夫聖人不欲強暴侵陵百姓,故使諸侯死國,守其民。
Why then was Tai-wang18 ready to give up his state?
A sage, as is generally recognized, does not want the people to suffer violence and oppression, so he will call upon the rulers of states to die for their states so as to protect their people.
太王有至仁之恩,不忍戰百姓,故事勳育戎氏以犬馬珍幣,而伐不止。
Tai-wang was endowed with the kindness of a supremely empathetic human being; he could not bear to expose the Hundred Clans to warfare, so he was willing to act as a vassal to the Xuanyu19 and the Rong, and to give them dogs, horses, and precious items as gifts, but they continued to attack without cease.
問其所欲者,土地也。
When he asked what they wanted, they said they wanted territory.
Tai-wang thereupon assembled the officers and elders of Zhou and made a proclamation to them, saying, “Territory is what is used to give nurture to a people.
於是屬其群臣耆老而告之曰:「土地者,所以養人也,不以所以養而害其養也,吾將去之。」
I am not willing to use that which gives nurture to the people as a pretext for harming their nurture.
I am going to go elsewhere.