卷二十八·封禅书第六

卷二十八·封禅书第六

司马迁

自古受命帝王，曷尝不封禅？盖有无其应而用事者矣，未有睹符瑞见而不臻乎泰山者也。虽受命而功不至，至梁父矣而德不洽，洽矣而日有不暇给，是以即事用希。传曰：“三年不为礼，礼必废；三年不为乐，乐必坏。”每世之隆，则封禅答焉，及衰而息。厥旷远者千有余载，近者数百载，故其仪阙然堙灭，其详不可得而记闻云。

《尚书》曰，舜在璇玑玉衡，以齐七政。遂类于上帝，禋于六宗，望山川，遍群神。辑五瑞，择吉月日，见四岳诸牧，还瑞。岁二月，东巡狩，至于岱宗。岱宗，泰山也。柴，望秩于山川。遂觐东后。东后者，诸侯也。合时月正日，同律度量衡，修五礼，五玉三帛二生一死贽。五月，巡狩至南岳。南岳，衡山也。八月，巡狩至西岳。西岳，华山也。十一月，巡狩至北岳。北岳，恒山也。皆如岱宗之礼。中岳，嵩高也。五载一巡狩。

禹遵之。后十四世，至帝孔甲，淫德好神，神渎，二龙去之。其后三世，汤伐桀，欲迁夏社，不可，作夏社。后八世，至帝太戊，有桑谷生于廷，一暮大拱，惧。伊陟曰：“妖不胜德。”太戊修德，桑谷死。伊陟赞巫咸，巫咸之兴自此始。后十四世，帝武丁得傅说为相，殷复兴焉，称高宗。有雉登鼎耳雊，武丁惧。祖己曰：“修德。”武丁从之，位以永宁。后五世，帝武乙慢神而震死。后三世，帝纣淫乱，武王伐之。由此观之，始未尝不肃祗，后稍怠慢也。

周官曰，冬日至，祀天于南郊，迎长日之至；夏日至，祭地祗。皆用乐舞，而神乃可得而礼也。天子祭天下名山大川，五岳视三公，四渎视诸侯，诸侯祭其疆内名山大川。四渎者，江、河、淮、济也。天子曰明堂、辟雍，诸侯曰泮宫。

周公既相成王，郊祀后稷以配天，宗祀文王于明堂以配上帝。自禹兴而修社祀，后稷稼穑，故有稷祠，郊社所从来尚矣。

自周克殷后十四世，世益衰，礼乐废，诸侯恣行，而幽王为犬戎所败，周东徙雒邑。秦襄公攻戎救周，始列为诸侯。秦襄公既侯，居西垂，自以为主少皞之神，作西畤，祠白帝，其牲用骝驹黄牛羝羊各一云。其后十六年，秦文公东猎汧渭之间，卜居之而吉。文公梦黄蛇自天下属地，其口止于鄜衍。文公问史敦，敦曰：“此上帝之徵，君其祠之。”于是作鄜畤，用三牲郊祭白帝焉。

自未作鄜畤也，而雍旁故有吴阳武畤，雍东有好畤，皆废无祠。或曰：“自古以雍州积高，神明之隩，故立畤郊上帝，诸神祠皆聚云。盖黄帝时尝用事，虽晚周亦郊焉。”其语不经见，缙绅者不道。

作鄜畤后九年，文公获若石云，于陈仓北阪城祠之。其神或岁不至，或岁数来，来也常以夜，光辉若流星，从东南来集于祠城，则若雄鸡，其声殷云，野鸡夜雊。以一牢祠，命曰陈宝。

作鄜畤后七十八年，秦德公既立，卜居雍，“后子孙饮马于河”，遂都雍。雍之诸祠自此兴。用三百牢于鄜畤。作伏祠。磔狗邑四门，以御蛊菑。

德公立二年卒。其后四年，秦宣公作密畤于渭南，祭青帝。

其后十四年，秦缪公立，病卧五日不寤；寤，乃言梦见上帝，上帝命缪公平晋乱。史书而记藏之府。而后世皆曰秦缪公上天。

秦缪公即位九年，齐桓公既霸，会诸侯于葵丘，而欲封禅。管仲曰：“古者封泰山禅梁父者七十二家，而夷吾所记者十有二焉。昔无怀氏封泰山，禅云云；虙羲封泰山，禅云云；神农封泰山，禅云云；炎帝封泰山，禅云云；黄帝封泰山，禅亭亭；颛顼封泰山，禅云云；帝俈封泰山，禅云云；尧封泰山，禅云云；舜封泰山，禅云云；禹封泰山，禅会稽；汤封泰山，禅云云；周成王封泰山，禅社首：皆受命然后得封禅。”桓公曰：“寡人北伐山戎，过孤竹；西伐大夏，涉流沙，束马悬车，上卑耳之山；南伐至召陵，登熊耳山以望江汉。兵车之会三，而乘车之会六，九合诸侯，一匡天下，诸侯莫违我。昔三代受命，亦何以异乎？”于是管仲睹桓公不可穷以辞，因设之以事，曰：“古之封禅，鄗上之黍，北里之禾，所以为盛；江淮之间，一茅三脊，所以为藉也。东海致比目之鱼，西海致比翼之鸟，然后物有不召而自至者十有五焉。今凤皇麒麟不来，嘉谷不生，而蓬蒿藜莠茂，鸱枭数至，而欲封禅，毋乃不可乎？”于是桓公乃止。是岁，秦缪公内晋君夷吾。其后三置晋国之君，平其乱。缪公立三十九年而卒。

其后百有余年，而孔子论述六蓺，传略言易姓而王，封泰山禅乎梁父者七十余王矣，其俎豆之礼不章，盖难言之。或问禘之说，孔子曰：“不知。知禘之说，其于天下也视其掌。”诗云纣在位，文王受命，政不及泰山。武王克殷二年，天下未宁而崩。爰周德之洽维成王，成王之封禅则近之矣。及后陪臣执政，季氏旅于泰山，仲尼讥之。

是时苌弘以方事周灵王，诸侯莫朝周，周力少，苌弘乃明鬼神事，设射貍首。貍首者，诸侯之不来者。依物怪欲以致诸侯。诸侯不从，而晋人执杀苌弘。周人之言方怪者自苌弘。

其后百余年，秦灵公作吴阳上畤，祭黄帝；作下畤，祭炎帝。

后四十八年，周太史儋见秦献公曰：“秦始与周合，合而离，五百岁当复合，合十七年而霸王出焉。”栎阳雨金，秦献公自以为得金瑞，故作畦畤栎阳而祀白帝。

其后百二十岁而秦灭周，周之九鼎入于秦。或曰宋太丘社亡，而鼎没于泗水彭城下。

其后百一十五年而秦并天下。

秦始皇既并天下而帝，或曰：“黄帝得土德，黄龙地螾见。夏得木德，青龙止于郊，草木畅茂。殷得金德，银自山溢。周得火德，有赤乌之符。今秦变周，水德之时。昔秦文公出猎，获黑龙，此其水德之瑞。”于是秦更命河曰“德水”，以冬十月为年首，色上黑，度以六为名，音上大吕，事统上法。

即帝位三年，东巡郡县，祠驺峄山，颂秦功业。于是徵从齐鲁之儒生博士七十人，至乎泰山下。诸儒生或议曰：“古者封禅为蒲车，恶伤山之土石草木；埽地而祭，席用菹秸，言其易遵也。”始皇闻此议各乖异，难施用，由此绌儒生。而遂除车道，上自泰山阳至巅，立石颂秦始皇帝德，明其得封也。从阴道下，禅于梁父。其礼颇采太祝之祀雍上帝所用，而封藏皆秘之，世不得而记也。

始皇之上泰山，中阪遇暴风雨，休于大树下。诸儒生既绌，不得与用于封事之礼，闻始皇遇风雨，则讥之。

于是始皇遂东游海上，行礼祠名山大川及八神，求仙人羡门之属。八神将自古而有之，或曰太公以来作之。齐所以为齐，以天齐也。其祀绝莫知起时。八神：一曰天主，祠天齐。天齐渊水，居临菑南郊山下者。二曰地主，祠泰山梁父。盖天好阴，祠之必于高山之下，小山之上，命曰“畤”；地贵阳，祭之必于泽中圜丘云。三曰兵主，祠蚩尤。蚩尤在东平陆监乡，齐之西境也。四曰阴主，祠三山。五曰阳主，祠之罘。六曰月主，祠之莱山。皆在齐北，并勃海。七曰日主，祠成山。成山斗入海，最居齐东北隅，以迎日出云。八曰四时主，祠琅邪。琅邪在齐东方，盖岁之所始。皆各用一牢具祠，而巫祝所损益，珪币杂异焉。

自齐威、宣之时，驺子之徒论著终始五德之运，及秦帝而齐人奏之，故始皇采用之。而宋毋忌、正伯侨、充尚、羡门高最后皆燕人，为方仙道，形解销化，依于鬼神之事。驺衍以阴阳主运显于诸侯，而燕齐海上之方士传其术不能通，然则怪迂阿谀苟合之徒自此兴，不可胜数也。

自威、宣、燕昭使人入海求蓬莱、方丈、瀛洲。此三神山者，其傅在勃海中，去人不远；患且至，则船风引而去。盖尝有至者，诸仙人及不死之药皆在焉。其物禽兽尽白，而黄金银为宫阙。未至，望之如云；及到，三神山反居水下。临之，风辄引去，终莫能至云。世主莫不甘心焉。及至秦始皇并天下，至海上，则方士言之不可胜数。始皇自以为至海上而恐不及矣，使人乃赍童男女入海求之。船交海中，皆以风为解，曰未能至，望见之焉。其明年，始皇复游海上，至琅邪，过恒山，从上党归。后三年，游碣石，考入海方士，从上郡归。后五年，始皇南至湘山，遂登会稽，并海上，冀遇海中三神山之奇药。不得，还至沙丘崩。

二世元年，东巡碣石，并海南，历泰山，至会稽，皆礼祠之，而刻勒始皇所立石书旁，以章始皇之功德。其秋，诸侯畔秦。三年而二世弑死。

始皇封禅之后十二岁，秦亡。诸儒生疾秦焚诗书，诛僇文学，百姓怨其法，天下畔之，皆讹曰：“始皇上泰山，为暴风雨所击，不得封禅。”此岂所谓无其德而用事者邪？

昔三代之居皆在河洛之间，故嵩高为中岳，而四岳各如其方，四渎咸在山东。至秦称帝，都咸阳，则五岳、四渎皆并在东方。自五帝以至秦，轶兴轶衰，名山大川或在诸侯，或在天子，其礼损益世殊，不可胜记。及秦并天下，令祠官所常奉天地名山大川鬼神可得而序也。

于是自殽以东，名山五，大川祠二。曰太室。太室，嵩高也。恒山，泰山，会稽，湘山。水曰济，曰淮。春以脯酒为岁祠，因泮冻，秋涸冻，冬塞祷祠。其牲用牛犊各一，牢具珪币各异。

自华以西，名山七，名川四。曰华山，薄山。薄山者，衰山也。岳山，岐山，吴岳，鸿冢，渎山。渎山，蜀之汶山。水曰河，祠临晋；沔，祠汉中；湫渊，祠朝冉阝；江水，祠蜀。亦春秋泮涸祷塞，如东方名山川；而牲牛犊牢具珪币各异。而四大冢鸿、岐、吴、岳，皆有尝禾。

陈宝节来祠。其河加有尝醪。此皆在雍州之域，近天子之都，故加车一乘，骝驹四。

霸、产、长水、沣、涝、泾、渭皆非大川，以近咸阳，尽得比山川祠，而无诸加。

汧、洛二渊，鸣泽、蒲山、岳<山胥>山之属，为小山川，亦皆岁祷塞泮涸祠，礼不必同。

而雍有日、月、参、辰、南北斗、荧惑、太白、岁星、填星、辰星、二十八宿、风伯、雨师、四海、九臣、十四臣、诸布、诸严、诸逑之属，百有余庙。西亦有数十祠。于湖有周天子祠。于下邽有天神。沣、滈有昭明、天子辟池。于杜、亳有三社主之祠、寿星祠；而雍菅庙亦有杜主。杜主，故周之右将军，其在秦中，最小鬼之神者。各以岁时奉祠。

唯雍四畤上帝为尊，其光景动人民唯陈宝。故雍四畤，春以为岁祷，因泮冻，秋涸冻，冬塞祠，五月尝驹，及四仲之月月祠，若陈宝节来一祠。春夏用骍，秋冬用骝。畤驹四匹，木禺龙栾车一驷，木禺车马一驷，各如其帝色。黄犊羔各四，珪币各有数，皆生瘗埋，无俎豆之具。三年一郊。秦以冬十月为岁首，故常以十月上宿郊见，通权火，拜于咸阳之旁，而衣上白，其用如经祠云。西畤、畦畤，祠如其故，上不亲往。

诸此祠皆太祝常主，以岁时奉祠之。至如他名山川诸鬼及八神之属，上过则祠，去则已。郡县远方神祠者，民各自奉祠，不领于天子之祝官。祝官有秘祝，即有菑祥，辄祝祠移过于下。

汉兴，高祖之微时，尝杀大蛇。有物曰：“蛇，白帝子也，而杀者赤帝子。”高祖初起，祷丰枌榆社。徇沛，为沛公，则祠蚩尤，衅鼓旗。遂以十月至灞上，与诸侯平咸阳，立为汉王。因以十月为年首，而色上赤。

二年，东击项籍而还入关，问：“故秦时上帝祠何帝也？”对曰：“四帝，有白、青、黄、赤帝之祠。”高祖曰：“吾闻天有五帝，而有四，何也？”莫知其说。于是高祖曰：“吾知之矣，乃待我而具五也。”乃立黑帝祠，命曰北畤。有司进祠，上不亲往。悉召故秦祝官，复置太祝、太宰，如其故仪礼。因令县为公社。下诏曰：“吾甚重祠而敬祭。今上帝之祭及山川诸神当祠者，各以其时礼祠之如故。”

后四岁，天下已定，诏御史，令丰谨治枌榆社，常以四时春以羊彘祠之。令祝官立蚩尤之祠于长安。长安置祠祝官、女巫。其梁巫，祠天、地、天社、天水、房中、堂上之属；晋巫，祠五帝、东君、云中君、司命、巫社、巫祠、族人、先炊之属；秦巫，祠社主、巫保、族累之属；荆巫，祠堂下、巫先、司命、施糜之属；九天巫，祠九天：皆以岁时祠宫中。其河巫祠河于临晋，而南山巫祠南山秦中。秦中者，二世皇帝。各有时日。

其后二岁，或曰周兴而邑邰，立后稷之祠，至今血食天下。于是高祖制诏御史：“其令郡国县立灵星祠，常以岁时祠以牛。”

高祖十年春，有司请令县常以春二月及腊祠社稷以羊豕，民里社各自财以祠。制曰：“可。”

其后十八年，孝文帝即位。即位十三年，下诏曰：“今秘祝移过于下，朕甚不取。自今除之。”

