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人間之世飄忽幾何如鑿石見火，窺隙觀電。螢睹朝而滅，露見日而消，豈可不自序也？ |
| | How fleeting is this human world, like chiseling stone to see fire, or peering through a crack to glimpse lightning. The glow of the firefly appears in the morning and then vanishes; dew is seen but disappears when exposed to sunlight. How can one not arrange things in proper order?
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余六歲解為詩，奉敕為詩曰：「池萍生已合，林花發稍稠。風入花枝動，日映水光浮。」因爾稍學為文也。 |
| | I began composing poetry at the age of six, and I was ordered to compose a poem which said: "The pond's duckweed has already grown together; the forest flowers have begun to bloom more densely." "The wind enters and stirs the flower branches; sunlight reflects and makes the water shimmer." Because of this, I began to study writing somewhat.
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昔葛稚川自序曰：「讀書萬卷，十五屬文。」 |
| | In the past, Ge Zhichuan wrote in his preface: "After reading ten thousand volumes of books, I began composing writings at fifteen."
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餘不閑什一，憎人治生，性乃隘急。刑獄決罪，多從厚降；大辟之時，必有不忍之色。多所捶朴，左右之間，耳劉之亨。嘗語餘曰：「君王明斷不凡，此皆大寬小急也。天下萬事，汎泛罪犯，余皆寬貰之，必有不遜者，多不蒙宏貸也。」 |
| | I did not spare even one-tenth of my time for leisure; I disliked people managing their livelihoods. My nature was narrow and hasty. In deciding criminal cases and sentencing, I often chose leniency. At the time of capital punishment, there was always an expression of 不忍 (reluctance or compassion) on my face. I often resorted to beating and corporal punishment; among those around me, Liu Deng was the one who suffered most. He once said to me: "His Majesty's wise and extraordinary judgment is such that he always shows great leniency but strictness in minor matters." "For all the myriad affairs of the world, for common criminals, I have always shown leniency and pardoned them. But those who are arrogant or defiant will not be granted such generous clemency."
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魏文帝曰：「余於彈棋略盡其妙，能用手巾角拂。有儒生能以低巾角而拂之。合鄉侯東方安世、張公子立皆一時佳手。」余經蒙儲皇賚彈棋具、駁犀子、彭城錦石局、銀鏤香白檀床，餘遂歸於不解，未曾一中。 |
| | Wei Wendi said: "I have mastered the subtleties of playing tanshi, and I am able to use a handkerchief's corner to flick." There was a scholar who could also flick it with the lower corner of his handkerchief. Ge Xianghou Dongfang Anshi and Zhang Gongzilv were both excellent players of their time." I was once granted by the Crown Prince a set of tanshi equipment, including ivory pieces, Pengcheng brocade stone board, and an inlaid silver incense sandalwood board. Since then, I have returned to not understanding it at all, never having succeeded even once.
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餘性不耐奏對，侍姬應有二三百人，並賜將士。 |
| | My nature was impatient with court audiences; there were more than two or three hundred concubines and attendants, all of whom I bestowed upon the generals and soldiers.
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餘不歡酒，而又不憎人飲。每遇醉者，輒欣欣然而已。 |
| | I did not enjoy drinking wine myself, yet I also did not dislike others drinking it. Whenever I encountered someone who was drunk, I would merely feel cheerful and delighted.
