Yetgeul › Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) › Book 4 — Memorials to the Throne

A statement of thanks for changing my nephew Hongyue's name to Ji and appointing him Left Administrative Aide of the Grand Metropolitan Prefecture of Yangzhou謝侄男宏約改名濟除授楊州大都府左司馬狀

Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) 桂苑筆耕集 · Choe Chiwon · 886 (Tang, 6th year of the Zhonghe era · Silla, 12th year of King Heongang) · 2 passages · 210 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min

Gyewon Pilgyeongjip (A Plowing of the Brush in the Cassia Garden) Book 4 — Memorials to the Throne A collection Choe Chiwon made by choosing out of the writings of his four years in the headquarters of Gao Pian, military commissioner of Huainan under the Tang, binding them into twenty volumes and presenting them to King Heongang of Silla in 886. It holds 366 pieces — memorials and reports sent up to the emperor, the proclamation denouncing Huang Chao, letters to the several military commissioners, orders and dispatches issued to those under him, Daoist and Buddhist texts for services, funeral offerings, records written for the outer wall of Chengdu and for a painting of Annam, and the reports and poems he sent up to Gao Pian. Here is the first report, which begins "I am a man of Silla," and the proclamation against Huang Chao with its line, "Not only do all the men of the world think to kill you openly; the ghosts under the earth have already discussed cutting you down in secret." The last volume holds the poems he made on the voyage home to the country he had left at twelve. It is the oldest collection by a Korean that survives, and when Hong Seokju and Seo Yugu printed it with movable type in 1834 they called it "the root and the beginning of the writing of our Eastern Country." Their two prefaces are translated with it.

1Gao Qu, former Vice Commissioner of Militia Training in Ezhou

前鄂州都團練副使朝議郞檢校祠部郞中兼侍御史柱國賜緋魚袋高劬

Gao Qu, formerly Vice Commissioner of Militia Training in Ezhou, Court Discussion Gentleman, Acting Director of the Bureau of Sacrifices, concurrently Attending Censor, Pillar of State, granted the scarlet fish-pouch.

2Asking that my nephew Qu be made prefect within the gorges

右件官。是臣親姪男。粗詳吏術。早忝官裳。始佐理於江陽。旋從知於寒壤。實得片言以折獄。未嘗枉道而事人。遂荷寵榮。已登班列。尋叨命服。久倅廉車。方當寇盜喧驚。亦有籌謀施展。加以每遵家法。願報國恩。宗族稱孝悌之名。僚友許溫恭之行。臣是以輒思內擧。敢具上陳。引以進之。守戴禮之深義。惟善所擧。憑魯書之美譚。伏乞聖慈俯鑑忠懇。特賜除授峽內刺史。劬也必能勵心從政。常銘馬援之言。竭力分憂。不負謝安之擧。干黷宸扆。無任兢惶。謹錄奏聞。伏聽勑旨。

The officer named above is your servant's own nephew. He knows the art of a clerk in rough outline and early on put on official robes he did not deserve. He first helped to govern at Jiangyang, and then followed his charge in a cold land. He could truly settle a lawsuit with a single word, and he has never bent the Way in order to serve another. At last he received favor and glory and has already risen into the ranks, and soon he took the robes of office he did not deserve and was long the aide of a commissioner's carriage. Just when the bandits were raising their clamor, he too had plans to set forth. Besides this, he always follows the rules of the house and wishes to repay the grace of the state, so that his clan speaks of his name for filial piety and brotherly love, and his colleagues grant that his conduct is warm and respectful. Your servant therefore thought at once of recommending one of his own, and dares to set it out above. Your servant keeps the deep meaning of the Da Dai li, which says "draw him forward and so advance him"; he leans upon the fine saying of the Lu shu, which says "recommend only the good." Your servant humbly begs that your sagely kindness look down upon this loyal earnestness and grant him by special favor the appointment as prefect within the gorges. Qu will surely be able to set his heart upon serving in government, ever engraving the words of Ma Yuan, and to spend his whole strength in sharing your cares, so that he does not fail the recommendation of Xie An. In troubling the imperial seat your servant cannot bear his awe. With respect he sets this down and reports it, and humbly awaits the imperial rescript.

Interlinear notes 1

Dai li (戴禮) is also taken to mean the Xiao Dai li, that is, the Book of Rites. — translator

‹ A statement asking that my nephew Qu be raised in office Contents A statement of thanks for appointing my younger brother Zhu prefect of Mianzhou once more ›Listen to this piece