始名山大川在诸侯，诸侯祝各自奉祠，天子官不领。及齐、淮南国废，令太祝尽以岁时致礼如故。

是岁，制曰：“朕即位十三年于今，赖宗庙之灵，社稷之福，方内艾安，民人靡疾。间者比年登，朕之不德，何以飨此？皆上帝诸神之赐也。盖闻古者飨其德必报其功，欲有增诸神祠。有司议增雍五畤路车各一乘，驾被具；西畤畦畤禺车各一乘，禺马四匹，驾被具；其河、湫、汉水加玉各二；及诸祠，各增广坛场，珪币俎豆以差加之。而祝釐者归福于朕，百姓不与焉。自今祝致敬，毋有所祈。”

鲁人公孙臣上书曰：“始秦得水德，今汉受之，推终始传，则汉当土德，土德之应黄龙见。宜改正朔，易服色，色上黄。”是时丞相张苍好律历，以为汉乃水德之始，故河决金隄，其符也。年始冬十月，色外黑内赤，与德相应。如公孙臣言，非也。罢之。后三岁，黄龙见成纪。文帝乃召公孙臣，拜为博士，与诸生草改历服色事。其夏，下诏曰：“异物之神见于成纪，无害于民，岁以有年。朕祈郊上帝诸神，礼官议，无讳以劳朕。”有司皆曰“古者天子夏亲郊，祀上帝于郊，故曰郊”。于是夏四月，文帝始郊见雍五畤祠，衣皆上赤。

其明年，赵人新垣平以望气见上，言“长安东北有神气，成五采，若人冠絻焉。或曰东北神明之舍，西方神明之墓也。天瑞下，宜立祠上帝，以合符应”。于是作渭阳五帝庙，同宇，帝一殿，面各五门，各如其帝色。祠所用及仪亦如雍五畤。

夏四月，文帝亲拜霸渭之会，以郊见渭阳五帝。五帝庙南临渭，北穿蒲池沟水，权火举而祠，若光煇然属天焉。于是贵平上大夫，赐累千金。而使博士诸生刺六经中作王制，谋议巡狩封禅事。

文帝出长门，若见五人于道北，遂因其直北立五帝坛，祠以五牢具。

其明年，新垣平使人持玉杯，上书阙下献之。平言上曰：“阙下有宝玉气来者。”已视之，果有献玉杯者，刻曰“人主延寿”。平又言“臣候日再中”。居顷之，日卻复中。于是始更以十七年为元年，令天下大酺。

平言曰：“周鼎亡在泗水中，今河溢通泗，臣望东北汾阴直有金宝气，意周鼎其出乎？兆见不迎则不至。”于是上使使治庙汾阴南，临河，欲祠出周鼎。

人有上书告新垣平所言气神事皆诈也。下平吏治，诛夷新垣平。自是之后，文帝怠于改正朔服色神明之事，而渭阳、长门五帝使祠官领，以时致礼，不往焉。

明年，匈奴数入边，兴兵守御。后岁少不登。

数年而孝景即位。十六年，祠官各以岁时祠如故，无有所兴，至今天子。

今天子初即位，尤敬鬼神之祀。

元年，汉兴已六十余岁矣，天下艾安，搢绅之属皆望天子封禅改正度也，而上乡儒术，招贤良，赵绾、王臧等以文学为公卿，欲议古立明堂城南，以朝诸侯。草巡狩封禅改历服色事未就。会窦太后治黄老言，不好儒术，使人微伺得赵绾等奸利事，召案绾、臧，绾、臧自杀，诸所兴为皆废。

后六年，窦太后崩。其明年，徵文学之士公孙弘等。

明年，今上初至雍，郊见五畤。后常三岁一郊。是时上求神君，舍之上林中虒氏观。神君者，长陵女子，以子死，见神于先后宛若。宛若祠之其室，民多往祠。平原君往祠，其后子孙以尊显。及今上即位，则厚礼置祠之内中。闻其言，不见其人云。

是时李少君亦以祠灶、谷道、卻老方见上，上尊之。少君者，故深泽侯舍人，主方。匿其年及其生长，常自谓七十，能使物，卻老。其游以方遍诸侯。无妻子。人闻其能使物及不死，更馈遗之，常余金钱衣食。人皆以为不治生业而饶给，又不知其何所人，愈信，争事之。少君资好方，善为巧发奇中。尝从武安侯饮，坐中有九十余老人，少君乃言与其大父游射处，老人为儿时从其大父，识其处，一坐尽惊。少君见上，上有故铜器，问少君。少君曰：“此器齐桓公十年陈于柏寝。”已而案其刻，果齐桓公器。一宫尽骇，以为少君神，数百岁人也。

少君言上曰：“祠灶则致物，致物而丹沙可化为黄金，黄金成以为饮食器则益寿，益寿而海中蓬莱仙者乃可见，见之以封禅则不死，黄帝是也。臣尝游海上，见安期生，安期生食巨枣，大如瓜。安期生仙者，通蓬莱中，合则见人，不合则隐。”于是天子始亲祠灶，遣方士入海求蓬莱安期生之属，而事化丹沙诸药齐为黄金矣。

居久之，李少君病死。天子以为化去不死，而使黄锤史宽舒受其方。求蓬莱安期生莫能得，而海上燕齐怪迂之方士多更来言神事矣。

亳人谬忌奏祠太一方，曰：“天神贵者太一，太一佐曰五帝。古者天子以春秋祭太一东南郊，用太牢，七日，为坛开八通之鬼道。”于是天子令太祝立其祠长安东南郊，常奉祠如忌方。其后人有上书，言“古者天子三年壹用太牢祠神三一：天一、地一、太一”。天子许之，令太祝领祠之于忌太一坛上，如其方。后人复有上书，言“古者天子常以春解祠，祠黄帝用一枭破镜；冥羊用羊祠；马行用一青牡马；太一、泽山君地长用牛；武夷君用乾鱼；阴阳使者以一牛”。令祠官领之如其方，而祠于忌太一坛旁。

其后，天子苑有白鹿，以其皮为币，以发瑞应，造白金焉。

其明年，郊雍，获一角兽，若麃然。有司曰：“陛下肃祗郊祀，上帝报享，锡一角兽，盖麟云。”于是以荐五畤，畤加一牛以燎。锡诸侯白金，风符应合于天也。

于是济北王以为天子且封禅，乃上书献太山及其旁邑，天子以他县偿之。常山王有罪，迁，天子封其弟于真定，以续先王祀，而以常山为郡，然后五岳皆在天子之郡。

其明年，齐人少翁以鬼神方见上。上有所幸王夫人，夫人卒，少翁以方盖夜致王夫人及灶鬼之貌云，天子自帷中望见焉。于是乃拜少翁为文成将军，赏赐甚多，以客礼礼之。文成言曰：“上即欲与神通，宫室被服非象神，神物不至。”乃作画云气车，及各以胜日驾车辟恶鬼。又作甘泉宫，中为台室，画天、地、太一诸鬼神，而置祭具以致天神。居岁余，其方益衰，神不至。乃为帛书以饭牛，详不知，言曰此牛腹中有奇。杀视得书，书言甚怪。天子识其手书，问其人，果是伪书，于是诛文成将军，隐之。

其后则又作柏梁、铜柱、承露仙人掌之属矣。

文成死明年，天子病鼎湖甚，巫医无所不致，不愈。游水发根言上郡有巫，病而鬼神下之。上召置祠之甘泉。及病，使人问神君。神君言曰：“天子无忧病。病少愈，强与我会甘泉。”于是病愈，遂起，幸甘泉，病良已。大赦，置寿宫神君。寿宫神君最贵者太一，其佐曰大禁、司命之属，皆从之。非可得见，闻其言，言与人音等。时去时来，来则风肃然。居室帷中。时昼言，然常以夜。天子祓，然后入。因巫为主人，关饮食。所以言，行下。又置寿宫、北宫，张羽旗，设供具，以礼神君。神君所言，上使人受书其言，命之曰“画法”。其所语，世俗之所知也，无绝殊者，而天子心独喜。其事秘，世莫知也。

其后三年，有司言元宜以天瑞命，不宜以一二数。一元曰“建”，二元以长星曰“光”，三元以郊得一角兽曰“狩”云。

其明年冬，天子郊雍，议曰：“今上帝朕亲郊，而后土无祀，则礼不答也。”有司与太史公、祠官宽舒议：“天地牲角茧栗。今陛下亲祠后土，后土宜于泽中圜丘为五坛，坛一黄犊太牢具，已祠尽瘗，而从祠衣上黄。”于是天子遂东，始立后土祠汾阴脽丘，如宽舒等议。上亲望拜，如上帝礼。礼毕，天子遂至荥阳而还。过雒阳，下诏曰：“三代邈绝，远矣难存。其以三十里地封周后为周子南君，以奉其先祀焉。”是岁，天子始巡郡县，侵寻于泰山矣。

其春，乐成侯上书言栾大。栾大，胶东宫人，故尝与文成将军同师，已而为胶东王尚方。而乐成侯姊为康王后，无子。康王死，他姬子立为王。而康后有淫行，与王不相中，相危以法。康后闻文成已死，而欲自媚于上，乃遣栾大因乐成侯求见言方。天子既诛文成，后悔其蚤死，惜其方不尽，及见栾大，大说。大为人长美，言多方略，而敢为大言，处之不疑。大言曰：“臣常往来海中，见安期、羡门之属。顾以臣为贱，不信臣。又以为康王诸侯耳，不足与方。臣数言康王，康王又不用臣。臣之师曰：‘黄金可成，而河决可塞，不死之药可得，仙人可致也。’然臣恐效文成，则方士皆奄口，恶敢言方哉！”上曰：“文成食马肝死耳。子诚能脩其方，我何爱乎！”大曰：“臣师非有求人，人者求之。陛下必欲致之，则贵其使者，令有亲属，以客礼待之，勿卑，使各佩其信印，乃可使通言于神人。神人尚肯邪不邪。致尊其使，然后可致也。”于是上使验小方，斗棋，棋自相触击。

是时上方忧河决，而黄金不就，乃拜大为五利将军。居月余，得四印，佩天士将军、地士将军、大通将军印。制诏御史：“昔禹疏九江，决四渎。间者河溢皋陆，隄繇不息。朕临天下二十有八年，天若遗朕士而大通焉。乾称‘蜚龙’，‘鸿渐于般’，朕意庶几与焉。其以二千户封地士将军大为乐通侯。”赐列侯甲第，僮千人。乘轝斥车马帷幄器物以充其家。又以卫长公主妻之，赍金万斤，更命其邑曰当利公主。天子亲如五利之第。使者存问供给，相属于道。自大主将相以下，皆置酒其家，献遗之。于是天子又刻玉印曰“天道将军”，使使衣羽衣，夜立白茅上，五利将军亦衣羽衣，夜立白茅上受印，以示不臣也。而佩“天道”者，且为天子道天神也。于是五利常夜祠其家，欲以下神。神未至而百鬼集矣，然颇能使之。其后装治行，东入海，求其师云。大见数月，佩六印，贵震天下，而海上燕齐之间，莫不搤捥而自言有禁方，能神仙矣。

其夏六月中，汾阴巫锦为民祠魏脽后土营旁，见地如钩状，掊视得鼎。鼎大异于众鼎，文镂无款识，怪之，言吏。吏告河东太守胜，胜以闻。天子使使验问巫得鼎无奸诈，乃以礼祠，迎鼎至甘泉，从行，上荐之。至中山，曣<日昷>，有黄云盖焉。有麃过，上自射之，因以祭云。至长安，公卿大夫皆议请尊宝鼎。天子曰：“间者河溢，岁数不登，故巡祭后土，祈为百姓育谷。今岁丰庑未报，鼎曷为出哉？”有司皆曰：“闻昔泰帝兴神鼎一，一者壹统，天地万物所系终也。黄帝作宝鼎三，象天地人。禹收九牧之金，铸九鼎。皆尝亨鬺上帝鬼神。遭圣则兴，鼎迁于夏商。周德衰，宋之社亡，鼎乃沦没，伏而不见。颂云‘自堂徂基，自羊徂牛；鼐鼎及鼒，不吴不骜，胡考之休’。今鼎至甘泉，光润龙变，承休无疆。合兹中山，有黄白云降盖，若兽为符，路弓乘矢，集获坛下，报祠大享。唯受命而帝者心知其意而合德焉。鼎宜见于祖祢，藏于帝廷，以合明应。”制曰：“可。”

入海求蓬莱者，言蓬莱不远，而不能至者，殆不见其气。上乃遣望气佐候其气云。

其秋，上幸雍，且郊。或曰“五帝，太一之佐也，宜立太一而上亲郊之”。上疑未定。齐人公孙卿曰：“今年得宝鼎，其冬辛巳朔旦冬至，与黄帝时等。”卿有札书曰：“黄帝得宝鼎宛朐，问于鬼臾区。鬼臾区对曰：‘帝得宝鼎神策，是岁己酉朔旦冬至，得天之纪，终而复始。’于是黄帝迎日推策，后率二十岁复朔旦冬至，凡二十推，三百八十年，黄帝仙登于天。”卿因所忠欲奏之。所忠视其书不经，疑其妄书，谢曰：“宝鼎事已决矣，尚何以为！”卿因嬖人奏之。上大说，乃召问卿。对曰：“受此书申公，申公已死。”上曰：“申公何人也？”卿曰：“申公，齐人。与安期生通，受黄帝言，无书，独有此鼎书。曰‘汉兴复当黄帝之时’。曰‘汉之圣者在高祖之孙且曾孙也。宝鼎出而与神通，封禅。封禅七十二王，唯黄帝得上泰山封’。申公曰：‘汉主亦当上封，上封能仙登天矣。黄帝时万诸侯，而神灵之封居七千。天下名山八，而三在蛮夷，五在中国。中国华山、首山、太室、泰山、东莱，此五山黄帝之所常游，与神会。黄帝且战且学仙。患百姓非其道者，乃断斩非鬼神者。百余岁然后得与神通。黄帝郊雍上帝，宿三月。鬼臾区号大鸿，死葬雍，故鸿冢是也。其后黄帝接万灵明廷。明廷者，甘泉也。所谓寒门者，谷口也。黄帝采首山铜，铸鼎于荆山下。鼎既成，有龙垂胡须下迎黄帝。黄帝上骑，群臣后宫从上者七十余人，龙乃上去。余小臣不得上，乃悉持龙须，龙须拔，堕，堕黄帝之弓。百姓仰望黄帝既上天，乃抱其弓与胡须号，故后世因名其处曰鼎湖，其弓曰乌号。’”于是天子曰：“嗟乎！吾诚得如黄帝，吾视去妻子如脱躧耳。”乃拜卿为郎，东使候神于太室。

上遂郊雍，至陇西，西登崆峒，幸甘泉。令祠官宽舒等具太一祠坛，祠坛放薄忌太一坛，坛三垓。五帝坛环居其下，各如其方，黄帝西南，除八通鬼道。太一，其所用如雍一畤物，而加醴枣脯之属，杀一貍牛以为俎豆牢具。而五帝独有俎豆醴进。其下四方地，为醊食群神从者及北斗云。已祠，胙余皆燎之。其牛色白，鹿居其中，彘在鹿中，水而洎之。祭日以牛，祭月以羊彘特。太一祝宰则衣紫及绣。五帝各如其色，日赤，月白。

