Early Life
Sima Yi was one of eight brothers, all of whom were famous due to their lineage. Each of them had a Chinese style name ending with the character Da (Wade-Giles: Ta; 達). Because of this, the brothers were known collectively as the "Eight Da of Sima" (Wade-Giles: "Eight Ta of Szu-ma"; 司馬八達). This was a term of respect, as other groups of eight talented administrators in previous eras had been referred to in this way. His family resided in Luoyang when Dong Zhuo occupied the city, destroyed it, and moved the capital to Chang'an. Sima Yi's elder brother, Sima Lang led the family to their ancestral home in the Wen district (温縣), and then, correctly predicting that it would become a battlefield, moved them again to Liyang (黎陽). In 194, as Cao Cao did battle with Lü Bu, Sima Yi accompanied his family back to Wen district.
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Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“The secret of heaven is kept from age to age. No imprudent, no sociable angel ever dropt an early syllable to answer the longings of saints, the fears of mortals. We should have listened on our knees to any favorite, who, by stricter obedience, had brought his thoughts into parallelism with the celestial currents, and could hint to human ears the scenery and circumstance of the newly parted soul.”
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