Siwei — False Tales of the Dead死偽篇

A tradition says: King Xuan of Zhou killed his minister Du Bo though he was guiltless. When King Xuan was about to hunt in his park, Du Bo rose on the left of the road, took up a red bow and shot King Xuan, and King Xuan fell forward and died. Duke Jian of Yan killed his minister Zhuang Ziyi though he was guiltless. When Duke Jian was about to enter the Huan gate, Zhuang Ziyi rose on the left of the road, took up a red staff and struck him dead beneath his carriage.

These two are the proof that dead men become ghosts, and the evidence that ghosts have knowledge and can harm men. What if it is not so? I say: man is born among the ten thousand things. When a thing dies it cannot become a ghost; why then should man alone be able to become a ghost when he dies? If it is because man is noble that he can become a ghost, then all the noble ought to become ghosts. Why should Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi alone become ghosts? If it is those who suffer guiltlessly who can become ghosts, then in the world the ministers who have suffered guiltlessly are many, yet the likes of Bigan and Zixu did not become ghosts. Now Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi, without the Way, in anger and resentment, took revenge and killed their rulers. No crime is greater than killing a ruler. Then the honored one among those who die and become ghosts ought to cut them down in turn, and that is not what Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi would dare do. When men harm one another, they hate the other's being alive and hate the sight of his body, and so they kill him and be rid of him. The household of the slain goes to the officials to sue their enemy, and the enemy too hates the sight of them. The living and the dead take different roads, and men and ghosts dwell in different places. If Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi resented that King Xuan and Duke Jian ought not to have killed them, then those rulers should become ghosts in turn and gather with them. A ruler's majesty is of itself more awful than a minister's, and the guards about him and the men he employs are of themselves many. Two ministers killed two rulers, and the two rulers in their death ought also to repay it. This is not the deep counsel of one who has knowledge, but the work of hatred. If the two ministers were divine, they ought to have known that the two rulers, once dead, would repay them; and if they did not know it, then they were not divine either. Not being divine, how could they harm men? The world has much that seems right and is wrong, and the empty and the false resemble the true. And so the tales of Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi live on here and there.

Duke Hui of Jin (晉) reburied the crown prince Shensheng. In autumn his servant Hu Tu was going to Xiaguo when he met the crown prince. The crown prince hurried up onto the servant's carriage and told him: "Yiwu was without propriety. I have obtained my request from the Lord on High, and I shall give Jin (晉) to Qin (秦), and Qin (秦) shall sacrifice to me." Hu Tu answered: "Your servant has heard that a spirit does not savor the offerings of another kind, and a people does not sacrifice to another clan. Would not my lord's sacrifices then be cut off! And what is the crime of the people, that punishment should be misplaced and sacrifice made wanting? Let my lord consider it!" The crown prince said: "Very well, I shall ask again. In seven days, at the western corner of Xincheng, there will be a shaman who will let you see me." He consented, and then was seen no more. When the day came, Hu Tu went to the shaman's house at the western corner of Xincheng and met Shensheng again. Shensheng told him: "The Lord on High has consented to punish the guilty one. He will be struck down at Han."

Four years after this, Duke Hui fought Duke Mu of Qin (秦) in the land of Han and was taken by Duke Mu. In the end it was as he had said. If this is not divine, what is it? I say: this too is of the kind of Du Bo and Zhuang Ziyi. How is it made plain? Now a reburial is a private grudge, and the Lord on High is a spirit held in common. To contend before a spirit held in common over a private grudge, who would consent to listen? The Lord had consented to give Jin (晉) to Qin (秦); Hu Tu held it not right, and Shensheng followed Hu Tu's words. Then the Lord on High's consent to Shensheng was wrong. A spirit who is the Lord on High and yet falls short of Hu Tu is surely not the Lord on High; that is plain. Again, a minister does not dare seek a private favor from his ruler, because the ruler is honored and the minister lowly, and he dare not offend with what is not right. Set Shensheng beside the Lord on High: how is it merely a minister and his ruler! To resent Duke Hui's reburial and to offend against the honored command of the Lord on High is not a thing that may be done. Li Ji slandered him and killed his person, and Duke Hui reburied his corpse. The evil of a reburial is smaller than killing a man, and Duke Hui's crime is lighter than Li Ji's. He asked that Duke Hui be punished and did not ask that Li Ji be killed. Then Shensheng hated the reburial and did not resent being killed. The First Emperor of Qin used the counsel of Li Si, burned the Odes and the Documents, and afterward buried the scholars alive. The resentment of the academicians is not less than Shensheng's, and the evil of burying scholars alive smarts more than a reburial. Yet the dead scholars of Qin made no request of the Lord on High, and did not show their shape as ghosts and gather to tell the students that the First Emperor was without the Way and Li Si without decency.

