A memorial of thanks for the added office of palace attendant謝就加侍中表
1He gives up the salt and iron revenues and receives the office of palace attendant
臣某言。臣伏奉去年十一月十一日恩制。加授臣侍中。依前淮南節度使階。勳封並如故。仍加食實封一百戶者。有命自天。處身無地。感深以泣。寵極而驚。臣誠抃誠懼。頓首頓首。伏以黜陟分科。聖君至敎。行藏守道。達士良規。慮受爵以斯亡。在持盈而不殆。臣自提榷筦。便遇兵戈。郡邑爲征戰之場。山海足逋逃之藪。旣難聚利。莫遂成功。況乃權有他門。刃無餘地。動見越庖代俎。無非避柱觸楹。遂虧漕輓之程。僅壞銅鹽之法。伏蒙皇帝陛下俯詳直道。不寘嚴誅。選用良才。改移重務。而乃察臣在公之節。念臣戀主之誠。重委將壇。更增封邑。恕乏一時之秀。許攀七葉之榮。唯慮慙卿。或譏竊位。然臣今所以自賀者。三朝獨立。七鎭榮遷。每當拜爵王庭。不省謝恩私室。以玆勵己。永免愧人。謹當激發壯圖。殲夷窮寇。粗息四方之患。仰寬萬乘之憂。臣限守藩條。不獲稱謝行在。感恩戰灼屛營之至。謹奉表陳謝以聞。臣某誠慙誠懼。頓首頓首謹言。
Your servant So-and-so speaks. Your servant respectfully received the gracious decree of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of last year, which added and conferred on him the office of Palace Attendant, kept him as before as Military Commissioner of Huainan, left his rank and his merit titles and fief all as they were, and added further a true fief of a hundred households. A command has come from heaven, and he has no place to set his body. His feeling runs so deep that he weeps, and your favor is so great that he is startled. Your servant truly claps his hands and is truly afraid, bowing his head to the ground, bowing his head to the ground. Your servant humbly considers this. To divide demotion from promotion is the highest teaching of a sage ruler; to keep the way whether one goes forward or stays hidden is the good rule of a man of understanding. He fears that he may be undone by receiving rank, and that safety lies in holding what is full and not courting peril. Ever since your servant took charge of the state monopolies he has met with war. The commanderies and towns became a field of battle, and the mountains and the seas were lairs enough for runaways. It was hard to gather any profit, and he brought nothing to success. Still more, the power lay at another gate and the blade had no ground to spare. At every move it was said that he stepped over the kitchen and took another's carving block, and there was nothing but dodging one pillar and striking against the next. So the course of the grain transport was broken, and the law of copper and salt came near to ruin. Your Majesty bent down to look closely at his straight dealing and did not lay a severe punishment upon him. You chose and used men of good talent and moved that heavy business elsewhere. And then you looked into your servant's integrity in public duty and thought of his devotion to his lord. You entrusted him again with the general's altar and increased his fief, forgiving him for lacking the brilliance of his time and allowing him to climb to an honor of seven generations. He fears only that he shames the name of minister, and that men may blame him for stealing his place. Yet what your servant congratulates himself upon now is this. Through three reigns he has stood alone, and through seven commands he has moved with honor. Whenever a rank was conferred he bowed for it in the royal court, and he has never gone to thank for favor in a private house. With this he urges himself on, and forever escapes shame before others. He will rouse up a bold design and wipe out the cornered bandits, to quiet in some measure the troubles of the four quarters and to lighten the cares of the lord of ten thousand chariots. Your servant is bound by the duties of his command and cannot offer his thanks at your traveling palace. He cannot bear the utmost of gratitude for your grace and of trembling dread. He respectfully presents this memorial of thanks for Your Majesty's hearing. Your servant So-and-so is truly ashamed and truly afraid, bowing his head to the ground, bowing his head to the ground. Respectfully spoken.