Anyways, today we'll continue our story of the Prince of Wei. This week's segment has 2 parts -- the first is more related to the previous section. As you may remember, last week our worthy (賢／贤） Prince of Wei went through the arduous process of retaining the services of the hidden Shi (隱士）， Mr. Hou Ying, (former) keeper of the Yi Gate. After his initial attempts were rebuffed, the Prince invited Hou Ying to a royal banquet. Hou Ying accepted, but behaved with impropriety and made the Prince divert his entire royal escort to go to the market to speak with his servant, Zhu Hai. In the end, at the banquet, it is revealed that through his behavior, Hou Ying both determined that the Prince did indeed humble himself before the Shi and showed the Prince to be magnanimous in comparison to Hou Ying's rudeness.
At the banquet, they toast one another to show that the relatively arbitrary ritualistic behavior they both engaged in is done for now, and they can return to their prescribed social roles, now with a closer, mutually beneficial, relationship.
史記 77 ／ Shiji 77
We begin this week's segment with a final scene from the banquet:
5. 候生謂公子曰：“臣所過屠者朱亥，此子賢者，世莫能知，故隱屠間耳。” 公子往數請之，朱亥故不復謝，公子怪之。
Mr. Hou addressed the Prince, saying “My Butcher that I visited, Zhu Hai, this person is a worthy one; no one in the world is able to recognize it, however he is secretly among the butchers.” The Prince went several times to entreat Zhu Hai to be his retainer; Zhu Hai however did not return thanks. The Prince considered it strange.
This may seem an abrupt interlude, as the next part of our story is somewhat unrelated. But fear not! All will be revealed in time.
6. 魏安釐王二十年，秦昭王已破趙長平軍，又進兵圍邯鄲。公子姊為趙惠文王弟平原君夫人，數遺魏王及公子書，請救於魏。魏王使將軍晉鄙將十萬眾救趙。秦王使使者告魏王曰：“吾攻趙旦暮且下，而諸侯敢救者，已拔趙，必移兵先擊之。” 魏王恐，使人止晉鄙，留軍壁鄴，名為救趙，實持兩端以觀望。平原君使者冠蓋相屬於魏，讓魏公子曰：“勝所以自附為婚姻者，以公子之高義，為能急人之困。今邯鄲旦暮降秦而魏救不至，安在公子能急人之困也！且公子縱輕勝，棄之降秦，獨不憐公子姊邪？” 公子患之，數請魏王，及賓客辯士說王萬端。魏王畏秦，終不聽公子。公子自度終不能得之於王，計不獨生而令趙亡，乃請賓客，約車騎百餘乘，欲以客往赴秦軍，與趙俱死。
In of King An Xi of Wei's 20th year [of rule], King Zhao of Qin defeated the army of Zhao state at Chang Ping and again advanced the [Qin] army to besiege Han Dan(1). The Prince [of Wei]'s elder sister was married to King Hui Wen of Zhao's younger brother, Lord Ping Yuan(2); Lord Ping Yuan sent many letters to the King of Wei and the Prince, pleading for help from Wei. The King of Wei sent General Jin Bi with an army of 100,000 to help Zhao. The King of Qin sent a messenger to tell the King of Wei “I have attacked Zhao and at any moment will defeat them, and to any of the feudal lords who dare to help Zhao: after I have defeated Zhao, I will certainly move my troops to attack you next.”(3)
The King of Wei was afraid; he sent men to stop Jin Bi and leave the army encamped at Ye, rescuing Zhao in name only. In reality, he was holding onto both ends [both sides of the conflict, Qin and Zhao] in order to observe [what would happen next]. Lord Ping Yuan's messengers disguised themselves with hats under the carriage canopies as they traveled to Wei. [When they reached the royal palace] they berated the Prince, saying “The reason why Ping Yuan joined himself to this family by marriage(2) was because of the Prince's(5) high righteousness, meaning he is able help others in need. Now Han Dan will surrender to Qin at any moment, and help from Wei will not arrive; where is the Prince's ability to help those in need now?! Moreover, even if the Prince looks down on Ping Yuan and abandons Ping Yuan to surrender to Qin, how could the Prince not pity his own elder sister?”
The Prince worried about this [what the messenger had told him]; many times he went to beg the King of Wei for help, and [he even] gave the expert debaters 10,000 reasons to persuade them. But the King of Wei feared Qin, and in the end he did not heed the Prince. The Prince calculated to himself that in the end he would not be able to receive help from the King; so, he decided not to survive alone while allowing Zhao to perish: thereupon he called on his retainers to assemble an escort of over one hundred chariots, desiring to go with his retainers to rush at the Qin army and die together with Zhao.
How. Romantic.
This passage really reminds us of our Prince's excellent character traits. Although Zhao and Wei were politically aligned at this time (see footnotes), we must remember that we're talking about the Warring States period -- emphasis on Warring. All bets are off when it comes to self-preservation, which explains King An Xi's cowardly behavior in the face of Zhao's desperation. In contrast, the Prince is all about saving Zhao (and his sister), even if it's futile. In his words and actions, the Prince shows us that he is indeed as benevolent and righteous as previously described. (Although we might perhaps add that he's a bit slow -- I mean, there's probably a better way to go about this than sending 100 chariots on a suicide mission, right? What would Hou Ying have to say about this?)
Tune in next week, when we do in fact hear what Hou Ying has to say about this.
1. Han Dan (邯鄲) was the capital of Zhao; Chang Ping (長平) is just another place in Zhao.
2. It's important to remember that at this time, and at the time that the Shiji was written, women weren't really considered people. Yes, they were people in the physical, most base sense, and they were important insofar as they bore sons (but not daughters so much), but for all intents and purposes, women were really commodities. So when we read that a certain woman married a certain man, we must remember that this is more akin to politically-inclined gift giving than it is to the modern conception of marriage. What they're doing is basically trading women, establishing a political relationship by uniting their lines of kinship via (male) offspring.
Also, let's not forget that this phenomenon is NOT unique to China. Most of Europe and Asia did this too.
3. As we can see from this, the King of Qin is an asshole. That said, though, he was a shrewd dude, able to conquer the various warring states and unite China under the Qin empire. Let us not forget that you have to fuck over a lot of people to get anything of that magnitude done -- then and now.
4. See? Trading women for political advantage. Good thing women aren't autonomous sentient beings or anything, right?
5. As a form of respect, those of lower status refer to others (and sometimes themselves) in the 3rd person. It sounds weird to us, but it was very important to them.
your translation is so great. i wish it was countinued to the end :)
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