Sima Zhi 司馬芝

Sima Zhi, courtesy name Zihua, was a man of Wen County in Henei Commandery. In his youth he was a scholar, and while fleeing the disorders to Jing Province he met bandits at Mount Luyang. His fellow travelers all abandoned the old and weak and ran away, but Sima Zhi alone sat guarding his aged mother. When the bandits held a blade to him, Sima Zhi knocked his head on the ground and said, 'My mother is old; her fate rests with you, sirs,' and the bandits let him go, saying that it would be unrighteous to kill a filial son. Sima Zhi pushed his mother along in a small cart, and lived in the south for more than ten years, tilling the fields himself and keeping to his principles. Records, Wei 12 §78

According to Pei Qian's biography, while in Jing Province Pei Qian said privately to Wang Can and Sima Zhi, 'Governor Liu is not of the caliber of a hegemon or king, yet he wishes to cast himself as the Earl of the West; his downfall is not far off.' According to Yang Jun's biography, Sima Lang won fame early, but people did not recognize his elder clansman Sima Zhi; only Yang Jun said, 'Though Sima Zhi's early reputation does not match Sima Lang's, in real ability he is in fact somewhat superior.' Records, Wei 23 §66 · 27

When Cao Cao pacified Jing Province, Sima Zhi became Chief of Guan County. Liu Jie, the Registrar of the commandery, was a knight-errant from an old powerful clan with more than a thousand households of retainers, and when Sima Zhi selected his retainer Wang Tong and others as soldiers, the clerks tried to dissuade him, saying that Liu Jie's household had never once answered the corvée. Liu Jie did indeed hide Wang Tong and the others and had the Investigator falsely reprimand the county under the pretext of military requisition. Sima Zhi rushed a dispatch to Jinan setting out Liu Jie's crimes in full, and the Administrator Hao Guang, who had always respected and trusted Sima Zhi, at once sent Liu Jie in Wang Tong's place. In Qing Province Sima Zhi was spoken of as 'the man who made the commandery Registrar a soldier'. Records, Wei 12 §79–80

He was transferred to Prefect of Guangping. Liu Xun, General Who Subdues Barbarians, was honored and favored, and arrogant, and he had been Sima Zhi's former commandery head; his retainers and the young men of his family repeatedly broke the law within the county. Liu Xun sent a letter without his name on it asking many favors, but Sima Zhi did not answer it and dealt with everything according to the law. Later, when Liu Xun was executed for plotting rebellion and all those who had dealings with him were punished, Sima Zhi was praised for this. Records, Wei 12 §80–81

He was transferred to Supervisor of the Court of Justice. Someone stole official glossed silk and left it on top of a public privy, and when the officials suspected a woman worker and handed her over to prison, Sima Zhi said that errors in punishment lie in harshness and cruelty; if the stolen goods are found first and the statement is extracted afterwards, a person who cannot bear the beating may make a false confession, and a false confession cannot be used to decide a case, so the suspect should be pardoned. Cao Cao followed his view. He then served in turn as Administrator of Ganling, Pei and Yangping, achieving results wherever he went. Records, Wei 12 §82

In the Huangchu era he entered the court as Intendant of Henan, where he restrained the strong and helped the weak, and private requests got nowhere. When a palace official wanted to ask a favor of him but did not dare to raise it, he tried to go through Dong Zhao, the elder uncle of Sima Zhi's wife, but even Dong Zhao was wary of Sima Zhi and would not pass it on. Sima Zhi issued an instruction to his subordinates saying that when an instruction laid down is violated, it is the failing of the superior, and when a violation of an instruction comes to light, it is the misfortune of the official, so each should exert himself. When a gate servant was suspected of stealing a hairpin and put in prison, he said that even if it were true, how could one value a single hairpin so highly as to harm a colleague lightly, and told them to drop the matter and ask no more. Records, Wei 12 §83–84

When Emperor Ming took the throne, Sima Zhi was granted the rank of Marquis Within the Passes. Soon afterwards Dang, the wet nurse of Cao Hong, who was Specially Advanced, was imprisoned for serving the Wujian spirit together with an attendant of the Princess of Linfen. The Empress Dowager, Empress Bian (Wuxuan), sent a eunuch of the Yellow Gate to his office to deliver an order, but Sima Zhi did not admit him and immediately ordered the Luoyang prison to complete the interrogation and carry out the sentence, and then submitted a memorial saying that he had violated the established rules and carried out the punishment on his own authority, and awaited punishment. Emperor Ming replied in his own hand that it was right for him to have acted on his own discretion in order to uphold the edicts, so what was there to apologize for, and told him not to admit the Yellow Gate if they came again. Records, Wei 12 §85–87

Sima Zhi held that office for eleven years, repeatedly raising for discussion the provisions of the statutes that were unsuitable, and among the ministers he acted according to the upright way. When the princes came to court and had dealings with people of the capital, he was implicated in this and dismissed. Records, Wei 12 §87

Later he became Grand Minister of Agriculture. Before this, the various agricultural officials had made the officials and people under them earn their living by trade in order to gain profit. Sima Zhi memorialized that in the Jian'an era the granaries had been full and the people well off, but that permitting the agricultural officials since the Huangchu era to make a living in this way did not befit the great principles of the state; since farmers have no day in the whole year without farm work, they should no longer have their farming disrupted by trade but devote themselves solely to farming and sericulture. Emperor Ming followed his advice. Records, Wei 12 §88–92

Whenever a superior summoned him with questions, Sima Zhi would first meet the clerks, work out for them the intent and reasons behind the questions and teach them how to answer, and everything turned out as he had reckoned. He was by nature clear and upright and did not flaunt his integrity or sharp principles; when in discussion with guests something displeased him, he would refute their faults to their face, but once withdrawn he said nothing more about it. He died in office, leaving no wealth to his family. Chen Shou wrote that, of all those who had served as Intendant of Henan from the founding of Wei to his own day, none could match Sima Zhi. Records, Wei 12 §93

His son Sima Qi succeeded him. As Commandant of Justice, Sima Qi rebuked Deng Yang, who was about to impose a heavy punishment on Gui Tai, and in the end, fearing that he would be found guilty, he left office on the pretext of illness, and died at the age of thirty-five. Records, Wei 12 §95–97

In his assessment Chen Shou said, 'Sima Zhi was loyal and clear-sighted and did not waver,' and said that he and Mao Jie came close to those who did not spit out the hard and swallow the soft. Records, Wei 12 §99