蔡邕 (伯喈)

Cai Yong 蔡邕 (132/133-192), zi Bojie 伯喈. Late Eastern Han scholar and writer.

Cai Yong's natal place was Yu 圉 county (south of modern Qi 杞 xian, Henan) in Chenliu 陳留 commandery. He came from one of the most prominent families of Yu county. His father's younger brother Cai Zhi 蔡質 (fl. 171-178), who cared for Cai Yong after his father's death, was known for his knowledge of ritual. Cai Yong was a polymath who had expertise in astronomy, mathematics, music, classical scholarship, calligraphy, and literature. He is generally acknowledged as the most accomplished writer of stele inscriptions of the early medieval period. He also had a reputation for filial devotion to his mother.

Ca. 152 Cai Yong studied with the renowned scholar and writer Hu Guang 胡廣 (91-172). In autumn 159, the eunuch Xu Huang 徐璜 (d. 164) summoned Cai Yong to the capital to perform on the zither. Cai traveled as far as Yanshi 偃師 (just east of the capital), became ill, and was able to return home. He then composed "Shu xing fu" 述行賦 (Fu recounting my travels) about his journey from Chenliu to Yanshi.

In 163, Cai Yong composed "Shi hui" 釋誨 (Defense against admonition) to explain why he lacked interest in official service. Cai Yong modeled "Defense Against Admonition" after the hypothetical discourses of Dongfang Shuo 東方朔 (154-93 BCE), Yang Xiong 揚雄 (53 BCE - 18 CE), Ban Gu 班固 (32-92), and Cui Yin 崔駰 (30?-92). It is a dialogue between Young-Gentleman Devoted to the World (Wu shi gongzi 務世公子) and Hoary-Headed-Old Man (Hua dian hulao 華巔胡老). The young man chastises the old man for living in a peaceful age and failing to be of service to the state. The old man, whose views clearly represent Cai Yong's own position, argues that the young man has only observed "dim and minute advantage, and is oblivious of obvious harm." He then lectures him on the situation that now prevails in the realm. There is a superabundance of officials who serve at the court, and one more courtier added to this multitude is of little or no consequence. Furthermore, those who obtain office come from well-established families. Although they "bend low before the gates of the consort clan" and "seek acclaim from the nobles close to the throne" (the eunuchs), they "fall prostrate to the ground." The lesser ones "are dragged away and punished." while the more prominent among them have their entire families executed. Thus, the old man thinks it prudent to known when to act and when to stop. Thus, in order to preserve his life and integrity, he is content to dwell in obscurity.

Cai Yong remained out of office until 171. During this time he wrote grave inscriptions for prominent persons, including Yang Bing 楊秉 (92-165), a high court official who was one of the most outspoken opponents of the eunuchs in the 160s, and Du Shang 度尚 (117-166), a regional governor who had distinguished himself quelling bandit uprisings in Jingzhou (modern Hubei). Cai Yong composed one stele inscription and one tripod vessel inscription for one of the most uncompromising opponents of the eunuchs, Zhu Mu 朱穆 (100-163). While Zhu Mu was serving as regional inspector of Jizhou 冀州 (administrative seat Gaoyi 高邑, southeast of modern Gaoyi, Hebei), the eunuch Zhao Zhong 趙忠 (d. 189) violated the sumptuary regulations by burying his father lavishly with jewels and a jade suit. The officials Zhu Mu sent to investigate the matter opened the tomb, smashed the coffin, and arrested his relatives. When Zhao Zhong complained to the court, Zhu Mu was sentenced to service as a convict. Liu Tao 劉陶 (d. 185), who was studying at the national university at the time, led a group of over a thousand fellow students to present a petition to the court denouncing the eunuchs for abusing their power and requesting that Zhu Mu be released. The emperor then pardoned Zhu Mu. However, the eunuchs continued their criticisms of Zhu Mu. He died of a malignant boil in 163. Cai Yong also composed stele inscriptions for the contemporary recluse scholars Guo Tai 郭泰 (128-169) and Juan Dian 圈典 (95-169). Guo Tai was one of the most celebrated student leaders of the national university during the 160s. When he retired to his home in Jexiu 界休, Taiyuan 太原 (southeast of modern Jiexiu county, Shanxi), he reputedly attracted a following of over a thousand students. He died at the young age of forty-two. Over a thousand people attended his funeral. Cai Yong's grave inscriptions for Guo Tai was greatly admired and was included in the Wen xuan. Juan Dian may have been from Cai Yong's home commandery of Chenliu.

Cai Yong may also be the author of the famous "Stele Inscription for Wangzi Qiao." Wangzi Qiao 王子喬 was a Taoist immortal who had a tomb north of Meng 蒙 (northeast of modern Shangqiu City, Henan).

