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hold out specious allurements, and make them rush to any given point.

["High Ground," says Mei Yao-ch’en, "is not only more agreeable and salubrious, but more convenient from a military point of view; low ground is not only damp and unhealthy, but also disadvantageous for fighting."]

When fasting, he thought it necessary to have his clothes brightly clean and made of linen cloth. 2. When fasting, he thought it necessary to change his food, and also to change the place where he commonly sat in the apartment.

The Master said, 'When a man is not in the habit of saying-- "What shall I think of this? What shall I think of this?" I can indeed do nothing with him!'

The Master angled,-- but did not use a net. He shot,-- but not at birds perching.

[Cf. V. § 6. The purport of the passage is simply to illustrate the want of fixity in war by the changes constantly taking place in Nature. The comparison is not very happy, however, because the regularity of the phenomena which Sun Tzŭ mentions is by no means paralleled in war.]

The subjects of which the Master seldom spoke were-- profitableness, and also the appointments of Heaven, and perfect virtue.

The Master said, 'Hui gives me no assistance. There is nothing that I say in which he does not delight.'

[“No man is more fragile than another: no man more certain than another of to-morrow.”--Seneca, Ep., 91.]

You may advance and be absolutely irresistible, if you make for the enemy’s weak points; you may retire and be safe from pursuit if your movements are more rapid than those of the enemy.

[“Sicilian dainties will not tickle their palates, nor the melody of birds and harps bring back sleep.”--Hor., Od., iii. 1, 18.]

The general who does not understand these, may be well acquainted with the configuration of the country, yet he will not be able to turn his knowledge to practical account.

Chung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, 'It is, when you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you were receiving a great guest; to employ the people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice; not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in the country, and none in the family.' Chung-kung said, 'Though I am deficient in intelligence and vigour, I will make it my business to practise this lesson.'

[“Who in his folly seeks to advance backwards”--Lucretius, iv. 474]

[Tu Mu takes this to mean "facing south," and Ch’en Hao "facing east." Cf. infra, §§ 11, 13.

[In Frederick the Great’s Instructions to his Generals we read: "A defensive war is apt to betray us into too frequent detachment. Those generals who have had but little experience attempt to protect every point, while those who are better acquainted with their profession, having only the capital object in view, guard against a decisive blow, and acquiesce in small misfortunes to avoid greater."]

Sze-ma Niu asked about perfect virtue. 2. The Master said, 'The man of perfect virtue is cautious and slow in his speech.' 3. 'Cautious and slow in his speech!' said Niu;-- 'is this what is meant by perfect virtue?' The Master said, 'When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than cautious and slow in speaking?'

[2] For a number of maxims on this head, see "Marshal Turenne" (Longmans, 1907), p. 29.

The Master said, 'Do you think, my disciples, that I have any concealments? I conceal nothing from you. There is nothing which I do that is not shown to you, my disciples;-- that is my way.'

We can form a single united body, while the enemy must split up into fractions. Hence there will be a whole pitted against separate parts of a whole, which means that we shall be many to the enemy’s few.