衛宣公姜

列女傳

Scanned original

宣姜者，齊侯之女，衛宣公之夫人也。
Xuan Jiang was the Marquis of Qi's daughter, and Duke Xuan of Wei's wife.

初，宣公夫人夷姜生伋子，以為太子，
Initially, Duke Xuan's wife Yi Jiang gave birth to Jizi, who was made crown prince,

又娶於齊，曰宣姜，生壽及朔。
then the duke married again with a woman from Qi, named Xuan Jiang, who gave birth to Shou and Shuo.

夷姜既死，宣姜欲立壽，乃與壽弟朔謀構伋子。
When Yi Jiang died, Xuan jiang wanted to make Shou the crown prince, and plotted with Shou's younger brother, Shuo, against Jizi.

公使伋子之齊，宣姜乃陰使力士待之界上而殺之，曰：
The duke sent Jizi to Qi, and Xuan Jiang secretly sent a hired thug to wait at Jizi at the border and kill him. She said:

「有四馬白旄至者，必要殺之。」
"When someone with four horses and a white flag arrive, make sure to kill him!"

壽聞之，以告太子曰：「太子其避之。」
Shou heard of this and informed the crown prince, saying: "the crown prince should escape!"

伋子曰：「不可。夫棄父之命，則惡用子也！」
Jizi said: "I can't. If I discarded my father's order, then I would be a very bad son!"

壽度太子必行，乃與太子飲，奪之旄而行，盜殺之。
Shou thought that the crown prince would go for sure, so he got him drunk, took his flag and went. The bandit killed him.

伋子醒，求旄不得，遽往追之，壽已死矣。
Jizi sobered up and could not find his flag, so at once he went to pursue Shou, who was already dead.

伋子痛壽為己死，乃謂盜曰：
Jizi was pained by the fact that Shou had died for him, and said to the bandit:

「所欲殺者乃我也，此何罪，請殺我。」盜又殺之。
"The one you wish to kill is me, what offense had he committed? Please kill me." The bandit killed him, too.

二子既死，朔遂立為太子，宣公薨，朔立是為惠公，
When these two had died, Shuo was made crown prince, and upon the death of Duke Xuan, Shuo became Duke Hui.

竟終無後，亂及五世，至戴公而後寧。
Duke Hui never got any descendants, and chaos reigned for five generations. It was not until the reign of Duke Dai there was peace.

詩云：「乃如之人，德音無良。」此之謂也。
The Ode says: "that he was such a man! -- his reputation is no good," this applies here.
Note: from Bernhard Karlgren's translation of 日月 (ode 29).

春秋

桓公十六年

Translation by James Legge (The Chinese Classics: The Ch'un Ts'ew with the Tso Chuen, p. 66)

十有一月，衛侯朔出奔齊。
In the eleventh month, Shuo, marquis of Wei, fled to Qi.

左傳

桓公十六年

初，衛宣公烝於夷姜，生急子，屬諸右公子，為之娶於齊而美，公取之，生壽，及朔，屬壽於左公子，夷姜縊，宣姜與公子朔構急子，公使諸齊，使盜待諸莘，將殺之，壽子告之，使行，不可，曰，棄父之命，惡用子矣，有無父之國則可也，及行，飲以酒，壽子載其旌以先，盜殺之，急子至曰，我之求也，此何罪，請殺我乎，又殺之，二公子故怨惠公，十一月，左公子洩，右公子職，立公子黔牟，惠公奔齊。

Long before this, duke Xuan of Wei had committed incest with Yi Jiang, the produce of which was Jizi, the charge of whom he entrusted to Zhu, his father's son by the occupant of the right of the harem. In course of time, he made an engagement for Jizi with one of the princesses of Qi, but took her to himself in consequence of her beauty. She gave birth to two sons, Shou and Shuo, the former of whom he gave in charge to his father's son by the occupant of the left of the harem. Yi Jiang strangled herself; and Xuan Jiang and Shuo plotted against Jizi, till the duke sent him on a mission to Qi, employing ruffians to wait for him at Xin, and put him to death. Shou told Jizi of the scheme, and urged him to go to some other state; but he refused, saying, "If I disobey my father's command, how can I use the name of son? If there were any State without fathers, I might go there." As he was about to set out, Shou made him drunk, took his flag, and went on before him. The ruffians killed him, and then came Jizi, crying out "It was I whom ye sought? What crime had he? Please kill me." The ruffians killed him also. On this account, the two brothers of Xuan cherished resentment against duke Hui and raised Quanmou to the marquisate, when Hui fled to Qi.

Vocabulary