Vice Minister Yi Having Replied, I Match the Rhymes次韻李侍郞見和
誠明造道本一徒。夏課所安還一地。君雖後進未及同。尙擬連枝一家子。距我登科二紀餘。成龍榜上欻飛起。此皆夏課所漸染。宛似氷絲受色水。勸學猶如求美人。媒之痛切誰不媚。今君已是巨官人。復振斯風豈無意。哽悲何獨子一齋。十二徒中堪墮淚。必於諸家諭子弟。勿論文虎高卑位。百家所得雖二三。積至源深猶可恃。擇師以敎當氣專。勿令淫縱迺過是。不然悠悠惰遊者。寧肯於文力從事。金公近者倡斯法。請問其要弦於弛。弛者復張仆者興。後學於君喜不喜。
Advancing toward the Way by sincerity (誠) and clarity (明) is of itself one company, and the place where the summer study took root is likewise one ground. You, being of a later generation, could not be there with us, yet you may still be likened to one of a household joined on a single branch. Some twenty-four years after I passed the examination you suddenly flew up onto the roll (榜) of the dragon gate. All this is from being steeped in the summer study, exactly as white thread takes the dye. To urge learning on is like courting a beautiful woman: if the go-between is earnest, who will not come? You have already become a great officer, so how should you not mean to make this spirit flourish again? Is the choking grief for your one hall alone? Among the Twelve Companies there is cause to let tears fall. Be sure to admonish the sons of the many houses, and tell them, whether men of letters or military men, not to weigh high place against low. Though what is got from all those books be no more than two or three things, when it piles up and the source grows deep it may still be relied on. Choose the teachers with care, and let them keep their energies whole; do not let them run so loose as to go beyond this. Otherwise those who merely dawdle and play in a muddle — how should they be willing to pour strength into letters? Lord Kim has of late been the first to cry this rule abroad, so pray ask him the knack of tightening a slackened string. If what was slack grows taut again and what had fallen rises, will not those who come after rejoice over you?
Interlinear notes 3
二首
Two poems.
予登科年。君始生。又隔二十餘年。君又登科。
In the year I passed the examination he was born, and after some twenty years more he passed the examination himself.
君詩云。誠明復盛造道微。爲己咨嗟爲公喜。
In his poem he said, “Sincerity and clarity (誠明) flourish again, yet the advance toward the Way is faint; for myself I sigh, and for you I rejoice.”
松麓遺蹤一夢空。不須更憶荒虛地。君看新邑是花山。中闢彤闈奉天子。遠近千家碧瓦差。朝昏萬竈靑煙起。百官擁似拱辰星。四域奔如朝海水。鳳樓御宴不減前。萬妓盈庭獻娟媚。舊京百事一無虧。唯有生徒未得意。如予白髮長搔頭。其柰靑衿得忍淚。禮官博士恬不憂。可笑庸庸虛竊位。賴有金公復振興。果副吾徒夙所恃。本爾身名始立源。儒臣學士當如是。我知吾子殆能之。惇惇告諭非好事。覓物欣踰未失前。何妨繼絶當其弛。子今復以非位推。此雖謙德聞未喜。
What is left of the slopes of Songak is one round of empty dream; there is no need to think again of that rough and empty ground. Look, the new town is Ganghwa itself, and in its midst a vermilion gate stands open to serve the Son of Heaven. Far and near a thousand houses show their blue tiles high and low, and morning and evening blue smoke rises from ten thousand hearths. The hundred officials are gathered as if ringing the Pole Star, and the four quarters come running like waters that gather to the sea. The royal feasts in the Phoenix Tower are no less than they were, and ten thousand singing girls fill the court, offering their fair forms. Of all the ways of the old capital not one has been marred, and only the students have not got their will. A white head like mine does nothing but scratch itself, but how should the blue-collared young men hold back their tears? The ritual officers and the erudites are calm and do not worry; it is laughable, this poor stealing of a post and nothing more. Happily there is Lord Kim to rouse it up again, and it answers indeed to what our company long trusted in. This is of itself the source of establishing one's person and name, and Confucian ministers and academicians ought to be like this. I know that you will all but bring it about; to admonish earnestly is no love of making a stir. Better to seek it out and rejoice before it is lost; what fault is there in joining what is broken while it is only slack? Yet you now put it off, saying your post does not fit it: this is the virtue of modesty, but it is not glad to hear.
Interlinear notes 1
君詩云。我欲如公勸後生。微官自恐非其位。
In his poem he said, “I too would urge on those who come after as you do, but being of low office I fear in myself that it is not my place.”