Blunders and Oversights世説新語 紕漏第三十四
1There was not one of the maids who did not cover her mouth and laugh at him.
王敦初尚主，如廁，見漆箱盛乾棗，本以塞鼻，王謂廁上亦下果，食遂至盡。既還，婢擎金澡盤盛水，瑠璃盌盛澡豆；因倒箸水中而飲之，謂是乾飯。群婢莫不掩口而笑之。
When Wang Dun first married the princess he went to the privy and saw dried jujubes held in a lacquered box.
They were there to stop the nose, but Wang Dun thought that fruit was set out in the privy as well, and he ate them until they were gone.
When he came back, a maid held up a gold basin filled with water and a glass bowl filled with bean powder for washing.
At this he poured the powder into the water and drank it, and said that it was dried rice.
There was not one of the maids who did not cover her mouth and laugh at him.
Interlinear notes 1
敦尚武帝女舞陽公主，字脩褘。
Wang Dun married Emperor Wu's daughter, the Princess of Wuyang, whose courtesy name was Xiuhui.
2My father met with one who had no Way. The wound is great and the pain deep.
元皇初見賀司空，言及吳時事，問：「孫皓燒鋸截一賀頭，是誰？」司空未得言，元皇自憶曰：「是賀劭。」司空流涕曰：「臣父遭遇無道，創巨痛深，無以仰答明詔。」元皇愧慙，三日不出。
When Emperor Yuan first saw He the Minister of Works their talk came round to the days of Wu, and he asked, "Sun Hao heated a saw and cut off the head of one of the He family. Who was that?"
The Minister of Works had not yet found words when Emperor Yuan called it to mind himself and said, "That was He Shao."
The Minister of Works wept and said, "My father met with one who had no Way. The wound is great and the pain deep, and your servant has nothing with which to answer your bright edict."
Emperor Yuan was ashamed and did not come out for three days.
Interlinear notes 2
邵即循父也。皓凶暴驕矜，邵上書切諫，皓深恨之。親近憚邵貞正，譖云謗毀國事。被詰責。後還復職。邵中惡風，口不能言語，皓疑邵託疾，收付酒藏，考掠千數，卒無一言。鋸殺之。
He Shao was He Xun's father. Sun Hao was cruel and violent, proud and boastful, and He Shao sent up a writing to remonstrate sharply, and Sun Hao bore him a deep grudge. Those close to him feared He Shao's uprightness and slandered him, saying that he was tearing down and reviling the affairs of the state, and he was called to account. Later he came back and took up his post again. He Shao was struck by an ill wind and his mouth could not form words, and Sun Hao suspected that He Shao was making an excuse of illness. He seized him and put him in the wine store and beat him a thousand blows and more to test him, but to the end there was not one word from him. He killed him with a saw.
《禮記》：「創巨者其日久，痛深者其愈遲。」
The Liji says, "For the one whose wound is great the days are long; for the one whose pain is deep the healing is slow."
3You did not read the Erya closely, sir, and you all but died of being urged to learn.
蔡司徒渡江，見彭蜞，大喜曰：「蟹有八足，加以二螯。」令烹之。既食，吐下委頓，方知非蟹。後向謝仁祖說此事，謝曰：「卿讀爾雅不熟，幾為勸學死。」
When Cai the Minister over the Masses crossed the river he saw a pengqi crab and was greatly pleased, and said, "It is said that a crab has eight legs and two claws besides."
He had it boiled.
He ate it, and only after vomiting and purging until he was worn down did he know that it was not a crab.
Afterward he told Xie Renzu of the matter, and Xie said, "You did not read the Erya closely, sir, and you all but died of being urged to learn."
Interlinear notes 1
《大戴禮·勸學篇》曰：「蟹二螯八足，非蛇蟺之穴無所寄託者，用心躁也。」故蔡邕為勸學章取義焉。《爾雅》曰：「螖蠌小者勞，即彭蜞也，似蟹而小。」今彭蜞小於蟹，而大於彭螖，即《爾雅》所謂螖蠌也。然此三物，皆八足二螯，而狀甚相類。蔡謨不精其小大，食而致弊，故謂讀《爾雅》不熟也。
The chapter on urging learning in the Da Dai li says, "The crab has two claws and eight legs, and it has nowhere to lodge but the hole of a snake or an eel, because its mind is restless." So Cai Yong took his meaning from this when he made his piece on urging learning. The Erya says, "The small one among the huaize is called lao (勞), and it is the pengqi. It is like a crab but smaller." Now the pengqi is smaller than a crab and larger than a penghua, and it is what the Erya calls the huaize. Yet all three of these creatures have eight legs and two claws, and their shapes are very much alike. Cai Mo did not know their sizes exactly, and he ate one and came to harm; so it was said that he had not read the Erya closely.
