Chaoqi — The Extraordinary Talent超奇篇
通書千篇以上，萬卷以下，弘暢雅閑，審定文讀，而以教授為人師者，通人也。杼其義旨，損益其文句，而以上書奏記，或興論立說、結連篇章者，文人鴻儒也。好學勤力，博聞強識，世間多有；著書表文，論說古今，萬不耐一。然則著書表文，博通所能用之者也。入山見木，長短無所不知；入野見草，大小無所不識。然而不能伐木以作室屋，采草以和方葯，此知草木所不能用也。夫通人覽見廣博，不能掇以論說，此為匿生書主人，孔子所謂「誦詩三百，授之以政不達」者也，與彼草木不能伐采，一實也。孔子得史記以作《春秋》，及其立義創意，褒貶賞誅，不復因史記者，眇思自出於胸中也。凡貴通者，貴其能用之也，即徒誦讀，讀詩諷術雖千篇以上，鸚鵡能言之類也。衍傳書之意，出膏腴之辭，非儻之才，不能任也。夫通覽者，世間比有；著文者，歷世希然。近世劉子政父子、揚子雲、桓君山，猶文、武、周公，并出一時也。其餘直有，往往而然，譬珠玉不可多得，以其珍也。
To have read through books, a thousand chapters and more, ten thousand scrolls and fewer, to be broad and penetrating, refined and practiced, to examine and settle how a text is read, and by teaching to become a master to others — such a man is a man who reaches through. To draw out its sense and purport, to cut from its phrases and add to them, and so to send up writings and report records, or to raise arguments and set up doctrines and join chapter to chapter — such a man is a man of letters, a great Confucian. Those who love learning and are diligent with their strength, who hear widely and remember firmly, are many in the world; but of those who compose books and bring out writings and argue the ancient and the present, not one in ten thousand is equal to it. Then to compose books and bring out writings is to be one who can use what he has penetrated broadly. Go into the mountains and look at the trees, and there is nothing of their length and shortness you do not know; go into the fields and look at the grasses, and there is nothing of their greatness and smallness you do not recognize. Yet if you cannot fell the trees and build a house, or gather the grasses and compound a prescription, this is to know the grasses and trees and not be able to use them. Now if the man who reaches through, seeing broadly and widely, cannot pick out from it and argue, he becomes the keeper of hidden books, what Confucius called "reciting the three hundred Odes and, when government is entrusted to him, not getting through." It is one and the same thing with not being able to fell and gather those grasses and trees. Confucius got the records of the scribes and made the Chunqiu; but when it came to setting up its right and creating its meaning, praising and cutting down, rewarding and punishing, he no longer followed the records of the scribes, for subtle thought came out of his own breast. Now what is valued in penetration is that it can be used. Merely to recite and read, to read the Odes and chant the arts, though it be a thousand chapters and more, is of the kind that a parrot can speak. To unfold the sense of the transmitted books and bring out rich and fat words — none but an outstanding talent can take it up. Those who see broadly are met with often in the world; those who compose writings are rare through the ages. In recent generations Liu Zizheng and his son, Yang Ziyun and Huan Junshan are like King Wen, King Wu and the Duke of Zhou coming out together at one time. The rest are there too, now and then; it is as with pearls and jade, which cannot be got in quantity, because they are precious.
故夫能說一經者為儒生，博覽古今者為通人，采掇傳書以上書奏記者為文人，能精思著文連結篇章者為鴻儒。故儒生過俗人，通人勝儒生，文人逾通人，鴻儒超文人。故夫鴻儒，所謂超而又超者也。以超之奇，退與儒生相料，文軒之比於敝車，錦繡之方於袍也，其相過遠矣。如與俗人相料，太山之巔，長狄之項蹠，不足以喻。故夫丘山以土石為體，其有銅鐵，山之奇也。銅鐵既奇，或出金玉。然鴻儒，世之金玉也，奇而又奇矣。奇而又奇，才相超乘，皆有品差。
Therefore he who can expound one classic is a Confucian scholar; he who sees broadly the ancient and the present is a man who reaches through; he who picks from the transmitted books and sends up writings and reports records is a man of letters; and he who thinks with precision, composes writings and joins chapter to chapter is a great Confucian. So the Confucian scholar is above the common man, the man who reaches through surpasses the Confucian scholar, the man of letters goes beyond the man who reaches through, and the great Confucian rises above the man of letters. Now the great Confucian is what is called rising and rising again. Take that rare rising and set it back beside the Confucian scholar to be measured: it is a carved carriage matched against a broken cart, brocade set beside sackcloth, and how far the one passes the other. And if he is measured against the common man, the peak of Mount Tai, or the neck and the soles of the Changdi, are not enough for the likeness. Now hills and mountains have earth and stone for their body, and that there should be copper and iron in them is the rare thing of the mountain. Copper and iron are rare already, and sometimes gold and jade come out. So the great Confucian is the gold and jade of the world, rare and rare again. Rare and rare again, their talents rise one above another, and all have their grades and differences.
儒生說名於儒門，過俗人遠也。或不能說一經，教誨後生，或帶徒聚眾，說論洞溢，稱為經明。或不能成牘，治一說；或能陳得失，奏便宜，言應經傳，文如星月。其高第若谷子云、唐子高者，說書於牘奏之上，不能連結篇章。或抽列古今，紀著行事，若司馬子長、劉子政之徒，累積篇第，文以萬數，其過子云、子高遠矣。然而因成紀前，無胸中之造。若夫陸賈、董仲舒論說世事，由意而出，不假取於外，然而淺露易見，觀讀之者猶曰傳記。陽成子長作《樂經》，揚子雲作《太玄經》，造於助思，極窅冥之深，非庶幾之才，不能成也。孔子作《春秋》，二子作兩經，所謂卓爾蹈孔子之跡，鴻茂參貳聖之才者也。王公子問於桓君山以揚子雲，君山對曰：「《漢》興以來，未有此人。」
The Confucian scholar speaks his name at the gate of the Confucians, and far passes the common man. Some cannot expound one classic and yet teach the students who come after; some lead disciples and gather a crowd, their arguing overflows, and they are called clear in the classics. Some cannot finish a tablet and handle a single doctrine; some can set out gains and losses and report what is expedient, their words answering to the classics and their writing like the stars and the moon. Those of the highest rank, like Gu Ziyun and Tang Zigao, speak of books upon tablets and memorials but cannot join chapter to chapter. Some draw out and range the ancient and the present and set down the deeds that were done: men like Sima Zichang and Liu Zizheng heaped up chapter upon chapter, their writings counted by the ten thousand, and they far pass Ziyun and Zigao. Yet they followed what was already made and set down what came before; there was no making in their breasts. As for Lu Jia and Dong Zhongshu, they argued the affairs of the age out of their own thought and did not borrow and take from outside; yet it was shallow and open and easy to see, and those who look and read still call it records and traditions. Yangcheng Zizhang made the Yue jing and Yang Ziyun made the Taixuan jing; they made them by helping out thought and went to the end of the depth of the dark and hidden, and none but a talent nearly that of a sage could have finished them. Confucius made the Chunqiu, and these two made two classics; they are what is called standing high and treading in the traces of Confucius, great and flourishing, entering into the talent of a second sage. Wang Gongzi asked Huan Junshan about Yang Ziyun, and Junshan answered, "Since the Han arose, there has been no such man."
君山差才，可謂得高下之實矣。采玉者心羨於玉，鑽龜能知神於龜。能差眾儒之才，累其高下，賢於所累。又作《新論》，論世間事，辯照然否，虛妄之言，偽飾之辭，莫不証定。彼子長、子云說論之徒，君山為甲。自君山以來，皆為鴻眇之才，故有嘉令之文。筆能著文，則心能謀論，文由胸中而出，心以文為表。觀見其文，奇偉儻，可謂得論也。由此言之，繁文之人，人之杰也。
In grading talent Junshan may be said to have got the reality of high and low. He who digs for jade has his heart set in longing upon jade; he who bores the tortoise can know what is spiritual in the tortoise. He could grade the talents of the many Confucians and pile up their high and low, and so he is worthier than those he piled. He also made the Xin lun, arguing the affairs of the age and sifting and lighting up what is so and what is not; and of empty and reckless words and falsely adorned phrases there are none that he does not prove and settle. Among those who argue, the company of Zichang and Yang Ziyun, Junshan is first. From Junshan on, all were of great and subtle talent, and therefore there are fine and excellent writings. If the brush can compose writing, then the heart can plan an argument; writing comes out of the breast, and the heart takes writing for its outward show. Look at his writing, and if it is rare and grand and outstanding, he may be said to have got the argument. Speaking from this, the man of abundant writing is the hero among men.
有根株於下，有榮葉於上；有實核於內，有皮殼於外。文墨辭說，士之榮葉、皮殼也。實誠在胸臆，文墨著竹帛，外內表里，自相副稱，意奮而筆縱，故文見而實露也。人之有文也，猶禽之有毛也。毛有五色，皆生於體。苟有文無實，是則五色之禽，毛妄生也。選士以射，心平體正，執弓矢審固，然後射中。論說之出，猶弓矢之發也；論之應理，猶矢之中的。夫射以矢中效巧，論以文墨驗奇。奇巧俱發於心，其實一也。文有深指巨略，君臣治術，身不得行，口不能紲，表著情心，以明己之必能為之也。孔子作《春秋》，以示王意。然則孔子之《春秋》，素王之業也；諸子之傳書，素相之事也。觀《春秋》以見王意，讀諸子以睹相指。故曰：陳平割肉，丞相之端見；叔孫敖決期思，令君之兆著。觀讀傳書之文，治道政務，非徒割肉決水之占也。足不強則跡不遠，鋒不則割不深。連結篇章，必大長智鴻懿之俊也。
Where there are roots and stock below, there are blossoms and leaves above; where there are fruit and kernel within, there are skin and husk without. Writing and ink and spoken argument are the blossoms and leaves, the skin and husk of the gentleman. True sincerity is in the breast, and writing and ink appear on bamboo and silk; outside and inside, surface and lining, answer of themselves to each other, and when the intent is roused the brush runs free, and so when the writing is seen the reality is laid bare. That a man has writing is like a bird having feathers. Feathers have five colors, and all of them grow from the body. If indeed there is writing and no reality, then it is a bird of five colors whose feathers grew at random. In choosing gentlemen by archery, the heart is level and the body upright, and the bow and arrow are held with care and firmness; only then does the shot hit. The coming out of an argument is like the loosing of bow and arrow, and the argument answering to the pattern of things is like the arrow hitting the mark. Now archery proves skill by the arrow hitting, and argument proves rarity by writing and ink. Rarity and skill both issue from the heart, and their reality is one. When a writing holds deep aims and great plans, the arts by which ruler and minister govern, and the man cannot himself carry them out and cannot bind them together with his mouth, he sets forth his feeling and his heart to make clear that he himself would surely be able to do it. Confucius made the Chunqiu to show the intent of a king. Then the Chunqiu of Confucius is the work of an uncrowned king, and the transmitted books of the masters are the affairs of an uncrowned chancellor. Look at the Chunqiu and you see the intent of a king; read the masters and you behold the aims of a chancellor. Therefore it is said: when Chen Ping divided the meat, the beginnings of a chancellor were seen; when Sun Shu'ao opened the waters at Qisi, the signs of a chief minister appeared. Look and read the writing of the transmitted books, and the way of governing and the business of rule are not merely the omens of dividing meat and opening water. If the foot is not strong the tracks do not go far; if the blade is not sharp the cut is not deep. He who joins chapter to chapter must be a hero of great and far-reaching wisdom, great and admirable.
Interlinear notes 1
叔孫敖
The source text writes 叔孫敖, but the man who opened the waters at Qisi and became chief minister is Sun Shu'ao (孫叔敖). The two graphs appear to be transposed in the source text, and the name is read accordingly. ― translator
或曰：「著書之人，博覽多聞，學問習熟，則能推類興文。文由外而興，未必實才學文相副也。
Someone says, "The man who composes books, if he sees broadly and hears much and his learning is practiced, can push out from the kinds of things and raise up writing. Writing arises by way of what is outside, and it is not necessarily so that true talent and learning and writing answer to one another.
且淺意於華葉之言，無根核之深，不見大道體要，故立功者希。安危之際，文人不與，無能建功之驗，徒能筆說之效也。」
Moreover their intent is shallow in words of blossom and leaf, and they lack the depth of root and kernel and do not see the body and the essentials of the great way; therefore those who set up merit are few. In the moment between danger and safety the man of letters takes no part, and there is no proof that he can establish merit, only the effect of brush and speech."
