Tomb inscription for Lord Jeong, Grand Master of the Gold and Purple Imperial Favor, Participant in Governance and Director of the Board of Rites金紫光祿大夫參知政事判禮部事鄭公墓誌銘
某月日。參知政事判禮部事鄭公薨。方葬也。夫人泣謂典喪事者曰。葬不可無銘石以識于隧。然無子姓之圖有以顯後世不朽者。痛莫甚此。予雖婦人。聞正言某是能文者。若等可爲妾奉書。往乞銘詞。某日。予自西掖。待午漏方出。夫人書至。閱其辭。有足㦖惜。則吾豈惜鄙文。以孤其意乎。於是序之曰。公諱克温。全州尙質縣人也。興威衛中郞將諱某。於公爲祖皇。神虎衛大將軍兼大僕卿諱元寧。於公爲考皇。公始籍山東。爲良醞令同正。召入內侍。進止詳華。又奉職恪謹。上甚器之。先是。有征西戰功。未賞也。上以其功。改授金吾衛散員。累轉至神虎衛郞將兼尙書工部員外郞。俄改刑部員外郞。皆仍內侍。又累至興威衛將軍兼禮部侍郞。會江南賊熾。朝廷出三軍討之。公以所領軍赴戰。素得士心。至是益訓鍊卒伍。每戰俘獲居多。賊遇公軍輒却。無敢當其鋒者。入爲大將軍兼大僕卿。凡所歷重官。自大將軍循資爲上將軍。轉秩爲尙書右僕射。掌機密爲樞密院副使。帶風憲爲御史大夫。入南臺爲守司空左僕射。登鳳閣爲知門下省事。於鳳閣遷資爲參知政事兼判禮部。階自朝散大夫正議大夫。至銀靑光祿大夫金紫光祿大夫。此其詳也。公所臨不露圭角。故當時無赫赫大名。及去皆有遺愛。凡攬轡南方。秉鉞北塞。威愛得中。人皆便之。至今頌詠不輟口。嗚呼。公之平生也。謹愿仁和。宜享壽也而不得究。隱德陰功。宜其昌後也而卒無嗣。是所未信於冥兆者已。夫人田氏。良醞令某之女也。公之卒。實貞祐三年二月某日也。上聞訃哀悼。輟視朝三日。勑有司襄事。百官會葬。贈諡曰某。公申以誄詞寵之。以某月日葬某山。予則銘其墓曰。顯允賢考。勇虎洸洸。仍世戴鶡。皆奮而揚。至公大振。鬐鬣欻張。風雲感會。遠步超驤。出將入相。手鉞腰章。機關祕邃。人莫窺量。翼亮四朝。舊德彌芳。云何不淑。豐棟云僵。伯道無兒。天意茫茫。孰承家廟。以奉蒸嘗。何以慰之。國典其喪。百官奔葬。祖道有光。男兒若此。無子何傷。相彼山阿。松檟鬱蒼。宜公之宮。萬世之藏。哀哀夫人。泣涕霑裳。乞銘勤勤。有惻于腸。鐫詞樂石。幽壤焜煌。
On such a day of such a month, Lord Jeong, Participant in Governance and Director of the Board of Rites, died. When the burial was about to take place, his wife wept and said to the one in charge of the funeral: "At a burial there cannot but be an inscribed stone to mark the way to the tomb. And yet there are no children or grandchildren to plan how it may be made manifest, unrotting, to later ages, and no pain is greater than this. Though I am only a woman, I have heard that So-and-so, the Remonstrance Official, writes well. Do you for my sake take a letter and go and beg an inscription of him."
On such a day, as I was waiting for the noon water-clock in the western annex and just coming out, the lady's letter arrived. Looking at its words, they were such as to be pitied and grieved over. How then should I begrudge my poor writing and slight her intent? And so I write.
