苏子谓楚王
Suzi Had a Talk with Chu’s King
【原文】
苏子谓楚王曰仁人之于民也，爱之以心，事之以善言；孝子之于 亲也，爱之以心，事之以财；忠臣之于君也，必进贤人以辅之。今王之大 臣父兄，好伤贤以为资，厚赋敛诸臣百姓，使王见疾于民，非忠臣也；大 臣播王之过于百姓，多赂诸侯以王之地，是故退王之所爱，亦非忠臣也。 是以国危。臣愿无听群臣之相恶也，慎大臣父兄，用民之所善，节身之嗜欲以[安？]百姓。人臣莫难于无妒而进贤,为主死易，垂沙之事，死 者以千数；为主辱易，自令尹以下，事王者以千数。至于无妒而进贤，未 见一人也。故明主之察其臣也，必知其无妒而进贤也。贤之事其主也， 亦必无妒而进贤。夫进贤之难者，贤者用且使己废，贵且使己贱，故人 难之。”
【今译】
苏子对楚王说：“仁人对于百姓，会用心地爱护他们，用善意的话抚 慰他们；孝子对于父母，会用心地爱护他们，用钱财侍奉他们；忠臣对于 君主，必会推荐贽人来辅佐君主。如今大王的大臣与父兄喜欢毁谤人来抬高自己，对臣民横征暴敛，使得大王被百姓嫉恨，他们不是忠臣； 大臣们在百姓中散布大王的过错，拿大量土地来贿赂各国的君主，故意 剥夺大王所珍爱的东西，他们也不是忠臣。因此国家陷入了危险。我 希望您不要听信群￡互相敗坏的话，谨慎地任用大臣与父兄，用百姓所 喜爱的人为官，节制自己的嗜欲来安抚百姓。对于臣子来说，再也没有比不存忌妒心理而推荐贤人更难的了。为君主捐躯容易，垂沙一战，上 千人丧命；为君主忍受屈辱容易，从令尹往下*侍奉大王的近千人。至 于没有忌妒心而且推荐贤人，还没有见到过一个这样的人呢。所以，英 明的君主考察他的大臣，必须要清楚他们没有忌妒心而且能推荐贤人。 贤人侍奉自己的君主，也一定会不存忌妒心并且推荐贤士。推荐贤人 是很难的，贤人被任用了，自己就会被免职，他们尊贵了，自己就会低 贱，所以人们很难做到
Suzi had a talk with the king ofthestate of Chuand said，“A benevolent person takes good care of the people from the bottom of his heart and educates them with kind words. A dutiful son loves his parents from the bottom of his heart and spends a lot of moneyto makethemlive comfortably. A loyal court official certainly recommends worthy people to assist his sovereign. However，nowadays Your Majesty’s high-ranking courtofficialsandclose relatives are all engaged in causing damage to the worthy and strive to enhance their own status and power. They collect huge amounts of money from officials at all levels and the common people. By doing so，they make the people hostile towards Your Majesty. They are not loyal court officials. The high-ranking court officials exaggerated your errors among the people and cede lots of territory to other states7 sovereigns to bribe them. They deprive you of the things you cherish the most. They are not loyal court officials either. Accordingly，your state is in danger. I hope that you don’t listen to high-ranking court officials } slanders aimed at defaming each other. Employ high-ranking court officials and close relatives cautiously. Appoint to your regime those who are admired by the people. Control your lust and thus please the people. To court officials, the most difficult thing is to be rid of jealousy and recommend the worthy. It is easy to devote one’s life to his sovereign. During the war in Chuisha， thousands of soldiers fought to the death. It is easy to bear humiliation for the sake of one’s sovereign. There are nearly one thousand people at Your Majesty’s service，including the prime minister. As for ignoring jealousy and recommending the worthy, I haven，t witnessed such a person. Hence，when a wise sovereign assesses his court officials, he must be able to know who can ignore jealousy and recommend the worthy. A worthy person must ignore jealousy and recommend the worthy to serve his sovereign. It is difficult to recommend the worthy. When the worthy are employed, the recommender himself might be dismissed to make room for the former. When the worthy become powerful，the recommender himself might become powerless. Hence, it is very difficult to recommend the worthy, ”