Sima Qian's letter, continued

I found a bit of time to work on my classical Chinese in the afternoon, after translating the latest article for pay and making a few lecture notes for tomorrow's class.

Zeng Jing (Ming dynasty), Portrait of Ge Yilong

僕賴先人緒業，得待罪輦轂下，二十餘年矣。所以自惟，上之不能納忠效信，有奇策材力之譽，自結明主；次之又不能拾遺補闕，招賢進能，顯巖穴之士；外之不能備行伍，攻城野戰，有斬將搴旗之功；下之不能積日累勞，取尊官厚祿，以為宗族交遊光寵。四者無一，遂苟合取容，無所短長之效，可見於此矣。

Your servant depends on the accumulated work of his late father, having obtained the wait for punishment under the royal carriage for more than twenty years now. This is why I think of this: First of all I was not able to bring in loyalty with utmost confidence, [nor] to have a reputation for marvelous strategems or courage, [nor] in recommending enlightened rulers. Second, there was also no way to make good on omissions, to repair the gaps, [nor] have I sought worthy men to advance their abilities, [nor] brought to light good men from caves on high. Third, I was not able to take a place within the ranks of soldiers, attacking castles or making war in the wilderness, [nor] did I ever make an attack that destroyed a general and captured his flag. Lastly, I could never accumulate days of exhausting labor. I [never] took a respected office with ample salary, [never] made my clan or my friends any glory or any favorites. Of these four, not one; so following, that I improperly took my shelter [even though] I lack any accomplishments, small or large -- you can see from this!

The passage about Sima Qian's sense of failure is especially difficult because Sima Qian does not provide enough negative particles; the reader should tell from context that Sima Qian is speaking in a completely self-deprecatory way. Watson n. 112 on p. 216 also refers us to a nice passage in which Sima Qian establishes the "five merits" of a successful man:

太史公曰：古者人臣功有五品，以德立宗廟定社稷曰勳，以言曰勞，用力曰功，明其等曰伐，積日曰閱。

The Grand Historian remarks: In ancient times men-subjects of merit held five grades. Establishing their clan temples and certifying their sacrificial altars by means of their inner virtue was called xun 勳, "meritorious service." By means of words is called lao 勞 "labor." Using strength is called gong 功 "achievement." Enlightening one's rank is called fa 伐 "eminence." Accumulation of days is called yue 閱 "experience."(Historical records, juan 18, "Table of Gaozu's subjects of merit")

Of particular interest to me here is the proof of the idea that Sima Qian constructs values for himself when he constructs the values of others. He measures himself against the successful government servants of the past, and feels keenly the lack of the values he finds in others.

Sources:

Watson, Burton. Ssu-Ma Chʻien, Grand Historian of China. New York: Columbia University Press, 1958, pp. 57-67 and notes pp. 207-220.

Ban Gu and Yan Shigu. Han Shu. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, ?, vol. 9, pp. 2725-2736. This is one of those editions with commentary drawn from a variety of places, yet it remains extremely difficult to make anything out. At least the typeface comes in a suitably large size. The edition that Watson uses is the 1900 edition of Wang Xianqian Link王先謙 (1842-1918) which seems to be available here: TC Wilson Library East Asian AC149 .K9x v.384-389

http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/報任安書 [last accessed Nov. 10] I'm always pleased to find a whole version on Wikisource -- good formatting for cutting and pasting and for printing.