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本文译自 Marnie Hughes‑Warrington 所著 Fifty Key Thinkers on History（Routledge，2014 年第三版）一书中关于司马迁的词条。
原书版权归作者及出版社所有。本译文为个人兴趣翻译，非官方授权版本，仅供学习、交流与研究之用，不作任何商业用途。
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司马迁（约前145—约前90）

关于中国“太史公”司马迁的生平，我们几乎所知的一切都来自两个来源：《史记》的“自序”和他写给任少卿的一封信。¹ 司马迁是司马谈之子——司马谈于公元前140年至前110年间担任汉武帝朝中的太史令/天官。这一职位的职责包括为重要事务的举行选择吉日、在重大祭祀时随行帝王，以及记录日常事件。这些职责并不包括修史——那是司马谈与其子私下从事的工程。司马迁十岁时便能“诵古文”，到二十岁时已游历广泛（“《史记》卷一百三十”，载《中国太史公司马迁》，第48页）。他入朝为官，在其父去世后继任太史令/天官一职。他开始撰写《史记》，但尚未完成时，“灾祸”降临于他，使他被迫“遭受最残酷的刑罚”。² 司马迁因替李陵辩护而触怒汉武帝——李陵在北方对匈奴的一次征战中战败。皇帝判处他死刑，后减刑为宫刑。通常，无力以重金赎罪者会选择自杀。然而，司马迁为了完成《史记》，选择了忍受这一刑罚。

支撑司马迁完成《史记》这一决定的，是他对儒家孝道传统的尊重与认同。³ 司马迁告诉我们，完成他已开始的历史记载是他父亲的临终遗愿。但他父亲也暗示，在完成《史记》、汇集和复兴中国传统以及《春秋》中的礼与道德原则的过程中，司马迁将延续孔子的工作（同上，第49—50页）。司马迁将《春秋》视为以历史为基础的道德行为指南：

它辩疑惑，明是非，定犹豫；善善恶恶，贤贤贱不肖；存亡国，继绝世；补敝起废。
（同上，第51页）

司马迁的《史记》也是本着同样的目的而写就的。这一宗旨贯穿全书，但在第六十一卷中尤为突出。在那里他问道：

有人说：“天道无亲，常与善人。“若伯夷、叔齐，可谓善人者非邪？积仁洁行如此而饿死！……盗跖日杀不辜，肝人之肉……竟以寿终。是遵何德哉？……余甚惑焉，倘所谓天道，是邪非邪？
（载《中国太史公司马迁》，第188—189页）

作为回应，他引用了孔子的若干箴言，其中包括“圣人兴而万物皆明”。司马迁的要点在于，尽管恶人有时可能昌盛，善人有时可能受苦，但明智的史学家终将恢复善人的声誉，并揭露恶人的真面目。⁴ 然而，指陈善恶可能会给作者带来麻烦。避免这种麻烦的一种方式，是遵循孔子在《春秋》中所采用的“微言大义”的委婉批评传统。在第一百一十卷的末尾，司马迁表明他知晓这一传统：

太史公曰：孔子著《春秋》，隐、桓之间则章，至定、哀之际则微，为其切当世之文而罔褒，忌讳之辞也。⁵

正如沃森所言，司马迁不太可能有意让其文字的每一个字都传达道德判断。然而，马克利对《史记》中匈奴—汉朝关系的细读，揭示了司马迁如何一贯地——有时甚至不实地——将汉武帝的举措叙述为失败，而将此前统治者的行为以更积极的方式呈现，以突显他所认为的当时之弊。⁶

他还遵循孔子在《论语》中的教导：“多闻，阙疑，慎言其余。”⁷ 他划定了边界，超出此限便无法获得可靠信息。例如，他告诉我们：“秦以前尚略矣，其详不可得而具论焉”（同上，49:I:324；另见17:I:423；18:I:429；30:II:83；127:II:431；129:II:433）。他也对那些看似不可信的信息表示怀疑。例如，在第八十六卷中，他将太子丹能使天雨粟、马生角之说斥为“怪诞”。他认为，信息的可靠性可以通过与儒家六经（《诗》《书》《礼》《乐》《易》《春秋》）的比对来确立。当面对经典中未曾提及的细节时，司马迁建议与其他文献进行比对。在《史记》中，司马迁引用了超过七十五种文献、铭文和奏疏。他还提倡亲身观察。司马迁似乎利用其官职之便，在京城向个人进行询问（同上，7:I:47—48；95:I:206；97:I:231；104:I:493）。他游历广泛，并常常提及他在游历中收集到的信息：

