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汉 Han · 文 Prose

屈原列传·版本

The Biography of Qu Yuan (Version)

司马迁

Sima Qian

史传Historical Biography 屈原Qu Yuan 楚辞Elegies of Chu

屈平疾王听之不聪也，谗谄之蔽明也，邪曲之害公也，方正之不容也，故忧愁幽思而作《离骚》。

Qu Ping grieved that the king's ear heard nothing clear, that the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light, that the crooked and the wrong harmed the public good, and that the upright and the square found no acceptance; therefore, in sorrow and deep brooding, he wrote the Encountering Sorrow (Li Sao).

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Meaning

The passage in which Sima Qian's biography of Qu Yuan accounts for the writing of the Encountering Sorrow, from the Records of the Grand Historian. Qu Ping grieved that the king's ear heard nothing clear, that the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light, that the crooked and the wrong harmed the public good, and that the upright and the square found no acceptance; therefore, in sorrow and deep brooding, he wrote the Encountering Sorrow. The four clauses of the opening lay bare the political ills of the state of Chu—the blindness of the king, the slander of the flatterers, the harm of the crooked, the exclusion of the upright—and the 'therefore' carries the grief into the long poem, the most condensed account of the origin of the Encountering Sorrow.

屈原痛心楚怀王听信谗言而不能明察，谗佞谄媚的小人遮蔽了君王的明察，邪恶歪曲的人损害公正，端方正直的人不被容纳，因此屈原满怀忧愁、深思郁结，于是写下了《离骚》。

Appreciation

Though short, the passage concentrates the Records' art of 'transmitting the man by first transmitting the heart.' In sentence-form it opens with four parallel clauses: 'the king's ear heard nothing clear, the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light, the crooked and the wrong harmed the public good, the upright and the square found no acceptance'—pairing and advancing layer on layer, from the blindness of the ruler (heard nothing clear), the blinding of the flatterers (blinded the light), the harm of the crooked (harmed the public good), to the exclusion of the worthy (found no acceptance), the four parallel clauses like four crossbows loosed together, laying bare the political ills of Chu in one stroke; the four 'zhi' and the two 'ye' form a circling cadence, reading in one breath. In the middle, the word 'therefore' joins the upper and the lower, drawing the fruit of 'in sorrow and deep brooding, he wrote the Encountering Sorrow' from the cause of the grief, the logic strict. The Qu Yuan of Sima Qian's pen is not an accumulation of events but the embodiment of grief: the single word 'grieved' (the pain of the heart) gathers the whole mood of the passage.

【白话串讲】司马迁写《屈原列传》：屈原忠君爱国，却被靳尚等人诬陷，“信而见疑，忠而被谤，能无怨乎”——他“忧愁幽思而作《离骚》”。他走到江边，渔父说：“何不淈其泥而扬其波？”他说：“宁赴湘流，葬于江鱼之腹中”——他投江而死。“其志洁，故其称物芳”——他品德高洁。【意象与手法】以四组排比开篇，两两相对、层层递进，从君之昏、佞之蔽、邪之害写到贤者之困，如连弩齐发；四个「之」字与两个「也」字回环顿挫，一气贯注；一「故」字承上启下，由「疾」之因推出「作《离骚》」之果，逻辑严整而情感沛然。【情感与主旨】既传屈原「信而见疑，忠而被谤」的悲剧命运，亦寄司马迁自身遭李陵之祸的郁愤，是中国文学「痛苦出诗人」「不平则鸣」传统的核心文本。【名句点睛】「忧愁幽思而作《离骚》」八字，成为后世理解《离骚》创作动因的定论；「方正之不容也」一句，道尽古来正直之士的共同命运。

Background

The Biography of Qu Yuan is from the Records of the Grand Historian, the joint biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi, the earliest and most complete biography of Qu Yuan and one of the most lyrical chapters of the Records. Sima Qian (c. 145–c. 87 BC), after the disaster of the Li Ling affair and his castration, deeply sympathized with Qu Yuan's fate of 'trusted yet doubted, loyal yet slandered,' so that this chapter not only transmits the man but also his own case. At the end of the Warring States, King Huai of Chu was benighted, and the slanderous ministers Shangguan Dafu and Jin Shang held sway; Qu Yuan, of wide learning and strong memory, clear in governance and chaos, served as Left Minister and Master of the Three Gates, advocating alliance with Qi against Qin, yet was removed by slander, twice exiled, and at last drowned himself in the Miluo River. This passage writes the occasion of the Encountering Sorrow: facing the politics in which the ruler did not examine, the slanderers blinded the light, the crooked harmed the public good, and the upright found no acceptance, his grief was deep and wide, and he poured it into the long poem.

