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汉 Han · 文 Prose

陈涉世家·版本

The Hereditary House of Chen She (Version)

司马迁

Sima Qian

名篇Masterpiece 历史History 人物Biography 起义Uprising

陈胜者，阳城人也，字涉。
吴广者，阳夏人也，字叔。
陈涉少时，尝与人佣耕，辍耕之垄上，怅恨久之，曰：苟富贵，无相忘。

Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng, styled She. Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia, styled Shu. When Chen She was young, he once tilled the fields for hire with others; stopping his plowing on the ridge, he brooded long in resentment and said: 'If ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another.'

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Meaning

The opening of Sima Qian's biography of Chen Sheng, the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin dynasty, from the Records of the Grand Historian. The passage sets up the two leaders in the formal style of the historical biography: 'Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng, styled She. Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia, styled Shu.' Then it turns to a concrete scene of Chen She's humble youth: tilling for hire with others, stopping his plowing on the ridge, brooding long in resentment, and speaking the vow: 'If ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another.' In the few strokes of the opening, the reader sees the ambition of the future leader of the uprising hidden in the hired laborer of the fields.

陈胜，是阳城人，表字叫涉。吴广，是阳夏人，表字叫叔。陈胜年轻的时候，曾经和别人一起被雇佣给人耕地，一次他停下耕作，走到田埂高处，因失意而怅惘愤恨了很久，说：如果谁富贵了，不要忘记彼此。

Appreciation

Though the passage is short, its structure is most exact. The opening sets up the biography in the fixed form of the historical record—'Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng, styled She. Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia, styled Shu'—the native place, the surname, and the courtesy name given one by one, solemn and spare, the 'head of the biography' of the Records of the Grand Historian. Then it turns to the concrete scene of the man's humble time—'when he was young,' 'tilled for hire,' 'stopping his plowing on the ridge,' 'brooding long in resentment'—four short clauses writing out the situation and the mood of the young Chen Sheng, turning from the static setting up of the biography to the dynamic drawing of the man. In language the passage is mostly loose sentences, plain and natural, uncarved; the four characters 'brooding long in resentment' write the long brooding and resentment, the single word 'long' showing the depth of the oppression; the five characters 'if ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another' are short in word and full in spirit, the ambition of the young man of the fields hidden in the plain vow.

【白话串讲】司马迁写《陈涉世家》：陈涉年少为人佣耕，“怅恨久之，曰：苟富贵，无相忘”。同伴笑他，他说：“燕雀安知鸿鹄之志哉”。后来大泽乡遇雨误期，他说：“今亡亦死，举大计亦死，等死，死国可乎”——“王侯将相宁有种乎”——他振臂一呼，揭竿起义。【意象与手法】纪传体史传散文，节选章法极为讲究。开篇以史传的固定格式立传——“陈胜者，阳城人也，字涉”籍贯、姓氏、表字一一道来，庄重简净；随后转入人物微时的具体场景——“少时”“佣耕”“辍耕之垄上”“怅恨久之”，以短句写尽少年陈胜的处境与心绪，由静态立传转为动态写生。语言朴素自然，“怅恨久之”一个“久”字见压抑之深，“苟富贵，无相忘”五字语短气壮，心志不自掩。【情感与主旨】《陈涉世家》将农民起义领袖列入“世家”与诸侯同列，是空前绝后的史笔；开篇数十言写陈胜微时之志，笔简而神完，为后世“英雄传记”确立了“先微后显”的叙事模式。【名句点睛】常考“怅恨久之”一个“久”字写压抑之深；“苟富贵，无相忘”五字写陈胜微时之志；“燕雀安知鸿鹄之志哉”“王侯将相宁有种乎”皆出自此篇，成为底层反抗的旗帜性口号。

Background

'The Hereditary House of Chen She' is from the forty-eighth chapter of Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, writing the deeds of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, the leaders of the peasant uprising at the end of the Qin. Chen Sheng (?–208 BC), styled She, a native of Yangcheng (in the region of present-day Dengfeng, Henan); Wu Guang (?–208 BC), styled Shu, a native of Yangxia (present-day Taikang, Henan). In the seventh month of the second year of the Second Emperor (209 BC), Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, conscripted to guard Yuyang, reached Daze Township in Qi County; detained by heavy rain and doomed to execution for missing the deadline, they led the nine hundred conscripts in rising, 'cutting wood for weapons and raising poles for banners,' and the world answered; within ten days the rebel forces gathered, Chen Sheng made himself king of the state of 'Zhang Chu,' raising the first wave that toppled the Qin. Sima Qian's placing of the common-born Chen Sheng among the 'Hereditary Houses' (the form of the feudal lords' biographies) was a pioneering act of the Records' form, showing his historical insight that 'heroes are not judged by birth.'

