太史公曰：自初生民以來，世主曷嘗不曆日月星辰？及至五家、三代，紹而明之，內冠帶，外夷狄，分中國為十有二州，仰則觀象於天，俯則法類於地。天則有日月，地則有陰陽。天有五星，地有五行。天則有列宿，地則有州域。三光者，陰陽之精，氣本在地，而聖人統理之。
秦始皇之時，十五年彗星四見，久者八十日，長或竟天。其後秦遂以兵滅六王，並中國，外攘四夷，死人如亂麻，因以張楚並起，三十年之間兵相駘藉，不可勝數。自蚩尤以來，未嘗若斯也。
漢之興，五星聚於東井。平城之圍，月暈參、畢七重。諸呂作亂，日蝕，晝晦。吳楚七國叛逆，彗星數丈，天狗過梁野。
余觀史記，考行事，百年之中，五星無出而不反逆行，反逆行，嘗盛大而變色；日月薄蝕，行南北有時：此其大度也。故紫宮、房心、權衡、鹹池、虛危列宿部星，此天之五官坐位也，為經，不移徙，大小有差，闊狹有常。水、火、金、木、填星，此五星者，天之五佐，為緯，見伏有時，所過行贏縮有度。
日變脩德，月變省刑，星變結和。凡天變，過度乃占。國君彊大，有德者昌；羽小，飾詐者亡。太上脩德，其次脩政，其次脩救，其次脩禳，正下無之。
The Grand Historian remarks: Since human beings first came into existence, what ruler has not tracked the sun, moon, and stars? By the time of the Five Houses and Three Dynasties, these practices were inherited and refined. Within the cap-and-sash civilized world and beyond among the barbarians, the Central States were divided into twelve provinces. Looking up, they observed the patterns in the sky; looking down, they modeled categories on earth. The heavens have the sun and moon; the earth has Yin and Yang. The heavens have the five planets; the earth has the Five Phases. The heavens have the ranked mansions; the earth has its provinces. The Three Luminaries are the essence of Yin and Yang — their qi originates in the earth, and the sages organized and governed them.
In the time of the First Emperor of Qin, in fifteen years comets appeared four times, the longest lasting eighty days, some stretching across the entire sky. Afterward, Qin destroyed the six kings by force, unified the Central States, and drove off the four barbarian peoples. The dead lay like tangled hemp. Then the Rising of Chu and other rebellions broke out, and for thirty years armies trampled one another in numbers beyond counting. Since the time of Chiyou, nothing had matched this.
At the rise of the Han, the five planets gathered in the Eastern Well constellation. During the siege of Pingcheng, the moon was ringed by seven halos around Orion and the Net. When the Lu clan revolted, there was a solar eclipse and darkness at noon. When the seven kingdoms of Wu and Chu rebelled, a comet several zhang long appeared and a celestial dog crossed the fields of Liang.
Having examined the historical records and investigated past events, I find that within a hundred years, the five planets never appeared without also retrograding at some point — and when they retrograded, they always grew bright and changed color. Solar and lunar eclipses, and the north-south shifts in their paths, all follow their times and measures. Thus the Purple Palace, Fang-Xin, Quan-Heng, Xianchi, Xu-Wei, and the ranked mansions and their component stars — these are Heaven's five official seats, forming the warp. They do not shift, their sizes vary by degree, their widths follow fixed rules. Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn — these five planets are Heaven's five assistants, forming the weft. Their appearances and disappearances follow schedule, and their advance and retreat follow measure.
When the sun shows an anomaly, cultivate virtue. When the moon shows an anomaly, review punishments. When the stars show anomalies, seek reconciliation. For all celestial anomalies, they must exceed the normal degree before they are interpreted. Rulers who are strong and virtuous prosper; those who are petty and practice deception perish. The highest response is to cultivate virtue; next, to reform governance; next, to mount rescue efforts; next, to perform apotropaic rituals; the very lowest is to do nothing.
