The Eight Villainies八姦
凡人臣之所道成姦者有八術：一曰在同牀。何謂同牀？曰：貴夫人，愛孺子，便僻好色，此人主之所惑也。託於燕處之虞，乘醉飽之時，而求其所欲，此必聽之術也。爲人臣者内事之以金玉，使惑其主，此之謂「同牀」。二曰在旁。何謂在旁？曰：優笑侏儒，左右近習，此人主未命而唯唯，未使而諾諾，先意承旨，觀貌察色以先主心者也。此皆俱進俱退，皆應皆對，一辭同軌以移主心者也。爲人臣者内事之以金玉玩好，外爲之行不法，使之化其主，此之謂「在旁」。三曰父兄。何謂父兄？曰：側室公子，人主之所親愛也；大臣廷吏，人主之所與度計也。此皆盡力畢議，人主之所必聽也。爲人臣者事公子側室以音聲子女，收大臣廷吏以辭言，處約言事，事成則進爵益祿，以勸其心，使犯其主，此之謂「父兄」。四曰養殃。何謂養殃？曰：人主樂美宮室臺池，好飾子女狗馬以娛其心，此人主之殃也。爲人臣者盡民力以美宮室臺池，重賦斂以飾子女狗馬，以娛其主而亂其心，從其所欲，而樹私利其間，此謂「養殃」。五曰民萌。何謂民萌？曰：爲人臣者散公財以說民人，行小惠以取百姓，使朝廷市井皆勸譽己，以塞其主而成其所欲，此之謂「民萌」。
There are eight arts by which a minister works his treachery. The first is called sharing the bed. What is sharing the bed? The honored lady, the beloved young one, the fawning favorite of fair looks — these are what beguile a ruler. They lean on the pleasure of his idle hours and take the moment when he is drunk and full to ask for what they want. This is an art that is sure to be heard. A minister serves them within with gold and jade, and makes them beguile his ruler. This is called "sharing the bed." The second is called being at his side. What is being at his side? Jesters and dwarfs, the familiars to left and right. Before the ruler has given an order they are saying yes, yes; before he has set them to work they are saying quite so, quite so. They run ahead of his thought and take up his meaning, watching his face and reading his color to get in front of his heart. They all come forward together and draw back together, all answer and all reply, speaking with one word in one rut, and so they shift the ruler's heart. A minister serves them within with gold and jade and pretty things, and without does unlawful things for them, and makes them work a change in his ruler. This is called "being at his side." The third is called fathers and elder brothers. What are fathers and elder brothers? The sons of the side chambers and the lord's sons are those the ruler loves as his own. The great ministers and the court clerks are those he takes counsel with. These all put out their strength and argue a matter to the end, and the ruler is sure to listen to them. A minister serves the lord's sons and the sons of the side chambers with music and with women, and gathers in the great ministers and the court clerks with words. He settles on terms and speaks of the matter; and when the matter is done, ranks are raised and salaries increased. So he spurs their hearts and makes them offend against their ruler. This is called "fathers and elder brothers." The fourth is called nursing disaster. What is nursing disaster? The ruler delights in fine palaces, terraces, and pools, and loves to deck out women, dogs, and horses to please his heart. This is the ruler's disaster. A minister uses up the people's strength to make palaces, terraces, and pools fine, and levies heavy taxes to deck out women, dogs, and horses. He pleases his ruler and throws his heart into disorder, going along with whatever he wants, and in the midst of it he plants his own profit. This is called "nursing disaster." The fifth is called working the common people. What is working the common people? A minister scatters the public goods to please the people, and does small kindnesses to win the hundred families. He makes court and market and village all urge his cause and praise him, and so shuts off his ruler and gets what he wants. This is called "working the common people."
六曰流行。何謂流行？曰：人主者，固壅其言談，希於聽論議，易移以辯說。爲人臣者求諸侯之辯士，養國中之能說者，使之以語其私。爲巧文之言，流行之辭，示之以利勢，懼之以患害，施屬虚辭以壞其主，此之謂「流行」。七曰威强。何謂威强？曰：君人者，以羣臣百姓爲威强者也。羣臣百姓之所善，則君善之；非羣臣百姓之所善，則君不善之。爲人臣者，聚帶劒之客，養必死之士，以彰其威，明爲己者必利，不爲己者必死，以恐其羣臣百姓而行其私，此之謂「威强」。八曰四方。何謂四方？曰：君人者，國小則事大國，兵弱則畏强兵。大國之所索，小國必聽；强兵之所加，弱兵必服。爲人臣者，重賦斂，盡府庫，虚其國以事大國，而用其威求誘其君；甚者舉兵以聚邊境而制斂於内，薄者數内大使以震其君，使之恐懼，此之謂「四方」。
The sixth is called setting talk afloat. What is setting talk afloat? A ruler keeps talk stopped up around him, and seldom hears arguments, and is easily shifted by clever speech. A minister looks for skilled talkers among the feudal lords and keeps able speakers within the state, and has them speak for his private cause. They make artful, ornamented speeches and words that go the rounds. They show him advantage and position, and frighten him with trouble and harm. They string empty words together to break down his ruler. This is called "setting talk afloat." The seventh is called awe and strength. What are awe and strength? He who stands over men makes his awe and his strength out of his assembled ministers and his people. What the ministers and the people call good, the lord calls good; what the ministers and the people do not call good, the lord does not call good. A minister gathers swordsmen about him and keeps men who will go to their death, and so makes his awe plain. He makes it clear that whoever acts for him is sure to profit, and whoever does not act for him is sure to die. So he frightens the ministers and the people and carries out his private cause. This is called "awe and strength." The eighth is called the four quarters. What are the four quarters? He who stands over men serves a great state when his own is small, and fears a strong army when his own is weak. What a great state demands, a small state must grant; where a strong army is brought to bear, a weak army must submit. A minister levies heavy taxes, drains the storehouses, and empties his own state to serve a great one, and uses that state's power to lure his lord along. The worst of them raise troops and mass them on the border, and so hold down and squeeze what is within. The slighter ones bring the great state's envoys in again and again, to startle their lord and keep him in fear. This is called "the four quarters."
凡此八者，人臣之所以道成姦，世主所以壅劫，失其所有也，不可不察焉。
These eight are how a minister works his treachery, and how the rulers of the age are shut in and seized and lose what they have. They cannot be left unexamined.
明君之於内也，娛其色而不行其謁，不使私請。其於左右也，使其身必責其言，不使益辭。其於父兄大臣也，聽其言也必使以罰任於後，不令妄舉。其於觀樂玩好也，必令之有所出，不使擅進擅退，不使羣臣虞其意。其於德施也，縱禁財，發墳倉，利於民者，必出於君，不使人臣私其德。其於說議也，稱譽者所善，毁疵者所惡，必實其能，察其過，不使羣臣相爲語。其於勇力之士也，軍旅之功無踰賞，邑鬭之勇無赦罪，不使羣臣行私財。其於諸侯之求索也，法則聽之，不法則距之。所謂亡君者，非莫有其國也，而有之者皆非己有也。令臣以外爲制於内，則是君人者亡也。聽大國爲救亡也，而亡亟於不聽，故不聽。羣臣知不聽，則不外諸侯；諸侯知不聽，則不受臣之誣其君矣。
The enlightened lord, in what touches the inner chambers, takes pleasure in their beauty but does not act on their petitions, and does not let them make private requests. In what touches those at his side, he holds their persons strictly to their words, and does not let them add to what they say. In what touches fathers, elder brothers, and great ministers, he listens to their words but makes them answerable to penalty afterward, and does not let them put men forward rashly. In what touches shows, music, and pretty things, he makes sure each has a place it came from, and does not let them be brought in or taken away at anyone's pleasure, and does not let his ministers guess at his mind. In what touches the giving out of bounty, he releases the goods held back and opens the heaped granaries; what profits the people must come from the lord, and no minister may make that bounty his own. In what touches talk and argument, praise marks what a man is thought good for and fault-finding what he is thought bad for; so the lord makes certain of his ability in fact and looks into his faults, and does not let his ministers speak on one another's behalf. In what touches men of courage and strength, merit with the army gets no reward beyond its due and bravery in a village brawl gets no pardon for the crime, and his ministers may not hand out money of their own. In what touches the demands of the feudal lords, if they accord with law he grants them, and if they do not accord with law he turns them away. What is called a ruined lord is not one who has no state; it is that what he has is none of it his own. To let ministers use outside force to control what is within is the ruin of him who stands over men. Listening to a great state is said to be the way to save oneself from ruin, yet ruin comes faster than if one does not listen, and so he does not listen. When the ministers know he will not listen, they do not turn abroad to the feudal lords. When the feudal lords know he will not listen, they do not take up a minister's slanders against his lord.
明主之爲官職爵祿也，所以進賢材勸有功也。故曰：賢材者處厚祿，任大官；功大者有尊爵，受重賞。官賢者量其能，賦祿者稱其功。是以賢者不誣能以事其主，有功者樂進其業，故事成功立。今則不然，不課賢不肖，不論有功勞，用諸侯之重，聽左右之謁，父兄大臣上請爵祿於上，而下賣之以收財利及以樹私黨。故財利多者買官以爲貴，有左右之交者請謁以成重。功勞之臣不論，官職之遷失謬。是以吏偷官而外交，弃事而親財。是以賢者懈怠而不勸，有功者隳而簡其業，此亡國之風也。
The enlightened ruler sets up offices, posts, ranks, and salaries in order to advance worthy timber and to spur on those who have merit. So it is said: the worthy in ability hold thick salaries and are given great offices, and those of great merit have honored rank and receive heavy rewards. In giving office to the worthy he measures their ability; in setting salary he makes it match the merit. So the worthy do not lie about their ability in serving their ruler, and those with merit take pleasure in carrying their work forward. Affairs are thus accomplished, and merit stands. Now it is not so. Worth and unworth are not tested, and merit and labor are not weighed. The weight of the feudal lords is used, and the petitions of those at his side are heard. Fathers, elder brothers, and great ministers ask above for ranks and salaries, and sell them below to gather goods and profit and to plant a private faction. So the man with much money and profit buys an office and becomes noble, and the man with ties among those at the ruler's side puts in a petition and grows weighty. Ministers of merit and labor are not weighed, and promotion in office goes astray and comes out wrong. So the clerks steal their offices and make ties abroad; they throw over their work and grow close to money. So the worthy grow slack and are not spurred on, and those with merit fall away and make light of their work. This is the way of a ruined state.