Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 12

(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!'