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吾年十三，誦百家譜，雖略上口，遂感心氣疾，當時奔走。及長漸善，頻喪五男，銜悲恍惚，心地荼苦。居則常若尸存，行則不知所適。有時覺神在形外，不復附身。及以大兒為南征不復，繼奉國諱，隨念灰滅，萬慮盡矣。既感心氣，累問通人，心氣之名，當為何起，多無以對。餘以為莊子云：「無疾而呼，其笑若驚」，此心氣也。曼倩有言：「陰陽爭則心氣動，心氣動則精神散。」華譚曰：「肝氣微則面青，心氣動則面赤。」左氏云：「周王心疾終，子重心疾卒。」曹志亦有心疾，殷師者仲堪之父也，有此疾。近張思光居喪之後，感此病。涼國太史令趙匪攵造乾度歷三十年，以心疾卒。晉阮裕謂士狂者，豈其餘乎？ |
| | At the age of thirteen, I recited genealogies from a hundred families; although they were somewhat easy to memorize, I suddenly felt an illness in my heart and breath, and at that time I was running about. As I grew older, it gradually improved; however, I frequently lost five sons, and with deep sorrow and confusion, my heart was filled with bitterness as if drinking bitter tea. When at home, I often felt as though a corpse were present; when traveling, I did not know where to go. At times, I felt my spirit was outside my body and no longer attached to it. When my eldest son went on a southern campaign and did not return, followed by the observance of national mourning rites, I gradually lost all thoughts; every worry was extinguished. After suffering from this heart and breath illness, I repeatedly asked learned men: "What is the origin of the name 'heart-and-breath disease'?" Most could not answer. I believed that Zhuangzi said: "To cry out without illness, laughing as if startled"—this is the heart-and-breath condition. Man Qian once said: "When yin and yang contend, the heart and breath are agitated; when the heart and breath are agitated, the spirit and energy disperse." Hua Tan said: "When liver qi is weak, the face turns blue; when heart qi is agitated, the face turns red." The Zuo Zhuan says: "King of Zhou died from a heart illness; his son also died from a serious heart condition." Cao Zhi also suffered from this heart disease. Yin Shi, the father of Zhongkan, had this illness as well. Recently, Zhang Siguang contracted this illness after mourning a death. Liangguo Taishi Ling Zhao Feiwen created the Qiandu calendar over thirty years, and died from a heart disease. Jin Ruan Yu said that those who were mad among scholars—was it not the case for others as well?
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吾小時，夏日夕中下絳紗蚊綯中有銀甌一枚，貯山陰甜酒。臥讀有時至曉，率以為常。又經病瘡，肘膝爛盡。比以來三十餘載，泛玩眾書萬餘矣。自餘年十四，苦眼疾沈痼，比來轉暗，不復能自讀書。三十六年來，恆令左右唱之，曾生所謂「誦詩讀書，與古人居；讀書誦詩，與古人期」，茲言是也。 |
| | lineno At a young age, I had in the crimson gauze mosquito net hanging down at dusk during summer days one silver bowl containing Shanyin sweet wine. I sometimes lay reading until dawn, and this became my usual habit. I also suffered from a severe skin disease, with sores that completely ruined my elbows and knees. In the more than thirty years since then, I have casually read through tens of thousands of books. Since I was fourteen, I suffered from a persistent and severe eye disease; in recent years it has worsened to the point where I can no longer read by myself. For thirty-six years, I have constantly had my attendants recite it for me; this is what Zeng Sheng referred to as "reciting poetry and reading books, living with the ancients; reading books and reciting poetry, meeting with the ancients"—this is precisely what he meant.
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余將冠，方好易蔔。及至射覆，十中乃至八九。當經至郢州，從兄平西令吾射金玉琥珀三指環。筮遇姤之履，其辭曰：「上既為天，其體則圓。」指環之象，金玉在焉。寅爻帶乎虎，琥珀生光，在合中央。合中之物，凡有三種，按卦而談，或輕或重。又有人名裹襞紙中，射之得鼎卦，餘言曰：「鼎卦上離為日，下巽為木，日下安木，杲字也。」此是典簽裴重歡，疏潘杲名，與餘射之。他驗皆如此也。 |
| | When I was about to reach adulthood, I first became fond of divination using the Yi Jing (Book of Changes). And when it came to playing shefu (a game of guessing hidden objects), my accuracy reached eight or nine out of ten. When I once arrived at Yingzhou, my elder cousin, Pingxi Ling, had me divinate to guess three finger rings made of gold, jade, and amber. I cast the oracle and received Gou changing into Lü; its omen said: "The upper one is already Heaven, whose form is round." Among the symbolic meanings of finger rings, gold and jade are included. The Yin line is associated with the tiger; amber emits light at the center. There are three kinds of objects in the central position; according to the hexagram, they may be either light or heavy. Once, there was a person whose name was wrapped in folded paper; I divined and received the Ding hexagram. I said: "The upper line of the Ding hexagram is Li, which represents fire or the sun; the lower line is Xun, representing wood. A tree under the sun—this is the character 'Gao'." This was Dianqian Pei Chonghuan; I deciphered and identified the name Pan Gao, which matched my divination. Other verifications were all like this as well.
