Memorial Giving Thanks for Being Charged Once More with the Administration of the Examinations同前謝表
云云。句當小事。再斯容或有差。揀選群材。一尙未知其可。況臣至暗。掌選大頻。力所難堪。讓非妄飾。未獲曰兪之旨。反蒙曲諭之音。伏念臣蹇短之材。記問之學。宰相本非所期。而寅緣至此高位。詞賦雖所自業。而虛薄靡爲醇儒。枉承睿哲之知。屢涉品題之地。榜出之後。衆隨以欺。白汗未乾。又當斯任。赬顔更厚。莫識何爲。俯伏拜嘉。周章失措。此蓋云云。護人之短。容物之微。至令寡識之才。授此擇能之柄。臣謹當披文相質。爲國求人。儻得搜山海之遺珍。庶少補朝廷之利用。云云。
And so forth. Even the handling of small affairs, when it is repeated twice, may go amiss; and in the sifting and choosing of the whole body of talent, not even once does a man know that he has got it right. How much more when Your servant is utterly dull and is charged with the choosing far too often. It was because the task is hard to bear with my strength that I declined; it was no empty show. Yet I did not obtain Your word that it should be so, but was favored instead with words of detailed admonition.
Prostrate I consider that Your servant has a crooked and stunted talent and only the learning that recites what it has heard from others. A minister's place was never what he hoped for, yet riding upon circumstance he came to this high seat; and though he made rhymed composition (詞賦) his own business, it was hollow and thin, and he never became a scholar of pure grain.
Improperly receiving Your bright recognition, he has several times passed through the seat where men are appraised. After the roll came out, the many said one after another that they had been deceived. Before the cold sweat had dried he was charged with this office again, and his reddened face has grown only thicker; he does not know what to do. Prostrate, he bows and receives Your fair command, and in his flurry loses all place to put himself.
This is all, and so forth, because You cover over another's shortcomings and take in even what is trifling, and so have given this handle for choosing men of talent to one of little discernment.
Your servant will in all reverence open up their writings and examine their substance, and seek men for the state. Should he find out some treasure left in the mountains or the seas, it will add a little to the useful instruments of the court. And so forth.
Interlinear notes 1
中謝。
Here the jungsa (中謝), that is, the words of thanks, is inserted.