Portents of Ruin亡徵
凡人主之國小而家大，權輕而臣重者，可亡也。簡法禁而務謀慮，荒封内而恃交援者，可亡也。羣臣爲學，門子好辯，商賈外積，小民右仗者，可亡也。好宮室臺榭陂池，事車服器玩，好罷露百姓，煎靡貨財者，可亡也。用時日，事鬼神，信卜筮，而好祭祀者，可亡也。聽以爵不待參驗，用一人爲門户者，可亡也。官職可以重求，爵祿可以貨得者，可亡也。緩心而無成，柔茹而寡斷，好惡無決而無所定立者，可亡也。饕貪而無饜，近利而好得者，可亡也。喜淫辭而不周於法，好辯說而不求其用，濫於文麗而不顧其功者，可亡也。淺薄而易見，漏泄而無藏，不能周密而通羣臣之語者，可亡也。很剛而不和，愎諫而好勝，不顧社稷而輕爲自信者，可亡也。恃交援而簡近隣，怙强大之救而侮所迫之國者，可亡也。羈旅僑士，重帑在外，上間謀計，下與民事者，可亡也。民信其相，下不能其上，主愛信之而弗能廢者，可亡也。境内之傑不事，而求封外之士，不以功伐課試，而好以名問舉錯，羈旅起貴以陵故常者，可亡也。輕其適正，庶子稱衡，太子未定而主即世者，可亡也。大心而無悔，國亂而自多，不料境内之資而易其隣敵者，可亡也。
When the ruler's state is small and the ministers' houses are great, when his power is light and his ministers weighty, the state may perish. When he makes little of law and prohibition and works only at schemes and calculations, leaving the land within his borders waste while he leans on alliances and outside help, it may perish. When the host of ministers busies itself with learning, the sons of the great gates delight in disputation, merchants pile up goods abroad, and the small people lean on private bands, it may perish. When he loves palaces and terraces, pavilions and pools, sets his heart on carriages and robes, vessels and playthings, and delights in wearing out the people and melting away their goods, it may perish. When he picks days and hours, serves ghosts and spirits, trusts the diviner's stalk and shell, and loves sacrifices, it may perish. When he listens to a man because of his rank and does not wait for cross-checking, and makes one man his gate, it may perish. When office and post can be had by heavy pleading and rank and salary can be had with goods, it may perish. When his heart is slack and completes nothing, when he is soft and pulpy and decides little, when his likes and dislikes are unsettled and he sets up nothing firmly, it may perish. When he is greedy and never sated, drawn to profit and fond of taking, it may perish. When he delights in extravagant talk that does not square with the law, loves disputation and does not ask what use it has, runs over with ornate writing and does not look to its results, it may perish. When he is shallow and thin so that his mind is easily seen, leaky and keeps nothing hidden, unable to hold things close and passing on the words of his ministers, it may perish. When he is harsh and hard and cannot be brought into accord, goes against remonstrance and loves to win, does not look to the altars of the state and lightly trusts himself, it may perish. When he leans on alliances and outside help and makes little of his near neighbors, counts on rescue by the strong and great and looks down on the state that presses him, it may perish. When traveling men and resident guests keep their wealth abroad, spy out plans and counsels above and meddle in the people's affairs below, it may perish. When the people trust their chief minister and those below do not care for those above, and the ruler loves and trusts him and cannot put him aside, it may perish. When the outstanding men within his borders are not employed and he seeks men from beyond his lands, when he does not test men by the merit they have won but loves to raise and place them by name and report, so that a traveling man suddenly grows noble and rides down those of long standing, it may perish. When the rightful heir is held light, the sons of secondary consorts weigh even with him, and the crown prince is not settled when the ruler dies, it may perish. When his heart is great and he never repents, when the state is in disorder and he thinks much of himself, when he does not reckon the resources within his borders and holds his neighboring enemies light, it may perish.
