Sun Bao (孫寶) | 24 Histories

Overview

Sun Bao was a Yanling official from Yingchuan.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Ziyan	子嚴	Ziyan

Life and dates

Death

dismissed and died at home
Directly stated · Book of Han 88, passage 223

Attested activity

BC 7 哀帝即位
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 88, passage 196
BC 1 to AD 5 平帝立
Dated from the passage context · Book of Han 88, passage 215

Career and standing

Yi Province Governor; Ji Province Governor; Straightener for the Chancellor; Administrator of Guanghan; Grand Minister of Agriculture
Directly stated · Book of Han 88, passage 161

Places and affiliations

Yanling, Yingchuan
Directly stated · Book of Han 88, passage 148

References in the histories

Search passages

History

47 passages

Book of Han, Chapter 88Volume 77: Gai, Zhuge, Liu, Zheng, Sun, Wujiang and He · 47 passages

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卷七十七蓋諸葛劉鄭孫毋將何傳第四十七 Volume 77: Biographies of Gai, Zhuge, Liu, Zheng, Sun, Wujiang, and He—the forty-seventh series.

孫寶字子嚴，穎川鄢陵人也，以明經為郡吏。 Sun Bao of Yingchuan entered service through the classics.

御史大夫張忠辟寶為屬，欲令授子經，更為除捨，設儲偫。 Zhang Zhong wanted him to tutor his son and built him a private lodging.

寶自劾去，忠固還之，心內不平。 Sun Bao resigned on principle; Zhang Zhong recalled him but nursed a grudge.

後署寶主簿，寶徙入捨，祭灶請比鄰。 Sun Bao took the chief-clerk post, sacrificed to the kitchen god, and invited the neighbors in.

忠陰察，怪之，使所親問寶：「前大夫為君設除大捨，子自劾去者，欲為高節也。 Zhong observed this in secret, found it strange, and had someone close to him ask Bao, "Earlier the counsellor prepared and cleared a large residence for you, yet you impeached yourself and left. Was this because you wished to display lofty integrity?

寶曰：「高士不為主簿，而大夫君以寶為可，一府莫言非，士安得獨自高？ Bao said, "Men of lofty character do not become chief clerks, but if the counsellor considers Bao suitable and no one in the whole office says this is wrong, how can a gentleman alone exalt himself?

前日君男欲學文，而移寶自近。 The other day your lord's son wished to study letters, and you moved Bao close by.

忠聞之，甚慚，上書薦寶經明質直，宜備近臣。 Zhang Zhong apologized with a recommendation to the court.

寶到部，親入山谷，諭告群盜，非本造意。 Sun Bao hiked into the hills and told bands they had been misled.

商亦奏寶所縱或有渠率當坐者。 Hu Shang struck back, claiming some freed men deserved death.

商徵下獄，寶坐失死罪免。 Hu Shang went to jail; Sun Bao fell for sparing capital offenders.

益州吏民多陳寶功效，言為車騎將軍所排。 Yi locals petitioned that Wang Yin had railroaded him.

上復拜寶為冀州刺史，遷丞相司直。 The court recalled him to Ji Province, then to the chancellor's inspectorate.

寶聞之，遣丞相史按驗，發其姦，劾奏立、尚懷姦罔上，狡猾不道。 Sun Bao sent a chancellor's investigator, exposed the fraud, and impeached Li and Shang for deceiving the throne.

會益州蠻夷犯法，巴蜀頗不安，上以寶著名西州，拜爲廣漢太守，秩中二千石，賜黃金三十斤。 With Yi unrest spreading, the court sent the famed Sun Bao to Guanghan as a two-thousand-picul administrator with thirty jin of gold.

故吏侯文以剛直不苟合，常稱疾不肯仕，寶以恩禮請文，欲為布衣友，日設酒食，妻子相對。 He courted his old clerk Hou Wen with feasts and treated him as an equal.

入見，敕曰：「今日鷹隼始擊，當順天氣取奸惡，以成嚴霜之誅，掾部渠有其人乎？」 When Wen entered to see him, Bao instructed him, saying, "Today the hawks and falcons first strike. One should follow the qi of Heaven, seize the wicked, and complete the punishment of severe frost. Is there such a man in your circuit?"

寶曰：「誰也？」 "Whom do you mean?" asked Sun Bao.

寶曰：「其次？」 "Who else?" asked Sun Bao.

寶默然。 Sun Bao said nothing.

