze like the seven luminaries fixed in the sky—yet love and hate do not bend their form. His grand design spreads far, gathering like heavy clouds on high. Dwelling in keeping rectitude to bring works to pass, he is firm as Song and Dai rooted in the earth. He guesses the leaning and the resting before they sprout, and sifts slander and praise in the mouths of the glib. He does not let plain honesty scatter into carved falseness, nor let the single body thin out into two ends. Even when he can decide alone, he receives widely from the grass-cutters; even while he seeks breadth of embrace, he keeps his ears clean to hear the seeping slanders.

民之飢寒，則哀彼責此；百姓有罪，則謂之在予。嘉祥之臻，則念得神之佑；或逢天之怒，則思桑林之引咎。不吝改弦於宜易之調，不恥反迷於朝過之途。虎眄以警密，麟跱以接疏。路無擊壤之叟，則羞聞和音之作；民有不粒之匱，則愧臨方丈之膳。處飛閣之概天，則懼役夫之勞瘁；茹柔嘉之旨月色，則憂敬授之失時；聆管絃之宴羨，則戚逸樂之有過；瞻藻麗之辨粲，則慮賦斂之慘烈。遵放勳之粗裘，準衛文之大帛；追有夏之卑宮，識露臺之不果；鑑章華之召災，悟阿房之速禍。

When the hundred surnames are cold and hungry, he pities them and blames himself; when they offend, he says the guilt is mine. When good omens come, he thinks he has won the spirits' protection; should he meet heaven's wrath, he thinks of bearing the blame as at Sanglin. He does not grudge changing strings where the tune should change, and is not ashamed to turn back on a wrong road walked that morning. He glares like a tiger to keep strict watch, and pauses like the unicorn to receive the distant. When no old man beats the earth on the roads, he is ashamed to hear the music of concord rise; when the people lack a grain to keep going, he is ashamed to face a table of ten spans. Dwelling in soaring chambers close to heaven, he fears the laborers' weariness; eating soft and fine flavors (the base text's 'zhi yue se' is likely 'zhi wei'), he worries lest the bestowing of the seasons be mistimed; hearing the lavish joy of strings and feasts, he grieves that ease has gone too far; viewing the splendor of ornament, he dreads the cruelty of levies. He follows Fangxun's coarse furs and matches Duke Wen of Wei's plain silk; he recalls Youxia's low roofs and remembers the terrace that in the end was never built; he takes warning from the calamity Zhanghua drew down and wakes to the ruin Epang made swift.

誥誓則念依時之失信。耽玩則覺褒妲之惑我。征伐則量力度時，不令百里有號泣之憤；誅戮則遺情任理，不使鴟夷有抱枉之魂。鑑操彤之杜伯，惟人立之呼豕。廢嫡則戒晉獻之巨惑。立庶則念劉表之殄祀。草鬼畋則樂失獸而得士，識馳網而悅遠，偏愛則慮袖蜂之謗巧，飛燕之專寵。獨任則悟鹿馬之作威，恭顯之惡直。納策則思漢祖之吐哺，孝景之誅錯。

On proclamations and oaths he thinks of breaking faith by not keeping to the seasons. On dallying with playthings he wakes that Baosi and Daji are deluding him. On campaigns he weighs strength and times and does not let a hundred li of land hold wailing wrath; on executions he sets aside private feeling and yields to the pattern, not letting a leather sack hold a wronged spirit. He takes warning from Du Bo holding the red bow and thinks on the boar that stood and cried out. In setting aside an heir he warns against Duke Xian of Jin's great delusion. In raising a concubine's son he thinks of Liu Biao's severed line. In the hunt (the base text reads 'cao gui tian,' likely 'sou tian') he rejoices at losing the beast and winning the officer, knows to open the net, and delights that the distant come home. In doting favor he dreads the slander of the bee in the sleeve and the sole favor of the Flying Swallow. In sole delegation he wakes to the abuse of calling a deer a horse, and to Honggong and Shi Xian's hatred of the upright. On taking counsels he thinks of Han's founder spitting out his food, and of Xiaojing's execution of Chao Cuo.

旨甘之進，則疏儀狄。容悅姑息，則沈欒激。除蒸子之諂，親放麋之仁。鑑白龍以輟輕脫，觀羸(原脫一字)以節無饜。防人彘之變於六宮之中，止汗血之求於絕域之外。除惡犬以遏酒酗之患，市馬骨以招追風之駿。軾怒蛙以以勸勇，避螳螂以勵武。聆公廬之讜言，容保甲之正直。剔腹背無益之毛，攬六翮凌虛之用。烹如簧以謐司原之箴，折菀渃以迪梁伯之美。放丹姬以弭婉孌之迷，退子瑕以杜餘桃之惑。藏淵中之魚，操利器之柄。勿憚徙薪之煩，以省焦爛之費。鼓廉恥之陶冶，明考試之準的。

At sweet offerings he distances Yi Di. At pleasing looks and indulgence he drowns Luan Ji. He puts away the flattery of the steamed son and draws near the kindness of releasing the fawn. He warns himself by the white dragon to stop light looseness, and watches the worn to rein in what is never sated (the base text dropped a character). He forestalls the human-swine change within the six palaces, and halts beyond the farthest lands the demand for sweat-blood horses. He removes the evil dogs to check the ruin of hard drinking, and buys a horse's bones to summon the wind-chasing steed. He leans on the rail toward the angry frog to encourage courage (the base text has a doubled 'yi'), and avoids the mantis to rouse the warlike. He hears Gong Lu's straight speech and bears Bao Jia's uprightness. He strips the useless hairs on back and belly, and gathers the use of the six quills that soar the void. He boils the tongue of reeds to quiet Siyuan's warnings, and breaks the wanruo to open Liangbo's excellence. He sends away the cinnabar lady to still the bewitchment of charms, and dismisses Mizi Xia to end the delusion of the leftover peach. He keeps his fish in the deep and grips the handle of the sharp tool. He does not fear the trouble of moving the firewood, so as to spare the cost of scorch and flame. He drums the smelting of shame and honor, and makes clear the mark of the tests.

怒不越法以加虐，喜不逾憲以厚遺。割情於所愛，而有犯者無赦；辨善於所憎，而有勞者不遺。傾下(原脫一字)以納忠，聞逆耳而不諱。廣乞言於誹謗，雖委抑而不距。掩細瑕而錄大用，忘近惡而念遠功，使夫曹劌孟明有修來之效，魏尚張敞立雪恥之績。身鉤之賊臣，著匡合之弘勳；釋縛之左車，吐止戈之高策。則鵂梟化為鴛鸞，邪偽變成忠貞。芒穎秀於斥鹵，夜光起乎泥濘。剡銳載胥，九功允諧，西面逡巡，以延師友之才；尊事老叟，以敦孝悌之行。

In anger he does not pass the measures to inflict cruelty; in joy he does not pass the statutes to give rich gifts. He pares feeling where he loves—a trespass is not pardoned; he discerns good where he hates—merit is not missed. He bends low to take loyal words (the base text dropped a character), and hears the ear-grating without shunning it. He seeks speech far among the slandered, refusing none though bent and pressed. He covers small flaws and takes the great use, forgets near ills and thinks on far merit, so that Cao Gui and Mengming had the proof of mending what came after, and Wei Shang and Zhang Chang did the work of washing shame away. A vassal once guilty of the hook-shot shows the grand merit of uniting all; Li Zuoche, his bonds untied, utters the high counsel of halting arms. Thus the owl turns into the simurgh, and the false and crooked become loyal and true. The awn-tip shows itself in the salt flats; the night-gleam rises out of the mire. When all the sharp are present, the nine works truly accord; facing west toward them he lingers, to invite the talents of teachers and friends; he honors the old, to thicken the virtue of filial and fraternal love.

是以淵蟠者仰赴，山棲者俯集。炳蔚內弼，九虎闞外御。政得於上，而物傾於下；惠發乎邇，而澤邁乎遠。明哲宣力於攸蒞，黔庶讓畔於藪澤。爾乃蠲滋章之法令，振大和之清風。蒲輪玉帛，以抽丘園之俊民；元豈畢集，以究論道之損益。減牧羊之多人，反不酤之至醇，張仁讓之闈，杜華競之津，旌義正之操，弘道素之格。使附德者若潛萌之悅甘雨，見歸者猶行潦之赴大川。黎民安之，若綠葉之綴修柯；左衽仰之，若眾星之系北辰。

So the coiled in the deep lift their heads to come, and the lodged on the mountains bow to gather. Bright patterns aid him within; nine tigers glare in ward without. Rule above hits the mark and things below incline; kindness goes out from near and the tide of grace reaches far. The clear and wise exert their strength where they preside; the black-haired folk yield their field-borders in the meres. Then he sheds the laws of multiplying detail and raises the clear wind of great concord. Cattail wheels, jades, and silks draw the best men out of hills and gardens; the Yuans and Kais all gather (the base text reads 'qi,' an error for 'kai') to exhaust the gain and loss of counsel. He lessens the surplus herders of sheep, returns the utmost purity of unwatered wine, opens the gate of kindness and deference, dams the ford of floating show and strife, raises the standard of the right and true, and magnifies the rule of the Way's plainness. Those who home to virtue are like hidden shoots rejoicing in sweet rain; those who come home are like rain-pools running to the great stream. The black-haired folk rest in it like green leaves joined on long boughs; the left-lapped gaze up at it like the many stars bound to the northern pole.

是以七政不亂象於玄極，寒溫不謬節而錯集。四靈備覿，芝華灼粲。甘露淋漉以霄附，嘉穗婀娜而盈箱。。丹魃逐於神潢，玄厲拘於廣朔。百川無沸騰之異，南箕謐偃禾之暴，物無詭時之凋，人無嗟慨之響。囹圄虛陳，五刑寢厝。正朔所不加，冕紳所不暨，氈裘皮服，山棲海竄，莫不含歡革面，感和重譯，靈禽貢於彤庭，瑤環獻自西極。員首遽善，猶氤氳之順勁風；要荒承指，若響亮之和絕音。誠升隆之盛致，三五之軌躅也。故能固廟祧於罔極，繁本枝乎百世矣。

So the seven governors do not disorder their signs on the dark pole; cold and warmth do not miss their seasons to gather awry. The four numina all appear, and the zhi flowers glow and blaze. Sweet dew drizzles and clings through the night sky; fine grain bends low and fills the bins. The drought-demon is driven to the spirit-marsh; the plague-fiend is bound in the broad north. The hundred streams have no seething portent; the southern winnow-basket stills the gale that fells the grain; things suffer no untimely fall, men utter no sighing sound. The gaols stand empty set, the five punishments lie unused. Where the calendar does not reach and cap and sash do not go—the felt-clad and hide-garbed, the mountain-lodging and sea-hidden—there is none but bears joy on an altered face, stirred by the harmonious qi, and relays the translation onward; numinous birds are offered at the vermilion court, jade rings come from the western limit. The round-headed press toward the good like vapor riding a strong wind; the far marches receive the will like echoes answering a dying note. This is truly the grand attainment of risen glory, the track of the Three Augusts and Five Emperors. Thus he can firm the ancestral shrines without bound, and let root and branches multiply through a hundred ages.

夫根深則末盛矣，下樂則上安矣。馬不調，造父不能超千里之跡；民不附，唐虞不能致同天之美。馬極則變態生，而傾僨惟憂矣；民困則多離叛，其禍必振矣。可不戰戰以待旦乎！可不慄慄而慮危乎！人主不澄思於治亂，不深鑑於亡徵，雖盼百尋之秋毫，耳精八音之清濁，文則琳琅墮於筆端，武則鉤鉻摧於指掌，心苞萬篇之誦，口播濤波之辯，猶無補於土崩，不救乎瓦解也。何者不居其大，而務其細，滯乎下人之業，而暗元本之端也。

When the root is deep the branches grow lush; when those below are glad those above are at peace. A horse not well tuned—even Zaofu cannot pass a thousand li of track; a people not attached—even Tang-Yu cannot reach the beauty that matches heaven. A horse driven to the utmost breeds strange turns; overturned, only grief remains; a people in want mostly scatters and revolts, and calamity must shake the realm. Can one not tremble while waiting for dawn? Can one not quake in fear of peril? If the lord of men does not settle his thought on order and disorder and does not deeply warn himself by the signs of ruin, then though his eyes can pick out a hair's tip at a hundred ren, his ears finely tell the clear and muddy of the eight tones, his letters drop jeweled words from the brush-tip, and his arms can snap halberd and spear within his grip (the base text reads 'ge,' a modern element name that cannot occur in a Jin-dynasty book; paired with 'linlang' above, it must denote a weapon, though the correct graph cannot be fixed for certain), though his heart holds the recitation of ten thousand scrolls and his mouth scatters a torrent of eloquence—still it cannot mend the earth's collapse nor save the crumbling tiles. Why? He does not dwell where it is great but busies himself with the small, lingering in the trades of underlings while blind to the first threads of the root.

誠能事過乎叢，臨深履冰，居安不忘乘奔之戒，處存不廢慮亡之懼，操綱領以整毛目，握道數以御眾才，韓白畢力以折沖，蕭曹竭能以經國，介一人之心致其果毅，謀夫協思進其長算；則人主雖從容玉房之內，逍遙雲閣之端，羽爵腐於甘醪，樂人疲於拚舞，猶可以垂拱而任賢，高枕以責成。何必居茅茨之狹陋，食薄味之大羹，躬監門之勞役，懷損命之辛勤，然後可以惠流蒼生，道洽海外哉！

If he can truly set affairs beyond the petty clutter—as if standing over a deep abyss, as if treading on thin ice—in safety not forgetting the warning of runaway horses, in life not letting go the dread of death; holding the guiding cords to order the hairs, gripping the Way's reckonings to drive the many talents—Han Xin and Bai Qi spending their strength to break the charge, Xiao He and Cao Shen spending their skill to manage the state, armored men bending one mind to boldness, counsellors with one heart offering their long reckoning—then the lord of men may dwell at ease within the jade chamber, roam at ease at the cloud-tower's top; winged goblets may molder in the sweet wine, musicians tire of the dance—he may still rule with folded hands, employing the worthy, pillow his head high and exact achievement. Why must he dwell in cramped thatch, eat thin-flavored broth, do the gate-keeper's labor himself, and bear toil that wears his life—only then can kindness flow to the dark-haired folk and the Way reach beyond the seas!

昏惑之君，則不然焉。其為政也，或仁而不斷，朱紫混漫，正者不賞，邪者不罰。或苛猛慘酷，或純威無恩，刑過乎重，不恕不逮。根露基頹，危猶巢幕，而自比於天日，擬固於泰山，謂克明俊德者不難及，小心翼翼者未足算也。於是無罪無辜，淫刑以逞，民不見德，唯戮是聞。

The benighted and deluded lord is not so. In giving rule he may be kind but undecided: vermilion and purple run confused, the upright are not rewarded, the wicked are not punished. Or he is harsh, fierce, and cruel, or uses only awe without kindness; punishments are too heavy, unpardoning and unreaching. The roots are laid bare and the foundation crumbles, the peril like a nest upon a curtain, yet he likens himself to sun and sky, compares his firmness to Mount Tai, says the brightly virtuous are not hard to overtake and the carefully heedful not worth the counting. Then the guiltless and the innocent suffer wanton punishment to sate his will; the people see no virtue—they only hear of slaughter.

官人則以順志者為賢，擢才則以近習者為前。上宰鼎列，委之母后之族；專斷顧問，決之阿諂之徒。所揚引則遠九族外親，而不簡其器幹；所信仗則在於瑣才曲媚，而憎乎方直；所抑退則從雷同，而不察之以情；所寵進則任美談，而不考其績用。掌要治民之官，御戎專征之將，或貪汙以壞所在矣，或營私以亂朝廷矣，或懦弱以敗庶事矣，或恇怯以失軍利矣。終於不覺，不忍黜斥，猶加親委，冀其晚效。器小任大，遂及於禍。良才遠量無援之士，或披褐而朝隱，或沈淪於窮否，懷道括囊，民力莫由，陵替之災，所以多有也。

In appointing officers he counts as worthy whoever conforms to his own wishes; in promoting talent he puts the near and familiar first. The chief ministers and those of the tripod ranks are entrusted to the queen mother's clan; sole decision and counsel are settled by flattering, fawning men. Those he praises and recommends reach out to the nine relations and outer kin, yet he does not select them for capacity; those he trusts and leans on are petty talents and crooked charmers, while he hates the square and straight; those he presses down and drives out follow the echoing crowd, without being examined against the facts; those he favors and advances he judges by fine talk, their record unchecked. The officers who hold the pivots and govern the people, the generals who lead the armies and carry out the campaigns—some are corrupt and ruin the places they hold, some work their private ends and disorder the court, some are weak and spoil the affairs of state, some timid and lose military advantage. To the end he does not wake; he cannot bear to dismiss them but keeps them close in trust, hoping for effect in their late years. Small vessels under great loads—thus they fall into calamity. Men of good gifts and far reach with no one to aid them—some hide in coarse wool at court, some sink in poverty and blockage; holding the Way like a sack tied shut, their strength has no way to work—this is why the calamity of decline and supplanting is so common.

又經典規戒，弗聞弗覽，玩弄褻宴，是耽是務。高樓觀而下道德，廣苑囿而狹招納，深池沼而淺恩信，悅狗馬而惡蹇諤，貴珠玉而賤智略，豐綺紈而約惠澤，緩賑濟而急聚斂，勤畋弋而忽稼穡，重兼併而輕民命，進優倡而退儒雅，厚嬖倖而薄戰士，流聲色而忘庶事，先酣遊而後聽斷，數苦役而疏犒賜，工造費好不急之器，圈聚食肉靡谷之物。然則危亡不可以怨天，微弱不可以尤人也。夫吉凶由己，湯武豈一哉

Moreover he neither hears nor reads the rules and warnings of the classics; playing at dalliance, ease, and feasting is all he drowns in and all he does. He builds the towers high and reckons the Way and virtue low; he widens the parks and narrows the beckoning in; he digs the pools deep and reckons kindness and faith shallow; he delights in dogs and horses and hates blunt speech; he prizes pearls and jade and slights wisdom and design; he makes brocade and silk rich and bounty lean; he is slow to relieve and quick to gather; he is diligent at the hunt and neglects the crops; he prizes annexation and slights the people's lives; he advances players and singers and dismisses the cultivated; he treats favorites thickly and soldiers thinly; he drifts after music and women and forgets the affairs of state; he drinks deep and roams first and hears cases after; he wears men out with toil and is sparing of reward; the artisans' work is wasted on vessels not needed, and the pens gather meat-eaters while grain-feeding beasts are spent. Thus peril and ruin cannot be blamed on heaven, nor weakness blamed on men. Fortune and ill come of oneself—was Tang-Wu the only one?

昔周文掩未埋之骨，而天下稱其仁。殷紂剖比干之心，而四海疾其虐。望在具瞻，譭譽尤速。得失之舉，不在多也。凡譽重則蠻貊歸懷，而不可以虛索也；毀積即華夏離心，而不可以言救也。是以小善雖無大益，而不可不為；細惡雖無近禍，而不可不去也。

In old days King Wen of Zhou buried bones that had not yet been buried, and all under heaven called him humane. Zhou of Yin cut open Bigan's heart, and the four seas hated his cruelty. What the multitude hopes for lies under all eyes, and blame and praise travel fastest of all. Deeds of gain and loss need not be many. When praise weighs heavy, even the Man and the Mo home to him—yet it cannot be sought with empty hands; when blame has gathered, even the Xia lands loosen their hearts—yet it cannot be rescued by words. So a small good, though it brings no great gain, cannot but be done; a slight evil, though it brings no near harm, cannot but be removed.

若乃肆情縱慾，而不與天下共其樂，故有憂莫之恤也。削基憎峻，而不覺下墮則上崩，故傾頹莫之扶也。於是轡策去於我手，神物假而不還，力勤財匱，民不堪命，眾怨於下，天怒於上，田成盜全齊於帷幄，姬昌取有二於西鄰，陳吳之徒，奮劍而大呼，劉項之倫，揮戈而飈駭，雲梯乘於百雉之上，皓刃交於象魏之下，飛鋒內薦，禁兵外潰，而乃憂悲以思邈世之大賢，擁彗以延巖棲之智士，慕伊呂於嵩岫，招孫吳於草萊，拜昌言而無所，思嘉算而莫問，猶大廈既燔，而運水於滄海，洪潦凌室，而造船於長洲矣。

As for giving rein to passion and desire without sharing his joy with all under heaven—when grief comes none will share it. He pares the base thin yet hates what stands high, not feeling that when the lower falls the upper crashes—so the collapse has none to prop it. Then bridle and whip slip from my hands, the divine thing is lent out and never returned; strength spent and wealth exhausted, the people cannot bear the commands; all resentment below, heaven's wrath above—Tian Cheng steals the whole of Qi within his curtains, Ji Chang takes two-thirds of Yin from the western neighbor; men of Chen Sheng's and Wu Guang's kind raise swords and shout aloud, men of Liu Bang's and Xiang Yu's kind brandish spears like the storm-wind's fright; cloud-ladders mount the hundred-zhi walls, white blades cross below the elephant-towers; flying points arrive within in wave on wave, the palace guard scatters without—only then, grieving, does he think on the great worthies of the far-off age, broom in hand to invite the wise men of the cliffs, admiring Yi Yin and Lü Shang among the peaks of Song, beckoning Sun and Wu in the weeds—bowing to beg straight speech with none to find, thinking on fine plans with none to ask; like a great house already burning while he goes to the gray sea for water, flood-waters rising in the rooms while he builds a boat on the long isles.

夫巍巍之稱，不可驕吝構；而東嶽之封，未易以恣欲修也。上聖兼策載馳，猶懼不逮前；而庸主緩步按轡，而自以為過之。或於安而思危，或在嶮而自逸。或功成治定，而匪怠匪荒，或綴旒累卵，而不覺不寤。不有辛癸之沒溺，曷用貴欽明之高濟哉念茲在茲，庶乎庶乎！

The towering title cannot be built on pride and grasping; the feng and shan of the Eastern Peak cannot easily be achieved by indulging desire. The highest sages galloped side by side and still feared not catching their forebears; the common lord slows his pace upon the reins and thinks himself ahead. Some think of danger while at ease; some ease themselves amid peril. Some, work done and order settled, neither slacken nor let it go; some, like a crown held by a thread, eggs piled on eggs, neither feel nor wake. Without the drowning of a Xin or a Gui, what need to prize the high deliverance of reverent light? Think on this, dwell on this—it draws near, it draws near!

抱朴子曰：昔在唐虞，稽古欽明，猶俟群后之翼亮，用臻巍巍之成功。故能熙帝之載，庶績欺凝，四門穆穆，百揆時序，蠻夷無猾夏之變，阿閣有鳴鳳之巢也。喻之元首，方之股肱，雖有尊卑之殊，邈實若一體之相賴也。

Baopuzi said: In the days of Tang-Yu they examined antiquity, reverent and clear-sighted, yet still waited upon the many lords' winging aid to reach the towering completion. Thus they could brighten the sovereign's work; the various achievements were then made firm (the base text reads 'qi,' an error for 'qi'), the four gates stood in peace, the hundred tasks kept their seasons; the Man and the Yi wrought no turn of troubling the Xia lands, and the side-chamber held the singing phoenix's nest. Likened to head and crown, compared to thigh and arm—though there is the difference of honored and base, seen from afar they are truly like one body relying on itself.

君必度能而授者，備乎覆食束之敗；臣必量才而受者，故無流放之禍。夫如影如響，俯伏惟命者，偷容之屍素也。違令犯顏，蹇蹇匪躬者，安上之民翰也。先意承指者，佞諂之徒也；匡過弼違者，社稷之鯁也。必將伏斧金質而正諫，據鼎鑊而盡言。忠而見疑，諍而不得者，待放可也；必死無補，將增主過者，去之可也。

The lord must weigh capacity before bestowing, guarding against the ruin of overturning and bound hands; the minister must measure it before accepting, and so escapes the calamity of exile. Those who like shadow and echo bow low and only await orders steal their seats at a corpse's feast; those who defy commands and brave the face, stiff and heedless of self, are the bone of the lord's settling the people. Those who run before the intent and comply with the wish are flatterers and toadies; those who correct faults and shore up failings are the straight bone of the altars. He must lie upon the block to remonstrate straight, and hold by the cauldron to finish his words. Loyal yet doubted, remonstrating yet not heard—he may await banishment; certain to die with no benefit and bound to add to the lord's fault—he may depart.

其動也，匪訓典弗據焉；其靜也，匪憲章弗循焉。請託無所容，申繩不顧私。明刑而不濫乎所恨，審賞而不加乎附己。不專命以招權，不含洿而談潔。進思盡言以攻謬，退念推賢而不蔽。夙興夜寐，戚庶事之不康也；儉躬約志，若策奔於薄冰也。

In acting he leans on nothing but the canons; in resting he follows nothing but the statutes. Solicitation finds nowhere to lodge; applying the line he looks to no private. He makes penalties manifest yet does not loose them on the hated; he weighs rewards yet adds none to hangers-on. He does not usurp command to gather the handles, nor harbor foulness while talking of cleanness. Advancing, he wants to finish his words in attacking error; retiring, he thinks of raising the worthy without blocking. Rising early and sleeping late, he grieves that the affairs are not well; frugal upon himself and bound in will, like whipping a runaway horse on thin ice.

納謀貢士，不宣之於口；非義之利，不棲之乎心。立朝則以砥矢為操，居己則以羔羊為節。當危值難，則忘家而不顧命。攬衡執銓，則平懷而無彼此。儀蕭曹之指揮，羨張陳之奇畫，追周勃之盡忠，準二鮑之直視，蹈嬰弘之節叢，執恬毅之守終，甘此離紀炙身之分，戒彼韓英失忠之禍。出不辭勞，入不數功，歸勳引過，讓以先下，專誠祗栗，恆若天威之在顏也；宵夙虔竦，有如湯鑊之在側也。

Taking plans and presenting officers, he does not trumpet it abroad; gain against rightness does not lodge in his heart. At court he takes whetstone and arrow for his keeping; toward himself he takes the lamb for his measure. Facing peril he forgets his house and does not look to his life. Holding the beam and grasping the scales, his breast stays level, with no this and that. He takes pattern from Xiao He's and Cao Shen's directing, admires Zhang Liang's and Chen Ping's rare designs, follows Zhou Bo's utmost loyalty, matches the straight seeing of the two Baos, treads the integrity of Ying and Hong, holds Tian's and Yi's keeping to the end, takes as sweet the portion of Bigan and Ji Xin in the flames, and warns by the ruin of Han Xin's and Ying Bu's lost loyalty. Going out he does not shirk toil; coming in he does not count his merit. He gives the merit to others and draws the fault to himself; he yields and takes the lower place first; single in reverence, he trembles as though heaven's awe were in his face; by day and night devout and afraid, as though the boiling cauldron were at his side.

負荷寄託，則以伊周為師表；宣力四方，則以吉召為軌儀；送往視居，則竭忠貞而不辶回；搏噬幹紀，則若鷹鸇之鷙鳥雀；蕃捍疆場，則慕魏絳李牧之高蹤；蒞眾撫民，則希文翁信臣之德化。夫忠至者無(原脫一字)以為國，況懷智以迷上乎義督者滅祀而無憚，況黜辱之敢辭乎故能保勞貴以顯親，托良哉於輿歌。昆吾彝器，能者鐫勳。皋陶后稷，亦何人哉！

Bearing the charge, he takes Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou for his model; spreading strength to the four quarters, he tracks Jifu and the Duke of Shao; sending off the departed and tending the living, he spends loyalty and truth without looking back (the base text preserves a partial graph); at those who strike and devour and trespass the ordering, he strikes as the hawk strikes small birds; guarding and warding the marches, he looks up to the high tracks of Wei Jiang and Li Mu; presiding over the many and soothing the folk, he aspires to the virtue of Wen Weng and Shao Xinchen. One whose loyalty is utmost has nothing he would not do for the state (the base text dropped a character)—how much more one who holds wisdom yet deludes the lord! One whose rightness is pressed may lose his altars without flinching—how much less demotion and insult, which he dare not refuse! Thus he can keep toil and honor to glorify his kin and lodge 'good indeed' in the carters' song. On Kunwu's bronze vessels the able engrave their merit. What men were Gaoyao and Hou Ji!

抱朴子曰：人臣勳不弘，則恥俸祿之虛厚也；績不茂，則羞爵命之妄高也。履信思順，天人攸贊；畏盈居謙，乃終有慶。舉足則蹈道度，抗手則奉繩墨，褒崇雖淹留，而悔辱亦必遠矣。若夫損上以附下，廢公以營私，阿媚曲從，以水濟水，君舉雖謬，而諂笑贊善。數進玩好，陷主於惡。巧言毀政，令色取悅，上蔽人主之明，下杜進賢之路；外結出境之交，內樹背公之黨。雖才足飾非，言足文過，專威若趙高，擅朝如董卓，未有不身膏剡鋒，家糜湯火者也。然而愚瞽舍正即邪，違真侶偽，親覽傾僨，不改其軌，殃禍之集，匪降自天也。

Baopuzi said: When a minister's merit is not great he is ashamed of a rich unearned salary; when his record is not lush he is shamed by a hollow high title. Practicing honesty and thinking on concord is praised by heaven and man; fearing fullness and dwelling in humility ends at last in blessing. Lift a foot and it treads the Way's measure; raise a hand and it obeys the line; though honor is slow in coming, regret and shame are sure to keep far away. As for cutting the above to cleave to the below, leaving the public to run private ends, fawning and crooked compliance, adding water to water—though the lord's deed be wrong, they smile and praise it. Repeatedly offering playthings, they sink the lord in evil. Clever words spoil the rule; fair looks beguile; above they screen the lord's sight, below they stop the road by which the worthy advance; without, they weave friendships beyond the borders; within, they raise a faction against the commonweal. Though their skill suffices to gloss faults and their words to cover errors—usurping awe like Zhao Gao, holding the court like Dong Zhuo—there is none but greases the blade with his own body and rots his house in boiling fire. Yet the blinded quit the straight for the crooked, leave the true and companion the false; seeing ruin with their own eyes, they do not change their tracks—the gathering of calamity does not descend from heaven.

抱朴子曰：臣喻股肱，則手足也。履冰執熱，不得辭焉。是以古人方之於地，掘之則出水泉，樹之則秀百穀；生者立焉，死者入焉。功多而不望賞，勞瘁而不敢怨。審識斯術，保己之要也。

Baopuzi said: The minister, compared to thigh and arm, is like hand and foot. Treading the ice and holding the hot—he may not refuse. So the ancients likened him to the earth: dig it and springs flow out; plant it and all the grains grow; the living stand upon it, the dead go down within. Much work, yet he does not look for reward; worn out, he dares not complain. To see and know this method is the essential of keeping oneself whole.

抱朴子曰：臣職分則治，統廣則多滯。非賁獲之壯，不可以舉兼人之重；非萬夫之特，不可以總異官之局。韓侯所以罪侵冒之典，子元所以懼不勝之禍也。若乃才力絕倫，文武兼允，入有腹心之高算，出有折沖之遠略，雖事殷而益舉，兩循而俱濟，舍之則彝倫斁，委之而無其人者，兼之可也；非此器也，宜自忖引，轅若載重，鮮不及矣。常人貪榮，不慮後患，身既傾溺，而禍逮君親，不亦哀哉！人皆辭斧斤所未開，而莫讓攝官所不堪。嗟乎！陳李所以作戒於力少，而子房所以高蹈於挹盈也。

Baopuzi said: When a minister's charge is clear, there is order; when his sway is too broad, there is much obstruction. Without the strength of a Ben or a Huo, one cannot lift what outweighs two men; without standing out among ten thousand, one cannot gather the charges of different offices. This is why the Marquis of Han faulted the rules on encroachment, and Ziyuan feared the calamity of not bearing the load. As for one whose gifts surpass all, complete in letters and arms—with high plans of the heart within the court and far designs of breaking the charge without—though tasks press he does them the better, follows both and brings both off, and the constant relations are spoiled without him: if there is no other such man to entrust, doubling the charge is admissible; short of such capacity, one should measure oneself and step back—when the cart's load is too heavy, rarely does it not come to grief. Common men covet glory and do not reckon the harm behind; themselves already drowned, the calamity reaches lord and kin—is that not sad! Men all refuse what the axe has not yet cleft, yet none declines what he cannot bear in a proxy office. Alas! This is why Chen and Li made a warning out of small strength, and Zifang walked high upon drawing off the full.

抱朴子曰：翔集而不擇木者，必有離罻之禽矣。出身而不料時者，必有危辱之士矣。時之得也，則飄乎猶應龍之覽景雲；時之失也，則蕩然若巨魚之枯崇陸。是以智者藏其器以有待也，隱其身而有為也。若乃高巖將霣，非細縷所綴；龍門沸騰，非掬壤所遏。則不苟且於乾沒，不投險於僥倖矣。

Baopuzi said: Fowl that flock without choosing the tree—among them are sure to be birds leaving the net. Men who offer themselves without weighing the times—among them are sure to be officers of peril and shame. When the time is right they soar like the answering dragon viewing the bright clouds; when the time is lost they sprawl like the great fish dried on the high land. So the wise man hides his gift to await his hour, and conceals himself yet acts. When a high cliff is about to fall, no slender thread can tie it; when the Dragon Gate boils, no handful of earth can dam it. So he does not linger in scheming for lucky gain, nor stake danger upon luck.

抱朴子曰：周公之攝王位，伊尹之黜太甲，霍光之廢昌邑，孫綝之退少帝，謂之舍道用權，以安社稷。然周公之放逐狼跋，流言載路；伊尹終於受戮，大霧三日；霍光幾於及身，家亦尋滅，孫綝桑蔭未移，首足異所。皆笑音未絕，而號咷已及矣。

Baopuzi said: The Duke of Zhou held the king's place, Yi Yin demoted Taijia, Huo Guang deposed Changyi, Sun Chen dismissed the young emperor—this is called leaving the constant way and using expedients to settle the altars of state. Yet the Duke of Zhou was driven out and fled in disarray while rumors filled the roads; Yi Yin in the end was slain, and fog lay three days; Huo Guang's ruin nearly reached his own body, and his house perished after him; before Sun Chen's shade had shifted, his head and his feet no longer lay in one place. In all of them the laughter had not yet ceased when the wailing arrived.

夫危而不持，安用彼相爭臣七人，無道可救。致令王莽之徒，生其奸變，外引舊事以飾非，內包豺狼之禍心，由於伊霍，基斯亂也。將來君子，宜深茲矣。夫廢立之事，小順大逆，不可長也。召王之譎，已見貶抑。況乃退主，惡其可乎！此等皆計行事成，徐乃受殃者耳。若夫陰謀始權，而貪人賣之，赤族殄祀；而他家封者，亦不少矣。

If the tottering is not propped up, what is the minister for? Seven remonstrating officers—even the wayless can be saved. Yet this let Wang Mang and his kind breed their treachery: citing old cases without to gloss their faults, harboring wolves' and jackals' hearts within—from Yi Yin and Huo Guang onward, a foundation was laid for disorder of this kind. Gentlemen of the future should deeply take warning from it. The business of deposing and setting up—small in its compliance, great in its treason—must not be furthered. The craft of summoning kings has already been seen condemned. How much more driving out the lord—can such evil be! All of this kind had plans that worked and deeds that succeeded, and only slowly did calamity come upon them. When the dark design first played its shifts, greedy men sold it out—clans wiped away, altars cut off—and those of other houses who received fiefs were not few either.

若有奸佞翼成驕亂，若桀之干辛推哆，紂之崇惡來，厲之黨也，改置忠良，不亦易乎除君側之眾惡，流兇族於四裔，擁兵持疆，直道守法，嚴操柯斧，正色拱繩，明賞必罰，有犯無赦，官賢任能，唯忠是與，事無專擅，請而後行；君有違謬，據理正諫。戰戰競競，不忘恭敬，使社稷永安於上，己身無患於下。功成不處，乞骸告退，高選忠能，進以自代，不亦綽有餘裕乎何必奪至尊之璽紱，危所奉之見主哉！

If there are wicked flatterers abetting pride and disorder—like Jie's Ganxin and Tuiduo, Zhou's Chong Hou and Elai, King Li's partisans—changing them for the loyal and the good, is that not easy? Remove the many evils at the lord's side, banish the vicious clan to the four marches; hold the troops and hold the land; walk the straight and keep the law; grip the axe-handle firm; hold the line with a grave countenance; reward and punish without fail, pardon no trespass, employ the worthy and able, keep company only with the loyal; let nothing be self-decided—ask first, then act. When the lord errs, remonstrate straightly by the pattern. Trembling (the base text reads 'jing,' an error for 'jing'), never forgetting reverence—so the altars above rest forever at peace and the self below is free of harm. Work done, do not dwell in it; ask leave for your bones and retire; choose the loyal and able high, bring them in to take your place—is that not room enough and more? Why seize the seal and cords of the utmost honored and harm the reigning lord one serves!

夫君，天也，父也。君而可廢，則天亦可改，父亦可易也。功蓋世者不賞，威震主身危。此徒戰勝攻取，勳勞無二者，且猶鳥盡而弓棄，兔訖而犬烹。況乎廢退其君，而欲後主之愛己，是奚異夫為人子而舉其所生捐之山谷，而取他人養之，而云我能為伯瑜曾叄之孝，但吾親不中奉事，故棄去之。雖日享三牲，昏定晨省，豈能見憐信邪

The lord is heaven; the lord is father. If the lord may be deposed, then heaven may be changed and father exchanged. One whose merit outshines the age is not rewarded; one whose awe shakes the lord endangers himself. Even those who conquer and take, whose service has no second, still find the bow put away when the birds are gone and the dog boiled when the hares are done. How much more one who deposes his own lord yet wants the new lord to love him—what difference is there from being a son who throws his own begetter into a valley, then takes a stranger to serve, saying 'I can do the filiality of Boyu and Zengshen (the base text reads 'san,' an error for 'shen'), only my own parents were not fit to serve, so I cast them off'? Though he daily offers the three victims, soothes at dusk and greets at dawn—can he be pitied? can he be trusted?

霍光之徒，雖當時增班進爵，賞賜無量，皆以計見崇，豈斯人之誠心哉夫納棄妻而論前婿之惡，買僕虜而毀故主之暴，凡人庸夫，猶不平之。何者重傷其類，自然情也。故樂羊以安忍見疏，而秦西以過厚見親。而世人誠謂湯武為是，而伊霍為賢，此乃相勸為逆者也。

The Huo Guang kind—though in their day they rose in rank, gained titles, and received gifts without bound—it was all because their designs were prized; it was not these men's true hearts. Take a discarded wife and she speaks ill of the former husband; buy a servant and he slanders the old master's harshness—even common men find it unjust. Why? It deeply wounds one's own kind—it is the feeling of nature. So Yue Yang was kept at distance for being easy with cruelty, while Qin Xiba was drawn close for exceeding kindness. Yet the world earnestly holds Tang and Wu to have been right and Yi Yin and Huo Guang worthy—this is exhorting one another to treason.

又見廢之君，未必悉非也。或輔翼少主，作威作福，罪大惡積，慮於為後患；及尚持勢，因而易之，以延近局之禍。規定策之功，計在自利，未必為國也。取威既重，殺生決口。見廢之主，神器去矣，下流之罪，莫不歸焉。雖知其然，孰敢形言無東牟朱虛以致其計，無南史董狐以證其罪，將來今日，誰又理之獨見者乃能追覺桀紂之惡不若是其惡，湯武之事不若是其美也。

Again, a deposed lord is not always in the wrong. Some abet a young lord and make awe and bounty their own; when their crimes pile great and they fear harm to come, they trade him while they still hold power, to prolong the calamity of the short game. The merit of 'settling the plan' schemes for one's own gain, not for the state. The awe once seized weighs heavy; life and death are settled by the mouth. Of the deposed lord—the sacred vessel gone—there is no base current of guilt that does not home to him. And though men know it, who dares give it voice? Without Dongmu and Zhuxu to work their design, without Nanshi and Donghu to prove the crime—when later days look back upon today, who will set it straight? Only the far-seeing man can trace out that Jie's and Zhou's evil was not so evil as told, and Tang's and Wu's deed not so fine.

方策所載，莫不尊君卑臣，強幹弱枝。《春秋》之義，天不可讎。大聖著經，資父事君。民生在三，奉之如一。而許廢立之事，開不道之端，下陵上替，難以訓矣。俗儒沈淪鮑肆，困於詭辯，方論湯武為食馬肝，以彈斯事者，為不知權之為變，貴於起善而不犯順，不謂反理而叛義正也。

What the slips and tablets record is nothing but exalting the lord and lowering the minister, strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches. The meaning of the Spring and Autumn: heaven cannot be made an enemy. The great sage wrote the classic, serving the lord by way of the father. The people's life rests upon three, and the three are served as one. Yet to permit deposing and setting up is to open the first thread of the wayless; the lower mounts over and supplants the upper—this is hard to hold up as teaching. Common Ru, drowned in the abalone's stench and besieged by false pleading, only then judge Tang and Wu as eating horse-liver; and they count those who impeach this business as not knowing that expedience is change—what is precious is raising the good without breaching the course, not what is called breaching the pattern and betraying the straightness of rightness.

而前代立言者，不析之以大道，使有此情者加夫立剡鋒之端，登方崩之山，非所以延年長世，遠危之術。雖策命暫隆，弘賞暴集，無異乎犧牛之被紋繡，淵魚之愛莽麥，渴者之資口於雲日之酒，飢者之取飽於鬱肉漏脯也。而屬筆者皆共褒之，以為美談，以不容誅之罪為知變，使人悒而永慨者也。

Yet the writers of former days, not dissecting by the great Way, made men who harbor this bent feel ever more like standing on a blade's edge and climbing a mountain about to fall—no way to lengthen one's years and keep far from danger. Though the patent's favor swells awhile and grand gifts suddenly crowd, it is no different from the victim-ox wearing embroidered silk, the deep fish loving shepherd's-purse and wheat, the thirsty begging a sip of the wine of clouds and sun, the hungry seeking their fill of tainted meat and dripping dried flesh. Yet the brush-holders all join in praise, count it fine talk, and take the crime that no execution can fit for knowing how to change—enough to make a man sigh forever in gloom.

或諫餘以此言為傷聖人，必見譏貶。餘答曰：“舜禹歷試內外，然後受終文祖。雖有好傷，聖人者豈能傷哉！昔人嚴延年廷奏霍光為不道，於時上下肅然，無以折也。況吾為世之誡，無所指斥，何慮乎常言哉！”

Someone urged that these words injure the sages and must surely draw blame. I answered: 'Shun and Yu were tried within and without through the years, and only then received the charge at the Ancestral Temple of Letters. Even if there were men who loved to injure, how could sages be injured! In old days Yan Yannian charged Huo Guang at court with being wayless, and high and low stood silent—no words could refute him. How much more I am making a warning for the present age and point at no one—why should I worry over common talk!'

抱朴子曰：盡節無隱者，可為也。若夫使言必納而身必安者，須時。時之否也。夫姦凶之徒妒所不逮，擁上抑下，惡直醜正，憂畏公方之彈擊邪枉，是以務除勝己以紓其誅。明主不世而出，庸君迷於皂白，既不能受用忠益，或乃宣洩至言。於是弘恭石顯之徒，飾巧辭以構象似，假至公以售私奸。令獻長生之術者，反獲立死之罪；進安上之計者，旋受危身之禍。故曰：非言之難也，談之時難也。

Baopuzi said: To spend one's integrity with nothing withheld is a thing that can be done. But to make one's words surely accepted and one's self surely safe must await the time. When the time is wrong, the villainous envy what they cannot match, crowd above, press below, hate the upright, call the right ugly, and dread that the just and straight will strike the crooked—so they make sure to remove those who surpass them, to ease the danger of being punished. An enlightened lord does not appear in every age; a common lord is confused between black and white: he cannot take loyal benefit, or he may even let the utmost words leak out. Then men of Honggong's and Shi Xian's kind dress up clever phrases to build a semblance and borrow utmost fairness to sell their private villainy. So one who offered the art of long life met in return the guilt of instant death; one who tendered the plan of the lord's peace turned and bore the calamity of his own peril. Thus it is said: it is not speaking that is hard—the time of speech is hard.

夫以賢說聖，猶未必即受，故伊尹幹湯，至於七十也。以智告愚，則必不入，故文諫紂，終不納也。言不見信，猶之可也。若乃李斯之誅韓非，龐涓之刖孫臏，上官之毀屈平，袁盎之中晁錯，不可勝載也。為臣不易，豈一途也哉！蓋往而不反者，所以功在身後；而藏器俟時者，所以百無一遇。高勳之臣曠代而一有；陷冰之徒，委積乎史策。悲夫，時之難遇也，如此其甚哉！由茲以言，吾知渭濱呂尚之儔，巖間傅說之屬，懷其王佐之器，抱其邈世之材，秉竿擁築，老死於庸兒之伍，而遂不遭文王高宗者，必不訾矣。

Using the worthy to persuade the sage does not always win instant acceptance: thus Yi Yin sought audience with Tang as many as seventy times. Using wisdom to tell the foolish is certain never to get in: thus Bigan remonstrated with Zhou and in the end was not received. That one's words go unheeded is still tolerable. As for Li Si killing Han Fei, Pang Juan lopping off Sun Bin's feet, Shangguan slandering Qu Ping, and Yuan Ang injuring Chao Cuo—the records do not run out. Being a minister is not easy; how could it be a single road! Those who depart and never return are why merit comes only after the body's death; those who hide their capacity and wait for the time—of a hundred, not one meets it. A minister of high merit appears once in a whole age; the kind who fall through the ice are piled up in the histories. Alas, that the time is so hard to meet has reached such a pitch! Speaking from this, I know that the likes of Lü Shang on the banks of the Wei and Fu Yue among the crags—men holding the capacity of a king's helper, embracing talent that transcends the age, rod in hand or pestle in arm, growing old and dying in the ranks of common folk and never meeting King Wen or Gaozong—must be more than can be reckoned.

抱朴子曰：騄駬之騁逸跡，由造父之御也；禹稷之序百揆，遭唐虞之主也。故能不勞而千里至，揖讓而頌聲作。若乃臧否之乘驌驦，殷辛之臨三仁，欲長驅輕騖，則轡急轅逼，欲盡規竭忠，則禍如發機。所以車傾於險途，國覆而不振也。故良駿敗於拙御，智士躓於暗世。仲尼不能止魯侯之出，晏嬰不能遏崔杼之亂。其才則是，主則非也。

Baopuzi said: That a fine horse gallops to distant tracks (the base text writes the characters differently) is owing to Zaofu's driving; that Yu and Ji put the hundred offices in order was meeting the lords of Tang and Yu. Thus they could arrive a thousand li without toil, and amid bows and yieldings songs of praise arose. But set Zang and Gu on a fine horse, or let Xin of Yin look in on the three benevolent men: wanting to drive long and gallop light, the reins are pulled tight and the shafts cramped; wanting to give their remonstrance to the full and spend their loyalty utterly, calamity arrives as when the trigger is pulled. So the carriage overturns on the dangerous road, and the state falls ruined beyond rallying. Thus the good steed is spoiled in the hands of a clumsy driver, and the wise man stumbles in a benighted age. Confucius could not stop the Marquis of Lu from leaving the state; Yan Ying could not halt Cui Zhu's rebellion. Their talent was right; their lords were not.

夫君猶器也，臣猶物也，器小物大，不能相受矣。髫孺背千金而逐蛺蝶，越人棄八珍而甘蛙黽，即患不賞好，又病不識惡矣。夫不用，則雖珍而不貴矣；莫與，則傷之者必至。昔衛靈聽聖言而數驚，秦孝聞高談而睡寐，而欲緝隆平之化，收良能之勳，猶卻行以逐馳，適楚而道燕也。

The lord is like a vessel and the minister like a thing: when the vessel is small and the thing big, they cannot hold one another. A child turns his back on a thousand gold to chase a butterfly; the men of Yue cast aside the eight delicacies yet find frogs sweet: they suffer alike from not recognizing the good and are sick from not knowing the bad. If he is not employed, however rare he is not prized; if no one gives him place, those who injure him are sure to come. Of old Duke Ling of Wei heard the sage's words and was repeatedly startled, and Duke Xiao of Qin heard lofty discourse and fell asleep; to wish then to gather together the teaching of high peace and reap the merit of the good and able is like walking backward to catch a gallop, or taking the road through Yan to reach Chu.

抱朴子曰：南溟引朝宗以成不測之深，玄圃崇本石以致極天之峻。大夏凌霄，賴群橑之積；輪曲轅直，無可闕之物。故元凱之佐登，而格天之化洽；折沖之才周，則逐鹿之奸寢。舜禹所以有天下而不與，衛靈所以雖驕恣而不危也。

Baopuzi said: The southern deep, by drawing in what pays it court, achieved its unfathomable depth; the Hanging Gardens, by piling high trees and stones, attained their sky-touching steepness. A great hall soars beyond the clouds resting on the heaping of many rafters; wheel curved and shaft straight, nothing may be lacking. So when the Yuan and Kai were raised in aid, the teaching that reaches heaven was concordant; when the talent that breaks the charge was made complete, the treachery that chased the deer was stilled. This is why Shun and Yu could possess all under heaven as though they had not taken part, and why Duke Ling, though arrogant and willful, was not endangered.

眾力並，則萬鈞不足舉也；群智用，則庶績不足康也。故繁足者死而不弊，多士者亂而不亡。然劍戟不長於縫緝，錐鑽不可以擊斷，牛馬不能吠守，雞犬不任駕乘。役其所長，則事無廢功；避其所短，則世無棄材矣。

When many strengths combine, ten thousand jun is not too heavy to lift; when many wisdoms are employed, all manner of tasks find peace. So the creature with many feet is not undone by death, and the state with many officers is not destroyed by disorder. Yet sword and halberd are not good for sewing, awl and drill cannot serve to cut through, ox and horse cannot bark and keep watch, and cock and dog are not equal to being driven. Employ it at what it is good at and no work loses its merit; avoid what it is bad at and no talent in the world is thrown away.

抱朴子曰：舍輕艘而涉無涯者，不見其必濟也；無良輔而羨隆平者，未聞其有成也。鴻鸞之凌虛者，六翮之力也；淵虯之天飛者，雲霧之偕也。故招賢用者，人主之要務也；立功立事者，髦俊之所思也。若乃樂治定而忽智士者，何異欲致遠途而棄騏騄哉！

Baopuzi said: To leave the light boat and cross the boundless water on foot—one does not see him make the crossing. To envy high peace without good helpers—one does not hear of his achieving it. The swan and the phoenix mount the empty sky by the strength of their six plumes; the dragon of the deep flies to heaven in the company of clouds and mists. So summoning the worthy and putting them to use is the ruler's chief task; establishing merit and doing great work is what the talented long for. As for the man who delights in settled order yet overlooks the wise, what is the difference between him and one who wants to reach the far road yet casts aside the thoroughbred!

夫拔丘園之否滯，舉遺漏之幽人，職盡其才，祿稱其功者，君所以待賢者也；勤夙夜之在公，竭心力於百揆，進善退惡，知無不為者，臣所以報知己也。世有隱逸之民，而無獨立之主者，士可以喜遁而無憂，君不可以無臣而致治。是以傅說呂尚不汲汲於聞達者，道德備則輕王公也。而殷高周文乃夢想乎得賢者，建洪勳必須良佐也。

To draw out the man lingering in hill and garden, to raise up the recluse left aside, to let office use his talent to the full and stipend match his merit—this is how the ruler treats the worthy. To labor for the public weal from dawn to dusk, to spend heart and strength on the hundred offices, to advance the good and retire the bad, doing all that one knows—this is how the minister repays the one who knows him. The world may have reclusive folk, but it has no independent ruler: a gentleman may delight in flight and retirement without care, but a ruler cannot reach order without ministers. So Fu Yue and Lü Shang did not fret after fame and advancement, because when the Way and its power are complete, kings and dukes count for little; yet Gaozong of Yin and King Wen of Zhou dreamed of finding the worthy, because to establish a great work one must have good helpers.

患於生乎深宮之中，長乎婦人之手，不識稼穡之艱難，不知憂懼之何理，承家繼體，蔽乎崇替。所急在乎侈靡，至務在乎遊晏，般於畋獵，湎於酣樂，聞淫聲則驚聽，見豔色則改視。役聰用明，止此二事。鑑澄人物，不以經神，唯識玩弄可以悅心志，不知奇士可以安社稷。犀象珠玉，無足而至自萬里之外；定傾之器，能行而淪乎四境之內。二豎之疾既據而募良醫，棟橈之禍已集而思謀夫，何乎火起乃穿井，覺飢而占田哉！夫庸隸猶不可以不拊循而卒盡其力，安可以無素而暴得其用哉

The disease lies in being born deep within the palace and reared in women's hands, not knowing the hardship of sowing and reaping, not knowing what care and fear are—heir to the house and successor to the true line, hoodwinked by talk of rise and fall. What is urgent to him is extravagance; the most pressing business is feasting and roaming; he lingers at the hunt and wallows in drunken pleasure; hearing wanton sounds he pricks his ears, seeing dazzling beauty he shifts his gaze. His cleverness is employed and comes to rest on these two things alone. To appraise and clarify men and things does not pass through his spirit; he knows only that playthings can gladden the heart, and does not know that rare men can steady the altars of the state. Rhinoceros and ivory, pearl and jade, though footless come from ten thousand li away; the capacities that could steady the overturning, though they have feet, sink submerged within the four borders. To recruit a good physician only when the two sprites already hold the vitals, to think of the counsellors only when the ridge-beam's ruin is already gathered—what difference from digging a well when the fire has started, or inspecting the field when hunger is felt! Even a mean servant cannot be drained of strength at once without first being tended—how much less can one obtain a man's service at a stroke with no prior store of care!

或曰：“尾大於身者，不可掉；臣賢於君者，不可任。故口不容而強吞之者必哽，才非匹而安仗之者見輕。”

Someone said: "When the tail is bigger than the body it cannot be wagged; when the minister is worthier than the lord he cannot be employed. So he who forces down what his mouth cannot hold is sure to choke, and he who rests at ease on talent no match for his own is held in contempt."

抱朴子曰：“詭哉，言乎！昔者荊子總角而攝相事，實賴二十五老，臻乎惠康。子賤起家而治大邦，實由勝己者多，而招其弘益。齊桓殺兄而立，鳥獸其行，被髮彝酒，婦閭三百，委政仲父，遂為霸宗；夷吾既終，禍亂亟起。魯用季子二十餘年，內無秕政，外無侵削；人之亡沒，殄瘁響集。豈非才所不逮，其功如彼；自任其事，其禍如此乎！”

Baopuzi said: "What deceitful talk this is! In days past the young lord of Jing managed the ministry while still a youth with bound hair, and truly it was by relying on twenty-five elders that he reached grace and peace. Zijian, just risen from his family, governed a great state—truly because those better than himself were many, and he reaped a great benefit. Duke Huan of Qi slew his brother and set himself up, behaved like a bird or beast, let his hair hang loose, wallowed in ale, kept women in three hundred lanes—and entrusted the government to Zhongfu, whereupon he became the head of the hegemons; the moment Guan Zhong died, calamity and disorder arose at once. Lu employed Jizi for more than twenty years: within, there was no chaff in the government; without, no encroachment or loss. The moment that man died, wasting distress gathered like an echo. Was it not that when talent fell short of the task, the merit turned out thus; and when they took the tasks on themselves, calamity turned out thus!"

“漢高決策於玄幃，定勝乎千里，則不如良平；治兵多而益善，所向無敵，則不如信布；兼而用之，帝業克成。故疾步累趨，未若托乘乎逸足；尋飛逐走，未若假伎乎鷹犬。夫勁弩難彀，而可以摧堅逮遠；大舟難乘，而可以致重濟深；猛將難御，而可以折沖拓境；高賢難臨，而可以攸敘彝倫。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The High Ancestor of Han, in deciding plans within the tent and settling victory a thousand li away, was no match for Zhang Liang and Chen Ping; in commanding troops, the more the better, invincible wherever he went, he was no match for Han Xin and Ying Bu; it was by employing them together that the imperial work could be achieved. So running with quick steps again and again is not as good as entrusting oneself to a fleet-footed mount; seeking what flies and chasing what runs is not as good as borrowing the skill of hawk and hound. A strong crossbow is hard to draw, yet it can smash the solid and reach the far; a great ship is hard to ride, yet it can deliver heavy loads and cross the deep; a fierce general is hard to control, yet he can break the charge and open the frontiers; a lofty worthy is hard to look down upon, yet he can put the constant relations in order."

“昔魯哀庸主也，而仲尼上聖，不敢不盡其節；齊景下才也，而晏嬰大賢，不敢不竭其誠。豈有人臣當與其君校智力之多少，計局量之優劣，必須堯舜乃為之役哉！何事非君何使非民恥令其君不及唐虞，此亦達者之用心也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) "In days past Duke Ai of Lu was a mediocre lord and Confucius the highest sage, yet he dared not fail to render his full measure; Duke Jing of Qi was a lesser talent and Yan Ying a great worthy, yet he dared not fail to spend his whole sincerity. How could a subject be one who weighs his own lord's stock of wit and strength against his own, reckons the worth of their measures, and will serve only a Yao or a Shun! What matter is not the lord's? What service is not the people's? To be ashamed that one's own lord falls short of Tang and Yu—this too is the heart of the understanding man."

抱朴子曰：由余在戎，而秦穆惟憂。楚殺得臣，而晉文乃喜。樂毅出而燕壞，種蠡入而越霸。破國亡家，失士者也。豈徒有之者重，無之者輕而已哉！柳惠之墓，猶挫元寇之銳，況於坐之於朝廷乎幹木之隱，猶退踐境之攻，況於置之於端右乎郅都之象，使勁虜振懾。孔明之屍，猶令大國寢鋒。以此禦侮，則地必不侵矣；以此率師，則主必不辱矣。

Baopuzi said: When You Yu was among the Rong, Duke Mu of Qin knew only worry. When Chu slew Dechen, Duke Wen of Jin at last rejoiced. When Yue Yi left, Yan fell to ruin; when Wen Zhong and Fan Li came, Yue became hegemon. To have one's state broken and house lost is the lot of those who lose their men. How is it merely that with him one is weighty and without him light! The grave of Liuxia Hui alone blunted the edge of the great invaders—how much more setting such a man upon the court! The retirement of Duan Ganmu alone drove back the assault that trampled the borders—how much more placing him at the right hand of the mat! The painted likeness of Zhi Du struck dread into the mighty foe. The very corpse of Kongming made a great state sheathe its blade. Use such men to withstand invasion and insult, and the land is sure not to be invaded; use them to command the host, and the lord is sure not to be disgraced.

是以明主旅束帛於窮巷，揚滯羽於瘁林，飛翹車於河梁，闢四門而不倦，不吝金璧，不遠千里，不憚屈己，不恥卑辭，而以致賢為首務，得士為重寶。舉之者受上賞，蔽之者為竊位。

So the enlightened ruler sends bundles of silk down the poorest lanes, raises the lagging feathers out of the withered grove, sends the high-shouldered carriage speeding to the river bridge, throws open the four gates without wearying, does not grudge gold and jade, does not count a thousand li far, does not fear to abase himself, is not ashamed of humble words—and makes bringing in the worthy the first task and gaining good men the greatest treasure. He who recommends is given the highest rewards; he who obstructs is a usurper of his seat.

故公旦執贄於白屋，秦邵拜昌於張生。鄒子涉境，而燕君擁彗；莊周未食，而趙惠竦立。晉平接亥唐，腳痺而坐不敢正；齊任之造稷丘，雖頻繁而不辭其勞。楚王受笞於保申，□簡去甲於公廬，彼雖降高抑滿，以貴下賤，終亦並目以遠其明，假耳以廣其聰。龍騰虎踞，宜其然也。

So Dan, Duke of Zhou, presented gifts to the men of thatched hovels, and King Zhao of Qin bowed and begged Master Zhang for excellent words. When Zou Yan stepped within the borders, the lord of Yan took up the broom himself; before Zhuang Zhou had even eaten, King Hui of Zhao stood at rigid attention. When Duke Ping of Jin received Haitang, his legs grew numb yet he dared not sit straight; the lord of Qi went to Jiqiu and, however often, did not refuse the toil. The King of Chu received the lash from Bao Shen; Duke Jian (the base text lacks this character) put off his armor at Gonglu's word. Though they lowered the high and pressed down the full, bringing the honored down to the mean, in the end it was all to join their eyes to others' that their sight might reach farther, and borrow others' ears that their hearing might reach wider. Dragon rearing, tiger crouching—it was ever meant to be so.

抱朴子曰：莫不貴仁，而無能純仁以致治也；莫不賤刑，而無能廢刑以整民也。或云：“明後御世，風向草偃。道洽化醇，安所用刑”餘乃論之曰：“夫德教者，黼黻之祭服也；刑罰者，捍刃之甲冑也。若德教治狡暴，猶以黼黻御剡鋒也；以刑罰施平世，是以甲升廟堂也。故仁者養物之器，刑者懲非之具，我欲利之，而彼欲害之，加仁無悛，非刑不止。刑為仁佐，於是可知也。

Baopuzi said: There is none who does not prize benevolence, yet none who can reach order by benevolence pure and unmixed; there is none who does not despise punishment, yet none who can set the hundred surnames right by abolishing it. Someone said: "When the enlightened lord drives all under heaven, the grass bends wherever the wind blows. When the Way accords and the teaching is rich, what need is there for punishment?" I thereupon argued: "Moral teaching is the embroidered sacrificial robe; punishment is the armor against the blade. To govern the crafty and violent with moral teaching is like fending off a blade with embroidered robes; to apply punishment in a time of peace is like mounting the ancestral hall in armor. So benevolence is the vessel that nourishes things and punishment the implement that chastises faults: I wish him well, he means me harm; add benevolence and he does not change—without punishment there is no stopping him. That punishment is the helper of benevolence may be known from this.

譬存玄胎息，呼吸吐納，含景內視，熊經鳥伸者，長生之術也。然艱而且遲，為者鮮成，能得之者，萬而一焉。病篤痛甚，身困命危，則不得不攻之以針石，治之以毒烈。若廢和鵲之方，而慕松喬之道，則死者眾矣。仁之為政，非為不美也。然黎庶巧偽，趨利忘義。若不齊之以威，糾之以刑，遠羨羲農之風，則亂不可振，其禍深大。以殺止殺，豈樂之哉！

(Baopuzi continued:) For example, preserving the dark essence and embryo breathing, exhaling and inhaling, holding the sunlight and looking inward, hanging like a bear, stretching like a bird—this is the method of long life. Yet it is hard and slow; of those who practice it few succeed, and those who obtain it are one in ten thousand. When sickness is grave and pain severe, the body spent and life in peril, one cannot help but attack and treat it with needle and stone and cure it with violent drugs. To abandon the formulas of Yi He and Bian Que while admiring the way of Redpine and Wang Qiao—the deaths would be many. Benevolence as government is not unlovely. Yet the common folk are crafty and false, run after profit and forget rightness. If they are not leveled by awe and not corrected by punishment, then gazing afar after the winds of Fuxi and Shennong, disorder cannot be lifted and ruin runs deep and great. To use killing to stop killing—where is the joy in that!

“八卦之作，窮理盡性，明罰用獄，著於《噬嗑》；系以徽纆，存乎《習坎》。然用刑其來尚矣。逮於軒轅，聖德尤高，而躬親征伐，至於百戰，殭屍涿鹿，流血阪泉，猶不能使時無叛逆，載戢干戈。亦安能使百姓皆良，民不犯罪而不治者，未之有也。唐虞之盛，象天用刑，竄殛放流，天下乃服。漢文玄默，比隆成康，猶斷四百，鞭死者多。夫匠石不捨繩墨，故無不直之木。明主不廢戮罰，故無陵遲之政也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "When the eight trigrams were made, they plumbed the principle and exhausted the nature: clarifying punishments and putting lawsuits to use is written in Shihe; binding with ropes of two and three strands is kept in Xikan. From this it may be seen that the use of punishment has been long-standing. Down to Xuanyuan, whose sagely virtue was highest of all, he still campaigned in person through a hundred battles, the corpses laid stiff at Zhuolu, the blood flowing at Banquan—and even he could not make his age free of rebels and put away shield and dagger-axe. How much less could anyone make the hundred surnames all good and leave men ungoverned when they commit no crime—there is no such thing. In the height of Tang and Yu, taking Heaven for model they applied punishment—banishing, slaying, casting out, exiling—and only then did all under heaven submit. Emperor Wen of Han in his dark silence reached a height rivaling Cheng and Kang, yet in a single year he judged four hundred cases and many were beaten to death. Carpenter Shi does not lay aside the inked line, and so no timber is not straight; the enlightened lord does not abolish execution and punishment, and so no government sinks into slackness.

“蓋天地之道，不能純仁，故青陽闡陶育之和，素秋厲肅殺之威，融風扇則枯瘁攄藻，白露凝則繁英凋零。是以品物阜焉，歲功成焉。溫而無寒，則蠕動不蟄，根植冬榮。寬而無嚴，則奸宄並作，利器長守。故明賞以存正，必罰以閒邪。勸沮之器，莫此之要。觀民設教，濟其寬猛，使懦不可狎，剛不傷恩。五刑之罪，至於三千，是繩不可曲也；司寇行刑，君為不舉，是法不可廢也。繩曲，則奸回萌矣；法廢，則禍亂滋矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The way of heaven and earth cannot be benevolence alone: thus the green spring unfolds the harmony that nurtures and the pale autumn sternly wields the majesty that withers. When the warm wind stirs, even the withered spread their patterns; when the white dew congeals, the richest bloom falls. So the kinds of things grow rich and the year's work is accomplished. Were there only warmth and no cold, the wriggling would not go into hiding and the rooted would flower through winter. Were there only leniency and no severity, treachery and crime would rise together, and sharp weapons would stay long in private hands. So make rewards clear to preserve the upright, and make punishment certain to bar the crooked: for urging and checking, no instrument is more essential. Watch the people and set teaching accordingly, aiding the lenient and the stern, so that the mild may not be trifled with and the hard does not hurt kindness. The crimes under the five punishments ran to three thousand—this is the line that must not bend. When the minister of justice carried out a punishment, the ruler for that day raised no music—this is the law that must not be abolished. Once the line bends, villainy sprouts; once the law lapses, calamity grows.

“亡國非無令也，患於令煩而不行；敗軍非無禁也，患於禁設而不止。故眾慝彌蔓，而下黷其上。夫賞貴當功而不必重，罰貴得得罪而不必酷也。鞭樸廢於家，則僮僕怠惰；征伐息於國，則群下不虔。愛待敬而不敗，故制禮以崇之；德須威而久立，故作刑以肅之。班倕不委規矩，故方圓不戾於物；明君不釋法度，故機詐不肆其巧。唐虞其仁如天，而不原四罪；姬公友於兄弟，而不赦二叔。仲尼之誅正卯，漢武之殺外甥，垂淚惜法，蓋不獲已也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "A state that falls is not without statutes—the fault is that the statutes are fussy and not carried out; an army that is beaten is not without prohibitions—the fault is that the prohibitions are set up and do not stop anything. So the many evils spread and those below insult those above. Rewards are prized when they match merit, not when they are heavy; penalties are prized when they hit their mark, not when they are cruel. If a household lets the whip and rod lapse, the servants grow lazy; if a state ceases its punitive campaigns, the underlings lose their reverence. Love awaits reverence not to be spoiled, so the rites were made to exalt it; virtue must have awe behind it to stand long, so punishments were made to order it. Ban and Chui do not cast aside compass and square, and so round and square never miss the thing; the enlightened lord does not let the law slacken, and so craft and deceit cannot run loose with their wiles. Tang and Yu were benevolent as heaven, yet they did not pardon the four criminals; the Duke of Zhou loved his brothers, yet he did not spare the two uncles of Guan and Cai. Confucius executed Shaozheng Mao; Emperor Wu of Han killed his own nephew. Shedding tears while cherishing the law—presumably they had no choice.

，。故誅一以振萬，損少以成多，方之櫛發，則所利者眾；比於割疽，則所全者大。是以灸刺慘痛而不可止者，以痊病也；刑法兇醜而不可罷者，以救弊也。六軍如林，未必皆勇。排鋒陷火，人情所憚。然恬顏以勸之，則投命者鮮；斷斬以威之，則莫不奮擊。故役歡笑者，不及叱吒之速；用誘悅者，未若刑戮之齊。

So to execute one and rouse ten thousand, to cut down the few to preserve the many—compare it to combing the hair, and those who profit are many; compare it to lancing a boil, and what is preserved is great. So the moxa burn and the needle's pain must not be stopped, because they are meant to cure the sickness; and punishment, ugly and grim, must not be abolished, because it is meant to rescue from ruin. The six hosts stand like a forest, yet not all are brave. Parting the blades and plunging into fire is what human feeling dreads. Yet urge them with a gentle face and few will throw in their lives; establish awe with the threat of hewing and none fails to strike. So driving men with smiles cannot match the swiftness of the shouted command, and pleasing them with inducements cannot match the leveling of the blade.

是以安於感深谷而嚴其法，衛子疾棄灰而峻其闢。夫以其所畏，禁其所玩，峻而不犯，全民之術也。明治病之術者，杜未生之疾；達治亂之要者，遏將來之患。若乃以輕刑禁重罪，以薄法衛厚利，陳之滋章，而犯者彌多，有似穿阱以當路，非仁人之用懷也。

So Dong Anyu, moved by the deep ravine, made the law sterner, and Wei Yang, hating the ash cast on the road, made the penalties harsher. To take what they fear and forbid what they trifle with—sternness without offenses is the method of preserving the people. He who understands the method of curing sickness cuts off disease before it comes; he who grasps the main point of order and disorder checks calamity before it forms. As for using light penalties to forbid heavy crimes and thin laws to guard fat profits—the more clearly they are set forth the more men offend, like digging pitfalls across the highway: it is not the heart of a humane man.

“善為政者，必先端此以率彼，治親以整疏，不曲法以行意，必有罪而無赦。若石石昔之割愛以滅親，晉文之忍情以斬頡。故仁者，為政之脂粉；刑者，御世之轡策；脂粉非體中之至急，而轡策須臾不可無也。肅恭少怠，則慢惰已至；威嚴暫馳，則群邪生心。當怒不怒，奸臣為虎；當殺不殺，大賊乃發。水久壞河，山起咫尺。尋木千丈，始於毫末；鑽燧之火，勺水可滅；鵠卵未孚，指掌可縻。及其乘沖飈而燎鉅野，奮六羽以凌朝霞，則雖智勇不能制也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "He who is good at government is sure first to set this right to lead that, to govern the near to order the far; he does not bend the law to serve private ends, and where there is guilt he never pardons. Thus Shi Que cut away the dearest bonds to destroy his own kin (the base text gives corrupt characters, which should be Shi Que), and Duke Wen of Jin steeled his feelings to behead Dian Jie. So benevolence is the face-powder of government, while punishment is the bridle and whip that drive the world: powder is not the most pressing thing upon the person, but bridle and whip cannot be dropped for a moment. Let reverence slacken a little and laziness and insolence arrive; let awe relax a while and the whole host of wickedness conceives a heart. To withhold anger where anger is due makes tigers of treacherous ministers; to withhold killing where killing is due lets the great robbers arise. Water long amassed breaks the riverbank; a mountain is piled up from a foot. A towering tree begins from a hair's tip; the fire from the drill can be quenched with a ladle of water; the swan's egg not yet hatched can be crushed between finger and palm. Wait until it rides the whirlwind to burn the great wilds, or spreads its six plumes to mount the morning clouds, and even wisdom and valor cannot master it."

故明君治難於其易，去惡於其微，不伐善以長亂，不操柯而猶豫焉。然則刑之為物，國之神器，君所自執，不可假人，猶長劍不可倒捉，巨魚不可脫淵也。乃崇替之所由，安危之源本也。田常之奪齊，六卿之分晉，趙高之弒秦，王莽之篡漢，履霜逮冰，由來漸矣。或永嘆於海濱，或拊心乎望夷，禍延宗祧，作戒將來者，由乎慕虛名於住古，忘實禍於當己也。”

So the enlightened ruler governs the hard while it is easy, removes the evil while it is slight; he does not boast of kindness and so feed disorder, nor grasp the axe's helve and hesitate. Thus punishment, as a thing, is the spirit-vessel of the state: the lord holds it himself and may not lend it to another, just as a long sword cannot be gripped by the blade and a great fish cannot leave the deep pool. This is the path by which rise and ruin come, the very source of safety and danger. Tian Chang stole Qi; the six ministers carved up Jin; Zhao Gao slew his sovereign of Qin; Wang Mang usurped Han. Tread upon the frost and the ice is reached—it came on gradually. One lord sighed his last sigh by the seashore; another wrung his heart at the Wangyi Palace; calamity reached to the ancestral temples and left a warning for ages to come—because men of old coveted the empty name while on their own persons forgetting the real ruin."

或人曰：“刑辟之興，蓋存叔世。立人之道，唯仁與義。我清靜而民自正，我無慾而民自樸，烹鮮之戒，不欲其煩。寬以愛人則得眾，悅以使人則下附。故孟子以體仁為安，揚子云謂申韓為屠宰。夫繁策急轡，非造父之御；嚴刑峻罰，非三五之道。故有虞手不指揮，口不煩言，恭己南面，而治化雍熙矣。宓生政以率俗，彈琴詠詩，身不下堂，而漁者宵肅矣。

Someone said: "Punishments arose, presumably, in a degenerate age. In establishing men, the way is benevolence and rightness alone. I am still and the people right themselves; I am without desire and the people return to simplicity of themselves; the warning against stirring the fish too much is precisely the wish to avoid fuss. Be generous in loving men and you win the multitude; set them to work with gladness and those below cleave to you. So Mencius took the embodiment of benevolence as his resting place, while Yang Xiong called Shen and Han butchers. Many whips and tight bits are not Zaofu's driving; stern punishments and harsh penalties are not the way of the Three Augusts and Five Thearchs. So Shun of Youyu, his hand never pointing, his mouth untroubled by words, faced south in reverent ease, and government and teaching were harmonious and bright. Fu Zijian governed the common folk with administration: playing the lute and chanting the Odes, his body never descending the hall, and even the night fishermen stood in awe."

必能厚惠薄斂，救乏擢滯，舉賢任才，勸穡省用，招攜以禮，懷遠以德，陶之以成均，治之以庠序。化上而興善者，必若靡草之逐驚風；洗心而革面者，必若清波之滌輕塵。朝有德讓之群后，野無犯禮之軌躅。圜土可以虛蕪，楚革可以永格，何必賞罰可以為國乎！”

(The other continued:) "One need only give generously in kindness and gather thinly in taxes, relieve the destitute and raise the neglected, promote the worthy and employ the able, encourage sowing and reaping and economize on expenditure, win over the disaffected with the rites, soothe the distant with virtue, smelt and mold by the great academy, and order all by the village schools. Then those above who are transformed and rise to goodness are sure to be like fine grass racing the startled wind; those who wash the heart and change their countenance are sure to be like clear ripples washing light dust. The assembled lords at court will be yielding in virtue, and in the fields there will be no wheel-ruts that trespass against the rites. The prisons may stand empty and overgrown, the rods and blades be laid away forever—why must there be rewards and punishments before the state can be ordered!"

抱朴子答曰：“《易》稱“明罰敕法”，《書》有“哀矜折獄”。爵人於朝，刑人於市，有自來矣，豈從叔世！多仁則法不立，威寡則下侵上。夫法不立，則庶事汩矣；下侵上，則逆節明矣。至醇既澆於三代，大樸又散於秦漢，道衰於疇昔，俗薄乎當今，而欲結繩以整奸欺，不言以化狡猾，委轡策而乘奔馬於險途，舍柁櫓而泛虛舟以凌波，盤旋以逐走盜，揖讓以救災火，斬晁錯以卻七國，舞干戈以平赤眉，未見其可也！

Baopuzi answered: "The Book of Changes speaks of 'making punishments clear and rectifying the laws'; the Book of Documents has 'deciding cases with pity and care'. Conferring rank at court and inflicting punishment in the marketplace has its grounds since antiquity—how could it have begun only in a degenerate age! With too much benevolence the law cannot stand; with too little awe those below encroach on those above. If the law cannot stand, the many affairs fall into disorder; if those below encroach on those above, rebellion and disloyalty come to light. Utmost purity was already diluted in the Three Dynasties, great simplicity scattered again under Qin and Han; the Way declined in former days, customs are thin in the present—and you would order the crafty and cheating with knotted cords, teach the cunning without words, cast aside rein and whip yet ride a galloping horse on a dangerous road, abandon rudder and sweep yet send an empty ship to mount the billows, wheel about in ceremony to chase a fleeing robber, bow and yield to put out a raging fire, execute Chao Cuo to make the seven states retire, and dance shield and axe to pacify the Red Eyebrows! I do not see that these could do."

“蓋三皇步而五常驟，霸王以來，載馳載騖。當其弊也，吏欺民巧，寇盜公行，髡鉗不足以懲無恥，族誅不能以禁覬覦。重目以廣視，累耳以遠聽，抗燭以理滯事，焦心以息奸源，而猶市朝有呼嗟之音，邊鄙有不聞之枉。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The Three Augusts moved at a slow pace and the Five Thearchs at a gallop; since the hegemon-kings, it has been running and quick-marching at once. In times of ruin and decay, officers deceive and the people are crafty, robbers and brigands run openly, shaving and collaring cannot chastise the shameless, and the slaughter of families cannot forbid coveting. Eyes are doubled to see farther, ears are multiplied to hear deeper, candles are raised to clear the backlog of affairs, hearts are seared to choke the springs of treachery—and still there is the sound of sighing in court and market, and wrongs on the frontiers that go unheard."

作威作福者，或發乎瞻視之下；兇家害國者，或構乎蕭牆之內。而欲以太昊之道，治偷薄之俗；以畫一之歌，救鼎湧之亂，非識因革之隨時，明損益之變通也。所謂刻舟以摸遺劍，叄天而射五步，摜犀兕之甲，以涉不測之淵；扲卻寒之裘，以御鬱隆之暑，踵之解除，頤之搔背，其為憒憒，莫此之劇矣！

(Baopuzi continued:) Those who wield the rod and hand out favor sometimes issue them from beneath their own gaze; those who ruin houses and harm states sometimes form within the screen wall. To wish then to take the way of Taihao to govern a pilfering and shallow age, or the song of the single rule to rescue a cauldron-seething disorder—this is to fail to know that continuance and change must answer the times, and to fail to grasp that taking away and adding must answer circumstances. This is what is called notching the boat to find the lost sword, shooting at heaven from five paces off, wearing rhinoceros-hide armor to wade an unfathomable deep on foot, carrying winter furs to fend off the sweltering heat, and scratching the back with the chin to relieve another's itch—there is no confusion greater than this!

“但當先令而後誅，得情而勿喜，使伯氏無怨於失邑，虞芮知恥而無訟耳。若強暴掩容，操繩而不憚，誘於含垢，莫蔓而不除，恃藏疾之大言，忘膏肓之近急，何異焦喉之渴切身，而遙指滄海於萬里之外，滔天之水已及，而方造舟於長洲之林，安得免夸父之禍，脫淪水之害哉！

(Baopuzi continued:) "One need only issue orders first and then execute, and, having got the truth of the matter, not rejoice—so that the Bo clan bears no grudge for a lost fief, and the men of Yu and Rui know shame and have no lawsuits. But when violence and outrage cover the face of things, and holding the inked line they feel no fear; when they are lured by 'swallowing the filth' and let the creeping weeds grow; when they rest on the grand talk of 'hiding the sickness' and forget that the disease is at the vital parts—what difference is there from feeling the parching thirst already at one's throat yet pointing far off to the gray sea ten thousand li away, or waiting until the sky-flooding waters have arrived before going to the Long Isle groves to build a ship? How could one escape Kuafu's doom or flee the harm of drowning!"

世人薄申韓之實事，嘉老莊之誕談。然而為政莫能錯刑，殺人者原其死，傷人者赦其罪，所謂土木半瓦胾，無救朝飢者也。道家之言，高則高矣，用之則弊，遼落迂闊，譬猶干將不可以縫線，巨象不可使鼠，金舟不能凌陽侯之波，玉馬不任騁千里之跡也。

(Baopuzi continued:) The men of the world look down on the solid work of Shen and Han and praise the wild and diffuse talk of Lao and Zhuang. Yet in government there is none who can put punishment aside: to pardon the death of the murderer, to remit the guilt of the maimer—this is what is called clay figures and meat on a shard of tile, which cannot rescue the morning's hunger. The Daoists' sayings are lofty indeed, but used, they prove faulty—remote, lost, and impractical, like Ganjiang that cannot sew a seam, or a great elephant that cannot catch a rat, or a metal ship that cannot mount the Lord of the Waves, or a jade horse not equal to the tracks of a thousand li.

若行其言，則當燔桎梏，墮囹圄，罷有司，滅刑書，鑄干戈，平城池，散府庫，毀符節，撤關梁，掊衡量。膠離朱之目，塞子野之耳。泛然不繫，反乎天牧；不訓不營，相忘江湖。朝廷闃而若無人，民則至死不往來。可得而論，難得而行也。

(Baopuzi continued:) If one were to act on their words, one would have to burn the fetters, pull down the prisons, dismiss the officers, destroy the books of punishment, melt down the shield and dagger-axe, fill in the walls, scatter the treasuries, break the tallies, remove the passes and bridges, and smash the scales and measures—glue the eyes of Lizhu shut and stop the ears of Ziye; drift free without ties and return to heaven's pasturage; neither instruct nor govern, and let all forget one another on the rivers and lakes; the court silent as though empty, and the people never visiting one another unto death. It can serve for talk; it can hardly serve for practice.

“俗儒徒聞周以仁興，秦以嚴亡，而未覺周所以得之不純仁，而秦所以失之不獨嚴也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The vulgar Confucians have heard only that Zhou rose by benevolence and that Qin perished by severity, and have not perceived that Zhou's gaining of all under heaven was not pure benevolence, nor Qin's loss of it merely severity.

昔周用肉刑，刖足劓鼻。盟津之令，後至者斬，畢力賞罰，誓有孥戮。考其所為，未盡仁也。及其叔世，罔法玩文，人主苛虐，號令不出宇宙，禮樂征伐，不復由己。群下力競，還為長蛇。伐本塞源，毀冠裂冕。或沈之於漢，或流之一彘。失柄之敗，由於不嚴也。

(Baopuzi continued:) In ancient times Zhou used mutilating punishments, lopping off feet and cutting off noses. The command at Meng Ford was that whoever arrived late would be beheaded; the force of reward and punishment was spent to the full, and the oath-speeches contained the slaughter of wives and children. Examine what they did, and benevolence was not used to the utmost. Come to the degenerate age, when they played with net and writ, and rulers were harsh and cruel: the commands did not issue beyond the realm, and rites, music, and punitive campaigns no longer came from the throne. The underlings struggled by force and grew instead into great serpents. They hacked the root and dammed the source, tore the caps and ripped the crowns; some sank a king in the Han waters, some drove a king into exile at Zhi. The ruin of losing the handle came from a lack of severity.

