these conditions, how did you manage to gain the victory?” The general replied: “I fear you gentlemen have not studied the Art of War with sufficient care. Is it not written there: ‘_Plunge your army into desperate straits and it will come off in safety; place it in deadly peril and it will survive_’? Had I taken the usual course, I should never have been able to bring my colleagues round. What says the Military Classic (經)?—‘Swoop down on the market-place and drive the men off to fight’ (毆市人而戰之). [This passage does not occur in the present text of Sun Tzŭ.] If I had not placed my troops in a position where they were obliged to fight for their lives, but had allowed each man to follow his own discretion, there would have been a general _débandade_, and it would have been impossible to do anything with them.” The officers admitted the force of his argument, and said: “These are higher tactics than we should have been capable of.” [See _Ch‘ien Han Shu_, ch. 34, ff. 4, 5.] 59. 夫衆陷於害然後能爲勝敗 For it is precisely when a force has fallen into harm’s way that it is capable of striking a blow for victory. Danger has a bracing effect. 60. 故爲兵之事在於順詳敵之意 Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose. Ts‘ao Kung says: 佯愚也 “Feign stupidity”—by an appearance of yielding and falling in with the enemy’s wishes. Chang Yü’s note makes the meaning clear: “If the enemy shows an inclination to advance, lure him on to do so; if he is anxious to retreat, delay on purpose that he may carry out his intention.” The object is to make him remiss and contemptuous before we deliver our attack. 61. 并敵一向千里殺將 By persistently hanging on the enemy’s flank, I understand the first four words to mean “accompanying the enemy in one direction.” Ts‘ao Kung says: 幷兵向敵 “unite the soldiers and make for the enemy.” But such a violent displacement of characters is quite indefensible. Mei Yao-ch‘ên is the only commentator who seems to have grasped the meaning: 隨敵一向然後發伏 出奇. The _T‘u Shu_ reads 并力. we shall succeed in the long run Literally, “after a thousand _li_.” in killing the commander-in-chief. Always a great point with the Chinese. 62. 此謂巧能成事者也 This is called ability to accomplish a thing by sheer cunning. The _T‘u Shu_ has 是謂巧於成事, and yet another reading, mentioned by Ts‘ao Kung, is 巧攻成事. Capt. Calthrop omits this sentence, after having thus translated the two preceding: “Discover the enemy’s intentions by conforming to his movements. When these are discovered, then, with one stroke, the general may be killed, even though he be one hundred leagues distant.” 63. 是故政舉之日夷關折符無通其使 On the day that you take up your command,