十一月辛巳朔旦冬至，昧爽，天字始郊拜太一。朝朝日，夕夕月，则揖；而见太一如雍郊礼。其赞飨曰：“天始以宝鼎神策授皇帝，朔而又朔，终而复始，皇帝敬拜见焉。”而衣上黄。其祠列火满坛，坛旁亨炊具。有司云“祠上有光焉”。公卿言“皇帝始郊见太一云阳，有司奉瑄玉嘉牲荐飨。是夜有美光，及昼，黄气上属天”。太史公、祠官宽舒等曰：“神灵之休，祐福兆祥，宜因此地光域立太畤坛以明应。令太祝领，秋及腊间祠。三岁天子一郊见。”

其秋，为伐南越，告祷太一。以牡荆画幡日月北斗登龙，以象太一三星，为太一锋，命曰“灵旗”。为兵祷，则太史奉以指所伐国。而五利将军使不敢入海，之泰山祠。上使人随验，实毋所见。五利妄言见其师，其方尽，多不雠。上乃诛五利。

其冬，公孙卿候神河南，言见仙人迹缑氏城上，有物如雉，往来城上。天子亲幸缑氏城视迹。问卿：“得毋效文成、五利乎？”卿曰：“仙者非有求人主，人主者求之。其道非少宽假，神不来。言神事，事如迂诞，积以岁乃可致也。”于是郡国各除道，缮治宫观名山神祠所，以望幸矣。

其春，既灭南越，上有嬖臣李延年以好音见。上善之，下公卿议，曰：“民间祠尚有鼓舞乐，今郊祀而无乐，岂称乎？”公卿曰：“古者祠天地皆有乐，而神祇可得而礼。”或曰：“太帝使素女鼓五十弦瑟，悲，帝禁不止，故破其瑟为二十五弦。”于是塞南越，祷祠太一、后土，始用乐舞，益召歌儿，作二十五弦及空侯琴瑟自此起。

其来年冬，上议曰：“古者先振兵泽旅，然后封禅。”乃遂北巡朔方，勒兵十余万，还祭黄帝冢桥山，释兵须如。上曰：“吾闻黄帝不死，今有冢，何也？”或对曰：“黄帝已仙上天，群臣葬其衣冠。”既至甘泉，为且用事泰山，先类祠太一。

自得宝鼎，上与公卿诸生议封禅。封禅用希旷绝，莫知其仪礼，而群儒采封禅《尚书》《周官》《王制》之望祀射牛事。齐人丁公年九十余，曰：“封禅者，合不死之名也。秦皇帝不得上封，陛下必欲上，稍上即无风雨，遂上封矣。”上于是乃令诸儒习射牛，草封禅仪。数年，至且行。天子既闻公孙卿及方士之言，黄帝以上封禅，皆致怪物与神通，欲放黄帝以上接神仙人蓬莱士，高世比德于九皇，而颇采儒术以文之。群儒既已不能辨明封禅事，又牵拘于诗书古文而不能骋。上为封禅祠器示群儒，群儒或曰“不与古同”，徐偃又曰“太常诸生行礼不如鲁善”，周霸属图封禅事，于是上绌偃、霸，而尽罢诸儒不用。

三月，遂东幸缑氏，礼登中岳太室。从官在山下闻若有言“万岁”云。问上，上不言；问下，下不言。于是以三百户封太室奉祠，命曰崇高邑。东上泰山，泰山之草木叶未生，乃令人上石立之泰山巅。

上遂东巡海上，行礼祠八神。齐人之上疏言神怪奇方者以万数，然无验者。乃益发船，令言海中神山者数千人求蓬莱神人。公孙卿持节常先行候名山，至东莱，言夜见大人，长数丈，就之则不见，见其迹甚大，类禽兽云。群臣有言见一老父牵狗，言“吾欲见巨公”，已忽不见。上即见大迹，未信，及群臣有言老父，则大以为仙人也。宿留海上，予方士传车及间使求仙人以千数。

四月，还至奉高。上念诸儒及方士言封禅人人殊，不经，难施行。天子至梁父，礼祠地主。乙卯，令侍中儒者皮弁荐绅，射牛行事。封泰山下东方，如郊祠太一之礼。封广丈二尺，高九尺，其下则有玉牒书，书秘。礼毕，天子独与侍中奉车子侯上泰山，亦有封。其事皆禁。明日，下阴道。丙辰，禅泰山下阯东北肃然山，如祭后土礼。天子皆亲拜见，衣上黄而尽用乐焉。江淮间一茅三脊为神藉。五色土益杂封。纵远方奇兽蜚禽及白雉诸物，颇以加礼。兕牛犀象之属不用。皆至泰山祭后土。封禅祠；其夜若有光，昼有白云起封中。

天子从禅还，坐明堂，群臣更上寿。于是制诏御史：“朕以眇眇之身承至尊，兢兢焉惧不任。维德菲薄，不明于礼乐。脩祠太一，若有象景光，□ 如有望，震于怪物，欲止不敢，遂登封太山，至于梁父，而后禅肃然。自新，嘉与士大夫更始，赐民百户牛一酒十石，加年八十孤寡布帛二匹。复博、奉高、蛇丘、历城，无出今年租税。其大赦天下，如乙卯赦令。行所过毋有复作。事在二年前，皆勿听治。”又下诏曰：“古者天子五载一巡狩，用事泰山，诸侯有朝宿地。其令诸侯各治邸泰山下。”

天子既已封泰山，无风雨灾，而方士更言蓬莱诸神若将可得，于是上欣然庶几遇之，乃复东至海上望，冀遇蓬莱焉。奉车子侯暴病，一日死。上乃遂去，并海上，北至碣石，巡自辽西，历北边至九原。五月，反至甘泉。有司言宝鼎出为元鼎，以今年为元封元年。

其秋，有星茀于东井。后十余日，有星茀于三能。望气王朔言：“候独见填星出如瓜，食顷复入焉。”有司皆曰：“陛下建汉家封禅，天其报德星云。”

其来年冬，郊雍五帝。还，拜祝祠太一。赞飨曰：“德星昭衍，厥维休祥。寿星仍出，渊耀光明。信星昭见，皇帝敬拜太祝之享。”

其春，公孙卿言见神人东莱山，若云“欲见天子”。天子于是幸缑氏城，拜卿为中大夫。遂至东莱，宿留之数日，无所见，见大人迹云。复遣方士求神怪采芝药以千数。是岁旱。于是天子既出无名，乃祷万里沙，过祠泰山。还至瓠子，自临塞决河，留二日，沈祠而去。使二卿将卒塞决河，徙二渠，复禹之故迹焉。

是时既灭两越，越人勇之乃言“越人俗鬼，而其祠皆见鬼，数有效。昔东瓯王敬鬼，寿百六十岁。后世怠慢，故衰秏”。乃令越巫立越祝祠，安台无坛，亦祠天神上帝百鬼，而以鸡卜。上信之，越祠鸡卜始用。

公孙卿曰：“仙人可见，而上往常遽，以故不见。今陛下可为观，如缑城，置脯枣，神人宜可致也。且仙人好楼居。”于是上令长安则作蜚廉桂观，甘泉则作益延寿观，使卿持节设具而候神人。乃作通天茎台，置祠具其下，将招来仙神人之属。于是甘泉更置前殿，始广诸宫室。夏，有芝生殿房内中。天子为塞河，兴通天台，若见有光云，乃下诏：“甘泉房中生芝九茎，赦天下，毋有复作。”

其明年，伐朝鲜。夏，旱。公孙卿曰：“黄帝时封则天旱，乾封三年。”上乃下诏曰：“天旱，意乾封乎？其令天下尊祠灵星焉。”

其明年，上郊雍，通回中道，巡之。春，至鸣泽，从西河归。

其明年冬，上巡南郡，至江陵而东。登礼灊之天柱山，号曰南岳。浮江，自寻阳出枞阳，过彭蠡，礼其名山川。北至琅邪，并海上。四月中，至奉高脩封焉。

初，天子封泰山，泰山东北阯古时有明堂处，处险不敞。上欲治明堂奉高旁，未晓其制度。济南人公玉带上黄帝时明堂图。明堂图中有一殿，四面无壁，以茅盖，通水，圜宫垣为复道，上有楼，从西南入，命曰昆仑，天子从之入，以拜祠上帝焉。于是上令奉高作明堂汶上，如带图。及五年脩封，则祠太一、五帝于明堂上坐，令高皇帝祠坐对之。祠后土于下房，以二十太牢。天子从昆仑道入，始拜明堂如郊礼。礼毕，燎堂下。而上又上泰山，自有秘祠其巅。而泰山下祠五帝，各如其方，黄帝并赤帝，而有司侍祠焉。山上举火，下悉应之。

其后二岁，十一月甲子朔旦冬至，推历者以本统。天子亲至泰山，以十一月甲子朔旦冬至日祠上帝明堂，毋脩封禅。其赞飨曰：“天增授皇帝太元神策，周而复始。皇帝敬拜太一。”东至海上，考入海及方士求神者，莫验，然益遣，冀遇之。

十一月乙酉，柏梁灾。十二月甲午朔，上亲禅高里，祠后土。临勃海，将以望祀蓬莱之属，冀至殊廷焉。

上还，以柏梁灾故，朝受计甘泉。公孙卿曰：“黄帝就青灵台，十二日烧，黄帝乃治明廷。明廷，甘泉也。”方士多言古帝王有都甘泉者。其后天子又朝诸侯甘泉，甘泉作诸侯邸。勇之乃曰：“越俗有火灾，复起屋必以大，用胜服之。”于是作建章宫，度为千门万户。前殿度高未央。其东则凤阙，高二十余丈。其西则唐中，数十里虎圈。其北治大池，渐台高二十余丈，命曰太液池，中有蓬莱、方丈、瀛洲、壶梁，象海中神山龟鱼之属。其南有玉堂、璧门、大鸟之属。乃立神明台、井幹楼，度五十丈，辇道相属焉。

夏，汉改历，以正月为岁首，而色上黄，官名更印章以五字，为太初元年。是岁，西伐大宛。蝗大起。丁夫人、雒阳虞初等以方祠诅匈奴、大宛焉。

其明年，有司上言雍五畤无牢熟具，芬芳不备。乃令祠官进畤犊牢具，色食所胜，而以木禺马代驹焉。独五月尝驹，行亲郊用驹。及诸名山川用驹者，悉以木禺马代。行过，乃用驹。他礼如故。

其明年，东巡海上，考神仙之属，未有验者。方士有言“黄帝时为五城十二楼，以候神人于执期，命曰迎年”。上许作之如方，命曰明年。上亲礼祠上帝焉。

公玉带曰：“黄帝时虽封泰山，然风后、封巨、岐伯令黄帝封东泰山，禅凡山，合符，然后不死焉。”天子既令设祠具，至东泰山，东泰山卑小，不称其声，乃令祠官礼之，而不封禅焉。其后令带奉祠候神物。夏，遂还泰山，脩五年之礼如前，而加以禅祠石闾。石闾者，在泰山下阯南方，方士多言此仙人之闾也，故上亲禅焉。

其后五年，复至泰山脩封。还过祭恒山。

今天子所兴祠，太一、后土，三年亲郊祠，建汉家封禅，五年一脩封。薄忌太一及三一、冥羊、马行、赤星，五，宽舒之祠官以岁时致礼。凡六祠，皆太祝领之。至如八神诸神，明年、凡山他名祠，行过则祠，行去则已。方士所兴祠，各自主，其人终则已，祠官不主。他祠皆如其故。今上封禅，其后十二岁而还，遍于五岳、四渎矣。而方士之候祠神人，入海求蓬莱，终无有验。而公孙卿之候神者，犹以大人之迹为解，无有效。天子益怠厌方士之怪迂语矣，然羁縻不绝，冀遇其真。自此之后，方士言神祠者弥众，然其效可睹矣。

太史公曰：余从巡祭天地诸神名山川而封禅焉。入寿宫侍祠神语，究观方士祠官之意，于是退而论次自古以来用事于鬼神者，具见其表里。后有君子，得以览焉。若至俎豆珪币之详，献酬之礼，则有司存。

Volume 28 · Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices, Sixth

司马迁

Of the emperors and kings who from antiquity received the mandate, which has not performed the feng and shan? There have indeed been those who undertook them without the answering sign; but there has never been one who saw the auspicious tokens appear and did not go up to Mount Tai. Some received the mandate but their merit did not reach so far; some reached Liangfu but their power was not yet all-pervading; some were pervading, yet had not a day to spare — and so the performance of the rite has been rare. A tradition says: "Let ritual go unperformed for three years and ritual must fall into ruin; let music go unperformed for three years and music must decay." At every flourishing of an age, the feng and shan answered to it; and when it declined, they ceased. The longest of these gaps ran to a thousand and more years, the shortest to several hundred; and so the forms of the rite are defective and blotted out, and their details cannot be got at or recorded.

The Book of Documents says that Shun was at the jade sighting-tube and the jade crossbar, by which he set the seven governances in order. He then made the lei offering to the Lord on High, the yin offering to the Six Honoured Ones, the wang offering to the mountains and rivers, and a general offering to the host of spirits. He gathered in the five tokens of jade, chose a lucky month and day, gave audience to the Four Peaks and the pastors of the regions, and returned the tokens. In the second month of the year he made an inspection tour to the east and came to Daizong. Daizong is Mount Tai. He made the firewood offering and the wang offering in their order to the mountains and rivers. He then received the eastern rulers in audience. The eastern rulers are the feudal lords. He brought the seasons and months into accord and the days to correctness, made uniform the pitch-pipes and the measures of length, capacity and weight, put in order the five rites, and the gifts of five jades, three silks, two living creatures and one dead. In the fifth month he toured to the Southern Marchmount. The Southern Marchmount is Mount Heng in the south. In the eighth month he toured to the Western Marchmount. The Western Marchmount is Mount Hua. In the eleventh month he toured to the Northern Marchmount. The Northern Marchmount is Mount Heng in the north. In every case the rite was as at Daizong. The Central Marchmount is Songgao. Once in five years he made the tour.

Yu followed this. Fourteen generations later came the emperor Kongjia, who was excessive in his ways and fond of the spirits; the spirits were profaned, and two dragons left him. Three generations after that, Tang attacked Jie and wished to move the altar of the Xia, but it could not be done, and he composed "The Altar of Xia." Eight generations later came the emperor Taiwu, in whose courtyard a mulberry and a paper-mulberry grew together, and in a single evening reached a span; and he was afraid. Yi Zhi said, "Portents cannot prevail over power." Taiwu cultivated his power, and the mulberry and paper-mulberry died. Yi Zhi commended Wu Xian, and the rise of Wu Xian began from this. Fourteen generations later the emperor Wuding got Fu Yue as his chancellor, and the Yin flourished again, and he was styled Gaozong. A pheasant perched on the ear of a tripod and cried, and Wuding was afraid. Zu Ji said, "Cultivate your power." Wuding followed this, and his throne was thereby made lastingly secure. Five generations later the emperor Wuyi was contemptuous of the spirits and was killed by thunder. Three generations later the emperor Zhou was dissolute and disorderly, and King Wu attacked him. Looking at it from this, at the outset they were never other than reverent and respectful, and only later grew gradually negligent.

