Jiyan — Auspicious Omens吉驗篇
凡人稟貴命於天，必有吉驗見於地。見於地，故有天命也。驗見非一，或以人物，或以禎祥，或以光氣。
When a man receives an honored destiny from Heaven, there are always good signs of it that appear on the earth. Because they appear on the earth, it is known that there is a destiny from Heaven. The signs that appear are not of one kind. Some appear in men or in things, some in auspicious events, and some in light and breath.
傳言黃帝妊二十月而生，生而神靈，弱而能言。長大率諸侯，諸侯歸之。教熊、羆戰，以伐炎帝，炎帝敗績。性與人異，故在母之身留多十月；命當為帝，故能教物，物為之使。堯體就之如日，望之若雲。洪水滔天，蛇龍為害，堯使禹治水，驅蛇龍，水治東流，蛇龍潛處。有殊奇之骨，故有詭異之驗；有神靈之命，故有驗物之效；天命當貴，故從唐侯入嗣帝后之位。
It is handed down that the Yellow Emperor was carried in the womb for twenty months before he was born, that he was divinely wise at birth, and that he could speak while still a small child. When he grew up he led the feudal lords, and the lords turned to him. He taught bears and brown bears to fight and struck the Flame Emperor, and the Flame Emperor was utterly defeated. His nature was unlike other men's, so he stayed ten months longer in his mother's body. His destiny was to be emperor, so he could teach the beasts, and the beasts were put to work for him.
Yao, when one came near to him, was like the sun, and when one looked at him from afar, he was like a cloud. The great waters reached to Heaven and snakes and dragons did harm, so Yao sent Yu to govern the waters and drive out the snakes and dragons. The waters were governed and flowed east, and the snakes and dragons lived hidden away. He had bones unlike other men's, so there were strange signs; he had a divine destiny, so there were effects that showed in things; his destiny from Heaven was to be honored, so from being a lord of Tang (唐) he entered and succeeded to the seat of the emperor.
舜未逢堯，鰥在側陋。瞽瞍與象，謀欲殺之：使之完廩，火燔其下；令之浚井，土掩其上。舜得下廩，不被火災；穿井旁出，不觸土害。堯聞征用，試之於職。官治職修，事無廢亂；使入大麓之野，虎狼不搏，蝮蛇不噬；逢烈風疾雨，行不迷惑。夫人欲殺之，不能害之；毒螫之野，禽蟲不能傷，卒受帝命，踐天子祚。
Before Shun met Yao he was a man without a wife, living in a low and narrow place. Gusou and Xiang plotted to kill him. They had him repair the granary and set fire below it; they had him dredge the well and covered it over with earth. Shun was able to come down from the granary and was not burned, and he dug out at the side of the well and was not buried in the earth.
Yao heard of him and called him into service and tested him with office. The offices were well ordered and the duties he held were well kept, and nothing was left undone or thrown into confusion. He was sent into the wild land at the foot of the great mountains, and tigers and wolves did not fall upon him and vipers did not bite him, and though he met fierce winds and driving rain he did not lose his way. Men wished to kill him and could not harm him, and in a field swarming with poisonous things the beasts and insects could not injure him. At last he received the emperor's charge and trod the seat of the Son of Heaven.
后稷之（時）〔母〕，履大人跡，或言衣帝嚳之服，坐息帝嚳之處，妊身；怪而棄之隘巷，牛馬不敢踐之，置之冰上，鳥以翼覆之，慶集其身。母知其神怪，乃收養之。長大佐堯，位至司馬。烏孫王號昆莫，匈奴攻殺其父，而昆莫生，棄於野，烏銜肉往食之。單于怪之，以為神而收長。及壯，使兵，數有功。單于乃復以其父之民予昆莫，命令長守於西城。
The mother of Houji, it is said, trod in the footprint of a giant; others say that she put on the robe of Emperor Ku and sat where Emperor Ku had rested, and so conceived. Thinking it strange, she cast the child away in a narrow lane, but oxen and horses did not dare tread on him. She set him on the ice, and birds covered him with their wings and gathered about his body. The mother knew that he was divine and strange, and took him back and raised him. When he grew up he aided Yao, and his office reached that of Minister of War (司馬).
The king of the Wusun was called Kunmo. The Xiongnu struck and killed his father, and when Kunmo was born he was cast away in the wilds, and crows carried meat in their beaks and fed him. The Chanyu thought it strange and held him to be divine, and took him in and raised him. When he was grown he was set over troops and won merit many times. The Chanyu then gave his father's people back to Kunmo and ordered him to be the lasting guardian of the western city.
夫后稷不當棄，故牛馬不踐，鳥以羽翼覆愛其身。昆莫不當死，故烏銜肉就而食之。
Houji was not to be cast away, and so oxen and horses did not tread on him and birds covered his body with their wings and cherished it. Kunmo was not to die, and so crows carried meat and came and fed him.
北夷橐離國王侍婢有娠，王欲殺之。婢對曰：「有氣大如雞子，從天而下，我故有娠」。後產子，捐於豬溷中，豬以口氣噓之，不死；復徙置馬欄中，欲使馬藉殺之，馬復以口氣噓之，不死。王疑以為天子，令其母收取，奴畜之，名東明，令牧牛馬。東明善射，王恐奪其國也，欲殺之。東明走，南至掩淲水，以弓擊水，魚鱉浮為橋，東明得渡。魚鱉解散，追兵不得渡。因都王夫餘，故北夷有夫餘國焉。東明之母初妊時，見氣從天下。及生，棄之，豬馬以氣吁之而生之。長大，王欲殺之，以弓擊水，魚鱉為橋。天命不當死，故有豬馬之救；命當都王夫餘，故有魚鱉為橋之助也。
A maidservant of the king of the state of Tuoli among the northern barbarians conceived, and the king wished to kill her. The maidservant answered, "There was a breath as big as a hen's egg, and it came down from Heaven. That is how I conceived."
Later she bore a son, and he was thrown into the pigsty, but the pigs breathed on him with their mouths and he did not die. He was moved again and put in the horse pen so that the horses would trample him to death, but the horses too breathed on him with their mouths and he did not die. The king suspected that he was a son of Heaven and had his mother take him back, and he was raised as a slave and named Dongmyeong and was set to herd the oxen and horses.
Dongmyeong was a good shot with the bow, and the king, fearing that his kingdom would be taken from him, wished to kill him. Dongmyeong fled south and came to the Yanhu River, and he struck the water with his bow, and the fish and the turtles rose up and made a bridge, so that Dongmyeong could cross. The fish and the turtles scattered, and the soldiers who pursued him could not cross. He then made Buyeo his capital and was king there. This is why there is the state of Buyeo among the northern barbarians.
When Dongmyeong's mother first conceived she saw a breath come down from Heaven. When he was born and cast away, the pigs and the horses breathed on him and kept him alive. When he was grown and the king wished to kill him, he struck the water with his bow and the fish and the turtles made a bridge. His destiny from Heaven was not to die, and so there was the rescue by the pigs and the horses. His destiny was to make Buyeo his capital and be king, and so there was the help of the fish and the turtles making a bridge.
Interlinear notes 6
孫曰：藝文類聚九、白孔六帖九引竝作「高麗」，與魏志東夷傳注作「槀離」同。後漢書作「索離」，注云：「索或作橐。」又與今本論衡同。疑論衡原文作「槀離」，故彙書引作「高麗」，校者或據後漢書改作「橐離」耳。劉先生曰：御覽七三引亦作「高離」。暉按：初學記七引亦作「高離」。
Sun Yirang said: The quotations in the Yiwen leiju, book nine, and the Baikong liutie, book nine, both have Gaoli (高麗), which agrees with the Gaoli (槀離) of the commentary to the Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Wei zhi. The Hou Han shu has Suoli (索離), and its commentary says that 索 is also written 橐, which again agrees with the present text of the Lunheng. It seems that the original text of the Lunheng had Gaoli (槀離), that the various books therefore wrote Gaoli (高麗) when they quoted it, and that a collator changed it to Tuoli (橐離) after the Hou Han shu, and no more than that. Mr. Liu said: The quotation in the Taiping yulan, book seventy-three, also has Gaoli (高離). Huang Hui notes: The quotation in the Chuxue ji, book seven, also has Gaoli (高離).
