The Reply of the Uncommon Physiognomist異相者對
有相者不知何自而來。不讀相書。不襲相規。以異術相之。故謂異相者。搢紳卿相。男女幼長。爭邀競往。無不使相焉。相富貴而肥澤者曰。子之貌甚瘠矣。族之賤莫子若也。相貧賤而癯嬴者曰。子之貌肥矣。族之貴若子者稀矣。相盲者曰。明者也。相捷而善走者曰。跛躄而不能步者也。相婦人之色秀者曰。或美或醜也。相世所謂寬而且仁者曰。傷萬人者也。相時所謂酷之尤深者曰。悅萬人之心者也。其所相率皆類是。非特不能言倚伏所自。其察容止。皆左視也。衆譁傳以爲詭。人欲執而鞠。理其僞。予獨止之曰。夫言有先逆而後順者。外近而內遠者。彼亦有眼。豈不知肥者瘠者瞎者。而指肥爲瘠。指瘠爲肥。指瞎爲明者乎。此必相之奇者也。於是。沐浴灌漱。整襟合紐。造相者之所寓。遂屛左右曰。子相某人某人。其曰某某何也。對曰。夫富貴則驕傲陵慢之心滋。罪之盈也。天必反之。將有糠糲不給之期。故曰瘠也。將傝然爲匹夫之卑。故曰子之族賤矣。貧賤則降志貶己。有憂懼修省之意。否之極焉。泰必復矣。肉食之兆已至。故肥也。將有萬石十輪之貴。故曰子之族貴矣。窺妖姿美色而觸之。覷珍奇玩好以欲之。化人爲惑。枉人爲曲者目也。由此而至不測之辱。則玆非不明者乎。唯瞎者。淡然泊然。無欲無觸。全身遠辱。過於賢覺。故曰明者也。夫捷則尙勇。勇則陵衆。其終也或爲刺客。或爲姦首。及廷尉繫之。獄卒守之。桎在足。木貫脰。雖欲逸走。得乎。故曰跛躄而不能步者也。夫色也。淫侈忕異者視之。則瓊瑤之秀也。直方淳質者視之。則泥土之醜也。故曰或美或醜也。夫所謂仁人者。其死之時。蠢蠢蚩蚩。思慕涕洟。怊乎若嬰兒之失母慈。故曰傷萬人者也。所謂酷者。其死也。塗歌巷和。羊酒相賀。有笑而口未闔者。有抃而手欲破者。故曰悅萬人者也。予瞿然起曰。果若吾辭。此實相之奇者也。其言可以爲銘爲規。豈此夫沿色隨形。說貴則曰龜文犀角。說惡則曰蜂目豺聲。滯曲循常。自聖自靈者乎。退而書其對。
There was once a physiognomist, and no one knew where he had come from. He did not read the books of physiognomy, nor did he follow the rules of the art, but read faces by a method all his own. For this he was called the Uncommon Physiognomist. Lesser officials and high ministers (卿相), women and men, children and grown people all vied to receive him, and there was none who did not hurry to have his face read.
Seeing a man rich and honored and plump, he would say: "Your appearance is exceedingly gaunt. For lowness of lineage there is none to match you." Seeing a man poor and lowly and gaunt, he would say: "Your appearance is plump. For nobility of lineage there are few like you." Seeing a blind man he would say, "A man of clear sight"; and seeing a man swift and a good runner he would say, "A lame man who cannot walk." Seeing a woman of outstanding beauty he would say, "Now beautiful, now ugly"; seeing one whom the world called generous and kind he would say, "A man who will wound ten thousand people"; and seeing one said at the time to be of the cruelest sort he would say, "A man who will gladden the hearts of ten thousand." What he saw was in general all of this kind. Not only could he not speak of how fortune and misfortune come leaning one upon the other; even in examining a man's face and bearing, he saw everything upside down.
The crowd clamored that he was a fraud, and would have seized and interrogated him and dealt with his falsehood. I alone held them back. "Words may go against the grain at first and run with it later; they may be near on the outside and far within. He too has eyes — how should he not know the plump from the gaunt, or the blind? And would he then call the plump gaunt, and the gaunt plump, and the blind clear-sighted? This man must surely be a marvel among physiognomists."
At this I bathed and rinsed my mouth, drew my collar together and fastened my buttons, and went to where the physiognomist was staying. Sending away those to the left and right, I asked: "When you read the face of such and such a one, and said that such a one was so and so, what was your reason?"
He answered: "When a man is rich and honored, the mind that is haughty and slights others grows in him, and his guilt fills up, so that heaven is sure to overturn him. There will come a time when he cannot get even chaff and brown rice, and so I said he was gaunt. He will come to be forlornly as low as a common fellow, and so I said his lineage was mean. When a man is poor and lowly, he lowers his intent and humbles himself, and in his care and fear he has a mind to cultivate and examine himself. When the time of blockage is spent, the time of peace is sure to return. The sign of eating meat has already arrived, and so I said he was plump; and he will come to the honor of ten thousand bushels (萬石) and ten wheels (十輪), and so I said his lineage was noble.
"What spies out baleful graces and lovely colors and runs at them, what spies out rare and fine things and covets them, what changes a man and deludes him, what bends a man and makes him crooked — that is the eye. By it a man comes to disgrace beyond measure; is this not a want of clear sight? Only the blind man is calm and quiet, with nothing he longs for and nothing he runs at, and in keeping his body whole and holding disgrace far off he is better than the worthy or the enlightened. Therefore I called him a man of clear sight.
"Now one who is swift sets store by courage, and one who is courageous slights the crowd. In the end he becomes either an assassin or a chief among the wicked. When the Commandant of Justice (廷尉) binds him and the jailer guards him, with fetters on his feet and the wood through his neck, then though he should wish to run, could he? Therefore I said he was lame and could not walk.
"Now as for color: when the lewd and extravagant, the practiced and the unusual look at it, it is the excellence of jade; when the upright and square and simple look at it, it is the ugliness of mud. Therefore I said, now beautiful and now ugly.
"Now he who is called a kind man — when he dies, even the crawling and foolish sort long for him and shed tears, and grieve as a small child that has lost its mother. Therefore I said he would wound ten thousand people. And he who is called cruel — when he dies, men sing in the roads and answer one another in the lanes and congratulate one another with sheep and wine. There are those who cannot shut their mouths for laughing, and those whose hands all but split from clapping. Therefore I said he would gladden ten thousand people."
I started up in astonishment and said: "It is indeed as you say. This man is truly a marvel among physiognomists. His words may be taken for an inscription (銘) and taken for a rule. How should he be like those who chase after color and follow appearance — who, to speak of nobility, say the tortoise's markings and the rhinoceros horn, and to speak of evil say the wasp's eyes and the jackal's voice — blocked in their crooked ways, following nothing but custom, and calling themselves holy and calling themselves inspired?" Withdrawing, I set down his answer.