The Art of War, Sun Tzu [best english books to read for beginners TXT] 📗

of Chʽi, who excelled in the art of war, by the King of Wu.” ↩

孫子者吳人也善為兵法辟幽居世人莫知其能. ↩

君臣乖心則孫子不能以應敵. ↩

孫武以三萬破楚二十萬者楚無法故也 ↩

The Shih Chih, on the other hand, says: 臏亦孫武之後世子孫也. I remark in passing that the name 武 for one who was a great warrior is just as suspicious as 臏 for a man who had his feet cut off. ↩

An allusion to 易經, 繫辭, II 2: 弦木為弧剡大為矢弧矢之利以威天下 “They attached strings to wood to make bows, and sharpened wood to make arrows. The use of bows and arrows is to keep the Empire in awe.” ↩

論語 XII 7. ↩

書經 V IV 7. ↩

易經, 7th diagram (師). ↩

詩經 III 1 VII 5. ↩

司馬法 ch. 1 (仁本) ad init. The text of the passage in the 圖書 Tʽu Shu (戎政典, ch. 85) is: 是故殺人安人殺之可也. ↩

The son and successor of Ho Lu. He was finally defeated and overthrown by 勾踐 Kou Chien, King of Yüeh, in 473 BC. See post. ↩

King Yen of 徐 Hsü, a fabulous being, of whom Sun Hsing-yen says in his preface: 仁而敗 “His humanity brought him to destruction.” See Shih Chi, ch. 5, f. I vo, and M. Chavannes’ note, Mémoires Historiques, tom. II, p. 8. ↩

Tʽu Shu, ch. 90: 操聞上古有弧矢之利論語曰足兵尚書八政曰師易曰師貞丈人吉詩曰王赫斯怒爰征其旅黃帝湯武咸用干戚以濟世也司馬法曰人故殺人殺之可也恃武者滅恃文者亡夫差偃王是也聖人之用兵戢而時動不得已而用之. ↩

The passage I have put in brackets is omitted in the Tʽu Shu, and may be an interpolation. It was known, however, to 張守節 Chang Shou-chieh of the Tʽang dynasty, and it appears in the Tʽai Pʽing Yü Lan. ↩

Tsʽao Kung seems to be thinking of the first part of chap. II, perhaps especially of “The skilful soldier does not raise a second levy⁠ ⁠…” ↩

吾觀兵書戰策多矣孫武所著深矣孫子者齊人也名武為吳王闔閭作兵法一十三篇試之婦人卒以為將西破強楚入郢北威齊晉後百歲餘有孫矉是武之後也審計重舉明畫深圖不可相誣而但世人未之深亮訓說況文煩富行於世者失其旨要故撰略解焉. ↩

漢書藝文志, 兵權謀. ↩

The 宋藝文志 mentions two editions of Sun Tzǔ in 3 chüan, namely 孫武孫子 and 朱服校定孫子. ↩

See chap. XI, “The art of war recognizes⁠ ⁠…” ↩

吳王召孫子問以兵法每陳一篇王不知口之稱善. ↩

按此皆釋九地篇義辭意甚詳故其篇帙不能不多也. ↩

Such as the 八陣圖, quoted in 鄭玄 Chêng Hsüan’s commentary on the Chou Li, the 戰鬭大甲兵法 and 兵法雜占, mentioned in the 隋志 Sui Chih, and the 三十二壘經, in the Hsin Tʽang Chih. ↩

On the other hand, it is noteworthy that 吳子 Wu Tzǔ, which is now in 6 chapters, has 48 assigned to it in the Han Chih. Likewise, the 中庸 Chung Yung is credited with 49 chapters, though now in one only. In the case of such very short works, one is tempted to think that 篇 might simply mean “leaves.” ↩

See Tʽu Shu, 經籍典, ch.442, 彙考 2. ↩

An extract will be found in a later section of the introduction, Apologies for War. (“War may be defined as punishment⁠ ⁠…”) ↩

武所著書凡數十萬言曹魏武帝削其繁剰筆其精切凡十三篇成為一編. ↩

其所為注解十不釋一此蓋非曹不能盡注解也. ↩

子尋魏志見曹自作兵書十餘萬言諸將征戰皆以新書從事從令者克捷違教者負敗意曹自於新書中馳驟其說自成一家事業不欲隨孫武後盡解其書不然者曹其不能耶今新書已亡不可復知. ↩

魏氏瑣連孫武之法. ↩

See 孫子兵法序. ↩

謙言解其觕略. ↩

Ch. 99, fol. 5 ro. ↩

然史記稱十三篇在漢志之前不得以後來附益者為本書牧之言固未可以為據也. ↩

Shih Chi, ch. 65 ad fin: 世俗所稱師旅皆道孫子十三篇吳起兵法世多有故弗論. ↩

葉適 Yeh Shih of the Sung dynasty (1151⁠–⁠1223). See 文獻通考, ch. 221, ff. 7, 8. ↩

See Tso Chuan, 隱公, I 3 ad fin. and XI 3 ad init. He hardly deserves to be bracketed with assassins. ↩

See note 390 and note 626. ↩

See Tso Chuan, 僖公, XXX 5. ↩

See note 626. Chuan Chu is the abbreviated form of his name. ↩

I.e. Po Pʽei. See ante. ↩

遷載孫武齊人而用於吳在闔閭時破楚入郢為大將按左氏無孫武他書所有左氏不必盡有然穎考叔曹劌燭之武鱄設諸之流微賤暴用事左氏未嘗遺而武功名章灼如此乃更闕又同時伍員宰嚭一一銓次乃獨不及武邪. ↩

The nucleus of this work is probably genuine, though large additions have been made by later hands. Kuan Chung died in 645 BC. ↩

See the Liu Tʽao reference, infra. ↩

I do not know what work this is, unless it be the last chapter of the 國語. Why that chapter should be singled out, however, is not clear. ↩

About 480 BC. ↩

詳味孫子與管子六韜越語相出入春秋末戰國初山林處士所為其言得用於吳者其徒夸大之說也. ↩

That is, I suppose, the age of Wu Wang and Chou Kang. ↩

In the 3rd century