Part 37

confined places,

天牢 “natural pens or prisons,” explained as 三面環絶易入難出 “places surrounded by precipices on three sides—easy to get into, but hard to get out of.”

tangled thickets,

天羅, explained as 草木蒙密鋒鏑莫施 “places covered with such dense undergrowth that spears cannot be used.”

quagmires

天陷, explained as 卑下汙𣾈車騎不通 “low-lying places, so heavy with mud as to be impassible for chariots and horsemen.”

and crevasses,

天隙 is explained by Mei Yao-ch‘ên as 兩山相向洞道狹惡 “a narrow difficult way between beetling cliffs,” but Ts‘ao Kung says 山澗迫狹地形深數尺長數丈者, which seems to denote something on a much smaller scale. Tu Mu’s note is 地多溝坑坎陷木石 “ground covered with trees and rocks, and intersected by numerous ravines and pitfalls.” This is very vague, but Chia Lin explains it clearly enough as a defile or narrow pass: 兩邊險絶形狹長而數里, and Chang Yü takes much the same view. On the whole, the weight of the commentators certainly inclines to the rendering “defile”. But the ordinary meaning of 隙 (a crack or fissure) and the fact that 絶澗 above must be something in the nature of a defile, make me think that Sun Tzŭ is here speaking of crevasses. The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 郄 for 隙, with the same meaning; the latter also has 大害 after 天郄—a palpable gloss.

should be left with all possible speed and not approached.

16. 吾遠之敵近之吾迎之敵背之

While we keep away from such places, we should get the enemy to approach them; while we face them, we should let the enemy have them on his rear.

17. 軍旁有險阻蔣潢井生葭葦小林蘙薈必謹覆索之此伏姦之所藏處也

If in the neighbourhood of your camp

The original text has 軍行, but 旁 has been generally adopted as yielding much better sense.

there should be any hilly country,

險阻 is 邱阜之地, according to Chang Yü.

ponds surrounded by aquatic grass, hollow basins filled with reeds,

The original text omits 蔣 and 生, so that 潢 and 井 join to make a pair: “ponds and basins.” This is plausible enough at first sight, but there are several objections to the reading: (1) 蔣 is unlikely to have got into the text as a gloss on 潢; (2) it is easy to suppose, on the other hand, that 蔣 and afterwards 生 (to restore the balance of the sentence) were omitted by a copyist who jumped to the conclusion that 潢 and 井 must go together; (3) the sense, when one comes to consider it, actually requires 蔣, for it is absurd to talk of pools and ponds as in themselves suitable places for an ambush; (4) Li Ching (571–649 A. D.) in his 兵法 “Art of War” has the words: 蔣潢蘙薈則必索其伏. This is evidently a reminiscence of Sun Tzŭ, so there can be little doubt that 蔣 stood in the text at this early date. It may be added that the T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan both have 蔣, and the latter also reads 并 for 井.

or woods with thick undergrowth,

I read 小林 with the Yü Lan in preference to 山林, given in the original text, which is accepted by the commentators without question. The text of the T‘u Shu up to this point runs as follows: 潢井蒹葭林木蘙薈者.

they must be carefully routed out and searched; for these are places where men in ambush or insidious spies are likely to be lurking.

The original text omits 藏, which has been restored from the T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan. The T‘u Shu omits 處 as well, making 所 a substantive. On 姦 Chang Yü has the note: 又慮姦細潛隱覘我虛實聽我號令 伏姦當爲兩事 “We must also be on our guard against traitors who may lie in close covert, secretly spying out our weaknesses and overhearing our instructions. Fu and chien are to be taken separately.”

18. 敵近而靜者恃其險也

When the enemy is close at hand and remains quiet, he is relying on the natural strength of his position.

Here begin Sun Tzŭ’s remarks on the reading of signs, much of which is so good that it could almost be included in a modern manual like Gen. Baden-Powell’s “Aids to Scouting.”

19. 遠而挑戰者欲人之進也

When he keeps aloof and tries to provoke a battle, he is anxious for the other side to advance.

Probably because we are in a strong position from which he wishes to dislodge us. “If he came close up to us,” says Tu Mu, “and tried to force a battle, he would seem to despise us, and there would be less probability of our responding to the challenge.”