Duke Ting[6] asked if there was a single sentence by which a country might be made to flourish. Confucius answered: No single sentence can be expected to have such a virtue as this. But there is the common saying: "To be a good king is difficult; to be a good minister is not easy." He who realises the difficulty of being a good king—has he not almost succeeded in making his country prosper by a single sentence? —Is there a single sentence, continued the Duke, by which a country can be ruined?—Confucius answered: No such power can reside in any single sentence. But there is a saying: "I have no joy in kingly rule, I rejoice only because none can oppose my will." Now if the king's will is good, and none opposes it, all may be well; but if it is not good, and yet none opposes it, has he not almost succeeded in ruining his country be a single sentence?
The Duke of Shê[7] asked about the conditions of good government. The Master said: Government is good when it makes happy those who live under it and attracts those who live far away.
Tzü Hsia, when governor of Chü-fu,[8] asked for advice on government. The Master said: Do not try to do things in a hurry. Do not be intent on small gains. What is done quickly is not done thoroughly; and if small gains are considered, great things remain unaccomplished.
Tzŭ Lu asked about the service due to a prince. The Master said: Use no deceit, but if you oppose him, oppose him openly.
The Master said: If the ruler cherishes the principle of self-control, the people will be docile to his commands.[9]
Shun[10] was one who did nothing, yet governed well. For what, in effect, did he do? Religiously self-observant, he sat gravely on his throne, and that is all.[11]
In serving your prince, make the actual service your first care, and only put the emolument second.
The head of the Chi clan was on the point of attacking the small principality of Chuan-yü. Jan Yu and Chi Lu came to see Confucius, and said: Our lord is going to have trouble with Chuan-yü.—Confucius said: Is it not you, Ch‘iu, who are to blame in this? The ancient kings long ago made Chuan-yü the centre of the worship of the Eastern Mêng mountain, and moreover it is situated within the territory of Lu. Its ruler has independent priestly functions.[12] What right have you to attack it?—Jan Yu replied: It is the will of our master; we, his ministers, have neither of us any wish to act thus.—Ch‘iu, said Confucius, Chou Jên[13] had a saying: "If you are capable of displaying energy, hold office; if not, resign." Of what use is that minister likely to be, who does not sustain his master in the presence of danger, or support him when about to fall? Besides, what you say is wrong. If a tiger or a wild buffalo escapes from its cage, if a tortoise-shell or jade ornament is smashed in its casket, whose fault is it, pray?—Jan Yu replied: But Chuan-yü is strongly fortified, and close to our own town of Pi. If we do not take it now, it will cause trouble to our descendants in a later generation.—Confucius rejoined: Ch‘iu, an honest man hates your hypocrite who will not openly avow his greed, but tries instead to excuse it. I have heard that the ruler of a state or of a clan is troubled not by the smallness of its numbers but by the absence of even-handed justice; not by poverty but by the presence of discontent; for where there is justice there will be no poverty; where there is harmony there will be no lack in numbers; where there is content there will be no revolution. This being the case then, if outlying communities resist your authority, cultivate the arts of refinement and goodness in order to attract them; and when you have attracted them, make them happy and contented. Now you two, Yu and Ch‘iu, are aiding and abetting your master; here is an outlying community which resists your authority, and you are unable to attract it. Partition and collapse are imminent in your own State, and you are unable to preserve it intact. And yet you are planning military aggression within the borders of your country! Verily I fear that Chi-sun's [14]troubles will come, not from Chuan-yü, but from the interior of his own palace.
When the Master came to Wu-ch‘êng, he heard the sound of singing and stringed instruments. He was pleased, but said with a smile: Is it necessary to take a pole-axe to kill a fowl?—Tzŭ Yu replied: Some time ago, Sir, I heard you say that the study of true principles made the ruler beneficent and men of the lower class easy to govern.—My children, said the Master, Yen is right. What I said was only in jest.[15]