In 171, Cai Yong was appointed to the staff of the minister of education Qiao Xuan 橋玄 (109-183), who was an expert in the Li ji and Chunqiu. In 173, Cai Yong was appointed palace gentleman. He worked as textual editor in the Dong guan 東觀 (Eastern Institute) library. Together with Ma Midi 馬日磾 (d. 194), Lu Zhi 盧植 (d. 192), Yang Biao 楊彪 (142-225), and Han Yue 韓說 (d. post 185) Cai Yong worked on compiling the history of the later Han that is commonly titled Dongguan Han ji 東觀漢記 (Han records of the Eastern Institute). Cai compiled around this time the Du duan 獨斷 (Solitary judgments), a collection of notes dealing mainly with ritual, ceremonies, and official titles.

In 175, Cai Yong was appointed gentleman consultant. Shortly thereafter Emperor Ling (r. 168-189) commissioned a group of scholars, including Cai Yong and Yang Ci 楊賜 (d. 185), to prepare a standard version of the Five Classics. The result was the production of classics carved on stone. The calligraphy is generally assumed to be that of Cai Yong.

In 177, Cai Yong submitted a long petition discussing "seven essential matters for governance." The emperor accepted his advice on many of these issues. One of the subjects on which Cai Yong commented was the recuitment of officials based on their skill as fu writers and calligraphers. Cai Yong was one of the most outspoken critics of a new school, the Hongdu men xue 鴻都門學, that Emperor Ling formally established on 15 March 178. Cai Yong derides the literary works produced by these vulgar upstarts as mere entertainment: "With students competing for profit, writers [of fu] teem like bubbles in a frothing cauldron. The most eminent among them draw somewhat upon the moral teachings of the classics, but the lowest of them string together vulgar sayings in the manner of entertainers and jesters."

In 178, Emperor Ling requested Cai Yong to submit a confidential petition outlining the most serious problems of the time. Cai replied with a frank denunciation of the corruption and abuse of power by eunuchs and the consort clan. In his petition Cai even dared to mention the names of the corrupt officials. Unfortunately for Cai, a court official leaked the contents of the petition to the palace officials. He soon found himself arrested and accused of "exacting vengeance in the name of public service, advising to harm prominent statesmen, and great disrespect." He was sentenced to execution in the market place. After the eunuch Lu Qiang 呂強 (d. 184) made a plea on Cai's behalf, and the emperor read Cai Yong's moving letter of self-defense, he sentenced Cai to permanent exile as a convict laborer in Shuofang 朔方 (modern Inner Mongolia).

In 179, from his place of exile Cai submitted a petition and a copy of ten monographs for the Later Han history that he had been working on since 173. Emperor Ling was impressed with Cai Yong's work, and he included Cai Yong in the general amnesty that was issued on 16 June 179. However, the eunuchs continued to harass him, and for the next ten years (179-89), Cai Yong lived in hiding, probably in the southeast coastal area replying on the support of kinsmen of Yang Zhi 羊陟 (fl. 147-178), an anti-eunuch official who had been dismissed from office in 178.

In 189, the satrap Dong Zhuo, 董卓 (d. 192) summoned Cai Yong to serve in his administration. Pleading illness, Cai refused. Dong Zhuo then ordered the provincial and commandery officials to command Cai Yong to come to his headquarters. Dong treated Cai with great respect and appointed him to high office: attendant censor, then secretary in charge of documents, and finally imperial secretary. "Within three days, he had advanced through all three of the secretarial offices" (Hou Han shu 60B.2005).

In 190, Cai Yong was appointed general of the leader of court gentleman of the left. Dong Zhuo sacked Luoyang and moved the emperor to Chang'an. Cai Yong went with him as Dong Zhuo's close adviser. He enfeoffed Cai Yong as Marquis of Gaoyang xiang 高陽鄉. In 192, after Dong Zhuo was killed, Cai Yong was arrested and died in prison.

Cai Yong apparently had no sons. His daughter Cai Yan 蔡琰 is a famous writer.

Cai Yong was a prolific writer. According to his biography in the Hou Han shu, Cai Yong's literary corpus consisted of 104 works, including poetry, fu, epitaphs, dirges, inscriptions, encomia, linked pearls, admonitions, laments, discourses, prayers, petitions, notes, and works with individual titles. These include Du duan and "Shi hui" mentioned above. He also wrote two works on script, the Quan xue pian 勸學篇 (Exhortation to learning) and "Zhuan shi" 篆勢 (Configuration of seal script), and one on music, "Xu yue 敘樂 (Disquisition on music). A monitory essay titled "Nu xun" 女訓 (Instructions for daughters) is also mentioned. In the Quan shanggu sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen Yan Kejun collects 140 pieces by Cai Yong, but many of them are fragments. He has a total of sixteen fu, three of which may be complete.

The most famous of Cai Yong's fu is "Shu xing fu" 述行賦 (Fu on recounting a journey) that he wrote in the autumn of 159 when he was summoned to the capital to give a zither concert for a eunuch official. At this time, Cai Yong was living in his home area of Yu county, which was part of Chenliu commandery. His journey took him through Daliang 大梁 (modern Kaifeng), Zhongmou 中牟 (east of modern Zhongmou, Henan), Guan-Zheng 管鄭 (modern Zhengzhou 鄭州), Xingyang 滎陽 (north of modern Xingyang), and Gong 鞏 (southwest of modern Gong county). At Yanshi 偃師, about sixteen kilometers east of Luoyang, Cai Yong took ill and was allowed to return home before reaching the capital. Like the earlier travel fu by such writers as Liu Xin 劉歆 (d. 23 CE), Ban Biao 班彪 (3-54), and Ban Zhao 班昭 (ca. 49-ca. 120), Cai Yong refers to the historical events that occurred at places he visits, and most of them contain allusions to men who improperly arrogated authority to themselves, or who engaged in treachery and deceit. In addition to his reflections on history, Cai also has vivid descriptions of the landscape that he portrays as dark and foreboding.

Cai Yong did not write any long epideictic fu. However, the range of his topics is quite broad. One fu that comes close to replicating the grand display style of the Former Han is "Han jin fu" 漢津賦 (Fu on the Han River Ford). It is the first extant fu on a river. The thirty-seven-line fragment presents an account of the Han River, from its origins in the mountains of Gansu, its passage sourth to Xiangyang 襄陽, and ending with its entry into Dongting Lake. Several pieces such as "Bi fu" 筆賦 (Fu on the writing brush) and "Tan qin fu" 彈琴賦 (Fu on struming the zither) reflect Cai's personal interests, for he was an accomplished calligrapher and zither player. Another personal piece is "Shang huli fu" 傷胡栗賦 (Fu on grieving over the old chestnut tree) in which Cai Yong laments the breaking of the branches of a chestnut tree that had been planted in front of the Cai family ancestral shrine. Gong Kechang suggests that the injured chestnut tree may stand for the scholar-officials of the Emperor Huan period who were persecuted by the eunuchs.

Another unusual poem is "Duanren fu" 短人賦 (Fu on dwarfs.)." The piece consists of a preface followed by a "song." The entire piece, including the preface, is written in rhyming four-syllable lines. This is a very unual form for the fu. In the song section, Cai Yong introduces a series of avian images to portray the appearance of dwarfs: small roosters, little grebes, green pigeons, quail hens, hoopoes, and woodpeckers. He then compares them to two types of horse and various insects: locusts, crickets, chrysalides, and silkworms. The final section consists of a variety of analogies: door post, roof support, damaged chisel head, broken axe handle, hand drum, and shoe mallet. This fu, which may have been written for the court, displays the kind of wit and humor that clearly was part of the court fu tradition. Mei Gao's compositions at Emperor Wu's court probably were similar to this. Thus, even though Cai Yong criticized the Hongdu Gate School fu compositions, it is possible that he composed in this more "vulgar" style to conform to the aesthetic taste of Emperor Ling's court.

Perhaps the most innovative of Cai Yong's fu are the pieces on erotic desire. One piece, "Jian yi fu" 檢逸賦 (Fu on curbing excess), of which only fourteen lines survive, contains a description of a beautiful lady followed by a statement of the persona's desire for her. Such erotic writing is found in two other fu: "Qingyi fu" 青衣賦 (Fu on the maid servant) and "Xiehe hun fu" 協和婚賦 (Fu on harmonious marriage). In the former piece Cai Yong celebrates the beauty of a lowly maid servant and even indicates his erotic desire for her. This piece aroused the wrath of Cai's contemporary Zhang Chao 張超 (ca. 150-200), who wrote a fu titled "Qiao 'Qingyi fu'" 誚青衣賦 (Fu ridiculing "Fu on the maid servant") to reproach Cai Yong for his violation of decorum. "Fu on Harmonious Marriage" discribes a wedding ceremony replete with a description of the alluring beauty of the bride and even a few lines recreating the scene in the bridal bed.

Cai Yong was a skilled zither player. He is attributed with the Qin cao 琴操 (Zither tunes), but some scholars have disputed his authorship.

The monograph on bibliography in the Sui shu lists a Cai Yong ji 蔡邕集 (Collected works of Cai Yong) in twelve juan. It also notes that a Liang dynasty catalogue listed his collection in twenty juan with a one-juan table of contents. Cai's collection seems to have survived into Song times. It is listed as a twenty-juan work in the Xin Tang shu. There was a printing of Cai's collection by Ouyang Jing 歐陽靜 in the northern Song. This printing did not survive, but his preface, dated 1023, is included in later printings of Cai's collection.

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Citation

• 蔡邕 Cai Yong, Brill’s Chinese Reference Shelf. Brill Online, 2017. http://chinesereferenceshelf.brillonline.com/ancient-literature/ent...