Slander and Treachery世説新語 讒險第三十二
1Wang Pingzi's outward form was very free and open, but within he was truly hard and narrow
王平子形甚散朗，內實勁俠。
Wang Pingzi's outward form was very free and open, but within he was truly hard and narrow.
Interlinear notes 1
鄧粲《晉紀》云：「劉琨嘗謂澄曰：『卿形雖散朗，而內勁狹，以此處世，難得其死！』澄默然無以答。後果為王敦所害。劉琨聞之曰：『自取死耳！』」
Deng Can's Jin ji says, "Liu Kun once said to Cheng, 'Your form may be free and open, but within you are hard and narrow. If you live in the world with this, it will be hard for you to get your own death.' Cheng was silent and had nothing to answer. Afterwards he was indeed killed by Wang Dun, and when Liu Kun heard of it he said, 'He brought his death on himself, that is all.'"
2The one needful thing under heaven is just the Zhanguo ce
袁悅有口才，能短長說，亦有精理。始作謝玄參軍，頗被禮遇。後丁艱，服除還都，唯齎戰國策而已。語人曰：「少年時讀論語、老子，又看莊、易，此皆是病痛事，當何所益邪？天下要物，正有戰國策。」既下，說司馬孝文王，大見親待，幾亂機軸。俄而見誅。
Yuan Yue had a ready tongue. He could argue the short and the long of a matter, and he had exact reasoning as well.
He first became adjutant to Xie Xuan, and he was treated with much courtesy.
Later he went into mourning, and when the mourning was over and he came back to the capital, he brought nothing with him but the Zhanguo ce.
He said to people, "In my young days I read the Lunyu and the Laozi, and I looked into the Zhuangzi and the Yi as well. These are all sick and ailing affairs. What good should they be? The one needful thing under heaven is just the Zhanguo ce."
Once he had come downriver, he talked over Sima, the king Xiaowen, and was received into great favor, and he came near to throwing the pivot of the state into disorder.
Before long he was put to death.
Interlinear notes 1
《袁氏譜》曰：「悅字元禮，陳郡陽夏人。父朗，給事中。仕至驃騎咨議。太元中，悅有寵於會稽王，每勸專覽朝權，王頗納其言。王恭聞其說，言於孝武。乃託以它罪，殺悅於市中。既而朋黨同異之聲，播於朝野矣。」
The Yuan shi pu says, "Yue, styled Yuanli, was a man of Yangxia in Chenjun. His father Lang was a gentleman in attendance at the palace. Yue rose in office to consultant to the general of agile cavalry. In the Taiyuan years Yue was favored by the king of Kuaiji, and he always urged him to hold the power of the court alone, and the king took in much of what he said. Wang Gong heard of these words and spoke of them to Emperor Xiaowu. So on the pretext of another crime Yue was killed in the market place. After this the noise of factions, of agreeing and differing, spread through court and country."
3The emperor held his words to be right, and thought him loyal in his heart, and in the end he did not see Wang Xun
孝武甚親敬王國寶、王雅。雅薦王珣於帝，帝欲見之。嘗夜與國寶、雅相對，帝微有酒色，令喚珣。垂至，已聞卒傳聲，國寶自知才出珣下，恐傾奪其寵，因曰：「王珣當今名流，陛下不宜有酒色見之，自可別詔也。」帝然其言，心以為忠，遂不見珣。
Emperor Xiaowu was very close to Wang Guobao and Wang Ya, and held them in honor.
Ya recommended Wang Xun to the emperor, and the emperor wished to see him.
Once at night he was sitting with Guobao and Ya, and the emperor had a little color of wine on him, and he had Xun called.
Xun had nearly arrived, and the soldiers were already heard passing the word along. Guobao knew that in ability he himself came out below Xun, and he feared that his own favor would be turned aside and taken from him, so he said, "Wang Xun is a famed man of the present day. Your Majesty should not see him with the color of wine on you. You may well summon him by a separate edict."
The emperor held his words to be right, and thought him loyal in his heart, and in the end he did not see Xun.
Interlinear notes 1
《雅別傳》曰：「雅字茂建，東海沂人，少知名。」《晉安帝紀》曰：「雅之為侍中，孝武甚信而重之。王珣、王恭特以地望見禮，至於親幸，莫及雅者。上每置酒燕集，或召雅未至，上不先舉觴。時議謂珣、恭宜傅東宮，而雅以寵幸，超授太傅、尚書左僕射。」
The Ya biezhuan says, "Ya, styled Maojian, was a man of Yi in Donghai, and he was known by name while young." The Jin Andi ji says, "When Ya was palace attendant, Emperor Xiaowu trusted him and held him in weight. Wang Xun and Wang Gong were treated with ceremony above all for their family standing and their repute, but in nearness and favor there was none who came up to Ya. Whenever the emperor set out wine and held a feast, if Ya had been summoned and had not yet come, the emperor would not raise his cup first. The talk of that time was that Xun and Gong should be tutors to the eastern palace, but Ya by his favor was passed over them and given the posts of Grand Tutor and left vice director of the imperial secretariat."
4The slander stopped with this
王緒數讒殷荊州於王國寶，殷甚患之，求術於王東亭。曰：「卿但數詣王緒，往輒屏人，因論它事，如此，則二王之好離矣。」殷從之。國寶見王緒問曰：「比與仲堪屏人何所道？」緒云：「故是常往來，無它所論。」國寶謂緒於己有隱，果情好日疎，讒言以息。
Wang Xu slandered Yin of Jingzhou to Wang Guobao again and again, and Yin was much troubled by it and sought a device from Wang of Dongting.
He said, "You need only call on Wang Xu often, and each time you go, have the others withdraw, and then talk of some other matter. If you do this, the friendship of the two Wangs will be broken."
Yin followed it.
When Guobao saw Wang Xu, he asked, "What have you and Zhongkan been saying of late with the others withdrawn?"
Xu said, "It is only the usual coming and going. There was nothing else discussed."
Guobao held that Xu was keeping something from him, and their feeling and friendship did indeed grow more distant by the day, and the slander stopped with this.
Interlinear notes 1
按國寶得寵於會稽王，由緒獲進，同惡相求，有如市賈，終至誅夷，曾不攜貳。豈有仲堪微閒，而成離隙。
It is to be observed that Guobao won favor with the king of Kuaiji and got his advancement through Xu. They sought each other out in a common evil, like traders in a market, and to the very end, when they were put to death, they never had two minds. How should a slight estrangement from Zhongkan have made a breach between them?