"The Silla people, a tribe of wretches in the West, have, in defiance of Heaven and devoid of right feeling, disregarded the favour We have shown them. They have broken Our Miyake, poisoned Our black-haired people, and massacred the population of Our districts. When Our ancestor, Okinaga Tarashi hime no Mikoto,[1] a wonderful sage of clear intelligence, made a tour throughout the Empire, showing her anxiety on behalf of all the people and nourishing her myriad subjects, she pitied the (XIX. 52.) condition of Silla, which was then reduced to an extremity, and spared the head of its king, which was about to fall. She granted to Silla strong positions, and bestowed on it honours it was not entitled to. In what respect did Our ancestor, Okinaga Tarashi hime no Mikoto, show a want of consideration for Silla, or Our people an unfriendly feeling towards that country? Yet Silla with long spears and strong bows has oppressed Imna. With serrated tusks and hooked talons they have committed ravage amongst the living souls, rending their livers and hacking off their feet with insatiable delight, scorching their bones in the sun, and burning their dead bodies without saying to themselves that it was cruel. From the Noble House down to the people of Imna, using all their knives and expending their last chopping-block, they have butchered and made mince-meat of them. Within the shores of the land, who is now left to be called a servant of the King?[2] Who is there that eats grain, the food of man, or drinks water, his beverage, who can bear to hear these things without being grieved in his heart? Much more the heir to the Throne and the Oho-omi! For the former, bound as he is by hereditary friendship, it is an occasion to weep tears of blood and cherish feelings of revenge. In the case of the latter, there is towards officials charged with the frontier screen the gratitude due to those who rub themselves smooth[3] from crown to heel (in their country's service). Heirs in their generation to the virtues of previous governments, and themselves destined to hold high dignity in a later
- ↑ Jingō Kōgu.
- ↑ See Legge's "Sheking," p. 360.
- ↑ An allusion to Mencius's saying, "The philosopher Mih loves all equally. If by rubbing smooth his whole body from the crown to the heel, he could have benefited the Empire, he would have done it."—Legge's "Mencius," p. 340. This, again, refers to the great Yu, who wrought and waded till he had worn away all the hair on his legs.
