Analects 13.15: 子路 (Zi Lu)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 13 asks what makes government effective and what qualifies someone to serve. Leading by example, appointing capable people, setting names right, creating prosperity, and teaching all place demands on the ruler. Short claims about conduct stand beside long exchanges about speech, judgment, and the time needed for change. The book also tests uprightness, reputation, reliability, and harmony through particular relationships, sometimes leaving a difficult tension visible, as when family concealment is praised. Its closing sayings make preparation for war a responsibility toward the people who must fight.
Analects 13.15
定公問一言而可以興邦、有諸。孔子對曰、言不可以若是其幾也。人之言曰、為君難、為臣不易。如知為君之難也、不幾乎一言而興邦乎。曰、一言而喪邦有諸。孔子對曰、言不可以若是其幾也、人之言曰、予無樂乎為君、唯其言而莫予違也。如其善、而莫之違也、不亦善乎。如不善而莫之違也、不幾乎一言而喪邦乎。
Duke Ding asked, “Is there a single saying that can make a state flourish?” Confucius replied, “A saying cannot be expected to do quite that, but it can come close. People say, ‘Being a ruler is difficult; being a minister is not easy.’ If someone understood the difficulty of being a ruler, would that not come close to a single saying making a state flourish?” The duke asked, “Is there a single saying that can ruin a state?” Confucius replied, “A saying cannot be expected to do quite that, but it can come close. People say, ‘I take no pleasure in being a ruler except that no one contradicts what I say.’ If what the ruler says is good and no one contradicts it, is that not good too? But if it is bad and no one contradicts it, would that not come close to a single saying ruining a state?”
Commentary
politics What a ruler does with a saying Duke Ding asks for a single saying capable of making or ruining a state. Both answers connect the saying with how a ruler receives and acts on it. Recognizing the difficulty of rule can help a state flourish; enjoying immunity from contradiction can let a bad instruction ruin it. The repeated questions keep the effect close to a saying without treating words alone as sufficient.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high
philology The cautious force of nearly 幾, “near” or “almost,” appears in both opening replies and both closing questions. The English draws out the difficult opening construction as “cannot be expected to do quite that, but it can come close.” This keeps its qualification audible beside the much more definite examples that follow.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium