Gaotang Long 高堂隆

Gaotang Long, courtesy name Shengping, was a native of Pingyang County in Taishan Commandery and a descendant of Gaotang Sheng of Lu. In his youth he became a Confucian student and was made Investigator by Xue Ti, Administrator of Taishan. When the commandery's Army Supervisor quarreled with Xue Ti and rebuked him by his personal name, Gaotang Long gripped the hilt of his sword and rebuked the Army Supervisor, saying that to call a lord by his personal name in front of his subject was something righteousness demanded be punished, and the Army Supervisor turned pale. Later he left office and went to live in Jinan to escape the turmoil. Records, Wei 25 §59

In the 18th year of Jian'an (213) Taizu (Cao Cao) summoned him and made him Officer for Military Counsel under the Chancellor; later he became Literary Scholar to Cao Hui, Marquis of Licheng, and was then transferred to be his chancellor. When Cao Hui, during the mourning for Taizu, showed no grief but went hunting and galloping about, Gaotang Long remonstrated with him on the grounds of righteousness. In the Huangchu era he became Chief of Tangyang County and was selected as tutor to the Prince of Pingyuan, and the Prince of Pingyuan, on taking the throne, was Emperor Ming (Cao Rui). Emperor Ming made him Steward of the Palace, Erudite and Chief Commandant of Escort Cavalry. Records, Wei 25 §60

When Emperor Ming first took the throne and some officials proposed holding a banquet, Gaotang Long opposed it, citing the grief of mourning, and Emperor Ming respectfully accepted. Going out as Administrator of Chenliu, he recommended You Mu, a man of over seventy, as Officer of the Accounts Section, and Emperor Ming specially appointed him Gentleman of the Palace. Gaotang Long was summoned back to become Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and was granted the rank of Marquis Within the Passes. Records, Wei 25 §61

In the Qinglong era, when Emperor Ming built palaces on a grand scale and sought to bring the great bell from Chang'an, Gaotang Long submitted a memorial citing King Jing of Zhou, whose casting of a great bell had caused the virtue of Zhou to decline. When Emperor Ming gave the memorial to Bian Lan to rebut, Gaotang Long replied that 'ritual and music are the great foundation of government' and that the turning points of survival and ruin always arose from them, and Emperor Ming called this excellent. Records, Wei 25 §62–64

He was transferred to Palace Attendant while continuing to serve as Prefect Grand Astrologer. When fire broke out in the Chonghua Hall, he said that calamities serve to make teachings and warnings clear, that one should follow ritual and cultivate virtue, and that the palace women should be reduced and the corvée of the people halted. He also said that Emperor Wu of Han's building of the Jianzhang Palace after the fire at the Boliang Terrace had been the doing of a Yue shaman, not the teaching of the sages. Emperor Ming, however, rebuilt the Chonghua Hall and renamed it the Nine Dragons Hall. When Emperor Ming was displeased with Gaotang Long for repeatedly remonstrating earnestly about the palaces, Lu Yu said, 'Gaotang Long is a Confucian scholar known for his wild frankness; Your Majesty should bear with him.' Records, Wei 25 §65–71Records, Wei 22 §97–98

When construction of the Lingxiao Gate Tower began and magpies nested on it, Gaotang Long interpreted this as Heaven's warning that before the palaces were completed another surname would govern and possess them. He said that even if his body were reduced to ashes and his clan destroyed, he could not let His Majesty go without hearing the utmost words, and Emperor Ming changed countenance and was moved. That year, when a comet appeared in Dachen, he memorialized again, saying that while the spirit seats of Heaven and Earth and the system of the ancestral temples had not yet been settled, only the palaces in which the emperor lived were being raised high and adorned. Records, Wei 25 §72–77

When, with many affairs of state and war, the law was applied heavily, Gaotang Long memorialized that ritual and music should be exalted, the Bright Hall and the suburban altars and temples established, the calendar revised and the color of vestments changed. Emperor Ming followed his proposal, changed the 3rd month of spring of the 5th year of Qinglong to the 4th month, the first month of summer, of the 1st year of Jingchu (237), and honored yellow as the color of vestments. According to the biography of Jiang Ji, in discussing the suburban sacrifices Gaotang Long held that Wei was descended from Shun and proposed that Shun be paired with Heaven in sacrifice, and Jiang Ji wrote a piece challenging this. Records, Wei 25 §78–81Records, Wei 14 §137

He was transferred to Superintendent of the Imperial Household. Emperor Ming undertook ever larger works, such as heaping up the Jingyang Hill and erecting the Zhaoyang Hall, made everyone from the high ministers down to the students exert their strength, and himself took up earth in his hands. When Liaodong failed to pay court, Empress Dao died and a great flood struck Ji Province, Gaotang Long earnestly remonstrated that making even the high ministers and grandees do corvée alongside laborers did not bring a good name, and that the salaries of generals and officials had been cut to a fifth of what they had been. Emperor Ming said, 'Reading this memorial of Gaotang Long's makes me afraid!' Records, Wei 25 §82–86 · 94 · 97Records, Wei 3 §55

When his illness became critical, Gaotang Long dictated a final memorial. He said that the growth in a swallow's nest during the Huangchu era of a different bird with red beak, claws and breast was a great portent for the house of Wei, that ministers who soared like hawks must be guarded against within the palace walls, and that the princes should be given states to govern and troops to command so as to support the imperial house. He also said that the realm was the realm of all the people of the realm, not the realm of His Majesty alone. Records, Wei 25 §98 · 103–104

Emperor Ming, in an edict, said that his integrity matched that of Boyi and his uprightness surpassed that of Shi Yu, and urged him to force himself to eat and preserve his health. As he died, Gaotang Long left instructions that he be buried frugally and dressed for burial in the clothes he usually wore. Emperor Ming, who had had him compose the rites for the feng and shan sacrifices, lamented on hearing of his death, 'Heaven does not wish my undertaking to be accomplished; Master Gaotang has left me and gone.' His son Gaotang Chen inherited his rank. Records, Wei 25 §105–106

In the Jingchu era, Emperor Ming, worried that the veteran Confucian scholars were growing old and that no one would carry on their learning, had thirty talented gentleman-clerks study the Four Classics and the Three Rites, divided among the Superintendent of the Imperial Household Gaotang Long, the Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary Su Lin and the Erudite Qin Jing. A few years later, when Gaotang Long and the others had all died, the learning was at last cut off. Records, Wei 25 §107–109

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Gaotang Long's learning was cultivated and clear, that his aim lay in correcting his ruler, and that his warnings offered on the occasion of portents came from earnest sincerity, so that he was truly loyal. But in insisting on revising the calendar and having Wei take Shun of Yu as its ancestor, he said, Gaotang Long's intent had gone beyond what was reasonable. Records, Wei 25 §120