史記貨殖傳物價考證

Abstract

The Biographies of Millionaires in the Shih-chi 史記貨殖傳 contains an interesting paragraph in which Ssu-ma Ch'ien 司馬遷 enumerates various lines of merchandise and their prices. But the units of the commodities are given in obscure and queer expressions. In particular, domestic animals are counted by their legs, hooves, horns, etc. Classical commentators commit many errors in explaining the meaning of those units. For instance, they forgot that each leg of a cow has two hooves instead of one. Therefore, a herd of cattle having 1000 hooves-and-horns 牛蹄角千 means 100 cattle. The word ' feet' 足 signifies in particular the two hind legs excluding the two paws. So cattle of 1000 feet 牛千足 must be calculated as 500 cattle, and not 250. The word ' skin' 皮 sometimes merely means ' animal'. Thus, the number of cattle, sheep, and pigs of 1000 skins 牛羊彘千皮 is nothing but 1000 of these animals. As for the unit of cereals, the measure chung 鍾 in this case, indicates a quantity of 10 hu 斛, in spite of the usual definition of 6.4 hu. Thus, by correcting traditional mistakes, the author has tried to restore the exact price-list given by Ssu-ma Ch'ien.