论教育

古之王者莫不以教化为大务。立大学以教于国，设庠序以化于邑。渐民以仁，摩民以义，节民以礼，故其刑罚甚轻而禁不犯者，教化行而习俗美也。

-- 班固：《汉书五，卷十七》【註】

On Education

东山译

Kings of previous dynasties all promoted education as their primary task of the government. They set up imperial academies in the capital for training senior officials for the country. They established local schools to educate the public at the provincial and district levels. The kings were benevolent towards their subjects. They exercised righteousness in administration; they practise courtesy and civility towards the commons. Consequently few people violate the law even though the punishments were light. When moral education is prevalent in the whole nation, social customs will become gracious and genteel.

Ban Gu:《Books of the Han Dynasty Vol.5, Book 17》

【註】《漢書》中國古代歷史著作，東漢班固所著。為中國第一部紀傳體斷代史。《漢書》的記載，上起劉邦被封為漢王元年（西元前206年），下終王莽地皇四年（西元23年），以西漢一朝為主，同時亦囊括了四年楚漢之爭，十五年王莽改制，共二百三十年的史事。全書包括十二「紀」、八「表」、十「志」、七十「列傳」，凡一百篇，共八十餘萬言。至唐代顏師古以《漢書》卷帙繁重，便將篇幅較長者分為上、下卷或上、中、下卷，成為現行本《漢書》一百二十卷。《漢書》中所載漢武帝以前之紀、傳，多用《史記》舊文，武帝以後之史事，則為新撰。漢書雖沿用史記舊文，卻補充了大量新的資料，如紀，大量增補了當時的詔令等文獻，因此比史記更顯得有史料價值。

（原载《海外南开人》100期，12/23/2015）