Qishi — All Ages Are Alike齊世篇
語稱上世之人侗長佼好，堅強老壽，百歲左右；下世之人短小陋丑，夭折早死。何則？上世和氣純渥，婚姻以時，人民稟善氣而生，生又不傷，骨節堅定，故長大老壽，狀貌美好。下世反此，故短小夭折，形面丑惡。此言妄也。
The saying goes that the men of the ages above were tall and handsome, firm and strong and long of life, about a hundred years, while the men of the ages below are short and mean and ugly, cut off young and dying early. Why so? In the ages above the harmonious breath was pure and rich, marriages were made in their season, the people received the good breath and were born, and being born they were not harmed, so that their bones and joints were firm and set; and therefore they grew tall and lived long, and their forms and faces were beautiful. The ages below are the reverse of this, and therefore men are short and cut off young, and their bodies and faces are ugly and mean. These words are wild.
夫上世治者，聖人也；下世治者，亦聖人也。聖人之德，前後不殊，則其治世，古今不異。上世之天，下世之天也。天不變易，氣不改更。上世之民，下世之民也，俱稟元氣。元氣純和，古今不異，則稟以為形體者，何故不同？夫稟氣等則懷性均，懷性均則體同，形體同則丑好齊，丑好齊則夭壽適。一天一地，并生萬物。萬物之生，俱得一氣。氣之薄渥，萬世若一。帝王治世，百代同道。人民嫁娶，同時共禮。雖言男三十而娶，女二十而嫁，法制張設，未必奉行。何以效之？以今不奉行也。禮樂之制，存見於今，今之人民，肯行之乎？今人不肯行，古人亦不肯舉。以今之人民，知古之人民也。
Now he who governed the ages above was a sage, and he who governs the ages below is a sage as well. If the virtue of sages does not differ before and after, then their governing of the world is no different in old times and now. The Heaven of the ages above is the Heaven of the ages below. Heaven does not change and alter, and the breath is not made over. The people of the ages above are the people of the ages below, and all of them received the primal breath. If the purity and harmony of the primal breath are no different in old times and now, then for what reason is that which receives it and makes it a body not the same? Now if the receiving of the breath is equal, the nature held is even; if the nature held is even, the body is the same; if the body is the same, ugliness and beauty are alike; if ugliness and beauty are alike, dying young and living long are matched. One Heaven and one Earth together bring forth the ten thousand things. In the birth of the ten thousand things all get one breath. The thinness and the richness of the breath are as one through ten thousand ages. In the emperors' and kings' governing of the world, a hundred generations share one Way. In the marrying of the people, they keep the same season and share the same rites. Though it is said that a man takes a wife at thirty and a woman goes to a husband at twenty, laws and institutions are set out and spread but are not of necessity honored and carried out. How is this proved? By the fact that they are not honored and carried out now. The institutions of the rites and music are still to be seen today; are the people of today willing to practice them? Since the men of today are not willing to practice them, the men of old were not willing to take them up either. By the people of today we know the people of old.
〔人，物也；〕物，亦物也。人生一世，壽至一百歲。生為十歲兒時，所見地上之物，生死改易者多。至於百歲，臨且死時，所見諸物，與年十歲時所見，無以異也。使上世下世，民人無有異，則百歲之間，足以卜筮。六畜長短，五谷大小，昆蟲、草木、金石、珠玉、蜚、蠕動、行、喙息，無有異者，此形不異也。古之水火，今之水火也。今氣為水火也，使氣有異，則古之水清火熱，而今水濁火寒乎？
Man is a thing, and a thing is a thing too. A man lives one lifetime, and his years reach a hundred. Of the things on the earth that he saw when he was born and was a child of ten, many have been born and have died and have changed and altered. But when he reaches a hundred and is about to die, all the things he sees are no different from what he saw at the age of ten. If there were no difference between the people of the ages above and of the ages below, then the space of a hundred years would be enough to divine by. In the length and shortness of the six kinds of stock, the size of the five grains, the insects, the grasses and trees, metal and stone, pearl and jade, the flying, the creeping, the walking and the breathing there is nothing different, and this is because their forms do not differ. The water and fire of old are the water and fire of today. Today it is breath that makes water and fire; if the breath had any difference in it, then would the water of old be clear and its fire hot, and the water of today muddy and its fire cold?
