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战国战国 · 文 Prose

唐雎不辱使命·版本

Tang Ju Fulfills the Mission without Disgrace (Version)

刘向

Liu Xiang

名篇Masterpiece 战国策Strategies of the Warring States 外交Diplomacy 辞令Eloquent Speech

秦王使人谓安陵君曰：寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人！
安陵君曰：受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易！

The King of Qin sent a man to say to the Lord of Anling: 'I wish to exchange the five hundred li of land for Anling, will the Lord of Anling grant me!' The Lord of Anling said: 'I received the land from the former kings, I wish to keep it to the end, I dare not exchange it!'

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Meaning

A passage from the 'Strategies of Wei IV' of the Strategies of the Warring States. 'The King of Qin sent a man to say to the Lord of Anling: I wish to exchange the five hundred li of land for Anling, will the Lord of Anling grant me!'—the pretext of the King of Qin, the exchange of the five hundred li for the small Anling, the greedy design of the powerful Qin; 'the Lord of Anling said: I received the land from the former kings, I wish to keep it to the end, I dare not exchange it!'—the refusal of the Lord of Anling, the receiving from the former kings and the keeping to the end, the not daring to exchange, the firm and the courteous refusal. The passage is the opening of the matter of Tang Ju's fulfilling the mission without disgrace: the King of Qin, under the pretext of the exchange, coveting the land of Anling, and the Lord of Anling refusing, the situation of the weak Anling against the strong Qin, and the later Tang Ju, sent to Qin, arguing with the King of Qin, the eloquence and the spirit of the diplomat.

秦王派人对安陵君说：寡人想用五百里的土地来交换安陵，安陵君可要答应寡人啊！安陵君回答说：我从先王那里继承了这块土地，愿意终身守护它，不敢拿来交换！

Appreciation

The artistic achievement of the excerpt is concentrated in the two extremes of the art of the eloquence of the Strategies of the Warring States: one is the 'the dialogue creating the scene,' and the other the 'the softness with the hardness within.' First, the whole excerpt is made of the dialogue, the typical 'writing the characters with the language of the characters themselves': the words of the King of Qin, 'I wish to exchange the five hundred li of land for Anling, will the Lord of Anling grant me,' first with the character 'wish' displaying the posture of the lure, then with the 'grant me' issuing the order—the character 'will' in the classical Chinese expressing the tone of the request and the command, the power of the Qin and the greed of the exchange in the few words; the answer of the Lord of Anling, 'I received the land from the former kings, I wish to keep it to the end, I dare not exchange it,' the 'received from the former kings' the legitimacy, the 'keep it to the end' the firmness, and the 'I dare not' the courtesy and the firmness in one, the wisdom of the diplomat of the weak state. Second, the softness with the hardness within: the answer of the Lord of Anling is courteous and soft, yet the refusal is firm, the hard meaning hidden in the soft words, the art of the eloquence of the Strategies of the Warring States, the very model of the diplomatic language.

【白话串讲】刘向写《唐雎不辱使命》：秦王要安陵君用五百里换安陵，安陵君不换。秦王发怒，问唐雎：“公亦尝闻天子之怒乎？”唐雎说：“臣未尝闻也。”秦王说：“天子之怒，伏尸百万，流血千里。”唐雎说：“若士必怒，伏尸二人，流血五步，天下缟素”——他拔剑而起。秦王“长跪而谢之”——唐雎不辱使命。【意象与手法】《战国策》辞令艺术的两个极致：一为“对话造境”，二为“柔中带刚”。秦王之言“寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人”先以“欲”字摆出利诱姿态，继以“其许”二字下命令，表面是商量实则是通牒；安陵君之言“受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易”则以“先王”为盾、以“弗敢”为辞，字面谦卑、骨子里寸步不让，两人一强横一恭谨，性格在对照中自然凸显。【情感与主旨】本篇礼赞“守土之臣”的忠贞与辞令之巧，保存了战国末年“强凌弱、众暴寡”时代国际关系的生动图景，是《战国策》辞令艺术的典范标本。【名句点睛】常考“寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人”以“其许”二字写秦王的强横；“受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易”写安陵君守土之坚，为后文唐雎“布衣之怒”蓄势。

