廬山記 1.4

1.4

I have long cherished the scenic wonders of Mount Lu. Resigning my post to return south, I was able to […] to its sunny side. Having toured and wandered for a long time, the sights I encountered were manifold. Whether in rhapsodies or records, they were mixed into […]. I wished to arrange them in order, yet had no leisure. During the Xining era, I met Chen Lingju, who had been […] to this region on account of speaking on state affairs. Since our love of the mountain forests was identical, together we rode yellow calves, traveling back and forth within the mountains. With the accumulation of months and years, we were able to explore thoroughly and gaze to the utmost, leaving nothing uninvestigated. Lingju then gathered what I had recorded, as well as the chronicles of ancient and modern times, the traditions handed down by elders, and what our own ears and eyes had experienced and seen, categorizing and arranging them to make a record whose details are indeed sufficient to be transmitted to posterity. My talents were unfit to meet the demands of the times, so I retired to grow old among the woods and wilderness. Lingju was elevated to the highest rank through the decree examinations, his fame brilliant and astounding the world. Before he had served for twenty years, he was cast aside to a storehouse post, and appears together with me in this record—truly lamentable! Yet, comparing antiquity to the present, is it only Lingju alone who is to be lamented?