Wei Yao 韋曜

Wei Yao, courtesy name Hongsi, was a man of Yunyang County in Wu Commandery. In his youth he loved learning and wrote well. From Clerk to the Chancellor he became Prefect of Xi'an, returned to become Gentleman of the Imperial Secretariat, and was transferred to Household Counsellor to the Crown Prince. Records, Wu 20 §31

At that time Cai Ying of the Eastern Palace was fond of board games, and the crown prince Sun He, considering them useless, had Wei Yao write an essay on them. The Biography of Sun He records that he had each of the eight men attending him write an essay, and that Sun He showed his guests the essay Wei Yao wrote and submitted after withdrawing. Wei Yao said that people today did not devote themselves to the study of the classics but sank into board games, neglecting their affairs and forgetting sleep and food, yet defeating an opponent brought no reward of rank or fief, and gaining territory on the board brought no real addition of land. If they applied that effort to the Book of Songs and the Book of Documents, he said, they would have the aspirations of Yan Yuan and Min Ziqian, and if they applied it to wisdom and strategy, they would have the thinking of Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. Records, Wu 20 §31 · 34 · 38Records, Wu 14 §26

After Sun He was deposed, Wei Yao became Gentleman of the Yellow Gate. When Sun Liang took the throne and Zhuge Ke assisted in the government, Zhuge Ke submitted a memorial making Wei Yao Prefect Grand Astrologer to compile the Book of Wu, and Hua He, Xue Ying and others all took part. In a later memorial, Hua He said that in the time of the Young Emperor five men, Wei Yao, Zhou Zhao, Xue Ying, Liang Guang and Hua He himself, together sought out past events and compiled the work. When Sun Xiu took the throne, Wei Yao became Gentleman of the Palace Secretariat and Libationer of the Academicians and collated many books following the precedent of Liu Xiang. Records, Wu 20 §39Records, Wu 8 §57

Sun Xiu wanted to invite Wei Yao to lecture to him, but Zhang Bu, General of the Left, a close and favored attendant whose conduct had many flaws, feared that Wei Yao, who was meticulous and exact by nature, would use matters of past and present to admonish Sun Xiu, and argued insistently against it. According to the Biography of Sun Xiu, Sun Xiu wanted to hold discussions with Wei Yao together with the Academician Sheng Chong, and he rebuked Zhang Bu, but worrying that Zhang Bu would become suspicious and fearful, he finally gave up the discussions. The Biography of Wei Yao records that Sun Xiu deeply resented Zhang Bu, but that Wei Yao never did go in. Records, Wu 20 §39Records, Wu 3 §38–42

When Sun Hao took the throne, Wei Yao was enfeoffed as Marquis of Gaoling Village and transferred to Deputy Director of the Palace Secretariat; when that post was abolished he became Palace Attendant and always concurrently held the post of Left Historian of the State. When people everywhere, following Sun Hao's wishes, reported auspicious omens, Wei Yao answered Sun Hao's question by saying, 'These are merely things found in the baskets and boxes of ordinary households.' When Sun Hao wanted to compose annals for his father Sun He, Wei Yao insisted that since Sun He had never ascended the throne, it should be called a biography. As such things happened again and again he was increasingly reprimanded, and though Wei Yao, pleading old age and failing strength, begged to resign the posts of Palace Attendant and historian, finish the book he was writing and have the rest entrusted to others, Sun Hao would not allow it. Records, Wu 20 §40

When Wei Yao fell ill, Sun Hao had him cared for with physicians and medicine and kept hold of him all the more urgently. At Sun Hao's banquets everyone had to drain seven sheng of wine as the limit, but Wei Yao could drink no more than two sheng, so when he was first treated with special courtesy his share was reduced, or he was secretly given tea in place of wine. Once the favor waned, he was forced to drink and charged with an offense each time. After drinking, Sun Hao had his attendants challenge the high ministers and expose their private shortcomings, but Wei Yao, considering that this would destroy harmony at court, merely made a show of asking about the meaning of the classics. Sun Hao, saying that he did not follow the imperial orders and was not wholehearted in his loyalty, piled up his resentments old and new and handed him over to prison; this was in the 2nd year of Fenghuang (273). Records, Wu 20 §41–42

Through the prison officers Wei Yao submitted a statement saying that he had written the Dongji in three fascicles, recording events from Paoxi down to the Qin and Han, while one fascicle covering the period since Huangwu was not yet finished, and that because Liu Xi's Shiming contained errors, he had written the Guanzhi Xun and the Bian Shiming, one fascicle each, and he begged that they be taken from the palace archives and read. Sun Hao instead found it strange that the books were soiled and worn and questioned him about it, and Wei Yao, saying that he had read them over and over for fear of errors and had not noticed that they were getting dirty, kowtowed five hundred times. Records, Wu 20 §43–46

Hua He submitted one memorial after another, saying that Wei Yao had studied diligently since his youth and had not slackened even in old age, so that few among the officials outside the palace surpassed him. Just as Emperor Wu of Han had restrained himself from executing Sima Qian so that his book could be completed, he said, Wei Yao was the Sima Qian of Wu; his talent and learning came next to Shusun Tong's, and the Book of Wu, though its outline was in place, still lacked its prefaces and eulogies. He begged that since Wei Yao was already seventy, his punishment be reduced by one degree to lifelong penal servitude so that he could finish his writing, but Sun Hao would not permit it, put Wei Yao to death in the end and moved his family to Lingling. His son Wei Long also had literary talent. Records, Wu 20 §46–52

The Biography of Hua He records that the memorials and petitions in which Wei Yao and Hua He discussed affairs have all been handed down. In his assessment, Chen Shou included Xue Ying's remark that Wei Yao was devoted to learning and loved antiquity, had read widely in many books, and had a talent for recording and narrating, together with Hu Chong's remark that Hua He surpassed Wei Yao in talent for prose and rhapsodies but fell short of him in the classical documents. Records, Wu 20 §82 · 84