赵太后新用事，秦急攻之。赵氏求救于齐。齐曰：“必以长 安君为质，兵乃出。”太后不肯，大臣强谏。太后明谓左右：“有复言令长安君为质者，老妇必唾其面。”
左师触龙言愿见太后。太后盛气而揖之。入而徐趋，至而自谢，曰：“老臣病足，曾不能疾走，不得见久矣，窃自恕，而恐太后玉体之有所郄也，故愿望见太后。”太后曰：“老妇恃辇而行。”曰：“日食饮得无衰乎？”曰：“恃鬻耳。”曰：“老臣今者殊不欲食，乃自强步，日三四里，少益耆食，和于身也。”太后曰：“老妇不能。”太后之色少解。
左师公曰：“老臣贱息舒祺，最少，不肖。而臣衰，窃爱怜之。愿令得补黑衣之数，以卫王宫。没死以闻。”太后曰：“敬诺。年几何矣？”对曰：“十五岁矣。虽少，愿及未填沟壑而托之。”太后曰：“丈夫亦爱怜其少子乎？”对曰：“甚于妇人。”太后笑曰：“妇人异甚。”对曰：“老臣窃以为媪之爱燕后贤于长安君。”曰：“君过矣，不若长安君之甚。”左师公曰：“父母之爱子，则为之计深远。媪之送燕后也，持其踵为之泣，念悲其远也，亦哀之矣。已行，非弗思也，祭祀必祝之，祝曰：‘必勿使反!’岂非计久长，有子孙相继为王也哉？”太后曰：“然。”
左师公曰：“今三世以前，至于赵之为赵，赵主之子孙侯者，其继有在者乎？”曰：“无有。”曰：“微独赵，诸侯有在者乎？”曰：“老妇不闻也。”“此其近者祸及身，远者及其子孙。岂人主之子孙则必不善哉？位尊而无功，奉厚而无劳，而挟重器多也。今媪尊长安君之位，而封之以膏腴之地，多予之重器，而不及今令有功于国。一旦山陵崩，长安君何以自托于赵？老臣以媪为长安君计短也，故以为其爱不若燕后。”太后曰：“诺。恣君之所使之。”于是为长安君约车百乘质于齐，齐兵乃出。
子义闻之曰：“人主之子也，骨肉之亲也，犹不能恃无功之尊，无劳之奉，而守金玉之重也，而况人臣乎？”
中文注释见：（http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a795440b0101i6p5.html）
谢百魁 译:
How the Queen Dowager of Zhao Was Persuaded by Chulong
When the Queen Dowager of Zhao just began to assume regency, Zhao was furiously attacked by Qin. It sought succor from Qi, which demanded that Prince Chang’an be held as a hostage before the dispatch of its troops. The Queen Dowager rejected this term, while the important ministers strongly expostulated with her. However, she warned them unequivocally, “If anyone demands again that Prince Chang’an be held as a hostage, I will spit in his face!”
Minister Chulong having expressed his wish to be given an audience, the Queen Dowager received him with resentful haughtiness. Chulong had come in slowly, but with hastening steps. When he approached Her Highness, he apologized, “I have a sore foot and cannot go fast. It is a long time since I saw you last. But I beg to excuse myself for being so remiss. As I feared lest Your Highness should be unwell, so I besought you to give me an audience.”
“Being an old woman, I can only go by chariot,” the Queen Dowager said.
“I hope you have not reduced your diet?” he added.
“I only take porridge,” she replied.
“Recently I have a rather poor appetite,” he continued. “But I force myself to take a daily walk of three or four li, which has somewhat improved it. Now I feel quite fit.”
“But I cannot afford to do the same,” she said. At this the Queen Dowager relaxed a little her strained countenance.
Chulong remarked, “My son Shuqi, the youngest, is quite unworthy. As I am advanced in age, I have a sneaking love for him and wish to have him enlist in the royal guard to protect the palace. So I run the risk of death to make it known to Your Highness.”
“Well then,” said the Queen Dowager. “How old is he now?”
“Fifteen,” answered he. “Since he is still child, I hope to put him in your charge before I die.”
“Does a man also love his youngest son?” the Queen Dowager asked with some bewilderment.
“More so than a woman,” he answered.
“There is no comparing a man with a woman,” she rejoined.
Then he followed up with his remark: “I thought to myself that you love the Princess, the Queen of Yan, more than Prince Chang’an.”
“You are wrong,” she denied. “I love her far less than Prince Chang’an.”
And he continued, “The love of parents for children should manifest itself in providing for their future with deep and far-sighted deliberation. When you were seeing off the princess, the Queen of Yan, you followed on her heels with sobs and tears, thinking that she was going to a distant place, and your grief was great indeed! After she had gone, you did not cease your longing, and must pray for her at the sacrifice: ‘Heaven forbid that she should return.’ Was it not a far-sighted calculation on her account, in the hope that she would have offspring to succeed to the throne of Yan?”
“Yes indeed,” said the Queen Dowager.
Chulong went on to say: “Three generations ago, the Zhaos set up the State of Zhao, the offspring of the King of Zhao were granted principalities. But are there any of their heirs remaining in the world?”
The answer was “None at all.”
“Apart from Zhao, do you know if any other principalities have survived?” asked he.
“Not that I know of,” she replied.
“Why, it’s because disasters befall the rulers themselves at the earliest, and overtake their distant posterity at the latest,” Chulong pursued. “Could it be that sovereigns are bound to have unworthy offspring? No. It was because they had exalted positions obtained without their merits and rich remunerations acquired without their labor, possessing in addition all sorts of rare valuables. As Your Highness conferred upon Prince Chang’an the highest status and granted him fertile land and rare valuables, yet did not cause him to win merits for the State, how could the Prince stand on his own feet in Zhao once Your Highness passes away? In my humble opinion, you have only made short-sighted provision for Prince Chang’an. That was why I said you did not love him as much as the Queen of Yan.”
“Well said,” the Queen Dowager concluded. “Please do with him as you think fit.”
Accordingly, some one hundred chariots were prepared to send Prince Chang’an to Qi as hostage, and succor soon arrived from that country.
Ziyi, a sage of Zhao, remarked: “Even the son of a sovereign, her own flesh and blood, should not be allowed to maintain his exalted position by presuming on his dignity acquired without his merits and rich remunerations obtained without his labor, how much less should people who are merely humble subjects?”
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