詔以韓客之所上書，書言韓子之未可舉，下臣斯，臣斯甚以為不然。秦之有韓，若人之有腹心之病也，虛處則㤥然，若居濕地，著而不去，以極走則發矣。夫韓雖臣於秦，未嘗不為秦病，今若有卒報之事，韓不可信也。秦與趙為難，荊蘇使齊，未知何如？以臣觀之，則齊、趙之交未必以荊蘇絕也；若不絕，是悉趙而應二萬乘也。夫韓不服秦之義，而服於強也。今專於齊、趙，則韓必為腹心之病而發矣。韓與荊有謀，諸侯應之，則秦必復見崤塞之患。

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Our guest from Han[1] was invited to submit a memorial. This memorial, in which he asserts that Han's territory should not yet be unified with our own[2], has been handed down to your servant Si, who believes this not to be the case[3]. Han is to Qin as a sickness is to a person's stomach. When calm and still he simply feels uncomfortable, like one who is sitting on damp and muddy ground and cannot escape it. When he runs as fast as he can, however, his trouble makes itself readily apparent. Even when serving Qin, Han has never been anything other than a tumor in our body politic[4]. The moment it gets news of anything being plotted, it can no longer be trusted. In the course of our troubles with Zhao we have sent Jing Su[5] as an envoy to Qi, and who knows what the outcome will be? As your servant sees it, Jing Su has not yet succeeded in severing of the relations between Qi and Zhao, and if this does not happen we will have to raise a force capable of responding to twenty thousand chariots[6]. Because Han submits to us on account of our strength rather than out of belief in our cause, it will now give itself over to Qi and Zhao, and our old complaint will recur once more. Han and Jing[7] will begin plotting together, the sovereign lords will respond to this, and Qin will see a return of its old troubles at the Xiao Pass[8].   

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非之來也，未必不以其能存韓也，為重於韓也。辯說屬辭，飾非詐謀，以釣利於秦，而以韓利闚陛下。夫秦、韓之交親，則非重矣，此自便之計也。

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Fei has come here, but it far from apparent that he did not do so in order to exercise his abilities to preserve Han and thereby increase his own importance there[9]. His dialectic persuasions and well-marshaled phrases serve only to embellish his deceit and make his proposals a more appetising bait, holding out an arrangement with Han as a pretext to spy upon Your Majesty. When Qin and Han's relations grow closer, Fei's own importance will increase. Thus he schemes to his own advantage. 

 

臣視非之言，文其淫說，靡辯才甚。臣恐陛下淫非之辯而聽其盜心，因不詳察事情。今以臣愚議：秦發兵而未名所伐，則韓之用事者，以事秦為計矣。臣斯請往見韓王，使來入見，大王見、因內其身而勿遣，稍召其社稷之臣，以與韓人為市，則韓可深割也。因令象武發東郡之卒，闚兵於境上而未名所之，則齊人懼而從蘇之計，是我兵未出而勁韓以威擒，強齊以義從矣。聞於諸侯也，趙氏破膽，荊人狐疑，必有忠計。荊人不動，魏不足患也，則諸侯可蠶食而盡，趙氏可得與敵矣。願陛下幸察愚臣之計，無忽。  

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Having heard him speak, embroidering his corrupt arguments and laying out his sparkling sophistry, I am afraid that Your Majesty will be beguiled by his reasoning and pay attention to his corrupt desires, omitting as a result to pay proper attention to these affairs. Your servant humbly suggests the following: if Qin dispatches troops but refrains from specifying their target, then Han will become serviceable once more and aid Qin in prosecuting this stratagem. I beg permission to seek an audience with the King of Han[10]. I will have him come and visit you. On the pretext of meeting him, you can bring him to Qin in person and prevent him from leaving. Then summon some of the servants of Han's altars of earth and grain[11] and use him as a bargaining chip with which to negotiate with them[12]. Thus we can cut ever more deeply into Han's territory. Then you can dispatch Meng Wu[13] with troops raised in Dong Commandery[14] to stand guard on the border, again without specifying their destination. Qi's partisans will be terrified and follow Su's strategies. This being so, even before our troops have left our borders we will strong-arm and entrap Han with our power, threatening Qi and entangling it in our cause. When this is heard of among the sovereign lords, it will break the Zhao clan's courage and leave Jing wavering; they will have to adopt a strategy of loyalty to Qin. If Jing's partisans do not move, there will be nothing to vex Wei and we will be able to nibble away at the states of the sovereign lords like a silkworm until they are all gone. Then we will equal the Zhao clan. I hope Your Majesty will favour my plan with some consideration and not neglect it.

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[1] Han Fei, a legalist author and junior member of the Han royal house who had seemingly studied under Xunzi with Li Si, and was invited to Qin after King Zheng had read and been impressed by his essays. The memorial he submitted can be found here, and provides useful context for this speech/essay.

[2] Reading 書言韓之未可舉 for 書言韓子之未可舉 here, following Ota.

[3] There is some dispute over whether the 下 belongs to the previous clause or to this one, and whether 臣斯 should be repeated or not. This does not significantly affect the meaning.

[4] Medical similes are always difficult to parse, as many of the folk beliefs upon which they seem to have been based have been lost. This may be a reference to heart trouble, and any or all segments may be purely idiomatic.

[5] This person is not otherwise well-known.

[6] I.e. both Qi and Zhao will retaliate against Qin for its incursions. Reading 秦 for 趙 here, following Liao.

[7] I.e. Chu.

[8] Mount Xiao was on the border between Qin and Chu at the time, it is now in Henan.

[9] Gao suggests 求重 for 為重 here.

[10] King An of Han (238-230 BCE) was the last King of Han.

[11] I.e. government ministers.

[12] Qin had tried this successfully with Chu in the past.

[13] Reading 蒙武 for 象武. Meng Wu was a member of a celebrated Qin military dynasty, being the son of Meng Ao and the father of Meng Tian.

[14] In the vicinity of modern Puyang, Henan.