A Record of the Cross-Shaped Pavilion (十字閣) of Choe, Transmitter of Edicts (承制)崔承制十字閣記
承制尙書崔公立閣于甲第之西。奇哉異乎。實人間所未嘗見也。大抵作屋之制。不過橫其梁縱其棟。楶而梲之。椽而桷之。如是而已耳。今此閣也。楞四角如十字。而其中則方如井焉。類世所謂帳廬者。故以十字名之。方井之內。悉以明鏡塡之。光明照耀。洞徹表裏。凡人物之洪纖巨細。一變一態。皆瀉于其中。仰之可駭也。有若飛甍曲枅。層櫨疊梠。皆夭矯橫出。杈枒斜據。或若螭騰。或類鳳翥。殊形詭制。每各異觀。雖隷首算之。茫乎惘乎。棄其籌而莫數也。其髤彤漆綠雕綵之飾。則赫赩璀璨。霞駮雲蔚。或如明月之流光。或若繁星之布彩。雖離婁見之。眩眩晃晃。奪其睛而莫敢仰視也。未知木經尙有如此制度否。且古亦有豪門巨閥富貴之熏天者。非長材異木之獨產於今而不產於古也。良工巧匠之若正爾般倕者。亦無代無之。何曠古未曾聞臺榭觀游之若此其奇。而乃今日始見之耶。此豈公之眼匠心籌。敻出於古人之所未到歟。雖世之公侯卿相欲效而營之也。略不得髣髴矣。假如能營。其保之也愈難矣。何則。功未積於王室。澤未冾於生民。一旦遽有觀游之泰過其分。則適爲身之累耳。安得而保之哉。今崔公生積善之門。擁傾朝之望。定策安邦之烈。炳炳與日月爭明。陰施顯德之浹人之肌膚也滋深。則天地神明亦相之矣。庸有累於身。而又焉往而不保哉。一昨。公召予謂日。子覩夫玆閣而未識玆閣之樂也。若夫和風澹蕩。桃杏齊坼。吾與珥蟬腰龜者揖讓。坐於龍鬚之席。員案綺錯。金鍾羽飛。東吳絶艶。南國佳人。撫絃而淸泉激。唱歌而行雲遏。香風蘭澤。噴散數十里。而與花柳爭芳。此予之有得於春也。南火之月。盛暑方蒸。北戶洞開。淸風颯來。深閣自陰。日光不窺。環以寒氷。交以大箑。申之以靑松翠柏。供美蔭送淸籟。凄涼如八九月天。不知人間有流金爍石之炎也。此予之有得於夏也。若秋冬之候。則有溫閨燠館在焉。閣之餉予樂如此。而予無以報於閣者。但欲以華文麗詞署諸上。用爲閣之榮。子可當乎。予讓不獲已。乃言於公曰。此誠公之樂也。然擧其外而言之耳。其所自得於內者。浩浩乎若江海之無涯。蕩蕩乎如天地之莫極。日月所不老。神鬼所不覷。非若僕輩之所能測度而形乎筆翰者也。然公之命嚴矣。予亦敢不擧其粗而敍之。以應公所得於外者耶。其所自得於內者。必待能文之士發其粹而形容之備者。予何足以當之哉。直翰林院李某記。
Duke Choe, Minister and Transmitter of Edicts (承制尙書), has set up a pavilion to the west of his house. It is strange; it is wonderful. In truth it is a thing not yet seen in the world of men.
Now the fashion of building a house goes no further than laying its beams crosswise and its ridgepole lengthwise, setting the brackets and raising the short king-posts, hanging the rafters and fitting the flying rafters. It is only thus. But this pavilion has its four corners square like the character for ten (十), and its middle is square like the character for a well (井), so that it is something like what the world calls a tent house. Therefore it is named for 「the character ten」 (十字).
