Paragraph 16: Dongfang Shuo (東方朔) (4/4)
(portrait taken from: http://blog.udn.com/janice720703/20957982."東方朔救乳母的故事." 菡萏香清 季雲的 blog. September 2, 2017.)
Upon dying of age, Dongfang offered his admonition to Emperor Wu: "It says in Shijing (詩經), the Book of Odes, 'Buzzing flies rest upon the fence, but rumors rest not on the sage ruler. Rumors never end; they spread chaos and invite wars among neighboring states.' I hope that Your Majesty avoid flattering rumormongers as to keep off rumors." The Emperor wondered and said, "I can see you are speaking so gravely today!" Within a few days, Dongfang died. As the proverb goes, "Upon dying, birds crow grievously; upon dying, people speak gravely." This is the case with Dongfang.
*至老，朔且死時，諫曰：「《詩》云『營營青蠅，止于蕃(fan2)。愷悌(kai3di4)君子，無信讒言。讒言罔極，交亂四國』。願陛下遠(yuan4)巧佞，退讒言。」帝曰：「今顧東方朔多善言？」怪之。居無幾何，朔果病死。傳(zhuan4)曰：「鳥之將死，其鳴也哀；人之將死，其言也善。」此之謂也。
**The original paragraph in Chinese is taken from: Sima Qian. Ed. Han Zhaoqi. New Translation Shiji. vol.VIII. Taipei: Sanmin, 2008. 4961. (司馬遷. 韓兆琦 注譯. 新譯史記, 第八冊. 臺北市：三民, 2008. 4941頁. ISBN: 978-95-14-5001-8). All translation is based upon the text, annotations, and the Modern Chinese translation thereof (4961, 4965, 4967-4968).
***All English translation is mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment