Overview
Zhang Bo was an official.
IdentityHistorical · Male
Other names
| Type | English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|
| Courtesy name |
Zi Gao |
子高 |
Zigao |
Life and dates
Death
BC 49 to BC 33 元帝之世
Executed in marketplace
Attested activity
Works and attributed material
Assessments and attributes
- Assessment greedy-corrupter · Mode historian-judgment
References in the histories
No matching passages.
Book of Han, Chapter 10Volume 9: Annals of Emperor Yuan · 1 passage
Book of Han, Chapter 91Volume 80: The Six Sons of Emperors Xuan and Yuan · 37 passages
時，張婕妤已卒，憲王有外祖母，舅張博兄弟三人歲至淮陽見親，輒受王賜。
By then Lady Zhang was dead. The prince still had kin on his mother’s side: each year his uncles Zhang Bo and his two brothers visited Huaiyang and went home laden with the king’s largesse.
博上書，願留守墳墓，獨不徙。
Bo memorialized that he wished to stay behind to tend the family graves and not relocate.
後博至淮陽，王賜之少。
When Bo next arrived in Huaiyang, the king’s gifts were stingy.
博言：「負責數百萬，願王為償。」
Bo said, “I am several million cash in debt; I need the king to cover it.”
王不許，博辭去，令弟光恐云王遇大人益解，博欲上書為大人乞骸骨去。
The king refused. As Bo left, he had his younger brother Guang alarm the prince, saying that the king was growing cold toward the elder and that Bo meant to memorialize asking leave for the elder to retire.
王乃遣人持黃金五十斤送博。
The prince then dispatched an agent with fifty jin of gold for Bo.
博喜，還書謝，為諂語盛稱譽王，因言：「當今朝廷無賢臣，災變數見，足為寒心。
Bo was delighted and wrote back in fulsome praise, saying, “The court today is bereft of good men; portents and disasters pile up—it is enough to freeze one’s blood.
使弟光數說王宜聽博計，令於京師說用事貴人為王求朝。
He had his younger brother Guang repeatedly urge the king to listen to Bo’s plan, and had Bo speak in the capital to powerful nobles who handled affairs, seeking an audience for the king.
後光欲至長安，辭王，復言「願盡力與博共為王求朝。
When Guang later prepared to leave for Chang’an, he again assured the king, “Bo and I will do everything we can to win you a summons.
光得王欲求朝語，馳使人語博。
Guang carried the prince’s agreement to Bo by fast courier.
博知王意動，復遺王書曰：「博幸得肺腑，數進愚策，未見省察。
Bo saw the hook take and wrote again: “I have presumed on our kinship and offered counsel again and again, yet you have never truly weighed it.
博願馳西以此赴助漢急，無財幣以通顯之。
I would ride west tomorrow to serve the dynasty in its straits, but I lack the gold to open the right doors.
趙王使謁者持牛、酒，黃金三十斤勞博，博不受；
The king of Zhao sent wine, oxen, and thirty jin of gold; Bo declined them;
復使人願尚女，聘金二百斤，博未許。
he then offered a daughter in marriage with two hundred jin as bride-price, and Bo still hesitated.
博自以棄捐，不意大王還意反義，結以硃顏，願殺身報德。
I thought myself forgotten; I never dreamed you would honor me again and bind me with such kindness. I would lay down my life to repay it.
王得書喜說，報博書曰：「子高乃幸左顧存恤，發心惻隱，顯至誠，納以嘉謀，語以至事，雖亦不敏，敢不諭意！
The prince was delighted and answered: “Zi Gao, you have turned back to pity and care for me, spoken from the heart, offered wise counsel and weighty truth—dull though I am, how could I fail to grasp your meaning?
今遣有司為子高償責二百萬。」
I have ordered my officers to settle your two-million debt this day.”
是時，博女婿京房以明《易》陰陽得幸於上，數召見言事。
Bo’s son-in-law Jing Fang had won favor by expounding the Book of Changes and yin–yang theory and was repeatedly called to advise the throne.
自謂為石顯、五鹿充宗所排，謀不得用，數為博道之。
He complained that Shi Xian and Wulu Chongzong had blocked him and that none of his policies were adopted, and he poured this out to Bo again and again.