The Offices of Zhou says: at the winter solstice, sacrifice to Heaven at the southern suburb, welcoming the coming of the lengthening days; at the summer solstice, sacrifice to the spirit of Earth. In both, music and dance are used, and only then can the spirits be given their ritual. The Son of Heaven sacrifices to the famous mountains and great rivers of the empire: the Five Marchmounts are reckoned as the Three Dukes, the Four Watercourses as the feudal lords; and the feudal lords sacrifice to the famous mountains and great rivers within their own borders. The Four Watercourses are the Jiang, the He, the Huai and the Ji. For the Son of Heaven they are called the Hall of Light and the Circular Moat; for the feudal lords, the Pan Palace, the Semicircular Hall.

When the Duke of Zhou had become chancellor to King Cheng, he made the suburban sacrifice to Houji as the counterpart of Heaven, and the ancestral sacrifice to King Wen in the Hall of Light as the counterpart of the Lord on High. From the rise of Yu the sacrifices at the altar of the soil were kept up, and Houji had been the sower and reaper, and so there was a shrine of Ji: the suburban and soil-altar sacrifices go back a very long way.

From the Zhou conquest of the Yin, fourteen generations on, the age grew ever more decayed, ritual and music fell away, the feudal lords acted as they pleased, King You was defeated by the Quanrong, and the Zhou moved east to Luoyi. Duke Xiang of Qin attacked the Rong and rescued the Zhou, and was for the first time ranked among the feudal lords. Duke Xiang of Qin, having become a marquis, dwelt on the western marches, took himself to preside over the spirit of Shaohao, and made the Western Zhi, where he sacrificed to the White Emperor with a bay colt, a yellow ox and a ram, one of each. Sixteen years afterwards Duke Wen of Qin hunted eastward between the Qian and the Wei, and divined about dwelling there, and it was auspicious. Duke Wen dreamt of a yellow snake that came down from the sky and touched the earth, its mouth coming to rest at the plain of Fu. Duke Wen asked the scribe Dun, and Dun said, "This is a token of the Lord on High; my lord should sacrifice to him." Thereupon he made the Fu Zhi, and with three kinds of victim performed the suburban sacrifice to the White Emperor there.

Before ever the Fu Zhi was made, there had been of old the Wuyang Wu Zhi beside Yong, and the Hao Zhi east of Yong, but both were abandoned and without sacrifice. Some say: "From antiquity, because Yongzhou is piled high and is the recess of the divine and luminous, altars were set up there for the suburban sacrifice to the Lord on High, and the shrines of all the spirits were gathered there. It seems that in the time of the Yellow Emperor sacrifice was once performed there, and even in the late Zhou the suburban sacrifice was made there." This talk is not seen in the canonical texts, and men of the sash and tablet do not speak of it.

Nine years after the making of the Fu Zhi, Duke Wen obtained something like a stone, and sacrificed to it at the walled place on the northern slope at Chencang. Its spirit sometimes did not come for a year, sometimes came several times in a year; and it always came by night, its radiance like a shooting star, coming from the south-east to settle on the walled shrine; and then it was like a cockerel, and its cry was a rumbling, and the wild pheasants crowed in the night. It was sacrificed to with a single set of victims, and named the Treasure of Chen.

Seventy-eight years after the making of the Fu Zhi, Duke De of Qin, having been established, divined about dwelling at Yong — "hereafter your sons and grandsons shall water their horses at the He" — and thereupon made Yong his capital. The many sacrifices of Yong arose from this time. He used three hundred sets of victims at the Fu Zhi. He instituted the Fu-day sacrifice. He had dogs torn apart at the four gates of the city, to ward off the harm of noxious vermin.

Duke De died two years after his accession. Four years after that, Duke Xuan of Qin made the Mi Zhi south of the Wei, and sacrificed to the Green Emperor.

Fourteen years after that, Duke Mu of Qin was established; he fell ill and lay five days without waking; and when he woke, he said that he had dreamt of seeing the Lord on High, and that the Lord on High had charged him with settling the disorders of Jin. The scribes wrote it down and stored the record in the archives. And later ages all said that Duke Mu of Qin had gone up to heaven.

In the ninth year of Duke Mu of Qin's reign, Duke Huan of Qi, having become hegemon, assembled the feudal lords at Kuiqiu and wished to perform the feng and shan. Guan Zhong said: "Of those who in antiquity performed the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Liangfu there were seventy-two houses, and of these I, Yiwu, have record of twelve. Of old Wuhuai performed the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; Fuxi, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; Shennong, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; the Flame Emperor, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; the Yellow Emperor, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Tingting; Zhuanxu, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; the emperor Ku, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; Yao, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; Shun, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; Yu, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Kuaiji; Tang, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Yunyun; King Cheng of Zhou, the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Sheshou. In every case they received the mandate, and only then were able to perform the feng and shan." Duke Huan said: "I marched north against the Mountain Rong and passed Guzhu; I marched west against Daxia, crossed the drifting sands, bound up my horses and slung my chariots, and climbed Mount Bi'er; I marched south as far as Zhaoling, and climbed Mount Xiong'er to look out over the Jiang and the Han. Three times I assembled the lords with chariots of war and six times with chariots of peace: nine times I brought the feudal lords together and set the empire right at a stroke, and not one of the lords went against me. When the Three Dynasties of old received the mandate, wherein was it different from this?" Thereupon Guan Zhong, seeing that Duke Huan could not be brought to an end of it by words, laid it before him in terms of practical things, saying: "For the feng and shan of antiquity there were the broomcorn millet of Hao and the grain of Beili, which served for the offerings; and between the Jiang and the Huai, a rush with three ridges, which served for the mat. The Eastern Sea sent its paired flatfish, and the Western Sea its paired-wing birds; and after that there were fifteen kinds of things that came of themselves without being summoned. Now the phoenix and the unicorn do not come, the fine grain does not grow, and the mugwort, the artemisia, the goosefoot and the darnel flourish; owls come again and again — and to wish to perform the feng and shan at such a time, is it not rather impossible?" At this Duke Huan desisted. In that year Duke Mu of Qin brought in Yiwu as ruler of Jin. Afterwards he three times set up a ruler in Jin and settled its disorders. Duke Mu died in the thirty-ninth year of his reign.

A hundred and more years after that, Confucius discussed and set forth the Six Arts. The traditions say summarily that those who changed the surname and became kings, performing the feng on Mount Tai and the shan at Liangfu, were more than seventy kings; but the rites of their stands and dishes are not made plain, and it seems that it is hard to speak of them. Someone asked about the di sacrifice, and Confucius said: "I do not know. One who knew the di sacrifice would deal with the empire as though he were looking at this" — and he looked at his palm. The Odes say that while Zhou was on the throne, King Wen received the mandate, but his government did not reach as far as Mount Tai. King Wu overcame the Yin, and two years later, the empire not yet at peace, he died. And so it was under King Cheng that the power of Zhou was all-pervading; and the feng and shan of King Cheng come nearest to the thing. Later, when subordinate ministers held the government and the Ji clan made the lü offering on Mount Tai, Zhongni derided it.

At this time Chang Hong served King Ling of Zhou by his arts. The feudal lords did not come to court at Zhou, and Zhou's strength was slight; so Chang Hong made plain the affairs of ghosts and spirits, and set up the shooting at the Wildcat's Head. The Wildcat's Head stood for the feudal lords who did not come. He relied on portents and prodigies in the hope of bringing in the feudal lords. The feudal lords did not follow, and the men of Jin seized Chang Hong and killed him. The Zhou people's talk of arts and prodigies begins from Chang Hong.

A hundred and more years after that, Duke Ling of Qin made the Upper Zhi at Wuyang and sacrificed to the Yellow Emperor, and made the Lower Zhi and sacrificed to the Flame Emperor.

Forty-eight years later, the Grand Scribe Dan of Zhou had audience with Duke Xian of Qin and said: "Qin was at first joined with Zhou; joined, they parted; and after five hundred years they shall be joined again; and seventeen years after the joining a hegemon-king shall come forth." At Yueyang it rained gold, and Duke Xian of Qin took himself to have obtained the auspicious token of metal, and therefore made the Qi Zhi at Yueyang and sacrificed to the White Emperor.

A hundred and twenty years after that, Qin destroyed the Zhou, and the Nine Tripods of Zhou passed to Qin. Some say that when the altar of the soil at Taiqiu in Song was lost, the tripods sank into the Si below Pengcheng.

A hundred and fifteen years after that, Qin united the empire.

When the First Emperor of Qin had united the empire and become emperor, someone said: "The Yellow Emperor obtained the power of Earth, and a yellow dragon and earthworms appeared. The Xia obtained the power of Wood, and a green dragon halted in the suburbs, and the plants and trees grew luxuriantly. The Yin obtained the power of Metal, and silver overflowed from the mountains. The Zhou obtained the power of Fire, and there was the token of the red crow. Now Qin has changed the Zhou, and it is the time of the power of Water. Formerly Duke Wen of Qin went out hunting and took a black dragon: this was the auspicious token of the power of Water." Thereupon Qin changed the name of the He, calling it "the Water of Power," made the tenth month of winter the head of the year, esteemed black among colours, took six for the name of its measures, esteemed the dalü among the notes, and made law the governing principle of affairs.

In the third year of his imperial reign he toured the commanderies and counties to the east, sacrificed at Mount Yi in Zou, and sang the praises of Qin's achievements. Thereupon he summoned seventy classical scholars and erudites from Qi and Lu, and they came to the foot of Mount Tai. Some of the scholars argued: "In antiquity, for the feng and shan they made carriages with rush-bound wheels, out of dislike for injuring the soil and stones, the plants and trees of the mountain; they swept the ground and sacrificed, and used a mat of straw and stalks — meaning that it was easy to follow." The First Emperor, hearing that these arguments were each at variance with the others and hard to put into effect, on this account dismissed the scholars. And so he had a carriage road cleared and went up from the southern side of Mount Tai to the summit, set up a stone celebrating the power of the First Emperor of Qin, and made plain that he had been able to perform the feng. He came down by the northern road and performed the shan at Liangfu. His rite drew a good deal on what the Grand Invocator used in sacrificing to the Lord on High at Yong; but the feng and what was buried were all kept secret, and the age has not been able to record them.

When the First Emperor was going up Mount Tai, he met a violent storm of wind and rain on the middle slope and rested under a great tree. The scholars, having been dismissed and not admitted to take part in the rite of the feng, heard that the First Emperor had met with wind and rain, and derided him for it.

Thereupon the First Emperor travelled east to the seaboard, performed the rites and sacrificed to the famous mountains and great rivers and to the Eight Spirits, and sought out immortals of the sort of Xianmen. The Eight Spirits, it seems, have existed from antiquity; some say they were instituted from the time of the Grand Duke onward. What makes Qi Qi is the Navel of Heaven. The sacrifices to them broke off, and none knows when they began. The Eight Spirits: the first is the Lord of Heaven, sacrificed to at the Navel of Heaven. The Navel of Heaven is the spring-fed pool at the foot of the hill in the southern suburb of Linzi. The second is the Lord of Earth, sacrificed to at Mount Tai and Liangfu. It seems that Heaven loves the yin, and sacrifice to it must be at the foot of a high mountain and on the top of a small one, and the place is called a zhi; Earth honours the yang, and sacrifice to it must be on a round mound in the midst of a marsh. The third is the Lord of War, sacrificed to at the shrine of Chiyou. Chiyou is at Jianxiang in Dongpinglu, on the western border of Qi. The fourth is the Lord of Yin, sacrificed to at the Three Mountains. The fifth is the Lord of Yang, sacrificed to at Zhifu. The sixth is the Lord of the Moon, sacrificed to at Mount Lai. All these are in northern Qi, bordering the Bohai. The seventh is the Lord of the Sun, sacrificed to at Chengshan. Chengshan juts into the sea and lies furthest in the north-eastern corner of Qi, and is for welcoming the sunrise. The eighth is the Lord of the Four Seasons, sacrificed to at Langye. Langye is in the eastern quarter of Qi, and it seems to be where the year begins. To each a single set of victims is used in sacrifice; but what the shamans and invocators take away or add, the jade tablets and the offerings of silk, are various and differ.

From the time of Kings Wei and Xuan of Qi, the followers of Master Zou discussed and wrote of the revolutions of the Five Powers in their ending and beginning; and when Qin became emperor, men of Qi presented these doctrines, and so the First Emperor took them up and used them. And Song Wuji, Zheng Boqiao, Chong Shang and Xianmen Gao, all of them latterly men of Yan, practised the way of the magicians and immortals, of the shedding of the body and its dissolving and transforming, relying upon the affairs of ghosts and spirits. Zou Yan became conspicuous among the feudal lords through the revolutions governed by yin and yang, and the magicians of the seaboard of Yan and Qi handed on his arts without being able to understand them; and from this there arose the prodigious, the far-fetched, the fawning and the ingratiating, past all counting.

From the time of Wei and Xuan, and of King Zhao of Yan, men were sent into the sea to seek Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou. These three spirit-mountains, according to the tradition, are in the Bohai, not far from men; but the trouble is that when one is about to reach them, the boat is drawn away by the wind. It seems there were once those who got there, and all the immortals and the drug of deathlessness are there. Their creatures, birds and beasts alike, are all white, and their palaces and gate-towers are of gold and silver. Before one arrives, they look from afar like clouds; and when one comes up, the three spirit-mountains are instead beneath the water. One draws near them, and the wind at once pulls one away, and in the end none has been able to reach them. There is no ruler of an age who has not set his heart on this. And when the First Emperor of Qin had united the empire and came to the seaboard, the magicians' talk of it was past all counting. The First Emperor, thinking that if he went to the seaboard himself he might yet fail to reach them, sent men to take boys and girls with them and go into the sea to seek them. Their ships met in mid-sea, and all made the wind their excuse, saying that they had not been able to reach them but had seen them from afar. The next year the First Emperor travelled to the seaboard again, came to Langye, passed Mount Heng, and returned by way of Shangdang. Three years later he travelled to Jieshi, examined the magicians who had gone into the sea, and returned by way of Shangjun. Five years later the First Emperor went south to Mount Xiang, then climbed Kuaiji, and went along the seaboard, hoping to meet with the marvellous drug of the three spirit-mountains in the sea. He did not obtain it, and on the way back died at Shaqiu.

In the first year of the Second Emperor he toured east to Jieshi, went south along the sea, passed by Mount Tai, and came to Kuaiji, performing the rites and sacrificing at all of them; and he had an inscription cut beside the writing on the stones the First Emperor had set up, to make manifest the merit and power of the First Emperor. That autumn the feudal lords revolted from Qin. In the third year the Second Emperor was assassinated.