初學記七引作「有氣如鷄子來，吞之」。疑此文「下」下有「吞之」二字，於義方足。御覽七三引作「有氣如鷄子來下之」。類聚九、白帖九引並作「有氣如鷄子來下」。三國志魏志東夷傳注引魏略文同。又後漢書東夷傳作「前見天上有氣大如鷄子來降，我因以有身」。與論衡文同。「娠」，類聚、白帖、初學記引並作「身」。
The quotation in the Chuxue ji, book seven, reads, "There was a breath like a hen's egg and it came, and I swallowed it." It may be that in this text the two characters 吞之 should stand after 下, so that the sense is complete. The quotation in the Taiping yulan, book seventy-three, reads 有氣如鷄子來下之, and the quotations in the Yiwen leiju, book nine, and the Baikong liutie, book nine, both read 有氣如鷄子來下. The text of the Wei lüe quoted in the commentary to the Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Wei zhi of the Sanguo zhi is the same. The Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Hou Han shu reads, "Earlier I saw in the sky a breath as big as a hen's egg come down, and by it I conceived," which agrees with the text of the Lunheng. For 娠, the quotations in the Yiwen leiju, the Baikong liutie and the Chuxue ji all have 身.
隋書百濟傳曰：「以爲神。」
The Treatise on Baekje in the Sui shu has 以爲神, that is, "he held him to be divine."
類聚、白帖、御覽引「奪」並作「害」，魏志注引魏略與此文同。
In the quotations in the Yiwen leiju, the Baikong liutie and the Taiping yulan, 奪 is in every case 害, and the Wei lüe quoted in the commentary to the Wei zhi agrees with this text.
孫曰：「淲」字當從後漢書東夷傳作「㴲」。李注云：「今高麗中有葢斯水，疑此水是也。」「斯」、「㴲」音近。魏志注作「施掩水」，當作「掩施水」，文誤倒也。隋書百濟傳作「掩水」。暉按：白帖引作「淹水」，類聚、御覽引作「掩水」，並無「㴲」字。搜神記作「施掩水」，與魏志誤同。盼遂案：「淲」當爲「㴲」，形之誤也。後漢書東夷傳作「掩㴲水」。魏志注引魏略作「掩施水」，今本誤作「施掩水」。梁書高句麗傳、隋書百濟傳、北史百濟傳作「淹滯水」，「施」、「滯」皆與「㴲」聲近也。傳世晉義熙時高麗好大王碑作「夫餘奄利大水」，「利」亦與「㴲」音近。足證「淲」字爲失。
Sun Yirang said: The character 淲 should follow the Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Hou Han shu and be written 㴲. Li Xian's commentary says that there is a Gaisi River (葢斯水) in Goguryeo today and that this is probably that river, and 斯 and 㴲 are close in sound. The commentary to the Wei zhi has 施掩水, but it should be 掩施水; the characters have been wrongly reversed. The Treatise on Baekje in the Sui shu has 掩水.
Huang Hui notes: The quotation in the Baikong liutie has 淹水, and the quotations in the Yiwen leiju and the Taiping yulan have 掩水, and none of them has the character 㴲. The Soushen ji has 施掩水, with the same error as the Wei zhi.
Liu Pansui notes: 淲 should be 㴲; the error is one of shape. The Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Hou Han shu has 掩㴲水. The Wei lüe quoted in the commentary to the Wei zhi has 掩施水, which the present text wrongly writes as 施掩水. The Treatise on Goguryeo in the Liang shu, the Treatise on Baekje in the Sui shu and the Treatise on Baekje in the Bei shi have 淹滯水, and 施 and 滯 are both close in sound to 㴲. The stele of King Hodae of Goguryeo, set up in the Yixi era of the Jin and handed down to this day, has 夫餘奄利大水, and 利 too is close in sound to 㴲. This is proof enough that the character 淲 is a mistake.
