Analects 14.12: 憲問 (Xian Wen)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 14 tests ethical judgment in public life. Salary, courage, accomplished speech, and a reputation for virtue each prove incomplete measures of a person. The arguments about Guan Zhong ask how benefits to many people should weigh against a demand for personal fidelity. Accounts of officeholders, messengers, and failed appeals make responsibility concrete: competent service can sustain a flawed ruler, and a duty to speak can survive refusal. Short sayings turn from judging others toward learning, ability, and the relation between words and deeds. The later encounters press the choice between persistence and withdrawal when others offer no recognition. The dialogue with Zilu gives self-cultivation an expanding aim, ending in peace for all the people; the closing scenes test conduct through bodily bearing and the desire to seem grown before the work is done.
Analects 14.12
子曰、孟公綽、為趙魏老則優、不可以為滕薛大夫。
The Master said, “Meng Gongchuo is more than equal to serving as chief steward for the Zhao or Wei family, but he could not serve as a minister in Teng or Xue.”
Commentary
translation Ability depends on the office The contrast concerns two kinds of service, not a single scale of personal worth. Legge identifies the first pair as families and the second as states, reading 老 as a senior household officer. The English follows that distinction. A person can have more than enough ability for one responsibility and still be unsuited to another.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium