Qin and Han · Poet

Sima Xiangru 司馬相如

Died BC 118

Passages
80
Chapters
16
Histories
8

Overview

The translated histories identify Sima Xiangru as a courtier, envoy, military officer, and musician. This record brings together 80 passages from 16 chapters across 8 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 Sima Xiangru
Courtesy name Changqing 長卿 Changqing
Courtesy name Changqing 長卿
Alternate name Ma Qing 馬卿
Alternate Qing 卿
Childhood name Quanzi 犬子 Quǎnzǐ
Surname Sima 司馬 Sīmǎ
Surname Sima 司馬 Sima
Surname Sima 司馬
Courtesy name Sima Changqing 司馬長卿 Sima Changqing
Personal name Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 Sīmǎ Xiāngrú
Personal name Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 Sima Xiangru
Personal name Sima Xiangru 司馬相如
Personal Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 Sīmǎ Xiàngrú
Personal Sima Xiangru 司马相如 Sima Xiangru
Personal name Sima Xiangru 相如
Personal Sima Xiangru 司馬相如 Sīmǎ Xiāngrú
Alternate name Sima Zhangqing 司馬長卿
Given Xiangru 相如 Xiāngrú
Given Xiangru 相如 Xiangru
Personal Xiangru 相如 Xiangru
Personal name Xiangru 相如 Xiangru
Given Xiangru 相如
Alternate name Xiangru 相如
Courtesy name Zhangqing 長卿 Zhǎngqīng
Given 相如 Xiangru

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Courtier
  • Envoy
  • Military Officer
  • Musician
  • Named Individual
  • Official
  • Poet
  • Scholar
  • Writer

Life and dates

Death

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: Western Han court writer · Western Interval: Start: BC 179 · End: BC 117
    Explicit · houhanshu:089:s0022
  • Source Date: Text: 上讀《子虛賦》而善之 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 130
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:066:s0035, hanshu:066:s0036, hanshu:066:s0038
  • Source Date: Text: 事孝景帝 · Western Interval: Start: BC 157 · End: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0006
  • Source Date: Text: 元鼎中 · Western Interval: Start: BC 116 · End: BC 111
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:068:s0192, hanshu:068:s0226
  • Source Date: Text: 司馬相如 · Western Interval: Start: BC 179 · End: BC 117
    Explicit · xintangshu:121:s0074
  • Source Date: Text: 夫藺先生收功於章台… · Western Year: BC 140
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:099:s0107
  • Source Date: Text: 建元六年 · Western Year: BC 135
    Explicit event contextual date · shiji:116:s0018, shiji:116:s0034
  • Source Date: Text: 會梁孝王薨 · Western Year: BC 144
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:066:s0008
  • Source Date: Text: 漢興七十有八載 · Western Year: BC 129
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0035, hanshu:067:s0033
  • Source Date: Text: 漢興六十餘載 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 87
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:068:s0254, hanshu:068:s0258
  • Source Date: Text: 相如 · Western Year: BC 140
    Explicit · nanqishu:047:s0104
  • Source Date: Text: 相如 · Western Year: BC 149
    Explicit · liaoshi:076:s0105
  • Source Date: Text: 相如已死 · Western Year: BC 117
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:067:s0175
  • Source Date: Text: 相如既卒 · Western Year: BC 118
    Strongly inferred · hanshu:067:s0257
  • Source Date: Text: 相如為郎數歲…唐蒙使略通夜郎 · Western Year: BC 129
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:067:s0002, hanshu:067:s0035
  • Source Date: Text: 蜀有司馬相如 · Western Interval: Start: BC 140 · End: BC 117
    Explicit · hanshu:098:s0017
  • Source Date: Text: 豫章王書 / 賾答書 · Western Interval: Start: AD 581 · End: AD 604
    Explicit event contextual date · suishu:077:s0112
  • Source Date: Text: 賦奏，天子以為郎 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 130
    Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:066:s0190
  • Source Date: Text: 量交 · Western Year: c. BC 117
    Explicit event contextual date · liangshu:014:s0242

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

  • Spouse of Zhuo Wenjun (卓文君)
    Kinship Term: wife / 妻 · Union Category: marriage · Union Type: elopement then recognized marriage · Relationship State: active · Start Date: Source Date: Text: 文君夜亡奔相如 · Western Interval: Start: BC 144 · End: BC 140
    Kinship Term: wife / 妻 · Union Category: marriage · Subject Role: wife · Object Role: husband
  • Kin of Zhuo Wangsun (卓王孫)
    Kinship Term: Zhuo clan by marriage / 卓氏 · Subject Role: son-in-law · Object Role: father-in-law