國小而不處卑，力少而不畏强，無禮而侮大隣，貪愎而拙交者，可亡也。太子已置，而娶於强敵以爲后妻，則太子危，如是則羣臣易慮；羣臣易慮者，可亡也。怯懾而弱守，蚤見而心柔懦，知有謂可，斷而弗敢行者，可亡也。出君在外而國更置，質太子未反而君易子，如是則國擕；國擕者，可亡也。挫辱大臣而狎其身，刑戮小民而逆其使，懷怒思恥而專習則賊生；賊生者，可亡也。大臣兩重，父兄衆強，内黨外援以爭事勢者，可亡也。婢妾之言聽，愛玩之智用，外内悲惋而數行不法者，可亡也。簡侮大臣，無禮父兄，勞苦百姓，殺戮不辜者，可亡也。好以智矯法，時以行雜公，法禁變易，號令數下者，可亡也。無地固，城郭惡，無畜積，財物寡，無守戰之備而輕攻伐者，可亡也。穜類不壽，主數即世，嬰兒爲君，大臣專制，樹羈旅以爲黨，數割地以待交者，可亡也。太子尊顯，徒屬衆強，多大國之交，而威勢蚤具者，可亡也。變褊而心急，輕疾而易動發，心愪忿而不訾前後者，可亡也。主多怒而好用兵，簡本教而輕戰攻者，可亡也。貴臣相妬，大臣隆盛，外藉敵國，内困百姓，以攻怨讎，而人主弗誅者，可亡也。君不肖而側室賢，太子輕而庶子伉，官吏弱而人民桀，如此則國躁；國躁者，可亡也。
When the state is small and yet does not take the low place, when its strength is little and yet it does not fear the strong, when it has no propriety and looks down on its great neighbor, when it is greedy and stubborn and clumsy in its dealings, the state may perish. When the crown prince has been set up and the ruler takes a wife from a strong enemy state and makes her his queen, the crown prince is in danger; and when it is so, the host of ministers changes its reckoning, and when the host of ministers changes its reckoning, the state may perish. When the ruler is timid and fearful and weak in defense, sees a thing early yet is soft of heart, knows what may be called right yet decides and does not dare to act, it may perish. When the ruler is abroad and the state sets up another, or the crown prince is a hostage and has not yet returned and the ruler changes his heir, then the state is split in two, and a state split in two may perish. When he breaks and shames his great ministers and handles their persons rudely, punishes and kills the small people and goes against their service, then they harbor anger, brood on their disgrace, and practice together in secret, and out of this a rebel is born; and where a rebel is born, the state may perish. When two great ministers are both weighty, when the ruler's fathers and elder brothers are many and strong, forming factions within and drawing help from without to fight over affairs and standing, it may perish. When the words of serving women and concubines are heard, when the wits of pets and playthings are used, when within and without there is grief and bitterness and unlawful acts are done again and again, it may perish. When he makes little of his great ministers and slights them, is without propriety toward his fathers and elder brothers, wears out the people with toil, and kills the guiltless, it may perish. When he loves to bend the law by his cleverness, at times mixes his private conduct with public business, when law and prohibition are changed about and orders come down again and again, it may perish. When the ground is not firm, the walls are bad, nothing is stored up, goods are few, and there are no preparations for defense or battle, and still he attacks lightly, it may perish. When the line is not long-lived and rulers die one after another, when a babe in arms becomes ruler and the great ministers control everything, when traveling men are planted as a faction and land is cut off again and again to buy alliances, it may perish. When the crown prince is honored and known, his followers many and strong, his dealings with great states many, and his authority and standing complete too early, it may perish. When the ruler's nature is narrow and his heart hasty, when he is light and quick and easily stirred to act, when his heart flares in anger and he takes no measure of before and after, it may perish. When the ruler is full of anger and loves to use soldiers, makes little of the teaching that is the root and holds battle and attack light, it may perish. When honored ministers are jealous of one another, when a great minister rises high and flourishing, borrowing an enemy state abroad and straitening the people at home in order to strike at those he hates, and the ruler does not cut him down, it may perish. When the lord is unworthy and a son of a side chamber is worthy, when the crown prince is light and a son of a secondary consort stands against him, when the clerks are weak and the people fierce, then the state is in a boil, and a state in a boil may perish.
