Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 33

Rescript refusing Yi Deukso's (李得紹) declination of the posts of Grand Master of the Palace, Libationer of the National Academy, and Drafter of Edicts李得紹讓中大夫國子祭酒知制誥不允批答

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 1 passages · 140 Chinese characters · reading time 1.3 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 33 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.

云云。祭酒。士林之美職也。朕聞挾策之士。自始讀書。無有不志於此者。故官雖過九卿八座。猶以不經玆任爲恨者。豈非資淸選重。精汰愼簡。而不妄授人者歟。爾稟賦聰敏。器度宏深。學洞貫於九經。見聞輒記。表能施於五字。制作可觀。久勞三禮之司。俄轉七兵之地。動有升聞之譽。副予虛佇之懷。故除師氏之宮。以徇書生之望。何未體於眷意。而遽抗於讓章。云云。

And so forth.

The Libationer's post is a fair office among scholars. I have heard that of the scholars who carry books under their arms there is none who, from the time he begins to read, does not set his heart upon it. Thus even men whose careers have passed the Nine Ministers and the Eight Ministers still count it a regret not to have held this seat. How should this be for any reason but that its ground is pure and its choosing weighty, sifted with precision and picked with care, a seat not given to men lightly?

You are by birth clear-sighted, and your capacity is large and deep. Your learning pierces through the nine classics, and what you see or hear you remember at once; your skill unfolds in five-character verse, and what you compose is worth the looking. Long you toiled at the business of the Ministry of Rites, then moved in time to a post in the Ministry of War, and at every move there was praise that reached my ears above, matching the heart with which I had kept a seat empty and waited.

Therefore I have given you a teacher's seat and so followed the hope of those who read. Why then, failing to weigh my caring intent, do you of a sudden send up a letter of declination?

And so forth.

‹ Rescript refusing Im Yeongnyeong's (任永齡) declination of the post of Associate Administrator of the ExaminationsContentsEdict refusing Chae Jeong's (蔡靖) declination of the posts of Deputy Commissioner of the Privy Council, Left Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, and Hallim Academician and Recipient of Edicts ›Listen to this piece