128 t He siX Dy na s t i e s
and neighbors. This should not be surprising, as reclusion was often a highly
sociable practice during the Six Dynasties, being defined primarily in contradis-
tinction to office holding rather than to society at large. In “On Moving House,
No. 2,” the poet presents the more convivial side of rustic retirement:C 6. 4
On Moving House, No. 2 移居二首 其二 (yí jū èr shŏu qí èr)
Spring and autumn have many fine days, 春秋多佳日 (chūn qiū duō jiā rì)
2 For ascending heights and writing new poems. 登高賦新詩 (dēng gāo fù xīn shī)
As we pass by gates, we call to each other, 過門更相呼 (guò mén gēng xiāng hū)
4 Whoever has wine will pour some out. 有酒斟酌之 (yŏu jiŭ zhēn zhuó zhī)
When there’s farmwork to be done, we all go home 農務各自歸 (nóng wù gè zì guī)
6 And when we have leisure, we think of each other. 閒暇輒相思 (xián xiá zhé xiāng sī)
Thinking of each other, we then throw on our coats, 相思則披衣 (xiāng sī zé pī yī)
8 We never tire of talk and laughter. 言笑無厭時 (yán xiào wú yàn shí)
This way of life cannot be surpassed, 此理將不勝 (cĭ lĭ jiāng bù shèng)
10 There is no need to hurry from here. 無為忽去茲 (wú wéi hū qù zī)
As clothing and food must be provided, 衣食當須紀 (yī shí dāng xū jì)
12 If I work at plowing, it will not cheat me. 力耕不吾欺 (lì gēng bù wú qī)
[TYMJJJ, 117]While the location of Tao’s new residence, “South Town,” was debated by tradi-
tional scholars, who variously identified it as Lili (Chestnut Village), Nanli (South
Village), or a place in Chaisang (modern Jiujiang in Jiangxi), the date of compo-
sition has generally been posited to be sometime after Tao’s house burned down
in 408 (the dates of 410 and 412 have been suggested by scholars). The town ap-
pears to have been inhabited by “an unusual collection of recluses like Tao him-
self—literate, educated, but holding no public position and committed to making
a livelihood out of farming. Not ordinary peasants, certainly, nor yet landlords with
tenants to till the land for them,” as James R. Hightower has convincingly argued.11
The depiction of rustic life here consists of writing poetry, drinking wine, keeping
company with like-minded men, and occasionally farming. The last lines in the
first poem of the set moreover relate that the poet and his neighbors read and dis-
cuss works from the past. Simple pleasures of rustic leisure become uncommon
bliss when there are sympathetic friends to share them.
The slight amount of representation of actual farmwork in this poem is typical
of the genre. Details of farming are rarely found in Tao’s poems. This poem begins
by naming the two seasons crucial to agriculture and concludes by declaring the
will to farm. But the lines in between tell mostly of the relationship between the
poet and his neighbors, describing thoroughly their activities of leisure. The poem
also focuses on the spontaneity and casualness that characterize their interaction,
which imaginably opposes that governed by restraint and decorum among men in
office.