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孟子說的「有時乎為貧」，是說不能看著你的父母與你一同忍受貧窮，饑寒交迫，那就是你的不孝順了。所以有的時候是為了「家貧、親老」才出來作官。
陶淵明大約在他二十九歲的時候就因其「家貧、親老」的緣故而出來作了江州的祭酒。可是他不能夠忍受作官的束縛，所以不久他就自動辭職回家去了。這是他第一次出來做官的情況。
關於他第二次、第三次出仕的時間，歷史上有許多不同的說法。根據近代學者逯欽立先生所編的「陶淵明年譜」記載，那是在東晉安帝的時候，晉安帝的年號叫隆安。在隆安三年的那一年，陶淵明三十五歲的時候，江蘇的會稽發生了一次變亂。
有一個叫孫恩的人起兵叛亂了。其實在這之前，當朝已經發生了許多戰亂。晉安帝之前，是東晉的晉孝武帝。孝武帝是被他的一個妃子殺死的。孝武帝正式的妻子姓王。王皇后有一個弟弟，與外邊軍閥的意見不合，發生過一次叛亂。統治階級內部的腐敗與殺伐，給人民的生活帶來了極大的痛苦。
所以當孝武帝死了以後，在江蘇的沿海會稽這個地方，就爆發了平民孫恩的革命暴動。
那時有一個軍閥叫做桓玄，我們在上一講中曾經提到過這個名字。桓玄本來就是江州的刺史。刺史這個職務是常常更換的。陶淵明二十幾歲時，江州刺史是王凝之；到陶淵明三十五歲時，江州刺史已換成桓玄了。桓玄當時的力量很大，他想進一步擴充自己實際的力量，他就把一個在湖北荊州作刺史的殷仲堪殺死了。將荊州刺史的勢力也奪取過來，他就作了江州與荊州兩州的刺史。
陶淵明的故鄉就在江州柴桑郡。那時的桓玄還沒有表示出要篡位的野心，他只是軍事力量很強大。桓玄曾經上表文給晉安帝，說他具備充實的軍事力量，願意帶兵去討平孫恩的叛亂。當時有幾個帶兵的人，一個叫劉牢之，一個就是後來篡位的劉裕。當時他們各自都有相當強大的軍事力量。桓玄就用劉牢之與劉裕平定了孫恩的叛亂。
根據逯欽立〈陶淵明年譜〉的記載，他說在桓玄作江州刺史的時候，替桓玄到皇帝那裡上表文的就是陶淵明。當時晉安帝在建康，陶淵明替桓玄上表到建康，請求討平孫恩。剛才我們說過，作官可以是為理想，也可以是為緩解家裡的貧窮。
陶淵明第一次出來作官是由於「家貧、親老」的緣故。那麼，這一次呢？很可能他是有理想的；他覺得孫恩是叛亂。我如果替桓玄上表給皇帝，為討平叛亂安定天下盡一點力量，也未始不是一件好事。這件事情陶淵明可能是結合了他的理想的，可是等到桓玄討平了孫恩，自己的勢力更加壯大起來之後，桓玄就開始有了野心，想要自己作皇帝了。
晉安帝元興元年，桓玄帶兵打下了建康，俘虜了晉安帝，并使其成為自己掌中的傀儡。那個時候，陶淵明就已經不在桓玄的手下做事了，這一年陶淵明是三十八歲。
當此同時，劉裕的隊伍也開始強大起來。劉裕的職位是鎮軍將軍。陶淵明的傳記上說，他曾經作過鎮軍參軍；參軍就像軍隊的參謀，在軍隊當中管理文書的文臣。而劉裕是作過鎮軍將軍的，陶淵明給他作鎮軍參軍的職務。
那個時候，陶淵明為什麼要加入劉裕的幕府，給他作參謀呢？就因為當時桓玄已經叛亂了。他當年加入桓玄的軍隊時是孫恩在叛亂，現在是桓玄自己叛亂了。而劉裕要討平桓玄，所以陶淵明就又加入了劉裕的討伐桓玄的軍隊，作了鎮軍參謀的職務。這是他第三次出來作官。
然後陶淵明還出來第四次作過官。其次，他每一次出來作官的時間都不長。我想陶淵明曾經有過理想，希望在這樣的戰亂年代，也能夠為國家的平定安寧做一點事情。可是他每一次出來都失望了，所以每一次出來的時間都很短暫，然後就辭職不幹了。以後當他看到又有機會就又出來了，不過緊接著就又是失望，又是辭職，又是歸去。
待續 |
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When Mencius said, "sometimes because of poverty," his meaning was that you should not let your parents suffer poverty along with you. If your parents are suffering from hunger and cold, then you have not been filial. Therefore, people worked for the government because of "family poverty and aged parents."
