Chương Chương 13 · _Answers on the Art of Governing--Consistency_

Tsz-lu was asking about government. "Lead the way in it," said the

Master, "and work hard at it."

Requested to say more, he added, "And do not tire of it."

Chung-kung, on being made first minister to the Chief of the Ki

family, consulted the Master about government, and to him he said,

"Let the heads of offices be heads. Excuse small faults. Promote men

of sagacity and talent."

"But," he asked, "how am I to know the sagacious and talented, before

promoting them?"

"Promote those whom you do know," said the Master.

"As to those of whom you are uncertain, will others omit to notice

them?"

Tsz-lu said to the Master, "As the prince of Wei, sir, has been

waiting for you to act for him in his government, what is it your

intention to take in hand first?"

"One thing of necessity," he answered--"the rectification of terms."

"That!" exclaimed Tsz-lu. "How far away you are, sir! Why such

rectification?"

"What a rustic you are, Tsz-lu!" rejoined the Master. "A gentleman

would be a little reserved and reticent in matters which he does not

understand. If terms be incorrect, language will be incongruous; and

if language be incongruous, deeds will be imperfect. So, again, when

deeds are imperfect, propriety and harmony cannot prevail, and when

this is the case laws relating to crime will fail in their aim; and if

these last so fail, the people will not know where to set hand or

foot. Hence, a man of superior mind, certain first of his terms, is

fitted to speak; and being certain of what he says can proceed upon

it. In the language of such a person there is nothing heedlessly

irregular--and that is the sum of the matter."

Fan Ch[']i requested that he might learn something of husbandry. "For

that," said the Master, "I am not equal to an old husbandman." Might

he then learn something of gardening? he asked. "I am not equal to an

old gardener," was the reply.

"A man of little mind, that!" said the Master, when Fan Ch[']i had

gone out. "Let a man who is set over the people love propriety, and

they will not presume to be disrespectful. Let him be a lover of

righteousness, and they will not presume to be aught but submissive.

Let him love faithfulness and truth, and they will not presume not to

lend him their hearty assistance. Ah, if all this only were so, the

people from all sides would come to such a one, carrying their

children on their backs. What need to turn his hand to husbandry?

"Though a man," said he, "could hum through the Odes--the three

hundred--yet should show himself unskilled when given some

administrative work to do for his country; though he might know much

of that other lore, yet if, when sent on a mission to any quarter, he

could answer no question personally and unaided, what after all is he

good for?

"Let a leader," said he, "show rectitude in his own personal character,

and even without directions from him things will go well. If he be not

personally upright, his directions will not be complied with."

Once he made the remark, "The governments of Lu and of Wei are in

brotherhood."

Of King, a son of the Duke of Wei, he observed that "he managed his

household matters well. On his coming into possession, he thought,

'What a strange conglomeration!'--Coming to possess a little more, it

was, 'Strange, such a result!' And when he became wealthy, 'Strange,

such elegance!'"

The Master was on a journey to Wei, and Yen Yu was driving him. "What

multitudes of people!" he exclaimed. Yen Yu asked him, "Seeing they

are so numerous, what more would you do for them?"

"Enrich them," replied the Master.

"And after enriching them, what more would you do for them?"

"Instruct them."

"Were any one of our princes to employ me," he said, "after a

twelvemonth I might have made some tolerable progress; but give me

three years, and my work should be done."

Again, "How true is that saying, 'Let good men have the management of

a country for a century, and they would be adequate to cope with

evil-doers, and thus do away with capital punishments.'"

Again, "Suppose the ruler to possess true kingly qualities, then

surely after one generation there would be good-will among men."

Again, "Let a ruler but see to his own rectitude, and what trouble

will he then have in the work before him? If he be unable to rectify

himself, how is he to rectify others?"

Once when Yen Yu was leaving the Court, the Master accosted him. "Why

so late?" he asked. "Busy with legislation," Yen replied. "The details

of it," suggested the Master; "had it been legislation, I should have

been there to hear it, even though I am not in office."

Duke Ting asked if there were one sentence which, if acted upon, might

have the effect of making a country prosperous.

Confucius answered, "A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so much

as that. But there is a proverb people use which says, 'To play the

prince is hard, to play the minister not easy.' Assuming that it is

understood that 'to play the prince is hard,' would it not be probable

that with that one sentence the country should be made to prosper?"

