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Cao Zhi, son of Cao Cao and one of the best known poets of the late Han/Three Kingdoms period, wrote this piece about a plague.
The Plague Airs
Cao Zhi (192-232 CE)
In 216, the 22nd year of Establishing Peace, the contagion spread, bringing sorrows over corpses in every family, tears of lament in each abode. They died behind shuttered doors or perished by the clan. Some said this was the work of ghosts or spirits. Yet the fallen were the rag-wearers and bark-eaters, in hovels of bramble and sedge. Among those who dwelt in great halls and supped from bronze cauldrons, cloaked in marten fur, on plush cushions… it was rare. The cosmic forces were out of balance; winter and summer had turned around: this was its cause. Some tried to drive it away with far-fetched spells. That was laughable too.
曹植，“说疫气”
建安二十二年，疠气流行。家家有僵尸之痛，室室有号泣之哀。 或阖门而殪, 或覆族而 丧。或以为疫者，鬼神所作。人罹此者，悉被褐茹藿之子，荆室蓬户之人耳!若夫殿处鼎 食之家，重貂累蓐之门，若是者鲜焉。此乃阴阳失位，寒暑错时，是故生疫。而愚民悬符 厌z之，亦可笑也。
Translated by Chris Connery
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2 Replies to “Cao Zhi (192-232 CE), The Plague Airs”
Proving that the class struggle has been around as long as organised civilisation.
Beautiful English. The mark of a great translation.