Seok Uro昔于老
1The words Seok Uro spoke in jest
昔于老，奈解尼師今之子。助賁王二年七月，以伊飡為大將軍，出討甘文國，破之，以其地為郡縣。四年七月，倭人來侵，于老逆戰於沙道，乘風縱火，焚賊戰艦，賊溺死且盡。十五年正月，進為舒弗邯兼知兵馬事。十六年，冬十月高句麗侵北邊，出擊之，不克，退保馬頭柵。至夜，士卒寒苦，于老躬行勞問，手燒薪櫵，暖熱之，群心感喜，如夾纊。沾解王在位，沙梁伐國舊屬我，忽背而歸百濟，于老將兵往討滅之。七年癸酉，倭國使臣葛耶古在館。于老主之，與客戱言：「早晚，以汝王為鹽奴，王妃為爨婦。」倭王聞之怒，遣將軍于道朱君，討我，大王出居于柚村。于老曰：「今玆之患，由吾言之不愼，我其當之。」遂抵倭軍，謂曰：「前日之言，戱之耳，豈意興師至於此耶。
Seok Uro was a son of Naehae Isageum.
In the seventh month of the second year of King Jobun he held the rank of ichan and was made great general. He went out and struck the state of Gammun and broke it, and made its land into commanderies and counties.
In the seventh month of the fourth year the Wa came to invade, and Uro met them in battle at Sado. With the wind behind him he set fires, and burned the enemy's warships, and the enemy fell into the water and nearly all of them died.
In the first month of the fifteenth year he rose to be seobulhan and took charge of military affairs as well.
In the tenth month, in winter, of the sixteenth year Goguryeo raided the northern border. He went out and attacked them and could not win, and drew back and held the stockade at Madu. When night came the soldiers were cold and suffering, and Uro went about among them himself, comforting them and asking after them, and with his own hands he burned brushwood to warm them, and the hearts of the men were so moved and glad that it was as if they were wrapped in padded clothes.
While King Cheomhae was on the throne, the state of Saryangbeol, which had long belonged to Silla, suddenly turned its back and went over to Baekje, and Uro led troops there, struck it and wiped it out.
In the seventh year, a gyeyu year, Garyago, an envoy of the country of Wa, was staying at the guest house. Uro had charge of him, and he said to the guest in jest, "Before long we will make your king a slave boiling salt and your queen a woman cooking rice."
The king of Wa heard this and was angry, and sent the general Udojugun to strike at Silla, and the great king went out and stayed at Yuchon. Uro said, "This present trouble comes from my own careless words, and I should be the one to bear it." Then he went to the Wa camp and said, "What was said the other day was only a joke. Who would have thought that troops would be raised and it would come to this?"
Interlinear notes 1
或云，角干水老之子也。
Some say he was the son of Suro the gakgan.
2Uro's wife takes her revenge
」倭人不答，執之，積柴置其上，燒殺之乃去。于老子，幼弱不能步，人抱以騎而歸，後為訖解尼師今。味鄒王時，倭國大臣來聘，于老妻請於國王，私饗倭使臣。及其泥醉，使壯士曳下庭焚之，以報前怨。倭人忿，來攻金城，不克引歸。
The Wa gave no answer, but seized him, piled up brushwood and set him on top of it, burned him to death, and went away.
Uro's son was small and weak and could not walk, so someone took him in his arms and set him on a horse and brought him back. Afterward he became Heulhae Isageum.
In the time of King Michu a great minister of the country of Wa came on a mission of courtesy, and Uro's wife asked the king of the country for leave to entertain the envoy of Wa privately. When he was dead drunk she had strong men drag him down into the courtyard and burn him, and so paid back the old wrong. The Wa in their anger came and attacked Geumseong, but could not take it and drew off and went home.
3Judgment — the fault of a single word
論曰：于老為當時大臣，掌軍國事，戰必克，雖不克，亦不敗，則其謀策必有過人者。然以一言之悖，以自取死，又令兩國交兵，其妻能報怨，亦變而非正也。若不爾者，其功業，亦可錄也。
Kim Busik gives his judgment.
Uro was a great minister in his day and had charge of the army and the state. When he fought he always won, and when he did not win he still was not beaten, so his planning and his strategy must have had something in them beyond other men. Yet by the fault of a single word he brought about his own death, and made two countries turn their arms against each other. That his wife took her revenge was also a departure from what is right, and not the straight way. Had it not been for these things, his achievements too would have been worth recording.