馬若瑟《漢語劄記•下篇•第四章》中的西方修辭觀

Western Rhetoric within Notitia linguæSinicæ, Pars secunda, Caput quartum (1728) of Joseph de Prémare

雍正禁教時期，法國耶穌會士馬若瑟（Joseph de Prémare, 1666–1736）蟄居穗城，《漢語劄記》（Notitia linguæSinicæ）即成書此間（1728）。《漢語劄記》乃舉世第一部劃分白話與文言兩種類型的漢語專書，儘管案馬若瑟在《漢語劄記．上編．第一章》之前開宗明義的弁言，這是一本幫助耶穌會士學習漢語的書，然而《漢語劄記》卻絕不只是一本學習漢語的書。如同漢學家雷慕沙（Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, 1788–1832）的評價，《漢語劄記》的定位不能僅以文法專書甚或修辭專書衡之，而幾可視之為一部中國文學全書（un traitéde littérature presque complet）。學界對於《漢語劄記》的研究成果頗豐，大多從版本、例句取材、語言學習，以及《漢語劄記》在西方漢語文法書歷史上的地位入手。然而若衡以該書「下編」（典雅文學中的漢語，文言文）第四章的內容，《漢語劄記》還是一本隱含西方修辭思想的書；其中涵映的修辭思想，除了晚明耶穌會士譯介的文藝復興辭格之學外，更將西方修辭學東漸的內涵推向古希臘的修辭之術，尤其是柏拉圖（Plato, c. 423–c. 347 BCE）在《斐德若篇》（Phaedrus）論修辭時那套駁正辨明的「精神引導」（psychagogy），並將這樣的哲學修辭（philosophical rhetoric）與他的傳教意念結合。本文以一則「空間的隱喻」為肯綮，試圖將馬若瑟引以為例的前作〈夢美土記〉（1709），與柏拉圖的《斐德若篇》連結起來，在辭格之外另做鉤攷，探討《漢語劄記．下編．第四章》中所韞藏更深刻的西方修辭觀。

After the issue of the prohibition decree in the first year of Yongzheng reign, European Jesuits in China was deported to and detained in Guangzhou through the proscription (1724–1732). During his confinement, French Jesuit Joseph de Prémare (1666–1736) accomplished the compilation of the Notitia linguæ Sinicæ (1728) in Latin. It is the first Chines-learning treatise that divides Chinese into two categories: “lingua vulgari et familiari stylo/spoken language and familiar style” and “sinica oration in nobiliori librorum stylo/the language of books.” According to Prémare's Introductory Note to the First Part of the Notitia linguæ Sinicæ, the two parts of this work is designed to afford assistance to Jesuits to “acquire a full knowledge of the Chinese.” The Notitia linguæ Sinicæ, however, is definitely not just a treatise concerning language-learning or Chinese rhetoric, it is, in the words of Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (1788–1832), “un traité de littérature presque complet.”
Former research on the Notitia linguæ Sinicæ, though plenteous, concentrated principally on the copies and editions, on the materials of Prémare's exemplifications, on language-learning, and on the status of Notitia linguæ Sinicæ in the history of missionary Chinese grammar treatises. But if we scrutinize Chapter Four of Part Second, Notitia linguæ Sinicæ is also a book suggests the concepts of Western rhetoric. Besides the Renaissance rhetorical studies on the figure of speech, the exemplification of Notitia linguæ Sinicæ also implies Greek rhetorical notion, especially the psychagogy within Plato's Phaedrus. Through his exemplification, Prémare employs the concept of philosophical rhetoric to further the purpose of religious persuasion.
Taking a “metaphor of space” as the junction, this study aims at connecting Plato's Phaedrus with Prémare's former work “Meng Meitu Ji” (1709), which he took as an example in the Notitia linguæ Sinicæ. By an analyzation beyond the figures of speech, we will penetrate the subtle concept of Western rhetoric implied within.