人生長六七尺，大三四圍，面有五色，壽至於百，萬世不異。如以上世人民侗長佼好，堅強老壽，下世反此；則天地初立，始為人時，長可如防風之君，色如宋朝，壽如彭祖乎？從當今至千世之後，人可長如莢英，色如嫫母，壽如朝生乎？王莽之時，長人生長一丈，名曰霸出。建武年中，穎川張仲師長一丈二寸，張湯八尺有餘，其父不滿五尺，俱在今世，或長或短。儒者之言，竟（非）〔大〕誤也。語稱上世使民以宜，傴者抱關，侏儒俳優。
A man grows to six or seven feet and is three or four spans around, he has the five colors in his face, and his years reach a hundred; and this is no different through ten thousand ages. If the people of the ages above were tall and handsome, firm and strong and long of life, and the ages below are the reverse of this, then when Heaven and Earth were first set up and men were first made, could a man be as tall as the lord of Fangfeng, as fair as Song Chao, as long of life as Pengzu? And from today to a thousand ages hence, could a man be as tall as Jiaying, as fair as Momu, as long of life as the creature that is born in the morning? In the time of Wang Mang a tall man was born who grew to one zhang, and he was called Bachu. In the Jianwu era Zhang Zhongshi of Yingchuan was one zhang and two inches tall, and Zhang Tang was over eight feet while his father was not a full five feet; all of them were in the present age, and some were tall and some were short. The words of the Confucian scholars are a great error after all. The saying goes that in the ages above the people were set to what befitted them, so that the hunchbacked kept the gates and the dwarfs were players.
如皆侗長佼好，安得傴侏之人乎？
If they were all tall and handsome, where would one get hunchbacked and dwarfish men?
語稱上世之人質朴易化，下世之人文薄難治，故《易》曰：「上古之時，結繩以治，後世易之以書契。」
The saying goes that the men of the ages above were plain and simple and easy to transform, and that the men of the ages below are showy and shallow and hard to govern; and so the Yi says, "In high antiquity they governed by knotting cords, and later ages changed this for writing and tallies."
先結繩，易化之故；後書契，難治之驗也。故夫宓犧之前，人民至質朴，臥者居居，坐者于于，群居聚處，知其母不識其父。至宓犧時，人民頗文，知欲詐愚，勇欲恐怯，強欲凌弱，眾欲暴寡，故宓犧作八卦以治之。至周之時，人民文薄，八卦難復因襲，故文王衍為六十四首，極其變使民不倦。
That cords were knotted first was because men were easy to transform, and that writing and tallies came after is the proof that they were hard to govern. And so before Fuxi the people were utterly plain and simple: those who lay down lay at ease, those who sat sat unhurried; they lived in herds and gathered in one place, and they knew their mothers and did not know their fathers. By the time of Fuxi the people had grown somewhat showy: the knowing wished to cheat the foolish, the brave wished to frighten the timid, the strong wished to bully the weak, the many wished to do violence to the few; and so Fuxi made the eight trigrams to govern them. By the time of Zhou the people were showy and shallow and the eight trigrams could not be followed further, and so King Wen drew them out into sixty-four heads and exhausted their changes, so that the people should not grow weary.
至周之時，人民（久）〔文〕薄，故孔子作《春秋》，采毫毛之善，貶纖介之惡，稱曰：「周監于二代，郁郁乎文哉！吾從周。」孔子知世浸弊，文薄難治，故加密致之罔，設纖微之禁，檢（狎）〔押〕守持，備具悉極。此言妄也。
By the time of Zhou the people were showy and shallow, and so Confucius made the Chunqiu, gathering up good as small as a hair and cutting down evil as fine as a thread, and he said, "Zhou looked into the two ages before it. How full of brightness is its ornament! I follow Zhou." Confucius knew that the age was sinking into decay, and that being showy and shallow it was hard to govern; and so he added a close and fine-meshed net and set out prohibitions small and minute, checking and guarding and holding fast, so that his preparation was complete to the utmost. These words are wild.