《屈原列传》出自《史记·屈原贾生列传》，是现存最早、最完整的屈原传记，也是《史记》抒情性最强的篇章之一。司马迁（约前145—约前87）遭李陵之祸、身受腐刑，与屈原「信而见疑，忠而被谤」的遭遇深有共鸣，故此文不仅传人，亦以自况。战国末年，楚怀王昏聩，上官大夫、靳尚等谗臣当道，屈原博闻强志、明于治乱，任左徒、三闾大夫，主张联齐抗秦，却遭谗去职、两度放逐，最终自沉汨罗。此节写屈原作《离骚》之由：面对君王不察、谗佞蔽明、邪曲害公、方正不容的政局，他忧愤深广，遂发为长诗。屈原（约前340—前278）名平，字原，楚之同姓，是中国第一位伟大诗人，楚辞的创立者，《离骚》为其代表作，全诗三百七十余句、二千四百余字，是中国古代最长的抒情诗。此节虽短，却是《屈原列传》全文的「文眼」，其后大段引录《离骚》并加以评说，皆由此「忧愁幽思」四字生发。作为现存最早的屈原传记，此传保存了屈原生平的第一手史实，是研究楚辞与先秦文学不可绕过的文献。

Art

The art is the Records' 'transmitting the man by first transmitting the heart.' The four parallel clauses of the opening, pairing and advancing layer on layer, lay bare the political ills of Chu in one stroke; the four 'zhi' and the two 'ye' form a circling cadence, reading in one breath. The word 'therefore' draws the fruit from the cause, the logic strict. The single word 'grieved' (the pain of the heart) gathers the whole mood, and the 'in sorrow and deep brooding' of the close, the four characters of the Encountering Sorrow's origin, are the very spring of the 'writing through indignation' of all later literature.

此节虽短，却集中体现了《史记》「传人先传心」的艺术。句式上以四组排比开篇：「王听之不聪」「谗谄之蔽明」「邪曲之害公」「方正之不容」，两两相对、层层递进，从君主之昏（不聪）、奸佞之蔽（蔽明）、邪曲之害（害公）写到贤者之困（不容），四句排比如连弩齐发，将楚国的政治病灶一并揭出；四个「之」字与两个「也」字形成回环顿挫，读来一气贯注。中间以「故」字承上启下，由「疾」之因推出「忧愁幽思而作《离骚》」之果，逻辑严整。司马迁笔下的屈原，不是事件的堆积，而是忧愤的化身：一个「疾」字（痛心），将屈原的忠、愤、忧、思尽收其中。此节亦是全文的「文眼」，其后大段引录《离骚》原文并加以评说，皆由此「忧愁幽思」四字生发，章法上可称「立骨于前、铺陈于后」。司马迁又善用抒情笔致写史，四句排比既是史实的概括，更是情绪的倾泻，史家之笔与诗人之心在此合而为一。尤可注意者，司马迁于此节前已叙屈平「博闻强志，明于治乱」之才，至此节方揭示其发愤为诗之由，先立其才、后写其怨，人物形象遂由平面而立体。

Allusions

Though a historical biography, the passage touches the cultural genes of the Elegies of Chu. 'The king's ear heard nothing clear' covertly matches the Encountering Sorrow's 'the sovereign does not examine my inmost feeling'; 'the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light' matches the pain of 'the many women envy my moth eyebrows'; 'the upright and the square found no acceptance' matches the solitude of 'I pattern myself on the ancient worthies, not the fashion of the world.' With the four parallel clauses Sima Qian condenses the creative motive of the Encountering Sorrow, in effect translating the 'fragrant plants and beautiful women' allegorical tradition of the Elegies of Chu into the language of the historian: 'clear,' 'light,' 'public,' 'square'—the four words are exactly the political ideals repeatedly declared in the Encountering Sorrow. And the four characters 'in sorrow and deep brooding' continue the Book of Songs' 'the grief of the heart,' the origin of the sorrow in the heart, the spring of the long poem.

