天命與天分──試就班彪〈王命論〉與劉卲〈英雄篇〉論帝王與英雄之定位

Destiny vs. Talent：Analysis on the Positioning of Emperors and Heroes from Ban Biao’s Treatise on the Mandate of Kings and Liu Shao’s Episode of the Hero

帝王與英雄，向來被認為是不世出的菁英，也往往是改寫歷史變局的關鍵人物。班彪與劉卲，以秦亡漢興的歷史事件作為觀察，對於開國帝王劉邦及功臣張良、韓信等人的成就與定位，俱有論述，然二人看法卻不盡相同：彪在〈王命論〉一文，視劉邦為天命所歸的帝王，方能位居九五，掌有天下；張良、韓信等人則是天命未具的英雄，只能為位居臣屬，恪盡本分。帝王與英雄(人臣的成就，實則為天命所決定，無法改變。
劉卲在《人物志．英雄篇》中，則將劉邦、張良、韓信均以英雄視之，至於何以劉邦為帝王而張良、韓信等人為人臣，實則由先天素分，尤其是智(英分的多少決定之。帝王與人臣俱為英雄，然成就高低係由氣性生命所定奪，難以更易。
循此，可以看出班彪與劉卲二人均流露出先天之思維，一在「命」，一在「氣」。然在班彪，帝王與英雄是二，涇渭分明，無法逾越。在劉卲，帝王、人臣與英雄是一，成就高低則取決於天賦稟氣之多寡。
本文將從「天命之有無」與「天分之多寡」的角度切入，釐析班彪與劉卲對帝王與英雄的定位。

Emperors and heroes are always considered as extraordinarily rare elites; moreover, they are often the key figures who rewrite history. Having observed the historical events of the decay of Qin Dynasty followed by the rise of Han Dynasty, Ban Biao and Liu Shao had analytical discourses about the founding emperor Liu Bong, and the major contributors, such as Chang Liang and Han Shin. Yet, these two scholars’viewpoints were not quite the same.
In Treatise on the Mandate of Kings, Ban Biao saw Liu Bong as an emperor chosen by destiny so that Liu could hold the imperial throne and govern the kingdom. Nevertheless, those less favored heroes like Chang Liang and Han Shin could be only statesmen doing their duties. In fact, the accomplishments of emperors and heroes were unchangeably decided by destiny.
Liu Shao, in his Records of Personages: Episode of the Hero, viewed Liu Bong, Chang Liang and Han Shin as heroes. The reason why Liu Bong turned into an emperor while Chang Liang and Han Shin remained statesmen was the inborn talents, especially the amount of intelligence. Emperors and statesmen were all heroes; however, accomplishment levels were unchangeably decided by temperance and intelligence.
Both Ban Biao and Liu Shao revealed the thought of determined destiny; one focused on destiny, while the other, temperance (Chi). For Ban Biao, emperors and heroes were two distinctively different types which cannot go beyond each other. But, for Liu Shao, emperors and heroes were the same type of people whose accomplishment levels were decided by talents and temperance (Chi).
Exploring the two masterpieces from the perspective of destiny and talents, this essay will analyze the positioning of emperors and heroes respectively defined by Ban Biao and Liu Shao.