Art of War (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (55 page)

13. Hence those who use fire as an aid to the attack show intelligence; those who use water as an aid to the attack gain an accession of strength.

14. By means of water, an enemy may be intercepted, but not robbed of all his belongings.

 

Ts’ao Kung’s note is: “We can merely obstruct the enemy’s road or divide his army, but not sweep away all his accumulated stores.” Water can do useful service, but it lacks the terrible destructive power of fire. This is the reason, Chang Yü concludes, why the former is dismissed in a couple of sentences, whereas the attack by fire is discussed in detail. Wu Tzu speaks thus of the two elements: “If an army is encamped on low-lying marshy ground, from which the water cannot run off, and where the rainfall is heavy, it may be submerged by a flood. If an army is encamped in wild marsh lands thickly overgrown with weeds and brambles, and visited by frequent gales, it may be exterminated by fire.”

15. Unhappy is the fate of one who tries to win his battles and succeed in his attacks without cultivating the spirit of enterprise; for the result is waste of time and general stagnation.

 

This is one of the most perplexing passages in [
The Art of War
]. . . . Ts’ao Kung says: “Rewards for good service should not be deferred a single day.” And Tu Mu: “If you do not take opportunity to advance and reward the deserving, your subordinates will not carry out your commands, and disaster will ensue.” . . .

For several reasons, however, and in spite of the formidable array of scholars on the other side, I prefer the interpretation suggested by Mei Yao-ch’ên, whose words I will quote: “Those who want to make sure of succeeding in their battles and assaults must seize the favourable moments when they come and not shrink on occasion from heroic measures: that is to say, they must resort to such means of attack as fire, water and the like. What they must not do, and what will prove fatal, is to sit still and simply hold on to the advantages they have got.”

16. Hence the saying: The enlightened ruler lays his plans well ahead; the good general cultivates his resources.

The meaning seems to be that the ruler lays plans which the general must show resourcefulness in carrying out. . . . Tu Mu [offers this quotation from another commentator]: “The warlike prince controls his soldiers by his authority, knits them together by good faith, and by rewards makes them serviceable. If faith decays, there will be disruption; if rewards are deficient, commands will not be respected.”

17. Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.

 

Sun Tzu may at times appear to be over-cautious, but he never goes so far in that direction as the remarkable passage in the
Tao Té Ching
, chapter 69: “I dare not take the initiative, but prefer to act on the defensive; I dare not advance an inch, but prefer to retreat a foot.”

18. No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.

19. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.

 

This is repeated from chapter XI, paragraph 17. Here I feel convinced that it is an interpolation.

20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.

21. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being;

 

The Wu State was destined to be a melancholy example of this saying.

nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution. This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.

The evolution of the meaning “spy” is worth considering for a moment, provided it be understood that this is very doubtful ground. . . . [It is defined elsewhere] as “a crack” or “chink,” and on the whole we may accept Hsü Ch’ieh’s analysis as not unduly fanciful: “At night, a
door
is shut; if, when it is shut, the light of the
moon
is visible, it must come through a
chink
.” From this it is an easy step to the meaning “space between,” or simply “between,” as for example in the phrase “to act as a secret spy between enemies.” . . . Another possible theory is that the word may first have come to mean “to peep,” which would naturally be suggested by “crack” or “crevice,” and afterwards the man who peeps, or spy.