吾适丰沛，问其遗老，观故萧、曹、樊哙、滕公之家，及其素，异哉所闻！
（同上，95:I:205；另见84:I:451—452；29:II:60）

司马迁询问了所能找到的最年长的知情者，因为他认为他们能提供最准确的信息。他还考察了遗址和遗物：他告诉我们，他在看到孔子的车驾、衣冠和祭器时深感敬畏。⁸

司马迁在诸多方面得益于儒家思想。但《史记》有四个重要特征显得尤为独创。第一，与此前倾向于聚焦某一特定地区或朝代的历史著作不同，《史记》是一部关于已知世界的通史。其一百三十卷涵盖了从传说中的黄帝时代（约公元前2697年—前2599年？）至司马迁本人所处时代的中国及周边众多地域的历史。第二，司马迁使用的史料来源比其前辈更为多样。如前所述，他不仅依赖文献，还将人物、实物和遗址作为信息来源。第三，《史记》的视野超越了宫廷的界限。最后，在《史记》中，司马迁突破了编年体叙事的传统。它被组织为五个部分：本纪（12篇）、表（10篇）、书（8篇）、世家（30篇）和列传（70篇）（“《史记》卷一百三十”，载《中国太史公司马迁》，第56—57页）。本纪详述王朝和各位帝王的历史。其次是表，以图表形式呈现事件。随后是书，涉及水利工程、天文学、经济、历法、礼、乐和宗教事务等主题。书之后是世家，详述显赫的世袭官职家族的历史。最后一部分是列传，记述个人、外族以及具有相似秉性、社会地位或职业的人群（如后妃家族、哲学家、失意诗人、刺客、酷吏、滑稽、占卜者和巨富）的生平。⁹ 在每个部分内部，各篇按时间顺序排列。正是通过这一结构，司马迁传达了他的道德评判。正如沃森所评论：

《史记》的各个主要部分和一百三十篇绝非司马迁对其材料的随意划分。每一部分都是一个重要的形式单元，其内容经过精心选择和安排，有其用意。¹⁰

他在何处收录什么内容，向我们透露了许多关于他本人的信息。在最后一章中，司马迁告诉我们，他各部分的编排是有等级的；例如，列传的记述对象所拥有的权力就小于本纪的记述对象。司马迁将特定人物置于何处，传达了他对其权势或重要性的判断。例如，项羽和吕太后在楚义帝和汉惠帝在位期间实际上是中国的真正统治者。司马迁将前者置于后者在本纪中的位置。同样，他将陈涉和孔子列入世家，从而将他们与本应归入的列传部分的记述对象区别开来。司马迁还能通过材料的分配来传达其判断，其五部分的结构使他能够在不同篇章中描述同一个体或事件。正如许多评论者所指出的，这使他能够以不同方式讲述同一故事，并在某些部分收录关于个体的某些细节——这些细节不会出现在专门记述其生平的篇章中。这可以成为委婉批评的一种形式，正如在互为对手的皇帝高祖和项羽的例子中所见。在本纪中各自的篇章里，他们被以正面的形象呈现；他们的缺点则在对手的篇章中得以揭示。¹¹ 差异还产生于司马迁试图避免重复措辞和字句时、当他逐字抄录先前历史著作时，或者当他试图强调汉武帝的缺陷时。

最后，司马迁还在大多数篇章末尾的评论部分中表露了他的个人反应和道德判断。例如，他时常评论追求或未能追求诸如坚毅、谦逊、宽厚、孝道和关心百姓等中国价值观的后果（参见，例如，10:I:310；53:I:98；57:I:380；以及84:I:451—452）。此外，我们也得以了解他对历史研究本质的看法。例如，上文关于他使用史料的讨论，主要基于“太史公曰”的那些段落。¹²

司马迁的《史记》在中国、日本和朝鲜产生了巨大影响。虽然其形式很少被完全复制，但它成为许多断代史和多朝史书的范本，包括司马光（1019—1086年）的《资治通鉴》。然而，他认为历史是道德事业这一信念可能不合现代读者的口味。《史记》也不易阅读。其篇幅和结构使得查找关于个体和事件的所有相关信息变得困难。但使其难以阅读的一个特点——缺乏统一的叙事声音——实际上可能使其更具吸引力。正如哈迪所指出的，在这本书中，司马迁或许能为像戴维斯那样对碎片化和多声部叙事感兴趣的史学家提供很多启示。¹³ 因此，《史记》的英译本至今尚未完成，实为可惜。在这完成之前，我们对司马迁究竟如何“发言”的理解将仍然十分有限。