上世之人所懷五常也，下世之人亦所懷五常也。俱懷五常之道，共稟一氣而生，上世何以質朴，下世何以文薄？彼見上世之民飲血茹毛，無五谷之食，後世穿地為井，耕土種谷，飲井食粟，有水火之調；又見上古岩居穴處，衣禽獸之皮，後世易以宮室，有布帛之飾，則謂上世質朴，下世文薄矣。
What the men of the ages above held was the five constants, and what the men of the ages below hold is the five constants as well. All hold the Way of the five constants and all received one breath and were born; then by what are the ages above plain and simple, and by what are the ages below showy and shallow? Those men saw that the people of the ages above drank blood and ate flesh with the hair still on it and had no food of the five grains, while later ages bored the ground to make wells, plowed the soil and planted grain, drank from wells and ate millet, and had the tempering of water and fire; and they saw that in high antiquity men lived on the cliffs and dwelt in caves and wore the skins of birds and beasts, while later ages changed this for palaces and halls and had the adornment of cloth and silk; and so they said that the ages above were plain and simple and the ages below showy and shallow.
夫器業變易，性行不異。然而有質朴文薄之語者，世有盛衰，衰極久有弊也。譬猶衣食之於人也，初成鮮完，始熟香潔，少久穿敗，連日臭茹矣。文質之法，古今所共。一質一文，一衰一盛，古而有之，非獨今也。何以效之？傳曰：「夏后氏之王教以忠。上教以忠，君子忠，其失也，小人野。救野莫如敬，殷〔之〕王（之）教以敬。上教用敬，君子敬，其失也，小人鬼。救鬼莫如文，故周之王教以文。上教以文，君子文，其失也，小人薄。救薄莫如忠，承周而王者，當教以忠。」
Now vessels and trades change and alter, but nature and conduct do not differ. Yet there are these words about plain simplicity and showy shallowness because the age has its flourishing and its decay, and when decay comes to its height and lasts long there is rot. It is like clothing and food for a man: when first made they are fresh and whole, when first cooked they are fragrant and clean; but after a little while they are worn and torn, and as the days go on they stink and turn sour. The law of ornament and of substance is shared by old times and now. Once substance and once ornament, once decay and once flourishing: this was so of old and not today alone. How is it proved? A tradition says, "The kings of the house of Xia taught by loyalty. When those above teach by loyalty the gentleman is loyal, but where it fails the small man is coarse. For curing coarseness there is nothing like reverence, and so the kings of Yin taught by reverence. When those above use reverence the gentleman is reverent, but where it fails the small man serves ghosts. For curing the serving of ghosts there is nothing like ornament, and so the kings of Zhou taught by ornament. When those above teach by ornament the gentleman is adorned, but where it fails the small man is thin. For curing thinness there is nothing like loyalty, and he who is king after Zhou ought to teach by loyalty."
夏所承唐、虞之教薄，故教以忠；唐、虞以文教，則其所承有鬼失矣。世人見當今之文薄也，狎侮非之，則謂上世朴質，下世文薄。猶家人子弟不謹，則謂他家子弟謹良矣。
The teaching of Tang and Yu that Xia came after was thin, and so Xia taught by loyalty; and if Tang and Yu taught by ornament, then what they came after had the failing of serving ghosts. The men of the age see the showy shallowness of today and slight it and call it wrong, and so they say that the ages above were plain and simple and the ages below showy and shallow. It is like a man whose own sons and younger brothers are not careful, and who then says that the sons and younger brothers of another house are careful and good.
語稱上世之人重義輕身，遭忠義之事，得己所當赴死之分明也，則必赴湯趨鋒，死不顧恨。故弘演之節，陳不占之義，行事比類，書籍所載，亡命捐身，眾多非一。今世趨利苟生，棄義妄得，不相勉以義，不相激以行，義廢身不以為累，行隳事不以相畏。此言妄也。
The saying goes that the men of the ages above held right conduct heavy and their own bodies light, so that when they met with a matter of loyalty and right and it was clear that this was the lot in which they ought to go to their death, they would surely go into boiling water and run onto the blade, and die without a backward look of regret. And so the fidelity of Hong Yan and the righteousness of Chen Buzhan are deeds that may be set beside a whole company, and those borne in the books who threw away their lives and gave up their bodies are many and not one alone. The present age runs after gain and lives by shifts, casts away right conduct and takes wildly; men do not urge one another by right conduct nor spur one another by conduct; right conduct is ruined, and they do not count it a burden upon themselves; conduct falls in, and they do not fear one another over the matter. These words are wild.
夫上世之士，今世之士也，俱含仁義之性，則其遭事并有奮身之節。古有無義之人，今有建節之士。善惡雜廁，何世無有。述事者好高古而下今，貴所聞而賤所見。辨士則談其久者，文人則著其遠者。近有奇而辨不稱，今有異而筆不記。若夫琅邪兒子明，歲敗之時，兄為飢人所食，自縛叩頭，代兄為食，餓人美其義，兩舍不食。
Now the gentlemen of the ages above are the gentlemen of the present age; and since all hold the nature of benevolence and right, when they meet with a matter they alike have the fidelity that rouses the body. In old times there were men without right conduct, and today there are gentlemen who set up their fidelity. Good and bad lie mingled side by side; what age has been without them? Those who set down affairs love to raise up the old and put down the present, and to prize what they have heard and hold cheap what they have seen. The debaters speak of what is long ago; the men of letters write of what is far off. There is something marvelous close at hand and their debating does not name it; there is something out of the common today and their brushes do not record it. Take Er Ziming of Langye: in a year of failed harvest his elder brother was about to be eaten by starving men, and he bound himself and knocked his head on the ground and offered to be eaten in his brother's place; and the starving men thought his righteousness beautiful, and let them both go and did not eat them.
兄死，收養其孤，受不異於己之子，歲敗谷盡，不能兩活，餓殺其子，活兄之子。臨淮許君叔亦養兄孤子，歲倉卒之時，餓其親子，活兄之子，與子明同義。會稽孟章父英為郡決曹掾，郡將撾殺非辜，事至覆考，英引罪自予，卒代將死。章后復為郡功曹，從役攻賊，兵卒北敗，為賊所射，以身代將，卒死不去。此弘演之節，陳不占之義，何以異？當今著文書者，肯引以為比喻乎？比喻之証，上則求虞、夏，下則索殷、周。秦、漢之際，功奇行殊，猶以為后。又況當今在百代下，言事者目親見之乎？
When his brother died he took in and raised his orphan, and received him no differently from his own son; and in a year of failed harvest, when the grain was gone and he could not keep both alive, he starved his own son to death and kept his brother's son alive. Xu Junshu of Linhuai also raised his brother's orphan son, and in a year of sudden want he starved his own son and kept his brother's son alive; his righteousness was the same as Ziming's. Ying, the father of Meng Zhang of Kuaiji, was clerk of the bureau of judgments in his commandery; the general of the commandery had a guiltless man beaten to death, and when the matter came to a second inquiry Ying drew the crime upon himself and took it, and in the end died in the general's place. Zhang afterward became merit clerk of the commandery, and went out on service to attack bandits; and when the soldiers were beaten and fled and he was shot at by the bandits, he stood in the general's place with his own body, and died in the end and would not leave him. How do these differ from the fidelity of Hong Yan and the righteousness of Chen Buzhan? Are those who write books and documents today willing to draw them out for a comparison? The proofs for their comparisons are sought above in Yu and Xia and looked for below in Yin and Zhou. Even for the time of Qin and Han, where merit was marvelous and conduct outstanding, they still hold it late. How much more the present age, which is a hundred generations below, and which those who speak of affairs have seen with their own eyes!
畫工好畫上代之人，秦、漢之士，功行譎奇，不肯圖。〔不肯圖〕今世之士者，尊古卑今也。貴鵠賤雞，鵠遠而雞近也。使當今說道深於孔、墨，名不得與之同；立行崇於曾、顏，聲不得與之鈞。何則？世俗之性，賤所見貴所聞也。有人於此，立義建節，實核其操，古無以過。為文書者，肯載於篇籍，表以為行事乎？作奇論，造新文，不損於前人，好事者肯舍久遠之書，而垂意觀讀之乎？揚子雲作《太玄》，造《法言》，張伯松不肯壹觀，與之并肩，故賤其言。使子云在伯松前，伯松以為金匱矣！
Painters love to paint the men of the ages above, and though the gentlemen of Qin and Han were marvelous and outstanding in merit and in conduct they will not draw them. That they will not draw the gentlemen of the present age is honoring the old and holding the present low. To prize the swan and hold the chicken cheap is because the swan is far off and the chicken is near. Though a man today should speak of the Way more deeply than Confucius and Mo, his name cannot stand level with theirs; though he should set up his conduct higher than Zeng and Yan, his fame cannot be weighed equal with theirs. Why so? Because it is the nature of the common world to hold cheap what it has seen and prize what it has heard. Suppose there is a man here who sets up right conduct and sets up fidelity, and if you truly examine how he holds himself, there is none in old times who surpasses him. Are those who make books and documents willing to set him down in a volume and hold him up as a deed done? He makes a marvelous discourse and fashions a new writing that falls nothing short of the men before him; are the lovers of such things willing to lay aside a book of long ago and bend their minds to look at it and read it? Yang Ziyun made the Taixuan and fashioned the Fayan, and Zhang Bosong would not look at them once; it was because he stood shoulder to shoulder with him that he held his words cheap. Had Yang Ziyun been before Bosong, Bosong would have taken them for a golden casket!
語稱上世之時，聖人德優，而功治有奇。故孔子曰：「大哉，堯之為君也！唯天為大，唯堯則之。蕩蕩乎民無能名焉！巍巍乎其有成功也！煥乎其有文章也！」
The saying goes that in the ages above the virtue of the sages was ample and there was something marvelous in their merit and their governing. And so Confucius said, "Great indeed was Yao as a ruler! Only Heaven is great, and only Yao took it for his pattern. Vast indeed, so that the people could find no name for it! Lofty indeed was the merit he achieved! Shining indeed was his ornament and pattern!"
舜承堯不墮洪業，禹襲舜不虧大功。其後至湯，舉兵代桀，武王把鉞討紂，無巍巍蕩蕩之文，而有動兵討伐之言。蓋其德劣而兵試，武用而化薄。化薄，不能相逮之明驗也。及至秦、漢，兵革云擾，戰力角勢，秦以得天下。既得在下，無嘉瑞之美，若協和萬國、鳳皇來儀之類，非德劣不及，功薄不若之徵乎？此言妄也。
Shun came after Yao and did not let the great work fall, and Yu followed Shun and did not chip the great merit. After them, when it came to Tang, he raised troops and took the place of Jie, and King Wu grasped the axe and struck King Zhou (紂); and there is no writing about the lofty and the vast, but words about moving troops and striking and attacking. It would seem that their virtue was poorer and so they tried out arms, and that they used the armed hand and their transforming was thin. That their transforming was thin is the clear proof that they could not come up to the others. When it came to Qin and Han, war and arms were in confusion like clouds and men fought with strength and struggled for power, and Qin got the world by it. Having got the world below, it had no beauty of lucky omens, nothing of the kind of the harmonizing of the ten thousand states or the phoenix coming to dance; is this not a sign that its virtue was poorer and did not reach them, and its merit thinner and not their like? These words are wild.
夫天地氣和，即生聖人。聖人之治，即立大功。和氣不獨在古先，則聖人何故獨優！世俗之性，好褒古而毀今，少所見而多所聞。又見經傳增賢聖之美，孔子尤大堯、舜之功。又聞堯、（禹）〔舜〕禪而相讓，湯、武伐而相奪。則謂古聖優於今，功化渥地後矣。夫經有褒增之文，世有空加之言，讀經覽書者所共見也。孔子曰：「紂之不善，不若是之甚也。是以君子惡居下流，天下之惡皆歸焉。」
Now when the breath of Heaven and Earth is harmonious a sage is born, and the sage's governing sets up great merit. If the harmonious breath is not in the ancient and the earlier alone, then for what reason should the sages alone be ample! It is the nature of the common world to love to praise the old and tear down the present, and it has seen little and heard much. They see besides that the classics and the traditions add to the beauty of the worthy and the sage, and that Confucius made the merit of Yao and Shun greater still. They hear besides that Yao and Shun gave up the throne and yielded to one another, while Tang and Wu struck and took by force. And so they say that the sages of old were ampler than those of today, and that merit and transforming were richer then than in the later age. Now that the classics have writing that praises and adds, and that the world has words added emptily, is what those who read the classics and look at books all see. Confucius said, "The badness of King Zhou was not so extreme as this. It is for this that the gentleman hates to dwell in the low stream, where all the evil of the world flows in."