《陈涉世家》节选自司马迁《史记》卷四十八，写秦末农民起义领袖陈胜、吴广的事迹。陈胜（？—前208），字涉，阳城（今河南登封一带）人；吴广（？—前208），字叔，阳夏（今河南太康）人。秦二世元年（前209）七月，陈胜、吴广被征发戍守渔阳，行至蕲县大泽乡，因大雨失期当斩，遂率九百戍卒揭竿起义，「斩木为兵，揭竿为旗」，天下响应，旬日之间义军云集，陈胜自立为王，国号「张楚」，掀起了推翻秦朝的第一次浪潮，故史称「陈涉首难」。司马迁将布衣出身的陈胜列入「世家」（本为诸侯传记之体），是《史记》体例上的创举，体现其「不以出身论英雄」的史识，正如其自序所言「桀纣失其道而汤武作，周失其道而《春秋》作，秦失其政而陈涉发迹」——把陈涉起义与汤武革命、孔子作《春秋》并提，评价之高，古今罕见。本篇即节选《陈涉世家》开篇，写陈胜、吴广的籍贯与陈胜佣耕时的慨叹，以「苟富贵，无相忘」的微时之志，为后文大泽乡起义的惊雷埋下伏笔。

Art

The opening sets up the biography in the fixed form of the historical record, the native place, the surname, and the courtesy name given one by one, solemn and spare; then it turns to the concrete scene of the man's humble time—'when he was young,' 'tilled for hire,' 'stopping his plowing on the ridge,' 'brooding long in resentment'—four short clauses writing out the situation and the mood, turning from the static biography to the dynamic drawing. The passage is mostly loose sentences, plain and natural; the four characters 'brooding long in resentment' write the long brooding, the single word 'long' showing the depth of the oppression; the five characters 'if ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another' are short in word and full in spirit, the ambition hidden in the plain vow.

本文为纪传体史传散文，节选部分虽短，章法却极为讲究。开篇以史传的固定格式立传：「陈胜者，阳城人也，字涉。吴广者，阳夏人也，字叔」，籍贯、姓氏、表字一一道来，庄重简净，是《史记》人物列传的「传首」体例；随后转入人物微时的具体场景——「少时」「佣耕」「辍耕之垄上」「怅恨久之」，以四个短句写尽少年陈胜的处境与心绪，由静态的立传转为动态的写生。语言特色上，全文以散句为主，朴素自然，不事雕琢；「怅恨久之」四字，写长久的怅惘愤恨，一个「久」字，见出压抑之深；「苟富贵，无相忘」五字，语短气壮，脱口而出，既是向同伴许下的诺言，更是心志不自掩的流露。司马迁最擅长在人物发迹之前写其微时言行，以为后文张本：佣耕垄上的怅恨，正是日后「王侯将相宁有种乎」的呐喊之源；「苟富贵」的许诺，又与其后陈胜称王后「故人皆自引去」的结局形成反讽式对照。节选虽仅五十余字，却完成了立传、写景、言志三层任务，堪称以少总多的典范。

Allusions

The cultural import of the passage is gathered in the classic motif of Chinese historical biography, 'the ambition of the humble time.' Chen She's vow of 'if ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another' while tilling on the ridge stands in a triad with Liu Bang's 'a great man should be like this!' and Xiang Yu's 'he may be replaced and taken by me!' of the same Records—all the narrative pattern of 'the hero rising from the mean' of the historian's pen: first the poverty and the hardship, then the ambition, then the rise or the fall, a complete arc of fate. The 'tilling for hire' of the passage, hired labor for another's fields, the common livelihood of the tenant farmers of the Qin and the Han, writes the meanness of Chen Sheng's origin; 'stopping his plowing on the ridge' writes his stopping the labor and going to the ridge, the moment of the ambition breaking through the hardship.