注释

司马迁的主要著作

• “《史记》卷一百三十：太史公自序”，载B. 沃森，《中国太史公司马迁》，纽约：哥伦比亚大学出版社，1958年，第42—69页。
• 《史记》，2卷，B. 沃森译，修订版，纽约：哥伦比亚大学出版社，1993年，初版于1961年。
• 《太史公记》，8卷，W. H. 倪豪士编，印第安纳州印第安纳波利斯：印第安纳大学出版社，1994年至今。
• “汉武帝时期封赏考——《史记》卷二十·建元以来侯者年表第八 翻译与评注”，J. 马克利译，《中亚研究》，2003年，第32卷：35—99。

另见

戴维斯、傅华萨

进一步资源

• 杜兰特，S. W.，“作为传统交汇点的自我：司马迁的自传性书写”，《美国东方学会杂志》，1986年，第106卷（1）：33—40。
• 哈迪，G. R.，“一位中国古代史学家能否为现代西方理论做出贡献？”，《历史与理论》，1994年，第33卷（1）：20—38。
• ——《青铜与竹简的世界：司马迁对历史的征服》，纽黑文：哥伦比亚大学出版社，1999年。
• 李，W. Y.，“《史记》中的权威观念”，《哈佛亚洲研究杂志》，1994年，第54卷（2）：345—405。
• 倪豪士，W. H.，“’欲’之缺失：关于’晋世家’与司马迁之’春秋’的札记”，《美国东方学会杂志》，2007年，第127卷（3）：229—247。

英文原文

Nearly all that we know of the life of the ‘grand historian of China’, Sima Qian (also spelt Ssu-ma Ch’ien and Se-ma Ts’ien), derives from two sources: the ‘Postface’ to his Shiji (also spelt Shih chi, trans. as Records of the Grand Historian) and a letter that he wrote to Ren Shaoqing.¹⁴ Sima Qian was the son of Sima Tan, the grand historian/astrologer at the court of the Han Emperor Han Wu-di from 140 to 110 BCE. The duties of this office included selecting lucky days for the performance of important affairs, travelling with the ruler at times of important sacrifices, and keeping a record of daily events. These duties did not include writing history: that was a project that Sima Tan and his son undertook privately. At the age of ten, Sima Qian could ‘read the old writings’, and by twenty he had travelled extensively (‘Shih chi 130’, in Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Grand Historian of China, p. 48). He entered court service, and after his father died succeeded him in the post of grand historian/astrologer. He started to write the Shiji, but before he completed it ‘disaster’ overtook him and he was made to ‘submit to the worst of all punishments’.¹⁵ Sima Qian offended Emperor Han Wu-di by speaking in defence of general Li Ling, who led a failed campaign against the Xiongnu in the north. The emperor sentenced him to death, and then reduced the penalty to castration. Ordinarily, those who could not afford to commute the sentence with a large cash payment committed suicide. Sima Qian, however, submitted to the punishment in order to complete the Shiji.

Underpinning Sima Qian’s decision to complete the Shiji is a respect for and identification with the Confucian tradition of filial piety.¹⁶ It was, Sima Qian tells us, his father’s dying wish that he complete the historical record that he had begun. But his father also suggested that in completing the Shiji, and in gathering and reviving Chinese traditions, li and moral principles in the Spring and Autumn Annals, Sima Qian would continue the work of Confucius (ibid., pp. 49–50). Sima Qian views the Annals as a historically grounded guide to moral conduct:

It distinguishes what is suspicious and doubtful, clarifies right and wrong, and settles points which are uncertain. It calls good good and bad bad, honours the worthy, and condemns the unworthy. It preserves states which are lost and restores the perishing family. It brings to light what was neglected and restores what was abandoned.
(Ibid., p. 51)

Sima Qian’s Shiji is written with the same purpose in mind. This aim is apparent throughout the work, but emerges particularly clearly in chapter 61. There, he asks,

Some people say: ‘It is Heaven’s way, without distinction of persons, to keep the good perpetually supplied: Can we say then that Bo Yi and Shu Qi were good men or not? They clung to righteousness and were pure in their deeds … and yet they starved to death. … Robber Zhi day after day killed innocent men, making mincemeat of their flesh. … But in the end he lived to a great old age. For what virtue did he deserve this?. … I find myself in much perplexity. Is this so-called “Way of Heaven” right or wrong?’
(In Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Grand Historian of China, pp. 188–9)

