Yanfu — Proof of the Omens驗符篇
永平十一年，廬江皖侯國（民）際有湖。皖民小男曰陳爵、陳挺，年皆十歲以上，相與釣於湖涯。挺先釣，爵後往。爵問挺曰：「釣宁得乎？」挺曰：「得。」爵即歸取竿綸，去挺四十步所，見湖涯有灑樽，色正黃，沒水中。爵以為銅也，涉水取之，滑重不能舉。挺望見，號曰：「何取？」爵曰：「是有銅，不能舉也。」挺往助之，涉水未持，樽頓衍更為盟盤，動行入深淵中，復不見。挺、爵留顧，見如錢等正黃數百千（枝）〔枚〕，即共掇〔摭〕，各得滿手，走歸示其家。爵父國，故免吏，字君賢，驚曰：「安所得此？」爵言其狀，君賢曰：「此黃金也。」
In the eleventh year of Yongping there was a lake on the border of the marquisate of Wan in Lujiang. Two small boys of the people of Wan, Chen Jue and Chen Ting, both a little over ten years old, went fishing together at the lakeside. Ting fished first and Jue came later. Jue asked Ting, "Has your fishing caught anything?" Ting said, "It has." Jue then went back for his rod and line, and about forty paces from Ting he saw at the lakeside a wine jar, its color pure yellow, sunk in the water. Jue took it for bronze and waded in to take it, but it was slippery and heavy and he could not lift it. Ting saw him from where he stood and called out, "What are you taking?" Jue said, "There is bronze here, and I cannot lift it." Ting went to help him, and before they had waded in and laid hold of it the jar shifted all at once and turned into a covenant basin, and it moved off into the deep pool and was not seen again. Ting and Jue stayed and looked about, and they saw hundreds upon thousands of pieces like coins, pure yellow, and at once they gathered them up together and each got a handful. They ran home and showed them to their families. Jue's father Guo, a clerk dismissed from office, whose style name was Junxian, was startled and said, "Where did you get this?" Jue told him how it was, and Junxian said, "This is yellow gold."
即馳與爵俱往，到金處，水中尚多，賢自涉水掇取。爵、挺鄰伍并聞，俱竟采之，合得十餘斤。賢自言於相，相言太守。太守遺吏收取，遣門下掾程躬奉獻，具言得金狀。詔書曰：「如章則可。不如章，有正法。」
He ran off at once and went with Jue to the place of the gold, and there was still much of it in the water, and Xian waded in himself and gathered it up. The neighbors of Jue and Ting all heard of it and all vied in picking it out, and together they got more than ten catties. Xian spoke of it himself to the chancellor, and the chancellor spoke of it to the governor. The governor sent a clerk to collect it and take it, and sent Cheng Gong, aide of his office, to offer it up, telling in full how the gold had been got. The imperial writ said, "If it is as the report says, well and good. If it is not as the report says, there is the proper law."
躬奉詔書歸示太守，太守以下思省詔書，以為疑隱，言之不實，苟飾美也，即復因卻上得黃金實狀，如前章。事寢。十二年，賢等上書曰：「賢等得金湖水中，郡牧獻訖，今不得直。」
Gong carried the imperial writ back and showed it to the governor, and the governor and those below him thought over the writ and looked into it and took it that they were held to be hiding something, that their words were not true and that they had merely dressed the thing up handsomely. So they sent up again, in reply, the true state of the getting of the yellow gold, the same as in the former report. The matter went to sleep. In the twelfth year Xian and the others sent up a letter saying, "Xian and the rest of us got gold in the water of the lake, and the shepherd of the commandery has finished presenting it, and now we have had no payment."
詔書下廬江，上不畀賢等金直狀。郡上賢等所采金自官湖水，非賢等私瀆，故不與直。十二年，詔書曰：「視時金价，畀賢等金直。」
An imperial writ went down to Lujiang for a report on the state of not giving Xian and the others the price of the gold. The commandery reported that the gold Xian and the others had picked out came from an official lake water and was not a private ditch of Xian and the rest, and so no price was given. In the twelfth year the imperial writ said, "Look at the price of gold at that time and give Xian and the others the price of the gold."
漢瑞非一，金出奇怪，故獨紀之。
The omens of Han are not one alone, but the coming out of the gold was strange and wonderful, and so it is recorded by itself.
金玉神寶，故出詭異。金物色先為酒樽，後為盟盤，動行入淵，豈不怪哉！夏之方盛，遠方圖物，貢金九牧，禹謂之瑞，鑄以為鼎。周之九鼎，遠方之金也，人來貢之，自出於淵者，其實一也。皆起盛德，為聖王瑞。金玉之世，故有金玉之應。文帝之時，玉棒見。金之與玉，瑞之最也。金聲玉色，人之奇也。永昌郡中亦有金焉，纖靡大如黍粟，在水涯沙中，民采得日重五銖之金，一色正黃。土生金，土色黃。漢，土德也，故金化出。金有三品，黃比見者，黃為瑞也。圯橋老父遺張良書，化為黃石。黃石之精，出為符也。夫石，金之類也，質異色鈞，皆土瑞也。
Gold and jade are divine treasures, and so they come out in odd and strange ways. The color of that gold thing was first a wine jar and then a covenant basin, and it moved off into the pool. How is that not a wonder! When Xia was at its full the far regions drew pictures of their things and offered gold from the nine shepherds, and Yu called it an omen and cast it into cauldrons. The nine cauldrons of Zhou were gold from the far regions. Men coming to offer it, and its coming out of a pool of itself, are in truth one and the same. Both arise from full virtue and are omens for a sage king. It is an age of gold and jade, and so there are answers of gold and jade. Under Emperor Wen a jade staff appeared. Gold and jade are the highest of omens. A voice like metal and a look like jade are the wonder of a man. In the commandery of Yongchang too there is gold, fine and small, as big as millet or grain, lying in the sand at the water's edge, and the people pick it out and get gold weighing five shu a day, and its one color is pure yellow. Earth gives birth to metal, and the color of earth is yellow. Han is of the virtue of earth, and so gold is changed and comes forth. Gold has three grades, and it is the yellow that has appeared again and again, for the yellow is the omen. The old man at the Yi Bridge left a book for Zhang Liang and turned into a yellow stone. The essence of the yellow stone came out to be a token. Now stone is of the kind of metal. Its substance differs but its color is even, and both are omens of earth.
建初三年，零陵泉陵女子傅宁宅土中，忽生芝草五本，長者尺四五寸，短者七八寸，莖葉紫色，蓋紫芝也。太守沈酆遺門下掾衍盛奉獻，皇帝悅懌，賜錢衣食。詔會公卿郡國上計吏民皆在，以芝告示天下。天下并聞，吏民歡喜，咸知漢德丰雍，瑞應出也。四年，甘露下泉陵、零陵、洮陽、始安、冷道五縣，榆柏梅李，葉皆洽薄，威委流漉，民嗽吮之，甘如飴蜜。五年，芝草復生泉陵男子周服宅（上）〔土〕六本，色狀如三年芝，并前凡十一本。
In the third year of Jianchu, in the earth of the house of a woman named Fu Ning, at Quanling in Lingling, five roots of auspicious mushroom suddenly grew. The long ones were a foot and four or five inches, the short ones seven or eight inches, and stalk and leaf were purple, so they were purple mushrooms. Shen Feng, the governor, sent Yan Sheng, aide of his office, to offer them up, and the emperor was glad and pleased and granted money, clothing and food. By his writ he called an assembly, and the dukes and ministers and the accounting clerks of the commanderies and the kingdoms and the people were all there, and by the mushrooms he announced it and showed it to all under heaven. All under heaven heard of it together, clerks and people rejoiced, and all knew that the virtue of Han was full and abundant and that the answer of omens was coming out. In the fourth year sweet dew came down on the five counties of Quanling, Lingling, Taoyang, Shi'an and Lengdao, and the leaves of elm, cypress, plum and damson were all thoroughly wetted and hung down and dripped and ran, and the people sucked and drank it, and it was sweet as syrup and honey. In the fifth year auspicious mushrooms grew again, six roots, in the earth of the house of a man named Zhou Fu at Quanling, and their color and shape were like the mushrooms of the third year, and with the former ones there were eleven roots in all.
湘水去泉陵城七里，水上聚石曰燕室丘，臨水有俠山，其下岩（淦）〔吟〕，水深不測，二黃龍見，長出十六丈，身大於馬，舉頭顧望，狀如圖中畫龍，燕室丘民皆觀見之。去龍可數十步，又見狀如駒馬小大凡六，出水遨戲陵上，蓋二龍之子也。并二龍為八，出移一時乃入。宣帝時，鳳皇下彭城，彭城以聞。宣帝詔侍中宋翁一，翁一曰：「鳳皇當下京師，集於天子之郊，乃遠下彭城，不可收，與無下等。」
The Xiang River is seven li from the city of Quanling. The stones gathered on the water are called Yanshi Hill, and facing the water is Mount Xia, and below it at the foot of the crag the water is deep beyond measure. Two yellow dragons appeared. The length that came out was sixteen zhang, their bodies were bigger than a horse, and they raised their heads and looked about, their shape like a dragon drawn in a picture, and all the people of Yanshi Hill watched and saw them. Some tens of paces from the dragons, six more were seen, shaped like colts and of that size, and they came out of the water and played on the hill, and they were no doubt the young of the two dragons. With the two dragons they made eight, and they were out for the space of one hour before they went in. In Emperor Xuan's time a phoenix came down at Pengcheng, and Pengcheng reported it. Emperor Xuan put the question to Song Wengyi, the palace attendant, and Wengyi said, "A phoenix ought to come down at the capital and gather in the suburbs of the Son of Heaven. To come down far away at Pengcheng is not to be gathered in. It is the same as not coming down at all."
宣帝曰：「方今天下合為一家，下彭城與京師等耳，可（令）可與無下等乎？」
Emperor Xuan said, "Now all under heaven is joined into one house, and coming down at Pengcheng is just the same as at the capital. Can it be called the same as not coming down at all?"
