Qin and Han · Official

Song Zhong 宋忠

Attested BC 178 - BC 169

Passages: 5
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Song Zhong was an official.

Life and dates

Attested activity

BC 178 to BC 169 久之，宋忠使匈奴
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 104
BC 178 to BC 169 宋忠為中大夫，賈誼為博士
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 7

Career and standing

Palace Grandee 中大夫
Held
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 7
charged with a crime 抵罪
Charged with crime · Sentenced
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 104

Places and affiliations

Polity Western Han 漢 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 7

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · Speaker Song Zhong (宋忠)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passages 16-17, 24-29, 94-102

Events and relationships

Mission to Xiongnu failed and returned
Diplomatic · Envoy · At Xiongnu 匈奴
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 104
Visited divination market
Visit · Visitor · With Sima Jizhu (司馬季主)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 11
Relation Colleague of · Person Jia Yi (賈誼)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passages 7, 11, 94

Assessments and attributes

Assessment pursued blossoms while cutting off roots · Mode historian-judgment Speaker Sima Qian (司馬遷)
Directly stated · Records of the Grand Historian 127, passage 106

References in the histories

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 127Biographies of Soothsayers · 5 passages

宋忠為中大夫，賈誼為博士，同日俱出洗沐，相從論議，誦易先王聖人之道術，究遍人情，相視而嘆。 Song Zhong was a Palace Grandee and Jia Yi an Erudite. One day, during their rest day, the two went out together, conversing as they walked. They discussed the Book of Changes and the arts of the Way as practiced by the ancient kings and sages, examining the full breadth of human affairs, until at last they looked at one another and sighed.

宋忠、賈誼瞿然而悟，獵纓正襟危坐，曰：「吾望先生之狀，聽先生之辭，小子竊觀於世，未嘗見也。 Song Zhong and Jia Yi were startled into awareness. They straightened their cap strings, adjusted their lapels, and sat upright. "Gazing upon your bearing, sir, and listening to your words," they said, "in all our years observing the world, we have never encountered anyone like you.

宋忠、賈誼忽而自失，芒乎無色，悵然噤口不能言。 Song Zhong and Jia Yi were overcome with shame. The color drained from their faces, and they could only sit in dejected silence, unable to utter a word.

居三日，宋忠見賈誼於殿門外，乃相引屏語相謂自嘆曰：「道高益安，勢高益危。 Three days later, Song Zhong encountered Jia Yi outside the palace gate. They drew each other aside and spoke in private, sighing to one another: "The higher one's moral cultivation, the greater one's peace; the higher one's political power, the greater one's peril.

久之，宋忠使匈奴，不至而還，抵罪。 Some time later, Song Zhong was sent on a mission to the Xiongnu. He failed to reach his destination, turned back, and was charged with a crime.