此节的文化意蕴，集中在「微时之志」这一中国史传的经典母题上。陈涉佣耕垄上而发「苟富贵，无相忘」之誓，与《史记》中刘邦「大丈夫当如此也」、项羽「彼可取而代也」的微时壮语鼎足而三，都是史迁笔下「英雄起于微贱」的叙事范式——先写其穷厄，再写其抱负，后写其发迹或败亡，形成完整的命运弧线。文中的「佣耕」指为人雇佣耕作，是秦汉佃农的常见生计，写陈胜出身之卑；「辍耕之垄上」写其停下劳作、走到田埂高处，一个「之」字（到、往），见出其心不在田亩而志在四方；「怅恨久之」则直写其胸中块垒。此节用典虽少，而「苟富贵」一语已化为后世「苟富贵，毋相忘」的熟语，且深植于中国民间「莫欺少年穷」的伦理信念：富贵不忘故交，是中国人心目中义气的最高形态之一。陈胜后来称王，故人入宫言「夥颐！涉之为王沉沉者」，终因「轻威」而被杀，「无相忘」的诺言竟成空话，司马迁于此寄予深沉的叹惋，也让这段微时之志带上反讽的悲剧色彩——这是《史记》写人深于常史之处。

Commentary

'The Hereditary House of Chen She' holds a unique place in Chinese historiography and literature. In form, Sima Qian's placing of the leader of the peasant uprising among the 'Hereditary Houses,' level with the feudal lords, is an unprecedented stroke of the historian's pen; Ban Gu's History of the Han changed the 'Hereditary Houses' to 'Biographies,' lowering the form, a proof of the transcendence of Sima Qian's historical insight. His placing Chen She with Tang and Wu and Confucius in his preface shows the great vision of 'penetrating the changes of past and present.' In literature, the opening's few tens of characters writing the ambition of the humble time, spare in stroke and complete in spirit, established the model of the 'biography of the hero' for all later writers.

《陈涉世家》在中国史学与文学史上具有独特的地位。从体例看，司马迁将农民起义领袖列入「世家」，与诸侯同列，是空前绝后的史笔，班固《汉书》即改「世家」为「列传」，降其体例，足见史迁史识之超越；其自序以陈涉与汤武、孔子并称，更见其「通古今之变」的宏大眼光。从文学看，此篇开篇数十言写陈胜微时之志，笔简而神完，为后世「英雄传记」确立了「先微后显」的叙事模式，《三国演义》写刘备贩履织席、《水浒传》写宋江郓城小吏，皆承此脉。从思想看，「王侯将相宁有种乎」一语，成为两千年来中国底层反抗的旗帜性口号，深刻影响了历代农民起义的话语；而「苟富贵，无相忘」所承载的平等期待与「夥颐」故事所揭示的贵贱易位，共同构成司马迁对历史中的人性最清醒的观察。作为经典课文，此节是理解《史记》体例、史迁史识与纪传文学写人艺术的入门锁钥：五十余字中，立传之体、写生之笔、言志之志、伏脉之机，一应俱全，历来是文言教学中「以少总多」的范例。

Prosody

Form Historical biography prose (annals-biography narrative)纪传体史传散文（散体叙事）

Rhyme Unrhymed; the rhythm comes from the length of the sentences and the use of the particles. The opening two judgment sentences ('Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng... Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia...') are even in form, like the historian sitting upright; the narrative that follows is uneven in form本文为散体史文，不押韵，以句子的长短与虚词的运用形成节奏。开篇两个判断句（陈胜者，阳城人也……吴广者，阳夏人也……）句式整饬，如史官正襟危坐；转入叙事则句式参差（少时、佣耕、辍耕之垄上、怅恨久之），短句连缀，节奏由缓入急；至「曰：苟富贵，无相忘」陡然收束，五字短促有力，如金石掷地。全段由整入散、由缓入急，声情与叙事相谐。

Tone pattern The judgment sentences of the opening are even and slow, then the four short clauses of the young Chen Sheng's scene are quick and pressing, the rhythm from the solemn to the vivid, the ambition of the humble time carried by the movement句式以短句为主，兼用「者……也」的判断句式，语气庄重而平实。立传处用陈述句，交代籍贯，语调平正；叙事处用连动短句（辍耕—之垄上—怅恨—曰），动作连续，语气渐紧；誓言处用假设句「苟富贵，无相忘」，短促决绝，语调高亢。整段以「曰」字为声气转折，由叙入言，人物开口处正是全文情绪的最高点。

