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孝，至矣乎！一言而該，聖人不加焉。

Filial piety, it reaches the utmost! One word covers it all, and even a sage could add nothing to it.

父母，子之天地與？無天何生？無地何形？天地裕於萬物乎？萬物裕於天地乎？裕父母之裕，不裕矣。事父母自知不足者，其舜乎？

Are parents not the heaven and earth of their children? Without heaven, how would one be born? Without earth, how would one take form? Is heaven and earth more generous than the myriad things, or are the myriad things more generous than heaven and earth? To seek generosity beyond the generosity of one’s parents is no longer generosity. Is it not Shun who served his parents and yet felt that he had still not done enough?

不可得而久者，事親之謂也。孝子愛日。

What cannot be obtained and made to last is the serving of one’s parents. The filial son cherishes the days.

孝子有祭乎？有齊乎？夫能存亡形，屬荒絕者，惟齊也。故孝子之於齊，見父母之存也，是以祭不賓。人而不祭，豺獺乎！

Does the filial son have sacrifices? Does he have fasting? What can make a vanished form exist again and join what has been cut off is only fasting. So in fasting the filial son sees his parents still present, and for this reason in sacrifice he does not treat them as guests. If a person does not sacrifice, he is worse than the jackal and the otter!

或問「子」。曰：「死生盡禮，可謂能子乎！」

Someone asked about “being a son.” Yang Xiong said: “One who fulfills ritual in both death and life can be called able to be a son!”

曰：「石奮、石建，父子之美也。無是父，無是子；無是子，無是父。」或曰：「必也，兩乎？」曰：「與堯無子，舜無父，不如堯父舜子也。」

Yang Xiong said: “Shi Fen and Shi Jian were fine examples of father and son. Without such a father there would not be such a son; without such a son there would not be such a father.” Someone said: “Must both be present?” Yang Xiong said: “Rather than Yao having no such son and Shun having no such father, it is better to have a father like Yao and a son like Shun.”

「子有含菽縕絮而致滋美其親，將以求孝也。人曰偽，如之何？」曰：「假儒衣書，服而讀之，三月不歸，孰曰非儒也？」或曰：「何以處偽？」曰：「有人則作，無人則輟之謂偽。觀人者，審其作輟而已矣。」

“There are sons who eat bean leaves and wear old cotton, yet offer the sweetest food to their parents, hoping to seek filial reputation by it. Others call this hypocrisy; what is to be done?” Yang Xiong said: “If someone borrows a Confucian’s robe and books, and wears and reads them for three months without returning them, who could say he is not a Confucian?” The questioner said: “How does one tell hypocrisy?” Yang Xiong said: “One who acts when seen and stops when unseen is called a hypocrite. To observe a person, it is enough to examine his acting and stopping.”

不為名之名，其至矣乎！為名之名，其次也。

A name gained without seeking a name is the highest! A name gained by seeking a name is a rank lower.

或問「忠言嘉謀」。曰：「言合稷、契之謂忠，謀合皋陶之謂嘉。」或曰：「邵如之何？」曰：「亦勗之而已。庳則秦、儀、鞅、斯亦忠嘉矣。」

Someone asked about “loyal words and excellent counsel.” Yang Xiong said: “Words that accord with Hou Ji and Xie are called loyal, and counsel that accords with Gao Yao is called excellent.” The questioner said: “What of the lower sort?” Yang Xiong said: “That is only a matter of encouragement. If we go lower, then Zhang Yi, Su Qin, Shang Yang, and Li Si would count as loyal and excellent too.”

堯、舜之道皇兮，夏、殷、周之道將兮，而以延其光兮。或曰：「何謂也？」曰：「堯、舜以其讓，夏以其功，殷、周以其伐。」

The Way of Yao and Shun is magnificent, the Way of the Xia, Yin, and Zhou is grand and flourishing, and thereby their glory was prolonged. Someone said: “What does that mean?” Yang Xiong said: “Yao and Shun relied on their abdication, the Xia on its achievements, and the Yin and Zhou on their punitive campaigns.”

或曰：「食如螘，衣如華，朱輪駟馬，金朱煌煌，無已泰乎？」曰：「由其德，舜、禹受天下不為泰。不由其德，五兩之綸，半通之銅，亦泰矣。」

Someone said: “To eat as little as an ant, to dress as beautifully as flowers, to ride a vermilion-wheeled carriage with four horses, with a gold seal and a bright vermilion ribbon gleaming, is this not excessive?” Yang Xiong said: “If it comes through virtue, even Shun and Yu receiving the world was not excessive. If it does not come through virtue, even a ribbon of five liang of silk and a half-sized bronze seal are excessive.”

