A Letter of Thanks to the Director of the Palace Library, Lord Im (任公), for Coming to Visit Me謝任祕監見訪啓
云云。車騎雍容甚都。忽枉相如之顧。庭宇蕪穢不掃。頗慙仲擧之居。恭惟學士閣下。博大眞儒。寬厚長者。以貴而能下之志。訪貧也非病之身。騶馭方臨。里閭聳覩。所與來者無非可人可人。何樂如之是謂有客有客。但俎饌無六肴之美。樽醪非九醞之香。賓重主輕。酒薄顔厚。虛度貴人之過。徒爲後日之嗟。病莫造門。書不悉意云云。
And so forth. Your carriage and horses were stately and most fine, and of a sudden one like Sima Xiangru (司馬相如) bent himself and came to visit me. My yard and my house were rough and foul and not even swept, and I am much ashamed before the dwelling of Chen Zhongju (陳仲擧), who received his guests there.
I consider respectfully that Your Excellency the Academician is a true scholar, broad and great, and a lord generous and thick-hearted. With the intent of one who is honored and yet able to lower himself, you came to see my poverty, not to ask after my illness. When your driver and carriage had just arrived, the whole village stretched out its neck and gazed. Those who came with you were all men after my heart — where is there such pleasure as this? This is indeed what is meant by 「Guests have come, guests have come!」
Only, the food set upon the board had nothing of the fineness of the six relishes, and the wine in the jar was not of the fragrance of nine brewings. The guests were weighty and the host was light; the wine was thin and my face was thick. I let an honored man's call go for nothing, and it has become no more than a thing to sigh over hereafter.
I am sick and cannot go out to your gate, and in writing I cannot exhaust my meaning. And so forth.
Interlinear notes 1
訪貧也非病之身 — this can also be read as 「a body only poor and not sick」; but since the end of the letter says 「I am sick and cannot go out to your gate」, that reading contradicts itself within one piece, and so it is read as 「you came to see my poverty, not to ask after my illness」. ― translator