此节虽为史传，却牵动楚辞一脉的文化基因。「疾王听之不聪」暗合《离骚》「荃不察余之中情兮」之怨，「谗谄之蔽明」暗合「众女嫉余之蛾眉兮」之痛，「方正之不容」暗合「謇吾法夫前修兮，非世俗之所服」之孤。司马迁以四句排比概括《离骚》的创作动因，实已将楚辞「香草美人」的比兴传统转译为史家语言：聪、明、公、正四字，正是《离骚》中反复申说的政治理想。而「忧愁幽思」四字，则上承《诗经》「心之忧矣」的抒情传统，下启后世「发愤著书」说——司马迁在《报任安书》中即言「屈原放逐，乃赋离骚」，将《离骚》视为「圣贤发愤之所为作」的典范。由此，此节不仅是一篇传记的片段，更是中国文学「痛苦出诗人」「不平则鸣」传统的关键一环。屈原也因司马迁的阐释而成为「忠而被谤、发愤抒情」的文化原型，后世贾谊之赋、李白之诗、苏轼之文，无不以此节所述之屈原精神为源头活水。而「方正之不容」一句，更将屈原个人的遭际上升为古今正直士人的共同命运，使此节具有超越具体史实的普遍意义。

Commentary

Though short, the passage holds an eminent place in the history of literary criticism and reception. First, it is the documentary foundation of the theory of 'writing through indignation': in this passage and the Letter to Ren An, Sima Qian attributes the Encountering Sorrow to 'sorrow and deep brooding,' and Han Yu's 'when things are not level they cry out,' Ouyang Xiu's 'poetry is made perfect by poverty,' and the 'indignation' theories of every age all trace their source here. Second, it established the place of Qu Yuan in literary history: Sima Qian's judgment that the Encountering Sorrow 'may vie with the sun and the moon for radiance' (in the later text) placed Qu Yuan as the first great poet of China, and the model of the loyal minister whose virtue shines in the midst of calamity.

此节文字虽短，在文学批评史与接受史上地位极高。其一，它是「发愤著书」说的文献基石：司马迁于此节及《报任安书》中将屈原作《离骚》归因于「忧愁幽思」，后世韩愈「大凡物不得其平则鸣」、欧阳修「诗穷而后工」及历代「发愤说」皆可溯源于此。其二，它确立了屈原的文学史地位：司马迁以「虽与日月争光可也」评《离骚》（见其后文），将屈原置于与日月同辉的高度，此后历代文人无不以此为准绳。其三，它塑造了「忠臣弃逐」的叙事原型：屈原之被谗、之放逐、之沉江，经司马迁的深情笔致，成为后世无数失意文人的精神镜像——贾谊作《吊屈原赋》自况，李白「屈平词赋悬日月」致敬，皆循此脉络。其四，就文本本身而言，四句排比被历代文章家奉为「排比开篇」的典范，清代评点家多赞其「一气如注」。此节以寥寥数十字，浓缩了一位诗人的悲剧、一个时代的昏暗与一部伟大作品诞生的心理动因，堪称中国文学批评的「元文本」之一。

Prosody

Form Classical prose historical biography (Records of the Grand Historian), opening with four parallel clauses文言散体史传（《史记》纪传体），此节以四组排比句开篇

Rhyme Unrhymed; the cadence comes from the 'zhi... ye' sentence-forms: 'the king's ear heard nothing clear,' 'the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light,' 'the crooked and the wrong harmed the public good,' 'the upright and the square found no acceptance'—four clauses, each six characters, the forms identical, the 'ye' closing four times全节无韵，以「之……也」句式构成回环：「王听之不聪也」「谗谄之蔽明也」「邪曲之害公也」「方正之不容也」四句，每句六字、句式全同，「也」字四次收束，如琴弦同振，回环往复，一气贯注。

Tone pattern The four parallel clauses of the opening, each six characters in the identical form, are like four crossbows loosed together, the cadence pressing; the word 'therefore' turns, and 'in sorrow and deep brooding' closes, the rhythm from the pressing to the deep, the grief of the heart carried by the cadence排比句语气沉痛而严整，四个「之」字句如连弩齐发，节奏由缓渐急；「故」字一顿，转出结果；末句「而作《离骚》」以叙述收束，由激越归于深沉，忧思之态如见。

Reading note The cadence of the passage comes from the four identical parallel clauses and the two 'ye,' the pressing rhythm of the political ills turning to the deep sorrow of the close.此节声情之美，在于以严整的排比写出激荡的情感。四句排比句式完全相同，每句六字、结构为「二字主语＋之＋二字谓语＋也」，如四记重锤，节奏铿锵而渐次收紧，将楚国的四重病灶一一砸出；四个「也」字皆为感叹语气，如四声长叹，回环往复，忧思不绝。这种「以整句写激愤」的笔法，是《史记》区别于一般史书的独特声情艺术——史笔本宜平实，司马迁却于此节让情感溢出史实，句式之整、语气之叹、节奏之迫，皆与其所写之屈原的郁愤相应。诵读此节，宜四句排比一气贯下，语速渐快、声调渐高，至「故忧愁幽思」处转缓转沉，方能体会忠愤郁结、发为长诗的心理进程。它证明散文的节奏不仅服务于叙事，更能直接成为情感的载体，刘勰所谓「情与气偕，辞共体并」，此节即其注脚。

Line by line

屈平疾王听之不聪也，谗谄之蔽明也

Qu Ping grieved that the king's ear heard nothing clear, that the slanderers and flatterers blinded the light, (The first of the four parallel clauses: from the blindness of the ruler to the blinding of the flatterers, the political ills of Chu laid bare.)

屈原痛心楚怀王听信谗言而不能明察，谗佞谄媚的小人遮蔽了君王的光明。

Qu Yuan grieved that the king's hearing was not clear, and that slanderous flatterers obscured his light.

开篇两句直揭《离骚》产生的第一层动因，矛头直指楚国的政治病灶。「疾」字是全文的题眼：痛心、痛恨，一字将屈原的忠愤定下基调——他不是旁观者，而是深陷其中的当事人，其「疾」出于对楚国的至爱，故下文「忧愁幽思」皆由此字生发。「王听之不聪」写君主之昏：怀王不辨忠奸，听信谗言，「不聪」二字直言其耳不聪、心不明；「谗谄之蔽明」写奸佞之蔽：谗谄小人如乌云蔽日，遮蔽了君王的明察。两句一写君之病源，一写臣之祸根，主昏于上、奸蔽于下，楚国之政败坏已极。司马迁以「之」字连缀句式，使节奏回环往复，如忧思萦回，不可断绝；「也」字收束，语气沉痛而无奈，恰似长叹。开篇八字，已尽屈原忧愤之源。

The first disease. Qu Yuan grieved that the king's hearing was not clear, and that slanderous flatterers obscured his light. The grieve is the Shiji's word: Qu Yuan's writing is born of pain, not complaint. The king's unclear hearing and the flatterers' obscuring are the court's two failures. To have said the king was misled would be a diagnosis; the king's unclear hearing and the flatterers dimming his light are the diagnosis.

邪曲之害公也，方正之不容也

that the crooked and the wrong harmed the public good, and that the upright and the square found no acceptance; (The second of the four parallel clauses: from the harm of the crooked to the exclusion of the worthy, the four clauses like four crossbows loosed together.)

邪恶歪曲的人损害公正，端方正直的人不被容纳。

That the crooked harmed the just, and the upright were not tolerated.

此两句将批判由君臣关系推向更广的官场生态，是全节思想的深化。「邪曲之害公」写邪恶势力对公义的侵蚀：邪曲之徒当道，公理正义便遭戕害，一「害」字见其破坏之烈；「方正之不容」写正直之士的困境：端方之人反而不被容纳，一「不容」字见世道之颠倒。「害公」与「不容」对举，恰成因果：邪曲害公，则方正无容身之地；方正不容，则邪曲愈益猖獗。两句与前两句合观，楚国的政治结构已然完整呈现：上则君王不聪，中则谗谄蔽明，下则邪曲害公、方正不容，四者环环相扣，楚之将亡，其兆已著。司马迁以四句排比写尽一个王朝的病灶，而屈原的「忧愁幽思」正是在这种四面楚歌的政治环境中酝酿而成的。此两句亦为后世「方正不容」一语的源头，道尽古来正直之士的共同命运。

The second disease. The crooked harmed the just, and the upright were not tolerated. The list extends upward (king, flatterers) to the whole order: crooked power eats justice, and straight men are unwelcome. To have said the corrupt prospered and the upright suffered would be a summary; the crooked harming the just and the upright not being tolerated are the summary.

故忧愁幽思而作《离骚》。

therefore, in sorrow and deep brooding, he wrote the Encountering Sorrow (Li Sao). (The word 'therefore' draws the fruit from the cause: the grief of the heart poured into the long poem, the origin of the Encountering Sorrow in the four characters 'sorrow and deep brooding.')

因此屈原满怀忧愁、深思郁结，于是写下了《离骚》。

Therefore, in sorrow and brooding, he wrote the Li Sao.

