Xuanhan — In Praise of the Han宣漢篇
儒者稱五帝、三王致天下太平，漢興已來，未有太平。彼謂五帝、三王致太平，漢未有太平者，見五帝、三王聖人也，聖人之德能致太平；謂漢不太平者，漢無聖帝也，賢者之化，不能太平。又見孔子言「鳳鳥不至，河不出圖，吾已矣夫」，方今無鳳鳥、《河圖》，瑞頗未至悉具，故謂未太平。此言妄也。
The Confucian scholars say that the Five Emperors and the Three Kings brought great peace to the world, and that since the rise of Han there has been no great peace. When they say that the Five Emperors and the Three Kings brought great peace while Han has had none, it is because they see that the Five Emperors and the Three Kings were sages and that the virtue of a sage can bring great peace; and when they say that Han is not at great peace, it is that Han has had no sage emperor, and that the transforming of a worthy man cannot make great peace. They see besides that Confucius said, "The phoenix does not come and the Yellow River (河) sends forth no chart. It is all over with me!"; and since today there is no phoenix and no River Chart (河圖), and the omens have not all come and been made complete, they say there is no great peace yet. These words are wild.
夫太平以治定為效，百姓以安樂為符。孔子曰：「修己以安百姓，堯、舜其猶病諸！」
Now great peace takes settled governing for its proof, and the people take ease and joy for its tally. Confucius said, "To make oneself careful so as to give ease to the hundred families — even Yao and Shun found that hard!"
百姓安者，太平之驗也。夫治人以人為主，百姓安而陰陽和，陰陽和則萬物育，萬物育則奇瑞出。視今天下，安乎？危乎？安則平矣，瑞雖未具，無害於平。故夫王道定事以驗，立實以效，效驗不彰，實誠不見。時或實然，証驗不具。是故王道立事以實，不必具驗。聖（主）〔王〕治世，期於平安，不須符瑞。
That the people are at ease is the proof of great peace. Now in governing men, men are the chief thing: when the people are at ease the yin and the yang are in harmony; when the yin and the yang are in harmony the ten thousand things are nourished; when the ten thousand things are nourished marvelous omens come forth. Look at the world today: is it at ease or in danger? If it is at ease then it is at peace, and though the omens are not complete this does no harm to the peace. And so the kingly Way settles a matter by proof and sets up the real by evidence; and where the evidence is not clear the true reality is not seen. There are times when a thing is really so and yet the proofs are not complete. For this reason the kingly Way sets up its affairs by what is real and does not of necessity have the proofs complete. When the sage king governs the world he looks to peace and ease, and does not wait upon tokens and omens.
且夫太平之瑞，猶聖（主）〔王〕之相也。聖王骨法未必同，太平之瑞何為當等？彼聞堯、舜之時，鳳皇、景星皆見，《河圖》、《洛書》皆出，以為後王治天下，當復若等之物，乃為太平。用心若此，猶謂堯當復比齒，舜當復八眉也。夫帝王聖相，前後不同，則得瑞古今不等。而今王無鳳鳥、《河圖》，（為）〔謂〕未太平，妄矣。孔子言鳳皇、《河圖》者，假前瑞以為語也，未必謂世當復有鳳皇與《河圖》也。夫帝王之瑞，眾多非一，或以鳳鳥、麒麟，或以《河圖》、《洛書》，或以甘露、醴泉，或以陰陽和調，或以百姓安。今瑞未必同於古，古應未必合於今，遭以所得，未必相襲。何以明之？以帝王興起，命（祜）〔佑〕不同也。
Moreover, the omens of great peace are like the bodily signs of a sage king. If the frame and bones of sage kings are not of necessity the same, why should the omens of great peace be equal? Those men have heard that in the time of Yao and Shun the phoenix and the jingxing (景星) both appeared and the River Chart and the Luo Writing (洛書) both came forth, and they hold that when a later king governs the world there ought to be such things again before there is great peace. To use the mind in this way is like saying that Yao ought to have joined teeth again and Shun eyebrows of eight colors again. Now if the sage signs of emperors and kings are not the same before and after, then the omens they get are not equal in old times and now. Yet men say that because the king today has no phoenix and no River Chart there is no great peace yet; and this is wild. When Confucius spoke of the phoenix and the River Chart he borrowed the omens of former times to make his words; he did not of necessity mean that the age ought to have the phoenix and the River Chart again. Now the omens of emperors and kings are many and not one: some are the phoenix and the qilin, some the River Chart and the Luo Writing, some sweet dew and the sweet spring, some the harmony and evenness of the yin and the yang, some the ease of the people. The omens of today are not of necessity the same as those of old, and the answering of old does not of necessity fit today; what each has met with and got does not of necessity follow upon the other. How is this made clear? By this, that when emperors and kings arise their command and their help are not the same.
