Memorial of Myeon (沔) of the royal house giving thanks for the foregoing offices同前謝表
云云。明綸不反。固殊削葉之封。淺器易盈。懼過飮河之腹。省循非稱。愧汗交幷。伏念臣天質▣昏。人材樗散。徒託乾坤之造。粗免踣顚。坐糜祿廩之豐。略微報效。偶緣天幸。復被聖知。自從蘭阪之遊陪。嘗紆縟眷。何意楓宸之邃密。又記保孱。特崇甸服之班。俾陟信圭之秩。本非公望。又踐台躔。八政修而七政齊。何德可致。一命僂而再命傴。以榮爲憂。方拜章以乞辭。復降詔而敦勉。此蓋伏遇聖上陛下。仁親九族。智燭群心。用人若文王之時。於周爲盛。裂土如高帝之約。非劉不封。肆收譾薄之資。庸賁寵光之美。臣敢不礪修鈍器。鞭策駑才。心戰淵氷。益勉諸侯之孝。身爲屛翰。力匡天子之家臣。無任云云。
And so forth. Your enlightened rescript is not to be turned back, and truly it is other than the game of cutting a paulownia leaf for an investiture; and a shallow vessel fills easily — a mole may drink the river's water and yet fill no more than its own belly, and I fear I shall exceed my station. Looking back upon myself I am unfitting, and shame and sweat come together.
Prostrate, I consider that your servant is □ dull in his native stuff, and as a man is useless as the thorn-elm. Resting merely upon the making of heaven and earth, I have barely escaped being overturned; and sitting idle I have consumed an ample salary while what I have repaid is next to nothing.
By chance, through heaven's good fortune, I have again received Your Majesty's recognition. Ever since I attended your outing on the orchid slope I have been bent down upon and received your thick regard; how then should I have thought that in the deep and secret places of the maple-reddened palace you would again look after and remember this frail body? You have especially raised me into the ranks of the royal domain (甸服) and let me ascend to the grade of the sceptre of trust (信圭).
From the first I had no public renown, and yet I have trodden the seat of the Three Dukes besides. By what virtue shall the eight branches of government be put in order and the seven governances set even? It is said that on receiving a command once one bends the back, and on receiving it twice one bends the lower; so I make my glory into care. I had just submitted a writing begging to decline, when again you sent down a rescript and generously urged me on.
This is, in sum, because Your Sage Majesty treats the nine degrees of kin with benevolence and affection and lights up the hearts of the multitude with your wisdom; because your employment of men is as in King Wen's time, which flourished in Zhou; and because your dividing of lands is as in Emperor Gao (高帝)'s covenant, who enfeoffed none but those of the Liu surname. Upon this you have gathered in one of shallow and thin endowment and adorned him with the shining beauty of your favour.
How should your servant dare not grind and polish his blunt vessel and whip on his dull talent? In heart I shall tremble as though treading the pool's edge and the ice, and strive the more at the filial duty of a feudal lord; in person I shall be a hedge, and labour to set right the house of the Son of Heaven. Your servant cannot contain, and so forth.
Interlinear notes 1
中謝。
Here the words of thanks (中謝) are inserted.