Yuan Dynasty
蟾宫曲·叹世
马致远
咸阳百二山河，
两字功名，几阵干戈。
项废东吴，刘兴西蜀，梦说南柯。
韩信功兀的般证果，
蒯通言那里是风魔。
成也萧何，败也萧何。
醉了由他。
Translation
Xianyang had mountains and rivers strong enough to defend an empire. Yet the two words “fame and merit” only brought battles and war. Xiang Yu fell; Liu Bang rose; in hindsight, it all seems like a Nanke dream. Han Xin achieved such greatness—yet what did it finally prove? Kuai Tong’s words were not madness after all. Success came through Xiao He; ruin came through Xiao He. Then let it be—if one is drunk, let one be drunk.
Analysis
This lyric is a sharp meditation on fame, power, and historical irony. Ma Zhiyuan compresses the rise and fall of Qin and Han figures into a few lines. Xiang Yu, Liu Bang, Han Xin, Kuai Tong, and Xiao He become examples of the same pattern: ambition rises, power shifts, and merit turns dangerous. The line “Success came through Xiao He; ruin came through Xiao He” is the center of the song. It suggests that worldly success is bound to unstable political structures. The final turn toward drunkenness is not merely hedonistic; it is a weary withdrawal from the cycle of power.