秦之初興，官人得才。衛鞅由余之徒，式法於內；白起王翦之倫，攻取於外。兼弱攻昧，取威定霸，吞噬四鄰，咀嚼群雄，拓地攘戎，龍變龍視，實賴明賞必罰，以基帝業。降及杪季，驕於得意，窮奢極泰。加之以威虐，築城萬里，離宮千餘，鍾鼓女樂，不徒而具。驪山之役，太半之賦，閭左之戍，坑儒之酷，北擊獫狁，南征百越，暴兵百萬，動數十年。天下有生離之哀，家戶懷怨曠之嘆。白骨成山，虛祭布野。徐福出而重號口兆之讎，趙高入而屯豺狼之黨。天下欲反，十室九空。其所以亡，豈由嚴刑此為秦以嚴得之，非以嚴失之也。

(Baopuzi continued:) When Qin was newly rising, it put officers to use and got the able. The likes of Wei Yang and You Yu set the law within; the likes of Bai Qi and Wang Jian took by assault without. Annexing the weak and attacking the benighted, winning majesty and fixing hegemony, swallowing the four neighbors and chewing up the rival heroes, opening lands and driving off the Rong—it changed like a dragon and glared like a dragon. In truth it was relying on rewards and punishments unfailingly carried out that the foundations of the imperial work were laid. Come to the last age, pride grew with success, luxury and excess reached their limit. Add to that majesty and cruelty: a wall ten thousand li long, detached palaces more than a thousand, bells, drums, and women musicians furnished without having to move. The conscription at Mount Li, the tax of more than half, the levy of the left of the lane, the cruelty of the buried scholars; attacking the Xianyun in the north and campaigning against the Hundred Yue in the south, with a million in arms exposed for tens of years at a stretch. All under heaven grieved at parting of the living; every household sighed with resentful solitude. White bones stood in mountains and empty offerings carpeted the fields. Once Xu Fu went out, the enemy of wailing grew; once Zhao Gao entered, the pack of jackals and wolves swelled. All under heaven wished to rebel—nine houses in ten stood empty. That by which it perished—how could it be on account of harsh punishment? This is what Qin won by severity, not what it lost by severity.

“且刑由刃也，巧人以自成，拙者以自傷，為治國有道而助之以刑者，能令慝偽不作，兇邪改志。若綱絕網紊，得罪於天，用刑失理，其危必速。亦猶水火者所以活人，亦所以殺人，存乎能用之與不能用。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, punishment is like a blade: the skillful use it to perfect themselves, the clumsy use it to injure themselves. He who governs the state with the Way and aids it with punishment can keep hidden falseness from arising and turn the purposes of the violent and wicked. But if the cord is broken and the net tangled, if he offends against heaven and uses punishment beyond reason, danger is sure to come quickly. So too are water and fire what nourish men and what kill men—it lies in being able to use them or not.

“夫症瘕不除，而不修越人之術者，難圖老彭之壽也。奸黨實繁，而不嚴彈違之制者，未見其長世之福也。但當簡於張之徒，任以法理世；選趙陳之屬，季以案劾。明主留神於上，忠良盡誠於下，見不善則若鷹鸇之搏鳥雀，睹亂萌則若草雉田之芟蕪穢。慶賞不謬加，而誅戮不失罪，則太平之軌不足迪。令而不犯，可庶幾廢刑致治，未敢謂然也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) "He who does not remove a settled mass in the belly, yet does not study the medicine of the man of Yue, can hardly hope for the span of old Peng. He whose treacherous factions are truly many, yet does not stiffen the rules for impeaching faults—his lasting fortune is nowhere to be seen. One need only select men like Zhang Tang and entrust the pattern of law and the affairs of the world to them; choose men like Zhao Yu and Chen and hand the examinations and impeachments over to them. The enlightened ruler keeps watch above; the loyal and good spend their sincerity below; seeing what is not good they strike it like the hawk strikes sparrows; seeing the sprout of disorder they clear it like the farmer clears weeds. Rewards are not given amiss and executions do not punish the wrong man—then the track of great peace needs no new opening. To issue commands and have no one trespass them—that may nearly be hoped for; to abolish punishment and thereby reach order—of that I dare not speak."

或曰：“然則刑罰果所以助教興善，式曷軌忒也。若夫古之肉刑，亦可復與”

Someone said: "Then punishments are indeed for aiding teaching and fostering good—what pattern shall be taken to correct faults? As for the mutilating punishments of antiquity, could they be restored too?"

抱朴子曰：“曷為而不可哉！昔周用肉刑，積祀七百。漢氏廢之，年代不如。至於改以鞭笞，大多死者。外有輕刑之名，內有殺人之實也。及於犯罪，上不足以至死，則其下唯有徒謫鞭杖，或遇赦令，則身無損；且髡其更生之發，撾其方愈之創，殊不足以懲次死之罪。今除肉刑，則死罪之下無復中刑在其間，而次死罪不得不止於徒謫鞭杖，是輕重不得適也。又犯罪者希而時有耳，至於殺之則恨重，而鞭之則恨輕，犯此者為多。今不用肉刑，是次死之罪，常不見治也。

Baopuzi said: "Why could they not! In ancient times Zhou used mutilating punishments, and sacrifices piled up for seven hundred years. The house of Han abolished them, and its years did not compare. Moreover, when they were changed to flogging, most of those beaten died: outwardly the name of a light penalty, inwardly the reality of killing. And when a man commits a crime not grave enough for death, below death there is only penal servitude, exile, and the lash—or he meets an amnesty and his body suffers no damage at all. Besides, shaving hair that will grow again and flogging a wound newly healed truly cannot chastise crimes next to death. Now that mutilating punishments are removed, below capital crimes there is no middle penalty between, and crimes next to death cannot but stop at servitude, exile, and the lash—this is weight and lightness missing their due. And crimes are few, arising only now and then; yet as for killing him it is judged too heavy, and lashing him too light, and those who commit this class are many. Now, without the mutilating punishments, crimes next to death commonly go ungoverned.

“今若自非謀反大逆，惡於君親，及軍臨敵犯軍法者，及手殺人者，以肉刑代其死，則亦足以懲示兇人。而刑者猶任坐役，能有所為，又不絕其生類之道，而終身殘毀，百姓見之，莫不寒心，亦足使未犯者肅栗，以彰示將來，乃過於殺人。殺人，非不重也。然辜之三日，行埋棄之，不知者眾，不見者多也。若夫肉刑者之為摽戒也多。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Now, for those whose crimes fall short of plotting revolt or great treason, of doing evil against lord or parent, of breaching military law before the enemy, and those who kill a man with their own hand, to substitute mutilating punishment for their death would suffice to warn the vicious in public. The punished man can still sit and be put to service and be of use, nor is the road of begetting children cut off for him—yet he is maimed for life, and the people who see him, none but grow cold with dread. It also serves to make those not yet offending shudder, and to display to ages to come—truly it surpasses killing. Killing is not un-weighty; yet the corpse is displayed three days, then borne off and buried—those who do not know are many, those who cannot see are many. As a warning and a sign, the mutilating punishments reach far more."

昔魏世數議此事，諸碩儒達學，洽通殷理者，鹹謂宜復肉刑，而意異者駁之，皆不合也。魏武帝亦以為然。直以二陲未賓，遠人不能統至理者，卒聞中國刖人肢體，割人耳鼻，便當望風謂為酷虐，故且權停，以須四方之並耳。通人揚子云亦以為肉刑宜復也。但廢之來久矣，坐而論道者，未以為急耳。”

(Baopuzi continued:) In days past the court of Wei debated this matter repeatedly, and all the great scholars and accomplished men versed in deep principle said the mutilating punishments should be restored, while the dissenters who refuted it were all off the mark. Emperor Wu of Wei also thought so. Only because the two frontiers were not yet submissive and men of far parts could not grasp the perfect principle—hearing suddenly that the central states cut men's limbs and severed men's ears and noses, they would look at the wind and cry cruelty—it was for the time laid aside, to await the uniting of the four quarters. The understanding man Yang Xiong likewise held the mutilating punishments should be restored. Only, they have been abolished too long, and those who sit discussing the Way do not yet count it a pressing matter."

抱朴子曰：華霍所以能崇極天之峻者，由乎其下之厚也；唐虞所以能臻巍巍之功者，實賴股肱之良也。雖有孫陽之手，而無騏驥之足，則不得致千里矣。雖有稽古之才，而無宣力之佐，則莫緣凝庶績矣。人君雖明並日月，神鑑未兆，然萬機不可以獨統，曲碎不可以親總，必假目以遐覽，借耳以廣聽，誠須有司，是康是贊。

Baopuzi said: That Mount Hua and Mount Huo could rise to a steepness touching the sky is because what lies beneath them is deep; that Tang and Yu could reach their towering merit was truly by relying on the goodness of their limbs and thews. Even with the hand of Sun Yang, without the feet of the thoroughbred one cannot cover a thousand li; even with talent that examines antiquity, without helpers who spread the strength there is no way to fix the many tasks. Though the ruler's discernment rival the sun and moon and his spirit mirror what has not yet shown its first sign, yet the myriad affairs cannot be governed alone nor the petty be grasped in person: he must borrow eyes to see far and ears to hear wide—there must truly be officers, to bring peace and to give aid.

故聖君莫不根心招賢，以舉才為首務，施玉帛於丘園，馳翹車於巖藪，勞於求人，逸於用能，上自槐棘，降逮皂隸，論道經國，莫不任職。恭己無為，而治平刑措；而化洽無外，萬邦咸寧。設官分職，其猶構室，一物不堪，則崩橈之由也。然夫貢舉之士，格以四科，三事九列，是之自出，必簡標穎拔萃之俊，而漢之末葉，桓靈之世，柄去帝室，政在奸臣，網漏防潰，風頹教沮，抑清德而揚諂媚，退履道而進多財。力競成俗，苟得無恥，或輸自售之寶，或賣要人之書，或父兄貴顯，望門而辟命；或低頭屈膝，積習而見收。

So there is no sage ruler who does not summon the worthy from the heart, make the raising of talent the first task, send jade and silk to hill and garden, and speed the high-shouldered carriage toward crag and marsh; laboring in the search for men, resting at ease in the use of the able—from the thorn-bench grandees above to the runners below, all have their charge in ordering the state. In reverent ease and doing nothing, rule is level and punishments laid away; the teaching accords even beyond the borders and the myriad states are at peace. To set up offices and apportion charges is like building a house: if one thing cannot bear its share, that is the cause of collapse. Yet the men sent up and recommended were measured by the four categories; the three affairs and nine ranks all issued from this, and eminent, outstanding talent was sure to be chosen. But in the last leaf of Han, the age of Huan and Ling, power left the imperial house and government lay with treacherous ministers: the net leaked, the dikes broke, the wind fell and teaching collapsed; the pure and virtuous were pressed down and the flattering raised; the walkers in the Way were expelled and the owners of much wealth advanced. Contention by force became the custom; scrambling for gain they knew no shame: some presented treasure for sale, some trafficked letters of powerful men; some whose fathers and brothers were honored were summoned by a glance at the gate; some bent the head and knelt, and by long habit were taken in.

夫銓衡不平，則輕重錯謬；鬥斛不正，則少多混亂；繩墨不陳，則曲直不分，準格傾側，則滓雜實繁。以之治人，則虐暴而豺貪，受取聚斂，以補買官之費；立之朝廷，則亂劇於棼絲。引用駑庸，以為黨援，而望風向草偃，庶事之康，何異懸瓦礫而責夜光，弦不調而索清音哉！何可不澄濁飛沉，沙汰臧否，嚴試對之法，峻貪夫之防哉！殄瘁攸階，可勿畏乎

When the scales of selection are unlevel, light and heavy go wrong; when peck and bushel are not true, much and little fall into chaos; when the inked line is not laid out, crooked and straight cannot be told apart; when the standard tips over, the dregs and the mixed grow many indeed. Set such men over the people and they are cruel and greedy as jackals, taking and amassing to make good the price paid for office; stand them in the court and disorder out-tangles tangled silk. To call up the nag and the dull as one's partisans, yet hope the grass will bend wherever the wind blows and the many affairs will be at peace—what difference is there from hanging up tiles and shards and demanding the night-shining pearl, or leaving the strings untuned and asking for clear notes! How can one not clarify the muddy, raise the sunken, sift the good from the bad, stiffen the rules of examination by policy-response, and strengthen the guard against the greedy! The steps by which ruin approaches—are they not to be feared?

古者諸侯貢士，適者謂之有功，有功者增班進爵；貢士不適者謂之有過，有過者黜位削地。猶復不能令詩人謐大車素餐之刺，山林無伐檀罝兔之賢。況舉之無非才之罪，受之無負乘之患。衡量一失其格，多少安可復損乎夫孤立之翹秀，藏器以待賈；瑣碌之輕薄，人事以邀速。夫唯待價，故頓淪於窮瘁矣；夫唯邀速，故佻竅而騰躍矣。

In ancient times when the lords sent up men, if the choice suited it was called merit, and merit brought a rise in order of precedence and rank; if the choice did not suit it was called fault, and fault brought demotion of place and loss of land. Even this could not stop the poets' satire of the great carriage and the idle meal, nor put the sandalwood-cutters and rabbit-netters of the hills and woods in office. How much more when recommending carries no penalty for failing to hit the mark, and accepting carries no calamity of riding above one's station! Once the measure loses its rule, how can its tally ever be reduced again? The lone and eminent hide their talent and wait for a buyer; the petty, shallow men borrow the ways of the world to invite a quick leap. Precisely because they waited for the price, they were battered down and sank in poverty; precisely because they invited the quick leap, the frivolous and clever soared away (the base text reads a character probably miswritten for 'clever').

蓋鳥鴟屯飛，則鴛鳳幽集；豺狼當路，則麒麟遐遁。舉善而教，則不仁者遠矣；奸偽榮顯，則英傑潛逝。高概恥與闒茸為伍，清節羞入饕餮之貫。舉任並謬，則群賢括囊；群賢括囊，則兇邪相引；兇邪相引，則小人道長；小人道長，則檮杌比肩。頌聲所以不作，怨嗟所以嗷嗷也。

Presumably, when owls fly in flocks, simurgh and phoenix gather in stillness; when jackals and wolves block the road, the unicorn flees afar. When the good are raised and taught, the unkind go far off; when the crafty and false are made glorious, the brave and outstanding hide and depart. The high-minded disdain the company of the mean and petty; the pure in conduct are ashamed to enter the ranks of gluttons. When recommendation and appointment go wholly wrong, the whole body of the worthy tie their sacks and do not show; when the whole body of the worthy tie their sacks, the wicked and perverse draw one another in; when the wicked and perverse draw one another in, the way of the small man stretches; when the way of the small man stretches, the monsters stand shoulder to shoulder. This is why songs of praise do not arise and cries of complaint clamor on.

高幹長材，恃能勝己，屈伸默語，聽天任命，窮通得失，委之自然，亦焉得不墮多黨者之後，而居有力者之下乎逸倫之士，非禮不動，山峙淵渟，知之者希，馳逐之徒，蔽而毀之，故思賢之君，終不知奇才之所在，懷道之人，願效力而莫從。雖抱稷卨之器，資邈世之量，遂沈滯詣死，不得登敘也。而有黨有力者，紛然鱗萃，人乏官曠，致者又美，亦安得不拾掇而用之乎

The tall trunk and long timber rely on talent better than others'; bending and stretching, silent or speaking, they heed heaven and trust their lot; failure and success, loss and gain, they commit to nature—then how could they not fall behind the men of many parties and dwell beneath the men of force? The man beyond compare does not move except by the rites; he stands like a mountain and settles like a deep pool; few know him, while the racing, chasing sort cover him over and slander him. So the lord who longs for the worthy never knows where the rare talent is, and the man who bears the Way is willing to serve yet has no road. Though he embrace the capacity of Ji and Xie and hold a measure that transcends the age, he sinks and stagnates until death, never ascending to appointment. While the men of party and force swarm thick as fish-scales, and when posts stand empty and offices lack men, those who come are praised up—then how could they not be picked up and employed?

靈獻之世，閹官用事，群奸秉權，危害忠良。臺閣失選用於上，州郡輕貢舉於下。夫選用失於上，則牧守非其人矣；貢舉輕於下，則秀孝不得賢矣。故時人語曰：“舉秀才，不知書；察孝廉，父別居。寒素清白濁如泥，高第良將怯如雞。”又云：“古人慾達勤誦經，今世圖官免治生。”蓋疾之甚也。

In the age of Emperors Ling and Xian, the eunuchs wielded power and the whole pack of traitors held the handle, injuring the loyal and good. The secretariat above lost the choice and appointment; the provinces and commanderies below made light of sending up men. Choice and appointment lost above—the governors and administrators ceased to be the right men; recommendation made light below—the Cultivated Talents and Filial-and-Incorrupts could not get the worthy. So the saying of the men of that time went: "Recommended Cultivated Talents who do not know their books; examined Filial-and-Incorrupts whose fathers live apart. The poor, plain, pure, and white are muddy as mire; the high-graded fine generals are timid as hens." And again: "Men of old who wished to rise toiled at the classics; the men of today who seek office leave off husbanding their living." Presumably the hatred ran deep.

於時懸爵而賣之，猶列肆也；爭津者買之，猶市人也。有直者無分而徑進，空拳者望途而收跡。其貨多者其官貴，其財少者其職卑。故東園積賣官之錢，崔烈有銅臭之嗤。上為下效，君行臣甚。故阿佞幸，獨談親容。桑梓議主，中正吏部，併為魁儈，各責其估。清貧之士，何理有望哉！是既然矣。又邪正不同，譬猶冰炭；惡直之人，憎於非黨。刀尺顛到者，則恐人之議己也；達不由道者，則患言論之不美也。乃共構合虛誣，中傷清德，瑕累橫生，莫敢救拔。

At that time ranks were hung up for sale like goods in a shop, and men fought to cross the ford and buy them like market folk. He who had the price, though he had no name, walked straight in; he who had empty fists looked at the road and stayed his feet. He whose goods were many got an honored office; he whose wealth was scant got a mean post. So the money for sold offices was heaped in the Eastern Garden, and Cui Lie met the scoff of 'the stink of copper'. When those above do it, those below copy it; the lord practices it and the ministers go further. So flattery and favor became the one study of the intimate place-holders. The lords of the homeland's counsels—the Rectifiers and the Board of Selection—all acted as brokers, each exacting his price. The poor and pure gentleman—what hope could he have! And this was not all: wicked and upright were as unlike as ice and coals; those who hated the upright loathed all not of their party. Those whose own measure was upside down feared that men would discuss them; those risen to eminence by no true way were troubled that the talk was unkind. So together they wove empty slanders to wound the pure and virtuous; flaws and imputations sprang up on every side, and none dared rescue or raise.

於是曾閔獲商臣之謗，孔墨蒙盜跖之垢。懷正居貞者，填笮乎泥濘之中，而狡猾巧偽者，軒翥乎虹霓之際矣。而凡夫淺識，不辯邪正，謂守道者為陸沈，以履徑者為知變。俗之隨風而動，逐波而流者，安能復身於德行，苦思於學問哉！是莫不棄檢括之勞，而赴用賂之速矣。斯誠有漢之所以傾，來代之所宜深鑑也。

Thus Zeng Shen and Min Ziqian drew slanders like Shangchen's, and Confucius and Mozi bore stains like Robber Zhi's. The keepers of the right and holders of steadfastness were mired in the mud, while the cunning and false soared at the edge of the rainbow. Common men of shallow knowledge, telling not wrong from right, called the keeper of the Way 'sunken on dry land' and the taker of bypaths 'knowing the times'. The common herd, blown by the wind and borne on the waves—how could they set their persons back upon virtue and grind their thoughts over learning! Thus all without exception cast off the labor of self-restraint and ran to the swiftness that bribes buy. This, in truth, is why the house of Han fell, and what later ages should take deeply for a warning.

或曰：“吾子論漢末貢舉之事，誠得其病也。今必欲戒既往之失，避傾車之路，改有代之弦調，防法玩之或變，令濮上《巴人》，反安樂之正音，腠理之疾，無退走之滯患者，豈有方乎士有風姿豐偉，雅望有餘，而懷空抱虛，幹植不足，以貌取之，則不必得賢，徐徐先試，則不可倉卒。將如之何”

Someone said: "Your discussion of the recommendations at the end of Han truly hits the disease. If now one must warn against the faults of the past, avoid the overturned carriage's ruts, retune the strings of the passing age, guard against the tricks of those who play with the law, make the Baren songs of the Pu riverbank return to the right tones of peace and joy, and see to it that a sickness in the interstices leaves no lurking harm in retreat—is there a way? Suppose a gentleman has a fine, imposing air and a name surpassing his worth, yet holds emptiness and embraces hollowness, lacking bone and pith: to choose him by his outer looks need not get a worthy, and to test him slowly cannot be done in haste. What is to be done?"

抱朴子答曰：“知人則哲，上聖所難。今使牧守皆能審良才於未用，保性履之始終，誠未易也。但共遣其私情，竭其聰明，不為利慾動，不為屬託屈。所欲舉者，必澄思以察之，博訪以詳之，修其名而考其行，校同異以備虛飾。令親族稱其孝友，邦閭歸其信義。嘗小仕者，有忠清之效，治事之幹，則寸錦足以知巧，刺鼠足以觀勇也。

Baopuzi answered: "To know men is wisdom, which even the highest sage finds hard. To have governors and administrators now examine good talent before appointing it and secure the whole course of its nature and conduct is truly not easy. Only let them all shut out private feeling, spend their wits to the full, not be moved by profit and desire, and not be bent by petitioners. The man they think to recommend they must examine with clarified thought, make plain with wide inquiry, measure his name and test his conduct, and check what agrees and differs against empty show. Let his kin attest his filial and brotherly ways, and his village attest his good faith. One who has once held a petty office will have proof of loyalty and purity and the stuff of handling affairs: an inch of brocade suffices to know the patterning, and stabbing a rat suffices to see the courage.

“又，秀孝皆宜如舊試經答策，防其罪對之奸，當令必絕其不中者勿署，吏加罰禁錮。其所舉書不中者，刺史太守免官，不中左遷。中者多不中者少，後轉不得過故。若受賕而舉所不當，發覺有驗者除名，禁錮終身，不以赦令原，所舉與舉者同罪。今試用此法，治一二歲之間，秀孝必多不行者，亦足以知天下貢舉不精之久矣。過此，則必多修德而勤學者矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Further, the Cultivated Talents and Filial-and-Incorrupts should all, as of old, be tested on the classics and answer the policy questions. To guard against the fraud of the guilty sitting the responses, those who fail must not be given office and their sponsors must be fined and proscribed. If the writing of the man recommended does not pass, the inspector or administrator loses his post; if it does not pass, he is demoted. If those who pass are many and those who fail are few, later promotion must not go beyond the former posts. If one takes bribes and recommends who should not be recommended, on discovery and proof he is struck from the rolls and proscribed for life, not forgiven by amnesty; and the recommended and the recommender share the crime. Apply this rule, and within a year or two of governing, there will surely be many among the Cultivated Talents and Filial-and-Incorrupts who dare not present themselves—which suffices to know that the recommendations under heaven have long been unrefined. Past that point, there are sure to be many who cultivate virtue and study with diligence."

“又，諸居職，其犯公坐者，以法律從事；其以貪濁贓汙為罪，不足死者，刑竟及遇赦，皆宜禁錮終身，輕者二十年。如此，不廉之吏，必將化為夷齊矣。若臨官受取，金錢山積，發覺則自恤得了，免退則旬日複用者，曾史亦將變為盜跖矣。如此，則雖貢士皆中，不辭於官長之不良。”

(Baopuzi continues:) Moreover, those holding office who fall foul of collective liability should be dealt with according to the law; those whose offence is greed, corruption, and embezzlement, though not grave enough for death, should on completing their sentences — or even on meeting an amnesty — all be barred from office for life, the lighter cases for twenty years. If this were done, dishonest officials would surely be transformed into a Boyi or a Shuqi. But if a man can take bribes in office until the money piles up like hills, and on discovery gets himself excused and settled, and within ten days of dismissal is appointed again — then even a Zeng Shen or a Shi Yu would turn into a Robber Zhi. With things like this, even if all the recommended men hit the mark, it will not absolve the governors and chiefs of being unfit.

或曰：“能言不必能行，今試經對策雖過，豈必有政事之才乎”

Someone said: 'Ability to speak does not mean ability to act. Even if a man passes the scripture examination and the policy response today, does he necessarily have talent for governing affairs?'

抱朴子答曰：“古者猶以射擇人，況經術乎如其舍旃，則未見餘法之賢乎此也。夫豐草不秀瘠土，巨魚不生小水，格言不吐庸人之口，高文不墮頑夫之筆。故披《洪範》而知箕子有經世之器，覽九術而見範生懷治國之略，省夷吾之書，而明其有撥亂之幹，視不害之文，而見其精霸王之道也。今孝廉必試經無脫謬，而秀才必對策無失指，則亦不得暗蔽也。良將高第取其膽武，猶複試之以對策，況文士乎假令不能必盡得賢能，要必愈於了不試也。

Baopuzi answered: 'In antiquity men were even chosen by archery — how much more so by classical learning? If we cast this aside, I have yet to see another method that is worthier. Lush grass does not sprout up on barren soil; giant fish are not bred in small waters; maxims do not issue from the mouths of mediocre men; lofty writing does not fall from the brush of a dolt. So, leafing through the Great Plan (Hongfan) one knows that Jizi had the capacity to order the age; viewing the Nine Arts one sees that Fan Li harboured the strategy to govern a state; examining Guan Zhong's book one sees he had the talent to right disorders; looking at Shen Buhai's essays one sees he mastered the way of the hegemon-king. Now if the xiaolian must all sit the scripture examination without a slip, and the xiucai must all answer the policy questions without missing the point, then what they are cannot be dim or hidden. A fine general of top rank is picked for his daring and martiality, yet is still tested further with policy questions — how much more should literati be? Granted we cannot always obtain every worthy and able man, all in all it is surely better than not testing at all.'

今且令天下諸當在貢舉之流者，莫敢不勤學。但此一條，其為長益風教，亦不細矣。若使海內畏妄舉之失，凡人息僥倖之求，背競逐之末，歸學問之本，儒道將大興，而私貨必漸絕，奇才可得而役，庶官可以不曠矣。”

(Baopuzi continues:) At a stroke this would make everyone in the realm who belongs in the ranks of the recommended dare not fail to study hard. In this one thing alone, its lasting benefit to manners and teaching is by no means small. If all within the seas feared the fault of reckless recommendation and common men ceased hoping for lucky preferment — turning their backs on the branch of competition and returning to the root of learning — then the way of the scholars would greatly flourish, private favours would surely dwindle away, exceptional talent could be obtained and employed, and the many offices need not stand empty.

或曰：“先生欲急貢舉之法，但禁錮之罪，苛而且重，懼者甚眾。夫急轡繁策，伯樂所不為；密防峻法，德政之所恥。”

Someone said: 'You want to tighten the law of recommendation, but the penalty of exclusion is harsh and heavy, and many fear it. Pulling the bridle hard and plying the whip often is what even Bole would not do; dense precautions and stern, severe law are what virtuous government is ashamed of.'

抱朴子曰：“夫骨填肉補之藥，長於養體益壽，而不可以救日曷溺之急也。務寬含垢之政，可以蒞敦御樸，而不可以拯衰弊之變也。虎狼見逼，不揮戈奮劍，而彈琴詠詩，吾未見其身可保也。燎火及室，不奔走灌注，而揖讓盤旋，吾未見其焚之自息也。今與知欲賣策者論此，是與蹠議捕盜也。”

Baopuzi said: 'A medicine that fills the bones and mends the flesh excels at nourishing the body and prolonging the years, but it cannot rescue the emergency of sunstroke or drowning (the base text reads ri-he, which we suspect is he, heatstroke). A government bent on leniency and swallowing disgrace can preside over the honest and rule the simple, but it cannot rescue a decadent and decayed turn of things. When tigers and wolves close in and a man does not brandish halberd and sword but plays the lute and chants poems, I have never seen his body preserved. When raging fire reaches the house and a man does not rush to pour water but bows and wheels about in ceremony, I have never seen the fire die out of itself. To discuss this today with the very men who know and want to sell the examination answers is like consulting Robber Zhi about catching thieves.'

抱朴子曰：“今普天一統，九垓同風，王制政令，誠宜齊一。夫衡量小器，猶不可使往往有異，況人士之格，而可叄差而無檢乎江表雖遠，密邇海隅，然染道化，率禮教，亦既千餘載矣。往雖暫隔，不盈百年，而儒學之事，亦不偏廢也。惟以其土宇褊於中州，故人士之數，不得鈞其多少耳。及其德行才學之高者，子游仲任之徒，亦未謝上國也。

Baopuzi said: 'Now all under heaven is unified and the nine regions share the same ways; the king's regulations and decrees should truly be uniform. Weights and measures are small instruments, yet even they must not differ from place to place — how much less should the standard for a gentleman be uneven and unchecked? Jiangbiao is far away, close against the corner of the sea, yet it has been steeped in the transforming Way and followed the ritual teaching for over a thousand years already. In the past, though it was briefly cut off for less than a century, the work of the Ru learning was not set aside. Only because its territory is narrower than the central provinces can the number of its men not be equal in quantity. As for those high in virtue, talent, and learning — men of the stamp of Ziyou and Wang Chong — they are no whit inferior to the men of the superior country.'

昔吳土初附，其貢士見偃以不試。今太平已近四十年矣，猶復不試，所以使東南儒業衰於在昔也。此乃見同於左衽之類，非所以別之也。且夫君子猶愛人以禮，況為其愷悌之父母邪！法有招患，令有損化，其此之謂也。今貢士無複試者，則必皆修飾馳逐，以競虛名，誰肯復開卷受書哉所謂饒之適足以敗之者也。

(Baopuzi continues:) In the past, when the land of Wu had only just submitted, its recommended men were held down because they sat no examination. Now it has been at peace nearly forty years, and still they are not examined — which is why the Ru enterprise in the southeast has decayed compared with days gone by. This treats them as one kind with the left-lapelled barbarians, not as a way to distinguish them. Moreover, the gentleman loves men even by ritual — how much more should those who are the kindly parents of such folk! A law that invites calamity, an ordinance that injures the transforming teaching — it is of this they speak. If the recommended are no longer examined today, they will certainly all polish themselves and gallop about competing for empty fame — who will still be willing to unroll a scroll and receive a book? This is what is called indulging a man just enough to ruin him.

“自有天性好古，心悅藝文。學不為祿，味道忘貧，若法高卿周生烈者。學精不仕(疑有脫文)徇乎榮利者，萬之一耳。至於甯越倪寬黃霸之徒，所以強自篤勵於典籍者，非天性也，皆由患苦困瘁，欲以經術自拔耳。向使非漢武之世，則朱買臣嚴助之屬，亦未必讀書也。今若取富貴之道，幸有易於學者，而復素無自然之好，豈肯復空自勤苦，執灑埽為諸生，遠行尋師問道者乎

(Baopuzi continues:) To be sure, there are men whose nature loves antiquity and whose hearts delight in the arts and letters, who study not for salary but savour the Way and forget poverty — men like Fa Zhen and Zhou Shenglei. Those who master their studies yet never take office [the base text may be missing a phrase here], who will not chase glory and profit — such are one in ten thousand at most. As for men of the stamp of Ning Yue, Ni Kuan, and Huang Ba, the reason they forced themselves to diligent effort in the classics was not nature: it was all because misery, hardship, and exhaustion made them want to pull themselves out by means of classical learning. Had it not been the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the likes of Zhu Maichen and Yan Zhu might never have read a book either. If today there happens to be a road to wealth and rank easier than study, and a man has had no natural bent for it anyway, would he be willing to toil of himself for nothing — to take up broom and sprinkler as a student, and travel far to seek a teacher and ask about the Way?

兵興之世，武貴文寢，俗人視儒士如僕虜，見經誥如芥壤者，何哉由於聲名背乎此也。夫不用譬猶售章甫於夷越，徇髯蛇於華夏矣。今若遐邇一例，明考課試，則必多負笈千里，以尋師友，轉其禮賂之費，以買記籍者，不俟終日矣。”

(Baopuzi continues:) In an age when arms are on the rise, the martial is prized and the civil rests; common folk look on scholars as menials and slaves, and on the classics and declarations as mustard and dust. Why? Because fame and name are divorced from these. When they are not used, it is like selling ritual caps in Yi and Yue, or seeking bearded snakes in the Middle Kingdom. If today one single rule were made for far and near alike, with clear assessment and examination, then there would surely be many who shoulder book-boxes and walk a thousand li to seek out teachers and friends, turning the fees once spent on courtesy-bribes to buying records and books — it would not take the end of a day to see it.

抱朴子曰：才學之士堪秀孝者，已不可多得矣。就令其人若桓靈之世，舉吏不先以財貨，便安臺閣主者，則雖諸經兼本解，於問無不對，猶見誣枉，使不得過矣。常追恨於時執事，不重為之防。

Baopuzi said: Men of talent and learning capable of standing as xiucai or xiaolian are already scarce enough. In the days of Huan and Ling, if the recommending clerks did not first accommodate the officers of the secretariat with goods and money, then even a man who mastered all the classics, could explain every text, and had no question he could not answer would still be maligned and bent so that he could not pass. I have ever rued that the men in charge at that time did not set up a fresh guard against this matter.

餘意謂新年當試貢舉者，今年便可使儒官才士，豫作諸策，計足周用。集上禁其留草殿中，封閉之；臨試之時，亟賦之。人事因緣於是絕。當答策者，皆可會著一處，高選臺省之官親監察之。又嚴禁其交關出入，畢事乃遣。違犯有罪無赦。如此，屬託之翼窒矣。夫明君恃己之不可欺，不恃人之不欺己也。亦何恥於峻為斯制乎若試經法立，則天下可以不立學官，而人自勤樂矣。

My idea is this: since the recommended men are to be examined in the new year, this year the learned officials and talented scholars can already be made to draft the various policy questions in advance, reckoned to suffice for full coverage. They are gathered in and handed up, the drafters forbidden to keep drafts within the palace; the questions are sealed away and, when the examination comes, distributed at once. From that point the avenues of human influence are cut off. Those who are to answer can all be gathered and lodged in one place, with officers chosen high among the ministries and courts to watch them in person. They should further be strictly forbidden to pass in and out or exchange messages, and sent back only when the business is done; any violation is a crime without pardon. With things like this, the wings of solicited favours are clipped. An enlightened ruler relies on the fact that he cannot be deceived, not on others' not deceiving him. Why then be ashamed to make this system sterner? If the law of scripture examination stands firm, the whole realm can do without study-officers, and men will labour gladly of themselves.

案四科亦有明解法令之狀，今在職之人，官無大小，悉不知法令。或有微言難曉，而小吏多頑，而使之決獄，無以死生委之，以輕百姓之命，付無知之人也。作官長不知法，為下吏所欺而不知，又決其口筆者，憤憤不能知食法，與不食不問，不以付主者。或以意斷事，蹉跌不慎法令，亦可令廉良之吏，皆取明律令者試之如試經，高者隨才品敘用。如此，天下必少弄法之吏，失理之獄矣。

Now among the four categories there is also a provision for men who clearly comprehend the laws and ordinances; yet today those in office, great or small, all fail to know them. Some subtle phrasings are hard to make clear, and the petty clerks are mostly obstinate and base, yet they are allowed to decide trials and suits — lives and deaths cannot rightly be entrusted to them. This is to hold the people's lives cheap and hand them to ignorant men. For heads of offices to be ignorant of the law, to be deceived by their underlings without knowing it, and to leave matters to those who move only mouth and brush — muddled men who cannot even know the rule of eating, the same as neither eating nor asking — rather than commit it to the responsible officers; or to decide matters by private whim and stumble into disregard of the laws: one could equally have the honest and good clerks all examined on comprehending statutes and ordinances, as in the scripture examination, and employ the best of them according to talent and grade. With things like this, the realm would surely have few law-twisting clerks and few verdicts that lose the right.

抱朴子曰：餘以朋友之交，不宜浮雜。面而不心，揚雄攸譏。故雖位顯名美，門齊年敵，而趨舍異規，業尚乖互者，未嘗結焉。或有矜其先達，步高視遠，或遺忽陵遲之舊好，或簡棄後門之類味，或取人以官而不論德，其不遭知己，零淪丘園者，雖才深智遠，操清節高者，不可也；其進趨偶合，位顯官通者，雖面牆庸瑣，必及也。如此之徒，雖能令壤蟲雲飛，斥鴳戾天，手捉刀尺，口為禍福，得之則排冰吐華，失之則當春凋悴，餘代其口止叔口止脊，恥與共世。

Baopuzi said: I hold that the intercourse of friends should not be loose and promiscuous. To have the face but not the heart is what Yang Xiong satirized. So even if a man's position is illustrious and his name fine, his pedigree equal and his age a match, if his bent and choices follow different rules and his conduct and esteem run contrary, I have never made the friendship. Some men boast of having risen first, step high and gaze far; some cast off and neglect old attachments that have declined or lagged behind; some slight and discard the tastes of the back-gate sort; some take men by office and never mind virtue. Those who meet no kindred spirit, who fall scattered and sink in hills and gardens — however deep their talent, far their wit, pure their conduct, and high their integrity — these they will not have; those whose advance happens to chime, whose seat is illustrious and office successful — however wall-facing and trifling — these they never fail to look after. Of this kind of man: even though they could make grubs fly like clouds and quails mount the sky, though they hold knife and measure in their hands and decide weal and woe with their mouths — winning them is like pushing out ice and breathing out flowers, losing them is like withering in the midst of spring — I would [the base text is badly corrupt here and cannot be read through], and am ashamed to share an age with them.

窮之與達，不能求也。然而輕薄之人，無分之子，曾無疾非俄然之節，星言宵征，守其門廷，翕然諂笑，卑辭悅色，提壺執贄，時行索媚；勤苦積久，猶見嫌拒，乃行因托長者以構合之。其見受也，則踴悅過於幽系之遇赦；其不合也，則懊悴劇於喪病之逮己也。通塞有命，道貴正直，否泰付之自然，津途何足多諮。嗟乎細人，豈不鄙哉！人情不同，一何遠邪每為慨然，助彼羞之。

Obscurity and success cannot be forced. Yet frivolous men, the kind without name or station, lack even the quick integrity to hate evil or question it: talking through starlit nights and travelling in the dark, keeping to a patron's gate, grinning their flattery in chorus, words abased and faces alight, jug in hand and gift in arm, going time and again to beg favour. When long and weary labour still meets disdain and rejection, they then lean on some elder to splice them in. If accepted, they leap with a joy surpassing a prisoner who meets an amnesty; if the fit fails, their chagrin and pining are sharper than bereavement or illness falling on themselves. Opening and blockage have their allotment; the Way is prized for its straightness; bad and good fortune should be left to the course of nature — what use is all this sighing over fords and paths? Ah, those petty men — are they not base! How far apart men's hearts can run! Every time I think of it I am moved, and feel shame on their behalf.

昔莊周見惠子從車之多，而棄其餘魚。餘感俗士(或脫“無”)不汲汲於攀及至也。瞻彼云云，馳騁風塵者，不懋建德業，務本求己，而偏徇高交，以結朋黨，謂人理莫比之要，當世莫此之急也。以嶽峙獨立者，為澀吝疏拙；以奴顏婢睞者，為曉解當世。風成俗習，莫不逐末，流遁遂往，可慨者也。

In antiquity Zhuang Zhou, seeing how many carriages attended Huizi, threw away the rest of his fish. I am moved by how common scholars [the base text may have dropped the word 'not'] press to the utmost in currying attachment. Watching the swarms that gallop through wind and dust — they will not strive to build up virtue and works, nor seek the root, nor look within themselves; instead they go chasing high connections to knot themselves into cliques, saying nothing in human relations is more urgent than this, nothing in the present age more pressing. They count the man who stands lone like a mountain peak for stiff and boorish; they count the slavish brow and maid's leer for understanding the times. When the wind forms and the custom is set, there is none who does not chase the branch; drift and desertion are where they go — it is worth a sigh.

或有德薄位高，器盈志溢，聞財利則驚掉，見奇士則坐睡。襤縷杖策，被褐負笈者，雖文豔相雄，學優融玄，同之埃芥，不加接引。若夫程鄭王孫羅裒之徒，乘肥衣輕，懷金挾玉者，雖筆不集札，菽麥不分辯，為之倒屣，吐食握髮。

Some have thin virtue and high station, brimming vessels and overflowing wills: hearing of wealth and gain they are startled awake; seeing an exceptional scholar they fall asleep sitting up. A man in rags, leaning on a staff, dressed in homespun with a book-box on his back — though his literary grace could stand beside Yang Xiong's and his learning surpass Ma Rong's and Zheng Xuan's — is treated as dust and trash, and gets no welcome. But the likes of Cheng Zheng, Zhuo Wangsun, and Luo Pou, riding fat horses in light furs, gold in their bosoms and jade in their arms — though their brushes never alight on a slip and they cannot tell beans from wheat — for them shoes are put on backwards, the food is spat from the mouth, and the hair is gripped in the hand.

餘徒恨不在其位，有斧無柯，無以為國家流穢濁於四裔，投畀於有北。彼雖赫奕，刀尺決乎(有脫文)勢力足以移山拔海，吹呼能令泥象登云，造其門庭，我則未暇也。而多有下意怡顏，匍匐膝進，求交於若人，以圖其益。悲夫！生民用心之不鈞，何其遼邈之不肖也哉！餘所以同生聖世而抱困賤，本後顧而不見者，今皆追瞻而不及，豈不有以乎！然性苟不堪，各從所好，以此存亡，予不能易也。

I only regret that I do not hold such a place — I have the axe but not the helve — no means to banish the foul and turbid for the state to the four wilds, to cast them to the northern pole. Splendid though they are, deciding all by knife and measure [the base text may be missing a phrase here], with power enough to shift mountains and drain seas, whose breath and puff could set a clay elephant on a cloud — to go to their gates is a thing for which I have no leisure. Yet there are many who bend the heart and smooth the face, crawl forward on their knees, and beg intercourse of such men to plot their own advantage. Alas! How uneven the hearts of the living people are — how far-flung and unworthy! That I, born in the same sage age as they, must hug poverty and low estate — that men who were once nowhere when I turned to look are now chased ahead yet cannot be caught in view — is there not a reason for it? But if a man's nature cannot sustain it, let each follow what he loves; to stake survival on this is something I cannot exchange.

或又難曰：“時移世變，古今別務，行立乎己，名成乎人。金玉經於不測者，托於輕舟也；靈烏萃於玄霄者，扶搖之力也；芳蘭之芬烈者，清風之功也；屈士起於丘園者，知己之助也。今先生所交必清澄其行業，所厚必沙汰其心性，孑然只口止寺，失棄名輩，結讎一世，招怨流俗，豈合和光以籠物，同法之高義乎若比智而交，則白屋不降公旦之貴；若鈞才而遊，則尼父必無入室之客矣。”

Someone else objected: 'Times move and the world changes; the affairs of past and present differ. Virtue is established in oneself, but one's name is completed by others. When gold and jade cross unfathomable waters, it is by trusting a light boat; when the sacred bird gathers in the dark empyrean, it is by the strength of the whirlwind; that fragrant orchids diffuse their scent is the merit of the clear breeze; that a bent scholar rises from hills and gardens is the help of one who knows him. Now you insist on clarifying the conduct of everyone you befriend, and sifting the heart of everyone you make close; standing all alone [the base text is corrupt here, probably standing firm], you cast off the ranks of the famous, make an enemy of the whole age, and draw the resentment of the common run — is that in keeping with the high rightness of dimming one's light to brood over things and sharing their dust? If friendship must match wit and talent, the Duke of Zhou would never have stooped to a white-thatched hut; if companions must be equal in ability, Confucius would have had no disciples to enter his room.'

抱朴子曰：“吾聞詳交者不失人，而泛結者多後悔。故曩哲先擇而後交，不先交而後擇也。子之所論，出人之計也；吾之所守，退士之志也。子云玉浮鳥高，皆有所因，誠復別理一家之說也。吾以為寧作不載之寶，不飛之鵬，不颺之蘭，無黨之士，亦(何)損於夜光之質，垂天之大，含芳之卉，不朽之蘭乎且夫名多其實，位過其才，處之者猶鮮免於禍辱，交之者何足以為榮福哉！

Baopuzi said: 'I have heard that one who chooses his friendships carefully loses no one, while one who strikes them up loosely has many regrets. So the wise men of old first chose, then befriended — never befriended first and chose after. What you discuss is the reckoning of one in office; what I keep is the resolve of a retired scholar. When you say the jade floats and the bird soars because each has something to lean on, that is really another school's way of talking. I hold it better to be a treasure never loaded aboard, a peng that never flies, an orchid never wafted, a scholar without a party — for what harm is that to the substance of the night-gleaming pearl, to the greatness of sky-hanging wings, to the flower that holds its fragrance, to the imperishable orchid? Besides, when the name outweighs the substance and the seat exceeds the talent, even the man who occupies it rarely escapes calamity and disgrace — how then should befriending him count as glory or blessing?'

“由茲論之，則交彼而遇者，雖得達不足貴；芘之而誤者，譬如蔭朽樹之被笮也。彼尚不能自止其顛蹶，亦安能救我之碎首哉！吾聞大丈夫之自得而外物者，其於庸人也，蓋逼迫不獲已而與之形接，雖以千計，猶蚤蝨之積乎衣，而贅疣之攢乎體也。失之雖以萬數，猶飛塵之去嵩岱，鄧林之墮朽條耳。豈以有之為益，無之覺損乎

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Seen this way, a man who gets on by befriending him is not worth prizing even if he wins success; and one who shelters under him while bungling affairs is like a man crushed while sheltering under a rotten tree. If he cannot even stop his own fall, how could he save my skull from breaking? I have heard that a great man who is at ease in himself and sets external things outside treats mediocre men as bodily contact forced upon him only when unavoidable — though they number in the thousands, they are like fleas and lice gathering on a garment, warts and moles crowding on the flesh. To lose them by the ten thousand is like flying dust leaving Song and Dai, like a rotten branch dropping from the Deng forest. How could having them add anything, or lacking them diminish?'

“且夫朋友也者，必取乎直諒多聞，拾遺斥謬，生無請言，死無託辭，終始一契，寒暑不渝者。然而此人良未易得，而或默語殊途，或憎愛異心，或盛合衰離，或見利忘信。其處今也，璧猶禽魚之結侶，冰炭之同器，欲其久合，安可得哉！夫父子天性，好惡宜鈞，而子政子駿，平論異隔；南山伯奇，辯訟有無。面別心殊，其來尚矣。總而混之，不亦難哉！

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Moreover, a friend must be one who is upright, trustworthy, and well informed, who picks up what you drop and rebukes what you get wrong; who in life makes no requests and at death leaves no commissions; whose bond is one from first to last, unchanged by cold or heat. But such men are truly hard to find: some are silent and speak a different road; some differ in what they love and hate; some agree with you in your prime and leave in decline; some see profit and forget faith. In today's world it is like birds and fish pairing as mates, or ice and charcoal sharing a single vessel — to want them long united, how can that be had? Father and son share heaven's nature, and their likes and dislikes should agree — yet Zizheng and Zijun held separate, divergent judgements, and Nanshan and Boqi disputed being and nonbeing. Faces differ and hearts differ — it has been so for a long time. To lump and mix them all together — is that not difficult?'

“世俗之人，交不論志，逐名趨勢，熱來冷去；見過不改，視迷不救；有利則獨專而不相分，有害則苟免而不相恤；或事便則先取而不讓，值機會則賣彼以安此。凡如是，則有不如無也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Worldly men form friendships without regard to resolve; they chase fame and run to power — they come when you are warm and leave when you are cold; they see your faults and do not correct them, see you deluded and do not rescue you; where there is profit they keep it all and never share, where there is harm they muddle to escape and never show concern; or, where a matter is convenient, they take first without yielding, and when a chance arises they sell out the other to settle themselves. Whatever is like this — better not to have it than to have it.'

“天下不為盡不中交也，率於為益者寡而生累者眾。知人之明，上聖所難。而欲力厲近才，短於鑑物者，務廣其交，又欲使悉得，可與經夷險而不易情，歷危苦而相負荷者，吾未見其可多得也。雖搜琬琰於培螻之上，索鸞鳳乎鷦鷯之巢，未為難也。吾亦豈敢謂藍田之陽，丹穴之中，為無此物哉！亦直言其稀已矣。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Not everyone under heaven is wholly unfit for friendship, but broadly speaking those who can be a benefit are few and those who bring entanglement are many. Even the highest sages found the discernment of men hard. Yet one would strain to polish men of near talent and short judgement of things, insisting on widening one's circle and wanting them all to be gained — men who could go with oneself through level ground and perilous straits without change of feeling, and bear one another up through danger and hardship — I have not seen that such men can be had in numbers. Searching for jade tablets on an ant-hill, seeking simurghs in a wren's nest — even that would not be hard by comparison. Nor would I dare say there is none such south of Indigo Fields or within the Cinnabar Cave — I am merely saying plainly that they are rare.'

“夫操尚不同，猶金沈羽浮也。志好之乖次，猶火升而水降也。苟不可同，雖造化之靈，大塊之匠，不可使同也，何可強乎！餘所稟訥馬矣，加之以天挺篤懶，諸戲弄之事，彈棋博弈，皆所惡見；及飛輕走迅，遊獵傲覽，鹹所不為，殊不喜嘲褻。凡此數者，皆時世所好，莫不耽之，而餘悉闕焉，故親交所以尤遼也。加以挾直，好吐忠藎，藥石所集，甘心者鮮。又欲勉之以學問，諫之以馳競，止其樗蒲，節其沈湎，此又常人所不能悅也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Differences in conduct and esteem are like metal sinking while feathers float; the divergence of aims and likings is like fire rising while water sinks. If they cannot be made one, even the numen of creation, the craftsman of the Great Clod, could not make them one — how could anyone force it? What I received is dullness and slowness of speech (the base text reads ma, a corruption of yan), and on top of that I am by nature extremely lazy: every sort of play — pellet chess, liubo, and such — is hateful to my sight; as for making light things fly and swift things run, roaming hunts and haughty outings, I do none of them, and I least of all enjoy mockery and loose familiarities. All these are what the age delights in; there is no one who is not steeped in them, and I lack them all — so close intercourse is all the more remote from me. Add to this that I carry uprightness and love to utter loyal candour: where the medicine and the needle strike home, few are willing. And I want to spur them on with learning, chide them for racing and striving, stop their throwing of dice, and curb their deep drinking — and these again are things the common run cannot enjoy.'

“毀方瓦合，違情偶俗，人之愛力，甚所不堪，而欲好日新，安可得哉！知其如此而不辯改之，可不謂之暗於當世，拙於用大乎夫交而不卒，合而又離，則兩受不弘之名，俱失克終之美。夫厚則親愛生焉，薄則嫌隙結焉，自然之理也，可不詳擇乎！為可臨觴者拊背，執手須臾，欲多其數而必其全，吾所懼也。”

(Baopuzi continues:) 'To break one's squareness to rub along with tiles, to betray one's bent to mate with the common run — sparing one's own effort is something I can hardly afford, and to want friendships renewed day by day besides — how could that be had? To know this and not make the change — may that not be called being blind to the times and clumsy at using what is great? To befriend and not see it through, to join and then part — both parties bear a name for not being magnanimous, and both lose the beauty of being able to finish. Affection begets fondness, coolness knots a grudge — that is the way of nature; may one not choose with care? For the sake of clapping backs over a cup of wine and clasping hands for a moment, to want the number large and still insist on every one being whole — that is what I fear.'

或曰：“然則都可以無交乎”

Someone said: 'Then should we have no intercourse and friends at all?'

抱朴子答曰：“何其然哉！夫畏水者何必廢舟楫，忌傷者何必棄父斤交之為道，其來尚矣。天地不交則不泰，上下不交即乖志。夫不泰則二氣隔並矣，志乖則天下無國矣。然始之甚易，終之竟難。患乎所結非其人，敗於爭小以忘大也。《易》美多蘭，《詩》詠百朋，雖有兄弟，不如友生。切思三益，大聖所嘉，門人所以增親，惡言所以不至；管仲所以免誅戮而立霸功，子元所以去亭長而驅朱軒者，交之力也。

Master Baopu replied: "How can that be! Does a man who fears water need to abolish boats and oars, or one who dreads injury need to throw away his axes (the base text reads 'fu' as 'father,' a corruption of 'axe')? Making friends as a Way has existed since antiquity. When Heaven and Earth do not commune, there is no peace; when high and low do not commune, their aims drift apart. Without peace, the two forces are cut off and swallowed up; when aims drift apart, the world has no states. Yet the beginning is very easy, while the ending turns out hard. The fault lies in befriending the wrong sort of people, and in failing by quarreling over trifles and forgetting what is great. The Book of Changes praises the abundance of orchids, and the Book of Poetry sings of a hundred pairs of cowries; even with brothers, nothing equals friends made in life. Mutual correction and the three benefits are what the great sage approved: through them disciples grow closer and harsh words no longer arrive. Guan Zhong escaped execution and achieved hegemony, and Ziyuan left the post of village warden and rode in a red carriage; both came from the power of friendship."

“單絃不能發《韶》《夏》之和音，孑色不能成兗龍之瑋燁，一味不能合伊鼎之甘，獨木不能致鄧林之茂。玄圃極天，蓋由眾石之積。南溟浩漾，實須群流之赴。明鏡舉則傾冠見矣，羲和照則曲影覺矣，檃括修則枉刺之疾消矣，良友結則輔仁之道弘矣。

(Master Baopu continued:) "A single string cannot produce the harmony of the Shao and Xia music; a single color cannot make the splendor of the dragon robe; a single flavor cannot make the sweetness of the cauldron of Yi Yin; a single tree cannot make the Deng forest lush. The Hanging Gardens rise to the very sky, presumably through the piling up of many stones. The Southern Sea spreads vast and wide, truly because many streams run into it. Raise a bright mirror and the crooked cap is seen; let Xihe, the sun, shine once and the bent shadow is noticed; apply the straightening frame and the defect of warping is cured; make good friends and the Way of aiding in humaneness is enlarged.

達者知其然也，所企及則必簡乎勝己，所降結則必料乎同志。其處也則講道進德，其出也則齊心比翼。否則鈞魚釣之業，泰則協經世之務。安則有以精義，危則有以相恤。恥令譚肯專面地之篤，不使王貢擅彈冠之美。夫然，故交道可貴也。

(Master Baopu continued:) "The man of understanding knows this: whom he aspires to he will surely select as better than himself, and whom he lowers his heart to befriend he will surely judge to share his purpose. In retirement they discuss the Way and advance in virtue; in office they work together like paired wings. Otherwise they share a fisherman's trade; in times of peace they assist in the affairs of governing the age. In safety there is someone to study meaning with; in danger there is someone to look after one another. He is ashamed to let Tan alone possess the sincerity of sharing his land, and does not let Wang Yang and Gong Yu alone hold the glory of dusting off their caps together. Only like this is the Way of friendship valuable.

“然實未易知，勢利生去就，積毀壞刎頸之契，漸漬釋膠漆之堅。於是有忘素情之惆嘆，或睚眥而不思，遂令元伯巨卿之好，獨著於昔；張耳陳餘之變，屢構於今。推往尋來，良可嘆也。夫梧禽不與鴟梟同枝，麟虞不與豺狼連群，清源不與濁潦混流，仁明不與兇暗同處。何者漸染積而移直道，暴迫則生害也。”

(Master Baopu continued:) "Yet it is truly not easy to know a person. Power and profit give rise to parting or drawing near; accumulated slander ruins the pact of sworn friendship; gradual soaking dissolves a bond firm as glue and lacquer. Then comes sorrow at forgetting old affection, or a glare of resentment without a thought of former ties. So the goodness of Yuanbo and Jujing shines alone in the past, while the turning of Zhang Er and Chen Yu is repeated again and again today. Pushing back and searching forward, it is truly lamentable. The phoenix does not share a branch with the owl, the qilin does not herd with jackals and wolves, a clear spring does not mix its flow with muddy floodwater, and the benevolent and bright do not dwell with the fierce and dark. Why? Gradual soaking and accumulation will change a straight path, and violent pressure will give rise to harm."

或人曰：“敢問全交之道可得聞乎”

Someone said: "May I ask about the way to preserve friendships? Could you let me hear it?"

抱朴子答曰：“君子交絕猶無惡言，豈肯向所異辭乎殺身猶以許友，豈名位之足競乎善交狎而不慢，和而不同，見彼有失，則正色而諫之；告我以過，則速改而憚。不以忤彼心而不言，不以逆我耳而不納，不以巧辯飾其非，不以華辭文其失，不形同而神乖，不若情而口合，不面從而背憎，不疾人之勝己，護其短而引其長，隱其失而宣其得，外無計數之諍，內遺心競之累。夫然後《鹿鳴》之好全，而《伐木》之刺息。若乃輕合而不重離，易厚而不難薄，始如形影，終為叄辰，至歡變為篤恨，接援化成讎敵，不詳之悔，亦無以(原有脫文)。

Master Baopu replied: "When a gentleman breaks off a friendship he still utters no harsh words; how would he be willing to change his speech toward people who differ from him? Even one's life is promised to a friend, so how could rank and position be worth contending over? One who is good at friendship stays close without being lax, harmonizes without becoming the same; seeing a fault in the other, he admonishes him with a stern face; when told of his own error, he quickly corrects it and takes it to heart. He does not stay silent because it would go against the other's feelings, nor refuse to listen because it grates on his own ear; he does not use clever argument to dress up his wrong, nor flowery phrases to cover his mistakes; he is not alike in outward form while apart in spirit, nor matching in speech while not in feeling; he does not agree to one's face and loathe one behind the back; he does not resent others surpassing him, but shields their shortcomings and draws out their strengths, hides their failings and proclaims their gains; outwardly he keeps no tally of disputes, inwardly he casts off the burden of rivalry in the heart. Only then can the goodness of the Lu Ming ode be preserved and the satire of the Fa Mu ode be stilled. But those who join easily and do not take parting seriously, who grow warm easily and cool without difficulty, who at first are like body and shadow and at last like the stars Shen and Chen, who turn the greatest joy into deep hatred and mutual aid into enmity, feel a regret of carelessness that has no remedy either [the base text has a lacuna here]."

往者漢季陵遲，皇轡不振，在公之義替，紛競之俗成。以違時為清高，以救世為辱身。尊卑禮壞，大倫遂亂。在位之人，不務盡節，委本趨末，背實尋聲。王事廢者其譽美，奸過積者其功多。莫不飛輪兼策，星言假寐，冒寒觸暑，以走權門，市虛華之名於秉勢之口，買非分之位於賣官之家。或爭所欲，還相屠滅。

(Master Baopu continued:) "In the past, as the Han dynasty declined and slackened in its closing years, the imperial reins could not be kept taut, the duty of public service was discarded, and a custom of contentious scrambling arose. Going against the times was taken as lofty purity, and rescuing the age as a disgrace to oneself. The rites between high and low broke down, and the great human relations fell into disorder. Those in office did not strive to fulfill their duty; they abandoned the root and ran after the branch, turned their backs on substance and sought reputation. Those who neglected the king's business had fine reputations, and those who piled up crimes had many merits. There was no one who did not fly his wheels and double his whip, talking through the night and dozing in his clothes, braving the cold and touching the heat, to run about the doors of the powerful, buying empty fame from the mouths of those who held power and buying undeserved posts from the families who sold office. Some fought over what they desired and turned on one another to destroy each other.

於是公叔偉長疾其若彼，力不能正，不忍見之，爾乃發憤著論，杜門絕交，斯誠感激有為而然。蓋矯枉而過正，非經常之永訓也。徒當遠非類之黨，慎諂黷之源。何必裸袒以詭彼己，斷粒以刺玉食哉！夫交之為非，重諫而不止，遂至大亂。故禮義之所棄，可以絕矣。

(Master Baopu continued:) "So Gongshu and Weichang loathed such conduct, and since their strength could not set it right and they could not bear to look at it, they at last poured out their indignation in treatises and shut their doors to cut off all dealings. This was truly feeling moved to act. But in straightening what is bent one overshoots, and it is not a lasting rule for all time. One should simply keep far from parties of the wrong kind and be careful of the source of flattery and familiarity. Why bare one's body to deceive others and oneself, or refuse food to mock rich fare? Friendship made into wrong, when repeated admonitions fail to stop it, leads to great disorder. Therefore what the rites and righteousness reject may be cut off."

抱朴子曰：騕褭能奮蘭筋以絕景，而不能履冰以乘深；猛虎能似雷霆以博噬，而不能踴雲霧以凌虛。鴻鵾不能振翅於籠罩之中，輕鷂不能電擊於几筵之下。物既然矣，人亦如之。故能調和陰陽者，未必能兼百行修簡書也；能敷五邁九者，不必能全小潔經曲碎也。

Master Baopu said: A fine steed can stir its orchid sinews and outrun light and shadow, yet it cannot tread on ice to ride across the deep; a fierce tiger can strike and devour like thunder, yet it cannot leap up into clouds and mist to soar over the void. The great swan and the roc cannot spread their wings inside a cage, and a light hawk cannot strike like lightning beneath a banquet mat. If things are so, so are men. Therefore one who can harmonize yin and yang is not necessarily able to be complete in a hundred kinds of conduct or to put records in order; one who can expound the five and surpass the nine is not necessarily able to preserve small purity or manage petty details.

惠子，上相之標也，而不能役舟楫以凌陽侯；漢高，神武之傑也，而不能治產業端檢括；淮陰，良將之元也，而不能修農商免飢寒；周勃，社稷之鯁也，而不能答錢穀責獄辭。若以所短棄所長，則逸儕拔萃之才不用矣；責具體而論細禮，則匠世濟民之勳不著矣。

Huizi was a model chief minister, yet he could not command a boat and oars to cross the waves of the water god Yanghou; Gao of Han was a hero of divine martial power, yet he could not manage property or keep accounts in order; the Marquis of Huaiyin was the foremost of good generals, yet he could not run farming or trade to keep himself from hunger and cold; Zhou Bo was the upright mainstay of the state, yet he could not answer questions about money and grain or interrogate prison statements. If one casts aside a person's strengths because of his shortcomings, then talent that stands out from the crowd goes unused; if one demands completeness and discusses minute etiquette, then the merit of those who shaped the age and rescued the people will not be shown.

天不能平其西北，地不能隆其東南，日月不能摛光於曲穴，沖風湧揚波於井底。扌適齒則松檟不及一寸之筵，挑耳則棟梁不如鷦鷯之羽，彈鳥則千金不及丸泥之用，縫緝則長劍不及數寸之針。何必伏巨象而捕鼠，制大鵬以司晨乎故姜牙賣煦(疑作“漿’)無所售，而見師於文武；蔣生憒慢於百里，而獨步三槐。

Heaven cannot make its northwest level, Earth cannot make its southeast rise; the sun and moon cannot spread their light in a crooked cave, and a blasting wind cannot raise waves at the bottom of a well. To pick teeth, pine and catalpa are no match for a one-inch toothpick (the base text has a damaged character with only a radical remaining); to dig out an ear, a great beam is worse than a wren's feather; to shoot birds, a thousand pieces of gold is no use compared with a pellet of clay; for sewing, a long sword is no match for a needle of a few inches. Why subdue a great elephant to catch mice, or tame the great roc to announce the dawn? Hence Jiang Ya sold drink and could find no buyer, yet King Wen and King Wu took him as their teacher (the base text has a doubtful character here, probably meaning 'drink'); and Jiang Sheng was foolishly lax toward Baili, yet stood alone among the Three Ministers.

抱朴子曰：華章藻蔚，非矇瞍所玩；英逸之才，非淺短所識。夫瞻視不能接物，則兗龍與素褐同價矣；聰鑑不足相涉，則俊民與庸夫一概矣。眼不見，則美不入神焉；莫之與，則傷之者至焉。且夫愛憎好惡，古今不均，時移俗易，物同價異。譬之夏後之璜，曩直連城，鬻之於今，賤於銅鐵。故昔以隱居求志為高士，今以山林之儒為不肖。故聖世之良幹，乃暗俗之罪人也；往者之介潔，乃末葉之羸劣也。

Master Baopu said: Splendid literary beauty is not something the blind can appreciate, and outstanding talent is not something the shallow can recognize. If one's gaze cannot touch things, the embroidered dragon robe and coarse brown cloth are the same price; if discernment is too weak to reach one another, the gifted and the mediocre are measured by one standard. If the eyes do not see, beauty does not enter the spirit; if no one gives support, those who would harm him come. Moreover, love and hatred, likes and dislikes, are not the same in past and present; times shift and customs change, and the same thing has a different price. Take the jade huang of the Xia ruler: once it was worth a string of cities, but sold today it is cheaper than copper or iron. Hence in the past, those who lived in seclusion pursuing their aims were considered lofty scholars, whereas now Confucians of the mountains and forests are considered unworthy. So the fine talents of a sagely age are the offenders of a benighted custom, and the integrity of the past is the weakness of a late age.

弘偉之士，履道之生，其崇信匪徒重仞之牆，其淵澤不唯呂梁之深也，故短近不能賞，而淺促不能測焉。因以異乎己而薄之矣，以不求我而疾之矣，不貴不用，何足言乎乃有播埃塵於白珪，生瘡疒有於玉肌，訕疵雷同，攻伐獨立，曾叄蒙劫剽之垢，巢許獲穿窬之謗。自匪明並懸象，玄鑑表微者，焉能披泥抽淪玉，澄川掇沈珠哉！夫珪璋居肆而不售，矧乃翳於盤璞乎奇士扣角而見遏，況乃潛於四羊藪乎

Great and noble scholars, bookish men who walk the Way, have a height of reverence that is more than a wall of a few fathoms and a depth of marsh more than the Lüliang rapids, so the short-sighted cannot appreciate them and the shallow cannot fathom them. Then because they differ from oneself they are belittled, and because they do not seek one's favor they are loathed; being unvalued and unused is hardly worth mentioning. Some even scatter dust on white jade and raise sores on jade-like skin (the base text has a damaged character, which should be the word for 'sore'), slander flaws in what is alike and attack what stands alone: Zeng Shen bore the stain of being a robber, and Chaofu and Xu You received the slander of burglary. If it were not for the bright ruler who sets the heavenly signs in order, and the dark mirror that can reveal the subtle, how could one split the mud to draw out the sunken jade, or clear the stream to gather the pearl that has sunk? Even a jade tablet set out in the market is not sold at once, how much less one concealed in the rough stone. Even a rare scholar knocking on an ox horn is stopped, how much more one hidden in the marshes (the base text has a probably redundant phrase here).

孫臏思騁其秘略，而司馬刖之；韓非願建治績，而李斯殺之；賈誼慷慨，懷經國之術，而武夫排之；子政忠良，有匡危之具，而恭顯陷之。和氏所以抱璞而泣血，禽息所以發憤而碎首也。夫玉石易別於賢愚，愛寶情篤於好士，以易別之寶，合篤好之物，猶獲罪截趾，歷世受誣。況乎難知之賢，非意所急，讒人畫蛇足於無形，奸臣畏忠貞之害己，體曲者忌繩墨之容，夜裸者憎明燭之來。是以高譽美行，抑而不揚，虛構之謗，先形生影。又無楚人號哭之薦，萬無一遇，固其宜矣。

Sun Bin wanted to give rein to his secret strategy, but Pang Juan cut off his feet; Han Fei wished to establish good government, but Li Si had him killed; Jia Yi, full of passion, held a plan for governing the state, but the military men pushed him out; Zizheng was loyal and good, with the capacity to set right a danger, but Hong Gong and Shi Xian framed him. This is why Mr. He embraced his stone and wept blood, and why Qin Xi dashed his head and broke it. Jade and stone are easily told apart in worth, and the love of treasure is warmer than the love of scholars, yet even with an easily distinguished treasure and a devoted lover of it, he was still convicted and had his foot cut off, and was slandered through generations. How much more with worth that is hard to know and not what the mind is eager for: slanderers add legs to a snake that has no form, treacherous ministers fear that loyalty will harm them, those with crooked bodies dread the sight of the marking line, and those who go naked at night hate the coming of the bright candle. So lofty reputation and fine conduct are suppressed and not raised, while fabricated slander produces a shadow before there is a form. And with no one to recommend as the man of Chu who cried out did, one among ten thousand will not be met, which is of course as it should be.

夫以玉為石者，亦將以石為玉矣；以賢為愚者，亦將以愚為賢者矣。以石為玉，未有傷也；以愚為賢者，亡之診也。蓋診亡者雖存而必亡，猶脈死者雖生而必死也。可勿慎乎！於戲，悲夫！莫之思者也。昔仲尼上聖也，東受累於齊人，南見塞於子西。文種大賢也，初不齒於荊俗，末雍遊於鈞如。競年立功，不亦難乎夫結綠玄黎，非陶猗不能市也；千鈞之重，非賁獲不能抱也。《白雪》之弦，非靈素不能徽也；邁倫之才，非明主不能用也。

One who takes jade for stone will also take stone for jade; one who takes the worthy for fools will also take fools for the worthy. Taking stone for jade does no harm; taking a fool for the worthy is the sign of ruin. One diagnosed as about to perish will surely perish even if still alive, just as a person with a dying pulse will surely die even if living. Can one be careless about this? Alas, how sad! No one reflects on it. In the past Confucius was a supreme sage, yet in the east he was entangled by the men of Qi, and in the south he was blocked by Zixi. Wen Zhong was a great worthy, yet at first the customs of Jing did not count him among them, and only at the end did he roam at ease in Juncheng. Competing against the years to establish merit, is that not also hard? The jades Jielü and Xuanli could only be bought by Tao Zhu or Yi Dun; a weight of a thousand jun could only be carried by Ben or Huo. The strings of the White Snow tune could only be plucked by Ling Su; talent that goes beyond all categories can only be used by an enlightened ruler.

然耀靈光夜之珍，不為莫求而虧其質，以苟且於賤賈；洪鍾周鼎(或有脫文)，不為委淪而輕其體，取見舉於侏儒；嶧陽雲和，不為不御而息唱，以競顯於淫哇；冠群之德，不以沈抑而履徑，而剸節於流俗。是以和璧變為滯貨，柔木廢於勿用，赤刀之礦，不得經歐冶之爐；元凱之疇，終不值四門之闢也。

Yet a treasure that shines in the night does not diminish its substance because no one seeks it, nor lower itself to cheap prices; the great bell and the Zhou cauldron [the base text may have a lacuna] do not think lightly of their own bodies because they are cast aside and sunk, nor allow dwarfs to pick them up; the tung tree of Yiyang and the zither Yunhe do not stop their song because they are not used by the ruler, nor compete with licentious music for display; virtue that tops the crowd does not take a side path because it is suppressed, nor monopolize integrity before the vulgar crowd. So the Bi of Mr. He became unsold stock, supple wood was left unused, and ore for the red blade could not pass through the furnace of Ouye; men like Yuan and Kai in the end never met the opening of the Four Gates.

抱朴子曰：餘之友人有居泠先生者，恬愉靜素，形神相忘，外不飾驚愚之容，內不寄有容之心，遊精墳誥，樂以忘憂。晝競羲和之末景，夕照望舒之餘耀，道靡遠而不究，言無微而不研。然車跡不軔權右之國，尺牘不經貴勢之庭。是以名不出蓬戶，身不離畎畝。

Master Baopu said: I have a friend named Master Juling, calm, content, quiet and plain, in whom form and spirit forget one another. Outwardly he does not adorn an appearance to startle the foolish, and inwardly he does not lodge a heart that has room for others; he lets his spirit roam among the ancient classics, taking joy and forgetting sorrow. By day he chases the last shadows of the sun god Xihe, and by night he reads by the remaining brightness of the moon goddess Wangshu; no Way is too distant for him to exhaust, no word too subtle for him to study. Yet his cart tracks never halt in the cities of the powerful, and his notes never pass through the courts of the eminent. So his name does not leave his thatched door, and his person does not leave the fields.

於是翼亮大夫候而難之曰：“餘聞淵蟠起則玄雲赴，道化雨沾則逸才奮。故康衢有角歌之音，鼎俎發凌風之跡。沽之則收不貲之賈，踴之則超在天之舉。耀逸景於暘谷，播大明乎九垓。勳蔭當世，聲揚罔極。故尋仞之途甚近而弗往者，雖追風之腳不能到也；楹梲之下至卑而不動者，雖鴻鵾之翅未之及也。況乎寢足於大荒之表，斂羽於幽梧之枝，安得效迅以尋景，振輕乎蒼霄哉

Then the Grand Master Yiliang, waiting to challenge him, said: "I have heard that when a coiled dragon in the deep stirs, dark clouds rush to it, and when the rain of the transforming Way touches, outstanding talents rise. Therefore on the broad road there was the sound of song while knocking on an ox horn, and the cauldron and chopping block produced footprints that rose against the wind. Sell it, and one takes in a price beyond counting; let it leap, and it surpasses what is done in the heavens. In the Valley of Light, it flashes its soaring brilliance and spreads the great light to the nine corners of the world. Merit shades the age, and fame spreads without limit. So those for whom a road of a fathom or so is near but who do not go will not be reached even by wind-chasing feet; those who, below the pillars and beams, are at the lowest point and do not move will not be matched even by wings of a swan or roc. How much less one who rests his feet beyond the great wilderness and folds his feathers on a branch of the secluded parasol tree: how can he imitate speed to seek the light, or shake out lightness in the blue sky?

年期奄冉而不久，托世飄迅而不再，智者履霜則知堅冰之必至，處始則悟生物之有終。六龍促軌於大渾，華顛倏忽而告暮，古人所以映順流而顧嘆，眄過隙而興悲矣。

(Yiliang continued:) "The years pass quickly and do not last; our lodging in the human world drifts away and will not return. The wise man treads on frost and knows that solid ice will surely come; placed at the beginning, he realizes that living things have an end. The six dragons urge the sun's course on the great sphere, and white hair suddenly announces evening. This is why the ancients looked back and sighed beside a flowing stream, and gazed at a crack through which a white horse passes and felt grief.

先生資命世之逸量，含英偉以邈俗，銳翰汪濊以波湧，六奇抑鬱而淵蓄；然不能凌扶搖以高竦，揚清耀於九玄，器不陳於瑚簋之末，體不免於負薪之勞，猶奏和音於聾俗之地，鬻章甫於被髮之域。徒忘寤於翰林，銳意以窮神，崇琬琰於懷抱之內，吐琳琅於毛墨之端，躬困屢空之儉，神勞堅高之間，譬若埋尺璧於重壤之下，封文錦於沓匱之中，終無交易之富，孰賞堙翳之珍哉

(Yiliang continued:) "You, sir, have the outstanding capacity that marks a person of the age, and you hold heroic greatness within yourself and keep far from the crowd. Your sharp brush flows like a surging wave, and your six marvelous strategies are stored as in a deep pool; yet you cannot rise above the whirlwind to soar high and raise a pure brilliance in the ninth heaven. Your vessel is not set in the lowest place among the ritual dishes, and your body is not free from the toil of carrying firewood, like one playing harmonious music in a land of the deaf, or selling ceremonial caps in a country of loose-haired people. In vain you forget to wake in the forest of writing, you strain to exhaust the spirit, you cherish fine jade within your breast and spit out gems from the tip of brush and ink; your body is hard pressed by constant poverty and your spirit toils between solid and lofty things. It is like burying a foot-wide jade disc beneath layers of earth, or sealing patterned brocade in many layers of chests: in the end there is no wealth of trade, and who will appreciate a treasure that is buried and hidden?

“夫龍驥維縶，則無以別乎蹇驢；赤刀韜鋒，則曷用異於鉛刃。鱣鮪不居牛跡，大鵬不滯蒿林。願先生委龍蛇之穴，升利見之途，釋戶庭之獨潔，覽二鼠而遠寤，越窮谷以登高，襲丹藻以改素，競驚飈於清晨，不盤旋以錯度，收名器於崇高，響鍾鼎之慶祚。柏成一介之夫，辨薇可足多慕乎”

(Yiliang continued:) "A dragon steed bound with ropes cannot be told from a lame donkey; a red blade with its edge wrapped up is of no use for distinguishing it from a lead one. The sturgeon and the pike do not live in an ox's hoofprint, and the great roc does not linger in the wormwood. I wish you, sir, would leave the lair of the dragon and snake and rise onto the road where it is advantageous to be seen; lay down the lone purity of staying within your courtyard, look at the two mice and wake from far away, cross the empty valley and climb high, put on the red patterned robe in place of plain cloth, race against the startling gale in the early morning, not circling about and missing the measure, receive titles and vessels on high ground, and let the blessings of bells and cauldrons ring back. Bocheng was but a single man; what is there to admire in telling the bracken apart?"

居泠先生應曰：“蓋聞靈機冥緬，混芒眇昧，禍福交錯乎倚伏之間，興亡纏綿乎盈虛之會；迅遊者不能脫逐身之景，樂成者不能免理致之敗；匡流末者，未若挺治乎無兆之中；整已然者，不逮反本乎玄樸之外。是以覺蠖者，甘屈以保伸；識通塞者，不慘悅於否泰。

Master Juling replied: "I have heard that the subtle springs of the spirit are dim and distant, mingled and obscure; misfortune and fortune lean on and hide in one another and interlace, and rise and fall coil together at the meeting of fullness and emptiness. A fast traveler cannot shed the shadow that chases him, and one who delights in success cannot escape the failure that follows the course of events. One who tries to straighten the lower reaches of a stream is not as good as one who steps in and governs while no omen yet shows; one who repairs what has already become so does not equal one who returns to the root beyond dark simplicity. So one who understands the inchworm gladly bends to preserve extension; one who recognizes passing and blocked times is neither grieved nor delighted by stagnation or prosperity.

且夫洪陶範物，大象流形，躁靜異尚，翔沈舛情。金寶其重，羽矜其輕。篤隘者執束於滓涅達妙者逍遙於玄清。潢洿納行潦而潘溢，渤澥吞百川而不盈。鮋蝦踴悅於泥濘，赤螭凌厲乎高冥。嚼香餌者，快嗜慾而赴死；味虛淡者，含天和而趨生；識機神者，瞻無兆而弗惑；暗休咎者，觸強弩而不驚。各附攸好，安肯改營

(Master Juling continued:) "Moreover the great potter casts things with a mold, and the great images flow and take form; restlessness and stillness are valued differently, and flying or sinking runs against feeling. Gold and treasure prize their weight, and feathers boast of their lightness. Those devoted to narrowness are bound by dregs and dirt; those who comprehend the subtle roam freely in the dark and clear. A pond fills and overflows with the water of a passing flood, while the Bohai Sea swallows a hundred rivers and is not full. Small fish and shrimp leap with joy in the mud, while the red dragon soars in the high darkness. Those who chew fragrant bait follow their appetites with delight and run toward death; those who savor emptiness and plainness keep heavenly harmony and move toward life; those who know the springs of the spirit gaze at what has no omen without confusion; those who are dark about good and ill fortune touch a strong crossbow without alarm. Each clings to what he likes; how would he be willing to change his course?

“吾聞五玉不能自剖於嵩岫，騰蛇不能無霧而電徵，龍淵不能勿操而斷犀兕，景鍾不能莫扣而揚洪聲。金芝須商風而激耀，倉庚俟煙火日皿而修鳴，騏騄不苟馳以赴險，君子不詭遇以毀名。運屯則沈淪於勿用，時行則高竦乎天庭。士以自炫為不高，女以自媒為不貞。何必委洗耳之峻標，效負俎之幹榮哉

(Master Juling continued:) "I have heard that the five jades cannot split themselves from the peaks of Mount Song, the flying serpent cannot go forth like lightning without mist, the sword Longyuan cannot cut rhinoceros hide without a hand to wield it, and the Jing bell cannot raise its great sound unless struck. The golden fungus shines only with the autumn wind, the oriole waits for [the base text has a corrupt character here] before it sings long; a fine steed does not gallop recklessly into danger, and the gentleman does not ruin his name by devious means. When fate is hard he sinks out of use; when the time is right to act he soars high in the courts of heaven. A scholar who displays himself is not lofty, and a woman who acts as her own matchmaker is not chaste. Why abandon the lofty standard of washing the ears and imitate those who carry the cutting board on their backs to seek glory?

夫其窮也，則有虞婆娑而陶釣，尚父見逐於愚嫗，範生來辱於溺簣，弘式匿奇於耕牧；及其達也，則淮陰投竿而稱孤，文種解屍彳喬而紆青，傅說釋築而論道，管子脫桎為上卿。蓋君子藏器以有待也，蓄德以有為也，非其時不見也，非其君不事也，窮達任所值，出處無所繫。其靜也，則為逸民之宗；其動也，則為元凱之表。或運思於立言，或銘勳乎國器。殊途同歸，其致一焉。

(Master Juling continued:) "In times of hardship, Shun of Yu wandered idly making pottery and fishing, the Grand Duke Shangfu was driven away by a foolish old woman, Fan Ju was humiliated by being soaked in the basket, and Hong Shi hid his marvel among plowing and herding; when they reached success, Huaiyin threw down his fishing rod and called himself king, Wen Zhong untied his [the base text has a doubtful character, probably 'sandals'] and wore the blue ribbon, Fu Yue put down his rammer and discussed the Way, and Guan Zhong took off his shackles and became chief minister. Presumably the gentleman hides his vessel to wait, stores up virtue to have something to do; if it is not his time he does not appear, if it is not his lord he does not serve, leaving hardship or success to whatever he meets, with no ties to taking office or retiring. When he is still he becomes the ancestor of recluses; when he moves he becomes the model of Yuan and Kai. Some turn their thought to establishing words, others engrave their merit on state vessels. Their roads differ but they arrive at the same place; the aim is one.

“士能為可貴之行，而不能使俗必貴之也；能為可用之才，而不能使世必用之也。被褐茹草罝兔，則心歡意得，如將終身，服冕乘軺，兼朱重紫，則若固有之。常如布衣，此至人之用懷也。

(Master Juling continued:) "A scholar can make a valuable virtue, but cannot make the vulgar crowd necessarily value him; he can become a useful talent, but cannot make the age necessarily use him. Wearing coarse cloth, eating grass, and snaring hares, his heart is glad and his mind content, as if he would be so to the end of his life; wearing the ceremonial cap and riding the light carriage, with red double and purple ribbons layered, he seems as if he had always had them. To remain always as a commoner is the heart of the perfect man.

若席上之珍不積，環堵之操不粹者，予之罪也。知之者希，名位不臻，以玉為石，謂鳳曰鴳者，非餘罪也。夫汲汲於見知，悒悒於否滯者，裳民之情也；浩然而養氣，淡爾而靡欲者，無悶之志也。時至道行，器大者不悅；天地之間，知命者不憂。若乃徇萬金之貨，以索百十之售，多失骨幹毛，我則未暇矣。”

(Master Juling continued:) "If the treasures on my mat have not accumulated and the integrity within my four walls is not pure, that is my fault. That those who know me are few, that rank and position do not reach me, that jade is taken for stone and the phoenix called a quail is not my fault. To be anxious to be known and gloomy about being kept back is the feeling of ordinary people (the base text has 'robe,' a corruption of 'ordinary'); to nurture one's breath vast and calm and be without desire is the aim of one free from distress. When the time comes and the Way is practiced, one of great capacity does not rejoice; between heaven and earth, one who knows his fate does not worry. As for pursuing goods worth ten thousand gold to seek a sale at a hundred or so, most of it loses its bones and fur, and I have no leisure for that."

門人問曰：“聞漢末之世，靈獻之時，品藻乖濫，英逸窮滯，饕餮得志，名不準實，賈不本物，以其通者為賢，寒者為愚。其故何哉”

A disciple asked: "I have heard that in the Later Han, in the time of Emperors Ling and Xian, the evaluation of persons was excessive and confused, outstanding talents were kept in poverty and obstruction, gluttons gained their ambitions, reputations did not match reality, and prices did not match the things themselves, so that those who were well connected were thought worthy and the humble were thought fools. What was the reason?"

抱朴子答曰：“夫雷霆車訇磕，而或不聞焉；七曜經天，而或不見焉。豈唯形器有聾瞽哉！心神所蔽，亦又如之。是以聞格言而不識者，非無耳也；見英異而不知者，非無目也；由乎聰不經妙，而明不逮奇也。夫智大量遠者，盤桓以山峙；器小志近者，蓬飛而萍浮。夫唯山峙，故莫之能動焉；夫唯萍浮，故流而不滯焉。

Baopuzi answered: "Thunder crashes and rumbles, yet there are men who cannot hear it; the seven luminaries cross the sky, yet there are men who cannot see them. It is not only the bodily organs that can be deaf or blind! What screens the mind and spirit is likewise so. Thus a man who hears an aphorism and does not recognize it is not without ears; a man who sees the outstanding and does not know it is not without eyes — it is because his hearing has never reached the subtle and his sight never attained the rare. A man of great wisdom and far measure rests poised like a standing mountain; a man of small capacity and near ambition is like tumbleweed flying, like duckweed drifting. Only because he stands like a mountain can nothing move him; only because it drifts like duckweed does it flow on without staying.