4This is a folly that has feeling in it.
任育長年少時，甚有令名。武帝崩，選百二十挽郎，一時之秀彥，育長亦在其中。王安豐選女壻，從挽郎搜其勝者，且擇取四人，任猶在其中。童少時神明可愛，時人謂育長影亦好。自過江，便失志。王丞相請先度時賢共至石頭迎之，猶作疇日相待，一見便覺有異。坐席竟，下飲，便問人云：「此為茶？為茗？」覺有異色，乃自申明云：「向問飲為熱，為冷耳。」嘗行從棺邸下度，流涕悲哀。王丞相聞之曰：「此是有情癡。」
Ren Yuzhang had a very fine name when he was young.
When Emperor Wu died, a hundred and twenty gentlemen were chosen to sing at the coffin. They were the finest of that time, and Yuzhang was among them.
When Wang of Anfeng was choosing a son-in-law he looked among the coffin gentlemen for the better men and picked out four more, and Ren was still among them.
In his boyhood and youth his spirit and brightness were lovely, and men of the time said that even Yuzhang's shadow was good.
After he crossed the river he lost his wits.
Chancellor Wang invited the worthies of the day who had crossed over before him and went with them to Shitou to meet him, meaning to receive him as in former days, but at a single sight he saw that there was something changed.
When the seating was done and drink was brought down, Ren asked the company at once, "Is this cha or is it ming?"
Seeing that their faces had changed, he set himself right and said, "What I asked just now was only whether the drink was hot or cold."
Once as he went about he passed below a coffin shop, and he wept and grieved.
Chancellor Wang heard of it and said, "This is a folly that has feeling in it."
Interlinear notes 1
《晉百官名》曰：「任瞻字育長，樂安人。父琨，少府卿。瞻歷謁者、僕射、都尉、天門太守。」
The Jin baiguan ming says, "Ren Zhan, whose courtesy name was Yuzhang, was a man of Le'an. His father Ren Kun was Chamberlain of the Privy Treasury. Ren Zhan held in turn the posts of Receptionist, Supervisor, Commandant and Governor of Tianmen."
5Men of the world blame the Gentleman of the Household for this, and they say that I did it with him.
謝虎子嘗上屋熏鼠。胡兒既無由知父為此事，聞人道「癡人有作此者」。戲笑之。時道此非復一過。太傅既了己之不知，因其言次，語胡兒曰：「世人以此謗中郎，亦言我共作此。」胡兒懊熱，一月日閉齋不出。太傅虛託引己之過，以相開悟，可謂德教。
Xie Huzi once climbed on the roof and smoked out the rats.
Hu'er had no way of knowing that his father had done this, and when he heard someone say, "There are fools who do such a thing," he laughed and made sport of it.
He spoke of it then more than once.
The Grand Tutor saw that Hu'er did not know, and as the talk came round to it he said to him, "Men of the world blame the Gentleman of the Household for this, and they say that I did it with him."
Hu'er was burning with regret, and for a month he shut his study and did not come out.
The Grand Tutor drew the fault onto himself though it was not his, and by this he opened the young man's eyes. It may well be called a teaching of virtue.
Interlinear notes 2
虎子，據小字。據字玄道，尚書褒第二子。年三十三亡。
Huzi was Xie Ju's childhood name. Xie Ju's courtesy name was Xuandao, and he was the second son of Xie Bao of the Imperial Secretariat. He died at thirty-three.
中郎，據也。章伸反。按世有兄弟三人，則謂第二者為中。今謝昆弟有六，而以據為中郎，未可解。當由有三時，以中為稱，因仍不改也。
The Gentleman of the Household is Xie Ju. The sound is taken from zhang (章) and shen (伸). On examination: in the world, where there are three brothers, the second is called the middle one. Now the Xie brothers were six, and yet Xie Ju is called the middle gentleman, which cannot be understood. It must be that there was a time when they were three, and he was called the middle one then, and the name was kept and not changed.
