A Letter Submitted to Minister Choe, Recommending Men on Behalf of the Friends Who Passed the Examination in the Same Year爲同年薦人崔相國書
六月日。某某等謹奉書于相國閣下左右。某等聞古之人以階升名者。爲同年友。然則顧同出一門。義等兄弟矣。大抵一家有兄弟之衆多者。若皆不得顯達。則各自謀其己而已。又奚暇爲首尾之救哉。若兄弟竝都顯列。赫赫煌煌。聯華接曜。而有一人獨窮躓不自振。則兄弟莫不咨嗟。伋伋於營救。欲與之同榮。是人之情也。比年來。同年之多涉顯仕者。愚等庶幾矣。此皆相國閣下造化所及也。有已踐兩府。其次亦皆至於郞官之秩矣。凡諫議二人而已。我同年今專之。制誥之任。無幾許人。而居是任者。常不下六七人。其餘亦皆得列於食祿之班矣。愚等往往屈指向人。用以爲夸談也。於此但二人有可憫惜者。前監察御史申禮。蓋故宰相淑之孫。而故大府卿作孝之子也。失祿累載。其窮困有不可言者。奉御同正名克文者。故學士崔孝悌之子也。於同年獨不得一官。年幾六十。窮餓尤甚。是某等所不可視如行路人。而汲汲於首尾之救。再以此冒黷明鑑者也。伏望相國閣下當銓選之次。俾二子或復其秩。或得一權務之任。得食其祿。則非特同年之榮感也。閣下所以活人窮者之仁。與活昆蟲萬命同矣。輕觸尊嚴。無任兢惕僭越之至。
On a certain day of the sixth month, we, So-and-so and the rest, respectfully submit a letter to the attendance of His Excellency the Minister.
We have heard that the men of old called those who rose side by side in the same year and shared the roll friends of the same year (同年). If so, then looking back, we came out together from one gate, and our bond is as that of brothers.
Now when there are many brothers in one house and none of them comes up in the world, each merely looks to himself, and what leisure have they besides to help and rescue one another? But if the brothers have all risen to manifest rank, shining and bright, carrying on their flowering and setting their luster side by side, while one alone is poor and fallen and cannot raise himself, then there is none among the brothers who does not sigh and urgently contrive to pull him out, that he may be honored with them. This is the feeling of men.
In recent years, among those of the same year who have passed through many manifest offices, there is scarcely a company to match ours. This is all the reach of the transforming work His Excellency the Minister has wrought. Some have already trodden the Two Bureaus (兩府), and those next to them have all reached the rank of gentlemen of the departments. Now Remonstrators (諫議) are but two men, and our same-year men have now taken these to themselves. The duty of Drafter of Edicts (制誥) too is held by few, and those in this duty are never fewer than six or seven. All the rest too have entered the ranks of those who eat a stipend. We sometimes count them off on our fingers before others and make of it a thing to boast of.
Among these, only two men are pitiable and grievous. The former Investigating Censor Sin Rye (申禮) is the grandson of the late Chief Minister Sin Suk (申淑) and the son of the late Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan Sin Jakhyo (申作孝). He has been without a stipend for several years, and his poverty and hardship cannot be told in words. The Supernumerary Steward named Geungmun (克文) is the son of the late Academician Choe Hyoje (崔孝悌). Alone among those of the same year he has not obtained a single office, and though near sixty years of age his poverty and hunger are the more severe. These are men we cannot look upon as strangers on the road, and so we urgently wish to rescue them and once again soil your bright discernment with this business.
We prostrate ourselves and beg that His Excellency the Minister, in the course of selecting men, may let these two either recover their former posts or obtain even one provisional duty (權務), so that they may eat its stipend. If you do so, it will not be only that those of the same year feel it an honor. Your Excellency's benevolence in giving life to men in poverty will be as the giving of life to ten thousand creatures.
We have lightly trespassed upon your dignity. We cannot master our fearful, reverent and presumptuous hearts.