“话”说孙子兵法(英文版1)
来源：英语联盟
sun tzu on the art of war
the oldest military treatise in the world
translated from the chinese
by lionel giles, m.a. (1910)
[this is the basic text of sun tzu on the art of war. it was extracted from mr. giles complete work as titled above. the commentary itself, which, of course includes this work embedded within it, has been released as suntzu10.txt (or suntzu10.zip). this is being released only as an adjunct to that work, which contains a wealth of commentary upon this text.]
热点推荐：
无敌销售的32个妙招！(一) 新版483句口语，快速记忆！(四)
回忆跟老外的第一次交流！ 参加历届广交会之小事记
the art of war has 13 chapters.
i. laying plans
1. sun tzu said: the art of war is of vital importance
to the state.
2. it is a matter of life and death, a road either
to safety or to ruin. hence it is a subject of inquiry
which can on no account be neglected.
3. the art of war, then, is governed by five constant
factors, to be taken into account in ones deliberations,
when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
4. these are: (1) the moral law; (2) heaven; (3) earth;
(4) the commander; (5) method and discipline.
5,6. the moral law causes the people to be in complete
accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him
regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
7. heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat,
times and seasons.
8. earth comprises distances, great and small;
danger and security; open ground and narrow passes;
the chances of life and death.
9. the commander stands for the virtues of wisdom,
sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.
10. by method and discipline are to be understood
the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions,
the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance
of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the
control of military expenditure.
11. these five heads should be familiar to every general:
he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them
not will fail.
12. therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking
to determine the military conditions, let them be made
the basis of a comparison, in this wise:--
13. (1) which of the two sovereigns is imbued
with the moral law?
(2) which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) with whom lie the advantages derived from heaven
and earth?
(4) on which side is discipline most rigorously enforced?
(5) which army is stronger?
(6) on which side are officers and men more highly trained?
(7) in which army is there the greater constancy
both in reward and punishment?
14. by means of these seven considerations i can
forecast victory or defeat.
15. the general that hearkens to my counsel and acts
upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command!
the general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it,
will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!
16. while heading the profit of my counsel,
avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances
over and beyond the ordinary rules.
17. according as circumstances are favorable,
one should modify ones plans.
18. all warfare is based on deception.
19. hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we
are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away;
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.
20. hold out baits to entice the enemy. feign disorder,
and crush him.
21. if he is secure at all points, be prepared for him.
if he is in superior strength, evade him.
22. if your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to
irritate him. pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.
23. if he is taking his ease, give him no rest.
if his forces are united, separate them.
24. attack him where he is unprepared, appear where
you are not expected.
25. these military devices, leading to victory,
must not be divulged beforehand.
26. now the general who wins a battle makes many
calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.
the general who loses a battle makes but few
calculations beforehand. thus do many calculations
lead to victory, and few calculations to defeat:
how much more no calculation at all! it is by attention
to this point that i can foresee who is likely to win or lose.
[to chinese text |to top]
ii. waging war
1. sun tzu said: in the operations of war,
where there are in the field a thousand swift chariots,
as many heavy chariots, and a hundred thousand
mail-clad soldiers, with provisions enough to carry them
a thousand li, the expenditure at home and at the front,
热点推荐：
外企office常用电话英语 10句最美的英文谚语
经典英语口语：必背掌握 英文简历的几种常见形式
including entertainment of guests, small items such as
glue and paint, and sums spent on chariots and armor,
will reach the total of a thousand ounces of silver per day.
such is the cost of raising an army of 100,000 men.
2. when you engage in actual fighting, if victory
is long in coming, then mens weapons will grow dull and
their ardor will be damped. if you lay siege to a town,
you will exhaust your strength.
3. again, if the campaign is protracted, the resources
of the state will not be equal to the strain.
4. now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped,
your strength exhausted and your treasure spent,
other chieftains will spring up to take advantage
of your extremity. then no man, however wise,
will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue.
5. thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
6. there is no instance of a country having benefited
from prolonged warfare.
7. it is only one who is thoroughly acquainted
with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand
the profitable way of carrying it on.
8. the skillful soldier does not raise a second levy,
neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.
9. bring war material with you from home, but forage
on the enemy. thus the army will have food enough
for its needs.
10. poverty of the state exchequer causes an army
to be maintained by contributions from a distance.
contributing to maintain an army at a distance causes
the people to be impoverished.
11. on the other hand, the proximity of an army causes
prices to go up; and high prices cause the peoples
substance to be drained away.
12. when their substance is drained away, the peasantry
will be afflicted by heavy exactions.
13,14. with this loss of substance and exhaustion
of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare,
and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated;
while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses,
breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields,
protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons,
will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.
15. hence a wise general makes a point of foraging
on the enemy. one cartload of the enemys provisions
is equivalent to twenty of ones own, and likewise
a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty
from ones own store.
16. now in order to kill the enemy, our men must
be roused to anger; that there may be advantage from
defeating the enemy, they must have their rewards.