方之貨也，則緘連以待賈者，唯至珍而難售；鳴鼓以徇之者，雖凡蔽而易盡。比之材也，則結根於嵩岱者，雖竦蓋千仞，垂蔭萬畝，而莫之知也；插株途要者，雖鉤曲戾細而速朽，而猶見用也。故廟堂有枯楊之瑚簋，窮谷多不伐之梓橡也。

(Baopuzi continued:) Compare it to goods: what lies sealed and wrapped awaiting a buyer is alone the utmost treasure, hard to sell; what is cried about with a beaten drum, though common and dull, is easily sold out. Compare it to timber: a tree rooted on Mount Song or Mount Dai, though it rears a canopy a thousand fathoms high and casts shade over ten thousand acres, is known to no one; a stump stuck in the roadway, though crooked, thin, and quick to rot, still gets used. Thus the temple hall holds sacrificial vessels made of withered poplar, while the remote valley is full of catalpa and oak that are never felled.

是以竊華名者，螻蜥騰於雲霄；失實賈者，翠虯淪乎九泉。於是斥鴳凌風以高奮，靈鳳卷翮以幽戢，鉛鋒充太阿之寶，犬羊佻虎狼之資矣。夫佞者鼓珍賂為勁羽，則無高而不到矣；乘朋黨為舟楫，則無遠而不濟矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) So those who steal splendid names are geckos and lizards mounting into the clouds; those who lose their true worth are green dragons sunk in the nine springs. Thereupon the quail rides the wind and soars on high, while the numinous phoenix folds its pinions and hides in quiet; a leaden point passes for the precious blade Tai'e, and dogs and sheep presume to the endowment of tigers and wolves. Once a flatterer blows precious bribes into strong feathers, there is no height he cannot reach; once he rides a faction as his boat and oars, there is no distance he cannot cross.

持之以夙興側立，加之以先意承指，其利口諛辭也似辯，其道聽途說也似學，其心險貌柔也似仁，其行汙言潔也似廉，其好說人短也似忠，其不知忌諱也似直，故多通焉。且亦奉望我者，欲我益之，不求我者，我不能愛，自然之理也。

(Baopuzi continued:) He holds to early rising and standing aside, adding anticipation of his superior's wish before it is spoken: his glib tongue and flattering words pass for eloquence, his hearsay and gossip pass for learning, his dangerous heart and soft face pass for benevolence, his foul conduct and clean words pass for integrity, his pleasure in telling others' faults passes for loyalty, his ignorance of scruples passes for candor — and so such men mostly get on. Moreover, those who look up to me want me to profit them; a man who does not seek me I cannot love — that is the natural logic.

“夫賢常少而愚常多，多則比周而匿瑕，少則孤弱而無援，佞人相汲引而柴正路，俊哲處下位而不見知，拔茅之義圯，而負乘之群興，亢龍高墜，泣血漣如。故子西逐大聖之仲尼，臧倉毀命世之孟軻。二生不免斯患，降茲亦何足言！斯禍蓋與開闢並生，苦之匪唯一世也。歷覽振古，多同此疾。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The worthy are always few and the foolish always many; the many band together and hide each other's flaws, while the few stand weak and solitary without aid. The flatterers draw one another up and block the proper road; the talented and wise stay in low posts unknown. The right of pulling up thatch-root with its kin is ruined; the herd that bears burdens yet rides in carriages rises up; the soaring dragon falls from the heights, weeping tears of blood. Thus Zixi drove out the great sage Zhongni, and Zang Cang slandered the epochal Mencius. If even these two did not escape this calamity, what is there to say of those below them! This plague was born, in all likelihood, together with the parting of heaven and earth; more than one age has suffered it. Surveying the past, most ages share this same disease.

至於駑蹇矯首於王周輦，駥驥委牧乎林垧，彼己尸祿，邦國殄瘁，下凌上替，實此之由。或蟲流而莫斂，或逆竄於申亥，或擢筋於廟梁，或絕命於望夷，蓋所拔之非真，而忠能之不用也。

(Baopuzi continued:) For worn-out jades to rear their heads in the king's own carriage while fine steeds are cast off to graze in the woods and wilds; for those to sit like corpses in office feeding on their stipends while the state is worn to ruin and inferiors supplant what superiors let fall — it is truly due to this. Some have lain dead till their corpses bred worms and oozed, with none to gather them; some have fled in rout to Shen and Hai; some were stripped of their sinews on the temple beams; some met their end at Wangyi — in every case it was that those promoted were not genuine and the loyal and able went unused.

“故明君勤於招賢，而汲汲於擢奇，導達凝滯，而嚴防壅蔽。才誠足委，不拘於屠釣；言審可施，抽之於戎戍。或舉於牛口之下，而加之於群僚之上；或拔於桎梏之中，而任以社稷之重。故能勳業隆濟，拓境服遠，取威定功，垂統長世也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Therefore the enlightened ruler is diligent in summoning the worthy and eager to raise men of rare talent; he dredges the silted and stagnant and sternly guards against screening and blockage. When ability truly suffices for the charge, he does not balk at butchers and anglers; when words prove on scrutiny to be practicable, he draws them from among the frontier garrisons. Some he raises from beneath an ox's muzzle and sets above the whole host of officers; some he pulls from fetters and manacles and entrusts with the weight of the altars of soil and grain. Thus he can make achievement and work flourish and be brought to completion, open his borders and make the distant submit, establish his dread and fix his merit, and hand down a rule for long generations.

“夫直繩者，枉木之所憎也；清公者，奸慝之所讎也。人主不能運玄鑑以索隱，而必須當途之所舉。然每觀前代專權之徒，率其所舉皆在乎附己者也，所薦者先乎利己者也。毀所畏而進所愛，所畏則至公者也，所愛則同私者也。至公用則奸黨破，眾私立則主威奪矣；奸黨破則升泰之所由也，主威奪則危亡之端漸矣。毀所畏則恐辭之不痛，雖刖劓之，猶未弇意焉，故必除之而後快也；彼進所愛則苦談之不美，雖位超之，猶未逞心焉，故必危彼以安此也。是故抱枉而死，無愆而黜者，有自來矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) "The straight line is what crooked timber hates; the clear and impartial are what the treacherous view as foes. Yet the ruler cannot revolve the dark mirror to seek out the hidden and subtle, and must depend on the recommendations of those in power. But whenever one looks at the monopolists of former ages, for the most part those they raised were men who clung to them, and those they recommended were first of all men who profited them. They slandered those they feared and advanced those they loved — the feared being the most impartial men, the loved their partners in private interest. If the most impartial are employed, the traitors' clique is broken; if the many private interests stand, the ruler's majesty is taken away. When the traitors' clique is broken, the road upward to peace appears; when the ruler's majesty is taken, the first threads of peril and ruin draw near. Slandering those they feared, they feared their words were not bitter enough — even to cut off his feet and nose would not content them, so they were bound to destroy the man before they felt pleased; advancing those they loved, they fretted that the talk was not fair enough — even office beyond his desert would not satisfy them, so they were bound to imperil one to make the other safe. Thus those who die clasping a wrong, who are degraded without fault, have their reasons.

“所以體道合真，嶷然特立，才遠量逸，懷霜履冰，思綿天地，器兼元凱，執經衡門，淵渟嶽立。寧潔身以守滯，恥脅肩以苟合。樂飢陋巷，以勵高尚之節；藏器全真，以待天年之盡。非時不出，非禮不動。結褐嚼蔬，而不悒悒也；黃髮終否，而不悢悢也。安肯蹙太山之峻，以適鑿枘之中；斂垂天之羽，為戒旦之役編於仕類，而抑鬱庸兒之下。舍鸞鳳之林，適枳棘之藪，競腐鼠於踞鴟，而枉尺以直尋哉！

(Baopuzi continued:) "He embodies the Dao and accords with the true, stands towering and alone; his talent ranges far and his measure is unconfined; he walks as though clasping frost and treading ice; his thought stretches to heaven and earth; his capacities combine those of the Yuans and the Kais; holding the classics at his brushwood gate, he rests deep as a still pool and stands like a peak. He would rather keep himself pure and abide in neglect than shrug his shoulders to win a vulgar fit; he delights in hunger in a mean lane to steel a lofty integrity; he sheathes his vessel and keeps his wholeness, awaiting the end of his heaven-given years. If the time is not right he does not go forth; if it is not ritual he does not move. Knotting coarse cloth and chewing greens, he is not downcast; white-haired and blocked to the very end, he is not grieved. How could he compress the steepness of Mount Tai to fit into a mortise's square hole; furl the wings that trail like the sky to do the service of crowing the dawn; be woven into the register of officeholders and smother beneath mediocre boys; abandon the forest of simurghs and phoenixes for a thicket of thorns; or vie with a squatting kite over a rotten rat — bending a foot in order to straighten a fathom!

“且大賢之狀也至拙，其為味也甚淡，蕭然自足，泊爾無知，知之者稀而不戚，時不能用而不悶。雖並日無藜藿之糝，不以易不義之太牢也；雖縕袍無卒歲之服，不肯樂無道之狐白也。獨可散發高枕，守其所有已，絕不曲躬低眉，求其所未須也。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, the great worthy's appearance is the utmost of awkwardness; the savor of what he does is very bland; quiet and sufficient unto himself, placid as though knowing nothing — few know him yet he is not grieved, the age cannot use him yet he is not downcast. Though for two days he has no ort of goosefoot to eat, he will not trade for an unrighteous great sacrifice; though his wadded robe will not last out the year, he will not take pleasure in a wayless coat of white fox. He can only let his hair hang loose and pillow high, keeping what he already has, and will never bend his body or lower his brows to beg for what he does not yet need.

德薄位厚，弗交也；名與實違，弗親也；榮華馳逐，弗務也；豪俠奸權，弗接也；俗說細辨，不答也；脅肩所赴，弗隨也。貌愚而志遠，面垢而行潔。確乎若嵩岱，銓衡所不能測也；浩乎若滄海，鬥斛所不能校也。峻其重仞之高，隱其百官之富。觀彼佻竊，若草莽也。邈世之操，眇焉冠秋雲之表；遺俗之神，緬焉棲九玄之端。雖窮賤，而不可脅以威；雖危苦，而不可動以利。

(Baopuzi continued:) Slight of virtue yet thick of place — he does not befriend them; name and substance at odds — he does not draw near them; racing after glory — he does not take part; bold bullies and dealers in power — he does not touch them; vulgar talk and petty argument — he does not answer; whatever shrugged shoulders rush toward — he does not follow. His mien looks foolish yet his aim is far; his face is grimed yet his conduct clean. Massive as Mount Song and Mount Dai — no steelyard can weigh him; vast as the dark sea — no peck or bushel can gauge him. He piles the loftiness of many-fold peaks yet higher; he hides the wealth of a hundred offices. He looks on petty pilferings as mere weeds. His world-transcending integrity roosts faint beyond the autumn clouds; the spirit that lets the vulgar stream drop away dwells remote at the tip of the ninth firmament. Though poor and lowly, he cannot be cowed by threat; though in peril and hardship, he cannot be moved by profit.

“其所業尚，可聞而不可盡也；其所執守，可見而不可論也。故疾之者，齊聲而側目；愛之者，寡弱而無益。亦猶撮壤不能填決河，升水不能殄原火。於是鼖鼓戢雷霆之音，鼗鞞恣喋鼛之響。芳蕙芟夷，臭鮑佩御。玄鬯傾棄而不羞，醨酪專灌於圓丘。汗血驅放而垂耳，跛蹇馳騁於鑾軒。此古人之所以懷沙負石，赴流魚葬，而不堪與之同世也。已矣！悲夫！

(Baopuzi continued:) "What he pursues and honors can be heard of but never exhausted; what he keeps hold of can be seen but never defined. So those who hate him glare sidelong in chorus, while those who love him are few, weak, and of no avail. It is like a pinch of earth cannot fill a bursting river, a pint of water cannot quench a prairie fire. Thereupon the great drum gathers in its thunder, while rattle and hand-drum let their babble clang away. Fragrant iris is mown down, while stinking abalone is worn at the belt. The dark sacrificial wine is poured out and not offered, while thin ale and sour mash alone are poured on the round altar. The blood-sweating steed is turned loose with drooping ears, while the lame nag gallops in the imperial chariot. This is why the ancients clasped sand and stone to their breasts and cast themselves into the stream to be entombed by fish, unable to bear sharing an age with such men. It is finished — alas, how sad!

“然捐玄黎於洿濘，非夜光之不真也，由莫識焉；投彤盧而不彎，非繁弱之不勁也，坐莫賞焉。故瓊瑤俟荊和而顯連城之價，烏號須逢門而著陷堅之功，飛菟待子豫而飈騰，俊民值知己而宣力。若夫美玉不出重岫，良弓不鑿百札，驥騄不服朱軒，命世不履爵勢，則孰知其能攄符彩之耀曄，頓雲禽於千仞，騁逸跡以追風，康庶績於百揆乎

(Baopuzi continued:) "Yet if the dark gem Xuanli is dropped in the mire, it is not that its night-gleam is not genuine — there is no one to recognize it; if the crimson bow is cast down unbent, it is not that Fanruo is not strong — there is no one who prizes it. Thus the jades qiong and yao wait for a Bian He to show their city-ransoming worth; the bow Wuhao must meet a Fengmeng for its piercing power to be known; the hare-flying steed needs a Ziyu to fly like the gale; and the eminent man must meet one who truly knows him to display his strength. If the fair jade never comes out of the layered peaks, the fine bow never pierces a hundred leaves, the qiji team never draws the vermilion coach, and the world-shaking man never treads the stairs of rank and power — then who would know he can spread the bright blaze of the tally-colors, arrest the soaring bird at a thousand fathoms, race in unfettered tracks to run down the wind, or bring the hundred charges to peace and order?

夫其不遇，亦得不雜糅於瓦石，鈞賤於朽木，列鑣於下乘，等望於凡瑣哉！嗟乎！弓廣棘矢而望高手於渠廣，策疲駑而求繼軌於周穆，放斧斤而欲雙巧於班墨，忽良才而欲彝倫之攸敘，不亦難乎名實雖漏於一世，德音可邀乎將來。樂天知命，何慮何憂安時處順，何怨何憂哉！

(Baopuzi continued:) "Though unmet with, does he not also gain by not being blended with tiles and stones, not sharing the baseness of rotten wood, not being bitted beside broken-down nags, not having the same repute as the vulgar and petty? Alas! To draw a thorn-arrow and look for the hand of a Quguang; to whip a weary nag and hope to follow in the tracks of King Mu; to lay down the ax and hope to share the craft of Gongshu Ban and Mo Di; to neglect good men and hope the constant orders will be set in sequence — is that not hard? Though name and substance be dropped in one age, the echo of virtue may yet be claimed from what is to come. Delighting in heaven and knowing fate — what care is there, what worry? At peace in the time and dwelling in accord — what resentment is there, what sorrow!

抱朴子曰；鹹謂勇力絕倫者，則上將之器；洽聞治亂者，則三九之才也。然張飛關羽萬人之敵，而皆喪元辱主，授首非所；孔融邊讓文學邈俗，而並不達治務，所在敗績。鄧禹馬援田間諸生，而善於用兵；蕭何曹叄不涉經誥，而優於宰輔。爾則知人果未易也。欲試可乃已，則恐成折足覆食束；欲聽言察貌，則或似是而非，真偽混錯。然而世人甚以為易，經耳過目，謂可精盡。餘甚猜焉，未敢許也。

Baopuzi said: All say that a man of matchless courage and strength has the makings of a great general, and that a man of broad learning who can order disorder has the talent of the Three Excellencies and Nine Ministers. Yet Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, each a match for ten thousand men, both lost their heads and disgraced their lord, yielding their heads where they should never have been yielded; Kong Rong and Bian Rang stood far above the common stream in letters, yet neither was versed in the business of government, and each met defeat where he was posted. Deng Yu and Ma Yuan were mere field students, yet they excelled at the use of troops; Xiao He and Cao Can never delved into the canons (the base text has 'san', a miscopying of 'can'), yet they were superior as chancellors. Seen thus, to know men is indeed not easy. To wish to test them only so far as their ability extends is to risk breaking the tripod's legs and spilling the stew; to wish to listen to words and read faces is to risk taking seeming for being, with true and false confounded. Yet the age deems it very easy: once past the ear, once past the eye, they say it can be thoroughly known. I am deeply doubtful and dare not grant it.

區別臧否，瞻形得神，存乎其人，不可力為。自非明並日月，聽聞無音者，願加清澄，以漸進用，不可頓任。輕假利器，收還之既甚難，所損者亦已多矣。無以一事暗保其餘，同乎己者，未必可用；異於我者，未必可忽也。

Distinguishing the worthy from the base, looking on the shape and reaching the spirit — this lies in the man; it cannot be done by force. Unless one is as bright as sun and moon side by side and hears what has no sound, one may hope to add clarity and advance step by step — one cannot be entrusted outright. To lend the sharp instrument lightly and then take it back is already hard, and the damage already great. Do not let one obscure point pass for a verdict on the rest: a man who agrees with me is not necessarily usable, and a man who differs from me is not necessarily to be passed over.

或難曰：“夫在天者垂象，在地者有形，故望山度水，則高深可推；風起雲飛，則吉凶可步。智者睹木不瘁，則悟美玉之在山；覿岸不枯，則覺明珠之沈淵。彗星出，則知鱣魚之方死；日月蝕，則識騏驎之共鬥。華霍不須稱，而無限之重可知矣；江河不待量，而不測之數已定矣。鴻鵠之翼，騄騏之足，雖未飛走，輕迅可必也。豪曹之劍，徐氏匕首，雖未奮擊，其立斷無疑也。

Someone challenged: "What hangs above sends down its image; what rests on earth has its form. So looking at the mountains one can measure the waters — height and depth can be inferred; when the wind rises and clouds fly, fortune and ill can be paced out. The wise man, seeing the trees do not wither, wakes to know that fair jade lies in the mountain; seeing the banks are not parched, perceives a bright pearl sunk in the depths. When a comet appears he knows the great sturgeon will die; when sun and moon are eclipsed he knows the unicorn is fighting. Mounts Hua and Huo need no weighing — their measuresome mass is already known; the Jiang and the He need no gauging — their unfathomable volume is already set. The pinions of the swan, the legs of the qiji — though they have not yet flown or run, their swiftness can be fixed in advance; the sword Haocao, the dagger of the Xu clan — though not yet swung, that they will shear through at a stroke is beyond doubt.

駁子有吞牛之容，鶚鷧有凌鷙之貌。卉茂者土必沃，魚大者水必廣。虎尾不附狸身，象牙不出鼠口。叔魚無饜之心，見於初生之狀；食我滅宗之徵，著乎開胞之始。申童覺竊妻之巫臣，張負知將貴之陳平。範子所以絕跡於五湖者，以句踐蜂目而鳥喙也。趙人所以息意於爭鋒者，以白起首銳而視直也。文王之接呂尚，桑陰未移，而知其足師矣。玄德之見孔明，晷景未改，而腹心已委矣。

(The man continued:) The bo-beast has the look of one that swallows oxen; the osprey has the look of one that outflies the hawk. Soil where plants flourish is surely fertile; water where fish grow large is surely broad. A tiger's tail does not grow on a civet's body; an elephant's tusk does not come out of a rat's mouth. That Shuyu had an insatiable heart showed in his look at birth; the sign that Shiwo would destroy his line was plain from the first parting of the womb. The boy of Shen discerned in Wuchen the stealer of wives; Zhang Fu knew that Chen Ping would rise high. That Fan Li cut off his tracks upon the Five Lakes was because Goujian had a wasp's eyes and a bird's beak; that the men of Zhao let their will to contend rest was because Bai Qi's head was sharp and his gaze straight. King Wen received Lü Shang — before the mulberry's shade had shifted he knew the man was fit to take as a teacher. Xuande saw Kongming — before the sun's shadow had changed, his inmost heart was already entrusted.

郭泰中才，猶能知人，故入潁川則友李元禮，到陳留則結符偉明，入外黃則親韓子助，至蒲亨則師仇季知，止學舍則收魏德公，觀耕者則拔茅季偉，奇孟敏於擔負，戒元艾之必敗。終如其言，一無差錯。必能簡精鈍於符表，詳舒急乎聲氣，料明暗於舉厝，察清濁於財色，觀取與於宜適，謂虛實於言行，考操業於閨閫，校始終於信效，善否之驗，不其易乎”

(The man continued:) Guo Tai was but a middling talent, yet he could know men: entering Yingchuan he befriended Li Yuanli; reaching Chenliu he attached himself to Fu Weiming; entering Waihuang he drew close to Han Zizhu; coming to Puting he took Chou Jizhi as his teacher; stopping at the school he enrolled Wei Degong; watching the plowmen he raised up Mao Jiwei; among the burden-bearers he found Meng Min remarkable; he warned Yuan'ai that he was bound to fail. In the end it was just as he said, without the least error. To be able surely to sift the keen from the dull by outward marks, to read the slack or the taut by voice and breath, to gauge light and dark by carriage and bearing, to discern clear and turbid by wealth and lust, to watch fitness in taking and giving, to weigh true and false in word and deed, to test conduct within the women's quarters, and to verify beginning and end by good faith — is the proof of good and bad not easy?"

抱朴子答曰：“餘非謂人物了不可知，知人挺無形理也。徒以斯術存乎大明，非夫當人自許。然而世士各謂能之，是以有云，以警付任耳。夫貌望豐偉者不必賢，而形器尪瘁者不必愚，咆哮者不必勇，淳淡者不必怯。或外候同而用意異，或氣性殊而所務合。非若天地有常候，山川有定止也。

Baopuzi answered: "I do not say that men are wholly unknowable, or that knowing men has no shape or principle at all. It is only that this method lies with great clarity, and is not what the men of the age may presume upon. Yet the scholars of the age each say they can do it — hence my words, meant to warn against appointments. One whose mien looks grand is not necessarily worthy; one whose frame is weak and worn is not necessarily foolish; the roaring man is not necessarily brave; the mild and quiet man is not necessarily timid. Some show the same outward signs while their purposes differ; some differ in nature and temper while their deeds agree. It is not like heaven and earth, which have constant signs, or mountains and rivers, which have fixed rests.

物亦故有遠而易知，近而難料，譬猶眼能察天衢，而不能周項領之間；耳能聞雷霆，而不能識蟲豈蝨之音也。唐呂樊許善於相人狀，唯知壽夭貧富官秩尊卑，而不能審情性之寬克，志行之洿隆。惟帝難之，況庸人乎！而吾子舉論形之例，詰精神之談，未修其本，殆失指矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) Things are of themselves sometimes far off yet easy to know, sometimes near yet hard to reckon — as the eye can survey the highway of heaven yet cannot make out what lies between neck and collar; the ear can hear thunder yet cannot discern the sound of lice (the base text reads 'chong qi shi', with the insect element left over). Tang Ju, Lord Lü, Fan, and Xu were skilled at reading men's looks, yet they knew only long or short life, poverty or wealth, the high or low of rank — they could not examine the generosity or strictness of the temper, the foulness or loftiness of the will and conduct. Even thearchs found this hard — how much more common men! And you cite cases of reading form to challenge my talk of the spirit — without cultivating the root, you have roughly missed my point.

“夫亡射之箭，皆破秋毫。然準的恆不得為工。叔向之母，申氏之子，非不一得，然不能常也。陶唐稽古而失任，姬公欽明而謬授。尼父遠得崇替於未兆，近失澹臺於形骸。延州審清濁於千載之外，而蔽奇士於咫尺之內。知人之難，如此其甚。郭泰所論，皆為此人過上聖乎但其所得者，顯而易識；其所失者，人不能紀。

(Baopuzi continued:) "Arrows loosed at random may still pierce the tip of an autumn hair; yet hitting the mark unfailingly cannot be reckoned craft. The mother of Shuxiang and the son of the Shen clan never once failed, yet could not do it always. Tang Yao examined antiquity yet erred in appointment; the Duke of Zhou was reverent and bright yet bestowed wrongly. The Father of Ni foresaw rise and fall at a distance, from auguries not yet formed, yet close at hand misjudged Dantai by his frame. Yanzhou discerned clear and turbid a thousand years away, yet was screened from a rare scholar within a foot. The difficulty of knowing men is this grave. What Guo Tai discussed — was it because such men surpass the highest sages? It is only that what he got right was shallow and easy to recognize, while what he missed men could not record.

“且夫所貴，貴乎見俊才於無名之中，料逸足乎吳坂之間，掇懷珠之蚌於九淵之底，指含光之珍於積石之中。若伯喈識絕音之器於煙燼之餘，平子剔逸響之竹於未用之前。六軍之聚，市人之會，暫觀一睹，無所眩惑，探其潛生之心計，定其始終之事行，乃為獨見不傳之妙耳。若如未論(原文有脫文)，必俟考其操蹈之全毀，觀其云為之好醜，此為絲線既銓衡，布帛已歷於丈尺，徐乃說其斤兩之輕重，端匹之修短，人皆能之，何煩於明哲哉！”

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, what is precious is precious in this: to see the rare talent amid namelessness, to discern the swift-footed among the slopes of Wu, to pluck the pearl-bearing mussel from the floor of the ninefold deep, to point out the light-hoarding gem within the piled stones; to be like Bojie, who from what the fire had spared recognized the wood for an instrument of incomparable tone, and Pingzi, who before it was ever used singled out the bamboo of surpassing ring. When the six armies mass and the market crowds gather, to see with a single glance and not be dazzled, to reach into the schemes hidden in his inborn heart and fix the deeds of his whole course — that alone is the untransmittable subtlety of solitary sight. If it is as discussed below [there is a lacuna in the original text], and one must wait to examine the entire course of his conduct and watch the good and bad of his words and deeds, that is like waiting until silk has passed the scale and cloth the yardstick and only then slowly pronouncing the weight of its pounds or the length of its bolts — anyone can do that; why must one trouble a man of penetrating wisdom!"

抱朴子曰：擬玄黃之覆載，揚明並以表微；文彪日丙而備體，獨澄見以入神者，聖人也。稟高亮之純粹，抗峻標以邈俗，虛靈機以如愚，不貳過而諂黷者，賢人也。居寂寞之無為，蹈修直而執平者，道人也。盡烝嘗於存亡，保發膚以揚名者，孝人也。垂惻隱於有生，恆恕己以接物者，仁人也。端身命以徇國，經險難而一節者，忠人也。覿微理於難覺，料倚伏於將來者，明人也。量理亂以卷舒，審去就以保身者，智人也。順通塞而一情，任性命而不滯者，達人也。不枉尺以直尋，不降辱以苟合者，雅人也。據體度以動靜，每清詳而無悔者，重人也。體冰霜之粹素，不染潔於勢利者，清人也。篤始終於寒暑，雖危亡而不猜者，義人也。守一言於久要，歷衰而不渝者，信人也。摛銳藻以立言，辭炳蔚而清允者，文人也。奮果毅之壯烈，騁干戈以靜難者，武人也。甄《墳》《索》之淵奧，該前言以窮理者，儒人也。銳乃心於精義，吝寸陰以進德者，益人也。識多藏之厚亡，臨祿利而如遺者，廉人也。不改操於得失，不傾志於可欲者，貞人也。恤急難而忘勞，以憂人為己任者，篤人也。潔皎分以守終，不遜避而苟免者，節人也。飛清機之英麗，言約暢而判滯者，辯人也。每居卑而推功，雖處泰而滋恭者，謙人也。崇敦睦於九族，必居正以赴理者，順人也。臨凝結而能斷，操繩墨而無私者，幹人也。拔朱紫於中構，剖猶豫以允當者，理人也。步七曜之盈縮，推興亡之道度者，術人也。赴白刃而忘生，格兕虎於林谷者，勇人也。整威容以肅眾，仗法度而無二者，嚴人也。創機巧以濟用，總音數而並精者，藝人也。凌強御而無憚，雖險逼而不沮者，黠人也。執匪懈於夙夜，忘勞瘁於深峻者，勤人也。蒙謗讀言而晏如，不懾懼於可畏者，勁人也。聞榮譽而不歡，遭憂難而不變者，審人也。

Baopuzi said: To match the covering and bearing of dark and yellow, raising equal brightness to make the minute illustrious; blazing with pattern yet whole in substance, whose limpid sight alone enters the divine — that is the sage. To receive the pure essence of high brightness, raise a steep standard aloof from the common stream, keep the quick spirit empty as though foolish, never twice commit the same fault nor flatter and profane — that is the worthy. To dwell in the stillness of non-action, treading the straight and keeping the level — that is the man of the Dao. To render the winter and autumn sacrifices to the living and the dead, keeping hair and skin whole to make one's name illustrious — that is the filial man. To let compassion flow to all that lives, ever extending oneself to meet things — that is the benevolent man. To hold body and life straight in dying for the state, keeping integrity one through peril and hardship — that is the loyal man. To see the subtlest principle where it is hardest to discern, to reckon leaning and lurking in what is yet to come — that is the clear-sighted man. To measure order and disorder and roll up or spread out accordingly, to judge departure or stay so as to keep oneself whole — that is the wise man. To follow open course or blockage with feeling unchanged, letting fate run and never lingering — that is the penetrating man. To not bend one foot to straighten a fathom, to not stoop in shame for a passing fit — that is the refined man. To move and rest by rule and measure, always clear and careful and without regret — that is the grave man. To embody the pure whiteness of frost and ice, never letting power and profit stain his purity — that is the pure man. To make beginning and end staunch through cold and heat, never doubting even at peril of ruin — that is the righteous man. To keep one word through long covenants, unaltered through decline — that is the faithful man. To unfold keen and splendid language in established utterance, phrases luxuriant yet clear and just — that is the lettered man. To rise with bold and resolute ardor, galloping with shield and spear to put down calamity — that is the martial man. To sift the deep subtleties of the Three Fen and Eight Suo, completing the former words to exhaust principle — that is the Confucian man. To sharpen the heart upon fine meaning, begrudging each inch of shadow to advance in virtue — that is the man who grows. To know that much hoarding means heavy loss, facing stipend and profit as things thrown away — that is the scrupulous man. To keep his grasp unaltered through gain and loss, never overturning his resolve before the desirable — that is the steadfast man. To pity the hard-pressed and forget his own toil, making the care of others his own charge — that is the devoted man. To keep a bright and spotless lot in guarding his end, not yielding or dodging to buy a cheap escape — that is the principled man. To send the fine splendor of a clear wit aloft, in words concise and smooth that decide what stood stalled — that is the rhetorician. To dwell ever in the lowly and yield the merit, growing more reverent even at ease — that is the humble man. To exalt harmony among the nine kin, keeping to the right in hastening to principle — that is the obedient man. To be able to decide in the face of what is congealed, holding line and level without partiality — that is the able man. To draw cinnabar and purple out of the inner recesses, splitting hesitation with just judgment — that is the discerning judge. To pace the waxing and waning of the seven luminaries, reckoning the measures of rise and fall — that is the diviner. To run upon bare blades forgetting life, to grapple and slay rhino and tiger in wood and valley — that is the brave man. To order his dread countenance to still the multitude, leaning on rule and measure without double dealing — that is the stern man. To devise clever contrivances to aid the instruments, mastering tones and numbers all together — that is the accomplished man. To press hard upon the powerful without scruple, undaunted even by peril and straits — that is the keen man. To keep at it from dawn to night unwearied, forgetting toil upon the steep and sheer — that is the diligent man. To be tranquil under slander and insult, unfearful before the dreadful — that is the stalwart man. To hear of glory without joy, to meet grief and peril without change — that is the steady man.

知事可而必行，不猶豫於群疑者，果人也。循繩墨以進止，不乾沒於僥倖者，謹人也。奉禮度以戰兢，及親屬而無尤者，良人也。履道素而無慾，時雖移而不變者，樸人也。凡此諸行，了無一然，而不躋善人之跡者，下人也。

One who knows a thing is permissible and surely carries it out, not wavering amid crowds of doubts, is a resolute man. One who follows the marking line in advancing and halting, not sinking into seeking gain by luck, is a careful man. One who keeps the rites and standards with trembling caution, and who in dealings with relatives has no blame or grudge, is a good man. One who practices the Way of plainness without desire and does not change though the times shift, is a simple man. One who has none of the above virtues at all, yet does not follow the footsteps of good men, is a lowly man.

門人請曰：“善人之行，既聞其目矣；惡者之事，可以戒俗者，願文垂誥焉。”

The disciple requested: "The virtues of good men I have heard in outline; as for the deeds of the wicked, which can serve as a warning to the common crowd, I hope you will bestow instruction."

抱朴子曰：“不致養於所生，損道而危身者，悖人也。懷邪偽以偷榮，豫利己而忘生者，逆人也。背仁義之正途，苟危人以自安者，兇人也。好爭奪而無厭，專醜正而害直者，惡人也。出繩墨以傷刻，心好殺而安忍者，虐人也。飾邪說以浸潤，構謗累於忠貞者，讒人也。雖言巧而行違，實履濁而假清者，佞人也。不原本於枉直，苟好勝而肆怒者，暴人也。措細善以取信，陰挾毒而無親者，奸人也。承風指以苟容，揆主意而扶非者，諂人也。言不計於反覆，好輕諾而無實者，虛人也。睹利地而忘義，棄廉恥以苟得者，貪人也。睹豔逸而心蕩，飾絝綺而思邪者，淫人也。見成事而疑惑，動失計而多悔者，暗人也。背訓典而自任，恥請問於勝己者，損人也。知善事而不逮，雖多為而無成者，劣人也。委德行而不修，奉權勢以取媚者，弊人也。履蹊徑以僥速，推貨賄以爭津者，邪人也。既傲很以無禮，好凌辱乎勝己者，悍人也。被抑枉則自誣，事無苦而振懾者，怯人也。治細辯於稠眾，非其人而盡言者，淺人也。暗事宜之可否，雖企慕而不及者，頑人也。知事非而不改，聞良規而增劇者，惑人也。無濟恤之仁心，輕告絕於親舊者，薄人也。既疾其所不逮，喜他人之有災者，妒人也。專財谷而輕義，觀困匱而不振者，吝人也。冒至危以僥倖，植禍敗而不悔者，愚人也。情局碎而偏黨，志唯務於盈利者，小人也。騁鷹犬於原獸，好博戲而無已者，迷人也。忘等威之異數，快飾玩之夸麗者，奢人也。耽聲色於飲宴，廢慶弔於人理者，荒人也。既無心於修尚，又怠惰於家業者，懶人也。無抑斷之威儀，每脫易而不思者，輕人也。觀道義而如醉，聞貨殖而波擾者，穢人也。杖淺短而多謬，暗趨舍之臧否者，笨人也。憎賢者而不貴，聞高言而如聾者，囂人也。睹朱紫而不分，雖提耳而不悟者，蔽人也。

Master Baopu said: "One who does not fulfill his duty of support toward the people who bore him, harming the Way and endangering himself, is a rebellious man. One who harbors deceit to steal glory, who profits himself in advance and forgets life, is a perverse man. One who turns his back on the right path of benevolence and righteousness and recklessly harms others to secure himself, is a vicious man. One who loves to contend and has no satiety, and specializes in slandering the upright and harming the straight, is an evil man. One who oversteps the marking line to harm with harshness, whose heart delights in killing and is at ease with cruelty, is a tyrannical man. One who dresses up wicked talk, which seeps in gradually, and builds slander and blame onto the loyal and steadfast, is a slanderer. One whose words are clever but whose conduct is contrary, who in fact treads in mud while borrowing the name of purity, is a flatterer. One who does not trace the root of crooked and straight, but recklessly loves to win and vents anger without restraint, is a violent man. One who arranges small kindnesses to win trust while secretly holding poison and having no real affection, is a treacherous man. One who takes his cue from the wind of another's wishes to win favor recklessly, and guesses his lord's mind to prop up what is wrong, is a toady. One whose words are not reliable and flip back and forth, who loves to promise lightly with nothing real behind it, is an empty man. One who sees a profitable place and forgets righteousness, abandoning honor and shame to get it recklessly, is a greedy man. One whose heart is stirred at the sight of beauty and elegance, who dresses in fine silks and dwells on lewd thoughts, is a lewd man. One who doubts when he sees a thing succeed, whose every move misjudges the plan and brings many regrets, is a dim man. One who turns his back on the classics and indulges himself, and is ashamed to ask those better than himself, is a self-damaging man. One who knows what is good but cannot keep up, and though he does much achieves nothing, is an inferior man. One who abandons virtue and does not cultivate it, and serves the powerful to curry favor, is a worn-out man. One who treads small paths to seek speed by luck, and sends bribes to fight over the ferry crossing, is a deviant man. One who is already arrogant and without courtesy, and likes to insult those better than himself, is a truculent man. One who, when suppressed and wronged, falsely accuses himself, and who trembles in fear when nothing is truly painful, is a cowardly man. One who in a crowd handles petty arguments, and says everything when he is not the right person to speak, is a shallow man. One who is dark about what is fitting or not, and though he aspires cannot catch up, is a dull man. One who knows what is wrong yet does not change, and on hearing a good rule grows more violent, is a deluded man. One who has no benevolent heart to help and relieve, and lightly announces a break with old relatives and friends, is a thin-hearted man. One who already hates what he cannot match, and also delights in others' disasters, is a jealous man. One who monopolizes wealth and grain and thinks lightly of righteousness, and seeing hardship does not relieve it, is a miserly man. One who braves extreme danger in hope of luck and plants the seeds of ruin without regret, is a foolish man. One whose feelings are cramped and partial, whose ambition is only to make profit, is a petty man. One who gallops hawks and hounds after wild beasts and loves gambling without stopping, is a bewitched man. One who forgets the differences of rank and degree and takes delight in showy ornament and trinkets, is an extravagant man. One who at banquets sinks into music and women and in human affairs neglects congratulations and condolences, is a dissolute man. One who has no heart to cultivate and uphold himself and is also idle about the family estate, is a lazy man. One who has no dignity of restraint and is always casual and careless without thinking, is a frivolous man. One who looks upon the Way and righteousness as if drunk, and is stirred up like waves on hearing of trade and profit, is a foul man. One who leans on shallow knowledge, makes many errors, and is dark about what is good or bad to accept or reject, is a dull-witted man. One who hates the worthy and does not honor them, and on hearing lofty words is as if deaf, is a clamorous man. One who sees vermilion and purple and cannot tell them apart, and though his ear is pulled does not wake up, is a blinded man.

違道義以趑趄，冒禮刑而罔顧者，亂人也。每動作而受嗤，言發口而違理者，拙人也。事酋豪如僕虜，值衰微而背惠者，慝人也。捐貧賤之故舊，輕人士而踞傲者，驕人也。棄衰色而廣欲，非宦學而遠遊者，蕩人也。無忠信之純固，背恩養而趨利者，叛人也。當交顏而面從，至析離而背毀者，偽人也。習強梁而專己，距忠告而不納者，刺人也。”

One who turns against the Way and righteousness and hesitates, who offends the rites and punishments without regard, is a disorderly man. One who is always ridiculed whenever he acts, and whose words leave his mouth contrary to reason, is a clumsy man. One who serves a chieftain like a servant and, when he meets decline, betrays his kindness, is a treacherous man. One who casts off old friends who are poor and lowly, and looks lightly on gentlemen and sits arrogantly, is a proud man. One who abandons a wife whose looks have faded and enlarges his desires, and travels far not for office or study, is a wanton man. One who lacks the firmness of loyalty and good faith, and turns his back on the one who fed him to chase profit, is a rebellious man. One who is agreeable to your face when meeting, and slanders behind your back once parted, is a false man. One who is used to being headstrong and self-willed, refusing loyal advice and not accepting it, is a prickly man."

抱朴子曰：人技未易知，真偽或相似。士有顏貌修麗，風表閒雅，望之溢目，接之適意，威儀如龍虎，盤旋成規矩。然心蔽神否，才無所堪，心中所有，盡附皮膚。口不能吐片奇，筆不能屬半句；入不能宰民，出不能用兵；治事則事廢，銜命則命辱。動靜無宜，出處莫可。蓋難分之一也。

Master Baopu said: A man's skill is not easy to know, and truth and falsehood may look alike. There are scholars with handsome and refined looks and an elegant, easy bearing, who fill the eye when seen and please when met, whose dignity is like a dragon or tiger and whose turns follow the compass and square. Yet their hearts are clouded and spirits blocked, their talent can bear no task, and everything within them is attached to the skin. Their mouths cannot utter half a piece of marvel, their brushes cannot string together half a line; at court they cannot govern the people, outside they cannot command troops; when they manage affairs, the affairs are ruined; when they carry an order, the order is disgraced. In movement and rest there is nothing fitting, in going out or staying there is nothing suitable. This is the first kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有貌望樸悴，容觀矬陋，聲氣雌弱，進止質澀。然而含英懷寶，經明行高，幹過元凱，文蔚春林。官則庶績康用，武則克全獨勝。蓋難分之二也。

There are scholars whose looks are plain and haggard, whose appearance is short and ugly, whose voice is weak like a woman's, and whose advancing and halting are stiff and awkward. Yet they contain brilliance and hold treasure within, their learning of the classics is clear and their conduct lofty, their ability surpasses that of Yuan and Kai, and their literary grace is richer than a spring forest. In office they are used to bring peace to all enterprises; in warfare they can preserve themselves and win on their own. This is the second kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有謀猷淵邃，術略入神，智周成敗，思洞幽玄，才兼能事，神器無宜；而口不傳心，筆不盡意，造次之接，不異凡庸。蓋難分之三也。

There are scholars whose plans are deep and far-reaching, whose strategy is divinely subtle, whose wisdom thoroughly covers success and failure, and whose thought penetrates the obscure and dark; their talent is equal to every task, and there is no great office they are not suited to. Yet their mouths do not convey their hearts and their brushes do not exhaust their meaning, so on a sudden meeting they are no different from the ordinary. This is the third kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有機變清銳，巧言綺粲，攬引譬喻，淵湧風厲；然而口之所談，身不能行；長於識古，短於理今，為政政亂，牧民民怨。蓋難分之四也。

There are scholars who are quick-witted and sharp, whose clever words are bright and flowing, who draw on analogies like a gushing spring and a fierce wind; yet what they talk about, they themselves cannot practice. They are good at knowing the past and weak at governing the present; when they govern, the government falls into disorder, and when they shepherd the people, the people resent them. This is the fourth kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有外形足恭，容虔言恪，而神疏心慢，中懷散放，受任不憂，居局不治，蓋難分之五也。

There are scholars whose outward form is respectful enough, with a reverent look and careful words, yet whose spirit is distant and heart is careless, whose inner thoughts are scattered and loose, who accept an appointment without worry and stay at their post without governing. This is the fifth kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有控弦命中，空拳入白，倒乘立騎，五兵畢習；而體輕慮淺，手剿心怯，虛試無對，而實用無驗。望塵奔北，聞敵失魄。蓋難分之六也。

There are scholars who draw the bow and hit the mark, who enter white blades with empty hands, who ride backward and ride standing, and are practiced in all five weapons; yet their bodies are light and their thoughts shallow, their hands quick and their hearts timid. In empty trials they have no match, but in real use they show no result. At the sight of dust they flee in defeat, and at the sound of the enemy they lose their souls. This is the sixth kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有梗概簡緩，言希貌樸，細行闕漏，不為小勇，口止局口止脊拘檢，犯而不校，握爪垂翅，名為弱願。然而膽勁心方，不畏強禦，義正所在，視死猶歸，支解寸斷，不易所守。蓋難分之七也。

There are scholars who are simple and slow in manner, sparing in speech and plain in looks, who are lax in small conduct, do not show petty courage, are restrained [the base text has corrupt characters here], are not bothered when offended, hold in their claws and lower their wings, and are called weakly mild. Yet their courage is stout and their hearts upright; they fear no powerful ruler, and where righteousness lies they treat death as returning home, and even when their limbs are cut apart inch by inch, they do not change what they hold. This is the seventh kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有孝友溫淑，恂恂平雅，履信思順，非禮不蹈，安困潔志，操清冰霜；而疏遲迂闊，不達事要，見機不作，所為無成，居己梁倡，受任不舉。蓋難分之八也。

There are scholars who are filial, friendly, gentle and good, sincere and calm and refined, who practice good faith and think of harmony, who tread nowhere that is not in accordance with ritual, who are at ease in hardship and keep their ambition pure, whose integrity is clear as ice and frost; yet they are slow and impractical, do not understand the essentials of affairs, do not act when they see the right opportunity, accomplish nothing in what they do, stumble in managing themselves, and cannot get things done when given an appointment. This is the eighth kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有行己高簡，風格峻峭，嘯傲偃蹇，凌儕慢俗，不肅檢括，不護小失，適情率意，旁若無人，朋黨排譴，談者同敗，士友不附，品藻所遺。而立朝正色，知無不為，忠於奉上，明以攝下。蓋難分之九也。

There are scholars who hold themselves lofty and simple, whose style is steep and austere, who roam proudly and haughtily, rising above their peers and neglecting the vulgar, who do not restrain themselves strictly and do not shield small faults, who follow their feelings and act at will as if no one were beside them, who are excluded by cliques, so those who talk with them are all ruined, and fellow scholars do not draw close, and who are left out of the rankings. Yet when they stand in court they wear a stern face, and do everything they know to be right; they are loyal in serving their superiors and use brightness to lead those below. This is the ninth kind that is hard to tell apart.

士有含弘曠濟，虛己受物，藏疾匿瑕，溫恭廉潔，勞謙沖退，救危全信，寄命不疑，託孤可保；而純良暗權，仁而不斷，善不能賞，惡不忍罰，忠貞有餘，而幹用不足，操柯猶豫，廢法效非，枉直混錯，終於負敗。蓋難分之十也。

There are scholars who are broad-minded and generous, who empty themselves to receive things, who hide faults and conceal flaws, who are gentle, respectful and honest, labor modestly and yield, rescue those in danger and keep faith, so that one can entrust one's life to them without doubt and leave an orphan child with them in safety; yet in their purity and goodness they are dark about expedience, benevolent but indecisive, unable to reward the good or bear to punish the bad, with loyalty more than enough but too little talent and capacity, who hesitate with the axe handle in their hands, abandon law to imitate what is wrong, mix up crooked and straight, and in the end suffer defeat. This is the tenth kind that is hard to tell apart.

夫物有似而實非，若然而不然。料之無惑，望形得神，聖者其將病諸，況乎常人故用才取士，推暱結友，不可以不精擇，不可以不詳試也。若乃性行之惑變，始正而終邪，若王莽初則美於伊霍，晚則劇於趙高，又非中才所能逆盡也。

There are things that look alike but in truth are not, which seem so but are not. To guess that they hold no deception, and to see the spirit by looking at the form, would trouble even a sage, let alone ordinary people. Therefore in choosing scholars by talent, and in recommending people and making friends, one must select carefully and test in detail. As for confusing changes in nature and conduct, beginning upright and ending crooked, like Wang Mang who at first was finer than Yi Yin and Huo Guang and later was worse than Zhao Gao, these are again beyond what a person of middling talent can foresee to the end.

若令士之易別，如鷦鷯之與鴻鵠，狐兔之與龍麟者，則四凶不得官於堯朝，管蔡不得幾危宗周，仲尼無澹臺之失，延陵無捐金之恨，伊尹無七十之勞，項羽無嫌範之悔矣。所患於其如石武石夫之亂瑾瑜，鷦螟之似鳳皇，凝冰之類水精，煙燻之疑雲氣，故令不謬者鮮也。惟帝難之，矧乎近人哉！

If scholars were easy to tell apart, as a wren from a swan or a fox and hare from a dragon and qilin, then the Four Villains could not have held office in the court of Yao, Guan and Cai could not have nearly endangered the Zhou, Confucius would not have made his mistake over Tantai, Yanling would not have had regret over the gold he threw away, Yi Yin would not have labored seventy times, and Xiang Yu would not have had regret at distrusting Fan Zeng. The trouble lies in wufu stone confusing fine jade (the base text writes the characters of the name in split form, meaning 'wufu stone'), the insect looking like the phoenix, congealed ice resembling crystal, and smoke being mistaken for clouds, so that those who make no mistakes are few. Even the emperor found it hard, let alone ordinary people near him!

夫惟大明，玄鑑幽微，靈銓揣物，思灼沈昧，瞻山識璞，臨川知珠。士於難分之中，而無取捨之恨者，使臧否區分，抑揚鹹允。武丁姬文不獨治，而傅說呂尚不永棄，高莽宰嚭不得成其惡，弘恭石顯無所容其偽矣。其蓋取士之較略，選擇之大都耳。精微以求，存乎其人，固非毫翰之所備縷也。

Only a great enlightened one, whose dark mirror sees the hidden and subtle, whose spiritual scale weighs things, whose thought illuminates the sunken and dim, who looks at a mountain and recognizes the uncut jade, and who faces a river and knows the pearl, among scholars hard to tell apart will have no regret over choosing and rejecting, so that the worthy and the unworthy are separated and praise and blame are all fitting. Wu Ding and Ji Wen would not have governed alone, Fu Yue and Lü Shang would not have been abandoned forever, and Wang Mang and Bo Pi could not have achieved their evil, and Hong Gong and Shi Xian would have had no place to lodge their falsehood. This is presumably the general outline of taking in scholars and the main points of choosing them. Seeking in fine detail depends on the person himself, and is certainly not something that brush and ink can fully set out in detail.

姑子劉君士由之論曰：“人綱始於夫婦，判合擬乎二儀。是故大婚之禮，古人所重，將合二姓之好，以承祖宗之基。主人拜迎於門，聽命於廟，玄纁贄幣，親御授綏，婿有三年之喪，致命女氏，女氏許諾而不敢改。大喪既沒，請命於婿，婿有辭焉，然後乃嫁。所以崇敬讓也。豈有先訟後婿之謂乎

Liu Shiyou, the husband of my aunt, argued: "The framework of human relations begins with husband and wife, and their joining is likened to the two forces of heaven and earth. Therefore the rites of the great marriage were weighty to the ancients, for they were about to unite the goodwill of two families in order to carry on the ancestral work. The host bows to welcome at the gate and listens to the order in the temple; the dark silk and gifts are presented; the groom drives the carriage himself and hands over the cord; if the groom has a three-year mourning, he reports it to the bride's family, and the bride's family agrees and does not dare to change. When the great mourning is over, they ask the groom for his order, and if the groom declines, only then does she marry. So respect and yielding were honored. Where is there any such thing as litigating first and becoming a son-in-law afterward?

而末世輕慢，傷化敗俗，舉不修義，許而弗與，訟鬩穢辱，煩塞官曹。今可使諸爭婚者，未及同牢，皆聽義絕，而倍還酒禮，歸其幣帛。其嘗已再離者，一倍裨娉。其三絕者，再倍裨娉。如此，離者不生訟心，貪吝者無利重受，乃王治要術，不易之永法也。”

(Master Liu continued:) "But in the latter ages, manners have become slack, harming instruction and ruining custom; conduct does not cultivate righteousness, engagements are made but not fulfilled, and quarrels and disgrace clutter and block the offices. Now let all those who contend over marriages, even if they have not yet shared the sacrificial meal, be allowed to break the tie by decree, and return double the wine gifts and return their silks. For those who have already broken off twice, a double supplement of betrothal gifts; for three breaks, again a double supplement. In this way, those who break off will not conceive the heart to litigate, and the greedy will have no profit to receive twice; this is the essential method of royal government and a lasting law that cannot be altered."

抱朴子答曰：“劉君憫德讓之凌替，疾民爭之損化，雖速我訟，室家不足，用和之貴，將遂淪胥。創讜言以拾世遺，建嘉謀以拯流遁，紛譁之俗，將以此而易，無恥之風，將由此而移。彌綸情偽，固難間矣。誠經國之永法，至益之篤論也。

Master Baopu replied: "Master Liu grieves over the decline and abandonment of virtue and yielding, and hates how the people's contention harms instruction; even if it plunged me into litigation at once, a household would still be insufficient, and the value of harmony would be about to sink along with it. Establishing upright words to gather up what the age has missed, and setting forth a good plan to rescue those who stray, the clamorous custom will thereby be changed, and the shameless fashion will thereby be moved. Embracing true and false feelings alike, it is of course hard to drive a wedge. It is truly a lasting law for managing a state, a sincere argument of the greatest benefit.

洪以不敏，不識至理，造次承問，竊有疑焉。夫婚媾之結，義無逼迫，彼則簡擇而求，此則可意乃許，輕諾後悔，罪在女氏，食言棄信，與奪任情，嚴防峻制，未之能弭。今猥恣之，唯責裨娉倍貧者所憚也，豐於財者，則適其願矣。後所許者，或能富殖，助其裨娉，必所甘心。然則先家拱默，不得有言，原情論之，能無怨嘆乎

(Master Baopu continued:) "I, Hong, am dull and do not understand the ultimate principle, and being asked on a sudden, I privately have doubts. In the tie of marriage, righteousness exerts no compulsion: one side selects and seeks, the other agrees only when the match suits it. Promising lightly and then repenting is the fault of the bride's family; going back on a word and discarding good faith, giving or taking away at will, has not been stopped even by strict prevention and harsh control. Now if it is simply left free, and only a doubled supplement of betrothal gifts is demanded, it is what the poor fear, while for the rich it just suits their wish. The man later promised may be wealthy and glad to help with the supplement. Then the first family would fold its hands in silence and be unable to say a word; if we trace the feelings and consider, can they have no resentment and sighing?

夫不伏之人，視死猶歸，血刃之禍，於是將起。今苟惜其辭訟之小丑，而構其難忍之大恨，所謂愛其僦覽之煩，忘其凋殞之酷也。夫買物於市者，或加價而奪之，則鮮忍而不忿然矣，況乎見奪待告之妻哉！此法遂用者，將使結婚者，雖納敬親迎，猶抱有見奪之慮。何者劉君之論，以同牢為斷，固也。

(Master Baopu continued:) "Those who do not submit treat death as returning home, and a disaster of bloody blades will arise from it. Now if one recklessly spares oneself the petty ugliness of lawsuits, one creates a great hatred that is hard to bear, which is what is called sparing the trouble of renting a view while forgetting the cruelty of withering and falling. A man who buys something in the market, when it is taken away by someone offering a higher price, can seldom hold back without anger; how much more on seeing the wife awaiting her wedding taken away! If this law were adopted, those marrying would, even after paying respects and going to meet the bride in person, still carry the worry of being robbed. Why? Master Liu's argument takes the shared sacrificial meal as the point of decision, and so it is bound to be this way.

爾則女氏雖受幣積年，恆挾在意之威，恃可數奪，必惰於擇婿，婿小不得意，便得改悔，結讎帶禍，莫此之甚矣。曩人畫法，慮關終始，杜漸防萌，思之良精，而不關恣奪之路，斷以報板之制者，殆有決乎

(Master Baopu continued:) "In that case the bride's family, even though it has received the betrothal gifts for years, will always carry a power of doing as it pleases, and relying on being able to take her back again and again will surely be lax about choosing a son-in-law, and as soon as the groom is slightly displeasing, it will be able to repent; there is nothing worse than this for breeding hatred and bringing disaster. The ancients drew up laws with an eye to the whole course from start to finish, stopping things at their gradual beginnings and guarding against the sprout, their thought was truly refined, not opening a road for free grabbing, and they decided with a system of reporting by tablet; was this not perhaps decisive?"

儻令女有國色，傾城絕倫，而值豪右權臣之徒，目玩冶容，心忘禮度，資累千金，情無所吝。十倍還娉，猶所不憚，況但一乎華氏不難於殺孔父而取其妻，楚人為子迎婦，以其美而自納之。以此論之，豈惜傾竭居產以助女氏還前家之直哉！小人輕薄，睚眥成怨，又喜委衰逐盛，蹋冷趨熱，此法之行，則必多奪貧賤而與富貴者矣。不審吾君，何方以防弊乎！

(Master Baopu continued:) "Suppose a girl has the beauty of a kingdom, overturning cities and without peer, but meets one of the powerful and wealthy ministers, whose eyes delight in her lovely face and whose heart forgets the rules of ritual, and whose wealth has piled up a thousand gold with nothing his feelings begrudge. To return the betrothal gifts ten times over he would still not fear, to say nothing of only double. Mr. Hua did not find it hard to kill Kong Fu and take his wife, and a man of Chu who went to meet a bride for his son took her himself because she was beautiful. From this, would one begrudge emptying the household to help the bride's family return the price to the previous family! Petty people are fickle and form grudges over a glare, and they also love to cast off the declining and pursue the flourishing, to tread on the cold and hasten to the hot; once this law is put into effect, it will surely lead to the poor and lowly being taken for the most part and given to the rich and noble. I do not know by what method you would guard against the abuse!"

或曰：可使女氏受娉無豐約，皆以即日報板，後皆使時人署姓名於別板，必十人已上，必備遠行及死亡。又令女之父兄若伯叔，答婿家書，必手書一紙，若有變悔而證據明者，女氏父母兄弟，皆加刑罪。如此，庶於無訟者乎！

Someone said: It could be arranged that the bride's family, whatever the gifts received, whether rich or modest, reports them by tablet on that very day, and afterward has the people present sign their names on another tablet, at least ten people, with allowance for those who may travel far or die. Further, the bride's father, brother or uncle should answer the groom's family letter, and must write one sheet with his own hand; and if there is a change or repentance and the evidence is clear, the bride's parents and brothers should all be given punishments. In this way, there would perhaps be almost no one who litigates!

抱朴子曰：目之所好，不可從也；耳之所樂，不可順也；鼻之所喜，不可任也；口之所嗜，不可隨也；心之所欲，不可恣也。故惑目者，必逸容鮮藻也；惑耳者，必妍音淫聲也；惑鼻者，必草臣蕙芬也；惑口者，必珍羞嘉旨也；惑心者，必勢利功名也。五者畢惑，則或承之禍為身患者，不亦信哉！

Master Baopu said: What the eyes like should not be followed; what the ears enjoy should not be obeyed; what the nose delights in should not be indulged; what the mouth relishes should not be pursued; what the heart desires should not be given free rein. Therefore what bewilders the eyes is surely an outstanding form and fresh color; what bewilders the ears is surely lovely sounds and licentious music; what bewilders the nose is surely the fragrance of scented orchids (the base text has a corrupt name, which should be a fragrant plant); what bewilders the mouth is surely rare delicacies and fine flavors; what bewilders the heart is surely power, profit, merit and fame. If all five are bewildered, then one may in succession receive calamity and make it one's own trouble; is this not certain?

是以智者嚴檃括於性理，不肆神以逐物，檢之以恬愉，增之以長算。其抑情也，劇乎堤防之備決；其御性也，過乎腐轡之乘奔。故能內保永年，外免釁累也。蓋飢寒難堪者也，而清節者不納不義之谷帛焉；困賤難居者也，而高尚者不處危亂之榮貴焉。蓋計得則能忍之心全矣，道勝則害性之事棄矣。

Therefore the wise man tightens the straightening frame on his nature and principles, does not let his spirit run loose to chase after things, restrains himself with calm contentment, and increases his reckoning with long-range thinking. He restrains his feelings more strictly than a dike guards against a breach, and drives his nature better than one riding a runaway horse with rotten reins. So within he can preserve long life, and outside he escapes stain and entanglement. Hunger and cold are hard to bear, yet a person of pure integrity does not accept grain or silk that is unrighteous; poverty and lowliness are hard to dwell in, yet a lofty person does not remain in the glory of danger and disorder. Presumably, when the reckoning is right, the heart that can endure is preserved, and when the Way prevails, things that harm one's nature are cast aside.

夫酒醴之近味，生病之毒物，無毫分之細益，有丘山之巨損，君子以之敗德，小人以之速罪，耽之惑之，鮮不及禍。世之士人，亦知其然，既莫能絕，又不肯節，縱心口之近欲，輕召災之根源，似熱渴之恣冷，雖適己而身危也。小大亂喪，亦罔非酒。

Wine and sweet liquor are an immediate flavor and a poison that brings sickness, with no benefit of even a fine fraction, and a great loss like a hill or mountain; through it the gentleman ruins his virtue, and the petty man hastens his crime; those who sink into it and are bewildered by it seldom fail to meet disaster. The scholars of the world also know this, yet they can neither cut it off nor are willing to restrain it; they indulge the immediate desires of heart and mouth and make light of the root of calamity, like one who in feverish thirst gives himself up to cold drink, which suits himself though his body is in danger. Disorder and loss great and small are none other than from wine.

然而俗人是酣是湎，其初筵也，抑抑濟濟，言希容整，詠《湛露》之“厭厭”，歌“在鎬”之“愷樂”，舉“萬壽”之觴，育“溫克”之義。日未移晷，體輕耳熱。夫琉璃海螺之器並用，滿酌罰餘之令遂急。醉而不止，拔轄投井。

Yet the common people only drink deep and drink long. When the mats are first laid, they are dignified and orderly, few in words and tidy in looks, chanting the line about the quiet drinking of the Zhan Lu ode, singing the joyous Hao ode, raising a cup of ten thousand years, and cherishing the principle of gentle restraint. Before the shadow has moved, their bodies are light and their ears hot. Glass and conch vessels are all in use, and the rules of filling a cup to the brim and penalizing leftover wine become pressing. Drunk, they still do not stop, and pull the linchpin out of the carriage and throw it into the well.

於是口湧鼻溢，濡首及亂。屢舞躚躚，舍其坐遷；載號載呶，如沸如羹。或爭辭尚勝，或啞啞獨笑，或無對而談，或嘔吐几筵，或值厥足良倡，或冠脫帶解。

Then the mouth gushes and the nose overflows, and the soaked head is in disarray. They dance again and again in whirling steps, leave their seats and move around; they howl and shout, boiling like soup. Some argue over words, striving to win; some laugh alone with a sound of ha ha; some talk with no one there; some vomit on the mats; some just have their feet go limp and stagger; some have their caps fall off and their sashes come loose.

貞良者流華督之顧眄，怯懦者效慶忌之蕃捷，遲重者蓬轉而波擾，整肅者鹿踴而魚躍。口訥於寒暑者，皆搖掌而譜聲，謙卑而不競者，悉裨瞻以高交。廉恥之儀毀，而荒錯之疾發；闒茸之性露，而傲佷之態出。

The upright and good let out glances like Hua Du, the timid imitate the quick agility of Qingji, the slow and heavy are like whirling tumbleweed or like churned waves, and the sober and orderly are like leaping deer or leaping fish. Those whose mouths are slow in talk of cold and heat all wave their palms and compose sounds, and the humble who do not contend all increase their courage and make high-flown acquaintances. The dignity of honor and shame is ruined, and the sickness of wild error breaks out; the nature of the base and mean is exposed, and the arrogant and perverse manner comes forth.

精濁神亂，臧否顛倒。或奔車走馬，赴坑谷而不憚，以九折之阪為蟲豈封；或登危蹋頹，雖墮墜而不覺，以呂梁之淵為牛跡也。或肆仇於器物，或酗醟於妻子；加枉酷於臣僕，用剡鋒乎六畜；熾火烈於室廬，掊寶玩於淵流；遷威怒於路人，加暴害於士友。褻嚴主以夷戮者，有矣；犯兇人而受困者，有矣。

The essence is clouded and the spirit in disorder, and right and wrong are turned upside down. Some race carriages and gallop horses toward pits and valleys without fear, taking a slope of nine turns for an anthill (the base text has a damaged character with a radical remaining); some climb the perilous and tread on the collapsing, and even if they fall they do not feel it, taking the deep pool of Lüliang for an ox's hoofprint. Some give free rein to enmity against objects, some rage violently at wife and children; they inflict cruelty on servants, use blades on the six domestic animals, light a blazing fire in the house, and throw treasures into the deep stream; they shift their rage to passersby and inflict violence and harm on friends. There have been those who slighted a stern lord and were executed; there have been those who offended a fierce man and were put in difficulty.

言雖尚辭，煩而叛理；拜伏徒多，勞悲非敬。臣子失禮於君親之前，幼賤悖慢於耆宿之坐。謂清談為詆詈，以忠告為侵己。於是白刃抽而忘思難之慮，棒杖奮而罔顧乎前後。構漉血之讎，招大辟之禍。

Talk may prize fine phrasing, yet it grows tangled and betrays reason; bowing and prostration multiply in vain, for toil and misery are not reverence. The subject forgets courtesy before his lord and parent; the young and lowly are insolent at the seats of the aged and honoured. Pure conversation is dubbed scolding, honest counsel is taken as trespass. And so the naked blade is drawn with no thought of the trouble it courts, and the cudgel is raised with no heed of what lies before or behind — forming a feud of flowing blood and drawing the calamity of the capital axe.

以少凌長，則鄉黨加重責矣；辱人父兄，則子弟將推刃矣；發人所諱，則壯士不能堪矣；計數深克，則醒者不能恕矣。起眾患於須臾，結百疒阿於膏肓。奔駟不能追既往之悔，思改而無自反之蹊。蓋智者所深防，而愚人所不免也。其為禍敗，不可勝載。

If the young lord it over the elder, the neighbourhood will heap on heavier blame; insult a man's father or brother and his sons will bare the blade; expose what men hold taboo and even the stalwart cannot bear it; keep score deep and harshly and the sober cannot forgive. In a moment a host of ills is raised, and the hundred diseases are knotted fast in the vitals (the base text's graph is corrupt; read 'ailments'). A racing team of four cannot run down the regret of what is past; one wishes to change, yet there is no path back. This is what the wise deeply guard against and the foolish cannot escape; the ruin it makes cannot be fully recorded.

然而歡集，莫之或釋，舉白盈耳，不論於能否。計瀝雨留於小余，以稽遲為輕己。傾匡注於所敬，殷勤變而成薄。勸之不持，督之不盡，怨色醜音所由而發也。

Yet at the merry gathering no one is let off; cries of 'raise the cup!' fill the ears, whether a man can drink or not. They count the last drops left in the heel of a cup, and take any tarrying as slighting oneself. They tip the bowl to pour for the honoured guest, and attentiveness curdles into thinness.

夫風經府藏，使人惚怳，及其劇者，自傷自虞。或遇斯疾，莫不憂懼，吞苦忍痛，欲其速愈。至於醉之病性，何異於茲。而獨居密以逃風，不能割情以節酒。若畏酒如畏風，憎醉如憎病，則荒沈之咎塞，而流連之失止矣。夫風之為疾，猶展攻治，酒之為變，在乎呼吸。及其悶亂，若存若亡，視泰山如彈丸，見滄海如盤盂，仰嚾天墮，俯呼地陷，臥待虎狼，投井赴火，而不謂惡也。夫用身之如此，亦安能惜敬恭之禮，護喜怒之失哉！

(Baopuzi continues:) When wind strikes the body's storehouse it makes a man dazed and faint; when it grows violent he hurts himself and frets in vain. Meeting this illness, no one fails to dread it — swallowing bitterness and enduring pain in hopes of a quick cure. In what does drunkenness, damaging the nature, differ from this? Yet men only shut themselves in to escape the wind, and cannot cut their fondness to restrain the wine. If they feared wine as they fear wind and hated drunkenness as they hate sickness, the fault of drowning in it would be dammed and the error of lingering over it ended. Wind as an illness still invites assault and cure; wine as a derangement lies within a breath. Once the stupor comes, it is as though one were and were not: Mount Tai looks like a pellet, the grey sea like a platter; looking up one cries that the sky will fall, looking down that the earth will cave in; one lies down to wait for tigers and wolves, casts oneself into wells and into fire — and calls none of it evil. With the body thus employed, how can the rites of love and reverence be cherished, or the excesses of joy and anger be guarded?

昔儀狄既疏，大禹以興。糟丘酒池，辛癸以亡。豐侯得罪，以戴尊銜懷。景升荒壞，以三雅之爵。劉松爛腸，以逃暑之飲。郭珍發狂，以無日不醉。信陵之兇短，襄子之亂政，趙武之失眾，子反之誅戮，漢惠之伐命，灌夫之滅族，陳遵之遇害，季布之疏斥，子建之免退，徐邈之禁言，皆是物也。世人好之樂之者甚多，而戒之畏之者至少，彼眾我寡，良箴安施且願君節之而已。

(Baopuzi continues:) Of old Yi Di was distanced, and Yu the Great thereby rose; the mound of lees and the lake of wine ruined Xin and Gui. The Marquis of Feng came to grief through the wine-zun he bore and the cup he held to his lips; Liu Biao ran wild with the three Ya vessels; Liu Song rotted his bowels with drink to escape the heat; Guo Zhen went mad, for not a day passed sober. The doom and shortening of Lord Xinling, the disordered rule of Xiangzi, the loss of followers by Zhao Wu, the execution of Zifan, the shortening of Emperor Hui of Han's life, the extermination of the Guan clan, the murder of Chen Zun, the dismissing of Ji Bu, the removal of Zijian, the silencing of Xu Miao — all were the work of this thing. In the world those who love it and take their joy in it are many, while those who warn against it and fear it are few; with their many against our few, how can a good admonition be carried out? I only beg you to moderate it.

曩既年荒谷貴，人有醉者相殺，牧伯因此輒有酒禁，嚴令重申，官司搜索，收執榜徇者相辱，制鞭而死者太半。防之彌峻，犯者至多。至乃穴地而釀，油囊懷酒。民之好此，可謂篤矣。餘以匹夫之賤，托此空言之書，未如之何矣。

(Baopuzi continues:) In former times, when harvests failed and grain was dear and there were men who slew each other in drunkenness, the governors for this reason often laid a ban on wine; strict orders were issued afresh, the officers searched and seized, those taken were flogged and paraded and shamed one another, and more than half of those convicted died under the whip. The stricter the guard grew, the more men transgressed — until they dug pits in the earth to brew and carried wine hidden in skins of oilcloth. The people's love of it may be called deep indeed. I, a common man of no worth, entrust this to a book of empty words, having no other means against it.

又臨民者雖設其法，而不能自斷斯物，緩己急人，雖令不從，弗躬弗親，庶民弗信。以此而教，教安得行；以此而禁，禁安得止哉沽賣之家，廢業則困，遂修飾賂遺，依憑權右，所屬吏不敢問。無力者獨止，而有勢者擅市。張爐專利，乃更倍售，從其酤買，公行靡憚，法輕利重，安能免乎哉

(Baopuzi continues:) Moreover, those who govern the people, though they set up the law, cannot abstain from the thing themselves; lenient with themselves and urgent with others, their orders go unheeded — for when they do not practise it themselves, the common folk do not believe. Use this to teach and the teaching cannot take hold; use this to forbid and the ban cannot stand. Families that sell wine fall into want when their trade is stopped, so they dress up bribes and gifts and lean upon the powerful, whom the subordinate clerks dare not question. Those without strength alone are stopped; those with influence alone hold the market. They spread the vat and engross the profit, selling at double the price; those who follow them to buy go openly and unabashed. When the law is light and the profit heavy, how can it be escaped?

或人難曰：“夫夏桀殷紂之亡，信陵漢惠之殘，聲色之過，豈唯酒乎！以其生患於古，而斷之於今，所謂以褒姒喪周，而欲人君廢六宮，以阿房之危秦，而使王者結草菴也。蓋聞昊天表酒旗之宿，坤靈挺空桑之化，燎祡員丘，瘞薶圻澤，祼鬯儀彝，置降神祇，酒為禮也。

Someone objected: 'The ruin of Jie of Xia and Zhou of Yin, the wreck of Lord Xinling and Emperor Hui of Han — faults of music and beauty all — where is wine alone to blame? To cut it off today because it bred calamity in antiquity is what is called abolishing the six palaces because Baosi destroyed Zhou, or making kings dwell in thatched huts because the Epang Palace harmed Qin. I have heard that Vast Heaven raises the constellation of the Wine Banner, and the Spirit of Earth put forth the growth of Kongsang for it; faggots are burned on the Round Mound and offerings buried by the marsh altar, and the vessel of black-millet libation is set out to bring down the spirits — wine is a rite.'

千鍾百觚，堯舜之飲也。唯酒無量，仲尼之能也。姬旦酒餚不撤，故能制禮作樂。漢高婆娑巨醉，故能斬蛇鞠旅。於公引滿一斛，而斷獄益明。管輅傾仰三鬥，而清辯綺粲。揚雲酒不離口，而《太玄》乃就。子圉醉無所識，而霸功以舉。一瓶之醪傾，而三軍之眾悅。解毒之觴行，而盜馬之屬感。消憂成禮，策勳飲至，降神合人，非此莫以也。內速諸父，外將嘉賓，如淮如澠，《春秋》所貴。由斯言之，安可誡乎”

(The objector continued:) 'A thousand zhong and a hundred gu — such was the drinking of Yao and Shun. To have no set limit only in wine was Confucius's capacity. Ji Dan did not have wine and viands removed, and so could make the rites and the music. Emperor Gao of Han reeled in great drunkenness, and so could cut the serpent and swear in his host. Lord Yu, filled to a hu, judged cases all the clearer. Guan Lu tilted three dou, and his clear discourse shone in splendour. Yang Xiong never let the wine leave his lips, and the Taixuan was finished. Ziyu, drunk past all awareness, raised the work of hegemony. Pour out one bottle of mash and the whole host of the three armies rejoiced; pass round the cup that dispelled the harm, and even the horse-thieves were won over. To melt care and perfect the rites, to merit the roll and drink the homecoming, to bring down the spirits and join men — without this there is no way. Within, it summons the uncles; without, it escorts the honoured guest — like the Huai, like the Mian, as prized in the Spring and Autumn. On this showing, how can it be admonished?'

抱朴子答曰：“酒旗之宿，則有之矣。譬猶懸象著明，莫大乎日月；水火之原，於是在焉。然節而宣之，則以養生立功；用之失適，則焚溺而死。豈可恃懸象之在天，而謂水火不殺人哉宜生之具，莫先於食；食之過多，實結症瘕。況於酒醴之毒物乎！

Baopuzi answered: 'The constellation of the Wine Banner does exist. It is as with the suspended images — none shines brighter than the sun and moon — and the sources of water and fire are there. Yet when these are tempered and vented they nurture life and accomplish work; used beyond measure they burn and drown to death. Can one, resting on the suspended images being in heaven, say that water and fire do not kill men? Of the instruments of nourishing life none comes before food; eaten in excess it truly congeals into masses and clogs. How much more so wine, that thing of poison!'

夫使彼夏桀殷紂信陵漢惠荒流於亡國之淫聲，沈溺於傾城之亂色，皆由乎酒燻其性，醉成其勢，所以致極情之失，忘修飾之術者也。我論其本，子識其末，謂非酒禍，禍其安出是獨知猛雨之沾衣，而不知雲氣之所作；唯患飛埃之糝目，而不覺飈風之所為也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'That a Jie of Xia or a Zhou of Yin, a Lord Xinling or an Emperor Hui of Han ran wild amid kingdom-ending sounds and drowned amid city-toppling looks — all came of wine smoking out their nature and drunkenness ripening that bent; hence the fault of driving passion to its utmost and forgetting the means of adornment. I discuss the root while you recognise the branch; say wine is not the disaster — whence then does the disaster come? This is to know only that the fierce rain wets the clothes without knowing the cloud-vapour that made it; to suffer the flying grit that grains the eye without feeling the gale that did it.'

“千鍾百斛，不經之言，不然之事，明者不信矣。夫聖人之異自才智，至於形骸非能兼人，有七尺三丈之長，萬倍之大也。一日之飲，安能至是仲尼則畏性之變，不敢及亂。周公則終日百拜，餚乾酒澄。上聖戰戰，猶且若斯，況乎庸人，能無悔乎

(Baopuzi continues:) 'That "a thousand zhong and a hundred hu" is a wild saying — no such thing; clear-sighted men do not believe it. Sages differ in native wit, but in bodily frame they cannot be doubly other men's, with a stature of seven feet or three zhang, a bulk ten-thousandfold. How could a day's drinking reach such a pitch? Confucius feared the changing of his nature and did not dare reach disorder; the Duke of Zhou bowed a hundred times all day till the viands dried and the wine cleared. If the highest sage trembled in caution even so, how shall the common man escape regret?

漢高應天，承運革命，向雖不醉，猶當斬蛇。於公聰達，明於聽斷，小大以情，不失枉直。是以刑不濫加，世無怨民。但其健飲，不即廢事。若論大醉，亦俱無知。決疑之才，何賴於酒未聞皋繇甫侯子產釋之，醉乃折獄也。

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Emperor Gao of Han answered heaven and received the mandate to change the dynasty; even had he not been drunk before, he was still to cut the serpent. Lord Yu was keen and clear in hearing and judgment, tried small and great by fact and missed neither wronged nor wrong — so punishment was not wildly laid and the world had no aggrieved. It is only that he drank stoutly without at once neglecting affairs; once truly drunk, he too knew nothing. What need had the talent of settling doubts for wine? I have not heard that Gaoyao, the Marquis of Fu, Zichan or Zhang Shizhi judged cases only when drunk.'

管輅年少，希當劇談，故假酒勢以助膽氣。若過其量，亦必迷錯。及其刺毫釐於爻卦，索鬼神之變化，占氣色以決盛衰，聆鳴鳥以知方來，候風雲而克吉凶，觀碑柏而識禍福，豈復須酒，然後審之

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Guan Lu was young and seldom bore up under weighty talk, so he borrowed the force of wine to help his gall; beyond his measure he too would have strayed in confusion. But when he probed a hair's breadth into lines and hexagrams, searched out the shifts of ghosts and spirits, read the glow of qi to fix flourish and decline, heard the calling bird to know what was coming, watched wind and cloud to settle good and ill, viewed stele and cypress to read blessing and bane — what need had he of wine before he could examine?'

揚雲通人，才高思遠，英瞻之富，稟之自天，豈藉外物，以助著述及其數飲，由於偶好；亦或有疾，以宜藥勢耳。子圉肆志，蓋已素定。雖復不醉，亦於終果。瓶醪悅眾，寓言之喻。誠能賞罰允當，威恩得所，長算縱橫，應機無方，則士思果毅，人樂奮命。其不然也，雖流酒淵，何補勝負繆公飲盜，造次之權，舍法長惡，何足多稱哉！豈如慎之邪

(Baopuzi continues:) 'Yang Xiong was a comprehensive man, his talent high and thought far — his wealth of vision came endowed from heaven; what had he to borrow from an outer thing to aid his writing? That he drank often came of a chance fondness, or perhaps of illness, where its potency served as a drug. Ziyu let his bent run free, as had been settled in him long before; even without being drunk again he would have proved true at the end. That a bottle of mash gladdens the host is a parable's figure. If reward and punishment are truly just, awe and kindness find their place, and long planning answers the moment without fixed rule, then the officers think on courage and men delight to stake their lives; otherwise, though wine ran in a deep pool, what aid is it to victory or defeat? Duke Mu's giving wine to the bandits was a makeshift in haste — to cast away the law and feed evil is hardly worth much praise. Where does it stand beside prudence?'

抱朴子曰：世故繼有，禮教漸頹。敬讓莫崇，傲慢成俗。儔類飲會，或蹲或踞。暑夏之月，露首袒體。盛務唯在摴草捕彈棋，所論極於聲色之間，舉足不離綺繻紈袴之側，遊步不去勢利酒客之門。不聞清談講道之言，專以醜辭嘲弄為先。以如此者為高遠，以不爾者為呆野。

Baopuzi said: As the world's vicissitudes came one upon another, the teaching of rites slowly decayed. None upheld reverent yielding, and insolence became the custom. Men of a kind drinking together squat and sprawl; in the summer months they bare their heads and bodies. Their great business is only chupu dice and pellet-chess (the base text reads wrongly; it should be 'chupu'); their talk goes no farther than music and beauty; their feet never stir from beside the lads in silks; their steps never leave the gates of the powerful and the wine-crons. No word of pure discourse on the Way is heard; instead foul speech and mockery come first. They hold one who is like this to be lofty and far-reaching, and one who is not to be dull and rustic.

於是馳逐之庸民，偶俗之近人，慕之者猶宵蟲之赴明燭，學之者猶輕毛之應飈風。嘲戲之談，或上及祖考，或下逮婦女。往者務其必深焉，報者恐其不重焉。倡之者不慮見答之後患，和之者恥於言輕之不塞。周禾之芟，溫麥之刈，實由報恨，不能已也。利口者扶強而黨勢，辯給者借鍒以刺瞂。以不應者為拙劣，以先止者為負敗。如此，交惡之辭，焉能默哉！

So the racing rabble and the timeserving companions of the age — those who admire them come like night-insects to a bright candle, those who imitate them answer like light down to a gale. In banter and jest, some rise to fathers and grandfathers, some descend to wives and daughters. He who opens must seek to strike deep; he who answers fears his reply is not heavy. The initiator does not weigh the ills that follow the retort; the responder is ashamed his words are too light to fill the gap. The standing grain is reaped, the warm wheat cut — truly, from paying back spite, it cannot stop. The quick-tongued prop the strong and make factions of the powerful; the glib use their edge to prick the other's shield. They count not answering as clumsiness and stopping first as defeat. Given this, how can the words of mutual hate stay silent?

其有才思者之為之也，猶善於依因機會，準擬體例，引古喻今，言微理舉，雅而可笑，中而不傷，不棖人之所諱，不犯人之所惜。若夫拙者之為之也，則枉曲直湊，使人愕愕然，妍之與媸，其於宜絕，豈唯無益而已哉！

When men of wit and thought do this, they are still good at seizing the turn, matching the rule, quoting the old to parable the new — the phrase subtle while the reason rises, refined yet laughable, on the mark yet unwounding, never touching what a man taboos nor trespassing what he loves. But when the clumsy do it they come crooked and crude, leaving men dumbstruck; fair or foul, such as these should be cut off — it is far more than merely useless!

乃有使酒之客，及於難侵之性，不能堪之，拂衣拔棘，而手足相及，醜言相加於所尊，歡心變而成讎，絕交壞身，構隙致禍，以杯螺相擲者有矣，以陰私相訐者有矣。昔陳靈之被矢，灌氏之泯族，匪降自天，口實為之。樞機之發，榮辱之主，二緘之戒，豈欺我哉！

There are even guests made quarrelsome by wine, and natures hard to cross; unable to bear it, they shake out their sleeves and pull the thorn, until hands and feet reach one another. They lay foul words upon those they should honour; delight turns to enmity, friendships are severed and the body ruined; rifts are made and calamity invited. There have been those who hurled cup and conch at one another, and those who attacked each other with hidden scandals. Of old Duke Ling of Chen took the arrow and the Guan clan was wiped out — these did not fall from heaven; the mouth in truth made them. Once the hinge moves it is master of glory and disgrace — the warning of the double-sealed mouth, how could it deceive me?

激雷不能追既往之失辭，班輪不能磨斯言之既玷。雖不能三思而吐清談，猶可息謔調以防禍萌也。尊其辭令，敬其威儀，使言無口過，體無倨容，可法可觀，可畏可愛，蓋遠辱之良術，全交之要道也。

A clap of thunder cannot run down a word once misspoken; Gongshu Ban cannot polish away where a saying has already stained. Even if one cannot think thrice before uttering pure discourse, one can still cease from jesting to block calamity's sprout. Treasure the turns of phrase, honour the bearing; let there be no fault of the mouth and no haughty look of the body — fit to model and fit to behold, to be feared and to be loved. This is, I think, the good way to keep far from shame and the sure road to preserve one's friends.

且夫慢人者，不愛其親者也；輕鬥者，不重遺體者也。皆陷不孝，可不詳乎！然而迷謬者無自見之明；觸情者諱逆耳之規。疾美而無直亮之針艾，群惑而無指南以自反。諂媚小人，歡笑以贊善；面從之徒，拊節以稱功。益使惑者不覺其非，自謂有端晏之捷過人之辯，而不悟斯乃招患之旌召害之符傳非之驛傾身之車也。豈徒減其方策之令聞，虧其沒世之德音而已哉！

Moreover, one who slights others is one who does not love his kin; one who quarrels lightly is one who does not prize the body left him by his father and mother. Both sink into unfiliality — can one not be careful? Yet the deluded have not the sight to see themselves; those touched in their feelings resent the advice that jars the ear. They loathe the fair yet have no straight needle or moxa; wandering in a herd, they have no south-pointer to turn them back. The flattering petty men praise them with laughter; the face-agreeing sort beat the rhythm and call it merit. All this keeps the deluded from seeing their own wrong; they fancy they have the nimbleness of a Duanmu Ci or a Yan Ying, a tongue surpassing other men's — never realising it is the banner that summons calamity, the tally that calls down harm, the post-horse that carries error, the carriage that overturns the body. It is far more than merely thinning his fair fame on the tablets and dimming the good report he leaves at death!

蓋雖有偕老之慎，不能救一朝之過，雖有陶朱之富，不能贖片言之謬。故毫釐之失，有千里之差；傷人之語，有劍戟之痛。積微致著，累淺成深，鴻羽所以沈龍舟，群輕所以折勁軸，寸飈所以燔百尋之室，蠹蠍所以僕連抱之木也。古賢何獨口止局口止脊恂恂之如彼，今人何其憒慢傲放之如此乎！

Even a lifetime's care cannot redeem one morning's fault; even the wealth of Lord Zhu of Tao cannot ransom a single slip of speech. So an error of a hair becomes a straying of a thousand li; a wounding word bears the pain of sword and halberd. The piled atom becomes manifest, the shallow heaped becomes deep — which is why goose-feathers sink the dragon-boat, a flock of light things breaks the strong axle, an inch-long gust burns down a hundred-ren hall, and wood-boring scorpions fell a tree two arms cannot clasp. Why did the worthies of old cower so cautious and meek (the base text's graphs are corrupt; read 'cowering'), while men today are so dazed, remiss, haughty and wild?

是以高世之士，望塵而旋跡；輕薄之徒，響赴而影集。謀事無智者之助，居危無切磋之益。良史懸筆，無可書之善；談者含音，無足傳之美。令聞不著，醜聲宣流，沒有餘敗，貽譏將來，始無可法，終無可紀，斯亦志士之恥也。

So the scholar who rises above the age turns his steps at sight of the dust, while the flighty and facile come at him like echoes and gather like shadows. In plans he has no wise man's aid; in peril no benefit of grinding and polishing. The good historian holds his brush suspended, with no good to write; the talker holds his tone, with no excellence to transmit. Fair fame does not shine while ill report spreads abroad; after death a remnant of ruin remains, and mockery is left for the future. At the start nothing to model, at the end nothing to record — this too is a shame to the resolute man.

安忍為之！過而不改，斯誠委夷路而陷叢棘，舍嘉旨而咽鉤吻者也，豈所謂以小善為無益而不為，以小惡為無損而不止，以至惡積而不可掩，罪大而不可解者邪！餘願世人改其無檢之行，除其驕吝之失，遣其誇矜尚人之疾，絕息嘲刑不典之言，則趙勝之門無去客，黃祖之棓無所用矣。

How can men bear to do these things so cruelly? To have faults and not mend them is truly to abandon the level road and plunge among the thorns, to cast aside good counsel and gulp down gelsemium. Is this not what is meant by thinking a small good not worth doing and a small evil not worth stopping — until evil piles past concealing and guilt swells past undoing? I wish the men of the world would mend their unbridled ways, cast off the faults of pride and miserliness, dismiss the sickness of self-display and surpassing others, and cut off mocking, uncanon talk — then Zhao Sheng's gate would have no departing guests and Huang Zu's cudgel would find no use.

抱朴子曰：或有不治清德以取敬，而仗氣力以求畏。其入眾也，則亭立不坐，爭處端上，作色諧聲，逐人自安，其不得意，恚懟不退。其行出也，則逼狹之地，恥於作途，振策長驅，推人於險，有不即避，更加攄頓。鳴呼，非哉！此雲古之卑而不可逾，推蔭讓路，勞謙下士，無競於物，立若不勝衣，行若不容身者，何其緬然之不肖哉！

Baopuzi said: There are men who do not cultivate pure virtue to win respect, but rely on brawn to make men fear them. Coming into a crowd they stand planted and will not sit, vying to take the chief place, pulling faces and cracking jokes, hunting others to settle themselves; when crossed they seethe and will not withdraw. On the road, at narrow places, they are ashamed to yield; they crack the whip and drive straight on, shoving men toward the drop, and thrust harder still at any who fail to get aside at once. Ah, wrong! How far removed and how unlike those ancients who were lowly yet could not be passed, who yielded shade and yielded road, who toiled in humility before the lowly and quarrelled with no thing, standing as though their clothes could not bear them and walking as though their bodies could not be held!

夫德盛操清，則雖深自挹降，而人猶貴之。若履蹈不高，則雖行凌暴，而人猶不敬。假令外服人體，內失人心，所謂見憎惡，非為見尊重也。昔莊生未食，趙王側立；騶衍入疆，燕君擁彗；康成之裡，逆虜望拜；林宗之庭，莫不卑肅。非力之所服也。

When virtue is full and conduct pure, then though a man lowers himself ever so deeply, others still honour him. If his treading is not high, then though his ways are violent, men still do not revere him. To make men's bodies submit without while losing their hearts within is what is called being seen with loathing, not being seen with respect. Of old, before Zhuangzi had even eaten, the king of Zhao stood to the side; when Zou Yan crossed the border, the lord of Yan held the broom; at Kangcheng's lane even the rebel soldiers bowed as they looked toward it; in Linzong's court there was none who was not grave and low. These were not subdued by force.

夫以抄盜致財，雖鉅富不足嘉，凶德脅人，雖見憚不足榮也，然而庸民為之不惡。故聞其言者，猶鴟梟之來鳴也；睹其面者，若鬼魅之見形也。其所至詣，則如妖怪之集也；其在道途，則甚逢虎之群也。愚夫行之，自矜為豪；小人徵之，以為橫階。亂靡有定，實此之由也。

Wealth got by robbery is not worth praising though it be vast; dread held over men by fierce vice is no honour though men quake at it — yet common folk do such things without shame. Those who hear their words feel an owl has hooted; those who see their faces see a goblin take shape. Where they go it is as though bogeys gather; upon the road it is worse than meeting a pack of tigers. The fool practises it and counts himself grand; the petty man cites it as a ladder to rise unrightly. That disorder knows no peace is truly from this.

然敢為此者，非必篤頑也。率多冠蓋之後，勢援之門，素頗力行善事，以竊虛名，名既粗立，本情便放。或假財色以交權豪，或因時運以佻榮位，或以婚姻而連貴戚，或弄譭譽以合威柄。器盈志溢，態發病出，黨成交廣，道通步高。清論所不能複製，繩墨所不能復彈，遂成鷹頭之繩，廟垣之鼠。

Yet those who dare do this are not always the stubbornly dull. Mostly they are the heirs of cap-and-canopy, houses of influence and pull, who once made a show of good works to filch an empty name; once the name is roughly established, the true bent runs loose. Some borrow wealth and sex to court the powerful, some ride the times to snatch a glorious post, some knit themselves by marriage to the honoured kin, some toy with praise and blame to suit the wielders of might. The vessel brimmed, the will swells; the bent breaks out, the disease issues; the faction forms, connections widen, roads open, steps climb high. Pure judgment can no longer bind them, the plumb-line can no longer impeach — and so they become hawks with cords on their heads, rats within the temple walls.

所未及者，則低眉埽地以奉望之。居其下者，作威作福以控御之。故勝己者則不得聞，聞亦陽不知也；減己者則不敢言，言亦不能禁也。夫災蟲害谷，至降霜則殄矣。佞雄亂群，值嚴時則敗矣。獨善其身者，唯可以不肯事之，不行效之而已耳。有斧無柯，其如之何哉！

Toward those not yet beneath his reach he lowers his brow and sweeps the ground in attendance; over those beneath him he makes might and fortune to control them. So to those who surpass him a thing cannot be made known — and if heard, he feigns not to know; to those beneath him a thing cannot be spoken — and if spoken, it cannot be stopped. Bane-insects that blight the grain are wiped out when frost descends; the gilded bully who troubles the herd is ruined when a strict age comes. The man who keeps his own good can only refuse to serve him and not take him as model — an axe without a handle, what is to be done with it?

抱朴子曰：《詩》美睢鳩，貴其有別。在禮，男女無行媒，不相見，不雜坐，不通問，不同衣物，不得親授，姊妹出適而反，兄弟不共席而坐，外言不入，內言不出，婦人送迎不出門，行必擁蔽其面，道路男由左，女由右，此聖人重別杜漸之明制也。

Baopuzi said: The Odes praise the jujiu osprey for prizing separation. In the rites, a man and a woman do not see each other without a go-between between them, do not sit mingled, do not exchange inquiries, do not share clothes or vessels, may not give or take hand to hand; when a married sister returns, her brothers do not sit on the same mat with her; outer words do not come in and inner words do not go out; a woman seeing off or welcoming does not pass the doorway; walking, she must keep her face covered; on the road the man keeps to the left and the woman to the right. This is the enlightened rule by which the sages prized separation and dammed the first seepings.

且夫婦之間，可謂暱矣，而猶男子非疾病不晝居於內，將終不死婦人之手，況於他乎！昔魯女不幽居深處，以致他扈犖之變；孔妻不密潛戶庭，以起華督之禍；史激無防，有汗種之悔；王孫不嚴，有杜門之辱。而今俗婦女，休其蠶織之業，廢其玄紞之務，不績其麻，市也婆娑。舍中饋之事，修周施之好。更相從詣之適親戚，承星舉火，不已於行，多將侍從，瑋曄盈路，婢使吏卒，錯雜如市，尋道褻謔，可憎可惡。

Moreover, between husband and wife — close as can be — yet the man still does not stay in the inner room by day unless ill, and at his end does not die in a woman's hands; how much more with others! Of old the lady of Lu did not dwell deep in seclusion and so called down the calamity of the groom Luo; the wife of Kong did not keep hid within her doors and so gave rise to the disaster of Hua Du; the house of Shi kept no barrier and tasted the regret of a stained line; the Wangsun house was not strict and suffered the shame of the shut gate. But the women of the world today leave off the work of silkworm and loom, abandon the duties of the dark-and-yellow offering, do not spin their hemp, and go flaunting in the market. Casting aside the care of the inner kitchen, they cultivate instead a traffic of visits and gifts. They follow one another to call on kin, setting out under the stars and bearing torches, never halting on the road; a train of attendants trails them, a glitter fills the way, maids and runners and lictors mixed like a market — flippant and jesting all along, hateful and loathsome.

或宿於他門，或冒夜而反，遊戲佛寺，觀視漁畋，登高臨水，出境慶弔，開車褰幃，周章城邑。杯觴路酌，絃歌行奏，轉相高尚，習非成俗。生致因緣，無所不肯。誨淫之源，不急之甚，刑於寡妻，家邦乃正。願諸君子，少可禁絕。婦無外事，所以防微矣。

Some lodge overnight in other people's houses, or return home under cover of night; they amuse themselves in Buddhist temples, watch fishing and hunting, climb heights and approach the water, cross the borders to attend celebrations and condolences, and ride in carriages with the curtains lifted, wandering all around the town. They pour cups of wine along the road and play strings and sing as they walk. They vie in exalting these ways, until what is wrong has become custom. Out of thin air they conjure up pretexts and connections, and there is nothing they will not do. This is the very source of licentiousness, and a pursuit of no urgency pushed to the extreme. 'He set an example for his wife, and so the family and the state were put right.' I hope that you gentlemen will put some restraint on all this. Women have no business outside the home, and that is precisely to guard against trouble at its first slight beginnings.

抱朴子曰：輕薄之人，跡廁高深，交成財贍，名位粗會，便背禮判教，托雲率任，才不逸倫，強為放達，以傲兀無檢者為大度，以惜護節操者為澀少。於是臘鼓垂無賴之子，白醉耳熱之後，結黨合群，遊不擇類，奇士碩儒，或隔籬而不授，妄行所在，雖遠而必至，攜手連袂，以遨以集，入他堂室，觀人婦女，指玷修短，評論美醜，不解此等何為者哉

Baopuzi said: Frivolous men who have lodged themselves among the lofty and profound, once their friendships are made, their wealth is ample, and their rank and name roughly match, turn their backs on ritual and rebel against teaching. They falsely claim to follow their natural bent. Their talent in fact does not rise above that of their peers, yet they force themselves to act unrestrained. They take the arrogant and unruly for magnanimous, and those who cherish and guard their integrity for stingy and dull. Then, once the winter festival drums are sounding, these ne'er-do-wells, drunk and flushed to the ears, form cliques and gangs, choosing their company without discrimination. Remarkable scholars and great Confucians they will not so much as receive across a hedge. Wherever their reckless fancy leads, however far, they are sure to arrive, hand in hand and sleeve to sleeve, to roam about and gather. They enter other people's halls and rooms, stare at the household's women, point out their flaws, judge whether they are tall or short, and discuss who is beautiful and who is plain. I do not understand what such people think they are doing!

或有不通主人，便共突前，嚴飾未辦，不復窺聽，犯門折關，逾垝穿隙，有似抄劫之至也。其或妾媵藏避不及，至搜索隱僻，就而引曳，亦怪事也。夫君子之居室，猶不掩家人之不備，故入門則揚聲，升堂則下視，而唐突他家，將何理乎

Sometimes they do not even announce themselves to the master, but all rush forward together. Before the household has finished dressing up, they no longer listen at the door, but break the gate and snap the bolt, climb over walls and squeeze through gaps, as if a raid had come. Among the household, concubines and maids who have no time to hide may even be hunted down in their out-of-the-way corners and dragged about, which is truly outrageous. A gentleman at home does not catch others unprepared. So when he enters a gate he raises his voice, and when he goes up into the hall he lowers his eyes. Yet these men barge into other people's homes. What principle could there be in that?

然落拓之子，無骨鯁而好隨俗者，以通此者為親密，距此者為不恭，誠為當世不可以不爾。於是要呼憒雜，入室視妻，促膝之狹坐，交杯觴於咫尺，絃歌淫冶之音曲，以言兆文君之動心，載號載呶，謔戲醜褻，窮鄙極黷，爾乃笑亂男女之大節，蹈《相鼠》之無儀。

Yet these dissolute fellows, spineless and fond of following the crowd, take those who allow this as intimate and those who refuse it as discourteous, and sincerely believe that in this age one has to do so. So they call and shout in a raucous crowd, enter rooms to look at other men's wives, sit knee to knee on cramped seats, and clink cups at arm's length. They sing wanton, seductive tunes, and with words they tempt a heart like Zhuo Wenjun's (the original text reads 'yan zhao', where 'zhao' is an error for 'tiao'). They bawl and bluster, jest and play in filthy ways, exhausting all that is vulgar and drenching themselves in all that is foul. Only then do they laugh, having thrown into confusion the great proper boundary between men and women, and trodden the lack of decorum condemned in the poem 'Look at the Rat'.

夫桀傾紂覆，周滅陳亡，鹹由無禮，況匹庶乎！蓋信不由中，則屢盟無益，意得神至，則形器可忘。君子之交也，以道義合，以志契親，故淡而成焉。小人之接也，以勢利結，以狎慢密，故甘而敗焉。何必房集內宴，爾乃款誠，著妻妾飲會，然後分好暱哉！

Jie fell and Zhou was overturned, Zhou was destroyed and Chen perished, all through lack of ritual. How much more so for ordinary commoners! If good faith does not come from within, even repeated oaths are of no use. When intent is attained and the spirit arrives, even forms and vessels can be forgotten. The friendship of a gentleman is joined by the Way and rightness and bound by shared aspirations, so it is plain as water yet succeeds. The dealings of petty men are tied by power and profit and made closer by familiarity and disrespect, so they are sweet yet fail. Why must there be gatherings in the inner chambers and private banquets before one counts as sincere? Must wives and concubines be made up and made to drink with the guests before affection is shown?

古人鑑淫敗之曲防，杜傾邪之端漸，可謂至矣。修之者為君子，背之者為罪人。然禁疏則上宮有穿窬之男，網漏則桑中有奔隨之女。縱而肆之，其猶烈猛火於雲夢，開積水乎萬仞，其可撲以帚彗，過以撮壤哉！然而俗習行慣，皆曰：此乃京城上國，公子王孫貴人所共為也。

The ancients, warning against the ruin that comes of debauchery, built their defenses with great care, stopping the first signs of depravity, and one may say they went to the utmost. Those who cultivate this are gentlemen, and those who violate it are criminals. Yet when the prohibition is lax, there are men who climb walls and burrow through in the upper palace; when the net has holes, there are women who run off to follow lovers among the mulberries. To let oneself go and indulge without restraint is like setting a fierce fire in the Yunmeng marsh, or releasing pooled waters from ten thousand fathoms up. Can one put it out with a broom, or dam it with a handful of earth? Yet custom is by now so ingrained that people all say: this is what the capital and the great central states do, what young lords, noble heirs and the eminent all practice together.

餘每折之曰：夫中州，禮之所自出也。禮豈然乎！蓋衰亂之所興，非治世之舊風也。夫老聃，清虛之至者也，猶不敢見乎所欲，以防心亂，若使柳下惠潔(疑脫一字)高行，屢接褻宴，將不能不使情生於中，而色形於表，況乎情淡者萬未一，而抑情者難多得。如斯之事，何足長乎

I have always rebuked them, saying: The Central Plain is where ritual came from. Is ritual really like this? This arose, surely, from decline and disorder; it is not the old custom of well-ordered times. Lao Dan was one of utmost purity and emptiness, yet he did not dare to look at what he desired, in order to guard against disturbance of the mind. Suppose even Liuxia Hui, pure and of lofty conduct (the original text seems to have a lacuna here), were repeatedly to join in such familiar feasts. He could not fail to have feeling arise within him and desire show in his expression. How much more so for those whose feelings are cool, who are fewer than one in ten thousand, while those able to restrain their feelings are hard to find in numbers. How could such a practice deserve to be encouraged?

窮士雖知此風俗不足引進，而名勢並乏，何以整之！每以為慨，故常獲憎於斯黨，而見謂為野樸之人，不能隨時之宜，餘期於信己而已，亦安以我之不可，從人之可乎！可嘆非一，率如此也。已矣夫，吾未如之何也！彼之染入邪俗，淪胥以敗者，曷肯納逆耳之讜言，而反其東走之遠跡哉！

A poor scholar, though he knows such customs are not worth introducing, lacks both name and standing. With what can he reform them? I have often sighed over this, and so I am constantly hated by this crowd, who say I am a rustic and simple fellow who cannot adapt to the times. I only hope to trust in myself, and how could I give up what I hold to be wrong in order to follow what others hold to be right! There is more than one thing to lament, and most are like this. Enough, I can do nothing about it! Those steeped in evil customs, dragged along together until they come to ruin, how could they be willing to accept blunt words that grate on the ear, and turn back from their far journey eastward!

抱朴子曰：俗間有戲婦之法，於稠眾之中，親屬之前，問以醜言，責以慢對，其為鄙黷，不可忍論。或蹙以楚撻，或系腳倒懸。酒客酗醟，不知限齊，至使有傷於流血，口止委折支體者，可嘆者也。古人感離別而不滅燭，悲代親而不舉樂禮，論禮，娶者羞而不賀。今既不能動蹈舊典，至於德為鄉閭之所敬，言為人士之所信，誠宜正色矯而呵之，何謂同其波流，長此弊俗哉！然民間行之日久，莫覺其非，或清談所不能禁，非峻刑不能止也。遂詘周而疵孔，謂傲放為邈世矣。

Baopuzi said: Among the common people there is a way of teasing the new bride. In a dense crowd, before her relatives, they ask her filthy questions and rebuke her with insolent replies, with a vulgarity too foul to discuss. Some press and beat her with sticks, or tie her feet and hang her upside down. The drinkers rave in their cups and know no limit, so that some even suffer wounds and bleeding, or have their limbs bent and broken (the original reads 'kou zhi wei zhe zhi ti', where 'kou zhi' is a leftover radical fragment). How lamentable! The ancients, moved by parting, did not put out the candles, and, sad at one generation replacing another, did not hold music. By the rites, the family marrying a son was ashamed and received no congratulations. Now that we can no longer follow the old canons, those whose virtue is respected in the village and whose words are trusted by scholars ought rightly to correct this with stern looks and reprove it. How can they go along with its current and so encourage this bad custom! Yet the people have practiced it so long that none feels it is wrong, and perhaps polite talk cannot stop it, and only harsh punishment could. So they twist the Zhou rites and pick at Confucius, and call arrogance and wildness a lofty disdain for the world.

或因變故，佻竊榮貴，或賴高援，翻飛拔萃，於是便驕矜誇驁，氣凌雲物，步高視遠，眇然自足，顧瞻否滯失群之士，雖實英異，忽焉若草。或傾枕而延賓，或稱疾以距客，欲令人士立門以成林，軍騎填噎於閭巷，呼謂尊貴，不可不爾。

Some, by chance events, have lightly snatched honor and rank, or have relied on powerful backing and soared above the rest. Then they become haughty and boastful, their spirit overbearing the clouds. They walk with head high and look far, serenely self-satisfied, and as they glance at scholars who are stuck and have lost their following, even if these are truly gifted, they at once see them as grass. Some receive guests lying on their pillows, or plead illness to turn visitors away. They want gentlemen standing at their door like a forest and cavalry packing the lanes, and they call this being eminent, saying it cannot be otherwise.

夫以勢位言之，則周公勤於吐握；以聞望校之，則仲尼恂恂善誘。鹹以勞謙為務，不以驕慢為高。漢之末世，則異於茲。蓬髮亂鬢，橫挾不帶。或褻衣以接，或裸袒而箕踞。朋友之集，類味之遊，莫切切進德，門言門言修業，攻過弼違，講道精義。

In terms of power and position, the Duke of Zhou was diligent, spitting out his food and wringing out his hair to receive guests. In terms of reputation, Confucius was gentle and good at guiding people. Both made humility and toil their business, and did not count arrogance as high. The late Han was different from this. With tousled hair and untidy temples, they went about carelessly dressed, without belts. Some received guests in their underclothes, or sat sprawled with bare shoulders and legs spread. At gatherings of friends and meetings of like-minded men, there was no earnest advancing of virtue, no frank and cordial cultivation of studies (the original reads 'men yan men yan xiu ye', where 'men yan' is an error for 'yin'), no attacking faults and correcting errors, and no discussing the Way and its subtle meanings.

其相見也，不復敘離闊，問安否。賓則入門而呼奴，主則望客而喚狗。其或不爾，不成親至，而棄之不與為黨，及好會，則狐蹲牛飲，爭食競割。掣撥淼折，無復廉恥，以同此者為泰，以不爾者為劣。終日無及義之言，徹夜無箴規之益。誣引老莊，貴於率任，大行不顧細禮，至人不拘檢括，嘯傲縱逸，謂之體道。嗚呼，惜乎，豈不哀哉！

When they meet, they no longer talk about long separations or ask after each other's health. As soon as a guest enters the door he calls for the slaves, and as soon as the host sees the visitor he whistles for the dog. If any among them are not like this, they are not counted as intimate, and are cast aside and not joined in their cliques. When it comes to a fine party, they squat like foxes and drink like oxen, fighting over the food and competing at carving. They snatch, pull, twist and break, with no more sense of shame, and treat those who do as they do as grand and those who do not as inferior. All day long not a word reaches righteousness, and all night there is no benefit of admonition. They falsely cite Laozi and Zhuangzi, prizing a free and easy manner, and say that great conduct does not mind small courtesies and that the perfect man is not bound by restraints. Whistling, haughty and unbridled, they call that embodying the Way. Alas, what a pity, is it not sad!

於是嘲族以敘歡交，極黷以結情款。以傾倚申腳者為妖妍標秀，以風格端嚴者為田舍樸馬矣；以蚩鎮抗指者為巢力令鮮倚，以出言有章者為折答猝突。凡彼輕薄之徒，雖便辟偶俗，廣結伴流，更相推揚，取達速易，然率皆皮膚狡澤，而懷空抱虛。有似蜀人瓠壺之喻，胸中無一紙之誦，所識不過酒炙之事。所謂傲很明德，即聾從昧，冒於貨財，貪於飲食，左生所載，不才之子也。

Then they use mockery of one another's clans to express their delight in friendship, and use extreme vulgarity to bind their affections. They regard those who lean sideways and stretch out their legs as striking and elegant, and those of dignified bearing as country bumpkins (the original reads 'pu ma yi', where 'pu ma' is an error for 'yan'). They regard those who are coarse, brash and pointing at others as [the original here is corrupted and cannot be uniquely determined], and those whose speech is orderly as clumsy and abrupt. All these frivolous types, though they are ingratiating and conform to the vulgar, make wide circles of companions, and praise one another, so that they rise quickly and easily. Yet for the most part they have only glossy, cunning skins and hold emptiness and vacancy within. Like the Shu man's parable of the gourd, they have not a single page of reading in their chests, and what they know goes no further than wine and roasted meat. They are what is called those who disdain bright virtue, follow the deaf into darkness, plunge for wealth, and are greedy for food and drink, the worthless sons recorded by Zuo Qiuming.

若問以《墳》《索》之微言，鬼神之情狀，萬物之變化，殊方之奇怪，朝廷宗廟之大禮，郊祀禘祫之儀品，三正四始之原本，陰陽律歷之道度，軍國社稷之殿式，古今因革之異同，則怳悸自失，喑鳴俯仰，濛濛焉，莫莫焉。雖心覺面牆之困，而外護其短乏之病，不肯謐己，強張大談，曰：雜碎故事，蓋是窮巷諸生章句之士，吟詠而向枯簡，匍匐以守黃卷者所宜識，不足以問吾徒也。

But if you ask them about the subtle words of the Three Mounds and the Eight Indices, the conditions of ghosts and spirits, the changes of the myriad things, the strange things of distant lands, the great rites of court and ancestral temple, the grades of the suburban sacrifices and the grand ancestral offerings, the origins of the three calendar beginnings and four starts, the measures of yin and yang, pitch-pipes and the calendar, the statutes of the state, the army and the altars of soil and grain, and the differences between ancient and modern reforms, they are dazed and lose their wits, mumble and bow up and down, utterly blank and dim. Even if inwardly they feel the distress of standing facing a wall, outwardly they shield their shortcomings. Unwilling to keep quiet, they force themselves into grand talk, saying: These scattered old matters are what poor-alley students and scholars of chapters and verses, men who chant facing dry bamboo slips and crawl about guarding yellow scrolls, ought to know. They are not worth asking people of our kind.

誠知不學之弊，碩儒之貴，所祖習之非，所輕易之謬，然終於迷而不返者，由乎放誕者無損於進趨故也。若高人以格言彈而呵之，有不畏大人而長惡不悛者，下其名品，則宜必懼然冰泮而革面，旋而東走之跡矣。

They truly know the harm of not studying, the value of great Confucians, the error of what they take as their ancestors' practice, and the mistake of what they treat lightly. Yet the reason they finally stay lost and do not return is that unrestrained behavior does no harm to their advancement. If a lofty man were to rebuke them with exemplary words, then for those who do not fear great men and persist in evil without repenting, he would lower their ranking in the registers of reputation. They would surely be alarmed, melt like ice, change their faces, and turn back from their journey eastward.

抱朴子曰：澄濁剖判，庶物化生，習族或能應對焉，毛宗或有知言焉。於玃識往，歸終知來，玄禽解陰陽，蟲也蟲豈遠泉流，蓍龜無以過焉，甘石不能勝焉。夫唯無禮，不廁貴性，厥初邃古，民無階級，上帝悼混然之甚陋，憫巢穴之可鄙，故構棟宇以去鳥獸之群，制禮數以異等威之品。教以盤旋，訓以揖讓，立則磬折，拱則抱鼓，趨步升降之節，瞻視接對之容，至於三千。蓋檢溢之堤防，人理之所急也。故儼若冠於曲禮，望貌首於五事，出門有見賓之肅，閒居有敬獨之戒，顏生整儀於宵浴，仲由臨命而結纓，恭容暫廢，惰慢已及，安上治民，非此莫以。

Baopuzi said: When the clear and the turbid were separated and the many things came to be, among the feathered kinds some could answer in speech (the original reads 'xi zu', where 'xi' is an error for 'yu'), and among the furred kinds some understood words. The Jue ape knew the past and Guizhong knew the future, and the dark bird understood yin and yang. [The original here is corrupted: 'chong ye chong qi yuan quan liu'. It probably refers to insects or birds that can sense distant springs, but the exact characters cannot be uniquely determined.] Milfoil and tortoise shell could do no better than these, and the astronomers Gan and Shi could not surpass them. It was only for lack of ritual that they were not counted among the noble natures. In the primal, remote age the people had no ranks. The High God took pity on their utter crudeness and had compassion for their wretched nests and caves. So he had them build houses and eaves to separate themselves from the herds of birds and beasts, and fixed the degrees of ritual to distinguish grades of dignity. He taught them to turn about, trained them in bowing and yielding, to stand bent like a chime-stone and to fold the hands as if embracing a drum, and the measures of hurrying, ascending and descending, the bearing of glances and replies, came to three thousand rules. These are dikes to restrain overflow, and what human order most urgently requires. So the opening of the 'Record of Rites' says 'Be reverent', the first of the Five Matters in the 'Great Plan' is demeanor, one has the gravity of meeting a guest when going out the door, and the caution of being reverent when alone in private. Yan Hui set his dress in order even when bathing at night, and Zhong You tied his cap strap even as he faced death. Once respectful bearing is dropped for a moment, laziness and slackness arrive. To secure the ruler and govern the people there is no way but this.

蓋人之有禮，猶魚之有水矣。魚之失水，雖暫假息，然枯糜可必待也。人之棄禮，雖猶面見然，而禍敗之階也。魯秉周禮，暴兵不加，魏式幹木，銳冠旋旆。大楚帶甲百萬，而有振槁之月色；強秦餚函襲嶮，而無折柳之固。豈非棄三本而喪根柢之攸召哉！矧乎安逸觸情，喪亂日久，風禿頁教沮，抑斷之儀廢，簡脫之俗成，近人值政化之蚩役，庸民遭道網之絕紊，猶網魚之去水罟，圍獸之出陸羅也。

People have ritual as fish have water. When a fish loses water, though it may hold on for a time, withering and rot surely await it. When people abandon ritual, though outwardly they may still pass, it is a stairway to disaster and ruin. Lu held to the rites of Zhou, and violent troops did not attack it. Lord Wen of Wei showed respect to Duangan Mu, and elite soldiers turned their banners aside. Great Chu had a million armored men, yet was overthrown as easily as shaking withered leaves (the original reads 'yue se', where 'yue se' is an error for 'yi ye'). Mighty Qin held the strong defile of Xiaohan, yet had no strength like that of a snapped willow. Was this not brought about by abandoning the three roots and losing the foundation! How much more so when ease stirs the passions and disorder has long prevailed, customs decay and teaching is blocked (the original reads 'feng tu ye jiao ju', where 'tu ye' is an error for 'tui'), the rites of restraint are abandoned, and a habit of laxity has formed. Recent people meet the follies of government and teaching, and ordinary folk fall into the cutting off and tangling of the net of the Way, like fish in a net leaving the water, or beasts in an enclosure escaping the snares of dry land.

喪亂以來，事物屢變，冠履衣服，袖袂財制，日月改易，無復一定。乍長乍短，一廣一狹，忽高忽卑，或粗或細，所飾無常，以同為快。其好事者，朝夕放效，所謂“京輦貴大眉，遠方皆半額”也。

Since the disorder and mourning began, things have changed again and again. Caps, shoes, clothes, the cut of sleeves, change by the day and month, and no longer have any fixed form. Now long, now short, now wide, now narrow, now high, now low, now thick, now thin, there is no constant rule to the decoration, and delight lies in being the same as others. Those who love novelties imitate them morning and evening, which is what is called: 'In the capital they prize broad eyebrows, and far away they paint half the forehead.'

餘實凡夫，拙於隨俗，其服物變不勝，故不變，無所損者，餘未曾易也。雖見指笑，餘亦不理也。豈苟欲違眾哉，誠以為不急耳。上國眾事，所以勝江表者多，然亦有可否者，君子行禮，不求變俗，謂違本邦之他國，不改其桑梓之法也。況其在於父母之鄉，亦何為當事棄舊而強更學乎！吳之善書，則有皇象劉纂岑伯然朱季平，皆一代之絕手，如中州有鍾元常胡孔明張芝索靖，各一邦之妙，並用古體，俱足周事。

I am truly an ordinary man, clumsy at following the fashions. Dress and objects change so that people cannot keep up, so I do not change; where nothing is harmed, I have never altered anything. Even if people point and laugh at me, I pay no heed. How could I be perversely going against the crowd for its own sake? I simply find it not urgent. The central states are in many matters better than the lands south of the river, yet some things are acceptable and some are not. When a gentleman practices ritual, he does not seek to change the local custom. That is to say, when he leaves his home state for another, he does not alter the standards of his native place. How much more so when still in the land of one's parents, why on every occasion cast off the old and force oneself to learn anew! Among those in Wu who wrote well, Huang Xiang, Liu Zuan, Cen Boran and Zhu Jiping were all peerless in their age, just as in the central states there were Zhong Yuanchang, Hu Kongming, Zhang Zhi and Suo Jing, each a marvel of his own region. All used the ancient forms, and all were sufficient for any use.

餘謂廢已習之法，更勤苦以學中國之書，尚可不須也，況於乃有轉易其聲音，以效北語，既不能便良，似可恥可笑，所謂不得邯鄲之步，而有匍匐之嗤者。此猶其小者耳，乃有遭喪者，而學中國哭者，令忽然無復念之情。昔鍾儀莊舄，不忘本聲，古人韙之。

I say that to give up methods one has already mastered and labor hard at learning the writing of the central states is even unnecessary. How much more so when some change their own voice to imitate northern speech. They cannot learn it well, and the result is shameful and laughable, like the one who failed to learn the Handan walk and was ridiculed for crawling home. And that is still a small matter. Some, when bereaved, learn the central states' way of wailing, so that suddenly they no longer have any feeling of grief. In the past Zhong Yi and Zhuang Xi did not forget their native accents, and the ancients thought them right.

孔子云：喪親者，若嬰兒之失母。其號豈常聲之有！寧令哀有餘而禮不足，哭以洩哀，妍拙何在而乃治飾其音，非痛切之謂也。又聞貴人在大哀，或有疾病，服石散以數食宣藥勢，以飲酒為性命，疾患危篤，不堪風冷，幃帳茵褥，任其所安，於是凡瑣小人之有財力者，了不復居於喪位，常在別房，高床重褥，美食大飲，或與密客，引滿投空，至於沈醉。曰：‘此京洛之法也。”不亦惜哉！

Confucius said: One who has lost a parent is like an infant who has lost its mother. How could his wailing have its ordinary voice! It is better that grief be in excess and ritual fall short. Wailing is how grief is released, so why care whether it is graceful or clumsy? To trim and polish one's voice is not what is meant by deep anguish. I have also heard that among the eminent, during great mourning, some are ill, take mineral powders, and rely on eating many times to spread the drug's force. They treat wine as life itself. Their illness is grave and they cannot bear wind and cold, so curtains, bedding and mats are as they please. Then all the petty men with money and strength no longer stay in the mourning place at all but are always in another room, on a high bed with thick mattresses, with fine food and deep drinking, or with close guests drain cups and toss them aside until they are deeply drunk. They say: 'This is the way of the capital cities, Jing and Luo.' Is that not a pity!

餘之鄉里，先德君子，其居重難，或並在衰老，於禮唯應衰麻在身，不成喪致毀者，皆過哀啜粥，口不經甘。時人雖不肖者，莫不企及自勉，而今人乃自取如此，何其相去之遼緬乎！又凡人不解，呼謂中國之人居喪者多皆奢溢，殊不然也。吾聞晉之宣景文武四帝，居親喪皆毀瘠逾制，又不用王氏二十五月之禮，皆行七月服，於時天下之在重哀者，鹹以四帝為法，世人何獨不聞此，而虛誣高人，不亦惑乎！

In my home district, the worthies and gentlemen of earlier generations who kept deep mourning, even when they were old and weak, and by the rites needed only wear the coarse mourning cloth and need not waste away, all grieved beyond measure, sipped only gruel, and let no sweet taste cross their lips. Even the unworthy in those days all strove to reach and urge themselves on. Yet people today bring this upon themselves, and how far apart they are! Moreover, some people who do not understand say that the people of the central states mostly overspend and exceed in mourning. This is not so at all. I have heard that the four emperors of Jin, Xuan, Jing, Wen and Wu, in mourning for their parents all wasted away beyond the rule, and did not use Wang's twenty-five-month rite, but all wore mourning for seven months. At that time all in the realm in deep mourning took the four emperors as their model. Why do the people of this age alone not hear of this, but falsely slander the lofty! Is that not delusion?

抱朴子曰：生乎世貴之門，居乎熱烈之勢，率多不與驕期而驕自來矣。非夫超群之器，不辯於免盈溢之過也。蓋勞謙虛己，則附之者眾；驕慢倨傲，則去之者多；附之者眾，則安之徽也；去之者多，則危之診也。

Baopuzi said: Those born into prominent houses and placed in blazing positions of power mostly do not contract with arrogance, yet arrogance comes of itself. Without extraordinary capacity, one cannot avoid the fault of overflowing. Be diligent and humble and keep yourself empty, and those who follow and attach themselves will be many. Be arrogant, haughty and proud, and those who leave will be many. Many followers are a sign of security, and many who leave are the diagnosis of danger.

存亡之機，於是乎在。輕而為之，不亦蔽哉！亦有出自卑碎，由微而著，徒以翕肩斂跡，偓伊側立，低眉屈膝，奉附權豪，因緣運會，超越不次，毛成翼長，蟬蛻泉壤，便自軒昂，目不步足，器滿意得，視人猶芥。或曲晏密集，管絃嘈雜，後賓填門，不復接引。或於同造之中，偏有所見，復未必全得也。直以求之，差勤以數接其情，苞苴繼到，壺榼不曠者耳。

The pivot of survival and ruin lies here. To do it lightly, is that not blindness! There are also those who came from lowly and petty origins and rose from obscurity to prominence, solely by hunching their shoulders and drawing in their traces, standing sideways in a cringing manner, lowering their brows and bending their knees to serve the powerful and wealthy. Relying on the turn of fortune, they leapt over the proper order; their feathers grew and wings lengthened, and they cast off their shell from the underworld like cicadas, then immediately became lofty and haughty, their eyes not looking at their own feet. With their vessels full and wills satisfied, they look on others as straw. Sometimes at private banquets and close gatherings, with wind and strings in uproar, the guests who arrive later crowd the gate and are no longer received. Or among those who came together, there is partiality in what they see, and what they see is not necessarily right. It comes to nothing more than seeking those who are comparatively diligent in visiting, who by frequent attendance bring their affection, whose gifts of wrapped presents arrive one after another and whose wine jars are never empty.

孟軻所謂愛而不敬，豕畜之也。而多有行諸，雲是自尊重之道。自尊重之道，乃在乎以貴下賤，卑以自牧，非此之謂也。乃衰薄之弊俗，膏肓之廢疾，安共為之，可悲者也。若夫偉人巨器，量逸韻遠，高蹈獨往，蕭然自得，身寄波流之間，神躋九玄之表，道足於內，遺物於外，冠摧履決，藍縷帶索，何肯與俗人競幹佐之便僻，修佞幸之媚容，效上林喋喋之嗇夫，為春蜩夏繩之聒耳！

What Mencius called loving without respecting is to keep a person like rearing a pig. Yet many practice this, and say it is the Way of self-esteem. The Way of self-esteem lies in the noble placing himself below the humble and cultivating himself with lowliness; it does not mean this. This is the bad custom of decline and thinness, an incurable disease in the vitals, and how can they all practice it together? It is sad. As for the great man of vast capacity, with lofty ease of capacity and distant elegance, who walks the high path alone and is serenely content, whose body is lodged among the flowing waves while his spirit ascends beyond the ninefold heavens, whose Way is full within and who casts away things outside, with cap broken, shoes torn, ragged clothes tied with a cord, how could he be willing to compete with the vulgar for the cunning of seeking patronage, cultivate the flattering looks of the favorites, imitate the chattering stewards of the Shanglin park, and make the deafening noise of spring cicadas and summer flies (the original reads 'xia sheng', where 'sheng' is an error for 'ying')!

求之以貌，責之以妍，俗人徒睹其外形之粗簡，不能察其精神之淵邈，務在皮膚，不料心志，雖懷英抱異，絕倫邁世，事動可以悟舉世之術，言發足以解古今之惑，含章括囊，非法不談，而茅蓬不能動萬鈞之鏗鏘，侏儒不能看重仞之弘麗，因而蚩之，謂為凡憒。夫非漢濱之人，不能料明珠於泥淪之蟲奉；非泣血之民，不能識夜光於重崖之裡。蟲焦螟之屯蚊眉之中，而笑彌天之大鵬；寸鮒遊牛跡之水，不貴橫海之巨鱗。故道業不足以相涉，聰明不足以相逮。理自不合，無所多怪。所以疾之而不能默者，願夫在位君子，無以貌取人，勉勖謙損，以永天秩耳。

They seek by appearance and judge by prettiness. Common people see only the plainness of the outward form and cannot discern the depth of the spirit. They devote themselves to skin and do not gauge the heart's aim. Suppose a man holds brilliance and harbors the extraordinary, surpassing his peers and exceeding his age. His deeds, when moved, can awaken the whole world, and his words, once spoken, can resolve doubts of past and present. He holds his refinement in reserve, tight as a sealed sack, and speaks nothing that is not the law. Yet thatch and reeds cannot be moved by the ring of ten thousand-weight bells, and dwarfs cannot see the grandeur of a tower of many fathoms, so they laugh at him and say he is common and muddled. One who is not from the Han riverbank cannot discern a bright pearl in the mud (the original reads 'ni lun zhi chong feng', which is corrupted); one who is not of the weeping-blood people cannot recognize night-shining jade in the deep cliffs. The jiaoming mites nesting in a mosquito's eyebrow laugh at the great peng that fills the sky, and the inch-long carp swimming in an ox's hoofprint puddle do not value the giant fish that crosses the sea. So their studies of the Way cannot reach one another, and their intelligence cannot catch up with each other. Since the principles do not fit, there is nothing strange in it. The reason I hate this and cannot stay silent is that I hope gentlemen in office will not judge men by appearance, and will strive for humility and self-reduction, so as to keep long the rank Heaven has ordained.

抱朴子曰：世人聞戴叔鸞阮嗣宗傲俗自放，見謂大度，而不量其材力非傲生之匹，而慕學之。或亂項科頭，或裸袒蹲夷，或濯腳於稠眾，或溲便於人前，或停客而獨食，或行酒而止所親，此蓋左衽之所為，非諸夏之快事也。夫以戴阮之才學，猶以耽踔自病，得失財不相補，向使二生敬蹈檢括，恂恂以接物，競競以御用，其至到何適但爾哉！況不及之遠者，而遵修其業，其速禍危身，將不移陰，何徒不以清德見待而已乎！

Baopuzi said: People of the age, hearing that Dai Shuluan and Ruan Sizong were proud of custom and let themselves go, and were praised as magnanimous, do not measure that their own talents are no match for those who scorned the world, and envy and imitate them. Some leave their hair in disorder and go bareheaded, or go bare-shouldered and squat like barbarians, or wash their feet among a thick crowd, or relieve themselves in front of others, or stop their guests and eat alone, or when pouring wine give it only to their favorites. This is what those with left-fastened robes do, and it is not a delight of the Chinese states. Even with Dai's and Ruan's talent and learning, they harmed themselves through self-indulgence, and their gains and losses did not offset each other. Suppose these two had reverently kept to restraint, and had received others gently and conducted themselves with caution (the original reads 'jing jing', where 'jing' is an error for 'jing'), their attainment would have been far more than just this. How much more so for those who fall far short of them but follow their ways: they hasten disaster and endanger themselves, and it will not take the time of a meal. How could it be only a matter of not being treated as pure in virtue!

昔者西施痛而臥於道側，姿顏妖麗，蘭麝芬馥，見者鹹美其容而念其疾，莫不躊躇焉。於是鄰女慕之，因偽疾伏於路間，形狀既醜，加之酷臭，行人皆憎其貌而惡其氣，莫不睨面掩鼻，疾趨而過焉。今世人無戴阮之自然，而效其倨慢，亦是醜女暗於自量之類也。帝者猶執子弟之禮於三老五更者，率人以敬也。人而無禮，其刺深矣。夫慢人必不敬其親也，

Of old Xi Shi lay in pain by the roadside, her looks bewitching and fair, orchid and musk breathing fragrance; all who saw her admired her beauty and grieved her sickness, and none but lingered. Thereupon the neighbor girl, envying her, feigned sickness and crouched in the road; her form being ugly and her smell being rank, the passersby all loathed her looks and hated her odor, and none but glanced aside, covered the nose, and hurried past. The men of today, lacking the natural ease of Dai and Ruan, yet imitate their proud slovenliness—they too belong to the kind of the ugly woman who cannot measure herself. When the thearch still renders the rites of son and disciple to the three elders and five experienced, it is to lead men in reverence. A man without the rites—the satire of him cuts deep. He who is slovenly to others is sure not to revere his own kin.

蓋欲人之敬之，必見自敬焉。不修善事，則為惡人，無事於大，則為小人。紂為無道，見稱獨夫；仲尼陪臣，謂為素王。則君子不在乎富貴矣。今為犯禮之行，而不喜聞遄死之譏，是負豕而憎說其臭，投泥而諱人言其汙也。

Presumably, for a man to have others revere him, he must first show reverence for himself. Whoever does not cultivate good works is a bad man; whoever does no work in what is great is a petty man. Zhou for his waylessness was called the Lone Man; Confucius, a mere subordinate minister, was called the Uncrowned King. So gentlemanhood lies not in wealth and honor. Now, to do deeds that offend the rites yet dislike hearing the satire that one deserves swift death is like carrying a pig on the back yet hating to be called rank, or wading into the mud yet resenting being called foul.

昔辛有見被髮而祭者，知戎之將熾。餘觀懷憫之世，俗尚驕褻，夷虜自遇，其後羌胡猾夏，侵掠上京，及悟斯事，乃先著之妖怪也。今天下向平，中興有徵，何可不共改既往之失，修濟濟之美乎！夫入虎狼之群，後知賁育之壯勇；處禮廢之俗，乃知雅人之不渝。道化凌遲，流遁遂往，賢士儒者，所宜共惜，法當扣心同慨，矯而正之。若力之不能，未如之何，且當竹柏其行，使歲寒而無改也。何有便當崩騰競逐其醟茸之徒，以取容於若曹邪！去道彌遠，可謂為痛嘆者也。

Of old Xin You saw a man sacrificing with hair unbound and knew the Rong would flourish. I see that in the age of Emperors Huai and Min, custom honored arrogant license and men set themselves by the barbarians, and afterwards the Qiang and Hu troubled Xia and ravaged the capital—when they woke to it, it was a prodigy already displayed long before. Now that all under heaven is gradually settling and the signs of a mid-course rise appear, how can we not together correct the former faults and cultivate the beauty of good order! It is entering a pack of tigers and wolves that one learns the fierce valor of Ben and Yu; it is dwelling in an age where the rites are lost that one knows the refined man does not change. As the Way and its teaching decline and drift runs its course, the worthy and the learned, who should cherish it together, ought by rule to strike their breasts in common grief and straighten and set it right. If their strength cannot, and they can do nothing, they should at least make their virtue like bamboo and cypress, unaltered though the year grow cold. How could it be right to plunge and vie among those ale-besotted, mean, and petty men, courting favor with that crew! To leave the Way ever farther—this may be called lamentable.

其或峨然守正，確爾不移，不蓬轉以隨眾，不改雅以入鄭者，人莫能憎而知其善，而斯以不同於己者，便共仇讎而不數之。嗟乎，衰弊乃可爾邪，君子能使以亢亮方楞，無黨於俗，揚清波以激濁流，執勁矢以厲群枉，不過當不見容與，不得富貴耳。天爵苟存於吾體者，以此獨立不達，亦何苦何恨乎而便當伐本瓦合，食甫糟握泥，剸足適履，毀方入圓，不亦劇乎！

Among them there may be some who loftily keep the right, firm and unmoved, who do not whirl like tumbleweed after the crowd nor change the correct music to enter the airs of Zheng—men whom none can hate yet whose goodness is known; but this faction, because they differ from themselves, together becomes their foe and leaves them unattended. Alas, that decay can reach this! The gentleman can hold high, bright, and square, form no party with the vulgar, lift the clear waves to lash the muddy current, and grasp the straight arrow to chastise the many crooked—at worst he should fail of acceptance and miss wealth and honor. If heaven's rank still rests upon me, though I stand alone and unadvanced, what bitterness is there, what regret—that I should thereupon cut my root to match the tiles, eat dregs and grasp mud (the base text has a character probably superfluous), pare my feet to fit the shoes, and pare the square to enter the round—is that not going too far!

夫節士不能使人敬之而志不可奪也，不能使人不憎之而道不可屈也，不能令人不辱之而榮猶在我也，不能令人不擯之而操不可改也。故分定計決，勸沮不能幹，樂天知命，憂懼不能入，困瘁而益堅，窮否而不悔，誠能用心如此者，亦安肯草靡薄浮，以索鑿枘，效乎禮之所棄者之所為哉！

The man of principle cannot make men revere him, yet his will cannot be taken; cannot make men not hate him, yet his way cannot be bent; cannot make men not shame him, yet the honor remains his; cannot make men not cast him out, yet his conduct cannot be changed. So with his portion fixed and resolve settled, urging and discouragement cannot sway him; delighting in heaven and knowing his fate, care and fear cannot enter; straitened and worn he is yet firmer; in the depths of failure he does not repent. Truly to set the heart thus—how could one bend like the grass, fickle and floating, pressing a round socket over a square peg, imitating the deeds of those whom the rites cast out!

抱朴子曰：聞之漢末諸無行，自相品藻次第，群驕慢傲，不入道檢者，為都魁雄伯，四通八達，皆背叛禮教而從肆邪僻，訕毀真正，中傷非黨，口習醜言，身行弊事，凡所云為，使人不忍論也。夫古人所謂通達者，謂通於道德，達於仁義耳。豈謂通乎褻黷而達於淫邪哉！

Baopuzi said: I have heard that at the end of Han the unprincipled men appraised and ranked one another, and a flock of proud, slovenly men who would not enter the checks of the Way became chiefs and leaders, 'penetrating in all directions', all betraying the ritual teaching and running loose in wicked ways, slandering the true and upright, wounding those not of their party, mouths practiced in ugly words, bodies doing rotten deeds—all that they did, men could not bear to relate. What the ancients called penetration meant reaching through in the Way and its power and arriving at benevolence and rightness—how could it mean reaching through in license and arriving at wantonness and wickedness!

有似盜跖，自謂有聖人之道五者也。此俗之傷破人倫，劇於寇賊之來，不能經久，豈所損壞一服而已！若夫貴門子孫，及在位之士，不惜典刑，而皆科頭袒體，踞見賓客，既辱天官，又移染庸民，後生晚出，見彼或已經清資，或佻竊虛名，而躬自為之，則凡夫便謂立身當世，莫此之為美也。夫守禮防者苦且難，而其人多窮賤焉；恣驕放者樂且易，而為者皆速達焉。於是俗人莫不委此而就彼矣。

Like Robber Zhi, who claimed to have the sage's way in five points. Such customs wound and break the bonds of men more fiercely than the coming of bandits, and they cannot last—how much more than spoiling a garment! Down to the sons and grandsons of honored houses and the gentlemen in office, who did not spare the model laws but went bareheaded and bare-bodied, crouching to receive guests—they disgraced the heavenly offices and passed the taint on to the common folk. The late-born and late-come, seeing some of them already possessed of honorable rank and others filching empty fame, and doing so themselves, then the common sort thought that to stand in the world there was nothing better than this. Keeping the rites and guards is bitter and hard, and such men are mostly poor and low; license and swagger are pleasant and easy, and those who do it swiftly rise. Thereupon the men of the world all without exception cast off the one and ran to the other.

世間或有少無清白之操業，長以買官而富貴，或亦其所知足以自飾也，其黨與足以相引也，而無行之子，便指以為證，曰：彼縱情恣欲而不妨其赫奕矣，此敕身履道而不免於貧賤矣。而不知榮顯者有幸，而頓淪者不遇，皆不由其行也。然所謂四通八達者，愛助附己為之，履不及納，帶不暇結，攜手升堂，連袂入室，出則接膝，請會則直致，所惠則得多，屬託則常聽，所欲則必副，言論則見饒，有患則見救，所論薦則蹇驢蒙龍駿之價，所中傷則孝己受商臣之談。故小人之赴也，若決積水於萬仞之高堤，而放烈火乎雲夢之枯草焉。慾望蕭雍濟濟，後生有式，是猶炙冰使燥，積灰令熾矣。

In the world there are those who in youth had no pure conduct or calling, and grown, became rich and honored by buying office; or again, what they know suffices to gloss themselves, and their partisans suffice to draw one another up—and the unprincipled son then points to them as proof: that man gave rein to lust and greed yet it was no hindrance to his splendor; this man disciplined himself and walked the Way yet could not escape poverty and meanness. They do not know that the honored and glorious had luck, while the fallen and drowned missed their day—neither came of their conduct. Yet these so-called penetrating men love and help those who attach themselves: the shoe is put on before tied, the sash worn before knotted, hand in hand they mount the hall, sleeve to sleeve they enter the chamber, outside the door they sit knee to knee; those they summon come straight at call; favors they grant are many; recommendations they make are always heard; what they wish is sure to be met; their words are borne with; their troubles are rescued; the men they praise—the lame donkey gains the price of a dragon-steed; the men they wound—Xiaoji takes on an evil name like Shangchen's. So the petty men run to them as pent waters burst a ten-thousand-ren dike, as a fierce fire is loosed on the dry grass of Yunmeng. To hope then for harmony and order, that the young should have a rule and a model, is like roasting ice to dry it or piling ashes to make them blaze.

抱朴子曰：三臺九列，坐而論道；州牧郡守，操綱舉領。其官益大，其事愈優，煩劇所鍾，其唯百里。眾役於是乎出，誅求之所叢赴，牧守雖賢而令長不堪，則國事不舉，萬機有闕，其損敗豈徒止乎一境而已哉！

Baopuzi said: The three terraces and nine ranks sit and discourse on the Way; the provincial governors and commandery administrators hold the rope and raise the collar. The greater the office the more leisure the work; where the troubles and burdens gather is only in the hundred-li county. From there all the levies go forth; thither the exactions swarm and run. Though the governor and administrator be worthy, if the magistrate cannot bear his charge, the affairs of state are not raised, the myriad matters come short, and the harm and loss reach beyond one district alone!

令長尤宜得才，乃急於臺省之官也。用之不得其人，其故無他也，在乎至公之情不行，而任私之意不違也。或父兄貴重，而子弟以聞望見選；或高人屬託，而凡品以無能見敘；或是所宿念，或親戚匪他，知其不可而能用此等。亦時有快者，不為盡無所中也。要於不精者率多矣。其能自效立，勉修清約，夙夜在公，以求眾譽，懼風績之不美，恥知己之謬舉，鮮矣！庸猥之徒，器小志近，冒於貨賄，唯富是圖，肆情恣欲，無止無足。在所司官，知其有足，賴主人舉劾彈糾，終於當解，慮其結怨，反見中傷，不敢犯觸，而恣其貪殘矣。如此，黎庶亦安得不困毒而離判！離判者眾，則不得屯聚而為群盜矣。

Magistrates above all need to be the right men, even more urgently than the officers of the bureaus. That the wrong men get used has no other cause than this: that the feeling of utmost fairness cannot prevail, while the wish to favor one's own cannot be resisted. Some, whose fathers and brothers are honored and weighty, are chosen on the strength of name; some, for whom great men put in a word, are given rank though without ability; some are old favorites, some are kin and no outsiders—knowing they will not do, they still employ such men. Occasionally a pleasing choice is made—it is not that none is fit—but on the whole the unsound are the more. Those who by their own effort stand up, strive to keep pure and frugal, are at public business dawn and dusk, seeking the good name of all, fearing an ill report, ashamed that their patron chose amiss—how few they are! The mediocre and vulgar sort, small in capacity and short in aim, reckless for goods and bribes, seeking only riches, give their lusts free rein and are never sated. The officers over them, knowing they have a prop, wait for the chief to impeach and correct them; fearing in the end to make an enemy and be slandered in return, they dare not offend and let him prey on and savage the people. In such a case how can the common folk not be stung to misery and break away! When the breakers-away are many they gather in bands and become robbers (the base text reads 'cannot'; for the sense it should be 'about to' or 'cannot but', and cannot be settled).

夫百尋之室，焚於分寸之飈；千丈之陂，潰於一蟻之穴。何可不深防乎！何可不改張乎！而秉斤兩者，或舍銓衡而任情；掌柯斧者，或曲繩墨於附己。選之者既不為官擇人，而求之者又不自謂不任，於是蒞政而政荒，牧民而民散，或有穢濁驕奢而困百姓者矣，或有苛虐酷烈而多怨判者矣，或有暗塞退憒而庶事亂者矣，或有潦倒疏緩而致馳壞者矣，或有好興不急而疲人力者矣，或有藏養逋逃而行凌暴者矣，或有不曉法令而受欺弄者矣，或有以音聲酒色而致荒湎者矣，或有圍棋樗蒲而廢政務者矣，或有田獵遊飲而忘庶事者矣，或有不省辭訟而刑獄亂者矣。百姓不堪，起為寇賊，釁咎發聞，置於叢棘，虧君上之明，益刑書之煩，而民之荼毒，亦已深矣！

A house of a hundred xun burns in a foot-long gust; a dike of a thousand zhang breaks in one ant's hole. How can one not guard against it deeply! How can one not refit the strings! Yet some who hold the weights cast aside the scales and follow whim; some who wield the helve bend the inked line to suit themselves. Since the chooser does not choose men for the office, and the seeker does not think himself unfit, thereupon one presides over government and government runs wild, shepherds the people and the people scatter—some foul, proud, and wasteful, crushing the hundred surnames; some harsh, cruel, and bitter, with many grievances and revolts; some dim, blocked, and confused, with all affairs in disorder; some slack and lax, letting all run down; some fond of launching unneeded works, wearing out men's strength; some harboring fugitives and working oppression; some not understanding the statutes and being played false; some given over to music, women, wine, and wallowing; some playing weiqi and dice and letting business lapse; some hunting and feasting and forgetting the many affairs; some not hearing the plaints, with punishments and prisons in confusion. When the people cannot bear it they rise as bandits and robbers; when the fault comes to light they are thrown among the thorns—dimming the ruler's discernment, adding to the burden of the books of punishment, while the people's poisoning has already run deep!

夫用非其人，譬猶被木馬以繁纓，何由騁跡於追風以壤龍當雲雨，安能耀景於天衢哉若秉國之鈞，出納王命者，審良藥之顧眄，不令跛蹇廁騏騄，冒昧苟得，暗於自量者，慮中道之顛躓，不以駑薾服鸞衡，則何患庶績之不康，何憂四凶之不退，三皇豈足四，五帝難六哉！

To use the wrong man is like dressing a wooden horse in tasseled trappings—how can it race the wind? Or setting up a clay dragon to answer for clouds and rain (the base text reads 'earth dragon')—how can it blaze on heaven's highway? If those who hold the state's balance and handle the king's commands would examine the backward glances like a good physician and not let the lame crowd in among the thoroughbreds, and if the presumptuous gain-seekers, blind in self-measure, would fear stumbling midway and not hitch nag-blood to the simurgh's shaft—then what fear that the many tasks will not prosper, what worry that the Four Malefactors will not withdraw? The Three Augusts need hardly count a fourth among them, nor the Five Thearchs a sixth!

抱朴子曰：以英逸而遭大明，則桑蔭未移，而金蘭之協已固矣；以長才而遇深識，則不待歷試，而相知之情已審矣。飄乎猶起鴻之乘勁風，翩乎若勝鱗之躡驚雲也。若以沈抑而可忽乎，則姜公不用於周矣；若以疏賤而可距乎，則毛生不貴乎趙矣；若積素行乃托政，則甯戚不顯於齊矣；若貴宿名而委任，則陳韓不錄於漢矣。明者舉大略細，不忮不求，故能取威定功，成天平地，豈肯稱薪而爨，數粒乃炊，並瑕棄譬，披毛索厭黑哉！

Baopuzi said: When surpassing talent meets a great brightness, the shade of the mulberry has not yet moved before the bond of metal and orchid is firm; when long talent meets deep discernment, before the trials are run the knowledge of one another is already sure. Airily like a rising swan on a strong wind, lightly like surpassing scales treading the startled clouds. Could he be ignored for being sunk and pressed?—then Lord Jiang would never have been used by Zhou. Could he be refused for being distant and mean?—then Master Mao would never have been honored in Zhao. Must his past deeds be weighed before entrusting government?—then Ning Qi would never have been famed in Qi. Must an old name be prized before appointment?—then Chen and Han would never have been enrolled by Han. The discerning man raises the great and lets the small go; he does not carp and does not grasp, and so he can win majesty and fix merit, make heaven complete and earth level. How would he consent to weigh firewood before cooking, count grains before boiling rice, throw away the fine jade for its flaw, or part the fur hunting for a dark scar (the base text reads 'loathe black', probably should be 'scar')!

或曰：“古之著書者，才大思深，故其文隱而難曉；今人意淺力近，故露而易見。以此易見，比彼難曉，猶溝澮之方江河，蟲豈垤之並嵩岱矣。故水不發山崑山，則不能揚洪流以東漸；書不出英俊，則不能備致遠之弘韻焉。”

Someone said: "The men of antiquity who wrote books had great talent and deep thought, so their writing is hidden and hard to know; the men of today have shallow minds and near powers, so theirs is plain and easy to see. Set this easy-to-see against that hard-to-know, and it is like a ditch against the Yangzi and the Yellow River, an ant-hill beside Mounts Song and Tai (the base text has a miswritten character for 'ant'). So water that does not issue from the Kun mountains cannot raise a great flood and flow east; a book that does not come from a fine talent cannot furnish the ample music that reaches far."

抱朴子答曰：“夫論管穴者，不可問以九陔之無外；習拘閡者，不可督以拔萃之獨見。蓋往古之士，匪鬼匪神，其形器雖冶鑠於疇曩，然其精神，布在乎方策。情見乎辭，指歸可得。且古書之多隱，未必昔人故欲難曉，或世異語變，或方言不同，經荒歷亂，埋藏積久，簡編朽絕，亡失者多，或雜續殘缺，或脫去章句，是以難知，似若至深耳。且夫《尚書》者，政事之集也，然未若近代之優文詔策軍書奏議之清富贍麗也；《毛詩》者，華彩之辭也，然不及《上林》《羽獵》《二京》《三都》之汪濊博富也。然則古之子書，能勝今之作者，何也然守株之徒，嘍嘍所玩，有耳無目，何肯謂爾。其於古人所作為神，今世所著為淺，貴遠賤近，有自來矣。

Baopuzi answered: "To him who argues from tube and hole, one cannot speak of the nine-fold heavens' boundlessness; to him who is used to being cramped and shut in, one cannot demand the lone sight of the eminent. The scholars of former ages were neither ghosts nor gods; though their bodily frames were long since melted in the past, yet their spirit is spread upon the slips and tablets. The feeling shows in the words; the purport can be had. Besides, that old books are much hidden need not mean the ancients wanted them hard to know: the world changed and speech changed with it; the dialects differed; they passed through waste and disorder, lay buried long, the slips rotted and the bindings broke, and much was lost; or they were continued and patched in fragments, or whole chapters and sentences dropped out—hence the hardness, which looks like depth. Moreover, the Book of Documents is a gathering of government affairs, yet it is no match for the clear richness of later imperial writings, edicts, dispatches, military orders, and memorials; the Mao Odes are the height of ornamented verse, yet they do not reach the vast fullness of the Shanglin, Yulie, Two Capitals, and Three Capitals rhapsodies. So why should it be that the ancient masters' books must surpass today's writers? Yet the stump-watchers, chirping over what they are used to, with ears and no eyes—how would they consent to admit this? They take what the ancients made for god and what the present makes for shallow: prizing the far and cheapening the near has been so since long ago.

“故新劍以詐刻加價，弊方以偽題見寶也。是以古書雖質樸，而俗儒謂之墮於天也；今文雖金玉，而常人同之於瓦礫也。古書者雖多，未必盡美，要當以為學者之山淵，使屬筆者，得辨伐漁獵其中。然而譬如東甌之木，長洲之林，梓豫雖多，而未可謂之為大廈之壯觀，華屋之弘麗也；雲夢之澤，孟諸之藪，魚肉之(有脫文)雖饒，而未可謂之為煎火*敖之盛膳，渝狄之嘉味也。今詩與古詩，俱有義理，而盈於差美。

(Baopuzi continued:) "So the new sword gains a price by a false inscription, and the worn-out prescription is taken for treasure by a forged title. Therefore old books, though plain, the vulgar Confucians say dropped from the sky; present writing, though gold and jade, common men rank with tile shards. Old books are many, yet not all are fine; taken together they should serve the scholar as mountain and deep, letting the writer go among them to cut and fish and hunt. Yet like the timber of Dong'ou and the groves of Long Isle, though the catalpa and camphor are many, one cannot say that is the grandeur of a great hall or the breadth of a splendid house; and like the marshes of Yunmeng and Mengzhu, though fish and flesh are plentiful (the base text lacks characters here), one cannot say that is the richness of a stewed banquet or the fine flavors of a Yu or a Di. The poems of today and the poems of old both have their rightness, but the beauty in them is full in one and wanting in the other.

方之於士，並有德行，而一人偏長藝文，不可謂一例也；比之於女，俱體國色，而一人獨閒百伎，不可混為無異也。若夫俱論宮室，而奚斯路寢之頌，何如王生之賦靈光乎同說遊獵，而叔畋盧鈴之詩，何如相如之言上林乎並美祭祀，而清廟雲漢之辭，何臺郭氏南郊之豔乎等稱征伐，而出車六月之作，何如陳琳武軍之壯乎則舉條可以覺焉。近者夏侯湛潘安仁並作補亡詩，白華由庚南陔華黍之屬，諸碩儒高才之賞文者，鹹以古詩三百，未有足以偶二賢之所作也。

(Baopuzi continued:) Take gentlemen for comparison: all have virtue, yet one is especially good in the arts and letters—it cannot be called one class. Take women for comparison: all possess the looks of a kingdom, yet one alone is skilled in the hundred arts—they cannot be lumped as indifferent. Or take the singing of palaces: how does Xisi's hymn of the resting hall compare with Wang's rhapsody on the Lingguang? Or take hunting: how do the Shu-tian and Lu-ling poems compare with Xiangru's telling of Shanglin? Or take the praise of sacrifice: how do the words of Pure Temple and Milky Way compare with the splendor of Guo's Southern Suburb (the base text miswrites 'how does')? Or take the singing of campaigns: how do the Chariots Go Out and Sixth Month pieces compare with the might of Chen Lin's Martial Host? Set out the items and one can see. Of late, Xiahou Zhan and Pan Anren together wrote restorations of the lost poems—the kind of White Bloom, Yougeng, Nan'gai, and Flowering Millet—and all the great Confucians and lofty talents who judge letters hold that among the three hundred ancient poems there is none fit to match the work of these two worthies.

“且夫古者事事醇素，今則莫不雕飾，時移世改，理自然也。至於罽錦麗而且堅，未可謂之減於蓑衣；輜車並妍而又牢，未可謂之不及椎車也。書猶言也，若入談語，故為知有(音)，胡越之接，終不相解，以此教戒，人豈知之哉！若言以易曉為辨，則書何故以難知為好哉若舟車之代步涉，文墨之改結繩，諸後作而善於前事，其功業相次千萬者，不可復縷舉也。世人皆知之，快於曩矣，何以獨文章不及古邪

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, in antiquity all things were plain and simple, while now nothing is uncarved; times shift and the world changes—the pattern is natural. As for woolen brocade being both handsome and strong, one cannot say it falls short of the straw raincoat; or the covered carriage being both fine and sound, one cannot say it does not reach the plain wooden cart. Writing is like speech: if a man talked and deliberately made it 'knowing sounds' (the base text has a miswritten character noted for the sound), then a Hu meeting a Yue would to the end understand nothing—teaching and warning by this, how could anyone know! If speech counts as clear for being easy to explain, why should writing count as good for being hard to know? It is like boats and carriages replacing foot travel and fording, or brush and ink replacing knotted cords: the many things later made that better the former ones, surpassing them in merit by thousands and tens of thousands, cannot be recounted one by one. The world's men all know these are quicker than those of old; why should letters alone not reach the ancients?"

抱撲子曰：安上治民，莫善於禮，彌綸人理，誠為曲備。然冠婚飲射，何煩碎之甚邪！人倫雖以有禮為貴，但當令足以敘等威而表情敬，何在乎升降揖讓之繁重，拜起俯伏之無已邪！往者天下乂安，四方無事，好古官長，時或修之，至乃講試累月，督以楚撻，晝夜修習，廢寢與食。經時學之，一日試之，執卷從事，案文舉動，黜謫之罰，又在其間，猶有過誤，不得其意。而欲以為以此為生民之常事，至難行也。此墨子所謂累世不能盡其學，當年不能究其事者也。

Baopuzi said (the base text miswrites the name): For giving the ruler peace and ordering the people, nothing is better than the rites; to bind human order together, they are truly complete. Yet the capping, marriage, drinking, and archery rites—how fussy they are to the last degree! Though human bonds prize having the rites, they need only suffice to mark out rank and express reverence—where is the use in the heaviness of ascending and descending, bowing and yielding, the endless prostrating and rising! In days past when all under heaven was at peace and the four quarters quiet, antiquity-loving officials would sometimes practice these matters, up to the point of testing them over whole months, driving pupils with the thorn rod, drilling day and night, forgetting sleep and food. They studied them a whole year and were tested in a single day, scroll in hand as they went through the motions by the written rules, with demotion and penalty in between—and still they made mistakes and missed the sense. To want to make this the common business of the living people would be the utmost hardship. This is what Mozi meant by: whole generations cannot finish the learning, a whole age cannot exhaust its work.

古人詢於草芻蕘，博辨童謠，狂夫之言，猶在擇焉。至於墨子之論，不能非也。但其張刑網，開途徑，浹人事，備王道，不能曲述耳。至於譏葬厚，刺禮煩，未可棄也。

The ancients asked advice of woodcutters, gathered children's rhymes broadly, and even a madman's words were in the range of choice. As for Mozi's arguments, they cannot be gainsaid. It is only that he could not lay out the net of the laws, open the roads, spread the affairs of men, and furnish the kingly way in every winding detail. But his criticism of lavish burials and his satire on overgrown rites—these must not be thrown away.

自建安之後，魏之武文，送終之制，務在儉薄，此則墨子之道，有可行矣。餘以為喪亂既平，朝野無為，王者所制，自君作古。可命精學洽聞之士，才任損益，免於拘愚者，使刪定三禮，割棄不要，次其源流，總合其事，類集以相從。其煩重遊說，辭異而義同者存之，不可常行除之。無所傷損，卒可斷約而舉之，勿令沈隱，復有凝滯。其吉凶器用之物，俎豆觚觶之屬，衣冠車服之制，旗章辨色之美，宮室尊卑之品，朝饗賓主之儀，祭奠殯葬之變，郊祀禘祫之法，社稷山川之禮，皆可減省，務令約儉。夫約則易從，儉則用少；易從則不煩，用少則費薄；不煩則蒞事者無過矣，費薄則調求者無苛矣。拜休揖讓之節，升降盤旋之容，使足敘事，無令小碎。條牒各別，令易案用。

Since the Jian'an era, in the funeral rules made by Emperors Wu and Wen of Wei, the aim was frugality and thinness—this is the way of Mozi, and it can be practiced. I hold that once the ruin and disorder are settled and court and field are at rest, what the king institutes should make a new beginning with the sovereign. He may command scholars of exact learning and broad hearing, whose talent can take away and add and is free of cramped folly, to revise and fix the Three Rites: cutting away what does not press, ordering the streams to their sources, drawing the matters together, and sorting them by kind. The fussy repetitions where the words differ but the sense is the same should be kept; what cannot be constantly performed should be dropped. Nothing would be lost by it; in the end, bound into a brief and brought forth, it would not be left to sink into obscurity and clog again. The vessels for ill and good fortune—the sacrificial stands, goblets and cups; the rules of cap, robe, carriage, and dress; the beauty of banners and badges and distinguishing colors; the grades of honored and mean in houses and halls; the ceremonies of court and feast, host and guest; the changes of offering, coffining, and burial; the rules of the suburban and the di and xia sacrifices; the rites of soil and grain, mountains and rivers—all can be cut down, making conciseness and thrift the aim. Concise is easy to follow; thrifty spends little. Easy to follow means no fuss; little spent means thin cost. No fuss means those who officiate make no errors; thin cost means those who levy do not press. The forms of bowing, yielding, and saluting, the bearing of mounting, descending, and wheeling—let them suffice to mark the business, without the fine shattering. Let each rule be set down separately, easy for men to consult and use.

今五禮混撓，雜飾紛錯，枝分葉散，重出互見，更相貫涉。舊儒尋案，猶多所滯，駁難漸廣異同無已，殊理兼說，歲增月長，自非至精，莫不惑悶。躊躇岐路之衢，悉勞群疑之藪，煎神瀝思，考校判例，嘗有窮年，竟不豁了。治之勤苦，決嫌無地，呻吟尋析，憔悴決角，修之華首不立，妨費日月，廢棄他業，悉困後生，真未央矣。長致章句，多於本書。今若契合雜俗，次比種稷，刪削不急，抗其綱，校其令，炳若日月之著明，灼若五色之有定，息學者萬倍之役，弭諸儒爭訟之煩，將來達者觀之，當美於今之視周矣。此亦改燒石去血食之比，無所憚難，而恨恨於惜懷，推車遲於去巢居也。

Now the five rites are tangled together, their mixed ornaments in confusion, branching and scattering, repeating and cross-showing, threading one through another. Even when the old Confucians search and examine, many snags remain; disputes grow ever wider, agreements and differences have no end, rival doctrines speak side by side, and they pile up year on year and month on month—short of utmost devotion there is none who is not lost and dulled. They stand hesitating at the fork in the road, labor in the marsh of the many doubts, seethe their spirits and drain their thought, examine and weigh the precedents, spend a whole year, and in the end cannot open through into clarity. Toiling at it bitterly, they find no place to settle the doubts; groaning, they search and parse and waste away deciding a single corner; they work till their heads are white and still cannot stand—spending the days and months, abandoning other callings, straitening the young who come after: truly it has no end. The chapters and sentences of commentary outnumber the book itself. If now we matched it to the common ways, set it in order like the kinds of grain, cut away what is not pressing, raised the guiding cord, and fixed the statutes so that they shone like the sun and moon in clearness and stood distinct like the five colors fixed, we would still the ten-thousandfold labor of students and melt the endless bickering of the Confucians; and the understanding men of the future, looking on it, would find it as beautiful as we find the Zhou today. This too is like the parable of stopping the burning of stones and giving up bloody food—nothing fearsome or hard about it—yet they cling regretfully to the old embrace, like the cart-dweller slow to leave his nest in the tree.

然守常之徒，而卒聞此義，必將愕然創見，謂之狂生矣。夫三王不相沿樂，五帝不相襲禮，而其移風易俗，安上治民一也。或革或因，損益懷善，何必當乘船以登山，策馬以涉川，被甲以升廟堂，重裘以當隆暑乎！若謂古事終不可變，則棺槨不當代薪埋，衣裳不宜改裸袒矣。

Yet the keepers of the constant, hearing this doctrine suddenly, are sure to stare astonished as at a first sight and call me a mad scholar. The Three Kings did not inherit one another's music; the Five Thearchs did not follow one another's rites—yet in shifting the winds and changing the ways, giving the ruler peace and ordering the people, they were one. Some changed and some continued, taking away and adding as was good—why must one be bound to sail a boat up the mountain, drive a horse across the river, mount the ancestral hall in armor, or wear double furs in the height of summer! If one says ancient ways can never be changed, then the double coffin should not have replaced burial in brushwood, and clothes should not have replaced nakedness.

抱朴子曰：正經為道義之淵海，子書為增深之川流。仰而比之，則景星之佐三辰也；俯而方之，則林薄之裨嵩嶽也。雖津途殊闢，而進德同歸；雖離於舉趾，而合於興化。故通人總原本以括流末，操綱領而得一致焉。古人嘆息於才難，故謂百世為隨踵，不以璞非崑山而棄耀夜之寶，不以書不出聖而廢助教之言。是以閭陌之拙詩，軍旅之鞫誓，或詞鄙喻陋，簡不盈十，猶見撰錄，亞次典誥，百家之言，與善一揆。譬操水者，器雖異而救火同焉；猶針炙者，術雖殊而攻疾均焉。

Baopuzi said: The true classics are the deep sea of the Way and rightness; the masters' books are the rivers that deepen it. Compare them upward, and they are like the bright star aiding the three luminaries; match them downward, and they are like the thickets adding to Mount Song. Though the fords and roads open differently, advancing in virtue they come to one end; though the feet lift apart, they join in raising the teaching. So the understanding man gathers the root and source to bind the streams and tips, holds the cord and leash and reaches the unity. The ancients sighed that talent is hard, saying that only once in a hundred ages does it follow on another's heels; they did not cast away the night-shining pearl because the rough jade was not from the Kun mountains, nor cast off words that aid teaching because the book was not by a sage. Thus the clumsy songs of the lanes and the oaths of the army, though their words are mean and their images plain and the slips fill not ten, have still been gathered and recorded next after the canons and pronouncements—because the sayings of the hundred schools agree with the good in one principle. It is like those who fetch water: the vessels differ yet the fire-fighting is the same; like those who needle and moxa: the arts differ yet the attacking of disease is equal.

漢魏以來，群言彌繁，雖義深於玄淵，辭贍於波濤，施之可以臻徵祥於天上，發嘉瑞於后土，召環雉於大荒之外，安圜堵於函夏之內，近弭禍亂之階，遠垂長世之祉。然時無聖人，目其口藻，故不得騁驊騄之跡於千里之途，編近世之道於三墳之末也。拘繫之徒，桎梏淺隘之中，挈瓶訓詁之間，輕奇賤異，謂為不急。或雲小道不足觀，或雲廣博亂人思，而不識合錙銖可齊重於山陵，聚百十可以致數於億兆，群色會而袞藻麗，眾音雜而韶濩和也。或貴愛詩乘淺近之細文，忽薄深美富博之子書，以磋切之至言為呆拙，以虛華之小辯為妍巧，真偽顛倒，玉石混淆，同廣樂於桑間，鈞龍章於卉服。悠悠皆然，可嘆可慨也！

Since Han and Wei the many words have grown still more numerous. Though their rightness be deeper than the dark abyss and their words richer than the billows, practiced they could bring down auspicious signs from heaven above and call up sweet omens in the earth below, summon ringed pheasants from beyond the great wilderness, and give peace to the poorest hut within the realm of Xia—dissolving near at hand the steps of calamity and hanging far off the blessings of lasting ages. Yet there was no sage in that age to grade and name these fine speeches, so the trail-blazing steed could not stretch its stride over the thousand-li road, and the ways of these latter days could not be written at the tail of the Three Tomes. Men bound and tied, fettered in shallowness and narrowness, who draw their little pitcher among the glosses, slight the rare and cheapen the strange and call it not pressing. Some say small ways are not worth viewing; some say broad learning disorders the thoughts—and they do not know that joining grains can match a mountain's weight, that heaping tens can reach the count of millions, that the many colors joined make the dragon-robe's splendor, and the many notes mingled make the Shao and Hu's harmony. They prize and love the shallow trifles of verse and rhyme, neglect the deep, fine, rich, broad books of the masters, take the polished utmost words for dull and clumsy, take the empty, florid little arguments for pretty and clever—true and false turned upside down, jade and stone mixed as one—ranking the great music with the songs of Sangjian and the dragon patterns with grass cloaks. Thus they drift, all of them, worthy of sighs and groans!

或曰：“著述雖繁，適可以騁辭耀藻，無補救於得失，未若德行不言之訓。故顏閔為上而遊夏乃次。四科之格，學本而行末，然則綴文固為餘事，而吾子不褒崇其源，而獨貴其流，可乎”抱朴子答曰：“德行為有事，優劣易見。文章微妙，其體難識。夫易見者粗也，難識者精也。夫唯粗也，故銓衡有定焉；夫唯精也，故品藻難一焉。吾故舍易見之粗，而論難識之精，不亦可乎！”

Someone said: "Writings may be many, yet they can only drive words and display ornament, and remedy nothing of gain and loss—not equal to virtue's wordless lesson. So Yan and Min rank above, and You and Xia come next in talent. By the measure of the four categories, learning is the root and conduct the tip; so stringing words is surely a leftover task, and for you not to exalt its source but prize its stream alone—is that fitting?" Baopuzi answered: "Virtue has its works; its worth is easy to see. Letters are subtle; their body is hard to know. What is easy to see is the coarse; what is hard to know is the fine. Because it is coarse, the scales have a fixed mark; because it is fine, appraising it can hardly be of one rule. For me to leave the easy-seen coarse and discuss the hard-known fine—is that not fitting?"

或曰：“德行者本也，文章者末也。故四科之序，文不居上。然則著紙者，糟粕之餘事；可傳者，祭畢之芻狗。卑高之格，是可識矣。文之體略，可得聞乎”

Someone said: "Virtue is the root, letters are the tip. So in the order of the four categories, letters do not stand above. Then what is set down on paper is the leftover task of the dregs; what may be handed on is a straw dog after the offering. The measure of high and low may be known by this. May I hear a sketch of the body of letters?"

抱朴子曰：“荃可以棄而魚未獲，則不得無荃；文可以廢而道未行，則不得無文。若夫翰跡韻略之宏促，屬辭比事之疏密，源流至到之修短，蘊藉汲引之深淺。其懸絕也，雖天外毫內，不足以喻其遼邈；其相傾也，雖三光熠耀，不足以方其鉅細。龍淵鉛鋌，未足譬其銳鈍；鴻羽積金，未足比其輕重。清濁叄差，所稟有主，朗昧不同科，強弱各殊氣，而俗士唯見能染毫畫紙者，便概之一例。斯伯牙所以永思鍾子，郢人所以格斤不運也。蓋刻削者比肩，而班狄擅絕手之稱；援琴者至眾，而夔襄專知音之難。廄馬千駟，而騏驥有邈群之價；美人萬計，而威施有超世之容。蓋有遠過眾者也。

Baopuzi said: "The trap may be cast off only when the fish is caught—till then there is no doing without the trap; letters may be cast off only when the Way prevails—till then there is no doing without letters. As for the wide or narrow sweep of brushwork and cadence, the loose or tight weave of linking words and matching things, the long or short course of source and stream, the deep or shallow store of allusion and draw—the distance between them, even outer heaven against a hair's breadth cannot image it; the imbalance between them, even the three luminaries against a firefly cannot figure it. Dragon Abyss against lead ingots cannot picture their keen and blunt; a swan's feather against heaped gold cannot match their light and heavy. Clear and turbid are mixed in ranks, each endowed from its source; bright and dim are not of one kind, strong and weak each bear a different qi—and the vulgar scholar, seeing only that both can dip a brush and mark paper, lumps them as one class. This is why Boya thought forever of Zhong Zi, and why the man of Ying hung up his axe and swung no more. Carvers stand shoulder to shoulder, yet Ban and Di alone bear the name of unsurpassable hands; lute-players are many, yet Kui and Xiang alone own the hardness of knowing tones. There are a thousand teams in the stable, yet the thoroughbred commands a price far above the herd; beauties are numbered in the tens of thousands, yet Wei and Shi possess looks that pass the age. Presumably there is that which far exceeds the crowd.

“且夫文章之與德行，猶十尺之與一丈，謂之餘事，未之前聞。夫上天之所以垂象，唐虞之所以為稱，大人虎炳，君子豹蔚，昌旦定聖諡於一字，仲尼從周之鬱，莫非文也。八卦生鷹隼之所被，六甲出靈龜之所負，文之所在，雖賤猶貴，犬羊之鞟，未得比焉。且夫本不必皆珍，末不必悉薄。譬若錦繡之因素地，珠玉之居蚌石，雲雨生於膚寸，江河始於咫尺爾。則文章雖為德行之弟，未可呼為餘事也。”

(Baopuzi continued:) "Moreover, letters and virtue are like ten chi and one zhang; that they should be called a leftover task was never heard before. The reason heaven hangs down its images, the reason Tang and Yu are praised, the great man's tiger-blaze and the gentleman's leopard-pattern, Chang and Dan fixing a sage posthumous name by a single word, Confucius following the luxuriance of Zhou—none of it is without pattern. The eight trigrams were born of the markings on the falcon's wings; the six jia came out of the pattern the spirit turtle bore on its back. Where pattern is, though the thing be low it is prized—dog and sheepskin cannot compare with it. Besides, the root need not be all precious, nor the tip all cheap: brocade and embroidery take plain ground for their cause, pearls and jade lodge within mussel and stone, cloud and rain rise from a handspan, and the Yangzi and Yellow River begin at a foot. So though letters are the younger brother of virtue, they cannot be called a leftover task."

或曰：“今世所為，多不及古，文章著述，又亦如之。豈氣運衰殺，自然之理乎”

Someone said: "What is made in the present age mostly does not reach the ancients, and writings are so too. Could it be that the fortunes of qi decline and dwindle by the natural order?"

抱朴子答曰：“百家之言，雖有步起，皆出碩儒之思，成才士之手，方之古人，不必悉減也。或有汪濊玄曠，合契作者，內闢不測之深源，外播不匱之遠流，其所祖宗也高，其所紬繹也妙，變化不繫滯於規矩之方圓，旁通不凝閡於一途之逼促，是以偏嗜酸鹹者，莫能知其味，用思有限者，不能得其神也。夫應龍徐舉，顧眄凌云，汗血緩步，呼吸千里，而螻蟲豈怪其無階而高致，駑蹇患其過己之不漸也。若夫馳驟於詩論之中，周旋於傳記之間，而以常情覽巨異，以褊量測無涯，以至粗求至精，以甚淺揣甚深，雖始自髫齔，訖於振素，猶不得也。

Baopuzi answered: "The sayings of the hundred schools, though they halt and rise, all came from the thought of great Confucians and were finished by the hands of talented men; set beside the ancients they need not all pale. Some are vast, deep, and broad, agreeing with the writers, opening within unfathomable springs and spreading without inexhaustible far streams; what they take as ancestor is high, what they unravel is subtle; their changes are not tied within the compass's round and square, their side-passages not cramped on a single narrow road. So those with a private taste for sour or salt cannot know their flavor, and those whose thought has limits cannot obtain their spirit. The winged dragon lifts slowly and a glance takes it past the clouds; the blood-sweating horse steps gently and a breath carries it a thousand li—yet the ants marvel that it gains height without a stair (the base text has a miswritten character for 'ant'), and the nag is aggrieved that it outruns him by no gradual course. As for those who gallop within the bounds of verse and wheel among the records, judging the great marvel by common feeling, measuring the boundless by a small gauge, seeking the utmost fine by the utter coarse, sounding the very deep by the very shallow—even should they begin at childhood and work till the hair shakes white, they would still not get it.

夫賞快者必譽之以好，而不得曉者，必毀之以惡，自然之理也。於是以其所不解者為虛誕，慺誠以為爾，未必違情以傷物也。又世俗率神貴古昔而黷賤同時：雖有追風之駿，猶謂之不及造父之所御也；雖有連城之珍，猶謂之不及楚人之所泣也；雖有疑斷之劍，猶謂之不及歐冶之所鑄也；雖有起死之藥，猶謂之不及和鵲之所合也；雖有超群之人，猶謂之不及竹帛之所載也；雖有益世之書，猶謂之不及前代之遺文也。是以仲尼不見重於當時，大玄見蚩薄於比肩也。俗士多云，今山不及古山之高，今海不及古海之廣，今日不及古日之熱，今月不及古月之朗，何肯許今之才士，不減古之枯骨！重所聞，輕所見，非一世之所患矣。昔之破琴剿弦者，諒有以而然乎！

(Baopuzi continued:) He who delights in a thing is sure to praise it as good, and he who cannot fathom it is sure to slander it as bad—this is the natural order. Thereupon they take what they do not understand for empty lies, honestly thinking it is so, not necessarily meaning to falsify and wound things. Again, the world largely makes a god of the ancient and past while cheapening its own contemporaries: though there be a wind-chasing steed, they still say it cannot match what Zaofu drove; though there be a city-chain jewel, they still say it cannot match what the man of Chu wept over; though there be a sword that cuts at the touch, they still say it cannot match what Ou Yezi cast; though there be a drug that raises the dead, they still say it cannot match what He and Que compounded; though there be a man beyond the crowd, they still say he cannot match those written on bamboo and silk; though there be a book that profits the age, they still say it cannot match the writings left by earlier times. So Confucius was not prized in his own day, and the Taixuan was jeered and slighted by his contemporaries. The vulgar scholars mostly say: today's mountains are not so high as the ancient mountains, today's seas are not so broad as the ancient seas, today's sun is not so hot as the ancient sun, today's moon is not so bright as the ancient moon—how would they consent to grant that today's talented men are no less than the dried bones of old! To weight what is heard and slight what is seen is not one age's trouble. That the man broke his lute and cut its strings was, in truth, for a reason!

抱朴子曰：歷覽前載，逮乎近代，道微俗弊，莫劇漢末也。當途端右閹官之徒，操弄神器，秉國之鈞，廢正興邪，殘仁害義，蹲踏背憎，即聾從昧，同惡成群，汲引奸黨。吞財多藏，不知紀極，而不能散錙銖之薄物，施振清廉之窮儉焉。進官則非多財者不達也，獄訟則非厚貨者不直也，官高勢重，力足拔才，而不能發毫釐之片言，進益時之翹俊也。其所用也，不越於妻妾之戚屬；其惠澤也，不出乎近習之庸瑣。莫戒臧文竊位之譏，靡追解狐忘私之義，分祿以擬王林，致事以由方回。故列子比屋，而門無鄭陽之恤；高概成群，而不遭暴生之薦。抑挫獨立，推進附己，此樊姬所以掩口，馮唐所以永慨也。

Baopuzi said: Reading through the records of former ages and coming down to recent times, the Way at its weakest and customs at their worst were never fiercer than at the end of Han. The powers that filled the road, the eunuch crew, played with the spirit vessel and held the state's balance, cast down the right and raised the wicked, maimed benevolence and injured rightness, crouched and trampled, betrayed and hated, made themselves deaf and followed the dark, banded in evil as a host and drew in their treacherous party. They swallowed wealth and hoarded it, knowing no limit, yet could not loose a pennyweight of poor stuff to relieve the pure and needy. In appointment none but the moneyed could advance; in lawsuits none but the richly bribed were judged straight. High in office and heavy in power, their strength sufficed to raise talent, yet they could not utter a hairbreadth of a word to advance the eminent who would profit the age. Those they used went no farther than the kin of wives and concubines; the favor they rained went no farther than the vulgar trifles of the familiar circle. They did not heed Zang Wenzhong's satire of usurping the seat, nor follow Jie Hu's rightness of forgetting self; they portioned out stipends to match Wang Lin and gave offices along Fang Hui's road. So the Liezi-lodgers dwelt roof by roof, yet at their gates there was no Zheng Yang's charity; the high-spirited stood in flocks yet met no Bao Sheng's recommendation. They pressed down the independent and pushed forward the attached—this is why Lady Fan covered her mouth and Feng Tang sighed forever.

干時率皆素餐俞容，掩德蔽賢，忌有功而危之，疾清白而排之，諱忠讜而陷之，惡特立而擯之，柔媚者受崇飾之佑，方稜者蒙訕棄之患。養豺狼而殲驎虞，殖枳棘而翦椒桂。於是傲兀不檢丸轉萍流者謂之弘偉大量；苛碎峭嶮懷螫挾毒者，謂之公方正直；令色警慧有貌無心者，謂之機神朗徹；利口小辯希指巧言者，謂之標領清妍；猝突萍鷽驕矜輕侻者，謂之巍峨瑰傑；嗜酒好色闒茸無疑者，謂之率任不矯；求取不廉好奪無足者，謂之淹曠遠節；蓬髮褻服遊集非類者，謂之通美泛愛；反經詭聖順非而博者，謂之莊老之客；嘲弄嗤妍凌尚侮慢者，謂之蕭豁雅韻；毀方投圓面從響應者，謂之絕倫之秀；憑倚權豪推貨履徑者，謂之知變炎奇；懶看文書望空下名者，謂之業大志高；仰賴強親位過其才者，謂之四豪之匹；輸貨勢門以市名爵者，謂之輕財貴義；結黨合譽行與口違者，謂之以文會友；左道邪術假託鬼怪者，謂之通靈神人；卜占小數誑飾禍福者，謂之知來之妙，（般馬）弄槊一夫之勇者，謂之上將之元；合離道聽偶俗而言者，謂之英才碩儒。

In that age they were nearly all idle diners stealing a place, covering virtue and screening the worthy, jealous of merit and injuring it, hating the pure and white and driving it out, shunning honest counsel and framing it, loathing the singular and casting it off. The soft and fawning enjoyed the favor of exaltation; the square and angular met the misfortune of scorn. So the man swaggering unchecked, whirling and drifting like a gourd on the stream, was called grand and great in measure; the harsh, petty, sheer, and cruel, hiding a sting and carrying poison, was called impartial and upright; the man of winning looks and quick show, all face and no heart, was called keen of spirit and clear through; the glib tongue and small cleverness, the sly hint and artful word, was called a leading light of pure grace; the sudden, brash, frivolous, proud, and loose, was called towering, rare eminence; the wine-loving, lust-ridden, mean and unrestrained, was called frank and unbent; the grasping, unscrupulous, ever-unsated taker, was called deep-broad and far-reaching in restraint; the unkempt-haired, slatternly dresser consorting with the unfit, was called catholic in beauty and broad in love; the traitor to the classics, forger of the sages, learned in error, was called a guest of Zhuang and Lao; the mocker and scorner of the good, lording it in insolence, was called lofty ease and a refined tone; the breaker of the square to fit the round, the face-agreeing echoer, was called the flower beyond compare; the leaner on the powerful, the briber taking the byroad, was called one who knows the turns and warms to the rare; the man too lazy to read the documents who signs blank paper, was called broad in work and high in aim; the man leaning on strong kin, holding rank beyond his talent, was called a peer of the Four Lords; the man pouring goods at power's gate to buy name and rank, was called one who slights wealth and prizes right; the clique-builder and praise-peddler whose deeds belie his mouth, was called meeting friends through letters; the adept of crooked ways and wicked arts pretending to ghosts and prodigies, was called a spirit-man communing with the unseen; the petty diviner who dresses up false fortunes, was called the marvel of knowing what is to come; the man who wheels his horse and flourishes a lance, brave as a single common soldier (the base text has corrupt characters), was called the first of great generals; the man who cobbles hearsay and trims his speech to the age, was called the eminent scholar and great Confucian.

若夫體亮行高，神清量遠，不諂笑以取悅，不曲言以負心，含霜履雪，義不苟合，據道推方，嶷然不群，風雖疾而枝不撓，身雖困而操不改，進則切辭正論，攻過箴闕，退則端誠杜私，知無不為者，謂之門音呆徒苦。夙興夜寐，退食自公，憂勞損益，畢力為政者，謂之小器俗吏。於是明哲色斯而幽遁，高俊括囊而佯愚，疏賤者奮飛以擇木，縶制者曲從而朝隱，知者不肯吐其秘算，勇者不為致其果毅，忠謇離退，姦凶得志，邪流溢而不可遏也，偽途闢而不可杜也。以臻乎凌上替下，盜賊多有，宦者奪人主之威，三九死庸豎之手。忠賢望士，謂之黨人，囚捕誅鋤，天下嗟嗷，無罪無辜，閉門遇禍。微煙起於蕭牆，而飈焚遍於宇宙；淺隙發於膚寸，而波濤漂乎四極。金城屠於庶寇，湯池航於一葦，勁銳望塵而冰泮，徵人倒戈而奔北，飛鋒薦於戶衣闥，左衽掠於禁省，禾黍生於廟堂，榛莠秀乎玉階，雲觀變為狐兔之藪，象魏化為虎豹之蹊，東序煙燼於委灰，生民火焦淪於淵火，兇家害國，得罪竹帛，良史無褒言，金石無德音。夫何哉夫人故也。

As for those of firm brightness and lofty conduct, pure in spirit and far in measure, who do not smirk to please nor bend words against the heart, who hold frost and tread snow, not joining wrongly for gain, resting on the Way and keeping the square, towering and apart from the herd—the wind however fierce does not bend the branch, the man however straitened does not change his rule, who advancing cuts faults with sharp words and mends lacks with remonstrance, and retiring holds true and shuts out the private, doing all he knows—such men were called (the base text here is corrupt and cannot be settled). Those who rise at dawn and sleep at night, withdraw to eat straight from the public task, labor and fret over gain and loss, spending all their strength on government—such men were called petty clerks and vulgar functionaries. Thereupon the clear-eyed, seeing the signs were not good, withdrew into hiding; the high and eminent tied their sacks and feigned folly; the distant and lowly took wing to choose their tree; the bound and held bent with the tide and hid at court; the knowing would not bring out their secret plans; the brave would not lend their steadfastness. The loyal and upright left and withdrew; the treacherous and violent had their will; the flood of wickedness overflowed beyond checking and the roads of falsehood opened beyond closing. It came to the point where those above were insulted and those below displaced, robbers and brigands were many, the eunuchs usurped the ruler's majesty, and the three excellencies and nine ministers died at the hands of common slaves. The loyal, worthy, and esteemed were called 'the partisans', imprisoned, seized, executed, and weeded; all under heaven groaned and cried; the guiltless and unoffending met calamity behind closed doors. A thread of smoke rose within the screen wall and the whirlwind burned the whole world; a hairline crack opened in a handspan and the billows drifted to the four ends. Metal walls were butchered by common brigands; moats of boiling water were crossed on a single reed; the keen and strong watched the dust and melted like ice; the levied men turned their spears and fled; flying blades rained upon the palace doors (the base text has a corrupt character); the left-lapelled plundered within the forbidden precincts; grain grew in the ancestral hall; thistles flowered on the jade steps; the cloud terraces became warrens of fox and hare; the twin towers became trails of tiger and leopard; the eastern hall smoldered into piled ash; the living people, charred and burned, sank into the abyss of fire. Houses ruined and states harmed, they offended against the bamboo and silk: the good historian had no word of praise, and metal and stone held no virtuous sound. Why was this? It was the doing of men.

抱朴子曰：吳之杪季，殊代同疾，知前疾之失於彼，不能改弦於此。鑑亂亡之未遠，而躡傾車之前軌，睹枳首之爭草母，而忘同身之禍，笑蟣蝨之宴安，不覺事異而患等。見競濟之舟沈，而不知殊途而溺均也。餘生於晉世所不見，餘師鄭君，具所親悉，每誨之云：吳之晚世，尤劇之病，賢者不用，滓穢棄序，紀綱馳紊，吞舟多漏。貢舉以厚貨者在前，官人以黨強者為右，匪富匪勢，窮年無冀。德清行高者，懷英逸而抑淪；有才有力者，躡雲物以官躋。主昏於上，臣欺於下，不黨不得，不競不進，背公之俗彌劇，正直之道遂壞。於是斥鴳因驚風以凌霄，朽舟托迅波而電邁，鴛鳳卷六翮於叢棘，鷁首滯潢汙而不擢矣。秉維之佐，牧民之吏，非母后之親，則阿諂之人也。進無補過拾遺之忠，退無聽訟之幹，虛談則口吐冰霜，行己則濁於泥潦。莫愧尸祿之刺，莫畏致戎之禍，以譭譽為蠶織，以威福代稼穡。車服則光可以鑑，豐屋則群鳥爰止。叱吒疾於雷霆，禍福速於鬼神，勢利傾於邦君，儲積富乎公室。出飾翟黃之衛從，入遊玉根之藻梲。僮僕成軍，閉門為市，牛羊掩原隰，田池布千里。有魚滄濯裘之儉，以竊趙宣平仲之名。內崇陶侃文信之訾，實有安昌董鄧之汙。雖造賓不沐嘉旨之俟，飢士不蒙升合之救，而金玉滿堂，妓妾溢房，商販千艘，腐谷萬庾，園囿擬上林，館第僭太極，梁肉餘於犬馬，積珍陷於帑藏。

Baopuzi said: The last age of Wu, though a different generation, had the same disease: knowing the former age's fault lay over there, they could not retune the strings here. The warning of ruin and loss was not far, yet they trod the ruts of the overturned carriage; seeing the two-headed snake fight in the weeds (the base text miswrites 'weeds'), they forgot that the same body's calamity, laughing at the lice at ease in their nest, not seeing that though the matter differs the mischief is the same. They saw the ferries sink as men fought to cross, yet did not know that drowning by different roads is the same drowning. I was born after the time the world of Jin had not seen, but my teacher Master Zheng knew it all at first hand and often taught me, saying: In Wu's late age the disease was fiercer still; the worthy were not used; the dregs and filth threw order away; the cords and rules slackened and tangled; the great fish slipped many a net. In sending up men they set the richly bribed in front; in staffing offices they put the strongly partied first; without wealth or pull, a whole lifetime held no hope. The pure in virtue and high in conduct, harboring surpassing talent, were pressed down and drowned; the men of means and pull walked up on clouds and vapor into office. The lord above was dim; the ministers below deceived; without forming a clique one could not get in; without competing one could not advance; the custom of betraying the public grew ever fiercer and the way of the upright thereupon broke. So the marsh quail borrowed the startled wind to mount the sky, and the rotten boat rode the swift wave at lightning speed; the simurgh and phoenix folded their six plumes among the thorny brush; the osprey-headed prow lay stranded in the standing water and could not be drawn out. The helpers who held the cords, the officers who shepherded the people, were all kin of the queen-mother or fawning men. Advancing, they had no loyal mending of faults and filling of gaps; retiring, they had no talent for hearing plaints. In empty talk their mouths breathed frost and ice; in their own conduct they were fouler than mire. They were not ashamed of the satire on idle salary, nor feared the calamity of bringing war; they wove slander and praise like silk, and sowed majesty and favor like grain. Their carriages and robes could outshine a man's gaze; in their great houses the birds flocked to roost. Their shouts were swifter than thunder; their fortunes and misfortunes quicker than ghosts and gods; their pull more toppling than a lord of state; their stores richer than the ducal house. Going out they were flanked by guards like Di Huang's; within they roamed beneath carved beams upon jade roots. Their servants made an army; behind closed doors they kept a market; their cattle and sheep hid the plains; their fields and ponds covered a thousand li. They had the thrift of fish for supper and washed furs, to steal the name of Zhao Xuan and Pingzhong; within they piled wealth like Tao Kan and Wenxin, while in truth they had the filth of Anchang, Dong, and Deng. Though a visiting guest got no kind word and a starving scholar no spoonful of relief, their halls were full of gold and jade, their chambers overflowing with singing girls and concubines; a thousand merchant barges, ten thousand rotting granaries; parks rivaling Shanglin, mansions topping the Supreme Pole; meat from the grain fed the dogs and horses, and heaped treasure sank in the vaults.

其接士也，無葭莩之薄；其自奉也，有盡理之厚。或有不開律令之篇卷，而竊大理之位；不識几案之所置，而處機要之職；不知五經之名目，而饗儒官之祿；不閒尺紙之寒暑，而坐著作之地。筆不狂簡，而受駁議之榮；低眉垂翼，而充奏劾之選；不辯人物之精粗，而委以品藻之政；不知三才之軍勢，而軒昂節蓋之下；屢為奔北之辱將，而不失前鋒之顯號；不別菠麥之同異，而忝叨顧問之近任。夫魚質龍文，似是而非，遭水而喜，見獺即悲，雖臨之以斧鋮之威，誘之以傾城之寶，猶不能奪鉛鋒於犀兕，聘駑蹇以追風，非不忌重誅也，非不悅美賞也，體不可力，無自奈何，而欲與之輯熙百揆，弘濟大務，猶托萬鈞於尺舟之上，求千鍾於升合之中，紲芻狗而責盧鵲之效，構雞駑而崇鷹揚之功，其不可用，亦較然矣！

In receiving gentlemen they had no feeling thin as a reed membrane; in keeping themselves they had thickness to the full extent of the possible. Some had never unrolled the scrolls of the statutes, yet stole the seat of chief justice; some could not tell where to set a desk, yet held the pivotal posts; some did not know the names of the Five Classics, yet enjoyed the stipends of the learned offices; some had never handled a foot of paper through cold and heat, yet sat in the place of composition. Their brushes never ran wild yet they basked in the glory of counter-opinions; drooping-browed and droop-winged they filled the roll of impeachment; unable to tell the fine from the coarse in men, they were entrusted with the work of grading; ignorant of the three powers of army formation, they strutted beneath the standards of command; repeatedly routed generals, they still kept the shining title of vanguard; unable to tell beans from wheat (the base text miswrites 'beans'), they usurped the near offices of counsel. Fish substance in dragon pattern, seeming yet not so: glad at the sight of water, grieving at the sight of the otter. Bring down on them the awe of the axe, tempt them with the treasure of a fallen city—still you cannot make a leaden point into rhinoceros steel, nor make a nag chase the wind. It is not that they do not dread heavy execution, nor that they do not delight in fine reward—it is that the frame cannot be changed by force; they have no help for it. To wish then to set them to harmonize the hundred offices and carry through the great work is like loading ten thousand jun on a foot-long boat, seeking a thousand zhong within a peck, tethering a straw dog and demanding the work of Lu and Que, rearing chickens and nags and exalting the merit of the soaring eagle—that they cannot be used is plain enough to see!

吳主不此之思，不加夕惕，佞諂凡庸，委以重任，危機急於弓廣弩，亡徵著於日月，而自謂安於峙嶽，唐虞可仰也。目力疲於綺粲，而不以覽庶事之得失；耳聰盡於淫音，而不以證獻言之邪正；谷帛靡於不爭，而不以賑戰士之凍餒；心神悅於愛媚，而不以念存亡之弘理。蓋輕乎崇替之源，而忽乎宗廟之重者也。

The lord of Wu gave no thought to these things and kept no evening vigilance; he charged the fawning and mediocre with weighty tasks, though the peril was as urgent as a drawn crossbow (the base text miswrites the character) and the signs of ruin stood out like the sun and moon—yet he fancied himself as firm as a towering peak, with Tang and Yu within sight. His eyes were worn out on brocade splendors, yet not used to read the gains and losses of the many affairs; his ears were spent on wanton music, yet not used to test the crooked and straight of counsel offered; grain and silk were lavished on what did not press (the base text miswrites the word), yet not used to relieve the soldiers' hunger and cold; his heart rejoiced in favorites and charmers, yet was not used to ponder the great principles of survival and ruin. This was to make light of the source of rise and fall and neglect the weight of the ancestral temples.

鄭君又稱，其師左先生隱居天柱，出不營祿利，不友諸侯，然心願太平，竊憂桑梓，乃慨然永嘆於蓬屋之下，告其門生曰：“漢必被耀，黃精載起，纘樞紐於太微，回紫蓋於鶉首。聯天理物，光宅東夏，惠風被於區外，玄澤洽乎宇內。重譯接武，貢楛盈庭，蕩蕩巍巍，格於上下，承平守文，因循甚易，而五絃謐響，南風不詠，上不獲恭己之逸，下不聞康哉之歌。飛龍翔而不集，淵虯蟠而不躍，騶虞翳於冥昧，朱華牙而未秀，陰陽相沴，寒燠繆節，七政告兇，陵谷易所，殷雷車訇磕。於龍潛之月，凝霜肅殺乎朱明之運。玉燭不照，沈醴不湧，郊聲多壘，嘉生不遂夫豈他哉誠由四凶不去，元凱不舉，用者不賢，賢者不用也。

Master Zheng also told how his own teacher, Master Zuo, lived in retirement on Mount Tianzhu; he came down from the mountain never seeking place or profit and made no friends among the lords, yet his heart longed for great peace and he grieved in secret for his homeland. So in his thatched hut he sighed long and told his disciples: "Han is sure to have its brightness eclipsed; the yellow essence is about to rise, taking up the pivot in the Grand Tenuity, and then turning the purple canopy round upon eastern Wu. Joining heaven's order and managing things, its light will dwell over eastern Xia; its kind winds will reach beyond the borders and its dark bounty soak all within. Envoys through double interpreters will tread on one another's heels, and ku arrows will fill the court in tribute; vast and towering, it will reach above and below. But to hold a level peace and keep to the letters, continuing what is easiest—yet the five strings will hush and the south wind go unsung; above, he will not gain the ease of reverent self; below, the song of health will not be heard. The flying dragon soars yet does not alight; the dragon of the deep coils yet does not leap; the zouyu is veiled in darkness; the vermilion flower sprouts yet does not bloom. Yin and yang war upon each other; cold and heat confuse their seasons; the seven governors foretell ill; hills and valleys change places; the rumbling thunder crashes and rolls. In the month when the dragon hides, congealing frost lays its killing on the course of the vermilion brightness. The jade candle does not shine; the sweet spring does not well; the fields are full of ramparts (the base text miswrites 'fields'); the good growth does not thrive. Is this for any other cause? It is truly because the Four Malefactors are not removed and the Yuan and Kai not raised; the men used are not the worthy, and the worthy are not used."

“然高概遠量，被褐懷玉，守靜潔志，無慾於物，藏路淵洿，得意遺世，非禮不動，非時不見，困而無悶，窮而不悔，樂天任命，混一榮辱，進無悅色，退無戚容者，固有伏死乎雍瓦牖，安肯沽炫以進趨，揭其不貲之寶，以競燕石之售哉！孔墨之道，昔曾不行，孟軻揚雄，亦居困否，有德無時，有自來耳。世無離朱，皂白混焉。時乏管青，騏蹇糅焉。礫積於金匱，瑾瑤委乎溝洫，匠石緬而遐淪，梓豫忽而莫識，已矣，悲夫！我生不辰，弗先弗後，將見吳土之化為晉哉，南民之變成北隸也。”言猶在耳，而孫氏輿櫬。

(Master Zuo went on:) 'Yet those of high bearing and far reach, wearing coarse wool and holding jade within, keeping stillness and a pure will, having no desires toward things, hiding their tracks in the deep pools, contented and leaving the world behind, never moving except by the rites, never appearing except in season, in straits without gloom, in want without regret, rejoicing in heaven and accepting fate, blending honor and disgrace into one, advancing without a pleased look, retiring without a grieved face—such men may indeed die hidden in a hut with a jar for a window (the base text reads "yong wa you," "yong wa" being an error for "weng"); how could they hawk and display themselves to press forward, bringing out that priceless treasure to compete in selling it as Yen stones! The way of Confucius and Mozi once did not prevail; Meng Ke and Yang Xiong also sat in straits. To have virtue without the time has been so from of old. When the world has no Lizhu, black and white run confused; when the age lacks a Guan Qing, the qiji and the worn nag are mingled. Gravel is heaped in the golden coffer; jasper and jade are cast into the ditches; the stone-mason has sunk far away; the catalpa and the yu go suddenly unrecognized—enough, how sad! I was born out of season, neither early nor late; I shall see the soil of Wu turned into Jin, the southern folk become northern slaves.' His words were still in my ears when the house of Sun had already brought out its coffin.

抱朴子聞之曰：二君之言，可為來戒。故錄於篇，欲後代知有吳失國，匪降自天也。若苟諱國惡，纖芥不貶，則董狐無貴於直筆，賈誼將受譏於過秦乎！

Baopuzi, hearing these things, said: The two lords' words may serve as a warning to later times. Therefore I have recorded them in this chapter, wishing posterity to know that Wu's loss of the state did not descend from heaven. If one carelessly conceals the state's evils and does not censure so much as a hair, then Donghu's straight brush has nothing left to be prized, and Jia Yi would be scorned for his Faulting of Qin!

抱朴子曰：餘友人有潛居先生者，慕寢丘之莫爭，簡塉土以葺宇，銳精藝文，意忽學稼，屢失有年，飢色在顏。或人難曰：“天知禮在廩實，施博由乎貨豐，高出於有餘，儉生乎不足。故十千美於詩人，食貨首乎八政。躬稼基克配之業，耦耕有不改之樂。奇士之居也，進則侶鴻鸞以振翮，退則叄陶白之理生，仕必霸王，居必千金，是以昔人必科膏壤以分利，勤四體以稼穡，播原菽之與與，茂嘉蔬之翼翼，收麰秬之千倉，積我庾之惟億，出連騎以遊畋，入侯服而玉食。而先王之宅此也，亢陽則出谷颺塵，重陰則滔天凌丘，陸無含秀之苗，水無吐穗之株，稗糲曠於圌廩，薪爨廢於庖廚。怡爾執待兔之志，坦然無去就之謨。吾恐首陽之事，必見於今；丹山之困，可立而須。人為子寒心，子何晏然而弗憂也夫睹機而不作，不可以言明，安土而不移，眾庶之常事，豈玩鮑者忘蘭，而大迷者易性乎！何先生未寤之久也鄙人惑焉，不識所謂。夫兗冕非御鋒鏑之服，典誥非救飢寒之具也。胡不視沃衍於四郊，躬田畯之良業，舍六藝之迂闊，收萬箱以賑乏乎”

Baopuzi said: Among my friends is Master Qianju, who admired that at Qinqiu no one contended, and chose poor soil on which to build his house. He is keen at letters and arts; his mind neglects the study of farming. Year after year he has missed his crop, and the look of hunger is on his face. Someone chided him, saying: 'You must know the rites depend on full granaries; wide giving comes of rich goods; the high grows out of surplus, frugality is born of want. So the beauty of ten thousand sheaves was seen by the poet, and food and goods head the eight tasks. Ploughing in person is the root of a work matching heaven; ploughing side by side holds a joy that does not alter. Where a remarkable man dwells: advancing, he companions the swan and the simurgh and beats his wings; retiring, he joins the husbandry-of-life of Tao Zhu and Bai Gui; in office he surely aids the work of hegemon and king; at home he surely holds a thousand gold. Thus the men of old always chose rich soil to share the profit, toiled their four limbs at sowing and reaping, sowed the thick-standing beans of the plain, grew the close-ranked fine greens, reaped a thousand stores of barley and dark millet, stacked my granaries by the hundred million; going out they rode in file to hunt, coming in they wore a marquis's garb and ate on jade. But you, sir, dwell here (the base text reads "xian wang," "wang" being an error for "sheng"): in blazing sun the valleys spew up dust, in long rain the floods top the hills; on land no seedling bears a flower, on water no stem puts forth an ear; tares and husks empty your granaries, firewood and cooking cease in your kitchen. Cheerful, you cling to the stump-watcher's resolve; easy, you have no plan of staying or going. I fear the affair of Shouyang is sure to be seen today, and the straits of Danshan can be stood and awaited. Men shiver for you—why are you so calm and unworried? To see the moment and not act cannot be called clear; to rest in the soil and not move is the way of the common crowd—have those who play with abalone forgotten the orchid, have the greatly deluded changed their nature! Why have you been so long unawakened, sir? I am perplexed and do not know what to make of it. A ceremonial cap is no garb to fend off blade and arrow; canon and code are no tool to cure hunger and cold. Why not look at the rich fields beyond the walls, do the field-officer's good work yourself, set aside the far-ranging Six Arts, and gather ten thousand bins to relieve your want?'

潛居先生曰：“夫聵者不可督之以分雅鄭，瞽者不可責之以別丹漆，井蛙不可語以滄海，庸俗不可說以經術。吾子苟知老農之小功，未喻面牆之巨拙，何異拾瑣沙而捐隋和，向炯燭而背白日也。夫好尚不可以一概杚，趨舍不可以彼我易也。夫欲隮閬風陟嵩華者，必不留行於丘垤；意在乎遊南溟，泛滄滄海者，豈暇逍遙於潢洿。是以注清聽於九韶者，巴人之聲不能悅其耳；烹大牢饗方丈者，荼蓼之味不能甘其口。鵾鵬戾赤霄以高翔，鶺鴒傲蓬林以鼓翼，洿隆殊途，亦飛之極。晦朔甚促，朝菌不識。蜉蝣忽忽於寸陰，野馬六月而後息，鰷鮒氾濫以暴鱗，靈虯勿用乎不測，行業乖舛，意何可得。餘雖草梨餐之不充，而足於鼎食矣。

Master Qianju said: 'A deaf man cannot be charged with telling Ya from Zheng; a blind man cannot be asked to tell cinnabar from lacquer; a frog in a well cannot be told of the gray sea; the vulgar cannot be spoken to of the arts of the classics. You know only the small merit of the old farmer, and have not grasped the great clumsiness of facing the wall—how does it differ from picking up pebbles and dropping the Marquis of Sui's pearl and Bian He's jade, from facing a bright candle with your back to the white sun? Taste cannot be scraped level to a single mark; coming and going cannot be traded between you and me. One who would climb the Langfeng and mount Song and Hua surely does not linger his steps on a molehill; one whose aim is to roam the southern deeps and float the gray sea—where would he find leisure to idle in a ditch-pool? Thus one who pours his clear hearing into the Nine Shao—the songs of the Ba folk cannot please his ear; one who feasts on tailao and tables of ten spans—the taste of bitter herbs cannot be sweet to his mouth. The kun and the peng rise to the red sky and soar on high; the wagtail flaps its wings in smugness in the bramble wood; the hollow and the height are different roads, yet each is the utmost of flight. Dawn and dark come close together—the morning fungus does not know them. The mayfly flits through an inch of light; the wild steed rests only after six months; the minnow sprawls its scales in the shallows; the numinous dragon finds no use in the unfathomable; trades and callings conflict—how can their intents be had? Though my fare of goosefoot does not fill me (the base text reads "cao li can," "cao li" being an error for "li"), toward the tripod-feast I am already full.'

故列子不以其乏，而貪鄭陽之祿，曾叄不以其貧，而易晉楚之富。“夫收微言於將墜者，周孔之遐武也，情孳孳以為利者，孟叟之罪人也。造遠者莫能兼通於岐路，有為者莫能並舉於耕學，體瘁而神豫，亦何病於居約且又處塉則勞，勞則不學清而清至矣。居沃則逸，逸則不學奢而奢來矣。清者，福之所集也；奢者，禍之所赴也。福集，則雖微可著，雖衰可興焉；禍赴，則雖強可弱，雖存可亡焉。此不期而必會，不招而自來者也。故君子欲正其末，必端其本；欲輟其流，則遏其源。故道德之功建，而侈靡之門閉矣。姜望至德而佃不復種，重華大聖而漁不償網，然後玉璜表營丘之祚，大功有二十之高，何必譏之以惰懶，而察才以相士乎！夫二人分財，取少為廉，餘今讓天下之豐沃，處茲邦之偏埆，舍安昌之膏腴，取北郭之無慾，誠萬物之可細，亦何往而不足哉！北辰以不改為眾星之尊，五嶽以不遷為群望之宗。蟋蟀屢移而不貴，禽魚饜深則逢患。方將墾九典之蕪草歲，播六德之嘉穀，厥田邈於上士之科，其收盈乎天地之間。何必耕耘為務哉！昔被衣以棄財止盜，庚氏以推譬厲貪，琉廣散金以除子孫之禍，叔敖取塉以弭可欲之憂，牛缺以載珍致寇，陶谷以多藏召殃。得失較然，可無鑑乎！”

(Master Qianju went on:) 'Thus Liezi did not, for his want, covet the emolument of Zhengyang; Zengshen did not, for his poverty (the base text reads "Zengsan," "san" being an error for "shen"), trade for the wealth of Jin and Chu. To gather the subtle words of what is about to fall—that is the far track of Zhou and Confucius; a heart busy for profit—that is the criminal of old Meng. One bound far cannot ride both forks of the road; a man of doing cannot join ploughing and learning. The body may be worn yet the spirit at ease—what ill is there in dwelling poor? Moreover, dwelling on poor soil one toils, and toiling, without learning purity, purity arrives of itself; dwelling on rich soil one idles, and idling, without learning luxury, luxury comes of itself. Purity is where blessing gathers; luxury is where calamity heads. When blessing gathers, even the slight may show, even the fading may rise; when calamity heads, even the strong may weaken, even the standing may fall. This comes without summons and meets without appointment. So the noble man, wishing to set his branches right, must set his root straight; wishing to stop the stream, dams its source. Thus the work of the Way and virtue is established and the gate of waste and luxury is shut. Jiang Wang had utmost virtue and tilled a field he did not replant; Chonghua had great holiness and fished where the net was not repaid—and then the jade huang showed the fief of Yingqiu and the great merit stood twenty high—why fault him as idle, or spy out talent in a physiognomist! When two men divide goods, he who takes the less is clean; now I yield the rich and fertile of the whole world and dwell in the far corner of this land, leave the fertile fields of Anchang and take the desireless of the northern wall—truly I feel the myriad things can all be seen as small; whither would I go and not have enough? The northern pole, by not changing, is honored of the many stars; the five peaks, by not moving, are heads of all the peaks. The cricket moves often and is not prized; fowl and fish, sated in the deep, meet with harm. Now I must clear the weeds from the Nine Canons and sow the fine grain of the Six Virtues—that field is farther than the upper officer's allotment, and its harvest fills the space between heaven and earth—why should I busy myself with ploughing and weeding! Of old, Bei Yi stopped robbery by casting off wealth; Master Geng curbed greed by giving away the jade (the base text reads "tui pi," "pi" being an error for "bi"); Shu Guang scattered his gold to avert his sons' and grandsons' calamity (the base text reads "Liu Guang," "liu" being an error for "shu"); Shu'ao took the poor plot to melt the worry of the desirable; Niu Que drew robbers by carrying treasure; Tao Zhu called down calamity by hoarding much (the base text reads "Tao Gu," likely "Tao Zhu"). The reckoning of gain and loss stands plain—can one not take warning!'

於是問者抑然，良久口張而不能嗑，首俯而不能仰。慨而嗟乎，始悟立不朽之言者，不以產業汨和，追下帷之績者，不以窺園涓目。子以臭雛之甘呼鴛鳳，擗蟹之計要猛虎，豈不陋乎！鄙哉，子之不夙知也！

Then the questioner shrank; for a long while his mouth hung open and would not close, his head bent and would not rise. Sighing deeply, he first awoke: a man who sets down words that do not rot does not muddy his concord with property; a man who pursues the work behind the lowered curtain does not thin his eyes by peeping at gardens. You would call the simurgh with the sweetness of a stinking chick, and bargain with a fierce tiger by the reckoning of splitting crabs—is that not mean! Crude man—you did not know it sooner!

抱朴子曰：昔漢火寢耀，龍戰虎爭，九有幅裂，三家鼎據。有樂天先生者，避地蓬轉，播流岷益，始處暱於文休，末見知於孔明。而言高行方，獨立不群，時人憚焉，莫之或與。時二公之力，不能違眾，遂令斯生沈抑衡蓽，齒漸桑榆，而韋布不改。而時主思賢，不聞不知；當途之士，莫舉莫貢。潛側武之陋巷，竄繩樞之蓬屋，進廢經世之務，退忘治生之車，草梨餐屢空，朝不謀夕。

Baopuzi said: In former days, when the fire of Han slept its blaze and dragons warred and tigers strove, the nine provinces split like cloth and three houses stood as a tripod. There was Master Letian, who fled the land like a tumbleweed's turn and drifted to Min and Yi; at first he was close with Wenxiu, at last he was known and used by Kongming. Yet his speech was lofty and his conduct square; standing alone, companionless, the men of the time feared him and none kept company with him. Then the two lords' strength could not go against the crowd, so this gentleman was pressed down beneath a beam-gate and a wicker door; as the years drew toward sunset he did not change his plain cloth. Though the lord of the time thought on worthies, he neither heard nor knew of him; the officers on the road neither raised nor presented him. Hidden in a mean lane like Yan's and Yuan's, crouched in a thatch hut with a cord for a hinge, advancing he left off the work of ordering the age, retiring he forgot the cart of husbanding life; his fare of goosefoot was often empty (the base text reads "cao li," an error for "li"), and in the morning he did not plan for the evening.

於是偶俗公子造而詰之，曰：’蓋聞有伊呂之才者，不久滯於窮賤；懷猗頓之術者，不長處於飢寒。達者貴其知變，智士驗乎不匱。故範生出則滅吳霸越，為命世之佐；入則貨殖營生，累萬金之貲。天貧在六極，富在五福，《詩》美加可矣，

Then a worldly-minded young lord came to his gate and challenged him, saying: 'I have heard that one who has the gifts of an Yi or a Lü does not long stagnate in poor and lowly estate, and that one who holds the art of Yidun does not long stay in hunger and cold. The accomplished prize a man for knowing change; the wise officer is proved by not running short. So Master Fan, going out, destroyed Wu and made Yue lord, becoming the aid of an age-making work; coming in, he dealt in goods and ran his living, amassing a fortune of ten thousand gold. Heaven places poverty among the six extremities and wealth among the five blessings; the Odes praise added meals,'

《易》貴聚人，垂餌香則鱔鮪來，懸賞厚則果毅奮，長卿所以解犢鼻而擁朱旄，曲逆所以下席扉而享茅土，不韋所以食十萬之邑，張侯所以拔囹圄之困也。故下鄉儉而獲悔咎之辰，漂嫗豐而蒙千金之報。先生無少伯之奇略，專銳思乎六經，忽絕米長之實禍，慕不朽之虛名，恥詭遇以干祿，羞炫沽以要榮，冀西伯之畋，俟黃河之將清。甘列子之菜色，邈全神而遺形，何異圖畫騏驥，以代徒行之勞；遙指海水，以解口焦之渴；張魚網於峻極之巔；施鈞緡於修木之末；雖自以為得所，猶未免乎迂闊也。事無身後之功，物無違時之盛。今海內瓜分，英雄力競，象恭滔天，猾夏放命，駑蹇星馳以兼路，豺狼奮口而交爭。當途投袂以訟屈，素士蒙塵以履徑，純儒釋皇道而治五霸之術，碩生棄四科而恤月旦之評。筐篚實者，進於草萊；乏資地者，退於朝廷；握黃白者，排金門而陟玉堂，誦方策者，結世讎而委泥濘；贄幣濃者，瓦石成珪璋；請託薄者，龍駿棄林垧；黨援多者，偕驚飈以凌雲；交結狹者，侶踴鱉以沈泳。

(the young lord went on:) 'the Changes prizes gathering men. When the trailing bait is fragrant, the eel and the sturgeon come; when the offered reward is rich, the bold and resolute rise. This is why Changqing cast off the calf-nose apron and embraced the vermilion feathers; why Quni left the rush-mat hut and enjoyed fiefed earth; why Büwei ate a city of a hundred thousand; why the marquis Zhang was pulled out of the straits of the gaol. So the village's thrift won the hour of regret, and the washerwoman's plenty received a thousand gold in return. You, sir, lack Shaobo's rare designs; you whet your thoughts solely on the Six Classics, ignoring the real calamity of having no grain, coveting the empty name of not rotting, ashamed to meet by crooked ways to seek a salary, blushing to hawk for honor; you hope for Xibo's hunt, waiting for the Yellow River to clear. Content with Liezi's hungry hue, aloof, keeping the spirit whole and leaving the form behind—how does it differ from drawing a qiji to spare the labor of walking, pointing afar at sea-water to ease a parched thirst, stretching a fish-net at the sheer summit, or laying a fishing-line at a tall tree's tip? Though you may think yourself well placed, it is still nothing but far-fetched. No deed has merit behind one's back; no thing flourishes against the time. Now all within the seas is carved apart; heroes vie in strength; mask-like reverence floods the sky; the crafty trouble the Xia lands and fling orders about; the worn nags speed like stars along the roads; jackals and wolves bare their fangs and fight across one another. Those in office fling up their sleeves to plead the wronged; plain scholars trail in dust to run the back-lanes; pure Ru set aside the august way to ply the five hegemons' arts; great scholars cast off the four disciplines to fret over the month's appraisals. He whose baskets are full is advanced out of the weeds; he who lacks means and standing is dismissed from the court; he who grasps gold and silver pushes through the golden gate to mount the jade hall; he who recites the slips and tablets gathers lifelong enmity and is cast in the mud; he whose gift-silks are thick—tile and stone turn to jade and scepter; he whose pleading is thin—the dragon-steed is cast off in the waste; he whose partisans are many mounts the gale to ride the clouds; he whose friendships are narrow companions the leaping turtle to sink and swim.'

夫丸泥已不能遏彭蠡之沸騰，獨賢亦焉能反流遁之失正今先生入無儋石之儲，出無束脩之調。徒含章如龍鳳，被文如虎豹，吐之如波濤，陳之如錦繡，而凍餓於環堵，何計疏之可吊奚不泛輕舟以托迅，御飛帆以遠之。交瑰貨於朔南，收金碧於九疑。迪崔烈之遐武，縻好爵於清時徒疲勞於述作，豈蟬蛻之有期也獨苦身以為名，乃黃老之所蚩也！”

(the young lord went on:) 'A ball of mud can no longer dam Pengli's boiling; how can one lone worthy turn back the drift and loss of right? Now you, sir, at home have not a bushel's store, abroad not a bundle-of-dried-meat's fee. You hold a pattern within like dragon and phoenix, wear a sheen like tiger and leopard, breathe out like billows, lay out like brocade—yet freeze and starve within your ring of walls; how far your plans fall short—worthy of tears! Why not float a light boat to ride the swift current, drive a flying sail to go far, trade rare goods in south and north, gather gold and jade at Jiuyi? Follow the far tracks of Cui Lie; tether a fine title in a clear age. To toil only at composing—the cicada's shedding has no fixed date. Alone you torment your body for a name—this is what Huang-Lao laughs at!'

樂天先生答曰：“六藝備研，八索必該。斯則富矣，振翰摛藻，德音無窮，斯則貴矣。求仁仁至，舍旃焉如。夫棲重淵以頤靈，外萬物而自得，遺紛埃於險途，澄精神於玄默。不窺牖以遐覽，判微言而靡惑。雖復設之以臺鼎，猶確爾而弗革也。曷肯憂貧而與賈豎爭利，戚窮而與凡瑣競達哉！吾子苟知商販可以崇寶，耕也可以免飢，不識逐麋者不顧兔，道遠者其到遲也。且夫尚父之鼓刀，素首乃吐奇也；萬鈞之為重，沖飈不能移；簫韶未九成，靈鳥紆儀也。是以俟扶搖而登蒼霄者，不棄詘於蓬蒿之杪；騁蘭筋以陟六萬者，不爭途乎蹇驢之群。大孝必畏辱親之險，故子春戰悸於下堂；上智不貴難得之財，故唐虞捐金而抵譬。明哲消禍於未來，知士聞利則慮害，而吾子言凡僕以泛舟，孳孳於潤屋，勸隋珠之彈雀，控虎口以奪肉，輕遺體於不測，觸重險以遠至，忘髮膚之明戒，尋乾沒於難冀。若夫焚輸傾巖，木拔石飛，陽侯山峙，洪濤山罪巍，輕艘塵漂，力與心違，從嗟泣而罔逮，乃悟達者之見微也。

Master Letian answered: 'The Six Arts prepared and studied, the Eight Suos surely complete—this is wealth; to spread the quill and scatter the ornament, the sound of virtue without end—this is honor. Seek humaneness and humaneness comes—leave this and whither would one go? To lodge in the deep abyss and nourish the numen, to set the myriad things outside and be content in oneself, to cast off the turmoil upon the steep road, to settle the spirit in the dark silence; without peeping through the window, to see far; to discern subtle words unconfused. Though they set me up again with the tripod-thrones, I would stay firm and unchanging. How could I grieve at poverty and wrangle over profit with petty traders, sorrow at want and contest advancement with the common and mean! You know only that trading can exalt treasure and ploughing can spare hunger; you do not know that one chasing an elk does not mind a hare, and one whose road is long arrives late. Moreover, the Lord-on-high drummed the knife and only in white-haired age uttered the rare; a weight of ten thousand jun—the gale cannot move it; the xiao and shao not yet in nine parts, and the numinous bird turned back to grace it. So one who waits for the whirlwind to mount the blue sky does not cast himself off for the bent tip of a weed; one who gallops on orchid-sinews to mount the six directions does not wrangle for the road with a herd of lame donkeys. Great filiality must fear the risk of shaming the parent—so Zichun trembled on leaving the hall; highest wisdom does not prize hard-won goods—so Tang-Yu threw away the gold and cast aside the jade (the base text reads "di pi," "pi" being an error for "bi"). The clear and wise extinguish calamity before it forms; the knowing officer hears profit and thinks of harm—yet you teach me to float a boat and busy myself at fattening a house, urge me to take a Sui pearl to shoot at sparrows, reach into a tiger's mouth to snatch its meat, fling the body my father and mother left me into the unfathomable, brave the deep perils to arrive afar, forget the bright warning of hair and skin, and chase luck in what can hardly be hoped. As for the whirlwind toppling cliffs, trees torn up and stones flying, the earl of the waves standing mountain-high, the towering flood-waves (the base text's graphs are corrupt here)—the light skiff drifts like dust, strength and will at odds, and then the sighs and tears come too late—only then does one awake to see that the far-seeing man knows the first sign.'

“昔回憲以清苦稱高，陳平以無金免危，廣漢以好利喪身，牛缺以載寶灰糜。匹夫枉死於懷璧，豐狐召災於美皮。今吾子督餘以誨盜之業，敦餘以召賊之策，進鴆酒以獻酬，慧養壽之忠益。夫士以三墳為金玉，五典為琴箏，講肄為鍾鼓，百家為笙簧，使味道者以辭飽，酣德者以義醒，超流俗以高蹈，軼億代以揚聲，方長驅以獨往，何貨賄之穢情。夫藏多者亡厚，好謙者忌盈，含夜光者速剖，循覆車者必傾，過載者沈其舟，欲勝者殺其生。蓋下士所用心，上德所未營也。”於是問者蕩然自失，請備門生之末編，永寶長生之良方焉。

(Master Letian went on:) 'Of old Yan Hui and Yuan Xian were called lofty for their clear hardship; Chen Ping escaped danger for having no gold; Guanghan lost his body for loving gain; Niu Que was ground to dust for carrying treasure. The common man dies wrongly for holding the jade; the rich-coated fox draws calamity for its fine hide. Now you press me to ply the trade of teaching robbery, urge me to use the ploy of summoning thieves, proffer the wine of the zhen as a toast—yet think it the loyal benefit of nourishing my years (the base text reads "hui," an error for "hui"). The officer holds the Three Mounds for gold and jade, the Five Canons for lute and zither, discoursing and practicing for bells and drums, the hundred schools for reed and flute; he lets those who taste the Way grow full on phrases, and those who drink deep of virtue wake upon rightness; he strides beyond the common current on high, outruns a hundred million ages to lift his voice; now he must drive on far and alone—what are the foul feelings of goods and bribes to him! Who stores much loses thick; who loves humility dreads the full; who holds the night-gleam is quickly cut open; who follows the overturned cart must overturn; who overloads sinks his boat; who lets desire win kills his life. This is roughly the heart the low officer uses, and what the highest virtue never worked at.' Then the questioner, shaken and lost, begged to be listed last among the disciples and to treasure forever this good recipe for long life.

抱朴子曰：門人共論仁明之先後，各據所見，乃以諮餘。餘告之曰：“三光華象者乾也，厚載無窮者坤也，乾有仁而兼明，坤有仁而無明。卑高之數，不以邈乎！夫唯聖人，與天合德。故唐堯以欽明冠典，仲尼以明義首篇。明明在上，元首之尊稱也。明哲保身，大雅之絕蹤也。蟲口月飛蠕動，亦能有仁。故其意愛弘於長育，哀傷著於啁噍。然赴坑阱而無猜，入罻羅而不覺。有仁無明，故並趨禍而攸失熾，潛景以易咀生，結棟宇以免巢穴，選禾稼以代毒烈，製衣裳以改裸飾。後舟楫以濟不通，服牛馬以息負步，序等威以鎮禍亂，造器械以戒不虞，創書契以治百官，制禮律以肅風教，皆大明之所為，非偏人之所能辯也。

Baopuzi said: My disciples once debated together whether humaneness or discernment comes first, each holding to what he saw, and so they came to ask me. I told them: 'What displays the three lights is Qian; what bears thick without end is Kun. Qian has humaneness and discernment together; Kun has humaneness and no discernment. The measure of low and high—is it not very far! Only the sage joins in virtue with heaven. Thus Tang Yao headed the canon with reverent discernment, and Zhongni made the discerning of rightness his first chapter. Bright on high is the honored title of the head; discerning to keep oneself whole is the lost track of the Greater Odes. Even crawling, wriggling things (the base text's graphs are corrupt; read as "ruan") can have humaneness. So their care is broad in rearing, and their grief shows in their cries; yet they rush to the pitfall without doubt and enter the net-works unaware. Having humaneness without discernment, they run to ruin together. [A passage in the base text is corrupt and lost; it is recorded here awaiting collation.] They built roof-beams to leave the nest and cave behind, chose the grains to replace the venomous, made clothes to put off nakedness. Later they made boats to cross the impassable, yoked oxen and horses to ease burdens on foot, ordered ranks of awe to quell calamity and disorder, fashioned tools to guard against the unforeseen, created written tallies to order the hundred offices, and made rites and laws to solemnize custom and teaching—all this is the work of great discernment, not anything a one-sided man could manage.'

“夫心不違仁而明不經國，危亡之禍，無以杜遏，亦可知矣。夫料盛衰於未兆，探機事於無形，指倚伏於理外，距浸潤於根生者，明之功也。垂惻隱於昆蟲，雖見犯而不校，睹觳觫而改牲，避行葦而不蹈者，仁之事也。爾則明者才也，行者行也。殺身成仁之行可力為，而至鑑玄測幽之明難亡假。精粗之分，居然殊矣。夫體不忍之仁，無臧否之明，則心惑偽真，神亂朱紫，思算不分，邪正不識。不遠安危，則一身之不保，何暇立以濟物乎！昔姬公非無友於之愛，而涕泣以滅親；石石昔非無天性之慈，而割私以奉公。蓋明見事體，不溺近情，遂為純臣。以義斷恩，舍仁用明，以計抑仁，仁可時廢而明不可無也。湯武逆取順守，誠不仁也。應天革命，以其明也。徐偃修仁以朝同班，外墜城池之險，內無戈甲之備，亡國破家，不明之禍也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) 'That a heart not contrary to humaneness yet lacking discernment cannot order a state, and that the calamity of peril and ruin cannot be dammed—this too can be known. To reckon rise and fall before they show, to probe the workings before they form, to point out leaning and resting beyond the pattern, to ward off the seeping at the root where it grows—this is the work of discernment. To stretch pity even to insects, to make no reckoning even when offended, to change the victim at seeing the trembling, to step aside from the reeds on the path—this is the business of humaneness. Thus discernment is capacity, and conduct is conduct. The deed of dying to perfect humaneness can be done by strength; but the discernment of the utmost mirror and dark sounding is hard to borrow. The difference of fine and coarse stands plainly apart. One whose nature holds an unbearing humaneness but lacks the discernment of good and bad will have a heart confused between false and true, a spirit that mixes vermilion and purple, thought without measure, no telling of crooked from straight. Unable to see far to safety and danger, he cannot keep even one body whole—what leisure has he to rise and aid things! Of old the Duke of Zhou was not without brotherly love, yet he wept and destroyed his kin; Shi Que was not without a parent's tenderness (the base text reads "shi xi," "xi" being an error for "que"), yet he cut the private to serve the public. Both saw the body's frame with discernment, not drowning in near feeling, and so became pure ministers. They cut feeling by rightness, set aside humaneness to use discernment, suppressed humaneness by reckoning—humaneness can be laid aside for a moment; discernment cannot be lacking. Tang and Wu took in defiance and kept in compliance—truly inhumane. Answering heaven and making the revolution—they used their discernment. Xu Yan cultivated humaneness to court his peers; without, he lost the steepness of walls; within, he lacked the readiness of spear and armor; state ruined and house destroyed—this is the calamity of undiscernment.'

門人曰：“仲尼嘆仁為任重而道遠，又云，人而不仁如禮何若聖與仁，則吾豈敢！

The disciples said: 'Zhongni sighed that humaneness is a heavy charge and a long road, and also said, if a man is not humane, what has he to do with the rites? As for sagehood and humaneness—how dare I aspire to them!'

孟子曰，仁，宅也；義，路也。人無惻隱之心，非仁也。三代得天下以仁，失天下以不仁。此皆聖賢之格言，竹素之顯證也。而先生貴明，未見典據。小子蔽暗，竊所惑焉。”

(The disciples went on:) 'Mengzi said: humaneness is the dwelling, rightness is the road. A man without a heart of pity is not humane. The Three Dynasties won all under heaven by humaneness and lost it for inhumanity. These are the sage-worthies' fine sayings, clear proofs upon the bamboo and the silk. Yet you, sir, prize discernment, and we see no canonical warrant for it. We youngsters are dim and privately perplexed.'

抱朴子答曰：“古人云，好仁不好學，其蔽也愚。子近之矣。曩六國相吞，豺虎力競，高權詐而下道德，尚殺伐而廢退讓，孟生方欲抑頓貪殘，褒隆仁義，安得不勤勤諄諄，獨稱仁邪然未有片言，雲仁勝明也。譬猶疫癘之時，醫巫為貴，異口同辭，唯論藥石，豈可便謂針艾之伎，過於長生久視之道乎且吾以為仁明之事，布於方策，直欲切理示，大較精神，舉一隅耳。而子猶日用而不知，雲明事之無據乎！乾稱大明終始，六位時成。是立天以明，無不包也。坤雲至哉萬物資生，是地德仁，承順而已。先後之理，不亦炳然！《詩》云，明明上天，照臨下土。明明天子，令問不已。’《易》曰，王明並受其福。幽贊神明，神而明之。此則明之與神合體，誠非純仁，所能企擬也。孔子曰‘聰明神武’，不雲‘聰仁’，又曰‘昔者明王之治天下’，不曰‘仁王’。《春秋傳》曰：‘明德惟磬’，不雲‘仁德’。《書》雲‘元首明哉’，不曰‘仁哉’。老子嘆上士，則曰‘明白四達’，其說衰薄，則曰‘失道而後德，失德而後仁’。《易》曰‘王者南面嚮明’，不雲‘向仁’也。我欲仁，斯仁至矣。又曰‘為仁由己’，斯則人人可為之也。至於聰明，何可督哉！故孟子云，凡見赤子將入井，莫不趨而救之。以此觀之，則莫不有仁心，但厚薄之間，而聰明之分時而有耳。昔崔杼不殺晏嬰，晏嬰謂杼為大不仁，而有小仁。然則奸臣賊子，猶能有仁矣。”

Baopuzi answered: 'The ancients said: loving humaneness without loving learning—its blindness is folly. You are close to that. In former times the six states devoured one another, jackals and tigers vying in strength; they prized expedients and deceit and set the Way and virtue low, exalted slaughter and abandoned deference. Master Meng was simply trying to check greed and cruelty and exalt humaneness and rightness—how could he not be earnest and pressing, praising humaneness alone? Yet there is not a single phrase saying humaneness surpasses discernment. It is like a season of pestilence, when healers and shamans are prized and every mouth says the same thing, discoursing only on drugs and minerals—can one then say the arts of needle and moxa surpass the way of long life and long sight? Moreover, I hold that the business of humaneness and discernment is spread over the slips and tablets; I wished only to draw near the pattern of things to display it, roughly its spirit, raising one corner. Yet you use it daily without knowing—does that mean discernment has no warrant? Qian is called "the great light ends and begins; the six places come to pass in their seasons"—this is heaven established by light, nothing left unwrapped. Kun says "utmost is it—the myriad things owe it birth"—this is earth-virtue's humaneness, receiving and complying. Is the order of first and last not bright? The Odes say: "Bright is heaven above, shining down on the earth below. Bright is the Son of Heaven; his fair fame is unending." The Changes says: "When the king is bright, all share his blessing"; "dimly he aids the divine light—he is made divine and made bright." This is light joined with the divine—truly beyond what mere humaneness can reach or match. Confucius said "keen, bright, spirit-like, warlike," not "keen and humane"; he said "in old times the enlightened kings' ordering of all under heaven," not "humane kings." The Tradition of the Spring and Autumn says "bright virtue is fragrant" (the base text reads "qing," an error for "xin"), not "humane virtue." The Documents says "the head is bright," not "humane." Laozi, praising the superior man, says "in clarity he reaches the four quarters"; speaking of decline he says "when the Way is lost comes virtue; when virtue is lost comes humaneness." The Changes says "the king faces south, toward the light," not "toward humaneness." "I wish humaneness and humaneness is here," and "the doing of humaneness comes from oneself"—this is what every man can do. As for keen light—how can it be charged and got! So Mengzi said: all who see a babe about to fall into a well rush to save it. Seen thus, no man lacks a humane heart—it lies only in thick and thin, while the share of keen light is granted only at times. Of old Cui Zhu did not kill Yan Ying, and Yan Ying called Zhu greatly inhumane yet having a small humaneness—so even traitorous ministers and murderous sons can have humaneness.'

門人又曰：“《易》稱立人之道，曰仁與義，然則人莫大於仁也。”抱朴子答曰：“所以云爾者，以為仁在於行，行可力為，而明入於神，必須天授之才，非所以訓故也。

The disciples said further: 'The Changes holds that the way establishing man is called humaneness and rightness—so for man nothing is greater than humaneness.' Baopuzi answered: 'It is said so because humaneness lies in conduct, and conduct can be done by effort, whereas discernment enters the divine and must be heaven-granted capacity, not something to be trained into—hence that saying.'

抱朴子曰：盈乎萬鈞，必起於錙銖；竦秀凌霄，必始於分毫。是以行潦集而南溟就無涯之曠，尋常積而玄圃致極天之高。

Baopuzi said: A full weight of ten thousand jun surely rises from grains and motes; soaring brilliance that tops the sky surely begins from tenths of a hair. Thus rain-pools gather and the southern deep achieves its boundless breadth; small spans accumulate and the dark garden reaches its sky-topping height.

抱朴子曰：騁逸策迅策迅者，雖遺景而不勞，因風凌波者，雖濟危而不傾。是以元凱分職，而則天之勳就；伊呂去世任，而革命之功就。

Baopuzi said: One who gallops a racer and whips a swift can leave even his shadow behind without toil; one who rides the wind and skims the waves can cross the perilous and not overturn. Thus when the Yuans and Kais divided the offices, the work matching heaven was done; when Yi and Lü left the world to take their posts (the base text mistakenly repeats two characters), the work of the revolution was done.

抱朴子曰：瓊艘瑤緝，無涉川之用；金弧玉弦，無激乖之能。是以介潔而無政事者，非撥亂之器，儒雅而乏治略者，非翼亮之才。

Baopuzi said: A jasper barge and a jade oar are of no use in crossing a stream; a golden bow and a jade string have no power to loose an arrow. Thus a man austere and pure with no gift for affairs is no tool for ordering disorder; a refined and polished man lacking plans of rule is no talent for winging and brightening.

抱朴子曰：閬風玄圃，不借高於丘垤；懸黎結綠，不假觀於瓊珉。是以英偉不群，而幽蕙之芬駭；峻概獨立，而眾禽之響振。

Baopuzi said: Langfeng and the dark garden do not borrow height from a molehill; the xuanli and jielü jades do not borrow their look from quartz. Thus the heroic surpass the herd, yet the hidden orchid's fragrance startles men; the lofty bearing stands alone, yet the many birds' cries resound.

抱朴子曰：冰炭不炫能於冷熱，瑾瑜不證珍而體著。是以君子恭己，不恤乎莫與，至人屍居，心遺乎譭譽。

Baopuzi said: Ice and coals do not vaunt their power in cold and heat; fine jade does not prove its rarity—its substance shows of itself. Thus the noble man reveres his own person and does not worry that none will follow; the perfect man sits like a corpse, his heart forgetting blame and praise.

抱朴子曰：沖飈傾山，而不能效力於拔毫；火爍金石，而不能耀烈以起溼。是以淮陰善戰守，而拙理治之策；絳侯安社稷，而乏承對之給。

Baopuzi said: A gale can topple mountains yet cannot serve to pluck a hair; fire can melt metal and stone yet cannot turn its blaze to lifting damp. Thus Huaiyin was good at battle and defense yet clumsy at plans of ordered rule; the Marquis of Jiang settled the altars of state yet lacked readiness of reply.

抱朴子曰：徇名者不以授命為難，重身者不以近欲累情。是以紀信甘灰糜而不恨，楊朱同一毛於連城。

Baopuzi said: One who courts a name does not find it hard to give his life; one who prizes his person does not burden his feelings with near desires. Thus Ji Xin went sweetly to be burned without resentment, while Yang Zhu weighed a single hair equal to cities of jade.

抱朴子曰：小鮮不解靈虯之遠規，鳧鷖不知鴻鵠之非匹。是以耦耕者笑陳勝之投耒，淺識者嗤孔明之抱膝。

Baopuzi said: The small fish does not grasp the numinous dragon's far design; the duck and the gull do not know the swan is no mate for them. Thus the side-by-side ploughmen laughed at Chen Sheng for casting aside his plough, and shallow minds sneered at Kongming for hugging his knees.

抱朴子曰：淳鈞之鋒，驗於犀兕；宣慈之良，效於明試。是以同否則元凱與斗筲無殊，並任則騄騏與駑駘不異。

Baopuzi said: The edge of the Chungou blade is proved on rhinoceros and wild ox; the goodness of spreading kindness shows its effect on trial and test. Thus when times share misfortune, the Yuans and Kais are no different from a peck and a cup; when all are used alike, the qiji and the worn nag show no difference.

抱朴子曰：器非瑚簋，必進銳而退速；量擬伊呂，雖發晚而到早。是以鷦鷯倦翮，猶不越乎蓬杪，鴛雛徐起，顧眄而戾蒼昊。

Baopuzi said: A vessel not of hu and gui rank is sure to advance sharply and retire quickly; a measure matched to Yi and Lü, though starting late, arrives early. Thus the wren, its wings wearied, still cannot pass the bramble's tip, while the phoenix-chick rises slowly and with a turn of the eyes reaches the blue sky.

抱朴子曰：否終則承之以泰，晦極則清輝晨耀。是以垂耳吳阪者，騁千里之逸軌；縈鱗九淵者，凌虹霓以高蹈。

Baopuzi said: When pi ends, tai follows; when darkness is utmost, the clear glow gleams in the morning. Thus the horse that drooped its ears on the slopes of Wu galloped out a thousand-li track; the one that wound its scales in the nine deeps mounted the rainbow to walk on high.

抱朴子曰：九斷四屬者，蘊藻所以表靈；摧柯碎葉者，茝蕙所以增芬。是以夷吾桎檻，而建匡合之績；應侯困辱，而著入秦之勳。

Baopuzi said: Repeatedly broken and limbs parted—this is how the algae-wrapped turtle shows its numen; boughs broken and leaves shattered—this is how the fragrant orchid adds to its scent. Thus Yiwu, held in fetters, built the work of uniting all; the Marquis of Ying, bound and shamed, achieved the merit of entering Qin.

抱朴子曰：聽競者細，則利同而讎結；善否殊途，則事異而結生。是以嫫母宿瘤，惡見西施之豔容；商臣小白，曾聞延州之退耕。

Baopuzi said: Where those who hear rivalry are petty, profit shared knots into enmity; where the good and the bad take different roads, things diverge and resentment is born. Thus Momu and the tumor-woman hate to see Xishi's lovely face; Shangchen and Xiaobai once heard of Yanzhou's retiring to plough.

抱朴子曰：精純舛跡，則凌遲者愧恨；壯弱異科，則扛鼎者見忌。是以淮陰顯擢，而庸隸悒懊以疾其超；武安功高，而範睢飾談以破其事。

Baopuzi said: Where the keen and the dull run on different tracks, the laggard is ashamed and hateful; where the strong and the weak are classed apart, the tripod-lifter is envied. Thus when Huaiyin was raised on high, common menials grieved and hated his surpassing; when Wu'an's merit towered, Fan Ju dressed up his words to break his work.

抱朴子曰：必死之病，不下苦口之藥；朽爛之材，不受雕鏤之飾。是以比干匪躬，而剖心於精忠；田豐見微，而夷戮於言直。

Baopuzi said: On a mortal illness one does not spend bitter medicine; on rotten timber one does not lay carved ornament. Thus Bigan, careless of self, had his heart cut out for utmost loyalty; Tian Feng, seeing the first sign, was slaughtered for straight speech.

抱朴子曰：嶧陽孤桐，不能無弦而激哀響；大夏孤竹，不能莫吹而吐清聲。是官卑者稷離不能康庶績，權薄者伊周不能臻昇平。

Baopuzi said: The lone paulownia of Yi's south slope cannot sound its grieving note without strings; the lone bamboo of Daxia cannot breathe its clear tone unblown. Thus an officer of low rank—even a Ji or a Xie cannot bring the many works to health (the base text reads 'shi guan bei zhe,' likely missing a word); one whose power is thin—even an Yi or a Zhou cannot attain risen peace.

抱朴子曰：登峻者戒在於窮高，濟深者禍生於舟重。是以西秦有思上蔡之李斯，東越有悔盈亢之文種。

Baopuzi said: One who mounts the steep is warned at utmost height; one who crosses the deep meets calamity when the boat is heavy. Thus western Qin had a Li Si thinking on Shangcai; eastern Yue had a Wen Zhong repenting of overfullness.

抱朴子曰：剛柔有不易之質，貞橈有天然之性。是以百鍊而南金不虧其真，危困而烈士不失其正。

Baopuzi said: Hard and soft have a substance that cannot be changed; firm and pliant have a nature that is born. Thus smelt it a hundred times and southern metal does not lose its truth; in peril and want the fierce officer does not lose his rectitude.

抱朴子曰：不以其道，則富貴不足居；違仁舍義，雖期頤不足吝。是以卞隨負石以投淵，仲由甘心以赴刃。

Baopuzi said: What is not by that way—wealth and honor are not worth dwelling in; leaving humaneness and casting off rightness—though one live to a hundred it is not worth clinging to. Thus Bian Sui shouldered a stone and threw himself into the deep; Zhongyou went gladly to meet the blade.

抱朴子曰：卑高不可以一概齊，餐廩不可以勸沮化。是以惠施患從車之苦少，莊周憂得魚之方多。

Baopuzi said: Low and high cannot be leveled by a single mark; the grain-fed cannot be transformed by urging and dissuading. Thus Hui Shi fretted that the following carts were too few; Zhuang Zhou worried that the ways of catching fish were too many.

抱朴子曰：出處有冰炭之殊，躁靜有飛沈之異。是以墨翟以重繭趼怡顏，箕叟以遺世得意。

Baopuzi said: Going out and staying in differ as ice and coals; restless and still differ as soaring and sinking. Thus Mo Di was pleased of face for the calluses on his feet; the old man of the Ji was content for leaving the world behind.

抱朴子曰：適心者交淺而愛深，忤神者接久而彌乖。是以聲同則傾蓋而居暱，道異而白首而無愛。

Baopuzi said: One who suits the heart loves deeply though the acquaintance is shallow; one who grates the spirit grows ever more contrary though the contact is long. Thus when the sound is the same, a meeting of carriage-tops is close at once; when the ways differ, white-haired age brings no love.

抱朴子曰：艅艎鷁首，涉川之良器也，棹之以北狄，則沈漂於波流焉。蒲梢汗血，迅趨之駿足也，御非造父，則傾僨於嶮途焉。青萍豪曹，剡鋒之精絕也，操者非羽越，則有自傷之患焉。勁兵銳卒，撥亂之神物也，用者非明哲，則速自焚之禍焉。

Baopuzi said: The great bird-prowed barge is a fine tool for crossing streams—rowed by a northern Di it sinks in the current. The Puxiao sweat-blood is a fleet-footed courser—driven by any but Zaofu it overturns on the steep road. Qingping and Haocao are the finest of sharp blades—held by any but Yu or Yue they bring the harm of self-wounding. Strong troops and keen soldiers are the divine instrument for ordering disorder—wielded by any but the clear and wise they hasten the ruin of self-burning.

抱朴子曰：天秩有不遷之常尊，無禮犯遄死之重刺。是以玄洲之禽獸，惟能言而不得廁貴牲；蛩蛩之負厥足，雖寄命而不得為仁義。

Baopuzi said: The heaven-decreed ranks have an honored order that cannot be moved; an impious trespass brings the heavy reproof of swift death. Thus the fowl and beast of Xuanzhou, though they can speak, cannot take their place among the nobly natured (the base text reads 'gui sheng,' 'sheng' being an error for 'xing'); the qiongqiong carrying the jue rat upon its back, though it gives its life, cannot be reckoned humane and right.

抱朴子曰：謗讀言不可以巧言弭，實恨不可以虛事釋。釋之非其道，弭之不由理，猶懷冰以遣冷，重爐以卻暑，逐光以逃影，穿舟以止漏矣。

Baopuzi said: Slander and curses cannot be melted by clever words (the base text reads 'bang du yan,' 'du' being an error for 'du'); real hatred cannot be dispelled by empty deeds. To dispel not by that way and to melt not by that pattern is like holding ice to send off cold, stoking the stove to cool the heat, chasing the light to flee one's shadow, piercing the boat to stop its leak.

抱朴子曰：明主官人，不令出其器；忠臣居位，不敢過其量。非其才而妄授，非所堪而虛任，猶冰碗之盛沸湯，葭莩之包烈火，綴萬鈞於腐索，加倍載於扁舟。

Baopuzi said: The enlightened lord employs men and does not let them pass their capacity; the loyal minister holds office and dares not overstep his measure. Bestowing wantonly on one not of that talent and charging hollowly what cannot be borne is like a bowl of ice holding boiling broth, a rush-leaf wrapping fierce flame, hanging ten thousand jun on a rotten cord, and loading a doubled freight on a little boat.

抱朴子曰：豹笏之裘，不為負薪施；九成六變，不為聾夫設；高唱遠和，不為庸愚吐；忘身致果，不為薄德作。

Baopuzi said: A robe of leopard and fox is not spread for the wood-bearer; the nine-part music and the six changes are not staged for a deaf man; a high song with far echo is not uttered for the common fool; forgetting self to reach the goal is not done for the thin-virtued.

抱朴子曰：民財匱夫而求不已，下力竭矣，而役不休，欲怨嘆之不生，規其寧之惟永，斷根以續枝，割背以裨腹，刻目以廣明，剜耳以開聰也。

Baopuzi said: When the people's wealth is spent (the base text reads 'kui fu,' 'fu' being an error for 'yi') and the exactions do not stop, when their strength is drained and the labors do not cease, to want sighs of resentment not to rise and to plan peace that lasts is like severing the root to lengthen the branch, cutting the back to mend the belly, gouging the eye to widen sight, and carving the ear to open hearing.

抱朴子曰：法無一定，而慕權宜之隨時，功不倍前，而好屢變以偶俗，猶剸高馬以適卑車，削附踝以就偏履，斷長劍以赴短鞞，割尺璧以納促匣也。

Baopuzi said: When law has no fixity yet one envies expediency to suit the time, when merit is not doubled over the past yet one loves constant change to match the crowd, it is like whittling a tall horse to fit a low cart, shaving the ankle-bone to squeeze a skewed shoe, cutting a long sword to fill a short sheath, and slicing a foot of jade to slip into a narrow case.

抱朴子曰：止波之修鱗，不出窮谷之隘；鸞棲之峻木，不秀培螻之卑，九疇之格言，不吐庸猥之口，金版之高算，不出恆民之懷，睹百抱之支，則足以知其本之不細，睹汪濊之文，則足以覺其人之淵邃。

Baopuzi said: The long-scaled swimmer that can still the waves does not come out of the narrows of a poor vale; the steep wood where the simurgh perches does not grow on the lowness of a mound (the base text reads 'pei lou,' 'lou' being an error for 'pou'). The fine words of the Nine Divisions are not uttered from common mouths; the high reckoning of the golden tablets does not come from ordinary men's breasts. Seeing a branch of a hundred spans, one knows its root is not slender; seeing billowing writing, one feels that man is deep indeed.

抱朴子曰：桑林鬱藹，無補柏木之悽冽；膏壤帶郭，無解黔敖之蒙袂。然繭纊綈紈，引之自出，千倉萬箱，於是乎生。故識遠者貴本，見近者務末。

Baopuzi said: A lush mulberry grove cannot mend the pine and cypress's chill austerity; rich soil girding the walls cannot dispel Qian'ao's sleeve-covering hunger. Yet silk floss and fine gauze are drawn out from there, and a thousand stores and ten thousand bins are born from there. So the far-seeing prize the root; the near-sighted busy the branches.

抱朴子曰：體粗者系形，知精者得神，原始見終者，有可推之緒，得之未朕者，無假物之因。是以晝見天地，未足稱明，夜察分毫，乃為絕倫。

Baopuzi said: One whose grasp is coarse is tied to the form; one whose knowing is keen attains it in the spirit. One who traces the origin and sees the end has threads that can be followed; one who gets it before the sign has formed has no cause to borrow from outer things. Thus to see heaven and earth in daylight does not count as sight; to discern a fraction of a hair by night is beyond compare.

抱朴子曰：鐓藻春耀，不能離柯以久鮮；吞舟之魚，不能捨水而攝生。是以名美而實不副者，必無沒節之風；位高而器不稱者，不免致寇之敗。

Baopuzi said: The ornament strung gleaming like spring flowers cannot leave the bough and keep fresh long; the boat-swallowing fish cannot leave the water and keep life. Thus one whose fame is fair but whose substance falls short is sure to lack the manner of keeping integrity to the end; one whose seat is high but whose capacity does not match cannot escape the ruin of summoning the foe.

抱朴子曰：忍痛苦之藥石者，所以除伐命之疾；嬰甲冑之重冷者，所以捍鋒鏑之集；潔操履之拘苦者，所以全拔萃之業；納拂心之至言者，所以無易方之惑也。

Baopuzi said: To bear the pain of drugs and moxa is to remove the illness that fells life; to bear the weight and cold of armor is to ward the gathering of blade and arrow; to keep pure in the bonds of conduct is to keep whole a work that stands out; to receive utmost words that grate the heart is to have no confusion of changing course.

抱朴子曰：鸞鳳競粒於庭場，則受褻於雞鶩；龍麟雜廁於芻豢，則見覿於六牲。是以商老棲峻以播邈世之操，卞隨赴深以全遺物之聲。

Baopuzi said: If the luan and phoenix vie for grains in the barnyard, they are insulted by chickens and ducks; if the dragon and the unicorn are mixed among the fodder-beasts, they are seen as common stock. Thus the four old men of Mount Shang lodged on the heights to spread an integrity beyond the age, and Bian Sui went to the deep to keep whole the fame of leaving things behind.

抱朴子曰：浚井不渫則泥濘滋積，嘉穀不耘則荑莠彌蔓。學而不思則閡實繁，講而不精則長惑喪功。

Baopuzi said: A well not dredged—mud and silt gather; fine grain unweeded—tares and weeds spread. Learning without thinking—blockage and muddle multiply; discoursing without care—confusion grows and the work is lost.

抱朴子曰：積萬金於篋匱，雖儉乏而不用，則未知其有異於貧窶。懷逸藻於胸心，不寄意於翰素，則未知其有別於庸猥。

Baopuzi said: Ten thousand gold heaped in chests, though one is stinted it is not used—then none can tell how it differs from poverty. Rare ornament hidden in the breast, never entrusted to brush and silk—then none can tell how it differs from the common and mean.

抱朴子曰：南威青琴，姣冶之極，而必俟盛飾以增麗，回賜遊夏，雖天才雋朗，而實須《墳》《誥》以廣智。

Baopuzi said: Nanwei and Qingqin, lovely to the utmost, still must wait on rich adornment to add to their beauty; Yan Hui, Duanmu Ci, Ziyou, and Zixia, though heaven-granted and shining, truly needed the Mounds and the Codes to widen their wisdom.

抱朴子曰：丹幃接網，組帳重蔭，則醜姿翳矣；朱漆飾致，錯塗炫耀，則枯木隱矣。是以六藝備則卑鄙化為君子，眾譽集則孤陋邈乎貴遊。

Baopuzi said: Vermilion curtains meeting the net, sash-tents doubled in shade—then the homely form is hidden; red lacquer and ornamented coating, bright paintwork flashing—then dead wood is concealed. Thus when the Six Arts are complete the base turns noble man; when many praises gather, the lone and uncouth looms like honored company.

抱朴子曰：繁林翳薈，則羽族雲萃；玄淵浩汗，則鱗群兢赴。德盛業廣，則宅心者眾，舍瑕錄用，即遠懷近集。

Baopuzi said: Where the forest is dense and shady, the winged tribes gather like clouds; where the dark deep stretches vast, the scaled hosts vie to come. When virtue swells and work is broad, many set their hearts upon him; cast out flaws and record the able—the far are cherished and the near assemble.

抱朴子曰：尋飛絕景之足，而不能騁逸放於呂梁；凌波泳淵之屬，而不能陟峻而攀危。故離朱剖秋毫於百步，而不能辯八音之雅俗；子野合通靈之絕響，而不能指白黑於咫尺。

Baopuzi said: Feet that can catch the wind and outstrip shadows cannot gallop loose on Lüliang; the kind that ride waves and swim the deeps cannot mount the steep and climb the sheer. Thus Lizhu split an autumn hair at a hundred paces yet could not tell the eight tones' refined from common; Ziye could join notes that commune with spirits yet could not point out white from black at arm's length.

抱朴子曰：四聰廣闢，則羲和納景；萬仞虛己，則行潦交赴。故博辨之道弘，則異聞畢集；庭燎之耀輝，則奇士叩角；誹謗之木設，則有過必知；敢諫之鼓懸，則直言必獻。

Baopuzi said: When the four hearings open wide, Xihe gathers in the light; when ten thousand ren empty themselves, the rain-pools vie to flow in. Thus when the way of broad discourse is great, strange reports all gather; when the courtyard torch shines, rare officers knock upon the horn; when the slander-wood stands, a fault is surely known; when the daring-remonstrance drum hangs, straight speech is surely offered.

抱朴子曰：能言莫不褒堯，而堯政不必皆得也；舉世莫不貶桀，而桀事不必盡失也。故一條之枯，不損繁林之蓊藹；蒿麥冬生，無解畢發之肅殺。西施有所惡而不能減其美者，美多也；嫫母有所美而不能救其醜者，醜篤也。

Baopuzi said: All who can speak praise Yao—yet Yao's rule need not have been all gain; all the world blames Jie—yet Jie's deeds need not have been all loss. Thus one branch withered does not lessen the thick forest's lushness; artemisia and wheat sprouting in winter cannot dispel the severity of frost. That Xishi has a flaw cannot diminish her beauty—the beauty is much; that Momu has a grace cannot rescue her ugliness—the ugliness runs deep.

抱朴子曰：身與名，難兩濟；功與神，鮮並全。支離其德者，苦而必安；用以適世，者樂而多危。故鷙禽以奮擊拘縶，言鳥以智慧見寵，瓊瑤以符辨剖判，三金以琦玩治鑠，蘭茝以芬馨剪刈，文梓以含音受伐。是以翠蚪睹化益而登玄云，靈鳳值孟戲而反丹穴，子永嘆天倫之偉，漆園悲被繡之犧。

Baopuzi said: Self and name can hardly both be served; work and spirit rarely can both be kept. One who lets virtue grow ragged suffers yet surely rests; one who makes himself fit for the age enjoys yet is often in peril (the base text's word order is likely shifted). Thus the bird of prey is caged for striking; the talking bird is prized for cleverness; jasper is cut for its veining; the three metals are smelted for rare playthings; orchid and angelica are cut for their scent; the veined catalpa is felled for its voice. Thus the green dragon, seeing Huayi, mounted the dark clouds; the numinous phoenix, meeting Mengxi, returned to the cinnabar cave; Ziyong sighed at the greatness of heaven's order; Qiyuan grieved for the embroidered victim.

