Analects 13.28: 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 13.28
子路問曰、何如斯可謂之士矣。子曰、切切、偲偲、怡怡如也、可謂士矣、朋友切切偲偲、兄弟怡怡。
Zilu asked, “What must someone be like to be called a person of service?” The Master said, “Earnest, urging others on, and warm: someone like this may be called a person of service. Among friends, earnest and urging one another on; among brothers, warm.”
Commentary
ethics Different relationships ask for different manners Zilu asks the same question about a person of service that Zigong asked in 13.20. Here the answer turns to relations among friends and brothers. 切切 and 偲偲 are taken as earnestness and mutual urging, which can include correction; 怡怡 is warmth or ease. The closing pair assigns the first manner to friendship and the second to brothers.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium