Bietong — Breadth of Learning別通篇
富人之宅，以一丈之地為內。內中所有，柙匱所（羸）〔贏〕，縑布絲（綿）〔帛〕也。貧人之宅，亦以一丈為內。內中空虛，徒四壁立，故名曰貧。夫通人猶富人，不通者猶貧人也。俱以七尺為形，通人胸中懷百家之言，不通者空腹無一牒之誦。貧人之內，徒四（所）壁立也。慕料貧富不相如，則夫通與不通不相及也。世人慕富不榮通，羞貧，不賤不賢，不推類以況之也。夫富人可慕者，貨財多則饒裕，故人慕之。夫富人不如儒生，儒生不如通人。
The rich man's house makes an inner room of a space of one zhang. What is in that inner room, brimming over in chests and coffers, is fine silk and cloth, thread and plain silk. The poor man's house also makes an inner room of one zhang. The inside of the room is empty, with only the four walls standing, and so it is called poor. The man who reaches through is like the rich man, and the man who does not reach through is like the poor man. Both take seven feet for their shape, but the man who reaches through holds the words of the hundred schools in his breast, while the man who does not reach through has an empty belly without one tablet of recitation. The poor man's inner room has only the four walls standing. If we long for riches and weigh how poor and rich are not alike, then reaching through and not reaching through are just as far apart. The people of the world long for riches and do not count reaching through a glory; they are ashamed of poverty and do not count it base to be without worth. They do not push out from the kind to compare. What makes the rich man worth longing for is that when goods and wealth are many there is plenty, and so people long for him. Yet the rich man is not the equal of the Confucian scholar, and the Confucian scholar is not the equal of the man who reaches through.
通人積文十篋以上，聖人之言，賢者之語，上自黃帝，下至秦、漢，治國肥家之術，刺世譏俗之言備矣。使人通明博見，其為可榮，非徒縑布絲（綿）〔帛〕也。蕭何入秦，收拾文書，漢所以能制九州者，文書之力也。以文書御天下，天下之富，孰與家人之財？
The man who reaches through piles up writings, ten hampers and more. The words of the sages, the sayings of the worthy, from the Yellow Emperor above down to Qin and Han, the arts of ordering the state and fattening the house, the words that prick the age and chide its customs, all are there in full. They make a man reach through and grow bright and wide in sight, and what is glorious in this is not mere fine silk and cloth, thread and plain silk. Xiao He entered Qin and gathered up the documents. What let Han hold the Nine Provinces was the force of those documents. With documents he ruled all under heaven. Set against the goods of a household, what are the riches of all under heaven?
人目不見青黃曰盲，耳不聞宮商曰聾，鼻不知香臭曰癰。癰聾與盲，不成人者也。人不博覽者，不聞古今，不見事類，不知然否，猶目盲、耳聾、鼻癰者也。儒生不覽，猶為閉暗，況庸人無篇章之業，不知是非，其為閉暗甚矣！此則土木之人，耳目俱足，無聞見也。涉淺水者見蝦，其頗深者察魚鱉，其尤甚者觀蛟龍。足行跡殊，故所見之物異也。入道淺深，其猶此也，淺者則見傳記諧文，深者入聖室觀秘書。故入道彌深，所見彌大。人之游也，必欲入都，都多奇觀也；入都必欲見市，市多異貨也。百家之言，古今行事，其為奇異，非徒都邑大市也。游於都邑者心厭，觀於大市者意飽，況游於道藝之際哉！大川旱不枯者，多所疏也。潢兼日不雨，泥輒見者，無所通也。是故大川相間，小川相屬，東流歸海，故海大也。海不通於百川，安得巨大之名？夫人含百家之言，猶海懷百川之流也，不謂之大者，是謂海小於百川也。夫海大於百川也，人皆知之，通者明於不通，莫之能別也。潤下作咸，水之滋味也。東海歸咸，流廣大也；西州鹽井，源泉深也。人或無井而食，或穿井不得泉，有鹽井之利乎？不與賢聖通業，望有高世之名，難哉！法令之家，不見行事，議罪不（可）審。章句之生，不覽古今，論事不實。或以說一經為（是）〔足〕，何須博覽。夫孔子之門，講習《五經》。《五經》皆習，庶幾之才也。
When a man's eyes do not see blue and yellow he is called blind. When his ears do not hear the notes gong and shang he is called deaf. When his nose does not know fragrance from stench he is called stopped. The stopped and the deaf and the blind are men not fully made. A man who does not read widely does not hear of old and new, does not see the kinds of affairs, does not know what is so and what is not so. He is like one whose eyes are blind, whose ears are deaf, whose nose is stopped. When a Confucian scholar does not read he is still shut and dark. How much more the common man, who has no work of chapter and verse and does not know right from wrong. His being shut and dark is deep indeed. Such a one is a man of earth and wood, whose ears and eyes are all there but who hears and sees nothing. He who wades shallow water sees shrimp. He who goes somewhat deeper looks at fish and turtles. He who goes deepest of all watches the flood dragon. The tracks their feet make differ, and so the things they see are different. Entering the Way shallow or deep is just like this. The shallow see records and light writings, and the deep enter the sage's chamber and look on the secret books. So the deeper a