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
文 and 武, according to Ts‘ao Kung, are here equivalent to 仁 and
法 respectively. Compare our two uses of the word “civil.” 晏子 Yen
Tzŭ [✝ B.C. 493] said of 司馬穰苴 Ssŭ-ma Jang-chü: 文能附衆武能威敵也
“His civil virtues endeared him to the people; his martial prowess
kept his enemies in awe.” Cf. Wu Tzŭ, ch. 4 _init_.: 夫總文武者軍之
將也兼剛柔者兵之事也 “The ideal commander unites culture with a
warlike temper; the profession of arms requires a combination
of hardness and tenderness.” Again I must find fault with Capt.
Calthrop’s translation: “By humane treatment we obtain obedience;
authority brings uniformity.”
This is a certain road to victory.
44. 令素行以教其民則民服令不素行以教其民則民不服
If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army
will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad.
The _T‘ung Tien_ and _Yü Lan_ read: 令素行以教其人者也令素行則人服令素
不行則人不服.
45. 令素信著者與衆相得也
If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his
orders being obeyed,
The original text has 令素行者. 令素 is certainly awkward without
行, but on the other hand it is clear that Tu Mu accepted the
_T‘ung Tien_ text, which is identical with ours. He says: “A
general ought in time of peace to show kindly confidence in his
men and also make his authority respected, so that when they
come to face the enemy, orders may be executed and discipline
maintained, because they all trust and look up to him.” What Sun
Tzŭ has said in § 44, however, would lead one rather to expect
something like this: “If a general is always confident that his
orders will be carried out,” etc. Hence I am tempted to think that
he may have written 令素信行者. But this is perhaps too conjectural.
the gain will be mutual.
Chang Yü says: 上以信使民民以信服上是上下相得也 “The general has
confidence in the men under his command, and the men are docile,
having confidence in him. Thus the gain is mutual.” He quotes a
pregnant sentence from Wei Liao Tzŭ, ch. 4: 令之之法小過無更小疑無中
“The art of giving orders is not to try to rectify minor blunders
and not to be swayed by petty doubts.” Vacillation and fussiness
are the surest means of sapping the confidence of an army. Capt.
Calthrop winds up the chapter with a final mistranslation of a
more than usually heinous description: “Orders are always obeyed,
if general and soldiers are in sympathy.” Besides inventing the
latter half of the sentence, he has managed to invert protasis and
apodosis.
X. 地形篇
TERRAIN.
Only about a third of the chapter, comprising §§ 1–13, deals with
地形, the subject being more fully treated in ch. XI. The “six
calamities” are discussed in §§ 14–20, and the rest of the chapter
is again a mere string of desultory remarks, though not less
interesting, perhaps, on that account.
1. 孫子曰地形有通者有挂者有支者有隘者有險者有遠者
Sun Tzŭ said: We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit:
(1) Accessible ground;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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