6In going forward and in drawing back your servant is in a strait.
殷仲堪父病虛悸，聞床下蟻動，謂是牛鬬。孝武不知是殷公，問仲堪「有一殷，病如此不？」仲堪流涕而起曰：「臣進退唯谷。」
Yin Zhongkan's father had an illness of emptiness and palpitation, and hearing the ants move under his couch he said that oxen were fighting.
Emperor Xiaowu did not know that this was Lord Yin, and he asked Zhongkan, "There is a certain Yin whose illness is like this. Is it so?"
Zhongkan wept and rose and said, "In going forward and in drawing back your servant is in a strait."
Interlinear notes 2
《殷氏譜》曰：「殷師字師子。祖識、父融，並有名。師至驃騎咨議，生仲堪。」《續晉陽秋》曰：「仲堪父曾有失心病，仲堪腰不解帶，彌年父卒。」
The Yinshi pu says, "Yin Shi had the courtesy name Shizi. His grandfather Yin Shi and his father Yin Rong both had a name. Yin Shi rose to be Consultant to the General of Agile Cavalry, and he begot Zhongkan." The Xu Jin yangqiu says, "Zhongkan's father once had an illness of a lost mind, and Zhongkan did not loosen the belt at his waist for a full year, until his father died."
《大雅詩》也。毛公注曰：「谷，窮也。」
It is a poem of the Daya. Lord Mao's note says, "Gu (谷) means a strait."
7The weather is still warm, and the shad and the shrimp paste cannot be brought yet.
虞嘯父為孝武侍中，帝從容問曰：「卿在門下，初不聞有所獻替。」虞家富春，近海，謂帝望其意氣，對曰：「天時尚煗，䱥魚蝦䱹未可致，尋當有所上獻。」帝撫掌大笑。
Yu Xiaofu was Palace Attendant to Emperor Xiaowu, and the emperor asked him at his ease, "While you have been in the Chancellery, sir, I have never heard that you offered anything up or set anything aside."
Yu's house was at Fuchun, near the sea, and taking it that the emperor was looking for a gift of his goodwill, he answered, "The weather is still warm, and the shad and the shrimp paste cannot be brought yet. Before long there will be something to send up."
The emperor clapped his hands and laughed aloud.
Interlinear notes 1
《中興書》曰：「嘯父，會稽人，光祿潭之孫，右將軍純之子。少歷顯位，與王廞同廢為庶人。義旗初，為會稽內史。」
The Zhongxing shu says, "Xiaofu was a man of Kuaiji, the grandson of Yu Tan, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and the son of Yu Chun, General of the Right. He held high posts while young, and with Wang Xin he was put out and made a commoner. At the beginning of the rising of the righteous banner he became Clerk of the Interior of Kuaiji."
8Why do you spoil another man's affairs?
王大喪後，朝論或云「國寶應作荊州」。國寶主簿夜函白事，云：「荊州事已行。」國寶大喜，而夜開閤，喚綱紀話勢，雖不及作荊州，而意色甚恬。曉遣參問，都無此事。即喚主簿數之曰：「卿何以誤人事邪？」
After Wang Da's death the discussion of the court in some quarters held that Guobao should be made Governor of Jingzhou.
Guobao's Recorder sent in a sealed report at night saying that the Jingzhou matter had already gone through.
Guobao was greatly pleased. He opened his chamber door at night and called in the chief officers and talked over the state of things, and though he did not go so far as to speak of being made Governor of Jingzhou, his mind and his face were much at ease.
At dawn he sent a man to ask, and there was no such thing at all.
He called the Recorder at once and rebuked him. "Why do you spoil another man's affairs?"
Interlinear notes 1
《晉安帝紀》曰：「王忱死，會稽王欲以國寶代之。孝武中，詔用仲堪，乃止。」
The Jin andi ji says, "When Wang Chen died, the Prince of Kuaiji wished to put Guobao in his place. In the reign of Emperor Xiaowu an edict appointed Zhongkan, and the matter went no further."