On the Seven Worthies七賢說
先輩有以文名世者某某等七人。自以爲一時豪俊。遂相與爲七賢。蓋慕晉之七賢也。每相會。飮酒賦詩。旁若無人。世多譏之。然後稍沮。時予年方十九。吳德全許爲忘年友。每携詣其會。其後德全遊東都。予復詣其會。李淸卿目予曰。子之德全。東遊不返。子可補耶。予立應曰。七賢豈朝廷官爵。而補其闕耶。未聞嵇，阮之後有承之者。闔座皆大笑。又使之賦詩。占春人二字。予立成口號曰。榮參竹下會。快倒甕中春。未識七賢內。誰爲鑽核人。一座頗有慍色。卽傲然大醉而出。予少狂如此。世人皆目以爲狂客也。
Among my seniors there were seven men, so-and-so and so-and-so, known in the world for their writing. Taking themselves for the heroes of their age, they went on to form together the Seven Worthies (七賢), in emulation, it seems, of the Seven Worthies of Jin (晉). Whenever they met they drank wine and made poems as though no one were beside them, and the world blamed them much for it. Only after that did they grow a little subdued.
At that time I was nineteen, and O Deokjeon allowed me for a friend across the years and always took me along to their gathering. Later, when Deokjeon went off to roam in Dongdo (東都), I went to the gathering again, and Yi Cheonggyeong (李淸卿) looked at me and said, 「Your Deokjeon has gone roaming east and does not return; can you fill his place?」 I answered on the spot, 「Are the Seven Worthies offices of the court, that their vacancies should be filled? I have not heard that after Ji Kang and Ruan Ji there was anyone who carried it on.」 The whole company burst out laughing.
Then they had me make a poem, setting the two characters chun (春, spring) and in (人, man) for the rhymes, and standing where I was I made this impromptu piece:
Honored, I join the gathering beneath the bamboo, and gladly tip the spring wine out of the jar. I do not know, among the Seven Worthies, which is the man that bores the kernel.
The whole company had no little displeasure in their faces. I at once, in my arrogance, got thoroughly drunk and went out. Such was my madness when I was young, and so the people of the world all marked me down for a mad guest.