说“禄养”——关于汉代官员养亲问题的考察

Supporting Family by Salary: Investigation of Officials'Family Supporting in the Han Dynasty

"禄养"是指官员以俸禄孝养父母。两汉时期,人们对禄养行孝的养亲方式非常崇尚,即使是那些淡泊名利的志节之士,在身处无力养亲的现实困窘时,有时也会迫不得已而放下身段,入仕求禄以求养亲。但是由于俸禄微薄,对于不少中低级官员来说,以禄养亲依然不易。不少官员为了便于行孝,往往会想方设法将父母迎接至就职地,此即"移亲就养"。但是在实际操作过程中,移亲就养并不容易实现,故有些官员不惜放弃官职以归乡终养。汉代已将"养亲"纳入官员的考核机制之中,但是总体而言,其在相关制度建设方面仍显粗疏。

Supporting family by salary means that the officials support their parents by their salary. In the Han Dynasty, people admire the means of supporting their parents by their salary, and even those who are indifferent to fame and fortune have to seek official positions to support their parents when they have the difficulty supporting their parents. However, it is still diffi- cult for the officials in low and middle ranks to support their parents because of the low salary. In order to support their parents, some officials manage to remove their parents to the place where they take the post, which is the so-called ＂removing parents to support＂. As a matter of fact, it is not easy to realize, as a result of which some officials have to give up their post and return to their hometown to support their parents. Even though supporting parents is taken into consideration while assessing the officials, there is not strict system construction at large.