Letter to the officer for guests與客將書
1The General's heart is like a mirror, and this small man's body is like an arrow
某腐芥無依。斷蓬自役。長走而未離塵土。獨行而轉困路歧。昨者遠抱危誠。專趨朗鑒。竽聲恐濫。琴調空悲。伏蒙將軍念以來自異鄕。勤於儒道。曲垂提挈。得遂獻投。指喩情深。師冕不爲瞽者。奬知言重。卞和免作罪人。荒淺何堪。輝榮已極。但以某無媒進取。有志退居。以詩篇爲養性之資。以書卷爲立身之本。却緣雖曾食祿。未免憂貧。趙囊則到處長空。范甑則何時暫熱。況乃家遙四郡。路隔十洲。窮愁則終夜煎熬。遠信則經年阻絶。時情冷澹。俗態澆譌。買笑金則易求。讀書糧則難致。天高莫問。日暮何歸。始知學者之心。須託至公之力。今幸遇相公山包海納。雨潤風行。有片言可奬者。稱譽出群。有小技可呈者。隨材入用。是以無一物不歸美化。無一夫不荷深恩。然則擧中國之人。咸承煦育。豈可令外方之士。獨見棄遺。某不揆庸才。敢投淸德。豈料將軍許垂拯拔。每賜吹噓。他人之得喪榮枯。皆推命分。小子之昇沈進退。只在恩私。儻或特假重言。終榮賤質。唯托針能入線。則同錐得處囊。某已倚宦途。粗諳吏道。如能驅策。未必跧藏。終當富見室家。豈憚職榮州縣。實以流年易邁。壯氣難申。唯望庇庥得期。變化所異。燕棲雲屋。永無巢幕之危。鶴出塵籠。稍識乘軒之便。今欲專脩啓事。再獻相公。少申感謝之懷。預寫辭違之懇。未知可否。先取指麾。且某也姜維之膽氣雖麤。鄧艾之口辭甚訥。縱申拜謁。難具啓陳。聊托牋毫。代披肝膈。未能患己。先切求仁。將軍之心。若鏡焉無幽不察。小子之身。猶箭也唯命是從。干浼旣頻。慙惶益切。伏惟終始俯賜念察。謹狀。
I am a rotten straw with nothing to lean on, a broken tumbleweed that drives itself along. I have run far and have not left the dust behind. I have walked alone and have grown more worn at every forking road. The other day I carried my anxious sincerity from afar and hurried straight to your clear discernment. I feared that my reed pipe would swell the music falsely, and my zither tune grieved in vain. You, General, thought of me as one come from another country who is diligent in the way of the scholar. You bent down to take me up and let me carry out my offering. Your pointing and teaching were deep in feeling, so that Shi Mian (師冕) is not taken for a blind man. Your praise and understanding were weighty in word, so that Bian He escapes being made a criminal. How should one so rough and shallow bear it? The shining honor is already at its height. Yet I have no go-between for advancement, and I have a mind to withdraw and live apart. I make poems the stock of nourishing my nature and books the root of establishing myself. Still, though I have eaten a salary before, I have not escaped the care of poverty. The purse of Zhao is empty wherever it goes. When will the steamer of Fan be warm even for a moment? Still more, my home is far off, four commanderies away, and the road is blocked by the ten islands. In my bitter sorrow I seethe the whole night through, and word from home is cut off for a year at a time. The feeling of the age is cold and thin, and the manner of the world is shallow and false. Gold to buy a smile is easily sought, but grain to read books by is hard to come by. Heaven is high, and I cannot ask it. The sun goes down, and where shall I return? Now at last I know that the heart of a student must lean on the strength of one who is wholly fair. Now I have had the good fortune to meet his lordship, who wraps things about as a mountain does and takes them in as the sea does, whose rain moistens and whose wind passes over all. If there is a single word in a man that deserves praise, he lifts his fame above the crowd. If there is a small skill that can be offered, he uses the man according to his timber. Therefore there is not one thing that does not return to his fair teaching, and not one man who does not bear his deep kindness. If so, then all the people of the Middle Kingdom receive his warm rearing. How could a scholar of the outer regions be left alone and cast aside? I did not measure my dull talent and dared to throw myself upon his pure virtue. How could I have reckoned that you, General, would consent to pull me up and would blow my name abroad again and again? The gain and loss, the flourishing and the withering of other men are all left to their lot. The rising and sinking, the advance and retreat of this small man rest only on your private kindness. If you should lend me a weighty word and bring honor at last to so mean a substance, I would trust only that the needle can pass the thread, and it would be like the awl that finds a place in the bag. I have already leaned on the road of office and know the way of a clerk in outline. If I can be driven and used, I need not crouch in hiding. In the end I shall surely see my household made rich. How should I shrink from an office that honors a prefecture or a county? Truly the running years pass easily, and a strong spirit is hard to unfold. I hope only for a shelter I may count on, so that my change may be other than it is. When the swallow nests in a house of clouds, it is forever free of the danger of a nest on a curtain. When the crane leaves the dusty cage, it comes to know a little of the ease of riding in a carriage. Now I wish to write out a letter on purpose and offer it again to his lordship, to unfold a little of what I feel in thanks and to set down beforehand my earnest words of leave-taking. I do not know whether this may be done, so I take your direction first. Besides, the courage of Jiang Wei in me is coarse and the speech of Deng Ai in me stammers badly. Even if I came to make my bow, it would be hard to set the matter out in full. So I leave it to paper and brush and lay open my liver and my breast instead. I cannot yet grieve for myself, and I am keen first to seek benevolence. Your heart, General, is like a mirror, and there is nothing dark it does not see into. This small man's body is like an arrow, and it follows your command alone. My importuning has been frequent, and my shame and dread grow keener. I humbly trust that from first to last you will stoop to keep me in your thoughts. Respectfully submitted.