On Hunting論畋獵第三十八
秘書監虞世南以太宗頗好畋獵，上疏諫曰：「臣聞秋狝冬狩，蓋惟恒典；射隼從禽，備乎前誥。伏惟陛下因聽覽之餘辰，順天道以殺伐，將欲摧班碎掌，親御皮軒，窮猛獸之窟穴，盡逸材於林藪。夷兇剪暴，以衛黎元，收革擢羽，用充軍器，舉旗效獲，式遵前古。然黃屋之尊，金輿之貴，八方之所仰德，萬國之所系心，清道而行，猶戒銜橛。斯蓋重慎防微，為社稷也。是以馬卿直諫於前，張昭變色於後，臣誠細微，敢忘斯義？且天弧星罼，所殪已多，頒禽賜獲，皇恩亦溥。伏願時息獵車，且韜長戟，不拒芻蕘之請，降納涓澮之流，袒裼徒搏，任之群下，則貽範百王，永光萬代。」太宗深嘉其言。
Yu Shinan, director of the Palace Library, seeing that Taizong was rather fond of hunting, sent up a memorial and remonstrated:
"Your servant has heard that the autumn hunt and the winter hunt are in the main the standing statutes alone, and that shooting the falcon and chasing the birds are set out fully in the teachings of former times. Bowing low, I consider that Your Majesty, taking the spare hours left from hearing and looking over affairs, follows the way of Heaven in killing and striking; that you would break the tiger and crush the bear, and drive the leather carriage yourself, and go to the end of the dens of the fierce beasts and to the end of the choicest game in the woods and thickets. To clear away what is baleful and cut down what is savage, and so guard the black-haired people; to gather their hides and pluck their feathers, and so fill out the gear of the army; to raise the banners and offer up the take: this is the form that follows the old days before us.
"Yet the height of the yellow canopy and the worth of the golden carriage are what the eight quarters look up to for virtue and what the ten thousand states tie their hearts to. Even when the road is cleared before you go, still there is warning about the bit and the linchpin. This, in the main, is to be heavily careful and to guard against the small thing, for the sake of the altars of the land. And so Sima Xiangru remonstrated straight out before, and Zhang Zhao changed color after. Your servant is truly small and slight, yet how should I dare to forget this meaning?
"Moreover, what the bow of Heaven and the star net have killed is already much, and in sharing out the game and bestowing the take the kindness of the sovereign is also wide. Bowing low, I wish that you would at times let the hunting chariot rest and put away the long spear for now; that you would not refuse the asking of those who cut grass and gather firewood, but would bend down and take in the flow of the smallest streams. Leave to the many below you the baring of the body and the striking with bare hands, and then you will hand down a pattern to a hundred kings, and it will shine on for ten thousand ages."
Taizong thought his words deeply fine.
Interlinear notes 1
The text has ban 班, taken here as an error for ban 斑 (the striped tiger); zhang 掌 likewise stands for the bear's paw, reading with the dens of fierce beasts that follow. — translator
谷那律為諫議大夫，嘗從太宗出獵，在途遇雨，太宗問曰：「油衣若為得不漏？」對曰：「能以瓦為之，必不漏矣。」意欲太宗弗數遊獵，大被嘉納。賜帛五十段，加以金帶。
Gu Nalü, being grand master of remonstrance, once went out hunting in the train of Taizong, and they met rain on the road. Taizong asked:
"How can an oiled coat be made so that it does not leak?"
He answered:
"If it could be made of roof tile, it would surely not leak."
His meaning was that he wished Taizong not to roam and hunt so often, and it was thought very fine and taken in. Fifty lengths of silk were given him, and a golden belt besides.
