Tomb inscription for Lord Jeon, Grand Master of the Gold and Purple Imperial Favor, Acting Minister of Works, Left Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs and Guest of the Heir Apparent金紫光祿大夫守司空尙書左僕射太子賓客田公墓誌銘
夫士方未顯。喜議駮朝廷大臣之出處去就。及身居其地。有不能如其言矣。況官高而志益卑。富貴而能知足者。實今古賢士大夫所難。而非喋喋議駮者之所到也。誰其有之。吾於僕射府君田公見之矣。公諱元均。字眞精。全州泰山郡人也。曾祖諱某。祖某。皆爲郡司戶。至考諱寵文。始入朝。仕至朝散大夫神虎衛大將軍兼禮賓卿。以公貴追贈尙書左僕射。母許氏。亦系出泰山。以公故累封至泰山郡大夫人。公生而穎異。自童年已有老成體。人固已奇之矣。年十七。擧成均試中之。後因門蔭入仕。嘗以不第爲恨。然博古綴文。自老儒宿學。皆自以爲不及。庚寅。明宗卽祚。召入內侍。凡指使皆稱旨。上才之。屢以賞寵之。大定二十年。拜權知閣門祗候。壬寅。以殿中內給事賜緋。出知陜州。淸廉不受苞苴。其撫細民。未嘗不拊循哀惻。實出由誠。及繩猾吏。鋤理甚威。發姦摘伏如神。一州敬憚。決獄尤詳審。雖受棒楚者。皆曰田君決之。吾何怨之有。入爲試閣門祗候。遷監察御史。俄拜左司員外郞。尋改吏部員外郞。時怙權橫恣者。求其子入仕。理有不可。公竟不聽。其人深憾之。後遇道上。怒罵歐擊。至蹴墮溝中。雖憲司佯若不聽。然聞者不以爲辱。而壯公之守正不橈也。累歷侍御史刑部左司郞中。皆賜金紫。未幾拜將作少監。明年。以戶部侍郞。出知西京留守。西都劇邑稱難理。公抑強扶弱。威愛相濟。闔都稱頌。無有敢欺。自近世司鑰未有出公之右者。秩未滿。拜爲衛尉少卿。凡按廉春州全羅慶尙等三道。褒淸發贓。皆物議所歸允。凡有興利除害者。無不勇爲之。輒疏聞之。上皆允可。歷御史雜端刑部侍郞。泰和二年冬十一月。東京義庇之黨。與草賊巨魁勃尤等起兵。多殘敗州縣。將有犯順之意。上命三軍分道討之。選公爲中軍兵馬副使。凡幕中計畫。多出公之謀議。故中軍之擒斬賊魁義庇勃尤及名賊。不可勝數。公實有力焉。嘗屯雲門山也。公獨完葺廳事。施曲欄倚檻。蒔瓜其側。無慮百本。或告以爲此非種瓜之所。公笑不答。人莫知其故。公密謂幕佐曰。賊忌官軍之先據要險。利其速徙。屢驚擾之。故將示以毋動。以絶賊望也。其方略皆此類。終賊滅。竟軍雲門山自固。癸亥。在軍中。就加吏部侍郞。明年。凱還京師。除拜判將作監兼大子中舍人。乙丑。出爲西北面兵馬使。北俗性剛悍難化。自公下車。略不敢干紀。上嘉之。擢爲樞密院右承宣兼大子庶子。特遣內侍閔瑄。宣召赴闕。丁卯。因公事見劾。出樞密院。爲光祿大夫判大僕事知御史臺事。知臺勢埒承宣。人愈榮之。而公亦不以爲慊。戊辰。進拜銀靑光祿大夫樞密院副使御史大夫大子賓客。以親嫌改臺銜。爲左散騎常侍。未幾。遷知院事吏部尙書。大安三年。拜金紫光祿大夫守司空尙書左僕射。司空。一品也。公自登是職。嘗喟然嘆曰。吾起平微。無文華虎功有以輔相官家。徒以刀筆吏。官至一品。此已足矣。留之何待。遂引年稱疾。告退甚篤。上不得已允之。公得謝然後欣然肆意。退居于城西之莊。葛巾野服。逍遙偃傲。每與親舊置酒盡歡。以遂揮金之樂。越戊寅某月日。感疾卒于第。享年七十有五。公性愼密。凡政事施爲。其機張鍵閇。人莫窺測。及設而後知之。無敢更議者。敦篤忠信。嘗以卑謙自牧。與人言。開豁坦蕩。莫有畦畛。人樂而忘倦。然內強毅。臨大節。有確然不可奪者。娶某官桂氏女。凡生四男四女。男曰甫龍。登進士第。爲內侍大官署令。曰得良。祝髮爲僧。緇秩至三重大師。曰甫龜。爲金吾衛郞將。曰甫麟。爲管絃坊判官中軍錄事。女一適內侍弓箭庫判官安某。一適內侍開城牧監直文某。一適守宮署丞李某。一適隊正李某。皆衣冠搢紳之嗣也。甫龍等旣卜兆于某山。先葬日。具公之行狀。屬予爲銘。蓋以予嘗從公于征東幕府。得公之詳。故以爲託。而予可辭乎。敢灑泣濡翰而銘之曰。世薄民偸。天嗇賢士。假如生之。不假以位。道屈莫信。民未蒙利。獨於司空。豁斷厥意。載爵輦祿。悉輟以畀。公受而有。如荷重器。畏盈忌滿。若擎盤水。翼翼忘勞。服勤王事。旣肥其國。顧瘠其已。南符西綬。民受其賜。出入臺閣。爲邦之紀。品登一品。猶背負刺。軒裳得釋。四體方肆。退逸于莊。城西之里。幅巾以遊。一杖雙履。願言圖形。寫眞孰似。身沒名芳。輝映靑史。公死猶生。吾不謂死。新宮之寧。子孫其熾。勒銘貞珉。與山終始。
Now while a scholar has not yet come into prominence, he enjoys reckoning up and disparaging the advancing and withdrawing of the great ministers of court. Yet once his own person is in that place, there are things he cannot carry out as he said. Still more, to lower one's aims the higher one's office grows, and to know sufficiency while rich and honored — this is truly what worthy officials and gentlemen find hard, now as in the past, and is not what chattering and reckoning men can attain to. Who, then, was such a man? I saw it in Lord Jeon (田公), the Vice Director.