Background

This piece is selected from the 'Strategies of Wei IV' of the Strategies of the Warring States. The Strategies of the Warring States is a national-historical book compiled and collated by Liu Xiang (77–6 BC) at the end of the Western Han, in thirty-three chapters, divided into the twelve strategies of the Eastern Zhou, the Western Zhou, Qin, Qi, Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, Yan, Song, Wei, and Zhongshan, recording the words of the strategists and the activities of the counselors of the two hundred and forty-five years of the Warring States, its prose eloquent and vivid, the model of the Chinese historical-biographical literature and the argumentative prose. Liu Xiang, courtesy name Zizheng, a native of Pei, the famous classicist and bibliographer of the Western Han, compiled the strategic plans and the words of the wandering counselors of the Warring States into a book when collating the various books, named for the 'the wandering counselors of the Warring States assisting the states they served, making the strategies for them.' The background of the matter: at the end of the Warring States, the Qin powerful and the other states weak, the kings of Qin coveting the lands of the various states under the pretext of the exchange, and Anling, a small state, refusing the exchange of the King of Qin, the matter of Tang Ju sent to Qin to argue, the typical of the diplomacy of the weak state of the Warring States.

本篇选自《战国策·魏策四》。《战国策》是西汉末年刘向（前77—前6）整理编订的国别体史书，凡三十三篇，分东周、西周、秦、齐、楚、赵、魏、韩、燕、宋、卫、中山十二策，记录了战国二百四十五年间的纵横家言与策士活动，其文辞之雄辩、刻画之生动，为中国史传文学与论说文的典范。刘向，字子政，沛人，西汉著名经学家、目录学家，他校理群书时把战国游说之士的策谋言论汇编成书，因「战国时游士辅所用之国，为之策谋」而名之曰《战国策》。本篇所记之事发生在战国末年秦并六国前夕：秦王政（后来的秦始皇）以大欺小，欲以五百里之地为饵吞并安陵小国，安陵君派唐雎出使秦国，唐雎以「布衣之怒」与秦王针锋相对，最终不辱使命、保全安陵。本篇节选为全篇的序幕，写秦王遣使诱逼与安陵君的首次拒绝，虽只两句话，却已把秦之横暴、安陵之窘迫和盘托出，为唐雎的出场蓄足了势。史实上，安陵为魏国附庸小国，其地当在今河南鄢陵一带，秦王以「五百里」易「五十里」之地的「易地」说辞，是战国纵横家常用的欺诈之术，本篇所记虽属传闻，却生动再现了战国末年强国以辞令与武力蚕食弱国的历史图景。

Art

The art is the two extremes of the eloquence: the 'dialogue creating the scene,' the words of the King of Qin with the lure and the command, and the answer of the Lord of Anling with the legitimacy and the firmness, the characters written with the language; and the 'softness with the hardness within,' the courteous refusal, the hard meaning hidden in the soft words—the very model of the diplomatic language of the Strategies of the Warring States.

本篇节选的艺术成就，集中体现在《战国策》辞令艺术的两个极致：一为「对话造境」，二为「柔中带刚」。其一，全篇以对话构成，是典型的「用人物自己的语言写人物」：秦王之言「寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人」，先以「欲」字摆出利诱的姿态，继以「其许」二字下命令——「其」字在文言中表祈使、命令，表面是商量，实则是通牒，秦王以强凌弱、以诈取地的嘴脸，一句之中毕现；安陵君之言「受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易」，则以「先王」为盾、以「弗敢」为辞，字面谦卑，骨子里却寸步不让，两人一强横一恭谨，性格在对照中自然凸显。其二，章法上「小中见大」：节选不过两句对话，却交代了矛盾双方、事件起因（易地之请）与第一次冲突（婉拒），并为后文唐雎出使、秦王「怫然怒」、唐雎「挺剑而起」的层层升级埋下伏笔——五百里之地引出五十里之安陵，五十里之安陵引出「伏尸二人，流血五步」的惊天冲突，小国小事中写出时代大势。其三，语言上「简而有力」：全文无一句冗笔，「使人谓」「其许」「受地于先王」等语，字字如铁，是先秦史传文学「辞约而旨丰」的典范。

Allusions

The eloquence and the cultural import of this piece are deeply rooted in the rites and the spirit of the pre-Qin. First, the logic of the 'received the land from the former kings': the Lord of Anling refuses the exchange, the reason that the land is received from the former kings and cannot be lightly given up—the embodiment of the concept of the 'keeping the hereditary fief' of the patriarchal system of the pre-Qin, the 'the fief of the former lords cannot be given to others' of the Zuo Commentary, the legitimacy of the refusal; second, the spirit of the diplomat of the weak state: facing the greedy Qin, the Lord of Anling neither the flattering submission nor the open defiance, but with the 'received from the former kings' and the 'I dare not' the courteous and the firm refusal, the art of the diplomacy of the weak state, and the 'the five hundred li of land' the greed of the Qin, the 'the exchange' of the weak against the strong, the eternal scene of the diplomatic history.

本篇的辞令与文化内涵，深植于先秦的礼法观念与士人精神。其一，「受地于先王」的道义逻辑：安陵君拒绝易地，理由是土地受之于先王，不可轻弃——这是先秦宗法制度下「世守封地」观念的体现，《左传》有「先君之封地，不可以与人」之说，安陵君正是以此礼法为据，使秦王的「易地」之请在道义上站不住脚；这种「以祖宗为名、以守土为义」的辞令，是战国弱国抵御强权的通用武器。其二，「易地」之说的纵横背景：战国末年，秦以「割地」「易地」为饵蚕食六国，张仪之诳楚、秦王之诱安陵，皆此类也；本篇所写正是纵横家时代「诈术与守义」的正面交锋。其三，「不辱使命」的士人精神：安陵君之拒在先，唐雎之使在后，节选虽未及唐雎，却已为「士为知己者死」的侠士传统张本——战国策士以口舌折冲樽俎、以气节捍卫国家，本篇与《烛之武退秦师》《曹刿论战》一脉相承，共同塑造了中国文化中「使臣不辱君命」的原型形象。其四，小国图存的生存智慧：安陵以五十里之地在秦的虎视下苟存，靠的不是武力而是道义与辞令，本篇节选正是这一历史智慧的缩影，其「弱国外交」的启示意义，后世论者多所阐发。

Commentary

Though the excerpt of the 'Tang Ju Fulfills the Mission without Disgrace,' its value far exceeds a historical anecdote. In the history, though the matters recorded in the Strategies of the Warring States are not all in accordance with the facts, it preserves the vivid picture of the international relations of the Warring States—the deceit of the Qin, the keeping of the Anling, and the cleverness of the eloquence recorded in this piece are precisely the picture of the end of the Warring States; in the literature, the excerpt, with the 'dialogue creating the scene' and the 'softness with the hardness within,' the few strokes writing the power of the King of Qin and the firmness of the Lord of Anling, the very model of the eloquence of the Strategies of the Warring States, and the whole matter of the Tang Ju's argument with the King of Qin, the 'the sword of the commoner' of the later, the eternal memory of the Chinese diplomacy.

本篇虽为《唐雎不辱使命》的节选，其价值却远超一段历史轶事。从史学看，《战国策》所记虽不尽合史实，却保存了战国时代国际关系的生动图景——本篇所写秦之诈、安陵之守、辞令之巧，正是战国末年「强凌弱、众暴寡」时代的缩影，与《史记》参读，可见先秦史料的互证互补。从文学看，本篇是《战国策》辞令艺术的典范标本：两句对话，写尽秦王的骄横与安陵君的持重，人物如闻其声、如见其人，其「以对话写人物」的手法，直接影响《史记》纪传体的语言艺术，故后世评《战国策》者谓其「文辞之胜，冠绝先秦」。从思想看，本篇礼赞的是「守土之志」与「不辱使命」的士人尊严：安陵君以「受地于先王」拒强秦之请，虽处弱势而不失其守，这种「贫贱不能移、威武不能屈」的气节，与孟子「大丈夫」之论、屈原「虽九死其犹未悔」之志一脉相承，成为中华民族精神谱系中的重要一环。从接受看，本篇为《唐雎不辱使命》全篇的引子，历代入选中学语文教材，与《烛之武退秦师》《邹忌讽齐王纳谏》并列为《战国策》必读篇目，其「弱国外交」与「士人尊严」的主题，至今仍具现实意义。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin historical-biographical prose (the record-of-words style of the Strategies of the Warring States)先秦史传散文（《战国策》记言体）

