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Patent of appointment making Pil (佖), Count of Siheung, Duke of Hwanan始興伯佖爲淮安公 同前官誥

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 · 248 Chinese characters · reading time 2.5 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 34 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。百王之制。尤崇盤石之宗。五等之封。莫峻桓圭之秩。惟國與家之所以爲固。非親且賢則無得以居。某官某。挺秀宗支。作蕃王室。禮議詳審而不失尺寸。言行端方而動中準繩。非特疑謀之可咨。亦堪大事之是託。氣豪膽足。雖雄入九軍必不疑。器碩才宏。使坐食萬戶猶或歉。尙淹伯爵。有愧朕心。今者憬彼戎胡。侵吾封境。狼貪之欲滋甚。虎噬之毒無厭。亟馳使介而難諭以和。須遣宗親而示加其厚。當此行者。捨爾誰歟。位不高則未足鎭衆心。權不重則無以稱大任。故授以上公而崇其資級。又中以大師而作予表儀。可特授云云。嗚戲。夷險一節。是爾所守也。此則已無疑焉。終始完名。在卿之愼也。庶幾益自謙耳。勉承玆訓。往服乃司。云云。

And so forth.

In the institutions of a hundred kings, the royal kin, firm as bedrock, were honored the more; and among the five grades of enfeoffment there is none higher than the rank that grasps the hwangyu (桓圭) tablet. It is by this alone that the state and the house are made firm, and so none but a man both near in kin and worthy can hold that place.

So-and-so, holder of such-and-such office, was born outstanding from a branch of the royal house and has become the fence of the royal house. He discusses propriety carefully and closely, not losing it by a foot or an inch; his words and conduct are upright and square, and when he stirs he falls in with the rules. Not only may doubtful plans be put to him; great affairs may also be entrusted to him. His spirit is bold and his gall ample, so that were he to leap valiantly into the midst of nine armies he surely would not hesitate; his vessel is large and his talent broad, so that were he set to eat the stipend of ten thousand households while sitting idle, it would still seem too little. And yet he has remained until now at the rank of count, which shames me in my heart.

Now those distant barbarians violate our borders. Their wolfish greed grows the graver, and their tigerish venom in biting knows no surfeit. Though envoys be sent galloping in haste, it is hard to admonish them into peace, and so a royal kinsman must be sent to show them added weight. Who is there besides you to take on this journey? If his place is not high it will not suffice to press down the many minds, and if his authority is not weighty it cannot answer to so great a charge. Therefore I grant him the rank of Ducal Minister to raise his grade, and match him also with the seat of Grand Preceptor (太師), making him my example. It may be specially conferred. And so forth.

Ah, an integrity undivided in the smooth and in the rough is what you keep, and of this there is already no doubt. To keep a name whole from beginning to end rests on your care, my lord, so do you by all means humble yourself the more. Strive to uphold this instruction, and come forward to fulfill what is laid upon you. And so forth.

‹ Edict making the Duke of Hwanan Acting Grand Preceptor and Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs, with a separate proclamation on hemp paperContentsEdict making Pil (佖), Count of Siheung, Duke of Hwanan ›Listen to this piece