Tomb inscription for Lord Yu, who retired as Grand Master of the Silver and Blue Imperial Favor and Left Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs銀靑光祿大夫尙書左僕射致仕庾公墓誌銘
觀自古士大夫。其始未嘗不以廉恥操心滿盈爲戒。而及富貴方酣。率翫惜日月。恬不知退者多矣。我僕射府君。大異於是。年六十有四。已登端揆。則其去台鉉。能有幾級而未踐其地耶。但先六載引退。求避溢寵耳。不然。久已升極秩而猶有餘矣。此易所謂知進退存亡。不失其正者歟。庾氏源于錦城之茂松。在版籍爲甲。而公其出也。公諱資諒。字湛然。曾祖諱某皇。檢校太子詹事。祖諱某皇。檢校大子大師。考諱某皇。配某廟功臣門下侍中修文殿大學士判吏部事贈恭肅公。母張氏尙衣奉御諱贊之女。此公之世系也。公爲人。中和毓粹。莊重寡言。仁信足以感人。淸儉足以律世。此公之受之天也。方毅廟時。山東寢盛。公年十六。與貴門子弟約爲交契。公欲引虎官御牽龍行首吳光陟李光挺等與焉。衆莫肯之。公挺然議曰。雖私遊中。文虎俱備。亦得矣。何有不可乎。後必有悔矣。衆咸以爲然。於是使之參焉。未幾庚寅亂。文臣幾蕩盡。凡入交契者皆得免。以吳李二將營救甚力故也。此公之自少。已有知幾之量也。年若干。以宰相子。直補守宮署丞。尋遷大樂署丞。俄出爲龍岡縣令。其爲政。諳練理體。摘發如神。一方稱之。此公之始莅郡也。累歷御史尙衣奉御侍御史戶部郞中御史雜端。賜金紫大府少卿兵刑部侍郞大府卿知三司事判大府司宰事大子詹事判閣門知茶房事。階皆正議。尙書右僕射。階光祿。此公之所歷官序也。其或廉察東南。秉鉞東北。則威風所及。無不股弁。然濟以仁信。故民便之。此公之奉使延譽也。夫三品正秩。入相可冀。而公之判司宰也。反乞郡痛切。以戶部尙書。出知南京留守。此公之辭滿忌盈也。公常以選軍使聽軍政。其廳事上欹柱自立。時譁傳以爲異事。此公之公平無私所感也。其帥關東也。到洛山禮觀音。俄有二靑鳥含花落衣上。又海水一掬許。湧灌其項。世傳此地有靑鳥。凡謁聖者非其人則不見。此公之惇德至信所致然也。越崇慶二年癸酉。引年乞退甚篤。上不得已允之。以銀靑光祿大夫尙書左僕射。得謝家居。與當時卿相之退逸者。爲耆老會。時或置酒盡歡。凡優游養性十有七年。此公之懸車閑適之樂也。歲己丑八月七日。詣耆老會。從容宴飮。還于第。明日方午。忽覽八戒文。夜盥浴。尙安然就寢。及日。呼家人問時。然後翛然而化。享年八十。此公之終也。先是。人有死復生者。自言死至一處。宮觀甚嚴。守者曰。此庾僕射至處也。其說雖荒唐。考公之行。已無愧。及其終如此。則其言亦不可不信。公之生善處也必矣。娶左承宣金諱存中女。凡生子三女二。長曰某。爲國學學諭。早卒。次曰某。今爲判大僕事知御史臺事寶文閣直學士知制誥。季曰某。爲內侍某官。亦先公卒。女長適某官某。早寡。季適某官某。今寡。方葬也。知臺君具公之行錄。託予以銘。予奉書泣。且日。嗚呼。古之遺直也歟。吾不復見仁人君子之若公者矣。銘其敢辭乎。遂銘曰。顯允端揆。惟邦之紀。民方注心。遽釋其位。位不至極。公所自避。公則自避。人歉其意。黃髮壽考。公所不蘄。公雖不蘄。天固相之。正直感神。柱立鳥馴。於公爲常。怪者維人。嗚呼。舊德云亡。模範疇倚。有山巖巖。水灌其趾。是公之宮。吉祥止止。鑱石納竁。眉目萬祀。
Looking at officials and gentlemen from of old, there is not one who at the outset did not hold his heart with a sense of shame and guard against fullness. Yet when their wealth and rank came to their full ripeness, most of them on the whole grudged the passing years, idled, grew comfortable and did not know how to withdraw. Our lord the Vice Director was greatly different from this.
