Bao Pu Zi Wai Pian (抱朴子外篇) · Volume 2

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.