曰：此不然。周世著書之人皆權謀之臣，漢世直言之士皆通覽之吏，豈謂文非華葉之生，根核推之也？心思為謀，集扎為文，情見於辭，意驗於言。商鞅相秦，致功於霸，作耕戰之書。虞卿為趙決計定說行，退作春秋之思，起城中之議。
I answer: this is not so. Those who composed books in the age of Zhou were all ministers of weight and stratagem, and the gentlemen who spoke straight in the age of Han were all clerks of broad sight. How then should one say that writing grows from blossom and leaf and is not pushed out by root and kernel? The heart thinks and makes a plan; tablets are gathered and make a writing; the feeling is seen in the phrase and the intent is proved in the words. Shang Yang was chancellor of Qin and brought merit to its hegemony, and he made the book on plowing and warfare. Yu Qing settled a plan for Zhao, and when his doctrine was carried out he withdrew and made the thought of a Chunqiu, which arose from the deliberations inside the city walls.
耕戰之書，秦堂上之計也。陸賈消呂氏之謀，與《新語》同一意。桓君山易晁錯這策，與《新論》共一思。觀谷永之陳說，唐林之宜言，劉向之切議，以知為本，筆墨之文，將而送之，豈徒雕文飾辭，苟為華葉之言哉？精誠由中，故其文語感動人深。是故魯連飛書，燕將自殺；鄒陽上疏，梁孝開牢。書疏文義，奪於肝心，非徒博覽者所能造，習熟者所能為也。
The book on plowing and warfare was the plan of the hall of Qin. Lu Jia's making the scheming of the Lü clan vanish is of one intent with the Xin yu. Huan Junshan's changing the policy of Chao Cuo is of one thought with the Xin lun. Look at the statements of Gu Yong, the fitting words of Tang Lin, the pressing arguments of Liu Xiang: they take knowing for their root, and the writing of brush and ink leads it and sends it forth. How should they merely carve their writing and adorn their phrases and make shift with words of blossom and leaf? Sincerity comes from within, and so their writing and their words move men deeply. For this reason Lu Zhonglian sent a letter flying and the general of Yan killed himself; Zou Yang sent up a memorial and King Xiao of Liang opened the prison. The sense of writings and memorials is seized out of the liver and the heart; it is not what one who merely sees broadly can make, nor what one who is merely practiced can do.
夫鴻儒希有，而文人比然，將相長吏，安可不貴？豈徒用其才力，游文於牒牘哉？州郡有憂，能治章上奏，解理結煩，使州郡連事，有如唐子高、谷子云之吏，出身盡思，竭筆牘之力，煩憂適有不解者哉？
Now the great Confucian is rarely to be met with, while men of letters are met with often. How then should generals and chancellors and senior officers not hold them dear? And how should they merely use their talent and strength to let writing play over slips and tablets? When a province or a commandery has a trouble, one who can work up a memorial and send it up, untangle what is knotted and set in order what is vexatious, can make the province and the commandery carry on their affairs. With clerks like Tang Zigao and Gu Ziyun, who give their bodies and exhaust their thought and spend all the strength of brush and tablet, would there be any vexatious trouble that was not resolved?
古昔之遠，四方辟匿，文墨之士，難得紀錄。且近自以會稽言之，周長生者，文士之雄也，在州為刺史任安舉奏，在郡為太守孟觀上書，事解憂除，州郡無事，二將以全。長生之身不尊顯，非其才知少、功力薄也，二將懷俗人之節，不能貴也。使遭前世燕昭，則長生已蒙鄒衍之寵矣。長生死後，州郡遭憂，無舉奏之吏，以故事結不解，征詣相屬，文軌不尊，筆疏不續也。豈無憂上之吏哉？乃其中文筆不足類也。長生之才，非徒銳於牒牘也，作《洞歷》十篇，上自黃帝，下至漢朝，鋒芒毛髪之事，莫不紀載，與太吏公《表》、《紀》相似類也。上通下達，故曰「洞歷」。然則長生非徒文人，所謂鴻儒者也。前世有嚴夫子，後有吳君（商）〔高〕，末有周長生。白雉貢於越，暢草獻於宛，雍州出玉，荊、揚生金。珍物產於四遠幽遼之地，未可言無奇人也。孔子曰：「文王既沒，文不在茲乎！」
Antiquity is far off, and the four quarters are remote and hidden, and men of writing and ink are hard to find in the records. To speak of what is near, from Kuaiji: Zhou Changsheng was a hero among men of letters. In the province he drew up memorials for the inspector Ren An; in the commandery he sent up writings for the grand administrator Meng Guan. Affairs were resolved and troubles removed, the province and the commandery had no business on their hands, and the two commanders were kept whole. That Changsheng's own person was not honored and made known was not because his talent and knowledge were slight or his merit and strength thin; it was because the two commanders held to the standards of common men and could not value him. Had he met King Zhao of Yan of an earlier age, Changsheng would already have received the favor given to Zou Yan. After Changsheng died, the province and the commandery met with trouble and had no clerk to draw up memorials; and so affairs knotted and were not resolved, and those summoned to court followed one upon another, because the track of writing was not honored and the memorials of the brush were not carried on. Was there no clerk who was troubled for his superiors? It was only that among them the writing of the brush was not enough for its kind. The talent of Changsheng was not merely sharp upon slip and tablet; he made the Dongli in ten chapters, from the Yellow Emperor above down to the court of Han, and of affairs as fine as a blade's point or a hair there were none he did not set down; it is of a kind with the Biao and the Ji of the Grand Historian. It penetrates upward and reaches downward, and therefore it is called Dongli. Then Changsheng was not merely a man of letters; he was what is called a great Confucian. In an earlier age there was Yan Fuzi, after him Wu Jungao, and last of all Zhou Changsheng. The white pheasant was offered up from Yue and the fragrant changcao presented from Wan; Yongzhou brings forth jade, and Jing and Yang produce gold. Precious things are born in the far, dim and distant lands of the four quarters, and one cannot say there are no rare men there. Confucius said, "King Wen is dead and gone; is not the writing here with me!"
文王之文在孔子，孔子之文在仲舒。仲舒既死，豈在長生之徒與？何言之卓殊，文之美麗也！唐勒、宋玉，亦楚文人也，竹帛不紀者，屈原在其上也。會稽文才，豈獨周長生哉？所以未論列者，長生尤逾出也。九州多山，而華、岱為岳，四方多川，而江、河為瀆者，華、岱高而江、河大也。長生，州郡高大者也。同姓之伯賢，舍而譽他族之孟，未為得也。長生說文辭之伯，文人之所共宗，獨紀錄之，《春秋》記元於魯之義也。俗好高古而稱所聞，前人之業，菜果甘甜；後人新造，蜜酪辛苦。長生家在會稽，生在今世，文章雖奇，論者猶謂稚於前人。天稟元氣，人受元精，豈為古今者差殺哉？優者為高，明者為上，實事之人，見然否之分者，睹非卻前，退置於後，見是推今，進置於古，心明知昭，不惑於俗也。
The writing of King Wen was in Confucius, and the writing of Confucius was in Zhongshu. Zhongshu is dead: is it not then in the company of Changsheng? How set apart are his words, how beautiful his writing! Tang Le and Song Yu were also men of letters of Chu, and the reason they are not set down on bamboo and silk is that Qu Yuan stood above them. Is the writing talent of Kuaiji Zhou Changsheng alone? The reason the others are not argued and ranged here is that Changsheng goes out beyond them. The Nine Provinces have many mountains, and Mount Hua and Mount Dai are the marchmounts; the four quarters have many streams, and the Jiang and the He are the great waters; and this is because Hua and Dai are high and the Jiang and the He are great. Changsheng is the high and great one of the province and the commandery. To leave aside the eldest of one's own surname, who is worthy, and praise the eldest of another clan, is not right. Changsheng is the eldest of those who speak in writing, and men of letters all honor him together; to set him down alone is the sense of the Chunqiu recording the first year in Lu. The common sort love the high and the ancient and speak of what they have heard: the work of men before them is sweet as greens and fruit, the new making of men after them sharp and bitter as honey and curd. Changsheng's house is in Kuaiji and he was born in the present age, and though his writing is rare, those who discuss it still call him young beside the men of before. Heaven confers the primal breath and man receives the primal essence — how should they be graded down by ancient and present? The excellent is the high and the clear is the uppermost. The man who knows the reality of things and sees the division of what is so and what is not, when he sees a wrong, drives it back though it be of the past and sets it behind; when he sees a right, pushes it forward though it be of the present and sets it with the ancients; his heart is clear and his knowing bright, and he is not deceived by the common sort.