Twelve years after the First Emperor's feng and shan, Qin perished. The scholars hated Qin for burning the Odes and Documents and putting men of letters to death; the hundred families resented its laws, and the empire revolted from it; and they all falsely said: "The First Emperor went up Mount Tai and was struck by a violent storm of wind and rain, and could not perform the feng and shan." Is this not what is called undertaking the rite without the power for it?

Of old the seats of the Three Dynasties were all between the He and the Luo; and so Songgao was the Central Marchmount, and the four Marchmounts each lay in their own quarter, and the Four Watercourses were all east of the mountains. When Qin styled itself emperor and made Xianyang its capital, then the Five Marchmounts and the Four Watercourses all lay together in the east. From the Five Emperors down to Qin there was flourishing and decline by turns, and the famous mountains and great rivers were sometimes in the hands of the feudal lords and sometimes in the hands of the Son of Heaven, and their rites were diminished or enlarged differently in each age, past all recording. When Qin united the empire, it ordered that what the officers of sacrifice regularly served — Heaven and Earth, the famous mountains and great rivers, the ghosts and spirits — could be set out in order.

Thereupon, from Yao eastward there were five famous mountains and two great rivers sacrificed to. They were: Taishi — Taishi is Songgao — and Mount Heng, Mount Tai, Kuaiji, Mount Xiang. The waters were the Ji and the Huai. In spring, dried meat and ale were used for the yearly sacrifice, at the thawing of the ice; in autumn at the freezing-over; in winter for the closing sacrifice of thanksgiving. The victims used were one bullock each, and the sets of victims, jade tablets and silks differed in each case.

From Hua westward there were seven famous mountains and four famous rivers. They were: Mount Hua; Mount Bo — Bo is Mount Shuai — Mount Yue, Mount Qi, Mount Wuyue, Hongzhong, and Mount Du. Mount Du is Mount Wen in Shu. The waters were: the He, sacrificed to at Linjin; the Mian, sacrificed to at Hanzhong; the Qiuyuan, sacrificed to at Chaona; and the waters of the Jiang, sacrificed to in Shu. Here too there were the spring and autumn thawing and freezing, the prayers and the closing sacrifices, as with the famous mountains and rivers of the east; and the bullock victims, the sets of victims, the jade tablets and silks differed in each case. And the four great mounds, Hong, Qi, Wu and Yue, all had the tasting of the new grain.

The Treasure of Chen was sacrificed to when it came at its season. To the He was added the tasting of the new ale. All these lie within the region of Yongzhou, near the capital of the Son of Heaven, and so to them was added one carriage and four bay colts.

The Ba, the Chan, the Changshui, the Feng, the Lao, the Jing and the Wei are none of them great rivers; but because they were near Xianyang, they all got to be ranked with the sacrifices to the mountains and rivers, without the additions.

The two deeps of the Qian and the Luo, and Mingze, Mount Pu and Mount Yue<山胥> and the like, were reckoned small mountains and rivers, and they too all had the yearly prayers and closing sacrifices, and the sacrifices at the thawing and the freezing; but the rites were not necessarily the same.

And Yong had the sun, the moon, Shen, Chen, the Northern and Southern Dippers, the Sparkling Deluder, the Great White, the Year Star, the Quelling Star, the Chronogram Star, the twenty-eight lodges, the Lord of the Wind, the Master of the Rain, the Four Seas, the Nine Ministers, the Fourteen Ministers, the Various Bu, the Various Yan, the Various Qiu and the like — more than a hundred temples. In the west too there were some tens of shrines. At Hu there was a shrine of the Son of Heaven of Zhou. At Xiagui there was a spirit of Heaven. At the Feng and the Hao there were Zhaoming and the Son of Heaven's Ringed Pool. At Du and at Bo there were the shrines of the three Lords of the Soil and the shrine of the Star of Longevity; and the Jian temple at Yong also had the Lord of Du. The Lord of Du was formerly a General of the Right of Zhou, and within the Qin lands he is the least of the spirits of the dead. Each was served with sacrifice at its proper season of the year.

Only at the four zhi of Yong was the Lord on High honoured, and what moved the people by its radiance was only the Treasure of Chen. Thus at the four zhi of Yong, in spring there was the yearly prayer at the thawing of the ice, in autumn at the freezing-over, in winter the closing sacrifice; in the fifth month the tasting of the colts; and in each of the four middle months of the seasons a monthly sacrifice; and when the Treasure of Chen came at its season, one sacrifice. In spring and summer red-brown victims were used, in autumn and winter bay. At the zhi were four colts, one team of four for a wooden figured dragon-and-bell carriage, and one team of four for a wooden figured carriage and horses, each in the colour of its emperor. Yellow calves and lambs, four of each; jade tablets and silks each to its number; and all were buried alive, without the furniture of stands and dishes. Once in three years the suburban sacrifice. Qin made the tenth month of winter the head of the year, and so it was regularly in the tenth month that the ruler kept vigil and appeared at the suburban sacrifice; the beacon fires were passed along, and obeisance was made beside Xianyang, and the robes worn were white, and the usage was as at the regular sacrifices. At the Western Zhi and the Qi Zhi the sacrifices were as before, and the ruler did not go in person.

All these sacrifices were regularly in the charge of the Grand Invocator, who served them with sacrifice at the seasons of the year. As for the other famous mountains and rivers, the various ghosts and the Eight Spirits, the ruler sacrificed when he passed by and stopped when he had gone. The spirit-shrines of the commanderies, counties and distant parts were served with sacrifice by the people themselves and were not under the Son of Heaven's officers of invocation. Among the officers of invocation there was the Secret Invocator, who, whenever there was a calamity or a portent, would at once by invocation and sacrifice shift the fault onto those below.

When the Han arose, Gaozu in his obscure days once killed a great snake. A being said: "The snake was the son of the White Emperor, and the one who killed him is the son of the Red Emperor." When Gaozu first rose, he prayed at the elm-altar of Feng. When he took Pei and became Duke of Pei, he sacrificed to Chiyou and smeared his drums and standards with blood. He then reached Bashang in the tenth month, and with the feudal lords brought Xianyang to order, and was established as King of Han. Accordingly he made the tenth month the head of the year, and esteemed red among colours.

In the second year he struck eastward at Xiang Ji, and on returning entered the Pass, and asked: "Under the old Qin, to which emperor was the sacrifice to the Lord on High made?" The answer was: "To four emperors: there are the sacrifices to the White, Green, Yellow and Red Emperors." Gaozu said: "I have heard that Heaven has five emperors, yet there are four. How is this?" None knew the explanation of it. Thereupon Gaozu said: "I know it: it was waiting for me to complete the five." And so he set up the shrine of the Black Emperor, and named it the Northern Zhi. The officials in charge presented the sacrifices, and the ruler did not go in person. He summoned all the former Qin officers of invocation, and re-established the Grand Invocator and the Grand Butler, with the forms and rites as before. Accordingly he ordered the counties to establish public altars of the soil. He issued an edict saying: "I hold sacrifice in great weight and revere the offerings. Let the sacrifice to the Lord on High and to the mountains, rivers and the various spirits that ought to be sacrificed to be performed each at its season with its rites, as before."

Four years later, when the empire was settled, he issued an edict to the Imperial Secretary ordering Feng to keep the elm-altar in careful repair, and to sacrifice to it regularly at the four seasons, with a sheep and a pig in spring. He ordered the officers of invocation to set up a shrine of Chiyou at Chang'an. At Chang'an he established officers of sacrifice and invocation and female shamans. The shamans of Liang sacrificed to Heaven, Earth, the Altar of Heaven, the Waters of Heaven, and those of the Inner Chamber and the Upper Hall; the shamans of Jin sacrificed to the Five Emperors, the Lord of the East, the Lord within the Clouds, the Director of Destinies, the Shamans' Altar, the Shamans' Shrine, the Clansmen, and the First Cook; the shamans of Qin sacrificed to the Lord of the Soil, the Shamans' Protector, and the Clan Line; the shamans of Jing sacrificed to those of the Lower Hall, the First Shaman, the Director of Destinies, and the Giver of Gruel; the shamans of the Nine Heavens sacrificed to the Nine Heavens: all of them sacrificing within the palace at the seasons of the year. The shamans of the He sacrificed to the He at Linjin, and the shamans of the Southern Mountain sacrificed to the Southern Mountain and to Qinzhong. Qinzhong is the Second Emperor. Each had its own times and days.

Two years after that, someone said that when Zhou arose it had its city at Tai and set up the shrine of Houji, who to this day receives blood offerings throughout the empire. Thereupon Gaozu issued an edict to the Imperial Secretary: "Let the commanderies, kingdoms and counties set up shrines of the Numinous Star, and sacrifice there regularly at the seasons of the year with an ox."

In the spring of Gaozu's tenth year, the officials in charge asked that the counties regularly sacrifice to the altars of soil and grain with a sheep and a pig in the second month of spring and at the La, and that the village altars of the people each provide for the sacrifice from their own means. The rescript said: "Approved."

Eighteen years after that, Emperor Xiaowen came to the throne. In the thirteenth year of his reign he issued an edict saying: "Now the Secret Invocator shifts the fault onto those below. I strongly disapprove of it. From now on it is abolished."

At first the famous mountains and great rivers were in the hands of the feudal lords, and the lords' invocators served the sacrifices themselves, and the Son of Heaven's officers were not in charge of them. When the kingdoms of Qi and Huainan were abolished, he ordered the Grand Invocator to perform all the rites at the seasons of the year as before.

In that year a rescript said: "I have been on the throne now thirteen years. By the spirit of the ancestral temple and the blessing of the altars of soil and grain, within the borders there is peace and quiet, and the people are without sickness. Of late there have been good harvests year upon year. Lacking power as I do, how have I come to enjoy this? It is all the gift of the Lord on High and the various spirits. I have heard that in antiquity those who enjoyed a spirit's power always repaid its merit; I wish to make additions to the various spirits' shrines. Let the officials in charge deliberate on adding to the five zhi of Yong one state carriage each with its team and harness complete; to the Western Zhi and the Qi Zhi one figured carriage each, with four figured horses and the team and harness complete; to the He, the Qiuyuan and the waters of the Han, two jades each; and to the various shrines, let the altar grounds each be enlarged and broadened, and the jade tablets, silks, stands and dishes be added to in due gradation. And as for those who invoke blessings, let them return the blessing to me and not include the hundred families. From now on let the invocators express reverence and not make any petition."

Gongsun Chen, a man of Lu, submitted a memorial saying: "At first Qin obtained the power of Water; now the Han has received it from Qin. Reckoning by the tradition of the endings and beginnings, the Han ought to have the power of Earth, and the answering sign of the power of Earth is the appearance of a yellow dragon. It would be fitting to change the first day of the correct month, to alter the colour of the robes, and to esteem yellow among colours." At this time the chancellor Zhang Cang was fond of the pitch-pipes and the calendar, and held that the Han was the beginning of the power of Water, and that the He's bursting the Jin embankment was the token of it: the year began with the tenth month of winter, and the colour was black without and red within, matching that power. What Gongsun Chen said was wrong, and it was dismissed. Three years later a yellow dragon appeared at Chengji. Emperor Wen then summoned Gongsun Chen, appointed him erudite, and with the other scholars had him draft the business of changing the calendar and the colour of the robes. That summer he issued an edict saying: "A spirit in an extraordinary form has appeared at Chengji, without harm to the people, and the year has had a good harvest. I shall pray and make the suburban sacrifice to the Lord on High and the various spirits. Let the officers of rites deliberate, and not, out of reluctance to trouble me, keep silent." The officials in charge all said, "In antiquity the Son of Heaven performed the suburban sacrifice in person in summer, sacrificing to the Lord on High in the suburb; hence it is called the suburban sacrifice." Thereupon, in the fourth month of summer, Emperor Wen for the first time went in person to the suburban sacrifice at the five zhi of Yong, with all the robes esteeming red.

The next year Xinyuan Ping, a man of Zhao, obtained audience with the emperor through the observation of vapours, and said: "North-east of Chang'an there is a divine vapour, made up of five colours, like a man's cap and headband. Some say the north-east is the dwelling of the divine and luminous and the west their burial place. A heavenly token has come down; it would be fitting to set up a shrine to the Lord on High, so as to match the answering token." Thereupon he made the temple of the Five Emperors north of the Wei, under a single roof, with one hall to each emperor, each face having five gates, each in the colour of its emperor. What was used in the sacrifices and the forms of them were likewise as at the five zhi of Yong.

In the fourth month of summer, Emperor Wen went in person to make obeisance at the meeting of the Ba and the Wei, and there made the suburban appearance before the Five Emperors north of the Wei. The temple of the Five Emperors looked south upon the Wei, and to the north a channel was cut through from the rush-pool; and the beacon fires were raised and the sacrifice performed, and the radiance seemed to reach up and touch the sky. Thereupon Ping was honoured with the rank of Senior Grandee, and gifts to the accumulated value of a thousand catties of gold were bestowed on him. And the erudites and scholars were set to excerpt from the Six Classics and compose the Royal Institutions, and to plan and deliberate the business of the inspection tour and the feng and shan.

Emperor Wen went out of the Changmen gate and seemed to see five men on the north side of the road; and thereupon, directly north of that place, he set up an altar to the Five Emperors and sacrificed there with five sets of victims.

The next year Xinyuan Ping had a man bring a jade cup and present it with a memorial at the palace gate. Ping said to the emperor: "At the palace gate there is a vapour of precious jade coming." When they looked, there was indeed a man presenting a jade cup, with an inscription cut on it reading, "May the lord of men have his years prolonged." Ping also said, "Your servant has watched the sun, and it will be at the meridian twice." After a little while, the sun drew back and was at the meridian again. Thereupon the seventeenth year was for the first time changed to be the first year of a new reckoning, and a great feasting was ordered throughout the empire.

Ping said: "The tripods of Zhou were lost in the Si; now the He has overflowed and joined with the Si. Your servant, looking north-east toward Fenyin, sees the vapour of gold and treasure directly there. Might it be that the Zhou tripods will come forth? If the omen appears and one does not go to meet it, it will not come." Thereupon the emperor sent men to build a temple south of Fenyin, overlooking the He, wishing by sacrifice to bring out the Zhou tripods.

Someone submitted a memorial denouncing all that Xinyuan Ping had said about vapours and spirits as fraud. Ping was handed over to the law officers, and Xinyuan Ping and his kin were put to death. From this time on, Emperor Wen grew slack in the matter of changing the calendar and the colour of the robes and of the divine and luminous; and the Five Emperors north of the Wei and at Changmen he left to the officers of sacrifice to superintend, who performed the rites at their seasons, and he did not go himself.

The next year the Xiongnu repeatedly entered the frontier, and troops were raised to guard and defend it. In the following years the harvests were somewhat short.

Some years later Emperor Xiaojing came to the throne. For sixteen years the officers of sacrifice each performed the sacrifices at the seasons of the year as before, without any new institution, and so down to the present Son of Heaven.

When the present Son of Heaven first came to the throne, he was especially reverent toward the sacrifices to ghosts and spirits.