寶前失車騎將軍，與紅陽侯有隙，自恐見危，時淳于長方貴幸，友寶，寶亦欲附之，始視事而長以稚季托寶，故寶窮，無以復應文。 Sun Bao feared Hongyang and needed Chunyu Zhang—who had just asked him to spare Du Zhiji—so he could not touch Hou Wen's target.

文怪寶氣索，知其有故，因曰：「明府素著威名，今下敢取稚季，當且闔閣，勿有所問。 Wen was surprised that Bao's spirit had ebbed, and knew there was some reason for it. He therefore said, "Your Excellency has always had a fearsome reputation. Now, if you dare to take Zhiji, you should for the moment close the office and ask about nothing else.

即度稚季而譴它事，眾口讙譁，終身自墮。」 Move on other cases only after Du fell, he warned, or the city would howl Sun Bao down."

寶曰：「受教。」 Sun Bao said, "Understood."

稚季遂不敢犯法，寶亦竟歲無所譴。 Du kept clean; Sun Bao brought no case that year.

寶為京兆尹三歲，京師稱之。 Three years in the capital won praise.

會淳于長敗，寶與蕭育等皆坐免官。 Chunyu Zhang's fall swept Sun Bao and Xiao Yu out with him.

哀帝即位，徵寶為諫大夫，遷司隸。 Ai recalled him to censor, then metropolitan governor.

寶奏請覆治，傅太后大怒，曰：「帝置司隸，主使察我。 Bao memorialized requesting reinvestigation; Empress Dowager Fu raged and said, "The emperor set up the metropolitan governor to spy on me!

馮氏反事明白，故欲□觖以揚我惡。 She said the Feng case was closed and Sun Bao only meant to smear her.

上乃順指下寶獄。 Ai folded and jailed Sun Bao.

尚書僕射唐林爭之，上以林朋黨比周，左遷敦煌魚澤障候。 Tang Lin defended Sun Bao and was demoted to a desert outpost.

大司馬傅喜、光祿大夫龔勝固爭，上為言太后，出寶復官。 Fu Xi and Gong Sheng forced a compromise through the empress dowager.

頃之，鄭崇下獄，寶上書曰：「臣聞疏不圖親，外不慮內。 Before long, Zheng Chong was sent down to prison. Bao submitted a memorial saying, "I have heard that those who are distant do not plot against those who are close, and those outside do not scheme against those inside.

書奏，天子不說，以寶名臣不忍誅，乃制詔丞相、大司空：「司隸寶奏故尚書僕射崇冤，請獄治尚書令昌。 When the memorial was submitted, the Son of Heaven was displeased. Because Bao was a noted minister, he could not bear to execute him, and therefore issued a formal edict to the chancellor and Grand Minister of Works: "Metropolitan Commandant Bao has memorialized that the former Vice Director of the Masters of Writing Chong was wronged, and asks that Master of Writing Zhao Chang be imprisoned and tried.

案崇近臣，罪惡暴著，而寶懷邪，附下罔上，以春月作詆欺，遂其奸心，蓋國之賊也。 The rescript called Sun Bao a state-thief for springtime slander.

其免寶為庶人。」 Strip Sun Bao to commoner rank."

哀帝崩，王莽白王太后徵寶以為光祿大夫，與王舜等俱迎中山王。 Wang Mang recalled him to greet the boy emperor.

平帝立，寶為大司農。 Under Pingdi he ran the granaries as grand minister of agriculture.

寶曰：「周公上聖，召公大賢，尚猶有不相說，著於經典，兩不相損。 Bao said, "The Duke of Zhou was a supreme sage, and the Duke of Shao a great worthy, yet even they had disagreements, as is recorded in the classics, and neither was diminished by it.

會寶遣吏迎母，母道病，留弟家，獨遣妻子。 He sent men for his mother but she stayed ill at his brother's while only his wife and children traveled.

司直陳崇以奏寶，事下三公即訊。 Chen Chong impeached the arrangement; the three dukes held a hearing.

寶對曰：「年七十悖眊，恩衰共養，營妻子，如章。」 Bao replied, "At seventy a man is confused and dim; his kindness in supporting his mother declines, and he provides instead for wife and children. It is as stated in the memorial."

寶坐免，終於家。 He took dismissal and died at home.

建武中，錄舊德臣，以寶孫伉為諸長。 During the Jianwu era, when the court honored ministers of former merit, Bao's grandson Kang was appointed magistrate of Zhu.

以數子之名跡，然毌將汙於冀州，孫寶橈於定陵，況俗人乎！ Men of such standing still bent—Wujiang in Ji Province, Sun Bao at Dingling—so what hope for ordinary men?