Edict read aloud at the merit-subjects' memorial rite after the portrait of Lord Jingang, Director of the Chancellery, was painted中書令晉康公圖形後功臣齋唱讀敎書
云云。自先哲后奬大功臣。賜書券以傳家。雖使世蒙餘慶。至丹靑之畫壁。又焉人寫其容。但特待奇偉不世如卿者耳。卿負經天緯地之才。有汰世澄時之意。一劍掃乾坤之氛翳。九霄開日月之光明。奉寧考而踐至尊。可謂定策國老。輔寡人而纂丕統。實惟佐命大臣。享上之誠則罄輸心腑。故主不疑。董象之制則一出條例。而人莫犯。作君元鑑。爲國太山。加又頃當虜騎之侵疆。剛斷廟謀而破的。邦基之再造也繄卿是賴。王業之中興也。惟爾之庸。以身當國者二十四年。以功膺號者一千餘字。自商周已來寡有譬。雖伊旦復生何敢當。旱作雨川作舟。民到于今受其賜。山如礪河如帶。予嘉乃德曰不忘。託彩繪以圖形。期典刑之森眼。霞㫌鶴駕。漠爾雖遐。河目龜文。宛然如在。每紀春秋之序。伻張香火之筵。緬惟烈烈之魂。諒我區區之懇。嗚戲。翼亮之志。死生靡殊。相列后之在天。佑三韓於永世。云云。
And so forth.
Ever since the enlightened rulers of old honored their great merit-subjects, they have handed down patents of merit to be kept in the family, so that generation after generation might receive the blessing left behind. But when it came to painting a man on the wall in colors, whose face would they paint at random? They were simply giving special treatment to men outstanding and rare in the world, such as you, my lord.
You, my lord, had the talent to take heaven for your warp and earth for your weft, and the will to wash the age and clear its filth. With a single sword you swept away the turbid vapors of heaven and earth, and in the high sky you opened the brightness of sun and moon. You upheld my late father and brought him to the most honored seat, so you may be called the state elder who settled the investiture; you aided my unworthy self and had me succeed to the great royal line, so you are truly the great minister who assisted the mandate of heaven. In the sincerity with which you served your sovereign you poured out your inmost heart, and so the king did not doubt you; in the method by which you led and governed those beneath you, all came from the statutes, and so men could not transgress. To the king you were the foremost mirror, and to the state you were Mount Tai.
Moreover, when the barbarian horsemen violated our borders some time ago, you resolutely decided the court's strategy and struck home as though piercing the target. That the foundation of the state was set up again is owing to you; that the royal work rose again in mid-course is your merit alone. Twenty-four years you bore the state upon your person, and the titles granted you for merit came to a thousand characters and more; since the Shang and the Zhou there have been few to compare with you. Though Yi Yin (伊尹) and the Duke of Zhou (周公) were born again, how could they match it? In drought you were the rain, and in crossing a stream you were the boat, so that the people receive your kindness to this day. Until the mountains wear down like a whetstone and the Yellow River narrows like a sash, I say that I shall hold your virtue fair and not forget it.
To have your likeness drawn and entrusted to a colored painting is done in the hope that your example may stand solemn before our eyes. The banner of sunset clouds and the crane-drawn carriage have gone far into the distance, yet the holy face within the painting is vivid as though alive. Each year at the spring and autumn observances I send men to set out a place for incense; thinking from afar of your once fierce spirit, I pray that you look upon my small sincerity.
Ah, the will to aid and enlighten one's sovereign is not altered by dying or living. Assist the several kings who are in heaven, and guard the Three Han forever. And so forth.
Interlinear notes 1
The base text reads 河目龜文. "River eyes" (河目) and "tortoise markings" (龜文) are old expressions for the features of a sage's face. — Translator