後漢書東夷傳：「夫餘國在玄菟北千里，南與高句驪，東與挹婁，西與鮮卑接，北有弱水，地方二千里，本濊地也。」盼遂案：此段魏略全録其文，見三國魏志夫餘傳注。惟彼文槖離國作槀離國是也。此作「橐」，非。槀離卽高麗之同音字。梁書高句麗傳亦寫作「橐」。後漢書扶餘傳誤作「索」，皆坐不知其爲高麗之音而致耳。又按：東明之事，正史外國傳述各族之始祖往往雷同，惟晉安帝義熙十年高麗所立之廣開土好大王紀功碑，及魏書高句麗傳之説爲至奇，且足與論衡互校。今迻録之如次。碑云：「惟昔始祖鄒牟之創基也，出自北夫餘天帝之子。母河伯女郎，刮卵降出，生子有聖才。□□□□□命駕巡車南下，路由夫餘，奄利大水。王臨津言曰：『我是皇天之子、母河伯女郎鄒牟王，爲我連□浮龜』。應聲卽爲連□浮龜。然後造渡于沸流谷，忽本西城山上而建都焉。永東□位，因遣黄龍下來速王。王子忽本東𡶩，黄龍負升天」云云。魏書云：「高句麗者，出於夫餘，自言先祖朱蒙。朱蒙，母河伯女，爲夫餘王閉於室中，爲日所照，引身避之，日影又逐。既而有孕，生一卵，大如五升。夫餘王棄之與犬，犬不食。棄之與豕，豕又不食。棄之於路，牛馬避之。後棄之野，衆鳥以毛茹之。夫餘王割剖之，不能破，遂還其母。以物裹之，置於暖處，有一男破殼而出。及其長也，字之曰朱蒙，其俗言『朱蒙』者，善射也。夫餘人以朱蒙非人所生，將有異志，請除之，王不聽。夫餘之臣又謀殺之。朱蒙母陰知，告朱蒙曰：『國將害汝，以汝才略，宜遠適四方』。朱蒙乃棄夫餘，東南走。中道遇一大水，欲濟無梁，夫餘人追之甚急。朱蒙告水曰：『我是日子，河伯外孫，今日逃走，追兵垂及，如何得濟？』於是魚鱉並浮，爲之成橋，朱蒙得渡，魚鱉乃解，追騎不得渡。朱蒙遂至普述水，遇見三人，其一人著麻衣，一人著納衣，一人著水藻衣，與朱蒙至紇升骨城，遂居焉，號曰高句麗，因以爲氏焉。」
The Treatise on the Eastern Barbarians in the Hou Han shu says, "The state of Buyeo lies a thousand li north of Xuantu. On the south it borders Goguryeo, on the east Yilou, and on the west the Xianbei, and on the north there is the Ruo River. Its land is two thousand li square, and it was originally the land of the Ye."
Liu Pansui notes: The Wei lüe copied this passage whole, and it is to be seen in the commentary to the Treatise on Buyeo in the Wei zhi of the Sanguo zhi. Only, that text writes the state of Tuoli as the state of Gaoli (槀離), and that is right. The writing 橐 here is wrong. Gaoli (槀離) is simply a character with the same sound as Gaoli (高麗). The Treatise on Goguryeo in the Liang shu also writes 橐. The Treatise on Buyeo in the Hou Han shu wrongly writes 索. All of this comes of not knowing that it is the sound of Goguryeo, and nothing more.
He notes again: In the accounts of the first ancestors of the various peoples, the treatises on foreign states in the standard histories often say the same things; but the stele of merit of King Gwanggaeto Hodae, set up by Goguryeo in the tenth year of Yixi under Emperor An of the Jin, and the account in the Treatise on Goguryeo in the Book of Wei are most remarkable, and they serve well to be compared with the Lunheng. They are copied out here as follows.
The stele says, "Of old, when the first ancestor King Chumo laid the foundation, he came forth from Northern Buyeo, a son of the Emperor of Heaven. His mother was a daughter of Habaek, and she split an egg and he came down and was born, and the son had the gifts of a sage. □□□□□ He yoked his carriage and went down to the south, and his road passed the great river Eomni of Buyeo. The king came to the ford and said, 'I am the son of august Heaven, and my mother is a daughter of Habaek. I am King Chumo. For my sake join the □ and float the turtles.' At the sound of his voice they at once joined the □ and floated the turtles. Then he crossed over and came to the west city of Holbon in the valley of Biryu, and on the mountain there he founded his capital. At his yeongdong □ wi (永東□位), a yellow dragon was then sent down to meet the king. On the eastern hill of Holbon the king was borne up to Heaven on the back of the yellow dragon," and so on.
