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春秋春秋 · 文 Prose

烛之武退秦师·版本

Zhu Zhiwu Withdraws the Qin Army (Version)

左丘明

Zuo Qiuming

叙事narrative 辞令diplomatic rhetoric 名篇classic masterpiece

晋侯、秦伯围郑，以其无礼于晋，且贰于楚也。
晋军函陵，秦军氾南。
佚之狐言于郑伯曰：国危矣，若使烛之武见秦君，师必退。

The Marquis of Jin and the Earl of Qin besieged Zheng, because it had shown discourtesy to Jin and, moreover, had been of two minds, secretly siding with Chu. The Jin army encamped at Hanling, and the Qin army south of the Fan River. Yi Zhihu said to the Earl of Zheng: The state is in peril; if we send Zhu Zhiwu to see the ruler of Qin, the army will surely withdraw.

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Meaning

This passage opens the classic story of how Zhu Zhiwu talked the Qin army into retreating from its siege of Zheng. The forces of Jin and Qin, led by Duke Wen of Jin and Duke Mu of Qin, surround Zheng to punish its past discourtesy to Jin and its duplicity toward Chu. As disaster looms, the minister Yi Zhihu urges the ruler of Zheng to send the eloquent Zhu Zhiwu to persuade the Qin ruler, confidently predicting that the army will then withdraw.

晋文公和秦穆公联合围攻郑国，因为郑国曾对晋国无礼，并且对晋国有二心、暗中亲附楚国。晋军驻扎在函陵，秦军驻扎在氾水之南。佚之狐对郑文公说：国家危险了！如果派烛之武去拜见秦国国君，秦军一定会撤退。

Appreciation

The passage is a masterpiece of compressed narrative, setting a three-way standoff in motion within three sentences. A single word 'siege' conveys the enemy at the gates, while the separate encampments at Hanling and Fansouth quietly foreshadow the rift between the ostensible allies Qin and Jin. Yi Zhihu's urgent cry 'the state is in peril' and his emphatic 'will surely withdraw' introduce both the crisis and the man to resolve it, building tension with remarkable economy of language.

【白话串讲】左丘明写《烛之武退秦师》：郑国被晋、秦两国围攻。佚之狐推荐烛之武：“若使烛之武见秦君，师必退”。烛之武夜里“缒而出”——从城上吊下去见秦伯。他说：“秦、晋围郑，郑既知亡矣”——“若舍郑以为东道主，行李之往来，共其乏困，君亦无所害”——秦伯“与郑人盟”，撤军了——烛之武凭一张嘴退了两国军队。【意象与手法】叙事以「三方对峙」布局：一「围」字写兵临城下，函陵、氾南两军分驻暗伏秦晋貌合神离之隙，佚之狐「国危矣」「师必退」以三言献策并举荐贤才，层层推进，笔力千钧，是《左传》叙事「一言而巨细咸该」的典范。【情感与主旨】写郑国危亡之际君臣相济、贤才应运：佚之狐知人之明、郑伯从谏之速、烛之武挺身之勇，共奏一曲「一言之辩重于九鼎之宝」的救亡之歌，亦见春秋小国夹缝求生的智慧。【名句点睛】常考「国危矣」三字振起全篇与「师必退」之「必」字——前者见危机之迫，后者见知人之明，为后文烛之武「邻之厚，君之薄也」的千古说辞立起悬念。

Background

This selection comes from the Zuozhuan, under the thirtieth year of Duke Xi, and is the crowning example of Zuozhuan diplomatic rhetoric. Set against the mid-Spring-and-Autumn struggle for hegemony between Jin and Chu, the small state of Zheng lay at the heart of the Central Plains, trapped between the two great powers: it had first sided with Jin and then shifted toward Chu, so Duke Wen of Jin, joined by Duke Mu of Qin, attacked Zheng under the pretext of its 'discourtesy to Jin and duplicity toward Chu.' The 'discourtesy' referred to the cold reception Zheng's ruler had given Chong'er (the future Duke Wen) during his years of exile, while 'duplicity toward Chu' pointed to Zheng's leanings toward Chu around the battle of Chengpu. With the allied armies at the walls and Zheng in mortal danger, Yi Zhihu recommended Zhu Zhiwu, leading to the famous night descent by rope and the persuasion of Qin. This excerpt is the story's opening, establishing the cause of the siege, the disposition of the two armies, and the occasion of the counsel. Zuo Qiuming, traditionally a historian of Lu, was renowned for his narrative of war and above all for his diplomatic speeches, and this piece has been a fixture of classical anthologies ever since.

