先君讳衡之，字大权，其先青州人也。国朝南渡，派分越之新昌。曾大父集，大父犯、钦庙旧讳，父璋，俱潜德不耀。先君生于乾道己丑(1169年)仲冬癸酉庚申，禀性明敏，存心宽慈，幼丧所怙，从兄事母，志于成立。及冠，娶剡之永富黄通直元孙女，同历艰辛，终始如一，自是家道粗殷，食指稍众。窘不为忧，裕不为喜，处之淡如也。奉亲孝，齐家严。待宗戚以礼，处乡里以敬。生无以养者，推食以养之；死无以葬者，指山以葬之。乐于为善，勇于为义。闾巷小夫有逋，久不归者，未尝形于辞色。虽学不及，竟于择师教子为急。子弟有志不及学者，饮食数载，亦犹子然。此皆先君由己及人之本心，实妣氏馈助居多焉。先妣生于淳熙丙申(1176年)季秋己巳，不幸先卒于绍定辛卯(1231年)仲冬望前一日也。先君哀痛殊甚，罕与世酬，间关二十年，随力支遣，志愿毕矣。男名尧仲，癸未(1223年)升上庠，赐改申甫，丁未(1247年)奏名进士，授迪功郎，初调临安府盐官县尉，恭遇禋典，赐爵高年，尝丐封于朝。先君诫曰：“吾老矣，奚以名为？”意谓干禄侍养，以副先君终老之望。奈时不我与，忽抱微疾，遽卒于淳祐庚戌(1250年)二月二日，寿享八十有二。呜呼痛哉！此申甫抱恨终天，不能自赎于泉下矣！男即申甫。女六人：长适剡周叔子，甥泽孙，已酉(1249年)乡请；次适邑俞君材；次适烟山王振文；次适剡龚起文，承信郎新浙西都大司准遣；次适邑孙闻诗；幼适花醪胡应雷，皆进士也。孙男四：过、郑、品、埜；孙女适甥俞公硕。越岁壬子(1252年)二月甲申，忍死扶柩合葬于守义乡青山之阳，未暇求铭当世巨笔，姑抆泪□□□以纳诸圹。申甫泣血谨书。张瑞刊。
注：志石高82厘米，宽57厘米，凝灰质砂岩。新昌县羽林街道三合村出土。
Epitaph of Lü Hengzhi, Grand Master for Court Service (1169–1250)
Lü Hengzhi, courtesy name Daquan, traced ancestry to Qingzhou. His family settled in Xinchang, Yue Prefecture, after the Song court's southern migration. His great-grandfather Lü Ji and his grandfather (name not to be mentioned as it was a homonym of that of Emperor Song Qizong), though not officials, were men of virtue.
Born at the gengshen hour on the guiyou day of the 11th lunar month, 1169, he possessed keen intellect and profound compassion. Orphaned young, he supported his mother and followed his elder brothers' instructions, determined to establish the family. At twenty, he married a descendant of Huang Tongzhi of Yongfu, Shanzhou. Through shared hardships, their bond remained unbroken, gradually building a thriving household.
Hardship did not disturb his peace; nor did wealth give him complacency--such was his equanimity. Filial to parents and strict in household governance, he treated kin and neighbors with ritual propriety and reverence. He shared his food with those who had nothing to eat,and offered burial land to those who could not afford a tomb. Joyfully virtuous and courageously just, he never reproached debtors who did not pay duly.
Though his own study went unfulfilled, he prioritized hiring tutors for his son. For years, he housed and fed aspiring scholars in his clan as his own children. These acts resulted from his kindness, which was profoundly sustained by his wife Lady Huang.
When Lady Huang, born in the autumn of 1176, died on the 14th day of the 11th lunar month, 1231, grief consumed him. For twenty years he withdrew from society, laboring to fulfill her unfulfilled wishes.
His son Lü Yaozhong (later renamed Shenfu) entered the National Academy in 1223. After his success in the imperial examination in 1247, he served as Sheriff of Yanguan County. During imperial ceremonies, he petitioned for honors for his father, who refused: "I am old--what use are empty titles?" Shenfu intended to resign in order to look after his father, but time betrayed them. A sudden illness took Lü Hengzhi on the 2nd day of the 2nd lunar month, 1250, at age 82. Alas! This eternal regret no act in death can redeem!
Family
Son: Lü Shenfu
Daughters:
1st: Married Zhou Shuzi of Shanzhou (their son Zesun passed provincial exams in 1249)
2nd: Married Yu Juncai of the county
3rd: Married Wang Zhenwen of Yanshan
4th: Married Gong Qiweng of Shanzhou, newly appointed Military Commissioner of Western Zhejiang
5th: Married Sun Wenshi of the county
6th: Married Hu Yinglei of Hualao
(All sons-in-law have passed the highest imperial examinations.)
Grandsons: Lü Guo, Lü Zheng, Lü Pin, Lü Ye
Granddaughter: Married nephew Yu Gongshuo
Burial
On the jiashen day, 2nd lunar month, 1252, Shenfu buried his parents together at the southern slope of Qingyang Mountain, Shouyi Township. With no time to ask a celebrated man of letters to compose an epitaph, I myself … (three characters missing) for it to go into the tomb.
(Inscribed by Lü Shenfu in tears of blood. Engraved by Zhang Rui.)
Note: Stele 82×57 cm. Tuffaceous sandstone. Excavated at Sanhe Village, Xinchang.