man enters the Way, the greater what he sees. When a man travels he always wants to enter the capital, for the capital has many strange sights, and once in the capital he always wants to see the market, for the market has many rare goods. The words of the hundred schools and the deeds of old and new are strange and rare, and not merely as the great market of a capital is. He who travels in the capital is sated in heart, and he who looks on the great market is full in mind. How much more one who travels among the Way and the arts. That the great rivers do not dry up in a drought is because much is opened to them. That a pond shows its mud at once when the rain fails for days on end is because nothing reaches through to it. Therefore the great rivers lie between and the small rivers join on, and flowing east they return to the sea, and so the sea is great. If the sea did not reach through to the hundred rivers, how would it get the name of vast? A man holding the words of the hundred schools is like the sea holding the flow of the hundred rivers. To say that he is not great is to say that the sea is smaller than the hundred rivers. That the sea is greater than the hundred rivers, every man knows. That the man who reaches through is brighter than the man who does not, no one can tell. To soak downward and make salt is the flavor of water. The Eastern Sea turns to salt because its flow is wide and great. The salt wells of the western province come of springs that are deep. Some men eat with no well at all, and some dig a well and find no spring. Have they the profit of a salt well? To hope for a name high in the age without sharing the work of the worthy and the sages is hard indeed. When the houses of law and ordinance do not look at past deeds, they cannot judge a crime with care. When the scholars of chapter and verse do not read old and new, what they say of affairs is not solid. Some hold that to expound one classic is enough. What need, they ask, is there to read widely? In the school of Confucius they studied the Five Classics. To have studied all the Five Classics is a talent that comes near the sage.
顏淵曰：「博我以文。」
Yan Yuan said, "He broadened me with writings."
才智高者，能為博矣。顏淵之曰博者，豈徒一經哉？我不能博《五經》，又不能博眾事，守信一學，不好廣觀，無溫故知新之明，而有守愚不覽之暗。其謂一經（是）〔足〕者，其宜也。開戶內日之光，日光不能照幽，鑿窗啟牖，以助戶明也。夫一經之說，猶日明也，助以傳書，猶窗牖也。百家之言令人曉明，非徒窗牖之開日光之照也。是故日光照室內，道術明胸中。開戶內光，坐高堂之上，眇升樓台，窺四鄰之廷，人之所願也。閉戶幽坐，向冥冥之內，穿壙穴臥，造黃泉之際，人之所惡也。夫閉心塞意，不高瞻覽者，死人之徒也哉！孝武皇帝時，燕王旦在明光宮，欲入所臥，戶三（百）盡閉，使侍者二十人開戶，戶不開，其後旦坐謀反自殺。夫戶閉，燕王旦死之狀也。死者，凶事也，故以閉塞為占。齊慶封不通，六國大夫會而賦《詩》，慶封不曉，其後果有楚靈之禍也。
One whose talent and wisdom are high can be broad. When Yan Yuan called it broad, was it merely one classic? I am not broad in the Five Classics, nor am I broad in the many affairs. I keep faith with one learning and do not love to look widely, so I have not the brightness of warming the old to know the new, and I have the darkness of one who keeps to his folly and does not read. That such a man should say one classic is enough is only fitting. Opening the door lets in the light of the sun, but the sunlight cannot shine into the gloom, and so we cut a window and open a lattice to help the brightness of the door. The sayings of one classic are like the brightness of the sun, and helping them with the transmitted books is like the window and the lattice. The words of the hundred schools make a man understand and grow bright, and this is more than the opening of window and lattice and the shining of sunlight. Therefore the sunlight shines within the room, and the arts of the Way grow bright within the breast. To open the door and let in the light, to sit high in the hall, to climb far up a tower and look into the courtyards of the four neighbors, this is what men wish for. To shut the door and sit in the gloom, to face the dark within, to bore a pit and lie in the hole, to come to the edge of the Yellow Springs, this is what men hate. Those who shut their hearts and stop their minds and do not look high and wide are of the company of dead men. In the time of Emperor Xiaowu, King Dan of Yan was in the Mingguang Palace, and when he wished to enter the place where he slept the doors were all shut. He had twenty attendants open the doors, and the doors would not open. Afterward Dan was caught in a plot of rebellion and killed himself. The shutting of the doors was the shape of King Dan of Yan's death. Death is an ill thing, and so shutting and blocking is taken for an omen. Qing Feng of Qi did not reach through. When the great officers of the six states met and chanted the Odes, Qing Feng did not understand, and afterward the disaster from King Ling of Chu did indeed come.
