中文摘要 |
孟嘗君明智而通達事理,單憑精闢的言論,就足以使他因「立言」而名垂千古:一是駁其父諱舉五月子的陋俗,二是譏其父厚積餘藏,想把財富留給那不知是何人的後代子孫,而應該為公家廣納賢士。孟嘗君善養士,司馬遷說他「好客自喜」,他也終賴雞鳴狗盜之力得以逃離秦國,並藉馮驩「狡兔三窟」之計得以恢復齊相之位。但他也因名望太高的緣故,兩千餘年來,深受三則流言之累:一是過趙遭譏,竟使其客滅趙一縣之人以去。二是致書秦相魏冄,促其勸秦昭王伐齊。三是參與燕、趙等五國破齊之役。本文除疏釋文義外,亦嘗試為孟嘗君洗刷此三則千古奇冤。
Lord Mengchang was wise and had sensible convictions. His incisive remarks are enough for him to achieve long-lasting fame. One example was when he refuted his father for ill-advised practice of killing babies born on the fifth day of the fifth month. Another is his criticism of his father's saving his wealth to bequeath it to some unknown offspring in the future rather than bringing in wise men for the public good. The Lord Mengchang was skilled at maintaining household-retainers. Sima Qian said he “was fond of guests and much pleased with himself because of it.” He was able to escape from Qin through guests' petty skills and tricks. And through Feng Huan's elaborate ploy, he was also reinstated as the Prime Minister of Qi. Yet because of his lofty fame, he has been misunderstood due to three rumors about him for over two thousand years: first, he was criticized when passing through Zhao and so he sent people to kill all of the people in the county of Zhao; second, he sent a letter to the Prime Minister of Qin, Wei Ran, and got him to admonish King Zhao of Qin to attack Qi; third, he participated in the expedition where Yan, Zhao, and three other countries defeated Qi. Actually, these are just incredulous rumors. In addition to the interpretation of the meaning of the text, this article also tried to make these rumors clear for Lord Mengchang. |