The lord's taboo name was Geugon (克温), and he was a man of Sangjil District (尙質縣) in Jeonju. So-and-so, Palace Commandant of the Heungwi Guard, was the lord's grandfather, and Wonnyeong (元寧), Senior General of the Sinho Guard and concurrently Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, was the lord's father. The lord was first enrolled among the supernumeraries and became Acting Director of the Fine Wines Office, and was summoned in as a palace attendant. His advancing and withdrawing were careful and fair, and he was moreover reverent and diligent in upholding his duty, so that the king held him much to be a vessel.
Before this, he had merit in the campaign against the west, but received no reward. The king, on the strength of that merit, changed his appointment to Supernumerary Officer of the Geumo Guard. By several transfers he came to be Company Commander of the Sinho Guard and concurrently Assistant Director of the Bureau of Works in the Chancellery, and before long this was changed to Assistant Director of the Bureau of Justice, while in each case he kept his palace attendance concurrently. By several further transfers he came to be General of the Heungwi Guard and concurrently Minister of Rites.
It happened that brigands were rife in the lands south of the river, and the court sent out the three armies to strike them. The lord went into battle with the troops he led. He had always had the hearts of his soldiers, and when this time came he drilled the ranks the more, so that in every engagement his captives were many. When the brigands met the lord's troops they at once fell back, and none dared face his blade.
He came in to be Senior General and concurrently Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. Looking at the weighty offices he passed through: from Senior General he became, in due course, Senior General of the Guards; his rank was moved and he became Right Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs; he took charge of confidential matters and became Deputy Commissioner of the Privy Council; he wore the censorial office and became Grand Master of the Censorate; he entered the Southern Terrace and became Acting Minister of Works and Left Vice Director; he rose to the Phoenix Pavilion and became Administrator of Chancellery Affairs; and from the Phoenix Pavilion his rank was moved and he became Participant in Governance and concurrently Director of the Board of Rites. His rank went from Grand Master for Court Audience and Grand Master of Uprightness to Grand Master of the Silver and Blue Imperial Favor and Grand Master of the Gold and Purple Imperial Favor. These are the particulars.
Wherever the lord arrived he did not show a sharp corner. For this reason he had no great shining name at the time, but after he left there was always love left behind him. Grasping the reins in the south and holding the axe on the northern frontier, his authority and his kindness were in due measure, and all men were at ease with him. To this day songs praising him have not ceased on men's lips.
Ah, the lord's whole life was careful, sincere, worthy and harmonious, and he ought by right to have lived long, yet he did not fill out his years. He had hidden virtue and shaded merit, and his posterity ought by right to have flourished, yet in the end he had no child to carry him on. This is what makes the hidden signs hard to believe in.
His wife was of the Jeon (田) clan, daughter of So-and-so, Director of the Fine Wines Office. The lord's death was in fact on such a day of the second month of the third year of Zhenyou (貞祐). The king heard of it and grieved, and suspended audience for three days. He commanded the officials to assist with the burial, and all the officials gathered and buried him. He granted him the posthumous title So-and-so, and honored him further with a dirge. On such a day of such a month he was buried on such a mountain. I compose the inscription for his tomb, saying:
His manifest and trustworthy worthy father was valiant as a fierce tiger. Generation after generation they wore the pheasant plume, and all of them soared and flourished. Coming to the lord it was greatly roused, and the mane stood up at once. Wind and cloud felt each other and met, and with a far stride he leapt up. Going out he was a general, coming in a minister, with the axe in his hand and the seal at his waist. His workings were hidden and deep, and men could not spy them out and reckon them. He aided and enlightened four courts, and his long virtue grew the more fragrant. How was it that things went ill, and the great ridgepole toppled? Baidao (伯道) had no son, and heaven's intent is unfathomable. Who shall carry on the house shrine and uphold its sacrifices? With what shall we be consoled? By the state's own rites his funeral was performed. All the officials came running to bury him, and there was brilliance in the sacrifice at the setting out. When a man is like this, what grief is it that he had no son? Looking at the foot of that mountain, the pines and catalpas are luxuriant and green. It is fitting as the lord's house, and is his burial for ten thousand ages. Grieving and grieving, his wife shed tears until her skirt was wet. She begged an inscription so earnestly that there is something which cuts the bowels. The words are cut on the stele, and the hidden ground shall shine.