Making Oneself Anew世説新語 自新第十五
1The ancients prized hearing the Way in the morning and dying that evening; how much more when your road still lies ahead
周處年少時，兇彊俠氣，為鄉里所患；又義興水中有蛟，山中有邅跡虎，並皆暴犯百姓；義興人謂為「三橫」，而處尤劇。或說處殺虎斬蛟，實冀「三橫」唯餘其一。處即刺殺虎，又入水擊蛟，蛟或浮或沒，行數十里，處與之俱。經三日三夜，鄉里皆謂已死，更相慶。竟殺蛟而出。聞里人相慶，始知為人情所患，有自改意。乃入吳尋二陸。平原不在，正見清河，具以情告，並云：「欲自修改，而年已蹉跎，終無所成！」清河曰：「古人貴朝聞夕死，況君前途尚可。且人患志之不立，亦何憂令名不彰邪？」處遂改勵，終為忠臣孝子。
When Zhou Chu was young he was fierce and strong and full of a bravo's spirit, and his village suffered from him.
Also, in the waters of Yixing there was a flood dragon, and in the hills there was a tiger that dragged its tracks, and both of them savagely preyed upon the people.
The people of Yixing called these the Three Crosswise Scourges, and Chu was the worst of them.
Someone urged Chu to kill the tiger and cut down the flood dragon, hoping in truth that of the Three Crosswise Scourges only one would be left.
Chu at once stabbed the tiger dead, and then went into the water and struck at the flood dragon. The dragon now floated and now sank, and it went some tens of li, and Chu went along with it.
Three days and three nights passed, and the whole village said he was already dead, and they congratulated one another.
In the end he killed the dragon and came out. Hearing the village people congratulating one another, he knew for the first time that he was what men's hearts suffered from, and he had a mind to change himself.
So he went into Wu and sought out the two Lu. Pingyuan was not there, and he saw only Qinghe.
He told him his whole heart, and said, "I wish to mend and change myself, but my years have already slipped away, and in the end I shall accomplish nothing."
Qinghe said, "The ancients prized hearing the Way in the morning and dying that evening; how much more when your road still lies ahead. Besides, what a man should suffer over is that his will is not set up. Why then should you worry that a good name will not shine out?"
Chu thereupon changed himself and strove, and in the end he became a loyal subject and a filial son.
Interlinear notes 4
《處別傳》曰：「處字子隱，吳郡陽羡人。父魴，吳鄱陽太守。處少孤，不治細行。」《晉陽秋》曰：「處輕果薄行，州郡所棄。」
The Chu biezhuan says, "Chu's courtesy name was Ziyin; he was a man of Yangxian in Wu commandery. His father Fang was Governor of Poyang under Wu. Chu lost his father young and did not attend to the small points of conduct." The Jin yangqiu says, "Chu was light and rash and thin in conduct, and the province and the commandery cast him off."
一作白額。
One text reads "white forehead."
《孔氏志怪》曰：「義興有邪足虎，溪渚長橋有蒼蛟，並大噉人，郭西周，時謂郡中三害。」周即處也。
The Kongshi zhiguai says, "In Yixing there was a lame-footed tiger, and at the long bridge by the creek shoal there was a blue-green flood dragon, and both of them devoured men on a great scale; together with Zhou of the west of the wall they were called at that time the Three Banes of the commandery." Zhou is Zhou Chu.
《晉陽秋》曰：「處仕晉為御史中丞，多所彈糾。氐人齊萬年反，乃令處距萬年。伏波孫秀欲表處母老，處曰：『忠孝之道，何當得兩全？』乃進戰。斬首萬計。弦絕矢盡，左右勸退，處曰：『此是吾授命之日。』遂戰而沒。」
The Jin yangqiu says, "Chu served Jin as vice censor-in-chief, and there was much that he impeached and set right. When Qi Wannian, a man of the Di, rebelled, Chu was ordered to hold Wannian off. Sun Xiu, the General Who Subdues the Waves, wished to memorialize that Chu's mother was old, but Chu said, 'How can the way of loyalty and the way of filial duty both be kept whole?' So he advanced and gave battle, and the heads he took were counted by the ten thousand. When his bowstring snapped and his arrows were spent, those about him urged him to withdraw, but Chu said, 'This is the day I give up my life.' And so he fought and fell."
2Your talents are such as this, and do you turn robber as well?
戴淵少時，遊俠不治行檢，嘗在江、淮間攻掠商旅。陸機赴假還洛，輜重甚盛，淵使少年掠劫；淵在岸上，據胡床，指麾左右，皆得其宜。淵既神姿峰頴，雖處鄙事，神氣猶異。機於船屋上遙謂之曰：「卿才如此，亦復作劫邪？」淵便泣涕，投劍歸機，辭厲非常。機彌重之，定交，作筆荐焉。過江，仕至征西將軍。
When Dai Yuan was young he roamed as a bravo and did not attend to conduct and restraint, and he once fell upon merchants and travelers between the Yangzi and the Huai and plundered them.
When Lu Ji had taken his leave and was returning to Luoyang, his baggage carts were very grand, and Yuan sent young men to fall upon them and rob them.
Yuan sat on the bank astride a folding stool, pointing and directing those about him, and every man of them was fitly placed.
Yuan's spirit and bearing were already outstanding as a peak, and though he was set to a base business, his spirit and air were still uncommon.
From the cabin roof of the boat Ji called across to him, "Your talents are such as this, and do you turn robber as well?"
Yuan at once wept, threw down his sword, and came over to Ji, and his words were keen beyond the common.
Ji valued him the more, settled a friendship with him, and took up his brush and recommended him.
After crossing the river he rose in office to General Who Conquers the West.
Interlinear notes 1
虞預《晉書》曰：「機薦淵於趙王倫曰：『蓋聞繁弱登御，然後高墉之功顯；孤竹在肆，然後降神之曲成。伏見處士戴淵，砥節立行，有井渫之潔；安窮樂志，無風塵之慕。誠東南之遺寶，朝廷之貴璞也。若得寄跡康衢，必能結軌驥騄；耀質廊廟，必能垂光瑜璠。夫枯岸之民，果於輸珠；潤山之客，烈於貢玉。蓋明暗呈形，則庸識所甄也。』倫即辟淵。」
Yu Yu's Jinshu says, "Ji recommended Yuan to Sima Lun, Prince of Zhao, saying, 'I have heard that only when the Fanruo bow is raised and drawn does the feat of the high wall show forth, and only when the Guzhu pipes stand in the market does the tune that brings down the spirits come whole. I look with respect upon the retired scholar Dai Yuan. He whets his integrity and sets up his conduct, and has the purity of a well that has been cleaned out; he is at ease in poverty and takes joy in his will, and has no longing for wind and dust. He is truly a treasure left over in the southeast, a precious uncut jade of the court. If he is given a place to set his steps on an easy road, he will surely match wheel tracks with fine steeds; if he shines his substance in the halls of state, he will surely let down the light of the finest jade. Now the people of a dry bank are bold in offering up pearls, and the guests of a moist mountain are keen in presenting jade. When brightness and darkness show their shapes, even common understanding can tell them apart.' Lun at once summoned Yuan."