In his first year, the Han had been risen more than sixty years; the empire was at peace and quiet, and the men of sash and tablet all hoped that the Son of Heaven would perform the feng and shan and reform the calendar and the measures. The emperor inclined toward the scholars' arts and summoned the worthy and good; Zhao Wan, Wang Zang and others became ministers of state through their learning; and they wished to plan, after the ancients, the setting up of a Hall of Light south of the city, for the feudal lords to come to court in. The drafting of the business of the inspection tour, the feng and shan, and the changing of the calendar and the colour of the robes was not yet finished when it happened that the Empress Dowager Dou practised the doctrines of Huang-Lao and was not fond of the scholars' arts; she sent men secretly to spy out and obtain evidence of Zhao Wan and the others taking illicit profit, and summoned and examined Wan and Zang, and Wan and Zang killed themselves, and all that they had set on foot was abolished.

Six years later the Empress Dowager Dou died. The next year men of learning, Gongsun Hong and others, were summoned.

The next year the present emperor first went to Yong and made the suburban appearance at the five zhi. Thereafter he regularly made the suburban sacrifice once in three years. At this time the emperor sought out a spirit-lady, and lodged her at the Chishi Belvedere in Shanglin. The spirit-lady was a woman of Changling, who, her child having died, appeared as a spirit to her sister-in-law Wanruo. Wanruo sacrificed to her in her chamber, and many of the people went to sacrifice there. The Lord of Pingyuan went and sacrificed, and afterwards his sons and grandsons became honoured and eminent. When the present emperor came to the throne, he had her installed with rich ritual in the inner apartments. Her words were heard, but her person was not seen.

At this time Li Shaojun too obtained audience with the emperor through his arts of sacrificing to the stove, of the method of the grains, and of keeping off old age, and the emperor honoured him. Shaojun had been a retainer of the former Marquis of Shenze, and had charge of his arts. He concealed his age and where he had grown up, always saying that he was seventy, and that he could make things serve him and could keep off old age. He travelled by his arts among all the feudal lords. He had no wife or children. Men, hearing that he could make things serve him and did not die, kept sending him presents, and he always had gold, cash, clothing and food to spare. Men all thought that he did not follow any occupation and yet was amply provided, and further did not know where he came from, and so believed him the more and vied in serving him. Shaojun had a native liking for the arts, and was skilful at shooting shrewdly and hitting the mark strangely. He once drank with the Marquis of Wu'an, and among the company was an old man of more than ninety; and Shaojun spoke of the places where he had gone roaming and shooting with the old man's grandfather, and the old man had as a boy gone with his grandfather and recognized the places; and the whole company was astonished. When Shaojun had audience with the emperor, the emperor had an old bronze vessel and asked Shaojun about it. Shaojun said: "This vessel was displayed at Boqin in the tenth year of Duke Huan of Qi." When they examined the inscription, it was indeed a vessel of Duke Huan of Qi, and the whole palace was startled, and took Shaojun for a spirit and a man of several hundred years.

Shaojun said to the emperor: "Sacrifice to the stove and you will make things come; make things come, and cinnabar can be transformed into gold; when the gold is made and you use it for vessels to eat and drink from, your years will be increased; your years increased, you may then see the immortals of Penglai in the sea; and having seen them, you perform the feng and shan and do not die. Such was the Yellow Emperor. Your servant once roamed on the sea and saw Master Anqi, and Master Anqi ate jujubes as big as melons. Master Anqi is an immortal who has the run of Penglai; if he is in accord with a man he appears to him, and if not he hides." Thereupon the Son of Heaven for the first time sacrificed to the stove in person, sent magicians into the sea to seek Penglai and the likes of Master Anqi, and set about transforming cinnabar and the various drugs and compounds into gold.

After a long while Li Shaojun fell ill and died. The Son of Heaven held that he had transformed and gone away and was not dead, and had Kuan Shu, the scribe of Huangchui, receive his arts. Penglai and Master Anqi were sought and could not be found; and the prodigious and far-fetched magicians of Yan and Qi on the seaboard came in ever greater numbers to speak of the affairs of the spirits.

Miu Ji, a man of Bo, memorialized on the method of sacrificing to Taiyi, saying: "The most honoured of the spirits of Heaven is Taiyi, and Taiyi's assistants are called the Five Emperors. In antiquity the Son of Heaven in spring and autumn sacrificed to Taiyi in the south-eastern suburb, using the great set of victims, for seven days, making an altar with eight passages opened for the spirits." Thereupon the Son of Heaven ordered the Grand Invocator to set up the shrine in the south-eastern suburb of Chang'an, and always to serve it with sacrifice according to Ji's method. Afterwards someone submitted a memorial saying, "In antiquity the Son of Heaven once in three years used the great set of victims to sacrifice to the three Ones among the spirits: the One of Heaven, the One of Earth, and the Great One." The Son of Heaven allowed it, and ordered the Grand Invocator to superintend the sacrifice to them upon Ji's altar of Taiyi, according to that method. Later someone else submitted a memorial saying, "In antiquity the Son of Heaven regularly in spring made the dispelling sacrifice: to the Yellow Emperor with one owl and one 'broken mirror'; to Mingyang with a sheep; to Maxing with one black stallion; to Taiyi, the Lord of Zeshan and Dichang with an ox; to the Lord of Wuyi with dried fish; to the Envoy of Yin and Yang with one ox." He ordered the officers of sacrifice to superintend these according to that method, sacrificing beside Ji's altar of Taiyi.

After this there was a white deer in the Son of Heaven's park, and its hide was made into currency, to bring forth the answering token; and the white metal coinage was created.

The next year, at the suburban sacrifice at Yong, a one-horned beast was taken, like a roebuck. The officials in charge said: "Your Majesty has performed the suburban sacrifice with reverence and respect, and the Lord on High has repaid the offering by bestowing a one-horned beast; it is surely a unicorn." Thereupon it was presented at the five zhi, and at each zhi one ox was added for the burnt offering. White metal was bestowed on the feudal lords, to intimate that the answering tokens accorded with Heaven.

Thereupon the King of Jibei, supposing that the Son of Heaven was about to perform the feng and shan, submitted a memorial presenting Mount Tai and the towns about it, and the Son of Heaven compensated him with other counties. The King of Changshan committed an offence and was banished, and the Son of Heaven enfeoffed his younger brother at Zhending to continue the sacrifices to the former king, and made Changshan a commandery; and thereafter the Five Marchmounts were all within the Son of Heaven's own commanderies.

The next year Shaoweng, a man of Qi, obtained audience with the emperor through his arts of ghosts and spirits. The emperor had a favourite, Lady Wang; and when the lady died, Shaoweng by his arts contrived by night to bring the likeness of Lady Wang, and of the spirit of the stove, and the Son of Heaven looked on it from within a curtain. Thereupon Shaoweng was appointed General of Accomplished Perfection, rewarded very richly, and treated with the ritual due to a guest. The General of Accomplished Perfection said: "If Your Majesty wishes to have communication with the spirits, but the palace chambers and the robes are not in the likeness of the spirits, the spirit-beings will not come." So carriages painted with cloud-vapours were made, and on each of the conquering days a carriage was driven to drive off malignant ghosts. He also built the Ganquan Palace, with a terraced chamber within it, painted with Heaven, Earth, Taiyi and the various ghosts and spirits, and furnished with sacrificial vessels to bring down the spirits of Heaven. After a year or so his arts grew ever feebler and the spirits did not come. So he wrote on silk and fed it to an ox, pretending not to know, and said that there was something strange in this ox's belly. It was killed and examined, and the writing was found, and the writing was most prodigious. The Son of Heaven recognized his hand, questioned the man, and it was indeed a forged writing; and thereupon he put the General of Accomplished Perfection to death and kept it secret.

After this he built the Boliang terrace, the bronze pillar, and the immortal's palm for receiving the dew, and the like.

The year after the death of the General of Accomplished Perfection, the Son of Heaven fell gravely ill at Dinghu; shamans and physicians, every one that could be brought, did not cure him. Youshui Fagen said that in Shangjun there was a shaman who, when ill, had ghosts and spirits descend upon her. The emperor summoned her and installed her with sacrifices at Ganquan. When he fell ill, he sent to ask the spirit-lady. The spirit-lady said: "Let the Son of Heaven have no anxiety about his illness. When the illness is a little better, let him make the effort to meet me at Ganquan." Thereupon the illness was cured, he rose and went to Ganquan, and the illness was quite gone. He proclaimed a general amnesty, and installed the spirit-lady in the Palace of Longevity. Of the spirit-lady of the Palace of Longevity the most honoured was Taiyi, whose assistants were called the Great Interdiction, the Director of Destinies and the like, and all followed her. They could not be seen; their words were heard, and their speech was like the voice of men. They went and came by turns, and when they came the wind blew chill. They dwelt within a curtained chamber. Sometimes they spoke by day, but usually by night. The Son of Heaven purified himself and then entered. Through a shaman as host, they had to do with food and drink. What they had to say was passed down. He also set up the Palace of Longevity and the Northern Palace, hung out feathered standards, and set out the furniture of offerings, to do ritual honour to the spirit-lady. What the spirit-lady said, the emperor had men take down in writing, and named it "the Drawn Rule." What she uttered was what the common world already knew, with nothing at all extraordinary in it; yet the Son of Heaven alone was delighted in his heart. The business was kept secret, and the world did not know of it.

Three years after this, the officials in charge said that the reign-periods ought to be named from heavenly tokens, and not numbered one, two. The first reign-period was called Jian; the second, from a long star, was called Guang; the third, from the one-horned beast taken at the suburban sacrifice, was called Shou.

In the winter of the next year the Son of Heaven made the suburban sacrifice at Yong, and deliberated, saying: "Now I make the suburban sacrifice to the Lord on High in person, yet the Sovereign Earth has no sacrifice: the rite is not answered." The officials in charge, with the Lord Grand Astrologer and Kuan Shu the officer of sacrifice, deliberated: "For Heaven and Earth the victims' horns should be like a cocoon or a chestnut. Now that Your Majesty sacrifices in person to the Sovereign Earth, the Sovereign Earth should have five altars on a round mound in the midst of a marsh, each altar with one yellow calf and a great set of victims; and when the sacrifice is done, all is to be buried; and those who attend the sacrifice are to wear yellow." Thereupon the Son of Heaven went east, and for the first time set up a shrine of the Sovereign Earth at Sui Hill in Fenyin, as Kuan Shu and the others had deliberated. The emperor gazed and made obeisance in person, as in the rite for the Lord on High. When the rites were finished, the Son of Heaven went on to Xingyang and returned. Passing through Luoyang, he issued an edict saying: "The Three Dynasties are far off and cut away, remote and hard to preserve. Let thirty li of land be given to enfeoff a descendant of the Zhou as Lord Zinan of Zhou, so that he may serve the sacrifices to his ancestors." In that year the Son of Heaven for the first time toured the commanderies and counties, and moved gradually nearer to Mount Tai.

That spring the Marquis of Lecheng submitted a memorial speaking of Luan Da. Luan Da was a palace man of Jiaodong, who had formerly studied under the same master as the General of Accomplished Perfection, and later became master of recipes to the King of Jiaodong. The Marquis of Lecheng's elder sister was queen to King Kang, and had no son. When King Kang died, the son of another concubine was set up as king. The dowager queen Kang was licentious in her conduct, and she and the king did not get on, and each threatened the other with the law. The dowager queen Kang, hearing that the General of Accomplished Perfection was dead and wishing to ingratiate herself with the emperor, sent Luan Da through the Marquis of Lecheng to seek an audience and speak of his arts. The Son of Heaven, having put the General of Accomplished Perfection to death, afterwards regretted his early death and grudged that his arts had not been exhausted; and when he saw Luan Da he was greatly pleased. Da was a tall and handsome man, full of stratagems in his talk, and he dared to make great claims and rest upon them without misgiving. Da said: "Your servant has regularly gone to and fro in the sea and seen the likes of Anqi and Xianmen. But they held your servant to be of low station and did not trust him. And they held the King of Kang to be a mere feudal lord, not worth sharing the arts with. Your servant repeatedly spoke to the King of Kang, and the King of Kang further did not employ him. Your servant's master said: 'Gold can be made, the breach in the He can be stopped, the drug of deathlessness can be got, and the immortals can be brought.' But your servant fears to go the way of the General of Accomplished Perfection, in which case the magicians would all seal their mouths — and how should they dare to speak of their arts!" The emperor said: "The General of Accomplished Perfection died of eating horse liver, that is all. If you can truly put his arts in order, what should I grudge you?" Da said: "Your servant's master does not go seeking men; men go seeking him. If Your Majesty is determined to bring him, then honour his envoy, let him have kinsfolk, and treat him with the ritual due to a guest, not slightingly; and let each wear the seal of his credentials — then he may be sent to convey words to the divine men. Whether the divine men will consent or not — honour his envoy well, and after that they can be brought." Thereupon the emperor had him tested with a small art: he set draughtsmen fighting, and the pieces struck against one another of themselves.

At this time the emperor was troubled by the breach in the He, and the gold had not been made; so he appointed Da General of the Five Benefits. In a month or so he had four seals, wearing the seals of General Gentleman of Heaven, General Gentleman of Earth, and General of Great Communication. A rescript was issued to the Imperial Secretary: "Of old Yu opened up the Nine Jiang and cut channels for the Four Watercourses. Of late the He has overflowed the high ground and the levels, and the labour on the dykes has not ceased. I have been over the empire twenty-eight years, and it may be that Heaven has sent me a gentleman and there is to be great communication. The Qian hexagram speaks of 'the flying dragon'; 'the wild goose draws near the shore' — my mind is that it may perhaps be to do with this. Let General Gentleman of Earth, Da, be enfeoffed with two thousand households as Marquis of Letong." A first-class mansion such as a full marquis has was bestowed on him, and a thousand serving-people. Carriages, horses, curtains and furnishings from the imperial stock were sent to fill his house. Further, the Princess Weichang was given him to wife, with ten thousand catties of gold as her portion, and her town was renamed the Princess of Dangli. The Son of Heaven went in person to the residence of the Five Benefits. Envoys with condolences and supplies followed one another on the road. From the Senior Princess, the generals and the chancellors downward, all set out wine in his house and made him presents. Thereupon the Son of Heaven further cut a jade seal reading "General of the Way of Heaven," and sent an envoy in a feather garment to stand by night upon white thatch; and the General of the Five Benefits, also in a feather garment, stood by night upon white thatch to receive the seal, to show that he was not a subject. And he who wore "the Way of Heaven" was to lead the way for the Son of Heaven to the spirits of Heaven. Thereupon the Five Benefits regularly sacrificed by night at his house, wishing to bring down the spirits. The spirits did not come, but the hundred ghosts assembled; yet he was fairly able to make them serve him. Afterwards he made ready to travel, going east into the sea to seek his master. Da, within some months of his audience, wore six seals, and his eminence shook the empire; and on the seaboard, between Yan and Qi, there was not one who did not grip his wrist and declare that he had secret recipes and could work spirit-immortal arts.

