Méizǐ xīnlùn 梅子新論
The New Discourses of Master Méi by 梅陶 (Méi Táo, fl. early–mid 4th century, 晉)
About the work
A lost Eastern Jìn 東晉 zǐbù essay-collection by Méi Táo 梅陶, preserved as a small handful of fragments in 《意林》 and 《太平御覽》. Not in the Sìkù quánshū; sourced from CHANT (CH2a1385).
Abstract
Méi Táo was a minor Eastern Jìn official mentioned in passing in the Jìn shū 晉書 and in the Shìshuō xīnyǔ 世說新語 — most memorably as the addressee of a celebrated letter from Wáng Dūn 王敦 (which praises and damns him in equal measure). His Xīnlùn survives in only a dozen or so short fragments — aphoristic sayings, brief political reflections, and several remarks on character-assessment (rénwù lùn 人物論) in the manner of Liú Shào’s 劉劭 Rénwù zhì 人物志. The work is too thin to support a sustained analysis, and its existence is noted chiefly because the title — Xīnlùn — places Méi Táo in a long line of zǐ-house authors imitating Huán Tán 桓譚. The date-bracket follows his Eastern Jìn floruit (early to mid 4th century). The received recension is a 19th-century jíyì.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The fragment-compilation is 嚴可均 Quán Jìn wén 全晉文 j. 121.
Links
- Jìn shū 晉書 (passim).
- Shìshuō xīnyǔ 世說新語 (with Liú Xiàobiāo 劉孝標 zhù).