抱朴子曰：萬麋傾角，猛虎為之含牙；千禽鱗萃，鷙鳥為之握爪。是以四國流言，公旦不能遏；謗者盈路，而子產無以塞。

Baopuzi said: Ten thousand elk dipping their antlers together—against them the fierce tiger sheathes its teeth; a thousand birds gathered like scales—against them the raptor closes its claws. Thus when slander flew through the four states, Gongdan could not dam it; when railers filled the roads, Zichan had no way to stop them.

抱朴子曰：威施之豔，粉黛無以加，二至之氣，吹噓不能增。是以懷英逸之量者，不務風格以示異；體邈俗之器者，不恤小譽以徇通。

Baopuzi said: Xishi's fairness—powder and paint have nothing to add; the breath of the two solstices—blowing cannot increase it. Thus one who holds a rare and surpassing measure does not busy himself with style to show singularity; one whose substance is a vessel beyond the age does not fret over small fame to bend to the common.

抱朴子曰：鱗止鳳儀，所患在少；狐鳴梟呼，世忌其多。是以俊乂盈朝，而求賢者未倦；讒佞作威，而忠貞者切齒。

Baopuzi said: The unicorn's pause and the phoenix's grace—the worry is their fewness; the fox's howl and the owl's cry—the age hates their plenty. Thus when the court is full of the excellent and able, the seeker of worth still is not wearied; when slanderers and flatterers wield their awe, the loyal and true grit their teeth.

抱朴子曰：多力何必孟賁烏獲，逸容凱唯鄭旦毛嬙，飈迅非徒驊騮驌驦，立斷未獨沈閭干將。是以能立素王之業者，不必東魯之丘；能洽掩枯之仁者，不必西鄰之昌。

Baopuzi said: Great strength need not be a Meng Ben or a Wu Huo; surpassing looks are not only a Zheng Dan or a Mao Qiang (the base text reads 'kai wei,' 'kai' being an error for 'qi'); storm-swift speed is not only a Hualiu or a Sushuang; standing decision is not only a Shenlü or a Ganjiang. Thus one who can establish the work of the uncrowned king need not be Qiu of eastern Lu; one who can join in the humaneness of covering the withered need not be Chang of the western neighbor.

抱朴子曰：靈鳳振響於朝陽，未有惠物之益，而莫不澄聽於下風焉。鴟梟宵集於垣宇，未有分釐之損，而莫不掩耳而注鏑焉。故善言之往，無遠不悅；惡言之來，靡近不忤。猶日月無謝於貞明，枉矢見忘於暫出。

Baopuzi said: The numinous phoenix beats its note in the morning sun—no benefit given to things, yet none but listens rapt in the wind below. The owl perches on the wall at night—no harm at all, yet none but covers his ears and eyes the arrow. Thus when good words go out, none so far they are not pleased; when evil words come, none so near they are not crossed. As sun and moon are not thanked for their bright rectitude, so the crooked arrow is forgotten for its brief going out.

抱朴子曰：影無違形之狀，名無離實之文。故背源之水，必不能揚長流以東漸；非時之華，必不能稽輝藻於冰霜。

Baopuzi said: No shadow is at odds with the form's shape; no name leaves the reality's text. Thus water cut from its source surely cannot lift a long current to flood east; a flower out of its season surely cannot hold its shining ornament upon the frost.

抱朴子曰：鋸牙之獸，雖低伏而見憚；揮斧之蟲，雖口止全形而不威。故君子被褐，窮而不可輕；小人軒冕，達而不足重。

Baopuzi said: The saw-toothed beast, though crouched low, is still feared; the axe-wielding insect, though its form is whole, is not awe-inspiring (the base text keeps a partial graph). Thus the noble man wears coarse wool—poor yet not to be slighted; the petty man wears carriage and cap—risen yet not worth weight.

抱朴子曰：逸麟逍遙大荒之表，故無機阱之禍；靈鶬振翅玄圃之峰，以違罩羅之患。何必曲穴而永懷怵惕。何必銜蘆而慘慘畏容。故充乎宰割之用者，必愛乎芻豢者也。給乎煎熬之膳者，必安乎庭立者也。

Baopuzi said: The free unicorn roams beyond the great wilds, so it has no calamity of snare and pit; the numinous cang spreads its wings on the dark garden's peak to flee the harm of net and snare. Why dwell in a cramped hole forever nursing fear? Why hold the reed in the beak, trembling and dreading for room? Thus what furnishes the butcher's use is surely the fodder-loving; what supplies the boiled and roasted dish is surely what rests content to stand in the yard.

抱朴子曰：聰者貴於理遺音於千載之外，而得興亡之跡。明者珍於鑑逸群於寒瘁之中，而抽匡世之器。若夫聆繁會之響，而顧問於庸工，非延州之清聽也。枉英遠之才，而諮之於常人，非獨見之奇識也。故與不賞物者而論用凌儕之器，是使瞽者指五色也；與妒勝己者而謀舉疾惡之賢，是與狐議治裘也。

Baopuzi said: The keen man is prized for drawing out lost notes from beyond a thousand ages and catching the tracks of rise and fall. The discerning man is treasured for spying the surpassing amid cold and want and drawing out a tool to right the age. As for hearing a dense concert yet asking a common player—that is not Yanzhou's clear hearing. Bending a rare and far-reaching talent yet consulting an ordinary man—that is not the rare sight of the lone-seeing. Thus to discuss with one who cannot tell things apart the use of a tool beyond its kind is to have a blind man point out the five colors; to plot with one who envies those above him the raising of a worthy who hates evil is to plan furs with a fox.

抱朴子曰：鸗駁危苦於嶮峻之端，不樂口弗守之役，吉光飢渴於冰霜之野，不願犧牲之鮑，孤竹不以絕粒易鹿臺之富，子廉不以困匱貿銅山之豐。

Baopuzi said: The pied horse suffers at the edge of the steep yet does not rejoice [a passage in the base text is corrupt and lost]; the Jiguang hungers and freezes on the frosty waste yet would not have a victim's full-fed fare. The lone bamboo does not trade starving for the riches of Lutai; Zilian does not swap want for the plenty of Copper Mountain.

抱朴子曰：志合者不以山海為遠，道乖者不以咫尺為近。故有跋涉而遊集，亦或密邇而不接。

Baopuzi said: Men whose wills join do not count mountains and seas far; men whose ways part do not count a foot near. Thus there are those who come across the wilds to gather, and there are those close at hand who never meet.

抱朴子曰：華袞粲爛，非只色之功；嵩岱之峻，非一簣之積。故九子任而康凝之績熙，四七授而佐命之勳著。

Baopuzi said: The dragon robe's blaze is not the work of a single color; the steepness of Song and Dai is not the heap of a single basket. Thus the nine sons taking office made the work of welfare bright, and the forty-seven giving their lives made the merit of aid manifest.

抱朴子曰：翠虯無翅而天飛；螣蛇無足而電鶩，鱉無耳而關頭善聞，蚓無口而揚聲。故皋繇喑而與辯者同功，晉野瞽而與離朱齊明。

Baopuzi said: The green dragon has no wings yet flies the sky; the teng snake has no feet yet races the lightning; the turtle has no ears yet hears well; the earthworm has no mouth yet lifts its voice. Thus Gaoyao, dumb of mouth, did the same work as the eloquent; Jin Ye, blind of eye, matched Lizhu in sight.

抱朴子曰：官達者才未必當其位，譽美者實未必副其名。故鋸齒不能咀嚼，箕舌不能別味，壺耳不能理音，屍彳喬鼻不能識氣，釜目不能扌盧望舒之景，床足不能有尋常之逝。

Baopuzi said: The man risen in office does not always have talent equal to his place; the man fair in fame does not always have substance matching his name. So saw-teeth cannot chew, a winnowing-basket's tongue cannot tell flavors, a pot's ears cannot order music, a (the base text here is corrupt) cannot scent the air, a cauldron's eyes cannot behold the moon's light, and a bed's feet cannot walk an ordinary pace.

抱朴子曰：路人不能挽勁命中而識養由之射，顏子不能控轡振策而知東野之敗。故有不能下棋而經目識勝負，不能徽弦而過耳解鄭雅者。

Baopuzi said: A passerby cannot bend the strong bow and hit the mark, yet can recognize Yang Youji's shooting; Yanzi cannot hold reins and ply the whip, yet knew Dongye's failure at driving. So there are those who cannot play chess yet at a glance know victory and defeat, and those who cannot tune a string yet in one hearing can tell the airs of Zheng from the correct music.

抱朴子曰：垂蔭萬畝者，必出峻極之嶺；滔天襄陵者，必發板桐之源。邈世之勳，必由絕倫之器；定傾之算，必吐冠俗之懷。是以蟲焦螟之巢，無乘風之羽；溝澮之中，無宵朗之琦。

Baopuzi said: What casts shade over ten thousand mu is sure to come out of a sky-high ridge; what floods to the sky and mounts the hills is sure to spring from Bantong's source. Merit that transcends the age is sure to come from capacity beyond compare; plans that settle the toppling are sure to be uttered by a breast above the crowd. Therefore the midge's nest (the base text has a stray radical remnant) holds no wind-riding plumes, and within ditches and channels there is no night-shining jade.

抱朴子曰：沖飈焚輪，原火所以增熾也，而螢燭值之而反滅；甘雨膏澤，嘉生所以繁榮也，而枯木得之以速朽；朱輪華轂，俊民之大寶也，而負乘竊之而召禍；鼎食萬鍾，宣力之弘報也，而近才授之以覆食束。

Baopuzi said: The whirlwind and burning wheel are what make the wildfire blaze, yet the firefly's spark meeting it is extinguished instead; the sweet rain and rich moisture are what make the good growth flourish, yet the dead tree getting it rots the sooner; the red wheel and painted hub are the grand treasure of eminent men, yet those who ride above their station steal them and summon ruin; tripod feasts of ten thousand zhong are the great reward for spending strength, yet the near-talented receiving them spill the stew (the base text miswrites 'stew').

抱朴子曰：屠犀為甲，給乎專征之服，裂翠為華，集乎后妃之首，雖出幽谷，遷於喬木，然為二物之計，未若棲竄於林薄，攝生乎榛藪也。故靈龜寧曳尾於塗中，而不願巾笥之寶；澤雉樂十步之啄，以違雞鶩之禍。

Baopuzi said: Butchered for armor, the rhinoceros furnishes the vestments of sole command; rent for ornaments, the kingfisher is gathered on the empress's brow: though they came out of the hidden valley and moved to the tall trees, yet for these two creatures' own sakes it would be better to lurk and burrow in the thickets and keep life in the brambly marsh. So the spirit tortoise would rather drag its tail in the mud than be a treasure in a cloth box, and the marsh pheasant is glad to peck once in ten paces to escape the calamity of barnyard fowl.

抱朴子曰：偏才不足以經周用，只長不足以濟眾短。是以雞知將旦，不能究陰陽之歷數；鵠識夜半，不能極晷景之道度；山鳩知晴雨於將來，不能明天文；蛇蟲豈知潛泉之所居，不能達地理。

Baopuzi said: A partial talent cannot compass all uses; a single strong point cannot supply the many lacks. So the cock knows the coming dawn yet cannot fathom the count of yin and yang; the swan knows midnight yet cannot carry the measure of the sundial; the mountain dove knows the rain and shine to come yet cannot make out the patterns of heaven; snakes and ants know where the hidden springs lie (the base text miswrites 'ants'), yet cannot reach the order of the earth.

抱朴子曰：禁令不明，而嚴刑以靜亂；廟算不精，而窮兵以侵鄰。猶釤禾以討蝗蟲，伐木以殺蠹蠍，食毒以中蚤蝨，徹舍以逐雀鼠也。

Baopuzi said: To still disorder with stern punishments while the prohibitions are unclear, and to press troops to invade neighbors while the temple reckoning is imprecise, is like mowing the grain to rout locusts, felling the tree to kill borers, swallowing poison to poison fleas, and pulling down the house to drive out sparrows and rats.

抱朴子曰：銳鋒產乎鈍石，明火熾乎暗木，貴珠出乎賤蚌，美玉出乎醜璞。是以不可以父母限重華，不可以祖禰量衛霍也。

Baopuzi said: The keen edge is born from a blunt stone; the bright flame blazes from dark wood; the precious pearl comes out of a lowly mussel; the fine jade issues from an ugly rough. So one cannot bound Chonghua by his forebears, nor measure Wei and Huo by their ancestors.

抱朴子曰：志得則顏怡，意失則容戚。本朽則末枯，源淺則流促。有諸中者必形乎表，發乎邇者必著乎遠。

Baopuzi said: When the will is gained the face is glad; when the intent fails the countenance is grieved. When the root rots the tip withers; when the source is shallow the stream is short. What is held within is sure to take shape without; what issues from near is sure to show far.

抱朴子曰：妍姿媚貌，形色不齊，而悅情可均；絲竹金石，五聲詭韻，而快耳不異；繳飛鉤沈，罾舉罝抑，而有獲同功；樹勳立言，出處殊途，而所貴一致。

Baopuzi said: Lovely figures and charming faces differ in form and hue, yet can please the heart alike; strings and pipes, metal and stone have unlike cadences, yet gladden the ear without difference. Shooting up and hooking down, lifting the net and setting the snare, they take the catch in equal work; planting merit and setting down words, by office or retirement on different roads, what they prize comes to one.

抱朴子曰：利豐者害厚，質美者召災。是以南禽殲於藻羽，穴豹死於文皮，鱣鯉積而玄淵涸，麋鹿聚而繁林焚，金玉崇而寇盜至，名位高而憂責集。

Baopuzi said: Where the profit is rich the harm is thick; where the substance is fine disaster is summoned. So the southern bird is slain for its bright plumes, the burrowed leopard dies for its patterned skin; when sturgeon heap the dark deep dries up, when elk gather the rich forest burns; when gold and jade mount high the robbers arrive, when name and rank rise cares and charges gather.

抱朴子曰：商風宵肅則絺扇廢，登危陟峻則輕舟棄，干戈雲擾則文儒退，喪亂既平則武夫黜。

Baopuzi said: When the autumn wind kills by night the fine fans are put away; when one mounts the steep the light boat is abandoned; when shield and spear swarm like clouds the civil scholar withdraws; when ruin and disorder are past the man of war is dismissed.

抱朴子曰：價直萬金者，不待見其物而好惡可別矣；條枝連抱者，不俟圍其木而鉅細可論矣。故望洪濤之滔天，則知其不起乎潢汙之中矣；觀翰草之汪濊，則知其不出乎章句之徒矣。

Baopuzi said: For what is worth ten thousand gold, one need not see the thing itself to tell good from bad; for a bough filling two arms' span, one need not measure the tree to speak of great and small. So seeing the great billows flood to heaven, one knows they did not rise from standing pools; reading brushwork vast and deep, one knows it did not come from a man of mere chapter-and-verse.

抱朴子曰：丹華綠草，不拘於曲瘁之株；紫芝芳秀，不限於斥鹵之壤。是以受玄珪以告成者，生於四罪之門；承歷數於文祖者，出於頑囂之家。

Baopuzi said: Cinnabar blooms and green grass are not bound by twisted, withered stalks; the purple mushroom flowers fair and is not fenced in by salt-licked soil. So the man who received the dark scepter and announced completion was born in the house of one of the four criminals; the man who received the succession at the ancestral shrine came of an obstinate and unruly house.

抱朴子曰：善言居室，則靡遠不應；枉直不中，則無近不離。是以宋野有退舍之熒惑；殷朝有外奔之暱屬。四環至自少廣之表，鹿馬變於蕭牆之裡。

Baopuzi said: When good words issue from within the chamber, there is none so far it does not answer; when bent and straight do not hit the mark, there is none so near it does not depart. So for Song there was the planet Mars that fell back from its station; for Yin there were the favorites who fled abroad. The four rings came from beyond Shaoguang; the deer became a horse within the screen wall.

抱朴子曰：荊卿朱亥，不示勇於怯弱之間；孟賁馮婦，不奮戈戟於俚俠之群。英儒碩生，不飾細辯於淺近之徒；達人偉士，不變日交察於流俗之中。

Baopuzi said: Jing Ke and Zhu Hai did not show their courage among the faint and weak; Meng Ben and Feng Fu did not flourish halberds amid vulgar bravos. Eminent Confucians and great scholars do not dress up petty quibbles before shallow men; the accomplished and the great do not alter their daily bearing amid the common herd.

抱朴子曰：盤旋揖讓，非禦寇之容；摜甲纓胄，非廟堂之飾。垂紳振佩，不可以揮刃爭鋒；規行矩步，不可以救火拯溺。

Baopuzi said: Wheeling bows and yielding ceremony are not the bearing for facing a foe; donning armor and corded helmet is not the ornament for the ancestral hall. Dangling sash and sounding pendants cannot wield the blade and fight for the point; rule-walking and square-stepping cannot run to a fire or rescue the drowning.

抱朴子曰：乾坤陶育，而庶物不識其惠者，由乎其益無方也；大人神化，而群細不覺其施者，由乎治之於未有也。故可知者小也，易料者少也。

Baopuzi said: Heaven and earth mold and nurture, yet the many things do not know their kindness, because their benefit has no fixed quarter; the great man works his spirit-transformation, yet the mass of the small do not feel his giving, because the governing was done before there was anything to govern. So what can be known is small; what can be reckoned is little.

抱朴子曰：娥英任姒，不以蠶織為首稱，湯武漢高，不以細行招近譽。故澄視於三辰者，不遑紆鑑於井谷；清聽於韶濩者，豈暇垂耳於桑間。

Baopuzi said: Ehuang, Nüying, Tairen, and Taisi were not first praised for sericulture and weaving; Tang, Wu, and the High Ancestor did not draw near praise by petty conduct. So he who gazes clearly at the three luminaries has no leisure to bend his mirror down to wells and valleys; he who listens purely to the Shao and Hu has no idle moment to bend an ear to the songs of Sangjian.

抱朴子曰：膚表或不可以論中，望貌或不可以核能。仲尼似喪家之狗，公旦類樸斫之材，咎繇面如蒙倛，伊尹形若槁骸，及龍陽宋朝，猶土偶之冠夜光，藉孺董鄧，猶錦紈之裹塵埃也。

Baopuzi said: The outer skin sometimes cannot judge the inside; the look of a face sometimes cannot test the talent. Confucius looked like a dog from a house of mourning; the Duke of Zhou looked like rough-hewn timber; Gao Yao's face looked like an exorcist's mask; Yi Yin's frame looked like dried bones. Longyang and Song Chao, by contrast, were clay dolls wearing night-gleaming pearls; Jiru, Dong Xian, and Deng Tong were brocade wrapping dust.

抱朴子曰：勳華不能化下愚，故教不行於子弟；辛癸不能改上智，故惡不染於三仁。

Baopuzi said: Xun and Hua could not transform the lowest fools—so teaching cannot work upon sons and younger brothers; Xin and Gui could not alter the highest wisdom—so evil could not taint the three benevolent men.

抱朴子曰：至大有所不能變，極細有所不能奪。故冰霜肅殺，不能凋菽麥之茂；熾暑鬱陰，不能消雪山之凍；飈風蕩海，不能使潛泉揚波；春澤榮物，不能使枯卉發華。抱朴子曰：泣血之寶，仰石監石諸以摛景，沈閭孟勞，須楚砥以斂鋒，騮馬日待王孫而致遠，令質俟檃括而成德。

Baopuzi said: What is utmost great cannot be altered by anything; what is utmost small cannot be wrested by anything. So frost and ice in their killing cannot wither the flourishing of beans and wheat; blazing heat and close gloom cannot melt the frozen snow mountains; a whirlwind that convulses the sea cannot make hidden springs rise in waves; the spring moisture that makes things flower cannot open blooms on dead plants. Baopuzi said: The blood-wept gem needs the yuzhu stone to spread its light (the base text's characters should be read as yuzhu); the swords Shenlu and Mengla need the Chu whetstone to gather their edge; the thoroughbred waits for the prince's groom to reach far; the fine stuff waits for the straightening frame to come to virtue.

抱朴子曰：棲鸞戢鸑，雖飢渴而不願籠委於庖人之室；乘黃天鹿，雖幽飢而不樂草芻秣於濯龍之廄。是以掇蜩之叟，忘萬物於芳林，垂綸之生，忽執珪於南楚。

Baopuzi said: The roosting simurgh and the folded-wing phoenix, though hungry and thirsty, would not consent to be caged and consigned to the cook's room; the Chenghuang and the heavenly deer, though pinched and famished, take no joy in eating fodder in the Zhuolong stable. So the old man who caught cicadas forgot all things amid the fragrant grove, and the angler of southern Chu paid no heed to the jade tally of office.

抱朴子曰：方圓舛狀，逝止異歸。故渾象尊於行健，坤後貴於安貞。七政四氣，以周流成功；五嶽六柱，以峙靜作鎮。是以宋墨楚申，以載馳存國，幹木胡明，以無為折沖。

Baopuzi said: Square and round have unlike shapes; departing and resting have unlike ends. So the revolving image is honored for moving ever strongly, and the sovereign earth is prized for resting ever firm. The seven governors and four qi accomplish their work by ceaseless flow; the five peaks and six pillars serve as mainstays by standing still. So Mo Di of Song and Shen Baoxu of Chu preserved their states by racing to and fro, while Duan Ganmu and Hu Zhao broke the charge by doing nothing.

抱朴子曰：得意於丘園者，身否而神泰；役己以恤物者，形逸而心勞。故抱甕灌園者，歡於臺宰；嘔餐茹薇者，美乎鼎食；仗策去豳者，形如月居臘；夜以待旦者，勤憂損命。

Baopuzi said: He who finds contentment in hill and garden has a body in straits and a spirit at ease; he who drives himself to care for things has a frame at ease and a heart in labor. So the man hugging the jar to water the garden was gladder than the chief minister; the man who spat out the meal and ate ferns found it sweeter than tripod fare; the man who took up his staff and left Bin had a frame worn to (the base text here is corrupt); while he who watched the night through till dawn wore his life away with care.

抱朴子曰：仁忍有天淵之絕，善否猶有無之覺。騶虞側足以蹈虛，豺狼掩群以害生。虞卿捐相印以濟窮，華公讓三事以推賢。李斯疾勝己而殺韓非，龐涓患不如而刑孫臏。

Baopuzi said: Benevolence and cruelty are parted as heaven from the deep; good and bad are known apart like having and lacking. The zouyu steps askew to tread only emptiness; jackals and wolves pack together to kill the living. Yu Qing cast off his chancellor's seal to rescue a man in want; Lord Hua yielded the three offices to advance a worthy. Li Si hated the man who surpassed him and killed Han Fei; Pang Juan grieved that he was outmatched and maimed Sun Bin.

抱朴子曰：用得其長，則才無或棄；偏詰其短，則觸物無可。故輕羅霧縠，治服之麗也，而不可以御流鏑；沈閭巨闕，斷斬之良也，而不可以挑腳刺。

Baopuzi said: Use it where it is strong and no talent is thrown away; insist on probing where it is weak and nothing you touch can be taken. So light gauze and misty silk are the fairest for making robes, yet cannot fend off flying shafts; Shenlu and Juque are the best for hewing and cutting, yet cannot pick a thorn from the foot.

抱朴子曰：小疵不足以損大器，短疒火不足以累長才。日月挾蟲鳥之瑕，不妨麗天之景，黃河合泥滓之濁，不害凌山之流。樹塞不可以棄夷吾，奪田不可以薄蕭何，竊妻不可以廢相如，受金不可以斥陳平。

Baopuzi said: A small flaw cannot spoil a great vessel; a small ailment cannot burden great talent (the base text miswrites the character). Sun and moon carry the flaw of crow and toad yet are not hindered in their heaven-adorned light; the Yellow River carries the turbidity of mud yet does no harm to its mountain-towering flow. One cannot dismiss Guan Zhong for setting up a screen, cannot slight Xiao He for seizing fields, cannot cast out Xiangru for stealing a wife, cannot reject Chen Ping for taking gold.

抱朴子曰：虎豹不能搏噬於波濤之中，螣蛇不能登凌於不霧之日，摯雉兔則鸞鳳不及鷹鷂，引耕犁則龍麟不逮雙峙。故武夫勇士，無用乎晏如之世；碩生逸才，不貴乎力競之運。

Baopuzi said: Tigers and leopards cannot rend and bite amid the billows; the winged serpent cannot mount and soar on a mistless day. In catching pheasant and hare the simurgh and phoenix fall short of hawk and sparrowhawk; in pulling the plow the dragon-unicorn cannot match a yoke of oxen. So warriors and braves have no use in an age of peace, and great scholars of surpassing talent are not prized in a time of contending force.

抱朴子曰：兩絆而項領，則騏騄與蹇驢同矣；失林而居檻，則猿狖與獾貉等矣；韜鋒而不擊，則龍泉與鉛刀均矣；才遠任近，則英俊與庸王肖比矣。若乃求千里之跡於縶維之駿，責匠世之勳於劇碎之賢，謂之不惑，吾不信也。

Baopuzi said: Hobbled at both ends and held by the neck-strap, the thoroughbred is the same as a lame donkey; robbed of the forest and kept in a pen, the gibbon is level with the badger. Sheathe the point and do not strike, and Dragon Spring is the equal of a leaden knife; give a man of far-reaching talent a nearby task, and the eminent is measured against the mediocre (the base text miswrites 'mediocre'). To demand a thousand-li track from a hobbled steed, to require world-ordering work from a worthy ground to bits—say this is not delusion: I do not believe it.

抱朴子曰：捐荼茹蒿者，必無識甘之口；棄瓊拾礫者，必無甄珍之明。薄九成而悅北鄙者，吾知其不能格靈祇而儀翔鳳矣。舍英秀而杖常民者，吾知其不能敘彝倫而臻昇平矣。

Baopuzi said: He who casts off the bitter herb to eat wormwood is sure to lack a mouth that knows the sweet; he who throws down jade to pick up gravel is sure to lack eyes that weigh the precious. He who slights the ninefold music and loves the northern border airs—I know he cannot move the spirits and make the soaring phoenix come to dance. He who puts aside the eminent flowering to lean on common men—I know he cannot order the constant bonds and reach to rising peace.

抱朴子曰：達乎通塞之至理者，不悁悒於窮否；審乎自然之有命者，不逸豫於道行。故縈抑淵洿，則遺慍悶之心；振耀宸戶衣，而無得意之色。三仕三已，則其人也。

Baopuzi said: He who has fathomed the utmost principle of passage and blockage does not fret in the depths of failure; he who has discerned that nature and mandate are so does not idle in ease when the way is open. So pent and pressed in the deep pool, he forgets all grudging gloom; shining upon the palace screen (the base text miswrites 'screen'), he shows no color of triumph. Thrice employed and thrice dismissed—it was such a man.

抱朴子曰：否泰系乎運，窮達不足以論士；得失在乎適，營辱不可以量才。時命不可以力求，遭遇不可以智違。故尚父者，老婦之棄夫；韓信者，乞食之餓子；蕭公者，斗筲之吏；黥布者，刑黜之亡隸。當其行龍姿於虺蜥之中，卷鳳翅乎斥鴳之群，則彼龍後，謂為其倫。

Baopuzi said: Fortune and misfortune hang on the course of fate; failure and success cannot judge a gentleman; gain and loss lie with the moment; glory and shame cannot measure talent (the base text miswrites 'glory'). The decree of the hour cannot be won by force; the encounter cannot be avoided by wit. So Shangfu was the cast-off husband of an old wife; Han Xin was a hungry man begging his food; Lord Xiao was a peck-and-ladle clerk; Qing Bu was a branded fugitive slave. While they walked dragon-gait among vipers and furled phoenix-wings among the marsh quail, those dragon-blooded called them their own kind.

抱朴子曰：四靈翳逸，而為隆平之符；幽人嘉遁，而為有國之寶。何必司晨而銜鑣，羈紲於憂責哉有用人之用也，無用我之用也，徇身者不以名汨和，修生者不以物累己。

Baopuzi said: Though the four numina hide away, they are still the tokens of high peace; though the recluse makes his fair retreat, he is still the treasure of the state. Why must he herald the dawn with a bit in his teeth, bound in hobbles amid care and charge? To be of use is for other men; to be of no use is for myself. He who pursues the body does not let fame muddy his harmony; he who cultivates life does not let things burden himself.

抱朴子曰：量才而授者，不求功於器外；揆能而受者，不負責於力盡。故滅熒燭者不煩滄海，扛斤兩者不事烏獲。運薪輦鹽，不宜枉騏驥之腳；碎職琑任，安足屈獨行之俊矣

Baopuzi said: He who measures talent and gives charge does not seek work beyond the vessel; he who gauges ability and takes on does not bear the blame once strength is spent. So to quench a firefly one does not trouble the gray sea; to lift a few pounds one does not trouble Wu Huo. Hauling firewood and carting salt ought not to waste the thoroughbred's feet; petty posts and trifling charges—how could they suffice to bend the singular eminent!

抱朴子曰：田川澮之流，不能運大白之艘；升合之器，不能容千鍾之物。熠耀不能並表微之景，常才不能別逸倫之器。蓋造化所假，聰明有本根也。

Baopuzi said: The runnels of ditch and channel (the base text has a stray character) cannot float a great white ship; a peck-measure vessel cannot hold a thousand-zhong thing. The glow-worm cannot match the light that shows the minute; common talent cannot tell apart the vessel beyond compare. These, presumably, are lent by creation, and wit and sight have their roots.

抱朴子曰：郢人美下里之淫蛙，而薄六莖之和音；庸夫好悅耳之華譽，而惡利行之良規。故宋玉舍其延靈之精聲，智士招其獨見之遠謀。

Baopuzi said: The men of Ying delighted in the sounds of the low village and wanton frogs, and slighted the harmony of the Six Stems; the common sort love the florid praise that pleases the ear and hate the good counsel that profits conduct. So Song Yu put away his spirit-prolonging notes, and the man of wisdom drew in his far plan seen alone.

抱朴子曰：瓊珉山積，不能無挾瑕之器；鄧林千里，不能無偏枯之木。論珍則不可以細疵棄巨美；語大則不可以少累廢其多故。叛主者，良平也，而吐六奇以安上；群盜者彭越也，而建弘勳於佐命。

Baopuzi said: Jade heaped like a mountain cannot be without flawed pieces; the Deng forest stretching a thousand li cannot be without one-sided-withered trees. In weighing the precious, one cannot throw away a great beauty for a slight flaw; in speaking of the great, one cannot cast off its much for a small defect. So Zhang Liang and Chen Ping, though they had betrayed their lords, uttered the six stratagems to give the ruler peace; and Peng Yue, though he had been a bandit chief, built a great work as helper of the mandate.

抱朴子曰：五嶽巍峨，不以藏疾傷其極天之高；滄海滉漾，不以含垢累其無涯之廣。故九德尚寬以得眾，宣尼泛愛而與進。

Baopuzi said: The five peaks in their majesty are not lessened in sky-touching height for harboring sickness; the gray sea in its vastness is not lessened in boundless breadth for holding filth. So the nine virtues prized breadth to win the many, and Xuan Ni loved all and let each advance as he was.

抱朴子曰：立德踐言，行全操清，斯則富矣，何必玉帛之崇乎高尚其志，不降不辱，斯則貴矣，何必青紫之兼拖也俗民不能識其度量，庸夫不得揣其銓衡，是則高矣，何必凌雲而蹈霓乎問者莫或測其淵流，求者未有覺其短乏，是則深矣，何必洞河而淪海乎四海苟備，雖室有懸磬之窶，可以無羨乎鑄山而煮海矣。身處鳥獸之群，可以不渴乎朱輪而華轂矣。

Baopuzi said: To stand in virtue and walk one's word, to keep conduct whole and rule clean—this is riches; what need is there for mountains of jade and silk! To hold one's purpose high, neither lowering nor shaming oneself—this is honor; what need is there for trailing the green and purple! For common folk unable to know his measure and vulgar men unable to fathom his weighing—this is height; what need is there to mount the clouds and tread the rainbow! For the questioner unable to sound his depths and the seeker never finding him wanting—this is depth; what need is there to pierce the Yellow River and sink the sea! If the four seas are made ready, even a house poor as a hanging chime need not envy minting mountains and boiling seas. Dwelling amid the herds of beasts and birds, one need not thirst for red wheels and painted hubs.

抱朴子曰：潛靈俟慶雲以騰竦，棲鴻階勁風以凌虛，素鱗須姬發而躍，白雉待公旦而來，姜老值西伯而投石番溪之綸，韓英遭漢高乃騁撥亂之才。

Baopuzi said: The hidden numen waits for felicitous clouds to mount and rise; the perched swan borrows a strong wind to soar in the void; the white scales needed Ji Fa before they leapt; the white pheasant awaited Dan before it came; old Jiang, meeting the Earl of the West, cast his line at Panxi; Han and Ying, encountering the High Ancestor, stretched their talent to quell disorder.

抱朴子曰：澄精神於玄一者，則形器可忘；邈高節以外物者，則富貴可遺。故支離之□，偉造化而怡顏；北人箕叟，棲嵩岫而得意焉。

Baopuzi said: He who stills his spirit upon the dark One can forget his bodily frame; he who sets his high integrity beyond all things can cast off wealth and honor. So the misshapen (the base text lacks this character) counted creation grand and was glad of face; Beiren and the old man of Ji roosted in the Song peaks in contentment.

抱朴子曰：粗理不可浹全，能事不可舉兼。故懸象明而可蔽，山川滯而或移，金玉剛而可柔，堅冰密而可離。公旦不能與伯氏跟絓於馮雲之峻，仲尼不能與呂梁較伎於百仞之溪。

Baopuzi said: A rough principle cannot be spread whole into every detail; a capable work cannot be undertaken on every side. So the hung images, though bright, may be eclipsed; mountains and rivers, though fixed, may be moved; gold and jade, though hard, may be made soft; solid ice, though close, may be split apart. The Duke of Zhou could not match Bo's hanging on the misty height; Confucius could not match the Lüliang swimmer's skill in the hundred-ren stream.

抱朴子曰：震雷不能細其音，以協金石之和；日月不能私其耀，以變曲照之惠；大川不能促其涯，以適速濟之情；五嶽不能削其峻，以副陟者之慾。故廣車不能脅其轍以苟通於狹路，高士不能撙其節以同塵於隘俗。抱朴子曰：陰陽以廣陶濟物，三光以普照著明，嵩華以藏疾為曠，北溟以含垢稱大，碩儒以與進弘道，遠數以博愛容眾。

Baopuzi said: The thunderclap cannot thin its note to join the harmony of metal and stone; sun and moon cannot hide their shining away to alter their gift of lighting the lowly; the great stream cannot shorten its banks to suit the wish for a quick crossing; the five peaks cannot pare their steepness to answer the climbers' wants. So the broad-wheeled carriage cannot narrow its track just to pass a strait road, and the lofty gentleman cannot trim his rule to share dust with the cramped crowd. Baopuzi said: Yin and Yang sustain things by broad molding; the three luminaries show their light by shining on all; Song and Hua are broad for harboring sickness; the northern deep is called great for holding filth; the great Confucian magnifies the Way by advancing each as he is; the far-reckoning man holds the crowd by loving them broadly.

抱朴子曰：靈龜之甲，不必為戰施；麟角鳳爪，不必為鬥設。故雋生不釋劍於平世，擊柝不輟備於思危。

Baopuzi said: The spirit tortoise's shell is not borne for battle's sake; the unicorn's horn and the phoenix's claws are not made for fighting's sake. So the fine man does not lay aside his sword in an age of peace, and the watchman's rattle is not silenced because danger is thought absent.

抱朴子曰：南金不為處幽而自輕，瑾瑤不以居深而止潔。志道者不以否滯而改圖，守正者不以莫賞而苟合。

Baopuzi said: The southern gold does not make light of itself for dwelling in obscurity; jasper and jade do not cease being pure for dwelling deep. He whose purpose is in the Way does not change plans for being blocked; he who keeps the right does not join wrongly because none prizes him.

抱朴子曰：登玄圃者，悟丘阜之卑；浮溟海者，識池沼之褊。披九典乃覺牆面之篤蔽，聞至道乃知拘俗之多迷。

Baopuzi said: He who climbs the Hanging Gardens first learns the lowness of hills; he who floats the dark sea first knows the narrowness of ponds. He who opens and reads the nine canons first feels the deep blindness of facing the wall; he who hears the utmost Way first knows the many delusions of the bound vulgar.

抱朴子曰：渾沌之原，無皎澄之流；毫釐之根，無連抱之枝；分寸之燼，無炎遠之熱；隙穴

Baopuzi said: A turbid source has no clear, limpid stream; a hairline root has no two-arm bough; an inch-size ember has no far-reaching heat; within a crack

之中，無炳蔚之群；鉤曲之形，無繩直之影；叄差之上，無整齊之下。

(Baopuzi continued:) in the cave, there is no bright, patterned flock; a hooked and crooked shape casts no ink-straight shadow; upon an uneven top there is no level base.

抱朴子曰：不睹瓊琨之熠爍，則不覺瓦礫之可賤；不覿虎豹之彧蔚，則不知犬羊之質漫。聆白雪之九成，然後悟巴人之極鄙；識儒雅之汪濊，爾乃悲不學之固陋。

Baopuzi said: Not having seen jasper's sparkle, one does not feel tile and gravel are cheap; not having seen the tiger's and leopard's patterned glory, one does not know the flatness of dog and sheepskin. Hearing the ninefold strain of White Snow, one then wakes to the utter meanness of the Baren songs; knowing the vast depth of Confucian grace, one then grieves the stubborn narrowness of not learning.

抱朴子曰：無當之玉碗，不如全用之埏埴；寸裂之錦黻，未若堅完之韋布。故夏姬之無禮，不如孤逐之皎潔；富貴之多罪，不如貧賤之履道。

Baopuzi said: A bottomless jade bowl is not the equal of earthenware whole and usable; brocade torn inch by inch is not the equal of leather and plain cloth firm and sound. So Xia Ji's unseemliness was not the equal of the lone outcast's pure brightness; and a wealth of many sins is not the equal of walking the Way in poverty.

抱朴子曰：猛獸不奮搏於度外，鷹鷂不揮翮以妄擊。若廟算既內不揆德，進取又外不量力，猶輕羽之沒洪爐，飛雪之委沸鑊，朝菌之試干將，羔犢之犯武虎虎也。

Baopuzi said: The fierce beast does not leap and rend beyond its measure; the falcon does not beat its wings in a wild strike. If the temple reckoning within has not weighed the power, and the drive forward without has not weighed the strength, it is like a light feather vanishing into a great furnace, flying snow cast into a boiling cauldron, a morning mushroom put to test Ganjiang, a lamb or calf sent to brave a fierce tiger.

抱朴子曰：三辰蔽於天，則清景暗於地；根草亥蹶於此，則柯條瘁於彼；道失於近，則禍及於遠；政繆於上，而民困於下。

Baopuzi said: When the three luminaries in heaven are veiled, the clear light on earth grows dim; when the root founders here (the base text miswrites the character), the boughs wither there; when the Way is lost near at hand, calamity reaches afar; when government errs above, the people suffer below.

抱朴子曰：務於遠者或失於近，治其外者或患生乎內。覆頭者不必能令足不濡，蔽腹者不必能令背不傷。故秦始築城遏胡而禍發幃幄，漢武懸旌萬里而變起蕭牆。

Baopuzi said: He who attends to the far may lose at the near; he who orders the outside may find trouble born within. Covering the head cannot keep the feet from being wet; shielding the belly cannot keep the back unhurt. So the First Emperor of Qin built a wall to bar the Hu, and calamity issued from within the curtains; Emperor Wu of Han hung his banners ten thousand li away, and the rising came from within the screen wall.

抱朴子曰：人才無定珍，器用無常道，直趨者以適世為奇，役御者以合時為妙。故玄冰結則五明捐，隆暑熾則裘爐退，高鳥聚則良弓發，狡兔多則盧鵲走，干戈興則武夫奮，韶夏作則文儒起。

Baopuzi said: There is no fixed preciousness among men of talent, no constant way among vessels' uses: he who runs to the point counts fitness to the age his marvel; he who drives counts matching the hour his skill. So when dark ice binds, the five-brilliant fans are cast aside; when deep summer blazes, furs and braziers retire; when high birds gather the good bow is drawn; when wily hares are many the hounds Lu and Que run; when shield and spear arise the men of war bestir; when the Shao and Xia sound the civil scholars rise.

抱朴子曰：激修流揚朝宗者，不可以背五城而跨積石；舒翠葉吐丹葩者，不可以舍洪草亥而去繁柯。敗源失本，鮮不枯汔，叛聖違經，理不弘濟。

Baopuzi said: What swells the long streams and runs off to pay court cannot turn its back on the five walls to cross the piled stones; what spreads green leaves and breathes out cinnabar blooms cannot cast off the great root to leave the thick bough (the base text miswrites 'root'). To defeat the source and lose the root—few do not dry up; to betray the sages and forsake the classics—the principle cannot spread far.

抱朴子曰：四瀆辯源，五河分流，赴卑注海，殊途同歸。色不均而皆豔，音不同而鹹悲，香非一而並芳，味不等而悉美。

Baopuzi said: The four channels part their sources, the five rivers split their streams; running to the low they pour into the sea—different roads, one return. Colors unlike are all fair; notes unlike are all moving; fragrances of more than one kind are fragrant together; flavors unequal are all fine.

抱朴子曰：物貴濟事而飾其末，化俗以德而言非其本，故綿布可以禦寒，不必貂狐；淳素可以匠物，不在文辯。抱朴子曰：沖飈謐氣則轉蓬山峙，修綱既舒則萬目齊理。故未有上好謙而下慢，主賤寶而俗貧。

Baopuzi said: What is prized in a thing is serving the work, ornament being the tip of it; what transforms custom is virtue, words not being the root of it. So cotton cloth can fend off the cold—no need for sable and fox; plain simplicity can craft things—it does not lie in patterned argument. Baopuzi said: When the whirlwind stills, the tumbleweed stands like a mountain; when the great cord is stretched, the ten thousand meshes all fall in order. So there has never been one above loving humility while those below are insolent, never a lord slighting treasure while the folk are poor.

抱朴子曰：事有緣微而成著，物有治近而致遠。故修步武之池，而引沈鱗於江海；豐朝陽之林，而延靈禽於丹穴；設象於盤盂，而翠虯降於玄霄；委灰於尺水，而望舒變於太極。是以晉文回輪於勇蟲，而壯士雲赴；句踐曲躬於怒蛙，而戎卒輕死。九九顯而扣角之俊至，枯骨掩而叄分之仁洽。

Baopuzi said: There are affairs that begin from a trifling thread and grow into the conspicuous, and things governed near that reach afar. So they dredged a pool no bigger than a stride, and drew sunken scales from river and sea; they enriched the grove facing the morning sun, and summoned the numinous bird from the Cinnabar Cave; they set an image on the basin and platter, and the green dragon descended from the dark sky; they laid ash in a foot of water, and Wangshu altered in the grand pole. So Duke Wen of Jin turned his wheels for the brave insect, and stout men came to him like clouds; Goujian bent his body to the angry frog, and his soldiers made light of death. When the art of nine-times-nine was made known, the talent who knocked on the horn arrived; when the dry bones were covered over, a benevolence over a third of the realm spread abroad.

抱朴子曰：膏壤在草亥，而枯葉含榮；率俗以身，則不言而化。故有唐以鹿裘臻太平；齊桓以捐紫止奢競。章華構而豐屋之過成，露臺輟而玄默之風行。

Baopuzi said: Enrich the soil at the root (the base text miswrites the character), and the withered leaf holds its bloom; lead the age by one's own person, and it is transformed without a word. So You Tang wore deerskin and brought the realm to great peace; Duke Huan of Qi gave up purple and halted the strife in luxury. When the Zhanghua terrace was raised once, the fault of towering houses was complete; when the open terrace was left unbuilt, the manner of dark stillness spread abroad.

抱朴子曰：聰者，料興亡於遺音之絕響；明者，覿機理於玄微之未形。故越人見齊桓不振之徵於未覺之疾；箕子識殷人鹿臺之禍於象箸之初。

Baopuzi said: The keen of ear reckon rise and fall from a dying echo of lost sound; the clear of eye see the working of the pivot before the dark and minute has taken shape. So the Yue man saw in a sickness still unfelt the signs that Huan of Qi would not rise; Jizi knew from the first ivory chopsticks the calamity of Yin's Deer Terrace.

抱朴子曰：二儀不能廢春秋以成歲，明主不能捨刑德以致治。故誅貴所以立威，賞賤所以勸善。罰上達，則奸萌破而非懦弱所能用也；惠下逮，則遠人懷而非儉吝所能辦也。

Baopuzi said: The Two Powers cannot set aside spring and autumn to make a year; the enlightened ruler cannot set aside punishment and grace to bring about order. So executing the noble is how awe is established, and rewarding the humble is how goodness is urged. When punishment can reach upward, shoots of evil are broken—not something the timid could wield; when bounty can reach downward, distant men are won—not something the niggardly could manage.

抱朴子曰：浮海滄者，必精占於風氣，故保利涉之福。善蒞政者，必戰戰於得失，故享惟永之慶。故暗君之所輕，蓋明主之所重也。亡國之所棄，則治世之所行也。

Baopuzi said: He who would float the gray sea is sure to watch the wind and air with care; therefore he keeps the blessing of crossing in profit. He who is skilled at overseeing government is sure to tremble over gain and loss; therefore he enjoys lasting felicity. So what the benighted lord makes light of is likely what the enlightened ruler holds weighty; what a doomed state throws away is what an ordered age puts in practice.

抱朴子曰：毫釐蹉於機，則尋常達於的；與奪失於此，則善否亂於彼。邪正混侔，則彝倫攸斁；功過不料，則庶績以崩。故明君賞猶春雨而無霖淫之失，罰擬秋霜而無詭時之嚴。

Baopuzi said: If a hair's breadth slips at the trigger, then yards go astray at the mark; if giving and taking err here, then good and bad are thrown into confusion there. When the crooked and the straight are mixed as equals, the constant bonds are ruined; when merit and fault go unweighed, the many works collapse thereby. So the enlightened ruler rewards like spring rain without the fault of drowning, and punishes like autumn frost without the rigor of mistiming.

抱朴子曰：明銓衡者，所重不可得誣也；仗法度者，所愛不可得私也。故得人者，先得之於己者也；失人者，先失之於己者也。未有得己而失人，失己而得人者也。

Baopuzi said: He who is clear in the scales: the man he values cannot be slandered; he who leans on the rule: the man he loves cannot be favored. So he who gains men gained them first in himself; he who loses men lost them first in himself. There is no gaining oneself yet losing men, nor losing oneself yet gaining men.

抱朴子曰：明主躬操威恩，不假人以利器；暗主倒執干戈，雖名尊而勢去。故制慶賞而得眾者，田常所以奪齊也；擅威福而專朝者，王莽所以篡漢也。

Baopuzi said: The enlightened ruler holds the power of awe and grace in his own hands and does not lend the sharp weapon to another; the benighted ruler grasps the dagger-axe by its wrong end, and though honored in name the momentum is already gone. So that Tian Chang could rule reward and win the crowd—that is why he seized Qi; that Wang Mang could wield awe and fortune and rule the court alone—that is why he usurped Han.

抱朴子曰：常制不可以待變化，一途不可以應無方，刻船不可以索遺劍，膠柱不可以諧清音。故翠蓋不設於晴朗，朱輪不施於涉川，味淡則加之以鹽，沸溢則增水而減火。

Baopuzi said: Constant rule cannot meet change; a single path cannot answer the directionless; carving the boat cannot retrieve the lost sword; gluing the bridge cannot harmonize the clear tone. So the kingfisher canopy is not raised against the clear sky, the red wheel is not used for crossing a stream; when the flavor is flat salt is added, when it boils over water is added and the fire lessened.

抱朴子曰：丹書鐵券，刺牲歃血，不能救違約之弊，則難以結繩檢矣。五刑九伐，赤族之威，不足以止覬覦之奸，則不可以舞幹化矣。是以《書》有世重之文，《易》有隨時之宜。

Baopuzi said: When cinnabar writs and iron pledges, the slaughtered beast and the smeared blood, cannot remedy the failing of broken vows, they are harder to keep in check than knotting cords. When the five punishments and nine campaigns, the terror of exterminated clans, cannot halt the evil of covetousness, they cannot be transformed by brandishing shields. Therefore the Documents has the teaching that each age holds weighty, and the Changes has the fitness that follows the times.

抱朴子曰：人有識真之明者，不可欺以偽也，有揣深之智者，不可誑以淺也。不然，以虺蛇為應龍，狐鴟為麟鳳矣。

Baopuzi said: A man who has the sight to know the true cannot be deceived by falsehood; a man who has the wit to fathom the deep cannot be tricked by shallowness. Otherwise, one takes a viper for a responding dragon, and a fox or owl for a unicorn or phoenix.

抱朴子曰：世有雷同之譽而未必賢也；俗有讙譁之毀而未必惡也。是以迎而許之者，未若鑑其事而試其用；逆而距之者，未若聽其言而課其實。則佞媚不以虛談進，良能不以孤弱退，駑蹇輟望於大輅，戎虯揚鑣而電騁。則功胡大而不可建，道胡遠而不可到

Baopuzi said: The world may echo a man's praise and he is not necessarily worthy; the crowd may clamor a man's ruin and he is not necessarily evil. So rather than welcome him and grant at once, better to examine his deeds and test his use; rather than refuse him at rebuff, better to hear his words and assess his substance. Then flattery is not advanced on empty talk, nor good ability dismissed for standing alone; the worn nag halts its gaze at the great carriage, and the war-dragon shakes its bit and gallops like lightning. Then what work so great that it cannot be built, what Way so far that it cannot be reached?

抱朴子曰：潛朽之木，不能當傾山之風，含隙之崖，難以值滔天之濤。故七百之祚，三十之世，非徒牧野之功；倒戈之敗，鹿臺之敗，不始甲子之朝。其強久矣，其亡尚矣。

Baopuzi said: Rotten timber cannot face a wind that topples mountains; a cliff full of cracks can hardly meet waves that flood to the sky. So the seven-hundred-year mandate and thirty reigns did not come from Muye's work alone; the defeat of turning spear and the fall of Deer Terrace did not begin on the morning of jiazi. Its strength had grown long; its ruin had begun long before.

抱朴子曰：貴遠而賤近者，常人之用情也；信耳而疑目者，古今之所患也。是以秦王嘆息於韓非之書而想其為人，漢武慷慨於相如之文而情不同世；及既得之，終不能拔。或納讒而誅之，或放之乎冗散，此蓋葉公之好偽形，見真龍而失色也。

Baopuzi said: To prize the far and slight the near is the habit of common feeling; to trust the ear and doubt the eye is the malady of past and present. So the King of Qin sighed over Han Fei's writings and longed for the man; Emperor Wu of Han thrilled to Xiangru's works and grieved he was not of the same age. Yet once they had them, in the end they could not raise them to use—one took slander and put the man to death, the other set him in an idle sinecure. This is Lord Ye loving the painted form, then losing countenance at the real dragon.

抱朴子曰：摩尼不宵朗，則無別於磧礫；化鯤不凌霄，則靡殊於桃蟲。綿駒吞聲，則與喑人為群；逸才沈抑，則與凡庸為伍。故（魚旦）鰍褻絳虯於淵洿，駑蹇黷駿騄於垧野者，不識彼物靜與之同，動與之異。

Baopuzi said: If the mani gem does not gleam by night, it is no different from pebbles; if the transformed Kun does not mount the sky, it is no different from the wren. If Mian Ju swallowed his voice, he would flock with the mute; if surpassing talent sinks in repression, it keeps company with the commonplace. So the loach makes free with the scarlet dragon in the deep pool (the base text leaves a stray radical), and the lame nag soils the noble steed in the open field—for not knowing that at rest they are alike, in motion they differ.

抱朴子曰：棄金璧於途路，則行人止足；委錦紈於泥濘，則見者驚咄。若夫放高世之士於庸滷之伍，捐經國之器於困滯之地，而談者不訟其屈，達者不拯其窮，或貴其文而忽其身，或用其策而忘其功。斯之為病，由來久矣。

Baopuzi said: Cast gold and jade on the road, and travelers halt their steps; throw brocade in the mud, and onlookers cry out in shock. As for placing men who tower over the age in the ranks of the mediocre and foul, casting the vessel that can order a state into the straits of blockage—those who discourse do not plead his wrong, those who have risen do not rescue his want; some prize his writing and neglect his person, some use his counsel and forget his merit. This sickness has been long in coming.

抱朴子曰：開源不億仞，則無懷山之流；崇峻不凌霄，則無彌天之雲。財不豐，則其惠也不博；才不遠，則其辭也不贍。故睹盈丈之牙，則知其不出徑寸之口；則百尋之枝，則知其不附毫末之木。

Baopuzi said: If the opened source does not go a hundred million ren deep, there is no mountain-embracing current; if the reared height does not mount the sky, there is no heaven-filling cloud. If wealth is not rich, his bounty is not broad either; if talent does not reach far, his words are not ample either. So seeing a tusk filling ten feet, one knows it did not come from an inch-wide mouth; seeing a bough of a hundred fathoms, one knows it did not grow on a downy stalk.

抱朴子曰：靈鳳所以晨起丹穴，夕萃軒丘，日未移晷，周章九陔，凌風蹈云，不掇不閡者，以其六翮之輕勁也。夫才大器，亦有國之六翮也。

Baopuzi said: The reason the numinous phoenix rises at dawn from the Cinnabar Cave and alights at dusk on Xuanyuan's hill, circling the nine bounds before the shadow has moved, riding wind and treading cloud, unhindered and unblocked, is the lightness and strength of its six quills. The vessel of great talent is likewise a state's six quills.

抱朴子曰：淇衛忘歸，不能無弦而遠激；振塵之音，不能無器而興哀。超俗拔萃之德，不能立功於未至之時。

Baopuzi said: Qiwei and Wanggui arrows cannot leap far without a bowstring; the voice that shakes the dust cannot raise its lament without an instrument. A virtue that transcends the age and tops the crowd cannot establish merit before its hour has come.

抱朴子曰：朱綠之藻，不秀於枯柯；傾山之流，不發乎涸源。熠耀之宵焰，不能使萬品呈形；志盡勢利，不能使芳風邈世。

Baopuzi said: The red-and-green bloom does not flower on a withered bough; the mountain-toppling torrent does not issue from a dried source. A glow-worm's flame by night cannot make the ten thousand kinds take shape; a purpose spent on power and profit cannot make a fair fame reach far ages.

抱朴子曰：重淵不洞地，則不能含螭龍，吐吞舟；峻山不極天，則不能韜琳琅，播雲雨；立德不絕俗，則不能收美聲，著厚實；執志不絕群，則不能臻成功，銘弘勳。而凡夫朝為蜩翼之善，夕望丘陵之益，猶立植黍稷，坐索於豐收也。

Baopuzi said: If the deep abyss does not pierce the earth, it cannot hold dragons and swallow boats; if the steep mountain does not touch the sky, it cannot hoard gems and scatter cloud and rain; if standing in virtue does not pass the common, it cannot gather fair fame and show solid substance; if holding one's resolve does not pass the herd, it cannot attain achievement and engrave great merit. Yet the common man does good slight as a cicada's wing in the morning and by evening looks for profit heavy as a hill—like standing to sow millet and sitting to demand the harvest.

抱朴子曰：行無邈俗之標，而索高世之稱；體無道藝之本，而營朋黨之末。欲以收清貴於當世，播德音於將來，猶褰裳以越滄海，企佇而躍九玄。

Baopuzi said: To seek the fame that tops the age while one's conduct has no mark that passes the common; to work at the tip of faction while one's person lacks the root of the Way and its arts—wishing thereby to gather clear honor in the present and broadcast a virtuous name to the future is like lifting one's robe to cross the gray sea, or standing on tiptoe to leap to the ninth heaven.

抱朴子曰：泥龍雖藻繪炳蔚，而不堪慶雲之招；撩禽雖雕琢玄黃，而不任凌風之舉；芻狗雖飾以金翠，而不能躡景以頓逸；近才雖豐其寵祿，而不能令天清而地平。

Baopuzi said: A clay dragon, though painted in bright patterns, cannot answer the summons of felicitous clouds; a carved wooden bird, though worked in dark and yellow, cannot bear the wind-riding ascent; a straw dog, though decked in gold and kingfisher, cannot tread the light and halt its flight; a near talent, though his favor and emolument are made rich, cannot make the heavens clear and the earth level.

抱朴子曰：毒弱既陳，則旁有爛腸之鼠；明燎宵舉，則下有聚死之蟲。芻豢之豐，則鼎俎承之；才小任大，則泣血漣如。桑霍為戒厚矣，範疏之鑑明矣。

Baopuzi said: Once the poisoned bolts are set out, there are burst-gutted rats beside them; once the bright torches are raised by night, there are flocks of dead insects beneath. When sacrificial meats are rich, tripod and platter follow on; when talent is small and charge is great, weeping blood flows without cease. The warnings of Sang and Huo are heavy enough; the mirror of Fan and Shu is plain enough.

抱朴子曰：滄海揚萬里之濤，不能斂山峰之塵；驚風摧千仞之木，不能拔弱草之草亥。豸區虎武虎闞，不能威蚊虻；冠世之才，不能合流俗。

Baopuzi said: The gray sea raises its ten-thousand-li waves, yet cannot gather the dust from a mountain peak; the whirlwind snaps the thousand-ren tree, yet cannot pull the tender grass's root (the base text miswrites the character). The roaring tiger bellows in rage (the base text is corrupt; read as 'roaring tiger'), yet cannot frighten gnats and midges; the talent that tops the age cannot join the common stream.

抱朴子曰：堅志者，功名之主也；不惰者，眾善之師也。登山不以艱險而止，則必臻乎峻嶺矣；積善不以窮否而怨，則必永其令問矣。

Baopuzi said: Firm purpose is the master of achievement and fame; unflagging is the teacher of all good. Climbing a mountain and not halting for its steep peril, one is sure to reach the high ridge; piling up good and not murmuring for failure, one is sure to keep one's fair name long.

抱朴子曰：和鵲雖不長生，而針石不可謂非濟命之器也；儒者雖多貧賤，而墳典不可謂非進德之具也。播種有不收者矣，而稼穡不可廢；仁義有遇禍者矣，而行業不可惰。

Baopuzi said: Though Yi He and Bian Que could not live forever, needle and stone cannot be said not to be the vessels that give life; though Confucians are often poor and low, the classics and canons cannot be said not to be the tools of advancing virtue. There are plantings that reap nothing, yet husbandry cannot be cast aside; benevolence and righteousness have met calamity, yet one's work cannot grow slack.

抱朴子曰：重載不止，所以沈我舟也；昧進忘退，所以危我身也。聚蠍攻本，雖權安然，必傾之徵也。

Baopuzi said: A heavy load that does not stop—that is why my boat sinks; pressing on blindly and forgetting to withdraw—that is why my person is imperiled. When gathered borers attack the root, though it stands in peace for the moment, it is the sign of certain fall.

抱朴子曰：玄雲為龍興，非虺蜓所能招也；飈風為虎發，非狐貉之能致也。是以大人受命，則逸倫之士集；玉帛幽求，則丘園之俊起。

Baopuzi said: The dark cloud rises for the dragon—no viper or lizard can summon it; the whirlwind looses for the tiger—no fox or wildcat can bring it. So when the great man receives the mandate, men beyond compare gather; when jade and silk seek in the dark, the eminent of hill and garden arise.

抱朴子曰：金以剛折，水以柔全，山以高陊，谷以卑安。是以執雌節者無爭雄之禍，多尚人者有召怨之患。

Baopuzi said: Metal is broken for being hard; water is kept whole for being soft; the mountain falls for being high; the valley is safe for being low. So he who holds the female measure suffers no calamity of striving for mastery; he who often sets himself above others invites the malady of resentment.

抱朴子曰：淮陰隱勇於跨下，不損其龍躍而虎視；應侯韜奇於溺簣，不妨其鸞翔而鳳起也。或南面稱孤，或宰總檯鼎。故一抑一揚者，輕鴻所以凌虛也；乍屈乍伸者，良才所以俟時也。

Baopuzi said: Huaiyin hid his valor between a man's legs, yet it did not lessen his dragon-leap and tiger-glare; the Marquis of Ying sheathed his marvel in a privy basket, yet it did not hinder his simurgh-soar and phoenix-rise—one faced south and called himself lord, the other marshaled the tripods of state. So the one fall, one rise—that is how the light swan mounts the void; the sudden bend, sudden stretch—that is how the good talent awaits its hour.

抱朴子曰：焦螟之卑棲，不肯為銜鼠之唳天；玄蟬之潔飢，不願為蜣螂之穢飽。是以禦寇不納鄭陽之惠，曾叄不美晉楚之寶。

Baopuzi said: The lowly-roosting midge will not do the deed of hawking a mouse and crying to heaven; the pure-fasting dark cicada will not do the deed of the dung-beetle gorged on filth. So Yukou would not take Ziyang's bounty, and Zengzi did not prize the treasure of Jin and Chu (the base text miswrites 'Zeng').

抱朴子曰：微飆不能揚大海之波；毫芒不能動萬鈞之鍾。是以漆園思惠，有捐斤之嘆；伯氏哀期，有剿弦之憤。短唱不足以致弘麗之和，勢力不足以移淡泊之心。

Baopuzi said: A faint gust cannot raise the great sea's waves; a hair's tip cannot stir a bell of ten thousand jun. So the keeper of the lacquer garden, missing Hui, had his sigh over the laid-down axe; Bo, grieving for Zhong Qi, had his rage that broke the strings. A thin song cannot summon a grand and lovely harmony; power and position cannot shift a heart set on the plain and still.

抱朴子曰：熊羆不校捷於狐狸，金鶚不兢擊於小鷂。是以張耳掩壯於抱關，朱亥竄勇於鼓刀。

Baopuzi said: Bear and grizzly do not contest nimbleness with foxes; the golden eagle does not vie in striking with a small falcon. So Zhang Er hid his vigor as a gate-keeper, and Zhu Hai stored his courage wielding the butcher's knife.

抱朴子曰：懸魚惑於芳餌，檻虎死於籠狐。不可以釣緡致者，必虯螭也；不可以機阱誘者，必麟虞也。

Baopuzi said: The suspended fish is taken by the sweet bait; the penned tiger is killed by the fox in the trap. What cannot be summoned by line and bait is sure to be a dragon or kraken; what cannot be drawn by spring and pit is sure to be a unicorn or zouyu.

抱朴子曰：夫雲翔者，不知泥居之洿；處貴者，鮮恕群下之勞。然根朽者，尋木不能保其千日之茂也；民怨者，堯舜不能恃其長世之慶也。

Baopuzi said: Those who soar amid the clouds do not know the filth of dwelling in mud; those who dwell in honor rarely weigh the toil of the crowd below. Yet when the root is rotten, the tall tree cannot keep a thousand days' luxuriance; when the people grudge, even Yao and Shun cannot rely on a lasting felicity.

抱朴子曰：凡木結根於靈山，而匠石為之寢斤斧；小鮮寓身於龍池，而漁父為之息綱罟。蚊集鷹首，則鳸鵦不敢啄；鼠住虎側，則狸犬不敢睨。

Baopuzi said: A common tree that knots its root on the numinous mountain makes the carpenter forgo his axe; a small fish that lodges its body in the dragon's pool makes the fisherman still his nets. When gnats swarm on the eagle's head, the birds dare not peck; when a rat dwells beside the tiger, wildcat and hound dare not glare.

抱朴子曰：靈蔡默然，而吉凶昭晰於無形；春蛙長譁，而醜音見患於聒耳。故聲希者響必巨，辭寡者信必著。

Baopuzi said: The numinous tortoise is silent, yet fortune and doom are made plain in the formless; the spring frogs clamor long, yet their ugly voice is loathed for deafening the ear. So he whose sound is rare is sure to have a great resonance; he whose words are few is sure to have a shining trust.

抱朴子曰：箕踞之俗，惡盤旋之容；被髮之域，憎章甫之飾。故忠正者排於讒勝之世，雅人不容乎惡直之俗。

Baopuzi said: The custom that sits sprawled hates the wheeling bearing; the realm with unbound hair loathes the ornament of the Zhangfu cap. So the loyal and upright are cast out in an age where slander prevails, and the refined are not endured in a crowd that hates the straight.

抱朴子曰：升水不能救藪之燔草熱，撮壤不能遏砥柱之騰沸，寸刃不能刊長洲之林，獨是不能止朋黨之非。

Baopuzi said: A sheng of water cannot relieve the burning of a great marsh (the base text has a stray character); a pinch of soil cannot dam the surging of Dizhu; an inch-long blade cannot fell the forest of Changzhou; one man alone in the right cannot halt the wrong of a faction.

抱朴子曰：千羊不能捍獨虎，萬雀不能抵一鷹。庭燎攢舉，不及羲和之末景；百鼓並伐，未若震霆之餘聲。是以庸夫盈明，不能使彝倫攸敘；英俊孤任，足以令庶事根長。

Baopuzi said: A thousand sheep cannot withstand one lone tiger; ten thousand sparrows cannot stand off one hawk. Courtyard torches heaped together cannot match the last rays of Xihe; a hundred drums beaten in unison are not like the lingering sound of thunder. So a court full of commonplace men cannot order the constant bonds; one eminent man bearing the charge alone suffices to make all affairs take root and grow.

抱朴子曰：非分之達，猶林卉之冬華也；守道之窮，猶竹柏之履霜也。故識否泰於獨見者，雖劫以鋒銳，猶不失正而改途焉，安肯諂笑以偶俗乎體方貞以居直者，雖誘以封國，猶不違情以趨時焉，安肯躐徑以取容乎

Baopuzi said: A rise beyond one's lot is like winter blooms on forest plants; a poverty that keeps the Way is like bamboo and cypress treading frost. So he who discerns fortune and ruin in his own lone sight, even threatened by a sharpened point, still does not lose the right and change his course—how would he curry favor with a smile to join the crowd? He who embodies square steadfastness and dwells in the straight, even lured with a fief, still does not betray his heart to run with the times—how would he tread a shortcut to win acceptance?

抱朴子曰：震雷車訇車盍，而不能致音乎聾聵之耳，重光麗天，而不能曲景於幽岫之中；凝冰慘慄，而不能凋款冬之華；朱飆鑠石，而不能靡蕭丘之木。故至德有所不能移也。

Baopuzi said: The thunder crashes and booms (the base text should be read as 'crashes'), yet cannot send its sound into the deaf ear; the doubled light adorns the sky, yet cannot bend its shadow into the hidden ravine; the hard ice chills and kills, yet cannot wither the coltsfoot's bloom; the scarlet blast melts stone, yet cannot destroy the trees of Xiaoqiu. So the utmost virtue there are things it cannot move.

抱朴子曰：弓廣弩危機，嚴鏃銜弦，至可忌也，而勇雉觸之而不猜；暗政亂邦，惡直妒能，甚難測也，而貪人競而不避。故飛鋒暴集而不覺，禍敗奄及而不振。是以愚夫之所悅，乃達者之所悲也；凡才之所趨，乃大智之所去也。

Baopuzi said: The drawn crossbow and its hair trigger (the base text miswrites 'drawn'), the grim barb held at the string—these are most perilous, yet the bold pheasant goes to touch them without a thought; benighted rule in a disordered state, hating the straight and envying the able—these are hard to fathom, yet the greedy jostle toward them without shunning. So the flying points swarm down unperceived, and calamity and ruin arrive in a flash, unarrested. Therefore what the fool delights in is what the man of insight grieves; what the common talent runs toward is what the great wisdom leaves.

抱朴子曰：風不輟則扇不用，日不入則燭不明，華不墮則實不結，岸不虧則谷不盈。九有乂安，則韓白之功不著；長君繼軌，則伊霍之勳不成。故病困乃重良醫，世亂而貴忠貞。

Baopuzi said: If the wind does not stop the fan is not used; if the sun does not set the candle does not shine; if the flower does not fall the fruit does not set; if the bank is not cut away the valley is not filled. If the nine regions are settled, the merit of Han and Bai is not shown; if good rulers follow the track, the work of Yi and Huo is not achieved. So only in sickness and want is the good physician prized; only in an age of turmoil is loyal steadfastness treasured.

抱朴子曰：好榮故樂譽之慾多，畏辱則憎毀之情急。若夫通精元一，命契造化，混盈虛以同條，齊得失於一指者，愛惡未始有所繫，窮通不足以滑和。

Baopuzi said: Loving honor makes the wish for praise run strong; fearing shame makes the hatred of blame run urgent. As for him whose penetration joins the dark One, whose fate accords with creation, who merges fullness and emptiness into one thread and levels gain and loss under a single finger—love and hate have never bound him, and failure and success cannot roil his harmony.

抱朴子曰：與奪不汨其神者，至粹者也；利害不染其和者，極醇者也。浩浩乎非瓢觶所校矣，茫茫乎非跬步所尋矣。聲希所以為大音，和寡所以崇我貴，玄黃遼邈而不與□其曠，死生大矣，而不以改其守，常分細碎，將胡恤焉

Baopuzi said: He whom giving and taking cannot roil in spirit is the utterly pure; he whom profit and harm cannot stain in harmony is the utmost mellow. Vast—not to be measured by ladle and cup; boundless—not to be tracked by a half-step. Rare sound makes the great tone; few in accord exalt my worth. Dark and yellow stretch far, yet cannot match his breadth (a character is missing in the base text); life and death are great, yet for them he does not alter his keeping—what need to fret over the common lot, fine and small?

抱朴子曰：林繁則匠入矣，珠美則蟲奉裂矣。石含金者焚鑠，草任藥者剪掘，刃利則先缺，弦哀則速絕。用以適己，真人之寶也；才合世求，有伎之災也。

Baopuzi said: When the forest is thick the carpenters come in; when the pearl is fair the mussel is split open (the base text miswrites 'mussel'). The stone holding metal is burned and smelted; the herb fit for medicine is cut and dug; the keen edge is first to notch; the plaintive string is quick to snap. What suits the self is the true man's treasure; talent matched to the world's demand is the skilled man's calamity.

抱朴子曰：準的陳則流鏑赴焉；美名起則謗讀言攻焉。瑰貨多藏則不招怨而怨至矣，器盈志驕則不召禍而禍來矣。

Baopuzi said: Once the target is set out the flying shafts run to it; once a fair name is raised the slanders attack it (the base text miswrites 'slanders'). Hoard rare goods deep, and without summoning resentment the resentment arrives; let the vessel brim and the purpose grow proud, and without calling calamity the calamity comes.

抱朴子曰：連城之寶，非貧寒所能市也；高世之器，非淺俗所能識也。然盈尺之珍，不以莫知而暗其質；逸倫之士，不以否塞而薄其節。樂天任命，何怨何尤！

Baopuzi said: The treasure worth linked cities is not what the poor can buy; the vessel that tops the age is not what the shallow crowd can know. Yet the foot-wide jewel does not dim its substance because none knows it; the man beyond compare does not make light of his rule because he is blocked. At peace with heaven and content in fate—what resentment is there, what blame!

抱朴子曰：大鵬無戒旦之用，巨象無馳逐之才。故蔣琬敗績於百里，而為三臺之標；陳平困瘁於治家，而懷六奇之略。

Baopuzi said: The great Peng has no use for warning of dawn; the giant elephant has no talent for the chase. So Jiang Wan failed in a hundred-li post yet became the pillar of the three ministries; Chen Ping was worn out ordering his household yet carried the plan of the six stratagems.

抱朴子曰：明暗者，才也，自然而不可飾焉；窮達者，時也，有會而不可力焉。呂尚非早蔽而晚智，然振素而僅遇；韓信非初怯而末勇，然危困而後達。

Baopuzi said: Darkness and light are matters of talent—natural and not to be feigned; failure and success are matters of the hour—met in season and not to be forced. Lü Shang was not blinded early and wise late—yet only at white hair did he barely meet; Han Xin was not timid first and brave after—yet only after peril and want did he rise.

抱朴子曰：奔驥不能及既住之失，千金不能救斯言之玷。故博其施者，未若防其微；勤其求者，不如寡其辭。

Baopuzi said: A galloping steed cannot overtake a fault already past; a thousand in gold cannot mend where the word is already stained. So rather than making giving broad, better to guard against the minute; rather than piling effort on seeking, better to make one's words few.

抱朴子曰：烈士之愛國也如家，奉君也如親，則不忠之事，不為其罪矣。仁人之視人也如己，待疏也猶密，則不恕之怨，不為其責矣。

Baopuzi said: If the ardent man loves the state like his family and serves his lord like his kin, then the deed of disloyalty does not become his crime; if the benevolent man sees others like himself and treats the distant still like the close, then the blame for being unforgiving does not become his charge.

抱朴子曰：玄冰未結，白雪不積，則青松之茂不顯；俗化不弊，風教不頹，則皎潔之操不別。在危國而沈賤，故莊萊抗遺榮之高；居亂邦而飢寒，故曾列播忘富之稱。

Baopuzi said: Until dark ice binds and white snow lies deep, the green pine's luxuriance is not shown; until the transforming custom fails and moral teaching decays, the pure bright rule is not marked off. Sunken and low in a perilous state—that is why Zhuang and Lao Lai stood up in the height of forsaking glory; hungry and cold in a disordered state—that is why Zeng and Lie broadcast the name of forgetting wealth.

抱朴子曰：天居高而鑑卑，故其網雖疏而不漏；神聰明而正直，故其道賞真而伐偽。是以惠和暢於九區，則七耀得於玄昊；殘害著於品物，則二氣謬於四八。

Baopuzi said: Heaven dwells on high yet sees the low; therefore its net, though wide-meshed, does not leak; the spirits are keen-hearing and upright; therefore their way rewards the true and smites the false. So when kindness and harmony flow through the nine regions, the seven gleams are well-pleased in the dark sky; when cruelty and harm show themselves among the kinds, the two qi go awry in the four seasons and eight terms.

抱朴子曰：天秩有罔極之尊，人爵無違德之貴。故仲尼雖匹夫而饗祀於百代，辛癸為帝王而僕豎不願以見比，商老身愈賤而名愈貴，幽厲位彌重而罪彌著。故齊王之生，不及柳惠之墓；秦王之宮，未若康成之閭。

Baopuzi said: Heaven's ranks have honors without end; men's ranks have no honor that outlasts virtue. So Confucius, though a commoner, is sacrificed to for a hundred generations; Xin and Gui were emperors and kings, yet stable-boys would not deign to match them; the four elders of Mount Shang sank lower in station and grew dearer in name; You and Li grew weightier in throne and plainer in guilt. So the King of Qi's life is not the equal of Liu Xiahui's grave; the King of Qin's palace is not the equal of Kangcheng's lane.

抱朴子曰：影響不能無形聲以著，餘慶不可以無德而招。故唐堯為政七十餘載，然後景星摛耀；羊公積行，黃髮不倦，而乃墜金雨集。途遠者其至必遲，施後者其報常晚。

Baopuzi said: Shadow and echo cannot show without form and sound; lingering fortune cannot be summoned without virtue. So Yao of Tang ruled for over seventy years, and only then did the halcyon star spread its light; Lord Yang heaped up deeds, unwearying to white hair, and only then did fallen gold rain down like drops. He whose road is long is sure to arrive late; he whose giving comes late is often repaid late.

抱朴子曰：理盡者不可責有餘，一至者不可求兼濟。故洪濤之末，不能蕩浮萍；沖風之後，不能颺輕塵；勁弩之餘力，不能洞霧縠；西頹之落暉，不能照山東。

Baopuzi said: A principle spent cannot be charged with surplus; a single aim cannot be asked to compass all. So the tail of a great billow cannot toss the duckweed; the wake of a whirlwind cannot raise light dust; the spent force of a stout crossbow cannot pierce misty gauze; the falling light of the sinking sun cannot shine east of the mountains.

抱朴子曰：懸象雖薄蝕，不可以比螢燭之貞耀；黃河雖混渾，不可以方沼沚之清澄。山雖崩，猶峻於丘垤；虎雖瘠，猶猛於豺狼。

Baopuzi said: The hung images, though eclipsed and waning, cannot be matched by the firefly's faithful gleam; the Yellow River, though turbid and mixed, cannot be matched by the pool's clear stillness. A mountain, though fallen, still towers over mounds; a tiger, though gaunt, is still fiercer than jackals and wolves.

抱朴子曰：神農不九疾，則四經之道不垂；大禹不胼胝，則玄珪之慶不集。故久憂為厚樂之本，暫勞為永逸之始。

Baopuzi said: Had Shennong not passed through nine bouts of sickness, the way of the four canons would not have come down; had Great Yu not worn calluses on his hands, the felicity of the dark scepter would not have gathered. So long sorrow is the root of thick joy; brief toil is the beginning of lasting ease.

抱朴子曰：金鉤桂餌雖珍，而不能制九淵之沈鱗；顯寵豐祿雖貴，而不能致無慾之幽人。故呂梁有鵠立之夫，河湄繁伐檀之民。玉帛徒集於子陵之巷，蒲輪虛反於徐生之門。

Baopuzi said: A golden hook with cassia bait may be precious, yet it cannot master the sunken fish in the ninefold deep; illustrious favor and rich emolument may be noble, yet they cannot summon the hidden man who has no desires. So at Lüliang there are men standing tall as swans, and on the riverbanks many folk cutting sandalwood. Jade and silk gathered in vain in Ziling's lane; the rush-wheeled carriage returned empty from Master Xu's gate.

抱朴子曰：觀聽殊好，愛憎難同。鳥睹西施而驚逝，魚鱉聞九韶而深沈。故兗藻之粲煥，不能悅裸鄉之目；辨菱之清音，不能快楚隸之耳。古公之仁，不能喻欲地之狄；端木之辯，不能釋繫馬之庸。

Baopuzi said: What sight and hearing delight in differ; love and hate are hard to make the same. Birds were startled and fled at the sight of Xishi; fish and turtles sank deep at hearing the Nine Shao. So the splendor of embroidered ornaments cannot delight the eyes of the land of the naked; the limpid grace of water-chestnut songs cannot gladden the ears of Chu menials. Gugong's benevolence could not make the Di who coveted his land understand; Duanmu's eloquence could not unbind the menial who tied up the horse.

抱朴子曰：般旋之儀，見憎於裸踞之鄉；繩墨之匠，獲忌於曲木之肆。貪婪饕餮者，疾素絲之皎潔；比周實繁者，讎高操之孤立。猶賈豎之惡同利，醜女之害國色。

Baopuzi said: The bearing that circles in ceremony is hated in the land that squats bare; the carpenter of the inked line is resented in the shop of bent wood. Men greedy and gluttonous loathe the bright purity of plain silk; cliques that crowd together make an enemy of lofty conduct standing alone. It is like the petty merchant hating one who shares his profit, or the ugly woman injuring the nation's fairest.

抱朴子曰：君子之升騰也，則推賢而散祿；庸人之得志也，則矜貴而忽士。施惠隆於佞幸，用財出乎小惠。不與智者aw其安，而望有危而見救；不與奇士同其歡，而欲有戚之見恤；猶災火張天，方請雨於名山；洪水凌空，而伐舟於東閭；不亦晚乎

Baopuzi said: When the noble man ascends, he promotes the worthy and shares out his emolument; when the small man gets his way, he is puffed with rank and neglects the officers. His favors weigh heaviest on sycophants and favorites; his spending goes out in petty kindnesses. He will not share his ease with the wise, yet hopes in danger to be rescued; he will not share his joy with extraordinary men, yet wishes in grief to be comforted. It is like waiting until the fires of calamity spread across the sky before begging rain on the famous mountains; like waiting until the flood hangs overhead before going to Donglü to hew a boat—is that not too late?

或曰：“乾坤方圓，非規定之功，三辰摛景，非瑩磨之力；春華粲煥，非漸染之辨；茝蕙芬馥，非容氣所假。知夫至真，貴乎天然也。義以罕覿為異，辭以不常為美，而歷觀古今屬文之家，鮮能挺逸麗於毫端，多斟酌於前言。何也”

Someone said: 'The square and round of heaven and earth are not the work of compass and square; the sun, moon, and stars spread their light without the labor of polishing; spring flowers are resplendent without colors gradually dyed in; angelica and orchids are fragrant without borrowed breath. From this one knows that the truest things are prized for being natural. In principle the rare is held strange; in wording the uncommon is held beautiful. Yet surveying writers old and new, few can make unencumbered beauty stand at the brush's tip—most merely sip and weigh the words of men before them. Why is that?'

抱朴子曰：“清音貴於雅韻克諧，著作珍乎判微析理。故八音形器異而鍾律同，黼黻文物殊而五色均。徒閒澀有主賓，妍媸有步驟。是則總章無常曲，大庖無定味。夫梓豫山積，非班匠不能成機巧；眾書無限，非英才不能收膏腴。何必尋木千里，乃構大廈；鬼神之言，乃著篇章乎！”

Baopuzi said: 'Clear notes are prized when their measured rhymes can harmonize; works are treasured when they can dissect the subtle and analyze right principle. So the eight sounds' instruments differ in shape yet the bells and pitchpipes are the same; the axe-patterned ornaments differ in figure yet the five colors are evened. It is only that raw and ripe have host and guest, fair and foul their paces. Speaking thus, the Zongzhang hall has no fixed melody; the grand kitchen has no fixed savor. Catalpa and camphor may be heaped like mountains, but without a craftsman like Gongshu Ban nothing artful is made; books may be without number, but without outstanding talent their richness cannot be gathered. Why must timber be sought a thousand li away to frame a great hall? Why must it be the speech of spirits to make a written piece?'

抱朴子曰：夫才有清濁，思有修短，雖並屬文，叄差萬品，或浩漾而不淵渾，或事情而辭鈍，違物理而文工，蓋偏長之一致，非兼通之才也。暗於自料，強欲兼之，違才易務，故不免嗤也。

Baopuzi said: Talent runs clear or muddy; thought runs long or short. Though all alike compose, the kinds differ ten-thousandfold: some are billowing yet not deep; some have substance in matter but dullness in words; some offend the order of things while the writing is clever. These are all partial strengths, not comprehensive talent. Being dim at measuring themselves, they insist on possessing all, and abandoning their own gift, turn to other tasks—so they cannot escape being laughed at.

抱朴子曰：五味舛而並甘，眾色乖而皆麗。近人之情，愛同憎異，貴乎合己，賤於殊途。夫文章之體，尤難詳賞，苟以入耳為佳，適心為快，鮮知忘味之九成，雅頌之風流也。所謂考鹽梅之鹹酸，不知大羹之不致，明飄搖之細巧，蔽於沈深之弘邃也。其英異宏逸者，則網羅乎玄黃之表；其拘束齷齪者，則羈紲於籠罩之內。振翅有利鈍，則翔集有高卑；騁跡有遲迅，則進趨有遠近。駑銳(疑下有脫文)不可膠柱調也。文貴豐贍，何必稱善如一口乎！不能拯風俗之流遁，世途之凌夷，通疑者之路，賑貧者之乏，何異春華不為餚糧之用，茝蕙不救冰寒之急。古詩刺過失，故有益而貴；今詩純虛譽，故有損而賤也。

Baopuzi said: The five flavors may clash yet all are sweet; the many colors may differ yet all are lovely. The nature of recent men is to love the same and hate the different, to prize what agrees with them and scorn what goes by another road. The forms of letters are hardest of all to savor in detail. If pleasing the ear makes a piece good and fitting the heart makes it fine, then few will know the Shao music of nine parts that makes men forget taste, or the grace of the Ya and Song. This is called weighing the salt and sour of the seasonings while never knowing that the grand broth blends no flavors; discerning the whirling fine points while blind to the deep and vast. The outstanding and grandly untrammeled are cast into the net beyond dark and yellow; the cramped and petty are shackled inside the cage. With wings sharp or dull, flight and perch are high or low; with strides slow or swift, approach is near or far. The jade and the nag cannot be treated by gluing the pegs and strumming the se. Letters prize richness—why must all excellence come from one mouth? If they cannot rescue manners gone adrift or mend the declension of the age, open the road for the doubting, and relieve the wants of the poor—how does that differ from spring flowers that cannot serve as meat and grain, or angelica and orchids that cannot answer the urgency of ice and cold? The old poems satirized faults, so they were profitable and prized; today's poems are pure empty praise, so they are harmful and cheap.

抱朴子曰：屬筆之家，亦各有病，其深者則患乎譬煩言冗，申誡廣喻，欲棄而惜，不覺成煩也。其淺者則患乎妍而無據，證援不給，皮膚鮮澤而骨鯁迥弱也。繁華日韋曄，則並七曜以高麗；沈微淪妙，則儕玄淵之無測。人事靡細而不浹，王道無微而不憊，故能身賤而言貴，千載彌彰焉。

Baopuzi said: Those who wield the brush each have their faults. The deep ones suffer from too many metaphors, too many words, warnings too wide, comparisons too many—wanting to drop things yet loath to, they become overgrown before they know it. The shallow ones suffer from prettiness without ground and citations too few—a skin bright and moist with a frame of bone too weak. In flowery brilliance and glitter they vie in loftiness with the seven luminaries; in sinking subtlety and drowned wonder they equal the dark abyss's unfathomable. In human affairs there is nothing so small it is not soaked through; in the kingly way nothing so fine it is not complete. Therefore though their persons were lowly, their words are prized, shining brighter over a thousand years.

抱朴子曰：玄寂虛靜者，神明之本也；陰陽柔剛者，二儀之本也；巍峨巖岫者，山嶽之本也；德行文學者，君子之本也。莫或無本而能立焉。是以欲致其高，必豐其基，欲茂其末，必深其根。鄉黨之友不洽，而勤遠方之求，蒞官之稱不著，而索不次之顯。是以雖佻虛譽，猶狂華幹霜以吐曜，不崇朝而零瘁矣。雖竊大寶於不料，冒惟塵以負乘，猶鮮介附騰波以高凌，顧眄已枯株於危陸矣。聖賢孜孜，勉之若彼，淺近口止喬口止喬，忽之如此。積習則忘鮑肆之臭，裸鄉不覺呈形之醜，自非遁世而無悶，齊物於通塞者，安能棄近易而尋迂闊哉！將救斯弊，其術無他，徒擢民於巖岫，任才而不計也。

Baopuzi said: Dark stillness and empty quiet are the root of spirit-light; yin and yang, soft and hard, are the root of the two forms; towering crags and caves are the root of mountains; virtuous conduct and letters are the root of the noble man. Nothing stands without a root. So to reach the high one must thicken the base; to make the branches flourish one must deepen the root. The friends of village and ward are not in accord, yet one labors at seeking afar; the name for office is not distinguished, yet one seeks promotion out of turn. So even if one snatches empty fame on the sly, it is like a reckless flower flaunting its light into the frost—withered and wan before one morning is past. Even if one steals a great treasure where none could guess and, braving the dust, bears what it cannot carry, it is like a live shellfish riding the rising wave to towering height—in a blink already a withered stump on the perilous shore. The sages and worthies toiled on, urging themselves like so; shallow men swagger, neglectful like so. Long habit makes one forget the stench of the fish-market; the land of the naked feels no shame at bared bodies. Unless one is the sort who hides from the world unbothered and makes success and failure one—who could cast aside the near and easy to seek the remote and far-fetched! To rescue this fault there is no other method: promote the common folk out of the crags and caves, and employ talent without weighing the rest.

抱朴子曰：客嘲餘云：“先生載營抱一，韜景靈淵，背俗獨住，邈爾蕭然。計決而猶豫，不棲於心術；分定而世累，無系於胸間。伯陽以道德為首，莊周以逍遙冠篇，用能標峻格於九霄，宣芳烈於罔極也。今先生高尚勿用，身不服事，而著君道臣節之書；不交於世，而作譏俗救生之論；甚愛骨幹毛，而綴用兵戰守之法；不營進趨，而有審舉窮達之篇；蒙竊惑焉。”

Baopuzi said: A guest mocked me, saying: 'You, sir, carry the soul and embrace the One; you store your light and shadow in the spirit abyss; with your back to the drifting vulgar you dwell alone, remote and still. Your plans are settled, so indecision does not roost in your heart; your lot is fixed, so the world's burdens are not tied to your breast. Boyang led his book with the Way and its Virtue; Zhuang Zhou crowned his whole book with Free Roaming—thus they could hoist their lofty stature to the ninefold sky and spread their fragrance without end. Now you are lofty but not employed; your person serves no one, yet you write books on the way of the lord and the duty of ministers; you do not traffic with the world's customs, yet you compose essays decrying custom and saving life; you much cherish your bones, frame, and hair, yet you string together the methods of arms, battle, and defense; you do not manage your own advancement, yet you have chapters on examining promotion and on failure and success—I am privately much perplexed.'

抱朴子曰：“君臣之大，次於天地，思樂有道，出處一情，隱顯任時，言亦何系。大人君子，與事變通。老子無為者也，鬼谷終隱者也，而著其書，鹹論世務。何必身居其位，然後乃言其事乎夫器非瓊瑤，楚和不泣，質非潛虯，風雲不集。餘才短德薄，幹不適治，出處同歸，行止一致，豈必達官，乃可議政事君，否則不可論治亂乎常恨莊生言行自伐，桎梏世業，身居漆園而多誕談，好畫鬼魅，憎圖狗馬，狹細忠貞，貶毀仁義。可謂雕虎畫龍，難以徵風雲；空板億萬，不能救無錢。孺子之竹馬，不免於腳剝；士柈之盈案，無益於腹虛也。”

Baopuzi said: 'The great bond of ruler and minister is next only to heaven and earth. To yearn for the Way: serving and hiding are the same heart; retiring or appearing follows the times—why should speech be a burden? Great men and noble men adapt to changing things. Laozi was a man of non-doing; the Master of Ghost Valley was one who hid to the end—yet they wrote their books, and all spoke of the world's affairs. Why must one sit in that seat before one may speak of those matters? If the vessel were not fine jade, the Bian He of Chu would not have wept; if the substance were not a hidden dragon, wind and cloud would not gather. My talent is short and my virtue thin; my ability is not suited to ordering the age. Serving and hiding come home the same; moving and resting agree—must I be a high official before I may discuss government and serve the lord, and otherwise may not speak of order and disorder? I have always resented Zhuangzi for the way his words and deeds cut each other down: treating the world's work as fetters, dwelling in the Lacquer Garden while making much wild talk, liking to paint ghosts and hating to paint dogs and horses, pettily slighting a small man's loyalty and truth, denigrating humaneness and rightness. It can be called carving tigers and painting dragons that wind and cloud cannot attest; writing hundreds of millions on an empty board that cannot rescue the moneyless. Children's bamboo horses cannot spare the feet from wearing; a table heaped with earthen dishes is no help to the empty belly.'

或人又曰：“然吾子所著，彈斷風俗，言苦辭直，吾恐適足取憎在位，招擯於時，非所以揚聲發譽，見貴之道也。”

Someone else said: 'But what you have written impeaches and judges the world's customs; the words are bitter and the phrasing blunt. I fear it is just enough to win the hatred of those in office and invite rejection by the age—it is no road for spreading fame and winning regard.'

抱朴子曰：“夫制器者珍於周急，而不以辨飾外形為善；立言者貴於助教，而不以偶俗集譽為高。若徒阿順諂諛，虛美隱惡，豈所匡失弼違，醒迷補過者乎慮寡和而廢白雪之音，嫌難售而賤連城之價，餘無取焉。非不能屬華豔以取悅，非不知抗直言之多吝，然不忍違情曲筆，錯濫真偽，欲令心口相契，顧不愧景，冀知音之在後也。否泰有命，通塞聽天，何必書行言用，榮及當年乎夫君子之開口動筆，必戒悟蔽，式整雷同之傾邪，磋礱流遁之暗穢，而著書者徒飾弄華藻，張磔迂闊，屬難驗無益之辭，治靡麗虛言之美，有似堅白厲修之書，公孫刑名之論，雖曠籠天地之外，微入無間之內，立解連環，離同合異，鳥影不動，雞卵有足，犬可為羊，大龜長蛇之言，適足示巧表奇以誑俗，何異乎畫敖倉以救飢，仰天漢以解渴。說崑山之多玉，不能賑原憲之貧；觀藥藏之簿領，不能治危急之疾；墨子刻木雞以厲天，不如三寸之車金害；管青鑄騏驥於金象，不如駑馬之周用。言高秋天而不可施者，丘不與易也。”

Baopuzi said: 'The maker of vessels prizes what can rescue an emergency, and does not count adornment of outward shape a merit; the one who sets down words prizes what helps the teaching, and does not count pleasing the world and gathering praise a height. If it is only compliant flattery, empty praise and hidden faults—where is the method of righting errors, assisting against failings, waking the deluded, and mending mistakes? Fearing too few will sing along, to abandon the melody of White Snow; disdaining hard sale, to slight a jade worth cities—this I do not take as my model. It is not that I cannot string together florid beauties to please; it is not that I do not know straight talk invites much hate. But I cannot bear to bend the brush against the truth and scramble false and real. I want heart and mouth to tally, to look back at my shadow unashamed, hoping for a knower of the sound in later days. Failure and fortune are fated; smooth or blocked, I leave to heaven—why must my book be circulated and my words used for glory to come in my own years? When the noble man opens his mouth and moves his brush, he is sure to warn men into waking and strip away the film, to order the leaning wrongness of the echo-chamber, to scour the dark filth of drifting ruin. But those who write books only toy with florid sprays, spread out far-fetched schemes, string together phrases unverifiable and useless, and groom the beauty of ornate empty talk—like the books of the hard-and-white school and the whetted and sharp, like Gongsun Long's disquisitions on punishment and name: even though they vaguely stretch beyond heaven and earth and slip finely into the seamless, at once undoing the linked rings, parting the same and joining the different, saying a bird's shadow does not move, a chicken's egg has feet, a dog can be a sheep, a great tortoise is longer than a snake—such talk just suffices to show cleverness and display novelty to delude the world; how does it differ from painting the granary at Ao to rescue the hungry, or gazing up at the Milky Way to cure thirst? To say Kunlun has much jade cannot relieve Yuan Xian's poverty; to read the drugstore's ledger cannot cure a critical illness. Mozi carving a wooden kite to soar to heaven is not worth a three-inch linchpin; Guan Qing casting a unicorn of gold and ivory is not worth a nag that serves every day. Words spoken higher than autumn's sky that cannot be used—even Confucius would not trade for them.'

抱朴子曰：餘雅謂王仲任作《論衡》八十餘篇，為冠倫大才。

Baopuzi said: I have always held that Wang Zhongren, who wrote the Lunheng in eighty-odd chapters, was a great talent towering above his peers.

有同門魯生難餘曰：“夫瓊瑤以寡為奇，磧礫以多為賤，故庖犧卦不盈十而彌綸二儀，老氏言不滿萬而道德備舉。王充著書，兼箱累帙，而乍出乍入，或儒或墨，屬詞比義，又不盡美，所謂陂原之蒿莠，未若步武之黍稷也。”

A fellow student named Lu challenged me, saying: 'Fine jade is prized for being rare; gravel is cheap for being common. So Fuxi's trigrams, fewer than ten, enfold the two powers; Laozi's words, fewer than ten thousand, set out the Way and its Virtue complete. Wang Chong wrote books till the cases were piled with scrolls, yet they dart in and out, now Ru, now Mo; the matching of words and comparing of sense is not wholly fine—what is called artemisia and weeds on a sloping plain, not worth the millet between your feet.'

抱朴子答曰：“且夫作者之謂聖，述者之謂賢，徒見述作之品，未聞多少之限也。吾子所謂竄巢穴之沈昧，不知八紘之無外；守燈燭之宵曜，不識三光之晃朗；遊潢洿之淺狹，水覺南溟之浩汗；滯丘垤之位埤，不寤嵩岱之峻極也。兩儀所以稱大者，以其函括八荒，緬邈無表也；山海所以為富者，以其包籠曠闊，含受雜錯也。若如雅論，貴少賤多，則穹隆無取乎宏燾，而旁泊不貴於厚載也。夫跡水之中，無吞舟之鱗；寸枝之上，無垂天之翼；蟻垤之巔，無扶桑之林；潢潦之源，無襄陵之流。巨鰲首冠瀛洲，飛波凌乎方丈；洪桃盤於度陵，建木竦於都廣；沈鯤橫於天池，雲鵬戾乎玄象。且夫雷霆之駭，不能細其響；黃河之激，不能局其流；騏騄追風，不能近其跡；鴻鵠奮翅，不能卑其飛。雲厚者雨必猛，弓勁者箭必遠。王生學博才大，又安省乎！

Baopuzi replied: 'Now an originator is called sage and a continuer worthy; I have seen grades of making and transmitting, but never heard of a quota of more or less. What you say is one crouching in the dimness of a nest, not knowing the eight cords have no outer edge; keeping the light of a lamp at night, not knowing the brightness of the three luminaries; swimming in shallow narrow puddles, never aware of the Southern Sea's vastness; stuck at the low station of an ant-hill, never waking to the towering height of Song and Dai. The reason the two powers are called great is that they enfold the eight wilds, boundless without an outside; the reason mountains and seas are rich is that they hold the vast, taking in the mixed and many. If, as your fine theory says, little is prized and much despised, then the vaulting sky could not model its grand covering, and the earth's broad resting would not be prized for thick bearing. In water where a foot sinks no deeper there is no boat-swallowing fish; on an inch-long branch there are no heaven-hanging wings; on an anthill's crest there is no Fusang forest; at a puddle's source there is no hill-flooding torrent. The giant turtle bears Yingzhou on its head; flying waves leap over Fangzhang; the great peach crouches coiled at Dushuo; the Jianmu tree stands towering at Duguang; the sunken kun lies across the heavenly pool; the cloud-peng reaches the dark forms. Besides—though thunder frightens men you cannot make its sound smaller; though the Yellow River churns you cannot confine its stream; the wind-chasing qilin cannot have its stride made shorter; the high-hung swan cannot have its flight made lower. Thick clouds make fierce rain; a strong bow makes far-reaching arrows. Master Wang's learning is broad and his talent great—how could they be trimmed down!'

“吾子云；‘玉以少貴，石以多賤。’夫玄圃之下，荊華之顛，九員之澤，折方之淵，琳琅積而成山，夜光煥而灼天，顧不善也。又引庖犧氏著作不多，若周公既繇大易，加之以禮樂，仲尼作《春秋》，而重之以十篇。過於庖犧，多於老氏，皆當貶也。言少則至理不備，辭寡既庶事不暢。是以必須篇累卷積，而綱領舉也。羲和升光以啟旦，望舒曜景以灼夜，五材並生而異用，百藥雜秀而殊治，四時會而歲功成，五色聚而錦繡麗，八音諧而簫韶美，群言合而道藝辨。積猗頓之材，而用之甚少，是何異於原憲也懷無銓之量，而著述約陋，亦何加別於瑣碌也音為知者珍，書為識者傳，瞽曠之調鍾，未必求解於同世；格言高文，豈患莫賞而減之哉！且夫江海之穢物，不可勝計，而不損其深也；五嶽之曲木，不可訾量，而無虧其峻也。夏後之璜，雖有分毫之瑕，暉曜符彩，足相補也。數千萬言，雖有不豔之辭，事義高遠，足相掩也。故曰：四瀆之濁，不方甕水之清；巨象之瘦，不同羔羊之肥矣。

(Baopuzi continued:) 'You say jade is prized for being rare and stone despised for being common. Beneath the Hanging Gardens, on the crests of Jingshan and Huashan, in the marsh of Jiuyuan, in the abyss of Zhefang, the fine gems are piled mountain-high, night-glowing light blazing to heaven—is that not fine? You also cite Fuxi writing little, yet the Duke of Zhou expanded and worked out the great Changes and added ritual and music; Confucius made the Spring and Autumn and added the Ten Wings. More than Fuxi, more than Laozi—by your account all should be degraded. Words too few leave utmost principle incomplete; phrasing too sparse leaves the many affairs unexpressed. Therefore the chapters must be heaped and the scrolls piled before the guiding rope can be raised. Xihe lifts light to open the morning; Wangshu casts radiance to brighten the night; the five materials are born together and their uses differ; the hundred drugs bloom mixed and their cures differ; the four seasons join and the year's work is done; the five colors gather and the brocade is fine; the eight sounds accord and the Xiao-Shao is lovely; many words converge and the Way and its arts are made plain. To hoard Yidun's wealth yet use little of it—how does that differ from Yuan Xian? To hold a measure that cannot be weighed yet write with paltry meanness—what does that add over trifling men? Sounds are prized by the knowing ear; books are passed on by those who recognize. Blind Kuang tuning his bells did not necessarily seek understanding in his own day; fine maxims and lofty writing need not be trimmed for fear none will treasure them. Besides, the filth of river and sea is beyond counting, yet takes nothing from their depth; the crooked trees of the Five Marchmounts are beyond measure, yet take nothing from their height. The Xia sovereign's jade pendant, though it have a hairline flaw, has sheen and grace enough to make it up. Thousands of thousands of words, though some phrasing be dull, have sense so high and far as to cover it. Therefore it is said: the turbidity of the four great rivers is not measured against a jar of clear water; the leanness of a great elephant is unlike the fatness of a lamb.'

“子又譏云：‘乍入乍出，或儒或墨。’夫發口為言，著紙為書。書者所以代言，言者所以書事。若用筆不宜雜載，是論議當常守一物。昔諸侯訪政，弟子問仁，仲尼答之，人人異辭。蓋因事托規，隨時所急，譬猶治病之方千百，而針炙之處無常，卻寒以溫，除熱以冷，期於救死存身而已。豈可詣者逐一道如齊楚，而不改路乎陶朱白圭之財不一物者，豐也；雲夢孟諸所生萬殊者，曠也。故《淮南鴻烈》，始於《原道》《俶真》，而亦有《兵略》《主術》，莊周之書，以死生為一，亦有畏犧慕龜請粟救飢。若以所言不純而棄其文，是治珠翳而剜眼，療溼痺而刖足，患荑莠而刈谷，憎枯枝而伐樹也。

(Baopuzi continued:) 'You also mock that they dart in and out, now Ru, now Mo. What issues from the mouth is speech; what touches paper is writing. Writing substitutes for speech; speech writes out things. If the brush should not carry things mixed, then discussion should forever keep to one single thing. In the old days the feudal lords asked about government and the disciples asked about humaneness, and Confucius answered each with different words. That was lodging the rule in the matter, suiting the urgency of the time—like prescriptions for curing illness numbered by the hundred and thousand, and the points for needle and moxa having no fixed rule: to drive out cold, warmth; to expel heat, cold—only hoping to rescue from death and keep the body alive. How could one make all who come walk one road, as if going to Qi or to Chu, without changing course? The wealth of Zhu Gong and Bai Gui was not one kind of thing—because of abundance; what Yunmeng and Mengzhu produced was ten thousand kinds—because of breadth. So the Huainan Honglie begins with the Yuandao and the Chuzhen, yet also has the Binglüe and the Zhushu; Zhuangzi's book makes death and life one, yet also has dreading the sacrificial ox, envying the tortoise, begging grain to relieve hunger. If because the words are not pure you discard the writing, that is gouging out the eye to cure a film over it, lopping off the feet to cure damp numbness, cutting the grain for fear of weeds, felling the tree for hatred of dead branches.'

抱朴子曰：百家之言，雖不皆清翰銳藻，弘麗汪濊，然悉才士所寄，心一夫澄思也。正經為道義之淵海，子書為增深之川流。仰而比之，則景星之佐三辰；俯而方之，則林薄之裨嵩嶽。而學者專守一業，遊井忽海，遂掇躓於泥濘之中，而沈滯乎不移之困。子書披引玄曠，眇邈泓窈，總不測之源，揚無遺之流，變化不繫於規矩之方圓，旁通不淪於違正之邪徑，風格高嚴，重仞難盡。是偏嗜酸甜者，莫能賞其味也；用思有限者，不得辯其神也。先民嘆息於才難，故百世為隨踵，不以璞不生板桐之嶺，而捐曜夜之寶；不以書不出周孔之門，而廢助教之言。猶彼操水者，器雖異而救火同焉；譬若針灸者，術雖殊而攻疾均焉。狹見之徒，區區執一，去博辭精，思而不識，合錙銖而以齊重於山陵，聚百千可以致數億兆，惑詩賦瑣碎之文，而忽子論深美之言，真偽顛倒，玉石混淆，同廣樂於桑間，均龍章於素質，可悲可慨，豈一條哉！

Baopuzi said: The sayings of the hundred schools, though not all clear plumes and sharp sprays, grand, lovely, and vast, are all the fruit of gifted men lodging their hearts and minds in concentrated thought. The straight classics are the abyssal sea of the Way and rightness; the masters' books are the rivers that deepen it. Looking up for a likeness, they are like the auspicious star assisting the three lights; looking down for a figure, like grove and thicket adding to Mount Song. But the scholar exclusively guards one trade; swimming in a well he overlooks the sea, then stumbles in the mud, stuck fast in a plight he cannot leave. The masters' books open out the dark and far, fathomless and dim, gathering the source none can measure and stirring the stream that leaves nothing out—changing without being bound to compass and square, reaching sidelong without sinking into roads that stray from the right; their manner lofty and stern, hard to fathom past a hundred fathoms. This is because those partial to sweet and sour cannot savor their taste, and those whose thought is bounded cannot discern their spirit. The men of old sighed that talent is hard to find—one such in a hundred generations, scarce as heel set to heel. One does not, because the unworked jade is not born on Bantong's ridge, throw away the night-glowing gem; nor, because a book does not come from the gate of Zhou and Kong, discard speech that aids the teaching. It is like water-carriers: the vessels differ yet all fight fire; like the men of needle and moxa: the arts differ yet all attack disease. Men of narrow view cling stubbornly to one strand; from the broad and the finely worded they think but do not know. Put tiny weights together and they balance a mountain; pile up hundreds and thousands and they reach hundreds of millions. Yet they are deluded by the trifling texts of poems and rhapsodies and overlook the deep and lovely words of the masters' discourses—false and true upside down, jade and stone confounded, equating grand music with Sangjian, leveling the dragon's pattern to plain stuff. Pitiful and grievous—how could it be only this one thing!

或曰：“德行者，本也；文章者，末也。故四科之序，文不居上。然則著紙者，糟粕之餘事；可傳者，祭畢之芻狗。卑高之格，是可譏矣。”

Someone said: 'Virtuous conduct is the root; literary writing is the branch. So in the ranking of the four disciplines, letters do not stand first. Then what touches paper is the leftover business of dregs; what can be handed down is the straw dog after the sacrifice. The grading of low and high—this surely may be mocked.'

抱朴子答曰：“荃可棄而魚未獲，則不得無荃；文可廢而道未行，則不得無文。若夫翰跡韻略之廣逼，屬辭比義之妍媸，源流至到之修短，韞藉汲引之深淺，其懸絕也，雖天外毫內，不足以喻其遼邈，雖三光熠耀，不足以方其鉅細。龍淵鉛鋌，未足以譬其銳鈍；鴻羽積金，未足以方其輕重。而俗士唯見能染毫畫紙，便概以一例，斯伯氏所以永思鍾子，郢人所以格斤不運也。夫斫削者比肩，而班狄擅絕手之名；援琴者至多，而夔襄專清聲之稱。廄馬千駟，而騏騮有邈群之價；美人萬計，而威施有超世之色者，蓋遠過眾也。且文章之與德行，猶十尺之與一丈，謂之餘事，未之聞也。八卦生乎鷹隼之飛，六甲出於靈龜之負，文之所在，雖且貴(疑有脫文)本不必便疏，末不必皆薄，譬錦繡之因素地，珠玉之託蟲奉石，雲雨生於膚寸，江河始於咫尺，理誠若茲，則雅論病矣。”

Baopuzi replied: "The fish-trap may be discarded only once the fish has been caught; until then one cannot do without the trap. Writing may be set aside only once the Way has been put into practice; until then one cannot do without writing. As for the breadth or narrowness of a writer's brushwork and rhyme, the beauty or ugliness of his diction and analogies, the length or shortness of the reach of his sources, the depth or shallowness of his allusiveness and power to draw others in, the gulf between them is so vast that even the distance between the edge of the sky and the tip of a hair is not remote enough to illustrate it, and even the brilliance of the sun, moon and stars is not enough to compare with the difference in scale. The sword Longyuan and a blunt blade of lead (a lead-made blade, set against Longyuan to mean a dull and inferior weapon; it is not an elixir ingredient) are not enough to illustrate sharp and dull; a goose feather and a heap of gold are not enough to compare in light and heavy. Yet common scholars see only that one can dip a brush and mark paper, and lump everything together. This is why Boya mourned forever for Zhong Ziqi, and why the man of Ying put down his axe and never again swung it. Carpenters stand shoulder to shoulder, yet Ban and Di alone held the fame of matchless hands; those who take up the zither are very many, yet Kui and Xiang alone were praised for pure sound. Among a thousand teams of stable horses, the finest steeds command a price beyond the herd; among ten thousand beauties, Wei and Shi had a loveliness beyond the world, because they far surpassed the crowd. Moreover, literary writing and virtue are like ten feet and one zhang; to call writing a mere leftover pursuit is something I have never heard. The Eight Trigrams were born from the flight of the hawk, and the Six Jia came from what the spirit tortoise bore on its back. Wherever writing is present, even if it is for the moment held precious (the base text seems to have a missing passage here), the root need not be neglected nor the branch be thin: it is like brocade resting on a plain ground, or pearls and jade lodged in a fist of rock (the base text reads a variant character, which should be read as 'fist-sized stone'); clouds and rain are born from an inch of vapor, and great rivers begin from a foot-wide spring. If the principle is truly so, then your elegant argument is flawed."

又曰：“應龍徐舉，顧眄而凌雲；汗血緩步，呼吸而千里。故螻蟻怪其無階而高致，駑蹇驚過己之不漸也。若夫馳驟詩論之中，周旋一經之內，以常情覽巨異，以褊量測無涯，始自髫齔，詣於振素，不能得也。又世俗率貴古昔而賤當今，敬所聞而黷所見。同時雖有追風絕景之駿，猶謂不及伯樂之所御也。雖有宵良兼城之璞，猶謂不及楚和之所泣也。雖有斷馬指雕之劍，猶謂不及歐冶之所鑄也。雖有生枯起朽之藥，猶謂不及和鵲之所合也。雖有冠群獨行之士，猶謂不及於古人也。”

Baopuzi went on: "When the winged dragon rises slowly, a single glance and it climbs the clouds; when the blood-sweating horse paces gently, a single breath and it covers a thousand li. So mole crickets and ants are astonished that it reaches the heights without any steps, and worn-out nags marvel that it surpasses them without advancing gradually. As for those who gallop within the discussion of poetry and circle within a single classic, measuring great differences by ordinary feeling and measuring the boundless with a narrow gauge, from childhood to white hair they could not grasp it. Moreover, the world mostly prizes the ancient and despises the present, reveres what it has heard and slights what it has seen. Even if a contemporary has a steed that outruns the wind and outstrips its own shadow, people still say it is not the equal of those Bo Le drove; even if there is a raw jade with the luminous gleam of night and a price worth a whole city (the base text has a variant reading here; 'night' refers to night-shining, and 'worth a city' means priceless), they still say it is not the equal of the one for which the man of Chu named He wept; even if there is a sword that can cut a horse and point at an eagle, they still say it is not the equal of those Ou Ye forged; even if there is a medicine that makes the withered live and raises the rotten, they still say it is not the equal of what Yi He and Bian Que compounded; even if there is a gentleman who walks alone above the crowd, they still say he is not the equal of the men of old."

抱朴子曰：嵇生以太原郭林宗，竟不恭三公之命，學無不涉，名重於往代，加之以知人，知人則哲，蓋亞聖之器也。及在衰世，棲棲惶惶，席不暇溫，志在乎匡斷行道，與仲尼相似。

Baopuzi said: Master Ji held that Guo Linzong of Taiyuan never accepted appointment as one of the Three Excellencies, yet there was no field of learning he had not ranged over, and his fame was weightier than that of previous ages; moreover he could judge men, and to judge men is to be wise, so that he was probably of the caliber of a lesser sage. In a declining age he hurried about restlessly, never sitting long enough to warm his mat, with his ambition set on setting the times right and carrying out the great Way (the base text has a variant reading here, which should be read as 'setting the times right'), much like Zhongni.

餘答曰：“夫智與不智，存於一言，樞機之玷，亂乎白圭，愚謂亞聖之評，未易以輕有許也。夫所謂亞聖者，必具體而微，命世絕倫，與彼周孔其間無所復容之謂也。若人者亦何足登斯格哉！林宗拔萃翹特，鑑識朗徹，方之常人所議，固多引之上及，實復未足也。此人有機辯風姿，又巧自抗遇而善用，且好事者為之羽翼，延其聲譽於四方，故能挾之見推慕於亂世，而為過聽不核實者所推策，及其片言所褒，則重於千金，遊涉所經，則賢愚波盪，謂龍鳳之集，奇瑞之出也。吐聲則餘音見法，移足則遺蹟見擬，可謂善擊建鼓而揭日月者耳，非真隱也。蓋欲立朝則世已大亂，欲潛伏則悶而不堪，或躍則畏禍害，確爾則非所安。彰徨不守，載肥載月瞿，而世人逐其華而莫研其實，玩其形而不究其神，故遭雨巾壞，猶復見效，不覺其短，皆是類也。俗民追聲，一至於是。故其雖有缺隙，莫之敢指也。夫林宗學涉知人，非無分也。然而未能避過實之名，而暗於自料也。或勸之以出仕進者，林宗對曰：‘吾晝察人事，夜看乾象，天之所廢，不可支也。方今運在明夷之爻，值勿用之位，蓋盤桓潛居之時，非在天利見之會也。

I replied: "Whether one is wise or unwise lies in a single remark; a flaw in the pivot of speech is worse than a blemish on a white jade tablet. I believe that the verdict 'lesser sage' is not easily granted. A so-called lesser sage must be one who has all the parts in small, whose fame spans the age without peer, and between whom and the Duke of Zhou and Confucius there is no room left for anyone else. How could someone like Linzong qualify for that rank! Linzong stood out from the crowd, and his discernment was clear and penetrating; compared with what ordinary people say of him, he is indeed often praised above his measure, yet in reality still falls short. He had a quick tongue and a striking bearing, and was also skilled at making use of how he met and resisted others; besides, busybodies served as his wings and spread his reputation in every direction, so he was able to rely on this and be pushed forward in a chaotic age by men who, misled, never checked the facts. Once he praised a man in a single phrase, that man was worth more than a thousand in gold; wherever he traveled, the wise and the foolish alike surged like waves, saying that dragons and phoenixes had gathered and that rare auspicious omens had appeared. When he uttered a sound, his lingering tones were imitated; when he moved his feet, his footprints were copied. He may be called one who is good at beating the great drum and raising the sun and moon on a banner, not a true recluse. Probably he wished to take office but the age was already in great disorder; wished to hide but was too restless; wished to leap up but feared calamity; and holding still was not something he could settle into. He wandered undecided and could not keep to anything (the base text has a variant reading here), growing now plump, now thin (the base text has a variant reading here, which stands for 'thin'), and the world chased his glitter without examining his substance, played with his form without probing his spirit. So when his headcloth was spoiled by rain, people still imitated it without feeling it was a defect, and everything was of this sort. Common folk chasing after fame went as far as this. For this reason, though he had flaws, no one dared point them out. Linzong's learning extended to judging men, and it was not without measure. But he failed to avoid a reputation that exceeded the reality, and he was dim in assessing himself. When someone urged him to take office and advance, Linzong answered: 'By day I observe human affairs, by night I watch the heavens; what Heaven means to discard cannot be propped up. Now the times are at the line of Ming Yi, the position of Do Not Act, a time to linger and live in seclusion, not an occasion for 'seeing the great man in the heavens.'

雖有原陸，猶恐滄海橫流。吾其魚也，況可冒沖風而乘奔波乎！未若巖岫頤神，娛心彭老，優哉遊哉，聊以卒歲。’按林宗之言，其知漢之不可救，非其才之所辦審矣。法當仰隮商洛，俯泛五湖，追巢父於峻嶺，尋漁父於滄浪，若不能結蹤山客，離群獨往，則當掩景淵洿，韜鱗括囊，而乃自西徂東，席不暇溫，欲慕孔墨棲棲之事。聖者憂世，周流四方，猶為退士，所見譏彈。林宗才非應期，器不絕倫，出不能安上治民，移風易俗，入不能揮毫屬筆，祖述六藝，行自炫耀，亦既過差，收名赫赫，受饒頗多。然卒進無補於治亂，退無跡於竹帛。觀傾視汨，冰泮草靡，未有異庸人也。無故沈浮於波濤之間，倒屣於埃塵之中，遨集京邑，交關貴遊，輪刓篋弊，匪遑啟處，遂使聲譽翕熠，秦胡景附，巷結朱輪之軌，堂列赤紱之客，軺車盈街，載奏連車，誠為遊俠之徒，未合逸隱之科也。有道之世而臻此者，猶不得復廁高潔之條貫焉，為秘丘之俊民，而修茲在於危亂之運，奚足多哉！孰不謂之暗於天人之否泰，蔽於自量之優劣乎！空背恬默之途，竟無有為之益，不值禍敗，蓋其幸耳。以此為憂世念國，希擬素王，有似蹇足之尋龍騏，斥鴳之逐鴻鵠，焦冥之方雲鵬，鼷鼬之比巨象也。

'Even with men like Yuan and Lu, one would still fear the sea overflowing. I will become a fish, so how could I brave the gale and ride the surging waves! Better to nourish my spirit among the cliffs and caves, and let my heart take pleasure in Peng and Lao, free and at ease, simply living out this year.' Judging by Linzong's words, he knew that the Han could not be saved and that it was beyond his talent to manage; this is certain. By principle he should have climbed up to Shang and Luo, or floated on the Five Lakes, followed Chaofu on the high ridges or sought the Fisherman by the Canglang; and if he could not vanish among mountain guests and go off alone from the herd, he should have hidden his light and shadow in the depths, sheathed his scales and tied up his sack. Yet he went from west to east, never warming his seat, longing for the restless wandering of Confucius and Mozi. When sages grieved for the world and traveled everywhere, they were still mocked by retired scholars. Linzong's talent was not suited to the moment, his capacity was not without peer; going out he could not secure the ruler and govern the people or change customs, coming back he could not wield the brush and compose to hand down the Six Arts; his conduct was self-flaunting, already excessive, and he reaped dazzling fame and received great benefit. Yet in the end, advancing he did nothing to remedy order or disorder, and withdrawing he left no trace on bamboo or silk. He watched the collapse and sinking, as ice melts and grass bends, no different from a common man. For no reason he bobbed up and down amid the waves and ran about in the dust with his shoes on backwards, roaming and gathering in the capital, mixing with the high and noble, till his cart wheels wore out and his trunks fell apart, with no leisure to settle; thereby he made his reputation blaze, and Qin and Hu people clung to him like shadows. Vermilion wheel tracks were lined up in the lanes, and guests in red sashes were ranged in his hall; light carriages filled the streets and carts bearing memorials followed one another. He was in truth a knight-errant sort, not fit for the category of hidden recluse. In an age with the Way, doing this would not merit a place among the pure and lofty; as a talent of the secluded hills, to cultivate this in a time of danger and chaos, what is there to praise! Who would not say he was dim about Heaven's and man's closure and ease, and blind to the measure of his own strengths and weaknesses! He vainly carried the road of quiet silence yet in the end had no beneficial deed; that he met no calamity was probably just his luck. To take this as grieving for the world and caring for the state, and to hope to be compared with the uncrowned king, is like a lame man seeking a dragon steed, a quail chasing a swan, a tiny wren measuring itself against the great roc, or a weasel against a huge elephant.

“然則林宗可謂有耀俗之才，無固守之質，見無不了，庶幾大用，符辨外發，精神內虛，不勝煩躁，言行相伐，口稱靜退，心希榮利，未得□玄圃之棲禽，九淵之潛靈也。自炫自媒，士女之醜事也。知其不可而尤效尤師，亞聖之器，其安在乎雖雲知人，知人之明，乃唐虞之所難，尼父之所病。夫以前並日月，原始見終，且猶有失，不能常中，況於林宗螢燭之明，得失半解，已為不少矣。然則名稱重於當世，美談盛於既沒，故其所得者，則世共傳聞，而所失者，則莫之有識爾。雖頗甄無名之士於草萊，指未剖之璞於丘園，然未能進忠烈於朝廷，立御每於疆場，解亡徵於倒懸，折逆謀之競逐。若鮑子之推管生，平仲之達穰苴，林宗名振於朝廷，敬於一時，三九肉食，莫不欽重，力足以拔才，言足以起滯，而但養疾京輦，招合賓客，無所進致，以匡危蔽，徒能知人，不肯薦舉，何異知沃壤之任良田，議直木之中梁柱，而終不墾之以播嘉穀，伐之以構梁棟，奚解於不粒，何救於露居哉！其距貢舉者，誠高操也，其走不休者，亦其疾也。”

(I continued:) "Then it may be said that Linzong had talent that lit up common custom but no solid core to hold to. Nothing he saw was unclear, and he might nearly have been of great use; his ornament and eloquence flowed outward, yet his spirit within was empty, and he could not bear agitation. His words and conduct attacked each other: his mouth spoke of quiet withdrawal while his heart sought glory and gain, so he could not compare with the bird that roosts in Xuanpu or the spirit that lies hidden in the nine-fold deep (the base text has a missing character after 'not obtained'). To advertise oneself and to be one's own matchmaker is a shame for a gentleman or a lady. To know it cannot be done and still imitate what should serve as a warning, where is the capacity of a lesser sage? Though he was said to know men, such clear judgment of men was something that even Tang and Yu found hard and Father Ni found troubling. The earlier sages, whose brightness was equal to the sun and moon and who saw the end from the beginning, still erred and could not always be right; how much more Linzong, with the light of a firefly or candle, whose hits and misses were half and half, which is already not few. So his name was weighty in his own time and his fine tales grew greater after he was gone; what he got right was commonly heard, while what he got wrong no one recognized. Although he was quite able to pick unknown men from the weeds and point out uncut jade among the hills and gardens, he could not advance the loyal and fierce into court, or establish defenders against insult on the frontier (the base text has a variant reading here, a miscopy of the character for 'insult'), or loosen the doomed from their hanging by their feet, or break the contest of rebellious schemes. Like Bao Shu recommending Master Guan, or Yan Pingzhong raising Rangju to eminence: Linzong's name shook the court and he was respected by his age, and none of the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers who ate meat failed to hold him in awe; his strength sufficed to raise talent and his words sufficed to lift the stalled, yet he merely nursed his illness in the capital and gathered guests, and brought forward no one to set right the danger. He only knew men and was unwilling to recommend them, which differs not at all from knowing that rich soil suits fine fields and discussing straight timber for beams and pillars, yet never clearing it to sow good grain nor felling it to build rafters; what does it relieve of the lack of grain, what does it save from sleeping in the open! His refusal of nominations was truly lofty conduct; his running about without rest was his fault too."

嵇生又曰：“林宗存為一世之所式，沒則遺芳永播。碩儒俊士，未或指點，而吾生獨評其短，無乃見嗤於將來乎！”抱朴子曰：“曷為其然哉苟吾言之允者，當付之於後，後之識者，何恤於寡和乎且前賢多亦譏之，獨皇生褒過耳。故太傅諸葛無遜亦曰：‘林宗隱不修遁，出不益時，實欲揚名養譽而已。街談巷議以為辯，訕上謗政以為高，時俗貴之，歙然猶郭解原涉，見趨於曩時也。後進慕聲者，未能考之於聖王之典，論之於先賢之行，徒惑華名，鹹競準的，學之者如不及，談之者則盈耳，中人猶不覺，童蒙安能知’故零陵太守殷府君伯緒，高才篤論之士也，亦曰：‘林宗入交將相，出遊方國，崇私議以動眾，關譭譽於朝廷。其所善則風騰雨驟，改價易姿；其所惡則摧頓陸沈，士人不齒。□其名賢，遭亂隱遁，含光匿景，未為遠矣。君子行道，以匡君也，以正俗也，於時君不可匡，俗不可正，林宗周旋，清談閭閻，無救於世道之陵遲，無解於夭民之憔悴也。’又故中書郎周生恭遠，英偉名儒也，亦曰：‘夫遇治而贊之，則謂之樂道；遭亂而救之，則謂之憂道；亂不可救而避之，則謂之守道。虞舜樂道者也，仲尼憂道者也，微子守道者也。漢世將傾，世務交遊，林宗法當慨然虛心，要同契君子，共矯而正之，而身棲棲為之雄伯，非救世之宜也。於時雖諸黃門，六畜自寓耳。其陳蕃竇武之徒，雖鼎司牧伯，皆貴重林宗，信其言論，臧否取定，於匡危易俗，不亦可冀乎而林宗既不能薦有為之士，立毫毛之益，而逋逃不仕者，則方之巢許；廢職待客者，則比之周公；養徒避役者，則擬之仲尼；棄親依豪者，則同之遊夏。是以世眩名實，而大亂滋甚也。若謂林宗不知，則無以稱聰明；若謂知之而不改，則無以言憂道。昔四豪似周公而不能為周公，今林宗似仲尼而不得為仲尼也。

Master Ji said again: "In life Linzong was a model for an age, and in death his fragrance spreads forever. Great scholars and fine gentlemen never pointed out any flaw, and you alone criticize his shortcomings; I fear you will be laughed at by later generations!" Baopuzi said: "Why so? If my words are just, they should be left to later people, and those who recognize them afterward need not worry that few will echo them. Moreover many earlier worthies also mocked him; only Master Huangfu praised him excessively. Hence the Grand Tutor Zhuge Wuxun also said: 'Linzong lived in seclusion without cultivating withdrawal, and took office without benefiting his time; in truth he only wanted to spread his name and nourish his reputation. He took street gossip for eloquence and slander of superiors and government for loftiness. The age esteemed him, flocking to him like Guo Jie and Yuan She, who were once followed by crowds. Later men who admired fame could not test him by the codes of the sage kings or weigh him by the conduct of earlier worthies; they were merely dazzled by his glittering name and all vied to take him as the standard, afraid they would not learn enough of him, and talk of him filled the ear. Even middling men did not notice, so how could children know?' So too the Prefect of Lingling, Lord Yin Boxu, a man of high talent and sound judgment, said: 'Within, Linzong consorted with generals and ministers; abroad, he traveled among the regions; he exalted private opinion to stir the crowd and tied praise and blame to the court. Those he approved rose like wind and rain, their value changed and their appearance transformed; those he disliked were crushed and sunk, and gentlemen would not speak of them. Moreover, though he was a man of fame and worth (the base text has a missing character before 'his fame and worth'), he went into hiding in a time of disorder and concealed his light and shadow, which still was not so far from the mark. A gentleman practices the Way in order to set the ruler right and to correct custom; at that time the ruler could not be corrected nor the custom set right, and Linzong's circling about, clear talk in village lanes, did nothing to save the world from decline, and nothing to relieve the exhausted people.' The late Secretary Zhou Gongyuan, also a heroic and renowned scholar, said: 'Meeting a well-ordered age and praising it is called delighting in the Way; meeting a disordered age and trying to save it is called worrying for the Way; when disorder cannot be saved, avoiding it is called keeping to the Way. Shun delighted in the Way, Zhongni worried for the Way, and the Viscount of Wei kept to the Way. The Han age was about to fall and the business of the age lay in making friends and traveling; Linzong ought rightly to have been moved and emptied his heart, bound like-minded gentlemen together, and corrected it with them; instead he personally bustled about to become a lord among men, which was not fit for saving the age. In those days, even those palace eunuchs were no more than livestock lodged on others. Chen Fan, Dou Wu and their like, though they were ministers and governors, all valued Linzong and trusted his words, and praise or blame was settled by him; could one not have hoped from this that danger would be set right and custom changed? Yet Linzong, unable to recommend capable men or establish even a hair's breadth of benefit, compared those who fled and refused office to Chao and Xu, those who neglected duty to entertain guests to the Duke of Zhou, those who kept disciples to avoid service to Zhongni, and those who abandoned their parents to rely on the powerful to You and Xia. So the world was dazzled over name and reality, and the great disorder grew worse. If one says Linzong did not know, one cannot call him clever; if one says he knew and did not change, one cannot call him worried for the Way. Earlier the four lords of the Warring States resembled the Duke of Zhou and yet could not become him; now Linzong resembles Zhongni and yet cannot become him.

’”於是問者慨而嘆曰：“然則斯人乃避亂之徒，非全隱之高矣。”

'" Thereupon the questioner sighed with feeling and said: "Then this man was one who fled disorder, not a lofty recluse of complete withdrawal."

抱朴子曰：漢末有禰衡者，年二十有三，孔文舉齒過知命，身居九列，文學冠群，少長稱

Baopuzi said: Toward the end of the Han there was a man named Mi Heng, twenty-three years old, while Kong Wenju was over fifty and held the rank of one of the Nine Ministers, his literary learning crowning the crowd, and old and young alike praised

譽，名位殊絕，而友衡於布衣，又表薦之於漢朝，以為宜起家作臺郎。

him. Their standing differed to the extreme, yet Kong befriended Heng, a commoner, and also submitted a memorial recommending him to the Han court, holding that he should be raised from his home to be an official at the court.

云：“惟嶽降神，異人並出。目所一見，輒誦於口。耳所瞥聞，不忘於心。性與道合，思若有神。’其嘆之如此。衡遊許下，自公卿國士以下，衡初不稱其官，皆名之雲阿某，或以姓呼之為某兒，呼孔融為大兒，呼楊修為小兒。荀彧猶強可與語，過此以住，皆木梗泥偶，似人而無人氣，皆酒甕飲囊耳。百官大會，衡時在坐，忽顰蹙悽愴，哀嘆忼慨，或譏之曰：“英豪樂集，非所嘆也。”衡眄歷視稠眾而答曰：“在此積屍列柩之間，仁人安能不悲乎”

The memorial said: "The sacred mountains send down spirits, and extraordinary men emerge together. What his eyes see once, he can recite by mouth; what his ears catch in passing, his heart never forgets. His nature accords with the Way, and his thought is as if inspired." He praised him to this extent. Heng traveled to Xuchang, and among the officials and men of the state from the dukes and ministers downward, Heng at first did not address them by their offices but called them all 'Ah so-and-so,' or addressed them by surname with 'child,' calling Kong Rong 'Elder Child' and Yang Xiu 'Younger Child.' Xun Yu he could just about talk with; beyond that, all were wooden dolls and clay figures, resembling people but lacking human breath, nothing but wine jars and rice bags. At a great gathering of the officials Heng was present; suddenly he knit his brows in sorrow and sighed with deep feeling. Someone mocked him: "Heroes delight in gatherings; this is no occasion for sighing." Heng cast a sidelong glance over the dense crowd and answered: "Among these heaped-up corpses and lined-up coffins, how could a benevolent man not grieve?"

曹公嘗切齒欲殺之，然復無正有入法應殆之罪，又惜有殺儒生之名，乃謫作鼓吏，衡了無悔情恥色，乃縛角於柱，口就吹之，乃有異聲，並搖鼓兆擊鼓，聞者不知其一人也。而論更劇，無所顧忌，尋亡走投荊州牧劉表，表欲作書與孫權，討逆於時已全據江東，帶甲百萬，欲結輔車之援，與共距中國，使諸文士立草，盡思而不得表意。乃示衡。衡省之曰：“但欲使孫左右持刀兒視之者，此可用爾，儻令張子布見此，大辱人也。”即摧壞投地，表悵然有怪色，謂衡曰：“為了不中芸鋤乎惜之也。

Lord Cao once gnashed his teeth and wanted to kill him, but there was no true offense against the law that carried a death sentence, and he was reluctant to bear the name of one who had killed a scholar, so he demoted him to be a drummer. Heng showed no regret or shame at all; he tied a horn to a pillar and put his mouth to it and blew, producing an extraordinary sound, and he also shook the hand drum and beat the great drum, so that those who heard could not tell it was one and the same man. His speech grew sharper still and held nothing back. Before long he fled and went over to Liu Biao, Governor of Jingzhou. Biao wished to write a letter to Sun Quan, for Sun the Rebel-Queller then held all of Jiangdong entire with a million armored men, and Biao wanted to secure the support of a close ally to resist the Central Plains together; he had his literary men draft it, but they exhausted their thought without getting Biao's meaning. So he showed it to Heng. Heng looked it over and said: "This is only meant for the knife-bearing men at the Sun clan's side to see, and for that it will do; if Zhang Zibu should see it, it would be a great insult." At once he tore it up and flung it to the ground. Biao was dismayed and looked displeased, and said to Heng: "Is it altogether unfit for hoe and plow? What a pity.

”衡索紙筆，便更書之，眾所作有十餘通，衡凡一歷視之而已，暗記書之，畢以還表。表以還主，或有錄所作之本也，以比校之，無一字錯，乃各大驚。表乃請衡更作，衡即作成，手不停輟，表甚以以為佳而施用焉。

" Heng asked for paper and brush and wrote another version. Of what the others had written there were more than ten drafts; Heng merely looked through each once, memorized them silently and wrote them out again, and when finished handed them back to Biao. Biao returned them to their authors, and someone who had kept a copy of his own draft compared them and found not one character wrong, so they were each greatly astonished. Biao then asked Heng to compose again, and Heng finished at once without his hand ever pausing; Biao thought it very fine and used it.

衡驕傲轉甚，一州人士，莫不憎恚，而表亦不復堪，欲殺之。或諫以為曹公名為嚴酷，猶能容忍，衡少有虛名，若一朝殺之，則天下游士，莫復擬足於荊楚者也。表遂遣之。衡走到夏口，依將軍黃祖，祖待以上賓。祖大兒黃射，與衡偕行，過人墓下，俱讀碑銘一過而去。

Heng's arrogance grew worse, and among the men of the whole province there was none who did not hate and resent him; Biao could no longer bear it either and wanted to kill him. Someone remonstrated, saying that Lord Cao was reputed harsh and yet could tolerate him, that Heng had a modest empty reputation, and that if he were killed one morning, no wandering scholar in the world would set foot in Jing and Chu again. Biao therefore sent him away. When Heng reached Xiakou he attached himself to the general Huang Zu, who treated him as a most honored guest. Zu's eldest son Huang She traveled with Heng, and as they passed a tomb they read the stele inscription through once together and left.

久之，射曰：“前所視碑文大佳，恨不寫也。”衡曰：“卿存其名目耳。我一覽尚記之。”即為暗書之，末有一字，石缺，乃不分明。衡與半字，曰：“疑此當作某字。恐不審也。”射省可(下有缺文)。雖言行輕人，寧願榮顯，是以高遊鳳林，不能幽翳蒿萊，然修己駁刺，迷而不覺，故開口見憎，舉足蹈禍。齎如此之伎倆，亦何理容於天下而得其死哉猶梟鳴狐嚾，從皆不喜，音響不改，易處何益。許下，人物之海也。文舉為之主任，荷之足以至到，於此不安，已可知矣。猶必死之病，俞附越人，所無如何。朽木鉛鋌，班輸歐冶所不能匠也。而復走投荊楚間，終陷極害，此乃衡懵蔽之效也。蓋欲之而不能得，非能得而弗用者矣。於戲才士，可勿戒哉！

After a long time She said: "The stele text we saw earlier was very fine; a pity we did not copy it down." Heng said: "You only remember the headings. I still remember it after one look." He then wrote it out silently, and at the end there was one character where the stone was chipped and could not be made out clearly. Heng wrote half a character and said: "I suspect this should be such-and-such a character. I fear it may not be exact." She checked and confirmed it (the text is missing below this point). Although in speech and conduct he treated others lightly, he nonetheless preferred to be glorious and prominent, so he wished to roam high in the phoenix grove and could not be hidden in the weeds; but his self-cultivation was mixed and perverse, and he was lost in confusion without noticing it, so the moment he opened his mouth he was hated and with every step he trod on disaster. With such a disposition, what reason was there for the world to tolerate him and let him die a good death? It is like the screech of an owl or the howl of a fox, which everyone dislikes; if the sound does not change, what benefit is there in changing the place? Xuchang was a sea of notable men. Wenju was his host, and relying on this he was able to arrive there, yet he was not at ease even there, which shows how it was already knowable. It was like a fatal disease for which even Yu Fu and Yue Ren could do nothing, or rotten wood and a lead blade that Ban Shu and Ou Ye could not serve as craftsmen to repair. And yet he went off to Jing and Chu and finally fell into the extreme penalty; this is the proof of Heng's obscured mind. It was probably that he wanted something but could not obtain it, not that he could obtain it but did not use it. Alas, men of talent, can you not take warning!

嵇生曰：“吾所惑者，衡之虛名也；子所論者，衡之實病也。敢不寤寐於指南，投杖於折中乎！”

Master Ji said: "What I doubted was Heng's empty reputation; what you have set out is Heng's real illness. How dare I not sleep and wake beneath your south-pointing guide, and throw my staff down to settle the matter by your judgment!"

鮑生敬言，好老莊之書，治劇辯之言，以為古者無君，勝於今世，故其著論云：“儒者曰：‘天生烝民而樹之君。’豈其皇天諄諄然亦將欲之者為辭哉！夫強者凌弱，則弱者服之矣；智者詐愚，則愚者事之矣。服之，故君臣之道起焉；事之，故力寡之民制焉。然則隸屬役御，由乎爭強弱而校愚智。彼蒼天果無事也，夫混茫以無名為貴，群生以得意為歡。故剝桂刻漆，非木之願；拔鶡裂翠，非鳥所欲；促轡銜鑣，非馬之性；荷車兀運重，非牛之樂。詐巧之萌，任力違真，伐生之根，以飾無用，捕飛禽以供華玩，穿本完之鼻，絆天放之腳，蓋非萬物並生之意。伕役彼黎烝，養此在官，貴者祿厚而民亦困矣。夫死而得生，欣喜無量，則不如向無死也。

Master Bao Jingyan, fond of the books of Laozi and Zhuangzi and versed in sharp and disputatious argument, held that antiquity, having no rulers, was better than the present age, so he wrote an essay saying: "The Confucians say: 'Heaven sent down the multitude of people and set up rulers for them.' Is it truly that August Heaven earnestly wished it so, and so used this saying as a pretext! The strong bully the weak, and the weak submit to them; the clever deceive the foolish, and the foolish serve them. Because they submit, the way of ruler and minister arose; because they serve, people of little strength are subdued. So bondage and servitude come from contending over strength and weakness and testing wisdom against foolishness. That blue Heaven did nothing of the kind. The primal chaos prized having no name, and all living things took joy in getting their fulfillment. So stripping cassia and carving lacquer is not what trees wish; plucking pheasant feathers and splitting kingfisher plumes is not what birds want; urging on the bridle and bit is not the nature of a horse; bearing the yoke and hauling heavy loads (the base text has a variant reading here, which should be 'yoke') is not the joy of an ox. Craft and cunning sprouted, strength was used and truth was violated; they cut down the root of life in order to adorn what is useless, snared flying birds to supply gaudy entertainment, pierced noses that were whole and bound feet that ran free, none of which is the meaning of all things being born together. They employ those common folk to feed these men in office; the noble have thick salaries and the people are the more distressed. Death followed by a return to life would bring joy beyond measure, yet it would be better never to have died at all.

讓爵辭祿，以釣虛名，則不如本無讓也。天下逆亂焉而忠義顯矣，六親不和焉而孝慈彰矣。曩古之世，無君無臣，穿井而飲，耕田而食，日出而作，日入而息，泛然不繫，恢爾自得，不競不營，無榮無辱，山無蹊徑，澤無舟梁。川穀不通，則不相併兼；士眾不聚，則不相攻伐。是高巢不探，深淵不漉，鳳鸞棲息於庭宇，龍鱗群遊於園池，飢虎可履，虺蛇可執，涉澤而鷗鳥不入飛，入林而狐兔不驚。勢利不萌，禍亂不作，干戈不用，城池不設，萬物玄同，相忘於道，疫癘不流，民獲考終，純白在胸，機心不生，含食甫而熙，鼓腹而遊。其言不華，其行不飾，安得聚斂以奪民財，安得嚴刑以為坑阱！

To decline rank and refuse emolument in order to fish for empty fame—that is worse than there being no declining at all. When all under heaven is in rebellion and disorder, loyalty and rightness become manifest; when the six kin are not in harmony, filiality and kindness are made plain. In the age of high antiquity there was no lord and no subject; men dug wells to drink, ploughed fields to eat, worked when the sun rose, rested when it set; drifting unattached, easy and self-content, not striving, not contriving, with neither glory nor disgrace; the hills had no paths, the meres had no boats or bridges. River-valleys not connecting, they did not devour one another; officers and hosts not gathering, they did not attack one another. So high nests were not rifled, deep pools not drained; phoenix and simurgh perched in the courtyards, the scaled dragons swam in flocks in the garden ponds; hungry tigers could be trodden on, vipers could be grasped; wading the marsh the gulls did not fly off, entering the wood the fox and hare were not startled. Power and profit did not sprout, calamity and disorder did not arise; shield and dagger were not used, walls and moats were not built; the myriad things were darkly one, forgetting each other in the Way; pestilence did not spread, the people met good ends; pure white lay in the breast, the scheming heart was not born; holding their food they played (the base text reads 'han shi fu,' read 'han bu'), drumming their bellies they roamed. Their words were not flowered, their deeds not adorned—how could there be gathering to rob the people's wealth, or stern punishments made into pitfalls!

“降及杪季，智用巧生，道德既衰，尊卑有序，繁升降損益之禮，飾紱冕玄黃之服，起土木於凌霄，構丹綠於棼撩，傾峻搜寶，泳淵辨珠。聚玉如林，不足以極其變；積金成山，不足以贍其費。澶漫於淫荒之域，而叛其大始之本，去宗日遠，背樸彌增，尚賢則民爭名，貴貨則盜賊起，見可欲則真正之心亂，勢利陳則劫奪之途開。造剡銳之器，長侵割之患，弩恐不勁，甲恐不堅，矛恐不利，盾恐不厚。若無凌暴，此皆可棄也。故曰：白玉不毀，孰為珪璋道德不廢，安取仁義使夫桀紂之徒，得燔人辜諫者，脯諸侯，菹方伯，剖人心，破人脛，窮驕淫之惡，用炮烙之虐。若令斯人併為匹夫，性雖兇奢，安得施之！使彼肆酷恣欲，屠割天下，由於為君，故得縱意也。君臣既立，眾慝日滋，而欲攘臂乎桎梏之間，悉勞於塗炭之中。

(Master Bao went on:) 'Descending to latter days, cunning was used and artifice born; the Way and virtue declined, honored and base took their order; the tedious rites of rising and descending, giving and taking; the adorned robes of sash and cap, dark and yellow; earth and timber built to pierce the sky, cinnabar and green raised on beams and purlins; the high places overturned to seek treasure, the deep pools swum to tell apart pearls. Jade gathered like a forest cannot exhaust that change; gold heaped like a mountain cannot feed that cost. Drifting in the realm of wantonness and deserting the root of Grand Beginning, they left the ancestor ever farther, turned from simplicity ever more. Esteeming worthiness, the people vie for names; prizing goods, robbers and thieves arise; showing the desirable, true hearts are disordered; power and profit displayed, the road of plunder opens. Sharp weapons are made and the harm of invasion grows; crossbows fear to be weak, armor to be soft, spears to be dull, shields to be thin. Had there been no oppression and violence, all these could be cast away. So it is said: if white jade is not destroyed, who would make tablets and scepters? If the Way and virtue are not abandoned, where would humaneness and rightness be sought? It let men of Jie's and Zhou's kind burn men at the stake and punish the remonstrant, make the lords into dried meat and the earls into mince, cut open men's hearts, break men's shins, work the utmost of arrogant vice, and use the cruelty of the burning pillar. Had such men been but common fellows, though their nature was fierce and wanton, how could they have done it! That they could loose their cruelty, spend their lust, and butcher all under heaven was because they were made lords—so they could follow their bent. Once lord and subject are set up, the many evils grow by the day; and then they want to bare their arms amid the shackles, give all their toil in the mire and charcoal.'

人主憂栗於廟堂之上，百姓煎擾乎困苦之中，閒之以禮度，整之以刑罰，是猶闢滔天之源，激不測之流，塞之以撮壤，障之以指掌也。”

'The lord of men trembles in worry above the hall; the hundred surnames are tormented amid hardship; they are hedged by the rules of ritual and dressed by punishments. This is like opening the flood-gate's source and stirring the unfathomable stream, then damming it with a pinch of earth and stemming it with a palm.'

抱朴子難曰：“蓋聞沖昧既闢，降濁升清，穹隆仰燾，旁泊俯停。乾坤定位，上下以形，遠取諸物，則天尊地卑，以著人倫之體；近取諸身，則元首股肱，以表君臣之序，降殺之軌，有自來矣。若夫太極混沌，兩儀無質，則未若玄黃剖判，七耀垂象，陰陽陶冶，萬物群分也。由滋以言，亦知鳥聚獸散，巢棲穴竄，毛血是茹，結草斯服，入無六親之尊卑，出無階級之等威，未若庇體廣夏，粳梁嘉旨，黼黻綺紈，御冬當暑，明闢蒞物，良宰匠世，設官分職，宇宙穆如也。貴賤有章，則慕賞畏罰；勢齊力均，則爭奪靡憚。是以有聖人作，受命自天，或結罟以畋漁，或瞻辰而鑽燧，或嘗卉以選粒，或構宇以仰蔽。備物致用，去害興利，百姓欣戴，奉而尊之，君臣之道於是乎生，安有詐愚凌弱之理三五迭興，道教遂隆，辯章勸沮，德盛刑清，明良之歌作，蕩蕩之化成，太階既平，七政遵度，梧禽激響於朝陽，麟虞覿靈而來出，龜龍吐藻於河湄，景老摛耀於天路，皇風振於九域，兇器戢乎府庫，是以禮制則君安，樂作而刑厝也。若夫奢淫狂暴，由乎人己，豈必有君，便應爾乎而鮑生獨舉衰世之罪，不論至治之義，何也

Baopuzi challenged: 'I have heard that when the murky dimness was parted, the turbid qi descended and the clear qi rose; the vault arched to cover above, the broad mass settled to rest below. Qian and Kun took their places, above and below took form; borrowing afar from things, heaven is honored and earth base, to make plain the frame of human relations; borrowing near from the body, the head and the limbs, to show the ordering of lord and subject—the canon of exalting and curtailing has its grounds. As for when Grand Culmen was undivided and the two forms not yet embodied, it was not as good as when dark and yellow were cleft, the seven luminaries hung their signs, yin and yang smelted, and the myriad things sorted into kinds. By this one may also know that flocking like birds and scattering like beasts, perching in nests and crouching in caves, eating fur and drinking blood, and binding grass for clothes—with neither the honored and base of the six kin within nor the ranks of awe without—is not as good as sheltering the body in broad halls, fine grain and good fare, embroidered and figured silks, guarding winter and meeting heat; an enlightened lord presiding over the myriad things, good stewards fashioning the age, offices set and charges divided, the cosmos at peace. When noble and base have their rule, men covet reward and fear punishment; when power is even and strength matched, they war without check. So a sage arose, received the charge from heaven: now knotting nets for hunt and fishing, now watching the stars to bore for fire, now tasting the hundred plants to choose the grains, now framing houses to cover overhead. Furnishing things for use, removing harm and raising benefit, the people rejoiced and bore him up, served and honored him—and the way of lord and subject was born. Where is the reason of deceiving fools and bullying the weak? The Three Augusts and Five Emperors arose in turn and the teaching of the Way grew great: distinguishing and making plain exhortation and restraint, virtue flourishing and punishments clear; the song of brightness and goodness was made, the transformation of boundless ease achieved; the Grand Stairway was levelled, the seven governors kept their measures; the bird on the wutong sang in the morning sun, the unicorn and zouyu showed their numen and came forth, tortoise and dragon shed ornament on the river's edge, the bright star and the Old Man spread their gleam on heaven's road; the august wind stirred through the nine lands, the weapons of ill were stowed in the arsenals—so that ritual rule gave the lord rest and music's work set punishments aside. As for the wanton and violent—it lies in the men themselves; must there be a lord for it to be so? Yet Master Bao cites only the crimes of a decaying age and does not argue the rightness of utmost order—why?'

“且夫逮古質樸，蓋其未變，民尚童蒙，機心不動，譬夫嬰孩，智慧未萌，非為知而不為，欲而忍之也。若人與人爭草萊之利，家與家訟巢窟之地，上無治枉之官，下有重類之黨，則私鬥過於公戰，木石銳於干戈，交屍布野，流血絳路，久而無君，噍類盡矣。至於擾龍馴鳳，河圖洛書，或麟銜甲負，或黃魚波湧，或丹禽翔授，或迴風三集，皆在有君之世，不出無王之時也。夫祥瑞之徵，指發玄極，或以表革命之符，或以彰至治之盛，若令有君，不合天意，彼嘉應之來，孰使之哉子若以混冥為美乎則乾坤不宜分矣；若以無名為高乎則八卦不當畫矣。豈造化有謬，而太昊之暗哉雅論所尚，唯貴自然，請問夫識母忘父，群生之性也；拜伏之敬，世之末飾也。然性不可任，必尊父焉；飾不可廢，必有拜焉。任之廢之，子安乎

(Baopuzi went on:) 'Moreover high antiquity was simple and rude—doubtless the change had not yet come. The people were still in childlike blindness, the scheming heart unmoved, like babes whose wit has not yet sprouted; it is not that they knew and did not act, or desired and refrained. If man had striven with man for the profit of the weeds, house had pleaded with house for the soil of nest and burrow, with no officers above to govern the crooked and factions below banding with their kind, then private brawls would have outdone public wars, wood and stone sharper than shield and spear; corpses would have strewn the fields, blood dyed the roads—and without a lord for long, the living kinds would have been done. As for the trained dragon and tamed phoenix, the River Chart and the Luo Writing—the unicorn bearing the tally, the yellow fish surging the waves, the vermilion bird flying the grant, the thrice-gathering whirlwind—all came in an age with lords, none in a kingless time. Signs of good omen are sent down from the dark pole: now to show the tally of revolution, now to manifest the greatness of utmost order. If a lord did not match heaven's intent, on whose account did those fair answers come? If you hold murk and dimness for beauty, then Qian and Kun ought never to have parted; if you hold namelessness for height, then the eight trigrams ought never to have been drawn. Was creation then in error and Taihao in darkness? What refined doctrine exalts is only nature. Let me ask: to know the mother and forget the father is the nature of all that is born; the reverence of bowing down is the age's trailing ornament. Yet nature cannot be given rein—the father must be honored; ornament cannot be abolished—bowing must be. Give them rein and abolish them—could you rest easy?'

“古者生無棟宇，死無殯葬，川無舟楫之器，陸無車馬之用，吞啖毒烈，以至殞斃，疾無醫術，枉死無限。後世聖人，改而垂之，民到於今，賴其厚惠，機巧之利，未易敗矣。今使子居則反巢穴之陋，死則捐之中野，限水則泳之遊之，山行則徒步負戴，棄鼎鉉而為生臊之食，廢針石而任自然之病。裸以為飾，不用衣裳；逢女為偶，不假行媒。吾子亦將曰：‘不可也。’況於無君乎若令上世人如木石，玄冰結而不寒，資糧絕而不飢者，可也。衣食之情，苟在其心，則所爭豈必金玉，所競豈必榮位！橡草予可以生鬥訟，藜藿足用，致侵奪矣。夫有欲之性，萌於受氣之初，厚己之情，著於成形之日，賊殺併兼，起於自然，必也不亂，其理何居！夫明王在上，群后盡規，坐以待旦，昧朝旰食，延誹謗以攻過，責暱屬之補察，聽輿謠以屬省，鑑履尾而夕惕，颺清風以埽穢，厲秋威以肅物，制峻網密，有犯無赦，刑戮以懲小罪，九伐以討大憝，猶豺狼之當路，感彝倫之不敘，憂作威之兇家，恐奸宄之害國。故嚴司鷹揚以彈違，虎臣杖鋮於方岳，而狂狡之變，莫世乏之，而令放之，使無所憚，則盜跖將橫行以掠殺，而良善端拱以待禍，無主所訴，無強所憑，而冀家為夷齊，人皆柳惠，何異負豕而欲無臭，憑河而欲不濡，無轡篋而御奔馬，棄枻櫓而乘輕舟，未見其可也。”

(Baopuzi went on:) 'In the old days men lived without roof-beams and died without burial; the streams had no boats or oars, the land no use of cart and horse; they swallowed the venomous and died of it; in illness there was no healing art—wrongful deaths beyond count. The sages of later ages changed this and left it for them, and the people rely on that great kindness to this day; the profit of artifice is not easily undone. Now let you live back in the meanness of nest and cave, die and be cast out in the wilds; at water, swim across; in the hills, walk and carry; cast off the tripod and eat reeking raw flesh, lay aside needle and stone and let illness take its course; wear nakedness for dress and no clothes; take whatever woman you meet for mate without the go-between's offices—you too would say, "This cannot be." How much more being without a lord! Had the men of high antiquity been like wood and stone—dark ice formed yet they were not cold, stores cut off yet they were not hungry—that would do. But if the wish for clothes and food is in the heart, then what is fought for need not be gold and jade, what is vied for need not be rank and glory: acorns and weeds can stir quarrels; goosefoot and pulse suffice to bring seizure. The nature that desires sprouts at the first drawing of breath; the feeling of favoring self shows the day the form is made. Murder and annexation arise of nature—must they not run wild, and where is the pattern for that? With an enlightened king on high, the many lords spend their hearts planning, sit waiting for dawn, hold court at first light, eat late at day's end; invite slander to attack their own faults, charge intimates to mend the inspection, listen to lane-songs to examine themselves, take warning from treading the tiger's tail and keep watch at dusk; lift the clear wind to sweep the filth, wield autumn's austerity to order things; laws stern, nets close-meshed, offenders unpardoned, small crimes punished by execution, great evils smitten by the nine campaigns—yet still it is like wolves blocking the road: they sigh that the constant relations are not followed, worry that making awe brings ill on the house, fear that treachery harms the state. So the strict officers like hawks rise to impeach the wayward, and tiger-ministers hold the axe at the marches—yet the wild and cunning changes have lacked in no age. Give them free rein so they have nothing to dread, and Robber Zhi will run wild to plunder and kill while the good fold their hands and await ruin, with no lord to tell and no strong to lean on—yet you hope that every house is a Bo Yi and Shu Qi, every man a Liuxia Hui! How does it differ from carrying a pig and wishing it not to stink, crossing a river on foot and wishing not to be wet, driving a runaway horse without rein or whip, boarding a light skiff having cast off oar and sweep—I have never seen that this can be.'

鮑生又難曰：“夫天地之位，二氣範物，樂陽則雲飛，好陰則川處。承柔剛以率性，隨四八而化生，各附所安，本無尊卑也。君臣既立，而變化遂滋，夫獺多則魚擾，鷹眾則鳥亂，有司設則百姓困，奉上厚則下民貧，壅崇寶貨，飾玩臺榭，食則方丈，衣則龍章，內聚曠女，外多鰥男，辨難得之寶，貴奇怪之物，造無益之器，恣不已之慾，非鬼非神，財力安出哉

Master Bao challenged again: 'The places of heaven and earth—the two qi transformed into the myriad things: those loving yang ride the clouds; those loving yin dwell in the streams. Receiving soft and hard they follow their nature, living with the four seasons and eight terms, each cleaving to what contents it—there was no honored and base at root. Once lord and subject are set up, changes sprout thereupon. When otters are many the fish are disturbed; when hawks are many the birds are scattered. When officers are set the people are pressed; when what is offered above is thick the folk below are poor. He chokes up hoards to treasure goods, adorns towers for play; his table spans ten squares; his robes are dragon-patterned; within he gathers maidens past their time, without are widowed men. He seeks the hard-won treasure, prizes the strange thing, makes vessels of no use, lets loose desire without cease—neither ghost nor spirit—from where does the wealth and strength come?'

夫谷帛積則民有飢寒之儉，百官備則坐靡供奉之費，宿衛有徒食之眾，百姓養遊手之人，民乏衣食，自給已劇，況加賦斂，重以苦役，下不堪命，且凍且飢，冒法斯濫，於是乎在。王者憂勞於上，臺鼎顰戚頁於下，臨深履薄，懼禍之及。恐智勇之不用，故厚爵重祿以誘之；恐奸釁之不虞，故嚴城深池以備之。而不知祿厚則民匱而臣騎，城嚴則役重而攻巧。故散鹿臺之金，發鉅橋之粟，莫不歡然；況乎本不聚金，而不斂民粟乎休牛桃林，放馬華山，載戢干戈，載櫜弓矢，猶以為泰；況乎本無軍旅，而不戰不戍乎茅茨土階，棄織拔葵，雜囊為幃，濯裘布被，妾不衣帛，馬不秣粟，儉以率物，以為美談，所謂盜跖分財，取少為讓，陸處之魚，相煦以沫也。

'When grain and silk are hoarded the people have hunger and cold; when the hundred offices are filled they sit and spend what is offered; the palace guards are crowds fed for nothing; the people must feed the idle-handed. The people lack clothes and food—it is hard for them to feed even themselves; how much more with levies laid on, and heavy toil added—those below cannot bear the charge, frozen and starved together; trespassing the laws swells and spreads—here it lies. The king frets and toils above; the tripod-thrones knit their brows below (the base text's graphs are corrupt; read 'cu'); treading the deep and thin ice, they fear the coming of calamity. Fearing the wise and brave will not be used, they bait them with fat titles and rich salaries; fearing treachery will breach unawares, they wall steep and moat deep to ward. They do not know that fat salaries starve the people and make ministers proud (the base text reads 'chen qi,' 'qi' being an error for 'jiao'), and steep walls burden the labors and breed the craft of siege. So scattering the gold of Lutai and opening the grain of Juqiao—there is none but rejoices; how much more never gathering gold or stripping the people's grain! Turning oxen loose on the peach-wood fields, turning horses loose on Mount Hua, stowing shield and dagger away, bagging bow and arrow—still they count it excessive; how much more having no armies at all, no wars, no garrisons! Thatched roofs and earthen steps, throwing down the loom, plucking up the mallows, making curtains of sacking, washing furs and cotton quilts, the concubines not wearing silk, the horses not fed grain—to lead the myriad things by thrift is counted a fair tale: this is Robber Zhi dividing the goods, where taking less passes for yielding; fish on dry land wetting each other with spittle.'

“夫身無在公之役，家無輸調之費，安土樂業，順天分地，內足衣食之用，外無勢利之爭，操杖攻劫，非人情也。象刑之教，民莫之犯，法令滋彰，盜賊多有，豈彼無利性而此專貪殘，蓋我清靜則民自正，下疲怨則智巧生也。任之自然，猶慮凌暴，勞之不休，奪之無已，田蕪倉虛，杼柚之空，食不充口，衣不周身，欲令勿亂，其可得乎所以救禍而禍彌深，峻禁而禁不止也。關梁所以禁非，而猾吏因之以為非焉。衡量所以檢偽，而邪人因之以為偽焉。

(Master Bao went on:) 'The body owes no public service, the house no levies to pay; at peace on the soil, happy in its work, following heaven's share of ground, within sufficient in clothes and food, without no strife for power and gain—taking up a staff to rob is not man's bent. Under the teaching of symbolic punishments the people had nothing to offend against; the clearer the laws and commands, the more robbers there were. Were those men without a nature for gain, or is greed and cruelty only here? The truth is that when those above are still and clean the people right themselves; when those below are worn and resentful, craft is born. Letting nature take its course, there is still worry over bullying; with labor unceasing and seizure unending, fields run to weeds, stores run empty, looms stand bare, food cannot fill the mouth, clothes cannot cover the body—to want them not to run wild, how can it be! So rescuing calamity the calamity deepens; bans are stern and cannot be stopped. Passes and bridges are used to forbid the unlawful, and cunning clerks use them to do the unlawful; weights and measures are used to test the false, and crooked men use them to work the false.'

大臣所以扶危，而奸臣恐主之不危。兵革所以靜難，而寇者盜之以為難。此皆有君之所致也。民有所利，則有爭心，富貴之家，所利重矣。且夫細民之爭，不過小小，匹夫校力，亦何所至，無疆土之可貪，無城郭之可利，無金寶之可欲，無權柄之可競，勢不能以合徒眾，威不足以驅異人，孰與王赫斯怒，陳師鞠旅，推無讎之民，攻無罪之國，殭屍則動以萬計，流血則漂櫓丹野。無道之君，無世不有，肆其虐亂，天下無邦，忠良見害於內，黎民暴骨於外，豈徒小小爭奪之患邪至於移父事君，廢孝為忠，申令無君，亦同有之耳。古之為屋，足以蔽風雨，而今則被以朱紫，飾以金玉；古之為衣，足以掩身形，而今則玄黃黼黻，綿綺紈；古之為樂，足以定人情，而今則煩乎淫聲，驚魂傷和；古之飲食，足以充飢虛，而今則焚林漉淵，宰割群生。(下有脫文。)

'Great ministers are used to prop the perilous, and treacherous ministers fear only that the lord is not in peril. Weapons and arms are used to quell calamity and disorder, and bandits use them to make disorder. All this is what having lords has brought about. Where the people have something to gain, the fighting heart is there; in houses of wealth and honor the gain is greater. Moreover the common people's contention is petty at most; when common men measure strength, what can come of it—no lands to covet, no walls to profit by, no gold and treasure to desire, no handles of power to fight over; their strength cannot gather a band, their awe cannot drive men—compare the king flaring in wrath, arraying the host and swearing the troops, driving out men who bear no feud to attack a state that has done no wrong: corpses reckoned by the ten thousand, blood that floats a shield and dyes the field red—what of that! Wayless lords have lacked in no age; loosing their wild disorder, under heaven no land is spared; the loyal and good are cut down within, the black-haired folk's bones bleach without—what is the harm of petty squabbling beside this! As for moving the filiality owed the father to serve the lord, giving up filiality for loyalty—had command been given that there be no lord, the same ills would still be there. In old times they made houses enough to fend off wind and rain; now they are hung with vermilion and purple and set with gold and jade. In old times they made clothes enough to cover the form; now they are dark and yellow, embroidered, brocaded, gauzed. In old times they made music enough to quiet men's feelings; now it is burdened with wanton sound that startles the soul and wounds the harmony. In old times food and drink were enough to fill emptiness; now they burn the forests and drain the deeps and butcher the living hosts. (Here the text has lost characters.)'

(以下為抱朴子駁難之辭)“豈可以事之有過而都絕之乎若虞在上，稷卨贊事，卑宮薄賦，使民以時，崇節儉之清風，肅玉食之明禁。質素簡約者，貴而顯之；亂化侵民者，黜而戮之；則頌聲作而黎庶安矣。何必慮火災而壞屋室，畏風波而填大川乎”

(Below are Baopuzi's rejoinders:) 'Can a thing be wholly abolished because there have been excesses in it? If Shun of Yu is on high, with Ji and Xie aiding the rule, roofs low, taxes light, the people's strength used in season, the clear wind of thrift exalted, the bright ban on jade-fed fare enforced—then the plain and sparing is honored and shown forth, the one who disorders custom and preys on the people is demoted and slain—and the sound of praise rises and the black-haired folk are at peace. Why must one, for fear of fire, pull down the house, and for fear of wind and waves fill up the great stream?'

抱朴子曰：“鮑生貴上古無君之論，餘既駁之矣。後所答餘，文多不能盡載，餘稍條其論而牒詰之雲。”

Baopuzi said: 'Master Bao's argument prizing the lordless high antiquity I have already rebutted. In what he answered me afterward the writing is too much to set down in full; I shall roughly set out his points and question them one by one below.'

鮑生曰：“人君辨難得之寶，聚奇怪之物，飾無益之用，厭無已之求。”

Master Bao said: 'The lord of men seeks the hard-won treasure, gathers strange things, adorns uses of no benefit, and satisfies demands without end.'

抱朴子詰曰：“請問古今帝王，盡辨難得之寶，聚奇怪之物乎有不爾者也。餘聞唐堯之為君也，捐金於山；虞舜之禪也，捐璧於谷。疏食菲服，方之監門，其不汔淵剖珠，傾巖刊玉，鑿石鑠黃白之礦，越海裂翡翠之羽，網玳瑁於絕域，掘丹青於岷漢，亦可知矣。夫服章無殊，則威重不著，名位不同，則禮物異數，是以周公辨貴賤上下之異，式宮室居處，則有堵雉之限，冠蓋旌旗，則有文物之飾，車服器用，則有多少之制，庖廚供羞，則有法膳之品，年兇災眚，又減撤之。無已之慾，不在有道，子之所云，可以聲桀紂之罪，不足以定雅論之證也。

Baopuzi questioned: 'I ask: did all the kings and emperors past and present seek hard-won treasure and gather strange things? There were those who were not so. I have heard that when Tang Yao was lord he cast gold into the hills; when Shun of Yu took the throne by yield, he cast jade into the vale. Theirs was coarse fare and poor clothing, matched with gatekeepers; they did not split pearls in deep pools, overturn cliffs to cut jade, mine stone to smelt the yellow and white ores, cross the seas to rend the kingfisher's plumes, net the hawksbill in the farthest lands, or dig cinnabar and azure in Min and Han—this may be known. If dress and badge do not differ, awe and weight are not shown; if name and place differ, the count of ritual gifts differs. So the Duke of Zhou marked the differences of noble and base, high and low: for the pattern of palace and dwelling there was the limit of walls in zhi; for caps, canopies, and standards there was the ornament of emblems; for carriages, robes, and vessels there was the rule of more and less; for the kitchen's offerings there was the grade of lawful fare; and in lean years and blights these were cut back. Desires without end are not the way of men who possess the Way. What you say may serve to indict the crimes of Jie and Zhou; it cannot serve as the proof of a settled doctrine.'

鮑生曰：“人君後宮三千，豈皆天意，谷帛積則民飢寒矣。”

Master Bao said: 'The lord's rear palace holds three thousand—is that all heaven's intent? When grain and silk are hoarded, the people hunger and freeze.'

抱朴子詰曰：“王者妃妾之數，聖人之所制也。聖人，與天地合其德者也。其德與天地合，豈徒異哉！夫豈徒欲以順情盈欲而已乎！乃所以佐六宮，理陰陽，教爾崇奉祖廟，祗承大祭，供玄紞之服，廣本支之路，且案周典九土之記，及漢氏地理之書，天下女數，多於男焉。王者所宗，豈足以逼當娶者哉姬公思之，似已審矣。帝王帥百僚以藉田，后妃將命婦以蠶織，下及黎庶，農課有限，力佃有賞，怠惰有罰，十一而稅，以奉公用。家有備兇之儲，國有九年之積，各得順天分地，不奪其時，調薄役希，民無飢寒，衣食既足，禮讓以興。昔文景之世，百姓務農，家給戶豐，官倉之米，至腐赤不可勝計。然而士庶猶侯服鼎食，牛馬蓋澤，由於賦斂有節，不足損下也。至於季世，官失佃課之制，私務浮末之業，生谷之道不廣，而遊食之徒滋多，故上下同之，而犯非者眾，鮑生乃歸咎有君。若夫譏辨擇之過限，刺農課之不實，責牛飲之三千，貶履畝與太半，但使後宮依周禮，租調不橫加，斯則可矣。必無君乎！夫一日晏起，則事有失所，即鹿無虞，維入於林中，安可終已。靡所宗統，則君子失所仰，兇人得其志，網疏猶漏，可都無網乎”

Baopuzi questioned: 'The count of a king's consorts was fixed by the sages, and the sages are men whose virtue matches heaven and earth. Their virtue matching heaven and earth—is that merely strange! It was not merely to follow feeling and fill desire—it was to aid the six palaces, to order yin and yang, to teach them to honor the ancestral shrines, reverently serve the great sacrifices, furnish the dark and plain silks, and open the road of root and branches. Moreover, by the records of the nine provinces in the Zhou canon and the books of Han geography, the women of the world outnumber the men. What the king gathers to his house—how could it press men owed a wife? Duke Ji thought it over, and it seems well weighed. The sovereign leads the hundred officers to the ritual field; the queen consort leads the titled ladies to rear silkworms; down to the black-haired folk the farm-quota has its bound; diligent tilling has its reward, sloth its punishment; a tenth is taxed to furnish public uses. Each house has its store against lean years, the state its nine years' hoard; each can follow heaven's share of ground; farm-time is not taken; levies are light, labors rare; the people have no hunger or cold; with clothes and food enough, courtesy and deference arise. In the days of Wen and Jing the people worked the farms, house fed and household full; the rice in the state granaries rotted red beyond counting. Yet officers and commons still wore marquis' dress and ate from tripods, and oxen and horses covered the wet lands—because levies had measure and could not hurt those below. In the last ages the offices lost the rule of tillage quotas and private men pursued the idle trades; the way of growing grain did not widen while crowds of eaters grew—so high and low alike were thus and many broke the law, yet Master Bao lays the blame on having lords. As for faulting choices beyond measure, chiding farm-quotas unfilled, blaming the three thousand who drank cattle-like, damning the field-tax and the greater-half levy—let the rear palace follow the Zhou rites and rents not be laid on across the board, and that is enough. Must there be no lord? One day rising late and affairs go amiss, like chasing deer without a forester and only entering the wood—how can it come to an end? With none to head and order them, the noble lose what they look up to, the wicked get their way; when the net is loose it still lets through—can there be no net at all?'