此句是全节的归结，亦是「发愤著书」说的最早表述。「故」字承上启下，将前四句的排比一并收束，因果逻辑严整：正因为君昏、佞蔽、邪害、正不容，所以屈原「忧愁幽思」，所以作《离骚》——忧愤是原因，创作是结果，司马迁以史家之笔为《离骚》的诞生提供了最权威的心理动因。「忧愁幽思」四字尤堪玩味：「忧愁」写情绪之郁结，「幽思」写思虑之深沉，四字既状屈原创作时的心境，亦预示《离骚》的文体特征——忧愤深广、幽思绵邈，正是楚辞的抒情本色。此句之后，司马迁即引录《离骚》「离骚者，犹离忧也」以释题，可见「忧愁幽思」正是其解读《离骚》的总纲。而「发愤著书」说由此确立，此后两千年，中国文人凡言创作动机，无不溯源于此，其影响之深远，远超一篇传记的范畴。

The cause. Therefore, in sorrow and brooding, he wrote the Li Sao. The therefore links the political diagnosis to the poem's birth: grievance is the mother of literature. This is Sima Qian's founding statement of literature from suffering. To have said Qu Yuan wrote his great poem out of sorrow would be a summary; the therefore, and the sorrowful brooding that produced the Li Sao, are the summary.

Study

Word focus

疾 Grieved (resented, was pained). The word of the whole mood: the pain of the heart at the blindness of the ruler and the slander of the flatterers—the single word gathers the grief from which the Encountering Sorrow sprang. 「屈平疾王听之不聪也」之「疾」字，是全节乃至全传的题眼，一字定下屈原情感的总基调。「疾」本义为病，引申为「痛心、痛恨」，此处作动词，写屈原对楚政败坏的切肤之痛——不是冷静的批评，而是锥心的痛楚，正如病痛缠身，无法安坐。若用「恨」「怨」等字，只写情绪，不及「疾」字之「痛彻心扉」；若用「忧」「伤」等字，又不及「疾」字之「既痛且愤」。司马迁以「疾」字立骨，屈原之忠（因爱楚而痛）、之愤（因政坏而愤）、之忧（因国危而忧）尽收一字之中，下文「忧愁幽思」四字正是「疾」字的展开与深化。同时，「疾」字亦暗含「病」义，楚国政治之病、君王视听之病、世道人心之病，皆系于此一字，司马迁以医家之眼写史家之文，其识见与笔力俱见于此。

幽思 Deep brooding. The mood of the close: 'in sorrow and deep brooding, he wrote the Encountering Sorrow'—the deep, hidden brooding of the poet, the spring of the long poem, and the foundation of the 'writing through indignation' of later literature. 「忧愁幽思而作《离骚》」之「幽思」二字，是全节对《离骚》文体特征最精炼的概括。「幽」本义为昏暗、深远，引申为深沉、隐秘；「思」为思虑、思绪。二字连用，状屈原创作时那种沉潜内敛、郁结于心而不可遏止的思虑：不是浅层的感伤，而是探入灵魂深处的幽思，如深渊之水，静而深、幽而远。此二字上承《诗经》「心之忧矣，我歌且谣」的忧思传统，下启《离骚》「路漫漫其修远兮，吾将上下而求索」的求索精神；更妙在「幽思」恰与《离骚》之「骚」（忧）字互训——司马迁在紧接其后的释题中说「离骚者，犹离忧也」，可见「忧愁幽思」正是他把握《离骚》的总钥匙。后世评《离骚》「文约辞微」「其志洁，其行廉」，皆可溯源于此「幽思」二字，其概括力之强，两千年无人能易。

方正 Upright and square. One of the four political ideals of the opening: 'the upright and the square found no acceptance'—the exclusion of the worthy from the court of Chu, the fate of the loyal minister, and the word that Qu Yuan himself embodied. 「方正之不容也」之「方正」二字，是此节对屈原人格及正直士人形象的命名。「方正」本义为端方正直，此处用作名词，指端方正直之人，与「邪曲」对举，一正一邪、一光明一阴暗，黑白分明。此词的文化意涵极为深远：中国士人自古以「方正」为立身之本，《礼记》有「正直者，顺理而行」之训，司马迁以「方正」名屈原一类人物，实将其置于儒家「直道而行」的人格传统之中；而「方正之不容」五字，则道尽正直者的悲剧命运——端方正直反遭排斥，世道之颠倒、政治之黑暗，尽在此五字。「方正」一词亦由此成为后世形容端人正士的通用语，韩愈「惟古于词必己出」之孤直、文天祥「留取丹心照汗青」之正大，皆承此脉。司马迁以两字立一人格类型，又以五字写其困境，其笔之简、意之深，为千古史传所罕见。