The Book of Wei says, "Goguryeo came out of Buyeo, and they themselves say that their forefather was Jumong. Jumong's mother was a daughter of Habaek, and the king of Buyeo shut her in a room, and the sun shone on her, and she drew her body away, but the sunlight followed her again. Presently she was with child and bore one egg, as big as five measures. The king of Buyeo threw it away to the dogs, and the dogs would not eat it; he threw it away to the swine, and the swine would not eat it either; he threw it away on the road, and oxen and horses went around it. Afterward he threw it away in the fields, and the many birds wrapped it in their feathers. The king of Buyeo tried to cut it open and could not break it, and at last he gave it back to the mother. She wrapped it in cloth and put it in a warm place, and a boy broke the shell and came out. When he was grown they gave him the name Jumong, for in the speech of that country Jumong means a good shot with the bow. The men of Buyeo said that Jumong was not born of a man and would come to have other designs, and they asked that he be done away with, but the king would not listen. The ministers of Buyeo then plotted to kill him. Jumong's mother secretly knew of it and told Jumong, 'The country is about to harm you. With your gifts and your wits you should go far away, to the four quarters.' Jumong then left Buyeo and fled to the southeast. On the way he met a great river and wished to cross, but there was no bridge, and the men of Buyeo were pursuing him very hard. Jumong spoke to the water and said, 'I am the son of the sun and the grandson of Habaek by his daughter. Today I am fleeing, and the soldiers behind me are about to come up. How am I to cross?' At this the fish and the turtles floated up together and made a bridge for him, and Jumong was able to cross, and the fish and the turtles then broke apart, and the horsemen who pursued him could not cross. Jumong came at last to the Boseul River and met three men there, one wearing hempen clothes, one wearing patched clothes, and one wearing clothes of waterweed. They came with Jumong to the fortress of Heulseunggol, and there he settled, and he called the country Goguryeo, and took that for his clan name."
伊尹且生之時，其母夢人謂已曰：「臼出水，疾東走。」母顧明旦視臼出水，即東走十里，顧其鄉皆為水矣。伊尹命不當沒，故其母感夢而走。推此以論，歷陽之都，其策命若伊尹之類，必有先時感動在他地之效。
When Yi Yin was about to be born, his mother dreamed that a man said to her, "When water comes out of the mortar, run quickly to the east." The next morning his mother looked, and water was coming out of the mortar, so she ran ten li to the east, and when she looked back her village had all turned to water. Yi Yin's destiny was not to be drowned, and so his mother was moved by the dream and ran. Reasoning from this, when the city of Liyang sank, if there had been a man whose destiny was decreed like Yi Yin's, there would surely have been the effect of his being moved beforehand and being away in another place.
齊襄公之難，桓公為公子，與子糾爭立。管仲輔子糾，鮑叔佐桓公。管仲與桓公爭，引弓射之，中其帶鉤。夫人身長七尺，帶約其要，鉤挂於帶，在身所掩不過一寸之內，既微小難中，又滑澤靡，鋒刃中鉤者，莫不蹉跌。管仲射之，正中其鉤中，矢觸因落，不跌中旁肉。命當富貴，有神靈之助，故有射鉤不中之驗。楚共王有五子：子招、子圉、子干、子晰、棄疾。五人皆有寵，共王無適立，乃望祭山川，請神決之。乃與巴姬埋璧於太室之庭，令五子齊而入拜。康王跨之；子圉肘加焉；子干、子晰皆遠之；棄疾弱，抱而入，再拜皆壓紐。故共王死，招為康王，至子失之；圉為靈王，及身而弒；子干為王，十有餘日；子晰不立，又懼誅死，皆絕無後。棄疾後立，竟續楚祀，如其神符。其王日之長短，與拜去璧遠近相應也。夫璧在地中，五子不知，相隨入拜，遠近不同，壓紐若神將教跽之矣。晉屠岸賈作難，誅趙盾之子朔死，其妻有遺腹子。
In the troubles of Duke Xiang of Qi, Duke Huan was a son of the house and contended with Zijiu for the throne. Guan Zhong aided Zijiu, and Bao Shu aided Duke Huan. Guan Zhong, contending with Duke Huan, drew his bow and shot at him and hit the hook of his belt.
Now a man is seven feet tall, and the belt goes about his waist and the hook catches on the belt, and what it covers of the body is no more than an inch. It is small and hard to hit, and it is slippery and smooth as well, so that a blade that touches the hook never fails to glance off. What Guan Zhong shot hit the very middle of the hook, and the arrow struck it and fell, and it did not slip aside and hit the flesh beside it. His destiny was to be rich and honored and he had the help of divine powers, and so there was the sign that the hook was hit and the man was not.
King Gong of Chu had five sons: Zizhao, Ziyu, Zigan, Zixi and Qiji. All five were favored, and King Gong could not settle who should be set up, and so he sacrificed toward the mountains and rivers and asked the spirits to choose. Then with Ba Ji he buried a jade disk in the courtyard of the great chamber and had the five sons purify themselves and go in and bow. King Kang stepped over it; Ziyu's elbow came above it; Zigan and Zixi were both far from it; Qiji was small and was carried in, and both times he bowed he pressed on the cord of the disk.
So when King Gong died, Zhao became King Kang, but by his son's time the throne was lost; Yu became King Ling and was murdered in his own person; Zigan was king for little more than ten days; Zixi was never set up and, in fear of being put to death, died; and all of them were cut off without heirs. Qiji was set up last and in the end carried on the sacrifices of Chu, just as the token of the spirits had said. The length or shortness of their days as ruler matched how near or far from the disk they had bowed. The disk was in the ground and the five sons did not know it, and they went in one after another and bowed, and their nearness was not the same; that they pressed the cord was as though a spirit had taught them where to kneel.
Tu'an Gu of Jin raised a revolt and killed Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun, and Shuo's wife was left with a child in her womb.
及岸賈聞之，索於宮，母置兒於褲中，祝曰：「趙氏宗滅乎，若當啼。即不滅，若無聲。」
When Gu heard of it and searched the palace, the mother put the child inside her trousers and prayed, "If the house of Zhao is to be destroyed, then cry. If it is not to be destroyed, make no sound."
及索之而終不啼，遂脫得活。程嬰（齊）〔齎〕負之，匿於山中。至景公時，韓厥言於景公。景公乃與韓厥共立趙孤，續趙氏祀，是為文子。當趙孤之無聲，若有掩其口者矣。由此言之，趙文子立，命也。
When they searched, the child never cried, and so he escaped and lived. Cheng Ying carried him away on his back and hid him in the mountains. In the time of Duke Jing, Han Jue spoke of it to the duke, and the duke together with Han Jue then set up the orphan of Zhao and had him carry on the sacrifices of the house of Zhao. This was Wenzi. That the orphan of Zhao made no sound was as though someone had covered his mouth. Speaking from this, that Zhao Wenzi was set up was destiny.
高皇帝母曰劉媼，嘗息大澤之陂，夢與神遇。是時，雷電晦冥，蛟龍在上。及生而有美。性好用酒，嘗從王媼、武負貰酒，飲醉，止臥，媼、負見其身常有神怪。每留飲醉，酒售數倍。後行澤中，手嶄大蛇，一嫗當道而哭，云：「赤帝子殺吾子。」此驗既著聞矣。秦始皇帝常曰：「東南有天子氣」。於是東游以厭當之。高祖之（氣）〔起〕也，與呂后隱於芒、山澤間。呂后與人求之，見其上常有氣直起，往求輒得其處。後與項羽約：先入秦關王之。高祖先至，項羽怨恨，范增曰：「吾令人望其氣，氣皆為龍，成五采，此皆天子之氣也。急擊之」。高祖往謝項羽。羽與亞父謀殺高祖，使項莊拔劍起舞。項伯知之，因與項莊俱起。每劍加高祖之上，項伯輒以身覆高祖之身，劍遂不得下，殺勢不得成。會有張良、樊噲之救，卒得免脫，遂王天下。初妊身有蛟龍之神；既生，酒舍見雲氣之怪；夜行斬蛇，蛇嫗悲哭；始皇、呂后，望見光氣；項羽謀殺，項伯為蔽，謀遂不成，遭得良、噲，蓋富貴之驗，氣見而物應、人助輔援也。竇太后弟名曰廣國，年四五歲，家貧，為人所掠賣。其家不知其所在，傳賣十餘家。至宜陽，為其主人入山作炭。暮寒，臥炭下，百餘人炭崩盡壓死，廣國獨得脫。自卜數日當為侯，從其家之長安，聞竇皇后新立，家在清河觀津，乃上書自陳。竇（太）〔皇〕后言於（景）〔文〕帝，召見問其故，果是，乃厚賜之。（文）〔景〕帝立，拜廣國為章武侯。夫積炭崩，百餘人皆死，廣國獨脫，命當富貴，非徒得活，又封為侯。虞子大，陳留東（莞）〔昏〕人也，其生時以夜，適免母身，母見其上若一匹練狀，經上天。明以問人，人皆曰：「吉，貴。」氣與天通，長大仕宦，位至司徒公。廣文伯河東蒲阪人也，其生亦以夜半時，適生，有人從門呼其父名。父出應之，不見人，有一木杖植其門側，好善異於眾，其父持杖入門以示人，人占曰：「吉」。文伯長大學宦，位至廣漢太守。文伯當富貴，故父得賜杖。其占者若曰：「杖當子力矣。」
