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昭阳为楚伐魏
hao Yang Led the Troops of Chu to Attack Wei
【原文】
昭阳为楚伐魏，覆军杀将，得八城。移兵而攻齐。陈轸为齐王使， 见昭阳，再拜，贺战胜。起而问广楚之法，覆军杀将，其官爵何也？”昭阳 曰官为上柱闰，爵为上执珪。”陈轸H:“异贵下此者，何也？”曰唯令 尹耳。”陈轸曰令尹贵矣！王非置两令尹也！臣窃为公譬可也。楚有祠者，赐其舍人卮酒。舍人相谓H:‘数人饮之不足，一人饮之有余，请 _地为蛇，先成者饮酒/一人蛇先成，引酒且饮之，乃左手持卮，右手画 蛇，曰：‘吾能为之足Z未成，一人之蛇成，夺其卮，‘蛇固无足，子安 能为之足？’遂饮艽酒。为蛇足者，终亡其酒。今君相楚而攻魏，破军杀 将，得八城，（不弱）[又移]兵欲攻齐，齐畏公甚，公以是为名，（居）足矣！ 官之上非可重也！战无不胜而不知止者，身a死，爵且后归，犹为蛇足 也。”昭阳以为然，解军而去。
【今译】
昭阳率领楚国的军队进攻魏国，使魏军全军菝没，杀死魏国大将， 夺取了八座城邑，然后调转军队进攻齐国。陈轸作为齐王的使者拜见 昭阳，他拜了两次，祝贺昭阳大获全胜，站起身来问道按照楚国的法 律，使敌军全军覆没，杀死敌方大将，将会得到什么样的官职和爵位？” 昭阳说官职是上柱国，爵位是上执珪。”陈轸说：“比这更尊责的是什 么？”昭阳说只有令尹了 陈轸说：“令尹是非常尊责的！楚王不会任命两个令尹，让我给您打一个比方。楚国有一个人在举行祭祀后賜给 他的下人们一杯酒.下人们互相说道：‘这酒不够几个人喝，一个人喝 还有余，就让我们在地上画蛇，第一个画完的就喝了这酒/一个人先 画完了蛇，端起酒就要喝，于是左手端着酒杯，右手画蛇，一边说：4我还 能给它画上脚。’他还没有画完蛇脚，另一个人的蛇画完了，夺过酒杯 说：‘蛇本来没有脚，你怎么能给它画上脚呢？于是就把酒喝光了。给 蛇画脚的那个人终于没能喝上那酒，如今您身为楚国的相国，进攻魏 国，大敗魏军，杀死魏将，夺得八座城色，而没有削弱自己的兵力，您又 打算进攻齐国，齐国非常害怕您。您这么做如果是为了名，这已经是足 够了，您的官职不可能是双重令尹。战无不胜而不知道停止，自己就会 丧命，爵位也会被后来的人所拥有，如同画蛇添足一样/’昭阳认为他说得很有道理，就撤兵离开了，
Zhao Yang led the troops of Chu to attack Wei. They destroyed the enemy troops，killed their general and occupied eight counties and towns. They then turned around to attack Qi. Chen Zhen was sent on a diplomatic mission by King Xuan of Qi to see Zhao Yang. Chen bowed to Zhao Yang twice to congratulate him for his great victory. Then he stood up and said，“According to the law of Chu，what kind of position and title will be conferred on you if you defeat the enemy troops and behead their general?” Zhao Yang said, “The highest position will be First Zhuguo, and the highest title will be First Zhigui ( the name of a most honourable title). ” Chen Zhen asked, “Is there anything more powerful and honourable than that?” Zhao Yang said，“Only Lingyin is more powerful and honourable.，，Chen Zhen said, “Lingyin is the position with the most power and honour. However，you cannot be entitled as Lingyin twice. Please let me tell you a story to draw an analogy for you. Once a man in Chu held a fete and gave his inferiors a cupof wine after the ceremony was over. The inferiors told each other，' If several people share this cup of wine，it is not enough. But it is more than enough if one person drinks it alone. Each of us can draw a snake on the ground，and the one who finishes first can drink the wine. y One of them finished his snake first. He grasped the cup and was going to drink. Then he held the cup with the left hand and said，“I can also draw feet for the snake-， Before he finished drawing the feet, another person finished his snake. The latter seized the cup and said，“ Snakes don’t have feet. How can you draw feet for the snake?7 Ho then drunk the wine. The one who added feet to his snake lost the wine. Now you are helping Chu attack Wei. You have defeated its troops, killed its general and occupied eight cities and towns without any severe casualties to your own troops. Now you are going to attack Qi. The people of Qi are terrified by you. If you are doing so for the sake of gaining fame, you are already famous enough. However, you cannot be appointed as Double Lingyin anyway. Even though you may win every war, if you don y t know when and where to stop， you will lose your life，and your title will be conferred on somebody else. That can also be regarded as the feet of the snake. ” Zhao Yang thought Chen Zhen was right. So he withdrew his troops from Qi.