纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 039女史箴图(6)（在线收听）

In the Admonitions scroll we find that a lady ought never to exploit the manners or weaknesses of her man. The only time that a lady should put herself before the emperor is to protect him from danger. Another scene in the scroll illustrates a true event, when a ferocious black bear escaped from its enclosure, during a show put on for the emperor and the ladies of his harem. In this particular scene we first see two harem ladies, running away from the wild beast but looking back in horror. We next see the emperor seated, frozen with shock, and in front of him the valiant lady, who has not run away but has rushed to place herself between the emperor and the bear, which is leaping at her, snarling fiercely. But the emperor is safe. This, the picture tells us, is the kind of self-sacrifice we need and expect from our great ladies.

《女史箴图》告诉我们，女性绝不能凌驾于丈夫之上。只有在保护身陷危难的皇帝之时，女性才能站到他的前面。画卷中的另一幅画描述了一个真实事件：在一次宫廷表演中，一头凶猛的熊逃脱了控制，两位妃子转身就逃，同时惊恐地回头张望。皇帝吓呆了，坐在椅子上动弹不得， 而他身前站着一位勇敢的女性，她挡住皇帝，熊愤怒咆哮着向她扑去， 皇帝则脱离了险境。画卷告诉我们，伟大的女性应做出这种自我牺牲。

This scroll became the prized possession of many emperors, who may have found it to be a useful aid in subduing troublesome wives and mistresses, but who also admired its sheer beauty, and used the act of collecting this precious masterpiece as a way of showing just how culturally astute and powerful they were. We can know exactly whose courts it was viewed in, because each imperial ruler has left their mark on it, in the form of a stamp carefully placed in the blank spaces around the paintings and the calligraphy. Some of the previous owners have also added their own comments to the scroll.

《女史箴图》曾为数位皇帝珍藏。他们也许认为它能帮助他们降伏后宫悍妇，但同时，他们也欣赏画卷的艺术价值，用收藏来表现自己的艺术素养与权势。每位帝王都在画卷空白处盖上了自己的印章，因此我们准确地知道到底有谁欣赏过它。还有些收藏者在画上题字。