King Wu of Zhou fell ill and was not at ease. The Duke of Zhou asked for his destiny. He set out three altars in one place, set up the jade disc and held the jade tablet, and made announcement to King Tai, King Ji and King Wen, and the scribe then prayed with a written tablet, saying: "I am kind and follow my departed father, of many talents and many arts, and able to serve the ghosts and spirits. Your eldest grandson So-and-so is not, like Dan, of many talents and many arts, and cannot serve the ghosts and spirits."

By ghosts and spirits the three kings are meant. If dead men have no knowledge, they cannot become ghosts and spirits. The Duke of Zhou was a sage. If a sage's words are examined true, then he has grasped the reality of the dark and hidden; and if he has grasped the reality of the dark and hidden, then it is plain that the three kings were ghosts and spirits. I say: can a man in truth be divine? He cannot be divine. Were he divine, he ought to know the minds of the three kings, and not merely to have examined that they were ghosts.

The Duke of Zhou asked for his destiny, and the scribe made announcement and prayed with a tablet. When the prayer was done and the words were ended, he did not know whether the three kings knew him or not, and so he divined with three tortoise shells, and only when all three were auspicious did he rejoice. He could know that the three kings had knowledge and were ghosts, but he could not know whether the three kings consented to him or not, and had to wait upon the three tortoise shells before he knew the reality. He settled that they were ghosts, and had to wait until there was something to ask before he knew it. Whether dead men have knowledge or not, and whether they consent to a man or do not, are one and the same reality. If he could know that the three kings would surely consent to him, then his saying that the three kings were ghosts may be believed. If he could not know it, then his saying that the three kings were ghosts is like the common people of the world; and if his knowledge is the same as the common world's, then the reality of the dead cannot be settled. Again, by what did the Duke of Zhou obtain what he asked? Did he obtain it by utmost sincerity? Or did he obtain it by the rightness of his words? If by utmost sincerity, then in his plea for destiny sincerity brought the ghosts, and he did not regard whether the words were right or wrong.

Dong Zhongshu's method of praying for rain was to set up an earthen dragon to stir the breath. Now an earthen dragon is not real and cannot bring rain, yet Zhongshu used it to bring his sincerity, and did not regard whether the thing was false or true. Then the Duke of Zhou's plea for destiny is like Zhongshu's prayer for rain, and the three kings' not being ghosts is like heaped earth's not being a dragon.

Xun Yan of Jin attacked Qi and turned back without finishing the business. A festering sore broke out on his head, and when he reached the land of Zhuoyong his eyes started out with the sickness. He died and still stared, and the jade could not be put in his mouth. Fan Xuanzi washed him and stroked him, saying: "In serving Wu, shall I dare serve him less than I served my lord?" Still he stared. Xuanzi, seeing that he would not close his eyes, thought he resented his son Wu. What men's feelings resent is always the son, and so he spoke of Wu to soothe him; that he still stared was because this was not what he resented. Luan Huaizi said: "Is it because the business in Qi was not finished?"