When Tao Yuanming was around twenty-nine years old, he worked as State Officer of Rites due to family poverty and aged parents. However, he could not tolerate the restrictions that came with being a government official, so he soon resigned and returned home. That was the first time.
Regarding his second and third times, there are various accounts. According to
A Year-by-Year Biography of Tao Yuanming by contemporary scholar Lu Qingli, he served during the Long'an years of Eastern Jin Emperor An. In the third year of Long'an, when Tao Yuanming was thirty-five years old, there was a rebellion at Guiji in Jiangsu province.
A man named Sun En led a revolt against the government. Before this incident, there had already been many skirmishes. Emperor Xiao Wu, who preceded Emperor An, was killed by one of his concubines. Emperor Xiao Wu's wife was Empress Wong. A disagreement between Empress Wong's younger brother and the frontier officers caused one revolt. The corruption and fighting among the government ranks resulted in great suffering for the common people.
Consequently, not long after the death of Emperor Xiao Wu, a violent rebellion by the common people, led by Sun En, broke out along the coast of Guiji, Jiangsu.
Meanwhile Huan Xuan, whom we mentioned in the last lecture, had become a warlord. He had originally been the governor of Jianzhou. The people holding the post of provincial governor changed quite often. When Tao Yuanming was in his twenties, the Jiangzhou governor was Wang Ningzhi; when he was thirty-five, the governor was Huan Xuan. Although Huan Xuan's power was already considerable, he wished to expand his power, so he killed the governor of Jingzhou, Yin Zhong-kan, and appointed himself the governor of both Jiangzhou and Jingzhou.
Tao Yuanming's hometown was in Chaisang county of Jiangzhou. At that time, Huan Xuan's ambition to usurp the governorship was not yet evident; he simply had a great deal of military power. Huan Xuan had submitted a proposal to Emperor An, saying that he had enough military power and was willing to put down Sun En's rebellion. There were a few other people with military strength. One was Liu Laozhi, and another was Liu Yu, who later usurped the throne. Both of them had considerable military might. Combining the power of the two, Huan Xuan successfully subdued Sun En's rebellion.
According to A Year-by-Year Biography of Tao Yuanming by Lu Qingli, Tao Yuanming was the person who submitted the military plan to the emperor on behalf of Huan Xuan, the governor of Jiangzhou at the time. Emperor An's capital was at Jiankang, so Tao Yuanming went there to submit the proposal asking for authorization to subdue Sun En.
We mentioned earlier that either political ideals or family financial pressure may be the motivation for a man to seek a government position. The first time Tao Yuanming worked for the government, it was because his family was poor and his parent was elderly. How about this time? He was probably motivated by his political ideals, for he considered Sun En a rebel. He could have thought, "If I submit this proposal to the emperor for Huan Xuan to subdue the rebellion, I will be helping to bring peace to the country, and that's a good deed." This incident probably helped Tao Yuanming define his ideals. However, after Huan Xuan subdued Sun En, Huan Xuan's own power increased tremendously and he aspired to take over the throne.
In the first year of the Yuanxing reign period of Emperor An, Huan Xuan led his troops to conquer Jiankang. He captured Emperor An and made him a political puppet. Tao Yuanming was thirty-eight years old and was no longer working for Huan Xuan.
Meanwhile Liu Yu was also expanding his military power. Liu Yu's position was the general of defense. According to Tao Yuanming's biography, Tao had worked as the defense strategist, that is, a military advisor who handles the paper work.
When Liu Yu was the general of defense, Tao Yuanming worked for him as his strategist.
Why did Tao Yuanming want to join Liu Yu and be his strategist? Because Huan Xuan had rebelled. He had worked for Huan Xuan when Sun En was rebelling, but now Huan Xuan himself was a rebel. Liu Yu wanted to subdue Huan Xuan, so Tao Yuan-ming joined him as a defense strategist to fight Huan Xuan. That was the third time he served as a government official.
There was a fourth time. However, each time he did not stay long. I think Tao Yuanming had his ideals and wanted to work for the peace of the country during that period of constant fighting. But each time he accepted a position, he would be discouraged, so he would only work for short period of time before resigning. Then, when he saw another opportunity, he would venture forth once more, only to be disappointed yet again, resign, and return home.
To be continued
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