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客谓司马食其
Guest Had a Talk with Sima Siji
【原文】
客谓司马食其曰：“虑久以天下为可一者，是不知天下者也。欲独 以魏支秦者，是又不知魏者也。谓兹公不知此两者，又不知兹公者也。 然而兹公为从，其说何也？从则兹公重，不从则兹公轻。兹公之处重 也，不实为期。子何不疾及三国方坚也自卖于秦？秦必受子。不然，横 者将图子以合于秦，是取子之资而以资子之仇也广
【今译】
有个客人对司马食其说：“认为天下各国可以联合起来的，大概是 不了解天下形势的人。想单独用魏国来抗拒秦国的，是不了解魏国的人。说此公不了解这两种人的，又是不了解此公的人。然而此公主张 合纵，为什么持这种说法呢？合纵成功，此公就会掌握重权；不进行合 纵，此公的权势就轻.此公掌握了重权，就不管合纵有没有实效。您为 何不赶快趁着三个国家正坚定联合在一起的时候自己讨好秦国？秦国 一定会接受您的。不然的话，主张连横的人将利用您来跟秦国联合，这 就是拿您的钱去资助您的仇人了
A guest had a talk with Sima Siji and said, “Generally those advocating allying with all other states in the world don’t know the situation of the world. Those advocating that the state of Wei confront the state of Qin alone don’t know the situation in Wei, People who think a man knows nothing about these aforementioned two kinds of people don’t know this man. What's the reason for a man to advocate Hezong (referring to the strategy of allying with all other states in the world to counterattack the state of Qin? Well, if Hezong succeeds，he will become very powerful. If not, he will lose power. Although he advocates Hezong, he doesn’t expect any concrete results at all. Why not hobnob with Qin now when those three states are still firmly allied with one another? Qin will definitely accept you. Otherwise, people advocating Lianheng will conspire against you and at the same time try to build an alliance with Qin. If this is the case, you will support your enemies with your own strength. ”