Then he stroked him again and said: "If my lord is indeed dead, then for him who does not carry on the business in Qi there is the River." At once he closed his eyes and received the jade. The attack on Qi left unfinished was what Xun Yan resented; Huaizi hit upon it, and so the eyes closed and the mouth received the jade, while Xuanzi missed it, and so the eyes stayed open and the mouth was shut fast. I say: Xun Yan's sickness made him suffer with starting eyes at his death. When the eyes start out the mouth is clenched, and when the mouth is clenched the jade cannot be put in. He was newly dead and his breath was still strong, and his sickness had made him suffer with starting eyes. Xuanzi stroked him too early, and so the eyes did not close and the mouth did not open. A little later the breath waned, and Huaizi stroked him, and so the eyes closed and the mouth received the jade. This was Xun Yan's own sickness, not a dead man's spirit showing its resentment in mouth and eyes. Every man who dies has something he resents. A man of resolve resents that his righteous work is not yet established; a man of learning resents that much of his questioning has fallen short; a farmer resents that he has plowed and not yet stored the grain; a merchant resents that his goods and money have not yet increased; an officeholder resents that his post has not reached the highest; a brave man resents that his powers are not yet ample. All under Heaven have each what they desire, and so each has what he resents. If it must be that not closing the eyes shows something resented, then all the men under Heaven would die with their eyes unclosed. Again, in the dead the essence and the soul melt away and scatter, and they no longer hear men's words. Not to be able to hear men's words is what is called death. If it leaves the form and becomes a ghost by itself, standing at a man's side, then though it hears men's words it is already cut off from the form. How could it enter the body again to close the eyes and open the mouth? If it could enter the body and show its resentment through the corpse, then it could avoid dying and keep watch together with the form. Look at how the men of the world discuss death. To say that a man's spirit can somehow raise up a form again with its essence and soul and show its face, making the corpse like a living man, is a mistake.

King Cheng of Chu deposed the crown prince Shangchen and wished to set up the prince Zhi. Shangchen heard of it and surrounded the king with the palace guards. The king asked to eat a bear's paw and then die, and they would not listen. The king hanged himself and died. They named him "Ling," and his eyes did not close; they named him "Cheng," and then they closed. Now that with "Ling" they did not close and with "Cheng" they did is the evidence that King Cheng had knowledge. When they named him "Ling" his heart resented it, and so his eyes did not close; when they changed the name to "Cheng" his heart was glad, and then they closed. His spirit heard men's discussion and saw men alter his name, and so it rejoiced and the eyes closed. His eyes had not been sick, and no man stroked and comforted him, yet the eyes shut and opened of themselves. If this is not divine, what is it? I say: this again is of Xun Yan's kind. Though the eyes were not sick, neither did they open for nothing. King Cheng at that time had hanged himself and died. His breath was still strong, he was newly cut off, and his eyes were still open, and thereupon they named him "Ling." A little later his breath waned and his eyes were just about to close, and at that very moment they changed it to "Cheng." That the eyes stared and closed, and that the name was "Ling," answered each other by chance. The men of that time saw that they closed just as "Cheng" was given, and so said that King Cheng's soul had knowledge. If it had knowledge, then the eyes ought never to have closed at all. Why? That the crown prince killed him is a great evil, and that they added the name "Ling" is a small fault. Not to harbor anger at a great evil, and instead to resent a small fault, is not evidence of anything divine, nor proof of a showing meant to tell men. Now an evil name, if not "Ling," is "Li," and those recorded on bamboo and silk as "Ling" or "Li" are many; yet at the time when their corpses were not yet coffined, they did not all fail to close their eyes. How should the dead rulers of the world not be hated, and King Cheng alone be hated! Why are those named "Ling" so many, and those who do not close their eyes so few?

Boyou of Zheng was greedy of belly and had many desires, and Zixi loved to be above others. The two did not agree, and Zixi attacked Boyou. Boyou fled, and Si Dai led the men of the state to attack him, and Boyou died. Nine years after, the men of Zheng frightened one another with Boyou. When they said "Boyou has come!" they all ran, not knowing where to go. The next year someone saw Boyou in a dream, walking in armor and saying: "On the day renzi I shall kill Dai. Next year, on the day renyin, I shall also kill Duan." When the day renzi came, Si Dai died, and the men of the state feared the more. Afterward, when the day renyin came, Gongsun Duan also died, and the men of the state feared still more. Zichan set up an heir for him to soothe him, and then it stopped. Boyou appeared in a dream and said: "On renzi I shall kill Dai, and on renyin I shall also kill Duan." And when the day renzi came Si Dai died, and when renyin came Gongsun Duan died. Afterward Zichan went to Jin, and Zhao Jingzi asked him: "Could Boyou indeed become a ghost?" Zichan said: "He could. When a man is born, the first transformation is called the po; and once the po is born, the yang is called the hun. If the things one uses are many in essence, then hun and po are strong, and thus there is a clear vigor that reaches to spiritual brightness. When a common man or a common woman dies a violent death, their hun and po can still lean upon men and become a wanton pestilence. How much more Boyou, the descendant of our former ruler Duke Mu, the grandson of Ziliang, the son of Zi'er, a minister of our poor city, who followed the government for three generations. Though Zheng is not rich, and the saying goes that it is a tiny little state, yet for three generations he held the handle of its government. The things he used were ample, and he took much essence. His clan too was great, and what he leaned on was thick. And he died a violent death. Is it not fitting that he could become a ghost!"

