客卿为韩谓秦王
A Guest Had a Talk with Qin’s King on Behalf of Han
【原文】
客卿为韩谓秦王曰：“韩珉之议，知其君不知异君，知其国不知异 国。彼公仲者，秦势能诎之。秦之强，首之者，珉为疾矣。进齐、宋之兵 至首（坦)[垣]，远薄梁郭，所以不及魏者，以为成而过南阳之道，欲以四 国西首也。所以不者，皆曰以燕亡于齐，魏亡于秦，陈、蔡亡于楚，此皆 绝地形，群臣比周以蔽其上，大臣为诸侯轻国也。今王（位正）[莅政], 张仪之贵，不得议公孙郝，是从臣不事大臣也；公孙郝之贵，不得议甘(戊）[茂]，则大臣不得事近臣矣。贵贱不相事，各得其位，辐凑以事其 上，则群臣之贤不肖可得而知也。王之明一也。公孙郝尝疾齐、韩而不 加贵，则为大臣不敢为诸侯轻国矣。齐、韩尝因公孙郝而不受，则诸侯 不敢因群臣以为能矣。外内不相为，则诸侯之情伪可得而知也。王之 明二也。公孙郝、樗里疾请无攻韩，陈四辟去，王犹攻之也。甘茂约楚、 赵而反敬魏，是其讲我，茂且攻宜阳，王犹校之也。群臣之知无几于王 之明者，臣故愿公仲之国以侍于王，而无自左右也。”
【今译】
有个客人为韩国对秦王说韩珉议论时势，了解自己的君主而不 了解别的国家的君主，了解自己国家的情况而不了解别的国家的情况。 那个公仲，秦国势必能让他屈服。凭着秦国的强大，冒犯它的人之中， 韩珉算是最厉害的了。齐国和宋国的军队挺进首垣，逼近大梁的外城， 之所以没有进攻魏国，是认为想跟魏国讲和，韩国、宋国、.齐国和魏国就 会取道南阳，向西对抗秦国。之所以没有这么做，是因为都说齐国消灭 了燕国、秦国消灭了魏国、楚国消灭了陈国和蔡国，这些国家都处于极 端不利的地理环境中，群臣互相结党营私来蒙蔽他们的君主，大臣为别 的国家做有损于本国的事情。现在大王执政，像张仪那么权责的人不 能议论公孙郝，这样一来，辅助的臣子不能千预大臣们的职权；像公孙郝那么权贵的人不能议论甘茂，那么大臣就不能干预近臣的事情了。 职位高的和低的不妨碍各自的职权，各得其位，共同来侍奉自己的君 主，群臣的贤与不肖就能够知晓了。这是大王英明的第一个方面。公 孙郝曾经劫持齐国和韩国而没有进一步获得权责，作为大臣的就不敢 为别的国家做有损于本国的事情了。齐国和韩国曾经试图通过公孙郝 结交秦国而没有被接受，其他各国就不敢通过群臣做自己想做的事情 了。内部和外部的人不互相伪饰，各国的实情就可以了解了。这是大 王英明的第二个方面。公孙郝和樗里疾请求不要进攻韩国，阵线已经 撤开了，大王还是进攻它,甘茂促使楚国和赵国联合并且反复警告魏 国，这样一来，它们就要跟我们讲和了，甘茂还是进攻宜阳，大王还在权 衡这么做的利弊。群臣的智谋没有能比得上大王的英明的，所以我希 望公仲用自己的国家来侍奉大王，不要自作主张。”
On behalf of the state of Han, a guest had a talk with the king of the state of Qin and said，“According to Han Min，s argument，he only knows his own sovereign but has no understanding of other sovereigns. He is only familiar with the situation in his own state, but knows nothing about the situation in other states. As for Gongzhong, certainly the state of Qin can make him submit to it. Despite the power of the state of Qin，Han Min is the one who has offended it the most. Once the troops of the state of Qi and those of the state of Song invaded the region of Shouyuan, and reached the outer protective walls of the capital of Liang of the state of Wei. However, they did not attack the state of Wei, because they wanted to make peace with Wei and then ally with it and the state of Han to cross the region of Nanyang to confront the state of Qin in the west. However，this plan was not turned into reality. The state of Yan was defeated by the state of Qi，the state of Wei was destroyed by the state of Qin，and both the state of Chen and the state of Cai were beaten by the state of Chu. People say that geographical conditions account for the destruction of these states. In those states，court officials used to create cliques to block their sovereign from reality，and high-ranking court officials took advantage of their own states on behalf of other states. Now you are in power，but powerful as Zhang Yi is, he is not allowed to criticize Gongsun Hao. Thus assistant court officials cannot interfere with high-ranking court officials. And powerful as Gongsun Hao is，he is not allowed to criticize Gan Mao. Thus high-ranking court officials cannot interfere with your beloved court officials. Both the powerless and the powerful don’t interfere with each other, and they all adhere to their own duties to serve you together. As a result， who are worthy and who are unworthy among your court officials will be clear to you. This is the first way to manifest your wisdom, Gongsun Hao used to control the states of Han and Wei，but he failed to gain more power in your state. As a result，other states’ sovereigns will not dare take advantage of your state through some of your high-ranking court officials. You can avoid being cheated by people within your state or by those outside your state. As a result, the situation in other states will be clear to you. This is the second way to manifest your wisdom. Once Gongsun Hao and Chu Liji both asked you not to attack the state of Han, and the troops deployed there were ordered to retreat. However，you still launched an attack on it, Gan Mao once united with the state of Chu and the state of Zhao to confront the state of Wei. So the state of Wei made peace with us. However，Gan Mao still attacked Yiyang. You also weighed the situation to see whether or not it was wise to do so. None of your court officials can match you in terms of intelligence. Hence, I hope that Gongzhong will lead his state to submit to you and won’t take action according to his own will.”