本篇出自《左传·僖公三十年》，是《左传》外交辞令的巅峰名篇，讲述晋秦围郑、烛之武夜缒出城、以利害说退秦师的经典故事。背景是春秋中期的晋楚争霸：郑国地处中原腹心，夹于晋、楚两大强国之间，长期「居大国之间而从于强令」，先亲晋而后贰于楚，故晋文公以「无礼于晋，且贰于楚」为由联合秦穆公伐郑。所谓「无礼于晋」，指当年晋文公重耳流亡过郑时郑文公未加礼遇；「贰于楚」，指城濮之战前后郑国倒向楚国。晋秦联军兵临城下，郑国危在旦夕，佚之狐举荐烛之武，遂有夜缒说秦一幕。此节选为故事的开端，交代围郑之由、两军之势与献策之机，是全文叙事最简洁而张力最足的段落。作者左丘明相传为鲁国史官，其叙事「叙战尤工」，此篇尤以辞令著称，历来为古文选本必录。后世论《左传》辞令之美者，无不首举此篇；读此开端，宜知作者落笔即在全局，非止记一时之战事也。

Art

As chronicle-style historical prose, the passage's brilliance lies in its 'three-way standoff' architecture. The first sentence names the event and its causes: the single word 'besiege' captures an army at the gates, while the paired charges 'discourtesy to Jin' and 'duplicity toward Chu' supply the coalition's stated pretext. The second sentence, two short clauses placing the Jin army at Hanling and the Qin army south of the Fan River, uses real place names to lend credibility while quietly planting the geographic seed of the later Qin-Jin split, since the two armies camp apart, united in appearance but not in heart. The third layer brings the crisis to a head through Yi Zhihu's urgent words: 'the state is in peril' ratchets up the tension, and the proposal to send Zhu Zhiwu, sealed with the emphatic 'surely,' sets the strategy and heralds the hero's entrance. Moving from cause to disposition to counsel, the whole passage completes a full narrative arc of crisis, deployment, and counterplan in three sentences — like a chess game in which placing the stones, marking the eyes, and making the key move brings the whole board alive — an extreme example of early Chinese narrative that later historians and novelists drew upon endlessly.

文体上属编年体史传散文，而此段之妙在叙事的「三方对峙」布局。首句「晋侯、秦伯围郑，以其无礼于晋，且贰于楚也」，先点明事件与原因，一个「围」字写尽兵临城下的危局，「无礼于晋」「贰于楚」并举，为晋秦联盟立名目；次句「晋军函陵，秦军氾南」，以两个短句分写两军驻地，函陵、氾南皆郑国之地，地名的实指增强了史实的可信度，也暗伏后文秦晋分离的地理伏笔（两军分驻，貌合神离）；第三层「佚之狐言于郑伯曰：国危矣……」，以人物的急切建言推动情节，「国危矣」三字振起全篇的紧张气氛，「若使烛之武见秦君，师必退」则一举抛出破局之策，且以「必」字断言，为烛之武的出场蓄势。全段由远及近、由因到策，三句话完成「危机—布局—献策」的完整叙事，笔力千钧。全段叙事如弈棋布局：先布子（围郑），再点眼（两军分驻），后落子（献策），三着而全局皆活，是先秦叙事「简而有法」的极致，为后世史家与小说家取法不尽的典范。