That Boyou killed Si Dai and Gongsun Duan without missing the day is proof of a divinity examined true. That Zichan set up an heir for him and it stopped is knowing the disposition of ghosts and spirits. Knowing their disposition, he knew their reality. It is real and not empty, and so he answered the question without doubt. Zichan was a wise man, and his knowledge of things was well examined. If the dead have no knowledge, how could Boyou kill Dai and Duan? If he could not become a ghost, why did Zichan not doubt? I say: the one who was Boyou's enemy was Zixi. Zixi attacked him and Boyou fled, and then Si Dai led the men of the state and attacked Boyou at last. Gongsun Duan followed Si Dai and was not the root of the feud, and his evil was small. Boyou killed Si Dai and did not repay Zixi; and Gongsun Duan, whose evil was small, died along with Dai. Then Boyou's soul had no knowledge, and as a ghost taking revenge it missed the fitness of light and heavy. Again Zichan said: "One who dies a violent death can become a ghost."

What is called dying a violent death? Is it that Boyou's destiny was not yet due to end and men killed him? Or is it that Boyou was guiltless and men wronged him? If it means that the destiny was not yet due and men killed him, then many die whose destiny is not yet due. If it means that he was guiltless and men wronged him, then those who suffer wrong are not one either. Boyou died a violent death and could become a ghost, yet Bigan and Zixu did not become ghosts. In the time of the Spring and Autumn, rulers were murdered thirty-six times. A ruler who is murdered may be said to have died a violent death. Holding one whole state as its elder, his use of the essence of things may be called much. Succeeding to the line and holding land, it was not merely three generations. Noble as a ruler of men, it is not the same as the station of a minister. The ancestor first enfeoffed must have been of the kind of Duke Mu and Ziliang. When the most honored ruler of a state receives the murderous disaster of a rebellious minister, his hun and po becoming a ghost must be plainer than Boyou's, and his repaying the feud and killing his enemy a disaster thicker than Dai's and Duan's. Of the thirty-six rulers not one became a ghost, and of the thirty-six ministers not one was repaid. If it is because Boyou was without the Way that his spirit had knowledge, then in the world none were so without the Way as Jie and King Zhou (紂); and Jie and King Zhou were cut down and died, and their po could not become ghosts. Then Zichan's account followed upon a thing already done. He saw that Boyou died a violent death, and so said that a man who dies a violent death can become a ghost. If there had been one who did not die a violent death and became a ghost, then he would have said that a man who does not die a violent death can become a ghost. Zixi in Zheng, how did he differ from Boyou? His death, how did it differ from Boyou's? Both were killed by the state for being without the Way. Boyou could become a ghost and Zixi could not. The account of the violent death goes through for Boyou and is blocked for Zixi. Then the tale of Boyou is the tale of Du Bo. Du Bo cannot be allowed, and Boyou cannot be held right either.

Duke Huan of Qin (秦) attacked Jin (晉) and halted at Fushi. The marquis of Jin (晉) drilled his troops at Ji, seized the land of the Di, set up the marquis of Li, and returned. Then Wei Ke defeated the army of Qin (秦) at Fushi and took Du Hui. Du Hui was a strong man of Qin (秦). At first Wei Wuzi had a favorite concubine who had no son. When Wuzi fell ill he commanded Ke: "Be sure to marry this concubine off." When the sickness pressed him he changed and said: "Be sure to have her buried with me." When Wuzi died, Ke did not bury the concubine with him. Someone objected, and Ke said: "When the sickness is grave the mind is disordered; I followed him when he was clear." Then came the battle at Fushi, and Wei Ke saw an old man knotting grass to block Du Hui. Du Hui caught his foot and fell, and so he was taken. At night he saw an old father in a dream who said: "I am the father of the woman you married off. You used the command your forebear gave while he was clear, and so I repay you."

Now the father of the favorite concubine knew Wei Ke's kindness, and so showed his body as a ghost and knotted grass to help in the battle. This, they say, is the proof and evidence that a spirit has knowledge. I say: if the woman's father could know Wei Ke's kindness, and become a ghost showing his shape to help in his battle, he must also be able to repay those he was good to while alive and to kill those he hated while alive. In all men's dealings there is thick and thin, and thick and thin ought to be repaid, just as the woman who was married off ought to give thanks. Now he could not repay those he was thick with while alive, and could repay only one who was good to him after his death. This is not proof of having knowledge, nor evidence of being able to become a ghost. Zhang Liang was walking on the Si River when an old father gave him a book. Guangwu was hard pressed north of the He when an old man instructed him. When the allotment is noble and the time is auspicious, one is bound to meet the answering proof of blessing and joy. Wei Ke was bound to take Du Hui and to have merit in the battle, and so the uncanny shape of an old man knotted grass on the road.

King Ji was buried at the foot of Mount Huashan (滑山). The Luan waters beat against his tomb, and the front board of the coffin came into view. King Wen said: "Ah! The former ruler must wish to see his many ministers and the hundred families once more! And so he has made the Luan waters bring him into view here." And he set out court for him, and the hundred families all saw him, and after three days he was buried again.

King Wen was a sage and knew the reality of the Way and of affairs. Seeing King Ji's coffin come into view, he knew that his spirit wished to see the hundred families, and so he brought him out for them to see. I say: the emperors and kings of old and of now who have died and been buried in the earth are counted by thousands and ten thousands, and not one of them wished to come out again and see the hundred families. Why should King Ji alone be so? On the banks of the He and the Si the tombs set up are not one, and where the rushing water breaks the soil the coffins and outer coffins lie bare beyond counting. Do they all wish to see the hundred families again? That the Luan waters beat the foot of Mount Huashan is like the currents of the He and the Si rushing at bank and cliff. King Wen saw the coffin board laid bare and was moved to grief and resentment, and thought the former ruler must wish to come out again. With a loving and filial heart and a hoping mind, the worthy and the sage grieve and have no leisure to think and discuss. He pushed from the living to reckon the dead, and so buried him again. The world, wishing to believe the words of the worthy and the sage, then said that King Ji wished to see the hundred families.

Duke Jing of Qi was about to attack Song. His army passed Mount Tai, and the duke dreamed of two elders standing in very great anger. The duke told Yanzi, and Yanzi said: "These are the forebears of Song, Tang and Yi Yin." The duke doubted it and took them for the spirits of Mount Tai. Yanzi said: "Since my lord doubts, let Ying describe the look of Tang and Yi Yin. Tang was fair and tall, bearded at the chin, sharp above and full below, haughty in body and ringing in voice." The duke said: "So it is, that is he." "Yi Yin was dark and short, shaggy and bearded, full above and sharp below, bent in body and low in voice." The duke said: "So it is, that is he. What shall I do now?" Yanzi said: "Now Tang, Taijia, Wuding and Zuji were flourishing rulers of all under Heaven, and ought not to be left without posterity. Today there is only Song, and my lord attacks it, and so Tang and Yi Yin are angry. I ask that you disband the army and make peace with Song."

The duke did not use his words and attacked Song in the end, and the army was indeed defeated. Now, they say, Tang and Yi Yin had knowledge and hated Duke Jing's attack on Song, and so appeared in a dream in great anger to forbid and stop him; Duke Jing did not stop, and the army was indeed unlucky. I say: Duke Jing also once saw a comet in a dream, and at that time no comet came out, yet he saw it in a dream. His seeing the comet was in truth not real, and his dreaming of Tang and Yi Yin was in truth not real either. It may be that Duke Jing's army was to be defeated, and this was the sign of ill luck. Yanzi believed the dream and described the shapes of Tang and Yi Yin plainly, and Duke Jing followed Yanzi's words and held them right. Qin brought all under Heaven together and cut off Yi Yin's posterity, and so it has been down to today, and Tang and Yi Yin receive no sacrifice. Why then are they not angry?

