<Header>
<Author: 李商隱>
<Title: 韓碑>
<Format: 七言古詩>
<Year: 1944>
<BookName: A FURTHER SELECTION FROM THE THREE HUNDRED POEMS OF THE T'ANG DYNASTY>
<Translator: SOAME JENYNS>
<TranslatedTitle: The Stone Inscription of Han Yü>
<BookPage: 50-51>
<UsedPage: 2>
<Feature: 1, 4>
<End Header>
<Poem>
元和天子神武姿，
彼何人哉軒與羲。
誓將上雪列聖恥，
坐法宮中朝四夷。
淮西有賊五十載，
封狼生貙貙生羆。
不據山河據平地，
長戈利矛日可麾。
帝得聖相相曰度，
賊斫不死神扶持。
腰懸相印作都統，
陰風慘澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪，
儀曹外郎載筆隨。
行軍司馬智且勇，
十四萬衆猶虎貔。
入蔡縛賊獻太廟，
功無與讓恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一，
汝從事愈宜爲辭。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞，
金石刻畫臣能爲。
古者世稱大手筆，
此事不繫于職司。
當仁自古有不讓，
言訖屢頷天子頤。
公退齋戒坐小閣，
濡染大筆何淋漓。
點竄堯典舜典字，
塗改清廟生民詩。
文成破體書在紙，
清晨再拜鋪丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上，
詠神聖功書之碑。
碑高三丈字如斗，
負以靈鼇蟠以螭。
句奇語重喻者少，
讒之天子言其私。
長繩百尺拽碑倒，
麤砂大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元氣，
先時已入人肝脾。
湯盤孔鼎有述作，
今無其器存其辭。
嗚呼聖皇及聖相，
相與烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示後，
曷與三五相攀追。
願書萬本誦萬過，
口角流沫右手胝。
傳之七十有二代，
以爲封禪玉檢明堂基。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
IN the Yüan-ho period Hsien Tsung had the endowments of a divine warrior:
What a man he was. Huang Ti and Fu Hsi (can only be compared with him).
He swore he would wipe out the disgrace of his ancestors
Sitting in his palace of justice he gave audience to the four barbarians from all the four quarters.
To the west of the Huai River there had been brigands for fifty years
Boundary wolves had bred lynxes, and lynxes, bears.
When the rebels were not in possession of the hills and villages they were in possession of the plains;
Their long spears and sharp lances, they brandished every day.
The Emperor procured a wise minister whose name was Tu
The brigands tried to assassinate him, but he did not die for the heavens supported him;
From his girdle hung his seals of office and he was made Com-mander-in-Chief.
(In those days) a dark wind blew grimly upon the imperial banners.
The Generals Su, Wu, Ku and T'ung were made his teeth and claws;
Secretaries with their pens were in his train,
Field officers also with skill (to plan) and bravery (to perform);
One hundred and forty thousand soldiers like tigers and leopards
They entered Ts'ai and tied up the rebel chief and later exhibited him at the imperial ancestral temple.
Their merit was incomparable; the imperial bounty was limitless
The Emperor said "You, Tu, are meritorious beyond all and that follower of yours, Yü, ought to make a record of events.
Yü made obeisance, bowed his head and danced to show his gratification, (and said)－
"In engraving on metal and stone and in carving and painting your servant is proficient;
From of old the title of great calligraphist has not been bestowed by virtue of official position
And those who were upright from of old never refused (to use the pen)."
When he had finished speaking the Imperial head was frequently nodded in agreement,
He went back and retired to sit in a small room to purify himself
Then moistening and drying his long brushes,
How he dripped and splashed!
In blobs and strokes (he drew) characters in the style of the canon of Yao and the canon of Shun;
Then he erased and altered, following the style of the "Pure Temple,"
And of the "Light of the People."
When the essay was complete he wrote it on paper in the cursive style;
Early in the morning he again bowed and spread it on the purple terrace.
He spoke out "I your subject greatly daring submit this
The song of your sacred merits, please have it written on stone"
The tablet was thirty feet high and the characters as big as ladles
It was set on the back of a spiritual tortoise round which the dragons coiled;
It was full of strange phraseology and obscure references that few could understand.
