By _Method and discipline_ are to be understood the marshalling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the gradations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. The Chinese of this sentence is so concise as to be practically unintelligible without commentary. I have followed the interpretation of Ts‘ao Kung, who joins 曲制 and again 主用. Others take each of the six predicates separately. 曲 has the somewhat uncommon sense of “cohort” or division of an army. Capt. Calthrop translates: “Partition and ordering of troops,” which only covers 曲制. 11. 凡此五者將莫不聞知之者勝不知者不勝 These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail. 12. 故校之以計而索其情 Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:— The _Yü Lan_ has an interpolated 五 before 計. It is obvious, however, that the 五者 just enumerated cannot be described as 計. Capt. Calthrop, forced to give some rendering of the words which he had omitted in § 3, shows himself decidedly hazy: “Further, with regard to these and the following seven matters, the condition of the enemy must be compared with our own.” He does not appear to see that the seven queries or considerations which follow arise directly out of the Five heads, instead of being supplementary to them. 13. 曰主孰有道將孰有能天地孰得法令孰行兵衆孰强士卒孰練賞罰孰明 (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? I.e., “is in harmony with his subjects.” Cf. § 5. (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? See §§ 7, 8. (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? Tu Mu alludes to the remarkable story of Ts‘ao Ts‘ao (A.D. 155–220), who was such a strict disciplinarian that once, in accordance with his own severe regulations against injury to standing crops, he condemned himself to death for having allowed his horse to shy into a field of corn! However, in lieu of losing his head, he was persuaded to satisfy his sense of justice by cutting off his hair. Ts‘ao Ts‘ao’s own comment on the present passage is characteristically curt: 設而不犯犯而必誅 “when you lay down a law, see that it is not disobeyed; if it is disobeyed, the offender must be put to death.” (5) Which army is the stronger? Morally as well as physically. As Mei Yao-ch‘ên puts it, 內和外附, which might be freely rendered “_esprit de corps_ and ‘big battalions.’” (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? Tu Yu quotes 王子 as saying: “Without constant practice, the officers will be nervous and undecided when mustering for battle; without constant practice, the general will be wavering and irresolute when the crisis is at hand.”