- 怒可以復喜愠可以復悅
- 亡國不可以復存死者不可以復生
- 故明君愼之良將警之此安國全軍之道也
§ 18. For 動, the T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan have 用. Capt. Calthrop invents a sentence which he inserts before this one: “Do not make war unless victory may be gained thereby.” While he was about it, he might have credited Sun Tzŭ with something slightly less inane.
20. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content.
According to Chang Yü, 喜 denotes joy outwardly manifested in the countenance, 悅 the inward sensation of happiness.
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. See p. 50.
nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.
22. Hence the enlightened ruler is heedful, and the good general full of caution.
警, which usually means “to warn,” is here equal to 戒. This is a good instance of how Chinese characters, which stand for ideas, refuse to be fettered by dictionary-made definitions. The T‘u Shu reads 故曰, as in § 16.
This is the way to keep a country at peace and an army intact.
It is odd that 全軍 should not have the same meaning here as in III. § 1, q.v. This has led me to consider whether it might not be possible to take the earlier passage thus: “to preserve your own army (country, regiment, etc.) intact is better than to destroy the enemy’s.” The two words do not appear in the T‘ung Tien or the Yü Lan. Capt. Calthrop misses the point by translating: “then is the state secure, and the army victorious in battle.”