博常欲誑耀淮陽王，即具記房諸所說災異及召見密語，持予淮陽王以為信驗，詐言：「已見中書令石君求朝，許以金五百斤。
Bo had long wanted to impress the King of Huaiyang, so he wrote down everything Jing Fang had said about disasters and anomalies, along with confidential remarks from imperial audiences, and brought the notes to the king as proof. He falsely claimed, “I have already gone to Palace Secretary Shi to ask for an audience; he agreed in exchange for five hundred jin of gold.
博已與大儒知道者為大王為便宜奏，陳安危，指災異，大王朝見，先口陳其意而後奏之，上必大說。
I have lined up learned men to draft a memorial on peril and portent; when you face the throne, speak the heart of it aloud, then hand up the text, and the Son of Heaven will be overjoyed.
子高素有顏、冉之資，臧武之智，子貢之辯，卞莊子之勇，兼此四者，世之所鮮。
You have Yan Hui’s and Ran Boniu’s gifts, Zang Wuzhong’s wit, Zigong’s tongue, and Bian Zhuangzi’s nerve—four virtues seldom met in one man.
博報曰：「已許石君，須以成事。」
Bo answered, “I have given Shi my word—we need the gold to finish this.”
王以金五百斤予博。
The prince handed over five hundred jin of gold.
房漏洩省中語，博兄弟詿誤諸侯王，誹謗政治，狡猾不道，皆下獄。
Fang had divulged palace secrets; Bo and his brothers had led a prince astray and defamed the state—charges of wicked irreverence—and all were clapped in jail.
有司奏王，王舅張博數遺王書，非毀政治，謗訕天子，褒舉諸侯，稱引周、湯，以諂惑王，所言尤惡，悖逆無道。
They say your uncle Zhang Bo wrote you again and again, attacking policy, mocking the throne, praising other kings, and invoking the ancient sages only to seduce you—language foul enough to count as treason.
推原厥本，不祥自博，惟王之心，匪同於凶。
Trace the evil to its source and it begins with Bo alone; your own heart was never that of a traitor.
今王舅博數遺王書，所言悖逆。
Yet your uncle Bo wrote you repeatedly with treasonous counsel.
天子普覆，德佈於朝，而恬有博言，多予金錢，與相報應，不忠莫大焉。
The emperor’s grace covers all; his virtue fills the court—yet you swallowed Bo’s plots, paid him in gold, and wrote back as if in league. Nothing is more disloyal.
今聖主赦王之罪，又憐王失計忘本，為博所惑，加賜璽書，使諫大夫申諭至意，殷勤之恩，豈有量哉！
Yet he forgives you, pities you for forgetting who you are under Bo’s spell, and adds this personal edict and an envoy’s voice—measure that kindness if you can.
博等所犯惡大，群下之所共攻，王法之所不赦也。
Bo’s crimes are monstrous; every minister condemns them and the law cannot spare them.
自今以來，王毋復以博等累心，務與眾棄之。
From this day do not let Bo trouble your thoughts again; join the world in casting him off.
伏念博罪惡尤深，當伏重誅。
Bo’s guilt is the deeper and deserves death.
京房及博兄弟三人皆棄市，妻子徙邊。
Jing Fang and Zhang Bo and his two brothers were executed in the marketplace; their wives and children were banished to the frontier.
王上書自陳舅張博時事，頗為石顯等所侵，因為博家屬徙者求還。
The prince memorialized the court about his uncle Zhang Bo, claiming he had been wronged by Shi Xian and his faction, and asked that Bo's banished kin be restored.
丞相、御史復劾欽：「前與博相遺私書，指意非諸侯王所宜，蒙恩勿治，事在赦前。
The chancellor and imperial counselor again indicted Qin: "You once exchanged private letters with Bo in ways unbecoming a prince. Though you were spared before the amnesty,
淮陽憲王於時諸侯為聰察矣，張博誘之，幾陷無道。
Prince Xian of Huaiyang was the sharpest of the kings of his day; Zhang Bo led him to the brink of treason.