Career and standing

  • Label: court litterateur and envoy / 郎/中郎將
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0002, hanshu:067:s0025, hanshu:067:s0085
  • Label: fu rhapsodist / poet / 辭賦家
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0007, hanshu:066:s0040
  • Label: General of the Household / commandant of palace attendants / 中郎將 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乃拜相如為中郎將 · Western Year: BC 129
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0025
  • Label: gentleman-attendant / 郎 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 以訾為郎 · Western Interval: Start: BC 157 · End: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0006
  • Label: gentleman-attendant / 郎 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 賦奏，天子以為郎 · Western Interval: Start: BC 141 · End: BC 130
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0190
  • Label: Palace Gentleman General / 郎中將 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · shiji:116:s0035
  • Label: steward of Emperor Wen's mausoleum park / 孝文園令 · Action: appointed
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0118
  • Label: regular palace cavalry guard / 武騎常侍 · Action: held · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 事孝景帝，為武騎常侍 · Western Interval: Start: BC 157 · End: BC 141
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0006
  • Label: gentleman attendant / 郎 · Action: held
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0002
  • Label: gentleman attendant / 郎 · Action: restored · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 居歲餘，復召為郎 · Western Year: BC 129
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0084
  • Status: dismissal · Action: entered · Reason: accused of taking bribes on mission
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0083
  • Status: retirement · Action: entered · Reason: illness
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0173
  • Status: poverty · Action: entered
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0008, hanshu:066:s0023
  • Status: wealthy · Action: entered
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0034
  • Status: resignation · Action: resigned · Note: pleaded illness and left post
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0007

Places and affiliations

Learning and skills

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: emperor delighted by report and by Great Man rhapsody · Provenance: Mode: narrative
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0031, hanshu:067:s0172
  • Assessment: fu praised; emperor wished to be contemporary with its author · Provenance: Mode: quoted-speech · Speaker Person Id: the emperor (上)
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0036
  • Assessment: literary composition (文章) · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · hanshu:068:s0258
  • Assessment: opulent rhapsodies exhort a hundred times and remonstrate once, like Zheng and Wei music with elegance only at the end—mere play · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Source Person Id: Yang Xiong (揚雄)
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0263
  • Assessment: prose often empty and excessive, yet ultimately leads readers toward frugality, like the admonitory voice of the Odes · Provenance: Mode: quotation · Speaker Person Id: Sima Qian (太史公)
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0262
  • Assessment: talented man worthy of reliance despite poverty · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report · Speaker Note: brothers and elders of Zhuo Wangsun
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0031
  • Assessment: virtuous talent treated as dust when powerless · Provenance: Mode: quoted-source · Speaker Person Id: Liu Jun (劉峻)
    Explicit · liangshu:014:s0242, liangshu:014:s0243
  • Kind: demeanor · Statement: arrived with chariot and escort; unhurried grace and polish
    Explicit · hanshu:066:s0019
  • Kind: illness · Statement: chronic wasting-thirst / diabetes (消渴病)
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0086
  • Kind: speech · Statement: stammered (口吃)
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0085
  • Item: wealth from Zhuo marriage / 卓氏財 · Relation: possessed
    Explicit · hanshu:067:s0087, hanshu:067:s0029

