鐔津文集 11.46

11.46

杭去交廣陸出江南驛堠五六千里。轉大海得飄風舟。日行千里。否則留他島動彌年月。故南人來吳。常以此為艱。今客錢唐已見二春矣視南之來者幾希。庚辰之三月。有客以周尉告余曰。尉臨封人也。子盍見之乎。余一旦詣其門。會其出。歸悒悒頗不自得。越數日尉果騎從求余所居而來。入室與語。鄉曲事歷歷燭耳目發。平生如故舊言。亹亹而不能休。襟抱軒豁。見其為人有大體。及暮引去。余乃異之。謂識者曰。尉以文詞奮誓言。非由進士得官不為也。嘗四舉屈於有司而不變其心。及得之未始以所官遠於家而讓君命。由京師如故鄉。迎其親而來錢唐。道且萬里。不以祿薄未甚有力為勞。處官過廉雖水必欲買。夫士患無節也。不患不立。苟朝臨事而夕失其所守。喔咿𦸗葹苟容不暇。當所利則爭。不利則辭。去鄉邑未百里。則終日慊然作兒女態。又何望盛名能迹赫赫然照天下後世若尉者也。持其節行始終一如。不亦真慷慨大丈夫哉。吾聞古老傳言。南方全陽有得其氣正者。必剛健中正而聰明。余於尉皆南人也。獨惟怯暗鈍無一善以自發藥其性。又不能騫然高謝。與物磅礴乎一世。視尉能不愧其所生耶。因以發故鄉之情。豈莊周所謂去人滋遠。而思人滋深乎。

From Hangzhou to Jiaozhou and Guangzhou, traveling overland past the courier stations south of the Yangtze covers five or six thousand li. If one takes to the open ocean and catches a gale-driven ship, one may cover a thousand li a day; otherwise, one is detained on some island, often for whole months or years. Hence, southerners coming to Wu have always considered it an arduous journey. Now, residing as a guest in Qiantang, I have already witnessed two springs pass, yet those coming from the south have been few indeed. In the third month of the gengchen year, a guest told me about Vice Magistrate Zhou, saying: “The vice magistrate is a native of Linfeng. Why do you not go see him?” One morning I called at his gate, but it happened that he was out. I returned disheartened, quite ill at ease. Several days later, the vice magistrate indeed came with mounted attendants seeking my dwelling. Entering my chamber, he conversed with me. Matters of our native place were brought to light vividly before our ears and eyes. We spoke of our whole lives as if we were lifelong friends, chatting tirelessly without pause. His heart and mind were open and broad; I saw that as a man he possessed true nobility of character. When dusk arrived, he took his leave, and I marveled at him. I said to an acquaintance: “The vice magistrate exerted himself through literary learning, taking an oath: ‘Unless I obtain office through the jinshi degree, I will not take it.’ He four times met with frustration at the hands of the authorities, yet he never altered his resolve. When he finally attained it, he never excused himself from the sovereign’s command on the grounds that the official post was far from home. Traveling from the capital to his native place, he went to fetch his parents and brought them to Qiantang, a journey of ten thousand li, never regarding his meager salary and lack of great means as a hardship. In maintaining his office he is exceedingly incorruptible: even water he insists on purchasing. Now, what a scholar should worry about is a lack of integrity, not a lack of worldly success. If one takes on a duty in the morning only to abandon what one upholds by evening, flattering and fawning, barely finding time to accommodate others opportunistically, disputing whenever there is profit to be had, and declining whenever it is unfavorable; or if, having traveled less than a hundred li from one’s home village, one feels aggrieved all day long, behaving like a child—how then could one ever hope for an illustrious reputation and magnificent deeds that shine brightly to illuminate the world and future generations, like the vice magistrate? Maintaining his integrity and conduct unchanged from beginning to end—is he not truly a noble and generous hero? I have heard it said by elders of old that the south possesses pure yang energy, and whoever receives its upright qi will invariably be firm, strong, central, upright, and intelligent. Both the vice magistrate and I are southerners. Yet I alone am timid, obtuse, and blunt, without a single good quality to stimulate and remedy my nature, nor am I able to soar aloft, take my leave, and blend freely with all things through an entire era. Beholding the vice magistrate, can I not feel ashamed before the place that gave me birth? This has therefore stirred my feelings for my homeland. Is this not what Zhuang Zhou meant when he said that the farther one departs from others, the deeper one’s longing for them grows?”