The inside of the square well is all filled in with bright mirrors, so that the light shines clear and pierces through outside and inside. All things, men and objects, great and fine, large and small, at every single change and every posture they make, are poured into the midst of it, so that to look up at it is startling. The flying ridge and the curved brackets, the tiered capital blocks and the doubled eaves, all wind out crosswise and branch away and set themselves at a slant. Some seem like a serpent climbing and some like a phoenix flying up, and the uncommon shapes and the strange fashionings are each different at every looking. Though Lishou (隷首) himself should count them, he would be lost and dazed and would throw down his counting rods and be unable to count them.
The adornment of red paint and green lacquer and carved coloring is bright and brilliant, as though the sunset glow were dappled and the clouds were thick. Some of it is like the bright moon spilling its light and some like the stars spreading out their patterns, so that though Lilou (離婁) himself should look at it, he would grow dizzy and dazzled and have his pupils taken from him and would not dare look up. I do not know whether such a fashion is in the carpenters' canon either.
And in olden times too there were men of powerful houses whose wealth and rank scorched the sky. It is not that long timbers and uncommon trees come forth now only and did not come forth of old, and master artisans and skillful carpenters such as Wang Er (王爾) and Ban Chui (般倕) were likewise not wanting in any age. How is it, then, that in all the long ages past one never heard of a tower or a pavilion as strange as this, and sees it only now? How should this not be that what the Duke measured with his eye and counted with his mind came out from a place the men of old did not reach?
Though the dukes and the marquises and the ministers of the world should try to model it and build the like, they could not make it in the least the same. And even if they could build it, it would be the harder to keep. Why so? If a man's merit is not heaped up in the royal house and his bounty does not reach the people, and yet in a single morning his roaming and viewing suddenly go beyond his portion, it only becomes a fault in his own person; and how should he be able to keep it?
Now Duke Choe comes of a house that has heaped up goodness, and he holds the fame toward which the whole court leans and looks up. His merit in fixing the plan and setting the state at peace is bright and bright and contends in brightness with the sun and the moon; and his giving in secret and his open practice of virtue soak the deeper into men's very skin, so that heaven and earth and the bright spirits help him as well. How should there be any fault in his person, and where should he go and not be able to keep it?
The other day the Duke called me and said: 「You have seen this pavilion, but you do not know the pleasures of this pavilion. When the balmy wind stirs softly and the peach and the apricot open all together, I bow and yield place with those in cicada caps and tortoise seal-cords, and we sit upon mats of dragon-beard rush (龍鬚). Round tables are mingled like brocade and golden bells fly like feathers. The excellent beauties of Dongwu (東吳) and the fair ones of the southern country stroke the strings, and a clear spring gushes up; they raise a song, and the thin clouds halt. Fragrant winds and oil of orchid are breathed and scattered for some tens of li and contend in fragrance with the flowers and the willows. This is what I get from spring.
In the month of the southern fire, when the sultry heat is just steaming, I throw the northern door wide open and a clear wind comes coolly in, and the deep pavilion is shaded of itself so that the sunlight cannot peep in. I set cold ice about me and cross great fans, and add to that the green pine and the nut pine, which give fair shade and send clear sound. It is as cool as the sky of the eighth or the ninth month, and one does not know that there is in the world of men a heat that melts metal and burns stone. This is what I get from summer. And in the seasons of autumn and winter there are warm rooms and heated chambers.
Such are the pleasures with which the pavilion feeds me, and I have nothing with which to repay the pavilion. I would only have splendid writing and fine words written upon it and make that the pavilion's glory: can you undertake it?」
I declined and could not get free, and so I said to the Duke: 「These are truly your pleasures. But it is only their outside that you have raised and spoken of. What you have got of yourself within is broad and broad as though river and sea had no shore, and wide and wide as though heaven and earth had no end. The sun and the moon cannot make it old, and the spirits cannot peep at it; it is not what such as I can reckon and set forth at the tip of a brush. Yet since your command is strict, shall I too not make bold to raise and unfold its coarse part and answer what you have got from outside? What you have got of yourself within must wait for a scholar good at writing to bring out its essence and give it full form; how should I be ample to undertake that?」
Written by one Yi, Attendant of the Hallim Academy (直翰林院).
Interlinear notes 1
晉康侯元嗣
He is the eldest son of the Marquis of Jingang.