In response he cites a number of aphorisms of Confucius, including ‘The sage arises and all creation becomes clear.’ Sima Qian’s point is that, although the wicked may sometimes prosper and the good suffer, wise historians will eventually restore the reputation of the good and show the wicked for what they are.¹⁷ Pointing to the good and the bad, though, could get a writer in trouble. One way to avoid such trouble was to follow the tradition of oblique criticism attributed to Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Annals. At the end of chapter 110, Sima shows that he is aware of that tradition:

The Grand Historian remarks: When Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, [materials concerning] Yin and Huan were displayed fully, but for the time of Ding and Ai, [his treatment dealt with] minutiae, because in his writings about his current age, and in his criticism and praise, he had to avoid certain matters.¹⁸

It is unlikely, as Watson suggests, that Sima Qian intended every word of his writings to convey moral judgements. Markley’s close reading of the Shiji on Xiongnu–Han relations, though, has illuminated how Sima Qian consistently – and sometimes even falsely – narrated the acts of Emperor Han Wu-di as failures and presented the acts of previous rulers in a more favourable light to highlight what he saw as the deficiencies of his time.¹⁹

He also follows Confucius’ directive in the Analects to ‘[h]ear much, but leave to one side that which is doubtful, and speak with due caution concerning the remainder’.²⁰ He sets boundaries beyond which he cannot obtain reliable information. For example, he tells us that ‘[t]he ages before the Qin dynasty are too far away and the material on them too scanty to permit a detailed account of them here’ (ibid., 49:I:324; see also 17:I:423; 18:I:429; 30:II:83; 127:II:431; 129:II:433). He also expresses his doubts about information that appears unbelievable. In chapter 86, for instance, he dismisses as ‘ridiculous’ the claim that Prince Tan was able to make the heavens rain grain and horses sprout horns. The reliability of information, he believes, can be established through comparison with the six Confucian classics (Book of Odes, Book of History, Book of Rites, Book of Music, Book of Changes and Spring and Autumn Annals). When faced with details not mentioned in the Classics, Sima Qian suggests comparison with other documents. In the Shiji, Sima Qian refers to more than seventy-five documents, inscriptions and memorials. He also recommends personal observation. Sima Qian seems to have taken advantage of his office to question individuals in the capital (ibid., 7:I:47–8; 95:I:206; 97:I:231; 104:I:493). He was well travelled, and often mentions information gathered during his journeys:

When I had occasion to pass through Feng and Pei I questioned the elderly people who were about the place, visited the old home of Xiao He, Cao Can, Fan Kuai, and Xiahou Ying, and learned much about their early days. How different it was from the stories one hears!
(Ibid., 95:I:205; see also 84:I:451–2; 29:II:60)

Sima Qian questioned the oldest informants available because he thought that they would supply him with the most accurate information. He also examined sites and relics: he tells us he was awe-stricken at the sight of Confucius’ carriage, clothes and sacrificial vessels.²¹

Sima Qian is indebted to Confucian thought in a number of ways. But four important features of the Shiji stand out as original. First, unlike earlier histories, which tended to focus on a particular region or dynasty, the Shiji is a history of the known world. Its 130 chapters cover the history of China and a number of lands on its borders from the time of the legendary Yellow Emperor (2697?–2599? BCE) to Sima Qian’s own times. Second, Sima Qian draws on a more varied collection of source materials than his predecessors. As outlined above, he looked to people, objects and sites, as well as documents, as sources of information. Third, the Shiji looks beyond the boundaries of the court. Finally, in the Shiji Sima Qian departs from the tradition of chronological arrangement. It is instead organised into five sections: basic annals (benji, 12 chapters), chronological tables (biao, 10 chapters), treatises (shu, 8 chapters), hereditary houses (shijia, 30 chapters) and memoirs (liezhuan, 70 chapters) (‘Shih chi 130’, in Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Grand Historian of China, pp. 56–7). The basic annals detail the history of dynastic houses and individual emperors. Next come the chronological tables, which present events in graph form. These are followed by treatises on topics such as hydraulic engineering, astronomy, economics, the calendar, rites, music and religious affairs. Following the treatises are the hereditary houses, which detail the history of prominent hereditary office-holding families. The final section, the biographies, is dedicated to the lives of individuals, foreign peoples and peoples of similar disposition, social status or profession (such as the families of empresses, philosophers, frustrated poets, assassins, harsh officials, jesters, diviners and tycoons).²² Within each of these sections, the chapters are arranged chronologically. It is through this structure that Sima Qian conveys his moral judgements. As Watson comments,