Source notes

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 27Volume 24b: Treatise on Trade 2 · 1 passage
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Book of Han, Chapter 66Volume 57a: Sima Xiangru · 28 passages
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會景帝不好辭賦，是時梁孝王來朝，從遊說之士齊人鄒陽、淮陰枚乘、吳嚴忌夫子之徒，相如見而說之，因病免，客遊梁，得與諸侯游士居，數歲，乃著《子虛之賦》。 Emperor Jing had little taste for fu rhapsody. Just then King Xiao of Liang was at court with a retinue of persuader-scholars—Zou Yang of Qi, Mei Sheng of Huaiyin, Master Yan Ji of Wu, and others. Sima Xiangru took to their company, pleaded illness, left his post, and went to Liang as a client. For several years he lived among the itinerant literati at the feudal courts, and there he wrote his “Sir Vacuity.”
Book of Han, Chapter 67Volume 57b: Sima Xiangru · 28 passages
Open chapter
相如為郎數歲，會唐蒙使略通夜郎、僰中，發巴、蜀吏卒，千人，郡又多為發轉漕萬餘人，用軍興法誅其渠率。 Xiangru had served as a gentleman attendant for several years when Tang Meng was dispatched to push the frontier toward Yelang and the Bozhong region. Tang called up a thousand officers and troops from Ba and Shu, and the commanderies raised more than ten thousand additional laborers for transport and supply. Invoking the statutes used in wartime mobilization, he put their leaders to death.
相如使略定西南夷，邛、莋、冉、駹、斯榆之君皆請為臣妾，除邊關，邊關益斥，西至沫、若水，南至牂牁為徼，通靈山道，橋孫水，以通邛、莋。 On mission Xiangru brought the southwest under control: the rulers of Qiong, Zuo, Ran, Mang, and Siyu all asked to submit as tributaries. Frontier barriers came down and the line of outposts stretched west to the Mo and Ruoshui rivers and south to Zangke as the outer perimeter. Roads pierced Mount Ling, bridges spanned the Sun River, and traffic linked Qiong and Zuo.
Book of Han, Chapter 68Volume 58: Gongsun Hong, Bu Shi and Er Kuan · 3 passages
Open chapter
漢之得人，於茲為盛，儒雅則公孫弘、董仲舒、兒寬，篤行則石建、石慶，質直則汲黯、卜式，推賢則韓安國、鄭當時，定令則趙禹、張湯，文章則司馬遷、相如，滑稽則東方朔、枚皋，應對則嚴助、硃買臣，歷數則唐都、洛下閎，協律則李延年，運籌則桑弘羊，奉使則張騫、蘇武，將率則衛青、霍去病，受遺則霍光、金日磾，其餘不可勝紀。 Never did the dynasty gather talent so thickly: Hong, Dong, and Kuan for classical breadth; the Shi brothers for steadfast service; Ji An and Bu Shi for blunt loyalty; Han Anguo and Zheng Dangshi for lifting others; Zhao Yu and Zhang Tang for codifying law; Sima Qian and Xiangru for voice; jesters Dongfang Shuo and Mei Gao; debaters Yan Zhu and Zhu Maichen; calendar-makers Tang Du and Luoxia Hong; the harmonist Li Yan'nian; the reckoner Sang Hongyang; envoys Zhang Qian and Su Wu; blades Wei Qing and Huo Qubing; regents Huo Guang and Jin Midi—and a cloud of names besides.
Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 3 passages
Open chapter
Book of Han, Chapter 76Volume 65: Dongfang Shuo · 1 passage
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是時，朝廷多賢材，上復問朔：「方今公孫丞相，兒大夫、董仲舒、夏侯始昌、司馬相如、吾丘壽王、主父偃、硃買臣、嚴助、汲黯、膠倉、終軍、嚴安、徐樂、司馬遷之倫，皆辯知閎達，溢於文辭，先生自視，何與比哉？」 The court at that time teemed with talent, and the emperor pressed Shuo again: "Consider Chancellor Gongsun Hong, Censor-in-Chief Er Kuan, Dong Zhongshu, Xiahou Shichang, Sima Xiangru, Wuqiu Shouwang, Zhufu Yan, Zhu Maichen, Yan Zhu, Ji An, Jiao Cang, Zhong Jun, Yan An, Xu Le, Sima Qian, and men of that stamp. They are learned, articulate, and prolific writers. How do you measure yourself against such company?"
Book of Han, Chapter 98Volume 87a: Yang Xiong 1 · 3 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 99Volume 87b: Yang Xiong 2 · 3 passages
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Book of Han, Chapter 105Volume 93: Flatterers · 1 passage
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Book of Later Han, Chapter 89Volume 80a: Biographies of Writers 1 · 1 passage
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Book of Liang, Chapter 14Volume 14: Jiang Yan; Ren Fang · 1 passage
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History of Liao, Chapter 76Volume 76 Biographies 6: Yelu Jieli, Yelu Balide, Yelu Shuogu, Yelu Lubugu, Zhao Yanshou, Gao Mohan, Zhao Siwen, Yelu Oulisi, Zhang Li · 1 passage
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Book of Southern Qi, Chapter 47Volume 47 Biographies 28: Wang Rong, Xie Tiao · 2 passages
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Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 116Treatise on the Southwestern Yi People · 2 passages
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Book of Sui, Chapter 77Volume 77 Biographies 42: Recluses · 1 passage
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New Book of Tang, Chapter 121Volume 121 Biographies 46: Liu, Zhong, Cui, and the Two Kings · 1 passage
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