Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the WorldSunzi, active 6th century B.C.
Philosophy
Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the World
Sunzi, active 6th century B.C.
Military art and science -- Early works to 1800; War -- Early works to 1800
Cf. I. § 6. In this connection, Tu Mu draws for us an engaging
picture of the famous general Wu Ch‘i, 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 Ch‘i 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 Ch‘üan mentions 楚子 the Viscount of Ch‘u, 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.
26. 厚而不能使愛而不能令亂而不能治譬如驕子不可用也
If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority
felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and
incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder:
Capt. Calthrop has got these three clauses quite wrong. The last
he translates: “overindulgence may produce disorder.”
then your soldiers must be likened to spoilt children; they are
useless for any practical purpose.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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