Patent of appointment making Yi Jeong Deputy Commissioner of the Privy Council and Right Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary李頲樞密副使右散騎常侍官誥
云云。鴻樞爲機要之官。得參惟幄。騎省極高華之選。必插貂璫。非人無得妄加。自古尤難斯任。某謹愿篤實而有鎭浮之德。沈深弘雅而負經遠之材。爰自先朝。出從始宦。方剖符於郡寄。已遊刃於吏能。歌范之謠。遍騰於一境。徵黃之命。降自於九重。因荷異恩。久陪邇列。及寡人之卽祚。採舊代之積勞。歷置周行。以觀優效。秋曹平憲五辟。不私重輕。天部掌銓九流。多所甄別。當官辦事則釐革得其體。將命奉使則寬猛折其裏。分司北塞也。繩懦吏而肅振臺綱。作守西州也。繕守備而能禦隣敵。南國雪登車之志。東蕃宣杖鉞之威。爾能有餘。朕用不匱。知可託腹心之寄。遂委予喉舌之司。進止詳華。敷奏明敏。朝夕尤右之與昵。旣得詳其爲人。官職陟降之攸宜。何必疑而咨衆。是用置玆密地。兼以諫司。可特授云云。嗚戲。設官所以褒忠。遇主然後行志。得賢爲寶。朕旣待爾以非常。憂國如家。卿亦匡予之不逮。祗膺予訓。永孚于休。云云。
And so forth.
The Privy Council is a confidential and essential office, and its holder comes to take part in the planning within the tent; the Cavalier Attendants' office is a selection of the utmost height and brilliance, and its holder must wear the marten's tail and the gold ornament. It cannot be given carelessly to one who is not the fit man, and so from of old this charge has been the harder.
So-and-so is careful, trustworthy and generous, with the virtue that settles what is unsteady, and he has the stuff of one deep, large, upright and far-seeing. From the time of the late king he came forward and trod the path of office. The moment he split the tally for a district, he already handled the art of governing clerks as though plying a blade. Songs praising him as another Lord Fan spread through the whole district, and a command as though summoning Huang Ba came down from the palace. Receiving kindness beyond others, he long attended in the near ranks.
After my unworthy self came to the throne, I looked at the toil he had heaped up in the former reign, placed him all about in various posts, and saw his outstanding achievement. Making the law even in the Board of Punishments, he did not take the heavy and the light of the five punishments as his own private matter; weighing men of the nine categories in the Board of Personnel, what he singled out was much. Holding office and handling affairs, his amendings and correctings hit upon the essential point; receiving a command and going as envoy, he joined generosity and severity in due measure. Taking charge of a portion of the northern frontier, he took the slack clerks in hand and solemnly plied the discipline of the Censorate; guarding a western district, he put the defenses in order and proved able to hold off the neighboring enemy. In a southern district he gave rein to the will with which he had mounted the carriage, and on the eastern frontier he spread the authority of one who grasps the tally and axe.
Your ability has more to spare, and so my use of you does not fall short. Because I knew he was one to whom my inmost heart could be entrusted, I entrusted to him at last the post that is my throat and tongue. His advancing and withdrawing were careful and brilliant, and his reporting was clear and quick. Morning and evening I kept him nearer still, and so I already knew the man in detail. In the fitness of raising and lowering office, why should I stubbornly doubt and ask the many? And so he is placed in this confidential seat and made to hold concurrently the post of a remonstrating official. It may be specially conferred. And so forth.
Ah, offices are established in order to honor loyalty, and a man gives rein to his will only after meeting his sovereign. To gain a worthy man is a treasure, and I have already treated you as no ordinary man; to care for the state as for one's own house — so do you too, my lord, correct my shortcomings. Reverently uphold my instruction, and be trustworthy forever in what is fair. And so forth.
Interlinear notes 1
The base text reads 寬猛折其裏. As it stands, 折其裏 yields no sense, and it has been read instead in the sense of joining generosity and severity in due measure (寬猛相濟). — Translator