鮑生曰：“人之生也，衣食已劇，況又加之以斂賦，重之以力役，飢寒並至，下不堪命，冒法犯非，於是乎生。”

Master Bao said: 'While men live, clothes and food are already hard to get; how much more with levies laid on and heavy labor added—hunger and cold come together, those below cannot bear the charge; trespassing the laws and doing what is not to be done arise thereupon.'

抱朴子詰曰：“蜘蛛張網，蚤蝨不餒，使人智巧，役用萬物，食口衣身，何足劇乎但患富者無知止之心，貴者有無限之用耳。豈可以一蹶之故，而終身不行，以桀紂之虐，思乎無主也。夫言主事彌張，賦斂之重於住古，民力之疲於末務，飢寒所緣，以譏之可也。而言有役有賦，使國亂者，請問唐虞昇平之世，三代有道之時，為無賦役以相供奉，元首股肱，躬耕以自給邪鮑生乃唯知飢寒並至，莫能固窮，獨不知衣食並足，而民知榮辱乎！”

Baopuzi questioned: 'The spider spreads its net and the fleas and lice do not starve; let man use wit and craft to put the myriad things to work filling his mouth and clothing his body—where is the hardship? Only fear the rich have no heart that knows enough and the honored a use without bound. Can one, because of a single stumble, never walk again, or, because of Jie's and Zhou's cruelty, wish for no lord? If you say the lord's works have swollen and levies are heavier than of old, so that the people's strength is worn on trailing tasks and hunger and cold spring from it—faulting it on this account is admissible. But to hold that having labor and tax makes the state disorderly—let me ask: in the risen peace of Tang-Yu and the possessed Way of the Three Dynasties, were there no taxes and labors to support one another? Did head and limbs plough in person to feed themselves? Master Bao knows only that when hunger and cold come together men cannot keep to want—he alone does not know that when clothes and food are both full the people know honor and shame!'

鮑生曰：“王者臨深履尾，不足喻危，假寐待旦，日昃旰食，將何為懼禍及也”

Master Bao said: 'The king stands over the deep abyss and treads the tiger's tail—still not enough to figure the peril; dozing fitfully waiting for dawn, eating late past noon—is it because he fears the coming of calamity?'

抱朴子難曰：“審能如此，乃聖主也。王者所病，在乎驕奢，賢者不用，用者不賢，夏癸指天日以自喻，秦始憂萬世之同諡，故致傾亡，取笑將來。若能懼危夕惕，廣納規諫，詢草芻堯以待聽，養黃髮以乞言，何憂機事之有違，何患百揆之不康。夫戰兢則彝倫敘，怠荒則奸宄作，況無君，能無亂乎”

Baopuzi challenged: 'One who can truly do this is a sage-ruler. What ails kingship lies in pride and waste—the worthy unused, the used unworthy. Xiagui pointed to the sun in heaven and likened himself to it; the First Emperor of Qin fretted that for ten thousand ages his heirs would share one posthumous title—so they brought on overthrow and became a laughing-stock for later times. If he can fear peril, keep watch at dusk, take counsel and reproof widely, ask of woodcutters and grass-cutters while waiting to hear, and feed the yellow-aged to seek their words—why worry that the springs of state will go wrong, or fret that the hundred affairs will not be at peace? Trembling care orders the constant relations; idle neglect lets treachery loose—how much more with no lord at all can there be no disorder?'

鮑生曰：“王者欽想奇瑞，引誘幽荒，欲以崇德邁威，厭耀未服，白雉玉環，何益齊民乎

Master Bao said: 'The king reveres and yearns for rare omens, luring the dim wastes, hoping to magnify virtue and surpass awe, to sate and dazzle the unsubdued—white pheasants and jade rings—what profit do they have for the common folk?'

”抱朴子詰曰：“夫王者德及天則有天瑞，德及地則有地應。若乃景星摛光，以佐望舒之耀；冠日含辨，以表羲和之晷。靈禽嗈喈於阿閣，金象焜晃乎清沼，此豈卑辭所致，厚幣所誘哉！王莽奸猾，包藏禍心，文致太平，誑眩朝野，貺遺外域，使送瑞物，豈可以此謂古皆然乎夫見盈丈之尾，則知非咫尺之軀；睹尋仞之牙，則知非膚寸之口。故王母之遣使，明其玄化通靈，無遠不懷也；越裳之重譯，足知惠沾殊方，澤被無外也。夫絕域不可以力服，蠻貊不可以威攝，自非至治，焉能然哉！何者鮑生謂為不用夫周室非乏玉而須王母之環以為富也，非儉膳而渴越裳之雉以充庖也，所以貴之者，誠以斯物為太平。則上無苛虐之政，下無失所之人，蜎飛蠕動，鹹得其歡，有國之美，孰多於斯！而云不用，無益於齊民。源遠體大，固未易見，鮑生之言，不亦宜乎”

Baopuzi questioned: 'When a king's virtue reaches heaven there are heavenly omens; when it reaches earth there are earthly answers. The bright star spreads its light to aid Wangshu's shining; the crowns and pendants at the sun's side (the base text reads 'guan ri han bian'; 'bian' should read 'er') magnify Xihe's shadow. The numinous birds sing on the towers, the golden elephants gleam in the clear meres—can these be brought by humble words or lured by rich gifts? Wang Mang was false and cunning, nursed a heart of ruin, made a peace of fine phrases, deceived and dazzled court and field, lavished gifts on the outer lands and had them send tokens—can this be used to say the ancients were all so? See a tail a fathom long and you know the body is no span; see tusks of a fathom and you know the mouth is no inch. So when the Queen Mother sent envoys it showed the dark transformation communing with spirits, none so far they did not come; Yueshang's coming through repeated translation lets one know kindness had reached the alien lands, grace beyond every bound. The farthest marches cannot be bent by strength; the Man and Mo cannot be cowed by awe—if not utmost order, how could it be! Why does Master Bao count them useless? The house of Zhou did not lack jade and need the Queen Mother's ring as wealth, nor was its diet meager and craving Yueshang's pheasant for the kitchen—it prized these because such things mark a peaceful age. Then above there was no harsh and cruel rule, below no people out of place; wrigglers and crawlers all had their joy—the beauty of a state possessed—what is more than this! Yet he says useless, of no profit to the common folk. The source is far, the body great—truly not easy to see; is not Master Bao's word as it should be?'

鮑生曰：“人君恐奸釁之不虞，故嚴城以備之也。”

Master Bao said: 'The lord of men fears treachery will breach unawares, so he keeps steep walls to ward.'

抱朴子詰曰：“侯王設險，大易所貴，不審嚴城，何譏焉爾。夫兩儀肇闢，萬物化生，則邪正存焉爾。夫聖人知兇醜之自然，下愚之難移，猶春陽之不能榮枯朽，炎景之不能鑠金石，冶容慢藏，誨淫召盜，故取法乎習坎，備豫於未萌。重門有擊柝之敬，治戎遏暴客之變，而欲除之，其理何居兕之角也，鳳之距也。天實假之，何必日用哉！蜂蠆挾毒以衛身，智禽銜蘆以捍網，獾曲其穴，以備徑至之鋒，水牛結陣，以卻虎豹之暴，而鮑生欲棄甲冑以遏利刃，墮城池以止沖鋒，若令甲冑既捐而利刃不住，城池既壞而沖鋒猶集，公輸、墨翟，猶不自全，不審吾生，計將安出乎”

Baopuzi questioned: 'That lords and kings set defenses is what the great Changes prizes—I do not see what is to be faulted in steep walls. When the two forms first parted and the myriad things were born, crooked and straight were already there. The sages knew the fierce and ugly are natural, that the dullest are hard to change—as the spring sun cannot make the rotten flower, the blazing orb cannot melt metal and stone; a fair face and careless hoarding teach men lust and summon robbers—so they took pattern from Xikan and made ready before sprouting. Doubled gates have the watchman's rattle; men drill arms to stop sudden violence—yet you would do away with these, and where is the pattern in that? The wild ox's horn, the phoenix's spur—heaven really lent them; why need they be used daily? Wasp and scorpion carry poison to guard the body; the wise bird holds a reed to ward the net; the badger bends its burrow to turn a blade coming straight; the buffalo forms a ring to drive off tiger and leopard—yet Master Bao would cast off armor to stop keen edges, break down walls to halt the charge. If armor is thrown away and the keen edge does not stop, walls broken and the charge still gathers—even Gongshu and Mo Di could not keep themselves whole; I do not know from where your plan would come.'

或曰：“苟夫可欲之物，雖無城池之固，敵亦不來者也。”

Someone said: 'If there were nothing desirable, then even without steep walls the foe would not come.'

抱朴子答曰：“夫可欲之物，何必金玉，錐刀之末，愚民競焉。越人之大戰，由乎蚺蛇之不鈞；吳楚之交兵，起乎一株之桑葉。饑荒之世，人人相食，素手裸跣(下有脫文)。遠則甫侯子羔，近則於公釋之，控情審罰，剖毫析芒。受戮者吞聲而歌德，則劓者沒齒無怨言，此皆非無君之時也。昔有鰥在下而四嶽不蔽，明揚仄陋而元凱畢舉，或投屠刀而排金門，或釋版築而躡玉堂，或委芻豢而登卿相，或自亡命而為上將，伯柳達讎人，解狐薦怨家，方回叩頭以致士，禽息碎首以推賢，敢問於時，有君否邪

Baopuzi answered: 'What is desirable—why must it be gold and jade? The tip of an awl, even fools will fight over. The Yue men's great war came from an uneven share of python (the base text reads 'bu jun,' jun being 'even'); the clash of Wu and Chu sprang from a single mulberry leaf. In a famine age men ate each other, empty-handed, bare-footed (the text here is missing). Far back, Marquis Fu and Zigao; nearer, Lord Yu and Zhang Shizhi—reining feeling, weighing punishments, parsing to a hair: the beheaded choked back their cries and sang their virtue; the nose-cut bore no grudge to death—and none of this was in a lordless age. Of old a widower was below and the Four Peaks did not keep him hid; the hidden were brought to light and the Eight Yuans and Eight Kais were all raised: some cast down the butcher's knife and passed through the golden gate; some left the frame and earthwork and walked the jade hall; some gave up fodder and herd and mounted to minister; some rose from outlawry to captain hosts. Bolü was made famous by his foe; Xiehu put forward his own enemy; Fanghui knocked his head to bring in officers; Qinxi shattered his skull to advance a worthy. Let me ask: in that time, was there a lord or not?'

又云：“田蕪廩虛，皆由有君。”“夫君非塞田之蔓草，臣非耗倉之雀鼠也。其蕪其虛，卒由戶乙運，水旱疫癘，以臻凶荒，豈在賦稅，令其然乎至於八政之首食，謂之民天，后稷躬稼，有虞親耕，豐年多黍多稌，我庾惟億，民食其陳，白渠開而斥鹵膏壤，邵父起陽陵之陂而積穀為山，叔敖創期思而家有腐粟，趙過造三犁之巧而關右以豐，任延教九真之佃而黔庶殷飽，此豈無君之時乎！”

It is also said: 'Fields running to weeds and stores standing empty are all due to having lords.' 'The lord is not the vine choking the fields; the minister is not the sparrow and rat draining the store. That weedy waste, that emptiness, is due at last to ill fortune (the base text reads the conflated graph 'e'), flood and drought and pestilence reaching famine—what has the tax to do with it? As to food being first of the eight offices, called the people's heaven: Hou Ji tilled in person, Youyu ploughed in person; in fat years much panicled millet and rice, my stores counted by the hundred million, the people ate the old grain; the Bai canal opened and salt-land turned to rich soil; Father Zhao built the Yangling dam and grain heaped like hills; Sun Shu'ao cut the Qisi works and homes had rotting grain; Zhao Guo made the three-plough craft and the land right of the pass grew fat; Ren Yan taught Jiuzhen to till and the black-haired folk were fed—was this a lordless age!'

抱朴子曰：祝莫大於無足，福莫厚乎知止。抱盈居沖者，必全之算也；宴安盛滿者，難保之危也。若夫善卷巢許管胡之徒，鹹蹈雲物以高騖，依龍鳳以竦跡，覘韜鋒於香餌之中，寤覆車乎來軔之路，違險途以遐濟，故能免詹何之釣緡，可謂善料微景於形外，覿堅冰於未霜，徙薪曲突於方熾之火，纚舟弭楫於沖風之前，瞻九牛害而深沈，望密蔚而曾逝，不託巢於葦苕之末，不偃寢乎崩山之崖者也。斯皆器大量弘，審機識致，凌儕獨往，不牽常欲，神叄造化，心遺萬物，可欲不能蠆介其純粹，近理不能耗滑其清澄。苟無若人之自然，誠難企及乎絕軌也。徒令知功成者身退，處勞大者不賞，狡兔死則知獵犬之不用，高鳥盡則覺良弓之將棄。鑑彭韓之明鏡，而念抽簪之術；睹越種之暗機，則識金象之貴。若范公泛艘以絕景，薛生遜亂以全潔，二疏投印於方盈，田豫釋紱於漏盡，進脫亢悔之咎，退無濡尾之吝，清風足以揚千載之塵，德音足以祛將來之惑。方之陳寶，不亦邈乎！

Baopuzi said: No calamity is greater than not knowing enough (the base text reads 'zhu'; paired with 'fu' below it should read 'huo'); no blessing is greater than knowing when to stop. To hold fullness while dwelling in empty yielding is the reckoning that surely keeps one whole; to rest in brimming fullness is a peril hard to keep. As for Shan Juan, Chaofu, Xu You, Guan Ning, Hu Zhao and their kind—all trod the clouds to race on high, rode dragon and phoenix to lift their steps, saw the hidden point amid the sweet bait, saw the coming overturn in the wheel-ruts ahead, left the perilous path to cross afar—so they escaped Zhan He's fishing line. One may say they were good at reckoning the faint shadow beyond form, seeing the hard ice before the frost, moving the firewood and bending the flue while the fire was still bright, mooring the boat and staying the oar before the gale, sinking deep at sight of the deep pool (the base text reads 'jiu niu hai'; contrasted with 'mi yu' below, the sense of hidden depth points to a deep pool; the right graph cannot be fixed), flying high at sight of the thick wood, not hanging the nest on a reed's tip, not lying to sleep on a crumbling cliff. These were men of great capacity and broad measure, weighing the subtlest springs and knowing the bent of things, going ahead of their kind alone, untethered by common wants, their spirits one with the fashioner of change, their hearts forgetting the myriad things—what is desirable could not sting their purity like a scorpion; nearness could not waste their limpid clarity. Without such men's natural gift it is truly hard to reach that trackless way. Only let men know that when work is done the body must withdraw, that the heavily tasked get no reward, that when the cunning hares are dead the hounds are not used, that when the high birds are gone the good bow is put away. Take the bright mirror of Peng Yue and Han Xin and think on the art of pulling out the hairpin; see the dark spring of Wen Zhong of Yue and know the worth of the golden image. Like Lord Fan rowing his boat far past the light's reach, Master Xue fleeing turmoil to keep his purity, the two Shus casting down their seals at fullest tide, Tian Yu loosening his sash when the clepsydra ran out—in advance they escaped the blame of the soaring dragon's regret, in withdrawal they had not the shame of the wet tail; their clear wind can lift the dust of a thousand ages, their words of virtue can drive off the doubt of days to come. Beside Chen Bao, are they not far beyond!

或智小敗於謀大，或轅弱折於載重，或獨是陷於眾非，或盡忠訐於兼會，或倡高算而受晁錯之禍，或竭心力而遭吳起之害。故有口止局高口止脊厚，猶不免焉。公旦之放，仲尼之行，賈生遜擯於下士，子長燻腎乎無辜，樂毅平齊，伍員破楚，白起以百勝拓疆，文子以九術霸越，韓信功蓋於天下，黥布滅家以佐命，榮不移晷，辱已及之。不避其禍，豈智者哉！為臣不易，豈將一途，要而言之，決在擇主。我不足賴，其驗如此。告退避賢，潔而且安，美名厚實，福莫大焉。能修此術，萬未有一。吉凶由人，可勿思乎！逆耳之言，樂之者希，獻納期榮，將速身禍，救誹謗其不暇，何信受之可必哉！

Some, small in wit, failed in great designs; some, weak in pole, broke under the load; some, alone right, were caught in the crowd's dispraise; some, wholly loyal, were impeached by a joining of accusers; some offered high designs and met Chao Cuo's doom; some spent heart and strength and suffered Wu Qi's death. So even with office high and stipend rich (the base text keeps partial graphs beside 'ju gao' and 'ji hou,' meaning rank high and emolument rich) they were not spared. The Duke of Zhou was banished; Confucius fled; Master Jia was demoted to a lower land; Zichang, blameless, suffered the palace punishment (the base text reads 'xun shen,' meaning Sima Qian's castration); Yue Yi pacified Qi; Wu Yuan broke Chu; Bai Qi opened the marches with a hundred victories; Wenzi made Yue hegemon with nine arts; Han Xin's work topped the world; Qing Bu broke his house to aid the charge—and before the bright glory had moved a sun-shadow, disgrace had come. Not fleeing that calamity—were they wise? Being a subject is no easy thing; it is not a single road; put briefly, all hangs on choosing the lord. The self is not to be relied on—the proof is thus. To tender withdrawal and yield to the worthy is clean and safe; fair name and solid substance—no blessing is greater. Of those who can practice this art, not one in ten thousand. Fortune and ill lie in men—can one not think! Words against the ear find few glad hearers; offering counsel hoping for glory will hasten one's own ruin; rescuing oneself from slander comes too late—how can one be sure of being trusted!

夫矢曾繳紛紜則鴛雛徊翮，坑阱充蹊則麟虞斂跡。情不可極，欲不可滿，達人以道制情，以計遣欲，為謀者猶宜使忠，況自為策而不詳哉！蓋知足者常足也，不知足者無足也。常足者，福之所赴也；無足者，禍之所鍾也。生生之厚，殺哉生矣，宋氏引苗，郢人張革，誠欲其快，而實速萎裂，知進忘退，斯之謂乎

When strings and arrows fly in clouds the phoenix-chick turns its wing (the base text reads 'shi zeng jiao'; the graphs combine to 'zeng'); when pits and traps fill the paths the unicorn and zouyu draw in their tracks. Feeling must not run to its extreme; desire must not be filled. The master-men rein feeling by the Way and drive off desire by design; to plan for others should still be loyal—how much more planning for oneself and not thorough! He who knows enough is ever enough; he who does not is never enough. Ever-enough is where blessing runs; never-enough is where calamity gathers. Making life too rich turns round to kill that life. The Song man pulled up his sprouts; the Ying man stretched his hide—in truth he wanted it quick and only hastened the wilting and cracking—knowing advance and forgetting retreat: is this not it?

夫策奔而不止者，鮮不傾墜；凌波而無休者，希不沈溺；弄刃不息者，傷刺之由也；斫擊不輟者，缺毀之原也。盈則有損，自然之理，周廟之器，豈欺我哉故養由之射，行人識以馳弦，東野之御，顏子知其方敗，成功之下，未易久處也。夫飲酒者不必盡亂，而亂者多焉；富貴者豈其皆危，而危者有焉。智者料事於倚伏之表，伐木於毫末之初，吐高言不於累棋之際，議治裘不於群狐之中，古人佯狂為愚，豈所樂哉！時之宜然，不獲已也。亦有深逃而陸遭波濤，幽遁而水被焚燒，若龔勝之絕粒以殞命，李業煎蹙以吞鴆，由乎跡之有朕，景之不滅也。若使行如蹈冰，身如居陰，動無遺蹤可尋，靜與無為為一，豈有斯患乎！又況乎揭日月以隱形骸，擊建鼓以徇利器者哉！夫值明時則優於濟四海，遇險世則劣於保一身，為此永慨，非一士也。

Whipping a run that does not stop—few do not crash; skimming the waves without pause—few do not sink; playing with the blade without cease is whence wounds and stabs arise; hacking without rest is the source of notching and ruin. Fullness brings loss—the natural pattern; would the tilting vessel in the Zhou temple lie to me? So at Yang Youji's shot, a passerby saw the string drawn and knew; at Dongye Bi's driving, Yanzi knew he would fail—beneath completed work one cannot long abide. Of drinkers not all run wild, yet the wild are many; of the rich and honored not all come to ruin, yet the ruined are there too. The wise man reckons the work at the face of leaning and lurking, and fells the tree at the first sprout of a hair; he does not utter high words while piling the chess-stones, nor talk of dressing furs among the foxes. That the ancients feigned madness and folly—was it their joy? The time and state fitting it, they had no choice. Some fled deep on land and met the waves; some hid dim in the waters and were burned—like Gong Sheng starving off his food to die, Li Ye, hard pressed, drinking the poison—because their steps had shown a trace, the shadow could not be put out. If the walk is like treading ice, the self like dwelling in shadow, moving leaving no track to find, resting one with wuwei—how could such harm be! How much more those who hoist sun and moon to hide the frame, and beat the great drum to show off a sharp blade! Meeting a bright age they are better than the saving of the four seas; meeting a perilous age, worse than keeping one body whole—for this to grieve forever is not one officer alone.

吾聞無熾不滅，靡溢不損，煥赫有委灰之兆，春草為秋瘁之端，日中則昃，月盈則蝕，四時之序，成功者退。遠取諸物，則構高崇峻之無限，則頹壞惟憂矣；近取諸身，則嘉膳旨酒之不節，則結疾傷性矣。況乎其高概雲霄而積之猶不止，其威震人主而加崇，又不息者乎！蚊虻墮山，適足翱翔；兕虎之墜，碎而為齏。此言大物，不可失所也。且夫正色彈違，直道而行，打撲幹紀，不慮讎隙，則怨深恨積。若舍法容非，屬託如響，吐剛茹柔，委曲繩墨，則忠□喪敗，居此地者，不變勞乎是以身名並全者甚希，而折足覆食束者不乏也。然而入則蘭房窈窕，朱帷組帳，文茵兼舒於華第，豔容粲爛於左右，輕體柔聲，清歌妙舞，宋蔡之巧，陽阿之妍，口吐辨菱延露之曲，足躡淥水七盤之節，知音悅耳，冶姿娛心，密宴繼集，醽醁不撤，仰登綺閣，俯映清淵，遊果林之丹翠，戲蕙囿之芬馥，文鱗瀺灂，朱習頡頏，飛繳墮雲鴻，沈綸引魴鯉，遠珍不索而交集，玩弄紛華而自至。出則朱輪耀路，高蓋接軫，丹旗雲蔚，麾節翕赫，金口嘈口獻，戈甲璀錯，得意托於後乘，嘉旨盈乎屬車，窮遊觀之娛，極畋漁之歡。聖明之譽，滿耳而入；諂悅之言，異口同辭。於時眇然，意蔑古人，謂伊呂管晏，不足算也。

I have heard nothing blazes and is not put out, nothing brims and is not drained; dazzling glory has the seed of ash, the spring herb is the start of autumn's blight; the sun at noon goes slanting; the moon at full goes waning; the four seasons take their turn—what has worked withdraws. Borrowed far from things: building high without measure—its ruin leaves only grief. Borrowed near from the self: rich fare and fine wine unbridled—then illness knots and the nature is hurt. How much more one whose height already tops the clouds yet still the heap does not stop, whose awe already shakes the lord of men yet still the mounting does not cease! A gnat falling from a hill is just enough to soar; a rhino or tiger falling is ground to meal—this is to say a great thing cannot afford to lose its place. Moreover, impeaching faults with a grave countenance and walking the straight way, striking those who break the bonds without regard to feuds—then rancor runs deep and hate piles up. If one casts off law and harbors the unlawful, answers favor-calls like an echo, spits out the hard and swallows the soft, bends the marking-line—then loyalty is lost (a graph is missing after 'zhong' in the base text); can one dwelling in this place not toil? So few keep both self and name, while no lack of those who broke the legs and spilled the stew. Yet within: orchid rooms dim and deep, vermilion curtains and sash-tents, patterned mats doubled in the fine halls, lovely faces blazing at either side, light bodies and soft voices, clear songs and rare dances, the craft of Song and Cai, the fairness of Yang'e; the mouth breathes the clear rhymes of the water-chestnut song and Yanlu's airs, the feet tread the beat of Lushui and the Seven Trays; sounds that know the ear delight it, wanton looks gladden the heart; close feasts follow one another, the pale-green wine is not cleared away; one mounts the figured tower and looks down to mirror the clear pool, roams the red and green of the fruit-grove, plays in the scent of the orchid-garden; veined fish dart, vermilion wings soar (the base text reads 'zhu xi'; paired with 'veined fish' it should be a flying bird); the winged dart brings down the cloud-swan, the sunken line draws up the bream; far-off rarities come unsought, playthings in plenty arrive of themselves. Without: vermilion wheels lighting the road, high canopies hub to hub, vermilion flags thick as clouds, banners and standards flaring, bells and gongs in clamor (the base text reads 'cao xian'; read 'cao za,' noisy din), spear and armor bright in ranks; the favored ride behind; fine fare fills the coach—exhausting the joy of roaming sights, sating the pleasure of hunt and catch. Praise of sage-like brightness fills the ear; smooth words to please come from every mouth. At such a time one is loftily proud, scorning the ancients in the heart, reckoning Yi, Lü, Guan, and Yan not worth the count.

豈覺崇替之相為首尾，哀樂之相為朝暮，肯謝貴盛，乞骸骨，背朱門而反丘園哉！若乃聖明在上，大賢贊事，百揆非我則不敘，兆民非我則不濟，高而不以危為憂，滿而不以溢為慮者，所不論也。

How would he see that rise and fall are head and tail of one another, that grief and joy are each other's dawn and dusk—willing to take leave of lofty rank, beg back his bones, turn his back on the vermilion gate and go home to hill and garden! As for when a sage-like ruler is above and a great worthy aids the rule, so that the hundred affairs cannot be ordered but for me, the myriad folk cannot be saved but for me—high yet unworried by peril, full yet unafraid of overflow—such are not in this discussion.

或問：“一流之才，而或窮或達，其故何也俊逸縶滯，其有憾乎”

Someone asked: 'Of talent all in one class, some are pressed and some advanced—what is the cause? When the rare and free are hobbled and held back, do they bear regret?'

抱朴子答曰：“夫器業不異，而有抑有揚者，無知己也。故否泰時也，通塞命也。審時者何怨於沈潛，知命者何恨於卑瘁乎！故沈閭渟鈞，精勁之良也，而不以擊，則朝菌不能斷焉；珧華黎綠，連城之寶也，委之泥濘，則瓦礫積其上焉。故可珍而不必見珍也，可用而不必見用也。庸俗之夫，暗於別物，不分朱紫，不辯菽麥，唯以達者為賢，而不知僥求者之所達也；唯以窮者為劣，而不詳守道者之所窮也。且夫懸象不麗天，則不能揚大明灼無外，嵩岱不託地，則不能竦峻極概雲霄。兔足因夷途以聘迅，龍艘泛激流以效速，離光非燧人不熾，楚金非歐冶不剡，豐華俟發春而表豔，棲鴻待沖飆而輕戾，四嶽不明揚，則有鰥不登庸，叔牙不推賢，則夷吾不式厚，穰苴賴平仲以超踔，淮陰因蕭公以鷹揚，雋生由勝之之談，曲逆緣無知之薦，元直起龍縈之孔明，公瑾貢虎臥之興霸，故能美名垂於帝籍，弘勳著於當世也。

Baopuzi answered: 'Their capacity and work being no different, yet some held down and some raised, is for want of one who knows them. So bad and good fortune lie in the times; open and blocked lie in fate. One who judges the times need not resent sinking deep; one who knows fate need not be bitter at lowliness! Shenlü and Tingjun are keen and fine blades—unused to strike, they cannot even cut a morning mushroom; Yaohua and Lilü are city-worth gems—cast into the mud, the shards pile over them. So the precious need not be treasured; the useful need not be used. The vulgar are blind in telling things apart—they cannot part vermilion from purple, cannot tell pulse from wheat; they only count the risen as worthy and do not know why the lucky seekers rose; they only count the pressed as base and do not look closely at why the Way-keepers were pressed. Moreover the hanging signs, not cleaving to heaven, cannot lift the great light to blaze without bound; Song and Dai, not resting on earth, cannot rear their steep utmost to top the clouds. The hare's foot speeds on a level road; the dragon-boat gains its quick end riding a swift stream; Li's fire does not blaze without the fire-maker; Chu's metal is not keen without Ouye; the rich flowers wait for spring's coming to show their beauty; the perched swan waits the gale to fly light. Had the Four Peaks not brought him to light, the widower could not have been raised; had Bao Shuya not advanced the worthy, Yiwu could not have been honored; Rangju depended on Yan Pingzhong to stand out; Huaiyin soared because of Lord Xiao; Jun Buyi came by Junsheng's talk; Quni came through Wei Wuzhi's word; Xu Yuanzhi raised the coiled dragon Kongming; Zhou Gongjin offered the couching tiger Sun Ce—so their fair names rest in the imperial rolls and their great work is written on the age.'

“漢之末年，吳之季世，則不然焉。舉士也，必附己者為前；取人也，必多黨者為決；而附己者不必足進之器也，同乎我，故不能遺焉；而多黨者不必逸群之才也，信眾口，故謂其可焉。或信此之庸猥，而不能遣所念之近情；或識彼之英異，而不能平心於至公。於是釋銓衡，而以疏數為輕重矣；棄度量，而以綸集為多少矣。於時之所謂雅人高韻，秉國之鈞，黜陟決己，褒貶由口者，鮮哉免乎斯累也。又況於胸中率有憎獨立，疾非黨，忌勝己，忽寒素者乎悲夫！邈俗之士，不群之人，所以比肩不遇，不可勝計，或抑頓於藪澤，或立朝而斥退也。

(Baopuzi went on:) 'At Han's end and Wu's last days it was not so. In raising officers they always put first those who echoed them; in taking men they always judged by the size of the faction. Those who echoed them need not have capacity worth advancing—being of my kind they could not be cast off. Those with large factions need not have talent beyond the herd—trusted by many mouths they were reckoned fit. Some believed in the man's worth and commonness yet could not put away fondness for what was near; some knew the man's rareness yet could not level the heart at utmost fairness. So they set down the weighing-beam and took nearness and numbers for light and heavy; threw out the measures and took gathering or scattering for more or less. Those of the time called refined and high-mannered, holding the state's beam, deciding rise and fall for themselves, praising and blaming from the mouth—few escaped this drag. How much more those whose breasts for the most part hate the independent, detest those not of their party, envy those above them, and slight the cold and poor! Alas! The officers beyond the common, the men apart from the herd—side by side unmet, they are past counting: some crushed down in the meres and fens, some at court thrust out.'

蓋修德而道不行，藏器而時不會，或俟河清而齒已沒，或竭忠勤而不見知，遠行不騁於一世，勳澤不加於生民。席上之珍，鬱於泥濘，濟物之才，終於無施，操築而不值武丁，抱竿而不遇西伯，自曩迄今，將有何限而獨悲之，不亦陋哉！瞻徑路之遠，而恥由之；知大道之否，而不改之。齊通塞於一途，付榮辱於自然者，豈懷悒悶於知希，興永嘆於川逝乎！疑其有憾，是未識至人之用心也。小年之不知大年，井蛙之不曉滄海，自有來矣。

'To tend virtue while the Way does not run, to hold a store of talent while the times do not join—some wait for the river to clear while their teeth have already fallen; some spend loyalty and toil and are not known; the far-ranging cannot gallop in their generation; merit and grace do not reach the living folk. The treasure of the mat lies buried in the mud; the talent that could save things finds no way to serve at last—wielding the rammer yet not meeting a Wuding, holding the rod yet not finding a Xibo—from of old until now how many have there been! To grieve for this alone—is it not narrow? Seeing the side-road long, to disdain walking it; knowing the great way is blocked, yet not changing—one who counts the open and blocked a single road and gives fame and shame to nature—how would he nurse gloom over rare true hearers, or sigh forever at the stream going by! To doubt that they had regrets is not yet to know the perfect man's heart. The small-year does not know the great-year; the well-frog does not know the gray sea—it has ever been so.'

抱朴子曰：餘友人玄泊先生者，齒在志學，固已窮覽六略，旁綜河洛，晝競羲和之末景，夕照望舒之餘輝，道靡遠而不究，言無微而不測，以儒墨為城池，以機神為干戈，故談者莫不望塵而銜璧，文士寅目而格筆。俄而寤智者之不言，覺寸一之無咎，意得則齊荃蹄之可棄，道乖則覺唱高而和寡，於是奉老氏多敗之戒，思金人三緘之義，括鋒穎而如訥韜，修翰於彤管，含金懷玉，抑謐華辯，終日彌夕，或無一言。

Baopuzi said: My friend Master Xuanbo, while still of the age of setting the will on learning, had already read through the six abstracts and gathered in the River and Luo; by day he raced the last rays of Xihe, by night lit himself by Wangshu's fading light; no way so far he did not search it, no word so subtle he did not fathom it; he made wall and moat of Ru and Mo, made shield and dagger of the springs of spirit—so none who debated him did not yield before the dust and hold up the jade; the men of letters glared and put down their brushes (the base text reads 'yin mu'; read 'chen mu'). Before long he woke to the wise man not speaking, felt that keeping the One was without fault (the base text reads 'cun yi'; read 'shou yi'); getting the meaning he counted snare and trap things to discard; the way diverging he felt the high song finds few to join. So he kept the Laozi warning that much fails, remembered the golden man's thrice-sealed mouth, sheathed his point like a stammerer, hid his long brush in the red tube, held gold in the mouth and jade in the breast, curbed and silenced his ornate discourse—and from dawn to night at times did not say a word.

門人進曰：“先生默然，小子胡述且與庸夫無殊焉。竊謂鍾不鳴，則不異於積銅；浮磬息音，則未別乎聚石也。”

The disciples came in and said: 'Master, you are silent; how can we pupils speak of you—and then you are no different from common men. I hold privately that a bell not rung is no different from piled copper; the floating chime, its music stopped, cannot be told from gathered stones.'

玄泊先生答曰：“吾特收遠名於萬代，求知己於將來，豈能競見知於今日，標格於一時乎陶甄以盛酒，雖美不見酣；身卑而言高，雖是不見信。徒捲舌而竭聲，將何救於流遁古人六十笑五十九，不遠迷復，乃覺有以也。夫玉之堅也，金之剛也，冰之冷也，火之熱也，豈須自言，然後明哉！且八音九奏，不能無長短之病，養由百發不能止，將有一失之疏，玩憑河者，數溺於水；好劇談者，多漏於口。伯牙謹於操弦，故終無煩手之累；儒者敬其辭令，故終無樞機之辱。淺近之徒，則不然焉。辯虛無之不急，爭細事以費言，論廣修堅白無用之說，誦諸子非聖過正之書，損教益惑，謂之深遠，委棄正經，競治邪學。或與暗見者較唇吻之勝負，為不識者吐清商之談對，非敵力之人，旁無賞解之客，何異奏雅樂於木梗之側，陳玄黃於土偶之前哉！徒口枯氣乏，椎杭抵掌，斤斧缺壞而盤節不破，勃然戰色而乖忤愈遠，致令恚容表顏，醜言自口，偷薄之變，生乎其間，既玷之謬，不可救磨。未若希聲不全大音，約說以俟識者矣。

Master Xuanbo replied: "I merely gather a distant name among the ten thousand generations and seek friends who will understand me in times to come — how could I contend to be known in the present day or be graded for a single age? A pottery jar used to hold wine, however fine, is never seen to brim; a man of low station whose words reach high, however right, is not believed. To roll the tongue in vain and spend the voice — what help is that against the fleeing current? The ancients at sixty laughed at their fifty-ninth year; turning back while the stray path was not yet far, they felt the sense of it. The hardness of jade, the strength of metal, the cold of ice, the heat of fire — why should they need to speak for themselves before they are known? Moreover, in the eight tones and nine refrains there cannot fail to be the faults of long and short; Yang Youji's hundred shots could not go on forever without one shot's error. Those practiced at fording rivers on foot are repeatedly drowned in the water; those fond of vehement talk often let it leak from their mouths. Boya was careful in handling the strings, and so never suffered the burden of a fumbling hand; the Confucian was reverent in his phrasing, and so never suffered the disgrace of the hinge. The shallow are not so. They debate the idle questions of emptiness and nothing, wrangle over trifles to waste their breath, discourse broadly on the useless sophisms of 'hard and white', chant the books of the many masters that fault the sages and overshoot the mean — damaging the teaching and adding to confusion, they call it deep and far; casting aside the true classics, they race to practice perverse learning. Or they pit the victories of lips against men of dim understanding, or unroll discourse of the clear and sublime for men who cannot know it — when strengths are not matched and no discerning guest stands by, how is this different from playing noble music beside a wooden puppet or spreading out black-and-yellow finery before a clay figure? In vain the mouth withers and the breath fails; thumping the throat and clapping the palm (the base text has '锤杭', hang being read as 吭 'throat'), the axe is chipped and broken while the knot in the wood is not cut; flushing and changing color, they grow ever more contrary, until angry looks show on the face and ugly words issue from the mouth; the turn to shallowness is born from this, and the stain of error, once fixed, cannot be rubbed away. Better to be sparse in sound so as to complete the great note, and to simplify one's discourse while awaiting the discerning."

抱朴子者，姓葛，名洪，字稚川。丹陽句容人也。其先葛天氏，蓋古之有天下者也。後降為列國，因以為姓焉。洪曩祖為荊州刺史，王莽之篡，君恥事國賊，棄官而歸，與東郡太守翟義共起兵。將以誅莽，為莽所敗，遇赦免禍，遂稱疾自絕於世。莽以君宗強，慮終有變，乃徙君於琅邪。君之子浦廬，起兵以佐光武，有大功。光武踐祚，以廬為車騎。又遷驃騎大將軍，封下邳僮縣侯，食邑五千戶。

This man Baopuzi — his surname was Ge, his given name Hong, his courtesy name Zhichuan. He was a man of Jurong in Danyang. His forebear was the Getian clan, which in ancient times possessed the realm; later reduced to a ranked state, they took that as their surname. Hong's remote ancestor served as inspector of Jing province; when Wang Mang usurped the throne, the ancestor was ashamed to serve the state-robber, abandoned his office and returned, and raised troops together with Zhai Yi, governor of Dong commandery. On the point of executing Mang, he was defeated by Mang; meeting an amnesty he escaped harm, then pleaded illness and cut himself off from the world. Because the ancestor's clan was strong, Mang feared eventual revolt and moved him to Langya. His son Pulu raised troops to aid Guangwu, with great merit; when Guangwu ascended the throne, he made Lu General of Chariots and Cavalry, then promoted him to General of Agile Cavalry and enfeoffed him as marquis of Tong county in Xiapi, with a fief of five thousand households.

開國初，侯之弟文，隨侯征討，屢有大捷。侯比上書為文訟功，而官以文私從兄行，無軍名，遂不為論。侯曰：“弟與我同冒矢石，瘡痍周身，傷失右眼，不得尺寸之報。吾乃重金累紫，何心以安”乃自表選取轉封於弟。書上請報，漢朝欲成君高義，故特聽焉。文辭，不獲已。受爵即第，為驃騎營立宅舍於博望裡。於今基兆石礎存焉。又分割租秩以供奉吏士，給如二君焉。驃騎殷勤止之而不從。驃騎曰：“此更煩役國人，何以為讓”乃托他行，遂南渡江而家於句容。子弟躬耕，以典籍自娛。文累使奉迎驃騎，驃騎終不還。又令人守護博望宅舍，以冀驃騎之反，至於累世無居之者。

At the founding of the state, the marquis's younger brother Wen followed the marquis on campaign and won many great victories. The marquis repeatedly memorialized to claim merit for Wen, but the office held that Wen had followed his elder brother on campaign on his own, with no name in the army rolls, and so would not reckon his merit. The marquis said: 'My brother braved arrows and stones with me, his whole body covered in wounds, and lost the sight of one eye — yet he has not an inch of recompense, while I pile up the heavy gold and the purple cord. How can my heart be at ease?' He then memorialized asking to transfer his fief to his brother. When the memorial was submitted and the request granted, the Han court, wishing to honor his high righteousness, specially permitted it. Wen declined but could not escape; he received the title and came to his estate, and built a residence in Bowang ward for the agile-cavalry camp — its foundations and stone plinths remain to this day. He also divided out his rents and emoluments to support the officers and men, provisioning them as though there were two lords. The general of agile cavalry earnestly stopped him but he would not obey. The general said: 'This burdens the people all the more — with what could I yield it?' So giving another journey as his excuse, he crossed south over the Yangzi and made his home in Jurong. His sons and younger brothers tilled the fields themselves and amused themselves with the classics. Wen repeatedly sent men to invite the general back, but the general never returned. Wen also had men guard the residence at Bowang, hoping the general would return; for generations no one lived in it.

洪祖父學無不涉，究測精微，文藝之高，一時莫倫。有經國之才，仁吳，歷宰海鹽。臨安。山陰三縣。入為吏部待郎，御史中丞，廬陵太守，吏部尚書，太子少傅，中書，大鴻臚，侍中，光祿勳，輔吳將軍，封吳壽縣侯。

Hong's grandfather had no branch of learning he did not wade into; plumbing the fine and subtle, the height of his literary art was matchless in his time. Possessing the talent to order a state, he served Wu (the base text has 仁吴, ren being a corruption of 仕 'to serve'), successively as magistrate of the three counties of Haiyan, Lin'an and Shanyin; entering the court he was vice director in the Ministry of Personnel (the base text has 待郎), then vice censor-in-chief, governor of Luling, minister of personnel, junior tutor to the heir apparent, palace writer, grand herald, palace attendant, superintendent of imperial entertainments, General Who Assists Wu, and was enfeoffed as marquis of Shou county in Wu.

洪父以孝友聞，行為士表，方冊所載，罔不窮覽。仕吳五官郎，中正，建城、南昌二縣令，中書郎，廷尉，平中護軍，會稽太守。未辭而晉軍順流，西境不守，博簡秉文經武之才，朝野之論，僉然推君。於是轉為五郡赴警。大都督給親兵五千，總統徵軍，戍遏疆場。天之所壞，人不能支，故主欽若，九有同賓，君以故官，赴除郎中。稍遷至大中大夫，歷位大中正，肥鄉令。縣戶二萬，舉州最治，德化尤異，恩洽刑清，野有頌聲，路無奸跡，不佃公田，越界如市。秋毫之贈，不入於門；紙筆之用，皆出於私財。刑厝而禁止，不言而化行。以疾去官，發詔見用為吳王郎中令。正色弼違，進可替不，舉善彈枉，軍國肅雍。遷邵陵太守，卒於官。

Hong's father was renowned for filial piety and brotherly love; his conduct was a model for the gentry, and of all that is recorded on the slips there was nothing he had not read to the end. In Wu he was a gentleman of the five offices, a rectifier, magistrate of the two counties of Jiancheng and Nanchang, palace-writer gentleman, equity judge in the Court of the Commandant of Justice, central army protector, and governor of Kuaiji. Before he could leave office the Jin army came down the river, the western borders could not be held, and a broad selection was made of talents both civil and martial — the opinion of court and country alike recommended him. Thus he was transferred to take alarm duty over five commanderies. The commander-in-chief gave him five thousand guards; he commanded the whole expeditionary army, garrisoning and holding the frontier. What Heaven wills to ruin, man cannot prop up; the former sovereign respectfully submitted and the nine provinces together came as guests, and he, keeping his former rank, went to his post and was made a palace gentleman. By degrees he rose to grand palace grandee, serving as grand rectifier and magistrate of Feixiang. That county had twenty thousand households and was the best governed in the whole province; his virtuous influence was singularly remarkable — grace reached all, punishments were clean, the fields rang with praise, the roads had no trace of villainy; he did not farm the public fields, yet men crossed the bounds to serve him as if to market. Not a hair's breadth of gifts entered his gate; even his paper and brushes came from his own purse. Punishments stood unused and prohibitions fell quiet; without a word his teaching spread. Leaving office on account of illness, he was summoned to serve as palace-gentleman commandant to the King of Wu. With grave countenance he assisted and corrected the king's errors, advancing the employable and replacing the unfit, recommending the good and impeaching the crooked; army and state stood in solemn harmony. He was transferred to be governor of Shaoling, and died in office.

洪者，君之弟三子也。生晚，為二親所嬌饒，不早見督以書史。年十有三，而慈父見背。夙失庭訓，飢寒困瘁，躬執耕穡，承星履草，密勿疇襲。又累遭兵火，先人典籍蕩盡。農隙之暇無所讀，乃負笈徒步行借。又卒於一家，少得全部之書，益破功日伐薪以給紙筆，就營田園處，以柴火寫書。坐此之故，不得早涉藝文。常乏紙，每所寫，反覆有字，人鮮能讀也。

Hong was the lord's third son. Born late, he was coddled by his parents and was not early pressed with books and histories. At thirteen his kind father died. Losing the paternal teaching early, in hunger, cold and hardship he himself took charge of plowing and harvest, going out beneath the stars and treading the grass, diligent in the fields. Moreover, repeated fires of war destroyed all the books left by his forebears. In the spare hours of the farmer's year he had nothing to read, so he shouldered his book-box and went on foot to borrow. And always it was only one household at a time, rarely getting whole books; so he spent his days felling firewood to supply paper and brushes, and there amid the garden fields he copied books by the light of burning brushwood. For this reason he could not early roam the arts and letters. Often short of paper, whatever he wrote bore characters on both sides, and few could read it.

年十六，始讀《教經》、《論語》、《詩》、《易》。貧乏無以遠尋師友，孤陋寡聞，明淺思短，大義多所不能通，但貪廣覽，於眾書乃無不闇誦精持。曾所披涉，自正經、諸史、百家之言，下至短雜文章，近萬卷。既性暗善忘，又少文，意志不專，所識者甚薄，亦不免惑，而著述時猶得有所引用，竟不成純儒，不中為傳授之師。其河洛圖緯，一視便止，不得留意也。不喜星書及算術九宮三棋太一飛符之屬，了不從焉。由其苦人而少氣味也。

At sixteen he first read the Classic of Filial Piety (the base text has 教经), the Analects, the Odes, and the Changes. In poverty he had no way to seek teachers and friends afar; isolated and ill-informed, with shallow wit and short thoughts, many of the great meanings he could not penetrate; he only craved broad reading, and of all the books there was none he did not memorize and hold fast. By browsing and skimming, from the proper classics, the many histories and the sayings of the hundred schools down to the short and miscellaneous pieces, he covered nearly ten thousand juan. Being by nature slow and apt to forget, poor in literary grace and unsettled in purpose, what he understood was very thin, nor was he free of doubt; yet when he came to write he could still cite things, though in the end he did not become a pure Confucian and was not fit to be a transmitting teacher. As for the River Chart, the Luo Writing and the apocryphal charts, he glanced at them and stopped, never able to fix his attention. He did not like the star-books, numerology, the nine palaces, the three boards, taiyi, flying talismans and the like, and never followed them at all — because they toil men much and have little savor.

晚學風角望氣三元遁甲，六壬太一之法，粗知其旨，又不研精。亦計此輩率是為人用之事，同出身情，無急以此自勞役，不如省子書之有益，遂又廢焉。案《別錄》《藝文志》，眾有萬三千二百九十九卷，而魏代以來，群文滋長，倍於往者，乃自知所未見之多也。江表書籍，通同不具，昔欲詣京師索奇異，而正值大亂，半道而還。每自嘆恨。今齒近不惑，素志衰頹，但念損之又損，為乎無為，偶耕藪澤，苟存性命耳。博涉之業，於是日沮矣。

Later he studied the methods of wind-angle, watching the ethers, three-prime dunjia, and the six-ren and taiyi; he grasped their gist roughly but did not refine it. He also reckoned that these were mostly things done in the service of others and, as with what issues from one's own nature, there was no pressing need to toil himself with them — better the gain of skimming the philosophers' books — so he dropped them too. According to the Separate Records and the Treatise on Literature, the books numbered 13,299 juan, yet since the Wei age writings have multiplied, doubling what there was of old — then he knew how much he had not seen. The books south of the river were usually incomplete; formerly he had wanted to go to the capital to seek out the rare, but met the great disorder and turned back midway. He often sighed over it to himself. Now his years are near forty; his long-held resolve has flagged, and he thinks only of diminishing and again diminishing, of acting by non-action, plowing at ease in marsh and moor, barely keeping life intact. The enterprise of broad reading has faded away day by day.

洪之為人也，(有脫文)而呆野，性鈍口訥，形貌醜陋，而終不辯自矜飾也。冠履垢弊，衣或襤褸，而或不恥焉。俗之服用，俾而屢改，或忽廣領而大帶，或促身而修袖，或長裾曳地，或短不蔽腳。洪期於守常，不隨世變。言則率實，杜絕嘲戲，不得其人，終日默然。故邦人鹹稱之為抱朴之士。是以洪著書，因以自號焉。

As for Hong's character (text is missing here) — dull and rustic, blunt in nature and slow of tongue, ill-favored in looks — yet he never spent breath on self-praise. Cap and shoes grimy and worn, clothes sometimes ragged, he sometimes thought it no shame. The world's dress changes again and again (the base text has 俾, a corruption of 屡): now suddenly broad collars and great sashes, now tight waists and long sleeves, now skirts that trail the ground, now too short to cover the feet. Hong hoped to keep the constant and not change with the age. His speech was plain truth, cutting off all banter; meeting a man not worth it, he was silent all day. Thus the people of the state called him the man who embraces the unhewn. For this reason Hong signed his books by that name.

洪稟性尪羸，兼之多疾，貧無車馬，不堪徒行，行亦性所不好。又患弊俗，捨本逐末，交遊過差，故遂撫筆閒居，守靜蓽門而無趨從之所，至於權豪之徒，雖在密跡，而莫或相識焉。衣不闢寒，室不免漏，食不充虛，名不出戶，不能憂也。貧無僮僕，籬落頓決，荊棘叢於庭宇，蓬莠塞乎階雨

Hong was by constitution frail and lean, and moreover much afflicted by illness; poor, without carriage or horse, unable to travel far on foot — and walking was something his nature did not like. He also disliked the rotten custom of leaving the root to chase the twig and overdoing sociability, so he held his brush and dwelt at leisure, keeping quiet behind a wicker gate with nowhere to hurry off to; of the powerful and grand, even those living close by, he knew not one. Clothes that cannot keep off the cold, a house that does not escape leaks, food that does not fill the emptiness, a name that does not leave the gate — he could not worry over such things. Poor and without servant boys, his fences fallen and broken, thorns and brambles growing in the courtyard, weeds choking the steps (the base text has 阶雨) —

留，披榛出門，排草入室，論者以為意遠忽近而不恕。其乏役也。不曉謁(有脫文)以故初不修見官長。至於吊大喪，省困疾，乃心欲自勉，強令無不必至，而居疾少健。恆復不周，每見譏責於論者。洪引咎而不恤也。意苟無餘，而病使心違，顧不愧己而已，亦何理於人之不見亮乎唯明鑑之士，乃恕其信抱朴，非以養高也。世人多慕豫親之好，推暗室之密，洪以為知人甚未易，上聖之所難。浮雜之交，口合神離，無益有損。雖不能如朱公叔一切絕之，且必須清澄詳悉，乃處意焉。又為此見憎者甚眾而不改也。馳逐苟達，側立勢門者，又共疾洪之異於己，而見疵毀，謂洪為傲物輕俗。而洪之為人，信心而行，譭譽皆置於不聞。

(Continuing from above:) they stayed on; he pushed apart the brushwood to go out the gate and parted the grass to enter the house, and the critics judged him to cherish the far and slight the near, without indulgence. He was short of servants. Not knowing how to pay calls (text is missing here), at first he did not train himself to visit the officials. As for condoling at great funerals and calling on the grievously ill, he resolved in his heart to exert himself, forcing himself so that there was nowhere he failed to go; yet living with illness he was seldom well. Often he could not be thorough, and was always scolded by the critics. Hong took the blame upon himself and paid no heed. If his intent had no surplus while illness made his heart fail, he sought only to be without shame before himself — what reason is there to mind that others do not understand? Only clear-sighted officers forgave him for keeping and embracing the unhewn, knowing it was not a way to cultivate loftiness. The world mostly admires the goodness of affection contracted beforehand and the closeness practiced in the dark chamber; Hong held that knowing men is not easy — a thing the highest sages found hard. Floating and promiscuous friendships, mouths agreeing while spirits part, are without gain and full of harm. Though he could not, like Zhu Gongshu, sever all ties, he had to see a man clear and know him well before giving him his heart. Again he was much hated for this, yet did not change. Those who raced about scrambling for advancement, standing at the side doors of power, all hated Hong for being unlike themselves and defamed him, saying Hong was proud toward things and slighted the world. But Hong as a man went on trusting his own heart, putting praise and blame alike out of hearing.

至患近人，或恃其所長而輕人所短，洪忝為儒者之末，每與人言，常度其所知而論之，不強引之以造彼所不聞也。及與學士有所辯識，每舉綱領。若值惜短，難解心義，但粗說意之與向，使足以發寤而已，不致苦理，使彼率不得自還也。彼靜心者，存詳而思之，則多自覺而得之者焉。度不可與言者，雖或有問，常辭以不知，以免辭費之過也。洪性深不好乾煩官長，自少及長，曾救知己之抑者數人，不得已，有言於在位者，然其人皆不知洪之恤也。不忍見其陷於非理，密自營之耳。其餘雖親至者，在事秉勢，與洪無惜者，終不以片言半字，少累之也。至於糧用窮匱急，合湯藥則喚求朋類，或見濟，亦不讓也。受人之施，必皆久久漸有以報之，不令覺也。非類則不妄受其饋致焉。洪所食有旬日之儲，則分以濟人之乏；若殊自不足，亦不割己也。不為皎皎之細行，不治察察之小廉。村裡凡人之謂良守善者，用時，或齎酒餚候洪，雖非儔匹，亦不拒也。後有以答之，亦不登時也。洪嘗謂史雲不食於昆弟，華生治潔於暱客，蓋邀名之偽行，非廊廟之遠量也。

What vexed him most was men of late who rely on their own strengths to slight others' shortcomings. Hong, though a humble tail-end of the Confucians, when speaking with a man always gauged what the other knew before discoursing, never forcing him toward what he had not heard of. When distinguishing points with learned men, he always raised the main strands. If he met a man protecting his shortcomings, hard to lead to the meaning in his heart, he would roughly sketch the gist and direction, enough to open and awaken him, and would not belabor the reasoning to the point where the man could not back out at all. Men of quiet mind keep it and think it over in detail, and so mostly come to it themselves and gain it. When he gauged that a man could not be spoken with, then even when sometimes asked, he always begged off with 'I do not know,' to avoid the fault of wasted words. Hong by nature deeply disliked bothering the officials; from youth to age, when a few friends of his were suppressed he had no choice but to say a word to those in office — yet those men never knew that Hong had been caring for them. He could not bear to see them sunk in injustice, and secretly rescued them himself, that was all. As for the rest — even those he knew in person — those in office and power with whom Hong had no bond, he never troubled with half a word or the least entanglement. But when grain and supplies ran short in a pinch, or when compounding a decoction called for ingredients, he would call on and beg his fellows; if aided, he did not stand on ceremony. Whatever gift he received from a man, he always repaid it long afterward, gradually and usefully, without letting the man notice. From those not of his kind he did not recklessly accept presents. If what Hong had to eat sufficed for ten days, he divided it to relieve others' want; if he himself was especially short, he did not cut into his own. He did not make a show of immaculate small conduct, nor cultivate the scruples of spotless petty honesty. When the villagers whom common folk call good men came with wine and dishes to ask after Hong, though they were not his peers, he did not refuse them; and when he later had wherewithal to thank them, he did not do it to their faces. Hong once said: 'Fan Shiyun would not eat at his brothers' homes, and Master Hua was meticulously clean toward intimate guests — these, it seems, were pretended deeds to angle for fame, not the far-reaching measure of the halls of state.'

洪尤疾無義之人，不勤農桑之本業，而慕非義之奸利。持鄉論者，則賣選舉以取謝；有威勢者，則解符疏以索財。或有罪人之賂，或枉有理之家。或為逋逃之藪，而饗亡命之人；或挾使民丁，以妨公役；或強收錢物，以求貴价；或占錮市肆，奪百姓之利；或割人田地，劫孤弱之業。惚恫官府之間，以窺掊克之益，內以誇妻妾，外以釣名位。其如此者，不與交焉。

Hong especially hated the unrighteous — those who do not labor at the root tasks of farming and mulberry yet covet wrongful gain. Those who hold sway over village opinion sell selection and appointment for thanks; those with power loose the warrants and dispatches to extort money. Some take bribes from criminals, some wrong the household that has right on its side; some make themselves havens for fugitives and feast outlaws; some impress the people's laborers to hinder public service; some forcibly collect money and goods to seek dear prices; some occupy and monopolize the market stalls, robbing the people of profit; some carve away men's fields and seize the estates of the orphaned and weak. They bully and bluster among the offices to spy out squeezing profit, using it within to boast before wives and concubines and without to angle for name and place. Men like these — he did not have dealings with them.

由是俗人憎洪疾己，自然疏絕，故巷無車馬之跡，堂無異志之賓，庭可設雀羅，而几筵積塵焉。

Therefore the vulgar hated Hong, and, detesting what they saw of themselves in him, naturally drew away and broke off relations; so no tracks of carriages and horses marked his lane, no guest of differing aims graced his hall, a net for sparrows could have been spread in his courtyard, and dust lay deep on his tables and mats.

洪自有識以逮將老，口不及人之非，不說人之私，乃自然也。雖僕豎有其所短，所羞之事，不以戲之也。未嘗論評人物之優劣，不喜訶譴人交之好惡。或為尊長所逼問，辭不獲已，其論人也，則獨舉彼體中之勝事而已。其論文也，則撮其所得之佳者，而不指摘其病累，故無譭譽之怨。貴人時或問官吏民，甲乙何如。其清高閒能者，洪指說其快事；其貪暴暗塞者，對以偶不識悉。洪由此頗見譏責，以顧護太多，不能明辯臧否，使皂白區分，而洪終不敢改也。每見世人有好論人物者，比方倫匹，未必當允，而褒貶與奪，或失準格。見譽者自謂己分，未必信德也；見侵者則恨之入骨，劇於血讎。洪益以為戒，遂不復言及士人矣。雖門宗子弟，其稱兩皆以付邦族，不為輕乎其價數也。

From the time he gained understanding until near old age, Hong's mouth never touched on others' wrongs nor spoke of their private affairs — it was his nature. Even when a servant-boy had some failing or shameful deed, he would not use it to tease him. He never discussed the worth of persons, nor did he like to scold or censure men's dealings, their likes and dislikes. When pressed by elders until he could not decline, in discussing a man he would bring up only the fine points of his substance; in discussing writings he would pick out what was good in them and not pick at their flaws — so he incurred no resentment from blame or praise. When the great sometimes asked about officials or commoners, how this one compared with that, of the pure and capable he would point out what was admirable in them; of the greedy, violent and dull he would answer that he happened not to know them well. For this Hong was often scolded — judged to shield men too much, unable to clearly tell good from bad or divide black from white — yet to the end he dared not change. Whenever he saw men of the world fond of weighing persons, matching them as equals, it was not necessarily apt, and in their praise and blame, giving and taking, they sometimes missed the standard. The praised took it as their due, not necessarily possessing the virtue; the slighted hated it to the bone, more bitterly than a blood feud. Hong took warning from this, and thereafter no longer spoke of the gentry. Even for the sons and brothers of his own lineage, their praises he left entirely to the judgment of state and clan, and did not lightly set a price on them himself.

或以譏洪，洪答曰：“我身在我者也，法當易知。設令有人問我，使自比古人，及同時令我自求輩，則我實不能自知，可與誰為匹也。況非我，安可為取而評定之耶漢末俗弊，朋黨分部，許子將之徒，以口舌取戒。爭訟論議，門宗成讎。故汝南人士無復定價而有月旦之評。魏武帝深亦疾之，欲取其首，爾乃奔波亡走，殆至屠滅。前鑑不遠，可以得師矣。且人之未易知也，雖父兄不必儘子弟也，同乎我者遽是乎異於我者遽非乎或有始無卒，唐堯、公旦、仲尼、季札，皆有不全得之恨，無以近人信其嘍嘍管見熒燭之明，而輕評人物。是皆賣彼上聖大賢乎”

Someone chided Hong for this, and Hong answered: 'My person belongs to myself; by reason it should be easy to know. If someone asks me to compare myself with the ancients, or at the same time to seek out my peers for myself, then truly I cannot know myself well enough to say with whom I rank. How much less can I take another's measure and fix his grade when he is not me! At the end of Han custom decayed; cliques and factions split into parts, and the likes of Xu Zijiang were brought to grief by their own tongues; wrangling and debating, lineages became foes. Thus the men of Runan no longer had fixed worth but had the First-Day judgments. Emperor Wu of Wei also bitterly hated this and wanted to take his head; he fled in desperation and was nearly exterminated. The mirror of what went before is not far — a teacher is to be had from it. Moreover men are not easy to know; even fathers and elder brothers do not necessarily fully know their sons and brothers. Must what agrees with me be right, and what differs from me be wrong? And some have a beginning but no end. Yao of Tang, the Duke of Zhou Dan, Zhongni and Jizha all had the regret of being unable to know men completely. There is no way to make men of these times trust a chirping tube-view and firefly-candle brightness so as to lightly weigh and judge persons. Are these not all ways of betraying those supreme sages and great worthies?'

昔大安中，石冰作亂，六州之地，柯振葉靡，違正黨逆。義軍大都督邀洪為將兵都尉，累見敦迫，既桑梓恐虜，禍深憂大。古人有急疾之義，又畏軍法，不敢任志，遂募合數百人，與諸軍旅進。曾攻賊之別將，破之日，錢帛山積，珍玩蔽地，諸軍莫不放兵收拾財物，繼轂連擔。洪獨約令所領，不得妄離行陳。士有摭得眾者，洪即斬之以徇。於是無敢委杖，而果有伏賊數百，出傷諸軍。諸軍悉發，無部隊，皆人馬負重，無復戰心。遂致驚亂，死傷狼藉，殆欲不振。獨洪軍整齊轂張，無所損傷。以救諸軍之大崩，洪有力焉。後別戰斬賊小帥，多獲甲首，而獻捷幕府。於是大都督加洪伏波將軍，例給布百匹。諸將多封閉之，或送還家，而洪分賜將士，及施知故之貧者，餘之十匹，又徑以市肉酤酒，以饗將吏。於時竊擅一日之美談焉。

In former times, in the Tai'an years, Shi Bing made rebellion; in the lands of the six provinces it was as when branches shake and leaves lie flat — men forsook the right and banded with the rebels. The commander-in-chief of the loyalist army invited Hong to be a commandant of troops; pressed repeatedly — since his native mulberry feared capture, the calamity deep and the care great — and since the ancients had the duty of rushing to distress, and fearing the army law he dared not follow his bent, he raised and gathered several hundred men and advanced with the several armies. Once, attacking a rebel's secondary commander, on the day the place was broken, money and silk lay piled like hills, precious baubles covered the ground, and of all the armies there was none that did not loose its soldiers to gather goods, their hubs and loads in unbroken lines. Hong alone restrained those he led, not letting them recklessly leave the ranks. A soldier who had picked up much Hong beheaded as a warning to the host. Thus none dared lay down his staff; and indeed several hundred hidden rebels came out to wound the armies. The armies had all gone out without ranks or files, man and horse all bearing loads, with no heart left to fight; this led to panic and disorder, dead and wounded strewn about, and they were nearly unable to rise again. Hong's army alone kept ordered ranks and suffered no hurt. In rescuing the armies from great rout, Hong's effort played a part. Later, in another fight, he beheaded a minor rebel captain, took many armored heads, and presented the victory to headquarters. Then the commander-in-chief made Hong General Who Subdues the Waves, granting a hundred bolts of cloth as the rule provided. The other generals mostly shut theirs away or sent them home, but Hong divided his among the officers and men, also giving to the poor among his friends and kin; with the ten bolts left over he went straight to buy meat and fetch wine to feast the officers and clerks. For a day it was privately much talked of.

事平，洪投戈釋甲，徑詣洛陽，欲廣尋異書，了不論戰功。竊慕魯連不受聊城之金，包胥不納存楚之賞，成功不處之義焉。正遇上國大亂，北道不通。而陳敏又反於江東，歸途隔塞。會有故人譙國嵇君道，見用為廣州刺史。乃表請洪為叄軍。雖非所樂，然利可避地於南，故黽勉就焉。見遣先行催兵，而君道於後遇害，遂停廣州。頻為節將見邀用，皆不就。永惟富貴可以漸得而不可頓合，其間屑屑，亦足以勞人。且榮位勢利，譬如寄客，既非常物，又其去不可得留也。隆隆者絕，赫赫者滅，有若春華，須臾凋落，得之不喜，失之安悲悔吝百端，憂懼兢戰，不可勝言。不可為也。且自度性篤懶而才至短，以篤懶而御短才，雖翕肩屈膝，趨走風塵，猶必不辦大致名位而免患累，況不能乎未若修松喬之道，在我而已，不由於人焉。將登名山，服食養性。非有廢也，事不兼濟，自非絕棄世務，則曷緣修習玄靜哉且知之誠難，亦不得惜問而與人議也。是以車馬之跡，不經貴勢之域；片字之書，不交在位之家。又士林之中，雖不可出，而見造之賓，意不能拒，妨人所作，不得專一，乃嘆曰：“山林之中無道也。而古之修道者，必入山林者，誠欲以違遠讙譁，使心不亂也。今將遂本志，委桑梓，適嵩嶽，以尋方平梁公之軌。”

After the rebellion was put down, I, Hong, laid down my spear and took off my armor, and went straight to Luoyang, hoping to search widely for rare books, giving no thought at all to the merit of my military service. In private I admired Lu Zhonglian, who refused the gold of Liaocheng, and Shen Baoxu, who declined the reward for having preserved Chu, men whose righteousness lay in not claiming credit for their success. But I happened upon a time when the state was in great turmoil and the northern road was cut off. Chen Min, moreover, had rebelled in Jiangdong, so the road home was blocked. Just then an old friend of mine, Master Ji Daoyun of Qiao, was appointed Governor of Guangzhou. He therefore memorialized the throne asking that I be made an army adviser (the base text reads it with a variant character). Though it was not what I enjoyed, it was convenient for taking refuge in the south, so I forced myself to take up the post. I was sent ahead to hasten the troops, but Daoyun was murdered behind me, and so I stayed on in Guangzhou. Time and again I was invited into service by generals holding the tally, and I declined every time. I reflected deeply that wealth and rank may be obtained gradually but cannot be gathered all at once, and that the petty matters in between are enough to wear a man out. Moreover, glorious office and power are like a guest lodging at an inn: they are not permanent possessions, and when they go they cannot be held back. What rises high will break off, and what shines brightly will be extinguished, like spring blossoms that fall within a moment. Gaining them is no joy, and losing them is no cause for grief; yet remorse and shame come in a hundred forms, and the anxiety and trembling fear are beyond telling. One must not take such a path. Besides, I judged that my nature is extremely lazy and my talent extremely short. To drive short talent with extreme laziness would, even if I hunched my shoulders and bent my knees and scurried about in the dust of the world, still never let me win great fame and rank while escaping trouble, so how much less could I do it without even that effort? It is better to cultivate the Way of Chisongzi and Wang Zijiao, which depends on myself alone and not on others. I will climb famous mountains and take medicines to nourish my nature. It is not that I wish to abandon anything, but that I cannot do both; unless I cut myself off from worldly affairs, how could I practice the profound stillness? And since true knowledge is hard to come by, I must not grudge asking questions and discussing with others. For this reason my carriage tracks do not pass through the quarters of the powerful, and not a single written word of mine is sent to the houses of those in office. Even among the gentry, though I cannot go out, visitors come to call, and I cannot bring myself to refuse them; they hinder one's work and prevent single-minded focus. So I sighed and said: 'There is in fact no Way to be found among mountain forests. Yet the ancients who cultivated the Way always entered the mountains and forests, truly wishing to keep far from clamor so that the mind would not be disturbed.' Now, wishing to fulfill my original aim, I will abandon my native village, leave for Mount Song, and seek the footsteps of Wang Fangping and Liang Gong.'

先所作子書內、外篇，幸已用功夫，聊復撰次，以示將來云爾。洪年十五、六時，所作詩賦雜文，當時自謂可行於代，至於弱冠，更詳省之，殊多不稱意。天才未必為增也，直所覽差廣，而覺妍媸之別。於是大有所制，棄十不存一。今除所作子書，但雜尚餘百所卷，猶未盡損益之理，而多慘憤，不遑復料護之。他人文成，便呼快意，餘才鈍思遲，實不能爾。作文章每一更字，輒自轉勝，但患懶，又所作多不能數省之耳。洪年二十餘，乃計作細碎小文，妨棄功日，未若立一家之言，乃草創子書。會遇兵亂，流離播越，有所亡失，連在道路，不復投筆十餘年，至建武中，乃定凡著《內篇》二十卷，《外篇》五十卷，碑頌詩賦百卷，軍書檄移章表箋記三十卷，又撰俗所不列者，為《神仙傳》十卷，又撰高尚不仕者，為《隱逸傳》十卷又抄五經、七史、百家之言，兵事、方伎、短雜奇要三百一十卷，別有目錄。其《內篇》言神仙方藥、鬼怪變化、養生延年、禳邪卻禍之事，屬道家；《外篇》言人間得失，世事臧否，屬儒家。洪見魏文帝《典論》自敘，未及彈棋擊劍之事，有意於略說所知，而實不數少所便能，不可虛自稱揚。今將具言，所不閒焉。

As for the inner and outer chapters of my philosophical work written earlier, since I have already put effort into them, I will compile them once more simply to leave for the future to read. When I was fifteen or sixteen, I wrote poems, rhapsodies and miscellaneous pieces which at the time I thought could circulate in the world; but when I reached the age of twenty and examined them again carefully, I found many of them unsatisfactory. My natural talent had not necessarily grown; it was only that I had read somewhat more widely and so came to perceive the difference between the beautiful and the ugly. I therefore made heavy cuts, discarding nine in ten and keeping hardly one. Now, apart from my philosophical works, about a hundred scrolls of miscellaneous writings remain, which I have not yet had the chance to fully revise and trim, and I often feel pained and vexed; I have no leisure to examine and tend them again. Other men finish a piece and call it satisfying, but my talent is dull and my thought slow, and I truly cannot do so. With every character I alter in a composition, it becomes better by itself; the trouble is only that I am lazy, and most of what I write I cannot go over several times. In my twenties I reckoned that spending time on trivial little pieces wasted my days and months, and that it would be better to establish a school of thought of my own; so I began drafting the philosophical work. I then met with war and disorder, wandering and displacement, and lost some of my writings; for years on end I was on the road, and for more than ten years I did not take up the brush again, until in the Jianwu era I finally completed the fair copy. In all I composed twenty scrolls of the Inner Chapters, fifty scrolls of the Outer Chapters, a hundred scrolls of inscriptions, eulogies, poems and rhapsodies, and thirty scrolls of military letters, proclamations, memorials, petitions and records. I also compiled, for matters not recorded by the world, the Biographies of Immortals in ten scrolls, and for those of lofty character who declined office, the Biographies of Recluses in ten scrolls. I also made abstracts of the Five Classics, the Seven Histories and the sayings of the hundred schools, together with military matters, techniques and brief miscellaneous essentials, in three hundred and ten scrolls, with a separate catalogue. The Inner Chapters discuss immortals and medicines, spirits and transformations, nourishing life and prolonging years, and warding off evil and averting calamity, and belong to the Daoist school; the Outer Chapters discuss the gains and losses of human affairs and the rights and wrongs of the world, and belong to the Confucian school. When I read the autobiographical preface to the Dianlun of Emperor Wen of Wei, I noticed that it did not yet speak of the games of chess-flipping and sword-fencing. I wished to say a little of what I know, but in truth I have few things I am naturally good at, and I must not boast emptily of myself. Now I will set out in detail the things I am not skilled at.

洪體純性駑，寡所玩好，自總髮垂髫，(有脫文)又擲瓦手摶，不及兒童之群，未曾鬥雞鶩，走狗馬，見人博戲，了不目眄。或強牽引觀之，殊不入神，有若晝睡。是以至今不知棋局上有幾道樗蒲齒名。亦念此輩末伎，亂意思而妨日月，在位有損政事，儒者則廢講誦，凡民則忘稼穡，商人則失貨財。至於勝負未分，交爭都市，心熱於中，顏愁於外，名之為樂，而實煎悴，喪廉恥之操，興爭競之端，相取重貨，密結怨隙。昔宋閔公、吳太子致碎首之禍，生叛亂之變，覆滅七國，幾傾天朝。作戒百代，其鑑明矣。每觀戲者，漸恚交集，手足相及，醜詈相加，絕交壞友，往往有焉。怨不在大，亦不在小，多召悔吝，不足為也。仲尼雖有晝寢之戒，以洪較之，洪實未許其賢於晝寢。何則晝寢但無益而未有怨恨之憂，鬥訟之變，聖者猶韋編三絕，以勤經業，凡才近人，安得兼修，惟諸戲盡不如示一尺之書，故因本不喜而不為，蓋此俗人所親焉。

I, Hong, am simple in body and dull in nature, and had few pastimes even as a boy with his hair in tufts and a child's hanging locks. (There is a gap in the text here.) I also could not throw tiles or wrestle as well as the other children, and I never pitted cocks or ducks against each other, nor raced dogs or horses. When I saw people gambling at games I never so much as glanced at them sideways. If someone dragged me by force to watch, I could not take it in at all, and felt as if I were sleeping in the daytime. Therefore to this day I do not know how many lines are on a game board, nor the names of the pieces in the game of chupu. I also reflected that such minor skills disturb the mind and waste days and months: an official loses his duties of government, a scholar gives up his lectures and recitation, a commoner forgets his farming, and a merchant loses his goods and wealth. And as for the time before victory and defeat are decided, when men quarrel in the marketplace, their hearts burn and their faces darken with worry; they call it pleasure, yet in truth it is torment and exhaustion, losing the integrity of modesty and shame, stirring up the causes of contention, staking heavy wagers on each other and secretly breeding grudges. In ancient times Duke Min of Song and the Crown Prince of Wu brought on the disaster of a smashed skull and gave rise to the calamity of rebellion, which destroyed seven states and nearly overturned the imperial court. It was set up as a warning for a hundred generations, and the lesson is plain. Whenever I watch those who play, I see shame and anger mingled, hands and feet laid on each other, foul abuse exchanged, and friendships broken off and ruined, which happens often enough. A grudge need not be great, and it need not be small, but it calls down many regrets and is not worth the doing. Though Confucius gave a warning against sleeping in the daytime, compared with me, I truly would not grant that such a game is better than a daytime nap. Why? A daytime nap is only useless, and brings no worry of resentment or the calamity of quarrels and lawsuits. Even the sage wore out the bindings of his book three times through in diligent study of the Classics; how could an ordinary man of common talent cultivate both? Moreover, none of these games is worth as much as a single foot of a book, so I did not play them from the start, since I did not enjoy them, though they are probably what common people hold dear.

少嘗學射，但力少不能挽強，若顏高之弓耳。意為射既在六藝，又可以禦寇闢劫，及取鳥獸，是以習之。昔在軍旅，曾手射追騎，應弦而倒，殺二賊一馬，遂以得免死。又曾受刀盾及單刀雙戟，皆有口訣要術，以侍取人，乃有秘法，其巧入神。若以此道與不曉者對，便可以當全獨勝，所向無前矣。晚又學七尺杖術，可以入白刃，取大戟，然亦是不急之末學。知之譬如麟角鳳距，何必用之過此已往，未之或知。

In my youth I once studied archery, but I lacked the strength to draw a strong bow, like the bow of Yan Gao. I thought that since archery is among the Six Arts, and can also be used to resist bandits, avoid robbers and take birds and beasts, I should practice it. In the past, when I was with the army, I once shot with my own hand at a pursuing horseman, who fell at the twang of the string; I killed two bandits and a horse, and so escaped death. I also once received instruction in the use of the sword and shield, the single sabre and the double halberd, all with oral formulas and essential techniques. Used for dealing with an opponent, they hold secret methods whose skill is almost divine. If one used this art against men who do not know it, one could be perfectly safe and win alone, advancing without any obstacle. Later I also learned the seven-foot staff technique, which lets one enter among bare blades and seize a great halberd, yet it too is a minor learning that is not urgent. I know it to be like a unicorn's horn or a phoenix's spur, so why use it? Beyond these, I know of nothing else I could do.

洪少有定志，決不出身，每覽巢許、子州、北人石戶、二姜、兩袁、法真、子龍之傳，嘗廢書前席，慕其為人。念精治五經，著一部子書，令後世知其為文儒而已。後州郡及車騎大將軍闢，皆不就。薦名琅邪王丞相府，昔起義兵，賊平之後，了不修名詣府，論功主者，永無賞報之冀。晉王應天順人，撥亂反正，結皇綱於垂絕，修宗廟之廢祀，念先朝之滯賞，並無報以勸來。洪隨例就彼，庚寅，詔書賜爵關中侯，食句容之邑二百戶。竊謂討賊以救桑梓，勞不足錄，金紫之命，非其始願。本欲遠慕魯連，近引田疇，上書固辭，以遂微志。適有大例，同不見許。昔仲由讓應受賜而沮為善，醜虜未夷，天下多事，國家方欲明賞必罰，以彰憲典，小子豈敢苟潔區區懦志，而距私通之大制故遂息意而恭承詔命焉。

From youth I, Hong, held a firm resolve never to take office. Whenever I read the biographies of Chaofu, Xu You, Zizhou Zhifu, the Northerner Wuze, the farmer of Shihu, the two Jiangs, the two Yuans, Fa Zhen and Zilong, I would set aside my book and move forward on my mat, admiring their character. I intended to study the Five Classics closely and write a philosophical work, so that later generations would know me only as a literary Confucian. Afterwards the province, the commandery, and the General of Chariots and Cavalry all summoned me, and I declined every time. My name was recommended to the office of Prime Minister, the Prince of Langye. In the past, when I raised a righteous army and the rebels were put down, I never went to present my name at the office, and the officials in charge of assessing merit never had any hope of rewarding me. The Prince of Jin, responding to Heaven and following the people, set disorder right and restored order; at the point when the imperial line was about to be cut off he joined it again, restored the neglected sacrifices of the ancestral temples, and, mindful of rewards from the previous dynasty that had been left unpaid, repaid them to encourage those who would come after. I went there along with the rest, as the precedent required. On the geng-yin day an edict granted me the rank of Marquis Within the Passes, with the town of Jurong and two hundred households as my fief. In private I considered that fighting the rebels to rescue my homeland was a service not worth recording, and that gold and purple ribbons were not what I had wished for at the outset. I had meant to admire Lu Zhonglian in the distant past and Tian Chou in more recent times, and submitted a memorial firmly declining so as to fulfill my modest aim. It happened that a general precedent applied, and all such requests alike were refused. Long ago Zhong You declined a reward he was entitled to and so obstructed others from doing good. The foul barbarians had not yet been pacified and the realm was full of trouble; the state wished to make rewards clear and punishments certain so as to display the statutes. How could a mere youth dare to keep clean his petty timid ambition and defy a great system for the public good? Therefore I put an end to that intention and respectfully accepted the edict.

洪既著“自敘”之篇，或人難曰：“昔王充年在耳順，道窮望絕，懼身名之偕滅，故自紀終篇。先生以始立之盛，值乎有道之運，方將解申公之束帛，登穆生之蒲輪，耀藻九五，絕聲昆吾，何憾芬芳之不揚，而務老生之彼務”洪答曰：“夫二儀彌邈，而人居若寓，以朝菌之耀秀，不移晷而殄瘁，類春華之暫榮，未改旬而凋墜。雖飛飆之經霄，激電之乍照，未必速也。夫期賾猶奔星之騰煙，黃髮如激箭之過隙。況或未萌而殞籜，逆秋而霧瘁者哉故項子有含穗之嘆，揚烏有夙折之哀，歷覽遠古，逸倫之士，或以文藝而龍躍，或以武功而虎踞，高勳著於盟府，德音被乎管絃，形器雖沈，鑠於淵壤，美談飄飄而日載，故雖千百代，猶穆如也。餘以庸陋，沈抑婆婆，用不合時，行舛於世，發音則響與俗乖，抗足則跡與眾迕。內無金張之援，外乏彈冠之友。循途雖坦，而足無騏驎；六虛雖曠，而翼非大鵬。上不能鷹揚匡國，下無以顯親垂名。美不寄於良史，聲不附乎鍾鼎。故因著述之餘，而為自敘之篇，雖無補於窮達，亦賴將來之有述焉！

I, Hong, had already written the piece called the Autobiography, when someone challenged me, saying: 'In the past Wang Chong, at the age when one's ears are attuned, with his Way exhausted and his hopes cut off, feared that body and name would perish together, and therefore wrote his own record as a final piece. You, sir, are in the prime of your first establishment, and are right in an age when the Way prevails; you should be about to have a bundle of silk untied for you like Master Shen, and to ascend in a carriage wrapped in rushes like Master Mu. You could shine in literary splendor at the highest rank and fall silent at Kunwu. Why regret that your fragrance does not spread, and set yourself to the business of an old scholar?' I replied: 'The Two Forces are infinitely distant, and man lives between them as a lodger. Like the glory of the morning fungus, which wilts before the sun's shadow has moved, or like the brief bloom of spring flowers, which fall before ten days have passed, our lives are short; even a whirlwind crossing the heavens or a flash of lightning suddenly shining is not necessarily so swift. Even a man of a hundred years is like a shooting star or drifting smoke, and an old man with yellow hair is like an arrow flying through a crack. How much more for those who die before they even sprout, shedding their husks, or who wither in the autumn mist against the season! So Xiang Tuo sighed over grain that held its ears unripe, and Yang Wu mourned his early death. Looking back over remote antiquity, I see outstanding men who rose like dragons through literary art or crouched like tigers through military merit; their high achievements are recorded in the covenant archives and their virtuous reputations are carried on pipes and strings. Though their physical forms sank away into the abyss and the earth, their fine tales drift on and are recorded day after day, so that even after a thousand or hundred generations they still seem solemnly present. I am mediocre and coarse, held down and drifting about; my usefulness does not suit the age, my conduct runs against the world, my voice resounds contrary to the common run, and every step I take crosses the path of the crowd. Within, I have no support like that of the Jin and Zhang families; without, I lack friends who would flick the dust from their caps for me. The road may be level, but my feet are not those of a qilin; the six directions of space may be wide, but my wings are not those of the great roc. Above, I cannot spread my wings like a hawk to set the state right; below, I have no way to make my parents famous and leave my name behind. Beauty is not entrusted to the good historian, and reputation is not attached to bells and tripods. So I have borrowed the leisure left over from my writings to compose the piece called the Autobiography; though it does nothing for my failure or success, I still rely on future generations to say something of me!'