The various large sections and one-hundred-and-thirty chapters of the Shiji represent no merely arbitrary divisions of Qian’s material. Each one is a significant formal unit whose contents have been selected and disposed with care and intention.²³

What he includes, and where, tells us a great deal about him. In the final chapter, Sima Qian tells us that the arrangement of his sections is hierarchical; the subjects of the biographies, for instance, wield less power than the subjects of the basic annals. Where Sima Qian places particular individuals conveys his judgement on how powerful or important they were. For example, Xiang Yu and Empress Dowager Lü were the real rulers of China during the reigns of Yi of Chu and Hui of the Han. Sima Qian includes the former in the place of the latter in the basic annals. Similarly, in granting Chen she and Confucius places in the hereditary houses, he sets them apart from the subjects of the biographies section in which they ought to have been included. Sima Qian is also able to make his judgements known through the distribution of material, his five-part arrangement allowing him to describe the same individual or event in several different chapters. As a number of commentators have noted, this allows him to tell the same story in different ways and to include in some sections certain details about individuals that would not be included in the chapters dedicated to their biography. This can be a form of oblique criticism, as is seen in the case of the rival emperors Gaozu and Xiang Yu. In their own chapters in the basic annals they are presented in a favourable light. Their bad points are revealed in their rival’s chapters.²⁴ Differences also result when Sima Qian tries to avoid repeating phrases and words and when he copies earlier histories verbatim, or when he tries to stress the deficiencies of Emperor Wu-di.

Finally, Sima Qian also reveals his personal reactions and moral judgements in the comment sections that can be found at the end of most chapters. For instance, he frequently comments on the consequences of pursuing or failing to pursue Chinese values such as determination, humility, generosity, filial respect and concern for the common people (see, for example, 10:I:310; 53:I:98; 57:I:380; and 84:I:451–2). In addition, we learn something of his view of the nature of historical research. The above discussion on his use of sources, for example, is based in the main on the sections in which ‘the grand historian/astrologer speaks’.²⁵

Sima Qian’s Shiji has been enormously influential in China, Japan and Korea. Although its form has seldom been replicated, it was the model for many single and multiple dynasty histories, including Sima Guang’s (1019–86) Zizhe tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government). However, his belief that history is a moral endeavour may not be to the modern reader’s taste. Nor is the Shiji easy to read. Its length and structure make it hard to find all the relevant information on individuals and events. But one of the things that makes it hard to read – its lack of a unified narrative voice – may in fact make it more appealing. As Hardy has pointed out, Sima Qian may have much to offer in this book to historians such as Davis, who are interested in fragmented and multiple-voice narratives.²⁶ It is thus a pity that an English translation of Shiji has not yet been completed. Until it has, we will have a sadly limited understanding of just how Sima Qian ‘speaks’.

Notes

Sima Qian’s major works

• ‘Shih chi 130: the Postface of the Grand Historian’, in B. Watson, Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Grand Historian of China, New York: Columbia University Press, 1958, pp. 42–69.
• Records of the Grand Historian [Shiji], 2 vols, trans. B. Watson, revised edition, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993, first published 1961.
• The Grand Scribes’ Records, 8 vols, ed. W. H. Nienhauser jnr, Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994–
• ‘Awards of Fiefdoms in the Reign of Emperor Wu-di. A Translation and Commentary of Shiji Chapter 20 Chronological Table 8’, trans. J. Markley, Zentralasiatische Studien, 2003, 32: 35–99.

See also

Davis, Froissart

Further resources

• Durrant, S. W., ‘Self as the Intersection of Tradition: the Autobiographical Writings of Ssu-ma Ch’ien’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1986, 106(1): 33–40.
• Hardy, G. R., ‘Can an Ancient Chinese Historian Contribute to Modern Western Theory?’, History and Theory, 1994, 33(1): 20–38.
• ——Worlds of Bronze and Bamboo: Sima Qian’s Conquest of History, New Haven: Columbia University Press, 1999.
• Li, W. Y., ‘The Idea of Authority in the Shih chi (Records of the Historian)’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 1994, 54(2): 345–405.
• Nienhauser, W. H., ‘For Want of a Hand: A Note on the “Hereditary House of Jin” and Sima Qian’s “Chunqiu”’, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2007, 127(3): 229–47.