周則烏、魚，漢斬大蛇。推論唐、虞，猶周、漢也，初興始起，事效物氣，無相襲者。太平瑞應，何故當鈞？以已至之瑞，效方來之應，猶守株待兔之蹊，藏身破之路也。
For Zhou it was the crow and the fish; Han cut down the great snake. Reason it out for Tang and Yu and they are like Zhou and Han: at their first rising and their beginning, the proofs of affairs and the breath of things have nothing that follows upon another. Why then should the answering omens of great peace be equal? To take the omens that have already come and test by them the answer that is yet to come is the path of keeping watch by the stump and waiting for a hare, the road of hiding the body and being broken.
天下太平，瑞應各異，猶家人富殖，物不同也：或積米谷，或藏布帛，或畜牛馬，或長田宅。夫樂米谷不愛布帛，歡牛馬不美田宅，則謂米谷愈布帛，牛馬勝田宅矣。今百姓安矣，符瑞至矣，終謂古瑞《河圖》、鳳皇不至，謂之未安，是猶食稻之人入飯稷之鄉，不見稻米，謂稷為非谷也。實者，天下已太平矣，未有聖人何以致之，未見鳳皇何以效實！問世儒不知聖，何以知今無聖人也？世人見鳳皇，何以知之？既無以知之，何以知今無鳳皇也？委不能知有聖與無，又不能別鳳皇是鳳與非，則必不能定今太平與未平也。
That the answering omens differ each from each when the world is at great peace is like a household growing rich in goods that are not the same: one piles up rice and grain, one stores cloth and silk, one raises oxen and horses, one adds to fields and houses. Now if a man delights in rice and grain and does not care for cloth and silk, or takes joy in oxen and horses and does not think fields and houses beautiful, then he says that rice and grain are better than cloth and silk, and that oxen and horses beat fields and houses. Today the people are at ease and the tokens and omens have come, and yet men say in the end that the old omens, the River Chart and the phoenix, have not come, and that there is no ease yet; and this is like a man who eats rice going into a country that eats millet, and seeing no rice, saying that millet is not grain. In reality the world is already at great peace. If there were no sage, by what was it brought about; and if no phoenix has been seen, by what shall the reality be proved! I ask: since the Confucian scholars of the age do not know a sage, by what do they know that there is no sage today? If the men of the age saw a phoenix, by what would they know it? Since they have no way of knowing it, by what do they know that there is no phoenix today? Since they cannot know whether there is a sage or not, and cannot tell either whether a phoenix is a phoenix or not, they surely cannot settle whether today is at great peace or not yet at peace.
孔子曰：「如有王者，必世然後仁。」
Confucius said, "Even if there were a true king, it would surely take a generation before men were made benevolent."
三十年而天下平〔也〕。
That is, in thirty years the world is at peace.