The mother of the High Emperor was called Liu Ao. Once she rested on the bank of a great marsh and dreamed that she met a spirit. At that time there was thunder and lightning and darkness, and a scaly dragon was above her. When she gave birth there was beauty in the child. He was fond of wine by nature, and he drank on credit at the shops of Dame Wang and Dame Wu, and when he grew drunk and lay down, the two women saw that there was always something divine and strange about his body. Whenever he stayed and drank himself drunk, their wine sold several times over. Later, as he was going through a marsh, he cut down a great snake with his own hand, and an old woman stood in the road and wept and said, "The son of the Red Emperor has killed my son." This sign was already plain and widely known.
The First Emperor of Qin used to say, "In the southeast there is the breath of a Son of Heaven." So he traveled east to press it down. When Gaozu arose, he hid with Empress Lü among the mountains and marshes of Mang. When Empress Lü and others looked for him, they saw that there was always a breath rising straight up above him, and when they went and searched they found the place at once.
Later he agreed with Xiang Yu that whoever first entered the passes of Qin should be king there. Gaozu arrived first, and Xiang Yu bore him a grudge. Fan Zeng said, "I sent a man to look at his breath, and the breath had all become dragons and formed five colors. These are all the breath of a Son of Heaven. Strike him quickly." Gaozu went and made his apology to Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu and Yafu plotted to kill Gaozu and had Xiang Zhuang draw his sword and rise to dance. Xiang Bo knew of it and rose together with Xiang Zhuang. Each time the sword came above Gaozu, Xiang Bo at once covered Gaozu's body with his own, so that the sword could not come down and the force of the killing could not be brought about. It happened that Zhang Liang and Fan Kuai came to the rescue, and in the end he got away and became king of all under Heaven.
When she first conceived him there was the divine power of the scaly dragon; when he was born, the strangeness of a cloudlike breath was seen at the wine shops; when he cut down the snake on the night road, the snake's old woman wept bitterly; the First Emperor and Empress Lü looked from afar at the light and the breath; when Xiang Yu plotted to kill him, Xiang Bo shielded him and the plot came to nothing; and he met with Zhang Liang and Fan Kuai. All of these were signs of wealth and honor. When the breath appears, things answer to it and men help and hold a man up.
The younger brother of Empress Dowager Dou was named Guangguo. When he was four or five his family was poor and he was seized and sold. His family did not know where he was, and he was sold on through more than ten households. He came to Yiyang, and for his master he went into the mountains to burn charcoal. In the evening it was cold and he lay down under the charcoal, and the charcoal fell in and crushed more than a hundred men to death, and Guangguo alone got away. He divined for himself that in a few days he would become a marquis, and he went with his household to Chang'an, and hearing that Empress Dou had newly been set up and that her family was at Guanjin in Qinghe, he sent up a letter and set out his case. Empress Dou spoke of it to Emperor Wen, who called him in and asked him how it had been, and it proved true, and so he gave him rich gifts. When Emperor Jing ascended the throne he made Guangguo Marquis of Zhangwu. The piled charcoal fell in and more than a hundred men all died, and Guangguo alone got away; his destiny was to be rich and honored, so that not only did he live, he was also enfeoffed as a marquis.