"Is there, then," he asked, "one sentence which, if acted upon, would

have the effect of ruining a country?"

Confucius again replied, "A sentence could hardly be supposed to do so

much as that. But there is a proverb men have which says, 'Not gladly

would I play the prince, unless my words were ne'er withstood.'

Assuming that the words were good, and that none withstood them, would

not that also be good? But assuming that they were not good, and yet

none withstood them, would it not be probable that with that one

saying he would work his country's ruin?"

When the Duke of Sheh consulted him about government, he replied,

"Where the near are gratified, the war will follow."

When Tsz-hia became governor of Kue-fu, and consulted him about

government, he answered, "Do not wish for speedy results. Do not look

at trivial advantages. If you wish for speedy results, they will not

be far-reaching; and if you regard trivial advantages you will not

successfully deal with important affairs."

The Duke of Sheh in a conversation with Confucius said, "There are

some straightforward persons in my neighborhood. If a father has

stolen a sheep, the son will give evidence against him."

"Straightforward people in my neighborhood are different from those,"

said Confucius. "The father will hold a thing secret on his son's

behalf, and the son does the same for his father. They are on their

way to becoming straightforward."

Fan Ch[']i was asking him about duty to one's fellow-men. "Be

courteous," he replied, "in your private sphere; be serious in any

duty you take in hand to do; be leal-hearted in your intercourse with

others. Even though you were to go amongst the wild tribes, it would

not be right for you to neglect these duties."

In answer to Tsz-kung, who asked, "how he would characterize one who

could fitly be called 'learned official,'" the Master said, "He may be

so-called who in his private life is affected with a sense of his own

unworthiness, and who, when sent on a mission to any quarter of the

empire, would not disgrace his prince's commands."

"May I presume," said his questioner, "to ask what sort you would put

next to such?"

"Him who is spoken of by his kinsmen as a dutiful son, and whom the

folks of his neighborhood call 'good brother.'"

"May I still venture to ask whom you would place next in order?"

"Such as are sure to be true to their word, and effective in their

work--who are given to hammering, as it were, upon one note--of

inferior calibre indeed, but fit enough, I think, to be ranked next."

"How would you describe those who are at present in the government

service?"

"Ugh! mere peck and panier men!--not worth taking into the reckoning."

Once he remarked, "If I cannot get _via media_ men to impart

instruction to, then I must of course take the impetuous and

undisciplined! The impetuous ones will at least go forward and lay

hold on things; and the undisciplined have at least something in them

which needs to be brought out."

"The Southerners," said he, "have the proverb, 'The man who sticks not

to rule will never make a charm-worker or a medical man.'

Good!--'Whoever is intermittent in his practise of virtue will live to

be ashamed of it.' Without prognostication," he added, "that will

indeed be so."

"The nobler-minded man," he remarked, "will be agreeable even when he

disagrees; the small-minded man will agree and be disagreeable."

Tsz-kung was consulting him, and asked, "What say you of a person who

was liked by all in his village?"

"That will scarcely do," he answered.

"What, then, if they all disliked him?"

"That, too," said he, "is scarcely enough. Better if he were liked by

the good folk in the village, and disliked by the bad."

"The superior man," he once observed, "is easy to serve, but difficult

to please. Try to please him by the adoption of wrong principles, and

you will fail. Also, when such a one employs others, he uses them

according to their capacity. The inferior man is, on the other hand,

difficult to serve, but easy to please. Try to please him by the

adoption of wrong principles, and you will succeed. And when he

employs others he requires them to be fully prepared for everything."

Again, "The superior man can be high without being haughty. The

inferior man can be haughty if not high."

"The firm, the unflinching, the plain and simple, the slow to speak,"

said he once, "are approximating towards their duty to their

fellow-men."

Tsz-lu asked how he would characterize one who might fitly be called

an educated gentleman. The master replied, "He who can properly be

so-called will have in him a seriousness of purpose, a habit of

controlling himself, and an agreeableness of manner: among his friends

and associates the seriousness and the self-control, and among his

brethren the agreeableness of manner."

"Let good and able men discipline the people for seven years," said

the Master, "and after that they may do to go to war."

But, said he, "To lead an undisciplined people to war--that I call

throwing them away."

BOOK 14.