Death
In 450, Cui Hao, despite his honored and trusted status, would be put to death along with his entire clan. The complete reasons are not clear, but what happened slightly prior to 450 and in 450 gave strong indications. The official announcement was that Cui Hao had defamed the imperial clan.
It was said that Cui had, sometime prior to 450, become so entrenched in his position and the favors of the emperor that he had recommended a large number of talented men to be officials, starting at the fairly high rank of commandery governors. Crown Prince Huang opposed, believing that the current lower level officials should be first promoted, while the men Cui recommended be given those lower ranks and gradually promoted. However, Cui insisted, and the men were given commandery governorships. When he heard this, Gao Yun commented, "It will be difficult for Cui Hao to avoid disaster. How will he be able to afford to oppose those more powerful than he, just to satisfy his own desires?"
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Famous quotes containing the word death:
“‘Tis no extravagant arithmetic to say, that for every ten jokes,—thou hast got an hundred enemies; and till thou hast gone on, and raised a swarm of wasps about thine ears, and art half stung to death by them, thou wilt never be convinced it is so.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“I just look at death as not a threat. It’s inevitable, and I have an assurance of eternal life.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“The sole work and deed of universal freedom is therefore death, a death too which has no inner significance or filling, for what is negated is the empty point of the absolutely free self. It is thus the coldest and meanest of all deaths, with no more significance than cutting off a head of cabbage or swallowing a mouthful of water.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)