Rhyme This excerpt is not rhymed, the beauty of the sound in the contrast of the rhythms of the dialogue and the evenness of the sentence-forms本篇节选不押韵，其音韵之美在对话的节奏对比与句式的整饬呼应。秦王之语「寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人」以长句铺陈，音节平缓而绵里藏锋；安陵君之语「受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易」以三短句连缀，音节短促而坚定，一问一答之间，两种语气、两种节奏形成鲜明对照，恰是辞令交锋的声学化。

Tone pattern The 'I wish to exchange the five hundred li' is greedy, the 'will the Lord of Anling grant me' is commanding, the 'received the land from the former kings' is calm, and the 'I dare not exchange it' is firm—the whole from the demand to the refusal, the contrast of the power and the firmness carried by the tone句式以对话为主，一问一答，语气对比强烈：秦王「欲」「其许」用祈使与利诱之辞，语调居高临下、绵里藏针；安陵君「受地」「终守」「弗敢」用陈述与谦辞，语调恭谨而不失坚定，一强横一柔韧，声情与辞情高度统一。

Reading note The rhythms of the dialogue carry the contrast of the King of Qin and the Lord of Anling, the model of the diplomatic language.本篇节选的声韵之美，不在押韵，而在「对话节奏」的精心设计。《战国策》为记言体史书，其文以「言」为主，故声韵之美全在人物语言的节奏对比中呈现。秦王之语「寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵」共十二字，以「欲」「以」「之」「地」「易」等实词与虚词交错，音节舒缓绵长，如诱饵缓缓抛出；「安陵君其许寡人」七字，以「其」字提顿，语气转硬，如刀锋微露——前缓后急，利诱与威逼的两面在声调上已经分明。安陵君之语则截然相反：「受地于先王」五字一顿，如磐石落地；「愿终守之」四字再顿，如誓言铿锵；「弗敢易」三字收束，短促有力，如关门落闩——三短句由五而四而三，音节渐次收紧，语势渐趋坚决，与秦王的长句绵延恰成对照。一问一答之间，两种人格、两种气度在声音的节奏中分出高下：秦王的辞令华丽而虚浮，安陵君的辞令短促而坚实。这种「以声写人」的对话艺术，是《战国策》胜过一般史书的地方——它不只记言，更以语言的节奏、语气、顿挫传达人物的性格与立场，读者诵读之时，秦王之骄横、安陵君之持重，已在唇齿之间。

Line by line

秦王使人谓安陵君曰：寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵，安陵君其许寡人！

The King of Qin sent a man to say to the Lord of Anling: 'I wish to exchange the five hundred li of land for Anling, will the Lord of Anling grant me!' (The demand: the pretext of the exchange of the King of Qin, the five hundred li for the small Anling, the lure and the command in one, the greed of the powerful Qin.)

秦王派人对安陵君说：寡人想用五百里的土地来交换安陵，安陵君可要答应寡人啊！

The King of Qin sent an envoy to tell the Lord of Anling: 'I wish to trade five hundred li of land for Anling; you must agree to my offer!'