In the sixth month of that summer, the shaman Jin of Fenyin, sacrificing for the people beside the enclosure of the Sovereign Earth at Wei Sui, saw the ground shaped like a hook, and dug and looked and found a tripod. The tripod was greatly different from ordinary tripods: it was figured and chased but had no inscription. He thought it strange and told the officials. The officials informed Sheng, the Grand Administrator of Hedong, and Sheng reported it. The Son of Heaven sent an envoy to examine and question the shaman about the finding of the tripod, and there was no fraud in it; so he sacrificed to it with the proper rites and had the tripod brought to Ganquan, following in its train, and presented it above. When they reached Zhongshan, the air was clear and warm, and a yellow cloud spread over it like a canopy. A roebuck passed by, and the emperor shot it himself, and thereupon used it in the sacrifice. When they reached Chang'an, the ministers and grandees all deliberated and asked that the treasure-tripod be honoured. The Son of Heaven said: "Of late the He has overflowed and the harvests have repeatedly failed; and so I made the tour and sacrificed to the Sovereign Earth, praying that grain be nourished for the hundred families. This year the abundance has not yet been repaid; why should the tripod come forth?" The officials in charge all said: "We have heard that of old the Tai Emperor raised one spirit-tripod, the one meaning the single unity, that to which Heaven, Earth and the myriad things are bound at their end. The Yellow Emperor made three treasure-tripods, in the likeness of Heaven, Earth and man. Yu collected the metal of the nine pastors and cast the Nine Tripods. All of them were used for boiling the offerings to the Lord on High and to the ghosts and spirits. When they met a sage they rose, and the tripods passed to the Xia and the Shang. When the power of Zhou declined and the altar of the soil in Song was lost, the tripods sank and went down, and were hidden and not seen. The Hymns say, 'From the hall to the base, from the sheep to the ox; the great tripods and the small, without clamour and without arrogance, the blessing of a long old age.' Now the tripod has come to Ganquan, bright and glossy and changing like a dragon, and it carries an unending blessing. Meeting with this at Zhongshan, a yellow-and-white cloud came down as a canopy, as a beast is a token; a great bow and four arrows were gathered in a taking below the altar, and the offering was repaid with a great feast-sacrifice. Only he who has received the mandate and is emperor knows in his heart the meaning of it and accords in power with it. The tripod should be shown to the ancestral shrines and stored in the emperor's court, to match the bright answering sign." The rescript said: "Approved."

Those who went into the sea to seek Penglai said that Penglai was not far, but that they were unable to reach it because, most likely, they could not see its vapour. The emperor then sent an assistant observer of vapours to watch for its vapour.

That autumn the emperor went to Yong and was about to make the suburban sacrifice. Someone said, "The Five Emperors are the assistants of Taiyi; Taiyi should be established, and the emperor should make the suburban sacrifice to him in person." The emperor was in doubt and had not decided. Gongsun Qing, a man of Qi, said: "This year the treasure-tripod has been obtained, and this winter the winter solstice falls at dawn on the new moon of the day xinsi, the same as in the time of the Yellow Emperor." Qing had a tablet-writing which said: "The Yellow Emperor obtained the treasure-tripod at Wanqu and asked Guiyuqu about it. Guiyuqu answered: 'The Emperor has obtained the treasure-tripod and the divine reckoning-rods; this year the winter solstice falls at dawn on the new moon of the day jiyou, and he has obtained the cord of Heaven, which ends and begins again.' Thereupon the Yellow Emperor went to meet the sun and reckoned with the rods, and thereafter about every twenty years the winter solstice fell again at dawn on the new moon; in all, twenty reckonings, three hundred and eighty years, and the Yellow Emperor as an immortal ascended to heaven." Qing wished to present it through Suo Zhong. Suo Zhong looked at the writing and found it uncanonical, suspected it a wild forgery, and declined, saying: "The business of the treasure-tripod is already settled; what more is there to be done!" Qing then presented it through a favourite. The emperor was greatly pleased and summoned and questioned Qing. He answered: "I received this writing from Master Shen, and Master Shen is dead." The emperor said: "Who was Master Shen?" Qing said: "Master Shen was a man of Qi. He had intercourse with Master Anqi and received the words of the Yellow Emperor. He left no book; he had only this writing about the tripod. It says, 'The rise of the Han will again fall at the time of the Yellow Emperor.' It says, 'The sage of the Han will be among the grandsons and great-grandsons of Gaozu. When the treasure-tripod comes forth, he will have communication with the spirits and perform the feng and shan. Of the seventy-two kings who performed the feng and shan, only the Yellow Emperor was able to go up Mount Tai and perform the feng.' Master Shen said: 'The ruler of the Han too should go up and perform the feng; and having gone up and performed the feng, he will be able as an immortal to ascend to heaven. In the time of the Yellow Emperor there were ten thousand feudal lords, and of the fiefs of the spirits and numina there were seven thousand. Of the famous mountains of the empire there are eight, and three are among the Man and the Yi, five in the Central States. In the Central States, Mount Hua, Shoushan, Taishi, Mount Tai and Donglai — these five mountains are those the Yellow Emperor regularly roamed on, meeting with the spirits. The Yellow Emperor made war and studied immortality at once. Troubled that the hundred families were against his Way, he cut down those who were not for the ghosts and spirits. After a hundred years and more he was able to have communication with the spirits. The Yellow Emperor made the suburban sacrifice to the Lord on High at Yong, and kept vigil three months. Guiyuqu was styled Dahong; he died and was buried at Yong, and that is the Hongzhong mound. Afterwards the Yellow Emperor received the myriad numina at the Bright Court. The Bright Court is Ganquan. What is called the Cold Gate is Gukou. The Yellow Emperor mined the copper of Shoushan and cast a tripod at the foot of Mount Jing. When the tripod was finished, a dragon with its whiskers hanging down came to meet the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor mounted and rode, and of his ministers and the rear palace more than seventy went up with him, and the dragon then went up and away. The remaining lesser servants could not get up, and all took hold of the dragon's whiskers; the whiskers came out and they fell, and the Yellow Emperor's bow fell with them. The hundred families gazed up as the Yellow Emperor went up to heaven, and then clasped his bow and the whiskers and wailed; and so later ages named the place Dinghu, the Tripod Lake, and the bow Wuhao, the Crow's Cry.'" Thereupon the Son of Heaven said: "Ah! Could I truly become like the Yellow Emperor, I should look on parting from wife and children as on slipping off a shoe." And he appointed Qing a Gentleman and sent him east to watch for the spirits at Taishi.

The emperor then made the suburban sacrifice at Yong, went as far as Longxi, climbed Kongtong in the west, and went to Ganquan. He ordered Kuan Shu and the other officers of sacrifice to prepare the altar for the sacrifice to Taiyi; the altar was modelled on Miu Ji's altar of Taiyi, with three tiers. The altars of the Five Emperors were ranged about it below, each in its own quarter, the Yellow Emperor to the south-west, with eight passages opened for the ghosts. For Taiyi, what was used was as with the things of the one zhi at Yong, with the addition of sweet ale, jujubes, dried meat and the like; and a wild ox was killed to furnish the stands, dishes and set of victims. For the Five Emperors alone there were only the stands, dishes and the offering of sweet ale. Below, on the ground of the four quarters, libations of food were set out for the host of spirits in attendance and for the Northern Dipper. When the sacrifice was done, all the remains of the offerings were burnt. The ox was white in colour, with a deer placed inside it and a pig inside the deer, and water poured in. For the sacrifice to the sun an ox was used; for the moon, a sheep or a pig singly. The invocator and butler of Taiyi wore purple and embroidery. For the Five Emperors, each wore its colour; for the sun, red; for the moon, white.

On the day xinsi, the new moon of the eleventh month, at the winter solstice, before daybreak, the Son of Heaven for the first time made the suburban sacrifice and obeisance to Taiyi. In the morning he saluted the sun, in the evening the moon, with a bow; and he appeared before Taiyi as in the rite of the suburban sacrifice at Yong. The words of the offering were: "Heaven has now bestowed on the Emperor the treasure-tripod and the divine reckoning-rods; new moon after new moon, ending and beginning again; the Emperor reverently bows and appears before him." And the robes esteemed yellow. The sacrifice had fires ranged all over the altar, and beside the altar were the vessels for boiling and cooking. The officials in charge said, "There was a radiance above the sacrifice." The ministers said, "When the Emperor first made the suburban appearance before Taiyi at Yunyang, the officials in charge presented the great jade disc and the fine victims in offering. That night there was a beautiful radiance, and by day a yellow vapour went up and touched the sky." The Lord Grand Astrologer, Kuan Shu the officer of sacrifice and the others said: "This is the blessing of the divine numina, the favour and good fortune and the auspicious omen. It would be fitting, on this ground where the radiance fell, to set up an altar of the Grand Zhi to make plain the answering sign. Let the Grand Invocator superintend it, and sacrifice there in autumn and in the La season. Once in three years let the Son of Heaven make the suburban appearance."

That autumn, for the campaign against Southern Yue, prayer was made to Taiyi. A standard was painted, with thorn-wood, with sun, moon, the Northern Dipper and a rising dragon, in the likeness of Taiyi's three stars, as the point of Taiyi's lance, and it was named "the Numinous Standard." When prayer was made for the troops, the Grand Astrologer held it up and pointed it at the state to be attacked. And the envoy of the General of the Five Benefits did not dare to go into the sea, but went to sacrifice at Mount Tai. The emperor sent men to follow and check, and in truth he had seen nothing. The Five Benefits falsely claimed to have seen his master; his arts were exhausted and mostly did not answer. The emperor then put the Five Benefits to death.

That winter Gongsun Qing watched for the spirits in Henan, and said that he had seen the footprints of an immortal on the wall of Goushi, and that there was a creature like a pheasant that went to and fro upon the wall. The Son of Heaven went in person to the wall of Goushi and looked at the prints. He asked Qing: "Will you not turn out like the General of Accomplished Perfection and the Five Benefits?" Qing said: "Immortals do not go seeking the lord of men; the lord of men goes seeking them. In this Way, unless one is somewhat liberal and easy, the spirits will not come. Speaking of the affairs of the spirits, the matter seems far-fetched and absurd; only by piling up the years can they be brought." Thereupon the commanderies and kingdoms each cleared their roads and repaired their palaces and belvederes and the sites of the shrines on the famous mountains, in hope of an imperial visit.

That spring, Southern Yue having been destroyed, a favoured servant of the emperor, Li Yannian, obtained audience through his fine music. The emperor thought well of him and sent the matter down to the ministers to deliberate, saying: "Among the people the sacrifices still have drumming and dancing and music; now our suburban sacrifice has no music. Is this fitting?" The ministers said: "In antiquity the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth all had music, and so the spirits could be given their ritual." Someone said: "The Tai Emperor had the Plain Maiden play a fifty-stringed se; it was mournful, and the Emperor forbade it but could not stop it, and so he broke her se into twenty-five strings." Thereupon, at the closing sacrifice for Southern Yue, in the prayers and sacrifices to Taiyi and the Sovereign Earth, music and dance were used for the first time; singing boys were enlisted in greater numbers; and the making of the twenty-five-stringed se and of the konghou lute and the qin and se dates from this.

In the winter of the following year the emperor deliberated, saying: "In antiquity they first mustered the troops and disbanded the host, and only then performed the feng and shan." So he made a northern tour to Shuofang, with more than a hundred thousand troops mustered; and on the way back he sacrificed at the Yellow Emperor's mound at Qiaoshan and disbanded the troops at Xuru. The emperor said: "I have heard that the Yellow Emperor did not die. Now there is a mound. How is this?" Someone answered: "The Yellow Emperor became an immortal and went up to heaven, and his ministers buried his cap and robes." When he reached Ganquan, as he was about to perform the rite at Mount Tai, he first made the lei sacrifice to Taiyi.

From the time the treasure-tripod was obtained, the emperor deliberated with the ministers and the scholars about the feng and shan. The feng and shan being rarely used and long broken off, none knew their forms and rites; and the body of scholars took the business of the wang sacrifices and the shooting of the ox from the Documents, the Offices of Zhou and the Royal Institutions as the feng and shan. Ding, a man of Qi, more than ninety years old, said: "The feng and shan is a name that combines with deathlessness. The Emperor of Qin was not able to go up and perform the feng. If Your Majesty is determined to go up, go up a little at a time, and there will be no wind or rain, and you will then go up and perform the feng." The emperor thereupon ordered the scholars to practise the shooting of the ox and to draft the forms of the feng and shan. After several years it came to the point of going. The Son of Heaven, having heard the words of Gongsun Qing and the magicians, that the Yellow Emperor and those before him in performing the feng and shan had all brought prodigious things and had communication with the spirits, wished to model himself on the Yellow Emperor and those before him in receiving the spirit-immortals and the gentlemen of Penglai, to rise above his age and match his power with the Nine Sovereigns; and he drew a good deal on the scholars' arts to give the thing its literary form. The body of scholars, being already unable to determine and make plain the business of the feng and shan, and being further hampered by the Odes, the Documents and the ancient writings, could not give their horses their head. The emperor had the sacrificial vessels for the feng and shan shown to the scholars, and some of the scholars said, "They are not the same as the ancient ones"; and Xu Yan further said, "The rites performed by the scholars of the Grand Master of Ceremonies are not as good as those of Lu"; and Zhou Ba got others to draw up a scheme for the business of the feng and shan; and thereupon the emperor dismissed Yan and Ba and put aside the whole body of scholars and did not use them.

In the third month he went east to Goushi, and performed the rite of ascending the Central Marchmount, Taishi. The officers in attendance at the foot of the mountain heard what seemed to be a voice saying "Long life!" They asked those above, and those above had not spoken; they asked those below, and those below had not spoken. Thereupon three hundred households were given to Taishi to maintain its sacrifices, and it was named the Town of Chonggao. He went east and up Mount Tai; the leaves of the plants and trees of Mount Tai had not yet come out, and so he had men carry up a stone and set it on the summit of Mount Tai.

The emperor then toured east to the seaboard, and performed the rites and sacrifices to the Eight Spirits. Men of Qi who submitted memorials speaking of spirits and prodigies and strange arts were to be counted in tens of thousands, yet none of them was verified. So he sent out more ships, ordering those who spoke of the spirit-mountains in the sea, several thousand men, to seek Penglai and its divine men. Gongsun Qing, bearing the credentials, regularly went ahead to watch at the famous mountains; and reaching Donglai he said that by night he had seen a great man, several zhang tall, and when he went up to him he was not to be seen, but he saw his footprints, which were very large, like those of a bird or beast. Some of the officers said they had seen an old man leading a dog, who said "I wish to see the great lord," and then of a sudden was not to be seen. The emperor, having seen the great prints, had not believed; but when the officers spoke of the old man, he took it firmly for an immortal. So he stayed on at the seaboard, and gave the magicians post-carriages, and those sent secretly to seek immortals were counted in thousands.