世常以桀、紂與堯、舜相反，稱美則說堯、舜，言惡則舉紂、桀。孔子曰「紂之不善不若是之甚也」，則知堯、舜之德不若是其盛也。
The world always sets Jie and King Zhou against Yao and Shun: when it names the beautiful it speaks of Yao and Shun, and when it speaks of evil it holds up King Zhou and Jie. Confucius said, "The badness of King Zhou was not so extreme as this"; and by that we know that the virtue of Yao and Shun was not so full as is said.
堯、舜之禪，湯、武之誅，皆有天命，非優劣所能為，人事所能成也。使湯、武在唐、虞，亦禪而不伐；堯、舜在殷、周，亦誅而不讓。蓋有天命之實，而世空生優劣之語。經言協和萬國，時亦有丹朱；鳳皇來儀，時亦有有苗；兵皆動而并用，則知德亦何優劣而小大也！
The yielding of the throne by Yao and Shun and the punishing by Tang and Wu were all of Heaven's command; they are not what ampleness or poorness could bring about, nor what the affairs of men could accomplish. Had Tang of Yin (湯) and Wu been in the time of Tang (唐) and Yu, they too would have yielded the throne and not struck; had Yao and Shun been in Yin and Zhou, they too would have punished and not given way. It would seem that the truth of Heaven's command was there, and that the world has emptily brought forth words about the ampler and the poorer. The classic says that he harmonized the ten thousand states, yet in that time there was Danzhu as well; it says that the phoenix came and danced, yet in that time there was the Youmiao as well. Since arms were moved and used in both alike, we know what ampleness or poorness, what greatness or smallness, there can be in their virtue!
世論桀、紂之惡，甚於亡秦。實事者謂亡秦惡甚於桀、紂。秦、漢善惡相反，猶堯、舜、桀、紂相違也。亡秦與漢皆在後世，亡秦惡甚於桀、紂，則亦知大漢之德不劣於唐、虞也。唐之萬國，固增而非實者也。有虞之鳳皇，宣帝貼已五致之矣。孝明帝符瑞并至。夫德優故有瑞，瑞鈞則功不相下。宣帝、孝明如劣不及堯、舜，何以能致堯、舜之瑞？光武皇帝龍興鳳舉，取天下若拾遺，何以不及殷湯、周武？世稱周之成、康不虧文王之隆，舜巍巍不虧堯之盛功也。方今聖朝承光武，襲孝明，有浸酆溢美之化，無細小毫髪之虧，上何以不逮舜、禹，下何以不若成、康！世見五帝、三王事在經傳之上，而漢之記故，尚為文書，則謂古聖優而功大，後世劣而化薄矣！
The world holds in its discussions that the evil of Jie and King Zhou was worse than that of fallen Qin. Those who speak of the real say that the evil of fallen Qin was worse than that of Jie and King Zhou. That Qin and Han are the reverse of one another in good and evil is like the parting of Yao and Shun from Jie and King Zhou. Fallen Qin and Han are both in the later age; and if the evil of fallen Qin was worse than that of Jie and King Zhou, then we know as well that the virtue of great Han is not poorer than that of Tang and Yu. The ten thousand states of Tang were from the first an addition and not the reality. The phoenix of Youyu, Emperor Xuan has already brought down five times. Under Emperor Xiaoming the tokens and the lucky omens came all together. Now where virtue is ample there are lucky omens, and where the omens are equal the merits are not below one another. If Emperor Xuan and Xiaoming were poorer and did not reach Yao and Shun, by what could they bring down the omens of Yao and Shun? Emperor Guangwu rose like a dragon and soared like a phoenix, and took the world as though picking up something dropped; by what does he not reach Tang of Yin and Wu of Zhou? The world says that Cheng and Kang of Zhou did not chip the fullness of King Wen, and that the loftiness of Shun did not chip the flourishing merit of Yao. Now the sage court follows Guangwu and comes after Xiaoming, and has a transforming that soaks and swells and overflows with beauty, without the chipping of the smallest hair; by what does it above not come up to Shun and Yu, and below fall short of Cheng and Kang! The world sees that the affairs of the five emperors and the three kings stand on the classics and the traditions while the records of Han are as yet only documents, and so it says that the sages of old were ample and their merit great, and that the later age is poorer and its transforming thin!