Zichan of Zheng went on a mission to Jin. The marquis of Jin was ill, and Han Xuanzi met the guest and spoke with him in private, saying: "Our poor ruler has lain sick three months now. We have run together to all the noted hills and streams, and it only grows and does not mend. Now he dreams that a yellow bear comes in at his bedchamber door. What pestilent ghost is this?" He answered: "With my lord's brightness, and with you handling the great government, what pestilent ghost could there be! Of old Yao put Gun to death at Mount Yu, and his spirit became a yellow bear and entered the Yu abyss. He was in truth the object of the Xia suburban sacrifice, and the three dynasties sacrificed to him. Jin is the leader of the covenant. Perhaps it has not sacrificed to him!"

Han Xuanzi performed the Xia suburban sacrifice, and the marquis of Jin had relief. The yellow bear was Gun's spirit; the marquis of Jin did not sacrifice to him, and so he came in at the bedchamber door. Jin knew it and sacrificed to him, and so the sickness had relief. Is this not proof that the dead have knowledge? I say: that Gun was put to death at Mount Yu, men know. That his spirit became a yellow bear and entered the Yu abyss, how could men get to know it? Had it been like Gongniu Ai of Lu, who fell sick and changed into a tiger, he was there, and so it could be made real. Now Gun was put to death far off at Mount Yu, and no man dwelt with him. How could they know it! Besides, the text says that his spirit became a bear, and this is after death. That after death the soul-spirit became a yellow bear is not what men can know. When a man dies the world calls him a ghost, and a ghost copies the shape of a living man, so that seeing it is no different from seeing a man; and even so it is not the spirit of the dead man. How much more a bear, which has not a man's shape and is not like a man? If on examination Gun died and his spirit became a yellow bear, then when a bear dies its spirit too may sometimes become a man; and when men see it in a dream, how do they know it is not the spirit of a dead bird or beast? To believe the yellow bear and call it Gun's spirit, and again to believe the ghost one sees and take it for the essence of a dead man, is to leave the essence of men and things unsettled, and the yellow bear's being Gun's spirit cannot be examined true. Again, a dream is an image. When good or ill fortune is about to come, spiritual brightness shows an image, and the omen of the bear and the brown bear has its own meaning. Suppose Gun died and his spirit did on examination become a yellow bear. Is a dream of a yellow bear then surely Gun's spirit? The feudal lords sacrifice to hills and streams. Suppose the marquis of Jin had dreamed of hills and streams. Could one then say that because he had not sacrificed to the hills and streams, the hills and streams showed themselves? When men are sick they often dream of forebears and dead men coming to stand at their side. Can one then say that the forebears and the dead men are seeking food, and so come and show their shape? What men see in dreams turns out to mean something else, and one does not take what is seen for the reality. How is this proved? A man dreams of a living man, and the next day the man he dreamed of does not come to see him. Now if the man seen in a dream does not come to see him, then it is known that Gun's yellow bear did not come in at the bedchamber door; and if it did not come in, then Gun was not seeking food; and if he was not seeking food, then the marquis of Jin's sickness was not the disaster of abandoning the Xia suburban sacrifice; and if it was not the disaster of abandoning the Xia suburban sacrifice, then the marquis of Jin's relief was not the blessing of performing the Xia suburban sacrifice. If there is no reality of blessing, then there is no proof of having knowledge. It is like Liu An, king of Huainan, who died for plotting rebellion, and whom the world handed down as having become an immortal and risen to Heaven. The tradition was empty from the start, and though Zichan heard it, he could not make it real either. It happened that the marquis of Jin's sickness was just then waning of itself, and Zichan came out with the reading of the yellow bear, and so men believed the yellow bear was Gun's spirit.

