燕文公时
Duke Wen of Yan Was in Power
【原文】
燕文公时，秦惠王以其女为燕太子妇。文公卒，易王立，齐宣王因 燕丧攻之，取十城。武安君苏秦为燕说齐王，再拜而贺，仰而吊。齐 王桉戈而却曰此一何庆吊相随之速也？”对曰人之饥所以不食乌喙 者，以为虽偷充腹，而与死同患也。今燕虽弱小，强秦之少婿也。王利 其十城，而深与强秦为仇。今使弱燕为雁行，而强秦制其后，以招天下 之精兵，此食乌喙之类也！”齐王曰：“广然则奈何？”对曰：“圣人之制事也， 转祸而为福，因败而为功。故桓公负妇人而名益尊，韩献开罪而交愈固。此皆转祸而为福、因败而为功者也，王能听臣，莫如归燕之十城， 卑辞以谢秦。秦知王以己之故归燕城也，秦必德王；燕无故而得十’城， 燕亦德王，是弃强仇而立厚交也。且夫燕、秦之倶事齐，则大王号令， 天下皆从.是王以虚辞附秦，而以十城取天下也。此霸王之业矣！所 谓转祸为福、因败，成功者也齐王大说，乃归燕城。以金千斤谢其后， 顿首塗中，愿为兄弟，而请罪于秦。
【今译】
燕文公在位的时候，秦惠王把他的女儿嫁给燕国太子做媳妇。燕 文公死后，易王即位。齐宣王借燕国举办丧事的机会进攻燕国，夺取了 十座城邑。武安君苏秦为燕国游说齐王，拜了两下表示祝贺，接着就仰 面吊丧。齐王按着戈命令他退下，说你一备儿祝贺，一会儿吊丧，怎 么这样快呢？”苏秦回答说人们之所以在饥饿的时候不吃乌喙，是因 为虽然能暂时填饱肚子，却面临死亡的祸患。如今燕国虽然弱小，但它 是强大的秦国的女婿啊。大王縑了十座城邑的便宜，却跟强大的秦国 结下很深的怨仇。如果让弱小的燕国做前锋，强大的秦国派出军队紧 随其后，因此招致天下最精锐的部队来攻打齐国，跟吃乌喙是一样的 齐王说这样我该怎么办呢？”苏秦回答说：“圣人处理事情，能把灾祸 转化为福分，凭借失敗达到成功。所以齐桓公辜负了一个女人，名声却更加尊威；韩献子得罪了君主，跟他的交情却更加巩固，这都是把灾祸 转变为福分，借助失敗取得成功，大王如能听我的，不如把十座城邑归 还给燕国，并用谦卑的话语向秦国请罪^秦王知道大王是因为他的原因而归还了燕国的城邑，一定会感激大王。燕国无缘无故地得到十座 城邑，也会感激大王。这就可以抛开强烈的仇恨而建立深厚的交情。 再说燕国和秦国都侍奉齐国，那样大王发号施令，天下的人都会听从， 这样一来，大王就能通过一些空话拉拢秦国，用十座城邑夺取天下了。 这可是王霸大业啊。也是所谓的把灾祸转变为福分，借助失敗取得成 功齐王非常高兴，于是归还了燕国的城邑，随后又拿出一千斤黄金表 示歉意，在途中叩头，愿意跟燕国结为兄弟国，并向秦国请罪。
When Duke Wen of the state of Yan was in power. King Hui of the state of Qin married his daughter to the crown prince of Yan. After Duke Wen died，King Yi of Yan took over the throne. King Xuan of the state of Qi took advantage of the funeral to attack Yan and occupied ten towns and counties. Su Qin, also known as Lord Wuan，went to consult with Qi’s king on behalf of Yan. He bowed twice to the king to congratulate him on obtaining the towns and counties. Then he raised his head and condoled with the king on it. Qi’s king took his dagger，asked him to step backwards and said，“Why did you firstly say congratulations to me and then right away condole with me on it?” Su Qin replied, “Hungry people won’t eat Wu Hui (literally meaning crow beak. Here it refers to the rhizome of Chinese monkshood) because they will die after eating it, although they might not feel hungry for a short time. Now Yan is a weak and small state. Its sovereign is the son-in-iaw of the powerful state of Qin, You have benefited from these ten towns and counties. However， this will provoke Qin9 s deep animosity towards you. If the weak and small Yan fights in the van, Qin will send picked troops to follow it to attack your state. In this case，it is similar to eating Wu Hui. ” Qi’s king asked，“In this case， what shall I do then?” Su Qin replied，“When sages manage some problems, they can change severe trouble into good fortune. Out of failure, they can attain great success. Once Duke Huan of Qi let down a woman，but he obtained a more honourable reputation. Similarly，Han Xianzi offended his sovereign, but the relationship between them became closer. These are cases of changing trouble into good fortune or attaining a great success out of failure. If you take my advice, you’d better return those ten towns and counties to Yan and apologize to Qin in extremely humble words. Thus Qin9 s king will know that you return these towns and counties to Yan because of him，so he will be grateful to you. If Yan regains these ten towns and counties without exerting any effort, it will also be grateful to you. Thus you can avoid provoking deep animosity and establish very good relations with them. As a result，both Yan and Qin will be at your service. Accordingly, you can issue orders to people all over the world. Thus you can buy off Qin with an oral agreement and win over all the states of the world at the cost of only ten towns and counties. Therefore you can become King or at least Lord-protector. This will be another case of changing trouble into good fortune or attaining great success out of failure.” Qi’s king was very happy, so he returned those towns and counties to Yan and presented it with one thousand jin of gold to express his regret. Qi’s emissaries knelt down to knock heads on their way there ? expressing their wish to treat Yan as a brother state and also apologized to Qin.