此句是秦王的「通牒」，也是全篇冲突的导火索，寥寥数字写尽强权者的骄横与狡诈。「秦王使人谓安陵君曰」——秦王不亲往，而「使人谓」，一见面子，一显威势，居高临下之态已见；「寡人欲以五百里之地易安陵」——「寡人」自称，摆出大国之君的身份，「欲」字故作谦和，仿佛是好意相商，「五百里之地」以厚利为饵——安陵方五十里，五百里是十倍之利，表面上是「以小换大」的恩赐，实则是「以诈取地」的阴谋；「安陵君其许寡人」——「其」字是关键，此为祈使语气词，表命令与胁迫，前句的「欲」是假仁假义，此句的「其许」才是真意——不是请求，而是逼令，软硬兼施、恩威并济，秦王的嘴脸一句毕现。更妙者，整句话读来客气（「寡人欲」「其许」），骨子里却是以强凌弱、以大欺小的霸权逻辑，这种「绵里藏针」的辞令，恰是战国纵横家时代的典型语言。一句之中，秦之横、安陵之危，尽在不言中。

This line is the King of Qin's 'ultimatum' and the fuse of the whole conflict, a few words writing the powerful's arrogance and cunning. 'The King of Qin sent a man to tell the Lord of Anling' - the King not going himself but 'sending a man,' the airs and the might at once, the lofty mien already showing; 'I wish to exchange five hundred li of land for Anling' - 'I' the great ruler's self-style, 'wish' the feigned humility, as if a friendly bargain, 'five hundred li' the thick bait - Anling is fifty li square, five hundred tenfold, on the surface the favor of 'small for great,' in truth the plot of 'snatching land by deceit'; 'I hope the Lord of Anling will grant me this' - the word 'hope' the key, an imperative particle marking command and coercion, the 'wish' before false kindness, this 'hope you will grant' the true intent - not a request but a demand, soft and hard together, the King's face in one line. More cunning, the whole line reads politely ('I wish,' 'hope you will grant'), yet its bone is the strong bullying the weak, the hegemon's logic - this 'needle wrapped in silk' language precisely the typical speech of the Warring States Strategist age. In one line, Qin's arrogance and Anling's peril, all between the lines.

安陵君曰：受地于先王，愿终守之，弗敢易！

The Lord of Anling said: 'I received the land from the former kings, I wish to keep it to the end, I dare not exchange it!' (The refusal: the received from the former kings the legitimacy, the keep to the end the firmness, and the 'I dare not' the courtesy and the firmness in one, the wisdom of the diplomat of the weak state.)

安陵君回答说：我从先王那里继承了这块土地，愿意终身守护它，不敢拿来交换！

The Lord of Anling replied: 'I inherited this land from my late kings; I would guard it all my life, and dare not trade it!'

此句是安陵君对秦王的第一次拒绝，也是全篇「守土」主题的立论之言，三句递进，绵里藏针。「受地于先王」先言土地之由来——安陵虽小，却是先王所授之封地，名正言顺、神圣不可侵犯，以此作挡箭牌，使秦王的「易地」之请在道义上无隙可乘；「愿终守之」再言守护之决心——一个「愿」字，看似谦卑，实则决绝，把「守」字写得分明，终身之志，溢于言表；「弗敢易」终言拒绝之态度——「弗敢」本是「不敢」的谦辞，此处却以「不敢」行「不肯」之实，字面上给足秦王面子，骨子里却寸步不让，是外交辞令中「以柔克刚」的极致。「受地于先王」暗含三重深意：一是礼法上，先王之地不可弃，弃则背祖；二是政治上，易地等于亡国，守地等于存国；三是人格上，受人之托而终守之，方为忠信之人。三句连读，由由来而决心而态度，层层递进，句句有理，安陵君守土不屈的形象跃然纸上，也为后文唐雎「不辱使命」的壮举立下基调。

This line is the Lord of Anling's first refusal, and the thesis of the whole's 'guarding the soil,' three advances, needle in silk. 'Having received the land from the former kings' first naming the land's origin - Anling small, yet the fief bestowed by former kings, justified and sacred, this as the shield making the King's 'exchange' request morally unseizable; 'I would guard it to the end' next the resolve - the word 'would' seeming humble, in truth resolute, writing 'guard' plain, the lifelong will overflowing; 'and dare not exchange it' closing the refusal - 'dare not' the humble phrase, yet here using 'dare not' to do 'will not,' giving the King face on the surface, yielding not an inch in the bone, the diplomat's 'soft overcoming hard' at its utmost. 'Having received the land from the former kings' holds three depths: ritually, the ancestors' land cannot be abandoned, to abandon is to betray the forefathers; politically, to exchange is to lose the state, to guard is to keep it; personally, receiving a trust and guarding it to the end is the loyal man. The three lines read together, from origin to resolve to stance, layer on layer, the Lord of Anling guarding the soil unyielding before the eyes, priming Tang Ju's later 'not disgracing his mission.'