At sixty-four years of age he had already risen to the head seat of the Chancellery for State Affairs; so how many steps were left to a chief minister's seat, that he should not have trodden that ground? It was only that he withdrew six years early, seeking to avoid overflowing favor. Had it not been so, he would long since have risen to the very highest rank, with room to spare. Is this what the Book of Changes calls knowing advancing and withdrawing, presence and extinction, and not losing one's uprightness?
The Yu (庾) clan began at Musong (茂松) in Geumseong (錦城) and is a house foremost in the registers, and the lord was born in that house. The lord's taboo name was Jaryang (資諒) and his style Damyeon (湛然). His great-grandfather So-and-so was the late Inspector-General Attendant of the Heir Apparent, and his grandfather So-and-so was the late Inspector-General Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent. His father So-and-so was a merit-subject enshrined in the temple of such-and-such a king, Director of the Chancellery, Academician of the Sumun Hall and Director of the Board of Personnel, and received the posthumous title Lord Gongsuk (恭肅公). His mother, of the Jang clan, was the daughter of Chan (贊), Superintendent of the Royal Wardrobe. This is the lord's lineage.
The lord as a man nurtured an unbiased harmony and purity, and was weighty and sparing of words. His worthiness and trustworthiness were enough to move men, and his purity and frugality were enough to set the age right. This is what the lord received from heaven.
In Uijong's time the supernumerary ranks (山東) grew ever fuller. At sixteen the lord made a pact with the sons of noble houses and formed a fellowship for friendship, and the lord wished to bring in the military men Chief of the Dragon Guard O Gwangcheok (吳光陟) and Yi Gwangjeong (李光挺) and have them join. The others were unwilling. The lord argued the point firmly and said, "Though it is only a fellowship for private pleasure, it is also good if both the civil and the military are present in it. What is there against it? Later there will surely be cause for regret." The others all held him right, and so they let those men take part. Before long, in the turmoil of the gyeong-in (庚寅) year, the civil officials were almost all swept away, yet every one who had joined that fellowship escaped. It was because the two generals, O and Yi, exerted themselves to save them. This is how the lord already from his youth had the breadth to read the signs.
At such an age, as a minister's son, he was appointed directly Assistant Director of the Palace Buildings Office (守宮署). He then moved to Assistant Director of the Court of Grand Music, and in time went out to be Magistrate of Yonggang District (龍岡縣). His government was practiced in the essentials of rule and his bringing things to light was as though by spirit power, and a whole region spoke of it. This was the lord's first arrival in a district.
He passed through many offices. He served as Censor, Superintendent of the Royal Wardrobe, Attendant Censor, Director of the Bureau of Taxation and Assistant Director of the Censorate; and, having received the gold and purple, as Junior Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan, Minister of War, Minister of Justice, Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan, Administrator of the Three Offices, Director of the Court of the Imperial Clan and of the Court of Sacrificial Worship, Attendant of the Heir Apparent, and Director of the Gate Office and the Tea Office; and in all of these his rank was Grand Master of Uprightness. When he came to Right Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs, his rank was Grand Master of the Imperial Favor. This is the order of the offices the lord held.
Whether inspecting the southeast or holding the axe in the northeast, wherever the wind of his authority reached, there was no one whose legs did not tremble. Yet because he rescued them with worthiness and trustworthiness, the people were at ease with him. This is how the lord upheld his commands and broadened his praise.
Now with a full rank of the third degree one may hope to enter the ministry. Yet the lord, while Director of the Court of Sacrificial Worship, instead begged earnestly for a provincial post, and went out as Minister of Taxation to take charge as Resident Commissioner of the Southern Capital (南京). This is how the lord declined what was full and shrank from fullness.
When the lord was once Commissioner of Military Selection (選軍使) and was setting the military administration in order, a leaning pillar of his government hall stood up of itself. At the time it was passed about with a stir and held a marvel. This is what the lord's fairness and freedom from self-interest moved.
When the lord was in charge of Gwandong (關東), he came to Naksan (洛山) and paid his respects to Avalokitesvara (觀音). Presently two blue birds came down upon his robe with flowers in their beaks. And a handful or so of seawater also rose up and poured over the back of his neck. It is handed down in the world that there are blue birds in that place, and that they do not show themselves to any who comes to behold the sage unless he is a man fit for it. This is what the lord's generous virtue and utmost trustworthiness brought about.
In the gye-yu (癸酉) year, the second of Chongqing, he pleaded his years and begged most earnestly to withdraw. The king allowed it unwillingly, and he laid down office as Grand Master of the Silver and Blue Imperial Favor and Left Vice Director of the Chancellery for State Affairs and stayed at home. At that time he formed a Society of Elders (耆老會) with the ministers who had withdrawn and were living at leisure, and from time to time they set out wine and took their pleasure to the full. In all he roamed at ease and nurtured his nature for seventeen years. This is the pleasure the lord enjoyed at leisure after laying down office.
On the seventh day of the eighth month of the gi-chuk (己丑) year he went to the Society of Elders, feasted and drank quietly, and returned home. The next day at noon he suddenly looked over the Text of the Eight Precepts (八戒文), and in the evening he washed and bathed and still went to bed at ease. When day broke he called a member of the household and asked the hour, and then all at once died. The years he enjoyed were eighty. This is the lord's end.
Before this there was a man who died and came back to life. He said of himself that on dying he reached a certain place where the palaces and halls were most solemn, and that the one on guard said, "This is the place where Vice Director Yu is to come." Though these words are preposterous, yet looking into the lord's conduct there was already nothing in it to be ashamed of, and his end was such as this, so that these words too cannot but be believed. There is no doubt that the lord was born into a good place.
He married the daughter of Kim Jonjung (金存中), Left Transmitter of Directives, and had in all three sons and two daughters. The eldest, So-and-so, became Instructor of the National Academy but died early. The next, So-and-so, is now Director of the Court of the Imperial Stud, Administrator of the Censorate, Academician of the Bomun Pavilion and Drafter of Edicts. The youngest, So-and-so, held such-and-such office as a palace attendant, and he too died before the lord. The elder daughter married So-and-so of such-and-such office but was early widowed, and the younger daughter married So-and-so of such-and-such office and is now a widow.
At the time of the burial, his son who holds the Censorate prepared a record of the lord's acts and charged me with the inscription. I took the letter up, wept and said, "Alas, here is the straightness left us by the men of old. I shall not see again a worthy man and gentleman such as the lord. How should I dare decline the inscription?" And so at last the inscription says:
O bright and trustworthy Vice Director, you alone were the binding cord of the state. Just as the people were pouring out their hearts, all at once you laid down your place. That your place did not reach to the end is what the lord himself avoided. The lord avoided it himself, yet men were sorry for that intent. That he lived long into his yellow hair is what the lord did not seek. Though the lord did not seek it, heaven truly helped him. His uprightness and straightness moved the spirits: the pillar stood and the birds grew tame. To the lord these were ordinary things; it was men alone who thought them strange. Alas, the virtue of old has gone; on whom shall we lean for an example? There is a mountain, standing eminent, and water moistens its foot. This is the lord's house, and here the fortunate and auspicious abide. It is cut in stone and laid in the tomb, and its form shall last ten thousand years.