Yu Zida was a man of Donghun in Chenliu. He was born at night, and just as he came from his mother's body his mother saw above him something like a bolt of white silk stretching up into the sky. When it was light she asked others about it, and they all said, "It is lucky. He will be honored." His breath reached through to Heaven. When he grew up he served in office, and his place reached that of situ.
Guang Wenbo was a man of Puban in Hedong. He too was born in the middle of the night, and just as he was born someone at the gate called his father's name. His father went out and answered, but no man was to be seen, and a wooden staff was standing at the side of the gate, so fine and good that it was unlike any other. His father took the staff in at the gate and showed it to others, and a diviner said, "It is lucky." Wenbo grew up and studied and served in office, and his place reached that of Grand Administrator of Guanghan. Wenbo was to be rich and honored, and so his father was given the staff. The diviner was saying, as it were, "This staff will be your son's strength."
光武帝建平元年十二月甲子生於濟陽宮後殿第二內中，皇考為濟陽令，時夜無火，室內自明。皇考怪之，即召功曹吏充蘭，使出問卜工。蘭與馬下卒蘇永俱之卜王長孫所。長孫卜，謂永、蘭曰：「此吉事也。毋多言。」是歲，有禾生景天備火中，三本一莖九穗，長於禾一二尺，蓋嘉禾也。元帝之初，有鳳凰下濟陽宮，故今濟陽宮有鳳凰廬。始與李父等俱起，到柴界中，遇賊兵，惶惑走濟陽舊廬。比到，見光若火正赤，在舊廬道南，光耀憧憧上屬天，有頃不見。王莽時，謁者蘇伯阿能望氣，使過（春）〔舂〕陵，城郭鬱鬱蔥蔥。及光武到河北，與伯阿見，問曰：「卿前過（春）〔舂〕陵，何用知其氣佳也？」伯阿對曰：「見其鬱鬱蔥蔥耳。」蓋天命當興，聖王當出，前後氣驗，照察明著。繼體守文，因據前基，稟天光氣，驗不足言。創業龍興，由微賤起於顛沛；若高祖、光武者，曷嘗無天人神怪光顯之驗乎！
Emperor Guangwu was born in the first year of Jianping, in the twelfth month, on the jiazi day, in the second inner chamber of the rear hall of the palace at Jiyang. His father was magistrate of Jiyang. At that time there was no fire in the night, yet the room was bright of itself. His father thought it strange and at once called Chong Lan, the officer of merit, and sent him out to ask a diviner. Lan went with Su Yong, a foot soldier of the stables, to Wang Zhangsun the diviner. Zhangsun divined and said to Yong and Lan, "This is a lucky matter. Do not speak much of it."
In that year grain grew in the midst of the jingtian beihuo (景天備火), three roots on one stalk with nine ears, a foot or two taller than other grain; it must have been auspicious grain. In the first years of Emperor Yuan a phoenix came down at the palace of Jiyang, and so there is a phoenix hut at the palace of Jiyang today.
At first he rose together with the elders of the Li house, and when they came to the border of Chai they met bandit troops, and in fear and confusion he fled to the old house at Jiyang. When he came to it he saw a light like fire, very red, south of the road by the old house, and its glow flickered and reached up to the sky, and after a while it was seen no more.
In the time of Wang Mang, the court usher Su Bo'a could read the breaths, and passing by Chongling as an envoy he saw that the walls of the town were rich and thick with green. When Guangwu came to Hebei he saw Bo'a and asked him, "When you passed Chongling before, how did you know that its breath was fine?" Bo'a answered, "I saw only that it was rich and thick with green."
No doubt the destiny of Heaven was that he should arise and that a sage king should come forth, and so the breaths and signs before and after were bright and plain to see. A ruler who follows in the line and keeps to what is written leans on the ground laid down before him, and the signs of his receiving the light and breath of Heaven are not worth speaking of. One who founds the work and rises like a dragon comes up from lowliness and poverty in the midst of stumbling and falling. How could men like Gaozu and Guangwu ever have been without the divine and strange and shining signs of Heaven and men!