Tomb Inscription for Master O, Supernumerary Vice Director of the Directorate of Armaments and Bureau Director of the Ministry of Works, Granted the Purple and Gold Fish-Pouch檢校軍器少監行尙書工部郞中賜紫金魚袋吳君墓志銘
龍集著雍淹茂南呂之月。工部郞中吳君。卒于私第。嗚呼。眞古之遺直者歟。有或以官不稱意爲慊者。予謂之曰。士起鄕閭。徒步入京師。刷翮濯鱗。歷官中外。至登五品。斯非人所皆得者。何謂慊哉。君諱闡猷。海州人也。版籍世皆爲州吏。考某爲州副司戶。外祖某亦其州人也。爲權司戶。君早博學工文詞。越己酉歲。擧司馬試中之。遂入大學。又於甲寅。擧春場中之。將赴試也。夢捉一龜。因假以爲名。先放榜一日。試官夢一龜告曰。所與一時成功輩。皆已第矣。而予獨見擯。試官皆驚悟。於擯中暗求之。擢爲丙首。及榜出。迺君也。大和丙寅。補博州通判。及替。遂於貞祐戊寅。除延禧宮錄事。因歷大官承，尙書都事。皆兼軍簽。俄遷慶成府注簿。丁亥。拜權知閣門祗候。明年。出守知古阜郡。爲理尙寬和。人便之。庚寅冬。以右正言知制誥見召。累遷尙乘奉御工部員外試禮部工部郞中。卒享年七十一。其卒也。亦無疾恙。倏然而逝。君爲人謹諒無華實。恂恂然坦率儒者也。不然。何完名保祿。亦克有終如是耶。先娶左右衛郞將安弼公女。凡生二男一女。曰壽升。登第。曰玄齡。神虎衛郞將。女嫁某官某。安氏薨。更娶中郞將金義光女。生一男二女。男玄成。祝髮爲禪者。女一適某官。一適某官。金氏卒。復娶工部郞中申惟甫女。無息。及葬。子玄齡等以予嘗與君同年登進士。故來乞銘且勤。予不得已而銘之曰。
In the eighth month of the musul year, Master O (吳君), Bureau Director of the Ministry of Works, passed away at his private house. Ah — truly an upright man left to us by the ancients.
Some are disappointed, saying that his office did not match his aspiration. To them I say: a scholar rose from the countryside, came up to the capital on foot, trimmed his wings and washed his scales, and passed through offices within and without until he rose to the fifth grade. This is not what every man attains; why call it a disappointment?
The master's given name was Cheonyu (闡猷), and he was a man of Haeju (海州). The household entered in the registers had been district clerks for generations. His father, so-and-so, was Deputy Clerk of Revenue of the district, and his maternal grandfather, so-and-so, was also a man of that district and Acting Clerk of Revenue.
From early on the master studied widely and wrote well. In the giyu year he sat the Sama examination and passed, and so entered the National Academy; and again in the gabin year he sat the spring examination and passed. When he was about to sit the examination, he dreamed that he caught a tortoise, and so he borrowed that for his name. The day before the roll was posted, a tortoise appeared in the dream of one of the examiners and told him, "All the company who accomplished it with me at one time have already passed, and I alone have been cast out." The examiners all started awake, searched quietly among those who had been cast out, and chose him at the head of the third class. When the roll came out, it was the master.
In the byeongin year of Taehwa (泰和) he was appointed Administrative Aide of Bakju (博州). When his term came round to be changed, he was at length appointed, in the muin year of Jeongu (貞祐), Recorder of Yeonhui Palace. Thereafter he passed through the posts of Aide of the Office of Palace Provisions and Secretary of the Department of State Affairs, in both of which he also held the military registers (軍簽). Before long he moved to Registrar of Gyeongseong Prefecture. In the jeonghae year he was appointed Acting Usher of the Palace Gate, and the next year he went out to govern Gobu District (古阜郡), where his rule honored leniency and concord, and the people found it easy to live under. In the winter of the gyeongin year he was called in as Right Rectifier of Speech and Drafter of Royal Edicts, and after several moves passed through the posts of Director of the Office of Royal Carriages and Vice Bureau Director of the Ministry of Works, and became Acting Bureau Director of the Ministry of Rites and then Bureau Director of the Ministry of Works.
When he passed away, the years he had enjoyed were seventy-one. In his dying too he was without sickness, and left the world all at once. The master's character was careful, trustworthy and without ornament; he was truly a Confucian, gentle and open. Had he not been so, how would he have kept his name whole and held his stipend, and so come by as good an end as this?
He first married the daughter of An Pil (安弼), Captain of the Left and Right Guard, and had by her two sons and one daughter in all. Suseung (壽升) passed the examination and Hyeollyeong (玄齡) is a Captain of the Divine Tiger Guard, and the daughter married so-and-so of such an office. When Lady An died he married again, the daughter of Kim Uigwang (金義光), Senior Captain, and had one son and two daughters. The son Hyeonseong (玄成) shaved his head and became a Seon monk; one daughter married such an officer and the other such an officer. When Lady Kim died he married again, the daughter of Sin Yubo (申惟甫), Bureau Director of the Ministry of Works, but had no children by her.
At the burial, his son Hyeollyeong and the others came and begged an inscription (銘) of me, and that most diligently, on the ground that I had long ago risen to the rank of licentiate in the same year as the master. Having no choice, I have composed an inscription, which says:
Interlinear notes 2
幷序
With the preface.
The source text has 大和, but this is another way of writing 泰和, the Jin era name Goryeo used at this time. The byeongin year (1206) was the sixth year of Taehwa. — translator
亹亹夫子。溫如玉兮直如矢。行已礪志。俯仰無愧。官不偶器。亦豈介意。有鬱其山兮。植植松梓。孔寧且臧兮。宜子之寢位。以利于後嗣。
Diligent were you, warm as jade and straight as an arrow. You whetted your will upon your bearing, and looking down or looking up had no shame. Your office did not match your vessel, yet how should you have taken it to heart? Lush and deep is that mountain, where pines and walnut trees were planted in rows. It is most peaceful and good besides, fitting as the place where you shall lie. By this your descendants after you will be served.