The lord's taboo name was Wongyun (元均) and his style Jinjeong (眞精), and he was a man of Taesan Commandery (泰山郡) in Jeonju. His great-grandfather's taboo name was So-and-so and his grandfather So-and-so, and both became district registrars. It was with his father Chungmun (寵文) that the family first entered the court, and his office reached Grand Master for Court Audience, Senior General of the Sinho Guard and concurrently Chief Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial; and through the lord's becoming eminent he was posthumously granted Left Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs. His mother, of the Heo (許) clan, was also of a line that came out of Taesan, and on the lord's account she was enfeoffed several times and came to be Grand Lady of Taesan Commandery.
The lord was outstanding from birth, and from childhood already had a grown man's bearing, so that men thought him remarkable early on. At seventeen he sat the National Academy examination and was selected, and afterwards he entered office through hereditary privilege. He always held it a regret that he had not passed the examination. Yet he was widely versed in the matters of antiquity and composed writings, so that old scholars and long-established men of learning all said they could not match him.
In the gyeong-in year Myeongjong came to the throne and summoned him in as a palace attendant. Whatever he was set to do was all to the king's liking, and the king, calling him talented, bestowed favors upon him in reward many times. In the twentieth year of Dading (大定) he was appointed Provisional Usher of the Gate Office. In the im-in year he became Palace Supplies Attendant, received the fish pouch of silver, and went out to take charge of Hapju (陜州). He was pure and took no bribes. In his soothing of the small people there was never a time he did not comfort and pity them, and it truly came out of sincerity. But when it came to taking crafty clerks in hand, his governing was like weeding and most full of authority, and he brought out what was devious and picked out what was hidden as though by spirit power. The whole district respected and feared him. In deciding lawsuits he was the more careful and close, so that even those who had been beaten all said, "It was Lord Jeon who decided it — what grievance have I?"
He came in to be Attendant Usher of the Gate Office and moved to Inspecting Censor, and before long was appointed Assistant Director of the Left Bureau, and then this was changed to Assistant Director of the Board of Personnel. At that time a man who presumed on his power and acted wantonly tried to get his son into office, but there was something in it not right by reason, and the lord in the end would not hear of it. That man harbored a deep grudge. Later they met on the road, and he railed at him in anger and struck him, and even kicked him until he fell into a ditch. The censorial office pretended not to hear of it, but those who did hear did not count it a disgrace, and thought it splendid that the lord had kept to what was right and not bent.
Through several posts he was Attendant Censor and Director of the Bureau of Justice and of the Left Bureau, and in each received the gold and purple. Before long he was appointed Junior Supervisor of the Directorate for Palace Buildings, and the next year went out as Minister of Taxation to take charge as Resident Commissioner of the Western Capital. The western capital was reputed a crowded and busy town and hard to govern. The lord pressed down the strong and upheld the weak, and his authority and his kindness aided each other, so that the whole capital praised him and none dared deceive him. Among the resident commissioners of recent times there was none better than the lord.
Before his term was full he was appointed Junior Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Regalia. Inspecting the three circuits of Chunju, Jeolla and Gyeongsang, he commended the pure and brought embezzlement to light, and in all of it public opinion held him right. Whenever there was something that would raise profit or remove harm, there was nothing he did not do boldly, and he would at once submit a letter and report it, and the king held all of it right.
He passed through Assistant Director of the Censorate and Minister of Justice. In the eleventh month, in winter of the second year of Taihe (泰和), the faction of Uibi (義庇) in the Eastern Capital (東京), together with Baru (勃尤) and the other great chiefs of the field brigands, raised troops, broke down many prefectures and districts, and had it in mind to rebel. The king commanded the three armies to divide their routes and strike them, and chose the lord as Deputy Commissioner of Troops of the Central Army. The plans of the headquarters came on the whole out of the lord's strategy. For this reason the Central Army captured and beheaded the brigand chiefs Uibi and Baru and the named brigands beyond all counting, and the lord truly had a hand in it.
Once, when they were encamped on Unmunsan (雲門山), the lord alone had the government hall thoroughly repaired and set up curved railings and rails to lean on, and planted melons beside it, a round hundred plants. Someone told him that this was no place to plant melons, but the lord laughed and did not answer. Men did not know his reason for it. The lord said quietly to his staff officers, "The brigands dislike it that the royal army has taken the steep key ground first, and count it to their advantage that we move away quickly, and so they alarm and disturb us again and again. Therefore I am showing an intent not to move, so as to cut off the brigands' hope." His devices were all of this kind. In the end, until the brigands were wiped out, he kept his troops on Unmunsan and held it firmly by his own strength.
In the gye-hae year, while in the field, he had Minister of Personnel added to him. The next year he returned victorious to the capital and was appointed Director of the Directorate for Palace Buildings and concurrently Secretary of the Heir Apparent. In the eul-chuk year he went out to be Commissioner of Troops of the Northwest Region. The ways of the north are stubborn and fierce in nature and hard to bring under instruction, yet after the lord took up his post they did not dare transgress the discipline in the least. The king held it fair and chose him as Right Transmitter of Directives of the Privy Council and concurrently Tutor of the Heir Apparent, and specially sent the palace attendant Min Seon (閔瑄) to summon him to come forward to the palace.
In the jeong-myo year he was impeached over official business, and went out from the Privy Council to be Grand Master of the Imperial Favor, Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud and Administrator of the Censorate. The Administrator's power matched that of a Transmitter of Directives, so that men held it the more glorious, and the lord too did not take it amiss. In the mu-jin year he was raised and appointed Grand Master of the Silver and Blue Imperial Favor, Deputy Commissioner of the Privy Council, Grand Master of the Censorate and Guest of the Heir Apparent. On account of a conflict of kinship, his censorial title was changed and he became Left Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, and before long he moved to Administrator of the Council and Minister of Personnel. In the third year of Da'an (大安) he was appointed Grand Master of the Gold and Purple Imperial Favor, Acting Minister of Works and Left Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs. Minister of Works is of the first rank.
After the lord rose to this place he once sighed and said, "I rose from a low and humble station, and without either the letters or the martial merit to aid the state, as a mere clerk handling documents my office has reached the first rank. This much is enough. What should I stay on to wait for?" Thereupon he pleaded his years, made illness his excuse, and asked earnestly to withdraw, and the king allowed it unwillingly.
After the lord obtained his withdrawal he was glad and did as he pleased. He retired and lived at a villa west of the city, strolling and lying about in a kudzu kerchief and rustic clothes. He always set out wine with his friends and took his pleasure to the full, achieving the joy of scattering coin. On such a day of such a month in the mu-in year he fell ill and died at home, at seventy-five years of age.
The lord's nature was careful and close-knit. When he set a policy forth, no one could spy out and reckon how he opened its workings and closed its bolts, and they understood it only after it had been set forth, and none dared debate it again. He was generous in loyalty and trustworthiness, and used to nurture himself by lowering himself and being modest. In speaking with others he was open and lenient, without ridge or boundary, so that men were delighted and forgot to tire. Yet within he was firm and unbending, and when he came up against a great point of integrity there was that in him which stood fast and could not be wrested away.
He married the daughter of So-and-so of the Gye (桂) clan and had four sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Boryong (甫龍) passed the examination as a licentiate and became Palace Attendant and Director of the Daegwan Office; Deungnyang (得良) shaved his head and became a monk, and his monastic rank reached Great Master of the Triple Degree; Bogu (甫龜) became Company Commander of the Geumo Guard; and Borin (甫麟) became Administrator of the Gwanhyeon Office and Recorder of the Central Army. One daughter married An So-and-so, Palace Attendant and Administrator of the Palace Storehouse; one married Mun So-and-so, Palace Attendant and Pasturage Officer of Gaeseong; one married Yi So-and-so, Assistant Director of the Palace Buildings Office; and one married Yi So-and-so, a squad officer — all of them descendants of officials.
Boryong and the others had already chosen a grave-place on such a mountain. On the day before the burial they prepared an account of the lord's deeds and charged me to compose the inscription. On the whole it was because I once followed the lord in the headquarters of the eastern campaign and so knew the lord in detail that they charged me with it — how could I decline? I dare to shed tears, wet my brush and compose the inscription.
The age is thin and the people harsh, and heaven has been sparing of worthy scholars. Even supposing it gave birth to one, it did not give him a place. The Way was bent and could not be set forth, and the people did not receive its benefit. To the Minister of Works alone did it grant his wish clean through. It loaded office upon him and loaded stipend upon him, and gave it all out in full. The lord received and held it as though bearing a heavy vessel on his head. He feared fullness and shrank from overflowing, as though holding up a dish of water. Careful and careful, he forgot his toil and worked diligently at the state's affairs. He made the state fat, and instead made his own body lean. By the tally in the south and the seal-cord in the west, the people received his kindness. In and out of the great terraces, he became the state's binding cord. His rank rose to the first, and still it was as though he bore thorns on his back. Only after he took off carriage and robe did his four limbs begin to stretch. He retired to a villa at leisure, in a village west of the city. He roamed in a cloth kerchief, with one staff and one pair of shoes. One would wish to paint his likeness — but who can paint his true likeness even nearly? His body dies, yet his name is fragrant and shines in the green histories. The lord is dead and yet still lives, and I do not say that he is dead. His new house is at peace, and his descendants shall flourish. The inscription is cut on upright stone, to share beginning and end with the mountain.