Full-text translation of the ancient Chinese prose "Maxima takes Bole as a bosom friend"

Bole comes first, then swift horse. There are often swift horses, but Bole is not often. So even if there are precious horses, they are only humiliated by servants and die in the trough with ordinary horses. They are not called swift horses.

A horse that walks thousands of miles a day can sometimes eat a stone of grain. The people who feed the horse don't know that it can walk thousands of miles every day and feed it like an ordinary horse. Although such a horse has the ability to travel thousands of miles a day, its food intake and physical strength are insufficient, and its talents and virtues cannot be displayed outside. If you want to be an ordinary horse, you can't do it. How can you ask it to travel thousands of miles?

If you don't whip the swift horse in the right way to drive it away, you can't do your best to feed it. When you hear the neigh of a swift horse, you can't understand it. You face it with a whip and say, "There is no swift horse in the world!" Alas, is there really no maxima? Probably I really don't know Maxima!

Source: Han Yu's Miscellaneous Notes on Four Ma Shuo in Tang Dynasty

There are Bole and Maxima in the world. A thousand miles away, there are not many boles. Therefore, although there is a famous horse, it is only humiliated by a slave, and it is not called a thousand miles to die in a trough.

A horse can travel thousands of miles, and a stone can eat it all. People who eat horses don't know that they can travel thousands of miles and still eat. This is a horse. Although it has the ability to travel thousands of miles, it looks beautiful only because of lack of food and physical strength, and it is impossible to wait with an ordinary horse. Why not ask it to travel thousands of miles?

If you don't follow the way, you can't make the best use of it, but if you sing it, you can't understand its meaning. If it is implemented, we must face it and say, "There are no horses in the world!" Oh! Is it really innocent? I really don't understand horses!

In this paper, Bole is compared to a monarch who knows people and is good at his duties, and Maxima is compared to an undiscovered real talent. The reasons for burying talents in feudal society are expounded, and the social phenomenon that rulers don't know and destroy talents is attacked. The author hopes that the rulers can identify and reuse talents so that they can give full play to their talents.

Thoughts and feelings (the central theme) express the author's feelings and aspirations for talents, and his resentment and accusation against the rulers for burying and destroying talents.

Extended data:

Ma Shuo was written in the 11th year of Zhenyuan (795) to the 16th year (800). At that time, Han Yuchu's career was unsuccessful. I wrote to the Prime Minister three times to ask for permission, and as a result, I was on standby for more than 40 days, but my ambition couldn't get through and I couldn't talk about it. Despite this, Han Yu declared that he was "concerned about the country and the people" and would not hide in the mountains.

Attached to the curtain of Dong Jin, the ambassador of Xuanwu, and Zhang Jian, the ambassador of Wuning, it was not adopted. Later, they were attached to some scenes of our time. In addition, the traitors in the DPRK are in power and the politics is dark, so talents are ignored and frustrated.

Han Yu was an advocate of the ancient prose movement in the Tang Dynasty, and was respected by later generations as the head of the eight masters in the Tang and Song Dynasties. He and Liu Zongyuan are also called "Liu Han", and they are known as "great writers" and "one hundred generations of literators". Later generations, together with Liu Zongyuan, Ouyang Xiu and Su Shi, are also called "the four great writers of the ages".

His prose writing theories, such as "the unity of literature and Taoism", "moderation in speech", "doing good deeds" and "having a proper speech", have important guiding significance for future generations. He is the author of The Collection of Han Changli.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Ma Shuo