夫不開通於學者，尸尚能行者也。亡國之社，屋其上、柴其下者，示絕於天地。春秋薄社，周以為城。夫經藝傳書，人當覽之，猶社當通氣於天地也。故人之不通覽者，薄社之類也。是故氣不通者，強壯之人死，榮華之物枯。
A man who is not opened and does not reach through in learning is a corpse that can still walk. The altar of a fallen state is roofed above and hedged with faggots below, to show that it is cut off from heaven and earth. The Bo altar of the Chunqiu was made a wall by Zhou. Now the classics and arts and the transmitted books are what a man ought to read, just as an altar ought to let the breath reach through to heaven and earth. So a man who does not reach through and read is of the kind of the Bo altar. Therefore where the breath does not reach through, the strong and sturdy man dies and the flowering thing withers.
東海之中，可食之物，集糅非一，以其大也。夫水精氣渥盛，故其生物也眾多奇異。
In the Eastern Sea the things that can be eaten gather and mingle and are not of one kind, because the sea is great. The essential breath of water there is rich and full, and so the things it gives birth to are many and strange.
故夫大人之胸懷非一，才高知大，故其於道術無所不包。學士同門高業之生，眾共宗之。何則？知經指深，曉師言多也。夫古今之事，百家之言，其為深多也，豈徒師門高業之生哉！甘酒醴不（酤）〔〕飴蜜，未為能知味也。耕夫多殖嘉谷，謂之上農夫；其少者，謂之下農夫。學士之才，農夫之力，一也。能多種谷，謂之上農，能博學問，〔不〕謂之上儒，是稱牛之服重，不譽馬速也。譽手毀足，孰謂之慧矣！縣道不通於野，野路不達於邑，騎馬乘舟者，必不由也。故血脈不通，人以甚病。夫不通者，惡事也，故其禍變致不善。是故盜賊宿於穢草，邪心生於無道，無道者，無道術也。醫能治一病謂之巧，能治百病謂之良。是故良醫服百病之方，治百人之疾；大才懷百家之言，故能治百族之亂。扁鵲之眾方，孰若巧〔醫〕之一伎？子貢曰：「不得其門而入，不見宗廟之美，百官之富。」
So what the great man holds in his breast is not one thing. His talent is high and his knowing is great, and so there is nothing in the arts of the Way that he does not take in. When a student of high attainment comes from the same school, the crowd all honor him. Why is this? Because he knows the pointing of the classic deeply and understands much of his teacher's words. The affairs of old and new and the words of the hundred schools are deep and many. How should they be merely the high attainment of one teacher's school? A man who has sweet wine and ale but does not buy malt sugar and honey cannot be said to know flavor. A plowman who plants much good grain is called a farmer of the first rank, and one who plants little is called a farmer of the low rank. The talent of the scholar and the strength of the plowman are one. To call a man who can plant much grain a farmer of the first rank, and yet not to call a man who can learn widely and ask widely a Confucian of the first rank, is to speak of the ox bearing a heavy load and not to praise the horse for its speed. Who would call it wisdom to praise the hand and belittle the foot? When the county road does not reach through to the open country and the country road does not come to the town, the man who rides a horse or takes a boat will surely not pass that way. So when the blood and the veins do not reach through, a man is gravely sick. Not to reach through is an ill thing, and so its disasters and changes bring on what is not good. Thus robbers lodge in foul grass, and a crooked heart is born where there is no Way, and to be without the Way is to be without the arts of the Way. A physician who can treat one illness is called skillful, and one who can treat a hundred illnesses is called good. So the good physician holds the prescriptions for a hundred illnesses and treats the sicknesses of a hundred men, and the great talent holds the words of the hundred schools, and so can order the disorders of a hundred clans. Which is better, the many prescriptions of Bian Que or the single skill of a clever physician? Zigong said, "If a man does not find the gate and enter, he does not see the beauty of the ancestral temple and the wealth of the hundred offices."