(But) the author was slandered to the Emperor on the grounds that he was biased.
With ropes one hundred feet long they pulled down the tablet
With coarse granite and big rocks they defaced and rubbed it;
Yet the text had a lively vitality
And before it was defaced it had already impressed itself on the minds of men.
Like the T'ang tub and K'ung tripod its history has been recorded;
To-day these objects do not exist but their inscriptions have been preserved.
Alas! for the wise king and the sage minister;
Yet these two have shared their own fame and glory with the ebb and flow of the country's prosperity.
Yet if this tablet's contents do not pass down to posterity
I am eager with the help of two or three like-minded with myself to reach up and rescue the inscriptions from oblivion.
I would wish to write ten thousand copies and to recite it ten thousand times,
Until the corners of my mouth dripped with saliva
And my right wrist was callous,
And to hand it down for seventy-two generations.
I would have it used at the fêng shan sacrifice as a jade strip or be laid in the foundations of the Bright Hall.
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
IN the Yüan-ho period Hsien Tsung had the endowments of a divine warrior:
What a man he was. Huang Ti and Fu Hsi (can only be compared with him).
He swore he would wipe out the disgrace of his ancestors
Sitting in his palace of justice he gave audience to the four barbarians from all the four quarters.
To the west of the Huai River there had been brigands for fifty years
Boundary wolves had bred lynxes, and lynxes, bears.
When the rebels were not in possession of the hills and villages they were in possession of the plains;
Their long spears and sharp lances, they brandished every day.
The Emperor procured a wise minister whose name was Tu
The brigands tried to assassinate him, but he did not die for the heavens supported him;
From his girdle hung his seals of office and he was made Com-mander-in-Chief.
(In those days) a dark wind blew grimly upon the imperial banners.
The Generals Su, Wu, Ku and T'ung were made his teeth and claws;
Secretaries with their pens were in his train,
Field officers also with skill (to plan) and bravery (to perform);
One hundred and forty thousand soldiers like tigers and leopards
They entered Ts'ai and tied up the rebel chief and later exhibited him at the imperial ancestral temple.
Their merit was incomparable; the imperial bounty was limitless
The Emperor said "You, Tu, are meritorious
beyond all and that follower of yours, Yü, ought to make a record of events.
Yü made obeisance, bowed his head and danced to show his gratification, (and said)－
"In engraving on metal and stone and in carving and painting your servant is proficient;
From of old the title of great calligraphist
has not been bestowed by virtue of official position
And those who were upright from of old never refused (to use the pen)."
When he had finished speaking the Imperial head was frequently nodded in agreement,
He went back and retired to sit in a small room to purify himself
Then moistening and drying his long brushes, How he dripped and splashed!
In blobs and strokes (he drew) characters in the style of the canon of Yao and the canon of Shun;
Then he erased and altered, following the style of the "Pure Temple," And of the "Light of the People."
When the essay was complete he wrote it on paper in the cursive style;
Early in the morning he again bowed and spread it on the purple terrace.
He spoke out "I your subject greatly daring submit this
The song of your sacred merits, please have it written on stone"
The tablet was thirty feet high and the characters as big as ladles
It was set on the back of a spiritual tortoise round which the dragons coiled;
It was full of strange phraseology and obscure references that few could understand.
(But) the author was slandered to the Emperor on the grounds that he was biased.
With ropes one hundred feet long they pulled down the tablet
With coarse granite and big rocks they defaced and rubbed it;
Yet the text had a lively vitality
And before it was defaced it had already impressed itself on the minds of men.
Like the T'ang tub and K'ung tripod its history has been recorded;
To-day these objects do not exist but their inscriptions have been preserved.
Alas! for the wise king and the sage minister;
Yet these two have shared their own fame and glory with the ebb and flow of the country's prosperity.
Yet if this tablet's contents do not pass down to posterity
I am eager with the help of two or three like-minded with myself to reach up and rescue the inscriptions from oblivion.
I would wish to write ten thousand copies and to recite it ten thousand times,
Until the corners of my mouth dripped with saliva And my right wrist was callous,
And to hand it down for seventy-two generations.
I would have it used at the fêng shan sacrifice as a jade strip or be laid in the foundations of the Bright Hall.
<End Formatted Translation>