The Exalted Emperor held that Ruyi, king of Zhao, was like himself and wished to set him up. Empress Lü was angry and resentful, and afterward poisoned the king of Zhao. Afterward Empress Lü went out and saw a grey dog bite her left armpit. She thought it strange and divined about it, and it was said that Ruyi, king of Zhao, was the curse; and at last she sickened of the wounded armpit, did not recover, and died. This, they say, is because Ruyi's spirit became a grey dog and showed a portent to repay its enemy. I say: brave men in anger cross blades and fight, and the loser takes a wound, falls to the ground and dies. His eyes saw the other strike him, and after death his spirit still cannot repay it. When Empress Lü poisoned Ruyi she did not go herself but sent a man to make him drink. He did not know that it was deadly poison, and did not know who it was that killed him. How could he become a curse and repay Empress Lü? If the dead have knowledge, none resented more than Gaozu. Gaozu loved Ruyi, and Empress Lü killed him. Gaozu's soul in anger should have been like thunder and lightning, and Empress Lü's death should not have waited out the day. Was Gaozu's essence then less than Ruyi's spirit? Or did he after death hate Ruyi and think Empress Lü's killing good?

The chancellor Tian Fen, marquis of Wu'an, and the former general in chief Guan Fu harbored a grudge over wine, and the affair came to the ears of the emperor. Guan Fu was put in prison, and Dou Ying tried to save him, but his power could not deliver him. Guan Fu fell to the law, and Dou Ying died as well. Afterward Tian Fen's sickness grew grave, and he cried out "Yes, yes!" He had men look, and he saw Guan Fu and Dou Ying sitting together at his side. The sickness did not wane, and at last he came to die. I say: those who kill one another are not one man, and the killers fall sick afterward and do not see the ones they killed, yet Tian Fen saw the ones he killed. That Tian Fen alone was so is because his heart bore anger and resentment, and his sickness disordered him and he saw wildly. Or it may be that he saw some other ghost, and the man who divined the ghost had heard of his old quarrel with Fu and Ying, and wished to show a name for divine discernment; seeing him raving "Yes, yes," he then said that Fu and Ying were sitting at his side.

Yin Qi, commandant of Huaiyang, was a cruel and harsh officer. When he died, the households of his enemies wished to burn his corpse, and the corpse fled away and went home for burial. Now, they say, it had knowledge, and so knew that men were about to burn it, and it was divine, and so could flee away. I say: if Yin Qi's fleeing was divine, then there is something it answers to. In the time of Qin three mountains vanished, and at the end of Zhou the nine cauldrons sank. If what vanishes must be divine, then had the three mountains and the nine cauldrons knowledge? It may be that an officer knew the plan of the enemy households, and secretly took up the body and carried it away, and feared that the enemy households would resent him, and so said that it had gone of itself. Now a man can flee because his feet can walk. Here he is dead, blood and veins cut off, and his feet cannot move again. By what does he flee away? Wu boiled Wu Zixu, and Han minced Peng Yue. Burning and mincing are one, and Zixu and Yue were of one bravery. Zixu and Peng Yue could not avoid the boiling or flee the mincing, and to say that Yin Qi alone could go home to be buried is a word that has lost the reality, a saying that is not proved.

The fallen Xin reburied Empress Fu of Emperor Yuan. They opened her coffin, took the jade casing and the seal, sent them to Dingtao, and buried her by the rites of a commoner. When the coffin was opened, the stench shot up to Heaven, and the aide of Luoyang came to the coffin, smelled the stench, and died. They also reburied Empress Ding of the prince Gong of Dingtao, and fire came out from the vault and burned to death several hundred officers and soldiers. Now, they say, the reburial was low in its rites, and it stripped and took away their precious things. There were two resentments, and so they made the stench come out and the fire arise, to strike and hurt men. I say: that the stench was smelled to Heaven is because the food things stored were many, and they rotted and broke out foully, so that men could not bear the venomous rankness; it is no marvel. That fire came out from the vault is a marvel, but it is not Empress Ding's spirit. How is this proved? Which is the greater, the resentment of a reburial, or the digging up of a tomb and the stealing of its goods? In years of famine those who dig up mounds and tombs and take the clothes and goods are counted by thousands and ten thousands. The dead have no knowledge: men strip them of their clothes and goods and lay their bones bare, and at the time they cannot forbid it, and afterward they cannot repay it. This is still too low and mean to be worth speaking of. The First Emperor of Qin was buried at Mount Li, and at the end of the Second Emperor the bandits of all under Heaven dug up his tomb, and he could not send out a stench or make fire to kill a single man. Noble as a Son of Heaven, he could not be divine. How could Ding and Fu, who were women, work marvels? Portents and divinities are not one, and they arise in different places. To see fire and smell a stench and then call it the spirits of Ding and Fu is a mistake.