To Minister Min Xu of Hunan湖南閔頊尙書
1On seeing the painting of his horsemanship and the traces of good omen
親故前河西朱大夫到。遠垂書示。深荷眷私。兼將尙書弄馬圖及貴府祥瑞事跡相示。閱覽忘倦。欣仰有餘。且武藝所稱。歷朝可數。楚誇徹札。魯衒蒙輪。彎三百斤之長弓。嘗傳漢史。掉八十斤之雙戟。亦著魏書。然而唯守一隅。莫能四達。長於射而短於御。力甚壯而心甚怯。永言戎伎。難遇全才。今者尙書術繼白猿。名高赤兔。旣占萬人之敵。眞爲一代之雄。雖居仗鉞之榮。不忘據鞍之勇。爰徵粉繪。妙寫風儀。遍覽左旋右抽。唯知目駭神聳。彼繫繩逞捷。運甓服勤。實謂區區瑣瑣者爾。況乃夢符捧日。政洽觀風。花竹呈祥。果驗中興之運。龜龍薦感。皆標上瑞之姿。若非望重行春。歌喧來暮。則何以三軍效勇。永諧欽化之名。七郡懷恩。盡表殊常之應。必期渥澤。繼入瀟湘。此則但睹其電擊雲飛。鷹瞵鶚視。每勞企想。無以喩言。唯望愼擧政條。仰酬寵寄。方値四郊多壘。實憑萬里長城。其他中心藏之。永以爲好。幸垂諒察云云。
My old friend Grandee Zhu, lately of Hexi, arrived and handed me the letter he had sent from afar. I am deeply in his private debt. With it he showed me the Minister's painting of horsemanship and the record of the auspicious signs at his honored headquarters. I read and looked until I forgot to grow weary, and my joy and my admiration were more than I could hold. Those praised for skill at arms may be counted through the dynasties. Chu boasted of shooting through armor plates, and Lu made a show of braving the wheel. The drawing of a long bow of three hundred catties was handed down once in the history of Han, and the swinging of paired halberds of eighty catties is set down in the Book of Wei as well. Yet each of them kept to one corner and could not reach out in four directions. They were long in shooting and short in driving. Their strength was very great and their heart very timid. To speak of soldierly skill for all time, it is hard to meet a whole talent. Now the Minister's art carries on the White Ape, and his name stands higher than Red Hare. He holds already the match for ten thousand men, and he is truly the hero of an age. Though he dwells in the glory of holding the battle axe, he has not forgotten the courage of sitting a saddle. So he called for powder and paint and had his bearing marvelously drawn. Looking it over, the turning to the left and the drawing to the right, I know only that my eyes start and my spirit rises. Those who hung from a rope to show their quickness, or carried bricks to keep themselves at their work, were small and trifling things beside this. Still more so when his dream answers to holding up the sun, when his rule is full enough to look upon the ways of the people, when flower and bamboo offer their good omen and prove the fortune of a restored age indeed, and when tortoise and dragon bring their response and mark the form of the highest good omen. If his repute were not weighty on his progress in spring, and if the song "Why so late in coming?" were not loud, how could his three armies give their courage and match forever the name of one whose teaching is revered, and how could the seven commanderies hold his grace in their hearts and show forth a response beyond the ordinary? He will surely look for a rich favor to follow him into Xiaoxiang. Here I only see him strike like lightning and fly like cloud, glare like a hawk and gaze like an osprey. My longing thoughts are at work always, and I have no words to liken them to. I ask only that he raise the articles of his rule with care and repay the trust laid upon him. Now that there are many ramparts in the four suburbs, the country leans indeed upon a great wall of ten thousand li. The rest I keep in the middle of my heart, and I shall hold it a friendship for all time. I ask that he understand and look kindly upon it, and so on.