非才之難，所以自用者實難。惜乎！賈生，王者之佐，而不能自用其才也。

One is not hard to own facility for doing things, but it is hard to display it by oneself.  What a shame for Jia Yi, though he owns talents to be a capable and close assistant to the emperor, he has never had the chance to prove them. 

夫君子之所取者遠，則必有所待；所就者大，則必有所忍。古之賢人，皆負可致之才，而卒不能行其萬一者，未必皆其時君之罪，或者其自取也。

A would-be big man who wants to realize his long-term ambition must wait for golden opportunities, and he must endure the long wait as to achieve a great feat.  Many sagacious and capable men in ancient time have been given opportunities towards success, but eventually only a very few of them could gain a chance to display their talents.  They cannot just blame it on monarchy on the throne; sometimes it may be because of their own fault. 

愚觀賈生之論，如其所言，雖三代何以遠過？得君如漢文，猶且以不用死。然則是天下無堯、舜，終不可有所為耶？仲尼聖人，歷試於天下，苟非大無道之國，皆欲勉強扶持，庶幾一日得行其道。將之荊，先之以冉有，申之以子夏。君子之欲得其君，如此其勤也。孟子去齊，三宿而後出晝，猶曰：“王其庶幾召我。”君子之不忍棄其君，如此其厚也。公孫丑問曰：“夫子何為不豫？”孟子曰：“方今天下，捨我其誰哉？而吾何為不豫？”君子之愛其身，如此其至也。夫如此而不用，然後知天下果不足與有為，而可以無憾矣。若賈生者，非漢文之不能用生，生之不能用漢文也

Should the proposals of Jia Yi be implemented, as I see it, Han will achieve a greater feat than even the legendary three dynasties of ancient time.  He has met a sagacious emperor Wen, still he cannot put his plans into effect and dies with deep regrets.  If this is true, does anyone who owns talents cannot fulfill his idea until must he meet a more sagacious emperor like Yao or Shun?  Confucius, the saint, had tried hard to fulfill his political ideals someday by touring around the nations, seeking opportunities to help those dukes, earls, unless they were too impossible to be dealt with.  Before Confucius reached to Chu, he sent Ranyou to do much preparatory work, then sent Zixia to coordinate some details, greatly showing his diligence and prospect in his mission of serving an ambitious master.  Mencius stayed at Zhou for three more days before he left Qi.  Even so, he still said, "King Xuan of Qi shall summon me." and " With deep devotion, a genuine man like me should not desert a promising master, even reluctantly."  Gongsun Chou then asked Mencius why was he unhappy about his being treated like this.  He replied, " Except me, is there anyone who possesses real politic capabilities?  Why should I be unhappy about it?"  A genuine  gentleman who cherishes his own fame and talent to the extent like this,  still he cannot find a true master to serve, then he must know his lofty ideals are unable to be realized under the recourse of any master in this whole wide world, from which he will be left with no regret at all.  Take Jia Yi as an example, it is not necessarily that Emperor Wen cannot use his talents; instead, it is Jia Yi himself cannot make the emperor use him to realize his ideals!         

夫絳侯親握天子璽而授之文帝，灌嬰連兵數十萬，以決劉、呂之雌雄，又皆高帝之舊將，此其君臣相得之分，豈特父子骨肉手足哉？賈生，洛陽之少年。欲使其一朝之間，盡棄其舊而謀其新，亦已難矣。為賈生者，上得其君，下得其大臣，如絳、灌之屬，優遊浸漬而深交之，使天子不疑，大臣不忌，然後舉天下而唯吾之所欲為，不過十年，可以得志。安有立談之間，而遽為人“痛哭”哉！觀其過湘為賦以吊屈原，紆鬱憤悶，趯然有遠舉之志。其後以自傷哭泣，至於夭絕。是亦不善處窮者也。夫謀之一不見用，則安知終不復用也？不知默默以待其變，而自殘至此。嗚呼！賈生志大而量小，才有餘而識不足也。

From the story that Gen. Zhou Bo who submitted the royal seal to Emperor Wen in person and Gen. Guan Ying united several hundred thousand anti-Empress Lu armies to fight for Han Dynasty, we can see both of them are old subjects pertaining to late Emperor Gao.  This reflects the solid tie of affinity between the emperor and the subjects, which has surpassed the relationship among next-of-kins of royal family.  It is tough decision to make for Emperor Wen to adopt the new systems suggested by Jia Yi, a young man from Luoyang, and abolish the existing ones.  An ambitious man like Jia Yi should gain the confidence from emperor first, and then the supports of top-ranking officers.  He should also get along with the pillars of state like Zhou Bo and Guan Ying, gradually and leisurely.  In so doing, he could make emperor not suspicious of him, while other higher peers not envious of him; and then the whole country will be run according to his proposal without much ado.  In less than ten years, he could realize his ideals.  But why did he suddenly wail when he conversed with others?  See him write verses in memory of the great poet Qu Yuan, trying to relieve his pent-up blues, but also carrying an air of seclusion.  Later, he continued living a life of melancholy and tears until he died young.  O he is really a man who cannot accommodate himself to the adverse situation.  The emperor does not adopt his plan, but who knows his plans will be rejected all the time?  Doesn’t he know he should wait patiently and silently for the good timing for his next step; regretfully, he abandons himself to a state of self-abuse.  Alas!  Jia Yi is really a man of great ambition but with a narrow-minded thought, having enough talents but lacking knowledgeable savvy.             

古之人，有高世之才，必有遺俗之累。是故非聰明睿智不惑之主，則不能全其用。古今稱苻堅得王猛於草茅之中，一朝盡斥去其舊臣，而與之謀。彼其匹夫略有天下之半，其以此哉！愚深悲生之志，故備論之。亦使人君得如賈生之臣，則知其有狷介之操，一不見用，則憂傷病沮，不能復振。而為賈生者，亦謹其所發哉！

Before our time, any talent with eminent facility must have had trouble of being compatible with existing social ambience.  Therefore, without an insightful monarchy on top, those talents are hard finding a way to bend their mind to serving the country.  Throughout history, people all praise Emperor Fu Jian the great could expel all his subjects in a short period of time and use Wang Meng, an ordinary civilian out of nowhere.  The emperor consults nobody but Wang for all important things concerning the nation.  That tells why Fu Jian, a single-handed person, could conquer half of then China.  It is lamentable to me that Jia Yi could not get a chance to realize his aspiration, so I make an in-depth critic here about him.  In the meanwhile, I would like to tell all monarchies to understand that some of their subjects may possess a haughty and unsociable personality like Jia Yi.  Once those kinds of his subjects do not have opportunities to be used, they may feel extremely dejected and may not regain their vigor.  A man like Jia Yi should find a right channel to vent his emotion, not just on himself!