子{こ}たる者{もの}すべからく親{おや}の命{めい}に従{したが}うべし。
Children should obey their parents
What I got from ALC is that a child isn't fit, unqualified, to be one's child if it disobeys its parents. Or is it just "Those who are children..."?
Answer
H'm, I dunno. たる is actually not the classic form of the copula である; it is most likely from とある (quotative particle + aru). なる describes what someone/-thing is (essential nature), but たる describes how someone/-thing appears, or acts, or should act (assigned role, etc.). There is often an implied judgment (nowadays it is often paired with 〜すべきである or 〜てはならない, etc., and used to prescribe behavior to people in certain positions). I would say that Louis's sample sentence does indeed imply that a child who disobeys their parents is in that way unfit to be their child -- it's not an uncommon idea at all in Confucian thought.
So, as sawa says below, you might say that a more "literal" translation would be "Whoever is supposed to be a child should obey their parents," or "A person in the position of a child should obey all of their parents' commands," etc. For a more natural translation, just "Children" might work in many cases (especially if you believed that たる者 was just being used to add archaic flavor), or you might say "All children" to emphasize that you are prescribing behavior required of anyone meeting the description "child", not just suggesting a general rule. You might even use a word like "duty" to bring the prescriptiveness out: "Obeying one's parents is one's duty as a child." There are many possible translations that would be more or less appropriate depending on context, translation philosophy, etc.
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