Study

Word focus

其 Will (the particle of the request). The word of the demand: 'will the Lord of Anling grant me'—the particle 'will' of the classical Chinese, the tone of the request and the command, the lure and the command of the King of Qin. 「安陵君其许寡人」之「其」字，是全句的辞令之眼，也是读懂秦王真面目的关键。「其」在文言中用法繁多，此处为祈使语气副词，表命令、期望，可译为「可要、应当」。一个「其」字，把前句「欲以五百里之地易安陵」的假仁假义彻底揭穿：若真是善意相商，当用「愿」「请」；用「其许」，则是居高临下的命令——「寡人要你答应，你就得答应」。这个字的分量在于「以一字定语气」：它把整句话从「请求」扭转为「通牒」，秦王以强凌弱、以大欺小的霸权嘴脸，无须任何形容词，一个虚词即已毕现。《战国策》语言之精，正在于此——不着一个「横」字、一个「诈」字，而秦之横诈已在字里行间；安陵君听出这「其许」背后的杀机，方有后文「弗敢易」的坚定拒绝与唐雎出使的壮烈之举。虚词传神，此字可为例证。

弗敢 Dare not. The word of the refusal: 'I dare not exchange it'—the dare not, the courteous and the firm refusal, the hard meaning hidden in the soft words, the firmness of the Lord of Anling. 「弗敢易」之「弗敢」二字，是安陵君拒绝辞令的点睛之笔。「弗」为否定副词，「弗敢」即「不敢」，但此处的「不敢」实含三重深意：其一，表面谦卑——以「不敢」作答，给足秦王面子，避免正面冲突，是外交辞令的圆融；其二，骨子里决绝——「不敢易」者，非「不能易」也，而是「义不当易」，先王之地的道义约束使「易」成为不可为之事，「弗敢」二字，谦辞之下是铁一般的底线；其三，以退为进——「弗敢」把拒绝的原因归于「先王」与「道义」，而非安陵君的「不愿」，既守住了立场，又堵住了秦王的追逼。与「愿终守之」的「愿」字呼应，「愿」是主动的守护，「弗敢」是被动的守则，一愿一不敢，把安陵君「守土有责」的形象写得立体丰满。若作「不愿易」则锋芒毕露，作「不敢易」则柔中带刚，一词之择，可见《战国策》辞令「绵里藏针」的艺术。

受地于先王 To receive the land from the former kings. The phrase of the legitimacy: 'I received the land from the former kings'—the receiving from the former kings, the legitimacy of the keeping, the concept of the hereditary fief, the basis of the refusal. 「受地于先王」五字，是安陵君拒绝之辞的理论基石，也是先秦宗法观念的浓缩表达。「受」为承受、继承，「先王」指安陵的始封之君，「受地于先王」即「从先王那里继承封地」——这五字的价值在于把「安陵」从一个地理概念提升为一个道义概念：安陵不是安陵君私有的财产，而是先王所授的封业，是祖先之灵与宗法制度的载体。由此推出两个必然结论：一者，先王之地不可弃——弃地即弃祖，是为人子孙的大不孝；二者，先王之地不可易——易地即亡国，是为人臣子的大不忠。安陵君以「受地于先王」立论，使秦王的「易地」之请在宗法道义上彻底失效，这正是战国弱国以礼法抵御强权的高明策略。五字之中，「受」见其传承有自，「先王」见其神圣不可犯，与后文唐雎「安陵君受地于先王而守之」的复述遥相呼应，使「受地于先王」成为贯穿全篇的立论关键词，其道义力量之强，竟使虎狼之秦一时也无从反驳。