Analects 13.29: 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 13.29
子曰、善人教民七年、亦可以即戎矣。
The Master said, “If a good person taught the people for seven years, they could then be sent to war.”
Commentary
politics Teaching before war Seven years of teaching precede the possibility of sending people to war. 教 remains broad: the sentence does not specify a military drill or a curriculum. The final saying makes the responsibility of preparation explicit by calling its absence abandonment.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high