貞觀十一年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「朕昨往懷州，有上封事者云：『何為恒差山東眾丁於苑內營造？即日徭役，似不下隋時。懷、洛以東，殘人不堪其命，而田獵猶數，驕逸之主也。今者復來懷州田獵，忠諫不復至洛陽矣。』四時蒐田，既是帝王常禮，今日懷州，秋毫不幹於百姓。凡上書諫正，自有常準，臣貴有詞，主貴能改。如斯詆毀，有似咒詛。」侍中魏徵奏稱：「國家開直言之路，所以上封事者尤多。陛下親自披閱，或冀臣言可取，所以僥幸之士得肆其醜。臣諫其君，甚須折衷，從容諷諫。漢元帝嘗以酎祭宗廟，出便門，御樓船。御史大夫薛廣德當乘輿免冠曰：『宜從橋，陛下不聽臣言，臣自刎，以頸血汙車輪，陛下不入廟矣。』元帝不悅。光祿卿張猛進曰：『臣聞主聖臣直，乘船危，就橋安。聖主不乘危，廣德言可聽。』元帝曰：『曉人不當如是耶！』乃從橋。以此而言，張猛可謂直臣諫君也。」太宗大悅。
In the eleventh year of Zhenguan, Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"Yesterday I went to Huaizhou, and one who sent up a sealed memorial said, 'Why are the many able-bodied men of Shandong always sent off to the building work inside the park? The forced labor of these days seems no less than in the time of the Sui. East of Huaizhou and Luoyang the broken people cannot bear what is laid on them, and yet the hunts are still frequent. This is a proud and idle lord. Now you have come again to Huaizhou to hunt, and loyal remonstrance will not reach Luoyang again.'
"Hunting in the four seasons is already the standing rite of emperors and kings, and at Huaizhou today not so much as an autumn hair of the people was touched. In sending up writings to remonstrate and set straight there is of itself a standing measure: the minister holds it worth much to have words, and the lord holds it worth much to be able to mend. To tear down like this has something in it like cursing."
Wei Zheng, director of the Chancellery, said in reply:
"Because the state has opened the road of straight words, those who send up sealed memorials are the more numerous. Your Majesty unrolls and reads them yourself, hoping that among the words of your servants there may be something worth taking; and so scholars who look for luck are able to work their ugliness as they please.
"When a minister remonstrates with his lord, he must very much strike the middle, and remonstrate quietly and by hint. Emperor Yuan of the Han once went out by the side gate to make the wine offering at the ancestral temple, and was about to board a tiered boat. Xue Guangde, the censor in chief, took off his cap before the carriage and said, 'You should go by the bridge. If Your Majesty will not hear your servant's words, your servant will cut his own throat and stain the wheels of the carriage with the blood of his neck, and then Your Majesty may not enter the shrine.' Emperor Yuan was not pleased. Zhang Meng, chamberlain for the palace, came forward and said, 'Your servant has heard that when the lord is a sage the minister is straight. To board the boat is dangerous; to go by the bridge is safe. A sage lord does not ride on danger, and the words of Guangde may be heard.' Emperor Yuan said, 'Should not the waking of a man be just like this?' and then he followed the bridge. Speaking from this, it may be said that Zhang Meng remonstrated with his lord as a straight minister."
Taizong was greatly pleased.
貞觀十四年，太宗幸同州沙苑，親格猛獸，復晨出夜還。特進魏徵奏言：「臣聞《書》美文王不敢盤於遊田，《傳》述《虞箴》稱夷、羿以為戒。昔漢文臨峻阪欲馳下，袁盎攬轡曰：『聖主不乘危，不僥幸，今陛下騁六飛，馳不測之山，如有馬驚車敗，陛下縱欲自輕，奈高廟何？』孝武好格猛獸，相如進諫：『力稱烏獲，捷言慶忌，人誠有之，獸亦宜然。猝遇逸材之獸，駭不存之地，雖烏獲、逄蒙之伎不得用，而枯木朽株盡為難矣。雖萬全而無患，然而本非天子所宜。』孝元帝郊泰畤，因留射獵，薛廣德稱：『竊見關東困極，百姓離災。今日撞亡秦之鐘，歌鄭、衛之樂，士卒暴露，從官勞倦，欲安宗廟社稷，何憑河暴虎，未之戒也』？臣竊思此數帝，心豈木石，獨不好馳騁之樂？而割情屈己，從臣下之言者，志存為國，不為身也。臣伏聞車駕近出，親格猛獸，晨往夜還。以萬乘之尊，暗行荒野，踐深林，涉豐草，甚非萬全之計。願陛下割私情之娛，罷格獸之樂，上為宗廟社稷，下慰群寮兆庶。」太宗曰：「昨日之事偶屬塵昏，非故然也，自今深用為誡。」
In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong went out to Shayuan in Tongzhou, and he struck the fierce beasts himself, and again he went out at dawn and came back at night. Wei Zheng, specially advanced, said in reply:
"Your servant has heard that the Book of Documents praised King Wen for not daring to take his pleasure in roaming and hunting, and that the Commentary sets out the Admonition of the Forester and names Yi the archer to make a warning of him.
"Long ago Emperor Wen of the Han came to a steep slope and would gallop down it, and Yuan Ang took hold of the reins and said, 'A sage lord does not ride on danger and does not look for luck. Now Your Majesty would drive six flying horses and gallop down a hill that cannot be measured, and if the horses should take fright and the carriage be wrecked, then even if Your Majesty would make light of yourself, what of the temple of Gao?'
"Emperor Xiaowu loved to strike fierce beasts, and Sima Xiangru came forward and remonstrated: 'For strength men name Wu Huo, and for quickness they speak of Qing Ji. If there truly are such among men, then it should be so among beasts as well. Should you of a sudden meet a beast of choice make and be startled in a place where you cannot hold your ground, then even the skill of Wu Huo and Pang Meng could not be used, and a dry tree and a rotten stump would all become hard going. Even if there were no trouble in ten thousand chances, it is not of itself what befits the Son of Heaven.'
"Emperor Xiaoyuan made the suburban offering at Taizhi, and stayed on there to hunt, and Xue Guangde said, 'I see in private that Guandong is worn to the utmost and the people have met with calamity. Today the bells of fallen Qin are struck and the music of Zheng and of Wei is sung, the soldiers are out in the open and the officers in attendance are toiling and weary. If you would make the ancestral temple and the altars of the land safe, why do you not take warning against wading the river on foot and seizing a tiger bare-handed?'
"Your servant thinks in private of these several emperors. Were their hearts wood and stone? Did they alone not love the pleasure of galloping? Yet they cut away their feelings and bent themselves and followed the words of their ministers, because their minds were set on the state and not on their own persons.
"Your servant has heard, bowing low, that the imperial carriage has gone out of late, and that you strike the fierce beasts yourself and go at dawn and come back at night. With the height of ten thousand chariots you go through the dark wild fields, tread the deep woods and cross the thick grass. This is very far from a plan that is safe in ten thousand chances. I wish Your Majesty would cut away the delight of private feeling and give up the pleasure of striking beasts, for the ancestral temple and the altars of the land above, and to comfort the many officers and the countless people below."
Taizong said:
"What happened yesterday was the chance meeting of dust and darkness. It was not done on purpose. From now on I will take it deeply as a warning."
貞觀十四年，冬十月，太宗將幸櫟陽遊畋，縣丞劉仁軌以收獲未畢，非人君順動之時，詣行所，上表切諫。太宗遂罷獵，擢拜仁軌新安令。
In the winter, in the tenth month of the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, Taizong was about to go out to Yueyang to roam and hunt. Liu Rengui, vice magistrate of the county, held that the harvest was not yet done and that it was not the season for the lord of men to move with the order of things, and he went to the place of the progress and sent up a memorial and remonstrated earnestly. Taizong then gave up the hunt, and raised Rengui to be magistrate of Xin'an.