令左右通經者語難翁一，翁一窮，免冠叩頭謝。宣帝之時，與今無異。鳳皇之集，黃龍之出，鈞也。彭城、零陵，遠近同也。帝宅長遠，四表為界，零陵在內，猶為近矣。魯人公孫臣，孝文時言漢土德，其符黃龍當見。其後，黃龍見於成紀。成紀之遠，猶零陵也。孝武、孝宣時，黃龍皆出。黃龍比出，於茲為四。漢竟土德也。
He had those about him who were versed in the classics speak and press Wengyi hard, and Wengyi came to the end of his answers, and he took off his cap and knocked his head on the ground and begged pardon. Emperor Xuan's time was no different from now. The gathering of a phoenix and the coming out of a yellow dragon are even. Pengcheng and Lingling are the same in nearness and farness. The emperor's dwelling is long and far and the four outer bounds are its border, and Lingling lies within it and is the nearer of the two. Gongsun Chen, a man of Lu, said in Xiaowen's time that Han was of the virtue of earth, and that its token, a yellow dragon, ought to appear. Afterward a yellow dragon appeared at Chengji. Chengji is as far off as Lingling. In the times of Xiaowu and Xiaoxuan yellow dragons came out in both. Yellow dragons have come out one after another, and with this it makes four. Han is of the virtue of earth after all.
賈誼創議於文帝之朝，云：「漢色當尚黃，數以五為名。」
Jia Yi first raised the matter at Emperor Wen's court and said, "The color of Han ought to hold yellow highest, and its number should be named by five."
賈誼，智襄之臣，云色黃數五，土德審矣。芝生於土，土氣和，故芝生（土）。土爰稼穡，稼穡作甘，故甘露集。龍見，往世不雙，唯夏盛時二龍在庭，今龍雙出，應夏之數，治諧偶也。龍出往世，其子希出，今小龍六頭并出遨戲，象乾坤六子，嗣後多也。唐、虞之時，百獸率舞，今亦八龍遨戲良久。芝草延年，仙者所食，往世生出不過一二，今并前後凡十一本，多獲壽考之徵，生育松喬之糧也。甘露之降，往世一所，今流五縣，應土之數，德布也。皇瑞比見，其出不空，必有象為，隨德是應。
Jia Yi was a minister of wise help, and he said the color was yellow and the number five, so the virtue of earth is plain. The mushroom grows in earth, and the breath of earth is in harmony, and so the mushroom grows. Earth is for sowing and reaping, and sowing and reaping make the sweet, and so sweet dew gathers. As for dragons appearing, in former ages they were not in pairs, and only when Xia was at its full were two dragons in the courtyard. Now dragons have come out in a pair, answering to the number of Xia, for the rule is in tune and matched. When dragons came out in former ages their young came out rarely. Now six small dragons have come out together and played, in the likeness of the six children of Qian and Kun, for those who will follow as heirs are many. In the time of Tang and Yu the hundred beasts danced in a line. Now too eight dragons played for a good long while. The auspicious mushroom lengthens the years and is what the immortals eat, and in former ages no more than one or two grew and came out. Now with the former and the latter together there are eleven roots in all, and many signs of long life are got, and the food of Song and Qiao is brought forth and reared. The falling of sweet dew was in one place in former ages. Now it has flowed in five counties, answering to the number of earth, for virtue is spread abroad. The august omens have appeared again and again, and their coming out is not empty. There is surely a likeness in it, and the answer follows upon virtue.
孔子曰：「知者樂，仁者壽。」
Confucius said, "He who knows takes joy, and he who is humane lives long."
皇帝聖人，故芝草壽徵生。黃為土色，位在中央，故軒轅德優，以黃為號。皇帝寬惠，德侔黃帝，故龍色黃，示德不異。東方曰仁，龍，東方之獸也，皇帝聖人，故仁瑞見。
The emperor is a sage, and so the auspicious mushroom, a sign of long life, grows. Yellow is the color of earth and its place is at the center, and so Xuanyuan, being full in virtue, took the yellow for his name. The emperor is broad and kind and his virtue is equal to the Yellow Emperor's, and so the dragons were yellow in color, to show that the virtue is no different. The east is called humaneness, and the dragon is a beast of the east, and the emperor is a sage, and so the omen of humaneness appeared.
仁者，養育之味也，皇帝仁惠愛黎民，故甘露降。龍，潛藏之物也，陽見於外，皇帝聖明，招拔岩穴也。瑞出必由嘉士，佑至必依吉人也。天道自然，厥應偶合。聖主獲瑞，亦出群賢。君明臣良，庶事以康。文、武受命，力亦周、邵也。
Humaneness is the taste of nurturing and rearing, and the emperor is humane and kind and loves the people, and so sweet dew came down. The dragon is a thing that sinks and hides, and it showed its yang outwardly because the emperor is sagely and bright and calls and draws men out of crags and caves. Omens come out surely by way of fine gentlemen, and help arrives surely leaning on men of good fortune. The way of Heaven is what is so of itself, and its answers meet by chance. When a sage ruler gets an omen, a crowd of worthy men comes out as well. When the ruler is bright and his ministers are good, the many affairs are at ease. When Wen and Wu received the command, their strength was also that of Zhou and Shao.