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| Scope: Autobiography Request type: Paragraph |
| Condition 1: Contains text "按古太公望近董仲舒傳作書篇百有餘吾書亦纔出百而云泰多蓋謂所以出者微觀讀之者不能不譴呵也" Matched:1. |
| Total 1 paragraphs. Page 1 of 1. |
《自紀 - Autobiography》 | English translation: Albert Forke [?] | Library Resources |
| 11 | 自紀: | 充書文重。或曰：「文貴約而指通，言尚省而趍明。辯士之言要而達，文人之辭寡而章。今所作新書，出萬言，繁不省，則讀者不能盡；篇非一，則傳者不能領。被躁人之名，以多為不善。語約易言，文重難得。玉少石多，多者不為珍；龍少魚眾，少者固為神。」荅曰：有是言也。蓋寡言無多；而華文無寡。為世用者，百篇無害；不為用者，一章無補。如皆為用，則多者為上，少者為下。累積千金，比於一百，孰為富者？蓋文多勝寡，財寡愈貧。世無一卷，吾有百篇；人無一字，吾有萬言，孰者為賢？今不曰所言非，而云泰多；不曰世不好善，而云不能領，斯蓋吾書所以不得省也。夫宅舍多，土地不得小；戶口眾，簿籍不得少。今失實之事多，華虛之語眾，指實定宜，辯爭之言，安得約徑？韓非之書，一條無異，篇以十第，文以萬數。夫形大，衣不得褊；事眾，文不得褊。事眾文饒，水大魚多。帝都穀多，王市肩磨。書雖文重，所論百種。按古太公望，近董仲舒，傳作書篇百有餘，吾書亦纔出百，而云泰多，蓋謂所以出者微，觀讀之者不能不譴呵也。河水沛沛，比夫眾川，孰者為大？蟲蠒重厚，稱其出絲，孰為多者？ |
| Autobiography: |
Wang Chong's book is very voluminous. Some say that in writing the chief thing is to be brief and clear, and that in speaking one must be short and plain. The words of a good debater are succinct, but to the point, the style of a good writer is concise, but perspicuous. Now Wang Chong's new work contains more than ten thousand sentences. For a reader it is impossible to work through such an enormous mass, and there are so many chapters, that they cannot all be transmitted. The author of so much bad stuff may well be called a fool. Short sentences are easy to enunciate, whereas a bulky work presents great difficulties. Gems are few, stones many; that which occurs in great number, is not precious. Dragons are rare, fish numerous; that which is of rare occurence, is justly deemed divine. I admit that there is such a saying. Concise language is not long, but beautiful language must not be concise. If they are useful to the world, a hundred chapters do no harm, while one paragraph, if useless, may be superfluous. If there are several things, all useful, the longer rank before the shorter. Who is richer, he who has piled up a thousand chin, or he who possesses a hundred? Longer works are preferable to shorter ones, and a small amount of wealth is better than poverty. Most people have not a single book, I possess a hundred chapters: others have not one character, I have more than ten thousand sentences. Who is the cleverer? Now they do not say that my words are wrong, but that they are too many; they do not say that the world does not like good things, but that it cannot take them all in. The reason why my book cannot be so concise is that for building many houses a small ground would not be sufficient, and that for the registration of a large populace few registers would be inadequate. At present, the errors are so many, that the words necessary to point out the truth, show what is right, and controvert what is false, cannot well be brief and succinct. Han Fei Zi's work is like the branch of a tree. The chapters are joined together by tens, and the sentences count by ten thousands. For a large body the dress cannot be narrow, and if there be many subjects, the text must not be too summary. A great variety of subjects requires abundance of words. In a large extent of water, there are many fish, in an emperor's capital, there is plenty of grain, and on the market of a metropolis, there is a throng of people. My book may be voluminous, but the subjects treated are manifold. Tai Gong Wang in ancient times and recently Dong Zhong Shu produced books containing more than a hundred chapters. My book also contains more than a hundred chapters. Those who contend that they are too many, only mean to say that the author is of low origin, and that the readers cannot but take exception to it. When we compare a river, whose waters overflow the banks, with others, which is the biggest? And, when the cocoons of a certain species of worms are especially heavy and big, which worms yield most silk? |
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