蓋以宗廟百官喻孔子道也。孔子道美，故譬以宗廟，眾多非一，故喻以百官。由此言之，道達廣博者，孔子之徒也。
No doubt he likened the Way of Confucius to the ancestral temple and the hundred offices. The Way of Confucius is beautiful, and so he compared it to the ancestral temple. It is many and not one, and so he likened it to the hundred offices. Speaking from this, the man who reaches through the Way and is wide and broad is of the company of Confucius.
殷、周之地，極五千里，荒服、要服，勤能牧之。漢氏廓土，牧萬里之外，要荒之地，褒衣博帶。夫德不優者不能懷遠，才不大者不能博見。故多聞博識，無頑鄙之訾，深知道術，無淺暗之毀也。人好觀圖畫者，圖上所畫，古之列人也。見列人之面，孰與觀其言行？置之空壁，形容具存，人不激勸者，不見言行也。古賢之遺文，竹帛之所載粲然，豈徒牆壁之畫哉？空器在廚，金銀塗飾，其中無物益於飢，人不顧也。肴膳甘醢，土釜之盛，入者鄉之。古賢文之美善可甘，非徒器中之物也，讀觀有益，非徒膳食有補也。故器空無實，飢者不顧，胸虛無懷，朝廷不御也。劍伎之家，斗戰必勝者，得曲城、越女之學也。兩敵相遭，一巧一拙，其必勝者，有術之家也。孔、墨之業，賢聖之書，非徒曲城、越女之功也。成人之操，益人之知，非徒戰斗必勝之策也。故劍伎之術，有必勝之名，賢聖之書，有必尊之聲。縣邑之吏，召諸治下，將相問以政化，曉慧之吏，陳所聞見，將相覺悟，得以改政右文。聖賢言行，竹帛所傳，練人之心，聰人之知，非徒縣邑之吏對向之語也。
The land of Yin and Zhou reached five thousand li at the farthest, and only with toil could they herd the wild domain and the bound domain. The house of Han widened its earth and herds what lies beyond ten thousand li, and the lands of the bound and the wild domains wear wide robes and broad sashes. One whose virtue is not excellent cannot cherish the far, and one whose talent is not great cannot see widely. So the man who hears much and knows widely draws no blame for being stubborn and mean, and the man who knows the arts of the Way deeply draws no slander for being shallow and dark. Men love to look at pictures, and what is painted on them is the ranked men of old. Which is better, to see the faces of those ranked men, or to look at their words and deeds? Set them on a bare wall and their form and features are all there, yet men are not stirred by them, because they do not see the words and deeds. The writings the worthy of old left behind, what is carried on bamboo and silk, are bright indeed. How should they be merely paintings on a wall? An empty vessel stands in the kitchen, adorned with gold and silver, but there is nothing inside it to help hunger, and men do not turn to look. Good dishes and sweet pickles, though held in an earthen pot, draw those who come in. The beauty and goodness of the writings of the worthy of old may be savored, and are more than the thing inside a vessel, and to read them and look at them brings profit, and is more than the filling that food gives. So when a vessel is empty and has nothing in it, the hungry do not turn to look, and when a breast is empty and holds nothing, the court does not employ its owner. That the houses of the sword art always win their fights is because they have gained the learning of Qucheng and the Maid of Yue. When two foes meet and one is skilled and one is clumsy, the one who must win is the house that has the art. The work of Confucius and Mozi and the books of the worthy and the sages are more than the merit of Qucheng and the Maid of Yue. They complete a man's conduct and add to a man's knowing, and are more than a plan for winning battles. So the art of the sword has the name of sure victory, and the books of the worthy and the sages have the sound of sure honor. When a clerk of county or town calls up those under his rule, the generals and ministers ask him about government and teaching, and when a bright and clever clerk sets out what he has heard and seen, the generals and ministers wake to it and are able to amend the government and give honor to writing. What the words and deeds of the sages and the worthy hand down on bamboo and silk tempers men's hearts and sharpens men's knowing, and is more than the answering talk of a clerk of county or town.