Reading note The rhythm of the passage moves from the even judgment sentences of the opening to the quick four short clauses of the young man's scene, the solemn biography turning into the vivid drawing.作为纪传体散文的典范，此节音韵之美在「简劲」二字：全段五十余字，几乎全用短句，句式极简而节奏鲜明。开篇「陈胜者，阳城人也，字涉」三句一顿，以「也」字判断句造成舒缓的史官语调，如编年史册的庄重翻开；进入「少时佣耕」的叙事，句子渐短渐急，「辍耕之垄上，怅恨久之」两短句，如快镜连拍，写出少年陈胜压抑的行动与心绪；直至「曰：苟富贵，无相忘」，五字短句戛然而止，音节短促，如破空之声，全文的情绪与节奏在此达到顶点。司马迁深谙「文气」之道：他不靠辞藻，不靠音律，仅凭句子的长短松紧，就让读者感受到从平静到激荡的情绪曲线。这种以散句写声情、以节奏传心理的笔法，是《史记》高出后世骈俪史文之处，也为唐宋古文「文从字顺」的主张提供了最早的范本。

Line by line

陈胜者，阳城人也，字涉。吴广者，阳夏人也，字叔。

Chen Sheng was a native of Yangcheng, styled She. Wu Guang was a native of Yangxia, styled Shu. (The opening sets up the biography in the fixed form of the historical record: the native place, the surname, and the courtesy name given one by one, solemn and spare, the 'head of the biography' of the Records.)

陈胜，是阳城人，表字叫涉。吴广，是阳夏人，表字叫叔。

Chen Sheng was a man of Yangcheng, his courtesy name She. Wu Guang was a man of Yangxia, his courtesy name Shu.

这是《史记》立传的固定格式「某者，某地人也」，以「者……也」的判断句交代籍贯姓名，庄重简净，是纪传体史书人物传记的开篇通例。妙处在于把陈胜、吴广并提：两人同为戍卒首领，同传开首，平等并列，暗示二人将并肩举事；而先陈后吴的次序，又标明陈胜是主角。司马迁在这样简短的传首中已埋下伏笔——陈胜「字涉」，吴广「字叔」，一「涉」一「叔」，皆布衣小字，与「阳城」「阳夏」的乡野地名相配，写出两位英雄出身之微贱；而正是这微贱的出身，使后文「辍耕之垄上」的怅恨、「苟富贵」的誓言与「王侯将相宁有种乎」的呐喊有了坚实的依据。字句之间，史家的笔法已然就位：先写其卑，后写其奋，卑与奋的反差越大，人物的精神就越见光辉。

The biography begins in the standard formula. Chen Sheng was a man of Yangcheng, courtesy name She; Wu Guang was a man of Yangxia, courtesy name Shu. The two names are given in parallel, equal at the start, though Chen is the leader. The humble birthplaces and the common courtesy names establish the lowly material out of which the rebellion will rise. The historian's flat opening is already doing quiet work. To have introduced them as rebel leaders would be drama; the plain two sentences of place and name are the historian's drama.

陈涉少时，尝与人佣耕，辍耕之垄上，怅恨久之，曰：苟富贵，无相忘。

When Chen She was young, he once tilled the fields for hire with others; stopping his plowing on the ridge, he brooded long in resentment and said: 'If ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another.' (The concrete scene of the humble time: tilling for hire, stopping the plowing on the ridge, brooding long, and the vow—the ambition of the future leader hidden in the hired laborer.)

陈胜年轻的时候，曾经和别人一起被雇佣给人耕地，一次他停下耕作，走到田埂高处，因失意而怅惘愤恨了很久，说：如果谁富贵了，不要忘记彼此。

When Chen She was young, he once worked as a hired plowhand for others; one day he stopped plowing, climbed to the top of a field ridge, and brooded in resentment for a long time. Then he said: If any of us grows rich and noble, let us not forget one another.

这一段是全文的灵魂，短短二十余字，写尽少年陈胜的处境、心绪与志向。先写「少时佣耕」——出身寒微，以佣工糊口，是「贫贱」的底色；再写「辍耕之垄上」——放下锄头，登上田埂，一个细节写其心不在田亩、志存高远；「怅恨久之」四字尤为传神，怅是失意的惆怅，恨是郁结的愤懑，「久之」写这情绪盘桓不去，如巨石压胸；终于脱口而出「苟富贵，无相忘」——五字短促有力，是对同伴的许诺，更是自我心志的宣言。司马迁不写陈胜如何英武、如何谋略，只让他在这垄上怅恨的一刻说出这句话，一个不甘沉沦、胸怀大志的布衣英雄便跃然纸上。而这句话的悲剧性也在此埋下：后文陈胜称王，故人来访而终被杀，「无相忘」竟成虚诺，微时的真情与发迹后的凉薄形成反讽，令人读之怅然。以极简之笔写极深之志，且伏脉千里，此正是《史记》高于后世史书处。

The famous scene. As a hired plowhand, he stopped plowing, climbed the field ridge, and brooded in resentment for a long time—then said: If any of us grows rich and noble, let us not forget one another. The detail (stopping the plow, the long brooding) is the whole portrait: a man whose heart is not in the fields. The promise not to forget is both oath and prophecy, and later, when the promised friends are executed for indiscretion, the promise becomes bitter. To have described a discontented peasant would be a sketch; the stopped plow and the long brooding on the ridge are the discontent.

Study

Word focus

怅恨 Brooding in resentment. The mood of the young Chen Sheng: 'stopping his plowing on the ridge, he brooded long in resentment'—the long brooding and resentment of the hired laborer with ambition, the depth of the oppression in the two words. 「怅恨久之」之「怅恨」，是陈胜微时心理的凝练概括，也是全段情感的枢纽词。「怅」是失意、惆怅，侧重理想受挫的惘然；「恨」是愤懑、遗憾，侧重境遇不公的郁结，两字连用，把少年陈胜对命运的不甘写得层层分明。更妙的是「久之」二字：这怅恨不是一闪而过，而是久久盘桓，可见其胸中块垒之深。司马迁写人物心理，极少长篇铺叙，而善以二字点破——此处「怅恨久之」，与后文陈涉太息曰「嗟乎！燕雀安知鸿鹄之志哉」相承，怅恨是因，太息是果，由沉默的压抑到发声的感慨，一个不甘平庸的灵魂渐次显影。从训诂看，「怅」从「心」、「长」声，兼取「长」之绵延义；「恨」从「心」、「艮」声，本义为遗憾，二字皆心部，以形声字写心理，声情并茂。一字之微，可见史迁炼字的功力，也可见文言以简驭繁的妙处。

佣耕 Tilling for hire. Hired labor for another's fields, the common livelihood of the tenant farmers of the Qin and the Han; the two words write the meanness of Chen Sheng's origin, the poverty from which the ambition broke through. 「尝与人佣耕」之「佣耕」，指受人雇佣耕作，是理解陈胜出身与性格的关键词。「佣」本义为受雇于人，引申为雇工；「耕」为农耕，「佣耕」二字写陈胜的谋生方式——他不是自耕农，而是出卖劳力的雇农，地位更低，生活更苦。正因如此，后文的「辍耕」「怅恨」「苟富贵」才格外有力：一个连土地都没有的佣工，竟然胸怀改天换地之志，卑贱与伟大之间的落差，正是《史记》塑造英雄的独特笔法。从历史看，「佣耕」是秦汉之际农村贫富分化的缩影，陈胜、吴广正是在这种「苦秦久矣」的社会土壤中揭竿而起，「佣耕」二字遂成为农民起义史叙事的源头意象。后世「佣书」「佣工」等词皆由此派生，而司马迁不用「耕作」「力田」而特取「佣耕」，一字之间，人物的阶级处境与社会矛盾已呼之欲出。

苟 If ever. The word of the vow: 'if ever we become rich and noble, let us not forget one another'—the conditional 'if ever' carries the young man's vow and his hidden ambition, the promise of the future leader in the five plain words. 「苟富贵，无相忘」之「苟」，是假设连词，义为「如果、倘若」，虽只一字，却见陈胜说话的口气与心气。「苟」作假设，先秦典籍习见（如《论语》「苟志于仁矣，无恶也」），此处用于誓言，带有口语的爽利与决绝——他不敢确定富贵必然到来，却以「如果」起誓，既见现实的清醒，又见志向的坚定，犹言「有朝一日若得富贵」。这个「苟」字，把陈胜「贫贱而不自弃」的心态写得恰到好处：他不空谈富贵，只以假设立誓，正说明他把富贵看作需要争取的目标而非既有的地位，为后文「王侯将相宁有种乎」的造反宣言埋下思想伏笔。若易为「若」字，则意同而气稍弱；「苟」字入誓，音节短促，如铁钉入木，更见决心。司马迁于虚词用字之讲究，于此可见一斑。