- 是故不知諸侯之謀者不能預交不知山林險阻沮澤之形者不能行軍不用鄉導者不能得地利
- 四五者不知一非霸王之兵也
our bones will become food for the wolves of the desert. What are we to do?’ With one accord, the officers replied: ‘Standing as we do in peril of our lives, we will follow our commander through life and death’ (今在危亡之地死生從司馬).” For the sequel of this adventure, see chap. XII. § 1, note.
52. We cannot enter into alliance with neighbouring princes until we are acquainted with their designs. We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country — its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps. We shall be unable to turn natural advantages to account unless we make use of local guides.
These three sentences are repeated from VII. §§ 12–14 — in order to emphasise their importance, the commentators seem to think. I prefer to regard them as interpolated here in order to form an antecedent to the following words. With regard to local guides, Sun Tzŭ might have added that there is always the risk of going wrong, either through their treachery or some misunderstanding such as Livy records (XXII. 13): Hannibal, we are told, ordered a guide to lead him into the neighbourhood of Casinum, where there was an important pass to be occupied; but his Carthaginian accent, unsuited to the pronunciation of Latin names, caused the guide to understand Casilinum instead of Casinum, and turning from his proper route, he took the army in that direction, the mistake not being discovered until they had almost arrived.
53. To be ignorant of any one of the following four or five principles
Referring, I think, to what is contained in §§ 54, 55. Ts‘ao Kung, thinking perhaps of the 五利 in VIII. § 6, takes them to be 九地之 利害 “the advantages and disadvantages attendant on the nine varieties of ground.” The T‘u Shu reads 此五者.
does not befit a warlike prince.
霸王, “one who rules by force,” was a term specially used for those princes who established their hegemony over other feudal states. The