禹、益并治洪水，禹主治水，益主記異物，海外山表，無遠不至，以所聞見作《山海經》。
Yu and Yi together ordered the flood. Yu took charge of ordering the waters, and Yi took charge of setting down the strange things. Beyond the seas and over the mountains there was nowhere too far for them to reach, and from what they heard and saw they made the Shanhai jing.
非禹、益不能行遠，《山海》不造。然則《山海》之造，見物博也。董仲舒睹重常之鳥，劉子政曉貳負之尸，皆見《山海經》，故能立二事之說。使禹、益行地不遠，不能作《山海經》，董、劉不讀《山海經》，不能定二疑。實沉、台，子產博物，故能言之。龍見絳郊，蔡墨曉占，故能御之。父兄在千里之外，且死，遺教戒之書，子弟賢者求索觀讀，服臆不舍，重先敬長，謹慎之也。不肖者輕慢佚忽，無原察之意。古聖先賢遺後人文字，其重非徒父兄之書也，或觀讀采取，或棄捐不錄，二者之相高下也，行路之人，皆能論之，況辯照然否者不能別之乎？孔子病，商瞿卜期日中，孔子曰：「取書來，比至日中何事乎？」
Had Yu and Yi not been able to travel far, the Shanhai would not have been made. So the making of the Shanhai came of seeing things widely. Dong Zhongshu knew the chongchang bird and Liu Zizheng understood the corpse of Erfu. Both had seen the Shanhai jing, and so could set up their accounts of these two matters. Had Yu and Yi not traveled far over the earth they could not have made the Shanhai jing, and had Dong and Liu not read the Shanhai jing they could not have settled these two doubts. Of Shichen and Taitai, Zichan was wide in the knowledge of things, and so could speak. When a dragon appeared in the outskirts of Jiang, Cai Mo understood the omen, and so could ward it off. When a father or an elder brother is a thousand li away and about to die and leaves behind a writing of teaching and warning, the worthy among his sons and younger brothers seek it out and look at it and read it, and hold it to their breast and do not put it aside, holding their forebears heavy and their elders in honor, and being careful in this. The unworthy make light of it and are careless and let it slip, with no mind to trace it and examine it. The writings that the sages of old and the worthy before us left to later men are heavier than the writings of a father or an elder brother. Yet some look at them and read them and gather from them, and some cast them aside and do not set them down. Which of these two stands high and which low, even a man on the road can say. How much more should one who tells apart what is so and what is not so be able to tell them apart? When Confucius was ill, Shang Qu divined and set the term at midday. Confucius said, "Bring me my books. What else should I do until midday comes?"
聖人之好學也，且死不休，念在經書，不以臨死之故，棄忘道藝，其為百世之聖，師法祖修，蓋不虛矣。自孔子以下，至漢之際，有才能之稱者，非有飽食終日無所用心也，不說《五經》則讀書傳。書傳文大，難以備之。卜卦占射凶吉，皆文、武之道，昔有商瞿能占爻卦，末有東方朔、翼少君能達占射覆，道雖小，亦聖人之術也。曾又不知人生稟五常之性，好道樂學，故辨於物。今則不然，飽食快飲，慮深求臥，腹為飯坑，腸為酒襄，是則物也。裸蟲三百，人為之長，天地之性，人為貴，貴其識知也。今閉暗脂塞，無所好欲，與三百裸蟲何以異？而謂之為長而貴之乎！
The sage's love of learning did not rest even when he was about to die, and his thought was on the classics. He did not, because death was at hand, throw away and forget the Way and the arts. That he became the sage of a hundred generations, taken for teacher and followed as forefather, was surely not for nothing. From Confucius down to the time of Han, those who had the name of talent and ability were not men who ate their fill all day with nothing to set their minds on. If they were not expounding the Five Classics, they were reading the books and records. The books and records are great in writing, and hard to master in full. Divining by hexagram and guessing at ill and good fortune are all the Way of King Wen and King Wu. In the old days Shang Qu could divine by line and hexagram, and later Dongfang Shuo and Yi Shaojun could reach through to guessing what was hidden under a bowl. The Way in these is small, yet it too is an art of the sages. Men do not even know that a man is born with the nature of the five constants, that he loves the Way and delights in learning, and so is clear about things. Now it is not so. They eat their fill and drink their pleasure, and their thought runs deep only to seek their beds. The belly becomes a pit for rice and the gut a bag for wine, and this is a mere thing. Among the three hundred naked creatures man is the chief. Of the natures of heaven and earth man is the noblest, and he is noble for his knowing. Now if he is shut and dark and choked with fat, with nothing he loves and nothing he wants, how does he differ from the three hundred naked creatures? And shall we still call him chief and hold him noble?
諸夏之人所以貴於夷狄者，以其通仁義之文，知古今之學也。如徒（作）〔任〕其胸中之知以取衣食，經厲年月，白首沒齒，終無曉知，夷狄之次也。觀夫蜘蛛之經絲以罔飛蟲也，人之用作，安能過之？任胸中之知，舞權利之詐，以取富壽之樂，無古今之學，蜘蛛之類也。含血之蟲，無餓死之患，皆能以知求索飲食也。人不通者，亦能自供，仕官為吏，亦得高官。將相長吏，猶吾大夫高子也！安能別之？隨時積功，以命得官，不曉古今，以位為賢，與文（之）〔人〕異術，安得識別通人，俟以不次乎？將相長吏，不得若右扶風蔡伯偕、郁林太守張孟嘗、東萊太守李季公之徒，心自通明，覽達古今，故其敬通人也如見大賓。燕昭為鄒衍擁，彼獨受何性哉？東成令董仲綬知為儒梟，海內稱通，故其接人能別奇（律）〔偉〕。是以鍾離產公以編戶之民，受圭璧之敬，知之明也。故夫能知之也，凡石生光氣，不知之也，金玉無潤色。自武帝以至今朝，數舉賢良，令人射策甲乙之科，若董仲舒、唐子高、谷子云、丁伯玉，策既中實，文說美善，博覽膏腴之所生也。
The people of the Xia states are nobler than the Yi and the Di because they reach through to the writings of benevolence and right and know the learning of old and new. If a man trusts only the knowing in his own breast to get clothing and food, and passes through the years and the months until his head is white and his teeth are gone with no understanding in the end, he stands next after the Yi and the Di. Look at the spider that draws out its thread to net flying insects. How can what a man makes and does go beyond it? To trust the knowing in one's breast, to dance the deceits of power and profit and take from them the pleasure of riches and long life, with no learning of old and new, is of the spider's kind. The creatures that hold blood have no fear of starving to death, for all of them can use their knowing to seek out food and drink. A man who does not reach through can also supply himself. He serves in office and becomes a clerk, and he too gains high office. Generals and ministers and senior officers are like our great officer Gaozi. How can they tell such men apart? They pile up merit as the times bring it and get their office by fate, they do not understand old and new, and they take rank for worth. Their art is not the art of a man of letters, so how should they know the man who reaches through and raise him up out of his turn? Generals and ministers and senior officers cannot be like Cai Boxie the Right Fufeng, Zhang Mengchang the governor of Yulin, and Li Jigong the governor of Donglai, whose hearts of themselves reached through and were bright, who read and reached to old and new, and who therefore honored the man who reaches through as though meeting a great guest. King Zhao of Yan held the broom for Zou Yan. What nature did he alone receive? Dong Zhongshou, the prefect of Dongcheng, knew that a man would be a chief among Confucians, and all within the seas called him one who reaches through, and so in receiving men he could tell apart the strange and the outstanding. Thus Zhongli Chan Gong, a commoner on the register, received the respect due to jade tokens, because the knowing that saw him was bright. So where a man can know, a common stone gives off light and breath, and where he cannot know, gold and jade have no glossy color. From Emperor Wu down to the present court, worthy and good men have been raised up many times and made to answer the written questions of the first and second grades. Men like Dong Zhongshu, Tang Zigao, Gu Ziyun, and Ding Boyu had answers that hit the facts, and their writing and their speech were beautiful and good, born of the rich soil of wide reading.
