失德而后礼——清华简《系年》“蔡哀侯取妻于陈”章考论

春秋初年,周室衰微,楚国崛起。处于其间的“汉阳诸姬”,只有依靠自己的联合以抵御楚国,而其联系纽带则为周礼。据《左传》、《史记》与清华简《系年》的记载,楚国兴起的关键性事件,是由息妫引出的楚、蔡、息三国之争。对于此事解读,今本《左传》所载之“君子曰”单方面的责蔡侯以恶,乃纯粹道德批判。事实上,息妫故事之本末,涉及诸多礼制问题。其基本点在于由息妫引发的婚制纠纷。在此视野中,清华简《系年》“妻之”一语与《左传》“弗宾”的记载,乃不同思想脉络中对同一事件的相异性描述。蔡侯本意,是依据周礼媵婚制,将“息妫”看作蔡妫媵娣,对此《系年》与《左传》皆不认同而处理方式相异。《左传》是拘于礼的观念,例蔡侯以“弗宾”,此其所以为近经;《系年》则是仍然实录蔡侯行为,“妻之”,此其所以为近史。而蔡侯的循礼而行,致使息侯无法以“非礼”的口实伐蔡。至此,位列汉阳诸姬的息国,最终自乱同姓之谊,将目光转向礼乐之外,主动引入楚王干预。据此而论,周礼崩坏的一个重要环节在于礼乐的制度形式仍然存在,却失去了贵族精神内在德性的支撑。处于华夏文明外围的楚国也正是在这一背景下逐步强大,开始蚕食中原诸侯。
Abstract：In the early years of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476BC), the royal families of the Zhou Dynasty declined and the State of Chu rose to prominence rapidly. The nearby vassal states, whose royal family name was Ji(姬), had to unite and resist the aggression of the State of Chu, and the bond among them was none other than the rites of Zhou(周礼). According to the Zuo Zhuan, Shi Ji and Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, the event critical to the rise of the State of Chu was actually the fighting among the three States of Chu, Cai and Xi, and the cause of this fighting was Xi Gui, a female royal family member of the State of Xi. In the Zuo Zhuan, the comments were aimed at Marquis Ai of Cai, who was criticized as evil and this interpretation was obviously limited to the sphere of ethics. As a matter of fact, the story of Madam Xi involved a great number of issues on the norms of etiquette and the essence was the dispute on the forms of marriage. In the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, it was recorded that Marquis Ai of Cai wanted to take Xi Gui as his concubine, while in Zuo Zhuan, the record was being impolite to the guest. Although both of the records are not similar in words, they have fully proved the truth of this case, which was merely interpreted from two different perspectives. Marquis Ai of Cai wanted to take Xi Gui as his concubine because he thought she was his wife's sister and he could do so as the concubine marriage was allowed in the rites of Zhou. However, his conduct was not recognized by both Zuo Zhuan and Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, which interpreted this case in different ways. Zuo Zhuan started from the perspective of ethics and criticized Marquis Ai of Cai as being impolite to his guest, while Tsinghua Bamboo Slips recorded the exact conduct of Marquis Ai of Cai, who wanted to take his wife's sister as his concubine. However, Marquis Ai of Cai's conduct was not against the rites of Zhou so that Marquis of Xi had no excuse to attack the State of Cai. As a consequence, Marquis of Xi, who used to attack the State of Zheng without any hesitation in the early years of