In the fourth month he returned to Fenggao. The emperor considered that what the scholars and the magicians said about the feng and shan differed from man to man, was uncanonical and hard to put into effect. The Son of Heaven came to Liangfu and performed the rite and sacrifice to the Lord of Earth. On the day yimao he ordered the Palace Attendants and the scholars to put on leather caps and the sash and tablet and to carry out the shooting of the ox. He performed the feng on the east side of the foot of Mount Tai, as in the rite of the suburban sacrifice to Taiyi. The feng mound was one zhang two chi broad and nine chi high, and beneath it was a writing on jade tablets, and the writing was secret. When the rites were finished, the Son of Heaven with only the Palace Attendant and Master of Carriage Zihou went up Mount Tai, and there too performed a feng. The whole of this business was forbidden to be spoken of. Next day he came down by the northern road. On the day bingchen he performed the shan at Mount Suran, north-east of the foot of Mount Tai, as in the rite of sacrifice to the Sovereign Earth. At all of them the Son of Heaven made obeisance and appeared in person, wearing yellow and using music throughout. The rush with three ridges from between the Jiang and the Huai was used for the spirits' mat. Earth of the five colours was added and mixed in the feng mound. Strange beasts, flying birds and white pheasants and other creatures from distant parts were released, and a good deal was added to the rite. Rhinoceros, wild ox, rhinoceros-horn and elephant and the like were not used. All came to Mount Tai and sacrificed to the Sovereign Earth. At the feng and shan sacrifices, that night there seemed to be a radiance, and by day a white cloud rose from within the feng mound.

When the Son of Heaven returned from the shan, he sat in the Hall of Light, and the officers in turn offered him long life. Thereupon a rescript was issued to the Imperial Secretary: "With this poor slight person of mine I have succeeded to the most honoured place, and I am fearful and afraid that I am not equal to it. My power is thin and meagre, and I am not clear about ritual and music. In cultivating the sacrifice to Taiyi, there seemed to be an appearance of radiance, □ as though there were something to look at; and, awed by the prodigy, I wished to stop and did not dare, and so went up and performed the feng on Mount Tai, came to Liangfu, and afterwards performed the shan at Suran. Renewing myself, I gladly make a fresh beginning with the officers and grandees. Let every hundred households of the people be given one ox and ten dan of ale; and let those of eighty years and the orphaned and widowed be given in addition two rolls of cloth and silk. Let Bo, Fenggao, Sheqiu and Licheng be exempted from paying this year's rents and taxes. Let there be a general amnesty throughout the empire, as in the amnesty decree of the day yimao. Let the places I have passed through have no forced labour. Let matters more than two years old all be dropped and not proceeded with." He further issued an edict saying: "In antiquity the Son of Heaven made an inspection tour once in five years and performed the rite at Mount Tai, and the feudal lords had their lodging-grounds for attending court. Let the feudal lords each build a residence at the foot of Mount Tai."

When the Son of Heaven had performed the feng on Mount Tai, there was no calamity of wind and rain, and the magicians said further that the spirits of Penglai might perhaps now be got at; whereupon the emperor, pleased and hoping that he might meet with them, went east again to the seaboard to look out, hoping to meet with Penglai. The Master of Carriage Zihou fell violently ill and died in a day. The emperor then departed, went along the seaboard, north as far as Jieshi, toured from Liaoxi, and passed along the northern frontier to Jiuyuan. In the fifth month he came back to Ganquan. The officials in charge said that since the treasure-tripod had come forth the reign had been Yuanding, and that the present year should be the first year of Yuanfeng.

That autumn a star bristled at Dongjing. More than ten days later a star bristled at the Three Steps. Wang Shuo, the observer of vapours, said: "In watching, I alone saw the Quelling Star come out like a melon, and after the space of a meal it went in again." The officials in charge all said: "Your Majesty has established the feng and shan of the house of Han, and Heaven has surely repaid it with the Star of Power."

In the winter of the next year he made the suburban sacrifice to the Five Emperors at Yong. On his return he made obeisance and invocation and sacrificed to Taiyi. The words of the offering were: "The Star of Power shines and spreads: this is a fair and auspicious sign. The Star of Longevity has come forth again, deep-glowing with light and brightness. The Star of Good Faith shines and appears. The Emperor reverently bows to the offering of the Grand Invocator."

That spring Gongsun Qing said that he had seen a divine man at Mount Donglai, who seemed to say, "I wish to see the Son of Heaven." The Son of Heaven thereupon went to the wall of Goushi and appointed Qing a Palace Grandee. He then went on to Donglai and stayed there some days, and saw nothing, save, he said, the footprints of a great man. Again he sent out magicians, in their thousands, to seek spirits and prodigies and to gather the mushroom of immortality. That year there was drought. Thereupon the Son of Heaven, having gone out without a pretext, prayed at Wanlisha and passed by and sacrificed at Mount Tai. On the way back he came to Huzi, and went in person to the breach in the He to close it, stayed two days, sank an offering and departed. He sent two ministers with troops to close the breach in the He, diverting it into two channels and restoring the old tracks of Yu.

At this time the two Yue having been destroyed, Yongzhi, a man of Yue, said: "The custom of the men of Yue is to honour ghosts, and at their sacrifices they all see ghosts, and these have often proved effective. Of old the King of Dong'ou revered ghosts and lived a hundred and sixty years. Later ages were slack and negligent, and so declined and wasted away." So he ordered the shamans of Yue to set up the Yue invocators' shrine, with a settled platform but no altar, and there too to sacrifice to the spirits of Heaven, the Lord on High and the hundred ghosts, and to divine with fowls. The emperor believed in him, and the Yue sacrifices and divination by fowls began to be used.

Gongsun Qing said: "The immortals can be seen, but Your Majesty always goes in haste, and for that reason has not seen them. Now if Your Majesty will make a belvedere, like the wall of Gou, and set out dried meat and jujubes, the divine men may properly be brought. Moreover, immortals like to dwell in towers." Thereupon the emperor ordered that at Chang'an the Feilian and Gui belvederes be built, and at Ganquan the Yiyanshou belvedere, and had Qing bear the credentials and set out the furnishings and watch for the divine men. Then he built the Tongtian terrace with its shaft, and set the sacrificial furnishings beneath it, meaning to summon and bring the spirit-immortals and their kind. Thereupon at Ganquan a new front hall was built, and the palace buildings began to be extended. In summer a mushroom grew inside a chamber of the hall. The Son of Heaven, having closed the He and raised the Tongtian terrace, seemed to see a radiance; and he issued an edict: "In the chamber at Ganquan a mushroom has grown with nine stalks. Let there be a general amnesty throughout the empire, and let there be no forced labour."

The next year he attacked Chaoxian. In summer there was drought. Gongsun Qing said: "In the Yellow Emperor's time, when the feng was performed, heaven was dry, drying the feng mound for three years." The emperor then issued an edict saying: "Heaven is dry — is the meaning perhaps the drying of the feng mound? Let the empire honour the sacrifices to the Numinous Star."

The next year the emperor made the suburban sacrifice at Yong, opened up the Huizhong road, and toured it. In spring he came to Mingze and returned by way of Xihe.

In the winter of the next year the emperor toured Nanjun, came to Jiangling and then went east. He climbed and performed the rite on Mount Tianzhu at Qian, and styled it the Southern Marchmount. He floated on the Jiang, went out from Xunyang to Zongyang, passed Pengli, and performed the rites to its famous mountains and rivers. He went north to Langye and along the seaboard. In the middle of the fourth month he came to Fenggao and renewed the feng there.

At first, when the Son of Heaven performed the feng on Mount Tai, there was at the north-eastern foot of Mount Tai a place where in ancient times there had been a Hall of Light, a place steep and not open. The emperor wished to build a Hall of Light beside Fenggao, but did not understand its plan and measures. Gongyu Dai, a man of Jinan, submitted a plan of the Hall of Light of the Yellow Emperor's time. In the plan of the Hall of Light there was one hall, with no walls on its four sides, roofed with thatch, with water running through, and a covered way running round the circuit of the palace wall, and above it a tower; one entered from the south-west, and it was named Kunlun, and the Son of Heaven entered by it to make obeisance and sacrifice to the Lord on High. Thereupon the emperor ordered Fenggao to build a Hall of Light on the Wen, following Dai's plan. And when in the fifth year he renewed the feng, he sacrificed to Taiyi and the Five Emperors, seated above in the Hall of Light, with the seat of the Emperor Gao set facing them. He sacrificed to the Sovereign Earth in the lower chamber, with twenty great sets of victims. The Son of Heaven entered by the Kunlun way and first made obeisance in the Hall of Light as in the suburban rite. When the rites were finished, the offerings were burnt below the hall. And the emperor further went up Mount Tai, where he had a secret sacrifice of his own on the summit. And at the foot of Mount Tai he sacrificed to the Five Emperors, each in his own quarter, the Yellow Emperor together with the Red Emperor, with the officials in charge attending the sacrifice. Fire was raised on the mountain, and below they all answered it.

Two years after this, on the day jiazi, the new moon of the eleventh month, at the winter solstice, those who reckoned the calendar took it for the root of the system. The Son of Heaven went in person to Mount Tai, and on the day jiazi, the new moon of the eleventh month, at the winter solstice, sacrificed to the Lord on High in the Hall of Light, without renewing the feng and shan. The words of the offering were: "Heaven has further bestowed on the Emperor the divine reckoning-rods of the Grand Origin, which come round and begin again. The Emperor reverently bows to Taiyi." He went east to the seaboard and examined those who had gone into the sea and the magicians who sought the spirits, and none was verified; yet he sent out more of them, hoping to meet with them.

On the day yiyou of the eleventh month there was a fire at Boliang. On the day jiawu, the new moon of the twelfth month, the emperor performed the shan in person at Gaoli and sacrificed to the Sovereign Earth. He came to the Bohai and was about to make the wang sacrifice to Penglai and its kind, hoping to reach the extraordinary court.

On his return, because of the fire at Boliang, the emperor received the accounts at court at Ganquan. Gongsun Qing said: "The Yellow Emperor completed the Qingling terrace, and in twelve days it burned; and the Yellow Emperor then built the Bright Court. The Bright Court is Ganquan." Many of the magicians said that there had been emperors and kings of antiquity who had their capitals at Ganquan. Afterwards the Son of Heaven further received the feudal lords at court at Ganquan, and residences for the feudal lords were built at Ganquan. Yongzhi then said: "It is the custom of Yue that when there has been a fire, the house rebuilt must be larger, so as to overcome it by mastery." Thereupon the Jianzhang Palace was built, planned with a thousand doors and ten thousand chambers. The front hall was planned higher than the Weiyang. To the east was the Phoenix Tower, more than twenty zhang high. To the west was Tangzhong, with a tiger park of some tens of li. To the north a great pool was made, with the Jian terrace more than twenty zhang high, and it was named the Taiye Pool; and in it were Penglai, Fangzhang, Yingzhou and Huliang, in the likeness of the spirit-mountains in the sea and of their turtles and fishes. To the south were the Jade Hall, the Jade-disc Gate, the Great Birds and the like. And the Terrace of the Divine and Luminous and the Well-frame Tower were set up, planned at fifty zhang, with carriage-ways joining one to another.

In summer the Han changed the calendar, making the first month the head of the year, and esteemed yellow among colours; the titles of the offices were changed, and the seals were made with five characters; and it became the first year of Taichu. That year there was a western campaign against Dayuan. Locusts rose in swarms. Lady Ding and Yu Chu of Luoyang and others used their arts to sacrifice and imprecate against the Xiongnu and Dayuan.

The next year the officials in charge memorialized that at the five zhi of Yong there were no cooked sets of victims and the fragrant offerings were not complete. So the officers of sacrifice were ordered to present at the zhi calves and complete sets of victims, of the colour that conquered the season's food, and to substitute wooden figured horses for colts. Only in the fifth month was there the tasting of colts, and when the emperor went in person to the suburban sacrifice, colts were used. And for the famous mountains and rivers where colts were used, wooden figured horses were substituted throughout. When the emperor passed by, then colts were used. The other rites were as before.

The next year he toured east to the seaboard and examined the spirit-immortals and their kind, and there was none verified. A magician said, "In the Yellow Emperor's time five cities and twelve towers were built, to watch for the divine men at Zhiqi, and it was named Welcoming the Year." The emperor allowed it to be built according to his method, and named it Mingnian, the Coming Year. The emperor performed the rite and sacrifice to the Lord on High in person.

Gongyu Dai said: "Though in the Yellow Emperor's time he performed the feng on Mount Tai, yet Fenghou, Fengju and Qibo made the Yellow Emperor perform the feng on East Mount Tai and the shan at Mount Fan, and match the tallies, and after that he did not die." The Son of Heaven, having ordered the sacrificial furnishings set out, came to East Mount Tai; and East Mount Tai was low and small and did not match its repute, so he ordered the officers of sacrifice to perform the rite to it, but did not perform the feng and shan there. Afterwards he ordered Dai to serve its sacrifices and watch for spirit-beings. In summer he returned to Mount Tai and renewed the rite of the fifth year as before, adding the shan sacrifice at Shilü. Shilü is on the southern side of the foot of Mount Tai, and the magicians said much of its being the gate of the immortals; and so the emperor performed the shan there in person.

Five years after this he came again to Mount Tai and renewed the feng. On the way back he passed by and sacrificed at Mount Heng.

The sacrifices instituted by the present Son of Heaven are: Taiyi and the Sovereign Earth, with the suburban sacrifice in person once in three years; the establishing of the feng and shan of the house of Han, with the feng renewed once in five years. Miu Ji's Taiyi, and the Three Ones, Mingyang, Maxing and the Red Star — five of them — the shrines of Kuan Shu, which the officers of sacrifice serve with rites at the seasons of the year. In all six sacrifices, all superintended by the Grand Invocator. As for the Eight Spirits and the various spirits, and Mingnian, Mount Fan and other famous shrines, when the emperor passes by they are sacrificed to, and when he goes they cease. The sacrifices instituted by the magicians are each managed by the man himself, and when he dies they cease, and the officers of sacrifice do not manage them. The other sacrifices are all as before. Since the present emperor performed the feng and shan, twelve years afterward he had come round again and been everywhere among the Five Marchmounts and the Four Watercourses. And the magicians' watching and sacrificing for divine men and their going into the sea to seek Penglai were in the end without any verification. And Gongsun Qing, in watching for spirits, still made the footprints of the great man his excuse, without effect. The Son of Heaven grew ever more weary and sick of the magicians' prodigious and far-fetched talk; yet he kept them on a loose rein and did not break with them, hoping to meet with the true one. From this time onward, the magicians who spoke of spirit-sacrifices grew ever more numerous; but what came of it may be seen.

The Lord Grand Astrologer says: I followed in the train that sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, to the various spirits and the famous mountains and rivers, and performed the feng and shan. I entered the Palace of Longevity and attended the sacrifices and the words of the spirits, and looked thoroughly into the intent of the magicians and the officers of sacrifice; and thereupon I withdrew and set forth in order those who from antiquity have served the ghosts and spirits, so that their outside and inside are both fully shown. Let the gentlemen of later times be able to look into this. As for the details of the stands and dishes, the jade tablets and silks, and the rites of offering and response, those the officials in charge have in keeping.