客说春申君
A Guest Had a Talk with Lord Chunshen
【原文】
客说春申君汤以亳，武王以鄗，皆不过百里以有天下。今孙 子，天下贤人也，君籍之以百里势，臣窃以为不便于君。何如？”春申君 曰广善。”于是使人谢孙子。孙子去之赵，赵以为上卿。
【今译】
有个客人游说春申君道：“汤凭借亳，武王凭借鄗，都是方圆不超过一百里的地盘，而占有了天下。如今荀子是天下的贤人。您用一百里 土地助长他的势力，我私下认为这么做对您是不利的。您认为怎么 样？ ”春申君说：“说得好。”于是派人打发掉荀子。荀子离开后到了赵 国，赵王让他做了上砰。
A guest had a talk with Lord Chunshen and said, “Based on Bo and Hao, two places less than one hundred square li each， Tang and King Wu unified the whole world respectively. As for Xunzi, he is a worthy person of the world- You have conferred one hundred li of territory on him to consolidate his power. I personally think that is of no use to you. What do you think of it?” Lord Chunshen said, “I see." Then he ordered someone to send Xunzi away. Xunzi left for the state of Zhao and Zhao appointed him as highest-ranking court official.
【原文】
客又说春申君曰广昔伊尹去夏人殷，殷王而夏亡；管仲去鲁人齐， 鲁弱而齐强。夫贤者之所在，其君未尝不尊，国未尝不荣也。今孙子，天下贤人也，君何辞之？”春申君又曰：“善。”于是使人请孙子于赵。
【今译】
又有个客人游说春申君道从前伊尹离开夏朝到殷都，殷朝统一了天下而夏朝灭亡了 ；管仲离开鲁国来到齐国，鲁国削弱而齐国强大起 来J贤人所在的国家，它的君主没有不尊贵的，国家没有不荣耀的。如今荀子是天下的贤人，您为什么把他打发走了？ ”春申君说说得好。” 于是派人到赵国去请荀子回来。
Another guest had a talk with Lord Chunshen and said， “Previously Yi Yin left the regime of the Xia Dynasty for the Yin Dynasty, then the Xia Dynasty was toppled but the Yin Dynasty unified the world. Guan Zhong left the state of Lu for the state of Qi，then Lu became weaker but Qi became stronger. Where there is a worthy person，the sovereign will surely become powerful and the state honourable. As for Xunzi, he is a worthy person of the world. Why did you send him away?” Again Lord Chuashen said:”I see. “ Then he sent someone to Zhao to invite Xunzi to come back to his state,
【原文】
孙子为书谢曰:“疠人怜王，此不恭之语也。虽然，不可不审察也， 此为劫弑死亡之主言也。夫人主年少而矜材，无法术以知奸，则大臣主 断国，私以禁诛于己也，故弑贤长而立幼弱，废正适而立不义。《春秋》 戒之曰：‘楚王子围聘于郑，未出竟，闻王病，反，问疾，遂以冠缨绞王，杀 之，因自立也。齐崔抒之妻美，庄公通之。崔抒帅其君党而攻。庄公请 与分国，崔抒不许；欲內刃于庙，崔杼不许。庄公走出，逾于外墙，射中其股，遂杀之，而立其弟景公/近代所见：李兑用赵，饿主父于沙丘，百 日而杀之；淖齿用齐，擢闵王之筋，县于其庙梁，宿夕而死。夫疠虽痈肿 胞疾，上比前世，未至绞缨射股；下比近代，未至擢筋而饿死也。夫劫試 死亡之主也，心之忧劳，形之困苦，必甚于疠矣-由此观之，疠虽怜王可 也。”因为赋H:“宝珍隋珠，不知佩兮；祎布与丝，不知异兮）闾姝子奢, 莫知媒兮；嫫母求之，乂甚喜兮。以膂为明，以聋为聪，以是为非，以吉为凶.呜呼上天，曷维其同！”《诗》曰：“上天甚神，无自瘵也！”
【今译】
荀子写了 一封信谢绝春申君，说：“患有脓疮的人声称哀怜国君，这 是不恭敬的话。即便如此，也不可以不审察这句话，这是对被劫持、被 杀死的君主说的。君主年纪轻轻，自恃有才干，却没有办法察知奸情， 大臣就会独断国家大事、谋求私利，为了使自己避免受到诛杀而谋杀贤 明年长的君主、拥立幼小软弱的人，废除正义、推行不义，《春秋》中警 告说：‘楚国的王子围要到郑国去，还没有出境，听说楚王生病，就返回 来问候，于是就用帽带把楚王勒死了，趁机自立为王。齐国崔杼的妻子 美貌，庄公跟她私通。崔杼率领自己的党羽进攻庄公。庄公请求跟崔 杼共分齐国，崔杼不答应；想在宗庙里自杀，崔杼不尤许。庄公逃跑出来，翻过外墙的时候，崔杼射中了他的大腿，接着杀死了他，而后拥立他 的弟弟景公即位。’近代所见到的：李兑执掌赵国大权，把赵武灵王弄到 沙丘挨饿，一百天后把他杀死了 ；淖齿执掌齐国，抽了齐闵王的筋，把他 悬桂在宗庙的梁头上，闵王当晚就死去了。肿胀的脓疮虽然是种病，跟 前世相比，比不上用帽带勒死君主或射中君主大腿严重；跟近代相比， 不如抽君主的筋或者把君主饿死。劫持、谋杀君主，内心的忧劳、外表 的困苦必定比生脓庵厉害多了。由此看来，虽然患有脓疮的人声称哀 怜国君，也是可以的。”为此事作了一首賦道珍贵的宝物和隋侯的珍 珠，不知道佩戴；粗布与丝绸，不懂得分辨。闾姝和子都，没有人为她 (他）们说媒；嫫母受到追求，又受人喜欢。认为瞎子视力好，认为聋子听力佳，把对的当作错，把吉利当作凶。哎哟，上天啊！为什么都是这样？’’《诗经》中说：“上天很神明，不要自寻灾祸。”
Xunzi wrote a letter to reject the lord J s proposal, and it said, “If a man suffering from festering declares that he pities his sovereign，we might condemn him for not showing homage to the sovereign. However, this case should be assessed at any rate (by sovereigns ). I refer to those sovereigns who are coerced or killed by high-ranking court officials. If a sovereign is a fledgling, thinks overly highly of himself and has no means to discern evil conduct, high-ranking court officials will take control over the state to benefit themselves and prevent themselves from being legally sentenced to death. Hence, they will murder the wise and elder sovereign and enthrone a childish and weak one. They will also discard justice and practice injustice. The Spring and Autumn Annah warns. In the state of Chu ? Prince Wei was about to leave for the .state of Zheng. Before he reached the border of Chu, he heard that the king of Chu was sick. So he went back to comfort the king. Then he strap the king with his hat string and killed the king. Afterwards, he enthroned himself as the new king. In the state of Qi, Cui Zhu had a very beautiful wife. Duke Zhuang,then the king of Qi，had a love affair with Cui Zhu J s wife. Cui Zhu led his people to attack Duke Zhuang. Duke Zhuang offered to share the slate with Cui Zhu, but Cui Zhu didn’t agree, Duke Zhuang wanted to commit suicide at the ancestral temple，but Cui Zhu didn ‘ t allow him to do so either. Duke Zhuang escaped. When he was trying to climb over the outer palace wall，Cui Zhu shot at him in his thigh and then killed him. After that，Cui Zhu designated Duke Zhuang’ s younger brother as the new king who was known as Duke Jing. ‘ In recent times, we have witnessed such cases； when Li Dui was in power in the state of Zhao，he let Zhu Fu, also known as King Wuling of Zhao, starve in Shaqiu. He killed the king one hundred days later. When Zhuo Chi was in power in the state of Qi，he pulled out King Min’s sinews and hung him the girder of the ancestral temple. The king died on the same night. Although festering is a disease，it is much better compared with strapping a sovereign or shooting a sovereign’ s thigh in ancient times and pulling out a sovereign’s sinews or letting a sovereign starve to death in contemporary times. People planning to coerce or murder their sovereigns must design their actions deliberately in the heart as well as bother to take physical action. This must be even worse than suffering from festering. From this point of view，a man suffering from festering can pity a sovereign. Then Xunzi wrote a poem as follows； “No one would wear precious jade or Marquis Suiy s pearl. No one can tell the difference between coarse clothes and fine silk fabrics. No one would make a match for Lu Shu and Zi Du (referring to the most beautiful woman and the most handsome man respectively). Every man would aspire after Mo Mu (referring to the ugliest woman) and think highly of her appearance. People consider the blind to be of perfect eyesight t regard the deaf to be of perfect hearing and take right for wrong，auspicious for ominous. My God! Why are people all the same?’ It is said in Shijing, “Heaven is extremely holy. Don’t bring disasters to yourself, ”