- 施無法之賞懸無政之令犯三軍之衆若使一人
to ally himself with all and sundry,
天下, as in § 6, stands for 諸侯 “the feudal princes,” or the states ruled by them.
nor does he foster the power of other states. He carries out his own secret designs,
For 信 (read shên1) in the meaning of 伸, cf. VIII. § 8. The commentators are unanimous on this point, and we must therefore beware of translating 信己之私 by “secretly self-confident” or the like. Capt. Calthrop (omitting 之私) has: “he has confidence in himself.”
keeping his antagonists in awe.
The train of thought appears to be this: Secure against a combination of his enemies, 能絶天下之交惟得伸己之私志威而無外交者 “he can afford to reject entangling alliances and simply pursue his own secret designs, his prestige enabling him to dispense with external friendships.” (Li Ch‘üan.)
Thus he is able to capture their cities and overthrow their kingdoms.
This paragraph, though written many years before the Ch‘in State became a serious menace, is not a bad summary of the policy by which the famous Six Chancellors gradually paved the way for her final triumph under Shih Huang Ti. Chang Yü, following up his previous note, thinks that Sun Tzŭ is condemning this attitude of cold-blooded selfishness and haughty isolation. He again refers 其 to the warlike prince, thus making it appear that in the end he is bound to succumb.
56. Bestow rewards without regard to rule,
Wu Tzŭ (ch. 3) less wisely says: 進有重賞退有重刑 “Let advance be richly rewarded and retreat be heavily punished.”
issue orders
懸, literally, “hang” or “post up.”
without regard to previous arrangements;
杜姦媮 “In order to prevent treachery,” says Wang Hsi. The general meaning is made clear by Ts‘ao Kung’s quotation from the