藏怨而弗發，懸罪而弗誅，使羣臣陰憎而愈憂懼，而久未可知者，可亡也。出軍命將太重，邊地任守太尊，專制擅命，徑爲而無所請者，可亡也。后妻淫亂，主母畜穢，外内混通，男女無別，是謂兩主；兩主者，可亡也。后妻賤而婢妾貴，太子卑而庶子尊，相室輕而典謁重，如此則内外乖；内外乖者，可亡也。大臣甚貴，偏黨衆强，壅塞主斷而重擅國者，可亡也。私門之官用，馬府之世絀，鄉曲之善舉，官職之勞廢，貴私行而賤公功者，可亡也。公家虚而大臣實，正户貧而寄寓富，耕戰之士困，末作之民利者，可亡也。見大利而不趨，聞禍端而不備，淺薄於爭守之事，而務以仁義自飾者，可亡也。不爲人主之孝，而慕匹夫之孝，不顧社稷之利，而聽主母之令，女子用國，刑餘用事者，可亡也。辭辯而不法，心智而無術，主多能而不以法度從事者，可亡也。親臣進而故人退，不肖用事而賢良伏，無功貴而勞苦賤，如是則下怨；下怨者，可亡也。父兄大臣祿秩過功，章服侵等，宮室供養大侈，而人主弗禁，則臣心無窮；臣心無窮者，可亡也。公壻公孫與民同門，暴慠其隣者，可亡也。
When he stores up his grudges and does not bring them out, hangs a crime over a man and does not cut him down, so that the host of ministers hates him in secret and grows ever more fearful, and for a long time they cannot know where they stand, the state may perish. When soldiers are sent out and the general's commission is too weighty, when the man who holds the border lands is too honored, controlling all by himself and issuing orders at his own will, acting straightway and asking leave of no one, it may perish. When the queen is licentious and the ruler's mother nurses her filth, when inner and outer quarters mix and pass freely and man and woman are not kept apart, this is called having two rulers; and where there are two rulers, the state may perish. When the queen is base and the serving women and concubines are noble, when the crown prince is low and a son of a secondary consort is honored, when the chief minister is light and the officer of audiences is weighty, then inner and outer are at odds, and when inner and outer are at odds, the state may perish. When a great minister is exceedingly noble, his partisan faction many and strong, blocking up the ruler's decisions and taking the state heavily into his own hands, it may perish. When the officers of private houses are employed while the houses that served the state are pushed out, when a man called good in his village lane is raised up while the man who toiled in office is set aside, so that private conduct is held noble and public merit held base, it may perish. When the house of the state is empty and the great ministers are full, when the households on the register are poor and the lodgers are rich, when the men who plow and fight are straitened and the people of the branch trades are profited, it may perish. When he sees a great profit and does not go after it, hears the first sign of calamity and makes no preparation, is shallow and thin in the business of contending and defending, and works at decking himself out with benevolence and righteousness, it may perish. When he does not practice the filial duty of a ruler but longs after the filial duty of a common man, when he does not look to the profit of the altars of the state but obeys the orders of the ruler's mother, when a woman handles the state and men who are the leavings of punishment handle affairs, it may perish. When his speech is clever but does not accord with the law, when his heart is shrewd but he has no art, when the ruler is full of abilities but does not go about affairs by law and measure, it may perish. When favored ministers come forward and old companions withdraw, when the unworthy handle affairs and the worthy and good lie low, when men without merit are noble and men who toiled are base, then those below bear a grudge; and when those below bear a grudge, the state may perish. When the salaries and grades of the ruler's fathers and elder brothers and great ministers go beyond their merit, when their robes and insignia encroach on the ranks above them, when their houses and their keep are greatly extravagant and the ruler does not forbid it, then the hearts of the ministers have no bound; and when the hearts of the ministers have no bound, the state may perish. When the ruler's sons-in-law and grandsons live by the same gate as the people and are violent and haughty toward their neighbors, it may perish.
Interlinear notes 1
The base text 馬府之世絀 is read differently by the old commentaries; here it is taken as houses that had rendered service to the state being pushed out. — translator
亡徵者，非曰必亡，言其可亡也。夫兩堯不能相王，兩桀不能相亡；亡、王之機，必其治亂、其强弱相踦者也。木之折也必通蠹，墻之壞也必通隙。然木雖蠹，無疾風不折；墻雖隙，無大雨不壞。萬乘之主，有能服術行法以爲亡徵之君風雨者，其兼天下不難矣！
A sign of perishing does not say that a state will surely perish; it says that it may perish. Two Yaos could not reign as king over each other, and two Jies could not bring each other to ruin. The hinge of perishing and of reigning lies in this, that order and disorder, strength and weakness, must lean unevenly between them. A tree breaks only where the worm has gone through; a wall falls only where there is a crack. Yet though the tree be worm-eaten, without a swift wind it does not break; though the wall be cracked, without a great rain it does not fall. If a ruler of ten thousand chariots can master the art and carry out the law, and so become wind and rain to the lord who bears the signs of perishing, then it will not be hard for him to take the world together into his hands.