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余初至荊州蔔雨。時孟秋之月，陽亢日久，月旦雖雨，俄而便晴。有人云：「諺曰：雨月額，千里赤。蓋旱之徵也。」吾乃端筴拂蓍，遇復不動。既而言曰：「庚子爻為世，水出生於金。七月建申，申子辰又三五合。必在此月。」五日庚子，果值甘雨。餘又以十七日筮何時雲卷金翹，日輝合璧，紅塵暗陌，丹霞映□。謂亢陽之勢，未霑膏澤，筮遇坎之比。於是輟蓍而歎曰：「坎者水也，子爻為世，其在今夜三更乎！地上有水，坎之為比，其方有甘雨乎！」欣然有自得之志。 |
| | When I first arrived in Jingzhou, I divined for rain. lington At that time it was the month of Mengqiu; yang energy had been excessive for a long time, and although there was rain on the first day of the month, it soon cleared up. Someone said: "There is a proverb that says: 'Rain on the brow of the moon, thousands of miles will be red.'" This is apparently an omen of drought." I then carefully arranged the yarrow stalks and brushed them, but encountered Fu hexagram without change. Then I said: "The Gengzi line is the world line; water originates from metal." July corresponds to Shen, and Shen, Zi, and Chen form a trinity of five elements in harmony. It must occur this month." On the fifth day, Gengzi, it indeed rained heavily. I again cast yarrow stalks on the seventeenth day to divine when clouds would curl like golden feathers, sunlight and moonlight would unite in a double disk, red dust would darken the roads, and crimson dawn light would illuminate [something]. I said that yang energy was too strong; there had been no rain yet. I cast the hexagram Kan changing into Bi. I then put down the yarrow stalks and sighed, saying: "Kan represents water; its Zi line is the world. Could it be at three o'clock this night?" "Water on earth—this is Bi changing from Kan. There must be sweet rain in that direction!" I was delighted and felt a sense of self-satisfaction.
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姚文烈善龜卜，謂餘曰：「此二十一日將雨。」其在虞淵之時，餘乃筮之。遇謙之小過，既而言曰：「坤艮二象俱在土，非直無雨，乃應開霽。」俄而星如玉李，月上金□，霧生猶縠，河垂似帶。余乃欣然。 |
| | Yao Wenlie, who was skilled in turtle shell divination, told me: "It will rain on the twenty-first day." At that time, during Yu Yuan's era, I cast yarrow stalks to divine it. I encountered Qian changing into Xiaoguo; then I said: "Both the Kun and Gen trigrams belong to earth. It is not only that there will be no rain, but it should clear up after clouds." Soon afterward, the stars shone like jade lychees; the moon rose golden [something]; mist arose like gauze, and rivers hung low as if they were ribbons. I was thus delighted.
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吾齔年之時，誦咒受道於法朗道人，誦得淨觀世音咒、藥上王咒、孔雀王咒，中尉何登善能解作外典咒、癰疽禹步之法。餘就受之，至十歲時，敕旨賜向道士黃侯曄，建安侯正立，並是汝年時。汝不學義，余尚幼，未能受。年十二三，侍讀臧嚴又有此勸。餘答曰：「只誦咒自是佳伎倆，請守此一隅。」其年末乃頹然改途，不復說咒也。 |
| | When I was in my prime years, I recited spells and received the Dao from Master Folang. I learned the Jingtuan Guanyin spell, Yaoshangwang spell, Kongquewang spell; Zhongwei He Dengshan could explain how to perform foreign scriptures' spells and the Yuju Yu Bu method for treating boils. I received these teachings, and when I was ten years old, an imperial decree granted me to Daoist Master Huang Houye, Jian'an Hou Zhengli, who were both of your generation. You did not study the principles; I was still young and could not yet receive them. At twelve or thirteen, while serving as a reader to Zang Yan, he gave me this advice again. I replied: "Reciting spells is already an excellent skill; I request to remain in this one corner." By the end of that year, I had become disheartened and changed my path, no longer speaking of spells.
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石季倫篤好林藪，有別廬在河南界金穀澗中，澗中有水碓土窯。 |
| | Shi Jilun was deeply fond of forests and groves. He had a separate pavilion located in the Jin Gu stream valley on the border of Henan, where there were water-powered mills and earthen kilns along the stream.
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