班叔皮續《太史公書》百篇以上，記事詳悉，義淺理備。觀讀之者以為甲，而太史公乙。子男孟堅為尚書郎，文比叔皮非徒五百里也，乃夫周召、魯衛之謂也。苟可高古，而班氏父子不足紀也。
Ban Shupi carried on the Taishigong shu for a hundred chapters and more; he set down affairs in full detail, and his sense is plain while the pattern is complete. Those who look and read make him first and the Grand Historian second. His son Mengjian became a gentleman of the imperial secretariat, and his writing beside Shupi's is not merely five hundred li apart; it is what is meant by the Duke of Zhou and the Duke of Shao, by Lu and Wei. If indeed the ancient can be held high, then the Ban father and son would not be worth setting down.
周有郁郁之文者，在百世之末也。漢在百世之後，文論辭說，安得不茂？喻大以小，推民家事，以睹王廷之義：廬宅始成，桑麻才有，居之歷歲，子孫相續，桃李梅杏，〔奄〕丘蔽野。根莖眾多，則華葉繁茂。漢氏治定久矣，土廣民眾，義興事起，華葉之言，安得不繁？夫華與實俱成者也，無華生實，物希有之。山之禿也，孰其茂也？地之瀉也，孰其滋也？文章之人，滋茂漢朝者，乃夫漢家熾盛之瑞也。天晏，列宿煥炳。陰雨，日月蔽匿。方今文人并出見者，乃夫漢朝明明之驗也。
That Zhou had its rich and glowing writing was because it stood at the end of a hundred generations. Han stands after a hundred generations; how should its writing and argument and speech not flourish? Take the small to liken the great, and push out from the affairs of a commoner's household to behold the sense of the royal court: when a cottage and its grounds are first finished, there are barely mulberry and hemp; but live there through the years, with sons and grandsons following one after another, and peach and plum, mume and apricot cover the hills and hide the fields. When roots and stems are many, blossoms and leaves are luxuriant. It is long since the house of Han settled its rule; the land is broad and the people many, and right is roused and affairs arise; how should words of blossom and leaf not be many? Now blossom and fruit are made together, and a thing that bears fruit without blossom is rare. When a mountain is bare, what should flourish on it? When the ground is washed away, what should increase? That men of letters increase and flourish at the Han court is the auspice of the house of Han at its height. When the sky is clear, the ranked stars shine bright. When it is dark and raining, sun and moon are hidden away. That men of letters now come out together and are seen is the proof that the Han court is bright and bright.
高祖讀陸賈之書，嘆稱萬歲；徐樂、主父偃上疏，征拜郎中：方今未聞。膳無苦酸之肴，口所不甘味，手不舉以啖人。詔書每下，文義經傳四科，詔書斐然，郁郁好文之明驗也。上書不實核，著書無義指，萬歲之聲，征拜之恩，何從發哉？飾面者皆欲為好，而運目者希。
Gaozu read the book of Lu Jia and sighed and cried out a myriad years; Xu Le and Zhufu Yan sent up memorials and were summoned and appointed gentlemen of the palace — of the like in the present day we have not yet heard. Among the dishes there is no bitter or sour morsel: a taste the mouth does not find sweet, the hand does not lift to feed to others. Every time an edict comes down, its sense of writing runs through the four courses of the classics and the traditions, and the edict is elegant; this is the clear proof of a glowing love of writing. If memorials sent up do not examine the reality, and books composed have no sense and no aim, from where should the cry of a myriad years and the grace of summoning and appointment arise? Those who adorn the face all wish to be fair, but few are they who move the eye.
文音者皆欲為悲，而驚耳者寡。陸賈之書未奏，徐樂、主父之策未聞，群諸瞽言之徒，言事麤醜，文不美，潤不指，所謂文辭淫滑，不被濤沙之謫，幸矣，焉蒙征拜為郎中之寵乎？
Those who make writing and sound all wish to make it sorrowful, but few are they who startle the ear. Had the book of Lu Jia not been sent up and the policies of Xu Le and Zhufu not been heard, then the whole company of blind talkers, speaking of affairs coarsely and crudely, their writing not beautiful and their polish pointing at nothing, would be what is called writing and speech lewd and slippery. If they escaped the reproach of taosha, they would be lucky; how then should they receive the favor of being summoned and appointed gentlemen of the palace?