小編導讀：《五人墓碑記》是明朝著名文學家張溥的作品。描述了明朝末年的東林黨人和蘇州人民不畏強暴與魏忠賢之流英勇斗爭的事跡，歌頌了其中五人“激昂大義，蹈死不顧”的英雄氣概，揭示了“明死生之大，匹夫之有重于社稷”的主題思想。

張溥 《五人墓碑記》

五人者，蓋當蓼洲周公之被逮，激于義而死焉者也。至于今，郡之賢士大夫請于當道，即除魏閹廢祠之址以葬之，且立石于其墓之門，以旌其所為。嗚呼，亦盛矣哉！

夫五人之死，去今之墓而葬焉，其為時止十有一月耳。夫十有一月之中，凡富貴之子，慷慨得志之徒，其疾病而死，死而湮沒不足道者亦已眾矣；況草野之無聞者歟？獨五人之皦皦，何也？予猶記周公之被逮，在丁卯三月之望，吾社之行為士先者，為之聲義，斂貲財以送其行，哭聲震動天地。緹騎按劍而前，問：“誰為哀者？”眾不能堪抶而仆之。是時以大中丞撫吳者為魏之私人，周公之逮，所由使也。吳之民方痛心焉，于是乘其厲聲以呵，則噪而相逐，中丞匿于溷藩以免。既而以吳民之亂請于朝，按誅五人，曰顏佩韋、楊念如、馬杰、沈揚、周文元，即今之儡然在墓者也。

然五人之當刑也，意氣揚揚，呼中丞之名而詈之，談笑以死；斷頭置城上，顏色不少變。有賢士大夫發五十金，買五人之脰而函之，卒與尸合。故今之墓中，全乎為五人也。嗟夫！大閹之亂，縉紳而能不易其志者，四海之大，有幾人歟？而五人生于編伍之間，素不聞詩書之訓，激昂大義，蹈死不顧，亦曷故哉？且矯詔紛出，鉤黨之捕遍于天下；卒以吾郡之發憤一擊，不敢復有株治。大閹亦逡巡畏義，非常之謀，能于猝發，待圣人之出而投環道路，不可謂非五人之力也。

由是觀之，則今之高爵顯位，一旦抵罪，或脫身以逃，不能容于遠近；而又有剪發杜門，佯狂不知所之者，其辱人賤行，視五人之死，輕重固何如哉！是以蓼洲周公忠義暴于朝廷，贈謚美顯，榮于身后，而五人亦得以加其土封，列其名于大提之上。凡四方之士，無有不過而拜且泣者，斯固百世之遇也。不然，令五人者保其首領，以老于戶牖之下，則盡其天年，人皆得以隸使之，安能屈豪杰之流，扼腕墓道，發其志之悲哉？故予與同社諸君子，哀斯墓之徒有其石也，而為之記，亦以明死生之大，匹夫之重于社稷也。

賢士大夫者：冏卿因之吳公，太史文起文公、孟長姚公也。

A Record for the Five Men's Tomb
Zhang Pu

These five men died for their just action at the time ofMr Zhou Shunchang’s (1) arrest. Now some worthy gentlemen of our prefecturehave obtained permission from the authorities to bury them in the place whereonce stood the Temple of the Eunuch Wei, now demolished, and to erect a stoneat the entrance to the tomb to commemorate them. This is admirable. Only elevenmonths have passed since the death of these five men and their burial in thistomb. During these successful careerists, to say nothing of nameless folk inthe countryside, have been struck down and killed by disease and straightawayforgotten. Why then do these five men outshine all others?

I still remember Mr Zhou’s arrest, on the fifteenth ofthe third month last year (2). The leading scholars of our society (3), eagerto champion justice, raised money to see him off. The sound of lamentationsshook heaven and earth. When mounted guards advanced with drawn swords tochallenge the mourners, the crowd goaded beyond endurance beat them down. Theimperial censor and inspector-general of Suzhou at that time was a million ofWei Zhongxian and responsible for Mr Zhou’s arrest. When he tried to intimidatethe citizens of Shuzhou in their distress, they raised such an uproar that heonly escaped by hiding in a privy. He reported this riot in Suzhou to the courtand had five men condemned to death, namely, Yan Peiwei, Yang Nianru, Ma Jie,Shen Yang and Zhou Wenyuan, who have now been buried together. These five menfaced their execution gallantly, cursing the censor by name and chatting andlaughing together before they died. When their heads were displayed on thecitadel, none of them had changed countenance. Some worthy gentlemen bought thefive men’s heads for fifty taels of silver and carried them off in a casket torestore them to the corpses. So now the five bodies in the tomb are whole.

During the havoc caused by the chief eunuch, pitifullyfew officials within the whole realm were able to retain their integrity. Yetthese five men from common families, with no education in the classics, stoodup for justice and met death without flinching. How can we account for this?When the eunuch went on to forge imperial decrees and arrest"confederates" all over the empire, he dared not victimize ourprefecture further because we had fought back. It was, indeed, fear of thisjust indignation which made him hesitate to carry out his treasonous plot; andthen, when our sage sovereign ascended the throne, he hanged himself by theroadside. Part of the credit for this undoubtedly belongs to these five men.

Judging by this, once great lords in high positions arein trouble they will try to run away or, unable to find a refuge anywhere, willbecome monks, live as recluses or feign madness. How can their despicablebehavior compare with the death of these five men? Thus Mr Zhou Shunchangproved his loyalty and justice to the court so that he won fame after death andwas honoured with posthumous titles. These five men, too, received due burialand have their names inscribed on the dyke where passersby from every side willone and all play their respects and lament for them. Only once in a hundredgenerations does such a thing happen. Had these five men not been beheaded butgrown old and lived out the full span of their lives at home, they would havebeen treated as slaves; nor would brave and eminent men come here, heart-stricken,to mourn at these martyrs’ graves. The members of our society thought it a pitythat there was only a stone tablet at the tomb, and so we have made thisrecord. Also to show that in the momentous issues of life and death, commoncitizens may do the country a great service.

With acknowledgements to these worthy gentlemen: Mr WuYinzhi, Master of the Imperial Equipage; Mr Wen Wenqi, Imperial Historian; andMr Yao Mengchang.

(1)Zhou Shunchang of Suzhou who offended the chief eunuchWei Zhongxian and died in prison.

(2)The seventh year of the reign of Tianqi, 1627.

(3)The Donglin Society.

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