17. therefore in chariot fighting, when ten or more chariots
have been taken, those should be rewarded who took the first.
our own flags should be substituted for those of the enemy,
and the chariots mingled and used in conjunction with ours.
the captured soldiers should be kindly treated and kept.
18. this is called, using the conquered foe to augment
ones own strength.
19. in war, then, let your great object be victory,
not lengthy campaigns.
20. thus it may be known that the leader of armies
is the arbiter of the peoples fate, the man on whom it
depends whether the nation shall be in peace or in peril.
[to chinese text |to top]
iii. attack by stratagem
1. sun tzu said: in the practical art of war, the best
thing of all is to take the enemys country whole and intact;
to shatter and destroy it is not so good. so, too, it is
better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it,
to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire
than to destroy them.
2. hence to fight and conquer in all your battles
is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists
in breaking the enemys resistance without fighting.
3. thus the highest form of generalship is to
balk the enemys plans; the next best is to prevent
the junction of the enemys forces; the next in
order is to attack the enemys army in the field;
and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.
4. the rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it
can possibly be avoided. the preparation of mantlets,
movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take
up three whole months; and the piling up of mounds over
against the walls will take three months more.
5. the general, unable to control his irritation,
will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants,
with the result that one-third of his men are slain,
while the town still remains untaken. such are the disastrous
effects of a siege.
6. therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemys
troops without any fighting; he captures their cities
without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom
without lengthy operations in the field.
7. with his forces intact he will dispute the mastery
of the empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph
will be complete. this is the method of attacking by stratagem.
8. it is the rule in war, if our forces are ten
to the enemys one, to surround him; if five to one,
to attack him; if twice as numerous, to divide our army
into two.
9. if equally matched, we can offer battle;
if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy;
if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
10. hence, though an obstinate fight may be made
by a small force, in the end it must be captured
by the larger force.
11. now the general is the bulwark of the state;
if the bulwark is complete at all points; the state will
be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the state will
be weak.
12. there are three ways in which a ruler can bring
misfortune upon his army:--
13. (1) by commanding the army to advance or to retreat,
being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey.
this is called hobbling the army.
14. (2) by attempting to govern an army in the
same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant
of the conditions which obtain in an army. this causes
restlessness in the soldiers minds.
15. (3) by employing the officers of his army
without discrimination, through ignorance of the
military principle of adaptation to circumstances.
this shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
16. but when the army is restless and distrustful,
trouble is sure to come from the other feudal princes.
this is simply bringing anarchy into the army, and flinging
victory away.
17. thus we may know that there are five essentials
for victory:
(1) he will win who knows when to fight and when
not to fight.
(2) he will win who knows how to handle both superior
and inferior forces.
(3) he will win whose army is animated by the same
spirit throughout all its ranks.
(4) he will win who, prepared himself, waits to take
the enemy unprepared.
(5) he will win who has military capacity and is
not interfered with by the sovereign.
18. hence the saying: if you know the enemy
and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. if you know yourself but not the enemy,
for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will
succumb in every battle.
[to chinese text |to top]
iv. tactical dispositions
1. sun tzu said: the good fighters of old first put
themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then
waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.
2. to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our
own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy
is provided by the enemy himself.
3. thus the good fighter is able to secure himself against defeat,
but cannot make certain of defeating the enemy.
4. hence the saying: one may know how to conquer
without being able to do it.
5. security against defeat implies defensive tactics;
ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.
6. standing on the defensive indicates insufficient
strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.
7. the general who is skilled in defense hides in the
most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in
attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.
thus on the one hand we have ability to protect ourselves;
on the other, a victory that is complete.
8. to see victory only when it is within the ken
of the common herd is not the acme of excellence.
9. neither is it the acme of excellence if you fight
and conquer and the whole empire says, "well done!"
10. to lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;
to see the sun and moon is no sign of sharp sight;
to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.
11. what the ancients called a clever fighter is
one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.
12. hence his victories bring him neither reputation
for wisdom nor credit for courage.
13. he wins his battles by making no mistakes.
making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty
of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is
already defeated.
14. hence the skillful fighter puts himself into
a position which makes defeat impossible, and does
not miss the moment for defeating the enemy.
15. thus it is that in war the victorious strategist
only seeks battle after the victory has been won,
whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights
and afterwards looks for victory.
16. the consummate leader cultivates the moral law,
and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is
in his power to control success.
17. in respect of military method, we have,
firstly, measurement; secondly, estimation of quantity;
thirdly, calculation; fourthly, balancing of chances;
fifthly, victory.
18. measurement owes its existence to earth;
estimation of quantity to measurement; calculation to
estimation of quantity; balancing of chances to calculation;
and victory to balancing of chances.
19. a victorious army opposed to a routed one, is as
a pounds weight placed in the scale against a single grain.
20. the onrush of a conquering force is like the bursting
of pent-up waters into a chasm a thousand fathoms deep.