Allusions

The passage is dense with ritual and historical implication. First, the titles 'Marquis of Jin' and 'Earl of Qin' reflect the Spring-and-Autumn system of noble ranks — Jin being a marquisate and Qin an earldom — so that the joint invasion could claim legitimacy in 'ritual,' even though it was really hegemonic expansion, revealing the growing separation of ritual from power. Second, 'duplicity toward Chu' captures Zheng's dual allegiance caught between Jin and Chu, a textbook specimen of Spring-and-Autumn power politics that also prepares the ground for Zhu Zhiwu's later argument that 'when the neighbor grows fat, the ruler grows thin.' Third, 'discourtesy to Jin' carries the old grudge of Duke Wen's humiliating passage through Zheng during his nineteen years of exile, a subtext readers must know to weigh the word 'discourtesy.' Fourth, Yi Zhihu's discernment in recommending talent and Zhu Zhiwu's daring night descent form the classic motif of the swift horse and his discerning judge, making 'Yi Zhihu recognizing Zhu Zhiwu' a byword for recommending the worthy. Though brief, the excerpt compresses the ritual order, hegemonic ambition, statecraft, and appreciation of talent of the age, while the cry 'the state is in peril' also foreshadows the loyal urgency that will meet Zhu Zhiwu's own bitter complaint that 'in my prime I was not the equal of others.'

本篇的典故与礼制内涵极富。其一，「晋侯、秦伯」的称谓体现春秋爵称礼制——晋为侯爵，秦为伯爵，联兵侵郑，师出有名于「礼」，然实为霸权扩张，可见春秋「礼」与「力」的分离。其二，「贰于楚」点出郑国在晋楚夹缝中的两属之态，是春秋「国际关系」的典型样本，亦为后文烛之武「邻之厚，君之薄」利害论证张本。其三，「无礼于晋」暗含晋文公流亡受辱的旧怨，重耳十九年流亡故事（《左传·僖公二十三年》）是此句的潜文本，读者须知郑文公当年「弗礼」之往事，方能解「无礼」之重。其四，佚之狐荐贤的「知人」与烛之武「夜缒而出」的壮举，构成「千里马与伯乐」的母题，后世「佚之狐识烛之武」遂成荐贤佳话。此节选虽短，而春秋之礼制、霸业、权谋、知遇尽在其中。至于「国危矣」三字之惊呼，更见臣子忠君爱国、临危献策的忠义底色，与后文烛之武「臣之壮也，犹不如人」的牢骚形成张力，使知遇之恩愈显珍贵。

Commentary

'Zhu Zhiwu Withdraws the Qin Army' stands among the supreme models of the Zuozhuan and of Chinese narrative prose, its art of diplomatic speech praised by a Ming critic as 'unmatched in eloquence, ancient or modern.' Though only the opening, this excerpt already shows the whole work's quality: the concision of the narrative (three sentences encompassing the entire crisis), the ingenuity of the arrangement (planting the rift between Qin and Jin), and the vividness of the figures (Yi Zhihu proposing his plan in three utterances). The heart of the full text is Zhu Zhiwu's speech to the Earl of Qin — 'when the neighbor grows fat, the ruler grows thin'; 'to weaken Qin for Jin's benefit — I beg Your Lordship to consider it' — which dissolves the Jin-Qin alliance by appealing to Qin's own interests, an eternal model of moving men by advantage that stands beside the persuaders' speeches of the Zhanguoce as twin gems of pre-Qin rhetoric. Ranked with 'Cao Gui Debates Warfare' and 'The Earl of Zheng Overcomes Duan at Yan,' it has long been a staple of textbooks and anthologies, and Zhu Zhiwu himself became the embodiment in Chinese literature of the maxim that 'one eloquent defense outweighs the treasure of nine tripods.' Historically it records the height of Duke Wen's hegemony and the rupture of the Qin-Jin entente; pedagogically it remains a model essay for classical narrative and argument.

《烛之武退秦师》是《左传》乃至中国叙事散文的最高典范之一，其辞令艺术被历代文人推崇，明人评为「辞令之妙，古今无两」。此节选虽是开端，已见全篇气象：叙事之简（三句尽括危局）、布局之巧（伏秦晋之隙）、人物之活（佚之狐三言而献策）。全文的精华在烛之武见秦伯后的一番说辞——「邻之厚，君之薄也」「阙秦以利晋，唯君图之」，以秦国的切身利益瓦解晋秦联盟，是外交辞令「以利动之」的千古范本，与《战国策》的纵横家言并为先秦说辞双璧。此篇与《曹刿论战》《郑伯克段于鄢》等并列为《左传》名篇，历代入选中小学教材与古文选本，「烛之武」亦成为中国文学中「一言之辩重于九鼎之宝」的智慧化身。就史学言，此篇再现了晋文公霸业的巅峰与秦晋之好的破裂，是春秋霸主政治与大国博弈的生动实录。就教学价值言，此篇历来是中学生学习文言叙事与说理的范文，其简练的语言、严谨的逻辑、鲜明的人物，堪称「以少胜多」的叙事教科书。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin chronicle-style historical prose (the narrative and speech mode of the Zuozhuan)先秦编年体史传散文（《左传》记事记言之体）

Rhyme As prose it does not rhyme; it narrates and records speech in loose sentences. 'The Jin army at Hanling, the Qin army at Fansouth' pairs eight characters in balanced parallel with place names set against each other — the sole matched couplet of the passage, as orderly as a military formation — while elsewhere function words like 'because,' 'moreover,' 'alas,' and 'if' bind the clauses into a taut, urgent rhythm.散文不押韵，以散句叙事记言。「晋军函陵，秦军氾南」八字两两相对，地名对举，音节齐整，是全段唯一的偶句，如军事布阵般整齐；其余散句以虚词「以」「且」「矣」「若」勾连，节奏紧促，模拟危局之迫。

Tone pattern Sentence lengths move from long to short and from slow to swift: the opening sentence states cause and effect at a measured pace; 'The Jin army at Hanling, the Qin army at Fansouth' beats in four-character measures like sudden drumbeats; and the closing recorded speech dashes from the sharp three-character cry 'the state is in peril' through the eleven characters of the proposal and prediction, the voice shifting from panic to firm conviction.句式由长入短、由缓入急：首句交代因果，句式较长，语气沉稳；次句「晋军函陵，秦军氾南」四字一顿，节奏转急，如鼓点骤密；末句记言，「国危矣」三字短促惊呼，「若使烛之武见秦君，师必退」一气直下，语气由惶急转坚定，声情并茂。

Reading note Though prose, this passage is exquisitely orchestrated in rhythm and breath, a model of the Zuozhuan's 'commanding the writing by vital energy.' Read aloud, its tempo changes in three leaps: first, the opening sentence — 'The Marquis of Jin and the Earl of Qin besieged Zheng, because it had shown discourtesy to Jin and, moreover, had been of two minds' — unrolls in long, even clauses like the reading of a war dispatch; second, 'The Jin army at Hanling, the Qin army at Fansouth' tightens into paired four-character phrases, two peaks facing off, the rhythm snapping taut like two armies deploying amid drums and gongs; third, the recorded speech gives the three-character jolt 'the state is in peril,' then pours out 'if we send Zhu Zhiwu to see the ruler of Qin, the army will surely withdraw' in one breath, moving from cry to murmur, from anxiety to certainty. The function words 'because,' 'moreover,' 'alas,' and 'if' each do their distinct work, layering causation, progression, exclamation, and hypothesis with perfect clarity. This 'prose prosody' regulated by sentence length and particles is precisely what distinguishes pre-Qin ancient prose from later parallel prose, and it is why the passage reads with such living force.此段虽为散文，音韵节奏的营造却极为讲究，是《左传》「以气驭文」的范本。全段朗读的节奏变化可作三级跳观：第一级，首句「晋侯、秦伯围郑，以其无礼于晋，且贰于楚也」，散句长行，语速平缓，如报战书；第二级，「晋军函陵，秦军氾南」，四字短句，双峰对峙，节奏骤然收紧，如两军布阵，锣鼓齐鸣；第三级，末句记言，「国危矣」三字顿喝，随即「若使烛之武见秦君，师必退」十一字一气呵成，由疾呼转低语，由焦灼转笃定。虚词「以」「且」「矣」「若」各司其职，使因果、递进、转折、假设的语气层次分明。这种通过句长与虚词调节的「散文声律」，正是先秦古文区别于后世骈文之处，也是其读来虎虎有生气的原因。

Line by line

晋侯、秦伯围郑，以其无礼于晋，且贰于楚也。

The Marquis of Jin and the Earl of Qin besieged Zheng, because it had shown discourtesy to Jin and had likewise been disloyal, secretly attaching itself to Chu.

晋文公和秦穆公联合围攻郑国，因为郑国曾对晋国无礼，并且对晋国有二心、暗中亲附楚国。

The Marquis of Jin and the Earl of Qin laid siege to Zheng, because Zheng had been discourteous to Jin and was also doubly inclined toward Chu.

此句为全篇立纲，交代事件三要素：人物（晋侯、秦伯）、动作（围郑）、原因（无礼于晋、贰于楚）。「晋侯、秦伯」并称而侯伯有别，暗含两军地位之等差；「围」字一字千钧，写尽重兵压境之危；「无礼于晋」指晋文公流亡过郑遭冷遇之旧怨，「贰于楚」指郑国背晋亲楚之新愆，新旧两账并列，使晋秦联军师出有名。值得玩味的是「以」字——它把围郑的军事行动归因于郑之「失礼」，表面堂堂正正，实则晋文公挟霸业之威、行兼并之实，「礼」在此已成霸权的外衣。一句之内，史实、礼制、权谋尽备，正是《左传》开篇定调的高超笔法。

The opening fixes the three elements of the event: who (the two rulers), what (the siege), and why (the old discourtesy and the new double-dealing). The two titles are deliberately distinct—marquis and earl—a quiet register of the two allies' unequal standing. The word siege carries the weight; discourtesy recalls the cold reception the future Duke Wen of Jin suffered while in exile, while double-dealing with Chu is the fresh offense. Old and new grievances together make the expedition look legitimate. Yet the word because deserves a second look: it dresses expansion as grievance, for in truth Duke Wen of Jin is using the majesty of hegemony to annex territory, and ritual has become the costume of power. One sentence holds history, etiquette, and power politics together.

晋军函陵，秦军氾南。

The Jin army encamped at Hanling and the Qin army south of the Fan River, the two forces quartered apart and facing one another.

晋国的军队驻扎在函陵，秦国的军队驻扎在氾水的南岸，两军分营而居，对峙相望。

The Jin army camped at Hanling; the Qin army camped south of the Fan River, each division encamped apart.

此句以两个四字短句分写两军驻地，是全篇最简练的笔墨，也是暗藏机锋的伏笔。函陵、氾南皆在郑国境内，晋军驻函陵、秦军驻氾南，两军分营而居，并不合兵一处——这为后文烛之武「夜缒而出，见秦伯」创造了空间条件，也暗示秦晋联盟貌合神离：各有算盘，未必同心。两个「军」字一动一驻，「函陵」对「氾南」地名对举，句式整齐，节奏明快，在紧张的叙事中如军事地图般一目了然。刘知几《史通》论史家笔法「一言而巨细咸该」，此句正可当之：八个字交代了战场态势、兵力布局，并为全篇最精彩的离间之计埋下地理上的引线。

Two four-character clauses, the leanest brushwork in the piece, and a hidden trapdoor. Both camps lie inside Zheng, Jin at Hanling and Qin south of the Fan—encamped separately, not joined, which leaves the gap through which Zhu Zhiwu will be lowered by rope at night to reach the Qin lord. It also hints that the alliance has only the thinnest glue: each power has its own ledger. The verb camp, noun turned verb, and the matched place-names give the sentence a military-map clarity. Later critics praise historians for saying everything great and small in one phrase; these eight characters record the deployment and plant the geographical fuse for the whole stratagem.

佚之狐言于郑伯曰：国危矣，若使烛之武见秦君，师必退。

Yi Zhihu said to the Earl of Zheng: the state is in peril — if Zhu Zhiwu is sent to see the ruler of Qin, the army will surely withdraw.

佚之狐对郑文公说：国家危险了！如果派烛之武去拜见秦国国君，秦军一定会撤退。

Yi Zhihu said to the Earl of Zheng: The state is in danger! If you send Zhu Zhiwu to see the ruler of Qin, their armies will surely withdraw.

此句是节选的转折与高潮，写献策之机与救国之策。「佚之狐言于郑伯」，以臣启君，见郑廷上下同心御敌；「国危矣」三字脱口而出，不暇修辞，是危急关头最直接的情报与呼救，三个字就把战局之危急推到顶点；「若使烛之武见秦君」推出关键人物与关键动作——不说「战」而说「见」，暗示退兵不在兵戎而在言辞，为全文的辞令主题定调；「师必退」以「必」字断言，斩钉截铁，既见佚之狐知人之明（对烛之武口才的绝对信心），又为后文烛之武「夜缒而出」的登场蓄足声势。三句之内，危机、人物、对策、信心俱全，叙事效率之高，为后世史传与小说所不及。

This is the turning point and its crisis. Yi Zhihu's address to his ruler shows a court united; the state is in danger bursts out without preparation, the most direct possible alarm, three characters pushing the peril to its peak. If you send Zhu Zhiwu to see the ruler of Qin names the man and the act—and note he says see, not fight: the retreat is to be won by words, setting the essay's rhetorical theme. The armies will surely withdraw, with its absolute surely, is both Yi Zhihu's confidence in Zhu Zhiwu's eloquence and the drumroll for the hero's nocturnal entrance. In three clauses: crisis, man, plan, and assurance—an economy later history and fiction have rarely matched.

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Word focus

围 The word 'besiege' (wei) conveys an army closing in on all sides, far more menacing than 'attack' or 'strike,' and its placement at the opening instantly establishes Zheng's desperate encirclement and drives the entire passage's tension. 「围郑」之「围」字，是全篇开篇的雷霆之笔。「围」写军队合围，比「伐」「攻」更具包围歼灭之势，一字点出郑国已处四面楚歌、插翅难飞的绝境。此字在《左传》中用法极精：凡城邑之攻多用「围」，而「围」必见军力之雄厚与态势之危急。以「围」字起笔，全篇的紧张感便由此而生——后文「国危矣」的惊呼、「夜缒而出」的冒险，都建立在这个「围」字上。同时「围」字还有叙事功能：它使晋秦两军由「来」而「驻」（晋军函陵，秦军氾南），从动态的进兵转为静态的对峙，战局的胶着为烛之武的登场腾出时间与空间。一字之设，既写军情，又开情节。

贰 The word 'er' (to be of two minds) denotes dual allegiance — serving two masters at once — and here crisply captures Zheng's position of professing loyalty to Jin while secretly siding with Chu, the perennial survival strategy of small states and the great powers' ready pretext for war. 「贰于楚」之「贰」字，是理解春秋国际关系的钥匙。「贰」本义为副、两属，此处指郑国对晋怀有二心、暗中投靠楚国，即「一国而事二主」。春秋小国夹于大国之间，朝晋暮楚本是常态，「贰」字正是这种两属外交的概括：它既是郑国的生存策略，也是大国兴兵的口实。晋文公以「贰于楚」为罪名伐郑，表面责其不忠，实则借此剪除楚国在中原的羽翼，「贰」字遂成大国争霸的棋子。此字之用，见《左传》语言的凝练：一个「贰」字，写尽郑国之困境、晋国之野心、楚国之阴影，非深于史者不能下。

必 The word 'surely' (bi) in 'the army will surely withdraw' condenses Yi Zhihu's absolute confidence in Zhu Zhiwu's eloquence, asserts that words can turn back an army, and detonates the narrative suspense of how the withdrawal will actually be achieved. 「师必退」之「必」字，是人物信心的凝结，也是叙事悬念的引爆点。佚之狐尚未见烛之武施展，便以「必」字断言秦军定会撤退，这「必」字有三层深意：其一，见佚之狐对烛之武辩才的绝对信任，「知人」二字尽在其中；其二，见策士阶层的自信——在崇尚实力的春秋，此「必」字宣告言辞亦可退百万之师，为后文「以言退兵」的主题立旗；其三，「必」字制造了读者的期待：师退还是不退？如何退？悬念由此展开，直到烛之武说秦一段方见分晓。一字之「必」，既是人物心理，又是章法机关，与后文烛之武「辞曰：臣之壮也，犹不如人」的推让形成曲折，更见全篇叙事的波澜。