使四者經徒能摘，筆徒能記（疏），不見古今之書，安能建美善於聖王之庭乎？孝明之時，讀《蘇武傳》，見武官名曰中監，以問百官，百官莫知。夫倉頡之章，小學之書，文字備具，至於無能對聖國之問者，是皆美命隨牒之人多在官也。「木」旁「多」文字，且不能知，其欲及若董仲舒之知重常，劉子政之知貳負，難哉！或曰：「通人之官，蘭台令史，職校書定字，比夫太史太，職在文書，無典民之用，不可施設。是以蘭台之史，班固、賈逵、楊終、傅毅之徒，名香文美，委積不（紲）〔泄〕，（大）〔失〕用於世。」
If these four had only been able to pick passages out of the classics, and only been able to set things down with the brush, and had not looked at the books of old and new, how could they have set up beauty and goodness in the court of a sage king? In the time of Emperor Xiaoming the Su Wu zhuan was read, and a military office was found there named zhongjian, and he asked the hundred officers about it, and not one of them knew. Now the chapters of Cang Jie are a book of small learning in which the written characters are all set out, and yet it came to this, that none could answer the question of a sage state. This is because men who hold fine appointments and come in by the register are many in office. If they cannot know even a character with wood beside many, then for them to reach what Dong Zhongshu knew of the chongchang bird and what Liu Zizheng knew of Erfu is hard indeed. Someone says, "The office of the man who reaches through is clerk of the Orchid Terrace, whose duty is to collate books and settle characters. Set beside the grand scribe and the grand diviner, his duty lies in documents. He has no use in taking charge of the people, and he can put nothing into practice. This is why the scribes of the Orchid Terrace, Ban Gu and Jia Kui and Yang Zhong and Fu Yi and their like, with fragrant names and beautiful writing, are heaped up and never let out, and lose their use in the world."
曰：此不繼。周世通覽之人，鄒衍之徒，孫卿之輩，受時王之寵，尊顯於世。董仲舒雖無鼎足之位，知在公卿之上。周監二代，漢監周、秦，然則蘭台之官，國所監得失也。
I answer that this does not follow. In the age of Zhou the men who reached through and read widely, Zou Yan and his like and Sun Qing and his sort, received the favor of the kings of their time and were honored and shown high in the world. Dong Zhongshu had no place among the three legs of the cauldron, yet his knowing stood above the dukes and the ministers. Zhou took the two dynasties for its mirror, and Han took Zhou and Qin for its mirror. If that is so, then the office of the Orchid Terrace is the mirror in which the state sees its gains and its losses.
以心如丸卵，為體內藏，眸子如豆，為身光明。令史雖微，典國道藏，通人所由進，猶博士之官，儒生所由興也。委積不（紲）〔泄〕，豈聖國微遇之哉，殆以書未定而職未畢也。
The heart is like a pellet, yet it is the storing within the body. The pupil of the eye is like a bean, yet it is the light and the brightness of the body. The clerk may be small, but he holds the storing of the Way of the state. He is the road by which the man who reaches through comes forward, just as the office of erudite is the road by which the Confucian scholar rises. That they are heaped up and never let out, how should this be a sage state treating them meanly? It is likely that the books are not yet settled and the duty not yet finished.