Preface — Jo Wi曹偉序
1Jo Wi's preface — it fits the Yeogong paeseol of Ikjae like the halves of a tally
東方自箕子受封以來。世稱文獻。侔擬中華。而前朝五百年間文學之士。彬彬輩出。以遺稿傳于世者。無慮數十餘家。可謂人才之盛也。然記述當世朝野之事名臣賢士之所言若行。以傳於後者。罕有其人。獨李學士破閒集。崔大尉補閑集。至今資詩人之談論。爲縉紳之所玩。然所論者。皆雕篆章句。其於國家經世之典。槩乎其無所取也。厥後益齋李文忠公著櫟翁稗說。雖間有滑稽之言。而祖宗世系朝廷典故。多所記載而卞證焉。實當世之遺史也。今觀座主達城相公所撰筆苑雜記。其規模大略與櫟翁稗說。若合符契。至哉大儒之立言傳後也。生雖先後之異時。而其言之若出一人何耶。豈非人有先後而道無不同故耶。余惟益齋生於衰亂之世。間關奔走於式微之際。念君憂國之誠。出於至情。所以能保功名。終始一節。卓卓乎不可尙已。今公生於太平之朝。遭遇聖明。從容帷幄。黼黻至治。冠冕儒林。師範一世。其心其學其事業之盛。固將無讓於益齋。而其所纂錄。聖君賢相制作行事之迹。有非高麗君臣所可彷彿其萬一也。則是書之傳。又非稗說之比也審矣。或曰公之所錄。皆可爲訓於後世。而一二事未免襲稗說之滑稽何耶。曰公之博聞强記。出於天性。時於讌閑戲用翰墨。書其平日所見聞者耳。初非有意於著書也。優旃方朔之言。遷固書而不削。此亦紀事之體也。噫自箕子至于今。幾三千年。秉筆之士世不乏人。而立言傳後者。蓋無幾焉。非著之無其人。實不能久於傳也。其人不足爲師。其言不足爲法。則雖罄南山之竹。禿千兔之毫。日綴數萬言。不能傳於一時。況敢望於後世乎。夫然則公之是編也。人可爲師。言可爲法。其傳於無窮也固也。他日太史氏紬蘭臺蓬觀之藏。其將無取於是也乎。成化紀元之二十三年季秋日。門生奉列大夫咸陽郡守夏山曹偉敍。
Ever since Gija received his fief, the East has been called through the ages a land of records and worthies, a match for China, and in the five hundred years of the former dynasty scholars of letters came forth one after another in fine array, those who left manuscripts handed down to the world numbering some scores of houses. This may be called an abundance of talent. Yet of those who set down the affairs of court and country in their own day, and the words and the deeds of famous ministers and worthy scholars, and handed them to later ages, there have been few. Only the Pahanjip of Academician Yi and the Bohanjip of Grand Commandant Choe still furnish matter for the talk of poets and are enjoyed by the gentry, and what they discuss is all the carving of phrases and lines, so that for the canon of ordering the state there is in general nothing to take from them. After them Ikjae, Duke Yi Munchung, wrote the Yeogong paeseol, and though here and there it holds words of jest, it sets down and examines much of the ancestral line of the royal house and the precedents of the court. It is truly the leftover history of that age. Now I look at the Piwon japgi compiled by my examiner, Chancellor Seo of Dalseong, and its scale and its outline fit the Yeogong paeseol as the halves of a tally fit together. How perfect it is, that a great scholar sets up his words and hands them to later ages. They were born in different times, the one before the other, so why do their words seem to come from a single man? Is it not because men have their before and after, while in the Way there is no difference? I consider that Ikjae was born in an age of decline and disorder and toiled and hurried through hardship while the dynasty was sinking, yet his loyalty in thinking of his ruler and grieving for his country came from the deepest feeling, and so he could keep merit and name whole and hold one integrity from first to last. He stands so high that none can go beyond him. The master was born in a reign of great peace, met with an enlightened ruler, moved at ease within the councils of state, embroidered the highest government, stood at the head of the forest of scholars, and became the teacher and model of an age. In his heart, in his learning, and in the fullness of his work he will surely yield nothing to Ikjae, and the traces he has gathered, of the institutions made and the deeds done by a sage ruler and worthy ministers, are such that the ruler and ministers of Goryeo could not match one part of ten thousand. So it is clear that the handing down of this book is not to be compared with the Paeseol either. Someone says, "What the master records may all be a lesson to later ages, yet one or two matters do not escape following the jesting of the Paeseol. Why is this?" I say: the master's wide hearing and strong memory come from his nature. At times, at a quiet feast, he played with brush and ink and wrote down what he had seen and heard in his ordinary days, and that is all. From the first he had no mind to make a book. The words of You Zhan and Dongfang Shuo were written down by Sima Qian and Ban Gu and not struck out, and this too is a manner of recording events. Ah, from Gija until now is nearly three thousand years, and in no age have men who wield the brush been wanting, yet those who set up words and handed them to later ages are but few. It is not that there was no one to write. It is that what was written could not be handed down long. If the man is not enough to be a teacher and his words are not enough to be a rule, then though he exhaust the bamboo of the southern hills and wear bald the hair of a thousand hares, and string together tens of thousands of words a day, he cannot hand them down even for a single age. How much less may he dare to hope for later ages. This being so, in this book of the master the man is enough to be a teacher and the words are enough to be a rule, and that it will be handed down without end is certain. On another day, when the grand historian draws out what is stored in the Lantai and the Pengguan, will he take nothing from this? On a day in the last month of autumn, in the twenty-third year since the Chenghua era began, his disciple Jo Wi of Hasan, of the rank bongnyeoldaebu and magistrate of Hamyang, writes this.