漢興，至文帝時二十餘年，賈誼創議以為天下洽和，當改正朔、服色、制度，定官名，興禮樂。文帝初即位，謙讓未遑。夫如賈生之議，文帝時已太平矣。漢興二十餘年，應孔子之言「必世然後仁」也。漢一（代）〔世〕之年數已滿，太平立矣，賈生知之。況至今且三百年，謂未太平，誤也。且孔子所謂一世，三十年也；漢家三百歲，十帝耀德，未平，如何？夫文帝之時，固已平矣，歷世（持）〔治〕平矣。至平帝時，前漢已滅，光武中興，復致太平。
After the rise of Han, by the time of Emperor Wen, in something over twenty years, Jia Yi put forward the proposal that the world was in accord and harmony and that the calendar, the colors of robes and the institutions ought to be changed, the names of offices settled, and the rites and music raised up. Emperor Wen had just come to the throne, and in his modesty and yielding he had no leisure for it. Now if it were as Master Jia proposed, there was great peace already in the time of Emperor Wen. It was something over twenty years since the rise of Han, and this answers to the word of Confucius, "It would surely take a generation before men were made benevolent." The count of years for one generation of Han was already full, and great peace was established, and Master Jia knew it. How much more now, when it is coming on three hundred years; to say there is no great peace yet is an error. Besides, the one generation that Confucius spoke of is thirty years; and in three hundred years of the house of Han ten emperors have made their virtue shine, and still men say there is no peace. How is that? Now in the time of Emperor Wen there was peace already, and generation after generation it was governed and at peace. By the time of Emperor Ping the Former Han had fallen, and Guangwu raised it up again in the middle course and brought great peace once more.
問曰：「文帝有瑞，可名太平；光武無瑞，謂之太平，如何？」
It is asked, "Emperor Wen had omens and may be named great peace; Guangwu had no omens, and yet it is called great peace. How is that?"
曰：夫帝王瑞應，前後不同。雖無物瑞，百姓宁集，風氣調和，是亦瑞也。何以明之？帝王治平，升封太山，告安也。秦始皇升封太山，遭雷雨之變，治未平，氣未和。光武皇帝升封，天晏然無雲，太平之應也，治平氣應。光武之時，氣和人安，物瑞等至，人氣已驗，論者猶疑。孝宣皇帝元康二年，鳳皇集於太山，後又集於新平。四年，神雀集於長樂宮，或集於上林，九真獻麟。神雀二年，鳳皇、甘露降集京師。
I answer: Now the answering omens of emperors and kings are not the same before and after. Though there be no omen in things, when the people settle and gather and the breath of the winds is even and in harmony, this too is an omen. How is this made clear? When an emperor's governing is at peace he goes up to Mount Tai and makes the feng sacrifice, announcing the peace. The First Emperor of Qin went up to Mount Tai and made the feng sacrifice and met with the calamity of thunder and rain; his governing was not yet at peace and the breath was not yet in harmony. When Emperor Guangwu went up and made the feng sacrifice, the sky was clear and without a cloud; this was the answer of great peace, the governing at peace and the breath answering to it. In the time of Guangwu the breath was in harmony and men were at ease and the omens in things came equally, so that men and breath were already proof; and yet those who discuss it still doubt. In the second year of Yuankang of Emperor Xiaoxuan a phoenix gathered on Mount Tai, and afterward another gathered at Xinping. In the fourth year the spirit sparrows gathered in the Changle Palace, and some gathered in the Shanglin park, and Jiuzhen presented a qilin. In the second year of Shenque the phoenix and sweet dew came down and gathered in the capital.
四年，鳳皇下杜陵及上林。五鳳三年，帝祭南郊，神光并見，或興（子）〔於〕谷，燭耀齋宮，十有餘（日）〔刻〕。明年，祭後土，靈光復至，至如南郊之時；甘露、神雀降集延壽萬歲宮。其年三月，鸞鳳集長樂宮東門中樹上。甘露元年，黃龍至，見於新丰，醴泉滂流。彼鳳皇雖五六至，或時一鳥而數來，或時異鳥而各至。麒麟、神雀、黃龍、鸞鳥、甘露、醴泉，祭後土、天地之時，神光靈耀，可謂繁盛累積矣。孝明時雖無鳳皇，亦致〔麒〕麟、甘露、醴泉、神雀、白雉、紫芝、嘉禾，金出鼎見，離木復合。五帝、三王，經傳所載瑞應，莫盛孝明。如以瑞應效太平，宣、明之年倍五帝、三王也。夫如是，孝宣、孝明可謂太平矣。
In the fourth year a phoenix came down at Duling and in the Shanglin park. In the third year of Wufeng the emperor sacrificed in the southern suburb, and a spirit light appeared along with it, rising at times from the valley and lighting up the fasting palace for more than ten marks of the clock. The next year he sacrificed to the Sovereign Earth, and the numinous light came again, as it had at the time of the southern suburb; and sweet dew and the spirit sparrows came down and gathered at the Yanshou and Wansui palaces. In the third month of that year the luan bird and the phoenix gathered in a tree inside the eastern gate of the Changle Palace. In the first year of Ganlu a yellow dragon came and was seen at Xinfeng, and the sweet spring flowed over. Though that phoenix came five or six times, it may be that one bird came many times, or that different birds each came once. The qilin, the spirit sparrows, the yellow dragon, the luan bird, sweet dew and the sweet spring, and the numinous shining of the spirit light at the sacrifices to the Sovereign Earth and to Heaven and Earth, may be called abundant and heaped up. In the time of Xiaoming, though there was no phoenix, he too brought the qilin, sweet dew, the sweet spring, the spirit sparrows, the white pheasant, the purple mushroom and the fine grain; gold came forth and a cauldron appeared, and a tree that had parted joined again. Of the answering omens borne in the classics and the traditions for the Five Emperors and the Three Kings, none is fuller than under Xiaoming. If great peace is to be proved by answering omens, the years of Xuan and Ming are double those of the Five Emperors and the Three Kings. And if this is so, Xiaoxuan and Xiaoming may be called great peace.
能致太平者，聖人也，世儒何以謂世未有聖人？天之稟氣，豈為前世者渥，後世者泊哉！周有三聖，文王、武王、周公并時猥出。漢亦一代也，何以當少於周？周之聖王，何以當多於漢？漢之高祖、光武，周之文、武也。文帝、武帝、宣帝、孝明、今上，過周之成、康、宣王。非以身生漢世，可褒增頌嘆，以求媚稱也；核事理之情，定說者之實也。俗好褒遠稱古，講瑞〔則〕上世為美，論治則古王為賢，睹奇於今，終不信然。使堯、舜更生，恐無聖名。獵者獲禽，觀者樂獵，不見漁者，（之）心不顧也。是故觀於齊不虞魯，游於楚不歡宋。唐、虞、夏、殷同載在二尺四寸，儒者（推）〔抽〕讀，朝夕講習，不見漢書，謂漢劣不若，亦觀獵不見漁，游齊、楚不願宋、魯也。使漢有弘文之人，經傳漢事，則《尚書》、《春秋》也，儒者宗之，學者習之，將襲舊六為七，今上、上王至高祖皆為聖帝矣。觀杜撫、班固等所上《漢頌》，頌功德符瑞，汪深廣，滂沛無量，逾唐、虞，入皇域，三代隘辟，厥深沮也。殷監不遠，在夏后之世。且舍唐、虞、夏、殷，近與周家斷量功德，實商優劣，周不如漢。
He who can bring great peace is a sage; by what then do the Confucian scholars of the age say that the age has had no sage? In Heaven's giving of the breath, how should it be rich for the ages before and thin for the ages after! Zhou had three sages, and King Wen, King Wu and the Duke of Zhou came forth in a crowd at one and the same time. Han is one age too; by what should it have fewer than Zhou? By what should the sage kings of Zhou be more than those of Han? The Gaozu and the Guangwu of Han are the Wen and the Wu of Zhou. Emperor Wen, Emperor Wu, Emperor Xuan, Xiaoming and the emperor now on the throne surpass Cheng, Kang and King Xuan of Zhou. This is not a praising and adding and a hymn of wonder, made to seek the name of a flatterer because my own body was born in the age of Han; it is to look into the truth of affairs and of reason, and to settle what is real in those who discuss them. It is the way of the common world to love to praise what is far off and to name what is old: when they discourse of omens they call the ages above beautiful; when they discuss governing they call the kings of old worthy; and though they see what is marvelous today, in the end they do not believe it so. If Yao and Shun were born again, I fear they would have no name as sages. When the hunter takes his game the onlookers enjoy the hunt; not seeing the fisherman, their minds do not turn to him. And so the man who is looking at Qi does not think of Lu, and the man who travels in Chu takes no joy in Song. Tang and Yu, Xia and Yin are borne together on the two feet and four inches, and the Confucian scholars draw them out and read them and study them morning and evening; but they do not look at the writings of Han, and they say that Han is poorer and not their like — and this too is watching the hunt and not seeing the fishing, traveling in Qi and Chu and not longing for Song and Lu. If Han had a man who could make writing broad, and made the affairs of Han into classics and traditions, they would be a Documents and a Chunqiu; the Confucian scholars would honor them and students would study them, and they would follow the old six and make a seventh, and the emperor now on the throne and the kings above him down to Gaozu would all be sage emperors. Look at the Hansong presented by Du Fu (杜撫) and Ban Gu and others: their praise of merit and virtue and of tokens and omens is deep and broad and overflowing beyond measure, passing Tang and Yu and entering the region of the sovereigns, while the three dynasties are narrow and cramped and their depth caves in. The mirror of Yin is not far off; it lies in the age of the lords of Xia. And if we set aside Tang and Yu, Xia and Yin, and reckon merit and virtue off against the house of Zhou, which is nearer, and truly weigh which is ampler and which poorer, Zhou is not the equal of Han.
