献书秦王
Someone Presented a Letter to Qin’s King
【原文】
(阙文）献书秦王曰Z(昔）[臣]窃闻大王之谋出事于梁，谋恐不出 于计矣，愿大王之熟计之也。梁者，山东之要也。有蛇于此，击其尾，其 首救；击其首，其尾救；击其中身，首尾皆救。今梁（王）[者]，天下之中 身也。秦攻梁者，是示天下要断山东之脊也，是山东首尾皆救中身之时 也。山东见亡，必恐，恐必大合^山东尚强，臣见秦之必大忧可立而待 也。臣窃为大王计，不如南出事于南方。其兵弱，天下必能救，地可广大，国可富，兵可强，主可尊。王不闻汤之伐桀乎？试之弱密须氏以为 武教，得密须氏而汤之服桀矣,今秦国与山东为仇，不先以弱为武教， 兵必大挫，国必大忧！ ”秦果南攻蓝田、鄢郢。
【今译】
有人给秦王献上一封书信说我私下里i说大王谋划着进攻魏 国，恐怕大王的计谋要受挫了，希望大王仔细考虑此事啊。魏国是山东 各国的要冲。誓如有一条蛇在这里，击打它的尾部，它的头部就会过来 救援；击打它的头部，它的尾部就会过来救援；击打它的中部，头部和尾 部都会过来救援。如今魏国是天下的中心。秦国进攻魏国，是向天下 人表明要砍断山东各国的脊粱，这就是山东各国头部和尾部都来营救 中部的时候了 ^山东各国发觉自己将要灭亡，一定会非常恐慌，恐慌了 就会在很大程度上联合起来。山东各国倘若结成?大联盞，我预料秦 国的巨大的忧患很快就会到来了。我私下为大王打算，不如向南进攻 楚国?楚国兵力薄弱，天下各国不能援救它，（进攻楚国，）领地可以扩大，国家可以富强，兵力可以強大，君主可以尊威。大王没有听说过汤 讨伐桀吗？用薄弱的密须氏来试探敌方的武功教习情况，占领密须氏 后，汤就知道如何征服桀了。如今秦国跟山东各国结仇，不先从薄弱的 地方开始试探武功教习，兵力一定会受到拿创，国家一定会陷入极大的 忧患秦国果然向南进攻蓝田、鄢与郢。
Someone presented a letter to the king of the state of Qin, which stated,“I privately heard that you are planning to attack the state of Wei, but I am afraid that you might not be able to carry out your strategy. So I hope that you think about it carefully. As for the state of Wei，it is central to those states located east of Mount Xiao, Suppose there were a snake. If its tail were hit, its head would go to the tail’s rescue. If the head were hit, the tail would go to the head’s rescue. If the centre of the body were hit, both the head and the tail would go to the centre’s rescue. The state of Wei is the centre of the world. If the troops of Qin attack Wei，it simply tells people all over the world that you are about to cut off the spine of those states located east of Mount Xiao, Therefore，it is the right time for all of them to come to Wei's rescue. If these states located east of Mount Xiao realize that they will be defeated, they will definitely become frightened. If they are frightened,they will definitely build a strong alliance with each other. If these states build a strong alliance，I can foresee that the state of Qin will soon be under severe threat. On your behalf，I personally think it would be better if you take military action against the state of Chu in the south. Chuy s military force is weak，and other states won't come to its rescue. So you can enlarge your territory， enrich your state, strengthen your military forces and consolidate your power. Haven? t you heard of the story of Tang attacking Jie? He attacked the Mixus first to test JieJ s military power. After he conquered the Mixus , he knew how to defeat Jie. Now Qin is at enmity with those states east of Mount Xiao, and doesn’t attack the weak areas first to test their military power. Your troops will be badly defeated? and your state will be in severe trouble.，，The troops of Qin attacked Lantian, Yan and Ying in the south as expected.