天下通道五，所以行之一，曰勉。

There are five roads that run through the world, but only one thing is used to travel them, and it is called effort.

或曰：「力有扛洪鼎，揭華旗。知、德亦有之乎？」曰：「百人矣。德諧頑嚚，讓萬國；知情天地，形不測，百人乎？」

Someone said: “In strength, there are those who can carry a great cauldron and lift a great banner. Are there such feats in wisdom and virtue?” Yang Xiong said: “Those feats only match a hundred men. Virtue can harmonize the stubborn and the quarrelsome and let the ten thousand states be passed on by abdication; wisdom can know heaven and earth and shape unfathomable transformations; is that only a hundred men?”

或問「君」。曰：「明光。」問「臣」。曰：「若禔。」「敢問何謂也？」曰：「君子在上，則明而光其下；在下，則順而安其上。」

Someone asked about “the ruler.” Yang Xiong said: “Brightness.” Asked about “the minister,” Yang Xiong said: “Compliant and steadying.” “May I ask what this means?” Yang Xiong said: “When the superior person is above, he is bright and illuminates those below; when he is below, he is compliant and steadies those above.”

或曰：「聖人事異乎？」曰：「聖人德之為事，異亞之。故常修德者，本也；見異而修德者，末也。本末不修而存者，未之有也。」

Someone said: “Does the sage concern himself with calamities and anomalies?” Yang Xiong said: “The sage makes virtue his concern, and calamities and anomalies come second. So constantly cultivating virtue is the root, and cultivating virtue only on seeing calamities and anomalies is the branch. That anyone who cultivates neither root nor branch should nevertheless survive has never happened.”

天地之得，斯民也；斯民之得，一人也；一人之得，心矣。

What heaven and earth obtain is these common people; what these common people obtain is one man; what one man obtains is the heart.

吾聞諸傳，老則戒之在得。年彌高而德彌邵者，是孔子之徒與？

I have heard from the records that what one must guard against in old age is covetousness. Those whose virtue grows finer as their years increase, are they not the disciples of Confucius?

或問：「德有始而無終，與有終而無始也，孰寧？」曰：「寧先病而後瘳乎？寧先瘳而後病乎？」

Someone asked: “Virtue that has a beginning but no end, or one that has an end but no beginning; which would you prefer?” Yang Xiong said: “Would you prefer to be ill first and recover afterward, or to recover first and fall ill afterward?”

或問「大」。曰：「小。」問「遠」。曰「邇。」未達。曰：「天下為大，治之在道，不亦小乎？四海為遠，治之在心，不亦邇乎？」

Someone asked about “the great.” Yang Xiong said: “The small.” Asked about “the far,” Yang Xiong said: “The near.” The questioner did not understand. Yang Xiong said: “The world counts as great, yet governing it lies in the Way; is that not small? The four seas count as far, yet governing them lies in the heart; is that not near?”

或問「俊哲、洪秀」。曰：「知哲聖人之謂俊，秀穎德行之謂洪。」

Someone asked about “the outstanding and the brilliant, the vast and the elegant.” Yang Xiong said: “Wisdom enough to discern the sage is called outstanding; virtue in conduct that is elegant and distinguished is called vast.”

君子動則擬諸事，事則擬諸禮。

The superior person, whenever he moves, takes affairs as his measure, and affairs take ritual as their measure.

或問「群言之長，群行之宗」。曰：「群言之長，德言也；群行之宗，德行也。」

Someone asked about “the chief of all speech and the foundation of all conduct.” Yang Xiong said: “The chief of all speech is virtuous speech; the foundation of all conduct is virtuous conduct.”

或問「泰和」。曰：「其在唐、虞、成周乎？觀《書》及《詩》溫溫乎，其和可知也。」

Someone asked about “great harmony.” Yang Xiong said: “Probably it was in the times of Tang, Yu, and the Zhou at Cheng? Look at how mild the Documents and the Songs are; from that one can know that harmony.”

周康之時，頌聲作乎下，《關雎》作乎上，習治也。齊桓之時縕，而《春秋》美邵陵，習亂也。故習治則傷始亂也，習亂則好始治也。

In the time of King Kang of Zhou, songs of praise rose from below and the “Guan Ju” was composed from above, for people were accustomed to order. In the time of Duke Huan of Qi, disorder had accumulated, and yet the Spring and Autumn Annals praised the meeting at Shaoling, for people were accustomed to disorder. So those accustomed to order grieve at the beginning of disorder, and those accustomed to disorder rejoice at the beginning of order.

漢德其可謂允懷矣。黃支之南，大夏之西，東鞮、北女，來貢其珍。漢德其可謂允懷矣，世鮮焉。

The virtue of the Han can truly be said to have won people’s allegiance. South of Huangzhi, west of Daxia, Dongdi in the east and the Nu in the north all came to offer rare goods in tribute. The virtue of the Han can truly be said to have won people’s allegiance, and it is rare in the world.

芒芒聖德，遠人鹹慕，上也；武義璜璜，兵徵四方，次也；宗夷猾夏，蠢迪王人，屈國喪師，無次也。

Vast sage virtue, to which distant peoples look up with admiration, is the highest; martial righteousness, imposing and grand, using troops to campaign in the four quarters, is the second; when foreign tribes disturb China, stir and invade the king’s people, humiliating the state and destroying its armies, then it is not ranked at all.

麟之儀儀，鳳之師師，其至矣乎！螭虎桓桓，鷹隼䎒䎒，未至也。

The qilin’s bearing is stately and the phoenix’s ranks are orderly, and that reaches the utmost! The hornless dragon and the tiger are mighty, and the hawk and falcon swift in flight, but that does not yet reach it.

或曰：「訩訩北夷，被我純繢，帶我金犀，珍膳寧餬，不亦享乎？」曰：「昔在高、文、武，實為兵主。今稽首來臣，稱為北蕃，是為宗廟之神，社稷之靈也，可不享？」

Someone said: “The clamorous northern barbarians wrap themselves in our colored silks, wear our gold and rhinoceros hide, and live in peace on fine dishes; should they not be feasted?” Yang Xiong said: “In the past, Emperor Gao, Emperor Wen, and Emperor Wu were in fact lords of war. Now these people kowtow and call themselves subjects, and are called the northern vassal; this is the work of the spirits of the ancestral temple and the divinities of the altars of earth and grain; how could they not be feasted?”

龍堆以西，大漠以北，鳥夷、獸夷，郡勞王師，漢家不為也。

West of the White Dragon Mounds and north of the great desert are the bird barbarians and the beast barbarians; to make the commanderies trouble the royal armies over them is something the Han house will not do.

朱崖之絕，捐之之力也，否則介鱗易我衣裳。

The abandonment of Zhuya was the work of Jia Juanzhi; otherwise the scaly and shelled people would have changed our clothing.

君人者，務在殷民阜財，明道信義，致帝者之用，成天地之化，使粒食之民粲也，晏也。享於鬼神，不亦饗乎？

A ruler of people must make the common people prosperous and goods abundant, make clear the Way and extend righteousness, reach the efficacy of an emperor and king, accomplish the transforming and nurturing of heaven and earth, and make the grain-eating people bright and at ease. If sacrifices to ghosts and spirits are made like this, would they not truly enjoy them?

天道勞功。或問「勞功」。曰：「日一曰勞，考載曰功。」或曰：「君逸臣勞，何天之勞？」曰：「於事則逸，於道則勞。」

The Way of Heaven has toil and achievement. Someone asked about “toil and achievement.” Yang Xiong said: “Day after day is called toil, and what the records of assessment set down is called achievement.” Someone said: “The ruler is at ease and the ministers toil; why does Heaven still toil?” Yang Xiong said: “Toward affairs it is at ease; toward the Way it toils.”

周公以來，未有漢公之懿也，勤勞則過於阿衡。

Since the Duke of Zhou, there has been none as excellent as the Duke of Han (Wang Mang), and in diligence he even exceeds Yi Yin.

漢興二百一十載而中天，其庶矣乎！辟廱以本之，校學以教之，禮樂以容之，輿服以表之，服其井、刑，勉人役，唐矣夫！

With the Han having risen for two hundred and ten years and now like the sun at midday, it is nearly there! The Biyong as its root, schools used for teaching, ritual and music used for adornment, carriages and robes used to honor, the restoration of the well-field system and corporal punishments, and encouragement of those who serve in labor, it is like Tang Yao’s age!