何以驗之？周之受命者文、武也，漢則高祖、光武也。文、武受命之降怪，不及高祖、光武初起之佑；孝宣、〔孝〕明之瑞，美於周之成、康、宣王。孝宣、孝明符瑞，唐、虞以來，可謂盛矣。今上即命，奉成持滿，四海混一，天下定宁，物瑞已極，人應（訂）〔斯〕隆。唐世黎民雍熙，今亦天下修仁，歲遭運氣，谷頗不登，路無絕道之憂，深幽無屯聚之奸。周家越常獻白雉，方今匈奴、鄯善、哀牢貢獻牛馬。周時僅治五千里內，漢氏廓土收荒服之外。牛馬珍於白雉，近屬不若遠物。古之戎狄，今為中國；古之人，今被朝服；古之露首，今冠章甫；古之跣跗，今履（商）〔高〕舄。以盤石為沃田，以桀暴為良民，夷坎坷為平均，化不賓為齊民，非太平而何？夫實德化則周不能過漢，論符瑞則漢盛於周，度土境則周狹於漢，漢何以不如周？獨謂周多聖人，治致太平？儒者稱聖泰隆，使聖卓而無跡；稱治亦泰盛，使太平絕而無續也。
How is this proved? Those who received the command for Zhou were Wen and Wu, and for Han they were Gaozu and Guangwu. The strange things that came down when Wen and Wu received the command do not come up to the help given to Gaozu and Guangwu at their first rising; and the omens of Xiaoxuan and Xiaoming are more beautiful than those of Cheng, Kang and King Xuan of Zhou. The tokens and omens of Xiaoxuan and Xiaoming may be called full, beyond any since Tang and Yu. The emperor now on the throne has gone to his command, upholds what was achieved and keeps it full; the four seas are mingled into one and the world is settled and at rest; the omens in things are already at their height and the answer in men is full accordingly. In the age of Tang the people were harmonious and glad, and today too the world cultivates benevolence: though the year meets with a turn of the breath and the grain does not ripen well, there is no fear of the roads being cut, and in the deep and hidden places no bands of rogues gather. In the house of Zhou the Yueshang presented a white pheasant; today the Xiongnu, Shanshan and Ailao bring oxen and horses in tribute. In the time of Zhou they governed barely within five thousand li; the house of Han widened its land and gathered in what lies beyond the huangfu zone. Oxen and horses are more precious than a white pheasant, and what is near at hand is not the equal of a thing from afar. The Rong and the Di of old are the Middle Kingdom today; the men of old wear court robes today; those of old who went bare-headed today wear the zhangfu cap; those of old who went barefoot today wear high shoes. Rock ledges are made into rich fields, the cruel and violent are made into good people, the rough and broken ground is leveled even, and those who would not come as guests are transformed into orderly subjects: if this is not great peace, what is? Now if we go by the real transforming of virtue, Zhou cannot pass Han; if we discuss tokens and omens, Han is fuller than Zhou; if we measure the bounds of land, Zhou is narrower than Han; by what then is Han not the equal of Zhou? Are we to say that Zhou alone had many sages, and that its governing brought great peace? The Confucian scholars name the sage too high, and make the sage so far apart that he leaves no track; and they name his governing too full, and make great peace a thing cut off, with nothing to follow it.