茂陵徐先生曰：「霍氏必亡！
夫在人之右而奢，亡之道也。
Mr. Xu of Maoling said, “The house of Huo will surely perish!
孔子曰：『奢則不遜。
To become extravagant when occupying a position of distinction is to invite destruction!
』夫不遜者必侮上，侮上者，逆之道也。
出人之右，人必害之。
Kongzi said, ‘One who grows extravagant will cease to be modest.’ Those who fail in modesty, let us note, will invariably insult their superiors, and to insult one’s superiors is to go counter to the Way.
今霍氏秉權，天下之人，疾害之者多矣。
夫天下害之，而又以逆道行之，不亡何時？
If such a person occupies a position of distinction, others will be sure to regard him as a threat.
」乃上書言：「霍氏奢靡。
In the present case, the house of Huo holds supreme power, and there are many in the realm who hate and fear it.
陛下即愛之，宜以時抑制，無使至於亡。
」書三上，輒報聞。
If a person is hated and feared by all the realm and moreover behaves in a manner that goes counter to the Way, what can he do but perish?” He then wrote a memorial to the throne, saying, “The house of Huo has grown extravagant.
其後霍氏果滅。
董忠等以其功封。
Even if Your Majesty regards this house with favor, you should take timely steps to rein it in so that it will not go down to destruction.” Only after he had submitted the memorial three times did he receive acknowledgment of its receipt, and in the end the house of Huo in fact perished, though Dong Zhong70 and some others were enfeoffed owing to their merit in the matter.