形圓, literally “formation circular”, is explained by Li Ch‘üan as 無向背也 “without back or front.” Mei Yao-ch‘ên says: “The subdivisions of the army having been previously fixed, and the various signals agreed upon, the separating and joining, the dispersing and collecting which will take place in the course of a battle, may give the appearance of disorder when no real disorder is possible. Your formation may be without head or tail, your dispositions all topsy-turvy, and yet a rout of your forces quite out of the question.” It is a little difficult to decide whether 鬥亂 and 形圓 should not be taken as imperatives: “fight in disorder (for the purpose of deceiving the enemy), and you will be secure against real disorder.” Cf. I. § 20: 亂而取之. 17. 亂生於治怯生於勇弱生於彊 Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength. In order to make the translation intelligible, it is necessary to tone down the sharply paradoxical form of the original. Ts‘ao Kung throws out a hint of the meaning in his brief note: 皆毁形匿情也 “These things all serve to destroy formation and conceal one’s condition.” But Tu Mu is the first to put it quite plainly: “If you wish to feign confusion in order to lure the enemy on, you must first have perfect discipline; if you wish to display timidity in order to entrap the enemy, you must have extreme courage; if you wish to parade your weakness in order to make the enemy over-confident, you must have exceeding strength.” 18. 治亂數也勇怯埶也彊弱形也 Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; See _supra_, § 1. concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; It is passing strange that the commentators should understand 埶 here as “circumstances”—a totally different sense from that which it has previously borne in this chapter. Thus Tu Mu says: 見有利之勢而不動敵人以我爲實怯也 “seeing that we are favourably circumstanced and yet make no move, the enemy will believe that we are really afraid.” masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions.