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

du champ d’opération, et qu’il connaît pas du tout le dernier état des choses.”785 ↩

It was Wellington, I think, who said that the hardest thing of all for a soldier is to retreat. ↩

合, which is omitted by the Tʽu Shu, is said by Chʽên Hao to be equivalent to 歸. If it had to be separately translated, it would be something like our word “accrue.” ↩

A noble presentment, in few words, of the Chinese “happy warrior.” Such a man, says Ho Shih, 罪及其身不悔也 “even if he had to suffer punishment, would not regret his conduct.” ↩

Cf. chapter I, “The Moral Law causes the people⁠ ⁠…” In this connection, Tu Mu draws for us an engaging picture of the famous general Wu Chʽi, from whose treatise on war I have frequently had occasion to quote: “He wore the same clothes and ate the same food as the meanest of his soldiers, refused to have either a horse to ride or a mat to sleep on, carried his own surplus rations wrapped in a parcel, and shared every hardship with his men. One of his soldiers was suffering from an abscess, and Wu Chʽi himself sucked out the virus. The soldier’s mother, hearing this, began wailing and lamenting. Somebody asked her, saying: ‘Why do you cry? Your son is only a common soldier, and yet the commander-in-chief himself has sucked the poison from his sore.’ The woman replied: ‘Many years ago, Lord Wu performed a similar service for my husband, who never left him afterwards, and finally met his death at the hands of the enemy. And now that he has done the same for my son, he too will fall fighting I know not where.’ ” Li Chʽüan mentions 楚子 the Viscount of Chʽu, who invaded the small state of 蕭 Hsiao during the winter. 申公 The Duke of Shên said to him: “Many of the soldiers are suffering severely from the cold.” So he made a round of the whole army, comforting and encouraging the men; and straightway they felt as if they were clothed in garments lined with floss silk. (Tso Chuan, 宣公, XII 5.) Chang Yü alludes to the same passage, saying: 温言一撫士同挾纊. ↩

Capt. Calthrop has got these three clauses quite wrong. The last he translates: “overindulgence may produce disorder.” ↩

Cf. chapter IX, “If soldiers are punished⁠ ⁠…” We read in the 陰符經, pt. 2: 害生于思 “Injury comes out of kindness.” Li Ching once said that if you could make your soldiers afraid of you, they should not be afraid of the enemy. Tu Mu recalls an instance of stern military discipline which occurred in 219 AD, when 呂蒙 Lü Mêng was occupying the town of 江陵 Chiang-ling. He had given stringent orders to his army not to molest the inhabitants nor take anything from them by force. Nevertheless, a certain officer serving under his banner, who happened to be a fellow-townsman, ventured to appropriate a bamboo hat (笠) belonging to one of the people, in order to wear it over his regulation helmet as a protection against the rain. Lü Mêng considered that the fact of his being also a native of 汝南 Ju-nan should not be allowed to palliate a clear breach of discipline, and accordingly he ordered his summary execution, the tears rolling down his face, however, as he did so. This act of severity filled the army with wholesome awe, and from that time forth even articles dropped in the highway were not picked up. (San Kuo Chih, ch. 54, f. 13 ro & vo). ↩

That is, as Tsʽao Kung says, “the issue in this case is uncertain.” ↩

Cf. chapter III, “By commanding the army to advance⁠ ⁠…” ↩

I may take this opportunity of pointing out the rather nice distinction in meaning between 擊 and 攻. The latter is simply “to attack” without any further implication, whereas 擊 is a stronger word which in nine cases out of ten means “to attack with expectation of victory,” “to fall upon,” as we should say, or even “to crush.” On the other hand, 擊 is not quite synonymous with 伐, which is mostly used of operations on a larger scale, as of one State making war on another, often with the added idea of invasion. 征, finally, has special reference to the subjugation of rebels. See Mencius, VII 2 II 2. ↩

The reason being, according to Tu Mu, that he has taken his measures so thoroughly as to ensure victory beforehand. “He does not move recklessly,” says Chang Yü, “so that when he does move, he makes no mistakes.” Another reading substitutes 困 for 迷 and 頓 for 窮. The latter variant only is adopted by the Tʽung Tien and Yü Lan. Note that 窮 here means “at the end of his mental resources.” ↩

Capt. Calthrop makes the saying end here, which cannot be justified. ↩

天 and 地 are transposed for the sake of the jingle between 天 and 全. The original text, however, has 知天知地, and the