《五帝本纪》得与失:论司马迁的上古史观

Achievements and Shortcomings of“Wudibenji”:On Sima Qian’s Concept of the Ancient History

司马迁《五帝本纪》坚决摒弃时人众口一词的"三皇"说,反映了司马迁审慎的上古史观念。在众说纷纭的"五帝"说中,司马迁采用《大戴礼记》中《五帝德》和《帝系》做基本框架,淡化炎帝凸出黄帝,不仅反映了他的儒家道统观念,而且也反映了他的历史认识论。《五帝本纪》的写作方法可称古之典范,他最早把儒家相传的文献、战国诸子和西汉出土所见的古文《尚书》《左传》等相互印证,而且亲自到全国各地进行实地考察,这就使得《五帝本纪》比《五帝德》更丰富详实,也纠正了其中的一些错误。《五帝本纪》的不足,体现在司马迁继承了《五帝德》的基本框架,把颛顼与帝喾、帝喾与尧完全看成父子关系,有些重要部落的首领人物如少皞未能纳入五帝时代,未能使用有大量五帝资料的《山海经》,把《舜典》流放"四罪"和《左传》文公十八舜流放"四凶族"分成尧舜两个不同时代的故事。这些都是其缺失部分,也是值得研究者注意的。

In"Wudibenji",Sima Qian got away from the theory of Three Emperors which was accepted by the community at the time.It reflects Sima Qian is prudent.Though there were various theories of"Five Emperors"at that time,Sima Qian accepted the material in"Wudide"and"Dixi"in the DADAILIJI,and he accentuated the importance of Huangdi instead of Yandi,which reflects his orthodox Confucianism and historical epistemology.The"Wudibenji"can be regarded as a model of historical book in ancient time.Sima Qian was the first to use the Confucian documents,documents of philosophers in the Warring States Period and SHANGSHU and ZUOZHUAN unearthed in the western Han dynasty to prove each other,and he made investigations all over the country,these make the"Wudibenji"is more detailed than the"Wudide"and corrects some mistakes in later.However,there are some shortcomings in"Wudibenji",for instance,Sima Qian thought that Zhuanxu and Diku,Diku and Yao were fathers and sons,and some leaders of important tribes,such as Shaohao was not count in the Five Emperors,in addition,the material in SHANHAIJING wasn’t used,and Sima Qian mistakenly thought that Four Criminals"exile and Four Ferocious Clans"exile are two things.These shortcomings should be pay attention to.